Chapter 22: Day 16 Part 2 — A Major Shakeup
Vegeta walked off, but the crew quickly noticed the direction.
"Wait, you're headed to the red beach to fish?" Nathan said getting in front of him. "Vegeta, please reconsider."
"I need to know what happened to Sam. If the confrontation turns violent, then they obviously didn't learn their lesson from last night."
Vegeta went to step past him but Nathan moved to block him again. "They wouldn't even know about the accident at the trough."
Vegeta glared at him. "Nathan Bentley. I killed my first person before I could even form a full sentence. I know what I'm talking about. His injuries did not occur at the same time. Some are hours old, meaning they were retaliation from last night. His black eye did not spread over his nose, so all that dried blood on his shirt was not from a bloody nose. He had two gauze patches on his head, but only one was starting to stain. Meaning he had one that was no longer bleeding. That blood came from that injury. I was expecting some retaliation against him when I spared him last night. But not an injury like that. It looks like he was clubbed over the head with a heavy object. I want confirmation."
"And what then? What's your end goal?"
"Tsk," Vegeta turned his head. "What's it to you?" he looked at him out of the corner of his eye.
"Vegeta, last night was the first time you've deliberately gotten physical, right? And everything was on camera? There's a huge difference mentally judging an incident between a normal person and a trained fighter. It's not fair, but it's the truth. Your saving grace has been that they keep starting it. But if you go over there right now, you will be the aggressor for the first time."
"Hmph, even if I go over peacefully and they are the first to turn aggressive?"
"Yes. Because you've already demonstrated that there's another option by fishing from the blue beach. You're choosing to instigate a bad situation."
Vegeta growled.
"Vegeta, you have gone above and beyond anything any player has ever done for the other contestants. It's respectable, but also the problem. Sam's situation will rectify itself shortly."
"You mean getting a bandaid and putting him back to the mercy of his torturers?"
"Vegeta… the only way he could have found a puppy is at the abandoned village on the other side of that hill. He probably came down the animal trail that leads to the trough then fell. Even if he was delirious, climbing a steep hill then walking a mile to the village takes some conscious thought. He's not innocent."
"So you're saying Sam's gone from the game?"
"Almost 100% sure."
Vegeta sighed. Then he paused. "Is there a road back there? They're usually ones near towers."
"Yes," he answered, not understanding what he's getting at.
"So a man gets burgeoned half dead and escapes, then comes across a road. Wouldn't a human's natural impulse be to follow that road looking for help? If he was thinking straight at the time, he would have known he went too far and headed back to the trees. But he wasn't, so he stumbled around until he finally passed out. Then when he wakes up and realizes where he is the first thing he does is try and get back into the zone before he gets caught. And the dog is proof that he still wasn't thinking straight at that point either. Just slightly better spatial awareness."
"Vegeta, arguing with me will have no effect on what happens to Sam."
Vegeta points at the camera. "Send that to your bosses. If his brain damage qualifies for freedom, then so be it, but if it doesn't and he's going to get punished, he's better off where I can get at him just like Sugar Petal." He turned to face the camera. "If me saving a whale has led to all this chaos. Imagine what will happen when this airs and the world finds out you expelled a player for going out of bounds escaping an attempted murder then doing the most logical thing to desperately try to find medical help?"
Vegeta turned around and walked back the way he came.
Vegeta walked straight to the blue beach, not returning to the trail. Near the beach, he spotted something wooden. He walked over and found the well with the treemail box.
"Huh… so this is what this crap looks like."
"What are you doing here?"
Vegeta turned and saw Jerry with a canteen and a scroll.
"Nathan barred me from going to the red beach, so I just turned around and walked straight here."
Jerry looked at his spears. He sighed, "If you're going to fish, you should walk over to the trail and pop out there. Things aren't good right now."
"Still pissy over last night? Really?" Vegeta rolled his eyes.
"Vegeta, we searched for hours and were terrified she was dead. That doesn't go away. And her not talking about what happened last night isn't helping."
"She physically CAN'T talk about it. She'll get kicked off. There's no wiggle room here. Last night didn't happen. It's that simple."
"Vegeta… eh…" he shifted awkwardly. "Look…"
"Just say it. I don't take bullshit."
"People aren't getting over this. Jessica is going to be the next vote. And as much as I like her… it's going to be unanimous."
"That won't be for over a week. Family visits are in two days."
"Oh? Yeah… that usually does happen right before merger, doesn't it…"
"Does she know about your decision?"
"No… we're all supposed to start being nice to her, but she's got really good intuition. She'll figure it out."
"Intuition my tailless ass," he thought. Then Vegeta's head turned.
"What is it?" Jerry asked. He turned but saw nothing.
"Reynolds is coming. And Conner isn't with him. Shit…"
Vegeta walked past him.
Jerry turned to follow him. "What are you? Psyc— oh. Ooooooooooooh. Oh shit."
Vegeta glared back at him.
"Nope. Not telling anyone." Jerry zipped his mouth and threw away the key.
Vegeta rolled his eyes and continued out of the trees.
"Jessica!" Vegeta shouted walking out of the trees.
Everyone stopped what they were doing and looked.
"Where's Jessica?"
Bob got up to confront him. "Vegeta. You're not welcome here anymore. Please leave."
"I need to get to Jessica." Vegeta looked and saw Jessica peak her head out of the shelter before someone grabbed her to pull her back in.
"Jessica! What I warned you about is happening. You got 10 minutes max."
Just then the radio screamed.
*fuzz* Blue leader, this is Reynolds! I'll be there in 10 minutes. DO NOT let Jessica leave or I'll have your head! *fuzz*
Vegeta looked at the man whose radio went off.
"Tell Reynolds I'm here as well." Then he gave his villain's grin. "And tell him to think about what Gene Hackman and Boxing Day have in common before he lands."
The man looked nervously at Vegeta, but complied.
The others noticed that Jerry was blanching behind Vegeta.
"Who the heck is Gene Hackman?" Daisuke whispered to Jamal standing next to him.
"I don't know," Jamal said. "But if I remember my phone right, Boxing Day is the day after Christmas somewhere. But Jerry definitely got it."
In the shelter, Casey sat back from the door. "What would a 200-year-old actor have anything to do with anything? Jessica?" She looked at her. "I know you know. For a supposed psychic you can't lie worth shit."
Jessica didn't look at her, but pulled her knees up and hid her face. She didn't know what movie he was talking about. But she knew what Boxing Day was.
EVERYONE on the Indian Ocean remembered THAT Boxing Day, had for over a century, and would for thousands of years to come.
Conner was sitting in the hallway when the doctor came down the hall. "How is he?" he asked standing.
"I'd say he's lucky to be alive, but I don't want to jinx him," the doctor said. "But he doesn't qualify for medical discharge." He sighed, "He has two hairline fractures of the skull. If the fracture was more serious, he could get discharged for surgery, but there is no leeway for any type of brain injury."
"So, he could still die?" Connor asked.
"He's in danger of a blood clot in the coming days, but if given too much blood thinner or too soon his bruising could turn into serious bleeding. He needs monitoring he's not going to receive…. He's also showing no improvement on his cognitive tests. He has about a ten-hour memory gap and according to the map he walked almost three miles in that time."
"Is he a risk to himself?"
"Any type of self-harm is not to be interfered with even if it leads to the player's death," the doctor said. "Trust me, I read over all the medical clauses after the hell with Hyo-jin. If you want to see my dog-eared copy, I can show you the exact page."
Conner rubbed his forehead, "Why am I not surprised anymore." He lowered his arm, put his hands on his hips and sighed, shaking his head, "Is there any silver lining in this shit hurricane?"
The doctor paused.
"Would Sam's twisted ankle count? He won't be wandering off in one of his confusion episodes like I believe you were suggesting."
"A twisted ankle that will not be splinted."
"Correct."
"Ok," Conner looked at his watch. "Reynolds must be pooping his brains out or something." He turned around. "We better check on him."
"The bathroom is not that way," he said.
Conner spun around, "Then what is that way?"
"The dual storage rooms."
"Dual—"
Conner ran down the hall and saw none of the doors on the near wall had any signs. He began throwing open doors. He found one dark closet that had light coming from the cracked open door on the other side.
