Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

As the bus drove down the narrow path, the rays of sunlight seeped through the passing trees, the view of a large mountain was displayed in the distance.

A loud scream echoed from within. The passengers' heads turned to the source, originating from the back of the bus. A girl standing on her seat, visibly distressed at something on the ground.

She wore a rather peculiar outfit: a pair of blue rubber gloves, a face shield, and a blue ply mask under the shield.

"AHHHHHHHHH!" she shrieked.

She looked up to find everyone's eyes on her. She laughed nervously, as if to shrug it off.

"Sorry about that. I thought I saw a cockroach on the ground and—oh my GOD IT'S STILL THERE—"

Before she could finish her sentence, a foot next to her stomped on the little critter, leaving its cold, dead husk on the ground when the foot left the floor.

Left horrified, the girl looked at the person who stepped on the bug: it was a boy with a rather nonchalant expression.

"There," the boy mumbled, "no more cockroach. Now could you please quiet down? You're being very noisy."

By now, most of the audience has lost interest in this and began to continue what they were doing earlier, except one girl. She stared at the frozen girl curiously—she stood as still as a statue.

The girl slowly reached her arm out, intending to snap the petrified girl out of her state of shock. What she did not expect, however, is to get her arm tackled and locked. The frozen girl, with reflexes as fast as lightning dodged her arm and locked it in place.

There was an awkward pause between the two girls.

"Oh... my gosh I am so sorry about that. I didn't mean to tackle your arm. I just don't like close contact. I swear I'm not a bad person. Am I rambling? I feel like I'm rambling right now—"

"It's fine," the other girl interrupted, a radiant and gentle smile formed upon her face. "I'm Hazel; what about you?"

An awkward silence once again emerged from the conversation. Breaking the silence, the girl finally responded, "Oh, uh I'm Georgia; nice to meet you, Hazel!"

Hazel stuck her hand out for a handshake. Georgia went in to shake her hand but backed out at the last moment.

"Oh yeah, sorry about that. No touch, right?" said Hazel, pulling her hand back.

Georgia nodded in relief, and Hazel gave a reassuring thumbs up with a warm smile.

[Hazel, No Team | Day 0]
"I think Georgia is having a bit of a hard time adjusting. I hope I can help her with that; I'll try to be her friend. I know how it feels to have nobody there."

Sitting next to Georgia was the boy who stomped the dead cockroach on the floor. Hazel shifted her gaze over to the boy. His arms were crossed defensively against his broad chest, a seemingly permanent frown etched onto his face.

While the boy was too busy gazing outside of the window, Hazel was quite busy gazing at him instead. She suddenly got an idea. She poked the boy on his shoulder, wanting to make conversation with him. "And what's your name?"

The boy shot a piercing glance toward her. "Leave me alone," he growled.

Undeterred, Hazel poked him once again. "I'll make a deal with you—you tell me your name, and I'll leave you alone for the rest of the bus ride. Deal?"

He paused for a moment, contemplating this very important decision. Eventually giving in, sighing in defeat. "Desmond... Leave me alone now."

Hazel smiled in triumph, winking at Georgia.

[Georgia, No Team | Day 0]
"Ugh, do they not clean these confessionals? Wait, is it on already? Uh, Hazel seems pretty nice, but absolutely no words could describe how much that interaction made me cringe and want to rip my eyes out."

Meanwhile, in the seat in front of Hazel, a boy let out a sigh of relief. He looked at the person sitting beside him—a girl scrolling through her phone. "So, uh," he began, "that was quite the ruckus they were making back there. Glad that's over, right?"

She briefly stopped typing, flaring her nose at him while scanning him judgmentally. "Mhm," she replied, immediately afterwards looking at her phone.

The boy was left in awkward silence. "So, what are you looking forward to this summer?"

Quite irritated at the boy's persistent queries, she put down her phone and rolled her eyes. "For all this to be over. My dad froze all my credit cards and sent me here to 'build character' or whatever."

"Same here," he lied, trying to relate to her, "it's so annoying when they do that, am I right?" He paused for a moment. "I'm Rivero, by the way, what's your name?"

The girl sighed in frustration. "If I tell you, you will follow me on Instagram, got it? @yasmin.sbst, but you can just call me Yasmin; now, if you'll excuse me, I'm busy judging my classmates on social media."

