Hello, readers. Just another quick message from me, some good news and some bad news. Good news is, I've got the next few chapters of the story finished. Bad news is, my internet connection at home is acting weird. I couldn't load much of anything yesterday, thankfully I'd posted the last chapter from college. I'm doing the same today. However, since the school year starts and ends early where I live, today is my last day of college. I COULD upload a few chapters right now, in case I can't post more once I'm back at home for the next several days, but I really only want to upload one chapter per day since that's the rate at which I usually write them. So please, be patient. The story is still in progress, but there might be a longer than usual delay between chapters for a while. Keep reading, keep checking for updates, and try to encourage other people to read the story, I've been putting a lot of effort into this. Thank you. And now, on with the story.

Chapter 8: The Hunter Game

Three days later, it was time for another challenge. Chris woke everyone up by flying a helicopter over the cabins. Leshawna grumbled as she got up, "That dude is really starting to get on my last nerve." Heather yawned. "Whatever, he just loves ruining our mornings. Lindsay, Beth, go warm up the shower for me. Now, please." Beth groaned and went to take care of it.

As the campers finished, getting up, Chris made an announcement over the intercom. "I hope you're ready for the most challenging challenge yet! Breakfast is in three minutes at the campfire pit." So, they went there. "Are you ready for today's extreme! Max! Impact! Challenge!" Geoff cheered. "Heck yes, dude!" "Incoming!" Chris started throwing cans of beans at everyone. "This is breakfast." Heather raised an eyebrow. "No, breakfast is crepes, croissants, even Chef's yucky burnt eggs. This crud isn't even cooked yet!" Chris proceeded to ignore her. "Today's challenge is about survival. We're going hunting!" Duncan grinned. "Now that's more like it!" Harold walked up to Chris and asked "Isn't that a paintball gun?" "Why yes, Harold, it is!" He proved it by shooting him. "This is the first ever paintball deer hunt. I'll give you the details once we get to the woods, so finish eating."

In the woods, there was a wall thing with paintball guns stuck to it. "Now for the team breakdown. The Killer Bass hunters are Harold, Geoff and DJ, locked and loaded with bass blue paint. And using orange paint are the Gopher hunters, Leshawna, Beth, Justin, Lindsay. Since you guys have a few too many players, one of you has to sit this one out. That'll be... Katie." "Yes!" She squealed and ran off. "Good luck, guys!" "You hunters also get these stylin' glasses, and wicked camo caps", Chris said. "The rest of you are now deer. Here are your antlers, noses, and little white tails." Heather crossed her arms. "Yeah right, I am not wearing that." "There is no way I'm a deer!", Duncan said. Chris shoved the accessories onto him. "Take these off and your team is toast." Gwen put her antlers on and sighed. "This may be the lamest thing I've ever done in my life." "Aw, come on", Cody said, "it could be fun." The other Gopher deer glared at him. "Okay, catch ya later." He then ran off.

Confession Cam: Cody
"I was so psyched to be a deer. I'm small, I'm quick- lots of practice from dodging spitballs in math class. I thought it would be a cinch to win. I almost made it without getting hit by a single paintball."

Heather sat on a stump and began filing her nails. "Are you coming?", Gwen asked. "No, I'm gonna wait for Lindsay and Beth and make them protect me for the whole game." "Wouldn't that be against the rules?" "Chris never said that. All I need to do is keep my deer outfit on. You go worry about yours and I'll see you later." Meanwhile, the Bass hunters were about to head into the woods, but DJ just stared glumly at his gun. "Okay", Harold said, "You do realize that this is all just pretend, right? You aren't gonna hurt any animals with that thing." "Are you sure?" Harold nodded. "Well... okay then. Let's do this!" Chris turned the intercom on again. "Okay, start hunting! Game on!" Beth and Lindsay started walking through the woods and ran into Heather. "Ahem", she said, "what took you so long?" "Were we supposed to come find you?", Beth asked. "Hello, alliance anyone?" Lindsay raised her hand. "Oh, oh, can I be in one?" "You already are, Lindsay, that's the point. Now, can someone go find me some berries? I'm starving." Lindsay ran off to look for some. "Shouldn't we be, you know, hunting?", Beth asked. "She is hunting. For me. But actually, berries won't be enough... go get me some chips. Check the dining hall, k?" Beth sighed and walked back to camp. "And not barbeque!"

Confession Cam: Beth
"Okay. Heather can be sooo bossy. And in nature, hunters would never go find food for the deer! If she weren't taking me to the final four, I wouldn't even listen to her. But then, as I'm running from psycho Chef, it hit me- I'm doing this for Heather? I don't even like her!"

