They reached their cave and Sarah came back out, her face red. “What’s the matter?” he asked, alarmed.
“Someone’s been in our cave, they took the ginger root. The water is still there, thank god, but someone stole our stuff.” She said angrily, looking around to see if she could see the culprit, her green eyes fairly threw out sparks.
“I’ll say something at the meeting, we’d better get going. Let’s keep our backpacks with us, I don’t want anyone steeling our nuts. I’ll bury the snake in the bushes, it should be safe there while we are gone.”
“Yeah, we’ll want to keep our nuts safe.” She said too innocently and he shoved her and laughed.
They made their way to the main camp, he could hear Sarah muttering to herself, still stewing about the theft. It pissed him off as well, they’d have to be careful with their food, maybe find a place to store and hide it. When they got to the meeting place, they took their seats. They could see Carol sitting there, among the others, she was sitting beside Vana who had her arm around her. They looked for Grayson, but he wasn’t there. No surprise.
“Okay folks, as you can see, Carol is doing better. Thank you, William and Diana, for all your help. Thank you, Dan and Luke for finding her and Aiden as well for bringing her back. We appreciate it. Yes Sarah?” Marla asked.
“Someone went into our cave and stole our food. It wasn’t much, just some ginger, but that is some bullshit. Is that even allowed? I busted my ass looking for that, and someone just walks off with it. You can’t eat it, it is just a seasoning. If who ever took it puts it back I’ll drop it. But I’m not going to sit here while I bust my ass and someone steals from us.” She said, looking around, her green eyes narrowed in hostility. There were low murmurs, some shocked some angry. People looked around, and Aiden could see suspicion grow in their faces.
“Okay, listen up. That will get you disqualified, anyone caught stealing food from other contestants will be kicked off the show. You people know that it is going to be a rough two months. We don’t need you cheating and yes, that is cheating. We will be holding our elimination in four days. But if we find out who has been stealing, you, whoever you are will go first.” There was a round of applause and Aiden watched faces, trying to detect anyone who could have done it.
It was difficult. He knew it was only ginger root, but Sarah had been correct. It had taken time and effort to find that. What would have happened if it had been their snake, they would be going hungry tonight. Walking took calories, coming down here took calories. There were no vending machines. Each task was now at the cost of calories and if they couldn’t balance the task out with the calories, then their bodies would suffer. Their brains also needed the calories, that was the most important organ to feed.
“What if we can’t find food or enough food. Can you call more food in?” Matt Johnston asked, his arm raised.
“My sat phone isn’t working. So, we can’t call anything in.” Marla replied.
“How about your cellphone, maybe go up on a hill and make a call.” Vana suggested.
“Our cells and our tablets aren’t working either. So, we will just have to wait until we go to the meeting place with the porters.”
“What do you mean your cell phones and tablets aren’t working?” Aiden asked, his voice harsh, as he shifted restlessly.
CHAPTER FIVE
Everyone turned and looked at Aiden. Aiden had only eyes for Marla, and he waited, his body tense and his mouth drawn thin, he had an ugly feeling, something he wasn’t prepared for. Something none of them were prepared for. He was sick with the knowledge.
“Our solar recharger isn’t working, and we can’t recharge our cellphones or the tablets.” She said shrugging.
“Was this about the same time that the cameras stopped working?” He asked her slowly, watching her face. Her eyes were shifting around, looking at Christian, then Tom and Hudson, who nodded and he almost cursed, he didn’t like it, and it was pointing in a direction he didn’t like.
“Well, yes, what has that got to do with anything. The solar charger just isn’t working.” She said defensively.
Aiden stood, he looked around at the faces, he got a sick feeling in his stomach but he didn’t want to cause a panic. Telling them, that would not be good, but he knew deep down they were seriously fucked. Not telling them would only prolong the agony, not telling them would set them up for death, be it a week or minutes, they needed to know. He just hoped they didn’t kill the messenger.
“I could be wrong, and I really hope I am and I don’t want to cause a panic. But I served seventeen years in the navy and worked with special ops from time to time. With all the equipment failures you’re experiencing at the same time, I think we have a big problem.” He said ominously, he heard whispers around him and he looked down at Sarah, her face unreadable, but trusting, and he smiled slightly at her. His body tingled with dread. His heart was slamming heavily in his chest.
“What do you mean? What do you think is going on?” Christian asked, his voice sounding very nervous, he took a deep drag on his cigarette and rubbed under his nose apprehensively.
“The only thing that could take out all the electronics at the same time would be an EMP. That is electromagnetic pulse, which can be caused by the detonation of a nuclear weapon in the
