Dark Ride (11 page)

Chapter 30

The boys try to open the door on the little ginger bread house, but it's locked. Chomping on a last bit of candy, Scotty wipes his hands against his knit shirt. Mason, who is watching his friend with disgust, mockingly asks, “Finished?”

“Yep.”

“That was disgusting,” responds Mason.

“All right,” Jack says, “Let's move. We've wasted too much time in here.” Jack motions to a set of doors to the right side of the room. “Okay, she had to go that way.”

The words of the narrator have bothered Jack, and Mason's attempts at dismissing the rhyme have done little to comfort him. To Jack, there's no way around it—somehow, someway the ride has spoken to them. However, Jack doesn't have time to sit and mull over any possibilities. In spite of the lingering questions simmering in his head, his attention is focused elsewhere. Right now, they have to find Amy.

Since it took a lot of effort to get through the first set of doors, Jack prayed that this next set would let them through without putting up a
fight. Thankfully, the doors open without a struggle, and the boys walk through.

“Whoa, this is amazing,” says Scotty, wide-eyed and looking at the various trees.

“Jack, what is going on in here?” asks Mason. “Where are we?”

“I don't know. This is new to me.” He pauses, then calls,

“Amy!”The other two boys call.

“She's not in here,” Mason declares. “For all we know, she never has been.”

“Then where did she go?” Scotty asks.

Mason starts, “Maybe she—”

“Guys,” says Scotty.

“What, Scotty?” answers Jack.

“She's been here.”

Scotty points at a particularly large tree. There at the base, Lucky, the large blue bear leans up against the trunk.

“Lucky!” Mason shouts.

“Okay, guys, we know she's been here,” Jack announces. “That means we're on the right track.”

Scotty pushes his glasses back up the bridge of his nose and asks, “Why did she leave him here?”

“Who knows,” replies Mason, who reaches down and lifts the bear before handing it to Scotty.

Jack says, “Mason, really? Let's just leave it here.”

“No way, Jack. Lucky is with us.”

“Whatever, Mason. Then why don't you carry him?”

“Carnahan doesn't mind. Plus, I need my hands free just in case Clyde comes charging at us with a chainsaw.”

“Give it a rest, Mason. That's getting old.”

“I'm just sayin'.”

“And I'm sayin' that we need to get to the next room—like now.”

“Okay, okay, fearless leader. Your wish is our command,” says Mason as he jokingly bows.

Looking back at Scotty, Jack cannot help but pity the boy, who's now lugging Mason's pet around.

After opening the next set of doors, the trio sees more trees.

“Whoever built this place spent a fortune on landscaping,” Mason points out.

As Jack passes a particularly large trunk, he hears Mason yell, “Duck!” and sees a stick fly just above Scotty's head. Jack recoils and falls on his backside.

“Stop!” Scotty cries.

Jack looks up to see Amy breathing hard with wild eyes and holding a large stick in her left hand.

“Amy, what's going on?” Scotty asks. “You nearly took my head off.”

The girl's shoulders ease after she recognizes who else is in the room with her.

“Are you okay, sis?” Scotty asks, trying to calm her.

“No, I'm not okay!” She carefully points and says, “He's—he's over there.”

“Who's over there, Amy?” Mason asks. “There's nothing over there.”

“Over there. He was just over there. When you came in, he ran. You weren't watching. He ran behind you. He's waiting for another chance, I'm sure. Waiting to get me. With his big teeth and his scary eyes and….” Tears begin to stream down her face.

Jack wants nothing more than to embrace Amy and to tell her how foolish he was, but instead he just says, “Amy, you have to tell us what happened.”

“A creature attacked me. It's a giant man-wolf, Jack.”

Mason looks at Jack with a disbelieving face and sees that even Jack is having a hard time with this revelation. Jack wants to believe but doesn't see the evidence. He thinks,
Is Amy losing her mind? Her imagination is running wild. Maybe she saw a shadow or something?
“Maybe we should have a look,” Mason announces flippantly.

“No,” begs Amy.

“Amy, I want to believe you. I really do. But you have to know how crazy this sounds,” Jack explains. “I've got your back, Mason. Let's check it out.”

Scotty sheepishly agrees. “We'll all go.”

Amy is clearly hesitant, but there is strength in numbers. She continues to wield the stick as she follows the three older boys.

Carefully, they creep. A thought comes into Jack's mind:
What if she is telling the truth?

The large tree gets closer, and Mason raises his fist mockingly and says, “Come out, come out wherever you are, Mr. Wolf.” He peers around the tree and yells, “There he is!”

The other three immediately jump back in fear until they hear the uncontrollable laughter of Mason.

