10:17 pm
Julia stared at her tablet, with a crease in her forehead as she tried to understand what it was she was seeing. She had been in the middle of her trip to pursue Emma but then she saw MK and Raj's dots had started behaving very strangely. They were now moving all over the place… in a river?
"What are they doing?" Julia muttered to herself. "Going for a little swim?" She squinted at the GPS. Julia noticed that somewhere along the path of the river, Raj and MK would eventually meet some big rocks. Now she was tempted.
Julia bit her lip, wondering if she should take the risk. Would they be able to stop there? Those rocks would provide a way back to the main land… where she could easily cut them off… especially because she had the element of surprise…
Julia had made up her mind. She was going to go for it. Instead of targeting Emma, she could get two more points right here.
10:22 pm
Raj gave a cough as he raised his head slowly from the dirt. His eyes adjusted slowly and then he shot up.
"Bowie! Hoot if you can hear me!" he called frantically, turning his head around everywhere searching for his boyfriend. Out of nowhere, a dull ringing in his head caused him to keel over. "Ow! My head, I can't seem to remember anything…" he said, gritting his teeth.
MK popped up next to Raj, grinning evilly. "What do you remember?" she asked, pretending to be concerned for Raj's well-being.
Raj squeezed some water out from his hair.
"I don't know… You, me and Bowie were running. Then we fell into the river. I think Bowie tried to jump too but he couldn't because the killer was coming right behind us or something and we got split up…" Raj replied truthfully.
MK's eyes flashed menacingly. So this was what Raj remembered. Excellent. Best of all, he was not 100% certain so she could play with his mind… plant seeds of doubt…
MK dusted her coat which contained specks of mud, sticks and leaves as she turned to Raj and stared at him pitifully.
"Raj, Bowie ditched you," she told him simply.
Immediately, Raj's eyes began to water as he stared at MK like a lost puppy.
"W – what?" his voice quivered. "NO! NO HE DIDN'T! YOU'RE LYING TO ME MK!" Raj would not believe MK's words. Bowie would never abandon him like this, at least not intentionally. Instinctively, Raj looked up at the small cliff he and MK had fallen over, trying to see a trace of Bowie's shadow in the moonlight.
MK had partly expected Raj to not be so gullible and decided it was time to bring some emotion to her act. She began to fake cry as she continued to infect Raj's ears with her blatant lies.
"He did… I don't know if I should tell you b – because I don't want y – you to be sad but I saw what he did…" MK snivelled and buried her face into her shoulder, turning away from Raj who she knew was looking at her intently.
Raj confessional: *slouches sadly* No… this can't be! Did Bowie really abandon me? NO! MK is lying. But still… I have to find out what happened…
"What he did? WHAT? Tell me!" Raj cried out. He grabbed MK's shoulders and spun her around to face him so that MK could now see Raj's face having a complete breakdown. His eyes were red and puffy, his breathing shallow and he was shaking all over.
MK took a deep breath and droned on.
"Raj… Bowie… h – he… he staged a slip and rammed his elbow into your stomach. The impact made you fall backwards and almost off the cliff. I was running too fast behind you, we collided and… and… I hit you too hard and we both fell… Bowie ran away laughing… I saw it…I couldn't believe it…"
A slightly weak lie, but it was all she could come up with for now.
Raj gave a little laugh. How ludicrous! "What?! I don't recall any of that happening… Weird…"
Bowie was also behaving incredibly out of character in MK's story. Raj had been with Bowie for an entire year and it was enough for Raj to know exactly what kind of person Bowie was. This was not it.
"It happens when you fall from high places. Your memory gets messed up… Luckily there was water below and it wasn't that big of a drop or else we'd be dead…" MK said, pretending like she did not time their fall to land precisely in the water.
"How is your memory OK? I mean… how can we be sure you remembered everything correctly? Because that doesn't sound like something Bowie would do…" Raj looked curiously at MK who was quick to respond.
"I saw it… I promise you Raj, I'm not crazy. Bowie was being nice to Emma last challenge so he could dispose of you later down the road and have her as his alliance member instead – "
"WHAT?! That's crazy talk! Stop it MK!" Raj roared.
By this point, MK was getting desperate. It seemed she had underestimated the strength of Bowie and Raj's relationship and how much they trusted each other because Raj was clearly not absorbing her lies the way she wanted him to.
"Believe whatever you want but – " MK started but she did not get a chance to finish. Raj had backed up in horror and accidentally trodden on her foot. MK let out a yelp of pain and looked straight ahead. Now she understood why Raj had backed up scared. They were now face-to-face with another killer.
Behind her mask, Julia smiled malevolently at her two latest victims she had just cornered. "Ready to have your tablets smushed to pieces?" she cackled, raising her chainsaw above her head.
"AHHHH!" MK and Raj held each other, screaming into the night, backing away slowly.
Raj turned his head. If they backed up anymore, they would be in the river again. But if they didn't back up, where would they go? The killer and the chainsaw did not sound like a much better option…
Julia playfully mocked MK and Raj as she pointed her chainsaw back and forth between the two… as if she was struggling to decide which tablet to cut up first.
Finally, MK and Raj stopped. They could not go back any further. Raj gulped. Julia laughed shrilly as her mind settled on Raj. She made a sudden motion towards him and he gave another frightened yell.
"AHHHH!"
Wayne, who happened to be running nearby, stopped. His brow furrowed, he was thinking hard. He could've sworn that was Raj's scream he had just heard. And if it really was, that meant Raj was in danger…
"RAJIE! IS THAT YOU? I'M COMING TO SAVE YOU BUDDY!" Wayne yelled into the air. He sprinted as fast as he could, darting between thickets of trees and slapping branches out of his way, until he saw Raj on the ground with his hands over his face and the killer standing intimidatingly over him.
At once Wayne sprinted towards the killer at full speed, tucked his elbows and then –
BANG!
With the sheer force of his bodyweight of 194 pounds, Wayne cross-checked Julia, sending her body flying towards a tree.
CRASH!
"OWWW!" she screamed as her stomach collided with a thick branch and she collapsed towards the ground on her back. Her mask cleanly fell off.
Wayne confessional: *snaps fingers proudly* BOOM! Saving my buddy from killers even though we're on opposite teams! Take THAT GHOSTFACE!
Wayne grinned at the thought of saving his best friend from a killer but as soon as he saw who he had hit, his grin vanished. He put his hands to his mouth in horror, taking shallow breaths.
Julia stared at him with absolute loathing. Tears had now formed in her eyes. "WHAT THE FUCK IS YOUR PROBLEM WAYNE?" she yelled shrilly.
"Oh no… oh no… my bad Julia. I didn't know…" Wayne whispered mortified, shaking his hands maniacally and contorting his body, as if he could undo the damage by expressive body movement. It looked like he was having a seizure.
