Author's note: And the competition begins!
"And we're live! This is Jet Deely, and the competition is beginning in under a minute! All of our competitors are currently being airlifted into a random spot in the Everglades. They will start there, equipped only with their one backpack of items to survive. Big Mama and her army of mutant alligators are out there somewhere, so our victims will have to avoid them! That's all from me, let's get a live look on scene."
A loud horn sounded, signifying the start of the challenge.
All the competitors were dropped into remotely different locations. Val found herself in the middle of the forest, with nothing other than trees and swamp in sight. Chuck was knee-deep in mud. Tilly was in an area of flat ground, dry and treeless. Gavin was dropped in a bush. Ally found herself in a grassland, and Austin was in a grassy swamp.
The first competitor to react was Austin. He looked around, immediately grasped his surroundings, and turned his head to the right, careful not to lose his bearings. About a hundred feet away was a vicious-looking alligator. He shuddered, but was careful not to make a sound. No use in dying so soon.
He looked to his left, and to his delight, he saw Ally not too far away. She was crouching in a defensive position, not moving. He stealthily crept towards her, away from the alligator. To his relief, he saw the alligator move away.
"Ally!" he whispered.
She jumped, but relaxed when she saw who it was.
"Austin?" she whispered back. "Why...why did you come find me? Wait, please don't kill me!"
"Don't worry," he reassured her. "I'm not here to kill you, I'm here to protect you. I'll do anything for you, I'm your friend."
She smiled gratefully. Then she frowned.
"But...but only one of us can survive. I don't want anything to happen to any of us." she said.
"Neither do I," he replied, "but for now, I'll do anything to make sure both of us survive."
"What happens if we're the final two?"
"Then I'll never purposely hurt you. We'll just see who gets eaten first."
She shuddered.
"Ally, I have a question," he said. "Do you want to be...a team?"
"A team?"
"Well, we could be allies. You know, we work together."
She smiled. "That sounds wonderful."
"On one condition," he said, serious again. "You don't turn on me. I need your word that you won't turn on me."
"Austin, I would never do that." she replied sincerely. "You have my word. I promise that I will never turn on you. I'll be there until the end, Austin. Until the end."
While the singer-songwriter duo agreed on their partnership, the other singer in the competition found himself in a bit of a situation. He was stuck in a bush, which was the unfortunate location that he was dropped into. And with his keen eyes, he could see his vicious competitor Tilly Thompson a few hundred feet away. He was unable to move without causing too much noise to draw attention to himself, and he was unwilling to risk his life in this way. After all, Tilly was ruthless.
He was, however, able to reach for his backpack, and grab his smallest knife, which was in the front pocket of his backpack. It was his smallest knife, but it would do. He had no intention of killing Tilly himself, only scaring her away when he got out of the bush. He was a country singer, he was from the country! Country guys are tough, even if he seemed kind and innocent! It was now or never. Time to make his escape.
Gavin scrambled his way out of the thorny plant, and Tilly immediately turned around. She also immediately lost her bearings.
"Gavin Young!" she yelled, running towards him.
She had forgotten one thing, however. He was armed and she was not. He drew his knife, and she immediately backed away.
"Listen, Tilly." he said. "I don't want to use this knife on you, but I will if you don't back off. Now, I'm going to run into the trees that way, and if you try to follow me, I will attack you."
He sounded intimidating, but she just chuckled. She reached for her backpack, and before he could react, she had drawn a knife, a much bigger and lethal knife than his.
He could do nothing but run.
But Tilly Thompson is not someone to mess with, and she followed suit. As Gavin ran, she followed. He was very fit, though, and she soon realized that she would never catch him. So she threw her knife.
Tilly never missed. But, by some miracle, Gavin was able to dodge the knife, which went sailing into the trees. Once again, he was armed and she was not. His initial idea was to make a run for it. But then he stopped to reconsider, and hesitated. This hesitation was enough for Tilly to pull out a large, sharp spear.
She lunged forward, aiming for Gavin's chest. He instinctively held his small knife in front of him to deflect the blow, but he was still grazed by the spear. Even worse, his knife was knocked right out of his hand and was now on the ground somewhere in the shrubbery. Tilly took a step forward again, backing Gavin up into a tree.
There was nowhere to run. There was nowhere to go. He was trapped, completely at the mercy of Tilly Thompson. And Tilly Thompson showed no mercy. So she pushed her spear forward once more.
"So...what did you bring?" Ally asked her teammate.
"Just some useful stuff, knives, matches, a sleeping bag. I also brought disinfectant just in case." Austin replied. "Oh, and my ukulele."
"Your ukulele?" she laughed.
"Well, I couldn't fit my guitar! Don't tell me you didn't bring an instrument, because I won't believe you." he replied.
"Fine," she sighed, "you're right. I couldn't fit my piano, so I brought a glockenspiel instead."
"Allyyy," he whined, "you always say such hard-to-pronounce words! A glockenspiel, out of all things?"
"It's kind of like a piano! It's like a mini xylophone!"
"Have you seen any of our other competitors?" Austin asked.
Ally shook her head. "That doesn't mean they're not nearby, though."
As if on cue, Jet Deely's voice rang out in the forest.
"Attention all competitors, we are down to five. Gavin Young has been...uh...skewered, shall I say...by Tilly Thompson. Let us hope that none of you remaining people shall suffer the same fate."
"How awful!" Ally exclaimed.
"He didn't even make it an hour in," commented Austin.
"We should probably avoid Tilly." Ally suggested darkly.
Austin shuddered.
Author's note: Poor Gavin. At least he wasn't eaten by an alligator. This is still kind of an intro chapter and the next few will probably be a bit longer. I hope you like it so far, if not, please give me feedback! :)