6.00 am
Lorna was off like a jack out of a box, Jeff and Jason hot on her tail. Scott was close behind them and he threw his backpack at Jason's feet, making him careen into Jeff, both blondes landing in a heap he jumped over, bending down to scoop up the dropped bag and going after his partner.
The young Englishwoman quickly spotted the Hunt's vehicles, placed together as they were. Five, shiny SUVs, in the teams' various colors.
"Come on," Scott said, dragging her toward the yellow one.
"No… you go… I have something to do."
Crouching, Lorna went to the blue SUV, opened the driver side door and pulled out the key she found in the ignition.
"What are you doing?" Scott hissed at her.
"Getting an advantage. You start the car and pull out… I'll join you."
Lorna had gotten the Blue team's keys, along with team Red's and was opening the Green team's door when she heard some of the other contestants.
"What the hell are they waiting for?" she heard Jason ask.
"He looks like he's alone," Carmen said.
"Where the hell is the English chick?" Mark asked.
Slowly, carefully, Lorna got the keys out of the green SUV, closed the door and padded over to the purple car. She managed to open the door, get the keys out but the door slipped out of her fingers and slammed shut loudly, drawing unwanted attention to her.
"What the hell…" the men asked, going after her.
"She's got the keys," Carmen shouted when she heard the keys' distinctive jingles from Lorna's jacket pocket.
"Bitch!"
Jeff was the one closest to the purple SUV and he took off after Lorna, almost catching her but she made a desperate leap over the front of a white car, her feet making indents on the hood. While she ran to the waiting SUV, Lorna ripped the colors stickers from the key chains. She jumped in, smiled at a grinning Scott when he gunned the motor.
"We keeping those?" he asked with a nod to the unmarked keys in her lap.
"Of course not, that wouldn't be fair." With a wink to Scott, Lorna opened her window and threw the keys out of it. "See, that's fair… they all get their keys."
"And we jump ahead of the game."
"A little. Now, let's have a look at the first item on our list."
Carmen turned to Lillian and Michael who were about to get into a black SUV while the others tried to figure out which key belonged to which car.
"Was that fair?" she asked, "for her to cheat like that?"
"Well," Michael said with chuckle, "the game's called The Hunt, not Fairness. The goal is to win, not to make friends and be fair."
"Come on," Mark said, touching the small of Carmen's back, "let's go. We gotta make up for lost time."
"Don't touch me old man. Just get into that car and drive. I'll damned if I lose to a damn Englishwoman."
"You know what," Lillian told Michael, "I think we'd be right to quote Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and say that the game is afoot."