I had gotten so used to the sound of that ear-screeching siren that I forgot today started with a helicopter- I wake feeling extremely confused- There's like a pit on muchest. I'm unsure if this is because I hate today's challenge or if I'm just dreading today... What even was all of that yesterday? I feel these days I've lost complete connection to how I feel... Is Geoff mad at me? Am I sad about it? It's like a-

"Trent! Who's the biggest bird?" Owen is nudging me on the ribs with his elbow. Apparently a while has gone that I spent thinking so everyone's up.

"What-?"

"Just answer..." Noah sighs with his recognizable pitch.

"But-" My mind shifts from the void I was in to focus on the conversation. "What do you mean 'who' is the biggest bird... Wouldn't it be just a bird?"

"Someone has to be the biggest bird..." Justin ponders in a cheeky tone.

"I have literally no clue what any of you are talking about-"

"GOPHERS" the loud screechy broken megaphone cuts through the middle of our nuanced conversation. "Please exit your cabins and come meet me at the campfire for today's challenge- Breakfast will be given there."

"Did he just say Gophers...?" Justin looks at me as if I knew something- To which Owen takes the opportunity to ask me something I do actually know but wouldn't want to answer-

"And why isn't Geoff with us? Thought he'd keep sleeping here..."

I can only scratch my hair "Must've changed his mind..."

"Guys-" Justin interrupts, "He said only Gophers"

"Let's just go and see what he wants..." Noah advices beginning to get dressed, "Owen we'll meet with you outside, ok?"

"Gotcha-!" Owen smiles as he leaves to change...

We change in silence for a bit before Noah breaks into more conversation.

"What's up with Geoff then, Trent?"

I gulp nervously- "Well I-"

"GOPHERS! Outside! NOW!" Heather's voice interrupts me from outside the cabin.

"God what does she want?" Noah hurries up his dressing unamused- Justin just shrugs and eventually, we walk outside.

Heather seems annoyed at us as soon as she sees us, Gwen, Sadie and Beth are standing around her... I'm not the only one who notices who's missing apparently-

"Now that everyone's here..." Here begins, but is interrupted by Justin.

"Owen's not back yet, actually."

"And where's Lindsay?" Noah cuts in.

"Oh she's still inside-" Gwen assures him- "But yeah Heather, not everyone's-"

"It matters not." She brushes Gwen aside, "Now, Beth? Please..."

"Uhhh, right." An insecure Beth steps forward twiddling away at her fingers, barely able to look up to us- What is she doing exactly?-

"Go on… as we practiced" Heather encourages in a weirdly compassionate way that… It kinda surprises me how I've come to expect something like that from her.

"So we just wanted to get everyone or- almost everyone together to say that uh…" She gulps, "Heather, Owen and I have been kinda meddling with the Bass…?"

Gwen cuts through her voice "Meddling?"

"Just- Causing some in-fighting and such… Making sure they are uh…" She looks back nervously for a moment until Heather nudges her- "They're weak and lose challenges so we could get ahead more easily."

It's Justin this time- "Hold on a second-" We turn to him… "You've been making them fight each other? How exactly?"

"Well- It's nothing really-" Beth's stumbling on her own words… Which confuses me? I'm assuming Heather gave her a story to run with but then why would he prepare her so sloppily… Only thing I can think of is Heather telling her to act nervous? Cause Beth wouldn't act like this over nothing, I think.

Heather takes over almost on cue "Just the reality usual…" She checks her nails casually. "Spread some rumors, plant some seeds of disagreement, power struggle… Then let it grow naturally…"

The group doesn't seem exactly too interested in the prospect, but there's some worried faces, within them, Sadie. "This… Wouldn't have anything to do with that recent fight, right?"

"Well maybe it did… Certainly did actually-"

"Heather, that wasn't funny- Four people went to the medical tents! Trent got caught up in the middle of all that!"

"Hey- hey!" Heather seems to backtrack a little, "It wasn't exactly planned out, ok? We didn't have a masterplan to follow through with…"

Beth chimes in. "Yeah! We just kinda improvised how we could… It wasn't anything too fancy-"

Noah is about to speak… But the intercom's noise beats him to it. "GOPHERS! Does my mind deceive me or did I already tell you to come meet me at the campfire? Hurry it up!"

