Welcome back to (technically) the fourth chapter! Thanks for sticking with me for so long. It's been a long time since I've been this invested in a fanfic that wasn't a single chapter, and I'm really excited to keep going with this.
I don't have all that much to say, except that I hope you enjoy the chapter! And be sure to drop a review if you have something to say!
Chapter 4: A Shocking Conclusion
Sammy carefully picked the blueberries from the bush and placed them in her bag. Lifting it up and testing its weight, she sighed in frustration at how little she'd manage to scrape together given how long she'd already been out foraging. She tried working faster, but her clumsy hands kept accidentally squishing the berries and only gave her blue, sticky palms. She let out an angry whine and shook off what she could, and tried looking around for anything easier to scrounge up.
"Having trouble?" Shawn asked, suddenly popping out of the bush Sammy was examining.
"Jesus Christ!" She nearly fell over in surprise, and redirected her ire at him. "Shawn! What did I tell you about sneaking up on me?"
"Ah, sorry! Force of habit, like I said! But just so you know, zombies won't give you a warning when they're coming at you full speed."
Sammy frowned further. How fast is a zombie's full speed, anyway? Well, whatever. "I'll… remember that, thanks. I guess."
Shawn exited the bush and readjusted his own bag. It was clear that it was already near full, and that made Sammy feel even more self-conscious. "That said, you are having trouble, right?" he asked her.
"I mean, yeah. I am still new at this. And I haven't noticed it before, but I don't think I have very good coordination with my hands." She glared at them accusingly. "I just crush everything I pick if I'm not careful."
Shawn rubbed the stubble under his lip, and then snapped a finger. "Hey, I have an idea."
"You do?"
"Yeah. Uh, let's see." He reached into the bush he came out of and cracked off two branches, giving one to Sammy. "Here. Now step aside and follow my lead."
"Uh…" She took the branch hesitantly. "Okay…"
She moved aside a bit, and after putting his bag underneath it, Shawn zeroed in on the bush that was giving Sammy trouble. With almost inhuman speed, he swung the stick around in precise movements, and managed to knock a decent amount of berries off. They all perfectly fell into his open bag, which he quickly did up and slung across his shoulders once more. "And that's how you hunt berries! Now you give it a shot."
It didn't seem to occur to him that Sammy had no capable way of doing that. "Uh… Can we try doing something that's a bit more… traditional?"
He raised a brow. "I don't see how that wasn't."
"What? You don't-" She stopped talking with a sigh and approached the bush. "Never mind. Let me give it a shot."
"Is that Sammy I hear?"
Her head instantly perked up and swivelled around. "Jasmine?!"
The girl in question walked into view from behind some trees, and offered both her and Shawn a wide grin. "I figured that was you. G'morning, you two."
"Jasmine! It is you!" Sammy ran up to her and enveloped her in a hug. The taller girl was startled at first, but then returned right after. Normally Sammy wouldn't have even thought about initiating a hug with anyone, but after the last few days she had definitely been feeling a bit more daring than normal. "You survived the night!"
"'Course I did!" She let out a laugh. "It wasn't even close. No one was pleased with how Sugar'd been performing so far. It was almost a unanimous decision, aside from herself of course."
"Oh thank goodness," Sammy said as she sighed in relief. "I was worried they were going to vote you out."
"Nah, there was no need to worry. Everything turned out fi-" Her eyes wandered past Sammy, and she stopped herself from talking. "Uh, Shawn was here just a second ago, right?"
"Huh?" Sammy turned back to find nothing but empty forest behind her. "Y… Yeah, he was. Weird. He's slippery sometimes."
"Yeah, but that's what's cool about him."
Sammy grinned warmly and rolled her eyes. Yyyep. She's into him alright.
Jasmine then cleared her throat. "Listen, there's another reason I wanted to find you."
"Oh." Sammy didn't even know she was looking for her in the first place. "What is it?"
For the first time since Sammy had met her, Jasmine seemed to look rather uncomfortable. "So, I may have gotten into a bit of a spat with your sister yesterday afternoon, right? And I may have mentioned that you go foraging for food in the morning."
Oh no.
"And whatever it was you said to her yesterday must've gotten to her, because-"
"She demanded to come foraging too?" Sammy finished for her.
The interruption surprised her friend somewhat. "Huh, you really know her well. Yeah, she did force me to bring her here."
"Yeah, well, you get to know a person after suffering her for most of your life." She bit her tongue and forced the edge out of her voice. "Why'd you agree to it though? You could've just said no."
"I mean, I could've, but she was threatening to play the wounded gazelle and have the others vote for me by claiming I hit her or something. I couldn't risk that, 'specially since I didn't really help matters in the challenge yesterday. I'm really sorry."
She did seem remorseful about it, and that really did seem like something Amy would do, so Sammy decided to forgive her immediately. "It's okay. Is she… nearby? I'm probably going to try and avoid her if I can help it."
"I split up with her about 20 minutes ago. No clue where she went." Jasmine pointed in the direction she said she had last seen her. "If you spot her and she tries to start something, let her have it. But otherwise, I'd say keep your distance. I don't want you two getting into a fight this early, for both your team's sake and mine."
Sammy took a second to compose herself. "I'll try. There… may be a chance that yesterday was a fluke. Hopefully it wasn't, but if I see her, I'll uh…" She snorted and smiled again. "I'll try to go easy on her."
"Hah! That's the spirit." She punched her in the arm perhaps a bit too strongly, and Sammy let out a grunt. "Actually, how about the two of us forage together for a change? I could help you stock up if you want."
