Some Call This Fun (12/?) Part 2
Title: Some Call This Fun (12/?)
Summary: On a remote Brazilian island, 22 contestants are separated into 2 teams to compete against one another through a series of challenges. But they’ll soon discover that there are more challenges to be had than just the competition. Hook-ups, fights, partying, back stabbing, secrets and lies take center stage as the crew watches their reality show spiral into insanity. Various pairings.
At some point during the “massage” that Babe was giving Gene, their positions had been reversed- with Gene straddling a pinned down Babe- and their mouths had apparently gotten stuck together. Gene, however, pulled away from Babe when the lights went out. He wasn’t sure what had happened exactly, as the lights hadn’t been on in their room anyhow, but he noticed that the digital clock on the wall was beginning to flash the same numbers over and over again.
“Did the power just go out?” he wondered to the teen beneath him.
Babe looked up at him as though he were crazy. “Who cares?” He asked before grabbing Gene behind the neck and pulling the other man back down to him so that he could crush their mouths together in a continuation of their earlier activity. Gene didn’t have it in him to resist.
“Are you shitting me?”
“What the fuck?”
“I can’t see shit!”
“That’s because the power’s out genius.”
“So Toye…are you naked?”
“NO!”
“Luz!?”
“What? I can’t be curious?”
“Alright everybody shut up!” Speirs snapped over the chatter of the two teams. He reached his left arm out to lightly feel for where Lipton should be. If it had been any other day the lights going out would not have been such an issue, but they were currently in a room with no windows, not to mention that the sky outside was already grey and only getting darker.
When his hand tentatively connected with Lipton’s shoulder he said, “I’m going to go outside and check the circuit breaker.”
He heard Buck ask, “What difference does it make if the weather just knocked the power out anyway?”
“I don’t think the weather did.” Ron answered him.
Under his hand he felt Lipton shift towards him. “What do you mean?” the blonde asked.
“I think that this is all too coincidental. Meaning that it was planned. Probably as a challenge by Nixon.”
“Or you’re a paranoid fuck.” Liebgott countered.
Speirs shrugged, although he knew it couldn’t be seen. “Believe whatever you want. I’m going to go and see if our power’s been cut. Red team, assume that this is a challenge and STAY PUT. Understand?”
He received multiple affirmations that they did. However Lipton cut in, “I’m coming with you.”
“No-you’re going to stay here.” Ron told him.
He felt the warmth of Lipton’s shoulder disappear as the man stood up. “I’d like to see you try and make me Captain.”
Ron felt a smile begin to form on his face. “Fine,” He stood as well, then reached forward and found Lipton’s hand and held it tightly, “Let’s go then.”
After they left, Bill stood up with a sigh, “Alright I’m gonna go and get my flash light out of my bag. I’ll be right back.”
“Hey!” Liebgott yelped, “Who the fuck just grabbed my ass?”
Luz cursed silently, wrong Joseph…oh well.
Gene pulled away from Babe once more in confusion. He could have sworn he heard something out in the hallway. At Babe’s frustrated groan he spoke. “I’m sorry but do you hear that?”
Babe sighed but strained to hear a noise. “Wait…does it sound like…like footsteps?”
“Yes!” Gene nodded, “I swear it sounds like there’s someone out in the-”
Just then the door was busted open violently and crashed into the wall, the two contestants gaped as a masked intruder stormed into the room and activated a rather noisy chainsaw.
The two lovebirds let out startled screams that echoed throughout the house.
Nixon watched the footage coming in from their night vision cameras and laughed, “Never EVER have sex in the horror film. You won’t make it past the opening credits.”
Dick watched curiously from beside him. “I think I’m actually going to enjoy watching this challenge.”
Lewis beamed over at his friend, “I knew you’d come around.”
“Provided, of course, that no one gets hurt.”
“Of course.”
“Shit did you guys hear that?” Liebgott asked.
“That was a fucking chainsaw!” Perconte cursed. “Okay this is fucking weird.”
“I’m getting the F-U-C-K out of here.” Penkala told them.
“Just wait until Speirs gets back.” Buck told him sternly, but Penkala wasn’t having it.
“Gets back? He’s never getting back!” Alex answered. “He’s probably getting sawed into itty bitty pieces!”
“Calm the Hell down.” Luz snapped, irritated by Penkala’s freak out.
“I think Speirs could beat a chain saw,” Evans added to the conversation.
There was the scraping sound of a chair being pushed back and a flurry of movement. “Penk?”
Jo called out. When he received no answer he sighed. “Great. He just took off.”
Back in the Casa de Losers Skip was shaking his head. He leaned towards Don. “Alex watches WAY too many horror movies.” He informed the red head.
Don frowned in confusion, “So shouldn’t he know how to survive one?”
Skip sighed, “Sadly no…he’s way too terrified of them. Which begs the question- why watch so many?”
Liebgott, however, was focused on something other than Penkala’s freak out. “Did you guys hear screaming?” he wondered to the remaining contestants.
Buck pursed his lips and gave the question some thought, “Maybe...it was hard to hear over that chainsaw sound.”
“Although,” Luz added from Buck’s side, “this whole little incident just makes me believe more firmly that Speirs' challenge theory was right. So even if someone were screaming, they’re probably fine.”
But Joe shook his head, “Or that could be Babe and Gene and they might NOT be fine. I’m going to go find them.”
“What?” Webster asked in confusion. “Joe they’re probably okay. Bill wanted us to wait here.”
“Yeah well he ain’t the fucking boss of me.” Joe snapped back.
“But it’ll be easier to find them with a flashlight.” David argued.
Joe was already standing up. “You wait,” he told David, “but I’m going.”
“Well then let me go with you.” Webster said as he began to stand and attempted to follow Joe. His eyes were beginning to adjust to the dark and he could see the faintest outline of the other man’s figure retreating further into darkness.
However he didn’t get very far before he tripped over what felt suspiciously like someone’s foot. “Whoops did I just trip you?” Sobel’s voice asked from somewhere above him. “I’m sorry about that, let me help you up.”
Sobel helped a groaning Webster to his feet. Now that he had separated him from Liebgott all it would take was a few well placed words to plant in Webster’s head the seeds of suspicion that would help to turn him against Liebgott.
Bill had finally located his bedroom after multiple attempts rummaging through the dark. He got his hands on his bag and dug through it before he felt the cold metal of the maglite he had packed. Pulling the flashlight out he twisted it on and an intense beam of light lit up the room before him.
He turned around and shone the light towards the door, only to come face to face with a very large, very CLOSE man wearing a black ski mask.
“Shit!” he cursed in surprise, but didn’t pull back in fear. “What the Hell is this? Nixon’s idea of a joke?” He asked the man.
Said man, however, was not laughing. He reached out and grabbed Bill fiercely by the arm and swung him into the wall. Bill reared his other arm back to strike at him but before his fist could connect he felt a cloth covering his mouth and nose as he slowly drifted into darkness.
The flashlight fell to the floor with a thud.
“Where are we?” Lipton asked the shadowy figure next to him that he knew to be Ron.
Ron glanced over at him. “We’re almost to the back door. I notice you aren’t whispering. I like that.”
“Well we’re hardly the nosiest people in this house. People in West Virginia probably heard Alex shrieking.”
Speirs let out a snort of laughter as he reached the back door. “Right. Okay we’re here.” He put the hand not clutching Lipton on the door and felt for the handle. When he found it he gave it a twist and a pull. It didn’t open.
“It’s locked.” He informed Lipton.
Lipton shook his head, “And it’s never been locked all the time we’ve been here, because only the staff has the keys for all the deadbolts.”
“Exactly,” Ron agreed, “So whatever Nixon’s planning- he means for us not to leave the house. He must have cut the power and then locked all the doors. Let’s get back to the others and check the sliding door near the pool to see if they locked that one too.”
“We’re locked in?” Perconte asked, concern coloring his voice. “That sounds really bad.”
