Night at the Museum

Starring Josh Westfall and Steve Westfall (commonly known as muk&luk) as themselves, Balto as himself, etc.

Based on the movie 'Night at the Museum', obviously.

Note: I took some liberties when describing the exhibits (example: the stagecoach, the Roman diorama, etc.). Besides, this story takes place four years from now, so who's to say they won't have this stuff in the future?

December, 2011

Josh Westfall was quite depressed. He had been trying to get a job for nearly five months, and still no luck. Of course, that can only be expected when you're nineteen and haven't gone to college or a vocational school.

“I should've become a writer,” he thought. “I mean, me and my brother wrote all those stories on that Balto site, and people seemed to like them okay. Yup. I should've been a writer.”

Finally, he gave up. “No hope for getting a job whatsoever, it seems. Guess I'll be living with Mom and Dad for the rest of my life.”

The next day, he happened to go to the Cleveland Museum of Natural History. Granted, it's a four-hour drive from Athens, but he survived. Before going in, he bought a newspaper and started reading that.

“Classified Ads. What the heck, I might as well look in there. Hey! The Museum is hiring! Cool! Maybe I can get a job there!”

He ran inside and applied. Fortunately, it was a slow day, so he was taken in immediately for an interview. Unfortunately, however, he didn't have a resume'. (Josh is an idiot, in case you couldn't tell.)

“So, you have no resume',” said the lady who was interviewing him “no job experience, no references, and only High School education. I don't think we'll be able to accept you. Sorry.”

“Look lady, I have been trying to find a job for almost six months. I've been working my butt off. I've even begun sending out applications to other states. I even sent one to New Jersey! That's how desperate I am. So please, give me something. Anything.”

“Well... we do have two positions open. I'm not sure if they're as glamorous as you might like. Both during the night shift. Janitor and Security Guard. You can take your pick.”

“ You know, my brother's also looking for a job. I'll talk it over with him and then we can decide which ones we want.”

His brother Steven naturally wanted the easy job.

“Whaaaaa!I wanna be the guard! Whaaaaa!”

'Sheesh,' thought Josh. 'He's twenty-one. What a baby.'

And so, Josh being the wonderful, humble, sacrificing, humble, friendly, humble, helpful, humble, sweet, humble, kind, humble, loving, humble, submissive, and humble, he let his whiny brother take the easy job (can you tell who's writing this?). First off, before their first day, they had to go see the the men whose jobs they were taking. There was three security guards, and two janitors.

“Hello there,” an old man said to Steven “I'm Ron Slover, the chief night guard. These are my assistants, Gus Cherman and Martin Chicki. In a nutshell, the museum is losing money, hand over fist, so they plan to replace us three with one person, namely you.”

“Wow. They're firing you? That must be tough.”

“Yep. After thirty years here, they're just tossing us out like a bag of moldy tangerines. Oh well, what can you do about it?”

Gus stepped forward and said “He looks like a weirdy!”

Meanwhile, Josh was talking with the two janitors, Bob Leecher and Dick Basler. Bob had a bad habit of smiling and being friendly, no matter what was happening. If he were being tortured by Nazis we would just smile and wish them a nice day. Whereas Dick Basler shouted all the time. Not because he was particularly mad about anything, he just shouted.

“...and when you clean this area just use a little Pine Sol,” Bob was saying “because this is quite delicate actually, and...”

“LET'S MOVE ON BOB. WE'RE BURNIN' DAYLIGHT.”

“Okay, just a minute.” Bob said. Dick rolled his eyes. He knew that when Bob said that, he meant four hours.

“LET'S MOVE ON BOB! BURNIN' DAYLIGHT!”

“Okay. Oh, Josh another thing...”

They got an apartment nearby, and the next day, they went to their first day at work. Steven with his flashlight and keys, and poor, humble Josh with his mop. When they arrived, Ron Slover, Gus Cherman, and Dick Basler were waiting for them.

“We thought we'd just give you a quick little tour of the place before we left.”

“WELL, LET'S GET ON IT. BURNIN' DAYLIGHT.”

