Prompt: Conflict involves a clash of ideas, interests and expectations

Far Cry Island

Interlude 2:

Note: This chapter contains strong language, sexual references, blood and violence. Reader discretion is advised. Also READ AND REVIEW!

(Play Game of Thrones Cover – Heavy Metal)

Bridgette's Confessional:

Bridgette merely glanced at the camera before promptly saying "I don't expect people to understand. Maybe that's why I like him. He seems to be the very antithesis of who I am."

At that Bridgette sighed, "Maybe asking to be his girlfriend wasn't such a good idea."

Confessional Ends:

Gopher Cabin

"Do you think this is the end of it!?" screeched Heather hysterically. The normal queen bee was extremely out of their element now that Owen was officially considered dead.

In fact the entire cast was mortified by the result. The only two who seemed to be working at normal capacity was Noah and Cody. Noah seemed to have simply put on a mask of calmness and moved on with his life. Even so everyone could easily notice how forceful his emotions were. The Indian-Canadian boy hadn't spoken when asked and when he did it came out in a dry, manner. His witty banter had also become moderately more hurtful.

Cody on the other and seemed to have shrugged and moved on with his life, as if seeing someone die was practically normal for him. Whatever their reasons neither boy could be classified as normal now.

"Calm down, Asian Hooker," spouted Noah offhandedly. He really wasn't in the mood to talk to people, including Heather; especially Heather.

A day ago Chris had announced that Owen was considered missing. No one made any bets of what the horrifying conclusion was. The fat boy was dead. Why else would a bat the size of a small bus pick him up?

"Guys, now is not time," placated Trent once again trying to play peacekeeper. Just like Lester B. Pearson.

Really Trent should have gotten a noble prize for what he was doing. For the past day or so he had alternated between stopping Noah from fighting Heather, Heather from being attacked by Beth, Beth attacking Duncan, the Screaming Gophers from fighting the Killer Bass and bringing more blood to the table. Noah especially looked ready to claw Heather's eyes out when she tried to get the rise out of him by bringing up Owen's death. Trent had already broken up 17 fights today and it wasn't even past eight. Nevertheless the musician trudged through his "unofficial" duty.

Chris really was a bastard for forcing what as a very violent conflict sizzle and reach boiling point. Considering how Cody was treated with minimal care, this wasn't very surprising. The South African-Chilean boy had mentioned that he wouldn't trust the co-hosts with his life and he seemed to be correct.

Honestly, it had only gotten worse when Duncan had pushed Cody's faced into the fire-pit. Trent knew that he wasn't going to get any sleep tonight. Cody's screams would definitely horrify him for years. It was also without question that much of the Killer Bass and Screaming Gophers were traumatized as well.

Now that he thought of it where was Cody?

"Do you honestly think that this was coincidence?" questioned Heather, "I swear. Mark my words the Bass members are all parts of it. Tell them"

The last statement was an order to Lindsay who just poked her index fingers shyly.

"I really don't know Heather. I mean Tate did seem like a nice guy and-," defended Lindsay.

Leshawna interrupted the dim-witted Blonde, "White girl I don't know what rock you've been living under but that isn't how it works. Trust me, guys like Duncan are a mess. Really why else would he have been expelled in Pre-K and been in a Juvenile detention center before he was eight?"

"While you do have a point Leshawna," Lisped Beth, trying to get overcome her speech disorder, "You really would be more effective in getting your point across if you didn't call us 'white girls'."

"Oh and what are you going to do about it soul sister," prodded Leshawna to the braces girl, "It's how I was raised. Deal with."

"And this how we were raised Leshawna," growled Heather, balling her fists. The Asian girl still hadn't forgiven Leshawna for throwing her off the cliff.

"You can try Comfort Woman," smirked Gwen pushing one of Heather's buttons. Since day one Heather had been getting on her nerves and her new and worse attitude was making it more difficult to stay out of the conversation ,"Don't Asian women have sideways vaginas?"

Apparently the joke was what had truly ticked Heather off.

"You bitch!" she screamed charging to Gwen only to be held back by Izzy and Lindsay.

"Shouldn't we do something?" questioned Justin to the now exhausted Trent.

Trent replied, "Honestly, I feel I should but I've been running myself ragged all day today, and I haven't sleep in what four days? I think I can give up."

Noah smirked in a twisted manner, "You just want to see a catfight between your girlfriend and the queen bee herself, don't you?"

The Indian boy pointed to Heather and Gwen who were now being held back from each other. Gwen was also being held back by Beth and Leshawna. Really the female side of the Gopher cabin was a powder keg just waiting to self-destruct.

