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Horror Trip I

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"I hate economics!" Zoey declared at lunch. "Mr. Hodgens is such a meanie! He made Stacey run away by insulting her top."

Chase nodded. "I've heard that he had already driven the pupils insane like 50 years ago!"

Zoey choked. "50 years?"

"Like whom?" Addie wanted to know.

"Rumours have it that ..." Chase trembled "a certain Charles Galloway, one day, got scared away by Hodgens, and, thereupon, disappeared into the desert of desolation outside the PCA."

"Yeah!" Michael nodded. "To some place called Redstone Culch, wherever that is. His corpse was never retrieved from the wastelands!"

Zoey coughed and choked noisily.

"We must explore whether those rumours are true!" Chase claimed.

"Do you really want to explore the wastelands?" Zoey asked.

"Will that bring me into TV?" Lola asked.

Michael : "Hardly!"

"Then I'm staying here in order to make out with Drake!" Lola beamed. "And maybe also that Australian exchange guy, Lafe."

Dustin walked up to Zoey. "Hi sis!" He kissed her on the top of her head. "Is it true that your evil teacher scares people into the wilderness, where they disappear forever?"

Zoey choked. "Where did you here this? It's not meant for little boys!"

Dustin pouted.

"If I find a competent guide, I'll go and look for the destiny of Charles Galloway!" Chase declared.

"Aw, I know a competent guide!" Dustin whistled appreciatively.

Chase beamed. "Who?"

"Josh Nichols!" Dustin boomed. "He's been a ranger scout when Megan was a ranger freshman. Not that Megan appreciates this, but he is competent![[68]]"

"Oh yeah!" Chase bounced around merrily. "That will fix the problem!"

"Galloway is said to have disappeared with all his belongings!" Michael squealed.

Logan scratched his head. "Any valuables?"

Zoey glared oddly at Logan.

Nicole wondered. "Is Charles Galloway cute? May I date him? I love dating cute boys!"

Zoey coughed. "First, you've already got Nicholas ..."

"It's impossible to date too many cute guys." Nicole beamed.

Zoey shook her head. "Aw Nicole ... even worse, if he hadn't yet died, he'd be almost seventy years old!"

"Ouch!" Nicole bit her lips.

Dana hadn't said anything yet, but .... "Logan is too much of a chicken to make it into the wastelands."

"I'm not!" Logan declared. "You are!"

"You wish, Reese!" Dana boomed.

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Josh Nichols gathered the gang. "OK. I've made a checklist. We'll regularly control the list of participants, so we won't lose anyone. Chase Matthews ... Zoey Brooks ... Logan Reese ... Dana Cruz ... Michael Barret ... Olivary Biallo ... Addie Singer ... Nicole Bristow ... Nicholas Webber ... ah, that's it."

The gang found it boring, but with a conscientious guide like Josh, they felt safe.

Dustin and Megan complained as they had been skipped.

"Megan, I've told you, this is not a trip for tweenies!" Josh boomed, twitching insanely.

The kids pouted. They swore not to give up.

"Equipment control!" Josh continued. "Water ... ranger cookies ... compass ... topographic map ...two-men tents ..."

"We can't have a sleepover in the wilderness!" Zoey objected. "Tomorrow, we'll write our final test in economy which accounts for 60 per cent of our term's mark! And if I don't get a B, I may forget about Harvard."

Josh nodded. "I hope that we won't have to, but we're better prepared!"

Zoey shrugged.

"Don't we need mustard?" Nicholas and Nicole asked unison.

Josh pondered. "Mustard? What the ..."

"What made you think about mustard?" Zoey asked Nicole.

"Lafe told us that we'd need it!" Nicholas answered.

Zoey shook her head. "Lafe may be cute, but Josh is smart, so better listen to him!"

Nicole and Nicholas pouted.

"How about moonbars?" Olivary asked.

