Chapter 1

Jacob, Daniel, and Gabe make it to the Six Flags off of I-10. However, finding it isn't going to be as easy as they thought.

We were located off the road of I-10 in New Orleans, Louisiana visiting the abandoned Six Flags amusement park not far from it. Gabe, Daniel and I had loaded the car with different equipment; flashlights, photography and video cameras, along with sketchbooks and backpacks full of different miscellaneous multi-tool items like knives, bandages, and other essentials in case something were to happen. We’re urban explorers. Not the kind of people who video themselves discovering “paranomal activity” or finding “skinwalkers in the forest” or any dumb s**t like that, we just do it for the experience and for the photo’s that we capture of the places. Six Flag New Orleans was one particular establishment that we hadn’t put our boots on. This place was special to us for a multitude of reasons. Daniel and I had been planning this trip for years with Gabe and our friend Alyssa. The four of us loved the work of urban exploration. The rush of walking where people once did, but no more. It filled us with a sense of wonder knowing that soon this would happen to most places in the world as time went by. It almost felt like the circle of life itself could be observed by the time capsules of the buildings which were left to rot through rock, metal, and time. Poetic, to say the least. Alyssa had been wanting to explore this place about as far back as Daniel and I had brought it up to Gabe. The four of us were ready to take it on about a month ago, three years after we had planned to go. Unfortunately, Alyssa had developed a lethal form of brain cancer. Just last week, she died of the terminal illness in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Shortly after we had left the emergency room with Alyssa and her parents to mourn her death, we decided that we would explore the Six Flags in Louisiana and then to disband our exploration group. We were doing this for Alyssa; for her honor. Exploring without her wouldn’t ever feel the same and I knew it. We all knew it. 

I looked to Gabe and saw his sling one of the three backpacks around his back as he grabbed a photography camera and put it around his neck with a strap that was attached to the camera. He had a shabby beard with glasses that were geaky and round. It almost made him look like Egon Spanlger from 1984’s Ghostbusters. All of us had constantly teased him about his facial similarities to Harold Ramis. It always pissed him off too because he didn’t like Ghostbusters. Said that it was a “s****y overrated mess about nothing.” That always made Alyssa mad because she loved 1984’s Ghostbusters. So many memories that they had all made together. This is why this specific run that we were going on saddened us. But we wanted to do it. For Alyssa. 

“Cheer up Jacob you’re shitting on our parade.” Gabe said as he patted me on the shoulder. I smiled slightly, putting my hand on Gabe’s shoulder and promptly responded:

“That’s my side hussel.” 

“So your occupation is being an a*****e then?” Gabe replied with a chuckle.  

“No, my occupation is actually to be your a*****e.” I said sarcastically. 

Daniel shut the door of the driver's seat of the car and walked over to Gabe and I. Holding a video camera, he turned it on and started to record.

“And here we see an old married couple in their natural habitat. Both are close to being completely senial and-” Daniel was interrupted by Gabe before he could finish.

“Danny, I’m going to run you down with this car if you don’t-” 

“First of all this is my car and I have the keys. You’re skating on thin ice bucko.” Daniel replied.

“Ladies, ladies, we have somewhere we need to be. Let’s not waste our energy on each other and let’s get into that Six Flags without getting arrested. Sound good?” I said abruptly. 

We all smiled. Although we were definitely saddened by the loss of Alyssa, she wouldn’t have wanted us to lose our sense of humor. Between us, our humor and the dynamic in our group was something that would take you a lifetime to discover. If Alyssa was here now, it’d just be like nothing had changed. In fact, that interaction that we all had just then basically took our minds off of it. Alyssa would typically throw in her two-cents and escalate the situation because she always found it funny when “my boys fought.” I looked down both sides of the dirt road that diverted off of I-10 and saw that there wasn’t another soul around us. Doing this as a hobby is extremely dangerous and requires some quick thinking. There have been multiple occasions where we’ve been running from the police, some security guard, local with a shotgun, or some crazy homeless man. Our assumptions had led us to believe that there wasn’t going to be anyone else in the Six Flags because of how remote it is. There wouldn’t be any reason for some homeless person to just be living there or a local who guards the place. As far as we were concerned, there was only one residential location near this place and they don’t own the property. However, they could still report us for being in there, but we were too far from it to even matter anyway. 

