Episode 14: Merge In DeNile

Disclaimer: I do not own anything from TDI, those rights belongs to Tom McGillis and Jennifer Pertsch.

Merge In DeNile

Brooke laid in her bed, face down on her pillow. She did not want to get up at all today, but she was going to have to in order to remain in the game.

Lola barged in. "Brooke, what's wrong with you? Everyone's already dressed and ready for the day." She tapped Brooke's back.

Brooke flinched Lola off of her. "I don't wanna get up."

"You have to." Lola crossed her arms.

"I don't want to." She turned around. "I don't want to do anything today."

"What's wrong with you?" Lola asked. "You're always one of the first few people up."

Brooke reluctantly got up and started getting dressed. "I hate this show. Why is there a challenge every freaking day? Can't I get a break?!"

"I agree." Lola said. "But since we're here we might as well try to win."

"Ugh." Brooke shuffled through her bags.

"Now tell me what's wrong." Lola demanded.

Brooke looked at her, annoyed. "It's my birthday."

Everyone gathered in the mess hall. "Campers!" Chris happily announced. "Are you ready to fly to Africa for your next challenge?"

"Africa?" Asked Sam. "Are you kidding?"

"No." Chris said as he pressed a button which turned the camp into the jet. "We're off!"

"Cool." Tomas smiled. "I've always wanted to go to Africa."

"Me too!" Bridgette said cheerfully. "Ms. Voodoo too!"

"Yeah." Tomas said. "There's been a lot of sightings of mermaids there, especially in the Nile river."

"It's funny that you mention that," Chris snickered. "Because that's exactly where we're going.

"Awesome!" Tomas exclaimed.

"And there, you will participate in your first individual challenge!" Chris smiled. "Yup! It's merge time baby!"

Some of the contestants cheered, but others (Jay) didn't.

Confession Cam:

(Jay) "This doesn't help my game at all. Now I have so many targets." He counted on his hand. "Facundo, Lola, Mandy, Brooke, and Carter.. To name a few."

(Sam) "I'm super excited for the merge!" She smiled wide. "Now I'm not on the bottom!" She laughed. "Jay is!"

(Facundo) "It's kind of bittersweet that we merged before Jay could go home."

(Tomas) "I made it!" Tomas smiled. "Take that!" He threw his hands up, but then fell into the toilet. "Aw man." He groaned.

(Brendan) "I made the merge!" He smiled.

(Derrik) "Me and my queen made it." He smirked.

(Mandy) "It's been a pretty hectic game for me." She said. "But I knew I'd conquer it!"

(Carter) He smiled. "I can't believe I made it this far. I've had so much fun!"

(Bridgette) She hugged her doll. "Yay! We made it!"

(Lola) "It's no surprise that I made it this far." Lola smirked. "I mean, it's me."

(Brooke) "Greaaaat," She groaned. "Now I actually have to try."

"It's nice to finally meet all of you!" Bridgette smiled.

"You too." Carter smiled back.

"As you all know, I brought back two competitors last season, so it would only make sense to do the same this season." Chris smirked.

"Oh no." Facundo said. "Who's coming back."

"Stephan and Flora." Chris smiled.

"What!?" Jay snapped instantly.

"That's who we would've brought back, anyway." Chris said. Jay sighed with relief. "But I didn't bring them back because there's already a lot of super awesome drama in the game!"

"Oh please." Facundo said. "There's never enough drama with you." He smiled deviously. "What's the real reason, Chris?"

"Fine, we're too broke to pay for their flights." Chris said.

"That's pretty funny." Sam commented.

An intern entered the scene and whispered something in Chris's ear, then quickly rushed off. "Well, well well." Chris smirked. "Campers, it appears to be someone's birthday today!"

Brooke groaned.

"Who's birthday is it?!" Bridgette cheerfully shot up. "Let's make them a cake! Ooh! Let's throw them a party!"

Confession Cam:

(Chris) "That girl is too positive man, too positive."

"Happy birthday Brooke!" Chris announced and everyone looked towards her. Her face was green.

"I think I'm going to be sick." She complained and then vomited into a bucket.

"Ew, gross!" Sam stepped back.

"You shouldn't have even announced it." Brooke frowned.

"It's your birthday!" Bridgette smiled. "The day you were born! It's a blessed day!"

