Isle Of Despair Chapter 12: Basic Straining, a total drama series fanfic

Oh wow. Chapter 12: Basic Straining, huh? I'm not going to lie, this has been my most anticipated chapter ever since I first began this story (Besides for the finale, of course). This is going to be my longest chapter yet…

Thanks again for all of the reviews! 40! Unbelievable! I love seeing the theories and feedback as always! Do you think we can finally reach 50 reviews with this chapter?

Just two more challenges until the merge begins… who are the next two to die?

I seriously hope you all don't get too uncomfortable because someone is gonna get basically strained out of their life…

The camera faded open to a view of the sun, before panning down towards a wide shot of the dreaded Island.

The air felt moist and the grass around was wet, several campers could be seen walking about far behind the center of the shot, getting ready for breakfast.

Dead center of the shot, was the grinning host, Chris McLean, standing on the docks with his welcoming arms out.

"Welcome back to Total! Drama! Island!" He said in his flashy show biz voice.

"In the last episode, we had our campers compete in some trust-building exercises! You now, to cool the tension between our two teams!"

The camera flashed to a flashback of Gwen climbing up the rock wall, with Ezekiel free-falling right behind her.

"Although, I'd say that these trust-building exercises are as ineffective as ever! As tensions rise between both of the teams!"

The camera flashed rapidly between Noah spitting out the poisonous sushi before throwing up, Justin falling to the ground with crabapple bruises all over him, and Gwen falling into the pool of electric jellyfish.

"Yeowch!" Chris exclaimed exaggeratedly. "Distrust was seen outside of the challenge too! With LeShawna trying to flip Noah against Katie and Heather, and Ezekiel getting put in his place by Harold!"

The camera flashed between LeShawna and Harold conversing with Noah and Ezekiel respectively before flashing back to the host's winning smile.

"But that's not all! Katie was seen grieving Sadie yesterday! She's been angry at the Bass all this time! Someone is having a bad time with menopause!"

The camera quickly switched to Katie aggressively taunting Duncan and Geoff on the other team.

"But it seems like Katie isn't the only one who's grieving for a lost one! As clumsy boy Tyler did a little whoopsie as a GPS, causing our beloved party boy to slam himself right into a sharp branch! Piercing not only his heart but Bridgette's heart as well in the process!"

The camera flashed to a red-tinted still image of Geoff leaning forward against the sharp branch skewering violently through his chest. His cowboy hat had fallen off in the impact, revealing his lifeless eyes stuck open, staring at where he'd last seen his beloved Bridgette standing. A mixture of shock filled the pale look on his face, only lightening up a bit from the sight of Bridgette.

"Man, is this show getting good! I can't wait to see the ratings!" The host exclaimed with excitement.

"Anyways, how will Bridgette feel about her boyfriend getting skewered like a shish kebab? How will Tyler act now that he's committed an act of manslaughter? And how will I reprimand him for it? How will Geoff's former allies reprimand him for it? What will conclude from all the boiling tension from the Screaming Gophers?"

"Come see right here and right now! On Total! Drama! Island!"

Theme Song

The camera focused in on through a window from an inside perspective of one of the cabins as dawn broke.

Light rain pitter-pattered against the window as stormy clouds began clearing up. It had been a wet restless night of rain sloshing against the frigid roofs of the cabins, causing rest for the campers.

The camera slowly panned to a wide view of the cabin, which was revealed as the Bass girl's cabin.

However, not two figures slept in the room, but in fact three, as a green mohawked twisted and turned in his bed.

Duncan had slept in the girl's cabin instead of his designated boy's side. Not for any motives that Cody would hold, but after the intense ruckus of the sled race yesterday, he just couldn't stand to be in the same room as those three idiots.

He was sleeping in what was formerly Izzy's bed. Or who- what he called the Psycho Hose Beast.

He tittered a little laugh at the thought of what felt like ages ago.

Just about over two weeks ago was that Psycho Hose Beast running around wreaking havoc and terrifying most of the campers at the campsite. Even the delinquent himself, even if just slightly, although he'd never admit that to anybody, it'd be a secret that he'd take to the grave.

The delinquent rolled around in bed and looked through the center of the room at the bed that was at the opposite side of the room, which had a few dumbbells laying on it.

Eva's bed.

He frowned again at what happened with the bully.

Duncan's first impression of her was one of slight nauseating, although he couldn't discern how much of it was from the brute herself or the concept of the game as a whole.

Overall, he'd thought that Eva would be a great benefit to his team, as many other contestants, including him, seemed to be physically strong.

Yet Eva's anger would be the downfall of herself and that other black guy who's name Duncan could barely remember. All that he remembered was him taking her MP3 player, getting his legs broken, and him getting three strikes out by a baseball bat.

And that the first letter of his name was a 'D'...

Devin?

Dwayne?

Dave?

Eh, whatever. Duncan thought. It barely even matters anymore.

Although Duncan couldn't help but stare at the vacant bully's bed.

The injury that caused her death struck Duncan as too subversive, yet not as subversive as Geoff's death the day prior - another elimination caused by an accident, another elimination who died from the hazards of the challenge, one of the eliminations to be caused by a camper - Tyler.

All Duncan could do was wonder who else would die in the midst of a challenge, or by unfair means, or even outside of a challenge.

And with the mention of Geoff, you couldn't forget his similarly blonde surfer girlfriend, who had wept quietly to sleep.

Sure, it bothered him, hell, he felt bad about it, but he'd rather sleep with a grieving girl than with three people who had killed one of the people he had been the closest to on the island.

The juvie sighed as these thoughts kept pestering his fatigued mind. Where was this during The Big Sleep? He wondered. Yet that quip made him think more of what would've been had he managed to stay awake for just a minute longer. With one extra person on their team, they could've kept Geoff for a bit longer.

He tore off his bed sheets and jumped out of bed with his boxers on, only putting on his skull t-shirt as he stepped outdoors.

The door creaked closed behind him as he took in a deep breath of the sweet wet summer air around him.

The wet dew in the mourning air around him reminded him of mornings back home with his older brother, as his brother smoked cigarettes right outside their apartment balcony.

He remembered his brother would pester him to try, but would always respect Duncan's wishes that he wouldn't. Sure, he looked like a delinquent who couldn't give less of a crap about the rules, but smoking just wasn't something he was particularly interested in.

But lung cancer was probably the least of his worries.

The clumsy jock of the team looked outside at the rain falling onto the grass as it slowly began to lighten up.

Godammit, I'm such a fricking moron. He thought.

The thought of Geoff plagued his mind like one of those confessional flies buzzing around his head.

He thought he was so close to winning it for his team again, just like he did after burning those oars, making up to them by swimming his team's canoes to shore.

Well, he always preferred summer sports over winter sports.

The lightheartedness of jokes didn't come over Tyler's mind, however as he thought about every minuscule detail that he could've done to change the outcome of that race.

But then again, should he wish for a different outcome?

Sure, he was now responsible for murder, and Chris would probably do something painful to him, more painful than the burden of the crime on his soul, but the most he could do was at least be thankful that the death… benefitted him and his teammates.

At least Harold saw it that way. Being at the bottom of the barrel must've really gotten to him.

The Killer Bass were now split into two opposing factions with three on each side - Courtney, Bridgette, and Duncan were one on side and Ezekiel, Harold, and of course himself were on the other - enough for a tiebreaker for the next time they lost.

Hopefully, that would not happen again, and the merge would arrive before so.

The jock looked down at his chest, underneath his tank top. A small puncture had poked into his chest by just less than an inch from the impact of the sled crash.

He brushed the area with his finger, blood had leaked out of it earlier, but Chef had cleaned up the cut with some Iodine and placed a trusty Band-Aid over it.

On the island, any damages felt nearly insignificant to the looming threat of death. That and there was the fact that Tyler was an accident-prone back home.

Hell, that trait of him did not translate well here, he thought for sure that he'd make some stupid mistake like breaking his legs the same way that the Jamaican-Canadian guy or Eva did. Or end up like one of the people on the opposite team who supposedly had gotten mauled by a bear during one of the challenges. Yet, miraculously, he was still well, alive, and only had a Band-Aid on his chest.

All of those mistakes and I still have my limbs… so far…

He sighed regretfully, with thoughts of survival lingering in his brain, and leaned back in his wooden chair as it creaked.

The creaky chair wasn't the only thing that creaked, as a door swung open and creaked shut with someone taking deep breaths of the mourning dew air that was outside with Tyler.

The jock looked to his left unphased and noticed Duncan, in his boxers and his t-shirt, taking in the morning air. Simply looking at the lake waves as they splashed against the shore.

It was still very early in the morning, the sun was barely peaking out of the horizon as the storm clouds cleared up, giving a view as holy as God's gate to Heaven.

Duncan didn't seem to notice Tyler, as slight unease dawned on the sporto, who thought of a way to sneak into his room unnoticed.

Maybe I could sneak back into my room. Hopefully quietly enough, even though he's like 5 meters away from me and I have to go through a loud door and on some noisy floorboards too- Ah, fuck never mind he's right in front of me.

Duncan's mere presence in front of the jock was so sudden that he let out a small yelp.

The delinquent didn't move, but it felt as if the force of him pushed him against a wall like a bully to a weaker kid against a locker. Of course, the delinquent's piercings, unibrow, and the general angry look he had at Tyler helped very much with this allegory.

Tyler gulped in a worried breath as the force of Duncan hovered over him, blocking the bright view of the sun's horizon.

Duncan just stood there, with an initial lack of words, he had no idea what he should say, but all that he knew was that he had to look tough. To look menacing. To look fierce. To look straight at the person who killed Geoff and show no mercy like his brother would.

Finally, Duncan let a few words out of his mouth that broke through the thick morning air.

"Tyler." He said deeply.

"Duncan…" Tyler quietly meeped back.

"You…" Duncan's words trailed off into nothing but pestering thought as the look of Geoff's face burned into his mind.

"I've got my eye on you, sporto." Duncan reaffirmed his threatening position. "I mean it, you've messed up too many times that I don't even know how you're still here."

Duncan's lion's breath breathed heavily into Tyler's frigid face, he felt more frozen than a deer in headlights. Fitting considering the glare of the sun surrounded Duncan, creating a shadowy look for the juvie.

Duncan began stumbling over his words after his short pause.

"I just- uh- Bridgette… she was crying like… she was so fucking upset man…"

The delinquent sighed and backed off the tense boy who was almost curling up into his wooden chair.
"Just go inside, dude," Duncan said. "Before I punch your lights out!" He added as the jock scurried inside back to the comfort of his two other friends.

The door to the boy's side cabin slammed shut as Duncan sighed again and sat down in the warmth of the wooden chair, looking back at the blissful horizon with the sun creeping up into the skies.

The delinquent slunked back into the smooth wooden chair and felt lax, the only good quality of this island was the view, that was for sure.

Dawn had finally passed as the camera flicked back to the girl's cabin or rather Courtney's alliance's cabin as Duncan had migrated to their side, not willing to sleep with the three bass.

Bridgette lazily sat in her bed, staring dryly at the wall clearly lost in thought.

Courtney picked out her outfit for the day. A white dress shirt with a gray sweater on top, along with olive green chinos. It's what she's worn practically every day for some reason that she couldn't discern.

Despite her current ignorance of Bridgette, her mind was preoccupied on not only the grieving surfer chick but her next course of play. How will she get Bridgette back in control? How will she regain control of her team? How will she get control over the entire island and survive?

Geoff's sudden death was a huge compromise in her plans, to say the least.

She'd knew that either one of the two blonde beach couple would eventually die leaving the other in tears, but she had quietly hoped that it would happen later, at a time much later into the competition, after they'd… outlive their usefulness, to say the least.

God, Courtney, that sounds completely insane. Courtney thought to herself as she closed the cabinet drawer with fitness before peeking right over her shoulder where Bridgette was staring blankly into the wall.

Despite the surfer's tranquil appearance, complete dread and hopelessness filled her soul.

The pain of the burns that had damaged her hand was nothing compared to the figurative burns that cackled and cracked in her heart, similar to the firewood that pierced through Geoff's.

She had no motive or drive to go to the confessional and spew about her feelings. All she could do is sit in her bed and revel in the sorrow of Geoff's eternal absence.

The only solace that remained for her on the island got taken away from her in an instant. The only thing keeping her from breaking down in constant tears, distracting her from the looming reminder of death was gone.

