The Challenge. (Started; accepting w/permission)

Zohan
Warren didn't reply when I asked him if we should just split up what we had in our packs or maybe he didn't hear me. Then Kathrin came and told us we would be sleeping in a cave tonight. I couldn't hide my momentary excited reaction. I was looking forward to taking more pictures of the cave.
We went deep into the cave to the point where we had just enough light coming from the other side. Then Warren spoke,
"About splitting up what we have..."
"Uh-huh," I said.

Rosette|Cave
I wake up, but can't tell what time it is because the entrance is blocked. I stand up, and head towards the entrance. Quietly, I look through a crack. Hmmm... It's still dark out, it must be early in the morning... like 2. Right as I turn around, I hear sniffing, and scratching. I lay down flat on my stomach, face pressed to the earth. I hear more scratching, then hear a small howl. Wolves! My heart races. Who should I tell? I go over to Mario's side, and put my hand over his mouth. If anything, I don't want to wake up everyone if it's just my imagination. Mario wakes up with a start, and almost pummels me.
"Shhhh. Mario, it's me, Rose." I whisper. His grip on my arm loosens, and he sits up.
"What is it? What's wrong?" he says, half-sleepily. I motion for him to come, then remember that he can't see me. I grab his arm and start pulling him towards the entrance.
"Follow me." I whisper. When we get there, I push him to the ground. "Press your ear to the ground, and listen. Tell me if you can hear anything..." I say. He does as I say, and lays there a few moments. I press my ear to the ground also. The sound comes softly, but it's there. Scratching, digging. He sits up, and looks at me. "Listen..." I say again, and he presses his ear again. A tiny howl can be barely heard. I know I had sensed it. I always sense the presence of an animal... "Mario, there is at least one wolf out there... It's digging, trying to get in... Wait-" We press our ears against the floor, and hear many padding feet.
"Oh no! There must be at least ten wolves out there!" groans Mario.
"What will we do? I mean, what can we do?" I say, as we creep back to where our backpacks are. I take out my flashlight.
"Don't..." says Mario, putting his hand on my hand which was holding the flashlight. I nod, and whisper 'yes'.
"But, I think we should wake up the others.... Okay?" I say.
"Yeah. But, Rose, wake them up like you woke me up... I don't want them to be loud or they might rouse the wolves more... I'll help you." We turn in different directions. I reach up to Bridgid’s hammock. Slowly, I put my hand over her mouth, and whisper.
“Bridgid! Wake up.” She sits up sleepily. Pushing my hand off of her mouth, she stands up.
“What-“ she says loudly, and I shush her. “What’s going on on?” She whispers.
“Wolves! They’re all over the place! They are digging a hole into our cave…” I say quietly. “We don’t want to wake them up or else they might get more roused up!”
“We?” She asks.
“Mario… We are waking up the rest. Here, I’ll show you where to listen to them.” I drag her over to the cave entrance, telling her to lay down. She puts her ear to the floor, and sits up, shocked. I press my ear down also, and hear what she did. They are close. “Look. You’ve got to help us! Wake them up quietly…. Explain to them, and let them come here to listen for themselves. Hurry! Find your flashlight too. We’ll meet over at the opposite corner… Now go!” I say hurriedly. I see that Mario has Warren up, and is heading towards Zohan. I creep to where Andy is. Waking him up in the same manner, I explain everything I had said to Bridgid.
“Is everyone up?” He asks. I nod and lead him to the entrance. He listens and then looks sad. “They are really close. We have to hurry. Come on. Let’s make a plan.” We walk to where everyone is waiting with their flashlights.
“What can we do?” I say, a bit scared. Mario walks over with Zohan behind him, and sits beside me.
“Rose, I’m just really glad you noticed… What if they had caught us off guard!” Says Mario. Everyone nods.
“We need a plan… And quick!” I say, urgently motioning towards the growing sound of digging. We all look at eachother, waiting for a good plan. I’m tired now, and lean back. I had twisted my bad leg when I had gotten up, and I quickly checked it. I quickly turned away, but Mario had seen. He looked where my injury was, and saw it was all swollen, greenish, with a big growing bruise around it. I quickly wipe away a tear, and look everywhere except Mario’s gaze.
“I’m fine…” I lie when Mario nods sadly. “My leg isn’t important! We need a plan!” I whisper. I hear more digging, and hear stones crumbling.
We NEED to find a plan! It's urgent!

