Last time on Total Drama Island…
The teams were given a series of challenges that tested their ability to trust one another. The rock-climbing challenge showed that Courtney and Heather were more alike than they wanted to admit, at least when it comes to winning. That became clear to everyone when Courtney actually sabotaged the Screaming Gophers during the next challenge, causing Lindsay to fall into a pool of jellyfish. That made her quite unpopular with not only the other team, but even the people in her own alliance… except for Liam.
DJ's pet rabbit was nearly eaten by a snake, but he managed to work with Bridgette well enough to not get blown up in the toboggan race. The remaining guys on the Gophers then formed a pact to vote off Leshawna before her alliance could pick up any more momentum. But at the campfire that night, Cody received the short stick anyway. Which one of the guys didn't keep their word? Will any of the campers survive another day? Find out in our most grueling challenge yet on Total… Drama… Island!
Given the injuries that had been sustained in the last challenge, Chris decided to give the campers their usual two days of rest before springing the next one on them. Rather than make them relax, however, this just made everyone more tense.
It meant whatever the next challenge was would definitely suck.
Still, none of them were going to argue against getting a break, regardless of what horrors were in store. The next morning, the two camps the Bass had been divided into could be seen. Heather and Courtney's alliances were grouped at opposite ends of their table, with a noticeable gap between them. Tyler was also seen frequently shooting glares at Courtney, but otherwise didn't cause a fuss. In fact, neither side spoke with the other, simply acting like they weren't there.
At the Gophers table, Leshawna hummed. "Think they're gonna win the next challenge?" she asked Gwen.
The goth looked at the other table before snorting. "With a cold war like that? I doubt it," she replied.
Lindsay said "Then we know who to vote for, right? And how much longer is it until we're all on the same team anyway?"
"Probably not long. Maybe once we're down to half of us left," Leshawna told her. "But we need to be careful to last that long. Especially if someone isn't voted out by then," she said, deliberately looking in Courtney's direction.
While Gwen saw it and nodded, Lindsay missed it and said "I know, right? If me and Tyler are here when there are no teams, we can compete together!" She punctuated that with an excited clap.
Gwen grunted, not particularly concerned with what the blonde did at that point. Then Trent walked into the lodge, and she said "You guys mind if we talk about this later?"
Also nothing the guitarist, Leshawna smirked. "Go on, girl," she said with a wave of her hand. Giving her a thankful smile, Gwen picked up her tray and moved over to sit next to him.
At the Bass table, Heather was looking back and forth between the two new 'official' members of her camp. "Just so we're clear, this alliance has rules. I'm in charge, so if I tell you to do something, you do it, okay?" she said.
DJ raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms. "What kinds of things are we talking about?" he asked.
Daphne shrugged. "For me, it's mostly doing things for her in the shower or sharing hygiene products, which I don't mind," she said frankly. "But I doubt you guys will be doing that."
Heather was about to agree… before noticing that both boys were looking between them with raised eyebrows. She mentally replayed what her 'ally' just said, before connecting that to their reactions. A spot of red appeared on her cheeks. "She meant clipping my nails or washing my back! Not… no," she quickly blurted.
Daphne blinked, also realizing how her words could be interpreted. An even larger blush appeared on her face, and she nodded. "Yeah, that! We're not… I don't… Heather's just been a really nice friend since Izzy had to leave. That's it," she said.
DJ shrugged. "It wouldn't have made much difference to me. I don't judge," he said, and Tyler nodded. "So, what would we be doing?"
"Simple. If I need you to get me something, act a certain way in a challenge, or vote for someone, you do that. It'll always be a part of my strategy," Heather explained.
Tyler frowned. "That sounds fine to me, as long we aren't trying to hurt anyone. I'm firmly against winning like that," he told her.
"Same here," DJ added.
Heather grimaced. "You do understand that we'll be competing against other people, right? In physically painful challenges? There's no way they won't get hurt," she said slowly.
"Maybe, but that doesn't mean we gotta be the ones that hurt 'em," the jock argued. Then he glanced behind him at the other table. "How about this? We agree to keep this alliance clean, and I'll see if Lindsay wants to join once we merge."
That got Heather to pause. That offer also implied that, come the merger, Tyler would stay with her rather than leave. If that were the case, plus she kept Daphne as well as swallowed her bile enough to reconnect with Leshawna for as long as she was useful… And if she got rid of Courtney and poached her lazy sidekick before then…
Ooh, this was starting to look good. And she had kept up the 'somewhat nice' routine so far. She was strong enough to bear it for longer. "Deal," she said, and both boys nodded with smiles.
Daphne smiled as well. "See? She is a good friend," she stated, making Heather resist smirking.
Confessional Stall - Heather
"Oh yeah, Fire Girl is practically in my pocket. If I had gotten to her before, I could have isolated her and made her completely dependent on me. Then she'd never vote me off." Then she sighed. "But sadly, Izzy got to her first and let her make other friends. I need more time to figure out a way to make one-hundred percent sure I have her obedience."
After that breakfast, the campers spent the rest of that day and the next performing various activities in their cliques. Couples such as Trent and Gwen or Tyler and Lindsay mostly spent the break together. Harold, Liam and Courtney spent time playing chess, keeping tallies of who won how many matches, or reading.
DJ, Leshawna and Bridgette proved how much they valued friendship over alliance boundaries by going swimming or surfing together, while Daphne 'confirmed' Heather's earlier feelings by recruiting Owen to taste test more baked goods for her, which the queen bee reluctantly joined when Daphne asked her to. (Chef wouldn't let her touch his charcoal grill, much to the pyro's dismay.) Justin spent the time admiring himself, as usual.
