"It's Lynyrd Skynyrd," replied Trey, rolling his eyes.

"Leonard who?"

Trey burst out laughing. "Not Leonard. Lynyrd Skynyrd."

"That's not even a real name!" said Alyson.

Trey looked over at her. "Oh yeah. Like there's such a thing as stone temple pilots. Have you ever actually seen a gin blossom?"

Alyson sighed. "No, but . . . that doesn't matter. What's the song?"

"Gimme Three Steps," Trey answered.

"Well, it's aggravating," said Alyson, changing the station.

"Hey! I was listening to that!" whined Trey.

"It's my car."

"But you're supposed to let the passenger listen to what they want!"

Alyson looked at Trey like he was nuts. "Where did you ever hear that? Besides, you never let me listen to what I want to in your car."

"Alley, you were in my car once."

"So? You still didn't let me listen to what I wanted to!"

"The radio wasn't on, and there were three other people in the car."

Alyson turned the corner, flicking the windshield wipers faster. "How do you even remember that?"

Trey grinned and leaned back in his seat, putting his hands behind his head.. "Hey, great minds have great memory capacity."

Alyson smiled back. "You wish! You can't even remember burger orders!"

"That only happened once!"

"Seven times. I'm keeping track," said Alyson.

"May I ask why?"

"If Mike ever asks me my opinion on who should be fired, I'll have ammo."

"You wouldn't want me fired. Then you'd have no one to fight with." He changed the radio station, having decided he'd heard "Another Night" one too many times. "Face it. Without me, your life would be a hopeless void."

"Without you, I might actually gain some sanity," remarked Alyson.

"What's that noise?" Trey asked, turning the radio down.

"Oh. You hear that too?" asked Alyson. "I was hoping it was my imagination."

"You were hoping a clunking noise from your engine was your imagination?" scoffed Trey. "Gee, I hope I'm not in the car with you when you hope the smoke and flames coming from your hood are your imagination. What is that? I thought this car was supposed to be wonderful."

"It is," said Alyson, furrowing her eyebrows (I like the word furrowing). "I don't know what that noise--oh great," she muttered as her car stopped completely.

"What'd you do?"

Alyson glared at Trey. "I didn't do anything! It just stopped."

"Wonderful. We're a mile from any houses in the pouring rain, and your car stops. Just wonderful."

"Look, Trey, it's not like I want to be here. I didn't mess up the engine on purpose."

"So what do we do now?"

Alyson leaned back in her seat and looked out the window. "I don't know," she sighed. "Are we near anything?"

Trey glanced out the windshield. "Well, considering it's pitch black outside and pouring, I'm only guessing that we're near the house Shane's parents rent out."

"Shane who?"

"McDermott." (I know, I know. This is going somewhere, trust me.) "His parents have a house around here cause we're above the ocean. They rent it to tourists in the summer."

"How far away is it? I'm not walking half a mile in the pouring rain in heels."

Trey gave Alyson a sideways glance. "I didn't tell you to wear them. I think it's around the bend there," he pointed. "If I'm guessing right."

"Which you're probably not, taking into account that you are Trey Parker."

"You wanna stop cutting up on me for a second? I'm trying to figure out what we're gonna do."

"Sorry," Alyson muttered. "I just want to go home."

"Yeah, well, so do I." Trey opened his car door. "Let's go."

Alyson looked over at him, alarmed. "What are you talking about? You don't even know if we're near their house!"

"Well, I'm pretty sure. And if we can get there, we can get inside and call somebody to get us and your car." Trey climbed out of his seat and slammed the door behind him. Sighing in aggravation, Alyson undid her seatbelt and climbed out of the car into the pouring rain.

Turning his head gingerly to the right, he saw Erin slumped against the window, her eyes closed.

Oh, God, she's dead, he thought, halting his breathing. I've killed her. Then Dave let out a sigh of relief when he noticed that she was, in fact, still breathing.

"Eri?" he whispered. "Eri, please open your eyes."

Erin moaned and shifted her head, but didn't open her eyes.

"Come on," pleaded Dave. "Eri, I know you can hear me. Just wake up. Please."

Dave unbuckled his seatbelt and tried to see out of the front window. His headlights were still on, so he could make out several bushes in front of the car. As near as he could tell, what he had thought was a cliff turned out to be a hill on the side of which lay the car. He carefully opened the door to see what the car was sitting on. With the help of the interior lights, Dave could see that his car really was just sitting on the hill. He turned back to Erin and touched her arm.

"Erin? Come on, Eri, we gotta get out of here."

Groaning, Erin slowly opened her eyes, allowing Dave's worried face to come into focus.

Dave smiled. "Hi."

Erin wet her lips. "What happened?" she mumbled. Lifting her head, she let out a moan.

David scrunched up his eyebrows. "What's wrong?"

"My head," said Erin. "I feel like it got run over."

"Well, you probably hit it pretty hard. Are you okay? Like, is anything broken?"

Erin moved her arms and legs to test if they were broken or sprained. "I don't feel any major pain," she replied. "I just kinda ache. How about you?"

