by Tom Nicoll
“Oh, right,” said Zizi. “Probably just some creature sniffing around. Don’t worry. Pierre is an excellent guard dog.” I heard her unzip the tent to let Pierre out. “Now keep watch. Good boy!”
Great. With Pierre on guard, Lexi wasn’t getting out of the tent undetected. I was left with no option. I’d have to go by myself. I stood up quietly and took a step outside. Pierre started growling. I took another and the growling grew louder. With a heavy sigh, I decided to wait for a bit.
After half an hour, sure everyone had to be asleep by now – Pierre included – I started to edge out of the tent again. But I hadn’t even got a quarter of the way when the growling started up. Undeterred, I left it an hour this time, but as soon as I made a move the growling commenced.
I had to abandon the plan, at least for the moment. What we needed was a Time-Out device for dogs…
Voice: So who do you think is up for elimination today?
Sam: Oh me, definitely.
Voice: What makes you think that?
Sam: [Shrugs] Just a feeling, that’s all.
That’s the other thing I remember from these shows. No one ever comes out and says, “There’s no chance of it being me, I’m just too popular.” Well, Bo basically did but anyone with any sense knows you have to be modest. Not that I didn’t think there was a good chance of it being me. There was a very good chance of it being me.
I shifted nervously in my seat as our hosts took to the stage.
“Today’s contestant facing the Elimination Challenge for Team Ellipsis is … Lexi,” announced Ronald.
Zizi and I turned to Lexi but she had already sprung to her feet and bounded on to the stage.
“And she’ll be up against…” said Donald. “Oh my, this is going to be interesting… It’s Betty!”
There was a sharp intake of breath from both teams. I don’t think anyone was expecting this. Least of all Betty, judging by the look on her face.
Adjusting her bouffant, Betty stood up. There was silence as she joined Lexi onstage.
“Oooh, youth versus experience,” said Ronald, rubbing his hands together. “Everyone, follow us and we’ll get started.”
Ronald and Donald led us out on to the beach where two giant inflatable balls were waiting.
“These are called zorbs,” said Donald. “Ronald, you like a good zorb, don’t you, mate?”
“Oh yeah, I do love a good zorb, me,” said Ronald. “Zorbing-daft I am. It’s how I get around town.”
“If you’re not familiar with these bad boys,” explained Donald, “the deal is you climb in and then you start running. Like hamsters. Now you two have to channel your inner hamster in a head-to-head race.”
Betty Black looked at the hosts like she was waiting for the punchline to a joke. “You’re not expecting me to get in one of those?” she asked.
Ronald and Donald exchanged puzzled glances. “Um … yes, Betty,” said Donald. “That’s the challenge.”
“But … but … my hair!” she said.
“Well, if you want to forfeit…” suggested Ronald.
“Fine!” She sighed. “So how do I get into that thing?”
“Good luck, Lexi!” I shouted as she and Betty were helped into their zorbs. I then made my way over to where Milo was standing.
“Hey,” I said.
“Hey,” he replied. “So … good night?”
I shook my head. “Uneventful.” I thought about pressing the Time-Out to ask for his advice on the Pierre situation but decided against it. I didn’t want to risk anyone putting two and two together that the cameras kept cutting out every time we met up. Still, I was eager to know if he had made any progress at his end.
“How is life in Team Accelerate?” I asked. “Everyone getting along?”
Milo nodded. “Yeah, it’s all right,” he said. “I spent the day making a rudimentary sewage system.”
“Sorry?” I asked.
“We’ve now got working loos in our camp,” he said excitedly. “They’re very simple actually, built primarily using coconuts…”
“That’s great, Milo,” I said, conscious of how little time we had together, though admittedly a bit jealous. Our toilets were a lot less sophisticated – some holes we had dug in the jungle, a good distance from camp. It was too gross to think about. “So the whole team helped, did they? No one went off and did their own thing?” I tried to put emphasis on this last question.
