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"What was that sound?" Armie whispered harshly. He grabbed Ben's forearm and squeezed.
"I don't . . . It was coming from over there." Ben whispered back. The forest was eerily quiet around them, punctuated only by the sounds of other Haunted Forest occupants being terrorized. They both jumped as a loud scream came from outside the cloth tunnel they were currently trying to traverse. The fabric was vibrating as though someone, or something were bumping against it from the outside.
Ben wrapped his free arm around Armie's slender shoulders. Armie reached up with his other hand and gripped Ben's fingers.
Stuck together like that, they emerged from the other side of the tunnel into a clearing. There was a campfire cracking merrily, but the sound of rustling in the darkness around them made the space less welcoming.
Armie burrowed himself into Ben's embrace, and he tightened his arm around the red head.
"Why are you here?" A huge voice boomed from the darkness. "Strangers are not welcome, and will be dealt with accordingly."
They both jumped as the forest undergrowth began rustling violently off to their right. An inhuman scream filled the clearing. Ben's hand moved from Armie's shoulder to his waist as he all but dragged him back onto the path and into the forest.
One last preternatural scream followed them and Ben grabbed Armie's hand. "Let's get out of here!" They ran towards the noise and lights of the end of the trail, almost making it before the path was suddenly filled with zombies. They shuffled around them, blocking their way forward and back.
Ben and Armie clung tightly to each other, watching the approaching zombies, shuffling and moaning their way closer. Just as they were about to close in, a chainsaw started up from the direction of the clearing. The zombies stopped, looking around in confusion.
Without waiting to find out what the zombies would do next, or who had the chainsaw, Armie grabbed Ben's bicep and pulled. "Let's go!" He yelled over the noise and confusion. They dodged the zombies and burst out of the forest, back where they had started.
They were both breathless and laughing, hardly aware of the sudden return of the real world around them. The line of those waiting, wrapping around the edge of the parking lot, leading to the entrance booth, and the voices hawking tshirts hardly seeped into their bubble.
Armie stood up straight and leaned his shoulder tightly against Ben's. Ben flexed just a little and watched Armie's eyes dilate further.
"That was exciting." Armie grinned.
Turning his hand to capture Armie's fingers between his, Ben smiled back. "Yeah. Intense."
"After that much fright, I think we should go have a hot drink, maybe sit somewhere quiet for a while."
"Absolutely. Let's go hit the coffee house."
"The one off campus."
"Yeah. It'll be much quieter."
*** **
Mitaka stood in the woods in his zombie makeup. He watched their latest victims walk away towards the parking lot, swinging their joined hands between them. He leaned and whispered to Phasma, his zombie partner. "Those two look familiar."
"Oh yeah." Said Phasma. "They've both been through in the last couple weeks, but not together."
"Wait, weren't they . . ."
"Yes. The big guy terrified the entire vampire group, and Red there laughed the entire way through."