Felix turned around in circles, looking at all of the scared campers faces, satisfaction growing inside of him. He noticed that Kalel, Lisa, Dan, Jack, and Joey were missing. The smirk on his face faded and he became serious, remembering the reason he dropped down, "Right," He said to himself before saying to the group, "I don't come out very much, but when I do, I do it because something's up. This time it's because you refuse to do as I say. And what I say is that I want you to kill those two traitors," He pointed out towards Anthony and Rachael who were holding on to life by a string, "And I want you to do it without questioning!"
"Without questioning?" Shane repeated, "You want us to kill our friend! And her sister!" He exclaimed, pointing in Natalie's direction, "And you expect us to do that without questioning!?!"
"They're traitors - they tried to escape," Felix explained, beginning to pace back and forth, "And if any of you want to try what they tried? Oh...that out there is child's play," He shot his finger in the direction of the YouTuber and adviser, "If any of you try to escape, your punishment will be much much worse." No one said a word, not even Shane. "Now shoot them," And with that, Felix disappeared once again.
The remaining YouTubers, three advisers, and challenge girls stood in awe.
Natalie shook her head, "I'm sorry, but I really can't do this, guys," She muttered.
"You have to," Meghan murmured, "We all have to."
"I can't shoot my sister!" She cried, "I'd rather d..." Before she could finish, Zach clamped his hand over Natalie's mouth. She glanced up at him with puffy and red eyes.
"Don't finish your sentence," He whispered to her, "Because Felix will hear you and you probably will die." What she said in response to that came out in a muffled mess. Ian heaved a sigh and placed his hand on Nat's shoulder.
"Come on, we can do this." Natalie shook her head no, "It may hurt, but we can do this." He took her hand in his and led her to the white line that was painted at the edge of the shore. Ian took stance and glanced over at the adviser, saying, "Come on."
Natalie shakily aimed the arrow at her sister's back. It was hard for her to keep the arrow on the lip of the bow. Ian exhaled slightly before pulling back his arrow. Everyone stood as still as they could've, on their toes, waiting to see if Ian would really do it. And to everyone's surprise, he did. The arrow lodged itself into Anthony's calf. The YouTubers and advisers gasped as Anthony's scream echoed through the forest.
"Now you go," Ian told Natalie, "If I can do it, you can do it too."
Natalie swallowed hard before extending her elbow backwards. She closed her eyes and let the arrow fly. She opened one of her eyes to see the arrow fall short and fall in the water. She heaved a sigh of relief.
"You've got two more," Shane reminded her. She glared back at him.
Ian knocked another arrow and, like Natalie did on her first shot, missed. The two of them went through their quivers of arrows, purposely or unpurposely missing the rest of the shots. Shane volunteered to go next, dragging Meghan along with him.
Shane had no hesitation knocking his arrow and shooting Rachael directly in the back - dead bullseye. She whimpered in pain, not having enough strength to scream.
"Shane!" Meghan cried, "What the hell?"
Shane dropped his arrow and quiver and walked away, announcing to everyone, "That's how you fucking do it. Now stop being pussies and just do the damn challenge!" He stormed off.
"What a dick," Abby murmured under her breath.
"I know, right?" Mari whispered to her.
"Meghan, it's your turn," Zach remarked, crossing his arms over his chest.
"WAIT!" Toby exclaimed before Meghan took her shot. He looked at everyone before continuing to explain, "We should save them. Not shoot them."
"But Felix..." Someone began to say.
"No, I don't care what he threatens to do to us. We need to save them!" He pointed out at the lake.
"But they already got hit twice. What's the use in saving them when they're barely alive?" One of the challenge girls questioned.
"They might have a chance to survive if we help them. If we just leave them there, they'll die. And I don't know if any of you feel the same, but I don't want anymore people dying."
"I agree, Toby," Molly butted in, "But saving them is too risky. I know Felix. And I know what he's capable of."
"And I know what we're capable of," Toby replied, taking a step towards Molly, "And I know we can save them and survive whatever fucking punishment Felix has in store for us. You're underestimating the power of us, Molly."
She stared at him for the longest before caving in to the idea. Half of the group swam out into the lake and untied the two from the poles they were suspended from. Slung over Toby's and Ian's shoulders, Rachael and Anthony were brought back to shore.
"What do we do now?" Ian asked through clenched teeth. He wasn't handling too well under Anthony's weight.
"I know!" Abby exclaimed, "Take them to the infirmary!"
