Are You The Complete Player?

2/3 THIS IS A COMPETITION, REMEMBER?

“Bro, I’m confused,” said Maxim. “I thought that WAS the challenge.”

The voice of WIC chuckled. “Wishful thinking, Maxim, although that was quite a challenging task, alas, it was not the next official game. Now, if you’ll all just follow the trail, we will get started.”

A sign appeared out of nowhere that had a flashing arrow pointing to a trail several feet away from where they were all standing. 

Everyone headed towards it, getting onto the trail, and following the long path through the trees ahead. 

“This is ridiculous,” said Daniela, rolling her eyes. “I can’t believe I’m hiking through a jungle in my bare feet, at God knows what time this even is, wearing freaking Snoopy pajamas of all things.”

“Yeah well, at least yours are clean,” said Grace, who was walking behind her, alongside Mira. She was feeling sick and tired of those who seemed to do nothing but complain. After all, they were all in this horrible situation together and WIC never listened to complaints, so what good did they do? “It could be worse, trust me. You could have dried up vomit that isn’t even yours stuck on them. Want to trade?”

“Ew, get away from me,” Daniela exclaimed and quickened her pace to move away from Grace. 

The players walked for about ten minutes until they reached the end of the trail which had led them to a beautiful beach. Carmella breathed in the fresh salt air. She knew she’d heard waves nearby. She had always loved the ocean, it gave her a sense of calm, yet something about this one didn’t feel quite right. There was a feeling lingering in the air that made her uneasy. 

“Welcome to WIC Island, my dear players,” said the voice. “Beautiful, isn’t it? On that board over there, you’ll see your current standing in the competition…”

A hologram appeared near the shore showing the complete current rankings from Mira in first place, all the way to Aimilie in last. 

“I’m going to call the top 8 players forward. Let’s have a round of applause for our star player, the one and only Mira Ivanova of Belarus at #1!” shouted the voice as if it were a beauty pageant announcer. To add to that vibe, some sound effects of an audience cheering were played. None of the real players actually cheered, except for Maxim who began to clap but promptly stopped when he noticed no one else was doing it. “Step right up, Mira!”

Mira glanced around awkwardly then walked to the front of the group. 

“Next, all the way from the land down under otherwise known as Australia, we have Grace Brown at #2!” the voice called as the fake audience cheered. Grace silently walked forward and stood next to Mira with a serious look on her face, arms pinned to her sides.

“At #3 we have the lovely Carmella Cortez joining us from the United States of America, the land of the free and the home of the brave!”

Carmella did not feel particularly free OR brave at this moment. She exchanged a glance with Krystupas who gave her an encouraging nod, then sighed and joined the other ladies at the front.

“Next up, we have a newbie joining our top 8! Everyone, give it up for our #4, Mia Ricci of Italia,” the WIC voice said, putting on a thick Italian accent on the word “Italia.”

Mia headed for the front, passing by Selene, who gave her a dirty look. She was still upset that Mia had outed her hookup with Pietro in front of everyone, especially when that secret was not even part of her truth question. She resented her for being in the top 8 and silently wished Mia would be the next one eliminated.

“At #5 we have our top male player, Basil Andino of Greece! Why don’t you come on down and join these beautiful ladies, Basil?” said the WIC voice.

Basil did as he was told and stood in the line next to Mia. The voice continued calling down the remaining top players.

“Joining us next at #6, we have Luis Rojaz Navarro from Spain!”

The fake audience kept cheering as Luis headed over to the front.

“Finally,” he said to himself. “I thought I’d never get called.”

“At #7 is Krystupas Pavlis of Lithuania. Love the Garfield pajamas, Krystupas, that is a great look!” the voice said as Krystupas joined the others.

“And finally, in 8th place, give it up for Poland’s very own Joanna Kaminska!” the fake audience boomed louder than ever. Joanna exchanged a look with her friends then walked up to the front. 

“What an impressive group of players we have here,” the voice continued. “Top players, I’m going to ask you all to divide into pairs. You will be working together as team captains for today’s challenge. You have one minute to choose…go!”

Selene looked on in jealousy as she watched Krystupas automatically walk over to Carmella’s side. Mira and Grace formed a team, much to no one’s surprise, as Luis walked over to Mia.

“Girl, that tea you spilled at truth or dare was absolutely delicious. Want to team up?” he asked. Mia just shrugged. Any player in the top 8 was bound to be decent, so she wasn’t about to be so choosy. That left Basil and Joanna to partner together automatically.

