by Tom Nicoll
“So?” she replied. “This island just appears from nowhere. Maybe it time-travelled here or came from another dimension. Or maybe it was like that Atlantis place and it was under the ocean the whole time. And maybe those people have been hibernating. And now they’re awake and ready to bring back the Horsewomen.”
I didn’t reply. At this point, anything seemed possible.
“We should go,” I said. “What if someone finds us here? There must be a way out.”
Lexi shone the torch around, looking for an exit. Just when it seemed we might be doomed to spend the rest of our days trapped inside a cave, Lexi spotted a narrow gap in one of the walls, a couple of metres above a small rockfall.
“It’s worth a try,” she said, and started to climb, sending a shower of stones bouncing down behind her.
I watched from a safe distance away as she squeezed her way through the gap, then followed.
The rocks were wobblier than I’d expected and the gap was only just big enough for me to fit through. I breathed a sigh of relief as I finally emerged into the jungle near a small stream.
Lexi was crouched beside it. She reached a hand into the water and splashed some over her face. “That’s better!”
I quickly did the same. Then we carefully made our way back to the hole we had fallen through, before retracing our steps back to camp.
As we walked in silence, one thing became clear – I had to get a message to the AIA.
Voice: Hello, Sam. All set for the Golden Challenge?
Sam: I guess. I didn’t sleep very well.
Voice: Oh?
Sam: Yeah, I thought I heard STRANGE voices during the night. I envy PEOPLE who can sleep through anything. I’m always LOOKING FOR SOMETHING to help me sleep better. But I’ve YET TO FIND IT.
Voice: [Pause] Are you all right? Your voice keeps going up at weird moments.
Sam: It’s a bit HOARSE. WHOA, MAN it is.
Voice: Would you like to see the doctor, Sam?
Sam: Er … no. I’m OK.
Voice: Well, the sounds you heard were probably just some of the crew trying to fix the cameras in your camp. We had another outage last night. Two in fact…
Obviously I’d had to activate the Time-Out a second time when we got back. I acted surprised and left the diary shed as quickly as I could. Hopefully they’d air the footage. Even if the AIA got my message, there probably wasn’t much for them to act on. But at least I’d tried.
I had managed to get some sleep in the end but I was still pretty shattered, so I was grateful for the fact that most of the day was spent waiting around for the challenge. While Zizi took a slightly drowsy Pierre for a walk and Lexi worked through some solo judo drills, I considered my next move. The sight of me sitting around staring into space probably didn’t make for exciting TV but it did help me get some of my thoughts in order. I had a lot of questions but the biggest ones were:
1. What were those hooded figures doing wandering around the jungle last night?
2. How were they connected to Cruul?
I was no closer to an answer by the time the Golden Challenge came round. We had been warned that these would be a level above what we had seen so far but nothing could have prepared us for this.
We were led deep into the jungle until finally we came to a stop on the edge of a vast river. In the middle was a rocky island, no more than a few metres wide. On the bank sat two wooden barrels with paddles. Ronald and Donald hadn’t got round to explaining the contest yet but I think we had pretty much figured it out.
A sudden movement beneath the surface of the cloudy water caused everyone to flinch. There was something in there. Something big. It quickly became clear it wasn’t alone.
“Are you ’avin’ a giraffe?” said Bruiser, who was – as Lexi had hoped – representing Team Accelerate.
“No giraffes here, Joe,” said Ronald. “Just a lot of alligators.”
“Correction,” said Donald. “Hungry alligators.”
“So we’ve got to reach that island in those barrels?” asked Lexi.
“Not just reach it,” said Ronald. “You’ll have to return from it too. Somewhere on that island is a special Golden Artefact. The winner will be whoever brings it back.”
“What if one of us gets eaten?” cried Joe, looking over at Lexi for support.
“Then I’ll dedicate my win to you,” said Lexi.
“Yeah, right,” scoffed Bruiser. “Like I’m losing to some pigtailed princess.”