“Well, Betty wasn’t much help, if I’m being honest,” said Milo. “She mostly just sits around complaining about all the people in television who’ve wronged her over the years, or is in her tent fussing with her hair. I probably shouldn’t say this but it wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world if she got sent home.”
“And … Cruul?” I asked.
“Complete opposite. He’s going out of his way to be nice to everyone. He’s like a totally different person.”
I squinted at Milo. Was he trying to play the game here, by not criticizing Cruul on camera? Or was it something more sinister than that? It wouldn’t be the first time I’d had to deal with people around me being brainwashed.
Milo must have read my thoughts. “I’m not brainwashed,” he hissed, covering his mic.
So what was Cruul’s game plan then? To come on the show and win people over? Hang on … was he actually trying to win this thing? It didn’t seem like the most obvious way to bring back the Horsewomen. There had to be more to it than that.
Whatever the case, his act seemed to be working. He had saved Milo’s life, come out of the first Elimination Challenge looking good and, from what Milo was telling me, was trying his hardest to make himself seem like a reformed character. Even I could imagine how well this was playing with the TV audience. Just as long as it didn’t fool everyone.
I was about to remind Milo to be on his guard when Ronald and Donald called for silence. With Lexi and Betty inside their zorbs, the contest was about to begin.
“Hey, there’s a little box taped inside here,” shouted Lexi. “What’s that for?”
“Oh, it’s nothing to worry about,” said Ronald, grinning. “So the course itself is pretty straightforward. It’s a two-hundred-metre dash down the beach. The first to cross the finishing line wins.”
“Cam on, Betty!” yelled Bruiser. “You can beat that lil gel.”
Lexi looked like she had just been punched in the gut. Bruiser was her idol – it had to sting hearing him insult her like that. But the hurt look on her face quickly turned to one of anger. Bruiser had just made her mad. And no one likes Lexi when she’s mad.
“All right then, let’s do this,” said Donald. “Three … two … one…”
The zorbs trundled forwards a little, taking a few seconds to build up speed. But it didn’t take long before Lexi began to pull away from Betty.
After less than a minute, Betty seemed to give up, her zorb slowing right down to the gentlest of rolls.
“Uh-oh,” said Ronald and Donald, their faces filling with glee.
“You think we should’ve warned them about what would happen if their speed dropped?” asked Ronald.
“I think we probably should have, yeah,” said Donald.
“What’s gonna ’appen?” asked an intrigued Bruiser.
But Ronald and Donald didn’t have to answer. Betty’s zorb made a clicking noise. We could see her through the clear plastic, looking down at her feet.
“The little box is opening,” shouted Betty. “Hey, what are those… ARRGGGGGHHHHHH! SCORPIONS!”
Tiny black creatures poured out of the box. As Betty scrambled to get away from them, her zorb shot forwards.
“Wow, look at her go,” said Zizi.
She wasn’t kidding. Betty’s zorb was rocketing down the beach. Lexi’s lead rapidly began to shrink.
“Ha!” said Bruiser. “The old bird’s gonna win.”
With the finishing line only metres away, Betty drew level with Lexi. Bruiser was right, Betty was about to steal this.
&nbs
p; Suddenly Betty’s zorb banked left, smashing into Lexi’s and sending her flying off course.
“I think she did that on purpose,” said Milo.
“Good on ’er!” Bruiser laughed. “Smart move, if you ask me.”
Except it wasn’t. Rather than continuing in the wrong direction, Lexi’s zorb smacked into a palm tree. Like some giant game of pool, she ricocheted off it, hurtling back towards Betty. The two zorbs collided again but this time it was Betty’s that careened off to the right as Lexi’s rolled over the finishing line.
As Betty hurtled on down the beach, screaming the entire way, pretty much everyone rushed off after her. Everyone but me. I held back and then, when I was sure there were no cameras watching, I headed back to the cave.
