The Amusement Park 1

Chris didn't believe JC was outside the compound. He needed to believe JC was inside, because inside was safe.

Still, the big gaping hole in one of the farthest walls of the compound said otherwise.

Whatever the case, it meant that they had to go out again. A perspective that Chris didn't like much.

"See that big block of concrete up there?" Lance pointed out, and Chris nodded, making the gray block not more than a mile away. "That's the main power grid. If JC went out, I bet that's where he's going."

Because Lonnie is there, Chris thought, and nodded again. It was a mile into the jungle, but he didn't hear weird noises, and the trees weren't that high. There were no t-rex around.

and don't ever think that you used to complain about his rehearsals, not when he might be dead or chomped or

Lance grabbed Chris' hand, and gave it a strong squish, nodding and smiling. Chris did the same. Whatever that happened, they were going to stay near each other.

Letting go of Lance's hand, he started running, followed by Lance, still fueled by that hopeful smile.

He didn't stop until he reached the door of the concrete building, when he noticed that Lance was no longer behind him.

If Joey had been in his place, alone and knowing that everyone was dead, even so, Joey wouldn't give up.

Lonnie's hand was on the Power Grid. Whatever that had killed him, had killed him after Lonnie had returned the power to the compound, perhaps just minutes before Chris arrived.

But no dinosaur had appeared in the long minutes while Chris silently cried, and Chris had closed the door of the building before coming in.

His bodyguard, who had risked his life, who had lost his life to save him and the others.

Just a flamethrower, probably used to control the vegetation a little. But for Chris, it was the key to survival.

He didn't fool himself, it was not good against something as big as the fucking T-rex, but if something smaller tried to get a nib out of him, Chris was going to fry the thing.

Carefully, listening to any sound, Chris had started to search the power grid plant. He had found a munched panel, and a couple of doors that were scratched open. But no dinosaurs. He felt a little like the main character in a Resident Evil game, walking through empty aisles with no defined destiny.

Only that he had one. He was going to get every single weapon he could find in the building, and then go out to the jungle. He was going to go back to Justin, and then, they were going to get out of that forsaken island, one way or another.

Even if he had to burn the damn thing down to do it, he was going to get out alive. And he prayed that he was not going to get out alone.

The thing had red, black and golden scales. It was almost two heads bigger than Chris, and it's yellow eyes peered at the singer with almost intelligent hunger.

Chris froze, as the thing started walking towards him, clicking it's long, black claw in the ground. Even if he had the flame thrower in his hand

and, he had told joey a lifetime ago, doesn't the very existence of flame-throwers mean that somewhere, someone said 'i wish i could burn that guy to death but i can't reach him?' and joey had laughed

Because even if Chris didn't know what the thing's name was, he knew exactly what the thing could do.

Chris managed to step back, just an inch, and the thing didn't move faster. It was amused. And Chris knew it. He had seen Busta hunt shoelaces pretty much in the same way. Only that he wasn't a shoelace, and the thing was no Busta.

The awful dance of death was prolonged for a long minute, as the thing only moved forward when Chris moved back. Until Chris' back hit a tree, a big tree he hadn't seen before, and the thing got ready to jump.

JC was, by far, the fastest of the group. Between the fact that he seemed to get no body fat no matter what, and the constant exercise, JC could hold his own in a race and keep running if that was needed.

Still, he had known he was no match for the fast lizard that chased him. He had managed to stay alive because he was lucky. Because the glass that kept the exhibition safe from the public wandering hands was a lot thicker than a normal window, and the dinosaur hadn't been able to break in its first attempt.

It had been a scary race, and for a moment, both JC and the thing were head by head, JC on the ride track, the dinosaur on the exhibition. Then JC had seen the emergency door, and paled. Because the door was open, and the dinosaur could fit through it. So he had run in the opposite direction, hoping that the dinosaur would fall for it.

It hadn't. The dinosaur kept running until it found the door, and crossed it, and there was nothing but air between it and JC.

JC ran, sure that it was the end, but not willing to recognize it by simply stopping. He went into the theater, and, in a desperate move, he grabbed one of the theater's chairs and threw it against the screen.

His desperate attempt worked, because behind the screen was a lab. And the lab had doors. Doors that could hold the thing on his heels for a minute or two.

So JC had run. He had run like hell, trying to avoid tables and windows, closing every door he crossed, fully aware that death was running close behind him.

Somehow, one of those doors led outside. Outside, where the only thing left to hide was the fence that, before the storm, before the nightmare, had held the lizards away.

