Eliminated

Chapter Three

 It was the day of the second challenge. Today, someone was going to get eliminated. Someone was going to die. But who?

I got dressed in the outfit Jackson gave me: it was a bathing suit. I wondered what kind of challenge I would be doing with a bathing suit. I was a terrible swimmer, but since I had goggles and a bathing suit, I was pretty sure that was what we would be doing.

We left the mansion back to what Kyle and Jackson called “The Challenge House” which was where we would be doing all of our challenges.

Both teams were lead by Jackson down a dark, skinny hallway, and we passed doors that had labels on them. Some just had odd numbers, like 76. Others said things like, “Challenge Three”. Those must be the places where the challenges were done.

We finally reached a door that said “Challenge One”. We all walked in.

It was a beautiful, clear lake surrounded by trees and grass, along with other nature. I wonder how it all grew inside a building.

“This challenge is simple. People from each team will take turns going against each other, swimming to the other side of the lake and back. The team that won the most, well, wins! If you don't win, you must pick someone to be.. eliminated,” Kyle explained.

“This is too easy,” Zinnia whispered. “There must be a catch.”

“It's looks fine,” Phillip said.

“I know, but last year the creators never did anything this simple,” Zinnia objected.

“The challenges are different every year,” I said.

“Just look out, okay?” Zinnia said. Phillip and I nodded.

Jackson walked up to us. “You guys need to decide who will go first,” he said. “Then they will go stand behind the line.” Then he walked away.

“Okay, who is the best swimmer?” Andrew asked.

Phillip raised his hand, and no one else did. “Alright, you go first Phillip,” Andrew said. Andrew was shaping to be the leader of our team. It made sense, since he was the oldest.

Phillip stood behind the line, next to Zachary Lane from Team One.

“Ready, set, go!” Jackson yelled. Phillip dived in, while Zachary just waded in to the water then began swimming. Phillip was swimming so fast, as if his life depended on it. Actually, his life did depend on it.

“Go Phillip!” Jasmine yelled. I smiled.

He beat Zachary by a lot, and we all cheered for him. So far, so good.

Next, it was Jasmine's turn. She beat the Team One girl, Amber, but not by much.

Everything was going fine. It was all completely normal. We were winning. What could go wrong?

Andrew dived in to the water. He was beating John. If he won, no one would get eliminated. It was all going to be fine. But when he lifted his head above water to take a breath, rocks began sliding down a slope, straight for him. And he panicked, giving John the lead.

“Someone help!” he screamed.

“This isn't fair! No one is supposed to die unless they are eliminated!” I said.

“Not always,” Zinnia said. “I knew something would go wrong..”

Just in time, Andrew dodged out of the way. He didn't win, though.

“It's my turn,” Zinnia said. “Let me know if anything comes my way.” We all agreed, then she went to the line. She was against Hannah. They dove in. Hannah was a great swimmer, but she got distracted by a shark that began chasing her. We were all confident Zinnia would win.

However, Hannah somehow got the shark to chase Zinnia instead.

“Look out, it's the shark!” Jasmine screamed. Zinnia looked behind her and saw the shark, then screamed. She turned around and swam under the shark. The shark finally lost Zinnia and swam away, but it was too late. Zinnia lost.

“Great. We're going to lose,” I said.

“Don't say that!” Jasmine said. “I'm sure you'll do fine.”

“I'm a terrible swimmer, and I won't be able to duck out of the way if I see an obstacle, if I even see it,” I said.

“Believe in yourself,” Andrew said. I took a deep breath and looked at the line. Then I knew I really was dead: I was against Lola.

“Is she a good swimmer?” I asked Jasmine.

Jasmine nodded yes. I sighed. Someone from our team was going to die.

I walked up to the line.

“Ready, set, go!” Kyle yelled, and we both dived in.

I swam as fast as I could go, but Lola was beating me by a lot. I bet the team was already discussing who they were going to eliminate.

“Taylor, look out!” Zinnia yelled. I looked up just in time to see a huge whirlpool. I couldn't get around it. I looked underwater, and saw that I couldn't go under it. Lola was stopped by it too.

I decided if I couldn't go under or around it, I would have to go over it. But how?

I forced myself down to the bottom of the lake. I was surrounded by beautiful fish. But I couldn't look at them right now. I had to get over the whirlpool. But they were drawing me in. They were so pretty, I should just stare at them all day.. I began to realize I couldn't breath, but these fish.. I should really look at them. They were just so pretty!

I followed one in to the whirlpool, and before I knew it, I couldn't see the fish and I was spinning around, going deeper and deeper. I swam upwards with all my might, and swam out of the whirlpool. I made it! And Lola was still thinking about how to get through it.

My only problem was.. I had to get back to the line.

“Hurry!” Phillip yelled. I realized the shark was back, and he wanted food.

“Nice shark, you don't eat humans, okay? Yeah, don't eat me,” I whispered. But this was a special shark... one that did want to eat humans. I realized Zinnia was right: the judges were creative. They made human-eating sharks and hypnotizing fish. They weren't even real animals... they were technology, along with all of the other obstacles.

But if the whirlpool was just technology, it wasn't real. Which meant there must be some way to shut it off..

I went back underwater, avoiding the stares of the fish, when I saw a button. I pressed it, and the whirlpool slowly disappeared. I then swam back to the line and got out of the water. Lola was still swimming.

“You won!” Zinnia yelled.

“You did it! We're okay!” Phillip said cheerfully.

“You shut that thing off.. how did you do it? It just disappeared!” Zinnia added.

“I'm so glad you're safe,” Andrew said.

“I'm so glad no one is eliminated!” I replied.

Jasmine, however, wasn't happy at all.

“What's wrong?” I asked, while Zinnia, Phillip and Andrew were celebrating.

“You beat my sister. If she won that race, we would have to eliminate someone. She also sent Hannah back to start yesterday. What if they eliminate her?” Jasmine said.

“I'm sure they won't,” I said. “She's a strong girl, and they probably want her on their team.

“Well if she dies, it's all your fault,” Jasmine said, standing up and walking away.

I went to go celebrate with the others, but I wasn't as happy as I was a few minutes ago.