"Okay then..." Rivero mumbled, pulling out his phone to follow her.

Suddenly, the boy sitting in front of them turned around in his seat to look at them. "Hey," he began, "could you say your tag again? I wanna follow more people, but I've never had time to do so."

Looking up, she groaned, "Ugh, can everyone just leave me alone?" Leaving her sentence on hold, her jaw dropped down when she recognized him. "What the hell? Are you @Aster? The one with 450 million followers?"

He chuckled softly, as would any famous influencer definitely, most certainly do whenever they get recognized in public. "You got it, but keep it on the down low; I don't want this to be a big deal."

"OH MY GOSH, OH MY GOSH!" A girl nearby shrieked. "I WATCH ALL OF YOUR CONTENT; I'M A HUGE FAN! CAN YOU GIVE ME A SHOUTOUT?"

The girl sitting next to her immediately pulled her down. "Sorry about that!" she apologized, "she gets a bit exuberant at times."

Looking back at her friend, the girl scolded, "What the hell was that, Tambry? You can't just ask random people for shoutouts!"

Tambry shrugged. "Do you meet the fourth most-followed user on Instagram on a daily basis? I didn't think so. Sofia, I forced asked you to come so we could have fun for a bit!"

"How did you? Ugh, nevermind. Still, that was very insensitive of you. Go apologize."

Tambry hesitated a bit and eventually sighed. "Okay..." She turned to Aster and whispered, "Sorry about that, I can get a little excited sometimes. But, if you're still thinking about that shoutout—"

Sofia pulled her back. "And that's enough of you."

Aster lightly chuckled at the two girls' way of bonding. He thought for a bit, before getting their attention. "I don't mind taking a selfie with you two; I'll tag you guys, just give me your ats."

While Sofia rolled her eyes as her entire argument was just shattered by a kind deed, Tambry squealed in delight. Aster pulled his phone out and snapped a selfie with them, Tambry grinning widely and an unamused Sofia barely fitting in the frame.

[Sofia, No Team | Day 0]
"Tambry signed me up for this stupid camp-show thing without my permission. I don't even know how we both managed to get cast for this thing. This show doesn't seem like the type to just accept someone and her neighbor."

Near the front of the bus sat a lone girl observing all the commotion silently; her eyes scanned the area in a linear motion. In her hands lied a small notebook, opening it to write down her observations. Beside her was a boy, curiously looking at the data written in her book.

Sensing the boy's eyes peeping at her notebook, she closed it with force one-handedly. "May I help you?" she asked him.

Feeling cornered, he raised his eyebrows. "I-uh. I was just curious about what you were writing down. What exactly were you writing down?"

"Well," she began, "I was writing down my observations of these people. Human nature is quite interesting for me."

"Is that so? So why did you come here then?"

"I came here for research about human nature; my thesis regards the lengths people will go to in order to achieve their goals. What about you?"

His face lit up slightly, as if those were the exact words he was waiting for. "I came here since they were advertising difficult physical activity, and obviously a million bucks."

Unimpressed with his answer, the girl rolled her eyes. "Okay then…" She paused for a moment. "Well, since we are already talking to each other, I suppose I should introduce myself. I am Leah, and you are?"

"I’m Pierce! Nice to meet you, Leah—"

Without warning, the bus jolted to a stop. The PA crackled overhead, creating an annoying sound of static.

"Test-test, 1-2-3!" began the speaker, "Welcome, our soon-to-be campers, and very first contestants of the Subsisting Trials! I am one of your hosts who will be in charge of this show."

The contestants looked at each other in confusion.

"Unfortunately, your bus has run out of gas. Your first task—follow the path ahead until you reach camp! The first two contestants to arrive will win the first two immunities of this season. Good luck~!"

[Rivero, No Team | Day 0]
"Wait, did they just say 'immunity'? There is no way someone is getting eliminated this soon!"

The contestants scrambled to run out of the bus, a few sprinting off to camp. At the front was a girl, speeding ahead while laughing maniacally—until she tripped on a root.

"AHAHAHAHA, AH—!"

Most of the others ignored her and ran ahead, but one girl stopped to help her. "Are you okay? You know, you shouldn't push yourself too hard."

The fallen girl tried to get up on her own, only to fall back down again. "I think... my ankle is sprained."

"Come on, lean on me; I'll help you." The girl smiled. "I'm Carla, by the way."

