It was once again an early morning start to the day at Camp Wawanawkwa.
In the Gopher's cabin, on the girls' side, Heather rolled over in her bed, sat up, and yawned heavily.
She turned her piercing eyes at her alliance mates, Lindsay and Beth, who were conversing on a bed.
"Lindsay, Beth, go and warm up the shower for me.", she demanded, clapping her hands for effect.
When the two girls didn't move, Heather yelped, "Now!"
Not wanting to incur their leader's wrath, Lindsay and Beth quickly ran out of the room.
On the other side of the room, Gwen, who was sitting up in bed, rolled her eyes at the display.
Outside the cabin, Beth and Lindsay ran across the camp towards the communal bathroom. They passed the Bass' cabin, where Katie and Sadie are sitting on the porch steps.
They pause in their makeup session to stare at Lindsay and Beth's retreating backs, then shrug at each other ad begin applying toenail polish.
Inside the girl's side of the Bass cabin, Eva wakes up, stretching in her bed.
She looks around the room, half-expecting Courtney to be there with an insult, only to find the cabin completely empty.
She sighs in relief, before laying back down with a relaxed smile on her face.
(Eva): Now that princess is gone, there will be no more challenges to my leadership. I'm clearly the strongest Bass, right above DJ. Today's challenge, I'll take complete charge.
Speaking of today's challenge, the loudspeakers turned on with an audible hiss.
'Good morning, campers!", came Chris' voice. "Today's challenge will begin in the campfire pit. Drop everything you're doing, and head over there immediately!"
Cut to the campfire pit, where Chris is watching all the campers arrive from his podium.
Once everyone was here, Chris began. "Today's challenge will..."
"What about breakfast, eh?", said Ezekiel, as his stomach rumbled. Most of the other campers voiced their hunger as well.
Chris was hardly sympathetic. "We need to start the challenge as soon as possible; we don't have any time for breakfast. But, if you're poor, wimpy stomachs can't handle the day without it, then there's some beans over there."
He pointed to a corner of the pit, where piles of canned, baked beans were laying.
"As I was saying, today's challenge will involve the coolest of all known sports..." Chris reached behind the podium, and was about to pull something out when he realized no on was paying attention.
Everyone had gone to examine the baked beans.
"They're not even cooked yet!", said Beth, feeling the outside of the cans.
"Oh, no.", said Heather, annoyed. "No, no, no; breakfast is eggs, bacon, toast, even Chef's crappy versions of them. Not... baked beans."
Heather continued her rant, until Chris pulled out a paintball gun, and shot her in the buttocks.
"Ow, hey!", said Heather, examining her paint splattered short shorts. "I am so suing you once I've finally won this show."
"Yeah, good luck with that!", said Chris, rubbing his paintball gun affectionately. "What I was saying was that today's challenge will involve paintball!"
"Wow, is that the latest paintball gun model!", said Harold, walking up to Chris and looking at the gun with awe.
"Why, yes, it is Harold.", said Chris, simply, before turning the gun on him and pelting him. Harold yelped and went down.
"Um, what's paintball, eh?", said Ezekiel.
"You know, paintball...", said Chris, before noticing Ezekiel's blank stare.
"It's paintball: where you shoot pellts of paint at other players, until you're the last one standing?", said Chris.
"Never heard of it, eh?"
"And why does that not surprise me, homeschool.", muttered Chris. "Anyway, the rules of this paintball game are simple: each team will be divided into hunters and deer."
"The hunters will hunt the deer on the opposing team.", continued Chris, as Chef appeared with a box of identical paintball guns.
"For the Gophers, Lindsay, Beth, and Noah will be hunters." Chef through the guns and equipment to the three; Beth and Noah easily caught theirs, while Lindsay was beaned on the head.
"For the Bass, Geoff, Harold, Ezekiel, and Eva will be." Chef threw the equipment at them next, where Ezekiel began examining his gun with fascination.
"The remaining campers will be deer. Their job is to avoid...", began Chris, only for an audible splat to interrupt him.
Ezekiel had accidentally discharged his weapon, hitting Eva in the shin. She growled, and raised a fist.
Cutting back to Chris, he watched sadistically as Eva punched Ezekiel. "... is to avoid the hunters on the other team, as best they can."
