Chapter 21: Hunting Trip

While the plane flew to its next destination, the contestants were relaxing in the economy class, except for Courtney. Heather was hugging Bridgette, smiling. "This is going great. All we have to do now is get rid of Courtney, and one of us can win for sure!", she said. Bridgette nodded. "Totally. Sorry Noah, Owen, but you guys aren't gonna be much of a threat." Noah crossed his arms. "I wouldn't be so sure of that. You're dealing with a genius as long as I'm here, and I'm not alone." Owen patted Noah's shoulder. "Got that right, buddy!"

Confession Cam: Heather

"I guess after Courtney leaves, it's me and Bridgette against the guys. No big deal. We're both former finalists, so there's no way we can lose. I just hope Courtney won't be too much trouble..."

A few hours later, the plane landed and the contestants got out of it. Chris walked up to them, dressed in an odd robe, carrying a spear, and not wearing his wig. The teens laughed. "Nice dress!", Noah said. "It's traditional Masai warrior garb. And, it came with this!" Chris smirked and hurled his spear at Noah, who barely dodged it. "Trust me, that's the least dangerous thing that'll happen to you today. Welcome to beautiful Tanzania, home of the Serengeti plains and over seventy different kinds of animals that can kill you." Noah rolled his eyes. "Oh, let me guess, this is the 'fun' challenge! I'm ecstatic." "Good guess, Noah. Follow me."

The contestants followed him to a dirt clearing on the plain, where Chef was standing by a box of fruit and some wooden posts with gourds on them. "Part one combines two of Africa's most popular sports: soccer and cricket. I call it soc-it-to-me!", Chris said. "Each player must run one at a time from the starting line to the pile of African plums, grab as many as you can carry, and run back. You'll be doing all of this while your fellow competitors pummel you with soccer balls. Next, take the plums you brought back and whack 'em with the cricket bat to smash those gourds open, like this." Chris picked up a cricket bat and a plum to demonstrate. He hit the plum, and it hit Chef in the groin. "Whoever cracks their gourd open first wins a reward that will be muoy helpful in the next challenge. Now, let the challenge begin!"

One by one the contestants got their plums and lined up to hit the gourds. Noah failed to hit anything, Owen hit Chef by mistake, Bridgette and Courtney hit their gourds but failed to break them, and Heather hit hers, splitting it in half. "And Heather wins the first part of the challenge!", Chris announced. "The rest of you have ten seconds to split your gourds. And trust me, you want what's inside." Noah failed to hit anything, again. Owen hit his gourd but couldn't break it. Bridgette broke hers, and Courtney hit Chef in the groin. "Broken, but not a gourd! Sorry, Courtney!", Chris said. "That'll make it that much harder for you to deal with this!" Chris pointed at a large crate an intern was carrying over. Something inside the crate was snarling, yelling and shaking it, trying to break free. "Part two of our challenge is a genuine African safari. And the prey?" Chris tapped the box, and its contents tried to break free again. "You'll be hunting the most dangerous game..."

The intern opened the crate, and the contestants stared in disbelief at the contents. "Ezekiel?" Ezekiel took a deep breath and sighed. "Thanks for finally letting me out! You didn't put enough air holes in there, eh! I was getting worried!" Noah shrugged. "Huh. I guess Blaineley was right." "You can't get rid of me, eh! I'm never givin' up!", Ezekiel shouted. Chris smirked. "And therein lies the challenge. Whoever snags Zeke first wins invincibility, and first class seats to our next destination-" "With the player of their choice, blah blah blah, where's my reward?", Heather asked. "In a second! Go to your gourds and check inside, girls. They contain what you'll use to hunt with." Heather and Bridgette went to the gourds and they each pulled out a slingshot and a pouch. "What the heck are these for?", Bridgette asked. "Tranquilizer balls. Sling 'em with enough velocity, and they burst on contact, numbing the area and releasing a hearty dose of sleepytime goodness. Watch as this intern demonstrates." Chris picked up a slingshot and shot a red ball at an intern, who fell over unconscious. "See? It's like paintball, only with naps!"

Chef walked up to Ezekiel and gave him an odd necklace. Zeke smiled. "Cool, some fly new bling!" "Actually, it's a mini cam", Chris said. "It'll record what goes on around you. We can use it for the show, or maybe sell the extra footage to a nature channel. Now get running, you only get a five minute head start!" Ezekiel nodded and ran away. Chris walked up to the contestants. "Okay, Heather, since you won the first challenge, you get six tranq balls. Bridgette, since you cracked your gourd open, you get three. The rest of you get one ball each." "No slingshot?", Noah asked. "Nope! Since you totally bombed the first challenge, you just have to throw your tranq balls, which will be hilariously unsuccessful." Courtney scowled at Chris. "This is beyond unfair, you know." Chris nodded.

