Split up

"Let's say you were in charge," Anna says. "Where do you intend to go from here?"

"Up the hill," Jade says.

"Why?"

"I'm pretty sure there's a zipline at the top. I'm planning to use it."

"That's insane," Anna insists. "Even if you're right, you'd be literally putting your life on that line. And who knows where it'll drop you off? You might land in a whole nest full of horny guys."

"I want to win, and I'm prepared to take a few chances to do it," Jade says with a shrug. "If you'd rather play it safe, I'll see you at the finish, whenever you get there."

"You've got a death wish," Anna says, hefting the larger black bag onto her shoulders. "Good luck with that. Come on, Eve."

Eve hesitates a moment, looking almost apologetically at Jade and Kayo, and then follows her sister from the cave.

"Probably just as well," Jade says. "I don't think we could have trusted them. Maybe the younger sister, but the older one would have stabbed us in the back first chance she got. Are you still with me, Kayo?"

"To the end," Kayo says, nodding firmly.

"Right, then. Let's get moving. We've got a climb ahead of us."

The ascent starts off easily enough, but quickly becomes taxing. Jade is breathing hard and sweating profusely before an hour has passed, and the great bulk of the climb is still ahead of them. The Sun grows higher and hotter in the sky as they proceed, and though much of the climb is under cover, the tropical warmth saps their energy.

"Let's rest," Jade says, dropping to the ground against a tree trunk. Kayo, too out of breath to respond, collapses next to her, panting hard. Jade feels the Asian girl's sweat-glistened naked skin against her, but one benefit of exhaustion is that she's too whipped for the aphrodisiacs to have much effect at the moment. I'll need to stop more often, Jade thinks to herself. Kayo can't keep up this pace. Growing up in San Francisco made me used to hills... wherever she's from, she probably doesn't get the same workout I do just walking to school.

Kayo digs her water bottle out, takes a gulp, then puts it back. "We'll need water when we get to the bottom again," she says.

"There was a stream on the men's map, near the end of the zipline," Jade replies. "It might be good enough to drink. And we've got a clearer idea of where the safe houses are now. We'll do all right as long as the water we have lasts until the top of the hill."

They rest in silence for a moment. Just as Jade is ready to get up and move again, her backpack lets out a soft beep.

"What was that?" Kayo asks.

Jade slips off the pack, reaches in, pulls out the phone-like device. One of the buttons is blinking. Jade looks at Kayo, then back at the device, and presses the button. The screen lights up, and a map with symbols appears on it.

"Look at this," Jade says. "I think this is centered on us. This red cross, right here in the middle - that's our current location. And these two blinking circles right next to it, that must be the two of us!"

"I think you are right... these lines show elevation, and they are close together in the middle, like the slope of a hill."

"This must be how the men track us down," Jade realizes. "When the producers need some action, they signal a man who's close to some of the girls, and he sees how to find them. Except they don't know that he lost his tracker!"

"But... we have been carrying this device for over an hour. They must have thought he was with us already. Why show us only now?"

"Because we're not the ones who they're trying to show," Jade says. "Look over here, to the left - there's a couple of red squares, and another white circle. I think they're trying to show those guys that they have a woman nearby, and they activated ours too, maybe by mistake."

"Can you move the map?"

"Let me see... yes! I can scroll it by dragging on it. Here's the top of the hill, and that's the zipline. Let me just scroll a little more, to the bottom... Oh, fuck."

"I see it too," Kayo whispers. "There are five of them, I think."

"And one woman," Jade adds.

"Jade - we cannot continue. If we take the line, we will ride right into them."

"No, we won't," Jade says. "Let me try something... there, it zoomed out. Here's the whole island, and - dammit!"

The screen has gone blank. Jade slaps the device a couple of times, knowing it's useless, then lets it drop into her lap.

"We must go around the hill," Kayo says sadly. "It was a good plan, Fox, but it will not work."

"There's still a chance," Jade says. "You must have seen it when the screen went out - except for that one girl who was with the men at the bottom of the zipline, the rest of them are all well behind that point. If we can get up to the top in the next two hours, and ride down, we'll be ahead of everyone except her."