“Like I’m losing to some balding Z-list wannabe tough guy,” snapped Lexi.
“I’m not balding!” shouted Bruiser.
“OK, OK, you two!” Donald laughed. “You’re agitating the crocs.”
“Alligators,” corrected Ronald.
“What’s the difference?” said Donald.
“I dunno.” Ronald shrugged. “All I know is every time we say the wrong one we get thousands of people on the internet correcting us.”
“Good point. Alligators it is. Right, contestants, if you can make your way to your barrels.”
Lexi gave me a thumbs up as she walked down to the riverbank. “Good luck,” I mouthed.
“They’ll be all right,” said Milo, joining me.
“How can you be sure?” I said.
“Well, it’s a TV show,” he said. “They’ve probably fed the alligators beforehand. And look, there’s a guy over there with a rifle. Must be what those tranquilizer darts were for. The programme-makers are hardly going to put them in a situation where they can be eaten in front of millions of people watching at home.”
I hoped he was right.
“On the other hand,” said Zizi, catching the end of our conversation. “You’d be amazed how often things go wrong on these shows. They just don’t show the footage. Especially if someone dies.”
We both looked at her. “People … sometimes die?” I asked.
“Oh yeah, happens all the time,” she said. “Most of the really dangerous shows I go on make you film a bit before it starts where you pretend that you’re leaving for … I dunno, family reasons or something. That way if you snuff it, they just show the footage and cover it up. That’s what happened to Danny Donovon on So You Want to Be a Zookeeper?”
“Who?” asked Milo.
“Exactly,” said Zizi, tapping her nose. “Anyway, that was a freak accident. I mean, what are the odds of a tiger finding its way into someone’s trailer? Especially after I locked it in its enclosure, like, half an hour earlier? At least I think I did…”
Milo and I just stared at her.
“I’m sure Lexi will be fine, though…” she said, smiling reassuringly.
Lexi and Bruiser, looking much paler than I remembered him being, had climbed into their barrels. Ronald and Donald stood behind them.
“OK,” said Ronald. “Everyone ready?”
The hosts shoved the barrels into the water.
Hearing the splash, a few of the alligators glanced over at the barrels. Luckily they then seemed to decide they weren’t that interested. As Lexi and Joe began warily paddling across the river, I started to relax a little. It looked like Milo was spot on about the alligators’ lack of appetite. Better still, Lexi was starting to take the lead over Bruiser. Everything was going to be all right.
Now why did I have to go and think that?
Everything wasn’t all right. Lexi’s barrel was sinking.
“Er … guys, bit of a problem here!” shouted Lexi.
“Why are you sinking?” I yelled as we all rushed down to the riverbank.
“I don’t know,” she said, “but it might have something to do with this BLOOMIN’ HOLE!”
With her barrel rapidly filling with water, the river’s non-human residents appeared to be taking more of an interest in the challenge. Several of the alligators were already slowly swimming towards Lexi, who was halfway between the bank and the island, and about to go under at any moment.
“Oh dear, oh dear,” said Bruiser, grinning as he passed
her. “Looks like I’ll be the one dedicating their win. I’ll mention it when I give your eulogy. At your funeral. Cos you’ll be dead.”
“Yeah, I got it, thanks. And we’ll see about that,” said Lexi as the barrel finally capsized, leaving her clutching her paddle in the middle of the river. Keeping calm, she held on to the wood with one hand and started swimming with the other. But instead of heading back, Lexi continued towards the island.
“What’s she doing?” asked Milo.
“Trying to win.” I sighed.
More and more of the alligators were eyeing up Lexi now, and some were already too close for comfort. She started using her paddle to try and keep them at a distance but this didn’t seem like a great long-term plan to me.
“Come on, man, hurry up!” shouted Nigel Cruul, striding over to the guy with the rifle, who was nervously trying to load a tranquilizer dart into it. “Why haven’t you already got the thing loaded?”