"Bridgette's right, Brooke." Mandy said and she helped her stand. "You should be happy."

"But I'm not." Brooke said. "I hate this day. So much."

"Alright," Chris interrupted. "As much as we'd love to hear why, I really don't care."

"I wasn't going to tell you anything anyway," Brooke shrugged.

Chris smiled and opened the jet's side door. "Welcome to Egypt my friends!" He exclaimed.

The campers stepped out one by one.

"We're in the middle of a desert." Carter said.

"Thanks, captain obvious." Jay said.

"Where's the Nile?" Tomas rushed out.

"Nowhere to be found..." Brendan surveyed.

"I thought we were-" Tomas was cut off by Chris shutting his mouth with his hand.

"You gotta find it, kids." Chris said. "And when you do, you must swim until you find me and Chef, then grab your first place trophy, second place trophy, and so on. First three people, or teams, to get to the Nile get boats to row down. The rest of you have to swim."

"We can team up with people, correct?" Sam asked.

"Yes." Chris said before jumping back in the jet and taking off. Sand flew all over the place.

"My eyes!" Sam snapped.

Confession Cam:

(Sam) "Chris is so gonna pay for that."

"Hey." Tomas smiled at Bridgette. "Wanna team up?"

"Sure." Bridgette smiled.

Carter and Lola went with Brooke, who had already started walking.

"Hey Mandy." Jay stepped up to her. "Wanna work together?" He smiled.

"No." Mandy said and walked away from him.

Jay angrily stomped away.

"Come with us." Sam grabbed Brendan's hand and led him away along with Derrik.

Facundo started walking too, by himself.

"Hey, wanna work together?" Mandy suggested.

"Oh, sure." Facundo said and they walked along together.

Confession Cam:

(Facundo) "I never really interacted much with Mandy when she was on my team because she was stuck on Jay. She isn't anymore, so it could be my chance to actually get to know someone in this game." He smirked. "I mean, I do need a partner in crime, per se."

Facundo and Mandy

"So what happened to you after you switched teams?" Facundo asked.

"I realized Jay was a jerk." Mandy said.

"Yeah." Facundo said. "I was surprised that he tricked you."

"He didn't trick me!" Mandy protested, but knew he was right. She sighed.

"It's okay." Facundo said. "Nobody's perfect."

"I know," Mandy said. "And I came into this game convinced that I wouldn't let anyone get the best of me. I'm just not used to getting tricked." She looked at him. "What happened after I left?"

"Elli remained as Jay's arm candy." He said.

"Typical." Mandy rolled her eyes.

"And I tried to get rid Jay." Facundo said. "And the only night I could, he was invincible."

"Also typical." Mandy said. "This game is actually pretty predictable if you ask me. You just have to step out of it and observe."

"True." Facundo agreed. They walked along.

Sam, Derrik, and Brendan

They reached a big hill. "My legs are so tired." Sam complained. "Can one of you please carry me over it?"

"Of course, my lady." Derrik said and he struggled to pick her up.

"I think Brendan should do it." Sam said.

"Me?" Brendan pointed to himself.

"Him?" Derrik asked.

"Yeah." Sam smiled. "He carried me last time."

Brendan nervously smiled. "I don't know if Derrik would be fine with that..."

"Take her." Derrik handed her to Brendan. He stared at him. "Go on. Just don't try anything funny mister!" He stressed.

"Don't worry, heheh." Brendan nervously smiled.

Sam got close to Brendan's ear. "Thank you dear." She smiled.

Confession Cam:

(Brendan) "I think Sam likes me instead of Derrik..." He thought. "I just can't believe she would like someone like me..."

(Sam) "Slowly but surely, I will get to the top."

Carter, Lola, and Brooke

Carter and Lola had just finished climbing a hill. They were waiting for Brooke, who took her time.

"Come on Brooke!" Lola breathed. "I can see the Nile from here!"

"I'm coming." Brooke said, annoyed.

"Wow!" Carter exclaimed. "It looks like nobody's made it there yet! We could win this!" He cheered.

"Not if Brooke keeps taking her time." Lola angrily said.

Jay

Jay could finally see the Nile river ahead of him as he sped-walked. He ran to it and saw that there were three boats on the side of it. "Ha!" He cheered. "Who says working alone isn't the best?" He pushed a boat into the water and hopped on and started rowing.

