Moving in hardly took any time at all. Nobody had brought more than one bag, so within the hour, campers had gathered outside their respective cabins. Chris waited for them with a smile. "Everyone settled in?" He was met with nods, and murmurs of affirmation. "Good! Now, our first challenge is still being set up, so take this grace period to get to know your team! Chat it up! You've all ten minutes, tops! Chef, watch the kids, would'ja? I need to check what's taking those interns so long…" Chef grunted. Chris seemed to take this as an answer, and swiftly took his leave. Left behind were sixteen campers, and a grouchy chaperone. Some people were silent, nervously glancing amongst themselves. Others whispered to each other, with glares on their faces.
One camper in particular, however, kept his eyes on a specific teammate. Bowie kept his gaze fixed, until someone to his left gently nudged him. Bowie looked over to see Raj staring up at him, worry and confusion evident on his face. Raj raised a brow. His question was silent, but Bowie understood perfectly. He snuck a glance both ways, and leaned in closer. "We need a strong alliance if we're gonna make it to the merge." Bowie whispered "For sure, for sure." Raj agreed, matching his volume. "I got no idea who to ask, though…" "Well, maybe you don't." Bowie teased, shooting a glance toward the contestant he'd been watching. Raj paused. After getting over the initial shock, he incredulously whispered "You already found someone?" Bowie just smirked, his expression filled with confidence. "I came for the crown, Raji-poo."
CONFESSIONAL
"Yeah, Bowie's great." Raj gushed. "Fifteen minutes in, and he's already talkin' strategy! Real catch, eh?" He chuckled nervously, running his fingers through his hair. "He's awesome."
CONFESSIONAL END
Only a few feet away, Damien watched the forest from the corner of his eye. The sounds of drilling and hammering rang out, causing Damien to wince. He may be in it to win it now, but he sure didn't like those noises…
That thought process barely lasted a full minute. Damien felt an arm around his shoulders, and let out a pathetic-sounding scream. Chase's laughter made it apparent that he was, in fact, not in life threatening danger. "Take a chill pill, dude!" His teammate chuckled.
"A chill pill!? You scared the living daylights outta me!" Damien cried, only earning more giggles from Chase in return. Damien sighed. Chase was a previous teammate of his, and painfully impulsive. Arrogant, too. "Alright, man, what's up, what'cha need?" Damien finally relented.
"Just saying hey, bro!" Chase grinned. "I mean, two-time teammates and we've barely talked! Lowkey crazy, huh?" Damien eyed him suspiciously. Chase definitely looked genuine, but the guy was a wild card, in Damien's experience.
Ripper scoffed, drawing both Chase's and Damien's attention. "What kind of a man parades his loneliness like that? A real alpha male lets the betas beg for his companionship!" Damien visibly cringed, while Chase whistled and muttered a 'yikes' under his breath.
CONFESSIONAL
Chase raised his hands in the air defensively, glaring at the camera. "Hey, I'm a social creature! I need human interaction, dude! And I know like, three of these guys!" He slumped over dejectedly. "Why couldn't they have put me on a team with Zee? Or Emma, Emma works too!" Chase sighed.
CONFESSIONAL END
Chase had just opened his mouth to argue when the horn sounded. Campers covered their ears and shouted in protest, to which the host only laughed. "Challenge is up and running, if you'll just follow me, please!"
Chris led the way, still chuckling to himself as the large group made their way through the forest. They moved through trees and shoved past pushes, the occasional warning of 'watch it!', or 'don't push me!' breaking the silence. Priya picked up the pace, briskly approaching her frightening half-friend. "Heeeeey, Scary!" Priya waved her over, and Scary Girl stopped walking to meet her halfway. Once Priya caught up, the pair walked side-by-side. "So, Team Jaguar, a-am I right? Woo-woo!" Priya cheered, smiling apprehensively as Scary girl turned her head just a little too far.
"Aw, don't be nervous! …friend." She sing-songed cheerfully. She skipped along the trail, humming a tune to herself that Priya was sure she recognized.
"Oh! Oh no, I'm not… I wasn't…" Priya scrambled to explain herself. She still remembered last season like it was yesterday… well, it technically had been last week. But still, Priya remembered!
Scary Girl cackled as if Priya had just told her the funniest joke on earth. "I just haaaaate when my friends lie to me, Priya! But it's okay! I can smell your fear!"
Priya suddenly felt awfully sweaty as she nervously giggled. "Oh, um… good!" She smiled, holding two shaky thumbs up. When Scary Girl returned the gesture, her shoulders slumped with relief.