Trent gave Noah and Justin a very sharp look, "No. Here's the deal. I've been running myself ragged for a day. I haven't slept in four days. The only guy who could persuade those two to break up has had half his face burnt off and is out somewhere. Then there's the fact that Owen just died. No I think I have the option to sit this one out. Let them get it out of their system."

"Really?" pressed Noah.

Trent nodded, "Fuck the girls. Fuck the Bass. Fuck this stupid game. I'm taking a nap."

With that Trent laid down unto the floor and passed out. Neither Justin nor Noah had the heart to wake him up. He could sleep through anything now.

Really neither wanted to break up the fighting but they knew that if they wanted to survive whatever sick tricks Chris was going to pull they'd have to have everyone work together … no matter how reluctantly. Justin had no idea how, Noah did. Under his shirt's backside was Cody's PP19. It wasn't loaded but it would certainly break everyone up.

"So Cody's the Renegade to Trent's Paragon?" quipped Noah to Justin, "Why would am I not surprised that they could both be equally persuasive?"

"Huh?" questioned Justin not getting the reference.

Noah just brushed it off returning to the spectacle at hand.

"Oh look I have some yellow one me," mocked Gwen, "I guess you must have rubbed off one me."

That was actually pretty good if very racist. Seriously why was Gwen being so racist today?

"You're lucky we're not in the Middle ages because what I would do to you would be considered a violations of all the Geneva conventions weird Goth Girl," shouted Heather.

Izzy and Lindsay pulled back harder. Noah rubbed his temples. Why did Trent have to fall asleep now?

"Come on now," soothed Beth, trying to stop this from escalating, "No need to go all Spanish Inquisition on all of us."

"There is going to be a new meaning of Gothic Architecture when I'm done with you," taunted Heather, "It'll be architecture made from the bones of you and all your family Black mascara!"

Leshawna apparently thought it had gone too far.

"Okay Heather. Now that's just horrible," responded Leshawna.

"Yeah," agreed Izzy, "I mean there was this one time –"

You see there was a huge difference between Izzy and Leshawna. While Leshawna retorted back to Heather about her comments, but held her grip on Gwen, Izzy didn't. As a result during her rambling Heather had broken loose.

With only Lindsay's minimal resistance against her, Heather impacted into Gwen sending the four girls tumbling down into a heap. For a few seconds the four wrestled into a large band of human mass before Gwen finally took advantage of the situation and found herself on top of Heather.

"Goth girl this" she shouted before punching Heather's jaw with her right fist. The female knuckle hooked left from the impact, rebounding soft makeup flesh that probably hadn't seen a bruise in its life.

Now generally the situation that was happening between the Gopher females would never have happened in any other universe without three reasons. One was barriers and buffers. The second was the stress itself. The third was humanization.

Without people to act as buffers between the Gopher females, particularly the males, conflict was bound to occur. Chris had specifically handpicked and designed the teams for a reason, setting them up in the process. However the damage would have certainly been minimized if there was people who weren't invested in the conflict pacifying all the groups. In this case this would have been Cody, Owen, Beth, Lindsay and Trent would have kept things apart. Not in this universe.

Beth was too angry and perspective to care about Heather's plight, thus allowing it to occur. Lindsay was too submissive now that Heather was dishing out twice the verbal abuse to do anything to stop it. Trent was too tired and asleep. Noah was thinking about revenge. He wouldn't have minded seeing how it was done by the other campers to gauge their methods and practicalities of their own brand of vengeance. Cody was missing and hadn't been seen since he had walked Bridgette, his new girlfriend, to the Bass cabin and Owen was dead.

The second reason why the Gopher females, and everyone else, was the fact that Owen was dead and Duncan's actions had put them on the edge. In particular was the fact that tragedies seemed to keep happening to them. There was no way this was coincidence. The lack of sleep didn't help either. This generally belief would be shot out of the water when the universe decided to flash its fleshy, old bum at them in a few weeks during the Red Prom. Nevertheless the Gophers in particular were worried. However unlike the girls, the boys or male side and little if any grievances with each other so there was no way it would snowball.

The final reason was humanization. Overtime Gwen and Heather would have come to accept and grudgingly respect each other. To a lesser extent this would happen to all the contestants but to the now antagonistic Gophers in particular. Both women would have eventually come to accept that neither was so one dimensional and while they would have remain antagonistic it wouldn't have gotten as out of hand as it was now.

As it was there was no way this was NOT going to end violently.

Heather spat out blood from Gwen's fist impacting her jaw. She could feel a few of her teeth caving in from the trauma. It would take month of braces to fix her jawline. However that was not the end of it. Raising her other fist in a pedalling motion, Gwen swung her fist down onto Heather's jaw while raising her other and repeating the cycle.

