Eliminated

The dry dirt that was inching its way up my nostrils made me cough. The 'Obstacle Track Challenge' in the desert floor made it miserable, on top of that, the host of this reality show 'Can You Survive?!', Kennedy Jordan, was shooting probably illegal obstacles at us through a prop cannon, although it had looked tremedously real. the challenge brought me back to last week, when Rupert was eliminated for being last in the 'Jingle Jangle Competition' (don't ask). The abnormally sized nineteen year-old's plump face looked so shocked when Ken told him to beat it. That night, when the pretty girls were gossping on how i should've been eliminated, i heard a blood-curdling bass scream. i askedKera and the girls if they'd heard it, but they just turned their noses up at me and continued pretending i couldn't hear them dissing me. i put on my slippers and walked out the automatic sliding door, flashlight pointing at the auburn brown walls. i flicked the light down the left corridor and tiptoed to the east wing, the direction i heard the scream. after about a dozen weary, reluctant steps, i realized the boys' apartment was in the middle of the west wing. not only that, but since the boys had won the challenge that day, they were being 'rewarded', so no one was supposed to be in the wing. My feet froze and wouldn't budge at the thought. the hairs on the back of my neck were lifting up and a tingle went up my spine. no one is there,i told myself, there couldn't be. after an eerily quiet walk down the corridor, my instincts stopped me dead in my tracks. i had to cover my mouth not to scream, but it was not just my mouth that i needed to cover. the stench of freshly drawn blood polluted the corridor, and stained the walls. it was so fresh, it was still warm, when my fingertips touched it, it was still thick yet runny, and it dripped down the fabricked wall. my heart raced in my chest, i could feel beads of sweat forming on my brow, and my head race. my vision went ablurr, and the only, terrifying sound that resounded in my ears was the beating ofmy heart getting louder and louder. as the vision in my eyes returned, i realized it wasn't a dream because the blood was still there. the shock madde me freeze wher i was standing again when i heard heavy footsteps slowly clomping up the hall. i silently panicked and turned off my flash light, afraid that if it was a killer, he or she wouldn't see the distant beam of light. even with the light off, i could see the glare of a cleaver getting closer and closer. i follwed my instincts to run, but i tip-toe ran because if i made a sound, the killer would chase after me. i saw the ray of light coming out of the glass window on the girls' dorm door. i clutched knob and slammed the door open, then closed it as quickly as i had opened it, although it was suppoed to be an automatic door. with my back against the door and my arms sprawled across the frame, i realized that i was holding my breath, and also that all the gossping girls were staring at me discustedly. i took a deep breath. Kera stood up n her booty PJ'sand crossed her arms.
"and what's your problem? afraid of your own shadow?" she smirked. i wasn't gonna risk talking back over getting killed. i shook my head and put my finger up to my lips franticly, begging to God that they shut up. the motions didn't persuade them. Georgia, Georgette (twins) andGeorge stood up and crossed their arms defensively and stood behind Kera.
"Nice try," growled George, "we're not gonna fall for that crap!" no matter how pissed i was in my head, the shearing fear made me forget about that.
"seriously, be quiet!" my voice scratched in a fearful whisper, "there was blood on the walls and there was a man carrying a knife out there!! please, be quiet!" before they could protest, i reached for the light switch and flicked it off. quicker than a jack rabbit, i tackled the standing girls to the ground, attempting to silence them with a blanket. Kera shoved me off and yelped out in anger.
"Danica Margaret Aislinn O' Reilly!!! You sorry little slut!!!!" no matter how angering that was, the fear still muted everything else out.
"Kera, please! he'll hear you!" i silently pleaded. the stubborn little thing. she switched on the light and crossed her arms at me again. oh, wow! real intimidating!
"if there really is a man with a knife out there, i hope he gets you!" as she babbled on, there was a glint out side the door. the glare made out the shape of a cleaver, and a really buff, tall man. the glare from his eyes turned to me and a girl named Janet, but hurried on, a large sack in his grasp. Janet pointed out the door, fear knocking the breath out of her, but Kera didn't turn.
"stop acting like a bunch of scared animals!" she screehced, "there's nothing out there!" immediately after screaming her lungs out at us, the lights flickered, and shut off completely.
"Danica!!" Kera shrieked, "stop turning off the lights!!!" i like how she automaticly assumes it's me.
"K-K-Kera..i'm over here." i forced out. i could make out the faces of the other girls, and their expressions showed they slightly doubted Kera's accusations. Janet and i slept on the same bunk that night, each of us carrying a pair of hair scissors underneath our pillows. i didn't take my hand off those scissors once.
