Survival Island (reality show)

4. The island

In the morning the cook hands out a nice breakfast of bacon and eggs with fresh baked bread. The last homey meal for a while. Sebastian smiles and glances around at the others. Some are wolfing down the meal like it’s the last thing they will ever eat and some are slowly enjoying it. He is in the second group. Food should be appreciated. Especially the mug of coffee at his side. Being in the tropics, he can see the appeal of good coffee. And he’s grateful that the ship’s cook is a coffee lover. This is some of the best he’s ever had.

The coordinator shows his face in the ship's cantine after breakfast. He glances around and passes a few pictures at them: “Circulate the pictures. Take a very good look at them. Those animals are your enemy out there.”

“How deadly are they?” One of the guys asks.

“The spiders will be unpleasant and you can expect some swelling, the snake is deadly and it only lives in the swamp part.” The explanation gives some valuable information at last.

“Can we avoid the swamp?” Magnus looks up from his food.

“You can, but it takes longer to get to the extraction point.” The coordinator answers and Sebastian glances at Magnus. They have both caught the mistake. Definitely a military man. 

“There were folders with your contracts on the beds. I expect them to be signed and handed over before you leave the boat.” The old guy continues. “If you didn’t sign it, you can’t compete.”

“When will we get there?” The annoying guy from the plane asks.

“We’re here. I expect you to be on the deck in half an hour.” The man clips him short and leaves.

“I guess it’s go time.” Magnus nods to Sebastian.

“Looks that way.” Sebastian answers and asks the guy: “Did you sign it?”

“Last night. You?” He nods back and finishes his bacon.

“Last night. So I guess this means good luck to us and may the best man win.” Sebastian smiles and gets up to leave.

“Good luck.” Magnus tells him, but Sebastian has a distinct feeling that they will be friends. This is not the end of their road, but the beginning.

He goes to his cabin and retrieves his folder with the contract. It was stated that any personal belongings will stay on the ship. He slips his phone and watch inside his duffle bag and leaves it on the bed. Then he climbs the narrow stairs up to the deck. Half of the guys are here already and he looks for the coordinator. The guy seems to be bored and he’s checking some list on his clipboard. 

Sebastian walks over to him and hands him his folder. “I signed it.”

“Great. Settle down, we’re still waiting for a few contestants.” The coordinator tells him. He shrugs and finds a place by the railing to look out over the water. The island looks inviting from here. All lush greens and a pristine white beach. Just looking at it, one could never have guessed it’s hiding an obstacle course and traps all over.

“It is beautiful from here.” A voice sounds near him and he looks up to see a native guy on top of the roof. There is another deck up there, but it is not accessible from here.

“Most deadly things are.” Sebastian shrugs it off.

“So true. Good luck out there.” The man on the roof smiles down.

“Thank you.” He nods back.

“Are we all gathered? I have 12 folders and all signatures.” The coordinator sounds over the chatter. “You will be searched. No personal belongings can go with you except the clothes you wear. You will get the essentials kit and we expect you to get by using what’s in there.”

“One freaking knife and a map?” Someone shouts. 

“It should be enough, you did claim to be a survival expert, Mr. Black.” The coordinator looks at the small chubby guy and shakes his head. “You all start at the same time. If we did our job right, you shouldn’t detect the cameras. We want the experience to be genuine. Don’t lose the bracelets you got. They have a GPS tracker so we can find you, if you don’t make it to the end.”

Now the bracelets make sense to him, but he still thinks there is more to the thing. That metal part in the leather is too big to just be a tracker. Not to mention the magnets. It looks to him like a health monitoring device. Like a part of a smart watch to measure your pulse and gather data about your body on the go. They are doing some research on the side. Another clue that this thing is not what it seems to be. 

The smaller boats ferry them to shore and they are given the bags with essentials, as they call them. There is a green flag on a post on the beach. It must mark the start of the trail. Sebastian smiles as he sees the coordinator at it. The guy holds a signal gun in his hand and he seems to be waiting for something. A signal from someone else, maybe? 

“Good luck, gentleman!” The coordinator shouts and fires the flare in the air. Sebastian looks at Magnus and they laugh when all the others run into the jungle. Sheep, all of them! He smirks and he can swear his wolf is laughing the hardest.

Sebastian takes the map out and turns it around a few times to orient himself. He marks the green flag with his knife to have one more orientation point before he goes into the jungle. The extraction point is marked on the map with a red X. No running for him, a nice leisurely stroll in the woods. He’s keeping watch over the path and forest around him and he’s listening to the idiots ahead of him shouting to one another.

“Wonderful. Keep it up and scare away all edible critters.” He mutters under his breath. He’s got his ears on his surroundings and he smiles to himself. Magnus is on his 3. He can hear him breathe, but the guy walks surefooted and silent in the dense foliage of the jungle. He must have experience with this kind of terrain.

