Looking To Enter The Valley, Eh?

Leaving behind the swamp, the six remaining campers moved into the valley. A more rocky and mountainous terrain, home of the island's mines and rail system. The cabins were made of stone, and looked a lot cleaner than the last rotten, smelly, wet one.

Eva and Katie were happy with the change. Eva was used to sleeping on flat hard surfaces, and Katie didn't really care about her back. On the same note, Zeke was used to sleeping on trash in contorted positions, so it wasn't a problem for him either.

Tyler on the other hand was rightfully worried about how he was going to be able to pull off his extreme stunts if he had back problems. Gwen and Noah were worried but more in a nitpicky way, they didn't like sleeping uncomfortably, they were really hoping to get out of this second island as soon as possible.

Chris let all the campers know they were merging earlier that morning before they got on the boat. They still had to act out 'finding out' about the merge later that day though. This whole performing thing was getting on everyone's nerves, everyone except Eva and Ezekiel that is, who were both fine with some things being fake.

"Sorry, I'm late!" Tyler walked into the stone rocky diner where Ezekiel and Gwen were waiting for him.

"It was about time" Gwen didn't really enjoy spending time with the green creature. The creature, on the other hand, didn't care for Gwen much either.

"Eh, it's ok. We didn't wait that much either."

"Speak for yourself 'homeboy'." Gwen was eating some of Chef's flavored paste, not enjoying even a bit of it.

"Homeboy? I literally haven't said homie since I came here yo."

"Wait really?" Tyler didn't exactly recall if that was true.

"Honest yo!"

"Hm… Well, that's weird…" Gwen reflected upon herself. "I haven't heard you saying Extreme either now that I think about it."

"Me? Do I really say that that much?"

"Apparently not."

"I don't know man, I just never felt it was a thing I said."

"Come on yo, you used to say it all the time!"

"Well, not all the time." Gwen corrected Zeke. "But you said it more than the usual person."

"I can say it more if you want me to!"

"No, no, it's ok." Gwen looked at her paste in disgust. "Why have you been avoiding saying Homie anyways, Zeke?"

"Oh it's nothing, just didn't feel like it."

"I see…"

"I will feel like it eventually, eh?"

"Yeah, sure." Gwen took courage and took a bite off her paste. It was just as gross as she had envisioned. "So, Zeke, Why call us here?"

"Oh yeah, that."

"So we kinda have to make a choice about whether to take out Noah or get back at Eva for trying to backstab us."

"Hm… Well, I like Noah!"

"I know Ty-ty but this is about more than just liking. Eva tried to get Gwen eliminated, and she's the definition of danger! For all we know she might just start winning challenges left and right."

"And what are you planning to do if she wins immunity now, genius?" Gwen talked in a very demeaning tone.

"Well I dunno, vote Katie out?"

"Poor Katie man…"

"Well, Tyler we can't do this if you're just going to feel bad for everyone."

"Hey, I don't like this that much either, you know?" Gwen didn't like Zeke pushing on Tyler like that. "Don't be a dick to us or we'll ditch you for Noah, get it?"

"Sorry yo! Didn't mean to be upsetting, eh? Just telling you how it is."

"No yeah, I get it, we have to kick Katie or Eva out." Tyler really felt like he needed to get his shit together. Zeke and Gwen were his friends, and he wanted to win, right? So this was the only logical thing to do.

"Great then! Katie or Eva it is then."

"And we'll just let Noah hang around?" Gwen didn't care that much but she found the idea funny.

"I mean what's he gonna do alone, eh?"

"True, true." Gwen grabbed the paste and threw it in the trash. It was inedible and she wasn't going to keep trying.

"Man I wished they would give us some real food sometimes…" Tyler looked at Gwen as she threw her food in the trash can. "My friends in the hockey team used to make the best meat!" As he said that, Tyler rose his hand as if pointing behind him, 'back home', and showed his hand, which was burning red.

"Yo! Is your hand alright?"

