Mouse Trap
Date: 2019-05-01 04:00:00+00:00
Keywords: Horror
Description: For almost 20 years, Carlton Mellick III has been writing some of the strangest and most compelling novels the bizarro fiction genre has to offer. Described as one of the top 40 science-fiction writers under the age of 40 by The Guardian and “one of the most original novelists working today” by extreme horror legend Edward Lee, Mellick returns with a quiet, apocalyptic tale of young unrequited love in a dying world. It’s the last school trip young Emily will ever get to go on. Not because it’s the end of the school year, but because the world is coming to an end. Teachers, parents, and other s
Publisher: Avant Punk Books

PRAISE FOR

CARLTON MELLICK III

“Easily the craziest, weirdest, strangest, funniest, most obscene writer in America.”

—GOTHIC MAGAZINE

“Carlton Mellick III has the craziest book titles... and the kinkiest fans!”

—CHRISTOPHER MOORE, author of The Stupidest Angel

“If you haven’t read Mellick you’re not nearly perverse enough for the twenty first century.”

—JACK KETCHUM, author of The Girl Next Door

“Carlton Mellick III is one of bizarro fiction’s most talented practitioners, a virtuoso of the surreal, science fictional tale.”

—CORY DOCTOROW, author of Little Brother

“Bizarre, twisted, and emotionally raw—Carlton Mellick’s fiction is the literary equivalent of putting your brain in a blender.”

—BRIAN KEENE, author of The Rising

“Carlton Mellick III exemplifies the intelligence and wit that lurks between its lurid covers. In a genre where crude titles are an art in themselves, Mellick is a true artist.”

—THE GUARDIAN

“Just as Pop had Andy Warhol and Dada Tristan Tzara, the bizarro movement has its very own P. T. Barnum-type practitioner. He’s the mutton-chopped author of such books as Electric Jesus Corpse and The Menstruating Mall, the illustrator, editor, and instructor of all things bizarro, and his name is Carlton Mellick III.”

—DETAILS MAGAZINE

“The most original novelist working today? The most outrageous? The most unpredictable? These aren’t easy superlatives to make; however, Carlton Mellick may well be all of those things, behind a canon of books that all irreverently depart from the form and concepts of traditional novels, and adventure the reader into a howling, dark fantasyland of the most bizarre, over-the-top, and mind-warping inventiveness.”

—EDWARD LEE, author of Header

“Discussing Bizarro literature without mentioning Mellick is like discussing weird-ass muttonchopped authors without mentioning Mellick.”

—CRACKED.COM

“Carlton is an acquired taste, but he hooks you like a drug.”

—HUNTER SHEA, author of Forest of Shadows

“Mellick’s career is impressive because, despite the fact that he puts out a few books a year, he has managed to bring something new to the table every time… Every Mellick novel is packed with more wildly original concepts than you could find in the current top ten New York Times bestsellers put together.”

—VERBICIDE

“Mellick’s guerrilla incursions combine total geekboy fandom and love with genuine, unbridled outsider madness. As such, it borders on genius, in the way only true outsider art can.”

—FANGORIA

Also by

Carlton Mellick III

Satan Burger

Electric Jesus Corpse (Fan Club Exclusive)

Sunset With a Beard (stories)

Razor Wire Pubic Hair

Teeth and Tongue Landscape

The Steel Breakfast Era

The Baby Jesus Butt Plug

Fishy-fleshed

The Menstruating Mall

Ocean of Lard (with Kevin L. Donihe)

Punk Land

Sex and Death in Television Town

Sea of the Patchwork Cats

The Haunted Vagina

Cancer-cute (Fan Club Exclusive)

War Slut

Sausagey Santa

Ugly Heaven

Adolf in Wonderland

Ultra Fuckers

Cybernetrix

The Egg Man

Apeshit

The Faggiest Vampire

The Cannibals of Candyland

Warrior Wolf Women of the Wasteland

The Kobold Wizard’s Dildo of Enlightenment +2

Zombies and Shit

Crab Town

The Morbidly Obese Ninja

Barbarian Beast Bitches of the Badlands

Fantastic Orgy (stories)

I Knocked Up Satan’s Daughter

Armadillo Fists

The Handsome Squirm

Tumor Fruit

Kill Ball

Cuddly Holocaust

Hammer Wives (stories)

Village of the Mermaids

Quicksand House

Clusterfuck

Hungry Bug

Tick People

Sweet Story

As She Stabbed Me Gently in the Face

ClownFellas: Tales of the Bozo Family

Bio Melt

Every Time We Meet at the Dairy Queen,

Your Whole Fucking Face Explodes

The Terrible Thing That Happens

Exercise Bike

Spider Bunny

The Big Meat

Parasite Milk

Stacking Doll

Neverday

The Boy with the Chainsaw Heart

ERASERHEAD PRESS

P.O. BOX 10065

PORTLAND, OR 97296

WWW.ERASERHEADPRESS.COM

ISBN: 978-1-62105-279-1

Copyright © 2018 by Carlton Mellick III

Cover art copyright © 2018 by Ed Mironiuk
www.edmironiuk.com

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the written consent of the publisher, except where permitted by law.

Printed in the USA.

AUTHOR’S NOTE

People often ask me when my next short story collection will be coming out and I always tell them that it’s in the works. However, the truth of the matter is it has already been written and published. I had ten stories in mind for the collection but every single one of them ended up being too long to be collected, so they were published as stand-alone novellas. They include Spider Bunny, Exercise Bike, The Terrible Thing That Happens, Parasite Milk, Sweet Story, As She Stabbed Me Gently in the Face, Stacking Doll, The Boy with the Chainsaw Heart, and Every Time We Meet at the Dairy Queen Your Whole Fucking Face Explodes. Each one of these were originally supposed to be short stories but as I started writing them I decided they’d be much better as longer works, some of them going 30,000 words over their originally intended length.

Mouse Trap is the last of the ten concepts I had for my short story collection. Like the others, I decided it would be much better in a longer form. Originally, I intended it to be somewhat like a novelization of the board game Mouse Trap, but with children wearing Mickey Mouse hats instead of mice, set in a Disneyland-like theme park filled with deadly traps. The final book ended up being pretty close to this concept, but with a more lonely, somber, post-apocalypse setting than I imagined. Like all of the other books intended for my collection, I’m very proud of how it turned out and couldn’t imagine it being nearly as worthwhile had it been written in the short form.

There is still a chance I’ll be doing another short story collection at some point, but it won’t be anytime soon. And there’s no guarantee that the same thing won’t happen to the next batch of short story ideas I come up with. We’ll have to see.

In any case, I hope you enjoy Mouse Trap, my 59th book.

Chapter One

Mrs. Jensen is crying again. She seems to cry more and more every day. It might be because she misses her husband and her family. It might be because her swollen knee keeps getting worse instead of better. It might be because she’s lonely now that she’s the only teacher left at the school.

Emily is the only one who seems to notice. She watches Mrs. Jensen through the reflection in the rearview mirror as the young teacher struggles to drive the bus down the deserted highway. The teacher’s eyes are red and puffy. She has to wipe the wetness away from her cheeks between gear shifts.

“Calm down back there,” Mrs. Jensen calls to the children in the most cheerful tone she can manage. “Disneyland is still another hour away.”

Her voice is so soft that the children don’t quite understand her and go back to screaming and laughing and kicking the seats in front of them. None of the students can believe they get to go to Disneyland. Most of them have never been before—partially because they’re from a poor school district where parents didn’t make enough money for theme park vacations and partially because Disneyland is all the way on the other side of the country.

“Aren’t you excited?” Deena asks Emily across the aisle. The plump happy girl is bouncing in her seat, smiling so wide crater-sized dimples form in both cheeks.

Emily gives Deena her usual stern, unimpressed look. “No.”

Not much excites Emily. She’s the gloomiest girl in the fifth grade. The girl who sits in the shade behind the broken tire swing at recess reading poetry books that she found in her father’s attic. The girl who thinks the other kids in her class are annoying and immature. The girl who only wears black and white and gray because she claims that bright colors are offensive to her eyes.

Deena frowns at Emily’s response. She’s the polar opposite of Emily. She’s the happiest, friendliest, most sociable and least mature of all the fifth-grade girls. If it wasn’t for their parents getting together to play poker every Saturday night since they were six years old the two would never have become friends.

“But it’s Disneyland!” Deena says. “Even you have to be excited for Disneyland!”

Emily lets out a long sigh.

“I don’t think we’re actually going to Disneyland,” she says.

Deena stops bouncing. “What do you mean? Of course we’re going to Disneyland. Mrs. Jensen said so.”

“Disneyland is in California. It would take a week to get there.”

“Says who?”

“Look on a map.”

Deena lowers her eyes, probably wondering if her friend is right or just trying to be mean. When she looks back up, she asks, “Why would Mrs. Jensen lie?”

Emily glances over at their teacher. The woman is barely able to hold herself together, wiping tears from her face and tapping her fingers rapidly against the steering wheel like she just drank seven cans of Mountain Dew. She reminds Emily of how her mother was acting just after her father died, emitting an intense combination of sorrow and panic.

“Everyone voted to go to Disneyland on the class trip,” Emily explains. “I don’t think Mrs. Jensen had the heart to tell us that it was too far away.”

Deena frowns and slides down in her seat. “If we’re not going to Disneyland then where are we going?”

Emily shrugs. “Somewhere else.”

She looks out the bus window, investigating the cluster of abandoned cars that line the side of the road. “I doubt even Mrs. Jensen knows where she’s taking us.”

No matter where they end up, Emily can’t wait to get off the bus and stretch her legs. She’s been sore for weeks from sleeping on a mat in the gym every night. She misses sleeping in her own home, in her own bed. She misses sleeping in a warm dark room all by herself. She misses fluffy pillows and cozy blankets. The school gym isn’t comfortable at all. It’s too big and too cold and full of other kids who whimper too much in their sleep. But she doesn’t have a choice. For some reason, she’s not allowed to live at home anymore.

Emily assumed it was some kind of punishment. One day, at the end of school, she was called to the principal’s office and told that she had to stay in the gym overnight. She asked what she did wrong. She asked if it had to do with how she punched Jake Foley in the throat for throwing watermelon Kool-Aid in her hair at lunchtime and how she was going to kick his ass again if he was the one who ratted her out. The principal just blinked his eyes and said that she had to stay overnight until they could get things sorted with her family. Then he handed her a large cardboard box full of her own clothes, ironed and folded, that somebody must have retrieved from her bedroom closet at home.

There were two dozen other kids who also had to stay at the school overnight like she did, only some of them had already been sleeping there for the past month. Three teachers also spent the night with them, a different three teachers each week. They didn’t explain much about their situation. They just made sure that the kids didn’t leave the gym after dark.

Over the next few weeks, more and more students from all different grades started sleeping in the gym with Emily, including her friend Deena. They weren’t told exactly how long they’d have to continue sleeping at school. At first it was just supposed to be for a few days, then a few weeks. Now anyone who even asks how much longer until they can go home is severely punished and forced to sit in timeout for the rest of the day.

Of the kids that didn’t have to sleep in the gym overnight, many of them stopped coming to school. Emily wondered why the class sizes kept getting smaller and smaller. The teachers said the missing students were just sick or moved away or went on vacation. That explanation would have been believable if it was just one or two students, but after half the class went absent Emily had a hard time believing it. Not only were students not coming to school, but much of the faculty stopped showing up for work. The teachers, the principal, the school nurse, the lunch lady, the janitors—the school became emptier every day. Classrooms kept getting merged together every other week until there was only a few classes left. And then they stopped teaching the students altogether and just let them play board games and color in coloring books.

The number of students that live in the gym has slowly been dwindling in recent weeks. Emily isn’t quite sure why there’s less and less children hanging around. The teachers just say they’ve gone home or ran away, but nobody has ever seen them leave. The gym is locked up tight making it difficult to escape, not to mention every single student who has disappeared always leaves all of their stuff behind—their backpacks and books and extra clothes. It’s like they’re there one moment and gone the next. None of the other kids have been able to explain it to Emily. They just go about playing their games, excited not to have to do any boring schoolwork anymore.

All that remains now is just nineteen students and a single teacher, living in the gym and cooking meals in the school cafeteria with whatever supplies are left in the kitchen pantry.

When the lone teacher realized how restless the cooped up children were becoming, she proposed the idea of taking them on a class trip. She asked if they wanted to go to the library or the art museum or the park, but what they all wanted was to go to Disneyland. So that’s where she decided they would go.

Mrs. Jensen exits off the highway at a big handmade sign in the road that reads “Disneyland” in red spray-painted letters. All the children cheer at the sight of the sign, chanting “Dis-ney-land! Dis-ney-land!”

But Emily isn’t at all as enamored with the sight of the sign as the others. She’s more concerned than anything. The thing was obviously put up there recently and obviously has nothing to do with the real Disneyland whatsoever.

The road they drive down is crumbled and bumpy and has likely been overdue for repairs for at least two decades. There’s no sign of any businesses or houses or other cars anywhere along the road. It doesn’t appear as though they are going to anyplace but the middle of a dead empty forest.

When a large theme park appears up ahead, Emily is the only one that’s surprised to see it. The other children cheer and clap. They don’t at all seem to question the fact that nothing about this place looks anything like the real Disneyland. There are a few cloth flags scattered around the property with the Disneyland logo spray-painted on them, but that shouldn’t be enough to fool even the stupidest child on the bus. Emily wonders if the other kids are so desperate for it to be real that they’re willing to accept anything halfway resembling the magic kingdom as the real thing.

Deena looks over at Emily and says, “See! I told you we were going to Disneyland!”

They pull into the parking lot and drive toward the entrance. As more of the park comes into view, the older and more decrepit the place looks. It’s some old amusement park that hasn’t been open since at least the ‘90s. Weeds grow out of the asphalt, blocking most of the parking spots. The paint has faded from all of the signs, making any information about the place pretty much illegible. The large roller coasters beyond the walls are old and rusted and surely aren’t at all safe to ride.

Emily shakes her head at her friend and says, “I’m not sure what this place is, but it sure as hell isn’t Disneyland.”

The parking lot is mostly empty of vehicles. There are a few small cars and a truck parked near the front of the lot, though a couple of the cars look like they were abandoned twenty years ago. There are also three school buses parked right in front. These vehicles have definitely only arrived recently. One of the buses still has its engine running, even though there is no driver or passengers anywhere in sight. Another has had its windows broken out by rocks, but there’s no sign of its assailants. The last of them has been set on fire and looks to have been smoldering for several hours. Each bus came from a different nearby school. All of them must have chosen Disneyland for their class trip. But Emily doesn’t see any of the students who arrived in them. They look just as abandoned as the rest of the place.

Mrs. Jensen parks the bus next to the others and then takes a moment to wipe away her tears and compose herself before opening the bus door. She turns to the children with a wide fake smile and says, “Here we are! It’s Disneyland! Isn’t it wonderful?”

The youngest children scream with delight, but Emily can’t help but think about how upset Mrs. Jensen looks behind her fake smile. She looks like she will break down into a sobbing heap on the floor of the bus at any second.

“Everyone stand in a single file line,” says Mrs. Jensen. “I have an extra special surprise when you get off the bus.”

She grabs a cardboard box from the front seat and opens the bus door, then leads the children outside.

“Stay away from the fire bus,” Mrs. Jensen says as the students step out onto the sidewalk. “If you get burned now you won’t be able to ride any of the really fun roller coasters.”

The teacher passes out gifts to each of the children as they exit the vehicle. When Emily takes the steps down to the sidewalk, Mrs. Jensen pulls her present out of the cardboard box and hands it over.

“What is it?” Emily asks, staring down at the present like the teacher just pooped in her hand.

“Mickey Mouse ears!” cries Mrs. Jensen. “You put it on your head.”

“Oh… yeah, I forgot…” Emily says.

Emily puts the mouse hat on her head and steps away from the teacher. She would have preferred a better present than Mickey Mouse ears. Like maybe a candy bar or a sandwich. Or something useful like a screwdriver. Emily could do a lot more with a screwdriver than a Mickey Mouse hat.

As she steps away from the bus and looks around, the place really does appear to be deserted. There’s nobody in line at the entrance or anyone running the ticket booth. Whoever arrived in the other three school buses are either deep inside the amusement park or they all left the area on foot and left the vehicles behind.

The bus that still has its engine running is the most confusing to Emily. She would expect to find the driver in there somewhere as she steps closer, imagining he’s just leaning back so far in his seat that nobody can see him. But there’s no one inside. It’s just as abandoned as everything else in sight.

Deena laughs when Emily puts the Mickey Mouse hat on her head.

Emily turns to her friend and asks, “What’s so funny?”

Deena points at her face with a chubby finger. “Your face. You look weird with Mickey Mouse ears.”

“Why? It doesn’t suit me?”

Deena shakes her head. “It doesn’t go with your eye patch.”

Emily adjusts her eye patch and scowls at her friend. “It goes just fine with my eye patch.”

“You should just take it off.”

Emily reaches up to her Mickey Mouse hat to pull it off, but Deena stops her.

“Not the hat,” Deena says. “You should take off your eye patch.”

Emily shakes her head. “I’m not taking off my eye patch. I never take off my eye patch.”

“But you look like a Mickey Mouse pirate.”

“That’s okay,” Emily says. “I like being a Mickey Mouse pirate.”

Emily has worn an eye patch ever since the second grade. When she was seven, she proclaimed to everyone that she was going to be a pirate when she grew up. All of the adults that heard this thought it was an adorable thing for a child to say, but Emily was dead serious. She planned on being a pirate for real and she wasn’t going to let anyone get in her way. Even when she learned that the pirates in movies didn’t exist anymore, if they ever even existed like that in the first place, Emily still wouldn’t give up on her dream. She was determined to figure out how to make it work.

But even though her parents found Emily’s dream to be cute and endearing, they quickly grew tired of her wearing an eye patch all the time. She wore it to school and at dinner. She slept in it and bathed with it. There wasn’t a single moment that she didn’t have it on. Her mother finally had enough and ordered her to never wear it again, complaining that she’d never be considered pretty if she always wore an eye patch all the time. She said that only one-eyed people get to wear eye patches and there’s no point in wearing one if she already has two healthy eyes.

This was pretty much the worst thing that her mother could have told her. Emily wasn’t going to let a little thing like having two eyes get in the way of her being a proper pirate. She didn’t have the courage to stab her own eye out with a kitchen knife or scoop it out with a cereal spoon, but she did find it pretty easy to blind herself just by pouring a shot glass full of bleach across her left retina.

When her mother found Emily screaming on the floor below the laundry room sink, she went into a panic. She washed out her daughter’s eye and rushed her to the hospital. But the damage was already done. She burned all the color out of her eye, rendering it almost completely blind. Emily claims to still be able to see light and abstract shapes through her damaged eye, but it is pretty much useless to her now. She had no choice but to start wearing an eye patch for real.

By the third grade, Emily lost interest in becoming a pirate and decided she wanted to be an astronaut instead. Her mother, almost out of spite, told her that she couldn’t become an astronaut now that she has only one eye. So Emily said that she’ll just have to become a space pirate instead. A space pirate is an astronaut and a pirate combined, so it’s even better than a normal astronaut.

Her mother asked her why she didn’t just want to be a ballerina like a normal girl. Emily responded that being a ballerina would be okay as long as she could be a space pirate ballerina. But, really, she didn’t care too much about what she wanted to be when she grew up. She just didn’t want to admit that she made a mistake when she blinded herself just so that she could wear an eye patch.

Mrs. Jensen leads the children away from the buses toward the entrance to the amusement park, having them walk in a single file line. She seems surprised when she notices the lack of employees at the front gate and her surprise quickly turns to worry. She looks into each of the ticket booth windows for somebody, anybody, to greet them and let them in, but there’s not a soul in sight.

Not sure what else to do, Mrs. Jensen says, “Let’s just go inside.”

Some of the students gasp at the idea.

“But we can’t just go inside,” says a girl with blond braids and a bright yellow church dress. “We haven’t paid yet.”

The girl is Stephanie Meyers, the most annoying student in the fifth grade. She’s not only the teacher’s pet, the class president, and the girl most likely to tell on you if you do the slightest thing wrong, she’s also the most selfish, arrogant and judgmental kid Emily has ever met. If Deena is the closest thing Emily has to a friend, Stephanie would be the closest thing she has to an enemy.

“It’s okay,” Mrs. Jensen says. “Students get in free today. We don’t have to pay.”

Stephanie isn’t satisfied with the teacher’s answer. “But we can’t just go in without permission from the staff. That would be trespassing.”

Mrs. Jensen shakes her head. “They know we’re coming. It’ll be fine.”

“They’re going to kick us out and arrest you,” Stephanie says.

But the teacher is tired of explaining herself to a ten-year-old. She ignores all of the girl’s protests and pushes her way through the turnstile entrance gate. Then she leads the children inside.

As Emily enters the amusement park, she notices the inside is even more dilapidated than the outside. The sidewalks are cracked and overgrown with weeds. The Ferris wheel is leaning at a dangerous angle and looks like it could topple over at any moment. The tilt-a-whirl is covered in moss and submerged partway into the mud. The bumper boats are drowning in a shallow pool of sewage.

Even the most gullible children among them, even the first and second graders, are beginning to realize that this can’t actually be the real Disneyland. After they rush into the theme park and get a good look around, their happiness and excitement fades from their eyes. They grow somber and quiet. Some of them look like they’re about to drop to their knees and cry.

Mrs. Jensen tries to keep up the façade, saying in a joyful tone, “Isn’t this great? We’re actually here! We’re in Disneyland!”

But the kids aren’t buying it anymore. When Mrs. Jensen realizes the disappointment in the eyes of her students, she’s not sure what to do. Her lips begin to tremble. Tears build in the corners of her eyes.

“Come on, let’s go!” she says, before the children are able to question her about the state of the place. “This is going to be the time of your life!”

She leads the children into the theme park, trying to pretend that she’s just taken them to the most exciting place they’ll ever experience in their entire lives. In order to avoid confrontation, she has to keep them busy, keep talking to them, keep them on the move.

“We should sing a Disney song,” she says. “Emily, what’s your favorite Disney song?”

When Mrs. Jensen turns to Emily, the one-eyed girl just lets out a frustrated sigh and says, “I don’t listen to Disney songs.”

The teacher stumbles over her words after Emily’s response. Not sure what else to do, she asks Deena the same question.

“My favorite Disney song?” Deena asks. “Like from a Disney movie?” Her eyes light up. “Oh, that would be that song that Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson sings on the Moana soundtrack. I get that song stuck in my head all the time!”

Mrs. Jensen nods her head and says, “Well, how about something easier like the When You Wish Upon a Star song? You know, from Pinocchio. Sing that one.”

Deena shrugs, “I don’t know that one.”

“It’s easy…” says Mrs. Jensen.

