For Want of a Mohawk

by CeruleanSeaScorpion

What difference do our choices make? When Duncan refuses to wake up and help the Killer Bass during the Dodgeball challenge, his decision has consequences that will change the entire outcome of the game. A re-imagining of Total Drama Island where one small change leads to huge differences, and every episode takes the story further away from its original path. Updates weekly.

15. Crush Depth

The atmosphere in the main lodge was divided into two distinct halves as morning dawned on the day before the next challenge. In one half, there was banter and a vivacious spirit among the lackeys of Heathers alliance. Lindsay, Beth and Katie were hanging out, swapping fashion tips and sharing anecdotes about home. Owen frequently joined the conversation with them, and Noah cut in with his biting humor to keep things lively. Though they all nominally shared a common goal, it was Noah more than all the others who realized that was going to end sooner than later.

His deal with Heather had kept him in the game thus far, but one more elimination ceremony later and the counter-alliance that had tried to decapitate them would effectively cease being a threat. He was not personally loyal to Heather, and he was pretty sure she was aware of it. He would have to take her out, sooner than later. The queen bee herself was the obvious target, but then again maybe the opposition was onto something when they tried to eliminate Lindsay. Everyone loved Lindsay, and if the show ended in a vote then she would have a serious advantage.

But then, would Katie go for it? Of those many people that loved Lindsay, she was one of them. Even if he could get her to, would he want to put her through the guilt of betraying a friend like that? It was a weird thing for him to be concerned with. A couple months ago he would have happily gaslit her in the name of getting the vote he needed, but now the thought made him sick. Still, it was a competition and he needed to consider all his options. He told himself that he needed to get his heart out of matters he should handle with his head. He feared the message wouldn't stick.

While he ran that grim calculus hidden behind playful snark, there were no such false pleasantries on the other side of the lodge. The ill-fated alliance of Gwen, Courtney and Geoff picked at their food quietly, no banter to be had. Out of everyone, Courtney took it the hardest. She had been the one to organize the alliance, yet twice they still had failed to yield results. It pulled her back to the memories of her first week on the island, when she'd been hammered with nothing but despair and crushing defeats.

"Maybe this is it." She muttered as she prodded the alleged food on her plate. "I'm sorry everyone I…let you down."

"What are you talking about?" Gwen asked. "Courtney, we're not done yet."

"Do the math Gwen." Courtney said. "There's three of us and at least five of them. They're just gonna keep crushing us until we're all gone, then probably backstab each other."

"It won't get better with that attitude." Gwen chided her. "Seriously, what is your damage? Sure things look bad now, but we can pull through."

"When did you become such an optimist?" Courtney asked. "I thought you were always Ms. Doom and Gloom."

A bit of rosie color crept into Gwen's cheeks. "I guess…a bit of Trent rubbed off on me? The three days I had with him were better than weeks of waffling on my feelings and hiding from Heather. I learned that I didn't have to be afraid…" She trailed off and glanced over at Beth. Should she tell them? Would they believe her?

"Rock on dudette." Geoff pumped his fist in agreement with her. "Love is radical. I'm not giving up either, cause Bridgette's counting on me. Wherever she is."

"Okay, fine." Courtney sat up and crossed her arms. "Miss Sunshine and Mister Sunnier. Tell me, what is your brilliant plan?"

That question took all the wind out of them. Gwen bit her lip as she tried to think of something. Geoff desperately rattled around his two brain cells hoping to squeeze an idea out of him, but all he drew were blanks.

"Come on." Courtney encouraged half-facetiously. "There are no dumb ideas here."

It didn't help.

Nothing was said, and the only sound that broke the stillness in the air was Geoff gnawing on a piece of burnt toast. That was until they heard a loud bang, and the door to the lodge was kicked open by a furious Heather storming in.

"What the hell Owen?!" She hurled a dirty lump of cloth, decking him in the face.

"It's just my shirt."

"What was it doing in our cabin? Were you peeping?"

"Hey, lay off the guy." Noah said. "He was probably just sleepwalking. You know how he gets."

"No, I don't, and I don't really care. Go sleep walk somewhere else, and don't leave your gross, smelly old laundry in my cabin, or you are dead."

While Heather went to receive her alleged breakfast, Courtney's eyes lit up. Gwen saw it too. She pretended to stay interested in her food, but the moment Heather sat down with her back facing them, Courtney leaned forward and whispered to the others.

"I have a plan." She said. "But we need to be somewhere alone."

"Meet back at the stump after breakfast?" Gwen suggested.

Courtney nodded wordlessly, and then returned to her food like nothing had happened. With Heather none the wiser, breakfast continued at the same miserable pace it always did. To make it less suspicious, Courtney, Geoff and Gwen left individually, with Gwen lingering a while to look anti-social. After some time, she too left the lodge, and met with the others at the stump behind the cabins to talk about Courtney's new plan.

The plan that she laid out before them was bold and daring, and in the same stroke it was shockingly unethical in all regards which could be named and still place the plan firmly in the bounds of legality. It would require that all aspects of it be shrouded in total secrecy, if one part of their subterfuge was discovered the whole thing would come down like a house of cards.

Gwen liked the plan. She was all for getting payback and making Heather finally reap a little bit of what she sowed. But Geoff looked away uncomfortably, unable to utter a statement of commitment.

"I don't know guys." He sighed. "This whole thing seems pretty heinous."

"What's heinous is that Bridgette is gone and that bitch is still here." Courtney said. "You said it yourself back at the lodge. We can't let them down."

"Right bro, I just didn't think it'd have to get this extreme." Geoff winced. "But if it's for Bridgette, then I'll do it."

"That's the spirit." Courtney nodded. "Phase one starts tonight."

For the rest of the day they could only wait, trying to be as inconspicuous as possible until the cloak of night would allow them to make their move. Without a challenge to occupy them, it was just the usual rounds of off-day monotony to fill the hours. Gwen drew a bunch of sketches that she hated and ended up burning out of shame. Courtney went through the meticulously planned motions of her day, divided into neat little intervals where she was always doing something, or preparing to do something, or planning to prepare to do something. Organized, tidy and structured, just the way she liked it. And in the greatest irony of all, Geoff spent that afternoon hanging with the guys. While he conspired against Heather's alliance, he hung out with Owen and Noah who resided within it, and they seemed to harbor no ill will against him for it.

During the night, their scheme would be set in motion. The next morning, Gwen slept in after the long and eventful night, only to be awoken by the sound of Heather trying to kick their door down. Courtney, already up and well through her morning routine, motioned for Gwen to stay put, and went to the door to see the fruits of their labor pay off.

"Can I help you?" She asked, nearly getting decked in the face as a fist aimed at the door grazed her ear.

Realizing that she had an audience, Heather withdrew her first and morphed it into a pointing finger of accusation. "Where is it? Where did you hide it?"

"Excuse me? What are you talking about?" Courtney feigned ignorance. "What's been hidden?"

"My makeup!" Heather snapped. "It's all gone, and I know Gothy in there likes to paint herself like a clown, so give it up!"

"In case you didn't notice, Gwen makes all her own makeup." Courtney said. On any other day she would have also brought up her horrifying lack of chemical handling safety, she didn't even use goggles! But Courtney knew this wasn't the time to get sidetracked with pedantry. "And I don't need your salon's worth of beauty products to look presentable."

"Nice try, but I know it's in there. Let me through!" Heather tried to shove past Courtney to get inside, but she wasn't prepared for her to simply give way and let her through. She almost tumbled face first into the floor, but managed to catch herself and stagger back to her feet.

"Okay." Courtney shrugged. "You can turn this place inside out and you won't find anything. Just be ready to put it all back when you're done."

Speechless, Heather glared over at Gwen, who was still crawling out of bed and refused to acknowledge her presence. That Courtney would just let her in sucked all the weight from her accusations, but Heather was too angry to be fully convinced. She quickly scoured the room, looking in all the drawers and checking under the beds. The only makeup she found already belonged to these losers, and it was the crappy cheap brands that you wore if you secretly hated yourself and wanted to look tacky everywhere you went. Gwen's alleged makeup wasn't even brand made, it was haphazardly stored in empty jars and plastic tubs.

"You two are disgusting." Heather scoffed. "You wouldn't know a designer brand palette from a bowl of mud."

"Are you done?" Courtney asked.

"With you." Heather said, scowling as she marched back to the door. "I will find it, mark my words. I bet it was Beth, that dirty bottom-feeder…"

For the first time since she walked in, Gwen's attention padlocked onto Heather. Her eyes shot wide open, and though Heather didn't turn to see it, Courtney caught a glimpse of the visible concern before Gwen looked away again. Nothing could come of it however, because before Heather had completed her departure the speakers crackled to life.

"Attention campers! Meet me down at the dock in half an hour for today's challenge."

"This isn't over." Heather hissed, then slammed the door behind her.

While Gwen finished getting ready, Courtney followed a safe distance behind Heather down to the dock. The queen bee still hadn't cooled off by the time they were there, as she immediately began accosting Chris while he waited for the others to show up.

"You! Did you have one of your goons break into my cabin and steal my makeup?" She asked.

"Nah dudette, staff are pretty strictly prohibited from messing with you guys or your stuff. Technically they're not even supposed to talk to ya. It's in their contracts." Chris said. "But that does sound like a cool twist so, I'll pass it on to the producers. Maybe they'll greenlight it for a challenge next season, who knows?"

"Like this circus will ever get a second season." Noah rolled his eyes as he arrived to the dock. Seeing that almost everyone was here, Heather decided to finally put a pin in her grousing for now. Lindsay and Beth fell in beside her, clearly skittish about their leader's boiling temper.

"So did you find your missing lipgloss?" Lindsay asked hopefully.

"No." Heather said.

"Awwww that stinks." Lindsay pouted. "What about the foundation?"

"Nope."

"Oh no! Not even the nail polish?"

"Lindsay," Heather said with all the patience she didn't have. "If you keep asking about it, I will rip every strand of hair out of your scalp and weave it into a garrote to strangle you with."

Even Lindsay was smart enough to realize that shutting up was a really good idea right then. The rest of the campers arrived shortly afterwards. Once everyone was accounted for, Chris began the usual explanation that they had come to expect preceding each challenge.

"Today's challenge is a good old-fashioned game of hide and seek." He said. "You all get ten minutes to hide before Chef Hatchet comes looking for you."

He gestured to his most trusted and feared enforcer, who was waiting on the other end of the dock with a super soaker water gun and a menacing grin. They could tell without any words that he was looking forward to this way too much.

"With his military background and advanced degree in manhunting." Chris continued. "He's uniquely qualified to make this game excruciatingly hard."

"What's with the water gun?" Owen asked.

"Here's how this works." Chris said. "The lifeguard chair is home base. When he finds you, Chef will try to spray you. If you escape his blast, you can try to make a run for home base. But if he catches you on your way, he'll douse you."

