Some Call This Fun (5/?)
Title: Some Call This Fun (5/?)
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 aren’t the only ones being challenged. A stressed producer, an exasperated doctor, the off-balanced host, a horny intern and an extremely concerned judge all struggle to maintain their faith as their reality show spirals into insanity.
Meet the Crew
Meet the Contestants
Oh Captain My Captain?
Capture The Flag
Disclaimer: I’m not making any money off of writing this story. It’s entirely fictional and based on the performances given in the HBO miniseries Band of Brothers and not the actual soldiers. Any ideas or challenges borrowed from a reality show belong to the creators of that show, not me. I don’t own anything…so please don’t sue me. I wrote it for your enjoyment so…enjoy!
David checked his watch and then flopped back into the sand, the bonfire still going strong on the beach and most of the other contestants having headed back to the house. He heard shuffling behind him and looked back to see Liebgott sitting on a log, pulling out a cigarette.
David stared for a minute, “You shouldn’t smoke.”
“I shouldn’t do a lot of things.”
“Why are you still out here?”
“I wanted to smoke without getting bitched at. Apparently that was too much to hope for.”
“I’m not bitching!”
“Whatever.”
Liebgott lit the cigarette and let it hang from his lips, smoke billowing out of the corner of his mouth as he scratched at his arm viciously.
David sat up-watching him, “Um…ouch?”
Liebgott looked down at his now bleeding arm, “Fuuuck.”
Then he got up and walked away. David, who had originally wanted to be alone, decided to follow him-not because he cared about what was going on with Pissed Off Guy…but because he was curious…
“I still can’t believe you did that to me!”
Skip rolled his eyes, “Penk you have to accept the fact that we aren’t on the same team. We knew that was a possibility when we signed up. Besides- I was avenging a fallen comrade.”
This only made Alex glare, “I still say it was a cheap move…sneaking up on me.”
“Whatever you big baby! Where is Don anyway?”
“What-can’t go 5 minutes without your new best friend?”
“My what? No! I just went to get him a drink and now he’s not here and I-why are you looking at me like that?”
Alex just gaped, “Oh my God…I totally get it now!”
“Get what?”
“Why you keep blowing me off for him! You want to hit that!”
Skip spewed his mouthful of beer all over the grass next to the pool, “What!?”
“Yeah! I thought you were replacing me but now I see that you just want to get into his pants!”
“That’s not true! Shut up! I was totally replacing you!”
“Admit it! You wanna tap that ass!”
“Stop talking ghetto you freak!”
“What are you two yakking about?”
Skip froze when Don slid up next to him and took the drink he’d sent Skip after, “Nothing…”
“Well actually-” Penkala began, smiling over at the red-head until Skip kicked him in the leg. Alex clutched his thigh as he fell, “Ah! Charlie Horse!”
“You guys are weirdos.”
“You’re not very good are you?” Buck observed as Luz’s attempt to sink the 6 ball went south. Luz glared at him as he straightened up and walked around the pool table, plucking a cigarette from Toye’s lips and taking a drag. Toye swatted at him lazily.
Luz handed the cigarette back and poked Buck in the shoulder with his pool stick, “I’ll have you know I’m a perfectly acceptable pool player…usually. I’m just a little rusty.”
“Sure you are. Come here.” Buck grabbed Luz’s shoulders and steered him back to his original position. Standing behind Luz he grabbed the other man’s hands to line up a shot, “Here’s what you’re doing wrong, it’s all about the angle you hit the ball at…”
Luz rolled his eyes and smirked over at Toye, who was thinking that Buck was incredibly obvious…and also that Luz looked pretty good bent over a pool table…
Lipton wasn’t sure what to do with his hands. He wasn’t drinking anything, smoking anything, and he wasn’t playing anything. He looked at them for a moment before shoving them in his pockets.
Glancing around he spotted Speirs nodding absentmindedly at something Blithe was asking him.
The team Captain was watching Luz, Toye and Buck with a calculating stare. Lipton shrugged and walked over to the two of them.
He leaned against the wall next to Ron and nodded in the direction of his gaze, “What do you see?”
Speirs took a swig from his beer bottle, “Trouble waiting to happen.”
Lipton raised an eyebrow, “How so?”
All he saw were three guys playing pool.
Speirs shrugged, “You’ll see eventually.”
Lipton nodded, not sure that he would, “So you did really great today. Taking command I guess. Maybe you should join the Army.”
Finally Speirs looked over and gave him a twitch of the lips that Lipton would assume was a smile, “Oh I definitely couldn’t do that.”
“What? Why not? It seems like it’d be a good fit.”
“Trust me Lipton…it would never work.”
Then he turned his head to finish answering Blithe’s question and Lipton was left to wonder what the big deal was.
What did Speirs see that he couldn’t?
Babe thought it was pretty cool that Christenson had snuck him a beer, although he doubted the red plastic cup was really fooling anyone. But if the kids on Laguna Beach could get away with it then so could he damn it!
Not that…he watched that show or anything.
He looked down at the alcohol and felt his stomach twinge a little. Hmmm maybe drinking wouldn’t really be the best thing to do right now. Sighing he sat the cup down and slinked away from the group he’d gotten tacked on to.
All of whom were arguing very loudly about how you couldn’t get THAT sick from eating two eggs and how Sobel was a big fat faker.
Which Babe guessed he probably was. Not that it mattered right now.
He was sure in a few minutes that Christenson would realize he was gone…but he was surprised to find that he was actually really tired.
He was going to go to sleep…
Gene watched Babe make a face at his cup before setting it down and walking off. He still hadn’t gotten around to talking to the guy yet but now seemed to be as good a time as ever.
He began to walk after him when an arm stretched out across the kitchen doorway, cutting him off. His eyes followed the arm up to its owner, a sandy haired young man who Gene remembered was the show’s intern.
“Can I…help you with something?”
The intern, Talbert, just grinned, “Wow you have a very sexy voice. I bet you get that all the time don’t you?”
He did actually. “Not really…look I actually-”
“So do you drink?”
“Um…rarely.”
“Fight? Steal? Do drugs? Have promiscuous sex?”
“What? No!”
Talbert sighed and let his arm drop, “Damn…and you were so hot too.”
Gene watched the intern walk off looking disappointed. It was only then that he realized Babe was long gone- up the stairs and probably to his room. Following him now would just seem weird.
Maybe he would catch him later.
Liebgott glared, “Stop fucking following me!”
David frowned, “I just wanted to see if your arm was okay.”
“It’s fine…go away.”
When they got to Joe’s bedroom David hung back in the doorway but was surprised that the other man hadn’t slammed the door in his face.
Slowly entering the room he saw Liebgott rummaging through his things, “What are you looking for? A band aid? Just go to the infirmary…”
Joe didn’t bother answering, but finally stopped searching and pulled out a small, black case. Standing up he walked over to the bathroom down the hall.
“What is that?” David eyed the case curiously.
“Medicine. Now fuck off.”
David looked at Liebgott closely. The guy was kind of pale, clenching his jaw, had dark circles under his eyes and didn’t seem to eat…
“Are you sick?”
Liebgott had walked into the bathroom and David didn’t even realize he was almost inside as well.
Joe frowned at him, “Yeah…I’m sick.”
Then he slammed the door in his face.
David didn’t feel as pissed as he thought he would be, even if he had been expecting Liebgott to shut the door on him. He couldn’t stop the wheels from turning in his head.
What exactly was wrong with the other man?
“What are you freaking out for? You’re going to win. I’m pretty sure Evans is legally retarded.” Bill tried to assure Hoobler, who had two feet in the pool- apparently all upset about having to compete in the head to head challenge tomorrow.
Grant slid over next to them, “You know what you need? Beer!”
He shoved a beer in Hoobler’s hand and started chugging one of his own. Perconte walked up to gape at him, “How do you DRINK so much? I thought you were still wasted from yesterday!”
“I wish! I need another…something.”