Chris then began holding back a snicker. "The deer will be wearing... these."
Chef threw a deer tail, antlers, and red nose at each deer. "Oh, no way in heck am I wearing these!", said Duncan, holding the costume with disgust.
"You take those off, and your team automatically loses.", warned Chris.
Duncan groaned.
Cut to all the teams with their various equipment and costumes on.
"Now, you get a ten-minute break to discuss some game plans for the challenge.", explained Chris.
At the Bass, Harold began, "OK, I've got a lot of experience playing paintball, so I think..."
Eva suddenly appeared, and pushed Harold to the ground. "My scapula!", managed out Harold.
"Shut it, nerd.", said Eva. "OK, here's what we're going to do: each deer needs to go with a hunter, so the latter can protect the former. Also, the deer can help the hunter search out the Gopher deer. You guys got that?"
The other Bass nodded vigorously, too afraid to speak out against Eva. "Good.", said Eva. "Now, let's go!"
The Bass then ran into the woods, except for Ezekiel, who helped Harold to his feet. Both of them glared at Eva's retreating back.
At the Gophers, Heather was watching Eva's leadership skills. Heather had heard what Eva had said, and she knew that Eva was a born leader... Or, at the very least, born shouter at weaker people.
Heather turned to her six remaining teammates, and glared.
(Heather): OK, so I haven't been the best leader up to this point, but I can definitely change that in next few challenges. Let's be honest, we need t make up for all the teammates we lost. (Shudders) Sorry, I do that whenever I criticize myself.
Heather picked up a whistle from around her neck, and blew. Her teammates covered their ears, and turned towards her.
"OK, here's the plan!" Heather faltered after this statement.
"Well, we're waiting, your highness.", said Gwen, irritably.
"Yes, well, the plan... the plan is..." She looked towards the forest, seeing a large outcropping made of dirt and rock, that almost reached the top of the trees.
"Yes, the plan.", sad Heather, smiling wickedly.
Cut to the Bass in the forest, away from the prying eyes of the Gophers.
"OK, so Duncan goes with me.", said Eva, pointing at the punk. "DJ with Ezekiel, Katie with Harold, and Sadie with Geoff. Does that sound all right?"
The team nodded the same vigorous nod. "Good.", said Eva. "Now, let's go bag some Gophers."
The team drifted off in separate directions. Soon, Ezekiel and DJ were the only team in the clearing.
"So, which way you want to go, eh?", said Ezekiel, only to turn and see DJ on all fours.
DJ, exactly like a deer, pranced through the woods, and disappeared from sight.
Ezekiel stared in shock for a moment, before running after DJ. "Hey, wait for me, eh?"
(Ezekiel): Is this normal high school behavior?
Chris walked up to the Gophers, still at the camp. "Here's the map of the island you needed.", said Chris, handing the map to Heather. "You have two minutes to head into the woods."
Heather unfurled the map, and began drawing on it with a marker. The team came up to her, watching hr draw.
"So, what's the plan, Heather?", said Trent, once she had finished drawing.
Heather held up the map. "All of the hunters will be on this rocky hill, while the deer will draw the hunters to the same hill. The deer will be with the hunters, so we can easily take care of them from the hill, got it?"
"That... might actually work.", said Gwen, impressed. "Wait, how do you know the deer will be with the Bass hunters?"
"Duh, because I heard Eva's plan.", said Heather.
"Isn't that like... cheating?", said Lindsay.
Heather scoffed. "Doesn't matter, what matters is that we are going to win this challenge."
Cut to Duncan and Eva walking through the woods.
"So, I've been thinking.", said Eva. "We're the two strongest players on this team. We should form an alliance."
Duncan started for a moment, but quickly recovered himself when Eva looked back at him.
"And why would I do that?"
Eva scoffed. "We're the only people on our team who has even a remote chance of getting to the merge. I mean, Harold and Ezekiel? Katie and Sadie? Give me a break!"
"What about Geoff and DJ? They're pretty good in challenges."
"Geoff's about as smart as a sack of bricks, and DJ's a complete coward."
"Mm, OK, I'll give it some thought. Who do you want to eliminate next time we lose then?"
"Ezekiel."
"Ezekiel?", said Duncan, keeping his face nonchalant. "But, he does all right in challenges as well?"