Josh shrugged. "If you want to ... btw. Mindy and Quinn sent me some of their latest inventions. They might be useful."

The group started marching ahead.

The red hot sun burnt up the hill. Sweat kept on running. Only a tender breeze coming in from the sea made the whole thing bearable..

Chase and Addie strummed their guitars.

I've been through the desert on a horse with no nameIt felt good to be out of the rainIn the desert you can remember your namecause there ain't no one for to give you no painLa, la ...[[69]]

"How far are we still supposed to go?" Zoey asked.

Josh compared the map. He took his sextant and the compass. "Something is going amiss here!"

Zoey was worried.

"Where did you get the maps from?" Chase asked.

"From the PCA library. But the general card here is by Ranger Captain Kenny Billiam, Megan's teacher for history and geography." Josh explained.

"Billy M. Who?" Michael asked.

"Not Billy M." Josh shook his head and twitched uncontrollably. "Billiam! The greatest ranger master of California!"

Zoey shrugged. "Then they should be OK. What about your instruments?"

"I've used the sextant and the compass on a field trip to the Big Bear ..." Josh scratched his head. "It worked perfectly! I and Kenny, we readjust it every other week, so ..."

Olivary boomed: "The moon will guide us!"

Michael nodded solemnly.

Chase stared oddly at the exotic guy.

"Trust the moon!" Olivary insisted, being seconded by Michael.

"If only we had listened to Lafe!" Nicholas sighed.

Nicole agreed. "We should have taken more mustard with us."

"Shut up! We don't need any mustard!" Logan boomed.

"I know what I'd do with mustard, right now!" Dana boasted.

"Yeah cutie?" Logan beamed.

Dana explained: "I'd palm Logan's face with it!"

"Wow!" Logan swooned. "That would make me even hotter! Don't you think so, Zoey?"

"No, you jerk!" Zoey spat at Logan.

Josh wasn't happy when they argued. "We might be lost in the wilderness, and you argue over mustard!"

Chase unpacked his cellular phone.

"The next spot is beyond reach! We can't use the cellular phones." Josh explained.

Chase sighed.

"The WLAN of my laptop won't work either?" Zoey reasoned.

Josh nodded. "Sad, but true!"

I remember when Quinn connected a cellular phone and a laptop to increase the range of a cellular phone![[70]] Dana remarked.

"She's a spaz!" Logan replied. "On the other hand, it worked!"

Dana nodded solemnly.

Josh scratched his head. "Sure! Why not?"

Michael pouted because he had to sacrifice his laptop, once more.

"Olivary comforted Michael. " As long as we've got the moon, we won't need a laptop.

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They stood in the same place for over an hour. Fixing the laptop and the cellular phone was way harder than expected. Suddenly, two people appeared in their traces.

"Dustin! What are yo doing here?" Zoey yelled with dismay.

Josh thought the same about Megan who walked by Dustin's side. "Aw Megan!" And he had ordered Drake not to let Megan escape into the wastelands. "I'm going to spank Drake left and right! He has probably been making out with hot girls instead of ..."

"Don't worry. He just explores Lola's jaw with his tongue!" Megan chuckled.

If there had been any wall, Josh would have banged his head against it.

Dustin and Megan chuckled even more. "Do you have difficulties finding Redstone Culch?"

"Megan!" Josh boomed. "That isn't funny, is it? Have you dystoned the sextant?"

Dustin snickered.

Megan shook her head. "I would never do that! Well, not these days. But there's an idea for a future prank. Thanks, boob!" She grinned and highfived Dustin.

Josh struggled with the laptop. "Those wires aren't anymore what they used to be! The sun must have scrambled them!"

"Or maybe the sun has scrambled your brain?" Megan grinned evilly.

Dustin chuckled and highfived Megan.

"OK boobs, you may do whatever you want, Dustin and I, we will continue to Redstone Culch!" Megan waved and lead Dustin along.

