Trouble, of the worst kind

I've got the most powerful weapon on this island, Jade thinks as she moves through the trees. So why don't I feel safer? I feel more scared now than I did before I found it! Maybe I should leave it somewhere... no, I can't afford to be squeamish about this, I need to take every advantage.

Three trees grow close in a cluster up ahead, easy to climb. Jade heads for them and makes her way up; there's no concealment from below, but she needs a good look at the land around, and at her map. Once she's as high as she dares to go, she pulls her pack around and extracts the map from it, comparing it to what she can see.

I've drifted a bit to the south, she thinks. That clearing over there, that's probably this one here on the map. Yes - that's the stream I waded through about an hour ago. Which means that the Trap House is off in that direction. If I'm going to go for that, now's the time to veer off and make for it. I'll need to go fast, try to get to it before they alert the men that I'm heading there. And then I'll need to find what's probably a well-concealed secret door, get through a tunnel where there won't be any room to get away if some guy comes down from the other side, and when I reach whatever's on the other end I've got no idea what I'll find. But that's a straight tunnel through some really rough terrain that'll take the other girls hours to get around. It's the only way I can regain the lead at this point.

She feels the weight tugging at her hair again.

If it comes down to it, if some guy corners me, I've got that little surprise. Still... maybe I shouldn't take chances like this. If I'm the only virgin left, or even if it's just a couple of us, they're sure to send some of the men after me. And if I go in there, it's like I'm gift-wrapping myself for them. Sure, I'm packing heat now, but it'll only help if I get the drop on them; if they're close enough to grab it, it might as well be a toy. What's that?

A noise beneath her catches Jade's attention. She huddles up against the slender tree trunk, knowing that she's completely exposed; her only chance is that whoever's down there might not look up! One hand starts to sneak back behind her neck for the weapon she hides there, but then she stops - she can't very well shoot a flare straight down, it could set the tree on fire!

The source of the noise emerges from the woods below her - it's a man. Jade stares at him for a moment, and then her stomach lurches.

Enrico!

He's limping, even more than before. His knee is wrapped in bandages and he leans on what looks like a metal rod... but it's not. Jade recognizes it as he swings it forward with his next step - it's a rifle, like the ones the gray-suited men carried. Enrico moves with deliberation, apparently not even trying to stay quiet, looking all around at his surroundings.

He's looking for me, Jade knows. And he's right here, which means that he's got some way of tracking me - there's no way he just happened to cross my path like this. Does he know I'm right here, or is he just going the same way that he saw I was going? How is he even here? They were taking him off the island, they said - oh, fucking hell. He must have been in that helicopter that crashed! Maybe he even made it crash, so he could have another shot at me! What kind of maniac even does that??

Jade forces herself to breathe slowly, remain absolutely still, make no sound. All Enrico would have to do is look up...