Dillon Hunt And The Desert Oasis Resort by Chad Stewart (smart ebook reader TXT) 📖

but he just couldn’t resist his curiosity. He turned his head back to see a giant-looking rat with glowing yellow eyes quickly dodging through the field of corpses and coming right for him. That was it! Dillon had enough and launched himself into the hole headfirst.

He felt himself sliding. He realized then that the escape was actually a slide. He felt himself tumbling and turning as the slide went to the left and then to the right. It was dimly lit inside from small pinholes that were in the top of it which apparently let the natural light from outside come in to illuminate enough of the interior so that the rider could see a little as he slid down the twisting turning ride.

Dillon screamed as he tumbled. He knew at this point that the slide was not meant for you to go down on your stomach but, unfortunately, he was now committed as he twisted and turned, scraping a hand here and a knee there. Dillon turned sharply to the right and then burst through the exit which had wide strips of dark soft plastic material hanging down from the roof which worked as the covering for the door.

The light of the outside stung his eyes as he flew through the door. He found himself on the side of the haunted house at the end of the slide that was cleverly decorated as a graveyard. No one walking by could see the slide exit so as not to ruin the surprise for those who go through the house.

He pulled himself from the slide and promptly made it through the exit and around to the front of the house. The ride operator turned and smiled at the clearly disturbed boy.

“Well?” he asked with a mischievous smile.

“Well what?” Dillon fumed. “You trying to kill someone?” he yelled.

“I told you that the house is not for the feint of heart,” the operator replied without concern.

“That’s an understatement!” Dillon exclaimed.

“What part scared you the most?” asked the operator. “The people we hire are very good at what they do and we have spared no expense for the visual effects like what you saw in the room of mirrors. I believe that’s my favourite part,” he said tipping his nose up slightly in a smug expression.

“Oh ya … very good,” replied Dillon sarcastically. Actually he did think that the room of mirrors was very good, especially how they incorporated blasts of wind around you which helped to simulate the creatures in the mirrors touching you. He silently berated himself for not keeping more cool and understanding that was what they were doing to simulate their touch. It seemed his apparently legendary observational skills took a hike when he was under emotional distress!

“No really … ?” asked the operator. “What was the scariest part?”

Dillon had now sufficiently calmed down in order to think rationally about the question. He tilted his head down as he began to think. The knife throwing ghoul was pretty scary, he thought to himself. But then there was that first giant with the axe … No … I would have to say …

Dillon turned to face the operator again. The operator looked at him with amusement. “I think the icing on the cake with your house was the rat,” Dillon said with certainty. “Yep … The rat was the scariest even though I only saw it for a moment.”

The operator looked perplexed. “What rat?” he asked.

Dillon laughed. “You know … the one at the end? You’re just trying to scare me more,” he chuckled.

The operator remained stone-faced. “We don’t have a rat in the house.”

The blood drained from Dillon’s face. The image of the rat came clearly to him again and he noticed the same kind of eyes he saw in the coyotes! He knew then that someone had tried to kill him again. His thoughts spun. But how could it survive in the Oasis without bursting into flames? And why are they still after me as the guy on the phone said everything would be okay if I just stopped snooping around? Unless … someone saw me talking to Derek and they know that Derek is somehow involved!

Then it struck him. “Where’s my brother?” he blurted.

The operator turned and motioned to the house with his hand.

“No!” Dillon yelled as he ran to the front door.

He was about to go in again when he heard a loud call from the side.

“Where you going twerp?” came Jordan’s cry.

Dillon looked over to see Jordan walking toward them from the slide area. His heart leaped when he saw his brother unharmed. He ran over and was about to give him a hug but Jordan quickly shot his hand out and smacked him in the chest. “Whoa!” Jordan said. “It wasn’t that scary. At least not for me. Keep your distance little bro.”

Dillon quickly collected himself. “Sorry. I … um … thought you were going to need some comforting and a new pair of pants after that ride,” Dillon said, trying to be cool.

“Sure …” Jordan replied with a smirk. “Let’s go find some other stuff to do. “Thanks for the fright, creepy haunted house dude,” he waved to the operator. The operator waved back as he watched the two brothers slip into the crowd once more.