Hoobler looked down at his beer and shrugged, “I guess you’re right Bill. Besides- this is the perfect chance to cream that sucker for always going on about my fucking ears.”
Perconte nodded, “Or anything really. Man that bitch can talk. Did he tell you about how he skipped his graduation to go sailing?”
“Or about how he’s an ice-skating champion?”
“AH! Mental image of him in tights!”
They all grimaced.
“Yeah,” Bill nodded, “I’ll be more than happy to see you send him packing.”
Grant took a swig of beer, “Ditto.”
…..
“Who the fuck says ‘ditto’ anymore?”
9 o’clock The Next Morning
“If you keep scratching it it’ll only hurt more.”
Nixon glared at his friend, whose skin was still perfect and not burnt like his.
He reluctantly took his hand from the back of his neck, “Yeah well today I came prepared.”
Dick looked at the sunscreen slathered onto Lewis’s face and smiled, “So I see.”
Nix nodded, “Alright let’s get this going.”
He turned back to the two assembled teams who were seated in wooden bleachers in a boxed off area away from the make shift arena where they would be having their head to head challenges.
“Contestants welcome to the first One-on-One challenge. Here in this arena is where the two contestants who got the most votes from the losing team will compete directly against one another. The winner will rejoin his team for the next challenge. And the loser will have to leave the island…for good.”
“Hey do you have a name for this show yet?” Grant hollered from the stands.
Nixon sighed….fucking Grant. “We were thinking about ‘Red vs. Blue’!”
“That’s a web series!”
“Or ‘The Island’.”
“That’s a movie!”
“We were also thinking about calling it ‘Shut the Fuck Up Grant So I Can Do My Goddamn Job!’”
“That’s a little long….”
Nixon glared, “As you all know…because you were all there yesterday-the Blue team lost the game of Capture the Flag. As MOST of you know, since one of you wasn’t there, the two Blue members competing today are Hoobler and Evans.”
The whole Blue team glared at Sobel.
Nixon swept his arms out, “Hoobler, Evans please step down into the arena.”
The two men hopped down from the stands, looking nervous.
“Today we are going to have…a duel.”
Liebgott frowned, “Duh.”
Nixon grinned and walked over to where Dick was holding an open box.
Reaching into the box he pulled out two black guns, “No I mean we’re going to have a DUEL.”
Cobb gaped, “You’re joking right?”
“Seriously?”
“Are you insane!?”
“Oh this is going to be AWESOME!”
Lewis rolled his eyes, “Relax- they aren’t loaded with real bullets. They’re loaded with specially designed rubber bullets. Which while not fatal- hurt like a bitch. Don’t worry we tested them on Floyd.”
They all looked over to see Talbert rubbing at his shoulder with wide eyes.
Evans gulped nervously. He didn’t like pain…and looking at the contraption in the arena…it was probably a bad thing that he didn’t like heights.
Nixon turned back to the arena, where there was a metal platform up in the air, with two gigantic mats on the ground below each end, obviously there to break someone’s fall.
“Here’s what’s going to happen. The two of you are going to climb up onto that platform and stand back to back. When I give the signal you will both take ten steps to the edge of the platform, turn around and fire your weapon. Trust me….the force of the rubber bullet will be enough to knock you down off the platform. The first one to fall loses. The winner rejoins his team. Any questions?”
Hoobler raised his hand, “What if someone gets hit in the eye?”
“We thought of that. Which is why you’ll be wearing these!” Nixon pulled two thick goggles
from behind his back, “Now get up there!”
Walking over to opposite sides of the platform, the two men began to ascend the attached stairs.
Babe watched them walk to the middle of the platform, worried that Hoobler might get a rubber bullet to the jugular. He looked down at his hands and frowned when he saw that the leg of the person next to him was shaking.
He looked up at Liebgott- who apparently was kind of an asshole…but his leg was shaking and he’d never been mean to Babe. He touched the other man on the shoulder and Joe jerked away immediately.
“Are you okay?” Babe asked.
At first he thought the man would snap at him but when he saw who it was, he deflated a
little.
“Yeah kid. I’m fine, just bored.”
Webster looked over with narrowed eyes and Babe wondered if he knew what was going on. Maybe he’d ask later.
The two men on the platform were now standing back to back.
Skip leaned over to whisper in Don’s ear, “I bet you $10 bucks Evans shoots himself in the foot.”
Malarkey just shook his head, “Nooo…he’s an excellent marksmen remember? He took firing lessons from his Uncle on the SWAT team!”
Skip laughed, “Oh right. I almost forgot.”
They were interrupted from their laughter by the loud bang of a gunshot.
All of the contestants jumped. Well…except Speirs…but come on.
Nixon grinned, “Did I forget to mention that the signal would be a real gunshot?”
Evans took a deep breath and started to walk, counting his steps.
One, two, three…
Hoobler made sure not to look down.
Four, five, six…
Just aim and fire that’s all. The fall wouldn’t hurt, right?
Seven, eight, nine.
Here goes nothing.
Ten.
The two men spun around at the same time. Hoobler fired two shots right off the bat, but neither of them hit their mark.
Evans waited a moment, took a deep breath and focused in.
Hoobler shot once more, hitting Evans in the leg.
Evans fell forward instead of backwards and fired a shot as he went down.
The rubber bullet hit Hoobler square in the chest and everyone gaped as the man went sailing backwards.
Hoobler hit his mat with a loud thud, cursing and clutching his chest the whole time.
Everyone gaped, including Nixon.
“Alright. We have a winner. Evans…get your butt down here!”
The blonde began to scale down the platform.
Multiple members of the Red team were grumbling and handing Luz $5 dollar bills.
Once the two men were back at the front of the arena, Nixon made them shake hands. Both of them grimaced and rubbed their leg and chest.
“Evans, congratulations. Really man…no one saw that coming.”
Evans gave him a pained grin, “Uh…thanks?”
The host turned back to Don, “Hoobler…my man. Sorry to say but you now have to leave the island. But you almost had him! Please say your goodbyes and go collect your things. A car will be waiting to take you away. Sorry dude.”
Hoobler just frowned and nodded. He walked over to the bleachers, where he was flooded with talk.
“No way!”
“That’s Bull man.”
“Yeah-you hit him first.”
“This totally sucks.”
He shook hands with Babe who gave him a small smile, “Thanks for being cool to me Hoob. Sorry you…got shot.”
Hoobler nodded, “Yeah…it really hurts.”
Shifty gave him a worried look, “Maybe they’ll let you go to the infirmary first.”
“THAT’S ENOUGH! WE HAVE A CHALLENGE TO DO!” Their host shouted at them.
“Nix!”
“What? Time is money Dick.”
They all gave Hoobler their last words before being herded away from the arena. Hoobler watched them go with a sigh.
He looked over at Talbert, “Can I see that Doctor before I go?”
The intern nodded swiftly, “Oh yeah. You definitely should…the pain only gets worse.”
“Great.”
At the Beach
Everyone gathered on the beach where there were two motor boats waiting. Nixon situated himself in between the two boats and Dick squinted behind him, looking out into the ocean.
Not far off the shore there were what appeared to be two large blocks that were sticking up about 15 feet out of the water.
“Okay contestants. Listen up. The challenge for the day is pretty simple. You see those two blocks out in the water? They aren’t just blocks, they’re blocks composed of singular columns that are designed to hold up to four people comfortably. There is a singular column for each person on your team.”
Dick nodded, “The columns are close enough together that you can step onto the column next to you. Once each of you is standing upon your column, that’s when the challenge will start. Because each column will fall at random, forcing whoever is on the falling column to get safely onto another players column before they wind up in the water.”
Nixon took over, “Now the overall object of this challenge is to end the game with the highest number of people possible on the block. So don’t just let your teammates fall, you need to help them get to another column as quickly as you can. And don’t get too comfortable. Because any column could be the next to go. Any questions?”
“How will we know when the challenge is over?” Buck asked.
