A/N- Let me tell you, it was not easy to invent a new challenge. Enjoy!
Chapter Twenty-Two:
"Anyways," Chris smiled at the contestants standing before him. "As you can see, I've been getting a lot of phone calls lately from the wonderful," he forced a smile, "Canadian government. Apparently, there have been some…concerns…that we didn't do a good job extinguishing all of the mutated creatures on the island, as evidenced by a recent explosion in the mutant population. Apparently leaving all of our food waste in the woods attracts animals. Who knew? So, that's where you guys come in!" He smiled. "Today, you'll be helping me- well, helping my interns- do a little cleaning up. Interns!" He yelled.
A small group of interns emerged from the woods holding various nets, cages, and other gear.
They look so tired…
Zoey shivered at the sight of the ragged group of interns.
"Now," he grinned. "Are you guys excited?"
One of the interns let out a muffled sob, quickly covering her mouth.
"Oh, fine," he frowned. "Go back to the Spa Hotel and finish that…project…from earlier."
The interns took the opportunity to drop their supplies and quickly disperse.
"Well," Chris clapped his hands and turned back to the campers. "Since they're out, I guess it's up to you guys! Your job is to catch as many mutant creatures left in the woods and bring them back here, where you'll put them in one of these cages! And look out- I've set a few traps for the mutants, so be careful!"
"What happens to them when we bring them back here?" Zoey asked, her voice tinged with concern.
He won't kill them, right?
"Don't worry about it," Chris dodged the question. "Anyways, whoever brings back the most mutants wins the challenge, and immunity from tonight's elimination!"
"What are we even supposed to be looking for?" Heather was displeased. "What does a mutant creature look like?"
"Didn't you watch last season?" Chris asked.
"None of us watched last season," she rolled her eyes.
"Then, you'll know it when you see it."
"That's not very descriptive," Courtney frowned.
As this argument was going on, Zoey grabbed onto Mike's hand.
"Do you think Chris is gonna kill the animals?" She whispered. "I don't think I can catch them if he's going to kill them."
"I'm sure he won't," Mike tried to reassure her. "He's not that bad. He'll probably release them on Boney Island."
Meanwhile, Duncan was quietly talking to Gwen.
"So," he asked, "do you think Chris will feed us the mutants for breakfast?"
"Yeah, definitely. He's gonna turn them right over to Chef, and we'll find bones in the gruel tomorrow."
"Crunchy."
"Alright, enough questions!" Chris announced. "Are you all ready?"
"Have these animals been screened for diseases?" Cameron asked. "For instance, Histoplasma capsulatum can easily be spread to humans."
"Don't be a baby," Scott shook his head. "On the farm, none of the animals are vaccinated."
"I can tell," Heather jeered.
"Alright, you know what? I hope one of them bites you."
"Chris, seriously," Cameron asked again. "I don't want Blastomycosis. It will infiltrate your lungs."
"Is that true?" Courtney was horrified. "Chris, do they have that?"
"Chris," Zoey asked, "are you really going to be nice to the animals when we catch them? Do you promise?"
Duncan smiled at that.
Don't count on him to promise anything.
"I said no more questions!" Chris was becoming irritated. "Now, get moving! The challenge starts now!"
The contestants all looked at the pile of equipment. Scott quickly picked up a long piece of rope.
"Alright," he grinned. "I wrangle animals all the time on the farm, so this should be easy. See you guys later," he laughed and ran off into the woods.
Then, he quickly ran back.
"Sorry, Courtney," he scratched the back of his neck. "I got carried away," he frowned. "Let's go?" He offered her a hand.
"Date night!" Gwen shrieked.
"Stop it," Courtney blushed and grabbed a net. Then, she took Scott's hand. "Alright, let's go."
"This isn't a team activity!" Heather yelled after Courtney and Scott as they disappeared into the woods.
"I'm sure Scott would let her win," Gwen smiled.
Scott might be kind of gross…but he's good to her. I don't think deep down he's a bad guy. He's probably a little sheltered in his own way.
"They're growing on me," Duncan announced.
"I know, right?" Gwen agreed. "Like…at first I wasn't sure, but now? I'm on board."
Zoey tried to hide her look of disappointment.
How can they not see it? Scott's the worst, and it's so obvious…Do they not care? They'll never vote him off at this rate!
Duncan glanced over to see Zoey staring at the ground and biting her lip.
Ah, right. Well, she can't fight Mike's battles for him. He can stand up for himself.
"Alright," Heather grabbed a net from the pile. "I'll see you guys later."
"Good luck, everyone," Zoey smiled and took a net. Then, she turned to Mike and Cameron.
"What do you guys think?" She asked. "Split up, or stay together?"
"Hmm," Cameron pondered the question. "If we stay together, every mutant we catch will only count for one of us. So, it makes sense to split up."
Duncan grabbed a net.
Who cares? Does everything have to be a group decision?
"Alright, see ya," he told Gwen. "Don't let anything eat you."
"Please, you know I would taste delicious."
Zoey watched the two of them leave, then turned back to her friends.
"Alright!" She beamed. "Good luck, everyone!" She grabbed a net.
"Good luck!" Mike smiled back at her.
She noticed Cameron hesitate as he picked up a net.