Conner ran and threw open the door and was greeted by the double doors to the staircase.
There were three boats. One carried Reynolds to shore while the others stayed out beyond the waves. They were packed full of security with their rifles.
While the blue team had panic flashbacks, Vegeta strode confidently to Reynolds.
"What do you want?" Reynolds asked. He had clearly lost his bluster.
Vegeta smiled. "One. Jessica will suffer no retaliation, punishment, or sanction for last night or for any skills she possesses. It's not her fault you bastards didn't do your jobs any more than it is my fault for your collective stupidity.
"Two. Sam will suffer no retaliation, punishment, or sanction for last night. Sam was bludgeoned with a heavy object enough to cause a critical head injury. You're the man that covers everything up and makes things disappear. Imagine the PR if you disqualify a man for running out of bounds fleeing an attempted murder? I can. Your bosses can too.
"Three. If Sam returns to this farce, he will not be returning to Michael and his gang. This isn't a sepsis infection. He was beaten over the head with an object heavy enough to cause a massive blood loss." He pointed at Reynolds, "You have NO plausible deniability here."
"The first two can be done. But—"
Vegeta moved in closer. "But what?" he continued his smile, "And don't say 'Sam will need to walk'. I saw his swollen leg. He's not walking for a long time."
"Sam has made it clear repeatedly he will not join you."
"Then make him join the blue team. Casey is a nurse after all."
"That would force an imbalance."
"As would Sam leaving the game."
Reynolds' eyes darted thinking of a solution to save face. "A trade. If one of them exchanges places with Sam and is barred from joining you or mutinying back until the merge. Would that do?"
"They won't make that choice. Even for Sam's sake."
"Won't know until we ask, will we?" Reynolds said with returning confidence. He walked past Vegeta and towards the group.
Vegeta gritted his teeth at the thought his buff of mass murder was wearing off so quickly.
"Samundra," he said. "Under normal circumstances, an injured player is returned to their own team. But…" he took a breath, "At Vegeta's insistence, a compromise is being offered. If one of you would agree to switch with Sam on Berapi and agree to never join Vegeta's camp until merger, Sam will be brought here to recover from his injury."
Behind Reynolds, Vegeta was nodding and mouthing "take him."
Bob glared at Vegeta. Then looked at Reynolds, "So what advantage does it give us to trade an injured player for an able one? Sam made his bed; he can lay in it."
Vegeta snarled and balled his fists.
Bob gave a smug smile at Vegeta, "But since Vegeta is so insistent, take Jessica. Sounds like they could use a player like her over there."
Everyone looked at Bob.
"You can't be serious?" Jerry said.
"I'm dead serious," Bob said.
"I second," Jamal raised his hand.
"Third," Casey said.
"What do you say?" Daisuke said. "You could go to a team that actually wants you."
"I… I," Jessica stuttered.
"No!" Vegeta shouted. "I won't allow it!"
"This isn't up to you Vegeta," Bob said.
"I said no!" Vegeta stomped hard on the sand.
Suddenly— there was an earthquake.
Casey screamed as everyone fought for their balance.
Nick walked out of the elevator into the lobby under escort by some low-level staff. He saw his father waiting for him with another two staffers of the same rank judging by the identically colored shirts. One held a slanted open laptop, the privacy screen hiding the contents. And the other had a packet of papers.
"He seems happy," Nick thought. "He has to know I was kicked out, right?"
He hung his head as he approached him. "Dad…" he began only to have the packet of papers shoved in his chest hard enough to knock him back.
"There," his father said, recrossing his arms. "You've been served."
"Served?"
"We've been hunting you down for years," he snarled. "Here we all thought we'd find you dead in a gutter but you just had to get back on your feet, didn't you?" He got in his face, "Do you know how much money we had to pay Provost to get you on this show?"
"You paid…"
"Yes I did. He was salivating at the idea of you being served on the beach in front of the entire world. Watching you crumble into the sand in despair," he raised his voice. "But couldn't even do that could you?! You had to get kicked off and deny all of us the happy memories we could watch over and over again of you wallowing in the sand!"
"But you said… Everyone said…"
"Lying through our damn teeth," his father said. "You have no idea how frustrating it is to build you up all those months for absolutely nothing?!"
His father suddenly snapped his finger, and the staffer raised the laptop showing the GBS news website.
"You think you can escape responsibility for everything you've done? Think you can start again? Watch this."
The staffer played the video.
"In the biggest corruption case in decades nearly 100 people have been arrested from the Invasion Council and related charities. The Planetary Attorney General is also suing one charity demanding its dissolution…"
Nick dropped the papers and grabbed the laptop recognizing some of the people being paraded out before the cameras.
"What the hell?!"
"Desperate for workers or not," His father grinned, "Because of that little guilty plea of yours, it is still perfectly illegal to employ you in this industry. How does it feel? Your selfish stubbornness has ruined hundreds of lives and now everyone you so much as walked past on the street is facing decades in prison."
"Did… Did you do this?"
"I called in the tip, yes," he said proudly.
Nick dropped the laptop. "Father, you have to stop this!" He grabbed his father's suit coat, "Call off your men!"
His father chuckled. "These aren't my dogs, Nickolas. I'm afraid this snowball has already rolled down the hill. Did you ever wonder why you arrived here two weeks earlier than everyone else? Bobby couldn't let his little ratings boost get dragged off before he got his shots."
Nick let go, "You're… You're getting me arrested too?"
"Unfortunately, what you did will only net you a year at most, compared to the fools that hired you. But isn't that what lawsuits are for?" he said wistfully. "Forcing people to sell their organs on the black market to pay their debts?"
Nick began to tremble. "Is that what you want from me?" he asked as tears welled up. "My kidneys? My liver?"
His father suddenly lunged forward and reached into Nick's right pocket. He then held up the necklace.
"Ah, the family rosary. Brought all the way from the island during the potato famine five hundred years ago." He looked from it back to Nick. "Your grandmother always found your stupidity adorable instead of annoying."
"Is that what all this is about? That she gave that to me before she died? Then take it!"
His father slowly shook his head, his smile growing menacingly from ear to ear as he wound the rosary around his hands. "Poor little Nickolas, still too stupid to see what is right in front of your face." He yanked his hands apart, violently snapping the rosary sending beads in all direction.
Nick screamed in shock.
"We want you to suffer for all eternity, you little traitor. It is now the entire family's life goal to make sure everything you touch turns to ash. How many more people are you going to make suffer because of your needless foolishness? How many lives are you going to destroy before you get it in your head what needs to be done?"
He grabbed Nick's hand and shoved the fragment of Mary and the cross into it. "You were always your grandmother's good little boy… You know what you need to do now don't you? No good will ever come from your life. All the good you have done, all the good you could have done can be washed away by one little thing. You know what that little this is right? What you need to do to save all the people you haven't even met yet from the poisoned fallout that is your life you walking Chernob— What the fuck?!"
The entire building began shaking.
"Earthquake!" someone yelled as pictures began falling from the walls.
"What the hell is going on?!" Becky screamed rolling over on her stomach.
Michael lost his balance and fell on his butt.
"Earthquake!" Ichiro shouted.
As the shaking subsided, Michael saw several coconuts fall from the trees.
"Ichiro! Get those coconuts!"
At the bend in the stream, part of the bank gave way. A steady stream of water now flowed into the marsh.
The shaking stopped.
Everyone was in shock and wide-eyed. Some had their arms to the side; others were on their knees.
Vegeta was unmoved, fists clenched to his sides looking at the ground. He looked up.
"Jessica. I'm literally putting my foot down. The only way you will ever be joining Berapi is by joining my camp. That's final."
Jessica bowed her head and stepped back. "I understand."
"Anyone… Anyone else to volunteer?" Reynolds asked.
No one moved.
"Then that's settled. Sam will be returned to the red beach."
Vegeta glared at him.
"With strict instructions on his care. I will personally make sure of that." Reynolds walked back towards the boat. "We're headed to the red beach next! Hurry up."
