ALPHA REX. Nothing ever comes easy. I would know that because that was everything my whole life embodied and so I didn’t expect winning Eudora back to come easy. Not when a game like this was designed to break girls like her till they were without repair. What I didn’t expect was the list of players who chose her to rack up to the point where I’d have to be in a battle with— “Ten hunters?” Raule announced, taking the words right out of my mouth. “Wow, ten hunters have chosen the number 7 as their prey, how…competitive.” He continued. There were murmurs in the crowd and my eyes swept over them and the looks of excitement that crossed their eyes because of the prospect of the game being a deadly one now that eleven players including me, have their eyes fixed on the same prey. My fist clenched to the side and afraid that I might throw it in someone’s face, I dragged Raule to the side before he could go further with his announcement. Anger was boiling inside of me but I fought the urge

EUDORA.When my legs were too weak to carry on, I fell to the ground beside a tree, my chest heaving and my heart squeezing tightly inside of it. My breath came out in short pants and the more I drew in, the harder it was for me to breathe properly.My face was no doubt tear stained and I’d only managed to stop crying after giving myself a pep talk that Laila was strong and she was fine. She was going to escape the hunter. She was going to survive this terror. Every second that passed with me in these woods however threatened those reassuring thoughts especially because with every step I took, came the cries of women in pain within a mile radius. Each sound made me wince while I will my brain not to conjure up the horrifying things being done to them that could cause so much pain. Tuning out the echoes wasn’t working. There was only so much my ears could ignore and so I sat there and just listened to the cries of innocent girls till I was able to catch my breath so I could continue m

CHAPTER 73–EUDORAMy very first instinct was to protect Laila who was already on the floor crawling back in fear as she watched me being dragged around by the hunter. Tears spilled out of her eyes and she seemed to pull herself together and attempted to move towards me.“Stay back!” I yelled at her and she stopped abruptly. I winced in pain as the long fingers of my captor dug into my arm.“Don’t come, Laila, you’ll get hurt. Go!” I yelled at her, ignoring the pain searing through me. Keeping my own tears at bay.“How touching.” The hunter said gruffly, his voice and words no doubt mocking how helpless we both were. Laila shook her head stubbornly, limping towards me while I tried to back up.The hunter suddenly pulled out his gun, aiming at Laila. “You heard her little one, scram out of here or I’m gonna shoot. Trust me, I know how to make a death seem like an accident.” The hunter threatened.“No…no…please.” I begged, “Please don’t shoot her.” The tears fell down my face now, I

EUDORA.For days after that, I drowned in one nightmare after another. And that was even the times I could close my eyes to sleep because the poor things have endured so much pain from the heaviness of being kept open for too long. But there was barely any difference being awake or asleep made because I still heard those screams. They still echoed in my head. Made it feel like a dark empty room, bouncing off its walls because there was no way out—not a door, not a window. Just a room. I still felt those hands too. They caused a Squeamish feeling to wash over me each time I thought of them and the places they’ve been on my body. I’d wash and wash and wash myself till the sponge bruised my skin and the soap caused it to sting but even that didn’t make the feeling of filth go away. I felt like dirt each time I remembered how I almost got claimed against my will. And I still saw her. Laila.Lifeless in every single image that crossed my mind.I hated it. I hated that it was the image

EUDORA.I was awake when someone slipped a book under my door.My first thought was that Zena hasn’t given up on me like she made it seem the last time she was here. For a brief moment, I laid there, contemplating whether to go for the book, fighting between the inquisitive and the rational part of me.In the end, the inquisitive one won but first, I listened for footsteps and when I could make out none, I got off the bed and went for the book, flicking its first page open. The only person who could give me a book was Zena but it was also weird, what kind of book it was. It wasn’t the usual one we both read and enjoyed. It was some sort of self-help book and its title was even more weird. “Kicking trauma’s butt with style!” It was a typical Zena thing to do but she also didn’t know what I had gone through. Isn’t that why she was at my door, day and night, requesting for answers? Did she know already? Or was it so obvious that I had gone through the hardest phase of my life? I re