We went to a plain, non-descript building on the edge of town. It was nestled in the middle of a bland office park, and if the place had been busy earlier in the day, it was pretty much empty by four o’clock on a Saturday. I pulled into a parking space as George whistled in my ear from the backseat.
“Wow. This place looks super-reputable. I have no bad feelings about this at all.”
I saw Ruby shoot him a dark look from beside me. It had been six month since they’d stopped their brief “dating experiment” and while things were still weird at times, I was relieved to see they were acting more like their old selves again. That was one of the reasons I’d wanted them both to come, after all. I was tired of having them bail on plans as soon as they found out the other was going to be there. Besides,
“…it’s going to be really cool, guys. I mean the invite was kind of random, but I checked them out online. Lots of rave reviews. They apparently are at the cutting edge of doing these ‘interactive adventure’ things. Not like that bullshit we went to last year in New York where people just shove you around and scream in your face.” I looked to Ruby for support and she nodded, but her expression was still uncertain as she glanced around the parking lot.
George leaned up to look at the building we were parked at. “Fuck, I hope not. I almost punched that one dude that got…well, that disrespected you.” I watched in the rearview as he glanced awkwardly at Ruby, who gave him a quick smile and nod. Blushing slightly, he opened his door. “Okay, let’s see if this place is even open.”
I started to open the door when Ruby touched my arm. “I’m not trying to be a downer, but are you sure about this? He’s not wrong about it looking sketchy.”
Sighing, I nodded. “I know. But let’s make sure this is the right address, and if it is, we can check out how it looks inside.” I grinned. “If any of us get a bad vibe, the safe word is penguin. We’ll bail.” I opened the door and looked out at George. “Hey dickhead. The safe word is penguin.”
His eyes widened. “Fuck. We need safe words?”
I kept trying to keep control of my nervous excitement as we filled out our questionnaires. This place was fucking awesome. We’d went to the front door, found it unlocked, and entered into a small, plain-looking lobby that contained a sofa, two chairs, and a bored-looking receptionist behind a desk. After we gave them our names, we were immediately escorted through another door into the real office.
It was like something out of a movie. Everything was brightly-lit and clean, with well-dressed people moving to and fro across a large atrium that looked too large and too grand to belong in the office building either aesthetically or physically. A young woman holding a tablet approached us and introduced herself as Swan. She said she’d be our guide and liaison during our adventure, and after we filled out our questionnaires and signed our liability waivers, she’d get started on a brief orientation before the fun began. I glanced at George and Ruby and saw they were as awe-struck as I was. Grinning, I nodded and told her to lead on.
I was working on what had to be the tenth page of the longest form I’d ever filled out when George spoke up beside me.
“So…why us? Or…well, why John? How’d he get picked for…” he gestured around at the softly back-lit walls and clearly expensive furniture of the office we were sitting in, “…all this?”
Swan smiled. “We’ve been doing promotions and testing like this for a number of years in various places around the world. Utilizing collected internet search and expenditure data in conjunction with our own witches’ brew of algorithms, we send out invitations to likely candidates we believe would be interested in what we offer and that can provide useful feedback.”
It was Ruby’s turn to ask a question now. “Yeah, but…all this? In a…no offense…shitty little office park with no signs up? And John, you had to pay what?”
“A hundred bucks a person.” I muttered, glancing between Ruby and Swan with increasing nervousness. It wasn’t that the questions weren’t valid, but I had a gnawing fear that if we asked too many that they would just take away our clipboards and tell us to leave. Instead, Swan just nodded at me before looking back to Ruby.
Ruby was frowning slightly. “A hundred bucks per for what? A super-exclusive multi-night tailored horror experience? Shit, we paid more than that last year to get shoved around in a warehouse while a dude tried to grab my tits.”
The girl chuckled. “I understand. But what you must realize is that the money isn’t of any real consequence. We only charge so we get serious applicants. Weed out the kids and the lookieloos.” Her cheek twitched slightly. “We are still in the testing and research phase for now, so this work is being done for future profitability, not immediate significant recompense.”
