Ezekiel stood up, picked up the MP3 player, and walked toward Eva.
"Eva, you dropped this," he said calmly.
Eva turned. Ezekiel saw her gaze linger on him for a moment—not anger, but a surprised, hard-to-read expression.
"Give it to me." She reached for it with a quick movement. Then she stopped. "I don't know why you did this… well, hell, I don't know how to do this."
Ezekiel shrugged.
"Um… you can thank me if you want."
Eva clenched her jaw.
"Well… not now. But… later, when the challenge is over… idiot."
She snapped the headphones on, crossed her arms, and headed for the bathroom.
Ezekiel stood there for a moment, trying to figure out if this was a threat or some strange acknowledgement.
He didn't have much time to think.
Heather suddenly grabbed his sweater and pulled him closer.
"What the hell are you doing?" she hissed. "Why are you helping the other team?
"
"What? I didn't help, I just picked up something they dropped," Ezekiel replied in surprise.
Heather's eyes narrowed. "That's called helping the other team's loser."
"Heather…" Trent spoke calmly. "It's just basic decency. If someone drops something, you give it back."
"No, no—"
"I thought that was cute," Cody interrupted. "It's… chivalrous. You know, like a—"
Heather looked at him immediately. "Will you shut up, pervert? Your opinion doesn't really matter right now."
Cody immediately fell silent.
Noah then walked over to Heather and lowered his voice—but not so much that Ezekiel couldn't hear.
"Or… maybe it's strategy." — he said dryly. "Making friends with the enemy. Building trust. Then… poof, eventually betrays her and eliminate her. Classic."
Heather didn't react for a moment. Her fingers slowly released Ezekiel's sweater.
"Don't think I'm not listening," she finally said quietly, but less sharply. "Just… don't make a fool of me."
She crossed her arms and started walking away. The anger was there—but more subdued, as if she wasn't sure if it was justified.
Noah glanced at Ezekiel, a half-hearted smile.
"Congratulations. It takes a rare talent for Heather to be both angry and… embarrassed."
Ezekiel nodded. "I think so."
Noah went back to Cody, who was still staring at the ground, offended.
Ezekiel then saw Gwen and Leshawna getting into a heated argument over Heather's earlier outburst when suddenly something—or rather someone—hit him.
Izzy hugged him.
"WOW!" she said cheerfully. "I didn't know you were like that. You're like a knight in shining armor! Only with a… cap."
Ezekiel froze completely.
"Um—"
"I had a friend who was a knight once," Izzy continued with momentum. "He wasn't very noble. A pit bull kicked his ass, I saved him, and he got offended and disappeared. Classic."
She thought for a moment.
"You don't seem like the type to get offended. I like that."
Ezekiel laughed nervously. "Izzy… you're on the other team."
"Yeah," she nodded. "But my brain plays on multiple teams at once. Sometimes they win, sometimes they… blow up."
She patted Ezekiel on the shoulder. "Just talk to me and Eve calmly. I like talking to interesting people."
Izzy snapped away as if nothing had happened.
Ezekiel stood there for a moment. He knew he had to be careful…
But he also felt that talking to Izzy and Eva might not have been the worst decision, even amusing.
Night slowly settled over the camp. The orange glow of the campfire flickered in the wind as those still awake engaged in quiet conversations. Most were already half asleep, their reactions duller, their movements slower.
Ezekiel had already seen Owen fall asleep around eight o'clock, and soon he saw Bridgette and Noah fall asleep soon after, and around ten o'clock Katie and Sadie fell asleep then. Then around eleven o'clock he saw Izzy starting to get tired too...
Ezekiel sat by the fire, leaning back a little. His eyelids were heavy, but his gaze remained sharp. He had been sipping the coffee he had stolen from Chef's kitchen earlier in the day—so carefully that even the camera hadn't caught it. The thermos was now hidden under his coat.
Izzy crouched beside him, poking a stick into the embers. Her movements were no longer as bouncy as usual; she dozed off for a moment, then lifted her head.
"Wow…" she mumbled. "The fire is talking to me… and telling me I'm sleepy."
Ezekiel glanced to the side. That was the first sign. He moved slowly, naturally, as if he were stretching, then slid the thermos toward Izzy, half-covering it with his hand.
"Just a sip," he said quietly. "Don't ask."
Izzy raised an eyebrow, then grinned.
"Secret drink? I love secret drinks."
She drank. Not much. Just enough to perk her up. Her eyes widened for a second.
"Oooh. This won't explode… but it's good." She slid the thermos back. "Thanks, wild boy."
She stood up, stretched, and then her old, slightly crazy smile came back to her face. She stayed awake. Controllably.
