Chapter 1: Not So Happy Campers, Part 1

The scene fades to a wooden dock in front of a picturesque campground. A dark-haired man popped up, wearing casual clothes that were still clearly chosen with fashion in mind. "Yo!" He greeted the audience. "We're coming at you from Camp Wawanakwa, somewhere in Muskoka, Ontario! I'm your host, Chris McLean, bringing you the hottest new reality show on television!"

"Here's the deal: fifty-two campers have signed up to stay at this crummy old summer camp. Every two days, they will participate in a challenge, and one camper will have to walk the 'Dock of Shame,' board the 'Boat of Losers,' and leave 'Total Drama Island' for good. In the end, only one camper will remain standing, and will receive the reward of FIVE MILLION DOLLARS! Who will crumble under the pressure? Find out here, on Total Drama Island!"

"Welcome back to Total Drama Island, where we will be introducing our first thirteen contestants! We told them they'd be staying at a five-star resort, so if they seem a bit T. , that's why." A barge pulled up to the dock, and thirteen teenagers walked onto the dock.

The first to reach Chris was a muscular young black man in a football jersey. "Sha-yeah! Lightning's the first one here, and he's gonna be the last one to leave!" He exclaimed. "Save that enthusiasm for the competition, because you'll need it to beat me," said the second camper, a light brown-haired young woman in gray sweats. "Lightning, Jo! So glad you could make it," said Chris. "Wouldn't miss it. And you can just send the rest home now," replied Jo. "It wouldn't make much of a difference."

The third camper to arrive was a fat blond girl with a pink shirt and jeans. "You're the competition, then? I'm guaranteed this here pageant," she said, looking at Jo and Lightning, who angrily took a step towards her, but Chris put his arm in front of them. "Sugar, you do know this is an elimination game, not a pageant," Chris said to her. "Same thing, really," she replied. "Only difference is the judges are competing."

Before anyone could reply, they were enveloped in a cloud, and they all started coughing. The culprit was shown to be a spray-tanned girl with a mass of dark hair using hairspray. "Hey, Choking Hazard! What gives?" asked Jo between coughs.

"Three more coats," replied the girl.

Chris said between coughs, "I don't have a problem with you spraying your hair, Anne Maria, but do it on the other side of the dock!" Anne Maria obliged, and when she was downwind of them, the other four took deep breaths. Sugar narrowed her eyes at the Jersey girl, sensing a possible rival.

The fifth camper to exit the boat was a redheaded, bespectacled girl in a librarian-like outfit. She looked at the cabins, and asked, "I assume the photos of the five-star resort on the application were placed there to be misleading?"

"Very good, Scarlett," Chris replied. "Do you have a problem with that?"

Scarlett shrugged. "It's still within the parameters I had planned for for the competition." She then walked over to the other campers.

Sixth was a goth girl with blue hair and pale skin wearing dark clothing. She took one look at the accommodations, and said, "I am not staying here."

"You have to, Gwen, it's in your contract," replied the host, holding up a stack of papers. She angrily grabbed them and tore them, but Chris simply smiled and said, "The great thing about lawyers? They make a lot of copies." He held out another stack of papers. Gwen simply rolled her eyes and stormed over to where the other four were standing.

The seventh was a boy of Indian descent wearing a red sweater-vest, who asked Chris, "Did you get the memo about my life-threatening allergies?"

"I'm sure someone did, Noah," was the response he got.

Next was an muscular black teen in a green shirt. The host greeted him: "DJ!"

"Yo, what up, man?" DJ responded.

"Just fixin' to get things started, man," Chris told him.

"If they say 'man' one more time, I'm gonna puke," Gwen said.

DJ then walked over to the others. Jo nodded at him, and Lightning gave him a fist bump.

Ninth off the boat was a dark-haired, rather handsome young man with a guitar case strapped to him. Chris called out to him, "Trent!" Trent walked up to him and gave him a fist bump.

"Hey," Trent replied.

The tenth camper was a guy in a sweater wearing a toque. Chris asked him, "Ezekiel, what's up?"

The boy looked upwards and replied, "I think I see a bird."

