21
Dropping down from the tree as quietly as I can, I head in the direction Regina was walking and come across her far sooner than I’d anticipated, because she’s walking in circles.
“You can have it!” She says, wide-eyed, as I approach, holding out her puzzle piece with trembling fingers. “I don’t understand it anyway.”
“I don’t want your clue,” I shake my head. “I’m no good at puzzles either.”
“I’m not worth killing!” She squeaks. “Honestly, I’m not.”
“Shut up. I’m not planning on killing you,” I snort. “Not tonight anyway.”
I don’t bother adding that I probably won’t need to if my plan executes as I anticipate.
“So we’ll work together?” She asks breathlessly.
“No,” I shake my head, “I’m going my own route, but I’ll help you a little. I’ll make you a deal.”
She frowns but nods as I continue to scan our surroundings. Stepping closer I draw her towards the broad trunk of a nearby tree where there’s less chance of us being seen by either another competitor, or the man with the gun.
“Listen,” I whisper, “I’m going to win this in another way, if you get my drift?”
She nods for me to go on, although I don’t think she has any idea what I’m talking about.
“You can have my puzzle piece and I’ll tell you something else I’ve discovered. But the deal is that you and I need to swap clothes.”
“Clothes?” She frowns. “You want my swimwear?”
I shake my head and try to think of a reason I can give her as to why I might want her clothes.
“I don’t want your swimwear, but it’s got way more coverage than mine, and I’ll find it easier to fight in. Also, mine’s wet and chafing me when I run. You put on my red swimsuit, and I’ll put on your white. And I want your shirt too.”
“I don’t know….” She chews her lip as she considers my suggestion.
“Regina,” I hiss, “we don’t have time to fuck around. I’ll give you my puzzle piece and an advantage; it’s the best offer you’re going to get right now. You’re walking around in circles for Christ’s sake!”
“OK, OK,” she whispers, her eyes even wider than before. “What’s the advantage?”
“This.”
I hold up the backpack and point to the stitching.
“Look at your pack. The stitching is a map. Follow it and it’ll help you get to the top of the mountain. With two puzzle pieces you might get there first and solve the riddle or whatever it is before anyone else.”
“I doubt it,” she whines, “I never would have found that map. Are you sure we can’t work together?”
I sigh heavily. “What does your piece say?”
She hands it over and I read her clue.
‘He could resist everything except temptation.’
It might as well be hieroglyphics for all the help it gives me.
“Who do you think this is talking about?” Regina asks, her voice hushed. “The Bachelor?”
“I have no fucking idea.”
“Is it the name of the person the clue is talking about? Or is the person the answer to the puzzle?”
“Regina,” I snap, “I told you, I’m no good at these things. What I am good at is violence. So, are you going to swap clothes or not?”
“Yes, of course,” she frowns, already starting to peel off her clothes, “you don’t need to get mean about it.”
“I didn’t intend to threaten you,” I scowl, undressing quickly. “If I wanted you dead, you’d already be dead. I just meant that I need to get moving, and so do you.”
I don’t bother telling her that in addition to having violent tendencies, I’m also good at strategy — and right now I’m making a highly strategic, and if I’m right, potentially fatal (for her) move.
She huffs and hands over her clothes, and we quickly swap. I hadn’t told her about the puzzle piece holes aligning with the stars because I don’t think it has any relevance other than maybe to confuse us, but I know the map is a game-changer for her.
When we’re dressed in each other’s swimsuits I nod to her and turn away before she can ask again for my help. I feel a moment, just a tiny moment, of remorse at what I’ve just done, but it passes quickly, and I sprint off up the mountain without looking back.
As I run I ruminate over the clues we both had.
Neither made any sense. I know myself well enough to know that puzzles aren’t my strength.
I hadn’t been lying when I told Regina this.
And I realise I’m going to need to come up with a plan before I reach the summit if I intend to break my streak of coming last in fucking everything in this game — last is definitely not where I want to be tonight.
Moving fast but stealthily to ensure I remain undetected by both competitors and the man with the gun, I keep moving upwards, the route easy to follow now that I’ve memorised the map.
After about twenty minutes of climbing I see Khutulun about fifteen metres or so ahead of me, making her way through a rocky outcrop. She notices me too and pauses to hurl a boulder at me.
‘Oh, you bitch!’
I bite my hand at her and speed up as she half bends to pick up another rock, but changes her mind and spins to run. Perhaps she realises the threat my action poses.
‘If I catch you…!’
Where I come from if someone gestures that way, you run. But it’s more likely, given how fast I’m advancing upon her, that she’s decided it would be prudent for her to run rather than wasting time trying to hit a moving target in the darkness.
Still, her assault is a salient reminder that it’s not just enemies from outside of The Game I need to be aware of.
This helps me steel my heart a little to the knowledge that I’d signed Regina’s death warrant earlier, something I promise myself I’ll take great pleasure in doing to Khutulun at the next challenge.
But not this one, because I’m not following the path she led through the rocks.
My map indicates a small goat track running around the rim of the mountainside beneath a stretch of rocky terrain.
‘She must not have the map.’
I can’t help but laugh out loud as not twenty minutes later I reach the summit and find myself alone.
