Total pages in book: 30
Estimated words: 28781 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 144(@200wpm)___ 115(@250wpm)___ 96(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 28781 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 144(@200wpm)___ 115(@250wpm)___ 96(@300wpm)
He wasn’t a fan.
He had a terrifyingly traumatic story for every October 31st.
Trapped in a candy corn pit was nothing close to the year after when he was forced to play Capitan Hook in the Halloween play and his hook got caught on the rope, sending him backward from the ship into the crowd while his pants fell down. He’d been wearing loose boxers with cats on them.
A gift from his grandma, he claims it was laundry day, I still think he had an affinity for calicos.
Ace jumped next to me, nearly knocking me careening into a cement wall. “Sorry, I thought I saw another zombie.”
“They’re everywhere, but the stage makeup has them blending in really well with the walls.”
Each wall down the giant hallway was a different color—pink, green, blue—and next to each wall was a gloriously dressed zombie walking and stumbling against said wall with the same color of paint dripping down the front of their faces, and down their chins onto the ground like blood… except when it hit the ground it turned red.
“N-neat trick.” Ace clapped twice, on the third attempt he missed his hands altogether.
I grabbed them. “Stop, you’re embarrassing yourself, not to mention me.”
“They’re not real.” He scoffed in fake bravado as we kept walking down the hall to the room at the end that said.
“Office Hell.”
I tilted my head. “Kind of makes you wonder if they based this off of Dustin’s life, right?”
Ace snorted. “His life is hell, he’s related to Max. I’m sure the office is what some would call heaven, the only place he has his own small little corner office and a sad little coffee machine with bright buttons.”
“He’s a sucker for those coffee machines.”
“Do not get him started on going past the thirteenth floor.”
I winced. “Yeah, he almost broke out the company cheer.”
“They change it every year.” Ace sighed like he’d already given up on life but at least he wasn’t freaking out and screaming despite the fact that a very terrifying looking zombie in a ripped black suit, a red tie, and dangling black glasses stood in front of the door growling at us.
His hair was bright green and part of his face looked like it was missing, he snapped his teeth in our direction making even me jump backward. “I don’t like this one.”
“I don’t like any of them.” Ace pointed out, “But this one has… talents, you know the creepiest part about zombies? Why are they scarier than vampires?”
I squeezed my eyes shut and grabbed Ace’s elbow. “No, but I’m pretty sure you’re about to tell me.”
He pulled me close as we neared the door and the creepy office zombie. I could feel his heat through his shirt. He’d always been warm, not too warm, comforting, solid, strong. I shuddered.
Ace moved away, then gripped my hand and tugged me close. “Zombies have flat teeth, that means they have to gnaw and rip into things until their teeth can cut it, so the torture would be prolonged. Vampires, at least, have fangs, so they just rip into things and get it over with, much like a shark. Imagine what’s more terrifying, a hippo or a shark?”
I smacked him on the back of the head. “You know how I feel about hippos, so why would you compare zombies to them and scare me even more?”
“FLAT TEETH!” Ace just had to say again and open his mouth as if I needed proof that humans turned zombies did, in fact, have flat teeth.
I shoved him, then pulled him back again. “Whatever, let’s just get past the creepy office zombie and solve whatever puzzles are in that room and escape.”
“Done.”
“Rooooooom?” Office zombie cackled. “Enter at your own riskkkkkkkkk.”
I don’t know why, but I gave him a slight head nod while Ace held out his free hand like he was about to shake it, then took it away and cursed at himself. We both sidestepped the zombie when he whispered beneath his breath, “Beware the purple stapler.”
The door creaked open the minute he said it and we were instantly blanketed in utter darkness until the door closed, then all we had were black lights that made me feel like I was about to go clubbing on the wrong side of town without any alcohol to numb the trauma of getting glue on my heels and having to wait in line for two hours just to pee.
Ace whistled. “At least we don’t have any zombies in here?”
“You do realize we’re locked in this room, right?”
“Ah, memories… remember when you locked me in the closet until I—“
“—Seriously? You’re still mad I locked you in the closet for ten minutes?”
“It was twenty!” Ace stabbed a finger in my direction. “And you don’t just lock your boyfriend in a closet because he keeps trying to see what you’re about to put on underneath your dress, it’s not my fault I saw the bags and knew you had lingerie, I just wanted a sneak peek.”