Chris said to him, "Look, I know you don't get out much. Been homeschooled your whole life, raised by freaky prairie people. Just keep your mouth shut and try not to be the first one voted off, okay?" Ezekiel nodded.

Number eleven was an overweight blond boy in a white t-shirt with a blue maple leaf, and green cargo pants. He enthusiastically exclaimed, "Man, it is so awesome to be here! This is gonna be awesome!"

Chris greeted him: "Owen!"

Owen shook Chris's hand vigorously. "Man, being here is so...so..."

"Awesome?" Gwen supplied. "Yeah!" Owen confirmed.

Number twelve was a handsome Latin boy with shoulder-length hair and casual clothes that, like Chris's, were still clearly chosen for style. "Alejandro! Good to have you here!" came Chris's greeting.

"Not as good as it is to be here, I assure you," replied Alejandro. "Greetings, amigos. I look forward to getting to know you all," he said to his fellow campers. Sugar, Anne Maria, and Owen visibly swooned. Jo and Gwen rolled their eyes.

The final contestant to get off the first boat was a redhead girl with her hair in pigtails, wearing a tube top and slacks. The host called out to her, "Zoey!" She nervously walked up to the rest, and managed a weak "hi." Owen, Trent, and Alejandro returned the greeting. Chris then turned to the thirteen, and said, "This dock was built to hold twenty people, so you might want to get on dry land before the next boat arrives. Head to the campfire pit, and wait there until everyone arrives." The campers obliged.

The boat left, and then a second one arrived at the dock. The first camper to walk up to Chris was a thin, red-haired guy with glasses wearing a blue shirt. He looked at the campground, and asked the host, "Does this mean this show will be at a crappy summer camp instead of a resort?"

"Yes. Yes it does, Harold," the host replied.

"Yes! That is so much more favorable to my skills set," exclaimed Harold. Chris made a grossed-out face.

The second camper was a husky girl in a pink jacket with shoulder-length brown hair. "My great-great-great-great grandfather invented summer camps, you know. Before him, children had nothing to do during summer but throw rocks at each other, yah," she said.

Chris hesitantly replied, "Sure, Staci," before turning to Harold and asking, "Has she been doing this all the way here?" Harold nodded, and Chris winced.

The third camper tried to jump from the railing, but ended up face-planting on the dock. He had brown hair and wore a red track suit. Harold and Staci were quick to help him up, and he shouted, "Extreme!"

"You might want to avoid taking unnecessary risks, Tyler," advised the host. "After all, there will be a lot of necessary risks in this competition, and we wouldn't want you to get hurt more than necessary." Tyler shrugged.

The next camper off the boat was a heavyset young black man, who walked over to Chris without a word. "B! The B-man! Silent B!" Chris greeted. B, true to the label, didn't say a word, but he did give Chris a high-five.

Fifth to exit the boat was a smaller, yet still rather large white boy with curly brown hair wearing a striped sweater, who was paying more attention to his handheld gaming device than anything else. "Sorry, Sam, but I'm going to have to confiscate this," said Chris, taking the gaming device. "No gaming devices allowed on the island."

"Aw, man. I was just about to reach a save point," whined Sam. He sighed and went to stand with the others.

Sixth was a tall, purple-haired, brown-skinned girl, who had shoved Sam down the boarding ramp, and had only barely waited for Chris to stop talking to Sam to speak. "Oh EMM GEE! You're Chris McLean! The Chris McLean! I'm, like, your biggest fan! I own all your movies, albums, and I'm even president of the junior Chris McLean fan club! It's so great to meet you!" she squealed.

"Thanks, Sierra! Always glad to meet a fan," Chris replied.

Chris turned to greet the next camper off the boat, only to suddenly find himself facing a small, pale, blond girl in a green sweater. She was looking at him with a blank expression, and Chris jumped when he saw her. He quickly recovered, and said rather loudly, "Don't sneak up on me like that, Dawn!"

Dawn answered in a high voice, "I'm sorry. Also, you should see a therapist. You have a lot of unresolved childhood issues that you need to work out."

Taken aback, Chris shouted, "Excuse me? I don't care WHAT you heard, it isn't TRUE, got that?"