"Tyler, did you get sunburn only in your hand? Has happened to me."

"Oh! That? It's nothing, promise."

"Hey, whatever you say." Gwen stood up to leave. "See you two later."

Zeke took advantage of being left alone with Tyler, this was the moment.

"You know… Girls come and go but friends are forever."

"What are you talking about?"

"You know… Gwen might leave you one day but I won't… Bros before hoes!"

"Wait do you think I'm with Gwen?"

"Uh, yeah? Are you not?"

"Hell no! I wouldn't do that to my-"

"Your what?"

"Oh… Nothing." Tyler grabbed his hand.

"Look what I'm saying is that 'girl friends' are not as good as 'boy friends'"

"Hey man I don't judge but I'm not interested."

"Not like that yo! Ugh, look just... Pick me instead of Gwen in the final three, ok?"

"Oh, that's what you were trying to say!"

"Yeah! You get it?"

"But I already told Gwen I was picking her…"

"I see…"

"Sorry man, but I keep my promises!"

Zeke thought of it a little before responding. "No… No yeah that's alright, totally understand."

"You do?"

"Of course! Yeah, you gotta keep them promises."

"Then what will you do?"

"Just win immunity in the final three…"

"Oh, well it's not going to be that easy against me!"

"We'll see, Ty-ty." Zeke stood up and walked to the door. "We'll see."

"Are you sure we have to do this?" Katie didn't want to be eliminated, but she wasn't really fond of the idea of asking Noah for help either. She'd rather keep this between Eva and herself.

"Absolutely certain, he's our only choice, and we are his." Eva on the other hand was sure about utilizing Noah. As Eva saw it, this was their only way out. There was another choice of course, but Eva didn't want to consider it, she wanted to stick it to Zeke, not join him.

Be it reluctantly, Katie knocked on the boy's cabin door, knowing full well that only Noah was inside. The man, annoyed, walked up to the door and opened it up. "What do you want?"

"Good morning!" Said Katie, with her cheerful attitude.

"You know exactly what we want." Eva was more concise and to the point. "We want to stick to the green monster thing and we need your help for it."

"No thank you, I have better things to do." Noah attempted to close the door, but Katie put her foot on it.

"But you need us!"

"I don't need anyone."

"You can't win the game alone, they'll vote you out easily…" Katie seemed to be making Noah reason a little. "If you're with us, we'll take them out."

"And then what? You'll vote me out in the final 3?"

Eva wasn't having it. "You can always win immunity, punk."

"Yeah, of course, me winning immunity, keep dreaming she-hulk." He kicked Katie's foot off the door. "Now if you excuse me…"

"I'll take you to the finale!" You could hear a little bit of panic in Katie's voice, as an attempt of desperation. "Eva is fine with it, right Eva?" She hit Eva with her shoulder.

"Uh… Oh, yes! I'm alright with it."

"Yeah! We're already being paid to be here, right? It's not like any of us need the bonus."

"I need the bonus…" Clarified Noah.

"Well, then it would be just wrong to not let you be in the finale with one of us, right?" Katie's smile was terrifying Eva, could she really lie like that? That easily?

"Do you really think I'm that stupid?"

Eva thought quickly. "Do you really think we think you're that stupid? Would we lie to you about something like this?" Eva's rhetoric really made Noah consider.

"Smart move… Ok, here's what we'll do." Noah opened the door a bit. "I'll talk Gwen and Tyler out of that whole Zeke thing, but when we get him out of the game, this alliance is over."

"Sounds great to me!" Katie nudged Eva again. "Right with you?"

"Oh, absolutely."

"Great, now scram, I'm reflecting." Noah closed his door, for real this time. Katie and Eva were left to wander alone in the forest.

"I didn't know you had it in you." Eva was surprised, this was a weird side of Katie she hadn't seen before.

"Oh, it's nothing… I'm used to pretending and acting and such."

"How come?"

"Just life I guess…" Eva sensed Katie didn't want to talk about it, so she left it alone. "Can I… Hold your arm?"