I caught Ruby’s eye. “Look, it looks legit and cool so far, right?”
She nodded slowly. “It does, but it’s just…no, you’re right.” Ruby looked back at Swan and gestured at her with her pen. “But you better not harvest our organs or some shit.”
Swan laughed again. “No, no. Nothing as dramatic as all that.”
“Congratulations for being selected to participate in The True Horror Movie Experience. This is your orientation for Night 1.”
“The blue pill you’ve just been given contains an organic and wholly safe combination of natural ingredients that will heighten your creativity and your suggestibility for the next few hours. It is an essential part of your first evening, and must be taken prior to leaving for the event site. This is a mandatory element of the experience, but rest assured, it has been rigorously tested. It has no negative or permanent side effects and will not render you unconscious or unable to control your body.”
“Once you take the pill, please put the provided black hood on and secure it comfortably at the neck. Someone will be by to collect you and take you to the event site.”
To my surprise, neither George nor Ruby argued about the pill, and seeing them both take it, I took my own. It wasn’t until I was in the muted black world of the hood that I heard George speaking beside me again.
“So…um, are you going to tell us anything else? Any rules or…”
Swan’s voice was higher and more distant this time when she cut in. “Oh, no. There are no rules.”
There was more tension when George spoke again. “No rules? Like you mean like the actors are trained to keep us safe? I mean there have to be rules of some kind, right?”
There was no answer.
“Fuck. It won’t start.”
I snickered at George. “Yeah, funny. Best cut it out before Ruby gets in. She’s in no mood after the stupid shit you pulled.”
He glared at me. “I’m not joking. Watch.” I saw him turn the ignition key, but the car didn’t start or even make any complaining noises. “It’s fucking dead, man.”
Ruby opened the back door and got in. “What’s the hold up? Crank that AC. It’s hot as shit out there.” She saw my expression and raised an eyebrow. “What’s wrong?”
“George can’t get it to crank. It doesn’t do anything when he tries.”
She rolled her eyes. “Fuuuck. This is just the best fucking day ever.” George started to apologize again and she raised a finger. “No, don’t even start. I’m hot, my leg hurts, and I know you’re sorry I fell, but if you try to apologize again right now, I’m going to be shitty to you. So just stop.”
George frowned sadly and tried the key again. Still nothing.
“Car service then? John, you’ve got it on your insurance, right?”
I nodded. “Yeah, but no signal out here.” I laughed dryly. “You’re the one that wanted to go way out for our nature hike.”
Ruby flipped me off as she checked her phone. “Me neither. George?”
He shook his head before getting out suddenly to go look under the hood. When he was gone, I looked back at her. “Go easy on him, okay? You know he likes you, and it killed him that you fell when he tried to jump scare you on the trail.”
She sighed. “I know, but it was so stupid. He just needs to think before he does shit.”
I nodded. “Yeah, but he just gets excited about stuff. You know how he is. He’s like a big kid sometimes. And…oh shit. Someone is coming.”
“But who would do something like that? I’m no mechanic, but that engine was torn to shit.”
Errol glanced over at where George was squeezed in next to him on the pick-up’s bench seat. Ruby had opted to sit in the bed, so I was on the other side of George, getting to breathe in the aroma of old tobacco and stale sweat that filled the cab. When our backwoods savior spoke, a sweetly-decaying scent pushed its way past the others. “Kids, most like. They think it’s fuckin’ funny. Little shits come from the other side of the river. The town is only a few miles thataway past the bend, and they come out camping, earning badges or…whatever it is they do. What they wind up doing mostly is raising hell and causing damage to property.” His light green eyes were back on the road now. “Some times I catch one of them.”
When he had first drove up and offered to help, I had noticed that Errol seemed both old and young, especially around the eyes. It was more than just looking tired—he looked used up somehow. Spent. But not now. Now his face was almost glowing as he smiled at some unknown memory. “Catch and correct them. Correct them good and proper.”
