Keep talking, and look for an opening

"I'm guessing none of the men have caught you yet," Jade says.

"I don't see how that's any of your business."

"It's my business because this game ends as soon as we're all deflowered," Jade says, allowing a touch of steel in her voice. "And if I'm the only virgin left standing at this point, they're going to send every man on this island after me to stop me from getting to the prize, because I'm sure they'd rather not pay out if they don't have to!"

LaShonda shrugs. "Fine, whatever. A few guys have 'caught' me, but none of them lasted long enough to fuck me. Every man who laid a hand on me ended up curled up on the ground, wishing he hadn't!"

Jade thinks back to the man she first met, the day before, the one who had been beaten up. That was probably LaShonda's handiwork, she thinks. "The men are getting wise to that kind of thing," Jade cautions. "They're traveling in groups. You won't be able to take three or four of them at once."

"You know, I don't remember asking for your advice!"

"But it's good advice, and you know it. And like I said, I've got a strong interest in not being the last holdout on the island. Besides, if you keep beating these guys up, they're going to start thinking they need to get violent before we get the chance, and if one of them does catch me I'd rather not lose teeth along with my virginity!"

"Well, what the fuck to you expect me to do, just lie back and take it?"

"I've gotten this far by being smarter than them, not stronger," Jade says. "Most of these guys aren't the sharpest knives in the drawer; they're here because they're big and strong and they're okay with a little ****, not because they're Harvard graduates."

"You do what works for you, I'll do what works for me."

Jade sits up straighter. "I'm going to make a guess here. Do you remember the first guy you walloped? I'm thinking it happened way back near the starting point, and you probably hit him in the head with a big rock. Am I right?"

LaShonda looks at Jade through narrowed eyes. "Were you watching that?"

"No, I came across him afterward. He traded some information for bandages out of my kit. He's probably dead now, though... he was in bad shape."

"Cry me a fucking river."

"That's what I said to him at the time. But he told me something about himself that you might want to keep in mind - about where he came from. He was awaiting execution for ****."

"Is that supposed to make be feel bad about kicking his ass? Because it's really having the opposite effect."

"No," Jade says. "It's supposed to make you think about what would have happened if he got in the first punch. The men here don't have much to lose, and some of them won't be done with you once you're fucked. They'll kill you."

LaShonda starts to respond, and then stops. "Why are you so concerned about me?" she asks. "You don't even know me."

"I'm concerned because I've met some of the other girls on this island," Jade says, "and none of us are here for the sheer thrill of it. We're here because we're all in a jam of some kind, and we've gotten so **** that this is the only way out. And if you keep doing what you're doing, you're going to get yourself killed, and probably some of the rest of us besides. They don't deserve that, and neither do I, and neither do you."

"What makes you think that?" LaShonda asks. "I could be a real cunt for all you know."

"I saw your brother's eyes, when he told me about how you looked at him when you found him here," Jade says quietly. "If you weren't a decent person, he wouldn't have cared."

LaShonda turns away for a moment, which becomes a longer moment. Jade is about to reach out to her when she hears the gasp and the sob. "You don't understand," LaShonda whispers, only the tiniest tremor in her voice. "There's something wrong in my head... I've faced off with four different men since yesterday, and every time, something inside me just wants to let them take me. I'm some kind of sick pervert, I'm actually getting off on this! The only way I can stop that feeling is to start swinging punches, but it just keeps getting worse, and worse! I'm sitting in here losing my mind because all I want to do is run out there and invite every guy who can hear me shout to come have his way with me!"

"LaShonda," Jade says, daring to put a hand on the other girl's shoulder, "it's not you."

"I tried telling myself that, but it's not true... this IS the real me, I wouldn't be feeling this way if -"

"No, you don't understand , it's really not you! They're drugging us!"

LaShonda turns back, her eyes wet but her cheeks dry. "Wait, what are you saying now?"

"You've been alone since you started, you haven't seen any of the other girls," Jade explains. "But I have. We're ALL feeling what you're describing. They put something in the food, and in the water, and they probably dosed us all up with something before we even got here. LaShonda, it's not you."

She shakes her head. "That's... that can't be true. That just ain't right!"

"Do the people running this thing seem like they care about what's right or wrong?" Jade exclaims. "They don't give a flying fuck about that, they just want good TV. They want to show virgin girls who resist at first, then give in and get fucked six ways from Tuesday, and love every goddamn minute of it. It feeds their sick fantasies about girls so **** for sex that they'll take it from total strangers and give up a chance at a ten-million-dollar prize just so they can feel a dick between their legs. This is how the bastards get that performance out of us. They're dosing the men, too... Malik had to struggle against it with all he had in him to keep from jumping me. But he did it. He held back."

"But I can't," LaShonda says, a tear escaping down her cheek. "It's too much, I know I'm gonna give in eventually, it's taking my mind away and I can't take it much longer! How... how are you doing it?"

Jade looks down for a moment. "Well, there IS one way."

"Tell me!"

"I've, um... I've been hooking up with the girls."

LaShonda blinks, but that's all.

"It doesn't make the desire go away, but it helps you control it," Jade explains. "See, when I first ran into one of the other girls, she - mmph!"

Jade's next words are cut off as LaShonda lunges toward her and thrusts a warm, wet tongue between her lips.