As I slung a camera around my neck and grabbed my backpack full of my tools, I looked to Daniel and then to Gabe. They both looked to each other and then to me. All of us knew what was going to happen after this. We would go to Alyssa’s grave after the funeral had taken place and then we would tell her that we did it, we went to the Six Flags. So many memories the four of us had created, so many. 

“All packed up?” I asked.

“Think so… say, you’re not bringing your gun with you this time are you?” Gabe replied. 

“I don’t see a reason to. There is only one neighborhood by us and they don’t ever come by this place.”

“I mean for wild animals. Homeless people. More for the ladder but I think that it wouldn’t be a terrible idea Jacob.” Gabe said as he grabbed the .44 Magnum Revolver from a gun case that was tucked neatly into a holding place in the back of the SUV. 

“If you think that we should bring it then sure, let’s do it. I just don’t want a lawsuit for some poor old b*****d you get all trigger happy with.” I replied chuckling. 

“If there is any person that I’m going to get trigger happy with, it’s gonna be you.” 

Driving to the Six Flags, we thought, was the worst part of the trip. No, it was actually finding a suitable place to hide your vehicle and then to walk all three miles to the damn place. As if treading through the Sahara desert wasn’t hard enough. Combined with the hot moist air of Louisiana June and the fifteen pounds of equipment we were lugging around, it made for a very physically intensive walk from the SUV all the way to the Six Flags. Luckily, moving through harsh terrain and muddy walk-ways was our speciality. It hadn’t been the worst walk we’ve ever had, but it definitely was far from being the best too. Through the walk though, I looked around at the scenery that was laid out before us. Gabe and Daniel were trucking ahead, trying to get there as soon as possible. I, however, was staying back and taking in my surroundings. Appreciating every little detail of the place you were exploring was part of the journey in my eyes. As they say, it is never about the destination. 

Large sprawling trees ascended on about every turn you could possibly make. Trailing off the road was something that had dawned upon us early into the walk, so we’ve managed to have taken a more scenic route. There were little bushes on the ground but plenty of leaves and wet, muddy ground for our boots to get sucked into every once in a while. The light of the sun could peer through the tops of the tree every so often and the heat of it helped none to the humidity in the forest. Hot and sweaty was something that we always teased Dan about since he always had the hots for this one girl back in our hometown of Oklahoma. He’d always get pissed off at us and tell us that we’re just jealous because he found “the one”. Yeah well, “the one” my a*s buddy. Taken my eyes out of thought and out of the scenery for a moment, I could hear that Gabe was calling my name.

“Jake! Jake! I think that we’re lost.” Gabe said as he flipped a map around a few times. “I’ve been tracking on where we’ve been going but I think I fucked up somehow.”

“Jacob, I think that Gabe held the map upside down.” Daniel said jokingly. 

“Uh huh, sure wiseass. Why don’t you lead then?” Gabe replied sarcastically. 

The last time that Daniel had led the group, he had actually gotten us terribly lost. We were so desperate to try and find our way back that we actually were about to call a police helicopter search with a GPS phone that Alyssa had. Thank God that it didn’t come to that, if it did, we’d most likely have been arrested after we were rescued. The only reason we found our way back was because of all of us putting our heads together and figuring out where we needed to go in order to get back to our car. Inseparable. The four of us were inseparable. 

“Jake. You wanna try figuring out what mess Gabe has gotten us into?” Daniel asked while patting Gabe on the back. 

“Yeah sure, I’ll take a look.” I replied. 

Practically ripping the map out of Gabe’s hands I looked at where the car was. I followed it past a couple of markers that had indicated a small trail heading off the path from exactly where we diverted the path not too long ago. From the looks of it, we were right on target. 

“I don’t think that we’re lost guys, says here that we’ve been following the trail spot on. Let’s just keep going on ahead for a while.” I said.

“That’s the thing Jacob. We’ve been walking for over two hours and we haven’t even seen this place above the treeline.” Gabe replied. “For all we know, we could have passed it an hour ago.” 

I took a minute to think as I looked around in a 360 degree view through the forest around us. Perhaps they were right, maybe we did stray too far ahead. If this was the case, then we’d have to walk an entire hour backwards. 

