by catt dahman
It all made her feel dirty.
Josh bought Brenda a vanilla coke that they shared.
“What do you want?” Neal asked Audra.
“What do you like and dislike?”
“I like vanilla and plain. I don’t like the lime cokes.”
Audra went for it. “Oh, I love them. I want one.”
Neal nodded and got her a lime coke and him a vanilla coke. She didn’t want to share, and the lime was okay but not as good as vanilla coke tasted. She tossed it when it was half finished, a little depressed by everything here.
“Bobsled? Zipper? Spook house? They have the best spook house on earth here, you know. It’s really a long ride, and the stuff in there is scary, and it’s dark,” Josh smiled and added a wink.
“Maybe. Let’s look around,” Brenda said. He hadn’t earned a kiss yet.
“Pop the balloon and win a prize. Three wins get the giant bear,” a barker called.
“Let’s try,” Josh said, showing off. He peeled off the tickets. The dull darts bounced off the under inflated balloons, and a few hit the scared wood, but finally a balloon popped, and Audra, Neal, Josh, and Brenda cheered. The prize was a plastic dog that Josh waved away. “I’m gonna get the bear.”
More darts fell as they bounced off, but Josh kept handing over tickets until he had another win. He could have the medium-sized, cheap toy if he wanted: a blue penguin, threadbare and dusty. He peeled off more tickets.
“Her boyfriend is doing good,” the carnie said to Audra.
She shrugged. “Not a boyfriend,” she replied, “we just met them.”
The carnie winked at her. “Having fun tonight?”
“Not really.” Audra glanced at Neal who was staring at Josh’s dart throwing with rapt attention. Only three balloons were on the whole, big board, so it was difficult to hit one with the dulled darts. “Come on, Josh, this is boring,” Audra called, making him miss, or so he thought.
“Shut up, will ya?” He peeled off more tickets, and now, he had about a third as much of the roll as when they had first met. “This isn’t fair; get me some more balloons.”
“Can’t hit it, it’s your own fault,” the carnie snickered, giving Audra a wink. He was clean cut and seemed nicer than most. She giggled.
“Stop laughing, I’m trying to concentrate,” Josh snapped, his fragile ego suffering. “Shit….women,” he muttered.
The carnie glared. “Hey, boy, there’s no need to be crude in front of ladies.”
“Whatever.” Josh missed three more times. “I hit that green one; it didn’t pop. You’re a rip off.”
“Kid, you won twice; you just can’t hit worth a darn.”
“Shit,” Josh said as he missed again.
Leaning over the counter, the carnie got into Josh’s face. “I said there is no cursing. Now get your prize, and get out of here.” He slapped the blue penguin down on the counter.
“I want the big bear.” Josh tried to hand the man more tickets.
“And I said scram.”
“Come on, Pops, give me a break.”
“I told you not to curse in front of ladies. Now go on and get outta here. Game’s done for you.”
“Stupid, faggot cheater.”
Brenda, eyes wide, slid closer to Audra.
The man stepped closer to glare at Josh. “You can go on your own, or I can make you go. Your choice.”
The man looked at Audra pityingly with a shake of his head. This kid is bad news, his eyes said. Audra gave him a slight nod.
“Fine. I’m outta here. Let’s go.” He motioned to Neal and the girls. Neal fell into step with his friend at once, eyes darting about uncomfortably. “Come on.”
Audra shook her head. “No thanks. I’m tired, and we’ve seen enough.”
“You’re dumping us now?”
Brenda glared. “Grow up.”
Josh stared at her and then threw the stuffed penguin; she caught it as both of the boys walked away, cursing and name-calling.
“You deserve better,” the carnie said.
“They were just kids.” Brenda tossed her hair.
“I don’t really want to run into them for a while,” Audra said, “Josh seems to have a bad temper.”
The carnie reached into his shirt pocket and drew out a pair of passes. “You two take these over to the Spook ride and tell my brother that Tom sent you. Enjoy a little scare, have some fun, and forget them boys.”