Spoiler

Guys, what we need is a good leader... Somebody smart... It could be anyone. Rose is too tired to do a lot of planning now, so it's kind of up to you guys!

Brigid|Cave

I pulled my pack up next to me and crouched near the pile of stones, listening to the wolves scrabble at the dirt. "I knew we should have looked for trees," I muttered to myself.

Then I turned and looked at the rest of the group. "Okay," I began. "Someone go back there and unravel my hammock. Just tug on one of the ends; it'll come right apart. The rest of you, get any weapons you have and any food. There are six of us, and wolves tend to avoid humans, so if we can drive them back a little bit and then chuck the food outside, maybe they'll leave us alone."

"Alright," Andy said, coming back with his pack. "How are we supposed to drive them back?"

There were a few seconds of silence, but then Zohan piped up. "Bats!" he exclaimed. "Someone can go back there and scare all the bats! Then they'll fly out of the cave, right at the wolves!"

"Perfect!" I agreed. "Okay, Warren, that can be your job. Then Mario and Rose can move the rocks out of the way, Andy and I can distract the wolves, and Zohan can chuck the food." I drew my dagger and grabbed someone's flashlight. "Alright," I said softly, turning to Andy. "We can blind them and take a few swipes, and by that time, Warren will have gotten the bats."

Rose and Mario stood on either side of our rock pile, and Zohan gathered all the food and crouched by me and Andy. "Ready?" I called. "One...two...three!"

Andy|Cave

Right as Brigid says three my walkie talkie in my bag crackles to life but I can’t understand anything. Katherine is trying to tell us something. I move towards the entrance and speak. “Katherine can you hear me?”
“And—wolves—I'm in the helicopt—,” comes sputtering through. There’s a lot of background noise and I can barely make out her words.
“Katherine! I think our cave is surrounded by wolves. What should we do?” I speak very slowly and enunciate every syllable so that she would be able to understand me more easily.
“Andy,” it comes through a little clearer now. “I hovering above your cave now. There are about sixteen wolves there. I think they can smel—,” it cuts off again.
“What Katherine? What did you say?”
“—stay where you—don’t move—don’t eat—close up cave—aren't normal wolves—will kill you—don't move!—will talk soon.”
“OK we’ll stay here. Tell us when you have any more updates.” I turn to face the rest and quickly summarize what Katherine said. It’s still dark outside and building a fire would suffocate us, so we have to deal with the dark.
"I'm sorry Brigid. It was a great idea but there's way too many of them. I wonder what she meant by saying they aren't normal?"
“I guess we just have to wait,” says Brigid resignedly.
“So we can’t eat?” asks Warren and we all turn to him, at least I think we all did. I can’t see anyone very well.
I make my way to where I left my pack and lean against the wall. We will just have to wait. There’s nothing else we can do really. Sixteen wolves is way to much to face with the six of us. Brigid sits down beside me and rests her head on my shoulder. I can’t wait until the sun comes out…

When Mario told me that there were wolves at the entrance, I was wide awake. All feeling of sleep disappeared. I began to quickly analyze our situation and came up with a plan but first,
" Bats!" I exclaimed.
" Someone cab go back there and scare all the bats!Then they'll fly out of the cave, right at the wolves!" I finished.

"Perfect!" Brigid agreed. "Okay, Warren, that can be your job. Then Mario and Rose can move the rocks out of the way, Andy and I can distract the wolves, and Zohan can chuck the food." Brigid drew her dagger and grabbed someone's flashlight. "Alright," she said softly, turning to Andy. "We can blind them and take a few swipes, and by that time, Warren will have gotten the bats."

