There were noises now from camp. Voices—the crew. Soon they would come looking for her. She turned off the camera, lifted the mass of brown ribbon, and walked gingerly back.

Tom saw her first, and his eyes widened. But it wasn’t until Lenny glanced at her, and did a double take, that the world froze. He was sucking what looked like iced coffee through the straw of a hydration bladder. He opened his mouth and the straw fell out.

“Please,” he said. “Tell me I’m not seeing what I think I’m seeing.”

She tried to calm him. Thrust the camera into his hands. “It’s all on camera, Lenny. I know what this looks like, but it’s all right here. I needed string for the trap.”

“What the hell did you do?”

“Trust me,” she said. “It’s all on camera. It’ll be good for the show.”

Lenny sucked in breath, but Mara felt an odd relief now that the moment had come. Lenny had only one good choice, though he hadn’t realized it yet. The show needed continuity. Mara couldn’t be shirtless without an explanation. But she had filmed the explanation. She had given him a story. And the solution, the best option, was for Lenny to go along with it. To scold her, take the footage, and move on.

Lenny went away with the camera for a while. Mara heard her own voice, tinny, as he replayed what she had filmed. She sat down and wound the ribbon into a ball. She didn’t dare look at Ashley until the matter was settled.

In a few minutes, Lenny came back. He had calmed himself.

“I’ve reviewed the tape,” he said. “And I believe you that this was, ah, an honest misunderstanding.”

It wasn’t, but that was something Lenny and Mara understood about each other. She would commit to whatever narrative he chose.

“It was,” she said. “I feel bad, really. I didn’t know it would be a problem.”

“You realize this makes things tricky for me.”

“I do now. I’m very sorry.”

“Yeah, I see that. So I’ll tell you what. You can use the string, this one time. But if you push the rules again, for any reason, I can’t overlook it, right? Then you’re gone. No prize. Nothing. You’re out.”

Tom, holding a camera, looked up sharply.

“Of course,” said Mara. “You won’t regret it.” But she felt her heart racing. She knew there was a chance she’d be sent home, but she had not considered probation, the possibility of staying on the show in uncertainty. Her old life hanging over her every move.

When Lenny left, when it was over, she turned to Ashley. Ashley had watched from the shelter door the whole time. She pressed one fist to her mouth, hard, and the other hand against it, like she was holding something in.

“I can’t believe you did that,” she said. “God, Mara—”

Her eyes looked wild, and Mara felt scared in a new way. Until Ashley started to laugh. Laugh until her whole face was red, until she sat and rolled back against the shelter wall, her chest shaking, her cheeks wet with streaming tears. Until Mara started laughing, too, and she couldn’t stop, she couldn’t stop, she couldn’t stop laughing beside her.