All good things had to come to an end, however. Too soon, the third morning rolled around, and an aura of dread hung over them as they waited for the challenge to begin. Was this one going to be as dangerous as the last?
Then the intercom finally came on after breakfast, and that dread felt prophetic when it was not Chris that came on over it, but Chef.
"Attention, all cockroach campers! All of you are to report to the Dock of Shame at 0900 hours," he declared. There was a moment of silence. They were all outside, and not one of them was wearing a watch. "That means NOW!" Chef yelled, and they hurriedly all started for the Dock.
Chef was waiting for them in a set of olive green military fatigues minus the blouse, as well sun glasses and a campaign hat. Next to him was a bell with a rope. Once they were close enough, he pulled out a megaphone and said "Line up and stand at attention!" The fourteen campers quickly formed a line, and Chef began to walk past them with a baton in his other hand. "You call this proper formation?!" he said, still using the megaphone. As he passed by Harold, he barked "Knees together!" and smacked him in the left knee with his baton.
"Ow!" Harold cried, but brought his knees together when Chef raised his baton to do it again.
He repeated that process with Leshawna's crossed arms. "Arms down! Eyes forward! Head up!" he continued, also hitting Heather, DJ and Owen. The only camper he gave a nod to was Liam, who was already holding the right posture. "I expected nothing less, Cadet," he said.
For once, Liam was wide awake despite it being the morning. "Sir, yes, sir," he replied, not even glancing at Chef as he faced forward.
Gwen grunted. "Well, this is gonna be fun," she sarcastically whispered to Trent.
But then Chef whirled around. "What was that?! You say something, soldier?!" he shouted, making her hair fly back.
"No, sir! Nothing!" Gwen replied.
"Good! And you will continue to say nothing until I tell you to say something!" he told her, before turning back around. As he walked away, he began "Today's challenge will not be easy. In fact, I expect that some of you will not come back alive."
That got several of them to look worried. That was… hopefully a joke. Chef continued "Starting now, you are all part of the Chef Hatchet Boot Camp! My orders are to ensure that all of you maggots drop out of my camp except for one. The one camper that does remain wins immunity for their team."
Heather crossed her arms. "This is our challenge? What happened to Chris?" she asked.
"Arms DOWN!" Chef yelled, and smacked her on both arms with his baton until she was ramrod straight. Courtney nearly snorted at that, but managed to keep it down to just a smile. "Now, Rule #1: Every response you give me will start and end with 'sir'. Rule #2: At all times, you will address me as Master Chief. Am I understood so far?!"
"Sir, yes, Master Chief, sir!" all the campers shouted with varying levels of fear.
He nodded. "Rule #3: You will eat and sleep when I tell you to! Is that clear?!"
All of them replied "Sir, yes, Master Chief, sir!" again, this time louder.
"Rule #4: When you are ready to drop out of the challenge, walk to the end of the Dock and ring the bell. Which brings me to the final rule: Until one camper drops out, your first day in my Camp does not end! So get your butts down to the beach! Now, now, now!" he finished.
Confessional Stall - Gwen
"Whoever had the sick, twisted idea to put Chef in charge of a challenge… Good one," she said, smiling slightly.
Confessional Stall - Daphne
"Not ending the first day without a quitter, who then has to ring a bell?" she said with a frown. "I feel like I've heard this somewhere before…"
Once the teams were at the beach, they found a pair of canoes lying there, each one painted a team color.
Unfolding a chair for him to sit on, Chef said "Listen up: Each team will hold a canoe over their heads. If I catch you taking your hands off the canoe, you're out. And until someone's out, you're not getting any lunch either."
"Aww…" Owen began, before Chef started to glare his way and he continued "As in, aw, that's great!" He gave a nervous chuckle, and Chef let it pass.
"Wait a sec, the Bass have two more people! It'll be easier for them," Leshawna pointed out. That got her some annoyed looks from the Killer Bass, but none of them had a counter.
Chef hummed and looked like he was considering her point. "I see that. I see it as a lesson not to be a team of wimpy losers! And what did I say about saying 'sir'?!" he yelled into his megaphone again. "Now, canoes up!" he shouted, and the Bass raised the red canoe while the Gopher raised the green one.
After about thirty seconds passed with nothing else happening, Trent said "Well, this is easy."
Tyler grinned. "I can carry stuff with just my thumbs! We've got this!" he boasted.
The challenge began shortly after 9am. It was now past noon, and the two teams were in the exact same positions they were before. There had been some shuffling from side to side by various campers, but none had let go of their canoes just yet.
As the afternoon sun beat down on them, several of their stomachs grumbled from the lack of lunch, particularly Leshawna's and Owen's. Harold and Liam, meanwhile, had grimaces as their lower strength came back to bite them despite having more teammates. Then, to make matters worse, Chris joined them in the second hour and hopped on top of the Gophers canoe. Chef, meanwhile, parked his greater weight on top of the Bass.
"Looks like they missed lunch," the host remarked.
Chef nodded. "I guess they just aren't that hungry! Unless… someone wants to drop out now?" he offered.
Owen's stomach grumbled again, and Gwen quickly said "Don't even think about it."
"I wasn't!" he protested. A third grumble, and he hastily amended "I won't think about it anymore."
Whether or not Owen kept his word on thinking about dropping out, he at least didn't follow through with it. Even as the sun went down, the feeling of the canoes (and Chef or Chris, whenever one of them got on) growing heavier and heavier, the large boy went to sleep standing rather than drop out.
