'Somebody get Jerry!'
I don't know who shouted, but they were scared. I followed the sound of their voice. The big lights came on, the ones only used for emergencies, when a customer got hurt or couldn't take the scares, so I knew it was something serious. We called them Pussy Lights.
Smoke spilt from the machines. I left my station, still carrying the chainsaw and sweating under the Leatherface mask. The others had gathered in the bathroom, made to look like a murder scene. Bloodstained tiles and grimy mirrors. Broken cubicles. Limbs in the sinks. They stood in a circle, all looking down at the same thing. A body. A blonde girl lying face up on the floor.
'What the fuck?'
'Bitch had a fit,' Charlie said. He wore an apron smeared with blood, a fake cleaver in his hand. 'Couldn't take the scares.'
'D'you call an Ambulance?'
'Jerry's first aid, right?' It was Sarah, she played the girl from the Exorcist. She wore a dressing gown with a piss stain on the front.
'Check her pulse.'
'No way, dude.' Pete. Chucky doll. He had the mask in his hand.
'This is bad, man.'
'Hell yeah,' one of the zombies said. 'You see the crowd out front? Shit man, we've only been open a week and we're already, like, the scariest attraction on the East coast. It's fucking insane.'
The others murmured in agreement. I bent down then, put my fingers to this girls neck. Nothing.
'Fuck.'
'What? She dead?'
I didn't say anything, but they knew. It was fucking obvious. Her eyes were open. Brown. She was alone. That was one of the rules. One at a time. It's what made The Maze particularly terrifying, and this poor girl was only five minutes in.
A door opened. A fire exit. Jerry flew in, clearly out of breath. Sweating. I stood up, stepped away from the girl.
'A couple of you go deal with the crowd,' Jerry said. 'They're getting a little pissed.'
Pete and this demon, some new kid I didn't know, left through the door Jerry used. Jerry just stood there staring at the girl.
'Fuck me, this is bad,' he groaned.
Jerry was the owner, the one who built this thing. It was his baby. We worked here because we loved it too. Loved the scares. Loved the fear in people's faces. We were a sick bunch.
'Charlie, give me that cleaver.'
Charlie handed it over. Jerry bent and swung the cleaver down. It cut through the girl's arm like a knife through butter.
'Holy shit! That thing's real??'
Jerry tossed the cleaver back across.
'Do the same to her other arm,' he said. 'Leave her there. It'll look great.' He clapped his hands together. 'Let's go guys. Somebody turn off the Pussy Lights.'
He disappeared. The lights went out. Smoked billowed. Charlie's cleaver came down. The others turned. I yanked on the chainsaw and it barked into life. I went back to work.