"You can call me Noelle; thanks for helping me, though!" the injured girl replied.

Carla picked Noelle up, positioning her arm over her shoulder; both of them began to continue forward, albeit quite slowly.

"So," Carla began, wishing to make conversation to fill the silence, "why were you running really fast while laughing loudly?"

"It's just really fun to release a lot of energy like that! Well, it's not really fun when you have a sprained ankle that hurts like hell, but it's still a ton of fun!"

Ahead of them were two boys running together. They were both wearing questionable attire for this type of show. One of them was in a white suit, the type you would typically wear in a business meeting or interview; the other wearing cat headband.

The suited boy looked at the one running next to him. "Hey, what's that you're wearing, if you don't mind me asking?"

The other boy looked a bit surprised at the question but nevertheless still answered. "It's fine, but you're gonna think it's boring. My best friend bought one of these for me years ago but they didn't fit me after a few months. Then, I recently saw the same exact headbands in some store that fit me, so I bought them since it reminded me of him. It's kinda corny, and a bit embarrassing."

"Oh? What makes you think that?"

"Usually, people make fun of me and call me a furry just for wearing this, even though I'm definitely not one."

"Well," the suited boy replied, "I never really get out of the house—or mansion—that much. This is actually the first time in two months I actually left that place by myself. So, I don't really get to meet complete strangers. I came here to learn how to socialize."

The other boy looked surprised at that statement. He did not even know it was possible to avoid socialization for that long. He put his arm on the other boy's shoulder, feeling the smooth, silky texture of his suit. "Well, I can be your friend! My name is Zachary, nice to meet you!" he said, smiling warmly at him.

The other boy's face lit up with joy. "My name is Florian; nice to meet you too!"

Zachary paused for a moment, contemplating something. "Hey, I like you," he began, "if you want, you can call me by my nickname—Zyphy. I think it'd be easier to say."

The two boys were enjoying their conversation, oblivious to the boy eavesdropping in front of them. He seemed to be running normally, but looking closely, one could tell he was holding back on purpose just to listen in on the conversation behind.

[Ivan, No Team | Day 0]
"I'm Ivan. I moved to Canada a couple years back to study and prepare for college. I came here to have something interesting to write about for my college essay. Anyways, you probably might be wondering why I'm eavesdropping on a random conversation behind me that doesn't concern me at all, but I could've sworn I just heard... Ugh, nevermind."

Meanwhile, the first people begin to arrive at camp. The tall-standing trees casting a shadow, making a blob of sunrays shine brightly on the oak-wooden entrance. There stood the two hosts of the show, waiting for the approaching campers, panting at the unexpected race.

Pierce, leading the group of people barely keeping up with him, crossed the finish line with a confident smirk.

"Aw yeah, baby!" he celebrated aloud.

Shortly following behind, Aster crossed the finish line second, exhaling several shaky breaths while attempting to maintain his composure.

"I am... ah... here," he panted, gasping for air, resting his hands on his knees.

The same annoying static rang all over the camp grounds. "Just like that, Pierce and Aster win the first ever immunities of the season! We will be waiting for everyone else to arrive; only twelve campers left!"

Shortly following the announcement, a familiar duo arrived jogging lightly. Hazel waved to the boys waiting at the finish line, Georgia following directly behind her. Trailing the pair was Desmond, power-walking with his hands in his pockets.

Looking at Desmond, Hazel presented him with a teasing smirk. "What's crackalackin' my friend?"

He shot her a sheepish grin. "You promised you would leave me alone."

"Beg to disagree." She retorted, "I said that I would leave you alone for the duration of that bus ride."

"Dammit."

Just then, a small group approached the camp. Walking at a leisurely pace was Yasmin, who was unsurprisingly glued to her phone; Rivero followed closely behind her, trying his very best to keep up with the online argument she was partaking in. 

Following shortly behind them were Tambry and Sofia; the former was blabbering to the latter about some action scene she saw in a comic where the hero spits water in the villain's face to ensnare them. Sofia stayed silent, listening to her friend. Well, actually, it was more like hearing her friend since she did not really listen closely to the details of her nonsense.

Trailing the group was Leah, writing in her notebook and periodically looking up to log her findings. In fact, she already filled an entire A6 notebook with data, either from precise and acute observations or an extreme misuse of filler words.

