Chapter 47
"This is our last night here at this hotel," Static said, sitting down on one of the beds. "We should do something fun before we have to leave!"
"Like what?" Fidget asked her.
"Go to the Laundromat and watch the dry cycle?" Zigzag suggested sarcastically. "Iris is a small town, baby," he said, sitting down beside Static and putting his arm around her shoulders. "There's nothin' to do here for fun except maybe go to Bingo night at the retirement center."
After going and admiring the large dent Chase's blow had made in the door of room 25 all of D tent, except for Squid and Chase, were lounging about in room 34, with nothing to do but lye there.
"There's gotta be something to do," Twitch said, too bored to twitch very frantically.
Fidget shrugged her shoulders. "There's not much out here but corn fields and long, flat roads, as far as the eye can see." She was propped up against one of the hotel dressers, sitting behind Twitch as she obliviously unfolded and refolded his shirt collar.
"We could go run through a cornfield!" Magnetic said, raising her eyebrows. "In complete darkness!"
"We could go run naked through a cornfield," Magnet said grinning. "In complete darkness."
"Oh God," Lei said, rolling her eyes.
"How 'bout the girls just run naked through the cornfields and we'll watch?" Armpit laughed.
"Ooh! I like that idea!" Magnet cried.
"I wouldn't argue to that idea myself," Zigzag said, running his fingers down Static's shoulder.
Zero couldn't help laughing, even when Zippy stared crossly at him.
"Oh shut up you guys!" Rogue cried.
X-ray stopped laughing obediently.
"Besides," Rogue said, raising her left eyebrow. "How about we have Magnet go out there and run through the cornfields naked!"
At this the girls started cracking up.
"Ooh!!!" Magnetic cried.
"Sucks to be you man!" Zigzag said, laughing.
Magnet grinned sheepishly. "Oh yeah, I bet you would like that wouldn't you Magnetic?" he said, winking at her.
"Oh my God!" she groaned, rolling her eyes.
"Be careful out there Magnet," Rogue said, winking back at him. "It's kind'a chilly: you wouldn't want anything to shrink now would you?"
Magnet rolled his eyes, not being able to think of a witty comeback.
"Ooh." Zigzag laughed. "They got you now man!"
"We should go get Chase before we do anything exciting!" Zippy cried.
"And Squid!" Zigzag cried.
"Squid has a hangover right now," Lei said. "Do you really think he would be able to participate in anything exciting tonight?"
"Hey, that reminds me," Armpit said. "We should all get drunk before we do anything at all."
"What?" Lei cried. "Why would we wanna do a stupid thing like that?"
"To get stupider," Twitch said excitedly.
"Yeah," Armpit agreed. "And, if we do get drunk that means we'll have more fun tonight and we won't remember a thing tomorrow."
"I don't think so," Lei said, shaking her head.
"Come on," Armpit urged. "It'll be just like that time we broke the bench: you were all nervous to get on the bench but after you did everything turned out fine!"
But Lei still looked reluctant. "If we all get drunk how are we supposed to walk home tomorrow? None of us will be feeling up to leaving the hotel."
This seemed to stump Armpit.
"We won't drink that much," Zigzag said smiling: he looked as if he already was drunk!
"I wanna drink something!" Zippy cried lunging forth to the bed and staring wide-eyed at Static, Zigzag and Lei. "Oh wait!" she cried, jumping back to her feet. "I'm gonna go get Chase before we do anything!" And with that she raced from the room leaving everyone else speechless.
"Chase! Chase!" Zippy called as she zoomed down the hall. She only slowed down when she was a few inches from a white door with the golden numbers 31 nailed to the top of it. Slowly, Zippy turned the doorknob, opened the door, and stepped inside.
Chase was still sitting in a chair beside the bed where Squid slept. Her head was resting on the edge of the bed and her hand was still in Squid's. Her breath was soft as she snoozed beside Squid and Zippy was hesitant to wake her. But Zippy couldn't let Chase miss out on the party the others were brewing, and so as quietly as she could, she tiptoed forward and tapped Chase on the shoulder.
"Chase," she whispered. "Chase, wake up."
Chase's eyes opened almost immediately and she sat up and looked about in a dazed manor.
"Chase come on," Zippy whispered. "Me and the others are gonna go out and about or something."
"Huh?" Chase asked sleepily.
"You have to come Chase," Zippy said. "Come on." She grabbed Chase by the hand and gently pulled her away from the chair. "Let's go," Zippy said quietly, directing Chase towards the door.
"But what about Squid?" Chase asked.
"He's too sick to come," Zippy said as she and Chase stepped into the hall and closed the door behind them. "Besides, he's sound asleep."
"Well so was I," Chase said sarcastically. "But you seemed to have no trouble barging in on me and waking me up."
Zippy grinned broadly. "Oh, you complain too much!" she said.
The two girls walked down the hall a ways until they came to room 34. Zippy opened the door, bounded inside and shouted, "Merry Christmas!" But no one answered. There were no lights in room 34 and it seemed pretty empty.
Zippy looked about in confusion. "Guys?" she asked.
Chase stepped inside behind Zippy and flipped the light switch. There was no D tent member to be found.
"Guys, this isn't funny," Zippy said, opening the closet before checking under the beds. "Where'd they go?" she asked, emerging from beneath the bed.
"Are you sure we're in the right room?" Chase asked.
"This is room thirty-four, isn't it?" Zippy asked slowly.
Chase stepped back into the hall for a second and came back nodding her head.
"Then where the heck did they all go? I was just here a second ago and everyone was laying around!"
"They could be downstairs," Chase suggested.
"Ah," Zippy said, nodding her head in a logical way. She motioned for Chase to follow as she walked out the door and headed for the stairs.
The restaurant was completely empty, as was the lobby. Zippy furrowed her brow and placed her hands on her hips as she and Chase stood in the middle of the lobby, surrounded by an unsettling silence. Finally, when there seemed to be no other apparent solution, Zippy marched forth to the receptionist's desk.
