Assholes.
After two hours, my feet were killing me, so I hunched down to balance my weight a bit more. I figured it’d probably be ugly naked, but I also didn’t care. Kissy adjusted her balance, trying to copy me, and fell into the water. I could have cried for her - all that standing on the pole and she got nothing to eat.
Now it was just me and Alys. The hours wore past and the storm picked up. The rest of the contestants huddled under a tarp on the beach while Alys and I had to endure the storm on our perches. The wood was slippery and the pole rocked back and forth with the waves, but I managed to stay on.
“Five hours, girls!” Chip called. I barely heard him through the haze of pain that was my feet. My teeth chattered so loudly that I had to hold my jaw shut to hear him. “This is the final enticement. If you come down now, you get this—“
He pulled out a big red thermos.
“Hot coffee.”
Alys gave a moan of pain, and I looked over at her. Her thin face was pale, and she was trembling hard. The day was just growing colder, and it was clear that she wanted that coffee bad.
But I was vulnerable if I got down. No amount of food or drink was going to make me leave this pole. If I had to be up there all night, I would be.
She looked over at me. “You going to go for it?” Her voice had a vibrato from her shivering.
I shook my head. “I’m staying.”
Alys considered for a long moment. Then, she called, “Does it come with sugar and cream?”
“It can,” Chip said. He looked over at production and someone brought out two canisters.
“Fuck it,” Alys muttered, and hopped into the water, off of her pole.
I clenched my fists with excitement, my only outward sign of relief. Alys shivered in the water and began to head to shore, and then it really hit me. My knees went weak, and I had to clutch the small wooden plate I stood on to stay in place.
I’d won!
With immunity, I was safe. The three pairs couldn’t pick me off – with immunity, no one could vote for me. I watched gleefully as Alys swam back to shore, waiting for the go-ahead to get down from my perch.
“All right, the last one standing is Annabelle,” Chip called, and waved me in. “Come down and receive your immunity medallion!”
I didn’t hop down as much as I sort of fell into the water, my cramped legs no longer working for me. It took me a little time to swim to shore, and my muscles were aching and I was pretty sure my lips were blue with cold. But Chip put that necklace around my neck - a thick, ropey twine with a big sunburst medallion at the end - and I felt damn good.
Whatever happened, I was here for another three days.
That was for you, Jendan.
Chapter Eighteen
“Being on the jury’s not so bad. Nice clean bed, all you can eat…company’s kind of shit, though.” —Jendan Abercrombie, Juror Number 2, Endurance Island: Power Players
“We need to talk,” Kip whispered as I huddled in the shelter, wrapped in my blanket. I’d managed to steal it back from Leslie and had been hogging it all day. I figured I deserved it after freezing my ass off out on that pole all day yesterday while the others had feasted.
I glanced over at Kip, who was poking a stick at the fire and trying to seem all casual. “So talk.”
“Not here,” he hissed, glancing around. “You should go get some water.”
I just stared at him. Really? I hadn’t left the shelter all day because I was coming down with a cold. The others had taken care of me for that day - either trying to curry my vote or out of genuine sympathy - while I sniffled and sneezed. Like they’d believe I got a wild hair up my ass and decided to retrieve water for the group.
“Come on,” Kip said, casting another quick look down the beach. “Tell everyone you have the shits or something.” He got up and stalked away.
I watched him go. No one else seemed to have notice Kip’s disappearance. A few people were down the beach, and Kissy was under a tree a short distance away, sitting on a pillow and trying to weave herself a grass skirt.
I guess I had to talk to Kip after all. I sighed and crawled out of my nice warm bed, moving across the group camp to get my canteen.
“You okay?” Kissy asked, concern on her motherly face. She touched my forehead. “You’re still hot.”
“I’ll be fine. Just need to take a walk in the woods.” I gave her a weak smile. “Stomach trouble.”
She clucked and then returned to her grass skirt. “Take it easy out there.”
“I will.” I ducked into the trees before anyone else could stop me, and headed down the path to the water well.
