Free Wings of Darkness: Book 1 of The Immortal Sorrows Series by Sherri A. Wingler

enough not to complain.
         Zombies shuffled out from behind
hidden walls, in every direction, herding us towards the center of the
room.  Rubber body parts littered the floor, and fake blood splattered
everything in sight.  The zombies snuffled and groaned, some of them
dragging limbs behind them.  All of this was really spooky, but one of the
girls in our group was apparently allergic to the fog machine because she spent
the whole time coughing and wheezing. She sounded like an asthmatic Pug, and it
kind of ruined the ambiance, just a little.
         Gwen grinned from ear to ear,
looking almost maniacal herself.  I was glad she was feeling better. 
She jumped and yelped when a zombie walked up behind her and hovered, swaying
back and forth.  He had sneaked up on her and got a better reaction than
if he’d just come charging at her.  He sniffed her like the zombie girl in
line had done to me earlier, only he looked like he really might like to take a
bite out of her.  Marc tried to get between them, God love him, so the guy
started sniffing him, instead.  He tried not to cringe, but it was obvious
that he was incredibly uncomfortable. 
         Our zombies stayed with us,
hovering and slobbering as we made our way through the basement.  A few
carried chains or pipes with them.  Every once in a while one of them
would hit the floor with a chain or smack the wooden walls just to scare the
crap out of us.  It worked.  Even Gwen and I were jumpy, and we had
been to a few haunted houses in our time.  The guys were eating it up
because every once in a while we jumped into
them
.
          In all honesty, I have to
admit I was more nervous about that spiced leather scent that followed us than
about the haunted house.  I had the strange feeling that something huge
was about to happen.  Like the other shoe was about to drop, and it might
just land on the back of my head.
         The zombie room narrowed down to a
hallway again and someone started beating on the walls from the other side with
a board, or a hammer. Plywood walls can make an awful noise if someone is
really working at it.  Deep, echoing booms set all of our nerves on edge.
         A pair of girls in front of us
somehow ended up behind us as they squealed and giggled with nervous delight. I
wasn’t sure if we were going too slowly, or they were just doubling back to get
a better look at some of the actors. I couldn’t blame them; the make-up on them
was top-notch. It was worth another look.
         I started to get hot and a little
sweaty, but didn’t want to take my hoodie off and carry it.  Laziness on
my part, I know, but there it is.  I also didn’t want to let go of Alex’s
hand, in case we got separated. I figured there was a corn maze up ahead somewhere,
so we would be outside again, and into cooler air, eventually.
         We climbed up a few flights of
stairs lined with metal fencing along both sides.  I wasn’t sure if it was
meant to keep us inside, or to keep whatever was outside from getting in. 
Suddenly, another maniac showed up in a hockey mask and ran a metal rod across
the fence, throwing sparks wherever he touched.  Everyone in the group
jumped back, startled.  A panel opened up in the wall and hands made a
grab for us.  We turned and ran for the top of the stairs. So much for
keeping our cool.
         We came out into another tight
hallway.  Whomever built this place loved to torture the
claustrophobic.  This led into a metal walkway that ran through a rolling
barrel about forty feet long.  Inside, the barrel was painted with
multi-colored spirals of neon glow paint.  Black light turned it all into
a life sized, moving kaleidoscope.  It was incredibly cool, but the tunnel
made me dizzy as hell.  I let go of Alex so I could hang onto the safety
rails.
         It was like the room was spinning
and the floor was coming up to meet me all at the same time. I’ve never been
drunk in my life, but I