Salutations! And welcome to the Chapter Five and second part of the second challenge. It took a while to write this but here it is. Bigger scale deviation from canon ahead in this one. Look out for it.

Hopefully you'll enjoy reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Sleepless Days, Part 2

First hour of the Awake-A-Thon came and went.

None of the campers failed straight away to stay awake but it was not an easy accomplishment to reach. Symptoms of food coma bothered the majority, and it was just like Chris had said that summer afternoon's tender heat was inevitable phenomenon. Napping became more and more tempting thought but somehow every single one of them managed to resist the temptation.

Hour was spent in silence as everyone was getting into the mindset that they had to stay awake, no matter the cost.

Screaming Gophers: 12

Killer Bass: 11

Second hour was also struggle but not nearly as bad as the first had been. When the third hour rolled around food coma started to be all gone but general tiredness due to long run and big meal remained. When fourth hour came closer, it was time to engage in some sort of action so they would not succumb to the simple monotony of the task.

"Hey, Bridgette, can I braid your hair? I need something to do and occupy my hands", Mackenzie approached surfer with an offer.

"Yeah? Why not. Be my guest", Bridgette answered. She released her ponytail and let her blond hair fall free.

Mackenzie sat down to the stump behind the stump on which Bridgette was sitting. She started to comb surfer's hair gently in order to organize it and get knowing what sort of material she was working with.

"So healthy! And nice volume! I have to know if you use any conditioner. And if so, what product", Mackenzie appraised Bridgette's hair.

"Or maybe it's like how one of my former instructors kept saying that fresh air and salt water are the best what you can give to your hair", Bridgette noted and grinned.

"Nonsense! I have an uncle who's a fisher at west coast and no amount of seawater saved him going bald", Mackenzie claimed.

"You sure? He just wasn't bald already before he took that occupation?" Bridgette jested and leaned little bit more backwards so Mackenzie did not need to reach too much.

"Definitely not. He took off for one crab season with hair intact and next time I saw him his hairline had climbed to high heaven", Mackenzie told and gave a laugh.

Bridgette laughed as well. It lightened the mood and made it easier to stay awake when they engaged in lighthearted conversation.

"So…" Bridgette scanned fellow campers feeling need for little teasing. "Of those present, who'd you think goes bald first?"

"Probably Chris", Mackenzie did not hesitate with her answer. "I wouldn't be surprised if he's already using toupee. That controlled windblown look can't come any way naturally."

"HEY! Any more those kinds of comments and I disqualify both of you for bad sportsmanship!" offended Chris shouted from recliner where he had retreated to observe the competition. It did nothing to stifle laughs from Killer Bass camp at host's expense.

Host stood up and frowned.

"You know what. Just for that, I'm going to give something nice for Gophers and leave you Bass out. Chef! Get Gophers some sodas and ice creams! Let them have a treat!"

"Do I look like a delivery boy to you?" Chef stated angrily, not liking the idea that Chris was using him to run errands like intern.

"No. But you do look like a guy who would take that as an opportunity to have a simultaneous break from duty. We still have 'bout six hours ahead of us on schedule."

Chef stayed quiet. He really wanted to find something to say but for once McLean made an excellent argument for his case.

"You win this round, McLean", he muttered when he stood up and took towards main lodge.

Screaming Gophers looked in a daze what was happening. Their minds had been way too absent from the situation to understand why Killer Bass was stifling their laughs and why Chef who had been eyeing them suddenly left to fetch goodies for them.

"Okay. That was a good one", Bridgette handed it to Mackenzie. "But I was actually talking about other campers. Not our host."

"Well… in that case it's probably gonna be Duncan. Maybe his mohawk is to avert the attention from already going hair", Mackenzie said and gave Duncan wicked smile.

"Jesus Christ", Duncan muttered angrily. He stood up and went for a walk around the perimeter of campfire ground just to get distance from Mackenzie and Bridgette.

"YOU KNOW WE'RE JUST JOKING, RIGHT?" Mackenzie shouted to him so he could hear it.

Duncan did not bother to answer. Instead he flipped the bird and kept pacing around the perimeter. Mackenzie definitely had a certain knack for wittiness, that much Duncan had to silently praise her. But he was determined he did not earn to be at the receiving end mockery so many times that day. First that guy from Gophers had tried to be funny during the run and now girls from his own team mocked his hair and for what. For cheap laugh?

He kept pacing around campfire ground not only to calm himself down so he did not lash out and said something totally ignorant but also to keep himself occupied so he did not fall asleep. Even though he had played it smart during the run and meal being careful not to deplete all his energy, he could still feel that creeping weariness already approaching him. Monotony of task was not good so he needed some sort of incentive. Girls had caused Gophers to receive some sugar so that would at least temporarily boost their state of alertness. Without good cola drink in sight, he needed to find something to do.

He checked side-eye Mackenzie who was making good progress braiding Bridgette's hair. Girls already had figured out something to do, and he needed something other than walking to do as well.

His eyes happened to gaze over firepit and an idea came to him.

"Hey, McLean!" Duncan shouted as he changed his path towards host who had backed back to his recliner. "Happen to have an ax anywhere?"

Chris who was filing his fingernails stopped what he was doing and took a look at Duncan.

"Yeeesss… What for? As bad as their comments were, those hardly call for such drastic measures…", Chris' voice was both interested and slightly concerned at the same time.

"How little of me you think, man? No. To prove not everyone in my team is an a-hole, give me an ax and firewood. I'll chop the wood needed for the night."

That was a surprise.

Chris raised his eyebrows high and stared Duncan for a second.

"I mean… It was going to be delivered ready to be burned but… if you insist, I think we can provide the equipment earlier if you really wanna be the good guy."

"You think I'm doing this out goodness of my heart? How little of me you think?" Duncan dared Chris to answer. Why even the host had to assume something of him which made him look like he was weak somehow. It should have been obvious he was being witty and just tried to find something to do.

"No, no. It's cool. Let me make a call", Chris assured and took phone out of his pocket.

"Actually. Bring more axes. I think some of my teammates could have use for some quality after-exercise."

"Digging your grave. I like it", Chris smiled and gave finger gun while dialing the right number. From his perspective Duncan was just getting more of his energy wasted which in turn would just hasten the inevitable sleep.

Duncan returned to his team. He slammed his hand hard on the back of Geoff whose eyes were dangerously close to fall totally shut.

"Yo! Geoffy Boy! Ready to swing some ax?"

Geoff woke and got startled. He fell from his seat and facepalmed on ground.

"What? What? No! I swear I was not sleeping!"

"No one doubts that. I said: are you ready to swing some ax. We're gonna take care that fire is not going to run out of fuel tonight."

"Oh… alright. Man. Alright. I swear I was not sleeping."

Confessional: Bridgette

"Were we too rude to Duncan? I mean, in retrospect I feel bad about making fun of any of my teammates when all of us just try their best to stay awake. But… it was nice to see it might have light fire within him. It was considerate idea to chop firewood."

Confessional: Duncan

"Okay. Before any of you get ahead of yourself with speculation, I did NOT do that because I'm nice. I needed something to do. And Geoff was almost gone so I forced him to stay awake. We need every man awake if we want to have a chance winning this challenge."

True to his word, Chris had firewood and axes delivered to the campfire ground within half an hour. Meanwhile Chef really took his dismissal fetching snacks for Screaming Gophers as a chance for break since he was not yet back when fire building equipment arrived.

As an idea to force even more campers to deplete their remaining strength, Chris had more than two axes been brought. To entice Screaming Gophers to take bait, he made a promise that whoever could deliver more firewood by the time fire was to be lit would earn fresh, extra soft bedsheets for their team. That way once the challenge was over, better lumberjacks could have even better sleeping conditions to recuperate.

"Ha! Those sheets are basically as good as ours! Look at this, pocket mammals! Imagine every swing represents one of your head on chopping block once we start dominating this game!" Duncan somewhat faked his enthusiasm and dared any Gopher to challenge him. He swung the ax and split the first piece of firewood to demonstrate his metaphor.

"Talkin' smack already? You better be able to back up that claim, punk boy-o!" Leshawna could not stand delinquent's taunt and took hold of extra ax even though she had not chop wood ever previously. Since Duncan had enlisted Geoff to be second ax wielder for Bass, Jeremy took the cross and volunteered as the second person from Gophers to go at firewood.

It became quickly apparent that neither Leshawna nor Geoff were really proficient with the tool. Both of them picked hints about technique from Duncan and Jeremy but could never in actuality seriously challenge them as the quickest woodsplitter.

"Dude. Calm down maybe. You wear yourself totally off", Cody tried to warn Jeremy when one of swings split piece of wood in three pieces and sent one of those flying several meters aside.

"I know I probably won't be able… to be last man standing by long shot. So this is the least I can do… Making sure none of us goes cold during night", Jeremy answered without stopping to take breather. He already placed the next wood piece to get split.

Confessional: Jeremy

"Guys told yesterday that I apparently slept through quite a ruckus during the first night. Yeah, I'm rather heavy sleeper. But in addition my inner clock is rather strict. Even though I was careful during the first part, I did not expect this kind of challenge. I might be able to survive the first night but second night… No chance! It is weird but my body just shuts down. So at least with chopping wood I can make myself useful."

Confessional: Noah

"Have to admit that I don't exactly fully understand his reasoning wanting to offer help constantly. But if it tells something, it is that he wants to please others. It could be an interesting theme to probe into."

Confessional: DJ

"Duncan's a decent guy but oh boy he looked pissed at that Gopher guy who actually challenged him."

Chef finally returned with the snacks meant for Gophers. They drank sodas and ate ice cream cones like they already were their last lifeline. That eased the tiredness but only for couple of hours.

They were about to hit the point where that first period of need for sleep had passed meaning they were still weary but not at crucial tipping point falling to sleep. Nevertheless, everyone took different approaches in order to make sure that falling asleep would not happen by any accident.

Duncan had no intention whatsoever to stop chopping wood before Jeremy stopped. That moment came after about hour and half, when Jeremy decided to go for a soda which Noah had put aside for him. For a good measure, Duncan made few more pieces of firewood before he halted.

Eva, not wanting to miss her daily workout routine, started jogging around perimeter and did some push-ups and sit-ups as well. Cody and Noah played improvised checkers with some blackish and pale stones on grid drawn to ground. Mackenzie had managed to persuade Courtney to allow her to do some braids on her hair as well. Harold out of boredom completely cleaned the firepit. There was some small talk happening periodically but everything used to peter out after short whiles. DJ and Trent took turn doing little bit more firewood. Piles were getting bigger than anyone could hope spending in one night.

Chris commented something witty about if campers were planning to stay awake whole week considering the amount of firewood created. No one felt it was necessary to humor host with an answer.

Once the clock hit seven in the evening, host took a look at his watch and smiled.

"We are now twelve hours in with all twenty-three campers still wide awake", he gave informative narration to one camera. "Hear that, campers? You officially have twelve hours behind staying up. How are you feeling?"

"Woohoo! Stay awake for twelve hours? I could do that in my sleep!" Owen reacted shouting. He had been doing silly little hype dances the past five minutes or so but stopped then to air his confidence and made victory pose. "Woohoo!"

What followed was one of those awkward moments when someone says something and it gets followed up by total silence out of pure coincidence with nothing to do with what was actually said but making everyone still focus their attention to the person who spoke last. All eyes turned to look Owen who looked like he got frozen in time in his victory pose.

Few seconds passed. Few of them had time to wonder if Owen had stroke or something because he stood firm and unmoved like centuries-old statue. Few more seconds passed until big guy started to lean backwards. Balance tipped over and he fell to the ground without any attempts to stop or soften the hit.

