Maxi, who thought she was all screamed out, screamed again as she saw a large black coffin opening. A skeleton popped out to grin at her. It reached out its bony hand and grabbed the collar of her gray t-shirt. Only the force of the car whipping along the track, broke the skeleton's iron grip. Her shirt ripped down the middle. Then the mechanical figure who was playing the organ turned his white skeleton face right into hers. Smiling, the organ player reached out and grabbed her hair. Her head was jerked violently back. She felt hair ripping out by the roots as the car hurtled onward into the haunted darkness.

Screams of terror kept escaping from Maxi. Selena was screaming along with her, but she was shouting Maxi's name. Maxi turned to stare at her duly. The girl's face was full of anger and determination. In her terror, it took Maxi a moment to focus and hear what the girl was shouting.

"It's not real! It's just a ride!" Selena hissed, "You've got to keep quiet! He'll hear us!"

And then Maxi saw him - his eyes gleaming green in the darkness, except - that's all the eyes were - eyes floating all by themselves - just another part of the ride. So was the dismembered hand that caressed her cheek, as Maxi kept telling herself that Selena was right. She was just imagining things as---

The car took another sharp turn, sending up a shower of sparks that singed what was left of Maxi's beautiful dark hair. They stopped short in front of a funhouse mirror. In the mirror, their faces already distorted with terror were distorted, even more, becoming grotesquely long. And then a sea of red, blobby ghouls appeared in the mirror, hovering right behind Maxi's back.

"Not real!" she shouted at herself, "Not real!" But as the car jolted forward, she could feel the real red goo dripping from her neck where the ghouls had touched her. They flew into the next room and Maxi caught a speeding glimpse of the various torture methods on display here.

Paper mache figures groaned and screamed silently as they were stretched out on racks or pressed to death under piles of rocks, but that wasn't what caught Maxi's eye. She had always prided herself on being a daredevil. 'It was now or never.' Despite the terrible speed of the car, she suddenly stood.

   Friday the 13th: The Carnival, chapter 24