Joey said that he had to use the bathroom, so we're waiting for him, but it's been a long time. "Guys" Colleen said. "I need to talk to you." We all took a seat around her. "We're running out of time, and this box is the only thing we know of that can help us out. We have to open it" she said. "But to do that, we need 2 coins that had the same symbol on Joey's bag, which brought us to this hellhole in the first place."
"All of these bathroom breaks, like where are you going" Manny added. "And every time we ask him about this, he's super sketchy" Matt said. "I think it's time that we get some answers. Let's go find Joey." We exit the lounge and start looking for him. We finally find him standing in front of this creepy ass bridge and creepy ass church with a cemetery.
"Joey" Colleen said. "What are you doing over here?" He turned towards us. "That's where the Carnival Master is" he said and pointed to the church. "How do you know that the evil is coming from there" I ask. "Because I've been here before. I've helped the Society Against Evil before, and they asked for my help again, which is why you're all here" Joey said. "You know what" Nikita said. "This isn't helping any of us right now. Let's just get back to the map and see what we have to do next."
We turned around and came face to face with Calliope, who has the map in her hands. "Something has changed on the map" she said and showed it to us. On it there was a police station, and another carnival tent. "There's been police here the whole time" Matt asked. "You think you're stronger than me kid" I read from the map. "I'm stronger than 10 men. I'm strong like a demon. Come to the show and prove your strength."
"Step right up" a woman said. I look up to see this lady standing a few feet from us in front of a huge tent. "Are you all here to see the strongman" she asked. We all nodded. "Is he a nice strongman" Nikita asked. "You'll find out soon." She stepped aside and gestured to the tent. We all entered.
"Only the strongest of you can open the strongman's box. So we're going to have an arm wrestling match to determine who that is. Pair up and write your names on the board" the woman said.
I didn't know that we were actually going against someone, so when I find out that I'm going against Manny, I freak out. I thought that we would be working together, not working against each other.
The woman pulls out an arm wrestling table and Nikita and Matt step up to it. Matt wins and then it's Ro vs. Colleen. I thought that Colleen would win because she's tall, and Ro is like a midget, but Ro surprised me and beat Colleen. Joey and Safiya went next and Joey won. Then it was me vs. Manny.
"You've got this Yn" Matt said as I rolled up my sleeves. I took a deep breath and gripped Manny's hand. "Go" the woman said. I gripped the bar with my other hand and pushed Manny's hand in attempts to get his hand to touch the mat. But under all of that makeup, Manny is very strong. He pushed against my hand forcefully causing it to hit the mat.
"Jesus. What are you hiding under those clothes" I ask Manny as I shake my hand to get rid of the pain that arose in my wrist. Next was Matt vs. Ro. Ro put up a good fight, but there was little she could do to win against Matt. Matt won and that meant he was in the finals. Then there was Manny against Joey. Manny won in like a second. So in the finals, it's Matt vs. Manny.
"Come on Matt" I say. Manny and Matt are both very strong guys. It was a fair match. They were fighting for a while, but Manny soon won. So since Manny won, he gets to open the box. Inside is a little pyramid base and a note. "The demon that lives inside this configuration has escaped and must be locked back inside to cleanse the artifact. The missing pieces must be restored to the cube to seal it."
"Hold on" Joey said. "If that's the artifact, then we just released the strongman." Suddenly, there was a roar and a huge man entered the tent with a woman at his side. The man had a regular sized arm, and then a huge one that looked scaly. "You think you're stronger than me" he asked.
We all tried to run out of the tent, but Ro and Safiya got captured, so we have to find a way to get them back and put the artifact together.
We know that we have to split up, so Matt, Nikita, Colleen, and I along with Calliope go off to cleanse the artifact while Joey, Manny, and Mortimer go to free Safiya and Ro from jail. We're walking through the town and the lady from the tent earlier calls us over to her. She hands us a toy Ferris Wheel and then waves us off. We noticed that when you twisted the toy Ferris Wheel, the real one moved too. So that's where we head off too.
We have no idea what to do so we think that we have to get on the Ferris Wheel. "Hold on" Nikita said and turned the toy Ferris Wheel over. "There's a note. Who among you is the captain and who is the joker?" The note was basically a riddle. It said that the captain has to stand on the ground and the joker completes the trio. Then the tallest has to be on top.
We think that it means the tallest of us. "How tall are you" Matt asked me. "Around 5'5." Matt is the tallest so we put him on the top of the Ferris Wheel. Nothing happens so then we rethink our plan. Soon, we figure out that 2 of us have to sit in the carts with the jokers, and then we have to put Matt in the cart with the giraffe and put him on top. Colleen and I climbed in the Joker carts, Matt climbed into the giraffe cart, and Nikita stayed on the ground and controlled the wheel. Once Matt was at the top, the chest next to the Ferris Wheel opened.
Nikita got us down and grabbed the stuff from the chest. Inside was a piece of the pyramid and a note. "The second missing piece of the demonic configuration can only be found after the demon idol has been reassembled." Right after reading that, the strongman appeared out of nowhere. Matt grabbed my hand and we made a run for the game area. The strongman stops chasing us and we head over to the demon idol.
The idol is basically this totem pole that we have to assemble. It has 12 pieces that we have to stack up to complete it.