"Sorry man!" Owen's breathy voice screams up to the air as he runs towards the group.

Noah having already gathered up the initiative replaces what he was originally going to say with a snarky comment- "The intercom can't hear you, big guy"

Owen just chuckles- "Oh, but the cameras can!" He looks around and is able to tell there's a bit of a tense vibe. "What's going on guys?"

Gwen's skepticism is only fed- "I figured you'd know"

"We were just telling them about what we did…" Beth takes the lead- "You me and Heather with the bass…?"

"Huh?" Owen's confusion seems to make the group uneasy but… Heather looks as calm as before- What's her end goal here? "Oh right… Yeah… The things we- We did, yeah…"

"Owen?" Justin takes on his slightly manipulative, genuine, earnest tone- "What is it exactly that you did?"

Owen nervously avoids eye contact for a few moments- "Uh… well eh…" Before finally breaking down- "Oh god I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to take credit for it, ok? The truth is that I've only talked to Eva a couple times… I just wanted to feel like I participated, you know?" Suddenly what Heather did seems a bit clearer to me.

"I see…" Noah clearly has made up his mind about something. "And you said this manipulation plan was just… Nothing specific, right?"

Heather nods…. And I expect that to be it but, her words stop my heart for an instant- "Oh wait, you mean the diary business?" She smiles softly as she notices the group gasp to a halt.

"Are you KIDDING-" Noah erupts into an outburst- Very unlike him really I can't remember ever seeing Noah mad, but it doesn't last a second as Lindsay joins us, interrupting him.

"Hi! Sorry I took so long!" She skips towards us smiling from the cabin, blissfully unaware about how close Noah was to screaming Heather into the next realm- "I just couldn't get the eyeliner right for some reason…"

Noah turns to her in a fume- "It was Heather!"- I try my best to make a normal expression at this… But looking at Heather gives me some sort of confidence, even here she looks extremely calm and composed, what's happening really?

"Huh?" She smiles blankly.

"Heather-! Your diary Lindsay, It wasn't Duncan. Heather stole your diary and gave it away to Duncan."

Heather takes a couple moments, feels like hours, I've never paid that much attention to how slowly that girl blinks. "Ohhhh that?" She giggles, it's terrifying- "I gave it to her! Silly!"

A wave of complete disbelief sweeps us… Noah is struggling to find what to say, Gwen looks at me trying to see if I know what this is about but the confusion in my face is as genuine as in the rest of theirs… Then Heather speaks.

"We needed your reactions to be genuine so Duncan would think he had something to threaten me back with…" No… "I thought you had told Noah though, Linds!"

"Didn't I?" She looks at Noah distraught- "Oops! I must've forgotten."

I… What? That can't be it, right? She said Lindsay had given it to her originally but- Then she said that was a lie… She wouldn't lie about lying, right? Or why would she- My train of thought can't go far before Noah attempts to calm us down.

"I- You lied?"

"We didn't mean to lie outright-" Heather is about to go on a tangent before the Intercom cuts through us once more.

"GOPHERS! It's getting tiresome to call you guys- Campfire, NOW."

Sadie takes the lead- "Look, we need time to think about this but… We can talk more later, we should be heading there."

"Sure, sure-" Beth starts pacing away- "But yeah the reason we wanted to tell you is cause… Bass realized what we were doing."

Justin is unimpressed, as if he was expecting a catch- "Realized…"

"So now they're like super united and determined to run us through the ground…" Beth giggles.

"Oh- yeah that's just great isn't it" Noah glares angrily at Heather, but she interrupts.

"You'll all see in the long run that this was a net positive… Besides we've beaten them before, we can hold ourselves just fine, can't we?"

"We should be going anyway." Sadie insists, almost pushing us into the forest.

Gwen looks at me then back at Heather. "Right, on our way…"

"Gone?"

"Of course they're gone already!" This is the maddest I've seen Chris, ever, probably- "Do you have any idea how long it took you to make it here? Don't think something like this won't go unpunished-"

Chris is standing in front of the usual board of props I expected for the challenge… Except it's not what I expected at all. There's no paint guns nor camo hats- Only deer tails, antlers and protective eyewear. Chris continues.

