Page 37 of Hell's Fear

The key would literally float to the top of the first tube, across the top of the door, and then drop to the bottom. Once at the bottom of the furthest pipe, it would have to re-float to the top as the fluid dripped into the piping. It was pretty obvious what we had to do.

“Get going, guys,” Bunny ordered as she sat down.

Jase and Darkness filled the pistols up, ran to the door, emptied them into the bowl, and raced back. They passed them to Calamity and Pyro, who repeated their actions before Ramirez and Chance took a turn. And then they started all over again.

“Is that not refilling?” Rosie questioned, pointing at the bucket.

Bunny and I watched. Rosie was correct. The blood flow had slowed.

“Squeeze a body,” Bunny suggested.

“You!” I snapped.

Bunny rolled her eyes and reached for the nearest body. She squeezed tightly, and the blood flow increased in the tube.

“Wonderful!” I squealed. “I’m not hugging dead bodies.”

“Clio, they’re not real,” Rosie stated.

“Not touching them. Chance, swap with me; I’ll run back and forth,” I demanded.

Chance laughed. “Baby, you hate exercise.”

“I loathe corpses more!” I exclaimed.

“It’s okay, we can squeeze while we wait,” Ramirez said, and Chance frowned at him.

“Clio’s married to me and got my kids!” Chance stated, and Ramirez roared with laughter.

“You think we don’t all know you pissed on and around Clio? Dude, you pee on her daily!” Ramirez teased as I beamed at him—Chance did have a slight issue with possessiveness.

“Shut the fuck up and hug that body,” Chance snarled, and we all laughed.

By the time the key dropped into the opposite tube, everyone but Jase and Calamity were hanging on to bodies. (Of course, I wasn’t either).

Calamity and Jase raced back and forth until the key popped up. Calamity reached up, grabbed the float attached to it, and yanked it through.

Then we opened the door and escaped.

“I should have stopped two rooms ago!” I wailed as I peered around. We were all stood on a thin ledge in the new area.

A pig’s head hung above the door, which was set back from it. From the pig’s mouth spilt a waterfall of red fluid. There was nothing between us and the door apart from a river of blood.

“Fall into the blood river, and your life is forfeit,” an announcement said.

“Let’s not wade through it,” Chance muttered sarcastically, rolling his eyes.

“There’s a stack of poles and metal planks over here,” Jase called from a corner.

“Can you see anywhere to fit the poles?” Pyro asked as we all searched.

“Here!” Calamity called after a couple of minutes. He was crouched over the edge of the ledge with Chance holding on to his tee.

“Huh?” I inquired.

“The poles fit in here, and I guess we have to build a bridge without falling in. There’re some stepping stones. I bet the poles reach them, and we put the slats in place to cross the room,” Calamity explained.

Jase and Pyro held the poles out. “They’re not long enough. And they’re all different lengths.”

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