Tonight there was a different woman leaning back in the receptionist's chair: a plump, middle aged woman with large, leopard print glasses and a head of curly brown hair. Above her lip was an unpleasant looking brow spot that Zippy assumed as either a badly drawn beauty mark, or a very big mole. The woman was loudly smacking away at her gum as she turned the pages of a magazine with her sickly long, crimson nails.
"Ah-hem!" Zippy coughed loudly.
The woman nearly glanced up before looking back at her magazine.
So Zippy tried again. "Ah-hem-hem-hem-hem-hem!" Chase was worried her friend might be choking. "Excuse me!" Zippy cried.
The woman blew a large bubble with her gum before rolling her aged, brown eyes onto Zippy. "Yes?" she snapped.
Zippy smiled curtly-or, a little too curtly-and said in an overly sweet voice. "I'm TERRIBLY sorry to bother you ma'am, but I just HAD to ask you a question! You see I was just wondering if you'd be ever so kind as to inform me the answer I desire?"
The new receptionist looked up at Zippy as if she was dog poop that could walk.
But Zippy went on. "Please tell me," she said. "Have you seen any group of teenagers parade through this room in the last few minutes?"
The woman popped another bubble before leaning back further in her chair, finally, as Chase and Zippy were beginning to get impatient, the woman spoke in a snide voice. "You mean have I seen a tall gangly boy with a head too big for his body; another boy that seriously needs to cut off on the Twinkies; a couple of shrimps; a girl who needs to brush her hair; and a bunch of other kids who appeared to have death wishes?"
Zippy's smile seemed to grow into a grimace.
"Yeah, I saw them parade past," the woman said, sneering at Zippy. "And now I'd like you to scadadle as well, Miss Congeniality; I've got a lot of work to do and I don't need to be sidetracked by your fakey attitude and dolled up face, capiche?" The woman opened her magazine and went right back to reading it.
Zippy's eyes grew wide as she'd been aroused with anger. She turned on her heal and headed towards the front door Chase lagging behind.
But just before they made it to the doors, Chase slowed her pace and said loudly, "I hope that wart on your face wasn't intentional."
In the window reflection Zippy could see the plump woman slowly touch the brown spot above her lip, a look of utter bewilderment on her face. Zippy walked out of the hotel completely satisfied.
The air was warm but for a pleasant breeze that lightly blew throughout the little town of Iris. The sky was midnight blue even though it was only around eight o'clock, and the only light was cast down by a couple of lamp posts here and there, the silvery stars that were cast about the sky, and the huge moon that seemed to smile down upon the earth.
Chase and Zippy groped about through the night, waiting for their eyes to adjust as they searched for the rest of the gang.
"They wouldn't really have gone running through the cornfields, would they?" Zippy asked.
Chase paused in bewilderment. "Huh?"
"Maybe they ended up forcing Magnet to go streaking after all?" Zippy suggested, more to herself than Chase.
"WHAT?!" Chase cried: the thought of Magnet running around naked at that very moment was unbearable in Chase's opinion.
"Or they could have gone to a liquor store to get alcohol-though I can't see why the clerk at the liquor store would allow them to buy anything, none of them are over twenty-one," Zippy stood, draped in the light of a street lamp as she thought aloud. "Perhaps the clerk is a younger guy and they'll bribe him to let them buy liquor by having Magnetic dance on the counter or something."
Chase's eyes grew wider than they had been a few seconds ago; what the heck was Zippy talking about? Had so much really happened in those few hours that Chase had been sleeping beside Squid?
"Zippy! Chase! Over here!"
It was Fidget, hurrying forth out of the darkness and grabbing both Chase and Zippy by the arms and pulling them towards the road.
"Where have you guys been?" Zippy asked as she stumbled along with Fidget's excited speed.
"Sorry we left like that," Fidget said without answering Zippy's real question. "Armpit and some of the other guys were anxious to leave and Zero thought it would be funny to hide from you but the rest of us wanted to wait for you. But of coarse we were outnumbered and the guys kind'a dragged us from the room and pulled us out here!"
"Where's here," Chase asked.
"Here!" Fidget suddenly came to an abrupt stop. They were standing on the other side of the road, hidden from the street lamp's light. The breeze was more forceful here and it whistled softly as it blew through the dark field to their left. Far off in the distance, on the other side of the field was a grove of spiny, twisted trees that Zippy supposed as apple trees or something. And, further down the road, was a field of tall, tall grasses that cast ghostly shadows across the ground. Chase wondered if these grasses were the cornstalks in the cornfield Zippy had been talking about.
A shiver ran up Chase's spine as she stood there, gazing upon the dimly lit scene about her. She wondered where the others were and prayed to God that they were ALL fully clothed just as Fidget was.
"Hey guys," Static said out of nowhere, making Zippy and Chase nearly jump out of their skin. "Glad you two could finally join us."
Zippy laughed nervously. "Yeah, me too."
"Come on," Static said, her face just barely lit by the moonlight. "Everyone's waiting."
She started walking towards the cornfield, Fidget grinning like a jack 'o lantern as she followed, gesturing for Chase and Zippy to tag along as well.
"Wait," Chase said, hurrying to stay by Static's side. "Magnet is still wearing his clothes, isn't he?"
"Last time I saw him he was," Static replied. "Why?"
Chase shrugged her shoulders. "I have no idea," she replied.
"Is Zero naked?" Zippy asked excitedly as she hopped along at Chase's side.
"I wouldn't get your hopes up," Static said, shaking her head.
The four girls hurried on in silence after that, until the terrain became rougher and the grasses in the field began appearing taller. Finally, they turned off of the road and clambered down into a dark thicket surrounded by corn stalks. The earth was bumpy and covered in footsteps, bearing the appearance of being trodden on within the last few minutes. But there was no one to be found, which seemed to come as a surprise to Static and Fidget. In fact, the only thing left behind was a small package full of dark objects that were unidentifiable in the dim light.
