Page 96 of Delinquents Turned Fugitives
"There's a garlic shortage in the entire state of New York. People are driving to nearby states to get it."
"Hey, there could be a simultaneous run on pizza that we just haven't heard about," Z chides, pulling me away from the scene. "Or, there could be a garlic eating contest. Or garlic pie could be the new in thing. You've just got a one-track mind with the vampires--"
Of course, the next scene in the tunnel ride was a vampire scene. The walls were splashed with red paint to look like blood. A mannequin child was suspended in midair by wires. Around his stomach wrapped long, sharp vampire claws and behind him stood a headless vampire. It looked like someone had knocked the head off of the vampire mannequin years ago. But instead of taking it like a trophy, they'd pinned it to the wall using a giant metal spike. And so the snarling plastic head with chipped fangs stared directly at us.
"Dammit. Moving on," Z ushered me right through that scene without another word.
Apparently, after that, you exited the ride and got to the 'fun' part of the fun house. My black light illuminated a maze painted with Day-Glo pink and yellow zig zags. The walls closed in as we walked, until I took the lead because I had the light. We hit one or two dead ends, where we saw wheels posted on the wall with bright blue spirals. Z would always spin them before we turned around. Eventually, we had to go through several switchbacks side by side because the maze got increasingly narrow.
"Damn. They should have had a warning for people with claustrophobia," Z commented as we side-stepped.
"Do you have claustrophobia?" I asked. His breathing was a little heavier than usual.
"Only on Wednesdays," he replied. "I just don't like that we can't see the end."
"Yeah." I agreed with that. Just as I was about to lose patience and suggest we turn around and go back through the hall of horrors, we came out of the maze and into what looked like a ballpit for grown-ups. Black plastic balls of unknown age and questionable origin sat in a pit surrounded by netting. Beyond it, a hall of wacky, curved mirrors with wildly painted frames beckoned.
"Yes!" Z fist-pumped. "Totally worth it." He released my hand, ready to jump right into the germ pit.
"Wait!" I cried, holding out a hand to try and stop him. "At least let me sanitize this thing first." I turned on my UV light and started to cast it over the balls to clean them, when out of the pit there came a monstrous roar. The balls shifted and moved, bouncing and skipping over one another as a shadowy figure rose up out of them.
And suddenly, I found myself facing a furious vampire.