Why did you have to leave me all alone, Geoff?

Courtney bit her lip as Bridgette sat blankly towards the wall before exiting the room, closing the door with finesse behind her.

(Confessional: Courtney)

The CIT took a deep breath as she tried to stay calm in the confessional can. Clearly distressed about her situation, which was further amplified when a fly buzzed right into her mouth.

She spat out the annoying insect and flapped away at it.

"Ugh, damn fly… Anyways, I'm working on what my plan is next. But I know that I'm seriously in a sticky situation. I'm down an ally and another one is not only physically hurt, but emotionally destroyed."

Courtney brushed her brunette hair out of her eyes with her fingers before exhaling again.

"I know that if we have another tiebreaker, Bridgette's probably not making out of it… So I have to make sure that Bridgette is in soldier shape the next couple of days…"

(End Confessional: Courtney)

(Confessional: Gwen)

The loner licked her palm before slicking back her shaggy teal-dyed hair.

"Ugh, I… didn't feel good after nearly drowning in that electric pool… of eels…" Gwen said clearly traumatized from the experience.

"I was out cold for a good while after that…" She shuddered in remembrance of the dreaded experience.

"My hand getting cut a bit from glass is nothing compared to that… that healed quickly, even though there's still a big scar there…"

Gwen displayed her right hand close to the camera, twisting it to show the side of her hand with a large red scar going around the side of it.

"Anyways, while I was out cold, apparently the blonde party dude died in the challenge from an accident or something. I'll be honest, with a guy who's mood is as annoyingly positive as that, I was sure that he'd outlive me. To be honest, I'm kinda surprised that I've outlived around the half of people on my team… Although I guess that's not saying much since my team is pretty asscheeks overall. I'll just be thankful that I didn't die while unconcious, although I doubt that Chris would give any of us a painless death…"

The goth rubbed her eyes as the camera turned to static.

(End Confessional: Gwen)

Gwen walked up to the mess hall doors dryly, looking around her surroundings of the wet grass and trees around the main camp.

She exhaled and raised an eyebrow as she saw a couple of campers waiting at the door to the mess hall. LeShawna, Duncan, Courtney, and Noah.

"What's going on? Is the door locked?" Gwen asked.

"No, we're all just standing here for no reason." Noah quipped before Gwen raised an eyebrow at him, anticipating a sarcastic response. "Of course, the door is locked, we've knocked and I've even tried the back."

The seven campers looked at the door before letting the loner peek through the blurry glass windows of the mess hall.

The mess hall looked normal as ever, all though the lights were turned off and the room was empty with the exception of the chairs and tables set up around the room.

"How long have you all been standing here?" Gwen asked curiously, looking at LeShawna for a response only for the CIT next to her to respond.

"I was here right after Duncan got here. Just about seven-ish minutes ago. I think it's about six o'clock, so we are pretty early."

The early morning waking routine had gotten most of the cast adjusted to the schedule at this point. Where they were usually woken around as early as 5 to 8.

"Uh, she was talking to me, hon." LeShwana scowled back at the perfectionist.

Courtney rolled her eyes back at the large girl. Petty isn't she? "My sincerest apologies, LeShawna." Courtney sarcastically responded.

"Don't you think I forgot you trying to get me in trouble for pummeling that pervert when he deserved it." LeShawna mentioned, leaning forward and pointing a finger at Courtney.

Courtney, who had admittingly forgotten this fact with all the fuss, opened her mouth to speak only for the loudspeaker to screech.

"MAGGOTS! RISE AND SHINE! MEET ME AT THE MESS HALL IN TEN OR YOU'LL BE EATING MOLDY CRACKERS FOR BREAKFAST!"

The loudspeaker screeched to a stop as the contestants covered their ears. The mess hall was still empty.

"He's really acting like that isn't better than what we already eat. Huh?" Duncan stated as the rest of the campers waited outside the mess hall doors.

Slowly, over the next ten minutes, more and more campers arrived at the mess hall doors.

Bridgette was the last one to arrive at the front of the doors with her head held low, sluggishly shuffling to the mess hall. She looked as nearly as depressed as Katie was the day prior.

Katie frowned as Bridgette stopped next to her, taking a step away from the blonde surfer. The anger she had at Bridgette for voting Sadie off had mostly dissipated through the night.

Nearly as soon as Bridgette had arrived there, the doors to the mess hall swung wide open.

The campers peeked inside where they saw Chef Hatchet standing in a soldier's uniform with a green hat and aviators. He snarled deeply as Chris sat on a stool in the center of the room. Behind the two stars of the show, a couple of interns could be seen setting up a large wooden wheel with different photos on it.

"Uh, what's the wheel for, Chris?" Justin asked as Chris hastily nodded.

"I'll keep this quick since I have a meeting to attend, but Chef will be hosting today's challenge… Or as however as long as it's gonna be… Trust me! It's going to be bru-tal!"

Chef gave a wide devious smirk and waved his fingers at the contestants.

"Uh, what's the wheel for then, eh?" Ezekiel asked.

Chris stood up from his stool and walked over to where the large spinning wheel was.

"This! Is the Wheel of Torture!" Chris gestured his hands towards the large wheel. "Whenever something happens that doesn't adhere to our rules, we spin this big fella to choose what we should do!"

At this revelation, Tyler's eyes widened and he quickly shrunk back into the crowd next to Zeke and Harold. Chris smiled gleefully as he twisted his head to face the jock.

"Tyler! I debated whether you should even get a spin because what you did to Geoff was an accident!"

Tyler gulped loudly as Bridgette next to him gave him a quick glance before continuing to look straight at the ground. At this point the rest of the cast had their eyes on the jock for his undecided fate.

"Buuut, since it increases ratings… Chef! Spin the damn thing!" Chef grabbed the wheel and began to spin it as Tyler's worried eyes watched the wheel spin.

The cast, except Bridgette, watched as the wheel spun through the options.

Rip off an arm.

Gouge out an eye.

Eat a bottle of glass.

Until the spinner finally landed on…

…

Camper's choice.

Chris's smile slightly faded as his eyes instantly went back to Tyler.

"Damn, I don't know why I even put that one on there, it can be drama-inducing but it can also be hella boring."

Tyler sweated nervously as Chris's eyes slowly turned his gaze at Duncan, who seemed relatively uninterested in what was happening,

"Well, what are you looking at Pretty Boy?" Duncan threatened, using the name that Chef Hatchet usually referred to him as.

"Duncan! You have… thirty seconds to do whatever damage you want to Tyler with no repercussions! Punch him, kick him, rip his arms out, whatever you deem as fitting!" Chris announced. "Starting… right now!"

The jock stepped back away from the delinquent as two interns shut the main mess hall doors, standing in front of it to block the jock from escaping.

Duncan was at a loss for words as he looked at the wheel, then Chris, then Courtney, then at Tyler who was quaking.

"GOSH! How is that fair?" Harold asked. "Two wrongs never make a right, eh," Zeke whined.

Duncan curled his lips inwards and squinted his eyes at the jock. Uncertain of what to do.

He had freedom for once on the island. Sure it was only the freedom to harm a person but it was freedom nonetheless.

Duncan had spent a restless night thinking to himself 'What would he do' to Tyler in the chance that he could avenge Geoff's death, what would match the crime of manslaughter?

And now the opportunity presented itself right there: a shivering jock awaiting Duncan's verdict, like a prisoner waiting for a judge to bang his gavel and declare the criminal guilty. Duncan was no judge, he held the figurative gavel in his hands and couldn't help but think,

Why was I chosen for this? Should I- What should I do to him?

Chris frowned as Duncan just stood in place for five seconds, lost in brainstorming, ignoring the murmurs of the campers around him.

"Hey! Juvie! You're the one doing the punishment itself! Act now! You only have like 15 seconds left!"

Courtney whispered back at Duncan, beckoning him to act, but not saying aloud what she wanted him to do.

"Just, go for it, Duncan! Do- do what you think he deserves! He's the one who killed Bridgette's boyfriend after all."

The surfer chick right next to Courtney just kept her head facing the ground, not saying a word or paying any attention until the CIT finally put her hand on her shoulder, letting Bridgette glance up at Courtney's hospitable smile for a quick glance.

"Bridgette, tell Duncan what you think he should do to the guy who killed your boyfriend," Courtney spoke rather quickly as not but ten seconds remained on ticking.

Duncan and Tyler both stood at opposite ends of each other, around five meters apart. Tyler couldn't back up anymore, cornered at the end of the wall with the menacing delinquent posing as his judge right in front of him.

"Duncan, GOSH, don't hurt him! I- It was an accident!"

"Hurting him ain't right at all, eh!"

Tyler's stressed eyes looked apologetically at Duncan as he quietly murmured.

"Duncan…"

Courtney's false cheerful smile faded within seconds as Bridge returned her head back down to the ground as Courtney looked back at the faceoff.

"Five seconds!" Chris angrily yelled, encouraging the delinquent to hurry up.

All Duncan could do in the next five seconds was raise his fist…

…

…before punching the jock in the stomach, causing him to fall back to the ground, clutching his stomach in pain.

Harold and Ezekiel helped the jock to his feet while Duncan shuffled back to where Courtney was standing, with her hands on her hips, raising her eyebrow at the juvie.

Chris frowned heavily, clearly upset by the lack of action that happened with the tension.

"Ugh! Fine! Jockless Sporto gets a little slap on the wrist! Whatever!" Chris stood up hastily, knocking over his stool while doing so before storming out the mess hall doors.

"I'm about to run late for a meeting, Chef's in charge! Listen to the rules! Now did that fatass nerdy intern call in my helico-"

Chris's voice faded away as the rest of the campers stood in awkward silence on the mess hall.

Tyler slowly clutched over holding his stomach as he grazed his finger over where Duncan had punched him, looking at the delinquent who was getting scolded by a whispering Courtney.

"MOVE ALONG, MAGGOTS!" Chef barked loudly and suddenly, startling the entire cast.

"REPORT RIGHT NOW TO THE DOCK OF SHAME AT 0800! DO Y'ALL UNDERSTAND?"

The campers quickly scurried their feet and squeezed through the mess hall doors out of frame.

"I'd better be getting paid overtime for this…" Chef mumbled.

(Confessional: Tyler)

The jock rubbed his stomach, the exact spot where Duncan had punched him, it was right beneath the area where he got scarred from yesterday's sharp branch.

"I guess I'm grateful that I didn't get any of those really bad punishments. Could you imagine if I had my ear get cut off? Or have had to swallow sharp glass?"

The jock shuddered at the thought.

"I dunno, bro… maybe I deserved something worse…"

(End Confessional: Tyler)

(Confessional: Duncan)

The delinquent scowled as he sat in the confessional, he clearly looked like his mind was bothered.

"Okay… so I didn't rip off Tyler's arm like Courtney scolded me about after…

Hey, I don't know why I was chosen for that shit for crying out loud, I said I'd keep my eye on Tyler, not that I'd beat the everloving crap out of him."

(End Confessional: Duncan)

The camera flashed to campers lined up on the Dock of Shame as Chef walked up and down the docks with his rough voice.

"MAGGOTS! TODAY WE WILL HAVE YOUR BASIC MILITARY TRAINING!"

Chef pulled out a long black stick and began hitting the contestants hard, correcting them to an attentive stance.

"EYES FORWARD! BACKS STRAIGHT! ARMS TO YOUR SIDES!"

The campers quickly obliged with the exception of two grieving girls.

"BLONDIE! TWEEDLE DEE! GET YOUR ASSES STRAIGHT!"

After a couple more hits from Chef's stick to perfect their imperfect stances, the two girls had correct posture.

"LISTEN HERE, MAGGOTS! YOU WILL ADDRESS TO ME AS MASTER CHIEF! IS THAT CLEAR?"

"Yes, Master Chief!" the campers added, with Ezekiel adding an 'eh' to the end.

"GOSH! I didn't know you liked Halo!" Harold nasally smiled before receiving three hits more by Chef.

"YOU WILL SPEAK WHEN I SAY YOU CAN SPEAK! IS THAT CLEAR SKINNY BOY?"

"Gosh! Yes, Master Chief!" Harold said while painfully saluting.

"So, when will we have breakfast?" Gwen asked abruptly only to receive a deadly glare from Chef, who leaned forward to scream into her face.

