Dare Series Collection - Shantel Tessier Page 0,3

older I got, the less I wanted to talk to people. Kids my age don’t want to hear about my problems.

I sit up when I hear engines roaring and loud bass from outside. Making my way over to the window, I look out to see headlights back in the trees. There’s a dirt road that runs parallel to the house. I remember it from last time I stayed here. It used to lead up to the cemetery on top of the hill, a couple of hundred yards away, but now it dead ends down at the bottom of the hill. By the house.

A white SUV of some sort comes to a stop first, and the front two doors open. I can’t make out the people—too far away and too dark out—but they’re tall. The second car to pull up is a little black two door.

I quickly count five bodies and watch as they all make their way around to the back of the trunk. They pop it open, and one guy leans over, reaching down into it. He pulls out a man. He falls to the makeshift gravel road and tries to scurry away.

“What the …?” I trail off as two men grab him, picking him up. One at his feet, the other by his head, and they start to walk away with him.

The one man slams the trunk while another grabs a black duffel bag out of the SUV. And then they start to walk off. I duck to make sure they don’t see me, which is stupid. They don’t know I’m up here, and it’s after midnight.

Do they know my father lives here? Although trees cover most of this side of the house, you can still see it from where they are now. Do they just not care?

Going over to my suitcase, I yank out my black hoodie and slip it on before leaving my room. I quickly make my way down the staircase and to the back foyer.

I crack the back door open just enough to squeeze through, and then I crouch, going over to the far corner of the terrace. I peek over the railing and see the five figures walking. Two still carry the man, two others have flashlights in their hands, lighting their way, and the fifth trails behind them. Hands in his black jeans pockets, head down. None of them seem to be in a hurry.

“I didn’t know …” the man they carry wails while some of the others laugh at him. “Please,” he begs. “She never told me.”

“Lying?” one asks with a snort. “Have some fucking balls to admit it, man.”

“You’re gonna kill me,” he cries.

They don’t respond to that statement.

With leaves and branches crunching under their weight, they walk farther and farther away from the house and up the hill toward the cemetery.

I squint and can barely make out their flashlights anymore. Where are they going? Do they really plan to kill him? Or just fuck with him? I can’t not know.

Making up my mind, I stand, pulling my hoodie up and over my head, and take off after them.

I follow their lights, making sure to stay far enough behind them so I’m not seen. I only run into a couple of trees along the way. By the time we come to the top of the hill, I’m sweating and panting for breath. The cemetery finally comes into view, and I look back over my shoulder, but all I see is darkness. The house is no longer visible.

CHAPTER TWO

COLE

“HERE SHE IS,” Deke says as he drops the man’s legs.

Shane drops his arms, and Jeff lands face first in front of the pile of dirt. A grave he knows all too well.

“What?” he asks, doing the crab walk backward, but my legs stop him. I kick him forward. “Why are you doing this?” he cries.

“Because we believe in an eye for an eye,” Bennett answers. “And I wanna see you fucking blind.”

He places his hands up. “You guys are just kids …” My friends laugh at that.

“And you’re just a sorry piece of shit.” Deke spits on him.

My four friends circle him. Like sharks. I stay where I’m at, facing him and the cemetery. I take my hands out of my pockets and place them behind my back, watching him size us all up—weighing his odds. They’re not in his favor. They never are when it comes to us. No one can get past the GWS unless we all agree to allow