AUTHOR'S NOTES

Here it is, the darkest episode of the entire series. Tbh, it's the only dark episode lol. Episodes 11-16 are back to the normal, light-hearted humour. There is nothing dark about Part 1 because it is mainly focused on the challenge but Part 2 is when the villains do something really terrible that has never been seen before… probably the most sinister thing a villain has ever done (I'm literally going to have to put a trigger warning). I hope you stick around until the end of the entire rewrite because then you'll see why I had to include something like this… it's particularly important for Episode 16 (the special).

I'm going to be honest. This challenge is kind of boring :( because it's so repetitive. It's one of the simpler challenges. Hopefully I made up for it with decent writing.

As you can also see, I finally updated the chapter number to 42, meaning we are almost done! That's 2 parts for Episodes 10, 13, 14, 15 and 1 part for Episodes 11 and 12 (because they are shorter). Episode 16 (the special) will be released as another work but will still be a part of the same series. It takes place 1 year after the rematch. The summary for this will be included in the end notes of Episode 15. This is my planned schedule:

Episode 10 (Part 2): Sat Aug 10

Episode 11: Wed Aug 14

Episode 12: Sat Aug 17

Episode 13 (Part 1): Wed Aug 21

Episode 13 (Part 2): Sat Aug 24

Episode 14 (Part 1): Wed Aug 28

Episode 14 (Part 2): Sat Aug 31

Episode 15 (Part 1): Wed Sept 4

Episode 15 (Part 2): Sat Sept 7

Episode 16 (Part 1): Tues Sept 10

Episode 16 (Part 2): Sun Sept 15

Episode 16 (Part 3): Fri Sept 20

THWACK! The final 8 test their precision at the clay targets. As they fire their arrows and try to rack up as many points as they possibly can, some may get a little creative to disrupt their fellow competitors' aim. Who will pierce the heart of their enemies? And who is about to shoot their final shot on Wawanakwa?

July 25 2024

7:08 am

BANG!

Damien opened the door to the Orangutans' cabins and bolted out, sprinting faster and sweating harder than he had ever done in his entire life. His heart was pounding, and his brain was in a frenzy, panicking immensely.

"NO! NO! NO!" Damien yelled hoarsely into the morning air. His footsteps echoed loudly across the grounds. He may have woken everyone up, but he did not care. He needed to check. He had to check. It could not be gone. Surely not. How could it be gone? He hadn't told anybody!

Behind a tree, lurking in the shadows and watching through hooded violet eyes, Julia smirked. She sighed happily as she leaned against the trunk and casually looked down at her half-closed right hand.

"He's so easy to scare it's almost not fun," Julia laughed to herself. "Almost…"

Damien confessional: This morning I woke up to a note by my bed. *shows the camera* 'I KNOW YOU HAVE THE IMMUNITY IDOL.' At first I thought they was just messing with me and sent notes to everybody but Wayne and Raj both told me they didn't get the note that I got! Meaning someone knows that I have it and they're probably trying to take it away from me!

*looks at the note scared as if it will explode*

I don't know who they are or how they found out but I need to move it somewhere safe ASAP!

Julia turned on her phone, brought it to her ear and began speaking. "Basic White Girl to Pockets. Do you read me?"

"Pockets here," MK replied, chortling at the nicknames she and Julia had come up with last night before carrying out their plan. "Yeah I read you. Where is he heading?"

"The forests up north," Julia replied smoothly.

This was good news for MK. She was hiding in a stump nearby. "Perfect, I'm not too far from there."

"I'll keep an eye on him Pockets. Meet you there." Julia began following Damien from behind, staying a decent distance away should he turn around but at the same time not too far so she would not lose sight of his backside.

"You do that Basic White Girl. Cya," MK cooed.

"You just love to call me that, don't you?" Julia threw her head back and laughed.

"You know it," MK hung up and began to watch for Damien who should be coming up soon – And there he was!

Huffing and puffing, a sweaty Damien was clutching his chest with one hand and quickly scanned around for a specific tree. The tree he had placed his idol in.

Damien counted the third tree to the left of the other tree with the vandalized spray-painted skull and began jogging towards it. Damien reached the base of the tree, got on his tiptoes and poked his fingers around in a hole in the trunk.

"Come on, come on…." he muttered desperately, reaching everywhere he possibly could. A brief moment of panic as he thought the idol was missing but soon his fingers wrapped around the familiar golden statue of Chris Mclean's head. Damien sighed in relief and put the statue in his palms.

"You are NOT safe here!" he whispered to it as he wrapped his fingers around it and pocketed it in his jacket.

Unknown to him, behind his back, Julia and MK smiled to each other as they laid low in the bushes. Damien quickly looked around. Phew… luckily nobody followed me he thought to himself cheerfully. He had made an awful lot of noise but from what he could see, nobody else was around which meant he had to find a new hiding spot for his idol. But where to put it?

Damien didn't have many options… and then he realized! A cave would have to do! It would be just like when he first discovered it in a cave on Boney Island only this time the cave would be at Wawanakwa. Now that he had made up his mind, Damien ran, concentrating only on his new hiding spot.

MK and Julia waited a bit and then followed his galloping footsteps. Damien had decided on one of the farthest caves from the cabins. He did not care if it meant extra running. As long as his idol would be safe and unharmed.

Damien panted as he reached the cave and swallowed himself into the darkness.

"There, you'll be safe here!" Damien said with a satisfied grin. He knelt down and hid it behind a rock. He also decided to put three small gray pebbles on top of the rock to indicate which rock the idol was hiding behind.

Once again, unbeknownst to him, Julia and MK were observing his every move, lurking in the shadows of the cave and smirking. They had been quietly observing him through sharp, laser-focused eyes and they had both been as silent as a mouse.

But then, out of nowhere –

MK's nose began to twitch. All of this dust and sediment was clearly causing her to want to sneeze. MK could not hold it in anymore and was about to let out a loud sneeze until Julia quickly put her hand over MK's mouth and muffled all noise. That was a close one.

Damien took one step back to admire his handiwork, nodded encouragingly to himself, turned around and sprinted out.

As soon as Damien had disappeared from view, MK slowly began to climb out of her hiding spot. However, Julia immediately seized MK's arm and pulled her back sharply.

"Wait… stop," Julia said in a low voice.

"Huh…? What gives?" MK asked, slightly startled. Why was Julia stopping her from retrieving the idol when it was just lying there behind that rock, waiting to be taken?

Julia narrowed her eyes suspiciously and concentrated on the ground, her brow furrowed. Something did not feel right to her. This was almost too easy. No… About a minute later, she heard footsteps which confirmed her gut feeling. He was coming back.

Julia and MK crouched once again behind their hiding spot, waiting tensely, MK now looking at Julia extremely impressed.

Damien confessional: *points to camera* BOOM! Just in case anybody was following me… I don't know if that's just me being paranoid but I swear I briefly heard something else in the cave. Time to move it to my real hiding spot.

Whoever wrote me that note is probably searching every cave, tree, rock, maybe even my cabin and my bag… but the LAST place they'd think to look would be at the elimination ceremonies because we go there so often! They won't expect to look there since it seems so trivial. Y'know what they say? Sometimes, if it's super obvious people just ignore it. High IQ play! *tilts chin up proudly*

Julia's eyes flashed and she laughed softly to herself as she saw Damien reach into his hiding spot and pocket the immunity idol once again.

"I knew it… Sorry Damien. You're smart, but not that smart," she said coolly.

It appeared Damien was going to be switching hiding spots and had just used the cave as a temporary distraction. But where was he going to? Only one way to find out I guess MK thought, grateful that Julia had pulled her back.

MK was wondering if Julia had saved her out of genuine concern or if she felt she had no choice. After all, if MK had accidentally exposed herself, she would've dragged Julia down with her.

By this point, Damien had run out of the caves yet again, skipping along gleefully. He was running, running, running… all the way back to the elimination ceremonies? Julia and MK glanced at each other, puzzled.

Julia desperately hoped Damien was not running back to his cabin because then it would be a lot trickier to get the idol. Fortunately for her, he stopped at the campfire and did not continue further down to the cabins. Julia and MK darted off to the side. They decided to hide up in a spot above him, offering them a vantage point to observe his every move without him seeing them.

They saw Damien turn his head around twice, probably to make sure no one was looking. He did not look up. Then he walked over to a stump, lifted it up quickly and ditched the idol underneath it. All of this had been done in a manner of 3 seconds.

Damien rubbed his hands and ran back without a second thought, looking extremely content. Now his immunity idol had an official hiding spot and until he received another note, he decided he would not move it again. He would not even check up on it as he did not want to look too suspicious. He just had to hope that it would always be waiting for him, nice and snug under the stump, ready to be used when the time was right.

Julia and MK laughed to themselves.

Julia + MK confessional (Julia): *rolls eyes* Pathetic.

Julia + MK confessional (MK): *points playfully at Julia* What is this guy thinking?

Julia + MK confessional (Julia): I really don't know…

Now that Damien had run off, Julia and MK jumped down from their hiding place and made their way over to the stump with the idol. Julia reached down and pulled the golden Chris bobblehead out, holding it tightly in her hands. Her eyes lit up greedily as she lifted it in front of her face.

"The idol! Stunnnningggg!" she marvelled. "OK… so… anyways, we have another problem. Who gets to keep it?" Julia raised her eyebrow and looked at MK.

MK shrugged. "You," she replied simply.

Julia blinked. "Me? Hang on… you're not going to betray me right now? Knock me out and run off with the idol yourself? That's what I was expecting…" Indeed, Julia had fully been expecting a betrayal and was ready to fight MK but it seemed MK was not eager to do any of that, at least not yet…

MK shrugged her shoulders again. "Julia, you're in a worse position than I am. Everybody hates you and considers you the next big threat now that Priya's gone. You're athletic and good at challenges. You have the target on your back, not me."

"Awww and you would let me have it?" Julia cooed, puppy-eyed.

"Yeah? If the roles were reversed, I'd like to think you would let me have it as well even though we both know you wouldn't," MK chortled.

Julia threw her head back into the air and laughed. "Wow! You know me too well MK because I totally wouldn't!"

It was MK's turn to laugh. "Exactly! Keep it! It's all yours!"

Julia reached in for a hug to which MK accepted. Now they had an immunity idol! They also knew what today's challenge was going to be. Everything seemed to be lining up in their favor!

7:38 am

In the Orangutans cabin, loud grunts could be heard from the hockey bros as they finished another intense round of 100 push-ups.

