Page 9 of Fed By Fear

The group leaves him to scramble to his feet and then slip through the exit alone.

Quiet falls over my false forest for a moment. My skin is buzzing. The fear settles into my system. I lean against the nearest tree, waiting for the dizziness to clear.

Damn that was a good start.

The next four groups are equally as satisfying. A blonde in a zombie cheerleading costume beefs it when her group of five bolts for the doorway. That tiny skirt betrays her the second she hits the ground, giving me a full view of a pert ass and a pitiful excuse for panties. She’s wearing a red G-string so tiny and so far up her asscrack that I don’t know why she bothered wearing anything at all.

The triangle of fabric does its job in keeping her pussy from my sight. An unexpected shot of disappointmentflares across my hips. Wanting stirs beneath my mortal jeans. When was the last time I touched a woman?

The lights come on just as she’s rising to her feet. She scurries to catch up with her remaining companions.

I duck behind a nearby tree. This isn’t right.

The group is quickly escorted out by a plain-clothed employee in a headset. He’s joined by a second worker who shakes his head.

They speak excitedly. “There’s blood everywhere. They probably had to take that guy to the hospital.”

“Did someone at least get a video?”

“Not when it happened, but I got some pics of the blood splatter before they sent everyone out. The guests have been told to stay where they are. Things will start up again when it’s cleaned up.” The shorter of the two workers lights up a joint from behind his ear.

“They’re not going to close for this?” The scent of weed fills my room.

He blows out a cloud of sour smoke. “Fuck no. It’s Halloween. You’re new. The owner’s not going to shut things down on the busiest night of the year just because of a little blood.”

The scrawnier of the two accepts the joint, coughing when he takes a hit. “Right. I guess this kind of shit is why people come here. The clown seems like a real psycho.”

“This isn’t the first time someone’s left his room with a lot less blood than they entered with.”

The clown. My skin sizzles, ruining some of my current buzz.

Madness.

Sticking to the shadows, I sneak to the clown room. Madness is hiding in a doorway that leads to the employee tunnel. That won’t save him from me.

My forearm slams into his chest, pinning him to the wall.

“Madness,” I growl out his name.

His hands fly up in surrender. “It wasn’t like that. A slip, a tiny one. We didn’t touch him.”

“What happened.”

“Our mask. It slipped. Only for a second. He freaked and ran straight into the wall. Broke his nose. We never?—”

My grip switches to the front of his throat.

“You fucked up.”

“We didn’t mean to. There’s so much fear tonight. The crowd is too big. It’s too much. We’re combusting. We can’t take it.”

His hands drop to the front of his trousers as he adjusts himself.

Fucking hell. He’s not going to make it through the rest of the night.

Using my hand around his throat, I push him away from the wall, forcing him to walk backwards as I guide us through the maze of passages behind the various themed rooms. He’s trying to peer over his shoulder when I kick the door in that leads to Gator’s cabin.

“Oh shit, Hunt,” Madness panics. “Don’t let him cut anything off.”