The Mole Chap. 8: The Mischievous Eighth Task
Four players sat in the dining room quietly eating breakfast. There had first been eleven of them and now only they remain. Chris smirked at them, knowing what lied ahead of them today.
"Wipe that smirk off your face Jericho," Hunter watched as Chris kept on smirking.
"For today's task, I need you to choose the three players who are the most trustworthy. The last player will need to come with me after you have decided. I will be waiting in the meeting room."
Maria sat back in her chair. She knew one of the players was the mole. She looked across the table and saw Trish and John eating. The two of them were thinking the same thing. Triple H just sat there quietly.
"Ahem, so I guess we all know which one of us is the untrusty one here," John Cena started while throwing glances at Hunter. "We know we can't trust anybody in this game, especially not the game himself."
"Don't take this personal Hunter, but I don't trust you either." Trish looked away guilty at having to pick him. If Lita were still here then she would of went with her.
Triple H stood from his chair, knowing he was the least trusted of the group.
"None taken Trish, but I still think you would be the least trusted." Triple H walked past Maria's chair and she grabbed his hand while still sitting down.
"I trust you," she whispered in a small voice.
"I know you do babe, but thanks for saying it out loud." He joined Chris in the other room.
"Okay, this task should be challenging because you are the player that has little trust with the group. You will go with each player as they do a 'dangerous task' and must convince them to go through with it. If you are able to get at least two of the three tasks complete then you win the money for the pot. If only one player completes the tasks then you fail, simple enough? Well here's the twist, if you are able to get all three players to do their tasks then you will receive an exemption. How does that sound?" Jericho waited for his rival's answer.
"It's all good Jericho. Get this, once I receive my exemption, then go on to win this game, I'm coming back and kicking your ass for being a stupid and annoying host." Triple H announced as he got in Chris' face.
"Since you want to act like that, then your little girlfriend Maria, will be the first one. Come on!"
Jericho and Triple H walked back to the room with the other player's. Jericho looked into the room and spoke to Maria, "Maria, we need you to join us outside. Please come with us."
Maria gave Trish and Cena an inquisitive look before standing up. Outside, they walked up to a big target. Maria tried to ask Hunter what was going on with body motions. He just shrugged his shoulders and walked over to the target. A man was sharping his knives.
"For your task today Maria, you must stand in front of this target while that man over there throws three knives at you. You will both be blindfolded. Triple H, I will come back in two minutes to get her answer."
After Chris Jericho walked away Maria rapidly turned to Triple H.
"I can't do this, Hunter!"
Hunter grabbed her hands and looked deep into her eyes.
"Yes, you can do this. I'll be right here close to you." She pulled her hands away from his and held them close to her chest, "He's going to be blindfolded! If he misses, then I'm screwed!"
Triple H pointed over to the man and the target before saying, "This is just a game. Jericho is cold hearted but he wouldn't let any one of us get hurt. That guy must be a professional knife-thrower. You said you trusted me so please, trust me."
He kissed the top of her hand before leading her over to the target. The assistant started to buckle her in.
"Hunter!" Maria's shrill voice caused guilt to Triple H. He was now fighting his inner conflict.
'I could stop all of this right now. Maria doesn't need to go through this. If she doesn't do the task and the others will, then we still win the money. If another player doesn't do their task then we won't get the money. Why should I care anyway? I want that exemption though.'
He turned around and saw Maria blindfolded.
"Get me off this!"
He saw the knife man walk up to the target and stuck three knives into the board around her. The man stepped back away. Triple H realized there was no danger in the task. Maria was released from the target and she fell into Hunter's arms. She was shaking like a leaf. He took off her blindfold and held her close to him.
"Congratulations, that is one of three tasks complete. We must get John Cena outside to do the second task." Jericho walked with Maria back to the house while Triple H walked to the next task's area.
"What happened to her Chris!?" Trish took a shaking Maria to the couch and glared at the blonde rock star.
He didn't answer her but turned to John, "Cena lets go, you're up."
John looked at the two females on the couch before standing up. "If Hunter did this then he's gone too far."
Both men headed for the door. Trish yelled after Chris, "How can you be so cold? Why don't you answer me!?"
Jericho turned and glared at Trish, "It's a game, deal with it."
Once outside the room, John Cena turned around and slammed Jericho up against a wall.
"Listen to me closely. You can talk to me like that if you want to, but you had better not ever talk to Trish like that. Show some respect." Jericho pushed himself off of the wall and turned on Cena.
"Talk about respect? I loved her before she dumped and embarrassed me at the greatest show on the planet, Wrestlemania. It was for my best friend Christian no less. So while you were on Smackdown wrestling there for only two years rookie, I was used and tossed by Trish." Chris finished before walking ahead. Cena lagged behind for a moment to mutter to Chris.
"And to think this all started with your bet on who could get laid first." Cena continued walking as Jericho ignored his comment.
When they were outside, John looked on the ground and shook his head.
"I don't think I'm doing that!" Jericho walked to the two men to explain the second part of the task.
"John Cena, for this task, you will have to walk over these hot burning coals." He pointed to the single long strip of red hot coals.
"Come on chicken, it's just coals!" Triple H teased cruelly, "Don't tell me you are afraid of getting your little toes hot."
John snapped back, "Not hot, burned. You would like that wouldn't you? Have your opponent burn his feet and then be out for awhile?"
"If you don't want to do it fine. We won't win the money. At least Maria was man enough to do her task." Triple H and John glared at Jericho when he interrupted.
"So are you going to do it or not?" After seeing Cena shake his head no, he had John walk back to the hotel. He turned to Triple H before catching up with Cena.