Once night had fallen, the hungry, thirsty and exhausted teens were given some torches to see with. That bit of light cast deep shadows over Chef's face as he told them various war stories. "Twenty five of us went in that day. Twenty did not make it out," he said as he started the next one.
By that point, Liam couldn't help it. "Sir, Master Chief, sir? I was just wondering: which war were you in, sir?" he asked with a yawn
Chef paused before glaring at the redhead. "Did I ask you to speak?!" he demanded angrily.
Keeping his smile for showing, Liam bowed his head. "Sir, sorry, sir," he obediently stated.
Chef nodded in acceptance. Before he could resume his story, however, Lindsay moaned. "Guys… I can't go on," she declared. "I can't even feel my arms."
That was enough to jostle Owen awake, and he shook his head. "Don't let go, Lindsay!" he urged.
"Yeah! I believe in you, babe!" Tyler called.
That got both Courtney and Heather to stare at him. "What are you doing?! She's on the other team!" Heather said.
"For once, I agree with her," Courtney added.
But Tyler didn't back down. "Gopher or Bass, she's still my girlfriend," he declared.
That got Lindsay to smile. "Aw, you're the best, Tyler," she said, making some of them blink at her not mispronouncing his name. "And you know, this thing feels a bit lighter now!"
Harold grimaced. "Good… for you," he said, arms trembling.
"Don't you let go, either!" Courtney swiftly said.
Despite her warning, only ten more minutes passed before Harold groaned. "If it were anything other than an endurance challenge… I'm sorry, guys," he said, before letting go and falling to the ground.
Or tried to, at least, as Chef caught him by the arm and hauled him to his feet. "You want out, ring the bell!" he reminded him.
Harold dutifully staggered to the end of the Dock. With herculean effort, he lifted one aching arm and pulled on the rope, letting the ball clang once. The moment he did, both teams let out sighs of relief as they put down their canoes. Chef walked over to Harold and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Soldier, you have nothing to be ashamed of… except for letting your team down like a big baby! Now get lost!" While he quickly made himself scarce, Chef turned to the rest of them as they placed their canoes down. "The rest of you report to the mess hall for dinner!"
"Oh, finally!" Owen said, rubbing his stomach as they all walked on tired legs to the lodge.
Whatever dinner he or any of the others was envisioning, however, faded as they entered the main lodge to see a line of trash cans set up against the wall.
Before they could ponder it, Chef walked in behind them and moved to stand beside Chris next to the cans. "Alright, soldiers! Y'all have got ten minutes to eat your supper. After that, we move on to night training!" he told them.
"Night training? But I thought the day ended when one of us dropped out!" Heather protested.
"TRAINING ENDS WHEN I SAY IT ENDS, MAGGOT!" Chef roared, making her back away in terror as a vein bulged in his forehead.
Lindsay raised her hand. "Um, Master Chief? Where's the food?" she asked.
Chef gave them a grin that said he hoped they'd ask that. "You're looking at it," he said, waving a hand at the trash cans.
Curious, Owen was the first to walk over and open one of them. Peering inside, he said "Sir, this is just garbage from breakfast today and dinner last night. Uh, sir."
At that, Daphne frowned. "This is sounding more and more familiar…" she muttered to herself.
"Precisely. In war, you eat what you can get!" Chef told them.
Chris chuckled. "Well, seems like I don't need to weigh in here. I'm off to get something from the craft services tent," he declared.
"Mmm-mmm. I'll take some of that myself," Chef said, joining him in walking out of the lodge. "And don't even think about sneaking into my fridge for anything!" he warned them, before leaving them to dig through the trash for anything edible.
The moment he was gone, Heather crossed her arms. "I am not eating any of that," she said firmly.
"Me neither," Courtney said, getting them both to look at each other. That was twice now that they had agreed on something during a challenge. They quickly took a step apart from each other.
Liam shrugged. "If you two want to train on an empty stomach, go ahead," he said, before opening one of the cans and starting to dig.
Courtney scoffed. "Unlike you, I have plans to run for office someday. And no one is going to pull up a clip or photo of me eating garbage!" she said.
"And how do you know I don't want to run for office?" the redhead asked, raising an eyebrow.
That got him a flat look. "Because you're you. You'd never be the leader of anything if you could help it," she said frankly.
Liam chuckled. "Ah, you know me so well," he said. "It's one of the things I like about you."
While he resumed scavenging, he missed Courtney's surprised look behind him. "Like about me…?" she muttered, though quietly enough that he did not hear it in favor of finding a somewhat-rotted orange. Borrowing a multitool from Harold, he cut away the rotten parts and dug in.
Once the ten minutes for 'dinner' was over, Chef led them back to the beach, where he had a platform set up with a radio next to it. As the radio began playing music, all of the campers were expected to copy Chef's moves as he danced to it. The ones who had actual dancing experience—i.e., Heather, Harold, Lindsay and DJ—had the easiest time of it. For some others, such as Owen or Tyler, it was less 'easy' and more 'trying not to trip over their own feet'.
At one point, Chef even switched to dances from multiple Michael Jackson songs. Daphne wondered if the show's studio had to pay anything to use the Thriller pose on television. The longer the dancing went on, the more tiring it was to keep pace, especially with the lack of sleep and quality food. After Chef shouted at Heather, however, none were willing to gamble if willingly dropping out would make him decide to be merciful. Once Chef finished making them dance to 'Smooth Criminal'—all eight minutes of it, twice—the exhausted campers were led back to the lodge.