Nixon just laughed, “Oh you’ll know. Take a minute and then get your team into a motorboat. The boat will take you to your block where you’ll each ascend a ladder up to your column.”
Bill shrugged and pulled his shirt over his head. No wonder Dick had told them all to wear swim trunks.
The kid, Babe, looked over at him, “Should I wear my sneakers?”
Bill paused, noticing the kid’s accent for the first time, “Are you from Philly?”
Babe paled, “Um when you say from…do you mean was I born there? Or do I live there?”
Bill raised an eyebrow, “ I mean did you grow up there?”
“Oh…then yeah. I’m from Philly. I knew you were I just yeah…so should I wear sneakers?”
Bill nodded at the question, deciding the kid couldn’t be bad if he was from Philly. But wondered why he’d been so reluctant to confirm it.
Dick and Lewis watched as they all piled into their separate boats and took off towards the blocks, where other boats were waiting with what looked like divers…who were apparently the ones who’d be toppling the columns.
Harry popped up next to them, texting on his Blackberry, “Hey. How goes it?”
Dick shrugged, “It hasn’t started yet. What are you texting?”
“Got some new show names…”
Nixon spun around and grabbed Harry’s shoulders, “What are they? Tell me! I need to know!”
Harry paused and glanced up at him, “Uhh Surviving the Island, O Console…that’s Portuguese for The Island…or so I’m told.”
“That’s it?”
“You know Dick’s right…you never really have to say the name of the show until you do your individual shots. So stop freaking out.”
Nixon grumbled under his breath.
Harry slipped his phone into his shorts pocket, “Oh and guess what else?”
Dick looked away from where the contestants were scaling the blocks, “What else?”
“The prize money went up to $500,000.”
Nixon gaped at him, “Are you serious? That’s great! Why’d they change their minds?”
The more money the show had, the more people would be interested…and the more drive the contestants would have to win. This was excellent news.
Harry grinned cheekily, “It seems that Renee found out something interesting about our little friend Eugene Roe. He’s a Katrina victim that..get this…works at a struggling free clinic in New Orleans. Which is why he’s trying to win the money.”
Lewis shook his head, “No way. That’s too perfect! Tell me we got that on tape!”
Harry sighed, “Unfortunately no. But we already put cameras up in her infirmary to rectify that mistake. Now Sink wants us to do a sit down interview with him and everyone else about why they want to win. It’d probably be easier if we knew why beforehand though. That way that can’t lie to us.”
Nixon laughed, “Oh this is good.”
Dick just frowned at them both. He knew that this is what Nixon did…but he didn’t feel right exploiting people.
And he was concerned that it came so easily to his friend.
Harry nudged Nixon, “Looks like they’re all set up. Grab a megaphone and you two get out there on a boat.”
They nodded and took off.
The Red Block
Grant felt kind of wobbly standing above the water on a plastic column. “Does anyone else feel weird?”
Luz kicked at his column, “They seem sturdy enough.”
“It’s just the anticipation that’s bothering you.” Lipton reassured him.
Grant nodded, “Okay…”
Cobb gave him a bored stare, “You can swim. Right?”
“Yes I can fucking swim! I’m just…a little hung over and would rather not HAVE to swim.”
“Geez. Chill I was just asking.”
Speirs looked thoughtful, “Does anyone not know how to swim?”
Perconte coughed.
Luz looked over quickly, “Frank are you shitting me? You don’t know how to swim!”
“Shut up! I had a very traumatic experience.”
“Jesus.”
“Don’t worry.” Christenson chimed in, “I used to be a lifeguard.”
Blithe frowned, “Isn’t that what those divers are for?”
Speirs shook his head, “I think they would have mentioned it.”
Penkala just squinted against the sun, “When is this thing going to start?”
The Blue Block
“You better not let me fall!” Don quickly said in one breath.
Skip pursed his lips, “Of course I won’t. Why are you so freaked? We’re not that high up.”
Don shook his head, “I dunno. I just don’t like this stuff. I was always that kid that refused to go off the high diving board.”
“You’ll be fine.”
“Okay.”
“Would you two please stop talking?” Sobel groaned.
Bill glared, “Shut up. You’re just pissed that you couldn’t get out of this too. Y’know if you weren’t such a chicken shit Hoob never would have gone into the One-on-One.”
“I don’t know what you think I did but I assure you-”
“SAVE IT!” They all snapped at their Captain.
Evans reached over and patted Sobel on the back.
Gene looked at the blonde, “Is your leg okay?”
“Um..it stings a little-”
“I’m sure it won’t hurt much longer,” Sobel cut in….forced concern coloring his voice. The last thing he needed was for his one ally to start making friends.
“ALL RIGHT CONTESTANTS!” Nixon shouted up at them through his megaphone, floating on a boat a ways away. “BE READY BY THE SIGNAL!”
The sound of a bull horn rung through the air and all the contestants covered their ears.
Dick winced at the loud sound, “Well at least it wasn’t a gun this time.”
The Red Block
They all paused, sure that they felt their columns shaking.
Suddenly Luz’s column started to sway.
Toye and Buck were on either side of him and both reached out to grab him at the same time.
However Luz jumped forward onto Grant’s column as his went crashing away.
The two men found themselves grasping at nothing and both went falling forward and into the water.
Luz looked behind him at the sounds of splashes, “What the Hell?”
Buck came up from under the water, “Um…sorry about that guys.”
Speirs frowned, “Let’s try not to jump the gun next time okay?”
Toye coughed up water and nodded as a boat came around to get them.
Luz finally understood what had happened and smiled down, “Thanks anyway guys.”
The Blue Block
They watched as the Red team lost two members.
Bill sighed, “Let’s try not to do something retarded like that okay?”
Webster looked around at their block, “Shouldn’t one of ours have moved already?”
“Don’t jinx it!” Don hissed at him.
They waited.
“Crap!”
They watched Skip look around wildly as his column began to drop.
“Skip!” Don reached his hand out, Skip grabbed it and hopped onto the column with him.
The whole team sighed and Muck grinned, “No problem.”
The Red Block
Lipton sighed, “That went well.”
Speirs was about to say something but then paused and looked down. Calmly he stepped onto Lipton’s column.
They watched as two seconds later Ron’s column fell into the water.
“Huh,” was all Blithe said.
Christenson smirked, “That actually did go well.”
“Yeah I didn’t even see that-” Penkala was cut off as his column dropped. Reaching out he grabbed the corner of Blithe’s and the blonde quickly squatted to pull him up.
Penkala gazed down at the water with wide eyes as he sat on Blithe’s column, “That was way freaky.”
“Well they did say it would be random,” Perconte pointed out.
“Yeah. But I thought it would also be even!”
The Blue Block
Liebgott gazed over at the Red team, “Wow they are getting screwed.”
“No shit.” Bill agreed.
Sobel swatted at a bug buzzing around his head, “That’s good news.”
Evans column lurched forward suddenly and Sobel lazily grabbed the back of the blonde’s shirt and pulled him onto his column.
The others actually looked impressed.
Evans grinned brightly, “Thank you!”
Sobel sighed, “Don’t mention it.”
A little shake had him looking down at their column quickly, and not a moment later they were both plunging into the water.
“Damn it!”
“Lame.”
Shifty peered down at the two of them, “You guys alright?”
Evans nodded, looked around and started dog paddling toward a boat.
Sobel groaned, “We’re fine…just defeated.”
Babe looked at the two empty spots in the corner of their block, “This is like that game where you hop tees. If you don’t move around the right way…you could get stuck out all alone away from the other tees.”
Gene looked over, “That’s a good point. What if the last column left is the one with only one person on it?”
Bill nodded, “I see what you’re saying. Don’t just jump anywhere…great now we have to be fucking strategic about it.”
The Red Block
“Any minute now.” Grant muttered looking at his and Luz’s column suspiciously.
“Stop being a paranoid freak.” Cobb snapped.
