Читать книгу I Will Survive - Samantha Connolly, Samantha Connolly - Страница 11

NICK WAS WOKEN by the bright sun shining through the pinhole gaps in the leaves of the shelter. The air was comfortably warm and he could hear birdsong and the rhythmic crash of the waves on the shore.

He yawned and looked down at the head that was resting in the crook of his shoulder. He could see the sweep of Jessie’s brows and her chestnut hair fell in a thick cascade over his arm. She stirred in her sleep and her mouth parted to emit a soft snore.

Nick smiled, remembering how quickly she’d fallen asleep the night before. He’d deepened his breathing as soon as they lay down, hoping to put her at ease by making her think he was already asleep. He hadn’t been sure what kind of reaction to expect to the revelation that they were sharing a bed but the way she just lay down next to him without making any sort of fuss about it had impressed him.

Truth be told, his overall impression of her was a good one. She seemed to have a lot of spirit and he liked the determined glint that had sparked in her eye when it came time to eat the beetle grubs.

Nick had been unenthusiastic about this castaway competition from the start. He was used to working on his own—just him and the elements—and he had tried doggedly to disenchant Lois of the idea. But she had remained resolute and while Nick knew that she couldn’t fire him she did have the power to thwart or curtail his future projects. Working with Lois was a particular kind of torture, working against her didn’t even bear thinking about.

So it had never really been a matter of “if,” but “when.”

Of course now that he was in it, he had to admit that he was intrigued by what was going to happen. In his show he reminded viewers over and over again that psychology played a vital part in survival. In extreme circumstances a strong mind could make a weak body do impossible things. But the reverse was also true. When the mind gave up, the body followed.

The fascination of watching random people under pressure was irresistible. Who’ll crack, who’ll turn nasty, who’ll come through with their integrity intact, who’ll surprise?

Nick also knew that when a group of people found themselves in a genuinely life-threatening situation it was always only a matter of time before the instinct for self-preservation caused rifts and betrayals. However, the castaways with Nick were obviously in no real danger of starving to death. And so, the money prize had been introduced to provide the necessary incentive to selfishness and backstabbing.

How long before they stopped working together?

Nick smiled to himself as his thoughts meandered. Lois had done a good job of picking the finalists. Nick knew that hopeful contestants had sent in a biography and an essay detailing their most impressive survival experience to date but he had never gotten to see these. Neither had Lois told him anything about the eventual finalists. Her idea was that it would make it more interesting for him to be in the dark about these strangers that he was stranded with.

He’d had little more than perfunctory conversations with them so far. He knew that Cindi was a bartender in New York—”By which I mean, I admit it, I’m an actress. Between jobs, you know?”—and that Malcolm was some sort of accountant—”Figures and statistics, I won’t bore you with it.”

And his impression of Jessie? Only fleeting so far but he liked her. What was it she’d called him? Tough guy. It should have annoyed him but there was something about the way she said it, so casually and without a hint of flirtation, that made it sort of charming.

Out of the corner of his eye he glimpsed movement at the opening of the shelter and he tilted his head up to see Kenny’s camera trained on them.

Nick let out a quiet chuckle. “Morning. How about giving us a minute to wake up?”

Kenny lifted a hand in greeting but didn’t move away as Jessie started to stir. She let out a sigh and her eyelids fluttered open. She looked blankly at Nick for a moment, blinking, until a smile of recognition curved her lips.

Nick instinctively returned the smile. “Morning.”

“Yeah…hi,” mumbled Jessie, putting a hand up to brush some strands of hair back from her face. She rubbed her eyes and blinked a few more times, looking around blearily as if getting her bearings.

She raised herself onto one elbow and, catching sight of Kenny, let out a laughing groan and turned away from him, hiding her face.

The next moment Jessie burst through the top of the shelter, shrieking at the top of her lungs.

Nick watched, stunned, as her head disappeared through the hole in the roof and he heard her exclaim to Kenny, “Did you see that? It’s enormous!”

Nick winced. He had hoped that if she did notice the bulge in his trousers that she would at least have had the diplomacy not to mention it. Her comments, flattering though they were, were the last thing he’d expected or wanted. What was the matter with her?

He looked down just in time to see a gecko lizard slithering off the bed, its long tail flickering as it scuttled out of the hut.