“I… I … d-d-didn’t really expect to have to u-u-use it,” stammered the guy, his hand shaking as he finally got the cartridge in. He raised the gun, pointed it at the alligator nearest Lexi and pulled the trigger. Nothing happened.
“M-m-must be j-j-jammed,” he said. He turned the rifle round to inspect it.
The dart hit him in the side of the neck. There was a brief moment where the guy realized what had happened before he tumbled to the ground.
There was a collective groan.
“Oh, for goodness’ sake,” said Cruul, snatching up the rifle and the box of cartridges lying on the ground.
“What are you doing?” I said, stepping in front of him.
“What does it look like I’m doing?” he replied as he loaded the rifle.
“It looks like you’re about to fire tranquilizer darts near my sister,” I said.
“Yes,” said Cruul. “Near your sister. Not at her. Now get out of the way, you twit, while I save her life.”
With that, Cruul shoved me aside. He took aim and fired at the first alligator, who had just snapped off a piece of Lexi’s paddle in its jaws. As the animal was about to move in for its real prize the sedative must have kicked in and it disappeared beneath the water. With ruthless efficiency, Cruul worked his way through the rest, firing and reloading until all but one of the alligators was asleep.
Of course, it was the “but one” part that was the problem.
“There’s no more cartridges,” said Cruul, tipping over the empty box.
My stomach lurched. I had taken one of the darts to get Pierre out of the way and now Lexi was about to pay the price.
“She’s on her own now,” said Cruul.
We looked on in horror as the last alligator charged at her. Lexi had discarded what was left of her paddle and was now swimming as fast as she could towards the island. Bruiser, meanwhile, was busy trying to climb out of his barrel. The process seemed to be taking longer than you’d expect as he kept stopping to check there were no other alligators nearby.
As fast as Lexi was going, the alligator was much faster. There was no way she would out-swim it. I couldn’t just stand by and watch. I flung off my trainers and was about to dive in when several arms grabbed me.
“Sam,” said Milo. “It won’t do any good.”
“We can’t just let that thing eat her!” I said.
“I know, but…” Milo’s voice trailed off. He had that look on his face he gets when he’s had an idea.
“What is it?” I asked.
“Lexi!” yelled Milo. “Hairbands! Use your hairbands.”
“Her hairbands?” I said, grabbing Milo and shaking him. “That’s your plan?”
“Trust me,” he said.
Lexi seemed to have realized that she couldn’t outpace the alligator and had come to a stop. She was now treading water and facing the beast down. It was only a few metres away. I wasn’t sure she had even heard Milo until she started fumbling with her pigtails, trying to take out one of her hairbands. Just as she finally succeeded, the alligator dived towards her and she vanished beneath the water.
The entire world went silent after that.
I stared at the murky water where Lexi had been only seconds before, the ripples still visible, barely moving as time itself seemed to grind to a halt.
“Lexi!” I screamed, trying to escape Milo’s grip.
“There’s no way she could have—” began Cruul.
“Shut up!” I shouted, not letting him finish the sentence. “Milo, tell him he’s wrong.”
Milo’s mouth opened and closed but nothing came out.
I looked back at the river. How much time had passed? Ten seconds? Twenty? How long could she hold her breath for? Longer than she could fight off an alligator? Hope faded with every second.
It was all but gone when Lexi exploded out of the water, gasping for air. My first reaction was to scream with joy, until I remembered that the alligator was still down there too.
A split second later the alligator burst to the surface. But as it thrashed around in the water it was clear its jaws were clamped tight. From where I stood I could just about make out the red hairband wrapped around its snout.
“See, I told you!” said a giddy Milo.
“But how?” I asked.
“It’s simple really,” he said. “Alligators and crocodiles have enormous power in their jaws but most of it’s in their bite. Their muscles are seriously rubbish at opening their jaws. You can stop them with a—”
“Hairband!” I finished. “Milo, you’re a genius!”
“I just saw it on a documentary,” he said. “Lexi still had to get it on the thing.”