Halfway down the path, Kip stepped out of the trees. He glanced over his shoulder, then moved toward me.
“So, what’s this about?” I asked, though I could pretty well guess.
“I’ll just come right out and say it,” Kip said. “No dancing around the subject. You need me.”
My eyebrows shot up. Kip was the last person in the game I needed. The last person on earth that I needed. Period. Full stop.
“It’s true,” he continued, obviously missing my skepticism. “You don’t have anyone on your side anymore but me. Jendan’s out, and the others are afraid of you.”
“Afraid of me? Why?”
“You’re a challenge beast,” he said. “Must be those big manly shoulders of yours.”
All right, I was going to kick Kip in his balls if he said something like that again. “Where is this going?”
“Like I said, you need me. I have Kissy on my side, and I worked a deal with Saul. That’s three votes. I’m pretty sure I can get Emilio, too. It’s in your best interest to vote with the majority, so I’m letting you in on the ground floor of this thing.”
I said nothing. He did have a point - it was in my best interest to vote with the majority. But I wasn’t sure he was telling me everything about his plan.
“This is our chance to take control of the game,” he said when I was silent. “What do you think?”
“Who were you thinking of voting out?” I asked.
“Leslie,” he said immediately, telling me that he’d already given this a lot of thought. “Saul wants to keep Alys for a bit longer.”
“I see.”
“So, are you in?”
“If I am…who are you taking to the finals with you?”
He looked surprised at my question. Then, he said, “I might as well not lie. I’m taking Saul.”
“I appreciate that you’re telling me the truth,” I said smoothly, not letting my real feelings show. Jerk.
“I’d tell you it was you, but we both know it’s not.” He smirked. “You probably sealed up Jendan’s vote while you guys were alone, and he’ll sway Rusty to your side. Cooch is a powerful thing.”
Dick! I narrowed my eyes at him. “If you want my vote, this is the wrong way to go about it.”
“Look, I’m just being honest with you. I can take you to the final four, but no further. After that, you’re not useful to me. Still, fourth is better than sixth, right?”
I pretended to consider it. Inside, I was seething. He wasn’t even trying here. He was just throwing me scraps and assuming I’d jump on it, like a scared little girl. “All right,” I lied. “I’m with you.”
I held my hand out to him. Dry.
He smacked his hand into mine, a gleeful look on his face.
I turned and walked back down the path, choking back a cough. We had six hours before Judgment tonight.
Time to rally the troops.
~~ *** ~~
With my immunity medallion bouncing against my belly, I went down the beach, looking for Leslie. Kip was taking a nap in the shelter, and Saul and Emilio were laying in there, talking about baseball and who would go to the series. It was a hot day and it would only get hotter, so I didn’t blame them for hanging out in the shelter…but I also wanted the girls to see that.
Alys was swimming, a fishing spear in her hand. I decided
I’d tackle her later. Low-hanging fruit first. I found Leslie and Kissy - the two older women - in the shoals, looking for snails and crabs. “Hey ladies, you got a minute?”
Kissy frowned at me. “Should you be up?”
“I’ll be okay,” I said, and ruined it by sneezing. I waved it aside. “There’s something important we need to talk about.”
“Oh?” Leslie’s suspicious face lit up. Jackpot.
I moved closer to them and nodded at the shelter on the far end of the beach. “The guys are all hanging out in the shelter while the women work.”
“Do you think they’re sick, too?” Kissy asked.
Leslie snorted. “Or just fucking lazy.”
I shrugged, letting her draw the conclusion she wanted. “Kip pulled me aside and let me know about his plan for the vote.”
I watched Leslie’s eyes narrow. “Do tell,” she said bluntly. “It’s me, isn’t it?”
I nodded. “Apparently Kip and Saul are working together, and if you’re gone, I’m guessing they’re pulling in Emilio. Three guys and four girls right now. They’re definitely going to get rid of a woman, and I’m safe at the moment.” I patted my medallion. Thank god for it. “I was told Saul wants to keep Alys for a vote, which means you’re next, Kissy, once they get rid of Leslie. He assured me I’d get to the final four, but no further. Then we’ll see those three men dominate all the way to the end of the game.”