Five minutes later, the contestants split up to search for Ezekiel. Bridgette and Heather went north, Courtney went west, and Owen and Noah went east. "Okay, so how are we gonna hurl the tranq balls hard enough?", Owen asked. "Beats me. Neither of us are very athletic", Noah said. "But, I have an idea. Do you have a rubber band or something elastic?", Noah asked. "I have my underwear." Noah sighed. "That'll have to do. Go take 'em off behind a bush or something."

After half an hour of searching, Heather and Bridgette walked by a bush and heard something rustling in it. "You hear that? I think it's Ezekiel!", Heather whispered. Bridgette smiled. "Let's find out." The girls crept toward the bush. Heather reached for a tranq ball and readied her slingshot. As they approached, a lion jumped out of the bush and roared at the girls. Heather screamed, and Bridgette covered her mouth. "Hush!" Bridgette took a step back, and so did Heather. "Good kitty... nice kitty..." The lion roared at them again. "Okay, shoot it!" Heather launched a tranq ball at the lion, hitting it in the face. It fell over on the ground, and the girls sighed with relief.

Elsewhere, Courtney was walking along, when suddenly she looked down and saw she was waist deep in quicksand. She facepalmed and grumbled to herself. "Oh come on... well, at least I know how to deal with this. Just wait it out, and I'll float back to the surface..." An hour later, Courtney was able to crawl out of the sand.

Elsewhere, Owen and Noah stopped to get a drink at a watering hole. "Ohhh, so thirsty..." "Leave some for the animals, Owen", Noah said. Then, he turned and saw a nearby bush rustling. "Owen, stop! Check that bush." Owen walked toward the bush, and Ezekiel ran out of it. "Hurry, shoot him!", Noah shouted. Owen launched his tranq ball at Ezekiel, but missed. He hit a nearby camera man instead. Noah sighed. "So close..." Owen walked back to him and put a hand on his shoulder. "It's okay, buddy! We still have one more chance, we can totally do this."

A while later, Courtney heard something rustling in the grass. So did Bridgette and Heather. They gasped and charged at it, tranq balls ready. They fired, and Bridgette and Heather shot each other. Heather scowled. "Oh, come on! We want a FORMER contestant, not a current one!", she said. Courtney fell over, crawled to Heather and kicked her leg. "Ouch!" The girls glared at each other. Meanwhile, Bridgette fell over. Heather picked her up. "Come on, let's get out of here." Courtney gasped. "No, wait! You can't leave me here! I can help you beat Noah and Owen!" Heather turned away. "Oh, please. We don't need your help to do that."

A while later, Bridgette and Heather were at a watering hole, resting. "Need a drink?", Bridgette asked. "Out of this nasty water? No way", Heather replied. "Honestly it's pretty good, eh", Ezekiel said. The girls gasped. So did Ezekiel, who ran out from behind a bush. "After him!", Heather yelled. She turned to Bridgette, who was lying on the ground. "Oh. Right." She bent over and picked her girlfriend up, and ran with her. After about fifteen minutes, Ezkiel was way ahead. He turned to them, smirking. "You're never gonna catch me, eh! No way!", he said. He kept running while facing them, and crashed into a tree. Heather put Bridgette down, pulled out her slingshot and fired. Her first shot missed. She fired again, and missed. Ezekiel started running. Heather fired a third shot and hit him. Bridgette rolled over toward Heather. "Did you get him?" "Yes!" The girls cheered. A few minutes later, Chris and Chef arrived in an ATV. "Congrats, Heather! You have invincibility, and you and your girlfriend are on your way to first class. Now let's go before Zeke wakes up!" Heather raised an eyebrow. "What?" "We're trying to leave him behind! Why do you think we wanted to get him out of the plane and tranquilize him?" Heather shrugged. "Good point."

Once everyone but Zeke was back on the plane, they all went to the elimination room. "Okay, let's see who lost", Chris said. "One vote for Courtney, one vote for Bridgette. One vote for Courtney, one vote for Bridgette. And one more vote, for... Bridgette." Bridgette frowned and Heather gasped. They turned to each other and hugged. "Well... I guess this is goodbye", Bridgette said. Heather kissed Bridgette's cheek. "For now. I'll see you at the finale." Bridgette smiled and kissed Heather. "You can count on it. Good luck, babe." Bridgette walked to Chris and got a parachute from him. She walked to the doorway, waved to Heather and jumped. Heather waved back and watched Bridgette fall out of sight. Chris smiled. "So, Heather! Who's going with you to first class?", he asked. Heather looked at the other three contestants and sighed. "Owen." Owen cheered, while Courtney and Noah scowled at Heather.

Confession Cam: Courtney

"Heather is going to pay dearly for abandoning me during the challenge. One way or another, I assure you, she will pay."