NOAH

1:13 P.M.

FOURTH BASEMENT SAVE ROOM

-X-

"AUGH!!!" I shout in anger as I punch the wall, ultimately hurting my hand. "Who the hell does that motherfucker think he is?!"

"You tell 'im!" Izzy shouts back, and I turn to glare at her.

"Don't even talk to me, Izzy!" My hands grasp at my forehead; I can't get the past few minutes out of my mind. Cody... what right? What right does he have to say that shit? What the hell did Gwen ever do for him? I helped him out when he was down. Where was Gwen when he needed comfort? NOWHERE! Dammit, she even CAUSED his discomfort!

"Why does he love her so much?!" I slam my head back against the wall, my anger rising even more and more. "She was never there for him! I WAS!!" I storm over to the desk and begin knocking all sorts of shit unto the floor, including the typewriter, which broke. Well, I guess I can't rant this off.

"EEEEEEE!!! This looks like fun!" Izzy shoves the desk forward, sending it "face first" to the floor.

Still infuriated, I look through the mass of papers now littering the floor. I finally find one I'm looking for: Gwen's last words to the world. "Now no one's going to know your last words, you jezebel..." I tear the letter up into tiny pieces and throw it back to the pile of papers on the floor. I even stomp on the remains a few times.

"YO!"

"What the...?"

Chef comes in from the hallway. "We need to get the hell out of here!"

"What's going on?"

"I heard one of those maggots... I couldn't pinpoint it though. It ain't Handsome over there, though, that's for sure," he says, gesturing toward the headless zombie Gwen had mentioned in the letter.

...Wait...

...

Oh, no...

Oh, no!

Realization hits me like a shot. Cody... Cody's in danger!

I threw Cody into the lions' den!

I basically told him to DIE!

I run to the balcony area of the theatre in fear. Scanning the area, I realize... he's not there. Where is... oh, crap! The hallway!

Without thinking, I head back to the room with the trap door and climb down the ladder, Chef shouting protests as I did so. "It ain't worth it, boy! We gotta get outta here! The lockdown's gotta be over by now!"

I don't listen. I've got a love to save.

For the first time, I understand it...

I understand why Duncan was so persuasive in sending us after Courtney.

I understand why Cody wanted to save Gwen so badly.

I understand... because it's happening to me.

Cody... I'm coming...

-X-

THEATRE

1:23 P.M.

-X-

I'm coming, Cody! Hold on, I'm almost--

"SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSTTTTTTTTTTT!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!"

"NNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!" I fall to my knees. I can't believe what I had just witnessed...

Cody... why?

It takes a few seconds, but logic kicks in. It doesn't hurt that the abomination had just finished feasting on my poor Cody, and it is now standing up looking at... wait...

Oh my God...

"Gwen!" I gasp. I begin to regret ripping up her letter. Karma, my friend. You reap what you sow.

"Einstein! Get back up here!" I hear Chef shouting, and I spy him on the balcony. "No more sight seeing for--OH MY GOD!!" He must have spotted the scene before me.

Still somewhat panicking, I make my leave. Gwen follows, but my speed far surpasses hers. From the looks of things, she has a slight limp.

I reach the ladder and climb, climb, climb! She doesn't get a chance, but damn, was that horrifying!

(Clink, clank, clink, clank, up the ladder we go...)

As soon as I reach floor, Chef slams the trap door shut. "Move, maggot! Move!"

We run as fast as we can to the unlocked door on the other side of the room, but Chef stops us. "You foo'! Ain'tcha neva seen a switch on a doorknob before?" He unlocks the one locked door in the room, and we head through it.

That was a good call on Chef's part. We're in the room with the staircase.

"Go on, keep moving, soldiers!" he shouts at us, and we run up the stairs.

(...Meh, I got nothing for this one.)

We continued our backtrack up the facility: the blocked-off room, the Chess room, the cafeteria (where I first officially witness the carcasses of Courtney and Duncan), the "Team Three" hallways, the second basement hallway, and finally... the second basement save room. Why do I say "finally"? Well...

Chk-chk.

...That's why...

I turn to Chef, wide-eyed. "What the hell?!"

"You, red-head, get your asses away from that ladder."

...Okay, you know something is either ridiculously idiotic or ridiculously convoluted when I'M confused...

Then I hear a slow clapping sound.

No...

It can't be...

A figure rises from his hiding spot behind the desk.

No!

NO!

"I SAID GET YOUR ASSES AWAY FROM THAT LADDER!!"

I listen to Chef this time, stepping away from my ticket to freedom. Izzy, on the other hand, probably to tease Chef, heads for the latter anyway.

BANG!

No, he didn't hit Izzy... but he wasn't aiming for her either. He shot the wall right next to her, causing her to realize the seriousness of this situation. Without another thought, she steps away from the ladder as well.