"You… You caused an earthquake by stopping on the ground…" Casey stuttered. "You caused an earthquake by stopping on the ground. You caused an earthquake by stopping on the ground," she repeated faster and faster. She stood up, trembling in fear, shock, and excitement.
"You caused an earthquake by stomping on the ground! YOU CAUSED AN EARTHQUAKE BY STOMPING ON THE GROUND!"
"Casey! Shut up with the nonsense already!" Jamal yelled.
Vegeta paid no attention, but turned and watched the boat join the others before the three sped off.
Vegeta hung his head and sighed after they were gone.
He turned his head. "Jessica, a word."
"No." Bob said firmly. "Anything you say will be in front of us."
Vegeta fully turned around to face them. He crossed his arms. "Ok then. You're the next one to be voted out, Jessica. Jerry said it is unanimous."
"Vegeta!" Jerry shouted.
"Family day is coming up. And I have it on good authority that the next challenge will be our relatives facing off for a special reward," he smirked briefly, "probably private time with shit ton of food and alcohol." Vegeta returned to his scowl. "Which means the next challenge on our end will be a week away. And gods knows if it's going to be a reward or elimination, so the next vote could be two weeks away, assuming you even lose. And if the merger happens before then, then it will be even longer with the first priorities being Lex Luthor and the Joker over there. So…" Vegeta looked around the group, "I suggest everyone get over themselves," he looked at Jessica, "Or you're always welcome at my camp." He began turning around, "Now if you excuse me, I got at least six more mouths to feed." He walked over to grab his spears.
"What do you mean by that?" Bob asked, confused.
Vegeta put the quiver strap over his shoulder, "Two momma cats have set up shop in our camp. Then Hassim ended up with Sam's dog somehow." He began walking away, "I honestly wouldn't be surprised if a cow wandered into camp next. Smell you later." Vegeta gave a one finger wave goodbye and continued on not looking back.
After Vegeta was well down the beach everyone turned to Jerry.
"Jerry!" Jamal shouted. "How could you?"
Jerry pointed his arm at Vegeta. "I was trying to convince him to leave!"
Jessica turned and walked away towards the rocks.
"Jessica, wait," Jerry tried to go after her.
Jamal stopped him. "Jerry, let her go."
"Get out of my way," Jerry said and tried to push past him.
Jamal grabbed Jerry's arm. Jerry tried to twist that arm behind his back for a takedown, but Jamal was too fast. Daisuke got in the way, "Try that again, Jerry."
Jerry put both his hands up in surrender. "All right, I see that I'm outnumbered." He turned around and walked away into the trees. "Have fun fixing camp without me."
"What's that in the sand?" Bob said, pointing at Daisuke's feet.
Daisuke picked it up. "Tree mail. Says no challenge this week and to prepare for the family visit in two days," he said handing it to Bob. "Just like Vegeta said."
An hour passed, and Jerry had not returned. Fearing a desertion, the men headed into the trees leaving Casey alone at the camp and Jessica still out on the rocks.
*thunk* *thunk* *thunk*
Bob turned towards the sound.
He tapped Jamal on the shoulder. "Hey," he said softly. "You hear that?"
*silence*
"I don't hear anything," Jamal said.
"Well, it's stopped now, but I heard something."
*thunk*
"There. Hear that."
"No. I don't hear anything."
"Me neither," Daisuke said.
"Well, I'm going this way," Bob said frustrated. He walked off.
The two shrugged at each other and continued on.
Then they heard Bob scream.
"Bob?! What the fuck?! You ok, dude?"
The two looked at each other and ran towards the screaming.
They came up behind Bob and Jerry arguing. There were plastic bottles full of holes on a fallen tree, and a couple straight sticks cleaned of bark sticking up from the ground.
Bob was holding one of them in his fist.
Jerry was holding a stick curved by a shoelace tied to both ends.
"Bob almost got shot with a bow and arrow," Daisuke said.
"Looks like it," Jamal said. "Let's end this…" he sighed, walking forward.
"What the fuck were you thinking?!" Bob shouted.
"I was thinking someone wouldn't be dumb enough to walk behind it without looking!"
"Hey. Hey." Daisuke said with his hands up. He got between them, "Come on. Calm down. This was clearly an accident."
"He shot me!"
Jerry held his bow up. It looked like a random branch he picked up off the ground. "Does it look like I put any effort into this?! I couldn't hit the broad side of a barn."
"Then why the bottles?" Bob demanded.
"Because I grew up shooting cans off of fence posts and this is the closest thing here to calm the fuck down."
"Ok, that's enough," Daisuke turned to Bob. "It was an accident. We're not Berapi."
Bob and Jerry blew out a sigh at the same time. Then Jerry broke the bow over his knee and untied the shoelace from the ends.
"I'll meet you back at camp," Jerry said, walking off with a flapping shoe.
"You ok, Bob?" Jamal asked.
Bob stuck his finger through a fresh hole in his shirt, then lifted it.
"Owe… that looks like a nice little bruise." Jamal said.
"Let's just head back," Daisuke said. "It feels like it's siesta time anyway. I'm thirsty."
The three returned to camp. But they did not see Jerry.
"Where did he go?" Bob asked Casey.
She pointed down the beach.
They saw Jerry climbing over the rocks to get to Jessica.
"Ok…" Bob sighed. "Just leave them and get in the shade."
"Will you guys just please listen to me—"
"Casey," Bob interrupted, "Just stop with the alien thing. It's been over an hour and I don't need this right now."
"What more evidence do you need after he caused an earthquake?!"
"Casey," Bob said. "We all love you to pieces. But just not now. Today's been too fucked up as it is."
"Hey, Jessica," Jerry said awkwardly, "You got room for one more?"
Jessica adjusted her grip on her pulled up knees and looked away. "Yeah… sure…"
Jerry sat down next to her. "Nice view here. I bet you could see the resort with some binoculars here."
"Yeah…"
"You know…" Jerry took a deep breath, "I don't think I've said this in front of you. But like I told Bob. I believe in psychics 'n stuff. And as iffy as things started out, I wanna say you're cool. It's just…"
"You guys woke up after I snuck off…" she sighed. "I get it. I really do. I just… I needed to, you know? And I knew everyone would stop me because it would set Casey off."
"Yeah… Casey is still going off about that little earthquake. I mean, it's not like we're in some comic book world. Like that Superman movie where Lex Luther stole nukes to set off the San Andreas Fault to drop California into the sea and turn his desert land into beachfront property. You've seen it? The effects are so old it's funny. Also, a couple hundred years really made Superman unrecognizable. It's a little jarring if you're just a casual fan seeing where the character actually started from."
"No… No, I haven't. My upraising was really strict. If it wasn't in the bible then it doesn't exist. Even went to a private school that didn't require vaccines. I never even heard the word until college."
"Didn't even come across it in the dictionary?"
"Nope. We only used 'blessed dictionaries'. Ones that had been purged of the devil's influence."
"Did you grow up in a cult or something?"
Jessica chuckled a sob. "Looking back, I wouldn't be surprised."
"No. No. No. Don't cry. I came over to try and make you feel better. Please don't cry."
"I'm ok." She took a deep breath.
"Without Fear… Without Fear…"
Jessica let it out. "I'm ok."
"Good. So… Now that Vegeta just blew Bob's and Jamal's plan out of the water. Everyone gets to spend a couple awkward days trying to figure out how to deal with this. Sounds like fun, huh?"
"It's ok. I don't care about winning. I'm here for the same reason Vegeta is, remember? Being blackmailed. If you want me out, a bath and good food sounds really good right now."
"So… Contorta or leaving for Vegeta's? He has soap. I'm surprised no one has gotten you to make something just for that."
"Yeah," she chuckled. "Bath would feel good right about now."
"Well… It has been a while since I've had a pretty pussy all up in my lap with her butt in my face. If you wanna take a walk, I know how I'll keep myself occupied in the meantime."
Jessica sputtered trying not to laugh. "Ah! Hē bhagavāna!" she shouted leaning to the side. She then sat straight and shoved his shoulder. "Bad! Bad Jerry!"
"Hey a got the nun to blush. My work is done." He said, guarding his head. "But seriously," he chuckled, "I wanna go play with the cats and puppy. Maybe even get my clothes fixed by whoever did up my old duds like that."
