I – Theme Park

"Are you as excited as I am?!". I roll my eyes. "Oh, yeah. I'm so excited, I can hardly keep it together". "Hey, Ax", Ventus chimes in, "He's only 13, okay? It's his very first theme park, so at least try to be nice". I roll my eyes again. Why had I even come along? Oh, yeah. Because my mother had emaccidentally/em mentioned that I liked theme parks when Roxas and Ventus's mum had thought of people to take care of Roxas, as he couldn't go alone and Ventus had other things on his mind than running around with his little brother when there were fantastic roller coasters to ride.

As though I hadn't.

On the bright side, their parents are paying my ticket and additionally 50 bucks for taking care of that kid. Anyway, Roxas had brought his friend Xion along, so there was nothing much to worry about. I sigh.

"Okay, so it's your first theme park, huh? And then you chose to go on Halloween night? With actors running around, dressed up as zombies and weirdos and...". "Stop scaring him!", Sora shouts from behind me. God, did they bring their entire family along?! "I'm sure he can talk for himself just fine!", I snap back at him. Jesus, he is annoying as hell.

Sora is the cousin of Roxas and Ventus, who are two years apart. He is as old as Ventus and brought his brother, Vanitas, along, who is just one year younger than me but creepy as hell. From the entire family, he's the only one who has golden eyes instead of bright blue ones. And, I almost forgot, he is dating Ventus.

Sigh. Opposites attract, I guess.

"So, Roxas, are you excited?". Him being thirteen is hard to imagine at times. Sometimes he acts like he's nine, and two seconds later you could think he was 17. Whatever his age, he is cute as fuck. "Yeah, totally! And, as for the zombies, I know they're actors. So I guess I'll be fine". I smile and ruffle his hair, really regretting his young age.

Sigh.

"God, can you two keep it down?! There are children around!", Sora yells at his brother and his boyfriend, who are almost grossly making out. "Hey!", both Roxas and Xion exclaim. "We're not children anymore!".

Xion is one of Roxas's best friends. She is one year older than him, but a lot more mature. Though shy and sweet, she is probably one of the funniest kids I know.

Oh, you might wonder why I know them all so well when the only one close to my age is Vanitas. Well, I had to repeat a year, so I had a couple of classes with Ventus and Sora, who are both 15, two years younger than me. I spent a lot of time with Ven, since I'd had the biggest crush on him and therefore met Roxas and Xion because she was with him almost every day. I also babysat her sometimes because we got along well and her parents trusted me.

"Oh, oh, Axel, look! The park, I can see it!". Roxas excitedly tugs on my sleeve, pointing outside. "Yeah, I see it as well". "Where, where?". Roxas bends forward to show Xion what he's seen and I smile. Why did he have to be so young?

The bus comes to a halt and everyone rushes out. I try to keep my little group together, but mostly fail; Ventus runs off with his cousins and if Xion hadn't gripped both mine and Roxas's hand, I surely would have lost them.

We show our tickets and pass the barriers before we finally enter. The kids' eyes grow huge as they take a look around. I have to say, I barely regret coming here anymore.

After hours of waiting, riding ridiculous roller coasters and attractions, buying candy and taking photos, we finally have a seat in one of the cafés, having a perfect view on the street. Monster time is about to begin.

I quickly text Ventus where we are and smile at the two people we've brought along; while waiting in line for a ride in Dora's crazy what-is-water-on-spanish-mountain, I got to talk to a guy my age; he has dirty blond hair, styled into a mix of mullet and mohawk – mullethawk maybe – and cyan eyes. He's almost my height with a healthy shape and a freaking friendly face. Demyx is his name. With him is a boy Roxas' and Xion's age. He has blue-whiteish hair and dark blue eyes, looking a little emo to be honest. With Roxas and Xion already being small, he is even tinier and pretty slim. Demyx introduces him as Zexion.

Demyx is in the same situation as me; he had to accompany his friend's brother because said friend got ill. When I asked them to join us, the younger ones all cheered – they had made friends just as quickly as I had.

The blond and I were pretty alike; we both adored music and parties and liked the same genre of films and books. I was glad I had someone to talk to.

"So here they come", Demyx says and I look up from my phone. Fog machines produce clouds of fog which quickly spread throughout the streets. It's already dark and music from well-known horror movies is being played. Quick flames are being shot up from pyros on the roofs. Grinning at Demyx, we see that the kids are already frightened.

