As we rushed through the large warehouse of straw, the faint sound of voices grew louder.

"What am I hearing?" I asked. "Who is that?"

"Shhh," Millie placed her finger to her thin lips. "I don't hear anything. And neither do you." She flashed a familiar look that we used to use to indicate being in on a joke or prank together.

The last time we exchanged that look was when we attempted to prank Millie's high school crush, making her believe Millie possessed superpowers and could be in two places at once. The memory of her crush playfully swiping my shoulder in fright after we'd come clean made me grin for a split second.

I took my cue and pretended to be clueless. "Where are we going?"

"Look for a place that seems to be safe. It's a closed in space with a restroom and maybe food, but always keep your guard up." She shot a stern look my way. "There are seven awful dwarves scattered around, keeping a lookout, and they're nasty little things. They come out of nowhere, so stay alert."

"Dwarves?" My mind immediately went to the fairytale. "What will they do if they find us?"

"Trust me, you don't want to know."

Millie rushed, searching, crouching to get better angles of our surroundings. And although my nerves were shot, I couldn't match her energy. Instead, I cautiously strolled through the darkened set of straw and hay barrels but couldn't find any cameras on the ground, or the gaming arena that the games usually took place in. "Everything feels so different than what's been televised."

The set was massive. I wondered how long it would take to find the end of it and if anything would meet me on the other side.

"Have you ever wondered what happens between each of the games?" She gestured to the dank space surrounding us. "You roam around, gather clues or necessities to prepare for the next game, but those Grimm creatures are always on the hunt. If you don't make it to the games in time to participate for the spotlights and the main show, those creatures will find you and make a spectacle out of your death."

"Jeez." I saw the show a million times, but the way she said that made my skin crawl.

"I've seen some messed up things here, Kam. Two players already died. Another player killed one right in front of me. A Grimm creature killed the other." Her fixed eyes widened briefly with the memory. "You shouldn't have come."

Here we go again, arguing and not seeing eye to eye, even if we agreed. "You're right but you shouldn't have come, either."

"I needed this." She turned to me. Her oily but stark white hair complimented her brown eyes. "This place is no different than out there. You have no idea the stuff I've seen and had to go through on those streets, nothing I can't tackle here."

"Everything you ever needed is at home," I pointed out. "You could've applied to go up north. You could've stayed up there for a few weeks with Mom—"

"With what job?" She huffed in annoyance. "Just because we look the same doesn't mean we are. We may have come from the same place, but I'm going down a different road, and you made it clear a long time ago that your path leads you down the opposite direction."

Frustration quickly replaced my anxiety. "Because you're always making the wrong decisions, and I try to help, and it only gets sadder until I back off."

"That's the problem, Kam. You're always trying to help, but you end up making it worse. Don't you even hear yourself?" Her words caused my heart to drop. That was the second time today someone made a similar remark. The first time came from an untrustworthy stranger who wanted me to call her mother, but coming from someone who really knew me made it sting.

"We have to find the safe zone before another game starts and we just might be due for one soon." Her focus was back on investigating the space. As she turned, a faint red light on the collar of her neck captured my attention.

I touched my very own collar to see if there was a similar one. My fingers trailed the thin wiring that led around the collar and to the front where a hard round button was placed. "What are these?"

"It's a camera or a tracker or something," she said nonchalantly. "Just leave it alone. Messing around with it might blow your head off."

"What?" I tried pulling the strong fabric, testing its resilience. "When did they place cameras on your person?"

"Might have been since forever. I don't know."

I pointed out. "So, they can see and hear us right now? They know where we're at all times?"

"I think so. Just like any other reality TV show."

Subconsciously, I knew that, but seeing the devices implanted in our clothes made it more real and disturbing. Suddenly I became even more self-conscious of everything I had said or done since waking in this place. "How did they get us in these clothes?" I eyed her similar black body suit that hugged her petite frame.

"I put this on myself." She gave me a weird look. "You didn't?"

I shook my head. "After failing the office test, I woke up in that forest area you found me. Dressed in this. I don't remember anything other than that."

"When signing the contract, I had agreed to take a sedative so they can take me to the location of the games. And when I woke up, I was alone in the safe zone. It looked like a small outhouse with a stack of clothes and a pair of shoes I was told to put on."

