The reaction of the Ringmaster and all of the performers made it clearly evident this was not part of the show, and the crowd reacted with confused chattering and even a few screams; mostly from the children in the audience. Giuseppe the Strong Man rushed to Marbles’ side and knelt by his old friend.
“Marbles? Is that really you?” he asked; the concern and sheer surprise overwhelming him. Marbles didn’t register. He neither saw nor heard him by his side, as his mind scrambled and his body twisted unnaturally. Inhuman screams escaped his contorted throat and he began to convulse violently, as a series of loud cracks ensued. Gus stood up and backed away in horror at the sight before him. The twisted clown’s hand bubbled and danced on the floor, sprouting claws which pushed their way from the tips of his lengthening fingers. A deathlike silence fell upon the entire crowd, watching on in disbelief, as the clown’s body continued to jerk spasmodically. The only sounds in the Big Top were that of Marbles’ bones snapping loudly and his growling screams echoing around the giant tent. He raised his head in a twitching motion and his face burst open, a wet hairy protrusion pushing forward, his mouth elongating and sprouting long, glistening fangs. His back swelled and fell and swelled again, splitting his suit open with sickening, bone crunching sounds to reveal black fur, as Marbles continued to grow beneath the clown suit. His arms and legs split through the satin material, stretching and distorting in jerks and shudders. The large floppy shoes filled and split, as his legs deformed and grew to massive canine haunches.
At this point, the crowd erupted into hysteria, scrambling over each other to escape the horror their eyes refused to believe, yet assured them was indeed real. Marbles kept growing and stretching as his clown suit hung off him in tatters, until he rose onto his feet and stood up with a blood-curdling howl, towering to a height of no less than ten feet. Johann and the company of circus performers joined the frantically exiting audience, in the stampede for the inadequately sized Big Top entrance. Tarlo stood in shock, his mouth agape at the horrendous sight for some moments, completely disregarding the three lions in his care. That was his final and fatal mistake. As soon as he had turned his back on the small pride, all three advanced on him from behind and pounced. His own screams were drowned out by the mass hysteria that was taking place and nobody paid any attention as the lions tore him to pieces, before charging towards the throng of people, bottlenecked at the entrance.
Marbles surveyed the panicked scene for a few brief moments, saliva pouring from his massive jaws, and then he too charged. He reached out to the nearest person, wrapping an immense clawed hand around the back of the man’s neck, and squeezed until the head detached, rolling away on the dirt floor. He could taste the terror heavily in the air all around him, and this drove him completely rabid with murderous glee. This human buffet was completely at his mercy, and he would show them none. Leaping through the air, he landed on several at once, crushing a child beneath his overbearing weight, stabbing a claw straight through the chest of one man, which exploded his heart out his back, and biting the head off another, flicking his head to the side and sending it flying over the pushing throng. Scores of people lay broken and bleeding, trampled in the stampede to escape. Marbles gave no thought to feeding right now. The desire to rend and tear, to utterly slaughter was too great, and he once again leapt, further into the centre of the trapped crowd, crushing people with his body, slashing people literally in half with blood-soaked claws, and howling with lust between each bone snapping bite.
The audience at this point abandoned their attempts to get through the impossible entrance, and scattered every which way once Marbles had landed in their midst. Countless people were crushed in the mayhem, their fate sealed. Among the dead, was little Penny Bellisarius, who had been trampled in the mass exodus. Her father, Tom, had been pulled away from her and ushered along by the hysterical crowd, try as he might to remain with his daughter. He was off duty tonight, and that bitch of an ex-wife had insisted he leave his gun at home if he was to take their child out to the circus. Even if he had it with him, his bullets would have been useless against this monster, but he didn’t know that. He was weeping uncontrollably, screaming out his missing daughter’s name and pushing his way through the tight mass of bodies, towards the spot where they had been separated. He never did find her. The werewolf spotted him going against the crowd and headed straight for him, disregarding everyone else. The final scream of his daughter’s name was cut unceremoniously short; his body crumpling to the ground, his head still in Marbles’ giant claws.
Gus had been one of the fortunate to escape the Big Top once the panic began, but escape wasn’t what he had in mind. He made a bee line straight for his own attraction; the “Test Your Strength” post. You know, the pillar that stands at a towering height of twenty feet, topped with a large bell that people vainly attempt to hit, by swinging a large hammer down with all their might on the little pad at the base. His trusty sledgehammer was what he was after. He could swing that thing, one-handed, like it was a child’s toy, and hit that bell every time without fail. Reaching the post and picking up the hammer, Gus turned back towards the carnage littered tent and took a deep, shaky breath, before running full stride around to the back entrance.