Across the fire, Gwen saw all this. She didn't say anything. She just smiled faintly, then looked back at the flames.
Smart. And he's not showing it off, she thought.
Not long after, Cody was sitting on a log, squinting. His head tilted forward, then suddenly picked it up, as if afraid someone would notice.
"Hey…" he muttered to himself. "I'm not sleeping. I'm just… blinking longer."
Ezekiel sat down next to him, as if it were a coincidence.
"You look tired."
"No! It's just… my eyes are weak. And my nervous system. And everything."
Ezekiel took out the thermos, but this time more carefully. A very small sip.
"Drink it. You're thinking slower than you usually do."
Cody drank, then sighed in relief.
"Oh, wow. It's like my brain… switched back on. Thanks, buddy."
His eyes were grateful. He didn't ask. Cody wasn't that type.
A little later, Leshawna sat with her arms folded, yawning more and more.
"This show is trying to kill me," she said quietly. "And she's not ashamed of it."
Ezekiel stepped forward, not so stealthily, but still discreetly.
"Help you a little."
He handed her the thermos. Leshawna sniffed it.
"This is coffee."
"Yes."
"Did you steal it?"
"Yes."
Leshawna laughed, took a sip, and handed it back.
"Kid, you're going to survive this game." She glanced to the side. "And I'm going to remember that."
Harold sat nearby, watching the whole thing. He adjusted his glasses.
"A fascinating example of strategic resource management," he muttered. "Cool."
He didn't tell anyone.
Finally, Trent came next. He sat quietly next to Gwen, his shoulders slumped slightly. Gwen looked at Ezekiel, then tilted her head to the side, as if to say, now.
Ezekiel sat down.
"It helps me focus," he told Tren.
Trent drank, nodded.
"Thanks." – he looked up at Gwen. – I'm better.
Gwen just smiled.
Then a strange sound came from the edge of the camp.
Frrrrt
Noah blinked and sat up from the ground. He rubbed his eyes, then saw Owen stumbling towards the forest… in his sleep.
"…I can't believe this," he said dryly. "He's sleepwalking. Even farting as same time. This is a documentary."
Owen disappeared into the trees.
No one else at the campfire really noticed. Chris McLean didn't and was chuckling at something.
The cameras had recorded it, it was hard to make out what Ezekiel was doing, only the more attentive viewers knew what Ezekiel was doing.
Ezekiel screwed the thermos back on, hid it, and sat back down.
The night went on.
And he was still awake.
The silence of the night was broken only by the crackling of the campfire, as the contestants slowly gathered around the fire. Ezekiel went to talk to Cody, who was already squinting a little, trying to stay awake, but fatigue was slowly starting to overwhelm him.
As Ezekiel approached him, they were suddenly greeted by an unexpected sight from the other side of the camp: Chef standing in the clearing in a pink tulle fairy wand outfit, smiling as if it were completely natural. Ezekiel and Cody swallowed hard at the same time, then looked at each other in confusion.
"Chris… did he really need this…?" Cody muttered, raising an eyebrow.
"It seems…" Ezekiel replied, with a half smile. "Only Chris could come up with something so crazy…"
Chef, as if it were completely natural, began to speak with a wide smile:
"Well, it's evening, and you've been awake for over twenty-five hours! Just the right time for a story. Once upon a time, there was a boring story… about a completely boring race… with a boring lifestyle… in a tiny, boring house…"
Ezekiel felt the fatigue slowly creeping up on him. He had heard faster, more exciting stories that would have easily put him to sleep, but Chef's story… this was different. It only made him slightly drowsy, and he waited curiously to see what would happen next.
The next night promised to be even tougher. Cody finally fell asleep after 30 hours of being awake, breathing softly and regularly. Leshawna tried to hold on, but at 33 hours she too gave in and slowly leaned back with her eyes closed.
The rest of the group—Ezekiel, Heather, Gwen, Trent, Justin for the Screaming Gophers, Eva, Izzy, and Duncan for the Killer Bass—had been awake for over 35 hours. The fatigue was evident on everyone: their movements were slower, their conversations quieter, their gazes wandering.
Ezekiel felt his body slowly weakening. He had to work a little harder for each breath, his eyelids felt heavier, his arms felt slower, but he still tried to concentrate. Heather dozed off for a moment, Gwen and Trent tried to motivate each other, Justin watched from the background.
Eva looked like she could barely function, but she still held on. Izzy's movements were slower, and Duncan watched in silence as he too slowly began to fade from exhaustion.
Ezekiel leaned back in the glow of the campfire, feeling the fatigue, but knowing that every minute counted. The night was long, the silence broken only by the rustle of the wind and the crackle of the fire as everyone tried to stay awake as long as possible.