They just quickly went through the exhibit, pointing out things like the twelve-foot tall human body in the lobby (the skin on it was clear so you could see the bone, muscle, and organs inside), Sue, the largest complete T-Rex skeleton ever found, along with the tiny Nanotyrannus beside it. Then, as they walked out of the exhibit, Steven noticed that Balto in the display case was right beside them. He instantly made them stop.

“Balto! It's Balto!” he fell on his knees and started sobbing. “Oh, it's Balto! Can I take him home with me? Please? Please please please please? Oh Balto!Balto! Balto! Balto! Balto! Balto! Balto! Balto! Balto! Balto! Balto! Balto! Balto! Balto! Balto! Balto! Ba...” He stopped when Dick Basler swatted him on the back of the head.

“LET'S GO! BURNIN DAYLIGHT!”

Soon, they finished the tour. Ron, Gus, and Dick were about to leave when Ron paused for a moment.

“I almost forgot. Here's an instruction manual. Do 'em all, and do 'em quick.”

Gus stepped up. “Here's how you do 'em. First you do number one, then two, and three, then...”

“Four?” Steven asked.

“You cracking wise? I oughta put your head through a steel beam, snack shack!”

Ron and Dick got him out very quickly, leaving Steven and Josh there alone. The moment they were out of the parking lot, Steven bounded toward Balto. Josh sighed and walked away to start cleaning. First off, he put some of his stuff down behind the reception desk. He lingered for a moment, looking at all the stuff there. Then he saw the microphone that would broadcast your voice throughout the building. He picked it and cleared his throat.

Steven was heading toward Balto, when suddenly a horrible voice came out of nowhere. It was Josh singing.

“FEEEELINNNGS! WOWOWOWO!”

“Horrible,” thought Steven.

“FEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEELLLLLLLLLLIIIINNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNGGGGGSS!WOWOWO!”

When he was finally done (after regaling Steven with his renditions of 'Feelings' 'Bohemian Rhapsody' 'The Cradle Will Rock' and 'Stairway to Heaven) he got to work cleaning.

Half an hour later, Josh got around to Balto. He was about to just dust the top off and move on, until he noticed lip prints all over the display case.

“Steven, get over here!”

“What?”

“Youdid this! So now you're going to help me clean this!”

Steven just pulled out two drumsticks and beat on Josh's head with them. Then he ran off and started beating his drumsticks on various items throughout the museum, making drum sounds with his mouth. Josh sighed again and began cleaning lip prints himself. He glanced over toward Sue's exhibit, mentally deciding what to clean first in there. But he noticed something odd. Sue was gone. So was the Nanotyrannus. He walked in and looked around.

“What happened? Did someone come in here and steal it? I wouldn't be surprised, having that looney drummer as a security guard.”

He turned around to get Steven, but then he noticed something else odd. Balto was gone!

'Okay, that does it. That moron has gone too far!'

He marched off angrily looking for Steven. Then he heard a scream. He ran as fast as he could in the direction of the scream. He wound up in the lobby, and looked up. The twelve-foot tall transparent human was holding his brother at eye level!

“I said,” said the twelve-foot tall transparent human “to stop drumming on my foot!”

“Uh.okay.” said Steven, bewildered.

“Put him down!” said a voice.

Josh, Steven, and the twelve-foot tall transparent human, all turned to see who had spoken. None other than Balto himself!

“Whoa,” said Josh “Not only is he alive, he's talking!”

“What's going on?” Steven asked, a moment before he was dropped twelve feet to the floor. Then, things from all over the museum started walking around.

Josh grabbed Steven and ran up the stairs to the second floor.

“What should we do?” Steve asked.

“Look in the instruction manual!”

“What?”

“The bloody instruction manual! Ron said to do them all! Where the heck is it?”

“I... uh, left it behind the reception desk.”

Josh looked over the rail at the desk. There was a hawk and a lion tearing it apart.

“Crap!” said Steven “Josh, you try to distract them. I'll grab the instruction manual!”

Josh grabbed Steven's cell phone and made it start playing 'My Heart Will Go On' by Celine Dion. It had immediate effect. The lion and hawk started rolling on the ground in unimaginable agony. Steven ran behind the counter and got the manual.

