Grim reminder

The recreated scenes are stark.

Blood pooled in front of the car wreck from the dead teenaged bodies flung over the hood, through the windshields and on the pavement. A husband and wife in the other car, calling on a cell phone frantic and distraught standing before their crying child and the tragedy before them.

Nearby, a filthy meth lab with more teenagers stoned out of their minds, tripping on the verge of an overdose.

Further down the walk, another 20-something who took his own life.

The 13 morbid, sometimes graphic re-enactments are just that, but production manager Justin D. Christensen of "The 99" said they're not trying to make up some kind of haunted house under the big canopy behind Music City Mall. There is a message to this "reality walk-through theater" that opens today, and it starts with the group's name.

"It's an awareness program," he said. "The 99 teens and young adults who will die every day in America, most of them are preventable."

The 26-year-old said he anticipates 20,000 to 25,000 people will visit the tent during the next three weeks. The displays were the work of about 200 local volunteers and a core group that has already thrown this off in four other cities.

Midland College freshman Mike Gentry said he saw a flier inside Music City Mall and decided to come by the tent to see what it was about, and he ended up volunteering. But as he talked inside the meth lab, the project struck home for him as he reflected on the partying and drinking he said he often did in high school.

He hopes he can steer people away from that lifestyle.

"I had a reality check," Gentry said. "This (the recreated meth lab) is a little bit of an extreme, but not much better."

IF YOU GO

>> What: "The 99."

>> When: 7 p.m. to 11 p.m. Friday through Sunday, starting today for the next three weeks.

>> Where: Music City Mall, 4101 E. 42nd St.

>> Cost: $8 for general admission, but some schools and several stores inside the mall are handing out free tickets.