Then she starts singing the song, trying to get the younger children to sing with her. The teacher doesn’t actually know the words to the song past the first two lines, neither do any of the children, but she improvises some lyrics as best as she can. She does everything possible to stop herself from having a complete mental breakdown right then and there.

Emily is worried that the teacher might be losing it. She wonders if she was the person who spray-painted the Disneyland signs out front herself, maybe sneaking out of the school gym as they all slept that night. But if that’s the case she wonders what the other school buses were all about. They obviously had to have brought students here for the same reasons that Mrs. Jensen had, whatever reasons those were.

Stephanie comes to Deena and Emily, and squeezes between them, curling a braid against her shoulder. The teacher’s pet seems just as concerned as they are, but tries to convey her usual tough-girl demeanor.

“How’s it going, losers?” Stephanie asks them.

She’s not friends of the two girls by any stretch, but because the three of them are all that remains of their fifth grade class she probably feels some kind of connection with them—even if the only way they are able to connect is to give each other a hard time.

Emily and Deena look away from her. Nothing is worse than having to deal with Stephanie.

“What’s it to you, Miss Prissy Pants?” Emily asks.

That’s what Emily always calls Stephanie. She admits that it’s not a very good insult, but she likes it for the simple fact that it annoys the uptight girl to no end.

Stephanie’s eyebrows curl in anger.

“Don’t call me names,” she says, even though she was the one who started the name-calling. “It’s against the rules. Besides, I’m not prissy. I’m refined.”

“Refined?” Emily asks, then she giggles. There’s no way she could ever not despise anyone who described themselves as refined.

“That’s how my mother describes me,” Stephanie says.

Emily just shakes her head and says, “Whatever.”

Stephanie looks over at their frantic teacher and then at the decaying surroundings. Her expression changes from combative to concerned. She obviously doesn’t know who else to talk to about their current situation than the girls who hate her most.

“Do you guys think something’s wrong with Mrs. Jensen?” Stephanie asks in a much softer tone than she’s used to speaking. “She’s acting really strange.”

Emily can’t help but chuckle at the question. “You think? She’s been a total nutcase for days.”

Stephanie only becomes more flustered by her response.

“This isn’t Disneyland at all,” Stephanie says. “I know this place. It was closed down ages ago.”

Deena’s eyes light up with curiosity. “You know this place? What is it?”

“It’s an old amusement park called The Enchanted Forest,” Stephanie says. “My parents used to take my older brother to it when he was a kid, long before I was born.”

“What?” Deena asks, a smile curling on her face. “That’s awesome! I had no idea there was an old amusement park out here. Why didn’t anyone tell me?”

Stephanie nods. “Not many people remember it. It was a generic offshoot of Disneyland that started back in the 1970s, but had a woodsy fairy theme. Instead of Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck and Goofy, they had characters like Larry the Leprechaun, Tommy the Troll, and Flora the Fairy Princess. There were also gnomes, pixies, mermaids, and all kinds of fairyland characters. Each ride is themed after a different character in The Enchanted Forest universe. They even made their own toys and merchandise. My brother said that the place was amazing. It was the best amusement park he’d ever been to before and he’d even been to Six Flags.”

“Really?” Deena asks, almost happier that they’re here than at the real Disneyland.

“If it was so great then why did they close it down?” Emily asks.

Stephanie continues curling her braid as they walk. “The owner invested way too much money into the place. He wanted it to be the Disneyland of the Midwest and built it to be just as large and ambitious as the one in California. But he made one fatal mistake: location. Nobody was willing to come all the way out here to visit his theme park. It’s an hour away from any major highway, two hours away from any major city, and there aren’t even any hotels nearby.”

“Sounds like an idiot,” Emily says. “Why’d he decide to build it out here?”

Stephanie shrugs. “My dad said it was because the land was really cheap out here. The owner had to decide whether to make a small park in a good location or a giant park in an isolated location. He chose the latter.”

Emily says, “He probably thought that people would be willing to come from far away if he just made it impressive enough.”

Stephanie nods. “My brother and my dad said it was definitely impressive enough for them to drive a couple hours. But if it was any farther than that they never would have gone.”

Emily wonders if Mrs. Jensen visited this amusement park as a kid and remembers it fondly. Perhaps she thought it would be just as fun to the children as going to Disneyland. Perhaps she didn’t even know it had been closed down all this time.

As Emily ponders their teacher’s reasoning behind bringing them to this place, she notices something unusual about Stephanie that she never recognized before.

“What is that?” she asks her, pointing at Miss Prissy’s neck. “Did you spill paint on yourself or something?”

Stephanie looks down. There are white splotches on her skin, running down her neck and chest.

“Oh, yeah,” she says. “It happened a few days ago. Mrs. Jensen says it’s just a rash.”

She rubs the splotches, but they don’t come off. Her skin has just been bleached white in those areas.

“It doesn’t look like a rash,” Emily says.

“It looks like bird poop!” Deena points and laughs at her.

“It’s fine.” Stephanie gets embarrassed and pulls up the collar of her shirt to cover it up. “It doesn’t even itch or anything.”

Emily lets it go but is still curious about the white splotches. She’s never seen anything like it. If they were birthmarks it would make sense, but birthmarks don’t grow on your skin overnight.

The theme park is much larger than Emily originally thought. They walk for what seems like a mile and the place just keeps going on and on. It’s got to be the size of ten zoos, fifteen state fairs, or twenty malls. Stephanie wasn’t kidding about the creator of this place making it the same size as Disneyland. It would have been amazing to come here if the place was still in business.

Mrs. Jensen studies her map as she drags the students forward, pretending like she knows where she’s going.

“These rides are all out of order,” she tells the students. “We just need to find the ones that still work.”

Stephanie shakes her head. “There’s no way any of these rides still work.” She speaks only loud enough for Emily and Deena to hear. “This place was condemned. It should be torn down.”

But Mrs. Jensen speaks with sincerity. She’s either completely lost it or knows something they don’t.

Even though they have been walking for half an hour, there are still no signs of any other people in the amusement park. No staff. No students from the other buses. It’s like they were never here.

“Walk in a single file line,” Mrs. Jensen reminds the children for the tenth time so far that day. “Don’t touch anything. This place is very dangerous if you don’t stay on the path.”

The children don’t know what she means by that, but they still obey her directions. They are all still praying beyond logic that they’ll at least get to go on a ride that isn’t rusted or broken.

As they stroll through The Enchanted Forest, Emily realizes that she’s enjoying herself. She doesn’t care for roller coasters or amusement parks, not even Disneyland, but she is fond of the atmosphere of the place. Everything is decayed and crumbling. She’s always found old, ruined buildings to be interesting. Rusted roller coasters are like surreal works of art. They’re almost beautiful. These sights Mrs. Jensen is showing them are something that Emily never thought she’d be able to see. She would have even been excited to come to The Enchanted Forest if it was under different circumstances. If only the other kids weren’t so disappointed by it…

As Emily admires her surroundings, wishing she had a camera to take pictures of The Enchanted Forest ruins, she notices twinkling lights and the movement of working rides up ahead. Part of the amusement park seems to still be operational. The electricity is actually on and the rides don’t appear to be rusted or broken at all.

When Mrs. Jensen sees the flashy area up ahead, she exhales a breath of relief.

“There it is!” she says to the students. “That’s the area I was looking for!”

The three fifth graders can’t believe their eyes, especially Stephanie. They couldn’t have ever imagined that the theme park would have a section that was still operational.

As they go to the only lively area of The Enchanted Forest, the students see a wide variety of themed rides slightly mimicking those from Disneyland in California. Instead of Splash Mountain, there’s Troll Mountain featuring Tommy the Troll. Instead of Pirates of the Caribbean, there’s Mermaids of the Caribbean featuring Mary the Mermaid Queen. Instead of It’s a Small World, there’s It’s a Magical World featuring Mancino the Magic Elf. Everything is not only operational but seems to be clean and well-maintained. Even the sidewalks are in good condition.

“I can’t believe it…” Deena says.

Stephanie’s eyes widen. “These were my brother’s favorite rides. I can’t believe they’re still here…”

“Maybe the owner kept this section of the park up and running,” Emily says. “He might have rented the place out for private parties. I heard that it’s the same way at the old water park across town.”

The children’s expressions completely change when they see all the rides that still work. They know it’s not exactly Disneyland, but at least there are real rides here. Many of them look like they could be really fun. The youngest children run toward the Troll Mountain ride, admiring the plastic trees and waterfalls. There are three log-shaped boats within the manmade river just waiting to be boarded.

“Hold on, kids,” Mrs. Jensen says. “Don’t get on the ride yet.”

She scans the area, looking for someone who works there. It would make sense for there not to be anyone in the other areas of the park, but since this area is operational there had to be at least a few employees nearby.

As the teacher passes the fifth graders, looking for someone to help them, Emily asks, “Anything wrong, Mrs. Jensen?”

The teacher shakes her head. “Somebody was supposed to meet us here.”

“Do we have to wait for them to show up before we can go on the rides?” Deena asks.

Mrs. Jensen shrugs. “They said the rides are automated and we could go on them whenever we wanted. I’m just wondering why nobody else is here…”

“There are kids here from other schools too, right?” Emily asks.

The teacher nods.

Emily says, “Perhaps the employees are focused on them.”

Mrs. Jensen takes one more look down each of the three paths leading away from the Troll Mountain ride, then she nods her head in agreement.

“Maybe you’re right,” the teacher says.

Looking at Emily with her back to the other children, she uses the opportunity to rub the last of the tears out of her eyes. Whatever was worrying her before seems to finally be passing.

“Are you okay?” Emily asks her.

Mrs. Jensen nods. “I’m fine now. Everything will be fine now.”

Then she smiles at Emily.

Emily does her best to smile back. She feels bad for the teacher. Mrs. Jensen has had to take care of them all by herself for weeks now. It couldn’t have been easy on her. Even the strongest of women would have had a hard time doing what she’s had to do.

When the teacher turns to the other students, she yells, “So who wants to ride Troll Mountain?”

All the children cheer and raise their hands as high as they can.

“Then let’s give it a go!” Mrs. Jensen leads them toward the entrance of the ride. “There’s enough space on the log boats for everyone!”

Directly in front of the ride’s entrance, there stands a cartoon sculpture of the ride’s mascot, holding a spiked club and wearing a big straw hat. When one of the second graders sees the mascot, he points at it and asks the teacher, “Who’s that, Mrs. Jensen?”

The teacher looks back at the boy and then up at the sculpture.

“It’s Tommy the Troll,” says Mrs. Jensen, smiling at the cartoon character. “He’s a friendly troll who lives under a bridge and plays a banjo.”

Emily watches the teacher from the back of the crowd. Mrs. Jensen is nothing like she was only ten minutes ago. She doesn’t have to fake her excitement anymore. She’s actually relaxed and happy and shows no signs of stress or worry whatsoever. Emily can’t believe it’s even the same person.

“Do you want to know what Tommy the Troll has to say?” the teacher asks the second grader, pointing at a large red button on the troll’s belly that read Press Me.

The little boy nods his head.

“Let’s see what he has to say then…” says Mrs. Jensen.

When she pushes the button, there’s a loud clicking noise that rings through the sculpture.

“Huh…” says Mrs. Jensen, holding her finger on the button. “It doesn’t seem to be working…”

Then all of the bones in Mrs. Jensen’s body are ripped through her fingertip and sucked into the Troll’s stomach, leaving a bloody empty husk on the sidewalk.

Chapter Two

“Hi kids, I’m Tommy the Troll! For your safety, please keep your arms and legs inside the boat at all times. I hope you enjoy the ride!”

Just as the fuzzy electronic voice finishes reverberating from the blood-splattered troll sculpture, all of the children look down at the pile of boneless flesh that was once their teacher. Then they scream at the top of their lungs.

The second graders tumble backward, tripping over each other. Even the older kids panic and run back. Deena turns her head and vomits across the sidewalk. Stephanie closes her eyes so tight that her eyelids turn purple. But Emily just stares. She can’t believe what just happened in front of them. She can’t believe it was actually real.

As the other students run far away from the body, Emily steps closer. She has to verify with her own eye that what she witnessed actually happened in reality. Otherwise, she would just assume it was another hallucination.

“Mrs. Jensen?” Emily asks the pile of soggy flesh.

The corpse just gurgles and leaks blood. One eye stares vacantly at the girl from a hollow, deflated head.

When she’s satisfied that it’s real, Emily turns to the others and says, “She’s dead.”

Then the children scream again.

Most of them had never seen anyone die, especially not in such a violent manner. The image just replays itself over and over in their minds.

None of the students know what to do but cower and scream. They don’t really know where they are or how to get back to school. Without Mrs. Jensen, they don’t have anyone else to look after them. The children are completely alone.

Emily steps away from the body and rejoins the others.

“What do we do?” Deena asks between snivels.

“We need to get help,” Stephanie says. “We need to call 911.”

“You think 911 can save Mrs. Jensen?” Deena asks, a slight hint of hope glimmers in her eyes.

“Umm…” Stephanie says, then the girls glance at the pile of flesh on the ground. “Maybe?”

Emily looks around. There’s obviously nothing she can do for their teacher, but there has to be something that can be done with the small children. They are still going to need help.

“I’ll look around,” Emily says.

She examines the three paths leading away from the Troll Mountain ride, but there’s no sign of anyone. Even though many rides are operational, the entire amusement park seems empty. Emily begins to wonder if everyone discovered how dangerous this place is and ran away. She wonders if she should be doing the same thing.

Down one of the paths, there appear to be some signs of people. It looks like a kid’s backpack was left on the sidewalk. There also appears to be somebody lying on a bench further down the way. They’re too far away for her to be certain, but it seems like it’ll be worth checking out.

Emily calls back to Deena, “Watch the kids. I’ll be right back.”

Deena nods, but it’s obvious to Emily that she probably isn’t the one who should be looking after the other kids. Based on the terrified expression on her face, she needs looking after even more than most of them do.

As Emily takes the path, somebody comes up behind her.

“Where do you think you’re going?” Stephanie asks. “It’s illegal to leave the scene of an accident. We need to call 911 and then wait for the police to arrive.”

Emily groans. Just when she thought Stephanie was starting to become somewhat tolerable she had to go and revert back to her old insufferable self. She doesn’t stop walking.

“Do you see a phone anywhere?” Emily asks, then she quickens her pace. “Even if this place has a pay phone somewhere I doubt it still works.”

“We’ll just use the cell phone,” Stephanie says, keeping up with Emily’s pace.

“What cell phone?” Emily asks. She’s sure that Stephanie isn’t stupid enough to believe that any of the kids have cell phones. The teachers took all of their electronic devices away the moment they moved into the school gym.

“Mrs. Jensen has a cell phone,” Stephanie says.

“I haven’t seen her use her phone in days,” Emily says. “I doubt she even brought it. Besides, I’m not willing to dig through her pockets to get it. Are you?”

Stephanie looks forward. She obviously doesn’t want to do that anymore than Emily does.

“Fine, we’ll look for help,” Stephanie says. “But you’re not allowed to do anything on your own without asking me first. I’m the class president. I’m in charge now.”

Emily just laughs. There’s no way she’d ever accept Stephanie as an authority figure.

“Sure,” Emily says. “Whatever you say, Miss Prissy President.”

When they get to what Emily thought was a backpack, she realizes that it’s an old sun-baked ice chest. The thing definitely wasn’t left here recently. It could have been sitting around for years.

The two girls pass it by and go toward the bench where Emily thought she saw somebody lying down. But it turns out to just be a pile of old clothes and a bowling ball. Emily has no idea why these things would be placed on a bench in the middle of an old amusement park, but here they are.

“We should turn back,” Stephanie says. “I don’t want to go too far from the others.”

Emily shakes her head. “Go back if you want. I’m going to keep looking.” Then she continues forward.

Stephanie doesn’t seem willing to go back on her own, so she follows without protest.

They keep moving until they reach the entrance to the next ride. It’s some kind of Haunted Mansion rip-off called Ghost Manor featuring a mascot by the name of Barky the Phantom—some kind of dumb-looking ghost dog reminiscent of Disney’s Goofy.

On the sidewalk outside the ride, there’s a large pool of red liquid that looks like fresh blood. It flows out of the haunted house in a slow-moving stream.

“Is that part of the ride?” Emily asks.

Stephanie shrugs. “I’ve never heard of Ghost Manor before.” She leans down and takes a closer look at the large blood puddle. “It is a haunted house, so maybe… It looks real to me though.”

She steps back and looks at Emily. “Do you think it’s the same as what happened to Mrs. Jensen? Do you think somebody else died?”

Emily isn’t sure. There aren’t any signs of a body. It doesn’t appear to be the same as the Mrs. Jensen incident.

“There’s too much blood for just one person,” Emily says. “If it’s real then at least three people died here.”

“But how did they die?”

Emily shrugs. “I don’t know. How did Mrs. Jensen die?” She points at the half-open door leading into Ghost Manor. “Something must have happened to them in there.”

The two girls squint their eyes to see if there’s anything inside that would explain what happened. But there’s only darkness beyond the door. They can hear the faint sound of eerie Halloween music coming from deep within the haunted house, accompanied by the occasional wolf howl or a deep sinister laugh. There’s nothing that indicates whether this blood is real or just a messy prop for the ride.

“Are those footprints?” Stephanie says, pointing at the sidewalk beyond the pool of blood.

Emily goes for a closer look. They’re mostly faded, but it looks like somebody got some blood on their shoes and left sneaker tracks along the path.

“They’re still wet,” Emily says. “Somebody was here not too long ago.”

“An adult or a kid?” Stephanie asks.

Emily shrugs. The footprints aren’t complete, so she can’t tell whether the shoe size is big or small. But based on the zig-zaggy tread pattern, it doesn’t appear to be the kind of shoe an adult would wear.

“We should keep going,” Emily says.

Stephanie agrees.

They follow the bloody footprints down the sidewalk, hoping to catch up to the person who left them. The tracks get fainter as they go. Emily hopes they catch up to the person before the footprints fade out entirely.

The tracks take a right at the next intersection and then a left toward a small rest area filled with picnic tables and broken vending machines. There’s no sign of anyone inside the rest area, but the footprints go in and don’t come back out.

“There’s nothing here,” Emily says. “Just a picnic area.”

Even though there’s nothing in there, Stephanie continues following the tracks. She walks between two tables and discovers where they end.

She points at a garbage can. “There.”

Emily goes to her and looks over her shoulder to see what she’s talking about. In front of the garbage can, the footprints end at a pair of sneakers. The shoes are just sitting upright, facing the garbage can. It’s like the shoes walked down the sidewalk on their own without a person attached.

“Did somebody just toss their shoes away?” Emily asks.

“Maybe they realized they had blood on them,” Stephanie says. “I would throw my shoes away if I had blood on them. Blood is a biohazard.”

Emily steps forward to get a closer look. She notices something off about the garbage can. Peering down into the hole, she sees a swirl of jagged metal. It looks like the inside of a blender or a garbage disposal. It’s full of something that looks like fresh ground hamburger meat.

When she glances down, she notices that the sneakers aren’t empty. Their owner’s feet are still inside, severed at the ankles from the rest of the body. When she sees it, she freezes in her tracks. Then she steps carefully back.

“What is it?” Stephanie asks. She didn’t see what Emily saw but can tell that something is wrong.

“It’s a trap,” Emily says.

“A trap?”

Emily takes Stephanie back to the main path, far away from the picnic area, before she explains herself.

“I’m not sure, but that garbage can was definitely not an ordinary garbage can,” Emily says. “It was made to kill people.”

Stephanie can’t believe what she’s hearing. “Kill people?”

“Whoever those shoes belonged to put their hand inside that garbage can, probably to throw away a piece of trash. Then they got pulled into what looked like a meat grinder.”

“You saw a dead body inside the garbage can?” Stephanie asks.

Emily shakes her head. “Kind of. It looked like a bunch of ground sausage meat in there.”

Stephanie looks down and turns away. “What the heck is going on? What’s wrong with this place?”

“It’s booby-trapped,” Emily says.

“That doesn’t make sense. Why would anyone do that?”

Emily shrugs.

“Let’s just keep going,” she says. “We’ve got to find somebody and get back to the others as soon as we can.”

They keep searching the park, but the deeper in they go the more danger they realize they’re in. Two dead teenagers lie outside of the men’s bathroom, impaled on a bed of spikes. An adult in gray overalls, most likely a custodian of the park, hangs from a tree by what looks like his own intestines. A cluster of young girls are propped up against a dumpster—it looks like they were sewn together with steel wires into a tight little ball. Emily isn’t sure, but it looks like they were still alive when it happened.

“We shouldn’t be here,” Stephanie says. “We need to leave. We need to get back to the others and get out of here.”

But Emily isn’t sure she wants to leave. She wants to know what’s going on.

“This is all really happening, right?” Emily asks the frightened girl. “I’m not just hallucinating?”

“These aren’t hallucinations,” Stephanie says. “We can’t hallucinate the same thing.”

Emily nods in agreement. “It’s just that I’ve been having hallucinations like this a lot lately.”

“What the heck are you talking about?” Stephanie asks.

Emily shakes her head. “Never mind. It doesn’t matter.”

“Let’s go back,” Stephanie says.

Emily sits down on the cement and crosses her legs. She needs a rest but is too worried about sitting anywhere but the middle of the sidewalk. Pretty much anything else around them could be booby-trapped.

Stephanie groans and sits down next to her. “You’re such a pain in the ass.”

“Not as much as you are,” Emily says.

Stephanie ignores the comment. “Just don’t do anything that will get us killed.” Then her voice grows soft. “I’ll kick your ass if you get us killed.”

She says this in such a sincere tone that Emily can’t help but laugh. Stephanie doesn’t find it the least bit funny.

As they sit there on the sidewalk, they notice a white section of pavement nearby that has at least a dozen shadows burned into it. All the shadows seem to have belonged to children who were running away from something when they were vaporized mid-step. It’s like a miniature nuclear bomb had gone off, affecting only a small area with a diameter of twenty feet.

Emily isn’t sure how anyone could have created such a trap. She doesn’t know what kind of technology it would take to vaporize so many people in such a contained little area. All she knows is that once that trap was sprung, those kids didn’t stand a chance.

Before the two girls get up to leave, Emily sees something moving toward them. At first, the sight makes her panic, like some kind of horrible danger was headed their way. But once she notices what it is her heart pounds with excitement.

“Are they real?” Emily asks.

“People!” Stephanie cries.

There are three of them. Two boys and a girl. They are definitely older than Emily and Stephanie. Probably seventh or eighth graders. They walk casually down the sidewalk toward them like they’re just taking a normal stroll through an amusement park, like they don’t have a care in the world.

“I can’t believe it,” Stephanie says, getting to her feet. “Other kids are still alive.”

