The Funhouse

opened manually.”
        “Yeah,” Buzz said. “You're right. I should have thought of that.”
        Amy was surprised that she was holding up so well. She was scared, and she got a sinking feeling-part grief and part disgust-when she thought of what happened to Richie. But she wasn't coming apart at the seams. In spite of the dope she had smoked, she was in control of herself. In fact she was thinking faster and clearer than Buzz. She didn't consider herself to be a strong person, Mama always told her that she was weak, flawed. Now her fortitude amazed her.
        Liz, on the other hand, was rapidly breaking down. Her eyes brimmed with a steady flow of tears. She looked drawn, years older than she had looked minutes ago. She mewled like a scared kitten.
        “Don't panic,” Buzz said. “I've still got the ax.”
        Amy lit a series of matches while Buzz swung the ax at the door-six, eight, a dozen blows.
        At last he stopped, breathing hard. “No good. There isn't any edge on the damned blade.”
        “Someone must have heard all that pounding,” Liz said.
        “I doubt it,” Amy said. “Remember, the actual funhouse entrance is set back at least fifteen feet from the ticket booth and the midway, beyond the boarding ramp, at the end of the entrance channel. No one passing by is likely to hear the ax, not above all this music and that laughing clown.”
        “But the barker's out there,” Liz said. “He'll hear it.”
        “For Christ's sake, Liz,” Buzz said, “get your head together. The barker's not on our side. He's obviously part of it. He lured us in is what he did.”
        “So some freak could kill us?” Liz asked. “That doesn't make sense. That's ridiculous. The barker doesn't even know us. Why would he choose a bunch of kids at random and throw them to… that thing?”
        “Don't you listen to the news on TV?” Buzz asked. “Things don't have to make sense anymore. The world's full of crazies.” ”
        But why would he do it?” Liz demanded.
        “Maybe just for kicks,” Amy said.
        “We'll scream,” Liz said. “We'll scream our fuckin' heads off.”
        “Yeah,” Buzz said.
        “No,” Amy said. “That's useless, too. The music is louder than usual, and so's the clown's laugh. Nobody's going to hear us-or if someone does, he'll think we're just having fun in here. People are supposed to scream in a funhouse.”
        “So what are we going to do?” Liz asked. “We can't just wait here for that thing to come back. We've got to do something, damn it!”
        “We'll go around to some of these mechanical monsters and see if we can find anything else like the ax, stuff we can use to defend ourselves,” Buzz said.
        “The ax isn't even sharp,” Liz said petulantly. “What the hell good is it?”
        “It's sharp enough to hold that thing off,” Buzz said, hefting the ax in both hands. “Maybe it's too dull to cut wood, but it'll sure do some damage to that bastard's face.”
        “The only way you're going to hold off that freak is with a shotgun,” Liz said shakily.
        As the flame neared Amy's fingers, she dropped the match she was holding. It was burnt out by the time it reached the floor. For a couple of seconds they stood in a darkness like no other that Amy had ever experienced. The darkness did not merely seem to contain a threat, it was the threat. It seemed to be a living, evil, purposeful darkness that pressed close around her, seeking, touching with its cool, black hands.
        Liz whimpered softly.
        Amy struck another match, and in the welcome burst of light, she said, “Buzz is right. We've got to arm ourselves. But that won't be enough. Even a shotgun might not be enough. That freak could drop out of the ceiling or pop up from the floor so fast that you wouldn't have time to pull the trigger anyway. What we've got to do is find another way out.”
        “There isn't a way out,” Liz said. “The exit door will be just like this one. You won't be able to open it or chop it down. We're trapped.”
        “There's probably an emergency exit,” Amy said.
        “That's right!” Buzz said. “There has to be an emergency door somewhere. And maybe a service entrance, too.”
        “We'll arm ourselves as best we can,” Amy said, “and then we'll go looking for a way out.”
        “You want to go deeper into this place?” Liz asked incredulously. “Are you out of your fuckin'