"Oh crap," Static said under her breath. "I was worried they might run away like this."
"So what are we gonna do now?" Chase asked, her wrapping her arms around herself against the breeze.
"Exactly what they want us to do, I guess," Static replied, placing her hands on her hips. "We're gonna follow them into the cornfield."
"It's like a maze inside there," Fidget said, practically ripping at her braids. "We'll probably get lost."
Static didn't have an answer to this.
"What are these?" Zippy asked, picking up the mysterious package that had been left behind.
"Those are fireworks!" Fidget cried, her eyes getting big with wonder.
"Yeah," Static said, walking over to peer down at the package as well. "We bought two packages so they must have taken the other one along."
"Maybe they're gonna leave clues along the way!" Zippy said, just as excitedly as Fidget.
"Yeah!" Fidget cried. "It'll be just like Scooby-Doo!"
"Yeah!" Zippy agreed.
Chase and Static didn't get it.
"Come on!" Fidget cried, moving towards the dark stalks. "Let's get a move on!"
"But Fidg," Static said reluctantly. "Even if they did leave clues behind how are we gonna see them? It's really dark out here."
"Oh quit worrying!" Fidget cried, grabbing Zippy's hand again and pulling her towards the corn stalks as well. "If I remember correctly it was YOU and YOUR boyfriend who were dying to have some fun tonight. Well, here's the fun!"
"Yeah," Static muttered under her breath so only Chase could hear. "But I never said I wanted my boyfriend to go and have fun while he scares the crap out of me."
"Well I don't even get ta' do anything with the guy I like," Chase said. "He's asleep."
"Come on you two!" Fidget cried as she disappeared into the maze of corn stalks.
"Chickens!" Zippy called as she too stepped out of their vision, her chicken imitations getting fainter and fainter as she moved further away.
"Well, I guess there's no turning back now," Chase said shrugging as she walked through the corn stalks as well, Static following closely behind.
The corn field was cut out just like one of those mazes they create for Halloween, only this one looked as though it hadn't been trimmed for years as it was littered with loads of weeds and even some tiny stalks of corn that had just begun to grow. It was a dangerous path the girls had to take as they kept tripping and stumbling over roots and rocks. The darkness didn't help either and though the maze was a little brighter than the thicket it was still hard to see around.
"They better not have gone very far," Static warned as she pulled a twig out of her shoe.
Fidget giggled. "It's spooky out here!" she said, wiggling her fingers in the air.
"It's cold," Chase said, shivering. "I wish Squid was here. That'd be nice."
"Well I wish Zero was here!" Zippy huffed. She was leading the way along with Fidget only she didn't seem as excited as Fidget anymore.
"Has anyone seen any clue yet?" Static asked tiredly. "This is just getting stupid."
"No," Fidget replied. "I guess this isn't so much like Scooby-Doo."
"Yeah," Zippy agreed. Both girls smiled at each other for a second and then burst out singing the Scooby-Doo theme song.
"Oh God," Chase groaned. "I hope you guys know that you're going to scare the crap out of the others if they hear you."
"Duh!" Zippy cried, she and Fidget started laughing.
"This is getting really boring," Chase moaned. "It feels like we've been walking for hours!"
"Oh, don't worry," Static said. "I'm sure we'll find them soon. They would be so cruel as to-"
But Chase never found out what the others wouldn't be cruel enough to do as just at that moment there came a blood curdling scream that exploded throughout the silence and echoed off the sky.
"Who was that?" Zippy barely whispered as she and the others had gone completely rigid.
"There it is again!" Fidget squealed as the piercing scream sounded again.
"The boys must just be playing pranks on the girls," Chase suggested, though her voice was shaky and no where near reassuring.
There were a few moments silence, while the four of them just stood there, not daring to move, when all of a sudden a dark figure jumped out of the corn stalks behind them and fell to the ground in a dramatic collapse.
Zippy couldn't stop screaming.
"Magnetic?" Static asked, pulling Magnetic to her feet.
Magnetic was cracking up and could hardly stand with her laughter. "You were all SO scared!" she gasped. "Ha! Ha! That was so-ha!-hilarious! I gotta try that more often!"
"Shut up Magnetic!" Zippy cried, she'd really been freaked out.
"Well sorry!" Magnetic cried, still laughing. "But really!"
"Where are the others?" Chase asked, glaring up at Magnetic.
But Magnetic only shrugged. "No clue?" she said. "They left me behind a while ago and that's when I heard you guys coming."
"Oh great," Static grumbled. "So they are really far ahead."
"Well there's only one way we're ever gonna catch up to them!" Fidget said, beginning to skip over the ground again. "Keep going!"
"Fun," Chase groaned.
"Zero had better give me a HUGE kiss when I find him," Zippy said sourly as she began to trudge onwards again.
* * *
Squid opened his eyes to a dark room that was almost completely silent. He sat up slowly and watched the room spin before his eyes once before his vision adjusted to the faint lamp light coming from the curtained window. He looked around for a second, feeling a little lost and confused, when he finally realized what was missing from the room. Chase was gone.
Guessing that she was probably off in some other room with the rest of D tent Squid didn't worry about her absence as he climbed out of bed and shuffled over to the bathroom. Once there, he leaned forward against the bathroom sink and gazed tiredly into the mirror. He looked ill, very ill. His dark eyes were surrounded by circles a shade darker than his normal skin color and he looked back at himself with a sort of dizzy expression. His face looked drained of it's normal color and as he stood, propped up against the counter, his fingers shook violently.
He turned the sink on and splashed his face with the cool water a couple times before straightening up again and wavering on the spot as the pain returned to his head. He hurried out of the bathroom and was about to climb back into bed when he heard the sound of a car's tires screeching across the parking lot outside as it parked before the hotel.