"Megan!" Josh screamed with despair.

"Come back, Dustin!" Zoey's voice was not powerful enough to break Dustin's stride. "Sorry for my little brother ..."

"I will choke Drake if Megan gets lost!" Josh stomped his feet. "Time to try some of Quinn's inventions. I'll explain you how they work ... first we have a quinnoccular ..."

Most of the pupils did not want to hear any scientific explanation.

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"The tomb must be right here!" Megan told Dustin.

"I smell rotten flesh!" Dustin nodded.

Megan and Dustin decided to dig.

"I've got a creepy feeling ..." Dustin confessed.

Megan nodded solemnly. "But now we've got to go through it. We haven't made the long way up to here for naught!"

Megan and Dustin dug inch for inch.

"There it is!" Dustin smiled.

"It is some tomb ... but is it really that of Charles Galloway?" Megan scrutinised the contents of the tomb. "A medallion!"

Dustin beamed. "Cool!"

They tried to make sense of the inscription. It was hardly readable.

Finally, the older pupils reached the tomb.

"What kept you up?" Megan taunted the exhausted and frightened highschool pupils.

Josh looked sternly. Then he pointed his quinnoccular at the medallion. "Yeah! This reads Charles Galloway!"

Everyone cheered.

"He may look through my trousers!" Chase squealed. "My boxers saved my life!"

"OK, we've proved the legend, now we may return to the PCA. The test is waiting ..." Zoey suggested.

"Put everything back into the tomb!" Josh commanded.

Logan had a somewhat different idea and grabbed the valuable medallion. He hid it in his backpack.

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The crew descended the sandy braes.

Suddely, a puple lightning flashed, and a taunting thunder roared. Voices without an owner called upon the Lord. Dancing bones jumped up and amoaned on the barren soil.

"Zoey, I'm afraid!" Dustin whimpered and snuggled close to his elder sister.

In the same way, Megan clang tightly to Josh and squealed like a fury.

"Hey, what's going on?" Josh twitched like a fish.

"A tornado!" Chase screamed.

"A green tornado!" Addie added. "This can't be natural! Or maybe it is?"

"The moon is gone!" Olivary weeped piteously, infecting Michael.

"Is that your latest movie?" Dana asked Logan.

"Hey, I have no clue what's going on!" Logan shrugged with despair.

"The clouds look like a pack of demons!" Dustin squealed, not letting his arms off Zoey.

Chase and Addie took their guitars and strummed them in order to calm the crew.

Their brands were still on fire and their hooves were made of steelTheir horns were black and shiny and their hot breath he could feelA bolt of fear went through him as they thundered through the skyFor he saw the Riders coming hard and he heard their mournful cry[[71]]

"Isn't that romantic?" Nicole asked Nicholas. "I like it!"

Nicholas agreed wholeheartedly.

Megan and Dustin refused to loosen their grip on Zoey and Josh, respectively.

As the riders loped on by him he heard one call his nameIf you want to save your soul from Hell a-riding on our rangeThen cowboy change your ways today or with us you will rideTrying to catch the Devil's herd, across these endless skiesYippiayeehhhhh ... ghost riders is the sky!

Josh and Zoey couldn't help carrying the tweenies in their arms, the long way down to Pepperdyne beach.

The tweenies passed out in the arms of the older kids.

When they finally reached the campus, they were all exhausted. But they didn't have the feeling of safety. Indeed, the campus was enshrouded in a horrifying mist.

Josh saw Drake and Lola making out, as he had expected. He slapped Drake and placed Megan on his lap.

Zoey did the same with Dustin and Lola.

Alas, Lola and Drake were little affected by anything that had happened to the crew.

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[[68] ]cf Drake & Josh : #1 Fan

[[69] ]On A Horse With No Name by America - which I don't own

[[70] ]cf. Little Beach Party

[[71] ]Ghost Riders In The Sky by Johnny Cash - which I don't own