Natural Selection Read online

  “Your choice. Personally, I try to avoid food that’s been left in the heat for any length of time. I’d suggest that you toss them and eat what we find tonight.”

  “Yeah, probably a good idea.” Nick grinned at her. “Which means I need to pull my own weight.”

  “Good attitude. Wish you were really on the team,” Paige said.

  Ty snorted, called to Alex to come with him, and headed off to the east. Nick followed Paige to the south while Aleisha carried the water bladders back to the stream. Kevin walked off by himself.

  The stream they had passed didn’t look big enough to have any sizeable fish and Paige was hoping she would find a bigger stream close to camp. After an hour of searching, she had to admit that they were going to be dining on plants tonight unless Ty and Alex had found something better. She and Nick concentrated on picking up coconuts and looking for edible plants while they made their way back to camp.

  Aleisha had gathered the water and firewood. Kevin was leaning against a tree with a couple of large lizards at his feet. Paige wondered why he didn’t just have the word macho tattooed on his forehead. Ty and Alex were the last ones to arrive back at camp and brought a string of fish.

  “Hey, good haul. Where’d you find them?” Paige asked Ty.

  “That’s my secret.”

  “Ty, we’re supposed to be working as a team now.”

  “Yeah, well, we’ll see about that.” Ty dropped the fish at her feet. “Why don’t you get these cleaned and cooked?”

  Paige stared as he walked away. Was he a Neanderthal or what?

  A few hours before dawn a noise woke Paige. She was accustomed to the variety of sounds in the rainforest, but this was different. It was the sound of something large approaching. Her first thought was the bear she had encountered the first day; then she remembered that Wade said he’d captured the bear. That didn’t mean there couldn’t be another one, or some other unlikely animal. She rolled out of her hammock and grabbed her knife. Not that a knife was going to be a lot of protection against a large animal, but it was something. The noise got louder, and then a man crashed through the brush.

  The pilot who’d flown the contestants to the island stood at the edge of the small clearing where they had made camp. By the moonlight Paige could see that his shirt and pants were torn and dirty, his left arm had a rag tied around it, stained with dried blood. He was sweating and breathing hard as though he’d been running.

  She ran over and put her shoulder under his arm just as his knees buckled. Paige helped him to the camp, let him down to the ground and sat in front of him. Up close she could see that his lip was cut and swollen. Blood had trickled down his stubbled chin and dried.

  “Got to get out of here,” he gasped between ragged breaths.

  “Why?’

  “They’re hunting you.”

  “Me?” Paige wondered if he was delirious from something.

  He shook his head and waved his hand to indicate the camp. “All of you.”

  His breathing was still labored, so Paige got up and poured him a cup of water. By the time he’d finished it and asked for another, his breathing had returned to normal.

  “Hey, what’s up?” Nick poked his head out of his tent.

  “The pilot just showed up. I don’t know what’s going on, but he’s injured.”

  Nick crawled out of the tent, unembarrassed at wearing nothing but cotton boxers featuring cartoon characters. “Sounds weird.” He followed Paige back to the pilot. She remembered that he’d introduced himself as Connor when they had boarded the small floater plane.

  She gave him another cup of water, and he gulped it down. Paige handed the cup to Nick and motioned him to bring more water. When Nick returned with the water, Paige woke everyone up. Whatever was going on, it sounded like something they all needed to hear.

  The grumbling at being awakened was replaced by surprised questions when they saw Connor. Paige motioned everyone to be quiet. Nick ran back to his tent and pulled out his camera.

  “You want to tell us what’s going on?” she asked.

  Connor nodded and took a deep breath. “I was unloading the provisions when I overheard the producers or whatever they are talking in another room. They were talking about how they hadn’t left a trail for anyone to find. That all of you had been told to not tell anyone where you were going or why.”

  Everyone nodded.

  “Then one of them said that you all had to go and this was the best way. They said that the camera man was just collateral damage.”