"PHEW! 40 seconds. NICE ONE RAJIE!" Wayne whistled as he logged in their new personal best time to his fitness app.

Raj, who was sitting on the floor, sweaty and out of breath gave a cheery thumbs-up. He grabbed a towel and wiped his face as he slowly brought himself back up. As he stood there, facing the morning sun in nothing but his glorious baby-blue boxers, he bit his lip in concentration.

Over the past two days, he had been deeply disturbed by something – Priya's final words to Wayne before her departure. Something did not feel right about that whole interaction. He had been putting off asking Wayne about it for the longest time, thinking he may have been imagining it due to the brain freeze but the more Raj thought about it, the harder it was to ignore. He had to ask Wayne.

Raj confessional: Oh yeah! I'm happy about our new push-up record buuut I also can't help and wonder why Priya and Wayne left on not-so-good terms… I mean I thought we were all good before the ceremony! What happened?

"Wayner," Raj cleared his throat. "What did Priya mean by 'you can't keep doing this forever?' And why did she sound so mad?"

Wayne paused for a brief moment as he pretended to do his shoelace.

Wayne confessional: Wow, how did Rajie remember her exact words? He must've been thinking of it a lot, eh?

Though Wayne's back was towards him, Raj was not fooled. He knew Wayne was thinking carefully of how to respond. What could it be? he thought intrigued. But to his slight disappointment –

"Oh uhh… that's nothing Rajie! Trust!" Wayne gave a weak chuckle.

Raj raised a skeptical eyebrow at his best friend he had known for nearly 12 years. Raj knew when Wayne was lying. The trick was to look at his left eyebrow which would usually crease inwards whenever Wayne was telling a gigantic fib. They called it 'The Godly Eyebrow.' Sure enough, today his eyebrow was doing just that.

"Oh… OK!" Raj put on a fake smile. Wayne smiled back.

Wayne confessional: Aww man. I feel bad lying to Rajie's face. But… if he ever found out why I really proposed voting for MK over Julia, I don't think he'd be too pleased…

Raj confessional: The Godly Eyebrow doesn't lie but… *slaps forehead* AH! Maybe I'm overthinking it. If it was actually important, Wayner would have told me.

"Damien not back yet?" Wayne abruptly changed the subject as he changed into his jersey.

"Nah, probably went straight to breakfast!" Raj replied as he also put on his jersey.

"I'm so confused. Why was he panicking so much about the note? He doesn't have the idol, Julia does. As far as I'm concerned, that note was bogus," Wayne snorted. "He should just ignore it." Indeed, Wayne did not see any reason for Damien to take the note seriously. Someone was clearly trying to trip him up for no reason.

"To be honest I don't really know either Wayner," Raj gave a weak chuckle. He still had not mentioned to Wayne the fact that Damien had, at one point, found the idol. It seemed both hockey bros were withholding some important information from each other.

Raj confessional: *shrugs* Meh. Maybe I shouldn't be too mad at Wayner for keeping intel from me. I mean, I'm kind of doing the same to him right now… never told him it was actually Damien who originally found the idol.

9:53 am

"Attention, campers. Challenge time!" Emily declared over the loudspeakers.

The remaining eight campers stood on a large rectangular platform high up in the air. This platform was so large it seemed to fit eight contestants and three hosts easily, with each person having enough room between the other.

The platform was made of smooth wooden planks which made loud creaking sounds with each step, giving the whole structure a rickety feel. Everyone was eyeing the floor apprehensively as if they expected it to snap at any moment but Chris, Chef and Emily seemed rather relaxed. Next to the judges, the campers saw a wheel divided into 15 equal sections with five different colours: 1 cyan, 2 lime-greens, 3 oranges, 4 yellows and 5 reds.

To match these colours, in the distance far away, they all saw 15 large, clay archery targets lined up in 5 columns consisting of 5, 4, 3, 2 and 1 targets. Above each column was a different coloured flag which corresponded with the colour wheel. It seemed these targets and the wheel had a relationship with each other for today's challenge but how?...

Chris clapped his hands and took a deep breath of the fresh, morning air before turning to the final eight. "OK! Today's elimination game is a good one! We're going to test your aim and precision at… the clay targets! Welcome to… LOW AND ARROW!

"All eight of you start on this top platform. You'll be aiming your bows at those clay targets over there, approximately 100 m away" – He pointed to the faraway targets which stood intimidatingly – "Each time you miss your designated target, you drop down a level. A trapdoor will open underneath your feet and you drop to the platform below."

Instinctively, everybody looked down. Beneath them was a platform identical to the one they were currently standing on.

"Ideally, you want to stay on the top platform. They provide the best view of the targets. It will be a little harder to aim from below since your vision will be obstructed from the wooden planks above. Each level you go down, it becomes harder to aim plus you'll have to point your bow higher and higher. There are three levels. Once you mess up from the bottom level the final trapdoor opens, you drop to the muddy waters below and you're out of the game."

"So it's three strikes and you're out," Emily winked.

Once more, everyone looked down at the thick, bubbly mud which they were playing above.

Raj confessional: *sticks tongue out and recoils* YUCK!

"So… which targets do we go for?" Julia drawled.

"Good question. That's what the colour wheel is for," Emily replied, giving the wheel a little spin. "I'm going to spin this wheel and whichever colour it lands on, that's the column you'll be aiming for. For example, if I land on orange, you need to shoot for the targets in the orange column.

"However there's a specific target you have to shoot for. There's a reason this game is called Low and Arrow. We want you to shoot for the lowest target in each column. Going back to our example, if you landed on the orange column, you'll notice orange has 3 possible targets you can shoot for." She pointed in the distance.

Everyone turned their heads and looked at the targets underneath the orange flag. Indeed, there were 3 targets stacked vertically on top of each other.

"So you would have to shoot for the bottom target in the orange column. Shoot any higher and you drop down a level," Emily continued.

"There are certain quirky rules though, for lack of a better word," Emily emphasized with air quotations. "Bullseyes. If you hit your target with a bullseye cleanly in the center, you can get 1 of 3 possible advantages which we won't say for now. That would spoil the fun. Scores will be tracked on the big screen for you all to see who to target."

"I can see you're all standing scattered around this platform," Chris said. "Where you shoot makes a pretty big difference on your performance. The ends are… not so great, while the middle spots are better positioned to make some big time plays."

"So do we get to pick where we're going to shoot from?" Emma asked eagerly, hoping she could get the middle spots.

"Do we get to fight for it?" Axel added fiercely, cracking her knuckles loudly. Wayne and Raj exchanged nervous looks.

"Nope and nope. The order will be determined by a machine. Chef, give it a spin," Chris hollered.

Everyone looked up at the large screen displaying icons of themselves along with the numbers 1-8. A little cartoon drawing of the platform on the screen told them that 1 and 8 were the ends and 4 and 5 were the middle spots.

Chef pressed a button and immediately one number got assigned to each camper. After a DING! the shuffling had been complete and now everyone could see the number they had been assigned:

EMMA (4), AXEL (5), JULIA (2), MK (6), WAYNE (8), RAJ (7), DAMIEN (1), CALEB (3)

"OK, so from left to right, the order in which you will be shooting is: Damien, Julia, Caleb, Emma, Axel, MK, Raj, Wayne," Emily declared. "MOVE!"

Everyone scurried to their newly assigned positions, some happy while others complained under their breath.

Damien confessional: *clutches head* Seriously? I'm at one of the ends?!

Wayne confessional: WOW! It's like I got the aisle seat! I got so much leg space! *leans back with his hands over his head and grins*

"Let the games begin!" Chris boomed. "Damien you're up first."

Emily gave the wheel a strong spin to determine Damien's target. Damien shook slightly as he stared back and forth nervously between the rapidly spinning colour wheel and the looming, larger-than-life targets.

"Not cyan, not cyan, not cyan…" he muttered desperately. Hitting the one, lonely cyan target which stood farthest right while he was farthest left would be next to impossible. Besides, it was literally a 1/15 chance of getting cyan on the wheel. He would have to be the unluckiest guy in the world to land on that. And fortunately for him –

"You've landed on red!" Chris announced. "Hit the lowest target in the red column please!"

Damien took a deep, shuddering breath as he tensed his shoulders, pulled his arrow back with a shaky hand and closed one eye to focus on the lowest target in the red column which he had to shoot.

"Come on Damien… just remember everything you learned at… Alan Arrow's Almighty Archery camp!" he reassured himself. He let it fly and then –

THWACK!

"Bullseye!" Chris, Chef and Emily clapped.

"YES!" Damien pumped his fist, as he saw himself receive 10 points on the screen. A great start for him and hopefully he could keep it up.

"Wow, unexpected but welcome never the less. Damien gets to sabotage the person of his choice!" Chris chuckled.

Damien confessional: AYO? Sabotage? *rubs hands eagerly*

Damien grinned evilly as he pretended to struggle with making a decision, even though in his mind there was no clearer person to go for. "Hmmm.. let's see… I should go for the biggest threat here… guess that would be JULIA!" He turned to his right to see Julia's offended face.

"RUDE!" she said sharply, but she had no time to get mad at Damien. She had to prepare for this sabotage.

"Nice one Damien!" Caleb whooped as the two exchanged nods. MK narrowed her eyes.

MK confessional: Uh-oh, those two better not be working together…

"Julia gets… a bad bow for one turn!" Chris laughed. Chef took Julia's normal bow and gave her a badly beaten bow which was splitting wood and contained a bit of mold on it.

"This is literally from the war of 1812," she pouted, looking up at Chef sadly, hoping he would give her original bow back.

"That's too bad," Chef shrugged carelessly as he turned and walked away from her.

Now that it was Julia's turn to shoot, Emily gave the wheel another spin. Julia stared at the wheel wide-eyed. She had a bad bow. Whatever she landed on, it was going to be a challenge but cyan would be the worst of all.

"And now… Julia… you've got… CYAN! Since it's the only one in its column, it automatically IS the lowest target!" Chris announced.

Julia's jaw dropped. "HUH?!" she yelled, staring horrified at the cyan target to the far right. "You're telling me I'm supposed to hit THAT? From all the way over HERE?" she shrieked pointing a sharp finger at the singular target and then to her feet.

Emma erupted into laughter at Julia's predicament. "Good luck Julia!" she said sarcastically.

Damien whistled happily. This was the best possible outcome. There was no way Julia would be able to hit that. If this kept up… he could already see her swimming helplessly in the mud.

