Second chapter of my Super 8 installment. I hope you guys enjoy it! Reviews are welcome! They warm my heart and make me want to write more *WINK WINK* So without further ado, here it is!

D/C: I obviously don't own Super 8. I do, however, own my characters. Ya know, the ones not mentioned in the movie.

Catastrophe

The dust, smoke, pollen-or whatever that was- hung in the air, making us all cough.

"Oh my gosh, is everyone okay?!" Alice asked us sounding really worried.

"Never better," I spluttered. "Anyone hurt?"

"I'm not hurt. I do have a scratch though," Preston told us, examining his arm. "Anyone got a Band-Aid?"

"Fresh out from last week's escapade. Sorry," Joe said apologetically.

"Thank god, my camera survived!" Charles shouted. "What were you thinking?!" He yelled, whirling around to look at Alice, who was shaking worse than a washer during the spin cycle.

"Oh yeah, 'cause I totally meant to do it. 'Oh there's a tree. I think I'll fucking crash into it and ruin my dad's car!'" Alice froze. "Oh no! Dad's car!" She whipped the door open and practically jumped out. We all scrambled out of the car, happy to stretch our cramped legs.

"Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit! Look at the front!" she yelled.

I walked around the front and saw it was smashed in. it was extremely noticeable.

"Anyone know how to get out a dent?" Avery asked weakly.

"A dent that big?" I asked her. "No."

"My dad is going to kill me!" Alice wailed. "Cary, smell it. See if it smells weird. See if it is gonna blow up," she commanded.

I stepped up to the smashed in front and took a whiff. Only thing I smelt was the smoke. No fire and no explosions. I told her as much.

"Okay, so at least it isn't totally messed up. My dad won't completely kill me, he'll just put me in a coma," Alice huffed.

"We don't have time to worry about your dad's car now," Charles said annoyed. "We're wasting movie minutes. Now come on," he said trekking away from the car, making the others follow.

"Insensitive bastard," I heard Alice mutter under her breath.

I offered her a somewhat comforting pat on the shoulder, and she gave me a small smile before walking to join the others.

"So where are these tunnels?" Henson asked. "I don't see them anywhere."

"They're in that garage thing. It takes up all the flooring in there. You gotta be careful not to fall in," Joe said.

"Fall in? How could we- Ahhh!" Avery screamed as we walked in the garage, almost falling in the gaping hole that covered the floor.

"Well for one, you could walk right into it. That'll do the trick," I told her smirking as Charles grabbed her hand so she wouldn't nose dive into the black unknown.

"Joe did say to be careful," Charles giggled.

"Shut up, Chuck. Let's just go down there, alright?" Avery snapped.

"I'm in charge. Let's go down now. Cary, throw the sparkler," Charles commanded.

I got out my assortment of fireworks and firecrackers. I had blasting caps, dynamite, flash powder, bottle rockets, Catherine wheels, cherry bombs, M-80's, M-1000's, sparklers, pinwheels and a bunch of other kinds. I opted for the standard sparkler. I didn't wanna blow anything up… yet.

"Alright you guys, here we go. This will scare away the souls that have been lost down there," I said grinning and dropping the lit sparkler down the gap. It hit the bottom with the small thud.

"Shut your face, Cary! That isn't funny!" Alice hollered, scared. "Don't joke about that!"

"Okay, sorry man," I said holding my hands up in surrender. "Don't tell me you believe in ghosts?"

"Okay, I won't tell you," Alice huffed.

"You do?" I snickered and held back my spurt of laughter.

"Why wouldn't I? I didn't believe in aliens, and look what happened last year in 8th grade."

I shut up. She had a point.

"Yeah, that's what I thought," she said sternly.

"Enough talk. Give me the rope," Charles demanded quickly, turning to Joe. Joe unstrapped his backpack, grabbed the rope, and handed it to Charles, who tied it to a beam and threw the rest into the hole.

"Alright, who wants to go first?" he asked.

"I'll go!" Henson yelled excitedly.

"Any takers?" Charles asked. "No one else?"

Henson was jumping up and down all excited and what-not.

"Okay, I guess Henson can go. Then Joe, Avery, Cary, Alice, Me, Preston, and Martin. In that order."

"Yes! I get to smell the putrid filth of the decaying bodies first!"

"Ew! Shut up Henson! I'm going to barf," Martin bellowed, turning a ghastly shade of green.

"You have a really weak stomach Smartin," I teased.

"Don't call me that! I hate it when you call me that," he pouted.

Glancing over, I saw that Henson had gone down, and Joe was about halfway. Avery started to go, and Preston and Martin were trying to work up the courage to go when it was their turn. I tiptoed over to the rope and grabbed on, sliding down. I felt the rope hot against my hands. I knew I had rope burn now.

