Doesn’t matter. Bathroom. Mack nearly cries at the pain of relief.
When Mack comes out, Ava is standing on the edge of camp, her arms folded, her eyes narrowed. “They didn’t hear anything,” she says, as though Mack asked. Mack did not ask. Mack will not ask.
“Do you think something is really wrong?” Brandon joins Ava, his kind freckled nose wrinkled in concern. “Maybe she got hurt. It would have been Rebecca, right?”
“Or the other Ava,” Ava says.
“I am not the other Ava,” a voice snaps from the darkness. “You’re the other Ava.” Beautiful Ava staggers into the camp and flings herself at the table, chugging a water bottle so fast it drips down her throat. Her eye makeup has drifted downward, leaving dark hollows beneath her eyes. Lines of either sweat or tears have created a strangely striped effect through her foundation. Jaden prowls in after her, sweaty and dirty and struggling to maintain his cooler-than-thou expressions.
“What did you do to her?” Ava folds her arms over her chest. It accentuates her not-negligible biceps, whether she intends it to or not.
Mack wanders away. She doesn’t need to know. She doesn’t want to know. She wants to sleep.
Jaden smiles.
“Listen, asshole, if Rebecca doesn’t come back tonight—”
“Wait, Rebecca?” beautiful Ava interrupts. “I thought we were talking about Sydney.”
“You’re helping him?” Ava says, shaking her head in disgust.
“Why would we be talking about Sydney?” Brandon asks, innocently confused.
“Because they were the ones who got her out,” Ava says.
Jaden shrugs, a smug mask descending over his face. “All’s fair, et cetera et cetera.” The way he enunciates et cetera sets Mack’s teeth on edge. It sets Ava’s fists on clench, as well. “I would think you’d know at least about the war part,” Jaden continues, “if not the love part.”
Ava laughs. It takes Jaden by surprise, cracking his deliberately posed face. Then she moves so fast toward him that he stumbles back, bumping into the table. “Stay the fuck out of my way or you’ll wish we never met.”
Jaden tries to recover with a laugh, but it’s as empty as beautiful Ava’s discarded water bottle. “Too late for that.”
Ava turns to Mack, but Mack is already heading for the showers. She’s not on Ava’s side. She’s not on anyone’s side. She forgot, today. She can’t forget again.
* * *
—
Ava’s still prowling the perimeter. Everyone’s back except Atrius, LeGrand, and Rebecca. The writer—Ian, who Ava honestly cannot believe is still in—has his notebook out, nervously eating. Christian is less chatty today, sunburned and cross. Jaden and Ava Two have retreated to the corner of the covered area, dragging cots next to each other. Their laughter is forced, performative, their chatter unnecessarily low to emphasize that they don’t want to be overheard. As if Ava would ever care about anything they were saying.
“Do you think three people got out today?” Brandon asks, clearing his throat nervously. He looks shyly over at Mack. “I’m glad you’re still in.” She doesn’t respond, and he feels guilty for what he knows about her now. He wishes he didn’t know, because it makes him sad, and it also makes him a little scared, and he doesn’t like feeling either of those things.
A twig snaps. Even Mack, determined not to care, turns and watches like a fishing line is caught behind her eyes, tying her to whatever is coming.
LeGrand shuffles into camp.
“Did you find her?” Ava demands. She doesn’t even have time to be glad that it was Atrius who got out and not LeGrand. She has to know what happened.
LeGrand shakes his head. His hands tremble as he takes a water bottle. He says nothing else, because he doesn’t have anything else to say. He doesn’t ask how she knows he was looking. He looked, and he didn’t find, and he’s pretty sure that’s not how this game is supposed to work at all.
Mack wonders who LeGrand is, why he is the way he is. She doesn’t know him, but she knows that when someone screams, LeGrand runs toward it. And she doesn’t. What else would anyone ever need in order to weigh their worth?
“No Rebecca, and no Atrius,” Ava says. She frowns. “And no fancy white lady to summarize the day for us or tell us who got out.”
Does no one else keep such desperate track of food? Mack can’t believe they don’t notice. There’s enough for the rest of the game. Linda dropped off food and turned on the spotlight and then left. She isn’t coming back.