"Lucky for all of you… Duncan happened to have an awesome idea-"

Owen chimes in. "Oh, awesome! What do we have to do then?"

"You see, originally in this challenge we'd divide you guys into deer and hunters and each team's hunters would try to get the other's deer…" He clears his throat. "Sadly the gap in campers between teams made the logistics of it a bit complicated so… Gophers! You're deer!"

We all look at each other a bit unamused at first before Gwen voices our concern. "What?"

"I've supplied the bass with paint guns and a time limit which is sundown to successfully shoot up all of you kids!"

Heather doesn't seem as calm as she was a few moments ago- "Is this a joke? We haven't had breakfast yet."

"I mean you're free to grab some… Just know the Bass might be around the area ready to ambush you." Chris grins… He's visibly very into this new challenge concept. "Oh! And as you might've imagined, you'll be wearing this assortment of deer paraphernalia."

"You really expect us to wear these ridiculous costumes?" Heather scoffs.

Owen seems in support- "Yeah! Why can't we be hunters like the Bass?"

"Oh yeah about that uh… Let me think: Because you're late, because you're too many and because I'm mad at you. Is that good? You're all deer, final word."

I try to move the conversation forward a little. "So… If even a single one of us hasn't been caught by sundown, that means we get immunity."

"That's right!" He smiles.

"Couldn't we just hide? The Island is massive?"

"You can do whatever you want Trent… But you need to eat, and do not underestimate the bass… Now-" Chris begins grabbing onto the antlers, tails and eyewear, throwing it in our direction. "You better all get dressed up! Bass cannot touch you within 50 meters of here, and that's me being generous. As soon as you leave the safe zone is over so they can get you whenever they want."

Noah's head lights up- "So if we-"

"If you don't leave in 20 minutes you're all disqualified smartass. Now if you excuse me I have actual things to do with my time and all… Have fun!" Chris grins and turns his back on us as he walks away, leaving us to change into our new deer costumes.

"I would've preferred being a hunter…" Owen mumbles to himself as he gets his antlers in place

Noah looks like his mind is running at full speed, but he doesn't talk, Sadie does- "We should split-"

"Duh, of course we're splitting-" Heather begins. "We need an actual plan though, like how to get breakfast."

I notice Noah is still machinating at something.,, Justin speaks up- "Whatever we do we should get out of here quickly- The closer we are to the 20 minutes the more they know exactly when we're leaving."

Beth chuckles- "You're talking like they're out there right now…" But we just look at her…

Finally, Lindsay notices Noah completely lost in thought- "What are you staring at the ground for?"

"Get me a stick Linds-"

She nods and skips her way to get him a branch, Noah takes seat in one of the stumps. Naturally, we all form a circle around him- Gwen's the first to speak. "I take it you have a plan."

"Mostly." He glares, as Lindsay arrives with the branch. He thanks her and nods and begins to draw in the dirt for us.- "We're here… 50 meters of safe zone means they can start shooting at us as soon as we walk close to the cabins."

Beth notices the problem. "But there's no other way to go"

"Exactly, so they'll be waiting for us there- At least some of them will, so a priority is to avoid the cabins at all cost for the time being."

"You expect us to swim?" Heather mocks him.

"Could be our best option… But no, it's not worth it to get wet only to not lose a challenge."

Justin chuckles- "Then what?"

"Well if we go down to the shore, under the dock and through the beach then we're as cornered as before- Only exit from there is back where we come from or straight for the dinner where they definitely are."

Owen chuckles excitedly- "Soo… We're going down to the shore and then back into the forest."

"You got it." Noah smiles at him. "Now… The thing about food."

"We've done this before, right?" Gwen stands forward. "Owen can get some fish, Beth can get some berries…"

"Right but we can't regroup back at a single place to eat, being together is a risk, no." Noah looks at us one by one while he thinks… "We need a dropoff point, somewhere where we can leave food for the others to find."

We all ponder for a bit… The forest is huge, we're not gonna all naturally fall into a spot there… I take the word. "It has to be a place we're familiar with and they aren't, right? Do you guys remember how to get to the spot we camped at?"