"Mmm… Well," Sammy turned her head back to the spot behind her, "seeing as how my berry hunting partner bailed on me… Sure! I'd love to." In actuality, Sammy was ready to say yes before Jasmine even finished her sentence.
"Awesome! Let's get to it." She started off in the opposite direction, and Sammy followed.
"So, do you like, spell 'awesome' similar to Australia? Cuz it's like… awesome, Australia?"
"Oh, now that's just being rude, you cheeky little somethin'-or-other."
Luckily for Sammy, neither of them ran into Amy during the foraging. Once both her's and Jasmine's bags were filled, Sammy left and headed back to the shack before her luck ran out. Chances were they were definitely going to bump into each other at some point, and meeting her outside of a challenge could lead to just about anything happening. Sammy hoped she'd be able to stick up for herself again when the time came.
She made it back to camp and pushed aside the 'door' (an extra blanket Shawn and Beardo managed to dig up yesterday afternoon). "I brought breakfast!" she declared. Sky, Ella and Beardo looked up at her eagerly, said their thanks and accepted their bags. Sammy accepted the gratitude with a grin and was reminded at how good it felt to be appreciated.
They chatted and munched away at their food, talking about different things. With the win from yesterday, the tension had seemed to wither away. There was a small moment where Sky mentioned to keep their focus up today, but aside from that the conversations were relatively stress-free.
"So, wait, you had no beef with her at all?" Sammy asked between bites.
"Absolutely not!" Ella declared. "No 'beef' whatsoever! I hadn't even spoken to her yet. The only time was perhaps when she took the glitter from me in the first challenge, but that was it!"
"Then why did she look like she was ready to mount your head on a wall?" Beardo asked.
"I certainly have no clue. She… She wasn't actually acting like that, was she?"
"No, I'm afraid they're right," Sky told her. "Sugar said something about taking you down before you could get the best of her, whatever that meant."
"But that makes no sense! Why would she speak like that when I hadn't even had a proper conversation with her?"
"Maybe she was jealous?" Beardo offered.
"Jealous?" Ella asked. "Of me?"
"Oh yeah," Sky said in realization. "I think I overheard her the other day, saying something about being a pageant queen or something? She may have been seeing you as competition, and was unfairly holding it against you."
"Really?" That didn't seem to sit well with Ella. "Hmm. I'd rather wish she was still here so that I could clear the air with her. But I suppose I must leave it at that."
Sammy laid a hand on her shoulder. "Try not to worry about it too much. Maybe you can talk to her when this is all over?"
"I think I'd like that," Ella replied with a warm smile. "Oh um, not to change the topic, but where is Shawn, by the way? I would've expected him to at least be around."
"I'm actually not sure," Sammy answered. "He was helping me pick berries when Jasmine showed up. Then he just vanished."
Sky stopped mid-bite and gave her a look. "Wait, hold up. You met up with someone from the other team?"
Sammy immediately felt her stomach drop. Oh, crap. Of course Sky would zero in on that part. "Y-Yeah, but Jasmine's a good person. She helped me find the nails during our first challenge, a-and she's been super supportive since we got here." Her nerves were starting to get worked up. Defending herself was hard. "I don't think she'd try anything funny. Besides," Sammy took a quick look out of the shack, "I think she's got a thing for Shawn."
Ella gasped in delight, while Sky and Beardo seemed surprised. "For Shawn?" Beardo asked. "That's… not what I expected."
Maybe that wasn't the best idea. "Don't tell them I said that! Please?"
Sky still seemed rather unconvinced though. "Be that as it may, I'm still not sure you should trust the enemy. We don't know if she's just setting you up or something, you know?"
"Well, I mean, I know what you're saying, but-"
"I trust her," Ella said. Sammy, still very used to people interrupting her, clamped her mouth shut.
"You trust Jasmine?" Sky asked with a quirked brow.
"Huh? Oh, well, not necessarily her, but I trust Sammy to know who to trust. And from what I've seen, Jasmine doesn't seem like a bad person. A little intimidating, perhaps, but she doesn't seem like she'd try and lead anyone astray."
"I agree. Besides," Beardo started, though he then leaned over to Sky and whispered in her ear. Sammy couldn't make out what he was saying, but whatever it was seemed to do the trick.
"I suppose you're right," she said to Beardo. To Sammy, she continued, "Just try to make sure she isn't pulling you along in anything. We don't need her and the Salmons trying to sabotage us or anything."
"She hasn't tried anything like that," Sammy said. She was positive that Jasmine was genuine, and had nothing but good thoughts about her, unlike thoughts about herself. "And just in case she does, I should be able to pick up on it. I've had… plenty of experience doing just that." No experience making it stop, but I should be able to at least try.
It took a moment, but Sky ultimately nodded. "Okay. I'll hold you to that."
Sammy beamed and wrapped Sky in a hug. It caught her off guard, but was quickly reciprocated. Two in one morning was a new record for her, something she wasn't soon going to forget.
It was at that exact moment that the speakers around the island screeched to life, forcing the Bears to clamp their hands over their ears.
"Challenge time, my little chick-a-dees!" Chris announced. "Get your keisters to the designated area, all lickity-pronto-like!"
"It's time," Sky said. She finished off her apple and tossed the core through the door. "Let's hope we make it through today unscathed."
"And also that Shawn shows up on his own," Ella added. "Though I don't see why he wouldn't."
"When it comes to the challenges he's pretty reliable," Sammy said. "And breakfast too. Uh, not counting today."
"And finding stuff for us to use." Beardo added. "Extra blankets, pillows, a lot of them in good condition…"
"It fits his whole 'zombie apocalypse' thing, doesn't it?" Sammy asked with a giggle.