"But... the men! Are you saying you are willing to be taken by them? Please, Fox, I am feeling the same desires, but I do not truly want that - and neither do you!"

"Don't worry, I haven't lost my head that much," Jade assures her. "But I also saw one other thing - the zipline goes above that stream right before the end."

Kayo looks confused, then her eyes go wide. "You cannot be serious," she whispers.

"We ride down the line... and we jump right there, into the water."

"Fox... Jade... we have no way to know how high the line is above the stream, or how deep the water! And even if we did, we could miss the water so easily! I do not want to be forced by those men, but I certainly do not want to die!"

"I'm not going to make you do this," Jade says. "But at this point, going down that line is the only chance we have of getting ahead of everyone else. I promised I wouldn't leave you behind, and I meant it... but if you choose to stay behind, that's on you. I'm sorry if that's what it comes to, but I told you, I have to win this thing."

"Why?" Kayo asks, almost in tears. "At least tell me what I am risking my life for!"

Jade looks away for a moment, trying to hold back tears which suddenly well up in her own eyes. "I told you, I'm doing this for my father," she whispers.

"But how will money save his life? If he is sick and needs medical care, I can try to help you, my family has connections -"

"It's not that," Jade says. She takes a deep breath, lets it out again. "I'll tell you... but then we have to move, understand? We've spent too much time sitting still already."

"Tell me, please."

"It was always just me and my dad," Jade says. "He raised me himself. We lived all right, even though he didn't work... he had some issues from an old war injury. I always figured he just had an inheritence or something that we lived off of, but that wasn't the case. He made his money at the poker tables, and when that didn't work out, he turned to loan sharks. Somehow, he was always able to keep up the illusion that we were doing just fine.

"A few weeks ago, I found out the truth. He'd been doing badly at the tables and was taking out more and more loans to cover his losses. He was into the loan sharks for over six hundred thousand dollars, and he'd fallen behind on payments. They were tired of waiting. They said they'd kill him. They have mob connections, they can do it and get away with it. He can't pay them back... and from the way he's been acting lately, I'm sure that he's just going to let them kill him, to keep them from coming after me.

"I found out who he owes money to, and I went and begged them for another chance, but they would barely talk to me, they said it was none of my business. It doesn't help that I still look like I'm fifteen years old, I guess. Finally, I told them that my mother married into money after divorcing him, that I could get it from her, and that he just wouldn't do it because it's a matter of pride for him. They gave me a month."

"They believed you?" Kayo asks. "For that much money, I am surprised they did not check!"

"They probably did," Jade says. "And if they did, they would have found out that his ex-wife DID marry into a lot of money. The thing is, she's not my mother... my mother is the reason why they divorced, and she died giving birth to me. My father could have given me up for adoption, but he grew up in foster care and he swore he wouldn't do that to his own child, no matter what. I didn't even learn the whole story on that until a couple of years ago. My father's ex still hates him, and she couldn't give a shit about me; she'd actually be thrilled to throw both of us to the wolves. I just gambled on them not digging that deeply once they saw the money.

"Of course, that still left me with the problem of getting the money in the first place," Jade said. "If I had a few years, maybe... but they were done with taking tiny payments that didn't even make up the interest. They want all their money, now. This is the only way I can get it. All I can think of is growing up in that nice apartment, getting dance lessons, the vacations we went on..." Jade can no longer hold the tears back, and they stream down her face. "And now, my father is going to die, just because he pulled out all the stops to give me a good life. I can't let that happen. I have to save him."

Kayo is crying now too, and she reaches out and gives Jade a hug, which is gratefully accepted. The girls hold each other for a while, and then separate.

"I will go with you," Kayo says. "And if there is no water for us to jump into, then I will jump into fire if it helps you to win in the end."

"It's just a little farther... come on, you can make it!"

Kayo nods, unable to speak, and reaches out to take Jade's hand. Together, the struggle up the final slope... and then, at last, the ground levels out at the summit of the hill. The Sun is at the top of the sky, and the entire island is spread out beneath them. All of the horizon is the sea. The girls stumble toward a sturdy metal tower, the only source of shade, and collapse together beneath it.

"We... we did it," Kayo says gratefully.

"Here," Jade says, pressing her water bottle into Kayo's hand.