This continued on for dozens of cycles, her punches getting weaker but no less violent, overtime. Gwen's breath had also heaved heavily from all the labour in repeated punching Heather in the face. The hammer of all punches ended the brutal one sided melee, with its aftermath now completely visible.

There was blood splatter all over the carpet, drenching the air with its coppery smell. Leshawna and Beth and scooted away from the two the moment they had gotten untangled. They were fortunate enough to only witness the carnage. Again Gwen slammed her fist into Heather's face and again did blood gush out from the impact in the opposite direction.

At first in had only been a tickle but soon it start to become a river of red liquid, broken teeth, skin and pale pink flesh. In her adrenaline rushing rage, Gwen had noticed her actions. In fact it only seemed to make her more violent and aggressive. However her body couldn't keep up and screamed at Gwen to stop. So tiredly Gwen raised herself to her feet admiring her handiwork.

It was only then did she fully understand what she had committed. Below her was Heather's body, lying motionless on the floor. Only the occasional twitch gave some hope of life. Heather's face was now puffy and drenched in her own blood, just like Gwen's own fists. Gwen's eyes blanked at the sight. Her bottom lipped dropped and her body vibrated as if she couldn't believe what she was seeing.

"No …" whispered Gwen horrified, "No. No. No. No."

"YES!" crowed Heather, springing up with all the force her injured body could muster. The Asian girl was now working blind.

Taking Gwen by surprised the Asian girl twisted Gwen's neck, nearly snapping her spine. As it was she had more than caused sensory overload with Gwen, causing her to lose all motion below her lower body. Her horrified expression had now become panicked, due to the fact that she was now helpless to Heather's wrath.

And Heather was angry. She had her beautiful well-protected face, her reputation and her pride ruined by this Goth Gwen was going to pay.

Cupping her right hand around Gwen's lower jaw, and her left grasping her left hand, Heather used all her weight to slam Gwen into the floor. Her skull fractured from the force of the impact, snapping her neck and rendering her nearly unconscious. As it was Heather was far less merciful than Gwen, and much less uncaring.

Heather was more than willing to kick them when their down. The now puffed and bleeding Asian girl used all her strength to drag Gwen the little distance between the site of her body and that of the window.

By now the campers were terrified and would only be more so after what they witnessed.

Heather pulled Gwen's head back through her back her and forced the Goth girl to her feet. She adjusted her "rival" head to the window then …

SLAMED

… Her head into the window. Gwen's broken face shattered the glass upon impact, sending dozens of large pieces into the grass below. The sound of broken glass would echo through the forest and the cabin. It would certainly be a very cold night for the Gophers.

Tragically even more glass pieces embedded itself into her face, shearing her skin, scaring her for life. Sadly one would pierce her eye, resulting in permanent blindness in that pupil … forever. The impact knocked Gwen into a coma, thankfully. It didn't however stop the oozing blood from dripping itself on the grass.

Her head now covered in blood, Gwen's face merely rested in face, weak and at Heather's mercy. Heather herself seemed to be quite happy with her handiwork, smiling at a job well done before the last of her strength disappeared.

She too passed out, albeit under better circumstances, bloody in the moonless night.

The boys had expected a funny and erotic catfight. The girls had expected a few quick jabs and only a few minor injuries. What they got was a taste of a brutal melee between two female members of their team who hated each other with an undying passion.

Now and quite possibly forever.

With both girls now passed out the Gophers had gotten themselves out of their shocked states far quicker than they would later believe. They truly were being desensitized by everything on this crazy island.

"Someone get an ambulance," ordered Justin not caring if he looked pretty while doing it, "Or at least get Chef. I don't care."

"Don't worry," nodded Leshawna before running out the door, "Screaming all the way"

"Do any of you know first aid?" questioned Justin trying to not step on the glass. While normal safety procedures required that the person taking care of the injured to wait for the professional to arrive now wasn't the time to follow protocol.

"Shouldn't we follow protocol," requested Noah callously looking up from examining his new Hong Kong CD. Cody had given him that as a gift.

Izzy's face shot up, now devoid of her usual craziness and antics. Quite frankly the change in attitude was very discontenting.

"Now's not the time Noah," she responded unhappily, "I understand that you have grievances with Heather but this is too important for past grudges."

She continued as Justin checked for a plus on Heather.

"We can't let them die," she ended.

"I grew up in Dubai," growled Noah before callously remarking, "I learnt to die a long time ago. Frankly Heather can pass on to the next world for all I care for."

Confessional:

Noah looked impassively at the camera before clarifying part of his statement, "You know when a shithead wins the lottery? Then buys a dozen champagne sculptures of his own scrotum? And then gets a pack of Bengali, Pakistani and Indian boys to hold up his home shelving unit? Well if that person was a city it would be Dubai."

