The Haunted Corn Maze

HUNTER’S POV:

“I still think this is a terrible idea.”

Baylee wrapped her arm around my waist as we walked through the dirt parking lot. “That’s because you’re old.”

“Old?” I gripped her long hair and pulled her face closer. “Last I checked, we’re the same age.”

“Yes, but you’re ancient,” she replied with a wicked grin on her face. “Mister ‘I don’t want to walk around a cornfield.’ Where’s the guy that was always up for ‘whatever?’ Is he too old for fun now?”

Only my woman could get away with teasing me. She knew all too well the dangers that came with being mine, and as much as I wanted to breathe easy with her, keeping her safe was my only priority now. Not the club. Not my men. Her.

“She’s got a point, Bro.” My brother Menace snorted, although he, too, pulled his woman Clover closer.

I flipped him off. One day, he’d understand.

I’d keep what was really concerning me under my leather cut, right next to the .45 strapped against my ribs. Wandering through rows of corn cut into a maze did not appeal. Crowds in general didn’t appeal either. Too many variables, places for threats to hide, or old scores to be settled. What better place to take out the president of a motorcycle club than someplace dark, filled with men in costumes with alibis.

The parking lot was jammed; cars, trucks, and bikes waiting for open spots like half the city had shown up. Bright white and orange lights hung from every post, while smoke machines drifted eerie fog around the fake gravestones scattered across the field. Kids ran around everywhere; some in Halloween costumes, while parents tried to keep them corralled. And people paid to do this shit? This place was a disaster waiting to happen.

The giant entrance sign read: Welcome to Deathly Hallows with a twenty-foot skeleton with glowing red eyes pointing to the path to the Terror Maze. As if I hadn’t stared Death in the face enough before this night. Tangling with the Grim Reaper voluntarily just seemed stupid.

Baylee and Clover both paused at the “Children 12 and older only, Under 18 must be accompanied by a parent or guardian. Enter at Your Own Risk” sign while we paid for our tickets.

Clover gripped Menace’s arm. “I don’t like that warning.”

“You don’t like warnings now?” he teased as we tucked our wallets away.  

“No,” she said seriously. “Normal warnings are things like slippery floors or don’t text and drive. This one feels personal.”

“I told you the corn harbors evil beings, but you women didn’t want to hear it. Hunter knows. Right? We never went into the fields, especially at night. That’s how people vanish.” He handed a paper to her. “This fun comes with a liability waiver.”

“Don’t say that!” Clover smacked his chest and took the pen from his hand, missing the part where my brother winked at me. Devious bastard.

Baylee slipped her hand into mine. God help me. I’d gone from hunting real monsters to spending my Friday night holding hands and walking through a Halloween attraction just to make my woman happy. I wouldn’t have traded it for the world.

Baylee was almost bouncing as we followed the lit dirt path. “You know none of this is real, right?”

Clover pointed toward a guy dressed in bloody rags, carrying a chainsaw. “Then explain him.”

“The chain’s removed,” Baylee insisted, but I wasn’t so convinced, and the way her fingers tightened around mine told me she wasn’t either. The knife strapped to my belt agreed with us both.

“That’s what a murderer would want you to think,” Clover snapped.

If she only knew the depths of carnage my brother and I had reaped over the years; we were both equally as deadly, and certainly no match for some punk in a costume.

Menace stared her down. “Jesus Christ, baby, you’re killing me here. You’ve got nothing to worry about. I’ll protect you. The little kid’s maze is right over there. Not too late to switch.”

“Why? So you can tease me about being a chicken? Never.”

Baylee dragged me toward the opening, but I dug my boots into the dirt, letting some other people go past us. It wasn’t just Clover who sensed the unease of this adventure. “Hold up.”

Those haunting blue eyes questioned me. “What? Why?”

“Just hold a sec,” I replied, standing my ground while eyeing four guys dressed as zombies slip through the door in the wooden fence edging the maze.

“The big bad biker scared?” she taunted privately, though her gaze gave her away. She’d given me that unspoken concern many times, starting way back when we were teenagers trying to navigate life.

“I’ve been shot twice, woman. I’m not scared.”

That reality made her go rigid. Color drained from her smile. I didn’t mean to put that out there. We’d been through enough, and our bodies both bore the battle scars. I shook it off, hoping she’d refrain from spiraling. “I just don’t want you to run away with the chainsaw guy. He was eyeing you, thinking of taking what’s mine.”

