Author's Note

In celebration of Amazon Prime Video's newest series Panic, I am thrilled to be teaming up with Amazon Prime Video and Wattpad to write this exclusive chapter that puts my characters from this story into the world of Panic!

I hope this chapter intrigues and inspires you to learn more about Panic. Visit the #PanicWritingContest on Wattpad for the chance to put your creative writing chops to the test and learn more about the show!

To find out more about the contest, prizes, and how to enter, check out the #PanicWritingContest here: wattpad.com/AmazonPrimeVideo

Don't forget to watch the series premiere on May 28th, only on Amazon Prime Video, here: http://primevideo.com/

—

"This is literally the worst idea in the world."

I ignored Beau, pushing through a sea of overgrown grasses. They tickled my bare arms and brushed against the beads of sweat rolling down the back of my legs. Texas in the summer meant living through heatwave after heatwave. And living in Carp, Texas in the summer was the equivalent of burning in hell.

"The worst idea in the world?" I scoffed, muttering beneath my breath. "Says the rich kid."

I didn't think I'd said it loud enough for him to hear, but I was wrong.

"Heard that," Beau grumbled back. "But it has nothing to do with money. It's common sense, Bren."

"I'd beg to differ."

Shooting a look over my shoulder, I caught Nessa's hazel eyes. They glowed, darting between Beau and me. Madie picked that moment to squeeze my hand. It shot a sense of calm through my tense body.

"I have to agree with Beau," she said softly. She walked just behind me, carefully following the path I created for us through the field. "I don't think this is a good idea for us to even be here."

We emptied into a clearing, and I pulled Madie before me and then found her eyes in the darkness. They didn't glow like Nessa's. They were dark, the lake behind her reflecting in her blue gaze. A deep pool I could get lost in.

A deep pool that I just might get lost in.

"We're already here," I muttered, trying to mask my eagerness. "We might as well stay."

Beau stomped up beside us and rolled his head back, looking at the sky. Clouds covered the stars tonight. The open field that spread out beside the lake was lit only by a few torches and halogen work lights, staged to create a stadium feel. This was partly a show, after all.

Other seniors milled around, spectators and contestants ready for the game to begin. Graduation had passed in a blur. None of us really cared about that rite of passage. It hadn't been the main event.

This was.

The air smelled like sweaty palms and humidity. A muskiness settled around us, mixing in with nerves. Excitement. Anxiety.

Fear.

But I was done with being afraid of the future. I was done with being stuck in the same place; I couldn't do it anymore. This town only reminded me of my mom, gone too soon thanks to the devil who'd killed her: Luke Hadaway, world's worst dad.

I'd been left with nothing.

Well, not nothing. I had Madie. And the will to live, to do more in this life. To be more in this life. But for that, I needed this game. I didn't care what Beau, Nessa, or Madie had to say about it. They didn't understand.

"Welcome!" a voice called out into the night, amplified by a megaphone pressed against chapped lips.

Diggins always had chapped lips.

"I hate that guy," Beau spat over Diggins' opening speech.

"You don't even know that guy," Nessa hissed with a frown.

"I don't like his face," Beau insisted. "And the annoying way he talks."

Nessa rolled her eyes. "He's the emcee. He's supposed to talk like that."

Crossing his arms over his chest, Beau slumped back onto a fallen tree. He glared at Diggins, who stood on the edge of the glimmering lake. Ripples were illuminated by moonlight, like the water was alive. "I would have done better," Beau finally muttered.

A low chuckle slipped through Nessa's lips. "So that's your problem."

I might have laughed, too, if it weren't for the fact that I was actually trying to listen to what Diggins had to say.

If we wanted to play the game, we'd have to jump from the cliff on the opposite side of the lake. It was an initiation into Panic—into the only chance I had to win enough money to get Madie and me out of Carp.

Jump, and you got one hundred points for entering the game. Jump from Suicide Leap—the highest point on the water—and you got another hundred points or immunity in a challenge of your choice. And who knew what other kinds of challenges lay ahead. Heights, poisonous snakes, robbery—it had all been done in the past.

"Bren." Madie tugged on my hand again. I ignored her, trying to listen.

"Bren," she said, more insistent this time.

I chanced a look over and then paused. The look on Madie's face tore at my heart. God, she did things to me.

"Hey," I said, lifting a hand to cradle her cheek. "Don't look at me like that."

"How am I looking at you, Bren?"

"Like you're terrified."

"I am terrified. Because I can see the wildness in your eyes. You're going to jump."

I gritted my teeth and shifted between both feet, which only made them sink further into a mixture of mud and sand.

"Why wouldn't I jump?" I asked. "Why wouldn't I play? Panic was basically designed for kids like me. Kids who don't have an out except for this one. You know this is the only way to escape Carp."

"Oh, I don't know," Beau drawled, sounding bored. "I can think of a few reasons why you wouldn't play. Maybe because of all the rocks jutting out of the water. Or the flesh-eating bacteria that probably grows in it. And I mean, there's gotta be monsters in this thing. Look at how the water moves. Jesus, there's not even a breeze." He paused and threw one of his hands up in the air. "Or maybe because two people died playing Panic last year."

Nessa shoved him. "Shut up, Beau."

I agreed with Nessa, whose long, dark hair clung to the side of her face. I probably would have used some stronger choice words, though. Beau should shut up. Because Madie's expression had transformed from terror into...well, panic.

"Madeline, you know there aren't any monsters or flesh-eating bacteria in the lake. It isn't dangerous."

"I know," she snapped. "But the rocks are pretty concerning."

"It isn't that high," Nessa added.

"Not if you do the normal height," Beau cut in. "But I know Bren's got Suicide Leap on his mind." He plopped back down on the fallen tree, muttering to himself. "Cuz he's an idiot."