“Wow. Thanks.” Brenda flashed her mega-watt smile. Tom waved at them as they walked away.
Luke looked at the passes and nodded as they said Tom had sent them. He asked them to wait for the next set to go in and said he would fix them up in the best car.
Audra and Brenda sat down, alone in the car, glad they didn’t have to sit with two strangers. As it began to move, they giggled.
In the first room, beyond the black plastic, they felt cold air and saw they were in the snow beast’s lair, lit with soft blue light. A white, furry, mechanical creature raised his arms menacingly while a growl thundered. An unsuspecting couple of hikers stood frozen in the background; if they had been real, they would have walked right into the beast’s clutches. A stack of bones and skulls, torn backpacks, and shredded clothing covered the ground about the beast.
Right before the next curtain and from behind a rock, a second snow beast rose with his head turning towards them, and the car rocked over the tracks, so it felt as if they might fall right into his brutal claws and be torn to shreds by his razor sharp teeth.
“Cool,” Brenda said as both girls laughed and shivered.
In the next area, the car stopped for a few moments so that they could see the hundreds of little rats that sat in what appeared to be building rubble.
Behind them, a huge mother rat twitched her whiskers and raked a paw towards the car. Squeals came from the speakers. Because they were in the last car, the girls felt all alone and shivered with delight.
A lone figure beckoned to them; he was mechanical, dressed in a fancy, old suit and a long cape, lined with shiny red satin. A light shown dimly on his face, showing his yellow, glowing eyes, red lips, and over-sized fangs.
Sitting on their ends, a few coffins clicked open and then closed behind him. A rat moved across and back over one of the coffins, which was pretty silly since rats don’t run backwards.
At the next curtains, a fat, glossy, grey spider fell from the ceiling on a web strand and snapped back up.
It was a good jump-scare.
Audra laughed as Brenda squeaked in surprise.
There was a den of wolves in the next room; one had a mouth that opened and closed as a howl rang out; small wolf pups pawed at the passing cars.
Their car was still moving forward, toward a werewolf, which reached out its furry arms and long claws toward them, a snarl on its face. In the nick of time, the car spun ninety degrees, and they were in the next room.
“This is good,” Audra whispered.
The car went up a slight grade, and they saw a glow beneath the rails. Red-orange coals burned beneath the car (well, it looked as if they did) and a demon, his heavy legs like a ram and a muscular torso like a man, sported long black hair and horns and pawed at the ground. He raised a pitchfork in jerky motions. Behind him, gargoyles carried human skulls and swung in long arcs. Lava poured from a small volcano. The temperature was very warm in there, adding to the spooky illusion.
After a quick u-turn into a new vinyl curtain, they found themselves outside a painted mural of a mall with zombies reaching for the cars.
One cocked his head back and forth as if looking for prey while another brought up slimy intestines to his mouth. “Brains…” was said over and over among loud moans. With torn clothing, bloodied faces, and dazed eyes, the zombies looked pretty realistic.
“That’s scary,” Audra whispered.
They went through a claustrophobic tunnel, and then the car went way up over two stories, slow and creaky. It was trepidation they felt now, wondering
what was next and waiting for them at the top.
In the next room, they were surrounded by props, highlighted with a blue light. One side was filled with a settee and chairs in reddish purple velvet, festooned with spider webs, and old food on a coffee table; a staircase went up to nowhere.
The other side was mostly empty but for a 1950s style television and a dark-haired little boy with his back to them.
As the car stopped, the boy slowly turned his body and head around; he had no face. Close by, they heard a cat squalling.
Audra and Brenda clutched each other and screamed. Then they laughed at themselves. For a few seconds, there was just darkness with loud thunder booming. Then, an alligator opened his mouth and snapped at them when the light shown on him.
Jump-scare.
The girls felt their skin crawl as they took in the next tableaux which was lit in warm colors but featured three skeletons in WWI gas masks.