They didn't give me that option. I wondered why? Did it have something to do with our behind-the-scenes deal? Did they change the rules for me because they changed the Games to bring me on as an additional player?

Whatever it was, a peculiar itch of unease irritated and pricked my skin. I scratched the skin under my long sleeve to relieve the feeling. It was apparent I had no idea what I had gotten myself into, but I had to do something. I couldn't just sit back and watch my sister— my twin, my own flesh and blood—die on national television.

I had to learn and learn quick.

"If this season doesn't premiere until next week and you've already been playing," I took in the weird barnyard vibes around me. "What else isn't like they pretend?"

She seemed unsure. "It's hard to tell how much time has passed but it's been a while, and I saw a lot of crazy stuff, and a lot of it is new this year."

"Like me?" I wondered aloud. "Do any of the other contestants have partners?"

"Partners?"

"Yes, I'm here to fight alongside you. As your partner."

She raised an eyebrow. "They told you that?"

"That was the deal."

"And you believed them?" The look of anger and disgust on her face took me aback. "You're supposed to know these people inside and out and you couldn't foresee their bullcrap?"

"You claim to be highly intelligent," I countered. "Yet you fell for their bullshit."

"Language, Kam." She glared.

I rolled my eyes when she did, obviously for a different reason.

We froze when a familiar growl reverberated throughout the set. The husky, masculine tone of the Wolfman, who had greeted me on the other side of the office door, was distinct. "Oh no. He sounds close," I warned in a whisper.

"Oh yea. He is." Millie crouched instead of running or hiding. "I bet he's sniffing us out right now. We have to find the safe zone before that happens."

But before we could continue searching, a loud siren rang out. I covered my ears from the wailing and looked to Millie for her cue.

"Oh, shoot!" she yelled over the noise. "We have to follow the siren and get to the arena to start the game. We have thirty seconds maybe. Come on." She sprinted toward the sound of the siren that led us back toward the forest where we just came from.

While exploring, we had put a good amount of distance between us and the embellished doorframe that looked like a full-length mirror from afar. But I made out the ornate frame on the wall that separated the enchanted forest from the room of straw.

From this perspective, the painted wall resembled a backdrop, adorned with additional heaps of hay and stacks of straw, creating the illusion that it stretched on for miles.

The abrupt sound of a canine growl cut through the loud siren and alarmed me when I looked back over my shoulder. The sight of a large, hairy creature on all fours sprinting toward us sent adrenaline through my heart.

Its large, arched spine remained higher than the head, which hung low to the ground. The black snout protruded from its otherwise human face, startling me and causing me to trip. I fell face-first onto the straw-covered ground.

I let out a huff as the impact knocked the breath out of me. Curiosity urged me to turn and gauge the creature's distance. When I did, I was frozen by the closeness of the beast. It came to a halt just a few feet away, its hungry eyes locked onto me.

Strings of drool hung from its slightly open jaws and only pants of breath came out of my lungs instead of screams.

"Kam!" Millie called from behind. "Get up. Run."

The creature crept closer, baring its dripping fangs. When the front paw touched the ground, I could see it wasn't a paw at all but a human hand, bruised and bloodied around the hairy knuckles.

The siren rang loud, closer, and on the other side of the wall behind me. I had to get through the door and back into the forest quickly.

I locked eyes with the Wolf Man as I stood, realizing why they called him the Big Bad Wolf more now than ever, but before I could turn to run, something grabbed the collar of my suit and yanked me backward through the doorframe.

The siren persisted as a metal panel slid to close the gap in the doorframe, shutting us within

Amidst the chaos, I struggled to orient myself, absorbing the eerie scene of the forest with decaying apples at the base of peculiarly swaying trees. Above, the bright lights from the suspended lighting grid cast an intense glow on a distant spot within the dense foliage.

Then the siren died.

I glanced to Millie for guidance, but she waited. Her chest quickly rose and fell, matching the pace of my own.

I pressed my hands to the solid panel to test its strength. Millie just shook her head and kept her focus forward. "Nothing's getting through it. You're lucky you did. But none of that matters right now anyway. The game has begun."