One cameraman rushed over and took a closer look on Owen's face. He then raised his gaze to Chris. He put his right palm on his left cheek and tilted his head, implicating Owen had taken dive into dreamland in a most bizarre way.

Screaming Gophers: 11

Killer Bass: 11

Confessional: Gwen

"The Awake-A-Thon was definitely the most brutal thing I've ever done in my life."

Gwen gave a long sigh and rubbed her eyes.

"This is the most boring thing I've ever done in my life", she mumbled and stretched her back to sharpen her senses.

"Could be worse", told yawning Trent who just had finished chopping wood and sat down on empty stump next to Gwen's.

"Oh yeah? How?" she mustered strength to ask.

"I could be stuck here without you to talk to", he told smiling wearily. "So, how are you doing?"

She really had to work hiding her shy smile. There was something super sweet in Trent's comment and current demeanor which really pulled her heartstrings.

About half an hour passed from Owen's elimination. DJ with Courtney's help started to build up the fire while others partook some picnic snacks, ham and pesto sandwiches. Until then they really had not had appetite after early afternoon's feast but little by little the feeling of need for sustenance started to creep back into their stomachs.

After Harold had eaten two ham sandwiches, he approached Chris with a question.

"I would like to request a permission to visit our sleeping quarters", he said. Toilet passes had been given freely up until that point but they had not been allowed to visit any other place but confessional. Hence, he felt he had to ask permission for exception straight from host so he did not break any rules.

"What for?"

"I did not expect challenge to be of such length so I did not have foresight to prepare my red ant farm for absence this long. I'd like to feed them and check they can manage on their own during my prolonged absence."

"Dude. You brought your pets with you to the contest? Red ants?" Chris had to question Harold.

"Yes?" boy did not understand what could have been problematic with that.

"Well… I guess we can grant your wish. But not without a buddy coming along."

"I can go with him", said voice just behind Harold immediately.

Harold turned to look over his shoulder while Chris watched over it.

Speaker was Justin who had one hand on hip in casual manner and other wiped corner of his mouth clean from breadcrumbs.

"Yeah? And what might you want to do there?" Chris had thought sending one cameraman with Harold but another camper could suffice and save hassle from supervisors.

"Today's sun absolutely scorched my skin. I'd like to pick my skin lotion. To tend my million-dollar look."

"Well, we definitely chose you for your looks so it must be protected. Very well, go. You have fifteen minutes max."

Justin smiled sheepishly. "I actually might have to use bathroom at the same go."

"Okay then. But both of you revoke one toilet pass with this. Let's not let others feel like you're getting any special treatments."

"You're too kind, Chris. We'd do good taking some notes from you", Justin thanked and flashed his patent smile.

"I know. Glad to see someone gets it", Chris happily received any flattery without questioning it.

"Shall we go then?" Justin asked, putting hand on Harold's shoulder.

Any girl would have experienced weak knees getting touched by Justin on shoulder. Harold however was completely indifferent, if not little weirded out by gesture. Nonetheless, they took off to complete their businesses.

Confessional: Heather

"So, my strategy is to form an alliance and take that clique to the final campers standing. The only question really is who I can find that is either desperate or dumb enough to do whatever I say."

She had been eyeing her teammates and been thinking. Without anything particularly inspiring to do during Awake-A-Thon, she had all the time to dwell in her thoughts.

To raise the odds in her favor and get to the very end of the show, she needed a network of allies to ensure it. She had weighed her options already the day before but now without anything else in hours to do, she could give her approach plan final touches. That forced thinking despite of tiredness also kept her mind in game and awake.

To make sure she was in lead of the alliance and calling dibs on whatever should happen, her confidants needed to be sufficiently weak-willed people. Then again, she also could not just ignore the fact how there might have been other players trying to establish their own influence in game. It was unlikely, she thought, as her team was full of weirdos who only seemed to care about fact that they were in television show in the first place. But to be sure, she probably needed a plan for the possible contingency someone else actually figured out that playing smart was the way to get closer winning money.

Utter lack of outward stimulus finally turned out to be too much for her and she let her eyes shut for a moment despite of thinking process she was dealing with.

"What are you doing?"

She had a blink of consciousness shining through her mind just the right moment so she was able to hear someone uttering that sentence.

She got startled and thought someone had spoken directly to her. That surprise was enough to get her wide awake and look for the person who addressed her, ready to defend her case she did not just fell asleep.

Quickly she realized she was not accused of sleeping. Instead, the one who had talked had asked the question from Lindsay who was balancing on her hands and head.

"Trying to get the blood to rush to my head. I think it's working", Lindsay stated. It was impressive she could balance like that at all but she was wobbling profusely.

"Can I try?" asked Beth who had squatted down next to Lindsay to observe the display of acrobatic act.

"Sure. Then we can talk normally eye to eye and everything else looks weird 'cause it's upside down."

Lindsay experienced sudden burst of giggles and she fell off balance. It was not clear if it was simply due to Lindsay acting like dumb blonde or if first signs of sleep deprivation started to show up and cause mood swings. Either way, she collected herself quickly so she could try again and help also Beth reaching upside down stand.

"Perfect", Heather muttered to herself as she witnessed the sight. She was convinced she had judged right and found her useful fools.

Lindsay had been sticking around her during meals and few other times, indicating she already might have taken liking to her. And the blond certainly appeared impressionable.

Beth was more of a mystery to her but judging by that girl's interactions which she had witnessed, it definitely looked like that the girl could be labeled being suggestible like Lindsay. And those two girls looked like they got along together which meant that suggesting an alliance to Lindsay would potentially reel in Beth as well. And that would alienate shortie from Justin.

It was no secret among campers that girls gazed Justin's way more than normal for it to be just casual. And Beth definitely belonged to those who were more prominently yearning for handsome guy's time and attention. Taking Beth under her command would sever the tie which Justin might have been thinking establishing. Even Heather had to admit Justin had that something which also tickled her fancy but her weapon would be the understanding that that guy could not be left unchecked, going around infatuating other girls to form bonds with him.

Lindsay was doing great briefing Beth how to do handstand even though it took couple stumbles and errors before the latter was able to do it any prolonged period of time.

As much as Heather would have wanted to interrupt them and took them aside to talk with them, she knew she had to play it smarter. It would have been too conspicuous to request briefing right then and there even if other campers senses were tampered by weariness. She could not just form an alliance with those two girls in the middle of challenge and expect it to go unnoticed by others. She had to bide her time.

To avoid other slip-up from her part, she decided to stretch her legs and go for a walk around the perimeter of campfire ground.

Evening was quickly cooling. Wind had picked up and since they were surrounded by water, cold breeze was flowing over the island from all directions. It was not nice sensation getting goosebumps and shivers all over skin but it definitely did its part waking her up.

"Oh, what I wouldn't give for that fire being already lit and licking the high sky. So cold."

Heather had a scare when she heard someone talking right next to her. She looked to her left and saw Noah walking beside her.

She had been going slowly so Noah who obviously had had quicker pace in his stride had caught up with her. She had been too focused on her misery to take notice of company and in fact Noah had been already a step before her the moment he opened his mouth.

"What's your problem? Scaring me like that?" she lashed out but did not raise her voice. It was not an altercation which deserved too much energy from her.

"Sorry. Thought you had already noticed me", Noah apologized and rubbed his arms to warm them.

Heather glanced quickly around to assess the environment. Eva, the cowboy-hatted guy and neighbor girl from Killer Bass were doing same walking exercise as them but they were scattered around the perimeter. Brickhouse and C.I.T. were making the fire. Her team and rest of Bass were slouching around except Lindsay and Beth who were doing that handstand thing. Owen was still in deep sleep in the middle of everything, and Harold and Justin had yet to return from their toilet break. Even Jeremy who had been in constant move during the day had finally sat down and was the final camper to slowly eat his evening sandwiches.

It was as perfect as it could get. A golden opportunity to have a little chat with the boy walking beside her. Nobody would be capable of tuning in what they were conversing.

Even though the idea pained her, she knew that in long game having an extra ally could benefit her. That would hold especially true in early game since having more votes on her disposal would make it easier to get rid of bigger threats. And Noah fell into the category of those players who might turn out to be problematic if left unchecked which made him her enemy. But where Noah differentiated from Justin was that since this guy did not have mentionable looks to back him up, all that was left was his wits. She could see how he already had laid groundwork on friendship with Owen. Furthermore, his selling point was that he was a boy, making it possible for him to pursue allies within Gopher boys who might have been unreachable for herself.

Noah might have been smart guy which in a sense was bad news for her. But as she had been thinking it, he was the enemy she could have wanted to keep close for a longer while.

The thing which pained her was that she knew she probably could not put reins on Noah. Instead she had to work as equals with him if she pursued an alliance with him.

She forced herself to believe in benefits so she could open her mouth. Twelve players in team and eleven in other was long way to go without playing it smart from the beginning.

"Tell me. Why is it that you keep bumping into me?", she asked in lowered voice and picked up her own pace just enough so she walked right next to Noah.

"Pardon? You accuse me of something?" he questioned the question.

"Don't act dumb. You could be hanging with boys from our team or, who knows, maybe even from Bass. Instead you're here chatting it up with me. And you keep showing up on my section on table when we eat."

"Maybe you're just flattering yourself. Assuming I find you most attractive just because I'm the guy who bothers to talk to you more than two words", Noah dropped snarky remark.

"F*** you!" Heather cussed. She already regretted she had opened her mouth and was about to pick up her pace so she could leave Noah behind.

"Sheesh! Okay, touchy topic. Sorry", Noah apologized before Heather could leave. "I just don't have any specific preferences with whom I associate with. I'm past that boys versus girls -phase from childhood. But… since you decided to talk to a guy like me… I assume you have something on your mind."

Noah did not specify what he exactly meant when he said "guy like him", but it did not concern Heather at that moment.

"Actually, yes", Heather said and took a second to take a breath and compose her thoughts. It was the moment when she needed to make the judgment call and took the dive. " I have a plan to get myself and someone else to the final and I was thinking about you."

"Really?"

"Are you this dense on purpose?"

"No!" Noah denied adamantly. It was his turn to sound hostile. "Let's be honest. Popular girl comes to nobody like me, acts all antagonistic, and then suggest an alliance. I'd say my question is very justified. That 'really' is to get your reasoning."

"Fair. Okay, I can see you're planning to go finale. I wanna be in finale. It'd be mutually beneficial for us to join forces and make sure enemies get dropped around us."

"Okay…", Noah said and gazed around them to make sure nobody was focusing too much on them. DJ and Courtney had got the fire going so people were swarming around it to warm up. Only one cameraman with his camera seemed to follow their walk.

"So, me having control on girls' votes and you manipulating boys' votes, we can have our preferred enemy walking the dock if our team loses challenges", Heather whispered.

"You already have those allies aligned who'll vote with us?" Noah wanted more details.

"Not yet but I know who I want to have with us."

Noah stayed quiet for a second before he answered. "Having to guess... I'd say Lindsay at least."

"Yes. And Beth would make it three votes from the girls."

"Right. So you'd like me to gain two allies from boys so all combined we'd have six votes to dominate the early game."

"You're finally showing your smart side. Took long enough."

"Never said I wouldn't be smart. People just act like they don't expect much of me."

"You need to get hold of that smart-ass tongue of yours or you'll be the one going home. Are you in?"

Noah took another moment of silence to ponder the offer.

"Okay. Let's do it. You take in Lindsay and Beth and I'll sniff out my options with guys."

"Good. It's settled then. We two go to the final."

"Let's not shake hands for that so others don't notice this."

"Hah! In that state of theirs? Please. It's a miracle no one except Owen has fallen so far."

