Awaken the Elements (Elemental Trilogy) (7 page)

             
“I think maybe we should go back up and take the stairs down,” Autumn said.

             
“Come on, Autumn, press the button. We’re close enough to the floor, might as well get on with it,” Frank, her youngest cousin, said.

             
“You’re just saying that because you’re way back there. I’ll be one of the first munched,” she said. Everyone’s eyes got big. “Well?”

              “Go on. If there are zombies, the doors should close before they get in,” Richard said. “Plus, you can beat a zombie away easily enough.”

             
“You flatter me, fine.” She didn’t think everybody was as sane as they believed they were. The events lately just kicked you like a mean owner would kick a bad dog and enjoy seeing it run away, yapping. She knew, so did her friend Hazel and the guys of Tune N’. No one would ever be the same. Autumn took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. What did she have to lose? Only her life.

             
Damn me
, her mind whispered. She hit the button to resume their descent.

Chapter 5

              The elevator lurched downward. It binged, and the doors slid open as the group held their breath, flinching. Everyone was afraid Autumn could feel it in the air. She could feel them around her. Staring out the doors, they saw no infected. Autumn slipped out of the elevator when she was sure it was clear.

             
“Stay here,” she said, before vanishing out of sight.              

             
“Autumn, get back in,” Richard said following her out.

              “Richard,” Autumn whispered to him, so he knew where she was. She motioned for him to come by the wall with her. “Took you long enough.”

             
“What are you doing?”

             
“Follow me,” she whispered, walking behind the elevator. He followed quietly. The elevator had been set up with a gap between it and the actual wall, so you could walk around it. 

             
Autumn stopped. Richard, in his own thoughts, almost bumped into her. He watched as Autumn peeked around the corner, and then turned, giving him an evil grin and winked. He knew that grin all too well. Usually when that grin appeared she was going to do something very very naughty.

             
She tiptoed slowly to the front of the elevator, and saw that someone’s foot was up against the door so it wouldn’t close.

             
Autumn jumped in front of the doors, “BOO!!” She screamed. 

             
Richard hurried over to stand next to her. Some people screamed, and an oh-my-god could be heard. Looking at their faces. They were scared shitless. Richard started to laugh. Autumn echoed his laughter. Grumbling, the group got out of the elevator.

             
“Sorry, couldn’t help myself,” Autumn said.

             
“Bitch,” Envy hit her sister on the arm. “You nearly gave us all a stroke.” She hit her one more time, harder than before.

             
“Ouch! I get the point.”

             
“That was not cool, Autumn,” Jaime said.

             
“Sorry,” she laughed.

             
“I thought it was funny.” Richard smiled, patting her on the same spot Envy hit.

             
“Thanks,” Autumn grimaced. His eyes got wide.

             
“Oops, sorry,” he said. “Where are we?” He turned looking at the concrete room the elevator opened into.

              They looked around the empty space they stood in, and didn’t see any Playland.

             
“Says this way,” Drake said, pointing up at the sign. They all looked up at the plain white sign with black lettering.

             
“Well, come on,” River said and started walking through the archway.

             
They all followed through the archway which opened to a huge room. The group stopped, looking around excitedly. Their inner kid started to jump around and scream. A huge ice rink lay in front of them like a white meadow, and in the middle like an iron island sat bumper cars. To the right of the ice rink was a huge carousel, and to the left were rows of videos games. Straight back behind the video games was the biggest funhouse they had ever seen.

             
“This is great!” Autumn said.

             
“Let’s play, people,” Envy said. The girls ran off to the ice rink. “Coming?” she asked her sister.

             
“Nah.” She wanted to check out the video games.

             
The girls went over to the shelves of skates, looking for their sizes. Watching them, Autumn made her way over to the video games. She wasn’t going to make a fool out of herself. She was klutzy and klutzy and ice skates didn’t go together. She eyed some of the games. She had no change, but she did have the keys. And so far, no one knew. She went over to the closest token machine. Frank and Richard were trying to put in a dollar, but it wouldn’t take it. She glanced at the other token machine where Drake and Stefan were trying to put money in it.

             
“Bastard thing,” Frank said, hitting the machine.

             
“You know things don’t work when you beat them,” Autumn told her cousin.

             
River came over. “All these games take tokens, and the token machines aren’t working.”

             
Jaime skated by, “Autumn, this is cool, come try it.”

              She laughed. “Maybe later, Jaime.” She didn’t figure him to be a skater. Watching him fall on his butt, she noticed the others who were skating. The rest were falling as well. She had been told that ice skating wasn’t the same as regular skating. She had never had a chance to check it out, but now she did.

A
big noise brought her attention back to her cousins. They looked so different from each other, and it was hard to tell if they were brothers. Frank was short and stout with dark features, while Richard was tall and skinny with light features. They had managed to knock over the token machine and get it open.

             
“Empty,” Richard said.

             
“I noticed,” Frank replied as they scowled down at the big machine.

             
“Hey guys, come here,” she motioned to everyone trying to get tokens.

             
A minute later they crowded around her. She stepped back; even she needed breathing room. She looked back over at the skating fools. Envy and Anatha made it over to the bumper car island. They were looking for the on switch. She held all the power in her pocket. Looking back at the crowd of guys, she wanted to look away again. A jolt of shyness hit her. She let the shyness fade away with a deep breath.