One held a huge, long handled scythe, one beckoned them to join him, and the third had a pistol that he raised and lowered.
To the other side, bones and children’s skeletons lay on the sand next to a tattered teddy bear. A green snake popped up and vanished back into one of the skulls.
Just as they began moving again, the scythe snapped down behind them, making a breeze rush over the car. Both girls screamed and then fell against one another laughing.
This was the best spook ride ever. No wonder it was the most expensive ride here at triple the price.
Audra giggled over the next scene. A little, real-looking wax boy lay in his bed, peering into the dark with the covers pulled up to his nose. Under his bed, yellow eyes flickered on and off as tentacles waved and crept out and then scurried back under. In the fake window of the bedroom, a huge green eye peered in at the little wax boy.
The car crept over to the next room, a little graveyard with drifting fog and a skinny caretaker in an old frock coat, his face a mass of stitches. Each grave was of waxy fake soil and topped with a pretend-gravestone.
Next to the graveyard in the background was an old-looking house surrounded by trees. A light snapped on to show a tall, faceless man in a black suit, red tie, and white shirt.
The light snapped off. It came back on, and they saw that the man had moved closer to the track. The light went off again; when the light was back, the man was almost close enough to touch; he cocked his head slowly. The light went out again, leaving them in solid blackness.
“Slender man,” Audra and Brenda said together and giggled.
“That’s the best part,” Brenda said. She wondered what was next. It had to be almost over.
The car went slowly down a steep slope, but all they saw was a man in a dirty apron, holding a chainsaw; he wasn’t animated. At the bottom was a turn, and they saw a partial replica of the spook house they were in. Only the side showed, and they could hear screams that supposedly came from within. Clever.
Although there wasn’t a sideshow next to this ride in real life, in this scene, there was one. The car stopped as a light went on, and the girls read the signs quickly. It was a sideshow for someone called Cain and his Little Brother. It claimed women would faint and children weren’t admitted. See the Most Terrifying Man on Earth, the sign proclaimed. To one side, a clown waved people over to the sideshow, his mechanical arm moving creakingly.
From the doorway of the sideshow, a man emerged in the light. He was pale, hairless and huge. The light shown perfectly onto his second face and the little hand and foot that wiggled from his ribs.
“God, that looks so damned real.” Audra shivered.
“This is gonna give me nightmares,” Brenda agreed with her friend. “Yuck.”
Moving closer, they could see that the man’s actions were smoother than the other clockworks.
“Very cool,” Brenda laughed nervously. She screamed as a warm hand came down on her shoulder. The carnie from out front slid a needle into her arm as the hulking giant grabbed for Audra. She shrieked and kicked, wondering how the ride people could allow interaction, and it hit her that this part was very real.
Luke gave her an injection quickly, and the two men picked up Audra and Brenda and carried them through a hatch where Luke cuffed and gagged them. “Watch them.”
He adjusted the car and sent it through to the last room after removing the blue penguin and tossing it behind some props. In the last room, a greenish witch opened and slammed an oven door to reveal two children inside the oven, mouths open in huge Os.
Behind her, cobwebs covered boxes of cookies and candies with bare skulls inserted between her cookbooks. Mad cackles filled the room.
This was Luke’s favorite room because it was so very simple, had the barest of mechanics, and yet told a powerful story about wayward children lost on the wrong, evil path and paying dearly for greediness. He dragged the car through another hatch so it wouldn’t come out empty.
The line was too long to ride through the spook house, and he announced the mechanisms were fixed and told them to load up. Excited teens and older couple grinned as they got seated. Children looked to their parents nervously.
“Come one, come all to the spookiest spook house in the world. Ladies faint, and no small children are admitted.” He winked at two small children who sat with their parents in a car. “You will be fine; you look like brave youngsters.” He pushed the button to start the ride.
He loved the screams.
