The Smartest Kids Alive (IN NEED OF REVISING)

Chapter XXIII

SKYLAR

Music: Impregnable Fortress from Gradius V

Upon arriving in the town of Dallas, Texas (the first place we assumed John Pain would be), I immediately let out a small whoop.

"Relax, Skylar," Mackenzie laughs, putting a hand on my shoulder to calm me down. "You're not the only farm girl here."

"Really? You were raised on a farm, too?" Avery asks, looking surprised.

"For part of my life, before training, yeah," Mackenzie answers. "Honestly, I've always wanted a chance to relive that life..."

"Well, we came to the right spot," I say, grinning. "Say, Sam, whaddya say we do a tour of the state while looking for John?"

"Sounds alright to me," he replies, nodding. He then Googles something on the hovercraft's computer, and then asks us, "I found a list of 'unique' attractions we could visit. Whaddya say?"

Most people nod their approval, so Sam takes us to the Sixth Floor in Dallas. "According to what I'm reading here, this is where JFK was assassinated, so it seems like a nice place to check first," Sam explains.

After being scanned to make sure none of us are carrying any sort of weapon, we're allowed inside for a brief exploration. There's not much to see, and more importantly, no sign of John Pain.

Our next stop is the Cadillac Ranch in Amarillo. When we're not marvelling at the many colors shown by the Cadillacs, we also are not finding John Pain anywhere. By this point, we kind of decide to set aside the search and just look at the many weird attractions Texas has to offer.

Next up, Barney Smith's Toilet Seat Art Museum in San Antonio. I think you can guess what that is about.

Mackenzie ends up picking our next location, also in San Antonio: The World's Largest Cowboy Boots. A few people take pictures at the 35-foot tall attraction.

"I wonder what kind of cowboy would wear those," Jack laughs.

I then want to see the Orange House, where we only spend about five minutes at. I want to spend a longer amount of time there, but apparently I'm the only one interested in a pile of junk rearranged to make art.

The next few stops are chosen mostly by the guys. Sam takes us to the Museum of the Weird in Austin, Texas, which ends up just being a bunch of statues and sculptures of various types of creatures (some real, some not real).

"That sucked," Sam mutters as we walk out of the museum.

"Not everybody is supposed to live up to your standard of 'weird', Sam," Elle snickers.

A few more pointless stops later, we finally arrive at a cool museum about barbed wire and whatnot, appropriately named Devil's Rope. The nine of us only explore for about three minutes before we come across a sight that forces us to hide behind the corner we just turned.

John Pain, who just looks like he's actually here to tour the museum.

"How are we supposed to take him out..." Heath mutters to himself.

"Well, we're at a barbed wire museum, so..." Sam says, grinning.

"You want us to use barbed wire?" Eghosa asks.

"Yep. And I have just the plan to do it."

JACKSON

Music: Ball Rolling from Super Mario Galaxy 2

It takes approximately six minutes for us to gather up a bunch of barbed wire and take it to a clearing of trees behind the building. Meanwhile, Mackenzie's staying inside, writing a note that will be placed inside John Pain's wallet for him to see.