Her smile softened. “Scared. Got it,” she teased and tugged me forward.

Menace’s cackle echoed as he walked past us, Clover in tow.

 The woman at the entrance was dressed like a fortune teller, waving people forward. “Next. Four at a time, please. Here’s your survival map. May luck be in your favor.”

“Traitor,” I snarled. I took a map from the woman and followed them in.

The walls of corn quickly rose high over our heads, adding to that tightness gnawing at my gut. Five feet in and I was already annoyed by some people pushing past us. Ten feet in and I hated whoever invented corn. Halfway down a long row, a clown with a death wish jumped out of nowhere, roaring at the group in front of us. Baylee shrieked and crushed into my chest while Clover screamed and darted behind my brother.

Menace busted up laughing. “Cowards, all of you.”

The bloody clown followed alongside some other girls before disappearing back into the corn.

“What the fuck?” Clover pointed to where the curly redheaded joker had disappeared. “He came out of nowhere and scared the shit out of me!”

My brother wrapped his arm over her. “That’s his entire job babe!”

The corn rows went on forever, each one twisting and turning until you lost all sense of direction. We rounded another corner, only to realize we’d come into a small, circular clearing. Another dead end. A group of teens scurried out the same way we just came; boys towing their girlfriends in a rush. A fog machine pumped out thick clouds, hugging the ground around a huge makeshift pile of bones. Colored strobe lights flickered beneath it like fire while some dude dressed as a vampire enticed the women to come closer.

I pulled Baylee to a stop and turned us around, headed for the way out. If Vampire Boy wanted fresh blood, he could taste his own through my fist in his mouth.

Somewhere in the dark distance, a younger girl frantically called out for someone named Elena.

I scanned the map, choosing a path leading back to where the parking lot lights illuminated the sky, only to discover it turned us in the opposite direction. People rushed past us like ghosts in both directions, laughing, crowding the small rows with maddening chaos.

This was not how I’d envisioned spending a quick visit with my brother and his woman. Things were tense enough for him with his Hells Guardians Chapter up in Wyoming; he didn’t need chainsaws and axe-wielding psychopaths coming at him too. Trouble was brewing up north, and he’d come to Arizona to have a meeting with me, away from prying eyes. A meeting that had yet to happen. Soon, I told myself.

It had been almost a year since his Chapter V.P., Zip Hayes, had brought concerns to our club while we hunted down the assholes from the Double Daggers after they’d kidnapped his brother’s woman.

Zip and his twin brother, Asher, still owed us a marker for that job, but Zip had been tightlipped when it came to what was happening up north with their club. Menace was my brother by blood and their Sergeant at Arms; there was no way he’d be leaving Arizona without some explanations.

That was if we both made it out of this “fun night doing something different” without killing someone first.

The girl shouting for Elena got louder and louder; each call more frantic. The knot brewing between my shoulders started to ache. That same instinct had kept me alive more than once.

Menace caught my expression and his smile disappeared.

I nodded once, urging him to keep moving.

Baylee noticed. “Hunter? That doesn’t sound like part of the maze.”

“Not sure, babe. Keep walking.” I squeezed her hand. “Stay close.”

More screams echoed around us, coming from every direction. Green lighting and eerie smoke ushered us into a makeshift operating room made of rusted metal and plywood. Fluorescent paint mimicked hazardous waste dripping from the walls. A woman in dirty white cloth writhed on the operating table while a mad scientist cackled above her.

I caught Menace’s eye. We’d both seen what real human flesh looked like torn and bloody, and while this was supposed to be fake, it was too close for comfort. Clover was curled up into Menace’s leather cut, hiding most of her face; her folded arms dangerously close to the gun under his vest.

Baylee was glued to my side, still curious though. My woman had called me “old” earlier, even though we were practically the same age. Maybe I was—thirty-three and too old and tired of the death and damage that came from our choices. I’d lost myself to the madness long ago; taking these women of ours on that same path was bleeding me in places unseen by the naked eye.

That same thought flowed silently between my brother and me—but his was edged with something more troubling. Something I planned to get to the bottom of. Yeah, we needed to talk.

