“Right,” I breathe out with a nod. Only what I remember was so much more than a chase. I remember getting absolutely ravaged, and my body is still feeling it. Which is crazy. If what I thought actually happened last night, there would be physical evidence of it right? My fingers check the skin on my neck again, just in case. Nothing. Just smooth, regular skin.
Weird.
“Boo!” A clown jumps out at us from behind a tree and I instinctively grab onto Audrey’s arm.
“Jesus Christ!” She says, grabbing at her chest. “No wonder they make us sign a waiver. I bet someone has died from a fucking heart attack here from all the jumpscares.”
“I bet you’re right,” I say, letting her pull me along while the creepy clown covered in blood watches us walk past. It lunges at us as we get close, and the both of us take off running.
“It should be illegal to have to run this early!” She says panting.
“We could have been at the beach, but no!” I snap back at her, in desperate need of coffee and some food to settle my stomach.
Thankfully, we get to the mess hall with no other incidents. It’s a dilapidated looking building in desperate need of repair. One strong storm though here might be enough to knock the thing down, unless the look their going for is an aesthetic reason to scare the shit out of us. In which case, mission achieved. I feel unsafe as fuck even opening the door.
It creeks on its hinges as we pull the faded green door open, resembling a soft scream. It makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. The interior is dark, but there’s the familiar scent of bacon wafting in the air, beckoning us in.
“Hello?” I call out, eyes trying to adjust to the lack of light.
The door slams shut behind us, making us jump. Audrey grabs my arm, which surprises me. She’s usually so calm and collected.
“In here, dearies,” a disembodied voice calls out to us, sounding far away.
Audrey and I look at each other. Her eyebrows are pulled together in a look I’ve only seen when she’s freaked out. And it takes a lot to get her to that level. Great.
Her grip is tight about my arm as we walk farther into the dim space. From what I can see, there are several rows of tables and benches with a flickering fluorescent light buzzing from what looks like the kitchen.
Then in the corner, a frail looking woman hunched over what looks like a boiling cauldron is beckoning to us with a crooked finger, wearing drab, patched up gray colored clothing that covers most of her features.
“Breakfast?” she asks, her voice sending a chill down my spine. There’s a malicious edge in her tone, as if she’s not offering us something to eat, but offering us our demise. Any huger I’d been feeling is gone in an instant. It’s shriveled up and forgotten the moment I look down into the boiling cauldron.
Worms, eyeballs, and green ooze wriggles as if it’s alive.
My skin crawls as the woman scoops up a heap of the concoction, placing it into a clear bowl. It sloshes over the rim, sliding over her wrinkled gray skin. A worm splats onto the table below, inching its way towards us and leaving a wet line behind. As I stare on in horror, what looks like a decapitated head risesto the surface, eyes missing and jaw open in a silent scream. Its skin is sloughed off, exposing bone from the cheeks up.
Audrey’s nails dig into the flesh on my forearm, hard enough to leave moon shaped indents. I glare at her and see her face has gone ashen as she stares into the bubbling mess before us.
It takes all of five seconds for my brain to catch up to my body, causing the visual input to process enough that my feet are running for the exit in a blind panic. Those grubby worms and half decayed head are going to haunt my dreams— I just know it. Aubrey’s nails are still attached to my arm as I yank her away in the opposite direction.
I’m so consumed with getting away that I don’t see the mountain of a man blocking my getaway. My chest slams into his muscular plane. I feel his large arms wrap around my back. The smell of oak and sandalwood envelops me. Pressed up against his large body, I feel small, which is a big deal because I’m considered a tall girl, measuring at five feet, nine inches. Looking up, he’s easily encroaching on seven feet.
“Woah, you alright?” his deep voice growls out, his lips pulling into a smile over his teeth. My eyes track his attractive face, but stall at the prominent canines protruding from his mouth. They puncture ever so gently into his plush bottom lip and for some reason a spot on my neck throbs, along with my clit. I flush all over and feel pulled to this stranger in a way that confuses me.
“Yeah. Sorry,” I say feeling my heart hammer hard behind my chest. His nostrils flare and his pupils seem to dilate so much that his electric green eyes turn as black as a shark’s. Those have to be contacts, I decide. There’s a hum of danger in the air zapping between us, but there’s also an undercurrent of deadly attraction that surges right to my core. A part of me feels like I distantly recognize him, but that sensation is quelled quicklywhen I remember exactly where I am. I couldn’t possibly know him. Right?
“Lydia, let’s go!” Audrey says firmly, pulling on my arm.
I half forgot she was even there, because I’m too entranced by the man who still has his arms locked around me, holding me as if I belong there.
“I—” words fail me as Audrey pulls me again and my feet follow, making the stranger drop his hold. We skirt past his large frame, barely squeezing through to open the door and spill out into the humid morning air.
“What the fuck was that?” Audrey questions sounding out of breath. Her usually calm demeanor has been discarded and turned over for someone I don’t recognize. She pulls at her blonde hair and her eyes dart around searching as if she’s looking for the next threat. “Where the fuck are we supposed to get some food?”
“I don’t?—”
“And what was with you and that guy, Lyd? He looked ready to maul you half to death.”
“Looked like it would be a good way to go, though,” I find myself saying, shocking Audrey and myself. Making us both laugh.
