With round two's conclusion came the second voting ceremony. The twelve remaining players entered their cells, uncomfortable and tense as ever. Multiple people coughed, as the noxious gas that filled the abandoned hospital was only becoming more potent. Should the players either eliminate the Jack or create a cure, only then would they be spared.

Matcha and Stephen, eliminated in the previous round, loitered in their cells without the ability to vote. As Kobe's touch screen activated, showing everyone's faces, and Matcha and Stephen's darkened face squares, the lanky teen paced with what little room he had to do so, his hands up in his fro as he sighed. Holding back tears, Athena had one hand over her mouth as the other clicked someone's square. Holden voted, then Zee scratched his head, while Jayshawn and Queen smudged their thumbs against their screens in a split screen display. Londyn groaned and peeled part of her leg bandaging off, revealing fresh blood underneath the gauze.

Soon after, ten of the cells opened, and out stepped Cody, Zee, Holden, Iko, Brook, Queen, Athena, Bowie, Jayshawn, and Damien.

"The voting has concluded," announced Mercutio, his face on the huge flatscreen once again. "Kobe and Londyn have been voted. The Jack was... not eliminated."

Jayshawn kicked the closest cell door, cursing to himself, with Matcha snapping at him from the other side of the locked door. "Goddammit!" he roared. "How fuckin' long we goin' be at this bullshit?"

"You don't have long. For your sake, assuming you aren't the Jack, hopefully not much longer."

Mercutio's face faded, and the screen was replaced with the squares of all the contestants. Once again, the disturbing, reverberated blare noise to accompany Kobe and Londyn's face squares darkening. Bowie stared up at the screen with dismay.

"This can't be happening..." Athena whimpered.

"You have to let us out of here!" Damien exclaimed. "This is madness! This is torture! Gentle challenges this season my ass!"

"Bruh, get a grip," Holden retorted. "No one's coming to save us. In fact, someone's in here trying to kill us, so we need to do what the crazy Russian fuck says."

"How can you say that? What happens after we do that? Hmm? What if tomorrow's challenge is even more fucked up than this one? What if we're executed tonight?" he whined.

"Why would he make us do this just to execute us?"

"Why would he make us do this at all?" Bowie countered.

"I just can't believe one of us really agreed to kill the rest of us!" Cody threw in.

"Enough nattering," Queen urged. "Let's recuperate and end this bloody shitshow."

As the third round began, contestants remaining in the game were left terrified of the people around them. Four of their own had been proven innocent, leaving those that weren't the majority of the cast's first guesses for the ruthless Jack. Cody closed the door to a medical room, then burst into a coughing fit, collapsing to his hands and knees as he hacked up a lung. Holden sat in a decrepit chair, skimming through a textbook before his weight caused the chair to crush underneath him. Across the giant entry expanse to the abandoned hospital, Brook and Iko flashed each other uncertain gazes. Though they trusted one another, together, they were still a fifth of the remaining Jack candidates.

Queen stepped down one of the dank corridors to spot Athena violently coughing into her arm, rasping, "It hurts... it hurts..." The Brit left her alone, making her way past her. Frightening her, she noticed herself making weaker steps with each passing moment. Further down the corridor, Jayshawn let out wheezy breaths as he did as many push ups as he could. His usual aggression and workout vigor had taken a hell of a hit.

"My lungs... ain't given' out... not now... not ever..."

Elsewhere, Zee and Damien joined hands in a pre-dap fashion, staring deeply into the other's eyes.

"You trust me, right?' Damien asked.

"Of course, bro. You trust me, right?"

"Yeah, yeah, I do."

Zee felt a twinge of discomfort. "You... you hesitated just then, bro."

"I'm just scared, that's all. I don't mean to put that on you."

Zee squeezed his friend's hand. "It's okay, man. You're a good dude, and I believe whole-heartedly that you'd never try to kill all of us. You're gonna make it out of this, and then you're gonna accomplish everything you've ever dreamed of."

Damien eyed his teammate, feeling himself breaking down before leaning in, turning the dap into a hug, patting his skinny friend's back. "'Course I trust you, man. I love you, Zee, man."