Forty minutes later and another asshole jumping out of the corn to scare us, I’d had enough fun for one night. Going along with Baylee’s plan for a spooky adventure had reached its end. Our bikes weren’t the only ones out in the parking lot. There had been a whole row of them, and the men owning them were also roaming around in the corn. Both of us weren’t hiding our club affiliations, wearing our Hells Guardians cuts. It was anyone’s guess who might be sneaking up behind us, gutsy enough to take a stab in the dark. That had me more concerned than a fake autopsy scene.

Menace and I used the bright lights to scan the paper map, planning our quickest exit. We were deep in the farthest corner from the lot, and the left and right turns to get us out of here were confusing.

Screams for “Elena” echoed out again, followed by a “Help me! Someone, please help!” Other shrieks filled the air, but they sounded like the over-the-top haunted maze scream somebody paid twenty bucks to hear. This one carried panic.

Baylee grabbed Clover, stopping us all in a corner. “You heard that too, right?”

Menace quickly adjusted the holster under his arm. “Yeah. That sounded real.”

Clover wobbled on her feet. “Maybe it’s a serial killer.”

Baylee smacked her arm. “Don’t say that!”

“What? It could happen.”

Menace groaned and pulled Clover closer. “Babe, normal people don’t jump straight to a serial killer.”

“It’s Halloween. Their migration season.”

Menace snorted. “Migration season?”

Clover shrugged. “You both said evil lives in the corn. Maybe they need corn to harvest souls too.” She glanced around at the sky. “I’m ready to go home now. My fun meter is pegged. I’m too young to die in a stupid cornfield.”

“I agree. Come on.”

Baylee grabbed my arm as I started moving. “Hunter, someone is crying.”

I needed to find the path that led left and then to a quick right. “We’re going this way. Stay with me.”

“I’m not one of your prospects,” she argued.

“No, sweetheart. Prospects listen.”

Menace snorted behind me.

“I listen.”

“Not voluntarily.”

She muttered something under her breath, but her words were drowned out by the corn stalks crunching under my boots.

Menace heard her though. “That’s getting repeated later.”

Baylee swatted back at him. “You repeat it and I’ll tell everyone about the unicorn pajamas.”

“Baylee,” he warned.

She smiled sweetly. “The pink ones.”

“What’s wrong with unicorn pajamas?” Clover grumbled. “I bought them for him for his birthday. It was funny.”

I was just about to argue that bikers wouldn’t be caught dead in pink pajamas, but the sound of a pull cord and chainsaw revving to life stopped me in my tracks.

A six-foot scarecrow with blackened eyes and jagged teeth was walking straight at me, pressing the throttle over and over again. Its hands were leathered, ending with long, black talons. Fake or not, this shit was beyond amusing.

I moved Baylee behind me. No way would I allow her to get in harm’s way. My legs locked, hand reaching under my Hells Guardians cut. “You rush at me with that, and you die here.”

Menace sided up to me. “Not a wise choice, bro.”

The guy lowered the chainsaw. “Easy, man.” He held up a hand and slipped back into the corn.

Menace glanced between the three of us. “Fun’s over. I draw the line at chainsaws.”

“To be fair,” Baylee said, “that was terrifying. He probably scared the crap out of that girl. I hear her crying harder.”

Clover tried to peer through the cornstalks to the next row. “Yeah, this is getting to be too much. He looked too real.”

“One more step, and the guy would have lost a bunch of straw. Fucking scarecrows.” Some of the tension eased, though the standoff still coiled around my muscles. “Them and clowns.”

Baylee hugged my shoulders. “No birthday parties with clowns or scarecrows. Got it.”

I cupped her cheek. “Good. I will eliminate anything that threatens to harm my family. Unfortunately, that list just keeps growing. I hate clowns—all varieties of them.” Her smile melted my heart, reminding me why every future memory had to include her.

Her palm squeezed mine as we rounded another corner, nearly colliding with a young girl who was sobbing and shaking uncontrollably.

“Sweetie, what’s wrong?” Baylee rushed to her side. “Shh… talk to me. Are you hurt?”

The girl shook her head. “I’m lost.” She wiped her tears. “They left me. I just want to go home.”

I knew the feeling.

“Who left you?” Clover asked.

“My sister and her friends. They met some boys and started following them. I stopped to tie my shoe and told them to wait, but they didn’t. When I looked up, they were just… gone. I kept calling for her, but she wouldn’t answer. I don’t know where I am, and I can’t find my way out.”

I clenched my jaw, avoiding Menace’s eyes. All those years I’d left him alone with our piece of crap father. Our own mother had abandoned us to wander life in the dark. He was my little brother. You’re supposed to look out for your younger sibling, not ditch her in a goddamn maze and forget she exists.