"Ooh, so we'll get doused with a bit of water." Noah said. "Now I'm terrified."

Chris smiled worryingly. "Why don't you demonstrate, Chef?"

Chef began pumping the cheap, rattly plastic handle on the front of the gun to build the pressure up. Then at the last second he turned around towards Chris and pulled the trigger, catching the host unaware as a blast of high pressure water hit him squarely in the chest and knocked him down on his ass.

"Gah! Not on me dude!" Chris screamed. A couple of chuckles rippled through the crowd as he got up and brushed himself off. Even Heather was able to have a few laughs at his expense despite her sour mood.

"So how do we win this game?" She asked once the host was back on his feet.

"You've got three options." Chris said as he squeezed the water out of his shirt. "One, don't get discovered in your hiding place. Two, run to home base before Chef blasts you. Three, once you've been caught, surrender to Chef and find another contestant for him. Do any of those, and you win invincibility. All clear?"

"Uh, Kyle," Lindsay raised her hand. "What if like, Chef sees the camera guy following me?"

"Today you won't have any film crews following you. To make the game fair, all your sneaky exploits will be captured by the cameras hidden around the island, and the crews will follow Chef as he hunts you."

"Awww." Lindsay frowned. "How will they get the best angle to flatter my cute camo nails?"

He didn't bother to provide her an answer. Chris fished in his pockets for a stopwatch, and after making sure it still worked despite getting soaked, primed it for ten minutes. In his off-hand he raised up an air-horn, and when he started the timer he let out a long sharp blast.

"Go!"

They took off from the dock and scattered in every direction when they reached dry land. Some had a plan, others just wanted to buy distance between them and Chef. After they reached the campgrounds, Katie caught up with Noah.

"So, like, what's the plan this time?" She asked.

"Glad you asked." He said. "There's this abandoned mineshaft on the far side of the island. It's just past the old graveyard, you go about three hundred steps past it- looking at the front of the stones. Then take a right and hook around the big tree stand up against the cliff side and there it is. Totally hard to find unless you know to look for it."

"Eeeee that sounds like such a smart place to hide! How did you ever figure that out?"

"You can thank my big buddy Owen, I followed him right to it on one of his sleepwalk outings."

"I'll totally like, give him a shout when we have immunity. So what are we waiting for, let's go!"

"Wait. We better split up. If one of us gets caught on the way there the other might still make it and win the challenge."

"Ooh, that's really smart."

"Shut up baby, I know it." He flicked finger guns at her. "You go West, I go East, we meet up and wait out the rest of the day there."

"Okay! See you soon Noah!"

"Later."

Two two exchanged waves and then parted ways. It would be a long walk, but Noah was really confident that he'd picked a winning spot. Once there, he could lazily loaf around inside the mine to his hearts content, and have a good friend there to chat with to keep it from getting too idle.

Having a friend. That was something he still wasn't used to, but already he could tell it was gonna sting losing that when the show was over. Even if he lasted as long as he could and won the game, he still had to go home at the end of it. What sort of miserable existence was he supposed to lead without Owen to make a clown out of himself at breakfast, or Katie to brighten a shitty morning with unjustifiably positive words?

He tried not to think about it. Just putting one foot in front of the other, get to the hiding spot, to win the challenge. Keeping his mind as far away as possible from the looming inevitabilities of the future.

Not everyone had such an elaborate plan to hide, but almost everyone made at least some sincere attempt to find a concealed nook or cranny in which to safely wait out the hunt. Courtney looked for the tallest tree on the island she could see, and began ascending through its branches. The high vantage point would leave her exposed and trapped if caught, but she was supremely confident that from this perch she could see anyone coming sooner than they could see her, and be long gone before Chef had a chance to move in and blast her.

Gwen took the opposite approach, finding a fallen log with a shallow divet beneath it large enough to lay in. If she stayed still and silent, it would be impossible to see her unless they quite literally walked on top of her. She laid down on her back, closed her eyes, and prepared for a long, quiet day with just herself.

While some ventured into the woods, Geoff stayed a bit closer to camp. He found the sports equipment shed near the dodgeball court, and inside there was a plethora of cover to choose from. He settled on the dodgeball basket and buried himself in that heap of rubber spheres, nearly completely invisible in plain sight.

Perhaps at the greatest disadvantage in this endeavor was Ezekiel, who lacked the two months of familiarity the others had with the island and its environment. Having only been back for a week, his knowledge of the area was a limited patchwork of what he'd picked up following Beth during the last challenge.

He had sought her guidance after the challenge began, but Heather was more hostile than usual to his presence today. Even after finding her alone later, Beth seemed nervous about having him around. She urged him to keep his distance and wait until Heather had some time to calm down and cool off. Before departing on her own, she promised him that if she was caught, she wouldn't call him out to Chef.

None of the others were even willing to entertain the idea of stopping to help him. At least the ones he could find anyways, most of them had already hidden by then. Thus, he found nothing better to do than to linger in the woods just outside the campgrounds looking for a bush to hide in. He knew that staying too close to camp would make it too easy to find him, at least unless he knew some well hidden secret corners, which he didn't. But going into the woods presented its own problem, because without knowing the lay of the land it seemed like a surefire way to get lost fast.

Astoundingly however, even Zeke's mediocre at best attempts to find a hiding spot were not the worst seen that day. Lindsay didn't even bother leaving the campground, and not because she had found some secret little nook in one of the buildings where she could pass unseen. Those who may be familiar with another version of this tale might already know where this was. Suffice to say that it was a spot so obvious that even literal preschoolers could probably have not only found her, but done a better job of hiding at the outset.

It would have surprised many of the campers to know that Katie, on the other hand, managed to follow Noah's directions to the letter. The entrance to the mineshaft was tucked under a sheer rock face, with minecart rails leading out of it and into the overgrowth beyond. The opening into the earth was braced with big wooden timbers, bleached white from decades of exposure to the elements. As she stepped inside, she instinctively noticed the signs of prior inhabitation. Tin cans rusted away on the ground, old fashioned oil lamps collected cobwebs, and there was even a pair of raggedy boots in a dark corner.

She felt like a trespasser here, but she couldn't stay at the entrance. If she wanted to be well hidden, she needed to go further in. Even just a few feet past the entrance things were getting dark quickly, and soon everything was in shadow.

"Noah! Are you in there?" Katie called. The only reply she was met with was her own echo.

It seemed the mine was mostly empty, and so she would have it all to herself until Noah arrived. Alone with her thoughts, she took a seat on a small crate. On the ground, a thin film of water reflected her face back up at her when she stared into it. Maybe getting some things off her chest would pass the time.

"So like, okay." She said. "It's totally crazy that it's been so long since Sadie left, and like…is it bad that I'm not freaking out anymore? Does she think I'm trying to replace her with other friends? Because I am soooo not. Sadie, if you're watching this, Lindsay and Beth are like, not like you at all. I like hanging out with them because they're more like me, you've got a lot of things they don't."

After she got that off her chest she realized it might have come across as weird to apologize to Sadie about something she didn't even know if Sadie was upset about. Did she sound insecure by doing that? Now Katie was remembering why she didn't spend too much time lingering on the topic of Sadie. They'd spent so little time apart in their lives she had no idea how Sadie might be handling it, and the worry of not knowing ate her alive the longer she thought about it. Which left her no choice but to think about something else.

"Then there's Noah. I can't get him out of my head but like, does he feel the same way? We hang out a lot and he seems to totally be into me, but am I reading into it to hard? He does seem a little…fruity…" She trailed off, then shook her head. "Nah. He's probably just nervous. I bet he's not used to pretty girls talking to him…or girls at all. He'll come around when he's ready. I know it."

Getting it out of her system helped to calm her, and Katie went quiet after her little venting session.

"Attention campers!" The loudspeaker blared. "The hunt has begun! Good luck."

Her attention snapped back to the challenge. She hadn't come to this cave to gripe about her BFFFL anxieties or her uncertainties in love, she still had a challenge to win. She'd have to find a good place to hunker down and wait until Noah arrived. Further back in the mineshaft she saw what looked like a door to some kind of small shack or closet. Carefully she moved towards it, passing by lockers where the miners would have stored personal belongings, and workbenches where they mended their tools.

The waist high sliding door creaked and groaned loudly, taking some force to wiggle open. When Katie stepped inside the her footsteps made metallic thuds and the floor shifted under her. What sort of shack was this? Then she noticed the panel with two large buttons on it right next to the door, and it clicked. This was an old elevator.

Then there was a sudden and hair-raising noise, the screech of a cable under strain. The elevator rattled, shook, then dropped a few inches. Katie yelped in fear. It settled back down for the moment, and she froze in fear, praying that if she stayed still the elevator would too. The staccato popping of the old wires promised nothing of the sort.

A jolt shook the rickety cage as the main cable finally snapped. Katie was thrown to the ground. Seconds later, the whole elevator screamed as it plummeted downwards on guide lines.

Three stories of drop rushed by in seconds, and the metal box slammed into the ground below with a horrible crash. It crumpled into a heap, and Katie could onto cover her head and pray she wouldn't be crushed.

Somehow, miraculously, she found herself alive after the dust settled. Her eyes flickered open, and after they adjusted to the darkness she could see that the roof of the elevator had caved in above her. Had she not been lying on the floor, she would have been pulverized. Tentatively she moved each arm and leg to see if they still worked. Against the odds, not one of them was broken or dislocated, and she could crawl out of the sheet metal death trap.

Once free, she stood up and dusted herself off as best she could. She looked back up the shaft she had fallen down, but climbing out looked impossible. The walls were sheer vertical, blasted by dynamite and reinforced with flat wooden beams with no place to gain a purchase for climbing.

She was trapped, and panic started to set in.

"Help! Help please, anyone!" She called, no longer concerned about the challenge. Her words echoed against empty, lifeless stone. "I'm stuck! Please, is there anyone out there? Noah? Beth? Lindsay? Someone please!"

While Katie's attempts at hiding went horribly, terrifyingly well, elsewhere another contestant was making no effort to hide. After the announcement that the hunt had began, Heather sat down on the porch in front of the lodge, completely in the open, and waited. Today had been completely horrible, she'd lost thousands of dollars in makeup and the culprit remained unpunished. Her explosive rage had simmered down into a burning coal bed that craved vengeance as a fire craves air to feed it. Getting to ruin other peoples day by helping Chef blast them in the face seemed like a start.

It took annoyingly long for him to show up, and Heather was almost of a mind to find her own watergun and start spraying people just to get some of that murderous energy out. Finally, when she saw Chef turn around the corner to come search the campgrounds, she stood up and threw her hands in the air.

"I surrender!" She announced loudly.

Chef looked at her, more surprised than anything else. "Wait, were you sitting there the whole time just waiting?" He asked.

"Duh. Sooner I get to work with you, sooner I get immunity and to see these thieving losers get shot in the face." Heather said.

Before she realized what was happening he was pumping up a shot from the water gun, and she received a blast to the chest that splashed upwards and got all over her face and hair.