"Lots of love, brother." Mid-hug, Zee held up a soda and cracked it. The chill smile on his face faded as he overheard the sound of crying softly coming from Londyn's cell.

Meanwhile, Bowie sat and leaned up against one of the cell doors.

"Hey, Bowie?" asked the deep voice on the other side.

"Yeah, Kobe?"

"Why didn't you wanna join the pact?"

"I never said I didn't want to..."

"Nah, but it was your body language, your lack of initiative, you know? I don't mean to cast any judgment. I just wanted to know why. I mean, if we really actually might die today, would you do me that favor?"

He paused. "I don't feel the same way about people as you do. I see how willing to trust you are, but I just don't have it in me to see others that same way. I mean, when you grow up gay in a world like this, you don't really know who you can trust, you know? I wasn't always this proud to be me. I used to close myself off-for a really long time, I did that. I may have learned to trust myself and know that I was always gonna be okay, but I got through it without ever having to trust other people.

"Besides, it's just the way of this game, right? As little as you might want to believe it, people don't care about other people like they do themselves. I mean," he scoffed, "for Jesus' sake, someone in this hospital actually agreed to kill all of us. Doesn't that in itself prove that people are untrustworthy?"

"No. No, I don't think so. Whoever's playing this game that's willing to kill us for that million dollars, I feel bad for them. I don't wish any ill will on them, I-"

"But how can you not?" he blurted. "I'm sorry, I just-"

"You gotta understand how much pain that person must be carrying. Some people can't ever let all their pain go. They hang onto it, let it fester, let it eat them alive. I was taught to see the best in people. I was taught that it's better to help let someone's pain go than to add to it. If you can bear the strength to forgive someone, to trust someone, then, well, maybe that person would be less inclined to do horrible shit."

"Kobe... Kobe, sweetheart... that's not how it works. You can't be so trusting. You're gonna get hurt. People who hurt like that just wanna hurt everyone else, too."

"Well, here's something to consider: you're trusting me right now."

"That's because I know you're different. It's because I see the good in you. It's because you're the only person in this whole game I can actually stand. You're... important to me."

"It's not just me, Bowie. People all have that capacity for goodness in them."

He sighed. "Some people are too far gone."

"I'll believe that when I see it."

"In a few hours, we might."

"Eh. I choose to doubt that."

Bowie let out a breath. "I can practically hear the smile on your face right now."

Kobe chuckled. "Ay, maybe you right, maybe my trust in the human race is misplaced, but when you see the world glass half-full, you realize the cell you're trapped in at least has a roof over your head."

"I think we're gonna have to agree to disagree."

"That's fine. There is still a roof over my head though..."

A few more silent moments later, Bowie got to his feet. "I need to go figure this challenge out. Wish me luck." He took a few steps before the sound of Kobe's voice halted him.

"Ay, hang on a minute. Stay with me a little longer?"

Bowie turned around, unable to hide the warmth building within him.

"I been workin' on a poem. I wanted to read it for you. Stick around a bit?"

"Anything for you."

Out in one of the halls, Iko fought to open up a canister of some kind while simultaneously fighting to keep from coughing his guts out. He writhed around, finally flinging the canister aside as he caught his breath. Beside him, Brook dropped down to her knees to assist him.

"Are you okay?"

"I feel like there's sand in my chest," he croaked. "I feel like I've passed the point of having a frog in my throat, and now he's taken up refuge in one of my lungs."

Brook twitched at the startling sight of someone on the floor below her. Peeking through the cracks, she saw that it was Athena, waving to her and gesturing for her to come down to her level.

"It's like that same frog is one of those airplane kids that won't stop kicking your seat, except my seat is my other lung."

"I, uhm- Athena wants to talk to me," Brook murmured.

"Oh, all right."

The silver-haired girl stared at Iko with timid eyes, more so even than usual.

"What's wrong?" he wondered.

"Do you think we can trust her?"

"I... I wish I could say yes to that question."

"Brook!" Athena whispered. Her voice barely carried to the floor she and Iko stood on. "Come down here, I wanna talk with you! Okay? Come here."

"What if she tries to do something to me?"

"I don't know what she would do," Iko responded.

