sweet tooth - karl jacobs

chapter 34- sacrifice

our ear pieces go off once again to tell us another person got out. sapnap and i look at each other with wide eyes.

"that means we're in the top three now," he says.

"holy shit," i mutter. "my heart is starting to palpitate."

we've been hiding in the kitchen for about an hour, and still haven't gotten caught. the area of possible hiding spots shrunk about 45 minutes ago, but the kitchen area was still safe, so we decided to stay hidden here for a while longer.

"do you think we should bounce now?" sapnap asks. "it's only a matter of time before someone comes looking for us."

"that's probably a good idea. where do you think we should go?" i reply.

"no idea. you're the one experienced with this area."

"well, you're the one that's experienced with hide and seek."

"fair... well i guess we should just walk around and look for a bit? as long as we both keep our guards up, we should be okay."

i agree with him, and the two of us sneak out the side door. there isn't any sign of anyone nearby, but we still walk as quietly as possible.

the two of us creep around the building, eyes peeled for any sign of movement.

"any ideas on where to go yet?" sapnap asks.

"not really," i reply. "i've hidden basically everywhere."

"maybe we can go back to a place we've already gone? the bathroom, maybe? they won't think of looking for us there, since they already found us there."

i nod hesitantly. it's not like i have any better ideas.

"should we run or stay at this pace?"

"keep walking. if we start running, we'll make noise, and since there's two of us the noise will be amplified to twice as loud."

i look at sapnap with my eyebrows knitted together.

"you seem to know what you're talking about."

"this isn't my first rodeo, honey. now stop talking, you're not a very quiet whisperer."

i scoff at that last remark and swivel my head back around to face the front.

we make it to the building, and start slowly walking down the hallway. but we're greeted with an unpleasant surprise about halfway through.

"i think we should move to a different-" jimmy starts.

"THERE'S TWO OF THEM!" chandler interrupts with a shout, pointing at sapnap and me, who are frozen like deer in headlights.

"sapnap? haven? you guys again?" kris complains as she looks at jimmy. "they're fast runners."

"THEN START RUNNING!" jimmy yells as he breaks out into a sprint towards us. sapnap and i snap out of our trances, and turn quickly on our heels as we make a mad dash for the exit.

"where are we going?" sapnap pants.

"stop asking that question and just run!" i shoot back, hearing the approaching footsteps behind us.

"get in front! you lead!"

i find the slightest bit of adrenaline and stamina in me to run a little faster, breaking ahead of sapnap and slightly further away from jimmy, kris, and chandler.

only a couple seconds pass, but it feels like hours, considering how exhausted the two of us are. i just want to collapse and catch my breath, but the hunger for $100,000 keeps me on my feet.