THE VICTIMS

The hunt master yelled at me, "Stop moving!" while pulling my hair to emphasize his point. "Or else I'll alter my mind and place you in the group with the dr*g addicts!"

As soon as he completed threading the vividly colored ribbons, glow sticks, and little tinkling bells into my black hair, I immediately pushed myself to sit still so that I could watch him.

He said that it was an improvement before reaching for a hypodermic needle.

When he injected something into my shoulder, I did my best to remain silent.

"Remember, '' he continued as he wiped the injection site with alcohol, "if you survive until dawn, you will be granted your freedom and sent to live in the free zone." If you do survive until dawn, you will be allowed your freedom. If you are captured, you become the property of the vampire who captured you, and it is up to that vampire to decide whether or not to keep you alive or immediately put you to death."

I said, "Yes, Sir," although I was already aware of everything.

When I looked about the other animals being prepared for the hunt, I couldn't help but worry who, if any of us, would make it to see the sunrise.

The hunt was an annual event that was celebrated by vampires in each and every city that they ruled across North America.

Nobody knew who would be targeted as prey from among the 'free residents' of each city because the selection process was completely random.

When they arrived for me, my mother and I were working together in the kitchen of our home to prepare dinner.

There were six of them, and they were all human betrayers. They were armed and ready to kill anyone who put up resistance.

Before I could finish saying goodbye, I was handcuffed, a bag was thrown over my head, and I was hauled to a van with other people who had been taken as prey.

The word that came out of my mother's mouth was my name, "Liberty!"

That has been happening for the past three days. I had no idea whether or not my mother was still alive at that point. As I was being dragged out the door, the last thing I remember hearing was her yelling my name repeatedly.

My train of thought was broken when the prey master smacked me across the face and said, "Pay attention." "You will have a head start of one hour before the masters begin the hunt, so if you hope to live, I advise you to listen to what I have to say," the hunter said.

I hummed, "Yes, sir," as I acknowledged the validity of what he said.

I was very aware that he was not attempting to save my life in any way. His responsibility was to ensure that the hunt was both exciting and difficult for the master vampires in charge of us all.

The beginning of the hunt was made more exciting and violent by dr*gging some of the victims almost to the point of stupor. However, those who weren't dr*gged were the real show because we weren't affected by the dr*gs.

"The hunt master roared at me while he smacked me again and asked, "Hey, do you want to get caught or, even worse, die?"

Am I wasting my time by talking to you?"

"No," I responded, even though I could feel blood dripping from the corner of my mouth.

I felt my body numb and stared in horror as the hunt master's gaze focused on me.

Because he was a vampire and blood was blood, even though it wasn't technically permissible for him to feed from one of the prey, blood was blood.

After grabbing a towel, he turned his back on me and flung the towel at me.

"Clean yourself up," he muttered, the effort it took for him to contain the want to rip into my throat, causing his shoulders to shake. "Clean yourself up."

I did what I ordered quickly, but fear was making my hands shake as I did it.

Because I wasn't paying attention, it resulted in him hitting me and causing me to bleed.

If I allowed myself to lose that much concentration while competing in the arena, I would be captured and executed on the spot, or even worse, I would be turned into a master's pet or a blood slave.

I stated that as the left side of my face was already beginning to swell up. "I'm done," I said.

When the hunt master turned his attention back to me, he snatched up my chart and ran his clawed fingernail along the list.

While staring at his watch, he announced, "A final dinner will be brought in for all of you within the next hour."

"I would advise you to consume as much food as possible, as I highly doubt you will have the opportunity to do so after the hunt has begun. After that, you must rest because the hunt won't begin until sunset."