Epic Escape Read Online Free Page A

distance muted the sounds of popcorn crunching and soda slurping. Megan put her feet on the seatback in front of her and tried to use her knee to block the light from someone’s cell phone below. The height intensified the beam, but her knee did the trick.
    Coach would be taking off points left and right at this rate.
    Veronica dug a notebook out of her bag.
    “What are you doing?”
    “I can’t believe Trevor’s ahead of me for valedictorian. I’ve got to ace this.”
    Megan tried to read her expression in the dim light. “Your class rank? Why aren’t you more upset about Kyle?”
    Veronica’s hands paused a moment, and she whispered, “I don’t know.”
    “You two seem perfect. Aren’t you, you know, happy?”
    On screen, an eerie shot of the woods appeared. Veronica shrugged and shifted her gaze straight ahead. Megan squirmed lower into the cushion, and prepared to close her eyes.
    A terrified man appeared on screen. He donned night vision goggles and stared straight at the audience. “It’s out here and it’s after us. Put on your goggles. Good luck, dog.”
    A smattering of nervous laughter rang through the auditorium. Megan dug her glasses out, put them on, and tucked her hair around her ears. They had large black frames like the ones Clark Kent favored. She hoped she didn’t appear too stupid wearing them. Dad would use the military term BC glasses to describe these. Glasses so ugly, they also served as birth control because no one would look twice at you when you wore them. Maybe the darkness would keep Chase from noticing how she looked.
    “I hear something,” the man onscreen said, “Do you? Somewhere close.” A rustling sound followed.
    Megan shifted in her seat, heart thumping, torn between being happy to sit near Chase and wishing they were watching the costume drama instead of this horror flick.
    Crack. An oak tree exploded on screen. Acorns, dirt, and limbs flew toward the audience. Gasp. Giggle. The image of leaves and branches got thicker and swirled around the air. Megan swiped at her cheek instinctively. She could have sworn she felt a leaf. The visual effect was that intense. Her seat shifted, and a dropping sensation washed through her stomach, like on an amusement park ride. She reached out, but couldn’t feel her armrest. The movie screen got closer and closer.
    Megan slammed through it.

Chapter 9

INTO THE MOVIE
     
    G rit dug into her palms. Megan shifted her hands and breathed in--night air, dirt, and leaves. The darkness surrounding her matched what she had seen on-screen. She wasn’t in the theater. This made no sense, but Megan’s first thought was that she’d flown through the screen and landed inside the film. Impossible. Rolling to her hands and knees, she blinked and shook off her 3-D glasses. “We’re in the movie,” she whispered.
    Leaves stopped flying and floated softly to the ground. Megan dropped back on her heels and tucked her glasses into her purse with trembling fingers. The light of the moon lit Veronica, Chase, and Riley. Were they okay?
    Veronica, eyes wide, gestured backwards, waving the black plastic glasses in a wide arc. “What just happened?”
    Megan took Veronica’s glasses before she poked out an eye, and froze as she saw the faces of the movie theater audience behind them. The view narrowed to a pinprick before the theater disappeared completely, leaving only woods. Her heart seemed to stop and when the beat returned, its pace had doubled.
    Riley rolled to his feet. “Is this a prank?” He glared at Chase. “Did one of your friends give us something?”
    No one answered him.
    Chase tore off his glasses. “What the hell? I’m out of here.” He headed straight into the dense trees and left.
    Riley brushed a leaf off the knee of his blue jeans. His shoulders tense like he wanted to fight but couldn’t find the enemy.
    Veronica wrapped her arms around her waist and searched the darkness.
    Megan wiped her sweaty palms on her jacket and said