5
When Alice returned to the real world again, she rubbed her eyes and forced herself to stay awake and see what had changed. She and Connie were cuffed again, but there were three more people with them; Tara lay on her stomach and looked up dully as she heard the noise around her.
The new women had questions just like Alice had when she awoke in the basement. Maybe they had more answers, but few were helpful, and Alice wasn’t able to provide much hope but found it interesting how these two were abducted since she had just learned about what Luke and Tom did on the weekends. “That creep with the second face and little arm and leg; that’s Cain. He’s the fifth brother.”
“That freak brought us here?”
“Well, Tom and Luke did. He isn’t that bright. He likes women though…so….”
Audra gaped at Alice. “No, I’ll kill myself first.”
“If you find a weapon to do it with, be sure to let us know. They even took back the toothpicks I stole,” Alice said.
“We have to figure out a way out of here,” Brenda said.
Connie had to carefully wet the sheet to pull it off Tara’s back. “She can’t take any more, Alice.”
Audra and Brenda asked the usual questions, trying to understand their circumstances while they went from disbelief, to anger, to sorrow, and back again. They asked what to expect, and as Alice told them, they went pale with fear as she described the rape, beatings, water torture, drugs, and psychological games.
Alice had to ruin every idea they had about escape since every plan had pitfalls. Connie reminded them that sometimes, it was one of the others who were punished for the crimes of the one who misbehaved.
“People have to be searching for us,” Audra said.
“Yes, our families. They’ll be working with the FBI and police searching for us; they’ll find us.”
“Really?” Connie asked. “Did anyone else get rescued? Do you see the FBI here right now? No.”
“But they will come.”
“People vanish all the time, and sometimes they are never found, but sometimes the bodies are found. How many are abducted and then rescued? Huh? You watch the news. How many are found?”
Brenda gulped, “But it can happen.”
“I don’t think so. If we get out, it’s because we find a way. I’m not expecting the white knights to show up.”
“We got grabbed in a spook house. This is a spook house. There’s a meaning there.”
“No,” Brenda told Audra, “there isn’t a meaning.”
“The people in the spook house didn’
t get rescued or anything; the monsters got them, Brenda. No one helped them.”
“They weren’t real. They were wax dummies.”
“So are we.”
Later, the men brought the supplies back down and even added the mattresses again as well as clean sheets and blankets, taking the wet and dirty ones to be washed. They didn’t speak much. The men ordered Connie to come upstairs to do laundry and make the mid-day meal. John made Alice go upstairs with them.
This could be a calm reconditioning of their behavior or something horrible.
“We don’t want you causing rebellion, Alice. You really need to learn your place, and you haven’t yet. I can see it in your eyes, the hope and fire.” John cuffed her to the heavy chair at the table so that she had to sit and watch Connie do laundry and then fix the pork roast, potatoes, and other vegetables; John did the chopping.
“Did you grow all this?”
“Yes,” John said, “We can a lot. One of the rooms downstairs is almost filled with food we’ve put up. Anything can be ground, smoked, pickled, or canned.”
“So no one goes hungry when the world ends,” Alice said. John looked at her suspiciously. “I mean that’s your plan, right?”
“Yes.”
“You plan to have a lot of people to have to feed. That’s tough.”
“We can do it. It just takes work, and it’s all for a reason.”
“Right. The end of the world.”
John ignored the sarcasm. “Exactly.”
“Where is Sadie?” Alice asked. She saw Connie glance at him and then at her, again. Evidently, Connie knew.
“She never came back downstairs?” John asked.
“No, you know she didn’t.”
“She’s gone, Alice; I think she couldn’t handle things, and she’s just…gone now; sometimes people just vanish, don’t they, John?” Connie said softly.
“Yes.”
That gave Alice chills, but she took the information in and knew the horror wasn’t close to ending; it was just beginning. They fixed plates of the food on plastic plates and poured glasses of milk.
Aaron came in and took the tray down to the other women.
