Yes

"Suppose I just fill the tunnel with knockout gas?" the Director asks.

"Don't insult my intelligence. There's no reason you'd have installed something like that in here, and if you did you'd have used it already. I don't have any more time to waste, do we have a deal or not?"

The Director sits silently for a moment, rubbing his chin. "Fine," he says. "You've got half an hour. That'll get you through the tunnel with time to spare. But if you leave the other house and you still have that item in your possession, you won't last another ten minutes, I promise you. Are we clear?"

"Crystal."

The screen goes dark. Jade lets out her breath, then turns to look at Eve. "Let's go, if you're coming," she says, and walks off at a brisk pace.

Eve scurries to catch up. "I can't believe you just talked to him that way!" she says.

"I'll talk to him a lot worse if I ever meet him face-to-face," Jade replies.

"I wish I had half your guts. I've been scared out of my mind since I got here."

"Why are you here, anyway?" Jade asks. "I mean, you're not the sort of person I'd ever have imagined signing up for this. You should consider that a compliment, by the way."

"It was Anna's idea," Eve says. "She figured that we could win it together, because all the other girls would be on their own and we'd have each other. I guess I'm just used to following what she says, it's been just the two of us for a while now and she's been the responsible one. That prize would have kept us off the streets... I don't know what we're going to do now, I don't think we can win as long as we're separated."

"I'd wish you good luck, but like I said before, I've got my own **** situation. And maybe this makes me a shitty person, but if there had been no way out of that trap except to leave you behind, I would have done it. I'd have hated myself for it, but that's a price I'd have been willing to pay."

"I don't think I'd have believed you if you said otherwise," Eve replies quietly.

Jade stops for a moment, turns to look at her. "Eve... look, this place is making monsters out of all of us. I think it would be best if we split up when we get to the other side. I really don't want to have it come down to throwing you to the wolves so that I can win. I'm not sure I could live with myself if I did that."

"I think you're right," Eve says. "I just... I hope I can find Anna again."

Jade nods, then continues down the tunnel. They walk in silence for a few minutes.

"Where did you even get that thing?" Eve asks suddenly.

Jade glances down at the flare gun, still held in her fist. "Did you see that helicopter go down? I found it there. I wasn't even looking for anything, it was pure chance."

"That's why you didn't want me to, um, touch your hair," Eve says. "You had it hidden there the whole time. I thought I saw something in the shower, but I was... kind of distracted."

Jade feels her cheeks flush as she thinks back on what she and Eve did together, just a few hours ago. It's coming back, she thinks. The desire, the urges... it's getting harder to keep it under control, not easier. I've got to keep it together, just one more day, maybe not even that long. By then, either I'll be at the end, or someone else will. It'll be over.

"Can I ask you something else?" Eve interrupts Jade's thoughts.

"I don't think I can stop you."

"Who's Enrico?"

The warm flush rises again, and Jade silently curses at it. "He's... let's just say he's got something against me personally. I've gotten away from him twice so far, but if he finds me a third time he won't give me another chance. And I don't think he'll stop at just **** me anymore. I'm pretty sure he wants to kill me."

"Why?"

"Because he's a goddamn psychopath," Jane growls. "Because when you put a dozen naked virgin girls on an island and then go looking for men who want to come try and fuck them for money, that's the kind of people who answer the ad. And because they're pumping us full of sexual stimulants, and that's going to have side effects!"

There's a moment of silence, and then Eve asks, "Wait - what are they doing?"

"Come on, you must have felt it. They're drugging us with aphrodisiacs. That's why we're so horny all the time."

"What do you mean?"

Jade stops again, turns around. "Are you telling me you're not feeling it?"

"I don't know what you're talking about!" Eve insists.

"Haven't you been drinking the water, eating the food?"

"Sure, I have. We don't really have a choice."

"And you're NOT feeling any different?"

"I'm scared," Eve says, "but I'm not feeling horny, that's for sure!"

Jade blinks several times. "It's not affecting you," she says. "You're immune, for some reason."

"No, none of that makes sense!" Eve shakes her head in denial - but then, a thought seems to occur to her. "Except... Anna's been getting kind of crazy, ever since we got here," she says quietly. "I couldn't figure out why she seemed so eager to keep putting herself in a position where she'd have to have sex with the men, after the first time. I thought she might have just been trying to protect me... are you saying she wanted it?"

"I'm saying she's being **** to want it - it's not her fault. I'm feeling it too, but I've been hooking up with the other girls, so -" Jade's next words catch in her throat. "Wait a minute... you had sex with me."

"Um, yeah," Eve says, blushing.

"And you're not being affected by the ****."

"I guess not."

"So... you really wanted me." It's Jade's turn to blush, now.

"Well, I didn't at first," Eve says, looking down at the ground. "I mean, it was a deal with the Director. But when you started touching me... no one's ever touched me like that before. It felt so nice, especially after all I've been through lately. And this is going to sound pathetic, but it was kind of like you were giving me a chance for a do-over on my first time, because the actual first time was something I wish I could forget." Eve's face is flushed red as she looks back up at Jade. "So, you only did it because something was making you do it?"

Jade reaches out to the other girl, then thinks better of it and pulls back. "Look, I can't really say how much of that was me, and how much if it was because of this stuff in my system," she says. "I think that maybe I've always had an attraction to girls, I just kept it so buried that I didn't even realize it myself, until this place brought it out of me. I'd like to think that if we met each other in the real world, we might... get along. And I really do think you're beautiful and sexy, that was ME talking, not the ****."

Eve closes her eyes, lowers her head into her hands. She doesn't seem to be crying... it's more like she feels so overwhelmed, she just has to shut off for a moment and get her mind together. Jade reaches out again, but before she can touch the other girl, Eve looks up. "This isn't the time or the place to talk about this," she says. "We need to get to the other side of that tunnel as soon as we can. Once we're there... I don't know what the hell I'm going to do. But you're right, we shouldn't stay together. There's no point in pretending we're friends just because we... well, you know."

Jade feels tears welling up. "Eve -"

"Don't, please. Don't make excuses or say you're sorry. We all do what we have to do. I... I'd push you out of the way to win, too."

No, Jade thinks to herself as they resume their long trek through the tunnel. No, I don't think you would, and not because you'd be afraid to try. It's because... you're better than that.