Author's Note:
I actually got focused enough to write the next chapter in less than a month. Fingers crossed I keep this momentum going.
As the sun set, the survivors once again moved down to the lounge to sleep. However, this time it was at Chef's insistence.
"I don't want anyone sneaking off tonight," the man ordered. "No going into your rooms, no wandering the ship. Nothing. You're all going to stay either in here or up on deck for guard duty." He paused slightly. "With any luck, we'll be out of this sometime tomorrow. We just have to live that long. And that aint gonna happen if you get yourselves eaten."
As for guard duty, after what had happened earlier with Owen and Justin dying, no one was really eager to volunteer to help Chef watch the deck. The only one that did, at first, was Izzy. Something had changed in her after seeing Owen dying. There was new hardness to her face that the crazy girl had never displayed before.
Gwen sat in the corner of the lounge, keeping her distance from the others. She wasn't in the mood to talk with any of them—or hear their despair.
At this point, no one was fully convinced that they were going to get off the ship alive. The relentless attacks from Fang were enough to squash all hope from them. The shark itself had yet to make another appearance after eating Owen, leading Heather to suggest that, for once, it was actually full. This had earned her a dark glare from Izzy, which was enough to even shut her up.
Being honest with herself, Gwen also knew that escape was probably not going to happen. Even if Sheriff Sanders got rescue boats to them, Fang had clearly proven that he was strong enough to tear through them. There was no escape.
And once everyone else fully realized this, she knew that there was a chance they'd turn on each other. Already, she could see Heather and Alejandro off in another corner, talking in hushed voices and constantly glancing back at the rest of the survivors. No doubt they were planning on abandoning everyone else to die at the first opportunity.
"Hey." Gwen startled as Duncan sat down next to her.
"Hey," she responded, unconsciously brushing her hair back. "What do you want, Duncan?"
"I brought you something." Duncan moved his hands behind his back, revealing two bottles of beer.
"Where the hell did you get these?" Gwen asked, astonished.
"Snuck down to the galley."
"You shouldn't have done that. Chef said—"
"Relax. If you keep worrying about rules and things like that, you'll wind up just like Princess over there." He nodded in Courtney's direction at that.
"But—we're still not old enough to drink."
Duncan shrugged. "It's our last night alive. Might as well have a drink before we die." He took his knife out and used it to pry open the bottle caps before handing one of the bottles to Gwen. She hesitated as Duncan took a swig from his bottle before giving in and taking a tentative sip.
She instantly spit it out in disgust. "This is terrible!" she complained, handing the bottle back to Duncan.
He shrugged again. "Suit yourself." He put both bottles off to the side and pulled out a lighter, flicking it open and lighting it.
"Isn't that Chef's?" Gwen asked.
"Yeah. So?"
"You really want to steal from the one guy that's been keeping us alive all this time?" she asked with a daring smirk. He returned the smile, absent mindedly flicking the lighter closed and open again.
"You really are a pyro, aren't you?" Gwen noted.
"So? I like burning stuff," Duncan responded.
"Is that what you went to juvie for?"
Duncan scoffed. "Like I'd tell you what I went to juvie for."
"All right, no need to bite my head off about it."
The two were quiet for a moment before Duncan let out a sigh. "Fine. I'll tell you. But if you tell anyone, I'll make you regret it for the rest of your life."
"Lucky for me, that life's probably going to end tomorrow," Gwen responded.
"Yeah, whatever." Duncan closed the lighter and stuffed it back into his pocket. "Look, I was part of a gang on the mainland, okay? We'd break some stuff, rob some gas stations, that sort of thing. It was just a bit of destructive fun."
"Really? You call that fun?"
"Look, everyone in my family is a cop, and I just didn't feel like ending up as a goody two shoes like one of them. I'm my own man."
Gwen just nodded her head. "How'd you get caught?"
Duncan took his knife out and twirled it slightly. "Robbery gone wrong. Shop owner had a gun. So did our gang leader. He fired first."
"And the cops came then to arrest you and your gang?"
"Nah." Duncan took a deep breath. "The rest of the gang got away. I stayed behind to save the shop owner."
Gwen raised an impressed eyebrow. "Well, well, well. Looks like bad boy Duncan has a heart."
He winced. "Yeah, yeah, just don't spread that around, okay?"
Gwen managed a slight chuckle. "Deal. So, did you turn in your fellow gang members."
"Of course not," he snorted. "I'm no snitch."
"Right. Of course not."
"Well, you know all about me now," Duncan remarked after a moment. "Do I get to learn about you?"
