Chapter Thirty-One
Along moment passes in which we’re all frozen. And then I stay frozen while everyone else springs into action. I hang back as everyone crowds around the man, shouting directions and questions at one another. I inch closer. Do I even want to know?
The man has fallen forward on his stomach. Trina, suddenly in nurse mode, rushes over and turns him on his side. I close my eyes.
I hear a wave of gasps.
“Is that—”
“Oh my god!”
“But I thought—”
I open my eyes and take a tentative step closer, craning my neck. His cheeks are sunken, and his face is scratched and yellowed from bruises, but his features are familiar, which is comforting for a brief moment, until I realize who it is.
“Garrett!”
Trina gestures for everyone to stand back. She checks his vitals, murmuring soothingly to him the whole time.
It’s Garrett, who went home days ago. And now he’s here.
“Someone get him some water,” Trina says, in a self-assured voice I’ve never heard before.
For some reason, they all look at me. They don’t realize I’m frozen, totally useless.
Thankfully, someone else takes charge, and within moments, Trina is holding a cup to Garrett’s lips.
He’s semi-conscious now, his lips reaching for the cup, but most of it ends up going down his chin.
“That’s good, you’re doing so good,” Trina coos. He tries another sip and manages to get more of it down this time. After a few more sips, he’s fully conscious.
“Food,” he says in a weak, raspy voice. I know that every bite of our dinner has been eaten, but Kei produces a granola bar—the kind he keeps on hand for blood sugar emergencies.
Trina breaks it into small pieces and feeds it to Garrett bite by bite.
He takes some more water, more confidently now, and even manages a small, grateful smile for Trina.
“Bro, what are you doing here?” Isa is the one to ask the question on everyone’s lips. But Trina holds up her hand and shakes her head.
“No, absolutely not.”
“But—”
“I said no. You’ve got questions, I get it, we all do, but right now, Garrett needs to rest. Kei, can you help me get him back up to camp?”
“But I want to know why he drugged us,” Sue-Ellen says.
“And you can ask him. In the morning.” This no-nonsense version of Trina is doing my head in. Where has she been this whole time?
“She’s right,” Kei says. “He needs to rest. We all do. We can have a meeting in the morning, alright?”
“But what about Damian and Giovanni?” Harmony asks, tears in her eyes. “They aren’t back yet. We should be looking for them.”
“Yeah,” says Valeria. “We need to get a search party together.”
“We will,” says Kei. “In the morning. Hey,” he says, seeing how Harmony’s chin has started to quiver. “They’re alright. They probably just lost track of time.”
“I’m ready.” Garrett’s voice is barely more than a wheeze. Every head whips around to face him. Trina starts to fawn over him, but he waves her off. “I’m okay,” he tells her. “I want to.”
She makes him take more water and helps him up into a seated position. He takes a deep breath, coughs, and then tries again. We all watch his every move, unable to tear our eyes away as he comes back to life before us.
“It was Tyler,” he says, his voice still raspy, but stronger. “Tyler spiked the punch.”
I feel my breath catch in my throat. I look at Kei. His mouth is hanging open in what appears to be genuine shock.
“Tyler the producer?” Sue-Ellen says.
Garrett nods, grim-faced.
“But why would he do that?” Trina asks.
Garrett shrugs. “To create drama?” He takes another long sip of water. “I figured it out the next morning, with that hangover. That wasn’t a normal hangover, and I knew it. I, uh, I used to go clubbing a lot, and I know the feeling of a Molly comedown.” He glances around, looking sheepish.
“No judgement,” Valeria says.
Garrett smiles weakly. “I went through the garbage that morning. The cups we were using that night, the red ones, they all had this residue on them, and that’s when I knew for sure.
I confronted Tyler about it, and he denied it, of course.
He said that if I said anything about it to anyone else, they’d send me home.
I should have just told you guys, ’cause they sent me home anyway. ”
“But you were voted off,” says Harmony. “America voted you off, remember?”
Garrett shakes his head. “That’s what they said, but I knew they were lying. If America had voted me off, then why not just send me home? Wait the two days to make up for the lag in production, and then I should have been good to go, right? But they wouldn’t let me leave.”
“So, you’re saying there was no vote?” asks Harmony, her face twisted in confusion.
“There was no vote,” Garrett says, shaking his head. “They just used that as an excuse to kick me off.”
“And you’ve been here the whole time?” Kei asks. Garrett nods.
“At first, I thought I was going home. They told me to pack my bags, and I was put in this other cabin by myself, with strict instructions not to leave or talk to anyone else. After two days, Tyler came and told me there had been a problem with the network, and they hadn’t gone to air when they’d expected, so I’d have to stay a little longer, until things were on track.
I asked him to bring me more food, because I was getting low, but he never did, so a few days later, I took matters into my own hands.
I snuck out—not sure what time it was, but it was late.
My plan was to sneak into the crew cabins and steal some food.
I came through the woods, and when I got there, I could see Gabby holding these two massive suitcases, walking toward the beach path.
“The door to their cabin was wide open, and Tyler was outside, tying a huge duffel bag onto the back of one of the four-wheelers. And I just felt so fucking mad. I should have kept my mouth shut but I couldn’t just watch them leave, so I confronted him.
” Garrett sighs heavily and looks down at the ground.
I can feel the blood slowing in my veins, becoming thick and sluggish.
My limbs become leaden as I feel myself sinking into the log, rooting me like I might never leave.
I watch with dull curiosity as the other campers all have some version of the same reaction—fury and disgust and fear distorting their beautiful faces, crying and sniffling and moaning. But I don’t do any of those things.
I’m frozen. Numb.
“What did he tell you?” Harmony asks.
Garrett indicates to Trina that he needs more water. He takes a long sip and a deep breath. “He said they were in deep shit, that the show hadn’t been picked up by a network, and they’d run out of money. And then when I started asking questions, he just went off.” Garrett stops, closes his eyes.
Trina touches his arm. “We can finish this in the morning.”
Garrett shakes his head. “No,” he sighs. “It’s just—” His voice cracks.
“It’s okay, Garrett, we’ve got you,” Valeria says.
“He beat the shit out of me. I think he thought he’d killed me, because he left me for dead in the middle of the woods.”
This revelation should invoke terror, but I just feel a heavy stone of dread settle in my stomach.
“He left you alone in the woods to die?” Harmony gasps.
Garrett shakes his head slowly, his eyes downcast. “Not alone. There was another body.”