“Please don’t touch any of the characters,” she said. “They will get dose to you, but they won’t touch you. We have to say that,” she murmured to Wade, “because sometimes the macho guys going through actua
lly punch the performers. Can you believe it?”
“If that should happen, give my office a call,” he replied firmly, hating the thought of Emily being hurt just because she’d tried to raise money for charity.
Tressie nodded and returned to her monologue. “No smoking is allowed inside the building. Please stay with the group. It will be dark inside and you could be injured if you wander off the designated pathway. If you need assistance during the tour, feel free to speak to Mary, your back guide,” she pointed to a shy-looking young woman who blushed when everyone looked at her. “Mostly, we want you to have a good time...and be scared out of your socks,” she added with a grin. “Any questions before we begin? No? Okay, then it’s time to enter the Trail of Terror.”
From hidden speakers, eerie music suddenly began to play, underscored by creepy sound effects such as creaking doors, howling dogs, crazed laughter, and shivery screams. Wade noted that one of the girls—Jessica, he thought—looked suddenly nervous. He smiled reassuringly when she took a step closer to him.
“I’ve never been to one of these things,” she confided in a whisper.
“It should be fun,” he replied. “You probably know nearly everyone inside.”
“Yes,” she agreed doubtfully. “But they look different in that weird makeup.”
“You’ll be fine,” Wade promised.
“You ain’t scared, are you, Jessica?” Scott taunted, holding his shoulders back to prove that haunted houses were nothing to him. “This is sissy stuff. Grown-ups in Halloween costumes.”
“I’m not scared,” Jessica insisted, lifting her chin. “I’ve just never been to one before.”
“Ladies and gentlemen.” Tressie swept an arm dramatically toward the entrance. “Shall we begin?”
The group passed through a doorway covered in strips of hanging black gauze, leaving the dimly lighted lobby area behind to step into total darkness. They immediately bumped into each other, causing the teens to gasp and giggle. The guide instructed them to place their right hands on the wall to keep them on track as they moved slowly forward.
One of the girls squealed after taking only a few steps. “E-e-w-w,” she said. “There’s something gross on the wall.”
A moment later Wade’s fingers brushed something furry and rather sticky that had apparently been glued to the wall. He grinned. That was clever.
They passed several gory, strangely illuminated scenes. The undead rose from open coffins, werewolves howled at the tour group, mad scientists conducted gruesome experiments on bloody body parts—which, on closer inspection, appeared to be professional stage props—and Dr. Frankenstein tried to animate his creature with jolts of flickering blue light The girls screamed when half human, half animal creatures resembling those on Dr. Moreau’s island dashed toward them, stopped only inches away by the chains on their legs.
The boys teased the girls mercilessly about being scared, only to jump half a foot each when several particularly nasty looking creatures rose unexpectedly from piles of hay to make menacing looking grabs for the boys. Jessica and Shelly hooted. Wade couldn’t help chuckling.
Looked like the Community League had a winner on their hands, he thought
And then he saw Emily.
An oily-haired vampire leaned over her, his gleaming fangs poised to sink yet again into her already bleeding neck. Emily was draped back over his arm, her tangled curls tumbling behind her, her slender body outlined by the clinging white dress she wore. She played her part to the hilt. She looked genuinely terrified, her blue eyes wide with feigned anguish.
Wade found it ruefully amusing that his first instinct was to rush to her rescue. He had to push his hands into his pockets to keep them from reaching out toward the guy who held her.
Suddenly he felt as foolish as the giggling teenagers surrounding him.
The vampire looked up at them, eyes glowing red in the eerie light, fangs gleaming. “Get out,” he hissed, obviously enraged by the interruption of his feast. “Go away!”
The teenagers complied hastily, hurrying toward the next exhibit. Wade lingered just long enough to look at Emily with a raised eyebrow, causing her to ruin the effect of her scene by breaking into a sudden smile. Pleased with himself, he moved on.
“THE POLICE CHIEF’S got his eye on you, Emily,” Bob, the evil vampire, teased as soon as the tour group was out of hearing. “I think he wants you.”
Blushing, Emily disentangled herself from Bob’s arms. “Don’t be ridiculous,” she chided the computer programmer she’d known since they’d both been in Mrs. Burton’s kindergarten class. “Chief Davenport and I hardly know each other.”
“He knows you well enough to have a thing for you,” Bob retorted. “I thought he was going to go for my throat when he saw me pretending to attack you.”
Emily reminded herself that Bob had always been an inveterate tease, that he enjoyed watching people squirm. She really shouldn’t give him that satisfaction, she thought, but...
“Weren’t we supposed to meet everyone else in the lobby when our scene was completed?” she asked, firmly changing the subject.
“Yeah. We’re all going out for pizza. Hey, you want me to ask the chief if he wants to join us? I’ll be real subtle about it. He’ll never know it’s a fix-up for you and him.”