So I divided it in two chapters after all u.ú
Expect the next two or three chapters to be Top Dog too. I know, I know… five times longer than I anticipated this turned out to be, but eh, what can you do? :|
~The Machine~
# Chapter 10: Courtney In The Forest#
"Okay, this is your last chance, Shark," Courtney announced a couple of hours later. "Where should we go?"
The Shark didn't even bother with a response this time, floating in his tank with its fins behind its head in a fashion that reminded Courtney too much of Duncan- and therefore, made her angry. The fish soon found Courtney jabbing her finger at his glass.
"Don't be messing with me, I know sharks have a great sense of direction," Courtney threatened, and sighed when her animal gave her an oblivious look. "Of course, that doesn't work when they're only in a water tank in the middle of the forest," she muttered to herself, pressing her back to the tank and slowly sliding down.
"Can you at least smell the food from back at the film lot?" she called up at the shark, and he shrugged. "You're right, as if we ever had any food at all. What was I thinking?"
Courtney sighed and stayed silent for a while. "Count to ten and get up," she told herself outloud.
The shark signalled something the brunette correctly interpreted as, why don't we just stop and rest?
"What? A rest!" Courtney snapped. "We can't rest! I'm not having that Beth and her raccoon win again!" she exclaimed, and that thought was enough to make her get up and start pushing the tank again. "I will die before she gets invincibility. Do you want the raccoon to win?" she asked the shark, who just rolled its eyes in response. "Didn't think so."
"I bet Duncan already found the film lot," she said thoughtfully. Then she leaned closer to the Shark and said scathingly, "His animal probably helped him."
In another part of the forest, Duncan was walking around, thoroughly pissed at his chameleon, at Chris and at himself. He was willing to bet Courtney was already back at the film lot. Maybe she was taking a nap…
Duncan shook his head, as if that would erase the bags under his eyes, as a terrifying thought invaded his head: what if he took so long arriving to the lot, that he'd have to go until to the elimination Ceremony without a single wink of sleep? Duncan willed himself not to think of the appalling prospect, and decided to take his frustration out on his chameleon.
"Oh, what a useless animal," he said obnoxiously. "All you do is change colors. You don't even move or anything. How could you possibly get me back home?" he prodded, and then did a double take when he realized the little creature he had been talking to was no longer over his soulder.
"Hey- hey where'd you go? Hey get back here right now!" He started frantically looking around him, and then running in circles trying to find the reptile. Having a useless animal was better than being left alone in these woods—not that he was scared. He only would rather have company.
However, in the midst of his frenzy, he accidentally pulled a rope, activating a trap that sent a rock flying to his stomach, efectively knocking the wind out of him. "Right. Death traps," he wheezed out before collapsing.
Courtney stopped and panted, the strain of pushing a tank around the woods for the last few hours taking its toll. She looked accusatorily at her animal, "You know you could at least make this easy on me," she said in a weary voice, her protest falling on deaf ears.
Then she fell to the ground next to the tank. "Right. A rest."
Courtney looked around her, at the night that was already starting to close in, and shuddered when she felt a gust of wind. "If I can't get to the film lot first, I hope Duncan does. Then he can get invincibility we can both get rid of Beth," she commented distractedly, the issue of elimination already present in her mind.
Courtney noticed herself smiling as her mind flew back to Duncan, and unlike other times, she didn't stop herself. She was happy, and she felt entitled to her own happiness. She had already made sure he would never embarrass her in public again, or go behind her back with some other girl, and covered just about any other thing that could go wrong in a relationship. She could now relax and focus on having fun, feeling completely safe.
There was another reason she was feeling so cheerful- and that was the fact that she was enjoying a newly clear conscience. Ever since she had gotten back with Duncan she had been up in a cloud of happiness. …Wasn't that enough proof that she did feel something for him? That she really did love him, and her lack of a tearful reaction when she saw that video that night in the Aftermath, which she had before terribly interpreted as a lack of caring, was really just an expression of maturity?
To heck with her doubts. She was just emotionally maturing. That was it. Why hadn't she seen that before? It was just the maturity she had long waited for, just another aspect in which she was a little more perfect than she used to be.
She didn't know why she had arrived to such conclusions; it was hard to pinpoint now that she was so happy what had been going through her mind as she wrote that First Letter. In any case, she was enjoying the sensation of being able to breathe freely, without that useasy feeling constricting her chest.
Courtney started to stretch her arms and legs, which had started to feel considerably less like they were made of jelly, as she fantasized about the film lot, a shower, and a second full night's sleep. Maybe, she thought with a smile, she could even manage to fall asleep with Duncan again- without being too obvious about it.
"Okay, let's move it, Sharky," she announced, in a remarkably better mood than she had sat down in. She began pushing the tank again, smiling as she spontaneously started humming a tune.
Success, Love, and personal growth; what more could she ask for?