“I got you guys good! There's no wolf here. You should have seen the look—”

“I am not lying, Mason Chick! It was here.”

“Oh, Amy, get over it,” responds Mason, still chuckling. “I'm not buying.”

“Okay. So, we have Amy. Let's go,” says Scotty, who begins to walk back towards the doors they entered.

Just then, Amy cries out in alarm. “No! He's there!” She's pointing to a spot somewhere amongst the trees ahead of Scotty.

Jack glares in that direction and wonders,
Does she see him?
Before any of the boys can spot the predator, though, Amy bolts for the set of doors behind them.

“Amy!” Scotty calls. “No, we're leaving!”

But, she is already through the doors.

“Guess we'd better grab her,” says Mason, who turns and pursues her.

Scotty reluctantly follows.

After peering in the direction that Amy pointed, Jack slowly decides to leave. However, just as he turns away, Jack catches a glimpse of two beady eyes glowing in the dark for a split second. He's convinced, now, that Amy had seen a wolf, and he runs to the doors following the others.

Chapter 31

Jack joins the others in the next room. Inside, there are more trees and a large wooden tub containing a small pool of water.

Amy is breathing hard.

“Calm down, sis,” says Scotty. “We need to get out of here and go back.”

In a panic, Amy waves her arms wildly, still frightened. “I'm not going back that way, bar the doors—bar the doors now.”

Mason laughs and asks, “With what?”

Jack suggests, “Mason, let's move that trough thing in front of the doors.”

“Jack, you don't believe—”

“Come on, Mason, just do it, please,” Jack urges. The glowing green eyes haunt Jack. He knows Amy is telling the truth.

The boys struggle with the heavy object.

“Oh, that's cute. Look, a broken candle, a chef's hat, and an apron.” Scotty is pointing at the three objects gathered in a corner of the room. “Three men in a tub—just like the nursery rhyme.”

Jack observes Scotty's excitement and considers that all those years of reading fables are finally paying off.

Finally, the wooden trough is heaved in front of the door.

“That thing's a lot heavier than it looks,” gasps Jack.

“Happy now, Amy? No wolf can get in here,” says Mason, thick with irritation.

Jack, panting from the exertion, decides it's time for some clarity. Calmly, in as pleasant a voice as he can muster, he asks, “So what happened?”

Amy tells them about leaving the cart, entering the ride, and her run-in with the wolf. Mason's frustration with Amy spills out, and he says, “The wolf? Are you really sticking to that story?” Mason's voice drips with disbelief.

Jack sees red flush on Amy's face as she answers him, “Mason, he was real. He attacked me and said he wanted to get me. I thought it was just some dude in a costume, but when he opened his mouth, those terrible fangs—”

“He said? The wolf spoke to you? Oh, Amy, you're killing me.” Raising his pointer finger to his head, Mason spins it, insinuating Amy is cuckoo.

“You have to believe me!”

“Sis, you do have to realize this is a little hard to swallow.”

“Oh great. My own brother thinks I'm delusional.”

“Remember when you broke my Barbie doll in two, Mason?”

“What does that have to do with anything?”

“Everything! You know what, Mason? I have no clue what my brother sees in you andwhy he follows you around like a puppy dog. For that matter, I have no idea what anyone sees in you. You're a selfish, arrogant snot who thinks he can bully whoever he chooses because his dad's a rich lawyer.”

Jack intercedes by saying, “Amy, this is not helping.”

“And what is it with you, Jack? Just because Mason steps out of the cart, you go running to him. You guys are the whole reason we are in this mess in the first place, and now I sit here and tell you what happened, and you all have the gall to think I am lying?”

“Amy, I believe you,” says Jack, trying to relax her.

Mason throws his hands up in the air in disbelief. “Oh come on!”

“Mason, obviously something happened. Look at her. She's freaked out about something.”

Even though Jack had seen the eyes, something in his head tells him not to mention it. Mason and Scotty would think he was loony if he told them.

“Mason,” Scotty says and then carefully clears his throat. “My sister is not crazy. She would not be this upset. Jack's right, she had to have seen something.”

The words of Jack and Scotty seem to have a calming effect on Mason.

“Okay, I'm sorry. Maybe you did see something, but I still don't believe you saw a wolf. Some dude in a really good costume, maybe, but not a wolf.”

Although this is not much of a concession, Jack knows it is a big deal coming from Mason. He watches Amy, and she seems to ease, at least a little. She had been brutal with her words and perhaps had humbled Mason a bit. However, knowing Mason the way he did, Jack considered that it was more likely that the boy admired her little tirade. Now, possibly Mason is just trying to play nice and make up for some hurtful words of his own. At any rate, Mason decides to break the tension by saying, “We need to get outta here. Let's go back the way we came.”

