“Do you know what they are?” Ashley said.

“They’re perch,” said Mara, and then, as if that wasn’t what Ashley had asked, “They’re delicious.”

Ashley bounced a little in place. “What should we do? Should we wait for the crew? We should, right?”

Mara pictured it, the money shot: Ashley pulling a glistening fish from the water while Kyle and Bullfrog watched in awe. Droplets on her face, and her hair swinging. The climax of an episode, teased before each commercial break. Mara could watch the moment over and over on her phone, online, for the rest of her life.

“Yes,” said Ashley. Answering her own question. “We should wait for the crew. They won’t get out, right?”

The fish. “No. They’re not going anywhere.”

“Should I tell the guys?”

“Let’s wait.”

They sat on the bank, arms around their hairy knees. “My sister made fun of me for coming here,” said Ashley. “She told me I wouldn’t make it.”

“And look at you now.”

“It’s because of you. I mean, I’d been camping a lot. But in California the whole thing is Leave No Trace. So that’s all I did. I could never pick things or build things or, like, start a fire without burning down the state.”

“That was probably wise.”

“Sure. I guess.”

“You’re a natural,” said Mara. “You’re a sport. A lot of people would have gone home a long time ago.”

“Like James.”

Mara hadn’t thought of him in days. “Not like James. I don’t know if this was too much for him. I think he just didn’t want to be part of it.” She thought of the man at Primal Instinct who’d left his camp on her last shift at work. Just walked out. How he’d been content to fail. How miserable, sometimes, were the people who stayed.

But she wasn’t miserable. Not now.

“I do this for work, you know,” Mara said. It felt funny that she hadn’t mentioned her job before. She had told Ashley about growing up on the land, or at least the nice parts of it, but not the life she left most recently. Not work or Ethan. She supposed she was testing what it would feel like to leave them behind.

“Surviving?”

“Sort of. More like helping other people. I teach survival.”

Ashley’s face froze and softened. Those expressions that passed over her sometimes. Mara wasn’t used to them yet.

“By yourself?” Ashley asked. She was normal again.

“With my boyfriend.” As soon as Mara said it, she regretted it. But Ashley didn’t seem fazed at all. “I’m leaving him,” said Mara. “After this. Once I have money.”

“That’s good.”

“You think?”

“It doesn’t seem like you love him.”

“Why’s that?”

“You’re here.”

Mara wondered if Ashley had someone at home. She wanted to ask, but she couldn’t.

For a while they watched the water. It felt like they were filling time until the crew arrived, until they could get to the fish. The mist lifted a little, thinner swirls, and the water’s surface was glass smooth. The same gray as the sky. Gnats buzzed around their heads, and somewhere a bullfrog bellowed.