Kill Switch by Penelope Douglas

followed by a few more. Even just the taste got me in the
mood for this, and I started to relax.
Sound effects of howls and screams filled the air, and Alex
offered me her arm as we walked to our first experience, The
Tunnel of Terror.
I heard a track and the clank of bars as we waited in line,
and it sounded like a ride with cars that carried us along a
path. I gripped Alex’s arm a little tighter, the adrenaline
already warming my heart.
So this would be something where we’re locked in, unable
to run.
The line moved, and we climbed in a car, Alex first, and I
followed. Will squeezed in next to me, and I raised my hands
to let the belt-bar come down on us, but I accidentally knocked
his mask, and I winced.
“Shit, I’m sorry,” I laughed.
I patted the hard plastic in a sympathetic gesture, feeling
the grooves of the skull paintball mask and what felt like scars
designed across it.
“Why do you think I wore the mask?” he joked.
Oh, shut up.
The ride shot off, my head bouncing against the back of
the car and then veered right, swinging us around the bend so
hard, we both fell over into Will. Alex squealed, and I didn’t
know if the squeaks of the wheels on the track were just a
sound effect or actually real, but it felt seedy and cheap—kind
of corrupting—and I rubbed my thighs together, sort of liking
it. We pushed through the double doors, and I felt the fog thick
in the air and heard blocks of metal and chains clanking.
I felt Alex and Will both jump a couple times, followed by
disgusted sounds from Alex, so there was more to see than to
feel in the tunnels, but I expected it. I’d told them in the car on
the way here not to narrate for me. We’d just all enjoy what we
could.