Blithe and Penkala felt their block move and went in opposite directions. Blithe going one way onto Buck’s empty column and Penkala hopping over to where Speirs and Lipton were.
Speirs looked down at their column, they were okay for now. There were only three of them on there.
However Blithe was on Buck’s corner column, with no other column to the right or left of him, only Grant and Luz diagonal to him.
Christenson’s column started to fall as well and he darted to the side and onto Toye’s abandoned post. Burton frowned, noting that the only place to go now was Grant’s column as well. “I can see now how this can be difficult.”
The Blue Block
“Okay so if your column falls…” David frowned trying to work out the best course of action for Gene in his head.
Liebgott rolled his eyes, “This is pointless. It’s completely random, so reasoning it is pointless.”
Bill sighed, “You’re probably right.”
Bill tripped forward as his column started to move and went stumbling over onto Babe’s column, almost knocking the slighter body over with his own. But Babe grabbed Bill’s forearm and threw a foot behind him- steadying them both.
Bill grinned and looked down at Babe’s feet, “Ain’t you glad you wore sneakers?”
Babe laughed, “Yeah…but it’ll be gross when they get wet.”
“So don’t get them wet.” Bill suggested.
“Right.”
Shifty’s column went next and he stepped forward at a diagonal towards Don and Skip. They both reached out and grabbed his arms, pulling him up and over to their column.
But Skip slipped as he pulled back- sending him into the water. Don knelt down and looked over as Skip went under, “Shit! You okay?”
Skip resurfaced and blinked water out of his eyes, “Yeah…haha I heard you even under the water. Worried much?”
Don grinned, “You wish.”
“Maybe.”
The Red Block
Speirs looked over the strange Y shape their block was now in. If either of the two middle columns went out…they would be screwed.
Fortunately (though not for him) Perconte, who was in a corner, started to fall. He flung an arm out and Lipton tried to grab him but missed. He fell into the water.
Lipton couldn’t help but send a murderous glare at Cobb, who had been right next to Frank, “You didn’t even try and help him.”
Cobb shrugged, “Too late now.”
Everyone glared at him.
After a moment Luz spoke up frantically, “Hey he hasn’t come back up yet.”
They all looked over. Sure enough Frank hadn’t come up from the water and their wasn’t a boat coming over.
“HEY!” Luz hollered over to the divers, “HEY GET OVER HERE!”
Nixon frowned as he saw Luz waving his arms around and shouting, “What’s wrong?”
Dick waved the diver’s forward, “Someone needs help…go over there.”
A couple of boats took off.
“Shit,” Christenson cursed, “Fuck this.”
He dove straight off of his column and into the water. Everyone held their breath.
Once underwater, Christenson spotted Frank barely under the surface kicking furiously.
Swimming over to him, he hooked his arms under the man’s shoulders and pulled them both to the surface.
Frank coughed viciously, “Thanks.”
Christenson sighed in relief, “You need to learn to swim.”
“Okay.”
The boats finally reached them.
The Blue Block
“What’s going on over there?” Webster wondered while looking at the commotion by the Red block.
Babe laughed, “Whoa! Burton just took a dive off his column.”
Gene smiled at Babe’s enthusiasm, but the smile went off his face as his column swiftly fell away. He jumped forward onto Babe’s column.
Babe instinctively grabbed for him and Gene wrapped his arms around Babe’s waist. They found themselves a nose apart once more.
Gene smiled and slowly let go of the younger man, he could get used to that sort of thing happening.
Babe blushed and took his hands from Gene’s arms, “Sorry.”
“Whoa!” Webster stumbled as his block went to the side, crashing into Liebgott’s. Webster stumbled into the other man who was knocked back by the very slight bump.
Joe almost fell all the way off but David reached out quickly and grabbed his wrist, jerking him back up. Liebgott slammed against Webster’s chest hard.
“Pull my arm out of my socket why don’t you.” Joe complained.
Webster was about to snap that he hadn’t had to help him when he noticed something purple in the crook of Joe’s arm.
Liebgott noticed that Webster hadn’t released his wrist, “What the Hell are you doing?”
“What’s on your…”
Liebgott jerked his arm back ferociously but Webster kept his grip.
Joe shoved him hard which sent them both falling backwards into the water.
Bill slapped a hand to his forehead, “What did I say about doing something retarded?”
The Red Block
“He could have drowned asshole!” Luz snapped at Cobb who just rolled his eyes.
“He’s fine! It’s not like I freaking shoved him into the water. Get over it already.”
Luz felt his temper boiling over, “What? You didn’t shove him like this?”
Cobb raised an eyebrow and let out an unmanly shriek as Luz lunged off of his column and tackled Cobb sending them both into the water.
Grant laughed, “HA!”
Suddenly Blithe yelped as his corner column dropped and he went backwards.
This time Grant groaned, “Crap.”
Suddenly Lipton’s column began to shake as well. Penkala hopped onto Grant’s column, and Speirs shoved Lipton onto Cobb’s abandoned spot but as the column went back realized he couldn’t make it himself and dove into the water.
Lipton steadied himself and spun around to grab Speirs only to see him swimming off, “Huh…”
He looked over at the only other column and the only two people left.
The Blue Block
“What the Hell were they doing?” Don wondered after Liebgott and Webster went for a swim.
Bill sighed, “Who knows. Joe has issues and Web seems awfully curious about them.”
They all watched in boredom as Liebgott’s empty column sunk.
Babe laughed, “They realize no one is on there right?”
Gene smiled and pointed past Babe’s shoulder to the Red block, “Look. Three people.”
Babe grinned, “We’ve got five and three are already on one column.”
Shifty and Don’s column began to shake as well. Don made it over to them put Shifty stumbled into the water with a splash.
A VERY loud bullhorn went off.
“BLUE TEAM WINS!” Nixon hollered over his megaphone.
Dick sighed, “I need an Advil.”
Back on the Beach
Luz sighed, “Sorry guys. I kinda fucked that up for us.”
Toye shrugged, “If you hadn’t tackled him I would have…if I hadn’t you know….gotten eliminated right off the bat.”
Luz smirked, “That was cool of you though.”
Buck rolled his eyes- he had done the exact same thing!
Speirs shrugged, “We all did our best.”
Lipton thought that was bull….Christenson had done his best…Cobb could have done better.
Dick walked over, “You guys probably already heard how it works.”
Speirs nodded, “Back here in two hours?”
Dick nodded and walked off.
Webster tried to talk to Joe, “Look I was just curious….”
“You ever do that shit again I’ll knock your pretty little head off your shoulders. Got it?”
David gaped and watched Liebgott walk off in a huff.
Wait…pretty?
2 Hours Later
Nixon watched anxiously as Dick slowly poured over the votes, “Hurry up already!”
Dick frowned, “Calm yourself.”
Lewis huffed.
Dick straightened up, “Okay. The two people that will be competing in tomorrows One-on-One will be Cobb-“
Nixon snorted, “Oooh shocker.”
“And Toye.”
“Wait what?” Nixon looked over the votes, “Seriously…didn’t see that happening.”
Luz jumped up, “Are you serious?”
Toye sighed, “Great. Well I guess I….kinda deserved it.”
“No…you didn’t,” Luz grumbled before walking off angrily.
Buck offered Toye a hand up from the log he was seated on, “Don’t sweat it man. It’s not over.”
“Right. Thanks man.”
Buck slapped him on the shoulder, “Anytime.”
Nixon watched them all walk off and then hissed at Moore, one of their cameramen, to come over.
“What?” Moore asked.
Nixon tilted his head, “Who voted for Toye?”
Moore smirked, “Penkala, Blithe and Buck.”
“Buck? His little BFF? Oh we are SO going to leak that shit!”
Dick sighed, “Nixon…”
But Lewis had already whipped out his cell phone, “Harry! Do I have some DRAMA. Get Talbert over to the house and have him tell Toye something. Discreetly Harry….discreetly.”