Confessional Ends:

"Then you'll be very disappointed," expressed Justin with grim determination, "Heather's still alive."

"Meh," shrugged Noah, "Well that sucks."

Offhandedly he mentioned, "You know I always wondered why the pope never killed Galileo. Would have saved a lot of trouble overtime."

"NOAH!" shouted Justin appalled by what he was suggesting

"Now. Is. Not. The. Time," seethed Justin, puncturing every word.

"Now is the time," exclaimed Noah, "Heather did nothing while Owen, my friend was killed and eaten. She did nothing to console me or help. She did nothing. In fact she belittled me and taunted me in a vague gesture of superiority. Now is the perfect time."

Noah's speech left all the Gopher's shocked at his casual display for life. In fact it seemed to have stopped even Justin who had had been trying to wade the glass away of Heather's body, picking out especially large pieces.

"Noah," whispered Beth.

"I grew up in Dubai," he responded cynically as if those five words would explain everything.

Even if the statement didn't, no one, other than Justin made a move to help the two girls. Then Lindsay's voice hitched as a shadow passed over Gwen's body before tenderly lifting the girl's head up.

The shadow revealed itself to be Cody, who administrated some sort of green liquid through a syringe. The liquid then injected itself into Gwen.

"Thanks," mumbled Justin.

Cody merely ignored Justin's thanks staring at the scene in front of him.

"Can't say I'm not surprised," grunted Cody, "This was going to happen sooner or later. You don't get a bunch of teens with different personality and backgrounds and not expect violence."

"Do you think the title gave Heather power?" questioned Cody who as now on the windowsill. Like a father holding his newborn daughter he carefully positioned Gwen back. For a few moments the Gophers saw a much softer side of Cody who then held Gwen's body tightly around him.

"Just because you were a big fish in a small pond that you call a school, doesn't mean it works here as well. This isn't Harry Potter," murmured Cody as he pulled out bits of glass out of Gwen with one hand. Even the burnt off face and arm proved that he was truly different.

He wasn't Harvey Dent. It would take more than having half his face burnt to be unable to love or emphasize with his fellow man.

"People die," he pointed out, "And you better get used to it because this certainly isn't going to be the last time you see someone die if my hypothesis is correct."

Then buckling his knees Cody lifted Gwen up and walked out the door. If any of the other campers had tried that stunt there was no way Gwen would have been in any less danger. As it was Cody certainly seemed to know what he was doing. Probably because he had dealt with and seen similar injuries.

Izzy then turned to Beth, "I hate to say it but Cody's right. Do you really think you would survive a day on this island if any one of us really wanted to kill you? That Heather or Gwen would? Duncan and Cody certainly look like they can."

Cody then silently walked out past the beds of the screaming Gopher females.

"Frankly I don't trust anyone else here to take care of these two alone. So if you don't mind I'll be taking Gwen to the first aid tent. Justin and Izzy take Heather. Chef should be here any minute. If he's not he's getting ready in his tent. Beth bring my first aid kit," he explained before kicking the locked backdoor down.

Why would Chris have a door that was always locked?

As instructed the three Gophers did as they were ordered with Izzy and Justin taking heather by the legs and arms respectively. Chef was only one man afterall.

"If you knew this was going to happen why didn't you stop it?" dropped Lindsay as she stared at the blood uselessly.

Turning his head slightly Cody answered without a hint of sympathy or guilt, "Because I had no reason"

And with that he left the cabin.

Bass Cabin

In the Killer Bass Cabin the situation was far less violent but incredibly tense. The numerous shocks which the campers had been given over the past few days had been quite substantial. In the past two days, one of their own had died, another one had not been seen since and the other "missing" person had just randomly shown up and carried Gwen and Heather to the first aid tent.

This alone would have caused a very stressful and worrying situation. However the fact that many of the campers had to share living space with a psychopath was another cause for alarm. Said Psychopath was simply playing with his lighter, flicking the sparks to create a flame then smothering it.

Bridgette groaned at the noise but she was too petrified to do anything about. How would she tell him to stop anyways? Granted Bridgette wasn't a person who would have done so but her new boyfriend had half his face burnt off by Duncan. By proxy shouldn't she have said something to show her disapproval and antagonism for Duncan. She tossed and turned a little bit before finally settling on her side.

This was getting nowhere. Bridgette closed her eyes in the brief illusion of actual safety instead of actual safety itself. There was no way around the situation. She should have done the smart thing, like Harold, who had beaten it out of the cabins the first chance he got. While sleeping out in the woods seemed to be much safer, at the moment, it was certainly much more uncomfortable.

While none of her cabin mates knew her relationship with Cody, as it would certainly make her a target, it was still an issue.

