Chris entered the Main Lodge with the same evil grin glued to his face. "Hello campers! I hope you're all enjoying your dinner."
"Great, he ruined it by showing up." Courtney snapped, dropping her fork. "I guess some things never change."
"I was just trying to greet you all with a warm smile, but since Courtney wants to mouth off, I suppose I'll give you something to truly complain about."
Bridgette and Heather walked back into the Main Lodge and saw Chris.
"Why are you here?" Heather asked as they sat down at their team's table.
Chris grinned. "Challenge time!"
The contestants groaned, as usual, with the thought of a night challenge.
"Why do you torture us like this?" Lightning quipped.
"Because I want to." Chris simply nodded. "For today's challenge, you all will have scream detectors," he whispered, taking a little electric sound monitor from his back pocket. "If you talk any louder than this, this bad boy will start going off."
He turned on the detector and started talking in his normal voice. "But anything louder than this and…"
The detector began making loud beeps and siren noises, making the contestants cover their ears.
"Turn it off!" Gwen yelled.
Chris turned the detector off and continued to talk in his normal voice. "For this challenge, we have five additional rules. Rule number one, no going into cabins. Cabins have already been locked. Rule two, no falling asleep. Rule three, you're wrists will be tired with two other people unless you're on the ends of your line. Rule four, I will allow a pass for elimination if you all make it until 7 o'clock this morning without screaming. And rule five, there will be a psycho clown roaming the island tonight, beware of them because they can and will shred you to pieces."
"A CLOWN?" Zoey yelled, jumping up to her feet. "No! I can't do clowns!"
"Zoey, it'll be okay." Mike said as he got up to comfort her.
Zoey Confessional:
"I usually love and am open to everyone, but clowns give me the I was seven, I got lost at my friend's birthday party which was at a carnival and I ended up in this giant circus type room. I couldn't escape so I ran around in panic, causing me to trip and a clown statue falling on me. I kept yelling and screaming until a real clown came. Somehow, with how scared I was, I found the strength to push the statue off of me and I ran out of there. Not sure how I knew where to go, but I found the exit with ease."
"Didn't know Zoey was scared of uneducated men with makeup and wigs on. I'm guessing you don't like drag races." Blaineley mocked.
"Says the biggest clown of all." Sierra smirked.
"And I love drag races!" Zoey yelled.
"Okay, time to get you all tied together. Goats I want you to line up in the following order, Sierra, Harold, Zoey, Devin, Jazelle, Blaineley, Lightning, and Cody!"
"You can't put me in the middle of those two hooligans!" Blaineley yelled.
"I can, and I did." Chris smirked as DJ came over to tie them up.
"Where's Chef Hatchet?" Bridgette asked. "Isn't he supposed to be coming back soon?"
Chris frowned and looked down at his shiny shoes. "Chef and I got into a fight over the phone. He'll be spending 4 more days in the Bahamas."
"Aw, the honeymoon phase can't last forever." Scott laughed.
Chris looked up and stared Scott dead in the eye. "Okay, time for the Rooster's order. Scott, Dawn, Carrie, Owen, Sammy, Mike, and Courtney."
"I see what you did there." Scott said as he looked over to Courtney on the other end. "Rude, but a solid move."
Chris smirked as he watched DJ tie them. "Okay, Catfish's order starts with Lindsay, then Emma, Jasmine, Trent, Gwen, Bridgette, and Heather."
"And what's the point of tying us anyway?" Heather questioned. "Is this some twisted exotic thri-"
"Shush!" Chris demanded, causing Heather to raise an eyebrow.
"Thrill of your's?" Heather continued as DJ tied Heather and Bridgette's wrists together.
"That's none of your business." Chris stated. "Now, since you're all tied up, DJ will begin putting the sound detectors on you. Each one has a face on it, it has been programmed to hear your talking voice and to go off once it does."
"So what'll happen if someone turns their thing off?" Cody asked.
"If a sound detector gets disconnected, then it'll alert me who's been disconnected and that team will lose."
The teams looked around at each other with discomfort, as the sound detectors were placed on the back collars of their shirts.
"Now," Chris began as he switched to whispering. "From now until 7o'clock, I'd suggest either staying silent or keeping your volume down. And don't forget to watch out for the killer clown."
"You're going to pay for this!" Blaineley whisper-yelled.
"Haha, sure… it's 10o'clock now, so you guys have 9 hours to stay quiet. Challenge starts now!"
Chris rushed the teams out the door quickly, shutting and locking the door behind him.
"So," Carrie began keeping quiet. "How about we team up as a cast and try to escape elimination? Just for today."
"No thank you." Cody stepped in. "We had plans for tonight that we were going to continue to follow through."
Carrie nodded. "Okay, well you guys have fun! How about-"
"They left." Mike said.