"Danny, we're almost to the finish line!" Mason panted, forcing himself into a sprint. my mind refocused on the track/desert race and forced my legs forward, each step seeming like a mile. as we fell on the finish line at the same time, Kera came up behind us. we gathererd ouselves up on our knees and crawled the three remaining inches across the finish line. Kera was about a hair away from winning, but Mason and I had just barely made it. As Janet came in fourth, the other eight teens jogged, panting, across the line, Georgia and Tyler lagging in dead last. As the cafateria man Alexandria Cataldo served us dixie cups of water, Kennedy (Ken) approached us, his emerald eyes sparkling deviously and his smile broader than usual.
"what're you.....smiling about....Ken?" Georgia panted as she crossed the finish line dead last. as Chef Alex handed Tyler a dixie cup, Ken's eyebrow lurched into a smirk.
"oh, nothing you need to know, Georgia" he held out the words 'oh' and 'nothing' like he had a dirty little secret. i didn't like the look he gave us twelve.
"why's that, Ken?" i dragged out his name like he did to Georgia, but it didn't seem to taze him at all.
"It appears that we need to be more Drrramatic in our eliminations and all around show," he smirks, i didn't like the look he gave me, "so take your wolf hound, Peter, and all your lazy backsides down stairs!" As we headed for the stairs and the Producers' apprentice gave us a glinted glance, eyebrows arched, i felt nervous for the remark that was going to be said by either him or Ken. i felt the tiny beads of sweat on my brow, although i had no idea what i was paniking about. just as my instincts predicted, Ken added a remark i wasn't so sure about: "but take the elevators," he snickered under a yelp. i knew something was up, Ken always told us to use the stairs because the elevators were "under construction". it couldn't have taken them that long just to fix three pairs of elevators that they said were pricey add-ins to the building. As i felt like i was the only one noticing how long it took for these people to fix three measly elevators, the other contestants just shrugged and headed to the small plaza where the three doors to the elevators stood broad and cold. as Mason shrugged off the statement, i reached for his shoulder.
"this is wrong," i called to mason, but loud enough to the other contestants, "this doesn't feel right." this time to mason. Kera just spun her straight blonde hair and it briskly swiped at her face. Her emerald green eyes turned into little slits and she glared.
"Danica, just shut up! you just want us to wear out by making us use the stairs! well, i don't know about all of you, but i'm taking the elevators!" she stomped off towards the elevator plaza, the others trailing behind her, the wolfhound, Arthur, trotting behind Peter. Mason only gave me a side-ways glance before clutching my wrist and pulling me along to the elevators. I spun my head around and me and Ken's eyes locked. he gave me a mischievious smirk and said "no hard feelings" while still sitting at his mobile cannon. i glared at him, knowing something was up, no matter how disbelieving the others were.Despite howmuch i protested, Mason had already dragged me to the elevator plaza. There were three silver doors on our right when we entered, and three on the left, but the three on our left had signs saying 'Out of Order: Do NOT Use!' Mason and i decided on using the elevator on the far Left when we faced the silver doors, Kera, two of the girls with George somewhere in their names, Peter, Eric, Janet, and Seth in the middle elevator, with Artur staying by Peter; and Tyler and George in the elevator closest to the track. Kera wouldn't let anyone press the button going down a floor, so when I reached for it, she slapped my hand and shot me a look that would almost have been a second slap. As we stood firm in front of the doors, they all opened at the same time. I gave Kera a last warning glance, begging her not to go in. She caught my glance, huffed, lifted her nose towards the ceiling, and entered, her followers trailing behind her like lost sheep finding their sheperd. Janet cast me an apologetic smile/shrug, and, whoop-dee-doo! she entered the middle elevator. George and Tyler entered the third elevator, and the second they entered, started making out. It was really akward, so i entered the elevator, then instantly felt regretful. Mason was standing in there with me, and then, suddenly, all three doors slammed in harmony.The average, yellowed lighting blinked to a blood red, and, instead of sinking slowly down, well, we started like that, but then we started going up. we were going faster and faster until a pair of bear traps shot down and sliced into Mason's arm. I dodged mine, and grabbed the chain. that's when i realized the ceiling to the elevator was gone, just an infinite, red lit elevator shaft, pipes and cables shooting up into the abyss, where our chains were coming from. the elevator began shaking as if we were having an earthquake. The bear traps began yanking us up at an abnormal speed, and as i peered down back at the elevator, i realized that there were two red x's made of duct tape on the floor where we would've been standing, considering we don't tend to stand on the sides of an elevator. if we were standing where we usually did...
