Wings of Darkness: Book 1 of The Immortal Sorrows Series (5 page)

     Missy plugged in the extension cord
attached to our orange lights, and we lit the jack o’lanterns.  Darkness
was coming earlier every night.  Orange lights twinkled all over the front
porch. It looked far more cheerful than spooky, but it was beautiful.  We
all stood around oohing and ahhing over our handiwork.  Gwen’s dad even
looked pleased with the decorations. 

     It gave me a case of the warm,
fuzzy feelings, being part of this family. It was a great night, and one of the
last normal nights I would have for a very long time.

     There was a grinning maniac coming
at me with a running chainsaw.  I looked back as the girl in line behind
me squealed and giggled wildly. She hid her face behind her boyfriend’s
shoulder, then peeked out repeatedly.  Gwen huddled down a little further
into the light blue hoodie she wore.  She hadn’t been feeling good all
week, maybe even had a cold coming on, but she wasn’t about to miss our annual
tradition.  Every October we spent our weekends hunting for haunted
houses.  This year we had Alex and his friend, Marc, with us.

     My dad tried to put his foot down
this year, because I was still supposed to be recovering from my
injuries.  I felt perfectly fine, but I couldn’t very well tell him
that.  Not without him going all parental, and dragging me to the doctor
for a thorough check up.  That would just open up a can of worms. 

     I had no way to explain how I’d
been healed of my injuries so quickly.  So I kept my mouth shut.  I
ended up flushing the pain pills, since I didn’t need them.  I could have
just left them, but I figured he might check the bottle for disappearing
pills.  I took the antibiotics, just in case, but deep down I felt certain
there was nothing wrong with me.  Certainly not enough wrong to keep me
from a haunted house weekend.

     Dad was less than thrilled to hear
that Gwen and I would be double dating, but he was on good behavior,
anyway.  I was afraid he’d be cleaning a shotgun on the front porch when
Alex came to pick me up, but he settled for a thorough interrogation,
instead.  There just wasn’t much to disapprove of in Alex.  He was an
overachiever and everybody in town knew he was a good kid.  My dad ran out
of steam pretty fast and let us get on our way to the haunted house.  Gwen
and her date were meeting us there.

     This particular haunting was
supposed to be a good one. Gwen and I had gone every year for the last couple
of years to different haunted houses around our area, but this one was
new.  The Demon’s Lair was a multi-attraction haunting.  According to
advertising on the internet there was a basement full of zombies, a circus of
fear, a vampire graveyard, and a haunted corn maze.  Total time for the
attraction was estimated at about forty-five minutes to an hour.  That
wasn’t bad at all for the twenty dollar cover charge.  We’d spent that
much last year for a really crappy haunted mansion that took all of fifteen
minutes to get through, and was beyond boring and predictable.

     Gwen looked like she was kind of
miserable as we shuffled towards the front of the line.  She had blue
circles under her eyes that she’d covered with industrial-strength
concealer.  If I asked, she’d just say it was allergies, so I kept an eye
on her and my mouth shut.  If she started to get sick there were always
exits in these places and people willing to get customers out who got too
scared or just couldn’t handle it.

       I really think the only
reason she was here, instead of home in bed, was to keep me from chickening out
on my date with Alex.  Sick or not, Gwen loved playing match-maker. 
I knew, for a fact, that she wasn’t into Alex’s friend, Marc.  He seemed
alright, but he was trying too hard.  He’d brought Gwen flowers.  Any
other girl would have swooned.  Gwen took it as a sign of weakness. 
She had a need to be conquered, and sweet, kind little Marc, wasn’t going to be
able to pull it off.  He tried making conversation as we stood in line,
but Gwen just huddled closer to me for warmth.  At least we remembered to
bring hand warmers this year, to stuff into our hoodie pockets.

     The actors they put out to work the
line were going crazy trying to put the crowd on edge.  Chainsaw guy
hammed it up for the people behind us, revving the chainless saw, over and
over, scaring the crap out of the younger kids.  I started to gag on all
the smoke in the air, and the roar and rattle of the chainsaw was hard to hear
over. 

     Alex yelled something in my ear,
but I couldn’t hear, and had to ask him to repeat it.  “Are you
cold?!”  He yelled it again, only the chainsaw cut out, so I got screamed
at by mistake.  Poor Alex looked horrified.  I had to laugh at
him.  He’d really been trying hard this past week; he made a point of
eating lunch with me and Gwen, and if he could swing it, he walked me between
classes.  He was being really sweet, and now he’d just blasted my eardrum.

