به سرزمین وحشت وارد شو فصل 05

Enter Horror Land - Chapter 05

I led them to the white building with the DO NOT ENTER sign.

It was a warm, sunny day. The park was jammed with people.

We passed long lines of kids waiting to get into the Werewolf Petting Zoo and the Haunted Theater. People were even crowding around the cart that sold larvae-flavored ice cream.

We passed several Horrors. But they didn’t pay any attention to us.

I stopped at the front door of the building. “It’s all underground,” I explained. “Lots of tunnels going everywhere. We can hide down there. Then I can finally get online. No problem.” Carly Beth and Sabrina glanced around nervously. “Are you sure about this?” Sabrina asked. “Those warning signs look serious.” “No big deal,” I said. “We’re special guests. If we get caught, they’ll just send us back to our rooms. Right?” A few kids muttered, “Right.” The others weren’t so sure.

I grabbed the knob and tried to pull the door open.

Locked.

I tugged harder.

No way. This time, someone had remembered to lock it.

“That was a long walk for nothing,” Billy grumbled.

Matt shoved me out of the way. “Let’s try this,” he said. He raised his strange key card to the door — and it swung open!

We touched knuckles. “Hey, I’m impressed,” I said.

“It’s all in the wrist,” Matt said. He tucked the card back into his wallet.

That was the last joke anyone made. Everyone turned very serious as we made our way down the steep steps and into the huge concrete cavern.

The air grew warmer, heavy and damp. In the far distance, I could hear the roar of machinery and the beep beep of the wheelbarrow robots carrying their packages. The sounds echoed in the vast cavern.

I stopped at the bottom of the stairs and glanced around. No guards. No sign of that eight-foot-tall dude.

“Follow me,” I whispered. We kept close to the wall and edged our way to the first tunnel. I squinted into the dim light. The tunnel was jammed with old signs and stage props and furniture.

“Is that guillotine real?” Billy asked, pointing.

“Hope not,” I said. “But we can hide behind it.”

I led them into the tunnel. We hunched down behind the guillotine. I kept peering around. Tense. Expecting a guard to come jumping out at us.

I sat on the floor with my back against the tunnel wall. I propped my laptop on my lap and started typing. “Yesss!” I cried. “I knew it. There’s a wireless connection down here.” Carly Beth leaned over my shoulder. “Type in HorrorLand,” she said. “We’ve got to find out what’s going on here.” A few seconds later, I found a long article about HorrorLand. I started reading it to the others.

“‘HorrorLand theme park was built in the mid-1970s. It was the brainchild of a man named Kit Katzman. Katzman was a huge horror fan his entire life.

“‘He populated the park with strange-looking workers named Horrors. At first, Katzman thought they were wearing costumes and masks. Later, he wasn’t so sure.’ ” Matt grabbed my shoulder. “This stuff isn’t helping us,” he said. “Look up Panic Park. See what it says.” I did a search for Panic Park. I clicked on several links. But for some reason, they had been deleted or shut down. Finally, I found an article titled “Vanished Amusement Parks.” I started to read it to everyone.

“‘Panic Park was built in the 1950s by an odd, private man named Karloff Mennis. It was a park designed for people who liked the worlds of horror, fantasy, and the bizarre.’ ” Matt shook his head. “Scroll down,” he said. “We don’t care about the 1950s. What about today?” “Wait! Wait!” I cried. “This is good. Listen to this. It’s about that carousel ride. The one that’s on fire.” I read from my laptop screen. “ ‘The Wheel of Fire was one of the most popular rides at Panic Park. People loved twirling around while their horses flamed.’ ” “So … that page Byron left us,” Sheena said. “It was definitely from Panic Park.”

“Byron was leaving us clues about Panic Park,” Matt said. “He must want us to find out more about it.” “We … we saw Britney and Molly on that ride,” Billy said.

Robby stared at the screen. “And that golden token I had — it came from Panic Park,” he said.

“Let’s see what else we can find out about Panic Park,” I said. I leaned close to the screen and clicked on a few more links.

“Wait. Check this out,” I said. “It’s a blog. By a boy and a girl. Luke and Lizzy somebody. They say they spent some time in HorrorLand. But — whoa. I don’t believe this. They are warning us. In their blog. They —” My voice was drowned out by a high, shrill siren. So loud I pressed my hands over my ears.

And then we heard a voice booming through the sound system: “INTRUDERS! INTRUDERS! LOCKDOWN! INTRUDERS!”