When they were seated, they were each handed a pencil and a stack of blank paper. "Your next challenge is to write a 300-word essay. The subject will be: 'Why I Love Master Chief Hatchet'," he declared with a relish.
That was when it clicked for Daphne. "Wait a minute!" she said, making Chef and the others look at her. "Starting the day with at least one dropout, having us eat the morning trash, and now writing an essay when we're exhausted…" she counted off with her fingers. "This entire challenge is one big G.I. Jane reference!"
There was a moment of silence, those campers familiar with the film gaining looks of realization.
Owen looked around. "Um, I'm guessing that's a military movie?" he asked, not being an avid fan of such himself.
Trent nodded. "Yeah, but one about the U.S. military, not Canada's," he pointed out.
That was when Chef managed to recover. "Yeah, so? A film's a film, and so what if I base a challenge off of it?" he said with crossed arms. "In fact, since I don't have to be subtle about it, let me make the experience more immersive," he said, before taking out his radio again. Pressing it, what came out was not music, but the sound of rain mixed with the occasional thunder. Setting that on the table, he then walked over and turned a dial to dim the lights until the entire room was barely lit. "Now y'all can write your essays. And anyone who falls asleep is out. You've got two hours," he warned smugly.
That got all of the campers to groan, while Daphne also face-palmed. "Should've just kept it to myself," she muttered.
Once the timer began, the campers picked up their pencils. Not all of them immediately began writing, however, some trying to plan their essay out first. Liam barely had to think before he began, a smirk on his face.
As the challenge progressed, the rain and thunder soundtrack was making the boring task even harder to stay awake in. DJ and Owen yawned loud enough to be heard over a rumble of thunder, while Tyler began to slowly nod his head.
Fifteen minutes into the challenge, however, Courtney scooted over next to him. "What's up?" he whispered, hopefully quiet enough to not be heard over the rain noise.
"I'm worried," she whispered, making him blink. "Whether it's this challenge or not, we're going to lose sooner or later. And when that happens, Heather's side will all vote together to get rid of me."
Liam titled his head, appearing confused. "For you? Why?" he asked in a curious tone.
She scoffed. "Because I'm the alliance leader," she said, looking down to jot down more to her essay. In doing so, she missed his smirk at hearing what he thought confirmed. "Once I'm gone, Heather will be able to take over the whole team, so she'll want me gone now when she has the numbers for it."
"I see. There is also Tyler, who I imagine is still mad about the whole Lindsay thing," he pointed out. "Even though you were obviously right to secure us a victory," he added.
"Obviously," she agreed. "But right now that's our four votes against her four. Even if we picked a target Harold and Bridgette agreed with, we'd still tie. And who knows what Chris would make us do for a tie-breaker." Then Courtney hesitated. "I might… even lose."
Liam raised both eyebrows. "You are worried," he stated.
"I said that, didn't I? So what are we going to do?" she asked.
The redhead was silent, looking out over his teammates. Several thoughts and possibilities ran through his head, ideas examined and then discarded. Eventually, he said "I can think of two solutions. One is more expensive than the other, but more reliable. The other is… tricky."
Courtney opened her mouth to ask for details when Chef walked past them, and she quickly looked back down at her essay. "Whatever you're thinking, I can't take a risk on something that won't work. Go for the reliable option."
He nodded. "You got it," he said, before continuing to write.
The timer Chef had set went off with a helpful ding once the two hours were up. That ding was loud enough to wake up Lindsay, who had passed out once her essay was written.
"Pencils down!" Chef called, raising the lights and switching off the music. As he walked around and collected their essays, his foot landed in a puddle next to Owen. "Whoa!" he yelled, landing on his back. He swiftly got back to his feet and glared at the large boy. "Clean up that drool!" he angrily ordered.
Owen just exhaled and stared ahead, too tired to even notice he was being yelled at. Chef glanced down at his papers and, seeing a completed essay, walked on.
As he came to Liam, who was leaning back with a smirk, Chef snatched up his essay and began to read. "I love Master Chief Hatchet because he is handsome. I love Master Chief Hatchet because he is strong. I love Master Chief Hatchet because…" he said, before trailing off. Skimming the other pages, he said "This is just the same sentence over and over with different adjectives at the end!"
"Sir, it's still three-hundred words," the slacker rebutted. "Three hundred and six, in fact. I counted, sir."
Chef growled, but didn't doubt that the teen was telling the truth. As he passed by DJ and Trent, both of them were still asleep even after the ding. A slammed fist into each of their tables fixed that, though. "You two are out!" he declared, making both boys groan in either dismay or relief.
"The rest of you get some shut-eye. Report back here at 0500 hours!" he ordered. Despite that being only two hours of sleep, all those still in the challenge didn't dare complain and rushed to their cabins.
One brief rest later, and Chef led them to the front of an obstacle course. There was a wall to climb over, a rope to swing, tires to jump through, and even a pair of giant axes to crawl through the mud under.
"Are you trying to kill us?" Leshawna asked, seeing the torchlight glint off the axe blades.
"No more than an enemy in war would," he answered. That made several of them gulp, but Chef firmly ignored them and continued "You will all run this course until each of you can complete it in less than one minute. Everyone understand?!"
"Sir, yes, Master Chief, sir!" they all replied.
"Then go, maggots! Go!" he yelled, and they all took off.
The ones with the most energy left were at the front of the pack, that being Leshawna, Gwen and Bridgette. While the latter two were able to easily clear the wall, Leshawna struggled for a moment. Justin grimaced as the axes came dangerously close to his hair. He lowered himself further to the ground, and his disgust only grew as that caused the cold mud to begin seeping into his clothes.