"It… It was Sugar Petal. I also never got to fix her hair last night in exchange. Vegeta was in a hurry to get me out before sunrise."
"Yeah… Vegeta was half yelling at Bob about mitigating the fallout to get our asses back camp. And considering the freakin' Invasion of Normandy Reynolds was about to pull, I'd say he was right. SO… How do you want to go about this ninja stuff?"
She side-eyed him, "Like I tried last night?"
"Yeah, but you're with me now. And this was totally about me wanting to play with the puppy and you knowing where the secret dog house is next to where Vegeta hides the soap. Huh?" he put his fist out. "Huh? Come on. You wanna do the fist bump," he said, moving his fist in a small circle. "Come on."
Jessica sighed and stuck her fist out.
"And boom," he said, touching it. "Now. Let's go figure out how to get out of here."
"Let's just wait for Vegeta to return from fishing. I don't want another explosion."
"We're going to need an excuse to be over by the ATV track for that."
"What could you make over there that wouldn't piss off Bob?"
Jessica looked down the beach. She sighed and stayed quiet.
"Ok. I get it. I'll just do stuff myself," he began to stand.
"Wait," Jessica grabbed his arm.
Jerry sat back down. "Yeeees?" he asked expectantly.
"The plantain grove and the herb field. Bring the machete."
The team gathered to send them off.
"We'll be back!" Jerry raised the machete in the air as he waved goodbye.
He and Jessica walked off with their baskets.
"See you in a couple hours!" Bob waved back.
Casey leaned in. "We're following them, right?"
"Absolutely."
*Raw* *Raw* *Raw*
"Don't eat your toy all at once!"
Sugar Petal and Hassim are up at the second camp.
Hassim had made a rawhide chew toy for Mark and was currently in a tug-a-war with the tiny puppy.
Sugar Petal was making string.
The two had made drying racks and had brought them up for the wind and sun.
They had smashed the soaking wet stems they had left in the stream overnight and pulled them apart. Then Sugar Petal spread out the larger chunks and clamped the two ends between bamboo slats bound with a blue string. They then hung them up between poles as a shade canopy.
Sugar was tying up the first slats for the second batch when they heard rustling coming from the grasses.
Jessica came out. "Oh, I didn't realize this was so close. Hi Sugar Petal."
Jerry popped out next. "Oops. Hey guys, we'll just— Is that a puppy?!" He walked over and leaned down, "Hi puppy."
The dog whimpered and ducked under the shelter.
"Awe, I'm sorry puppy. I didn't mean to scare you." He leaned up, "Where did you find him? He looks really young."
"He's Sam's," Hassim said. "Was barking and licking his face when we found him. Sam kept saying Mark slipping in and out, so that's what we've been calling him."
"So that was Sam that got carted off? What happened?"
"Massive head injury. Vegeta said it looked deliberate."
"So Sam got done dirty like Sugar Petal?"
"Yes," Sugar Petal said, "But it wasn't Michael. When he dragged me into the trees to beat me he said only fools leave evidence that can be seen. Since it was a head injury, it was Becky."
The little puppy came out of hiding and came up to sniff Jerry's toes. Then it sneezed.
"Yeah, sorry little guy. I got those stinky toes."
"Would you guys like a bath?" Sugar Petal asked.
"Naw," he chuckled. "Bob would have a cow if we came back smelling like daisies. So… Where are these kittens Vegeta mentioned? Back at your normal camp?"
Hassim looked at them suspiciously, "This wasn't an accident, was it?"
"Couldn't you tell?" Sugar Petal said. "Jessica would have turned tail and ran after what you said happened when they came." She began laying out the other braces. "And Vegeta was furious when he came back."
Jerry scratched the back of his head. "Yeah," he chuckled nervously, "Guilty as charged. I wanted to play with the animals."
"And you, Jessica?"
Jessica adjusted the hold on her basket and looked down, "I… I wanted to pay you back for fixing the shirt by fixing your hair like I asked last night."
"Yeah," Jerry said. "No offense but that's a really poor job. Looks like a bad comb over."
Sugar Petal shrank at the comment.
"Hey. Don't mention her hair!" Hassim warned.
"It's ok…" Sugar said softly. "The doctors cut my hair to sew up my big cut."
Jessica gasped. "From the cliff? Oh goodness I'm so sorry."
"Can I see?"
"Jerry!" Hassim shouted at him.
"Dude, chill. I had three daughters who all wanted weird hair like daddy growing up. I am the king of funky braids. I can fix anything."
"Randy?" Jackie asked.
"I'll allow it," he answered.
Sugar Petal paused. Then untied the string at the bottom of her braid.
"Sugar Petal…"
"It's ok Hassim-nim," she said, undoing her braid. After that was down, she hung her head to separate her hair then brushed it back with her fingers back into its original part.
She turned her head.
"Wow… What is that like 4 inches?"
"It's covered in glue," she answered. "They said it's protected for the next few days. Then they will look again and reapply."
Hassim sighed. "If you're going to touch her then you'll need to wash your hands." He stood, "I'll be back."
*whimper* *bark* *bark*
Mark darted from under the shelter and followed him down the path.
Jackie and her crew followed.
"Don't react immediately. Casey is in the grass. I sense ill intent." Jerry heard in his head.
"Vegeta?"
But there was nothing but an empty silence.
Jerry glanced down as he thought.
"So, this is the banana thread Jessica mentioned?"
"Don't ask how to make it," Randy warned.
Jerry looked back at Jessica, "Jessica said part of the banana trunk is edible, what if we gave you the rest to make stuff for us?"
"That needs written approval," Randy said.
"What do you want?" Sugar Petal asked.
He looked back at Jessica, "Well, we still need to replace the shirts that were burned."
"I don't know how to make shirts," Sugar Petal said, panicking.
Jerry put his hands in front of him, "No. No. Not full shirts. Like fill in gaps between the panels Jessica makes. You'd just be making something the size of socks."
"Oh… I could do that."
"Written Permission," Randy stressed again.
"Well, let's go get that permission," Jerry said, rubbing his hands together. "Hang here, I'll be right back." Jerry sprinted into the grass before anyone could stop him.
Somehow, Jerry knew exactly where Casey was. He didn't question it either. If Vegeta was a powerful enough psychic that Reynolds took his threat of drowning everyone in a massive tsunami seriously, he was just going to go with it.
Casey was off to the right side, probably warned about the boundary he understood to be to his left.
Jerry leaped to his right, making it look like he was going to cut down the hill instead of taking the path up to the grove.
Vegeta must have been off by a few feet because Jerry suddenly jumped into her and tumbled like a runner missing a hurdle.
Jessica had just sat down in the shelter when they all heard screams of a man and woman. They and their cameramen ran into the grass.
They quickly found Jerry and Casey tangled up along the edge of the forest.
"Casey? What are you doing here?"
"Owe…" Jerry said, trying to sit up. "Obviously spying on us. Casey, get out from between my legs before my wife gets jealous."
"Do you always have to turn things into a lewd joke?" she asked, getting on her hands and knees. "Get your leg off my back."
"Crawl under. You can move better than me right now."
Casey moved and Jerry cursed as he got his leg back.
"You ok?" Sugar said as she gave Casey her hand.
"Yeah," she said, taking her hand. She looked up. "Oh my God! What happened to your head?!"
"I…"
"You know very well it's from her fall," Jerry said, finally getting his legs under him. "Bob sent you." he said standing.
Casey went to speak.
"That wasn't a question. Tell Bob to chill. For someone who so desperately wants to get rid of her, he's being a controlling ass."
Casey tried to speak again.
"I'm not done. Vegeta is not our enemy. He's on the opposite team, yes. But not our enemy. If anything, he's compromised his own position again and again. I think he has the power to win this whole damn thing. If he was serious, he'd be terrifying. But he doesn't give a damn.
"So, here is what is going to happen: We — you and I, are going back. You are going to stay while I get the notebook. Then I will be coming back, alone, and we will be able to actually do work that's beneficial to the team, with the help of Vegeta's team, like we always do, and how we will continue to do so for the rest of the game well into the merge."