"DID I ASK YOU TO SPEAK, SOLDIER? YOU WILL EAT WHEN I SAY YOU EAT, YOU WILL PISS WHEN I SAY YOU PISS, AND YOU WILL SHIT WHEN I SAY YOU SHIT!"

Gwen shivered back as Chef retracted back into a calmer stance.

"But, uh… for your information, you will eat breakfast after we test out strength endurance."

(Confessional: Gwen)

The goth girl rolled her eyes as she sat in the stinky confessional, eyeing a skull carving that Duncan had made earlier.

"Today is gonna be a fun day…"

(End Confessional: Gwen)

(Confessional: Ezekiel)

The prarie boy picked at his nose before stopping to speak at the camera.

"My great uncle Hudson used to be in the Canadian army, eh. He was the only casualty in the Great Edmonton War. Of course, he died playing around with his gun while drunk. That's why I'm not a fan of these war people, eh. May he Rest in Peace."

(End Confessional: Ezekiel)

(Confessional: Chef)

The black cook gave a large snarl as he barely fit in the tight space of the confessional.

"Those rabblerousin' rascals are gonna regret trashin' up mah kitchen! 'Specially that no-good rascal Duncan! He left his chocolate chips all over the damn place!"

(End Confessional: Chef)

The camera flashed to a view of the hot sun beaming high in the sky before panning down to see both teams holding a canoe.

The Screaming Gophers were holding a green canoe, with Justin and LeShawna doing the most of the heavy lifting while Noah and Katie barely reached the canoe.

On the other end, the Killer Bass were holding a red canoe, with Duncan and Courtney doing the heavy lifitng while Bridgette barely gripped on the canoe.

The hot sun shined below onto the campers without a cloud in the sky blocking the heat from reaching the camper's skin.

On the far right side of the screen, Chef could be seen in a chair with his military outfit. He grabbed a water bottle that was sitting on top of a crate right by him and squeezed the water out of the plastic bottle.

Master Chief wiped the water off his lips with his bare arm before beginning his instructinos to the cast.

"Maggots! All of y'all are gonna be carrying these kayaks before breakfast. If one of you falls down or gives up, come and ring this here bell. Understand"

"Yes, Master Chief!" Most of the campers repeated.

"GOSH! It's so hot!" Harold whined as Zeke and Tyler carried the canoe next to the nerd.

"Yeah bro, it really is…" Tyler sweated from behind as he fanned himself with one his free hands. The fact that he always wore his tracksuit didn't help his case with keeping cold, the same applied to Zeke who had a green hoodie to keep all the heat in his jacket.

Behind Tyler, at the very end of one side of the canoe, Bridgette silently held up the canoe.

"My arms are so tired…" Bridgette complained, saying her first words of the day.

"Just keep it up Bridge," Courtney encouraged. "One of the Gophers will give up soon and Geoff would want you to keep persisting!"

"Geoff.." Bridgette mumbled.

Her mind kept flashing back to the moment she last saw him. A small branch, something that the average person would not even consider was enough to take away the person who she loved most on the island.

The only thing from keeping her from breaking down into crumbling crying shambles.

Bridgette exhaled as she thought about what would happen if Geoff never was on the island.

On one hand she'd never feel the joys and love she felt when she was around Geoff, and instead marinate in her own sorrow until she died, likely much more earlier than she'd expect.

But then again, she wouldn't feel as miserable as she was now. The sole solace of Geoff was taken away and she felt double the misery as before.

Now what was left for her? More painful challenges and the anticipating fear of death?

"Come on, Bridge! Carry it more!" Courtney loudly yelled, causing Bridgette to focus briefly on the present.

The Killer Bass's canoe was tipping towards the back, where Bridgette was, thanks to her mind dosing off.

The Screaming Gophers watched in anticipation as Bridgette pushed the red canoe back up to balance on par with her other teammates.

"Ooh! They almost tipped over!" Heather excitedly blurted only to receive a disapproving glare from Master Chief.

Chef's teeth-baring snarl quickly instilled fear into the fragile mean girl.

"S- Sorry, Master Chief!" She quickly corrected, not even her ego could outweigh the terrifying glares of Chef.

Ezekiel frowned as Bridgette sniffled sorrowfully at the back of their squad. He truly felt upset at Bridgette's pain, and he knew for a fact that neither Courtney or Duncan would be good candidates for alleviating her gloom.

He wanted to say something to Bridgette to alleviate her depression, but one glance at Harold, who gave the prarie boy a dismissive look, reminded him of his allies' goal of gaining the upper hand by using every advantage they had.

Ezekiel frowned at this thought, after all, it wasn't very ethical to begin with. But even if he did want to talk with Bridgette, he couldn't do it then and there, as four other people literally stood in the way of him and the pacifist girl.

The former soldier slunk back into his lawn chair and began retelling one of his favorite stories.

"You know, I was in the army once. Wasn't that long ago now that I think about it, feels almost as if it was just yesterday. 25 of us went into the desert that night, and only 4 of us came back alive…"

Most of the campers blinked back in confusion.

"What war were you even in?" Gwen asked.

Chef glared at the loner, ready to criticize before loosening up and let out an annoyed sigh.

"You want the real answer? Gulf War. '91. I 'checked out' early for this whole showbiz Chef thing."

After a few silent seconds of consideration, Noah raised an eyebrow at Chef.

"Ever since 1991?"

Chef blushed a little at his slip-up and yelled back at the dork, who continued to struggle to carry his team's canoe.

"DID I ASK YOU TO SPEAK? CUZ' I DON'T REMEMBER ASKING YOU TO SPEAK!"

The bookworm rolled his eyes and continued to focus his energy on carrying the green canoe.

(Confessional: Noah)

Noah sighed dryly as he leaned against the wooden confessional wall.

"Jesus H. Huckleberry Christ on a Crutch, that canoe was heavy as hell. At least LeShawna was right behind me and did most of the heavy lifting. What can I say? She's useful to the team."

(End Confessional: Noah)

The sarcastic snarky schemer looked to the right where he saw Katie similarly struggling to hold up her end of the canoe.

"Hey, Katie, how are you holding up?" Noah asked.

Katie stretched her arms up before responding. "I… I don't know… I don't feel as angry as yesterday… I guess I just keep thinking about Sadie…"

Katie relaxed her shoulders again as Noah nodded.

At least she seems less reactive to Sadie's death…

"I just keep thinking about what I could've done instead… maybe Sadie would still be here if I just pushed Chris harder to be on the same team as her… right?"

Noah shrugged as much as he could whilst carrying his end of the green canoe.

"I dunno Katie, and Christ is this heavy."

Right behind the snarky schemer, LeShawna groaned in disapproval of the High IQ.

"God dammit Heather, why do you even bother carrying this turkey sack around? He's a completely useless dump. You could've at least tried to ally with someone like Trent or that blonde girl. Noah's useless!"

The schemer frowned. "I'm right here you know! I can hear you!"

Heather rolled her eyes and gave a smug smile to the loud-mouthed homegirl.

"It's the same reason you kept Beth around for as long as you did: he's good for votes, same as Justin."

The eye candy, who was just behind the mean girl, frowned heavily.

"Hey! I have character traits too! I'm pretty, handsome, and gorgeous! That's three right there!"

LeShawna frowned at Heather, as much as she could when her back was facing the Queen B. "I didn't keep Beth around just for votes. I actually liked the girl. She was nice albeit shy. And she didn't deserve to go out because of you.

Gwen intervened for once instead of just blankly carrying the canoe.

"I can actually vouch LeShawna on that. Those two made an effort to be friends, while you probably don't even know what your 'allies' are really like. You just view them as votes!"

Heather scoffed at LeShawna's back in response. "I know what you're trying to do. I'm not stupid. You're trying to create distrust between me and my allies. But if you want some real hot tea, Gwen, you'd ought to know that before Beth's elimination, LeShawna came up to Noah and told him to tell us to vote out Beth, her 'closest friend' because she was too weak. She's basically ten times the traitor that you view me as - She backstabbed Beth."

Gwen raised an eyebrow and looked at Noah.

"Hey, don't look at me, I'm just a messenger… a messenger that can't carry this goddamn canoe…" The scrawny schemer groaned as he struggled to carry his end of the canoe.

Gwen then looked at LeShawna who gave a nervous smile.

"Now… that's not entirely true…"
"I literally don't care, LeShawna." Gwen responded.

"What?" LeShawna replied.

The loner rolled her eyes. "I know how to be realistic. I don't blame you if you even backstabbed Beth. It's just how the game works…"

The homegirl was left flabbergasted and the loner filled in the missing words that LeShawna couldn't manage to get out her mouth.

"I know you seem surprised that I don't care…"
"Well, it's not that I'm surprised that you don't care, it's just that it's not what happened at all. I just said that I am a useful and strong player, nothing about Beth."

"Oh, blah, blah, blah." Heather rudely interrupted. "Doesn't even matter to you a little bit that LaQuisha backstabbed her nerd friend?"

The homegirl snarled back at Heather again. "Beth ain't a nerd girl, and I definetly didn't backstab her. You were the ones who wanted her gone more."

Gwen shrugged again. "Doesn't matter to me. LeShawna's my ally right now, and I'm not going to turn against her because she wanted to save herself."

(Confessional: LeShawna)

LeShawna had her hands on her hips as she ranted to the confessional camera.

"Dang, I gotta keep reminding myself that Katie's one of the reasons my homegirl Beth is dead and gone. Mostly along with Heather though. It's not because of me 'betraying' Beth like Heather said! She was probably going to vote her off anyways! At least Gwen doesn't seem to care…"

(End Confessional: LeShawna)

(Confessional: Gwen)

The goth loner crossed her arms comfortably and looked at the camera with boredness in her eyes.

"Of course I fucking care. I know that LeShawna is capable of doing those things, and she probably did to save her own skin. I don't hate her for it, but if it happens to me, I'm not going to be a fan of it. I'll just have to be cautious about LeShawna in the future… if I even make it that long…"

(End Confessional: Gwen)

The camera showed another view of the sky, the sun was nearing the vertex of it's course, signfying noontime.

"I guess y'all's breakfast just became your lunch," Chef commented while checking his wristwatch before taking a swig of water.

"Hot damn, is it hot out here!" The cook exclaimed with water spewing out of his mouth.

"So… Goshing… Tired…" Harold whined, strained from the pressure of the canoe on his back.

Duncan called back at the dweeb from right behind Courtney.

"Don't you think about dropping out dweeb!"

Harold simply drooled from the heat in response.

"It is hot, bro, and I don't think I've ever looked forward for Chef's cooking this much…

Courtney shook her head in disapproval as awkward silence followed.

…

"Nice ass." Duncan quietly and innapropriately complimented with a smirk as Courtney scowled in front of him.

"Shut up, Duncan. I'm not in the mood for your antics right now. Especially after you didn't bother with giving Tyler what he deserved after killing Geoff yesterday!"

To the side of the two, Bridgette frowned in memory of her blonde boy.

Courtney and Duncan looked at the blonde awkwardly before resuming their conversation with one another.

"Look, all I want to do is keep my eye on the kid. Don't get me wrong, I despise him for what happened with you-know-who, but he's going to get what's coming to him from us voting him off."

Courtney groaned again before scolding the delinquent quietly through her teeth.

"How do you expect us to vote him off when Bridgette is mentally and physically torn up? Those three nincompoops are probably going to vote her off and then us off after! Unless the teams combine first, which I am praying will happen soon.

Duncan frowned and simply shrugged in response.

"I dunno. I just… mutilating somebody is above my moral code, is that so bad?"

Courtney opened her mouth to object before shutting herself up as she doubled back on what Duncan replied with.

"Yeah, sure… I guess you're right there…" Courtney said indifferently.

"GOSH! I think I'm having heart palpitations again!" Harold exclaimed, overwhelmed by the heat of the sun.

"Come on, Harold, bro! Just carry on a bit longer!" Tyler said in support of his friend.

"I think he's too hot, eh. We were covered by the shade of the canoe while he wasn't." Ezekiel insightfully said.

Harold let go of the canoe to clutch onto his heart while slowly walking towards the bell that was right by a notified Chef Hatchet. As the dweeb left his spot, Ezekiel struggled to carry the front end of the canoe.

"You givin' up, kid?" Chef asked as Harold nodded before reaching for the bell.

