James Moore - The Haunted Forest Tour

Beyond the ogre, things were even worse. Numerous creatures of all sorts crawled into the tram. Most of them emerged with live prey.

One man was stuck in a four-way tug-of-war that ended with all of the players feasting on his remains. Most of the victims were devoured—not always quickly—but others were clearly playthings to be mangled.

Christopher was almost willing to rip out his own eyes to spare him the ghastly sight, but he couldn’t look away. His mother’s grip on his arm was so tight that he thought she might have drawn blood.

It was a toss-up as to who screamed louder, the victims or the witnesses of their demise.

It took Christopher a moment to realize that Eddie was thrusting a rifle at him. “Take this, goddamn it!” Eddie shouted, finally getting Christopher’s attention. Christopher heard himself offering up an awkward, “Thank you,” and then Eddie pushed past him to distribute more weapons.

Within minutes the worst was over. The screams from outside dwindled and died, replaced by gluttonous roars and the sloppy sounds of feasting.

Barbara stepped over Neal’s corpse, then turned around to address the passengers. Eddie stood next to her. “Okay,” she said, her voice trembling but coherent, “they don’t seem to be paying much attention to us, so we may be able to wait until help arrives. But just in case we aren’t so lucky, let’s do a quick weapons lesson.”

Eddie spoke up. “For those of you with guns, you each have ten rounds, nine within a clip and one in the chamber. The bullets are armor-piercing nine millimeter shells. They should fuck up whatever you shoot with them.” He held up his own rifle. “Here’s the safety. Do not take it off unless it’s absolutely necessary. We’ve got enough shit going down without shooting each other. Everybody understand?”

Those who were able to speak indicated that yes, they understood.

Then they waited.

Five minutes passed as the creatures outside began to take a much greater interest in the tram that still contained live prey. Some of them circled the old wagon like restless Indians. Others seemed to take special pleasure in painting the windows with bloodied tongues and even stranger extremities.

Five minutes for each and every person on the tour to reflect on just how unpleasant their lives had recently become. Three hundred seconds of last minute prayers to various deities and promises to be a better person if He/She/It could just, please, let them get out of this alive.

Christopher quite frankly didn’t care if he had a job waiting for him when he returned home. In fact, if he didn’t get fired, he vowed to march into Mr. Tylerson’s office, tender his immediate resignation, and tell Mr. Tylerson that he could go cheerfully fuck himself.

The lights flickered for a moment.

Everybody stared up at the ceiling. Christopher’s mother whispered, “ Please, please, please, please… ” as they waited with communal baited breath.

The lights came back to life, half-blinding every person on the tram and sending several of the things in the forest slinking away. The motor began to whirr.

“Oh, thank God,” said Christopher, letting out a deep sigh of relief. Several of the passengers applauded, although it was the numb applause of people who’d just seen forty of their fellow tourists brutally murdered.

Eddie turned back toward the front of the vehicle. “All right, everybody, I’m gonna get us the hell out of here.”

And then the pneumatic doors slid open and locked into position.

Christopher hadn’t realized that it was possible for the phrase “ Oh shit! ” to go through his mind so many times in just a few seconds. The sound of the doors locking into place sounded a hell of a lot like the sound of a heavy casket lid dropping closed.

“ Welcome to the Haunted Forest Tour ,” said a perky prerecorded voice. “ Your safety is our primary concern, so please, watch your step as you enter the vehicle. ”

“Close the door!” Tina Landry shrieked.

A creature poked its head inside the tram. The head—which consisted of glistening white skin, slanted eyes, and bloody jaws—was attached to a long neck that uncoiled almost ten feet as it slowly moved towards Tina’s face, jaws wide open.

The head exploded in a mess of white slime and flesh pieces as three different people opened fire, though only two hit the mark. Tina screamed as the neck flailed around wildly, scattering chunks all over her and her husband.

“ Welcome to the Haunted Forest Tour, ” the voice repeated. “ Your safety… ”

“Cover the door!” Eddie shouted. “I’ll try to get it closed! Everybody get to the back!”

Sheer panic ensued as three dozen tourists desperately tried to get to the rear of the tram. Several of the armed tourists, including Christopher, tried to push to the front of the crowd. His mother grabbed at his arm but he pulled away from her. They were in ocean-deep shit, but they still only had one opening to protect. A bunch of guys with high-powered rifles should be able to keep the monsters out until Eddie got the door closed again.

A monkey-like creature leaped into the tram, and was immediately shredded by gunfire.

“Don’t waste bullets!” Eddie shouted from the driver’s seat. “We don’t have an unlimited supply!”

As another creature—this one resembling a humanoid lizard—burst into the tram, the tourists ignored Eddie’s advice and opened fire repeatedly until the dead creature tumbled out of the open doorway.

“There are lots more monsters coming,” said Tommy Walker, peering out the window. The six-year-old was right. All manner of unpleasant creatures were headed for the tram, including the grinning ogre that had ripped open the other vehicle.

Christopher shouted into the driver’s area. “Eddie! We’d really, really, really appreciate it if you could get that door closed!”

An oversized bat flew into the tram. It bounced against the ceiling and fluttered around, letting out horrible screeching sounds. Christopher took aim, fired, and missed.

A bearded man pointed his own rifle at the bat, then cried out as a shot from one of the other tourists got him in the arm. He dropped his weapon and tried to clutch at the bullet wound, but the bat latched onto the bloody hole before he could get his hand over it.

Another shot rang out, striking the seat next to the bearded man.

“Jesus Christ, be careful!” Barbara shouted. “Don’t shoot at him!”

The bearded man screamed as the bat burrowed into his arm. Within seconds its entire head was buried in his flesh. He smashed his arm against the seat, over and over, screaming the entire time. Lee Burgundy dropped his own rifle and grabbed at the bat with both hands. When he couldn’t get a hold of the bat, he grabbed the bearded man’s arm to make him stop moving it, then dug the fingers of his other hand into the bat’s skin. He wrenched the bat out of the man’s arm, getting a gout of blood in the face in the process, then threw the creature to the ground and stomped on it as hard as he could. Christopher couldn’t see the result, but heard the loud pop as its body burst open.

The bearded man clawed at his gushing arm, insane with panic. A white-headed creature exactly like the one that had been shot to pieces in front of Tina extended its head into the tram and clamped its jaws down on the bearded man’s shoulder. It yanked him toward the doorway—and right into another bullet. Two more bullets pounded into the man before he was pulled out of the tram. At least eight different creatures pounced upon him and brought him to the ground.