     “I’m ok, thanks.”

     “Are you sure?”  He opened his
jacket so I could huddle inside, but I didn’t feel comfortable doing that, just
yet.  I just shook my head and smiled.

     An actor, a girl about our age came
up, and started sniffing at me.  Seriously.  Sniffing me like she was
about to take a bite out of me, if I smelled good enough.  She had torn
clothes and zombie make up, including extensive patches of rotten skin and
white contact lenses.  It was an awesome make-up job, but I’d been to enough
of these things to know that if she got a reaction out of me, we would never
get rid of her.  Alex laughed. “I think she likes you, Izzy.”

     I shook my head. “I’m not her type;
you are.  I’m not even her species.” 

     Zombie girl couldn’t get anywhere
with me.  She snarled a little, around her fake teeth, which nearly popped
out of her mouth, then lurched a little further down the line.  Off to
greener pastures. She found a group of younger girls that utterly freaked out,
at the sight of her.  The little red headed girl screamed and literally
jumped about a foot sideways just to get away from her.  I had to stifle a
giggle.  Newbies.

     We had a while before we got to the
front of the line, so watching the actors get the crowd fired up was pretty
entertaining.  Various zombies lurched up and down the line, occasionally
lunging into the waiting crowd.  Alex nudged me and pointed out a
cordoned-off area, just up ahead of us. A fire eater performed with batons
blazing at both ends. She had on a super tight, sparkly tank top that just made
me cold, watching her.  On the other hand, loose clothing and flames
probably wouldn’t mix well, so I’m sure she had the right idea.

     I got that uneasy feeling of being
watched, again. The skin on the back of my neck prickled.  I pretended I
was watching a guy with a hatchet coming out of the side of his head lumber
back toward the end of the line when I spotted a familiar face in the
crowd.  It was the blonde guy I’d seen at school a few days ago. 
Tall, blonde, and good looking just sticks out in a little town like ours.
 

     This guy was way out of place, for
more than one reason.  For one thing, it was chilly outside in the
line.  People were bundled up in layers of coats and hoodies, but he was
standing there in a black t-shirt like it was July, or something.  He was
a little bit bigger than Alex, I noticed, and that too, stood out.  They
just don’t grow them that big around here.

     I turned sideways, acted like I was
watching the girl dressed as a dead doll who was headed toward me.  I half
expected the guy to disappear again, but he didn’t.  I thought about
nudging Gwen and pointing him out to her, but knowing Gwen she’d go back in the
line to introduce us.  For some reason my gut told me that was a really
bad idea.  Gwen was distracted, anyway.  She made a half-assed effort
to act interested in something Marc had told her.  She must have been
feeling charitable.  Usually, when she’s feeling bad, she’s just barely
civil to most people.

     It was probably just a coincidence,
anyway.  The blonde guy was probably there with his girlfriend.  Lots
of guys were.  Lord knows he probably had girls hanging all over
him.  I felt a little twinge in my chest at the thought.  I was being
stupid.  I was here with Alex, but my attention was far behind me. 

    I tried to be subtle as I peeked over my
shoulder at him.  His gaze was steady as he watched me, almost
challenging.  I felt heat creep up my throat, and into my cheeks.  I
turned around quickly and didn’t look back again, even though I desperately
wanted to.  It was impossible; he was too far back in the line, but I
swear I heard him chuckle.  He had a deep, throaty laugh that sent a
little shiver up the back of my neck.

     That spicy smell came from him; I was
sure I’d caught a hint of it, even though the chainsaw had kicked out a huge
gas cloud. There was no way I could pick out one good-smelling guy in a crowd
that size, could I? I was officially going crazy.

     Alex put his hand on the small of
my back and nudged me forward.  I startled, and he laughed easily,
probably thinking I was wired because of the haunted house.  I didn’t have
the heart to tell him it was because of some guy back in the line who might, or
might not, be stalking me.  That just seemed rude.

     I was about to jump out of my skin
by the time we finally got our tickets and instructions from a bored-looking
lady in her late fifties.  “Ok, you go through the haunt at your own
pace.  Don’t touch the actors, though they may touch you. Don’t use your
cell phones for flash lights. Don’t take any pictures.  If you get sick or
feel like you need to leave, there are exits in the back of each
attraction.  We have people stationed to watch you at all times. They will
see you, but you won’t see them.  Any questions?”