"Don't do it Harold!" Courtney yelled from the back.

The nerd didn't listen, however, as he rung the bell, signifying him giving up.

As he did so, the rest of the campers collapsed as the exhaustion from the challenge got to them, allowing the kayak atop them to crush them underneath.

Chef stood from his lawn chair and walked over to the nerd.

"You have nothing to be ashamed about soldier…" He said as Harold let out a weak smile.

"EXCEPT BEING A HUGE PUSSYCAT WHO LET DOWN HIS WHOLE SQUAD! IT'S LUNCHTIME FOR ALL OF Y'ALL EXCEPT NOODLE ARMS OVER HERE!"

The rest of the campers cheered, excited to finally eat, something they have not have ever been looking forward to before.

(Confessional: Harold)

The dweeb wiped his brow as he was still sweating from the blazing heat of the sun. He took a swig of cold water to allieviate his exhaustion.

"GOSH! I can't believe how crappy I did there… Oh well. I know I'm likely safe even if we loose today because Duncan's alliance is probably going to target Tyler." The dweeb pronounced the delinquent's name with bitterness before frowning at the thought of his friend.

"Even if we do lose, and even if I get voted off by my adversarial trio, I'm probably able to beat Bridgette in a tiebreaker… I know that Zeke is reluctant with Bridgette, and that he wants to… get rid of her depression… but that trait is a necessary advantage that we have over Duncan and Courtney! We just can't let them get the upper hand again!"

(End Confessional: Harold)

The campers reentered the mess hall to notice a distinct lack of the Wheel of Torture, and instead of heaping pile of trash in its place.

"So… uh… Chef. Where's the lunch?" Duncan asked to recieve a stick slap by Master Chief.

"THAT'S MASTER CHIEF TO YOU CHOCOLATE CHIP SPILLIN' RASCAL!" He barked at the 'rascal' who blinked surprisingly in reponse.

"Soldiers eat whatever they can whenever they get the chance! This here is y'all's lunch!" The cook evilly gestured his large hands to the pile of garbage that stank the entire side of the mess hall.

"Um. I cannot eat garbage. That's like, seriously overboard." Heather reasonably complained.

"Whine all you want, maggot, unless you want me to serve your head on a platter to your teammates, I recommend SHUTTIN' THE HELL UP!"

The mean girl meeped as Justin tapped the soldier on the shoulder to politely ask a question.

"Uh, is this dirt? Because this I know for a fact that this isn't good for my skin. Do you think I get this silky soft tan skin naturally?"

The cook with anger issues rolled his eyes in annoyance. "Damn teenagers…" He muttered as he walked out on the model and into the kitchen.

"I'm guessing he doesn't know much about the modeling industry…" Justin exclaimed before chowing down on dirt for lunch.

As a few of the campers reluctantly picked out something that looked edible enough to eat out of the revolting pile, Geoff's poster began to flicker from his smiling innocent face to the aftermath of his sled ride to the afterlife.

The poster was tinted red as always and slightly tilted. His hat had fallen off with the impact of the sharp tree branch skewering through his innocent heart as blood dripped from the center of his torso. His worried eyes remained joyous only as he stared at Bridgette in his last moments.

The blonde's girlfriend wimpered sadly as she looked away from the flickering poster and back at her two remaining allies.

Duncan scratched the back of his neck before holding up a banana he found from the pile of trash.

"Uh, look, I'm sorry about what happened with Geoff… I know that you two were close… I found a banana in this trash. I know that you're a vegetarian and stuff… so here, Malibu, eat up."

The delinquent finished his awkward monologue before giving the fruit to the surfer who weakly smiled at him.

"Thanks, Duncan."

Duncan smiled at the surfer's appreciation as Courtney stepped in to motivate the vegetarian.

"Bridgette, look, you have to try extra hard in these next challenges, okay? I'll be blunt, you're pretty weak right now, emotionally and physically with your burnt hand."

Bridgette frowned at the CIT as she pulled up her hand which still hurted from the burning sauce of two challenges ago.

"You'll need to bring in your A game, the other three guys are going to vote you off if you keep showing your weakness, alright? So be strong, this game doesn't approve of the weak…"

Courtney gave a motivational smile at Bridgette who in turn looked down at her feet before nodding.

"Okay… Thanks Courtney…" She replied as she began peeling the banana that Duncan gave her.

"Good. That's the spirit, Bridge!" Courtney said before turning around to look through the garbage pile.

As Bridgette chowed down on her banana, she thought of the earlier parts of the game. When she was still considered weak by Courtney's standards and when Bridgette considered her overstressed.

The surfer knew it, the game was changing. As more and more people died, the tension had ramped up with people growing tougher in the harsh environment of the island. People laughed less, loved less, and lived less.

"Bleh!" Noah gagged. "This tastes disgusting!"

Noah gagged again before spitting out what he assumed was salami. Although it was, it had been buried within Chef's cooking, marinating with the abomination of his cooking.

"Not even actual food from this pile tastes good!" Justin exclaimed. "This is not going to be good for my skin…"

The scrawny bookworm rolled his eyes as he dug through the pile for something that would perhaps be edible.

"How the hell are you that worried about your looks? We are literally in a life and death scenario, and your vain is just that gigantic?"

"Your forehead is gigantic-er!" Justin taunted back at the bookworm.

"Like you would know anything about beauty!" Justin continued.

"Oh boo hoo, let me pretend I care," Noah replied. Four seconds later he said. "Okay, I'm done pretending. Just because you're not in anybody's targets now doesn't mean you shouldn't try."

"That's bold coming from you, Noah-It-All." Justin taunted back. "You barely held up that canoe! And the only responsibility you have right now, besides keeping our alliance together," Justin whispered through his teeth. "Is being on Katie Duty, keeping check that she doesn't go crazy. Speaking of which, why not check on how she's doing?"

Noah took a bite out of an apple he found before gagging and throwing it back into the garbage pile, walking over to where Katie was searching through the trash.

The lonesome BFFFL had found some french fries that was lying within the side of the trash. She took a reluctant bite out of it to satisfy her hunger as Noah appeared to her side.

"Hey, Katie, how are you feeling?" Noah asked begrugingly.

"I'm doing okay I guess…" Katie replied dryly. "Sorry again about poisoning you again yesterday.."

The schemer shrugged again. "It's fine, at least you didn't kill me like sporto on the other team did."

"Yeah… that was pretty crazy… at least he got what he deserved for voting Sadie…"

Katie frowned again as she threw away the french fries she had.

"Noah? I've been thinking…"

"What is it? Spit it out." He said abruptly.

"I feel like it's my fault Sadie is gone…"

The bookwormed frowned at this, uncrossing his arms and squatting down next to the BFFFL to pick out edible bits from the midst of the trash.

"It isn't your fault, Katie, it's all because of the other team voting her. You know that."

Katie sighed. "But still. I feel like if I didn't do all those bad things… like framing Cody or arguing with Beth, this wouldn't have happened…"

Noah's frown continued as Katie reminded him of all the sins he participated in to keep his alliance afloat.

"Look, I feel bad about what happened with the both of them too, but it isn't your fault at all, I'm the one who planned all of it after all…" He whispered quietly.

"You didn't plan me fighting with Beth…" Katie corrected, "I feel like Sadie was some retribution for Beth's demise in some way…"

Noah stood up from where he was squating down after concluding that there was no edible objects available within the trash.

"Sure, maybe if you didn't do some things, Sadie wouldn't be here. But at the same time, that's the world we live in right now. I truly am sorry that Sadie's gone, Kate, but the most you can do is live on in her memory."

Katie nodded understandingly as she took another bite out a french fry. "Thanks, I guess…"

The camera switched from the mess hall to a view of the outside, where the campers were lined up into three rows.

On the top row was Heather, Noah, and Katie. Below that row, was Justin, then Harold, then Gwen, then Tyler. Finally, at the bottom, was Ezekiel, then LeShawna, then Duncan, then Courtney, then lastly Bridgette at the very end.

Chef stood on a small wooden platform as he fumbled around with a radio, putting a disc inside.

After a few seconds, the radio began playing some funky music from the 80's that resonated of Michael Jackson's Thriller.

Immediately, the camera fixed on the Chef on his wooden platform as he began stomping his feet to the beat of the music.

He shook to the side as he steadied up only to stomp his foot once again.

He clapped his hands above his head as he began to shift his head and feet side to side, nodding as he faced each direction.

His moves flowed with the beat indescribably, beautifully did he move it move it.

He shuffled his other foot to the left before shimmying it back up and stomping, repeating the cycle of him clapping his hands above his head before swinging his head left and right.

The camera switched back to Duncan's feet as he shuffled up and down before going to a wide view of all the campers repeating Chef's dance moves.

While some like Courtney, Gwen, Heather, and Duncan imitated Chef's moves perfectly, dancing, shuffling, stomping, clapping, and swinginng, other campers such as Bridgette, Katie, and especially LeShawna had a tough time matching the cook's moves.

However, from a wide view, nearly all the campers were almost synchronized with Chef's movements, almost as if they were hypnotized or were doing a dance routine all together.

At the top right corner, Katie began to fumble her dancing, failing to follow along the cook's moves. As Chef didn't see it, Heather instead noticed and began whispering to Noah who was between the mean girl and the twiggy girl.

"Psst! Noah! Tell Katie to fix her dancing before Chef notices!"

Noah whispered back. "Eh, it's fine. She'll fix it back herself."

The mean girl rolled her eyes as she followed along Chef's dance. "No she won't, I swear, if she's got her mind on Sadie instead of the game…"

"Hey, it's fine!" Noah whispered rather loudly, although not loud enough to alert Chef. "Katie's going through a… tough time, I guess. She lost her life long best friend just two days ago!"

As Heather clapped her hands above her head with Katie still messing up her dancing, Heather responded, "Tough Luck!"

Noah rolled his eyes in response as a similair feature happened below with Courtney and Bridgette.

The surfer chick began to fall behind with her dance moves, Courtney whispered to the right. "Bridgette! Focus on your dancing!" She reminded her.
The camera switched back to the cook who stomped once more before flexing his left arm repeatidly.

Afterwards, he stomped again and shimmyed his foot back to the center, where he flexed his right arm.

Immedietly after, he began doing repeated pelvic thrusts as the camera zoomed in at his ~groovy~ dance.

The campers all collectively groaned before imitating Chef's pelvic thrusts, doing the same, except for the pacifistic vegetarian.

Courtney furrowed her brow as Bridgette continued to mess up her dancing.

"Come one, Bridge! Don't mess this up!" She exclaimed loudly, enough that as she looked over to see what moves she should imitate from Chef, she noticed that he was leaning down, snarling, only half a foot away from her. The music winded abrubtly to a stop as he breathed down her neck.

She yelped backwards as she realized how close the cook with anger issues was as Chef barked back at her: "I DON'T REMEMBER ASKIN' YOU TO SPEAK SOLDIER! GIMME TWENTY PUSH UPS RIGHT NOW!"

Courtney whined as she got down from her stance to do twenty push ups as the rest of the campers stopped dancing.

Duncan smirked as he saw Courtney do push ups next to her.

(Confessional: Duncan)

Duncan whistled as he scratched at the side of the confessional with a sharp stick.

"Whew! You'll never catch me messin' up in front Chef like that! I know he doesn't like my attitude."

The delinquent stopped whittling away at the confessional wall and leaned forward at the camera.

"Still though, I feel like Courtney should chill out about this whole thing with Malibu. I've noticed she's becoming more uptight ever since this whole Geoff thing yesterday. If she messes things up then I'm out of an alliance and I'll… have to face against those three guys myself… yikes… All I know is, even if Courtney can be a total firecracker sometimes, she's my best choice for an ally as of late.
(End Confessional: Duncan)

The camera flashed to a view of the mess hall, with six campers on their subsequent team's tables.

Chef coughed a little before speaking to the campers. "Damn this whole show runnin' biz stinks… Alright, Maggots! Today y'all be writing a 500 word essay on how much you looove me!" The usually furious cook gave a toothy grin as he surveyed the groaning campers

Most of the campers rolled their eyes in response to the Chef as he began winding up a timer.

"Y'all will get 'round an hour to do so. If any of y'all fall asleep, you're out!"

A couple of interns began handing out lined paper and pencils as few of the campers either scratched away or thought about what to write.