Confessional: Heather

"I don't trust him! Let's be clear with that. I'm sure this is what he wanted from the beginning but this way I make sure I control the majority when we are still in teams. And getting to know his chosen allies I'll know who to not trust as we move closer to endgame."

Confessional: Noah

"I don't trust her. BS stinks so much you can smell it all the way in Vancouver. She most likely will make the same promises to Lindsay and Beth as she made with me. But she's a useful idiot till the point when some number of remaining campers is merged together. Let her get on more people's nerves. It's more eyes off me."

To establish more precise timetable on supervision duty, staff had agreed to make change of shift happen exactly at ten in the evening. And new gang would be back exactly ten hours later.

As agreed, Chris, Chef and two cameramen left the campfire ground at ten when new supervisors appeared. Two interns and two different cameramen released them from duty.

Chef did not come with Chris and cameramen to staff's lodgings as he needed to go main lodge and make sure breakfast was delivery-ready to be served at dawn. Therefore it was only Chris and cameramen on ATV's when they drove towards their rest place.

Time of twilight yet prevailed making it easier to see where to go. None of them were in rush so they drove slowly with only low beams on.

Something had bothered Chris all day and he had wanted to ask about it but not when campers were around. Now when he did not have judgmental youngsters prying into his conversations, he had the chance to address his concern.

He drove right next to other cameraman's ATV and raised his voice just enough so it could be heard over engines' rumble.

"Hey, Liam. Quick question!"

When Liam, the cameraman, momentarily turned his head to Chris, making known he had heard host, Chris was able to continue.

"Does it really look like I'm using toupee?"

"What do you mean, sir?" Liam was not too eager to talk while driving. Despite their low speed and relatively good visibility, he would have wanted to focus solely on path ahead since he already almost had driven his ATV in a ditch.

"You heard what Mackenzie said. She accused me of using additional hair products. Is it really my hair or is makeup department doing that poor of a job?"

"Sir, I honestly think she was just provoking you. None of them were happy about the challenge so she took her opportunity to get back at you."

"You sure?"

The idea had come to Chris as well but he was too self-aware of his looks to take it at self-value.

"Sir, I'm pretty confident I know my stuff about hair. Have you had a look on mine?" Liam stated. It was true he could claim knowing something about hair as his own hairline was already quickly rising towards his crown despite of him being only in his mid-twenties.

"I guess you might be right", Chris admitted. He was relieved but not fully convinced. He would have a serious talk with makeup department before he would hit the bed.

Campers got settled down for the night. Majority of them took places on stumps around the firepit to stay warm. Justin had taken a stand little away from them and was gazing towards and over the lake. Courtney was stepping in place just to remain active. Jeremy had retreated further away and was sitting on the ground, also watching over the lake like Justin.

The boy who had singled himself out so much from the group was noteworthy of attention. One intern who was on night supervision walked closer to check everything was okay. Before he could reach Jeremy, however, the boy took off his hoodie and t-shirt, folded them and put them next to him.

"What are you doing?" intern wanted to know.

Jeremy was getting into cross-legged position when he was spoken to. He did not stop but looked over his shoulder who was talking to him.

"Oh, just making sure I stay awake."

Intern raised his eyebrow as he did not understand.

"You see, if I allow myself any slack, I'll be fast asleep. But if I'm here away from fire and take off my shirt, the cold won't let me do it. So punishing myself like this I can make it through at least one night."

"You sure? Won't you catch a cold?"

"We'll see. I can't be the second one to fall asleep."

"Okay. But if you start feeling any sick, put the shirt on and come to fire."

"Sure. No worries."

Even though Jeremy assured there was nothing to worry about, intern was not convinced. As he walked back, he tapped one cameraman's shoulder to get his attention.

"Make sure you get some footage of that daredevil sitting in there. But be also on look-out for him with me. I don't wanna get shouted at if he catches some bug and falls ill."

"Roger that", cameraman confirmed and moved to take some footage of Jeremy executing act of asceticism.

Couple of more hours passed without anything interesting happening.

Courtney had found her flow stepping in place while Justin also kept standing in place. Gwen and Trent were conversing in lowered voices, and Jeremy finally decided enough was enough and went to warm up next to the fire when clock was ticking close to one in the morning.

When supervisors made the countdown of campers remaining at eighteen-hour mark, it turned out that sleep had gotten best of Bridgette and Leshawna, dropping numbers of remaining contestants first time since Owen's fall at twelve-hour mark.

Screaming Gophers: 10

Killer Bass: 10

Confessional: Courtney

"I figured that if I kept moving, I could outlast all of them. Night came and everyone else pretty much stopped bothering. I just had to keep my eye on the ball."

"Okay, favorite song?" Gwen asked.

"She Would Be Loved", Trent did not hesitate with his answer. "Favorite color?"

"Um… midnight blue."

They had been doing silly ask-me-anything activity for a long while but interestingly enough only by now they seemed to reach simpler questions like what their horoscope or favorite animal was.

"Ooh, mysterious. I like that", Trent could definitely see Gwen as a gal who liked midnight blue. "Aw, don't fall asleep. Quick! Favorite movie moment!" he persuaded Gwen to answer a new question when girl yawned and her eyes were about to stay close longer than was safe.

"You're gonna think it's cheesy", Gwen knew her answer but had second thoughts about sharing it.

"I promise I won't", Trent assured smiling and put his hand over heart to demonstrate his sincerity.

"Okay...", she took a deep breath before revealing the answer. It embarrassed her little bit to admit. "The kiss at the end of that road trip movie. You know the one with the guy and three girls?"

"I know the one", Trent admitted and gave small smile because that answer honestly caught him off-guard. "You like that movie? It's definitely a good one."

Before Gwen could answer, someone walked past them. It was so out of left field and absurd sight that they were not sure if they were actually hallucinating or not. They froze for a second before shifting their eyes to look how naked Owen had stood up and was walking towards the woods. They shifted their eyes to the place where big guy had been sleeping the past six or so hours. There laid in a mess every single piece of clothing which Owen had had on.

"Did… Owen just walked away in his birthday suit?" Trent muttered.

Confessional: Owen

"Did I mention that I ate the entire dish of baked beans and maple syrup? Funny thing about baked beans…", Owen tapped the tips of his index fingers together guiltily. "They make me sleepwalk."

Izzy and DJ were other two campers who fell victim to sleep during the course of night.

Nobody really even noticed when Izzy took the dive to dreamland. DJ on the other hand arranged a little show. Only the mind suffering from sleep deprivation could come up with the idea he came up with. He managed to get rope from somewhere and decided to tie up himself from waist to a nearby tree so he would stay constantly in upright position. It did not, however, stop him from falling asleep. Really soon after that, the knot came undone as he had not tied it tightly enough. When his body slouched, his weight was enough to break the knot. Great thump was heard which was followed by greater thump soon after when the young tree itself fell over.

Screaming Gophers: 9

Killer Bass: 9

Interns made preliminary medical check-up on DJ but came to conclusion he was fine as the tree had not fell on him. Only scraped some skin with branches.

When interns checked DJ's well-being, cameramen checked the condition of other contestants. Much to their horror they only counted twenty-two present. Some of them, yes, were asleep and not in challenge anymore but there should have been twenty-three in total.

"Hey. Where's that Owen guy?"

"Did he wake up? Went to the toilet?"

"No way. No one has asked toilet pass in a while."

"Hey, Byron! That Owen was your responsibility, right? Where is he?"

One intern, Byron, did not understand the question and he lifted his eyes from DJ.

"What'cha mean, where is he?"

"Well, he's definitely not here. Did he go to the toilet?"

"Not that I'm aware of."

"Well, you're in big trouble then. He's not here."

Poor Byron could not possibly have been the sole guilty party on Owen's disappearance as that was the main point of several supervisors that at least someone should have seen what happened.

But when campers had gathered around the campfire to brace against the night and there was nothing interesting taking place during the wee hours of night, supervisors themselves had gotten sloppy with their work and started napping in places and playing cards on side. Only DJ's loud accident had made them watch campers again.

"Oh shit…"

Byron ran to the spot where Owen had laid and saw only some clothes getting dirty on ground.

Sudden ruckus on supervisors' part alerted few campers' attention. Gophers had not minded about DJ's blunder and were about to fall back into the state of conscious coma but Byron and one cameraman running around them looking for Owen made them come into senses once again.

"You're looking for Owen, right?" Trent was the one to ask about the problem.

"Right! You know where he went?"

"We saw him walking into the woods maybe half an hour ago. Or I don't know. I don't really know what time it is anymore."

"And you didn't mention about it?" Byron cried out as he rushed to the tree line.

"No? Isn't that like your guys job to look after us?"

Trent was right about that that interns and cameramen should have been looking after campers. But now they had let one camper get lost in woods naked and during nighttime on top of that.

"McLean is going to scalp me when he hears about this", Byron muttered panicking and groped his hair with both hands.

"He's not going to find out. Call to the control trailer. Tell them to rake every single camera feed on island and look where he has gone. If he's on island, he'll be found within minutes", the other intern calmed down Byron. He picked up clothes left behind by Owen.

"But it's heart of the night. Not all of them has night vision mode. And why on earth would he go out there naked?"

"I think he might have been sleepwalking", told tired Gwen. "He was kinda doin' that cliché sleepwalking walk."

"Shit!" Byron cursed and rushed to pick up his radiophone, which he had left there where he and other three supervisors had been playing cards just a moment ago.

He experienced real fear over his job if something was to happen to unconscious contestant during his duty.

"I know my heart and it tells me she's my one and only true love! My sweet Cecilia!"

"Yeah, go get her, Florian!" Tariq mumbled and took another sip of coffee.

Soap operas so cheesy that it could glue one's teeth permanently shut were his guilty pleasure and his only lifeline alongside coffee which helped him get through night.

He was sitting inside darkened trailer which acted production's main control center on island. Only the screen was illuminating light inside the trailer and on that screen Tariq, who had picked the short end of the stick with night duty, watched recording of the latest episode of his favorite series.

It was not any active duty he was signed on to do. His main purpose was to serve as a watchman if something was to happen at challenge ground and they needed to reach the production team. But there had been an absolute radio silence pretty much the whole day and Tariq had not many expectations that that was going to change during the night. Therefore he had figured out that he needed to whip out some episodes from his watchlist and power through the night shift with their help. And coffee most certainly helped as well.

A single tear welled up in the corner of his eye when Florian gave heartfelt confession to his friend how he needed to rush to find his dear Cecilia before it was too late. He was taking another sip of coffee when radiophone on the table few meters away sprung to life and crackled loudly.

He got startled and spilled coffee all over his shirt. It was not that hot anymore but it still infuriated him to get dosed with drink which was supposed to go down his throat and keep him awake.

"God f****** ******!"

"Control trailer! Do you copy? Control trailer! Do you copy?"

He put down the coffee cup and slid the wheeled chair to the radiophone, still cursing everything and everyone under the sun.

"Yeah. Control trailer copies. The heck's your problem?" he said once he opened the mic on that end.

"Tariq, that's you? Good! I need you to check out camera feed around campfire ground during the past thirty minutes and look out for Owen. The big camper."

"You realize I'm here alone, right? That's lots of recording to comb through. You lost him or something?" Tariq questioned the rationale behind the request. He was picking up the front of his shirt and tried to assess in dark how much coffee got seeped through.

Byron did not answer immediately at other end which quickly picked Tariq's attention.

"Wait. He actually ran and you lost him?"

"I need you to find him! Wake up everyone you need to help you to find him! But please don't let McLean know about this if possible. Not during the night at least."

Tariq cursed heavily under his breath but stood up with the intention of gathering some help.

