CHAPTER TWO:

Blow Out

Chloe let out a laugh as she aimed her camera out the window and at the monster. A chorus of laughter came from her and Pete, both glancing at each other with tears in their eyes as they shared their mirth.

"That was awesome!" Chloe gasped between breaths. Lex nodded, grinning as he chuckled.

"Didn't expect that," he muttered under his breath as he looked at the front of the car to Lana and Clark, Lana having bumped up against Clark's chest. He looked back at Lex and shrugged, not knowing how to handle it much less react to it.

"Lana - uh…it's okay. It's just a -"

"Robot!" she said as she sat back in her seat and tossed her dark hair behind her shoulder. "I can't believe I was that stupid!"

"Hey, I was pretty freaked out," Pete said as he wiped a tear from his eye. "But you have to admit, the look on you guys' faces were priceless! Did you get that, Chloe?"

Chloe turned the camera towards her and spoke into it.

"Sure did. Chloe Chronicles fans, that was the most amazing thing that's happened on this trip yet. I say we head over to this Horrorland and see what the screams are all about."

"No, Chloe," Clark started as he put the car into drive and started to turn around. "We have to get to Universal before sunset."

"Oh, come on!" Chloe pleaded with him, leaning up towards them, separating him from Lana. "We have to go there! It's just a few miles down the road, please!"

Pete nodded fervently.

"Aw man, come on, Clark! This will be awesome! Just for a few hours at least. We haven't stretched our legs in ages!"

Clark was going to continue to drive in the opposite direction, but Lex intervened.

"How about it, Clark?" he started, breaking the pleading party up. "I'll pay for everything. Just for a few hours, can't hurt. Besides, Universal is probably a long ways from here."

Clark looked over at Lana. She still appeared ruffled and was starting to catch her breath. The monster that had jumped out at them had been all green, like a walking corpse, with horns reminiscent of a ram's on its head. Large yellow eyes had glared at them as the mouth opened to reveal a row of razor-sharp teeth like a shark's.

Turning back to Lex, he shrugged.

"You guys really want to?"

"Yes!" they all said together. All except Lana.

"I really don't want to go anywhere scary," she said simply.

"Oh, come on, Lana." Pete tried to persuade her. "You and Clark can sit at a table or something and get some lunch while we go exploring. What do you say?"

There was a moment of silence, then Lana nodded.

"Okay, I guess. Food sounds good. My stomach has been growling for the past two hours…"

With that said, Clark turned the car back around and started past the billboard towards the theme park called Horrorland.

It didn't take long to get there. After driving for five minutes, the superstructures of a roller coaster and ferris wheel came into view. Soon enough the gates of the park slid above the horizon and the parking lot quickly greeted them.

Stopping the car, Clark looked up to see a massive fence surrounding the park. The top of it had barbed wire coiling around and flashing red lights every so often. It reminded Clark of something pulled out of the movie Jurassic Park.

"Aw man! This is awesome!" Chloe and Pete said together as they both got out of the car.

It didn't take long for the others to do the same and they all congregated at the entrance. Clark locked the doors just to be safe before he joined them. He didn't know why; they were in the middle of nowhere and there were only about five cars in the whole entire lot. But he just felt safer that way. He couldn't easily dismiss the deep feeling of unease that had made home in his stomach over the past few hours.

"Can we go in?" Pete asked as he watched Lex pull out his wallet.

"I don't have any cash on me. Hope they take Visa. Or a check."

"I'm sure they will," Chloe said as she grabbed Pete by the arm and dragged him over to what appeared to be the entrance. The others followed slowly.

"Clark," Lana began as she fanned her neck with her hand. "Can't we just wait in the car?"

Clark was about to ask if the others would go ahead without them when a giant explosion rocked the parking lot. Blasts of heat hit the group in waves as a cloud of dark smoke rose from billowing torrents of fire where Lana's SUV had once sat.

"What!" Lana yelled as she rushed towards the flames. "What happened to my car!"

Clark hurried and stopped her.

"No, Lana!"

She seemed hysterical. Tears burst from her eyes as she watched the wreckage of her brand new car smoldering in a heap before her.

"Oh my gosh!" Chloe said as she turned the camera towards the fire. "Did you see that?"

"Holy crap!" Lex exclaimed as he reached into his pocket. Feeling around, he felt his cell phone and sighed. "Don't worry. My cell's okay. We can call the chopper."

Pete stood next to him as he pulled out the phone, flipping it open.

Trying to dial the number, Lex frowned in frustration.

"What the Hell…"

"What is it, Lex?" Clark asked as he calmed Lana down.

"My batteries. They're almost dead. Can't get a good signal…not enough bars. This is like one freaking sci-fi movie."

Chloe walked over to Lana and put a hand on her shoulder.

"Lana, it'll be okay. Let's go inside and see if we can't find a phone that works or something. I'm sure there's help inside."

Lana nodded, wiping away the tears.

"Sure…okay…"

"Man," Pete started as he walked astride Clark. "What do you think did that to the car?"

Clark looked back, squinting. Soon enough he could see through the metal of the wreckage. There appeared to be nothing abnormal about the vehicle. Everything was where it should be. No bombs or anything. It just looked like it had combusted.

"I don't know, Pete. Maybe the heat or something. Fumes…"

"This is some crazy stuff…" Pete replied as they made their way up to the ticket booth at the entrance. It was surrounded by a large fence that connected to the barbed-wire one. A man in a green costume similar to the animatronic one on the billboard was seated in the window.

"Well, hello," he started as he pushed a button on the desk. "Come to see the park?"

Clark shook his head.

"Our car just exploded! Didn't you see -?"

"Oh dear," the horror said as he shook his head. "So sorry. Don't know why that happened…"

"Do you have any phones we can use?" Lex asked as he held up his cell phone.

"Phones? Oh no, there're no phones in the park. I'm sorry. Park regulations you know."

"Park regulations?" Pete shot out. "What do you mean?"

"I am sorry," the horror went on. "We can't have phones in the park. It defeats the illusion. Why don't you all go inside and get something to eat, maybe have a little fright?"

Chloe nodded, pulling her camera out.

"Sure, can we? There must be a phone somewhere…"

"Yeah. Probably paid to say that line, right?" Lex started, but the horror said nothing. Pulling out his visa card, Lex handed it through the hole in the plexi-glass and started. "You guys take Visa?"

The horror shook his head and pushed the silver card back to Lex.

"Oh no, everything's free today."

"What?"

The horror smiled, or at least Clark thought it was a smile.

"Everything's free. Go on in and have some fun."

Chloe and Pete grinned.

"Awesome!"

"Guys, I don't know…" Clark started, but when they looked back for the horror, he had disappeared from the window.

"Wait, where'd he go?" Lex asked as he looked across the counter towards the back.

"Probably out a trap door or something to scare us," Pete suggested.

Clark glanced down at Lana.

"You okay with this?"

Lana nodded.

"Sure. Let's just get something to eat and then find a phone. I'm really hot out here."

"Okay. Let's go find some shade."

And with that, they started into the park where their worst nightmares were about to take place.