Author's Note:

It may be long into the night, but that's not going to stop me from getting this next chapter up! But first, as usual, let's take the time to respond to some reviews.

Space Zodiac: An important part of being an author is responding positively to constructive criticism, especially when the suggestions make perfect sense and make the story better. I already have all the deaths planned out, but there may or may not be more survivors than you're expecting. It'll all make sense by the end of the story, don't worry.

JackyDevorador: Zeke does have a tendency to crash things that he wasn't invited to, as later seasons of Total Drama proved.

Piotru126213: I'm not exactly sure if it'll be relevant to the plot for flashbacks like that, but I'll think about it.

Pitras 126P: Thanks for the compliments! I definitely try to make awesome ideas!

And now, back to the story.

"Who exactly is Dawn?" Zoey asked as the group left the mall and headed for their cars. She was going to ride with Mike on his scooter, while the others would take their own vehicles.

"She's a psychic, to put it plainly," Brick explained. "Or at least that's what people believe, and she hasn't corrected them."

"But she's a teenager like us?"

"An odd one, yeah," Sam confirmed. "But, then again, everyone on this island's a little nutty."

"She's scary is more like it," Samey said with a shudder. "She can pop out of nowhere and no one can hear her coming. Once, during a race in gym class, she somehow beat everyone else to the finish line, even athletes like Jo and Sky. And all she did to explain herself was that she took a shortcut."

"Which is exactly what she did," Cameron argued. "There's no scientific evidence to support that Dawn has mystical powers."

"Regardless of what's true about her or not, she sometimes claims to sense when bad things are coming," Shawn went on. "And if anyone can back me up on this, it's going to be her."

"Or show us that there's nothing to worry about," Brick pointed out, though

deep down, he wasn't as sure of himself at this point.

It had been scary to learn that one of his friends had been attacked and nearly killed. What scared him more was that the guy was still out there somewhere. But the cops will be able to catch him, Brick thought. Right?

All the group's cars were parked in the same area so it would be easier to follow one another out. Brick himself had a large pickup truck that had been a birthday present from his grandfather. He was certainly proud of it.

Lately, he had been driving Samey around, since she didn't have her drivers license yet. This was mostly because of Amy, who had sabotaged the last time her sister had taken the driver's test by keeping her up all night and getting the cheerleader squad to block the road during the test.

Brick felt bad for the poor girl. Amy was a coldhearted jerk, often taking much of her bullying out on her. There had been a time when people thought Amy was the nice one, but as time went on, it became painfully obvious how cruel she really was to Samey.

"We'll follow you, Mike," Brick said as he opened the side door to his truck to let Samey in. "Lead the way."

The odd motorcade of vehicles moved down the roads in the direction of Dawn's house. As he drove, Brick noticed Samey sniffling slightly. "You okay?" Brick asked her.

Samey wiped her eyes with her sleeve. "I'm okay," she insisted.

"You know you can always come to one of us if you're having more trouble with Amy than usual," Brick reminded her.

"I know. But it won't make any difference. She'll always find some new way to torment me."

"You should stand up to her then. Take a stand."

Samey shuddered. "The last time I tried that, she got me a week's worth of detention and almost got my named changed to Sparemey."

Brick reached a hand off the wheel briefly to pat Samey's shoulder. "When I was in boot camp, my drill sergeant always told me that a soldier's greatest moment is when he stands up for what's right and puts fear behind him. You should do the same."

Samey looked over at him. "Didn't they kick you out of boot camp because of your fear of the dark?"

Brick turned red with embarrassment. "Uh, that's not important!"

That got Samey to smile slightly. Brick gave her a nod of encouragement and then focused his attention back on the road again. But as he did, he could've sworn he caught just a glimpse of a figure darting into a nearby alley.

But just as soon as it was there, it was gone.

Dawn's house looked like any ordinary house, in Zoey's opinion. But when the group arrived there, instead of heading for the front door, Mike led everyone around the back towards a large treehouse.