Tyler looked behind and saw Lindsay. Grinning, he ran towards the ropes and confidently called "Piece of cake!" He then swung on the rope, released it, performed a triple forward flip… and landed face-first in the mud.
"Ooh, that's gotta suck," Trent remarked, wincing in sympathy.
To make matters worse, Lindsay, running practically on auto-pilot from exhaustion at this point, also grabbed the rope, swung, and landed right on top of him with a surprised shout. "Oh my gosh! Are you okay, Tyler?" she asked, quickly scrambling off him and to his side.
Tyler's face had been driven into the mud. He placed his hands on the ground to either side and tried to push himself up. However, all that did was get his arms to sink halfway into mud as well. At that point, the jock started flailing his legs while letting out muffled screams as he lost oxygen.
Chef was quick to walk over and grab him by his collar, ripping him out of the mud with one hand. "Your tour ends now! Ring that bell and hit the showers!" he ordered. "You as well, sleepwalker!" he added, pointing at Lindsay.
Lindsay gasped, waking fully. "A shower? Finally!" she called, before happily grabbing Tyler's arm and dragging him to the washroom.
Seeing that, Chef felt the need to add "I meant shower separately!" but whether the blonde heard him was unknown. "As for the rest of you, get going!" he barked.
The other campers quickly resumed the course. Among the unpleasant experiences were Owen causing the climbing wall to collapse, then Bridgette slipping and hitting the tires with her chin. Heather, somehow, ended up hanging from the rope by her ankle until Daphne untied her.
As Leshawna made her second crawl under the axes, she also slightly sank into the mud. "Uh, a little help here?" she asked, glancing at the blades swinging over her head.
Slightly behind her, Heather frowned.
Confessional Stall - Heather
"Ever since the teams were redone, I haven't been able to do a thing to get rid of Leshawna. This could be my chance to let her sink and get eliminated. But... I did have that idea before about joining forces with her again at the merger. Hmm, strategy or satisfaction?" she wondered.
After a moment of debate, the queen bee sighed and crawled next to her. "Here, take my hand," she offered, holding it out.
Leshawna quickly grabbed it and began to use Heather as an anchor to pull herself out. It took almost half a minute for her to finally get out. Once she was, she sighed in relief and said "Thanks for that."
"Don't mention it," Heather replied, before focusing on the course.
Ahead of them, Liam stood up at the end of the course. "My time, sir?" he asked.
Chef held up a stopwatch. "Seventy-three seconds. You've still got thirteen to shave off, so back to the start!" he ordered.
Liam groaned but offered no further protest. The last thing he wanted was for Chef to punish him with more exercise. Or even worse, with manual labor. "Can I at least use the restroom before I start again, sir?" he asked.
Chef grinned.
Inside the washroom, Liam stood with a mop, a bucket, and an annoyed expression.
"I don't know why I didn't see that coming," he said flatly.
Later that night, as the campers sat in the main lodge, they were served bowls of gruel once more in place of more trash. Several of them just picked at their bowls, either too tired to stomach the stuff or not wanting to.
Eventually, Gwen pushed hers away. "That's it, I can't eat any more of this stuff," she declared.
"Goth Girl's right," Heather said, making Gwen stop in surprise. Heather was agreeing with her? The queen bee continued "After all the torture they've thrown at us this challenge, we at least need something that doesn't taste like sawdust."
Trent hummed. "There is the stuff in Chef's kitchen fridge," he pointed out.
Daphne quickly shook her head. "Chef told me he dusts the place for fingerprints every morning. We steal from there, he'll know and ban us from ever using the kitchen," she said.
Those that had tried her and DJ's cooking gulped, and Owen said "Uh, any other ideas?"
Courtney hummed. "Well, there is the craft services tent… But we can't steal from there!" she hurriedly said.
"And why not?" Heather asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Because Chris and Chef will be there! If they see us stealing food, and decide to drop us out of the challenge as punishment…" the C.I.T. began. "Or worse, they'll just kick us off the show."
Leshawna snorted. "I doubt they'll kick us off the whole show just for taking some food," she said. "And you know what? I think we deserve some of what they got in there after all we've been through."
But Courtney still appeared unsure. "I don't know…" she said.
Tyler gave her annoyed look. "So what? It's not good if we break the rules, but it's okay to hurt each other to win?" he near-snarled.
She glared at him and crossed her arms. "For your information, I already made a promise not to do that sort of thing anymore," she said, to which both Harold and Bridgette nodded in confirmation.
Liam quickly added on "But if you don't believe us, we can sneak in and get it for everyone else."
That got Tyler to pause, while Courtney looked at him. "We?" she repeated.
He shrugged. "Did you like the idea of sneaking in there alone?" he asked, to which she quickly shook her head. "Then it's decided. We'll see you all back at the cabins," he told the others. They all nodded, even Tyler, leaving Courtney to groan in acceptance. He quickly left with her, holding a bag to carry food in.
Once they were far enough away, she gave him a suspicious look. "Okay, fess up. Why did you just volunteer us like that?"
"For one, it mitigates some of the social damage your strategy caused," he said. "For another, this gives us a chance to talk."
"Already? What else has happened since we were writing?" Courtney asked.
"Oh, not much. Just Harold approaching me while I was cleaning the bathroom. He offered a solution to our problem with the votes," he told her.
She raised an eyebrow. "And how does Harold intend to help me not get eliminated?"