"Sometimes I think he believes it a bit too much," Sky said. "Though I'm not denying he's got skills. I admit, he could give me a run for my money if we were racing under fair conditions."
"A… run for your money?"
"Wh- oh my God, Sammy."
The designated area ended up being two logs and a flat screen TV located in the middle of an open plain, similar to where they had gathered at the end of the first day. Chris and Chef were already there, of course, as were the Salmons. Amy was choosing to stare right at Sammy, and when their eyes met it turned into an angry glare. Gathering her willpower, Sammy did her best to send a glare right back, and something in it must've caught her sister off guard as she turned away in a huff and proceeded to ignore her.
Ella took the seat on the far end of their log towards the TV, followed by Sammy herself, then Sky, and then Beardo. Not long after that Shawn showed up, and he took his seat next to Beardo. Sammy had a mind to ask him where he vanished to, but with everyone present and accounted for, the challenge began immediately.
It turned out to be a variation of Truth or Dare, in this case being called Truth or Scare. The TV would spin a roulette of each contestant's faces, followed by another roulette with two options: either you get a halo and have to answer an embarrassing, revealing truth about yourself, or you get a flame and have to take part in a dangerous and/or disgusting dare, all in the name of earning your team points.
When the flatscreen started the roulette of faces and ended up on hers first, Sammy huffed in irritation. The second roulette stopped on a halo, and she instinctively gulped, though as Chris was still explaining the game she knew this was just an example. "How will you know if we're not lying?" she found herself asking.
"I'm glad you asked!" Chris said in delight, and then proceeded to introduce Clucky, the resident polygraph chicken who ran her own law firm. "She'll be able to tell if you're lying through your teeth or not. And if you are, or if you fail a Scare should you be issued one, you'll be in for quite a shock!"
"Why doesn't that leave me with much hope?" Ella asked. It was at that point that Sammy suddenly felt something slip around her neck, and her hand reached up to feel a sort of metal collar that Chef Hatchet seemed to be putting on everyone. "Also, um, what is the purpose of these collars?" she asked as Chef put one on her, and proceeded to the other team to do the same.
"Don't worry about it!" Chris said, making Sammy worry even more. "They're just state-of-the-art shock collars designed for maximum voltage! Plus, they're trendy!"
"Shock collars?!" Sky cried out.
"Uh, I don't know what part of the world you're from," Amy said, glaring as Chef put one on her, "but here, they are not trendy."
Chris shrugged. "Fair enough. They are, however, entertaining!" When the last collar was on, he broke out two remotes, each one the colour of the teams, and pressed the sole button on them both.
That was how Sammy learned what having several volts of electricity course through one's body felt like. Almost like she started vibrating on the spot, but painfully. When Chris let go of the button, she swore she was able to smell burning from somewhere.
"Y-You tested these, right?!" Jasmine asked. She and her team looked completely fried, if their frizzy hair and battered expressions meant anything. Sammy glanced around to see that her team was in a similar position.
"Yep! Just did!" Chris announced gleefully. "And you're all still alive, so congrats."
Of the four challenges they'd had so far, Sammy figured this was the one she was going to like the least.
"For each lie you tell, or each Scare you fail, your whole team will get a shock and will probably like you a lot less. Sounds exciting right?!" When no one answered positively, he shrugged it off and turned to face Sammy. "Let's start right where we are. We have a Truth coming from Samey."
Yep, it's official. I hate this challenge. Normally it was Amy who revealed her secrets for her - now she had to do it on her own, and she was not looking forward to it. Clucky squawked and hopped up on her lap, giving her the stink eye the whole time. She tried to avoid eye contact, all the while wishing she had decided against joining the game.
"Now Samey," Chris said smugly, approaching her with a saunter. "This one oughta be an easy one for you."
"Something makes me doubt that," she said quietly.
His plastic grin almost seemed to widen. "We'll start the game off with this: who… do you hate the most?"
The fear in her heart instantly went away. Oh wow. That is easy. "Who do I hate the most?" she repeated, to which she got a nod in response. "Well… I mean, that should be obvious, right? The person I hate the most is-"
Just before she finished, something flashed in her mind. …Oh. Oh no. That's true. It's not just her. And I don't think Chris will take just one answer.
Clucky was looking at her like she was a predator eyeing its next meal. Sammy let out a shaky sigh. "Um… actually it's a tie between two people."
"Oh?" Chris asked. He did not seem surprised by the revelation. "Do share, why don't you."
"It's a tie between… Amy," she said with as much venom in her voice as she could. She seemed completely unfazed by it. "And…" She took a deep breath and tried not to tear up. "...Myself."
There were gasps and murmurs amongst the others, and she immediately felt hands on her shoulders from both sides of her. She didn't dare look up to see their looks of pity, but the more positive side of her could almost imagine her friends glaring daggers at Amy, though she likely didn't give a single care.
It wasn't that she necessarily hated herself. Well, there was some truth to it, otherwise she wouldn't have said it, but it was more along the lines of hating who she had become: a doormat with barely any social skills who lived in her sister's shadow and never had the chance or ability to leave it. And while she'd made friends in the last couple of days, that wasn't nearly enough time for her to change how she thought about herself.
So it was with great relief that Clucky, satisfied with the answer, gave a single 'buckaw' and hopped off of her lap.
Chris faked wiping a tear away. "Heartfelt, emotional… and also true! One point to Team Maskwak!"
The flatscreen lit up with the score, and Sammy did her best to feel happy that she put them in the lead. It didn't really work.
Ella leaned over to her, hand still on her shoulder. "That was… incredibly brave of you. Thank you."