CONFESSIONAL
"Okay, so, don't think that I think that Scary Girl's not nice, because like, she's so nice. She's like, the nicest person ever!" Priya forced a laugh. "She's just… really, really unique! That's all! A unique and different friend!" The brunette sighed. "Having any friend on my team's a good start, so… I'll take it! Scary Girl and Priya! Priya and Scary Girl! Woo-woo! …I hope Millie's okay…"
CONFESSIONAL END
The group made it to a clearing. From where they were standing, the tops of several watchtowers could be seen poking through the trees. "Welcome, Rhinos, Jaguars, to your first challenge!" Chris paced around the clearing, eyeing each of the contestants with a smirk. "I thought we could celebrate the start of the new season with a game! And who doesn't like my games?"
"The mentally sound, maybe." Someone in the crowd murmured.
Chris sighed. "Thank you, MK. Care to show us some more of your famous wit and satire, or may I continue?" The rest of the campers all turned to stare at the aforementioned sarcasm wizard, with a few glares here and there. MK looked around, and silently shrunk into her jacket.
CONFESSIONALS
MK leaned against the wall of the confessional, her hands were shoved deep into her pockets. "Yup," She sighed. "People are definitely still mad about the phone thing. That'll be a problem." MK chuckled awkwardly, but suddenly turned dead serious. "Hold up… why were, like half the Trouts looking at me like that? And Nichelle and Caleb… How'd they even know about that? Gossip? Has last season even aired yet?" MK nervously fidgeted with her hat, but her expression stayed in its annoyed state. "So the whole island's antagonizing me. Really flying under the radar over here…"
CONFESSIONAL END
CONFESSIONAL
With a satisfied smirk, Bowie filed his nails inside the confessional. "Yeeaaaah, I might have said a little thing or two to a couple ex-Trout teammates while we were in the cabins… word spreads fast, hm?" Bowie grinned deviously, slipping his nail file back into his pocket. "So here's the deal. Raj and I need an alliance to stay in the game. Two is good, but not good enough! Raj and Wayne's friendship is just adorable, but he won't come into play until the merge, and you can't leave a guy waiting like that! So, it comes down to our teammates. Ripper can stay four hundred feet away from me, for one. I'm not having anything to do with Chase. Priya's too loyal to Millie, and Millie miiiight have a teensy little problem with me." He giggled. "Oopsie! Scary Girl is… well, she's Scary Girl. Damien's okay, but he just doesn't have that ruthless edge we need! And that leaves us with MK. She's a little cocky, maybe, but a great candidate! So…" Bowie briefly stood up, and opened the confessional door. After making a quick check around the outhouse, he shut the door and sat back down. "See, our MK's a little bit of a… let's call her a loner. That won't do for an alliance, so I had to pull a couple strings. When the whole island's against poor MK, she'll have to scramble for any allies she can get! And who will be there to welcome her with open arms?" Bowie inspected his nails, looking rather pleased with himself. "Check and mate. But shhh… that's our little secret for now!"
CONFESSIONAL END
"Campers, I assume you're all familiar with hide and seek?" Chris inquired. Several people nodded. "Wonderful! Now, if I could have a volunteer from each team to seek?"
Scary Girl's hand shot up. "Pick me, pick me!" She waved her hand in the air. "I love it when people hide from me." Priya nervously shifted beside her, but gave an encouraging thumbs up when Scary Girl looked in her direction.
"...Well, then! Scary Girl will seek for the Jaguars! Rhinos?"
"Like… suuuure, dude…" Zee lazily raised a hand, using the other to sip from a can of soda. "Sounds super chill."
"Wonderful! Scary Girl, Zee, step forward, please!" The seekers followed Chris to the middle of the clearing. "The rules are simple; Scary Girl and Zee are your seekers. The rest of you have two minutes to hide somewhere in the forest. When your two minutes are up, Scary Girl will hunt for the Rhinos, and Zee will look for the Jaguars. The goal is for your seeker to find everyone on the other team before their seeker finds you! Handicapping the other team's seeker is not allowed, but you're welcome to help your own! Seekers, when you find a player from the opposite team, all you need to do is tag them. Once you're out, you can either try to help your seeker, or sit out. Everyone clear on the rules?"
Priya raised her hand. "Um… what does it mean to 'help your seeker'?"
"Where's out of bounds!?" Damien almost shouted. He seemed very nervous.
Axel cracked her knuckles. "What happens if we take the seeker out ourselves?"
"What happens if I tag a seeker?" Wayne added.
The horn sounded, and everyone fell silent. The atmosphere was tense, and each and every camper waited cautiously for the word;
"GO!"