Nick got up, running his hand through his hair and stretched as he emerged from the shelter. He smiled when he saw Jessie watching fearfully from a distance.

“It’s okay,” he said, raising his hands in a gesture of triumph. “I have vanquished the monster.”

“What the heck was it?”

“It was just a gecko lizard.”

“A lizard?” said Jessie. “Are you kidding me? Lizards are small and cute. That was as big as a dog.”

Nick offered the camera a skeptical look. “More like a cat really.”

“It was sleeping on top of us!”

“Yeah,” said Nick. “They like the warmth. And maybe the companionship, who knows?”

“Great. I hope the two of you will be very happy together. Don’t forget to invite me to the wedding.”

“Look,” said Nick reasonably. “There’s no need to be scared. They’re vegetarians, harmless really.”

He watched as a flush rose on Jessie’s cheeks. She was obviously considering how her reaction had looked on camera.

“I wasn’t scared,” she explained. “I just got a fright. I wasn’t expecting to wake up next to a lizard.”

“I’ll take that as a compliment,” quipped Nick.

He was pleased to see Jessie smile sheepishly. She pressed her hand to her chest as if calming a racing heart.

“Phew,” she breathed. “And to think that I was worried about being able to wake up properly without my morning cup of coffee.”

Nick laughed. As startling as it had been, at least the incident obliterated any awkwardness that might have hung over them waking up together.

Then he looked over at Cindi and Malcolm, who had emerged from their respective shelters with the same shocked expression.

Of course, Jessie’s shriek was still going to take some explaining.

“I WAS NOT TRYING TO molest her,” said Nick for the fourth time. “Will you please stop saying that I was.” He indicated the trees. “We are on camera, you know.”

Cindi made the unconvinced and uncaring face of a cop writing up a ticket. “I’m just saying it was an awful big yell to have been caused by such a little thing.”

“It wasn’t little,” grumbled Jessie. “It was huge. It was a mutant lizard. You’d have screamed, too.”

Cindi waved a dismissive hand. “I’m not really phobic about reptiles.”

“Neither am I,” argued Jessie hotly, her voice heading for the top end of the scales again.

Malcolm interrupted the squabble. “I have a phobia of—”

Silence, punctuated by the hiss of simmering water, followed.

“Of?” prompted Nick.

Malcolm sank his head into his neck and looked unhappy. “I don’t want to say.”

Nick regarded him for a moment, then smiled in approving comprehension. “You think I’ll use it against you.”

Malcolm nodded, miserable with the strain of defying his hero.

“I’m phobic about pizza,” said Cindi with a hopeful expression. “Please don’t make me eat pizza, I’ll freak out.”

“Only two days and already you’re dreaming about pizza?” said Nick in a disappointed voice.

Jessie spoke up. “I, too, find it hard to believe that the thrill of sweet potatoes would ever wear off, having had them for both dinner and breakfast already.”

“Okay,” surrendered Nick. “Don’t worry. Our diet will become more varied. I saw some banana trees on the other side of the island and we’ll find lots of papaya bushes inland. And of course we’ll be catching fish. Best of all though, when I got those delicious potatoes I noticed that there was evidence of damage around the stems and leaves.”

“From mutant lizards,” guessed Jessie.

“Even better,” grinned Nick. “From wild pigs.”

Jessie raised a dubious eyebrow. “And that’s good, how?”

Malcolm interrupted eagerly. “It’s great. We can hunt them and have a roast.”

“You can hunt them,” clarified Jessie.

Malcolm turned to Nick. “Can I?” he said, like a child asking permission to run downstairs on Christmas morning.

“Sure,” said Nick. He liked that Malcolm’s enthusiasm was unfettered by his manifest ineptitude.

Jessie lifted her face to the sun and then took off the T-shirt that Nick had given her, handing it back to him with a smile.

“It’s so warm already,” she said. “I’ll definitely need a swim later.” She rustled in her sparkly evening bag and drew out a thin tube of sunscreen, applying some to her face before offering it to the others.

“That’s okay,” said Nick. “My skin is used to the outdoors.”

Cindi also demurred, explaining that she and the sun-bed were old friends.

“No tan lines,” she added provocatively.

Nick watched Malcolm keeping his gaze fixed firmly on the ground and then he looked at Jessie. She was smiling blandly as she held the sunscreen out to Malcolm but her foot was jiggling. With impatience, or annoyance at Cindi?