"What was that for?!" Heather screamed, flicking the water away from herself furiously.

"I don't like cowards. You could have at least tried." He huffed.

"Sounds lame and time consuming." Heather said as she squeezed the water out of her hair. "So are we doing this hunt thing or what?"

"Fine." Chef grumbled contemptuously. "Stay close."

She followed him and they began moving towards the cabins. Already she was sensing an opportunity to claim her immunity, and put someone in her place. Someone who was on her side, which was arguably more important than putting down her enemies. A revolt from within, however unlikely with the sort of sheep she led around, was always worth some prevention. As they passed by the girl's cabin, she stepped away from Chef to go inside and investigate.

Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. All the beds were exactly where she left them, the vanity was the same as it was this morning, conspicuously emptied of all her makeup. There was just one teensy, tiny, itty bitty little thing that tipped her off that someone might be in there.

The Lindsay sized, Lindsay shaped lump under the bed covers. It would have been funny, if it wasn't so pathetic.

"Seriously Lindsiot?" She asked the minion-shaped lump. "You couldn't do any better than hiding under your own covers?"

"Fooled you!" Lindsay laughed. "This isn't even my bunk."

Heather rolled her eyes. "Oh Chef! Got one for you."

Within seconds of her call he'd arrived on the scene, kicking the door down and readying his water gun to douse her. Lindsay jumped out of the covers like a startled cat, tumbling to the floor in a frightened heap.

"Don't shoot!" She cried, covering her head with her hands. "I give up!"

Chef withheld his fire, and seemingly accepted her surrender with nothing by a roll of his eyes.

"So you splashed me and not her?" Heather balked. "What gives?"

"At least she tried." Chef said.

Making a mental note to push Lindsay into the nearest body of water at the next convenient opportunity, Heather went silent. She had immunity, but immunity alone could not make her look fabulous. Her anger had not been quelled, just temporarily distracted.

On the opposite side of the island, Noah was finally getting close to his destination. His old self would have loved to give himself up to Chef the same way Heather had. Less walking, more chance of survival for as little energy expended as possible. The math was in favor of it, but strangely he wasn't thinking about the math right now.

His head was full of Katie, to the point that it felt like it was looming over everything he did. She distracted him, her laugh made him turn his head away from whatever he was doing, and her smile was utterly blinding. Even the squealing she did that he once couldn't stand, now sounded musical to him.

There was only one problem. There was no way she had any interest in a guy like him. He was weak, scrawny, lazy, the opposite of the guys that made Katie get googly eyes. He'd seen how she swooned for Justin, that gorgeous mute bastard. She probably would have made a move on Trent if Gwen hadn't claimed the territory first.

Maybe the cave would give them the privacy to talk about it. He could get his feelings off his chest finally, and she could reject him and say they would still be friends. He would die inside, his feelings would shrivel up into a tiny black nugget of coal, and a sense of normal would return for him. He could continue being the cynical little bitch he was familiar with, to whom nothing good ever came. And she could find someone better, someone worthy of everything that was so great about her.

He arrived at the mineshaft to find it unoccupied. It worried him a little, she always was the better runner of the two by far so it was weird that his lethargic butt got here sooner. He told himself that it was fine. She probably just had a close encounter with Chef, and was on her way right-

"Noah!? Is that you?" A familiar voice cried out in distress from deeper in the cave.

"Katie!"

"Noah! I'm stuck down here, there's a drop and-"

Something inside him that he'd never quite reckoned with before took over, and without even realizing it at first his legs were already moving him towards the sound of her voice. "Don't worry, I'm coming!"

"Wait, no don't-" She tried to warn him.

He skidded to a halt in front of the empty elevator shaft from where her terrified voice called. A single guide wire still dangled from the ceiling, and without thinking he took off his vest and used it to shield his hands as he slid down the cable. Like a true action hero he dropped in to the rescue, except the wire had snapped off halfway down, and when Noah ran out of wire he dropped down like a rock.

When he smacked into the ground beside Katie his arrival was heralded by a dull thud and a shrill cry of pain.

"Ow…" He groaned.

"Oh my god, Noah! Are you okay?" She scrambled to his side, helping him up to his feet.

"I don't think anything's broken…but something is definitely bruised." He winced.

Once he was standing up again and Katie was sure he had no serious injuries, her tone changed from concern to consternation.

"Noah, what were you thinking?" She chided him. "Now who's going to go get help?"

He found a rock flat enough to sit down on and buried his face in his hands in frustration. "That's the whole problem, I haven't been thinking. My head's been full of feelings lately and I…"

He trailed off, and she perked up. Katie sat down next to him in the darkness, able to just barely make out his silhouette. "What kind of feelings?" She asked.

"Nevermind. It's stupid." He said.

"Pft, so was running into a cave headfirst without thinking." Katie said.

"I just….I…" He sighed. "Uh, the game's getting to me and I'm just feeling stressed out." He lied. His emotions bubbled just beneath the surface, like magma in a volcano ready to erupt, but that hard crust of emotional repression built up over the years kept it sealed in. "I'm not thinking straight. Once we get out of here things clear up."

It was a lie and Katie knew it, but fear kept her from pressing the issue. "Okay, fine." She said. "But what are we going to do?"

"Why should you ask me?" Noah spat bitterly. "My stupid big head is worthless here, all it's done is get me into trouble."

"How could you say that?" Katie asked, grabbing him by the shirt and pulling him close enough to see her eyes in the dark. "Noah, your brain is amazing. You're smart, and funny and I know you can totally get us out of this if you just don't give up!"

"We're trapped at the bottom of a pit, nobody knows we're here and neither of us has any clue about survival stuff. We're screwed."

"So? When Sadie was eliminated and I felt more lost and alone than I ever had before, you didn't give up!"

"I-"

"We're going to make it Noah. You know why? Because like, we're going to do it together."

Despite all evidence to the contrary, when he got lost in those big, beautiful eyes of hers, he believed every word she said. He found strength inside himself that he didn't know he had, and with much strain he picked himself back up to his feet. They were going to find a way out of here.

The mineshaft split in three directions from where they were standing. With each choice there loomed the possibility of many ghastly hazards. Cave-ins could bury them alive, gas leaks could render whole chambers lethal to step into, or they could simply step over an unseen drop and plummet to their demise. All this and more to be risked on a path with no certainty of taking them to the surface.

Absurd as it seemed, right now Noah wished that Harold was still here with them. His encyclopedic survival knowledge would surely have some trick to get them out of there with ease.

"Hm, I have an idea." Noah said.

"I knew you would." Katie replied.

He stuck his finger in his mouth, then probed the air in front of each opening. A wet finger was more sensitive to any sort of disturbance, and it was with this that he noticed a very slight breeze from the far left tunnel.

"This way." He pointed. "The air comes from the surface, so this leads out."

"Eeeeeee! That's like so smart. Let's go!"

He didn't mention that he only saw that trick once on TV, and had no idea if it actually worked. This was the first time he'd ever tried it in real life. She didn't need to know that, she needed to believe him in the same way he believed in her.

Even with their eyes adjusted to the dark, they were still practically blind. Noah couldn't see his own hand if he held it out in front of him, and every step they took had to be calculated. They had gone about ten minutes maybe, when Noah took his next step forward and found nothing underneath to support him.

His arms flailed as he tried to arrest his fall, teetering on the edge of some unseen precipice. Just before the abyss claimed him, Katie grabbed him by the back of his shirt and pulled him to safety. He fell onto his ass with a wince, and scrambled to get up again. He was falling in all sorts of ways today, and he was getting sick of it.

"What the hell was that?" He asked.

"I think it's a hole?" Katie said.

Indeed, closer inspection revealed they had nearly walked right into a shaft that dropped straight down. Noah kicked a small rock over the edge and waited to hear it land at the bottom. When it finally did so, and Noah heard the clattering echo of the impact, his scientific opinion formed from his knowledge of the acceleration of gravity and the time passed told him it was way too damn far down to fall and survive.

Luckily, someone had tried to board up the pit, but unfortunately the job they did was very poor. The wood boards had big gaps on either side, the sort of gaps that Noah nearly fell through. Clearly, it was meant to stop big burly miners with six foot wide shoulders from falling in, not someone of Noah's delicate build.

"I'll go first." He said despite his instincts telling him to definitely not do that. He crept carefully across the boards, one step at a time. The wood creaked and groaned, he felt it bend slightly under each footfall, his heart racing ever faster. By the time he got across he was in a cold sweat.

"I'm coming!" Katie called after him, skipping across to join him.

When she finally touched down safely on the other side, a lead weight lifted itself from his chest.

"Okay, let's not do that again." He said.

While Noah and Katie stumbled through the dark, Beth was enjoying the secrecy of the cabin attic. She'd found a substantial pile of snacks in the back corner, full of candy bars, chips and crackers. Like a raccoon she had rummaged through the stash, picking out her favorite brands and flavors to gnaw on while she waited out the day.

It wasn't long before the sound of the door opening into the cabin below caught her attention. She froze up, setting down her bag of chips gently and swallowing what she was eating as quietly as she could. The footsteps thumping against the rickety wooden floor told her that it wasn't just Chef down there, he had company.

"Hey fatass!" Heather's voice resonated through the attic floorboards. "We know you're up there, so just come down already."

Beth tensed up. Did they really know? She glanced at the attic window and thought about making a run for it. If she waited until Chef came up to spray her, she could jump down and get a head start to the dock before he got out of the cabin. Assuming she could stick the landing. The attic door groaned as someone pulled it open, the ladder clattering as it unfolded. Beth shuffled over to the window and unlatched it, hanging one foot out ready to run.

A head popped through the opening, but not the one she was expecting.

"Lindsay?" Beth asked.

"Hey bestie!" Lindsay waved to her.

Beth groaned as she now realized how they found her. "Lindsay! You weren't supposed to tell anyone."

"Oops." Lindsay winced. "Sorry. Heather's been really mad today and I don't know how much longer I can stand being alone with her. Please Beth? We could still have fun getting immunity together."

As much as Beth wanted to jump out that window and run for her life, away from Heather and away from the alliance, those big pleading eyes were hard to say no to. She wished so badly that Lindsay could see what a horrible person Heather really was, if they walked out of the alliance together then maybe they'd stand an actual chance of surviving Heather's rage. How could someone so sweet and kind be so accepting of someone so cruel?

In the end, Beth couldn't do it. She couldn't abandon her friend. "Tell them not to shoot." She said. "I'm coming down."

Lindsay climbed back down the ladder to where Chef and Heather waited below. "Good news! I got Beth, which means we're both immune!" She clapped excitedly, but even her best attempts at infectious enthusiasm weren't winning Heather over.

"That's just great. Did you see if she had my makeup up there?"

Lindsay shook her head. "Nope, just a bunch of candy bars."