The dinosaur was behind him, and it didn't hesitate. It threw all his weight against the fence, its claws ready to tear it down.
It was then when JC knew that God existed.

Because suddenly, between biting and tearing the fence, the thing shrieked in pain. It tried to move, and started to smoke. JC's eyes were glued to the grim spectacle, unable to tear his eyes away. It was impossible not to look at how the dinosaur died at the hands of human invention. And even when JC hated to see things die, he couldn't help but feel relieved.

When it was over, he slid down to the ground, still looking at the charred body of the dinosaur and cried.

JC finished his story, ending with him hearing noises, climbing up a tree and attacking the raptor chasing Chris with the only thing at hand, stones and sticks, making as much noise as he could. It was not a very good solution, since even when the dinosaur had run away, JC knew it had only gone to get reinforcements.

Chris cried a little more, hugging his younger friend as if he was his lifeline, and they decided to go back to the compound. Chris still didn't talk, but even so JC managed to understand that Chris had been alone, thinking the worst.

The half a mile back through the jungle was not an easy walk. Both of them were jumpy, and JC was hurt in more than one place. He wasn't bleeding much, but it was more than enough to make him want to go back to the compound as soon as possible.

It wasn't that they felt safer there, not when they knew that the compound had been breached by at least one dinosaur, but Justin was there, and it was man's territory. It wasn't an unknown jungle, where everything was against him.

"I want to wake up..." JC moaned, sliding down the wall of the compound, his dirty face trailed with tears.

He was alone. In the half a mile that they had to cross to get back, he had lost Chris. He had been so worried about Lance, and Justin, that he hadn't noticed when Chris had separated from him.

He hadn't realized that his now too quiet friend wasn't next to him until he found Justin.

Justin's curls, that had been more than once the target of many jokes, were stained with blood and some purpleish substance. And his face was covered with it too, so JC couldn't see Justin's eyes.

blue eyes. the ones you said were the main appeal for his success at mmc, isn't that ironic, spazz?

didn't you used to call him brother, spazz? wasn't he your little brother, spazzman?

Arming himself with courage, he had gone to the kitchen, grabbed a mantel piece and covered Justin's body with it.

Chris hadn't meant to leave JC. He hadn't meant to get distracted. But he had seen Lance's cross, hanging from a branch, and he couldn't not go and see.

If Lance was dead, Chris wanted to know. If Lance was alive, and needed help, Chris would never forgive himself for not checking.

He had followed the trail of broken branches and crushed leaves, fearing the worst.

Lance was perched in a big stone, about a feet or two of height, using a branch to try and keep what seemed like a thousand small dinosaurs away. He was half sitting, and even from where Chris was standing he could see a bright red gash on Lance's right leg.

Not giving himself much time to think, Chris pointed the flame thrower against the swarm of small critters, hoping that fire would be enough, that he wouldn't call many other big things with it, and fired.

His aim wasn't very good, he just managed to set the grass on fire, but the small critters, that moved like prehistoric chickens, didn't like it that much and started to spread away. His second attempt was better, and he torched at least three things, sending all of the others away.

Chris smiled weakly. It was good to know that someone was still finding reasons to laugh in that forsaken place.

He had always been a bit of a clutz. He knew it, the others knew it, and Wade seemed to revel in telling him so constantly.

He had tripped trying to follow Chris' nimble race through the jungle, and had twisted his ankle. But he hadn't' yelled, because he knew that with a twisted ankle he was more of a liability than of a friend.

He had managed to remain calm for a long while, he had even managed to get to his feet and try to walk back to the compound.

It was cute, in a lizard kind of way. Green and yellow and with a strange foreskin that looked like a folded umbrella on his neck.

But Lance had learned, like every boy-band member in the world had, that the cute looking were the most dangerous. It was true with fans, it was true with dinosaurs.

So he tried to get away from it's curious inquiring gaze, and tripped again. Only the fact that thanks to Wade he had learned to get up fast after falling down saved him from the purple spit the thing send it's way.

Desperate, Lance grabbed the first thing he could, trying to defend himself. A big rock.

He threw it to the lizard, which had puffed it's foreskin and now did looked like a walking umbrella, hitting it right between the eyes.

The thing didn't like the attack, and he threw itself against Lance, biting his leg. Lance hit it, with his fist, with rocks, and finally, he couldn't think of nothing else to use to save his life and grabbed his cross, the silver cross his mom had gave him when he joined *N sync and stabbed the thing's eye with it until the thing died.

