~Chapter 8~

Numbuh Thirteens log, 12:45 PM

AAAAHHHH! GHOOOOOOSTS! The place is haunted! I knew it, I knew it, I knew it! I'm getting out of here NOW! Does that SCAMPER still work! Oh let it work, let it work let it WOOOORK!

XXX

"That got rid of him, " Barry said and slapped Kyle on his shoulder, "Quick thinking, Kyle."

"Huh … what," Kyle blinked. "What's going on? Where are we?"

"Never mind that," Egbert said, "We gotta get out of here, that idiot might have friends around. Come on."

The gang ran out of the room and down the corridor, back towards the hangar and the side exit and had just come out into the hangar when the old SCAMPER came roaring from the back straight towards them. They jumped back and flattened themselves on the wall as the SCAMPER veered left and crashed into a stack of oil barrels, before coming to a screeching halt along the opposite wall.

The door to the SCAMPER opened and saucepan-boy groggily stepped out, eyes spinning behind his big glasses. He took a couple of shaky steps, before he noticed the gang, then he yelped, ran away past the scattered barrels and disappeared out the side exit.

For a minute the gang just stared after him. Then they noted the rapidly growing lake of fuel spreading out in all directions from the overturned oil barrels, rapidly approaching the SCAMPERs hot engines…

"NO!" Egbert screamed, just before the fuel ignited. A second later the floor between the gang and the exit was covered in flames.

"I WANT MY MOMMY!" Kyle screamed.

"WHAT NOW EGGY?" Barry shouted.

Egbert looked around frantically, then noticed that there was still a free path to the SCAMPER. "QUICK" he pointed: "THE SCAMPER!"

The gang ran over to the SCAMPER, jumped into the seats and frantically buckled up, trying to ignore the heat and the flames rising right behind the vehicle.

"All right! Hold on to your Rainbow Monkeys!" Barry shouted and floored the speeder. The SCAMPER jumped forward with a jolt that pressed them back in their seats and roared out of the burning hangar like every action movie ever made rolled into one.

"YEEE-HAAA" Barry screamed triumphant, "IN YOUR FACE, KIDS NEXT DORKS!" … and then the SCAMPER crashed into the treetops thrashing through the dark branches at tremendous speed being rocked back and forth with enormous bangs and shakes every time it hit a branch. The windshield exploded with a tremendous CRASH, showering the boys in shards and pine needles.

"AAAAHHHH. I KNEW IT WOULD GO WRONG! I KNEW IT!" Kyle screamed.

"GET US ABOVE THE TREES, YOU NUTJOB," Egbert screamed to Barry.

"I CAN'T, EGGY," Barry screamed back. "THERE'S SOMETHING WRONG WITH THE STEARING. OH CRUUUUD!"

Suddenly the noise disappeared as the SCAMPER burst out of the trees and soared over a moonlit plateau covered in bushes instead. The three gang members sighed with relief.

Then they saw that the plateau ended in a sheer grey cliff side, rising right in front of the SCAMPER and rapidly filling the entire broken windshield.

"ABANDON SHIP!" Barry screamed and the three boys unbuckled and jumped out the SCAMPER, aiming for some bushes that looked moderately softer than the ground. Four seconds after the gang hit the bushes the SCAMPER hit the cliff side and exploded.

After the burning fireball that had once been a KND SCAMPER had crashed to the ground, quiet descended over the plateau. Egbert lay on his back among the bushes and slowly realized that he was too sore and tired to be dead. He slowly looked around the thick bushes. He estimated that they were far away from the treehouse, judging by the distance to the thick dark plume of smoke he could see far behind the trees rising towards the starry sky.

"Are you OK, guys?" he asked.

"Yeah," Barry's voice came from somewhere to the left.

"I … I think so," Kyle muttered from somewhere.

"Good," Egbert said. "Now I have some good news and some bad news …"

"I knew it!" Kyle moaned. "You left the cards in the SCAMPER, right?"

"No, no, I still have the cards," Egbert said, "that was the good news."

"Then what's the bad news?"

"The bad news," Egbert sighed. "I'm pretty sure these bushes are poison ivy."

WHEW. Bet you thought they lost the bag. Looks like the O'Reilly Gang has finally made it big. Or have they ...

Action sequences really doesn't come easily to me, so I hope it is clear what is going on. If not, please drop a line and let me know, as well as what other comments you might have.