Chapter 11 #3
I watch Alina and Juan out of the corner of my eye. My plan should work even if one of them plays the idol, but I’m curious as to whether they managed to find it despite our efforts. Actually, it might be better if they do play it—then it would be one less thing to worry about going forward.
But neither of them moves or says anything, and after waiting for a few seconds, Alex nods. “In that case, I’ll read the votes,” he says, opening the urn. “Once the votes are read, the decision is final, and the person voted out will be asked to leave immediately.”
He reaches into the urn and pulls a parchment out, turning it to reveal my handwriting. “First vote: Alina.
“Juan.
“Ryan.
“Juan.
“Ryan. That’s two votes Ryan, two votes Juan, one vote Alina, one vote left.”
He reaches into the urn, the entire set dead silent, and pulls out the last parchment. He looks at it for a moment, then shows the six of us what it says: “Alina.”
I let out a deep sigh of relief. So far, so good. I would have preferred not to get any votes, but ultimately it won’t matter, not tonight.
“The votes are tied,” Alex continues. “According to the rules of Marooned, we will now have a revote. Alina, Juan, and Ryan: you cannot vote. Marina, Katie, and Rhonda: you can vote, but only for one of the other three.” He points to my left.
“Marina, you’re up first. Take the urn with you when you go into the voting booth. ”
He hands the urn to Marina, who walks towards the hut as I lean back in my seat and look up to the sky.
I suppose I’m not quite out of the woods yet.
My alliance could still choose to stab me in the back, as unlikely as that seems. But so far, everything is proceeding according to my plan. Just one step left.
Once Marina gets back, Katie goes to vote, then Rhonda, the latter clasping my shoulder and giving me a brief smile as she sits back down.
This time around, Alex returns very quickly with the urn. “Again, once the votes are read, the decision is final, and the person voted out will be asked to leave immediately,” he says. “I’ll read the votes.
“First vote: Juan.”
He pulls the second parchment out of the urn and slowly opens it, looking at the name written on it. “The seventh person voted out is …” He reveals the vote to us. “Juan. That’s two, that’s enough. Please hand me your insignia.”
Juan stands up and takes off his necklace, handing it to Alex.
“Juan, your time in this game has come to an end,” Alex says, snapping the token on Juan’s insignia in half. “It’s time for you to go.”
Day 16
I’ve barely had time to make myself tea on the morning of day sixteen when Neema drags me off to do a confessional.
As I walk with her, I think back to the night before.
It’s never fun coming back from tribal: everyone is always relieved that it wasn’t them going home, but also upset that it had to be someone, especially if it was one of their allies.
Last night was no different. Alina, of course, took Juan’s leaving the hardest, and she was much more withdrawn than she had been when we first met her hours before.
Meanwhile, the four of us were happy that our plan worked, although we tried to temper down our enthusiasm so as not to alienate Alina.
Now, as Neema gets me set up and has me sit down on the beach next to a tidal pool, I feel a smile spreading across my face almost involuntarily.
We really pulled it off! I mean, I was pretty sure it would work, but years of watching this show have taught me that there’s always a chance something can go wrong.
Apparently, Neema has noticed my upbeat expression, because her first question to me is, “So, Ryan, I’m guessing you’re pretty happy with how tribal went down last night?”
“Yeah, you could say I’m pretty happy with it,” I reply, still smiling. “I mean, nothing against Juan—he seemed like a nice guy. But we’re coming up to the merge, and I need to make sure to keep as many trustworthy people as I can around.”
“Is that why you chose to target Juan over Alina? Do you think she’s more trustworthy?”
I shrug. “Not really. Juan just seemed like he’d be a bit more of a threat in challenges going forward, and that will really matter once we get to the individual phase of the game.
Plus, Alina’s more talkative, and we figured she might let something slip about the other tribe’s dynamics that we can use to get an advantage.
In the end, though, I would have been okay with either of them going home. ”
“It seems like you had a plan going in to ensure that would be the case, even if one of them found the hidden immunity idol. Can you detail what the plan was and how you pulled it off?”
“The plan was to force a tie. We couldn’t just pile all our votes on one of them and hope for the best, because if we chose wrong, one of us would go home.
So instead, we forced a tie—that way, if one of them played the idol, it would have been two to two, and on the revote we’d just vote for the other one.
The only way it could have gotten messed up would have been if one of the four of us flipped or voted for the wrong person, but obviously that didn’t happen. ”
Neema nods; she’s not really showing it, but I can tell from her faint smile that she’s impressed. “Given that neither of them played the idol last night, do you think it’s still hidden out there somewhere? Or do you think someone found it and is waiting to play it?”
I pause to think about it for a moment. “I would guess that nobody’s found the idol yet, although I suppose it’s possible that Alina found it and just got lucky last night. I doubt it, though. If I were in her situation, and I had the idol, I definitely would have played it.”
“What about the other members of your alliance?” Neema prods. “Do you think one of them has the idol?”
“I’d like to think that if they did, they would’ve told the rest of us. But, again, I suppose it’s possible someone found it and just kept quiet about it.”
“If you found the idol, would you tell your alliance about it?”
I open my mouth to say yes, of course I would tell them, but I stop myself before the words come out.
Would I tell them? “I … guess I haven’t really thought about it,” I say slowly, tapping my finger against my thigh.
“I mean, yeah, maybe I would tell them if I found it. But there would be advantages to keeping it hidden, so there’s a chance I would keep it a secret. ”
Neema nods again and moves on to another subject, but I answer on autopilot, still thinking about the idol.
On the one hand, I do trust my alliance, and I’d like to believe they’d be honest with me if one of them found it.
But on the other hand, whoever finds the idol will immediately have a target on their back.
I don’t think my alliance sees me as a threat, but we all know that only one person can win this game, and I don’t want to give anyone a reason to vote me out.