A scream pierces the jungle and he closes his eyes to better pinpoint where it came from. Is it casualty number one? So soon? They are not in this for an hour. He picks up his pace and jogs lightly in the direction he believes the scream came from. He can hear Magnus had the same idea and they met on the fork in the trail. Nodding to each other, they continue at a light jog. They slow down when they hear the cries more clearly. Looking down into a deep hole with spikes on the bottom, they can see the short stocky guy hanging on a vine. His arm caught between a knot and a root sticking from the soil. He is just a bit clumsy and a lot too heavy to pull himself up.

“The bastards left me here to hang!” He shouts up.

“I see. We’ll pull you up, but that’s all the help you get.” Sebastian says and takes his knife to cut down a vine. He throws one end down and secures the other around himself with Magnus acting as his anchor. “Grab on and please climb. Don’t make me do all the work.”

With the minimum help from the chubby, that’s what he’ll call him in his mind, Sebastian pulls the guy up and over the edge of the hole. It was a masterfully set trap. Right in the middle of the path. He nods to Magnus to let go of the vine and helps the other guy up. “Welcome back on Terra Firma. Be more careful about where you walk, next time.”

“You’ll just leave me here?” The chubby whines like a spoiled brat.

“Yes. I told you before. We’ll help you out and that’s it. We part our ways right here.” Sebastian tells him. He noticed Magnus disappearing into the foliage on his right. That’s where he’s going as well. “Good luck.”

He turns and walks into the dense foliage, careful of his step and fast enough to disappear before the chubby catches up to him. It’s every man for himself in this show. He has no doubt that some alliances will form eventually, but there can be only one winner in the end. He catches Magnus’ scent and follows the path uphill. Smart move to choose a path less walked. They have to clear some branches and vines away, but it’s safer as the traps laden middle way.

‘We’re still going in the right direction.’ The wolf says smugly. 

‘Thank you. What are you so smug about?’ Sebastian asks his wolf.

‘Magnus is on a good trail. I like the guy.’ His wolf answers.

‘Can you pinpoint the others?’ He asks.

‘Not unless you shift, but the chubby is still where you left him.’ The wolf says.

‘We can do recon in the night. The moon won’t  give any light through the canopy so you won’t be seen.’ He tells his wolf. The snow white fur is a telltale sign that something is out of the ordinary. No creature in the rain forest is white.

Sebastian shrugs, he can’t form attachments to the guys. This is a competition after all and they all knew it when they signed up for it. It’s not some friendly strall in the jungle, it's a race to the finish line and one million dollars. Brushing the thoughts away, he continues on the path and makes a slight deviation from the one Magnus took. They are still in range of each other, but it doesn’t look like they are walking together. A smile forms on his face, he likes the guy as well.

He catches up to Magnus mid day. Not that he wanted to, it’s just that Magnus is standing still for a while and looking up. They have come to a rock face. It’s not too high to climb, the question is: is it wise? Where does it lead to? Should they walk around it and find another path? Blindly climbing the rise and losing daylight is a stupid move, if you don’t know where it leads. 

“Let’s see.” Magnus pulls out his map to find the place they’re at.

“Walking around it looks like a better option. It might be further, but we don’t have to climb up and back down on the other side.” Sebastian comments on his findings as he trails the rocky terrain on his map.

“Yeah. Left or right? Where do you think they set the traps?” Magnus asks him.

“Right takes us very close to the ocean, we can find some food there. Left is where everyone else is.” Sebastian shrugs and leaves the decision up to Magnus.

“Forming alliances, I bet.” Magnus laughs and chooses right. “Maybe we should, too?”

“Why not? But we part ways on the last day. The last five clicks we travel alone.” He smiles at the guy and waits for his response.

“It’s a deal.” Magnus tells him. “I like the way you think. And I like the way you move in the jungle. I wasn’t aware you were following me till you were five steps away from here.”

“Maybe I’ll tell you about that, but maybe I won’t. We’ll see how it goes.” Sebastian smiles. The guy might turn out to be a friend, but he doesn’t tell his secrets to just anybody. Not even all his former team members knew about the wolf.

“Need to know. I get it.” Magnus nods. “Shall we? We’re losing daylight.”

The trek to the ocean is a light jog downhill. They are not advancing, but it’s still day one. And food is just as important as getting ahead on Survival Island. He saw a few different paths they could take from the beach to progress towards the finish line, but all of them lead to the swamp. Following the beach is an option,but they would have to face some hard rocky terrain and possibly swim over a river. Maybe they should just go to the river over the beach and then find a passage higher up the riverbank?