Julia confessional: *leans back casually* I have a bad bow… so what? I'll just pretend I'm piercing through the hearts of my enemies. And then I'll make Emma and Damien sorry they ever tried me!

Julia took a steady aim at her target, her left eye closed. She was aiming straight ahead.

"Ooo... rookie mistake…" Chef muttered to Chris' ear. For a target like this, she would have to account for gravity and air resistance, and aim a little higher than usual.

Julia had heard Chef's words and she narrowed her eyes. "I hope you realize I'm not done…" she softly laughed. And then she shifted her bow so that it was aiming slightly above her target, perhaps 15 degrees higher. A quick release, the arrow soared, fell slightly, dropped down quickly and –

THWACK!

Bullseye.

"Oh, she's good…" Emily whispered, impressed.

Emma groaned as Julia received 12 points on the big screen. "Why did she get 12 points?"

"It's because she hit a bullseye when she was just sabotaged," Chef replied. "Harder situations means bigger rewards."

Julia sneered, happy with this logic. Emma scowled and stomped her foot, frustrated.

"Julia, pick someone to sabotage," Chris said excitedly. The game was really getting interesting now. He had thought Julia was a goner.

Julia smiled. "Alright." She turned to her left and stared callously at Damien, who was shivering for he knew it was coming. He was avoiding her eyes, hoping she would just forget about him sabotaging her and turn away to Caleb or Raj instead.

Julia pretended to play with the strings of her bad bow while she locked eyes with Damien. "Hey, Damien. You came after me first, so I'll pay back the favour," she said maliciously.

Chris wiped a tear of glee from his eye. He always loved how entertaining and petty Julia was.

"Damien's sabotage is… getting knocked down a level," Chris declared.

Julia laughed mirthlessly. She was very pleased with the results.

"WHOA!" Damien yelped as the trapdoor beneath him opened and he fell to the level below.

THUD!

Now Damien was the first person on the middle level. He squinted at the targets above which were now much harder to see and the muddy depths below which he was now closer to. Chris was right, it was certainly much harder to aim from here. He could not mess this up anymore or else all hope was lost. If it was this bad from this platform, he did not want to know how bad the vision was on the bottom platform.

"How is that fair? She gets a bad bow and I get knocked down a whole level?!" he threw his hands up frustratingly.

"How's the view down there Damien?" Julia laughed from above. Though he could not see her, Damien could certainly hear her gloating and imagined her smug face which filled him with immense dissatisfaction.

Damien was seriously contemplating of whether he should target Julia. Not only had she demonstrated competence with a bad bow, she was now targeting him. Maybe if he stopped targeting her, she would stop too… But no.

Damien smacked himself on the head as he laughed in his hands. How could he be so stupid? Obviously, Julia was never going to stop coming after him, so he was going to keep sabotaging her as well until one of them dropped out.

"We – have – a – game. Caleb, you're next," Emily said.

Another spin and –

"Caleb gets… lime!" Chris announced. Caleb took a breath. There were 2 lime-green targets. Not the best choice. At least it wasn't cyan.

Caleb pulled his arrow back, trying his best not to rip his bow with his large hands. He did not want to use too much strength or else his aim would be completely thrown off. Without hesitation he released and shut his eyes, preparing for the worst.

He heard a THWACK! and knew he had at least hit a target. But which one? He opened his eyes and saw he had hit the correct target but it was not a bullseye. Caleb sighed as he saw himself receive 6 points. He vowed to do better next round. He could not let Julia win, not after all the shenanigans she had pulled in the ice bath challenge.

Caleb confessional: 6 points isn't good enough. I can't let Julia get the early lead or else she'll just hold on to it and win immunity again!

Emma was up next. Another spinning of the wheel –

"Orange to match her outfit," Chris said, laughing at his own humorous line.

Emma felt relatively confident. She had plenty of experience with archery, albeit the last time she had shot an arrow it was because she was aiming for a paper with Chase's face on it. Trying not to let this distract her, she took a deep breath, closed her right eye and strongly released.

THWACK!

Bullseye.

"OH YEAH!" Emma hyped herself up with her goofy dance. MK blinked. The pressure was certainly ramping up. Everyone was somehow doing better than she wanted.

MK confessional: *sits grumpily* OK so everyone is hitting bullseyes… not good…

"Alright Emma who do you want to sab –" Chris started but he was abruptly cut off.

"JULIA!" Emma said without a second thought.

Julia was losing her patience. Now she had to worry about Emma too. "Seriously? You'll be sorry Emma!" she hissed. If everyone wanted to sabotage her, that was fine. After all, Julia was used to going against the world.

"Julia gets… competition!" Chris read out loud from his phone which contained a list of all sabotages.

Julia blinked. "Competition…?" she said slowly.

"Yup! That means in a sudden-death style type of match, two players will be aiming for the same target. Whoever hits closer to the bullseye wins, the loser gets knocked down a level! Emily, let's see… give the machine a shuffle to see who Julia is competing against."

Emily nodded and tapped the machine. A loud whir and a moment of silence as everyone stared nervously at the screen. Nobody wanted to be chosen. Julia had just gotten a bullseye with a bad bow so the others did not want to see what she was capable of with a good bow.

Finally, the machine stopped and selected Axel's angry face icon.

"Julia vs Axel," Emily announced.

Axel cracked her neck and smirked. Julia did not know why the survivalist was acting so cocky. Maybe Axel was determined to avenge Nichelle. Whatever the reason, Julia would not let her win. If she had to defeat her former alliance member to avoid getting knocked down a level, so be it.

Emily gave the wheel another spin and this time it landed on yellow.

"Whenever you're ready ladies," Chris told the both of them who were looking daggers at each other.

Axel pulled her arrow back. She was not nervous at all, even if her competitor was Julia. Using a bow and arrow was a basic survival skill so naturally she had already mastered it. Axel narrowed her eyes, concentrated on the bottom target in the yellow column and released her arrow with immense power.

THWACK!

Bullseye.

Axel nodded happily but unfortunately for her this did not last long. Julia had intentionally chosen to wait for Axel's arrow to land first before she took her shot.

Julia swiftly released her arrow which pierced straightly through Axel's arrow, and landed on the bullseye. Now Axel's destroyed arrow had been replaced with Julia's which gleamed brightly underneath the sun. Another 12 points was added to Julia's total, giving her 24 points. Axel remained at 0.

"WHAT?!" Axel exclaimed in shock. She could not believe it! What did this mean for her? If her arrow did not count anymore…

"Wow Julia gets another bullseye so Axel, you get knocked down," Chris said, slightly impressed. It seemed Julia, the challenge beast was potentially going to go on another immunity streak.

"AHHHH!" Axel cried as the trapdoor beneath her boots opened and she fell down to the same level as Damien.

THUD!

"Awww that's too bad," Julia called from above in a sarcastic tone.

Axel's blood was boiling and she squeezed her bow. At least she was up next.

"Axel's turn!" she heard Chris' voice from above. She also heard the familiar spin of the wheel and Emily's voice shouted, "Red! Remember, because Damien already hit the lowest red target it's discarded so you need to shoot for the new lowest target remaining, in other words, the second-lowest target."

As soon as Axel loaded her bow, she knew it would be much more challenging to aim from here. "Ugh… great…" she muttered furiously. She highly doubted she could hit a bullseye from here so the best she could hope for was to at least hit the target.

"How bad is it?" Damien asked apprehensively. Though he had landed on this level before her, he had not shot from here yet. And he certainly was not looking forward to it.

"Not that good at all… it's gonna be so hard to shoot from here…" Axel adjusted her bow a bit higher. Though she was not feeling as confident as she did shooting from the platform above, she still released her arrow with force.

THWACK!

Axel swore. Her arrow had hit the same target as Damien's. Which meant –

"Ooo… tough luck…that's the WRONG TARGET! Axel gets knocked down another level!" Chris guffawed.

Axel couldn't believe it. She had just gotten knocked down to a disadvantageous position and now things were going to get worse. If the second level was this bad, she did not want to imagine how hard it would be to aim from the third level. A trapdoor opened once again and she fell once more.

"SERIOUSLY?!" she yelled enraged as she crashed to the bottom level.

THUD! went Axel once more.

Axel could now see the hot mud up close. She could feel the warm temperature radiating on to her skin. Great. So now she had to deal with a horrible position and hot temperatures.

"Hey Axel how's the mud looking down there girl? Do you think it has healing properties?" Julia goaded.

Axel was losing her patience. Julia was driving her crazy and although Axel did not want Julia to get inside her head, she could not stop thinking about her arrogant face. The next thing Axel knew, she had loaded up another arrow but this time she was not aiming for the clay targets. Axel pointed her bow straight up to the upper platforms where Julia was most likely standing and savagely released her arrow and her anger with one swift motion.

The arrow pierced through the wooden planks and went out through the top platform. Immediately, Axel knew she had missed but that she had been close. Very close. Axel heard Julia's panicked voice.

"WHOA!" Julia shrieked, displaying genuine fear in her voice for the first time this game.

"Way to use up another arrow Axel. You're down to 2!" Chris said in a manner that told Axel he was trying his hardest not to laugh. Axel gave a tiny smile.

Axel confessional: *plucks her bow casually* Probably shouldn't have let Julia get to me like that. It wasn't worth it. By the sound of it, I didn't even graze her face!

"MK! You have orange!" Emily called.

MK did not really know what she was doing even though she had been preparing for this challenge for a while by shooting apples at a wooden dummy of Chris Mclean. MK's hand quivered as she released a depressing arrow which fell halfway to its destination with a very pathetic arc. The result was a complete miss.

MK blinked furiously.

MK confessional: Yeah… I hate this game…

"It's a miss but it doesn't knock her down!" Chris announced. "Remember, you can only get knocked down if you don't hit the lowest target, hit a target which somebody already hit or lose a sabotage. Missing a target completely means you wasted an arrow which is still 0 points but at least you don't get knocked down a level!"

MK looked up at the scoreboard. The running total was Julia: 24, Damien: 10, Emma: 10, Caleb: 6, Axel: 0, MK: 0. MK looked at Julia surprised. Wow, she's pretty good at this MK thought jealously.

Another spin of the wheel –

"Oooo. Raj! You get yellow!"

Raj looked at the targets in the yellow column. There was Julia's arrow still on the lowest target which meant he had to aim for the target above hers. "I guess I aim for that one, right?" he asked Wayne for reassurance.