"Hey, don't worry," she reassured him. "I'm sure they aren't actually dangerous."
"Yeah," he didn't look too sure. "It'll be fine."
I feel bad leaving him alone…but it's a challenge. This is the real competition now, and we're outnumbered.
Zoey gripped the net and stepped into the woods, scanning the bushes for movement. It was still light outside, but the tall branches cast shadows across the forest floor, obscuring her view of her surroundings.
This is a little creepy…
She stepped further into the darkness.
Maybe Cameron was right…what should I even do if I find a mutant?
She continued her walk, holding her net close to her body and eyeing every movement in the grass. As she passed by a small bush, she heard a faint scratching sound. She clutched onto her net.
Oh great, what's that?
She noticed the scratching was coming from a nearby bush. Taking a deep breath, she stepped closer and poked it, quickly jumping back.
To her surprise, a small, two-headed rabbit jumped out from the branches. The small animal looked up at Zoey with big eyes.
"Oh!" She smiled. "Well, you're cute!"
The rabbit blinked with two sets of eyes. Then, it looked at the net in her hand.
"Oh! Don't worry about this," Zoey smiled. "I'm just gonna pick you up and move you somewhere else, alright?"
The rabbit twitched its noses.
It's fine…it's alright…Chris won't do anything to them. It's for the challenge. Friendship finale. I'm sure Mike and Cameron are working really hard to win this challenge. I can't let them down.
"Okay, here we go," she moved the net towards the rabbit. "Just go on…" she quickly flipped the net, trapping the rabbit, who appeared indifferent, inside.
"See?" She asked. "That wasn't so bad."
She picked up the handle of the net and carefully walked back the way she came, trying not to jostle the rabbit.
"You'll be alright," she spoke aloud to reassure herself more than the rabbit. "Just stay calm."
As she reached the edge of the forest, she noticed Heather standing by the cages wrangling a green hawk into a net.
"Oh, you stupid thing," she snarled. "Get in there!" Heather managed to shove him into a cage. "I can't believe Chris has us doing this shit…Oh, Zoey!" She noticed her standing there. "And you brought a friend."
"Hey, Heather," Zoey began to walk over.
"Two heads? That's really freaky. Well, I'll see you," she started to leave.
Zoey looked at the rabbit with its big eyes.
"Um, Heather," Zoey spoke up.
"Yeah?"
I can't believe I'm doing this.
"What do you think Chris will do with them?"
"Oh, God," Heather rolled her eyes. "Seriously? He's just gonna send them to Boney Island or something. Don't get all worried about it."
"Right," Zoey forced herself to smile. "Of course."
Stupid. I need to get over this.
"But then again," Heather walked by Zoey to reach the woods, "who knows?"
Zoey sighed.
"Alright," she looked at the rabbit as she carried it over to a cage. She crouched down and opened the door. "In you go."
The rabbit obediently jumped into the cage and watched as Zoey closed the door.
"I wish you made that harder," Zoey frowned. "Oh, don't look at me like that-"
"Zoey?"
She stood up and turned around to see Cameron standing there.
"Oh! Hey, Cam."
"Are you alright?" He frowned. "You look…upset."
"I don't really like this challenge," she confessed.
"Me neither."
She noticed that he hadn't brought a mutant with him.
"One of them tried to chase me," he explained. "I hid in a tree."
"Oh."
"Maybe we could go together? I know it doesn't make logical sense, because we're better off catching them individually to score more points," he started to ramble, "but-"
"Sure, Cam," Zoey cut him off. "Let's go together."
"Great," he smiled. "To be honest, I'm not sure how we can best catch a mutant," the two of them began to walk back towards the woods. "Well, I know we can lure them out using food, but we might inadvertently attract a larger animal. I know there are bears out here," he looked around as if a bear would jump out from behind a tree and attack him, "so we need to be careful."
"Right," Zoey wasn't completely listening.
This sucks…
"This is a complicated situation," Cameron deduced.
"Yup. Complicated."
"I theorize that we should be alright as long as- oh." He stopped walking.
"What is it?" She stopped.
"Look," he almost whispered and pointed ahead, where a raccoon was lying down and licking its paws. Cameron instinctively started to back up.
"It doesn't look mutated or anything," Zoey noted. "I think it's just a regular raccoon."
"It's walking towards us!" He whispered.
Indeed, the raccoon had taken notice of the campers and had started to walk towards them.
"Oh no," Cameron took another step backwards. "No fear of humans. It must be rabid. Zoey, don't move."
"Cam, I understand you're worried, but I don't think it's a big deal," she tried to reassure him. "It looks harmless."
The raccoon stopped walking, sat down, and stared up at the campers expectantly. Then, it started to pant.
"Awe, aren't you cute?" Zoey smiled.
In response, the raccoon ran in a small circle, then sat up on its hind legs.
"Awe, come here," she bent down.
"Zoey don't- oh, the diseases," Cameron paled as Zoey picked up the raccoon.
"See?" She smiled. "Look how friendly he is!" She pet the raccoon's ears, causing him to purr. "You're like a cat. Cameron, come pet the raccoon."
"I'm good," he eyed the raccoon with a note of suspicion. "We should probably keep going."
"Yeah, you're right," she gave the raccoon one final pat on the head and set him down on the ground. "Bye! We have to go look for mutants now."