"Ugh that's the last thing I need is sugar bloat." Heather scoffed as Beth came down the ladder. "Hey, watch what you're eating. Pretty soon we'll have to roll you around the camp if you keep snacking on junk."

Beth gritted her teeth, and it took all the fear in her body to hold her back from snapping. She grabbed onto Lindsay's hand for support, and Lindsay seemed to sense that her bestie was in distress, as she put a hand on her shoulder and squeezed gently. The two fell in line behind Heather, who in turn brought them to Chef.

"Serious? Three campers tagged and bagged and not a single runner?" Chef shook his head. "This sucks."

They continued to search the campgrounds, turning up nothing but dust. The other cabin's attic was empty, and nobody had taken shelter in the lodge. Or if they did, not even Chef's legendary manhunting skills were enough to root them out. The quest to find more campers went apace, hopefully ones more willing to take a chance with running. Beth kinda hoped she could tag Owen, he wasn't very fast and immunity would be nice to have just in case.

An hour passed and their options at the campgrounds were thoroughly exhausted. It was time to check the surrounding buildings and start probing the woods nearby. The ground was dry and hard after a long spell with no rain, and combined with the already gravelly soil it made tracks hard to form and quick to break down. In spite of this, Chef managed to pinpoint a couple leading into the woods, giving them a direction to start in.

It wasn't long before they found more signs of someone passing through the area. Broken branches and trampled tall grass patches pointed to the presence of an interloper in the area, but Beth hardly noticed it as she followed Chef around absentmindedly.

It would have been in her best interest to be attentive and seek out someone to tag for immunity, but she was too far into her own head to see two feet in front of her. She was constantly going over arguments in her own head, imagining how she could craft the perfect appeal to Lindsay that would make her see Heather for what she truly was. Then they could ditch the alliance together, stay besties, and then link up with Gwen and Ezekiel to form a game-dominating friend circle.

There was the small issue of getting Gwen to reconcile with Lindsay, it was a miracle that she'd even forgiven Beth at all. There was also the teensy tiny issue of getting both of them forgive Ezekiel for his sexism. But all of that hinged on Beth being willing to stand up to Heather at all, which she hadn't even come close to yet. That didn't stop her from fantasizing about it.

She was so wrapped up in her mental exercises that she didn't notice there was a while other person behind the bushes she walked into, until she nearly ran into him.

"Watch it eh!"

Beth lit up as she recognized who it was. "Hey Zeke!" She waved.

"Hey Beth!"

She had all of about two seconds to enjoy the reunion before being rudely interrupted. "Hey Chef!" Heather said.

Her heart sank into the pit of her stomach as Beth remembered she was still in the middle of a challenge. "Oh crud. Run Zeke, run!"

Ezekiel ran for his life. For such a small guy he was astonishingly quick and at first it seemed like he was gaining distance from Chef. Chef thundered past Beth in pursuit of Ezekiel, pumping up his water gun between steps. Beth held her breath as she watched them go, praying for Zeke to escape successfully. It looked like he just might. Chef was closing in slowly, but they weren't all that far from the dock. If he could just stay ahead for a few more minutes, then maybe…

Any hope of that was dashed when Chef raised the water gun for a running shot. It arced through the air and came splashing down on Ezekiel, ending any chance of his escape. While Chef was making impressive trick shots in real physical space, deep underground someone else was bragging about their digital marksmanship.

"Once I blew up the boss's healing crystals," Noah explained, "I just say behind a rock where he couldn't hit me and peek-shot him with the crossbow. He didn't even damage me once."

"Eeeee you were so awesome." Katie clapped. She didn't understand half the words he was saying, she and Sadie never played a lot of videogames, but he sounded really proud of his accomplishments and looked cute doing it and that was what mattered.

They'd made some progress on their trek through the mine and were now following minecart rails along a narrow tunnel. Each step was careful. At some point they'd started holding hands while walking, and Noah couldn't exactly remember where or why that started. He told himself it was just so they stayed together. Because it was dark, and one of them might slip. No others reasons.

"Heh yeah. What was really awesome was that machine I used. Thing was passed down to me by my older brother and he got it in 92'. I'm shocked that dinosaur never burned our house down."

"Oh my gosh so like, your computer is just like your clothes. Old, ugly, and you deserve so much better."

"Trust me, I know. And I still can't believe you called me out just based on the clothes I wear. I get how you did it but it still freaks me out a little."

"And like, it's even crazier cause the only reason you were there is because you were a big chicken who lied about his fears." Katie teased, poking him in the side playfully.

"Like I was going to let any of those hosers know what I was afraid of. I've dealt with enough bullies and jerks, you don't ever let them know what your weaknesses are if you want to survive." He said bitterly.

"But now it's just the two of us." Katie pointed out. "So it won't hurt to share."

He stopped and thought about it for a moment. His actual worst fear wasn't just something he withheld from the people on the show- he had never told anyone. All throughout his life since as far back as he could remember he'd made up bogus fake fears, just like his comment about stupid people.

For the first time he could ever recall, now he felt…compelled to tell her. It was an odd feeling that he reflexively tried to dismiss, but which persistently lingered despite that. Here she was, the only thing keeping him from falling into despair. He owed her this, didn't he?

"Considering the circumstances, I think I can trust you to take this secret to the grave." He half-joked, taking a deep breath before spilling. "My biggest fear is icebergs, and my second biggest fear is drowning."

"Huh?" Katie raised a brow. "That's a perfectly normal thing to be afraid of like, totally not that weird. Well the drowning part, the icebergs are a little odd but not crazy. But…why icebergs specifically?

"So, back when I was little…it was '99 so I was eight I think?" Noah sighed. "My family went to watch Titanic in theaters. My parents didn't want me to go, it was PG-13 and they obviously knew a lot of people were going to die. But I thought I knew better. If it was too adult, then I, being the smartest kid to ever exist, was adult enough for it. I went along."

"Oh em gee, I love that movie!" Katie gasped, clapping excitedly "Me and Sadie watch it all the time, it's one of our favorite movies to cry over at the end."

"You and me both." Noah said. "I loved it. I loved the cool old boat, the music, and I got way to attached to the characters because I was a naive little idiot who thought obviously they were going to make it to a lifeboat and live. I'd never watched a movie that actually killed the main character off like that before…I spent hours crying over Jack dying. But you know what? I kept watching the movie, after we got it on DVD. There was so much I loved seeing and I felt like I had to sit through it all. That iceberg stuck with me, like it was always there and no matter how many times I watched the movie and wished it turned out differently, they always hit it. They never turn the ship in time…Jack always drowned."

Katie remained silent, listening with rapt attention. Noah looked at her, confused.

"Well, go ahead. Laugh." He said. "Laugh at the guy who cries over a chick flick."

"Why would I laugh?" Katie tilted her head. "That's so sweet and cute, that you cared so much. You know, you pretend to be mean and like everyone hates you, but that's the most sensitive thing I have like, ever heard a guy say."

"What?" Now it was his turn to be confused. "How?"

"Cause like, most guys would just explain what Jack should have done better to stay alive, right?" Katie said.

"Right, the mythbusters did a whole episode on that." Noah nodded.

"Exactly! But you're just like, sad that he died and like, I think that means you totally do care about people you like and don't want bad things to happen to them. Maybe your real fear is like, bad stuff happening to people you love and the iceberg is just one bad thing."

Now this was getting entirely too uncomfortable, because Katie was now the smart one in the conversation. He loved it, having someone who could explain the things he was too emotionally dense for. He also hated it, being called out like this.

"...maybe." He muttered, shrugging indecisively, letting the conversation quietly drop before she started probing him.

The significance wasn't lost on him. He'd just confessed something that should have been a huge embarrassment, something even he was ashamed of, and she hadn't judged him for it. The hope flickered within him that maybe, there were other things he could confess too, but he dared not believe in that hope lest it seduce him into a false sense of optimism. Surely, she was just stringing him along so he would get them out of there, right? He'd just have to keep waiting until disappointment finally came around and brought things back to normal.

Those who were with Chef on his hunt didn't have to wait for disappointment, they already found it. Or rather, they didn't find much of anything. What was worse, keeping up with Chef was proving utterly exhausting for the campers. He was relentless and thorough in his search, and just keeping up was a full time job. Another hour of walking and Beth's legs were burning. She dropped behind Lindsay and Heather, making sure to keep an eye on them as she found a log to rest on.

The relief was welcome, but not all was well with her as she sat down. Maybe it was an unfamiliar smell, or something in her peripheral vision that tipped her off. It prompted her to start scanning the forest around her, but nothing could quite prepare her for what she saw when she glanced down.

There below her, lying on the ground under the log, was Gwen. She stared up at Beth, wide eyed with fear as they locked eyes and the goth realized she had been spotted. Beth tensed up, going silent as she turned her gaze back to Heather and Lindsay. They'd gone some ways ahead while she took her break, but were still very much close enough to notice if she said anything to Gwen.

In the back of her head Beth knew she had a chance to get immunity with this, but that wasn't the first thing on her mind. Gwen was one of precious few chances she had to make a connection outside of Heather's posse. After everything she'd helped Heather do to Gwen, she owed it to her to help out and get the rest of the party away from her.

She looked back down at Gwen, and when she saw that Gwen had looked away she tapped the log quietly to get her attention. Gwen looked back up at her, and the first thing Beth could think to communicate to her was a simple thumbs up an a smile. It was the best way she could think of to let her know that everything was gonna be alright, and that she was on her side.

There was uncertainty in Gwen's eyes, as though she were measuring whether or not this was some kind of ruse. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, she answered with her own thumbs up, and a thin-lipped smile. She seemed to get what Beth was trying to say.

Now that she had a line of communication open, Beth pointed to herself, then to the direction Heather and the others were walking, off to her left. She then pointed to Gwen, and gesture in the opposite direction, towards her right.

Gwen's eyes flicked back and forth following the direction she pointed. Her expression turned thoughtful, and a little pensive as she weighed whether to stay put, or to follow Beth's plan. After a minute of consideration, she made her choice by pointing herself, then off to Beth's right. Then, she pointed to Beth, and off to her left, finishing with a slight nod. Beth nodded at her back. They now had a plan.

Beth got up and ran to catch up to Heather and Lindsay. "Guys, I have an idea!" She ran up to them. "The auditorium is really close, maybe someone is hiding under it. We should check it out."

"What a great idea. Glad I thought of it." Heather said.

"But wait, didn't Beth just say-" Lindsay began, but was interrupted by Beth herself

"Just let her have this. It'll keep her from yelling at us for a while."

"Ooooh." Lindsay nodded. "Like that time Brenda took my paper mache puppy in art class and said it was hers. It's okay though, she gave me her project instead and I got a C with it!" Lindsay beamed, as if getting a C was some earth shattering achievement that she was still proud of to this day.

"Lindsay that's horrible, you can't just let people steal your stuff like that." Beth said.

"She didn't steal it, she just borrowed it to get a better grade." Lindsay replied. "That's what friends are for."