Eva smiled back at her. "Of course." And they walked through the forest for a bit. Until the speaker sounded loud and clear, it was time for the challenge, immunity was up for grabs again.

"Multiple people?" Noah was really close to losing it. "What do you mean multiple people?"

"Do I really have to explain basic words to you, it means two people will get immunity."

"This is incredible." Eva scuffed.

"It is what it is! Fans feel safer when a lot of their favorites won't be eliminated. Now stop complaining and get on with the challenge!"

"Will you explain the challenge at least?"

"Oh, of course, I almost forgot, thanks a lot Gwen for reminding me." Chris laughed at his own mockery, no one else followed. "Welcome to the mines!"

The campers were in rocky terrain, at the entrance of a minecart railway system. There was no light coming from inside the tunnel. There were three minecarts ready to go.

"You're going to go in pairs. One person inside the minecart and the other one pushing! The railways are a maze, you'll have to choose where to go through multiple intersections and dead-ends. The first team to make it out of the maze gets immunity."

"I-I'll go with Gwen." Cried Tyler.

"Katie's mine." Eva grabbed her by the arm, not too strongly.

"Are you just leaving me with the thing?" Noah was not content with this. Zeke was smirking at him.

"Oh no, guys." Chris interrupted. "You're not choosing the teams."

"Oh thank god."

"Noah goes with Zeke."

"Goddamn it."

"Katie with Gwen and Eva with Tyler."

"Oh, nice! Hi Gwen!" Katie approached her.

"Hi…" This was going to be interesting.

"Uh… Eva, right?" Tyler was trying to be nice.

"Don't talk to me, just get in the cart."

"Oh hell no! Ladies in the cart please." Eva raised her fist at him, and he immediately gave up. "Ok! Tylers in the cart then, no problem."

"Good luck campers! Be it a long and prosperous trip for all of you! Full of drama and emotional bonds!"

"You really fucked them up with those pairings." Chef had just arrived.

"And your point is?"

"Oh, nuthin. This is gonna be fun."

"That's the spirit babe!"

"So… How's everything?" Despite Tyler's best attempts at conversation, Eva was straight up ignoring him. He didn't know if it was because she didn't like to talk, or because she didn't like to talk to him. "It's kinda dark… In here."

"Are you afraid of the dark?" Eva wasn't not responding because she didn't want to. She recognized Tyler was a valuable ally and it would be beneficial for him to like her. She just wasn't good at interacting with people. With Katie, it was easy, because she always assumed the best of everyone, but this was different, it wasn't as easy this time.

"Oh, hell no man! I was just saying…"

Again, there was silence, Eva kept pushing the cart through the dark as if she wasn't getting tired of it.

"You're not really talkative, aren't you?"

"Why would I-" She stopped herself, being defensive wouldn't help anyone. "Sorry, I just don't know what to talk about."

"Oh well I don't know either, so it's fine I guess." Tyler was so naive, so unaware, it made Eva almost worry for him.

"You train... Right?" Eva was trying to be nice but it almost came off as a threat.

"Hell yeah, I do! I train so much it's crazy."

"Well… What's your favorite…" She was struggling. "Sport?"

"We should've just gone left!" Gwen was pushing the minecart as Katie gave directions. That's the deal they had made. Katie chose where to go and Gwen got them there.

"Trust me! This must be the right way I just feel it." Katie seemed very optimistic about the challenge. She enjoyed spending time with Gwen, but now that she had to ally with her, she felt fake for doing so.

"It will be your fault only if we get lost in here."

"Ah, don't worry about it, we'll be fine!" Katie also had no problem with being pushed around for a little bit. She liked traveling by car with her friends, and this was not that different.

"So… You and Eva, huh?" Gwen was trying to make some conversation.

"Well… You and Tyler, huh?"

"And Ezekiel."

That wasn't good, Katie needed her away from Zeke. "Oh, yeah, for sure, but mostly Tyler, right?"