"Pretty simple, really. He claims to have figured out where Chris keeps the votes after we make them, but before they're read. He told me he could swap out the votes and eliminate whoever we wanted," Liam explained. At that stare she gave him, he added "I was surprised, too."
"No kidding," she remarked. "And after I made that promise that I wouldn't mess with our own team…"
Liam shrugged. "You made the promise, but did he?" he pointed out. "Still, I'm not sure it's a good idea."
"How come? This sounds like an easy solution. We just tell him to swap out one of the votes from Heather's side with one for her," Courtney said.
"That would definitely get Heather eliminated, yes," he agreed. "But it would also give Harold leverage over us. And with it being something this big… This is the sort of thing we could get disqualified for. We'd have to actually consider taking him to the semi-finals with us to keep him quiet."
Courtney hummed, neither agreeing or disagreeing with him. Just as well, as that was when they made it to the rear entrance to the craft services tent. "Okay, just stay quiet and move slowly," she whispered.
Rather than point out the obviousness of that advice, Liam just nodded and got down on all fours behind her. As they snuck inside, they could see a table laden with food between them and the fridge, one with a cloth long enough to reach the floor. On one side of that table, seated and facing each other, were Chris and Chef.
"Twenty-five of us went in that day…" they could hear Chef saying, making both teens roll their eyes. While he regaled Chris with war stories, they crawled along the ground on the other side of the table, the cloth keeping them from being seen.
Once they made it to the fridge and quietly opened it, Liam grinned at the sight of all the various foods in there. "Jackpot," he mouthed, and Courtney nodded in agreement.
They quickly filled up the bag with a jar of peanut butter, some jelly, a loaf of bread, cookies, a handful of apples, some sausage and some soda bottles. Then they spotted a plate covered in s'mores, which Liam instantly grabbed and filled the rest of the bag with. He gave her a thumbs-up, and Courtney quickly snatched a carton of milk from the fridge before quietly shutting it. They then crawled back out of the tent and to their feet.
When they made it at least ten feet away from the tent, they took off in a run with Courtney shouting "Woo-hoo!" and eating a s'more as she ran.
When they returned to the cabins, Heather had gathered both teams in one half of Gopher's cabin to keep their eating secret. As they entered the room, they were greeted with the sound of applause.
"Alright, some real food! I can already smell it," Daphne said, nearly salivating.
As they began passing out food, Lindsay took a smore and bit into it. "Mmm, so good! Thanks, Carry!" she said happily.
Courtney blinked. "My name isn't–" she began, before stopping at seeing Lindsay's delighted expression. "Um, you're welcome."
Leshawna hummed. "I still think what you did was wrong, and I'm still gonna keep an eye on you," she said, before also looking at the smiling blonde. "But this does help," she admitted, grabbing a piece of sausage and nearly moaning at the taste of real meat.
Tyler didn't say anything as he took the stuff for a sandwich, but he refrained from sending them any more glares.
Gwen took one of the sodas and popped it open. Taking a sip, she sighed. "Now this is good. I don't know what Chris and the producers think feeding us that stuff will accomplish."
Bridgette shrugged. "Maybe it's cheaper, so they can spend more money on other stuff?" she suggested.
"It wouldn't surprise me," Leshawna said. "Chris definitely lost it when he put Chef in charge of a challenge."
The other campers made various sounds of agreement, before being cut off by the loudspeaker. "Attention, remaining maggots. Your next challenge is at 0700 tomorrow. And if I find who took my s'mores, your butt is mine!" Chef told them.
Courtney snorted. "You know, he sounds less scary now than he did before," she said before grabbing a s'more and stuffing the whole thing in her mouth with a grin. Followed by another.
As she went for a third one, Bridgette tried to stop her. "I think four is one too many," she warned.
But she shook her head. "Oh come on, just one more!" she said excitedly. Then, before the surfer girl could stop her, she took the s'more and ate that one whole as well. That was when her stomach rumbled, and her excited expression faded. "Ooof… Actually, you may have been right about that," she said, before taking off for the door.
The sight of that made both Gwen and Leshawna laugh, and even Tyler cracked a satisfied grin. As the sounds of Courtney puking reached them from outside, Liam looked around to see if anyone was going to go help her. When he saw that most of them were looking at either the door or him, however, he rolled his eyes and put down his apple. "I'll make sure she's fine," he said.
As he walked onto the patio, he saw the C.I.T. blowing chunks over the railing. Sighing, he reached over and pulled her hair back to make sure none of it was caught in the 'crossfire'. About a minute passed like this, with Liam holding her hair while she painted the ground with a mixture of gruel, four s'mores and whatever was still in her stomach from yesterday. Once it finally came to an end, she sighed and fell against the railing. "Feeling better?" he asked with a raised eyebrow.
She sighed. "Okay, that was gross," she said, an understatement that made him chuckle. "But breaking the rules like that, and doing it for our own good… it felt great. So great that I just wanted to keep doing it!"
As she said that, Liam could see a spark in her eyes, one that made him smile. "Now you're starting to get it. The only time you should let rules hold you back is when following them benefits you," he said. "If it helps you more to break a rule, you have an obligation to yourself to do so."
Courtney looked away. "You… may have a point there," she said, making him raise an eyebrow. "What I did last challenge… that was wrong, getting Lindsay hurt. But I didn't break any rules, and even if I did… we still won, right?"
"Exactly," he confirmed, his smile widening. "Rules only exist as limits to what you're willing to do. To break the rules you once followed is to break your own limits. All it takes is will," he said. "Or at least, that's how I see it."
"Maybe…" she said quietly, appearing to give his words some thought. Then she looked at him. "And what about you? I don't usually see you breaking rules like this."