"Take five, Chef."

Grumbling, Chef lowers his gun.

I hear the smug guffaw of the bastard behind the desk, and I explode. "CHRIS!! WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?!"

"Oh, I'll tell yoooooooooooou what's going on," the television host begins, his fingers pressed together in a sinister fashion. "See, Total Drama Island was the idea of several television executives--the 'higher-ups', if you will." He pauses, as if trying to think of what to say next. "One of these 'higher-ups', in particular, is basically Satan incarnate."

Chef nods to confirm Chris's explanation.

Chris continues. "Here's the thing. If one or two... or even three campers die, we can pass it off as an accident on set; something that resulted from the camper's stupidity. The waivers you all signed keep us away from accident liability, and any testimony that a surviving camper may have can be considered a result from traumatic experiences and vivid imaginations. At any rate, less deaths equal better outcome for us producers." The... The audacity of this man... "However... when more than half of the campers happen to die, things start to get a little fishy. It's no longer seen as an accident, but as something that I allowed to happen on my watch."

"You DID allow it to happen on your watch!" I point out in a mix of shock and anger.

"As I was saying... considering the campers who had died--most of whom were very smart, I might add--you can't pass it off as an accident. Not to mention... Raccoon City? Some people may have forgotten about it now, but once this shows up on the news, it'll jog everyone's memory, and the story will be all the more believable.

"And that's why... no one can leave this place. Ever."

I'm not sure if my anger had disappeared, or if my shock just simply completely overwhelmed it, but at any rate the shock was winning. "...W...What?"

"If no one leaves, news doesn't get out," Chris explains. "No one must know of this. I'm prepared to call my employers and tell them that a bear is attacking our campgrounds. They'll search the island, but they won't find the bodies. And if they actually do find the facility, we'll all be long dead by then."

"Wait... so you... you're willing to die to save your image?"

"Oh, no. I assure you that's not the case. Remember when I mentioned 'Satan incarnate'?"

"...Vaguely, yes."

"Well, no matter what happens to me, the producers are going to get hit hard by this big time. However, if the world believes that a bear attack killed us all, it'll be deemed as an uncontrollable situation and the producers won't get hammered so hard. But if the world finds out what really happened, the whole executive board will be bankrupt by the time your parents are done with them. That's why you can't leave. You can't tell them what happened."

"As for you?"

"Hehehe... do you really think I want to go back there after all this? To go back out into a world with 'Satan incarnate' on my ass? You have no idea what she's like, Noah. She's evil. Brutal. You think I'M bad? Do you have any idea what will happen to me if I go back after all this? She will not only kill me--scratch that, she WON'T kill me! She'll want me to live so I can suffer! She'll tear my hair out, scratch my face off, rip my dick off and jam it up my ass--do you REALLY think I want to go back now? If I go back, my fate will be worse than the fate of some ridiculously idiotic asshole dickweed getting his face bashed in via socket wrench by a strange yet lovable inventor for constantly brutally bullying his religious love-interest! DON'T YOU SEE?! I CAN'T GO BACK, MAN!! ...And neither can you..."

"Grrrrrrrrrrrr... You won't get away with this, Chris! I'll make sure of it, you son of a bitch!" I'd jump at the motherfucker, but I knew better. Chef was, no doubt, pointing the shotgun at me right now.

"Temper, temper, Noah," he smirks smugly. "Quite a mouth on someone who just lost someone... important to him?"

"YOU MOTHERFUCKER!!!" I lose all train of thought. I lean over the desk in an attempt to strangle the bastard.

"CHEF!! SHOOT 'IM!!" He shouts, but no shots come right away. Instead, I hear struggling behind me, and after a few seconds I hear a gunshot, but I'm still alive.

...Wait... I'm still alive?

Then what...?

"COME ON!!" Izzy calls out to me, and, my mind still rather cloudy, I obey, almost stepping on bits of Chef's gray matter in the process.

Izzy, you are one crafty son of a bitch.

"GO-GO-GO-GO-GOOOO!!" I yell, and Izzy and I hastily climb the ladder, Chris freaking out below. I give him one last glance before I leave the room, watching as he slams his hands on the typewriter keyboard.

fadsk;l

-X-

And there you have Bombshell Two. Chris is the villain after all.

But just because both over-hyped bombshells are concluded doesn't mean there aren't any more surprises to come. No, there's one more major surprise coming up... After all... what would Resident Evil be without a final boss and an "explosive" turn of events?

Also, very special thanks goes to JoeMerl and The Kobold Necromancer for letting me mention their OCs. Sherri Deville (AKA "Satan Incarnate", according to Chris), Chris' even-more-villainous boss, is JoeMerl's character, and the three characters described in Chris' description of his fate are Colin, Joel, and Hannah from The Kobold Necromancer's Total Drama Battlegrounds.