I put a hand on her shoulder,
"Not so fast Brigid, Thats going to take to long." I said then I took the piece of the tent that Ihad cut out and laid it on the ground. Warren had successfully scared the bats from the sound of it, but only a few came flying past us. Just as I thought!
"You guys! theres an exit at the back. Brigid, Andy take hold of either and of the piece of the tent and spread it as far apart as you can. I'll set it on fire but we'll have to find the other exist before we suffocate."
The fire would ward off the wolves and we would have to find that hidden exit before it was to late.

Brigid|Cave

No way, Katherine. Maybe you'd stay, but sitting in a cave surrounded by sixteen wolves is not part of my fight-or-flight training.

I sat down next to Andy, though, trying to to breathe too quickly. Unless we could find another way out, we wouldn't be getting out at all. It would be suicide to try to escape the way we came in.

Then Zohan shouted, "You guys! There's an exit at the back! Brigid, Andy, take this tent piece and spread it as far apart as you can. I'll set it on fire, but we'll have to find the other exit before we suffocate."

I grabbed one end of Zohan's tent piece and stretched it as far as I could. Once I had it secured to a stalagmite, I waved to Zohan, who struck a match and set it at the base of the flap. The whole thing went up in flames in a matter of seconds, leaving dark spots in my vision.

"Okay, this way!" Zohan shouted, leading the way to the back entrance. I pushed Andy and the others past me--the fire would use up the oxygen quickly, and I knew I could last the longest without air.

I followed Andy down the tunnel, holding my shirt up to my mouth so I wouldn't breathe smoke. I could hear high-pitched howling at the end of the cave. The flames were holding the wolves back, but if Katherine was right, we wouldn't have much time anyway.

"There!" Warren called from the front of the pack. "There's the exit!"

Mario

As we rush to the exit everything becomes chaos. "Where do we go when we're out?" I shout, trying to be heard above the noise. No one listens. My heart is pounding, what is the wolves don't run from the fire? What if they already found the exit? I grab Rose's arm as she runs, keeping her from falling behind. Suddenly there's a mad struggle as we all try to get out the exit.
I yell at the others to climb to the top of the cave. Then I turn the opposite direction, and find myself glaring into the face of a wolf. It's eyes are orange and fearless, and I wonder what will happen next. For a moment I forget about all the others, it's just that huge animal glaring at me. Suddenly Brigid grabs my arms and pulls me to the side just as the wolf pounces.
"Thank you," I murmur, climbing after the others. In my mind I try to understand why I had fallen into so deep a trance. It wasn't like me to freeze because of fear or shock. I ran, that's what I always did. I didn't stand there like an idiot.
"Mario?" Someone interupts my thoughts, and I turn to see who had spoken.