"I'm okay," said Dave. "Listen, Eri, we gotta get out of this car. It's sitting on a hill, but I'm not sure how secure it is. And I don't feel like tumbling to my death in a car this evening."

Erin glared at him, remembering how he'd been acting. "You almost did."

"I'm sorry, Eri, really I am," said Dave. "That was just stupid of me. I should've just believed you and left it at that."

"Yeah, you should have," responded Erin, sighing. "Let's just try to get out of here." She undid her seatbelt and opened the passenger door. As it swung open, the car creaked and slid about three feet further down the hill.

"That ain't good," said Dave, staring wide-eyed out Erin's door at the waves below. Now he could see that the hill kind of sloped off to a cliff that overlooked the ocean. And his car was awfully close to sliding into that menacing ocean.

Colleen sighed and flicked on the lights to the cafe, watching as Rob ran over to the counter and hurdled it. He disappeared a second later as he squatted down behind it.

"What are you looking for again?" asked Colleen, walking over the counter and peeking over the top at Rob.

"My sunglasses," answered Rob, digging through the boxes of straws and napkins.

Colleen raised her eyebrows. "And why would you need your sunglasses at midnight?"

"I don't need them at midnight," said Rob, looking up at her. "I need them for when I drive to work tomorrow." He started rooting around behind some glasses.

"Don't you remember where you left them?"

Rob looked up. "If I knew where I left 'em, Coll, I wouldn't be looking down here, now would I?"

"Well, you don't have to get all defensive," said Colleen. "I was just asking! I'll go look back in the kitchen." She headed around the side of the counter, leaving Rob to search the freezer with the Bacardi mixes, and wondering why he would put his sunglasses in a freezer.

"Now, if I were Rob, where would I put my sunglasses?" Colleen said to herself, walking into the kitchen. "Stupid question, Colleen. He's looking through a freezer." She opened several cabinets and drawers, but to no avail. Checking the stove, closet, and sink, she found nothing that resembled a pair of sunglasses. Then she had a brainstorm. The big, walk-in freezer where they kept all the burgers, chicken, and other frozen foods (they actually do serve more than burgers and fries at this place, I just forgot to mention that). Rob had been cooking earlier and could've gone into the freezer for burgers or something. She walked over to the door to the freezer and pulled it open, shivering at the cold air that escaped when she did so. Exactly what temperature did Mike keep this thing at? 30 below? Leaving the door open, Colleen walked into the freezer and started searching shelves of frozen foods.

Her eyes scanned the shelves of chicken--nothing. Burgers--nada. Other meat--nope. Turkey--uh uh. Fries--zip. Ice cream--zilch. Colleen turned to check other shelves, but fell to her knees when she felt the floor shaking slightly, and then more violently. The whole room was shaking and she watched in horror as the door to the freezer slammed shut, leaving her in frozen darkness.

Behind the counter, Rob had covered his head as several glasses came crashing down around him. Earthquakes were pretty uncommon in Emerald Harbor so he was kinda shocked when it happened. Only lasting a few seconds, the earthquake caused the jukebox to topple over and sent several posters falling off the walls. But other than that, it really didn't cause much damage to the cafe. Rob stood up slowly once he thought the quake was over.

"Coll?" he called.

No answer.

Rob walked back into the kitchen. "Colleen?" He didn't see her anywhere and it was dead silent. Then he heard the pounding coming from the other side of the freezer door. It stopped a second later.

"What the . . .?" he muttered, racing over to it and pulling it open. In the glaring florescent lighting of the freezer, he saw Colleen sitting in the back, huddled in a corner. She'd been throwing frozen chickens at the door, too cold to move over and pound on it herself.

"Whoa, are you okay?" he asked, walking over and kneeling next to her. Colleen's lips were already turning blue. She nodded and grabbed onto him, trying to stand up.

"Cold. Very cold," she said. Rob put his arms around her.

"Okay, let's get out of here. It's warmer outside."

"Okay," replied Colleen, hanging onto Rob as they walked toward the door. She fell when the floor started shaking again, taking Rob with her. Colleen screamed as boxes fell off of the shelves onto them and Rob pulled her out of the way as a huge box of fries came tumbling down. The door slammed shut just as one of the shelves came crashing down. The sound echoed off the metal walls, ringing in Rob's ears. Then, just as quickly as it had started, the shaking stopped. He held onto Colleen on the frozen floor, both of them shaking with fear.

"What was that?" said Aaron, glancing around after the first round of shaking had ceased.

"My name's Ali," answered Ali. "And that, my dear Aaron, was an earthquake."

"I thought we didn't get earthquakes here," said Aaron, taking some popcorn.

"Last one was back in 1989," replied Ali. "Before you moved here. That one made a building collapse."

"Cool," said Aaron. "Kill anybody?"

"No, you morbid freak!" Ali hit Aaron with a pillow. He held up his hands to defend himself.

"Hey, I was just askin'!" he said, laughing. "Seriously, did anybody get hurt?"

Ali grabbed a handful of popcorn. "I don't think so. At least, I don't remember anybody saying there were any deaths or people getting hurt. Just that building collapsed. But it was gonna fall down anyway."

"Which building?"