The raccoon sat back down and watched as the two began to walk away.
"Zoey? Cameron?"
"Hey!" Zoey turned around to see her boyfriend standing there. "Jeez, so much for splitting up."
"To be honest, I'm nervous to stray too far," he smiled. "I don't want to fight one of those things by myself. How are you guys doing?"
"I caught one," Zoey offered, "and it sucked."
"And I haven't caught…any," Cameron frowned.
"Me neither, Cam," Mike sighed.
"We found a raccoon though!" Zoey grinned. "Look!" She pointed back at the raccoon, who was watching them from his spot on the ground. "He's really friendly."
Sensing the campers were talking about him, the raccoon started to jog over.
"How did you know we were talking about you?" Zoey beamed. "You're so smart, aren't you?" The raccoon ran in a circle around her and balanced on its hind legs, expecting to be picked up. "Oh, fine," Zoey let the raccoon climb into her arms. "I guess you can come with us. Wanna pet him?" She offered.
"Oh, I'm not sure…" Mike looked at the raccoon.
"Here, say hello to Mike-"
All of the sudden, the raccoon began to snarl and hiss.
Mike immediately stepped away from it.
"Zoey, that thing doesn't look friendly."
"Hey, what-" Zoey struggled to hold onto the raccoon, who tried to leap out of her arms.
"Zoey, throw it!" Cameron cried.
"I can't!"
"Do something!" He cowered.
The raccoon jumped out of Zoey's arms and crouched low on the ground, hissing and snapping.
"Let's go," Cameron was already disappearing into the trees.
"I don't know what happened," Zoey looked panicked. "He was being so calm."
"It's an animal. They're unpredictable," Mike put up his hands as the raccoon growled at him. "Let's get out of here, we should look for mutants," he offered.
The trio quietly crept through the trees, leaving the scowling raccoon behind.
Huh, maybe I should be more careful out here…
Meanwhile, Duncan was still wandering through the trees, keeping his eyes open for any creatures running around.
He heard a faint shrieking in the distance.
Jeez, someone's having fun.
He glanced at the net in his hand.
What am I even gonna do with a net? Hit it? Useless…
The sound of an animal yowling nearby caught his attention. Duncan listened intently, faintly making out the sound of feet running towards him.
Great, what now?
All of the sudden, a small raccoon ran through a bush, running up to Duncan.
Wait a minute, that's…
"Brittany!" He smiled, much to the raccoon's delight. "Oh, come here, baby," he abandoned the net and crouched down so she could run into his arms. "I thought for sure Chris fed you to a bear or something."
Brittany started to lick his face like a dog.
"Hmm," he pet her ears. "Do you want to help me look for mutants? Do you even know what that means?"
She didn't react.
"Yeah, I didn't think so," he shifted his arms so he was carrying her like a teddy bear. "Well, you can bite any of them that try to eat me, yeah? Can you do that?"
She squirmed in his arms.
"I'll take that as a yes," he started to walk again. "Chris wants us to catch mutants in the forest and bring them back to him," he explained for Brittany's benefit, "but to be honest, I'm not really feeling it."
Brittany squeaked in response.
"I know, right? This season has been a bit of a drag. Courtney might win, though. Isn't that cool?"
Brittany squealed happily at the mention of her other owner.
"Yeah! Why don't we find Courtney? You can say hi. And that'll give me something to do, at least."
She doesn't even understand what I'm saying. She's a raccoon. I sound crazy.
Duncan chose a direction at random and started walking.
I should be putting more effort into this challenge…but I don't know. I guess I don't see the purpose anymore. I've already won, and Chris definitely won't let me win again. Gwen has one foot out the door. Mike and Zoey, well…
Brittany nudged his face.
"What?" He asked her.
She licked his chin.
"Ah, sorry, Brittany," he scratched her ears again. "I'm a little distracted."
She squeaked at him.
"Ah, you don't get it. You're a raccoon."
Up ahead, he could hear a few voices. He peered through the trees to see Mike, Zoey, and Cameron standing in a clearing. They appeared to be staring at something in the trees.
Hmm…
Upon seeing the trio, Brittany began to hiss.
"Oh, no, no, shh," Duncan tried to calm her down. "None of that…Hey, stop! I know I may have…encouraged you to do this," he winced, "but you have to be nice now. Alright?"
Brittany pouted as much as a raccoon possibly could.
"Fine," Duncan conceded. "Just wait here, then." He placed her on a nearby branch. "I'll be back, alright?"
Brittany licked her lips.
"Alright, cool."
Meanwhile, Zoey, Mike, and Cameron were dealing with a separate issue. The three were looking at a crowd of squirrels in a tree.
"I don't see how we can get them down," she mused. "But if we can get all of them together, we'd definitely win."
Duncan chose that moment to step through the trees.
"Hey, guys," he smiled. "Don't tell me you're just standing around during a challenge?"
"Hey, Duncan," Zoey didn't move her eyes from the trees.
"What are you guys looking at?" He walked over. "What are those, squirrels? What's special about that?"
"Look closer," Cameron whispered, not wanting to disturb the animals.
Duncan squinted to see that the squirrels had glowing green eyes.
"Oh."
