Standing at one corner of the giant, open hospital space far underground were Bowie, Jayshawn, and Zee. Near one of the archways to one of the five halls, Stephen sat with his arms spread over his knees, sulking as always.

"I'm not gonna do anything," Jayshawn muttered. "Ain't no point when our Jack is right there, moping around, bein' all psycho and shit."

"Agreed," Bowie replied.

Silence.

"But, like," Zee murmured, then didn't speak for a moment, his mind drifting.

"What?" Jayshawn prompted.

"Well, I kinda just thought of this but, assuming Stephen really is the Jack... shouldn't he be, like, doing stuff? How's he supposed to beat us if he doesn't do anything? Especially if he's our prime suspect, yo."

"Nah, bruh, it don't work like that. Stephen knows if he acts right now, we'll catch him for sure. This is his last ditch response to see if we'll suspect someone else in the hour, but it ain't goin' happen. Mothafucka really think he can trick me? Nah. You try and kill me? Not on my watch, fuckface."

As Jayshawn responded to Zee, Bowie's eyes narrowed while he watched the emo, his mind hard at work.

Matcha opened up a creaky door to an abandoned room within the rest of the abandoned hospital. She coughed into her sleeve, confirming for her that Mercutio was serious. The place was in dire condition, with chipped floorboards, a cot lying sideways on the floor, and mold growing on most everything around her. She shuddered from the sight, then grabbed an old roll of paper towels. Ripping off a relatively clean section of it, she used that to open up cabinets, coughing again as she scoured for supplies. Soon enough, Damien appeared in the doorway.

"Hey."

"Hey," she replied.

"Need a hand? Could use something to occupy me."

"Yeah, please. Only our lives on the line."

"Yeah."

Damien joined her efforts, grabbing prescription medication that could well have been from the dawn of time. He shuddered as a roach skittered back out of view, previously resting on the side of a no longer labeled pillbox.

"So, what did Bowie have to say?" Matcha asked.

"He, uh, he's fairly certain the Jack is Stephen, so I don't think most of my team's gonna try to do anything this round."

"Ah. Unfortunately for me," she grunted, reaching to open another cabinet, "I have to vote for a Dropout, so, no such luck."

"You could still just hang out and, you know, not do anything, wait for us to vote off Stephen and end this," he coughed, "assuming it's him."

She sighed. "I can't really operate like that."

"Nah?"

She shook her head. "If there's a solution to be worked out, or a problem that needs solving, I can't sit around. Never really could."

Damien crouched along with Matcha as she scouted around in cabinets and drawers on the floor. He noticed the tenacity she had in her desperate searching and reading of the materials around her, her willingness to set aside her disgust with the conditions of the room in the name of their survival.

"I guess that's how you got through college? What was your degree again?"

"PhD. Juris doctorate. It takes an average of six years to obtain, and I did it in four."

"Damn. You're some kind of crazy workaholic or something, huh?"

She shrugged, but didn't stop her search. "When I was eight, I had the reading proficiency of a university student. I got a B on a test... once, and I spent the entire following summer in my room. Constant straight As and that high proficiency was enthralling for my parents, so they felt that I was destined to become what they sought in college. That was pretty much all I knew. My friends told me I should go to a party, hook up, drink, do something- anything that wasn't work-related. 'Matcha, for the love of god, please ride someone's dick'," she repeated, uncomfortable as did so. "The amount of times I heard something like that... Yeesh, that felt gross to say. Marlee always had such a way with words..."

"Solid," Damien responded. "But why do you think you didn't ever let loose?"

"I just- it never really seemed important, you know? That wasn't what my parents wanted for me. I was out of high school for only a month before I went to university. Got my degree and my parents recommended Total Drama right after. In that brief period before Total Drama, all I did was apply to firms. Then they suggested I open my own firm with the million dollars. I guess I... I guess that's really all I've ever known."

"Shit," he murmured. "That's sad. Er, I mean- that was rude. I just meant- so, here we are in this death trap, and if we can't get outta this... then that means you lived your whole life without ever having any fun."

"Yeah, but it's n-" she replied, casual at first, but finally, she broke off her search for supplies for a moment, pausing.

Her heart rate sped and she froze, her eyes intense as she pondered his statement. Suddenly, past words from Queen entered her mind. "Course correct, love. Life is valuable, don't make a cock-up of it."

"Yeah... yeah, I guess y-you're right..."

Meanwhile, in another of the many medical facilities, Kobe and Athena examined a full syringe. Kobe held it in the air and tapped at it.

"What do you think it's full of?" Athena wondered.