I rolled my eyes, but I didn't get a chance to reply because Madie had clutched my arm tighter.

"No way is he doing that," Madie said firmly.

Her declaration was met with crickets. They sounded off in the stifling air, keeping time with the beat of the moment. I wanted to reassure her, put her mind at ease. But I couldn't.

"Right?" Madie asked, looking for me to say something. And I should have replied to her, but I was too busy scanning the water at the bottom of Suicide Leap. I didn't see any rocks. It wasn't that high, either. Maybe a few stories tall. And one hundred extra points or immunity in a challenge? That put me one step closer to a whole load of cash. And one step closer to escaping my past.

If I had money like that, I could actually make a life outside of all this. I could make a life for Madie and me.

"Bren," Madie hedged. "Seriously, stop. Stop thinking about it."

I was more than just thinking about it. I was going to do it.

The first contestant had already begun walking up to the cliff's edge, preparing to take the plunge—to pledge themself to the game. They didn't go all the way up to Suicide Leap, though. From this distance, I couldn't tell who it was. Not until they called their name over the lake.

Allison Brewer.

Allison sounded confident, and I realized that I felt that way, too. I could win this thing. There wasn't a whole lot that I was afraid of, not when I'd already gone through hell. If I could survive growing up with Luke Hadaway, I could survive a stupid game put on by seniors.

"Madie," I said cautiously, turning to face her.

"No," she said immediately, shaking her head. "No."

"Dude, I'll just get you the money." Beau's voice was tight now. "Stop it. Let's go."

"I don't want your money, Beau," I cut in, harsher than I'd intended. But he didn't get it. "I'm sick of being a charity case, and I'm sick of being stuck without having other options."

I turned to Madie. "I'm playing."

"You promised me you wouldn't do this," she whispered. "You promised me you wouldn't leave me."

"I'm not leaving you, baby. I'm finding a way to stay with you. To earn our way out of here. I'm not just doing this for me. I'm doing this for us." I pressed a rough kiss to her forehead before turning on my heel and stalking off toward the edge of the lake. In a sense, it called to me.

The road flares were sitting in a pile by Diggins, and I picked one up. He eyed me while I did, lifting one brow in surprise. I wondered how he got his hands on all of this without alerting anyone. The cops had been trying to put an end to Panic for years, and in a town as small as this one, a kid buying a stash of road flares and halogen lights ought to cause alarm.

I struck the ignitor, lighting the flare. It burned bright in the dark of night—the beacon I needed right now.

Taking off along the shoreline, I ignored Madie. She called my name as I followed the path up a steep incline, but it wasn't going to change my mind.

But then I heard it: another flare being set off, another set of footsteps following me.

That better not be—

"Madie, no," I shouted as I turned to see her coming after me, fire and shadows dancing on her face. Tiny droplets of sweat had formed on her brow.

"If you're doing it, then I'm doing it." Her voice was strong, and I knew she was here to put up a fight. Of course, she was.

"Only one of us can win." Reason might be the only thing I had on my side.

"So?" She shrugged, and I groaned internally as she spoke. "If there's two of us playing, the odds are higher that we'll get the money."

I shook my head, and my hair, damp with sweat, stuck to my forehead.

"Madie, I can't compete while worrying about your safety."

She'd reached me now. A white t-shirt was tied in a knot at her belly button, her jean shorts fastened just below it. She slipped a hand into a shallow pocket and glared at me.

"I thought it wasn't dangerous, Bren?"

I couldn't with this girl. I loved her, but dang, she drove me crazy. Two people had died last year. One girl fell to her death while walking across a skinny plank that had shifted and bent the more she shook with fear.

"Fine." I threw my free hand up into the air. "I lied. It's dangerous. And I don't want you doing it."

Diggins' voice shouted at us through the megaphone. We needed to state our names and jump or get down. And Madie wasn't backing down without me.

"If you jump, I jump," she insisted.

My heart thumped wildly in my chest, torn. Why on earth did she have to make this so difficult?

"I'm doing this for you," I tried one last time. "For us."

"And I want to do it with you. I'm not afraid of heights. And I'm not afraid of the water."

I wasn't sure if I believed her. She'd seemed pretty afraid a few minutes ago, and there was still hesitancy outlined in her eyes.

"Alright," she admitted with a shaky breath, noting my appraisal. "I'm scared. I'm really freaking scared, Bren. But I'm way less scared doing it with you than I would be watching you from below."

"We don't know what the other challenges will be. I can't—" I dragged my hand over my face. "I can't deal with you playing the game, Madeline."

"Well, you better," she said, pushing past me. "Because I'm doing it."

After clenching my jaw in frustration, I called after her. "Alright, you've proved your point. Now go back down to Beau and Nessa."

"No," she said, spinning back around. Her eyes were bright behind the light of her flare. They were glowing now. She held out her hand. "Are we going to the top or jumping here?"

I swallowed and closed my eyes, breathing deeply. The thick air made it hard to suck in a full breath. But it was enough to keep going.

"The top." My voice came out hoarse.

If she was going to play, I wanted her to have that extra immunity.

Opening my eyes again, I took Madie's hand in mine, and we climbed. And when we reached the top, the shocked whispers of the crowd below were the only thing that could be heard. That, and our hearts. They were going wild. We were wild.

We shouted our names across the void.

Madeline Lenertz.

Bren Hadaway.

We were playing the game.

I grabbed Madie's face between both of my hands, dragging her to me so I could kiss her with everything that I had.

Shocked whispers turned into cheers. I heard Beau's distinct holler. This was it.

All we had to do now was not panic.

And jump.

🖤

thoughts?