Dark Ride

by Iain Rob Wright

  “I’m heading out. I don’t care how long it takes me to find the road, but I’m leaving.”

  “Are you insane?” AJ checked his watch. “It’s ten at night. It’ll be midnight by the time you reach the road, and then what? You’re going to, what, get a taxi to take you sixty miles home? It’ll cost an arm and a leg.”

  Greg stood and faced him. “Better than spending the night with that bitch.”

  “That’s your girlfriend, man. You and Ash love each other. She’s just a bit pissed.”

  “Yeah, tell me about it. I wish I could say it was a one-off.”

  “What d’you mean?”

  “I mean she gets like this at least once a week and I’m sick of it. All she ever does is give me shit.”

  AJ needed to take a moment. He had never expected things to go this way. These were his friends. This was supposed to be a great time they would all remember. It was all going wrong. “Look, man, is something going on with you two? What is it with all the little digs she keeps making? Or how cold you’re being with her?”

  Greg seemed to shrivel with embarrassment. He tried to shrug it off but he couldn’t. “We’ve lost a bit of our spark in the bedroom, that’s all. What’s the big deal? Things fade.” He sighed as though he was unbearably tired. “Maybe Ashley has a high sex drive, or something, and I can’t keep up with her.”

  AJ nodded, but he didn’t know what to think. “Okay, well, can’t you two just make up? There’s no reason to fall out after a few harsh words.”

  Greg turned and kicked at the boards. An icy breeze whipped through the gap and harried AJ’s ankles. Strange, because it had felt mild outside before they’d entered.

  “Just calm down. What’s got into you?”

  “I just… I don’t think I’m in love with Ashley any more.” He turned back to face AJ. “I just don’t—” He stopped mid-sentence and looked past AJ.

  AJ turned to see what Greg was looking at and saw Ashley standing there, holding a lantern. The harsh white glow made her look like a ghoul, and the haunted look in her eyes made it even more so. She shook her head in disbelief. “I… I came to apologise.”

  Greg groaned. “Ash, just wait a second, okay?”

  Ashley turned and fled back into the other room. AJ started after them but stopped in his tracks. The hairs on the back of his neck stood up.

  Something was wrong.

  Not with Ashley or Greg. Something was wrong with the room. AJ picked up the lantern he had left in the centre of the room and raised it up to shoulder height. He crept towards the doorway, moving his eyes in every direction until his brain finally figured out what was amiss.

  Then the answer came to him.

  The druid statue had gone.

  The creepy old man was missing. He hoped it was another one of Greg’s jokes.

  Chapter Fourteen

  AJ heard screaming, but it wasn’t enough to make him move. He was transfixed on the spot where he was sure – positive – that the animatronic druid had stood. They had all seen it. Ashley had touched its face.

  He’s so lifelike.

  But now it was gone.

  The screaming in the next room continued as Greg and Ashley no doubt went at one another. Breaking up even. AJ couldn’t believe it. His friends. But Greg and Ashley’s relationship problems were not his chief concern right now.

  What had happened to the druid?

  Was it another of Greg’s pranks? Where had he taken it? And when?

  The screaming continued. It had been going on too long now to ignore. His mind conjured images of Greg beating on Ashley, or Ashley raking Greg’s eyes. It was too much to bear.

  AJ finally got moving. He stepped back into the other room and saw the others gathered around the campfire. It wasn’t Greg and Ashley screaming at one another, but everyone screaming together and at once.

  AJ hurried to Samantha’s side and shook her. “What is it?”

  She glanced at him but didn’t seem to see him. Her eyes were open wide and staring right past him. Eventually, she was able to nod in the direction of the fishing boats. Look.

  AJ turned. The light from the lanterns only just reached the fishing boats, which was why his eyes detected only shapes and shadows at first. Nothing easily, immediately identifiable. Just movement. It took him a while to realise he was watching rats scurrying. Hundreds of them. The rodents lined up along the edge of the platform, almost like they were queuing to go on the ride. Except they were facing the wrong way. They were facing AJ and the others. The light reflected off their beady black eyes like a night full of stars.