Julia confessional: Wow Wayne seemed really bothered by seeing me hurt… that might come in handy later soooo... noted *sighs happily*
"I get that you're not happy with me for what I did to Millie but you didn't have to do all of that. I can't believe you'd hit a girl!" Julia chose her words carefully and intentionally to get Wayne to feel awful. She swore as she massaged her ribs where the pain was still sharp. Her slim figure getting hit by a 6 foot, almost 200 pound male hockey player charging full speed at her could've seriously hurt her.
Julia felt it was a miracle she was still standing. Only her hunger and desperate desire to destroy all of her enemies' tablets was keeping her up on her feet.
"I didn't know… I don't hit girls I swear… well only on the ice and that's usually by accident when we do co-ed matches!" Wayne spluttered. "I usually let them win too – "
Julia stomped on the ground in frustration to get him to stop talking. Wayne's lip trembled as Julia unleashed her wrath on him. She was so fed up with his idiocy she was not going to hold back.
"YOU'RE A CLUELESS MORON. Don't you know how to play anything besides hockey Wayne? Didn't you hear Chris say there were killers on each team? I'm only going for his tablet, I'm not actually going to slice Raj up!" she shrieked.
Wayne hung his head in shame, taking the punches for he felt he deserved it. He also felt him and Julia were even by this point. Wayne had been mad at Julia for eliminating Millie and Julia was now mad at him for hitting her by accident.
I guess that's for Millie, Wayne thought miserably, attempting to cheer himself up though it was hard with Julia yelling in his face and… the way she was looking at him so angrily…. If he recalled correctly, it was also his first time seeing her cry. Such a shame he had to be the one to make her cry though…
After Julia finished her rant, she wiped away her tears and turned swiftly to Raj and MK. "Anyways tablets. NOW," she sternly ordered, snapping her fingers, expecting them to hand over their tablets now that they were cornered.
Raj continued to back up. His shoe was now on the edge of the river bank. If he could just leap to those rocks on the river…
At once, Raj gave a mighty Tarzan-like battle cry and jumped to the nearest rock which could comfortably fit two people. He turned around to taunt Julia.
"HA-HA. NICE TRY JULI – OOF!" Raj keeled over as a hand-sized rock collided with his stomach. Raj's knees fell to the floor as his tablet fell out of his pocket and into the water. Julia had flung a rock directly at Raj's pelvis area and managed to hit him.
Raj confessional: Luckily I got SPICY abs so it didn't hurt too bad! Great work guys! *lifts up jersey and stares down at abs affectionately*
Julia made her way over to Raj's tablet which was now in between two rocks near the shore. She sliced through it cleanly as if it were made of butter.
"No…" Raj moaned, as he helplessly watched his tablet disintegrate before his eyes.
Julia looked ahead at MK who was attempting to flee the scene, hopping from rock to rock. It appeared she was going to get to the other side of the river. Julia had to get to work at once. If MK successfully crossed this river to the other side, she could run away to the forests or the mountains…
Julia began hopping as fast as she could, slipping twice and soaking her shoes but she did not care. She had to get to MK.
Meanwhile MK who was taking her sweet time briefly glanced behind her. MK gave a little yelp. "Not good, NOT GOOD!" MK cried in fear. Julia was catching up to her, looking extremely bloodthirsty. MK immediately began to speed up herself. She was almost there…
MK could hear Julia's footsteps coming closer and closer. Julia whipped her chainsaw to life once again. Uh oh MK thought scared. MK gave another glance behind her but this was a mistake. MK slipped and fell into the river.
MK held on to a rock with one hand as she tried to pull herself back up though it was difficult with her drenched coat which was seriously weighing her down.
"REALLY? DAMN COAT…" MK muttered, struggling to lift her sagging pockets from the water. At last, she broke free but it was a little too late. Julia had caught up to her, standing on the rock ahead of her and blocking her way to the other side.
Julia raised her hands to her side.
"Nice try but you're not getting through. You have nowhere to go," Julia declared triumphantly as she looked down at a frightened MK.
MK took a shaky step back. OK then…she would just have to go back…
"Give it. There's no more rocks. You have nowhere to go," Julia repeated firmly.
"Oh yeah?" MK smirked. "Doubtful…"
MK turned around to head back to where Raj was but Julia's hand quickly seized her hood. MK's feet were left cartoonishly dangling mid-air for three seconds before Julia turned her around to face her once more.
"Give it to me!" Julia hissed as she continued to hold up a struggling MK up in the air by her hood.
"NEVER!" MK shook her head, one hand in her inner jacket pocket clasped tightly over her tablet. The last thing she was going to do would be to give her tablet willingly. MK's legs flailed mid-air as she tried to kick Julia but whether it was because her legs were too short or Julia's arms were too long, MK could not land a single hit.
Julia, now realizing MK would not hand over her tablet willingly, flung her to the ground forcefully.
CRASH!
MK panted as her beanie cleanly fell off. MK stared nervously back and forth, between Julia and the river. Julia-river. Julia-river. Julia-river. She had to make a decision… and fast.
If Julia wouldn't let her go back, MK would have to just jump in the river and hope it took her somewhere safe. MK braced herself and was about to jump into the water but once again Julia grabbed MK by her coat sleeve preventing her from jumping in and escaping. MK swore in frustration as if Julia was spamming the same abilities.
MK confessional: Every time I try to escape, she just grabs me by my coat… That's not fun! Luckily I still have a few tricks up my sleeve *rolls sleeves up and giggles*
This time, MK wasted no time and proceeded to bite down on Julia's wrist. Hard. It worked.
CHOMP!
"OW!" Julia yelled in pain as she let go and stared in bewilderment at the tooth mark which had formed on her right wrist.
"You'll regret that…" Julia whispered threateningly.
"Nope!" MK chortled. "WHAT THE – "
CRASH!
Julia lurched forwards, threw herself at MK and the two wrestled around on the rock. Julia managed to put MK in a temporary pin. In response, MK delivered Julia a fierce kick to her stomach which allowed her to get back up on her feet.
Julia quickly got back up as well.
"THAT'S IT!" Julia said furiously. She was getting extremely annoyed by the pickpocket putting up the hardest fight she had had all night. Julia made two advancing steps towards MK who began backing up slowly.
MK kept her eyes fixated on Julia as her foot retreated to the previous rocks, waiting for Julia to strike. After MK had hopped back five rocks, Julia lunged. MK blocked Julia's arms from hitting her head and for a moment, the two struggled against each other with Julia attacking and MK blocking. MK felt she could keep this up all the way until she was back on land but then –
"OUCH!" MK yelped, staring down at her foot in pain. MK had been so focused on blocking Julia's hands she had failed to see Julia's foot which had just stomped hardly on MK's right shoe. MK hopped around on her left foot before she lost balance and found herself once again falling into the river. This time, MK's tablet fell out right in front of Julia.