"I have no idea. Hopefully not something that'll kill all of us."

"I guess the air is already doing that..."

Kobe let his head hang low. "Man, this shit is so stressful. I don't have the first inkling of a clue on how to make medicine. I'm not used to feelin' stressed like this."

Athena sighed. "I am. Back home, my dad used to assault my mom right in front of me. It... It never got easier. I always had to diffuse the situation. Call the police if it was needed. I stopped doing that after the second time he tried to molest me..."

"Damn... That's heavy. I'm truly sorry."

Sniffling, she nodded. "Thank you. Kobe, I- I guess you've got reason to distrust me. The mugshot, the way I behaved in the aviation challenge... I'm sorry about these things, about my lack of honesty, my abhorrent behavior, what MK thought of me... I wish I could go back and change it. And, truth be told, I'm really missing Caleb and Jill bad. They were my favorite people in the cast, and I just wish I could see their faces right now..."

"Hey. It's okay. There may be people in this cast that harbor judgment, but you don't gotta worry about that with me," Kobe asserted. "Right now, all that matters is that we're in danger, and we made a pact with our friends to swear that we'd help each other out. Right now, we gotta do what we can to make it outta this. About Jill and Caleb-try to bring yourself comfort by knowing they don't have to be here experiencing this with us. You dig?"

"You're so kindhearted. You're warm, like a blanket fresh out of the dryer. I really appreciate that about you. Why, Kobe?"

"Why what?"

She looked up at him with her orange eyes tender. "Why are you so quick to trust me? What if I was the Jack?"

"Girl, the way I see it, we pledged our loyalty to each other. Me, you, Matcha, Damien, Queen, and Zee. Sure, no contracts were signed, but it's an admission of trust. I choose to trust. That's why this challenge is so stressful for me I suppose. I want to trust everyone. I even want to trust Mercutio, but I guess I can't do that anymore. All I know is that the Jack can't be someone in our pact, and it's not Bowie either. So, don't worry about your past, Athena. You can trust me, and I have your back."

"Thank you so much," Athena reached in and hugged him tight. "Oh, god, I'm scared..."

Releasing her, he replied, "It's all right, 'cause we're gonna figure this out together. Why don't we see if we can analyze what's in this syringe and save our skin? Somehow. I've got no idea how we're gonna do it."

She smiled. "I'd be honored!"

In another corner of the abandoned hospital, Brook whimpered and shuddered, doing what she could to hide her crying from the others, curled up in a ball as she usually did in her emotionally tense moments. Iko crouched beside her and set a hand on her knee, sympathetic as always. This was visible from the next lower level of the hospital, with Londyn staring up and watching them from down below, seeing them through cracks in the steel floor. Her tender eyes were harrowed with pain.

Beside Iko and Brook, Queen groaned, irritably looking up from a medical textbook to hiss, "Iko!"

"Y-yes?"

"Would you calm the bloody bird down before I have to send myself on a trip to Belize?" she urged, miming a gunshot to her own head.

"I-I'm sorry," Brook murmured. "I'll try to be quieter."

A shadowy figure walked towards the trio, cloaked at first by shadow at the non-lit regions of the hospital.

"Better yet, you stop crying altogether and pick up a book yourself," Queen suggested. "Why must I be the only one here working towards a cure? I have half a mind to suspect Brook was the Jack for incessantly averting my focus."

"You can't blame her for breaking down in a situation like this," Iko protested. "We're only human."

Holden appeared, swishing his long hair out of his eyes as he approached the three.

"Bugger that," Queen muttered, "most of us are only human; this individual here is the single least attractive Oompa Loompa that ever snagged oxygen."

"You're calling yourself out, implying you think there are attractive Oompa Loompas," Holden remarked. "Besides, Oompa Loompas were originally African, so you seem more and more like one every day."

"If I must die, can't it be departed from you? Must you taint my final moments?"

"Hey, I'm just over here to offer my condolences to Iko and Brook."

"I'm sure that's true."

Holden leaned in to converse with the pair. "Did you two idiots realize Queen's part of a pact?"

"A pact?" Iko echoed.

"Nice, your English is so impressive, Iko!"

"Why do you think something I loosely agreed to with the others means anything?" Queen questioned.

"I see you've found a textbook," Holden started. "Nice. Too bad that I'd say just about none of us have any idea how to apply that knowledge. You ask me, the only reliable way to get ourselves out of this mess is to uncover the Jack."

"Good thing you're here to thoroughly dismantle my suspicion towards you."