We gather the 12 pieces and try to stack up the idol, but it's very hard. And then the strongman appears again. I hide behind a booth with Matt as the strongman passes by. I can hear his heavy breathing from a mile away. When he left, we continued assembling the idol. Just then, Manny and Joey join us with Ro and Safiya who they broke out of jail. We finally begin to get some work done. And then guess what? Here comes the strongman again.
Ro and I duck down behind a booth, and we're out of sight which means that we're safe. The strongman passes through and it's back to the puzzle. We finally finish the idol, and chest opens up. I pull out the final piece to the pyramid and a note. "To cleanse the artifact, insert the fragments into the configuration and wrap it with a holy band of leather. To recover the leather band, a new strongman must be found. Choose wisely. Only the strongest will survive" I read out.
The note was very literal with strongman. So only the guys can enter the challenge. And there are only three of them. We head back to the lounge to discuss and let the men plead their case. "I feel like I am a player that does everything and I do them well" Manny said. "And you do them so well, that you won the strongman competition" Matt added. "I think we should put up Joey. He's been acting strangely this whole time." "Joey, what do you have to say" Colleen asked.
"I feel a connection to this town, and I have a purpose here. There is something more that I have to do here. And if I'm killed before that time, you guys won't get out of here alive. You need me" Joey said. "Liar" Colleen said. "I don't believe anything you have to say." "Why" Joey asked. "You're the reason that we're all here in the first place. You know things that you're not telling us. You're being sketchy. Your friends are dying and you don't seem to care. I don't trust you" she finished. "Well now that you've said your piece, I'd like to talk to you individually" Joey said. "Ro, can you come with me?" She nodded and followed Joey to the corner of the room.
When I talked to Joey individually, I told him that if he shared more with the group, than I might not vote for him.
"I didn't want to tell you guys this from the beginning, because I was scared of what you would think" Joey said. He was starting to tear up, and that's when I knew that this was going to be big. "The truth is, I died. I died and I woke up in this town. I didn't know what was going on. I signed a contract saying that I would save this town. And if I did, I would come back to life. If I don't save this town, then I die with it. I didn't know how you guys would take the news."
"I'm taking it pretty poorly" Matt said. "Because what you're saying is that you're willing to trade 9 lives for yours." "There's something I need to say" I tell everyone. "Let me guess, you're dead too" Manny said. I shook my head. "The reason that I'm so good at hiding who I vote for and doing the puzzles and challenges is because I've been in this position before." Everyone looked shocked. "2 years ago, Joey invited me and some other YouTubers to a dinner party, and we had to cleanse a house of evil. I survived along with my boyfriend Oli, Eva, and Joey. But everyone else that went to the party died."
Matt gave me a hug, and at that moment, I just wanted to stay like that. "It's now time to vote" Calliope said. I went up first and voted for Joey. He put me into this position not only once, but twice. And I also couldn't tell myself to vote for Matt or Manny. After everyone voted, Calliope shuffled the cards. "The first person going into the challenge is." She turned around the card. "The detective."
I placed my hands over my mouth. I was in pure shock. Who put Matt into the challenge? "And the second person going into the challenge is the record producer." Matt took his badge off of his belt. "Here" he said and slammed it onto the table. "There's no justice here." "You guys have to change outfits for this" Mortimer said. Matt and Manny left and when they returned, they were wearing different clothes.
They had on these cute little white t-shirts and red shorts with white gym shoes and knee high socks. They also had on arm bands and a head band on. It was just so adorable.
"The rest of you are going to come watch" Mortimer said. He lead us outside where different stations were set up. "The first to win 3 of 5 feats of strength will be the victor" Manny read. The first challenge was pulling a tire across a finish line. And Manny smoked Matt. The next event was shot put. "You've got this Matt" I shout out. He ran and threw the ball a pretty good distance. Manny was up next, but couldn't throw the ball as far as Matt.
Then, they had to hold 2 buckets of water up in the air. The first to drop their buckets would lose. I could see the pained look on Matt's face as time went on. His arms start shaking and that's when I know he can't hold on any longer. Matt dropped the buckets onto the ground meaning Manny won. Next was running with 2 weights all the way down to Fat Man Slims and back. Manny had a lead, but as he turned around, he slipped and Matt passed him up. Matt passed the finish line first making this a tied race.
"It's time for the tie breaker" Mortimer said. That's when he pulls out the arm wrestling table, and my heart drops. Matt and Manny then begin to arm wrestle. "Come on Matt" I shout. "Show him what you're made of." I could see that Matt was trying his hardest, but Manny wasn't giving up. And then Manny pushed Matt's hand onto the pad.
"No" I shout and try to run forwards. Joey pulled me back. "Matt! Matt!" The strongman grabbed Matt and started dragging him away. "Look for the coin" he shouted. "Look for the Lazarus coin." Joey dragged me back inside, and that's when I heard Matt stop struggling. My best friend was dead. Manny put the leather band onto the pyramid, and placed it with the other artifacts.
"Strongest man, full face of makeup" Manny said and smiled. I wiped the tears from my face and stood up. "How are you smiling when we just lost the best player on this team?" "I won fair and square" Manny said. "And I'm smiling because I survived." "And Matt died" I say. "So show a little respect." I picked up Matt's badge from the table and clipped it to the band of my pants. We had one Lazarus coin though. Maybe it could help bring a smile to my face.