“Don’t worry. If we’ve been locked in then it means it was done by the crew.” Lipton assured him. “They’re the only ones who have all the keys.”
“So this is a challenge.” Luz concluded.
“Looks that way.” Speirs said, “We tried the doors out to the pool on our way back here. They’ve been sealed shut as well.”
“Where the Hell is Bill?” Toye wondered, “He left right after you guys did.”
Speirs shrugged, “We didn’t come across him.”
Jo shook his head. “I don’t like this. Challenge or not. I’m going to go look for him.” He declared as he began to stand up.
Luz launched himself out of his chair and landed atop the clothes on the pool table as he grasped Jo’s wrist to halt his movement. “Jo if you go after him then you’ll just be helping out the other team!”
Toye sighed, “Luz how many people have already gotten hurt during all these innocent little challenges?”
“It’s Bill. He’s fine.” Luz tried to argue.
But Jo just pulled his wrist out of Luz’s grip. “I’m going. That’s final.”
“Well then we’re going to go with you.” Luz stated, climbing over the pool table to stand by Jo. “Right Buck?”
Buck smiled in the dark, “Yeah- we’ll all go.”
“Great!” Perconte said in sarcasm, “Let’s all split up. No one ever dies THAT way.”
“Actually splitting up may not be the worst idea at this point.” Speirs said.
“Why’s that?” Webster asked.
Suddenly there was a shriek from Evans and a clamor of noise and they all looked over to see a new and large figure in their midst.
“Because Penkala likely gave away our position.” Speirs informed them before grabbing Lipton’s hand and dragging him off towards the stairs.
“SCATTER!”
“Man where the fuck am I?” Liebgott wondered to himself as he walked down another dark hallway. He hadn’t thought this through very well. Had they been in Gene and his room? Or had they been in Babe’s? He had thought Babe said they’d been in his room.
Unfortunately Joe had no idea where Babe’s room was. Wasn’t he roomed with Webster? Shit he couldn’t remember. And on top of all that the drugs he had taken earlier were starting to make him twitchy…amongst other things. Such as horny, which was a random and sometimes welcome side effect. Although it wasn’t particularly welcome right now, since there wasn’t anyone around to have sex with.
Not that he was going to have sex with any of the contestants anyway. Especially not after that incident with Babe. Sure he may have thought about Webster that way like…a lot. But thinking and doing were two different things. For one, should he sleep with anyone it would surely get caught on tape and he didn’t really need Tipper to see that and officially declare him a train wreck.
Secondly, Webster was already too up in his business. He had the suspicion that the guy might actually care about him. And sex only intensified or complicated already existing feelings. He already had one person who cared about him that he had to constantly be a disappointment to. He didn’t really need another.
As he was thinking on this, he didn’t hear the sound of the door being opened in the hall bathroom. As he walked past it, there was the sudden pressure of a hand on his arm and the next thing he knew he was being pulled inside the room and the door was slamming shut.
He gaped in shock as a light shone in his face. “What the fuck?” He put his hand up to shield his eyes. “Shine that OFF of me!”
The light retreated and he looked up from where he had fallen on the floor to see the show’s intern, Floyd Talbert, looking at him sheepishly. “Sorry.” The intern apologized, gesturing to the light.
Liebgott shook his head, “What the HELL is going on?”
Floyd plopped down to the floor and reached up to lock the bathroom from the inside. “It’s a challenge.” He informed his favorite contestant.
Joe looked confused. “How so?”
“Nixon cut off the power and locked you all inside. He’s got Martin and Bull running around in ski masks and snatching you guys. The last one left wins it for their team.”
“That is really fucking devious,” Liebgott concluded, “and kind of brilliant.”
Floyd just nodded enthusiastically.
“So why am I in here with you?” Joe asked.
The intern looked embarrassed for a moment. “I didn’t want you to get caught.” He mumbled. “They won’t find you in here.”
Liebgott just stared at him before saying, “That…is actually really cool. Huh. I guess you aren’t as big of a loser as I thought.”
The other man just grinned, “So you’ll stay put?” he asked the blue contestant.
“Why not?” Joe shrugged. It would be an easy win. The only problem was that he would be locked up in a room with the intern and horny as shit from the drugs. Wait a second…
Joe turned and gave Talbert a quick once over. “Are there any cameras in here?”
The intern shook his head, “Nah Winters was pretty adamant that you guys get SOME form of privacy. Why?”
Liebgott quickly grabbed the intern by his shirt and pressed him to the ground, climbing on top of him. “I just thought of a great way to pass the time is all.”
“Okay, so they grabbed Evans.” Webster noted as he and Sobel crouched down behind a counter in the kitchen.
Sobel nodded. “And likely Liebgott too. Babe, Gene and Bill are all goners. It doesn’t look good for our team.”
“You don’t know that Liebgott was caught.” Webster hissed back.
The Blue captain rolled his eyes. “You certainly are invested in Liebgott aren’t you?” he asked the man next to him.
“That’s really none of your business.” David told him.
“Maybe,” Sobel conceded, “but I can’t help but notice that he doesn’t really seem to care about you all that much. In fact, I’d say that he’s more interested in those drugs he’s taking then your feelings.”
Webster glared at his team’s captain in anger. “You’re so pathetic. You hate him so much that you’re going to try and convince people that he’s some druggie?”
Sobel laughed, “You really don’t see it do you? He’s a textbook meth user. You don’t need too much convincing to realize that. Although people seldom see what they want to ignore.”
“He’s sick okay?” Webster argued. “He already told me. He’s not using drugs, he’s taking medicine.”
“Is that so?” Sobel asked him, “Then tell me…what is he sick with? Has he even given you a hint?”
“He wanted to keep it private.”
“Or…there isn’t anything wrong with him.”
Webster remained silent. Had Liebgott been lying to him? Was he even really sick? It wasn’t as if Webster was a damn doctor, how would he know? Maybe he needed to talk to a doctor. He had sworn he’d get to the bottom of this…
“I’ve got to go.” Webster declared as he stood up from the kitchen floor. “I’m going to go get caught.”
“What!?” Sobel asked in alarm, standing up as well. “You can’t do that, we’ll lose the challenge!”
Webster pointed behind Sobel’s head. “I think we just did.”
Sobel looked at him in confusion before turning to see what he was pointing at. Standing behind him was the same large man that had grabbed Evans. The blue captain tried to turn and run but he was swiftly stopped as the masked man grabbed him by the back of his shirt.
Webster held his hands up in surrender as the man rounded on him, “I’m coming, no need for violence.”
“Are we even close?” Luz asked for the twentieth time.
Toye laughed softly. “Lemme guess. You were the kid who always asked ‘Are we there yet?’”
George smiled, “Please you know you’re charmed by my incessant nagging.”
“Of course.”
“Toye are you cold?” Buck asked, “Because I for one am freezing my ass off.”
“Little bit.” Jo answered.
“Well I can certainly think of worse ways to spend my day then chilling in the dark with two scantily clad, hot men.” Luz joked.
“I’m sure you’re enjoying yourself immensely.” Buck laughed.
“Yeah,” Toye agreed. “And I didn’t say anything earlier but for the record Luz, Buck is on your left- I’m on your right. Please stop grabbing my ass.”
“Whoops,” Luz chuckled nervously, “honest mistake.”
“Hey guys this is our room.” Jo pointed out as they passed an open door.
“Okay?” Buck asked, confused.
“So I’m gonna go inside and grab us some clothes.” Toye said. “You guys wait here.”
They waited as Jo disappeared into their room. Buck paused for a moment. “Hey Luz?”
“Yeah Buck?”
“Do you…hear something?”
“No. But I kinda feel like someone’s breathing down my neck. How close are you?”
“Not close at all.”
Luz turned around to see a masked face looking down at him. “Buck run!” he shouted as he was grabbed.