“Okay, here's instruction number one! Huh. it says 'Throw the bone.' What the heck is this talking about? What bone? Ahhhhh!” The last remark was due to the sight of Sue charging right toward them. Steven and Josh ran like Keith Richards would run from a 'Say No to Drugs' parade. They ducked behind the reception desk. Sue began tearing it apart.

“What do we do?” Josh screamed.

Then a rib bone from Sue landed on their heads.

“Hey... maybe we throw that bone!”

Steven picked it up and hurled it away from them. Sue turned and ran after it.

“Okay, now run!” Steven said.

They only got three feet away when Sue came in front of them and dropped the bone again.

“We can't just stand here throwing this darn bone all night. What should we do?” Steven asked.

Josh picked it up and threw it up to the second floor. Fortunately, with Sue having a huge skeleton, she couldn't reach fit up the stairs far enough to reach the bone. She spent the rest of the night trying to get it.

Meanwhile, Josh and Steve walked away, free from having to play fetch all night.

“What's next on the instructions?”

“'Lock up the lions or they'll eat you.' Uh-oh. I don't like the sound of that.”

They ran as fast as they could toward the exhibit with all the animals. Unfortunately, they were too late. The three lions were standing right in front of the doorway.

“Oh no. Play 'My Heart Will Go On'!” said Josh.

“Why?”

“Because they hate it. Play it now!”

So Steven pulled out his phone and started playing the song. It had no effect. Rather, the lions seemed to get mad and began walking up toward them, preparing to leap. At that point, Steven started singing along. The lions immediately howled in horror and ran away. Josh stepped forward and locked up the exhibit. But not before a monkey jumped at Steven and ripped the manual from his hands.

“Hey! Give that back!” Steven yelled.

The monkey ran away, and Steven began to chase him. Josh decided to go lock up some other exhibits. Just to be safe.

“Hey! Give that back!” Steven yelled, still in pursuit of the monkey. It looked back and shook it's head, then continued running. Finally, it ran into a corner.

“End of the line cool breeze. End of the line.” Steve said.

The monkey responded by ripping the manual in half.

“Hey!” Steven jumped at him, and grabbed him around the waist. So the monkey slapped him. Steven slapped back. The monkey slapped Steven. Steven slapped back. The monkey slapped Steven. Steven slapped back. The monkey slapped Steven. Steven slapped back. The monkey slapped Steven. Steven slapped back. The monkey slapped Steven. Steven slapped back.

“Stop that!” said Balto.

“But he slapped me first!” said Steven.

“It doesn't matter. You must treat this creature with delicacy and respect.”

“He also tore up my instruction manual!”

As if to highlight this point, the monkey ripped it again.

“So? Contact whoever gave it to you and have them give you another one.”

Josh was in a room with dioramas filled with little people and animals. In the first one was a diorama of the Plains out in the 'Wild West'. All that was in that one was buffalo. In the next one was Indians. Josh looked down at them and realized they were building something.

“Hey! Little people down there! What are you doing?” he asked.

A small Indian (who appeared to be the chief) said “We are building a bridge! We have run out of food, so we must get to those bison so we can survive!”

“Who are you anyway? Chief Sitting Bull?”

“No, I am none other than Chief Running Nose, chief of the tribe of the Wannahockaloogie!”

“Running Nose? Wannahockaloogie? What, is your medicine man named Falling Pants?”

“No, that is my son.”

“Ah.”

He walked to the next one, inhabited by cowboys. They also appeared to be building a bridge.

“And what are you doing?” Josh asked.

“Shh!” said a cowboy. “We're tryin' to build a bridge over the Injuns! We're runnin' outta room in this tiny box, so we're expandin' over there!”

“How? Indians are in that one!”

“Then we move 'em or conquer 'em!”

“Now that's not a very nice thing to do.”

“Neither is you lockin' us up in here every night!”

“I'm not the one that does that! I'm new here!”

“Yer lyin'! Cavalry! Fire!”

A dozen little men in army outfits lined up on the edge of their box and fired. They hardly hand any effect on Josh. To him it just felt like they were throwing pebbles in his face.

“Wow.” he said sarcastically. “That's all the better you can do?”

“Load the cannon!” the cowboy said.