             
“I got something you guys might find rather interesting,” she told them. She reached into her pocket, pulling out the keys. She held them up.

             
“What are those for?” Frank asked.

             
“Bitch,” Richard said with a smile. “She has the keys.”

****

             
“What is Autumn doing?” Envy asked, watching her sister.

             
Anatha was watching too. “I don’t know.”

****

             
“Flip on the power, girl,” Richard told her.

             
Going  to the main power switches over by the funhouse, she thought of a way to get back at Richard for calling her, girl. Hell, she was older than him. She had a few years to make up for all the bossing around he had done all their lives. Her eyes focused on the funhouse, and she knew she was going in there before she went off to bed.

             
She inserted the biggest key. How did she know it was the one that fit? Call it a hunch, plus it was the biggest key. It’s usually the big things that hold most of the power, or thought they did anyway. She turned it right. Little red lights came to life on the panel next to her. She switched the switches on until all the lights were green. Everything hummed and turned on. The carousel started to play its music, you could hear the hum of the bumper cars, and the fun house came to life too.

             
“We have power,” she whispered to herself. She left the switches and went back to the crowd of guys.

             
“That still doesn’t help with the video game problem,” Frank said.

             
“There should be a key to the little room over there that should hold the tokens.” She tossed the keys to him. “Go get ‘em.”

             
Some of the guys played the video games alone, while others competed against each other. River and Stefan both asked Autumn to participate with them. She was beating River at some car game, when he crept up behind her vehicle and started gaining speed.              “No,” she gasped and stepped on the fake gas pedal.

             
“I can floor it too,” he stepped on his gas pedal. They hit the finish line at the same time.

             
“A tie!” He watched as the stats rolled along the screen.

             
“My best score!” She smiled happily.

             
He put out his fist and cocked an eyebrow. “Come on.”

             
“Fine,” she laughed and bumped her fist against his.

             
“Hey wan
  
” he started, but Richard was there dragging her away. She mouthed sorry over her shoulder.

             
“Damn, I thought I would never get you away,” he said, finally letting her go.

             
“What’s up, cuz?”

             
“Are you okay?” he said, looking at her.

             
She turned, surveying the group of people scattered about playing. “I will be.”

             
“Just because you feel the need to be the mother does not mean you have to carry the burden all by yourself.”

             
She turned to him. “Would it make you feel better if I started to cry? Do you need me to break down to make you feel better?”

             
He took a step back, shocked. “I’m sorry.”

             
She shook her head. “No, I’m sorry. I just don’t
   
I don’t know.”

             
He put his arm around her shoulder. His steady warmth made her feel steady. “I cried already. I’m probably not done yet.”

             
“I hear you,” she whispered, and he kissed her temple.

             
“So let’s go play a game. I saw a whack-a-mole game, interested?”

             
She pushed his arm off and stood looking at him with her hand on her hip. “Do I look like I’m five?”

             
They had a serious stare off for a few seconds, and then they both broke into laughter. “Who am I kidding? Let’s whack some moles, maybe play some alley ball.”

             
“You and your goddamn ticket addiction.” Which made them break into laughter again.

             
She eventually got bored with the games, and found herself sitting on a bench in front of the ice rink, watching the girls and Jaime play bumper cars. She had plenty of time to try new things and explore everything. There was no rush. Sitting there by herself, she noticed she was actually having a good time. Drake and Linden wandered over and sat down beside her. No one said a word. They could hear Frank and Rowan arguing over their game.

             
“This isn’t bad,” River said, coming over. “I flipped on the popcorn machine. It should be done in a while. Anyone want a soda while we wait?”

             
“Sure,” Autumn said.

             
“What kind?” River asked.

             
“Don’t matter,” she replied, still watching the others in the bumper cars. “We gotta get our feel before it’s all gone or goes bad.”

             
“I want a Coke,” Linden said.

              “Bring me some of that popcorn,” Drake said.

             
“I went from singer and actor to slave, damn.”

             
“You brought it on yourself by asking, little man,” Drake said.

             
“Yeah, yeah,” he paused, “Little man? I don’t think so, buddy.” He pushed Drake off the bench, making Autumn and Linden laugh.

             
“Four years,” Drake said as he got up off the floor.

             
Autumn nodded, “Sorry.” She had no idea why she apologized; it just came out.

             
“It’s okay. At least we’re safe, right?”

             
“Maybe someone better tell that to River. I don’t want him pouting to me when he misses his mommy late at night,” Stefan smiled as he sat down. “Bring me a Coke!” He called over his shoulder.

“God
damn! Get me this, do that, you’re the youngest, blah, blah, blah.” They heard River grumble.

They all looked at Stefan. “That was mean,” she said, “Funny but mean.”

              River came back, hands full, and handed everyone their stuff, and then pushed Stefan over. “Move it. I was here first.”

             
“I’m actually video gamed out,” Frank said. Richard reached over, taking Autumn’s soda.

             
“Hey, that’s mine! Get your own,” She grabbed it back. “That’s a first, being video gamed out and everything.”