Buck turned to do just that but hit a brick wall of a man, also masked, that had been sneaking up behind him.
Luz kicked and struggled as he was hauled into the air. “Two of them? How is that fair!?”
But before he could say anything else a cloth was placed over his mouth and nose and everything began to fade out. He only hoped that the commotion had been enough to keep Toye from coming back out into the hall.
Webster raised his eyebrows in confusion as he watched Winters and Nixon drag a knocked out Luz into the infirmary where both he and Sobel had been taken by Harry after Martin had shoved them out the back door of the mansion.
“What the Hell happened to him?” He asked.
“The same thing that happened to me.” Bill answered as he stumbled into the room clutching his head.
“Martin got a little chloroform happy.” Nixon told them.
Webster turned to Bill. “Where are all the other eliminated contestants?”
Bill pointed back over his shoulder. “They’re in the other room, talking to Christenson.”
“Who’s still in the house?”
“Lipton, Speirs, Toye, Perconte and Liebgott.” Winters answered for him.
David nodded as he stood before asking, “Where’s Renee? I need to talk to her.”
“Are you sick?” Winters asked him in concern.
“No, nothing like that. I just need her professional opinion on something.”
So far their plan to lay low near the staircase had been working out. Speirs turned lightly
to address Lipton. “There are only two ways to win this. Option A is to wait it out until everyone else is eliminated. Option B involves us taking these guys down head on….I vote for Option B.”
Lipton made a face. “Even if we did somehow overtake them, would we still win? I mean there might still be other people left in the house and-”
Ron jolted upright in alarm as Lipton was jerked backwards and away from him. One of the masked intruders must have snuck up on them. It was too dark to see someone dressed in all black!
Still the situation ignited his instincts and it was flight or fight. Turned out that when it came to Lipton he’d go for fight.
Since he wasn’t sure how far away they were, Ron swung his arm widely at something above Lipton’s head that he hoped was the intruder and his fist connected to it with a satisfying thud. There was a curse and a hiss and Lipton fell to the floor.
“Move!” Speirs shouted down to Lipton, who scrambled out of the way. Ron kicked out a leg to sweep their attacker off his feet and to the floor. As the man struggled to get up he delivered a quick kick to the man’s ribs and was about to turn, grab Lipton and run. However he didn’t get the chance as a large hand came around his neck and placed a cloth on his face.
Recognizing the chloroform he jabbed his assailant swiftly in the gut with his elbow. The man grunted and released him. As he turned to swing at the man once more, Speirs stumbled into the wall, woozy from the drug. When the man reached out to grab his shoulder tightly, Ron pulled him close by grabbing his hand and head butted him roughly.
The man dropped to the floor, the weight of him dragging Ron down as well. He crawled over to where Lipton lay unconscious, momentarily forgetting that it was a challenge, with panic building inside of him.
Just as he reached Lipton one of the two men grabbed his foot to pull him away and he flipped onto his back and stomped the man’s face with his other foot. He weakly pulled himself over to Lipton just in time to pass out next to the other man, the chloroform overtaking him.
Martin struggled to his feet and took off his now bloody mask momentarily. He glanced at Bull, “You okay?”
“Gimme a minute. That boy kicked me good.”
“Yeah no shit. We don’t get paid enough.”
Nixon gaped as Martin and Bull both entered, a dejected Perconte marching in front of them.
Bull had Lipton slung over his shoulder and Martin was dragging Speirs behind him.
“You guys aren’t authorized to leave the house!” He reprimanded them.
“It’s just for a minute.” Martin glowered at him. “We locked it up, they aren’t going anywhere.”
As they sent Perco off to the others and came closer with their two unconscious burdens, Nixon’s irritation turned into glee when he saw them.
“AHAHAHA! Oh God! What the Hell happened to you two?” He asked them as he howled with laughter and gestured to their bruised and bleeding faces.
Martin let Speirs fall to the floor gracelessly. “He happened.”
Winters frowned at the state of the unconscious contestants. “Guys we just radioed you two and told you to lay off the chloroform.”
Bull shook his head as he lay Lipton down in a chair then pointed at Ron. “That boy was on a war path. He head butted me and that was AFTER we chloroformed him.”
Harry popped up behind them. “Told you he was a badass.”
“Renee I was wondering if you could answer a question for me.” David spoke to the doctor who was distracted by the mini party that Christenson seemed to be inspiring with the other contestants.
She tore her fond gaze from the injured man and shrugged at Webster. “I can try. What is it you want to know?”
“When Liebgott did his physical for this show…did he mention some sort of pre-existing condition or illness?” Webster asked.
Renee sighed, “David you understand I cannot tell you these things. They are confidential.”
David nodded quickly, “I understand…sorry. But did he..did he had to take a drug test?”
At this question Renee frowned in confusion. “You all did.”
It was a direct answer, and yet it didn’t satisfy his curiosity. He needed to see Liebgott’s medical files.
In the end Toye didn’t go out with much fanfare, which was unfortunate. He had been walking around looking for Luz and Buck, in vain he knew, when he had run into Bull.
He had turned to run, but being that it was dark he didn’t see Martin standing by the stairs behind him. He hit the masked security personnel hard and the two had gone tumbling down the rather long flight of stairs.
Bull watched them fall with a cringe. It seemed like they may never stop rolling but they eventually hit the bottom floor with a thud. He saw Martin stagger to his feet. “Y’all alright?” he called down to him.
Martin gave him a thumbs up before looking down at Toye, “I think he knocked himself out. Come give me a hand with him, I’m a little woozy from having my ass kicked by a flight of stairs.”
“And Speirs.” Bull reminded him as he descended the stairs to collect Toye.
“Shut it.”
While Renee and the other’s were distracted by Bull and Martin bringing in an injured Toye and announcing that the blue team had somehow won the challenge, David took it upon himself to go up to Christenson.
“Burton I need your help.” He told the bed ridden man.
Burton looked at him as if he’d grown another head. “Uh…sure. What do you need?”
“Do you know where Renee keeps all of our medical files?”
“Yeah but…man I can’t tell you that!”
“Please Burton you have to help me.” David pleaded, “I’m seriously worried about Liebgott.”
Christenson sighed. “Fine…she keeps the files for the contestants still in the game in her desk- unlocked for easy access. The records for the blue team are in the top right hand drawer.”
David squeezed the man’s shoulder tightly in gratitude. “Thank you.”
He rushed out of the room and carefully avoided Renee, the crowd around Jo, and the conniption fit that Luz was throwing at hearing that Toye probably had a concussion.
Sneaking into Renee’s office, Webster quickly pulled open the drawer Burton had sent him to and leafed through a series of folders, including his own, before finding the one with Joe’s name on it.
He flipped it open and scanned the contents eagerly. According to this there was nothing wrong with Joe. Renee had expressed a concern with his weight but he had no noteworthy ailments. His drug test had turned up negative…but they had only run a test for weed!
Feelings of anger, confusion and concern warred inside of Webster as he slammed the file back in its place before going out to rejoin the others. All of the contestants, save Toye, were awake and had been assembled by Nixon.
“Since Liebgott is the only one who appears not to have been captured then that means the blue team wins this challenge! Red team- as the losers of this surprise challenge, which by the way I’m increibly proud of, you get to come and vote for the members of your team you want to send to the arena. And since the weather is taking a turn for the worse, again, we’re not giving you your normal three hours. We’re just gonna send for you whenever Toye comes around.” Nixon rambled on to them all.
“What about our cut off power?” Perconte demanded.
“It’s being fixed as we speak.” Winters told him.
“Dude we have to go and congratulate Joe!” Babe said in excitement.
Bill laughed, “Totally dude.”
“Shut up.”
“Babe you’re such a dork.”
Unfortunately, even with the power back on, no one seemed to know where the Hell Liebgott was.
Just as Webster was about to go and tell the crew that he was missing, he saw the bathroom door open near Joe’s room. However it wasn’t Joe who walked out, but the show’s notoriously horny intern, Talbert.