"I don't like lying," Sammy admitted, "especially when doing so is only going to hurt us. I just hope he doesn't come back to me with more questions."
Chris called for attention, and the wheels started spinning again. "Next we'll have… Rodney," the large farm boy's face showed up, along with a halo, "doing another Truth. And the question is: in your opinion, who is the most attractive girl on the island?"
He gasped and ran up to Chris with Clucky in hand and started whispering to him for some reason. Sammy strained to hear what he was saying, but couldn't make out the words. As he spoke, Sky leaned over to her and started whispering herself. "What sort of question is that?"
"I'm not really sure," Sammy replied, "but I don't think Rodney's taking it very well."
Indeed, he seemed to be sweating bullets and almost hyperventilating at the question. It sort of reminded her of herself whenever she had to deal with a stressful situation, but since she didn't really know him and he was on the other team, she didn't feel that badly.
He looked to the girls on his team; Jasmine was busy cleaning out an ear, Scarlett was examining her nails, and Amy was checking her face in her compact. She didn't lose that in the zeppelin crash? Ugh! Lucky. Then he turned to the Bears, and Ella, Sky and Sammy herself all gave him curious, bewildered looks.
"Uh, I, uh…" Rodney actually began chewing his nails in fright. Sammy was actually kind of hopeful he wouldn't be able to answer, as that'd keep them in the lead. But then, for whatever reason, he turned back to the Bears, and looked directly at her. "Uh… S… Samey! It's Samey!"
…
…
…Huh?
Sammy stared at him for what felt like a solid ten minutes, but however long it actually was, several things happened during it. Rodney seemed to have liked that answer himself, and wiped his forehead in relief; Amy bolted to her feet and shrilly asked "What?!", smacking Jasmine in the process and earning herself a glare; and Clucky suddenly grew infuriated, ripped herself out of Rodney's arm and pecked at his team's remote, causing them all to convulse and, in the case of Amy and Rodney, fall over face-first.
And all the while, Sammy's head was swimming with questions.
Wha… What?! Huh?! Me?! What?! That doesn't make sense! But wait, he was lying? Why was he lying? Does he not think I'm the most attractive here? Or does he? If he doesn't then why'd he say it? But if he does why'd they get electrocuted? I really don't understand! What just happened?!
She was being shaken and called to. She shook her head and looked towards Sky. "You, uh, alright in there?"
"I, uh…" She tried to keep her speech under control, but it was especially difficult this time around. "I-I really don't know! I have no idea what to think!"
"Oh, come now, it mustn't be that surprising to know someone thinks you're pretty!" Ella asked, completely oblivious to Sammy's inner turmoil.
"It is though!" She cleared her throat and struggled to lower her voice even further. "Because I'm not. Amy's the pretty one. She's the one who gets confessions and everything, though she always turns them down. And I'm… I don't. I'm not. I don't..."
She trailed off, and Sky leaned over and looked her in the eyes. "Um… that doesn't make any sense."
"W-What do you mean?" Sammy asked her.
"I mean, you're identical twins. Wouldn't that make you both the pretty one?"
Just as before, Sammy took a while to process that information. She blinked several times, trying to decipher it in her head, all the while having to listen to Beardo make a noise akin to an old-timey fax machine trying to operate. Eventually she turned back to Sky and asked completely genuinely, "Wait… really?"
"Yes, of course!" Ella agreed earnestly, causing Sammy's head to whirl towards her. "I'm surprised no one has told you that before."
Sammy would've replied to that by saying she'd been told the opposite all her life, but her head was a bit wrapped up by the fact that Ella practically just called her pretty. Her face lit up like a beacon, and her already flustered head became even worse. "Um. Yeah. I-I guess so."
Sky rubbed her chin and regarded Rodney as he plopped back down on his log in a daze. "That doesn't explain why he got zapped, though…"
She did her best to shake away the fuzziness in her head. "Uh. I think I want to just leave it at that for now," Sammy quickly insisted, and hoped everyone could forget it ever happened. Besides, being liked by a guy would probably get… troublesome.
Chris cleared his throat, and the game resumed. "Next up to bat is… Beardo!" His face stopped on the screen, followed by a flame. "Doing a Scare!"
"Hoo boy, here we go," he muttered.
"Beardo, for this Scare, you must…" Chris quickly flipped through his cards. "Retrieve a patented Chris McLean bust from that tree over there." He pointed behind their team, towards a tree with a bird's nest on one of its branches. Inside the nest was the Chris bust, and Sammy was surprised she hadn't noticed it before now.
Beardo hummed in thought. "Climb the tree, get the head, get ahead. Sounds easy enough." He bounded over to the tree in just a few steps and began searching for any purchases to use to climb.
"Oh, dear," Ella suddenly said in worry.
"What's wrong?" Sammy asked.
"I assume he must not know, but you should never, ever say those words on Total Drama."
"Wait, what? What words?"
She looked at Sammy grimly. "'Easy enough.'"
What followed was a Scare that ended up being so ridiculous, Sammy could've easily seen it being in a cartoon. Beardo scaled the tree and edged out along the branch. He made it to the nest and reached for the bust, but stopped just in front of it. "Whoa, hold up. There are eggs in here! And, uh, I think they're startin' to shake!"
As soon as he said that, the loud cry of an angry bird came from above, and Beardo screamed as the eggs' mother dove for him at breakneck speeds. "Ow! Hey! Watch the eyes, I need those to see!" He attempted to shoo away the bird and reach for the bust at the same time, but he was getting nowhere fast. "I just want the statue! So can you lay off for just two sec-"
At that point a loud crack was heard, and Beardo immediately fell to the ground along with the branch and nest. Recovering quickly, Beardo screamed and pulled himself forward across the dirt just in time to catch two bird eggs and the Chris bust in his afro. Heaving a sigh of relief, he was immediately set upon by the mother again, but to his and the others' surprise the bird grabbed the bust and took off for the sky with it once more.