Confession Cam:

(Jay) "First to the Nile! Soon I'll have all this campers in denial when I win!" He laughed hysterically. "See what I did there?"

Tomas and Bridgette

Bridgette and Tomas were speeding to the river, but Bridgette started to slow down.

"I don't feel so good." She frowned and stopped.

"Are you okay?" Tomas nervously asked. "You look really pale."

"Everything's fizzly." Bridgette placed her hand on her head and lost balance. Tomas caught her and sat her down.

"You must be dehydrated!" Tomas said. "Oh no!" He then noticed a cactus. "Perfect!" He ran up to it. "I've studied the area around the Nile to know that these are full of water." He happily said. He went to go pull a piece off but got pricked. "Ouch!" He yelped. "Oh no..." He nervously looked at Bridgette and then back at the cactus, and then at himself.

Confession Cam:

(Tomas) He frowned. "Bridgette looks really sick! I have to help her, even if I have to..."

He took out his Barbie doll from his pocket. "I'm sorry, Ariel, but I have to do this." He teared as he used the doll to flatten the spikes on it. Once they were flat, he sadly threw his doll to the side and removed a piece of the cactus and took it to Bridgette. "Here!" He said. "Suck the water out! It should be enough to heal you until we get to the river."

Bridgette slowly sipped the water out of the cactus and was soon back to normal again. "Tomas!" She hugged him tight. "You saved me! You're such a good friend!"

Tomas teared up. "You were more important than Ariel..."

Bridgette looked to the side. "Hey, look!" She pointed. "We were just a couple yards away from the river!"

"What?!" Tomas asked, shocked. He ran to the river. "I can't believe it. I'm actually seeing it in person." He gathered some water in his hands and splashed his face. "It's so incredibly warm."

Bridgette took some Nile river water and drank it. "It tastes delicious too!" She smiled and noticed the two boats. "Hey! We get a boat!" She cheered.

Tomas sighed and teared up. "Yeah." He wanted to stay.

Bridgette caught on. "Stay!" She offered. "You've always wanted to find a mermaid here, so stay."

"Really?" Tomas asked. "Are you sure you can sail alone?"

"I'm never alone, silly!" Bridgette giggled. "I have Ms. Voodoo."

Tomas frowned again. "Oh, right."

"Find your mermaids, Tomas. Good luck!" Bridgette smiled as he helped her onto the boat and gently pushed her offshore.

"You too!" He called back. "Now," He looked at the water. "It's time to prove that mermaids exist." He dived in.

Facundo and Mandy

"We seem lost." Mandy said.

"Of course we do." Facundo said. "We're in the middle of the Sahara desert."

"I'm starting to think that Chris rolls a dice when he chooses where to go." Mandy chuckled.

"I wouldn't be surprised." Facundo grinned back. "Hey, why don't you go on my shoulders for a second and see if you can spot anything from up there?"

"Good idea." Mandy said and jumped onto Facundo's shoulders. She placed her hand about her eyes to cover the sunlight from hitting her and surveyed the horizon all around. She spotted the river. "It's over there!" She pointed and jumped off of Facundo. "Let's go!"

Facundo ran after her. "Awesome!"

Carter, Lola, and Brooke

"We're here!" Lola cheered.

"Yaayy." Brooke said without emotion.

Lola rolled her eyes. "Ooh look! There's a boat left! Help me push it into the water." She said to Carter.

Carter helped her push it in. "Think we can all fit?" He asked.

"I think so." Lola said. "It isn't too small. There's a little walking space."

"Great." Carter smiled. "Let me help you and Brooke on." He said and he hopped on the boat. First he helped Brooke on, then reached for Lola's hand. All of a sudden, Tomas popped out of the water.

"Ah!" Lola screamed and fell in the water. "Are you kidding me!?" She angrily screamed.

"Oops. Sorry for scaring ya." Tomas said.

"What are you doing in there?" Carter asked.

"I'm looking for mermaids!" Tomas confidently said.

"Want to come with us?" Carter asked.

"No thanks." Tomas smiled. "I'll catch ya later." He dived back down.

"He is such a freak." Lola said as she squeezed her hair together to get the water out.

"Everyone's a freak." Brooke said as she sat down in the front of the boat.

"Let's paddle." Carter said to Lola.

