Gaz walked behind Zim as he traced his way through the boxes and crates. Suddenly she noticed something.
"Zim, your PAK's gone!"
"No, it's not. I covered it up. It, uh, compresses a little, if I want it to." He looked at her closely. "And… you don't have one."
"Oh, yeah…" Gaz looked at the floor.
"Wait. I think I can fix this."
He disappeared into the red darkness. Gaz suddenly felt the room expand around her. The darkness went on forever. She heard a quiet rustling, and Zim reappeared. In his hand was what looked like a PAK, only it was silver with red spots.
"Ooooh, nifty." Said Gaz.
"Okay, I made this once when I was bored. It's fake more or less. You can use it if you want. But here's the thing. It's equipped with spider legs and stuff, but it works through neural imputs."
"And… English would be?"
"If you put it on, you'll get all the stuff, but it's gonna sting for a second when you put it on, because it connects, basicly, to your brain."
"Tell me again why you have this?"
"Do you want it or no?"
"Uh… ah, what the hell." She turned around. Zim put the silver machine on her back, and it glowed slightly. Gaz's arm twitched slightly, and her hand formed into a fist. She gritted her teeth. Zim was right. It stung. A LOT.
And then it was over, as suddenly as it had started. Her back didn't hurt anymore. It was just warm. Really warm. She put her hand on her forhead. It was normal temperature.
"Do you feel hot?" She asked.
"No, it's the PAK. It can adjust your temperature." He grimaced and thought of the 'adventure' they had had the week before. "To a certain extent."
"Neat-o"
"So, what about the… what was it… haunted house?"
"Oh, yeah. Wait till you see it." The house in question was actually an old barn, fixed up for the Halloween season. Colored lights played across the barn and surrounding forest, but did next to nothing to illuminate it. Gaz grinned, liking the look of the actors winding their way through the line. Zim was trying to hide it, but this was the scariest thing he'd ever seen in his life.
"We… we go in there?"
"Yeah! It's lots of fun. It's really scary, there's ghosts and things all over."
"What about all the keep out signs and enter at your own risk?"
"Zim… those are FAKE. They really want you to come in."
"Yeah," said a scary voice behind them. They whirled around, and came face-to-face with a ghoulish demon. Strips of his flesh hung off his face. "We want you to come in… SO WE CAN EAT YOUR BRAINS!!!!!"
"AAAUUGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH!!!" Screamed Zim. Gaz giggled.
"Zim, really. This is all fake. These are just people in costumes. Evryone is in costumes on Halloween. You'll barely find a regular human anywhere around. C'mon. Let's go get in line."
They got their tickets and went to stand in the line. It was pretty short, they only had to wait about 15 minutes, but in that time they were approached by a werewolf, a vampire, a ghoul, a ghost, something that had once been dead, and a stoner. The last one might or might not have been real.
When they reached the black door to the barn, a creature with horns stepped out of the blackness, beconing to them.
"Welcome, to the house of HORROR!!" It screamed at them. "Please do not touch any of the creatures. They may decide to EAT YOU… or, y'no, throw you out or something. Some parts of the floor (THAT ARE HAUNTED) may move without warning. Carry on." He pointed off into the blackness. They crept off in a random direction for a few seconds. Gaz grabbed Zim's arm, not entirely out of fear. One arm out, Zim felt through the darkness. Sticky things hung from the ceiling: they felt like spider webs. After a few feet, they were replaced by burlap bags, hanging from the ceiling.
"These bags feel kid of-" Bright red lights flared up, and a scream was heard. The bags began to writhe and squirm. Screams were heard within them. Whatever was in these bags, it was alive. A demon came out of nowhere, and, yelling at them to shut up, began to beat at the bags.
"Sorry, my… dinner, doesn't want to be eaten. You'd be surprised what a fight IMPENDING DEATH can bring out in a person." He ushered them on, into a thin, barely lit passageway. Every few feet, a hand would reach out and attempt to grab them. More than one was splattered with blood. The floor suddenly bucked and jerked, and a chainsaw noise was heard. Zim ran forward, trying to find some light. In the next room, Zim stopped. Gaz came up a foot behind him, looking at the empty room.
It comprised of a narrow passage between several bar cages. There would barely be room to move between the bars. Gaz hooked back on to Zim's arm, and, giggling, pushed him into the room. Still nothing burst loudly out to greet them. Gaz kept giggling. Zim was completely unaware of how the humans could enjoy this horror. His soldiers's sense was drumming a tattoo on the back of his skull. Something was not right.