“I’ll tell you what, I’ll turn around for the car and grab some camping equipment and your GPS. While I’m going back to this point with the GPS, I’ll find you guys as long as you stay put. I’ll be back in two hours boys. Let’s unpack here.” I said. “For Now.”

Daniel and Gabe found a place to sit and wait while I went to grab the equipment from the SUV. This wasn’t the first time that one of us has had to go back for something in the SUV. It more commonly happened when we started doing this as a hobby but occasionally, it would happen even now as we’re practically experts in the field. Even though we’d like to think that we’re experts, we still act extremely unprofessional and are almost always disorganized. Usually Alyssa would be there to keep us in check. She would always say “The day that my boys get organized is the day that I die.” I laughed a bit at that. She died last week and we’re still not organized. I’m sure wherever she is, she’s laughing at it too. Although the death was tragic and times are at their lowest for us, we still haven’t lost our sense of humor and our connection. 

 Walking back to the SUV went from a task to almost a daunting chore. Somehow, I had managed to get myself more lost from where I originally was. I could’ve sworn that I backtrailed almost exactly where I had remembered. The forest had gotten significantly more quiet from the first time we had wandered through it. Making my way back, I couldn’t hear the sound of birds chirping nor could I hear wind blowing through the trees. The silence was eerie, yet calming. Dread swept over me as I realized that I would have to make another trip and attempt to find Daniel and Gabe. This would waste more time and I was beginning to think that we were going to have to call this off for the day so that we can reevaluate our trip. However, before I turned around to head back the way that I had come, the chilling sound of a car horn could be heard echoing somewhere deep into the woods. It was the alarm of the SUV. I was both relieved and put on edge as now I could find the SUV, but it would also mean that I could possibly find someone else there with it. My body got low to the ground as I quietly made my way to the sound of the car, watching just about every direction of myself as I could. 

Putting my body up against a rock I could hear the sound of the SUV not far. I had found the dirt road that led off of I-10, so I was definitely in the right area. I had never thought that the sound of highway traffic would be so comforting. Peering around the edge of the rock, I could see down the dirt road as the sound of the car alarm could be heard. It was hard to see the car, but in the distance I could see the flashing headlights. In that exact moment, I realized something that concerned me. If someone had come out here and set off the alarm, then it could possibly attract others to the car. My goal was to shut off the alarm before anyone’s attention could be drawn to it. Hastily, I collected my courage and endurance to run the rest of the way to the SUV. As I was running to the vehicle, I kept a close view of my surroundings and actually managed to catch something out of the corner of my eye. There was someone in the forest who was walking in the direction that Gabe, Daniel and I had taken to get to the Six Flags. I didn’t stop to try and see who it was, I just kept running to the SUV in an attempt to shut the alarm off. 

Making it to the car I frantically took out the car keys from my backpack and turned off the loud blaring horn. A moment of silence fell over me and I was relieved. That relief was only brief however, as I was now accompanied by the sound of someone running through the forest near me. I crouched near the side of the SUV and looked around on the side that I could see. There wasn’t anything that I could see. I stood up and looked over the hood of the SUV to the other side and scanned everything carefully. Nothing. Couldn’t see a thing. All of the foliage and the path itself is undisturbed. Opening up the trunk to the SUV I pulled out a GPS and some camping equipment that we had loaded just in case we were going to be staying the night out in the woods if we got lost. It’s overthinking and could definitely just be avoided, but again, we’re talking about us. Not exactly the most organized group of people in the world. Makes you think why we’re even doing this as a hobby in the first place considering how coordinated you need to be. Keeping my eyes peeled, I continued with my journey and tried to make my way back to the campsite that Daniel and Gabe had made for themselves. It wouldn’t be that difficult to find my way back since I had the GPS with me now. Without further hesitation I locked the car and set out for my journey back to Gabe and Daniel.

Author's Note

First chapter for the novel. I'm going to be posting more chapters gradually over time.

Reviews

[Kay/Hayden]

I recommend trying to make the beginning a little more intriguing. Always explain the settings and characters later on in the novel. I recommend using an exciting piece of action for the first few lines.

[Broken.]

This is really well written! I am absolutely captivated! I must know what happens next!