Pretty Lucky

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Alejandro completely regretted not letting Owen fall out of the plane the day before. Owen was strapped into the bench, snoring and twitching while loudly reacting in terror to his nightmares. His drool dripped everywhere and his snores hurt Alejandro's head. Gritting his teeth, Alejandro elbowed Owen in the stomach. "Pipe down already!" This caused Owen to rouse from his nightmare in fear and swing out wildly, hitting Alejandro directly in the eye and launching him to the ground.

Owen hadn't seemed to remember and asked Alejandro what happened. Prompting a bitter Alejandro to respond, "Nothing a little ice and revenge won't fix." Owen questioned the last part but was quickly assured by Alejandro of no ill intent. If only he knew.

Chef appeared dressed in a full Halloween costume nurse's outfit complete with stocking and heels. This absurdity distracted Alejandro from asking if Owen had any seasonal allergies to use against him. 'I wonder what he and Chris were up to before this.' Chef slapped an eye patch on Alejandro and shuffled off, his heels clicking on the metal ground.

Alejandro grumbled to himself. "Next time we get on this plane, we better be in first class." Owen overheard and grabbed Alejandro, pulling him into a tight hug. "Yeah let's be a team! That gets along!" His cheerful attitude only worsened Alejandro's mood. They had another five hours left in the flight. It would be a long five hours.

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Heather sat in first class, applying makeup to her fresh bruise. She hoped to distract from her missing tooth but when she closed her compact and spotted Courtney's grin, she knew she failed. "Lookin good." Courtney teased. Before Heather could retort, the loudspeaker sparked to life and Chris announced their descent into the Amazon. A rush of dread raced through Heather. A chill settled in the air for the team, all aware of the possible difficulties ahead. All but one.

"Hey the Amazons in the Amazon? That's gotta be a good luck sign." Gwen said.

Sierra gasped and pointed at Gwen. "Whenever a team predicts good luck, they always lose!" Courtney and Cody shot up from their seats to peak over at Gwen. She tried to take it back but Sierra held her palms over Gwen's mouth to silence her. Just then, Chris spoke again over the loudspeaker, "Gosh, I hope none of The Amazons said this might be lucky for them." Heather rolled her eyes, knowing he had just watched this exchange over the cameras. Still he continued, "That'd be disastrous!" Everyone turned to glare at Gwen while Chris laughed evilly. Heather hadn't known of this apparent trend but she did feel the air turn cold and sour at the point of arrival. And Chris' happiness is never a good sign. That had to mean something.

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After landing in Peru, Chris fell into his routine. He announced a race through the rainforest. Then, they would have to camp overnight and the next day arrive in Machu Picchu to look for a golden treasure. By far their most brutal race, Heather was worried about her wedges taking even more damage. She abandoned that thought when Chris told the cast of a group of indigenous tribes in the forest and they would potentially be dangerous. Heather was sure Chris was underselling it for his own amusement.

Cody raised his hand halfway through the explanation. Expecting this, Chris tossed Cody an epipen which was delegated to Gwen after some begging from Cody. This made Sierra into a sniffling mess, listing all of Cody's various allergies. Still her pleas went unheard. Gwen would be the one to help if he was bitten. Finally, Chris pulled out a box full of walkie talkies for each team to keep in contact. He told them it was in case of emergencies and wished them all good luck, a deliberate dig at the Amazons.

The teams all started off down the path Chris had pointed out. Walking in groups, there was no friendly chatter like usual. The contestants seemed dejected while shuffling down the dirt path. There was complete silence for several minutes until the teams reached a fork in the road. Two separate paths branched off in different directions. Both team Victory and Chris Is Really (4x) Hot went to the left, keeping their safety in numbers. The Amazons, a couple feet behind, appeared at the fork and were uncertain of what to do.

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