The PA buzzed once again. "Just like that, eight more campers have arrived, making ten! We're still missing six campers. Don't keep us waiting!"

"WHAT'S UP EVERYBODY?" Tambry inquired joyfully.

Hazel responded, "All good here, you guys?"

"Not really good," Sofia began. "This dumb idiot standing right next to me made me run all the way over here, only for us to not win immunity," she complained, pointing to Tambry, who was the supposed 'dumb idiot'.

Soon after, three more people arrived, Ivan being the first. Shortly behind them was the joyous pair of Florian and Zyphy, with a few campers eyeing Zyphy's strange appearance.

The PA went to life once more, the static being noticeably quieter. "Three more people have arrived! That makes thirteen people and three left."

Way behind everyone were Carla and Noelle, who kept pushing forward despite Noelle's sprain.

"Not to raise alarm," began Carla, "but we're falling way behind." She glanced nervously at the path ahead; butterflies began to grow in her stomach in an unpleasant way.

Just then, the pair witnessed a figure running into the trees; the unknown person seemed to be holding something. Shortly after, the figure reemerged back from the verdure of the forest; it was a boy with tattoos sticking out from underneath his clothes, which covered most of them.

He gave off a malicious vibe, intimidating the girls from approaching. However, he fled toward camp before he could spot the girls watching.

"What was that?" Noelle whispered, her eyes narrowing. "He looks a bit shady."

"I have no idea, but let's focus on getting you to camp—and getting you some help as well."

Near the campgrounds, the shady guy from earlier arrived, approaching rapidly.

The PA rang once again. "It seems like the two remaining campers got lost or something. I guess we can leave them behind while our search team finds them. For now, everyone will gather at the campfire, where we will introduce ourselves and how this show will work."

The crowd began to shift, following the marked path at the entrance. Before they could leave, however, a shriek echoed from behind.

"WAIT!"

Everyone turned around to see two girls approaching—Carla and Noelle—the two girls struggling to keep up. They stopped at the entrance, both falling down from exhaustion, taking deep and heavy breaths.

Pierce approached the two girls. "There you are! We were all waiting for you guys! What happened to you?"

Panting and gasping for breath, Carla responded, "We were... there was... she sprained her ankle... too tired." She tumbled from exhaustion but was caught by Pierce before she could hit the ground.

"Yikes," remarked Sofia. She looked at Pierce, who was just standing idly. "Well? Aren't you gonna help out here?"

He widened his eyes in surprise, lifting Noelle up as Sofia helped Carla. "S-sorry ma'am..."

[Pierce, No Team | Day 0]
"Sofia is kind of scary, and I don't feel like getting on anyone's bad side this early. This game is all about strategy, and making enemies with people who can kick your ass is not a good one."

"You're quite strong," Pierce remarked, eyeing Sofia up and down.

She remained silent, keeping her focus.

"So... uh," he began, "what's your name?"

Her silence spoke volumes, replying on her behalf; an awkward silence fell between the two of them.

"She's not interested," Noelle whispered into his ear, startling him a bit. "You seem to be completely unable to read the room."

Taking the hint, Pierce decided to shut up for now, attempting to walk faster while hauling Noelle on his back.

The campers approached the distant fire, the flames roaring violently as the wind attacked it. Waiting for the crowd to arrive were two people—the hosts.

As the crowd settled around the campfire, one of the hosts began. "Welcome, everyone, to the Subsisting Trials! I am your lovely host, Avery, who will be in charge of the eliminations and challenges."

The other one continued, "And I am Craig, who will be in charge of the video confessionals and video editing."

"Now," began Avery, "a little explanation of how this will work! You guys will start out as two teams that will compete face-to-face in difficult challenges to win immunity. The losing teams will go to elimination, where they will slowly vote their teammates out with every elimination they attend."

Craig continued, "Additionally, you may enter one of the many confessional booths in this camp, where you can get something off your chest or say something to the peeps watching at home!"

"We have also hidden three idols—red, green, and blue—around the camp, which will be effective until the final four. You may use these idols during the elimination ceremony to nullify any votes cast against you or anyone else of your choosing. However, you may only play these before casting votes, before the votes are read, and after the votes are read, respectively."

"With that being said, we will now divide you into your teams; this will decide how you fare in this game and can decide if you walk home a loser or the winner of our first ever season of the Subsisting Trials!"