One of the two boys smiles and waves his hand at them. He has pretty blond hair and wears a bright blue shirt. The girl has long straight hair that seems too red to be her natural color, with a fuzzy pink half-sweater and tight green jeans. But when they come closer into view, and Emily gets a better look at the other boy—the one with glasses and finely combed black hair—she gets even more excited.

“I know them!” Emily cries. “They used to go to our school.”

Darren Thomas, Rena Howell, and Clyde Donner. The three most popular kids at McKinney Elementary. Before they left for junior high, everyone knew who they were. They were the richest, smartest, most attractive and most beloved students on campus. The pride of their teachers, the envy of their peers. All the boys admired Darren and his inspiring let’s-do-our-best attitude. All the girls adored Rena and her positive confidence-is-always-pretty demeanor. But Emily liked Clyde the best. His astute clever-is-better-than-smart approach to life made her want to be just like him. He was the founder of the chess club, the winner of the national student art contest, and even the soccer team’s star player. There was no one more imaginative, inventive or ingenious than Clyde Donner. And Emily has had the biggest crush on him ever since the first grade.

When her eye meets his, Emily smiles so wide that it hurts her face. It’s been a very long time since she’s actually flexed her smile muscles so intensely.

She waves at him and yells, “Clyde!”

Clyde pushes his glasses up the bridge of his nose with his left index finger. Then he nods his head once in Emily’s direction. He doesn’t say anything to acknowledge her. Clyde was never the kind of person who wasted words.

“Hey, it’s Eye Patch!” Darren says when he recognizes Emily. He turns to Rena. “Remember Eye Patch?”

“She’s grown a lot,” Rena says. Then she calls to Emily, “Looking good, Eye Patch!” while clapping her hands together.

Eye Patch is what the older kids used to always call Emily when she was younger, before the teachers made them stop. Although the nickname was originally meant as an insult, Emily accepted the name with pride. That’s when Rena, Darren, and Clyde started using it. They felt she earned the nickname by having confidence in it. Every time they addressed her as Eye Patch, it was like a nod of approval. It made Emily like the three of them even more.

“Rena and Darren?” Stephanie is even more excited to see them than Emily. “I can’t believe it’s actually them!”

Stephanie is about to run over to them when Emily grabs her by the arm.

“Wait…” Emily says, holding the other girl tightly. “It’s not safe.”

When Stephanie looks back at her, Emily points at the sidewalk in front of them. One section of pavement is slightly discolored from the rest of it. Emily believes it’s a trigger for another trap. If Stephanie had stepped on it, something bad surely would have happened to her.

As the three eighth graders arrive, they step around the discolored pavement and notice Emily holding Stephanie back.

“You noticed it, too?” Clyde asks, looking down at the trap and back up at Emily.

Emily nods.

Darren goes to the fifth grader and pats her on the shoulder. “Good instincts, Eye Patch.”

Then Rena pinches her cheeks and hugs her. “Oh, Eye Patch! You look so cute with your Mickey Mouse ears! I want to call you Pirate Mouse!”

When Stephanie sees all the attention Emily’s receiving from the eighth graders, she starts to get jealous.

She asks, “Hey, Rena? Do you remember me?”

The pretty girl turns to Stephanie and smiles. “Oh, yeah… It’s you! Umm...”

“Stephanie!” Stephanie says.

Rena nods. “Yeah, that’s it! Stephanie! It’s great seeing you again!”

It’s obvious that Rena doesn’t have any memory of the prissy girl at all, but Stephanie seems perfectly convinced that Rena never forgot her.

“I haven’t seen you forever!” Stephanie says.

Darren changes the subject, “So are you two alone?”

Emily shakes her head. “The rest of the class is down by the Troll Mountain ride. They’re waiting for us to get help.”

“Help?”Rena asks. “What happened?”

Stephanie frowns. “Mrs. Jensen pushed the button on the Tommy the Troll statue.”

Rena’s mouth drops open. “Mrs. Jensen’s dead?”

Stephanie nods.

“Aww, seriously?”Rena snaps her fingers and shakes her head. “Mrs. Jensen was my favorite teacher.”

Although Rena seems genuinely bummed by the teacher’s death, she seems to get over it almost immediately and return to her normal cheerful self. She turns to Darren and says, “I told you Tommy the Troll was booby-trapped! You said it was too obvious to be a trap. Pay up.”

Darren holds out his hands and shakes his head. “We didn’t bet money on it.”

“Of course we did!” Rena cries. “On the bus ride over here, we said five dollars for every trap we spot.”

Darren laughs. “I never agreed to that!”

“Yeah, you did!” Rena says. “You came up with the rule that it only counts if somebody springs it. Mrs. Jensen sprung it, so pay up.”

Rena holds out her hand.

Darren just giggles and waves her hand away. “I thought we were just doing it for fun, not for money. I wouldn’t have agreed if we were doing it for money.”

“Bullshit, you’re just trying to get out of paying,” Rena says.

Stephanie and Emily just stare at the two eighth graders, wondering how they could be joking around and messing with each other so playfully at a time like this. There are dead bodies all around them, yet they act like nothing was more normal in the world. Clyde seems to be the only one taking their situation seriously.

“Enough with the banter,” Clyde tells them. “We should get to their classmates before anything else happens to them.”

The other two eighth graders straighten up and nod at him. They wipe the smiles from their faces and get serious.

Rena turns to Emily and says in a more concerned tone, “Don’t worry, Eye Patch. We’ll help you. You can count on us.”

Then she squeezes Emily against her so tightly that her long red hair gets entangled in the little girl’s Mickey Mouse ears.

As they lead the three older kids back to their friends, Emily and Stephanie feel a lot more relieved by their situation. Not only were they able to find older kids who could help them, but they found the strongest, smartest, coolest kids in town. If anyone was able to help them out of this mess, it would be them.

Emily can’t stop glancing over at Clyde as he walks next to her. After he left their school, she assumed she’d never see him again. But here is, in her greatest time of need. He’s always been like a hero to Emily. Now he’ll be a hero in more ways than one.

As they walk, Emily leans over to Clyde, almost shy at first, but she tries to appear confident. She asks, “Is there anyone from your school left out there or are you the only three?”

Clyde looks at her with his piercing gray eyes. “The last of them died quite a while ago. It’s just been the three of us.”

Emily nods.

“No teachers?” she asks.

He shakes his head. “No teachers. No adults. No other students as far as I know. The traps got them all.”

Emily nods again.

When Stephanie hears them talking, she turns to join the conversation.

“Do you know what’s going on?” Stephanie asks. “Why is this place full of booby traps?”

Clyde squints his eyes at her.

Rena asks, “What do you mean?”

“The traps,” Stephanie explains. “There’s traps all over this amusement park. Who put them here? Why would Mrs. Jensen take us to such a place?”

The eighth graders look at each other and laugh.

“I still don’t understand…” Rena says. “Let me get this straight… you think this amusement park is the only place that’s full of traps?”

“Umm…” Stephanie says, embarrassed to answer honestly, worried that they’ll make fun of her. “You mean there are traps in other places as well?”

Darren smacks his forehead. “Seriously?”

Clyde is the only one who doesn’t laugh at her response. Instead, he nods his head and says, “It makes sense for the adults to hide it from the children. Many of them wouldn’t be able to handle the reality of the situation.”

“But how could they not know?” Rena says. “People have been dying left and right all year. There’s hardly anyone even alive out there anymore.” She looks at Stephanie. “I’m sorry, I don’t mean to be rude, it’s just a shock to me. I can’t believe you’ve been kept in the dark for this long.”

“What about your parents?” Darren asks. “You have to know about what’s going on after what happened to your parents…”

Stephanie’s eyebrows shoot up with panic. “What happened to my parents?”

Rena says, “You live at your school, right? Just like we do?”

Stephanie nods. “Yeah.”

“Well, the only reason they had you live at your school was because your parents died and they didn’t know what else to do with you. That’s what they did with all orphaned kids in all schools in the country. It happened to me. It happened to Darren. It happened to Clyde. I’m sorry to break it to you, but that’s what happened to you, too. Your parents are dead.”

“My parents are dead?” Stephanie says, her voice shivering, her eyes watering up.

“Are you serious?” Emily asks.

Darren groans and shakes his head. “Good going, Rena…”

Clyde says, “You could have used a bit more tact.”

Rena shrugs. “Somebody had to tell her. It’s not my fault the school didn’t have the guts to be honest with the kids.”

Stephanie realizes it has to be the truth. Her parents would never have left her at the school for so long otherwise. She puts her hands in her face and breaks into a wailing cry.

“You see?” Darren says, pointing at the sobbing fifth grader. “This is why they kept their kids in the dark about it. They didn’t want to have to deal with this twenty-four seven.”

Clyde adds, “When we meet with the other children, let’s not make the same mistake. There’s no need to upset any more of them.”

Rena points at Emily. “Well, look at Eye Patch over there. She’s taking it fine. Why can’t the blond girl be more like her?”

“Because Eye Patch is tough as nails,” Darren says. “She’s the girl who burned out her own eyeball with bleach just to prove a point. Not many kids are as strong as she is.”

Rena looks back at Emily and gives her a nod, completely agreeing with Darren’s assessment of her.

But Emily is barely able to keep it together. The information hit her just as hard as it hit Stephanie. She’s just in too much shock to cry.

Emily knows that everything the eighth graders are saying is true. She’s seen it with her own eye. She just didn’t want to believe any of it was real. Before she moved into the school, she’s seen it happen many times before. On the city bus, at the grocery store, in the movie theater—she’s seen people dying horribly right in front of her. She’s seen toilet stalls that crush their occupants flat, ceiling fans that decapitate anyone who walks beneath them, heads of lettuce that liquefy anyone who touches them.

But her mother told her that none of it was real. She said that she was just hallucinating it. And Emily believed her. Not because of how strange and random all of the deaths occurred, but because of how all the other people around her reacted to them. Nobody else seemed to care or notice when anyone died in a trap. They just kept on moving as though nothing had happened. Emily saw a man get sliced in half after pushing the wrong button in an elevator. He was standing right next to her, on her left. But when the elevator opened and three women walked in, they didn’t even acknowledge the bisected corpse on the ground. They stood in his blood, waiting for their floor, chatting casually with each other. The only explanation Emily could come up with was that she was the only one who actually saw the dead body. It was all in her head.

Looking back, Emily realizes what must have really been going on. It wasn’t that people weren’t seeing all the death going on around them. They just didn’t want to see it. They chose to go through life pretending that everything was fine. Since they didn’t know how to avoid the traps, they just pretended that they weren’t even there, hoping to get lucky. It was better than living in fear every second of every day. And when you actually did spring a trap, you’d likely die instantly. You wouldn’t suffer. In the blink of an eye, everything would go black and you’d never have to worry about anything ever again.

Emily normally wouldn’t have believed that these were just hallucinations. She could smell the blood, hear the snapping and slicing sounds of the traps, feel the meat of the bodies that were left behind—besides the reactions of the people around her, it all registered as reality. But, like everyone else, she wanted to believe it wasn’t real. She wanted to just ignore them and go on feigning ignorance. Because the moment she accepted the deaths as anything but hallucination was the moment that she acknowledged that her father was really dead.

Emily’s father was her favorite person in the world. He was an artist, a writer, a pianist and an actor in the local theatre. Though he had a normal office day job that was boring and uncreative, he liked it that way. He always said that if he made a living off of any of his passions he would have lost interest in them eventually. According to him, money makes things stressful and sucks the fun out of everything. It’s better to only do things that you love strictly for the love. Emily didn’t really know what he meant by that, but she could tell he never lost his enthusiasm for anything that he did. That’s the kind of person Emily wanted to be.

Every day after work, Emily’s father would work on a different hobby. On Mondays and Wednesdays, he wrote poetry. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, he painted pictures in the attic. On Fridays, he met with his acting troupe. On weekends, he practiced the piano. But the best part was that Emily was allowed to do these things with him. She wrote poetry with him, drew pictures with him, practiced piano and even got to watch him act during rehearsals from time to time. Because they shared the same interests, they were able to spend a lot of time together. They were a lot closer than most fathers are with their daughters. They were a lot closer than Emily even was with her mother, who only seemed to argue and criticize each other at every possible opportunity.

Although they got to see a lot of each other after Emily’s father got off of work, they didn’t ever get to spend much time together in the mornings before he left. He had to leave for work early every day, so early that they never got to eat breakfast together or say good morning to each other or give each other hugs. Emily had to get up at 5a.m., jump out of bed and rush to the window just to wave goodbye to him before he got into his car and drove off to work. But that’s exactly what she did, every day, just to be able to see him for a second. Just to be able to see his smile and wave goodbye, Emily thought it was worth waking up two hours before she had to.

But on one particular morning, Emily wishes she would’ve slept in. If she had just stayed in bed that day, she wouldn’t have seen her father die right before her eye.

She jumped out of bed as she usually did, ran for the window, opened the curtain and waved goodbye to her father. He looked back, a handsome smile curling on his lips. He waved excitedly, promising to see her when he got home just as he always did. Emily watched as he opened the car door, stepped inside and started the engine.

That was when it happened. The second her father turned the key, it triggered some kind of reaction. Like some kind of black hole had appeared in the center of his car, the vehicle was sucked into itself, crumpled into a tiny ball. All that registered with Emily was the sound of grinding metal and crunching bones. It was over in a flash. Her father didn’t even have a chance to scream.

When she went outside to examine the ball of metal that was once her father’s car, she had no idea what she was looking at. She couldn’t believe it was real. After her mother woke up, Emily told her all about it. Her mother said she was crazy. Even after the police showed up, she still wouldn’t tell Emily that what she saw really happened. She said she just imagined it. She said that her father had to go on a business trip and wouldn’t be back for a while. Emily believed her. Emily would much rather be crazy than lose her father forever.

After a few minutes of walking in silence, just listening to Stephanie’s sobs and feeling bad about themselves, Emily decides to break the awkwardness. She feels that if she doesn’t start talking she’s going to end up in Stephanie’s pitiful state.

“So why did the teachers take us to this place anyway?” Emily asks the eighth graders. “Why pretend that they were taking us to Disneyland?”

Clyde responds, “I have no idea why they tried passing this place off as Disneyland. We were quite baffled by it ourselves, to be honest.” He adjusts his glasses. “This trip was meant to be a last hurrah for all students still left alive in the schools. The human race is being systematically exterminated. If things keep going the way they’re going, all human life on the planet will be completely wiped out by the end of the month…at least that’s what they’ve been saying on the news reports. Since we all don’t have much time left to live anyway, teachers thought they might as well throw caution to the wind and take their students on one last school trip. The Enchanted Forest was the best they could come up with.”

“Even though they knew it was this dangerous?” Emily asks.

“Every place is this dangerous,” Rena says. “They figured that if we were going to die anyway we might as well die happy.”

“Brilliant plan, eh?” Darren snickers. “What could possibly go wrong?”

Emily frowns.

“As you’ve probably noticed, their plan was a complete and utter failure,” Clyde continues. “The students and teachers that came here didn’t die happy. They just died.”

“They threw all these kids’ lives away…” Rena says. “For nothing…”

“But we have no intention of dying here,” Clyde says. “We know we can make it if we’re clever enough, perceptive enough, intuitive enough…”

Darren finishes Clyde’s statement for him. “We plan to survive no matter what.”

When Emily hears this, she looks forward and nods her head in agreement. “I plan to as well.”

“Of course you do, Eye Patch,” Rena says, placing her hand on Emily’s shoulder. “You’re just like us.”

Chapter Three

Deena is a frenetic mess when Emily and Stephanie finally return. She’s had to look after the younger children all on her own for over an hour and wasn’t even sure whether her friends were ever coming back or not. She has all the students facing away from their teacher’s corpse, trying to get them to calm down and sing the alphabet song even though every single one of them is too old to need the alphabet song.

“What took you guys so long?” Deena cries, rushing to Emily. “How could you just leave me like that?”

Emily apologizes and explains how she couldn’t find any adults anywhere. The eighth graders were the only people still in the park. She leaves out the part about all the dead bodies they came across and all the traps that surround them.

When the younger kids see the eighth graders, their expressions completely change. They cry, “Rena! Darren! Clyde!” and rush at them to give them hugs and high-fives. Even the kids who never met them are excited to see them, because the three older kids left such an impression on the school that they all heard the stories about them. Even the first graders see them as heroes.

“It’s great to see all of you again!” Rena says in a pleasant kid-friendly voice. “You’re all so sweet and adorable, just like I remember!”

Darren high-fives every boy that comes up to him. “None of you have to worry about a thing anymore. We’re here now. We’ll help you.”

As the kids crowd around the eighth graders, Deena takes Emily aside. Her eyes are wide with panic. She looks like Mrs. Jensen did just before she died.

Deena whispers to her, “I can’t find two of the first graders. I did roll call five times and every time it came up the same. Two kids are missing. I don’t know who they are, but I can’t find them anywhere. None of the other kids have seen a thing.”

Emily nods. “It’s okay. There’s nothing you could do.”

“We have to find them.” Deena eyes the path they arrived on. “They could be out there all alone…”

Emily pauses and then shakes her head. “I’m sorry, but we’re not doing that.”

“What?” Deena cries. “Why not?”

“Those kids are already dead.”

Then Emily joins the others, leaving her friend’s mouth dropped open in alarm. She doesn’t explain anything to her. She doesn’t think the immature girl could handle the reality of their situation, just as Stephanie couldn’t. The best course of action is to leave her in the dark. That’s what Clyde would do. And if Emily wants to survive in this place, she’s going to have to be just like Clyde.

The eighth graders have the children gather around so that they can explain the situation to them. Rena has all of them wipe their eyes and cheer up. Darren tells them that they should all be brave.

“The adults aren’t going to help us anymore,” Clyde tells the children. “We have to look after each other from now on. Think of Rena as your new mother, Darren as your new father, and I’m your new uncle, Uncle Clyde. I’ll be your leader.”

Emily, Stephanie, and Deena stand next to the eighth graders. Clyde tells the children to address the three girls as their big sisters. Because he doesn’t remember their real names, he gives them new nicknames: “Sister Eye Patch, Sister Yellow, and Sister Round. When we’re not around, they’ll be in charge. Treat them with the same respect you treat us.”

Emily is surprised that the eighth graders are able to organize the young students so quickly. All of them are calm and attentive. Even Mrs. Jensen was not able to do that after months of dealing with them. Clyde’s confidence and authority must put their minds at ease. It comforts them, makes them feel as though they are in good hands. It’s even working on the older girls. Even Deena, who was a nervous wreck only moments ago.

“First thing we need to do is find food and water,” Clyde continues. “Then we need to find a way out of here. We’ll make sure to get you home safe and sound before nightfall.”

The children look at each other and open their mouths with excitement. Many of them seem to believe that what he means by home is their actual home, back to their families, back to their own beds. Clyde doesn’t prevent them from believing these things.

When he is done, Rena steps forward and leans down to the children with a cute smile on her face.

“Who wants to play a game?” she asks with an animated tone to her voice.

All the kids raise their hands as high as they can and say, “I do! I do!”

Rena claps her hands together. “You all want to play? Are you sure?”

“Yeah! Yeah!” the children cry.

“Alright then,” Rena says. “Let’s go play!”

Rena leads everyone to a new section of the amusement park. It’s kind of a makeshift food court. All the concession stands are new, not part of the original park. They were either put here recently, for the sake of the visiting students, or they were designed for private parties. Either way, it’s not a very large area. Three food carts and a small gift shop.

Emily smells kettle corn cooking in one of the stands. She smells hot dogs, freshly deep-fried doughnuts, and cotton candy. But the place is completely empty of employees. Whoever cooked this food has recently vanished. But what concerns Emily even more is that she’s not able to spot any signs of traps. There are no dead bodies, at least not any that she can see. The place seems far too dangerous to explore haphazardly.

“So here’s the game…” Rena tells the children. “These food carts are filled with yummy snacks that have been abandoned by stupid adults who don’t want them anymore. Your goal is to grab as much food from the carts as you can and bring them to me. Whoever is able to collect the most snacks within a ten minute time period will be the winner and get a really special surprise.” She leans back and smiles at them. “Does everyone understand the rules?”

The children all nod their heads.

“On the count of three you’ll begin,” Rena says. “Ready? One. Two. Three. BEGIN!”

Then all the kids race toward the food carts. The doors are all locked, so they have to climb in through the windows. They push each other and scream with delight as they fill their pockets full of chips, candy bars, and pepperoni sticks.

The three eighth graders keep their distance, watching the children very carefully. Darren cheers on the boys. Rena cheers on the girls. Deena cheers on all of them. It’s obvious that all the children are taking this game very seriously. Not just because they want the special prize if they win, but because they want to make their new leaders proud. All the kids want to impress them.

Stephanie is the only one who isn’t happy with this game. She knows how dangerous it is for the children to be running around like nothing is wrong.

“This place is probably booby-trapped,” Stephanie whispers to Emily. “They’re going to get themselves killed.”

Emily nods. “Maybe…”

“Why would Rena ask them to do this?” Stephanie asks. “I thought she was smarter than that.”

Emily keeps her eye forward as she speaks, watching the children carefully, trying to see if she can spot any traps.

“She knows what she’s doing,” Emily responds.

“What do you mean? She’s doing this on purpose?”

“She’s using the children as guinea pigs,” Emily explains.

Stephanie’s eyes widen. “You mean…”

Emily nods her head. “We need food. Somebody’s got to take the risk…”

“But using little kids?” Stephanie cries, almost raising her voice loud enough for the others to hear. “I thought Rena was nice!”

“She’s doing what she has to,” Emily says, trying to look at it from an objective viewpoint. “The children are having fun. They don’t know the danger they’re in. If they die at least they’ll die happy.”

“But don’t you think it’s unnecessarily cruel and reckless?” Stephanie asks. “If the kids knew about the traps at least they’d be more careful.”

Emily just shrugs. She understands why the girl would have reservations over the older kids sending the younger kids in to retrieve the food for them. It would be like having children play tag in a minefield in order to uncover the location of the mines. It might seem selfish and cruel, but what if the children all had terminal diseases? What if they were going to die anyway? Their sacrifice could save others. Their deaths could save those that actually have a chance of survival.

As she watches the children play in the minefield, Emily focuses on their surroundings. She examines everything carefully, trying to determine what might be booby-trapped. One of the tables looks out of place. There’s also a coffee machine that she deems suspicious.

“New rule,” Emily calls out to the children. “The blue table is now out of bounds. If you touch it you’ll be eliminated.”

When the eighth graders hear this, they examine the table in the center of the food court. Then they nod in agreement.

“Good job, Eye Patch,” Darren says. “I didn’t even notice that one.”

Emily doesn’t acknowledge his praise. She points to the suspicious coffee machine on the counter of one of the food trucks.