“Aw crap.”

“So, would you mind explaining what exactly is going on here?” Steven asked Balto. “I mean, aren't you supposed to be... you know...”

“Dead?” asked Balto. “Yes, we should.”

“Then why aren't you?”

Balto led him to the area where they displayed the crystals, gems, and rocks.

“See that moon rock? That got here thirty years ago. Every night since it arrived, everything in this museum has turned to life. And, in addition, I can somehow talk, too.”

“But it's just an ordinary moon rock. It's not like they're radioactive or anything like that. I've seen plenty of moon rocks, even held them, but nothings ever happened to me.”

“I don't know why it happens, I just know that moon rock is what brings us to life every night. If there's something special about it, I don't know.”

“Hey! Did you hear me? I said don't fire the cannon!”

“Too bad Gigantor! Fire!”

“Whoa, whoa, wait a minute. What's your name?”

“Jedidiah. What's it to you?”

“Okay, look Jedidiah, I don't know why you're so mad at me, but I can assure you, I didn't do it!”

“Fire!”

This time it felt like Josh had been punched in the stomach. He fell forward and had to brace himself against the box in order to remain standing. In response, hordes of the little cowboys ran onto his arm and crawled down him until they got to the floor. Josh was having too much pain in his belly to do anything about it. The cowboys started tying his feet up, wrapping them in rope. Finally, Josh noticed what they were doing. He turned around, and at that moment the little cowboys around his feet grabbed his toes and lifted. Eventually the exerted enough force to knock him over. He fell backward and landed in the box, with his head on the railroad tracks. Little cowboys ran over to him and tied him down.

“Fire up the Iron Horse boys!” shouted Jedidiah.

“Hey, stop the train!” Josh shouted.

“No can do Gigantor.”

“Stop the train! Now!”

“Alright, stop the train.”

“Thank you.”

“Now full speed ahead and ram him! Split his head like a watermelon!”

The train came bearing down on him faster and faster, steam shooting out, until.................................... Thunk

The train just hit Josh in the side of the head and fell over on it's side.

“Fer cryin' out loud!” Jedidiah shouted angrily.

“Okay, I've had enough of this.” Josh ripped all the ropes off of him, and stood up. The little cowboys both on the ground and in the box pulled out their guns and started firing little pellets at him. He picked up all the cowboys on the ground up and put them back in the box.

“Reload the cannon! It brought him down once, it can do it again!” Jedidiah shouted.

“You know, all I need to do is squeeze the end of the barrel and it'll scrunch down on itself. It'll jam the gun.” Then Josh felt a quick, sharp pain on his back. He turned around and saw four Phalanxes of Roman soldiers behind him (a phalanx is a square formation of soldiers, eight wide, eight deep).

“Hey, what are you doing?” asked Josh.

“We must expel you from our land!” shouted a Roman soldier. He looked like their leader.

“How are you going to expel me? I'm five foot nine, and all you are smaller than my thumb.”

“We may be small, but our hearts are large! Uh, metaphorically speaking.”

“Okay, who are you supposed to be? Julius Caesar?”

“I am Roman General Octavius!”

“He's an idiot, that's who he is.” whispered Jedidiah.

“I heard that! You will pay for that remark! With your life!” He pulled his sword.

“Oh yeah?” Jedidiah shouted. He pulled out his gun and took a shot at Octavius (he missed) who then ordered his men and catapults to fire. Jedidiah ordered his men to fire. When the cannon was loaded, they angled it down toward the two phalanxes in the middle and fired. It took out about twenty of the men.

Octavius was furious. “Prepare the ladders! Climb into their box! Chaaaaaaaarrrrrrge!”

The entire Roman charged up the ladders into the the cowboys box. Jedidiah ran forward and pushed one of the ladders backward. It leaned back and fell to the ground. Soon the whole box was a maelstrom of cowboys and Romans, arrows and bullets flying everywhere, catapults still firing, cannons going off, and swords and spears being twirled and thrown every which way.

“Well, at least the Indians aren't in on it.” Josh thought.

Except, he realized, they were. The cowboys had gotten far enough on the bridge that the Indians could lay ladders across and reach the bridge. Then they started flooding over into the battle.