     We all nodded our heads dutifully
and took our ticket stubs.  I shoved mine down the pocket in the front of
my jeans.  No need to worry about me using a cell phone, I still hadn’t
gotten around to ordering a new one.  The only one I ever texted was Gwen,
and she was about always with me, anyway.

     I followed Gwen towards the
beginning of the haunt. She’d perked up a little bit, I was glad to see. Marc
went ahead of her, probably hoping to impress her with his bravery, and Alex brought
up the rear of our party.  The first thing we got to was a long, black
hallway with an uneven floor. By black, I mean absolute black.  Pitch
black.  There wasn’t a speck of light to be found. It twisted and turned
as we moved forward toward the main attractions.  Fake spider webs brushed
against my skin, and an uneasy feeling crept up inside of me just a little; I
was a tad claustrophobic.  Well, maybe more than a tad.  I grabbed
the tail of Gwen’s hoodie so we wouldn’t get separated.  I felt Alex’s hands
land lightly on my shoulders and give me a gentle squeeze.

     After the hallway ended, we spilled
out into a huge space filled with fog and lasers playing up on the walls. 
The only way to cross was to go into a tunnel between two huge air bags that
ran the length of the room.  It squeezed my arms to my sides, and my
claustrophobia ratcheted up another notch. Gwen and the guys were tall enough
that they, at least, got their heads above the air bags, but I was trapped like
a little rat in a maze.   

     I couldn’t see anything, no matter
how hard I tried, and I could swear someone behind me touched my hair; not just
accidentally brushing up against it, either, but kind of stroking it.  It
wasn’t Alex; his hands were still in place on my shoulders. Um, ewww.  I
hadn’t counted on some lonely pervert getting his jollies in the dark, at my
expense. 

     My claustrophobia reared its ugly
head, in a big way. Breathing became a chore, as my lungs felt like they
weren’t expanding properly.  The stuff coming out of the fog machine made
my eyes burn, and the loud screams echoing off the walls gave me a mild
headache.  Just before I legitimately freaked out, we popped out into the
hallway of the zombie basement.  To my great relief, I could see no one
behind us when we finally emerged. At least no one close enough to be petting
me.  I must’ve imagined it.

      A small group of people
huddled in front of a large set of wooden doors, waiting for
instructions.  A lady zombie waved people through in tiny groups of six or
less.  Although, it usually depends on how many people are walking through
together in a party.  We waited our turn and got the warning from zombie
lady about keeping our hands to ourselves and our cell phones off.  I saw
Marc guiltily stick his phone back in his pocket.  Little rebel.

     The big doors creaked open and a
clawed, semi-decayed hand beckoned us through.  Tendrils of fog crawled
across the floor and started up our legs as we shuffled through the
entrance.  Someone screamed from deep inside the bowels of the
basement/dungeon.  I jumped a little when the doors slammed shut behind
us, then laughed at my own stupidity.  Gwen snickered.  I could
barely make her out in the dim light.  Alex casually slipped his hand into
mine.  I hoped my palm wasn’t as sweaty as I feared it might be.  If
it was, he was sweet enough not to complain.

     Zombies shuffled out from behind
hidden walls, in every direction, herding us towards the center of the
room.  Rubber body parts littered the floor, and fake blood splattered
everything in sight.  The zombies snuffled and groaned, some of them
dragging limbs behind them.  All of this was really spooky, but one of the
girls in our group was apparently allergic to the fog machine because she spent
the whole time coughing and wheezing. She sounded like an asthmatic Pug, and it
kind of ruined the ambiance, just a little.

     Gwen grinned from ear to ear,
looking almost maniacal herself.  I was glad she was feeling better. 
She jumped and yelped when a zombie walked up behind her and hovered, swaying
back and forth.  He had sneaked up on her and got a better reaction than
if he’d just come charging at her.  He sniffed her like the zombie girl in
line had done to me earlier, only he looked like he really might like to take a
bite out of her.  Marc tried to get between them, God love him, so the guy
started sniffing him, instead.  He tried not to cringe, but it was obvious
that he was incredibly uncomfortable. 

     Our zombies stayed with us,
hovering and slobbering as we made our way through the basement.  A few
carried chains or pipes with them.  Every once in a while one of them
would hit the floor with a chain or smack the wooden walls just to scare the
crap out of us.  It worked.  Even Gwen and I were jumpy, and we had
been to a few haunted houses in our time.  The guys were eating it up
because every once in a while we jumped into
them
.