Harold denied being handed out paper with a shake of his head, reminding them that "I'm already out; I'm just monitoring over these two guys." Before gesturing his hands to Tyler and Zeke.

On the Gopher's side, the Gopher girl duo of LeShawna and Gwen had already began scribbling away on their paper.

"This is going to be easy," LeShawna confidently said, "Back home, I enjoyed writing."

"I'm more of an art person." Gwen responded blankly, not taking her eyes of her page.

LeShawna nodded back at the antisocial loner before asking, "What didya draw?"

The question took Gwen off guard as she finally took her eyes off the page and shrugged softly. "Nature and trees mostly… and some guys that I thought looked cute…" she shyly added.

The homegirl smirked at Gwen before teasing, "Boy crazy, aren't ya, Gwen? Don't you think I forgot those googly eyes I saw you give to that guitar player was still around!"

The gothball rolled her eyes briefly. "Forget I said anything," she said blankly. "Plus, Trent's gone anyways, it doesn't even matter."

"Yeah, I guess," LeShawna said, clearly wanting to say something else, "We haven't talked about it much, but we're in a pretty rough position so far."

"You think I haven't noticed?" Gwen replied with slight agitation, "Why do you think I've been telling you to stop bickering with Heather and focus on the game?"

The two girls briefly glanced at Heather who was shown talking with Justin before continuing their talk.

"But seriously," Gwen said in a blank tone, "Kudos to you for working with Heather yesterday, I was still unconscious at that point and it would've blown hard if the rest of the Gophers voted me off because I was briefly KOed."

"Meh, it was alright. I guess we both just got locked in to the challenge."

"Exactly. We know that some people couldn't perform well…" Gwen said before gesturing her hands to Tyler across the hall.

"Anyways, we haven't really gotten a chance to discuss our next game plan, huh?"

"I always thought that you were more of the leader of this duo anyways…" Gwen replied.

"I spoke with Noah about him voting off Katie or Heather. He seemed reluctant to vote out Katie, who I pointed out would be less efficient in challenges because of her mood, but seemed to consider voting out Heather." LeShawna turned her head and pointed her pencil shyly at Heather then Noah. "I guess Noah knows that Heather will probably abandon him the first chance he gets."

LeShawna then pointed at the eye candy far at the other end of the table.

"Another possibility was maybe getting Justin on our side, but the problem with him and Noah is that I don't know how much control Heather has over them. I can kinda sense that Noah really doesn't like Heather though."

Gwen nodded just after finishing up her quick essay.

"Sure. All I've been trying to do is keep you and more importantly, no offense, me alive." Gwen said. "I was thinking we could try to just keep winning challenges until the teams get dissolved, but I'm not sure when that will happen…"

LeShawna scratched her nose as she finished up her essay, "Just hope it'll happen soon."

(Confessional: LeShawna)

LeShawna leaned sassily against the confessional walls.

"I'll be honest, I'm not exactly sure what to do next. To be honest, I've been sharing the same idea as Gwen's just powering through challenges. But now that I know that I'll be next if we lose, I was thinking of taking advantage of Heather's loose alliance…"

(End Confessional: LeShawna)

On the center of the long Gopher's table, Katie sat in front of her paper, not writing anything as Noah was already halfway done with his essay.
"You know, essays feel like nothing if you read enough. 500 words seems more intimidating than it really is."

Katie mm-hmmed and nodded as she continued to stare blankly at her empty page.

"Anyways, yesterday, LeShawna talked with me about voting off Heather… which obviously is a stupid idea. While Heather isn't permenantly trustworthy, she's a good ally for right…"
Noah looked back up at the scrawny girl who didn't seem like she was even paying attention to what Noah was saying.

"I'm not going to beat around the bush, you're thinking about Sadie, aren't you?"

Katie nodded genuinely, finally paying attention to the bookworm as soon as he mentioned her fallen twin.

"I can't help but keep feeling like losing Sadie was some sort of… retribution…" she replied.

Noah looked around the table, seeing both other duos to his left and right busy talking with one another before leaning forward to whisper to the lonesome BFFFL.

"Katie, losing Sadie is tough, but it has nothing to do what you've done. You tried your best to help Sadie while you still could, but she's gone."

Katie frowned in response.

"It's the brutal truth, but in some sorta way, you could look at it from a positive angle… at least had those memories with Sadie to begin with…"

The schemer gave a genuine smile to Katie who continued to frown back at him, before he tried to correct himself.

"I guess that wasn't the best choice of words, but you get the gist. Come on though, we have to focus on this challenge, even if it's tough for you."

(Confessional: Katie)

The tan BFFFL whimpered as she sat all alone in the wooden box, sitting sideways against the wall.

"Why the hell did I listen to Noah! Of course Sadie would… still be here… if I didn't do all… those things…"

She looked back down at the wooden floorboards before sighing.

"No… I guess I shouldn't blame Noah… or even myself like he said… I tried my best, but Sadie's… gone now…"

Katie sniffled into her arms as the confessional turned to static.

(End Confessional: Katie)

(Confessional: Noah)

The bookworm tapped his fingers against the confessional wall as he avoided eye contact with the camera.

"I haven't been able to formulate any future game plans after Justin kept me on monitoring Katie. Don't get me wrong, it's not like I hate Katie, it's just that… she's a bit tiring…"

Noah wiped off the nonexistent sweat off his large forehead before finally making eye contact with the camera.

"At least our alliance has the advantage so far…"

(End Confessional: Noah)

The camera widened out and panned to the right side of the room, at the Bass table, where the trio of Bass boys were all writing amongst each other.

On one side of the table, Harold quickly wrote his essay about the dastardly Chef. On the other end, his two allies struggled to write their essays.

"Dang it, bro, I should've paid more attention in literature class…" Tyler said as he kept erasing what he wrote.

"It's not that difficult, Tyler, I'm already 60% of the way there!" Harold replied, tapping his pencil on his scruffy chin.

"I agree with Tyler, eh. I was homeschooled, but I'm not much of a writer."

The prairie boy picked his nose as Harold simply shrugged.

"It'll be easier once you get into the flow of it." Harold instructed.

And I like his… uniform? Tyler wrote before rolling his eyes.

"Man, why can't there just be more physical challenges! I love those!" Tyler complained as he stretched his arms.

"I don't think you'll perform any better at those sports challenges, eh? We all saw how you did in that ball dodging game when we first got here." Ezekiel said in a teasing manner, giving a little grin.

"Shut up, Zeke." Tyler playfully responded as he rolled his eyes, before said eyes glanced across the far end of the table, where he briefly saw Duncan staring at him.

The jock quickly averted his gaze from the delinquent and back at his own paper, but he still could feel the pair of the bully's blue eyes locking in on him.

Ezekiel noticed this quick change in the sporto's mood and frowned. "That Duncan fella is still bothering you, eh?" He innocently asked as he looked into Tyler's eyes.

The jock silently nodded back as Zeke nudged him with his elbow.

"I get that he's gonna be upset at you for what happened to Geoff. There's not much you can do to make him think you as good as before that whole incident, eh?"

Zeke poked his pencil into Tyler's chest, as the jock took his eyes off his blank paper and to his right at the religious prarie boy.

"All that you can do is own up to it. Don't try to run away from what you've done. You can't make Duncan think much better of you, but you can try to make yourself have more peace at mind by making up for your mistakes, eh?"

The jock gave a warm smile before thanking the prairie boy, complimenting that "You're really wise for someone that was homeschooled."

Ezekiel grinned. "Eh, my parents are pretty smart people. Plus, I read a lot of books from the library in the town."

However, across the table, Harold was shaking his head side to side.

"I don't think that's completely right, Zeke." He nasally said.

Ezekiel gave a serious look back at the dweeb. "But it's what's morally right!"

The nerd shrugged. "Don't get me wrong, I'm not a fan of anybody here dying," he gestured his hands to Tyler, "It's just how this game is made, we're more likely to live longer if we stick together; Tyler accidentally killing Geoff made the team even; we now have another chance at a tiebreaker if we lose!"

The dweeb's enthusiastic smile faded as it contrasted with Ezekiel's skeptic look.

"I want to reiterate that I don't enjoy people dying and I'm fully aware that's it's not 'what's morally right', but sometimes you have to leave that to live on longer. That coveted title of survival isn't going to just hand itself over."

Tyler looked at the dweeb, and then the prairie boy, and then back at the nerd.

"Uh…"

"That's why I'm not planning to act like I'm gonna leave here alive!" Zeke rebutted. "I know my chances are slim, eh! I'm not super strong, I'm not a mastermind, but I wanna go out the right way! Without sin, as the Lord intends! I wanna give people the peace they need before they go!"

The table slammed loudly as Harold slammed his hand on the table, similar to the loud slam which sharp skewered a certain sled rider yesterday.

"GOSH, Zeke! Do you blame me for wanting to live? I'm not eager at the thought of somebody dying." The dweeb pushed up his glasses before glaring at the religious prarie boy. "And I want to live! I still have so much to do! I haven't even graduated from all of Big Steve's Summer Camping Camps!"

"But Harold!" Zeke argued, "I don't like that mindset, eh! It's alright if you want to live, and I'm still going to vote for whoever you say, even if I may disagree, but if you keep saying that it's just how the game works, you keep condoning that mindset! It makes it easier to do more bad things as the game progresses! You have to cling onto how we first started out when we- before we got here! This 'game' will just make you become more and more sinful as time goes by!"

The two of them, who were practically standing up and leaning at each other, both sighed and sat down in their stools as a couple people had been glancing at their way.

Harold exhaled through his mouth and looked lazily back at the religious homeschooler.

"Zeke…" he said, his words wandering off before he could say anything, "...let's just do this essay."

The prairie boy nodded back at Harold before he continued scribbling on his page.

…

"Uh… do any of you have an eraser?" Tyler asked, showing that his pencil had used up all of the eraser at it's end.

"Damn, those two dorks can get hella noisy, huh, Court?" Duncan asked, nudging the perfectionist as the two previously arguin

g Bass boys slunked back into their seats.

Courtney, who hadn't taken her eyes off her paper since the essay challenge began and was therefore 90% done, looked back to her right at the delinquent and then back at her two teammates at the other end of the table.

"Yeah, I guess." Courtney commented, "What were they arguing about?"

The delinquent shrugged. "Don't know, don't care too much, but I'm pretty sure it was about philosophy or some shit."

The CIT scoffed. "From the way you're trying to describing it, it was probably arguing over strategizing if anything."

"Are you saying that I don't know how to strategize?" Duncan asked teasingly, pretending to be insulted, "I'm not just looks and muscle, I got a brain too."

Courtney bit her lip and rolled her eyes. "I don't see you talking about it much, and much less using it. I'm the one that's in charge of the alliance and the team! You don't seem to be nosing your 'pretty head' in team management."

Duncan smirked and scirbbled more on his paper. "Hey, so I got a pretty head, huh?"

The CIT blushed angrily. "Ugh, of course you still manage to be immature. This is why I make a good team leader! Not Geoff who can't get his team to cook for shit!" The delinquent's smirk quickly turned into a concerned frown as Courtney continued to rant.

"And don't even get me started on how Geoff wouldn't even have died if he acted more concerned in these challenges to begin with! I mean- what? What are you looking at?"

Courtney followed Duncan's gaze as he gestured his head towards a frozen Bridgette, a couple seats away from the conversing duo.

"Be more careful with your words next time, Malibu's right there. Word choice is the most important rule of being a political figure… I think…" Duncan whispered into Courtney's ear as she kep her gaze at the surfer.

Bridgette had barely written anything on her page, she simply rested her head on her arm and stared at her empty page, lost in thought.

"Oh for crying out loud…" Courtney whined, "and will you please stop trying to push my buttons?" Duncan's cocky grin quickly changed to a painful expression as Courtney stomped on one of Duncan's feet before moving seats down next to Bridgette.

"Gah! Dammit! I guess I kinda deserved that…" Duncan meeped, grasping onto his foot.

Courtney sat up from her spot and slid down to where Bridgette was consumed by thought, having not written a single word on her page.

Jesus… Courtney thought. Bridgette needs to get her head out of the clouds and into the game! She has't written anything, and if we lose, she's absolutely getting her head stuck in the clouds… And I don't want that to happen… She's a critical ally and a good person after all…

Courtney took in a small breath before trying to compose herself as Bridgette stared blankly at her page. A light warm smile dawned on the perfectionist as she cleared her voice to get attention of the surfer who had small tears in her eyes.