Deciding he'd like to have a look, Squid paused before the window for a moment and pulled back the curtain. Outside an oddly familiar red colored truck had been parked and two dark figures were climbing out of the front seat, talking in tired voices. As Squid squinted through the darkness he could only make out that the figure who'd been in the driver's seat was a woman and the figure that had been in the passenger's seat was either a kid, or a very short man.
* * *
"My feet hurt!" Magnetic groaned. "I have so many stupid rocks in my shoes that it's not even funny!"
"Will you just SHUT UP!?" Chase cried. "You're annoying the crap out of me!"
"Aw, this ain't so bad guys!" Fidget cried brightly. "Just keep thinkin' about your boyfriends waiting for you on the other side of this cornfield."
"I don't have a boyfriend," Magnetic said darkly.
"My boyfriend's back at the hotel," Chase grumbled.
"OH! So you admit he's your boyfriend!" Zippy cried.
Everyone stared silently at her.
"Anyway," Static said. "Even when we do get over to the other side of this cornfield the guys are probably gonna scare the shit out of us!"
"That'd be messy," Chase said quietly.
Zippy started cracking up to everyone's (but Chase's) confusion.
"Well at least the guys love us!" Fidget said happily.
"I don't have a boyfriend," Magnetic repeated even more darkly.
"Oh don't worry Maggi!" Fidget said, putting her arms around Magnetic's shoulders even though Magnetic was a lot taller than Fidget. "There are plenty of fish in the sea!"
"Don't touch me," Magnetic said.
"Yeah, MAGGI!" Chase said with a laugh. "If you and Magnet never work things out there's always Armpit!"
"WHAT!?" Magnetic cried, racing over to attack Chase.
"Did someone say my name?"
Zippy shrieked again and if she were a cartoon character Chase had the feeling she'd be jumping up into Fidget's arms in a second.
"Armpit, are you trying to give us a heart attack!?" Static cried as Armpit emerged from behind the cornstalks.
"Maybe," Armpit said smiling, then, walking up to Magnetic, he added, "Hey baby!"
"Ew! Get away from me sicko!" Magnetic said, shoving Armpit aside.
"Well this is just stupid!" Static yelled. "We're just aimlessly walking through this stupid maze as we freeze and every few minutes another person jumps out and scares me practically to death! I HATE THIS AND I JUST WANNA GO BACK TO THE HOTEL-"
Static shrieked as her jumpsuit pants were suddenly yanked to the ground, exposing her blue underwear.
"OH MY GOD!" she screamed as she frantically tried to pull her pants back up.
Zigzag came tumbling out of the cornstalks, laughing hysterically.
"Ooh, sexy mama!" Magnet said as he too stumbled forth from the cornstalks.
"Hello Static!" Zigzag said brightly as he lay on the ground smiling up at Static.
"I'm going to kill you!" she cried as she pinned him to the ground.
"Oh God," Magnetic said. "You guys are such jerks."
"We're just havin' a little fun chica," Magnet said grinning at her. "But you might wanna watch your back."
"Oh please," she groaned.
"Hey guys!" Twitch said excitedly as he, Zero, Lei, and Rogue emerged from the depths of the field as well. To Zippy's dismay, Zero was not naked.
"Where have you guys been?" Fidget asked as she bounded off to greet Twitch.
"We found the perfect place to set off the fireworks!" Zero said grinning as Zippy came up and wrapped her arm around him.
"Ooh! Where?" Fidget asked.
"Come on," Rogue said. "We'll take you to it! It's at the edge of the corn maze." She started walking back in the direction she'd just come from.
Zigzag, who'd been smothered in dirt by Static, now jumped to his feet and pulled Static into his arms. "It's a great place," he said, starting to walk along behind Rogue. "It overlooks all the fields and everything!"
"Come on guys!" Twitch said, joining the parade and pulling Fidget along with him.
If Chase, Zippy, Static, Fidget, and Magnetic had just walked a little bit further through the maze they would have easily found the others and they would have avoided that little scene where Static had been embarrassingly pantsed, but no, it hadn't worked out that way. The spot the other's had reserved as 'the perfect spot to set off the fireworks' was beautiful. It was a cleared out ledge that looked over the entire valley of fields, just as Zigzag had said. It also was exposed to the beautiful, clear sky, and from that ledge you could see billions and billions of stars as the moon swallowed you up in it's silvery light.
"Wow," Fidget said, her eyes growing wide as she took in the whole landscape before her.
"It's awesome isn't it?" Twitch asked her.
She nodded her head slowly in return.
"How'd you guys find this?" Static asked.
"We followed the maze," Zigzag replied logically.
"I wonder what would happen if you fell down there?" Zippy asked as she and Zero kneeled at the end of the ledge and peered down into the darkness below.
"You would be in serious need of an ambulance," Zero said smiling.
"Alright," Zigzag said, picking up the other package of fireworks that he'd left at the ledge when they'd gone back for the rest of the girls. "Who's got the other package of fireworks?"
"Here!" Zippy said, tossing him the second package.
"Okay," Zigzag said. "Now who's got the matches?" he asked as he pulled a box of matches from his pocket.
"Have you just been carrying those around with you this ENTIRE time?" Lei asked as she sat down against a rock.
Zigzag shrugged his shoulders as he opened the firework package. "Maybe," he said.
Chase sat down along with the others, Zippy at her side. They all watched eagerly as Zigzag lit the first firework, nameless as it was too dark to read the labeling on the little cylinder tube. When the fuse was lit Zigzag hurried aside to cuddle up beside Static, and everyone watched in a comfortable silence as the firework exploded bright, fiery colors into the night.
If Squid could have, he would have enjoyed sitting there on the ledge watching the beautiful fireworks along with everyone else, but at the moment, he was too occupied with the two people who'd emerged from the little red truck.