"Well you lost your chance for an exemption, but maybe you can still put money in the pot. All you have to do it get Trish to trust you enough to do her task. Another thing, it didn't seem you tried hard enough to convince John Cena to do his task. What's up with that?"
"It's a game and this is how I play."
John and Chris returned back to the room. Trish noticed the change in her boyfriend and stood up from her seat. He walked over to her and sat down.
"What happened to you?" She asked but he didn't reply.
"John Cena has failed his task, Maria has passed it. You have one more chance to earn money and that is if Trish completes her task. Trish, come with me."
Trish and Jericho went outside. She saw her task and her eyes bulged.
"You want me to cross that?" She muttered to the host.
In front of her was a long shaky bridge with a few of the wood pieces missing.
"Come on Chris, don't make me cross this," She grabbed onto his shirt.
Jericho took her arms off of him in disgust, "I'm not the one making you do the task, Triple H is."
She glared at him before storming over to the game.
"If you think you are making me do that then you are dead wrong. We have earned a lot of money so far and I am not risking my life to cross this shaking bridge, most likely blindfolded, and then falling to my death just so the other players can add in a little bit of money. Did you make Maria do something like this?! How could you treat someone you like, like this? How could you risk her life to earn money? Did you make John do some risky task?" Trish felt like slapping the game in the face, especially after his next comment.
"I didn't make anybody do anything. Both John and Maria did what they had to for the game. Maria had knives thrown at her and John almost walked on coals of fire. If you don't want to do this task, don't. There won't be any lost sleep on my part."
Chris Jericho spoke up after hearing the last comment.
"Well this task was a failure. However I don't think any of you will be getting sleep tonight. Each one of you will pick one of these four cards. Tonight you will have to sleep in one of our special rooms. You will be required to sleep in the room your choose. The test and elimination will occur tomorrow morning at eight o'clock. Tomorrow is the final day so lets go back and pick these cards." Chris led the two glaring players back to the room.
Chris spoke up, "The first task earned you no money. For the second task, you will pick one of these four cards. Then you must report to them at exactly eleven o'clock. There will be cameras watching the whole time. The cards have a picture on it. Once everyone has chosen a card, I will explain what their room will be like. Who will pick first?"
Maria got up, not wanting to be left with the leftovers again. She chose the red card and turned it over. It had a picture of a snake on it. Maria's face paled and she sat close to Hunter. John Cena got up next and picked the blue card. It had a song note on it. He glanced at it curiously before sitting next to Trish. Hunter got up before Trish could and picked the green card. His card was blank. Triple H turned the card over a few times looking for anything. Trish got the last card, a yellow one with a cockroach on it. She shivered before sitting down. Jericho wanted to know what everybody got. Maria stood up first, "Snake."
"Your room will be filled with fifty snakes."
"An ugly cockroach," Trish didn't even want to hold the card.
"You will have to sleep in your room with thousands of cockroaches as roommates."
"Music?" John asked Jericho.
"Your room will be playing loud music all night and not the kind you like."
"I think I picked the wrong card," Triple H handed the card to Chris.
"You haven't, your card is blank because you get to sleep in a regular room."
Later that night the group met up before they had to go to their different rooms.
"This is not fair. We won't be ready for tomorrow if we don't get any sleep," Trish complained.
"If things get too scary, you and Maria can come into my room," Cena whispered to Trish. Triple H was the one to say it out loud, "Maria can come in my room at anytime."
"What about the cameras? How will we get past them?" Maria asked the game quietly.
Triple H thought about it for some time before replying, "Just leave them to me. Give me a call on the cell when you want out.
Jericho was eavesdropping on the two couples before coming up with an idea. After he led both Hunter and John to their rooms, he brought Trish and Maria to their rooms. Then the crew brought in the snakes for Maria's room and cockroaches for Trish. He locked their doors before yelling out to them, "Have a good night!!"
"Ew, ew, ew!" Trish growled out. These cockroaches were crawling all over her.
Meanwhile Maria sat on her bed, hitting the snakes off it with her pillow. "HUNTER!"
Trish, John, and Triple H heard her shout. Both John and Triple H opened their doors, intending on getting their loved ones out.
"Wait Cena!" Triple H called out before John could take one step out of his room. "The cameras!"
John eyes shot up towards the camera around each one of their rooms. He growled at it before looking towards Triple H. He was shocked that Hunter had gone back into his room. Was the game going to leave Maria and Trish stuck with the beasts. Hunter came back out with a spray paint can. He shot it up towards the camera and covered his camera. Then Triple H left his room.
"Hey, what about me!" John shouted out. Triple H sprayed his camera and the two men ran across the hall to Trish and Maria's rooms.
"It's locked," Hunter exclaimed. John gave him a look before stating the obvious, "Well break it down!"
Hunter turned and spray painted the girls camera before breaking down Maria's door. He saw snakes surrounding her on the bed. Triple H got Maria out of her room and John got Trish out.
In Triple H's room he let Maria sleep on the bed. He got a sheet out of the closet and laid down on the floor.
"Hunter, you don't have to sleep on the floor. This is your room after all." Maria sat up on the bed and looked down at her boyfriend.
"It's okay, I am a gentlemen despite what others may think. You get the bed tonight, after everything I've put you through tonight."
Maria asked Triple H, "Are you the mole?"
"I don't know, am I the mole?"
She gave him an odd look before throwing a pillow down at him. It hit Triple H on the head and he looked up at her. "Goodnight Hunter."
Trish and John both slept on the bed.
"John, are you the mole?"
The question was expected by John. He looked at her and answered, "I don't know, are you the mole?"
"Of course not! Good night John."
"Night, Trish. One more thing, try not to let the music keep you up all night. I know it's horrible but it's better then sleeping with cockroaches, right?"
Trish gave him a playful glare before telling him, "Right, whatever Cena."