Dick frowned and walked off…he needed different company for the night. He wasn’t liking where his current company was going…
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 aren’t the only ones being challenged. A stressed producer, an exasperated doctor, the off-balanced host, a horny intern and an extremely concerned judge all struggle to maintain their faith as their reality show spirals into insanity.
Meet the Crew
Meet the Contestants
Oh Captain My Captain?
Capture The Flag
Disclaimer: I’m not making any money off of writing this story. It’s entirely fictional and based on the performances given in the HBO miniseries Band of Brothers and not the actual soldiers. Any ideas or challenges borrowed from a reality show belong to the creators of that show, not me. I don’t own anything…so please don’t sue me. I wrote it for your enjoyment so…enjoy!
David checked his watch and then flopped back into the sand, the bonfire still going strong on the beach and most of the other contestants having headed back to the house. He heard shuffling behind him and looked back to see Liebgott sitting on a log, pulling out a cigarette.
David stared for a minute, “You shouldn’t smoke.”
“I shouldn’t do a lot of things.”
“Why are you still out here?”
“I wanted to smoke without getting bitched at. Apparently that was too much to hope for.”
“I’m not bitching!”
“Whatever.”
Liebgott lit the cigarette and let it hang from his lips, smoke billowing out of the corner of his mouth as he scratched at his arm viciously.
David sat up-watching him, “Um…ouch?”
Liebgott looked down at his now bleeding arm, “Fuuuck.”
Then he got up and walked away. David, who had originally wanted to be alone, decided to follow him-not because he cared about what was going on with Pissed Off Guy…but because he was curious…
“I still can’t believe you did that to me!”
Skip rolled his eyes, “Penk you have to accept the fact that we aren’t on the same team. We knew that was a possibility when we signed up. Besides- I was avenging a fallen comrade.”
This only made Alex glare, “I still say it was a cheap move…sneaking up on me.”
“Whatever you big baby! Where is Don anyway?”
“What-can’t go 5 minutes without your new best friend?”
“My what? No! I just went to get him a drink and now he’s not here and I-why are you looking at me like that?”
Alex just gaped, “Oh my God…I totally get it now!”
“Get what?”
“Why you keep blowing me off for him! You want to hit that!”
Skip spewed his mouthful of beer all over the grass next to the pool, “What!?”
“Yeah! I thought you were replacing me but now I see that you just want to get into his pants!”
“That’s not true! Shut up! I was totally replacing you!”
“Admit it! You wanna tap that ass!”
“Stop talking ghetto you freak!”
“What are you two yakking about?”
Skip froze when Don slid up next to him and took the drink he’d sent Skip after, “Nothing…”
“Well actually-” Penkala began, smiling over at the red-head until Skip kicked him in the leg. Alex clutched his thigh as he fell, “Ah! Charlie Horse!”
“You guys are weirdos.”
“You’re not very good are you?” Buck observed as Luz’s attempt to sink the 6 ball went south. Luz glared at him as he straightened up and walked around the pool table, plucking a cigarette from Toye’s lips and taking a drag. Toye swatted at him lazily.
Luz handed the cigarette back and poked Buck in the shoulder with his pool stick, “I’ll have you know I’m a perfectly acceptable pool player…usually. I’m just a little rusty.”
“Sure you are. Come here.” Buck grabbed Luz’s shoulders and steered him back to his original position. Standing behind Luz he grabbed the other man’s hands to line up a shot, “Here’s what you’re doing wrong, it’s all about the angle you hit the ball at…”
Luz rolled his eyes and smirked over at Toye, who was thinking that Buck was incredibly obvious…and also that Luz looked pretty good bent over a pool table…
Lipton wasn’t sure what to do with his hands. He wasn’t drinking anything, smoking anything, and he wasn’t playing anything. He looked at them for a moment before shoving them in his pockets.
Glancing around he spotted Speirs nodding absentmindedly at something Blithe was asking him.
The team Captain was watching Luz, Toye and Buck with a calculating stare. Lipton shrugged and walked over to the two of them.
He leaned against the wall next to Ron and nodded in the direction of his gaze, “What do you see?”
Speirs took a swig from his beer bottle, “Trouble waiting to happen.”
Lipton raised an eyebrow, “How so?”
All he saw were three guys playing pool.
Speirs shrugged, “You’ll see eventually.”
Lipton nodded, not sure that he would, “So you did really great today. Taking command I guess. Maybe you should join the Army.”
Finally Speirs looked over and gave him a twitch of the lips that Lipton would assume was a smile, “Oh I definitely couldn’t do that.”
“What? Why not? It seems like it’d be a good fit.”
“Trust me Lipton…it would never work.”
Then he turned his head to finish answering Blithe’s question and Lipton was left to wonder what the big deal was.
What did Speirs see that he couldn’t?
Babe thought it was pretty cool that Christenson had snuck him a beer, although he doubted the red plastic cup was really fooling anyone. But if the kids on Laguna Beach could get away with it then so could he damn it!
Not that…he watched that show or anything.
He looked down at the alcohol and felt his stomach twinge a little. Hmmm maybe drinking wouldn’t really be the best thing to do right now. Sighing he sat the cup down and slinked away from the group he’d gotten tacked on to.
All of whom were arguing very loudly about how you couldn’t get THAT sick from eating two eggs and how Sobel was a big fat faker.
Which Babe guessed he probably was. Not that it mattered right now.
He was sure in a few minutes that Christenson would realize he was gone…but he was surprised to find that he was actually really tired.
He was going to go to sleep…
Gene watched Babe make a face at his cup before setting it down and walking off. He still hadn’t gotten around to talking to the guy yet but now seemed to be as good a time as ever.
He began to walk after him when an arm stretched out across the kitchen doorway, cutting him off. His eyes followed the arm up to its owner, a sandy haired young man who Gene remembered was the show’s intern.
“Can I…help you with something?”
The intern, Talbert, just grinned, “Wow you have a very sexy voice. I bet you get that all the time don’t you?”
He did actually. “Not really…look I actually-”
“So do you drink?”
“Um…rarely.”
“Fight? Steal? Do drugs? Have promiscuous sex?”
“What? No!”
Talbert sighed and let his arm drop, “Damn…and you were so hot too.”
Gene watched the intern walk off looking disappointed. It was only then that he realized Babe was long gone- up the stairs and probably to his room. Following him now would just seem weird.
Maybe he would catch him later.
Liebgott glared, “Stop fucking following me!”
David frowned, “I just wanted to see if your arm was okay.”
“It’s fine…go away.”
When they got to Joe’s bedroom David hung back in the doorway but was surprised that the other man hadn’t slammed the door in his face.
Slowly entering the room he saw Liebgott rummaging through his things, “What are you looking for? A band aid? Just go to the infirmary…”
Joe didn’t bother answering, but finally stopped searching and pulled out a small, black case. Standing up he walked over to the bathroom down the hall.
“What is that?” David eyed the case curiously.
“Medicine. Now fuck off.”
David looked at Liebgott closely. The guy was kind of pale, clenching his jaw, had dark circles under his eyes and didn’t seem to eat…
“Are you sick?”
Liebgott had walked into the bathroom and David didn’t even realize he was almost inside as well.
Joe frowned at him, “Yeah…I’m sick.”
Then he slammed the door in his face.
David didn’t feel as pissed as he thought he would be, even if he had been expecting Liebgott to shut the door on him. He couldn’t stop the wheels from turning in his head.
What exactly was wrong with the other man?
“What are you freaking out for? You’re going to win. I’m pretty sure Evans is legally retarded.” Bill tried to assure Hoobler, who had two feet in the pool- apparently all upset about having to compete in the head to head challenge tomorrow.
Grant slid over next to them, “You know what you need? Beer!”
He shoved a beer in Hoobler’s hand and started chugging one of his own. Perconte walked up to gape at him, “How do you DRINK so much? I thought you were still wasted from yesterday!”
“I wish! I need another…something.”
