The Secret of Dark Forest

Coven

The steel gate opened, revealing the impenetrable wall of trees. White gulped. It was too late to step back. The crowd moved, dragging them forward. White tightened his grip on Black's hand, trying not to get separated from him as their bodies were pushed from every direction. The enormous mass of people seemed like a bloodthirsty vampire coven to White. The crazy faces, greedy for money and power, scared him. 

They got sucked into Dark Forest before White could realise what was happening. His brother paved their way through the thinning mass, leading them to the enormous treetrunk and hiding them from the scattering hunters. 

"Let's wait until they are all gone," Black whispered, pulling him as close as possible with the baggage on their backs. White leaned his head on Black's shoulder, listening to running footsteps and cracking branches, accompanied by the buzzing of drones. It looked like the flying machines didn't spot them, and White was glad. He didn't like the idea of their father seeing them, even by chance. It would probably kill him. As the voices diapered somewhere in the distance, they stepped out of the tree's shadow. A loud screech and bang startled White. He glanced behind, seeing the gate closed. Now, there was no chance of turning back. With no way out, they had to find a way to survive the next four days and find proof of Tawi's dirty business.

"Ready?" Black asked, and White nodded, although nothing could prepare him for the horror waiting for them further inside the Dark forest. With their hands intertwined, Black led them forward. White caught the movement of three people not far from them. It seemed the trio had a similar idea. He tried not to pay much attention to them and took a map from his breast pocket instead. Although White did examine it at the gathering point, he was too frightened to pay attention to the details. The first key location was a few kilometres from the gate. It was a trap to entice the contestants. Ten keys, ten locations. The first location had thirty copies. The number decreased with each location. If you wanted to get all ten, you had to be quick, clever, strong and cautious. You could lose the keys and your life in a blink of an eye. And no thanks to wild animals or other creatures living in the Dark Forest. White shivered thinking about the amount of people not afraid to kill for the money. 

"Can we go?" Black tugged at his sleeve. White nodded, pointing in the direction he suspected the first location was. Though they didn't come here to obtain the prize, it would be too suspicious if they didn't follow the Hunt's purpose.