“No,” Carter says plainly.
Dean curls up like a stink bug, trying to shield his face from view. Helpful, as always.
Blake looks less than pleased, lips pursed thin, but ultimately stands down. “Alright. Well, our three alliances, let me drop the other shoe that our host forgot to mention yesterday. Teams mustsplitany points they win or lose.”
That changes things. Siddharth and Adin take one look at each other, then unanimously nod and scoot away subtly.
“Maybe we’re better off on our own,” Siddharth says, scratching his neck. “No hard feelings, bro?”
“No, no,” Adin’s quick to say, waving his hands in the air. “No hard feelings foryou,bro.”
“None here, bro.”
“Brother, I’m telling you? None here either.”
Aeneas, on the other side of Adin, leans away even as the boy keeps scooting into their personal bubble.
CONFESSION TAPE—Aeneas Hudson, Contestant
How did I end up here, like on the show? Well… sometimes I have trouble stepping outside of my comfort zone. So my therapist gave me a challenge: For one week, instead of turning down new and uncomfortable opportunities, I have to say yes. To all of them.
I got the email asking me to be a contestant during that week.
[strained]
On daysixof that week.
I look over at Dean, who swallows thickly, his Adam’s apple bobbing. I hold my fist between us, knuckles out.
“We can do it,” I reassure him. “We’ll win so many points together it doesn’t matter that we have to split them.”
Dean’s honey eyes widen in surprise. I nod at him, certain, and watch as some confidence bleeds into his expression. He smiles back, albeit hesitantly, and bumps his fist against mine. “We will,” he agrees.
“Don’t speak so soon,” Carter drawls. I ignore him.
“That’s the spirit!” Garrett says.
Beck and Vendredi, sitting on the adjacent log, exchange whispers, then Vendredi straightens. “We’re still going to form an alliance, too,” she says. I glance over and accidentally catch her eye. I turn away first, pretending I was just stretching.
After that, we’re excused to go to lunch. Once everyone else leaves, Dean pulls me aside.
“So, about the challenge tomorrow,” he says, scratching his neck. “Would this be a bad time to tell you I don’t know the first thing when it comes to survival skills?”
This mother—
12
STICKS AND STONES WILL BREAK MY BONES, AND WORDS WILL ALSO DEFINITELY HURT ME, TOO
DEAN
“—fucker. What do you mean you don’t know anything? I thought you’ve seen every survival show known to man? Were you watching them with your eyes closed?”
I glare at the back of Seyoon’s head as she walks ahead of me, trekking through the woods at a faster pace than necessary. When I let her know the slight disadvantage working against us (the disadvantage being my total lack of outdoor ability), she insisted we have a practice run ahead of tomorrow’s survival skills challenge. Which is how I ended up here, hiking yet again through the forest, a pack of supplies on my back and the afternoon sun beating down on my head.
And, awkwardly, with a small team of camera and sound operators following behind us and doing a bad job of blending in.
“Watching it on TV doesn’t mean I magically absorbed the skills by osmosis.” I huff. “I understand the technical aspect of things, I just haven’t put it to practical application… per se.”