Shifting uncomfortably, I decided to change the subject before George asked another question. “Um, this town. Is that where we’re going? Maybe we can get phone service there, or at least a tow.”
Errol licked his lips but didn’t look my way. “No, I have a line you can use at the house. It’s closer, and you won’t find those proper town folk wanting much truck with you if you come rolling into town with me. Our farm isn’t too far now. We’ll have you fixed up soon enough.”
I felt my stomach clinching. This wasn’t right. I didn’t want to piss the guy off, but I’d seen enough movies to know this was going to end with us butchered in his basement. The guy was probably a harmless good Samaritan, but was it worth the risk? Fuck no, it wasn’t.
“Um, actually, I know it’s a hassle. But if you don’t mind, take us on to town, okay? It’ll be easier to get help there, and we’ll be out of your hair quicker too.”
Errol cut his eyes toward me. “You taking liberties with my good nature, boy?”
I raised an eyebrow. “What? I don’t know what you mean.”
“I mean to say that I’m already helping you, and now you’ve decided my help ain’t good enough. Want to go crawl to the city folk, who I’ve already told you ain’t going to help you for shit. Or don’t you trust my word?”
George raised his hands. “Hey, nobody’s saying that, man. We appreciate it. We just need to get to town. That cool with you? You said it’s pretty close anyway, right?”
Errol slammed on the brakes and the truck lurched to a squealing halt. “Get out.”
I put my hand on the door handle, but George was already protesting. “Fuck, man. Chill out. We need the ride, okay?”
The other man had been staring out at the road, but now he swung his gaze around to George, his lips skinned back and his teeth only a couple of inches from George’s face as he snarled. “I said get out of my fuckin’ truck, shitbird. You move or I’ll by God move you.”
I yanked open the door and grabbed George’s arm. “Let’s go. Now.” I glanced past him to Errol. “We meant no disrespect. Thanks for carrying us this far.”
George frowned at me. “No, fuck that…”
I gripped his wrist and pulled harder. “Shut up and get out. We’re going.” Ruby had heard enough to already be out of the truck bed and I saw George glance past me at her before nodding. He barely had a foot on the ground before Errol peeled off, causing George to stumble against me with a curse.
“Fucking red could have run me over.”
I looked at him and shook my head. “You were being a dick and he was creepy as fuck. We’re better…”
“Look, he’s stopping again.”
I glanced at Ruby before following her gaze up the hill. At its summit, Errol had stopped the truck. Maybe he was reconsidering kicking us out after all. Well, too fucking bad. “Look, if he comes back and offers us a ride again, we say no. I don’t trust that fucker.”
Ruby nodded. “I agree. It was already looking like the start of a slasher movie.” George looked funny and then nodded with a laugh. She smiled at him, but it fell away as she glanced back up the hill. “He’s turning around.”
I was already preparing a polite refusal in case he asked to give us a ride again, but the thought faded as I saw him coming back. He was weaving back and forth, and he was driving way too fast if he was going to stop to talk to us. But it didn’t look like he was going to go past either.
It looked like he was aimed right for us.
“Fuck! Run!”
I turned and grabbed Ruby’s arm, starting down the steep shoulder toward the nearby treeline. I looked back and saw that George was only a few feet behind, but as I watched, he stumbled and fell. I nearly turned to go back for him, but the truck was too close and I knew I’d never make it. So instead, I plunged into the trees with Ruby.
“Where’s George? Where is he?”
I shook my head as we pushed further into the trees. “He fell. The truck was coming. I…I didn’t see him get hit. I don’t know what happened.”
She stopped and pulled away. “We have to go back and get him.”
Nodding, looked around. We were at least thirty feet into thick trees now. Errol might come in, but the truck wouldn’t make it very far. “I know. But we have to be careful. Let’s go down some and then cut back toward the road. See if we see him.”
Ruby headed off without another word, and we made good time backtracking parallel to the road before cutting back toward the shoulder. When we got to the edge of the trees, I could see the spot where George had fallen. There was no sign of him, Errol, or the truck now.