  Nick frowned and turned off his camera, laying it aside and giving all his attention to Connor. Paige tried to ignore the sick feeling in her stomach and told Connor to go on.

  “Then they said that if the pilots found out, they’d just take us out. More collateral damage.” Connor took another sip of water. “I guess it surprised me, and I dropped a bottle of wine. They heard the noise and came in. I tried to convince them that I hadn’t heard anything, but they weren’t buying it.”

  “What happened to your arm?” Paige asked.

  “One of them came after me with a knife. He slashed my arm, then knocked me out.”

  “What happened then?”

  “When I woke up, I was in the pantry. They were still talking. One of the men told the others to nail a board over the pantry door so I couldn’t get out and that he’d kill me after Wade sent all of you up here so you wouldn’t hear the gunshot.”

  Aleisha gasped and crossed her arms over her chest, hugging herself. Ty was shaking his head, chuckling under his breath. Kevin looked bored. Alex and Nick stared at Connor, mesmerized by his story.

  “Then one of them asked the others why they had to go through with the charade of it being a show, and another one said because it would make the hunt better.”

  “Oh, come on,” Ty said. “This is total bullshit!”

  “Why do you say that?” Paige asked him.

  “You don’t really believe this?” Ty laughed. “It’s just part of the game. They want to see what we’ll do, and if we don’t make the right choice, then we’ll lose points or something.”

  “I don’t think so.” Aleisha shook her head. “I think he’s telling the truth.”

  “Where was Wade when all this happened?” Paige asked Connor.

  “When we got to the house, he said he was going to look for the producers, see if they wanted anything special next time we brought provisions. I didn’t see him after that.”

  “Whoa, Paige,” Ty sneered. “You think your boyfriend is in on this? Think he’s one of the bad guys?”

  Paige ignored Ty and looked at Nick and Alex. “What do you two think?”

  “It doesn’t make any sense,” Alex said. “Either way doesn’t make any sense. Why would they drag us out here with a story about a television show just to kill us?”

  “Kevin?” Paige asked.

  “Who knows?” Kevin shrugged.

  “Look, they already paid us fifty thousand dollars each,” Ty protested. “I still say this is just part of the show.” He pointed a finger at Paige. “And you’re stupid enough to believe it.”

  “That doesn’t prove anything,” Paige said, annoyed at his attitude.

  “So how did he get out of the pantry? How did he find us?” Ty asked. “He got out of a barred door, stumbled over twelve miles through the jungle and just happened to find us?”

  “What’s your point, Ty?”

  “My point is that it’s total bullshit. He found us because Wade told him exactly where we’d be.”

  Connor looked at Ty. “I found you because I overheard that Wade was going to send you to the northern end of the island. I figured if you had any sense you’d travel along the beach, then go back into the jungle. You left a pretty clear trail.”

  “Man, I don’t know. I just signed on to be the cameraman, you know. Sounded like a fun job.” Nick shrugged. “I’m not even part of the team.”

  “Yeah.” Connor grimaced. “You’re collateral d
amage according to them. Just like Josh.”

  “Who’s Josh?” Paige asked.

  “My co-pilot. The killed him and shoved his body into the pantry with me.”

  “Oh, come on, you’re scaring them.” Ty laughed. “I can’t believe all you guys are buying into this. I bet that’s not even real blood on his bandage.” Ty reached over and ripped the bandage off Connor’s arm. Connor jerked in pain as the cut opened again and started to bleed.

  “That’s enough, Ty!” Paige stomped over to her pack and pulled out the small first aid kit. Connor stood up and glowered at Ty.

  “It’s probably just a scratch, put there to fool all of us.” “Everyone go back to sleep. I’ll stand watch, then we leave at first light.” Paige opened the first aid kit and pulled out a bottle of antiseptic.

  “Says who?” Ty sneered.

  “You’re welcome to stay here and see what happens tomorrow.” She dabbed at Connor’s arm with some antiseptic, ignoring his scowls and grunts.

  “As far as I’m concerned, I can do anything I want. Team Leader, my ass.” Ty stomped off to his tent and crawled inside.