"Hey, wait!" Beardo called out to the bird as he stood. "Why did you leave your kids behind? They need a responsible parental figure in their lives! You can't just ditch them!" The eggs in his hair finally shattered, however, and out popped two featherless baby birds. They were chirping loudly, causing Beardo to tense up. "Oh you gotta be kidding me! I can't be the parental figure! I'm not responsible enough!"
The rest of the campers were left in silence. "Did… Did that just happen?" Sky asked, dumbfounded. "Did we actually witness that all happen?"
"I… don't think I'm able to process all this," Sammy answered. "My head's starting to hurt."
An intern walked up to Beardo, and retrieved the birds from his hair. "Be gentle with them! They're just kids." The intern did as asked, and slowly walked out of the area with them. "Remember to feed them! They like eating worms from the mouth!"
"I dunno, I feel like Beardo could be responsible enough," Ella commented with a giggle. "He's making sure the chicks are well-taken care of at least."
With a frown, Sammy hummed in acknowledgement. It takes more than making sure a kid is fed for it to be considered taking care of them.
"Well, now that that's over with," Chris announced, drawing everyone's attention back to him, "Beardo! You're lacking a Chris head, which means you failed the Scare."
The rest of the Bears groaned, but Beardo looked the most shocked. "What? But, but I had it!"
"You're right! Had. Past-tense. Now you don't, which means…" A button from the remote sent electricity coursing through Sammy again. It was just as bad as last time, and she was desperately hoping that they wouldn't have to go through that again.
"Sorry, y'all," Beardo mumbled as he sat back down. "Wasn't expecting the bird to just pop outta nowhere."
"It's okay, dude," Shawn told him. "We're still early in the game, and we have the lead. We should be fine."
"Next we have… Amy!" Chris suddenly called, drawing everyone's attention. "And you're doing a Scare!"
"Wait, how come Samey gets a stupid Truth while I have to actually work for my point?" her sister called out, prompting Sammy to sigh in agitation.
"Because them's the breaks, girl!" Chris countered. "Now, for this Scare, you must take this patented Chris McLean bust that I just so happen to have on me, and plant it where we tell you to." He pulled out a Chris head identical to the one from before.
"Oh, come on!" Beardo complained, throwing his hands up in the air. "You had one already?!"
"Hey, shut it! Your turn is done, fuzzball!" Amy shouted, and snatched the head from Chris's hand. "So, where's this thing going?"
"Back down the way you came and off another path is a cave," Chris explained. "There's a very obvious spot inside that you need to put it on. Once it's there, you get a point."
"Ha! Easy! Might as well give me the point now!" She dashed off and back into the woods.
"Hmm." Chris rubbed his chin smuggly. "Will it be easy? I wonder."
"Yeah, uh, really not liking the sound of that, Chris," Topher said to him, though he was looking off in the direction Amy had left. "Normally, I would be! But right now…"
"I must agree with Topher on this," Scarlett said. Due to the volts, her bun was beginning to come out of place. "Why must we all suffer due to one person's blunders?"
"Because this is a team game, and you're all on teams," Chris answered matter-of-factly. "Besides, I like seeing you all get hurt. Seriously, you guys should know that by now."
Scarlett scoffed. "Evidently, I should have."
"If that loud, imperious girl ends up failing and causes us to get electrocuted, then I will make sure she regrets ever being born," Max grumbled snidely.
"You know, for once, I think I agree with something Max said," Sammy said to her team.
"Alright, alright, settle down," Chris commanded, and pressed a button on a separate remote.
The flatscreen changed to a real-time display of Amy, still running down the path through the forest. "This'll be a piece of cake," she was heard muttering. "Get this stupid head on the stupid spot, and then everyone will know I'm better than her."
Sammy groaned and rolled her eyes. "And why am I not surprised that's the first thing we hear?"
"Y'know," Shawn said, leaning on his knees and looking at Sammy, "something tells me your sister is more obsessed with one-upping you than you are of trying to get rid of her."
She nodded. "Yeah… I was thinking the same thing yesterday." It would certainly explain why she was prioritizing belittling Sammy as opposed to actually trying to make friends or allies. And it's even been happening back home, and at school now that I think about it… I don't think I've seen her hanging with the same group of friends for longer than a week. What could that mean?
Amy soon found the cave, started cheering, and ran inside. Not very long after, the cheer became a scream, and the camera cut to another shot inside. It became a close-up of her face, which had morphed from overconfidence to completely terrified of something, and only once the camera zoomed back out did it become apparent what she was looking at: a wolf, of all things, yapping at her from beneath the rock she had suddenly climbed up.
"Get! Get away! Shoo!" she tried desperately yelling at it, swiping at it with her foot, but it didn't do anything to deter it.
Shooting to her feet, Sammy screamed out in horror. "Amy!"
Several of the others turned to her in surprise. "Wait, hold on, why're you scared for her?" Beardo asked. "You hate each other's guts!"
She whirled on Beardo. "I hate her guts, sure, but I don't want her to die!"
Amy began looking around, probably for a rock or something to throw at it, but then stopped all motion and stared at something nearby. The camera panned over to show a white circle drawn in chalk on a ledge near her, with the words 'Put Patented Chris McLean Bust Here' crudely written on the wall above it and arrows pointing towards it. "Seriously?! What part of this is obvious?!" She slammed the bust down and made a running leap over the wolf, but unfortunately for her it caught her with its teeth in her left boot.
