Reaper continued to taunt him, and he just smiled and gave it right back to her. I wasn’t sure if he was oblivious to the danger of exposed skin or just too high on the fight to give a shit. Hunter definitely seemed overconfident in his own combat abilities, which was fucking stupid. Even from where I was, I could tell Reaper was faster and deadlier than he, even if he had a good foot and a half on her in height.

Never fuck someone you plan to kill.

Reaper had the advantage of agility. She connected several blows to Hunter’s head as she advanced on him. Each time he tried to hit her back, she ducked out of his way and hit him in the kidney.

He was losing, but he still didn’t go for the gun. I probably would have, skin be damned, but he either didn’t realize she had him, or he had just discounted the weapon altogether.

Reaper landed a fantastic blow to Hunter’s face, and he stumbled backward, fell on his ass, and started to roll down the incline to the ledge below. He reached out with his bare fingers and grabbed at the edge of the rock, finally stopping his descent just as he was about to go over. He hung somewhat precariously, grasping at the rock and kicking with his feet to get a better grip. Reaper poised herself just above him, taunting the giant of a man.

“Is that all you got?” she sneered. “I thought a man like you was going to give me some kind of challenge! You couldn’t even give me a fucking orgasm!”

“Bitch!” Hunter growled as his hand began to slip. “I’ll give your ass a good pounding!”

She slammed her metal knuckles into his fingers. He lost his grip and started sliding down the rock again, barely keeping his balance on the lower ledge. He crouched and allowed himself to drop, managing to fall only a few feet before he found a place for his boots on the ledge below. Scuttling off to the side, he hoisted himself up a few yards away from Reaper and began to run up the side of the ridge, passing the area where I was hidden.

I got up on the balls of my feet, my heart beating in anticipation.

“I thought you wanted to play, asshole!” Reaper yelled as Hunter disappeared into the rocky landscape behind me. She started to head after him, but as she got a little closer to me, I decided now was as good a time as any to take her out.

I jumped from the top of the rock and landed on her back, sending us both to the ground. As we began to roll down the side of the mountain, I flipped the piano wire over her head and around her shoulders. With a quick jerk, the wire lodged under her chin.

I wasn’t quite cutting off her airway, and Reaper leaned against me, struggling to get her head out from around the wire. Though I couldn’t seem to get it positioned right to strangle her, she couldn’t get it off either, so she began to punch upward toward my face, hitting the side of my head. My ear rang with the blow, but my grip didn’t falter.

That’s when she went for the oldest trick in the book.

Oldest because of how effective it was.

She dropped one shoulder, brought her arm up, and slammed her elbow into my balls.

Not even Kevlar can stop that shit.

“Motherfucker!” I cried out as I tried to keep myself from doubling over.

Even through the thick clothing covering my body, the impact of her elbow in my crotch was enough to make my stomach clench and for a wave of nausea to wash over me. It was also enough to make me lose my grip on the wire completely. Reaper ducked out of it, turned partway to the side, and clipped me in the jaw with those fucking brass knuckles.

I stumbled backward but managed to grab her arm and take her with me. We tripped a couple of times before both of us fell to our knees, fighting for control over each other’s blows. I grabbed at the crossbow bolt still in her shoulder and twisted it, causing her to scream in pain. Apparently, that just pissed her off because she managed another hard hit to my shoulder.

Damn, that woman could throw a punch!

Forgoing the wire altogether, I let it drop to the ground as I went at her again, grasping the bolt in her shoulder as I wrapped my arm around her throat. She bucked against me, and my hand lost its grip from the bolt’s shaft, but the other arm stayed in place. I tightened my grip around her neck as I coiled my other arm around her head. My position was perfect, and all I had to do was twist to break her neck, but I didn’t get the chance.

I heard the shot ring out, and had no doubt from whose gun it originated. I braced myself for the impact of the bullet, and when the impact came, I was momentarily stunned. The pain wasn’t that of a bullet wound though, rather that of simple blunt force. Instead of feeling an exit wound in my own back, Reaper went limp in my arms.

Thank Landon for Kevlar.

I dropped to the ground and rolled, bringing her on top of me just as another shot rang out, making her torso jump in my grasp. Glancing down her form, I saw a pair of bullet holes in her body—one in the center of her chest, the other slightly below. Beyond her feet, I could see a rocky cliff jutting out from the mountainside just a couple hundred yards away. Right at the edge was Arden, tossing his sniper rifle to the ground as he reached up over his shoulder and brought the assault rifle around and pointed it in my direction.

“Fuck!”

Blasts ricocheted off the ground around my feet and up the side of Reaper’s body as I ducked my head beneath her shoulder. A line of bullet holes ripped their way through the thick layer of clothing up Reaper’s leg, and I felt a searing pain in my thigh.

Cursing, I rolled again, hauling her body along with me for cover, until I could get myself upright and back behind the rocks. Out of Arden’s line of sight, I quickly evaluated my leg and determined it had only been grazed. I paused and remained as silent as possible as the echoing blasts of gunfire faded around the cliffs.

Listening closely, I tried to make out any sound of footsteps coming closer to me. I heard nothing, so I dropped Reaper’s body, knelt down to remove a set of brass knuckles from her cold fingers, and slipped them into one of the many pockets in my coat. I didn’t intend to use them, but I didn’t want anyone else to have the opportunity to use them against me.

