The Tallest and Most Stomach-Dropping Log Flume in the United States
(written for the Fanfics by Candlelight Gallery Challenge)

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He didn't want to go on it. He didn't think they should have to. But there it was, staring at him as number four on the itinerary. Damn.

Brian swallowed as his eyes scanned the rest of the list they had just been given. Not bad, not bad ... it would be fun. Okay. His eyes scrolled back to number four.

"This is so cool." A tug on his arm accompanied the excited voice. "An amusement park. This is gonna be so cool, Brian, isn’t it?"

Brian couldn’t quite rise to Nick’s level of enthusiasm. "Uh huh."

"What’s wrong?"

"Nothing..."

"Are you hungry? Is that it? I’m hungry, too." Nick grabbed the next closest person. "Kevin, we’re hungry."

"You ate already. Breakfast. Remember?"

"Candy," Nick argued with a wave of his hand. "That’s not breakfast."

"You like candy for breakfast."

"But I’m still hungry. I want real food."

"You’re always hungry, buddy. We can’t go by you."

"I’m hungry too," AJ interrupted, dropping his cigarette to the ground and putting it out with his shoe. He had been told no smoking. The park didn’t allow smoking, and publicity-wise, smoking looked bad. He figured the parking lot didn’t count, and besides, they hadn’t started taping this yet.

"Me too," Howie offered.

Kevin sent Brian a look, daring him to chime in too.

Brian just shook his head. "I’m not hungry," he mumbled.

Kevin seemed unfazed. His watch got the look now. "We have two minutes to be where we have to be..."

"Relax, man," AJ said, looking at the park entrance as it now loomed over them. "I can eat a hot-dog in under a minute."

"Me too," Nick agreed, nodding. "Maybe two."

"Okay, fine," Kevin appeased slowly. "So we’ll meet you there. Two minutes." He looked at Howie when he said it, knowing he was the only he could trust with the time.

Howie nodded, giving a reassuring smile in response. "We’ll be there."

Brian looked down at the list again as the three of them took off ahead of him and Kevin through the gate. Number one. They were meeting at the carousel. According to the small diagram of the park on the bottom of the sheet, that was at the center.

"You okay? You seem quiet." Kevin nudged him in the shoulder as he said it.

"Me? I’m good."

"You sure?"

"Yeah."

They started making their way through the park, and their ears became filled with the sounds of voices and laughter. It was going to be a hot day, and the park was pretty crowded already. Brian wondered if he could get lost during the number four period.

Hey, it could work.

The whole reason they were there was to make a promotional television special to advertise the park, which had opened fairly recently. And themselves, of course. But one person missing on a ride wouldn’t make much of a difference, would it?

The sound of the carousel reached their ears, and it appeared up ahead. Bobbing horses revolving around colorfully and slowly. No need to be afraid of that one.

"Kev, do we have to do everything on this sheet?" Brian could see the camera crew and various other involved people up ahead. He fingered his baseball cap as he waited for the answer.

"Why not?"

"I don’t know... I was just wondering I guess." He popped a quick smile on his face as a jubilant red-haired woman in a bright yellow t-shirt approached them with an outstretched hand. Always smile. Rule number one.

"Hi! I’m Carol, the park manager. Thanks so much for coming. I’ll be in charge of this whole fiasco today, so if you have any questions, I’m the one to come to."

Kevin exchanged the introductions and the handshake, explaining where everyone else was. Carol had no problem with it.

"I’ll just start to give you two the run-through of what’ll be happening, which shouldn’t sound new to you, since I’ve been told that you’ve read through everything already..."

---

"On the park? Really?"

The vendor nodded, smiling at the three guys in front of him. He straightened his striped park shirt and adjusted his nametag. Robby, it read. "Really."

Free food and drinks at an amusement park? Unheard of. Nick leaned on the counter. In that case... "I’ll have three hot dogs and a coke, please."

"Nicky, you can’t possibly eat that many-"

Nick elbowed Howie. "Can too. I can eat as many free hot dogs as I want."

"I’ll have the same," AJ chimed in. "Thanks, Robby man."

"I’ll have one hot dog." Howie looked at the younger two as Robby went about getting their order. "You do realize you have to eat those three hot dogs in about one minute."

"Will do." AJ gave a mocking two-fingered salute. "You gotta take advantage of this shit, man."

"You have all day to take advantage."

"You gotta keep up a rate to really take advantage."

"You’re going to be sick."

"Never."

Robby slid seven hot dogs on the counter and went back for the drinks.

"This is great," Nick said through his first two bites. "We should seriously do stuff like this more often." He finished the one hot dog and reached for the next. "How much time do we have?"

"Thirty seconds."

"We can be a little late," AJ reasoned, swallowing the last bite of his first dog. He drank some of his soda and looked at Howie for approval. "Yeah?"

"A little. We should walk with the food though. The carousel is at the center of the park."

AJ leaned an elbow on the counter of the vendor. "Hey Robby, can I get another hot dog for the road?"

"Me too, me too."

"Wow, you guys can really put ‘em away," Robby admired, grabbing two more hot dogs and setting them on the counter. "There ya go. Good luck with the show."