"Fine. I'm on it. I'll see what I can do. But you'll be the one apologizing for disturbed sleep."

"Thank you, thank you, thank you! I won't forget this!"

"You better not", Tariq muttered to himself when he opened the trailer door and stepped outside into cool night air. Cold breeze from lake sent shivers down his spine when he jogged over to other interns' sleeping quarters. Screen light in dark trailer messed up his sight, sending flashes of color patterns on his peripheral, but it did not take too long for his eyes to adjust in darkness outside.

He could not believe his bad luck how he needed to work overtime instead of witnessing if Florian got his chance to confess feelings to Cecilia.

Mayhem initiated by their supervisors broke Heather free from the numb coma she had been fighting against but was steadily succumbing to. Even if action around them helped to stay awake, it surely was irritable for persons who would have wanted to enjoy their peace and quiet if sleep was something they could have not.

To get her mind off, she determined she needed to go for another walk around perimeter. She stood up but happened to glance her side, seeing that Lindsay and Beth were both drooping heavily.

"Lindsay, Beth. Get up. Walk with me so you wake up", she commanded two girls into action.

"Huh? Sure", Lindsay came to her senses and stood up. "Hey, Beth. Wake up. Let's go for a walk", she said and shook the girl spoken to from shoulder.

It was as perfect as it would get, Heather figured out. During the challenge there would not appear many chances for private interactions and she was painfully aware of this. She had been forced to listen goth girl and Trent's conversations way too many hours for her liking. Getting Lindsay and Beth separated from the group like this with the fog cloud of hustle around and waking up was her chance of talking about an alliance. She glanced Noah who was laying sideways next to firepit and resting his head on one hand. He did not appear to notice Heather taking two girls aside but looked hypnotized flames' dance towards night sky.

Three girls walked about half a circle before Heather decided it was time to open conversation.

"Okay, now that you're better awake, I have something I wanted to talk about", she said in lowered voice. Even though interns were still scrambling causing all sorts of noise, she wanted to make sure nobody could tune in what they were about to discuss. "I have a plan to get me and two other people to the final three and I chose you guys."

"Really?" Lindsay's voice was fatigued but certainly contained hues of intrigue and interest.

"You should know that this is a very big deal. I am placing my trust in you and trust is a two-way street. So you'll do everything I say then?" Heather stated, making it clear she would be the one calling shots in this alliance if it was to get formed.

"Sure", Lindsay did not take two seconds to question that, and Heather was grateful blond girl was so simple to persuade. "Eeeee! We're going to the final three. Isn't that awesome, Betsy?"

"You're getting closer. It's Beth", Beth corrected Lindsay on her name.

Confessional: Beth

"Oh my gosh. I could not see that coming. Heather is taking me to the final three? Me!"

She took a moment to ponder something.

"I wonder what will happen then."

"Speaking of alliances, you know who I think is really cute", Lindsay commented and turned her head to give a gaze on Tyler's direction. Jock actually happened at that very moment to look their way. He smiled tiredly and gave lazy wave for her.

"Oh no. No, no, no. You can't do that", Heather rejected the idea vehemently. She had been noticing how Lindsay and Tyler eyed each other and she did not like the thing one bit. Summer romance would create way too strong bond and drive Lindsay apart from girl coalition.

"Why?" Lindsay did not understand.

"Because he's on the other team."

"Huh?"

"You can't entertain date. It's like against the alliance rules."

"There are rules?"

"Remember what I said about trust, Lindsay? Of course you can always leave the alliance. If you do though, I can't protect you from getting kicked off", between lines Heather knowingly made it sound like she was the only person standing there who could protect Lindsay (and by extension Beth as well) from getting send home.

"No, I wanna be in the alliance."

"Good. Then it is settled."

"Well, what about Justin then for example. He's on our team", Beth had to speak her mind.

"Did you just hear what I said. We can't entertain even ideas of date."

"It's not like I'm dating him", Beth fought back but admittedly would have liked the idea. "It's just that with four of us it would be easier to go to the end than with three of us", she reasoned.

"No!" Heather shot the idea down without second thought. Leaving Justin out was crucial as one of the secondary goals of her alliances was minimizing options hunk could have as allies. She could not possibly tell that she already had a deal with Noah, making her alliance technically four-member team, but when time was right, she could introduce him to girls as an addition to their machinations.

"We have to establish our influence so for now we will remain as girls-only group. There's limited number of spots in final three", Heather concluded, leaving it open-ended how they could possibly have additional allies in the future but she already knew she would be the one calling shots with those.

"Yes, Beth! Girl power! We're going to the final three!" Lindsay was still ecstatic about the idea of being among the finalists.

"Hey, you got it right!" Beth was happy her new friend finally called her name correctly.

"Good. Then now it is settled", Heather was convinced that everything should be solved by then.

Lindsay was silently celebrating the thing she was in an alliance but experienced some sadness on the side due to instruction of not pursuing relationship with Tyler.

What escaped from Heather was that she never got explicit confirmation from both girls that they had a formal alliance. And as much as she had tried to keep their tones down, it still happened that some things got slipped and reached the ears of other campers.

Confessional: Lindsay

"Heather said I couldn't date him. She never said I couldn't like him."

Confessional: Beth

"But I'm not sure about this. My pa always says that if they're trying to sell you well-groomed lamb, it probably has a lame leg. And what's with all these 'rules'? I don't think it would be that bad if we include Justin or someone else into this alliance."

Last hours before dawn did not yield anything which could have been considered drama. Campers braced themselves to push through few more hours of darkness with Harold informing them that it was likely to occur that once they had pushed themselves through the first night it should become easier to stay awake for some time. Reasoning was that their bodies would get tricked into thinking they had had their rest when usual wake-up time rolled around. This would happen because their inner clocks, which yet had not been too much messed, would kick off their bodies. That information acting their lonely solace, they found willpower to push through.

One intern and cameraman combed through immediate wood areas in light of flashlights in search of Owen. But their search was in vain.

Around half past five in the morning Tyler suddenly let out brutal shout of fear, startling everyone, but it turned out he just had hallucinated something which in turn caused physical reaction out of him.

"We're starting to lose it", Cody could be heard mumbling when Tyler settled back down.

When sun started to climb on morning sky, campers flocked closer around the firepit seeking better warmth against morning frost's piercing sting.

Well-rested Chris arrived by ATV little before eight with two fresh cameramen on his tail.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk", Chris made his disapproval known to night duty interns who had lined up to welcome him on duty. "What is this I've heard? Only four campers failed during the course of night. One of them even had an accident which required medical attention. And you dare to claim you don't know where one of my contestants is? Lost naked and afraid somewhere in the woods?"

"I'm so sorry, mister McLean!" Byron shouted and bowed his head deep. "I take full responsibility for this failure!"

"No, you don't. That's the whole point of having several men here judging if someone sleeps or not. Care to explain how one sleepwalking giant managed to escape four pairs of eyes?"

"I… I don't have an excuse for this absolute blunder! I'll take the consequences to their fullest!"

Chris stared interns sternly, letting them wallow in that feeling of disappointment they had brought up.

"Well. Search is in full swing and game warden has been alerted so if he's on this island he'll be found in no time", Chris finally informed.

"Game warden? Surely that's not needed…", Byron could feel chunk getting stuck in his throat.

"Game warden will join the search and Owen will be found!" Chris reiterated. "But if something's to happen on him even before premiere, no amount of union rules or support will save your skins. Believe that!"

"So… they haven't been able to locate him through cameras?" another intern who had stayed silent so far ventured to ask.

"That's the only reason why I won't have your heads right now. It seems that this blunder revealed some grave flaws in our surveillance system. One of them being the fact that we cannot pinpoint the location of that big guy when he actually gets lost. It's good this came to our knowledge before premiere so we still have little time to adjust our protocols."

"So… we're off the hook?"

"Oh, I'm fuming but I have show to run. We will have a serious conversation about this once the challenge is over but for now, you're dismissed. And take DJ to the campers' medical tent just in case while you leave. I want to make extra sure that no other camper gets seriously injured this early in game."

"What do you think is going on over there?" Trent asked Gwen when he watched how Chris was talking with interns. They were too far away to be heard around firepit, but Chris did not look exactly chippy like he had been the morning before.

"Probably getting chewed because of Owen", Gwen answered and yawned. She rubbed her hands to warm them and afterwards straightened them towards the fire. "You think he's fine? Should we have tried to stop him?"

"I honestly thought it was some weird, shared hallucination when it happened. I just tried to figure out if I had fallen asleep and was dreaming", Trent answered, still standing by opinion it was supposed to be supervisors' duty to stop sleepwalking Owen.

"And probably tried to look away as well, I bet. What's with that man and nudity?" yawning Noah joked nearby and rubbed his weary eyes which had considerable eyebags forming under them.

Comment got few laughs out of other campers out of whom some already started to feel little bit more reinvigorated just like Harold had predicted.

With breakfast in sight and new energy flowing in them, they started to look into the day with more optimism. But if there was something which they had not learnt yet, it was that their host surely could always come up with ideas to ruin their mood.

After interns had done their due diligence and taken DJ to receive proper medical checkup, Chris marched over to meet up eighteen still remaining participants of challenge.

"Good morning, campers, and congratulations. You've made it to the twenty-five-hour mark. Time to take things up a notch!"

"What? Why?" Mackenzie asked.

"You think this would be a good Awake-A-Thon if we wouldn't make it hard to you? I'm surprised only five of you fell during the first day but we need to see more campers dropping. So it's time for… fairytales!"

"Oh, he's not serious", Gwen cursed Chris when one of the cameraman rushed to hand him blue tome before retreating to build up his equipment.

Campers had been too focused to listen Chris so they had not noticed Chef's arrival. They were not ready to see that sight as their co-host was dressed up in a bubblegum pink sheep jumpsuit. He had fluffy headpiece of matching color and with sheep ears. He also was carrying golden harp in his arms.

It took everything from them to not laugh as the murderous countenance on him implied he was more than ready to slaughter any of them who gave even the slightest of snicker.

"Gather 'round, little ones, and sit. Let me tell you tales of boredom and numbness", Chris stated like stage actor while opening up the tome of fairytales.

"Don't you think this'd be more appropriate in the evening and not eight in the morning?" Courtney commented but took a seat altogether. Chris only shushed her.

Only by then host became properly aware how Justin was standing in attention aside from others, gazing over lake back towards them: Boy had not done anything to join other campers.

"Justin, my man", Chris called out for him. "Why won't you take seat with others."

Hunk raised his arm high and gave thumbs-up without bothering to turn around.

"I'm good, Chris. Just enjoying the fresh morning air and serene sight."

Chris pondered if he should allow Justin staying aside. He concluded that the sight of Justin standing there back to them and looking over the lake was picture-worthy sight as any and decided to allow it so cameraman could get some million-dollar shots of him for the episode.

Once everybody except Justin had sat down around Chris, Chef played few tranquil melodies with his harp as a prelude before host started to narrate.

"Ahem. Once… upon a time… there was… inside this boring kingdom… a boring village… and inside this boring sleepy village… filled with very boring children… who did very boring things…"

Chris was not lying when he claimed fairytales to be mind-numbing stories to listen. He kept reading till midday, taking only small pauses in order to sip some water so he did not lose his voice. Chef in that amusing costume played some peaceful melodies here and there where appropriate.

Courtney was right that Chris might have been able to harvest greater results had he read those same dull fairytales when it was dark. As the sun climbed higher and light kept growing, it was easier for the campers to stay awake when you combined that with their newly found energy due to just surviving one night. Only Cody fell victim to stories' sleep-inducing effects somewhere between twenty-seventh and twenty-eighth hour of Awake-A-Thon.

