Author's Note:

Back again for yet another chapter! And also, just a friendly reminder that you can vote on who you think will survive this story on the poll on my profile! So far I've seen some very interesting predictions.

Enjoy!

The day passed uneventfully. Gwen tried to enjoy herself as best she could, even participating in a game of cards with Beth, Bridgette, and Leshawna, but her mind was still focused what had transpired the night before.

What the hell was going on with the Drama Corporation? What were they hiding? And what did Mayor McLean have to do with any of it? Gwen knew for sure that the mayor knew more than he was letting on about the shark, but how much involvement did he have? And if he knew, why still promote the cruise? For that matter, why even come with them?

"Gwen? You there, girl?"

Gwen shook back to reality. "Uh, yeah, I'm okay," she answered Leshawna.

"Then make your play, girl, we're all waiting."

"Right. Sorry." Gwen put down her card.

"Okay, what's going on with you?" Bridgette asked her.

"What do you mean?" Gwen asked.

"You have been a little distant all day," Beth noted. "Come on, spill. What's going on in that head of yours?"

Gwen shook her head. She'd like to tell her friends about what was going on. But Chef's warning still echoed in her head. She couldn't get more of her friends involved in this.

"I bet I know what's going on," Bridgette suddenly spoke up with a sly smirk.

Gwen froze. "You do?"

"You have a crush on Duncan, don't you?"

Gwen jerked in surprise. "What?"

"Come on, I know you snuck out last night to go hang out with him."

"You do?"

"You're not as sneaky as you think."

"Girl, why are you crushing on Duncan?" Leshawna asked. "Guy's a criminal. You don't mess with criminals."

"He's also really, really mean," Beth agreed. "I think I saw him give a noogie to a deer back on the island."

"No—I'm not crushing on Duncan," Gwen protested. "The guy's a jerk."

"Then who are you crushing on?" Bridgette asked. "Trent?"

"What? No!" Gwen exclaimed. "Look, he and I have been friends for years, but we're not—we're not like that. We're just friends, that's all."

"Uh huh. I don't buy it, girl," Leshawna declared.

Gwen rolled her eyes. "Whatever, guys." She put her cards down and got up.

"Gwen, come on, we don't mean anything buy it," Bridgette protested. "I think it's sweet seeing you and Trent together, even if you're not going to date anytime soon."

Gwen ignored her, leaving them there as she stalked off to her room.

Harold forced himself out of the crate, muttering curses under his breath. Earlier that day, Duncan had decided to stuff him in the deepest bowels of the ship for laughs. And he was not happy about it.

Why did Duncan have to be so mean? And why did he have to pick on people like him? Harold wasn't the strongest or the coolest in school, but he considered himself one of the smartest. The problem was that everyone saw the geek in him more than they saw the genius.

As he got out of the crate, cracking his back and wondering how long he had been in there, he heard the sound of a conversation coming from nearby. He pressed himself against the wall, knowing that he and the other kids in his class weren't allowed this deep in the ship. Getting caught would surely get him in trouble. Which, now that he thought about it, was probably why Duncan had chosen to stuff him down here in the first place.

"So, that game last night? Totally awesome, eh?" one of the voices said.

"Totally. Beating the other guys six to zero is quite an achievement," a second voice said.

"And the best part is that Lokheart owes me some cash now. He bet on the other guys. Boy will he be mad," the first guy added.

"For sure. Getting him riled up is fun. He's such a pain in the ass."

"Definitely. Want to come with to see him blow his top?" There was silence suddenly. Then the first voice asked, "Smitty? Where'd you go? Smitty?"

Then Harold heard a scream. "Oh God! Oh G—" The first guy's words were cut out by a loud CRUNCH and a spray of blood that splattered the wall on the other side where Harold was standing.

Harold stifled a horrified gasp. Then he turned and ran for his life, even as he heard another loud CRUNCH behind him.

Whatever it was that was over there, he wanted no part in it.

"Morning, Mr. Lokheart," Captain Blompkins greeted his first mate as he entered the bridge. At the moment, the two of them were alone. The helmsman had yet to appear, annoying him slightly. They were supposed to get underway soon.

"Morning, Captain," Lokheart replied. "A fine day for sailing."

"Agreed, assuming Mr. Rawls shows up." Blompkins sighed. "What the hell is going on here? Have you seen anyone from the crew this morning?"

Lokheart shook his head. "Just you and those kids. I think the delinquent was on his way to see the mayor."

Blompkins nodded. "That's it. Go below decks and find the crew. I swear if they've been drinking on the job again, I'll cut all their pay."