"Why would you want to be friends with someone who uses you for vo-" Beth caught herself at the last second and cleared her throat. "For better grades?"

"Well we go shopping together, paint our nails, hang out at all our favorite spots. Bestie things."

Sometimes Beth found herself able to empathize with Heather's frustrations about Lindsay. This was one of those moments. It was like talking to a brick wall. She seriously believed the best in everyone, no matter how bad they treated her. Lindsay was sweet, but her sweetness extended beyond the bounds of reason sometimes. Still, Beth wasn't just going to give up on her. She refused to believe that Lindsay was a lost cause.

Thus they followed Heather onwards, who told Chef of her supposedly original brilliant plan. In doing so, she unwittingly became the instrument of her own sabotage, leading Chef further away from Gwen. There was certainly few if any other contestants that Heather would want to see doused, something Beth was keenly aware of. Though she wasn't ready to confront her just yet, she was satisfied to know she could claim some kind of victory of her oppressor.

For Noah and Katie, victory seemed like it finally might be within reach. They could now hear the whistle of wind through a narrow opening somewhere up ahead, distant but unmistakable in its character and direction.

The idea that this nightmare would soon be over was treated with caution by Noah. It was too soon to call anything over. He wasn't prepared however, for the sight that awaited him at the end of the tunnel they were in. The first hint of what was to come was the faint glowing up ahead, the source obscured by a bend.

"Noah look, there's light!" Katie exclaimed. "We must be close, let's go!"

She rushed ahead, but Noah's hand remained wrapped around hers and held fast, stopping her from going any further.

"Wait." He said. "There could be more pitfalls. Better take it slow."

"Right. Sorry."

"Don't sweat it. We made it this far, don't wanna fall thirty feet from safety right?"

"Totally."

The closer they got however, the more things started to seem off. Instead of an orange glow of sunset, or the normal yellow of daylight, the tunnel was becoming green.

They turned the corner and it opened up into a huge chamber high-ceiling chamber, blasted out of the rock with dynamite and expanded with digging machines. The ceiling was cross-braced with numerous timbers, and these were dotted with glowing green spots. There were hundreds of beams, each covered in dozens of spots, and altogether the the space above them must have been home to thousands of these little green stars.

Below the splendid display was a mining pit, maybe thirty meters across, which had long ago flooded with water, making a tiny lake inside the mine. The water was perfectly still and undisturbed, making a glassy mirror onto which the lights above could reflect. Their beauty and their radiance doubled accordingly.

"Wow." Katie gasped, wide-eyed as she took in the natural wonders before her. "What is it?"

"Maybe some kind of fungus?" Noah ventured. "I read about something like that once."

"It's really pretty." She said as they began following the path along the edge of the lake. Along the shore discarded equipment lay near the surface. Steam shovels, cranes, anything too big and heavy to easily get back to the surface had been left in situ, and in the faint green light they looked like islands and trees.

"It really is…something, isn't it?" Noah said. Walking hand in hand with her, he wondered how such a hopeless situation could look so amazing and feel so incredible. His heart was beating uncomfortably fast.

"Reminds me of like, the lake back home." Katie said. "So like, I live in this little town called Twig Harbor right? And it's called that because there's this harbor, and it's part of this lake thingy."

"You don't say." Noah nodded along.

"So like, we have an Uncle right? And he has this boat that goes really fast, and we go tubing and parasailing with it in the summer. It's so much fun, but the first time me and Sadie went out there, another boat came by and splashed us while we were in the tube! We flipped over and let go of the rope, and I was so scared because I thought they were going to leave us and we'd have to swim back home all alone. We held onto the tube and cried until they came back to get us."

"Man I bet Jack and Rose wish they had a tube like that instead of a shitty door." Noah joked.

"Haha they so would." Katie agreed. "Afterwards we like, parked the boat on a little beach and had a bonfire, and we could see all the stars on the lake. Just like this." She gestured to the cave lake.

"Wish I coulda been there. Good times." Noah said, but his mind was already wandering a bit. "Hey wait, you said you live in Twig Harbor?"

"Yep! Born and raised."

"Where have I heard that before…" Noah muttered, stroking his chin as if it would swell his genius intellect to the forefront. "What was the lake you guys went on?"

"Uh, Lake Simoca, why?"

Everything suddenly clicked into place. Noah's eyes lit up and he turned and looked at Katie. "No way. I live in Huntwall, on the North side. I've seen the road signs for Twig Harbor but never went there, that's why I know it."

"Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!" Katie squealed, her joy echoing across the stone walls. "Do you know what this means?"

"That we probably passed each other on the road at some point before the show without even knowing?" Noah asked a bit facetiously.

"No silly! We could stay in touch and see each other after the show! I just got my license too, this is gonna be so great!"

His heart fluttered, and he clutched his chest trying to make it stop. She had to be playing with him, right? This couldn't possible be real, could it?

"Uh haha yeah, that would be uh…great. Mhm." He swallowed heavily, looking for anything to change the subject. As he went quiet, his ears began to perk up.

"You hear that?" He asked

"Hear what?"

"Shhhhhhhh."

They shut up and listened closely. Somewhere ahead there was a faint whistling sound, and Noah began to hone in on the source with intent. Katie followed him closely as they made a half-circle around the lake from where they started.

The hunt led them to a tunnel that sloped sharply upwards, with minecart tracks leading through it. Standing at the entrance, they could hear the unmistakable rush of air coming down towards them. They could even feel it brush against their skin, raising goosebumps on their arms.

"This is it." Noah said. "Come on, this is our way out."

"Eeeeeeeeeee I knew we'd find it!" Katie cheered. "And you said we were gonna die down here. I bet you feel goofy."

"I'll gladly eat my words once I see the sun again." Noah said.

Onwards they went, towards the promise of salvation. With any luck, they would see the surface again, and live to tell their incredible and harrowing story. Even while fighting for survival however, Noah's mind never wandered too far from his feelings. Here it was just him and her, and he hated how much he liked it like that. Were it not a life and death situation, strolling through such a beautiful place with her would have been blissful.

He was going to miss her once this was over. He didn't seriously consider it possible that they would stay friends afterwards, because that was scary. If they went their separate ways after the show then he could just end things by going silent, but if they kept going things would get far enough she might actually have to finally reject him. Or worse yet, he would screw things up royally, and make her hate him.

Maybe it would be best to confess after all, he thought. Get the rejection over with now rather than drag it out. But confessing with intent to get rejected would look pathetic, and Noah was above that. The longer they walked, the more he found himself wishing for more time down here with her. Maybe then he could figure it out.

Back above ground, Chef arrived at the auditorium. Already having immunity, Heather began tearing the place apart in the hopes of finding her lost makeup somewhere. She kicked open boxes and dumped out the contents onto the stage. She even pulled up a couple floorboards to make sure nobody had stashed it beneath the stage.

"Awww." One of the camera crew groaned as Heather made more of a mess. "We're gonna have to clean that up."

The longer they remained around the auditorium, the more they began to notice the air had a distinct pungent odor to it. Chef suspected that it wasn't just the island's usual foulness. He was too used to it, this was different. That was a fact confirmed by the loud ripping of flatulence, which drew his attention upwards to the rafters above the stage.

Like a cat caught in a tree, there Owen was. He scrambled for a way to get down and escape, but Chef blasted him with a quick reaction shot from the water gun. He lost his grip and plummeted to the ground, impacting the stage right next to where the light had crashed down during the talent show. His epic gluteus girth cratered the deck below him, undoing all the hard work to patch over that incident from what seemed like so long ago.

"Guys look, Owen's here!" Lindsay exclaimed. "Hi Owen!" She and Beth ran over to him and each offered him a hand up, helping him stumble to his feet.

"Hey guys." He said. "Hope you're having a better day than me."

"No we're not!" Heather cut in from afar.

"What's her deal?"

Lindsay leaned in and lowered her voice. "Someone took all her makeup, and she's been cranky about it all day."

"Which means her bad day is now our bad day." Beth grumbled.

"What was that?" Heather asked.

"Nothing." Beth and Lindsay both said at once.

"That bites. You think that's bad, I've had some killer indigestion. Everythings all blocked up and my gut is killing me." Owen said, and as if his body wanted to corroborate his story, it let out a couple of squeaky, strained little farts.

"Oh my god, I have so been there." Lindsay nodded. "When that happens to me, I eat kale salad. It's low carb and totally good for your pores too, and your pores are so sad." She sad, tugging at his skin and investigating it closely.

Beth raised a brow at that, but said nothing. Lindsay made some seriously bizarre claims about the health benefits of certain diet choices. The other day, she said her low sodium diet made her hair grow longer, prevented hives, and improved her sex life. But Owen looked completely convinced.

"They are?" He gasped, trying to see whatever it was that Lindsay did which made his pores so allegedly melancholy. "How do I get happy pores?"

"I'd let you borrow my lotions to see if it would help, but Heather took all of them after hers went missing." Lindsay said.

"Bummer." Owen huffed.

"Don't worry, I can still write you a list of what I use." Lindsay said. "Then when you get home you can like, try some of it out."

"Hey kids!" Chef interrupted them. "We're moving out. Ain't nothing else around here besides fatty, and we got more island to cover."

Owen's stomach rumbled, and he made more strained attempts at flatulence. He clutched his gut in pain and leaned over against one of the support beams. "You guys go ahead. I'm gonna go lie down." He said. "Sleep off this gut problem."

"Awww. Bye Owen, get better soon." Lindsay waved him off.

"Yeah, take care." Beth said.

After the auditorium, the next closest landmark worth investigating was the dodgeball court and the sports supplies shed behind it. At first the area looked pretty undisturbed, but upon closer inspection the shed door was slightly ajar. Either the crew were sloppy cleaning things up, or someone else had been here. Both were possible, and worth investigating.

"Go around the sides and make sure nobody slips outta the windows." Chef ordered the campers. They complied quietly, and he went inside. The shed was one of those pre-built ones that you could pick up whole at the hardware store for cheap. It was shockingly dilapidated for how new it was, installed as part of the renovation work to make the camp suitable for filming. Yet, it already smelled like like a decade locker room and every corner was piled with miscellaneous supplies that made it look like a run-down dump.

It was through this mess that Chef would have to rummage to find whoever might be in here. He wasn't the best manhunter in all of Canada for nothing however, and as he looked through the mess he spotted clues that helped him narrow down his options. Someone had piled all the hockey sticks up against the ladder to the second level. On close inspection they had a layer of dust caked onto them from disuse, so they couldn't have been moved and put back recently. Nobody was up there.

None of the clutter in the corners looked disturbed either. He gave each a good kick just in case, but all that yielded was clouds of dust bursting in his face. Not all of the paraphernalia was so neglected however. The basket full of dodgeballs had been visibly disturbed, which on its own wasn't a red flag, but the balls that had spilled onto the floor certainly were. Maybe the interns were sloppy cleaning up after their last use. Or maybe there was something else afoot.