"Um, it was where Drug Emporium is now," answered Ali, chewing. "I think. Somewhere around there."

"Cool," said Aaron again. "Doogie has bad hair," he said, pointing at the screen.

"I'm sorry," said Ali. "I didn't do it for him." She took another handful of popcorn, but most of it fell out of her hand when the room started shaking again, this time more violently. When it stopped, Ali's father came into the room.

"You guys okay?" he asked, looking around to see if anything had fallen.

"We're just dandy, dad," called Ali. She looked over her shoulder at him. "Any problems?"

"Don't think so," her father answered, taking a final survey of the room with his eyes. "I'll be in my study if you need me."

"Kay." Ali ate the popcorn that had survived the quake.

"Two in one night?" asked Aaron, raising his eyebrows.

"What? Oh, the earthquake," replied Ali. "Yeah, I guess so. I hope everybody got home okay."

He looked over his shoulder at her. "Of course. What do you take me for? An idiot? Don't answer that."

Alyson smiled and brushed wet hair out of her face. "I wasn't gonna say anything."

"Oh, yeah, right!" grinned Trey. "I could see a comment forming on your lips. Walk faster."

"I can't walk any faster! I hate these shoes!"

Trey stopped and waited for Alyson to walk along beside him. "Then why did you wear them?"

"They match my dress," Alyson answered. Trey rolled his eyes.

"Girls don't like to be comfortable, do they?" he asked.

"Just because we don't consider jeans and baseball caps to be dressy clothing doesn't mean we don't like being comfortable."

"Why do you wear high heels then?" asked Trey.

"Cause they look good. Besides, these aren't really that high." Alyson sighed. "How much further?"

Trey furrowed his eyebrows. "I'm not really sure." Then he mumbled something.

"What?" asked Alyson.

"I'm not sure if this is the right direction . . ." mumbled Trey, a bit more clearly.

Alyson stopped in her tracks. She opened her mouth to say something, but Trey covered it with his hand.

"Don't say it," he said. "I know exactly what you're gonna say, so don't waste your breath." He removed his hand.

"Okay, Mister Smarty-Pants, what was I gonna say?" asked Alyson, putting her hands on her hips.

"You were gonna say, 'you stupid idiot, you mean we've been walking out in this pouring rain for half and hour and you don't even know if we're going the right way?" said Trey, doing his best to imitate Alyson's voice.

Alyson looked away from Trey, not wanting to admit he was right. "I don't sound like that," she muttered.

"Yeah, you do," smiled Trey. "And you look like a drowned rat."

"So do you!" retorted Alyson. "And I wasn't gonna say that, anyway. I was just going to ask you if you recognized the area."

Trey laughed. "Alyson, you have never passed up a chance to call me an idiot and that was the perfect opportunity! You shouldn't lie. It's not a very attractive personality trait."

"Well, you are an idiot!" said Alyson. "Well, 99% of the time you are."

"And that other one percent?" Trey asked.

"Then you're a jerk," grinned Alyson in triumph, continuing to walk. Trey let that sink in and followed her.

"Do you really--" he started, but then stopped as the ground beneath him began to shake.

"What's going on?" asked Alyson, turning around to look at Trey. He was staring at the ground.

"Earthquake," he answered, trying to stay standing. The shaking stopped.

Trey looked up at Alyson, who looked a little shaken up (no pun intended). "You okay?" he asked.

Alyson nodded. "That was weird."

"Yeah," Trey agreed. "I've never felt an earthquake outside. I was inside during that one years ago."

"Me too," said Alyson. "Everybody was. We were in school, remember?"

"Oh, yeah." Trey shrugged and kept walking. "Let's keep going."

"You said you don't know if this is the right way," commented Alyson.

Trey sighed. "Just trust me for once, eh?"

Alyson stared at him. "I'm not sure I should trust someone who thinks peanut butter contains butter."

"Give it up already," said Trey. "I'm sorry if I'm not a genius like you."

"I'm not a genius. I'm just not . . ." she trailed off.

"An idiot?" grinned Trey. "Told ya you always call me an idiot!"

"I do not!"

"Yeah, you do! Every single day I see you, you call me an idiot," said Trey. "You really should find a new word, Alley."

Alyson looked at him, but didn't say anything. She just walked away.

"Where're you going?" Trey called.

"Home," yelled Alyson back. "I'm not wandering around with some lunatic who doesn't know where he's going all night long!"

Trey ran to catch up with her. "Well, don't leave me out here alone. I might get eaten by some wild animals."

"Darn," said Alyson. "What a loss."

"Tami would think so."

Alyson rolled her eyes. "Trey, I really don't care about Tami. She's a bimbo! You could do so much better!"

Trey grabbed her arm and turned her around. "Like you?"

Alyson blinked, thanking God it was dark so Trey couldn't see her face, which she was sure was turning pink. "What're you talking about?" she demanded.

"Erin's always saying you like me. Do you?"

Alyson just stared at him, trying to think of what to say. Then the second quake hit and she grabbed onto him as they both fell to the road, the ground shaking furiously below them. When it stopped, Trey grinned and looked at Alyson, who was clinging to him.

"I'll take that as a yes."