One Year to Live: I Traded My Toxic Family for Global Fame novel · Chapter 6 of 24
Chapter 6: Live
By nightfall the live count had doubled.
Tegan sat on a log at the first camp with a blanket on her shoulders and a tin cup of broth in both hands.
The guest-day van had left an hour ago.
Camille had waved from the window, and the producers had said it was the sweetest exit they had ever seen.
Nine contestants shared the camp, and three cameras watched them.
The only one who had talked to Tegan all day was a tall contestant everyone called the Climber.
He was a professional mountaineer and the show's second most famous face.
He had spent the afternoon calling her a fraud on camera.
"Rescue stunt," he said now, dropping onto the log across the fire. "Everybody saw it. Pretty girl falls in, the guide pulls her out, the stream goes wild."
"I didn't ask to fall."
"Sure."
He picked up her pack from where she had propped it against the log, and he turned it so the cameras could see.
"Gear check," he said brightly. "Let's see how prepared she really is."
He unzipped it and held up a sleeping bag.
It was soaked.
Another bag came out. Her spare socks. Her matches.
All of it was wet, and all of it was packed in the same dry sack that she had sealed that morning.
"Somebody drowned your kit," the Climber said, almost sweetly. "Before the river, I'd guess. Rookie mistake."
The camp went quiet.
Tegan put her cup down.
She had watched the dry sack go into the pack at five in the morning. It had been dry then, and now it was wet at the seams.
She did not look at the Climber.
She looked at the nearest red light, and she thought about the unclipped strap.
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