"Oh, well what should we do?" Carrie asked.
"What if we just sat on our cabin porch?" Mike suggested.
"That could work for now, but we can't sit around the whole time." Courtney said. "If we fall asleep then we're going into elimination. We'll have to try and stay active as much as possible."
"Or we could just talk and get closer as a team." Sammy suggested. "It couldn't hurt, could it?"
"It would help, honestly." Scott agreed. "Let's just go and sit on the porch for now, then we can take some breaks to get our legs moving."
"Well not only legs, but minds too. If we're bored then we'll fall asleep faster." Dawn noted.
Carrie nodded. "Let's go!"
The Giggling Goats all watched as Cody pretty much led them to the dock.
"Why didn't we just go with the Goats?" Blaineley asked.
"If we focus on ourselves, we can make sure that we don't lose. But there's still a chance they can." Cody explained.
"Aw! My Codykins is so smart! Wish I wasn't so far apart from him."
"We could just untie our hands." Harold suggested. "He never said anything about that."
"Are you sure?" Jazelle asked. "That's way too risky."
"If he's wrong, he'll be the one eliminated." Blaineley said.
Harold gulped but nodded his head. "I'm sure this will work, go ahead Sierra. Use your free hand to untie our wrists."
Sierra reached over with her hand and untied the knot, freeing both her hands and Harold with one hand.
"Phew." Sierra said after the team waited to hear sirens.
Harold looked at the team and continued the process by untying the rope on his other wrist and Zoey's wrist.
"It's working!" Cody quietly exclaimed as he too had begun to untie his and Lightning's knot.
Eventually after continuing the process, as quietly as possible, the entire team was free from the ropes.
They stood on the dock, waiting for something to happen due to this risky move.
"Campers!" Chris began on the loudspeakers around camp. "I have a very important announcement for you all."
Harold winced, closing his eyes and crossing his fingers.
"The clown has been released from the kitchen and is now on the loose. Good luck everyone."
Harold opened his eyes with a sigh of relief.
"Great job, Harold." Zoey complimented, "Your idea, although very risky, paid off nicely."
Harold nodded. "Okay, so now I think we should sit in a circle together. We can do some team building exercises and icebreakers while also watching out for the clown."
"Why would we sit in a circle?" Lightning asked.
"Well with sitting in a circle, we can all see every direction. Keeping a lookout for the clown easier." Cody explained.
"Exactly!" Harold said.
The team all formed a circle on the dock and sat down. Everyone was pretty spaced out except Lightning and Jazelle.
"Are you guys going split up for the challenge?" Blaineley asked sitting across from them.
"Nah, we're good." Jazelle said, cuddling up on Lightning's shoulder.
"They're fine." Devin laughed. "Newlywed phase."
The Crying Catfish had followed Bridgette and Gwen who led the team to the old PGA hideout. The PGA was pretty much over, due to the members never meeting and other members already being eliminated.
"Go through here?" Heather asked as they stopped at the hideout.
The hideout was like a cave, but buried in the dirt and grass underneath the dock. Dawn found it first on a walk and brought it to the attention of the alliance. It seemed to be dug out by Chris and Chef to hide a couple of items. It had a few boxes on the inside and a couple of buckets and stumps that the team sat on. It was almost as if it was meant to be a hide out.
"Yeah, just slide the wooden sheet over." Bridgette pointed, lifting up Heather's other hand.
Heather sighed and opened the door.
"This place is really small." Lindsay gasped. "Surprised Gwen and Jasmine aren't worked up about it."
"Cause we're claustrophobic?" Jasmine asked.
"Yeah, figured you wouldn't like the tight space. And Bridgette and Gwen, where did you find this place anyway?"
"We were just walking around one day and we saw it." Bridgette explained. "We were hanging just catching up."
Emma nodded.
Emma Confessional:
"Something isn't adding up with Lindsay. With having memory loss, you'd think that she'd forget about Jasmine and Gwen's claustrophobia. Now I know I've been skeptical about Lindsay this entire time, but things are not adding up. So as any lawyer, I'm going to need more evidence for my case."
"We brought a lantern in here one day." Gwen said, leading Heather, Bridgette and the others over to the back corner. "Watch out for tree stumps."
"Oof!" Heather said as she ran into one. "Thanks for the warning."
She found the lantern and turned in on, lighting up the whole hide out.
"Okay, can you close the door, Lindsay?" Trent asked.
Lindsay nodded and put the wooden sheet back over the entrance.
"Great, now if we move these stumps, we can all sit here and just talk. As long as we're quiet, we'll make it to 7 in the morning with ease." Bridgette said.
The team all nodded as they got situated on the stumps. Heather was closest to the door while Lindsay was the farthest away.