“What do you think they’re going to make us do?” Joanna asked him nervously.

“I have no idea,” Basil responded, equally nervous. 

“Today’s challenge will consist of four teams. Team captains, I need you to pick players to form your teams. We are going to take turns, each team choosing three players at a time to join them, so everyone has a fair chance of choosing their desired players. Let’s begin. Mira and Grace, you will be known as team #1, Carmella and Krystupas, you are team #2, Mia and Luis, you are team #3 and Basil and Joanna, you are team #4. Team one, choose your first three players,” the voice commanded.

“Dragan, Miroslav, Estere,” Mira said automatically, without consulting Grace. However, it appeared she was in agreement with Mira’s choices anyway because she nodded.

“Alright players, go stand with your team,” said the voice. “Each of you will join your team once called. There will be no negotiations. Team #2, make your picks.”

Dragan, Miroslav and Estere went to stand with the ladies, as the other remaining teams quietly whispered to each other about who they wanted to pick next.

“Borysko, Lucija, and Akira” said Krystupas. 

Selene’s jealousy deepened as she watched her ex-best friend who left her for dead in the fire join Krystupas’ team. 

“Team #3, who will you pick first?”

“Francois, Jules, and Adela,” said Luis.

“Okay. Team #4, your turn,” said the voice.

Basil and Joanna stopped whispering to each other, having just finished deciding on their choices.

“We want Hana, Keavy and Adam,” said Joanna. Basil did not look too happy about her decision to include Adam, but she spoke before he could have the first say. While Adam had come a long way in his recovery over losing Kathy, Basil still didn’t see him as a strong contender and would not have chosen him to be on his team if it were up to him.

“Alrighty then!” said the WIC voice, sounding chipper. “So now we circle back to team #1, who will it be, ladies?”

This time it was Grace who spoke up.

“Marek, Pietro and Gavro,” she said. Estere looked nervously over at Aimilie, worried that they would end up separated. 

“Team #2,” said the voice.

“Aksel, Marco, and Artem,” said Krystupas. He did not want to exclude the girls, but he wanted to go for those he thought were physically strong. They had the brainy part covered with Carmella and who knew what the challenge would actually be. He wanted to make sure their team covered all angles. Marco gave him a fist bump upon joining their team.

“Good choices, team #3, you’re up!” said the voice.

“We’re going to go with Crina, Daniela and….” Luis said, lingering on the “and” as if he were still thinking it over, “Drew.” 

“Okay, team #4, we’re back to you,” the voice said, still sounding like a beauty pageant or gameshow host.

“Maxim, Eliyaz, and Emerson,” Basil said quickly before Joanna could make the choice again. He didn’t dislike Joanna by any means, but he knew she was soft and would choose with her heart over her brain and he didn’t want another weak link on their team. It seemed he made the right decision because he saw her throw Aimilie an apologetic shrug. Estere was also thinking about Aimilie. She noticed that there were five players left waiting to be chosen, but only four groups overall. That meant that one player would be singled out and left alone. She was scared what that meant for the player. WIC was not above eliminating someone simply because no one chose them for their team. It seemed that Aimilie was thinking the same thing, as she had nervous tears streaming down her face.

“Alright, it is time for the final round of choosing. As we only have a few players left, we are going to ask you to choose just one player to join your team this time,” said the WIC voice.

Estere tapped Mira on the shoulder. 

“Please, you have to choose Aimilie. You can’t let her get singled out, they’ll kill her,” she begged.

Mira exchanged a look with Grace.

“No,” Grace said. “We are going with Galyna. I’ve played against her on court, she’s tough.”

“This isn’t tennis!” said Estere, exasperatingly. “And Aimilie is strong too. Let Galyna be with her husband, please choose Aimilie, please, she won’t bring us down, I promise,” she made prayer hands while pleading. 

“Team one, make your choice now,” said the voice.

The team captains exchanged another glance. Grace sighed but nodded.

“Aimilie,” Mira said.

Estere breathed a huge sigh of relief and thanked Mira profusely as Aimilie ran over to join their team. She and Estere exchanged a hug. 

“Aw, how sweet,” crooned the voice of WIC. “How about you, team #2? Who is your pick?”