"That's a decent idea." Heather grins. "We're splitting in twos you said?"

Lindsay smiles, "Buddies system!" It makes Gwen and Noah chuckle, the former continues.

"Right- We don't have time so I'm making some calls here…"

I look at Heather expecting her to object, but she doesn't, Noah moves on.

"Owen with Trent, Justin with Beth, Gwen and Lindsay and Heather and I… Sadie, you can go with Gwen and Linds. Any issues?"

Heather looks a bit confused "None at all…"

"Good, Gophers, let's just do this." He smiles, placing his hand in the center between us, I was really hoping this salute didn't become a thing but here we are… Let's go.

We make our way down to the shore and back behind the rock formations to enter the first stretch of forest… What Noah said it's true that they probably wouldn't expect us to pass through here but it's still a great place for an ambush- We're all together still, the plan is to split further down the line.

As we walk silently through the shore, entering the stretch of forest… We hear the rustling of branches and leaves.

Heathers turns to the rest of us. "Shhh…" We split our way as soon as we can, staying at the edges of the forest trying to figure out where the noise came from… We stay to the left closest to shore with Owen, Beth and Justin tag along us…

Getting slightly closer we can see them… Harold and Zeke, hopefully they can't see us- I look back at Justin as we listen in…

"Duncan is gonna kill us, eh?"

"Shut up!" Harold nervously lowers both their heads as to remain hidden-

"I'm just saying-" Zeke whispers, almost unintelligible. "We should be back there with the rest and take them out-"

"I'm telling you they're not gonna be there, gosh! Duncan has zero tactical expertise… If the Gophers have any semblance of a brain they'll cut through here."

"Yo I'm just saying he's gonna beat our asses…" Zeke chuckles.

"Will you shut up? You're ruining our ambush with all your talking."

"Yo right! Sorry sorry…" Zeke keeps his head low… They're laying behind some rocks and bushes-

Beth taps my back- "Pst… I can see Heather and Noah from here."

I whisper back, facing the group now- "What?"

"If I can see them then Harold and Zeke will too… We need a way to distract them so everyone can go through."

Justin looks around the floor… "Besides, Lindsay, Gwen and Sadie should be with them, that's too many people to risk-" He settles on a big rock, pretty obvious what he wants to do. "Who's a good thrower?"

"Leave it to me man!" Owen takes the rock from Justin's hand and turns to Harold and Zeke… They still haven't noticed us, or so it would seem.

Harold seems to be focused ahead- "Why haven't they passed through here yet, gosh-"

"Have you considered… Maybe they won't?"

"Don't be ridiculous-" Harold scoffs-

"I'm just saying yo! It might be us getting tarred and feathered if he notices we were gone for nothing-"

"It won't be nothing, will you trust me?"

"Of course I trust you man, I came with you didn't I?"

"Then have higher faith! They'll praise us as heroes if we can finish them all off quick-"

"Gotcha man-" There's a sudden thud that interrupts whatever Zeke was going to say, as a sizable rock hits him in the back of the head and he falls to the ground.

"Zeke…? Zeke! Partner?! Who's out there?!" Harold takes out his gun- "Who is it?! I'll find you!"

Immediately in a panic, we turn to Owen, who's looking mortified- Justin whispers loudly- "You were supposed to throw it around them! It was a distraction not an assault!."

"I- I'm sorry bro! I tried throwing it around them-"

I can't help but be baffled too. "And you just hit him accidentally?"

"I mean… Kinda?"

Beth intervenes- "Guys I know it's kind of unfortunate but… He looks kinda distracted now-"

I look around the group trying for a way forward now- "Then what? Do we just jump Harold?"

Justin grins- "We can probably take him between the four of us."

"He'd hit us with the paint gun first" Beth ponders… "Besides, we'd need a way to overtake him before… Where's Owen?"

"Huh?" I look around… It's just me, Beth and Justin. Where in hell did Owen go-?

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH-!" As I turn around, the image is baffling, like a painting in motion, as Owen throws himself into the air and bodyslams Harold into the ground.

"Gosh- Get off, giant creature!" Harold struggles but is completely immobilized under him- We run towards the scene.