Baylee’s steely gaze said she’d read my mind, hearing everything I wasn’t saying. She understood why this hit a nerve—why the thought of an older sister abandoning the kid twisted something ugly inside me.

The stench of corn made it hard to breathe. “We’ll help you find them.”

Baylee turned back to the girl. “What’s your name, sweetie?”

“Noemi,” she whispered, swiping at her cheeks.

Baylee brushed some hair from the little girl’s face. “You’re going to be just fine. We’re here to help. My name is Baylee and this is my friend Clover. And these two big guys are our corn maze guardians.”

Clover wrapped an arm around the kid’s shoulders. “Yes, you’ll be okay. What’s your sister’s name? Do you have a phone to call her?”

“Elena,” Noemi whispered. “No. I don’t have a phone.”

What kind of parent lets their children out without a phone? If they only realized how many kids go missing in the desert, they’d never let them out of the house. “Let’s head that way and get this kid safely out of here.” 

We followed the map, taking way too many turns. No wonder the kid got lost. Map or not, this was no place for little girls. Noemi stayed tucked against Clover’s side, with my woman guiding them along. Protective. Fierce. Unflinching every time someone let out a scream.

Baylee stopped where the path split. Both directions looked the same, dark and foreboding. She cupped her hands around her mouth. “Elena!” 

 The wind rattled the dry leaves around us while loud voices came closer.

“Elena?” Baylee called again.

The corn to our left thrashed violently before a dark shape burst through. All three of them froze as a large man wearing a grotesque pumpkin head jumped onto the path. He threw both arms into the air, blocking our way. Baylee shoved Noemi behind her.

Menace rushed past them. “Wrong damn group, Jack,” he warned. “We’ve got a scared kid with us, so back off.”

The actor slowly lowered his hands and took a step backward. “Easy, man. I’m just doing my job.” 

“And we’re getting the hell out of this corn,” Menace snapped back.

“No arguments.” Baylee glanced back at me. “You doing okay back there?”

“I will be when I can see the parking lot,” I said, scanning the stalks behind us. None of us truly relaxed until the corn walls opened and the bright lights of the main walkway came into view.

Outside the maze, Noemi spotted her sister and mother with two security guards.

“Mom!” Noemi shouted as she broke into a run. 

The woman wrapped Noemi in her arms, squeezing her tightly. “I told you to stay together. Do you have any idea how scared I was?”

Elena bowed her head, tears slipping down her cheeks. “It’s my fault. I lost her in there. I’m sorry Mom.”

“Now you know why it’s so important to stay together. You have to look out for each other all the time, no matter what. It’s your job to keep each other safe.” She pulled herself together. “Thank you for bringing my daughter back, I’m so grateful. You have no idea.”

“I do,” I said, my voice rougher than I intended. “Just keep them close.”

Noemi reached back and caught Baylee’s hand long enough to whisper another thank you before the mother gathered both girls against her again. 

Baylee slipped beneath my arm as we stepped away; her palm settled over the small, barely noticeable swell of her stomach. The simple motion hit me harder than any fist ever had. Soon, I’d have one of my own depending on me to do the same—to show up, to protect them, and to be everything my father never was. 

I covered her hand with mine and  pressed a kiss to her temple while we followed Menace and Clover toward our bikes. The danger had passed, but my body hadn’t gotten the message. I checked every shadow, every stranger, every gap between the parked cars. Menace glanced back once, then again, his eyes narrowing as he caught where my hand was resting.

“She feeling okay?” he asked.

“Yeah, she’s good. I had wanted to wait for the right time to tell you, but now seems as good as any. Over the phone didn’t feel right.” I couldn’t stop the grin spreading across my face. “You’re going to be an uncle.”

Menace stopped walking.  “What?”

“Baylee’s pregnant,” I said quietly.

For once, my brother had absolutely nothing to say. Then his stunned expression cracked into the widest grin I’d seen on him in years. He grabbed me by the back of the neck and pulled me in. “An uncle, huh?”

Clover squealed and wrapped Baylee in her arms. 

Menace thumped me hard on the back. “Well, big brother, good thing we survived thirteen acres of killer corn so you could finally tell me.” 

For the first time all night, I stopped searching the shadows. Whatever waited for us next, we’d face it together—as a family.

Happy Halloween everyone!