He gave the dodgeball holder a solid kick.

It replied back. "Ow! I mean uh. Ball! Ball!"

Chef grabbed the basket and overturned it, spilling dozens of dodgeballs and one startled Geoff. He scrambled to his feet and tried to make a mad dash for the exit, but his foot hadn't even cleared the door before Chef had his water gun up and doused him with a short burst.

He tumbled to the ground, defeated. "Aw man! This blows."

"Anyone else in here?" Chef asked.

"Nope, just me compadre." Geoff shook his head as he got up and brushed himself off. "Nice shot dude."

Chef grumbled something unintelligible and left the shed, glad to breathe in air again that wasn't sweaty. Outside, Heather, Beth and Lindsay were doing the lamest job of maintaining a perimeter he had ever seen.

"Let's go." He motioned them to follow, and they fell in line with the usual grousing.

Beyond the gym, it was time to start sweeping the woods. Wawanakwa was a sizable island, and to a novice it would seem impossible to search it all in a day for where anyone could be hiding. Indeed, not even Chef could do so, but the trick that made him a great manhunter was that he wouldn't have to.

He pulled out his map and scoured it for marked points of interest, referencing it against what landmarks he could see from where he stood. On the ground level it was difficult, and so as they marched onwards he sought ever higher ground to get a better view. On a high rocky ridge, there he saw it- a tree standing tall over the rest of the forest. Anyone heading into the woods would almost certainly see it and be drawn there. Even if nobody had chosen it as a hiding spot, it would be a good place to look for clues as to where they went. If nothing else, it would offer a commanding vantage point.

The high afternoon sun was sinking closer to the horizon as midday gave way to the evening. The lights became warmer and took on a more yellow color, heralding the arrival of sunset in just a few hours time. From the lofty perch she occupied in the tree, Courtney was starting to feel pretty confident that she could wait this out.

That confidence was shaken, when movement from below started to catch her eye. She peered down into the forest, tracking the brief flashes of color between the trees until one entered a clearing. It was Chef, followed closely by Heather's posse. As they closed in the began fanning out, spreading out in many directions all converging on her. Did they spot her? Were they trying to corner her? Or were they simply trying to cover more ground?

She weighed her options. Courtney could try to stay still and hope they would pass underneath without seeing her. But if they came up into the tree to get a better view, they'd practically run into her, and up here she she was a sitting duck. If she wanted to get away, she'd have to do it now, while she still had some distance from her pursuers.

She would have to make her choice soon, they were closing fast and her window to flee was closing. She didn't want to lose such a good hiding spot, but as she thought it over she saw an opportunity. If she could get out without being detected, it would be a clear run to the dock.

Carefully she began lowering herself through the branches, diligent about her footfalls so that they wouldn't shake the branches. The last thing she wanted was to put on a conspicuous show for the people on the ground to see. The downside to that approach was that it was a painfully slow, costing her time that she didn't have enough of to begin with.

After what felt like an eternity she saw the ground at last, and her heart nearly stopped when she saw who was standing on it. Right below her, maybe an arm's length down, was Chef himself, with Heather right behind him.

Courtney was a statue among the branches, rigidly unmoving as they searched the ground below her.

"Stay down here. I'm heading up." Chef said.

"Break a leg!" Heather said.

He was coming up. If she didn't move right now he would see her. As fast as she dared Courtney started putting one foot in front of the other. The branches this low were large and sturdy and could support her weight a long distance from the trunk, if she could manage to keep her balance.

She watched as Chef climbed up the tree, using the very same spot she once stood on to hoist himself up to the next branch mere feet away from her. He ascended the tree none the wiser to her presence, and it was all she could do to contain her sigh of relief internally. But now she faced a new challenge- getting down without Heather noticing. She was literally right above her rival's head, and Courtney briefly pondered jumping down onto her to knock her out. Flashbacks to her experience hiking and rock-climbing convinced her otherwise. Falling on top of someone was a recipe for a broken leg if she got twisted up.

Going further out on the branch wouldn't get her far away enough from Heather to drop down without being heard. But, as she peered ahead, she saw an opportunity in that direction. It would bring her close enough to make a jump to another tree, which could give her a a way down with some cover. If she could just make it across without too much noise she'd be in the clear.

"Lindsay, Beth!" Heather said. "What is taking your slackers so long? Are you even trying to keep up?"

"Sorry Heather." Lindsay said. "These boots were sooo not made for walking."

The chatter below gave Courtney the opening she needed. She crouched down, made a final judgment of distance, and sprung from one branch to the next. After landing, she glanced back down. Heather was still berating her minions, none the wiser. She crept along the length of the branch to the trunk, then carefully slid down it until her feet were on solid ground.

Courtney slowly crept away, until Heather's bitching was but distant chatter. Finally, she could relax. She circled around to begin her egress towards the dock.

Little could she have guessed that behind the next tree someone was right there.

"Gah, Courtney!" Ezekiel yelped. "You gave me quite a scare eh."

"Shut up." She hissed. "Call me out to Chef and I will make sure your reputation stays in the toilet for being a sexist pig."

"Please don't!" He begged, still way too loud. "Y'know I actually wanted to say sorry to ya about that, just haven't had the chance eh."

Her eye twitched and she wished she had some duct tape on hand right now. "That's great. How about you do it after the challenge when I'm not being hunted?!"

"Hey Chef, I think I heard something!" Lindsay called out.

"Ah shit." Courtney muttered. There was nothing else to do but make a run for it, and pray to whatever powers watched over her that the head start would be enough. She crashed through the woods at a breakneck pace, smashing branches out of the way and trampling over bushes int a mad dash to get to the campgrounds. She couldn't hear if Chef was behind her or not over the sound of her own breathing, which came in ragged gasps as she pushed herself to the limit.

The trees began to part, the forest became more sparse as buildings started to come into view. Then the ground came rushing up at her as her foot snapped on an exposed root. She rolled with the fall, and hit the ground with a dull thud. She moved all her muscles to make sure nothing was broken, and when she was confident of that she dislodged her foot and rolled over onto her front to push off back to her feet.

She spun around trying to get her bearings back. She couldn't see Chef anywhere, but nearby she heard snapping branches and the rapid thuds of footfalls. Not waiting for him to appear, she raced off again towards camp. She could almost see the dock.

Then, in her peripheral, something massive came crashing out of the bushes. She glanced over and there he was, Chef with the water gun. He leveled it at her, tracking as she ran across the campgrounds. She waited, and waited, trying to anticipate when he'd fire.

The jet of water burst forth towards her, and she dove to the ground, tucking her head in and rolling to retain her momentum as she ran. The blast went sailing right over her head, and she could keep going. Chef had to pump up another shot, buying her time to get those last few yards to the dock in.

For the final run she didn't bother trying to do any fancy dodging. He'd probably predict it if she tried the same trick twice. So if he got her, he got her, but she was gonna get to that chair.

She could feel the creaky, rotten wooden boards rattle loudly beneath her feet as she got onto the dock. Right behind her Chef skidded to a stop and readied his weapon. He pumped it up to full power, this shot had to count. Courtney pushed herself to the limit of her sprinting speed.

He pulled the trigger, seconds before she reached for the chair. What happened next was a blur, and at the other end of it Courtney was clinging to the lifeguard chair in a soaking wet heap.

"Wow." Chris slow-clapped, having witnessed the whole thing from his lounge chair at the other end of the dock. "I seriously cannot call that one. We'll have to look through the high speed footage to see how that one turned out."

Indeed, they would cut over to said high speed footage when the show aired, giving the viewer the satisfaction of seeing the final result without a tedious wait time. In the end, Chris would decide that she'd been splashed before touching the chair, denying Courney the immunity she worked so hard for.

Presently however, she couldn't know that. She slumped over, exhausted, but satisfied that she'd given it her all.

After chasing Courtney, Chef continued to sweep the island with his acquired posse of campers. Shadows grew longer as night approached. The failing light made more difficult a hunt that was already an uphill battle even for Chef's manhunting skills. There were only three contestants left unaccounted for, not exactly a lot of targets per square meter of island to go and find.

In the end their stealth trumped Chef's best efforts to find them. The sun touched the horizon, and an announcement blared over the speakers.

"Congratulations to our remaining campers who survived the hunt. Gwen, Noah and Katie, come back to camp to claim your immunity." Chris said.

It was in the fierce orange glow of a sunset halfway in progress that Gwen triumphantly returned. She had an uncharacteristic pep in her step, and something approaching a smile on her face. She hadn't just beaten the game, with immunity came a chance to finally go through an elimination ceremony without fear. Heather surely knew it, and cast daggers her way as she passed.

"Don't worry." Beth told Heather. "We'll get her next time."

It didn't make her feel any better, but then again, it wasn't supposed to. As Gwen glanced her way, Beth winked discreetly. Gwen nodded and winked back. Heather was too busy fuming to notice.

"Has anyone seen Noah?" Owen asked, his eyes bulging fearfully. He still looked absolutely ragged from his gut sickness, but concern for his friend animated him. "Is he back yet?"

"Relax." Lindsay placed an assuring hand on his shoulder. "He probably just like, hid really far away."

"But what if something happened to him?" Owen asked. "I don't know if my buddy could survive all by his own out in the woods."

"Don't be such a baby." Heather rolled her eyes. "He's probably fine. I've seen turtles that move faster than that brain. We'll be stuck here for a while."

She didn't realize just how right she was. The orange splendor of sunset faded as the last slivers of that burning orb dipped under the horizon. Slowly but surely twilight crept upon them, and after nearly an hour there was still no sign of either missing camper.

Even Chris was starting to look a little anxious. He came down to the cabins to ask if anyone knew the whereabouts of Noah and Katie, but the campers were just as clueless as he was. Light was rapidly fading from the sky, the first constellations and stars were beginning to peek through the cloud cover above.

"Have any of our cameras got eyes on Noah and Katie yet?" Chris radioed the surveillance tent.

On the other end he couldn't see the intern frantically cycling through the hundreds of camera feeds via the dozens of monitors. "Uh no sir." Came the reply. "Everything is dead still over here."

"Should we wait a bit?" Chef asked. "There are blind spots."

Chris shook his head. "After that mess with DJ, I don't need the producers on my ass again. Chef, get our choppers in the air and get search teams covering this island. I want boats on every corner of the shore. This is an emergency."

Over the next several minutes the whole island would come to life. The three helicopters they kept on retainer for filming aerial shots were sent skywards to scour the ground from above, while dozens of interns mounted ATVs and four-wheelers to comb the forests for any sign of life. Flashlight beams lanced across practically every corner of Wawanakwa. The greatest light show however was that put on by the large searchlights carried by the boats, which lit up the crummy sandy beaches with startling vividity.

Scouring the surface however wouldn't turn up any missing teenagers. They were making their final ascent through the tunnel towards the exit, where they could see the twinkle of stars awaiting them. Even Noah was starting to feel jubilation eroding his relentless cynicism.

