Read Online Reap by James Frey - Free Book Online Page A

brand.
    â€œI got him,” John said, letting out a long breath. “I got the bastard.”
    â€œWhere?”
    He pointed up at the roofline. “Behind that chimney.”
    â€œAre you sure?”
    Kat answered. “I saw him fall. He’s over there. By the Olmec.”
    â€œWhere did they go?” I asked, numbly noticing that the Players were gone.
    Mary was dead.
    â€œThe Sumerian ran, and the Nabataean followed. The Harappan, calm son of a bitch, stabbed an extra time into all of the bodies. Made sure they were dead.”
    â€œI’m sorry,” Kat said, eyes wet. “I tried to shoot him. I really tried. But my hand. I couldn’t hold the gun steady. I’m so sorry.”
    â€œIt’s okay,” I said.
    â€œWe don’t outnumber them anymore,” John said, dropping his gun. “We need to move, and fast.”
    â€œDon’t we have to follow them?” I said.
    â€œOf course,” John said, visibly shaken. “Who has bullets?”
    â€œI have some,” Kat said, standing. “I wasn’t counting my shots.”
    â€œI’ve got three or four,” I said.
    â€œHide your guns,” John said. “I’ve got a Walther. One full magazine.”
    â€œThen we’re going to have to figure this out. But first we need to follow them. Hopefully they’ll kill each other.”
    I took Mary’s hand and squeezed it one last time. I didn’t care what she had done to me at that point. She didn’t deserve to die, and not like this. And she deserved more than my just leaving her on the side of the road for some paramedics to find.
    But like so many things in my life lately, I had no choice.
    We ran after the Players.

CHAPTER SEVEN
    I helped Kat check her magazine and saw she had four bullets left.
    She was bleeding through the bandage on her arm—it was dribbling down her wrist and hand—but there was nothing we could do about it. We needed to follow the Players, and we needed to stay away from the cops.
    All of us concealed our pistols.
    â€œWill they split up?” Kat asked.
    â€œNo,” John said, speaking softly. “They were expecting the beginning of the game. But they didn’t get any direction, any puzzle to solve, any answer to look for. So all they have as an objective is to kill each other. They have to do it now, today, because there’s nothing else.”
    â€œAnd we can’t let them get away because we’ll never track them down again,” I said.
    â€œAnd they’ll stick together, because there’s nowhere else to go.”
    We heard a whistle, and John stopped running. Kat and I did too. I took her good hand in mine. Moments later two policemen jogged past us toward the plaza.
    â€œAre we still in this?” I asked. “I mean, do we even have a chance anymore? We’ve lost everybody. Kat can’t shoot because of her hand. We are almost out of bullets, and we’re going up against these guys? Did you see how they fight?”
    â€œIt was unbelievable,” Kat said. “Who can move like that?”
    â€œAnd what if they have more backup, like that sniper?”
    John took a deep breath. “We knew it was going to be hard.”
    â€œWhat?” I asked, incredulous. “We knew it was going to be hard. Wedidn’t know that it was going to kill us all.”
    â€œWalter and I tried to prepare you,” he said, but the words sounded hollow. “We’re trying to save the world, remember? We trained all summer. Were you expecting this to be easy?”
    â€œWe trained all summer as a group. We were hunting as a team, in everything we did.”
    â€œWe’re still a group.”
    I rolled my eyes. “I meant we practiced as if we were outnumbering them. Like there were going to be more of us, like this morning when Kat and I went after Raakel. We only beat her because there were two of us.”
    â€œGuys,” Kat