A glowing blue figure scurried eerily toward them. It wasn’t quite human, and it wasn’t quite machine. It was like a husk of a human, animated through alien technology—and it wasn’t friendly.
Holly shrieked in terror, her fake cry surprising even herself. It was loud. Very loud. But most importantly, the scream worked. Two strong male types rushed to her side, one sliding his arm around her waist, the other over her shoulders. God she loved haunted houses.
Jessica flinched involuntarily as a brown alien with four eyes leapt around a corner and shoved a pistol inches away from her face.
“Die, human!” the ugly alien angrily shouted. Four men rushed to Jessica’s aid. The men now surrounding Jessica tightened a grip around her body as if to say, “Don’t worry. I’ll protect you.” The truth, however, was that they were just as startled by the alien’s sudden appearance as Jessica was.
The two girls meandered through the unique haunted house, their eyes treated to a sci-fi horror that went well beyond the usual experience. At certain points, they were even asked to make big decisions—decisions that would impact the rest of their spooky tour. You could hop aboard a space shuttle and track down a deranged scientist growing organs inside live victims, or instead answer a distress call and battle against an unknown enemy. And even when you did choose, there were still other choices to make. Did you kill your enemy, show mercy, or join in on an evil plot? There were so many possibilities, and the revisit value was tremendous.
“How do you like it so far?” Holly asked, noticing the throng of guys surrounding Jessica.
“I love it,” Jessica responded, busily shoving boys away from her. The haunted house was great, but she had a boyfriend after all.
They continued through the haunted house, all the while attracting more boys to them. For Holly, this act was done intentionally. People in costumes, no matter how good the costumes were, did not scare her. She could see through them. Being an expert costume maker, she had an almost super human ability to see beyond the costume and perceive the person inside. But, being brave does not attract boys. By feigning fear, she skillfully utilized the much-used but much-underappreciated art of bringing all the boys to the yard—her yard—and all without a milkshake. Even Kelis would be jealous.
“Agghhh!” both Jessica and Holly suddenly screamed. But this time the scream was real. A one ton lizard had fallen from the sky and landed directly in front of them. The male admirers bolted, leaving Holly and Jessica to face the gigantic monster alone.
As luck had it, their flight led them straight to the exit, allowing the two girls to safely escape the giant lizard and put the scary haunted house behind them.
“That was awesome!” Holly cried out.
“I thought I was going to have to borrow one of those spikes on your shoulder pads to keep the boys off me,” Jessica commented angrily. “Hey!” she said all of a sudden, pointing to a hot chocolate stand further up. “They have free hot chocolate!”
“I hope they have coffee!” Holly said, greedily licking her lips.
They did not have coffee, and Holly only threw a minor tantrum.
While carefully sipping their steaming hot chocolate, a young woman, with brown hair flowing past her shoulders, approached the two.
“Your costume is amazing!” the girl told Holly. “Do you work here?”
“No, I made it for a competition. I was looking for an excuse to put it on, so I wore it here,” Holly answered, smiling at the girl’s compliment.
“It looks awesome. I’m Stephenie by the way. I was thinking about applying to work here. I make costumes too.”
“Really?” Jessica asked impressed. It wasn’t often they met fellow cosplayers.
“Hey, that’s a good idea,” Holly said, biting her gloved index finger in thought. “We should get jobs here.”
“That would be fun,” Stephenie said, clapping her hands in excitement. “We could all work together!”
Usually Jessica secretly hated people like Steph. People were fake, always making suggestions they had no intent to follow through on. But Stephenie was different. She seemed sincere.
“We should’ve thought of getting jobs at a haunted house forever ago,” Jessica remarked. “Oh my god, look at that!” She quickly pointed to two women standing across from them.
“Jeggings? Gross!” Jessica declared in disgust. “And who wears high heels to a haunted house? You aren’t impressing anyone, lady!”
Stephenie smiled to herself but said nothing. She personally didn’t care what people wore, but to reveal this fact would be very un-Californian. Besides, even she had to admit that jeggings were pretty ridiculous.
“It’s that lizard guy!” Steph suddenly shouted, pointing at the alien Krogan who had just exited the haunted house. “He scared the crap out of me!”
“He got us too.” Holly laughed. Following Stephenie’s lead, she and Jessica walked to confront the ferocious lizard.
“You scared the hell out of me!” Steph accused the large lizard, playfully slapping him on an armored shoulder.
The dinosaur-like creature removed his reptilian mask and flashed her a wicked grin.
“I’m Steph,” she introduced herself. “Who are you?”
“I am Krogan,” he responded matter-of-factly, carefully eyeing the group up and down.
Steph laughed delightfully. “I mean, what’s your name?”
Normally the Krogan never revealed his true name. But the genuineness in Stephenie’s blue eyes caused him to break from tradition. “It says Bradley on my birth certificate,” he told her truthfully. “But if you’re anyone, call me Tank.”
“Okay, Tank. Good to meet you,” Steph said sweetly, her smile penetrating Tank’s tough exterior.
Tank simply nodded in reply. His face betrayed no emotion, but if he were the Krogan his costume suggested he was, his second heart might’ve started to beat.
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