Chapter 28 - Day 2: Camp of Horrors II

(8:30pm)

The Stoppable family, including Mary and a reluctant Canna, were all roasting marshmellows over the roaring fire pit with the cold 30 degree air settling in.

"So what time do you think we should plan the picnic for tomorrow, KS?" Ron asked, holding his stick hard.

Rufus took out his marshmellow and it was a toasty brown. "Mmm...toasty!" he squeaked took several bites of it.

Kim took out her tablet and scrolled down the schedule of the trip with her finger "We're going to plan the picnic as a brunch-type of thing. It's going to be at 9am sharp. Then, if everything goes well, we're going to visit Mt. Rushmore and Bear Country USA afterwards."

"Alrighty! Sounds like a bon-diggety plan to me!" Ron replied, not realizing that he put his marshmellow too close to the flame.

"And then tommorow night, we will be a few hours without the kids at the Red Dog Nightclub where we can do some...adult things, if you know what I mean." Kim naughtily whispered in Ron's ear.

"I know what you mean by that, Kim!" Ron smirked.

Kim then looked at Canna and asked, "Is there something bothering you?"

"Yeah, you twerps..." Canna huffed at them.

"Now, now!" Mary said, trying to play peacemaker, "Can you two please calm down? I'm sensing a lot of hostility between the both of you!"

"Well, she started it!" Canna shouted.

"Do you want me to leave you behind, Canna?" Kim questioned, snapping at her.

Canna relented, knowing that she had to stay with the Stoppables as a part of Bonnie's plan.

"No..." she muttered.

"Good. Now let us sit down as one happy Stoppable family and..." Kim said before noticing Ron's marshmallow.

The redhead then exclaimed, "RON! YOUR MARSHMALLOW IS ON FIRE!"

Ron screamed and flung the still-flaming marshmallow off his stick. It landed onto a grassy field where it quickly extinguished.

"Whew...that's one crises out of the way." he said.

Rufus also sighed

Kim nodded her head...and then began to smell something.

"Ron, you smell that?" she asked, "It smells like something burning."

"KS, we're right around a campfire." Ron retorted, pointing to the fire, "Of course it smells like something burning."

"No, Ron. It smells like..."

And then she turned around and saw the interior of the beleagured camper...with smoke billowing out from the windows!

"What the HELL?" Kim exclaimed. "The camper is ON FIRE!"

"OH NO! OUR SUPPLY OF NACOS FOR THE VACATION ARE IN THERE!" Ron screamed in agony.

"You actually bought Nacos for the trip?" Kim questioned, glaring at Ron. "And how, may I ask, did it not get trashed by the animals?"

"That is in the case if me and Rufus get the munchies when there's no Bueno Nacho around." Ron answered his wife. "To answer question number two, we have a secret compartment to keep the Nacos fresh. Only I know the combination to the compartment."

"Ron, don't tell me that you're going to risk life and limb for the Nacos..." Kim groaned.

Ron took a deep breath.

"KS...I'm going to do this!"

And with that, he rushed into the vehicle. Rufus chittered with worry, thinking his owner would perish.

Thankfully, Ron returned with three sacks of Nacos from Bueno Nacho that he had stored in the aforementioned compartment. He was compeltely fine, aside from a few smoke stains on his clothes.

"See? What did I tell you, KS?" he proclaimed.

Flames then poured forth from the camper. And to make matters worse, the rocks under the camper gave way.

"Oh great...that is definitely not a good sitch..." Kim sighed. The burning camper broke away from the trailer hitch as it slid down the slope into a grassy field. The Stoppables could only watch as it wheeled away 1500 feet away from them and then came to a complete stop.

"Don't worry..." Ron said, confiding in himself, "...it's not like the thing is going to explode or anything."

And just as he said this, a loud explosion blew the camper up.

"Tell me, Ron. How many filled propane tanks did you put in the camper?" Kim asked.

"Um...three?" Ron nervously replied before two more loud explosions destroyed more of the camper and set fire all around the grass field.

"Yeah...you may want to explain that to the fire department..." Kim muttered before hearing fire sirens in the distance.

_

(1 hour of explanations later)

The fire chief of Rapid City sighed, "Mrs. Stoppable, I'd wish if you had parked your camper properly. It reeked of trash."

His firefighters were still fighting the blaze of what was left of the camper.

"I thought I did!" Kim complained.

"Did you know what started the blaze?" the chief asked.

"I don't know." Kim said, "I was preparing a campfire with my family with roasting marshmellows and all. That couldn't have started the fire inside that camper."

"On the bright side, though..." Ron interjected, "...the minivan only suffered slight burns on the hatch!"