And that's the reason why he started to limp quickly, as fast as he could, when the first chicken like dinosaur appeared. With a lot of pain, he managed to climb up the rock, and grab a big branch to try and get the swarm of little green things away.

"Justin! JC!!" Lance yelled into the empty compound, still leaning onto Chris. It was almost night, and, even now that the lights were on, and the hallways were illuminated, both knew the if they didn't manage to get out of the island before it was dark, they would never escape.

Both of them were dirty, bloody and tired, but that didn't stop them from running to JC's arms when he appeared. JC ran to, and hugged them for what seemed an eternity, all of them sobbing and crying each other names.

Lance asked for Justin, and JC only sobbed a little more, and Chris hugged them a little harder.

"All right…" JC said, once they were back together in the kitchen, high in a bunch of tables joint together to form a sort of fortress. "We know that those things can't swim, right?"

"So, that's our ticket out. We just have to get to the coast, and get the hell out of here in one of the boats we saw." JC said, grinning. "Sooner or later someone will pick us up."

Chris nodded, silently. That made Lance and JC exchange worried glances, and, after a while, the bass singer spoke up again. "We know there are pterodactyls here too. So we have to stay low and not make much noise. I don't think they can get out of the cage where… you guys know. But it's good to be on our guard."

"Then there's the T-rex. And the clawed ones. Those are the most dangerous." JC agreed, while Chris shuddered. "Am I missing some?"

"The umbrella ones. Those spit purple goo." Lance looked at the other end of the kitchen, the door to the dinning room, where he knew Justin lay under a mantel piece. "And the small ones. Those don't attack you unless you're bleeding."

JC seemed to consider this, watching Lance's bandaged leg, before sighing. "Very well. We have to try it now. If we do take more time, we will loose our only chance. You guys ready?"

But JC had the sickening feeling that Chris wasn't at all ready or happy with the plan.

I saw Theresa get chopped by a Tyrannosaur, and I'm pretty sure Hammond and Lou didn't got out of the van.

Wade stayed. He choose to stay and find Jhonny. But it's been hours, and Wade hasn't arrived here, so we know he won't return.

I don't want to think about Britney. Not about how she ended up. I want to remember her as she was.

Lonnie… He tried to save our lives. He was safe, and he could have survived… But he tried to save us…

And Justin… Justin was only scared. Why did we left him alone? Why couldn't we stay at his side?!

I couldn't see his body. Lance did, and JC did because he was the one who found him. But I couldn't. I couldn't go and see another of my friends dead.

I'm sorry Joey… I couldn't save you. I couldn't even turn around to see if you had managed to get out of the car, or if you had…

I don't want to believe you're dead. But I can't fool myself into thinking you're alive.

I promise you, I'll get out of here. And I'll take care of your brother. And your family. I'll tell them how brave you were. How you were our Superman, even if it cost you your life.

The coast wasn't that far. And it was a clear way down. No trees, no bushes. Everything was cut clean. No hidden predators, no last minute traps.

But as the law of Murphy always said, if something could go wrong, something would go wrong.

They knew it the second they heard the clicking sounds rapping against the concrete.

Chris stopped them, grabbing their sleeves. It was a goddamn miracle that JC and Lance didn't fell, and they all turned around.

Two slender, clawed dinosaurs were in front of the main door of the complex they had just left.

Between them and the lizards, there were only a handful of feet, almost half of the distance between them and the boat that was probably used for recreational rides around the island.

It was a warning that only gave them a second before something crashed against the big gates of the park, the gates they had crossed less than 7 hours before, and they opened to let in a jeep, followed closely by an angry T-Rex.

The jeep zigzagged between the two startled lizards, and stopped right between them and the shocked survivors.

Who were even more shocked when they could finally recognize the driver and his passenger.

"JOEY!!" Chris yelled, and jumped to hug his friend, who winced visibly. It was only then when JC noticed that Joey's left leg was stiff, wrapped with what seemed to be the remains of Wade's jacket.

"Wade, I…" Lance started to say, but Wade shook his head, pointed to the angry T-rex that squared it's territory against the two other dinosaurs and muttered one word.

Wade had done some rock climbing when he was 10, before fully dedicating himself to choreographies.

That had been the only thing that saved him from the angry pterodactyls which had tried to get a second tasty treat for themselves after pinning Jhonny.

There were only two pterodactyls on the island, Wade discovered, but those were more than enough for his taste. If he had learned something about his nightmarish stay on Jurassic Park was that he hated pterodactyls.