*****
Joey was asleep when the "traitors" were brought into the infirmary. They were set down on the two beds to Joey's left and right. Abby immediately started getting the two of them help, starting with putting oxygen masks over their mouths and noses.
"I need you to flip them on their sides," Abby ordered, pointing at the two who brought them to the infirmary. "Someone get me some antiseptic!" She added.
Zach rushed into the back room.
"A-A-Abby?" Joey stuttered as he woke up from the little nap he was in.
"Not right now, Joey!" Abby yelled as Zach returned with the antiseptic. Abby took it into her possession and put some on a cloth she had Mari hand her from one of the nightstand drawers.
First treated was Rachael. The adviser tensed up in pain as the antiseptic went into the cuts in her back. "Rachael, I need to do this or you'll get infected," Abby informed her.
"Someone help Anthony!" Ian cried.
"I will! Just...give me...a few more...minutes," The only adviser besides Rachael who knew how to treat people replied as she finished up disinfecting her friend's cuts. She walked around to the other bed and started treating Anthony's wounds.
Soon after, Rachael and Anthony were left to rest. As the group walked back towards camp, Phil, who was about five feet behind the group because he was still using the crutches for support, blurted out, "What are we going to do now?" They all stopped and looked back at him, "I mean, you guys tried escaping. Obviously it didn't work. So what are we going to do now?"
No one was immediate to respond. And it wasn't a matter of they didn't want to, but it was because they didn't know how to.
"Well we're obviously going to need a new route," Hailey, the girl who had returned from safely from the first attempt, said, "He found us last time. He's bound to find us again."
"She's right," Mari agreed.
"Okay, let's wait till after the alarm sounds," Molly stated, "Then we can meet up in the mess hall and plan out a new map."
"But he'll know we're there," Ian reminded her, "We should meet up somewhere else."
"How about one of your cabins?" Zach suggested, "They may not be big, but I'm sure we can all fit." Everyone exchanged glances before agreeing that that was the plan. All they had to do was make sure Felix didn't catch on.
Meanwhile, in the infirmary, Joey stared at the tortured and manipulated girl who helped him with his leg (though it wasn't looking too great right then). Her back was to him and he couldn't quite picture why she would have five circles on her back. Same went for Anthony.
"Hey, Joey..." Anthony groaned.
Joey looked over at him and stared at him apprehensively. Anthony was the one who made him be put in the infirmary in the first place.
"Hey," He replied nervously, "W-What happened to you?"
Anthony laughed, though it was short lived because it was too painful. He sighed and answered, "Well, I'm not sure if you knew, but the first escape group tried escaping last night. And it..."
"Failed miserably," Rachael joined in. Joey looked over at her and saw she was now facing him, "No one got out. The only person who was safe was Hailey."
"Who's Hailey?"
"One of the girls from that one challenge," Anthony retorted, "But you wouldn't know. You weren't there."
"I'm sorry, but if you don't remember, I was stabbed in the leg!" Joey yelled at Anthony.
"I didn't stab you, I hit you!" He shouted in return.
"It doesn't matter! You're the reason I'm here in the first place!" Joey swung his legs over the side of the bed and put his feet on the floor. Rachael's eyes widened. Joey lifted himself off of the bed and clenched his fists by his sides. Pain surged through his body. He pushed through it and threw his index finger in Anthony's direction, "You did it because of what happened between Kalel and me, right?"
"Excuse me?" Anthony inquired.
"You heard me," Joey remarked, "You hit me because I slept with Kalel, didn't you?"
"Oh my god," Rachael murmured under her breath as she covered her mouth with her hands.
"Admit it!" Joey yelled, "That was the plan all along, wasn't it?" He leaned forward and clutched onto the edge of Anthony's hospital, "You just can't handle that Kalel doesn't love you anymore."
"You bast-" Anthony started to say when he clutched his chest, cutting himself short. Joey stared at him in confusion. Rachael sat up, fear filling up inside of her. He started gasping for air.
"He's having a heart attack!" Rachael shrieked, "Joey, you have to help him!"
"I'm not helping him!" Joey replied, trying to look back at her but instead losing his balance a d falling to the floor. Rachael rolled her eyes as she pulled all her strength together and crawled over the beds to get to the person she escaped with.
"Anthony, calm down, breathe," Rachael murmured as she started having chest pains herself. She squeezed her eyes shut in pain before she screamed, "SOMEONE HELP! PLEASE!"