And then we see them.

You hardly notice them at first; among the crowd moving through the streets, they're pretty invisible. But once you look closer, you suddenly spot them: a blood-splattered ballerina with Edward Scissorhands' hands. A guy with a cage on his head. A dead woman. Mummies. A guy with a motor saw. Clowns. Vampires. And damn, they look realistic.

Some hold on to take pictures with people who ask, others chase frightened teenagers and grown-ups around.

"They look pretty real", Roxas chirps from almost under the table. The cafés, shops and outside areas to sit are safe, so we're watching from security. "And scary", Xion stutters. Demyx and I grin at each other, before he scares them from behind. I laugh and high five him. I have the feeling I have found a new friend.

One and a half hours as well as 67 hot chocolates later, Xion, Roxas and Zexion have calmed down again and we're having multiple conversations with each other, when my phone buzzes. I fish it out to read the message Ven has written me. emRun. Just leave the park. I'm srs. Hurry"/em. I shake my head with a smile. Of course he had to try to scare me. emYeah. Sure. We're so scared. Ermergerd/em, I reply and look at Xion, who is tugging my sleeve. She looks frightened. "Axel, why are these people running away?". I turn around and intend to shrug, when I see the cause.

"FIRE!".

We all jump up, shouldering our backpacks as fast as we can and start running. Fuck, Ven was right. Where were they, anyway? We head for the entrance, when I notice that some of the actors and actresses are clearly not. Something seems terribly wrong. Is that just fake fire? No, I can smell it.

We all jerk our heads to the side when we hear the definitely worst and scariest scream I've ever heard. A woman's encircled by "zombies" and I have to admit that they look even realer than the ones I've seen until now. "Really, how come they have time to – ". I can't end my sentence because one of the undead bites her. Like, really. Not fake. "What the -?!", Demyx yells and I'm some sort of thunderstruck because of what I see. The undead are tearing her apart. Limbs. Skin. Guts. I'm thrown back into reality when someone screams and my new friend violently yanks my arm. Xion throws up and I feel I'm close to that, too.

What the fuck is happening?!

"Axel!". Oh, no. emRoxas/em. I abruptly stop, turn around and try to find Roxas, which is real damn hard because people keep bumping into me. "Roxas, where are you?!", I desperately yell. It's not the fire anymore; obviously, it hasn't been following us from the start; it was just one tree or something. The real cause... . "Axel!". Finally spotting him, I run towards him and pick him up. "Are you hurt?". Before he can reply, I hear someone screaming: "They're closing the doors!".

emWhat?/em

"Come on", I mutter, trying to get through the crowd, but when the huge portal is in sight, it's already too late.

We're caught.

It seems that more people than I thought made it out; there's only like 70 or so left. At east on this side of the park.

I find Demyx and Zexion, as well as Xion, who stayed with them and ask them why they're not running anymore. He motions behind me.

It looks like there's some kind of barrier for the zombies or whatever they are; they stop at a certain point and growl at us. If I hadn't seen limbs and dead people on the streets, I would have guessed this was part of the show. Somebody points upwards and I spot the cause – it's a huge light, pretty bright. So it seems to be blinding light is what keeps them away. Some people don't make it within the safe range though.

We're all calming down as far as possible. There's blood on the street and here and there you can see a limb. Somebody mentions having seen more of these flood lights and so most people start heading out in the morning. We have a pretty small space indeed; not even shops are in range. A man tells me he and his group are trying to put up signs which show where "the zone" starts.

The five of us sit down and it seems to be safer than at night if you're not too loud. I look at Demyx. "What are we gonna do?". Before he can reply, I hear a sob. "Axel, can you... can you call Ventus?". I nod, pull him into a hug and take out my phone. No connection. "I guess the lines are dead". The blond's eyes fill up with more tears. "I promise you we will find them. We will".

"Then", Demyx says, "We should start searching. As long as the sun's shining, we're safer, I guess – at least I haven't heard a single scream this morning. We should also stock up on food". He sounded calm, but his eyes and hands tell a different story. He's shaking and his eyes are full of fear. I look at the kids, who are tired and obviously scared, and I nod. "We gotta go".