"But - there is no more."

"One more swallow," Jade says. "I saved it for you. You've earned it. Take it, please."

Kayo unscrews the top and takes the drink, then passes the bottle back. "There is a tiny bit left," she says. "Thank you."

Jade finishes the final few drops, and then they rest some more. After a moment, she stands up and has a look at the landscape around them.

"We will be seen up here," Kayo points out. "The whole island is visible from this hill... that means that we are visible to them."

"Yeah, but no one has a chance of sneaking up on us," Jade points out. "It took us half the day to get up here. Even if someone else wanted to make the climb, we'd see them coming a mile away. This is probably the safest place on the island, aside from the final house."

"Can you see it from here?"

"I can see the big one," Jade says. "The smaller one, the real final safe house, must be behind those trees." Jade pulls out the map, comparing it to the landscape. "Everything else I can see seems to match up pretty well, except for being backwards of course. And there's the stream, right there. There's a gap in the trees right about where the zipline would pass over it. That's where we get off... if you're still up for it."

"I do not know if I will be able to jump," Kayo says. "But I will go with you. If I cannot let go, then I suppose I will find out who awaits us at the end."

"Let's make sure we can go down this thing," Jade says, checking the end that's connected to the tower. "There's six wheels with handles here. Looks like it's pretty simple to hook them up to the line." She takes one of them, clamps it on, and lets it go. The wheel drops down the long line, sliding much more quickly than Jade would have preferred, until it goes out of sight into the forest canopy.

"What are you doing?" Kayo asks.

"Anyone else who comes up this hill is going to be disappointed," Jade says grimly, hooking up another wheel and letting it go. "I'm sending four of these down, and we ride the last two."

"But... they will know someone is coming!"

"They already know that," Jade says. "I'm sure their little map devices are lighting up, showing them exactly where we are. We're going into the lion's mouth, and the lion knows it. Our only chance is to jump before we get there. That's it... we go next."

"Wait," Kayo says. She empties her pack and rips open her remaining three food bars, eating them one by one. "We could easily lose our packs in the water," she says. "We should eat the rest of the food now, rather than lose it."

"Good point." Jade spills hers out as well; she has four, and so divides one of them with Kayo. "We might also get separated. We have only one map, one of these packets, and the electronic thing. We need to decide who carries what."

"You take all of it."

"No, that's not fair to you," Jade insists. "You take the map; if we do get separated, your best strategy is to backtrack and take refuge in the safe houses behind us, and just wait it out. Everyone else will be going forward, you can stay safer if you head back towards the start. I'll take the gizmo, and we still don't even know what this packet thing does."

"You take that."

Jade puts the packet and the map device back in her pack. "Okay... I guess we're going to do this, now. I'll go first - count to three and then follow me. When you see me let go, make sure you don't let go at the same moment; wait until you reach the same point on the line, and then let go. I'll get out of your way when I hit the water, so you won't land on top of - mmph!"

Kayo's lips crushing onto Jade's stops her from saying any more. After a moment, Kayo lets up slightly, but still holds Jade closely and tightly, as if she never wants to let go. Jade returns the kiss, holding Kayo in return, feels the stirring within her as their breasts press together. Finally, they pull apart, hearts pounding as hard as they had when they first reached the summit.

"Anything might happen now," Kayo whispers. "If I do not see you again... if we must run and we cannot say good-bye to each other... I will never forget you, Jade the Fox. You have shown me what it is to have true courage."

"I'm sorry you're here," Jade says. "But, I'm very grateful that I found you, Kayo."

They kiss again, more softly, and once again Jade can feel the alien excitement deep within her. This isn't about that, she insists in her mind, and then they finally separate.

"Ready?" Jade asks, taking hold of the wheel attached to the long, thin cable that stretches down and out of sight.

"Ready," Kayo replies, her knuckles going white on the grips of her own wheel.

"Follow me on the count of three," Jade reminds her. "If you're further behind than that, you might not be able to time the jump properly. If you're too close, I won't be able to get out of your way when you come down."

"I understand. Go, and I will follow!"

Jade closes her eyes tightly, forces them open again to look into the abyss before her... and then runs off the side of the hill.