Free Monsterland by Michael Phillip Cash

mother. Josh ungraciously threw himself backward to put on his belt.
    The officer peered into the back of the car, his flashlight illuminating the dark interior. Wyatt watched him with interest.
    “We’ve set up a dumping station at the main gate. No food or beverages allowed,” he informed them, looking into the car.
    “I’m highly allergic and need specific food,” Howard lied, testing the officer.
    “Sorry, son. We have a designated number where special meals can be ordered.” He pushed up the visor of his hat. “You needed to call in advance, though. Too late for that. I know someone who’d want to buy your ticket.”
    “I’ll suffer,” Howard said dramatically.
    The car inched forward, and the view was blocked by the row of tour buses in front of them.
    The vehicle before them turned left, and the boys sat in shocked awe as the vista opened up. A huge concrete wall obliterated the horizon, giant iron gates separating them from the theme park.
    “Entrance at 012 hundred,” Melvin said in a clipped robotic voice.
    “The gate!” Josh crowed, jumping like a wild man in his seat. His seatbelt was off again.
    The gate loomed before them. The first thing he noticed was the Monsterland logo, a large
M
in the center of vampireteeth. Wyatt looked up, spying iron letters barely visible in an arc overhead, the letters shaped with black metal. Wyatt stared up at the entrance, his mouth dry. He had wanted so badly to go, all these months, plotting and planning a way to be able to attend, yet the sign pulled at a distant memory. The giant lettering cast an awesome shadow. The iron gate was surrounded by twenty-foot-high finely sloped concrete walls that made the place look like Hoover Dam.
    “Cut. It. Out, Josh, or I’m calling Mom. You’re not allergic to anything, Howard, and, Melvin, there’s no such thing as 012 hundred.”
    “It’s the coordinates.”
    “You’re an idiot,” Wyatt said with a laugh. Melvin was nothing if not entertaining.
    “If you take me home, you’re going to miss Jade.” Josh pointed to the Nissan pulling up in the next lane. Nolan had the window open and was arguing with the Monsterland police.
    Wyatt craned his neck to see if he could get a glimpse of Jade. His heart started to beat faster; a telltale flush rose to paint his face when he spied her delicate profile. He leaned forward to get a better glimpse of her.
    “Forget it, she doesn’t see you,” Howard observed. “They’re like the gestapo,” he added sourly.
    “The who?” Josh asked.
    “The Nazi’s special police.”
    “Who’s like the gestapo?”
    “The Monsterland security. Did you hear that guy?”
    “What’s up with you, Howard Drucker? I thought you wanted to go.” Wyatt turned, looking at his friend’s pinched face.
    “Yeah, that was before, this is now.”
    Melvin hooked his arm around the headrest. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
    Howard shrugged indifferently.
    “Come on,” Melvin said impatiently.
    “In theory it sounded like a great idea. You know, seeing vampires, zombies, and werewolves in their natural habitat.”
    “So?”
    “The point is, this,” he gestured to the massive gates now in eyesight. “It seems unnatural. It feels—”
    “What? Wrong? What else are they going to do with them? Kill them like in an old Boris Karloff movie? This is so right,” Melvin said hotly. “They were dying in those detention camps.”
    “Containment camps,” Howard corrected.
    “Whatever.” Melvin went on. “The hillbillies practically wiped out the werewolf colony once it was discovered. Vampires lived in fear, almost harried out of existence. Here they are protected. If they did that to the rhinos, maybe they wouldn’t have become extinct.”
    “It’s sterile, not real!” Howard was leaning over the front seat.
    “What happened to you? You were so excited about it,” Wyatt asked.
    “This was all over YouTube this morning.” He typed something on his phone and then showed them