  “W-What do they want?” Ashley managed to ask. She clutched her heavy camera as though it were a shield.

  It was Ben who answered. “Th-They’re rats. The only thing they care about is eating and shagging.”

  “They ain’t doing either one to me,” said Greg.

  The rats didn’t move. They just perched on their back feet, watching like sentries. Would they attack? If they did, there was enough of them to create a swarm. AJ’s mind whirled, trying to answer the question of whether or not people had ever been eaten alive by rats. His rational mind kept shouting no. Another part of him whispered more horrifying answers.

  “Everyone, back up slowly,” said Greg. “I think we’re being told to leave. This is clearly their turf.”

  They began to shuffle for the exit, but a sudden clunk made them stop.

  “Guys, I’m stuck!” The small front wheel of Ben’s chair had wedged against the wine bottle Greg had kicked across the floor.

  “Hold on, let me help.” Carefully, AJ knelt and removed the bottle.

  “Thanks. Been a really nice weekend, man. We’ll have to do this again.”

  AJ nodded, not knowing what else to do. The rats were still standing in a line. They could have been puppets if not for their beady, reflective eyes.

  “This is so fucked up,” AJ muttered.

  “Just keep moving,” said Greg.

  They shuffled along in a group, backing up towards the doorway. AJ’s mind was still on the missing druid, but he told himself that Greg must have messed with it. No other explanation.

  Maybe the goddamn horde of rats moved him.

  Samantha passed through the doorway first, with Tasha right behind her, but before Tasha could follow, the rats burst into a chorus, a cacophonous screeching coming from every tiny snout. A bloodcurdling sound.

  Tasha stopped and covered her ears. “What are they doing?”

  The rats screeched louder.

  “I don’t know,” said Ben. “Just get the hell out of here, sis.”

  Tasha went to make a move.

  The rats shattered. That’s how AJ would have described it. One second, they were bunched up in an orderly line, the next they were shattering in every direction. Their screeching continued, urgent and panicked now. Were they afraid?

  If so, of what?

  Samantha shouted from the other room. “Tasha! Come on.”

  Tasha nodded and snapped free of her shock. “Okay, I’m coming, I’m come—”

  Thorny vines whipped out of nowhere and snaked around the doorway, knitting inwards and obstructing the exit. One vine lashed out at Tasha, sending her backwards clutching her face. She moaned as her fingertips came away bloody. A thin gash ran from her right eye to her chin.

  The rats surrounded them.

  Ashley threw herself against Greg, who lost his footing and stumbled into Ben’s chair, knocking it over. Ben spilled onto the ground, knocking over an LED lantern that rolled away on its side, casting spinning shadows across the ceilings and walls. “Ah, shit!”

  AJ stood frozen in shock.

  An arm burst through the vines and grabbed for him. It was Samantha, trapped alone in the other room. AJ grabbed her hand and tried to pull her through the vines, but the plant matter was too thick. He could barely see her through all the leaves and thorns.

  “AJ, I can’t get through. What’s happening?” She squeezed his hand d
esperately. Her wide eyes peered through the narrow gaps still remaining but closing fast.

  “Sam! Sam, I’m going to get to you.”

  “Shit, someone help me,” Ben called out. He was panicking, yelling in pain. A dozen rats swarmed over him, nipping at his face and hands as he tried to beat them away. Already he was covered in his own blood. “H-Help me!”

  AJ grabbed one of the rats and yanked it off his friend. It was fat and hairy, the size of a man’s fist, and it hissed at him as he stared into its evil little eyes. AJ tossed the rodent into the air. “Get the hell out of here!”

  Greg stamped on another rat that Ben knocked to the ground. The sound of its spine snapping was harrowing – the sound of something dying.

  Tasha, Ashley, Greg, and AJ all worked together, stamping, kicking, and pulling at the vicious creatures trying to eat their friend, filling the air with blood and the sound of breaking spines. It was sickening in every sense, but Ben was relying on them to save him. He was defenceless against so many sharp teeth.