The intern’s hair was messed up, his clothes looked wrinkled and he was trying to hastily put his radio head set back on. When he noticed David staring at him he gave him a nervous wave and took off down the stairs.
Webster’s worst suspicions were confirmed when Joe emerged from the same bathroom a moment later, as shirtless as he’d been in the game of strip poker but also buttoning up his jeans. Webster couldn’t take it anymore, he was sufficiently pissed off.
“You must think I’m just the BIGGEST TOOL in the entire world, don’t you?” David hissed as he began to approach Liebgott rapidly.
Liebgott looked more like shit and less like he’d just gotten laid, as he was pale and shivering. Yet he still managed to look as offended as usual by David’s very existence. “What the Hell are you freaking out about?” he demanded.
“Oh really? Like you don’t KNOW?” Webster began to shout. “Not only are you a fucking liar but you’ll apparently screw anything that moves!” He gestured furiously in the direction of the retreating intern.
“Except for you.” Joe replied coolly. “Isn’t that what this is all about?”
Webster froze and pinned Joe with a vicious glare. “You’re such an idiot. Do you honestly think that’s all I want from you?”
“You fucking tell me then because I can’t keep up with all your shit!” Joe shouted back.
“MY shit? MY shit? Really?” David laughed in disbelief. “Compared to you I’m the most well adjusted person on the goddamn planet!”
“Hey I told you that up front!” Liebgott argued with wide eyes, afraid of where this conversation might be going as well as the attention it was gaining from the cameras.
“Yeah you know what else you told me?” Webster asked before swiftly answering the question himself. “You told me you were sick! And like a jackass I believed you. Well guess what? You’re not sick! I checked your damn medical file. You lied to me! You don’t have any illness!”
Joe felt as if he had turned to stone. He stared at Webster with murder in his eyes. “For once…why don’t you STAY OUT of my FUCKING BUSINESS!”
Webster shook his head, “You know what I think I’m going to do? I think I’m going to go and see what exactly it is you keep in that little black box.”
“No!” Liebgott shouted before lunging at Webster and tackling him to the floor.
“Shit.” David cursed as he went falling backwards. Liebgott tried to get up and run towards his room, but Webster grabbed him by his belt loops and pulled him back down. “BILL!” he shouted off into the house, “BILL! GET UP HERE!”
As he continued to struggle with Liebgott who was currently cursing Webster and all his relatives, Bill showed up with Speirs in tow.
Bill looked down at them in shock, “What the fuck?”
Liebgott stilled momentarily to look up at him. “Bill please you have to help me he’s-”
Webster rolled his eyes, “Damn it Bill! I’m the one who called you! Get him off me! I need your help.”
Seeing that he wasn’t going to gain Bill’s sympathy, Liebgott roughly shoved off of Webster and made a dash for his room but Bill caught him and, in a move reminiscent of the beginning of their friendship, hauled him into the bathroom kicking and screaming.
He tossed Liebgott inside and pulled the door shut, keeping Liebgott from opening it by pulling back on the handle. “COOL DOWN!” He shouted into the closed door.
Bill then turned to look at Webster. “Okay Web my curiosity’s officially peeked. I’ll ask again-what the fuck?”
Webster pulled himself up off the floor, panting. “Come with me and I’ll explain everything. But we have to keep him in there for a while at least.”
Ron stepped forward and grabbed the door handle, maneuvering Bill away. “I’ve got it. Go do what you have to do.”
The two blue contestants nodded their thanks and David headed towards Joe and Gene’s room, gesturing for Bill to follow him.
Once they were inside, Webster slammed the door, cutting off an upset Smokey who had been following them with his camera. He dropped his voice to the lowest of whispers. “I think Joe is on drugs.”
Bill looked at the door as if it were Joe, and then back to Webster in shock. “What? Why?”
“You haven’t noticed all his weird behavior?” David asked.
His teammate just shrugged, “He’s a weird guy.”
“His weight, his total disregard for his own health, his pale complexion, his irrational mood swings, the fact that he NEVER sleeps or is tired, scratching at his own skin until he bleeds? Then there's the fact that he just had sex with that intern he hates.” David informed him.
“Okay but that doesn’t mean he’s using-”
But Webster cut him off. “Not to mention that he had track marks from a needle on his arms. When I asked him about it, he said they were from medicine that he had to inject himself with. That he was sick, he even showed me the black case he keeps his alleged medicine in.”
Bill gaped at him. “Why the Hell didn’t you tell anyone about all of this?”
Webster shrugged, “He asked me not to and I thought he was really sick.”
“What changed your mind?” Bill asked.
“I looked at his medical records. No illnesses or prescribed medications.”
“But weren’t we all drug screened?”
David shook his head, “Not for meth.”
“Meth? Are you shitting me?”
“Afraid not. Help me look for a small black case.” Webster said as he stalked towards Joe’s bed.
Bill looked around before grabbing a nearby suitcase and using it to barricade the door so that no one could enter. He began to help Webster tear the room apart.
Meanwhile Ron was having a surprisingly hard time keeping Joe locked up in the bathroom. The man wanted out and was almost pissed enough to get out too. Things were only further complicated when Perconte came to inform him that Toye had woken up and they were wanted on the beach to cast their votes.
“Shit.” He cursed before quickly asking Perconte to go and fetch Sobel for him. He was fairly certain the blue captain would have no qualms about keeping Liebgott locked in a bathroom against his will.
“Found it!” Webster exclaimed over his shoulder as he pulled up the mattress on Gene's bed. “He was stowing it under Gene’s mattress.”
Bill turned away from the luggage he had been rummaging through to stare. “That’s not suspicious. Open it up then.”
Webster did just that and stared down at the case’s contents which were an array of hypodermic needles already containing a yellow looking liquid. Even though he had been expecting it, something in David deflated at the sight of them. “Shit.”
Sobel hadn’t been on guard duty very long before the door was wrenched back out of his grip. Liebgott looked at him in fury. Sobel began to say, “I’ve been instructed not to let you out of this bathroom under any circumsta-”
But Liebgott’s fist across his face shut him up pretty well. He fell to the floor with a groan as the man ran down the hallway to his bedroom and began to bang on the closed door, a camera in his face.
Bill and Webster were torn away from their discussion of what to do with the drugs when someone began pounding on the door.
“Damn it David! Let me in!” Liebgott shouted viciously to them.
Webster looked at Bill for a moment before nodding toward the door. “Let him in. Just him.”
Bill stared, “What? Why would you do that?”
“He called me David. He’s scared. Just trust me.”
“Fine.”
Bill had barely opened the door a crack before Liebgott wedged his way in. The cameramen were proving too difficult to keep out so Bill cast David a warning look before going into the hall to deal with them.
Liebgott was no longer shouting, just staring at Webster and what he was holding with fear in his eyes. “So you caught me.” He said, sounding so very tired.
David nodded, eyes never leaving Joe’s face. “Is it meth?” he asked.
Joe swallowed heavily, “Y-yeah. It is.”
“I heard you…on the phone the other day. What have you gotten yourself into?” Webster asked even though he was scared of the answer.
“I never wanted you to find out.” Joe mumbled, “That’s why I….just couldn’t let anyone know. Especially not you.”
Webster stared. “You need help.” He told him.
Joe nodded quickly. “I know I…know I do.”
“You have to let me flush them.”
At David’s words Liebgott’s eyes closed and he sucked in a deep breath. “If I..if I let you do that will you swear not to tell anyone else?”
David looked at him in desperation, “Joe, I would never use this against you. God..I just want to help you. To know you…that’s all I’ve wanted since the moment I realized you were more than you were letting everyone see.”
Joe looked at the floor. “When they’re gone…I’m going to…it won’t be pretty.”
With a nod Webster closed the distance between them and put a tentative hand on Joe’s shoulder, forcing the other man to meet his eyes. “I’m not going anywhere.”