  “This is more than a scratch,” Paige said to Connor as the others want back to their tents.

  “So you believe me?”

  “You haven’t given me any reason not to.” She applied a gauze pad and placed waterproof tape over it. “Strange story, though. And I’m worried about Wade.”

  “Worried about him?”

  “He could be as much a victim as the rest of us.”

  “Is he really your boyfriend?”

  “No. We became friends when he recruited me for the show, that’s all. There’s nothing between us.” Yet, Paige added to herself.

  “Good, because I’d bet he’s in on this with them. They didn’t say that, but a lot of the conversation sounded like he knew what was going on, like he helped set the whole thing up.”

  “You’d be wrong.” Who the hell was he to start passing judgment on Wade? “Wade wouldn’t have any part in something like that.”

  “I guess we’ll see eventually,” Connor said. “If you don’t mind, I’m going to sleep a bit. Been up all night.”

  “Take my hammock. I won’t be sleeping any more tonight.” It wasn’t a gracious offer, but then Connor didn’t accept it graciously either.

  He stomped over to the hammock while Paige sat in the dark and went over everything Connor had told them. She couldn’t find a hole in it. The producers had no reason to set this up. The contestants would only react in one of two ways. Wait for Wade to show up tomorrow and confront him about Connor’s story, or try to hide in the jungle. If they waited for Wade and he discounted Connor’s story, it was over. If they ran, the producers had no way to control the show, so what would be the point?

  From what Connor said, the point was to hunt the contestants down like animals. She resisted Connor’s idea that Wade was involved in this. She considered herself a good judge of character, but she had to admit that she didn’t really know him.

  CHAPTER

  NINE

  PAIGE WOKE EVERYONE SHORTLY BEFORE DAWN and told them to pack everything up.

  “Stupid. This is just stupid,” Ty said as he dismantled his tent and shoved it into the carrying bag.

  Paige ignored his protests, relieved he wasn’t choosing to stay behind alone. Everyone got their stuff together and stood in the middle of the camp, looking at her expectantly.

  “Try to not leave a trail as much as you can,” she instructed them. “Push stuff aside rather than break through it.” That turned out to be a waste of her breath. Connor and Nick seemed to know how to do that, but the others pretty much crashed through the brush, leaving a trail a blind man could follow. Paige was pretty sure Ty did it deliberately.

  After a couple of hours of hiking through the jungle, they came to a wide stream, and Paige knew this would probably be their only chance to cover their tracks.

  The stream was running east to west, which meant it would take them further into the rainforest. Right now, the only thing she could think of was to get the group far enough into the jungle to hide while they decided what to do.

  “Nick, I want you to backtrack a little ways, leaving a big trail off in that direction.” Paige pointed to the south. “Then come back here and join us in the stream. Make sure you get rid of any tracks from the jungle to the stream.”

  Nick nodded and took off. Paige waved everyone over to a spot covered with a lot of rocks. “Walk out to the stream, stay on the rocks. Don’t leave any footprints if you can help it.”

  Ty grumbled again but went along with the others. After they were all in the stream, Paige followed, checking for any traces of their path and doing her best to obliterate them. Nick came back in about twenty minutes and carefully made his way out to where the others stood in the middle of the shallow stream.

  The stream was less than a foot deep, and they were able to slog along at a good pace. Paige kept everyone in the water until they started to hit some rapids and the stream became narrower and deeper, then she directed them over to the opposite shore. They all climbed out of the stream onto some rocks and headed back into the jungle.

  By mid afternoon, everyone was exhausted, and Paige had found a spot that she thought would hide them well enough. Everyone dropped their packs and sat down. Paige had made sure to fill the water bladders at the river, and they had gathered some berries and caught a few fish, so they wouldn’t need to go away from camp again tonight. After they had cooked and eaten every scrap of food, she called them all together.

  “We need to talk about what we’re going to do about this situation.”

  “Well, there’s a novel approach. I didn’t think you wanted anybody’s opinion but your own,” Ty said.

