Chapter 7
The vibe at the tribe beach later that night is tense, to say the least. The eight of us who remain sit around the fire, chatting quietly with each other, our voices a low murmur over the crackle of the fire.
Beck, Joe, and Jing are all downcast—which is to be expected, I suppose—and none of them really says much, although they do occasionally glare at the rest of us.
To be honest, their scowls don’t really bother me.
Nothing against Ashley, but nobody wants to be the first person voted out, and I’m just glad I’m still here.
The rest of my alliance seems equally satisfied, if not necessarily overconfident.
Well, all of us except Cole, who alternates between being relieved that he’s still around and shaken that it was so close in the first place.
I guess he really didn’t know he was being targeted.
Or maybe he just didn’t trust me not to vote him out.
Not that he really should have trusted me, given how close I came to writing his name down.
And yet, even though I’ve had a chance to mull it over, I don’t regret my choice to keep him around.
In the end, I just felt more comfortable working with Rhonda and her alliance.
Beck, Joe, Jing, and Ashley seemed like a tight foursome, and I knew that if I went with them, they’d cut me loose sooner or later.
I couldn’t take the chance of that, not with my and Arielle’s future at stake.
At least with Rhonda, Marina, and Katie, I feel like I’m on relatively equal footing, even if I was the last one to join the alliance.
As for Cole… There’s no denying that he’s a threat, in more ways than one.
But it’s still early, and it’s not like he’s some unstoppable juggernaut.
As long as I’m careful and do my best to keep my focus on winning the game, I think I can work with him.
I’m sure I’ll have multiple chances to get rid of him in the future if I need to.
Going to tribal council must have really messed with my head, because right now the thought of getting rid of Cole just feels …
I don’t know, wrong, somehow. And I could swear there’s a little voice in the back of my head that’s telling me to go talk to him, to assure him that I would never vote him out, if only to see him smile at me. I must really be exhausted.
That must be it, because as the adrenaline from going to tribal wears off, I can barely keep my eyes open.
I feel like I haven’t slept in years, and the makeshift bed calls to me, its siren song growing with every passing minute.
I’m not the only one who hears it, because people are starting to drift off to the shelter, and we’ve only been back for fifteen minutes.
I can’t really say I blame them. It’s been a long day, and if we’re lucky, we’ve got a whole month of long days ahead of us.
But just as I’m about to join the exodus and go to bed, Rhonda comes up to me and lays her hand on my arm. “Can I talk to you privately?” she asks, her voice low. “Just for a moment, I promise.”
I’d much rather sleep, but this could be important, so I nod, letting her lead me down the beach away from the camp. The one overnight cameraman looks torn as to whether to follow us or stay with the rest of the tribe, but after a moment of indecision, he settles on the former.
Once we’ve gotten some distance from the shelter, Rhonda stops walking and turns to look at me. “I just wanted to say thank you,” she says, her face flickering in the light of the fire. “I know you could have voted with the other group tonight, but you made the right move in the end.”
I shake my head. “You don’t have to thank me,” I say quietly. “I’m sorry I took so long to decide.”
“Oh, don’t you worry about that, chile,” she replies, patting my arm.
“Like I said at tribal, there ain’t any easy votes out here.
As much as I might have wanted it to be Ashley, it’s God’s honest truth that I still had a tough time writin’ down her name on that parchment.
Besides, I knew you’d make the right decision in the end.
” She sighs. “You know, you remind me of my son. He may not be the strongest or the fastest one out there, but he's got a good heart, and I can already tell that you do too.” She taps me lightly on the chest. “I guess what I’m tryin’ to say is that I already knew I liked you, but tonight proved that I can trust you.
And that means you’re someone I want to work with. ”
My vision goes blurry, and it takes a moment to realize it’s because I’m tearing up a bit.
She could be lying to me to gain my trust, but she really does sound like she means it.
“I trust you too,” I say. And I guess I really do, about as much as I can trust anyone I’ve only known for three days.