"Thanks," Nick said with a grin, grabbing the extra food in his free hand. "We will."

---

"You’re late," Kevin hissed under his breath.

"Shhh," was Nick’s reply. Cameras were starting to be put in position to film the intro of the show. "Be quiet. We’re starting."

Kevin pinched his arm in response, and Nick pulled away to put his soda on the ground where Carol had motioned him to. She seemed like a nice lady. She didn’t even seem to mind that they were three minutes late. Only Kevin cared about stuff like that.

Everything they had to say had been given to them in advance, so the introduction only took two takes. The second one was because the director person didn’t like the way they were standing. In fifteen minutes, they were set to move onto point number two.

Teacups.

"I used to love teacups," Howie said on the walk over there. "They were the first thing my mom always brought me on. We would have so much fun."

"Memories. By Howie Dorough," AJ said in a deepened voice. "Reserve your copy tod- Ow, Howie!"

"Shut up." Howie was laughing though. "You’re so obnoxious."

"But you’re so corny."

"What’s wrong with being corny?"

"What’s wrong with being obnoxious?"

"I wanna go on that!" Nick was pointing to a huge structure that was now visible in the distance. Screams could be heard coming from it. It was some sort of water roller coaster. "What is that? Let’s go on that!"

"I think that’s number four..." Howie said. "I’m not sure though. This says it’s a new ride."

"Let’s go on it. What is it?" Nick was looking through the sheet and the map they had been given, but Brian interrupted his search.

"A terrifying, death-defying thrill. The tallest and most stomach-dropping log flume in the United States."

The four of them looked at him. He had cited that without even looking at his sheet.

"Wow, man," AJ said. "How’d you do that?"

"Is that really it?" Nick was saying. "That sounds awesome."

"Yeah. Awesome," Brian echoed.

---

Spinning, spinning, spinning.

AJ really didn’t want to throw up on a national TV special, but if the teacups didn’t stop soon, that was going to be exactly what was caught on tape.

He didn’t know how he got stuck with Kevin and Nick, who wanted to spin fast enough to knock the earth off of its rotation, but somehow there he was.

He tried to focus on something else besides the four hot dogs in his stomach, but it was becoming more and more difficult every second.

Nick suddenly let go of the wheel, gravity tossing him against the backrest with an ‘oof’. "I’m going to barf," he said loudly.

AJ tried to glance his way but the gravity wouldn’t let him turn his head. If he had he would have seen that Nick was turning green.

AJ closed his eyes against the blur that was the world around him. Please, God, keep the hot dogs in my stomach, he thought.

As soon as it was over, Nick was scrambling over Kevin’s lap to get to the locked little door to get out of the cup. AJ was already fumbling with the lock.

"And you wanted to go on the most stomach-turning roller coaster ever?" Kevin reached for the lock, frowning at the greenish faces. They didn’t usually get sick on rides. Never mind the teacups.

"Damn," Howie said as he saw the two of them running towards the bathrooms across from the ride. "I told them they shouldn’t have eaten that many hot dogs."

Kevin raised his eyebrows. "How many did they eat?"

"Four."

"Four??"

"Yeah," Howie said at his expression. "My thoughts exactly."

"Maybe we shouldn’t go on that big ride," Brian offered, feigning a sympathetic look.

"No, they’ll just have to deal."

Damn.

---

Screams. Terrified screams.

The batting cages were the next stop for Brian and AJ, located directly behind the tallest and most stomach-dropping log flume in the United States.

Prime spot for listening to the screams and hearing the mechanical chugging of the coaster reaching its heighest point. The log that people sat in looked like a tiny speck in the sky from the ground's vantage point.

Brian only wished that he could have gone to the miniature golf course that the other three had been assigned to. It was further away.

As he pulled on a batting helmet, he tried to focus his attention on baseball. He loved baseball. Baseball was fun.

AJ picked up a bat and knocked the helmet on Brian's head with it. "Knock, knock."

"Who's there?" God, they were going to look stupid on that TV special. The cameras were always rolling.

"I'm going to hit a home run."

"Good luck. You feeling better?"

AJ nodded, patting his stomach with a cocky smile. "That was a fluke. I'm fine."

Brian laughed. "If you say so. Want to get some more hot dogs?"

"No thank you." AJ gave Brian's helmet another tap with the baseball bat.

"If you knock me unconscious with that, maybe I can skip out on attraction number four."

"That?" AJ tilted his head toward the tallest and most stomach-dropping log flume in the United States. "That's going to be one of the most fun things here." He quickly dropped his surprised tone when he saw that Brian's expression didn't quite match his enthusiasm. "It won't be bad, Bri."

"I don't like heights. Or drops. Or... or-"

"Going upside-down?"

"It goes upside-down??" Brian spun around to give the ride another incredulous look. "What kind of log flume goes upside-down??"

"They'll buckle us in, I'm sure."

Brian wasn't listening. "I'm going to be sick."

"It's all in the mind, man. Relax. Come on."

"I like amusement parks, I do. But I never go on stuff like that. I did once and... I hate it."

"Sit in the back. It's not as bad in the back."

"It's not?"

"Nope. Seriously."

