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An average walkthrough of the Fright Zone leaves in with little imagination. At least the older recruits had little left. The full gray walls mirrored the lifeless catacombs where in the dead of the night a patrolman’s footsteps could be heard for miles.
Click. Click. Click.
Nothing different. Nothing out of the ordinary. The walls hummed in a classic rhythm in time with lowest cadet snoring. On the outskirts of the barracks water rang out in the hallowed halls.
Drip. Drop. Drip.
Throughout the night the Fright Zone grew dimmer and dimmer. One of the full moons rose high above the Fright Spire casting long shadows across pipelines. The faintest humming whisper could be heard on the wind as it whipped around corridors. As the youngest cadets lay sleeping peacefully in their barracks they had become accustomed to the strange noise.
Surely it had to be another machine. A bot double checking the doors. A misguided prank by a senior cadet. But the sound...the sound almost sounded like a person.
The silence that follows was almost unnerving. If anyone was awake to hear it. The calm before the storm. Not that it ever stormed in the Fright Zone.
It was quiet enough that even in the foundry a serviceman could hear the opening and closing of the first gate. Business continued on. Work still needed to be done. No one mentioned the missing guard. No one knew he had gone.
Then the noise made it past their second gate. It sounded...more human. And much closer. Coasting through the halls and deep into the heart of the Fright Zone. Closing in on the unsuspecting resting platoon.
Every creak echoed from the moaning of pipes along the entranceway. Lights flickered without warning. And unbeknownst to the sleeping crew the one patrolmen on their side had vanished. He hadn’t returned from his rounds.
Eeek. Pssst. Hmmmm.
The sound had made it to the barracks. It rattled the door. It sent shivers up the youngest’s spine. The hall was dark, but a cadet could hear it getting closer. Far too terrified to make a sound of their own.
Engulfed in darkness a collective breath was drawn before the startling scream choked out the noise. That unforgettable noise.
The cadets would never know if the sobbing wrenching sound had come from grief or simply unbelievable joy. The weeping cut short the overpowering shrieks as the Princess claimed her final victims of the night.