“Great,” Josh thought “Just great.”

“Well Steven,” said Balto “it's almost dawn. I'll help you restore order this time, but after that it's your own responsibility.”

“Why? What's the big deal with you helping me?”

“You've had greatness thrust upon you. Do you realize that our life is in your hands?”

“How's that?”

“The moon rock only keeps us alive when we're inside. If we're outside when the sun rises, we turn to dust.”

“So then why is your life in my hands? Just stay inside.”

“Because I'm the only one that knows. You see, a little while after we started coming to life, one of us ventured outside, right when the sun was rising. I saw him turn to dust. I was the only one who saw as well.”

“Why didn't you tell everyone else?”

“It's not my place to. It's your responsibility, remember?”

The next morning, the first people to arrive were the five men who Steven and Josh replaced.

“We just wanted to drop by and see how things went on your first night.” said Bob.

“Oh fine,” said Josh “Except for the fact that everything comes to life! I think you overlooked that minor little point.”

“Well, if we'd told you, you wouldn't have believed us.”

“Say, you wouldn't happen to have an extra copy of that manual would you?” asked Steven “That little monster of a monkey tore it up.”

“Dexter? He tore up your manual? Ha ha!”

“Dexter, you say his name is? Yeah, him.”

“No, I don't have an extra copy. Sorry.”

“Great. Look, you can just take your jobs back.” Steven said “I don't know about Josh, but I want an ordinary job that isn't life threatening! Understand?”

“I agree,” said Josh. “This job is definitely not worth $11.50 an hour.”

“Look, that's what I thought at first. Just try reading up on your history. It helped me a lot when I first started out. Give it one more night, okay? Besides, this time you'll be expecting everything, and you can prepare, so I guarantee it will easier.”

“Well, okay. Fine. But if it isn't easier tonight, I'm quitting.”

“Okay, that's fair. Well, we've got some stuff still in our office, so we're just gonna run up there and get it.”

“Alright. Feel free.”

Bob was right. The next night, things were much easier. The had bought a remote control car that they tied the bone to. Then they taped the steering wheel down on the remote so that the car would keep doing 360's all night. Steven immediately locked up the animals exhibit, and Josh went to the diorama room with a little proposition for Running Nose, Jedidiah, and Octavius. He told them if they wouldn't fight with each other, he would let them out. They accepted. However, a few minutes later he was walking by, and noticed commotion in the diorama room. He walked in, and saw hordes of Indians, Cowboys, and Romans fighting.

“Oh great. Just great! This is worse than before!”

He walked in, kicking people and catapults out of his way. Finally, he found his targets. Running Nose, Jedidiah, and Octavius. Not surprisingly, they were fighting amongst each other. He picked them all up and carried them over to a bench.

“Put me down!” shouted Jedidiah “I don't like to be manhandled!”

“Too bad!” Josh shouted back. He put them all down on the bench.

Jedidiah was furious. “I'm gonna shoot you in the eye, right in the dad gum eye!” He pulled the trigger, but nothing happened.

“Ha ha. You're out of bullets!” said Octavius.

“Shut up Octavus.” Josh said.

“It'sOctavius, Goshua.”

“Anyway, as I was about to say, what happened to our agreement? I told you I'd let you out if you didn't fight. But guess what? You're fighting!”

“Look, we're men, of course we fight,” said Jedidiah “It's sort of how we pass the time. You're a giant, a freak. We can't expect you to understand that Gigantor.”

“Oh, and another thing, quit calling me Gigantor! It me feel like a monster or something! Would you like it if I called you Teeny? How do you like that? Teeny!”

“Well, I don't! It hurts my feelings.”

“Okay then, don't call me Gigantor.”

“I just call you Josh.” said Octavius.

“Oh, don't simper to him!” said Running Nose. “I heard you calling him Goshua!”

“Shut up!”

“Don't deny it! You sissy Roman!”

“What did you say?!”

The three of them began fighting again. Josh whistled at them as high and as loud as he could. To their little ears, it was deafening.

“Hey!” all three of them shouted.

“Look, if you don't stop fighting, it's back in your boxes! Understand?”