"Okay, so I have a little question for a certain somebody on the team," Emma began, looking directly at Lindsay. "What did you do for your sweet 16 party?"
"Oh um… I think we had a party at a fun festival. It was funny, my sister Paula accidentally got her hair caught in the cotton candy machine." Lindsay laughed.
"Oh really?" Emma asked.
Lindsay smiled and nodded.
"Sounds like it was fun." Emma smiled.
Emma Confessional:
"Oh she's definitely faking it! But I can't pinpoint her tactics yet. I need to figure that out before I make some big assumptions out loud."
Lindsay Confessional:
"Emma is trying to get answers out of me. That's pretty cute. If she thinks that she can get to me that easily, then she's hugely mistaken. I don't fall easily."
The Running Roosters sat together on the porch of their cabin. Like the other teams, it was important to keep social and quiet.
"So, why don't we begin an ice breaker?" Sammy suggested. "Let's go around and say one thing we like about the person next to us."
"Okay, I'll begin." Scott said looking over to Dawn. "I admire Dawn's care for nature and the way she can communicate with animals is both sweet and something that I find motherly."
"Motherly?" Dawn laughed.
"You're just so gentle and soft. It's nice to see that mixed somewhere in with all of these scumbags in the world."
Dawn smiled. "Well thank you Scott. I'll be honest, I used to see you as nothing more than a pig… which was rather insulting to pigs. But now that the past is behind us, I'm happy to be your friend."
Scott looked down at her and smirked. "That's understandable."
Dawn looked over to Carrie. "One thing I like about you is that although you switched from your team, you've been so loyal to us and I think that shows how much you care about us as people and fellow team members."
Carrie smiled. "Well even if team Catfish was my first home, this is my home now and I'm grateful to have you all as teammates."
"Thank you for being so involved with moving this team forward and into a positive light." Dawn said.
"Of course!" Carrie responded as she looked over to Owen. "I think Owen is hilarious! We've known each other for 2 years now and he's the best life of the party. Both him and Geoff. You know, seeing them both is probably my favorite part about Ridonculous Race reunions. Noah, Kitty, Emma, you, Geoff, and Brody are all so fun to hang out with."
"Thanks, Carrie." Owen grinned. "I try to either be the life of the party, or the first one passed out."
"Honestly, I felt that." Carrie laughed.
"Sammy! Although I haven't known you for too long, I've seen Pahkitew Island and I think you've grown a lot, and for the better. Without Amy dragging you down, you are like this beautiful butterfly opening up her wings, flying on her own." Owen said.
"Oh wow, thank you so much Owen." Sammy said, kissing his cheek. "I know that Dawn has helped me a lot, but getting away from Amy has made me so much stronger and I'm thankful for the opportunity to come back."
"Well I'm glad you're away from her chains." Owen noted. "She's been keeping you back because she's afraid to admit that you're better than her."
"Thanks, Owen." Sammy said turning to Mike. "Mike, I admire your care for Zoey. Watching the way you went to calm her down about her fear was so easy for you and it's very sweet to see. I also think that it was a very brave and heroic thing for you to do, getting rid of your other personalities to get rid of your darkest demons. I know it must've been hard on you."
"Svetlana, Chester, Manitoba, and Vito still live in my head rent free, it's just not the same anymore." Mike said. "And about Zoey, well she's my world and she was always there for me in AllStars even if I wasn't always in control. I owe Zoey a lot, although she disagrees and says that having me is worth all of the effort of staying by my side."
"You guys are so pure, haha." Dawn laughed. "I remember when Zoey was scared and unsure if you shared the same feelings that she had. I'm happy it turned out like it was supposed to."
Mike smiled and looked over to Courtney. "Courtney, I know we haven't had the strongest aquenticeship, but I know that your heart has been hurt and thrown around a couple hundred times. I think you're a great person and you've gotten comfortable with being a little cold. But I'm here for you, despite our differences."
Courtney smiled and looked up at Mike. "Although calling me cold is a bit harsh, I understand why you may think I'm like that. Having your support is something that means a lot to me, although it may not seem like it."
"We're all here for you." Sammy smiled. "We're humans before competitors."
Courtney nodded and looked over to Scott. "Baby, I know I'm not perfect and I've made mistakes in the past, but I want to make it right with you. I promise to you that I'll never break your heart again and you're the only one I've fell this hard for. Even though you could've called it quits after everything blew up and targeted me out of the game, you tried to back-stab me, and then forgave me. You're cute, like a donkey wearing a wig."
Scott looked over at Courtney. "Thank you for loving me for me and giving me your heart. I believe you when you say you love me, because we've rode out so much together. I love you Court."
"I love you too, Scottie. Even with how awkward it is with us whispering across our fellow teammates like this." Courtney laughed.