"If I were the Jack, do you think I'd put myself in the position I have? Don't you think I'd express an interest in that little pact of yours? The Jack probably wants to be surrounded by allies at a time like this. The more people they can make trust them, the better their chances of pinning someone else. Who in your pact strikes you as most like how I'm describing?"

On the lower level of the abandoned hospital, Matcha and Damien walked side by side with a tray of medicinal supplies in both their hands. Holden and Queen took a moment to observe them.

"Bingo," Holden uttered.

"You think it's Matcha?" Queen figured.

"Convenient timing on the whole pact agreement."

"But, wait," Iko jumped in. "That doesn't necessarily give her away. If she formed a pact, that would only make sense given the circumstances of the game at this point. Mercutio's amped up the violence and danger by eleven. Is it not a typical strategy to form alliances on a show like this? Does it not make sense for someone like Matcha to do so?"

"That sounds like a whole lot of bullshit to me, buddy," Holden argued. "If you have a more convincing case for who's the Jack, let's fucking hear it."

"Well, I- I'm not too sure yet."

"Not too sure yet? Yeah, because it's probably Matcha."

"You've made your case," Queen stated, "now piss off."

"Maybe I had more to say, lean locks."

A fierce glare on her face, Queen smashed the book against the steel ground below them. Holden turned to head off in the other direction.

"All right. I made my case. Have fun finding a cure-something licensed doctors struggle to do."

Once he was gone, Queen let out a growl, clenching her fists. "He drives me up the bloody walls. What I wouldn't give to feed him his leather jacket in one piece."

"Do you- do you think he's right?" Brook wondered.

Almost surprised to hear her speak, Queen replied, "He- I don't know. It doesn't matter."

"It sort of does," Iko argued.

"Either be useful, or leave me be, why don't you?"

"I-i-if you're scared, it's okay to admit that. No judgment here."

"Sod off. If I wanted a therapist, I'd make Mother purchase me one." The irritable girl got to her feet, fleeing the pair, off to find solace in aloneness.

Iko sighed.

"Why are Queen and Holden so mean?" Brook wondered. "Why can't people just be nice to each other?"

He shrugged. "Hardship? Fear? I wish I could answer that with certainty."

"Do you think Matcha is the Jack?"

Iko took a moment to consider it. "I'm not too sure yet. It doesn't seem like her, but I guess you can never truly know a person..."

"But you can know me. If you want."

He smiled at her. "I'd like that."

An hour into the challenge, with several of the contestants coughing, Mercutio's face appeared onscreen, momentarily replacing the squares of the fourteen contestants' faces.

"All right, students, it's time to enter your labeled containment cells and vote for the Jack."

Obeying his command, the cast headed down a hall with flashing prompt lights, resembling runway lights for airplanes, seeing seven cells on each side of them. Each player entered the cell that had their name sketched above it. Inside the cells, they found a tablet propped up on the wall with squares of their six teammates' faces.

Brook saw Matcha, Kobe, Athena, Queen, Holden, and Iko's faces, and she chewed at her fingernails underneath her sleeves. Kobe stroked the beginning of a goatee as he examined his choices. Jayshawn pressed Stephen's face without hesitation. Conflicted, Cody gazed at Bowie, Jayshawn, Stephen, Damien, Zee, and Londyn's faces.

Fourteen beep noises sounded at different times with each players' votes being cast. A minute or so later, twelve cell doors clanked open, with cast members coming out one at a time. Cody exited first, followed by Kobe, Bowie, Jayshawn, Damien, Zee, Queen, Athena, Brook, Iko, Holden, and Londyn. Meaning...

"The results of round one are in," Mercutio announced onscreen. "Matcha and Stephen have been voted out of the challenge. The Jack was... not eliminated."

In a flash, the screen shifted back to the view of the fourteen contestants' face squares. The cast looked up to hear a disturbing blare noise play as Matcha and Stephen's squares faded and became dark, creating a clear contrast from the other eleven remaining players, and the hidden Jack...

"Shit, man, what the fuck?" Jayshawn complained.

Holden shrugged. "I've been wrong before."

"Hey, come on!" Matcha shouted from within her cell, closed in by an old, indestructible steel door. She banged on it, yelling, "Don't leave me in here! I was trying to work out a cure! Mercutio!"

Exiting their cells and coming to stand by each other, Brook and Iko watched Matcha's door make no movement as she banged on it. Iko sighed.

"Man, I knew I shouldn't have voted for her."

Round two began, and with it, the grueling, life or death circumstances of the challenge began to set itself deep within the conscience of the cast. Damien paced around, his arms over his head as he desperately fought to calm himself. Athena rocked back and forth, breathing heavily. Cody lashed his arm against a line up of pill bottles on a desk and crashed them to the floor. Brook nearly coughed her lungs out. Zee slouched against a wall, lost in thought, though, based on his expression alone, the thought appeared more along the lines of "How does a turkey give birth?" and less "How the hell will I survive this?"