Aside from all that, the rest of the day went pretty good. The next morning, again, the first people there were (again) the five men who used to have the jobs.

“Well, how did it go?” Bob asked.

“I must say, last night went very well.” Steven said.

“See? What'd I tell you? So, are you gonna keep your jobs?”

“I think so.” Josh said.

“Excellent! Oh, and I thought we'd let you know, we're checking out for the last time. From the sounds of it you guys have got it under control. See ya.”

And with that, they left.

That night, Steven and Josh were setting up for when everything came to life. And that time was coming fast.

“Alright,” said Steven “Josh, get ready to get the remote control car ready. Sue's waking up in five... four... three... two... one... now!”

Josh started the car, but Sue did nothing.

“Um, you must have the time wrong.” Josh said.

“Okay, get ready.... now!”

Still nothing.

“I don't understand this. Did the moon rock quit working?” Steven said.

“Whoa, wait a minute. What moon rock?”

“Balto never told you that did he?”

“Tell me what?”

“The reason everything comes to life is because of this moon rock here. I'll show you.”

They headed for the room with the rocks. The moon rock was gone!

“It's gone! Someone must've stolen it!” Steven said.

“Who? All the doors are locked, and we've been here all day. Who could possibly have stolen it?”

“Us, naturally.” someone said.

Josh and Steven turned to see who had said it. It was the three previous night guards and the two janitors!

“You see,” said Bob “We discovered that at night, we got a new life too. Working here at night, keeping things under control, it kept up our exercise, and unlike other older men, we don't have arthritis or back pain, or anything like that. So you see, when we were fired, we decided we just weren't gonna stand for it. So we stole the moon rock, and now we're gonna steal a lot of other stuff too. Remember when we told you we were going back to our office to get some stuff? Well, what we really did was steal your key, made copies, and returned your key. Thanks.” With that he jumped and kicked both Josh and Steven in the face. They dragged them into a closet and locked the door.

“WELL, LET'S GET LOOTING. WE'RE BURNIN' DAYLIGHT.” said Dick Basler. Then the five men ran off and started looting.

“Now what do we do?” asked Steven.

“Find the moon rock. How did they keep it from bringing everything to life anyway?”

It took a while, but they finally unlocked the door from the inside and got out.

“Let's check in the warehouse.”

They searched for a while, and eventually found the moon rock. It was wrapped very thick in cloth.

“Aha.The cloth must dampen it or something.” said Steven.

Josh picked it up and unraveled all the cloth from off of it. Instantly they heard the noises of animals and various other things coming alive.

“Alright. Let's go save the museum.”

Steven and Josh rushed out into the main lobby. They stood on the top of the stairs and tried to get every bodiesattention. Again, a maelstrom of fighting was going on between everybody. Josh got their attention finally and explained things to everybody.

“Look, five just stole a moon rock, the one that brings you people... uh, and animals... and other things to life every night! So if you want to keep living, you're all going to just put aside your conflicts that you have among each other, and we'll all have to work together! Okay?”

The crowd below nodded their heads.

Steven stepped forward and began arranging groups. You people here, you people there, etc. After going through everybody, he leaned against the railing. Then, he felt something on his elbow. He looked down at it saw Jedidiah, Octavius, and Running Nose.

“And what are we to do?” Octavius asked.

“Take care of their getaway car.” Josh said.

Out in the snow covered parking lot,three tiny figures followed by a select few from their armies, crawled through the deep snow out to a purple van. When they reached the tire, Octavius lifted his spear and stuck it in the tire.

WHOOOOOSH

went the air out the tire.

WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSSHHHHHH

First an Indian flew away, then a cowboy, then two romans, then Running Nose, and they kept flying away in the powerful wind, until all that was left was Jedidiah and Octavius.

“Save yourself!” shouted Octavius, barely audible over the powerful blast of the wind.

Bob walked out to his van. The four other members of his team had been captured and tied up, but he had an armful of valuable loot and was getting out of here. As he approached his van, he thought he heard a very, very faint whoosh but he could've been mistaken.

Josh and Steven ran ran out into the parking lot. They saw tracks going through the snow, obviously left from Bob's van leaving.

“Crap,” said Josh “We're too late.”