She slammed onto the cave floor face first with a cry of pain, and scrambled to get away. In response, the wolf bit harder. "Oww! You dick! These are my good boots!" To emphasize how good they were, she promptly started stomping on the wolf's face with her free one. After three hits, she managed to actually strike her heel on its eye, causing it to yelp and drop her leg. It backed off and stared at her for a second, but then it simply ran further into the cave. Amy wasted no time in getting out.
Sammy sighed in relief and fell back down to the log. Though a brat and a bully her sister may be, Sammy didn't want to see anyone get seriously hurt, let alone eaten. Besides, what would Mom say if Sammy came back home alone? Can't say I'd exactly miss her… But I still wouldn't want her dead. That crosses way too many lines in my book.
Soon Amy was able to trudge back, but the adrenaline had left her body. Now she was more hobbling than running, with every step she took accompanied by a limp. The wolf's teeth must've gotten her good.
To her surprise and the surprise of many others, though, someone ran up to her to make sure she was okay.
"Wha… Topher?" Sammy asked quietly. "Since when were he and my sister close?" The two of them were talking in hushed whispers, and once or twice Amy would look past him to spy on Sammy, though it wasn't longer than a second each time. Topher tried to help support Amy by taking her arm over his shoulder and directing her to the log, but Chef soon came up and took Amy to an infirmary out of sight.
"We'll cut to commercial break while Amy gets patched up," Chris explained, and then properly signed off to the cameras. "Everyone, take five. The next half will start soon."
Sammy watched as Topher stared after Amy, and with a huff he went back to his spot on the bench. She wasn't sure it sounded like he was all that worried, though. Did Amy really try to befriend someone after I told her off yesterday? Though with how close they were, that was way more than just friends… What's going on between them?
"Are you doing okay?" Sky asked her. "You seemed frazzled. And I don't mean by the shocks alone."
Sammy let out a breathy laugh. "This is a weird day with a ridiculous challenge. Too much has happened and we're only at the halfway point. First my own truth got me feeling down, then Rodney saying those things and getting shocked, then Amy nearly getting eaten by a wolf… I kind of just want it to end now and go back to camp."
"Yeah, I can understand what you mean."
"I think I'm just gonna… rest until we start again." Sammy leant on her knees, closed her eyes and tried to regain any sense of calm that she may have had before. It didn't really come back to her.
Amy came back none the worse for wear, though she was still walking with a bit of a limp. Apparently Chef had the bite marks cleaned and wrapped, and deemed her fit to return to the game. With her victory, the points were now tied, which put the Bears back on edge.
The next set of Truths and Scares went by without too much harm, for the most part. Sky had to drink a full bottle of mineral water which, with Shawn's help, she managed to do. But after he shook the bottle and sprayed it straight into her mouth, she looked like she was ready to blow at any second. Still, it got them the point.
Topher was forced to sing the national anthem while a scorpion was climbing his leg. He was quite obviously terrified, but he sung with gusto, and though he didn't have a voice that was comparable to Ella's, he still managed to get all the way through without being stung. Sammy had to admit, that was an impressive feat; and Amy thought the, as she actually congratulated and complimented him along with the rest of her team, which threw Sammy completely for a loop.
Rodney was asked another Truth, about which one member of his team he'd save in an emergency. Again, he wasn't able to answer for some reason. That was twice in a row for him now (not that Sammy wanted to remember the first time), and he was looking mighty uncomfortable and guilty under the stares of his teammates. If the Salmons were to lose, Sammy had an idea of who was going home.
Shawn was dared to wipe his snot into Beardo's sleeve, causing the girls of the Bears to gag in disgust. The guys didn't seem to mind it though, what with Beardo offering his sleeve easily enough. The problem came from Shawn shooting the snot out of his nose like a rocket, covering Beardo entirely and also hitting the girls. Sammy would've thrown up on the spot if she didn't get electrified for Shawn not following the Scare to a T, and thankfully the snot was burned to a crisp because of it.
Max was then asked what he feared most, and he gave an answer that just screamed 'Max' and said that he feared nothing. Clucky caught on to the lie immediately and literally stomped on the remote control, several times in fact, thoroughly electrocuting the lot of them. Sammy decided that if Rodney wasn't the one eliminated, Max would be the one going home instead.
Finally, Ella was given a Scare, which was to pet a live tarantula. Unfortunately, when Chef Hatchet approached her with it on a silver platter, she quickly drew away from it in obvious revulsion.
"I'm sorry," she said in apology after the team got fried again. "I love all sorts of creatures, but most arachnids are a bit too much for me…"
"It's okay, no one blames you," Sammy said, placing an arm around Ella's shoulders. "Just try your best the next time you're chosen, okay?"
"Right," she said. Despite her sorrow, she sounded resolute.
"And after so many challenges, we're still tied two-two," Chris announced. "Mostly because a lot of you are hopeless at this. But never fear! It's time for the lightning round!"
The lightning round was as its name implied - there were several Truths and Scares happening back to back in quick succession. Truths were made easier but given a shorter time frame, while the Scares were completed one after another in quick succession. Even when Sammy was called upon to do a Scare - specifically to do ten pushups over a bowl filled with fire ants - she managed to pass it with flying colors. And despite so many of the campers performing well…
"You're still tied?!" Chris shouted, tossing his cue cards into the air. "Seriously?! We're out of Truths and Scares!"
The general mood shifted and everyone began to applaud at the news. "Does that mean we can finally go back?" Sammy asked Sky in a whisper.
"...Is what I would say, if we didn't have a tie breaker round!"
