AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I nod. “Yes, I’m sorry I’m here. It was a huge mistake. I—”
She holds out a hand. “I’m Jane Woodrow. You might have seen me on television.” She pauses as though I should make a big deal about her presence, but to me she just looks like any other woman. “Brad already told me what happened. I’m sorry you were asked to jump like that.” She’s apologizing, but she still looks angry so I’m not sure what to do.
“Has anyone gotten a chance to tell you what the deal is here?” she asks, pushing a strand of crimson hair from her face.
I shake my head, glance toward Colin then back again. “A little, but nothing in dep—”
“You’re all here for thirty days. Some of you will last all thirty and some won’t last until the end of the day. You eat and drink what you find on the island, you compete in our games, the last person standing wins a million dollars.”
“What kind of games?” I ask, my brows narrowed. “I mean, wha—”
“That’s up to our discretion. Some of them are fair, others… not so much. After you sign this contract, we reserve the right to do as we wish.”
Her words are nearly sadistic sounding, though she has a smile on her face. Maybe she has to say that for legality reasons. I’m sure people are all kinds of pissed when they starve for fifteen days then get kicked off the island. I bet everyone tries to sue them.
My brows narrow. “But you mean like fire starting, digging for buried treasure, and stuff, right? Not like—”
“We’ve never had a woman on the show. Nearly five seasons and no female has been brave enough to compete. You’d be making history,” she says, circling me like a hawk. “Besides, you’re gorgeous. Viewers will eat you up.”
“I want to know what I’d have to do,” I say, not at all liking the way she keeps emphasizing the wordgameslike some vicious dictator about to make a fool of me.
Brad links his arm around my waist in comfort.
“Are you two together?” the woman asks, a sly grin on her face.
Brad looks down at me, then up toward Colin before looking back in the woman’s direction. “What does that matter?”
She smiles wider now, making a note to herself on a clipboard she has in front of her. “It doesn’t. It’s just that it’ll play into the show nicely. We’ve got a whole world of things we can work in now.”
“I don’t want whatever we have going on to be part of your show. We’re just—”
“Of course, dear. All you have to do is sign on this line and I guarantee… a pretty girl like you… you’ll have every man on this island bringing you fish for thirty days straight.”
I glance up at Brad, more worry in his eyes than had been there when he left.
“Are you sure you want to do this,” he asks. “I can have them call a boat for you—”
“We also pay five thousand dollars a day,” the cerise woman blurts. “I think we could all use an extra few bucks in our pockets, right?”
Brad didn’t mention the daily pay. Shit. It’s like she’s in my head. I need this money. Even if I only last a week that’s thirty-five thousand dollars. That would get me out of so many problems back home. I could even afford to finish school in another city, far away from Kemp.
“I’ll do it,” I say, reaching for the clipboard and pen to sign the document.
“Wait,” Brad says, taking the pen from my grip as I scribble down my name. His stare is on the producer whose name I haven’t yet caught. “She’s not a toy. You don’t get to take advantage of her just because she’s a woman. You’ll treat her like every other person out here. Do you hear me?” His voice is dark and gritty, though unlike the way he growled at me last night. With this lady he seems more intent on anger than insistence.
The woman smiles wide and takes the clipboard back from my grip. “Are you accusing me of running a trash TV show? You came to me, Brad. I’m doing you both a favor. Besides, your girlfriend already made her decision. The paper is signed, and we’ve got a show to put on.”
Chapter Six
Sara
I know Brad is trying to protect me but leaving with just five thousand dollars is enough to change my life at this point. Besides, this show is televised for a national audience. I can’t imagine they can get too weird with their requests.
After a short briefing on how to call for emergency medics, the producers divide us into teams and separate us into different camps on opposite sides of the island. Thankfully, they keep me with Brad, Colin, and Zane, who hasn’t said much of anything since he realized I was here. In fact, he kind of looks a little pissed, though I can’t tell if maybe that’s just his look.
One cameraman follows us to a clearing about a hundred feet from our meeting point. I’m not sure where the other team went, nor did I get a good glimpse of them, but I assume they’ve followed the same trajectory to hunker down a few hundred feet away from our camp.
The island is small and rugged, not at all like the resort we were just at. In Antigua there were perfect white sand beaches whose clean banks I took for granted. Out here, the shore is littered with seaweed and whatever else has rolled in with it. Just in the little bit we walked, I saw old plastic bottles, fishing line, and drenched, cracked coconuts.