Now that Geoff was gone, who did Bridgette have left?

Her friends and family were back safe home as well, likely watching Bridgette play in the dreaded deadly reality show.

All Bridgette could do, is realize that her time spent with Geoff was now gone and will never return, all that lay in front of her was the brutality of the game and her impending death.

Beside being with Geoff, what had she really done? She wasn't physically strong as Duncan, or strategically smart like Courtney.

She was weak,

vulnerable,

clumsy,

afraid,

worried,

lonely…

"Bridgette?" Said a soft voice from across the table.

Courtney.

The vegetarian looked up to see Courtney giving a concerned look to the surfer girl, reaching for the pencil that Bridgette hadn't even touched.

"Bridgette?" Courtney asked again, unsure if Bridgette was still out of the zone.

The surfer blinked a few times before shyly squeaking, "...hey… C- Courtney…"

Bridgette could feel herself tremble as she lived through her tortuous existence on the island, no longer lost in the world of thinking but brought back into the hellhole of the game.

By Courtney.

Who sat in front of her and reached over for her paper.

"Bridgette, I know that you're feeling drained right now, but you need to write something down. You can at least write about Chef for a couple of sentences and then write about how you feel about Geoff… unleash your mental burden onto this paper."

Courtney tapped her pencil on Bridgette's paper before giving a sheepish smile at the surfer.

Bridgette, saying nothing, looked at her paper and gripped her pencil, finally writing on her page.

"Just write one or two sentences about Chef for the challenge and then unleash what you feel about Geoff."

Bridgette scribbled a few words on her paper.

Chef Hatchet is cool, popular, and good at cooking challenges.

"Sure, now just write about Chef- sorry, Geoff," Courtney advised.

She began writing about her feelings of Geoff. The short but significant memories she held with him, cuddling with him on the beachside without a care or worry in the world about the death-defying competition.

But Courtney's smile felt off as she kept getting encouraged to write about Geoff.

Bridgette paused briefly as she wrote her poem in memory of Geoff.

The surfer looked up at Courtney's concentrated smile to see it instantly change into a slight frown.

"Come on, Bridgette, keep it up!" Courtney encouraged, with a pinch of rush in her voice. "We have to win this challenge. Geoff would want you to survive."

Bridgette looked back down at her paper with a frown as she continued to slowly scribble away. She frowned as she wrote about the memories she had with her short time spent with Geoff.

Mostly cuddling with Geoff in that lawn chair, huh…

Geoff always had a positive mood… despite his situation, he was still cracking jokes left and right…

I thought that Paintball challenge was really fun together…

I loved cooking with him, I can't believe that was two days ago…

I love Geoff. No matter how dire life was, he was always there to cheer me on, to be there with me, I could trust him more than anybody else ever, and he would want me to stay strong…

…but strong for what? For living?

"Good work, Bridgette, you're finally contributing to the team," Courtney irkingly said, "If you keep this up, we will survive."

Bridgette continued scratching her pencil away at her paper while Courtney orderly completed her essay.

"You keep working hard at it, Bridgette, I'm going to the bathroom," Courtney explained. Bridgette didn't even bother to look up or nod at the perfectionist, keeping her sea green eyes on the paper.

(Confessional: Courtney)

The perfectionist fixed her hair as she sat formally in the fly catching shed.

"From what I have observed from Bridgette today, she's obviously been really unmotivated. I know for a fact if she keeps this up, we are going to lose to the Gophers and then she's going to lose in the tiebreaker… and I'll be down an ally…"

"I wished I could have seen all of what Bridgette wrote though, Chef kept the essays before I could see hers, I really want to know what's going on in her mind and how I can get her to get back on track."

(End Confessional: Courtney)

The timer loudly went off next to Chef, who got out of his seat and clicked the timer.

"Alright. Time's up. Let's see if you maggots can write better than a fourth grader." The brutal black man walked over to the Gopher side.

Chef picked up Noah's and Katie's poems before looking them over quickly.

"Scrawny boy, no soldier knows what the hell 'brobdingnagian' means. You may be a nerd, but you pass this part. Scrawny girl, same with you, although your grammar is plain garbage."

The rough and tough soldier went down the table more, giving a thumb up to LeShawna and Gwen who had written their poems well.

The black cook then walked over to the end of the table where Heather and Justin were waiting with their poems.

"Alright, let's see watchya got." He said blankly before picking up the mean girl's poems.

He quickly skimmed through Heather's poem before nodding, "This is good enough."

He then yanked Justin's poem and looked at it before immediately blushing and having his eyes go wide.

There were no words on the paper, and no words to describe what Justin had doodled instead - A gorgeous, beautiful, stunning, magnificent self-portrait of himself displaying his absolute beauty.

His spicy abs flung out of the photo sharply.

Justin's wet soft hair flew playfully in the wind of the photo.

The shadows of the photo were done so elegantly, it was almost realistic, as if Justin's beauty was shrunken and placed in the very photo that the blushing Chef had in his very hands.

Chef, finally snapping back into reality, stumbled while searching what to say.

"Uh, I- um. I'll keep this for later…" He said before placing the beautiful photo in his pocket. "But you didn't write jack shit! So off you go!"

The cook pointed right out the doors as the model got up from his seat to exit.

"I thought you said you weren't going to write anything because of your precious wittwe fingers." Heather mocked.

"When it's an artistic representation of my beauty, it's worth it!" Justin exclaimed before exiting the doors with a slam.

The Cook then walked over to the Bass's table, and observed a few of the essays.

He gave a thumbs up to Courtney's and Ezekiel's poem, stating that, "They're good enough." Before moving onto Tyler's poem…

…which was not even 100 words long.
"God damn, boy, do you not know how to count to 500?"

The clumsy jock shrugged nervously. "How would I know? I didn't pass English class!"

"Counting is a math skill, soldier! You're dismissed!" Chef pointed his thumb back out the mess hall doors as Tyler tiredly walked out the large room.

Chef then yanked Bridgette's poem from right in front of her.

He quickly skimmed the page before raising an eyebrow at it.

"This just mentions me once before talkin' 'bout you're beach blonde boyfriend that died yesterday." Chef said, not exactly knowing what to do.

Courtney facepalmed as Bridgette just sat there, tired and uncaring.

"I once knew a love like that…" Chef said, sniffling a little at the words describing how much Bridgette missed Geoff.

"Whatever, it's 500 words." He said before slamming it back down on the table before dramatically leaping to where Duncan was boredly waiting.

The snarling Chef quickly yanked Duncan's poem out of his hands.

It was no secret that Chef didn't approve of Duncan, the delinquent could sense the glares that Chef 'secretly' gave him, judging him of his rebellious nature and 'rascalous' clothing.

"Huh!" Chef said, surprised after skimming it briefly. "You actually wrote a whole 500 word essay."

"Yeah, I did. 500 words is surprisingly not that much."

Chef continued to give the delinquent a suprised look.

"What, did you think I was going to write an essay with 500 'verys' or something?" Duncan sarcastically asked, giving a bored look to the cook.

Chef shrugged. "Yeah, that would've made sense comin' out of you, anyways, you pass."

The rest of the tired cast looked back at the cook who furrowed his brow at the awkward silence.

"WHAT ARE Y'ALL LOOKIN' AT? IT'S OFF TO THE NEXT CHALLENGE FOR YOU!"

The camera switched over to a wide view of an obstacle course, the sun was setting in the distance and the exhaustion from carrying a canoe in the heat, eating garbage for lunch, and writing a boring essay for a long while had started to catch up on the other camper's fatigue.

"MAGGOTS! THIS HERE OBSTACLE COURSE IS WHERE Y'ALL BE TRAININ' AT! YOU'LL HAVE 1 MINUTE TO COMPLETE IT!"

The camera slided to the right, showing the course with a wooden wall to climb over, swinging ropes, rubber tires, and battle axes swinging at the very end.

The cast of campers, except for Harold, Tyler, and Justin, were all watching over the course, especially at the very end where swinging axes posed as a vicious threat.

"WHAT ARE YOU STARIN' AT SOLDIER?" Chef screechingly asked Bridgette, who was facing away from the sergeant, a complete 180 from where everybody else was facing.

Bridgette stuttered as Chef yelled at her, "Uh- I uh… this is just where-"

"YES, YES, THIS IS WHERE YOUR BLONDE HONEY POO BOYFRIEND DIED YESTERDAY! NOW PAY YOUR SKINNY ASS'S ATENTION HERE!"

As Chef said, it was just near the base of the hill, right by where the finish line was for the sled course. Bridgette had locked her eyes on the sharp red-stained branch near the bottom of the hill as it shook against the summer breeze.

Bridgette frowned and nodded before facing the obstacle course.

"AS I SAID, Y'ALL BE RUNNIN' THROUGH THE COURSE UNTIL EACH OF YOU CAN BEAT IN UNDER A MINUTE! OR IF IT'S TOO DAMN HARD FOR Y'ALL! AM I MAKIN' MYSELF CLEAR?"

"Crystal." Duncan responded dryly.

"Let's not lose this, guys," Courtney said to her team as Chef fired a silvery handgun into the air.

"GO MAGGOTS GO!" He yelled as the campers scampered onto the slippery course…

…except for one…

The camera flashed to see Heather climbing the wall at the beginning, with LeShawna hot on her tail.

After climbing over the top of the wall, Heather jumped down, careful to not slip and fall over in the mud, only to have LeShawna land right on top of her. Both of the girls got covered with mud.

Heather quickly got up with a scowl, swiping mud off of her face before quickly running back through the course.

After more campers surpassed the wall, Noah finally came over as well, with heavy grunts as he used is nonexistent upper body strength.

"Can't… reach… over…" He whined before falling backwards to the front of the course.

"You've given up soldier?" Chef asked intimidatingly as Noah nodded.

"Yeah… This does not adhere to the Geneva Convention…" He mumbled.

"DON'T GIVE ME ATTITUDE SOLDIER!" Chef ordered, "YOU'RRRRE OUT!"

Noah sighed as he walked back to the front of the line.

He raised his eyebrow as he saw Bridgette standing there, completely frozen, staring worriedly at the base of the hill, where Geoff was skewered by the tree branch.

(Confessional: Noah)

A muddy Noah looked tired as he sat against the wall of the confessional.

"I'm not gonna say it to 'Master Chief's' face, but he could take a chill pill…"

Noah laughed to himself before looking back to the camera.

"Seriously though, what's with the whole soldier thing? If he was a soldier, it sounded like he got kicked out for breaking the Geneva Convention or some shit. It fits the theme of 'deadly gameshow', of course, but the Gulf War was around 16 years ago… interesting..."

(End Confessional: Noah)

The camera flashed once more as Ezekiel dove through a tire hole, with LeShawna and Heather right behind her.

LeShawna dove through the tires… only to get stuck as her hips were too wide.

"Dammit! I'm stuck!" LeShawna whined.

"Definetly not your first time getting stuck!" Heather teased as she dove through the tire next to her as LeShawna squeezed through.

The camera flashed again to Courtney swinging across a rope before rolling down a muddy ramp at the end.

Katie grabbed the rope and prepared to swing across it, only to fall down face first into the mud that was between the two ramps she swung across.

Gwen looked at her with no pity as she successfully swung across the gap.

(Confessional: Gwen)

Gwen was still muddy as she sat in the confessional. Mud from other people using the confessional was stained across the small wooden room.

"Sometimes the universe gives you a freebie… although mud isn't as harmful as those… electric eels…"

She shuddered in thought of the electric creatures as the camera went static.

(End Confessional: Gwen)

In the lead of the whole pack, was Duncan, with Gwen right behind them. Courtney and Ezekiel were not far behind the two. Heather had just finished swinging across the rope as Chef blew a whistle at Katie for failing swinging across the mud gap. Chef then turned to his left and blew his whistle at LeShawna, who was still struggling from being stuck in the tires, before pointing his thumb back to the starting line.

Duncan skidded to a halt, almost tripping from the mud, as he and Gwen approached the battle axes swinging.

"Holy crap…" Duncan exclaimed, as Gwen wasted no time and army crawled underneath the swingin axes.

Duncan took another second before diving as well in the nick of time, letting his mohawk get a small haircut.