"She likes to spend most of her time up there," Mike explained when Zoey gave him a confused look. "It helps her feel much closer to nature."

A set of wooden stairs led up to the top of the tree where the treehouse was. The group cautiously made their way up them. Zoey could tell that all of them were just a little bit creeped out by Dawn. This, in turn, began to set her on edge again.

Nothing bad is going to happen, she told herself. Everything is going to be okay.

They reached the top, and Mike gently knocked on the door. "Dawn?" he asked. "Are you here?"

When no answer came, he knocked again. This time, the treehouse door slowly swung open at his touch. The friends exchanged looks before making their way inside.

The interior of the treehouse was small and had no roof. A small circular rug was on the floor, surrounded by lit candles. Several dreamcatchers hung from the walls. Other than that, the treehouse was empty.

"She's not here?" Zoey asked.

"Maybe she went out to lunch," Sam guessed.

"Or she became lunch for the zombies," Shawn added.

"Shawn, zombies don't exist," Cameron insisted.

"Well, if she's not here, there's no point in sticking around," Mike said. He turned around. "I guess we should goahhh!"

Zoey jumped at Mike's shout as the group whirled around. A blonde-haired girl in a green sweater had appeared behind him without making any sort of sound. Seeing her suddenly appear was enough for Samey to leap into Brick's arms in fear and Shawn to backpedal away. Only B didn't seem too surprised at the girl's sudden appearance.

"Dawn, why do you have to do that?!" Sam complained as Brick set a blushing Samey down. "Can't you ever knock?"

"Why would I knock at my own treehouse?" Dawn responded.

"We apologize for the intrusion, ma'am," Brick told her promptly. "We thought you'd be up here."

"I was off reading the tea leaves," Dawn explained. "They don't predict good times are ahead."

Mike chuckled nervously, holding his chest. "Uh, ahem, Dawn, this is Zoey," he said, introducing Zoey to her. "She's new on the island."

Dawn gave Zoey a distant look. "I see you've made some friends, Zoey," she remarked. "That's good, considering you were an only child and all."

Zoey blinked in confusion. "Who told you that?"

Dawn took Zoey's hand gently. "Your soul reads like an open book. You had such a lonely childhood. It must have been difficult."

Zoey felt an odd chill as she carefully extracted her hand from Dawn's grip. She could see now why people thought Dawn was strange.

Shawn, having collected himself, cleared his throat. "So, ah, Dawn—we came to see you about—"

"The disappearances." Dawn calmly walked to the rug and sat cross-legged down on it. "Yes, I know."

"You—you know?" Samey squeaked.

"Yes, I know." Dawn closed her eyes. "And Shawn is correct. You all should be dreadfully worried about this threat."

"Threat?" Brick asked. "What threat?"

"A great darkness is descending upon the island. A darkness that will consume us all."

Zoey shuddered as a feeling of dread washed over her. "What kind of darkness?" she asked hesitantly.

"A monster," Dawn replied. "A monster that is small, but large all the same. It hides in the shadows, waiting for the right moment to strike before slinking away again."

"Just like a zombie!" Shawn exclaimed.

"Worse than a zombie," she warned. Her eyes opened. "Beware!" she shrieked suddenly. "Beware the man in the fedora! He brings doom to you all!"

Brick coughed nervously. "Uh—right. We'll just—we'll just see you later, Dawn."

Dawn shrugged her shoulders. "Maybe…maybe not. Your auras all say the same thing: doom is coming to Pahkitew Island. The fates of everyone are clouded by an ooze of green."

"Well, we'll be going now." Shawn laughed nervously, opening the door again and leading the others out. "Thanks for the warnings, Dawn."

As Mike and Zoey attempted to leave, Dawn suddenly grabbed Mike's hand. "A sacrifice will be made to save all that you hold dear," she warned him. "Follow your heart, Mike—but beware what lies within."

Mike stared at her for a minute. Zoey pulled his arm free from Dawn's hands and led him back outside and back down the stairs, meeting the others at the bottom of the tree. "See?" Shawn said to the others. "I told you that bad things were coming!"