"Alright everyone," beckoned Courtney banging her fists on the beds of each member of the Killer Bass forcing them awake, "Get up."

"We're awake Princess," yawned Duncan who had tried falling asleep. In fact he would have fallen asleep if it wasn't for the fact that he always gave Courtney his undivided attention.

Strange, was he attracted to the bossy girl?

Never mind that. Geoff and Tyler had been giving her distant but approving looks for looking after Cody. None of them wanted to bring Duncan's wrath though.

Geoff himself was a little scared of Duncan now. At first he had considered the punk kid just another dude who liked to party, which in turn made him his friend, but after burning half of Cody's face off … he didn't know.

None of them knew.

"Come on!" shouted Eva who seemed to have agreed with Courtney before violently shaking DJ before smacking Duncan awake.

Eva seemed to be the only one who didn't seem to be afraid of Duncan.

Apparently it worked and DJ and Duncan followed her in the Girl's part of the Bass's cabin. However Bridgette remained completely guarded. She wasn't turning her back on Duncan. DJ on the other hand seemed to be terrified, as if he couldn't decide between ignoring what Duncan had done and being horrified by what had happened today.

Bridgette knew this was going to escalate. At least she had made a few friends on this island. Courtney seemed nice enough, if a little bossy. Eva had also visited her in the first aid tent. While Katie and Sadie were annoying at first, the fact that they were willing to look out for each other was heart-warming. Sadie had been crying throughout the incident and Katie had been more than willing to look after her fat friend.

Or was it Katie who cried? Bridgette didn't know. All she knew was the fat one was the one who cried.

Sitting down, next to Harold's bed, Bridgette sighed. She felt incredibly isolated in this Cabin without Harold backing her up. While the fact that one of her friends was missing and cause for concern, Bridgette knew she wasn't in any immediate danger.

"So, dudes and dudettes," beamed Geoff, "What's it hanging?"

Geoff was a cheerful as always. It surprised Bridgette somewhat. She had never expected Geoff to act like this, especially in such a serious situation but she guessed that was his coping message.

We all had one.

After the tragedy of Owen's death, the Screaming Gophers were completely exempt from an elimination ceremony due to the fact that one of their teammates were dead. Bridgette had been shocked by Chris's statement. Not because Chris wasn't allowing anyone get eliminated but because he chose not to.

There truly wasn't any justice.

Instead of freeing everyone from this dreaded game … this death match, Chris had decided to merely milk it all for the drama it was worth. The show was truly starting to live up to its name.

Courtney's words broke Bridgette out of her thoughts, "Alright everyone. We're here to talk about what happened today. Just another review and assessment."

"Really?" screeched Katie.

"After what happened today." Continued Sadie

"Especially after what happened today?" pointed out Katie before huddling up with Sadie. For some reason the two of them believed that they would be able to find safety in the comfort of each other. That might have been true but most of the act was a mere illusion.

The situation didn't look very good.

In fact it looked downright hostile. Courtney was finally forced to start acting like a leader and try and break up the fight.

Thankfully it seemed that Katie and Sadie were simply trying to avoid Duncan who himself looked a little miserable.

Heather's words echoed through Courtney's mind in the form of a black wolf. She remembered the exchange when Heather had met up with her right after the challenge had ended. Chris had forced all the contestants to return to their various cabins until further notice.

"You should really thank Duncan for what he did."

"And why should I Heather?"

"Didn't the kid bruise your arm?"

"Yes …"

"Then you should thank him."

Then she remembered Cody's words when he criticized her leadership. The words burnt itself into Courtney's mind when he had stopped by with Bridgette. While Bridgette and Cody seemed to have a possible attraction, the words still echoed through her skull. His words took the form of a white wolf.

"Served you right!" sneered Courtney. She was honestly surprised by how callous she sounded. Cody just sighed.

"Do you know what being a leader means? It means that you're like parent only you that your children are not your own. Sometimes is only a dozen, sometimes a million. That secretary in your office? Yours to take care of. Those farmers working in the fields are your sons. The delinquents in the jails? Yours to punish and rehabilitate. Being a leader means more than just sitting on a throne and ruling from afar. When the innocent suffer it must be you who rights those wrongs and do what it right. That is what being a leader is all about. You don't have what it takes to be a leader." Cody explained gloomly, "And neither do I."

Inside her head two wolves battled it out over what side she would take. Hatred and selfish vengeance or Justice and proper resolve.

But which was correct? Courtney wondered that herself. Was justice merely another side of Vengeance? Now that she thought of it Justice was only prettier and less extreme. And sometimes it wasn't fair. She had experienced all forms of justice and all forms of vengeance in her entire life. Trying to be a lawyer did that.