"Well, is there any way that you could come down with me? She just makes me nervous. I thought I saw her do something weird to Stephen one time..."

"Something... weird?"

Brook didn't respond, instead staring at the floor-aside from where she could look down and see Athena-to fidget her hands around. "Can I please just stay up here?" she peeped.

"I- I mean, it's up to you, but what if Athena has something helpful to say? Tell you what. I'll come down there with you. Just in case."

"Okay. Thank you."

The pair headed down the flight of stairs, stained and resembling a stadium's stairwells without any maintenance after drunken customers, and eventually they reached the hall where Athena was waiting.

"Hi, Br- oh, nope, I meant just you."

"Oh, Iko's just here to-"

Athena stepped forward to grab Brook's arm, motioning her to follow. "Nope, just you. Is that okay? Okay, let's go!"

"Well, hang on just a second," Iko urged, not all that confidently, but Athena ignored him, tugging Brook away with her. He took a step forward, but ultimately gave in.

The orangey-blonde led Brook into one of the many medical rooms within the abandoned facility. She coughed for a brief bout as she closed the door behind the two of them.

"Excuse me," Athena peeped.

"I..." Brook stammered, fidgeting her hands around again.

Athena approached, practically forcing Brook back into a chair behind her based on the difference in their body language alone. With Brook where she wanted her, Athena commanded the room, and the poor former intern didn't have much social dominance over just about anyone.

"Aw, what's wrong, Brookie? You look so scared."

"I just- I- I j- I just- I only wanted to be an- i-intern. I-I didn't sign up for all of this."

"Well, we're all brothers and sisters in arms now, huh? You're just gonna have to buckle up, buttercup. There's nothing we can do about it except to make the best of it. Now," as Athena verbally barged forward with what she was saying, Brook was left a trembling mess in front of her, "Cody's a great help on this cure, but he isn't enough. I thought I could trust Kobe, and even though he wasn't the Jack, he still dropped the ball on our experiment. Pretty hard. Now, I need a teammate to help me with this. I- oh, for fuck's sake, would you stop it already?"

Terrified, Brook rasped, "What?"

"Your scared, little mouse routine. If I'm being honest, it's really starting to grate on me, okay? I know that the world couldn't exist without trendsetters, but your blatant copying is fucking abysmal."

"I-I don't understand. I don't-"

"That's my groove, Brook. I don't know if you're trying to put a little 'I was traumatized' spin on my whole, innocent-naive thing I've been pulling, but I want it to stop. Right now. Pull yourself together."

Brook found herself petrified by Athena's intense gaze. It lacked the pseudo warmth she exuded near the beginning of the season, and even before everything went haywire. The orangey-blonde stared right into her, and she wouldn't look away. It was like her gaze alone controlled her, shackled her feet to the floor.

"Right. Now. Stop shaking. Right now."

She glanced down at herself. Her whole body trembled, and there was nothing she could do to fight it, much as she tried. To Brook, one of Athena's commands came out resembling her father's tone, giving her a sick to the stomach sort of nausea.

"I'm- I'm trying- I can't- but I-"

Athena stomped towards her and slapped her. Brook whimpered, then she clutched her chin and made her face her, sighing. "Look at me. Get a hold of yourself. Are those tears? Wow, you're good." She slapped her again, then a third time, and with each smack, she placed Brook's face right in front of hers, tightly gripping her chin. "How many times do we have to do this? Huh?" Another smack. "How many?"

"Please stop, you're hurting me," she sobbed.

"Admit you're full of shit."

Her eyes red and her mind scattered, Brook let out shuddery breaths and unstoppable coughs, rasping, "But I'm not. I'm- I'm not."

"I think you're fucking lying to me. Do I look like a bitch to joke with? Huh?" She smacked her even harder this time, causing Brook to squeal with pain. Athena swiftly covered her mouth and jerked her back around to face her. Her silver hair flowed around her, unkempt and shook up from all the smacking. "You look me in my fucking eyes."

Brook sobbed, fighting to keep her gaze on Athena.

"You're nothing but a little liar. I should go find the Jack and make them kill you now to be done with it."

The timid girl desperately shook her head, despite Athena's grip on her.