"Please, let me out of here!" Matcha cried, muffled as her voice traveled only faintly outside the cell.

Somewhat later, Cody gathered himself, flipping through the pages of old textbooks, urgently trying to find answers.

"Come on, come on, come on... I didn't survive the wrath of Smirnoff just to die like this..."

"Hey," a voice peeped. Cody spun around to see Athena and Kobe standing in the doorway, each wearing blue, nurse gloves.

"S'up, bro?" Kobe greeted him.

"You maybe wanna help us?" Athena offered. "We're trying our hardest to come up with something."

"You look like you could use some help. Three heads are better than one or two."

"Yeah, I do." Hesitating slightly, he finally responded, "Okay, let's get cracking."

Elsewhere, Zee wandered and stopped at the sight of Londyn crying. She was loitering at the far side of one of the halls, with fungal growth traveling up a door nearby at half a slug's pace.

"Hey, dudette?" Zee addressed her, approaching. "You okay?"

She sniffled, trying to stop the crying once he approached her.

"You maybe may wanna cry somewhere else, bro. That door's seriously gross. I'd avoid it."

Another sniffle. "Why do you care?" She scoffed and turned away for a moment to mutter, "Why would anyone care?"

"Not so sure I know what you mean."

She sighed, catching her breathing. "At first, I was like, 'I'm not gonna take this shit', only to find out all that there is is shit. Fish, my leg, Mercutio, this challenge. And now I'm gonna die without ever experiencing the only thing I ever wanted."

"What's that?" Zee wondered.

"True love."

He paused. "Dawg, it's not too late. True love could be here in this very hospital! If we're really gonna die, why not fall in love with one of the people trapped in here? And if we live, then you've got the chance to go hunt the right person down with more appreciation for life than ever!"

"Why are you even still talking to me? You're creeping me out with your constant smiling, and that glazed look in your eyes. If you think I'm gonna fuck you, I'm not, and you're not gonna sweet-talk my pants off."

"I-I didn't mean-"

"Just leave me alone."

"Hey, man, I-"

"Leave me alone!"

Zee halted, his smile replaced with a slightly frightened, slightly sorry expression. "All right."

Defeated, he turned away, his head slumped with his neck sticking out like a giraffe. He jolted ever so slightly at the sight of Damien and Queen up ahead waiting for him. [1]

"Zee!" Damien urged.

"Whoa. Did you guys teleport?"

"We need to speak with you," Queen stated.

"Or could the gas be giving me a funny feeling?" He grinned and stared up at the moldy ceiling. He let a finger drift up as the other two watched him with confusion. "Could I be... beginning to float away? To flutter? I'm a leaf on the wind, watch as I so-" [2]

"Zee! Enough with the references to a fifteen year old series! What we have to speak with you about is important, so put a bloody sock in it and focus! Good lord, does dealing with you knacker me."

"Zee, we're afraid that the pact pack is, well, falling apart," Damien confessed.

Zee threw his hands on his head. "What? Oh, god! The humanity! What are we gonna do?"

"Little as I'd like to believe it," Queen started, "Holden's theory was sound. Though the Jack may not have been Matcha, it's entirely possible it's someone else in the pact pack. Perhaps Athena or Kobe, or perhaps... you, Zee."

Oblivious, he replied, "Huh. I was really starting to think it was Stephen honestly."

Queen cast an incredulous gaze on him. "Do you keep all those fizzy drinks in your ears? Focus! I'm accusing you of being the Jack!"

Zee pointed to himself. "Me?"

"Yes! But in a polite manner for a change! Aren't you going to defend yourself, or should Damien just vote for you at the end of the hour?"

Tapping his fingers together, he replied, "Well, I'd rather he didn't, but I want Damien to do what he wants to do, you know? He should live his truth, and that's on gan-"

"You're ridiculous!" Damien blurted.

"All right, all that answers the question in an annoying and long-winded way," Queen grumbled. "If it's not us, then I'm keen on Athena."

"That's a fair guess. I mean, she has done some heinous shit."

"The mugshot hasn't wandered out of my mind's eye either. She's untrustworthy. We should vote for her next."

"B-b-b-b-but what if it's Kobe?" Zee suggested, his hands on Damien's shoulder as he cowered. "It's never the person you expect! He could be holding back secrets the likes of which the world has never seen! Think about it, dudes! When is it ever the person you expect?"