Killer Bass: 9

Screaming Gophers: 8

When fairytales did not yield hoped results and it was about time to finally have something for lunch. Chris let campers to scramble.

By that time Bridgette and Leshawna had woken up from their slumber so they joined the meal. Afterwards Chris commanded them aside to form a different area - jail zone of sorts - within eyeshot of campfire ground. It was to be the place where dropped and woken up players would be sent to spent their time when rest of the bunch still kept going.

Small porta-potty, industrial metal barrel and woolen blankets got delivered there so they would have accommodations to stay there, suffering the shame of losing and not helping remaining players staying awake.

Confessional: Trent

"I won't say Chris is playing favorites. But where were those blankets last night? It's like he's trying to lure us to fall asleep so we could have access to those… soft and warm-looking blankets", he got little bit emotional when he thought how comfy those covers could have been and how sweet dreams he could have had when wrapped in those.

Remaining seventeen sat around the afternoon and some of them could feel fatigue lurking back in. Harold's words had hold true but they were young and they still had burden of physical exercise from day before wearing them down so their bodies yearned for rest. They knew that fatigue would come back eventually but they had not anticipated it so quickly. Eyebags were growing and they started to feel more and more irritable. Few headaches were experience.

Thirty-three hours had passed, and Izzy had woken up and joined two other girls at loser zone.

Cody kept sleeping where he had fallen, and there was no news about Owen or DJ. Or at least nothing was shared to campers.

"I'm going to the bathroom", told Eva, first to use toilet pass after lunch.

She had been listening to her music from her player but its battery had finally died so she stuffed it and earphones to her pocket before standing up. She asked and got actual permission from Chris and went her way.

Heather happened to look her way as she went and took notice how negligently stuffed music player with its earphones fell off Eva's pocket. Female bully did not notice this.

Wicked idea came to Heather.

She stood up acting like she was stretching her stiff legs and arms. As inconspicuously as she could in her beaten state, she crept closer to music player. She kept doing stretch-ups to cover her intentions and it seemed to work like a charm when nobody was giving her any special attention.

When she was where she wanted, she took last quick look at Chris to make sure he neither was watching. When it was clear host was glancing other direction, she did one big side bend aiming to touch her toes. In reality she took this as a chance to snatch the player and earphones in her hand. She pocketed them quickly so nobody would notice what she had just picked up.

When she returned to her seat and sat back down, Lindsay, who had been sitting on stump next to hers, looked at her and happened to notice corner of music player peeking out Heather's shorts pocket.

"Um, isn't that Eva's MP3-player?" Lindsay asked in low, tired voice. Their seats had been carried rather separate from other stumps so it was unlikely to others hear what she said.

"Yep", Heather confirmed and put it deeper in her pocket to conceal it better.

"Well… isn't she gonna get like really mad when she realizes it's gone?"

"That's exactly what I'm counting on."

"Go, go, go! He's almost on top the hill!" crackling voice from radiophone informed two interns who trotted as quickly as they could manage.

Both of them were out of breath after having to run considerable distance.

Locating sleepwalking Owen had taken way much longer than was expected and staff was getting more anxious by the minute. They really wanted to find the guy before McLean's day duty at challenge ground concluded but it was not looking good. Clock was already past three before even the first sighting of Owen had been made through two cameras.

Foot patrols had searched him much around the part of island where main faculties were located but somehow the right location turned out to be completely on the other side of the island. Nobody could fathom how Owen had managed to cover such a distance unharmed - and sleepwalking no less. Since foot patrols had not had any vehicles on their disposal, closest ones had to run all the way to the place where camper was sighted. It took a while but first patrol was finally closing in.

"Tell me… he's showing signs of slowing down", one intern panted on radiophone.

"Negative. Still going strong. Go, go, go! He's nearing the edge!"

"Shit!" intern cursed and tried to squeeze more out of his speed.

"I swear to god, this is not worth of my paycheck", his companion groaned and also picked up the speed.

"How does that even happen? I mean… he's been asleep, what, over twenty hours now.

He did not get answer right away from his companion. They had been running uphill for few minutes which depleted their stamina and when he made his question, they had to focus on mounting especially steep incline on their way.

"You know… I have this great-uncle who once slept day and half on one go… He went to bed on Monday evening… and was confused as hell when it was late Wednesday morning when he woke up."

"Bulls! You're pulling my leg."

"No, no! It's possible if highly unlikely to sleep prolonged periods of time."

"Shit! I lost the visual! I don't see him anymore!"

Intern raised the radiophone to answer the message.

"What do you mean you lost him? Don't tell me he went and fell off the cliff!"

"Go! I don't know! Camera up there doesn't rotate!"

It could not be helped. McLean had put lots of his own investment to the show to compliment budget received from network, but it still was not enough to finance high-tech surveillance to cover every inch of vast island. Main bulk of recording devices were concentrated on other side of island where it was more likely for campers to spend their time. The other end of island where manhunt had moved had only complementary cameras and many of them did not have same features which the best ones had. Therefore it was to be expected Owen could be lost all over again.

It took two more agonizing minutes for them to reach grassy summit. It was not the hill where first challenge had taken place but it still was one of the higher ones on island which in addition had scarp dropping to the lake.

"Where is he? You see him, Nicole?"

"No!"

"Nate! Nicole He's on the beach! He's on the beach!" voice through radiophone shouted.

"He's what now?" Nathaniel could not believe what he was hearing while Nicole already rushed to the scarp to gaze down beach below.

"We have one camera there pointing northwest. That's definitely him laying in a bed of reeds."

"How did he get there? Is he injured?" Nathaniel asked while running to the scarp himself.

"Can't tell. The view is obscured but it's definitely him."

As interns assessed the ledge of cliff, they concluded that Owen must have fallen. There was a large chunk of grassy soil missing from otherwise undisturbed scarp edge and it looked fresh phenomenon as the uncovered lower layer of soil had not yet dried up. It was inevitable to fall straight to the water from the spot where soil was missing, leaving the concern to be how shallow were the waters right there.

They had some trouble getting visual of the exact bed of reeds which was mentioned as there were lots of those on both beaches siding the cliff.

In the end Owen himself helped them locate him but not in a manner they had hoped for. Naked camper stood up and waded to dry land.

"He stood up! He's moving to land!"

"We see him."

"Hey, Owen ! OWEN! STAY THERE! WE'RE COMING TO HELP!"

Camper did not react like he had heard them calling him. Interns quickly lost the visual of him once he reached the dry land and disappeared behind some trees.

"What the hell? Did he not hear me?" Nicole wondered. "Seriously. He could be seriously injured. OWEN! OWEN!"

"Shit. I… think he might still be asleep", realization of possibility came to Nathaniel.

"No way. OWEN! OWEN!"

There was no way around it. Owen must have fallen from the cliff, woken up when hitting the water, swum to safety and fallen back to sleep immediately once hitting shallows.

"How does that even happen?" irritated Nathaniel asked. "Alert all the search parties to this location. Camper is still asleep and now also wet", he informed the other end of radiophone line.

They took off running downhill as fast as they can so they would not lose Owen so utterly as previously.

It definitely was a day which work was way out of their job description and paycheck rate.

Chris' duties ended at six in the evening, at thirty-eight-hour mark. Since the number of remaining youths still awake had dwindled to seventeen, only three supervisors were appointed to take care of night duties.

Host made it crystal clear how he would not hear any excuses if more campers got injured or lost during the second night in a challenge which specifically was of sort where that was not supposed to happen.

Barely had the host managed to leave when during their first checkup on campers night supervisors concluded that Katie and Sadie both had fallen asleep, sleeping on their tummies on ground.

"Oh, cool. They even fall asleep together", Trent found it rather wholesome how besties did everything together. Or in this case, did not do, meaning they did not stay awake.

Hammer of fatigue bludgeoned every single still standing member of contest with full force no later than nine in the evening.

Noah was just barely able to hit forty hours of being awake before he could no longer fight against the sleep. He fell asleep next to once again burning firepit with his back pointing towards it. It granted his shivering body much needed warmth.

"We should talk about our strategy", Heather commented to Lindsay once after twenty minutes she realized her male ally had hit the sack.

"Huh?"

Lindsay did not have more juice in her to know what was happening around her. She in fact fell backwards from stump she was sitting on and landed on her back to the ground, falling instantly asleep.

"Beth?" Heather asked after witnessing Lindsay's downfall, but her third ally was already asleep, laying in same kind of position as Lindsay.

Killer Bass: 7

Screaming Gophers: 5

Things were peaceful around main campfire which made it easier to hear how in loser zone people kept conversing long into the night. They had their own fire there, made into industrial metal barrel, keeping them warm.

It caused irritation among twelve still standing contestants to listen how carefree and rested those sounds of conversation sounded like. But there was nothing they could do about it. Shouting and cursing did not pay the effort when that same energy could be bridled towards staying awake.

As there was not anything interesting happening on main area of challenge, one cameraman took off and went to record some footage of things happening on loser zone.

"Still awake?" asked on his back laying Trent from Gwen after short moment of silence in their conversation. He could not see the girl as she was also resting on her back just above his head.

"Yeah", Gwen answered yawning. She adjusted her position, her hair briefly swiping against Trent's. "It's weird, but I think I'm so tired I'm not tired anymore. Does that make sense?"

"I really have no idea", Trent had not energy to consider it. "Where's the Little Dipper again?"

They had been stargazing since the night sky was extremely clear that night. Gwen had taught constellations to the boy who gladly kept conversing with her to help them both stay awake just a little bit longer.

"See the Big Dipper?" she asked and reached her hand upwards to point the point of interest. "Follow the handle to that bright star, the pole star, and it's right there", she lazily moved her hand as needed to show where to look.

Trent gave out deep sigh. "Cool."

In total it was uneventful night unlike the first one.

Jeremy telling he could not possibly be the last man standing proved to be right when he was announced to be out of the Awake-A-Thon just before four in the morning. Tyler got ruled out off the game alongside him, leaving ten more contestants battling for the win.

Killer Bass: 6

Screaming Gophers: 4

Gophers could feel the tension and fear of defeat rising ever so steadily as they counted remaining players. They had only two girls and two boys out of twelve left, while Killer Bass had only lost five of their members. Eight compared to five was not a good look for them. True, for the past ten hours or so it had looked like Geoff was all the time just the slightest of nudge away from sleep. Courtney also appeared to draw near her limits but it still left strong players like Duncan and Eva standing.

Chris was greatly pleased to see reduced numbers when he arrived during small hours to take over supervision duty once again.

Sleep deprivation started to cloud everyone's mind and affect their judgment and senses. Appetites were lost, hallucinations were prevalent and headaches intensified as their bodies were about to shut down.

Arrival of third day managed to fill remaining Gophers with sliver of determination, making them to think how they possibly could make it out winners. As Gwen and Trent shifted their conversations to touch the topic of how to beat remaining Bass, they realized something.

They prized themselves into sitting positions to get better look at Justin.

Hunk was still standing in that very same position he had been in since the evening of first day. Every now and then he had taken small breaks to sit down but he had always resumed that stand where he gazed over the lake and his back was towards firepit.

Duo stood up and walked over to check up Justin who had spent majority of Awake-A-Thon in solitude.

"Look at him. He's like a statue", Gwen marveled. Lack of sleep kept shrouding her vision but she could easily tell Justin had the most commendable composure. "He hasn't move in over… what… like thirty hours. Hello?"

"Yip, yip, yip, yip, yip, yip!" Trent made silly sounds and waved his hands wildly. He tried to gain a reaction out of Justin like he was a tourist hassling with British royal guard or something.