"Hey Katie, ready to feel grass again?" Noah asked.

"Oh yeah I am so tired of rock." Katie nodded. "I am gonna roll in that grass."

"I have never before been so excited to see all the crappy forests on this island."

All of that hope evaporated when they finally got close, and could see the entrance was caved in. They were seeing stars only through a small hole, just big enough to put their arms through.

"You gotta be kidding me." Noah groaned, burying his face in his hands.

"Well don't just stand there! We're almost out, come on!" She said, grabbing rocks and pulling them away.

Once again her inspiration pulled Noah out of his funk, and he fell in beside her to help. One stone at a time they made the entrance just a little wider, counting the inches until it would be wide enough they might squeeze through and taste the sweet freedom of the outside world.

Just when it seemed like they were almost done, a rumble reverberated through the rocks.

"Look out!" Noah cried, grabbing Katie and tackling her to the ground. It was just in time, seconds later the whole thing collapsed upon the opening they'd spent so much effort to create. When the dust settled, they stood up to find it completely blocked off, save for only a tiny sliver of opening at the top of the entrance, far out of reach. Noah's heart sank, and he let out a cry of pure agony at seeing their one chance of escape dashed right before their eyes.

"Great, just great." He sighed.

"Okay, okay just…don't panic." Katie said, hands trembling as she tried to remain calm. Even her sunny exterior was showing cracks, and Noah could just make out the hints of anxiety on the outline of her face in the dark.

"Yeah it'd be much easier to just lie down and die quietly." Noah said.

"Don't say that!" Katie cried.

"Why not? This day just keeps getting worse and worse! First I lead the girl I love into this death trap, then I jump in like an idiot instead of going to get help so now I'm stuck here with you! And then we spend the next several hours crawling through this god-forsaken mine, seeing amazing things, thinking there's a way out, getting our hopes up, only to get trapped a few steps away from escape! I don't think I am being dramatic, I'm being realistic."

"Oh you are so being dramatic Noah. You act like you're above it all, but you're the biggest drama queen on the island, you big baby!"

"Well sorry I'm not happy about our impending demise!"

"And I'm sorry that- wait, hold on." Katie stopped mid-sentence as her brain caught up to a few seconds ago. "Say that again."

"Sorry I'm not happy about-"

"No, before that."

"I'm not being dramatic?"

"No, no no! Back to the part where you said you loved me!"

"Wait, I said that?"

"Yes, yes you did."

"Oh."

He shut up and hoped she would likewise just drop it. His stomach was turning itself into knots and every icky embarrassing feeling in his gut was bubbling up. For a few minutes it seemed like she would have mercy and allow his mistake to be forgotten.

"Well, do you?" She asked, breaking the silence.

Noah's face burned hot like the sun and his chest felt like his heart was jumping out of it. He'd let it slip, there was no taking it back. Whatever she thought of him, he was about to find out. He braced himself, steeling his resolve for what he was about to say.

"Yes." He sighed. "I am hopelessly head over heels for you."

"Then say it."

"Huh?"

"Say it to me. Three words, you know the ones."

"Okay. Fine. I will." He said, taking several deep breaths to prepare himself. "Katie I…I…I love you. A lot."

She swooned. All the waiting and uncertainty, and she finally knew. He did feel the same way. Her lips curled into a tiny smile and she grabbed him by the shoulders, pulling him in.

"Ow!"

They both cried out as she headbutted him in the face.

"What was that?" Noah groaned.

"I thought like, I'd kiss you and then say, I love you too. It would have been super romantic and sweet." Katie rubbed her face. "But I can't see anything and uh…oopsie."

An awkward silence fell upon them, but somewhere along the line it became a comfortable one. They didn't have anything more to say, so they didn't. They found a flat spot to sit down, leaned up against each other. One of Noah's hands held Katies, while the other pulled her tightly around the waist. She did the same, and rested her head against his shoulder…at least, she was pretty sure that was his shoulder. Whatever fate awaited, they at least knew they could be together for it.

Some time later, a glimmer in Noah's peripheral caught his attention.

"Look! Up there!" He said.

She turned her head generally upwards, and realized what he was pointing at. From that tiny opening at the top of the entrance, they could see flashing lights from outside. Someone was out there.

"Help! Hey, over here!" Noah cried as loud as his lungs would allow.

They rushed to the entrance and climbed up as far as they could, trying to shout through the narrow opening. After several minutes however, nobody came running, and the fear that they might move on none the wiser began to creep into their heads.

"Shit, they hear us." Noah said. "We need a way to get their attention."

Katie glanced up at the flashlight beams enviously. If she had one, maybe she could shine it upwards through the opening and they would see it.

Her brain suddenly clicked, and she reached into her back pocket, fishing out her compact mirror. A large crack ran down it, probably from damage sustained in her fall. It would have to do.

"Noah, lift me up on your shoulders!" She said.

"Uh, Katie, I don't think now is the best time for piggyback rides."

"It's totally the best time for piggyback rides." Katie replied. "Come on. Don't you trust me?"

He sighed deeply, looking up at the vague suggestion of her face that he could barely see in the shadows. "Yes." He said. "I trust you."

Then he knelt down to let her climb onto his shoulders. She was light and yet still far more weight than he was used to lifting, and he wobbled and struggled to stand up with her on top of him. Surprisingly, she remained steady atop him, balancing despite how much of a rickety and unstable platform he made.

Once he fully stood up he steadied out a little, enough that Katie could raise her hands over her head. Cupped in them was her pocket mirror, which wobbled as it tried to find the beam of a flashlight to reflect back.

Before she could align it just right, Noah's foot slipped. They went tumbling back down to the cave floor. Katie instinctually clutched the mirror against her chest, knowing it was their only hope of escape. She felt a sharp crack as she landed, and her stomach twisted into knots.

Her elbows scraped and her butt was sore after the fall. Now was not the time to lie in pain however. She staggered to her feet as quickly as she could, feeling the mirror for damage. The clamshell had broke apart from the impact, but the mirror still remained firmly in place.

"Let's try again!" She shouted.

"Got it." Noah panted breathlessly, his muscles aching from exertion he never thought himself capable of or willing to do. He knelt back down, and she climbed back up. He stood to his feet again, this time more forcefully and rapidly, and locked his legs to give her the best platform to stand on. It was painful, but so was dying of starvation with the person you cared about most. This had to work.

Katie held the mirror over her head again, getting it just above the ledge so that it could catch a passing flashlight beam. It wobbled in her hands as she split her focus between watching the passing lights and keeping herself balanced. She kept telling herself it would work, she prayed it would.

Then it did. On the other end of one of the lights, an intern swept his beam across something brilliantly reflective.

"Hey I think I see something over here!" He said to his comrades, rushing to the blocked mineshaft to investigate the discovery. "Anyone down there?"

"Yeah!" Noah called back from the other side. "We're stuck in here, get us out!"

"Okay." The intern called back to them. "Just hang tight guys. We'll get you out."

Shortly after that, Noah collapsed to the floor in a heap, and Katie right next to him. He laughed more joyously than he ever had in his life, despite the immense pain burning through his arms and legs. He couldn't have been any happier.

"We did!" He sobbed, the disbelief in his voice palpable. "We're gonna make it!"

"Eeeeeee! I told you it'd be okay!" She squealed as she threw herself onto him. The landing was rough and they bonked heads again, but they were too overjoyed to care.

"Guess I shoulda listened to you." Noah muttered, holding her close.

The news was passed on to Chris by radio shortly after their discovery, and more crew arrived on the scene to help. A crane truck was driven to the scene, and with the might of machinery several tons of rock were lifted out, until there was enough space they could pass a harness through the opening and pull Noah and Katie out. Gone was the slab of black rock hanging over their heads, now they were watched over by the thousands of stars in the night sky.

Large work lights were staged around the mineshaft, letting the camera crews capture the moment they emerged. Now Noah could look her in the eyes, and really see her, not just a vague murky outline but all of her. He had never seen something so wonderful.

They didn't need any words for this moment. They had plenty of those back in the cave. She grabbed him behind the head, he leaned in and wrapped an arm around her waist. Their lips collided and the air between them was electric. Some would have called their kissing sloppy, obnoxiously loud, and clumsy. But they didn't care. This was for themselves and nobody else

Pulling back from it, Noah was lightheaded and woozy. Katie was giggling ferociously. And she took his hand into his.

"We should go back." She said. "They're probably worried about us."

"Think they'll believe we're a thing?" He laughed. "I wouldn't."

"Only one way to find out." She replied, leading him by the arm away from the cave.

At the campgrounds, Owen paced back and forth anxiously waiting for any news. He'd seen the commotion and watched as many interns raced off to the North side of the island. But whether or not they had found Noah alive, and if so, in what health, he had no idea.

On the front steps of the girls cabin, Beth and Lindsay anxiously awaited Katie's return. Heather had gone to bed, not to be disturbed unless her two votes wandered back to camp alive and ready to do her bidding. She hadn't used those exact words, but Beth was getting better at reading her intent. Heather had been particularly bad at masking it today as well.

Geoff and Ezekiel were up as well. Neither were really close to Noah like Owen was, but they'd agreed to stand there in a show of solidarity with the big guy. His own duplicity ate at Geoff inside, and Courtney lurked behind him, ready to drop him should he spill the plan they'd so carefully kept clandestine.

"Holy moses look! They're back!" Owen cried out.

There they were. Noah and Katie rode into camp triumphantly on the back of an ATV, waving excitedly to everyone. When they climbed down, Noah's feet hadn't been on the ground for two seconds before Owen captured him in a bear-hug tackle.

"Buddy!" He cheered. "It's great to see you!"

Noah muttered some sort of affirmation against Owen's chest. He came out of the hug breathless and blue-faced, but he took it in stride. "Miss me big guy?"

"Did I ever!" Owen said. "Are you guys alright? Nothing's broken?"

"Oh, we're more than okay." He cast a knowing smile in her direction. "Should we tell him?"

"Why?" She grabbed him by the face, smiling deviously. "I wanna show em."

She pulled him into another kiss. This one light, tender, and brief. She held it just long enough to make sure everyone saw, and then pulled back to see their reactions. Beth had to physically stop herself from looking repulsed, and all around her the others murmured and gasped in surprise. All except Lindsay, who cheered and clapped excitedly.

"Yay! Finally!" She squealed. "It's like, about time you two admitted it."

"Wait, you knew?" Katie asked.

"Duh." Lindsay rolled her eyes. "It was so obvious. I thought everyone knew."

"Nah bro." Geoff shook his head. "This is news to me."

"I just got here eh." Ezekiel said.

"I thought she had standards…" Beth muttered under her breath.

The shocking news did little to dampen Owen's spirit. "Woohoo! My buddy's got a girl! This is awesome!"

His jubilation was interrupted by another bout of stomach cramps, causing him to double over in pain. "Not so awesome." He winced.