I was more focused on the rope than stopping at the halfway point. I smacked into Avery and we both let go. I guess that's what I get for not paying attention.

"Ahhh! Cary! What the hell?!" Avery yelled.

"I'm sorry bro! I didn't mean to," I told her.

"I think I re-dislocated my shoulder dammit," she complained.

"Oh boo hoo. Here let me help you pop it back into place."

"That's the least you can do… dork…" I heard her mutter. I smiled to myself and felt my way along the tunnel wall until I felt Avery. I accidentally grabbed her face."

She grunted. "That isn't my shoulder, that's my face."

"No wonder it felt weird," I said sarcastically. "I know it's your face." I felt lower, looking for her shoulder. I grabbed the first thing I felt.

"Cary… does that feel like my shoulder?" she asked slowly.

"Uh… no. No it doesn't," I answered.

"Then let it go," she told me.

"Just give me your arm," I demanded.

"No. I got it, I'm good." I heard a pop and another grunt.

"what are you guys doing? Come on!" Charles hollered.

"Relax man! We're on the way," Avery called back.

"Anyone got a flashlight?" Joe asked us.

"I do," Alice said. I heard her unzip her bag and a second later I saw the beam of light.

"Thank god! It was dark," Preston sighed with relief.

"Nooo, really?" Henson said in mock shock.

"Watch your step guys. It's very rocky," Charles told us.

We stopped at a big clearing and dropped our stuff.

"More light would be greatly appreciated I can't see to find my slime making stuff."

"I got you covered. I have candles," I told Avery, getting them out of my backpack and lighting them.

"Thanks. Let's see, borax, red food dye..." Avery was muttering to herself as she looked through the contents of Henson's bag. "Rubber chicken... Wait, rubber chicken? Henson, what is this?" Avery asked slightly amused.

"It's a rubber chicken. Duh," Henson answered sarcastically.

"Yes, I know that. Why do you have this rubber chicken?"

I tuned out of their conversation, not sure if I really wanted to know why he had that rubber chicken.

Everyone was having their own conversations. Martin and Preston were talking about Math Camp, Joe and Charles were talking about film and how Joe should do the makeup for the lighting, Avery and Henson were still talking about rubber chickens, and Alice was pacing back and forth talking to herself. I kept hearing the phrase "Dad's car" in the mix.

"Alright guys," Charles interrupted," you know what to do. Joe, do the makeup. Alice does costumes, Cary get the camera set up, and Martin get the sound working. Preston, you can spread the candles out and kind of hide them from view. Henson, help Joe, and Avery start making slime. Make it extra red," Charles boomed.

"If we already knew what to do, why'd you tell us?" Preston asked him.

"And so it begins," I muttered, grabbing the camera and the tripod.

Everyone started working, continuing their chatter.

"Use the green and mix it with the brown. It makes the color more zombie-flesh-like..."

"Does the costume have to be green? Can't it be pink?"

"No Alice, green is a zombie color. You can't have a girly zombie..."

"Borax and clear glue, five dots of food coloring. Oh c'mon, mix! Damn wooden spoon..."

Everyone else was busy, except me. Charles had given me one of the simplest jobs. I took out my M-80's and decided to mess around while everyone else was busy working.

I lit one and threw it. It landed in one of the worst places. It landed in one of the bowls of slime.

"Everyone duck!" I yelled.

SPLAT!

Red slime shot everywhere.

I got up off of the ground and looked around the clearing. Avery was the next to get up, along with Henson and Joe.

"Oh. My. God. This is... awesome!" Avery yelled. "Cary, Cary you're a genius!"

"I am? Oh, yeah. I am." I grinned. Finally, someone seen my value and true smarts.

Charles and the rest of them stood up. They were covered in slime. Charles had blobs of it on his jacket, Preston had it on his shirt, Joe, Martin, and Henson had it all in their hair, and Avery had it in her hair, on her face, and all over her clothes. Alice and I were the only ones left untouched.

"Martin, ya got a little something in your hair," Joe told him, holding back laughter.

Martin reached up to grab it, only squashing it in his hair even more.

"Ah! It feels like guts!" He screamed.

"That's because it is!" Joe yelled back, wiggling his fingers around.

That was it. Martin leaned over and let go of his dinner and his late night snack all over his shoes.

"Aw c'mon Martin! That's disgusting!" Alice shrieked.

"What did you eat for dinner man? Curdled milk and clam chowder?" Avery gagged.

The tunnel began to stink. Bad. We all started gagging.

"Martin, I've never seen puke that color before! Are they always this odd-looking?" Henson asked him in amazement.

Martin shrugged wordlessly and looked around embarrassed.

Charles hadn't said a word. We all turned to stare at him. He stood there for a minute, examining the mess. Finally, he spoke.

"We have to get out of here It's starting to make me wanna throw up. Get everything put away, I have an idea."