“Shit shit shit. He might have taken him! We have to find him!” Ruby’s eyes were wide now, her expression matching the guilt and fear and worry that was churning in my own belly. I gave her a quick hug as she pulled out her phone. Still no signal on hers or mine. We debated going back to the car, but what was the point? It still wouldn’t run and George had the keys. We decided to keep going along the edge of the woods, following the road until we found a sign or someone to help or got a signal back. As we started walking, I realized how low the sun was in the sky now. It would be dark soon.
Ruby’s hand was sweaty in my own as we stepped into the cornfield. It was the first sign of life or people we had seen in over an hour of walking, and while we both knew there was a chance this was Errol’s place, we had to take the risk. It could be that the distant lights we saw across the field belonged to a nice family sitting down to dinner, or at least someone halfway normal that would let us use their phone.
The air was cold as we passed between the green rows of corn, and with each breath, I took in a spiky, earthy scent that made my eyes water. Suddenly, Ruby stopped as her grip on my hand tightened.
“Did you hear something?” Ruby’s voice was low and strained, and in the moonlight I could see how tired and scared she was. “I thought I heard something behind us.”
We both sat silent for several moments, but all I heard was the light rustling of the stalks in the evening breeze that had picked up as we’d made our way through the corn. I finally shook my head. “I don’t hear anything other than the wind.” She listened another couple of seconds and then we started back to walking.
The field sloped downward in the direction we were headed, making it harder to get a clear view of what was in front of us until we were almost out of the field. When we reached the edge, I felt some relief to see a large farmhouse come into view. It was slightly run-down, but there were lights on inside and no indications of anything strange or ominous. I looked around for any signs of Errol, but there was no one visible outside or through the windows we could see, and the only car outside was an old Crown Victoria.
We broke from the corn at a slow run, warily glancing in every direction as we made our way to the front porch and knocked on the door. There was no answer. We knocked again. Then we called out while knocking a third time, letting them know that we had an emergency and just needed a phone. Still nothing. Maybe no one was home, or maybe they just weren’t going to come to the door when a stranger was banging on it at night. Either way, we needed to get inside.
I started looking around for something to break a window when a thought occurred to me. Reaching out, I tried the doorknob and found that it turned easily. I glanced back at Ruby, who shrugged and gave me a shooing gesture to go on in. I called out again as we entered, saying that we were stepping inside if anyone was there, but we only needed to use the phone to call for help. To please not be scared or shoot us. Like before, there was no response. Empty or not, we just needed to hurry, for our sakes and for George’s.
The house was decorated like I would expect an old farmhouse to be decorated—plain, wood furniture, decorations that my mother would call “country”, and…no phones. We moved from the front hall through a living room and a dining room before coming to a large kitchen with a modern stove on one end and an old, iron wood-burning stove on the other. We looked on all the counters and walls, but there was no sign of a phone or even a phone jack. We went back to the front hall, this time going to the right instead of the left. It was a parlor or study of some kind, and while there was an old television in one corner, there was no sign of any phone there either. I was looking along the baseboards for a phone line when Ruby spoke, her voice trembling slightly.
“There…there’s someone out there.”
I stood up and saw she was looking out the parlor window. “Out in the yard? Maybe it’s the owner. We can…”
“No, not in the yard. Across the field. On the far side. I see fire. They’re lighting something on fire.”
I went to stand beside her, and at first I didn’t see anything. But then a flicker of orange caught my eye in the darkness. “What the fuck…” The flame grew bigger, and my first thought was that someone had started a bonfire over there, not far from where we had gone into the corn just a few minutes earlier. My heart began to pound faster. What if it was Errol, still hunting us? And why would anyone…but wait, it wasn’t a bonfire.
It was a person. Someone had set a person on fire.
“Oh God! It’s George! They’re burning George!” Ruby started to move toward the front door and I grabbed her. She was crying now, and it took all my strength to keep hold of her as she struggled. “Let me fucking go. We have to help him.”