So I might have thrown a little fiction in there to make things seem more dire. I didn’t know for sure that Kissy’s number was up, but the shocked look on her face told me I’d made the right call in pointing it out.
“Those fucking cock-suckers,” Leslie swore. “I should fucking burn down that goddamn shelter around them—“
“Or…we could turn the tables on them,” I said. “None of them are safe tonight. And like I said, we have four women and three guys. We can make a women’s alliance and go to the final four together. They’d be sitting ducks.”
“I like the way you think,” Leslie said. She looked at Kissy, who still looked ready to cry. She nodded.
“We just need Alys, though,” I pointed out. “Right now, all we’d do is force a tie.” And I didn’t trust Kissy enough not to flip if we got down to a tie, because a tie-breaker would probably put everyone in danger. They tended to be random and no one liked to force a tie.
Plus, if we didn’t pull in Alys somehow, the guys would.
“Do you think she’ll vote with us?” Kissy asked.
“I don’t know. I’ll talk to her. I’m sure we can figure something out.”
“So then, who are we voting for tonight?” Leslie asked.
My smile was utterly gleeful. “The ringleader. Kip.”
~~ *** ~~
It turned out that Alys was on board. Or rather, she didn’t care about the vote. As long as it wasn’t her, she was game for voting whoever off. Sneezing and sniffling through my cold, I regrouped with all the ladies before Judgment and made sure we were on the same page. Kip was going tonight. If something miraculous happened and we needed to vote off someone else, we’d get rid of Saul. I hoped it didn’t come to that, because I didn’t trust Alys to vote against Saul just yet.
And I didn’t trust Kip not to scramble if he lasted three more days. This had to work tonight. It had to.
The speedboat arrived to pick us up from the beach. “As a reminder, no talking,” a production assistant droned as we filed onto the boat. Kip winked at me as if we were sharing a secret, and I winked back. Enjoy your last night here, jackass.
Oh, tonight was going to be fun.
Once we got to the merge, the Judgment council area was a little more dramatic than before. Lit tiki torches lined the beach, and we each had our own tiny carved stools to sit upon. Across from Chip’s podium was a long bench for the jury, and I felt a funny little quiver of excitement in my belly at the prospect of seeing Jendan again, even though I was pretty sure he hated me at the moment.
We sat in our designated spots, and Chip nodded slowly. “I’ll bring in our jury members. Rusty, and Jendan, come in please.”
The two men walked in and sat down. Immediately, Kissy began to sob. I heard Kip give a snort of disgust, but I ignored him. I had eyes only for Jendan.
God, he looked good. Clean and fresh-scrubbed, Jendan wore a gray vee-neck t-shirt and a pair of weather-beaten jeans. His hair was trimmed down to his scalp, nothing but a dark shadow covering his head. His eyes looked incredibly gray against his tan. He looked healthy, too, like he’d put on a few pounds. I remembered running my hands over his chest and feeling his ribs the last time.
Just seeing him sitting there made me feel a little weepy, too. I smiled in his direction but his face was carefully blank. My own smile faded. Okay, I guess I deserved that.
“Welcome to tonight’s Judgment,” Chip said once everyone was settled in. “Tonight, we are voting for the third member of the jury. And tonight, you can vote for anyone except Annabelle.”
My nose tickled; I sneezed. All eyes turned to look at me. “Sorry,” I said with a sniffle.
“Do you have a cold, Annabelle?” Chip asked.
“Bit of one. It’s no problem.” I sounded horribly stuffed up, though.
“You were out there on that perch for five hours,” Chip continued. “You outlasted everyone. You didn’t come down for food, for drink, for anything. How long do you think you could have stayed up there?”
I gave a tiny shrug. “As long as it took to win.”
“Why is that?”
Because I’m pretty sure I was going home if I didn’t. But I didn’t want to remind my fragile alliance that I was playing without a partner here, when I expected them all to turn on theirs. “I guess I just wanted to prove to everyone that I’m here to play.”
