Chapter 7: The Log Over the Gorge

The next challenge was a log over a gorge.

Demi stood at the edge of it on the morning of the fourth day and looked down.

The log ran forty feet from one rock shelf to another, wet with mist.

Below it, a white river cut through black stone, a long way down.

The show's host read the rules from a clipboard.

First across with a flag won a full supply drop, and everyone else ate what the mountain gave them.

Six contestants lined up.

Dean lay in the medic's tent with a drip in his arm and a fever that was finally going down.

Bruce stepped to the front.

He rolled his shoulders and looked over at Demi on the other end of the line.

"Stay away from Celia today," he said, low. "She is upset. I only have one sister, and she is the one I grew up with."

"You said that to me once," Demi said. "I remember it very clearly."

Bruce frowned, but the host called his name before he could ask what she meant.

Celia stood on the rock shelf behind him, holding a camera of her own, a little pink one on a stick.

She had been asked to film the crossing for her fans.

Demi looked at the log.

At the near end, a pale line ran across the bark where the wood showed white.

It was a cut, fresh, made by a saw.

It went about halfway through.

She turned her head slowly and found her camera operator.

"Zoom on the near end of that log," she said. "Please."

The woman looked, and went still.

"That is a saw mark."

"I know."

"Who would...?"

"I do not know yet," Demi said. "Keep it in frame."

The horn sounded.

Bruce went across fast and sure, arms wide, his stunt-trained feet quick on the wet bark.

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