"What?! Do you not know what new lowest target means?" MK interjected. She was in a crabby mood for sucking in this challenge despite weeks of preparation. After her success on Boney Island and the ice baths, she had wanted her streak to continue. Of course, Julia waltzes in and starts performing better than her in every challenge despite not knowing what she was going to get until a few days ago.

Raj slapped a hand on his head playfully. "Oh right… silly me!" he laughed. Raj took a steady aim and then released powerfully.

THWACK!

He had gotten the target he was supposed to but like Caleb it was just a little bit off of a bullseye.

"Ah close one Rajie!" Wayne said earnestly as he looked up at the screen to see Raj receive 8 points.

Another spin and –

"Wayne you get yellow as well!" Wayne squared up his shoulders and huffed loudly. He was ready. Because Julia had hit the lowest yellow target, Raj had hit the second lowest yellow target, Wayne had to go for the second highest yellow target in the column of 4.

Wayne cockily stuck his tongue out, bended his knees and sung loudly. "STICKING OUT MY TONGUE FOR THE PICTUREEEEEE!"

Raj rolled around on his back, howling with laughter as Wayne released.

THWACK!

If Raj was laughing before, it was nothing compared to how hard he was laughing now. Wayne had somehow managed to hit a target in the lime column, and even worse, he had hit the same target that Caleb had already shot at.

"Ooo that's tough," Chris chuckled. "Wayne you hit lime and somehow you hit Caleb's target. KNOCK HIM DOWN!"

"CYA RAJIE! WHOAAAA!" Wayne cried out as the trapdoor opened beneath his Timberlands and he crashed to the level below.

THUD!

"Let's take a look at the running total so far," Chris said enthusiastically now that everyone had gone at least once. "The scores are… Julia: 24, Damien: 10, Emma: 10, Raj: 8, Caleb: 6, Wayne, Axel and MK: 0."

Wayne confessional: Am I worried?... NAH! Why would I be? It's only been one round. I still got time to make a serious comeback!

"Still shooting from the top level, we have Julia, Caleb, MK, Emma, and Raj. On the level below we have Damien and Wayne. And on the very bottom we have Axel…

"Everyone has 4 arrows remaining except for Julia who has 3 and Axel who has 2. Probably regrets shooting that arrow at Julia's head now – "

"Nope!" Axel called from below.

"Alright, round one is over! Time to go on to round 2… Damien you're up," Emily said. It was time to repeat the process once more.

Emily gave the wheel a spin and…

"Damien, you've landed on … yellow! Since Wayne missed the yellow target completely last time, now it's your turn to aim for that one!"

Damien loaded up his bow once more. A brief muttering of "Alan… almighty… arrow…" and then a loud "FIRE!" as he released his arrow fiercely. His confidence was accompanied with a complete miss. Luckily for him, he had not hit a target he wasn't supposed to hit and had instead missed the targets completely. Damien sighed in relief. Not the best but not the worst outcome either. At least he would not be knocked down a level…

"Damn, hard to hit from here…" he grumbled, wondering how he was going to adapt from his new shooting position. Damien knew he had to get his aim up and learn to shoot from here or else he was toast…

The game continued.

"Julia, red!"

Julia tied her hair into her iconic bun for the breeze was really kicking in now and blowing hair in her face. She did not want to obstruct her vision and seeing that the breeze would probably alter the course of the arrow slightly, she would have to release more sharply than she had done last time.

Julia bended her knees, pulled her arrow back and fired.

THWACK!

And her third bullseye in a row was hit. Julia cheered and performed her iconic windshield wiper dance. As Julia's score went up to 34, everyone groaned except for MK who gave her a thumbs-up to which Julia returned a cheeky wink. At least one of us is doing well, MK thought unhappily.

By this point, Emma had had enough. She did not want a repeat of Season 1 Julia who went on immunity streaks once the merge started. Julia had already won the treasure hunt challenge and finished with a dangerous 2nd place in the ice bath challenge. Now it looked like she was going to win this one too and Emma could not let that happen.

"OK EVERYBODY SHE'S TOO GOOD AT THIS. LET'S ALL TEAM UP AGAINST JULIA," Emma commanded, frantically waving her hands in the air. Julia gave a fake laugh. She felt flattered that everyone thought she was the one to beat.

"Awww are you all teaming up against me? You do realize we're not in the team stage anymore," she said venomously.

"Oh yeah? We'll always be team not-Julia!" Emma retorted, sticking her tongue out defiantly.

Julia rolled her eyes. "You know what Emma? Just for that, I'm sabotaging you. sorry, not sorry…"

"OH NO!" Emma yelped, putting her hands over her mouth as if she regretted what she had said. She had completely forgotten Julia could target somebody now and it looked like she was on Julia's radar.

Chris chuckled. "Probably should have thought of that before you provoked her! Emma, you get… competition!"

Feeling slightly relieved she did not have to go down a level just yet, she asked timidly, "OK… who's my competition?"

Another shuffling on the screen and –

"Raj," Emily replied.

"Good luck Emma. You're going down!" Raj winked at Emma.

Emma smiled. Raj was competitive, but Emma knew he had meant it in a friendly way. The wheel spun again and Emma and Raj landed on lime.

They both aimed their bows at the target in the lime column above the one Caleb had already hit. At the same time, they released their arrows but as the arrows made their trajectories, it was clear one was going to finish much closer to the center than the other. And unfortunately for Emma, it was Raj's. Though it was not a bullseye, Raj gained 7 points while Emma gained 5. Now Emma and Raj were both tied at 15 points.

"YES!" Raj cheered. "Aww, tough luck Emma. Better luck next time!"

Wayne looked up and started talking to the platform above as if he could see Raj through the wooden planks. "What is it? Did you win buddy?" he asked excitedly.

"Yup, Emma's about to come crashing down! HOOT-HOOT!" Raj hollered back. A trapdoor opened beneath Emma's sneakers and she fell to join Damien and Wayne below. "AHHHH!" she screamed as she landed on her skirt.

THUD!

Emma got up and brushed herself clean. She stood up and squinted at the targets, with one hand over her forehead to block out the sun.

"Oh… wow it is terrible shooting from here… no wonder you missed so badly Damien…" she said plainly.

"Uh… yeah….thanks…" Damien mumbled grumpily.

It was Caleb's turn for his second shot. He would get a bullseye this time. He must. He watched as Emily spun the wheel and it stopped on orange. He looked up at the 3 targets along the orange column. There was Emma's bullseye from the first round which meant he now had to shoot at the target above. No higher, no lower.

Caleb felt he had hesitated too much last round and spent too much time overthinking his shot so this time he was going to release as quickly as possible. Hoping for better results, he released his arrow as soon as he was in line with his target. But… the result was the same! He had hit the target but it was not a bullseye. It was another measly 6 points.

"OH COME ON! AGAIN?!" he whined. Used to being an overachiever, he blew his nose frustratingly, letting hot air escape his nostrils as he stared stone-faced at his total of 12 points.

MK snorted. "I think your shooting pretty much represents you as a person… basic, mediocre and oh so close but yet so far."

Julia laughed out loud at this witty comment and glanced at Caleb, wondering if he would just sit there and take it or if he was man enough to fight back…

Caleb was stung by these venomous words. Though he knew MK was trying to fluster him, he also could not ignore her calling him basic and mediocre. These were words he was not used to hearing. "I'll show you I can hit a bullseye!" he said determined, squeezing his fist.

Caleb confessional: I feel like I'm putting way too much strength into my shots. I need to change how I shoot. I really thought I had it last round, but apparently not. Just gotta keep trying! If only I was as weak and limp-wristed as Julia or something…

"Emma… red!"

Emma nodded. Now it was her turn. There was Damien's bullseye on the bottom target, Julia's bullseye at the target above his, so now she had to aim for the one above Julia's. The middle target in the column of 5.

"Must… hit a bullseye… must get Julia out…" Emma told herself as she yanked her arrow back.

THWACK!

"Close but not quite!" Chris' voice rang.

"AGH!" Emma stomped on the ground. 9 points were added bringing her total to a score of 24. Emma knew what was wrong and why she was shooting worse than her first round. It had nothing to do with this platform; after all she had even missed on top. No… Emma knew she was focusing too much on Julia, and as usual, if she thought of one person too much in her head, it often made her perform poorly.

Emma confessional: OK so do I want to think about beating Julia or should I NOT think about Julia? *pulls hair* AGH! SCREW JULIA! *looks up and shakes a fist*

"Have to stop thinking about Julia…" Emma told herself, shaking her head vigorously.

This statement was truly put to the test because Emma heard Julia's voice slice harshly through the morning air. "Wow Emma. You finally have the same score as I did… one round ago. Better luck next time!" Julia laughed. This did not help Emma calm down.

Emma heaved her chest up and down as she tried taking deep breaths but nothing was working. She had balled her hands into her fists and was looking up at the platform above, as if she could see Julia standing there and taunting her.

"Hold up…. Emma, check this out!" Damien exclaimed awestruck, pointing at one of the support beams holding the platforms up and keeping them stable.

"What?..." she asked curiously as she turned to him.

Damien gave the vertical beam a little wiggle. "Let's see if we can throw Julia's aim off a bit…" he grinned mischievously.

Emma smirked as she realized what Damien was proposing to do, giving the beam a wiggle herself.

"Axel… you mess this one up and you're out! No pressure though!" Chris grinned sadistically. Axel had to aim for the yellow target which Damien and Wayne had both missed.

Axel rolled her eyes in annoyance. "Yeah I get it," she muttered, adjusting her bow so high that it was almost perpendicular to the platform she was standing on. Her shooting form was rather awkward for being so low now but nevertheless, she grinded her teeth and released.

THWACK!

Axel had hit the right target but it had been so close to hitting the wrong one. Her arrow was on the boundary of her target, securing her a disappointing single point. Now her score jumped to 1.

Despite being two levels below her, Axel still heard Julia's merciless laugh slicing through the air. "Is it really that hard to shoot from down there or is your aim just that horrendous?" Julia cackled, staring with fake pity at the pathetic arrow.

Axel confessional: *slams back of head against the wall* Oh how I would've loved to shoot her with another arrow but I'm down to my last one…

"MK! You get… yellow!"

MK looked up. She had to at least hit the target like Axel had done. Since the bottom 3 targets already had arrows, MK had to aim for the top target. MK glanced sideways to where Julia was watching her. MK had done her best to study Julia's shooting form and was now putting it to the test. Thinking that she had got it, she released.

TWHACK!

She had hit a target! But… the wrong one.