My hands were shaking as I held onto her. “We don’t know that. It’s too far away. It could be a dummy for all we know. And…and if it is George, it’s too late to help him anyway.”
She lowered her head and began to cry harder. Looking back to the window, I saw that it wasn’t a dummy after all. It was moving. More than moving, the blazing figure was walking forward, stepping into the corn. My hands fell from Ruby’s arms. That didn’t make sense. How long could someone walk when they were being burned alive?
Ruby was watching beside me now. “What…they’re walking toward the house. How are they still alive? Oh God, they’re coming this way!” Her voice was deep with sadness, but that was being overtaken by a gnawing chord of fear. “They…they’re fucking running this way!”
She was right. The burning figure was silently running through the field, leaving a fiery path of burning corn behind as it raced toward the house. None of it should be possible, none of it made any sense, but as I saw its orange glow approaching, a voice deep in my heart told me the truth that my mind wouldn’t speak:
Possible or not, it was coming for us.
Ruby ran back to the front hall and locked the door before sliding a small chest in front of it as well. Remembering a back door in the kitchen, I went and shoved the kitchen table against it before grabbing us each a knife from a nearby butcher’s block. We met back in the living room, and I was going to ask if we should go upstairs and look for better weapons, but then it was too late.
When the burning thing struck the front door, it began to splinter and char away immediately. The only stairs we knew of were just ten feet from where it was already breaking through, sending streaks of orange light across the faded wallpaper of the front hall. So instead, we began backing away to the dining room.
Ruby grabbed my arm. “The kitchen. We need to get out the back.” Nodding, we turned to run as a flash of orange light painted the interior of the house like a new sun.
It was inside with us now.
We had made it to the kitchen and were pulling the table back from the door when it caught us. I turned as it grabbed Ruby, her flesh beginning to cook immediately as she screamed. Tossing her against a far wall, it reached for me. I ducked back and swiped with my knife, but it only bounced ineffectively off its arm as it grabbed my shoulder. The pain was excruciating, and I could feel my eyes already beginning to boil from the heat radiating off of it as I stared into its face.
It was George. Or at least it looked like him. Parts of his face were gone already, but he was burning so slowly I could still see enough to know. I wanted to ask him why or how or tell him I was sorry, but the air was already cooking my lungs. But somehow, even in the midst of that flame, he was able to speak.
“Why did you leave me?”
I jerked in my chair, squinting at the white lights overhead. What the fuck…where was I? I looked around and saw Ruby and George were sitting next to me. And there was that girl…Swan? What was…I numbly took a cup of water that Swan offered to me.
“Drink up. The first time there’s a bit of cotton-mouth.”
I drank the water even as George threw his to the floor. “What the fuck was that? What the fuck was that?”
Swan chuckled. “I take it you had a memorable first adventure.”
George stood up, towering over the seated woman. “Adventure? What the fuck are you talking about lady? What did you do to us?”
Frowning, the woman gestured to his chair. “Please sit back down. As you can see, you’re unharmed. You’ve just been given the gift of an experience that would kill most people with none of the negative consequences. And this, of course, was just the introduction. The tutorial, if you will.” George reluctantly sat down again as she grinned and looked at us each in turn. “The future events are bound to be even more stimulating.”
Ruby crushed her empty cup as she gave a small laugh. “Lady, you have to be batshit to think we’re ever going to do that again. Or anything like that. I don’t know how you did any of it, and I also don’t care. I just want to never go through anything like that again.” She looked at me. “Penguin. Fucking penguin.”
I nodded. “Agreed.”
It was after midnight before I got into bed. The three of us had been strangely quiet on the way back, though we’d agreed to meet the next day and talk through everything. For now, we were all just too exhausted, and when my head finally did hit the pillow, I was fast asleep.
Until I woke up a short while later to the woman back in my bedroom. This time she was sitting on my bed, gently shaking me awake. I looked up, first startled and then terrified as the sight of her brought back my memories of the night before.
“What…”
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Credits
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