"Are—are we all doomed?" Samey whispered.

"No, we're not doomed," Mike insisted. "Everything is going to be okay."

"But what about everything Dawn said?"

"Sammy's right," Shawn agreed. "We should be running for the hills and wait for this whole thing to blow over!"

"Now, calm down everyone," Mike said. "I'll admit that what Dawn said sounds bad. But think about it: we're just kids. What can we do to stop a threat like that?"

"Mike's right," Cameron agreed, adjusting his glasses. "Whatever this darkness is—and it's not zombies," he added as Shawn opened his mouth to speak, "people more experienced than us can handle it."

"What are we supposed to do until then?" Brick asked. "Live in fear over something that may or may not come after us?"

"How about a party?" Sam suggested.

"A party?" Cameron repeated. "Where are we going to have a party?"

Sam grinned sheepishly. "How about Milton Manor?"

"Sam, we're not going to get invited to that party," Mike told him. "Dakota might invite weirdos like Beardo and Leonard for amusement, but she won't invite losers like us."

Sam continued to grin like an idiot. "All right, Sam, what are you hiding?" Zoey asked.

Sam chuckled. "Well, what would you all say if I said I got us all invitations to the Milton Manor party tomorrow?" From his pocket, he produced eight different invitations.

"No freaking way!" Shawn exclaimed. "How'd you snag these?"

"Dakota had one of her butlers give them to me," Sam explained.

"That sounds like Dakota," Shawn noted. "Always sending one of her servants out to do the things she doesn't want to do."

"But why does Dakota even want us at the party?" Cameron asked.

"Who cares, dude?" Sam told him. "We actually get to go to a Milton Manor party!"

"I actually get to go to a party?" Samey asked hopefully. "Oh—someone else better hang onto my invitation, or Amy will probably just tear it apart."

"I'll hold onto it for you, ma'am," Brick offered.

"Are you sure going to the party is a good idea?" Mike asked. "Jo and her crew are going to be there, and they don't exactly like us."

"Come on, Mike, it'll be fun," Sam told him. "And it will help Zoey take her mind off of the attacker."

Zoey wanted to protest Sam using her to try to convince Mike to go to the party, but she saw his pleading look and decided to play along. "It might be nice to go to a party," she suggested. "I've never been to one before, and it'd be nice to meet some other kids on the island."

Mike let out a sigh. "Okay, okay. We'll go."

The group let out a cheer. Zoey felt herself smile as she saw how happy her friends were at the fact that they were able to go to a party. But she found herself gazing back up at the treehouse a few moments later.

In the back of her mind, she was still thinking about Dawn's warnings…and what they could possibly mean for the future.

Alive: Amy, Anne Maria, B, Beardo, Brick, Cameron, Dakota, Dawn, Dave, Ella, Ezekiel, Jasmine, Jo, Lightning, Max, Mike, Rodney, Sam, Samey, Scarlett, Scott, Shawn, Sky, Sugar, Topher, Zoey

Dead: No one (for now)

And so the Milton Manor party is on the horizon, now with several new guests!

I hope you enjoyed Dawn's appearance in this chapter, with her "psychic" ways. I didn't want to go too extreme with her given that I wanted to give this story a little more realism (while still having the Total Drama flair), but still had her give some cryptic warnings. Originally, this was going to be her only appearance in the story, as I couldn't figure out a logical reason why she would want to go to a party that she likely senses is doomed. But literally, as I was typing all that out, I came up with the perfect reason to get her there. So we'll definitely be seeing more of Dawn later in the story.

With just about all the characters in place and the heads about to start rolling (literally), there's still time to get those predictions in on who's making it out alive by checking out the poll on my profile. There's certainly going to be some shocking results-not just with who dies, but who lives as well.

But anywho, that's all from me. Make sure you hit that favorite/follow button to stay informed on future updates, and don't forget to drop a review to let me know how I'm doing. Until next time, this is Guest 1138, reminding you that the rum's always gone. Ciao!