"This is our last night here at this hotel," Static said, sitting down on one of the beds. "We should do something fun before we have to leave!"
"Like what?" Fidget asked her.
"Go to the Laundromat and watch the dry cycle?" Zigzag suggested sarcastically. "Iris is a small town, baby," he said, sitting down beside Static and putting his arm around her shoulders. "There's nothin' to do here for fun except maybe go to Bingo night at the retirement center."
After going and admiring the large dent Chase's blow had made in the door of room 25 all of D tent, except for Squid and Chase, were lounging about in room 34, with nothing to do but lye there.
"There's gotta be something to do," Twitch said, too bored to twitch very frantically.
Fidget shrugged her shoulders. "There's not much out here but corn fields and long, flat roads, as far as the eye can see." She was propped up against one of the hotel dressers, sitting behind Twitch as she obliviously unfolded and refolded his shirt collar.
"We could go run through a cornfield!" Magnetic said, raising her eyebrows. "In complete darkness!"
"We could go run naked through a cornfield," Magnet said grinning. "In complete darkness."
"Oh God," Lei said, rolling her eyes.
"How 'bout the girls just run naked through the cornfields and we'll watch?" Armpit laughed.
"Ooh! I like that idea!" Magnet cried.
"I wouldn't argue to that idea myself," Zigzag said, running his fingers down Static's shoulder.
Zero couldn't help laughing, even when Zippy stared crossly at him.
"Oh shut up you guys!" Rogue cried.
X-ray stopped laughing obediently.
"Besides," Rogue said, raising her left eyebrow. "How about we have Magnet go out there and run through the cornfields naked!"
At this the girls started cracking up.
"Ooh!!!" Magnetic cried.
"Sucks to be you man!" Zigzag said, laughing.
Magnet grinned sheepishly. "Oh yeah, I bet you would like that wouldn't you Magnetic?" he said, winking at her.
"Oh my God!" she groaned, rolling her eyes.
"Be careful out there Magnet," Rogue said, winking back at him. "It's kind'a chilly: you wouldn't want anything to shrink now would you?"
Magnet rolled his eyes, not being able to think of a witty comeback.
"Ooh." Zigzag laughed. "They got you now man!"
"We should go get Chase before we do anything exciting!" Zippy cried.
"And Squid!" Zigzag cried.
"Squid has a hangover right now," Lei said. "Do you really think he would be able to participate in anything exciting tonight?"
"Hey, that reminds me," Armpit said. "We should all get drunk before we do anything at all."
"What?" Lei cried. "Why would we wanna do a stupid thing like that?"
"To get stupider," Twitch said excitedly.
"Yeah," Armpit agreed. "And, if we do get drunk that means we'll have more fun tonight and we won't remember a thing tomorrow."
"I don't think so," Lei said, shaking her head.
"Come on," Armpit urged. "It'll be just like that time we broke the bench: you were all nervous to get on the bench but after you did everything turned out fine!"
But Lei still looked reluctant. "If we all get drunk how are we supposed to walk home tomorrow? None of us will be feeling up to leaving the hotel."
This seemed to stump Armpit.
"We won't drink that much," Zigzag said smiling: he looked as if he already was drunk!
"I wanna drink something!" Zippy cried lunging forth to the bed and staring wide-eyed at Static, Zigzag and Lei. "Oh wait!" she cried, jumping back to her feet. "I'm gonna go get Chase before we do anything!" And with that she raced from the room leaving everyone else speechless.
"Chase! Chase!" Zippy called as she zoomed down the hall. She only slowed down when she was a few inches from a white door with the golden numbers 31 nailed to the top of it. Slowly, Zippy turned the doorknob, opened the door, and stepped inside.
Chase was still sitting in a chair beside the bed where Squid slept. Her head was resting on the edge of the bed and her hand was still in Squid's. Her breath was soft as she snoozed beside Squid and Zippy was hesitant to wake her. But Zippy couldn't let Chase miss out on the party the others were brewing, and so as quietly as she could, she tiptoed forward and tapped Chase on the shoulder.
"Chase," she whispered. "Chase, wake up."
Chase's eyes opened almost immediately and she sat up and looked about in a dazed manor.
"Chase come on," Zippy whispered. "Me and the others are gonna go out and about or something."
"Huh?" Chase asked sleepily.
"You have to come Chase," Zippy said. "Come on." She grabbed Chase by the hand and gently pulled her away from the chair. "Let's go," Zippy said quietly, directing Chase towards the door.
"But what about Squid?" Chase asked.
"He's too sick to come," Zippy said as she and Chase stepped into the hall and closed the door behind them. "Besides, he's sound asleep."
"Well so was I," Chase said sarcastically. "But you seemed to have no trouble barging in on me and waking me up."
Zippy grinned broadly. "Oh, you complain too much!" she said.
The two girls walked down the hall a ways until they came to room 34. Zippy opened the door, bounded inside and shouted, "Merry Christmas!" But no one answered. There were no lights in room 34 and it seemed pretty empty.
Zippy looked about in confusion. "Guys?" she asked.
Chase stepped inside behind Zippy and flipped the light switch. There was no D tent member to be found.
"Guys, this isn't funny," Zippy said, opening the closet before checking under the beds. "Where'd they go?" she asked, emerging from beneath the bed.
"Are you sure we're in the right room?" Chase asked.
"This is room thirty-four, isn't it?" Zippy asked slowly.
Chase stepped back into the hall for a second and came back nodding her head.
"Then where the heck did they all go? I was just here a second ago and everyone was laying around!"
"They could be downstairs," Chase suggested.
"Ah," Zippy said, nodding her head in a logical way. She motioned for Chase to follow as she walked out the door and headed for the stairs.
The restaurant was completely empty, as was the lobby. Zippy furrowed her brow and placed her hands on her hips as she and Chase stood in the middle of the lobby, surrounded by an unsettling silence. Finally, when there seemed to be no other apparent solution, Zippy marched forth to the receptionist's desk.