"Why can't Brooke paddle?" Lola asked.

"It's her birthday." Carter smiled. "She get's a freebie."

"I wish I had a freebie for once." Lola said as she snatched the oar from Carter's hand and began to row.

Jay

Jay reached a split in the river. A sign pointed to the left.

"Does Chris think I'm falling for that?" Jay snapped. "No way." He turned right and started paddling even faster. "This game is too easy."

Bridgette

Bridgette reached the split in the river shortly after. "Oh no." She mumbled to herself. She then noticed the sign pointing to the left. "Oh!" She smiled and happily took the left path.

Carter, Lola, and Brooke

They rowed until they reached the split in the river.

"Should we go left or right?" Carter asked.

"I'm so tired." Lola said. "And it's ridiculously hot. We should just swim."

Carter laughed. "Funny."

"Ha, I'm kidding." Lola said. "But there's an arrow pointing to the left, so we should go right."

"Right?" Carter questioned her logic.

"Chris is probably trying to fool us." Lola said.

Carter looked at Brooke. "What do you think Brooke?" He half-smiled at her.

"I really don't care." Brooke blankly stated.

"That's it." Lola stomped in front of Brooke, causing the boat to shake a little. "I'm tired of your attitude."

"Lola..." Carter tried to stop her, but Brooke silenced him.

"What are you talking about?" Brooke turned to Lola, eyebrow raised.

"It's you're birthday and you're acting like it's the worst day in the world!" Lola explained.

"I just hate my birthday okay?!" Brooke shouted.

"You just seem ungrateful!" Lola snapped.

"Ungrateful?!" Brooke turned really red, then calmed down. "You're right. I'm not. I'm bitter actually."

"I don't like it." Lola said.

Carter struggled to find the right words to say. "You can be so much nicer..."

"No I can't!" Brooke's voice cracked. "Because on this day, two years ago, I was involved in a huge car crash. It changed my life."

"Be grateful that you survived..." Lola slowly said.

"I'm not." Brooke frowned. "Because my parent's didn't..."

Lola and Carter stood in shock. It all seemed to make sense now; why Brooke had nearly broken down while singing her song, why she was so reluctant to talk about her family, why she passionately defended Eddy, why she hated her birthday.

Lola sadly frowned. "Brooke..."

"Brooke..." Carter said. "I'm so sorry."

"I've been angry and alone for two years." Brooke said. "Alone and broken. I have nobody. NOBODY." She broke down and started to cry. Carter and Lola rushed to her side and hugged her. "My grandparent's won't even take me in. That's why I'm so obsessed with winning, because I truly need the money for me. But I didn't just come on this show to win. I came here to find happiness."

Lola started to break down and cry as well. "I'm so sorry, Brooke. I started this game treating you like dirt." She sobbed. "I'm such a bitch."

"I forgive you, Lola." They held onto each other and cried. Carter couldn't help but shed a tear as well.

Confession Cam:

(Lola) "Carter and Brooke truly are amazing people."

(Carter) He frowns. "At this point, I'm rooting for Brooke." He smiles a bit. "Which is a pretty funny thing to say because I'm still competing, but I came onto this show to have fun, and I have. Brooke definitely deserves this, and I'm gonna do as much as I can to make sure she wins this game."

(Brooke) "Well, I opened up to Lola and Carter." She sighed. "Explained why I was such an outcast. I don't regret telling them because I've grown to love and trust them."

Bridgette

She soon reached a dead end. "Oh no." She frowned. She started to turn around and make her way back, but a net got thrown on her and she screamed.

Tomas surfaced from the water. "Bridgette?"

Confession Cam:

(Tomas) "I knew it! I should have went with her!" He frowns.

Mandy and Facundo

They finally reached the river. "Oh no!" Mandy said. "They took the boats already!"

"That's okay." Facundo said, grabbing a log nearby. "We can just make one."

"Won't that waste time?" Mandy asked.

"I doubt we're in last place anyway." Facundo said. Mandy ran up and helped him.

Sam, Derrik, and Brendan

"I think we're in last place," Derrik called back. He was a few yards in front of Sam and Brendan. "I see the river."

"What are you waiting for?!" Sam called out. "Run!" She jumped back into Brendan's arms, who didn't say anything and just ran as fast as he could. When they finally reached the river, Mandy and Facundo were pushing their handmade raft into the water.

