Watchers

Chapter 21: The Elimination Room

Daniel's number keeps ticking upward on the wall in front of him. It's over 103,000 now and he feels more helpless than he did outside, kicking at a screen reinforced by steel plates. Almost everyone else's number is in the low thousands - there are two who have reached about 35,000, but it's obvious that Daniel is the one that the viewers are trying to eliminate, and all because he kicked a screen?

He wants to yell, to ask them if watching him be pepper sprayed was not enough for them, but Sasha slides her hand into his on the table. It calms him down a little bit, or at least makes him not want to be antagonistic to the sick people on the other side of those votes. If he gets eliminated - whatever that means - then he won't be here to look out for her and make sure the same doesn't happen to her.

His heart is pounding in his chest and his blood is starting to boil at the injustice of it all when she abruptly leans over and kisses him.

He looks at her with surprise and her eyes dart to the glass in front of them, then back to him. The message is clear and he does his best to look like a boyfriend who's worried about her instead of a guy trying furiously to fight the urge to blush. It can't look like that was their first kiss, or her strategy won't work. He gives her another quick peck for good measure, then looks away in embarrassment.

Sasha's trick seems to have worked, though, because Daniel's number is no longer skyrocketing. It's still the highest in the group by far, and the votes are still coming in, but they're trickling now instead of pouring in.

A speaker crackles overhead and then comes the unmistakable drone of Meredith's robotic voice. "Erica, since you're sitting this one out again, would you be a dear and fetch the props for the first contest?"

Daniel turns in his chair to watch the girl pacing at the back of the room. She stops to listen to Meredith's instructions, ringing her hands, but then she does as she's told. She goes over to the row of drawers built into the wall, and Daniel notices stacks of manila envelopes on top of the drawers. There are thirteen stacks and each envelope has a name printed on the front. Daniel's is directly behind him, and Sasha's is beside it. He has a sudden urge to lunge for their envelopes, destroy them however he can, but that will almost certainly have a negative effect on his number.

Erica goes to the first drawer at the other end of the room and opens it, pulling out a black plastic bin. She looks inside and Daniel thinks he sees her shiver, and dread begins to grow in his stomach as she walks around to the front of the table. She grimaces as she puts her hand into the bin, then pulls a small mason jar out and sets it on the table in front of Jane sitting at the end of the row.

"Oh god," Jane says, immediately pushing the jar away from her and turning her head away. The guy beside her recoils as well, but Daniel can't see the contents of the jar.

Erica continues down the line, placing identical glass jars on the table in front of each of them, and Daniel leans over in an attempt to see what all the fuss is about. He could guess before she'd even retrieved the black bin that it wouldn't be good - nothing good had happened to him ever since he ended up at the Haven - but he still can't see what it is.

Erica pauses in front of Taylor, looking at him with reluctance, then sets down his jar. He doesn't squirm or react like the rest of them - just stares at it in contempt.

It's not until Erica gets to Anthony, two people away from Daniel, that he can finally see the contents of the jars, and then he immediately wishes that he hadn't been so eager. They're centipedes, large and almost hairy-looking with their long legs, and agitated from being jostled around. Sasha lets out an injured-sounding yelp when she sees them, and one by one they each get their own centipede.

Daniel tries to follow Taylor's example when Erica sets a jar down in front of him. He tries not to react in any way because he doesn't want to give the viewers the satisfaction of watching him squirm.

The thing is as thick as a pencil and at least three inches long, although it's writhing so frantically in the bottom of the jar that it's hard to tell. Daniel can't help but think it's trapped just the same as he is, and if he were able to feel sympathy for a centipede then he'd feel bad for this one.

Sasha's squirming in her seat beside him, squeezing his hand so hard that it hurts. He hooks her chin with his free hand and turns her head away from the table, conveying as much confidence as he can as he says, "It's okay. They're just centipedes - they can't hurt us."

"They bite," Melody says beside him. She's got both hands on the table and she's staring at her centipede like she's sizing it up for a fight. "Big ones like this can be poisonous."

"Is that true?" Francie asks from the middle of the table, her voice reaching a panicked register.

Then Rob's voice comes over the speaker. He's just as gleeful as he was while he explained the rules of the Elimination Challenge as he says, "Most of you know how this works, and for those of you who are new, it's pretty simple. Throughout the Elimination Challenge, you'll be presented with mini-challenges which will provide you with a competitive edge. The first person to complete the challenge gets to open an envelope and reveal a secret about the housemate of their choosing."

Daniel watches Erica go back to her spot behind the table, returning the plastic tub with her centipede still inside, and he wonders if she has the right idea choosing not to participate. Instead of continuing to pace, she slides down the wall in the corner and closes her eyes so she doesn't have to watch what's coming next.

"What you have in front of you is the scolopendromorpha," Rob continues, and Daniel can practically hear the smile on his face. "Say that ten times fast! You could also call it a tropical centipede, and tonight, you can call it dinner."

"No way," Sasha says, her chair screeching on the floor as she stands up.

Daniel's skin is crawling at the idea of so much as opening the jar and he can't bear to follow that thought to the conclusion that Rob's after. Quite a few more people at the table are squirming and turning green at the idea, and beside him, Melody just sits there like a rock, her hands on the table and her eyes on the bug.

"Ready?" Rob taunts. "Go!"

Melody twists off the lid of her mason jar and throws it back like a shot, and the sickening crunch of teeth breaking through exoskeleton is the only sound in the room. She slams the empty jar back on the table and glares at the mirrored wall, a single, long leg hanging from her lips.

Daniel notices Sasha lurch beside him as if she might be sick, and no one else in the room moves until Meredith says coldly over the speaker, "Very good, dear. Claim your prize."

Melody stands up, wiping her mouth and shaking the last remaining leg from the back of her hand onto the table. Then she goes to the cabinets and immediately reaches for Daniel's envelope, throwing it on the table in front of him.