20
I took all four daggers — knowing I could use them — and the quiver of javelins, despite never having thrown one. I could use them to set traps. None of the footwear fit me so I left that, but the rest of the clothing was good cloth. I stripped it off the bodies to take with me.
I hesitated when I pulled the pants off the dead duoden, and looked into his glassy eyes for a moment. Then I reached out and gently closed them. Palashai had warned me that whoever offered to let me join their group would betray me the first chance they got, and because I believed her I had killed these three as soon as the bell rang. None of them had betrayed even a hint of treachery to me, but then, neither had I, and I'd done for them all.
Taking a few extra moments, I went to the syban pair and closed their eyes as well, though I wouldn't be taking any more time. I had to find a place to set up some traps.
Despite it being a jungle, the area I'd started in was relatively safe, at least compared to the jungles I had known. It apparently wasn't good TV when half the contestants died to natural hazards, so there were no natural apex predators on the island. That said, there were dangers that weren't part of the game. Some of the plants were poisonous, some of the animals had toxins, and most of them were unknown to me.
I'd asked, but simply been told not to worry about food and that the water was clean. Apparently, there were periodic supply drops that would be signaled by smoke. These would draw competitors, who would fight to gain the resources made available, including food, utility items, and better weapons, though I'd been assured those weapons wouldn't amount to more than swords, shields, bows, that sort of thing. No true firearms were made available in this first event.
I already knew I could handle a week without food. Water in a jungle was both plentiful and impossible to defend. If I wanted to I could simply hole up and wait for the end of the event, but I'd been cautioned against that approach. I already had points, though how many or the nature of the scoring hadn't been made clear to me. Apparently, it changed a bit with each season depending on votes cast by the viewers. Still, three kills in the first minute of the game had probably gotten me a spot on the highlight reel, and Yimshe had told me that would be important.
When I'd asked about how my outright murder of my companions would be seen, my trainers had told me it would depend on Palashai's guess. If she was right, I'd come out looking like I'd seen through the trap. If she was wrong I would be one of the villains of the season, which would make things significantly harder for me in some ways. Since anything told to me before the season opener would be unavailable to the general public until after the show was concluded, our planning session was under wraps. As long as I kept my mouth shut, I would look like I knew more than I did. Since keeping my mouth shut was my default anyway, it would serve me well.
With my additional equipment in hand I left the blood-spattered platform and its cargo of bodies behind. There was a single mountain that formed the centerpiece of the island. I made a note of where the sun was with respect to the mountain, then made straight for it. Supply drops would begin on the second day and most of them would be on the beach, but they weren't the only means by which the showrunners inspired conflict. Scattered throughout the island would be 'allies.' Finding and collecting them was also part of the game.
I didn't have much interest in allies, but if I came across one I was perfectly willing to make use of it. Now that I had no companions, I was free to be as ruthless as practicable, and was incentivized to be so as the lead killer from this event would score a bonus.
Given I knew I had several weaknesses on the social side of things, I needed that bonus, and I intended to get it.
As I moved I watched for any sign of the passage of others and so noticed a bit of bare bark where there should have been moss. Pausing, I cast about and soon found other signs of passage. Depressed jungle debris and fresh breaks in the loam.
I couldn't tell how many, but I knew more than one person had passed this way, and not long since. After a pause during which I failed to hear anything beyond the sounds I'd been listening to since arrival, I turned to follow the trail I'd discovered.
Ten minutes later I was crouched behind a clump of ferns as I watched three male competitors gathered in discussion. They were too far away to overhear, but I knew what they were talking about. Forty feet past them I could see a clearing in which were two things of interest.
The first was a free-standing metal cage. There was someone in that cage, though I couldn't make out any details from where I was. Pacing outside that cage was a large creature I really didn't want to tangle with. It was jet black and looked mostly like a panther with two key differences. The first was that it had six legs rather than the usual four, and the second was that it was the size of a Clydesdale.
The three competitors were a gray-skinned duoden about ten feet tall, a packwren male that was maybe ten five with brown skin save for a black back outlined by a band of white, and a twelve foot tall creature I hadn't seen before. It had green skin, a vaguely shark-like face, and looked ... oddly muscular. The closest thing to it I'd ever seen before were a few body builders that had used oil injections to inflate their muscle groups. It was a fetish thing, but I remember seeing the pics when they made the rounds in my unit.
This thing looked like that all over, and its skin even had a bit of a sheen like ... latex. I couldn't see its face from where I was, but didn't remember hearing anything about this particular breed and I hadn't seen one in any of the vids I'd watched.
The air under the canopy was still and I was about forty feet away, well hidden and camouflaged. As long as the packwren didn't catch a whiff of me, I was good. Even if he did I might still be good, because my scent wasn't one most packwren would recognize, given I was a 'new' species.
The three split up, apparently done with their pow-wow, and the duoden stayed in place while the packwren went around the clearing to the left and the ... green pool toy-looking thing went right. It was obvious they were going to try and take the beast in the middle and capture the 'ally' in the cage.