Tonight there was a different woman leaning back in the receptionist's chair: a plump, middle aged woman with large, leopard print glasses and a head of curly brown hair. Above her lip was an unpleasant looking brow spot that Zippy assumed as either a badly drawn beauty mark, or a very big mole. The woman was loudly smacking away at her gum as she turned the pages of a magazine with her sickly long, crimson nails.
"Ah-hem!" Zippy coughed loudly.
The woman nearly glanced up before looking back at her magazine.
So Zippy tried again. "Ah-hem-hem-hem-hem-hem!" Chase was worried her friend might be choking. "Excuse me!" Zippy cried.
The woman blew a large bubble with her gum before rolling her aged, brown eyes onto Zippy. "Yes?" she snapped.
Zippy smiled curtly-or, a little too curtly-and said in an overly sweet voice. "I'm TERRIBLY sorry to bother you ma'am, but I just HAD to ask you a question! You see I was just wondering if you'd be ever so kind as to inform me the answer I desire?"
The new receptionist looked up at Zippy as if she was dog poop that could walk.
But Zippy went on. "Please tell me," she said. "Have you seen any group of teenagers parade through this room in the last few minutes?"
The woman popped another bubble before leaning back further in her chair, finally, as Chase and Zippy were beginning to get impatient, the woman spoke in a snide voice. "You mean have I seen a tall gangly boy with a head too big for his body; another boy that seriously needs to cut off on the Twinkies; a couple of shrimps; a girl who needs to brush her hair; and a bunch of other kids who appeared to have death wishes?"
Zippy's smile seemed to grow into a grimace.
"Yeah, I saw them parade past," the woman said, sneering at Zippy. "And now I'd like you to scadadle as well, Miss Congeniality; I've got a lot of work to do and I don't need to be sidetracked by your fakey attitude and dolled up face, capiche?" The woman opened her magazine and went right back to reading it.
Zippy's eyes grew wide as she'd been aroused with anger. She turned on her heal and headed towards the front door Chase lagging behind.
But just before they made it to the doors, Chase slowed her pace and said loudly, "I hope that wart on your face wasn't intentional."
In the window reflection Zippy could see the plump woman slowly touch the brown spot above her lip, a look of utter bewilderment on her face. Zippy walked out of the hotel completely satisfied.
The air was warm but for a pleasant breeze that lightly blew throughout the little town of Iris. The sky was midnight blue even though it was only around eight o'clock, and the only light was cast down by a couple of lamp posts here and there, the silvery stars that were cast about the sky, and the huge moon that seemed to smile down upon the earth.
Chase and Zippy groped about through the night, waiting for their eyes to adjust as they searched for the rest of the gang.
"They wouldn't really have gone running through the cornfields, would they?" Zippy asked.
Chase paused in bewilderment. "Huh?"
"Maybe they ended up forcing Magnet to go streaking after all?" Zippy suggested, more to herself than Chase.
"WHAT?!" Chase cried: the thought of Magnet running around naked at that very moment was unbearable in Chase's opinion.
"Or they could have gone to a liquor store to get alcohol-though I can't see why the clerk at the liquor store would allow them to buy anything, none of them are over twenty-one," Zippy stood, draped in the light of a street lamp as she thought aloud. "Perhaps the clerk is a younger guy and they'll bribe him to let them buy liquor by having Magnetic dance on the counter or something."
Chase's eyes grew wider than they had been a few seconds ago; what the heck was Zippy talking about? Had so much really happened in those few hours that Chase had been sleeping beside Squid?
"Zippy! Chase! Over here!"
It was Fidget, hurrying forth out of the darkness and grabbing both Chase and Zippy by the arms and pulling them towards the road.
"Where have you guys been?" Zippy asked as she stumbled along with Fidget's excited speed.
"Sorry we left like that," Fidget said without answering Zippy's real question. "Armpit and some of the other guys were anxious to leave and Zero thought it would be funny to hide from you but the rest of us wanted to wait for you. But of coarse we were outnumbered and the guys kind'a dragged us from the room and pulled us out here!"
"Where's here," Chase asked.
"Here!" Fidget suddenly came to an abrupt stop. They were standing on the other side of the road, hidden from the street lamp's light. The breeze was more forceful here and it whistled softly as it blew through the dark field to their left. Far off in the distance, on the other side of the field was a grove of spiny, twisted trees that Zippy supposed as apple trees or something. And, further down the road, was a field of tall, tall grasses that cast ghostly shadows across the ground. Chase wondered if these grasses were the cornstalks in the cornfield Zippy had been talking about.
A shiver ran up Chase's spine as she stood there, gazing upon the dimly lit scene about her. She wondered where the others were and prayed to God that they were ALL fully clothed just as Fidget was.
"Hey guys," Static said out of nowhere, making Zippy and Chase nearly jump out of their skin. "Glad you two could finally join us."
Zippy laughed nervously. "Yeah, me too."
"Come on," Static said, her face just barely lit by the moonlight. "Everyone's waiting."
She started walking towards the cornfield, Fidget grinning like a jack 'o lantern as she followed, gesturing for Chase and Zippy to tag along as well.
"Wait," Chase said, hurrying to stay by Static's side. "Magnet is still wearing his clothes, isn't he?"
"Last time I saw him he was," Static replied. "Why?"
Chase shrugged her shoulders. "I have no idea," she replied.
"Is Zero naked?" Zippy asked excitedly as she hopped along at Chase's side.
"I wouldn't get your hopes up," Static said, shaking her head.
The four girls hurried on in silence after that, until the terrain became rougher and the grasses in the field began appearing taller. Finally, they turned off of the road and clambered down into a dark thicket surrounded by corn stalks. The earth was bumpy and covered in footsteps, bearing the appearance of being trodden on within the last few minutes. But there was no one to be found, which seemed to come as a surprise to Static and Fidget. In fact, the only thing left behind was a small package full of dark objects that were unidentifiable in the dim light.
