Dark Ride (13 page)

Chapter 38

Scotty's dumbfounded. Moving behind the others, he says to his companions in a hushed voice, “I don't remember any nursery rhyme about snakes?”

The others ignore him. Jack is fixated on figuring a way out of this obstacle.

Mason, seeming to not be baffled by the situation, goes ahead and asks the snake, “What's your offer?”

It replies, “I know of a certain object, located here in the wood. It would prove useful to lost travelers like you.”

“Okay, what object?” Jack, with curiosity piqued, asks.

“I will tell you…once I am out of this place,” the snake replies.

“He's bluffing, Jack,” Scotty warns.

“What makes you think that?” Jack replies.

Scotty looks at Jack, shakes his head, and offers, “It's a talking snake for crying out loud. Hello? Snake?”

“Oh, I assure you this is no bluff,” the snake calmly hisses. “Why are you so distrustful?”

“Like I said, you're a snake!” answers Scotty, emphasizing the word “snake.”

Jack continues to push for more information. “Tell us about the object, then, if we can trust you.”

“Pick me up, and carry me out. You will not get one word from me until then.”

“Why can't we just open the door and let you out? Why do we have to pick you up?” Mason asks suspiciously.

“Because there is a step I cannot navigate on my own,” replies the snake, sounding disheartened.

“What do you think, Mason?” asks Jack.

Mason ponders for a moment and then says, “Well, I guess…. But who's gonna do it?” Mason looks around at the others.

“Not me,” chimes Scotty. “I hate snakes.”

“Don't look at me,” Amy adds.

They stand staring at each other. Scotty waits for Mason to say something. This is his kind of thing, but there is an obvious hesitation.
This is strange
, Scotty thinks.

After twenty seconds of uncomfortable silence, Jack announces, “I'll do it.”

Scotty sighs in relief.

“Oh, good gracious,” announces Mason. “It's always me who has to do the dirty work. My uncle Charles had a snake once, and I held it a time or two.”

“But Mason, Jack said—”

“I know, I heard him, but I'm the one who does the hard stuff. Just step aside. I'll do it.”

Scotty, confused by the sudden change of heart, arrives at the conclusion that Mason did not like being one-upped by Jack.

“Excellent,” encourages the snake. “You will not regret it, kind sir.”

“You had better behave yourself,” responds Mason.

The others stare at Mason as he approaches the snake. Slowly, carefully, Mason picks up the snake by its torso, and the snake dangles from his hand.

“No funny business,” Mason commands.

“I am so cold. Please tuck me into your shirt—I am about to die.”

“No way.”

Scotty listens to the snake's hissing voice. And, suddenly, a thought pops into his head about a fable he read years ago.

Again, the reptile pleads, “Let me in your shirt, please. I will be forever grateful.”

This time while Mason holds the snake aloft with one arm, he lifts his shirt with the other.

“No, Mason!” Scotty yells. “Remember about ‘The Farmer and the Snake' from Aesop's Fables?”

Thinking fast, Scotty plunges his hands into his pockets, searching for something to hurl at the snake. Charging at Mason, he pulls the stolen
scissors from his pocket and with unknown skill, he hurls them like a dagger. The shears strike, but, not the snake. They clip Mason's hand.

“Owww!” blurts Mason, who drops the snake and clasps the oozing cut with his other hand.

Shocked by the sudden eruption of activity, Jack ignores the snake and rushes to Mason while Scotty sees the result of his folly and moans in anguish.

The snake is confused by the activity and instinctively strikes at the nearest legMason's.

Chapter 39

Two things have happened that have encouraged Clyde. The music has stopped, and for some odd reason, the radio clinging to his belt has chirped back to life. On his way back to where he left the kids, he hears, “Clyde? Clyde? What's going on in there?”

Hoping the radio would not die, he quickly fumbles with the button on its side and says, “I'm here, Gwen. Radio is playing tricks on me.”

Clyde finally reaches the place where he left the kids. He pauses, taking in the situation, and says to himself,
Nothing. No train, no kids. Blast! I told them to stay put.

Pulling the radio back up to his mouth, he asks, “Gwen, have you seen the kids?”

“Clyde, what's the matter? No, the kids haven't gotten off the ride yet. They aren't with you?”

“No, long story.”

“Well, they should be off any minute. I don't remember the ride taking that long.”

“I told you the power is going off and on in here.”

“Clyde, the power has been on the whole time you've been in there.”