We packed away all of our stuff, but didn't bother trying to clean the mess off of us. We just wanted to leave. It smelt god awful down there.

One by one we climbed up the rope and threw ourselves onto the ground. We took in the cool clean air like it was our last dying breath. we all lay there until the gagging subsided.

"Alright," Charles panted, " we're going to put the slime in the movie, but we're going to have it explode. It'll look like blood spattering everywhere. Cary, you're in charge of making it blow up. Obviously. Avery, you'll make the slime. Again, obviously. You two need to meet up tomorrow and get this going. When you think you've got it right, come get me. I'll check it."

"What, are you afraid my slime won't be good enough?" Avery asked defensively.

"I just want it to be perfect," he shrugged.

"You guys, can we leave? I want to go to bed," Preston complained.

"Yeah, come on, let's go," Joe told us, gesturing toward the beat up car. "I don't want to be caught out this late. My dad will be pissed."

"Avery, will you drive back? I don't trust myself with dad's car at the moment."

"Sure, c'mon. Get in," Avery said trudging to the car and climbing into the front seat.

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo O

"So we'll see you guys tomorrow?" I asked as the boys climbed out of the car.

"You bet. Even if you don't want to," Joe grinned.

"Alright... now get out," I winked.

"Well fine then. See you tomorrow Henson. Alice," Joe nodded toward them and shut the door.

The guys were jumping up and down and throwing Twizzlers in each other's faces, laughing like little school girls.

I waited until I couldn't see them anymore before I put the car in drive and drove away.

"I'm sorry for crashing you guys. I'm usually a really good driver. I just didn't look where I was going," Alice stammered.

"Don't apologize to us. I feel sorry for you. You are going to be in the deepest kind of shit when your dad finds out," I told her, glancing in the rearview mirror.

"We can help you cover it up for a bit though," Henson assured her.

"It won't matter. He'll see it."

"Yeah, but we can buy you some time," I told her, slowing down and pulling into her driveway.

I cut the engine and we got out. I walked around to the front to assess the damage.

"Hmmm... do you have a big tarp? A twenty-foot one?" I asked Alice.

"We have a fifteen foot one. Will that work?"

"Yeah, that's fine. Where is it?"

"It's under the porch. We have bungee cords too."

"Get them both. We're gonna strap that tarp on the car," I said as she got me the stuff.

We spread the tarp over the car and hooked the bungee cords around it.

"There. No one will be able to tell... until they move the tarp. But until that happens, it's as good as new," Henson said wiping his hands on his pants.

"Okay. That's about as good as it's gonna get. Now help me in the window. I'm ready to go to bed," Alice sighed. She started mumbling to herself. I heard her say something along the lines of Uncle Lou ripping her arms off.

We reached the back of her house and gave her a boost up to her window.

"Wish me luck guys. If I go missing, my dad killed me," Alice whisper-shouted.

I giggled. Drama must run in our family.

"We'll see you later Ali," Henson waved. I waved too and she waved back, giving us a small smile before turning to crawl through her open window.

"Well," Henson whispered after a minute of standing in Ali's yard, "what do we do now?"

"I guess we go home and go to bed. It's like 1:45 in the morning, and I have a big day tomorrow with teaching brace face the art of science."

"Man, why do we have to go home? Let's walk around for a little bit," he suggested.

"Do what you want, but I'm going home. It's late and I'm tired. You know how I am when I'm ready for bed."

He sighed. "Yeah, yeah. I know. Fine, we'll go home. But we'll walk around soon, right?"

"Oh yeah, definitely," I promised. "But for now, let's go home."

"Alright," he nodded, turning to walk toward the road leading in the direction of our house.

"So out of everyone there tonight, who was your favorite?" I asked nonchalantly.

"I like them all, but Martin and Joe are my two favorites."

"Oh. Why Martin and Joe?" I asked curiously.

"Martin barfs! Over everything! Do you know how cool that is? And Joe just seems really nice and relaxed. He seems up for anything. And I don't even have to ask who your favorite is."

"Yup. It's Charles," I said snorting.

"Yeah, very funny. Hey, do you think Joe likes Alice?"

"Well duh. Even I could see that and you know I'm about as romantic as a toothpick." I rolled my eyes. "I mean, did you see the way he looked at her? And I'm pretty sure she was looking back."

"Yeah, I know what you mean. Have they ever dated?"

"I don't think so. She would have told me."

"Yeah, probably. We'll ask her tomorrow," Henson said climbing the tree next to my window. "Good night, Av."

"good night, Hen," I called up to him as he disappeared into the house.

I couldn't wait for tomorrow. I doubt it would be anything short of interesting.

If anyone would like a copy of the layout of the town, PM me and I'll send you the picture. I drew it myself, so just be aware that it isn't the best, but it is the general idea!