Malcolm eventually glanced up and noticed Jessie’s offering. He hesitated, as if he wanted to be macho and refuse, but then he took it and slicked some quickly over his nose.

Nick let his eyes drift to the middle distance again, before anyone realized they’d been observed.

The growl of an engine broke the morning stillness and they all looked out to the shore and slowly got to their feet as they saw the motorboat pulling up.

“Yoo-hoo!” Lois called as she came trotting up the sand towards them. Her eyes were hidden behind dark sunglasses but her mouth was curved in a broad smile.

“Success!” she exclaimed, raising her hands in excitement. “Just wait until you hear.”

Whoa, thought Nick, looks like someone around here has had their morning coffee.

Her hands gesticulating madly to emphasize her words, Lois spoke to the group assembled. “We played the tapes for our test audience and, get this, Jessie, they loved you. I’m not kidding, they thought you were really fresh and feisty and then you bowled them over with how nice you were on the confession cam. Good work!”

Nick looked at Jessie. Her mouth was gaping in surprise. “Looks like you’re a natural,” he said encouragingly.

Lois turned her attention to Nick. “I know,” she said happily. “I can’t believe it. The audience even gave you some stick for rescuing her when she so obviously didn’t need it.”

Nick’s brow creased slightly. “What?”

Lois nodded. “Yeah, isn’t it cute? She’s become a sort of heroine of the people. They love her indomitable spirit and her cheeky talk-back attitude.”

It was Jessie’s turn to look nonplussed. “My what?”

Lois ignored her. “It’s better than I’d dared to hope,” she said, gazing dreamily out over the ocean. Her eyes flicked back to Jessie’s. “I’m even going to let you keep your bag of tricks.” She wagged her finger. “Bold girl. I don’t know how you thought you’d get away with smuggling.”

“That’ll teach you to mess with the gestapo,” muttered Cindi.

Lois shifted her laser stare. “Having a talk-back attitude with me isn’t going to earn you any points, take my word for it.” She flicked through the pages on her clipboard. “But I will tell you that you’ve got a lot of admirers, too. We’re hearing very complimentary things about your looks. General consensus, you’re quite a beauty.”

Cindi smiled and lowered her eyes modestly but Nick noticed that she didn’t exactly blush.

“What about me?” asked Malcolm.

“Er, yes, they like you, too,” was Lois’s lukewarm response. “Anyway,” she went on, brightening, “everyone’s really looking forward to seeing how real-life people cope with life-and-death situations. They can’t wait to see you thrown into the fray. So, Nick, what have you got planned for us?”

“I thought that the first thing we should do is see how they fare at catching some fish.”

“Fishing,” said Lois, nodding in a thoughtful manner. “Right. Okay, why don’t you just get a gun and shoot me right now? Fishing’s the most boring thing I’ve ever heard. People don’t want to see fishing. They want to see these three put to the test. Challenged. Thrust into the action. They want to see a struggle.” She caught Jessie’s anxious expression. “Because they believe in you,” she reassured her, oozing sincerity. “They think you’re all just great. They identify with you and they really want to see how an ordinary person copes with the reality of life-or-death survival.” Lois framed her hands in the air as if sketching a blurb on a movie poster. “What they lack in experience they make up for in pluck and sheer grit.”

Nick stole a look at Lois’s victims. The two women wore doubtful expressions but Malcolm’s eyes were shining with evangelical zeal.

Lois raced on. “So we can have fishing and building rafts and all that, sure, but I’m thinking it’d be good if these things were somehow, I dunno, dangerous as well.” She looked speculative. “Are there alligators in these waters?”

“Wait a minute,” gasped Jessie. “I thought this was going to be about ordinary, practical survival. I didn’t come here for—”

“Look,” interrupted Lois brusquely, “you watch the show, right? So you’ve got a fighting chance. Anyway, it’s not important that you succeed. What matters is that we get to see you try. Even if you fall flat on your face it’ll still be great television and Nick will always be there to save the day.”

Nick decided it was time to step in. “There are no alligators in these waters, Lois, you know that, and even if there were, nobody here would be in any danger from them, I’d make sure of that. And furthermore,” he went on firmly, “fishing is life-or-death, we have to eat. So that’s what we’re going to do.” He turned to the others who were looking at him with varying degrees of gratitude and disappointment. “Now, if you watch the show, you should have some idea of what to do.” He took three bound coils of fishing line from his pocket and handed them around. “This is all I’m going to give you. You can go wherever you want and use whatever method you like and the first one to bring back a fish wins, simple as that.”

