Page 47 of Possess Us
My mouth dries, and panic swells in my chest.
A couple steps into his room and stop, giggling as they see him. They cover their mouths, grinning in anticipation of what he’s going to do. Scare actors will chase or charge at them. They can yell and make them jump.
But that is not a scare actor. Not anymore.
Kai slowly turns to face the couple. The girl dressed as a cheerleader. The guy is a zombie.
Kai stands tall, his enormous biceps tense and his chin high as they face one another.
The girl playfully hides behind her boyfriend. Tense is an understatement. I have no idea what Kai is now, except evil.
Well, I suppose he was always that. But these demons feed themselves on our suffering.
Lust. Pain. They slaughtered dozens. Hundreds! They swore each one deserved it, that each soul they claimed was marked for Hell anyway.
How many teenagers are already marked for Hell in this house?
I yell as Kai lunges for the guy. But he only grabs his wrist. The guy staggers back, nervous but still smiling.
Until he starts to judder and shake. Until he doubles over. I see his face contorted in pain as he clutches his middle. As he claws at his throat. The girl starts to scream, trying to separate the two. She’s as effective as a feather trying to knock down a wall.
The screen flickers again. I rush towards it, as if getting closer will make the image come back. The seconds which pass feel like an eternity.
They return. The guy is slowly straightening up. The girl is backing away.
When Kai lets him go, the guy charges, launching himself at his girlfriend and ripping at her throat with his fucking teeth. She is screaming. I can’t hear her, but I see it. I also know the blood and flesh he rips away is very fucking real.
She falls to the floor, struggling to push him off. He just keeps going, tearing and ripping at her. When she is down, he sits over her, straddling her weakly thrashing body.
The door of the security room opens, and a guy staggers into the room, clearly drunk. He’s made it look as though half his body has been burned. The right side of his T-shirt and trousers are scorched. He’s wearing impressive prosthetics to give the effect of melted skin.
‘Cool costume,’ he says, looking me up and down.
‘Thanks. Y-you too,’ I reply.
‘You went a tad OTT with the blood if you don’t mind me saying. Makes it unrealistic.’
Unrealistic.Right.
He looks around before standing beside me, spotting what I’m looking at.
We watch as the zombie plunges his hands into the cheerleader's gut, splitting her open as she screams and struggles beneath him. Blood spills from her stomach, his wrist deep inside her.
When he pulls out her intestine and starts eating it, I step back, as if to distance myself from the horror.
‘Whoa,’ the guy beside me says. ‘That’s super realistic.’ He nudges me with his elbow and laughs, heading to the next door. ‘This carnival is awesome!’
He leaves, laughing as he goes.
Mouth open, I look back at the screen.
Zombie boy is still chowing down on his dying girlfriend, who still cries beneath him.
Kai is nowhere to be seen.
I spin on my heel and sprint back out the door I came from, running as fast as possible towards the exit. I slam myself against it.
The door won’t budge.