And the applause turned to cries of frustration. To Sky, Sammy quickly whispered again, "Um. Never mind."
"To cap off the episode, we'll have one member of each team take these tightly knotted bags and try to untie them." Chris held up two burlap sacks, both tied with long, thin rope. "Inside is the opposing team's shock remote, and when you get your hands on it, you can press the button to give 'em what for! And also to win you the challenge."
"That doesn't sound too-" Beardo began, but Shawn clapped a hand over his mouth.
"Shush! We don't want him to make it any harder!" he hissed.
Chris probably noticed, but he didn't call attention to it. "For this sudden death, we will have…" The roulette, now limited to just the contestants' faces, stopped on- "Rodney! Facing off against…" One more spin, and this time it landed on- "Ella!"
Sammy felt the pit drop in her stomach. The few times Ella had been called on to perform, she was unlucky in that she always received Scares and never managed to earn her team a point. On the other hand, neither did Rodney, so they were putting two of the lowest players against each other now. It made sense, but it didn't make Sammy any less apprehensive. If the Bears were to lose, she had an inkling of who would be getting the boot, and she did not like the answer.
With her team cheering her on, Ella gracefully took center stage, but not all the people on Rodney's team were rooting for him; though Jasmine, Topher, and Scarlett were encouraging him, Amy's and Max's comments were backhanded and insulting at best. Luckily for Rodney, they were overshadowed by the more positive ones.
The host handed the two players their bags. "We'll go until one team gets shocked," he said, and with that he signalled the start of the sudden death round. Ella daintily worked on her knot at a pace that would have normally been considered too slow, but since Rodney was having a considerable amount of trouble with his, her pace was actually the faster one.
"Oh, man!" he cried out. "My fingers are too dang big! I-I can't get it loose!"
"Really?" Ella asked. "I undid mine easily enough." She pulled out the remote and dropped the bag to the ground. Rather than actually push the button however, she looked towards Rodney. "Would you like some help?"
"What? Ella, no!" Sammy cried out. "You have to push the button! That way we'll win!" The others sent her similar urgings, but when she turned back to them she only looked conflicted.
"Are… Are you sure?" Ella asked, looking at the remote. "It's just so… mean. I can't do that to them!"
"You have to!" Shawn shouted at her. "This is what you signed up for, remember?"
"I…" She looked between her team and the opponents, who were either continuing to urge Rodney to work faster or looking at her with fear. She saw those looks, sharply took in a breath, and held the remote away from her. "No! No! I can't! I'm not going to hurt them!"
"Girl, that's gonna come back and bite you some day, you realize that?" Beardo called out to her.
"Just this once, Ella, we won't make you do anything like this again!" Sky offered.
"He's going to push the button first if you don't do it now!" Sammy told her. "So please, please, don't let them win!"
Ella looked at them, at her specifically, and Sammy was momentarily caught off guard by how vulnerable she looked. She was unwilling to hurt them, and Sammy honestly respected her for it, but Ella must have realized that if they lost she might not survive the night. It was certainly a position Sammy wouldn't want to be in, but they were so close to winning that Sammy kept shouting at her to press the button.
She looked between both teams, at Rodney exclaiming that he finally found a loose thread; her eyes were wide and unblinking, and tears were threatening to fall at any moment. She was breathing heavily and rapidly, and was holding the remote in a death grip, with her hand visibly shaking. It looked as if she was about to throw it to the ground…
But then she let out an anguished cry and slammed her finger on the button.
The Bears cheered as their opponents were shocked, but it was only for a second. The moment Ella pushed the button, she hurled the remote into the air and dropped to her knees, covering her face and openly bawling into her hands. With a gasp in fright, Sammy jumped from the log and wrapped Ella in a tight hug.
"I'm sorry… I'm sorry…" Ella was saying through the sobs. "I didn't… I didn't want to do it, but…"
"I'm sorry too," Sammy said, running a hand through her friend's hair to try and soothe her. "But we won! I know it wasn't what you wanted to do, but you got us the win! So please don't be… please don't…"
Ella looked at her with the eyes of someone whose entire world had been shattered, and Sammy felt her heart break in two.
Here was a girl who just wanted to have fun and make friends. Who just wanted to sing and dance and enjoy life. Who had her secrets, but who didn't? She just wanted to live and enjoy herself, and she wanted to share that with as many people as possible.
And Sammy helped to ruin that for her.
In hindsight, it was so painfully obvious to her that Ella didn't want to hurt anyone. She had so much love to give and she tried desperately to make everyone happy. Of course she'd go out of her way to ensure no one was hurt, even if it would have cost her the challenge. It was probably why she had cried after hitting Jasmine with that tree branch yesterday, and why she was so scared to even throw a balloon at anyone. She just wanted to not cause anyone any pain.
And I ruined that for her.
The tears started fresh and unbidden down Sammy's own face. "I'm sorry," she said softly, realization washing over her like a flood. I messed up. "Ella, I'm so, so sorry." She pulled Ella into a tighter hug, resting her chin on the songstress's shoulder. "I shouldn't have done that to you. We shouldn't have done that to you. I'm, I'm so sorry."
It was only then that Ella returned the hug. She didn't say anything, and only continued to sob.
Despite the win, the mood was somber. Sky and Beardo immediately knew something was wrong when Ella fell to her knees, and though they apologised they didn't say anything else. Shawn attempted to strike up a conversation on the way back, but it was quickly snuffed out when no one was willing to talk. Ella had walked in absolute silence the whole time, and Sammy was with her every step of the way. The others were ahead of them, occasionally looking back, but otherwise not interacting.