After leaving Lance and Justin, he had managed to find the Pterodactyles nest, in a cliff, crossing a river. Humming the theme for 'Jaws', surprising himself for having some humor left despite the odds, he had crossed the river and started climbing the rocks.

because, even if he fell, he rather die from the fall, than die as a pterodactyl food, or so he repeated to himself as he went higher and higher

A couple of feet near the top, he had found metal stairs, probably used by the scientists to check on their little monsters. The stair led him almost to the top of the hill, where he could see the nest clearly.

Not because of Jhonny's beheaded body, although that had much to do with his stomach lurching.

and eggs meant baby pterodactyls, and baby pterodactyls meant more eggs and more eggs…

That had distracted him enough not to notice the big, vulture like pterodactyl landing just a couple of feet away, walking towards him until it was almost too late.

And he had jumped, only to fall in a risk, a few feet lower. The Pterodactyl and it's mate flew in circles around it but since they were not birds, and basically just dived around, they couldn't reach him. The wind wasn't strong enough to let them catch him.

That's how Wade escaped, diving into the water and going under the river as far as his lungs allowed it.

Practically outside the cage, he found the main road, and started following it, paying attention to all the sounds around him. It had been then when he found the remains of the tour buses, and, inside one, miraculously alive but with a broken leg.

With what little was left of Joey's jacket and the bus, Wade had managed to set Joey's leg hoping to avoid him more pain. Afterwards they had decided to risk it away from the road, sure that the T-rex was lurking near.

When they had rolled down the hill and into the park, they had fell right into a big puddle of T-rex's excrement.

later, when they finally could laugh about it, joey said that it had felt a lot like nickelodeon's green goo, but at the moment it had only been disgusting and repulsive

Fearing the infection, Wade had pulled Joey out, and forced him to limp trying to get to a clearing. A short cut, of sorts.

It had been then when they discovered that their fall had been a blessing in disguise.

Due to the smell, the other dinosaurs, carnivorous and herbivorous, let them mostly alone.

Except for the smallest, chicken like ones, that followed joey from a distance like a herd. wade called them joey's fan club, and as long as they didn't tried to eat them, it was all right

Near where the smell caused a triceratops stampede, they found an abandoned jeep. Not wanting to know what had happened to the jeep's owners, they had jumped in, and started driving to where they thought the complex was.

It had been then when the blessing turned into a curse, because the T-Rex started following them, enraged or maybe, just lonely.

But none of them wanted to stick around to see who won the fight. Wade helped Lance to run, while JC and Chris half - carried Joey the remaining feet to the port and into the boat.

They didn't know where they were heading, since none of them had even a passing knowledge of how to pilot a boat, or how to read a nautical map, but they all knew one thing.

Carson Daily fixed his microphone for the last time before going on the air. It was not everyday he got the chance to introduce the biggest pop group of the moment, especially since the guys were as reclusive as the most alternative rock band in the planet.

Oh, they did concerts, and a lot of live presentations, but they hardly gave any interviews, especially since the tragic loss of their first and second manager, their lead singer and his girlfriend, and their public relationship agent.

Which reminded him not to touch those names, or the tender subject of the shipwreck that had left the surviving members of the group stranded in a boat for two weeks before being rescued by the Costa Ricean government. Or the legal problems they got with Ingen Inc. due to some strange misunderstanding. Or why they had chosen not to sign with either Trascon or Jive again, and instead got singed as Freelance's first pop number -Freelance was, fortunately, a safe subject, since it was Lance's company. Or why Wade Robson had decided to make a dramatic career change joining the group as the replacement of Justin Timberlake. Or why he and Lance took charge of practically every decision regarding the group. Curiously, he was allowed to ask about the rumors about Joey and Chris' relationship.

Only that he didn't want to do that. Practically every reporter who did ended up being the laughing stock of the media world for weeks. Chris's answers could make anyone go insane, and end up denying his own words.

If he fucked that up, *N sync would never return to TRL, so he had to play it smooth.

The lights were turned on, and he found himself face to face with thousands of giggling teenagers, all of them waiting for his next words.

"Hey, everyone! I'm sure you're all here waiting for the World Premiere of *N Sync latest single: Survivor! So let me introduce this very special friend of us. Give a big applause for the world' biggest pop group: Lance Bass, Chris Kirkpatrick, Joey Fatone, Wade Robson and JC Chazes. Let's welcome *N Sync!"