Dawn nodded and walked over to the others, and Sierra quickly asked, "What kind of childhood issues? And how do you know about them?"

Dawn replied, "I'm an aura reader. And your aura tells me that you have attachment issues. Probably because of your father walking out on your mother when you were young." Sierra took a step back, eyes wide.

The next two campers to get off the boat were twin girls with blond hair and matching cheerleader uniforms. The only visible differences were that one had a mole under her right eye, and that the other one was carrying all of their luggage. Chris greeted them, "Amy, Samey, welcome to Total Drama Island!"

The twin carrying the luggage said, "Um, actually my name is Sammy..." but Chris cut her off. "Your sister says everyone calls you Samey, besides, we already have a camper here named Sam." Sam waved. "You're officially Samey," finished the host.

Amy scowled at her, and said harshly, "You'd better not embarrass me any more than you already have, Samey. It's bad enough that I have to stay here in this dump without you making things worse." She then walked over to the others, seemingly oblivious to the icy looks she was receiving from the other campers.

Tenth off the boat was a short, dark-haired girl with feather earrings and a pale yellow turtleneck. "Sky! Think your Olympics training will come in handy here?" Chris asked her.

She gave him a fist bump. "I'm sure it will," she said, then she went to stand with the other contestants.

Eleventh was a small girl with black hair wearing a pink princess costume. She cheerily and enthusiastically greeted the others. "My greetings to you all!"

"Hello, Ella. It's good to see you here," replied Chris. Ella then skipped over to the other campers.

The next camper was a short, stubby, pasty guy with purple hair in a bowl cut. "Tremble in fear, your evil master has arrived!" he shouted.

"Yeah, that's great, Max. Go stand with the others," replied the host.

Sky offered him a stick of gum. "Your offer of simple confectionary will not save you from the evil of me! But yes, thank you," he accepted. He placed the gum in his mouth, then gagged. "Cinnamon, there is no need for you to be that spicy!"

The final camper to come ashore was a short, shaggy-haired boy wearing a vest and a toque, and looking very tense. He asked Chris, "Have you seen any zombies here lately?" "Umm...no?" Chris replied hesitantly.

The boy seemed to relax slightly, and said, "Good. Zombies can't swim, so we should be safe here. Still, I'm not taking any chances."

"Whatever floats your boat, Shawn," Chris responded. "Now head to the campfire pit where the thirteen campers that came here on the first boat are, please." The campers did as they were told.

The third boat arrived after the second left, and the first person to disembark was a short brunette girl with glasses and braces wearing a teal shirt and pink pants. She quickly ran over to Chris, and said "It is so incredulous to meet you! Wow, you're much shorter in real life." Chris hesitantly thanked her.

A muscular young woman with dark hair wearing a blue track suit was the second camper off the boat, and she walked past the host without saying a word. "Eva!" Chris greeted her, but she ignored him. She dropped the duffel bag she was carrying onto the dock, and it made a loud noise when it hit.

"Whoa, what's in that bag? Weights?" Beth asked her.

"Yes," Eva replied tersely. Beth decided not to press the issue.

A guy with eyebrow piercings and a green Mohawk wearing a black t-shirt with a skull on it was next. He looked at the camp, and at Chris, and said bitterly, "I don't like surprises."

The host calmly said, "Yeah, your parole officer told me that, Duncan. He also told me to give him a call anytime if you need to be dragged back to juvie." Duncan scowled and walked away.

Next was an orange-haired, freckled boy in dirty clothing carrying a baseball bat, whom Chris introduced as "Scott." He looked at the others, and said to Duncan, "And I suppose you think you're some sort of tough guy?"

Duncan bristled at this. "Why don't you put down the bat, and I can show you how tough I am?"

Scott sneered and dropped the bat. "I can take you, punk."

Chris decided to intervene. "Both of you, stop. You'll have plenty of time to show each other how tough you are later. Let it go for now."

Fifth was a tall, raven-haired girl wearing a tube top and khaki shorts. "Ugh! Is this really where we're staying?" she asked, disgusted.

