Chapter Fourteen

When the compound’s water is shut off entirely, Becca tells Lily in secret and reveals a hidden gallon stash concealed in the disused maze. The screen’s posted challenge is a 100-meter race with last place banished. Becca proposes withholding water from Tom and Andrew so dehydration will handicap them, ensuring both women can outpace at least one man.

Becca hides in the maze and instructs Lily to act thirsty, bring food, and take measured drinks only at set times. Lily forgets food on her first return, heightening Becca’s mistrust. Meanwhile, Andrew, newly motivated, cleans the house and urges a prompt communal attempt at the task, while Tom probes Lily about Becca’s whereabouts and pressures for action.

At night, Andrew and Tom organize a search for Becca. Lily pretends to help but uses the darkness to drop chocolate near the maze as food for Becca. Disoriented in the dark, Lily is found by Andrew, and they decide to resume searching by daylight; Tom reluctantly agrees, revealing his unease with the desert.

Back at the house, Andrew has a breakthrough: he retrieves freezer ice and has Lily use a hair dryer to melt it, yielding a few sips that momentarily relieve thirst. They set bowls of ice to melt overnight and agree to sleep together in the bedroom to regroup, while Lily considers sneaking out later to reach Becca’s water but is constrained by fatigue and the men’s vigilance.

By chapter’s end, alliances and tactics harden: Becca and Lily quietly plan to weaken the men before the race; Andrew and Tom seek unity and basic survival through improvised water. The impending competition and dehydration raise the stakes for the next day.