The duoden pulled a javelin from a quiver and crouched, eyes on the beast ahead of it. I made my careful way forward, stepping in the footprints made by the much bigger feet of their group. It occurred to me to wonder which of these three would actually get the ally if they succeeded, but since I had no intention of letting them do that it was a moot point. The fact that the four-armed apeman was crouching to stay hidden put his vitals in reach, and I already had a dagger in hand.
It was a simple matter to cover his mouth, jam the blade into the side of his neck, then twist and rip.
He spasmed, but I'd cut his windpipe and the fact that he was crouching actually helped me, because it kept his struggle contained as I hauled his head backward, catching and lowering him gently to his back. He swung feebly at me with the javelin, but I caught his wrist with my instep and pressed it to the turf as I leaned over and cracked his skull with the pommel.
His death sounds never broke the ambient noise of the jungle.
I briefly considered which of the two to go after, but the decision was taken from me as the packwren, howling a challenge, leapt into the clearing to attack.
The six-legged panther thing spun toward the packwren and I noticed pool toy ... fuck it, that's what I'm calling him, running silently up behind with a spear clutched in both hands. The dude probably hoped to jam that thing up the panther's ass. It wasn't bad as far as plans went, but I had no intention of letting them carry it off.
I flipped the dagger, which was decently balanced, and threw it hard from where I was. It wasn't a throwing knife, but I'm pretty good with blades and knew it would do something interesting as long as I got it to the target on time.
Oh boy, did it.
The dagger caught pool toy in the side, just under the ribs, and he jerked sideways as an explosion of air rushed out of him. Half his chest collapsed and a wide swath of ... skin? flapped against his side.
The panther-looking thing obviously noticed because it instantly leapt backward, but so high that it actually passed way over pool toy's head to land behind him.
One swipe from its claws deflated the rest of the dude and sent him literally flying off into the jungle to my right.
The packwren screamed, "Brolly, you traitor!" and turned to flee, running away both from where I was still hidden and the panther thing, which leapt after him.
I heard a brief howl eclipsed by a feline scream and a crash of breaking foliage. Scratch one competitor.
Moving cautiously, I headed toward where I'd last seen pool toy and found him at the base of a tree, literally shredded. He wasn't twelve feet tall now either, but actually closer to five, and his muscles were now wiry — long and lean — rather than bulbous. He was still alive, but I could hear bubbles in his breathing and knew he didn't have long.
When he saw me he swung at me with an empty hand. His spear had flown off when he had, but not in the same direction. It was still in the clearing somewhere near the cage.
His hand hit my thigh to no effect and I raised an eyebrow at the dude, then shook my head and reached in to slash his throat. The burbling sound got way louder for a second, then the dude sagged like one of those car sales wind dummies when the blower shuts off. The dude had literally nothing on him but pants.
I wanted to take them but carrying them would start to weigh me down and I wouldn't be able to turn what I had into rope until I found a place to settle in, so I left what I had in a heap near him and moved to have a look see at the last man and what that six-legged terror beast thing was up to.
It was at the edge of the clearing eating him, which is about what I expected.
It was being noisy about it too, and seemed to be paying no attention to its surroundings. I noticed that it had a chain around his neck, and hanging from that chain was a key, which would very obviously open the cage.
What to do? I had javelins, but I'd literally never thrown one in my life. I doubted my daggers would do much good on a beast that big. Pool toy's spear might do the trick, but going to get it would open me up to being seen, both by the creature and whoever was in the cage. She might summon the beast, and I'd be fucked.
After a moment's thought, I carefully backed away, went back to the dead duoden, slipped his javelins into the quiver I already had — which packed them in tight — then took his pants before going to pool toy to retrieve the rest. I glanced into the clearing as I worked and saw that there was one person in the cage.
It was a she — confirming that it was an ally — and she was dressed kinda like Indiana Jones, right down to the hat. She was about oh, three feet and change tall. Also green and vaguely shark-featured.
Our eyes met as I looked her way. Hers were lavender and large in her head, like three times bigger than human eyes, but otherwise a familiar shape. The rest of her face was round, pleasant, and she had a set of DSL on her that would have earned wolf whistles from some of the guys I used to work with.
I briefly considered sending a dagger her way, but decided against it. I remembered something about the weapons we had not being lethal on non-competitors, and they weren't worth any points anyway. Given the weapons were all primitive I wasn't sure how that'd work, but whatever. There was arguably still a benefit to killing this one, since doing so would ensure that whatever skills she had wouldn't go to someone else, but it would also definitely make me the season's bad guy.
The cage itself made me hesitate, and I briefly considered luring the animal into a fight around it. It could leap over — I knew that from what it had done to pool toy — but it wouldn't be able to do it fast enough to get to me before I made the corners. The problem was that it might be agile enough to beat me around those corners on foot, so the cage wasn't really of much use as a screen.
A quick visual scan showed me the spear, but it was way out in the middle of the clearing.
Not worth the risk.