"Technically, you'll be staying here, Heather. My crib is an Airstream with A/C," was the response she got. She angrily stomped over to the other four.

"Hey, gorgeous. Wanna meet me at the campfire tonight?" Duncan asked her.

"Ew, drop dead," she told him.

Next was a boy with dark hair in a crew cut, wearing a green outfit and combat boots. He marched up to the host, saluted, and said, "Cadet Brick McArthur, reporting for duty, sir!"

"At ease, Cadet," said the host. "Excited to be here? Well, we'll soon cure you of that." He then smiled darkly. Brick, apparently not noticing, stood next to Eva.

Beth asked the two, "Are you related?"

Eva responded, "No, why?"

"It's just you look a lot alike," Beth explained.

Eva and Brick looked at each other, and simultaneously said, "Really? I don't see it."

Next were two girls, one pale and pudgy, the other thin and tanned. They had identical black-and-white striped tops and pink shorts, and they both wore their hair in pigtails. "Oh my gosh, Sadie! We're at a summer camp!" the thin one squealed.

"Oh my gosh, Katie! I always wanted to go to summer camp!" Sadie replied, also squealing.

"Me too!" Katie squealed, then they both let out a shattering "EEEEEE!"

Duncan whispered to the others, "I feel bad for whoever gets them on their team." Heather and Eva nodded.

Ninth was a pudgy black youth with a large afro and beard, wearing rather dingy clothing. As he stepped off the boat, he imitated the sound of trumpet fanfare perfectly. "Yo, Beardo! Think you can win with that talent of yours?" Chris asked. Beardo responded with the cha-ching of a cash register.

"Wow! You're really good at that!" Beth said, impressed. Beardo gave her a thumbs-up.

Tenth was a freckled black boy dressed in a wizard costume. "Greetings!" he said, before noticing the campground. "This does not appear to be the spa on the advertisement. Did an evil wizard transform it into this?"

Chris looked weirded out, and hesitantly answered, "No, Leonard. Let's just say I cast a deception spell to trick you all into coming."

"I'm impressed," Leonard replied. "That's a hard spell to master."

"I'd give him a wedgie if his cloak didn't reach the ground," Duncan whispered to Scott. Scott nodded, wincing as he did so.

Next was a thin, tanned boy with spiky hair wearing a teal t-shirt. "Hey," he said nervously.

"Hey, Mike!" Chris replied. "Excited to be here?"

"Nervous, really," Mike replied.

"Very wise," the host remarked. Mike then walked over to the others, seemingly too nervous to talk to anybody.

Duncan stared at him suspiciously. "Do I know you?" he asked.

Mike shrugged. "I don't think so."

Twelfth was a large black girl with hair tied back in a ponytail, wearing a beige shirt with pictures of fruit on it, and blue jeans. "Hey hey, LeShawna's in the house!" she declared. She walked up to Beardo and said, "Give me some sugar, brother!" She exchanged fist bumps with him.

The final camper off the third boat was a Hawaiian guy who was, to put it simply, gorgeous. The girls all visibly swooned at the sight of him, and a wolf whistle rang out. Duncan raised an eyebrow at Beardo, who looked back with a blank expression. "And, Justin!" Chris announced. "Just so you know, we picked you entirely based on your looks," he said to Justin.

"I know, and I'm okay with that," Justin replied. Chris then instructed the teens to wait at the campfire pit.

The final boat arrived, and the first one off was a tall, thin, blond girl wearing a pink outfit. "Dakota here!" she shouted. "And I came to...win? Seriously, you cannot be expecting us to stay here," she complained. "I've stayed at five-star establishments, and this isn't even worth one star."

"Yeah, about that...I lied," was the host's response.

Dakota whipped out a cell phone, and said, "I'm gonna tell Daddy about this." But Chris took the phone, and replied, "No, you won't. No outside communication until the end of the season, so I'll be confiscating this." Dakota responded with a, "What? No fair," before walking to the end of the dock.

The second camper off was in considerably higher spirits. Dressed in a cowboy hat and unbuttoned pink shirt, the white boy jumped off of the boat and ran up to Chris, gave a thumbs-up, and said, "Chris McLean! Sup, man. It's an honor to meet you, man. "The Geoff-ster! Welcome to the island, man!" Chris responded. "Thanks, man!" Geoff high-fived the host, and then went to stand with Dakota.