"Thanks," Julia drawled as she sliced up the tablet easily in front of a sulky-faced MK who was now out of the game. MK panted, sitting between water and rock as she watched Julia's backside run away back to land. Man she is good… she thought sourly.
Though she hated being humiliated by Julia again, admittedly MK was now interested in her. After she had weaseled her way out of her TikTok sabotage, it seemed she was dominating this challenge.
MK had just witnessed Julia destroy both her and Raj's tablets and she wondered how many others Julia was going to slice up with her chainsaw. Perhaps she could even wipe out the entire Orangutans team.
Though MK hated to admit it because of Julia getting her out last season, Julia was clearly a good player and would probably be useful as an alliance member in the merge…
MK confessional: Note to self - Julia could be useful in the future. Gonna keep that in the back of my mind. *taps head*
Julia skipped happily as she reached land once again. She was in a great mood. With four tablets destroyed, she only had two more – Emma and Bowie's. Julia stared at her tablet. Both of them were halfway to the dock so it didn't really matter who she chose. Bowie was closer to her though… barely…
Her mood was temporarily disturbed as she passed by Wayne who was chatting and laughing with Raj. Julia rolled her eyes. It was almost as if Wayne forgot they were in the middle of a challenge and that he had to get to the dock. Apparently, he would rather sit around and chat with his best friend who was on the other team…
Wayne looked up at Julia who passed by him without saying a word, staring intensely at her tablet, plotting the best way to trap Bowie. Wayne put up a 'just-a-moment-I'll-be-back-soon' type of hand gesture to Raj who nodded understandingly. Indeed, Wayne had been waiting for Julia to come back. He was going to make things right.
Wayne waved at her face as he jogged alongside her. "Yo Sterling! Look I'm sorry for hitting you back th –"
Julia put up a sharp hand to cut him off.
"I still have work to do. I just have to get Emma's and Bowie's tablets and then this game is over," she said breathlessly. She was not even looking at him, though in her peripheral vision she could tell Wayne was looking extremely down. Julia smiled to herself. She was going to milk this as long as she could if it meant Wayne was giving her extra sympathy points.
Julia broke into a sprint once more. Wayne did the same.
"I get why you're mad at me but how can I make it up to you?" he pleaded with urgency as he ran alongside her. For Wayne, Julia was like the Raj of their team, the co-captain (and sometimes, even captain) who commanded respect from her teammates. He would hate to be on her bad side.
Julia suppressed another smile. This was what she had been waiting for. Wayne was finally offering something to her. She thought for a moment before telling him.
"Make it up to me by winning. GET TO THE DOCK."
She abruptly stopped running. Wayne did the same. Julia turned over her tablet nonchalantly, showing Wayne the whole battlefield from her point of view. Her screen which contained information about everybody's whereabouts. Wayne looked directly at Julia's violet irises hesitantly. Why was she showing him this?...
He put his hands up.
"Wait…? Isn't this cheating? You're showing me your screen? So I know where everyone is?..." he said slowly.
Julia rolled her eyes. Of course, he had some dumb code of 'honor' and 'anti-cheating' and whatnot. Why was she not surprised?
"Does it look like I care?" she sneered. "So what if it's cheating? At least now you'll know how to avoid Caleb. Take a good look at this because it's going away in 30 seconds…"
"B – but cheating is wrong!" he protested, puppy-eyed. Wayne wanted to make it up to Julia but not like this! Not through cheating…
"Get your butt back to the dock safely and then I'll consider forgiving you. Got it? We need to win!" she stared up at him fiercely.
Wayne's lip shook slightly at Julia's absolute determination to win this challenge. Though he himself was also competitive, Wayne was slightly alarmed. He had the feeling Julia would do anything to win. But… if this was the only way to make her forgive him hitting her…
"OK…" he mumbled, disappointed that for the first time in his life he would have to cheat. "Just give me five minutes! I gotta finish talking with Raj first. He said something about MK possibly sabotaging him and Bowie's relationsh – "
"FIVE minutes? GO! NOW!" Julia's eyes widened. She did not care one bit about whatever Raj was talking about.
"But – "
"GO! GO!" Julia yelled, shooing Wayne away with her hands.
"OK! SHEESH!" Wayne said, adjusting his hat and scurrying away.
As he took off, Julia consulted her tablet once more and frowned. She noticed Caleb was now… heading towards the dock? It seemed he had given up on chasing the others and was resorting to camping at the bell.
Julia's brow furrowed. She had already knocked out four players. The last two were heading towards the dock. But if Julia did what Caleb was doing and got there first…
Julia made up her mind. She was going to follow Caleb and wait for her victims eagerly at the bell. There was no point trying to go after them directly when the game was clearly almost over anyways. She turned her heel and began running to the dock.
10:46 pm
Bowie panted as he tried to make his way carefully down a muddy hill. He was going down as slow as possible but halfway down he slipped and landed on his bottom.
"Owww…" he groaned as he massaged himself angrily. His fabulous green pants had just been ruined! Now it looked like he was walking around with Kinder surprise in his underwear.
Bowie got up and decided to sprint down the rest of the hill. Perhaps that was the way to do it. Going too slowly had caused him to slip. Therefore, he was going to get down as fast as possible without overthinking it.
Bowie's sneakers crashed through the earth as he took thundering steps down the hill, wobbling around slightly as he tried to keep himself balanced. Soon, however his legs moved much too fast for him to keep up and before he knew it, he was running RoadRunner-style.
"AHHHHHHH!" Bowie yelled as he finally made his way to the bottom. Unfortunately his legs were still moving and he found himself continuing to run for a bit. He was running, running and then –
"OW!" Bowie and Emma yelped as they collided heads.
Bowie teetered around on one leg while Emma fell backwards.
"Oh jeez… Emma, you alright?" Bowie said as he hastily went over to her and extended a hand. "Sorry..."
"Yeah, I'm fine…" Emma breathed heavily as she took Bowie's hands and pulled herself up. Suddenly, she put her hands over her mouth. "OMG WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU?" she cried incredulously, having just soaked in Bowie's nightmarish appearance.
Bowie's face had numerous gashes, his pants had been contaminated with mud, his hair looked like he had just encountered a ferocious whirlwind, and his eyes were puffy.
Bowie hung his head.
"Raj and I… we split up…" he snivelled.
Emma's heart skipped a beat at these words. She knew who was responsible for this.
Emma confessional: *gasps and puts hands over mouth* OH NO! Did MK really break Bowie and Raj up? That's so evil!
"BOWIE!" Emma cried as she buried her face into his shoulder and hugged him tightly. "I'M SO SORRY!" She began to shake violently and cough.
Bowie was slightly startled at Emma's reaction. "Don't be…" he chuckled, wiping away a tear. "It's not your fault!"