"First up," Avery began, "Georgia! Please come here while you're waiting for your teammates."

She hesitantly walked up, looking at the crowd behind her.

"The second member is..." Avery let the silence hang for a moment, building the tension between the campers. "Sofia!"

Sofia rolled her eyes and crossed her arms together, approaching the spot that Georgia was standing in. Beside her, Tambry stood nervously, hoping to be assigned to the same team.

[Georgia, No Team | Day 0]
"If the universe is listening, please do me a favor—don't forsake me with Tambry. Anyone but her."

"Next one..." She paused for a moment. "Florian!"

Florian smiled as he looked at Zyphy, waving to him as he walked to the crowd.

[Zachary, No Team | Day 0]
"Florian is nice—he's one of the only people to not immediately judge me. If the universe is listening, please put me on his team."

"Your fourth lucky member will be..." She paused once again in order to intensify the tension, building apprehension in some of the campers. "Please clap for Leah!"

As soon as Avery said her name, she began to walk toward the crowd, as if she knew she was going to be picked next. Furthermore, only two people clapped for her as she walked to the crowd, those being Florian and Tambry, who seemed equally excited for Leah.

"Fifth up," she paused yet again, "Ivan!"

He stood up silently, approaching the standing crowd, standing next to Florian.

"Hey there!" Florian began, taking Ivan by surprise.

"Hello there..." he responded in an uninterested tone.

Standing behind them stood Leah silently, taking note of Ivan's dismissive behavior.

"Your sixth lucky member..." Avery made a well-overused dramatic pause, which at this point left the campers unamused. "Let's give it up for Carla!"

Carla stood up from the crowd; she was visibly tired after running while carrying someone, actively trying to hide her panting and slightly concerning gasps for air.

"Seventh... let's see who just barely missed the last pick... Oh, Pierce! You're part of this team," announced Avery, this time getting straight to the point.

Pierce stood up and cracked his knuckles. "Well, it's true; it's better than last pick."

"And finally, your team's eighth and final member..." she paused one last time, this time being noticeably more tensive than the last six times.

The final nine campers waited in suspense for the final name to come out of the woman's mouth.

"Tambry!"

[Tambry, Ferocious Fireflies | Day 0]
"WOOHOO! YES! SOFIA AND I ARE ON THE SAME TEAM! THANK YOU, UNIVERSE!"

[Sofia, Ferocious Fireflies | Day 0]
"Of course." She groaned, rolling her eyes.

[Zachary, Sinister Snakes | Day 0]
"I hate you, universe."

Craig began, "Alright, Georgia, Sofia, Florian, Leah, Ivan, Carla, Pierce, and Tambry, you will be known as the Ferocious Fireflies!"

Florian exclaimed in disappointment, "Oh no, Zyphy! We're not on the same team..."

"It's fine... It's not like we can't talk to each other—we're just on different teams."

Suddenly, Ivan interrupted their conversation. "What was that? Are you guys betraying your own teams?"

"Sorry to interrupt your conversation," Craig butted in, "but the rest of you—Aster, Yasmin, Rivero, Warren, Desmond, Hazel, Zachary, and Noelle—will be the other team, and will be known as the Sinister Snakes!"

Avery resumed, "Now that that's done, you all might have already been wondering why two people have won immunity tonight."

"Yeah, what's up with that?" remarked Rivero.

Craig continued, "Tonight at dusk, everyone will go to a joint elimination ceremony. Each team will have to vote off one member from their own team."

The campers were left shocked, everyone feeling nervous as their fates lied on the teams that fate so gracefully assigned them.

"I know, I know, but this is a great way for everyone to experience their first elimination ceremony! It will begin here in three hours; use your time wisely~!"

[Carla, Ferocious Fireflies | Day 0]
"Oh gosh, already? I thought we would have some sort of challenge first. I might be on the chopping block for this one; the only other friend I've made is Noelle, and she's on the other team!"

[Noelle, Ferocious Fireflies | Day 0]
"I certainly was not expecting this." She sighed in disappointment. "I haven't made friends with anyone besides Carla, but she's on the other team."

"Oh, and one last thing..." Avery announced, aimlessly throwing two maps, one for each team. From each team, Aster and Sofia caught their team's maps, both one-handedly, awaiting further information.

