"Anybody die?"

"Very funny. Stu pushed Karl into the fence. Karl's got these horrible burn marks all over his back. Fantana's screaming bloody murder, says you set the voltage on the fence too high."

It wasn't the first complaint Mitch had gotten about the fence. He had checked the power setting on the fence two times already; it was set on low.

On the other hand, Mitch had brushed against the fence a couple of times himself, in the course of moving things around the cramped fairgrounds. And damn if he hadn't gotten a bigger shock today than he had yesterday. Much bigger. It was like that fence was drawing power straight up out of the ground.

   Chapter 5

The man was right behind him. Bernard could hear the hiss of the torch, feel its heat on his back. He could also feel the man's footsteps thundering behind his. Could feel him looming over him, reaching down for him....

Bernard reached out with his good hand-the one that didn't feel useless and broken-and gripped the metal fence with all his might, hoping to scramble up and over fast as lightning.

He probably never would have made it anyway; climbing fences had never been one of Bernard's talents. But the instant his stubby hand touched the fence, he heard something sizzling. He felt a pain so great it boomed in his ears like gunfire. His hair stood on end. Then there was smoke, curling up from his hand. But he couldn't move it. He was paralyzed. His whole body started shaking violently. First his hand, and then his entire body, began to blister and pucker.

A gigantic microwave couldn't have done the job any quicker.

In less than a minute, Bernard LeBlatt was done to a crisp.

   Chapter 11

The man grinned. "Locked in, eh? Well, they can't keep me in that easy. This carnival stinks. The games are rigged. I almost fell off the Ferris wheel and broke my neck. Here, out of my way..."

Wanting to show off, the man pushed Selena aside and threw himself at the fence.

He was planning to climb over so skillfully that the pretty, young girl would be eternally impressed. He figured that would salvage something from this miserable, lonely evening.

Selena was impressed, but not for the reason the man had hoped, because—

Pop!

That was the first thing Selena heard. The man's balloon popping.

Then she was backing away from the fence in total horror, her hand covering her mouth.

As hard as she tried, she couldn't turn her eyes away.

The man was burning to a crisp.

   chapter 19

The ride had stopped. An awful, acrid burning smell filled her nostrils. She climbed out, jumped down and ran toward her father as best she could on unsteady legs. Before she was halfway there, the smoke cleared enough for her to see her dad and the woman clearly. What was left of them.

Caught between car and fence, their bodies were being pushed through the hot wire links like hamburger meat. Their clothes were burning right off them. Their blood was spattering everywhere like grease from a hot skillet.

   Friday the 13th: The Carnival, chapter 21