But was there any Justice in this world then?

That thought was the catalyst for her. The Black wolf won. There was no Justice in this world. There was only vengeance.

Courtney really hoped she would be able to live with what she was going to do down the road.

"Especially that," snapped Courtney.

"Listen, Courtney," protested Geoff sweat now pouring down his head, "Don't you think this a bad idea. I mean think about it. We're all still shocked by what happened today."

"Yesterday," corrected Eva.

"Yesterday, but that doesn't mean we should really talk about it. It's still in our heads," explained Geoff before begging, "Just give us some time. It's still fresh in our heads."

"That I can agree on," spoke up Duncan talking for the first time since the beginning of the conversation before sitting down, back facing the wall.

Duncan clearly remembered what Heather had told him.

"So you finally did that didn't? I'm honestly surprised. But you had guts. I do have to wonder … why did you do it?"

Duncan merely shook his head. Why did he do it?

Was it honestly because of when Cody kicked him in the nuts the morning before? Was it because he humiliated him and broke his pride. Duncan had always prided himself on being the toughest guy on the block. He knew the score. He grew up in Casper town. So why did his actions really make him feel guilty?

He admitted that he had been very extreme when he had burnt Cody's face into the firepit. But that's just how it was in Casper Town. You knew the score. You didn't get into fights without expected fights to come to you.

Was it because he did it for the wrong reasons?

"That's the point Cowboy," prompted Courtney, "We should all talk about it while it's still fresh in our minds."

"Yeah," murmured DJ scooting away from Duncan as far as possible. Duncan merely gave the boy a sympathetic and sincere smile.

Cody's screams were still very fresh in everyone's mind. But strangely enough the boy had merely walked it off after waking up. Almost as if he had become used to such injuries. It worried a lot of people. That wasn't normal. But then what was normal?

"So what do we know?" addressed Eva, "She really wanted to get this conversation going then go to bed.

"Well he know that this island is dangerous," listed Geoff, "Far more than we believed. Those bats that attacked us are not going to be the last predators we'll see."

"Not to mention the fact that a certain someone," glared Courtney to Duncan, "Certainly lives up to his reputation of being a delinquent."

Then her eyes softened at the miserable Duncan.

"Thanks," she divulged reluctantly.

Duncan smiled a little at that, the guilt still haven't washed out, "Your … welcome Princess."

"Really?" growled Eva, "How could you two be so happy?"

It really didn't make sense to Eva. While she respected Courtney for her strictness and self-control, Eva was more or less annoyed by her bossiness. However Eva could respect Courtney for trying to maintain team discipline and lead the Killer Bass. The delinquent however pissed her off. Someone like that shouldn't be on this island, due to the fact that ehy were horrible influences on the other contestants.

"Because they have legitimite grievances with Cody," pointed out Bridgette. Eva took note that Bridgette had a slightly worried yet affectionate tone when she said Cody.

Eva nodded slightly, "Don't think I've forgotten that. I just can't believe what's going on."

Katie sighed, "Me neither. And don't worry. I won't vote you off."

Eva was surprised by the girls answer, "Really? Even with all my anger management issues?"

It didn't make sense to Eva. People avoided her like the plague at school, except for the jocks of course. Why would this be any different?

"Really," acknowledge Sadie earning a glare from Courtney and Duncan, "You're not as bad as the psycho there."

Sadie thumbed at Duncan.

"Oh come on!" screamed Duncan spreading his hands, causing Sadie and Katie to lose whatever little courage they had.

They both pitifully curled up together.

"I'm sorry about what I did," Duncan claimed, "But that punk had it coming. I mean maybe I over reacted a little."

"Try a lot," interrupted Bridgette.

"Maybe but that bastard still deserved it," exclaimed Duncan, "I'm not going to apologize for what I did."

"Chris won't make you" recalled Courtney, "Something about being here for the drama."

"That's sick," wheezed DJ. While Duncan had seemed like a nice guy the first time he had met him, it seemed like first impressions didn't hold any water afterall.

"Expect that and more," jagged Bridgette looking out the window from the floor. Bridgette's voice seemed edged. Then again it was understandable. It wasn't the first time she had seen human suffering and darkness. But it was the first time she had seen death, quite possibly it wouldn't be the last.

"Chris only wants us here for the Drama. He doesn't care about our sweat, blood and tears. He doesn't care. The only way we can survive this is if we work together," she grudgingly admitted.

Her cynical speech seemed to have shocked the Killer Bass. While everyone had a general idea of reality, none of them wanted to admit it to themselves. Most people were still in denial. But not a certain person who was motivated by her speech. This person was angry. And she wasn't going to let it go.

Standing up, Courtney strode directly into everyone's view.

