The Ultimate Hunt

4.

Adam wasted no time, stepping forward with that signature calm confidence of his. ''Alright, everyone. Let's take it easy,'' he said, clapping his hands together to grab everyone's attention. ''We need to stay calm and talk this through, okay?''

There was a murmur of agreement from a few people. I noticed the blonde girl with glasses, her hair tied up in a neat bun, nodding along. She the only freshman in the group, The Ultimate Psychologist. ''Yeah, let's not panic. Everything is going to be fine,'' she tried to reassure.

''Fine? How? We are literally stuck in here to kill each other! Not even half of us will survive, how is that fine?!'' one of the siblings yelled, his sister, clutching the hem of his shirt, looked like she was on the verge of breaking down herself. Her wide eyes darted nervously around, and her lips trembled. The situation was clearly too much for her. But his words weren't helping her either.

"Jacob, I understand how you feel. Everyone has the same thing in mind. But we can't break down and give up. The moment we do, the real game begins, and that's exactly what they want. We need to refrain from hurting anyone. There is a way out of this without turning on each other."

I could tell Jacob wasn't convinced. His jaw tightened, and his eyes flicked over to Adam with a mixture of anger and disbelief. "A way out? How? You heard the rules. There's a traitor among us! One of us is already playing their game. And you think we can just.. what? Hold hands and walk out of here?" He scoffed, his tone dripping with sarcasm. "Get real."

''Well.. I mean. You didn't listen earlier? The host did say that once we expose the traitor we are free to go, maybe that's what we should do?'' Another girl joined in, she had long green hair with this big ass bow on her head. 

Jacob looked ready to fire back, but Adam stepped in before the tension could escalate. With that annoying calmness of his, he smiled and nodded as if he already had everything under control. ''Exactly, that's right,'' Adam said smoothly, his voice calm and reassuring. ''The key here is to find the traitor. That's our way out. But we don't need to rush into anything. We've got some time, so let's not panic. We can't let fear drive us right into the killer's hands.''

He paused, looking around at everyone, making sure he had our attention. ''Before we can figure out who's behind all this, we need to know each other. We might've gone to the same school, some of us even shared classes, but there are still a lot of faces we don't know well. Trust starts with getting to know the people around you.'' 

For a moment, there was a tense silence. People shifted uncomfortably, glancing around at each other, clearly unsure if introducing ourselves was really going to make a difference. Jacob wasn't the only one doubting this plan, but it was the only thing anyone had to hold onto right now.

Finally, the blonde freshman, the one with glasses from earlier, cleared her throat. She offered a small, hesitant smile, breaking the silence. ''I'll go first!'' she said, her voice sounding just a bit too cheerful for the situation, but it was clear she was trying to lighten the mood. ''My name is Alice. I'm pretty sure I'm the youngest one here, and, well, I'm new to all of this, but I want to help however I can. If anyone's stressed or needs someone to talk to, feel free to come to me. I'm The Ultimate Psychologist, after all.'' She smiled again, though it wavered slightly, betraying her nerves.

''Wonderful, Alice. Thank you,'' Adam said, nodding at her encouragingly. His voice was smooth, calm, like he was in complete control of the situation. He looked around at the rest of us. ''Who's next?''

There was a brief pause, but then a soft voice broke through the silence. ''...I'm Delilah,'' the girl with ginger hair styled in a ridiculous way spoke, barely meeting anyone's eyes. ''The Ultimate Ribbon Dancer. I..I want to do my best too, so... please, let's try to get along..." She trailed off, her shyness clear in every word.