Billie had Andrew’s Swiss Army knife on her hip. The thick plastic handle was tucked down the waistband of her bikini pants, all the blades and tools folded in.
“Do you want to be the one to use it?” Kimberly asked.
The two women stared at each other, the firelight flickering in their eyes.
“You want to, don’t you?” Billie said.
“Yes.”
They were not exactly beating around the bush.
“Okay,” Billie said. She pulled the knife out, leaned sideways and passed it to Kimberly.
Kimberly shut her hand around it, and pressed her fist against her belly.
Billie glanced from me to Connie. “Do either of you have any questions?”
“Guess not,” Connie said.
“I’m ready,” I said. “Just don’t let him kill me, okay?”
Kimberly got to her feet.
So did Billie. “Good luck, you two,” she told us. “Make it look good.”
“We will,” I promised. “You be careful out there.”
Side by side, carrying their spears, they walked away from the fire. I was facing the fire (and Connie on its other side) so I had to look over my shoulder to watch them. They went to the stream—the usual routine—drank from it and brushed their teeth (using fingers). Then they wandered over to the rocky area at the north side of our beach. As they started to climb, Connie snapped, “Quit watching. Jerk.”
“I can’t see anything,” I said.
“Not that you aren’t trying.”
I faced front—to be on the lookout in case Connie chose to throw her spear at me. “I’m not into watching ladies take a leak,” I explained. “Maybe you are, but…”
“Fuck you.”
“Give it a rest, okay? Why don’t you just sit quietly and try to work on your vocabulary?”
“What a wit.”
I looked back over my shoulder, but couldn’t spot Billie or Kimberly.
“This is such a treat for you,” Connie said.
“Really.”
“A dream come true.”
“Right.”
“Trapped on an island with a band of women.”
“And a maniac who wants to kill me. It’s a blast. Why don’t we save all this for our big fight scene, okay?”
She didn’t come back with a crack, so maybe she liked the idea.
After a while, Billie and Kimberly reappeared. They climbed down from the rocks and came across the beach. After crossing the stream, Billie waved and said to us, “Night, now.”
“See you in the morning, people,” Kimberly said.
They split up and went to their own sleeping nests—beds, as Billie calls them. Billie lay down alone. Kimberly, a few yards away, eased down into her place beside Thelma.
From where I sat, not much could be seen of them. They weren’t completely beyond the glow from the fire, but the light that reached them was pretty dim and murky. Just the way we wanted things.
“Let’s wait a little while,” I said to Connie.
“Your wish is my command.”
I sighed.
“What?” she asked.
“Nothing.”
“Yeah, sure.”
“Okay. First off, we’re in a real mess. You know? People have died…”
“Tell me about it,” she muttered.
“I just think that, under the circumstances, it’d be nice if we didn’t have to fight among ourselves. I mean, my God, it’s pretty weird to be bickering with each other about a load of insignificant crap when there’s a guy out there killing us off. I know you’re upset and scared, but that doesn’t give you any excuse to go around making everyone miserable.”
She showed me her teeth. “Do I make you miserable?”
“You make me want to smack you silly.”
“Well, two can play that game.”
“Why the hell did you even ask me to come on this damn trip? All you’ve done the whole time is dump on me.”
“Maybe I like to dump on you,” she said.
“Sure.”
“You’re such a fucking loser.”
“Why did you ask me to come? I don’t get it. Did you just want to show your family what a loser you’ve got for a boyfriend? That doesn’t exactly make sense. Not that I ever exactly expect you to make a whole lot of sense, but…”
“Up yours.”
“Why am I here? Why did you invite me? You needed someone your own age to pick on?”
She sneered at me. “What was I supposed to do, come by myself? I figured, better you than no one.”
“Oh, thanks a heap.”
“Well, you asked. Besides, I used to think I liked you.”
That one actually sort of hurt.
“I thought I loved you,” she said.
That one stunned me so much I wondered if it was a lie.
“If you loved me,” I said, “you had a funny way of showing it.”
“What, because I wouldn’t jump into bed with you?”
“No!”
“I happen to be very particular about who I jump into bed with, buddy. It’s a very select few, as a matter of fact. I have to be one hundred per cent sure of a guy… and I had my doubts about you from the start. Thank God I didn’t give in. But maybe you’ll have more luck with my mom… or Kimberly. It’s so disgustingly obvious that you’d rather fuck one of them…”
“Knock it off,” I said. “Man! Your father got his head chopped in half this morning; how in hell can you be talking like this?”
“Maybe it’s time for a little honesty, that’s how. Why go around lying and being a phoney about everything if we’re all gonna get killed anyway? You know? Screw it. From now on, I say what I think.”
“You mean, you haven’t been? Could’ve fooled me. But you know what? I don’t see more honesty here; all I see is that you’re getting more energetic in your nastiness.”
“Fuck you.”
“That’s original.”
That was apparently the final straw.
Or she just figured it was time to start the show.
She started it by twisting her face so she looked like a maniac. Then she hissed through her teeth and she leaped at me. Didn’t bother to go around the fire—sprang over it, instead. I didn’t even have time to stand up before she crashed down on top of me and slammed me backward into the sand.
She seemed to be all knees and elbows and fists.
Next thing I knew, she was sitting on my stomach. The knees and elbows no longer jabbed into me, but her fists kept smacking me in the face.
I put up my arms to block them.
And gasped things like, “Stop it! Shit! That hurts! Hey!”
I knew better than to think she was simply trying to make our fight look good for Wesley; she was trying to