“The coffee maker is also off limits,” Emily says, but then she realizes there’s more than one and adds, “All the coffee makers.”

Rena looks at Emily, then at the coffee machines. “What coffee makers?”

Emily points at the ones that are booby-trapped.

“Are you serious?” Darren asks. “There’s no way you could tell from here.”

“You think she’s lying?” Rena asks.

Darren giggles. “Maybe she’s trying to show off in front of Clyde.”

Emily shivers with embarrassment. She had no idea that her crush on Clyde was so obvious.

“She’s not lying,” Clyde says. “The coffee makers are trapped.”

Darren can’t believe it. “Are you serious? How can you tell?”

“Trust me,” Clyde says. “Eye Patch has good instincts.”

The children go back and forth, bringing as many drinks and snacks as they can to the eighth graders. Rena doesn’t actually have a stopwatch or cell phone or anything she can use to actually keep time, so she waits until the children have brought her an adequate supply of food.

Then she says, “Ten more seconds!” And counts down from ten.

The young kids scream with delight, trying to get as much stuff as possible with their remaining time. When the clock has run out, they all drop to the ground laughing with exhaustion.

“Tobias wins!” a young girl says, pointing at the kid with the biggest stash.

Another boy frowns and kicks the sidewalk. “Tobias always wins…”

The winner is a third grader with a beefy face. He’s obviously the most athletic kid in his class. He smiles as he catches his breath, proud of himself for fetching so much candy in only ten minutes.

Rena goes to him and kneels down.

“Tobias, is it?” she asks.

The boy nods.

“You were amazing, Tobias,” Rena says in a soft voice. Then she whispers to him. “And you’re such a cutie…”

The boy blushes.

“Are you ready for your prize?” she asks.

“Yeah!” the boy cries.

Then she kisses him on the cheek and holds out a toy. “It’s a glow in the dark yo-yo.”

Tobias takes it and holds it tightly to his chest, as though it means even more because it was given to him by Rena.

“What do you say?” Rena asks.

“Thank you!” Tobias cries, his face still red.

“You’re welcome,” she says.

As she stands upright, she brushes her long red hair across his face and turns to the others. Darren and Clyde are already stashing all of the snacks into their backpacks.

Once they finish packing up, Clyde says, “Let’s keep moving. I don’t want to be here after dark.”

The others nod in agreement. Rena asks Tobias, because he was the winner, to lead the way back to the parking lot. He is eager to comply.

Before they leave, Darren stops Emily and asks, “Were you really telling the truth? Are the coffee machines actually booby-trapped?”

Emily nods.

“See for yourself,” she says.

Then she catches up to the others.

Darren hangs back. He picks up a rock from the ground and throws it. His pitching arm is as good as ever, because he hits the coffee maker dead in the center. Only it doesn’t fall over. The machine springs and clicks, then it bursts into a tornado of razor wire that cuts the food court to shreds. Had one of the children sprung that trap, it would have killed at least a dozen of them.

When Darren returns to the others, he steps between Emily and Clyde, then lowers his head in shame.

“Do you believe her now?” Clyde asks.

Darren nods his head.

He turns to Emily and squeezes her shoulder with respect, then catches up to Rena.

“For a girl with one eye,” Clyde tells Emily, “you sure do see a lot.”

Chapter Four

When the students return to the parking lot, the school buses are right where they left them. The yellow vehicles are lined up in front of the amusement park, their doors open like hungry mouths waiting for them to enter.

“Which bus is your school’s?” Emily asks Clyde.

He points to the bus that was on fire. The flames have gone out, leaving a black charred interior.

Emily nods. “I saw that one when we arrived. Why was it on fire?”

“It was booby-trapped,” Clyde says. “Somebody sprung it just after we parked. Three students and the driver were killed.”

“Which one are we going to take?” Emily asks.

“The one that has keys in it,” Clyde says.

They go to the bus that is still running. Its engine purrs as though waiting for them to board. There isn’t anyone inside just as there wasn’t when they arrived. The students that took this bus here are likely all lying dead somewhere in The Enchanted Forest.

“Gather around, children,” Darren calls out to the kids.

They immediately form a semi-circle in front of him.

“So, who here has ever driven a bus?” he asks them.

The kids give him a confused look.

“Really? None of you?” Darren says this in a joking tone, feigning shock at this discovery. He smiles. “Well, who here would like to drive a bus?”

Almost all the kids raise their hands. Even Deena.

“Well, now’s your chance,” Darren says. Then he points at the bus with the running engine. “Who wants to drive this bus?”

The kids raise their hands even higher.

Darren calls on one of the second graders. A kid with messy hair and a cold sore on his lip.“You. You get to be our bus driver today.”

He points at himself. “Me? But I don’t know how to drive a bus.”

“Do you know how to play a video game?” Rena asks him. “It’s the same thing.”

Darren adds, “Don’t worry. I was driving buses since I was younger than you. I’ll show you how it’s done.”

Only Emily and Stephanie know there’s no way Darren has ever actually driven a bus in his life. But he says it with so much conviction that none of the younger kids doubt him for a second.

“Really?” the kid asks.

Darren nods. “Just go up the steps and sit in the seat and I’ll train you how to be a certified bus driver.”

The kid jumps at the opportunity. He runs up the steps and sits down in the driver’s seat. As he does this, all three eighth graders step away from the bus and watch him from a distance.

“Is it comfortable?” Darren asks the kid. He has to yell louder so that he can hear him from the distance. “Bounce in the seat and let me know if it’s comfortable.”

The kid does as he’s told.

“Now honk the horn,” Darren says.

When the boy honks the bus’s horn, all the kids laugh with excitement.

“Push all the buttons on the dashboard,” Rena says.

The kid does this, making beeping sounds with every button he pushes, pretending as though he’s at the controls of a spaceship.

The eighth graders look at each other.

“What do you think?” Darren asks them. “Is it safe?”

Rena squints her eyes at the boy in the driver’s seat. “I’m not satisfied yet.”

Clyde waves Emily closer and asks her.

“Does anything in there look trapped to you?” he asks.

Emily shrugs. “Nothing looks off to me.”

“Send more in,” Clyde says.

Rena and Darren nod in agreement.

“I need four volunteers,” Darren says to the children. “Whoever volunteers gets a candy bar.”

All the children raise their hands. Darren chooses two first grade boys, a second-grade girl and a third-grade girl. They all share something in common: all four kids look sickly and malnourished. They’re the ones that spend most of their time crying. They’re the ones who are always afraid. Darren could pick them out almost immediately. He knows that, out of all the children, they’re the most expendable.

“Before we can take this bus out on the road, we need to make sure the tires have plenty of air,” Darren says to the volunteers. “In order to test the tires, I need you four to go into the bus and jump up and down in the seats. Go to each seat, jump up and down three times and then go to the next seat. Doesn’t that sound fun?”

After the kids nod their heads in agreement, Darren sends them on their way. They run up the steps and do exactly as they are told, hopping on seats and rocking the bus back and forth.

“Keep going,” Darren tells them. “One tire looks good but we still have three more to test.”

The kids go to each and every seat, but nothing happens. No trap is sprung. They have tested every inch of the bus and gotten through it unscathed.

“It seems safe,” Rena says.

Darren nods. “Yeah, I think we can take it.”

Rena asks, “Are you really going to let the second-grader drive it?”

Darren snickers. “Uh, no. Do you really think a second-grader could drive a bus?”

“Can you even drive a bus?” Rena asks.

Darren shrugs. “I’ll figure it out.”

Rena claps her hands together. “Okay, everything’s fine. Everyone on the bus.”

The other kids get into a line and begin boarding the bus.

As the kids ascend the steps one at a time, one of the first-grade girls has already climbed into a seat in the center of the bus and is trying to open up a window. She struggles with the glass pane, squeezing the latch with all of her might, but she has a hard time getting it down.

When Emily sees this, she narrows her eye, wondering why the first-grader is having so much difficulty opening it. Then she grabs Clyde by the arm before he takes another step.

“That window,” Emily says, pointing at the first-grade girl. “It’s a trap.”

Clyde doesn’t hesitate for a second. He doesn’t even look to see if she’s right as he yells, “Everyone, off the bus!”

“Hurry!” Emily screams.

Deena, who was the next one in line to get on board, looks back at Emily. She steps down and goes toward her. The other students stay on board, wondering what all the commotion is about.

As the first-grader unsticks the window and slides it down, she smiles and sighs with relief. Then an explosion knocks Emily off of her feet, throwing her onto the sidewalk. It happens in a split second. Those inside don’t even have a chance to scream.

When Emily gets to her feet and looks back, she sees the bus is now filled with a thick green goo. The gelatinous material fills the cavity so quickly and forcefully that it crushes the children against the inside walls of the bus. All of them except for the boy that was behind the wheel. He is still alive, buried inside the green slime, struggling and suffocating. The boy tries to swim out, but it’s too thick to move. As a stream of the goo oozes out the door of the bus, it takes the drowning boy with it.

The surviving children step away from the slime, not wanting to touch it. They see the boy inside reach out for them, begging them for help.

“We have to do something!” Deena cries. “He’s going to die!”

Stephanie turns to Emily and says, “We could pull him out if we had a stick or a rope of some kind…”

Emily shakes her head. “It’s too late.”

“What do you mean?” Stephanie asks.

Emily points at the boy. His body is melting inside of the slime. He doesn’t die right away. His eyes are the first to go. They melt out of his head like Alka-Seltzer tablets. He stops struggling once his skin slides off of his body and his muscles begin to unravel. The other students don’t know what else to do but watch as it happens.

Darren frowns at the dissolving boy, then he looks back at his friends. “Well, I guess we’re not taking this bus. Any other suggestions?”

But Clyde and Rena don’t respond. They can’t take their eyes off of the boy. They realize that if Emily hadn’t warned them all in time, it would have been them dissolving in that green goop along with the boy.

The kids don’t scream and cry as they did when Mrs. Jensen died. This time, they don’t make a peep. They’re either too traumatized by what they just witnessed or too sad by how many friends they just lost. Eight of them died in total. Almost half the number they arrived with.

They go back into the amusement park, away from the buses. Emily mentions to Clyde that Mrs. Jensen might have the keys to their school bus somewhere in her pockets, but he isn’t sure if it’s a good idea. It’s going to be night soon. He thinks it’s better if they focus on finding a place to spend the night.

“They’re not nice people,” Stephanie tells Emily once she gets her away from the eighth graders. “They got all those kids killed.”

Deena looks up at Emily with tears running down her round cheeks. It’s obvious that Stephanie had just explained to Deena everything that’s been going on. Emily sighs. She wishes her friend could have remained in ignorance for at least a little longer.

“Are you kidding me?” Emily asks. “If they didn’t do things that way then all of us would have died. The eighth graders saved us.”

“No, you saved us,” Stephanie says.

Emily shakes her head. “I wouldn’t have noticed the trap in time. Not if I didn’t see the first grader spring it from a safe distance.”

“They don’t care about anyone but themselves,” Stephanie says.

Emily doesn’t want to hear it. Being with Clyde is the best thing that could have happened to them. She knows that he’ll get a lot of kids killed, but only the kids who would have gotten themselves killed sooner or later anyway. He’ll save the ones who deserve to be saved.

“They care about me,” Emily says.

Stephanie shakes her head. “You’re only fooling yourself if you think that. They’ll use you just as quickly as they used the first graders.”

Emily looks away from her.

“Don’t think you’re special just because they feed you compliments,” Stephanie says. “Haven’t you noticed? They feed everybody compliments. That’s probably why everyone loves them so much.”

Emily can’t stand being around her friends anymore. Deena is too traumatized and withdrawn. Stephanie is too judgmental and naïve. She catches up to the eighth graders, following Clyde around like his shadow.

“Your friends aren’t like you,” he tells her, immediately picking up on her thoughts. “They’re going to hold you back.”

Emily nods. “They don’t understand.”

“My father always told me that you are defined by the friends you keep.” Clyde nods toward Rena and Darren who walk a few children ahead of them. “Some friends raise you up, others pull you down. It’s important to know which ones to embrace and which ones to lose.”

“I don’t think I’ve ever had a friend that I didn’t immediately want to lose,” Emily says.

“So you’re a bit of a loner?” Clyde asks.

When Emily nods, he smiles at her. Emily’s never seen a more handsome smile in all her life.

“I can relate,” he says.

In a new section of the amusement park, one that even the eighth graders haven’t been before, they hear someone crying.

It’s coming from an employee-only section of the park, a sectioned off path that leads to the backdoor entrances to many of the rides.

“What is that?” Emily asks Clyde.

The eighth-grader isn’t sure. “It sounds like somebody else is still alive.”

Rena turns back to them, “Should we check it out?”

Emily looks at the employee-only sign. The gate is open a crack. When she peers through, she doesn’t see anything. Just an alleyway that stretches deep into the park.

“It could be safer in there than out here,” Clyde says. “It’s less public, more secluded. There might be fewer traps.”

“Could be a good place to spend the night?” Rena asks.

Clyde nods. “Let’s check it out and see.”

The children lead them through the back roads of the amusement park. The crying gets louder. It sounds like a young girl.

“Maybe it’s one of the kids that went missing,” Deena says, coming up behind Emily.

Emily doesn’t respond. There’s no way those kids are still alive. It has to be a different kid from a different school.

When they see it, Emily can’t believe her eye. There’s a young girl with marshmallow-white skin up ahead, glued to the side of a building. Her flesh is like the texture of taffy, strings and webs stretch from her shoulders and arms, holding her in place. She’s like a piece of chewed up gum that’s been stuck to the side of a wall.

“Help me!” the girl cries when she sees them. “Please, help me! Get me down!”

The children all look at the eighth graders for help, not sure what to do. The girl both terrifies and concerns them.

“What’s wrong with her?” Emily asks Clyde.

The eighth-grader says, “Ignore her. She’s just cheese.”

“Cheese?”

“Bait for a trap,” Clyde says.

Emily looks back at the girl but doesn’t understand.

“Everyone stay away from the girl on the wall,” Darren calls out to the children. “She’s only cheese. Just avoid her.”

When the taffy-skin girl hears this, she goes into a panic, thrashing against the wall. “I’m not cheese! I’m just stuck! Help me!”

The kids continue moving down the sidewalk, trying not to look at her.

“Please!” she cries. “You can’t leave me like this! I want to go home!”

Emily tries not to look her in the eyes. Even though her skin is weird and alien, she looks completely human in her eyes.

“I miss my mommy!” the girl cries.

As they pass her by, one of the children in the back of the line can’t resist. It’s a tall third-grade girl with long brown hair and glasses. She says, “I’ll help you.”

“Thank you!” the sticky girl cries. “Thank you so much!”

When Clyde hears this, he turns back and shouts, “Don’t!”

But it’s too late. The third-grader grabs the sticky girl by the hand and tries to pull her off the wall, only to find her stuck to the taffy-like flesh. Strings of white glue crawl up the third grader’s arm, wrapping around her elbow and around her waist. Then her body is sucked into the sticky girl’s marshmallow chest, engulfing her in white paste.

The two taffy girls weave together into a tight ball, their limbs curled around each other, their heads sucked down into each other’s stomachs, until they form a kind of a sphere.

“Get down!” Darren yells, jumping to the ground.

The children do as he says.

Like it’s become some kind of plastic explosive, the girl ball detonates. The explosion takes down the wall of the building, raining debris down on their heads.

When it’s safe, the eighth graders get the children to their feet and they run away.

After the students get through the employee section, they find a building that looks like a safe place to spend the night. Clyde gathers the kids together.

“From now on, you do exactly as I say,” Clyde tells them. His face is much more serious than the first time he spoke to them. “You don’t touch anything. You don’t separate from the group. You only do what you are told and you do it without hesitation.”

The children stare at the ground and whimper. They aren’t excited and hopeful as they were the last time he spoke to them. They are terrified. They still don’t quite understand what exactly is going on.

“When you fail to follow directions, you will die,” Clyde says. “When you act on your own, you will likely kill not only yourself but those around you. You don’t want to be responsible for killing your friends and classmates, do you?” He pauses to let his words sink in, staring at them as they linger in silence. “I don’t want anyone else to die. I promised to look after you and that’s exactly what I plan to do. But if you’re not going to do what you’re told then I want you to leave right now.”

He points at the path leading away from them.

“I don’t want anyone who will put the rest of our lives in danger,” he says.

He continues pointing, giving them the opportunity to leave. Nobody moves a muscle. Not even Stephanie wants to go.

“Very well,” Clyde says. “Since you all plan to stay, I expect you to listen. I won’t have anyone else die needlessly.”

He points at a second-grade boy and says, “You. What’s your name?”

The boy shivers in his red hoodie. He panics when the eighth-grader singles him out.

“Scott,” the boy says.

Clyde nods. “Okay, Scott.” Then he points at the building behind him. “I want you to go inside and see if the place is safe. Step on every tile. Touch every object. Make sure there’s nothing dangerous.”

Scott looks at him with quivering eyes. His lips tremble.

“What did I just say?” Clyde raises his voice. His expression turns angry. “Do exactly what I say when I say it. Don’t hesitate. If you hesitate you’ll die.”

The boy jumps to his feet and runs to the entrance of the building. The second he touches the door handle, a volt of red electricity fills his body and he explodes into a pile of smoking ash.

Clyde turns away from him and says, “Okay, that place is a no-go. Let’s try somewhere else.”

They lose two more children until they finally find a building that’s safe enough for them to spend the night. It’s an old nurse’s station, designed for children who get sick or injured when visiting the theme park. The place is mostly empty apart from the waiting room couches and a couple of beds. It looks like it hasn’t been used in over a decade.

The eighth graders sit them down in the center of the waiting room and pass out food to the surviving students. There aren’t many left. Besides Emily, Deena, and Stephanie, the only kids that remain from their school are the third-grade boy, Tobias, and a first-grade girl named Jeep.

Nobody knows why her name is Jeep. It’s not a nickname or a surname. She just either had weird parents or came from a foreign country that the kids never heard of before. Based on the color of her skin, Emily imagines it must be the latter. She looks like she could be from India or Burma or maybe somewhere in the Pacific Islands. She doesn’t have an accent, though. Emily wonders if she was spared because of her name. Both Darren and Rena seem to like her because of her name. She’s also a cute little kid who hardly cries or complains like the other kids her age. She doesn’t really talk at all.

Emily eats a pre-made egg salad sandwich with a bag of corn chips and a grape soda. It’s much better than what her friends were given. Deena has a cold smushed corn dog. Stephanie has a handful of cotton candy filled with lint and dirt from the bottom of Rena’s backpack. And the two younger kids eat melted ice cream bars. The eighth graders are trying to get rid of the perishable foods first, which is why they haven’t given away any candy bars or canned goods. They themselves eat sandwiches and burritos and little slices of cake. They won’t let anyone, not even Emily, get within three feet of the food.

“We have to ration it,” Darren says. “This has to last for a long time.”

When night falls, Clyde and Rena get the two beds. Darren takes the couch in the waiting room. The rest of them are forced to sleep on the hard ground with not a blanket or even a pillow. Emily is given a dusty old rug to use as a comforter, but she decides to sleep on top of it instead of underneath.

“It’s like you’re their dog,” Stephanie says, pointing at her classmate as she lies curled up on the rug near Darren’s feet.

“Shut up, Stephanie,” Emily says. She covers her face with her Mickey Mouse hat.

Darren is the only one who passes out right away. He snores quietly, completely undisturbed by the scenario. The rest of the children can’t sleep so easily. They have a problem sleeping in such a strange, dangerous place. The room is cold and doesn’t have any electricity. The only light they have comes from the moon shining in from the windows. They are facing away from the main attractions so the only part of the park they see is the old ruins of a rusted metal roller coaster and the lopsided Ferris wheel. The place seems even more deserted than it did during the day. Emily wonders if there are any other kids still alive out there.

The outside is blanketed by a chorus of croaking frogs, screaming at each other across the flooded sections of the park. The noise is almost comforting, despite its overwhelming pitch. It sounds like life. Even if there aren’t too many humans left, at least the frogs are still out there. They aren’t dying in tiny frog traps. They will live on even if society falls.

“We should leave while they’re sleeping,” Stephanie says, once she’s sure that Darren isn’t listening. “These eighth graders are going to get us killed.”

Emily pretends that she’s sleeping. It’s not a conversation she wants to get involved in.

“I don’t know…” Deena says, completely nervous about the idea. “It’s dangerous out there.”

“It’s even more dangerous in here with them. Look at how many kids they got killed today. We can’t trust them. They’re just going to use us until we’re all dead.”

“What about Emily?” Deena asks.

“Emily?” Emily can feel Stephanie’s eyes on her when she says this. “You can’t trust her anymore either. She’s in love with the older kids. She thinks she’s one of them.”

“I’m not leaving without Emily,” Deena says.

Stephanie groans. “If you don’t leave you’re going to be next. Haven’t you noticed how they select which kids to die first? They choose the fat ones, the wimpy ones, and the ugly ones. Based on that logic, you’re going to be next in line.”

Deena gets upset and nearly yells loud enough to wake up the older kids. “Are you calling me fat?”

“Everyone calls you fat,” Stephanie says. “I’m sorry, but you have to face facts. You’re not going to last another day with these kids. If you come with me, at least you’d have a chance.”

Deena just stews in silence, still upset that Stephanie thinks she’s fat.

“What about you two?” Stephanie asks Tobias and Jeep, but they don’t give an answer that Emily can hear. It sounds like they are too frightened to make a decision.

Deep down, the children all probably know that Stephanie is right. But the idea of leaving that building, the only building that they are pretty sure is safe, is far too frightening of an idea. There are just too many traps out there, too many ways to get themselves killed. And traveling at night will make things even more difficult. Despite all of her strong talk, even Stephanie is too frightened to go out there. She knows that she probably wouldn’t make it even ten feet.

In the middle of the night, Emily is woken by Tobias sitting in the corner of the room, staring out the window. The boy looks terrified, his eyes wide open, not even able to blink.

Emily goes to him. She sits down on the tile floor by his side, trying to figure out what’s got him so riled up.

“What is that?” Tobias asks, pointing out the window.

When Emily looks at what he’s pointing at, she doesn’t see anything at first. It’s just a moonlit sidewalk outside the It’s a Magical World ride. But then something moves and catches her attention. Two skinny silver poles slide across the pavement.

“It’s a monster…” Tobias says.

Emily leans down to his level so she can get a better view. The poles are the legs of some kind of tall creature. She peers up above the treetops, above the buildings, and notices the giant being. It’s like a massive stick man, skinny stick-like limbs, and a narrow body. A tube-shaped hairless head with no visible face. When Tobias asks her what it is, Emily just shrugs. She’s never seen anything like it in her entire life.

“Is there one out there?” Clyde whispers from the doorway.