“So it’s you, me, Katie, Marina, and Cole to the final five, then? ”
“That’s the idea,” she agrees. “But final two sounds a lot better than final five in my book.” She holds out her hand. “What do you say, Ryan? You and me to the end?”
I only need a second to think before I take her hand and shake it. “You’ve got yourself a deal,” I tell her. Even if she’s not telling the truth, I’d be a fool to turn her down. “You and me to the end.”
Day 4
I wake up a few hours later, well before dawn, to find that it’s raining.
It isn’t particularly heavy, but it’s enough to soak through our shelter’s palm-frond roof.
I quickly leave the shelter and grab my bag, taking out a hoodie—one of the few pieces of clothing I was allowed to bring with me that I’m not already wearing—and putting it on.
But soon it’s soaked through, leaving me even wetter and colder than before.
Trying to sleep in these conditions is miserable, to the point that I almost feel jealous of Ashley. At least she has a roof over her head and a real bed to sleep on. Every time I manage to drift off, a raindrop plonks down on my head, or the wind picks up, and I’m awake again.
Finally, maybe a couple of hours after I first woke up, I give up and open my eyes. I don’t think there’s going to be a challenge today, so hopefully at some point the rain will end and I can nap.
But even though the sky grows marginally brighter as dawn turns to morning, the sun remains hidden by thick, gray clouds, and the rain stubbornly refuses to let up.
In fact, if anything, it just gets heavier as the hours pass.
As leaky as the shelter is, it at least provides some protection from the downpour, so the eight of us huddle together under the palm fronds, shivering and waiting for the weather to improve.
At one point, the rain lessens slightly, and Jing and Marina decide to see if they can get a fire started—assuming there’s any dry kindling left—and cook some rice.
Marina had been sitting between Cole and me, and when she gets up, he notices me shivering in my hoodie and holds his arm out with a tired smile.
“I don’t have much body heat to give right now, but you look like you need it,” he says, giving me a tired grin.
I internally debate whether to take him up on his offer, but only for a second. It feels awkward to cuddle up against a hot guy that I barely know, but right now I’ll take any excuse to get even a tiny bit of warmth.
So I scootch up next to him, laying my head on his shoulder. It’s not the most comfortable position, and he was right about not having much warmth to give. Plus, I’m not really sure I want to get any closer to him, at least in the metaphorical sense.
But it’s better than nothing, and my hood works as a cushion to protect me from his rock-hard shoulder. In fact, if I wasn’t currently soaking wet and colder than ice, I’d say this feels pretty damn good.
“Are you sure this is okay?” I ask, already dreading the answer. “I don’t want you to freeze to death.”
In response, he wraps his muscular arm around me, squeezing me and pulling me even closer. “Don’t worry, Ry,” he says, so softly I wouldn’t be able to hear him if his mouth wasn’t right next to my ear. “I’ve got you.”
Day 5
The rain continues throughout that day and into the next night, making all of us miserable.
Once again, I get next to no sleep. I knew this game wasn’t for the faint of heart, but it’s one thing to know it and another to experience it.
I just keep reminding myself that it’s only a few days, and that Arielle had to deal with much worse when she was going through chemo.
At least I know that I only have to do this for twenty-eight more days, max, and then I can go home and get back to normal.
The only other silver lining is that the other tribe has to be going through the same thing we are.
They do have a tarp, but I don’t think that would make a huge difference.
At least, I hope it doesn’t—not because I wish ill on them, but because it would mean they’re more rested than us, and could have an advantage in the next challenge.
Speaking of which, once we’re all awake, Neema lets us know that the motorboat will be in a few hours to take us to the challenge area.
Soon thereafter, the rain begins to lessen, and when we all climb onto the boat, it’s stopped completely.
In fact, during our short jaunt, the sun starts to poke through the clouds, giving me hope that I’ll least be able to get two or three hours of sleep tonight.
Of course, that’s assuming that we don’t lose the challenge. I don’t think I’m on the chopping block, but you never know. Anything is possible in this game.