"Yes sir." Lokheart turned around and left the bridge, smiling under his breath. Blompkins knew that his first mate enjoyed punishing his crew, and that was fine with him. He needed someone tough to keep everyone else in line.

After all, he certainly didn't want to have to keep a hawkish eye on his men all on his own.

Duncan sauntered into McLean's room. "How's it going, Mr. Mayor?" he asked smoothly.

McLean looked up in annoyance. "What the hell do you want, kid?" he asked. "I'm a busy man."

"Too busy for this?" Duncan held up the folder he'd taken from the lab the other night. McLean's eyes widened briefly, then narrowed.

"Where'd you get that?" he asked.

"From the lab your goons were cleaning out earlier," Duncan explained. "And the same lab where your little pet project was born."

McLean glared at him. "You realize, of course, that you've just made a big mistake. The people I work for are much more powerful than you think. When they find out that you have stolen data from them—"

"Ah ah ah." Duncan wagged a finger in McLean's face. "You're not going to tell them a thing. Because if you do, then this information goes public, and you're ruined. I imagine that your Drama Corporation wants to keep your involvement in whatever shady shit they're wrapped up in quiet so you can be a public face to them. Exposing you isn't going to make them too happy."

McLean sighed. "Alright, what do you want?"

Duncan grinned. "Right down to business then? That's more like it." He looked over at where McLean's assistant, Blaineley, was sitting. "You may need to have your secretary take some notes."

Lokheart banged on the door of the helmsman. "Rawls! Rawls, get your ass out here! It's time to start off again!"

No answer came from inside. Lokheart banged harder. "Rawls! Get out here!"

"Lost something?" Lokheart turned around to see Chef standing behind him, a rifle slung over his back.

"Why the hell do you have a gun?" Lokheart demanded to know. "Firearms aren't allowed on the Wawanakwa."

Chef got into his face. "Does it look like I care?"

Lokheart growled. The huge man was really starting to get on his nerves. "I'll deal with you as soon as I deal with Rawls. Damn idiot should've been up to get the ship moving an hour ago." He banged on the door again. "Get up, you lazy son of a bitch!"

Chef moved forward. "Allow me." He then took his rifle and bashed the door handle off the door before kicking the door in, revealing a room covered in blood and a gory, half eaten corpse.

Lokheart's eyes widened in horror. "What the hell?!"

Chef's eyes narrowed. "It's here. It's on the ship."

"What's here?"

Chef grabbed the man by the collar. "Get up to your captain and tell him to get everyone to the top deck! Now!" He shoved Lokheart towards the staircase, but the first mate recovered quickly.

"Listen, asshole, I don't know what's going on here," Lokheart said, walking back towards Chef and past him, heading for another crewman's room. "But I don't take orders from you. And I sure as hell am not going to—"

Those were Lokheart's last words as a huge creature leaped from the shadows and bit his head off.

Alive: Alejandro, Beth, Blaineley, Bridgette, Chef Hatchet, Chris McLean, Cody, Courtney, DJ, Duncan, Eva, Fang, Geoff, Gwen, Heather, Izzy, Justin, Leshawna, Lindsey, Noah, Owen, Sierra, Trent, Tyler

Dead: Katie, Sadie

Missing: Harold

And let the carnage begin! I know the scenes here were a little bit of filler, but it's all starting to come to a head as Fang makes his move. Now, I will say that the timeline of this chapter might be a bit confusing, but here's the run down: The first two scenes (the ones involving Gwen, Bridgette, Leshawna, Beth, and Harold) all take place the night after Gwen and company's trip to the Drama Corporation lab. The last three scenes take place the following morning. So they are officially about 2-3 days away from Boney Island. Keep that in mind.

Also, you'll note that I removed Sanders and MacArthur from the status list. Simply put, they're not really going to show up again until the end of the story after everything goes down. So really, we don't need to keep a status on them since they're not in the danger zone, unlike the rest of these characters. As for Harold, well...we haven't seen him die or seen his corpse, so he's not officially dead. He's just missing. He could still be alive; he could be dead. Who knows!

But I will say this: next chapter, the TD characters will start to die. And finally, other characters will be there to keep Katie and Sadie company on the kill count. But to find out which characters will bite it (by getting bitten by Fang), make sure you hit that favorite/follow button in order to stay informed on updates, and don't forget to drop a review to let me know how I'm doing. Until next time, this is Guest 1138, reminding you that french fries always taste better with ketchup. Ciao!