"You want that?"

"No, no, no, no, please," she begged, muffled. Athena released her hand and Brook kept crying, whimpering, "I'm so scared... I'm so scared, I just wanna go home... oh, god..."

The girl fell to her hands and knees on the dirty floor of the abandoned room. Athena loomed over her with a face devoid of fake compassion.

"Oh, please," she rolled her eyes as Brook kept crying and gasping. "You are such a little bitch. You think I haven't ever suffered before? I got fucking stabbed, then passed around by eight different men at one point but I don't throw a fucking tantrum every other second. You're just pathetic. You should kill yourself. I think that would be a really good thing."

Athena flinched as Brook suddenly vomited all over the floor. Wiping her mouth and continuing to cry, she backed up and hunched away like some kind of feral animal as Athena clutched onto the roots of her hair, tugging her up to her knees. She moaned from the pain of her hair being tugged, then Athena lowered down to speak to her.

"You're disgusting. You've got your puke on your lips, and it's revolting."

"Are you the Jack?" Brook rasped, barely able to get the words out.

"No, I'm not the fucking Jack. Now, you listen to me, Brook. If you want to survive this, and if you want me to stop hurting you, then you're gonna help me get out of this situation. We're gonna group up with Cody, he-"

Brook tried to wriggle out of her grasp, only for Athena to smack her again and hold her even firmer. Brook's mouth was open wide from the pain she inflicted on her.

"Stay still. We're gonna group up with Cody, he's gonna help us find a cure, and we're gonna continue this contest. You belong to me now, okay? You're not gonna vote for me, and you're not gonna breathe a word of this to Cody, not to Iko, not to anyone, or else I swear to fucking god, I will stop being so polite. Do you understand me?"

"Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes," she breathed, nodding as much as she could in her restraint position, in an emotional agony.

Athena released her, letting her fall to the floor, her hair ruffled and part of it falling into her vomit. She shuddered, writhed and let out more sobs, her eyes shut tight with pain of all varieties swelling through her. Athena gently stepped towards the door.

"Clean up; we're gonna work in this room. If Iko asks, tell him you got scared," she ordered mockingly. "Wouldn't be the first time." With her hand on the dirty doorknob, she glanced back at the writhing girl to add, "Really, if Iko asks, you should be talking me up; I'm choosing to help you live."

She slammed the door behind her, leaving Brook in an utterly devastated state, the tips of her hair slicked with her vomit, writhing and crying as she sobbed the words, "Mom... Mommy..."

"No," Queen asserted.

"Why not?" Holden argued.

The pair stood under lights, soon on their way to giving out, in one of the decrepit, etched corridors. Chipped red and white paint on the ceiling far above their heads looked ready to fall off and into their hair.

"You realize we're in a life or death situation, do you not?" Holden added.

Queen broke into a coughing fit, opening her mouth to respond. "I'd rather end up with a lymphatic disease than trust you."

"You're well on your way to a lung disease."

"You're trouble, Holden, and even if you aren't the Jack, what we had when we got rid of Jill is over with. Cut your losses already."

"You need me, dammit. What are you gonna do to survive this?"

"Whatever it takes for me to steer clear of you."

"Hey, believe it or not, but I like living, all right?" Holden retorted. "Living, and breathing, and having a functional brain that isn't six feet in the ground in a coffin."

"Could've fooled me," Queen muttered.

"Stop being so sarcastic and get real for a minute. Think about it. I've been working on a cure, and I worked with you once. 'Keep your enemies closer', right? This was the deal. We work together when it's convenient, we keep eyes on each other to make sure the other isn't on some fuck shit, and we survive this challenge to compete against each other in the next."

"Why me instead of someone- literally anyone else?"

"Because I don't trust you. It's like I just said; I need eyes on you to make sure you don't betray me."

Queen stepped closer to him. Standing a couple inches taller than him, she grinned down at him, replying, "This is utter bollocks, isn't it? You're lying through your teeth."

"If you don't want your back stabbed, you've gotta keep the one with the knife in front of you."

A moment of silence transpired, each teen eyeing the other down with slitted eyelids, palpable distrust for the other.