"Oh crud," MK facepalmed as she saw her arrow shining on a target in the red column. MK barely had time to complain before the trapdoor opened beneath her feet and she tumbled down, joining the others below. "AHHH!" she shrieked as she landed face down on the wood.

THUD!

MK confessional: *getting visibly angrier* SERIOUSLY? 0 points? STILL?! Who actually does this stuff for fun?!

While Raj missed his next target completely (but did not get knocked down a level), Wayne unfortunately hit the wrong target once again. Though he was supposed to go for a target in the orange column, he had somehow managed to send his arrow swerving all the way to the right towards cyan where Julia had already shot a bullseye. Wayne swore as the trapdoor opened beneath his boots once again and he fell to the bottom platform to join Axel.

THUD!

Wayne confessional: *scowls* I'm literally doing nothing but falling and thudding! Archery is nothing like hockey! How did I even hit that target?

"And with that, here are the scores after round 2!" Chris said once again, reading the scores individually as they were displayed on the screen. "In first place, Julia with 34, second place is Emma with 24, third place is Raj with 15, Caleb has 12, Damien somehow still has 10, Axel managed to get 1 point, and Wayne and MK continue to amaze with 0 points!"

"Miraculously, still surviving on top are Caleb, Julia and Raj! On the level below, we now have Damien, Emma, and MK. At the bottom level, in serious danger are Axel and Wayne."

Wayne confessional: Can't keep dropping levels. The floor is mud everybody!

"And we go again! Damien, you're up!" Round 3 was commencing.

Damien squinted. There weren't many possible targets left: just 1 target in the orange column, 1 in the yellow column, and 2 in the red column. Cyan and lime-green had already been completed (though they had extra arrows attached to it thanks to Wayne). After this round, the board would be reset, the arrows would be cleared and they would start all over with 15 blank targets once again. He just had to make it through this round…

"Orange!" Emily said.

Damien shifted his eyes towards the lone target in the orange column without an arrow.

THWACK!

He had hit it. Though not a bullseye, he received 7 points. It was better than nothing. He had no time to celebrate his score of 17. Julia was about to shoot after him, which meant it was time for him and Emma to sabotage the beams like they had planned.

Damien confessional: Time to make Julia shiver me timbers!

"Julia, you get red!"

Julia nodded as she stared up cockily at the second-highest red target. Right below her, Damien and Emma got into position.

"Julia should be right… here," Damien pointed to a spot next to him, placing his hands on the support beam. "If we can just…YES!" Together, he and Emma gave the beam an energetic shake which caused the platform above to shake rather violently.

Julia was just about to release her arrow when the platform started shaking. She was trying her best to remain stable and plant her feet onto the wood but it was no use. The platform was shaking too much. It caused her to lose her balance and the next thing she knew, she had unintentionally released her arrow.

Emma and Damien high-fived as they saw Julia's arrow flop to the ground, not even hitting a target. True, she hadn't dropped a level but at least she had not gained any points that round.

Julia stomped on the ground as if she could see the people below playing tricks on her. They would be sorry for that. Julia had a gut feeling it was Emma and Damien and was wondering why MK had not done anything to stop them.

"Hey! What was that?" Julia said angrily.

MK narrowed her eyes at the duo who had just messed up Julia's shot. "You two are going to regret that…" MK warned dangerously.

"OH REALLY?" Emma scoffed. "Why? You're going to protect Julia when you're just her little minion sidekick?!"

"Yeah? What are you going to do? BITE OUR ANKLES? HAHA!" Damien giggled. MK's eye twitched.

Damien and Emma exchanged high-fives.

Caleb shot his arrow at the red target Julia had missed.

Bullseye.

"YES! FINALLY!" he cheered. "You see that MK, still think I'm mediocre?" he asked to the wooden floor. No response but he knew MK had heard him and was choosing to ignore him. Caleb rubbed his hands eagerly, wondering what sabotage he could choose.

"Caleb, you get to pick someone to knock down a level!" Chef instructed.

Raj grinned. Surely Caleb was going to go the obvious route and pick the person they were all targeting – Julia. It seemed it was going to be a bad round for Julia, missing her arrow and then getting knocked down a level…

Raj confessional: HAHA! BYE JULIA! *waves aggressively*

Caleb bit his lip and sweated nervously as he carefully thought. Though he knew everyone expected him to say Julia's name, he thought of Priya and how he needed to avenge her. And the best way to avenge Priya would be to beat Julia face-to-face. One on one. This meant they had to stay on the same platform and it also meant that Raj had to go.

"Raj," Caleb said firmly, feeling a pang of guilt as Raj's face looked like he had just been betrayed.

"WHAT?! WHOA!" Raj yelled as the trapdoor swallowed him and sent him to the level below.

THUD!

Caleb confessional: It's personal between me and that witch. I want to be the only one she sees at the top.

Wondering what on earth was going on at the levels above, Wayne asked concerned, "Rajie? You alright? I can hear you coming closer to me!" Indeed, Raj's voice now sounded clearer than before.

Raj dusted himself off as he got to his feet and shook his head. "I'm fine. Caleb sabotaged me instead of Julia!" he said indignantly.

"WHY would you do that?" Emma asked shrilly.

"How you not gonna sabotage Julia?!" Damien threw his hands up, exasperated. Had Caleb already forgotten about what Julia and MK had done to Priya? –

"I know she's responsible for getting rid of Priya so I want to beat her in this challenge face to face alone. Just the two of us. No hard feelings Raj," Caleb called down, hoping Raj would understand his predicament and not take it too seriously.

"Ahhh… so that's what he's doing I see. It's personal for him," Damien whistled.

Axel rolled her eyes. "That is so dumb but whatever…"

Meanwhile, Julia laughed at what she had just witnessed. She had fully expected to be the one to get knocked down... and Caleb's reason was hilariously pathetic to her…

"WOW thank you Caleb!" she said mockingly. "Unfortunately, I don't think you realize I'm much better than you at this. I mean, 3 bullseyes against your 1. Do you think I'm scared of you?" She raised a doubtful eyebrow and stared directly at Caleb.

"Oh please! Those 2 shots were just warm-up shots! Besides, I don't think you realize you're down to one arrow? And I still have 2!" Caleb snapped back.

Julia narrowed her eyes and stared coldly at Caleb. It was clear he was not playing around anymore so she was going to have to crush him. "Well then I'll make this arrow count," she whispered dangerously.

Caleb snorted. He was not afraid of Julia, no matter how good she was at archery. Right now, the only thing he wanted was revenge. He was catching up to her – he now had 22 points. And he would continue to get his score up until he won this game!

"Alright, keep getting mad at each other everyone… this is great!" Emily chortled, stirring the pot of drama unfolding before her eyes.

Emma fumbled her next shot, missing the last target in the red column completely. "Damn it," she said sadly. She had been stuck at 24 points for a while now and though Julia was also at 34 points, she saw Caleb was quickly catching up, sitting at 22 points. That last bullseye had really helped him. But at least she would not get knocked down a level…

Axel also missed her next shot at the last target in the yellow column. She had also just shot her last arrow. "Damn it, I need more arrows," she said, looking up as if expecting more arrows to fall out of the sky.

"Oh yeahhhh…. I forgot to mention, in the event you run out of arrows, you get 5 more but at the cost of going down a level," Chris replied, smiling.

Axel's heart skipped a beat as she realized what was going to happen to her.

"Wait! Then that means –" she started, but she did not finish for at that moment the final trapdoor opened beneath her.

"That's right. Axel you're out! Probably shouldn't have wasted that arrow on Julia…" Chris slapped his knee laughing hysterically as he heard her screams. The first victim falling into the mud was the survivalist of all people.

"AHHHH!" Axel yelped as she fell, coming closer to the hot mud which was about to consume her. Finally, she collided with it, sending splashes of brown everywhere.

SPLASH!

Axel's bow went flying in another direction, stayed on the surface for a few seconds before sinking and never coming back up. Axel could not move either. Though she was not sinking, she was not able to get out and it appeared she would remain here for the rest of the game, watching everyone else play. Axel choked as she coughed some mud out and rubbed her mouth with her arm. "Ugh…" she said bitterly.

Though she was down below, she could still clearly make out the familiar silhouette of a person at the top level playing with their bow and aiming an arrow down at her mockingly. Axel gritted her teeth as Julia pretended to shoot her with an arrow.

Axel confessional: *groans as mud drips across her arms and face* I'm starting to think voting Priya off was a big mistake. I should've just went for Julia first. She didn't even use her stupid immunity idol last time!

Axel felt humiliated. She didn't even have her bow to shoot back with and she felt helpless just sitting here watching Julia taunt her. Well, Axel would not give Julia the satisfaction. She would not even acknowledge Julia and turned her back on her, pretending to concentrate on the birds flying over the targets while she heard Julia cackling in the background. She had been so focused on Julia she did not even realize MK had just shot. The arrow zoomed and –

THWACK!

Bullseye.

Finally MK thought satisfied. About time too.

"MK who are you knocking down a level?" Chris inquired.

"Emma," MK flashed her eyes at the startled Emma and Damien. Now the duo sabotaging Julia's shots would be separated.

"HEY!" Emma cried as she fell to the bottom level to join Wayne. "SCREW YOUUUU!" She landed with a THUD!

Damien gulped. It looked like he would have to sabotage Julia alone now… and with MK watching him… it would be much harder. But then Damien remembered Raj was at the same level as them.

Damien locked eyes with Raj, the person he had canoed with, reconciled with over cupcakes, collaborated with to help Chase, and found the immunity idol with on Boney Island. Without even uttering a word, Raj knew what Damien was asking of him and gave a little nod. He knew what he was going to do the next time it was Julia's turn to shoot.

Raj confessional: *very excited* Oh yeah! Me and Damien are about to give Julia a HARD time when we rock this WOOD! *blinks in horror as he realizes what he just said* Wait a minute…

There was only one target left, a lone one in the yellow column so automatically Raj had to shoot for that one. While he missed it completely, Wayne managed to hit it and secure 5 points, finally taking him away from the miserable score of 0.

Wayne yelped happily. He was not the only one feeling elated. After a hard-fought half-hour of shooting, all 15 targets had been hit. Chris clapped his hands. "Finally… Time to reset the board and start all over again! We'll be back after the break!" he said, leaning back and taking a sip out of his cherry soda as Chef hopped on a hoverboard and went to remove the arrows off the targets.