"Owen-!" Justin can't help but chuckle a little, "Get off him-"

"On it." Owen stands up grabbing Harold by the arm, quickly, Beth and Justin hold him down against a tree and take his paint gun from him, passing it towards me…

I look around the floor for a bit before Noah and Heather walk from behind the nearby trees- "You took care of that sweetly", Heather giggles.

Noah is a bit less impressed- "Rock was a bit too much, don't you think?"

"Hehe, sorry, really-" Owen looks around for a bit… "About that… Where's Zeke?"

"Ah shit-" I confirm, he's gone- "That dude's a slippery rat-"

"At least he's ok." Harold shouts, still being held down- "That could've been serious you psychos."

"Yeah yeah, we get it man-" Justin humors him.

Noah turns to us- "Anyways, we'll be going, I'll give Linds the signal so her people can go through as well…"

"Sure, we're staying here for a bit, right?" I ask the rest, but Noah stops me.

"I'd bet Zeke's coming back with backup soon so, we should all be moving away."

"Gotcha-" Justin nods at Beth, "We'll take this one."

"Are you really going to be dragging me around?"

"I mean it's not like we can shoot you and eliminate you…" Beth ponders.

I giggle, playing with the gun "We can still shoot you for fun."

"God no! Those paint guns hurt real bad, specially at point blank it can be extremely dangerous"

"Then you better listen to them-" I smile, throwing the gun at Beth, who catches it on one hand. "Let's go Owen…" I say patting him in the back as we head into the forest.

Heather speaks before we split off. "Remember… Food"

Owen smiles, "Give me like an hour."

"So…" I'm standing with Owen next to the river as he continues catching fish with his bare hands… We ran a little further into the forest, more into the mountainous terrain at the center of the island, the river goes through that entire part all the way to the cliff… "You're actually really good at this."

"What do you mean man?" He laughs, "I've done it before-"

"Yeah but having you in front of me it's different… It's mighty impressive."

"Agh- Thanks bro." He smiles, there's around 12 fish messily tied between a couple leaves now. "Should we cook these?"

"Right-" I hadn't thought about this. "Fire is going to give out our location… Maybe if we go inside a cave?"

"Yeah-! That'd work… We shouldn't even have to go that far!" He chuckles.

We step away from the river with our stack of fish… Eventually we spot a cave not so far off, but Owen suddenly pushes my head down into some bushes- "Shh… I heard a noise." We duck down and hide our heads to see… Gwen stumbles out of the cave- She looks tired, and is checking around to see if anyone is out there.

I signal to her, as she sees me she makes a gesture for us to run into the cave quickly- So we do. "Are you ok?"

"No-" She speaks, completely out of breath. "Katie found us in the forest- Apparently Zeke got them all here."

"Oh god!" Owen is listening in but is taking matters into his own hands and starting a fire for the fish. The cave has a considerably tall ceiling in which the smoke can accumulate with no problem.

"We had to split but- I think they got Lindsay."

"That's ok…" I try calming her. "There's still a bunch of us- And we have the food"

"Right…" Gwen still looks extremely nervous. "I think Katie might've ran after me though…"

"That'd be bad…" Owen ponders… "Are you sure?"

"Not exactly sure but-"

Owen interrupts her by sighing dramatically- "It pains me to make such sacrifices but… We should throw her out."

"What?"

"What?!" Gwen screams a little too loud.

"Trent, be reasonable! We are the ones with the food- I'm not saying to hand her in just… Let her keep running away from us!"

"She already went through the cave…" I shoot back- "If Katie tracks her it'll lead her right to us."

"Guys! Why are we assuming Katie can track me?!"

"That's right…" Owen ponders more… "Then perhaps we should wait until Katie's around so she can see Gwen coming out and run after her."

"Guys! You know how hard one of those paintball things can hit?"

"You'll be fine, soldier!" Owen assures him. "Trent? You in?"

"I guess…" I look at Gwen, she's almost begging me to intervene but Owen's plan seems greatly reasonable.