"Show me this cure of yours," she prompted.

Some time later, Jayshawn stood in the center of the foyer room, the large open space in the center of the hospital's corridor halls. He stared up at the TV screen propped up ahead of him, his eyes glued to the contestants' faces in their squares, divided with the seven Dropouts on one side and him and his teammates on the other. He saw the darkness covering Matcha, Kobe, Stephen, and Londyn's squares. His ears rang, and he felt himself growing mad from the circumstances. His blood boiled, his skin tingled, and he felt like he would deconstruct in a single moment.

Then Zee passed by in front of him. A chill smile, he murmured, "'Scuse me, bro."

Jayshawn's focus shifted to Zee. Staring at him, he watched the guy crack open another soda, stretching his long neck to open his mouth to let it flow in. Jayshawn's eye twitched, and off Zee went.

Flashing forward in time, Jayshawn stood grouped up with Bowie and Damien.

"I'm telling y'all, it has to be him! Long-neck, robot legged, zero-drip-havin'-ass stoner boy has to be the Jack!"

"What?" Damien blurted.

"Okay, look, that doesn't make any sense," Bowie argued. "You're suspecting Zee of being some kind of master manipulator? Of being evil?"

"Yes! No mothafucka is that calm at a time like this. No one could keep that level of cool. We're all dead fuckin' soon! We're gonna die if we can't get out of this and Zee doesn't give half a fuck!"

"He's a good person, I know he is!" Damien argued.

"Nigga, you can't trust anybody!"

"No!" Damien snapped. "No, dammit! I won't let this crazy shit ruin my humanity! If we can't trust Zee, then we sure as hell can't trust each other with this conversation."

"Did you ever stop to think that Mercutio is bluffing?" Bowie threw in. "Since when has a challenge ever been this dangerous on Total Drama before?"

Jayshawn stared at Bowie with an intense expression, the kind that thinly veiled how scared he was. "You feel that feelin' in yo' lungs? That tight, constricted kinda feelin'? Like a boa's in there, wrapped around yo' lungs and squeezin' them for all they got? That doesn't feel like a bluff to me, dawg."

Reluctantly, Bowie was silenced by the response. Jayshawn turned to Damien, his eyes bugging and his muscles rippling.

"You may not like it, aight? I don't like it neither, but someone in this hospital is the goddamn, mothafuckin' Jack. It could be me... it could be you... but they're here, and they want us dead."

"Jesus, cool off, Jayshawn," Bowie urged, reaching a hand out that he swiftly smacked aside.

"Fuck off me, man! Don't touch me!" He started to storm off, turning back around as he reached a corridor to shout, "If anyone's that level of fucked up, it's the guy who ain't broke a sweat since we got trapped in here!"

With Jayshawn departing, Damien and Bowie faced each other.

"Zee couldn't do something like that," Damien murmured. "I can't- I can't believe it. I won't."

Sympathetically, Bowie laid a hand on his shoulder, replying, "The world is oftentimes way more cold than we give it credit for, love."

"Who do you think the Jack is, Bowie?"

He sighed. "I talked to Kobe. He read me a poem and... that's not important. After that, he told me that what happened with Athena and Cody was a mistake. The way he made it out, the accident, whatever it was, was set up by one of them to frame him."

Listening intently, Damien asked, "Do you think you can trust that?"

Lost in his thoughts for a moment, Bowie replied, "I didn't know that I could trust anyone for a long time. While my trust in Kobe waned after seeing Athena and Cody come out of that room covered in soot, hearing his side, it... something about it clicked. Cody, naive and, frankly pervy as he is, seems to have a good head on his shoulders... but Athena... I don't know about her, Damien. Something's off there. Watch out for her."

Meanwhile, with limited time remaining in the third round, Athena, Cody, Brook, and Iko as well all worked together in the hospital room Athena selected for her prior torturing of Brook. Feigning naivety, Athena murmured, "Hmm..." while tapping at her chin and swaying her feet around as she sat at a desk. Brook and Iko sat at a table, skimming through a textbook of diseases and their cures.

"Oh, wait, wait, I think I found something!" Cody exclaimed, seated on the other side of the room. "I- er, no, that won't work."

