Survivor: Myanmar

Shin Maw • Day 2

John, Lauren, Shiloh, Liam, Emmanuel, and Jonah were gathered together around the firepit in the early morning, having one of the first conversations that included a majority but not all of the tribe. "How was last night for everyone?" Shiloh asked. 

"Honestly, it went better than I expected," Emmanuel exclaimed. "But I hate rats way more than I did before I came out here."

"Oh my god, the rats," John interjected. "They're the worst."

"Literally," Lauren agreed. "I've never even seen a rat outside until last night.'

"One literally jumped on my foot, and I freaked out and kicked it like fifteen feet away by accident," John laughed. "And it was a pretty big rat."

Emmanuel (Shin Maw Tribe): Oh my god, the rats here are terrible. Like, I'm slowly getting used to them, I guess, but I literally hate rats so much now after last night... They literally—oh my god. They literally are everywhere at night. It's like the sun scares them away, and when it goes down for the night, the rats just come out like reverse moths. It's the worst.

"I hope the other tribe was worse with the rats," Jonah said.

"I hope the other tribe is worse at everything," John admitted. "Honestly. I'd love to win the immunity on top of winning the reward."

"And shove it in their face afterwards," Lauren added.

John laughed. "Oh my god."

Lauren (Shin Maw Tribe): Do you know how much money I would pay to see the other tribe lose again? It's not even really because I don't want to go to tribal council, but that's a bonus. It's more because I like winning, and I like seeing the other tribe losing. I would prefer if this game was as easy as possible for me, honestly.

"Okay, I have an idea," John exclaimed.

"What is it?" Liam asked.

"Us six right here," John said. "That is an easy majority on this tribe."

"Oh my god, you're right," Emmanuel gasped, as if it was a new revelation that six people created a majority on a tribe of ten.

John (Shin Maw Tribe): I came up with the idea to get a majority alliance going with Lauren, Liam, Emmanuel, Jonah, and Shiloh. We were situated around the fire, the other four people were gone, and it just seemed like the right thing to do. Could it backfire for me to make the move right off the bat to get something situated? Yeah... but I'm ready for the risk.

"I think we would be a good majority," Liam said. "You five are probably the people I like the most on this tribe so far."

"Yeah, and we kinda have to get something going or we're gonna be a mess at the first tribal," Lauren agreed.

"Let's do it," Shiloh said, shooing a fly away from her face.

Shiloh (Shin Maw Tribe): I learned before I came out here that sometimes, to get into a majority, you literally just need to be in the right place at the right time. And, oh my gosh. I'm a part of a majority alliance, and all I had to do was be around the fire pit in the morning! This is great.

"The others are coming back," Emmanuel said, noting the four of them walking back from the shore with a few twigs and branches. 

"Oh, there they are," Liam exclaimed. "You guys got more firewood?" he shouted to them.

"Yeah!" Alex shouted back happily. "And we got some longer sticks for the shelter too!"

"Ooh," Shiloh exclaimed. "That's awesome!"

"Should we start working on the shelter now?" Liam asked. "We've got a whole roof to make."

"Yeah," John agreed. "I was thinking we put two logs on the ground, make them vertical, and have, like, a bar across the top that everything could lean on, and then put some palm fronds on top so nothing leaks through."

"How would we be able to put them on the ground?" Emmanuel asked.

"Can't we just, like, dig a really deep hole and put them in?" John asked.

"How deep are we talking?" Liam interjected. 

"I dunno, like a foot," John estimated. "Then we fill it back up with sand and it stays there."

"I am NOT digging two one-foot holes with my bare hands in the dirt," Victoria refused. "That sounds awful."

"Then how else do we do it?" John asked. "This is confusing," he added, laughing in disdain.

Liam (Shin Maw Tribe): At the moment, this whole shelter thing is... kinda confusing us. Like, it's not like we're doing HORRIBLE, but there clearly isn't anybody here who knows what the hell they're doing, and it's actually kind of funny to watch, if I'm being totally honest.

-

Liam, Emmanuel, and John were together again, using the machete. This time, it was Emmanuel whacking a bamboo shoot. "So, what do you think about the alliance?" he asked, as he swung the machete into the bamboo, making a small dent with the blade, and then slowly pulled it out.

"Honestly, I have no regrets making it," John said. "Somebody had to do it."

"Why don't you try whacking it fast?" Liam interjected, as Emmanuel did the exact same whack with a slow pull-out. Emmanuel listened, and started whacking the bamboo shoot as fast as he count. Unlike his first two cuts, these quicker cuts, although they were getting the job done much faster, were a lot less clean. "But yeah, I like the alliance," Liam continued. "I like Jonah, Shiloh, and Lauren a lot so far."

"It was like, the perfect group of six to have there by ourselves," John agreed.

John (Shin Maw Tribe): Honestly? Good on me for making an alliance right away. To my knowledge, nobody else on the tribe has created some big majority alliance, so I really wanted to get that out of the way before somebody else. 

Finally, the shoot fell over. "I did it!" Emmanuel exclaimed proudly.

"Just wait until you do it another fifteen times today," Liam said. "You might die of excitement."

"I think I wanna use the machete now," John stated. "It sounds fun."

"It's fun until your finger falls off," Liam exclaimed. "Then it's... just a little bit less fun!"

Emmanuel burst into laughter on that note. "Yeah, just a little," he reinstated.

John (Shin Maw Tribe/continued): I do wanna be careful, though, about my trio with Emmanuel and Liam. I've seen it before where people realize they're in the bottom of a majority alliance, so they flip over to the minority. I gotta make sure that doesn't happen. My loyalty lies first and foremost with Emmanuel and Liam, but I'm just gonna be cautious.

-

Lauren and Jonah, however, were already starting to catch on. "I feel like those three have been together a lot," Lauren noted, pointing at the trio of boys as they tried to figure out the roof situation for the shelter.

"It worries me a little bit, but I'm not gonna think about it that much," Jonah said. "I'm just glad somebody put me in the majority alliance."

"Me too," Lauren agreed. "I mean, majority alliance... two days... I'm kinda killing it already," she exclaimed.

"I just hope that, like, I can trust those three to not turn on us if they get the chance," Jonah said.

"I don't think it's an issue at all yet, but I just wanna keep it in the back of my mind," Lauren said.

Lauren (Shin Maw Tribe): John created a majority alliance of myself, Jonah, himself, Emmanuel, Liam, and Shiloh this morning. And what I've been noticing lately is that John, Liam, and Emmanuel seem to have been hanging around quite a lot these past couple of days. I think part of it is that it's just Day 2 and they're getting to know each other, but if that's a pattern that continues... then I'm gonna start getting suspicious.

"And what happens if they are a trio within the majority?" Jonah asked.

Lauren paused.

"I don't wanna know."