Chapter 23

"Okay, okay, can we not make any decisions right now?" Scarlet asked. "It's going to be dark soon, we only have one shelter and one food supply–"

"Because they're hogging it!" Zoe cut in. "It should be split down the middle."

"I thought you had an endless supply of much better food," Lex said. "Why don't you just go eat that?"

"Maybe we will," Zoe said.

Shit! That was exactly what Scarlet was trying to avoid. It was bad enough the group had split into two factions sitting apart like petty little kids throwing temper tantrums. Now Lex was putting it in Zoe's head to leave camp?

"We're not going to let anyone go hungry," Scarlet said.

"Oh, look, our overlord deigns to feed us," Zoe mocked. "Everyone bow down to Queen Scarlet for a few scraps of food!"

"That's not what I–"

Robin put her hand on Scarlet's shoulder. "Let it go, babe. There's no winning against her."

They spent the evening in quiet discomfort. The sky turned pink and orange with the sunset and Scarlet's group ate while Zoe's stared spitefully at them.

"I can't believe they're listening to her," Scarlet muttered over her fish. "After everything she's done."

"Desperation makes people do crazy things," Lex sighed, shaking her head. "But I"d rather starve than be under Zoe"s thumb."

"No one's going to starve," Robin said.

"No, but Kit could go into shock if we don't figure out a way off this island soon," Krys said, her face grim. She was sitting beside her patient, doing her best to monitor her vitals with nothing more than her five senses.

"I don't care how much you try to put on a brave face, they can't hoard the vodka," Raven said. She stood up.

"What are you going to do?" Kit asked.

"Whatever I have to do to get it back."

They all watched Raven march over to the other campfire. "Zoe, we need that vodka. Kit is in agony and it's the only thing that takes the edge off the pain."

"She looks fine to me," Zoe said.

"She's being brave to keep me from worrying. But I am worried."

"Do you know where we are right now?" Zoe asked. Raven folded her arms over her chest, waiting for the answer. "The Galapagos Islands are the birthplace of Charles Darwin's survival of the fittest theory."

A few eyebrows went up, no doubt in surprise at the sudden burst of intellectualism. But Zoe wasn't done yet.

"Only the strongest will survive on this island, Raven," she said. "We can't afford to squander our resources propping up the weak."

She hissed the last word, her eyes going to Kit, and Raven launched herself at Zoe.

"You monster!"

A couple of Zoe's followers jumped up to defend her, and Scarlet and Robin ran across the sand to pull Raven back before she got hurt.

"Calm down," Scarlet said.

"Calm down?! Did you hear what she said?"

"Yes, I heard it, and it was completely heartless," Scarlet assured her. "But getting in a fight won't solve anything."

"My wife deserves ten times the resources you do, you worthless leech!" Raven shouted.

"Take her back to our fire," Scarlet said when Lex and Evie came over to help. Along with Robin, they dragged Raven away, still frothing at the mouth. Diplomacy probably wasn't going to do a thing here, but Scarlet had to try. She kept her voice calm and even as she said, "This isn't about strength or weakness. It's about human decency."

Zoe scoffed, rolling her eyes. "Spare me the kumbaya crap, Scarlet. This is about survival, plain and simple. And if you can"t make the tough decisions, like knowing when to cut your losses, then clearly I'm the better leader."

Scarlet"s jaw clenched, her eyes blazing with fury. She wanted to scream, to finish what Raven started. Zoe was talking about letting a woman die, all because of a broken ankle!

But she forced herself to breathe deeply a couple times, and tried once more. "Have you forgotten who argued to let you stay in camp? Not once but twice I fought for you, while some of the very people who are sitting around your fire right now wanted you expelled, left to your own devices."

"And now here I am, the leader," Zoe said. She even held her hands out, palms up, in some sort of messiah posture. "Tomorrow, I'm going to lead my people to a bounty of food and drink like nothing they've ever imagined. I took the opportunity you gave me and chose to thrive. You took your leadership and squandered it. Whose fault is that?"

Scarlet shook her head, her heart sinking as she realized that nothing she said would penetrate Zoe's thick skull. She turned to the others in her group. Maybe there was still someone there who could be persuaded to see right from wrong.

"Please, don"t let her convince you to turn your back on a fellow human being who needs your help," she said, then pointed at Kit. "She needs our help, and she deserves it. Kit has done so much to contribute to our survival, and denying her relief from pain is cruel. Think about what Zoe has done for the group in comparison. Think about how many times you've seen her sunbathing instead of working, or taking more than her share of dinner. Is she strong, or just manipulative?"

She looked into each of their faces, and staring back at her she saw cold indifference that chilled her to the bone.

"I"m sorry, Scarlet," Marnie said, avoiding her gaze. "But Zoe"s right. We can"t afford to waste resources on someone who might not make it."

Scarlet felt sick to her stomach. Zoe was watching the whole exchange with a triumphant smirk, and all Scarlet could do was turn and walk away. She returned to her group empty-handed, plopping down in the sand, defeated.

"I'm sorry Kit, Raven. I tried."

"It"s okay," Kit reassured her. "I can do without the vodka. Let's just get some rest."

When they tried to climb into the shelter, they found that during the argument, Alicia and Missy had snuck over there to stake their claim on it. They were sitting at the entrance, arms crossed, looking ready to fight for their group's right to sleep under the woven roof.

"We can share the shelter," Evie said. "All of us have fit under it this whole time."

"Well, it's ours now," Zoe said with a shrug. "Guess you better go build your own."

"But Raven and Kit are the ones who built that shelter," Darcy said. "What right do you have to it?"

"Finders' keepers?" Zoe said. Then she turned her back on them, crawling in and sprawling out on the mats inside.

"Whatever," Scarlet said, exhausted in more ways than she ever knew possible. "I'll sleep by the fire."

At least they still had about half of the padded mats so they wouldn't have to sleep directly on the sand. Robin curled up behind her, wrapping her in a protective cocoon. Scarlet watched the fire slowly burn down and she didn't sleep at all, worrying about what new and terrible thing Zoe had in mind for tomorrow, when she'd promised to take her group into the jungle.