The Most Dangerous Game
Chapter 14 Susan's Trap
Susan Shin took a gulp from her dented hydro flask. The water was warm, metallic. Sweat clung to her skin like regret. Her bangs stuck to her forehead, and the mosquitoes were feasting without shame. Every slap left a new welt. She leaned against the rough bark of a pine tree, her body aching, lungs dragging in thick, humid air.
“This forest’s bigger than I thought,” she muttered, voice gravelly.
With a grunt, she slipped off her backpack and unclamped the top. Her fingers dug past cans of tuna and warm protein bars until they closed around cold iron. The bear trap.
She dragged it out like a corpse. The teeth were crooked and jagged, rusted to hell. When she spread the jaws open, one side protested with a high-pitched screech that sent a shiver up her spine. Susan licked her cracked lips and set the trigger. Then she covered it with a delicate blanket of dead leaves and pine needles, careful, like tucking in a child.
“He won’t even see it coming,” she whispered.
She scanned the area for a vantage point. Her eyes landed on a thick oak nearby with knotted limbs. Climbing it was slow — she was heavier than she used to be — but eventually she nestled herself into the crook of two branches, high enough to watch.
From the jacket tied around her waist, she pulled out her old army-green camo. She slipped it on like a second skin. Her breath slowed. Her heart beat steady.
Now she waited.
Her fingers danced around the rim of the hydro flask, tapping a slow rhythm. A smile crept up her face — slow, crooked, ugly. She imagined the sound of his scream, high-pitched, sharp. Pretty boy cries like a lamb.
“He’ll cry for help,” she murmured. “And nobody’s coming.”
Maybe she’d win this thing. Maybe she’d get that check, hop on a Carnival cruise, and never look back. No more ramen. No more deadbeat son wasting his life on YouTube, waiting for her to die so he could inherit her nothing.
She didn’t even want to win the money. Not really. Not anymore.
She just wanted out.
And if Greg’s ankle had to get torn open to buy her a ticket off this sinking life—well, that was just the price of admission.