Third from the boat was a handsome brown-haired boy wearing an outfit similar to Chris's. He strode over to the host, smiling, and said, "Chris! It is such an honor to be here. You know, you're something of a personal idol of mine! I'm your biggest fan!"

"Thanks, Topher! Though you may want to take up the 'biggest fan' thing with the purple-haired girl who arrived on the second boat," Chris replied.

Topher's expression immediately turned sour. "Oh, joy. Sierra," he said bitterly. He then seemed to brighten, and said to the host, "Awesome work on that figure skating show, by the way."

"Thanks, man! I knew I rocked that show!" Chris replied. Topher then walked over to the other two.

Fourth was a very tall black girl (and I do mean very tall) wearing khaki shorts and a khaki vest, as well as a matching hat. "G'day, mates!" she greeted the others. "After my flight, it's good to be back in the great outdoors."

"All the way from Australia, we have Jasmine!" Chris announced. "Having grown up in a country where all the animals can kill you, I think you'll do just fine here."

"Thanks, I guess," Jasmine replied.

The next camper jumped off the boat, like Geoff had done and Tyler had failed to do, and she hit her chin on the dock. Jasmine and Geoff quickly helped her up, and asked if she was hurt. She shook the water off of her like a dog, and responded with, "That felt so good! Except for hitting my head. Is this summer camp? That is so cool! Will there be paper-mache? Are we having lunch soon?"

"We'll have lunch after everybody is introduced, Izzy," said the host hesitantly. "Okay!" Izzy replied cheerfully.

Sixth was a small black boy wearing a red hoodie and glasses. "Fresh air? Plants? A real lake? People that aren't my mom? I've read about these things, but it's so exciting to see them in person!" he babbled excitedly.

"Well, you'll have some time to get used to them, Cameron," the host replied. "Just try not to get hurt."

"I will!" Cameron declared. "I may be scrawny, but I can still be a force to be reckoned with!" He gave the host a fist bump, and then immediately grabbed his fist in pain. "Ouch!"

Seventh was another small boy, this one of Indian descent. He had grayish-black hair, and he wore a teal sweater-vest over a polo shirt. "Has this place been thoroughly cleaned?" he asked Chris. "No, Dave, it has not," was the host's response. Dave shuddered.

Eighth was a blond girl in a blue sweatshirt and jean shorts and carrying a surfboard. "I thought we would be at a beach," she said.

"Sure we are, Bridgette. It's just a decrepit one," the host said, pointing at a sad-looking beach covered in litter. Bridgette sighed and walked towards the other campers, accidentally almost hitting Chris with her surfboard.

"Hi, I'm Geoff," Geoff greeted, and Bridgette turned towards him, almost hitting several other campers with the surfboard.

"Hey, watch it!" Dave shouted.

"Sorry," Bridgette turned to face him, almost hitting the other campers.

"Stand your board up before you give someone a concussion!" Dakota shouted. Bridgette apologized again and obliged.

Next was another blond girl, wearing a headscarf, cowboy boots, and a red outfit that drew attention to her rather large chest. "Don't I know you from somewhere?" she asked the host.

"It's me, Chris McLean," Chris answered. "The host? Of the show?"

"Oh, that's where I know you from." she realized.

"This is Lindsay, by the way," Chris said.

Tenth was a thin, brown-haired, geeky-looking boy. "Cody! The Codester! The Codemeister!" Chris announced. "Hello, I see the ladies have already arrived," Cody said in a pathetic attempt to be suave. "There are ladies here?" Lindsay asked, confused. Cody frowned.

Next was a big muscular boy with orange hair and freckles. "Rodney!" Chris greeted him. "Hey!" Rodney greeted him excitedly. He didn't really say much, but walked over to the others. They all paid him little attention.

Twelfth was a Portuguese-Canadian girl with freckles, wearing a gray-and-green outfit. "Courtney!" Chris announced. "Hi, you must be the other contestants. Nice to meet you all," she said cheerfully.