He shrugged. "Because my goal is to take things easy. And if that's my goal, it benefits me more to stay within my limits and follow the rules… usually," he told her.
Courtney hummed again but didn't respond. Eventually, she said "I think you're right. About Harold, that is. Breaking the rules and having him switch the votes could be beneficial in the short term. But in the long term? He could ruin us with it."
Liam bowed his head. "Then I'll proceed with my original idea," he said, before turning to face the cabin entrance.
"Which would be... what again?" Courtney asked.
Looking back at her, he chuckled. "If you're as smart as we both know you are, you'll figure it out by then," he told her.
At 7 a.m. sharp, the remaining nine campers were up in a tree. Each of them was hanging upside down by their legs from one of its limbs, arms dangling beneath them.
As Chef walked beneath them, he 'helpfully' told them "What you're experiencing now is an ancient form of torture. By now, the pumping of your blood has lost to gravity, and it's begun to pool in your head. As it builds up, you will experience nausea, dizziness and maybe even fainting spells."
Sure enough, as he was saying that to them, Daphne's face was turning more and more pink. "I don't think… I practiced… for…" she began, before shutting her mouth as her stomach rumbled ominously.
Chef grinned. "The fact that your stomach contents are now falling towards your throat will make that nausea stronger," he added.
Daphne remained silent, groaning as she fought to keep from vomiting.
"You can do it, Daph!" Bridgette called encouragingly.
The brunette was tempted to point out that only Izzy was allowed to call her that. But since that required opening her mouth, she didn't. Next to her, however, was Owen. As his legs began to tire, he tried reaching up to grab the branch with his arms. "Can't… reach…!" he strained, before giving up and straightening out. As he did, his core relaxed enough to let out a fart right in Daphne's direction.
Now the pink on her face mixed with green. "Oh god…" she muttered, before letting go and landing on her feet. Hands covering her mouth, she took off for the washroom.
"Sorry!" Owen called back, but she didn't respond.
On the other side of the tree, Liam also began using his arms, making Courtney look at him. "Have you done this before?" she asked.
He nodded. "I found out at the tender age of eight that hanging my head off the side of my bed gave me a rush as the blood started to gather. I've been hanging off stuff ever since," he revealed.
Confessional Stall - Liam
"Being able to hang from high-up places for a long time also comes in handy when I need to hide from people. Not that I was going to mention as much around people I may need to one day hide from."
Once Daphne was gone, Owen tried to grab the branch one more time before giving up and falling. On the other side of him, Heather sighed in relief. "At least I'm out of the 'firing zone' now," she muttered.
Courtney heard that and started giggling. When she didn't stop giggling, however, Liam gave her a raised eyebrow. "Everything alright over there?" he asked.
She just continued laughing, prompting Chef to walk over. "Stop that laughing! Right now!" he ordered.
In between giggles, she said "I'm sorry, hehe. I can't, heh, help it! Whoa!" And with that, she lost her grip and fell out of the tree.
Chef shook his head in disappointment. "I expected better from you, soldier," he told her.
Courtney looked up, and Liam noticed that same spark from last night in her eyes. "Excuse me, Master Chief?" she began.
"What, maggot?" he replied.
"You… forgot to take your happy pill again," she declared.
Chef stared for a second with an open mouth, as did the others. Then his face began to redden with rage, and veins appeared on just his forehead, but also his neck. Some of them even imagined hearing steam from a tea kettle. "Twelve hours… solitary confinement. In the boathouse," he said softly.
All of the campers, even Courtney, gasped at that. After a moment, however, she smiled and walked away in the direction of the boathouse. "Worth it!" she called back.
Liam chuckled. "Am I perhaps being a bad influence…?" he mumbled, before shrugging his shoulders. It was now getting to the point that he could feel/hear the blood thundering in his ears, creating a buzz throughout his skull that he found quite pleasant. "That's the stuff…" he muttered, closing his eyes.
On the other side of the tree, Leshawna grunted as she struggled to hold on. "These nails… were not meant… for combat training…!" she managed to get out. A few minutes later, she exhaled and let go to land on the ground.
Heather was the next to fall, followed by Bridgette then Justin. That left just one person from each team left. "You've got this, Gwyneth!" Lindsay cheered.
Gwen smiled. "No problem. Trust me, I could be here all day," she declared.
Harold smiled as well. "Then it's all up to you, Liam," he said. When he didn't get a response, however, he looked up at the redhead. "...Liam?"
Still no response, and Gwen let go with one arm long enough to reach over and poke him.
The redhead started snoring.
Heather stared. "You have got to be kidding me," she said.
Chef, meanwhile, glared at him. "Ey! I didn't give permission for rest breaks!" he yelled. When all that got him was another snore, he growled and yelled "WAKE! UP!"
"Bwah?" Liam muttered, eyes fluttering open. "Why is everything upside down…?" he thought aloud, before noticing Chef. "Master Chief!" he called, reflexively giving a salute. And letting go of the branch in the process. "Aaah!" he shouted, before landing hard on the ground below.
The other Bass winced while Gophers immediately began celebrating their victory. Gwen let go of the branch a moment later, and her teammates were there to catch her and hold her aloft for bringing them the win.
Chef gave her a salute. "Gwen, congratulations. I'd go to war with you anytime," he declared.
Daphne, who had returned from the washroom, opened her mouth to point out how that line was another reference. Then Chef glared at her and she shut it.
"I'll… keep that in mind when I decide my career," Gwen said awkwardly, before the Gophers began to carry her away.