"Did you find anything?" Iko asked his friend, but Brook barely tilted herself to face him, her face cloaked mostly by her hair, newly groomed as much as she could manage. She turned away without a word, dishing a blow to Iko's spirits.

"All these theorems and mathematical equations don't make any sense," Athena pouted. "How am I supposed to cure a disease with- oh, wait a minute. This is a math textbook!" She chuckled. "What's that doing here?"

"We're doomed," Cody murmured, his head falling against his book.

"Maybe not," Iko argued. "Maybe there's just some kind of clue we're missing. Something that'll tip the odds in our favor."

"Like what?"

"Well... what if we're looking to solve the wrong problem? What if what we should seek to do is seal the grates letting in the noxious gas? Mercutio seemed to imply that once the Jack is caught, the gas would stop flowing, and we'd survive. Maybe what that means is that once the flow is stopped, the rest of the gas in the air would disperse over time and we'd live."

"How's it supposed to disperse?" Cody argued. "Where would it go?"

"I don't know, but Mercutio claimed it would disperse on its own after the flow stops."

"He also claimed we'd do gentle challenges this year."

"That sounds pretty complex, Iko," Athena commented.

"Yeah... but if our lives are on the line, and we're not having any luck on this cure business, maybe we need to try something else."

"Mmm... nah. I'm not really feeling that idea."

Iko hesitated. "Oh, but... I don't know. It seemed sound to me."

"Eh... just feels like a waste of time, you know? Let's keep working on finding a cure."

Cody stood up. "No, no, I think Iko might be onto something. Whatever we've been doing hasn't been working; just ask Kobe. Why don't we see if we can't seal the grates? I saw a few up near the ceiling."

"The ceiling that no one can reach?" Brook murmured.

Iko felt a pain wash through him; his friend wasn't usually the type for cynical statements.

"We'll create a human tower!" Cody declared. "We'll get Zee to help, he's the tallest person in the game."

"Actually-" Athena interjected, hopping to her feet, only to metaphorically bite her tongue. "Actually, yes, it sounds like you guys are really onto something! Let's do that!"

"All right," Cody nodded, and he and Iko headed out of the room first.

Athena approached Brook, muttering, "Stop them."

The silver-haired girl looked at her with shock. "What?"

With a shit-eating grin, Athena replied, "Are you fucking deaf? Stop them. Make it look like an accident."

"W-why?"

"Because their idea is bullshit and we're dead in the water if we don't work out a cure. I won't let these half-wits waste time and energy on something fruitless." Brook hesitated, leading to Athena leaning in close. "Do as I tell you."

The fear radiating off her couldn't be dimmed, and as Athena's fiery orange eyes stared into her, she felt her stomach twisting, with the urge for another vomiting fit.

A bit later, Iko wondered, "Is something wrong, Brook? Something in particular? Other than, you know, everything being wrong right now. I promise you could tell me."

Fighting off her sick feelings, she shook her head and murmured, "Mm-mm."

"Can you... can you talk to me?"

Athena stepped in. "Why don't you leave her be for now and go help Cody and Zee with what they're doing? After all, we've gotta get out of this trap, right?"

He nodded, reluctantly dismissing his mission to check in on his friend. "Right, okay."

Athena and Brook stood side by side, watching as Iko stepped across the center room of the hospital, fruitlessly assisting as Zee grunted, smudging one of his shoes against Cody's face as he attempted to climb the dreary, paint-chipping-off wall, with a distant grate high above. Iko approached, and they conversed about their situation, while Athena cast a glance at Brook. She gestured her over to the group.

"Go on." Brook's legs turned to jelly as Athena whispered to her, "Go do what I told you or I'll make sure I don't save you. Okay, Brookie-cookie?"

Weakly, Brook forced herself over to the trio. The three guys worked tirelessly, at times coughing from the fumes all around them. Iko maneuvered his hands around to show he suggested they hoist themselves, with Zee now trying to balance on his detached prosthetic leg and let Cody climb atop him. The silver-haired girl's stomach churned as she thought about stopping them. Doubts rose in her mind over Athena's intentions, and before anything else could happen, Holden stepped out in front of her.