"Do you realize there's a reason why we suspect people in the first place? It's because there's probable cause, a reason for suspicion."

"So says you," Bowie interjected. The trio spun around to see him, along with Jayshawn, drifting by, pacing with his hands balled behind his back. "However, I'm fairly certain now that it's Londyn."

"We weren't talking to you," Queen shot back.

"Why?" Damien asked.

"Dammit, Damien," she sighed.

"Hello? That's my teammate now," Bowie reminded her. "Londyn's a mess. She's shaken up more than a good winter waltz. Mmm! Hope to god I live to drink another one of those."

"But we're all shaken up, bro, how does that make her the Jack?" Damien argued.

"Maybe you're the Jack," Jayshawn pointed at him.

"No! No, I'm not the Jack! I'm not crazy! Weren't you just talking to me like you could trust me?"

"I learned a long-ass fuckin' time ago that I can't trust anybody."

"Trust me when I say the Jack must be Athena," Queen urged.

"All right, look!" Damien interjected, throwing his arms out. "Look, y'all, we can't all vote for one person. All right? So, what's the use throwing out Athena versus Londyn, right? We'll vote for Londyn, and Queen, you guys vote for Athena."

"Good enough for me," Jayshawn replied.

"We only have so much time left..." Holden added. The group shifted to see him leaning, lurking in the shadows as he watched the five.

"Creep," Queen muttered.

"Where are all of you guys coming from?" Zee wondered aloud.

"Don't you want to be sure of yourselves?" Holden urged. "I don't see any of you making medicine, so if you're gonna piss off and waste time and oxygen, why not be completely certain? Even if the Grads can't vote for Athena, and vice versa?"

There wasn't enough time for a response to be made by the time that an explosion sounded, rocking one of the rooms in a nearby hall. The contestants flinched at the sound of it, then before long, Athena and Cody burst out, coughing and sputtering as they were covered from head to toe in soot.

"Oh, my god!" Athena wailed.

"Bitch, the fuck was all that about?" Jayshawn demanded.

Holden watched curiously while the other five watched less so, and more so with fear. Iko and Brook wandered their way over to the outskirts of the confrontation, bringing together all the remaining cast but Kobe and Londyn.

"It was-"

"Kobe," Cody rasped, falling to his hands and knees to hack like a cat.

"He tried to kill us!"

"Where is Kobe now?" Bowie urged.

As if answering him, Kobe emerged from the doorway, equally covered in soot.

"No, no, it was an accident! Athena, I'm sorry!"

"I- I told- he said-" the orangey-blonde girl stammered. "Oh, Cody, are you okay?"

"I'm fine," he croaked. "I'll be all right. You?"

"Athena!" Bowie ordered. "Girl, what just happened?"

"It was our cure! Cody, Kobe, and I were all in charge of certain elements. Kobe's were explosive, evidently, and we almost died with our cure! I can't believe you'd do this to us! Why?"

"It wasn't supposed to happen! I- I promise!" he insisted. "Please, you gotta believe me! I'd never hurt anybody!"

"Not even for a million dollars?" Jayshawn implied.

"No! Never! Please, guys- Athena, Cody, I didn't mean for that to happen. You gotta believe me!"

Kobe's rambling continued as Queen and Damien glanced over at each other, a mutual nod following. Zee cracked a soda and a grin, murmuring, "What'd I tell ya?"

Meanwhile, Holden eyed Queen down as Kobe kept speaking, but his voice was drowned out to the background. Holden's gaze on Queen wouldn't subside, and with it, his mind worked at a mile a minute.

[1] - I swear man the way they animate Zee, his neck is ridiculous

[2] - Any Firefly fans here?

Dropouts: Athena, Holden, Iko, Kobe, Matcha, Queen, Brook

Grads: Cody, Bowie, Zee, Jayshawn, Londyn, Stephen, Damien

Jack: Athena, Holden, Iko, Kobe, Queen, Brook, Cody, Bowie, Zee, Jayshawn, Londyn, or Damien

Some quick OC descriptions:

Athena: orangey-blonde, orange contacts, black and white dress

Holden: long, scraggly hair, heavyset, short, leather jacket

Iko: slim-fat, short, stylish overcoat and vest

Kobe: tall, big afro

Matcha: brunette, business casual

Queen: purple hair

Jayshawn: fit, muscular, dreads, gym tank/shorts

Londyn: brunette, face tattoos, gorgeous features

Stephen: early 2000s emo look

Mercutio: chiseled face, suit, wide-framed

Tracy: slim, suspenders/bowler hat

Brook: silver hair, oversized cardigan