10. Tess
TESS
My eyes were still adjusting to the darkness as I sprinted down the cobblestone paths.
All I needed to do was get back to that hole in the fence.
The park was pitch-black, owls and coyotes sounding off in the dark abyss.
The soles of my shoes pounded into the stones, echoing off. It would be a dead giveaway if I couldn’t reach my exit before my time ran out.
As my lungs burned, I tried not to think about what would happen if they caught me.
I’d already run past the macabre stuffed animals they called decor. Ropes wrapped around their soft little necks at each booth in what used to be Prize Alley. Some of them had rough, twine stitches connecting their heads to their torsos.
Even from our brief conversation, I knew these Freaks were smart — albeit disturbed. They would know that I was heading back where I came from.
When I reached the Noir Nights section, the last place I remembered before these psychos knocked me out, I started to retrace my steps. I wasn’t exactly sure which section of the park I’d entered through.
But through the fading haze of whatever drug they’d given me, I was starting to remember which way I’d run from.
If I was going the right direction, five minutes would be plenty of time to put distance between me and the clown-masked Freaks chasing after me.
Tonight, I was noticing just how defunct Feverpoint had really become.
It was vibrant and fun when I was younger.
Rides running all day and night. But now, it was overgrown, huge weeds trying to reclaim it as part of the forest. Storefronts were faded, paint chips littering the ground and notches in the wood posts.
Every intersection, I used the lichen-covered street signs to guide me to the back section of the park. Just as I was entering Carnival Chaos, where all Feverpoint’s most dizzying rides were left to rot, my feet skidded to a halt.
Overhead, the streetlamps flashed green five times. The whole park washed in a rich viridian glow for a few brief moments.
I flinched as metal gears grinded all around me. Flashing, colorful lights came from each ride, as they churned to life. The streetlights stayed dark, keeping my path in shadow. But the rainbow bulbs on the circular spaceship ride splashed bright color across the park.
“What the fuck?” I couldn’t stop the question from leaving my lips, even if I needed to stay quiet.
How is any of this shit still running?
From the looks of it, every part of the theme-park was powered up. I could hear the rattle of the wooden roller coasters at the edges of Feverpoint. The train of cars ran automatically across the tracks.
Automated. All of the rides.
“Shit.” I’d stopped for too long, gawking at this stupid spectacle and losing precious seconds of my lead.
I pushed off the cobblestone and down a gravel path toward the chainlink fence. When I reached it, I let my hand run along the interwoven metal. I didn’t remember exactly where the hole was but hopefully I’d be able to find it.
My heart sank in my chest when I heard the hoots and hollers from my captors across the park.
Their voices rang out across the abandoned park.
It wasn’t words, just primal warnings that they were on their way.
But what followed was worse.
A deadly silence, only broken by the whirring of the rides and the thrum of the carnival music over the speakers.
I felt like my chest might explode.
And then my hand shifted, the fence parting under the pressure.
“Fucking got it.”
But looking past the fence, all I could see was a dark forest.
I could run — not stop until I saw lights.
I might make it.
And then what? Make it back to what?
Couch surfing. Shitty parties. Horrible guys. Asking favors.
It was dangerous out there. Maybe just as dangerous as it was in here with these Freaks. Maybe Nash, Blade, and Cyrus were just more honest about what danger they posed.
Shaking my head, I knew the truth.
I needed that money. And they had it to offer.
It was enough to change my life, to start over somewhere far away from this cursed town. A place that had ruined my life a few times already.
Looking down at the chainlink fence, I dropped it and turned back toward the lights of Feverpoint.
I need to find a place to hide.