The Loop (Book 2)

Run, Rabbits, Run

Olivia swallowed hard, her mind racing. The Predator’s fixation on Evelyn wasn’t just unsettling—it was terrifying.

His words, his movements, everything about him suggested a calculated madness. And now they were caught in his twisted game, with no clear way out.

As the group pressed forward, the oppressive silence of the forest returned, broken only by the faint sound of the river.

But Olivia couldn’t shake the feeling that they were being watched, that the Predator was just out of sight, waiting for the perfect moment to strike again.

They continued on, their pace quickening as the sound of the river grew louder. They reached the end of the forest, where the river split and formed a large clearing.

At the far end, Olivia could see the familiar edge of the city—just a few hundred meters away. But there was something in the way.

A massive hedge, taller than any of them, stretched across the entire width of the clearing, its thorny vines twisting and curling in every direction. The foliage was dense and impenetrable.

“This... this isn’t right,” Cassandra said, her voice tight with frustration. She reached out, her fingers brushing against the thick vines, but as soon as her hand touched the surface, the ground beneath them shifted, and the air became thick with tension.

“What’s going on?” Jennifer asked, her eyes darting around. “We can’t pass through it?”

“No,” Evelyn replied, her voice low and grim. She took a few steps toward the hedge, then pushed her palm against it with force. There was no give, no movement.

The world around them rippled, as if reality itself was warping.

In an instant, they were no longer at the edge of the forest but several meters back from where they had started, right where the hedge had first blocked their path.

“What the hell?” Cassandra hissed. She stepped forward again, trying a different angle, but the same thing happened.

No matter how they approached it, the hedge remained solid, and they were always thrust back to the same spot.

“This isn’t just a hedge,” Jennifer said, her voice tight with alarm. “It’s like some kind of... barrier.”

A voice broke through the tension, the same crazy, unnerving laugh they had heard earlier.

“I told you,” the man’s voice called out from the trees. “I’m the one who sets the rules here. You’ll never escape.”

Olivia’s heart raced. They had been caught in something bigger than they could understand, and the Predator wasn’t done with them yet.

“We need to figure out how to get past this hedge,” Evelyn said urgently, her voice steady despite the growing panic. “We can’t stay here. Not with him.”

Jennifer stepped forward, hand gripping her knife. “Let me at him. I’ll deal with him.”

“Not yet,” Evelyn said again, her tone sharp. “We have to think this through. He’s trying to play us.”

The forest felt colder now, the oppressive weight of their situation pressing down on them as they stood at the edge of the hedge, staring into the unknown.

They were trapped, and they had no choice but to face whatever game the Predator had in store for them next.

“You don’t have a choice,” the Predator’s voice called, disembodied but chillingly close.

“You’re in my world now. And Evelyn—” His voice dropped to a near whisper, though it carried perfectly through the still air. “I’ll make you see. You don’t belong with them. You belong with me.”

Evelyn’s hands clenched into fists, but her voice remained steady. “Ignore him. He’s trying to break us.”

Olivia looked at the hedge, her chest tightening with fear. There had to be a way out—a weakness, a path they hadn’t seen before.

But with every step forward, it felt like the Predator’s game was tightening around them, his obsession with Evelyn driving him to greater extremes.

And the forest, alive with his presence, felt like it was closing in.

The air was thick with tension as the group stood before the hedge, unable to make sense of its presence, its unyielding barrier.

The distant, manic laughter of the Predator still echoed through the trees, mocking them, but there was no time to dwell on his twisted game.

Evelyn's voice broke the silence, sharp and decisive. "We can't stay here," she said, her eyes darting around the forest. "We need to run. Keep the hedge in sight, but don’t stop."

Cassandra nodded, her jaw set with determination. Jennifer, though still on edge, followed suit, and Olivia felt her heart hammering in her chest as the adrenaline surged.

The four of them turned and sprinted through the forest, the sound of their feet pounding the dirt and leaves filling the air, their breathing ragged.

The trees around them blurred as they pushed harder, faster, trying to outrun whatever madness the man had unleashed.

Olivia could feel the pull of the hedge behind them, as if it were an invisible force, keeping them on track, trapping them in its game.

Every step felt like a race against something unseen, something that wanted to claim them.

Olivia’s mind raced, too. She couldn’t stop thinking about what they had seen—the strange figure, the axe-wielding man.

And yet, there was no way to outrun him, not as long as they were within the forest. She kept her eyes fixed ahead, determined to keep going.