"And it's very nice to meet you," Cody replied in his not-at-all suave tone. Courtney gave him an annoyed look, and he backed off.

The final camper off the boat was a thin boy with short brown hair and green eyes wearing a brown jacket. "Aiden!" Chris announced. Aiden chose to say nothing.

"Now that everyone is here, let's meet the others at the campfire pit," said Chris, and the fourteen of them went to do so.

The other thirty-nine campers were in the middle of socializing, when Sierra saw Topher. "Oh, goody, Topher's here," she said sarcastically. "It's not good to see you again, poser."

Topher replied bitterly, "Better a poser than a backstabbing gossip like you. I look forward to seeing the look on your face when I beat you."

"I take it you two know each other?" Alejandro asked.

"He's my ex, who I'm going to totally humiliate," Sierra said bitterly. Topher was about to say something, but Sugar cut him off. "Y'all's both delusional, because there's only one winner in this here pageant, and that's gon' be me."

"Conflict already! I love it!" Chris shouted. "But we need to determine teams now. B, Dawn, Jasmine, Brick, Heather, Max, Leonard, Duncan, Amy, Samey, Ella, Beardo, and Beth, from this point onward, your team will be known as the Gophers!" Beardo thought for a moment, then imitated the squeaks and chirps of a gopher. Sammy, next to her twin, sighed.

"Scarlett, Courtney, Rodney, Tyler, Ezekiel, Lindsay, Topher, Sam, DJ, Mike, Sugar, and Katie, your team will be known as the Bass!"

"Wait, why do they get a gopher as their mascot and we get a fish? It's not fair, eh," Ezekiel asked.

"My show, my rules," Chris answered.

"And what excellent rules they are," said Topher.

"Nobody likes a suck-up, Topher!" Sierra shouted.

"And I suppose the way you've been fangirling over Chris is any different?" Topher retaliated.

But before Sierra could answer, Katie realized something. "Wait, that means Sadie and I are on different teams! We have to be on the same team, or I'll die!"

"And I'll break out in hives!" Sadie added. Chris refused to budge.

"Shawn, Noah, Lightning, Owen, Jo, Eva, Cody, Anne Maria, Izzy, Harold, Aiden, Cameron, and LeShawna, your team will be called the Moose!" "Sha-team!" Lightning shouted.

"See, they get a cool mascot," Ezekiel said bitterly to Tyler.

"And finally, Gwen, Geoff, Scott, Trent, Sadie, Bridgette, Staci, Justin, Sierra, Dave, Sky, Alejandro, and Zoey, you will be the Badgers!" Scott seemed less than pleased with this arrangement, but not as much so as Sadie. "But Katie's a Bass! I have to be a Bass!" Sadie complained.

Chris didn't listen. "All right, campers. You and your team will be on camera in all public areas during this competition." The scene transitioned to Chris sitting in what looked like an outhouse. "You can also share your innermost thoughts on tape in here. Let the audience know what you're really thinking."

Confessional: Gwen

Gwen was the first to use the confessional. "So far this sucks."

Confessional: Cameron

Cameron took his turn second. "I'm what is known as a bubble boy. Until a few hours ago, I had never done, well, anything. But even though I may not be strong, or have much life experience, I am still a force to be reckoned with." A butterfly landed on his shoulder, and he promptly fell. "Why must it be so heavy?"

Confessional: Loon

The third confessional was of a common loon putting on lipstick.

Confessional: Rodney

"Aww. I wanted to be on a team with my cousin Scott," Rodney said. "I'm not really that smart, but he is, so I figured if we worked together, we could do great."

Confessional: Scott

"I thought there would be two teams, and I had a strategy all planned out. But with four teams, it won't work." said Scott. "I'll need to rethink my approach to this game. For now, I'll just try to avoid attracting attention."

Confessional: Aiden

"Well, it's good to see that no one here is my intellectual equal, not that I'm surprised."

Confessional: Zoey

The sixth was of Zoey. "Wow! I can't believe I'm in an actual reality TV show! The people here seem nice. I hope they like me." She pondered. "I could use a few new friends. Or friends, period. What if they hate me? Maybe this flower was too big? Am I trying too hard? You like me, right?"