"We're not monsters, so we chose to build each team their own cabin! The map will mark the location of your team's cabin. Additionally, the communal bathrooms, outdoor dining hall, and the locations of all confessionals in the area will be marked as well. Before you leave, we require of you all to leave all electronic devices with us."

"WHAT!?" shrieked a voice in the crowd of people, that of Yasmin. "WHAT THE HELL DID YOU JUST SAY?"

"It's not like we're forcing you to do that," Craig explained, "but your dad specifically told us to confiscate your phone. Also, your contract states that failure to adhere to the hosts' orders can result in immediate disqualification. There are no exceptions, well, except for Desmond's hearing aids, since that's a special requested case."

With a dumbfounded look on her face, Craig swiftly snagged the girl's phone away from her hand.

The crowd quickly dissolved and disbanded into their respective teams, handing in their devices before following their respective maps to their cabins.

[Hazel, Sinister Snakes | Day 0]
"Everyone here seems a little bit tense right now; even I'm a little nervous..." she paused, thinking for a moment. "I know!" she exclaimed enthusiastically. "I'll try to lighten everyone up a bit by making everyone introduce themselves."

Hazel sped up her pace, attempting to get in front of everyone to make sure they heard her. "So..." she began, "why don't we all play a game to get to know each other better?"

Yasmin scoffed at her suggestion. "And why would I want to know about you sad bunch?"

She retaliated instantaneously, as if she planned out every possible response. "Because," she began, "you will be the one going home tonight if you don't make any friends."

Yasmin rolled her eyes in defeat, groaning at her frustratingly reasonable explanation.

"Great!" she exclaimed. "I can tell some of you don't want to go first, so I'll take the liberty of filling that role! I'm Hazel; I come from the USA, and I am twenty-two years old. One interesting thing about me is that I was the leader of my music club in high school, and we even had our own band!"

"Hooraaaay, good for you."

"And what about you? Would you care to introduce yourself?"

"Pass."

"Wait, so are you actually trying to get voted off?"

Hazel's persistent querying slowly but surely pushed her patience closer and closer to its limits. "Ugh, isn't it obvious? I don't even wanna be here, okay?"

"Wow, I've never seen someone so eagerly pass up a million dollars before," remarked Hazel.

Just like that, Yasmin stopped in her tracks, furrowing her brows and widening her eyes at Hazel's statement. "Wait, wait, wait—what do you mean 'a million bucks'?"

"Wait, hold on—" Hazel began chuckling. "Did you not read the audition forms? Any ads about this show at all?"

Aster interrupted, chuckling along with Hazel. "Now that's funny."

"Ugh, both of you shut up!" demanded Yasmin as her face began to turn red.

"Okay then, I guess I'll go next," said Aster. "My name is Aster, and I am also twenty-two years old. I'm from Sweden, and one thing about me is that I once got first place in a marathon, although only a few people were running that time."

"Why are you guys so carefree right now?" a voice blurted out. "We all know there's gonna be an elimination tonight, so the bonds you're making right now will inevitably  be short-lived."

The group turned to the buzzkill, who happened to be Desmond. Those words really didn't help with the current situation.

[Zachary, Sinister Snakes | Day 0]
"Jeez, Desmond seems like quite the pessimist. I actually wanted to go after Aster, but something had to happen... like always. I wonder what Flor—I mean t-the uh, other team is doing."

[Yasmin, Sinister Snakes | Day 0]
"I'm already having my urge to start conflict withdrawals, so I may just take it out on that weird furry kid."

While walking, Yasmin waited until Zyphy wasn't looking and casually stuck her foot in front of him. Suddenly, Zyphy accidentally stepped on her foot, all according to Yasmin's plan.

"Ow! You stepped on my foot!"

Zyphy quickly stepped off. "Oh my gosh, are you okay? I'm so sorry—"

Yasmin began with the crocodile tears. "Shut up! I know you saw my foot and just decided to step on it! You jerk!"

"But I—"

Without a second thought, Yasmin ran ahead in tears.

"Oh my gosh, she's such a bitch!" Noelle complained, turning to Zyphy. "It's not your fault; I saw her stick her foot out. She was clearly trying to make a scene. What a facetious bitch!"

Hazel approached them while the rest of the group went ahead in search of Yasmin. "I wouldn't call her that, but she definitely did that on purpose. I really can't believe some people need to feed off of others' humiliation. If you guys are up to it, we can make her wish happen and send her home tonight."

