US (Formerly The After Effect - Book 2)

29 - D E T O N A T E

The amusement park is enormous. I'd only ever been to the state fair in my town, never to one of this magnitude. We approach it, and multiple colors swirl across the sky, as rollercoaster tracks loop and swirl in random, crazy patterns. We reach the tail end of the park with a huge chain linked fence blocking our entrance.

"Who's up for some fun?" Stella cheers.

Technically, there's no power; nothing will work, which is sort of the point. My mom is the first to say something out loud about it.

"I want to go in!" Stella continues. "It'll be fun, come on!" She starts up the fence while the rest of us watch her struggle to fit her feet and hands in the holes. Even if she makes it up, there's no way the rest of us will. If we go in, we'll have to take the long route.

Stella checks back over her shoulder, seeing none of us have followed, and gives up at the top. "You guys suck."

"We'll meet you at the front," I compromise and start jogging around the perimeter. Honestly, I'm psyched we came across this place. Here's our chance to take the trip a bit slow and have a little bit of fun while we do. A big distraction will serve me well right now, even if it's temporary.

The revolutionaries and Zeriah are lost by the structures beyond the fence. Apparently parks like these are only on this planet.

We duck under parking gates and make our way in, me a little skip in my step. A couple maintenance vehicles were in the parking lot; otherwise, it was practically clear. The owners must have closed up shop just in time. Lucky them.

"Someone is excited," Brink snickers. "You know none of it will work, don't you?"

"Oh come on, stop being such a party pooper. You can still win me something with the ring toss."

He squeezes his sparkly blue eyes shut to laugh and shakes his head. "Fair enough."

We found a few maps built into the ground to feel our way around, but we were totally backwards. However, the atmosphere was incredible. Even though all of the stores were locked up—at least the ones we tried—the windows offered interesting interiors, from candy to art to jewelry and souvenirs. I wanted to explore them all and bask in each one's goodies.

"Isn't this awesome?" I whisper as I peer into a window. Brink was having his fair share of eye exploring.

"I loved these places," he admits, and leans off a mossy brick wall, once painted a mint green. "We gotta go see some of these rides."

"But—"

Brink yanks my wrist and jogs up a cobblestoned hill, scoots around rod iron fences, boxed trees, and a huge stone fountain to reach a lime green coaster named, The Detonator. We stop at the coaster's line entrance and pause at the rider instructions to get an overview of what the ride used to offer in it's glory days.

The Detonator takes you on a thrilling ride through a tunnel of doom, starting at speeds of fifteen mph only to propel you into lightning speeds up to sixty mph and takes you on a spinning adventure you'll never forget.

"Sounds..."

"Exhilarating. Let's do it," Brink says.

I grimace, honestly confused by his words now. "Brink, the power..."

He shrugs. "I might be able to mess with it. Come on!" He takes my hand and races through the maze of a line and we arrive. The green and black seats are calling our names and I leap over one of the gates and plunk down into the front row. I pull the guard over my lap and buckle myself in, giggling like a little kid. How in the world is he going to fiddle with the wires to get this thing going? I call BS, but am hoping some kind of miracle will happen and spring this thing to life.