"Okay."
Summary: On a remote Brazilian island, 22 contestants are separated into 2 teams to compete against one another through a series of challenges. But they’ll soon discover that there are more challenges to be had than just the competition. Hook-ups, fights, partying, back stabbing, secrets and lies take center stage as the crew watches their reality show spiral into insanity. Various pairings.
At some point during the “massage” that Babe was giving Gene, their positions had been reversed- with Gene straddling a pinned down Babe- and their mouths had apparently gotten stuck together. Gene, however, pulled away from Babe when the lights went out. He wasn’t sure what had happened exactly, as the lights hadn’t been on in their room anyhow, but he noticed that the digital clock on the wall was beginning to flash the same numbers over and over again.
“Did the power just go out?” he wondered to the teen beneath him.
Babe looked up at him as though he were crazy. “Who cares?” He asked before grabbing Gene behind the neck and pulling the other man back down to him so that he could crush their mouths together in a continuation of their earlier activity. Gene didn’t have it in him to resist.
“Are you shitting me?”
“What the fuck?”
“I can’t see shit!”
“That’s because the power’s out genius.”
“So Toye…are you naked?”
“NO!”
“Luz!?”
“What? I can’t be curious?”
“Alright everybody shut up!” Speirs snapped over the chatter of the two teams. He reached his left arm out to lightly feel for where Lipton should be. If it had been any other day the lights going out would not have been such an issue, but they were currently in a room with no windows, not to mention that the sky outside was already grey and only getting darker.
When his hand tentatively connected with Lipton’s shoulder he said, “I’m going to go outside and check the circuit breaker.”
He heard Buck ask, “What difference does it make if the weather just knocked the power out anyway?”
“I don’t think the weather did.” Ron answered him.
Under his hand he felt Lipton shift towards him. “What do you mean?” the blonde asked.
“I think that this is all too coincidental. Meaning that it was planned. Probably as a challenge by Nixon.”
“Or you’re a paranoid fuck.” Liebgott countered.
Speirs shrugged, although he knew it couldn’t be seen. “Believe whatever you want. I’m going to go and see if our power’s been cut. Red team, assume that this is a challenge and STAY PUT. Understand?”
He received multiple affirmations that they did. However Lipton cut in, “I’m coming with you.”
“No-you’re going to stay here.” Ron told him.
He felt the warmth of Lipton’s shoulder disappear as the man stood up. “I’d like to see you try and make me Captain.”
Ron felt a smile begin to form on his face. “Fine,” He stood as well, then reached forward and found Lipton’s hand and held it tightly, “Let’s go then.”
After they left, Bill stood up with a sigh, “Alright I’m gonna go and get my flash light out of my bag. I’ll be right back.”
“Hey!” Liebgott yelped, “Who the fuck just grabbed my ass?”
Luz cursed silently, wrong Joseph…oh well.
Gene pulled away from Babe once more in confusion. He could have sworn he heard something out in the hallway. At Babe’s frustrated groan he spoke. “I’m sorry but do you hear that?”
Babe sighed but strained to hear a noise. “Wait…does it sound like…like footsteps?”
“Yes!” Gene nodded, “I swear it sounds like there’s someone out in the-”
Just then the door was busted open violently and crashed into the wall, the two contestants gaped as a masked intruder stormed into the room and activated a rather noisy chainsaw.
The two lovebirds let out startled screams that echoed throughout the house.
Nixon watched the footage coming in from their night vision cameras and laughed, “Never EVER have sex in the horror film. You won’t make it past the opening credits.”
Dick watched curiously from beside him. “I think I’m actually going to enjoy watching this challenge.”
Lewis beamed over at his friend, “I knew you’d come around.”
“Provided, of course, that no one gets hurt.”
“Of course.”
“Shit did you guys hear that?” Liebgott asked.
“That was a fucking chainsaw!” Perconte cursed. “Okay this is fucking weird.”
“I’m getting the F-U-C-K out of here.” Penkala told them.
“Just wait until Speirs gets back.” Buck told him sternly, but Penkala wasn’t having it.
“Gets back? He’s never getting back!” Alex answered. “He’s probably getting sawed into itty bitty pieces!”
“Calm the Hell down.” Luz snapped, irritated by Penkala’s freak out.
“I think Speirs could beat a chain saw,” Evans added to the conversation.
There was the scraping sound of a chair being pushed back and a flurry of movement. “Penk?”
Jo called out. When he received no answer he sighed. “Great. He just took off.”
Back in the Casa de Losers Skip was shaking his head. He leaned towards Don. “Alex watches WAY too many horror movies.” He informed the red head.
Don frowned in confusion, “So shouldn’t he know how to survive one?”
Skip sighed, “Sadly no…he’s way too terrified of them. Which begs the question- why watch so many?”
Liebgott, however, was focused on something other than Penkala’s freak out. “Did you guys hear screaming?” he wondered to the remaining contestants.
Buck pursed his lips and gave the question some thought, “Maybe...it was hard to hear over that chainsaw sound.”
“Although,” Luz added from Buck’s side, “this whole little incident just makes me believe more firmly that Speirs' challenge theory was right. So even if someone were screaming, they’re probably fine.”
But Joe shook his head, “Or that could be Babe and Gene and they might NOT be fine. I’m going to go find them.”
“What?” Webster asked in confusion. “Joe they’re probably okay. Bill wanted us to wait here.”
“Yeah well he ain’t the fucking boss of me.” Joe snapped back.
“But it’ll be easier to find them with a flashlight.” David argued.
Joe was already standing up. “You wait,” he told David, “but I’m going.”
“Well then let me go with you.” Webster said as he began to stand and attempted to follow Joe. His eyes were beginning to adjust to the dark and he could see the faintest outline of the other man’s figure retreating further into darkness.
However he didn’t get very far before he tripped over what felt suspiciously like someone’s foot. “Whoops did I just trip you?” Sobel’s voice asked from somewhere above him. “I’m sorry about that, let me help you up.”
Sobel helped a groaning Webster to his feet. Now that he had separated him from Liebgott all it would take was a few well placed words to plant in Webster’s head the seeds of suspicion that would help to turn him against Liebgott.
Bill had finally located his bedroom after multiple attempts rummaging through the dark. He got his hands on his bag and dug through it before he felt the cold metal of the maglite he had packed. Pulling the flashlight out he twisted it on and an intense beam of light lit up the room before him.
He turned around and shone the light towards the door, only to come face to face with a very large, very CLOSE man wearing a black ski mask.
“Shit!” he cursed in surprise, but didn’t pull back in fear. “What the Hell is this? Nixon’s idea of a joke?” He asked the man.
Said man, however, was not laughing. He reached out and grabbed Bill fiercely by the arm and swung him into the wall. Bill reared his other arm back to strike at him but before his fist could connect he felt a cloth covering his mouth and nose as he slowly drifted into darkness.
The flashlight fell to the floor with a thud.
“Where are we?” Lipton asked the shadowy figure next to him that he knew to be Ron.
Ron glanced over at him. “We’re almost to the back door. I notice you aren’t whispering. I like that.”
“Well we’re hardly the nosiest people in this house. People in West Virginia probably heard Alex shrieking.”
Speirs let out a snort of laughter as he reached the back door. “Right. Okay we’re here.” He put the hand not clutching Lipton on the door and felt for the handle. When he found it he gave it a twist and a pull. It didn’t open.
“It’s locked.” He informed Lipton.
Lipton shook his head, “And it’s never been locked all the time we’ve been here, because only the staff has the keys for all the deadbolts.”
“Exactly,” Ron agreed, “So whatever Nixon’s planning- he means for us not to leave the house. He must have cut the power and then locked all the doors. Let’s get back to the others and check the sliding door near the pool to see if they locked that one too.”
“We’re locked in?” Perconte asked, concern coloring his voice. “That sounds really bad.”
