Who is The 15th Survivor? Find out.
CHAPTER 2
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Dear Tony
Bring back the old days, me hearty! Sixteen men on a dead man's chest! Yo-ho-ho and a bottle of rum!
Forgive the faded pirate-speak, but having spent six days on this wretched island I long for the sea-spray in my face and a cutlass between my teeth.
You should see how the folks out here resolve fighting - instead of pistols at dawn, defending their honour, they fight like little old women!
"You're a bitch."
"No, you're a bitch."
"I'll smack you, hey."
"No you won't."
"Step over this line and see what happens."
"No - you step over the line."
"Shall we rather be friends?"
"OK."
Sam and Mzi had a real handbag-slapper over which was the bigger man - it was all I could do to stop myself bursting into laughter. If I were involved I'd let them feel the sharp bite of my steel - men have a habit of shrinking into boys when faced with real threat.
See, we had a reward challenge on Day 4 - something they called the Reverse Sumo, although there were no fat Japanese people involved. Just that fat Zayn guy, who lived up to his promise of being physically weak by getting beaten by our own Sanele.
Two ladies had at it after which the model doctor was owned by Sam, giving us a 3-0 win.
The reward was fishing nets and flint, and it was while using that flint to light our first fire that Mzi and Sam clashed.
The women started getting involved and it was all getting quite frenetic, until Jude suddenly appeared out of nowhere and cast a bloodshot eye on the squabbling group.
They all shut up so fast the ensuing silence was deafening. Jude looked at each of the protagonists with a demonic intensity and you could have heard a pin drop.
Somewhere deep in the jungle a twig snapped. Nobody cared.
Satisfied that her peace would be disturbed no more, Jude turned on her heel and disappeared to wherever she'd come from. Nobody knows where she goes and nobody dares follow to find out.
I still remember the fear I felt when surrounded by 20 cutthroat brigands one night in a dark alley in downtown Baranquilla. They were covered with blood, snarling viciously in the moonlight, and they had me trapped without a weapon like a dog. They were no longer men, having given up the right to humanity a long time ago for the unimaginably cruel things they had done.
That fear I felt was a mild question compared to the chill of death that courses through my veins when Jude looks at me. Bottled insanity, and that bottle is about to burst.
Scary, scary person.
To get away from it all I headed down to the beach and took our boat, rowing across to the Rana island. Living with Aguila I know little about the other tribe, and what I don't know scares me. Metaphorically speaking, of course.
I crept through the jungle until I came upon their camp, and peering through the mango trees I saw them holding a little council.
They were clearly upset that they had lost the first reward challenge - their third loss in a row.
I watched them elect Jacinda to the post of Chairperson - of what, I'm not sure. I think they thought it sounded fancy, but it was really a little silly.
They seemed convinced that they were brighter than Aguila, but all they were was a tribe bonding in adversity. Being a loser doesn't make you smart - it simply makes you a loser.
By the time I got back to Black Pearl Island Sam and Brigitte were practically married, which I instantly thought wasn't a great idea. Surely the others would perceive them as a united front and therefore as a threat?
As it turned out later I was right. Mzi's tactic of catching live stingrays and feeding them raw to Jude helped him form a sort of bond with her, and since Jude clearly didn't like Sam or his girlfriend the numbers began to stack rapidly against the alpha lovebirds.
Everyone else was too scared to go against Jude - she walked up to a group of us as the sun was going down on Day 5 and after staring wildly around at nothing in particular - and breathing heavily - she grunted out one word: "Sam".
Then she retraced her steps, mad with something bigger than any of us can understand, and was seen no more until the next day.
Not a lady of many words is Jude, but when she speaks you listen. Trust me. You listen.
At the Immunity Challenge Mark started narrating stories of Conquistadores and pirates and I felt a little uncomfortable. But I felt a lot better when I saw the cannons we had to drag around the island - they made me feel right at home.
We should have won the challenge but the fat guy on Rana had the bright idea of pulling their cannon instead of pushing. We pushed our cannon into the sand and lost, but I wasn't disappointed - far from it.
It meant I got to go to my first legitimate Tribal Council, which was what I'd been waiting for.
When we got to the sacrificial temple I made sure I sat near one of the loosened slabs, underneath which is buried the stolen teasure of Juan Alonso de Arroyo.
The whole time we sat there I kept loosening the slab of stone some more, and so concentrated on my effort was I that I missed most of what was going on.
Suddenly Mark said it was time to vote and I had to go make mine, which naturally was for Sam. I could not get the image of Jude out of my head.
Everyone else voted for him too, except of course his girlfriend who seemed under the impression that everyone loved her.
A dream so cruelly shattered.
When we got back to camp everyone was tired and nobody wanted to look at Brigitte. The air was wet with insinuation and nobody was in an answering mood.
We settled down to sleep, but later on we aoke with a start, staring at each other. Nobody was sure of what it was they heard so we kept silent, waiting to hear it again.
The night was suddenly torn apart by a bloodcurdling roar from deep inside the jungle. With the hair on our necks standing up straight, we lay down and tried to sleep once more.
There was no sign of Jude that night.