Gwen offered a knowing smirk. "Maybe." She didn't know why, but she felt really at ease with the delinquent. It reminded her a lot of her hanging out with Trent. Just the two of them.
"Excuse the interruption." Gwen startled, looking up as Trent joined them, looking annoyed. "But could I borrow Gwen for a minute?" He glared at Duncan as he spoke.
Gwen moved to get up, but Duncan beat her to it. "You got something to say? You can say it to my face." He stood up and planted himself directly in front of Trent.
"Guys—" Gwen tried to say.
"Fine. I will," Trent broke in. "I think you're becoming a bad influence on my friend, and I want you to stay away from her."
"Who made you her protector, dude?" Duncan challenged. "She's allowed to hang out with whoever she wants."
"She should know better than to hang out with a punk like you."
"Hey, I've done more to keep her safe than you," Duncan shot back. "If you're such a good friend, where were you when the shark came after her back on the island? Who helped you all escape the shark back at the Drama facility?"
"Duncan—" Gwen tried to interrupt again.
"I've kept her out of trouble throughout this entire ordeal," Duncan went on. "And where were you? What have you done to—"
Trent swung a fist, smashing it against Duncan's jaw. The delinquent stumbled back in shock, holding his jaw. He let out a soft chuckle. "Didn't think you had it in you," he commented.
"Step away from Gwen," Trent warned. As he spoke, the others seemed to notice what was going on, beginning to gather around the three of them.
Duncan cracked his neck muscles. "All right, pretty boy. Let's go." He put his fists up and moved in to strike at Trent, punching him in the stomach. He buckled in pain, sinking to his knees and gasping for breath.
"Stop it!" Gwen yelled, getting between the two as Duncan moved to strike again. "This isn't helping anything!" As she spoke, DJ, Geoff, and Eva moved to hold the boys back from each other.
"What the hell is going on down here!" Everyone froze as Chef marched down the stairs. "I can hear you're fighting clear up on the top deck!"
No one spoke as the big man surveyed the scene. "We can't fight with each other, you damn idiots," he growled. "Save your energy for surviving until the next day. Because I guarantee that shark won't care about your petty squabbles, arguing about who's the better friend."
Chef glared at both Trent and Duncan, who were still glaring at each other. "Now get some sleep, all of you!" he barked, turning back around and marching up the stairs. "You're going to need it to survive what's coming."
The stunned silence of everyone was broken by the slow clapping of Mayor McLean, who was tied up to the side of the room. "Such drama," he commented. "You all should be on reality TV. The ratings would be crazy."
"Can it, McLean!" Duncan snapped, pushing past Trent and marching away.
"Duncan, wait!" Gwen started to follow him, but Trent held her back.
"Let him go, Gwen," he told her.
She shot daggers at him. "What's with you, Trent?"
"What's with me?" He looked distressed. "First you sneak out with him, now you're—you're drinking with him?! He's a bad influence, Gwen. He's no good."
"You're just jealous," Gwen snapped, getting annoyed. "Duncan's a really nice guy once you get to know him."
Trent snorted. "All that delinquent's good for is getting into trouble and causing even more problems."
"Trent—" But Trent was already storming off.
"Ooo, looks like Weird Goth Girl's having some boy troubles," Heather mocked.
"Shut it, Heather," Gwen growled, turning around and sulking back to her corner.
Despite her current anger at both Duncan and Trent for almost getting into a full-on brawl, she knew that Chef was right. She needed to sleep. Because one way or another, the nightmare was going to end tomorrow.
Alive: Alejandro, Bridgette, Chef Hatchet, Chris McLean, Cody, Courtney, DJ, Duncan, Eva, Fang, Geoff, Gwen, Harold, Heather, Izzy, Leshawna, Noah, Sierra, Trent
Dead: Katie, Sadie, Blaineley, Beth, Tyler, Lindsay, Justin, Owen
A sort of cooldown chapter placed to get a little bit of drama going. Because more people will be dying very soon. This is pretty much your last chance to get your votes in on who will survive this story. Because with only a few chapters left, there'll be multiple deaths happening at once. Including some very surprising deaths I don't think very many will see coming.
As for this chapter, I found a good opportunity to sneak in another bit from TDI with Duncan's conversation with Gwen. As for Duncan's backstory, well, I made that one up as I couldn't find anything really on why Duncan was in juvie in the original series. So I created a backstory that shows his bad boy side as well as his good side.
But anywho, that's all from me. Make sure you hit that favorite/follow button if you want to stay informed on future 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 Batman is Batman. Ciao!