Chapter 27
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Rex
I heard Lila scream and knew she was in trouble.
Yeah, she could’ve been screaming at one of the actors who’d jumped out at her. This was a Halloween event, after all. Guys with fake knives and even chainsaws were roaming around, trying to terrify people. But this was different. A Daddy just knows. And I knew that my babygirl was in trouble.
So, I ran toward the sound that had cut through all the other and made it through the sea of people in time to see Lila and Trish running away, being chased by three guys.
Oh, hell no. I didn’t know who those assholes were, but there was no way they were going to scare Lila or Trish or anyone else for that matter.
The one closest to me was a stocky guy who was having trouble keeping up with the other two. I’m not the fastest runner. I’m in good shape, but I’m a big guy. Even muscles and a six-five frame slow you down when you’re trying to sprint. But I didn’t have any trouble catching up to him.
Reaching out, I took hold of the back of his collar and yanked back hard.
“Hey!” He said something else, but I couldn’t make it out. And he wasn’t in the mood to talk much more after that, because I kicked out his right knee and sent him to the ground in a howl of pain.
One down. Two to go.
Up ahead, the girls ran through a barricade and blew past a sign that read EMPLOYEES ONLY. There weren’t any workers around to stop them. Or security to help. They were probably all too distracted by the big group from the tram to notice someone going off the beaten path.
Lila and Trish kept going and they were moving so fast that it was hard to see them, especially as things got darker the farther away from the crowd we got.
But I caught a glimpse of them a few moments later because they were up high.
What were they doing?
Then it hit me: the Psycho house.
The decaying wooden Gothic Revival house from the movie, sitting high on a hill, stairs leading up to it, was right ahead.
Lights were pointed at it, no doubt setting the eerie Halloween mood, showing its wraparound porch and steep gabled roof. Was it a haunted attraction? Could someone go inside it?
I was about to find out because that’s what my babygirl and Trish were about to try. At least, that’s what I thought they were up to. They disappeared in the deep shadows of the front porch. Still on the bottom section of stairs built into the hillside, I was too far back to see any more detail.
But I could see the two assholes chasing them. I was gaining on them, too.
They wouldn’t get away.