Rosette| Outside Cave
"Mario!" I scream. "Get out of the way!" I turn away as the wolf lunges at him, and when I turn back, I see him laying on the ground. Brigid had pushed him. Thank goodness! "Mario? Are you okay?" I yell, but he seems to be shocked. Without him seeing it, the wolf stands up, and lunges again at his back. This time, I have my Swiss army knife in hand, with the blade sticking forward. I run back through the entrance, and jump in front of Mario, who is still sitting in the same position. I land right in front of Mario as the wolf lands on me. I catch it in it's chest with my knife, and it howls madly. It had lands on top of me, but at least it isn't touching Mario. I don't want him to get hurt. It is heavy, and is trying to get up again. Lashing at my cheek with it's sharp claws, I move so that instead of tearing my cheek, it barely grazes my left arm. It hurts more than it's supposed to, and I don't know why. I scream in agony and fear, but then, remembering the danger to me, pull my knife out of it's chest, and dig it straight into it's face. Then again. I drive it into it's heart one more time, then, it lay still. I try to push it off of me, but if feels too heavy. "Help!" I cough. Mario stand up, and seems to have gotten out of the trans. "Help..." I say again. He quickly tries to push the wolf off of me, but it is far too heavy.
"You just wait, Rose... I'll be back" He says. Running out into the open, out of the cave, he brings Andy and Warren back with him. At the same time, they all lift the wolf off of me, groaning with the strain. I sit up, and look at my arm. It's barely scratched, I notice, but... Something is weird. Even though it's not deep, it hurts agonizingly and is bleeding like crazy. I stand up, and run out into the fresh air, leaving a trail of blood. Mario comes running out after me, and tries to stop me. I don't know what's going on, but I can't stop running. Finally, Mario pounces and throws me to the floor.
"What's wrong with me?" I groan. He motions for me to stay still. I do, and he looks at my arm. His eyes grow wide. Everyone is gathering around me in the growing light of the sun. "First a- a-id i-in pack--" I stammer. Zohan understands, and grabs my pack. Rummaging through it, he finds the pack. Brigid grabs it, and starts putting disinfectant cream on my arm, which stops the bleeding, but stings.
"You'll be fine... It's okay, Rose..." says Mario, biting his lip.
"Water..." I say, and Mario grabs my bottle, and gives me a sip of it.
"How's that feel, Rose?" Says Brigid. I nod, then feel her wrapping a bandage all over my arm.
"Well, I guess this was the wolf's birthday present for me... Mario, if I get-- well--- you know... I want you to divide the stuff in my pack except my knife. Keep whatever you want... try to win-" I say, turning away from him so he won't see my tears of frustration and pain. Andy comes running.
"Guys. We've got to find some trees. The wolves have smelled us... We have to go. I found a few trees growing over there." Mario slings one of my arms over his shoulder, and I put my other arm over Andy's shoulder. They help me walk over to the trees, and I climb up into one with Mario's help. He sits there with me, while the rest get into trees. Then, he helps me get higher up, and grabs my rope from my pack. I tie it around me, so that I don't fall out of the tree. I know I won't anyhow. Even if I sleep, Mario will be watching me. Watching over me.
"Rose... Uh, I wanted to say.... Well, uhm, thanks. Thanks for saving my life..." he says, and I nod. I close my eyes, and feel Mario inch close enough to catch me if I fall. I lean on his shoulder, I feel him put his arm around me. Finally, I sleep.

Brigid|Woods

"I found a few trees growing over there," Andy said. He and Mario grabbed Rose and carried her over to the stand of trees. Zohan and Warren were already climbing up, out of harm's way.

I leapt into the tree and helped Mario and Andy pull the unconscious Rose up, being careful not to tug on her hurt arm too much. Once she was balanced on one of the branches, I climbed higher and strung up a quick hammock. "There we go," I said. "Rose is light; this should hold her." Mario climbed higher, pulling Rose up with him, and helped me ease her into the hammock.

I perched on a thick branch next to Andy. Below us, a few of the wolves had found the trees. They couldn't climb, though, so they just stood at the base, yapping up at us.

"Gotta love trees," I muttered. Andy smiled tightly. He was still worried, but at least I'd gotten him to smile a little.

Zohan

It was no easy task moving from tree to tree but I coudn't just leave Rose suffering. Something was odd aboat the wolf's scratch. It looked like it pained her more than it sould have. Maybe she could show me how it looked like unless... I looked at Mario,
"Have you heard of that cursed disease before?" I asked.

Rosette| In hammock
I wake up, and my head is throbbing. As I look around, I see that I'm not tied to the tree trunk anymore, but I'm in a hammock with Mario beside me.
"W-what's going on?" I ask, puzzled. I turn and look down. There are 15 wolves down there... There would be 16 if I hadn't killed that one. One looks up, and it's orange eyes capture me. I can't stop looking. Suddenly, I feel myself flipping. I feel a strong arm grab my right arm, and pull me up again. Another hand covers my eyes, and turns my face away from the stare of that wolf. When the hand leaves my face, I see Mario staring at me. "What was--" I ask
"Don't look down there.... No matter what. Don't look down. Somehow those eyes are evil... Don't look down." he says. "Let me see your arm..." I turn slightly, and pull up my sleeve. When I take the bandage off, it starts bleeding more. It hadn't stopped bleeding... since the attack. Mario grabbed a clean piece of cloth, and wrapped my arm in it.
"I'll be fine..." I say, lying to myself and Mario.
"Yeah... You'll be fine... You have to be fine..." He says. I sit up, and check my leg. It is still swollen, but the greenish tint has left. I lean back. As I turn towards Mario, I smile.
"Huh. What a birthday surprise, huh? I was totally taken aback by that wolf's gift... I'm just glad that it didn't hurt you..." I say. "You know I'm going to get eliminated... I'm sure! I've got two cuts, and- and I want you to win... You deserve to win..." I say.
"No... I'll help you, to the very end. I won't leave you... You'll be okay." He assures me. Suddenly, a great howl fills the air. I shudder. Even though it's already morning, the sound scares me. I shudder again, and start shaking uncontrollably.
"I'm cold, Mario... Really, really, cold...." He takes one of my extra sweaters out of my pack and wraps it carefully around me.
"There..." he says, trying to calm my shivering. Suddenly, I become too hot. Sweating, I push the sweater off, but Mario puts it back on me. "Keep this on... You'll have to deal with the heat."
"Oh... I made this for you last night... Just in case I get eliminated, I'll give it to you now." I had woven some damp green sticks together into a braid, then had turned the top into a hole so that it could be attached to a necklace or keychain. On the braid, I had used my knife to carve the words 'Thanks for everything'. And on the back, it said 'For Mario, from Rosette'. I gave it to him, then leaned back, and closed my eyes again.I fell into an deep sleep...

