A Game Most Dangerous Read Free

have put two and two together and deduced your fate? I thought you should be thrown back, but Vanya assures me you are a more interesting bit of game than you appear." His face fell briefly as he added, "Not quite the kind of game I keep hoping for, the kind I've heard whispers about." He brightened slightly. "Nevertheless I am promised you'll be suitably entertaining."
    "I've never lost at hide and go seek, it's true," Rain replied. "My family is very good at hiding and escaping and sneaking around. Something of a tradition." Rain smiled and shrugged. "We don't like people taking our stuff, and we have a lot of stuff that people want to take. Like, you know, our ability to breathe and all that."
    Zaroff laughed. "Well, if you want to keep breathing, I suggest you make good sport. You'll be given a knife and enough food to last three days." He laughed again, something mean in it this time. "Not that any of them last three days. Vanya has an eye for excellent game, but the only one to nearly succeed was a robust woman who lasted precisely forty-nine and a half hours. Had to use the hunting dogs to get her."
    "You know that 'serial killer' isn't the kind of thing that should become family tradition, right?" Rain replied.
    Rage flickered like distant lightning in Zaroff's eyes. He pulled out a shiny cigarette case, selected a cigarette, and lit it with a lighter that looked nearly as old as the house. Rain wrinkled his nose at the smell but said nothing. "I'm no serial killer, and neither were the rest of my family. We are esteemed gentlemen who happen to excel at the hunt to the point there is a dearth of worthy prey. We cannot help it the only game dangerous enough to satisfy our needs are other men. Nor is it my fault they never prove superior." Something gleamed in his eyes. "Of course, I've heard rumors of even better hunts, and keep hoping I'll succeed in bringing such beasts to my island someday… but my every attempt has thus far failed. Sometimes I start to think I was lied to. It's hard sometimes to know which rumors are truth and which are madness."
    "Oh, madness becomes apparent pretty quickly," Rain replied—and grunted when that got him backhanded.
    "My apologies," Zaroff said stiffly. "I should not have let my temper get the better of me, but I do hate to be so unfairly judged. You don't know what it's like to hunger for a challenge, the joy that comes from being relieved of your boredom for just a few hours."
    "I know a few things about boredom," Rain replied. "You should sit through Philosophy 101, or listen to my friend Josh talk about his tropical fish for the third time in one day."
    Zaroff gave another laugh. "Ah, to be young again. But I think that's enough conversation. You will need to get started if you hope to last more than a few hours."
    Rain shrugged and stood with Zaroff. "So I get a knife and food and… just wander around the island?" They weren't even going to give him clothes or shoes? All he had was his swimtrunks. Well, maybe that would make it more interesting somehow.
    "Yes, precisely, though I strongly advise you try to be a bit creative in your wandering. So many simply cut a straight course or try to make for the water. If you behave in such a dull and predictable manner you will die very quickly." He clapped Rain on the shoulder, so much like Brandon and the other guys did that Rain barely restrained an urge to punch him. "After the sun sets, my men and I will begin the hunt."
    "One against four doesn't seem very sporting."
    "It's a competition, much more interesting that way."
    "For you," Rain retorted.
    "Be clever, my boy, be clever! And we no longer allow the use of guns, you know. Guns end things so quickly. Much more of a challenge to fight with only blades, though sometimes we've had to resort to bows."
    Rain walked with Zaroff back through the house until they reached the front, where Ivan appeared with a worn out knapsack filled with food and a sheathed knife attached to a