  Greg grabbed Ben’s chair and righted it while AJ grabbed Ben under the arms and lifted him back in. Once upright, he was able to roll back out of danger.

  A lone rat rushed towards Ashley. She shrieked and cowered. against her chest. Accidentally, the flash on her camera went off. It dazzled the rodent, and gave AJ time to boot the creature into the air.

  The remaining rats scurried away.

  Ben looked at the bleeding gashes all over his gloved hands and arms as though he couldn’t believe it. “AJ, what’s happening?”

  AJ hurried to the doorway. He could still make out Samantha on the other side, but only just. She stared back at him in terror, and she was forced to pull her arm out of the tightening vines.

  A shadow moved behind her, a darkness that seemed to grow and grow. The more it grew, the tighter the vines got, until there was nothing left to see but leaves and thorns.

  “Sam! Sam, there’s something in there with you.”

  “What? AJ, what’s happening?”

  “You’re not alone in there!”

  Samantha screamed in terror.

  AJ clawed at the vines, trying to force his way through. The thorns whipped him, slicing at the flesh of his cheeks, possibly aiming for his eyes – as if plants could attack with intent. He had no choice but to back off. “Sam! Damn it, Sam!”

  She screamed again, but this time it was his name. “AJ!”

  Greg bumped up against AJ, shaking his head in utter fear and confusion. The expression looked wrong on someone so strong and powerful. “What’s going on? What’s got Sam?”

  AJ stared at the vines, wishing he had laser eyes that could burn them all away. “The druid.”

  “What?”

  “The druid statue. Did you mess with it, Greg?”

  Greg frowned and shook his head. “No, I never touched it. What are you saying?”

  Samantha’s screams faded into nothingness, despite their being nowhere for her to go. AJ shook his head, tears in his eyes. “It’s alive.”

  Greg stared at him. “What is?”

  “The ride.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  Ben was in pain, so Tasha was fussing over him. His wounds looked worse than they were, though, and AJ could tell just from looking that the bites were more painful than they were deep. Most of the blood came from the meat of Ben’s palms, and he had spread it all over himself as he had tried to fight off the rats, but luckily his gloves had prevented the wounds from going too deep. The green nylon was stained red.

  Rats. Did we really just get attacked by rats?

  AJ stood staring at the vines covering their way out. They were so thick now that it was as though no doorway had ever existed. Each vine was sinewy and thick, more like a limb than part of a plant. Since Samantha’s screams had faded, there had been only a tense, bewildered silence. Everyone wanted to talk about what had just happened, but no one had any words to start the conversation. No one could make sense of it. The only thought crystallising clearly in AJ’s mind was that this was all his fault.

  Everyone is here because of me. I knew coming here would be dangerous.

  But I never expected this.

  Still my fault. All my fault.

  AJ moved away from the vines, no longer able to face looking at them. He went over to Ashley, who was nearest, and put a hand on her arm. She flinched, then smiled, although it barely qualified as such. “Oh, you made me jump.”

  “You okay, Ash?”

  “I don’t understand what’s going on. This… this isn’t happening, right? It’s a joke. Are you setting us up or something?”

  AJ wished he could tell her something comforting, but all he could say was, “It’s happening.”

  “Okay, then my next question is: what exactly is happening?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “This place is haunted,” said Tasha, peering over her shoulder as she fussed with her brother’s injuries. “That’s what’s happening. I warned you all. I knew I shouldn’t have ignored my instincts.”

  “Calm down, sis.” Ben leant forward and took her hand in his, smearing his blood onto her skin. “We’ll figure this out.”

  Tasha shook her head with an expression that suggested she appreciated his words but didn’t believe them for one moment. “You were just attacked by rats, Ben. Rats! You might be dead of tetanus by the end of the week. Unless we die tonight.”

  “No one is dying,” said AJ, and realised he meant it with every fibre of his being. “I don’t know what the hell is going on, but we’re going to get Sam, and we’re getting out of here.”

  “You said the ride was alive,” said Greg. It was part mocking and part questioning. He clearly hoped AJ had answers that would make sense. He didn’t.