"You can't force me to do anything, Jerry," Casey shot back. "What you going to do? Drag me off?"
"PLEASE STOP FIGHTING!"
Everyone looked at Sugar Petal.
"Please stop fighting," she pleaded with her hands folded together and tears running down her face. "You're acting like everyone else. Always screaming and arguing. Now you're going to hit each other too? You're supposed to be nice people! The ones to take care of me when Mr. Vegeta is gone! But you're all the same!" She turned and ran with her hands over her face, "All the same…"
After she and her crew disappeared, they suddenly heard a slow clap.
They turned and saw a soaking wet Vegeta.
"Great job on triggering the PTSD there."
"How did you get here?" Casey asked, shocked.
He pointed over his shoulder with his thumb. "The back trail Sugar used when she escaped out of the water. Then he crossed his arms, "Last I checked I'm not welcome on the beach anymore."
"Where's your fish?" Casey asked.
"Back with my crew that I left in the dust when I heard the screams."
"Well, show me," Casey demanded.
"No."
"Why?"
"You can't force me to do anything, Casey," Vegeta copied her voice. "What you going to do? Drag me off?"
Casey fumed and stomped off. She turned around briefly. "I'm going to prove you're a psychic alien and part of the conspiracy to overthrow the elected government by infiltrating big business that already rule this world from the shadows to rule THEM from the darkness of space!" she shouted with her fist raised in the air before disappearing with her crew in tow.
Vegeta's mouth twisted down in disgust. "I hate people like that…"
Jerry sighed, putting his hands on his hips. "Yeah…" he turned to him, "If you ever want to take this seriously…"
Vegeta held his palm up. "No. The integrity of the blue team is my second priority after Sugar Petal. Besides, if my wife's theory is correct, none of this squabbling will matter shortly."
"What theory?"
"The contract details for her becoming my family visit correlated too strongly to the contract she translated for me when I agreed to join. But we still have a couple days to see if it plays out."
"You mean like you said our families would be competing in a challenge for alone time with us?"
Vegeta ignored him and turned to Jessica. "None of this is your fault by the way. This is just buried problems manifesting… But," he smiled, "If you two can be character witnesses to Casey's nutjobery right then it would refocus attention away from you, who did one questionable thing while she's been a problem for weeks."
"Yeah…" Jerry said thinking, "She'll probably be so proud of it she'll confess." He looked at Vegeta, "Good observation."
"Lord Frieza's forces weren't without its politics," he grumbled. "As long as it didn't affect the money flowing in, petty rivalries were free entertainment."
"So, you weren't in the actual proper military? Why did you join this militia?"
"I was taken from my parents when I was 4. But even though I obeyed his every whim, he killed them anyway right before my 6th birthday. Turned the entire place I was born into a pile of charred rocks and burnt corpses actually." Vegeta looked up, "Originally there were four survivors, one adult not worth remembering, Raditz was a couple years older than me but I don't remember his age… his brother Kakarot wasn't even a year at the time. Only reason I know his…" Vegeta turned around and began walking towards the second camp, "But I'm currently the only one still alive."
Jerry turned as well. "You were a child soldier?!" he said, shocked.
"Childhood and innocence are not the same thing!" he called out as he walked away.
After watching him disappear into the field, Jerry looked at Jessica. "I guess that's why he always felt really off to you… He's got to be pretty fucked up."
"But still the nicest person on the Red team."
Jerry chuckled, "Tsk. Yeah… really. Oh! The basket and machete."
"Will be there when we come back," Jessica began walking off. "Let's go find Casey before she hurts herself."
"Oh shit, there's the cliff. Right." Jerry quickly followed.
Shortly afterwards, Vegeta came up for air.
"Where did you go?" the boat cameraman said, "We lost you on the underwater cameras."
Vegeta held up the mangled tail of a large shark, "Murdering endangered species for souvenirs. What's your excuse?"
"That's a really gnarly bite mark on it," one of the technicians pointed out.
"Oh my god you're right," another said. "That doesn't look like a fish bite either. What the hell would try to eat a full-grown shark?"
"Lulong! Lulong has returned!" one of the local boat drivers shouted.
The other locals start to visibly panic and begin shouting in their language.
The driver leaned over and waved for Vegeta to get into the boat. "Alijeh-putra! Alijeh-putra! Come up, hurry."
A crew member grabbed his arm. "He's not getting in the boat."
"But—"
"No buts!"
Vegeta lowered his brows. "Let's just get to shore then. There's obviously something dangerous in the water."
Vegeta began swimming alongside the boats. "I haven't heard that name in a while. You have family near my private island?"
"We all know you," he said. "We all know the stories."
"Perfect…" Vegeta mumbled.
"What does that even mean?" one of the crewmembers asked.
"Son of the volcano god," the driver answered. "Krakatau in blood and flesh. Prince of the fire ghosts sleeping in the mountains."
The crews all turned to look at Vegeta.
"What can I say," Vegeta smiled, "My legendar—" he spit the water from the sudden wake out of his mouth. "My legendary temper precedes me."
Hassim came back up the trail and heard sobbing.
"Sugar Petal?!" Hassim ran up the last few steps.
He found her alone.
"What happened," he said angrily as he put down the basket of bark. He jogged over.
"Casey came, and started saying mean things. And everyone started shouting," she sobbed.
"Where did they go?" he asked.
She pointed into the grass.
Hassim sighed. Then reached down and picked up the startled puppy.
*yip*
"Here. Lick her face. Make her happy. I'll be back."
Hassim walked off leaving the puppy whimpering and repeatedly hesitating to jump off the platform.
Sugar Petal started petting him.
Jerry and Jessica were searching the plantain grove.
"Where the heck did Casey go?" Jerry turned to Jessica.
"I have a chakra injury…" she confessed. "I can't sense anything. Won't be able to for a while."
"Well… that's no bueno…"
"Hey! You blokes! Stop right there!"
Jessica and Jerry turned around.
Hassim stomped up to them. "How dare you fucking arseholes set Sugar off like that!" He looked around, "Where's that Casey?"
"We're just as mad at her as you are," Jerry said. "Chill out." He looked away, "She was right in front of us, but went off somewhere."
"She's either gone down the path to rat us out or went off to find that trail Vegeta and Sugar Petal used." Jessica said.
"She's completely insane," Jerry said. "She went off on Vegeta saying he's part of some alien conspiracy to take over the world."
"If aliens were going to take over the world, they'd just kill us," Hassim said. "I'll take the path, you pollocks take the trail."
Hassim disappeared down the hill.
"Mr. British is pretty pissed if he's started swearing," Jerry said looking up the hill. "Vegeta said Sugar Petal used it to climb out of the water, so let's get up to the cliff."
"Well you look at that," Jerry said. "There's a ladder here."
"This is about where Daisuke fell in," Jessica said.
"Definitely looks like a Vegeta DIY," he said looking at the bamboo handywork. "Where does he find the time for all this shit?"
"Who knows…" Jessica said. She looked around. "There's a change in height in the plants. See the U?"
"That the path?"
"Probably."
"Let's go."
As they continued, the U deepened until it turned into compacted earth. Not far after, they found Casey. It was hard to see past her crew, but it looked like she was trying to get a ring of three fish out of one of the bushes without slipping down into the river. There was also a bamboo pole stuck in the brush preventing it from floating away.
Jessica suddenly realized what was happening.
"Did you throw Vegeta's stuff in the river?!"
The crew jumped exposing Casey. She was holding a random branch with patchy bark and a green tinge from moss.
"What the hell are you thinking?" she shouted pointing at her while walking over. "Are you just pissed you couldn't catch Vegeta in a lie? Or are you trying to destroy evidence to prove Vegeta's whatever the hell you screamed at him about? No one is going to believe you!"
"Not to mention you're on global television," Jerry said. He put his hands on his cheeks, "*gasp* An alien conspiracist destroying and fabricating evidence." He put one hand over his heart and his other wrist against his forehead. "Oh! The humanity! Will the lies and deceit ever end?!"
Casey glared at him. "Not funny Jerry."
