Page 36 of The Compound

“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’sa 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.

That wasn’t what I had expected him to say. “I know that,” I said. “Why are you telling me now?”

“People will try dirty tactics to stay. I think it’s probably already started.”

“You think I can’t fight dirty?”

“I don’t want you to. You don’t need to, Lily. Better to leave with your dignity than stay to the end and make a fool of yourself. At least, that’s what I’ve been telling myself.”

I heard a movement from the bedroom. We both looked toward the door, but no one appeared. “You go back to bed,” he whispered. “I’ll follow you in a minute.”

I walked down the long hallway with a light step. I didn’t see anyone along the way, and once I was back in the bedroom it was too dark to see if anyone was missing.

—

Motivated by theanimal invasion the night before, we returned to our previous schedule of five tasks a day. We spent the first day doing relatively easy tasks; they went by quicker now that we were down to fourteen. Among other things we got a huge vat of coffee beans, and I thought that if we had that we would get by for a long time.

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