“We might be able to figure out where he went.”

“How? I stink at stuff like that. Do you know someone who can navigate through a near blizzard?”

“I think I do.”

Five minutes later, Balto was in the parking lot, looking at the tracks.

“He drove twenty feet away, but then lost control and crashed.”

“Wow,” said Steven “How can you tell all that from tire tracks?”

Balto pointed toward a wrecked van in the parking lot.

“Wait. After he crashed,” said Balto “He turned around... and went back inside!”

“Why would he go back inside?” Josh asked.

That instant, the door to the loading dock burst open, and a stagecoach came running out, with Bob driving.

“Dang! We need to stop him!” said Josh.

“But how?”

“Steven, get two horses. I'll handle the rest.”

A few minutes later, Bob was riding down the road, certain he had gotten away. Then he looked back over his shoulder and saw Sue and the Nanotyrannus chasing him. He also saw Steven and Josh riding after him on horseback. They looked like they weren't scared at all.

“They must be fearless!” thought Bob.

“Get me off of here!” cried Steven.

“We're gonna die!” wailed Josh.

“I'm never riding a horse as long as I live!”

“Mommy! Mommy! MOMMMMYY!”

On the other hand, Jedidiah and Octavius were having the time of their life. They were sitting inside the remote control car, and had the controller inside. Sue's bone was still tied to the car, and she and the Nanotyrannus were pursuing it devotedly.

“Wheeeee-ha! This is great!” screamed Jedidiah. He was in the driver's seat, and he was driving the car right behind the stagecoach. Their job was to try to get Sue and the Nanotyrannus to attack the stagecoach, and they were doing a marvelous job so far. Until the turn came. Bob took the stagecoach around a tight turn, almost making the coach flip over. When Jedidiah and Octavius also took the turn, they went into an uncontrollable spin. Eventually they hit a snow drift and accidentally ramped up it, then crashed down on the ground hard. The entire car went into flames.

Josh and Steven both saw this. Now it was up to them to stop Bob. They pulled up right beside the coach and Steven shouted “Pull the stagecoach over now!”

“No can do son!” Bob said “These horses were money-carriers! They were trained to only stop for a certain secret password!”

“Oh,” said Josh “You mean a word like 'Dakota?'”

The horses immediately stopped, so suddenly that Bob was hurled from the coach.

“I read up on my history.” said Josh “Thanks for the tip.”

At that point they noticed the sun was coming up.

“Oh no, we need to get everyone inside! Now!”

As quickly as they could, they tried to get everyone in. Fortunately, they did it just in time.

“Okay!” said Balto “It looks like we did it!”

“Yeah, well,” said Josh “We lost two good little men out there tonight.”

“With great victory comes great sacrifice.”

They were about to walk back inside when they heard something. They looked behind and saw two tiny figures walking through the snow towards them. Jedidiah and Octavius had survived. They were covered with soot and parts of their clothes were scorched and burned.

“Y' ain't gonna get rid o' us that easy.” said Jedidiah.

Steven and Josh surveyed the museum. Trash was everywhere, things were destroyed. It looked there had been a battle there. Probably because there had.

“Well, looks like we're gonna get fired.” Josh said.

“Yep. No way we can weasel our way outta this one.”

True enough to their words, come morning, their boss took a look at the place, and was obviously displeased.

“Come into my office.” was all he said to them.

When they got in, he turned on the TV. He flipped to a news channel where they were talking about tyrannosaurus tracks in the new-fallen snow. Their boss flipped to another news channel. There was a story about sightings of a caveman on top of the museum. He flipped to three more, all showing the same things. Finally, he turned it off and said to them “Any explanation?”

Josh looked at Steven, and Steven looked at Josh.

“Nope.” they both replied.

“Good.” said their boss “I'll take your flashlight and keys Steven, and Josh, you can return your supplies to the cleaning department.”

The three of them walked out of the office, and as they walked into the lobby, they saw swarms of people.

“Wow.” said Josh “They all must've seen what's on TV.”

They were amazed. Never in the history of the museum had there been so many people there. Their boss turned to Steven and handed him his flashlight and keys back.

“You can stay.” he said.

The End