“Gwen, this is no time for joking. I can assure you the power is off in here.”

“Okay, Clyde, whatever you say, but listen for yourself.”

Through the receiver, Clyde hears the distinctive music from the outside of the ride.

“Hear that? The music is on.”

It was proof, and Clyde realizes there is no disputing it now. He says, “Okay, the power is on…out there. But there is some kind of weird short in here that's making things go off and on.”

However, even as he says this, he knows it doesn't make sense. He thinks,
Better get out there and have a look. Maybe those kids will be waiting for me when I get out there….
I hope.

Chapter 40

Jack watches as the snake's wild eyes and frothing mouth lash out at Mason's leg.

“No!” Amy calls.

Just as the fangs are about to sink into Mason's unprotected leg, the hurtling body of Jack tackles Mason, sending both of them to the ground. The snake's fangs taste air as it flies past the two plummeting boys.

The snake settles back on the cold white floor and prepares for another lunge. This time it targets Scotty.

Jack screams at the reptile, “Get away!”

Eyeing the frozen figure of Scotty, the snake shoots forward at him.

Scotty, scared stiff, watches as the reptile advances. He throws up his hands and looks down at the floor. Jack is too far away to help.

Just as the snake is about to strike, Scotty reacts. The boy reaches down and maneuvers Lucky in front of him, like a shield.

The snake is charging with fangs poised for a deep strike, and it smashes into the plush toy, earning a mouth full of fluff.

The events seem to transpire in slow motion for Jack, and he realizes he must interfere. Rising to his feet and taking three lunging steps, Jack grabs the bear, complete with the snake's jaws locked onto the animal's soft insides, and slings it like a discus. The circling momentum of the bear shakes loose the fangs and sends the snake hurling into the opposite wall.

Amy rushes to Mason. She takes Mason's hand and looks at the gash that is now oozing blood from Scotty's wayward scissor throw, but she doesn't allow her complete attention to be taken away from the vile creature lurking on the floor.

“Let's go now!” Jack yells.

Through the doors to the left, they immediately jump up on a large step into the next room and into the unknown.

Chapter 41

“He was going to bite you, Mason, as soon as you put him under your shirt. I didn't mean to cut you. You know that, right?” asks Scotty. “When he asked to get in your shirt, that was the clue. ‘The Farmer and the Snake'—I can't believe I didn't think of it sooner. In the fable, the snake convinces the farmer to put him in his coat due to the cold ground and snow, but he strikes the farmer all the way home.”

As Scotty tries to explain away his actions, Amy kneels down to observe the gash. “Oh, this is quite a cut, Mason. Jack, can I cut a strip of your sweatshirt for a bandage?”

The sweatshirt had been a Christmas gift, but Jack knew he needed to help his friend. Plus, he figured this might help him be in better standing with Amy, reasoning that a little manipulation to get back in her good graces would be worth the loss of the hoodie.

“Of course,” says Jack. “Go ahead.”

Amy takes the scissors and gently cuts a long strip from the sagging sweatshirt.

“Let me see the cut, Mason,” says Jack.

“It's not that bad,” reassures Mason, but a grimace of discomfort reveals that the pain is worse than the proud boy is willing to let on.

Jack says, “I don't think you'll need stitches.”

Scotty contributes, “You do know I was trying to help, right?”

“Yes, Scotty, yes!” Mason's tone makes it clear that despite the agreement, he is upset with Scotty.

Amy says, “Give me your hand.”

She gently wraps the red bandage around the wound, and a curious sensation of jealousy intrudes upon Jack. He thinks,
She's being awful kind to him all of a sudden.
Jack is glad that Amy's attitude toward the boys has been calmed from the tirade of fury she had unleashed upon them—especially Mason—ten minutes ago. Still, Jack does not like this sudden display of kindness toward his friend.

“Thanks, Amy,” Mason sheepishly mutters.

Jack tells himself,
Change the subject. Divert her attention.

He says, in a particularly high volume, “Uh, Scotty, you came through for us back there.”

Scotty sheepishly replies, “By cutting a gash into a chunk of Mason's flesh?”

“No—with your knowledge,” Jack replies.

“Oh, that.”

“If you hadn't known about that old fable, the snake could have sunk its teeth into Mason. I think your knowledge of these stories is really going to come in handy tonight. Isn't that right, Amy?”

“Uh…that's right. Good job, Scotty,” says Amy, who stands to pat her brother on the shoulder.