Jack is thankful for the change in Mason's tone and mentions, “Guys, there's another set of doors that way—just ahead. How big can this place be? We're sure to find the exit at some point.”

Jack's rationale makes sense to them all, but no one wants to move.

All four teens begin to look around. They perceive that something has changed about the ride since they got stuck. It seems alive. The trees don't look plastic, the sounds effects are not crackling and buzzing, a gentle breeze flows through the room, and the leaves on the trees sway back and forth.

Mason spots a squirrel sitting amidst one of the branches above. It is looking directly at the teens, and he says, “Uh…Jack, that's a real squirrel.”

“I see that,” says Jack with an astonished look.

“Maybe he just wandered in here,” Scotty offers. “Like through a vent.”

“This whole place—it's alive,” Amy says.

Jack thinks,
Time to take charge before anyone freaks out
. He chooses to temporarily ignore the new surroundings and muster the troops.

“Amy, you want to leave?” Jack asks.

“I didn't want to be here in the first place.”

“Then let's go.”

“And what about him?” she asks while pointing at Mason.

“Mason, you gonna play nice?”

“Is the squirrel gonna play nice?” Mason retorts.

“Look, let's just find a way out, okay? And from now on, we stay together—no matter what. Deal?” Jack asks.

Scotty's the first to jump in and says, “Yeah. I'm good.”

“Mason?”

Jack's question diverts Mason's attention from aiming a rock at the squirrel. Mason turns to Jack and shrugs a yes. When he turns back around, the squirrel's gone. Mason throws the rock anyway, and it lands in the foliage of the tree and bounces off a limb or two before thumping to the grass-covered ground.

“Amy? We can't stay here.” Jack declares.

“And what about the wolf?” Amy responds.

“Oh, geez, the wolf again,” says Mason.

“Mason.” Jack scolds. Then he addresses Amy. “We'll keep our eyes out for the wolf, okay? And we're not going back through there.” He points to the set of doors securely impeded from opening by the large wooden tub.

Amy grips her stick, realizing that staying in the room isn't really an option. She moves next to Jack and nods.

Jack looks into Amy's eyes and tells her, “Look, we're all sorry. We should not have left you alone in the first place. You're mad at us; I get it. But what's happened has happened, and we can't change that now. If you'll help us get out of here, we can all go home.”

After a pause, Amy gives a nod as well.

A gentle breeze blows across Jack's face, forcing him to wipe long bangs from his right eye. He wonders,
What is going on in here?

Chapter 32

His paw presses firmly on the side of his head. He had not expected that. The girl is a fighter. He had not seen the stick in her hand until it was too late. He will not make the same mistake again. Removing his paw, he looks at the traces of blood, and says, “Blasted girl!”

After the others arrived, he had decided to retreat, to continue the hunt later. He considers whether he should bide his time until she is alone again or just take them all. At least he knows now that all the dreams he's had about the girl can now come true. He surmises that whatever he had
tumbled into a few nights back had just been a decoy, someone's idea of a joke or a countermove intended to throw him off her track
.

He enters a tiny wreck of a straw shack that had once been the home of a rather terrified pig and thinks,
This will not do
.
A slight wind could topple the hut. Reinforcement is in order—but that can wait.
Ripping the sheets from an inadequately small bed, he tears off a strip of fabric for a makeshift bandage. Looking at the bandage infuriates him further, and with a vicious howl of emotion, he slings the cloth to the floor and cries, “No weakness!”

Turning to a small wooden table, he looks longingly at an empty plate adorning its surface. The empty plate stares at him and mocks him while his stomach rumbles. The previous day's meal had done nothing to hamper the burning hunger within him. He realizes that only the girl will satisfy his appetite, and he slams his paw upon the table, causing the plate to rattle. He thinks,
Why do I want her? Why do I need her?
Looking at the plate as if it were his only ally in the world, the wolf says, “I know I promised that you would have her today.”

He focuses on the plate and then states, “Today is not over!”

The plate seems to smirk at him.

“I said the day is not over!”

The wolf's paw slams the table once again, and the plate nearly flips in response to the force. He calms himself by breathing more slowly while he appears to be listening to the plate.

“True, I can simply circle around them and cut them off before they get to the bridge.” Again, he seems to be listening.

“Who?”

The wolf nods and says, “I know he does not like me.”

Starring at the plate, he slants his head as if hearing a verbal reply.

“I said I know he does not like me! I don't care who is with her. Next time will be different. Enough! You'll hold her soon enough. Then we will both be satisfied.”