"No," he turned serious, "What's not funny is you destroying Vegeta's stuff. I don't care about the reason. And don't say he's the god of bamboo. That doesn't matter."
"Come on, Jerry. Let's go," Jessica said. "Hassim is probably already to the stream by now."
"What does Hassim have anything to do with this?!" Casey accused.
Jessica pushed past her, "To chew you out over Sugar Petal. Let's go."
Jessica and Jerry followed the path until they came to the boat landing.
"And there's the plastic nets," Jerry pointed. "So, we know where we are now."
Jessica put her hand above her eyes. "Oh, yeah. I see it." She lowered her hand, "Ok. Let's go."
Eventually they made through the mangroves and discovered Vegeta hacking apart a large shark.
They paused surprised, but after a moment did not question it.
"Hey! Vegeta!" Jerry raised his arm.
Vegeta looked and raised a bloody hand. He returned to hacking at its head.
"Why are you butchering it in the mud?" Jessica asked. "You'll spoil the meat."
"I killed this thing for the teeth," Vegeta said, sticking the machete in to pry out the jaw.
"Vegeta! You know how wasteful that is?!" Jessica protested.
"Do you really want to eat a huge shark from around here?" Vegeta said cutting the last of the tendons and cartilage. "I may be spoiled, but we don't have the ability to properly clean it. Unless you like piss meat."
"I have to agree with Vegeta," Jerry said. "Even without the mud, Vegeta didn't even kill it right to eat it."
"There it finally comes," Vegeta said, putting the machete away. He pulled the jaw out.
"Too bad you ripped its head apart," Jerry said. "This thing's big. Like to know what it was. Definitely not one of the tips."
Vegeta grabbed its tail and rolled it back into the water.
"Did you cut off part of its tail?" Jessica asked.
"Nope," Vegeta said, picking up the jaw and machete. "Came that way."
"What would try to eat a shark that big?" Jessica's eyes widened.
"Mating fight. Something tried to eat it as a baby. Lots of stuff can cause a shark to lose part of a fin," Jerry said, hopping over roots to walk next to Vegeta. "Hey if I show you how, could you maybe kill one correctly next time?"
"Don't plan on killing something that big again," Vegeta said standing. "But what the fuck your people call it? Gunning down the wind?"
"Gunning down…" Jerry mumbled confused. "Oh! Shooting the breeze. English your second language?"
"It's my eighth actually," he answered.
"Eight?! Wow… I can't even imagine that. You're smart."
Vegeta smiled, "Your numbers test said I'm second only to my wife."
"You mean the IQ test?"
"Yeah that."
While the men talked, Jessica looked down at the blood-filled water. She could not shake her bad feeling.
The three walked across the stream onto the beach.
"Oh, crap…" Jerry said. "I got distracted by the shark. So… umm… Casey got pissed and threw your fishing spears and fish into the river…"
"More ammunition the better," Vegeta said, eyes fixed forward. "Casey has overplayed her hand." He smirked, "Let's destroy her."
Vegeta stormed into the blue camp. "Hey! Casey just destroyed my crap and threw my fish over the cliff into the river!"
"What?!" Daisuke said.
Vegeta tossed the jaw and machete in the sand. "Where the fuck is Bob? Bob!"
Bob and Hassim come out from around the shelter.
"I see you got here first," Vegeta said.
"What's this about Casey destroying your food?" Bob said.
"Left my gear and fish on the back trail to investigate some screaming," Vegeta said. "I only caught the tail end where Sugar Petal ran off in tears before Casey turned on me and started screaming her nonsense." Vegeta glared at him and snarled, "Words are one thing. Destroying my stuff to frame me for some freaky psychic powers in another."
"Bob," Jerry stepped forward. "I know everyone is focusing on Jessica's screwup right now, but Casey just went off the Goddamn deep end."
"I know you don't trust me anymore Bob," Jessica said meekly. "But this is serious. She's crossing over into red team territory destroying Vegeta's fishing gear."
Bob looked at Hassim, "You didn't tell me this."
"I never went down that trail," Hassim said. "I went down your path, remember?"
Bob sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, "Ok… take it from the top…"
"Where is Casey anyway," Jamal asked.
"I have you! I have you dead to rights, Alien!"
Everyone turned around and saw Casey entering the beach from the ATV track. She had a basket and a bamboo bucket with a blue carrying string.
"That's my shit!" Vegeta shouted. Then he recognized the poorly made basket. "That's my shit!" he screamed even louder. "You entered my tree house and riffled through my belongings you fucking bitch?!" He took a couple steps forward.
Hassim and Nathan grabbed him from behind. Jerry and Jessica pressed him from the front.
"No. No. No." "Don't." "Calm down." "Stop."
Vegeta stopped and took a deep breath through gritted teeth.
"I am so sorry about this Vegeta," Bob said. "I sent Casey to watch over Jessica. I had no idea she would do this." He then walked past them, "I'm ending this." He then turned around and walked backwards a few steps, "Come on everyone. Let's get this over with."
Jamal and Daisuke walked forward next.
"You can take your hands off me now," Vegeta said, suddenly calm. "Let's go see how long it takes her to hang herself on the rope she stole."
Everyone hesitantly let go and stayed close by him as they followed.
After the group walked to meet Casey half way, Tom got on his radio. "This is Blue 2. I need Reynolds or Conner."
*fuzz* This is Conner. What is it? *fuzz*
"We have footage and witnesses to Casey entering Vegeta's camp and stealing items."
*fuzz* You can prove this? *fuzz* came Reynolds voice.
"Yes, she says she's discovered evidence Vegeta is an alien in his personal belongings."
*fuzz* What?! *fuzz* Reynolds screamed. *fuzz* Stop her! *fuzz*
"They are already talking and showing off her stolen goods."
*fuzz* I'm getting the security ready *fuzz* Reynolds said. *fuzz* She's done. She's fucking done. *fuzz*
*fuzz* I agree fully *fuzz* Conner said. *fuzz* Sabotaging and stealing from the other team's camp is an expellable offense. *fuzz*
Vegeta thought Casey had an incredibly smug look on her face as they walked up. It was beneath him to fake pitiful emotions, so Vegeta kept his expression as neutral as possible. But inside he was excited. His biggest pain in the ass was gone. Once he watched this woman self-destruct, he was going to press for expulsion. If Michael got away with all his shit by technically not being in his "camp" then her going into his tree house was way over the line. Reynolds' paranoia would keep her in line for now. Then he could talk to Bulma. His instinct was to kill her quietly, but he knew Bulma wouldn't let him. She definitely wasn't above killing someone, but this may be a step too far.
"One victory at a time," he thought.
"You! I got you now Vegeta, you alien shit!"
"Casey, you need to calm down," Bob said as the first group arrived. He began using his de-escalation training.
"I am calm. This is important. The most important event to ever happen in all of our lives!"
"Your delusions have gone too far, Casey," Jamal said.
"Yes, robbing Vegeta's camp is too far. You need to apologize and give him back his stuff."
"Guys, I got this," Bob said sharply.
"So, what do you exactly got me as?" Vegeta crossed his arms as his group arrived. "All I see is a burglar, Bilbo Baggins."
Jerry snorted before putting his handover his mouth and glancing away.
"You!" Casey pushed past Bob.
Bob sighed and glanced up before swinging around, "Casey!"
"You are an alien who infiltrated the illuminati controlling this planet by marrying into the Briefs! You're some type of nobility, aren't you?! Someone low enough they could be a sacrifice but high enough to take advantage of their ego!"
Vegeta's eye twitched. "I am no one's pawn," he said, his anger seeping in despite his best efforts. "And—"
"Then you're royalty?! You're a prince, aren't you?! A king is too high to risk pre invasion!"
"Woman, my wife runs this relationship, not me."
"Then the Briefs are looking for alien back up to conquer Earth themselves! Red Ribbon Army 2.0."
"Why are you so convinced my family is evil?"
"Because all the large corporations of the world are part of the same cabal that's ruled this planet from the shadows for hundreds of years! Easily a thousand since the industrial revolution! The Briefs have been intimate with the current dynasty since Arthur Furry began his political career!"
"They went to the same college, woman. They met at a Best Mustache Competition."