"Then I'll lead us down this road," vowed Courtney, " I'll lead us down this road and make sure we all survive. I promise you this. I always said I was a CIT, becoming a lawyer one day, then a leader. I guess I should start acting like one."

While her speech did seem to inspire many members of the Killer Bass and earned quite a few of their respect one blonde was not very impressed. Jaggedly, Bridgette laughed.

"Good luck. This is Wawanakwa ladies and gentlemen. The gods will not save us now."

Chris's Cabin

Inside Chris's cabin the tension was thickening. Chris and Chef were certainly going to at least be chewed out by the Five Wise Men. At the very least if neither of them were going to be chewed out then there certainly was going to be consequences. Last time the council had warned Chris to stick to the plan and get Cody booted off the island as quickly as possible. Their plans were barely reaching frustration.

Then Owen got killed.

None of the men believed that the other group was not responsible for the death of the fat boy. While Owen wouldn't be missed, the fact remained that Owen's death brought further unwanted attention to the show, and to a lesser extent, themselves. The Director himself was volcanic. Owen's death had resulted in him suffering the most from the issue. Already he had been phoned four times by various government officials about letting the fat boy die.

This wasn't going as planned.

Chris and Chef remained perfectly silent. The luxuriousness of the cabin greatly contrasted the emotional impact of this meeting. The co-hosts hadn't expected the Council to do something so drastic. Neither host had any illusions that they wouldn't be on the chopping block if their actions didn't reach the expectations of their superiors. Chris himself was shocked that the Five Wise Men had acted so openly. Usually they preferred to use blackmail, bribery and legal loopholes than actual violence and bloodshed.

The fact that they would be so vicious as to have a contestant killed proved a point. The Wise Men were not to be dealt with at anything less than one's fullest capacity.

The Wise Men on the other hand were surprised by Chris's actions. The party in question believed that Owen had died to prove Chris's point: he would not be their puppet. The consensus among the Council was that Chris was trying to show that while he worked for them, he wouldn't be their slave. Chris's independence would prove to be a major obstacle in the future. That is if this was the case. While both parties had the belief that the other was responsible for the contestant's death, they were not going to be as explicit as accusing the other.

Chris and Chef didn't for pragmatic reasons; the Council didn't due to fear of escalation. The Hosts did have secret criminal records. Even if they were arrested it would take something on an extreme federal level to bring the records to public eye. Thus the Council feared Chris. While they had no illusions that they held Chris's life in their hands, multiple deaths on live television would certainly bring unwanted light to the Council. It would certainly uproot their entire organization.

Despite their claims, they were only one of the many players in this game for total domination of the information network.

"This is a disgrace Chris McLean and disgraces will not be tolerated," growled the Director.

His form shifted on the monitor. It went to show how furious he was. Normally the man was implacable.

Chris retorted angrily, "It wouldn't be a disgrace if there wasn't another player on this island, playing the board and hosting my show."

The meaning was not lost on either party, although Chef himself seemed quite passive. In fact the normally boisterous African man seemed quite quiet, just like the Executive. But whereas the executive was manically laughing mentally at the situation, Chef was worried. His head could be the one on the chopping block if Chris and the Council didn't make bygones be bygones.

"Put whatever grudge you have against the boy to rest. We will be sending one of our own to watch over you," calmly replied the Manager, trying to prevent this situation from escalating.

While the Manager was certainly the most powerful of all the Council, he had no illusions that his power stemmed from the other four and the middleman, Chris, working in conjunction. This situation with Owen had put an enormous spanner in the works.

"Or it will be on your head. Thank whatever gods you believe in that we are acting as mercifully as we are," snarled the Writer.

The Writer himself was only angry at the death, for another major reason. The usage of the extinct flying reptile put a dampener on "phobia factor". It would be boring if all the contestants were afraid of a giant bat swooping down and killing them. It also meant revising many of his plans, which would cost time, effort and money.

"Do you think I wanted this?" questioned Chris, "Do you think I wanted this? Do you think I wanted Heather and Gwen in the First aid tent? Or wanted Duncan burning half of Cody's face off? Or the fact that Owen died? Councillors, we already planned for Owen to win."

Neither party talked about the realty show rule. Generally a show would follow a script which was 100% planned. In a reality show there was various issues, such as conflicting personalities, realistic reactions of humans and general genre savviness. As a result a reality was only 20% reality. The other 80% was already scripted. The 20% was simply to add authenticity. The audience knew this. The contestants knew this. However in order to work the contestants would only be told the script bit by bit until the final winner came as no surprise to anyone but any a person who had skipped the entire season and went to the end.

It was why a "villain" on a show lasted so long when realistically they wouldn't.