"Sure, that's fine with me," Zyphy answered, slightly stumbling over his words.

Meanwhile, with the other team, it was visibly less tensive than the other team... for now.

[Leah, Ferocious Fireflies | Day 0]
"Alright, so far, nothing interesting has happened. If it keeps going at this rate, then this experience will be all for nothing. I will begin an icebreaker so I can study my teammates behaviors. I obviously need to stay as long as possible to push my research as far as possible."

Leah began with a simple icebreaker. "So, we should introduce ourselves to get to know each other. What are your names, and where are you guys from?"

"OH, OH, LET ME START! I'm Tambry, and I'm from Canada." She looked at Sofia, who seemed quite uninterested in making conversation. "This is Sofia! She is my best friend in the whole wide world, and we do cheerleading together! She's also from Canada."

Sofia rolled her eyes. "Tambry can be quite energetic, but I don't think she can take a hint."

Georgia looked at the conversation and began feeling more comfortable. Taking a deep breath, she began introducing herself. "You guys can call me Georgia, and I am from Slovakia."

"Oh, is it nice there? Any good food you recommend?"

"Haha, I'm flattered. It's definitely nice, and I would recommend bryndzové halušky; it's like potato dumplings."

Leah wrote her notes in her little notebook. They did not really consist of the topics her teammates were talking about, but rather their speech patterns and personality predictions. In fact, she got so focused on writing that she did not see her teammates all looking at her, waiting for her to introduce herself.

Leah looked up from her notebook, not expecting the sight of seven heads turned toward her. "So, uh," she began, quickly composing herself. "I am Leah, and I am studying for my doctorate in psychology. I am Canadian, but I have lived in Russia, Mexico, and Japan for most of my life, and I can fluently speak five languages."

"Wow! It must be nice being able to travel so much, but do you always talk so formally?" Pierce queried, catching Leah by surprise. "We're all friends here, so you can chill out!"

"Yeah, okay, yeah... I'll try to... speak more casually, I guess..."

"Sorry to butt in," Florian interrupted, "but we can't just avoid the topic. We all know that one of us is gonna leave tonight, so we're gonna have to decide who's taking the boot. I'm thinking we should boot one of the quiet ones, so either Carla or Ivan."

The two people mentioned widened their eyes at his statement; however, Ivan's eyes were noticeably filled with more rage than Carla's, whose eyes were more filled with confusion.

"What the hell did you just say?" Ivan threatened, poking Florian's shoulder with his index finger.

The blond-haired boy backed up, raising his hands into the air. "Woah! It was just a suggestion; I didn't know you were gonna take offense to that!"

The rest of the team gave each other uncomfortable looks while being faced with the dispute in front of them—should they intervene?

"That's enough!" Sofia suddenly asserted. "Both of you are acting like children; Florian, think about what you say before you say it; Ivan, you're overreacting. Get. It. Together."

Ivan stormed off ahead before stopping to say something—or rather, to gesture a specific hand gesture to Florian before actually storming ahead.

[Carla, Ferocious Fireflies | Day 0]
"Yikes. Y'know, I thought I was done for when Florian said my name, but after that, it's definitely going to be him or Ivan going tonight." She paused for a moment, taking a deep breath. "I'm not sure if I should still feel anxious or if I should feel relieved since I'm not a person of interest anymore. Either way, I'm glad I managed to get off the chopping block."

This section is recommended to be read from the bottom of the screen. It also incorporates the use of dropdowns, which will exclusively be used for suspenseful purposes, as well as to prevent the reader from spoiling themselves.

As the moon slowly rose above the tall mountains surrounding the campgrounds, replacing the sun as it set on the other end, the campfire roared as the camp's breeze brushed against it. The first campfire ceremony commences in five minutes.

Both teams approached the fire; a mix of tension, anxiety, and determination filled the atmosphere as the campers sat around the fire.

"You've all gathered here for your first campfire ceremony. We've planned this moment to be as memorable as possible. This campfire before you represents the time each of you has left here. With each ceremony, the fire will dwindle, just as your numbers will."

The silence spoke volumes.

"Among you are fighters, and tonight, two of them—Pierce and Aster—have earned immunity; any votes against them will not count. One by one, you'll approach the isolated stand, write down the name of the person on your team you want to eliminate, and place it in the urn of your team's animal that lays upon it. There is also a red button on it if you wish to record a confessional."

