There’s a bag on the ground, and a notebook half in the pool, the pages slowly being filled for the first and last time.
The other Ava is shouting something.
“It wasn’t him,” Ava says, numb. “We were together the whole day. We tried to find you guys but we couldn’t, and then we hid. It wasn’t him. It wasn’t us,” she corrects, because if they’re accusing Jaden, they’re accusing her, too.
“Fucking bitch,” Jaden spits, lowering his arms now that the other Ava has paused in her onslaught. “What are you even accusing me of? You think I murdered them to win? How exactly would I spend the cash in jail?”
“I heard something.” Ava can’t tear her eyes away from the pool in the center of the camp. She smells it now, a tang of iron and something fouler, older. “In the morning. I thought it was a car backfiring. But there are no cars around here.”
The other Ava leans back, then stands. Jaden scrambles to his feet, face purple with rage, lip already swelling.
The other Ava doesn’t seem worried about being attacked, and, flanked by both tall Brandon and silent LeGrand with his vacant eyes, she doesn’t need to. Jaden points a shaking finger at them. “You’re all idiots. Fucking idiots. It’s a game. Don’t you get that? This is part of the game! This is the twist! They want you to be convinced that it’s real, or that it’s dangerous, so you’ll get yourselves out! God.” He laughs, the sound high and harsh. “I shouldn’t even tell you this. I should let you work yourselves into a frenzy and run for the gate. But apparently it needs to be said that we’re playing a game before Iraq Barbie here goes full Rambo and murders me.”
The other Ava turns to her, dark eyes showing whites all around. “You swear, you were with him the whole day.”
Ava nods, her head bobbing eagerly. “And he really didn’t get anyone out except Sydney.”
“Shut the fuck up,” Jaden says. “Don’t tell them anything.” He pushes past and goes into the bathrooms. They hear a shower start up.
“I swear,” Ava whispers.
The other Ava nods, expressionless. She looks out into the darkness. “I heard it, too. The shot. I thought I was losing my mind.”
“He’s probably right. That this is part of the game.”
“Maybe.” The other Ava twitches, her hand going down to one of her legs. “Maybe. I might—I might be seeing a threat where there isn’t one.”
“It’s a pretty sick game,” Brandon says, frowning at the camp. “I don’t mean sick like cool. I mean sick like gross. I don’t like it. It’s not fun anymore.” He looks up, searching both Avas’ faces. “What should we do?”
“I need the money,” Ava blurts. “I really do.”
“We all need the fucking money,” the other Ava says, but it’s without venom.
“Look, maybe they did mislead us. Maybe it’s a meaner game than we thought it was. But what’s the alternative? You think Linda brought us in here to, what, murder us two by two?” It sounds ridiculous when Ava says it. It is ridiculous. Jaden is right. He has to be right. This is another twist in the game. Ava frowns, struck with a sudden thought. “You were all here at camp before we were.”
Brandon tilts his head, confused. The other Ava understands immediately. “You think we did this to freak you out. I wish. God, that’d be a great strategy.” She takes a few steps toward the darkness pressing in around them. “Could have been Christian or Ian, making a play.”
“Or Mack.” Ava shrugs defensively when the other Ava cuts a narrowed look at her. “Look, all I’m saying is, what she’s been through, she’s probably kind of messed up.”
“No one is looking,” LeGrand says, his voice soft, his watery eyes drifting somewhere along the ground. She thinks his eyes are a weak sort of blue, but in the orange light, none of them have color. Not even the sticky pool in the middle. Maybe it’s not darkest red turning to black. Maybe it’s purple, or blue, or—
Yeah. Maybe someone melted a whole cooler full of blood-scented Popsicles. Sure. Ava shakes her head, knowing what she’s seeing and smelling but still wanting to deny it, because how could it be that?
“What do you mean?” Brandon asks LeGrand.
“Out there.” LeGrand shrugs, his sloped shoulders making him look smaller than he is. “No one is looking for us.”
“Just because you weren’t found doesn’t mean no one is looking,” Ava says. “You probably got lucky; they had already gotten two people out for the day. That’s the pattern, right? Two a day. So if the two have already been found, you’re safe.”