“Don’t worry. If we’ve been locked in then it means it was done by the crew.” Lipton assured him. “They’re the only ones who have all the keys.”
“So this is a challenge.” Luz concluded.
“Looks that way.” Speirs said, “We tried the doors out to the pool on our way back here. They’ve been sealed shut as well.”
“Where the Hell is Bill?” Toye wondered, “He left right after you guys did.”
Speirs shrugged, “We didn’t come across him.”
Jo shook his head. “I don’t like this. Challenge or not. I’m going to go look for him.” He declared as he began to stand up.
Luz launched himself out of his chair and landed atop the clothes on the pool table as he grasped Jo’s wrist to halt his movement. “Jo if you go after him then you’ll just be helping out the other team!”
Toye sighed, “Luz how many people have already gotten hurt during all these innocent little challenges?”
“It’s Bill. He’s fine.” Luz tried to argue.
But Jo just pulled his wrist out of Luz’s grip. “I’m going. That’s final.”
“Well then we’re going to go with you.” Luz stated, climbing over the pool table to stand by Jo. “Right Buck?”
Buck smiled in the dark, “Yeah- we’ll all go.”
“Great!” Perconte said in sarcasm, “Let’s all split up. No one ever dies THAT way.”
“Actually splitting up may not be the worst idea at this point.” Speirs said.
“Why’s that?” Webster asked.
Suddenly there was a shriek from Evans and a clamor of noise and they all looked over to see a new and large figure in their midst.
“Because Penkala likely gave away our position.” Speirs informed them before grabbing Lipton’s hand and dragging him off towards the stairs.
“SCATTER!”
“Man where the fuck am I?” Liebgott wondered to himself as he walked down another dark hallway. He hadn’t thought this through very well. Had they been in Gene and his room? Or had they been in Babe’s? He had thought Babe said they’d been in his room.
Unfortunately Joe had no idea where Babe’s room was. Wasn’t he roomed with Webster? Shit he couldn’t remember. And on top of all that the drugs he had taken earlier were starting to make him twitchy…amongst other things. Such as horny, which was a random and sometimes welcome side effect. Although it wasn’t particularly welcome right now, since there wasn’t anyone around to have sex with.
Not that he was going to have sex with any of the contestants anyway. Especially not after that incident with Babe. Sure he may have thought about Webster that way like…a lot. But thinking and doing were two different things. For one, should he sleep with anyone it would surely get caught on tape and he didn’t really need Tipper to see that and officially declare him a train wreck.
Secondly, Webster was already too up in his business. He had the suspicion that the guy might actually care about him. And sex only intensified or complicated already existing feelings. He already had one person who cared about him that he had to constantly be a disappointment to. He didn’t really need another.
As he was thinking on this, he didn’t hear the sound of the door being opened in the hall bathroom. As he walked past it, there was the sudden pressure of a hand on his arm and the next thing he knew he was being pulled inside the room and the door was slamming shut.
He gaped in shock as a light shone in his face. “What the fuck?” He put his hand up to shield his eyes. “Shine that OFF of me!”
The light retreated and he looked up from where he had fallen on the floor to see the show’s intern, Floyd Talbert, looking at him sheepishly. “Sorry.” The intern apologized, gesturing to the light.
Liebgott shook his head, “What the HELL is going on?”
Floyd plopped down to the floor and reached up to lock the bathroom from the inside. “It’s a challenge.” He informed his favorite contestant.
Joe looked confused. “How so?”
“Nixon cut off the power and locked you all inside. He’s got Martin and Bull running around in ski masks and snatching you guys. The last one left wins it for their team.”
“That is really fucking devious,” Liebgott concluded, “and kind of brilliant.”
Floyd just nodded enthusiastically.
“So why am I in here with you?” Joe asked.
The intern looked embarrassed for a moment. “I didn’t want you to get caught.” He mumbled. “They won’t find you in here.”
Liebgott just stared at him before saying, “That…is actually really cool. Huh. I guess you aren’t as big of a loser as I thought.”
The other man just grinned, “So you’ll stay put?” he asked the blue contestant.
“Why not?” Joe shrugged. It would be an easy win. The only problem was that he would be locked up in a room with the intern and horny as shit from the drugs. Wait a second…
Joe turned and gave Talbert a quick once over. “Are there any cameras in here?”
The intern shook his head, “Nah Winters was pretty adamant that you guys get SOME form of privacy. Why?”
Liebgott quickly grabbed the intern by his shirt and pressed him to the ground, climbing on top of him. “I just thought of a great way to pass the time is all.”
“Okay, so they grabbed Evans.” Webster noted as he and Sobel crouched down behind a counter in the kitchen.
Sobel nodded. “And likely Liebgott too. Babe, Gene and Bill are all goners. It doesn’t look good for our team.”
“You don’t know that Liebgott was caught.” Webster hissed back.
The Blue captain rolled his eyes. “You certainly are invested in Liebgott aren’t you?” he asked the man next to him.
“That’s really none of your business.” David told him.
“Maybe,” Sobel conceded, “but I can’t help but notice that he doesn’t really seem to care about you all that much. In fact, I’d say that he’s more interested in those drugs he’s taking then your feelings.”
Webster glared at his team’s captain in anger. “You’re so pathetic. You hate him so much that you’re going to try and convince people that he’s some druggie?”
Sobel laughed, “You really don’t see it do you? He’s a textbook meth user. You don’t need too much convincing to realize that. Although people seldom see what they want to ignore.”
“He’s sick okay?” Webster argued. “He already told me. He’s not using drugs, he’s taking medicine.”
“Is that so?” Sobel asked him, “Then tell me…what is he sick with? Has he even given you a hint?”
“He wanted to keep it private.”
“Or…there isn’t anything wrong with him.”
Webster remained silent. Had Liebgott been lying to him? Was he even really sick? It wasn’t as if Webster was a damn doctor, how would he know? Maybe he needed to talk to a doctor. He had sworn he’d get to the bottom of this…
“I’ve got to go.” Webster declared as he stood up from the kitchen floor. “I’m going to go get caught.”
“What!?” Sobel asked in alarm, standing up as well. “You can’t do that, we’ll lose the challenge!”
Webster pointed behind Sobel’s head. “I think we just did.”
Sobel looked at him in confusion before turning to see what he was pointing at. Standing behind him was the same large man that had grabbed Evans. The blue captain tried to turn and run but he was swiftly stopped as the masked man grabbed him by the back of his shirt.
Webster held his hands up in surrender as the man rounded on him, “I’m coming, no need for violence.”
“Are we even close?” Luz asked for the twentieth time.
Toye laughed softly. “Lemme guess. You were the kid who always asked ‘Are we there yet?’”
George smiled, “Please you know you’re charmed by my incessant nagging.”
“Of course.”
“Toye are you cold?” Buck asked, “Because I for one am freezing my ass off.”
“Little bit.” Jo answered.
“Well I can certainly think of worse ways to spend my day then chilling in the dark with two scantily clad, hot men.” Luz joked.
“I’m sure you’re enjoying yourself immensely.” Buck laughed.
“Yeah,” Toye agreed. “And I didn’t say anything earlier but for the record Luz, Buck is on your left- I’m on your right. Please stop grabbing my ass.”
“Whoops,” Luz chuckled nervously, “honest mistake.”
“Hey guys this is our room.” Jo pointed out as they passed an open door.
“Okay?” Buck asked, confused.
“So I’m gonna go inside and grab us some clothes.” Toye said. “You guys wait here.”
They waited as Jo disappeared into their room. Buck paused for a moment. “Hey Luz?”
“Yeah Buck?”
“Do you…hear something?”
“No. But I kinda feel like someone’s breathing down my neck. How close are you?”
“Not close at all.”
Luz turned around to see a masked face looking down at him. “Buck run!” he shouted as he was grabbed.
Buck turned to do just that but hit a brick wall of a man, also masked, that had been sneaking up behind him.
