Episode 3: Walking The Plank

Dear Tony

So much has come to light in the last three days I know not where to start. It would seem I am not the only pirate with an agenda on this godforsaken island...

You may recall in my missive to you last week that Jude had a habit of disappearing into the jungle at night and emerging the next day exhausted and bloodstained.

I didn't like the unknown quantity of her ghostly sojourns into the darkness (you know me - I don't like surprises) and took it upon myself to find out more.

The day after Sam was voted out I kept an eye on Jude, which wasn't too hard as she had taken to sleeping during the day.

She became the elephant in the room that nobody wanted to talk about and she tossed in her sleep, her unconscious thought clearly disturbed by whatever evil she spawned in the graveyard hours.

That evening she arose, ate a handful of sand, washed it down with seawater and headed resolutely towards the jungle. As inconspicuously as I could I faded backwards into the fringe of the jungle - nobody even saw me go.

Once out of view of the camp I doubled around and stopped at the point I believed Jude would enter the jungle - not a moment too soon. As I got into place I heard a crashing sound and not four feet from where I crouched behind a tangle of vines I saw Jude enter the jungle.

As she passed I looked up and saw The Rage upon her grim countenance. The sombre, fading twilight covered by a cloth of brooding sky framed her angular jaw, which was set in a grimace of insanity.

I could have sworn I heard her teeth gnashing, although in her defence the noise I heard may have been my own teeth chattering violently in their sockets.

Steeling myself for come what may I waited 10 seconds before I followed her into the dank gloom. She wasn't hard to follow as she clearly wasn't expecting anyone to follow her - I simply followed the trail of broken foliage and the sound of breaking twigs, making sure to stay out of sight.

After an hour of following her in this fashion it was pitch dark and the humidity was way off the scale. The air was thick with insects and the sweat poured off my body, inviting a savage array of bites.

I figured we must be near the middle of the jungle, halfway between the two coasts of the island, when all of a sudden I heard nothing. Just like that. One moment I could hear Jude's passage through the jungle ahead of me, and the next moment I heard nothing.

When the night is silent it is a precursor to unimaginable evil. And this night was quieter than death - even the humming of the insects had stopped.

I stopped abruptly in my tracks, fearing what I knew and fearing what I knew not.

Easing onto my belly I snaked my way forwards for 20 feet, until I saw a faint glow filtering through the undergrowth. I could hear talking, although I was still too far away to hear what was being said or who was saying it.

I edged forward, the hair on my neck standing up straight. The voices got louder, although I still couldn't hear the conversation. There was definitely more than one voice though.

I reached the edge of what appeared to be a clearing of sorts and was just about to part the bushes to see who/what was in the clearing when a primeval roar split the night and the jungle exploded with noise.

It felt to me as though that roar had shaken the island, and I knew it was the same noise we'd been hearing each night back at camp.

Such was my terror I almost bolted and followed the forest wildlife that was fleeing in all directions. But I'd come this far and now I had to know.

I gingerly parted the bushes and saw something that has been etched into my brain, never to be erased. So great was my shock I almost fainted with incomprehension at it all.

There, in the middle of the clearing, was a sacrificial altar, much like the one at Tribal Council beneath which the treasure of Juan Alonso de Arroyo is buried.

Lying on the stone altar was none other than Jude and hovering over her, with bloodstained instruments of indeterminate description and eyes glowing red like the devil, was none other than ... the Good Doctor!

You know the one by now, my friend - that blonde doctor from the Rana tribe. The supposedly sweet, slightly feminine landlubber in whose mouth even butter would refuse to melt.

The Good Doctor was being anything but good, is my solemn promise to you.

A fire burned nearby and I watched in horror as he thrust a sharp metal implement - closely resembling a poker - into the flames, heating it until it glowed red hot.

Then he retrieved it and without so much as a by-your-leave drove it into Jude's shoulder.

Her roar split the night once more but the Good Doctor restrained her as he dug deep into her flesh, opening a hole all the way to the bone. His hair hung limply over his face, but through his fringe I could swear I saw the two glowing coals of his eyes. His teeth were bared in the light of the fire as he vigorously applied himself to his gruesome task.

Jude didn't appear to be fighting back - it seemed to me as though her thrashing was merely in pain, but that she was willingly allowing herself to be tortured in this way.

Once he'd done digging the hole in Jude's arm the Good Doctor reached into his pocket and retrieved an object I couldn't make out. He stuffed it into the hole as Jude continued to roar, then cauterised the wound with his still-hot poker.

He gave Jude a sip of water from a canteen and she slowly sat up, haggard and pale and covered in blood. The Good Doctor said something to her I couldn't make out and she grunted something in reply, then got to her feet uncertainly and without a backward glance started heading back the way she'd come - straight in my direction!

I decided I'd seen enough for now - if Jude was the ultimate scary person before this night, what did that make the Good Doctor?

I ran. I ran faster than an informant with a steak strapped to his leg who has just been flung into one of Juan Alonso de Arroyo's rabid dog pits.

I reached camp at least 10 minutes before Jude, and flung myself into the tent. Nico woke up and was about to say something but he never got a word out - I hit him so hard he fell back, unconscious.

The next day I would explain to him the motivations behind my action. The next day I would receive a grovelling thanks from Nico. Nobody really likes the guy - there's something odd about him we just can't put our finger on...

I heard Jude come crashing into the camp but she never paused - she kept going through the camp, just as she did every night, and disappeared on the other side. I was done following however - I was less clear about things than I'd been before I got involved, but at least I knew more things. Enough things for one night.

Two days later - after losing the third immunity challenge - Jude approached the tribe and ordered us to vote her out. She said she was exhausted - it was all I could do to stop myself guffawing out loud.

I'll bet you're exhausted, mused I.

It didn't make sense to me, of course. Clearly she was involved in skullduggery with the Good Doctor, although what it was and why I was no closer to understanding. I couldn't fathom why she wanted to leave.

I had no choice though - I had to agree with the tribe to vote her out. Not to do so would have aroused suspicion, which is something I can ill-afford.

That night at tribal council we stuck to the plan and Mark told us we could say goodbye to Jude. She hugged everyone before getting to me, and when she did she paused and looked deep, deep, deep into my eyes, and I knew she could see secrets in the depths of my soul.

She had a strange half-smile on her face which I couldn't read, but I promise you this: it was not a warm smile. It was a knowing smile.

I glanced at her arm where the Good Doctor had been burrowing, and saw the suppurating wound. She saw my glance, looked pointedly at the wound then looked back at me.

She emitted a low, ungodly chuckle and turned on her heel, before having her torch snuffed out and walking the proverbial plank.

My thoughts were dark and disturbed when we got back to camp, trying to make sense of the things I had seen and learned. Nothing made sense, but one thing I did know - all was not as it seemed.

For the first time since our stay on the island there was no roaring from the jungle that night, despite which I still could not sleep.

I dreamed terrible dreams involving the Good Doctor performing his inhuman surgeries on me as I screamed and screamed and screamed.

I tossed and turned until the first grey fingers of light announced the dawn.