"Good, I'll keep at it with the fish- You guys wait for Katie outside…"

"Feeling ok…?" I rest against one of the walls at the cave entrance- Gwen is peeping at the outside hoping for Katie, I'm keeping her company while still inside for her to not see me.

"Yeah, yeah, it's just been a weird day… Talked with Lindsay, you know?"

"About what?"

"That whole diary thing? I'm not going to lie, it kinda took me by surprise she'd be bright enough to keep the lie up… I guess Noah always tells me not to underestimate her."

Right… I'm still not sure what's up with that- "Do you think she really did it? Gave it away?"

"I mean why else would she say so? It was kind of a shitty thing to do to Tyler but-"

"I was there."

"You were?"

"Yeah, at the elimination…" I tense up a little. "I don't know, I don't think Lindsay knew fully what the diary was going to be used for, she seems oblivious to her own feelings."

"Now isn't that right…" Gwen chuckles, clearly reminiscing of something. "I don't know, this whole Heather thing is really hitting as a surprise- I know she's your friend but I'm not sure how much I like her being so close with Beth and Owen…"

"Hey it's not like she's got more numbers than you."

"Noah, Lindsay, me, Sadie, Justin…"

"And me-" I add almost impulsively…

"Right, and you… Well-"

"Well what?"

"Nothing! Nothing!" She chuckles nervously- Then turns around in alert to me- "It's Katie I have to run…" She takes a huge breath building up forces. "Wish me luck Trenton".

I pat her back pushing her forward- "You've always been a good runner."

Owen places the fish at the agreed spot- There's some berries there already so we're pretty sure Beth is doing well- We ate a bit back at the cave but we take some of the sweets as dessert.

"What now?" Owen asks me as we make our way far from the spot-

"Not sure… Maybe staying in the forest is best, we could get easily cornered at the shore or beach."

"I mean that's right but they're all over the forest-"

That's right… It's only a matter of time until we ran into them again. "Maybe if we make our way to the cliff…"

"We can always jump if we get corn-" As Owen is talking we hear a loud bang, followed by a scream. We duck again among the bushes, trying to get a look from where the noise came from but nothing seems to show up.

"Think we might've lost someone else…" But Owen shushes me- Pointing at Eva who seems to be angrily huffing and puffing through the woods… After a bit Owen stands up revealing himself.

"What are you doing?" I panic- Letting Eva hear us.

"Don't worry man! She has no gun on her!"

"Could be a trap!

Eva interrupts us. "It's not- And you're lucky that little brat caught me off guard or you'd be both dead."

Owen chuckles, calming me as we approach her- "What happened?"

"I took off that goth girl- And then suddenly Sadie takes the gun from my bare hands and takes off running-"

"So Gwen's gone…" I sigh.

"And you'll be too once Duncan gets his hands on you… We got a very special surprise planned for you." Eva grins, making me shiver.

"What do y'all got on Trent anyways? It was Heather who-"

I stop Owen, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Is Geoff mad at me?"

"That you helped Duncan fuck him over and then pretended to be his friend? He's rabid."

"I wasn't pretending-"

"Do you think I care? Or Duncan for that matter?" Eva scoffs- "Look kid someone has to be the boogieman and you made yourself the perfect fit"

Owen pushes my hand off him- "You think you're gonna divide us like we did you?" He chuckles… He's way less gullible than I remember… Maybe from working with Heather?

"Whatev-" As Eva is about to growl- A shot is heard in the distance.

Owen shouts- "Louise!" He throws himself over me as of covering me- "Ok, Trent? I'm about to do something really weird, ok?"

"Dude…?" I nervously let out, but it's too late, as Owen picks me up and stuffs me over his shirt- "Hold tight man!" He screams as he runs- It was a trap afterall.

Shots are heard throughout, I feel them hitting me through Owen's shirt as I hold onto his back- It's a bit sweaty, but at least I'm not getting killed.

Owen runs determined through the forest, the shots are sparse but we're clearly being followed… He runs more than I've ever seen him run in my entire life- After a while it becomes clear he's getting extremely tired, the shots are further away now, but I don't know real fear until I hear what Owen says next.

"Sorry dude- Only one way to lose them-"

"Where are we?" I scream muffled under the clothes.

"About to jump-!"

