Danger Guys

Danger Guys Hollywood Halloween

Tony Abbott

For Ernest
for the day when we can
make a movie like this

ONE

“
Boom! Ba-boom!
”

“What?”

“That's how it starts,” I said. “With lightning flashing and thunder going
Boom! Ba-boom!
”

“Oh. Okay. Go on.”

I was in my best friend Zeek's room. He was holding his dad's new video camera. I was telling him my idea for a movie. And, since it was Halloween, it was going to be a scary movie.

“It's dark,” I said. “Two kids run into an old house. Their names are Noodle Newton and Zeek Pilinsky.”

“The stars!” Zeek smiled as he looked at me through the camera lens.

“Suddenly, a horrible noise echoes through the house. And Zeek says,
‘I'm afraaaid!
' But Noodle stays cool. He says …”

“CUT! CUT! CUT!” Zeek said, putting down the camera. “That's not how it goes! I don't say, ‘I'
m afraaaid
.'”

“Sorry,” I said. “I thought one of us should be scared … you know … a
little
?”

“Well, it can't be me,” he said. “Or you, either. We're official Danger Guys. We love this stuff.”

It's true. We
are
Danger Guys, and we
do
love this stuff. Action movies, scary movies, adventure movies—we've seen them all. And we've read every book, too.

“Think of something else, Noodle. You're always thinking up something or other.”

Yeah, I'm the guy with the ideas. That's why everybody calls me Noodle. And Zeek's the sports whiz, the guy with the muscles.

Together, we are one incredible team.

“Well, okay,” I admitted. “How about—”

“Shhh!” Zeek put his finger up to his lips and pointed to his door. The knob turned slowly.

Suddenly—
wham!
The door swung open. I fell behind Zeek's bed. Zeek backed into his desk, tripped, and nearly dropped the camera.

“Got you!” said a familiar voice.

“Dad!” said Zeek. “You scared us!” Then Zeek looked at me and smiled. “Well, not really.”

I poked up my head. “We're going to make a Halloween movie with your camera, Mr. P.”

“That's why I'm here,” he said. “If you plan to make a movie, there's only one place to learn.”

Then he held up a handful of tickets. There was a big golden “P” on each one.

Zeek and I looked at each other. We started jumping up and down.

“Paragon Movie Studio!”

Zeek's dad smiled. “That's right. We've got tickets for a tour of the oldest studio in Hollywood. Want to eat first, or—”

Whoosh!
We never even heard the rest.

A couple of hours later, Zeek and I, dressed in our Danger Guy jackets, backpacks, and sunglasses, were staring up at the golden letters on the Paragon Studio gate.

“Zeek, look. Just like at the beginning of all those movies. The Paragon gate. Then it fades and the movie starts. Remember
Storm of Terror
? That first scene?”

“Yeah,” said Zeek in his deep movie voice. “‘
It was a beautiful day. Then something went wrong. Terribly wrong!
' I can't believe it—they made that movie right here!”

“Boys, they made everything here,” said Zeek's mom, gazing at Mr. P. “Why, I remember
Strangers in Love
and
Close Friends
and all those other great films. Don't you, dear?”

Zeek and I looked at each other. “Yeah, I guess they had to make
those
kinds of movies, too.”

“And,” said Zeek's sister, Emily, “don't forget
Ali Baba
.” Then she started to hum the love theme.

Two seconds later, a small bus drove up. We got on with a bunch of other kids and parents.

“Okay, Zeek,” I said. “Start rolling. We need some good background shots for our movie.”

“Yeah. Too bad it's such a nice day. Maybe we should make a
love
story.”

We looked at each other.

“Not!”

“Welcome to Paragon Studio,” the driver said as we drove between some huge buildings. “These buildings are called sound stages. Hundreds of movies have been made on these stages. From the first silent films to modern special effects movies, Paragon is the leader!”

“Effects, Noodle,” Zeek said. “Like in
Metalhead
, when the cyborg turns into a mailbox right in front of us and the guy goes to open it and—”

“Yes, son, Paragon is known for its special effects,” the driver went on. “In fact, many of the monsters and other creatures you see in movies are actually computerized robots. And all of them are run by a central computer here at the Studio. We call it the Big Brain.”

Zeek nudged me. “Yeah, like some kind of super Noodle.”

I couldn't believe it. “You mean everything is run by this Big Brain?”

“Everything,” the tour guide said. “Now here is the castle where they filmed …”

Suddenly, the sky turned black above us. I looked up.

Crack!
A jagged flash of white light shot down from the clouds. Then—
Boom! Ba-boom!

“Cool,” I said. “Now, that's what I call special effects!”

“Excellent!” said Zeek. “Great opening shot!”

But the driver seemed upset. “These are not effects, boys. That's real lightning. And it's going to rain any second.”