Luz kicked and struggled as he was hauled into the air. “Two of them? How is that fair!?”
But before he could say anything else a cloth was placed over his mouth and nose and everything began to fade out. He only hoped that the commotion had been enough to keep Toye from coming back out into the hall.
Webster raised his eyebrows in confusion as he watched Winters and Nixon drag a knocked out Luz into the infirmary where both he and Sobel had been taken by Harry after Martin had shoved them out the back door of the mansion.
“What the Hell happened to him?” He asked.
“The same thing that happened to me.” Bill answered as he stumbled into the room clutching his head.
“Martin got a little chloroform happy.” Nixon told them.
Webster turned to Bill. “Where are all the other eliminated contestants?”
Bill pointed back over his shoulder. “They’re in the other room, talking to Christenson.”
“Who’s still in the house?”
“Lipton, Speirs, Toye, Perconte and Liebgott.” Winters answered for him.
David nodded as he stood before asking, “Where’s Renee? I need to talk to her.”
“Are you sick?” Winters asked him in concern.
“No, nothing like that. I just need her professional opinion on something.”
So far their plan to lay low near the staircase had been working out. Speirs turned lightly
to address Lipton. “There are only two ways to win this. Option A is to wait it out until everyone else is eliminated. Option B involves us taking these guys down head on….I vote for Option B.”
Lipton made a face. “Even if we did somehow overtake them, would we still win? I mean there might still be other people left in the house and-”
Ron jolted upright in alarm as Lipton was jerked backwards and away from him. One of the masked intruders must have snuck up on them. It was too dark to see someone dressed in all black!
Still the situation ignited his instincts and it was flight or fight. Turned out that when it came to Lipton he’d go for fight.
Since he wasn’t sure how far away they were, Ron swung his arm widely at something above Lipton’s head that he hoped was the intruder and his fist connected to it with a satisfying thud. There was a curse and a hiss and Lipton fell to the floor.
“Move!” Speirs shouted down to Lipton, who scrambled out of the way. Ron kicked out a leg to sweep their attacker off his feet and to the floor. As the man struggled to get up he delivered a quick kick to the man’s ribs and was about to turn, grab Lipton and run. However he didn’t get the chance as a large hand came around his neck and placed a cloth on his face.
Recognizing the chloroform he jabbed his assailant swiftly in the gut with his elbow. The man grunted and released him. As he turned to swing at the man once more, Speirs stumbled into the wall, woozy from the drug. When the man reached out to grab his shoulder tightly, Ron pulled him close by grabbing his hand and head butted him roughly.
The man dropped to the floor, the weight of him dragging Ron down as well. He crawled over to where Lipton lay unconscious, momentarily forgetting that it was a challenge, with panic building inside of him.
Just as he reached Lipton one of the two men grabbed his foot to pull him away and he flipped onto his back and stomped the man’s face with his other foot. He weakly pulled himself over to Lipton just in time to pass out next to the other man, the chloroform overtaking him.
Martin struggled to his feet and took off his now bloody mask momentarily. He glanced at Bull, “You okay?”
“Gimme a minute. That boy kicked me good.”
“Yeah no shit. We don’t get paid enough.”
Nixon gaped as Martin and Bull both entered, a dejected Perconte marching in front of them.
Bull had Lipton slung over his shoulder and Martin was dragging Speirs behind him.
“You guys aren’t authorized to leave the house!” He reprimanded them.
“It’s just for a minute.” Martin glowered at him. “We locked it up, they aren’t going anywhere.”
As they sent Perco off to the others and came closer with their two unconscious burdens, Nixon’s irritation turned into glee when he saw them.
“AHAHAHA! Oh God! What the Hell happened to you two?” He asked them as he howled with laughter and gestured to their bruised and bleeding faces.
Martin let Speirs fall to the floor gracelessly. “He happened.”
Winters frowned at the state of the unconscious contestants. “Guys we just radioed you two and told you to lay off the chloroform.”
Bull shook his head as he lay Lipton down in a chair then pointed at Ron. “That boy was on a war path. He head butted me and that was AFTER we chloroformed him.”
Harry popped up behind them. “Told you he was a badass.”
“Renee I was wondering if you could answer a question for me.” David spoke to the doctor who was distracted by the mini party that Christenson seemed to be inspiring with the other contestants.
She tore her fond gaze from the injured man and shrugged at Webster. “I can try. What is it you want to know?”
“When Liebgott did his physical for this show…did he mention some sort of pre-existing condition or illness?” Webster asked.
Renee sighed, “David you understand I cannot tell you these things. They are confidential.”
David nodded quickly, “I understand…sorry. But did he..did he had to take a drug test?”
At this question Renee frowned in confusion. “You all did.”
It was a direct answer, and yet it didn’t satisfy his curiosity. He needed to see Liebgott’s medical files.
In the end Toye didn’t go out with much fanfare, which was unfortunate. He had been walking around looking for Luz and Buck, in vain he knew, when he had run into Bull.
He had turned to run, but being that it was dark he didn’t see Martin standing by the stairs behind him. He hit the masked security personnel hard and the two had gone tumbling down the rather long flight of stairs.
Bull watched them fall with a cringe. It seemed like they may never stop rolling but they eventually hit the bottom floor with a thud. He saw Martin stagger to his feet. “Y’all alright?” he called down to him.
Martin gave him a thumbs up before looking down at Toye, “I think he knocked himself out. Come give me a hand with him, I’m a little woozy from having my ass kicked by a flight of stairs.”
“And Speirs.” Bull reminded him as he descended the stairs to collect Toye.
“Shut it.”
While Renee and the other’s were distracted by Bull and Martin bringing in an injured Toye and announcing that the blue team had somehow won the challenge, David took it upon himself to go up to Christenson.
“Burton I need your help.” He told the bed ridden man.
Burton looked at him as if he’d grown another head. “Uh…sure. What do you need?”
“Do you know where Renee keeps all of our medical files?”
“Yeah but…man I can’t tell you that!”
“Please Burton you have to help me.” David pleaded, “I’m seriously worried about Liebgott.”
Christenson sighed. “Fine…she keeps the files for the contestants still in the game in her desk- unlocked for easy access. The records for the blue team are in the top right hand drawer.”
David squeezed the man’s shoulder tightly in gratitude. “Thank you.”
He rushed out of the room and carefully avoided Renee, the crowd around Jo, and the conniption fit that Luz was throwing at hearing that Toye probably had a concussion.
Sneaking into Renee’s office, Webster quickly pulled open the drawer Burton had sent him to and leafed through a series of folders, including his own, before finding the one with Joe’s name on it.
He flipped it open and scanned the contents eagerly. According to this there was nothing wrong with Joe. Renee had expressed a concern with his weight but he had no noteworthy ailments. His drug test had turned up negative…but they had only run a test for weed!
Feelings of anger, confusion and concern warred inside of Webster as he slammed the file back in its place before going out to rejoin the others. All of the contestants, save Toye, were awake and had been assembled by Nixon.
“Since Liebgott is the only one who appears not to have been captured then that means the blue team wins this challenge! Red team- as the losers of this surprise challenge, which by the way I’m increibly proud of, you get to come and vote for the members of your team you want to send to the arena. And since the weather is taking a turn for the worse, again, we’re not giving you your normal three hours. We’re just gonna send for you whenever Toye comes around.” Nixon rambled on to them all.
“What about our cut off power?” Perconte demanded.
“It’s being fixed as we speak.” Winters told him.
“Dude we have to go and congratulate Joe!” Babe said in excitement.
Bill laughed, “Totally dude.”
“Shut up.”
“Babe you’re such a dork.”
Unfortunately, even with the power back on, no one seemed to know where the Hell Liebgott was.
Just as Webster was about to go and tell the crew that he was missing, he saw the bathroom door open near Joe’s room. However it wasn’t Joe who walked out, but the show’s notoriously horny intern, Talbert.