Mario

I tried to stay strong, but Rose was burning up, and the cut only got worse as the seconds wore on. I held onto her, silently begging her to hold on. Somehow I knew she would be eliminated, but I couldn't let her... not yet. She needed to win, or at least be okay. Maybe it would be better for her to be eliminated, so she would be out of danger. And I would help her, somehow. I could find a way to get money to her, whatever she needed.

I rubbed the bracelet between my fingers. Suddenly Brigid was beside me. "How is she?"

"Not good, only getting worse. I think she'll be eliminated." Brigid nodded. Better this than Ray..." she chocked back emotion and looked away from me. I agreed, but my heart felt heavy and I began to grow genuinely afraid of the rest of the Challenge.

Brigid|Trees

I left Mario sitting in the hammock next to Rose, and climbed back over to the branch Andy was sitting on. Mario's face had changed as I talked to him--he had always been calm and collected, but tonight was different. This was the first time he'd let his fear show, and it made him seem...smaller, almost.

I sat down next to Andy and leaned back against the tree's trunk, letting my feet swing in the air. "You okay?" I asked quietly.

"Yeah," Andy sighed in reply. "You?"

"Sure," I said, trying to be positive. "I've dealt with worse." I forced myself to smile. My affect on the group hadn't been lost on me--I had indeed noticed that Rose and Mario had gotten me up first back in the caves. If we wanted to succeed, someone had to stay positive and strong, and I was certainly going to try.

Andy chuckled ruefully at my comment. "Worse?" he repeated.

"Oh, sure," I said. "We did all sorts of stuff on the airship...not all of it entirely legal...so I've been in knife fights, and gotten shot at, and stuff. Really prepares you for a lot."

Andy nodded, smiling just the slightest bit. Then he reached into his bag and pulled out the walkie-talkie. "Katherine, are you there?" he said quietly. "We could use a little help."

Rosette| In hammock with Mario
I sleep fitfully. Mario is running... The wolves are behind him. He turns in agony, and a wolf pounces on him. I run to him. No heart beat. NOOOOOOOOOOO. He's dead.
I wake up, breathing hard.
"Mario.... Mario...." I let a tear fall down my cheek.
"I'm here, Rose.... What?" I hear the voice I thought I would never hear again.
"The wolves... Attack.... no heartbeat.... dead..." I shudder.
"A dream- That's what it was. Don't worry... at least, don't worry about me." he says, trying to calm me.
"I've been thinking.... Can you help me with something... Please?" I ask, shakily. I know I should hide this one secret, but I can't make myself....
"Sure. You know I'd do whatever..." he says reassuringly. Instead of saying anything, I pull my hair up so that he can see my neck. The wolf had gotten me there, but I hadn't had the heart to tell anyone. I took out my flashlight, and gave it to him. He shone it on my neck, and saw a pussy, bloody cut.
"Just thought I'd tell you... You can't do anything.... I don't want to keep secrets from you." I say. That took a big weight off of my back. I turned around, and went back to sleep.