But it is! Emma thought to herself furiously. I should have stopped MK! Emma bit her lip nervously as she contemplated on what to do next. Bowie was right here. She could expose MK right now. But… could she really bring herself to tell him this? Even though they were close friends once again, if Bowie found out she had known about MK's plan and not done anything drastic to stop it… would he really forgive her? She did not want to lose their friendship once again but at the same time, she felt Bowie deserved the truth.
Emma confessional: *rubs hands on her face* Oooh, I really want to tell him about what MK is plotting…
Emma coughed once more before looking up at Bowie into his eyes. She had made up her mind.
"Bowie, listen to me," Emma said fiercely. "I think you're in big trouble."
Bowie flinched both at what Emma had just said as well as the feisty look in her eyes. "What?... Why? What is it?" he said curiously. He had already felt the day was going horribly so what other bad news could Emma possibly bring him?
Emma took a deep breath.
"Bowie, you have to listen to me. You could be going home next! MK – "
She stopped and turned around. A loud rustling noise was coming from a nearby distance and was quickly becoming noisier. What could it be? Was it MK? Or a killer? No, it was a large army of bats. Immediately, they snatched their talons onto Emma's ponytail and began lifting her up into the sky.
"OW! OW! OW!" Emma screamed as she tried her best to swat them off of her. "GET OFF!" Emma's legs kicked around everywhere but it was no use. She was already being carried away from Bowie… she hadn't even finished issuing her warning!
"Oh no! Emma!" Bowie squealed as he jumped up as high as he could and wrapped a hand around her ankle. The bats, realizing another passenger was trying to board, ruffled their wings more aggressively causing Emma to shut her eyes while Bowie got dragged along the earth. Under no circumstances was Bowie going to let go. However, in unison the bats gave one final, gigantic tug which caused Bowie's grip to slip and he face-planted into a tree.
"AHHHHHHH!" Emma cried as she let herself get pulled away into the night sky.
"EMMA!" Bowie yelled as he held his hand up into the air and watched her disappear. Bowie dropped to his knees and sighed.
Bowie confessional: *exhales frustrated* This is NOT good… First I lose Raj and now Emma? And what was she saying about MK…?
11:22 pm
Axel and Nichelle laid low in a bush, eyeing the bell carefully. Up until this point, they had managed to get all the way to the dock unscathed. They had met a total of zero distractions thanks to Axel's camouflage strategy and now … they just had to ring the bell and this would all be over. It was right there, just a few hundred metres ahead.
As Axel peered out and narrowed her eyes, she saw a massive blob to her right and ducked back into the bush. She cursed. There was now one giant problem standing between them and the bell. A killer. And judging by the size, it was Caleb. It seemed he would be camping at the bell.
Nichelle sighed in frustration. "What do we do? He's standing right next to the bell!" she whispered.
"I'll distract him," Axel whispered back. "You go ring that bell, I'll follow you after."
Nichelle looked at Axel incredulously.
"WHAT?! NO! THAT'S CRAZY. How do you plan to take him on alone? He's way bigger than you!" Nichelle knew Axel was tough but realistically, she was outclassed here.
"Someone on our team needs to ring that bell," Axel hissed. "I haven't heard it ring all night. How do we know the others are coming? What if they're already out? We need at least one person safe on our team." Axel glared at Nichelle so strongly she staggered back slightly. Did she really want to win this badly?...
"But – " Nichelle began.
"Nichelle!" Axel grabbed her shoulders tightly. "Trust me. I'll be fine."
Nichelle confessional: *looks nervously to her side* Axel does have a point. No one has rung the bell yet…
Nichelle took a deep breath.
"Good luck girl," she nodded encouragingly as Axel prepared to leap out from the bush noisily and grab Caleb's attention.
Axel nodded and gave her ponytail one last adjustment before taking a deep breath. This was going to be the hardest fight of her life. She wasn't fighting tiny squirrels anymore.
Axel confessional: Am I scared of the killer? Absolutely not. The killer should be afraid of ME! *growls like a bear*
Axel squared up her shoulders one last time before she leapt out without a second thought.
"RAHHHHHH!" she roared with her fist raised high in the air. This had gotten Caleb's attention. Axel continued to scream as she charged at Caleb like a bullet, head-on and unwavering.
Caleb braced his knees in anticipation.
"QUIT CAMPING AT THE BELL AND FIGHT YOU COWARD!" Axel roared as her boots continued to echo noisily across the campgrounds.
Caleb's head gave a jerk. Had he heard that right?
COWARD?! he thought angrily. Caleb was many things, coward was not one of them. It was the worst insult to him besides 'small fry' and 'chicken legs.' Now, he was going to show Axel just how 'cowardly' he really was.
Caleb whipped his chainsaw and began charging at Axel. As the two got closer and closer to each other, Nichelle slipped out and began to circle around Caleb who was not looking at her.
Caleb gave a mighty lunge but at the last second, Axel leaped high into the air like Nichelle had done in the first challenge and avoided him. Caleb began to turn slowly to face Axel but he was not quick enough. She delivered a sharp kick to the back of Caleb's head.
"OW!" he yelped as he stumbled for a few seconds. He gave a lurch with his chainsaw but Axel ducked down quickly, the blades missing the top of her hair by a few millimetres. In her peripheral vision, she could see Nichelle running to her side but Caleb who was so fixated on Axel, still failed to notice this.
Suddenly Caleb threw his chainsaw to the side and cracked his knuckles. It was far too bulky to be carrying around. He would have to settle this hand-to-hand. He snarled. Axel cracked her neck and snarled back. All of a sudden –
Axel and Caleb engaged in Chef-Izzy style combat, as they exchanged punches, hits and blocks at the speed of light. All while maintaining eye contact with each other. Nichelle, who was almost at the bell, turned around and gaped at the fight she was witnessing.
Nichelle stared between the bell and Axel, sweating nervously. She knew Axel wanted her to go and ring the bell, but at the same time Caleb appeared to be getting the upper hand as his fist had just collided hardly with Axel's chin and she stumbled backwards clutching it in pain.
Nichelle sighed.
Nichelle confessional: I… can't leave her on her own
11: 34 pm
Emma panted as she ran, her ponytail flapping behind her. She was sweaty and bruised but she couldn't give up now. She could see the dock just up ahead within a few hundred metres. She was in the home stretch. She had dealt with steep mud hills, angry bats, vipers and marshy puddles; she had come too far to lose.
Emma sprinted as fast as her legs could carry her but as she got closer to the dock she saw Axel in the middle of a fight with a killer. A killer with a big frame. Emma instantly knew Axel was going up against Caleb.
Emma contemplated on whether she should help Axel or not until she remembered they were on opposite teams. But still… it was a little hard to ignore the large brute that was Caleb who was engaged in an entangle with Axel who was half his size.
"RAHHHHH!" Axel gave another roar into the sky as she raised her leg to kick Caleb's face. Caleb deflected it by covering his head with his thick forearms, bracing for impact.