Hoobler looked down at his beer and shrugged, “I guess you’re right Bill. Besides- this is the perfect chance to cream that sucker for always going on about my fucking ears.”
Perconte nodded, “Or anything really. Man that bitch can talk. Did he tell you about how he skipped his graduation to go sailing?”
“Or about how he’s an ice-skating champion?”
“AH! Mental image of him in tights!”
They all grimaced.
“Yeah,” Bill nodded, “I’ll be more than happy to see you send him packing.”
Grant took a swig of beer, “Ditto.”
…..
“Who the fuck says ‘ditto’ anymore?”
9 o’clock The Next Morning
“If you keep scratching it it’ll only hurt more.”
Nixon glared at his friend, whose skin was still perfect and not burnt like his.
He reluctantly took his hand from the back of his neck, “Yeah well today I came prepared.”
Dick looked at the sunscreen slathered onto Lewis’s face and smiled, “So I see.”
Nix nodded, “Alright let’s get this going.”
He turned back to the two assembled teams who were seated in wooden bleachers in a boxed off area away from the make shift arena where they would be having their head to head challenges.
“Contestants welcome to the first One-on-One challenge. Here in this arena is where the two contestants who got the most votes from the losing team will compete directly against one another. The winner will rejoin his team for the next challenge. And the loser will have to leave the island…for good.”
“Hey do you have a name for this show yet?” Grant hollered from the stands.
Nixon sighed….fucking Grant. “We were thinking about ‘Red vs. Blue’!”
“That’s a web series!”
“Or ‘The Island’.”
“That’s a movie!”
“We were also thinking about calling it ‘Shut the Fuck Up Grant So I Can Do My Goddamn Job!’”
“That’s a little long….”
Nixon glared, “As you all know…because you were all there yesterday-the Blue team lost the game of Capture the Flag. As MOST of you know, since one of you wasn’t there, the two Blue members competing today are Hoobler and Evans.”
The whole Blue team glared at Sobel.
Nixon swept his arms out, “Hoobler, Evans please step down into the arena.”
The two men hopped down from the stands, looking nervous.
“Today we are going to have…a duel.”
Liebgott frowned, “Duh.”
Nixon grinned and walked over to where Dick was holding an open box.
Reaching into the box he pulled out two black guns, “No I mean we’re going to have a DUEL.”
Cobb gaped, “You’re joking right?”
“Seriously?”
“Are you insane!?”
“Oh this is going to be AWESOME!”
Lewis rolled his eyes, “Relax- they aren’t loaded with real bullets. They’re loaded with specially designed rubber bullets. Which while not fatal- hurt like a bitch. Don’t worry we tested them on Floyd.”
They all looked over to see Talbert rubbing at his shoulder with wide eyes.
Evans gulped nervously. He didn’t like pain…and looking at the contraption in the arena…it was probably a bad thing that he didn’t like heights.
Nixon turned back to the arena, where there was a metal platform up in the air, with two gigantic mats on the ground below each end, obviously there to break someone’s fall.
“Here’s what’s going to happen. The two of you are going to climb up onto that platform and stand back to back. When I give the signal you will both take ten steps to the edge of the platform, turn around and fire your weapon. Trust me….the force of the rubber bullet will be enough to knock you down off the platform. The first one to fall loses. The winner rejoins his team. Any questions?”
Hoobler raised his hand, “What if someone gets hit in the eye?”
“We thought of that. Which is why you’ll be wearing these!” Nixon pulled two thick goggles
from behind his back, “Now get up there!”
Walking over to opposite sides of the platform, the two men began to ascend the attached stairs.
Babe watched them walk to the middle of the platform, worried that Hoobler might get a rubber bullet to the jugular. He looked down at his hands and frowned when he saw that the leg of the person next to him was shaking.
He looked up at Liebgott- who apparently was kind of an asshole…but his leg was shaking and he’d never been mean to Babe. He touched the other man on the shoulder and Joe jerked away immediately.
“Are you okay?” Babe asked.
At first he thought the man would snap at him but when he saw who it was, he deflated a
little.
“Yeah kid. I’m fine, just bored.”
Webster looked over with narrowed eyes and Babe wondered if he knew what was going on. Maybe he’d ask later.
The two men on the platform were now standing back to back.
Skip leaned over to whisper in Don’s ear, “I bet you $10 bucks Evans shoots himself in the foot.”
Malarkey just shook his head, “Nooo…he’s an excellent marksmen remember? He took firing lessons from his Uncle on the SWAT team!”
Skip laughed, “Oh right. I almost forgot.”
They were interrupted from their laughter by the loud bang of a gunshot.
All of the contestants jumped. Well…except Speirs…but come on.
Nixon grinned, “Did I forget to mention that the signal would be a real gunshot?”
Evans took a deep breath and started to walk, counting his steps.
One, two, three…
Hoobler made sure not to look down.
Four, five, six…
Just aim and fire that’s all. The fall wouldn’t hurt, right?
Seven, eight, nine.
Here goes nothing.
Ten.
The two men spun around at the same time. Hoobler fired two shots right off the bat, but neither of them hit their mark.
Evans waited a moment, took a deep breath and focused in.
Hoobler shot once more, hitting Evans in the leg.
Evans fell forward instead of backwards and fired a shot as he went down.
The rubber bullet hit Hoobler square in the chest and everyone gaped as the man went sailing backwards.
Hoobler hit his mat with a loud thud, cursing and clutching his chest the whole time.
Everyone gaped, including Nixon.
“Alright. We have a winner. Evans…get your butt down here!”
The blonde began to scale down the platform.
Multiple members of the Red team were grumbling and handing Luz $5 dollar bills.
Once the two men were back at the front of the arena, Nixon made them shake hands. Both of them grimaced and rubbed their leg and chest.
“Evans, congratulations. Really man…no one saw that coming.”
Evans gave him a pained grin, “Uh…thanks?”
The host turned back to Don, “Hoobler…my man. Sorry to say but you now have to leave the island. But you almost had him! Please say your goodbyes and go collect your things. A car will be waiting to take you away. Sorry dude.”
Hoobler just frowned and nodded. He walked over to the bleachers, where he was flooded with talk.
“No way!”
“That’s Bull man.”
“Yeah-you hit him first.”
“This totally sucks.”
He shook hands with Babe who gave him a small smile, “Thanks for being cool to me Hoob. Sorry you…got shot.”
Hoobler nodded, “Yeah…it really hurts.”
Shifty gave him a worried look, “Maybe they’ll let you go to the infirmary first.”
“THAT’S ENOUGH! WE HAVE A CHALLENGE TO DO!” Their host shouted at them.
“Nix!”
“What? Time is money Dick.”
They all gave Hoobler their last words before being herded away from the arena. Hoobler watched them go with a sigh.
He looked over at Talbert, “Can I see that Doctor before I go?”
The intern nodded swiftly, “Oh yeah. You definitely should…the pain only gets worse.”
“Great.”
At the Beach
Everyone gathered on the beach where there were two motor boats waiting. Nixon situated himself in between the two boats and Dick squinted behind him, looking out into the ocean.
Not far off the shore there were what appeared to be two large blocks that were sticking up about 15 feet out of the water.
“Okay contestants. Listen up. The challenge for the day is pretty simple. You see those two blocks out in the water? They aren’t just blocks, they’re blocks composed of singular columns that are designed to hold up to four people comfortably. There is a singular column for each person on your team.”
Dick nodded, “The columns are close enough together that you can step onto the column next to you. Once each of you is standing upon your column, that’s when the challenge will start. Because each column will fall at random, forcing whoever is on the falling column to get safely onto another players column before they wind up in the water.”
Nixon took over, “Now the overall object of this challenge is to end the game with the highest number of people possible on the block. So don’t just let your teammates fall, you need to help them get to another column as quickly as you can. And don’t get too comfortable. Because any column could be the next to go. Any questions?”
“How will we know when the challenge is over?” Buck asked.