I need to get the fuck out of here.

Since Arden already knew my location, my best chance was heading up, taking away his high-ground advantage, so that’s what I did. Carefully making my way around the rock cliff, I stayed low and went as quickly as I could up the mountainside. As soon as I was a little way up, I ran to my right and jumped over the next ridge, then began to slide down. It wasn’t steep at this point, but my leg was throbbing a bit from the exertion, the slight wound making the journey more difficult. It wasn’t bad, just annoying enough to make me want to slow down.

Another shot rang out, but there was no pain and no blast in the ground near me. Either Arden was just trying to freak me out, or he was aiming at someone else. I didn’t figure him for mind games, and I wondered if he’d found another target. That seemed more likely, but I couldn’t be sure of it.

I was tempted to stop my stealthy trek and check out my wounded leg.

I didn’t.

I couldn’t.

Aside from Arden, there were still two others out there with bloodshed on their minds—Erik Dytalov and Hunter. If I paused long enough to attend to the bullet scrape, I might as well strangle myself and get it over with because the chances of one of them finding me when I was vulnerable were too great right now. I’d just have to ignore the ache.

Pain is weakness leaving the body.

Push on. Always push on, no matter what you feel.

Get your fucking ass up and move!

Fuck it all. I couldn’t stop because I had to get back to Raine.

* * *

A mile or so up Mount Windsor, I finally found a place secure enough to briefly peel back the leggings around my right thigh and take a look at my leg. It wasn’t bad—just a scrape, as I had figured. I cleaned it up a little and got the bleeding to stop before covering myself back up again. The possibility of frostbite was more dangerous at this point than a scratch.

I was covered with Reaper’s blood, and the stench burned my nose as I peeled back the facemask to get myself some water and nutrition. There was only silence around me. From where I was perched in the center of a grouping of rocks, I could see all the way to the ice floes below. Somewhere nearby, there were still three other people out to kill me, but for now, it was quiet. I took the time to center myself, remember my objectives, and concentrate on what I had to do next.

Far below me, a pod of whales surfaced, blew streams of water out their blowholes, and disappeared below the ice again. The giant marine mammals were the only signs of life to be seen in the harsh environment, save a few crusty lichens on the north side of the stones. There weren’t even any trees anywhere on the island.

Franks couldn’t have found a less hospitable place in the world.

It was probably a fitting place for such activity, though. I couldn’t begrudge him that. There was no habitation on the island. There were no settlements of people and very little vegetation to attract any animals. Only those creatures that actually adapted to live in the Arctic Ocean could be found here.

Knowing there were no living creatures around except for the people trying to kill me did nothing for my peace of mind, of course. Every time I heard a rock tumble across the ground, I had to assume one of my opponents was nearby.

I drank from my canteen of frigid water and then pulled a tube of gel packed with vitamins, protein, and carbohydrates out of my pocket. It was supposed to taste like chocolate and peanut butter, but it didn’t. It just tasted nasty, but I downed it anyway along with a handful of high-fat nuts. I hadn’t seen anyone for an hour and was grateful for the break though I still remained on alert. I had heard one additional shot ring out from high up the mountain, but that was twenty minutes ago. There had been nothing else to see or hear since then.

Lack of knowledge was my biggest enemy. I had to locate the other three players before they found me. Their best chance was to catch me off guard, and I couldn’t let that happen. I had to keep moving.

The sun was high in the sky but did nothing to warm me as I hauled myself out of the rock cluster and started up the ridge again. I kept low to the ground, watching everywhere around me—especially farther up—for any kind of movement. I walked several hundred yards without seeing anything and then found myself at the bottom of a short cliff. The high ridges on either side of me would have been as difficult to scale as the rocks in front of me, so I decided to climb up to the top.

Climbing was difficult with the mittens over my gloves, but it was a move I’d practiced with Landon a thousand times over the past few weeks. As I hauled myself to the edge of the small plateau and looked all around, my skin tingled. I couldn’t see anyone, but every instinct inside of me told me someone was there. I examined the area, trying to identify the places large enough to hide a person. There were two groups of rocks on the left, a depression in the ground to the right, and another ledge up above.

I considered the options.

If I was in Arden’s sights, he could take me out at any time. That went for most anywhere I could go. Without cover from above, he could take a shot anytime he found me in his crosshairs. To climb farther up the mountainside, I either had to get across the plateau or drop back down to find another way up. I’d waste time and energy—energy I couldn’t spare—if I headed back down again. If one of the others was up here, and I was pretty sure someone was, they were going to try to jump me as I crossed the open area. It would be either Hunter or Erik.

I was fairly certain Hunter wasn’t much on stealth—he relied on his brute strength, which usually worked in a tournament setting. Here, it was wise to be cautious as well as silent. If Hunter was close by, I would have heard him already. That left Erik and his knives, some of which could be thrown. This would be a perfect place for him to plan an ambush. A throwing knife could definitely be deadly at a distance but not when you’re covered in Kevlar.

Knowledge is power, so says Schoolhouse Rock.

I decided to chance it.

My instincts were rarely wrong.