"I guess so." Great news.

"Oh I was just saying cause it looks like you're closer to Tyler, nothing else." She lied.

"No yeah, I guess that's true… It cheers me up how little he cares about the competition."

"You don't care about the competition?"

"I don't know, do I? I'm such a hypocrite."

"Hey! It's ok, Eva always says it's fun to play the game."

"I just feel like a money-hungry, fame-obsessed idiot by playing."

"But… You still want to do it?"

"It's exciting, and fun, as much as I hate it."

"But you still gravitated towards Tyler."

"What a weird way to say that."

"Oops! Sorry, haha." Katie didn't like lying to people, she felt manipulative, but she was doing this for Eva, right? Also, Gwen was her friend… Kind of… They were roommates sure but the truth is she spent most of her time with… Yeah.

"Why Eva then?"

"Sorry?"

"Why Eva and not, I don't know, not me?"

"Oh, I guess uh…" She thought about it for a little. "I guess I just wanted a friend! That's why I came here."

"You came to make friends? You already know all of us."

"But I'm not friends with you…"

"Katie… You are a friend, you know that?"

"Huh…?" Katie's face froze.

"Not the closest friend but, a friend, you know?" Gwen suddenly couldn't see Katie's face in the dark, but she could hear her crying softly.

"Just push." Noah wasn't having any of the green man's attempts at an alliance. Zeke had been trying since the ride started, but it was futile. Noah was not convinced even a little bit.

"But yo! If you join our gang-"

"I'll be out at the final 4, right now my best chance for a finale are Katie and Eva, sorry not sorry, keep pushing."

"Why so hard to gnaw?"

"Because you're a green abomination and I want nothing to do with you."

"Not even a little sorry for me, eh? After all I've been through?"

"You're pulling a pity card?"

"As if you wouldn't!"

"Gwen and Tyler will drop you and it'll be over, don't even think about trying anything else."

"It's true… They will drop me." Ezekiel took some time to think. "And Eva and Katie will drop you…"

"So? They're still my best chance."

"Yeah yeah... Of course… At least…"

Eva was laughing her ass off. "So you scored?".

"Oh nothing like that, no! The hockey stick went flying through the air and hit the goalkeeper in the teeth."

"Holy shit." She wanted to sound worried but she was giggling, Tyler's stories were hilarious.

Tyler, though a bit embarrassed, found them funny as well. He knew how to laugh at himself. "The guy didn't speak to me for a couple weeks, so I knew I had to apologize somehow."

"And what did you do?"

"Me and my ex…" He brushed his hand a little. "We baked a big cake together! And we took it to his house."

"Why do I feel something bad happened to that cake."

Tyler chuckled. "Well, it kinda did. I tripped through the stairs of his house and the cake fell on the guys' dog."

"Oh my god." Eva didn't have a lot of sympathy for animals.

"The guy thought it wouldn't be a problem, but I remembered dogs can't eat sugar right?"

"Yeah…"

"And that cake had a shit ton of sugar! So I was like 'man we gotta take this dog to the vet now!'"

"That's… Actually very responsible."

"See? I'm not that stupid." Tyler made a pause. "The point is apparently the dog had some weird disease or something so we ended up saving its life. Johnny never got mad at me ever again!"

"Johnny was the goalkeeper, right?"

"Oh yeah, of course. I forgot to say, sorry."

"I have worse experiences with goalkeepers."

"Like what?"

"The goalkeeper on my school's hockey team was a big-time homophobe?"

"Oh man, I sure hate those." Tyler was genuine with that statement he just wasn't good with words.

"Right… The thing is I'm walking down the hall with my ex, and this asshole shows up to us and starts talking shit."

"So you… Reported him to the authorities?"

"I punched his teeth out of his face."

"Holy shit." Tyler normally didn't like violence, but his parents had taught him it's never wrong to punch intolerance. "That's amazing!"

"I got suspended, but it was worth it, he never bothered us again."

"He better not! Or he's going to mess with the E-GIRL!"