"I still haven't forgotten that crack he made against women."
"Let's go for someone a little more... weaker. I think either Katie or Sadie are more deserving of elimination."
Eva looked about to yell at Duncan, when she thought better of it. "Fine. Those two have been hanging on for far too long then I thought."
Eva then turned around and stuck out her hand to the punk. "Allies?"
"Allies.", said Duncan, shaking her hand.
A rustling interrupted their thoughts, and Heather ran across a clearing.
"Get her!", yelled out Duncan, as Eva readied her paintball gun.
"I know.", she yelled, as they both ran after Heather, right towards the hill.
Cut to DJ still prancing through the woods. He stops for a moment to drink from a pleasant stream.
While he is drinking, Ezekiel runs up. Catching his breath, he says, "Wow, you run fast for a big guy."
DJ suddenly jerks his head up, and stares at a point in the forest.
"What is it, boy?", said Ezekiel.
Whatever DJ heard, it spooks him into diving into a bush.
Soon, Cody emerges from the woods, running away.
"It's just another deer, boy.", soothed Ezekiel, as DJ stuck his head out from the bush.
Ezekiel readied his gun, and began running towards Cody. DJ swiftly follows.
Soon, Ezekiel ran into a clearing surrounding the Gophers' hill. Cody was nowhere to be seen.
As DJ followed him into the clearing, Ezekiel noticed that all of his teammates were there as well.
"What are you guys doing here, eh?"
"We were chasing one of the Gopher deer when we ended up here.", said Geoff.
"Now, we can't find any of them.", said Harold.
"Why is DJ walking like that?", said Katie.
Duncan suddenly had a realization. "Guys, this is a...", he began.
Too late. Beth, Heather, and Beth emerged from a rock on top of the hill.
Try began firing down into the clearing. Soon, the Bass, running willy-nilly, were covered with paint, both deer and inter alike.
Soon, the only Bass left unadorned with paint was DJ. He weaved through the paint pellets with grace and dignity, eventually running into the trees.
"Darn it!", yelled Heather, and was about to give chase, when...
"All right, campers. That's enough; head back to camp!", came Chris' voice on the loudspeaker.
"Tsk, tsk, tsk.", said Chris, walking back and fort in front of the Bass covered in paint. "Killer Bass, although your defeat was in and of itself awesome, it doesn't change the fact that you now have to vote someone off the island."
The Bass hung their head in shame.
"Does anyone know where DJ is?", said Chris, scratching his head.
Cut to a short scene of DJ still prancing in the woods.
At the Bass cabin, Duncan was talking with Ezekiel and Harold in the otherwise empty boys side.
"So, I've talked around, and the favorite for tonight's elimination is either Katie or Sadie.", said Duncan.
While Harold nodded, Ezekiel visibly started.
"Which one should we vote off?", said Harold.
"Does it matter? They're basically the same person?", said Duncan, putting his hand out.
Harold put his hand on Duncan's, while Ezekiel bit his lip, thinking fast.
"Wait!", he blurted out. "Why don't we vote Katie specifically off?"
"Why?", said Harold.
"You know, because Sadie is so much more... nice than Katie?"
Duncan and Harold looked at each other. "OK, then.", said Duncan, with a shrug.
Cut to later that night, where Duncan, Eva, Ezekiel, and Geoff all have their marshmallows. Funnily enough, DJ had yet to reappear.
Chris studied the faces of Harold, Katie, and Sadie.
"The next marshmallow goes to... Harold!"
"Yes!", said Harold, pumping his arm.
Katie and Sadie responded by hugging each other.
"Ladies, one of you is going home tonight... which would be, Katie!", Chris said, throwing the final marshmallow to Sadie.
"No! Why not me!? Why Katie?", said Sadie, utterly heartbroken.
As Katie gave Sadie an encouraging pep talk, Ezekiel looked more and more guilty.
Teams
Screaming Gophers: Beth, Gwen, Lindsay, Heather, Trent, Noah, and Cody
Killer Bass: DJ, Geoff, Duncan, Harold, Sadie, Ezekiel, and Eva
Eliminated: Owen, Izzy, Tyler, Bridgette, Justin, Leshawna, Courtney, and Katie
Votes
Katie (5)
Harold (2)
(DJ did not vote, due to absence.)