CRACK! as Axel's boots struck his brachioradialis.
Ouch, kinda hurt Caleb thought angrily. Caleb wanted to be gentle. He didn't want to hurt Axel too badly (that punch had been an accident!). She was a girl after all. How horrible he would look if he injured a 17 year old girl!
It was getting a little harder to ignore her kicks though for they were somehow getting stronger. Caleb just needed to reach for her tablet. Unfortunately, Axel had chosen to put her tablet under her top. Maybe if he pushed her with some force and grabbed her shirt, it could slip out?... but even that sounded strange to him…
Emma blinked and stared hesitantly at the bell, biting her fingernails.
Emma confessional: *laughs awkwardly* Axel's pretty tough. She can handle her own right?
Emma watched as Caleb thrust himself forward on top of Axel and the two rolled around, kicking furiously. Finally, it seemed Caleb got the edge. Next thing he knew, he had pinned Axel to the ground and there was nothing she could do.
Caleb locked her legs to prevent her from kicking and held her shoulders with one hand while he gave a stern order.
"Tablet, now!" he demanded.
Axel shook her head and attempted to kip up but with Caleb's large hand and his entire bodyweight holding her down there was not much she could do.
"Never!" Axel cried out desperately. Caleb did not want to hurt a lady, so he was holding back but at the same time how else was he going to get the tablet he so desperately desired?
Emma had been staring at the fight open-mouthed for so long she didn't even realize she had stopped running. Emma shook her head furiously.
"SNAP OUT OF IT!" she scolded herself and began taking off once more. Her sneakers left grass and finally came into contact with wooden planks. She was on the dock now! Just a few more steps and then she would be safe. It was all going to be over soon… it had been a long night…
Emma was so fixated on the bell which stood at the far end of the dock, she did not even notice the figure to her side which was sprinting to her under the shadows.
"OH NO YOU DON'T!" Julia said menacingly.
CRASH!
Seemingly out of nowhere, Julia sprinted and crashed into Emma, grabbing Emma around her waist before the two fell in to the water with a giant splash. Julia was not going to let even one point slip past her.
"OW!" Emma whimpered underwater as she felt Julia's hand grab her ponytail forcefully and drag her by it. Emma shut her eyes, wincing in pain. Emma tried to kick Julia off of her but with Julia gripping her hair so tightly, it was hard for Emma to look up and see where Julia was.
Julia yanked Emma's hair with one hand, turned Emma to face up towards her and motioned with the other to hand over her tablet. Emma gave a roar of defiance which only appeared as angry little bubbles. The last thing she was going to do was willingly hand over her tablet, even if she was being dragged by her hair underwater.
Julia seemed to have understood what Emma meant because she raised a taunting eyebrow and squeezed Emma's ponytail tighter to which Emma let out even more bubbles as she screamed.
Julia stared down dominantly before demanding for the tablet once more. Emma was scared. At this point, they may even drown… they had been underwater for so long… Emma was relying on Julia to lose her breath first so that her hold could loosen. Then Emma might be able to swim back to the surface and escape Julia.
"EMMA, GIVE IT TO ME OR YOU'LL DROWN!" Julia yelled though this message also appeared as angry little bubbles. Julia was fully prepared to let Emma drown if it meant getting the tablet from her.
The only problem was, Julia felt she may be the one to drown first. She probably had at most 10 seconds of oxygen left. Though she was squeezing Emma's hair as hard as she could, she felt this would not last much longer. Emma however, also understood what Julia was trying to say, shook her head furiously from side to side and gave Julia the finger.
"YOU'RE SO STUPID!" Julia yelled angrily in front of Emma's face.
Emma gave a cheeky wink. Though Emma did not know what Julia had just said to her, from her expression, she could tell Julia was frustrated. And that was good enough.
Julia glared at her and gave one last squeeze but when Emma still did not hand over her tablet, Julia had no choice but to loosen her grip and give up. Julia began to swim back up to the surface, desperate for some more oxygen.
Emma's hair floated upwards as Julia's hand finally let go of it and Emma sighed in relief. Emma gave a little laugh as she saw Julia's body disappear back up to the surface, getting smaller and smaller, darker and darker, everything was becoming quieter and quieter…
Julia panted as she poked her head out into the chilly night air. She flipped her drenched hair vigorously, trying to shake water out of her ears. She had not gotten what she had wanted which was the tablet, but that was no big deal. Emma would eventually have to come back up to the surface and Julia would be waiting, ready to seize it as soon as possible. Julia leaned against the rusty bronze bell, taking deep breaths trying her best to ignore all the scratches that had formed on her body and only concentrating on the water where Emma was lurking.
A minute passed.
Julia frowned. She did not think Emma could hold her breath for that long. Slightly impressed, Julia turned her head to see Caleb and Axel fighting. Poor Axel… she was outmatched… Caleb currently had her in a pin and she could do nothing but flail her legs around uselessly… although… Julia squinted. In the far distance… she could see someone sneaking up behind Caleb…
Julia checked her tablet again. Another minute.
Julia's brow furrowed. Something was not right. Why hadn't Emma come back up? Julia stood up and edged her way closer to the water, staring down at the glassy surface. Come on Emma, come back up Julia thought desperately. I need your tablet!
45 more seconds passed and Julia's heart was pounding. Either Emma was a world-record breath holder or she was in serious danger. Julia searched the water wide-eyed, and then – there. Julia's heart sunk at what she was seeing.
A dark mass floating lifelessly… even from this distance, there was no mistaking that golden-blonde ponytail.
"EMMA! NO!" Julia screamed, panicking. She was going to have to jump in or else Emma would drown to the very bottom of the lake. She had already lost consciousness and was descending rapidly.
Julia took a deep breath and dived in, zooming towards Emma who was sleeping peacefully, looking as if there wasn't anything in the world that could bother her. Julia grabbed Emma's arm, quickly flung Emma on to her shoulder and began her journey back to the surface, grabbing Emma's hand tightly so that she would not drift away.
Unfortunately, the night's troubles were not over. Julia sensed it before she saw it. Another dark mass was heading towards them, this one much bigger than Emma, much more alive…
Julia confessional: *rolls eyes and sighs* Riiiight. I forgot about the sharks. Otherwise, I wouldn't have jumped.
A great, blue shark was heading towards Julia and the unconscious Emma. Julia had no choice. If they were going to get out of this alive, they needed to get back to the surface now. Julia could tell she was about to lose her oxygen soon. Desperate times called for desperate measures. At least she had grabbed four points…
Julia tightened her right hand grip so that Emma would not float away. With her left hand Julia whipped out her tablet and started whacking the shark's body as hard as she could with it. With each strike, Julia did her best to keep herself and Emma out of the shark's reach.
WHACK! WHACK! WHACK!
The shark twisted and turned as it tried to avoid her strikes yet it kept coming back for more. Finally, Julia chucked the tablet into the shark's open mouth.