"Oh crap," Static said under her breath. "I was worried they might run away like this."
"So what are we gonna do now?" Chase asked, her wrapping her arms around herself against the breeze.
"Exactly what they want us to do, I guess," Static replied, placing her hands on her hips. "We're gonna follow them into the cornfield."
"It's like a maze inside there," Fidget said, practically ripping at her braids. "We'll probably get lost."
Static didn't have an answer to this.
"What are these?" Zippy asked, picking up the mysterious package that had been left behind.
"Those are fireworks!" Fidget cried, her eyes getting big with wonder.
"Yeah," Static said, walking over to peer down at the package as well. "We bought two packages so they must have taken the other one along."
"Maybe they're gonna leave clues along the way!" Zippy said, just as excitedly as Fidget.
"Yeah!" Fidget cried. "It'll be just like Scooby-Doo!"
"Yeah!" Zippy agreed.
Chase and Static didn't get it.
"Come on!" Fidget cried, moving towards the dark stalks. "Let's get a move on!"
"But Fidg," Static said reluctantly. "Even if they did leave clues behind how are we gonna see them? It's really dark out here."
"Oh quit worrying!" Fidget cried, grabbing Zippy's hand again and pulling her towards the corn stalks as well. "If I remember correctly it was YOU and YOUR boyfriend who were dying to have some fun tonight. Well, here's the fun!"
"Yeah," Static muttered under her breath so only Chase could hear. "But I never said I wanted my boyfriend to go and have fun while he scares the crap out of me."
"Well I don't even get ta' do anything with the guy I like," Chase said. "He's asleep."
"Come on you two!" Fidget cried as she disappeared into the maze of corn stalks.
"Chickens!" Zippy called as she too stepped out of their vision, her chicken imitations getting fainter and fainter as she moved further away.
"Well, I guess there's no turning back now," Chase said shrugging as she walked through the corn stalks as well, Static following closely behind.
The corn field was cut out just like one of those mazes they create for Halloween, only this one looked as though it hadn't been trimmed for years as it was littered with loads of weeds and even some tiny stalks of corn that had just begun to grow. It was a dangerous path the girls had to take as they kept tripping and stumbling over roots and rocks. The darkness didn't help either and though the maze was a little brighter than the thicket it was still hard to see around.
"They better not have gone very far," Static warned as she pulled a twig out of her shoe.
Fidget giggled. "It's spooky out here!" she said, wiggling her fingers in the air.
"It's cold," Chase said, shivering. "I wish Squid was here. That'd be nice."
"Well I wish Zero was here!" Zippy huffed. She was leading the way along with Fidget only she didn't seem as excited as Fidget anymore.
"Has anyone seen any clue yet?" Static asked tiredly. "This is just getting stupid."
"No," Fidget replied. "I guess this isn't so much like Scooby-Doo."
"Yeah," Zippy agreed. Both girls smiled at each other for a second and then burst out singing the Scooby-Doo theme song.
"Oh God," Chase groaned. "I hope you guys know that you're going to scare the crap out of the others if they hear you."
"Duh!" Zippy cried, she and Fidget started laughing.
"This is getting really boring," Chase moaned. "It feels like we've been walking for hours!"
"Oh, don't worry," Static said. "I'm sure we'll find them soon. They would be so cruel as to-"
But Chase never found out what the others wouldn't be cruel enough to do as just at that moment there came a blood curdling scream that exploded throughout the silence and echoed off the sky.
"Who was that?" Zippy barely whispered as she and the others had gone completely rigid.
"There it is again!" Fidget squealed as the piercing scream sounded again.
"The boys must just be playing pranks on the girls," Chase suggested, though her voice was shaky and no where near reassuring.
There were a few moments silence, while the four of them just stood there, not daring to move, when all of a sudden a dark figure jumped out of the corn stalks behind them and fell to the ground in a dramatic collapse.
Zippy couldn't stop screaming.
"Magnetic?" Static asked, pulling Magnetic to her feet.
Magnetic was cracking up and could hardly stand with her laughter. "You were all SO scared!" she gasped. "Ha! Ha! That was so-ha!-hilarious! I gotta try that more often!"
"Shut up Magnetic!" Zippy cried, she'd really been freaked out.
"Well sorry!" Magnetic cried, still laughing. "But really!"
"Where are the others?" Chase asked, glaring up at Magnetic.
But Magnetic only shrugged. "No clue?" she said. "They left me behind a while ago and that's when I heard you guys coming."
"Oh great," Static grumbled. "So they are really far ahead."
"Well there's only one way we're ever gonna catch up to them!" Fidget said, beginning to skip over the ground again. "Keep going!"
"Fun," Chase groaned.
"Zero had better give me a HUGE kiss when I find him," Zippy said sourly as she began to trudge onwards again.
* * *
Squid opened his eyes to a dark room that was almost completely silent. He sat up slowly and watched the room spin before his eyes once before his vision adjusted to the faint lamp light coming from the curtained window. He looked around for a second, feeling a little lost and confused, when he finally realized what was missing from the room. Chase was gone.
Guessing that she was probably off in some other room with the rest of D tent Squid didn't worry about her absence as he climbed out of bed and shuffled over to the bathroom. Once there, he leaned forward against the bathroom sink and gazed tiredly into the mirror. He looked ill, very ill. His dark eyes were surrounded by circles a shade darker than his normal skin color and he looked back at himself with a sort of dizzy expression. His face looked drained of it's normal color and as he stood, propped up against the counter, his fingers shook violently.
He turned the sink on and splashed his face with the cool water a couple times before straightening up again and wavering on the spot as the pain returned to his head. He hurried out of the bathroom and was about to climb back into bed when he heard the sound of a car's tires screeching across the parking lot outside as it parked before the hotel.
