Everybody's Back

Chapter 3

 "Oh, he's just hiding,"Nick said with a funny little laugh.

Kevin looked at Nick oddly,"Nick, are you ok?"

"Ok? Of course I'm ok, why wouldn't I be... except for the fact that we are trapped in a house with a crazy-bus-driver-zombie-monster-thingy-that probably ate Howie!"

"Nick be quiet, it might be able to hear you!"hissed AJ.

"Man, that thing knows where we are! Who's it gonna snack on next... NOT ME! I'm all.... all.... Non- appetizing and stuff!"Nick called to the monster.

"Nickolas!"Brian snapped,"Do I have to slap you again!?"

"No!"Nick shrieked and held his cheek.

"So now what do we do?" asked AJ pacing around.

"Now we gotta find Howie,"Kevin said.

"We?"asked AJ,"Uh-uh, I think I'm gonna be with what Nick said before... We'll go, and send someone back for you Kev.."

"Peace and love, cuz,"Brian said joining AJ.

"I want my mommy,"Nick said joining AJ and Brian,"Oh, here Kev, you might want this lantern now so you can see when you're..."

"You guys ain't going nowhere,"Kevin said,"You guys are gonna just leave Howie hanging like this?"

AJ, Brian, and Nick all looked at each other, then at Kevin and nodded guiltily,"See ya."

"You guys! You know Howie would risk anything to save you!"Kevin said,"If he thought you were in trouble..."

"He would have left sooner than us!"A.J. said.

"Well,"Kevin thought about it,"Man, come on guys, I'm the oldest here and I feel responsible for you guys. We gotta find Howie. Then we can go. We're all gonna stay together."

"Oh, like we were gonna split up..."A.J. and Nick laughed,"We've learned something from watching Freddy Kruegger."

"Man, I hope he's not here too!"Nick whined.

"How are we gonna find Howie, Kev?"asked Brian tugging on Kevin's jacket.

"I don't know, maybe we'll hear him scream or something.."

"Hello, if he's screaming, why are we gonna burst in there? That's just like saying 'Kill us please.' " A.J. said in frustration,"I'm telling you we cannot handle this ourselves... We need to get out of here and find help! Maybe the bus is still out there somewhere.."

"The steering wheel,"Nick reminded.

"Oh...Man! We can hitch hike!"

"No cars,"Brian reminded.

"Damn!"A.J. cursed,"So, what now?"

"Howie!" Kevin began to call.

"Oh great, just tell the monster where we are!"A.J. threw his arms into the air.

"What's that?"Nick wandered on ahead of the group. It was a door! Maybe it was a way out! Nick jogged to the door. He inspected it first. Then he gave it a good tug. It wouldn't budge! He began to push and press on the door with all his strength, "Hey guys I found a door, but it's stuck!"