“Oh, wow,” said Malcolm, bounding off as if fired from a catapult, “I can do this.”

“Jessie?” asked Nick. “You ready?”

“Absolutely,” she said eagerly. “I know what to do. I watch the show every week. I’m a big fan.”

She walked off briskly and Nick turned to Cindi who was making an apologetic face.

“I’ll get you started,” said Nick, putting a hand on her elbow and leading her towards the shore.

It was safer than staying with Lois.

“I WATCH THE SHOW every week,” sneered Jessie. “I’m a big fan.” She cringed as another wave of embarrassment engulfed her. Could she possibly have been more ingratiating? She didn’t think so.

She tried telling herself to concentrate on the task at hand but there really wasn’t anything left for her to do. She’d put together a very respectable fishing rod in about half an hour. She’d made a lure out of a small gull feather and some sequins torn off her bag, tied together with a thread from the hem of her dress. The hook had taken longer but she’d eventually managed to splice two sharp slivers of wood together and attach them to the end of the line that Nick had supplied.

She was sitting on the end of a long promontory that jutted straight out into the sea. Her feet were dangling a few yards above the water which was so clear that she could see the sand and plant-life under the surface and she even caught the occasional glimpse of a fish as it shimmered by. Gulls wheeled overhead and sometimes one would plunge into the sea, then flap upwards with a wriggling fish clamped in its beak.

Her position also gave her a clear view of what the others were doing. Malcolm was at the other end of the beach and had left his fishing rod propped upright in the sand, while he seemed to be making something that was either a kitchen cabinet or an oddly shaped raft. Kenny was with him, recording the whole thing.

In the middle of the beach were Nick and Cindi. They were thigh-deep in the lapping waves and Nick was apparently teaching Cindi how to cast the line. Except that, even after an hour Cindi still didn’t seem to be getting the hang of it. She had taken off her chambermaid’s uniform and was now standing in her bra and panties, which Jessie could see, even from a distance, were hot pink. She watched as Cindi’s head tilted backwards as she laughed at something that Nick had said.

Jessie looked back at her fishing rod and gave it a desultory jiggle. She couldn’t stop brooding over what she’d said to Nick and the only distraction from the embarrassment was finding another new scratch or bite from the night before. The bed had been comfortable enough but when all was said and done it had still been a bed of twigs and foliage. She picked at her nails, trying to dislodge some of the dirt from under them. She just had a general feeling of grubbiness. She could feel the sand in her hair and the sticks that Nick had encouraged them to chew that morning proved a poor replacement for teeth that had been reared on soft bristles and fluoride. She reached up and scratched in annoyance at a bug bite on the back of her shoulder, shaking the line again in an effort to catch the attention of a fish, any fish.

Yup, it sure was nice to have nothing to do but sit and gaze into space while waiting for the fish to bite.

Another peal of laughter drifted over and Jessie clenched her jaw. She held off for about four seconds and then her eyes flicked down to focus on Nick and Cindi again. Just what was so funny about fishing?

Jessie sighed. She had to get this stupid jealousy under control. Cindi made her laugh sometimes and you didn’t see everyone else getting all bent out of shape about it.

What was Jessie so worried about anyway? It wasn’t like they could do anything on camera.

She shifted on the rock, rubbing her thigh to ease out a cramp. She didn’t care about winning the challenge at this stage. She just wished someone would catch something so she could give up on this lost cause. She scratched at her shoulder again and then froze, holding her breath. Had she imagined it? She held the rod steady, narrowing her eyes to try and see into the water. The sun was making shadows and reflections on the translucent surface, playing tricks with her eyes. She gasped as she felt another quick tug on the rod. The line tautened briefly, then went loose again.

“Here, fishy fish,” she whispered. “There’s a good fish.” She had emptied her bag onto the rock and now, using it as a glove, she started to pull the line in gently, winding it around the fishing rod. She was hardly daring to breathe as she felt the resistance on the line.

Praying that it wouldn’t turn out to be an old boot she continued to reel in the line, exactly as she’d seen Nick do on television.