speed toward the disembarkation platform, a hundred feet this side of
the gates through which they had entered the roller coaster. People
were jammed on the boarding platform, and a lot of them were looking
back at the train as it came out of the tunnel mouth. For a moment
Jeremy expected them to point at him and cry, “Murderer!’, Just as the
train coasted up to the disembarkation gates and came to a full stop,
red emergency lights blinked on all over the cavern, showing the way to
the exits. A computerized alarm voice echoed through speakers set high
in the fake rock formations: “The Millipede has been brought to an
emergency stop. All rilers please remain in your seats-” As the lap bar
released automatically at the end of the ride, Jeremy stood on the seat,
grabbed a handrail, and pulled himself onto the disembarkation platform.
“All riders please remain in your seats until attendants arrive to lead
you out of the tunnels-” The uniformed attendants on the platforms were
looking to one another for guidance, wondering what had happened.
“-all riders remain in your seats-” From the platform, Jeremy looked
back toward the tunnel out of which his own train had just entered the
cavern. He saw another train pushing through the swinging doors.
“All other guests please proceed in an orderly fashion to the nearest
exit-” The oncoming train was no longer moving fast or smoothly. It
shuddered and tried to jump the track.
With a jolt, Jeremy saw what was jamming the foremost wheels and forcing
the front car to rise off the rails. Other people on the platform must
have seen it, too, because suddenly they started to scream, not the
we-sure-are-having-a-damned-fine-time screams that could be heard all
over the carnival, but of horror and revulsion.
“All riders remain in your seats-” The train rocked and spasmed to a
complete stop far short of the disembarkation platform. Something was
dangling from the fierce mouth of the head that protruded from the front
of the first car, snared in the jagged mandibles. It was the rest of
the old rocket jockey, a nice bite-sized piece for a monster bug the
size of that one.
“All other guests please proceed in orderly fashion to the nearest
exit-”
“Don’t look, son,” an attendant said compassionately, turning Jeremy
away from the gory spectacle. “For God’s sake, get out of here.”
The shocked attendants had recovered enough to begin to direct the
waiting crowd toward exit doors marked with glowing red signs.
Realizing that he was bursting with excitement, giggling like a fool,
and too overcome with joy to slowly play the bereaved best friend of the
dead, Jeremy joined the exodus, which was conducted in a panicky rush,
with some pushing and shoving.
In the night air, where Christmasy lights continued to sparkle and the
laser beams shot into the black sky and rainbows of neon rippled on
every side, where thousands of customers continued their pursuit of
pleasure without the slightest idea that Death walked among them, Jeremy
sprinted away from the Millipede. Dodging through the crowds, narrowly
avoiding one collision after another, he had no idea where he was going.
He just kept on the move until he was far from the torn body of Tod
Ledderbeck.
He finally stopped at the manmade lake, across which a few Hovercraft
burred with travelers bound to and from Mars Island. He felt as if he
were on Mars himself, or some other alien planet where the gravity was
less than that on earth. He was buoyant, ready to Boat up, up, and
away.
He sat on a concrete bench to answer himself, with his back to the lake,
facing a flower-bordered promenade along which passed an endless parade
of people, and he surrendered to the giddy laughter that insistently
bubbled in him like Pepsi in a shaken bottle. It gushed out, such
effervescent giggles in such long spouts that he had to hug himself and
lean back on the bench to avoid falling off. People glanced at him, and
one couple stopped to ask if he was lost. His laughter was so intense
that he was choking with it, tears streaming down his face.