The chief took one look at the Stoppable-mobile and scoffed, "Really? You're going to drive all through South Dakota in that...thing?"

Kim and Ron nodded their heads.

"OK..." the chief replied, shrugging his shoulders, "...your loss."

"Good thing that no one was harmed in the camper!" Ron said.

The chief then added. "Oh and we found this in the camper." It was the charred skeleton of a raccoon.

A camera drone captured everything and flew out from sight.

(1 more hour later)

As the last of the fire engines pulled away, the flames on the charred camper have all but been extinguished.

"Well, that was fun!" Ron quipped.

"More fun than I would like to have in one night, Ron." Kim muttered, leering her eyes at her husband.

"Now that we've got no camper..." Ron said "...I'll have no choice but to move Mary and Canna to the third row in the van."

Kim dropped her jaw in disbelief.

"Ron...you CAN'T be THAT serious!"

"Note serious face here, KS!" Ron said, pointing to his face.

"I cannot have Miss Potty-Mouth here be a bad influence on the kids!" Kim pointed out.

"Why not put duct-tape on her mouth. That'll stop the cusses." Ron suggested.

"No...it'd be too obvious for the cops!" Kim replied, "And speaking of which, where are the kids?"

"We put them back in the cabin with Rufus while the investigation was going on." Ron replied.

"What about Mary and Canna?" Kim questioned.

"I think they're still outside." Ron replied while whipping out his smartphone. "Lemme see if I can send a text to Mary." He then texted Mary the following:

Can you come back to the cabin?

Immediately, he got a reply from her.

We're on our way.

(9:55pm)

Mary and Canna were on the other side of the cabin, right where the picnic tables were.

"Ugh...why do the Stoppables make a mess out of everything they touch?" Mary asked.

Canna scoffed, "Duh...because they ARE Stoppables! Why else do you think bad luck happens to them?"

Mary then received the text from Ron.

"Canna, we need to get back to them." she insisted.

"I'll catch you up in a few minutes." Canna said, "Just gotta finish sending something first."

"OK." was the reply she got from Mary when she left her best friend alone.

Canna grinned evily and sent the text.

"I'm coming!" she called out.

(10pm)

Bonnie received the text from Canna and began to laugh from the photos of the flaming camper.

"Oh yes! This is delicious seeing all that destruction from their campsite!" she grinned maliciously. "But the worst for them is yet to come!"

She rubbed her hands in glee as one of her tech-savy servants came in.

"Your Majesty, the camera drones and the self-driving paparazzi vans are ready!"

"Good! Send them out later on tonight. If you, by any chance, see any humiliating moment of K, take it but do not send it out on social media...yet."

"Yes, Your Majesty!" the servant replied before he exited.

She chuckled, "Oh poor Kimberly Ann...let's see how you deal with my contributions to your sad shit-sack of a vacation!"

Bonnie laughed maniacally, staring at the camera drone footage.
_

Kim inspected the damage the fire did to the minivan, which was a couple of burn marks on the rear hatch.

She growled, "I just have no words sometimes..."

"KS, can this vehicle make it to the Lipskys on Thursday?" Ron asked about the state of the vehicle.

"Ron, it's no big! It'll get us there!" Kim scoffed.

"I don't think it can." Ron replied, pointing to the busted windows.

But Kim interrupted him, "Excuse me, but you still haven't forgotten my family motto, right?"

"Anything is Possible for a Possible?" Ron guessed.

Kim proclaimed with an evil grin, "Precisely. This vehicle will not only make it to the Lipskys but will make it through the entire South Dakota trip!"

Ron gulped hard but didn't say anything more.

(11:45pm)

After putting the kids to sleep in the other room of the cabin, Ron went to the bedroom where his wife was at.

"I sure hope you put the picnic food in the fridge." Kim said. She was in her pajamas and in bed.

"It should be in there, along with the lemon squares from Nana's old cookbook." Ron said while brushing his teeth.

"Ron, the lemon squares are intended for Thanksgiving at the Lipskys." Kim replied, "Didn't I tell you this before?"

"I think you did...maybe." Ron said, spitting out the toothpaste into the sink below.

"Yes, I did. It is very important that they get there unharmed." Kim insisted.

Ron got into bed as well.

"Good night, KS!" he said with a smile, giving a kiss to his wife on the lips.

"And good night to you too as well, Ron!" Kim replied sweetly as she turned out the lights, hugging Ron.

Then, she began to snore...loudly. Ron shuddered at this thought, trying to drown out the sound with earplugs.

Unknown to them, however, was a couple of vandals creeping up to their minivan.