“I think you did that last time with Pandora’s Box.”
I smiled tightly. “I guess so.”
Thankfully, Chip moved on to someone else and began grilling them. What did Alys think of the new camp? Was anyone not pulling their weight? What was it like to live with so many people on the beach? All the answers were totally cagy, and it was clear no one wanted to show their hand right away. I kept looking over at Jendan, but whenever I did, he was never looking at me, and my heart ached a little. He was probably mad and feeling used.
And I really couldn’t blame him. I’d planned on pushing out my partner as soon as I’d opened Pandora’s Box. I’d just never imagined that he’d be the partner.
After conversing with each of us, it came time to vote. One by one, contestants headed into the voting booth. When it was my turn, I picked up a slate and some chalk and sucked in a deep breath and closed my eyes. Please, please let everyone be on the same page as me. In big, bold letters, I wrote down my vote.
KIP.
“Screw you,” I whispered to the cameras. “This was the entire reason I got back in the game - so I could vote your ass off.” Then, I pushed my slate into the vote box and turned around and sat back down. My legs were trembling, and my nose was running, but I couldn’t think about anything but the potential of Kip being voted off.
“I’ll tally up the votes,” Chip said. He returned with the slates a moment later and told us, “As a reminder, instead of voting for who you want to keep, now that we’re merged, you want to vote for who you want to leave the game. I’ll read the first vote.” He paused, examined the slate, and then slowly flipped it.
Kip.
It wasn’t my handwriting.
I did a miniature fist-pump. Someone was with me, at least. Now we just needed two more votes.
Another slate turned. “Leslie.”
Okay, I expected that. I looked over at Leslie, and she had a lemon-sucking expression on her face that told me that she wasn’t happy at all.
Another slate. “Kip.” That one was my handwriting. My heart started to hammer nervously. What if there were only two votes for Kip? What if Alys and Kissy had stuck with their original partners?
&nb
sp; “Leslie.” Another slate. “Leslie.”
I began to bite my nails. It was either that, or puke everywhere.
The sixth slate turned. “Kip. We’re tied.”
I stifled the squeal of excitement in my throat, but not enough. Several people turned to look at me, including Kip, whose brow was furrowed with confusion. He didn’t understand what was happening.
Chip picked up the final slate and stared at it. “The third member of our jury…”
He turned it around and showed us.
There, surrounded by the Greek symbol for ‘female’, was Kip’s name.
Yes!
Yes yes yes!!
We’d done it! Ding dong, the witch was dead!
I couldn’t resist a small wiggle in my seat as Kip stood up and grabbed his canteen. He looked over at me, dancing in my seat, and a furious look crossed his face. “You dumbass,” he told me. “You just sealed your fate.”
I blew him a kiss. “Don’t let the door hit you in the ass on the way out.”
“It’s time for you to go, Kip,” Chip said sternly. He gestured at the path that led out of the game.
Clearly pissed, Kip turned and stalked away, shooting me the bird.
I didn’t even care.
Chapter Nineteen
“Call me crazy, but I think Annabelle is running the show out there. Which kind of makes me laugh. She’s such a sweet girl, but…don’t ever get on her bad side.” — Jendan Abercrombie, Endurance Island: Power Players, Jury Interview
The ladies dominated the game after Kip’s expulsion.
It wasn’t bragging, either. Alys won the next immunity, and from there, we voted out Saul, who was super pissy and stomping around camp once he realized we’d outsmarted him. Emilio was next, and then all the men were gone.
Each Judgment was not a surprise in the slightest. The guys knew their days were numbered, and though they tried to flip things on us a few times, no one was budging.
I’d figured out my ladies. Alys went along with any vote as long as it wasn’t her. Leslie was still pissed that she was the target, and was on a vendetta to vote the men out. Once Kip was gone, Kissy seemed to relax and was in high spirits, just happy to be in the game. She fully embraced the whole ‘girl power’ alliance and spent most of the day weaving us grass skirts and straw hats, and we wore matching gear to each Judgment.