The intern’s hair was messed up, his clothes looked wrinkled and he was trying to hastily put his radio head set back on. When he noticed David staring at him he gave him a nervous wave and took off down the stairs.
Webster’s worst suspicions were confirmed when Joe emerged from the same bathroom a moment later, as shirtless as he’d been in the game of strip poker but also buttoning up his jeans. Webster couldn’t take it anymore, he was sufficiently pissed off.
“You must think I’m just the BIGGEST TOOL in the entire world, don’t you?” David hissed as he began to approach Liebgott rapidly.
Liebgott looked more like shit and less like he’d just gotten laid, as he was pale and shivering. Yet he still managed to look as offended as usual by David’s very existence. “What the Hell are you freaking out about?” he demanded.
“Oh really? Like you don’t KNOW?” Webster began to shout. “Not only are you a fucking liar but you’ll apparently screw anything that moves!” He gestured furiously in the direction of the retreating intern.
“Except for you.” Joe replied coolly. “Isn’t that what this is all about?”
Webster froze and pinned Joe with a vicious glare. “You’re such an idiot. Do you honestly think that’s all I want from you?”
“You fucking tell me then because I can’t keep up with all your shit!” Joe shouted back.
“MY shit? MY shit? Really?” David laughed in disbelief. “Compared to you I’m the most well adjusted person on the goddamn planet!”
“Hey I told you that up front!” Liebgott argued with wide eyes, afraid of where this conversation might be going as well as the attention it was gaining from the cameras.
“Yeah you know what else you told me?” Webster asked before swiftly answering the question himself. “You told me you were sick! And like a jackass I believed you. Well guess what? You’re not sick! I checked your damn medical file. You lied to me! You don’t have any illness!”
Joe felt as if he had turned to stone. He stared at Webster with murder in his eyes. “For once…why don’t you STAY OUT of my FUCKING BUSINESS!”
Webster shook his head, “You know what I think I’m going to do? I think I’m going to go and see what exactly it is you keep in that little black box.”
“No!” Liebgott shouted before lunging at Webster and tackling him to the floor.
“Shit.” David cursed as he went falling backwards. Liebgott tried to get up and run towards his room, but Webster grabbed him by his belt loops and pulled him back down. “BILL!” he shouted off into the house, “BILL! GET UP HERE!”
As he continued to struggle with Liebgott who was currently cursing Webster and all his relatives, Bill showed up with Speirs in tow.
Bill looked down at them in shock, “What the fuck?”
Liebgott stilled momentarily to look up at him. “Bill please you have to help me he’s-”
Webster rolled his eyes, “Damn it Bill! I’m the one who called you! Get him off me! I need your help.”
Seeing that he wasn’t going to gain Bill’s sympathy, Liebgott roughly shoved off of Webster and made a dash for his room but Bill caught him and, in a move reminiscent of the beginning of their friendship, hauled him into the bathroom kicking and screaming.
He tossed Liebgott inside and pulled the door shut, keeping Liebgott from opening it by pulling back on the handle. “COOL DOWN!” He shouted into the closed door.
Bill then turned to look at Webster. “Okay Web my curiosity’s officially peeked. I’ll ask again-what the fuck?”
Webster pulled himself up off the floor, panting. “Come with me and I’ll explain everything. But we have to keep him in there for a while at least.”
Ron stepped forward and grabbed the door handle, maneuvering Bill away. “I’ve got it. Go do what you have to do.”
The two blue contestants nodded their thanks and David headed towards Joe and Gene’s room, gesturing for Bill to follow him.
Once they were inside, Webster slammed the door, cutting off an upset Smokey who had been following them with his camera. He dropped his voice to the lowest of whispers. “I think Joe is on drugs.”
Bill looked at the door as if it were Joe, and then back to Webster in shock. “What? Why?”
“You haven’t noticed all his weird behavior?” David asked.
His teammate just shrugged, “He’s a weird guy.”
“His weight, his total disregard for his own health, his pale complexion, his irrational mood swings, the fact that he NEVER sleeps or is tired, scratching at his own skin until he bleeds? Then there's the fact that he just had sex with that intern he hates.” David informed him.
“Okay but that doesn’t mean he’s using-”
But Webster cut him off. “Not to mention that he had track marks from a needle on his arms. When I asked him about it, he said they were from medicine that he had to inject himself with. That he was sick, he even showed me the black case he keeps his alleged medicine in.”
Bill gaped at him. “Why the Hell didn’t you tell anyone about all of this?”
Webster shrugged, “He asked me not to and I thought he was really sick.”
“What changed your mind?” Bill asked.
“I looked at his medical records. No illnesses or prescribed medications.”
“But weren’t we all drug screened?”
David shook his head, “Not for meth.”
“Meth? Are you shitting me?”
“Afraid not. Help me look for a small black case.” Webster said as he stalked towards Joe’s bed.
Bill looked around before grabbing a nearby suitcase and using it to barricade the door so that no one could enter. He began to help Webster tear the room apart.
Meanwhile Ron was having a surprisingly hard time keeping Joe locked up in the bathroom. The man wanted out and was almost pissed enough to get out too. Things were only further complicated when Perconte came to inform him that Toye had woken up and they were wanted on the beach to cast their votes.
“Shit.” He cursed before quickly asking Perconte to go and fetch Sobel for him. He was fairly certain the blue captain would have no qualms about keeping Liebgott locked in a bathroom against his will.
“Found it!” Webster exclaimed over his shoulder as he pulled up the mattress on Gene's bed. “He was stowing it under Gene’s mattress.”
Bill turned away from the luggage he had been rummaging through to stare. “That’s not suspicious. Open it up then.”
Webster did just that and stared down at the case’s contents which were an array of hypodermic needles already containing a yellow looking liquid. Even though he had been expecting it, something in David deflated at the sight of them. “Shit.”
Sobel hadn’t been on guard duty very long before the door was wrenched back out of his grip. Liebgott looked at him in fury. Sobel began to say, “I’ve been instructed not to let you out of this bathroom under any circumsta-”
But Liebgott’s fist across his face shut him up pretty well. He fell to the floor with a groan as the man ran down the hallway to his bedroom and began to bang on the closed door, a camera in his face.
Bill and Webster were torn away from their discussion of what to do with the drugs when someone began pounding on the door.
“Damn it David! Let me in!” Liebgott shouted viciously to them.
Webster looked at Bill for a moment before nodding toward the door. “Let him in. Just him.”
Bill stared, “What? Why would you do that?”
“He called me David. He’s scared. Just trust me.”
“Fine.”
Bill had barely opened the door a crack before Liebgott wedged his way in. The cameramen were proving too difficult to keep out so Bill cast David a warning look before going into the hall to deal with them.
Liebgott was no longer shouting, just staring at Webster and what he was holding with fear in his eyes. “So you caught me.” He said, sounding so very tired.
David nodded, eyes never leaving Joe’s face. “Is it meth?” he asked.
Joe swallowed heavily, “Y-yeah. It is.”
“I heard you…on the phone the other day. What have you gotten yourself into?” Webster asked even though he was scared of the answer.
“I never wanted you to find out.” Joe mumbled, “That’s why I….just couldn’t let anyone know. Especially not you.”
Webster stared. “You need help.” He told him.
Joe nodded quickly. “I know I…know I do.”
“You have to let me flush them.”
At David’s words Liebgott’s eyes closed and he sucked in a deep breath. “If I..if I let you do that will you swear not to tell anyone else?”
David looked at him in desperation, “Joe, I would never use this against you. God..I just want to help you. To know you…that’s all I’ve wanted since the moment I realized you were more than you were letting everyone see.”
Joe looked at the floor. “When they’re gone…I’m going to…it won’t be pretty.”
With a nod Webster closed the distance between them and put a tentative hand on Joe’s shoulder, forcing the other man to meet his eyes. “I’m not going anywhere.”
"Okay."