He comes to them and sits down, trying not to wake the others. He takes Tobias away from the window and tells him to go to sleep. The boy does as he’s told, but he’s still obviously shaken. He can’t take his eyes off of the windows. He knows that he’ll never be able to sleep again.

When they are together, sitting on the floor next to the window, Emily asks, “What is it?”

Clyde just stares at the tall being, watching its every step. “Nobody knows exactly. They only come at night.”

“Are they the ones that set the traps?” Emily asks.

Clyde nods. “They have come to colonize our world. A species of superior intelligence who thinks of humans as nothing more than pests. Like rats or cockroaches. They come every night to reset the traps that have sprung, and they add newer more complex traps every time.”

“Why haven’t I seen them before?” Emily asks. “Nobody said anything about them.”

Clyde examines the creature as it leans down toward a garbage can and alters it with spindly string-like fingers. It doesn’t make any noise as it moves. It’s like a shadow that blends in with its surroundings. It sees in the dark and has no use for clothes, or tools, or light.

“Everyone knows about them, but nobody likes to talk about them. When they first started showing up, the military tried to fight them. But they have no vulnerabilities. They aren’t made of solid matter. Bullets, bombs, blades—they just pass right through their bodies. It’s like they’re made of energy. Personally, I don’t think they’re the actual aliens that have come to colonize us. I think they’re just droids, programmed to set the traps. Once they’ve finished their job and all the humans have been exterminated, the real aliens will come.”

“They must be giants,” Emily says.

Clyde nods. “The adults try not to talk about them. Once they learned that the beings couldn’t be killed, they decided it would be better to pretend that they don’t even exist. The teachers wouldn’t let us out of the gym at night so that we wouldn’t see them. They never acknowledged that they’ve been out there this whole time, causing all of the deaths and destruction.”

Emily stares at it, watching its every action. It doesn’t move like normal people. Its limbs don’t seem to be made of bone or muscle. It’s like they’re made of wire, curling and stretching instead of bending at the joint. The thing definitely does appear to be more like a machine than a living being, like an artificial life form.

“They’re stupid to ignore them,” Emily says.

Clyde looks at her, not sure what she means.

“The adults could have prevented so many deaths if they didn’t ignore them,” Emily says.

“How so?” Clyde says. “As I said, they’re indestructible.”

Emily shakes her head. “If people watched them, followed them, didn’t let them out of their sights, they’d know where they set the traps. They’d be able to set them off or at least warn people before anyone was killed by them.”

Clyde nods but doesn’t agree with her. “You don’t understand exactly how dangerous they are. If they spot you they can kill you instantly. It wouldn’t be easy to follow them. Not only that, but they can’t be filmed. It’s impossible to monitor them indirectly. And hundreds of them come out at night, in this city alone.”

Emily frowns. She’s not convinced. They’re able to watch this one setting traps without being attacked. If everyone in the world had been spying on them whenever they came within visible range and reported all traps that were set, fewer people would have had to die.

“Maybe if people didn’t panic and give in to their fears, they could have organized better,” Clyde says. “But that’s one of the many downfalls of the human species. Even when the solution is obvious, our emotions get in our way.”

Emily nods. “If we’re going to survive we have to be smarter than that.”

“There’s no room for emotion,” Clyde says.

Emily peers into his eyes. “We need to evolve past it.”

He smiles at her and places his hand on her shoulder.

“I’m counting on you,” he says.

Then he gets to his feet and goes back to his bed.

Emily doesn’t get much sleep. She spends most of the night wondering if she should tell Clyde about how much she’s in love with him. She knows he’s older than her, but she’s always felt that she’s mature for her age. Her intelligence is at least at the level of a junior high student. Besides, her parents were seven years apart when they got married. The age gap between her and Clyde isn’t even that great. It seems perfectly reasonable to Emily that they could be together, especially now that there aren’t too many people left alive in the world.

She fantasizes about being in a relationship with him. She thinks Darren and Rena would also make a good couple. The four of them could live together, take care of each other. Even if everyone else in the world was killed off, she would still be happy as long as she had them.

There’s a part of her that wonders if it isn’t so bad that the world is coming to an end. Perhaps it could be the beginning of a new world, a better world. All she needs to do is figure out how to avoid the traps and the strange creatures that come out at night. If she could get used to those things then maybe the future could be a brighter place than it seems.

Chapter Five

In the morning, they decide to retrieve the keys to the McKinney Elementary School bus. But when they return to the entrance of the Troll Mountain ride, Mrs. Jensen’s body is missing. During the night, somebody must have removed it, cleaned the blood off of the pavement, reset the trap. Not only has her body disappeared, but they can no longer find any traces of the dead left anywhere in the amusement park. It is like none of them were ever there.

When they go back to the buses, hoping to figure out how to hotwire one of them, they discover that all the vehicles have also disappeared. They’re no longer parked in the parking lot. Not even the rusted broken down cars that were abandoned decades ago remain.

“This is all highly unusual behavior for them,” Clyde says, scanning the deserted parking lot.

“Are they trying to stop us from leaving?” Emily asks.

Clyde shakes his head. “I think they’re just cleaning up. Maybe they think there aren’t enough humans left to clean up after themselves.”

“If they think there are less people will they start placing less traps?” Emily asks.

Clyde shakes his head. “I doubt it.”

Darren goes to Clyde and Emily.

Looking across the empty parking lot, he asks, “So what do we do now?”

Clyde looks at him with a stern expression. He says, “I don’t like any of our options. We can just stay here for as long as our food lasts, which could be at least a week. The park probably has a lot more food that we could scavenge if we can safely navigate the traps. There’s no reason why we couldn’t hold out here for another month or two.”

“You can’t be serious,” Darren says. “I don’t want to spend another night in this place.”

Clyde nods. “Neither do I.”

“We could walk back to town,” Darren says.

Clyde shakes his head. “It’ll take hours on foot. We’d never make it before dark.”

“Then we should leave first thing in the morning. At the crack of dawn.”

“We’re safer here,” Clyde says. “The city’s going to have a lot more traps than this place. I think we’re better off sticking around here for as long as we can.”

Darren looks back at the amusement park. He doesn’t like that idea one bit.

Emily thinks there’s got to be another option they’re not thinking about. She looks around, staring at the amusement park, then at the empty parking lot, then at the highway.

She points at the trees beyond the entrance.

“What if we go into the woods?” Emily asks.

The two boys look at her.

“It’s got to be the safest place,” she says.

Clyde nods at her. “They only set traps on manmade objects, in civilized areas. I’ve never heard of them trapping trees or stones. It could be the best option in the long term.”

“Are you serious?” Darren asks. “We can’t live in the woods. What will we do for food and shelter?”

Clyde points at the trees beyond the parking lot. “As I said, it’s a good option in the long term. We’d need to be able to build our own shelters, hunt our own food, maybe even grow some crops at some point. But it’s not something we can do right away. We’d have to prepare for it, go to the city for supplies, read books on wilderness survival. If we just run into the woods now we’d probably get ourselves killed. But eventually, it might be our only option.”

While taking the path back to the nurse’s station, Emily notices that the white splotches on Stephanie’s neck have gotten larger and spread to her arms and cheeks and forehead.

“Are you okay?” Emily asks her.

Stephanie dismisses her. “What do you care?”

“Your face…” Emily says.

Stephanie touches herself, not sure what she’s talking about. Emily points at the splotches on her arms and Stephanie looks at them in shock. She hadn’t noticed they’ve been spreading.

“What are they?” Deena asks her, stepping closer to get a good look at the splotches.

“They’re nothing,” Stephanie says. She tries to cover up her arms but her sleeves don’t stretch far enough to cover them. “I’m fine.”

“Are you sure?” Emily asks.

Stephanie nods and says, “Of course.”

“It could be contagious,” Emily says. “We should talk to Clyde about it.”

But before Emily could call for the eighth graders, Stephanie grabs her by the shirt.

“No,” she says in a muffled frantic tone. “Don’t…”

Emily looks back at her. She sees the panic in her eyes.

“Don’t tell anyone,” Stephanie says.

But the commotion brings the attention of the eighth graders. They see the children gathered around the girl in the yellow dress and realize something must be wrong with her. When Rena sees the spots on Stephanie’s arms, she points and looks at Clyde.

“She’s got the infection,” Rena says.

Clyde gives Stephanie a good look up and down and nods his head.

“You have to go,” he tells her.

Stephanie’s mouth drops open.“What do you mean? This is just a rash.”

Clyde shakes his head. “You’re turning into cheese.”

“Cheese?” Stephanie cries, touching her neck.

Clyde explains, “Like the girl we found yesterday. You’re a walking trap. In another day, the infection will cover your skin. It will develop an elastic, sticky consistency. Eventually, you’ll become glued to the sidewalk or a wall and anyone who tries to free you will trigger an explosion.” He turns away from her. “If you don’t leave you’ll kill us all.”

“You’re lying,” Stephanie cries. “You’re just trying to get rid of me.”

“We’ve seen it happen before,” Rena says. “You’re going to put us all in danger.”

Stephanie shakes her head. “But it’s impossible. I feel fine.” She looks at Deena and Emily. “You believe me, right? You don’t think anything’s wrong with me…”

But when she steps toward the two girls, they both back away.

“I’m sorry, Stephanie,” Emily says. “There’s nothing we can do for you.”

“You have to go,” Clyde says. “Now.”

“But where am I supposed to go?” Stephanie asks.

Clyde points in the opposite direction. “It doesn’t matter where. Just get away from us.”

The eighth graders turn and continue on their path. The two young children follow.

“Deena…” Stephanie looks at the pudgy girl. “You can’t leave me, too. I’ll be fine. Stay with me.”

Deena looks upset. “But what if they’re right? What if you’re turning into cheese?”

“I’m not turning into cheese! They’re just lying to you. Who do you believe more, them or me?”

Deena doesn’t answer. She’s not sure what to say. All she knows is that the girl with sticky white skin was dangerous and got one of their friends killed. She doesn’t want Stephanie to get anyone killed.

“You’ll be fine, Stephanie,” Deena says. “Just find a good place to hide. If you don’t turn into cheese we can meet up later.”

Deena turns away from her and keeps walking.

Then Emily gives Stephanie a nod and says, “Good luck out there.”

But Stephanie doesn’t go. She follows them from a safe distance, not wanting to go on alone.

“Get lost!” Darren yells at her.

Stephanie pauses, shaking in her tracks as he gives her a threatening look.

“I’m keeping my distance,” she says.

“I don’t care,” Darren says. “Just stay away. Go in the other direction.”

Stephanie shakes her head. “There’s nothing in that direction.”

“Well, we don’t want you anywhere near us.”

Stephanie takes a few steps back. When Darren is satisfied, he turns around and continues moving. But Stephanie doesn’t stop following them.

“You guys can’t trust them,” Stephanie calls out to the younger students. “They’re just using you.”

Emily turns back. “And you think we’d be safer with you? Don’t try to convince us. It’s not going to work. We’re not going with you.”

“I don’t care if you go with me or not,” Stephanie says. “I just don’t want you to get yourselves killed. I’m warning you, leave them before it’s too late.

Emily doesn’t argue further. “Whatever, Stephanie…”

And keeps on walking.

Deena is the only one still listening to her. She looks back at her classmate, not wanting to leave her behind but not quite sure how to help her. She knows she’s dangerous. She doesn’t want to get within arm’s reach of the infected girl.

“At least you know I’m right, Deena.” When Stephanie takes a step forward, Deena takes a step back. “You need to leave them.”

Deena shakes her head. “I’m staying with Emily.”

Stephanie raises her voice and points at the girl with the eye patch. “You can’t trust her, either. She’s just as bad as they are. But she’s too dumb to realize that they’re going to use her just as they’re using all of you.”

When the eighth graders hear this, they get visibly upset. They turn around and step toward the infected girl, their fists clenched. Darren looks for rocks to throw at her, to scare her away, but doesn’t have the courage to step off the path into the landscaping.

“Just get out of here,” Clyde says. “This is your final warning.”

Stephanie ignores him and continues to plea with Deena. “If you think Emily cares about you, you’re just as stupid as she is.”

Before the eighth graders can threaten her again, Deena charges past them with fury in her eyes.

“You’re wrong!” she cries. “Emily isn’t like that!”

The girl is red in the face. Tears roll down her dimpled cheeks. She looks like she’s going to punch Stephanie in the face, infection or not.

“Emily won’t let anything bad happen to me!” Deena continues. “She’s my best friend in the whole world! We’ve been friends since we were little kids! She’s always been there for me and there’s no way I’ll ever turn my back on her! Ever!”

Everyone is surprised by Deena’s outburst, especially Emily who looks back at her friend in bewilderment. She had no idea the girl felt that way about her. She’s always thought of Deena as a pest who followed her around. She never even liked the girl that much.

Stephanie doesn’t know how to respond. She stutters for a moment and then says in a soft tone, “When it comes down to it, she won’t choose you over them.”

Deena shakes her head. “What would you know? You haven’t had a friend in your entire life.”

Then she turns around and walks away.

Clyde looks at Emily and chuckles at her, as though Deena was the biggest dork he’d ever met. Emily looks away with embarrassment. That’s the reason why she never really liked Deena. The girl always had a way of humiliating her in front of the people she actually cared about, the mature intellectual people that she wanted to impress. Even though Deena stood up for her, Emily couldn’t be more pissed off at her for saying that in front of the eighth graders. She wishes Deena would have chosen Stephanie over her. At least she wouldn’t have to deal with the fat dork anymore.

They leave Stephanie standing in place. She’s no longer willing to argue with them anymore, no longer interested in going after them. She just stands there, crying gently to herself, tears rolling down her cheek and sticking to the white patch of skin growing across her jaw line.

Chapter Six

Before they get back to the nurse’s station, a shadow crosses the sky.

“What is that?” Rena asks.

The students look up. They squint their eyes as it crosses the sun on the horizon. When it comes in closer, none of them can believe it.

“A helicopter?” Darren asks.

Clyde nods. “It’s military.”

“We’re saved!” Deena cries. She starts hopping up and down, waving her hands at the aircraft and screaming for help.

“They can’t see you, idiot,” Clyde tells her. “It’s just passing by.”

Deena doesn’t stop. She calls out to the helicopter just in case, as though it doesn’t hurt to try.

“At least we know the military is still operational,” Rena says.

“Perhaps…” Clyde says.

“Forget about it,” Darren tells them. “Even if they’re still alive, they’re not going to come for us. Not with this many traps around.”

But the helicopter is headed right in their direction. When the others give up and continue on, Emily squints her eye and watches it carefully.

“It’s coming this way,” Emily tells them.

They look back and notice that she’s right. The helicopter hovers overhead and continues to the other side of the park.

“What’s it doing?” Rena asks. “Why would it come here? There’s nothing here worth stopping for.”

Deena jumps up and down with excitement. “I told you! They see us! They’re coming to our rescue!”

The others don’t believe her. They watch the helicopter with suspicion as it hovers over a building on the far side of the park. They don’t believe their eyes when it descends out of the sky and lands on the roof of the building.

Emily wonders why they would land in such a place. She says, “Maybe there are other kids alive out there who were able to call for help.” Then she turns to Clyde. “It really could be a rescue mission.”

But Clyde doesn’t express the same excitement as the others. “I don’t know. That doesn’t sound very likely.”

He’s the only one who isn’t hopeful about it.

“We have to check it out,” Darren says. “It could be a way out of here.”

Clyde shakes his head. “They probably just ran out of gas and made an emergency landing. They’re not likely going to care about us.”

“But we might as well check it out anyway,” Rena says.

Clyde still isn’t convinced. Perhaps he’s more worried about other people than the traps. Or maybe he’s worried that joining up with adults will be the end of his authority over the students. They might even treat him the same way he’s treated the younger kids, especially if they learn about what he’s done to them.

But Clyde doesn’t know how to convince the others to forget they ever saw it. They’re far too optimistic.

“Do you really want to risk it?” he asks his friends.

Rena and Darren nod.

“Hell yeah,” Darren says. “I don’t want to stick around this place for another day.”

Clyde looks at Emily. “What do you think?”

Emily looks at the building in the distance. She can’t see the helicopter from this angle but knows it’s still up there somewhere. She wonders how many people are on it or what their motives really are. But one thing’s for sure, her curiosity isn’t going to let her just ignore these newcomers.

“I don’t see any reason not to,” Emily says. “But if we go we should move quickly. Who knows how long they’re going to stick around.”

When Clyde gives in, they all smile with anticipation. They never thought anyone would ever come to rescue them. But the smiles fade from their faces the moment they realize how far they’re going to have to travel. The helicopter isn’t in an area any of them have ever been before. They have no idea what the traps will be like in that section. It’s not going to be an easy journey and they don’t have a lot of time to step carefully.

The eighth graders want the youngest kid, Jeep, to lead the way through the unfamiliar section of the park, but Deena refuses to let them use her as a sacrificial pawn.

“I’ll go first,” Deena tells them.

They’re shocked that anyone would volunteer for such a task.

“Seriously?”Rena asks.

Deena nods. “It’s okay. Emily will keep me safe.”

Emily is shocked by her words. “What are you talking about?”

Deena flashes her a smile. “You’re good at spotting traps. I trust you.”

“I’m not that good…”

But nobody argues with her further. They’re all more than happy to let her lead the way. Emily is the only one who isn’t confident in the arrangement. She doesn’t like the idea of having somebody else’s life in her hands. She thinks Deena really is the dumbest person she ever met.

“That’s one,” Emily tells Deena, pointing at a child’s shoe resting in the center of the sidewalk in front of them. “Just don’t pick it up and you’ll be fine.”

Deena nods her head and circles around it, trying not to get even within five feet of the trapped shoe.

“How can you spot them?” Deena asks, looking back at the one-eyed girl. “How do you know for sure that the shoe was trapped?”

Emily explains, “It starts with instincts. I watch for things that seem out of place. Sometimes it’s easy. A brand new toddler shoe in the middle of a sidewalk is definitely out of place. A school bus window that is less dirty than the others. A coffee machine placed in an awkward position that doesn’t take into consideration the elbow room required to pour a cup of coffee.”

Everyone hangs on her every word, taking mental notes. Even the eighth graders listen carefully as though she’s teaching them something new.

“I also imagine myself from the perspective of the person setting the traps,” Emily continues. “If I was trying to kill the visitors of this park, where would I place my traps? I surely would only have a limited number of traps to set so I would choose whatever was most attractive, most inconspicuous, or most likely to be used by people passing by.”

“That’s what Clyde does,” Darren interjects. “He’s pretty good at it, too. That’s why he’s able to spot far more traps than I am.”

Emily nods. “I would also be less likely to trap something that could easily be set off by accident.” She points at an old walnut tree they pass. “A tree branch hanging in front of our path could easily be caught in a breeze.” She points at a half-eaten corndog on the sidewalk, being devoured by ants. “Trash and food on the ground would more likely attract birds and rodents than people.”

“Are you sure that corndog’s not a trap?” Rena asks.

Emily nods. “It’s definitely fine.”

“But why would there be a corndog here?” Darren asks. “It seems suspicious to me.”

Emily shrugs. “As I said, there’s no reason to booby trap something that would more likely to be sprung by mice or birds or insects.”

The only person who seems to be confident in her assessment is Deena, who bends down and picks the corndog up by the stick. The other kids recoil when she touches it, but nothing happens. When she notices the old meat is covered in ants, she tosses it to the ground.

“It’s safe,” she says, wiping her hand on her shirt.

The other kids are surprised she trusted Emily enough to pick it up. They all sigh with relief.

“I told you,” Emily says. Then she points down their path. “If I was going to booby trap anything I would put something over there.”

She leads them toward a railing on the side of the walkway. Two small steps lead up to a small sitting area.

“Why would you trap this?” Rena asks. She points at an identical sitting area across the sidewalk. “Why not trap the other one?”

Emily shakes her head. “This one looks more inviting. The benches are nicer and there’s a covering that protects from the sun on a hot day. The wall behind the bench also makes you want to go toward it, to get a look at what’s on the other side. It’s a good vantage point for looking out across the park. But most importantly are these steps.” She points at the concrete stairs leading up to the sitting area. “They are just asking to be trapped. You can’t get up there without taking them. They’re thin, so you’d have to step in exactly the spot that would trigger the trap.”

“But how do you know for sure?” Deena asks. “Do you just avoid everything that looks suspicious?”

Emily shakes her head. “No, once I see something that looks like a perfect place for a trap I take a closer look.” She leans closer to the steps, widening her eye at it. Then she points. “See. There they are.”

“What?” Deena asks, looking closer.

“The wires.” Emily points at two thin translucent cords running down the sides of the steps. “All the traps are connected by these rubbery, almost invisible wires. Do you see them?”

Deena squints her eyes until she spots them. Then she points in excitement. “Yeah, they look kind of like jellyfish tentacles!”

Emily nods. “When I see those, that’s how I confirm what is trapped and what isn’t. Don’t touch anything that has those attached to them.”

The eighth graders all agree. They obviously have noticed these wires before.

“Wow!” Deena says. “You’re amazing, Emily!”

Clyde nods his head and says. “What’s amazing is that it took her only a day to figure this out. It took the rest of us months before we could spot even the most obvious traps.”

“She must be a genius!” Deena cries, happy to be best friends with such a quick-witted girl.

Darren laughs and says, “Don’t tell her that. It’ll go to her head.”

He appears to be more than a little jealous of having a much younger girl praised and respected so much in his presence.

As they continue on their path, Deena has even more confidence in her friend than ever. She feels as though she could go anywhere and do anything and Emily would always be there to stop her from stepping into danger. She tries to see if she can spot traps before even Emily, hoping to develop the ability to see them on her own.

Deena points at a trashcan. “Is that one?”

“No,” Emily says.

Deena points at an oil-stained section of sidewalk. “Is that one?”

“No,” Emily says.

Deena points at a bench outside of a bumper car ride. “Is that one?”

“No,” Emily says, and adds, “But the red car near the entrance is.”

“Oh…” Deena says. Then she smiles. “I was close!”

Emily shakes her head. “Close wouldn’t matter if you sat in the red bumper car.”

It becomes a game with all the students as they continue down the path. They all try to see who can spot a trap sooner than anyone else. Deena and the younger kids fail with every guess, but Rena and Darren are each able to get one before everyone else. It’s mostly Clyde and Emily who spot them the quickest. Emily is better at spotting the traps straight ahead, at a much greater distance than any of the others. But Clyde is better at spotting the traps on the left, the ones that fall into Emily’s blind spot.

“Your missing eye is your weakness,” Clyde tells her. “You need to be aware of that. It could get you killed.”

Emily nods. She’s already fully aware of that problem.

“I’ll adapt,” she says.