Sam: How’s Betty?
Voice: She’s fine. Once she banged into that rock and knocked herself out the guys got her free pretty quickly. And considering she was going for about ten minutes the doctor thinks fifty-seven scorpion stings isn’t that many. Relatively speaking.
Sam: But she’s OK?
Voice: Sure, sure. Well, she should be… Anyway, let’s talk about something else. Tomorrow is the first Golden Challenge. Have you come to a decision about who will represent Team Ellipsis?
Sam: No, not yet…
Voice: I should tell you that since they lost today, Team Accelerate will have to announce their participant first.
Sam: So we’ll be able to decide who matches up against their pick best?
Voice: Precisely.
As a reward for winning the challenge, we were treated to a hamper containing a few cans of cola, some dog food for Pierre and a huge fish. I’m pretty sure that was supposed to be a joke at my expense but I didn’t care – it was the tastiest fish I’d ever eaten. Zizi prepared it for us, using skills she had picked up on a show called Cooking and Karting.
“I think it was supposed to be like Top Gear meets Bake Off,” Zizi said as we sat beside the fire after finishing our meal. “It wasn’t that bad actually but they had to cancel it after one of their features, ‘Flan in a Van’, went horribly wrong.”
“I was thinking about tomorrow,” I said. “Maybe I should do the challenge?”
“Oh, I was hoping to have a go,” said Zizi. “I love doing challenges. Unless they’ve got snakes in. Obviously.”
“You said that we’d be able to announce our pick after Accelerate?” said Lexi.
“That’s right,” I said.
“If it’s Bruiser, I’m doing it,” she said in a tone that didn’t invite a comeback. “If it’s Cruul, then Sam can do it. If it’s Milo, then Zizi, you’re up. Fair?”
Zizi and I agreed. It made sense. I relished the thought of beating Cruul but going up against my best friend wasn’t as appealing.
We sat in silence for a while, staring up at the twinkling night sky as the fire crackled next to us. The sky was so clear – I had never seen anything like it back in London. There were so many stars it was like we were watching in HD. They seemed to fill the entire sky and the sea too. It was hard not to feel tiny and insignificant looking up at them.
I couldn’t help but think about the Horsewomen and how they had tried to end all this. Not just the world but every star out there. All of it. And somehow, I, a tiny and insignificant spec in the universe, had stopped them. For now, anyway…
This was our third night on the island and I was no closer to discovering what Cruul was up to. So far Milo hadn’t come up with anything and I was a little worried after our conversation earlier that he might be letting himself be taken in by Cruul’s nice guy act. I still thought that the hooded person I saw on the beach had something to do with him and I was eager not to waste another night. Luckily I had a plan.
Before long, Pierre let out a yawn. “Oh dear,” Zizi said, picking him up. “Someone’s tired tonight. Think it’s time we turned in. You coming, Lexi?”
“Yeah, in a bit,” said Lexi, throwing me a quick glance.
“I’ll see you both in the morning then,” Zizi said. “Night.”
“Night,” we replied, trying not to look suspicious.
We waited about ten minutes.
“Well, good night, Sam,” Lexi said as she walked towards her tent.
“Good night,” I said, heading towards mine.
The moment we reached our tents, I ran a hand through my hair and clicked the button on the Time-Out. We quickly removed our mics and tossed them inside.
And then we ran.
“I wasn’t sure we’d get past Pierre,” said Lexi.
“I had a feeling we would,” I said, unable to resist giving her a little smirk.
Lexi gave me a curious look. “Sam… What did you do?”
“Well, when everyone was busy chasing Betty,” I said, “I might have slipped back to the chamber and … borrowed one of those tranquilizer darts we saw. And then I might have broken it open and slipped a little bit into Pierre’s food…”
“Sam!” said Lexi, looking shocked. “You drugged a pug?”