Scotty finally changes his glum expression and smiles at Jack. Amy and Jack can see his pride well up inside.

“Well, I am glad it has finally come to good use. I'll try and think faster next time.”

Mason stands and says, “But next time, hit the snake.” This is a good-natured jab with an unmistakable tone of sincerity hidden underneath.

Mason flexes his hand and says, “Really, it's not that bad.”

“So, do you think the snake was being truthful?” Jack questions.

“About what?” asks Mason, still looking at his wound.

Jack replies, “The item we would think was useful.”

“No, he just wanted a snack,” says Mason.

“Yeah, you're probably right,” says Scotty, who is observing a stack of logs in one corner. “That seems to be a theme around here strange creatures wanting to eat us.”

“I don't think it's very funny,” informs Amy as she folds her arms.

Mason rolls his eyes and says, “Oh great, cue wolf-phobia again.”

“I don't get it, you guys. Why aren't you more concerned about it,” she states frankly.

“Cause he ain't tryin' to eat
us
,” Mason laughs.

“Very funny,” Amy pouts.

The rigid line of her mouth pleases Jack. He hopes that the tenderness of nurse Amy toward Mason has already faded.

“Hey, guys, look!” says Scotty, who holds aloft a small hatchet in one hand while dragging Lucky behind with the other. “Now, this will come in handy! Just in case another predator tries to get a little tidbit.”

“Here, give me that,” says Mason as he snatches the hatchet away from Scotty. “Just so you don't go all
Last of the Mohicans
on me again.”

A stiff breeze wisps across the room. Up until that point, none of them had even bothered looking around. Now that they do, they observe the walls of the room, itself. They are lined with rubble and large rocks. Brown hulking boulders lurk in every corner, and a particularly massive rock stands leaning against a door.

Pointing to the blocked exit, Jack declares, “Well, there is no use trying to get through there.” After he says this, the breeze stiffens, and a whistling
noise accompanies it. This time the teens look for the source of the wind. The breeze calls their attention to a large brown rock formation jutting out from the wall to their left. It looks like a cave opening. The brown rocks arch over a black hole, the source of the breeze.

“This doesn't look very inviting,” Jack mutters. “I think I have had enough strangeness for one day.”

His eyes peer at the rocky structure. It looks just like the entrance to a cave at the Bell Family State Park.

Just inside the opening, before the blackness shrouds everything from sight, lays a pile of bones.

Taking off his glasses, rubbing his eyes, and repositioning his glasses back on the bridge of his nose, Scotty remarks, “Is that a human scapula?”

“A what?” Mason questions.

“A scapula. I mean, a shoulder blade,” Scotty explains.

They all take a closer look, but only close enough for them to verify.

“Can someone explain why there are human bones in here?” Jack offers.

No one speaks. The grim discovery mutes them until finally, after an extended period of silence, Mason ventures, “Twenty bucks, it's Douglas Finch.”

Chapter 42

Mason doesn't like the look of the dark, foreboding cave mouth. He thinks that something about it whispers danger. A few seconds of straining stares into the pitch black mouth proves futilethere is no way any of them could see what lays waiting in the dark hole. The stack of bones serves as a grizzly welcome mat.

Mason walks over to the doors obstructed by the boulder and calls, “No use trying these doors. We couldn't move these rocks if we had a bulldozer.”

His cut throbs, but he does his best to ignore the pain. He thinks he has to, believing that if he's not going to get them out of this mess, who would? He contemplates,
The wimpy Scotty? Amy, a girl—yeah right
. Jack who seems distant and in la-la land since we got off the train? No! It's up to mighty Mason. I'm the only one thinking clearly and the only one strong enough to get us out of this mess.

His noble thoughts of his own grandeur are interrupted by the whimpering tones of his glasses-clad lackey saying, “You think we have to go through there?”

“It's the only way out, I guess,” confirms Jack grimly.

“We need to keep going,” Amy agrees. “If only we had some sort of light.”

Without warning, the speakers pipe the familiar voice through the room:

“You can't tell me that it's not talking about us now!” Jack concludes.

“All right, so someone is watching us. What good does that do? Unless the voice can produce a light for that entrance, everything it has said has been ‘all the path this' and ‘the end that,'” Mason declares.

“The voice said to bring the axe,” Jack counters. “Sure would come in handy to cut a beanstalk with.”

“That's right,” Scotty affirms.

