Part One, Part Three, Part Four, Part Five, Part Six, Part Seven, Part Eight
“Do you mind telling me just what you’re doing here?” the agent asked me.
“I uh,” I stuttered. I didn’t want to flash the guy’s memory right in front of everyone so this was a problem.
“I was supposed to be alone on this one. Look at you, fresh out of the academy.”
“Huh?”
“You’re young, so clearly you are new.”
“Oh. Yeah, right.”
“Sanders.” He stuck out his hand.
“Rogers.” I met his hand with mine.
“I’m going to make one thing clear: do not get in my way.”
“I didn’t plan on it. I’m just here to learn.” I needed to ditch this jackass as soon as possible. At least he thought I was another agent and not some nobody interfering.
“I was just asking this young lady some questions,” I said.
The girl was gone and the game was closed. I was confused. For a second I thought I was dealing with a ghost.
“Did you see a girl there a second ago?” I asked Sanders.
“Yeah,” he said. “She just left.”
“Oh, good.”
“What did you think it was a ghost? Pull your head out of your rear.”
“Sorry.” I wasn’t sorry. This idiot thought there were no such things as ghosts and I’m the one with my head up my butt? Ha.
“What did you ask her?” he asked me.
“If there was anything weird going on.”
“You imbecile. Why don’t you just run around waving a big flag?”
I just shrugged my shoulders. My process was to ask questions and draw whatever it was out to me. That way I could deal with it as fast as I could and get out of that place.
“Maybe you could use a little more tact in your questioning?” he suggested with a snarl.
“I’m here to learn,” I repeated. That only made him even angrier.
I spent the better part of the next three hours with him. There was never really a chance to get away. The one time that I did he noticed that I was walking away. I told him I thought I saw something. He told me that if I tried to go off by myself that he would break my nose. There was no way he was going to let someone else solve the case without him. It didn’t matter. Even if I did find something with him I was just going to erase his memory anyway.
It was nighttime now and the place was closed. We hid behind one of the trailers, waiting so we could sneak in and look around when no one else was there. I thought the place was eerie when they were open and in the daylight, but now it was really giving me the creeps. I was waiting for a clown to jump out and try to stab me.
“Keep your eyes open and your mouth shut,” Sanders ordered.
I could knock him out now and wipe his memory but I didn’t know what we were dealing with and I wanted to keep him within my sights. I couldn’t let his death be on my conscious.
“OK,” I replied.
We walked past one of the rides when I heard something off to the side. I took out one of my guns and pointed off in the direction I heard the noise. I wish I had my axes but I couldn’t go back to get them, thanks to Sanders. There was nothing there, though.
Then there was a scream coming from inside the funhouse.
“This sucks,” I said.
“Suck it up,” Sanders spat at me.
It did suck. There was some sketchy stuff going on.
We both ran up to the funhouse and as Sanders began to run in I stopped him.
“What?” he asked, annoyed.
“We don’t know what’s in there,” I pointed out.
Sanders pursed his lips up while he pondered that thought.
“Good point, rookie,” he said. “We’ll take this slow.”
Sanders stepped into the building and I followed closely behind. Listen, I’m a paladin and I can defend myself against pretty much anything in the world. There was a whole list of monsters that I have fought and killed, but this is how every horror movie starts…
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