Once dusk had fallen (and twelve hours had passed) Courtney was let out of the boathouse to join her fellow Bass in front of the bonfire.
Chris, who had finally rejoined them, held up his plate. "I have seven marshmallows to give. Marshmallows that will allow the campers who receive them to continue being campers, rather than 'camped'-ers," he said, getting eye rolls from most of the teens. "Your votes were cast in the confessional. If I do not call your name, you must immediately head to the Boat of Losers, board it, and leave. Forever."
Seated as far from each other as possible, Heather and Courtney gave each other glares. Tyler joined in with the glaring at Courtney, while Bridgette and Harold exchanged uncertain looks.
"Gotta say, seeing a team divided like this… I just know it won't stand. So I'm going to enjoy seeing one side crash and burn. Now, onto the names," Chris said. "First up: DJ."
"Cool..." the tall teen said, making some of them look at him in surprise at the lackluster response.
"Bridgette…" Hands in her pockets, she walked up to get her marshmallow with a grin.
"Daphne…" The brunette smirked and snatched her marshmallow from the plate before taking a bite.
"Harold…" He muttered a quiet "Yes!" before spearing his marshmallow with a stick.
"Liam…" He accepted his with a smile and a yawn.
"Just two marshmallows left tonight. The campers they go to are…" Chris continued, causing Courtney and Heather to glare at each other.
…
…
…
"Courtney and Heather."
"What?" they both said, barely managing to catch their marshmallows in surprise.
Their host looked to the last camper. "Tyler, it sucks to be you," Chris said. "But the Dock of Shame is that-a-way " he concluded, jerking a thumb behind him.
Tyler sighed and rose to his feet. "Man, and I was really starting to enjoy it here," he said. He then threw Courtney one last glare. "I hope Lindsay makes it farther than you in this show. She deserves it more than you."
Courtney crossed her arms. "As if that'll happen, lover boy. Now, bye," she said, waving her hand.
The jock scoffed and continued walking away, though not before sending a thankful look at Daphne and DJ. "You two make sure to outlast her too, okay?"
Heather crossed her arms. "And what am I? Chopped liver?" she said.
"Oh, I'm sure you'll outlast her," he replied bluntly. "You are more than mean enough."
She smirked. "That'll do," she said.
Daphne grinned. "We'll give it all we've got, buddy," she said. Behind her, DJ just nodded with a morose expression.
Tyler nodded, before he reached the Dock and boarded the Boat to be taken away, holding back tears. Looking at the camera, he finished with "Sorry for not making it to the finish, Dad. I'll see you and Mom soon!"
Confessional Stall - Lindsay
"Oh, I loved the time we had together, Tyler. I'll never forget you!" she promised, before blowing a kiss to the camera.
As the Bass began to head back after the elimination, Courtney and Liam fell into step next to each other. For a moment, they said nothing and simply enjoyed each other's company.
Then Courtney began "So… DJ?"
Liam smirked. "I told you that you were smart enough to figure it out," he replied. "He owed me–owed us–for saving Bunny. He wasn't happy about it, but he cares more about his new hopefully-lifelong pet than a friend he recently made."
The C.I.T. nodded. "Still, that was a one-time only piece of clout. We won't be able to do that again," she pointed out, to which he bowed his head in acknowledgement. "I also tried to figure out what your 'tricky' idea was, but got nothing."
"Oh, that? Well… you remember how we assumed Heather made friends with Daphne to get a pawn?" he asked.
"Yeah…" she replied, wondering where he was going with this.
"Well, my other idea was that I approach Heather and offer to take Daphne's place. To become her new henchperson," he revealed. Courtney's eyes widened, and he continued "And then the next time we lost, she'd have herself, me, DJ and Tyler vote for you…"
She finished "...But in reality it would be the four of us voting out Heather."
"Precisely," Liam confirmed. "The 'trick' would have been selling myself as a loyal new sidekick. If I couldn't convince Heather, I'd become just as much a target as you, leader."
Courtney nodded, before looking at the ground. "You were willing to put yourself in a risky position like that… and to help me," she said. "What happened to taking it easy?"
"That's what I like to do, yeah," he replied, nodding. "But I also like keeping my word to you. Or don't you remember? We're partners in this game, Courtney. The only people we can rely on is each other," he said.
There was a moment where she did respond. "Partners, huh…" she eventually said, making him raise an eyebrow. Before he could inquire, she leaned over to him.
Smooch.
Liam's eyes flew wide open, hand reaching towards his cheek even as Courtney pulled back. "Consider that a thank you, partner," she said with a smirk of her own, before walking ahead to the cabins.
He watched her go, before brushing his hand over the spot on his skin where she had kissed him. "Warm…" he muttered, oblivious to a pair of narrowed eyes in a nearby bush.
At his reaction, the owner of the eyes rolled them before vanishing.
I was planning on saving that leverage for use at a later date, but it turned out that 'right away' was the time it was needed most. Guess I'll just have to write without keeping that ace in my sleeve. Woe is me.
Courtney, Liam, Harold, Bridgette and DJ → Tyler
Heather, Tyler and Daphne → Courtney
Eliminated:
1. Beth, the Wannabe
2. Noah, the Know-It-All
3. Duncan, the Delinquent
4. Eva, the Female Bully
5. Sadie, the Sweet Girl's Friend
6. Geoff, the Party Guy
Teams are reorganized.
7. Katie, the Sweet Girl
8. Izzy, the Psycho Hose Beast
9. Ezekiel, the Home-Schooled Guy
10. Cody, the Geek
11. Tyler, the Jock