"How are we supposed to get them down without attacking us?" Zoey mused. "Cameron?" She asked like she expected him to have the answer, which he did.
"Those are American red squirrels…Tamiasciurus hudsonicus…They make a sort-of whistling noise. Perhaps if we can recreate that sound, they would follow us?" He turned to Mike. "You can whistle, right?"
"Sure."
Mike whistled. The squirrels immediately turned to look at him with unblinking green eyes.
Oh, I don't like that…
"How do we get them out of the trees?" Zoey pondered.
Just then, a squirrel leapt out of the branches, landing at her feet. Cameron jumped back out of fear.
"Oh, no, no," he whimpered. "I didn't think they would jump like that. They don't usually do that, you know."
Zoey whistled, causing another few squirrels to jump out of the trees. She took a few steps back. They crept closer.
That's freaking me out…
The moment she stopped whistling, the squirrels lost interest.
"If you guys keep whistling, we can lead them out of the forest," Cameron decided. "But, um…" he eyes the growing pile of squirrels on the ground. "Maybe…"
"Don't worry, Cam," Zoey smiled. "You can walk in front, Mike and I will handle the squirrels. Right?"
"Right!" Mike smiled at her. "We can take turns."
"Woo! Power couple, dealing with the squirrels," Duncan cheered.
"You have to stop saying that," Zoey blushed.
"Are you coming?" Mike asked him.
Hmm, I left Brittany in the woods…
"No, you guys go ahead," Duncan smiled. "I'll let you guys win this one."
"Oh, you'll let us win?" Mike teased. "We're so lucky."
"I'm feeling generous."
"Guys?" Cameron whispered. "I'm sorry, can we-"
"Sorry, Cam," Mike realized. "Let's get going."
Duncan turned away from the trio as they led the horde of squirrels through the trees. He stepped out of the clearing to find Brittany, who was sitting on a rock. She perked up when she saw him, standing on her hind legs and stretching her front paws towards him.
"Aw, did you miss me?" He asked, picking her up. "Come on, let's go find Courntney."
Tracking down Courtney's location proved to be easier than he had originally anticipated. Scott had a tendency to yell.
"Yah! Oh, you bastard…" Duncan could hear him screaming at some creature in the forest.
"That's Scott," he explained to Brittany. "Be nice to him, alright?"
She sniffed his hand in response.
"Good."
Duncan stepped through the trees to find Scott wrangling a squirrel, Courtney looking on in amusement.
"Hey, Courtney!" Duncan waved with his free arm.
"Yeah?" She didn't look over.
"I brought you something!" He beamed as he held out the raccoon, who squealed in delight.
"Ew, what's that?" She frowned. "You shouldn't be touching those things."
"Courtney!" He was scandalized.
"Oh, is that," she narrowed her eyes, "oh. Brittany."
Brittany wagged her tail.
"See? She's so happy to see you."
"Fine," Courtney sighed. "Come here," she took Brittany from Duncan's arms. She gingerly pet her fur.
"Courtney!" Scott yelled. "I swear, I've almost got it."
"How long has he been doing this?" Duncan asked.
"Too long."
Duncan shook his head.
"Scott, you can just whistle and it will calm down."
"What?"
"Whistle!"
"Oh." Scott loudly whistled, causing the squirrel to stay still.
Huh…should I have told him that? Was that supposed to be a secret? Oops.
"Ah, there we go!" Scott grabbed onto the squirrel.
"Attention, campers!" Chris' voice echoed through the trees. "You only have a few minutes remaining!"
"How many did you catch?" Duncan asked.
"Well," Scott looked sheepishly at the squirrel in his hands. "This kind of took a long time."
"Ah," Duncan bit back a laugh for Courtney's sake. "Well. That's something, at least."
"Whatever," Scott was unbothered. "I'm sure nobody else managed to catch anything."
"Yeah, except for Mike and Zoey walking back with an entire crowd of squirrels."
"What!" Scott fumed. "How is that possible?"
"I dunno-"
"I have to find them."
"What?"
"Yup," Scott nodded. "I'm going to steal those squirrels."
"Oh, smart!" Courtney smiled. "I'm sure you could whistle louder than those guys."
"Definitely," Scott agreed.
Oh, shit.
"Well," Duncan started, "are you sure that's a good idea? I mean-"
"Duncan, I play to win."
I'm not changing his mind. Why did I mention the stupid whistling to the only two people who care about winning…
"Let's go," Scott decided. "Um, what's that raccoon?"
"Don't worry about it," Courtney put Brittany back on the ground. "We need to find those squirrels," she followed Scott back through the trees.
Duncan sighed quietly to himself.
"Alright, Brittany," he gave her a final pat. "I guess I should head back. Be good, alright?"
She sulked.
"Hey, don't look at me like that. I'm sure I'll see you again," he forced himself to look away from the raccoon as he walked back through the trees.
Meanwhile, Zoey, Mike, and Cameron were parading through the forest with a trail of squirrels following them.
Finally, we're going to win a challenge. It feels like it's been so long…
She whistled loudly.
"Hey, guys," Cameron spoke up from the front.
"Yeah, Cam?" Mike asked him.
"Well," Cameron cleared his throat. "I was wondering…who should we vote off next?"
