Page 26 of Hell's Fear

Shee growled but hopped up on the platform, which lit up.

‘Game on,’ the words flashed.

Two panels directly in front of me glowed with words. “GremlinsandThe Exorcist,” I read out.

“That’s random,” London muttered.

“Nope, the screen will give us a question and Fanatic has to step on the correct answer. I suspect if he gets the answer wrong, Shee pays a penalty,” Bobby said.

“The clue is: which film was set in Washington DC…” Sallie read.

“Exorcist,” London said immediately.

“No doubt there. Step on it Fanatic,” Bobby ordered.

I held my breath as I stepped on it and it went green. Another two hexagons opened up.

“How were witches killed in England?” Dana read out.

“I’ve got hung and burned. I’m sure they were hanged in England,” I said.

“No, I think they were burned,” Ezra disagreed. After a few minutes of debate, I was outvoted, and I stepped onto the burned hexagon. Sirens wailed, a red light flashed, and Shee yelled as the floor dropped, and he disappeared down a chute.

“Holy shit!” London shouted as he raced over. The panel Shee had stood on reset and locked into place.

“Oh, crap!” Trip exclaimed.

‘Next sacrifice,’ the screen demanded with a flash.

“I’ll go,” Ezra offered. “Just get the questions right!”

I was four squares away from the other side when we got the question wrong, and Ezra disappeared with a shout.

“Crap, we’re two down,” London growled out.

“Come on, let’s finish!” Dana ordered, seemingly unconcerned by Ezra’s chute incident.

Amused, I wondered what Ezra would say if he knew how unbothered Dana was.

Finally, I crossed safely, and the room glowed green, opening the door.

Trip began stomping across when he stepped on a wrong panel.

With a cry, Trip dropped through the floor.

“Stay on the right answers!” Sallie shrieked. One by one they reached me, and we swapped glances.

“We’ve got an hour left. Come on, we can do this,” Bobby encouraged, crossing into the next room.

“Fuck that!” I exclaimed. We stared at the two rows of mannequins, all standing on podiums and dressed in various medical uniforms.

The door swished shut behind us as we gazed around at the imitation hospital corridor we were in. The anomaly was the shop dummies.

“Any idea?” I asked. I couldn’t see a damn clue.

“No,” Sallie responded.

“Bobby, I swear to God that one just moved,” Dana exclaimed as she gazed at a mannequin standing three podiums away.

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