stairs. She bounded down the stairway and out of sight.
“Let’s go with her!” Shiner shouted close to his ear.
“No!” he gasped. “You go if you want. I’m sticking with Tanya.”
“Idiot!”
He went after the others. In the glow of Tanya’s candle he saw them hurrying single file down the middle of the hallway, troll arms straining to reach them through the bars. A hand grabbed his shoulder, and he sucked a harsh breath before he realized it was only Shiner.
The hallway went dark.
Tanya’s candle had gone out.
“A door!” he heard her yell over the frenzied voices of the trolls.
Reaching into the black, Jeremy touched cloth. Cowboy’s denim jacket? He blurted, “It’s me,” and held on.
“Everybody in!” Tanya called. “Quick, quick!”
“Jumping Judas!”
Jeremy lost his grip on Cowboy’s jacket. His shoulder bumped something. A door frame? He stepped forward. His feet sank into a soft, springy substance.
“What is this?” Samson’s voice.
“Foam-rubber floor,” Liz said. “It’s a funhouse thing.”
“Some fun.”
“I want to get out of here!” Karen whined.
“Last one in, shut the door!” Tanya ordered.
He felt Shiner’s hand release him. “I’ve got it,” she said. He heard a door thump shut and latch, and the wild voices of the trolls faded to a dull murmur.
“Okay.” From Tanya. “Everyone here?”
“Heather ran off,” Jeremy said.
“Reckon she’s the smart one,” Cowboy said.
“Let’s get out of here,” Karen pleaded.
“It’s like they were waiting for us,” Samson said. “I say we scram.”
“Yeah,” Liz agreed.
“We have to get the camera from that guy.”
“What for?” Samson asked. “So he’s got pictures. Kids on the boardwalk. Big deal. They don’t prove nothing. This is bad shit here.”
“Ain’t worth it,” Cowboy said.
There was silence for a moment. Jeremy heard only his heartbeat, and the breathing of himself and others all around him.
All around him.
Shiner was at his side, and he thought the rest of them were ahead of him. But quiet sounds of breathing seemed to come from everywhere. The hot, stuffy air smelled foul.
“Okay,” Tanya said. “We’ll go back the way we came and get the hell out of here.”
Shiner held on to Jeremy’s arm and stepped behind his back. He heard a harsh metallic rattle. Her ringers tightened their grip. “The door’s locked,” she whispered.
“Oh, shit.”
“I don’t think we’re alone,” Liz said, the pitch of her voice climbing with panic.
Something soft and wet lapped the back of Jeremy’s hand. His right hand. The one that held the knife flat against his leg.
Something licking it like a dog.
“Yaaah!” He jerked his hand up.
The black room erupted with gasps of alarm, yelps and shrieks and curses.
Shiner’s hand flew away from his arm.
He wheeled around to find her. His leg was clutched, hugged tight to a body. He staggered, trying to stay up, but his feet sank into the deep rubber and he fell.
The assailant scurried up his legs. A stench of rotten garbage filled his nostrils. His shirt was torn open. Hair tickled his belly. A face pushed against him, and he felt its nose and whiskers, its dry lips, its quick wet tongue. He grabbed a handful of greasy hair, tugged the face away from him, and rammed his knife down. The blade punched in deep—somewhere near the middle of the back, Jeremy thought. The attacker cried out, jerked rigid, and twisted away, rolling off Jeremy but wrenching the knife from his grip.
He sat up fast and stared at the blackness in front of him. He blinked to make sure his eyes were open.
All around him were sounds of struggle.
Off the floor, he thought. It’s the worst place to be.
He got to his knees. Someone tumbled against his back, knocking him forward. He scrambled, kicking at the body, freeing his legs. Gasped as his face met skin. He lurched backward. A hand clamped his raw chin and tried to shove him away. As pain streaked from his wound, a voice in front of him said, “Jeremy?”
The hand flew from his chin to his shoulder and pulled him closer. Shiner flung her arms around him.
Holding each other, they struggled to their feet. They took a few staggering steps and bumped the rubber of a wall.
Off to the side, a vertical band of light appeared. Faint yellowish light. Suddenly the band spread wide.
“A door!” Shiner whispered.
Beyond it, a hallway glowed with candlelight.
Someone lurched through the doorway, escaping.
“Let’s go!” Jeremy gasped.
Hanging on to each other, they rushed for the door. The way ahead of them was cluttered with the faint silhouettes of bodies struggling on the floor, others kneeling, some up and staggering. They dodged,