During the following days Junior got acquainted with the rest of the candidates. Some of them were very friendly towards him (even though too often they ended up asking about Konos), while others, like Irina, preferred to keep to themselves.
BARKHADO
Do you need help?
Asked the Somali girl to Junior.
JUNIOR
Yeah... I think I do...
Junior was trying to chain the sled dogs for the night. Holding two of them by the harness, one in each hand, he was being pulled into different directions by the restless animals. Soon, he fell to the ground and was struggling to keep his hold on them when Barkhado came to the rescue.
BARKHADO
OK!
With her help it only took them fifteen minutes to chain ten dogs. The cold, the exhaustion, the hunger made everything orders of magnitude harder.
JUNIOR
Th-thank you...
Junior said.
BARKHADO
Don't worry!
She was one of those who had never seen the snow in person before, but it certainly didn't look like it.
JUNIOR
Aren't you c-c-cold?
Asked Junior, shaking.
BARKHADO
Of course I'm cold! But I hide it better than you!
JUNIOR
N-nobody hides it better than that guy, t-though...
Junior pointed at Mekdem, the Ethiopian candidate. Tall, muscular, at 18 years of age he was the oldest candidate left. He never spoke and solely relied on himself.
BARKHADO
Hmph.
Barkhado seemed annoyed by Junior's comment.
JUNIOR
Anything wrong?
BARKHADO
Let's not talk here. Come with me.
And she gestured him to the tent she was sharing with Whetu.
WHETU
Junior!
Said the girl as they crawled into the tent.
JUNIOR
Hi Whetu! Forgive the intrusion...
Whetu chuckled.
WHETU
YOU are always welcome.
JUNIOR
So I guess somebody isn't welcome...
He turned to Barkhado.
JUNIOR
Mekdem maybe?
BARKHADO
Be careful of him!
JUNIOR
Why should I? He seems cool...
Whetu burst out laughing.
WHETU
You obviously don't know anything about him...
JUNIOR
Not really, no.
WHETU
Well, there's twelve of us left, so that would mean four teams of three from the desert stage, right?
JUNIOR
Right! Irina, Lwazi and myself; You, Barkhado and Clara; Marina, Nanda and Paaye...
WHETU
And that's it!
JUNIOR
That's it?! What about Kumiko, Sun Li and Mekdem? Were they not part of the same team?
WHETU
Kumiko and Sun Li were in the same team and finished on their own, after their teammate retired. Mekdem finished alone!
JUNIOR
Really?!
BARKHADO
That's right! In the desert he beat up his teammates, stole the map, their supplies and left them to die!
JUNIOR
What the...!
Exclaimed Junior, shocked.
WHETU
None of them died, though.
BARKHADO
What does it matter if they died or not? He cannot be trusted.
JUNIOR
Yeah... I see...
WHETU
Good thing we warned you...
JUNIOR
But why was he allowed to come? The clones always made the point we had to cooperate!
WHETU
Not really...
JUNIOR
What do you mean "not really"? Everytime...
WHETU
X-466 and R-328 always gave us a choice.
The choice to cooperate or not. Everybody else made it this far because we chose to cooperate, but Mekdem did everything on his own and didn't break any rules when you think about it.
That was true. During each stage they had been pitted against one another, and while the tasks encouraged cooperation, using brute strength had always been an option.
X-466 always belittled humans, and he wasn't completely wrong after all. Even the best mankind could offer could be despicable.