"Don't give me that! Britches Brief was already a grad student when Arthur Furry entered college! That friendship was a deliberate infiltration ordered by the illuminati to gain control over a promising politician."
"Lady, the only illuminati I know of is from the picture books and cartoons Panchy bought my son and I matching underwear from."
"Then you admit it! The illuminati even sell company merch!"
Vegeta sighed, then suddenly dropped his pants.
"Awesome Wolverine boxers, dude," Jerry said. Then Jerry dropped his pants. "I am Iron Man!"
"That's what she said," Jamal quipped.
"Very funny," Vegeta said, bending down. He pulled his pants back up.
"Casey, even I know the illuminati is part of that comic world," Bob said, "and it's run by the good guys."
"Bull Shit!" Casey screamed. "The illuminati is the real life Legion of Doom!"
Vegeta looked back at Jerry, "That's the Darth Vader mask in the swamp, right?"
"Yep! Didn't think you were a comic dude," Jerry pointed at him with both hands and clicked his tongue.
"Pull your pants up before you click your tongue at me like that," Vegeta scowled.
"That's what HE said," Jerry smiled.
Vegeta suddenly swung around. "My butt hole is permanently off limits!" he screamed.
Jerry stepped back, "Dude chill. I—" Then Jerry's face fell.
Vegeta realized what he was thinking without telepathy.
"I was not a victim of that," Jerry heard in his head. "Thank the goddess…" he heard much softer and trailing off.
Vegeta turned back around to face Casey. He closed his eyes and took a calming breath in and out.
"Ok… where were we? Oh yeah, batshit crazy lady thinks I'm evil because my wife's family is evil. That about right?"
"Vegeta, calling her crazy isn't helping. Everyone please stop calling her sanity into question," Bob said.
Vegeta ignored him. "You know, two of Bulma's exes are here. Yamcha and actually Michael unfortunately. If she had had the misfortune of marrying one of them, would you be accusing one of them of being an alien?"
"No!"
"Why?"
"Because they have a clear history. You just fell out of the sky! Literally!"
"Could be a long con, or body snatchers, or aliens wearing skin suits who fart all the time."
"You are not normal! You're short, ears are pointy and no human has hair that naturally sticks up like that!
"So part of your proof is a private, non-celebrity of questionable ethnicity marries Bulma Brief." Vegeta pointed at her, "I received enough racist bullshit from Michael and Becky, you're racist and nuts."
"I am not racist!"
Vegeta opened his arms, "Then what about me, screams alien to you? Other than I'm shorter than you're ideal type of man?"
"You caused an earthquake!"
"You mean like this?" Vegeta lifted his knee high and slammed his foot down.
"Stop!" Casey shouted.
Nothing happened.
"Oh… that's odd? Let me try again."
Vegeta slammed his foot again.
Again, nothing.
"Huh?" Vegeta grinned. "How about this?"
Vegeta began jumping up and down.
"Huh?" Vegeta said, stopping. He shrugged. "It's not working." He scratched his chin. "I wonder why?"
"You're clearly controlling your strength!"
"Orrrrrrrr," Vegeta stretched it out to mock her, "We could be standing on the most geologically active plate boundary on the planet. That may have been scary for you since you're from flyover country, but that was barely a shimmy for someone on the west coast." Vegeta looked at the staff, "What was that? A 4.-something?"
A field producer pulled out his phone. "News is reporting 4.5. No damage."
"Then what about these marks carved onto your buckets and basket tags! These are in no known Earth language!
"I speak eight languages, dumb ass. Not every language uses ABCDEFG. That's my people's native script. Would you be screaming like a mad woman if you knew I was Indian, Arab, or Japanese? I see no difference between my curly q's, as my mother-in-law puts it, and those tribe's squiggles."
"My family has studied every language on the planet from Sumerian, Linear A, to the pictograms in the Southwest and Australia! I don't need to image search your writing to know it matches nothing in our community's database! I can tell this has nothing to do with Earth!" She grabbed gray leaves with marks on them. "And what about these?"
"That's Korean with the accent marks my people use for music notes. And since you're presenting to the board of directors here, there's other bamboo sheaths that are in my language with music marks."
"No Earth language does that!"
"Ancient Hebrew and Greek does," Jessica said.
Everyone looked at her surprised.
"Raised by Evangelicals. I know Ancient Hebrew, Aramaic, Ancient Greek, and Latin." She looked back at Casey, "Plus the several regional languages I've learned while in India. So don't say knowing eight languages is weird."
"Well, you have no way to escape this!" Casey began digging through the badly made basket and dumping bones, teeth, and blue and hide strings on the ground.
"Hey! Watch the beads!" Vegeta shouted. "Those are fucking hard to make even with proper tools!"
"Casey," Bob said, "Why would a space faring nation know how to make bone jewelry? You're having tunnel vision." Bob took a deep breath, "Take a deep breath." Then he spun his hands up and around each other towards himself. "And wheel this back."
"Then what about these?! You're making glass!" Casey held out the different glass bottle bottoms in various stages of being shaped and the nail on top of a thin piece of hide.
"How are you heating these?!" Then she showed how the holes and marks matched the nail. "How are you protecting your hands?! It takes 1200 degrees at minimum to soften glass!" She dumped the glass into her palm and held up the hide. "Look at these burn marks! And there's holes in it! And this is the only one I've found! What was under this? Your bare flesh?! There's no way this thin piece of hide did anything to protect your hands unless your skin can survive those temperatures!"
Everyone looked at Vegeta.
"Not that I agree with anything Casey is saying," Daisuke said turning to Jessica, "When Jessica first saw Vegeta's glass lamp, she said she did not trust his story because he would have made it too fast and wasn't babysitting it on the fire to stop shattering."
"Yes! Jessica!" she held her arms out towards her excitedly. "Back me up here! You know all this stuff from your hippy commune and your time in India! Vegeta is lying through his alien teeth!"
"I… um… I…" Jessica stuttered.
"You know what? Fuck this," Vegeta suddenly walked forward.
He knelt down and began picking stuff out of the sand, "You can point your crazy at me all you want. But don't point your nutjob bazooka at anyone else." Vegeta stood and reached for the basket, "Give me that!"
Casey took a step back and wrapped her arms around the basket. "Don't touch me! You can't touch me! You're on a different team, you can't touch me. If you won't go after your own teammates, you won't go after me here in front of all the people and cameras! You can't risk—"
Vegeta raised his arm and pointed gun fingers at her head.
She screamed and dropped the basket. She tried to back up but fell on her butt after a few steps.
"What's wrong?" Vegeta smirked in a way he had not had the opportunity to for a few years. "I'm just pointing at you," he darkly chuckled.
"You're threatening to kill me?!" She pointed at the different crews, "What are you waiting for?! Call it in! Call it in!"
"But how can I? I'm not touching you." Vegeta took a step forward.
Casey crab walked backwards.
"Everyone knows you're insane. You clearly have something wrong with your brain. If you passed out right now, maybe even go into a seizure, no one would question it."
Vegeta took another step.
Casey scootched backwards.
Vegeta flattened his hand, then dramatically twisted his wrist. He acted like he had something in his hand. He moved his fingers like he was squeezing this object rapidly. "Didn't you mention heart disease runs in your family at the party? An uncle and a cousin both died around your age? I wonder what would happen if I just reached inside… and did this!"
Vegeta clenched his fist high in the air so everyone could see.
Casey screamed, rolled over onto her side, gripped her heart and started hyperventilating. She started sobbing when he started to laugh hysterically.
"He's mocking my death. What a monster."
"Oh my god, I can't believe you fell for that! You're such a moron!"
Casey glanced up, and saw Vegeta doubled over gripping his stomach.
He leaned up and wiped his eyes. He began taking large breaths to stop laughing. "Serves you right, you fucking bitch."
Vegeta turned around and bent down to grab his basket and began digging through the sand for his jewelry supplies. After getting everything that fell out when the basket overturned, he stood and went to where she had dumped the rest.
"You, you try and make a fool of me again?!" Casey got to her feet.
"That's all on you, bitch," Vegeta said, not looking back.
"Casey, I agree that was horrible but please calm down," Bob said stepping in between.