"MOVE IT SOLDIERS! MOVE IT!" Chef said as he waited at the end of the line, holding a timer.

"49! 50! 51" He said as Gwen reached the end in 50 seconds and Duncan reached the end in 51.

Back with the battle axes, Heather and Zeke were crawling right in front of Courtney, who was blocked by both of the crawling teenagers.

"MOVE ASIDE! YOU'RE SLOWING ME DOWN!" Courtney complained as Zeke and Heather popped out of the battle axe zone, while Courtney hastily exited behind them.

"58! 59! 60!"

Heather and Ezekiel past the finished line, panting, as Courtney came just short with the black man holding his large arm to block her from crossing.

"THE GATE FOR ENTRY HAS JUST PASSED SOLDIER! TRY AGAIN!" Courtney skidded to a halt and whined "Are you kidding me!" before sprinting quickly to go back to the starting line…

…past LeShawna, who finally squeezed out of her tire…

…and past Katie who was slowly walking back to the start, coughing up mud along the way…

…and at the end, where he saw Noah raising an eyebrow.

I was one second behind… couldn't that homeschooler just hurry up?

She noticed Noah staring awkwardly at something, before following his gaze and saw Bridgette, completely frozen, not moving an inch, and more importantly, not running through the course at all.

You've got to be kidding me… Courtney though as she angrily approached the mourning pacifist.
The overachiever snapped her fingers to break Bridgette's daydreaming as she huffed in distress.

"Bridge! What are you doing? Why aren't you going through the course?"

The vegetarian didn't respond, keeping her gaze at the base of the mountains, at the same tree.

Courtney, annoyed at this point clapped her hands loudly next to the girl. A muddy LeShawna and Katie approached the scene, with the even muddier campers who completed the course behind them. Chef eyed with high interest as Courtney seemed to not notice anything but the inactive surfer in front of her.

Bridgette stumbled back as Courtney finally got her attention. Courtney was annoyed, muddy, distressed, and furious.

"Bridgette! Focus! I know why you're looking there, but you're gonan end up like him if you stay around and do nothing!" Courtney exasperatingly complained, almost about to explode.

"Geoff…" Bridgette solemnly said as she tensed back from Courtney.

"Jesus Christ, Bridgette! Focus on the fucking challenge! I'm tired of carrying you! You can't be distracted just because Geoff is dead! He's gone, forget about him or you're going to end up like Geoff!"

SLAP!

Bridgette was a pacifist no more, as Courtney touched her cheek where she had been slapped.

The CIT was flabbergasted, processing what had just happened.

…

"What just-"

PUNCH!

Courtney fell back down to the ground as the pacifist no more tackled her, raising her fist in the air.

The perfectionist raised her arms in protection of her face, as Bridgette began pummeling her, tears falling from her eyes and blood beginning flowing out of Courtney's broken nose.

PUNCH!

"SHUT THE-"

PUNCH!

"FUCK UP ABOUT-"

PUNCH!

"GEOFF YOU MOTHERFUCKING-"

PUNCH!

"BITCH!"

Bridgette stopped punching the poor CIT, not due to her own volition, but due to two interns pulling the tearing girl off Courtney as she scrambled away.

The rest of the campers, and Chef were shocked, as Bridgette screamed at Courtney who painfully got up from the ground, holding her nose painfully.

Duncan came by the CIT and helped her up before asking, "Jesus Christ Courtney! Are you okay?"
"NO! OF COURSE I'M NOT FUCKING OKAY!" Courtney painfully yelled.

"LET ME AT HER! SHE DESERVES IT! SHE DESERVES IT…" Bridgette screamed with tears falling from her eyes as a third intern restrained the girl completely from doing anything else.

Chef walked menacingly in front of the sobbing basket case as he pronounced his verdict.

"Physical assault is never permitted, soldier. One night solitary confinement in the boathouse."

He said in a voice so foreboding, more frightening than any screeches, yells, or orders he gave before adding in: "Second thought, not solitary…

…it's where we store the dead."

A dramatic tune played as Bridgette sobbed heavily on the ground, even the interns seemed to be taken aback by the cruelty of the punishment as the rest of the campers gasped.

Bridgette weeped heavily in the dark jagged corners of the foul smelling boat house.

The odor of corpses filled the air as Bridgette locked her weeping eyes to the ground, not looking up to see tarp barely covering Izzy's rotting body, or Beth's cold and wet corpse, or Sadie's charred skeleton, or - most importantly - Geoff's splintered soul as it stared lifelessly into Bridgette's broken heart.

No clear thoughts could come to Bridgette's mind as the dead bodies cluttered her with fear and hopelessness.

Geoff's stunned eyes locked onto the sobbing surfer with a look as if he was unaware that he was dead.

Bridgette, overcome with depression couldn't properly sense the area around her, with tears and the darkness engulfing her vision and pure misery capturing her sense of the surroundings.

This place is too cruel… Why are people so cruel…

(Confessional: Courtney)

Courtney rubbed her nose painfully as she put a cloth to clean up blood leaking out of it.

"Shit! This hurts so much… Bridgette better not vote me off because of her emotions! We already are in heavy risk of her losing a tiebreaker."

Courtney stopped as she held her nose. "Ow! Ughhhh! Usually Bridgette is the nicest person here! All I'm doing is trying to make sure that she's staying alive! What the fuck was that?"

(End Confessional: Courtney)

The camera panned to an outside view of the entire island, showing a time lapse as dusk turned to the dead of night, then dawn turned to morning as a rooster sound effect played.

The camera zoomed in on the mess hall, where Courtney sat at the end, rubbing her face.

Duncan awkwardly approached the perfectionist with a bowl of something for breakfast.

"Hey, how's the face?" He asked.

"Still hurts." Courtney responded blankly.

Duncan nodded.

"Chef said that the next challenge will be beginning in eight-ish minutes."

"Mmhmm." Courtney nodded blankly.

The delinquent rolled his eyes and leaned forward with a serious look on his face.

"Okay. Look." He said matter of factly. "Obviously, Malibu isn't in the best of minds now. She's upset about Geoff. It doesn't take a genius to figure it out, but it does take a thinker to now how to approach this situation.

He passed the breakfast tray to Courtney.

"You should go to the boathouse where Bridgette is at… and apologize to her."

The CIT rolled her eyes bitterly at the juvie.

"Since when did you care?" Courtney asked bitterly. "She needs to be on top of her game. And she fucking attacked me for no reason at all."

"Well, I don't know! I guess I wanna have some human decency while I'm still alive. She still deserves the right of having food." He explained, the volume of his voice inreasing, "Plus, Bridgette's not gonna as easily vote with you after all of this! You were hella rough on her! You should've given her a break!"

"Yeah, you could've told me sooner!" Courtney whined again as she grabbed the tray.

"Yeah… I could've" Duncan said, lowering down his voice level. "Listen though, you should seriously try to make things up with Bridgette. And be less demanding this time. I don't want the three other guys voting any of us off yet…" He trailed off before looking at Harold, Ezekiel, and Tyler, who were looking at the two of them talking.

"I'm going to the next challenge with Zeke, and we're gonna try to win this. See yah."

"What happened to 'you have to be tough no matter the cost?' Huh?" Courtney hollered as Duncan silently left the mess hall, leaving Courtney to carry the breakfast and apology to Bridgette.

(Confessional: Harold)

Harold gave a hopeful smile as he sat against the confessional wall. No more mud was in the confessional from yesterday's challenge.

"This is just what I needed to finally get control over the team!"

(End Confessional: Harold)

(Confessional: Ezekiel)

The homeschooer looked around at the wooden confessional as he sat nervously.

"Those two girls wouldn't have fought yesterday if I'd just stepped in and helped Bridgette, eh! Courtney doesn't seem to be much of someone who helps her much…"

(End Confessional: Ezekiel)

The scene switched to Duncan walking to an area where Heather, Gwen, and Ezekiel were waiting by Chef.

"Just in the nick of time." The cook said as Duncan nodded. "Where's that other girl?"

"Wouldn't want to be late. And, uh, she's giving breakfast to Bridgette. Night's over so she should be allowed back, right?"

"Yeah, sure, rascal," he cleared his rough voice. "OKAY. MAGGOTS! YOU FINAL FOUR ARE GOIN' TO BE HANGING FROM THIS HERE TREE UPSIDE-DOWN 'TILL THERE'S ONE OF YOU LEFT!"

Heather gave a smug smile before saying. "Pfft, easy."

"Oh yeah?" Chef asked, "All four of you jump up there now." He instructed as the four complied, the two girl's hair dangeled from their heads, Duncan's recently cut hair barely hung, and Ezekiel's toque stayed tight on his head.

"NICE HAIRCUT MAGGOT!" Chef teased as Duncan groaned.

"What you four are experiencing, is an ancient Aztec form of torture." He explained, walking back and forth at the base of the tree. The two bass boys hung upside down on one side and the gopher girls on the other.

The rest of the surviving campers where onlookers beside the tree.

"By now, the blood has begun rushing to your head,"

Duncan was shown to be gradually getting more and more sick.

"The first stage is nausea, followed by dizziness and a flushed appearance as the blood begins to pool in yah eyes. You'll begin to experience fainting spells…"

Duncan began to faint before falling off the tree.

"Duncan!" Tyler called as the delinquent fell to the ground.

"Gah… don't talk to me, sporto…" He said before wandering off.

"Sorry…" Tyler responded before enthusiastically cheering on the last member there; "GO ON ZEKE! YOU CAN DO THIS!"

The CIT strutted with good posture as she held a tray of food for Bridgette in her hand.

She used her free hand to feel the bruises on her face, the black eye was still swelling up.

I can't believe Duncan said I should apologize to her… She punched me in the face! For essentially no reason may I add!

As soon as Courtney was within 20 meters of the boathouse, she could smell the foul odor of the rotting corpses of the past contestants stored there.

The interns who Chef had guard outside the door were notably absent, not even they could handle the stench.

She used her free hand to pinch her nose after whiffing the uncomforting air coming from that dreaded shed.

God, Bridgette may have attacked me, but it must be horrible for her in there.

The prairie boy nodded confidently as he looked at the other two gopher girls.

"Bring it on, eh! I've hung from the oak tree in my parent's back yard for fun everyday back home!" He said teasingly.

Gwen gave a cocky smirk before teasing back.

"Oh yeah? I've hung from trees upside-down with my friends back home!"

"Of course weird goth girl has experience hanging from trees…" Heather teased as Gwen rolled her eyes.

"I'm going to ignore that comment." She said, "But seriously, it's not worth the pain if you're not experienced like I am, I can take it from here."

Heather raised an eyebrow, or lowered an eyebrow as she was upside down.

"Really?"

"Yeah, I can take it from here. Trust me."

"Okay…" Heather said skeptically as she dropped down from the tree. "Thanks I guess.."

"Don't mention it." She looked back at the prairie boy.

"We are going to be here a loooong time."

Courtney creaked the dreary door from the outside with her free hand, trying to avoid breathing in the foul air.

After turning the knob and opening the door, Courtney leaned in her head to a horrifying display of campers.

Although dark, she could see tarp covering the outlines of the corpses of Eva, Owen, and Beth.

She nearly had to take a step back out of the room before recomposing her bravery to step into the room.

Her eyes avoided gazing at the frightning aftermaths of her fellow campers, being spared complete horrors from the bodies being covered by tarp.

The room felt abnoramlly cluttered, not only with the rotting bodies, but also with old worn out fishing equipment, old broken canoes, sharp hooks with fish hanging from the top of the room.

She took a couple more steps into the dreaded darkness, taking daring peeks to see if Bridgette was sleeping in a corner somewhere. If she was either behind a crate or beneath the fish draping from the ceiling.

Courtney took in a deep gulp before calling out the surfer's name.

"B- Bridgette?" Courtney stuttered as the stench and cold air filled the dark boathouse. "Are you in here? I… I, uh, brought breakfast for you! I'll just leave it here if I can't find you!"

The inside of the shed seemingly was much larger than the outside had presented it to be, with it being cramped with canoes, crates, corpses, and large carp hanging along the edge of the room.

The CIT shuddered, unusually uncomfortable as a shiver went up her spine. She past by some smelly fish hanging around the room, which plagued the room's smell along with the bodies.