"..." Eva laughed once again. "You know what e-girl means, right?"

"Uh… No."

"I didn't mean to say anything rude, I'm so sorry!" Gwen was panicking, she didn't know what she had done to make Katie cry, but she sure felt bad about it.

"No, it's ok! It's nothing!" Katie kept wiping her tears away to pretend everything was fine but they just kept coming.

"But it has to be something, right? Just tell me and I won't mention it again, I promise." Gwen stopped pushing the cart and sat inside the cart with Katie. "It's ok, ok? Just tell me."

"It's just… You reminded me of something, nothing else."

"Of what?"

Katie grabbed Gwen's arm, as it was comfort for her. "Sadie…"

"Oh…" Gwen didn't know if to ask or not, but maybe she could help, right? "What happened between you guys?"

"She just found better friends I guess…"

"Better friends than you?" Gwen found that baffling. "How could she ever find better friends? You guys were the bestest of friends." Gwen didn't notice, but saying that wasn't really helping Katie.

"She said…" Katie was struggling to get her words out of her mouth. "She said it felt performative…"

"What does that mean?"

"I didn't know either so she had to explain…" Katie giggled a little at her own lack of knowledge. "It means she felt we didn't like each other, we just pretended to because we felt we had to."

"Oh…"

"She said she felt she was forced to be my friend because we knew each other for so long and…"

"But weren't you guys great friends?"

"That's what I thought! We hanged out together and we said things at the same time and…" She was getting sadder just listing the things she missed about Saide. "But she thought friendship was more than that… Like talking about your problems and supporting each other."

"And you didn't do that?"

"I've never done that! With anyone, ever… I don't have a lot of problems. Or at least I didn't have."

"Oh, Katie…"

"So she left me alone, she didn't want to pretend anymore, and she said that if she left I wouldn't have to pretend either…"

"But you weren't pretending weren't you…"

"Of course not! I… I really did like her…" She missed her dearly, and her crying got a little more intense. Somehow admitting she liked Sadie made everything worse.

Gwen hugged Katie as she cried. For anyone else, it would've been an annoyance, but Gwen cared about Katie, somewhat. They stayed there for a while until she felt better, they were a long three minutes, but for them at least, they were worth it.

"See what I mean?" Zeke seemed to be finally getting into Noah.

"I guess you're not wrong…"

"Tyler and Gwen will drop me, Eva and Katie will drop you… but if we play both sides for our benefit…"

"We can make a finale, I see."

"All we have to do is get them out while making it seem we're on their side."

"Well, Eva has a grudge against you… She wants you out, now."

"Oh and I have a grudge against Eva yo, I want her out, now."

"You're both so petty."

"It is what it is, eh? She's a strong player, I respect her, but she's got to go."

"Whatever… So we get rid of Eva… How do I make it seem like I'm still with them? They'll figure out something went wrong if the vote is not a tie, and I don't think she'll suspect Katie."

"Oh, the vote will be a tie."

"What?" Noah wasn't sure if Zeke was too stupid or too smart.

"I will win the tie, don't be afraid to vote for me today."

"How do you know you'll win?"

"I have my ways…"

Noah wasn't a fan of risk. "This better go the way you planned, freak."

"Oh don't worry, it will."

"Hey, you two!" An intern was approaching them in a minecart.

"What do you want? Did we get lost?" Noah wasn't amused.

"Oh, no. Katie and Gwen won the challenge, I was sent to get you two out of here.

"Oh, wonderful, we lost."

"Don't worry about it, eh? It'll be alright."

"So, the plan's still up?" Zeke was once again sitting in the diner with Gwen and Tyler, as it was common for them to do at this point.

"I don't know if I'm fine sending Eva home…" Tyler started. "Can we go for Noah today? And Eva and Katie later?"

"I second that." Gwen let out. "I'd rather keep them around for a while more and finish Noah off."

Zeke knew something like this might've happened. He shook his head in disapproval. "Oh, you guys are so… Naive."