Beth heard some rustling in the bushes. "Go ahead, shoot me. You can't make today any stinkier." Cody jumped out of the bushes. "You're a hunter, I'm a deer. Slight food chain issue with me shooting you. So, how goes it?" "I'm sooo done with this game!" "What happened? Have you bagged any deer yet?" "No, but I did risk my life to steal a bag of chips!" Soon, they reached Heather. "What took you so long?", she asked. Beth handed her the bag. "Here. I hope you know what I had to go through to get those." "There's like eleven chips left! And they're barbeque! Go exchange them for something else." Beth reached for the bag, then changed her mind. "No." Heather glared at her. "What did you just say?" Cody took the chips and left. "Take it back." "...No!" "Take. It. Back!" Beth glared back at Heather. "No, I'm tired of being your slave. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a challenge to complete." She walked off, and Harold and Geoff shot Heather a few times. Meanwhile, DJ chased Gwen to the top of the cliff, but he ran out of paint by the time he got there. She pushed him off of it.

Heather found Lindsay. "Hey Heather, I found some blueberries!" She knocked them out of her hand. "Follow me. Hey, Beth!" Beth put down her gun. "Hey, I totally had that one!" "We've been talking about you. We've decided to give you one last chance. If you take it back, you can rejoin our alliance." "Take back what?" "The 'no' you told me." "I don't wanna take it back", Beth said. "You are nothing without me!" "Do you know why we keep losing challenges?" "Because they're lame and foolish?" "No, because you're so busy being mean that you don't even try! All you can think of is bossing us around!" Heather gasped and took her fake nose off, and threw it at Beth. "Oh, that is IT!" "Bring it, dweeb!" The girls started shooting each other, wasting all of Beth's and Lindsay's paint.

Courtney walked up to Duncan while he was spray painting a tree. "Don't you have any respect for nature?", she asked. "I don't have much respect for anything." "Well I'm heading back. This stupid game must be almost over by now." She started walking but Duncan said "You're going the wrong way." "Excuse me? I was a C.I.T., remember? I have a natural sense of direction. Camp is this way." "No, it's that way!" They both walked in opposite directions, toward each other, and their antlers got stuck together. Courtney grumbled. "Very funny, now let me go!" "Hey princess, this isn't my idea of fun either." "Great, Duncan. Now what?" Duncan smiled. "You wanna make out?" She responded by kicking him in the crotch. Over by the camp, the Bass hunters found Heather and Beth still shooting each other and blasted them with their own paintguns. Meanwhile, Justin ran into a bear. "Oh, crap..."

Chris turned on the intercom again. "Attention human wildlife and hunters! Please report back to camp! It's time to show your hides and tally up the scores!" At the medical tent, Justin was lying in a bed covered in casts and bandages while Chris paced back and forth. "Stealing from Chef. Eating chips in the woods. Being mauled by bears. Do you know what I see here? I see a very undisciplined group, I see a disgraceful mess EYE see a massive waste of paint product. And, I have to say, that was awesome! Wicked TV, guys." "Hey", Harold said, "Where are Duncan and Courtney?" They walked up, still stuck together. Gwen smirked. "Oh, this is too much." "The girl can't keep her antlers off me", Duncan said. Courtney kicked him in the crotch again. "Can't even bend over... Aaaaah..." "Easy, Courtney", Chris said. "Our medical tent's only equipped for one at a time, and Justin's pretty messed up. Well... since three members of the Gophers are dripping with paint, and some of them aren't even deer anymore, I think we have our winner!" The Killer Bass cheered, Geoff helped Duncan and Courtney separated and the delinquent fell over. "Gophers, I'll see you at the campfire ceremony. Again."

Confession Cam: Justin
"Okay, I know I got mauled by a bear, but I'm feeling good about this. I'm a quick healer and the ladies love me. Besides, Heather's as mean as a snake. They'll never kick me off, at least not before her."

"There are only eight marshmallows on this plate. When I call your name, come up and claim your marshmallow. The camper-" "Who does not receive a marshmallow must immediately return to the dock of shame, catch the boat of losers and leave. Can't we just get this over with?", Gwen said. Chris glared at her. "Fine. But no marshmallow for you, even though you're safe. The other lucky campers are Trent, Lindsay, Cody, Katie, Leshawna, Beth and... Heather." She snatched the marshmallow from him. "You are all lucky, okay? Very lucky." "Justin. The dock of shame awaits, bro." Beth got up to push him to the dock, but pushed him off the edge by accident. "Oops..."