With everyone else focusing on the raging Casey, Vegeta glanced down the beach. Then he looked at Jessica, still frozen in place.
"Don't worry," she heard Vegeta in her head. "This all ends for good in 3… 2… 1…"
*RAT TATATATATATAT*
Everyone screamed and hit the sand as the automatic rifle went off over their heads.
Vegeta hit the sand as well, allowing himself the moment to smile with his face hidden. Then he lifted his head.
Hassim was on the ground back at camp. A security guard was standing on his back with a shotgun pointed at him as the rest of the men stormed up the beach.
"Seven boats," Vegeta counted. "*whistle sound* Reynolds is launching the fucking invasion of Normandy," he thought excitedly, "This is great."
"Heads down! Stay Down! Hands on your head!"
Vegeta ducked back down and complied. He felt a foot briefly on his back before being taken off.
"What are you doing?! Get your foot back on his back!"
"Y-Y-Yes, Sir!"
Vegeta felt the foot return.
"Casey," Vegeta heard Connor's voice. "For robbing the opposing teams camp, you are being evicted from this game. Please cooperate with security to minimize injury."
"Fuck you! I know why you're Vegeta's favorite! You're helping cover him up!"
He heard a shotgun rack.
"Don't shoot her! Bean bags are lethal at point blank range!"
"You're using non-lethals!"
"Casey! Get back on the ground!"
"I've had my ribs broken before because of you illuminati bastards. Your bags and rubber bullets don't scare me!"
"Spray her!" Vegeta heard Reynolds yell.
Vegeta was cursing himself for pointing in the wrong direction. He really wanted to see Casey get pepper sprayed as she started screaming.
"Police brutality! Police brutality!"
"We're not the damn police," a new voice said. Then a zipping sound.
"Tase her again! Get her down!"
*zip* *zip*
There was a loud sound of multiple people hitting the sand.
"Get off of me!"
"Got her hands! Get her legs!"
They dragged her towards the boats, and Vegeta finally got a good look at her. He had to bite his lip not to laugh. Her head and hair were painted red from the spray and he could see all the silver barbs and wires dragging in the sand.
"You can't silence me! I have an army behind me! I'll have that fine raised in 3 days off of 1 zeni donations! You hear me, Prince Vegeta! Your evil schemes on this planet are over!"
A security guard ran up to her, and Vegeta got his wish to see her pepper sprayed.
He also got to watch her get tased a fourth time getting loaded into the boat.
"Is everyone able to stay calm?" Reynold said. "If you are, we can let you up. If not, we will not hesitate."
"I'm good. I'm good. I'm aaaaall good," Jerry said.
"Same!" Jamal shouted. "Don't shoot me, please," he whimpered.
Jessica was crying.
"Jessica, you're safe," Daisuke said. "You're safe."
"Everyone is good," Bob practically ordered. "Right?"
Everyone said yep, ah uh, or nodded.
"Then get up and stand in a group," Reynolds ordered. He turned behind him. "You too, Hassim! Get your ass over here!"
Everyone gathered in a group. Jerry had his arm around Jessica. Vegeta stood slightly behind her.
"There is no need for tears," he told her, and made sure Jerry heard it too.
Jerry glanced behind him. "A lil' cold, don't you think?" he whispered.
They waited while Reynolds and Conner spoke out of earshot, more specifically human earshot.
"Everyone can relax. They are probably just going over the script to say to us for the cameras," Vegeta said, crossing his arms. "If we were in trouble, we'd be in the boats too."
The two stopped talking, then Connor started talking and pointing to the camera crews.
"See, here they come," he said.
After the cameras were set up to Conner's satisfaction, he walked back to make a show of walking forward.
"Samundra," he paused, "and guests… The reason Casey was expelled from the game was for breaking one of the cardinal rules of this game, entering another's team shelter and stealing items."
He looked at Vegeta, "We were forwarded photographs of the damage Casey did to your camp, Vegeta. You have quite the mess to clean up."
"Fucking damn it…" he said turning his head. He looked back at Conner.
Connor's muscles tensed and any good will erased from his face.
"Samundra, I will say again. Do all of you understand that entering another team's camp and especially their shelter to steal or sabotage is an expellable offense? Bob, yes or no?"
"Yes," Bob said.
"Jerry, yes or no?"
"Yeah," he said.
"YES or NO," Connor stressed.
"Yes. Yes I do," Jerry answered, standing straight as a board.
"Jessica, yes or no."
"Yes."
"Daisuke, yes or no?"
"Yes."
"Jamal, yes or no?"
"Yes!"
Now, Vegeta and Hassim…"
Vegeta shifted his weight and stood straighter.
"Although you are the victims, I must ask you the same. Do you understand that entering another team's camp and especially their shelter to steal or sabotage is an expellable offense? Vegeta?"
"Yes, absolutely," Vegeta answered.
"And Hassim?"
"Yes. I understand fully."
"Good. We will have Sugar Petal and Berapi record their answer to the question shortly. We leave you to continue the game." Connor turned around and walked off.
It was another ten minutes until everyone was packed up and left the beach. The group split, half the security boats headed back towards the resort, the others joined Reynolds' and Connor's boat toward the red beach.
Vegeta uncrossed his arm, and hung his shoulders. "Well…" he sighed, "That was going to happen eventually. That woman was a timebomb waiting to go off…"
Bob rubbed his forehead, "Yeah… She seemed like such a sweet girl. I can't believe she went off like that."
Jessica swung around.
Vegeta caught her arm. "Woah, lady! I've already had one woman break her hand on my hardhead."
"That wasn't nice Vegeta," Jessica scolded him angrily. "You provoked her!"
Vegeta finally let his smirk out, "You should already know how big an asshole I am." Then he chuckled, "That face did not disappoint."
"She honestly thought you were going to kill her with some type of psychic bullet?! How could you find that funny?" Daisuke called him out. "How can you find any of this funny?"
Vegeta and Jessica suddenly turned to Hassim.
"Angry AT something," was all that went through Jessica's head. Even through her muddled senses, he was boiling red inferno. Like hellfire swirling around him.
"Normally, I'd say go for it," Vegeta said facing Hassim. "But Sam's dog has attached to you. If you trust that you can keep the dog from getting sick from the salt water, I'll bring fish for it."
"Sam had a dog?" Bob said surprised.
"Sam escaped out of bounds after he got his head bashed in, probably by a rock. When he was found unconscious there was a puppy licking his face." Vegeta shrugged. "I don't know if Mark is his actual dog back home, but that's what he was mumbling to the puppy, so the dog has been dubbed Mark."
"They tried to murder Sam too?" Bob shouted. "I thought it was an accident."
Vegeta rolled his eyes. "Is anything really an accident on that beach?"
He then sighed. "Also, two cats and their kittens have moved into my camp... Which has correlated with several missing chickens," he said frustrated. "And now I get to go fishing again since Casey threw out my animal food."
Vegeta turned and looked at the mess Casey had made. "Hassim, could you carry everything back to camp. I'll clean the camp up after I wash my hands."
"I took the basket of bark up to the second camp," Hassim said. "Jessica and Jerry wanted to fix Sugar's hair and I told them to wash first."
"We can carry everything," Jerry said, "We left our stuff at your place anyway."
"Alright," Vegeta said. "Hassim, Jessica, Jerry, let's head out."
After they left, Bob dropped to his knees in the sand. He put his face in his hands. "Oh God, Jesus please forgive me."
"Casey wasn't your fault," Jamal said.
"No. Not Casey. Sam. It never occurred to me it wasn't an accident. Now Sam is back with the people who tried to kill him."
"Ah…"
"I was so focused on Vegeta and Jessica; I couldn't see what was right in front of my face."
"Let's just rest," Daisuke said. "It has been a very long day. And no one is thinking straight right now."
"Maybe some food," Jamal said. "It's got to be… Wait, where's the sun?"
"Is it already past the trees?" Daisuke walked to the water's edge. "Kami, damn it. We've completely missed lunch!"
"I'm not hungry…" Bob said.
"We'll pass out if we don't nibble on something," Jamal said, putting his arm under Bob's armpit. "Come on."