Chapter 10: Rigged

I was mentally preparing myself for this challenge. As much as it angered me, I couldn't go all out and make sure Sugar was gone. In fact, that was probably what she wanted. Ella was too nice for anyone to actually dislike her.

McLean finally got in front of us, ready to start the show. "It's time we separate the brave from the liars," he told us. Oh...I did not like the sound of that. After all, if I accidentally revealed that I was behind Dave going home, or Samey, or if I was plotting against half this island, I'd be in the cannon next. My next moves had to be very precise this challenge, and I wasn't sure if I was ready to handle that yet. "The game is Truth or Scare," McLean announced.

The scare section actually made me very excited. Any time I did a scare was a time I wasn't doing a truth, which was the part that frightened me. Topher still couldn't read the room, and interrupted his train of thought, and mine more importantly. "Sounds nasty," he said, "Once again, Chris, you've delivered the goods. If I had a hat, it'd be off to you."

Instead of the normal ego boost all of us were expecting, McLean didn't actually seem to thrilled with this one. "Yes...thank you, Topher," he responded coldly. I took note of that. Was there a chance he saw us last night? Topher claimed there weren't eyes on that part of the island, but what if there was? Ugh, I didn't have time to be nervous about that, I still had to learn what that chicken was about.

"Overdoing it much?" I asked quietly, leaning over to Topher to try and scold him. Topher nodded lightly to show he understood what I said to him.

"Now then," McLean continued as the monitor above us began to start spinning around a lot. "Every round a player is chosen at random." I cringed a bit as the first spinner landed on me. "It also chooses whether you'll be doing a truth, or a scare." Halo was truth, and fire was scare. Scare was still looking better. I was a bit nervous, because truth landed first. This was just the example round, right? "Get a scare, and you'll have to perform a terrifying challenge!" Everyone gasped at that. "Don't worry, not all the scares will be scary," the host clarified, "some, will be disgusting."

Ugh, well, I was still more eager to do that. Lucky for me the second spinner started spinning again, but the first one remained on me. It was go time. Then, it stopped on the halo. Just my luck. "But in this case," McLean announced, "Amy's gotten a truth, which means she just has to answer a question honestly." I guess that was the easy challenge for everyone but me, because McLean got all scary on us. "But the answer will be revealing," he told us, "It will expose a dark secret that could destroy her in the eyes of her newly found friends!" Yeah, I kinda saw that coming. I wish I could just finish this up and get it over with.

McLean, satisfied with freaking me out, gave up, and turned away. "Or not, whatevs," he added. Ugh, I hope that old geezer never tries to use any slang ever again. That was nasty. Speaking of nasty, I'd probably need to think nasty to get out of this.

Lucky for me, being nasty was my specialty, and I thought of a loophole quickly. "Okay, lame," I said, "I can just lie convincingly or something."

McLean shook his head at me while laughing like a maniac. "To reveal the truth, we spared no expense." The chicken then began to approach me. No way. "Meet, Clucky!" he told us as the chicken got closer. "The truth seeking chicken! No lie gets past this bird. She's former CIA, and runs her own law firm." Okay, that couldn't be legal. "If you've got a secret, this poultry polygraph will pluck it out."

McLean kept going as Chef approached us with collars, like we were some stupid pets or something. "Completing a challenge or telling the truth will earn your team a point, but, you fail a challenge, or tell a lie, and your whole team gets a shock." Oh, a what?

"Um, what do you mean by 'shock'?" Sky asked, with her question being quickly answered as a collar went around her. Then, one went around me. Oh, this was no longer fun. "Oh."

McLean laughed at us even more sadistically than the last time. "Is it clear yet?" he asked, "let me make it even clearer." The next thing I remember was a giant jolt of electricity zapping through my entire body. Everyone felt it, and it felt really bad.

"You tested these, right?" Jasmine asked, a bit out of breath from the shock.

The host laughed at all of us again. "Yup, I just did, and you're still alive. Congrats." Ugh, I was going to make sure McLean payed for this. I would crush him. "Let's start the game!" he cheered, as the rest of us didn't. His eyes met mine. "Amy?"

The stupid chicken flew right up to me and landed on my lap. I really wanted to hit it, but that probably wasn't going to happen, because then I'd be shocked. Ugh, I figured that at this point I was trapped in a corner. The only way out was to answer whatever awful question would ruin me. "Amy," Chris asked, "who do you dislike most?"

Wait, that was it?

Ha! I was so worried about some dumb question, and even the chicken was getting closer to me to try and pry or pluck or whatever it was. But I won. I got the easiest question the world could have asked for. "Are you serious?" I asked slyly, "That's the worst you could dig up?" I sighed out in relief. "The answer is without a doubt Samey, my worthless sister."

The team sighed in relief as well, because that was the easiest question. I looked over at Topher, and he smirked. Then, I watched as his eyes contort in fear. He gasped out loud, and before I noticed anything else, we got shocked. It hurt just as bad as the time right before. After being in pain from the shock, I was now mad. "What do you mean that was wrong?" I asked in anger. "That's the right answer! Your chicken is stupid!"