Thirty minutes had passed and both teenagers had started to look woozy, with one being more woozy than the other.

Gwen, who was more pale than usual, held herself back from barfing, forcing herself to swallow and keep it up.

"At this rate, Gwen's going to fall," whispered a lazy schemer to an egotistical schemer.

"Whatever. We can just vote her off." Heather explained.

"Still, it's best if we win." Noah continued. He picked up a rock off the ground. "I've made sure that Katie's under our belts, but LeShawna approached me to vote you off, and I don't know if she's done the same to Justin."

The bookworm gestured his hands to the handsome teen, who impulsively ripped off his shirt and flexed his gorgeous muscles.

"I was thinking, you could throw a rock at Ezekiel to knock him off the tree." He handed the rock to Heather's palm. "Just be careful where you throw."

"What?" Heather whispered, "No way, Jose, I don't want to get blamed if Zeke breaks his arm or something from falling. And I don't want people targeting me because I threw a rock at the goody two shoes religious kid. You do it yourself."

Noah rolled his eyes. "I would, but my pitching arm is too 'roided out and exhausted. I can't throw it that high."

"Tell Justin to do it instead." Heather ordered, as she always does.

"I just hope that his 'pretty arms' don't get 'too damaged' for his modeling career." The schemer mumbled before turning to whisper to Justin.

"Gwen's gonna fall soon and fall first. Throw this rock at Ezekiel to make him fall first. Just don't hit him in anywhere where it will really hurt. Like in the face."

Justin smiled as Noah gave him a rock.

"Uh… which one is Ezekiel? Both of them have blue hair."

Noah had his mouth agape with amazement at how idiotic Justin was.

"Throw it to the guy on your left, genius."

"Oh, okay. At the face right?" Just repeated before throwing the rock hard in the prairie boy's direction.

Noah's eyes widened as the rock's trajectory aimed right at Ezekiel's face.

"I could do this all day, eh!" He said, before turning his head to see a rock coming straight at him…

…

As Courtney walked around the wooden structure, the bodies reminded her of how far she had come so far.

Ever since she arrived on the island, she naturally had been fearful of what was not only going to happen to her, but to her fellow contestants as well.

She remembered Izzy, that crazy hose beast who was too energetic and murder happy to live longer than two days on the island. She was messed up in the head.

She remembered DJ, the cowardice Momma's boy, who feared death the most out of all the teenagers, getting his legs quickly broken by an enraged bull and getting bludgeoned shortly after.

She remembered Eva, the titan, getting the privelage of walking removed as her enragement took over her.

Gradually, Courtney knew that she couldn't save all of her teammates. Not even just the ones she mildly disliked, even Bridgette or Duncan may have to go in favor of her persuits of survival.

Perhaps it is why she enjoyed Duncan's advice, 'you had to be tough.'

She knew that now was not the time to panic or get distracted. One mistep and you're destined to meet the big man up in the clouds.

She knew with absolute certaincy that other people could and would take advantage of Bridgette's mourning. In the event of another tiebreaker, Tyler, Harold, and Ezekiel would vote off Bridgete, not because she's a terrible person or incapable, but because she's emotionally weak.

Damn, this game is twisted and cruel… Courtney thought as she placed Bridgette's breakfast on a crate.

"Well, Bridgette, if you're sleeping somewhere here I… guess I'll just leave you're breakfast here…"

The perfectionist turned around suddenly to head back out through the anxious room.

For some inexplicable reason. Courtney's heart rate began to increase as she treked through the dark sharp boathouse.

As if she was being watched by the judging bodies of those who had passed.

Courtney gulped as she picked up her walking pace, sweating from the heat and foul odor that stained the pitch black room.

She navigated around the crates, heading towards the exit.

She squeezed on by some old canoes, almost by the exit.

And she pushed away the legs of some fish hanging from the ceiling as she was about to exit…

…

…fish don't have legs…

…

BOINK!

The rock bounced off Ezekiel's nose as the prairie boy stumbled down, landing on his face.

"Ooh… that's gotta hurt…" Noah said.

"And the Screamin' Gophers win." Chef said with little enthusiasm. "That means they get invinci-darnibility and the Bass will vote off someone."

Gwen smiled as she fell down from her branch and cheered, Heather and LeShawna carried her and cheered as well.

"Woah, woah, woah… how does that work?" Tyler asked. "He threw a rock at Zeke! That's gotta be a penalty…"

Chef shrugged. "It never said it was against the rules. It's not as bad as punchin' a person to oblivion. Plus, Zeke's fine… right?"

The campers turned around where Zeke was lying on the grass, unresponsive and laying still.

"Oh shit…" Harold, concerned for his friend, muttered under his nasally breath as Tyler ran over to him.

The Gophers looked with keen interest as Tyler turned over Ezekiel's body.

"Zeke? Are you good bro? Are you… alive?" Tyler beggingly asked as he squeezed Ezekiel's hand.

…

"Uncle Jeremiah?" Ezekiel asked.

Tyler and Harold collectively sighed in relief as Duncan gave a mixed smile. Noah sighed internally as well as he realized that he did not cause Zeke to accidentally die due to handing a rock to an idiot.

Justin simply smiled sexily.

"Zeke! You're all good!" Tyler said before hugging his friend.

"Tyler?" Zeke asked. "My head hurt, eh!"

Tyler nodded. "It's me Zeke, you'll be alright."

Chef shook his head. "That's not entirely true, sport, because one of you will be goin' to the afterlife after this execution ceremony!"

Ezekiel frowned as did Tyler. Duncan's frown was more of annoyance as he snapped his fingers.

"We'll meet at 0700 by the campfire to see who's-"

AHHHHHH!

The campers jerked their heads to the boathouse where a death curtling scream came from, as Courtney scampered hastily out of, running through the trees at a sprint's pace, stumbling over few exposed roots as she arrived in distance of the campers.

"BRIDGETTE'S DEAD!" She hollered.

The campers' eyes widened as the news was revealed.

Bridgette had hung herself in the boathouse.

"Huh. No ceremony tonight." Chef mumbled.

"Malibu is what?" Duncan repeated.

"She said Bridgette died." Katie said matter of factually. Another person who voted for Sadie to die…

"Dang, two nonvoting deaths in a row…" Noah said in wonder.

Harold and Ezekiel both looked at each other in surprise.

Harold had finally won the advantage of his team.

Ezekiel had failed to comfort someone in their final moments.

"Bridgette!... She's hung herself…" Courtney repeated, traumatized after the incident.

Duncan leaped up and yelled at Courtney. "Dammit Court! Why'd you have to push her too hard! Now she's fucking dead!"

"Shut up, Duncan! You think I don't know that?"

"Now, next time we lose, these three retards are going to vote out me!." Duncan complained.

"I KNOW, DUNCAN, JUST… SHUT UP!" She said before storming off.

What do I do now? Courtney asked herself.

(Confessional: Ezekiel)

The prairie boy played around with his toque as he looked solemnly in the confessional.

"I never got the chance to make Bridgette feel any better, eh… Dangit, why'd I listen to Harold about not talking with her?"

(End Confessional: Ezekiel)

(Confessional: Harold)

The dweeb gave a weak smile as he sat in the confessional.

"At least I don't have to worry about a tiebreaker… Gosh… is it bad that I'm smiling at the fact that somebody committed suicide?"

(End Confessional: Harold)

(Confessional: Tyler)

The jock looked sadly as he leaned against the confessoinal wall.

"Fuck, man… I accidentally killed Geoff yesterday and two days after, Bridgette hung herself… I'm really bad at this whole thing… but as long as I live longer, right?"

(End Confessional: Tyler)

The scene cut to Katie as she lied down by herself in the girl's cabin.

Bridgette had killed herself because she lost somebody…

The door to the girl's side knocked before Noah enter the room.

"Hey, Katie," he greeted with a wave. "How are things hanging…"

Katie looked at him, unamused.

"Okay… that was a poor choice of words, but… how are you feeling?"

"Like total shit…"

"It's Total Drama." Noah punned to no response.

"This whole thing is just crazy…"

"What? The show? Bridgette? Sadie?"

"The entire show… Nobody is going to come save us, and because of Courtney, Bridgette killed herself, just like how because of me… Sadie died…"

Noah frowned and rubbed the back of his neck as he sat down on one of the vacant bed's.

"It's neither of our faults, it's not your fault…" He reiterated.

Katie sniffled. "You're the one who planned the whole thing with framing Cody… and because of that, Beth died too…"

Noah frowned nervously as he tensed up in his seat.

"Yeah… but that doesn't directly relate to Sadie… you did your best to keep yourself alive… and Sadie alive for that matter…"

Katie teared up and looked down in shame.

"I'm the one who should be dead… I'm the one who did all those bad things… Sadie should still be here…"

The bookworm gave an uneasy look as he leaned forward at the weeping girl.

"Don't say that, Katie, none of this is your fault at all… There was nothing that you could've done at all…" Noah said, giving an uneasy look as he stared at the floorboards of the cabin.

Both of them had the exact same thought lingering in their head:

It's all my fault…

(End Confessional: Courtney)

Courtney punched the side of the wall in annoyance harshly.

"I've lost two allies in the span of two days! God dammit! Everything is falling apart! Why did Bridgette have to kill herself…"

The CIT groaned again, tugging her hair in distress before taking a deep breath to calm herself.

"It's alright Courtney… just…"
She sat in silence before thinking to herself briefly.

"What happened with Bridgette, it's not like what Duncan said, right? It's… not because I 'pushed' her too hard, right?"

Courtney shook her head before grabbing the doorknob to leave the small room.

"Gah… she would've died either way…"

She stopped for another second, thinking:

What do I do now?

(End Confessional: Courtney)

Chris smiled gleefully as he sat comfortably in his green production tent, reviewing over the footage.

"Woahhaho! Look's like stuff has been boiling since I've been gone!"

He spun around in his office chair before giving a sinister grin to the camera.

"How will Harold's determination face off against Ezekiel's morals?"

"How will Tyler deal with the fact that Geoff and Bridgette are dead, the latter possibly at his hands?"

"What will culminate from all the tension in the Gophers?"

"Will Katie ever get over Sadie?"

"How will Courtney play the game from here?"

He stood up from his chair and gave an excited smile as he raised his arms dramatically to conclude the episode.

"Find out next time on Total! Drama! Island!"

The episode fades to black and ends.

Voting Confessionals: Unavailable

Bridgette: (Suicide)

Killer Bass: Courtney, Duncan, Ezekiel, Harold, Tyler

Screaming Gophers: LeShawna, Gwen, Noah, Katie, Heather, Justin

24: Owen

23: Izzy

22: DJ

21: Lindsay

20: Trent

19: Eva

18: Cody

17: Beth

16: Sadie

15: Geoff

14: Bridgette

Finals Words: Unavailable

Why was Bridgette eliminated?

Soo… uh… I know that some of you might be kinda pissed off right now. I really hope that I nailed it with Bridgette's arc in this story. Sure, it might come off as a surprise that Bridgette goes so soon just after Geoff, but Geoff was always meant to go via toboggan, and I really wanted to have a twisted version of the iconic Boathouse scene from the canon Basic Straining. It may be upsetting to see her go so soon, but I enjoy the contrast of the relationship between Courtney and Bridgette's versus Noah and Katie's.

Happy couple-days-after Halloween!

I hope I handled this chapter's ending well. I'm aware that suicide is a touchy subject to throw into the story, heck, I was reluctant to put it in and instead just do a tiebreaker, but I hope I handled it respectfully enough. I apologize if any of you guys got a bit too uncomfortable with Bridgette's suicide, but it IS warned of in the description of the story.

Christ, is this a long chapter (20K words!), but looking over my notes, Hide and Be Sneaky is going to be much longer… I'm dreading that chapter so much…

I promised that the next elimination ceremony ever since 'If You Can't Take The Heat' will be twice as crazy, and that promise still stands…

One other thing, after the next chapter debuts, I'm planning to take a short break until around late January to early February. There are a few things I wanna even out for the early merge's plot and I just wanna take a little break from the story overall so I can recompose my motivation. Hopefully the story doesn't fall off too much…

So… thoughts?

How will Courtney recover from another loss of an ally?

How will Harold's alliance strike next time?

What will culminate next time with the tension bubbling in the Gophers?

Find out next time on Isle of Despair! X-Treme Torture!

- LapiZite