The shark, confused at the foreign object it had just snapped cleanly with its sharp teeth, blinked rather stupidly, staring up at Julia as she swam back up.
"SUCKER," she mouthed as the shark swam away now that it had been fed.
Shark confessional: *shrugs with a crushed GPS in its mouth*
Once again, Julia poked her head out of the water, only this time she had Emma on her back. They were both out.
Emma coughed water out as she lay on her front, choking.
"Thanks Julia," she shivered, talking to Julia's back. Julia remained frozen and scoffed. On the one hand, she had managed to secure five points, only missing Bowie's tablet. On the other, she was now out. Julia was furious. She needed to take her anger out on somebody to make herself feel better.
Julia sneered. "You think I saved you because I wanted to? I literally only wanted your tablet."
Emma coughed again and shook, though this time it wasn't because of the cold. How can she be so heartless? Emma thought grumpily. "Oh yeah? Are you mad just because I can hold my breath longer than you?" Emma shot back.
"You almost died idiot," Julia snapped. "If it weren't for me, you'd be at the bottom of a lake or inside of a shark's stomach. You should've just handed your tablet over to me like a normal person and none of this would have happened."
"TCHA!" Emma scoffed as she squeezed water out of her hair. "And give you the satisfaction? No thank you…"
"I hope I at least hurt you," Julia spat venomously, patting Emma's head mockingly.
Emma swatted Julia's hand away, disgusted.
"You did, I hope you feel bad about it," Emma pouted. Indeed, Emma's head was still hurting slightly after being yanked by her ponytail.
"Well, I don't," Julia fake-smiled as she squeezed water out of her own hair.
Suddenly –
"HIYAAAAA!" Nichelle's loud voice rang echoed across the campgrounds.
Julia and Emma looked up, Emma intuitively grabbing Julia's arm in fright as the two of them watched Nichelle deliver a clean flying kick to the back of Caleb's skull.
CRACK!
"Oooo, that's gotta hurt," Emma said in horror as the two stared transfixed at the fight. Julia stared open-mouthed and nodded. She was rooting for Nichelle and Axel.
"EURRRRGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHH!" Caleb cried out in pain. The back of his head felt it was being ripped apart in two. Nichelle's kick had been so precise and powerful, Caleb had no choice but to keel over onto the barren, mud-strewn ground. Caleb felt a warm oozy substance dripping along the back of his neck. Running a finger along the back of his neck and putting it under moonlight, he saw the unmistakable trace of blood. Caleb choked.
Caleb confessional: *looks at camera angrily* NOW I'M GETTING MAD
Caleb stood up, trying to ignore the blood dripping down his mask.
"That's it. No more Mr. Nice guy. I didn't want to have to hurt you two but you're being really stubborn," he scowled.
With one hand, Caleb grabbed Axel's face. Axel helplessly tried to claw his hand off of her, but then (feeling very sorry), Caleb slammed her to the ground. Axel's back crashed through the dirt with a loud BANG!
"OH MY GOSH!" Emma winced and even Julia stared perplexed. She narrowed her eyes. Was it over?
Axel lay unmoving. Her tablet swiftly fell out and with one clean swing of his chainsaw, Caleb had destroyed her tablet.
Julia slammed her fist on the wooden planks in frustration. That was another point gone.
Nichelle, who had just witnessed Caleb knock out Axel in a matter of five seconds, began to walk back slowly. Caleb's chest heaved up and down as he stared down at Nichelle. He was bruised and beaten, angry and tired but he would get another point!
Nichelle's body trembled as she kept backing up slowly. Suddenly Caleb lunged. Caleb, who had been hoping to grab Nichelle's tablet was caught off guard when he felt Axel on top of his shoulders.
"YOU?!" he yelped, shocked that she was still standing. "PLAYING POSSUM?!"
Axel smirked as she quickly put Caleb into a chokehold with her legs. Emma blinked.
"NICHELLE! RUN!" Axel yelled. Now that she was out, she had to make sure Nichelle at least rang the bell.
Caleb desperately tried to rip Axel's grip off of him but it was rather tough. His oxygen supply was getting cut off and he was turning a slight shade of purple. Finally, using all his might, Caleb managed to throw Axel off of him and he took a grateful breath. In his moment of relief, however, he turned around a little too eagerly. Nichelle cleanly delivered the final kick directly to his face.
CRACK!
Caleb roared in pain as he clutched his nose bridge, stumbled backwards, and fell into the water with a thundering SPLASH! Caleb's GPS sunk to the bottom and the final killer was out.
"Yes! SLAY QUEENS!" Julia and Emma said together.
Axel and Nichelle waved at Julia heartily. Before Nichelle walked over to ring the bell, she extended a hand to a scarred, bloody and beaten Axel who was breathing heavily on the ground. Axel gave a little smile and took it.
Axel and Nichelle made their way over to the bell together, Axel limping and leaning on Nichelle. Finally, Nichelle rang the bell. The noise carried across the entire camp. Caleb stared sour-faced as he emerged from the water, spitting out a fish.
Nichelle confessional: *looks up happily* Best duo everrrrrr!
Axel confessional: *slight smirk* Wow, she impressed me today. Guess I shouldn't judge Hollywood
The night's events finished smoothly now that there were no more killers.
Julia smirked cockily as Chase and Ripper became the next two contestants to ring the bell. So Caleb hadn't even managed to get these two out… she thought to herself amused. Things were looking good for her. Nichelle, Chase and Ripper had all rung the bell, meaning Caleb could already get at most four points. With Julia's six points, they had already won.
Chase cracked his back dramatically and gave a huge yawn. A minute later, Bowie came into view. Bowie stared utterly perplexed at everyone sitting, bruised, and wet. Was that Caleb in the water? Yikes, he looked awful. What had happened to him? And Julia and Emma look terrible too…
Bowie rang the bell. Julia scowled.
Finally Wayne showed up and rang the bell. As soon as he was finished, a horn blared signalling the end of the challenge.
Chris and Chef stepped out of their helicopter, where they had been watching the night's events unfold. What a thrilling game it had been! A stretcher which had carried Damien, Priya, Emily, Zee, MK and Raj rolled out.
"Kudos to you all for a night of entertainment!" Chris announced happily, staring around at the many dirty, scratched and beat-up faces. He held up a sheet in front of him to announce the stats.
"So after all of that, five campers managed to make their way back to the dock. Congratulations to Nichelle, Chase, Ripper, Bowie and Wayne."
Axel and Nichelle exchanged smiles. Chase and Ripper high-fived each other and Bowie, Wayne and Raj all hooted together laughing.
Chris cleared his throat. "However, the more important thing is how many points each killer managed to get. For the Panthers, Julia finishes with an impressive 6 points knocking out Priya, Damien, Emma, MK, Raj and Caleb's tablets."