Deciding he'd like to have a look, Squid paused before the window for a moment and pulled back the curtain. Outside an oddly familiar red colored truck had been parked and two dark figures were climbing out of the front seat, talking in tired voices. As Squid squinted through the darkness he could only make out that the figure who'd been in the driver's seat was a woman and the figure that had been in the passenger's seat was either a kid, or a very short man.
* * *
"My feet hurt!" Magnetic groaned. "I have so many stupid rocks in my shoes that it's not even funny!"
"Will you just SHUT UP!?" Chase cried. "You're annoying the crap out of me!"
"Aw, this ain't so bad guys!" Fidget cried brightly. "Just keep thinkin' about your boyfriends waiting for you on the other side of this cornfield."
"I don't have a boyfriend," Magnetic said darkly.
"My boyfriend's back at the hotel," Chase grumbled.
"OH! So you admit he's your boyfriend!" Zippy cried.
Everyone stared silently at her.
"Anyway," Static said. "Even when we do get over to the other side of this cornfield the guys are probably gonna scare the shit out of us!"
"That'd be messy," Chase said quietly.
Zippy started cracking up to everyone's (but Chase's) confusion.
"Well at least the guys love us!" Fidget said happily.
"I don't have a boyfriend," Magnetic repeated even more darkly.
"Oh don't worry Maggi!" Fidget said, putting her arms around Magnetic's shoulders even though Magnetic was a lot taller than Fidget. "There are plenty of fish in the sea!"
"Don't touch me," Magnetic said.
"Yeah, MAGGI!" Chase said with a laugh. "If you and Magnet never work things out there's always Armpit!"
"WHAT!?" Magnetic cried, racing over to attack Chase.
"Did someone say my name?"
Zippy shrieked again and if she were a cartoon character Chase had the feeling she'd be jumping up into Fidget's arms in a second.
"Armpit, are you trying to give us a heart attack!?" Static cried as Armpit emerged from behind the cornstalks.
"Maybe," Armpit said smiling, then, walking up to Magnetic, he added, "Hey baby!"
"Ew! Get away from me sicko!" Magnetic said, shoving Armpit aside.
"Well this is just stupid!" Static yelled. "We're just aimlessly walking through this stupid maze as we freeze and every few minutes another person jumps out and scares me practically to death! I HATE THIS AND I JUST WANNA GO BACK TO THE HOTEL-"
Static shrieked as her jumpsuit pants were suddenly yanked to the ground, exposing her blue underwear.
"OH MY GOD!" she screamed as she frantically tried to pull her pants back up.
Zigzag came tumbling out of the cornstalks, laughing hysterically.
"Ooh, sexy mama!" Magnet said as he too stumbled forth from the cornstalks.
"Hello Static!" Zigzag said brightly as he lay on the ground smiling up at Static.
"I'm going to kill you!" she cried as she pinned him to the ground.
"Oh God," Magnetic said. "You guys are such jerks."
"We're just havin' a little fun chica," Magnet said grinning at her. "But you might wanna watch your back."
"Oh please," she groaned.
"Hey guys!" Twitch said excitedly as he, Zero, Lei, and Rogue emerged from the depths of the field as well. To Zippy's dismay, Zero was not naked.
"Where have you guys been?" Fidget asked as she bounded off to greet Twitch.
"We found the perfect place to set off the fireworks!" Zero said grinning as Zippy came up and wrapped her arm around him.
"Ooh! Where?" Fidget asked.
"Come on," Rogue said. "We'll take you to it! It's at the edge of the corn maze." She started walking back in the direction she'd just come from.
Zigzag, who'd been smothered in dirt by Static, now jumped to his feet and pulled Static into his arms. "It's a great place," he said, starting to walk along behind Rogue. "It overlooks all the fields and everything!"
"Come on guys!" Twitch said, joining the parade and pulling Fidget along with him.
If Chase, Zippy, Static, Fidget, and Magnetic had just walked a little bit further through the maze they would have easily found the others and they would have avoided that little scene where Static had been embarrassingly pantsed, but no, it hadn't worked out that way. The spot the other's had reserved as 'the perfect spot to set off the fireworks' was beautiful. It was a cleared out ledge that looked over the entire valley of fields, just as Zigzag had said. It also was exposed to the beautiful, clear sky, and from that ledge you could see billions and billions of stars as the moon swallowed you up in it's silvery light.
"Wow," Fidget said, her eyes growing wide as she took in the whole landscape before her.
"It's awesome isn't it?" Twitch asked her.
She nodded her head slowly in return.
"How'd you guys find this?" Static asked.
"We followed the maze," Zigzag replied logically.
"I wonder what would happen if you fell down there?" Zippy asked as she and Zero kneeled at the end of the ledge and peered down into the darkness below.
"You would be in serious need of an ambulance," Zero said smiling.
"Alright," Zigzag said, picking up the other package of fireworks that he'd left at the ledge when they'd gone back for the rest of the girls. "Who's got the other package of fireworks?"
"Here!" Zippy said, tossing him the second package.
"Okay," Zigzag said. "Now who's got the matches?" he asked as he pulled a box of matches from his pocket.
"Have you just been carrying those around with you this ENTIRE time?" Lei asked as she sat down against a rock.
Zigzag shrugged his shoulders as he opened the firework package. "Maybe," he said.
Chase sat down along with the others, Zippy at her side. They all watched eagerly as Zigzag lit the first firework, nameless as it was too dark to read the labeling on the little cylinder tube. When the fuse was lit Zigzag hurried aside to cuddle up beside Static, and everyone watched in a comfortable silence as the firework exploded bright, fiery colors into the night.
If Squid could have, he would have enjoyed sitting there on the ledge watching the beautiful fireworks along with everyone else, but at the moment, he was too occupied with the two people who'd emerged from the little red truck.