Mara sat down.

“Ashley,” she said. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. But whatever I did, I’m sorry. I don’t want anyone to get hurt.”

“You can stop the act,” said Ashley. “I know what’s going on.”

That made one of them.

“There’s no act,” said Mara. Now she was really scared.

“I fucking covered for you,” said Ashley. “I pretended I didn’t know. I told Kyle and Bullfrog you were foraging. But Kyle could get really hurt up there. And maybe you don’t need anything from this show, but I did. I do. And you’re acting like—like my friend, and it’s fucking manipulative. And I even thought, Okay, there might be something here. I thought I could be with you, because—I thought I could go with it. But you’re using me, too. You’re all the same.”

What was she talking about?

“I thought you were my friend,” Ashley said.

“Of course I’m your friend.” Or more, thought Mara. I thought I was more.

“It’s not funny. It’s not fun.”

“What’s not funny?”

“Tricking us. You must think we’re idiots. I just think the whole scheme is shitty. Leaving us out here like this.”

“Yeah,” said Mara. “I think it’s shitty, too.”

“Then stop it. Call it off. I know you’re with the crew. I’ve seen you with them.”

Tom.

“You weren’t that subtle,” Ashley said. “With your secret meetings every day. I figured it wasn’t my business. Of course they’d plant one of us, right? To keep things on track. And I got that, I really did. I didn’t care. But to let things go this far—it’s sick.”

The trees were spinning.

“Ashley,” said Mara.

Everything was broken. But she saw it now. Of course: If the show planned to leave them alone, if it was all part of a story, they’d find a way to plant a representative. Someone with survival experience, maybe survival teaching experience, who didn’t want to be a star in their own right. Someone to guide their partners in the right direction, or the wrong one if need be. It made a kind of sense.

Ashley, Mara thought. Ashley. I’m not on the crew.

He gave me protein bars.

She found her voice. “I’m not. I’m not with them. I wish I could tell you I was, honestly I do. What you saw—it’s just stupid. It’s fucking stupid.”

It was hard to say it aloud, even now, like she might still get in trouble, might still get sent back. Which was better than being trapped, if she was trapped. Or maybe it wasn’t. She didn’t know what to want anymore. She didn’t know anything. And she had promised Tom not to tell, and however irritating he was, a promise meant something. But screw Tom. He had left her there, along with everyone else.

“That assistant,” Mara said. “He met with me, yeah. But Lenny didn’t know. It wasn’t, like, a plot. He gave me protein bars.”

“Excuse me?”

Mara explained the whole story. How she’d met Tom in the gravel pit. How he started slipping her food. How she went along with it, flattering him, saying whatever worked. Even how she used a protein bar for fish bait. As Mara talked, Ashley’s breathing slowed. Mara couldn’t tell if she believed the story. But at least they were together. At least Ashley wasn’t yelling anymore.