"Yo, amazing. Look at the concentration", Gwen said admiringly. She softly tapped boy's shoulder and that finally forced reaction out of him.

Even with their clouded eyes they saw how something was not quite right. Justin winced like he was being pushed awake and he blinked couple of times but not once did the whites seem to disappear behind eyelids.

"Wait a minute!" shouted Eva.

She had been following Gwen and Trent bothering Justin. Seeing hunk's reaction getting touched, she got suspicious. She stood up and stomped over to have a look at Justin herself.

"His eyelids are painted! He's been sleeping!" Eva shouted.

"Shut up! Oh, I've got to see this!" Chris got excited like kid at the aspect of summer vacation starting. He had been leaning to his barrel lectern and sipping morning coffee, but now he really perked up. Leaving the drink on barrel and straightening up, he rushed over to verify the claim.

Justin knew he had been caught and could not possibly do anything to salvage the situation. While Trent held Eva back so she would not strike Justin for cheating, Chris took a look at Justin's eyes.

"That is so freakin' cool", host acknowledged that paint job was of high quality. It definitely could fool unwary eyes who were not watching too closely but once one was straightly looking at them, it became obvious that foul play was taking place. "But you're still out, dude."

While walking over to the cabins to tend red ants and fetch skin lotion, Justin chatted up Harold asking about this hobby of fostering bugs. Dweeb happily obliged and explained in great detail how fascinating and majestic creatures red ants actually were and what enticed him to raise a colony.

Harold was not completely sure why on earth guy like Justin out of all people would be interested in hearing about his interests. But since it was not every day that the opportunity showed itself to talk about something he was passionate about, he was ready to let that concern go and indulge in the details which surrounded ants, those little powerhouses from invertebrate domain.

When they reached the cabins, Harold inquired if Justin wanted to have a look at red ant colony, but boy refused the offer. He stated that since their time was limited, it was for better get right into his own business. He would leave Harold for the time being but would return immediately once he was done.

Chris had implicated that the idea of sending two people to cabins was that none would be left alone and thus give chances to do something forbidden. That detail escaped Harold once Justin had been so open to hear about his stuff. And Chris had only himself to blame letting two campers go unsupervised.

Instantly after leaving Harold to Killer Bass cabin, Justin sprinted towards arts and crafts station instead of going to Gophers' cabin.

There existed a small building, no bigger than decent sized hut, nearby the cabin site. It may or may not have served as previous latrine but now it was dedicated as a storage room for different kinds of equipment which could be used to create recreational activities during camps.

On their day-off Justin had visited that building in search of sunshade. He had had no luck with that venture but vividly remembered how there was surprisingly extensive library of art tools. Paints included.

Idea had been brewing in his mind when Chris had announced the nature of their real challenge. And now he had found the perfect opportunity to execute his plan.

Being man who was meant to be in front cameras, he had this talent of sorts to almost intuitively know where lenses hid so he was always ready at second's notice to flash his good side. This talent of his came now handy as it helped him locate cameras hid around them and figure out what might have been their most likely blind spots. He knew he could not possibly avoid every single frame because recording devices were in too thick on that portion of island. But he reasoned that since the most attention was dedicated to campfire ground due to challenge, he could get away with this little venture of his.

He found what he was looking for, stuffed the equipment carefully into his pockets and ran back. To cover his tracks, he actually rushed to his sleeping quarters and applied to his face the skin lotion he had claimed he needed. He could not do too good job with skincare since he had lost time fetching art supplies but it had to do. Once he was done with that, he went back to Bass cabin to look if Harold was ready to return.

He sent Harold back to others while he himself went to use that concurrent toilet pass he had claimed. With no prying eyes around him, he used that little extra private time to paint eyes on his eyelids. During his early teen years he had had even two flings with artist girls who both had trained him in painting. Therefore he had the talent to pull off this paint job skillfully and quickly.

Now with careful positioning, timing and concentration he could sleep during the course of Awake-A-Thon and quite possibly guarantee victory for his team.

"How the hell did that even happen?"

"Oh please tell me you have pocket camera."

Tired Nathaniel and Nicole watched the sight before their eyes in great disbelief.

"I mean… is he… even alive at this point? Are we dealing with dead body?" Nicole wondered covering her mouth with hand.

Nathaniel did not want to even consider that option. He raised the radiophone closer to his mouth not really knowing how to convey his message to control trailer.

"Control trailer? You copy?" he opened the line and asked.

"Control trailer here. We copy."

"We… found the sleepwalker."

"Oh thank God! Is he okay?"

There was no way Owen could be okay. He had been asleep thirty-six hours and been exposed to elements most of that time. Search parties had lost him again after that sighting among reeds and night had fallen before they could locate him. That had postponed saving him because darkness caused big issues with visual search. And wildlife on that part of island tended to get moving in dark creating all sorts of safety issues and noises which tampered the option for hearing-based search. But now daylight had returned and woods had calmed down.

It was seven in the morning and both Nathaniel and Nicole had been awake the whole night looking for Owen. Who would have guessed that even the staff would get a taste off Awake-A-Thon.

"I… need two extra pair of fresh hands, stretcher, and you to send paramedic and game warden at beaver dam pond. And tell the warden to bring the gun and lots of tranquilizers", Nathaniel listed.

"Sorry, could you repeat that? Gun and tranquilizers?"

"Yes", Nathaniel confirmed and ended the conversation.

He and Nicole stared in silence the absurd sight of muddy and still sleeping Owen laying on top of the beaver nest in the middle of semi-big pond. From the distance they could count at least three separate beavers swarming around Owen. The boldest one had even climbed on him and it was slapping his bare butt with its flat tail.

Suddenly, teen started give out loud snores which startled the beaver on top him and sent it running to safety, which in that case meant in the water.

It confirmed that Owen was still alive after his bizarre excursion which fact made interns give huge sighs of relief. But they could not comprehend how Owen could have ended up there where he was.

Byron was not going to live this incident down in million years.

Sounds of jovial merrymaking echoing from loser zone did not sit well with nine campers remaining in Awake-A-Thon. It also nearly caused a riot when they realized the eliminated got warm chicken soup for lunch to warm them up and help them battle possible summer flu which may have risen from spending several nights outside in cool air.

"Sucks to be you right now, huh. Maybe you should just take a nap and join them afterwards", was Chris' simple suggestion when they demanded answers why they were kept on picnic sandwiches and occasional health smoothies.

With that it became obvious it was one new cheeky tactic from the host to make carrying on more unbearable. Out of spite everybody refused to heed the idea.

"These kids really are something else", Chris was forced to acknowledge teenagers' ability to persevere. He stated this to cameraman with whom he headed to yet another break after two in the afternoon.

"Definitely, sir. Fifty-five hours and still going strong", cameraman replied.

"Really. I don't think anyone expected this to go on this long."

"You reckon how long they will hold on?"

"Honestly, we actually might see this going on till tomorrow."

Cameraman cringed at the mere idea of staying up three days and nights straight.

"We might have to have a staff meeting concerning our competition schedule. After tonight's premiere we have to pump out those new episodes at steady intervals after all. Those kids really mess up our plans already", Chris pondered out loud.

"If you say so, sir."

Confessional: Gwen

"Okay, I'm adjusting my statement. The Awake-A-Thon was definitely the most brutal and inhumane thing I've ever done in my life."

Weary Mackenzie squatted down and shook drooping Geoff gently from shoulder.

"Hey! Geoff, you're okay?"

He opened his eyes slowly and looked blankly at Mackenzie.

"What?" Geoff asked, having not registered what had been said to him.

"You're okay?" Mackenzie repeated and gave him a tired smile.

Slowly growing smile spread on Geoff's mouth when he answered to smile with another. "Not really. So tired…"

"I understand. I'm also ready to finish and forget this stupid challenge", Mackenzie empathized.

Geoff gave out deep sigh. "I don't know, man. I keep losing track of time. And I'm not sure if I'm already dreaming, awake or hallucinating things, man."

"Just a little bit longer. We lead six against three", Mackenzie attempted to encourage boy to persist.

"I'm sorry, Mackenzie. I… don't think I can help us to win this", Geoff sounded absolutely beaten.

"It's okay, man", Mackenzie reassured Geoff, gently shaking his kneecap but this time with a notion of how she was proud of his effort. "You've done great. You should be proud of yourself."

Geoff smiled again and looked deep into Mackenzie's eyes. Or as deep as he could in his afflicted state.

"Thanks, Mackenzie…", he muttered like girl had said everything he had needed to hear in order to feel comfortable giving up.

She left him alone and went to do some stretches. Even though she tried to hold onto optimism, it was harder with every passing hour and she had little faith in herself that she could survive third night if things were to culminate to that point.

Fifteen minutes later supervising intern announced Geoff was out of game when boy finally started to give out soft quiet snores.

Since he had fallen asleep while sitting, Harold and Mackenzie decided to lift him from stump and lay him on ground so he could have his sleep in horizontal positioning.

Killer Bass: 5

Screaming Gophers: 3

Since weather with wind and temperatures was always shifting, it was not easy to sleep prolonged periods of time. Players, who failed to reach the finish line of challenge, mostly slept around ten hours at most before they woke up enough to move on loser zone. There they would receive blankets and head straight back to sleep, nicely tucked into their soft and warm cover.

Campers who had recuperated most mostly socialized with one another and played some outdoor games to pass time.

Grapevine told Owen had been found and was receiving medical attention so he was not present as was not also Justin. Forcing himself to stand at one spot over a day had not been such a great idea in retrospect since it caused muscle cramps and issues with circulation. Even though Justin had taken brakes sitting down, it still was hard for him to walk after the ordeal. Therefore, he had been sent for a checkup and had yet to return.

Always so heavy sleeper Jeremy and freshly disqualified Geoff slept still on the actual challenge area, making them absent from loser zone as well, but the rest eleven failed campers had all located themselves there.

In this sort of set-up campers prepared for incoming evening and subsequent night.

At that late point into the Awake-A-Thon, only two supervisors were assigned to observe the challenge. Among eight still competing campers they sneakily tried to instigate conversations about their feelings concerning the fact that it was the night they would be making their television debuts. Show was one of the most anticipated television programs of the season and starting tomorrow they would be famous.

It turned out, however, that Gwen, Trent, Heather, Duncan, Eva, Harold, Courtney and Mackenzie were all too tired and on their last standing leg to have energy to get hyped because of it.

Much more success with the topic was found among the losers.

In all, the night was an infernal ordeal and proved to be the time Mackenzie, Harold and Courtney hit their limits and could not go on. Those losses melted Killer Bass lead in one swoop.

Screaming Gophers: 3

Killer Bass: 2

It was not nearly as bad as during the last night before the Awake-A-Thon commenced, but Harold's snoring still was not nice thing to listen. It was not loud enough to disturb the sleep of those who still were laying on challenge ground, but it definitely tested the nerves of people still awake. Although, they had to admit it kind of helped them push through the night.

Other than Harold's roaring snoring, night was uneventful. Five campers standing all could feel how they were starting to lose the grip on reality. They had moments when their minds experienced blackouts and occasionally they kept forgetting where they were. Every minor inconvenience became huge source of irritation, and they could not be sure which things which they sensed were real and which were figments of imagination.

Perhaps for more grown-up people staying awake for three days and three nights would not have been as difficult and caused issues with their minds and bodies so quickly. But they were young people in their mid-teens. They lived the time in their lives when their bodies especially yearned that sweet rest. Messing up with that biological urge was not going to fly unpunished.

Duncan hit one his mental breaking points around eight in the morning when the fourth day of challenge dawned. The loudest of snoring coming from Harold had eased already couple of hours ago but boy kept having periods when he gave out softer snores. To get back at dweeb, Duncan retrieved a cup from last evening's dinnerware, filled it to the brim with lukewarm water and sneaked close to sleeping Harold.