I shivered. shivered at the thought. the bear traps missed.
George and Tyler were still in the elevator, still kissing. The yellow light flickered into red, but the couple didn't want to notice. The elevator began to shake, and two bear traps dropped down and caught around both of their necks, and the spikes sunk into them slowly, agonizingly. George looked down to see the elevator sinking to the floor where Ken was supposed to be waiting, and also noticed two red x's on the floor of the elevator, exactly where she and tyler were, um, standing. They were whisked up by their necks, their vision blurring into red, then closed their eyes for good.
Mason was screaming out in agony as the rusty metal sunk deeper and deeper into hisarm. Blood was hissing out of his skin, and just pouring into the endless hole beneath us.We were flying up for about twenty seconds before spikesflungout of between the cables and clung onto the wires. Mason and Icouldn't evencome to realize what would happen because it happened so fast.Our skin was being torn to shredsso fast, we couldn't even begin to counthow many times we were stabbed, it all just turned to general pain after about two seconds. The spikes disappeared and we slammed into the cieling. After about two minutes, my vision restored itself. My skin was tattered in luckily a couple places, but myspaggetti strap andBermudaswere torn,and blood drenched thetears. my side, my thigh, and both my armshad deep gashes in them, plusa long gash that traced half my face, but that wasn't nearly as bad as poor Mason. Hispoor arm was raw from the rusty bear trap, and spikes had cut into him more than me.He had cuts on his neck, cheeks, one on his forehead, torso, and legs. I wanted to heal him, butit was not humanly possible. He was wimpering in pain and i shot a concerned look into hisemerald-golden eyes.even his beautiful eyes screamed out in pain, yelling "Dear God of Mercy! Heal me!!! IBEG of you!!!!!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!" the poor guy!
"Mason!" i hoarsley whispered, "Swing towards me! I'll free you!" For a moment, he seemed reluctant considering it would hurt even more when he used his muscles to swing towards me, but aftter a couple seconds, he slowly began to swing. He yelped out in pain as he swung, but igrabbed him around the waist and held him tight. He criedon my chest, staining my shirt with salty tears mixed with blood from hispoor,shredded face.Anxious, i told him to grab onto my chain, and he did, letting out a cry of pain. He could see what i was about to do, so heheld on for both of our lives. Igrabbed onto his other arm and he screamed out, and begged me to stop. His eyes showed his pain, and i would've stopped if it hadn't been for our situation.
"Mason, we NEED you out of this," i told him, almost in tears from seeing my best friendsuffering so much. He let me climb onto his chain and,withmy feet leveraged against a large pipe, i wedged my fingers into the trap. my fingers bled and stung from the metal spikes,and the trap swung open. I would've fallen if Mason hadn't used his last bit of strength to reach out and grab me. I grabbed the chain before he could pass out and held us up. When i heard Ken's voice fifty stories below us, I was stone still, and neither of us said a word as our blood dripped into the red abyss.

"George and Tyler, done!" Ken checked their names off on a clipboard as their dislocated bodies lay cold and motionless on the floor of theelevator. He moved onto the sideelevator where Danica and Mason were, and found the elevator empty, but blood dripped down from the top of the elevator shaft. The black hole was silent, and Ken checked off Danica's name and Mason. He moved onto the middle elevator, and as thethe silver doors slowly moved aside, Kera, Georia, Georgette, Janet, Eric, Peter andSethwere shaking in the corner, their arms, faces, and parts of their necks were sliced like salmon meat. As theysaw Ken'sdisapprovingfrown, their eyes grew wide,somewhat knowing what would happen next.
"Lockem' in thebare locker in the fifth wing," he said, and nothing more. Two burly body guards in suits and shades were reaching out to grab them when Peter cried out.
"WAIT!" he cried. he scanned around the elevator for a brief moment, tears welling in his eyes. everyone was silent. "Wh-where's Arthur?" he whispered.
All the wolfhound could remember was an endless red tunnel of cables and pipes shooting down from the unknown. Metal spikes shot out from between the largest of the pipes, some slicing him open even more than others had, some just embedding themselves into his limbs. The bear trap around his neck sliced deeper in, the fur gone from the raw skin. He swirled up into the red abyss, his skin being peeled from his body like an orange. His pain from all the cuts, tears and stabs welded into one, all of it shearing, then, as he closed his golden eyes for the last time, the pain slowly ceased, and Arthur, the prince of the wolfhounds, could only feel the winds of the heavens caressing his furry face and a tear escape his eye and fall back down the shaft