The campfire roared once more, its silence afterwards inviting the host to continue.

"Before we begin, if anybody is in possession of the red immunity idol and you want to play it, now would be the time to do so."

Silence filled the air with butterflies growing in almost everyone's stomachs. Nobody played an idol.

"Very well, you all may begin casting your votes."

[Yasmin, Sinister Snakes | Day 0]
"If I'm gonna be competing in this god-awful show, then I'm gonna make sure I win that million bucks. I formed an 'alliance' with three of the guys on my team. All that drama I caused earlier was fake, and that Zachary kid will be my first target."

[Aster, Sinister Snakes | Day 0]
"Yasmin told me that Zachary stepped on her foot hard, but I could tell that it was not that bad. Still, she did make me promise to vote for you... sorry dude."

[Noelle, Sinister Snakes | Day 0]
"Yasmin, I knew you were trouble right from this morning. I know a schemer when I see one."

[Florian, Ferocious Fireflies | Day 0]
"I may have provoked a few people on my team. Although, I wouldn't be too worried about myself going tonight."

[Ivan, Ferocious Fireflies | Day 0]
"You shouldn't have crossed me, you prick. Payback is gonna feel so good."

[Georgia, Ferocious Fireflies | Day 0]
"I was kind of conflicted between you two, but for the good of the team, you'll have to go. I sincerely apologize."

"Everyone has cast their votes and placed them into this urn. Before we continue, if anybody has the green immunity idol and you would like to play it, now would be the time to do so."

Once again, silence befell around the campfire as it roared in response. As the suspense ticked higher and higher—nobody played an idol.

"Very well, I will now read the votes. Since this is a joint elimination, I will read the Snakes' votes first."

First vote...

Yasmin.

The girl in question rolled her eyes. She crossed her leg over the other.

Yasmin.

That's two votes for Yasmin.

She frowned, adjusting her posture slightly.

Noelle.

She widened her eyes in disbelief. "WHAT!? WHO THE HELL—"

Zachary.

The boy leaned ever-so-slightly forward, a worried expression began forming on his face.

Zachary.

That's two votes Yasmin, one vote Noelle, two votes Zachary.

He began to grimace his teeth, a wave of unease heightening and tightening his spine.

Zachary.

That is two votes for Yasmin, one for Noelle, and three for Zachary.

Yasmin looked at the boy, feeling accomplished at ruining yet another person's dreams and crushing their expectations like a measly little cockroach. This time, she crossed her arms.

Yasmin.

That's three votes Yasmin, one vote Noelle, and three votes Zachary.

One. Vote. Left.

She raised a brow and frowned.

That's right: the other team also had to eliminate someone—who could forget?

"Since you all have already voted, I suppose I shall read the votes straight away."

First vote...

Ivan.

The boy audibly grunted, rolling his eyes at the same time.

Florian.

He maintained his unfazed expression, looking at his nails instead.

Florian.

That's one vote Ivan, two votes Florian.

He persisted in his composed demeanor, contrasting Zyphy, who internally wished for him to take things a little more seriously.

Third vote: Florian.

That's one vote Ivan, and three votes for Florian.

The boy in question furrowed a brow.

Avery applauded. "Congratulations to all of you for participating in your first campfire ceremony! I'm sure you're all exhausted after today, so go ahead and return to your cabins to recharge. You'll need it for tomorrow."

Just like that, the campers began leaving the campfire. Some of them were wary of their newfound enemies, and some were relieved that nobody was going home. Nevertheless, the campfire was eventually left somewhat vacant, with two boys staying behind and watching the fire.

"Hey," Florian began, "I'm... sorry."

Zyphy raised a brow. "For what?"

"I mean, I'm sorry that you got kicked out of your team."

"Don't be; shit happens sometimes." The cat-boy chuckled.

The breeze blew their clothes and hair in the wind; the campfire's warmth radiated onto their skin, painting them a faint orange-yellow hue.

"So—" the two blurted in unison, stopping at the same time to let the other speak.

"So... do you wanna head back?" Florian inquired.

"Yeah. Yeah, I'd like that."

[Zachary, Ferocious Fireflies | Day 0]
"Yasmin is definitely big trouble; don't think I'll forget what she called me!" He paused briefly, collecting his words. "Anyways, I'm on the same team as Florian... maybe things will go well after all."