"Brook."

Her eyes blinked rapidly, and she was in too much of a daze to stop herself from suddenly vomiting. Her cheeks burned red as a scorched anvil to see Holden's shoes and the lower portion of his pants splattered.

"Oh, my gosh, Brook, are you all right?" Athena blurted, rushing over.

Iko, Zee, and Cody stopped what they were doing to see Holden stepping around, disgusted.

"I'm- I'm sorry- I didn't- I'm so sor-"

"Save it," he muttered. He cringed hard as his feet made a goulash sort of noise as he stepped backward. He groaned.

"I'm so sorry, Holden, I-"

"You're just lucky survival is my priority right now." Glaring, he turned from her to the guys, and spoke to all five people around him. "Fairly certain I've got our Jack out in the open."

Cody toppled over Zee, both of the teens groaning. The sound of footsteps gave way to Damien rushing over.

"Finally! Who? Who is it?"

Holden's lip quivered with rage as he turned around, his shoes squelching as he faced his former teammate. "Queen. Bitch tried to poison me."

"But wait, how can we trust that?" Iko asked.

Taking her moment out of the spotlight, Brook raced away, her feet clanking against the steel below her. Iko was momentarily stunned, watching her go with sorrow, only for Holden to regain his focus.

"Hey!" He clicked his fingers a few times. "Professor Rice Fields, over here! It's my word against hers, and we're running out of time to be poking holes in people's fucking theories, all right?" He gazed at everyone in attendance. "We were in the middle of making a cure, and she urged me to take a sample, but the shit nearly killed me!"

"Bullshit!" snapped Queen. She stomped down one of the corridors to reach the group. "Holden tried to poison me! You can't trust this sodding little blemish worth a damn!"

"Fuck you, Queen!"

"If you choose to trust this greasy, little wart, then you're all bloody well flogging a dead horse!"

"What the fuck are you talking about?" he burst, throwing his hands up.

"Liar-liar-pants-soaked-in-vomit," she taunted him.

"We'll see who they trust," Holden growled.

Soon enough, the next voting ceremony began. The ten competitors entered their cells, ready to vote once more. Holden growled a furious growl as he tossed his shoe against the wall. Cody's eyes nervously darted around the four other choices. Athena smudged her thumb down against her choice. Queen pressed hers down even harder.

Not long later, eight of the cells opened up. Out stepped Damien, Cody, Iko, Queen, Athena, Bowie, Jayshawn, and Brook.

"Holden and Zee have been voted. The Jack was... not eliminated."

"No!" Jayshawn snapped, verbally and mentally, as he smashed his fist against a panel on a wall nearby him. Bowie veered out of the way of him as he grabbed a piece of shard of glass, pointing it at Bowie, Queen, and the others gathered around him. "I can't take this shit anymore! Whichever-" He coughed hard. "Whichever one of y'all is the Jack, fuckin' show yourself! I'm not dying today!"

"Please, calm down, Jayshawn," Athena begged, "you're frightening poor Brook."

"Fuck Brook! Fuck all of you people! One of you won't be honest with me and it's about to cost you your life!"

"This sure helps us feel less suspicious of you," Queen muttered.

"You want some of this? I'll cut that ugly purple hair off!"

Holden cackled at the comment from within his cell.

"You don't have the gall, you prat!"

The startlingly disturbing blare noise accompanied Holden and Zee's squares up on the big flatscreen going dark.

Jayshawn braced himself for a fight, his muscles rippling as he jerked around with the glass outstretched. Bowie and Damien kept their distance, Iko pressed himself against the wall behind him, Brook and Athena cowered, Cody pressed his arms over his head, his teeth clenched hard, while Queen glared Jayshawn down. It didn't take long for Bowie, Brook, Athena, Jayshawn, and Cody to start coughing their guts out, uncontrollably hacking and wheezing. Cody fell to his back, his face turning blue from how painfully hard he coughed. In a panic, on one hand and his knees, Bowie slammed his fist into his chest over and over.

Only seven innocent contestants and one sinister competitor remained in the running, and with the air growing more and more noxious by the moment, the stakes had never been higher in this round.

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

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

Jack: ?

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