Page 24 of The Compound

I thought that Candice seemed the most settled in her couple: she had exclusively shared a bed with Andrew since the first day, and they were undeniably close, talking and touching often. But Candice stayed coy, and only said, “I’m happy, and that’s all you’re getting out of me.”

Susie was with Evan again. She wasn’t sure about him, even though she had fought to get him back from Vanessa.

The truth was, none of us thought that they were a good match.

Evan clearly liked her, but Susie wasn’t showing much interest in him.

“I can’t stand to see him with anyone else, though,” she said.

“When I saw him get into Vanessa’s bed I could have killed him.

Obviously Vanessa’s gorgeous, but she isn’t any fun.

She hardly talks to anyone. I’m fun. But,” she said, sadly, “I don’t really like him.

I thought Tom might be fun, but he usually walks away if I try to talk to him.

I guess I’m not insouciant enough or whatever. ”

“Susie,” Candice said firmly. “That is not how you use that word.”

In the absence of Vanessa telling us about her relationship with Tom we speculated about Vanessa’s relationship with Tom.

“Tom’s starting to be a pain in the ass,” Mia said. “He never shuts up about that fucking door.”

“It’s because of what happened in the desert,” Candice said. We looked at her.

“What happened in the desert?” I asked.

Candice was quiet for a few moments. I knew her well enough now to know that she wasn’t pausing to build suspense: she was judging if it was worth her while to reveal valuable information. For the sake of sisterhood, she said, “He was attacked by a wild dog.”

“I thought that the boys got into a fight,” I said.

“They did,” she said. “That was a separate event.”

“What happened to the dog?” Becca asked.

“What do you think? He killed it. But it got a nice bite out of him first. That’s why he’s so insistent that we get a door.

He’s afraid of an animal getting in.” I tried to imagine killing a dog, even a wild one.

I couldn’t picture it. Candice nodded at Jacintha.

“How are things in your couple, anyway?”

She sighed. “I’m back with Carlos, but I think I’d rather be with Marcus.”

We all tried not to meet anyone else’s eye. Mia was currently sharing a bed with Marcus. I thought that Mia might have looked shamefaced: she had taken Evan from Susie’s bed, and now Marcus from Jacintha. But Mia had her face tilted up to the sun, eyes closed, unperturbed.

I thought about Sam. I couldn’t imagine charming him into leaving Becca. If Sam changed beds it would be entirely of his own volition.

“I’ll talk to him later—but I don’t want to create an awkward situation,” Jacintha said delicately, trying not to offend Mia.

Mia, however, had no qualms about offending anyone, and said, “Obviously it’s his choice, but things are going well with Marcus and me. Actually, we had a lot of fun together last night.”

Candice rolled her eyes. “Nice, Mia. Classy.”

Jacintha said, “What about you, Becca?”

“Sam’s a good guy,” she said. We watched with interest as she blushed. “But, um—I don’t know.”

“What?” Jacintha said encouragingly.

“I’m not sure if he likes me, is all.”

Jacintha stayed quiet, but Candice frowned and said, “He seems protective of you, no?”

“Boys are generally protective of me because I’m small and quiet, I guess.”

And beautiful, I thought to myself, but didn’t feel the need to share the thought aloud.

“Still, it’s a good sign,” Candice said.

“The thing is, I see him looking at other girls sometimes.”

“I’ve never seen him look at me!” Susie cried.

“Me neither,” Mia said.

“Well…not girls, then. Just—one girl.”

I pulled at a loose thread on my shorts, trying not to look at Becca.

“Things are so uncertain here,” Candice said when the silence had grown uncomfortable. “It’s hard to tell what’s real and what’s fake. It gets harder every day, actually.”

“What about you, Lily? How are things with Ryan?” Susie asked.

“Good,” I said, looking up. “Really good.”

—

That night I was woken by a violent crash. When I opened my eyes Andrew was already out of bed and running toward the door. It was too dark to see properly, but I knew him by his height.

“What’s happening?” I said. “Is it a fire?” I groped beside me for Ryan, but his side of the bed was empty.

Panic seized me, and then I was on my feet, bumping into a neighboring bed and moving with my arms thrown out.

I reached the door from memory and went to leave, when I felt an arm come around my waist, stopping me. “Let me go, Ryan,” I said.

“It’s me,” Sam said, and dropped his hand. “Stay here until we know what’s happening. It’s not a fire. There are alarms for that.”

“But—” I said, but he only squeezed my arm and moved pastme.

“Stay here,” he said. And he went.

