“So what kind of a hurricane would you be, Kyle?” I asked.
“Hurricane Kyle would be sitting out in the water trying to figure out which direction was west.”
Dale and I dissolved into laughter.
Spurned on by our reaction, Kyle continued with his self-deprecating storm. “My hurricane would be so dumb that he wouldn’t even be able to find an island to make landfall.”
We giggled for a bit more, and then Dale turned all serious. “Talk about not giving yourself credit.”
“Huh?” Kyle responded.
“You’re a lot smarter than you let on.”
“Tell that to my teachers.”
“There are different ways to be intelligent, Kyle. I’m around smart people all day, every day, and some of them have no common sense. And not only that, but their smarts don’t necessarily translate into a high-paying job or extra happiness. In fact, some of the smartest people I know are the unhappiest. You have a way about you. So do you, Kenzie. You two have great potential. I feel privileged to know you,” Dale said, before tearing up.
“Are you crying?” Kyle asked in surprise, and stood up.
“No, I’m just emotional. I love you guys.”
“Ahh,” I cooed. “We love you too, Dale.”
“There’s something I haven’t told you.”
Glancing over at Kyle, I had an uneasy feeling.
“We’ve got a problem,” he said with a solemn look on his face. Reaching down, he pulled up his swimsuit leg to reveal his festering bump, which now appeared to be a seriously infected swelling on his upper thigh. The angry red welt was bulging out from the skin.
“Dude,” Kyle remarked, shaking his head. Really, there was no need to say more. It was just that bad.
“How long has it looked like this?” I asked, feeling glum.
“Started last night. Medical checked it out this morning. It’s not responding well to the antibiotics. I need to at least make it through this first council to give you guys a chance, but once it’s over and we win, it’s possible they’ll pull me from the game.”
Tears filled my eyes. Although I’d been seriously contemplating voting against Dale three days ago, I now felt that my heart was being ripped out.
“Maybe they’ll just give you stronger antibiotics,” Kyle said hopefully.
“Maybe,” Dale nodded, but he did not appear optimistic. “I just didn’t want you two blindsided by this. I’m not saying anything to the others because, you know, it’s always been the three of us to the end, right.”
We nodded. I swear I saw Kyle mist up. He genuinely cared about Dale.
“Does this mean I’m not going to get to see the pus?” Kyle pouted, choosing to replace worry with humor.
“Are you kidding? I made a promise to you that I intend to keep. If you’re not there to witness the miracle of its birth with me, I’ll take video.”
We all laughed.
“Let’s just get us through the first vote, and then we’ll go from there.”
* * *
The newsof Dale’s predicament hit Kyle hard. Not only was the thought of his possible departure difficult enough to process, but also the emotional jockeying taking place between the members of both tribes was exhausting. Things were moving so quickly. Scheming, lying, and backstabbing were the name of the game. Gone were the days of acting like lazy monkeys. We weren’t just surviving anymore; now we were fighting for control of the game.
Marsha won the first individual immunity, which meant she was safe from elimination. She managed to outsmart all of us in a memory game. It really wasn’t that surprising, considering the amount of information she carried around in her head on a daily basis. The haughty smile on her face grated on my nerves. I still hadn’t forgiven her calling me out in the Ten Fingers game or blabbing to the other tribe about Kyle. It took everything in my power to keep a civil tone with her. If I didn’t need her so badly, I would’ve kicked her to the curb long ago.
With Dale’s possible exit from the game looming, it became even more important to get Lena on our side; but she proved a hard nut to crack, and no amount of jostling or sweet-talking from either Kyle, Dale, or me had any affect on her. In fact, the more we tried to pull her onto our side, the nastier she got, with Kyle getting the brunt of the abuse. She gleefully hurled insults at him every chance she got, and although it killed him not to sling them right back at her, we’d convinced him to hold his tongue for the sake of our alliance.