*A much-needed Commercial Break*

[A man was ironing his fingers instead of the ironing board as a cheerful tune played softly]

10:45 am

"Welcome back!" Chris said energetically, spreading his hands widely for the camera. "After all of that shooting, the arrows have been wiped cleanly off the targets thanks to Chef and we now have a clean slate! It's time to do it all over again. But first, some stats!

"In first place, still, with 34 points, is Julia. Emma is still holding on to second place with 24 but the determined Caleb is catching up with 22 points. Damien has 17 after temporarily plateauing at 10, Raj is somehow still at 15, MK managed to hit a bullseye giving her 10 and Wayne finally left 0 and has 5 points. And Axel finished her game with a single point…" he laughed.

"At the top level, still shooting from the best spots, are Julia and Caleb. At the level below are Damien, Raj and MK. And below that, in the danger zone, are Emma and Wayne. Sitting in the mud is Axel – "

"WE GET IT! I'M OUT!" Axel said angrily.

"I hope everyone is ready, because it's time to go! Damien, you're up!"

Emily spun the wheel once more and Damien felt he was getting Deja-vu, once again finding himself in a position where he was begging in his mind not to get cyan. Luckily he did not.

"Orange, I'll take it…" he said relieved.

THWACK!

6 points brought his total to 23. Not bad at all. And now it was time to shake the beams for Julia once again!

"Julia.. you get… yellow!"

"RAJ! KEEP MK BUSY!" Damien blurted out suddenly. Raj quickly nodded and put himself between Damien and MK, with a focused face and knees bent in anticipation. Raj and MK glared at each other as Damien began to wobble the same support beam he knew was below Julia's feet. He would do this as long as necessary. Anything to ruin her aim.

"Better get out of my way big guy…" MK growled, underneath her breath. She was ready to square up with the beefy hockey bro.

"I'll take my chances," Raj said quietly as he narrowed his eyes.

That was it. She had warned him and he had chosen not to listen.

Raj confessional: *smirks at the camera* What's she gonna do? Throw her big red coat at me? *laughs*

MK pounced so suddenly Raj was caught off guard, not expecting the small MK to strike. He had expected a punch or a slap but certainly not a chomp on the ankle.

"AHHHH!" Raj roared in pain, trying to get MK off of him as her teeth sank deep into his flesh. She choked slightly as she was met with the taste of sweat and expired baloney.

MK confessional: Gross… *chokes*

Raj collapsed to the ground, clutching his now bitten ankle through clenched teeth. MK wiped her mouth with her sleeve and grinned. Slow drips of saliva spilled onto the floor. Raj's yell had temporarily caught Damien off guard and he turned incredulously.

Raj was now rolling around on the floor howling in pain. "MEDIC! I'M OUT! I NEED A SUB!" he wailed.

Damien's eyes widened in horror. "Oh damn girl you an ankle biter?! You are evil!" He pointed angrily at MK.

MK shrugged. "Better not do it Damien or else I'll bite YOUR ankles too," she said through slits for eyes. And then –

Seemingly, out of nowhere, Raj extended a hand and ripped MK's beanie off of her head.

"Hey, give that back!" MK said desperately, jumping up and down to retrieve her hat but it was no use. Raj was holding her hat high up in the air with one hand, out of her reach. He was much too tall for her.

MK confessional: THE DISRESPECT THOUGH!

"DAMIEN! GO!" Raj ordered. Damien nodded as he began to shake the support beam aggressively once more. Now that MK was distracted, he would not have to worry about her potentially biting his ankle.

On the level above, Julia cursed. She did not know why she had briefly hesitated a moment ago when there was no shaking. It had been the perfect time to shoot…

"JULIA, THEY'RE SABOTAGING YOU BY MESSING WITH THE STRUCTURE BELOW," MK yelled, half out of breath because she was still jumping and trying to reclaim her beanie from Raj.

"I KNOWWW!" Julia yelled back as she wobbled around, trying desperately to plant her feet for two seconds but unfortunately for her Damien was not making things easy. The platform was shaking so violently.

Julia cursed again. It was clear to her Damien would not give up and it seemed MK was not much help either. She was going to have to improvise. She knew she wouldn't be allowed to shoot from another position to her left or right; Chris had made it very clear that they had to shoot from their assigned spots. But he never said anything explicit against jumping.

Julia confessional: *rolls eyes* They think that's going to stop me? Cute…

"Julia, if you don't shoot this arrow in 5 seconds, it's an automatic 0 for the round," Chris warned.

Julia took a shaky breath. She had to shoot now. Julia jumped high off the platform, quickly adjusted her bow and shot her arrow fiercely mid-air. As she landed back on the platform with both feet, she saw her arrow pierce the lowest yellow target strongly with a THWACK!

Bullseye. Julia smirked as her points shot up to 44.

Chris blinked, impressed Julia had gotten out of her situation without breaking the rules. She had chosen to jump and had never switched positions with someone else illegally. She was crafty indeed. He was starting to consider placing bets on her making it to the finale.

"And with a fancy jump into the air Julia manages to survive, defying all odds. Julia, pick someone to knock down a level," he said disbelievingly.

"Damien," Julia quickly replied.

"SERIOUSLY?!" she heard him scream as he fell.

THUD!

"Oh, and I'm going to need 5 more arrows," she laughed.

"OK! In exchange for 5 more arrows Julia also gets knocked down a level," Chris declared.

Julia closed her eyes happily and shrugged. This did not upset her at all. True, she would be losing the advantageous view of the targets, but it also provided her the perfect opportunity to toy with Caleb. Julia could feel Caleb's determination to win and she could not let him take her immunity; she had to squash his focus.

"Cya Caleb," Julia said sassily, waving her hands playfully as the trapdoor opened beneath her feet. "Ohhh, if you want to make things personal with me, you're going to have to knock yourself down a level too! Byeeee!" And with that, she disappeared from view to join the others waiting a level below.

Caleb gripped his bow tightly in frustration. "UGH!" he complained. She was right; if he really wanted to beat her face-to-face, he would have no choice but to go down as well.

Julia looked around at her fellow competitors. She noticed Raj was limping for some odd reason as he was holding up MK's beanie above her head and then she spotted MK jumping up and down.

Despite knowing that Damien had been messing with the beams, Julia was grateful that MK had at least warned her about it and by the looks of Raj's ankle which had a very visible scar, she figured MK must have gone to some extreme lengths to help her. Therefore, she would not lash out at her only true alliance member.

Julia confessional: *leans back impressed* Wow! What did MK do to Raj to make him hobble around like that? I like it.

Julia proceeded to go over to Raj, got on her tip-toes and easily snatched MK's beanie away from him. Raj sighed.

Raj confessional: *closes eyes and groans* Awww, guess the fun's over

"Thanks for warning me MK," Julia said softly as she tossed MK her beanie.

MK winked as she adjusted her hat back on to her head. "No problemo!"

Julia turned around and glared at Raj. Julia felt Raj's stupid little act of holding MK's beanie out of her reach deserved a warning. Just a little something to instill some fear in him as punishment. She brought herself within an inch of Raj's round face and looked into his innocent eyes.

"Just know this Raj. Very soon, you're going to be joining your three buddies down there where you belong. UNDER US!" she said, narrowing her eyes threateningly.

MK playfully pointed down at the level below with both her index fingers so that Raj got the message. Raj gulped.

"Caleb… red!" Emily said.

Caleb confessional: If I want to rub it in Julia's face I have to be on the same level as her. IT'S TIME TO TAKE A DIVE.

Caleb pretended to have the limpest wrist in the world, acting as if it was just a single strand of spaghetti held together by flesh. A very weak release and the arrow left his bow in a very droopy fashion.

Thwack as his arrow landed on the bottom lime target.

"And just like that… Caleb completely fumbles and gets knocked down a level!" Chris announced slowly. Had that been done on purpose?

Caleb nodded as the trapdoor opened beneath his feet. This was great news for him. It was time to join Julia and get justice for Priya.

There were now no more players on the top level.

"Emma… lime!"

THWACK!

Emma sighed. 5 points. Catching up to Julia, let alone beating her looked hopeless now. "COME ON! I'm down to one arrow…" she said miserably, watching her score go up to 29.

"I think we're screwed…" Damien added, also holding up his last arrow in defeat.

Emma sighed again. At this point, it was pretty clear that Julia would win immunity again… Her lead was too big, but they may as well go down swinging and mess around with her some more…

Emma poked Damien's shoulder and pointed to the wooden beam once more. "Hang on… Julia's above us again…" Emma said slyly. They had now found themselves in the same position a round ago, where they were directly below Julia only everybody had shifted down one level.

"And no MK to stop us…" Damien added, rubbing his hands eagerly.

Wayne's ear seemed to pop all of a sudden as he looked skeptically at the duo of Emma and Damien scheming to sabotage Julia once more. He bit his lip hardly. Emma and Damien looked much too mischievous. Each was wearing a large grin… almost as if they were excited to team up against Julia.

Wayne confessional: Just because Julia plays dirty doesn't mean we have to… right?

"WAIT! That's not really fair to Julia eh? Messing up her accuracy on purpose?" Wayne asked innocently. He was a competitive player, but above all, he was honorable. Though he knew Julia was a fierce competitor, he wanted an even playing field for her and everyone for that matter.

Damien slapped himself on the head. "You can't be serious right now… she's E-V-I-L!" he spelled out slowly, emphasizing the letters in the word 'evil.'

"Use your head Wayne. We can't play nice with someone who refuses to play fair," Emma said simply.

Wayne hesitated. He liked Damien and Emma but it seemed they were determined to go through with their plan so he was not going to stop them.

"Fine you can try… " he nodded his head slowly, "She'll just jump again…" Indeed, part of Wayne also found this sabotage pointless as he was confident Julia would just jump, flip, spin, twirl or do whatever she needed to win. He trusted her athleticism.

Emma nodded in acknowledgement. If they truly wanted to stop Julia, they would have to do something different this time. "Not if Raj and Caleb have anything to say about that… " she said enthusiastically.

Emma looked up and raised her voice. "RAJ! CALEB! DON'T LET JULIA DO ANY MORE ACROBATIC SHOTS!"

"What shots?!" Raj's voice asked from above.

"Ac-ro-ba-tic!" Emma repeated slowly.

"What did you say? I can't hear you!" Raj asked once again, poking his ear. "You mean athletic?"

"Acrobatic. Flashy moves, like twisting, flipping, spinning in the air," Caleb replied. Caleb was fully in line to join forces with Emma, Damien and Raj if it meant stopping Julia from winning.