Suddenly, the knowledge of our location hits me like a track as the overwhelming weight of gravity carries us down the air for the second time- I scream from the top of my lungs what feels like minutes going down but it's Owen's body that shields me from impact as we bomb down into the water.

A couple minutes go by… As I cough a bit of the water residue on shore, I see an exhausted Owen laying unable to move next to me… With what must be 40 different paint marks on his body.

"I'm sorry bro…" He coughs, "I can't go on anymore."

"You did great man…" I cough as well, chuckling- "Sun's close to being down… We might be able to make this."

"You have to go on-" He coughs, "Follow the shore man, I know you can do it."

"I can't just leave you here!"

Owen slaps me very suddenly- "Go dude! Go!"

Determined, I make my way through shore.

"Beth?"

I found Beth along a forest pathway, coming from the shore- She looks mortified. "Trent? Trent you have to get away-"

"What's wrong?" I try to approach her but she flinches away… I can hear tongues clicking in the distance-

"They- Harold overtook Justin, he escaped, he shot him I- Trent they're following me you have to go."

A shot in the distance.

"That has to be Sadie." She sounds really scared- "Let's g-" As she speaks, a shot hits her in the back and she falls forward towards me… "Run!"

Immediately, I take off running through the shore, but the shots start marking the ground in front of me- I turn into the forest.

The shots keep flying through the air, I can't believe how lucky I'm getting- The tongues clicking all around me, it feels like a threatening technique- A shot to my right, hits a tree… I see a clear in the distance highlighted by the last rays of sunshine as the sun is about to set, I can run towards it- The shots around me keep hitting faster and faster… They're all hitting the floor next to me-

Why the floor? If they were shooting at me then… Unless they're not shooting at me- By the time I realize I'm being led, it's too late, I enter the clear- Duncan, Eva, Harold, Zeke and Katie are forming a circle around me… Katie seems the least serious out of all of them, but there's a smug air of victory to them- My first impulse is to run where I came from- But Geoff's hand stops me, pushing me forward to my knees.

"Well well…" Duncan smiles. "You've been a pain on the ass to find, you know that?"

"Just be done with it-" I barely have enough breath to say.

"Don't be silly…" He chuckles. "After playing with our team this much you oughta pay tower-head."

Geoff holds my hands behind my back. "It'll be over quick man…" His tone is indecipherable.

Harold makes a head nod to Katie, and she goes into the clear border to bring out… Noah, from behind the bushes.

They grab him and sit him in front of me, in the middle of the circle. He looks exhausted as well, they've already shot him.

I chuckle- "This isn't going to work, Heather already came clean"

"Why would we care about them fucking with you guys anyway?" Noah scoffs- "You're the other team."

Duncan ignores him, talking directly to me- "You know Trent I'm not an idiot- I know it's going to take a while before I'm able to get these idiots to realize what you are and vote you out." He smiles. "But I'm not stupid enough to tell them… Then I'd look like a liar wouldn't I? No… No, I'm going to let you lie, I'm going to let you keep it up because the more I allow you to, the more you'll grow, and the harder you'll fall when it all comes out."

I don't want my own scared face to give me away, I just stare at him blankly- "What are you even going on about?"

He only chuckles- "Geoff?"

"On it." Geoff goes back for a moment-

"Don't you dare move." Duncan growls at me, then turns to Noah- "You neither, someone has to carry him back when we're done."

Noah just gulps, looking genuinely a bit scared.

Eventually Geoff returns… "Should I?"

"All yours."

Geoff chuckles, and then I feel it, a sticky warm wave of tree sap falling on me… I remember now what this is. "Part two buddy…" And then come the feathers- I cough from the dust and smell… But I don't even have time to recover before I hear Duncan-

"Squad!" The Bass draw their weapons. "Ready…" I look up for once scared and trying to brace up for what's about to happen- Before I feel Geoff's gun point blank on my nape- wait

"Fire!"

I wake up to Noah cleaning me close to shore on the dock… All the Gophers are here, I come to consciousness in the middle of a conversation… My head burns, I feel it bright hot on the back of my head- I also feel a bump on my forehead, I was probably launched forward on impact.

I hear Owen speak- "No… It has to be me."

