Page 3 of Run, Little Rabbit

It was those kinds of fucked-up things he did. Playing his cat-and-mouse games… until he finally let them know it was him who was doing it all.

He ran off plenty of people from town. The cops did nothing about it. Probably too terrified of Zareth’s retaliation. Instead, everyone gave him a wide berth, knowing it was safer that way.

I picked off another piece of cotton candy and let it melt on my tongue before swallowing.

“Let’s go to the funhouse. Or what about the bouncy castle?”

Bethany adjusted the fake stethoscope that went with her nurse’s outfit and pointed toward the castle-shaped bounce house.

I was about to follow her when a group of girls we went to high school with ran up to Bethany. Although I knew them, I wouldn’t consider them friends by any means. They were Bethany’s people. Giggly. Bubbly. Total girly-girls, even if I was wearing an outfit that made me fit right in with them.

They were all part of the cheerleading squad when we were in high school and part of the same sorority now that we were in college.

They all started talking, and I took another bite of cotton candy, looking around the carnival. It was one that happened every year in town right around Halloween. They dubbed it Fright Night Carnival, and its haunted house was always the biggest attraction.

I could see the giant bounce house in the distance and a few vomit-inducing rides spread out in the center of the chaos. The funhouse was right behind where we stood, which was another one of their most popular attractions at the carnival because of its indoor labyrinth.

“Let’s do the haunted house first,” one of Bethany’s friends squealed.

I finished my cotton candy and threw the plastic bag in the trash. When I glanced up, it was to see a group of guys coming through the front entrance and weaving their way past the crowd.

I couldn’t make out who they were since they all wore various types of Halloween costumes, but all of them wore masks, which made deciphering any of them impossible.

But it was the one in front—the assumed leader of the pack—who wore the skull mask that drew my attention. He was the biggest male I’d ever seen, with very clear muscular definition that was visible even beneath his layers of clothes.

The carnival was packed, so they were in and out of view a few times as they wove their way through the thick throngs of people. I turned, but instantly, the back of my neck tingled, so I faced toward them and looked at that masked stranger. He wore a pair of dark jeans and combat boots. A leather jacket and a dark hoodie were on top. The hood was up, concealing everything but that frightening skull visage.

I had this visceral reaction at the very sight of him.

“Come on. The line is gonna get crazy the longer we wait.” Bethany grabbed my hand and started hauling me toward the haunted house.

I looked over my shoulder once more, but I didn’t see the group of guys.

We got to the haunted house and came to a stop behind several people who were waiting in line. On the outside, the attraction looked like an old, two-story manor with dead trees and landscaping surrounding the exterior.

The windows were tall and pointed with shadows and flickering lights coming from the interior that played tricks on your eyes. Cobwebs were strung up all around with big, hairy-looking spiders stuck in the centers.

We got to the entrance just as the large double doors of the exit burst open, and a group of girls stumbled out, screaming as a chainsaw-wielding, masked killer chased after them.

The girls laughed, and he stopped, looking over at us and put the chainsaw down by his crotch to start lewdly thrusting it in our direction.

“Ewww,” Bethany said.

“Fucking sicko,” one of the other girls murmured in disgust.

I couldn’t help but laugh at the guy’s total disrespect and lack of maturity and showed him my own by giving him the finger. He pushed up his grotesque mask and grinned.

“Oh my God. It’s Travis,” one girl said in irritation.

“You’re such an ass,” another laughed out.

“See ya girls in English Monday.” He revved the chainsaw once more for good measure and put the mask back in place before heading through the doors he first ran out of.

The line started moving, and we headed toward the entrance, where we waited another five minutes before being let in.

The haunted house started off a little cheesy, but I assumed it was like that to get you comfortable. The interior was decorated spookily with scary skeletons on pulley systems that dropped to scare the shit out of you when you walked by. A few of the girls screamed, and I rolled my eyes. If they thought this was frightening, they hadn’t really experienced much fear in my life.

We followed a small group that had been in line in front of us and slowly walked up to a medical scene room. A doctor was doing surgery on a patient, who was awake and screaming. Blood spurted out of the chest cavity, and the patient reached out for us, pleading for help.