But like both parties knew, that plan was shot to shit, so to speak, when their designated winner had died.

Here Chris was being honest. He didn't expect Owen to die. The Council were not swayed and they certainly were not amused.

"Does it matter McLean?" the Producer dryly answered, "Our punishment still stands. We'll be sending one of our own to supervise your actions … in person."

"You can't do that!" shouted Chef finally losing his cool.

" We can and we shall. Never forget that you are a pawn, not a king in this grand game," ended the Manger giving Chris their ultimatum logging out.

"We cannot afford to have the script be changed any further," the Producer said before logging out as well.

The Writer and Director merely gave a frustrated growl and scream respectively before they followed their colleague's actions.

Only the Executive was left.

"Ooooh. This is going to be fun," chuckled the Executive evilly. Time to reveal his true nature.

With Cody and Harold

Walking through the clearing Cody, had found Harold, sleeping on the ground. He had been looking for the redhead for half an hour. He had been scared that he would had been killed. Apparently Harold disagreed otherwise believing his "mad skills" would protect him. Cody wasn't amused.

"Harold, let me tell you something about being Afrikaner. When the apartheid era ended a lot of South African military personnel were put out of the job. This is because the military was downsized, which I think is incredibly stupid by the way. From there those Afrikaners looked for jobs where they could. Private Military Contracting was one of the examples. Personally I expect myself to go into it as well. I guess it's the only thing I can go into after the business with this island is done," admitted Cody.

He wasn't really sure why he was pouring his heart out to Harold. Maybe it was because he knew he could trust the red-headed boy after what had happened today.

Then he had revealed his plan to Harold. While Harold was still undecided on the plan and whether or not he would take part in it, he had agreed to keep quiet about it.

That was also why Cody felt he could tell Harold anything; even his darkest desires and innermost thoughts. Nevertheless Cody kept some iota of self-control. No need to trust someone he had known for a few days, even if that person had quite possibly saved his life from Duncan.

"You're acting like Hoyt's now Cody," examined Harold as the two walked through the clearing in the moonless night.

It seemed very calming. Harold knew who Hoyt was because Cody had told him everything. What had happened on Rook Islands, what happened after and how he came to this island. Cody honestly felt that Harold deserved it.

"Yeah. I know. But think about it. Where else can I go? What else can I do? I can't fit in a normal society and I don't think I'll be a good father to any of Bridgette's children. This is the best of both worlds. I satisfy whatever bloodlust I have and my children get an empty but stable home life," justified Cody. He seemed to try and make himself believe it as well, "They'll be rich too."

"I don't know what to say Cody. I mean…" objected Harold. Harold really didn't know what was going through his friends mind.

Did he really understand or had the fire really affected him so greatly? It seemed that this island was truly turning people insane. First Duncan, then Cody, then Evan and then Courtney were the list of people he could think of. Honestly Harold didn't know.

"I understand. But do you think I haven't thought of this?" answered Cody, kicking a rock.

He seemed very frustrated. Coming to a beach the two boys stood in silence skipping rocks across the water.

Cody while very good at it couldn't match Harold in this department. The living encyclopaedia had skipped fifteen times to Cody's ten. He truly did have some skills. Cody was only worried if that would be able to translate to real life ability. He didn't want to have get Harold involved in what he was planning but he needed help. He needed back up in case anything went wrong.

But Cody was also paranoid. What if Harold decided to tell his teammates about what he was going to do to Duncan? Harold notice Cody's frustration as he tried to pick up a stone tablet and throw it into the lake.

"Hey," Harold shouted stopping Cody from throwing the tablet.

"What?" he questioned. Harold merely pointed at the stone tablet. Curious Cody looked at the writing Harold's eyes had caught. Then he paled at the sight of the writing. SHIT!

The island has many secrets.

Translation: The island has many secrets.

Cody's Confessional:

"I do not sow," quoted Cody, "Brace yourself Harold, a storm's brewing. The day has ended. The long night has begun and winter is finally here."

Cody punched the camera, fracturing the screen and getting blood and glass on his hands. He had been doing this to all of the cameras on the island so far. He didn't want Chris to see what he was about do. While the man had promised to give a challenge especially for him, Cody didn't trust Chris's word.

So it was why he was preparing for what he was going to plan.

"Operation: The Rains of Castamere, stage one has begun, Harold," he shouted outside the confessional.

(Play Game of Thrones Season 1 Finale OST)

Eliminated: Ezekiel

Dead: Owen

Killer Bass: Bridgette, Duncan, Courtney, Tyler, Geoff, DJ, Eva, Katie, Sadie, Harold

Screaming Gophers: Cody, Justin, Noah, Trent, Heather, Gwen, Beth, Lindsay, Izzy, Leshawna

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