"But Owen…" Beth tugs at his arm, but he stops her.

"It's about honor! I… I don't really want any of you guys to miss your chance at the million" He says almost tearing up… Million? It's not a million, itis' supposed to only be-

Justin chimes in- "Look I'm not going to be against it but… You don't need to do this, we can hold a regular vote."

Owen shakes his head. "Really… it's ok- I just came to have fun anyways! I'm sure you guys can take on the Bass without me-"

I manage to get some words out- "Man… Thanks."

Noah looks down on me, still picking feathers off my clothes- "Look who's awake?"

"Are you feeling ok?" Gwen looks worried, "Chris refused to take you into the infirmary."

"I'm fine enough, are all of you?"

Lindsay nods. "Those things hurt."

"Owen took a lot of them."

"I've got natural protection…" He chuckles- "I'm gonna miss you guys…" He looks around…

With the strength I have I lean forward to hug him- I'm not sure where from but, something I've been hiding, something I can't tell him comes out- "I miss you man…"

There's a silence, Owen seems almost surprised at the hug… But the rest join in to say goodbye…

Heather sits in the dark, behind our cabin. Owen took the fall for us today… I sit beside her, she doesn't seem too excited to speak.

There's a lot of sitting in silence before she eventually speaks. "I talked with Noah today"

"How did that go?"

"He's too smart, pain in the ass really… He's not convinced about the Lindsay thing."

"What did you even do to make them lie-?"

"Now that'd be stupid wouldn't it…" She looks at me, almost disappointed- "That just creates three more people to worry about. What if they break? What if they tell on us? No… They don't think they're lying."

"What?"

She obnoxiously makes a high-pitched voice "Oh Beth! It was so brave and awesome how you helped me break the Bass apart- But I'm afraid we're in a pickle, would you please help me?"

"And Lindsay?" I speak coldly, almost expecting to hear that what Lindsay said it's the truth.

"It was so smart how you gave me that diary to scheme at the Bass… You've been sooo good pretending someone stole it". She looks at me as if I were uncreative- "There's no risk if she's the one that thinks she's lying to me, she saw the chance to seem smarter than she was and she took it, who wouldn't?"

"Jesus…" My admiration slips through again. "Why did you leave me out of it?"

"Everyone knows we hang out… It's better if you just seem a henchman."

"Why-"

"You know what I ended up liking about Owen? He's loyal, god to a stupid degree, that kid is a blind loyalist for all I care-"

"He stuffed me in his shirt and ran through active fire."

"See?" She giggles, but not as brightly as she used to- "Eventually, when I fall, I don't want you down with me."

I look at her in silence, in complete awe.

"You changed everything Trent… I absolutely despise to admit it but if I'd followed my plan I would've been out as quickly as I went in"

I'm not so sure of that… "So then I'm just a henchman, that's the story." I smile.

"It's better that way… Now let's go back-"

"Wait." I put a hand on her shoulder as she gets up- "I'm sorry… I know we did some shit but, we were supposed to go through it together."

She stands in silence for a little, without turning around. "I don't care." she says, but she sounds relaxed now, it makes me smile.

I follow her back, as I spot Noah standing alone, looking at the graffiti again… I let Heather move forward as I stay behind with him.

"You know it's a pretty shit drawing."

He chuckles- "Looks like he drew a bad tower first and then scribbled a worse snake around it."

I put a hand on his shoulder- "We should rest, we still have to survive the Bass tomorrow-"

"Sure…" He turns to me. "Do you really think Lindsay gave Heather the diary?"

I think carefully about my answer… "I don't think it makes much of a difference."

He thinks a bit about it but he seems convinced… "I guess it just makes me angry to have her taken advantage of…"

"Well maybe…" I think to myself outloud. "But I guess we do need her, even if she slithers away from us to do her own thing behind our backs sometimes."

Noah stands in silence for a moment. "Slithers away, huh?"

Agh… Shit. "Yeah… Like a…Snail"

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A/N: Huge thanks to Zpiro for the review! Glad about the coincidence, perhaps it was your mystical power of attention that magically brought the fic back- Jokes aside, hope you're into this new batch of chapters as much as I am.