“I guess you could say that its bite is worse than its bark,” said Ronald.
“Yes, you could say that, if you happened to be a complete idiot,” said Cruul.
By now Lexi had made it to the island. Like the rest of us, Joe Bruiser had barely moved, watching the drama unfold with horrified fascination. Lexi marched towards the centre of the island, shoving Bruiser out of the way as she passed. She knelt down and picked something off the ground. I caught a brief flash of gold as she walked back to Bruiser’s barrel and tossed the object inside. Then she hopped in after it.
A bewildered Bruiser seemed to snap out of his daze. “Oy, that’s mine!” he shouted as Lexi started paddling back towards us.
“Not any more,” said Lexi.
“Well, what am I meant to do?” he cried.
“Swim,” she said.
By the time a reluctant Bruiser had plunged into the water, Lexi had already made it back to the bank.
Milo and I helped her out of the barrel.
“Lexi,” I whispered. “I thought…”
But Lexi wasn’t in the mood for emotional displays of affection. She was more in the mood for emotional displays of rage.
“Congratulations to Lexi, the winner of—” began Donald, before Lexi grabbed hold of his shirt.
“Why was there a hole in my barrel?” she said. “Was me nearly dying supposed to be funny?”
“No!” said Donald. “We don’t know how that could have happened. They should have been checked beforehand.”
“Are you saying someone put that hole in there?” demanded Lexi.
“Lexi, I understand you’re upset—” said Ronald.
“YOU THINK?” shouted Lexi.
“But I don’t think any good can come from suggesting things like that,” Ronald continued. “Whoever was supposed to check the barrels clearly didn’t do their job properly. Obviously they missed it and that’s completely unacceptable.”
“Unacceptable?” she said. “I nearly got eaten!”
“Rest assured we’ll have this investigated thoroughly,” he said. “But … you are OK. And not just OK, you only went and won! You retrieved the Golden Artefact which was a… Actually, what was it?”
“Dunno,” said Lexi, who hadn’t bothered to remove it from the barrel. “Some stupid plate.”
“Brilliant,” said Ronald. “We’re now going to
bring the artefact back to the cave where we can officially record Team Ellipsis as the first winner of a Golden Challenge. And there might just be some special rewards in store for your team tonight.”
“If it’s not too much trouble,” added Donald, “is there any chance you can let me go?”
Lexi released his shirt. “Thank you,” he said. “And can I mention one thing? Can we all appreciate that an eleven-year-old girl … just beat a crocodile in a fight!”
“Alligator,” corrected Ronald.
“Oh, whatever,” he said. “How about a round of applause for Lexi?”
As a cheer went up, Lexi’s anger seemed to slip away and the beginnings of a grin started to break through. Not everyone was cheering, though. A saturated Joe Bruiser emerging from the river for one, but that was understandable. It was the expression on Nigel Cruul’s face that gave me most concern. He looked absolutely livid. This wasn’t the look of someone annoyed that his team had lost a challenge. It was way more intense and angry than that. Then Cruul seemed to notice me staring at him, because his face suddenly shifted and he was applauding along with everyone else.
For just a few seconds Cruul’s mask had slipped. The question was: why?
“It doesn’t make any sense,” said Lexi. “Why would Cruul be mad about me not dying? He saved my life.”
“No, he almost saved your life,” I corrected her. “Isn’t it convenient that he ran out of darts with one alligator left?”
“Wasn’t very convenient for me,” said Lexi.
“You know what I mean.”
“Well, there would have been enough darts if you hadn’t—” said Lexi.
“I know, I know,” I said.
When we got back to camp I had decided to use the Time-Out button again to speak to Lexi in private. We still had to keep our voices down, though, as Bill tried desperately to get things working again while Karen hovered impatiently around him.
“I’m sick to the back teeth of this,” he grumbled, pressing several buttons on his camera before whacking it with a screwdriver. “It’s me that gets it in the neck.”