Delinquent positioned cup carefully, lifted Harold's left hand and put it down over the cup the way that the fingers got dipped into water.

It took about fifteen seconds before Duncan's plan bore fruit.

"Oh, gross. It works! Dude peed his pants!" Duncan gloated when unmistakable stain started rapidly to form on Harold's crotch.

Dweeb opened slowly his eyes, feeling even through the sleep something was amiss. He felt the warmth spreading around the upper parts of his legs. He took a look what was the matter. He expected to see probably some animal sitting over them. It did not make sense too much but it was the first idea which crept into his misty, freshly woken up mind. When he however saw the stain and realized the feeling of warmth was inside and not outside his pants, all that sleepiness wore off in a blink of an eye.

Embarrassed, Harold sat up and covered up his crotch by curling up in the fetal position. He knew he was out of challenge so with the first opportunity he stood up and took off running towards toilets. It should have not mattered if he asked permission for it since it did not make any difference anymore in the challenge.

He ran past Chris who had taken prolonged absence from supervision duties and was only by now finally coming back to the campfire ground.

Host looked mildly perplexed why Harold was running away with such urgency, but he decided to drop the matter. Instead he focused on greeting the final five challenge-doers.

"What is the matter with you, people?" he asked making it sound like he would have been frustrated. He took a long sip of coffee from a cup he was carrying. "Come on! Fall asleep already!"

"You gotta hook me up, man! I'll even eat the grinds. Anything!" desperate Gwen pleaded, having crawled towards Chris and reaching out for the cup.

"No. This is just getting interesting now. You five stay with me", he said and turned hundred and eighty degrees on heels. "The rest of you go and get a shower for heaven's sake! You stink! I can smell all of you from here!" he shouted to loser zone.

Once losers had started the march towards communal and Geoff, Mackenzie and Courtney had been woken up to do the same, Chris gathered Gwen, Trent, Heather, Duncan, and Eva on stumps closest to barrel lectern.

"I didn't want it to come to this, I said to Chef Hatchet last night. I said: 'Chef, I don't want it to come to this, but darn it, these campers are tough'. And so, I've come up with the most boring sleep-inducing activity I can find", Chris passionately informed.

Confessional: Gwen

"Oh come on, why he keep doing this? Okay, you know what? Bring it on!"

Confessional: Eva

"I swear that weakling takes delight in deceiving and torturing kids. He's a menace for everything ethical and good!"

Huge red-cover tome was delivered on lectern. Chris cleared his throat.

"The History of Canada", he read the title and opened the tome making paper beaver pop up from the page. "A Pop-up Book. Chapter One: The Beaver. National symbol and a "damn" fine hat."

Girls groaned and boys rolled eyes when they heard the bad pun.

Teens had their doubts The History of Canada could be as bad as Chris claimed. What they did not see coming was that Chris actually seemed to have done his research with this one. Not only were the contents of book extremely boring to listen in large quantity, combining that with meek and languid narration voice, learnt over the years of acting career, turned out to be the real deal inducing sleep like promised.

"…which of course was the precursor of the discussion leading to war of eighteen-twelve."

Eva fell moments before mid-afternoon, nearly missing seventy-seven hours of no-sleep. Heather followed suit little more than hour later, reaching seventy-eight hours herself. Final three – Gwen, Trent, and Duncan – were therefore the only ones who managed to make it past eighty hours.

Screaming Gophers: 2

Killer Bass: 1

Chris could feel his voice getting strained due to hours-long narration but once results started show themselves, he was willing to push forward. Compared to fairytales two days before, outcome was phenomenal. Endgame was nearby.

Three quarters within eightieth hour Trent started heavily to lean forward. Gwen had been staring into distance the past hour so she did not notice this at first. Only after Trent's fall pushed him from the stump to his knees, she saw what was happening.

"Trent! No!"

It was too late. Trent was already asleep and he tumbled to the ground.

"Don't leave me!" Gwen pleaded in vain. His company was the last thing really inspiring her to keep trying but now it was gone.

Chris did not take pity and only kept reading.

In half an hour time when he reached the end of current chapter, he decided it was time for him to take voice break.

"Time for a bathroom break", he informed Gwen and Duncan. "Any takers?"

"I've held it this long, sweetheart. I can go all day", stated Duncan with sweet voice to Gwen, but he had been holding his crotch the past ten or so minutes.

"Yeah?" Gwen tried to sound like impressed. "But can you hold it for another ten chapters?"

When it was stated out loud in chapter numbers how long it could be before new chance for relieving oneself appeared, Duncan just knew it would not be possible for him to make it. He stood up and waddled towards toilets trying with all his might to hold it in long enough so he would not do Harold's.

"You've got five minutes. Long as you don't mind a little company", Chris told him.

"Fine", Duncan answered but turned to face cameraman who was the one to follow him. "But stay out of the stall."

Cameraman nodded.

"Duncan, you in there, man?"

Cameraman had not heard anything from the stall in couple minutes. Looking at his wristwatch he saw toilet break was rolling on minute six, making it more than what allotted time was. And yet delinquent did not answer anything to him.

Suspicious, he took out his jackknife and pried open the lock to the stall occupied by Duncan. Once the lock was open, he cautiously pulled the door open.

There on toilet bowl was sitting Duncan, trousers around knees and leaning on toilet paper holder with one arm.

He was fast asleep.

Two flies were crawling on his hair and even more were buzzing around but neither of those things bothered delinquent's slumber.

Paper slip containing information concerning the proceedings taken place within toilets got soon slipped to Chris on campfire ground.

Host read it and took a look what was the time then.

"And we have news! It looks like Duncan's taking a dive on the can. So, after more than eighty-one hours, it means the official winner of the Awake-A-Thon is… Gwen!"

Goth girl already at the mention of Duncan's state let it happen that she closed her eyes and fell asleep in a blink of an eye, tumbling to the ground.

"The Screaming Gophers win!" Chris declared solemnly and went over to her to lift up her arm like in a manner where boxer gets declared the champion of the fight.

"AAAAARRRRRGGGGGHHHHH!"

Still heavily sleep-deprived Eva was having nuclear level meltdown.

Everything from bedding to people's personal belongings was getting thrown out of the window of Killer Bass girls cabin.

Tyler, DJ, Harold, Bridgette, Courtney, and Katie cowered on yard and dodged the projectiles to the best of their abilities. They knew something had to be done to stop their sleeping quarters getting torn to pieces but none of them knew how to do it. This was the biggest outburst from Eva and not even DJ and Tyler, who previously had been people to restrain Eva, felt confident enough this time to go stop her.

"WHERE IS MY MP3 PLAYER?"

Bodybuilder knew she had had it at some point during the challenge because she had been listening to her music but she had not been missing it in couple days. Without possibility to go charge it, it had gotten put aside. Now she wanted to charge it but it was nowhere to be found.

She could not recall where she had put it when she had gone to take shower or if she had actually seen it. But it did not matter. Finding it should not have been this hard even if it was left in the wrong place. That did not leave many options what had happened.

"ONE OF YOU MUST HAVE STOLEN IT! I NEED MY MUSIC! NO ONE IS GOING ANYWHERE UNTIL I GET MY MP3 PLAYER BACK!" she reached out of the window and shouted her accusation at her frustrated teammates.

"Okay, whoever took it better give it up now before she destroys the whole camp", Courtney seemed to believe the idea as well so that was the reason she backed up Eva there even though she was livid at girl's temper tantrum.

Those present shook their heads telling Courtney they had no idea where music player might have been.

"Hey, guys. Wow, this place is a real mess."

Courtney turned to look who was speaking.

Heather from Gophers had wandered from somewhere among them and was looking around stuff laying on grass. Book flew out of the Bass cabin window as Eva kept destroying everything on her way.

"Someone stole Eva's MP3 player", Courtney told the reason for the mess even though it should have been obvious considering how long Eva had already been shouting and causing scene.

"You don't mean this, do you?" Heather asked and pulled out certain music player and headphones from her shorts' pocket. "I was wondering who it belonged to. I found it by the campfire pit. She must have dropped it."

"No way. Hey, Eva! Heather found it!"

Eva pushed the door open and took a look. Even from the distance she could recognize the thing hold by Heather. It was lifted high so she would see it.

"Found this by the campfire pit! You must have dropped this!" Heather shouted the message to Eva. She was not technically lying when she said that. She in fact had picked it up by the campfire area after it was dropped. Only thing where she was not truthful was the fact that she had known to whom it belonged to.

Eva demeanor changed in seconds and she rushed over to Heather.

"Oh thank you, thank you, thank you!" Eva kept showering Heather with thanks when she snatched the player from her hand.

"Sure thing", Heather assured it was nothing and shrugged her shoulders.

Confessional: Heather

"Turn a team against their own member. Easiest trick in the book."

"So, sorry about that little misunderstanding. Guess no one stole it after all", Eva downplayed her meltdown and apologized her behavior. She chuckled nervously but the expressions on her teammates faces were not amused nor forgiving. "Okay, maybe I overreacted a little."

"Eva needs to go. You agree?" Courtney asked Mackenzie.

It was not an idea Mackenzie was too keen on following through.

"You sure? I mean, she's a bad apple for sure, but she's strong. Maybe more than any boy on our team."

They were sitting on early dinner. So far they were the only ones at main lodge because other Bass were either sleeping, taking yet another shower or cleaning up aftermath of Eva's tantrum. And who knew why no Gophers had showed up yet.

Even so, they talked in hushed tones. It was both because neither had too much energy to converse, both having been awake till the third night, and because just in case if someone walked in, they could not be heard.

"Yeah. Even if she's sleep-deprived, it's no excuse for her actions. It's explanation. And still, she has demonstrated bad attitude and short temper previously so even that sleep deprivation is questionable explanation", Courtney made her case.

"You might be right", Mackenzie admitted. Having witnessed Eva's behavior herself, she understood Courtney. But it would be a hit for their team for sure. They had just lost their second challenge in a row and to turn that around, Eva would be good to have around.

"Yes. It would be beneficial for team spirit as well. Now we keep walking on eggshells what will set her off next", Courtney made another point.

Mackenzie was much too tired to think straight and consider properly other options. Yet she was aware enough to find it weirdly absurd how she was again in situation where other players came to tell her(not suggest but tell) who to vote off.

"And we have enough votes for that?" Mackenzie asked.

"Yes. We were six who witnessed firsthand her biggest meltdown to date. Sadie will vote whatever Katie will and with you on board that makes eight", Courtney explained since Mackenzie wanted to know.

"I see."

"Right. And I guess even the ceremony itself could help Killer Bass", said Courtney sensing that Mackenzie still might have been on edge with her decision.

Mackenzie did not follow. "What do you mean?"

"I realize first elimination strongly divided opinions. Unifying now against Eva could help us come closer as a team and bury some hatchets", Courtney told.

It hit Mackenzie right then that maybe Courtney was not doing this only to improve team spirit and structure. Perhaps this type A girl was so on board with this idea voting off Eva because it could lift the target left on her own back after first elimination. She could not be sure what she thought off that but if anything, it told her that Courtney might be sneakier than the girl let on.

"Right. I'm with you", Mackenzie said after taking few seconds to sit in silence. "Wouldn't make sense anyway voting anyone else since she's going home anyway."

"Yes. I'm sure this will bolster our team in long game", Courtney was happy to hear that. She offered fist bump to Mackenzie to which she answered. "By the way, you're really good with braiding."