"Ouch." Noah said. "Eating all that sketchy stuff finally catching up to ya big guy?"

Before Owen could elaborate, Chris appeared on the campgrounds. Anticipating the forthcoming announcement, Courtney whispered something in Geoff's ear, and he disappeared into the guys cabin.

"Awww, what a happy reunion." Chris said. "But, since everyone is back that means the elimination tonight goes ahead as usual. It's already a quarter past midnight, so get your butts out to the the confessional, record your votes, and meet me by the campfire."

All the commotion outside had done the unpleasant job of waking up Heather, who emerged from the girl's cabins. The long day had done nothing to diminish her fury, she looked like she was ready for murder as she began to lead her alliance to the confessional.

Then Geoff stepped out of the guy's cabins holding something above his head. "Yo, whose thingy is this? Almost tripped over it, that woulda been gnarly."

Like a rabid wolf Heather was upon him, seizing the object from his possession. It took some turning around and squinting to figure out what it was in the dim flickering light. When it finally registered for her, she gasped. It was a palette of foundation, except the actual foundation had been totally cleaned out of the plastic container.

"Where did you find this?!" She snarled, grabbing him by the collar.

"A-ah! Woah, chill dudette! I'll show ya."

"You better."

She let him go and followed him inside, every step a furious stomp. He pointed to a spot on the floor right next to one of the beds. "It was here." He told her.

A hunch crept into her mind, and Heather crouched down onto her knees and looked under the bed. What she uttered next could only be described as a scream of pure demonic rage. She reached below the frame and scooped out a whole armful of makeup containers. Lipgloss tubes, palettes, eyeliner. She frantically started opening them, only to find they had been emptied just like the one Geoff found.

"No no no, this can't be happening." She shook her head frantically. She shoveled more of her stolen valuables out and checked all of them, desperately hoping for some to be still intact. It was all in vain however, for the whole collection had been thoroughly cleaned out by some monstrous.

Right at that moment, the door swung open, and Noah came inside. "Hey, just wanted to grab a change of pants before- what the hell?!" Noah gasped. "Why are you digging under Owen's bed, Heather?"

She stood up and spun around on her heel to face him, her face red with anger. "This is Owen's bed?!"

Sensing that he'd said something wrong, Noah crossed his arms and tried to play cool. "Maybe. Depends. Why?"

She wasn't falling for it. "Ugh, I knew it! That disgusting pig sleep-ate my makeup collection!" Heather stormed out of the cabins, "Owen! You're a dead man! You hear me? DEAD!"

She grabbed Lindsay and Beth by the hair and started dragging them to the confessional. "Come on! We have a fatty who needs to learn a little lesson."

It took Noah a moment to comprehend what he just saw. The makeup, Heather's anger, asking about Owen…the pieces of the puzzle clicked into place in his head. He took off after Heather, as fast as he could. For the second time today, he was sprinting headfirst into danger to save someone he cared about. How unlike him. This island had changed him, and he was too wrapped up in the moment to notice or care anymore.

"Heather! Wait!" He called after her, panting to catch his breath as he caught her maybe halfway to the confessional.

"No, I will not." She said bluntly. "That tub of lard and farts you keep on retainer just ate thousands of dollars of premium, limited edition beauty products. He has to pay."

It took him a minute to catch his breath and formulate a response. "Come on, this has foul play written all over it. All that makeup just happened to show up under his bed overnight? Seriously?"

"What, so like someone made Owen eat all of it?" Heather rolled her eyes. "Please. He's a walking garbage can, he probably thought my fruit lipgloss was made of actual fruit."

"...it isn't?" Noah raised a brow, surprised, before realizing he was getting off track. "Listen, I know my buddy, and I know he wouldn't blow it this big-time."

"Maybe you don't know him as well as you think. Unless you'd rather be the one going home tonight, I suggest you shut your trap."

A knot tightened in Noah's gut. He'd been willing to risk himself once for a friend. Now he could put himself on the line again but, did he want to? If it worked, he'd be gone. His shot at the money would be gone. He'd be leaving Katie alone, again. Could he do it?

He could. He was done living inside himself, done being the only person in the world he cared about. Katie was strong, she could go without him. Going out like this would make his time on the island worth something.

"Yeah, sure." He shrugged. "Vote me, I don't care. Owen doesn't deserve this."

He waited for her verdict to drop. He was ready to be destroyed.

"Too bad." She turned her back on him. "He should have thought of that before touching my makeup."

Noah's heart sank into the pit of his stomach. He'd offered himself up to be butchered, and she didn't even see him as worth making a sacrifice out of. He ran back to find Katie and Owen, determined to put together a last ditch plan to save themselves. He wasn't going to just give up and lie down while Heather exacted unjust retribution on his buddy. Noah hadn't given up in the cave, he wasn't going to give up now.

When the elimination ceremony came around, Owen was in the bottom two, much to Noah's chagrin. But they'd managed to bring Heather down there with him. Now, it was up to Chris to decide which of them would take the last marshmallow. For once, there was a look of genuine shock in the hosts expression, and his preamble carried with it no air of pretense.

"Okay, I did not see this coming. Owen, you're basically everyone's friend here. I did not expect you to be on the chopping block tonight." Chris shook his head in disbelief. "A little birdie told me that you're in hot water with our local queen bee, but man. Hard to think enough people would want you gone over her to actually get you here."

"I swear I don't know how all that stuff got under my bed!" Owen said. "You gotta believe me!"

"My man, I believe you." Chris said solemnly. "But here, what matters is if everyone else did."

The tension in the air was heavy as he turned to Heather, whose characteristic look of confidence didn't waver. She was used to being a target by now, and in fact she'd started to get a sense of pride from it. All those who voted against her were envious of her success, according to her.

"Heather, you need no introduction, but tonight you've gone above and beyond being the queen of mean. First you went and found Chef just so you could sell out your own alliance for immunity. Harsh." Chris said. "But then you turn on Owen, after his makeup appeared under your bed, in the midst of mysterious circumstance."

"Ugh, there's nothing mysterious about it." Heather rolled her eyes. "This would be the third time this week he's gotten into our cabin in his sleep. He's lucky I am gracious enough that I won't be suing after I win and use my prize money to replace everything he destroyed."

"Bold claim for someone sitting in the bottom two tonight." Chris wagged a finger at her.

Try as he might however, he couldn't keep stringing this out any further. He had to make a verdict, it was late and they had a schedule to keep.

"The final marshmallow of the night goes to…"

He pointed to Heather, then back to Owen, then back to Heather. Dangling the prospect of salvation or condemnation over their heads.

"Heather." He finally declared. "Come get your marshmallow."

The news was met with awkward silence. Nobody could quite believe that he was going home. Courtney said nothing, her poker face was stoic and unyielding. Gwen was likewise unmoving. Beth and Lindsay looked at him apologetically, both having yielded to Heather's demands and now feeling very guilty about the results. Geoff looked away shamefully.

"Aw man." Owen sighed, looking at Noah pensively. "Guess this is it buddy."

"Guess so." Noah sighed. "We gave it a good go."

A smile crept onto Owen's face. "We sure did. I'm gonna miss ya." He threw his arms Noah for another hug, knowing it would be the last for a long while.

"Take care. Try not to eat any more lip gloss without me to watch your back." Noah said, trying his best to make light of the unpleasant situation.

"No promises." Owen laughed, letting him go. "And I'll miss all of you guys too Geoff! Zeke! Get up here man, you guys rock."

The turmoil within that had paralyzed Geoff gave way to full blown sobbing as he rushed to give Owen a proper goodbye. Of everyone on the island, Owen was the one who was the most like himself. The one who appreciated parties and a fun time the most. After what he had done, Geoff felt like the least he could do was help provide a proper sendoff.

"I'm sorry dude, I didn't mean it!" He sniffled back sobs, wiping the tears from his eyes so he could exchange bro-fists with Owen." You're an awesome guy, you don't deserve to go out like this."

By contrast, Ezekiel seem ambivalent about the whole thing. Probably the strongest feeling he had was one of inadequacy. Everyone else seemed so emotional about Owen's departure, and he'd barely just started to know the guy at this point.

"It was uh…cool hanging with you, eh." Ezekiel said. "Take care."

"We'll miss you Owen!" Lindsay and Beth piled onto him in a group hug, with Katie joining in. "You're totally invited to our galleria mall shopping spree after the show."

"He is?" Beth asked, bewildered.

"Totally!" Katie agreed. "Me and Sadie have always wanted to go. The more the merrier!"

"That's the spirit! Man I am seriously gonna miss everyone." Owen said. "Even you Heather! I'm not gonna stay mad at ya."

"That makes one of us." She said.

His goodbyes all said, and their well-wishing over, Owen made his last walk down the dock to his ride off the island forever. Just like his fun loving attitude, his great girth made quite the last impression. The boat rocked and pitched quite visibly beneath him, and Noah cut in with a snide remark about how it might capsize.

Not that he would mind. If the boat did go down then at least Owen would get to stay. Noah dismissed that hope as childish fantasy pretty quickly. They had other boats, and if this one sunk they'd start using another. Best to just let him leave with dignity. The vessel pulled away from the dock, and slipped into the darkness beyond the island.

Stillness fell over the campgrounds after he had gone. Most of the campers were eager to get back to bed afterwards. But not everyone sought rest so immediately. Behind the cabins, three conspirators met to discuss their success that night. Their success would have ripples far beyond that one elimination ceremony, not just changing the course of this game but the whole series.

Far away in the endless expanse of farmland known as Alberta, a year from now a young man would see Total Drama for the first time. So poor was his upbringing that having cable television at all was a post-puberty novelty for the fourteen year old farmer. Not only would their act of sabotage inspire him to join, it would set the tone for his strategy, to become one of the most infamous in the franchises history.

But that is a story for another time. Presently, it was impossible to know the unforeseen consequences of their last-ditch, hail mary plan to weaken Heather's seemingly invincible forces. All they knew, and all that they cared about, was that it had worked.

"Congratulations." Courtney applauded them with a soft clap. "Everyone performed admirably, and I am happy to say Heather has one less pawn in her pocket."

"Shame it had to be Owen and not the bitch herself." Gwen said.

"Oh she will definitely go." Courtney nodded. "I expect such opportunities will be quite forthcoming in the near future. Noah and Katie were close to Owen. They surely aren't happy with her for voting him off."

"Prying apart their alliance from the inside out?" Gwen said. "Nice. Can't wait."

Geoff however didn't look so eager. The guilt was eating away at him, oozing from his features like some sort of disgusting sludge poisoning his soul. "I dunno man. Not sure I can keep doing this." He shook his head. "Owen was my bro, and what I did was seriously messed up."

"Can I give you some advice Geoff?" Courtney asked.

"Uh, yeah, sure."

She folded her arms over her her chest, and looked him the eyes. "This is how these games are played. If you don't screw someone else, someone is going to screw you. If we're going to survive, we'll have to play dirty."