Courtney had been wandering in silence for only around fifteen minutes, when she noticed she was making considerably less effort to move the tank. In search of an explanation, she pulled away and saw the shark was moving its fins forward and in circles, making it easier for the tank to steer in that direction.
"Hey!" she said, gladly surprised. "You're actually making this easy on me!" she leaned closer to the glass. "What is it, boy? We're going the right way?" she asked, voice full of hope, tiredness forgotten. The shark didn't respond, only kept 'swimming' forward, as if its life depended on it. "Okay, then that's where we're going!" she reassumed her position on the back of the tank and started pushing again, with newfound strenght.
Courtney walked forward until she started finding difficulty to move once again. Pulling away, she saw the shark making a different movement, one that didn't benefit her anymore. She stopped pushing and watched as it repeatedly swam backwards and then forward again, over and over again in a desperate fashion.
Courtney stared at the animal's strange behaviour, wincing when its head hit the glass. "Hey," clank! "What are you…?" clank! "What are you doing?"
Before she got an answer, the shark hit the glass one last time, making the tank turn and all its contents spill—
…right into a river.
Courtney stared dumbfounded as the shark swam easily into the river and towards freedom, and gasped as three other sharks gathered around to welcome him back.
"You… you traitor!" she screeched. "I thought we were a team!" she waved her arms up in the air.
The fish turned around, as if noticing her there for the first time. Then it brought its fins up to his head and twisted the tips of them repeatedly, in a Shark adaptation of the universal mocking gesture. Courtney frowned.
"Oh, I see. Now you're with your little friends you're suddenly Mr. Brave, aren't ya?" she clasped her hands to her hips. "Well that's it! No more Nice Courtney! I've never been this indulgent to a creature that never got me any profit!"
She adjusted her sleeves folded over the elbow and balled her hands into fists. Her face was a fierce battle scowl and her mind was on the state in which she worked the best— with adrenaline pulsing through her veins.
Prepare to meet your maker, she thought, right before walking into the river to the three awaiting sharks.
Little after, Courtney floated in the water, soaked to the bone, her hair a wreck and she completely unaware of it. Her chest was heaving, but she was nowhere near finished, oh no. She fixed her blood-thirsty gaze on her last opponent, the last remaining shark.
"I took care of your buddies," she said between pants. "and now it's your turn! Come on… bring it!"
The Shark bared its teeth, causing Courtney to gasp; between the teeth of the predator, was her precious PDA. Courtney immediately changed her demeanor from agressive to diplomatic.
"Okay look. Give that back… and I'll let you eat one of the others. I can make it happen… Seriously," she assured. The fish ignored her and used its fin to dial a random number. "No long distance calls! My roaming is already through the roof!" Courtney exploded, and the animal only swam past her. "Get back here, you chumbag!" she growled and swam after him.
She had to device an effective plan to get back her PDA in one piece. All that shark had to do was close its mouth and it would be bye-bye PDA. Which was a turn of events she could not afford. She had to think of something, and fast.
Courtney began screaming as she realized she wasn't so much swimming as being carried by the current.
However, she entered in real panic when she saw the river divided in two branches ahead, and she got a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach. She was leaning more towards the left arm, while her PDA (and the shark around it) were leaning towards the right arm; upon relizing this, she desperately tried to swim closer to the shark, but the current kept her from doing so.
"Get back heeeeeeeeeeeereeee!" she yelled to the Shark, who looked oblivious to the cause of her sudden desperation. Despite her efforts, Courtney was forced to watch in horror as the shark went through one branch, and she was carried through the other.
"Nooooooooooooo…!" she shrieked in despair, extending a helpless hand to her PDA, as she watched how it disappeared from her sight.
Looking briefly ahead, she narrowly dodged a water rock and her mind was occupied by more important matters; where was this channel going? She had been so preocuppied getting her revenge on those sharks and chasing her PDA around that she hadn't paid enough attention to her circumstances. Now she didn't know where she was, or whether she would make it out of this rapids alive. Courtney felt a sense of despair overcome her as she fought to get to either shore.
Where on Earth was she?
CarmillaD: Me saco el sombrero ante usted. Tenías razón. Gwen y Courtney se hicieron amigas nomás xP
En serio che, se te cumplió el deseo jaja, espero que estés contenta :)… yoo me quiero pegar un tiro ¬¬
Que tu corazoncito no sufra... :( Estás llena de esperanza, me encanta, sos como una lucecita en la oscuridad (awww).
Me alegra que te gusten los filler! Y yo SABÍA que voss ibas a darte cuenta de la referencia a Paintball Deer Hunting! :D Ojalá te guste este capítulo.
Nikki: Thaaanks, that really warms my heart :) Hope you enjoy this chapter and the ones that'll follow.
buddygirl1004: Ooops! Forgot about that :O Thanks.
TrueJackVP408: Thank you! Enjoy the chappie! :)
~The Lighthouse