Chapter 11
They split up again in separate directions to locate cast members, interrogate, swap stories, and decide. Amanda and Finn nearly trampled a cast member that looked oddly familiar.
"Woah woah woah! Are you kids ok? What are you running from?" She said.
"Yeah um well… Why did the parade stop? What's going on?" They asked in turns.
"Well I'm not really supposed to… Do I know you two?" Suddenly Finn realized who she was.
"Is your name Megan?"
"What's going on here?" She whispered.
"We were the kids who got stuck in CyberSpace Mountain when it had a total engine failure. You can tell us the truth, we knew who was behind that the second it happened. We're kind of like secret agents for the parks."
"Oh… They told me what really happened but I thought they were joking…."
"Tell us what's going on."
"Alright… The parade is stopped because the villain's float is completely empty. They found the cast members tied up in their dressing rooms. And there's more. They might have to close the park early. They say it's not safe for people to be here tonight."
"Why?"
"I'm just working concessions today. I don't get the important information, but we're like a family here. Word travels fast" Megan began sweating a little. She looked extremely anxious, like she felt she was being watched. She realized from the teens serious looks that she had to continue.
"Some of the dancers from the villains show complained about the dressing rooms being too cold. And they said Loretta was acting strange. Like, really weird."
"Who's she?"
"The cast member who plays Maleficent in all of the parades, shows, and meet 'n' greets. But her makeup seemed different this show..."
Amanda and Finn faced each other. Amanda was sickly pale and quivering. Finn was equally as nervous, because unlike all the other times the Overtakers had messed around, the park was going to be full of guests for another hour or so. And it seemed like they were just warming up.
"Oh... em... gee..." Amanda murmured.
"This is going to be a long night." Finn said, peering above the crowd to look for the others.
"I've got a bad feeling..." Amanda said. Finn sent out yet another group text.
'From: Finn
'serious trouble afoot. Meet doors 2 cosmic rays'
Amanda and Jess went to get food because they could safely enter a crowd without being recognized, while the others waited anxiously for them at 2 tables pulled together. When they came back balancing numerous orders of fries, they began discussing the night's events feverishly.
"OK, so we definitely know there are Overtakers here and, they mean business." Finn announced.
"We got that, Captain Obvious." Maybeck said, ever the optimist.
"Jeez. I was just starting the conversation."
"Well we don't have time for formalities or whatever. We gotta figure out our next move and we gotta do it now."
"Fine, fair point. Alright Professor, what's our next move?" Finn asked.
"Well, we saw the pirates near the fireworks setup. We don't know if the actually did anything, but that's a lot of ordnance. We have to go watch HalloWishes and expect something to be wrong so we can pinpoint it and try to eradicate the source."
"Um..."
"Alright, so we watch the fireworks for anything suspicious and chase down whoever caused it." Strategic Willa said.
"In English, yes."
"So why don't we bring our food to the outdoors eating area? There's a perfect view of the fireworks from there." Said Charlene. They each took a plate and made their way through the glass doors. Maybeck found two clean tables and dragged one over. Philby checked his watch, and then looked through a pamphlet about the night's events.
"The fireworks start in 15 minutes. All that's left now is to wait." Finn noticed a green tinge to Amanda's face.
"Amanda, are you okay?"
"No. Jelly Beans and a burger are not a good combo, even though I technically don't have a stomach. What if I puke in my bed at Mrs. Nash's?"
"Then you'll wake up smelly." Jess said, trying to diffuse the tension.
"I'm gonna puke. Like, now." With that, she took off for the bathroom at a run.
The other girls all jumped up to follow her. When they reached the bathroom, they were greeted by a foul stench and the disgusting sound of a girl vomiting. Willa looked as if she were also about to puke.
"Oh gosh…. I can't stand the smell. Or sound. I have to go wait outside." She said, while covering her nose.
"Well we have to pair up, can you wait a minute while I check on her?" Jess pleaded.
"Fine but hurry up or it'll smell two times worse in here!" She said hurriedly, trying to breathe in as little as possible. Charlene seemed to be the only one unfazed as she was rinsing out the fangs Finn had lent her.
"Just go, I'll help her. We don't want anyone else to get sick here." She said. Jess nodded, took Willa by the arm, and left the bathroom as fast as possible. Charlene went over to the stall Amanda was hunched over in.
"How do you feel?" She asked.
"Flat out nasty. And my stomach still kinda hurts."
"Alright, I'll text the others. Rinse your mouth out, we're going to the first aid area to get you some Tums."
'From: Charlene
'manda still feels kinda funky. We r gonna get tums 1st aid. Brb'
The two girls walked out of the restroom together. When they got out the door, the sky erupted into a sea of fire. Not like fireworks, but more like fireworks gone horribly, horribly wrong. It wasn't localized to just around the castle like a scheduled show, there were flares shooting up above the entire park.
Parents gathered up their children, shouting to each other and all trying to grab a cast member. The children looked up in awe, thinking it was part of the whole event. In a matter of moments, the park's normal feel of an organized type of confusion exploded into sheer anarchy. In short, it was a ghastly mess. It was such an overwhelming display of mayhem that they girls didn't notice the spiders crawling all around them. Above the havoc, the Halloween Trick-or-Treater's version of Oogie Boogie's song was broadcast through all the speakers.
Philby's head snapped up from the old map of the park he was studying the second he caught a glimpse out of the corner of his eye. The sky had exploded into a crazy inferno, which grabbed everyone's attention. The cast members behind the counter indoors were no exception, emergency walkie talkies were whipped out but a second later.
"Woah. That's a bit excessive for a Halloween party." Finn said. Maybeck and Philby both gawked at him. He looked puzzled for a moment, then understood that this wasn't supposed to happen.
"That's a problem." Maybeck said, right as Willa and Jess came running back. "Where are the other two?" He asked.
"The smell..." Willa said with a shiver and a small gagging sound.
"She couldn't take it, she was gonna hurl too. But it's okay, Charlene's with her." Jess clarified. Their phones buzzed with Charlene's message. "And apparently they won't be back for a few minutes."
"Uh oh." Philby exclaimed. The group gave him a puzzled look. "What if lighting the sky on fire while two group members were alone wasn't a coincidence?" They all shared a terrified look.
"We gotta go look for them!" Willa pleaded.
"It's far too risky. It's a madhouse out there," Finn answered, the fireworks still raining down. "There are people everywhere. If we were to be separated for a split second, we could all be stuck in SBS."
"So what now?" Jess asked.
"We just gotta wait. We can't leave until it dies down out there. It's crazy." Maybeck said. The girls had no other options, they had been trumped. The decision was made, the group had to wait it out. When they were planning on watching for errors and tracking them down, nothing on this scale was even close to what they had imagined.