"Scott," Zoey answered easily, then quickly hesitated to make sure they were alright with that plan. "Right?"
"Right," Cameron nodded.
"Of course," Mike agreed, then paused. "But…who after, do you think?"
"Hmm," she wondered. "Heather?"
"And then…" he trailed off.
"Courtney?"
"And after…"
"Gwen, I guess?"
Why does he care so much? We can never plan it that far in advance.
"After Gwen?" He almost whispered.
"Everyone for themselves? Oh- um, Duncan, at some point? I'm not really worried about him, though. I think Scott, Courtney, Heather, and Gwen are more of our competition."
"Right," he nodded. "Right." He frowned. "Those four are next."
He looks worried. It's stressful planning who to vote off.
"Hey, remember. Friendship finale," she beamed, trying to cheer him up.
"Hmm?" He had a completely blank look on his face. "Ah, right. Friendship finale," he smiled.
"I think we can pull it off. Right, Cam?"
"I don't want to jinx anything," he looked back at his friends, "but I think- where are the squirrels?"
"Huh?" Zoey turned around to see that the squirrels had disappeared. "Oh my gosh- where are they?"
A loud whistling could be heard nearby.
"Wait, what?" Mike tried whistling again, but the squirrels were nowhere to be found.
All of the sudden, Chris made an announcement.
"And here comes Scott, with 53 mutants! Unless anybody else is showing up?"
"He stole them!" Zoey fumed. "He stole the squirrels!"
Of course he would do something like this…
Sure enough, the trio reached the starting point to see Scott and Courtney, who had a large crowd of green-eyed squirrels.
This is bullshit. I can't believe him…that jerk! That was our win! He's next to go- he has to be!
Meanwhile, Duncan was trying to find the starting point as he meandered through the woods.
"Duncan!" A voice called out to him. He turned around to see Gwen catching up.
"Oh, hey!" He smiled. "Catch any mutants?"
"What do you think?"
"Ah, me neither."
"I guess I'm just tired of doing this," she sighed. "I feel like I'm waiting to go home at this point."
"Yeah, me too," Duncan answered.
"Really?" She raised an eyebrow. "You seem to be enjoying yourself."
"Wha- me?"
"Hmm," she nodded. "You've been…lighter, these past few days. Well, besides almost killing all of us."
"You would've been fine," he argued.
"Yeah, yeah. But still, you seem less angry now."
"Oh."
Is that true? I guess these few days have been alright…I wonder what changed?
"Well, at least one of us is having fun."
"I don't know if I'd say this is fun, but…I don't know, maybe you're right."
"You've calmed down. Yeah, that's it," she decided. "Not as much freaking out. What happened?"
"I don't know," he was unsure.
Do I seem different?
"Well, when you figure it out, tell me what it is so I can do it."
Aw, Gwen. You've had a rough go of it on here. I hope you get to go home soon.
"Let's get the hell out of here?" He offered.
"Please."
"You know I watched Scott fight a squirrel?" He offered as they walked through the trees.
"Really?" She smiled. "Did he win?"
"Barely. And it took him a long time. Courtney seemed impressed."
"She would be-"
All of the sudden, the pair heard a metallic, clanging sound.
"What the fuck was that?" Duncan looked around for any possible intruder in the woods. He couldn't see anything.
"Duncan," Gwen spoke faintly.
"Yeah? Do you see anything?" He scanned the woods.
"Here."
"Wha-" he looked over to see her gesturing towards her left leg, which had been caught in a large, metal bear trap.
Oh I'm gonna be sick.
The two of them stared at each other in shock, completely unsure of what to do. Gwen had a dazed look in her eyes.
"Uh," Duncan stared, "does it hurt? Stupid question. Sorry."
She started to sit down. He ran over to offer a hand, gently setting her on the ground.
She took a deep breath, and then screamed.
"Fuck! God, fucking Chris McLean I hate you so fucking much oh my God what the fuck!"
"Shh, shh," Duncan tried to calm her down.
"Oh, God it fucking hurts," she hissed. "How bad is it? Just tell me, how bad?" She refused to look at her leg.
He made himself look at the damage. The metal teeth of the trap had dug into her lug, drawing streaks of dark blood.
"Ah," he paled. "Well, it's still attached. Don't look," he quickly warned.
She immediately looked.
"I'm gonna throw the fuck up," she clenched her fists.
"Hang on, I'm sure we can get it off," he tried to hide his panic so she would feel better. "We have to pry it open with something."
"What?" She choked back tears.
Oh, please don't cry…
"I think I have something."
He pulled his knife from his pocket and got to work.
Meanwhile, all of the other contestants were gathered outside of the woods.
"Huh," Chris noted as he looked at the darkening sky. "They should be back by now."
"Should we send someone after them?" Courtney bit her lip, clearly worried.
"Nah," he dismissed her concern. "I'm sure they're fine. They're holding up the Elimination Ceremony, though. God forbid I try to keep us on schedule."
Back in the woods, Duncan was trying to jam the knife into the edge of the bear trap to pry it open.
He wasn't having much success.
"It's not working," he sighed and put the knife back in his pocket. "This blade isn't strong enough."
"Oh, God," she leaned back and rested her head against the ground.
"Sorry," he sat down next to her. "I have no idea how to open it."