Sammy felt like a fool. All this time she just wanted to be who she wanted to be, with no one to tell her what to do or to boss her around or anything, and what did she do? She did just that to Ella. She got too caught up with the challenge and the sudden death and everyone cheering that she practically forced her friend to do something she didn't want to do. Did she even have any right to call her a friend anymore? Probably not.
Her thoughts clouding her mind, she barely noticed when they arrived at camp. Shawn lit the fire and Beardo handed out the chicken while Sky took from the breakfast bag. Ella declined her winning portion with a single shake of her head, and ate from the bag as well.
Just like the walk, dinner was silent. Once everyone had their fill, they went their separate ways, though Beardo opted to stay at the fire. Ella rose and started to head into the forest, and finally Sammy worked up the courage.
"Ella, wait," she called out, quickly following her. Her words started cascading out like water from a broken dam. "D-Do you want to talk? I'm, I'm sorry, about what happened, and I know I keep repeating that but I really am and I don't know how else to apologize other than that, I've never had any friends before now and I'm really, really scared that you're going to leave me, and I know what I did was terrible and I shouldn't have done that and I just wanted you to know I'm so, so, so sor-"
Ella hushed her with a finger to her lips. "Sammy," she said simply. "I… I forgive you."
She blinked rapidly. "Y-You do?"
"Yes. And I haven't stopped being your friend. Okay?" Sammy quickly nodded, relief flooding her veins. Ella removed her finger and took a step back. "I'd still like to be alone for a little while, however. Can I ask you to… give me some space?"
Sammy nodded again. "Yeah, of course. Anything you need. I'll, uh, I'll be here, if you need to talk. Okay?"
Ella nodded her thanks, and turned back toward the forest. She didn't say anything else as she disappeared behind the trees.
Sammy was alone once again, with only her negative thoughts to keep her company. Ella said she forgave her, but she couldn't help but think that she was just saying that…
She backed up against a tree, dropped to the ground, and began hitting the back of her head against it. "Stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid…!"
About 15 minutes of self-berating later, Sammy returned to the campfire to find Beardo simply lounging by it. He didn't seem too upset by anything, but neither did he seem happy. He looked up to her neutrally. "Everything good?"
Sammy fell to the ground with her legs drawn up to her chest. "I don't know."
"Is that true, or is that just your head telling you that?"
Sammy looked at him, then back at the fire. "She forgave me. But I still feel like crap."
"I think we all do," he said, finally letting his guard down and having a bit of emotion in his face. "Well, probably everyone but Shawn. Something tells me he's not as emotionally invested in us as we all think."
"Sounds about right." Sammy took a stick and prodded at the fire. "Beardo, am I a hypocrite?"
He looked at her in surprise. "What makes you ask that?"
"I was thinking about it earlier. I… All this time, I've been trying to break free from my controlling sister, and now I go ahead and demand someone else do something they don't want to do. I should've seen the signs that Ella would be so against hurting anyone, but I still made her do something so… horrible. I was so focused on winning that I didn't stop myself, and now I can't stop thinking that I did something Amy would've been perfectly fine doing. Does that make me a bad person?"
Beardo pursed his lips in thought and hummed. "I don't think it does, no."
"No?"
"Do you plan on continuing making her hurt others? Or anything else she doesn't want to do?"
"Wh- No! Of course not!" How can he even suggest something like that?
"If it only happened one time, and you recognize what's happened and plan on making sure it doesn't happen again…" He shrugged casually. "Then, yeah. You're fine."
"…Oh." Sammy took a moment to mull that over. "So… I'm not a hypocrite. That's… good. But I still feel terrible." She took a large breath. "What should I do? I… I've never done something like this before. I've never… had a friend to have this sort of thing happen before. I'm so totally lost."
Beardo remained quiet for a bit, then asked, "Was there anything else she said to you?"
"She wanted some space, so I guess I should do that, but…"
"Then, yeah, absolutely do that."
"Y-Yeah?"
"Yeah." He sat up and looked directly at her. "Okay, look, I ain't the most knowledgeable about friendships either. But everyone needs their space, especially when stuff like this happens. If she's already forgiven you, that's great! But you also need to let her heal as well. Just because she forgave you doesn't mean everything's peachy and that she's ready to go back to how it was before. That'll come later, when she's ready."
"So I should just… wait? I mean… in hindsight that makes sense, but it's gonna be hard."
"It's also gotta happen. You can't force someone to be happy. Something tells me you know what that feels like."
She smiled wryly and dropped the fire stick. "You're right. I'm no good at forcing myself to be happy." She huffed and leant back on her hands. "I'm also apparently no good at relationships! Argh, why do they have to be so hard?!"
"No one said they're easy. You just gotta take it at its own pace and act and react accordingly. If a friend wants space, you give 'em space. No need to question that."
Sammy paused, thinking it over, and then nodded her head. "You're right. It just takes time to work out everything." Like a lot of other things. "I need to be patient."
"There you go," Beardo replied. "I'm sure everything will work out, probably sooner rather than later. Ella seems like she bounces back easily."
"Yeah, I think she does." Sammy looked back at him. "Thanks, Beardo. For someone who's also treading on new ground, you sure know how friendships work."
"What can I say?" he asked with a shrug. "I watch a lot of TV."
"Heh, clearly," she replied with a laugh.
Beardo then turned into the shack for a post-lunch nap, leaving Sammy tending to the fire. She was still blaming herself for everything, but she also kept reminding herself that everything would be okay in the end. Maybe it would happen sooner, like Beardo said, or maybe later on down the line, but for now, all she could do was wait.
Suddenly she burped, and tasted the chicken from lunch. She briefly wondered what had happened to Clucky after the challenge, but figured it was best she didn't know.