Mackenzie was not in mood to indulge in casual talk too much. She was ready to call it a day already and hit the bunk but elimination ceremony was still looming few more hours away. However, praise was praise and she was happy to hear her talents getting acknowledged.

"You think so?" she asked smiling weakly with all of that fatigue still burdening her.

"Yes. I can't say I'm fan of braiding myself but what you did with Bridgette's hair looked absolutely amazing", Courtney admitted.

"Glad to hear that. Thanks", Mackenzie answered and nodded thanking for the praise.

Come evening time and time after sunset, Killer Bass found themselves once more around campfire pit, ready to send one member packing.

Those who had lost the challenge early on looked doing well because they had had chance to catch sufficient z's. Those who had stayed up longer – like Duncan, Courtney, Mackenzie and Harold - still looked beaten. There were eyebags galore and no one really had any motivation to humor Chris, who made some questions about past days to collect insights for footage to be added on elimination ceremony segment.

When it came time to distribute marshmallows, Chris disappeared but returned shortly after with the plate consisting of the permissions to stay on island.

"What can I say. At one point it looked like you were doing great. Six against three but something happened and here we are", said Chris.

"Chris, please", tired Courtney rubbed her eyes. It was a bitter defeat and she was not willing to stay at campfire any longer than absolutely necessary.

"You've all cast your votes and made your decision. There are only ten marshmallows on this plate. When I call your name, come up and claim your marshmallow. The camper who does not receive a marshmallow must immediately return to the Dock of Shame, catch the Boat of Losers and leave. And you can never come back. Ever!"

Some of the eleven nodded their heads signaling they got it.

"The first marshmallow goes to Duncan."

Exhausted delinquent schlepped to pick up his marshmallow before returning to his seat.

"Bridgette", Chris called up the next person.

"Courtney."

"Katie and Sadie."

"Tyler."

"Mackenzie."

"DJ."

"Geoff."

One by one as they were called, everyone went over to snatch their treat.

"Campers, this is the final marshmallow of the evening."

Nervous Eva glanced over Harold who just a second ago was barely staying awake but had now come alerted. Finding himself in bottom two was something he was not exactly expecting.

Chris let the buildup for the moment rise the way like during first elimination.

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"Harold."

Smile widened on Harold's face. He sighed in relief and went over to pick up the final marshmallow.

"Eva, the Dock of Shame awaits", Chris said to the girl without sugary treat.

Mixed expression of sadness, disbelief and disappointment disappeared from Eva's face when she stood up and turned to face the traitors who just had discarded her.

"Nice. Really nice. Who needs this stupid TV show anyway?" she raised her angry voice.

Few Killer Bass changed worried looks, fearing Eva might have another meltdown right there.

Luckily for them, she constrained herself that time. But as she walked past Chris on her way towards the docks she took the moment to finally kick host's shin.

"Ow! Chris cried out grabbing hold of his assaulted leg. He swallowed the pain so he would not give unpleasant material of him for the cameras. He faced the remaining ten Killer Bass. "Have a good night sleep tonight. You're all safe."

Confessional: Courtney

"See, I told you. You can't act like a total raging psychopath and then expect people to just forgive you, no matter how tough and strong and fast you are. She's never gonna have a career if she doesn't get her act together."

Confessional: Heather

"So, Eva was one of their strongest players and now she's gone. I am so running this game", girl said highly complacently.

Confessional: Noah

Boy was smiling from ear to ear. During the next minute he had to stood up and sit down few times to vent energy before he could settle down and address his mind to camera.

"Rewind that footage all you want. I am taking the credit for that elimination. I inserted the idea of stealing that music player to her mind. It was a whim to test her and she actually went and did it. No way she 'found' it at campfire pit. Rewind that footage all you want."

He rubbed lower part of his face and stifled a small burst of laughter.

"I bet she must feel so self-satisfied right now. She's done if she thinks she's running this game."

"Bye-bye, Eva!" Courtney was not totally heartless so she figured goodbyes were the least she could offer to Eva.

Those farewells were not received nicely as Eva picked up a stone and threw it like a baseball and with the strength of mountain giant back towards campfire area. That rock hit one of the torches put around the area, snapping it in half and dropping the burning parts to the ground.

"Touchy", scared Courtney said when she witnessed the reaction.

Nobody went to send off Eva. Nobody dared to go send off Eva. Instead they all picked up trimmed sticks and pierced their marshmallows on them. Together they formed a circle around the campfire. In lieu of swords they raised their marshmallow sticks high over the fire and touched the tips of sticks together.

"To The Killer Bass. And to Not Ending Up Here Again Next Time", Courtney played the part and phrased a playful oath for them before they lowered the sticks and took the moment to roast their treats.

Vote confessional: Duncan

"Damn it. I just wanna get back to sleep", he muttered before writing down his decision.

Vote confessional: Tyler

"Having fire in you is good but having too much fire in you gets you the boot", Tyler phrased surprisingly wise sounding while writing down his pick. "That's what back in home coach said when he downgraded team's star player after bad behavior."

Vote confessional: DJ

"Eva's nuts. Sorry, girl", there was no other option for him to consider with this one.

Vote confessional: Mackenzie

"Well… at least this is cut and dried elimination. But we're really might be doing a huge disservice here", she said and showed some hesitation when writing down her pick.

It was yet another silent night at lake surrounding Camp Wawanakwa. Eva had no reason to gaze back and wallow in self-pity. Island was free to disappear into the night without her looking back.

She sat on the back bench of Boat of Losers and leaned on her knees. Eyes wandering around boat, she realized there was small camera anchored on the edge of boat and it was pointing towards her.

"I guess my temper got the better of me. Again", without nothing to do she decided to tell her thoughts not knowing if the camera was actually filming. "But whatever. They just lost their fiercest competitor. I hope they realize that."

"Happens to the best of us. Hard to find people appreciating fiery temperament these days", Chef's voice echoed from the wheelhouse. He did not hold special liking to Eva. Girl's short temper and bad mouthing left bad taste even in his mouth. But he had to respect the shimmering spirit of fighter within her.

"Damn right. They just doomed themselves to lose", Eva stated.

Chef was not going to entertain eliminated camper with further conversation. He focused on steering the old craft toward their destination on the other side of peaceful nightly lake.

Tariq did not understand what he was seeing.

The bunk in medical tent where Owen should have been sleeping was empty.

Checking how Owen was doing was supposed to be the last task of the day for him. It was an assignment from mister Hatchet when he was absent due to transporting eliminated camper away.

If everything was fine, big guy would be let back to join other campers the next day.

But the bed, where he still was supposed to be, was empty.

Tariq went around the tent but there really were not places for a guy as sizable as Owen to hide. Had the boy gone to the toilet? He did not think so since he would have seen him when coming from there himself.

He went outside the tent and rushed over to Norman whom he saw nearby on smoke break.

"Hey, Norman! Have you seen Owen? He's not in medical."

Norman, a member of actual main production team and not intern, took a puff from his cigarette before straightening up from his squatting position.

"Yeah?" he asked worriedly. "You're sure he's not in toilets or something?"

"No, I came from there. I would have seen or heard him."

Norman had this thoughtful look on his face. He gestured Tariq to follow him to video surveillance room.

"I know for a fact that he got full-service English style breakfast delivered to him earlier but other than that I haven't been involved with his case", Norman said while he extinguished the stub before stepping in the trailer where the main bulk of video surveillance screens were.

"Right. Leftovers from staff brunch", Tariq knew why the menu was what it was. He followed Norman inside and took a seat on chair close to the door, restless to run back outside instantly when needed.

"Yes. I was present when Alex got picked up for the errand"; Norman told while logging into computer with his administrative rights. "But that was around dinnertime. Let's see…"

Norman got the video feed around their camping ground on screens and navigated to the records from recent past hours.

Tariq was flabbergasted by the sheer amount of different camera angles he was seeing on screens.

"Why there are so many cameras around here? It's not like campers are allowed here."

"Safety reasons. Network protocols", Norman understood if intern was taken back by that level of surveillance they were under. "And to be honest, McLean also added quite a few extras. He cannot say much when it comes to shenanigans from my team as we're not his subordinates but he loves to know if you interns are up to something."

"That son of a…", Tariq made sure he took a mental notice about warning his fellow interns of mister McLean's secret plan to spy on them.

"What can you do. It's Chris McLean and it's his island", Norman said shrugging his shoulders. Video feed from personnel area was not stuff to which interns had rights in so he had to be the one looking for traces of Owen.

He sped through recording from camera which pointed towards medical tent.

"Right there. Twenty minutes ago", Norman located the timestamp where Owen could be seen walking out of the tent's entrance. He did rewind and stopped the frame to the moment when camper had fully merged. There was some distance between the camera location and tent entrance, but Owen had rather distinguished body frame making it impossible to confuse him with another person.

"Is he…?" Norman took a closer look and zoomed in. "Is he naked?"

"What!"

Tariq stormed over to see himself.

It could not be denied. Owen was naked and was walking arms reached forward.

"Oh shit!" Tariq muttered curse under his breath when he realized what he was looking at.

Norman gave benevolent laugh. "Looks like you interns are not sleeping this night."

"Shit!" Tariq cursed and raced out of the trailer.

Norman picked up radiophone from charging station and opened the line. "To all on-duty and off-duty personnel. Report in. We have a sleepwalker on loose. I repeat, Owen has escaped the medical and is sleepwalking. All personnel, report in."

Confessional: Owen

"I'm so sorry I caused problems. My sleepwalking has never gone so bad. But then they brought me that delicious English style breakfast. I was starving having not eaten anything in ages and what would they have there but baked beans again. So… I guess I kind of messed up… twice…"

A/N: And thus concludes the second challenge. Gonna admit, it wasn't the easiest one to write since it gets stretched over several days. It made it all the more harder to have meaningful interactions written in especially since the campers were also battling against growing effects of sleep deprivation. On one hand I would have loved to shed some light on what interactions took place among those campers who lost early on and were forced to spend two days just socializing with each other while waiting for the conclusion of challenge. On the other hand I didn't want to leave the actual story line too much on backstage since I already had another side story going on in this chapter. Perhaps some things are better to be left untouched or for other times.

And oh boy did I love writing that side story of interns tracking down sleepwalking Owen! I found it weird how in canon he was basically left to roam free for several days and nobody was asking serious questions about it. I know it's played for the jokes most part, but with this chapter I was able to poke little fun on that side story. And staff members are getting named. That definitely extends the side of TDI which haven't been seen.

I know it is not the most original concept sending Eva packing, but then again this story isn't supposed to be total rewrite on canon and I find it rather fitting she's one of the early boots. I wrote in more mentions when her temper got better of her, thus justifying even more Killer Bass' rising distaste for keeping her around.

And then we have the big revamp from canon how Noah's "Schemer" archetype actually gets put into use. Heather sees enemies everywhere and decides Noah's help is necessary for her to secure her sides, making them uneasy allies. She claims she sees through him. According to him, he saw all this coming and was actually the force putting on move the force which ultimately got Eva eliminated. What shall come out of all this?

It was asked from me if I could provide info on who votes who. I think keeping the ambiguity what are the names behind given votes helps to create more intrigue surrounding the story and lets you the readers more room for theorizing the possibilities what could happen in the future. That's why I don't think I feel it's needed for me to deliver the names who voted who. But I guess perhaps I could provide the info of total vote counts to get you started with speculations. In this elimination's case (maybe it's rather obvious with this one) the vote count was as follows:

Votes:
Eva: 9 votes
Harold: 2 votes

I'm having some pressing matters in my civil life during the upcoming two/three weeks which might cause next chapter's writing process and release getting pushed back but rest assured it shall finally come. In the meantime, hope you liked this one, and we'll see again in next one!