“Galyna,” said Krystupas. Artem threw him a grateful nod. Galyna had also been crying nervous tears, worried that she would not be chosen. When she joined their team, Artem took her hand and she let him hold it. Things may not have been great in their marriage but in that moment, they acknowledged their love for each other. Artem knew that if they made it out of there alive, he would hear Galyna out and they would try to work on fixing things. The idea of watching her get singled out and die was a wake up call for him. He loved her too much.

There were only three players remaining now, waiting for a team to pick them: Chloe, Selene and Jihan. The three girls exchanged nervous glances. None of them wanted to be left out. Selene couldn’t believe that no one had picked her until now. So what if she took part in an affair? Pietro did too, but he was chosen! It wasn’t fair, she thought.

“Team #3, make your final choice,” said the voice.

“Selene,” said Luis, in an amused tone. 

Selene sighed with relief but felt bitter that she ended up on Mia’s team. Luis smirked as she joined them.

“This should be interesting,” he said and let out a short laugh. Selene shot him a glare.

“And so, it comes down to the final two, who will it be, team #4?” asked the voice.

“Jihan,” shouted Joanna.

“Chloe,” shouted Basil at the same time. The two team captains exchanged a look. 

“Chloe is ranked higher,” he said.

“She is only a few spots above Jihan, who I know so much better and can vouch for,” Joanna argued.

“Yeah, I really don’t trust Chloe,” said Hana. “She’s always keeping to herself. I don’t think she’s much of a team player.”

“Make your choice, team #4,” warned the voice. 

“Jihan, we’re going with Jihan,” said Joanna, decidedly. Basil sighed.

“Very well,” the voice said. “That leaves our lone wolf Chloe Lavigne all by her lonesome. Hmm… what to do with her? What to do?”

Chloe gulped, clutching nervously at her watch. She couldn’t curse them for not choosing her. It was her own fault for keeping to herself so much instead of working on forming alliances.

“I guess we’ll just have to….” the voice started but paused for the sake of suspense. “Ask a trivia question! Whichever team answers it correctly gets to have Chloe join them and wins the advantage of having one extra member to work with. If no one answers correctly, well then… I guess poor Chloe will have to be eliminated.” He laughed his sick, sinister laugh.

“Since we’re here at the beach, how about a question about an animal that lives at the sea? Who can tell me what the tallest type of penguin is? Teams may discuss the answer as a group, but I would like team captains to answer. You have one minute,” the voice said.

“Do any of you know anything about penguins?” Krystupas asked his teammates. They all shook their heads besides Carmella, who appeared deep in thought. 

She recalled going to the American Museum of Natural History with her parents and Will once when they were visiting New York. She remembered seeing the skeleton of a penguin there, which had a description of it being the tallest kind of penguin in the world.

“The emperor penguin!” she shouted. “The tallest kind of penguin is the emperor penguin!”

“Very good, Carmella! That is correct! Congratulations team #2, you get an extra player. Chloe, go ahead and join their team,” the voice said. 

Chloe did as she was told and walked over to Carmella’s team.

“Thanks,” she said to her gratefully. “You really saved me there.” 

“Don’t mention it,” Carmella replied. 

There was a sound like thunder rolling in the distance and a soft breeze began to blow.  

“Uh oh,” said the WIC voice. “We better hurry, it looks like a storm is coming. Actually, on second thought… I think it might be a hurricane!”

As soon as they said this, there was a hard gust of wind. A few of the girls tied their hair up to stop it from blowing around everywhere. 

“It looks like we have to hurry up and get out of here before things get ugly! Lucky for everyone, the fire didn’t REALLY destroy our home. If you look into the distance, you’ll see a little island across the way…”

Everyone squinted towards the ocean. WIC was right. In the distance, there appeared to be another island which housed some type of building. 

“Your challenge today is to use the resources around the island to build a raft and paddle your way to safety. Team members must work together to build the rafts and must ONLY travel on their own rafts. If you get on another team’s raft you will automatically be eliminated. Work together and work fast, if the storm catches you, it WILL kill you. The team who makes it to the island first will receive the most points and the team who makes it last will receive the least. If you lose members along the way, keep going… or DIE,” the voice laughed. “Good luck, players. And don’t try to swim…the waters are more dangerous than they appear.”

With that, the voice left the players to get started. There was another gust of wind and Carmella looked to the sky, not liking how dark it was becoming. 

“We really need to hurry,” she said. “Do you know anything about building a raft?”