"Chris," she hissed. "I should have fucking known. Of course he'd pull some shit like this."
"Yeah," he echoed unhelpfully.
"Dumb. He said he put out traps, I should have watched where I was going."
"Don't be crazy, there's no way you could have seen that."
"You should go get help," she sighed. "I'll be fine."
"What?" He gaped. "No way, I can't leave you here. I'm sure we'll figure something out, there's gotta be a way to open it," he stared at the contraption. "We just need something to pry it open."
There's gotta be something around here. A rock?
"I don't want you to lose your fingers," she inhaled sharply at the end. "Oh, fuck," she whimpered in pain.
"The challenge is over, they have to send someone to find us. I'll wait with you," he lied down next to her. "Don't worry. I'm sure Chris will send someone soon. I'm sure he's worried."
She laughed at that.
"Seriously?"
"Ah, you're right."
Back at the starting point, Courtney was starting to grow more nervous.
"Chris, you have to go find them."
"They're probably slacking off in the woods," he barely acknowledged her as he typed on his phone.
"C'mon, guys," Courtney tried to rally support from the other campers. "They could be in trouble, right?"
"I don't know, Courtney," Cameron answered. "They weren't exactly trying hard during the challenge. Based on their previous behavior, I'm sure they're goofing off somewhere."
Oof, Cam, just agree with her…
Courtney's nostrils flared.
"Seriously?" Courtney glared at him. "How could you even say that?"
"Well, Courtney," Zoey stepped in to defend her friend, "he has a point. It's too early to send someone."
"Too early? It's dark out! Mike!" She turned on him.
"Ah, yeah?"
"What do you think?"
"Me? Well," he glanced at Zoey and Cameron, then back at Courtney. "I guess we should send someone."
"See!" Courtney gestured to him while yelling at Chris. "Mike thinks we should send someone."
"Oh!" Chris smiled. "Well, if you two are in agreement, then we have to do it!" The smile fell from his face. "I'm not sending anyone."
"Chris, you should," Mike insisted.
"If you care so much, then you go look for them. Take a flashlight."
"Fine," Courtney seethed. "Mike, we're going."
"You shouldn't go out there," Zoey grabbed his arm. "It's dangerous. I know we should help, but marching into the woods isn't the best way to do it."
Who knows what other mutants are out there?
"Let's go," Courtney ordered.
"Just wait a little longer," Zoey pleaded. "We have to plan this out."
"Zoey's right," Cameron nodded. "We need a plan."
"Um," Mike looked between his friends and Courtney.
"Make up your mind," Chris was getting bored. "Take a light or stay here and stop talking about it. All of you."
"Mike," Courtney insisted, then smiled. "I really think you should come with me."
They stared at each other for a moment. Then, Mike looked at the ground.
"Ah. Well," he blanked for a moment. "Fine. Yeah. So. Let's go."
Is he just ignoring everything I'm saying? Why is he going just because Courtney wants him to?
"Well," Zoey set her jaw. "Then I'm going with you."
"Yeah," Cameron echoed her sentiments while clearly not wanting to go. "I'll go too."
"Fine," Courtney appeared unbothered. "Whoever wants to go. Chris, where are the flashlights?"
"Oh. I don't have any."
"Chris!" Heather snapped. "You said to take a flashlight! Why would you say that if you didn't have any?"
"I'm not going out there without a flashlight," Cameron quickly backtracked.
"Courtney," Scott, who had been quiet this entire time, murmured her name. "There's no way we can go in the woods without flashlights."
"Well, we've done it before," she crossed her arms.
"Yeah, with the Blue Harvest Moon lighting everything up. Now? It's pitch black, and there's mutants running around everywhere. We'll easily be separated. Even on the farm, we always bring flashlights. And flare guns. And shotguns."
"Fine," she sighed, seeing the logic in his argument. "We'll wait."
Zoey looked at her boyfriend, who appeared to be lost in thought.
Am I missing something? Why was he so willing to go out there just because Courtney asked?
She glanced over at Cameron, who appeared to be thinking the same thing. He caught her eye and shrugged.
Back in the woods, Gwen's leg was still stuck in the trap. The two of them were lying next to each other, hoping someone would come rescue them.
"I can't believe this is how it ends," she stared up at the sky.
"You're not gonna die," Duncan frowned.
"No, I mean this stupid show. I can't believe this is how I get sent off for the last time. Too injured to continue- isn't that embarrassing?"
"I guess it's a bit of a fall from grace."
"This sucks….well, if I actually get sent home, because no one's coming to fucking find us."
"Someone will find us," Duncan was drawing patterns in the dirt.
I have no idea if someone's coming to find us…But I can't ditch her here.
"You don't have to lie to make me feel better. There's no way Chris sent someone out here."
"Ah, Gwen," Duncan frowned. "You read me like a book."
"That I do."
The two of them sat there for a few moments, listening to the distant sound of animals in the woods.
"Dark out," she murmured in somewhat of a daze.
"I know. Does it still hurt?"
"Hmm…" she trailed off.
"Gwen?" He sat up. "Gwen!"
"Tired."
I can't let her fall asleep…
"Come on," he stood up, trying not to panic. "Come on, get up, we have to figure this out."
As he stepped over her legs, she hissed in pain.
