𝐂𝐎𝐖𝐁𝐎𝐘 𝐋𝐈𝐊𝐄 𝐌𝐄 || 𝐫. 𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐥

𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐫

IT HAD BEEN NINE DAYS SINCE THE LAST CHALLENGE. Nobody had heard anything from the judges, and a lot of contestants were scared that the games had been canceled or seriously postponed. It was the longest they had gone without any signs.

Hadley was at the 4th of July parade with her father, watching all of the floats go by and the band play. It was kind of weird seeing the whole town together and realizing just how little people there were. The parade lasted about ten minutes of people driving very slowly since there were only a finite number of businesses in the small town. She was taking pictures of her father and the people around her with her camera that had not gotten much use since she was not allowed to take it to any of the challenges, and those were the high points of her summer.

She saw Kyle at the parade but had neglected to acknowledge him. She was not going to be the one to apologize when all she had done was talk to Ray Hall. He had no business getting that mad, especially when Ray had saved her place in the game and possibly her life.

Speaking of Ray Hall, she saw him across the street, watching the parade alongside the usual crowd — Tyler, Sarah, and Adam. He caught her eye and smirked when he noticed her looking at him. He winked while chewing his gum, and she looked away, her face turning red when she realized that she had gotten caught.

After the parade was over, the square began to vacate, and since it was so crowded the two Aldens turned into a back alley on their walk home, knowing that they would get there faster that way. As they were walking, they passed by a car covered in papers, causing them both to pause.

"What the hell?" she muttered, walking over to the car that was decorated with tattoos and newspaper clippings. They were all the same, the front page from when John Davis Hale died at the Spurlock Farm doing a Panic challenge. Of course, the game was not mentioned in the paper, but all of the teenagers knew the story.

She examined the paper and realized that certain words were circled, and her eyes widened when she realized that it was a clue for the next challenge. Jacob called from where he was standing, "What is it?"

"Oh, nothing. Probably just some graffiti," she answered nervously, and he nodded, gesturing for her to continue walking with him. Before she did so, she grabbed a paper and stuffed it in the back pocket of her shorts so that she could analyze it later.