"She didn't destroy mine!" Caleb spluttered. "That was Axel and Nichelle!"
"Regardless, a tablet destroyed is a tablet destroyed," Chris said simply. "If your tablet gets destroyed, it counts as an automatic point for the opposing team's killer."
Caleb muttered in disgust.
"And… that leaves Caleb over here with 4 points knocking out Zee, Emily, Axel and Julia."
Julia nodded her head and smiled.
"Which means," Chris raised his voice for the Panthers had begun celebrating. "Tonight's winners are the Panthers. Orangutans, please clean up and get your butts down to the elimination ceremony in 20 minutes. It's time for our first midnight ceremony!"
Everyone begun to clear out in groups of twos and threes.
Ripper, Zee and Chase however stayed back at the dock as Ripper wanted to speak with Emily. He had an important matter to discuss.
Ripper chuckled as he elbowed Emily playfully.
"Didja hear that Emi? The killers were really Caleb and Julia! Woop-di-doo! Hilarious! I was all like AHHH and you were going EEEEE. AHAHAAH… – " he broke off awkwardly as Emily was not smiling. She was staring off into the distance stone-faced and though she was not saying anything, Ripper knew she was listening to every word he was saying.
Ripper knew what this was about and he figured he may as well address it sooner rather than later. What did they call it – personal responsibility? He had never been good at that…
"Oh… you're still mad about me pushing you to the killer?" Ripper asked meekly. He trembled slightly as Emily continued to silently glare at him.
"Are we still on first base?" Ripper smiled cheekily. Surely, baseball lingo would do it?...
No response.
"Second base?"
No response.
"Am I good enough to bat – "
Ripper broke off as Emily walked off without looking at him or saying a single word. Ripper stared briefly at her backside and then sighed in defeat. He had really messed up today.
Ripper confessional: *buries face into hands* Crud nuggets. How am I going to make it up to her?
"Dude, did you say you PUSHED her into the killer? How could you be so SELFISH?" Chase asked incredulously. Zee raised an eyebrow at this tone-deaf remark. After all, Chase had left him for dead as well when he flung him towards the bats.
"Yeah, I know right…" Zee muttered, frowning at Chase.
"I'm not selfish! I just… panicked, that's all!" Ripper blubbered, tears now forming in his eyes.
Chase face-palmed and Zee shook his head from side to side. Ripper's face scrunched up in concentration as he watched his friends' reactions. Finally, his brain pieced together the gravity of the situation.
"So… I screwed up?" Ripper said weakly.
"You screwed up dude," Chase said straightforwardly as Zee nodded behind him. Ripper closed his eyes and sighed.
July 9 2024
12:13 am
Bowie confessional: *Puts suspicious hand on chin* The more that I think about it, the more I realized tonight's events did not make any sense. If Caleb was our team's killer… why was MK running away from him? I'm sure that was his big frame I saw in the moonlight. It couldn't be Julia, she's nowhere near his size.
And after that….Raj and I split up. This situation almost seems a little… fabricated…Hmmm…..
[Soundtrack 1]
The Orangutans seated themselves around the fire, staring apprehensively at the host. Priya, Emma and Damien were seated at the front, along with Bowie and Raj to their left. MK and Caleb were lurking in the back.
Priya turned around and briefly glanced at MK.
Caleb, thinking she was looking at him, waved rather stupidly. Priya nervously twitched her leg and gave MK a significant look while Caleb stared confused between the two. What was going on between them?...
Just then, Caleb's thoughts were disturbed by Chris who looked around excitedly.
"Orangutans, man. You guys are stinking! You've already lost three challenges!" Chris guffawed as he stared into their tried and bruised faces. "Chef, do the honours?"
Chef nodded and began his usual ramble of today's disastrous performances.
"DAMIEN!" Chef boomed. "You let yourself get dragged away by Julia like a rag doll! Did you not prepare yourself for killers in cornfields?!"
Though Damien was sleepy and injured, his ears shot up at being the first name called.
Damien confessional: Damn, must've missed that one…
"BOWIE! You ditched your boyfriend after he fell into the river! However, you were the only person who made it back… does that make you selfish?" Chef narrowed his eyes and whispered dramatically.
Bowie and Raj stared wide-eyed at each other.
Bowie confessional: *splutters* Wh – wh – wha - RIDICULOUS!
"And finally… CALEB! SECURING ONLY FOUR POINTS FOR YOUR TEAM, YOU BLEW IT AND LOST TO JULIA. YOU COULDN'T EVEN GET RIPPER AND CHASE OUT! AND YOU LOST TO NICHELLE AGAIN!"
Caleb stared hardly at the ground and nodded. Now he truly felt the panic brewing inside of him. Scary Girl had been booted for messing up the challenge… and he had done just that today. Hadn't Chris said it all came down to points in the end? Meaning the killer would have to shoulder the most responsibility for the teams' loss?...
Caleb did not exactly feel the most confident about the votes as well. He knew for sure him and MK had voted for Bowie like they had planned but Bowie and Raj were also a duo. There was also the matter of Emma who MK claimed was part of their alliance, but Caleb did not seem to think so. Not only could he not recall interacting with Emma significantly, but Emma was clearly getting along with Bowie and would most likely not vote for him. Damien was a complete wildcard and although Priya had shown slight interest in him during This-or-That, could it be enough for her not to vote for him? He did not know.
Chris whistled as he shuffled the votes around in his hand. Quite the split! There were some votes which certainly surprised him.
"Tonight's ceremony is the most dramatic one by far!" he chuckled as the Orangutans' faces dropped. Finally, Chris cleared his throat.
"The marshmallows go to…
…Raj… (Emily tossed marshmallows grumpily)
…Priya…
…Emma…
…Damien…
…MK…"
Bowie shuddered slightly. This was cutting it real close. To pray for the last marshmallow? This did not look good…
Caleb shifted uncomfortably on his stump. Would Bowie really get the better of him once again? Caleb couldn't see how Bowie could possibly blindside him like this but –
"The final marshmallow goes to…
Caleb and Bowie stared fearfully at the final, fluffy white treat. Each was desperately hoping it would be thrown into their waiting hands. Raj grabbed Bowie's hand and squeezed it tightly. Bowie looked down and gave a weak smile. MK closed her eyes, crossed her arms and smirked for she knew what the outcome would be.
Caleb…"
Caleb's shoulders relaxed as Emily tossed him the final marshmallow. Bowie sighed as he had seen this coming. Some others however, did not seem to take this as well as him.
"WHAT!? NO!" Raj and Emma yelped. Priya took a deep breath and stared down remorsefully.
Raj turned horrified to Bowie with watery eyes, looking like a lost puppy. Emma buried her face into her hands. Bowie chuckled at their reactions. It felt nice to be missed!
Bowie gave Raj a long, sincere hug.