The chicken seemed to be very mad at my words, but McLean took back the zappers before it had a chance to fight back. "Keep it professional," he advised the chicken. Ugh, I was going to beat up that chicken, McLean, and Sugar, ideally in that order. "Look, we don't have time to fight it," McLean admitted, "but, Clucky said it's a lie, so it's a lie. It's still zero-zero." That was annoying. At this point I could have cared less about how our team was doing. I was right. That chicken was luck based, so today's challenge was based on a coin flip.

Today had really stunk. But, it did give me motivation. I had never wanted revenge more than today. Vengeance was coming.

But first, the spinner started moving again, eventually landing on Rodney. "Up next we'll have Rodney," McLean said, "doing another truth," as the spinner landed on the halo again. Eh, I didn't even care anymore, since this challenge was obviously rigged and biased. "The question is, in your opinion, who is the most attractive girl on the island?" Rodney gasped as the stupid and clueless chicken jumped onto his lap. I wish McLean would just have us all guess number or something instead of wasting our time like this.

Rodney got up and started to lean over to McLean. I think he asked for another question. But, McLean did not have the niceness for even that. "You're running out of time, Rodney," he shouted.

Ugh, that was annoying. But, before he had a chance to say anything else, Sugar threw her arms up. "Duh, it's me!" she declared. Ugh, she was just as stupid and annoying as she was crafty. I hated her. Rodney seemed to like that answer. "Huh? Yes, perfect, it's Sugar," he decided. I couldn't tell if he was trying to dodge it or just making a bad joke, but he definitely remembered that our lives were on the line. But, they weren't, since that chicken was worthless.

Much to our bad luck, the chicken decided that one was a lie as well, and we got shocked again. It wasn't hurting any less, but I knew it was going to keep happening. I'm pretty sure that this challenge would be shorter though, so I might get a chance to heal before we inevitably lose based on luck. As we got shocked, Rodney fell to the ground. "Liar, liar, Rodney's on fire!" McLean taunted. "And, by fire, I mean electrocuted." He was getting on my nerves as well.

"That was true!" Sugar said, trying to defend her ugly self. "Check your chicken, your chicken's broken!" I actually agreed with her, but speaking up would have meant that I put myself out more, so I didn't say anything. The chicken did have something to say, though, and shocked their team anyway for that insult.

"I'm sure Rodney thinks you're the second prettiest," Ella said to try and cheer her up. "No shame in that."

I actually expected Sugar to either ignore that or accept it, but she threatened Ella again. "What? I ain't no runner up!" she shouted, smacking the sweet girl as she stood up.

McLean actually stepped in this time. "Calm down," he told them. "And Ella, stop picking fights with Sugar." Okay, that was it. I was going in.

"Do you have eyes?" I asked McLean, "Sugar's the one wasting time on your show, not Ella!"

"Right," Ella tried to say, "I wasn't-"

McLean ignored both of us, moving on to the spinner again. Ugh. He was going to get it. "Up next, is Sky, doing a scare." He walked up to the gymnast. "Sky, to earn a point, you will have to drink, and entire jug...of mineral water." Ugh, all these challenges were so stupid. This entire challenge was stupid. I was sick of today already.

Sky grabbed the jug with a smile. "That's it? No problem." Lucky them, getting away with doing a challenge. At this point the chicken must always be giving the shocks out. I didn't think it was actually a truth-seeker or whatever.

"You've got thirty seconds," McLean told her. "Go!" Eh, at least it was slightly a challenge. I probably could have done it no problem. However, it was much more of a challenge for Sky, who seemed to be immensely struggling. I watched as her team complained for a bit, before Sky started looking even more distressed. Eventually, Shawn gave up and took it, shaking the jug violently, and at the last second, sent all of it shooting at her.

"Half of it went up her nose," McLean decided, "but that still counts as drinking!" A point went up for their team, which made me a bit angry. All of these stupid scares were super lenient. I really hoped that we were going to get a scare.

McLean began throwing a commercial, which meant we had about five minutes of no camera downtime. Topher leaned over to me as Sky began climbing back up onto the log. "Wanna talk about that first question?" he asked me in a serious tone.

"No," I said bluntly. "It's quite clear that the chicken is broken, because no one's answered a truth correctly." I tugged at my collar. "Plus, you're the expert on McLean, so wouldn't it make more sense for him to just have us do challenges and get shocked for fun?"

Topher nodded. "That does line up," he said, "but I'm willing to give him some more chances." He stared me down. "Now, you'll need to try and carry the rest of this challenge," he told me, "you did lose us a point."

"Yeah, yeah, I got it," I responded, bored and annoyed. At that moment, Sky's stomach growled, and we could hear it from over at our seats. A few people from our team ducked behind the log in case something blew, but Scarlett and I remained on the log, bored and annoyed.

Eventually, nothing came out, much to everyone's surprise. "Huh?" Jasmine asked, confused, "I thought she'd get at least ten feet of air!"

Topher decided to play on his act a little more, standing up in outrage. "That's it? Come on, Chris is trying to put on an entertaining show here!"

