"Bro, what the fuck?" Kayson said when the music started again.
Under other circumstances, he'd have asked who the artist was. It was a grimy, dark tune, ethereal and trippy. Perfect for nights sprawled on his bed in the dark after smoking a blunt to his face. So long as it didn't bring any rats into his room. He didn't think anyone knew who the artist was, and he didn't care. He just wanted out of this dark space, away from this fucked up park, and on his way back home, however fucked.
His footsteps made metallic sounds as he tromped toward the Gravitron door he and Werth had rigged shut. His big brother clamped a hand on his shoulder. The hold had a lot of pressure, was just south of painful and well north of irritating.
"Let me go, bitch!" Kayson snapped and squirmed out of Werth's grasp.
He went for the door again. This time, when Werth caught Kayson, he applied more pressure and pulled him back. Kayson stumbled three steps, his shoulder throbbing even after the hold was released. The way the Gravitron was tilted, he spilled forward, landing smack on his face. His hands broke his fall, sending painful waves up his arm. The impact made loud reverberations that temporarily muffled the music outside. Smells of dust and cotton candy clouded the air around his head. A tinge of blood trickled across his tongue from biting the inside of his cheek. It was a shameful taste.
He rolled and glared up at Werth. "You're gonna pay for that shit, bro."
Werth put up a hand, palm open. "Just fucking relax a minute. I know you're missing half your brain cells, but even you know it's suicide to go back out there with those rats."
Kayson sucked breath through his teeth and stood.
"So, what are we supposed to do then?"
Only a small crack in the door let light in. The inside of the Gravitron was musty and shadowed, but that light cast blade-like illumination across his brother's hard jawline and stubbled cheeks. His eyes were obscured. When Kayson stood, he smelled Werth's pine-scented aftershave. He'd been wearing that cheap-ass shit since they were teenagers. It brought back some memories.
As if reading Kayson's mind, Werth grinned. It was a rare expression for him these days, and it warmed Kayson's chest, though he'd never admit as much.
"We'll just wait shit out, brother. Like we did during that hurricane."
It was a deep memory, an old one that Kayson tried to forget. He was five years old at the time. They'd lost power, Mom had crawled into a bottle of wine, and Dad was out building cell towers in Kansas. Werth—Darren was his first name—had taken Kayson out on the roof to watch debris pass by on the flooded streets, read books to him by flashlight, and helped stage matches between his WWE action figures. Kayson hated the person his brother had become so much—the narc bitch—that he wished he had no good memories of him. The shit Werth had done as a cop didn't hurt. The absence of his cool older brother stung like a cold knife to the gut he could never remove.
"Shame we don't have John Cena and Randy Orton to whip each other's ass this time," Kayson said.
Werth laughed. "Yeah, shame."
The song droned on. It sounded even more hollow and strange through the walls of the Gravitron, like something alien. Kayson remembered his words from before.
I think it's some alien shit, bro.
________________________________________
Again, the rats came from the shadows as a lumpy sea of gnawing hunger. Far more interesting, the hooded figures stopped moving.
At first, Vanessa thought they were afraid, hesitating about how to deal with this newest development, but they remained still for much longer than a normal human being's reaction time would've allowed. Sure, freeze had been recently added as a valid response, up there with fight and flight. However, she didn't think this was the case.
She contemplated letting the song play. Letting the rats swarm the now helpless hooded figures. The song itself with its singer's eldritch language seemed to will her to do it. Commit this act of cruel, if justified, homicide. Vengeance for Wendy. Instead, she paused the song, and again, the rats retreated. The hooded figures remained frozen.
At first, no one said anything, only stared at the unmoving figures. The ensuing silence had weight and substance, like water pressure below the sea. Vanessa felt it in her neck and shoulders. In her knees that wanted so badly to buckle. She took a breath to make sure she could.
"What's going on?" Hannah asked.
Her words cut through the silence, and the pressure lifted. Vanessa stood straighter and breathed more easily, but her muscles still burned from running and climbing. She wasn't sedentary by any means; she liked to hike and swim and ride her bike, but she did all these things occasionally, on weekends. She couldn't remember the last time she ran somewhere.
"They seem to be …" Cullen put his hands on his knees and took another deep breath. "… resetting somehow."
"So, they're machines?" Hannah asked.
"Maybe," Vanessa said.
She took a step forward as if that would somehow allow a better view.
The rest of the rats crawled back into their nooks and crannies. The hoods still draped the faces of the lifeless figures. The cloaks covered their bodies from head to toe, except for the hands, which were cased in those black gloves. She glimpsed no flesh, plastic, or steel.
"They can't be human," she said. "Not if they could do what they did to Wendy."
She didn't look away from them. Part of her still saw this immobility as a trick. The second she turned from them, they could spring back into pursuit, somehow stronger and too fast to escape.
"Nearby movement activates them," Cullen said. He stood up straight. His color had somewhat returned, his breathing less laborious. "Or maybe infrared."
"Yeah, but bigger things," Vanessa said. "Not like rats."
"Like people," Cullen said.
"Oh my God," Hannah said. She looked up at the collapsed side of the roller coaster and the wall where it leaned. "We have to get out of here."
"It's a long way up," Vanessa said. She looked at Cullen. "Can you make it?"
"We have to," he said.
Something heavy banged somewhere nearby. It made Vanessa jolt. She and the others looked toward the sound. The hooded figures remained still. The rats hadn't reemerged. All the spilled gumballs glimmered on the pavement but had stopped moving long ago.
"What was that?" Hannah asked.
"I don't know," Vanessa said and readied her thumb over the media player.
Just let it be someone who wants to fuck with us.
We'll climb out of here and let the rats eat their goddamn eyes.
When Kayson and Werth came from the Gravitron, she felt instantly lighter. She put the music player back in her pocket.
"What's up with those things?" Werth called, pointing at the hooded figures.
"Don't get too close," Hannah said.
Kayson and Werth exchanged glances and nodded at each other. They walked across the edge of the wave pool, staying as far from the hooded figures as possible. They climbed the wall beside the algae-smelling reservoir and joined the others.
"So, what now?" Werth asked.
"We're gonna try to get over that wall," Cullen said.
Werth chuckled. "I don't know, Evel Knievel. I think you're a little past your prime."
"It's not that far," Vanessa said. Werth had a point, but she needed everyone confident. She continued, "We get over the wall, use one of the trees to climb down, and we're home free."
No one spoke for several seconds. Werth jutted out his jaw. For once, he wasn't glaring at anyone. Hannah seemed to be staring inward, her eyes dark and downcast. Kayson stared toward the collapsed roller coaster, measuring distances with his eyes. Cullen wore a frown, like he was trying very hard to focus on something. Perhaps he was trying to convince himself he could make the climb. Vanessa guessed they were all wondering if their plan was solid.
"Hell yeah," Kayson said, interrupting their moment. "Let's go."
For an instant, she felt an excitement rise within her. They would make it out of here. They were so close. No apparent obstacles stood in their way. A pang of regret brought her mood back down.
"I only wish that …" Vanessa trailed off and stared back where they'd left Wendy's torn remains. "I wish she could've made it."
Cullen put his hand on her shoulder. "There's nothing we could've done for her."
He did it without warning, without asking.
She wasn't an unaffectionate person. Touch was her love language. That was partly why she enjoyed hooking up so much. She liked experiencing the different ways other people touched, the way they loved. But Cullen's hand on her now felt like a gross intrusion.
"Yeah, no shit," she said, shaking off his sweaty grip.
"I'm sorry," Cullen said. "I just …"
"Let's just get out of here," Vanessa said, thinking that when she did, she wouldn't want to be touched for a long time.