But she’s not completely sure. Emily’s had a few years since she blinded herself to adapt to the blind spot on the left of her vision, but she’s never been able to figure it out. She’s almost been hit by a speeding car when crossing a road because she couldn’t see it. She’s been hit by a baseball in PE class that she didn’t see coming at her. She’s been stung by wasps because the nest was hiding just out of sight. It’s possible that there will someday be a trap that she doesn’t notice until it’s too late.

“I wouldn’t worry about it, Emily,” Deena tells Clyde. “She’s a natural at this. Even with only one eye, she can spot any trap in this place.”

Then Deena kicks a rock in her path and Emily looks down. She didn’t see it before. It wasn’t in her blind spot, she just wasn’t paying close enough attention.

“Look out!” Emily cries.

She grabs Deena by her hair and yanks her backward, just as a thin whip-like blade snaps out of a nearby wall and slides down into the sidewalk like a massive paper cutter.

They hit the ground, breathing heavily. If Emily hadn’t acted a split-second sooner the blade would have cut Deena in half right in front of her. Emily realizes that it’s not just her blind spot that she has to worry about. Unless she’s completely focused, she won’t be able to examine her surroundings efficiently. And even if she is completely focused without anything to distract her, she’s still not sure she’ll be able to spot every single trap they come across. Luck also needs to be on her side.

When Deena turns to Emily, she says, “That was close!”

But then they both look down to realize that half of her hand is missing. Deena looks at the blood gushing out of her hand. She doesn’t seem to understand it at first. The slice goes diagonally across her palm. Only her thumb, index finger and a section of middle finger still remain.

“Her hand!” Tobias cries.

The eighth graders recoil at the sight of it. The younger girl covers her eyes.

Once Deena screams at the top of her lungs, Emily lunges at her and grabs her by the wrist.

“She’s going to bleed to death if you don’t do something,” Rena says. She seems more annoyed than concerned.

But Emily already knows this. She holds Deena’s wrist as tightly as she can to prevent the bleeding. Then she rips a sleeve off of her shirt, tearing it with her teeth.

As she tries tying it off, Clyde leans in and says, “It needs to be tighter.”

Deena struggles, fighting Emily, making it even more difficult to tie the tourniquet. She’s in too much of a panic to let her friend help her. It’s like she’s trying to run away from the pain.

“Let me,” Clyde says.

He gets on his knees and wraps the fabric twice around Deena’s wrist, holding her down with his knee. With all his strength, he pulls on the fabric until the blood stops coming, then ties it off.

“Is she going to be okay?” Emily asks.

Clyde lets her go and gets to his feet. “I don’t know. That’ll hold for a while, but it won’t last. We need to get to the helicopter. They might be able to help her.”

Emily nods in agreement. She looks down at her friend as the chubby girl shivers in panic, breathing heavily. She doesn’t scream anymore. She just looks at the section of her hand that lies on the sidewalk next to the trap. She’s in too much shock to even say anything as Emily helps her to her feet and walks her down the sidewalk.

All Emily can feel is guilt. Not just for what happened to Deena, but what happened to all the children from their school. If she had just paid more attention, played it safer, watching as carefully as she could, maybe nobody would have died or been injured. She realizes that she can’t be reckless anymore. They’re so close to being saved. She doesn’t want anyone else to die.

Chapter Seven

When they reach their destination, Emily realizes the building they were headed toward is the Mermaids of the Caribbean ride. Although it’s designed to be a rip-off of Disneyland’s Pirates of the Caribbean, Emily thinks the ride seems to be even more interesting than its Disney counterpart. Not only does it feature pirates—which Emily has always had a fondness for—but they are mermaid pirates. Emily had no idea how excited she would get by the concept of mermaids that have turned to a life of piracy. She isn’t sure how they are able to sail pirate ships, but she finds them fascinating all the same.

Looking at three pirate mermaid statues outside the entrance, she admires their pink, blue and green hair, covered in tattoos, eye patches, and fishnet clothing. They hold sabers and tridents. One of them has a hook for a hand. One has a seashell bikini top. One is covered in scars that look like they were obtained from wrestling with sharks. Even though they are made of plastic, they are the coolest and prettiest women Emily has ever seen. She wishes she could be just like them.

“I don’t see anyone,” Darren says, looking up toward the roof.

The helicopter is still out of sight.

They call out, yelling up to the roof of the building. Their voices are barely audible over the sound of crashing waves issuing from the entrance of the ride, but they keep trying until their throats go sore.

“You think they’re really up there?” Rena asks.

“We saw them land,” Clyde says. “We would have seen them take off if they left. Somebody’s got to still be up there. Unless they sprung a trap and got themselves killed already.”

“The military is probably smarter than that,” Darren says.

“Maybe…” Clyde says.

Emily sits Deena on the ground and says, “Either way, we’ve got to check it out.”

They all agree. But when they look at the dark entrance to the Mermaids of the Caribbean ride, they all hesitate. It doesn’t look safe at all.

“See any traps?” Clyde asks Emily.

She shakes her head.

“Neither do I,” he says. “It makes me nervous.”

Emily agrees. “It looks like the perfect place for a trap, but I can’t pinpoint anything.”

“We’re either really lucky or it’s really well hidden,” Clyde says.

“Somebody has to test it,” Darren says.

They all look at each other. Then they look down at Deena.

“She should go,” Rena says, pointing at the wounded girl.

Emily shakes her head. “She can barely walk on her own. She’s lost too much blood.”

“But if anyone goes it should be her,” Rena says. “She’s already wounded. She might not even live another hour.”

Emily gives her a dirty look.

Rena shrugs. “What? You know it’s true just as much as I do. If anyone springs the trap it should be her.”

Clyde doesn’t agree. “In her condition, she’s more likely to spring a trap even if we spot it in time. And if the trap has a wide enough radius it could kill us all.”

Rena groans and says, “Fine. Who should go then?”

“I’ll go,” Emily says.

The eighth graders look at her with surprise.

“Don’t be an idiot,” Darren says. “I can understand the fat girl volunteering to be the sacrificial pawn, but I thought you were smarter than that.”

“So you’d rather go?” Emily asks.

Darren just snickers at her. He doesn’t bother to respond.

“He’s right,” Clyde says. “You can’t go. You’re too valuable.”

Emily argues, “But if anyone can spot a trap before it springs it would be me.”

Clyde shakes his head. “Based on your performance so far, I estimate you’re capable of spotting about nineteen out of every twenty traps. That’s better than any of us. I can only spot about twelve or thirteen out of twenty. Rena and Darren can only spot four or five out of twenty. The others probably can’t even spot one of twenty. That makes you too important to sacrifice. I won’t let you risk your life so foolishly.”

Emily normally would be happy with Clyde saying these words. Knowing that he thinks she’s important pleases her to no end. She’s wanted more than anything for him to feel that way about her. But she doesn’t like that he’s taking the decision away from her. The only way she would give in is if he was willing to sacrifice his own life in her stead.

“But it’s my life to sacrifice, not yours,” Emily says.

Clyde shakes his head. “No, it’s not. If you died it would greatly decrease the rest of our chances of survival.” He steps into her path, blocking the entrance to the ride. “It’s not just your life you’re risking, it’s all of ours.”

Emily thinks about it. She’s not sure if she’s being brave or selfish. Or maybe she’s just being overly confident in her abilities.

Clyde turns to the others. “One of the younger kids should go.”

Rena agrees.

“Which one?” she asks.

“It doesn’t matter,” Clyde says. “Either one.”

Rena looks down at the two youngest children. They both stare up at her, visibly trembling. She sees the first grader’s eyes widen like a lost puppy dog, trying to hold back her tears. Then she looks at the boy. Tobias diverts his eyes, hoping that she’ll choose the younger girl instead. She can almost see his heart pounding out of his chest.

“Tobias…” Rena says. She smiles and kneels down to him. “You’re brave, aren’t you?”

He doesn’t say anything. He just shakes and whimpers, like a rabbit in front of a coiling snake.

“I think you’re the bravest one here,” she tells him. Then she whispers into his ear, “That’s why you’re my favorite.”

When he still doesn’t respond, she turns his face toward her so that she can look directly into his eyes. She smiles at him, almost seductively.

“I think brave boys are really hot,” she says, stroking her fingers through his hair.

Emily can’t believe the older girl is acting this way toward a third grader. Rena’s almost twice his age. The young boy obviously has a crush on her and Rena obviously has no shame in using it to her advantage.

“Leave him alone,” Emily says. “He doesn’t want to go. Just let me do it.”

But Clyde won’t back down. He just stares at Emily and blocks her way into the ride.

Rena ignores her. She smiles at Tobias and bites her lip.

“Would you be brave enough to go first?” she asks. “Just one more time?”

Tobias doesn’t respond. He doesn’t shake his head no, as though he likes the attention the older girl is giving him, but he can’t get himself to agree either.

Rena whips her long red hair to one side and tilts her face to the side.

“Would you do it for a kiss?” she asks.

The boy still doesn’t respond. His heart is racing. His legs tremble so much that he almost falls over.

Rena leans in closer. “I hope you will, because I’ve been dying to kiss you ever since we first met.”

“Seriously, stop messing with him,” Emily says. “We all know you’re not really going to kiss him.”

Rena glances over at Emily and then back at Tobias. “Oh yeah?”

Then Rena grabs the kid by the shirt and pulls him to her, kissing him on the mouth. She forces her tongue through his lips and kisses him with as much passion as she’d kiss someone her own age. Tobias doesn’t move. His eyes close but he doesn’t embrace her. His face contorts in an awkward way as her large mouth swallows his, her tongue probing the back of his throat in an almost surgical way.

Emily feels it’s all her fault. Rena might not have actually gone through with it if she hadn’t challenged her the way she did.

“Let him go,” Emily says.

Rena doesn’t comply. She pulls the boy tighter to her. But then, like he’d just puked in her mouth, Rena jumps back. She screams and gags.

“What the fuck, you little shit!” Rena cries.

The others don’t know what happened until they see the wetness building in Tobias’ pants.

“He fucking peed himself!” Rena yells, rubbing the wetness from her shirt. “The disgusting fucker…”

Darren bursts into laughter, pointing at the urine spots on Rena’s clothing. “Serves you right for fucking with him!”

Rena looks like she’s about to kill the kid. She clenches her fingers into fists. It looks like she’s about to beat the crap out of Tobias, then pick him up and throw him through the Mermaids of the Caribbean entrance.

But before she can act, Emily uses the distraction to run for the door. She pushes past Clyde and ducks before he can grab her. Then she runs inside without even watching where she steps.

Emily relies completely on luck as she charges through the entrance. She’s as surprised as everyone else that her gamble paid off. There is no trap. She gets through unscathed.

When Clyde steps in behind her with Deena leaning against his chest, he shakes his head and says, “I’m disappointed in you. Don’t do that again.”

Emily isn’t sure she would’ve made the same choice if she had to do it again, but at least she got Tobias off the hook. The kid’s been through enough. She couldn’t have handled seeing him die in a trap right after what Rena did to him.

“Here,” Clyde says, dropping Deena toward Emily.

Emily braces Deena. The chubby girl whimpers and spits. A stream of snot leaks from her nose. Emily wonders if she’s going to last much longer. She has to get her to the roof as soon as possible.

“Get in there!” Rena yells behind them. She kicks Tobias through the entrance and pulls Jeep in by her hair.

The eighth-grade girl is pissed. She always put on a good show of being a cheerful, friendly person, but now her true colors are coming through. Emily thinks she must be the cruelest one of the three eighth graders. She’s not just pragmatic like Clyde. She’s a sadistic bully who cares only for herself.

Rena grabs Tobias by the arm and squeezes it until he cries out.

She tells him, “If you don’t do what you’re told next time I’ll toss you into a trap myself.”

But Clyde tells her to calm down. He gets between Rena and the boy.

“Don’t let it bother you,” he says. “It makes you look weak.”

The second he says this, Rena gives in. She turns away from the third grader and grumbles to herself. Clyde is probably the only person who could have said that to her without only pissing her off more.

“So how do we get to the roof from here?” Darren asks when he comes in from the rear.

Clyde and Emily examine the area. They don’t see any obvious path to the roof.

“We’ll have to go through the ride and see where it takes us,” Clyde says. “There’s got to be an employee section that leads up there.”

Darren agrees, but doesn’t look too happy about it.

“This is going to suck,” he says.

The ride mostly takes place in water. It’s an indoor boat ride through an ocean pirate landscape, just like Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean. Only this one looks a lot more rundown and a lot less safe. The water is pungent like raw sewage and coated in a blanket of algae.

“It’s going to be difficult to spot traps if we ride the boats,” Emily says.

Clyde nods. “But it’s preferable to swimming.”

Emily agrees.

“Also, these boats have been cycling through the ride nonstop for days,” Clyde says. “If there are any traps along the way they likely would’ve been sprung already.”

“Unless the boats themselves have been trapped,” Emily says.

When they approach the passenger boats at the edge of the water, sure enough they find the first trap. Even in the dim lighting, Emily sees the translucent wires curled around the edges of the seats. She determines that every other boat has been booby-trapped.

“Take this one,” Emily says, pointing at the next boat coming their way. “I’ll sit in front.”

Clyde looks at her with a stern expression, warning her not to be stupid again.

She argues, “If we set off a trap it will likely kill all of us. It doesn’t matter where in the boat I sit. If I’m in front at least I’ll be able to have a good position to keep watch.”

Clyde thinks about it for a moment and then nods. “I should sit on your left then. I don’t want you to miss anything in your blind spot.”

Emily agrees.

When the boat comes, it stops for three minutes, just long enough for them to climb aboard and take their seats. Emily and Clyde sit up front. Darren and Deena sit behind them. The two kids sit in the back with Rena between them.

When the boat takes off and turns into a darkened passageway, they hear a prerecorded voice coming from speakers overhead.

A female pirate voice says, “Ahoy, me two-legged land-lubbers, prepare yourself for a magical voyage into the secret world of Atlantis—home of the world’s most notorious mermaids! Keep your hands and feet inside the ride at all times and, please, no flash photography! Mermaids are very private creatures and don’t appreciate having their pictures taken! And one thing you’ll never want to do in Atlantis is upset the local mermaids! They are the most feared, most dangerous pirate princesses of the seven seas!”

After this introductory message, Emily wants to squeal with glee. She knows she has to ignore the ride and focus on spotting traps, but the whole concept of pirate mermaids immediately reverts her from a quick-witted survivalist to a little girl filled with dreams and wonderment.

Chapter Eight

When they come out of the tunnel, the room widens into a scene of the ocean. Rolling waves are projected against a wall, giving the illusion that their little boat is going out onto the high seas.

Emily’s smile widens when mechanical mermaid fins splash out of the water next to them. On some rocks ahead, there are two mechanical mermaids wagging their tail fins and basking in the artificial sunlight. They are covered in tattoos and only wear tiny sand dollars on their nipples.

As their boat passes the rock, a seductive woman’s voice comes out of a speaker behind them.

It says, “Hiya, sailors. See anything you like?”

And then a mechanical mermaid heaves her breasts in the direction of the boat.

“This is a very strange ride,” Clyde says, not able to remove his eyes from the mermaid’s sexual pose.

When two topless mechanical mermaids come out of the water and blow kisses at the boat, not even sand dollars covering their nipples, Emily says, “It doesn’t seem exactly designed for children.”

Behind them, Darren has a big smile on his face, getting excited by the sexy mermaid ride.

“This was made in like the ‘70s or something,” Darren says. “They got away with a lot more back then.”

“No wonder this place was shut down,” Clyde says, though he doesn’t seem entirely unpleased with it.

After they pass another set of mechanical mermaids crawling into the boats of drunken mechanical sailors, giving them kisses on their cheeks while wagging their fishy butts in the air, Clyde shakes the sight out of his mind.

“We need to ignore this,” he says. “It’s too distracting. Focus on the traps.”

Emily agrees. “I haven’t seen anything. There’s not much here that can be booby-trapped. Nothing is coming close enough to the boat.”

But she keeps her eye open.

In the next scene, a group of mermaids is attacking sailors in another boat. They are stabbing them in the back, cutting their throats, and pulling them underwater to drown them, while stealing all of their gold and treasure.

“These mermaids are kind of bitches,” Darren says, giggling to himself.

“They’re pirate mermaids,” Rena says. “Of course they’d be bitches.”

“I think I’m in love,” Darren says.

“Are those cheap pieces of plastic giving you a hard-on or something?” Rena teases.

Darren laughs. “Uh… maybe…”

They come toward a bridge overhead, leading to a new area. Emily notices a fishing net dangling suspiciously off the edge of the bridge. It hangs low enough that it will brush across their faces when they pass through it.

“Right there,” Emily says, pointing at the net.

“I don’t see any wires,” Clyde says.

“I don’t either,” Emily says. “But it’s got to be a trap.”

Clyde doesn’t argue.

He looks back at the others and says, “Duck down as low as you can.”

They all do as he tells them, leaning forward so that they don’t touch the net as the boat goes underneath it.

When it’s safe, Emily sits up.

She explains, “The net was positioned so that it would only touch people in the boats, not the boats themselves. It was a perfect place for a booby trap.”

Clyde nods, but neither of them looks back to verify whether it was actually trapped or not. They keep their attention forward.

The boat pulls into a new area, a darker stretch of sea where burning, sinking ships are projected across the wall, clouds of smoke blocking out the sun and turning the sky red.

Mechanical sailors are clinging to the wreckage of their ship. A recorded voice calls out to them, saying, “Turn back! The pirate queen has been angered! Flee from the sea or ye be next!”

The voice continues on a cycle, repeating the lines over and over.

When the pirate queen comes into view, all of the students widen their eyes in amazement. She’s a massive mechanical mermaid larger than a sea serpent with flowing green hair and a skull-shaped eye patch. The mermaid is attacking a large merchant ship, crushing it with her massive tail. She rips its mast in half with one hand and swallows a tiny sailor in the other. She’s covered in starfish tattoos and instead of wearing the typical seashell bikini top, she uses the bones of dead sailors to cover her nipples.

“This ride is pretty awesome!” Darren says.

None of them could believe they got such a huge mechanical mermaid into this place. It’s a far more impressive ride than Emily could’ve expected from such a rundown, long-forgotten amusement park.

When the boat goes into the next area, the ride picks up its pace.

Another voice comes from a speaker above, “The pirate queen has spotted you! She’s coming this way!”

A woman’s roar echoes above them as the boat speeds through the water. It actually feels as though they’re being chased by a giant angry mermaid.

“This is getting intense,” Darren says. Without having to watch for traps, he can sit back and enjoy the ride.

A massive tail erupts from the water, splashing foul sewage in their faces, drenching their clothing. It quickly wipes the smile off of Darren’s face.

A loud booming voice comes from a speaker, yelling, “Come back here!”

It’s obviously supposed to be the pirate queen’s voice. It really sounds like it’s coming from a giant woman chasing close behind. But when Emily looks back, she sees that there’s not really anything there. It’s just a well-constructed illusion.

“I hunger for more sailors!” the voice echoes all around them.

A large mechanical arm with green-painted fingernails swings over their head, causing the students to duck as though actually worried about being captured by her.

When they turn a corner, the massive head of the pirate queen emerges from the water with a wide-open mouth.

“Got you!” the voice booms around them as the boat goes right into the mouth-shaped cave.

Then the boat drops, sliding down a throat-like waterslide. It moves so fast that the students scream, gripping their seats tightly. With a splash, they find themselves in a chamber painted to look like the fishy insides of a mermaid’s stomach, full of the floating skeletons of half-digested sailors and dead livestock.

But the ride isn’t over yet. The boat speeds up again as they go down into the mermaid’s intestines. It becomes more like a rollercoaster than a boat ride, the track twisting and bending as they go through the pirate queen’s digestive system.

“This ride’s really intricate!” Darren cries.

But they move so quickly, they aren’t able to watch where they’re going. So distracted from the fun of the ride, even Emily doesn’t see the wire stretched across their path until they break through it. It makes a snapping, clinking sound.

Clyde noticed it, too. He looks at Emily with panic in his eyes. It’s the first time she’s ever seen him so distressed.

“We sprung a trap!” Emily cries.

“Abandon ship!” Clyde yells.

They jump over the side of the boat into the water just before a section of the wall opens up. The vessel is chewed to pieces by grinding gear-shaped blades. Emily reaches for the wall, digging her fingers into a plaster lump designed to look like a fold in the intestine, but it only barely slows her down. The blades retract into the wall just before she reaches them.

She’s not sure if everyone made it out of the boat in time. Clyde and Darren are the only two she sees flailing in the rancid water. Darren is screaming, unable to swim as the current drags him deeper down into the cavern. It looks like he was injured against the metal track beneath the water, his leg tangled between the bars as he jumped overboard. Clyde manages much better than he does, floating on his back and feeling his way along the opposite wall as they make their descent.

Before Emily is able to look back to see if there’s any other survivors behind her, they enter a black tunnel. She’s not sure if it is part of the ride or if the lights have burned out in this section of the building, but she can no longer see a thing.

She hears Darren still screaming in pain and Clyde yelling, “We need to get out of the water!” But she doesn’t hear anyone else.

Something grabs Emily by the leg. Her first instinct is to kick herself free, but then she feels tiny arms wrap around her waist and realizes it’s only Jeep. Even though she can’t see her, Emily recognizes her voice.

The young girl cries, hugging Emily tightly, saying, “Help me!”

Emily isn’t sure the girl even knows how to swim. She grabs the girl around the waist and says, “Hold on.”

But she’s worried that the girl is in too much of a panic. If she’s not careful, Jeep will drown them both.

When they come out of the darkness, Emily is able to grab onto the side of a railing. She helps Jeep out of the water and then pulls herself up. There isn’t time to scan the area for traps. She just has to risk it.

Once Emily is safe, she looks around. She realizes she’s inside part of the ride’s scenery—a coral reef of sorts, sticking out from a brick wall painted to look like a rocky cliff face. She sees Darren clinging to the side a few feet away and goes to him.

“My leg…” Darren cries.

As she helps him out of the water, she notices a large gash from his knee down to his ankle. He rolls onto his back, gripping his leg.

“Are you okay?” Emily asks.

He clenches his teeth at the pain and lets out a long wheeze.

Then he says, “I’ll be fine. It just hurts like hell.”

“You need stitches,” Emily says.

He shakes his head. “Don’t worry about it.”

When Emily helps Darren to his feet, she notices Clyde on the other side of the water. He’s helping Tobias up onto another reef-like platform. But she doesn’t see anyone else. There’s no sign of the other two girls. She looks back up into the dark tunnel, but they aren’t coming. She hopes Deena was able to get out of the boat in time. In the wounded girl’s catatonic state, she might not have been able to react in time. Emily hopes for the best, but deep down she knows it’s unlikely that her friend made it out. The same goes for Rena. The eighth-grader was seated between the two children. She would have had a harder time jumping out than the others.

“Did you see Deena get out of the boat?” Emily asks Darren. He was sitting next to her, so if anyone knew what happened to Deena he would.