They had reached the middle of the room when the creatures burst from the shadows. They filled the cages, arm, hands, reaching for the only two not imprisoned. Gaz shrieked, then realized that they were not evil. They were scared. They didn't have the same gory makeup of the other ghouls. They were dressed like normal people. Some wore costumes, but they were ladybugs,and regular things, not ghosts.
"QUICK!" One shrieked. "You have to run!! Out into the maze, hurry! BEFORE THEY FIND YOU!!"
"Before WHO finds us?" Shouted Zim, but they only told him to run, hurry, hide. Find a way out, and fast! Zim ran out of the room, holding Gaz's hand, pulling her behind him. She didn't scream. They were outside. Sort of. Ten-foot tall partitions surrounded them, in a maze.
"Zim, this isn't fake. This isn't how it works. Oh, god…"
"I told you this was a bad idea."
"Fine. We have to get out of here."
"Uh… I say we go… left." They went left. This turned them to a short passage that turned at a 90 degree angle… and then descended into the black Earth.
"Not that way."
"Geez, I'm almost expecting the minotaur to come rushing up at us." Something in the dark passage moved. Two red eyes gleamed in the dark.
"I say we go right." They ran back, turning right that time. This led to a forked path. They turned right again. They silently crept along. Gaz stepped on a twig from a tree that wasn't there, and the crack resonated around the maze. A face popped up over the side of the path.
"Hey, you guys lost?"
"Yeah," Zim choked.
"Us too. Me and my two friends." The man pulled himself over the wall, landing right in front of them. "My friends, STABBY AND GASH!!!" He pulled out two huge knives, both wet and red, and rushed after them. Zim grabbed Gaz's hand, and they ran, pell-mell down random paths, minds set on doing one thing: Not meeting the man's two friends.
"I HATE Halloween." Zim said when they finally stopped. Gaz panted, out of breath. They didn't hear anyone coming. Which was probably good.
"We have…to get…out…of this …maze." She said between breaths.
"The woman's a genius." Said Zim sarcasticly. "Any ideas on how to DO that?"
"We have to see where an exit is, and where the people in the maze are. But we'd have to be taller."
In an answer, Zim unfolded the legs in his PAK, rising about four feet above the edge of the wall.
"Amazing. This thing is huge. And very well populated, but he looks of it." Zim did a 360, looking all around. "There's only one exit. And we're pretty far away from it. It looks like if we take this path," He pointed at one. Gaz was trying to work her PAK, it wasn't responding. "And go... left, left, right left right right, it should take us out." Gaz memorized the sequence. After all the video game codes, she was a master.
"HEY! Look!" came a voice, echoing around them. "THERE'S ONE! GET HIM!!" Zim dropped, ducking to the ground.
"And we have to go NOW!!" They ran down the path, Gaz pointing the way at each intersection.
"Left, left, right, left, left, right." She repeated quietly. "Wait. The exit should be right here. We went left, left, right, left, left-"
"Left! We should have gone right there. No problem. We just have to go back."
"Oh, that could be a problem." Said a voice behind them. They turned around slowly. A tall man with a chainsaw stood there. He revved it loudly. "No one EVER gets out of the maze of DOOM!"
He laughed evilly. Which gave them time to run. Some more. They tried to keep parallel to the outer wall. The further they ran, the darker and gloomier it get. Finally, Zim tripped over something and went sprawling.
"What was…" He started. The thing coughed.
"You… must escape." It said in a wheezing voice. Zim looked, and saw that the ground was bloodstained around it. The thing coughed again.
"Quick… before they find you, too." The thing pointed to the wall. Looking closely, Gaz found a tunnel, going under it.
"Zim, look, we can get out!" she said joyfully.
"But what about him? We can't just LEAVE this guy here!"
"Go…" He coughed a last time, and his head slumped forward. His ragged breaths stopped.
"Come on, Zim! We can send someone back for him!"
"But-" Zim's protesting was cut short by a sound coming closer. The sound of an engine revving. Gaz crawled through the hole, Zim came through right after. It was less gloomy on the other side. In fact, it was almost cheery. Lights were set up all around. A stall sold T-shirts with "I survived the Maze of Doom" on them.
"Wasn't that great?" Gaz asked.
"GREAT?! That guy just died, and… and… It was fake, wasn't it?"
"YOU WERE SO SCARED!!" Gaz shrieked, laughing her head off.
"Fine. I was scared. But if you ever tell ANYONE…" Zim trailed off. Gaz turned big, innocent purple eyes up at him.
"Who, me?"
"Just… don't tell."
"I won't. Hey. It's probably dark enough for trick-or-treating now… If you're not too scared."
"I'm not scared."
To be continued… Thanks for everyone who reviewed! You are all wonderful people who will have a seat of power when I rule the world! Yay!