You Have Reached Sam

The Game Begins

Chapter Six: The Game Begins

Nathan and I didn’t waste time.

If The Brotherhood had taken Sam, they would erase any trace of her—her notes, her files, everything. We had to get to her dorm before they did.

The campus felt different at night—quieter, darker, like the shadows were watching. As we crept through the empty hallways of Sam’s dorm building, my heart pounded in my chest.

“What if someone sees us?” I whispered.

Nathan smirked, pulling something from his pocket. A keycard.

I blinked. “How do you—”

“Don’t ask questions you don’t want answers to,” he murmured, sliding the keycard through the lock. With a soft click, the door opened.

I swallowed hard and stepped inside.

Sam’s room looked normal. Her textbooks were stacked neatly, her bed made, her favorite pink sweater draped over the chair.

But something felt wrong.

Nathan shut the door behind us, his gaze scanning the room. “They haven’t been here yet.”

I frowned. “How do you know?”

“Because it’s too clean.”

I hadn’t noticed it at first, but he was right. Too perfect. Too untouched. If someone had come looking for evidence, they would’ve made a mess.

Which meant whatever Sam had was still here.

I turned to her desk and started searching. “She had to leave a clue. Something.”

Nathan checked the bookshelf, pulling out notebooks and flipping through them. “If she was investigating The Brotherhood, she wouldn’t have kept it in the open.”

He was right. Sam was smart. She would’ve hidden whatever she found.

I bit my lip, looking around. Then my eyes landed on something.

Her mirror.

It was covered in sticky notes.

At first glance, they looked random—song lyrics, quotes, reminders. But one in particular caught my eye.

"Trust no one. Not even me."

A chill ran down my spine.

I peeled it off, and underneath, I saw a red envelope taped to the mirror.

“Nathan.” My voice shook. “I think I found something.”

He turned as I carefully pulled the envelope free. It had one word written on it.

RUN.

My hands trembled as I opened it. Inside was a folded piece of paper with a single sentence:

"If you’re reading this, it means they found me first."

My stomach clenched. This was her backup plan.

Nathan grabbed the letter, scanning it quickly. His jaw tightened. “She left us a trail.”

I frowned. “A trail to what?”

He handed the letter back, pointing to the bottom.

There was a set of numbers.

23-18-07-21

I stared at them. “What do they mean?”

Nathan smirked. “They mean we just found Sam’s biggest secret.”

Before I could ask what he meant, someone knocked on the door.

A slow, deliberate knock.

Bang. Bang. Bang.

Nathan’s expression turned ice cold.

“They’re already here.”

---

Next Chapter Preview: The Chase Begins

✔️ Nathan and MC barely escape before The Brotherhood’s enforcers catch them.

✔️ The numbers lead them to a hidden location Sam used as her safehouse.

✔️ A shocking new clue reveals that Sam may not be the only one in danger.