“It sounds bad when you say it like that,” I said. “It wasn’t much. Just enough to give him a good night’s sleep. Oh, wait … this is it.” We came to a stop at the part of the beach where I had seen the hooded figure.
“So what’s the fastest way to get out of sight from here?” Lexi said, looking around.
We saw it at the same time. A small ridge in the sand, leading to the jungle. It wasn’t something you’d be able to see from our camp, especially in the dark, so if someone had flung themselves to the ground they could have crawled away without being seen.
“Come on,” said Lexi, walking towards the trees.
It was only as we got closer that I realized what an utterly stupid idea it was to head into a jungle in the dead of night.
I heard a click and a beam of light shot from Lexi’s hand.
“Where did you get a torch from?” I asked.
“Bill, one of the camera guys,” she said. “He lent it to me in case I needed to go for a pee in the night.”
“Nice one,” I said.
However, the further into the jungle we walked, the less convinced I was that having the torch was a good thing. Every which way we turned we found ourselves staring into a new set of eyes of a creature that quickly vanished in fright. But the real fear was the thought of coming across something that didn’t run away.
It was slow going, having to watch our step at every turn. And it didn’t really help that we had no idea where we were heading or even what we were expecting to find, beyond hoping that we’d run into someone dressed in robes. And then what? Excuse me, Robed Person? Would you mind explaining yourself?
“We should go back,” I said eventually.
“Shh,” Lexi said, grabbing my arm.
I heard it too. The sound of rustling in the trees up ahead. Lexi switched off the torch and we crouched down behind a large log. Moments later light from another torch lit up the space we had been standing in, only this one was of the fire-on-the-end-of-a-piece-of-wood variety.
Then we heard footsteps.
We held our breath as they approached. Two hooded figures stepped into the exact spot we had been standing in just moments before.
They stopped. Their torches spun back and forth, coming within millimetres of where we were hiding. They must have stood there for just a second or two but it felt like minutes.
Without saying a word, the pair disappeared into the jungle the way we had come.
“Are they looking for us?” whispered Lexi.
“I don’t know,” I said. “But we should get out of here.”
“What?” said Lexi. “We need to follow them.”
She was right. This was our only lead. We couldn’t let it slip through our hands. “Come on, then,” I said.
We took a step and then we found ourselves falling.
“Lexi, you OK?” I asked, slowly sitting up.
“Think so,” she groaned. “You?”
“I’ll live,” I said, ru
bbing my lower back. I looked up to see a moonlit outline of the hole we had stepped into. It had to have been at least a three-metre drop.
I jumped as I heard a click but it was just Lexi switching on her torch, which had also thankfully survived the fall.
“Whoa!” she said.
“Whoa!” I agreed.
We were inside a cave. Even without a torch I had been able to guess that much. It was far smaller than the one used for the show but it was the walls that had us in awe.
They were covered in paintings, the kind done by cavemen tens of thousands of years ago. But instead of mammoths and little men with spears, the images were a lot more familiar. They depicted what must have been hundreds of hooded figures, like the ones we had just seen. As Lexi moved the torchbeam along the wall, it became clear that rather than being lots of individual drawings, the figures were all part of the same scene. They were moving towards something … following some kind of trail … of smoke…
I let out a gasp. The torch tumbled from Lexi’s hand. She picked it up, her hand trembling as she shone it back on the wall.
The image was crude but there was no mistaking what it was. There, flying around a volcano, were four horses, ridden by four identical girls.
“It’s them,” I said, my voice barely a whisper.
“What does it mean?” asked Lexi.
“I don’t know,” I said. “But if there was ever any doubt that the Horsewomen and this island are connected, I think this pretty much ends that.”
“Those people in the hoods,” said Lexi, “are they worshipping them?”
“Looks like it,” I said. “Maybe they’re the original Apocalytes.”
“Those two we saw out there,” said Lexi, pointing up at the hole. “You think that’s who they are?”
“This painting is probably thousands of years old,” I said.