"What, what is it?" He asked.
"Dunno," she inhaled sharply. "It got better than worse for a second."
"Better?"
"Whatever you did."
"I didn't do anything…" he brushed some of the dirt off the forest floor to reveal the part of the bear tying it to the floor. "Hang on," he paused. "Tell me if this makes it better."
He stepped on it again.
"Better," she wheezed.
When he removed his foot, she hissed again.
"Sorry," he winced. "Hang on," he crouched down to inspect what he had done. "Hmm," he looked at the contraption. "Springs. But there should be two…" he looked at the other side of the bear trap to see another set of springs.
If I step on both of them, the trap should open.
"Gwen, I'm gonna try something," he decided. "When I say go, try and move your leg. Alright?"
"Alright."
"And…" he took a step back, then jumped as hard as he could onto the springs. "Go!"
She jerked her leg backwards, freeing it from the trap.
"Ah!" He smiled. "There we go."
"Give me a second," she mumbled from the floor. She took an impossibly deep breath. "Alright," she let it out. "Help me up."
He offered a hand and pulled her up from the ground. She tried to put weight on her left leg, but immediately hissed in pain.
"Here," Duncan put her arm around her shoulder so she could lean on him for support. "Come on."
"Hurts," she murmured, shaking slightly.
"I know," the two of them hobbled through the forest.
"Duncan?"
"Yeah?"
"Will Chris make me stay?"
"No."
Maybe.
"Would you vote me off if he does? Please?"
Total Drama without Gwen? Could I do that?
"Please?" She echoed again.
"Oh. Sure."
"Thank you. You'll be alright."
"Hmm?" He tried to navigate their way through a particularly dense patch of woods.
"You'll be alright."
"Are you asking me?"
"I know you will be. I wasn't so sure before, but now…I think you'll be alright."
What does she mean?
"Gwen, what are you even talking about?"
"Dunno. In general. You'll be fine."
"Of course I'll be fine, I'm always fine."
"Hmm," she didn't answer, preferring to bite down on her lip as her leg brushed against a rock. "Duncan?"
"Yeah?"
"I fucking hate this show."
"I know you do."
When the two of them finally reached the starting point, Chris was looking on in annoyance.
"You're late," he snapped.
"Oh, fuck off," Duncan was half-carrying Gwen beside him.
"What happened?" Courtney raced over, her voice was full of concern.
"Bear trap," he set Gwen on the ground and promptly collapsed next to her. "Fuck me, that was a long walk."
"Let me see," Chris rolled his eyes as if the whole thing greatly annoyed him. "Hmm," he stood over Gwen, who had streaks of mascara running down her face. "Oh, gross," he winced. "Yeah, no way. I'm sending you home."
"You didn't send anyone to look for us," Gwen looked up at Chris.
"Yeah, what the hell, Chris?" Duncan glared at him.
"Ah, well," Chris was unbothered. "Courtney and Mike insisted, but…no flashlights," he shrugged.
Him? Well, nice of him, I guess… I'm sure Courtney just wanted to find Gwen.
"Well, the rest of us weren't opposed to it," Zoey crossed her arms, trying to defend herself.
"Anyways!" Chris smiled. "Let's go to the beach for tonight's elimination ceremony!"
The ceremony itself was rather quick. When he reached the point of elimination, he announced:
"Tonight, we unfortunately say goodbye to Gwen, who is too injured to continue. Her presence will be greatly missed."
"Fuck you, McLean," she muttered under her breath.
"Who will be next to go home? Find out next week on Total. Drama. All-stars!"
Later that night, the campers had their tradition of aimlessly sitting around the bonfire.
"I can't believe she got stuck in a bear trap," Zoey whispered to Mike and Cameron. "It sucks. I liked her."
"She was nice," Cameron agreed. "And now we have to change the order of who we vote off…Scott, Courtney, Heather? Or Heather, then Courtney?"
"Well," Mike jumped in. "I think we should get rid of Heather or Scott next, and then Courtney last."
"Really?" Cameron appeared unsure. "I think she would be the most difficult to have on our side."
"Yeah, wait," Zoey was confused. "Why should we keep her around?"
"Dunno," he shrugged. "I just think we should."
"But why?"
All this talk of Courtney today…
"It's just a feeling."
"But what is the feeling? Explain the feeling?"
The two of them stared at each other for a moment.
Why won't he tell me what he's thinking?
"Let's just get Scott out of here," Mike looked away and rubbed his eyes.
"Right…" Zoey wasn't satisfied, but not willing to push it further at that very moment. "Who knew that would be so difficult?"
When Mike wasn't looking, she snuck a glance at Cameron.
You know what's weird…he wasn't willing to look for Cameron last night, but he was fine looking for Duncan and Gwen just because Courtney asked him to…What's going on? That's weird, right? Is it just me? I wish I could get Cameron alone to ask him.
On the other side of the fire, Duncan was sitting with Heather.
"Look at those two," Heather looked at Scott and Courtney in disgust.
"Ah, give it up, Heather," Duncan smiled. "It's kind of sweet."
"I wish Gwen were still here," she sighed.
"I know…but she hated being here."
The two of them sat in silence for a moment.
Duncan stood up.
"I'm going to bed, I think."
