‘Did you sleep okay?’ Lockie asks me as we set off.
‘I’ve had better,’ I tell him plainly.
And now… time to try breaking into a building that I know for a fact is super secure. This ought to be fun.
25
I’m not sure if the old production building looks bigger or smaller than I remember. Smaller, I think, compared to how much space we had on the yacht, but bigger because, you know, I live outside now.
Lockie takes charge, approaching the purpose-built structure, looking for somewhere to get in. The hatch – the one that auto-opens for us – is locked, and the only way to override it is with the keypad. We’re real contestants, at the end of the day, so we don’t have the code.
‘There must be a way to get the hatch open?’ Tony says. ‘Can we guess the code?’
‘There must be hundreds of potential codes,’ Camilla says.
‘Thousands,’ Honey adds.
Lockie kneels beside it and gives the lock a determined pull. Then he tries a code.
‘Well, it’s not 1234,’ he says with a laugh.
‘Try 0000,’ Honey suggests.
I think we all know that’s a waste of time.
It’s tamper-proof, like everything else, I know that for a fact.
‘So what now?’ Camilla practically groans. ‘We just die here?’
Christ, we’re not there yet, are we?
‘We eat,’ Ozzy says, nodding his head slowly. ‘Survival comes first. We’ll worry about rescue after we’re fed.’
I think we all know by now that there is a fate worse than death, and it’s Ozzy not getting his protein. Well, what would we all do without Island Daddy?
‘We need to be proactive,’ he says. ‘I’ll catch us some fish – Cleo, fancy being my assistant?’
‘Sure,’ I reply.
‘I’ll gather some coconuts,’ Tony says. ‘This is, like, the home of coconuts. We’ll always have them.’
‘Coconuts aren’t actually from here,’ Honey muses.
‘What are you talking about?’ Tony says with a laugh. ‘Of course coconuts are from here. They’re everywhere.’
‘Oh yeah, duh,’ Honey says with a chuckle. She knocks herself on the head with her knuckles.
‘Right then, I’ll collect coconuts,’ Tony says. ‘You two are on fishing duty. What else?’
‘Honey, Camilla, you two boil water – I’ve already been to the stream to collect some,’ Ozzy says. ‘We’ll all be thirsty when we’re done. And Lockie…’
‘I’m staying here,’ Lockie tells him, running a hand over one of the walls. ‘I’ll keep trying to find a way in. There has to be a weakness somewhere.’
Ozzy frowns. ‘Sounds like a waste of energy, but it’s yours to waste,’ he replies.
Lockie’s eyes don’t move from the wall.
‘Maybe,’ he replies. ‘Worth a shot though, right? If you guys have everything else covered.’