Mason stands thinking and considers,
Jack's right. There is no denying that the voice is talking to us.
But how could that be?
In his head he looks for a reason, and he finds one.

Suddenly, Mason snaps up, and a thought pours from his mouth: “Guys, this is one of those reality shows! I bet we're on a hidden camera somewhere! They've got us going through all these hoops for someone's entertainment. I bet there's a secret room somewhere with a bunch of TV execs laughing their butts off at the way we are floundering and running.”

“Mason, really?” asks Jack, who rolls his eyes at this new revelation of his friend.

“Yeah, really.”

This time Amy decides to put the kibosh on the theory by saying, “Then explain the talking snake, the talking wolf, the—”

“Special effects. A guy in a costume. You know they can make anything in Hollywood these days.”

“Mason, that ridiculous,” says Amy with a sigh.

“No, think about it,” counters Mason. He is not willing to let go of his idea, although the talking snake sure seemed real enough to him.

Mason wonders,
Maybe the reality show is a silly idea?
But, he thinks it is the best idea anyone has offered yet.

Peering carefully around the room, Mason clears is throat and announces, “Okay, I've been thinking about a plan.”

Amy chimes, “Oh great…you thinking.”

Mason, ignoring the sarcasm, continues, “No, listen. That squirrel, right? Remember him? Well, he got into this building, probably through some vent like Scotty said. Okay, so look right above your heads.”

Above the teens is a large square vent covered by a metal grate.

Mason keeps going, “So far, we've just been, like, wandering from room to room. So when we got in here, I stared looking around. You see, I saw this movie just last week about a secret agent trapped in an old warehouse that was set to explode. He climbed up a stack of boxes and squeezed into a large vent in the ceiling. He made his way through the vents and got out of the building before it blew to bits. What if we found a shaft like that and made our way to the exit?”

A low laugh escapes from Amy's mouth. She says, “Oh, that's brilliant, Mason. We'll just climb right up. What are we going to do—move some of these rocks and scale them? Or, better yet, we could levitate.”

“Hey, I'm not crazy. I saw one of these vents in the lab a couple of rooms back. And the table in there would be perfect to stand on.”

“I'm not going back,” Amy counters obstinately.

Mason chuckles to himself and then mutters, “Oh yeah, your wolf.”

“And the snake, genius,” retorts Amy.

“Amy, I think it's a great idea,” declares Scotty.

“Of course you do,” says Amy, frowning at her brother.

Scotty gives a terse look to his sister and asks, “What does that mean?”

Amy sighs and says, “You know exactly what I mean.”

“I make my own decisions,” defends Scotty. The boy crosses his arms in defiance.

Amy laughs and says, “Sure you do.”

“Just shut up, Amy,” attacks Scotty.

She continues the coaxing, “Is that you talking, or Mason?”

“I'm serious,” Scotty moans.

“You wanna check with Mason first to see if he's gonna back your play here? ‘Whatever you say, Mason.' ‘Should I jump, Mason?' ‘How high, Mason?'”

Just as he always does, Scotty withers.

Mason sees the tide turning away from his idea, so he presses Jack, “What do you think, Jack? It's worth a shot, right? I mean, if there is a wolf or something trying to get us….” Mason supplies a dramatic pause for Amy. “Then he can't get us up there,” finishes Mason with a twinkle in his eye.

Jack looks to Amy and once again recalls the two glowing eyes. He responds, “Actually, it's not a bad idea.”

“There you go, Jack!” affirms Mason. “Great, that settles it. The next time we see a vent, we try the plan.”

“That is unless we find an exit first,” adds Jack.

“Right,” agrees Mason. “Now let's move on.”

Amy dares a few steps toward the cave and says, “I don't like the idea of going in there, but looks like that's the only way out.”

“Hey,” Scotty says. “Remember the last room, the one with the snake? There was another set of doors.”

“Yes, you're right,” Amy agrees.

Mason says, “If
you
guys are too scared of that cave, why don't we go back into the snow room and make for those doors. Maybe we could go back to the lab and climb into the vents?”

“It's either the cave or the snake,” Scotty concludes, clearly not liking either option.

Mason can tell Jack is thinking hard because he's chewing his upper lip.

“What do you think, Jack?” Amy asks.

Jack looks at Amy and smiles. He says, “I think we go back to the last room. I have to admit that stack of bones and the warning of the narrator settles it for me. We got past the snake once, we can do it again.”

“Have you got an idea?” Scotty asks Jack.

“Yeah. I do.”