"So early?"
"It was a long day."
"Alright," she shrugged. "Leave me alone to watch the lovebirds. I get it."
"Have fun," he smiled at her.
She flipped him off.
I think I'm more bored than tired…Well, maybe that's a good thing. I don't think I've had a good night's sleep in a while. I need this.
Meanwhile, Zoey, Mike, and Cameron were finishing up their talk around the bonfire.
"We should get some sleep," Zoey decided. "We need to make sure Scott doesn't win tomorrow. He's already won the last two."
"I don't know how he does it," Cameron shook his head.
"Let's meet tomorrow?" Zoey asked as they began to walk back to the cabins. "We have to come up with a plan."
"That's hard to do when we don't know what the challenge will be," Cameron gave his input.
"I know," Zoey sighed. "Well…I'm sure we'll be alright. Good night, guys," she kissed Mike good night and waved as the two of them walked over to the guy's cabin. Suddenly, Cameron stopped and turned around.
"Oh no, I forgot my glasses," he stated.
Sure enough, he wasn't wearing them.
"I guess I left them at the bonfire. I'll go back." He started to walk back towards the woods.
"Oh, do you want us to go with you?" Zoey offered.
"No, Zoey," Cameron stared at her. "I'm…alright." He stared at her again.
Oh, he's just not subtle.
"Alright, well, good night guys!" She waved, and shut the cabin door. She waited for a few seconds, and then opened it. When she saw that Mike had gone inside, she set out to find Cameron.
I feel bad going behind his back like this…well, Cameron's the one who wanted to talk to me. I didn't even start this.
Sure enough, Cameron was standing just inside the tree line.
"Hey, Cam," Zoey frowned.
"Now do you see what I mean?" Cameron jumped right into it. "He's acting differently."
"Yeah, I know," she sighed.
"And the stuff with Courtney-"
"I know, Cam," she stressed, then took a deep breath. "Sorry," she saw the hurt look on his face. "I didn't mean to snap at you. But you're right. Something's off."
"Do you think they're in an alliance?" He whispered.
"Mike and Courtney? Against us?" Zoey couldn't believe what she was hearing.
"Well," Cameron winced, then paused. "Maybe it's not…him."
"I don't know, Cam…I don't know what to think anymore. The whole thing is really stressing me out," she shook out her hands. "I don't know what to do. I can't believe it's some other alter-"
"Then what? Is it him? What's he doing? Why does he want to keep Courtney around?"
I don't know. I have no idea what's going on. There's no way he would betray us like that.
"He wouldn't betray us," Zoey decided.
"Maybe he would."
"How could you even say that-"
"Zoey," he cut her off. "I hope I don't come across as condescending when I say this, but we have to look at the evidence in front of us. He's been acting out-of-character for days. His personality has changed. Something might be going on with Courtney that he doesn't want us to know about. Now, what is that? I don't know, but we can't ignore all of this in favor of some…reality that we might prefer. I know you rejected this hypothesis before, but I don't think we've been dealing with the same Mike that we know. I think it's a different alter. It's possible Mike isn't even aware of what's going on. We need to start thinking about our options."
"Our options? Friendship finale, that's the only option."
"Zoey," Cameron frowned like a disappointed father. "I wouldn't count on that anymore."
"What are you saying? We should vote him off?"
"He's not in control of his actions. Unless…"
"Unless what?" Zoey was unsure she wanted to know.
"Maybe it is him. And he doesn't care about us anymore."
"Cameron!" She was scandalized. "How could you even say- I'm his girlfriend," she hissed. "I know him better than anybody."
"And I don't?" Cameron was hurt. "So what I say doesn't matter?"
"You know that's not what I mean," she quickly regretted what she said. "I don't- I'm sorry- I just don't know what to do, alright? What are the options? He's turned against us, or someone else has taken over his body?" She was starting to panic.
"Zoey," Cameron was unsure how to deal with her reaction, "maybe I shouldn't have brought this up now…Let's figure this out after the show. There's nothing we can do about this now. We'll be done in a couple of days. Then, we can talk about it."
"How am I supposed to not think about this?"
"We can't. Think about it logically. There's no point in doing this now. We're on TV, we have to do this later. I'm sorry, I really shouldn't have brought this up in the middle of the season. Let's go to bed," he pleaded.
I guess, what else can we do?
"Alright," she nodded. "Alright. Let's go to bed," she rubbed her hands together. "We'll deal with this later."
"And we're always here if he wants to talk," Cameron tried to reassure her. "Right?"
"Of course."
"Walk back before me," he was unsure. "Just in case."
"But what about your glasses?"
He took them out of his pocket.
"Oh."
Zoey walked back to the girl's cabin and shut the door behind her. Thankfully, there was nobody else in there.
Sleep…How am I supposed to sleep?
She paced across the room.
I don't know what to do, I don't know what to do…Why don't I know what to do? Is he alright? I just want him to be okay…Why won't he talk to me? How do I fix this? I wish I could get through to him, but I just can't. How many times can I ask him if he's alright? I feel like that's all I do nowadays.
Meanwhile, Duncan was lying in bed.
Weird, so weird. For once I feel like I don't have anything to worry about on this show. Isn't that crazy? I can just…sleep. Weird. I could get used to this.