Then he heard the screams. They were piercing screams. Each cry was a high-pitched shout that seemed to stab the air. The carny's eyebrows rose in surprise. He stroked his mustache. Those screams had sounded awfully genuine. Usually, the kiddies, who were unfortunate enough to waste their ride tickets on the haunted house screamed just for the fun of it and their screams sounded forced.

But this?

The girl inside the fun house stopped screaming as abruptly as she'd started. Then she started again - crying out even more desperately this time. The carny thought he'd heard her yelling.

"Oh, God! No!"

He grinned as he realized what was going on. ‘Mitch, the mechanic, must've snuck into The Chamber of Horrors again. That was the only thing that could make the girl scream like that. Good for Mitch! Fantana had threatened to fire him the last time he'd pulled that stunt, but Mitch was tough. He did whatever---'

There was a sudden wrenching sound from the Tilt-A-Whirl and...

"Good God!"

It looked like a whole car had dislodged from the tracks. The boy's body was flying through the hot night air. The boy did a perfect swan dive, except he landed on his head on the rock-hard ground.

For a second, there was utter silence and the carny wondered if he had really seen what he’d thought he'd seen. Then there were shouts as several carnies started running toward the accident.

The Fun House operator started running as well. He arrived just as Vince Fantana drove up in his small brown minivan, which he used to get around the fair quickly. Someone had already thrown a blanket over the boy. The carny tried not to look.

"Get him in the van!" Fantana was ordering in a low voice. "You, Mike, get him to the hospital. Stu get some guys to help you get that broken Tilt-A-Whirl car out of sight. Just - put up a 'Closed For Repairs’ sign and get back to work! Not a word about this to anyone! Understood?"

And a few minutes after that, the boy and the van were gone. Vanished, as if they'd never existed.

Meanwhile, back at the unattended Fun House, KC's car had pushed out through the double doors in the back. The young girl lay slumped over her seat. Only - her head was now missing.

   Friday the 13th: The Carnival, chapter 16