Nixon just laughed, “Oh you’ll know. Take a minute and then get your team into a motorboat. The boat will take you to your block where you’ll each ascend a ladder up to your column.”
Bill shrugged and pulled his shirt over his head. No wonder Dick had told them all to wear swim trunks.
The kid, Babe, looked over at him, “Should I wear my sneakers?”
Bill paused, noticing the kid’s accent for the first time, “Are you from Philly?”
Babe paled, “Um when you say from…do you mean was I born there? Or do I live there?”
Bill raised an eyebrow, “ I mean did you grow up there?”
“Oh…then yeah. I’m from Philly. I knew you were I just yeah…so should I wear sneakers?”
Bill nodded at the question, deciding the kid couldn’t be bad if he was from Philly. But wondered why he’d been so reluctant to confirm it.
Dick and Lewis watched as they all piled into their separate boats and took off towards the blocks, where other boats were waiting with what looked like divers…who were apparently the ones who’d be toppling the columns.
Harry popped up next to them, texting on his Blackberry, “Hey. How goes it?”
Dick shrugged, “It hasn’t started yet. What are you texting?”
“Got some new show names…”
Nixon spun around and grabbed Harry’s shoulders, “What are they? Tell me! I need to know!”
Harry paused and glanced up at him, “Uhh Surviving the Island, O Console…that’s Portuguese for The Island…or so I’m told.”
“That’s it?”
“You know Dick’s right…you never really have to say the name of the show until you do your individual shots. So stop freaking out.”
Nixon grumbled under his breath.
Harry slipped his phone into his shorts pocket, “Oh and guess what else?”
Dick looked away from where the contestants were scaling the blocks, “What else?”
“The prize money went up to $500,000.”
Nixon gaped at him, “Are you serious? That’s great! Why’d they change their minds?”
The more money the show had, the more people would be interested…and the more drive the contestants would have to win. This was excellent news.
Harry grinned cheekily, “It seems that Renee found out something interesting about our little friend Eugene Roe. He’s a Katrina victim that..get this…works at a struggling free clinic in New Orleans. Which is why he’s trying to win the money.”
Lewis shook his head, “No way. That’s too perfect! Tell me we got that on tape!”
Harry sighed, “Unfortunately no. But we already put cameras up in her infirmary to rectify that mistake. Now Sink wants us to do a sit down interview with him and everyone else about why they want to win. It’d probably be easier if we knew why beforehand though. That way that can’t lie to us.”
Nixon laughed, “Oh this is good.”
Dick just frowned at them both. He knew that this is what Nixon did…but he didn’t feel right exploiting people.
And he was concerned that it came so easily to his friend.
Harry nudged Nixon, “Looks like they’re all set up. Grab a megaphone and you two get out there on a boat.”
They nodded and took off.
The Red Block
Grant felt kind of wobbly standing above the water on a plastic column. “Does anyone else feel weird?”
Luz kicked at his column, “They seem sturdy enough.”
“It’s just the anticipation that’s bothering you.” Lipton reassured him.
Grant nodded, “Okay…”
Cobb gave him a bored stare, “You can swim. Right?”
“Yes I can fucking swim! I’m just…a little hung over and would rather not HAVE to swim.”
“Geez. Chill I was just asking.”
Speirs looked thoughtful, “Does anyone not know how to swim?”
Perconte coughed.
Luz looked over quickly, “Frank are you shitting me? You don’t know how to swim!”
“Shut up! I had a very traumatic experience.”
“Jesus.”
“Don’t worry.” Christenson chimed in, “I used to be a lifeguard.”
Blithe frowned, “Isn’t that what those divers are for?”
Speirs shook his head, “I think they would have mentioned it.”
Penkala just squinted against the sun, “When is this thing going to start?”
The Blue Block
“You better not let me fall!” Don quickly said in one breath.
Skip pursed his lips, “Of course I won’t. Why are you so freaked? We’re not that high up.”
Don shook his head, “I dunno. I just don’t like this stuff. I was always that kid that refused to go off the high diving board.”
“You’ll be fine.”
“Okay.”
“Would you two please stop talking?” Sobel groaned.
Bill glared, “Shut up. You’re just pissed that you couldn’t get out of this too. Y’know if you weren’t such a chicken shit Hoob never would have gone into the One-on-One.”
“I don’t know what you think I did but I assure you-”
“SAVE IT!” They all snapped at their Captain.
Evans reached over and patted Sobel on the back.
Gene looked at the blonde, “Is your leg okay?”
“Um..it stings a little-”
“I’m sure it won’t hurt much longer,” Sobel cut in….forced concern coloring his voice. The last thing he needed was for his one ally to start making friends.
“ALL RIGHT CONTESTANTS!” Nixon shouted up at them through his megaphone, floating on a boat a ways away. “BE READY BY THE SIGNAL!”
The sound of a bull horn rung through the air and all the contestants covered their ears.
Dick winced at the loud sound, “Well at least it wasn’t a gun this time.”
The Red Block
They all paused, sure that they felt their columns shaking.
Suddenly Luz’s column started to sway.
Toye and Buck were on either side of him and both reached out to grab him at the same time.
However Luz jumped forward onto Grant’s column as his went crashing away.
The two men found themselves grasping at nothing and both went falling forward and into the water.
Luz looked behind him at the sounds of splashes, “What the Hell?”
Buck came up from under the water, “Um…sorry about that guys.”
Speirs frowned, “Let’s try not to jump the gun next time okay?”
Toye coughed up water and nodded as a boat came around to get them.
Luz finally understood what had happened and smiled down, “Thanks anyway guys.”
The Blue Block
They watched as the Red team lost two members.
Bill sighed, “Let’s try not to do something retarded like that okay?”
Webster looked around at their block, “Shouldn’t one of ours have moved already?”
“Don’t jinx it!” Don hissed at him.
They waited.
“Crap!”
They watched Skip look around wildly as his column began to drop.
“Skip!” Don reached his hand out, Skip grabbed it and hopped onto the column with him.
The whole team sighed and Muck grinned, “No problem.”
The Red Block
Lipton sighed, “That went well.”
Speirs was about to say something but then paused and looked down. Calmly he stepped onto Lipton’s column.
They watched as two seconds later Ron’s column fell into the water.
“Huh,” was all Blithe said.
Christenson smirked, “That actually did go well.”
“Yeah I didn’t even see that-” Penkala was cut off as his column dropped. Reaching out he grabbed the corner of Blithe’s and the blonde quickly squatted to pull him up.
Penkala gazed down at the water with wide eyes as he sat on Blithe’s column, “That was way freaky.”
“Well they did say it would be random,” Perconte pointed out.
“Yeah. But I thought it would also be even!”
The Blue Block
Liebgott gazed over at the Red team, “Wow they are getting screwed.”
“No shit.” Bill agreed.
Sobel swatted at a bug buzzing around his head, “That’s good news.”
Evans column lurched forward suddenly and Sobel lazily grabbed the back of the blonde’s shirt and pulled him onto his column.
The others actually looked impressed.
Evans grinned brightly, “Thank you!”
Sobel sighed, “Don’t mention it.”
A little shake had him looking down at their column quickly, and not a moment later they were both plunging into the water.
“Damn it!”
“Lame.”
Shifty peered down at the two of them, “You guys alright?”
Evans nodded, looked around and started dog paddling toward a boat.
Sobel groaned, “We’re fine…just defeated.”
Babe looked at the two empty spots in the corner of their block, “This is like that game where you hop tees. If you don’t move around the right way…you could get stuck out all alone away from the other tees.”
Gene looked over, “That’s a good point. What if the last column left is the one with only one person on it?”
Bill nodded, “I see what you’re saying. Don’t just jump anywhere…great now we have to be fucking strategic about it.”
The Red Block
“Any minute now.” Grant muttered looking at his and Luz’s column suspiciously.
“Stop being a paranoid freak.” Cobb snapped.