Raj nodded. "GOTCHA! JULIA, YOU'RE STAYING ON THE GROUND!" He pointed a stern finger at her and then he pointed to the platform as if to say she would remain glued there.

Julia confessional: *waves a hand unbothered* Whatever… I'm actually flattered that they feel so threatened by me they feel the need to gang up on me

"MK… Lime!"

MK loaded her bow quickly. She would have to hit a bullseye to save Julia because right now everyone was gunning for her. And MK didn't think she could stop the big, beefy Caleb unless she bit his ankles too. There was also Raj to worry about… and this time she wouldn't be able to stop Emma and Damien below…

THWACK!

"BINGO! And that's a good one too!" MK cheered as she smiled at her bullseye. "MK, your sabotage is… knocking someone down a level?… wow, we're getting a lot of those recently eh? Chef, maybe we should shuffle these around a bit better…" Chris said, slightly frowning. It had been a while since the last 'bad bow' or 'competition' sabotage.

MK smirked. "Knocking down Raj!" she proclaimed.

Raj looked thunderstruck. "WHAT?! But I didn't even get a chance to stop Julia from doing Alabama shots!" – A trap door opened – "AHHHH!" and Raj disappeared. Julia and MK high-fived each other as Raj fell screaming to the bottom level.

"Raj is on the bottom level!" Chris said. This game looked like it was going to be over soon. Almost everyone on the bottom level was going to go out next since they had only had one arrow and requesting for five more meant they would have to drop to the mud. Chris hummed happily as he imagined this long game finally being over soon so he could get to his lunch.

Almost with impeccable timing, Raj took aim for the lime target he was supposed to be going over and ended up hitting an orange target with a THWACK!

Raj's face fell. "I'm done….". He had just been knocked down a level! And now, it was finally time for the mud…. He was going to join Axel…

"AHHHH!" he yelped crashing face first into the sticky brown substance.

SPLASH!

"RAJIE!" Wayne panicked, staring down at the gloopy mass of brown below. Raj poked his mud-covered face out and chuckled weakly.

Raj confessional: It's like warm poo! Only without the stink!

"Raj is out!" Chris said a little too happily. The mouth-watering roast beef sandwich was all he was thinking about at this point.

"No way…" Wayne squeezed his bow tightly while his hands shook. Wayne looked down at his two arrows and his score of 5…. Things definitely weren't looking good for him either… but he would have to at least try…

Wayne loaded up his bow and aimed straight for a red target.

THWACK!

Not a bullseye, but it was another 6 points. He took a glance up at the scoreboard:

Julia: 44

Emma: 29

Damien: 23

Caleb: 22

MK: 20

Wayne: 11

Raj: 15 *OUT*

Axel: 1 *OUT*

"And with that, another round has been completed!"

Wayne confessional: Oh man, Jules is pretty good at this game eh? Is there anything she can't do? *chuckles*

"Damien… lime!"

Damien took a shuddering breath as he loaded up his final arrow. After this, he would fall to the mud. He did not care whether he scored a bullseye or not but he wanted to at least go out doing his best.

Damien confessional: My odds are not the best right now. I'm about to hit the mud after this shot. But I still want to go out doing my best, like a knight. With dignity! *brings a proud fist to his chest and pounds it*

THWACK!

A bullseye, now of all times… Would've been better before but OK… Damien thought grumpily. The shot was bittersweet for him. He had gained his last 10 points, he was about to be knocked down into the mud because he had no more arrows but he also received one last sabotage before he fell.

"Choose someone to knock off… again… you sure you shuffled these right?" Chris stared suspiciously at Chef who whistled.

"YES! BEFORE I GO, KNOCKING DOWN MK TO AVENGE RAJ!" Damien hollered. The trapdoor opened below MK and Damien's feet and they both fell. "AHHH!" they yelled as MK fell to the first level with a resounding THUD! while Damien face-planted into the mud with a SPLASH! He was now officially out of the game.

"Damien is out!" Chris said jovially, as Damien coughed up some mud and gave a feeble thumbs-up.

"Julia…orange."

Right on cue, Emma assumed position once more and began violently shaking the beam. Fully aware that MK was watching, she hoped that Wayne would provide her some cover despite his objections to sabotaging Julia the round before. And to her great surprise he did!

Emma confessional: *blinks impressed* Oh wow… he's actually on our side?

"Wayne?" Emma asked genuinely confused. "I thought you said you didn't want to sabotage Julia?"

"Like I said before, she'll just do whatever she needs to in order to hit the shot," Wayne shrugged. "So it doesn't really make a difference. I'll hold MK off though because why not?" Wayne guffawed at MK who looked like she had just had her beanie stripped away from her once again.

For a split second, Wayne turned his head around to make sure Emma was doing all right but that was a big mistake. MK pounced and another hockey bro's ankle was bitten today.

Wayne roared in pain, flailed his arms around and collapsed to the floor with a CRASH!

MK coughed and wheezed, clutching her chest in terror. This time, there had been an almost fungal-like taste to it.

MK confessional: *groans and coughs out a light-orange hair* What is with their ankles? Do hockey players just never wash them?

Meanwhile, on the level above, Julia locked eyes with her target in the orange column, bounced on the balls of her feet, bracing herself to jump and time her shot like she had done before. She had been so focused on her target she momentarily forgot about Caleb.

Julia jumped high into the air once more and pulled her arrow back but she suddenly felt a strong, thick hand grab her calf.

Julia only had a second to look down in shock before she was viciously slammed to the ground, her bow falling out of her hand. Due to the impact, Caleb had just knocked the bun off of her and she was back to her normal-length hair.

CRASH!

Caleb stood defiantly above her, blocking all sunlight. "OH NO YOU DON'T! YOU STAY SHOOTING ON THE GROUND!" he ordered, pointing a finger sharply at her.

Julia leaned back against her elbows on the ground while she stared up at Caleb with pure anger. "You did not just touch me like that…" she said threateningly, her voice barely above a whisper.

"I did, and I'll do it again if I have to!" Caleb roared.

Julia gave a small laugh. "Oh yeah?" she said doubtfully, as she reached for her bow laying a few feet beside her.

Caleb confessional: Anything to keep that annoying demon on the ground!

What followed was so fast and unexpected Caleb did not even realize what had just happened until he felt the blood. Julia leaned on her back while the platform was still shaking. She quickly loaded her bow, pulled her arrow back and shot it with vigor. The arrow left her bow, grazed Caleb's cheek and soared into the distance. Immediately, Caleb began bleeding and he howled in pain as he felt the sting on his cheek where the arrow had sliced it.

"ARE YOU CRAZY?! THIS ISN'T THE HUNGER GAMES!" he yelped. He knew Julia was mean but he did not know she was this brutal. Arrow injuries had the potential to be life-threatening! Though she had only given him a scratch on his face, Caleb wouldn't put it past Julia to shoot for a vital organ if given the chance.

Julia sassily fluttered her fingers and waved him off. "Mmm for me it is," she laughed coldly.

Caleb shook his head in annoyance at this insane behaviour. Although… perhaps it wasn't all bad… after all, the one good thing that came out of this was the fact that Julia had gotten 0 points…

"Whatever. You just wasted an arrow on me when you should have been focusing on your target! HA!" he laughed just as cruelly back to her.

But to his surprise, Julia did not look shaken. On the contrary, she looked unnaturally Zen as if nothing in the world could bother her.

Julia merely sneered. "Did I really? Check again." She pointed a finger behind Caleb and he turned around slowly, horrified. Deep down, he knew what he was going to see –

In the lowest orange target, was an arrow clean in the very center.

Caleb confessional: *visibly confused* H – H – HOW?!

"NO WAY!" Caleb yelled in disbelief, as Julia happily watched her score shoot up to 54.

"WHAT?!" Axel raised a shaking fist.

"That should NOT have happened," Damien put his hands on his hat.

"Wow… remind me not to give Julia a bow and arrow…" Raj mumbled.

"Julia, your sabotage is… knocking – YOU KNOW WHAT? That's it, I'm going to declare the bad bow sabotage!" Chris said firmly as he ripped apart the 'knock someone down a level' card. He was rather tired of seeing it over and over again. Chef chuckled.

"Emma," Julia said promptly. Now it was Emma's turn to pick up the beaten bow. With her being on the worst level possible paired with an old bow, her odds looked slim to none. A spin of the wheel and –

"Yellow," Emily said.

Emma's hands trembled, trying desperately to ignore the mud below her but it was no use. Her hand slipped and the arrow went THWACK! on a red target.

"OH NO!" Emma gasped in horror.

"Bye Emma!" Julia waved sarcastically.

"THIS ISN"T FAIRRRR!" Emma shrieked as she joined Damien, Raj and Axel in the mud.

SPLAT!

"Emma's out! Caleb – red!"

At that moment, an intern with a medical kit appeared and Caleb gratefully wrapped some gauze on his face.

"Thanks," Caleb said as the intern left the platform. Now he was ready to shoot.

Caleb loaded his bow and was about to shoot when he felt Julia climb on top of him, trapping his head between her legs just like Axel had done in the horror challenge.

"What the – ?" Caleb began ready to flick her off like an irritating bug but then –

BANG! BANG! BANG!

Julia began whacking his head repeatedly with her bow, each hit more personal than the last.

BANG!

"OW!"

BANG!

"OW!"

BANG!

"OW!"

Caleb confessional: She's hitting so hard it's almost as if she's whacking me with a frying pan instead of a bow!

Caleb's head was being smashed in by Julia's bow and she refused to let go of her tight hold on him. Everyone else looked up in shock, the ones in the mud barely able to see what was going on since so much mud was in their eyes, while Wayne and MK could only look up cluelessly.

Though she could not exactly see what was going on, MK could hear what sounded like hard hitting followed by Caleb's high-pitched screams.

"What the hell is going on up there?" MK chuckled. Whatever it was, it sounded like Caleb was in a lot of pain. Wayne looked up and frowned.

MK confessional: SHE IS AN ANIMAL!

By this point, Caleb was seriously starting to get annoyed. Finally, he threw Julia off of him with slight force, taking care not to use too much strength. After all, he did not want to injure her too badly.

No sooner had he flung Julia off did she come charging at him hungrily. Caleb barely had time to point his bow at his target when all of a sudden he found himself in the same position he had been in just a few moments prior. Once again, Julia was on top of him and she was whacking his head with her bow, even harder than last time.

BANG!

"OW!"

BANG!

"OW!"

BANG!

"OW!"

Steam was blowing in Caleb's ears. She was not giving him a chance to shoot!