I groped back toward my bed. “Ryan?” I said. “Ryan?” I could hear other voices, and see shapes moving around me. People were panicked. My mind kept thinking intruder, but of course there was no possibility of that, miles away from civilization.

“Ryan?” I called again.

“Here,” he said, and I felt his hand wrap around my wrist.

“Where were you?”

“The bathroom,” he said. “What’s going on?”

“I don’t know. There was some kind of noise from the front of the house.” Before Ryan could respond, Andrew and Sam were back. They left the door open, and a crack of light poured in from the hall. “It’s all right,” Sam said. “No one’s hurt.”

“But what happened?” I said.

“Some kind of animal got in,” Andrew said. “It’s gone now.”

“What?” Ryan said. “Are you fucking kidding?”

“Well, we don’t have a door,” Carlos said drily from the other corner of the room. “It’s not the most surprising thing in the world.”

“Tom was right,” Vanessa said, her voice loud and righteous. “He said that this would happen!”

“Listen,” Andrew said, placating, “it’s late. We’re not going to get anything sorted tonight. We should get some sleep, and tomorrow we’ll try for something resembling a door.”

“I’ll get something to block the entrance for now,” Sam said. Andrew nodded and Sam left.

The rest of us got back into bed, but I couldn’t sleep: I was looking at the beds, trying to make out the shapes of people.

Sam was gone, yes—but so was Tom. I slipped out and went downstairs toward the kitchen.

I could hear Sam’s and Tom’s voices inside and hesitated, listening.

The big light in the kitchen was on, the one that we rarely used because of its ugly fluorescent glare, and the hum of it filled the room.

“Damn lucky I didn’t get another bite taken out of me,” Tom said.

“What was it, anyway?”

“A fox, I think. You know what they’re like: they don’t like to attack, they just root around for food and make a mess. I came in just as it was leaving. If I had been on the lookout, I could have caught the thing,” he said. “I’ll stay up for a while, and make sure it doesn’t come back.”

“If you want. I’ll move the cabinet in front of the entrance. It’ll do for now.”

“I can do it,” Tom said.

“It would be easier with two sets of hands,” Sam said.

“I can do it,” Tom said again. He paused. “Who’s there?” he called.

I stepped in. “Only me,” I said. The kitchen was indeed a mess: there was broken glass on the ground, cutlery thrown around, ripped paper towels, a couple of toppled chairs—one broken, missing a leg.

Whatever it was had got at the sack of peanuts, too, clearly, as they were all over the floor.

There was a pale liquid shining on the tiles, and the smell told me that it was urine.

And yet, I didn’t entirely believe the scene before me.

I had heard no shouting or animal noises, nor any sound of a struggle.

And Tom, who had been so concerned about this very thing happening, looked perfectly composed.

I stepped farther inside and Sam said, “Watch your feet, there’s glass everywhere.

Hold on—” and then lifted me off my feet and placed me so that I was sitting on the counter. He stepped away and I looked at Tom.

“Thank God you were up,” I said to him.

“We need to get back to the tasks,” Tom said heavily. “It’s the only way to keep everyone safe.”

“Yeah,” I said, holding his eye. “Imagine if it had been something more dangerous. Like a wild dog.”

“You should get back to bed, Lily,” Tom said. “You sleep so little as it is.”

“I’ll walk you back to the bedroom,” Sam said.

In the hallway upstairs, Sam steered me not toward the bedroom but to the bathroom. He turned on the light above the mirror. “Are you okay?” he said.

“I’m fine,” I said. “Why?”

“Don’t try to get a rise out of Tom,” he said. “He’s got a temper like you wouldn’t believe.”

“What happened in the desert?” I asked him. Sam would tell me. I knew he would, if I asked.

“Tom…” he said, and then stopped. “Tom was attacked by a dog. It bit him, pinned him to the ground. He was on his own, and he screamed for help, but there was no one there. When he found the rest of us, he was nearly hysterical. He wouldn’t sleep; he was too afraid that there was something else out there that would attack.

He was jumpy and started fights. He calmed down as soon as we arrived here, but he’s still not someone you want to mess with.

Leave him alone, Lily, and don’t go looking for trouble. ”

“I can look after myself.”

“I know you can. I just worry about you, that’s all.”

We said nothing for a minute, and I couldn’t help but admire him in the soft light, the scrape of stubble on his cheeks, the perfect cupid’s bow. Already I was dreading the moment we would leave the bathroom and go back to our separate beds.

“Things will get difficult once it’s down to the final ten,” he said. “It’s a good idea to keep your head down until then.” There were no rule changes in the final ten, but the rewards became notably better, and people grew more competitive. There were fourteen of us now.