He was right. A second later the rain did come down. Real rain. In buckets.

“This way!” the driver shouted. “To the castle!” Everyone jumped off the bus and followed him.

Well, everyone but Zeek and me.

We were too busy trying to get all the rain and lightning on tape. When we stopped looking through the camera, everyone was gone.

“The castle, quick!” I said. “Let's run for it.”
Kraaakkk!
A huge bolt of lightning crashed down right in front of us.

Ka-boom!
Another blast zapped the street.

“Noodle! This lightning's got a bad attitude!”

Ka-blam!

I whirled around. I saw a door. “Run!” I screamed.

We tore across the street.

We leaped in the air.

We shot through the door as another jagged bolt of lightning blasted our heels.

TWO

Kaaa-blam!

We hit the floor, slid into something hard, and stopped dead inside a room. A dark room.

I looked out the door.

There was a big black hole in the street where we had just been. It was smoking like a volcano.

“Holy cow,” I said. “Did you see that? That could have been us.”

Zeek didn't answer.

His mouth was hanging open.

Just like it does when Mr. Strunk calls on him in class and he's not ready.

I reached over and pushed his mouth closed.

“But … but … Noodle!” he mumbled. “This is a movie studio. Nothing
really
dangerous happens here. I mean, does it?”

“Naah,” I said. “It's just a storm. When it stops we'll just walk right out, and—”

Bam!
A sudden bolt of lightning blasted the street again.
Wham!
A gust of wind slammed the door shut.

“Well, okay, so maybe we don't just walk out.”

We looked at the lightning outside the window. It was crashing all over the studio.

“I don't like this, Nood. It's too much like …”

“A movie?” I said.

“Yeah, and not a very funny one.” Zeek started tripping over things in the dark. “Oww! Where are we, anyway?”

“It's a movie set, I think.” I felt the wall near the door, found the light switch, and flicked it. The room suddenly blazed with silver light.

“Whoa! Noodle!” Zeek cried. “I think we just stepped into—the future!”

Zeek was right.

We were standing on the control bridge of the 25th-eentury galactic star cruiser
Centauri Vulcan.
Well, the movie set of it, anyway. Big cameras, ladders, electrical cables, spotlights, and tools were set up everywhere around the shiny stage.

“Noodle, this is incredible. Look!” Zeek pointed to the end of the set.

There, sparkling in the light, stood the famous transport pods. Each Vulcan movie ended with the crew beaming back into the pods.

“Unbelievable,” whispered Zeek. “I want to live here.” He pulled out his camera and started taping again.

“It's pretty cool, all right,” I said. “But look at this.” I was standing at a table near the set. “There are tons of future props here. Space suits, communicators, scanners, fazer guns, flashlights …”

“Flashlights?
Ennnh!
” Zeek made a sound like a game show buzzer. “Wrong! We don't use flashlights in the future. We wear personal ultra-laser-halo-visor things. Nobody uses flashlights anymore! Those are way—”

Ka-blam!
More thunder blasted overhead.

The lights on the set flickered and went out. We were in the dark. Totally.

“Oh, man,” Zeek groaned. “We should be raccoons, we're in the dark so often. I guess I'll take one of those flashlights …”

I felt around in the dark and grabbed two of the flashlights from the table in front of me. I was about to turn one on. Then I heard something.

Tap-tap-tap.

I froze.

“Zeek? Was that you?” I whispered. “Say yes. Please.”

“I thought it was you.”

Tap. Tap. Tap.

It sounded like metal against metal.

Zeek stumbled over to me. “Just before the lights went out, I spotted a door across the room.”

“Someone's trying to get in,” I whispered.

“Yeah, someone. Or some
thing
!”

“I'm going to open it, Zeek. Maybe they'll show us a way out.” Zeek grabbed my arm. “No way, Nood.” He held me back. “Did you forget the movie we saw last summer?”

I thought for a minute. “We saw
tons
of movies last summer.”

“The one with the door. The kid opens it and—” Zeek slipped into his movie voice again. “
They tried to destroy it. But it kept coming back! It's—
”

Blam!
A glowing iron fist punched a hole in the door.

“
It's—
”

Blam!
Another fist blasted through.

“
It's—
”

BLAM!
The door blew off its hinges, and a seven-foot monster robot stepped into the room.

THREE

“
It's
—
Metalhead!”

Steel skull for a head. Blinking red eye. It was Metalhead, all right.

And right now that eyeball was scanning the room for human life.

“Hit the deck!” I yelled. We dove across the set and slid under a navigational scanner desk.

“Zeek!” I gasped. “I remember this dude. He's from the future. He's programmed to destroy. That's all he does. I mean, this guy doesn't pump iron. He
is
iron!”