"Hey guys, it's OK! I had a blast here even if my time was short. Let's be honest… we all knew I wasn't going to get as far as last time anyways so… this is perfect!" He clapped his hands satisfied. True, this was not his preferred placement (14th out of 16 was quite shameful) but Bowie always knew his days were numbered. He was just glad to leave on relatively good terms with Raj considering Total Drama's horrendous track record of couples remaining together.
"BUT IT'S TOO EARLY," Raj choked as he cried into Bowie's shoulder. Hadn't it only been a week? Raj had been planning a whole summer together here.
"Hey now, look on the bright side," Bowie patted Raj's head. "At least we didn't break up!"
Raj gave a weak laugh.
Emma's ears perked up at this. Something was not adding up.
"WAIT?! YOU DIDN'T?!" she gasped sounding half-relieved, half-thunderstruck.
Bowie turned and frowned at Emma.
"Uhhh… no? We're still together…at least, last time I checked…" Bowie flickered his eyebrows and gave Raj a peck on the cheek. Raj blushed and gave a thumbs-up.
Emma gave a loud sigh of relief as her brain tried to work out the situation.
"Ohhhh… but… I thought you told me you and Raj split up? I was so scared that you meant it… like… y'know…" she broke off awkwardly.
Bowie face-palmed and gave a laugh of disbelief at this extreme misunderstanding.
"Emma! I meant we were running together and then we went different directions. I didn't mean it like we ended our relationship! That's crazy!"
Emma's mouth turned into a comical O-shape and she furiously ruffled her hair. How could she be so stupid? How had she misinterpreted his words that badly?
"How did this happen?!" Emma moaned as she ran up and gave Bowie a big farewell hug. To her, it was all so tragic. Bowie patted her back gently and returned a weak smile. After a minute, the two let go.
Bowie clapped his hands and looked around at his teammates with a contagious smile. "Well, it's been fun everybody!" he waved jovially. Before leaving however, he had a few parting words. He turned to Emma first.
"Emma, please stay focused girl."
Emma knew what he meant. Particularly about Chase. She nodded and gave him another hug. He whipped around to Raj.
"Raj, I need you to stay focused as well and bring your A-game. I'll be cheering from the resort and I can't wait to tell the whole world one day that my boyfriend is a millionaire!"
Raj, who had been staring down at Bowie's mud-stained pants, looked up and gave a sharp nod. He had to win now.
Bowie sighed one last time as he looked over at the Dock of Shame where he would be heading. He had not made it as far as last season but… perhaps an early exit this time was what he deserved? After going behind Caleb's back and getting him eliminated first last season, he felt the universe was delivering slight poetic justice by reversing their roles. It was certainly not the worst possible karma he could have received and this thought cheered Bowie up quite a bit. He would be leaving here satisfied. He did not have any bitter feelings towards Caleb either. This season was just simply not his to win.
Bowie, Raj and Emma began making their way over to the Boat of Losers together.
Bowie confessional: *raises a sassy finger* I would like to wish everyone who isn't named Julia the best of luck! Especially Raj and Emma, my two winner picks for this season!
Bowie gave Raj and Emma one final hug before stepping on to the boat. He shrivelled up his nose due to the unpleasant smell of rotten fish.
"Gosh… when was this boat last cleaned? The 70s?" he muttered disgusted.
Chef shrugged.
"You ready?" Chef barked.
Bowie nodded. "Let's get this over with…"
The Boat set off.
Bowie kept his eyes fixed on Emma and Raj who were getting smaller and smaller. They waved at him solemnly and when Bowie finally turned around the corner and disappeared from view, Raj collapsed to his knees and broke down.
Emma bent down to rub his shoulders consolingly and though Raj appreciated this gesture, Emma was not Bowie. He already missed him so much. How he would get through the rest of the season, Raj did not know. It was going to be a long summer.
THE END
Notes:
Yup. I eliminated two of the three finalists back-to-back. After Bowie's performance last season, I decided to make him an early boot this time. I tried to give RajBow a decent amount of moments in the 4 episodes that they were in. Here were the big 5 changes I made from canon:
o Night-time specific challenge
o Axel and Nichelle get meaningful roles this episode and have good interactions
o Julia's slight human side shows when she saved Emma from drowning
o Bowie's elimination is more believable. Instead of being the victim of off-screen Julia somehow convincing 7 people, he is the victim of off-screen MK who only had to convince Priya (the reasoning makes sense too) and unfortunate circumstances of votes not aligning with Emma's.
o Ripper's arc is done with an intern instead of a fellow camper. This way, he actually tries in challenges because he does not want to leave without patching things up with Emily. And now that he has messed up big time, how will he redeem himself?
Episode 5: Let them eat cupcakes! (Part 1) comes out Wed July 3! This might be the most shocking elimination yet...
VOTES
Bowie: MK, Caleb, Priya
Caleb: Damien, Emma
MK: Bowie, Raj
Explanations:
MK and Caleb voted for Bowie (they are in an alliance)
Damien voted for Caleb for blowing the challenge and only getting four points.
Emma did not vote for Bowie and already betrays her alliance as she does not like what they are up to (at one point, she seriously thought Caleb and MK broke up RajBow. This was the crucial moment that made her cut ties with them). So why did Emma not vote with Bowie and Raj or at least talk with them? It's because she was simply too afraid to break her friendship with Bowie again if she told him she was originally in an alliance with MK and Caleb and knew about their plans all along. Therefore, she was relying on Bowie and Raj to vote for Caleb with her but they had different plans… the stars did not align in their favour.
Bowie and Raj voted for MK because they managed to piece together the staged incident when she tripped and fell. Though Raj's memory was fuzzy from the fall, Bowie remembered everything very clearly. Bowie and Raj tried to find Emma to encourage her to vote with them, but they could not find her before the ceremony. (She was avoiding them out of fear of accidentally letting slip she knew about Caleb and MK).
*OFF-SCREEN* Priya struggles to decide who to vote for. She has feelings for Caleb so she doesn't want to vote him off despite him losing for their team. She seriously considers MK until MK comes into her room and warns her of Bowie's placement last season (2nd place) and how he is a big social threat with Raj and (if he merges) Wayne. MK went to Priya because Emma was showing signs of betrayal and because she knew Priya (unlike Emma) would take the threat of Bowie seriously.
CONFESSIONAL TOTAL
Who will have the most confessionals in the end?...
Bowie: 25
Julia: 23
Emma: 15
Raj: 15
Damien: 15
MK: 15
Ripper: 14
Caleb: 14
Chase: 10
Axel: 10
Wayne: 9
Nichelle: 8
Zee: 7
Priya: 6
Millie: 5
Scary Girl: 2
Emily: 3
Chris: 1
Shark: 1
ELIMINATION ORDER
1. NO ELIMINATION (Reward challenge)
2. Lauryn "Scary Girl" Marinus (16th)
3. Millie Williams (15th)
4. Bowie Lupaul (14th)