But Darren just shakes his head. “I have no idea. I barely got out of there myself.” Then he adds, “I doubt it.”

When he says this, Emily can feel her heart sinking in her chest. She hates to think that she wasn’t able to save her friend. Not only did Emily get Deena’s hand cut off, in the end she got her killed as well.

“Are you guys okay?” Clyde asks, yelling across the water.

Emily looks over at him. Both Clyde and Tobias seem to be in good shape.

“We’re fine,” Emily says. “Darren is a little banged up, but he said he’ll be okay.”

Clyde points across the water at a door hidden in the rocky paint, just a few yards away from Emily.

“That looks like a way into the employee area,” Clyde tells her.

Emily looks at the door and nods in agreement.

She asks, “Can you swim over to us?”

Clyde shakes his head. “The current’s too strong. You three should go on ahead. Get to the roof.” He looks down at the wet third grader. “We’ll find another way.”

Emily agrees. She helps Jeep and Darren to their feet and heads toward the exit.

Before she opens the door, she yells back at Clyde, “Don’t take too long.”

But Clyde is already moving away, going deeper into the ride in the opposite direction.

Chapter Nine

Behind the walls of the Mermaids of the Caribbean ride, there’s a complex maze of tunnels and stairways, leading to all kinds of machinery and maintenance rooms. Emily has no idea where to go.

She leads them up a staircase, Darren limping up every step. But it doesn’t go to the roof. It just goes to the upper floor of the ride, the section before they were swallowed up by the giant mermaid head.

“How much longer until we get to the roof?” Darren asks.

“Not that long,” Emily says, even though she has no idea.

Emily tries to move as quickly as she can, but with Darren’s injured leg and all the various places that are perfect for booby traps Emily isn’t able to go at the pace she would like.

Darren’s whimpers grow louder with every step he takes. The tone of his voice gets angrier and more frustrated. He asks how much longer it will be every ten feet, not taking into account how little progress they are able to make in his condition.

“Maybe we should just leave you here,” Emily says.

“Hell no!” Darren cries. “You better not leave me here.”

“We’ll come back,” Emily says. “It’ll be a lot faster for us and safer for you if you just wait here while we check out the roof.”

But Darren won’t hear it. He shakes his head. His face fuming.

“I’m going with you,” he says. “I don’t care how long it takes.”

Emily can tell that he’s not able to think it through. He’s so terrified at the thought of being left alone that he’s not able to see how it would be in his best interest to stay behind.

“Just keep moving,” he says, staggering on his injured leg, pressing his hand against the wall for support. “I’ll be fine.”

They hear a scream coming through a wall up ahead. A girl’s scream.

“Somebody else is here,” Emily says.

She leaves Darren leaning against a railing and goes toward the sound. Jeep follows close behind, gripping the back of her shirt, not wanting to be separated from her for even a second.

Another scream. Emily puts her ear to the wall. It’s definitely a human scream. It’s not part of the ride.

She looks back at Darren and asks, “Do you think other kids are here? They could be trying to get to the helicopter. Maybe they’re even the ones who called it here.”

Darren clutches the wound on his leg. He doesn’t seem very interested in the screaming girl. “Ignore it. She’s probably just cheese. Anyone screaming for help is usually cheese.”

Emily looks back at the wall. “Cheese?”

Emily isn’t so sure. The girl doesn’t seem to be screaming for help. It’s like she’s screaming in alarm. Farther down the corridor, there’s a door that appears to lead back into the ride. She wonders if it connects to the area where the screams are coming from.

“I want to check it out,” Emily says.

Darren staggers forward. “Forgot about it. There’s no point.”

But Emily doesn’t listen. She goes to the door, makes sure it isn’t booby-trapped, then pulls it open.

“We need to get to the roof,” Darren says.

Jeep releases her shirt before Emily steps through. Even the little girl thinks going in there is a bad idea.

Peering out the door, Emily sees the mermaid ride from an employee’s perspective. The wrecked merchant ships and mechanical mermaids aren’t painted on this side. The giant mermaid queen is hollow, exposing the gears and machinery for easy maintenance.

She scans the area, but doesn’t notice where the scream could have come from. There are dozens of mechanical sailors and mermaids scattered across the ocean landscape, but no living people among them. The passenger boats are still moving through the scummy water, but they are empty. No children are riding on them. If anyone has entered the ride behind them they aren’t here now.

Darren peeks over Emily’s shoulder and says, “I don’t see anyone.”

Emily shakes her head. “They have to be here somewhere. I heard them. They should be right here.”

“Well, they’re gone now. Let’s keep moving.”

But before they turn back, Emily spots movement deeper in the ride, over by the bridge with the dangling fishnet. Somebody is climbing down the wall to a small island.

“There.” Emily points.

Darren doesn’t see anyone at first, until the girl drops down on her leg at an awkward angle and cries out in pain. When Emily recognizes who it is, her face brightens in delight.

“It’s Deena!” she cries.

It wasn’t somebody new. It was just Deena. She must have climbed back out of the mermaid’s mouth instead of continuing down the throat as they did.

Another figure steps forward, looking down from the bridge at the wounded girl. It’s Rena. The eighth-grader survived as well. The only problem is getting over to them. They’re separated by a wide pool of black water and Emily can’t find an easy way to cross. Not only that, but the area they’re stranded in seems to be covered in traps. Emily’s not sure how she’ll be able to get them out.

“Rena, over here!” Darren yells across the water.

But the two girls don’t seem to be able to hear them over the sounds of waves and seagulls and shouting mechanical sailors. They explore the area, looking for another way out. Neither of them seems to notice the danger they’re in.

“Look out!” Emily yells.

Deena’s foot comes within inches of a booby-trapped bucket on the ground, missing it by sheer luck.

When she realizes there’s nothing they can do from their distance, Emily tries to come up with a plan.

“We’ve got to get to them…” she says.

There looks to be another exit close to Deena and Rena. If they go back into the employee section and loop around they might be able to get to it, but Emily isn’t sure the areas connect. Still, it’s better than trying to swim to them. She has to try.

But before she tells Darren her plan, she notices Rena pushing Deena forward. The eighth-grader is planning to use her friend as a guinea pig.

Emily narrows her vision at Rena. “She better not be…”

Staying at a safe distance, Rena forces Deena to move in a straight line toward the exit, ordering her to do exactly as she says. Deena looks too weak and fatigued to put up a fight. She does exactly as the older girl commands. She doesn’t look like she’s going to last much longer in her condition.

“We need to hurry,” Emily says to the others. “Let’s go.”

“Go where?”Darren asks.

But Emily doesn’t have time to explain. She rushes back into the corridor and runs as quickly as she can to the area she believes Deena and Rena are heading toward. Jeep chases after her, but Darren has a hard time catching up. He limp-runs, yelling at her to slow down.

“Be careful!” he calls out. “There could be traps!”

Emily doesn’t have time to worry about that. She keeps her eye on every step she takes, doing her best to avoid traps in her path. But she knows Deena is in a much more dangerous situation. If she doesn’t get to her soon Rena is going to get her killed.

Emily turns a corner that she believes will take her straight to Deena, but it leads to a dead end. The only door goes to the outside of the building.

When Darren catches up, he tells her to slow down.

“You’re not going to help anyone if you get yourself killed,” he says.

She looks out the door leading to the outside and notices that it’s a fire escape. Stairs lead down to the alleyway outside. They also go all the way to the roof.

“We can get out from here,” Emily says, stepping out onto the fire escape.

Darren and Jeep come out behind her and look up. But Emily isn’t ready to go for the roof just yet. Further down the metal catwalk is another entrance leading back into the building. She wonders if she can get to Deena from there.

When she goes for the other door, Darren reaches out and grabs her shoulder.

“Forget about them,” he says. “Let’s just get to the roof. They can meet us there.”

Emily pulls herself out of his grip and keeps going. Jeep follows her. But Darren hesitates. He looks up at the steps and back at Emily. He knows her eye is better than his, so he decides to stick with her instead of going up on his own.

“The helicopter better not leave before we get to it,” he says.

But Emily is too focused on her mission to care.

When they go through the door and back into the building, they find themselves in total darkness. It doesn’t lead back into the ride as Emily hoped it would. It’s another maintenance section of the ride, only this room is vast and empty with a high ceiling and stagnant air. Emily has no idea what the purpose of this room could be. It’s large enough to fit a whole other ride inside.

“I don’t like the look of this place,” Darren says as he peers through the doorway.

Emily agrees. It’s too dark to see anything within and no sign of a light switch. Spotting traps will be even more difficult in here, perhaps even impossible. She’ll have to rely more on luck than vision.

“Stay here and keep the door open,” Emily tells Jeep.

The little girl nods her head and pushes the door as wide as it can go. She understands that the tiny amount of sunlight coming inside is the only way Emily will be able to see.

Emily adds, “Don’t close it until I get back.”

Stepping into the room, Emily realizes that it’s even more difficult to see than she originally thought. Her body blocks half the light that comes in from the door, casting a shadow right in front of her that obscures any traps that might have been placed in her path.

Across the room, she sees an exit. It is exactly where she hoped a door would be. It has to be the right way to reach Deena and Rena. Even though it’s not an easy path, she has to move forward.

As Emily steps into the room, moving as cautiously as she can, Darren limps in after her.

“This is a terrible idea,” Darren says, but he follows after her all the same.

Deeper into the darkness, Emily notices that the room isn’t as empty as she thought. The shadowy parts of the room are full of clutter. A crowd of people is standing in a line along the wall, staring at her. It takes Emily a minute before she realizes they are mechanical mermaids and sailors from the ride. This place must have been some kind of workshop where they repaired the automatons and stored their replacements. Emily can barely see them in the dark. They don’t have many facial features or clothing. Most of them don’t seem to have been painted yet.

Emily hoped the room would be free of traps. This place is so isolated and so far out of the way that it didn’t seem like the ideal area for setting traps. But she can see the trip wires glistening in the sunlight, positioned right in front of her path. She doesn’t know where the wires begin or end. For all she knows, they stretch the entire length of the room. She has no choice but to step over each one.

When she points them out to Darren, he grits his teeth. Lifting his leg is painful and his balance is unsteady. Emily has to help him over each one. She allows him to lean on her shoulder for support, hoping he doesn’t get them both killed. Emily wonders if he would do the same if their situations were reversed.

The traps slow them down, but they don’t trip any of them. Emily hopes they’ll be as lucky on their way back. She assumes it will be easier with the light at their front instead of their back. As long as Jeep keeps the door open, they should be fine.

Halfway through the room, Darren touches Emily on the shoulder. He whispers in a concerned tone, “Do you see them?”

At first, Emily thinks he’s talking about the sailors along the wall, but Darren isn’t looking at them. His eyes are on the ceiling. When Emily looks up, she sees large wiry limbs connected to silver oval bodies. It looks like a cluster of daddy longlegs, huddled together in the corner of the ceiling. Only these are massive, larger than trucks. They shiver and bob up and down, leaning against each other as though communicating through touch.

“I always wondered where they went during the day,” Darren says.

They are the same creatures Emily saw setting the traps the night before, only now they are in their resting state. They’ve chosen this dark, wide open room as a resting cave, hiding from the outside world as they sleep.

“Let’s keep going,” Emily says, even though every bone in her body urges her to turn back.

She moves even faster, trying to ignore the wiry creatures overhead. She can’t shake the feeling that they’re spiders waiting to drop down on her the second she steps beneath.

When they get to the door, Emily hears a whirring, screeching-metal sound coming from the creatures in the corner, as if they are waking up, but she doesn’t look back at them. She pushes through the door and gets out of there as quickly as she can.

Darren and Emily find themselves in another corridor. They don’t see Deena or Rena in here, but another familiar face is walking toward them from down the hallway. It’s Clyde. He managed to find his way back to them. But something is wrong. He walks alone, a solemn expression lingering on his face. The third-grade boy is nowhere in sight.

“Where’s Tobias?” Emily asks him.

Clyde shakes his head. “He didn’t make it.”

Emily’s expression sinks on her face. She really didn’t want anyone else to die. Even though she didn’t get to know the kid very well, she hoped Tobias would have made it. He was a good kid. He didn’t deserve to die in a place like this.

“Are we the only ones left?” Clyde asks.

Darren shakes his head. “The first grader is waiting for us outside. We also saw Rena and the fat girl not long ago.”

“They’re still alive?” Clyde asks.

Darren shrugs. “They were still alive when we saw them. Not sure if that’s still the case.”

Emily remains in shock over the loss of the young boy for a few minutes. She isn’t sure why she feels this way, but she becomes angry at the thought of what happened to him. Even though she’s already seen many children die, Tobias was different. Perhaps because she knew him a little better than the others. Or maybe she’s just sick and tired of having people die on her.

Emily looks up at Clyde and asks, “How did Tobias die?”

Clyde is caught off guard by her question. “What?”

His expression is confused, as though he has no idea what she’s talking about, as though he’s already completely wiped the boy from his memory.

“Was it an accident or did you get him killed?”

Clyde shrugs. “Does it matter? He didn’t make it. There was nothing I could do.”

“You walked him into a trap, didn’t you?” Emily asks.

Clyde blinks at her and frowns with disapproval. Emily’s not sure why she’s challenging him. She likes Clyde. She doesn’t want him to hate her. But she doesn’t think he had the right to throw Tobias’ life away so carelessly. If it wasn’t his fault, she’d like to know.

Clyde responds in a calm, collected voice, “It was unavoidable.”

Looking into his eyes, Emily can tell he did it. He killed the boy just as he killed all those other children. Before, Emily thought he was just being practical by sending children to their deaths. She thought he was making a difficult but necessary decision every time he got one of them killed. She thought he only did it to save as many students as he could. But now she’s not so sure. The look in his eyes tells her that he doesn’t really care who lives and who dies, as long as he is among those who survive.

She realizes that she needs to get to Deena as quickly as possible. With Tobias killed in the short amount of time that they were separated from Clyde, the same thing could easily happen to Deena. Emily can’t waste any more time.

The light of a projector blinds Emily as she steps through a door leading into the backdrop of the Mermaids of the Caribbean ride. They are in front of a massive movie screen wall, standing in the middle of a vast ocean landscape. From the passenger boats, it probably looks as though she’s walking on water. But she’s actually on a concrete walkway far away from the seaside.

“Do you see them?” Darren asks from the doorway.

Emily blinks her eye. The projector light makes it difficult to see anything beyond the area immediately in front of her. She’s not sure exactly where they are on the ride. It doesn’t appear to be the same area where she saw Deena and Rena. She believes they’ve come out closer to the entrance, in the very first area of the ride.

“Deena?” Emily calls out.

She uses her hand as a visor to block the projector light. As her eye adjusts, she can see the mechanical mermaids on the rocks and the sailors in their boats. But she doesn’t see Deena or Rena anywhere.

“I don’t think they’re here,” Darren says.

But then she hears someone calling back, “Emily? Is that you?”

It’s Deena’s voice, but Emily can’t tell where it’s coming from. She turns around and notices the girl crawling out of the water. Rena is right behind her. It seems like they tried to swim out of there.

“Over here,” Emily yells.

As Rena crawls out of the water, she yells at the boys standing in the doorway, “Don’t let the door close! They lock on this side. We’ve been stuck out here.”

Clyde nods his head and pushes his weight on the door, making sure to keep it propped open for them.

“We thought you were dead,” Deena says.

“Same here.”Emily smiles.

She’s relieved to see that her friend made it. But as Deena comes closer into view, Emily notices something off about her. She’s in even worse condition than she was before. She now walks with a limp. Her right arm dangles uselessly to her side. One side of her body is black and charred. Her hair has burned off the left part of her head, taking off an ear and blinding her in one eye. A section of her skull is exposed. But Deena has a big smile on her face as though nothing is wrong. She must be in so much shock that she doesn’t know the condition she’s in.

“What the hell…” Emily cries.

She isn’t sure exactly what happened to her friend, but she has a pretty good idea. Deena was fine the last time she saw her so this must have just happened. Rena probably walked her right into a trap that exploded in Deena’s face. The fact that she’s even walking is a miracle. The girl shouldn’t even be alive.

Emily charges at the eighth grader. “What did you do?”

Rena looks at her with surprise, not sure what she’s so worked up about. “I didn’t do anything…”

Emily points at Deena. “Look at her. You did that to her, didn’t you?”

Rena shakes her head. “I didn’t do that. She stepped on a trap. It was an accident.”

“Bullshit!” Emily cries. “I saw you forcing her to be your guinea pig. You did this.”

Rena snickers a laugh and rolls her eyes. “She would have stepped on it whether I was there or not.”

As they argue, the two eighth grade boys grow concerned. Darren staggers toward them. Clyde takes off his shoe and uses it to prop open the door, then follows after.

“What’s wrong with you?” Emily cries. Then she looks back at Clyde and gives him the same look she gives Rena. “What’s wrong with all of you? Don’t you have any respect for human life? Don’t you care?”

“It’s fine, Emily,” Deena says. “It wasn’t her fault.”

As Deena nods, a blackened eyeball rolls out of her head.

Rena shrugs. “See. Even she knows it was just an accident.”

Emily squeezes a fist. She wants to grab Rena by the hair and knee her in the face. She wants to toss her in the same trap that exploded on Deena and see how she feels about having half her head burned off.

“It wasn’t a fucking accident!” Emily screams.

Deena shakes her head at Emily. “Seriously, it’s no big deal. I’m fine.” She steps toward her. “Look at me.”

Deena holds out her arms and steps closer, showing her friend her body as though nothing is wrong with it. Then a clicking sound rings out from beneath her feet and she explodes into a splatter of blue soup.

Nobody saw the trap. Deena was there one second and gone the next. She just popped like a water balloon filled with blue paint.

Rena and Emily are frozen in shock, staring at each other, covered in blue splatter. Emily can’t figure out what just happened. The blue fluid smells like chemicals, like burned plastic. She has no idea how Deena was liquefied so quickly or why the liquid flesh had become such an inhuman color. All she knows is that it has to have been Rena’s fault somehow.

Emily screams and charges the eighth-grade girl. Rena doesn’t see it coming. Too stunned by Deena’s death to even blink, she is hit directly in the diaphragm and crumples to the ground. Emily drops on top of her, punching and kicking and ripping at the locks of long red hair as though trying to pull them off her head.

“Get the fuck off me!” Rena cries between wheezes, trying to catch her breath. The punch knocked the wind out of her. Even though the younger girl is half her size, she’s unable to fight back.

“That’s enough…” Clyde says. “Break it up.”

The two eighth grade boys go to them. Clyde pulls Emily off of his friend, but she continues kicking and flailing at the air.

“You killed her, you bitch!” Emily screams. “You killed my friend!”

Rena sits up and spits blood onto the concrete. “Don’t blame me. She was the idiot who sprung the trap.”

Emily only wants to hit her harder for saying that. She struggles against Clyde’s grip, ready to smash Rena’s annoying face into the concrete.

“She wasn’t an idiot!” Emily screams.

Darren helps Rena to her feet and the eighth-grade girl steps toward Emily with a severe look in her eyes.

“Why should I care about that fat piece of shit?” Rena asks. She wipes blue paint off of her face and glares into Emily’s eye. “She would have died anyway.”

When she says this, Emily explodes. She squeezes out of Clyde’s grip and shoves Rena with all her strength.

The eighth-grader tumbles backward into Darren and knocks him off balance. With his injured leg, Darren isn’t able to catch himself in time. He loses his footing and falls backward onto one of the mechanical mermaids by the water.

Clyde and Emily both see the wires the second he goes down, but there’s nothing either of them can do to stop it. The second Darren makes contact with the mermaid, his body cracks and crumbles to pieces. Like he was made of porcelain, his body shatters against the ground. There’s no blood, no fluids of any kind. Half the parts slide into the water like coins in a fountain, the rest spread out across the concrete. There’s nothing left of him that even slightly resembles the anatomy of a human being.

Rena and Clyde shiver at the sight of their shattered friend. Once it sets in that Darren is gone and isn’t coming back, they turn their attention to Emily. Both of them glare at her like rabid dogs ready to tear her to pieces.

Emily backs away from them. “It was an accident…”

She’s never seen Rena so pissed. The eighth-grader stalks toward her with blood in her eyes. It’s a completely different story when it’s one of her own friends that is killed.

“You little shit…” Rena sneers. “Now you’re fucking dead.”

Emily turns and runs. The eight graders chase after.

“Come here, you bitch!” Rena screams.

Emily goes through the door and kicks the shoe that holds it open. She keeps running down the hallways as the door closes on the eighth graders. But before it shuts all the way and locks them out, Rena catches the door. She charges after Emily as Clyde retrieves his shoe.

Rena yells, “Get back here!”

The eighth-grader is twice as fast as Emily. She has longer legs. She’s far more athletic. Rena closes the distance between them. Her fingers are inches from Emily’s neck as the fifth-grader throws open the next door and disappears into the darkness of the automaton workshop.

“I’m going to rip out your other eye!”

When she enters the darkened workshop, Rena has no idea what’s in store for her. She didn’t come through here with Emily and Darren. She has no idea what is lurking in the shadows. As Rena screams and stomps in Emily’s direction, she doesn’t realize that her voice is disturbing the creatures sleeping in the corner of the ceiling.

Emily doesn’t look back. She keeps moving forward. The door leading to the outside fire escape is still open. She doesn’t see Jeep where she left her, but the door is open nonetheless. Perhaps the kid found a way to prop it open and then found a safer place to wait.

“Don’t kill her,” Clyde yells as he enters the room. “We need her.”

But Rena doesn’t respond to him. She’s overwhelmed by anger. She has no idea what she will do to Emily when she catches her, but she has no intention of holding back.

Emily sees the tripwires stretching across the room. She jumps over each one as quickly as she can, but it slows her down enough for Rena to catch up to her.

“Wait!” Emily yells at Rena, pointing at the tripwire between them. “There’s a trap.”

Rena stops in her tracks.

“Bullshit,” she says. “What trap?”

Emily notices the movement on the ceiling above them as the alien creatures wake. Their wiry limbs twist and sway, turning to them with blank silver faces.

“I don’t see shit…”

Rena looks carefully for the trap, but she can’t spot the wire in front of her. Even when Emily points it out, the eighth-grader doesn’t see anything. She’s convinced Emily’s lying to her.

“I’m not falling for it,” Rena says.

When Rena steps forward, Emily turns and runs for the door. Clyde reaches out for her friend and yells, “Don’t move!”

As she breaks through the wire, Rena’s legs sink into the floor. It’s like the trap turned the ground into quicksand. She takes three steps forward, sinking deeper as she goes, before she realizes what’s happening to her.

“What the fuck…” she says, looking at her legs inside the floor.

Then she glares back at Emily. She doesn’t care if she’s sinking. She stares down the fifth-grade girl and keeps coming after her.