"Huh?" Tyler was not offended, just confused.

"What did you say?" Gwen was not confused, just offended.

"No, I get it, you had one nice chat with Eva and Katie and you're on good terms with them so now you don't want to get them out, right?"

"I mean if you put it that way…" Tyler started, but was interrupted.

"So what? We like them and want them to stay longer."

"If you want to play the game you have to have your skin in the game, eh?"

"What does that even mean?" Gwen was mad.

"It means, those two together are a menace, Noah alone can't do anything. If we leave those two hanging around they'll turn against us."

"You mean they'll turn against you, that's what you're scared of." Gwen continued. "You're scared we'll leave you for them."

"Look it's very simple, if you stay with me you guys are winning two to one, if you go with them, you're tied, it's fifty/fifty, it would be stupid to that I think."

Gwen reflected a little, Tyler wasn't great at following the logic.

"But…" Said Tyler. "It's the same, right? If we take Eva out, Katie and Noah will ally! That's the same as having Katie and Eva!"

"Not after today…"

"What did you do?" Asked Gwen.

"Noah is convinced he's working with me, we have him right where we want him, if we leave him and Katie alone we can take them out one by one."

"What if you leave us for Noah?" Tyler seemed worried.

"Leaving two allies for only one? In what circumstances?"

Gwen seemed more convinced than before, Tyler would just listen to whatever she said was right.

"Look, I'll give you two time to think about it." Zeke stood up to leave the room. "But I'm sure you'll make the right choice, eh?"

Gwen and Tyler stood in the diner alone, for the first time in the competition, they didn't know what to do…

"A tie?" Eva was worried.

"Yes, a tie!" Chris explained. "We selected the eliminated randomly picking papers from a jar, so this time you're as blind as the audience is."

"Let's get this over with." Noah tried to hurry everything up, he was nervous.

"Wow Noah, chill out a little bit, will ya?" Chris mocked him. "So, Gwen, Katie, you have immunity, here's your marshmallows."

Chris threw the marshmallows at the girls. They caught them mid-air. Knowing you won't go home is always a really nice feeling.

"Noah, here's yours." Noah caught it, he knew he wasn't going home. Someone who didn't know if they were going home was Tyler, but he got a marshmallow as well. "Tyler, this one's for you."

Eva and Ezekiel were sitting next to each other. Eva was giving him the death glare. Zeke was smirking, absolutely confident about winning the tie. Gwen and Tyler were sitting together, Noah and Katie were sitting apart.

"The last marshmallow…" Noah could feel the nerves growing on him.

"Is for…" Katie was scared, could this really happen?"

"..."

"Zeke!" He stood up to grab his marshmallow, smirking all the way through.

"This was rigged!" Screamed Eva, but Chris stopped her.

"Don't take it out on us, Eva, it was just the luck of the draw."

Everyone sat there in silence. Noah could finally rest. Katie wasn't feeling so good. Gwen and Tyler felt… Bad. But this had to happen, it had to be done.

Eva walked to the boat without further complaining, Katie approached the boat to say goodbye.

"This is so unfair." Katie was heartbroken.

"It's just luck…" Eva was pissed, but she wanted to remain composed… For Katie.

"I'll miss you."

"Win this for the both of us, ok?"

"But how?"

"You'll find a way, just play smart, you'll do it." Eva's anger management had finally paid off, she calmly took the loss and floated away in the boat. The valley is a dangerous place. It's not for everyone, not for Eva.

A/N: Oof that was sure something. This chapter was really fun to write. The challenge really offered a space where I could force some characters together that wouldn't normally approach each other.

Noah and Zeke move the plot along and Gwen and Katie have their little angst moment sure but my favorite one to write was definitely Eva and Tyler. Those two have way more in common than they realize, they like the same things even if one of them is incompetent at them. Always wished they had some interaction in the Bass.

Next is another Playa chapter. Wonder how Eva will fit in with Cody and Courtney? Go find out, next chapter is always available.