Frowning, I glanced at the female in the cage. She didn't say anything, but pointed toward the beast and made gestures as though she was stabbing it with a spear. I pursed my lips, showed my hands in an idle shrug, then gave her a thumbs-up and turned away.
I had places to be, people to kill, and I wasn't about to risk my life fighting a beast that wasn't worth any points to get an ally that I would then have to defend for the rest of the event. It didn't matter what she was supposed to be good at; she'd be a liability even if I picked her up.
Better to let someone else do the hard work, then kill them.
As I picked up the load of laundry I was accumulating, I heard something like a soft grunt from behind me and to my right. I twisted and deliberately fell backward into a roll over my shoulder as something tugged the clothes out of my hands.
Winding up between two ferns at the edge of the clearing, I shifted back as a glance told me I'd just about been skewered by a thrown javelin. Despite that, I saw no trace of whoever'd thrown it at me, and after a quick look toward where I knew the beast to be, I risked a run across the open space.
That risky run got me two things: the spear, and the attention of ye big fucking six-legged panther thing.
Well, I did just do essentially the same thing to these three poor unfortunates; can't blame the other guy for that, I thought ruefully as I made the trees on the far side and spun to put myself behind a bole.
To my shock and amazement, the cat thing yowled and spun away just before it reached me, showing its flank and the bloody streak there. Whoever had thrown at me had thrown at the beast.
Unwilling to believe my attacker had been that stupid, I backed up, putting another few trees in the way and flattening myself down low, relying on my camo as I watched the panther thing. It paced, roaring as it watched the trees I'd come out of moments earlier.
Another javelin flew out, but it batted the thing aside with a paw, hissing and spitting in rage.
The way it moved made me glad I hadn't tried killing it myself. Its reflexes were far better than mine. I rather suspected it wasn't something that would be killable without being either very clever, or having some more advanced weapon that would come with a supply drop.
Whoever was out there didn't attack again, and I crept down to the jungle floor and inched away, looking for better cover.
This was a game I could play.
Fifteen minutes later I was under a pair of ferns within sight of the clearing about halfway between where I'd started and where the dead pool toy dude was. I wanted those pants, but I also wanted to kill whoever'd punked me with that fucking javelin.
The cat had calmed down, though it was still pacing angrily around the cage. I had a clear line of sight on the short stack inside. She was looking around, but wasn't zeroing in on anyone.
There were three possibilities. The first was that whoever had tried for me bugged out. The second was that they were searching for me. The third ... was they were waiting in ambush, just like I was.
If it was a packwren out there, I might be in trouble. They had good noses and I had blood on me. If it wasn't, I figured I had a better than even chance. These livestock competitors were trained to go for score. The emphasis was on showmanship, not patience. Get the kill and make it look good.
I was a different breed. I was content to sit all day, suffering the bug bites and the sweat, waiting. It wasn't riveting TV ... but ambush hunting was all or nothing.
I waited in still silence, listening to the jungle and watching the chick in the cage. If she spotted someone, she'd look at them.
The sun crawled across the sky and I stayed where I was. The cat eventually settled down, put its head on its paws, and watched the trees idly. The chick in the cage sat on her butt Indian style. She put her elbow on her knee and her cheek in her hand, looking bored.
More time passed. Noon came and went. The heat was oppressive and it was only knowing death be the wages of impatience that kept me from moping the sweat from my face. It beaded in my eyelashes and dripped down my nose. Bugs were eating me alive. It was miserable, but I was committed.
Then, without warning, I heard a voice behind me, not more than a few feet away, speaking in a low tone just above a whisper.
"Anything?"
Another voice, this one with a distinct sibilance that told me it probably belonged to a syban, answered, "No. I don't undersstand. We'd have ssseen him leave!"
"We've been all the way around the clearing twice. He got away somehow, that's all there is to it. Do you want to try for the doll or not?"
"Jusst the two of uss? No. The beasst would tear uss apart. We need to win a drop firsst."
"Why do you suppose he was collecting pants?" the first voice asked.
"Pervert collecting trophiess iss my only guess. If we aren't going to try for the doll, where to? It'ss getting late. We need to find a camp."
"There'll be caves in the mountain. We can find one, clear it, and hide a fire in there. My trainer said there's always at least one drop near the summit. We'll try for that."
"Let'ss go."
Relative silence descended again. The two were so quiet that even knowing they were there didn't let me hear them leave. It forced me to wait another ten minutes before slowly turning my head to look.
Once I was as sure as I could be that the two were gone, I got up and looked at where they'd been standing. I found a few impressions, took a javelin from the quiver, and embedded it in the ground to ensure I could find the spot again. I then went and retrieved my 'pervert trophies,' before following the trail the two had left behind.
I'd let them lead me to a camp site, get two more kills, then work on making rope. Seven kills. It should be eight, but I doubted I'd get credit for the packwren I'd let the beast finish off.
While I had no basis for comparison, I figured it wasn't a bad start. There might even be a bonus to the fact that so many of the kills were in this particular area. I could probably use that to defray my biggest disadvantage.