"Think you can beat us with that stupid thing?" Sam asked as she picked up a couple rocks and threw it at the raft, causing it to break in half.

"Oh no!" Mandy said as her and Facundo got separated.

"I gotcha." Facundo said as he pulled her back and put her onto his half.

"That kinda failed." Derrik said to Sam.

"Ugh!" She angrily stomped down. "Swim me." She said to Derrik and jumped on his back.

"As you wish, my love." Derrik dove in. Brendan dove in as well.

Tomas and Bridgette

Tomas surfaced and saw Bridgette's boat on shore. "Oh no." He then heard chanting from behind a small area of bushes. "Even bigger oh no! It's the Jipits!"

Confession Cam:

(Tomas) "The Jipits are an African tribe. They must've captured Bridgette!"

"Unhand her, you fools!" Tomas jumped out from the bushes.

The tribe snapped their heads to Tomas and angrily approached him.

"Stop!" Bridgette's voice rang and she was revealed to be wearing a flower crown. "He's my friend." She smiled and ran to him. "Hey Tomas!"

"Bridgette are you hurt?" Tomas asked.

"No." Bridgette smiled. "These people are nothing but nice!" She smiled.

"Let's go." Tomas said. "Everyone's probably looking for us."

"You're right." Bridgette frowned. "But let me say bye to my new friends!"

"Alright." Tomas said.

Eventually, Tomas and Bridgette arrived to where Chris and Chef were.

"After you." Tomas smiled to his friend.

Bridgette cheerfully jumped off and ran to Chris and Chef. "Did we win?"

"No." Chris said, annoyed. "Jay already won, and everyone else already got here."

"Oh." Bridgette frowned.

"You're the last two here. Everyone's waiting in the jet." Chris said. "Now let's go." Chef picked up Bridgette and carried her into the jet.

Tomas walked up next and Chris stopped him. "Not you."

"What do you mean not me?" Tomas questioned.

"You're staying." Chris smirked. "You were the last one here, so you're automatically out."

"I don't remember you saying that!" Tomas gasped.

"I didn't." Chris smirked. "I decided halfway through the challenge."

Tomas frowned, but then smiled. "It's okay actually!" He smiled. "I'm right by the Nile! I can spend the rest of my days searching!" He cheered happily.

"You're not upset that you're out?!" Chris asked. He walked onto the jet, flabbergasted.

Tomas watched as the jet took off, then happily jumped into the Nile as soon as the jet was out of sight.

Confession Cam:

(Lola) "Brooke made me realize that life is to short and fragile to be ignoring Brendan, especially because he was such a good guy to me."

Lola walked up to Brendan "Can we talk?"

"Are you gonna tell me how horrible I am for going with Sam now?" Brendan asked.

"No, I'm here to apologize." Lola said.

"You're what?" Brendan asked.

"I'm apologizing for shutting you out." Lola said. "It was wrong of me."

"I don't understand why you did it." Brendan said.

Lola explained the letters and her insecurity to him, and about how much she's changed since then.

Confession Cam:

(Brendan) "I respect Lola for coming to me, and after her reasoning, I forgive her."

Lola smiled as she walked into her room. She heard shuffling and turned on the lights. Jay was near her bed. "What are you doing here?" She demanded.

Jay looked at her. "I thought you were showering!" He snapped.

"No. What is that." She rushed up to him and grabbed a small piece of paper he had in his hand. She looked at it.

Lola,

I've left you alone for a while, but I'm backkkk. Did you miss me?

Lola could not believe what she had read. "You." She looked at him in complete shock.

Jay smirked at her. "You got me."

"You. You! YOU!" She screamed and hit him in his chest.

He laughed. "Did you miss me?"

"You monster! You evil, demonic (bleeeeeeep) monster!" She yelled.

"That's me." Jay chuckled and walked out, leaving Lola speechless. She slumped onto her bed.

Weeeell, I've managed to write about seven episodes in a matter of a couple of days. I just had to make up for lost time. Hopefully I can continue but I'm back to being half busy starting tomorrow. But don't worry, I'll finish this story within the next two weeks.

Anyway, next time Lola copes with the fact that Jay wrote her the letters, Jay continues to play dirty, and a huge twist changes the game.