Blithe and Penkala felt their block move and went in opposite directions. Blithe going one way onto Buck’s empty column and Penkala hopping over to where Speirs and Lipton were.
Speirs looked down at their column, they were okay for now. There were only three of them on there.
However Blithe was on Buck’s corner column, with no other column to the right or left of him, only Grant and Luz diagonal to him.
Christenson’s column started to fall as well and he darted to the side and onto Toye’s abandoned post. Burton frowned, noting that the only place to go now was Grant’s column as well. “I can see now how this can be difficult.”
The Blue Block
“Okay so if your column falls…” David frowned trying to work out the best course of action for Gene in his head.
Liebgott rolled his eyes, “This is pointless. It’s completely random, so reasoning it is pointless.”
Bill sighed, “You’re probably right.”
Bill tripped forward as his column started to move and went stumbling over onto Babe’s column, almost knocking the slighter body over with his own. But Babe grabbed Bill’s forearm and threw a foot behind him- steadying them both.
Bill grinned and looked down at Babe’s feet, “Ain’t you glad you wore sneakers?”
Babe laughed, “Yeah…but it’ll be gross when they get wet.”
“So don’t get them wet.” Bill suggested.
“Right.”
Shifty’s column went next and he stepped forward at a diagonal towards Don and Skip. They both reached out and grabbed his arms, pulling him up and over to their column.
But Skip slipped as he pulled back- sending him into the water. Don knelt down and looked over as Skip went under, “Shit! You okay?”
Skip resurfaced and blinked water out of his eyes, “Yeah…haha I heard you even under the water. Worried much?”
Don grinned, “You wish.”
“Maybe.”
The Red Block
Speirs looked over the strange Y shape their block was now in. If either of the two middle columns went out…they would be screwed.
Fortunately (though not for him) Perconte, who was in a corner, started to fall. He flung an arm out and Lipton tried to grab him but missed. He fell into the water.
Lipton couldn’t help but send a murderous glare at Cobb, who had been right next to Frank, “You didn’t even try and help him.”
Cobb shrugged, “Too late now.”
Everyone glared at him.
After a moment Luz spoke up frantically, “Hey he hasn’t come back up yet.”
They all looked over. Sure enough Frank hadn’t come up from the water and their wasn’t a boat coming over.
“HEY!” Luz hollered over to the divers, “HEY GET OVER HERE!”
Nixon frowned as he saw Luz waving his arms around and shouting, “What’s wrong?”
Dick waved the diver’s forward, “Someone needs help…go over there.”
A couple of boats took off.
“Shit,” Christenson cursed, “Fuck this.”
He dove straight off of his column and into the water. Everyone held their breath.
Once underwater, Christenson spotted Frank barely under the surface kicking furiously.
Swimming over to him, he hooked his arms under the man’s shoulders and pulled them both to the surface.
Frank coughed viciously, “Thanks.”
Christenson sighed in relief, “You need to learn to swim.”
“Okay.”
The boats finally reached them.
The Blue Block
“What’s going on over there?” Webster wondered while looking at the commotion by the Red block.
Babe laughed, “Whoa! Burton just took a dive off his column.”
Gene smiled at Babe’s enthusiasm, but the smile went off his face as his column swiftly fell away. He jumped forward onto Babe’s column.
Babe instinctively grabbed for him and Gene wrapped his arms around Babe’s waist. They found themselves a nose apart once more.
Gene smiled and slowly let go of the younger man, he could get used to that sort of thing happening.
Babe blushed and took his hands from Gene’s arms, “Sorry.”
“Whoa!” Webster stumbled as his block went to the side, crashing into Liebgott’s. Webster stumbled into the other man who was knocked back by the very slight bump.
Joe almost fell all the way off but David reached out quickly and grabbed his wrist, jerking him back up. Liebgott slammed against Webster’s chest hard.
“Pull my arm out of my socket why don’t you.” Joe complained.
Webster was about to snap that he hadn’t had to help him when he noticed something purple in the crook of Joe’s arm.
Liebgott noticed that Webster hadn’t released his wrist, “What the Hell are you doing?”
“What’s on your…”
Liebgott jerked his arm back ferociously but Webster kept his grip.
Joe shoved him hard which sent them both falling backwards into the water.
Bill slapped a hand to his forehead, “What did I say about doing something retarded?”
The Red Block
“He could have drowned asshole!” Luz snapped at Cobb who just rolled his eyes.
“He’s fine! It’s not like I freaking shoved him into the water. Get over it already.”
Luz felt his temper boiling over, “What? You didn’t shove him like this?”
Cobb raised an eyebrow and let out an unmanly shriek as Luz lunged off of his column and tackled Cobb sending them both into the water.
Grant laughed, “HA!”
Suddenly Blithe yelped as his corner column dropped and he went backwards.
This time Grant groaned, “Crap.”
Suddenly Lipton’s column began to shake as well. Penkala hopped onto Grant’s column, and Speirs shoved Lipton onto Cobb’s abandoned spot but as the column went back realized he couldn’t make it himself and dove into the water.
Lipton steadied himself and spun around to grab Speirs only to see him swimming off, “Huh…”
He looked over at the only other column and the only two people left.
The Blue Block
“What the Hell were they doing?” Don wondered after Liebgott and Webster went for a swim.
Bill sighed, “Who knows. Joe has issues and Web seems awfully curious about them.”
They all watched in boredom as Liebgott’s empty column sunk.
Babe laughed, “They realize no one is on there right?”
Gene smiled and pointed past Babe’s shoulder to the Red block, “Look. Three people.”
Babe grinned, “We’ve got five and three are already on one column.”
Shifty and Don’s column began to shake as well. Don made it over to them put Shifty stumbled into the water with a splash.
A VERY loud bullhorn went off.
“BLUE TEAM WINS!” Nixon hollered over his megaphone.
Dick sighed, “I need an Advil.”
Back on the Beach
Luz sighed, “Sorry guys. I kinda fucked that up for us.”
Toye shrugged, “If you hadn’t tackled him I would have…if I hadn’t you know….gotten eliminated right off the bat.”
Luz smirked, “That was cool of you though.”
Buck rolled his eyes- he had done the exact same thing!
Speirs shrugged, “We all did our best.”
Lipton thought that was bull….Christenson had done his best…Cobb could have done better.
Dick walked over, “You guys probably already heard how it works.”
Speirs nodded, “Back here in two hours?”
Dick nodded and walked off.
Webster tried to talk to Joe, “Look I was just curious….”
“You ever do that shit again I’ll knock your pretty little head off your shoulders. Got it?”
David gaped and watched Liebgott walk off in a huff.
Wait…pretty?
2 Hours Later
Nixon watched anxiously as Dick slowly poured over the votes, “Hurry up already!”
Dick frowned, “Calm yourself.”
Lewis huffed.
Dick straightened up, “Okay. The two people that will be competing in tomorrows One-on-One will be Cobb-“
Nixon snorted, “Oooh shocker.”
“And Toye.”
“Wait what?” Nixon looked over the votes, “Seriously…didn’t see that happening.”
Luz jumped up, “Are you serious?”
Toye sighed, “Great. Well I guess I….kinda deserved it.”
“No…you didn’t,” Luz grumbled before walking off angrily.
Buck offered Toye a hand up from the log he was seated on, “Don’t sweat it man. It’s not over.”
“Right. Thanks man.”
Buck slapped him on the shoulder, “Anytime.”
Nixon watched them all walk off and then hissed at Moore, one of their cameramen, to come over.
“What?” Moore asked.
Nixon tilted his head, “Who voted for Toye?”
Moore smirked, “Penkala, Blithe and Buck.”
“Buck? His little BFF? Oh we are SO going to leak that shit!”
Dick sighed, “Nixon…”
But Lewis had already whipped out his cell phone, “Harry! Do I have some DRAMA. Get Talbert over to the house and have him tell Toye something. Discreetly Harry….discreetly.”
Dick frowned and walked off…he needed different company for the night. He wasn’t liking where his current company was going…