Castaways Read Online Free PDF Page B

Troy."
    "I heard them talking earlier," Sal said. "It is Troy."
    "That motherfucker!" Troy yanked his hat from his head and threw it on the ground. "So he was planning this shit even before he talked smack just now?"
    Sal nodded. "Looks that way."
    "Stefan's untouchable," Jerry said. "He's got the circle of protection—for now, at least. But if you guys join up with us, we could exile Jeff tonight. That would leave Stefan's alliance weaker. Then we
    could start picking them off one by one. We could take out Stefan next week."
    "Unless he wins another challenge," Richard said.
    "If he does," Shonette replied, "then we exile Pauline or Raul."
    "Exactly," Jerry said. "If we can't get to Stefan, we can at least take out his supporters. Leave him vulnerable. That's gonna fuck with his head, and then he'll start slipping up."
    Sal frowned. "Okay, but what happens once we've exiled all of them? You realize we'll have to turn on each other then, right?"
    "Well," Jerry said, "it is a game, right? No hard feelings at that point. Agreed?"
    Sal and Richard glanced at each other, then back to Jerry.
    "luck it," Sal said. "I'm in."
    Richard nodded. "Yeah, let's do it."
    Jerry turned to the others. "You guys still up for this?"
    Troy picked up his hat, brushed off the dirt, and plopped it back on his head.
    "Fuck that fucking fuck. Let's exile his ass, and all his little fucking cronies, too."
    Ryan laughed. "I'm with Troy."
    "Let's do it," Shonette said.
    They all turned to Becka.
    "Okay," she said. "Sounds like a plan, I guess."
    "Matthew?" Jerry smiled. "Will you help us?"
    "Sure." His voice was a sullen monotone. "For now. But this doesn't make us friends. Like you said, it's a game. Stefan and Jeff are the most
    immediate threats. Taking them out will level the playing field."
    "The enemy of my enemy is my friend?"
    Matthew's smile was tight-lipped. "Something like that."
    "Gotta admit," Jerry said, "you didn't strike me as the type of guy who reads Sun Tzu's The Art of War."
    Matthew's smile vanished. "That's because you don't know anything about me. None of you do."
    He raised his bamboo spear, pushed past the group, and trudged away. They watched him go, shaking their heads.
    "Nice guy," Ryan whispered.
    Troy began slapping mosquitoes again. "Dude's an asshole, if you ask me. Not as much as Stefan, maybe, but still..."
    "Well," Jerry said, "as long as he keeps his word with us and helps take down their alliance, I don't care what he does. We can exile him after we finish with the others."
    Tired, hungry, thirsty, and pestered by mosquitoes, they plodded along the trail, making their way back to the base camp.
    As she walked, Becka got that weird feeling of being watched again. She tried to ignore it. Although she'd never admit it to the other contestants, the island was pretty spooky at night, and even during the day, if she happened to be off by herself. As a result, she tried to stay close to the others—or at least near the base camp. Maybe it was just her imagination, or perhaps it was the island's local lore. Upon their arrival, Roland had filled them in
    on its history. Tradition held that the island was haunted. The region had been populated for over seven thousand years, but in all that time, the island had remained uninhabited because the natives from the surrounding islands avoided it at all costs. Legends were passed on from each generation to the next that many of the caves scattered across the island were actually mouths leading into the underworld. A tribe of small, inhuman creatures were said to emerge from these caves to rape or devour anything in their path. Unlike the Indonesian folktales of the little people of Flores—cave-dwelling South Seas leprechauns who accepted gourds full of food that the Floresians set out for them as offerings—the diminutive creatures on this island were said to be savage and demonic.
    Over the years, various traders, explorers, and adventurers from as far away as