"Okay..."

"Come on. Just play some baseball."

---

"Nick, stop."

"I'm not doing it on purpose!"

"Nobody loses their ball in mini-golf. Not five times."

"Four times," Nick said defensively. "I'm sorry if I have problems with judging distance."

"You don't have problems with judging distance," Kevin whispered. "You're just trying to be funny. And it's funny. But you're going to hit someone."

"No, I'm not... Not on purpose anyway. Not unless it's you."

"Thanks a lot."

Howie glanced behind him at the two of them, forcing a frown onto his face. "Shhh, I'm concentrating," he whispered in a serious voice. He turned back to hole number six. A little to the left, hit it off that back brick...

He started to swing but lost his balance as someone bumped into him. The ball hobbled down to the right.

"Sorry, Howie," Nick laughed.

Howie glanced at Kevin, as if to say 'thanks a lot', but Kevin just smiled sweetly.

"Sorry, Howie."

---

Attraction number four.

The long awaited, never before equalled, attraction number four. The tallest and most stomach-dropping log flume in the United States. A terrifying, death-defying thrill.

Brian glanced at Nick, who was eating a small thing of cotton candy.

"I thought you were still feeling a little sick."

"I'm okay."

"You're going to be flipping upside-down."

"I'll be okay. Oh look, look what we won!" Nick held up a little green teddy-bear that was waving an American flag. "Cool, huh? He's going to come on the ride too."

"Where'd you get him?"

"One of those shoot the target things. We didn't even have to give any tickets in. The games are free too, just like the food."

"That's cool. Wanna play more later?"

"Yeah!"

"There's fish in the water," AJ said suddenly, backing away from the bridge you had to cross to get onto the ride. "Big fish."

"Ooh. Maybe they'll eat you," Kevin said.

"That's not even funny." AJ gave him a worried look. "I don't like fish."

Brian watched as the camera crew started hooking up some sort of camera to the front of the log they were going into. He took off his cap and twisted it in his hands.

"Relax, Brian." Kevin nudged him in the back, noticing his sudden nervous mannerisms. "You've done log flumes before."

"Not like this one."

"You'll be fine. It'll be fun."

"I'm sitting in the back," Brian said. "The very back." He pulled his hat on his head again. "You can sit in front of me."

"Okay."

"All right!" Carol popped up in front of them. "It's all set. Keep your hands inside the log at all times. Keep yourself buckled in at all times. No one's pregnant here, are they?"

They stared at her as she laughed at her own joke.

"Now this is a fairly new ride, so we haven't tested everything yet..." She paused. "Just kidding. Joking. Just trying to loosen you up."

Not working, Brian thought. Even Nick, who had been chipper from the start, looked a tad bit more anxious.

Carol gave a wave. "I'm going to step to the back and let these guys take it from here. Have fun. You might get a little wet." She winked.

T minus 30 seconds.

Brian pulled his buckle tighter, even after the guy that ran the ride came by and checked everything. Butterflies were racing through his stomach already, even though they weren't yet moving.

He tried to rationalize with himself. Why should he be scared by a ride? It was just a ride. It wasn't like he would die.

Unless something went wrong. A fluke.

He swallowed.

"Hey." Kevin reached back and hit his knee. "All set?"

"All set," Brian repeated.

"Come on, come on..." AJ was chanting from the other end of the log. "Let's go already."

The water was rushing past them on both sides of the log. Suddenly a cranking noise was heard and whatever was holding them back let go. They shot down the pseudo-river like a bullet.

The next six minutes, the log was subjected to turbulent waterways, drops from heights comparable to Mt. Everest, and complete three-hundred and sixty degree flips.

Brian never stopped screaming.

He wasn't alone.

And worst of all, it wouldn't stop. It just kept going. Just when you thought it was over, another incline appeared from out of nowhere. There was no end in sight.

When it finally ended, he thought it would start up again. God couldn't be that cruel, could He? Brian started unbuckling his belt with shaking hands, water dripping down his face. He was freezing. He had never gotten so wet.

Kevin was already standing up in front of him. "I'm soaked," he said, holding his arms out to catch the sun. He looked at Carol. "Might get wet?"

AJ was laughing. "I didn't get wet at all. How is that possible?"

Nick was starting to regret the cotton candy. He glanced next to him for his green friend, but found the seat empty. His mouth opened in surprise. He had been too busy gripping for his life to notice its departure. "My bear's gone!"

Howie looked down at his feet. There was a fish down there, flopping around. He swallowed. "I got a new friend for you, Nicky."

"How was it!" Carol approached the side of the log, a smile on her face. "How about once more? The camera died halfway through."

Using Kevin to pull himself up, Brian jumped to his feet. It took him a second to catch his balance. He held up two fingers. "Twice?"

Carol nodded.

Brian started shaking his head. His stomach was starting to twirl at the thought of it. "I'm gonna have to take this one out, ma'am..."

She was laughing. "Just kidding! A joke. Just trying to loosen you up."

Brian shook his head, heading in the direction of the exit before she could change her mind. The rest of the park would be a piece of cake.

Cake.

He frowned, holding his stomach. No food. Free or not.

The end