Expecting to Die

filming tho this is extreme.
Lara’s reply said it all: I think Lindsay would do just about anything to get
away from this town and her parents.
But would she really? Lindsay was kind of a pain, but disappearing for the
sake of publicity, ripping out her parents’ hearts, causing all her friends and
family to freak out?
Bianca tried to push her thoughts on Destiny and Lindsay aside. She had more
than enough to worry about as it was. Somehow, with this damned ankle, she
had to get through the vigil, and then psych herself up for the filming of the pilot
later in the night.
She’d learned that the script had changed quite a bit from Barclay Sphinx’s
original concept. The party of kids at Reservoir Point was no longer a large
group but had been winnowed down to eight, four boys and four girls who’d
come to the woods to drink, do a little weed, hang out around a campfire, and
make out. That part wasn’t that great, Bianca thought, hastily slapped together,
but the kids involved, who had all been to the original party, were stoked to be a

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part of the project. Lara Haas, Maddie, and Simone were all beside themselves to
have been chosen. They’d been paired with Austin, Emmett, Kywin, and TJ and
had a few lame lines between them—the kind of things adults imagined kids
would say to each other. “Man, this is bad-ass weed,” or “Wanna go to the car so
we can be alone?” That kind of dialogue. A few people the producer thought
were essential would be in the peripheral area away from a campfire. They
would only be shown smoking or drinking in a shot that panned the “crowd.”
The script also called for several members of the Big Foot Believers to be in the
woods as well. They were supposedly hunting for a Sasquatch and had
frightened one of the beasts, which, in turn, then chased Bianca. Or something
like that. Barclay insisted the scenes were going to be “fluid” and “works in
progress.”
The changing of the party scene was okay, Bianca thought, as she glanced at
her laptop, but there was another major alteration as well. The story line in this
episode wouldn’t swirl around Bianca as she’d originally been told. Her
experience with Big Foot was just the starting point, an “energetic” and
“exciting” way to begin the season—a teaser. Also, the central plot of the
episode wouldn’t concentrate on the murder—the finding of the body was just
another dramatic point that was intended to grab the viewers’ interest.
Nor was the focus of the series about Bianca, or what had happened to
Destiny Rose Montclaire. No, the “integrity” of the plot surrounded two feuding
families of Big Foot enthusiasts whom Barclay Sphinx had hand-picked. That bit
of information had caused a bit of a grumble with Carlton Jeffe and the local Big
Foot Believers because, as it turned out, the actors chosen to be the series
regulars resided somewhere north of Missoula, and it also happened that they—
two couples with children—had originally pitched the idea of Big Foot
Territory: Montana! to Sphinx months ago when his Big Foot Territory: Oregon!
had first aired and showed signs of promise. So, essentially, not only were the
feuding couples the brains behind the show, but the stars as well.
One of the series originators was actually a writer who had come up with
several episodes. However, none of the ideas for the series had been as attention
grabbing as Bianca’s story of being chased by a Big Foot and her subsequent
discovery of the dead body of a classmate, so that was their big hook.
And they were rushing everything into production, Barclay had explained, to
capture the public’s interest in the murder of Destiny Rose Montclaire. Which,
according to her mother, was just using the tragedy for his own gain.
The upshot was the whole preproduction had been squeezed. Taking the
pitched ideas and scripts, reworking them to fit with Bianca’s experience, and
filming as quickly as could be done.

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So, as it turned out, Bianca saw, the only reason the show was going to be
filmed around Grizzly Falls was because of the murder, the actual real life-and-
death tie to the area. And there was something just not right about that—
something slimy and almost predatory about it.
Though her dad and Michelle had assured her the trailer at the end of the
episode and the reward would help Destiny’s family, the whole idea left a bad
taste in her mouth.
Michelle was disappointed that her role might not be continued beyond
episode one, and possibly two, but she still saw opportunity. After all, Sphinx
had practically promised them that their “backstory” would still be woven into
the main plot of the feuding Big Foot families. She seemed to think there was a
strong chance that she and Bianca would be on camera again. Not so the other
kids and extras. The jury was still out on Carlton Jeffe, Lex Farnsby, and Fred
Nesmith of the Big Foot Believers. They would all appear in episode one, but
that might be the end of their involvement, which was a case for more
grumbling.
A chime indicated another text had come in.
She lifted the phone, stared at the screen, then sucked in a sharp breath.
The message was from Lindsay Cronin and said simply: