The Last One(70)

At Abbas’s picture, many viewers will say things like “Arab,” “Islamist,” and “Terrorist,” with varying intonations. “No way they’re friends” will be the common refrain. But in this case, the show is misrepresenting reality less blatantly than usual. The friendship between the Jewish and Muslim actors is real; it’s why they were cast. Though neither had met the man playing Timothy Hamm before this gig.

This Challenge is intended to be the climax of the premiere week, but it starts out slowly. Air Force defers to Tracker and their team sets off after Abbas, whose passage through a tight thicket is marked by snapped branches, scuffed ground cover, and, most tellingly, a duo of yellow threads pulled from his sweater by thorns.

At Waitress’s urging, Zoo takes the lead for their team. “This is going to be fun,” Zoo tells her partners, both of whom look at her dubiously. She quickly finds the boot prints and red threads marking Timothy’s passage.

The third group struggles from the start. Exorcist and Banker argue over leadership, while Engineer and Biology begin searching for signs of Eli. They get confused by their own tracks, however, and it’s nearly twenty minutes before Biology catches sight of the telltale log with its newly exposed pale wood. Behind the log are scuffed leaves and one clear handprint. Viewers will see a cut scene: a young Jewish man kicking the top of the log in apparent frustration, then jumping over it, slipping and stumbling to hand and knee.

“Come on,” Engineer calls to Exorcist and Banker, who are shooting each other sour looks while ostensibly searching. Unusual behavior for Banker, but he’s unsettled by Carpenter Chick’s departure. He is here more for the experience than the money, so the prospect of quitting on the cusp of a new Challenge upsets him, especially because she quit so easily, as though it were nothing. Of everyone, he perhaps fell deepest into the trap of viewing his competitors as teammates, and Carpenter Chick seemed to him an especially useful one.

Engineer and the others follow Biology as she creeps through the trees. After a few minutes, she stops. “I lost the trail,” she says.

The camera zooms in on a pair of threads—one blue, one white—hanging from a tree branch three feet in front of her. It will be nineteen minutes before Exorcist finds the threads.

Meanwhile, Tracker is leading his team flawlessly through the woods, identifying signs that were left intentionally, as well as those that were not. Then Tracker’s eyebrows arch; he’s having a surprising day. He kneels before a rock with a dab of red on it.

“What is it?” asks Black Doctor, in awe of the ease with which Tracker follows a trail he can’t even see.

“It looks like he fell here,” says Tracker. He points at a deep scuff a few feet from the rock. “This is from his knee.” Another closer in: “And this is from his elbow.” Finally he points at the small red smear on the stone. “It appears he hit his head.”

“Hit his head?” says Black Doctor. He exchanges a concerned look with Air Force.

Tracker stands. “The trail gets clearer from here. It looks like he’s stumbling.”

“Concussion?” asks Air Force.

“Likely,” says Black Doctor. He turns to the cameraman. “Is this for real?” he asks, his medical training trumping all inclination to play by the rules. The cameraman ignores him. Black Doctor pushes past the camera, gets in the man’s true face. “Is. This. For. Real?” The cameraman is taken aback, uncomfortable. Black Doctor demands eye contact. “If you don’t know, I need you to radio someone who does,” he insists. “Now.”

The cameraman unclips his radio from his belt. He points its top toward Black Doctor. “Battery’s dead,” he says.

“Like hell it is,” says Air Force, grabbing the radio. He toggles the on-off switch, but the power indicator doesn’t light up. He takes the battery out, puts it back in, tries again. Nothing. The producers thought something like this might happen, and the cameramen were all instructed to put depleted batteries in their radios for the duration of this Challenge.

“I think from this point on we need to assume this is for real,” says Black Doctor. At Tracker’s incredulously lifted brow he adds, “Just in case.”

Less than a mile away, Zoo is on her hands and knees.

“What are you doing?” asks Waitress.

“Looking for changes in the coloring, the texture,” says Zoo. “A shiny path in a dull area, or a dull path in a shiny area. Stuff like that.”

“See anything?” asks Rancher. He crouches down next to her, keeping one hand on his hat.

“I don’t know,” says Zoo. “He obviously came through here.” She points to spot a few feet away to their right. “But after that…”

“After that what?” asks Waitress.

“Exactly.”

Rancher stands. “Do you hear that?” he asks.

Zoo and Waitress both cock their heads to listen. “Water?” asks Waitress.

“I think so,” says Rancher. “If I was lost and I heard water, that’s where I’d head.”

“Good idea,” says Zoo.

A few minutes later, they find a boot print. Zoo slaps Rancher on the back.

They reach the brook. Waitress points at a red handprint on a rock halfway across the water and asks, “Is that blood?”