End Confessional

The scene shifted to the Badger and Moose cabins, where some of the campers were getting situated. Dave took one look at the interior of the cabins and started sputtering. "You can't seriously expect us to stay in this germ-infested dump!"

"For five million dollars? Yes, I can," Chris responded.

Jo and Eva were audibly shouting at each other inside the cabin, though the walls muffled the words too much for them to be distinguishable. Owen said, "I'm glad we're in a cabin with just guys," before realizing how that sounded, then tried to backpedal: "I mean, I like girls, I just don't want to sleep near them. I mean...crap!" He facepalmed.

Lightning brushed off the comment, saying "It's cool. Lightning don't judge." Noah, knowing what Owen meant, rolled his eyes.

Cameron asked, "Is it normal for female roommates to fight this aggressively?"

"Yes. You think this is bad? Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades didn't fight as much as my sisters did," Noah answered.

"I'd want to watch if I wasn't terrified of the two of them," Cody added.

"Even if I wasn't already planning on sleeping in a tree, I would just so I wouldn't have to hear that. At least I know that when the zombies come, we can just sic Eva and Jo on them," Shawn said. The guys all laughed.

Justin asked Chris, "Pardon me, are there any chaperones here?"

Chris answered, "You're all sixteen, the age of a CIT at a real summer camp. Well, fourteen in Cameron's case, but you get the point. And besides, I think the cameras are enough insurance that you won't get too far out of line. So, aside from myself and the staff, you will be unsupervised." Justin grinned, and Chris decided to remind him, "Just remember, having sex during the competition is grounds for disqualification."

Suddenly, a shriek came from the girls' side of the Gopher cabin. Everyone came running to see what the commotion was about, including Duncan, who was carrying an axe. Turns out, there was a roach on the floor, and Amy had freaked out. Duncan was about to kill it with the axe, but Dawn said "Stop!" She picked up the roach, and said to it, "You're safe now, little one," and took it outside.

Everyone was silent for a moment, then Heather said what was on everyone's mind. "Weird."

Amy added, "She'd better not think that's her pet, or anything." Dave shuddered.

The scene shifted once again, this time to a lunchroom with four tables. A hulking black man wearing a chef's uniform shouted at the campers. "Listen up, maggots! I make it three times a day, and you will eat it three times a day! Grab your tray, get your food, and sit your butts down now!"

"Excuse me, will we be getting all the major food groups?" Beth asked.

"You'll be getting a load of shut the heck up!" The Chef yelled, as he served her a serving of brown slop. Beth backed up.

Dave asked, "Has this food been tested for viruses?" Chef glared at him, and Dave hastily said, "Forget I asked."

Confessional: Dave

"As scared as I was of the germs in that food, I was more scared of the Chef."

End confessional

Scott had a very different reaction to the food than everyone else. "Oh boy! Sloppy Joe's! Whose birthday is it?"

Gwen, who was behind him in line, stared at him, wide-eyed. She then looked at the Chef, and then at the stuff he had served her, and said, "I hate to be predictable and complain on the first day, but I think mine just moved." The Chef stared at her for a moment, then smashed the stuff with a meat tenderizer. Gwen decided not to press the issue.

Chris entered via the main door, and said, "Welcome to the main lodge!" Geoff, unimpressed, asked, "Yo, dude. Can we order a pizza?" When a cleaver buried itself in the wall, he hastily apologized. "Whoa! It's cool, G! Brown slop is cool. Heh heh."

"Your first challenge begins," Chris declared, holding up one finger, "in one hour!" He then left.

"I wonder what we'll have to do," pondered Zoey.

"I'm sure it'll be just fine," said Trent. "They won't make us do a super-hard challenge on the first day, right?"

The scene cut to the campers standing atop a high cliff.

"Oh, [bleep]."

Author's Note

So, I did some editing on the first chapter. The more time passed, the less I was satisfied with it. Some of the character introductions were rather lazily brushed over in the version I initially published, and I have grown to find some of the editing rather awkward in the initial few chapters.