Clyde goes to the edge of the trap and yells to Rena, “Come back.” He holds out his hands. “I’ll pull you out.”

But Rena has no intention of going anywhere but forward. She wants to get her hands around the fifth grader’s neck even if it kills her.

As she watches the girl moving slowly toward her, sinking deeper and deeper into the ground, Emily realizes that the floor hasn’t actually turned into a quicksand-like substance. It’s Rena that has changed. Her body is melting like butter on a frying pan. As she moves forward, her lower body gets smeared across the floor, leaving a trail of liquid flesh.

“Come here!” Rena screams.

She goes through the next wire and springs another trap. A pendulum-like blade swings from the ceiling and slices her in half. Her face falls to the sides like a peeled banana. But it doesn’t kill her. The consistency of her flesh has become like clay. She lifts her hands to her cheeks and pushes her face back together. Just a gentle press on her skin and the two halves melt back into a whole. Then Rena continues moving forward.

“It’s not fair…” Rena says. The tone of her voice changes. It goes softer, from angry to solemn. “We were supposed to survive… together…”

Emily can’t believe Rena’s still alive. She can’t take her eye off of the eighth-grader as she melts across the floor. Half her body has dissolved and she has to pull herself along with her hands.

“Darren and I…” Rena no longer sounds human. Her voice becomes deep and drunken like a warped record as she speaks. “I hated him… He was such an asshole…”

She moves through the third tripwire, but her flesh has become so soft that it just slides right through without springing the trap. Her arms completely melt away, leaving only her torso and a head. But she continues forward, sliding across the ground like a garden slug.

“But I wanted to be with him…” she says, just before she melts away. “Forever…”

When she’s gone, Rena’s melted body looks like a two-dimensional painting across the floor. Every detail of her face and clothes are still there, just stretched and flattened. Even the tears remain on her cheeks as her liquid flesh dries into a hard plastic-like substance.

Emily backs away and goes for the exit. She steps onto the fire escape, then turns to Clyde.

He waits on the other side of Rena’s flattened remains, standing perfectly still. They look each other in the eyes. Unlike Rena, he doesn’t appear angry or upset by the death of his friends. He doesn’t even look scared among the traps and waking creatures. The only thing Emily reads in his eyes is determination and focus as he organizes his thoughts, calculating his next move. She knows that she can never trust such a person. He cares for nothing but his own survival. Even if he has no intention of hurting Emily for what she did, she has to stay away from him. Stephanie was right. Clyde will only get her killed.

As Emily closes the door to the workshop, she doesn’t take her eye off of him. She just watches the boy she once idolized as he stands helpless before her.

“Don’t…” Clyde says as the light vanishes from the room.

Three wiry figures drop down from the ceiling behind him and stretch out into towering stick-like beings, stepping in his direction

Then the tone of Clyde’s voice changes. It becomes a higher, more desperate pitch. It’s almost as though he’s begging for her mercy as he says, “Please…” just before Emily closes the door and leaves him in the darkness.

Emily is pleased to find Jeep alive. The little girl was hiding behind the door, holding it open that whole time. She was too scared to move. She had no idea if Emily was ever going to come back. When they see each other, Jeep lunges at her and hugs her tightly.

“It’s okay,” Emily says. “I’m still here.”

Then she takes the girl by the hand and leads her up the stairs, taking the fire escape up to the roof.

“Let’s get out of here,” Emily says to her.

Then she smiles at Jeep and pats her on the head, trying to ignore the sound of whirring and screeching that issues from behind the door of the workshop.

Chapter Ten

The helicopter is still on the roof by the time they reach the top of the stairs, but there isn’t anyone around. Emily helps Jeep down from the fire escape and they step closer. The area is empty and quiet. The black helicopter rests on the other side of the roof as though it was abandoned here ages ago.

There’s no sign that anyone exited the helicopter or came here for rescue. The blanket of dust coating the surface of the roof has not been disturbed in a very long time. There are no footprints. Nothing but the faint cawing of blackbirds somewhere in the distance.

“Hello?” Emily calls out to the helicopter.

She wonders if there’s anyone inside. It’s possible that whoever is piloting the thing has remained in the cockpit, not wanting to exit the vehicle in fear of surrounding traps. Or maybe the pilot was severely injured and landed the aircraft just before passing out from pain or blood loss.

The two girls move closer. They don’t see anything through the windows of the craft. The glass is covered in dust and filth, as though the pilot flew through rain and sandstorms to get here.

“Is anyone there?” Emily asks.

She doesn’t come any closer, standing still, holding the little girl’s hand as they wait for a response. Something moves inside. Emily squints her eye. There seems to be somebody in the backseat.

Emily waves. “We need help. We’re stranded here.”

A hand wipes away the dust from the back window, as though the dust had been on the inside of the helicopter rather than the outside. When Emily realizes who it is, she can’t believe it. A dark-haired woman with sunken eyes and a pleasant smile looks in her direction.

“Mom?”

Emily thought she’d never see her mother again. She thought she had to be dead. There’s no way she would have left her at the school if she was still out there somewhere. But here she is, sitting in the backseat of the helicopter, waving at her.

Another woman appears next to Emily’s mother. A dark-skinned woman with short red hair. She smiles and waves at Jeep. The young girl waves back, her face exploding with excitement.

“Mommy!” Jeep cries.

Emily doesn’t believe it. What are the odds that both of their mothers would happen to be in the backseat of the helicopter? It’s completely implausible. Emily’s smile fades from her face.

The two mothers wave them over, inviting their daughters to join them in the helicopter. Before Jeep can run to her mom, Emily grips her hand tightly.

“It’s a trap,” Emily tells the girl.

Jeep looks back at her with a confused expression.

“They’re not real,” Emily says. “They’re just bait. Whatever it is in there, it’s not really your mother.”

Jeep shakes her head and looks back at the helicopter.

“Mommy!” she cries.

Emily grips her hand tightly, but Jeep won’t give up. The little girl tugs on her arm, trying to escape the older girl’s grasp.

“Let go!” Jeep cries.

Emily tries to explain. “You can’t go to her. She’s not real. If you go it’ll kill you.”

But Jeep won’t listen. She tries to free herself, pushing against Emily with all her strength.

“Mommy!” she cries. Tears flow down her cheeks, kicking at Emily’s leg, desperate to be with her mother again.

“Are you even listening to me?” Emily asks.

When the girl looks back at her, Emily realizes that the girl isn’t confused at all. She knows it is just a trap and she doesn’t care. Real or fake, she wants to be with her mother again.

Emily releases her grip and Jeep takes off running to the helicopter. She doesn’t think she has the right to keep the girl from her mother, even knowing what will happen to her. Perhaps letting her die in her mother’s arms is the best thing for the girl. Perhaps forcing a six-year-old to survive in this world is selfish and inhumane.

As Jeep makes it to the helicopter and presses her hand against the door, Emily turns her back and walks away. She doesn’t want to see it happen. There’s a flash of light and then Jeep is gone. When Emily looks back, there’s no sign that the girl was ever there.

The helicopter’s engine whirs to life. The rotor spins. It takes off as Emily makes her way down the fire escape, rising into the sky and flying off into the horizon. Emily imagines the thing traveling from place to place, seeking out survivors, luring them into its trap. A lot of kids died because they thought it brought salvation. Deena, Tobias, Jeep, even the eighth graders. They might all still be alive if that thing hadn’t landed in the amusement park.

Of all the traps, Emily thinks that helicopter was the cruelest and most effective. It lures its victims not with cheese, but with hope. And no matter who you are, nothing is more attractive than hope.

The amusement park looks more dead and abandoned than ever once Emily makes her way out of the Mermaids of the Caribbean ride. She walks alone down the sidewalk, heading back to the nurse’s station where there still remains a good supply of food and beverages. She can survive for quite a while there if she makes the food last, but survival alone doesn’t have quite the appeal that it used to have.

When she returns to the building, Emily sees a familiar face sitting on the couch where Darren had slept the night before. Stephanie’s flesh has turned to white taffy, gluing her to the spot. She’s fully turned to cheese, just a human booby trap waiting to kill whoever touches her skin next.

“You came back,” Stephanie says, her voice soft and somber.

She doesn’t look happy or surprised to see Emily. She looks drained of emotion, like she’s just been sitting there crying for hours until she had nothing left in her. Now she just waits for death.

“Yeah…” Emily says. She sits on the floor across from Stephanie and pulls a chocolate bar out of one of the eighth graders’ backpacks they left behind.

Stephanie looks at her with swollen eyes. Those eyes and the clothes she wears are the only thing left that still resemble the girl Emily used to know.

“Just you?” Stephanie asks.

Emily nods. She doesn’t have to tell her everyone else is dead. It’s written all over her face.

Stephanie looks away. She takes a deep breath and exhales slowly.

“So what do you plan to do now?” she asks.

Emily shrugs. “Sleep here for a while. Maybe for a few days. Then go back to the city and see if anyone else is still alive.”

“Won’t that be dangerous?” Stephanie asks.

“Maybe.” Emily takes another bite of chocolate. “But everywhere is dangerous. It’s worth the risk if I can find other people.”

“And what if there are no people left?”

“Not sure,” Emily says. “Maybe go home and sleep in my own bed. Just one more time. I’d give anything to sleep in my own bed again.”

Stephanie nods. She wishes she could join her. There’s nothing she would like more than to return home before she dies, even if none of her family was there to welcome her. But in her current condition she won’t be able to move from that couch ever again.

“Why don’t you just give up?” Stephanie asks.

Emily looks at her with a confused face.

Stephanie reaches out her hand toward Emily. “Just grab my hand. I’m sure it won’t be painful. We won’t have to suffer anymore. We could end it right here and now.”

Staring at Stephanie’s white sticky hand, Emily wonders if she should accept the offer. There’s something appealing about giving up. She wouldn’t have any more worries. She wouldn’t have to live in such a dangerous, lonely world.

But then Emily finds herself shaking her head.

“I’m not ready,” she says. “I’d rather go on as long as I can.”

Stephanie lowers her hand, annoyed. She’s not able to die unless somebody is willing to die with her. In an angry tone, she asks, “Do you really think you can survive out there? Alone?”

Emily shrugs. “It’s worth giving it a shot.”

Stephanie lowers her hand and grumbles to herself. As Emily stares at the mutated girl, she realizes that she can’t trust her. If she gets too close Stephanie might grab her, desperate for a way out. Unlike Emily, Stephanie doesn’t have anywhere to go. She either dies or spends the rest of her life glued to that spot as human cheese.

“I never liked you,” Stephanie says. “You’re the stupidest person I’ve ever known.”

Emily wonders why she’d say such a thing. She wonders if Stephanie’s just trying to provoke her so she’ll come within arm’s reach and spring the trap.

“I remember when you took out your eye,” Stephanie continues. “I thought it was the dumbest thing anyone’s ever done.” She folds her hands in her lap and stares into Emily’s eye. “I looked up to you before that. Nobody has ever been able to get better grades than me before I met you. I’ve always had book-smarts, but you had something more than that. You could figure things out faster than me even without reading a book. I remember you building a rocket in Young Astronauts club in under five minutes, without ever glancing at the instructions. You did it like it was nothing, like you’ve done it a million times before. Everyone was so impressed. The teacher asked you if you built rockets for fun outside of school like I did and you just shrugged and said it was no big deal. I was so jealous of you.”

Emily stares at the girl, not sure what to say. She finishes her chocolate bar and crumples up the wrapper. Stephanie wasn’t a person she really paid attention to when she was younger. She thought she was annoying in class, always the first to raise her hand to answer the dumbest of questions, always following the rules and thinking she was better than everyone else. Emily had no idea she even noticed her before.

“But you never cared about learning like I did,” Stephanie continues. “You got straight A’s, but only because everything came easy to you. I got straight A’s because I’d be punished if I brought home anything less. I worked my butt off every day to be the smartest kid in class, but you never seemed to even try, you never paid attention in class, like school was just an annoying nuisance to you. That’s why I think you’re such an idiot. If you actually tried you could be so much more than me, so much more than anyone.”

Stephanie’s tone gets deeper, sterner. She stares down Emily like she wants to rip herself off the couch and cause an explosion between them.

She continues, “Yet you blind yourself in one eye for no reason. You let eighth graders trick you into being their puppet. You refuse to give up when there’s nothing left to live for. You’re stupid and stubborn and I hate you and idolize you…”

Emily looks away. She thinks about what Stephanie’s said and just laughs. She shakes her head, completely surprised to learn what her archenemy has always felt about her.

“I know I’m stupid,” Emily says. “I’ve always felt stupid. The reason I was able to build a rocket in Young Astronauts without reading the instructions wasn’t because I was so smart, it’s because I was too dumb to understand them. I’m the opposite of book-smart. I have to rely completely on figuring stuff out on my own. I never paid attention in class because I had no idea what the teacher was saying. I have problems concentrating. I have to work twice as hard as everyone just to keep up.”

Stephanie shakes her head. “But you always got straight A’s. You blew through every test like it was nothing.”

Emily chuckles. “Like it was nothing? I had to study my ass off the night before every test. I had to teach myself a month’s worth of school work all in one night because I learned nothing in class. Eventually, I just got used to figuring stuff out on my own. I stopped relying on being taught by teachers.”

“And you don’t think that makes you smart?” Stephanie asks.

Emily shrugs. “We’re all smart and stupid in our own ways. There’s no line between the two.”

Stephanie turns away, not sure how to respond to that comment. She was raised to believe that you were either smart or stupid. She believed she was always clearly on the side of smart. Kids like Deena were clearly on the side of stupid. Emily was an anomaly. She thought Emily was obviously stupid yet often proved smarter than her. It didn’t make any sense. It frustrated her to no end.

But after a moment of thinking about it, Stephanie relaxes. She leans back in the couch and smiles.

“Maybe it’s a good thing that you’re the only one from our class to survive,” Stephanie says. “Since you’re used to figuring things out for yourself, you can get by without any teachers left to guide you.”

Emily looks down and nods, but she’s not so sure. She feels like she could really use some guidance about now. Even from somebody her own age like Stephanie. The idea of continuing on by herself is frightening. She knows she can’t figure everything out on her own. Getting by in such a world is far more difficult than taking a test or doing homework.

Stephanie doesn’t say another word. She closes her eyes and tries to sleep, leaving Emily sitting there in the quiet. The sound of croaking frogs grows in the distance.

The door to the nurse’s station is thrown open just after dark and Clyde stumbles into the room, limping and holding his sides. He falls to the ground next to Emily and breathes heavily.

The one-eyed girl looks at the wounded boy and hands him a warm root beer. She’s not sure what he went through to get there. It surely wasn’t easy surviving the mess she left him in, but he somehow managed to get through it with only minor injuries.

“Thanks,” he says.

He doesn’t acknowledge what he just went through or blames Emily for any of it. He just opens the can of root beer with a bloody fingernail and drinks half of it in one sip.

“Those things know we’re here,” Clyde says. “We can’t stay in the park for long.”

Emily raises her finger to her lips and hushes him. Then she points at Stephanie to show him that the taffy-skinned girl is asleep. Clyde looks surprised by her presence, as though he didn’t notice her when he came in.

“We’ll have to leave in the morning,” Emily says.

She doesn’t tell him about what happened to Jeep or the helicopter. He doesn’t ask, either. She figures he already knows without needing it explained to him. Or maybe he just doesn’t care.

Clyde nods and says, “The highway will be more dangerous than the amusement park. Are you sure you want to risk it?”

Emily isn’t sure she should have anything to do with the boy. He’s far from loyal and surely doesn’t trust her anymore. But he’s the only one left she can travel with.

“We can make it,” Emily says. She looks him up and down, examining his wounded condition. “You just have to lead the way as I watch for traps.”

Clyde asks, “You want me to be your guinea pig?”

Emily nods. He can tell by the look in her eye that she’s completely serious.

“Those are my conditions,” Emily says. “It’s either that or we split up and you go on by yourself.” Emily gets to her feet, strapping a backpack of food to her shoulder. “But I promise you that you’ll last longer if you have me watching your back, even if you’re the one leading the way.”

Clyde glares at her for a moment and then nods his head. He knows she’s right. There’s no other option available to him, not in his condition. He knows that he has to forget about everything that happened in the past. Even though she got his friends killed and almost got him killed as well, he can’t get emotional about it. He doesn’t have the luxury of being vengeful. Besides, what he did to her friends and classmates wasn’t any different. He had to let it all go.

“Very well,” Clyde says. Then he smiles almost with respect for the much younger girl. “I’ll do everything you say from now on.”

Emily nods her head and moves toward the backroom with the hospital beds. When Clyde follows, she stops him in his tracks.

“Where do you think you’re going?” she asks him.

“To bed,” he says.

She shakes her head and points at the rug by Stephanie’s feet.

“You sleep there,” Emily says.

Clyde looks back at her and lets out a sigh, but he does not protest. He realizes he has become the dog. The only option left to him is to obey. He’s twice the size of Emily and could surely overpower her, force her to do as he says, but that kind of arrangement wouldn’t last for long. She would eventually get away or lead him into a trap that only she could see. It’s in his best interest to let her be in control. At least for now.

As Emily goes into the next room, she looks back and says, “I’ll never be able to trust you again, but I’ll keep you alive if you do as I say.”

Then she digs into the backpack and throws him a ham sandwich with wilted lettuce and warm mayonnaise.

Before she closes the door, she says one last thing: “I’m not like you. I’d never throw away a human life just to save my own.”

But instead of being grateful, Clyde just frowns at her. Just when he thought he respected her, she had to go and say something like that.

“You will,” he says. “If you live long enough.”

In the morning, they say their goodbyes to Stephanie and head out on the highway, avoiding traps and searching for signs of other survivors. They make it to the city and scavenge for food, then spend a few nights at Emily’s house. They sleep in warm beds and heat canned food in the fireplace.

Neither of them speaks to each other more than they need to. Emily collects her father’s poetry books from the attic and reads them by candlelight before bed each night. Every poem reminds Emily of her father. She misses him more than anything. More than her school, her friends, or even the whole of society. She wonders what it would be like if he had survived in this world with her. Perhaps she would be happier and safer, or perhaps she would be too vulnerable, too carefree. The loss of her father made her stronger. Although she wishes more than anything to be with him, she’s not so sure she would last very long by his side.

It takes weeks before they find anyone else. They come across a survivalist family with hunting rifles and military rations who tells them about a camp of survivors far out in the woods. Uniting with other people is both relieving and frightening to Emily and Clyde. The people don’t trust them any more than they trust each other, but they welcome Clyde and Emily all the same.

Out in the woods, there are no traps. They just have to deal with surviving the elements and each other, braving the city only when their supplies run low. But nobody is forced to be guinea pigs as the children were in The Enchanted Forest amusement park. Those who go to the city and brave the traps are chosen by lottery. You only have to risk your neck if you’re unlucky enough to have your number drawn. Except for Emily, who always volunteers to go. She wants to keep as many of them alive as she can. Not because she’s grown attached to any of them, but because she knows that if the human race is going to survive they’re going to need to keep up their numbers.

The adults think Emily’s insane at first but quickly come to respect the young girl. She only gets better at spotting traps with every visit to the city, eventually becoming so proficient that people begin to think she’s invincible, that no trap could ever slip past her eye. Over the years, every survivor across every human settlement comes to know the young pirate girl who can navigate the traps. They move from all over the country to be protected by her. Some even think she’s some kind of savior, sent down from the heavens to keep humanity alive.

When the aliens move in a decade later, they build massive cities across the landscape, burying the remains of human civilization. As Clyde predicted, the wiry creatures who set the traps were not the actual beings intent on colonizing our planet. They were mere drones, programmed to exterminate the local inhabitants. The actual invaders turn out to be even larger than the wiry drones, hundreds of feet tall and weighing thousands of tons each, with blue and red skin, four arms, four eyes, with big ears and long trunks similar to those of an elephant.

Based on their civilization, the aliens don’t look to be much more advanced than humans. Their technology is a few centuries ahead, but they’re just as fat and selfish. They seem driven by greed and lust and self-interest, and don’t care who or what they destroy to get what they want.

“In ways, it’s like we’ve been invaded by ourselves,” Clyde tells Emily the first time they get a look at the alien culture. “If we had their technology we probably wouldn’t have done anything differently.”

Many human tribes start moving inside the buildings owned by the alien creatures, living like mice between their walls. Food is more abundant, tools are easier to steal. New traps are set within the walls, but none of them are useful against the likes of Clyde and Emily. Only the stupidest of humans are killed in the machines, inadvertently improving the human gene pool.

As an adult, Emily becomes the leader of her own tribe. She has many children from many different fathers. The idea of love is lost on a survivor like her. She chooses only the smartest and strongest mates. Clyde is among them, but her feelings for him never change. She never forgives him for what he did to her school friends as a child. But he’s useful and more intelligent than most, so she keeps him around. Their child is one of the most resourceful in their tribe and will most likely replace her as leader someday.

Humans begin evolving in unusual ways. Because survival is so difficult in such a world, the next generation of women gives birth in litters. They grow extra nipples like cats to feed all their young, sometimes numbering in the double-digits. One of Emily’s teenage daughters gives birth to twelve children at once. People also develop a keen sense of hearing, the ability to see in the dark, climb walls with hooked fingernails, store food in cheek pouches.

Emily knows that in a few generations the human race will be no different than the mice that inhabited the walls of her family home when she was a kid. But this thought doesn’t bother her. Humans always were kind of like mice to begin with. They hide in their walls, run through their mazes, and always get caught in traps when trying to get to their cheese. But there’s nothing wrong with being a mouse. A mouse can fit into places other creatures can’t. A mouse can stay very still and move through tall grass without being seen.

But Emily doesn’t plan on being a mouse forever. She and her children have been working on some traps of their own, traps that can kill even the largest of creatures that now inhabit their planet. The aliens might be bigger and smarter than humans, but Emily knows bigger and smarter isn’t always better. The clever can often outwit the smart. And before the end of her life, Emily plans to teach the creatures who wiped out her friends and family that even the smallest of mice can send fear rippling down the spine of the mightiest of elephants.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Carlton Mellick III is one of the leading authors of the bizarro fiction subgenre. Since 2001, his books have drawn an international cult following, despite the fact that they have been shunned by most libraries and chain bookstores.

He won the Wonderland Book Award for his novel, Warrior Wolf Women of the Wasteland, in 2009. His short fiction has appeared in Vice Magazine, The Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror #16, The Magazine of Bizarro Fiction, and Zombies: Encounters with the Hungry Dead, among others. He is also a graduate of Clarion West, where he studied under the likes of Chuck Palahniuk, Connie Willis, and Cory Doctorow.

He lives in Portland, OR, the bizarro fiction mecca.

Visit him online at www.carltonmellick.com

Table of Contents

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Bonus Comic