Caleb confessional: *large red lump on his head* WHAT IS WRONG WITH HER?

"THAT'S IT! NO MORE MR NICE GUY! I'M GOING TO DO WHAT I SHOULD'VE DONE A LONG TIME AGO," he roared to the sky furiously. Without a second thought, Caleb grabbed Julia's ankle and hung her upside down, her golden hair flowing downwards on either side of her face as she looked at Caleb nervously. There was not much Julia could do now, Caleb was dangling her by her ankle easily and looked unimpressed.

As he held her up with two large fingers, Julia gave a little laugh. "Oh… hey… hii…. I hope I didn't hurt you too bad?" she said whimsically, as if expecting Caleb to forgive her and let her go. He did not.

Caleb rolled his eyes. "I mean, you whacked my head 27 times but yeah... I'm doing alright… now stop hitting me!"

Julia curled her lip and raised an eyebrow in a taunting fashion. "I'll keep hitting you if I want. What are you gonna do about it?" she said defiantly.

Caleb sighed in resignation. He knew Julia was not going to make things easy. He was going to have to act against his will. Though he always considered himself a good and righteous man, sometimes good men who were pushed to the edge and forced to fight back committed acts they didn't want to. He had to stop Julia now and make the message unmistakably clear. Otherwise, he was going to keep getting hit on the head and he would never be able to shoot his arrow. His heart was pumping extraordinarily fast, his lips quivered as the adrenaline kicked in. Caleb squeezed Julia's ankle with immense pressure and stared into Julia's wide-eyed irises.

"I mean it, stop! LET ME SHOOT MY SHOT!" He clenched his teeth and looked rather frightening.

Julia had never seen this side of Caleb before; he was acting almost animal-like. Julia's breathing turned shallow as her eyes rounded in fear. For the first time in her life, someone was filling her with intense fear, a fear she had never felt before. In her head, she desperately began to pray to the sun and moon goddesses (which she didn't even believe in) that Caleb would loosen his grip. Unfortunately, he only seemed to tighten it. It was almost as if he were trying to restrict the blood flow down to her feet.

"OW!" Julia yelped. "OW! OK! OK! LET GO OF ME SHEESH!"

Finally. Now that he had made sure she would stop, Caleb relaxed his grip. In his anger, however, he threw Julia off to the side a little too harshly and next thing he knew he pinned her to the ground. Julia, who had thought everything was over, panicked as she squirmed around helplessly under Caleb's crushing muscles.

"Why would you do that you IDIOT? You're like 3 times my bodyweight!" she scowled, struggling to break free.

Caleb forcefully slammed Julia back against the wooden floor.

BANG!

"STAY DOWN! DO NOT HIT ME WITH YOUR BOW AGAIN! THIS IS THE LAST TIME I'M WARNING YOU!" he said fiercely. Where all of this anger was coming from, he did not know. Caleb had a feeling this had more to do with Priya rather than Julia hitting him repeatedly.

Julia remained frozen with fear and did not fight back. Deciding that this was good enough, Caleb blew steam from his nose angrily and turned around to shoot. Now, he did not have any distractions!

Behind his back, Julia slowly got up. Through her watery eyes, she was watching him with absolute rage. She had just been humiliated on national television by him – that was simply an unforgivable crime. What would her followers think about their leader being manhandled by Caleb?

She narrowed her eyes at his backside. Her heart rate was beating dangerously fast and her breathing was out of control. Julia clawed the wood with her fake nails viciously, giving them deep scratch marks as she imagined she was ripping apart Caleb's face. An arrow to his face would not be enough. Winning immunity would not be enough either. She was bloodthirsty for revenge and she was going to make his life an absolute hell. Caleb was now target number one on Julia's list.

Julia confessional: *punches a hole through the confessional wall* UGGGGGHHHHHHH HE SHOULDN'T HAVE DONE THAT!

THWACK!

It was another bullseye for Caleb. "YES!" he pumped his fist happily.

"Who's gonna get a bad bow Caleb?" Chris asked.

"MK!" Caleb promptly replied.

"MK…cyan!" Emily said, whistling. "Tough luck girl…"

MK confessional: Yup, I'm screwed…

MK aimed at the lone target in the cyan column. Even before the arrow had hit the lime-target to the left, MK knew she was a goner from the moment it had left her bow.

"AHHH!" MK cried as the trapdoor opened one last time for her.

"MK IS OUT!" Chris announced gleefully as the 5th contestant fell to the mud below.

SPLAT!

MK coughed as she shook mud out of her eyes and stared at the big screen displaying the scores. She had finished with 20… it was up to Julia to win immunity now…

Lost in her thoughts, she didn't even realize Wayne was about to join her and the others in the mud below. Apparently, he had just missed an easy red target and had somehow managed to hit the tricky cyan target instead once again.

"AHHH!" Wayne's voice rang as he belly-flopped into the mud.

SPLAT!

"WAYNE IS OUT!" Chris said matter-of-factly. "We're now down to our final two players: Julia and Caleb. Julia is in the lead with 54 points while Caleb is trailing by 22 points at a score of 32. Both shooting from the second level. Julia has 4 arrows and Caleb…" Chris consulted the board to make sure he was seeing right. "Ooo tough luck… Caleb's run out of arrows. He's going to need 5 more but once he does that he drops down to the bottom level!"

Caleb sighed. He did not know why he was continuing; as far as he was concerned, this game was over and it had been over for many rounds. Julia's lead was simply too large. And he naively thought he could catch up through determination and grit!

Caleb stared at the ground sorrowfully. He felt he had failed Priya by failing to win this challenge and beat Julia. Caleb sighed in defeat once again and mumbled, "OK, I guess I'll take five more arr –"

"STOP!" Julia's voice suddenly rang loudly. Caleb froze, wondering what he had done wrong.

Julia stared ahead at the targets, talking over the rustling breeze. "Chris, I have a little proposal. Sudden death. Winner takes all." She turned and stared up maliciously into Caleb's eyes. "Bring us both back to the top for a clear view. I'll give Caleb two of my arrows. He can shoot them both. Whichever one of us hits closer to the bullseye wins immunity."

To make things even more surprising, Julia casually dropped one of her arrows from her fingertips and let it fall into the mud where it was easily absorbed.

Caleb confessional: Whoa… What just happened? And why is there a hole in the wall? *looks at hole wide-eyed*

Chris' ears' perked up. He liked the sound of this! Julia's challenge meant this would all be over in a few minutes. "WHOA! OK I like that! You're giving Caleb two arrows though? Really? Aren't you feeling a little too overconfident?" he frowned, wondering why Julia had discarded one of her arrows. Was she really that confident she would win that she only needed a single arrow?

"Oh, I'll beat him with what I have," Julia replied smoothly, now glaring at Caleb. "I don't need that arrow…"

"BRING IT ON!" Caleb said, accepting the challenge. Here was his chance to beat Julia once and for all. They were going to abandon the point system and place all their chips on this one round. The most important round of all. And this time he would not fail.

Caleb believed Julia's cockiness would be her downfall. Even if she believed she was the better archer, to drop one of your arrows so carelessly and even worse, intentionally… it was like she was trying to mock Caleb and say she could beat him with less.

"Big mistake Julia. You'll regret dropping that arrow…" Caleb narrowed his eyes as the two sized each other up.

"Mmm, I don't think so," she said coolly.

"Alright, who's up?" Chris asked now that Julia and Caleb were both back on the top platform with a clear view of the targets.

"I'll let him shoot first," Julia smirked.

"And which target are we shooting for?" Emily added.

"Cyan… unless you're too scared?" Julia turned to Caleb who merely gave a sharp jerk of his head without saying a word. Him, scared? As if!

Down below, the other 6 were watching apprehensively. In their heads, everyone with the exception of MK was rooting for Caleb.

"Come on Caleb…" Emma pleaded.

"You got this Caleb!" Raj cheered.

"Don't let Julia win!" Axel roared.

Caleb took a deep breath and stepped up to the very middle of the platform. Julia had granted him this ideal shooting spot. Caleb pulled his arrow back and closed one eye, concentrating on the target in the cyan column with the other. His hand trembled and he was sweating so much he looked like he was being cooked under the sun.

At least I have two chances he reassured himself. So even if he messed this one up, he had another shot. But Caleb didn't even want to consider the possibility of a second shot. He would end it right here with a bullseye. Caleb did his best to ignore Julia who he could see sneering at him in his peripheral vision. A sharp release and –

THWACK!

Caleb groaned. He hadn't even been close and only managed to get himself 5 points. Caleb stared ashamed at his arrow while Julia cackled to the side.

"You doing all right big guy? Good thing I gave you two arrows, right? You can still redeem yourself after that pathetic performance…" she drawled.

Caleb clenched his fist and muttered to himself, "Ignore her… ignore…" he loaded up his final arrow. He had been trembling before but it was nothing compared to how hard he was trembling now.

Caleb stared as hard as he could at the target and after a brief second of hesitation released. Caleb's heart lifted as this one looked like it was going to be the one.

THWACK!

So close. Caleb must've been at most a millimetre off of the bullseye region. He had gained 9 points. This was as close as it could get… Caleb gave a shaky breath. To win the challenge, Julia would have to hit a bullseye, no exceptions. She's good but even this is pretty bad odds for her Caleb thought to himself, content.

Caleb stepped aside as Julia stepped up to the very middle of the platform to take her final shot. By now, a stronger gust of wind had kicked in. The breeze caused some of her hair to blow across her face but she did not care. She wanted to show Caleb even with all these minor shortcomings, she would crush him.

Julia squinted until her eye was almost closed, staring deeply into her target and then a quick release –

THWACK!

AUTHOR'S COMMENTS

OK, lots of stuff happened again! First, Damien and the idol. Yeah, he got it stolen and I decided to show exactly how it was done. It seems kind of lame for him not to check up on it anymore (especially when he finally watched the show properly) but I explain that in a future episode. For now, I added the condition that he promises himself not to check up on it until he receives another note. Right now, it looks like he will simply be idoled out but I promise there is a more complex plot revolving around this idol and Damien is very central to it. It will involve him as well as 3 other people and it's one of the more important storylines.

I also decided to make Julia insanely good at archery because of what we saw from "Fun Fight at the O'Cake Corral" when she shot an arrow precisely at the bottle of vinegar. Did she beat Caleb with her final arrow?...

The commercial was the same one from TDI Episode 5 – "Not Quite Famous."

Wayne and Raj are now hiding stuff from each other. Does this mean they do not trust each other anymore?...