  It was time for him to mention what he’d seen. He looked at Greg, but he had to will the words to come out of his mouth. “When Ashley interrupted you and me talking in the other room, I noticed the druid statue was gone. If no one here messed with it, then it moved on its own.”

  Everyone stood silently, digesting what he had just said. None admitted to moving the statue, but Ashley glared at Greg. “More of your stupid pranks?”

  Greg looked at her with all seriousness. “I swear on my mother’s grave, I didn’t touch that statue. I never moved it.”

  Ashley shook her head as if she didn’t believe him, but then she cupped her face in one of her hands and moaned. “I told you that thing was lifelike.”

  Ben cleared his throat. “You think it might’ve been an actual person? Some psycho that lives here?”

  “No, of course not,” said Ashley. “Of course not…” But then she seemed to give it some thought. “Maybe. It felt real.”

  Tasha had popped one of her dreads into her mouth, but she pulled it out now. “Maybe it’s the guy who murdered everyone. I told you his spirit could be stalking this place.”

  “Or he never died in the first place,” said Ashley.

  “It’s not Donal McCann,” said AJ. “He burned here along with everyone else. He’s dead. They identified his body. Even his work ID and walkie-talkie.”

  Ben pulled off his half-eaten, blood-soaked gloves and tossed them on the ground. “Maybe he’s not so dead after all. If he worked here, he might have been planning to fake his own death or something.”

  “Look,” said AJ, “when people burn to death in a fire, they don’t just turn to ash. They leave bones. The police would’ve known how many bodies there were. Also, Saxon Hills, and this ride in particular, once repaired, continued to operate for months after the accident. Donal McCann is dead, trust me.”

  “But he died here,” said Tasha, “which means his spirit could still be here.”

  Ashley hugged herself. “Don’t! Don’t freak me out, T.”

  “Yeah,” said Greg, putting his arm around her. “No more ghost talk. Whatever is going on here, it isn’t that.”

  Ashley shrugged off Greg’s arm and went and stood beside AJ. “Wha
t happened to Sam?” she demanded. “It sounded like something grabbed her. You think it was the old man in the other room?”

  AJ shrugged. He couldn’t prove it, but his mind kept whispering to him that the druid statue had come to life and taken Samantha. Either that, or the statue had never been a statue at all. Could someone really have been living there?

  Living here with a swarm of bloodthirsty rats?

  Everyone was looking at AJ because he hadn’t answered Ashley’s question. She asked it again. “What happened to Sam?”

  “I don’t know. But I’m going to find out.”

  Thinking fast, he moved over to Greg’s portable campfire. The small metal bowl was filled with coals and connected to a mini propane canister. AJ placed his hand beneath the bowl – then hissed at his own stupidity when it burned him. Rethinking, he grabbed the propane canister and dragged the bowl along by the connected pipe. He went slowly, making sure not to tip the bowl and spill the coals.

  “What are you doing?” Greg asked irritably.

  “Making us an exit.” He was about to move the burning coals against the vines when the room flooded with light. A howling wind escaped from the tunnel ahead of the trains and whipped at their clothes and hair. It was like being breathed on by God.

  The flame above the coals flickered out.

  “Damn it!” AJ fiddled with the ignition, trying to bring back the flames so he could set fire to the vines.

  But the wind kept blowing. Kept howling.

  Greg grabbed AJ by the shoulder. Once again his pain returned, reminding him that he was hurt. “AJ, forget it. Something’s happening.”

  AJ stood up, grunting with frustration. He was forced to blink at the sudden onslaught of light, and when he looked up at the ceiling, he saw several glowing crystal formations – theming designed to disguise the lightbulbs inside and make the cave seem more ‘otherworldly’.

  “The power’s back on,” said Ben, turning his chair slightly and looking around. “You think maybe Sam turned on the—”

  AJ cut him off. “Sam didn’t do this.”

  Everyone stood in silence while the world lit up around them. The fishing boats rocked on their tracks as hidden gears engaged. A halo of light shone down on them and the sound of nature erupted. Birds chirped. Distant wolves howled. A malicious voice whispered, over and over again: Freeennnnzzzy.