It’s obvious I’ve found the right spot because in the centre of the small clearing stands a sawn-off tree stump, on top of which lines have been drawn showing the outline of puzzle pieces.
It’s clear that once the pieces are all together the clues should give us the answer to whatever it is we need to relay to the bachelor.
I chew my lip as I consider the stump and the best course of action now that I’m here.
My only option, really, is to wait for more clues.
I no longer have my puzzle piece, but I know what both mine and Regina’s said, and I roughly remember their shape.
If enough clues are assembled I’ll probably be able to fill in the gaps, which would give me an advantage.
‘I just need to hide and wait.’
I decide to once again pick the tallest tree and climb.
A few minutes later, having reached the highest branch I can, I rest my head against the bark and consider my predicament from every angle.
I don’t think there was any other course of action I could have taken once I’d seen the gunman.
And I don’t think there’s anything else I can do now that will enable me to solve the puzzle other than to wait it out.
Fortunately, I don’t have too long to second-guess myself, because just a few minutes later the sound of hushed conversation reaches me and, straining, I make out shapes heading towards the clearing from the opposite direction I’d come.
They’d obviously forged their own pathway up the mountain rather than follow the map.
Surprisingly, the voices belong to the Zurich twins and the Australian — an alliance I hadn’t suspected on the drive over.
I strain to hear what they’re saying as they reach the stump and place their three pieces in the slots that match.
But just like me, they still can’t figure out the riddle.
And just like me, they meld back into the trees surrounding the clearing.
What they plan next I don’t know, because I can’t hear them or see them any longer.
Biting my lip, I consider the new variables.
‘If I were them and I had an alliance of three, yet still couldn’t figure out the puzzle, what would I do?’
The answer comes just moments later when Evelyn and Cherry arrive on the summit and immediately find themselves confronted.
The twins and Miranda obviously don’t have plans to just wait for the answer after everyone has solved the puzzle, and the argument that ensues becomes close to violent before my roommate and her ally reluctantly hand over their pieces.
I imagine I’ll hear all about this from Evelyn when we return to our room tonight and have to pretend to appear shocked and disturbed.
Her suspicion of the twins had been well-founded, or so it seems. I could probably drop from my tree and swing the balance of power in their favour, but I don’t have any reason to want to help either the American or the English competitor.
In fact, I’m a little pissed the twins didn’t use violence in the first instance — it would have negated two girls I want out of the game.
But without weapons, this was problematic.
They really only had threats at their disposal.
Frowning, I roll my eyes as I watch them all huddle around the trunk. Even with five pieces they can’t work it out.
‘For fuck’s sake!’
I shake my head in disgust as all five of them, those who’d lost their pieces and those who’d gained them through threats of violence, resolve with defeated expressions to wait and see who arrives next, before once more melding into the shadows of the treeline.
Unlike me, they choose to leave their pieces in situ, perhaps hoping someone else will solve the puzzle and they can, all five, strong-arm them into revealing the answer.
‘And so enemies become allies — interesting. Although perhaps the twins hadn’t decided to murder Evelyn for a reason…
ahhh, of course. When she’d told them they couldn’t stay in the room with her and they’d left immediately…
. It was right there, right in front of me, and I hadn’t picked up on it. They have a secret alliance.’
Shaking my head at my own stupidity for missing something so obvious, I watch them all disappear into the thick understorey.
Turning, I look in the opposite direction, hoping that from my vantage point I’ll be the first to see any new competitor who might approach, when my eye is caught by a slight movement in a tree close to mine.
I almost fall off my branch in astonishment when I realise I’m staring straight at Laura, the Brazilian, her legs wrapped around a branch just as mine are, as she turns her puzzle piece this way and that.
Realising she’s being watched, she looks up and meets my eyes, her own flashing with resolution.
I can’t help but be impressed as she stands and vaults to another branch like some kind of giant squirrel before hitting the ground running.
Reaching the tree stump with the puzzle, she slots her piece in amid those on the stump and, turning, her smile wide and triumphant, spins and races from the clearing and back down the mountainside.
Dropping like a stone I reach the puzzle seconds before those who had been hiding further back, and the answer also hits me like a tonne of bricks. Spinning on my heel, I race down the mountain behind her, my path memorised and clear, the answer committed to memory.
It was an Oscar Wilde quote that we had to decipher and repeat: "We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars."
“Whoever thought up this challenge is a complete and utter cazzo,” I puff as I run down the mountainside following the squirrel.
I don’t know how long she’d been waiting in the tree just as I had, or if she’d even seen me up until I spotted her.
But it’s clear as I follow her that she must have figured out the map, because she’s racing ahead of me along exactly the same route downhill.
I know there’s no chance the others will catch up.
Firstly, they needed to solve the puzzle minus the two pieces I’d given to the Mexican, which might not be so easy if you’re unfamiliar with literature.
Secondly, it was apparent they hadn’t found the trail that Laura and I are running on.
I’ll make her my ally the moment we got back to the mansion. She’s exactly the kind of teammate I need. The impetus I’ll use to get her to accept an alliance with me will be the hate she’ll face from winning this first competition and proving herself physically and mentally superior to us all.
Because although I know that if I speed up I’ll beat her to the beach, I absolutely plan to let her win.