Topher's statement was cut off by the sound of the spinners going again. "Max!" McLean called as the first spinner landed on him. "It's truth time!" Oh no. I guess we should just forfeit this point. Not only did I not trust Max to tell the truth, but we'd never actually be able to get a point on a truth round anyway. There's been three and all have resulted in shocks.

The chicken approached Max but stopped as he curled up on the log. "Ugh," he muttered. "Has this beast had its shots?"

"...No," McLean answered. "Max, for a point...what do you fear?" Oh no. There was no chance that he was going to be honest about this one. His evil mantra would ruin it. "I fear nothing," he proudly responded, which resulted in our fourth shock of the day, still just as painful as the others.

After frying a bit longer, Topher began to chuckle. Maybe the shocks were clearing the clogs in his brain. "Not questioning your host Chris, but the three of them lied, not us!" He gestured to Rodney, Max, and myself. I would remember that.

"Sorry, you're a package deal," McLean reminded him. "Remember, if one of you tells a lie, you all pay the price." Everyone started glaring at Max, except me, because I didn't think that the chicken cared about truths anyway.

The spinner started going again. "Up next, we have...Leonard." Leonard perked up as the other one was still spinning. "...doing a scare." I noticed Leonard looking just as relived as I did when I heard scares existed. Perhaps he was hiding something as well. He was on the other team, though, so I hardly cared. McLean went up to the wizard. "Alright, Leonard, there are scary scares, then there are scarier scares, then there's this. For a point, you must...kiss a person next to you!"

Leonard looked over to his one side, where Shawn was sitting, and as he inched closer, Shawn darted away into the woods. Defeated, Leonard looked over to the other side, where Sugar was sitting. "Oooh!" Sugar cheered. "Will I inherit any of your powers from this?"

"Um...no," Leonard answered. Proceeding with a bit of hesitation, Leonard eventually mustered the courage to kiss the pageant queen on the cheek, turning away after.

"Hey!" Sugar complained, "that was rude!"

"It was rude," McLean agreed, "but it is still a point, so the bears are at two!" The others on the team cheered as Shawn came back and sat down. The spinners began going again, and they eventually stopped. "Next up is Shawn," McLean read, "doing a scare." Ugh, I wish our team could have gotten a scare. Then we'd have a chance. "Shawn, for the point, you must pick your nose, and wipe it on the person sitting next to you." Ew.

Shawn got up with very little hesitation, and approaching Sky, he let out the biggest snot rocket I have ever seen. I definitely visibly wretched at the sight of it. It was so disgusting. "Woah," McLean responded, "you are way too good at that." I looked over and saw Sky not in the best mood after that. "Impressive barrage, Shawn," he said, "But I'm afraid you were supposed to pick and wipe, not rocket." He then gestured to the rest of the team, who were all also covered. "Also, you only needed to get the person next to you, not your whole team."

Finally, a bit of fairness. After watching the other team get shocked, Ella piped up. "At least it fried the snot off!" We were down by two but it was still doable. The spinner went again, and Ella was assigned a truth. There's no way that she would lie, and I could expose that chicken forever. "Well, hello, my feathered friend," she told the chicken.

McLean held out a card and read it to her. "Ella, if you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?" He almost looked too happy as he gave that question. Something was up.

"Hm..." the song girl pondered, "I would change whatever is stopping Sugar and I from becoming the best of friends!" Everyone let out an 'aww' at her response. I did it too to fit in, and that is the reason I'm sticking with. "I firmly believe we were meant to be close."

As everyone was watching Ella, I was watching Sugar, and noticing the incoming rage. "I firmly believe?" she asked, standing up with a growl, "I firmly believe?" The second time she yelled it scared the chicken, causing it to run off. Right, a chicken who gets scared totally has it's own law firm. This chicken was a sham. "That's pageant talk!" she yelled, "my talk! You're going down, Missy!" She lunged at Ella, but was pulled back by Shawn and Sky before they had a chance. I couldn't believe it. She bounced between strategist and idiot more times than I could count.

McLean interrupted the fight with a shock. "That was for scaring Clucky," he told them, "and, after what Ella just pulled, I can only assume her answer was a lie."

"Lie?" Ella asked in a confused tone. Oh, she wasn't lying. "I didn't-" her response was cut off with another shock and an 'Enough!' from the host. Ugh, he was making me mad today.

I decided to give McLean a piece of my mind. "Either your chicken's wrong or you're just shocking us at this point!" I argued. "How did that chicken count Ella's as a truth and mine as a lie?" This game was biased and stupid. "One of us should have that point at the very least!"

McLean thought about my words for a bit. "You're right," he told me, "I should be fair." In exchange for sticking up for Ella, I had gifted the other team a point, making it three to nothing. "From here on in, I'm going to suggest better team-playing. He looked specifically at us, maybe even more so at me." Maybe then we'll earn more than three points this entire game! Remember what's at stake here."

Oh, there was more at stake than that old man could imagine. Unfortunately, I might have just thrown it all away. I hate friendship.