  His attitude was starting to piss her off. “Well, let’s hear it, Ty. What’s your opinion?”

  Ty glared at her.

  “Come on, you’ve been mouthing off about my decisions. Tell us what you think about this.”

  Ty pointed to Connor. “I think he’s a liar. I think this whole thing was dreamed up as part of the show. And I think you’ve totally screwed up as Team Leader.”

  “If this is all part of the show, then what’s the point? What did they hope to accomplish by sending me to you with an outrageous tale?” Connor asked.

  “It was probably a test, and now the whole team is most likely out of the competition, thanks to her.” Ty jerked his thumb toward Paige.

  “Well, if that were the case, then wouldn’t I have told you when you all decided to not meet Wade?”

  Ty looked stumped for a minute, then recovered. “Maybe it’s something different. Maybe we’re just losing points, and the longer we stay in hiding, the more points we lose.”

  Everyone was quiet for a moment, then Connor stood up and walked over to Ty, looming over him. “Do you honestly think I’d let myself be cut with a knife just for a television show? I can assure you that is not a possibility.” Connor’s size and the anger chiseled on his craggy face made Ty take a couple of steps back.

  “Any other opinions?” Paige looked at each person in the group.

  “I don’t know what to think,” Aleisha said quietly. “But I’d rather be cautious than dead.”

  “I have to agree with Aleisha,” Nick said. “Actually, I don’t know that I get to have an opinion since I’m not a contestant, but I sure as hell know that I wasn’t told of anything like this when I signed on.”

  “I’ll go with caution too, at least until we know more.” Alex stood up. “But right now I need to go for a leak.”

  Everyone chuckled at his announcement, except Ty. Looking at Ty, Paige felt incredibly weary. Dealing with him was an uphill battle. Was being Team Leader worth this hassle? Then she remembered that it wasn’t just being Team Leader on a television show. This was beginning to really look like survival. And if Ty took over and possibly convinced everyone that he was right, it could be disastrous for all of them. As much as Paige w
ished he was right, she just couldn’t believe it.

  Suddenly Alex screamed, and everyone rushed in the direction he’d taken. About thirty yards from the camp they found Alex lying on his side, mouth twisted in a grimace of pain. Paige looked down the length of his body and saw that his foot was wedged in a trap. Blood already stained his sock.

  Connor and Paige sprinted to where he lay. Connor squatted at his side and examined the trap. He pushed a lever and the trap sprang open. Alex screamed again.

  “I don’t think it’s broken,” Connor said as he helped Alex to his feet.

  “Move!” Paige threw her left arm against Connor, pushing him and Alex off their feet. With her right hand she pulled her knife from the sheath at the small of her back and threw it at the tree just behind them.

  Connor looked at the tree and the knife buried in a small poisonous snake, then grinned at her. “Nice trick.” He nodded at the trap. “You want to bring that back to camp?”

  Paige picked up the trap, retrieved her knife and followed Connor and the others back. Connor laid Alex down and examined his foot.

  “You’re lucky,” Connor said, pulling Alex’s boot off. “The trap cut into your ankle and bruised the hell out of it, but it doesn’t seem to be broken.”

  “Why not?” Paige looked at the trap.

  “What?” Conner looked up at her.

  “The trap. It’s plenty big enough to break a man’s leg.”

  “True,” Connor agreed.

  “And what’s it doing out here anyway?” she wondered. “Maybe it was to trap that bear you supposedly saw the first day.” Ty smirked at her in a way that made her want to slap him.

  “You saw a bear?” Connor asked.

  “During the first competition.” Paige nodded. “It was a few miles south of here. The next day, Wade told me he’d shot the bear with a tranquilizer gun and it was being shipped to a zoo.”

  “I don’t know that I’d believe anything Wade had to say,” Connor replied. He got up and poured some water into a cup. “You have anything I can use to clean his wound?”

  “I don’t think we should be accusing Wade of anything since we don’t have any knowledge of his involvement.”