Summary Of The Most Dangerous Game Alternate Ending

Alternate Ending to “The Most Dangerous Game”

Rainsford finished making his Burmese tiger trap and hid behind a charred tree stump. He heard a cry and ran forward. There in the pit lay one of Zaroff’s dogs. Hanging on to the edge of the pit hung Zaroff himself.

“Congratulations Rainsford. You almost killed me, but not quite. If you so kindly help me out of this pit I will let you live,” cried Zaroff with almost too much exasperation. Rainsford immediately knew something bad was going to happen.

Rainsford replied, “All right, but you must keep your word.” Rainsford leaned over and helped the General out of the trap. As he did, Rainsford slyly pushed General Zaroff into Death Swamp. Rainsford knew Zaroff was wise enough to escape
the treachery of the quicksand, so he turned and ran, trying to create a difficult path for the hunter.He heard Zaroof quickly gaining on him. Trying to outsmart Zaroff, Rainsford quickly climbed a tree and jumped from tree to tree like Tarzan from the Edgar Rice Burroughs book Tarzan of The Apes.

“Rainsford! I know you are out there. I am merely a cat stalking a mouse. The mouse will soon fall under the cat’s claws,” whispered General Zaroff who was standing directly under the tree Rainsford perched in. A branch below Rainsford cracked and Zaroff instantly froze. Zaroff sniffed the air and slowly glanced up with a smile. When Zaroff’s eyes reached the middle of the tree where Rainsford hid, he saw a bird where Rainsford had been. Zaroff slowly turned around and headed back to his mansion to let Rainsford run again. Unknown to Zaroff, Rainsford had been right behind the branch where the bird had landed. As Zaroff left, the idea came to Rainsford to hide near Zaroff’s mansion. Rainford decided to follow Zaroff at a distance. As Rainsford travelled, he was wondering why he did not just kill Zaroff back at his trap. Rainsford concluded that he was a better person than Zaroff and had some humanity left in his soul, even after the war. Could Rainsford’s humanity cost him his life? General Zaroff is a deadly, murderous man who does not care about humanity, and who will do anything to kill his prey. A light flickered on in the upstairs window of Zaroff’s lair which pulled Rainsford out of his thoughts.

Zaroff appeared in the window holding his pipe in his hand and stared into the darkness, searching the night for Rainsford.
Rainsford found it odd that Zaroff had given up so easily, or had he? What if he knew Rainsford would follow him back. Rainsford realized his mistake, but it was too late. Ivan and Zaroff’s hunting dogs had the tree surrounded. Rainsford looked at his watch. He only had one hour left before he won the game, but he had been captured. Ivan took Rainsford to General Zaroff. “I outsmarted you Rainsford. I knew you would fall for that trick. In fact, you are not the first one. Just last week, a large white man actually did the same thing,” snarled Zaroff. “And to think you almost won. What a pity. Ivan, leave us. We have some unfinished business to take care of.” Ivan left the room. Zaroff picked up a sword, recently polished, and handed it to Rainsford. Zaroff drew his pistol and said, “If you can dodge a bullet with this blade, I will let you live.” Rainsford took his stance and Zaroff fired, but not once, but he fired ten times, and Rainsford fell to the floor. Zaroff whispered, “Well it appears you should not have spared me. Sometimes humanity gets in the way of your feelings. To bad I had to end the game, you were an exciting
opponent.”