Inside, people ran this way and that, not knowing which way to turn, desperately trying to avoid becoming the next victim of the monster’s wrath. Several were spared, but didn’t escape. Instead of being the werewolf’s chew toy, they were mauled by the lions; still on the loose and joining the massacre. All three were wise enough to stay well clear of Marbles, and pick off helpless individuals as they fled. Marbles’ attention had been drawn away from the entrance once everyone had scattered, and many more people were lucky to escape. Still, at least a hundred were trapped inside, chased down and slaughtered by the three feline beasts, and the lupine monstrosity that howled incessantly for blood.
Gus reached the back entrance and was met by more people who had found another avenue of escape. A few brave souls halted their fleeing at the sight of the enormous man with the deadly sledgehammer, looking around for their own weapons of protection, and cautiously followed the fearless strongman back inside the Big Top. He may have looked fearless, but inside, Giuseppe the strongman was absolutely shitting himself. He knew exactly who the werewolf was, and still couldn’t believe what he had seen with his very own eyes. Marbles, the goddamned monster! His huge muscles twitched uncontrollably, and his legs felt like jelly as he approached the ring. He stopped just before the archway and took one more shaky breath. Gus was near frozen with terror, but he figured he might be the only hope of stopping this creature. Half a dozen men, all armed with poles and other assorted makeshift weaponry stood terrified behind the strongman. Gus turned to them without saying a word, simply nodding with respectful gratitude for their bravery, and then stepped into the ring.
Two lions remained, along with Marbles; all three continuing the massacre. One lion had followed the crowd out of the Big Top, and was now making its way towards the city streets. The men who followed behind Gus were struck dumb with horror at the scene. Literally hundreds of people lay slaughtered all around the Big Top, and the massacre was still in full swing. The lions had taken up the space near the entrance, keeping the remaining people trapped, whilst Marbles charged in every direction, rending limbs and guts from people who were both fleeing, and some who had simply froze to the spot in abject terror to await their doom. One of the men behind Gus slowly backed out of the ring, turned and ran back outside as his courage failed him, but the other five remained, despite their insurmountable fear.
From the corner of his eye, Marbles noticed the small group slowly advancing instead of running away in terror. He looked away and casually bit down on an already dead woman in his clutches, then tossed her corpse to the ground and slowly turned to face this oncoming threat. Gus and the five brave men behind him all stopped in unison, as the full attention of this monstrous beast was upon them. Giuseppe’s hands sweated profusely as
he gripped the sledgehammer with all his might. The sweat on his brow ran down his forehead and stung his eyes; blinking furiously, the beast started slowly towards them.
“Spread out!” Gus yelled, and the men behind him did so. He slung the hammer onto his shoulder and wiped the sweat from his hands, one at a time on his shirt. Marbles eyed each and every man off as they cautiously formed a loose arc, either side of Gus. He was a giant of a man, but was dwarfed by the werewolf coming their way. He fought the urge to turn tail and run. Instead, he released a blood-curdling battle cry and ran headlong at the beast. The other five men baulked at this brazen move, and inched slowly towards what was certain to be their agonising deaths.
Marbles recognised his old friend, the strongman, and howled with indignant fury. He leaped through the air, covering a great distance before landing with a lightning fast swipe. Gus managed to duck and roll out of the way by mere inches from the deadly claw, and jumped straight to his feet, off to the side of Marbles. Another man dropped his stick and made a hasty exit, while four remained, their weapons trained on the monster. His blood red eyes followed the fleeing man for a brief few seconds, and Gus took the opportunity to swing the sledgehammer at Marbles’ legs. A sickening crunch felled the beast , and Marbles emitted a howl of pain as his leg snapped under the velocity of the blow. Immediately, the remaining four who had stayed behind with Gus moved in and proceeded to strike and stab at the downed monster, screaming with terror-tainted bravado as they attacked.
Marbles was enraged and rolled around on the floor under the attack, managing to swipe out with a bloody claw and dismember one man’s leg. The other men stopped and backed up when they saw the felled beast was by no means helpless, but Gus stepped forward and brought the hammer crashing down on Marbles’ back. Alas, as the sound of splintering ribs filled the Big Top, they were drowned out by the deafening cracks of Marbles’ broken leg reforming. Launching himself awkwardly, he landed upon another of the men, grabbing hold of him in his huge claws and ripping him in half like a sheet of paper. That was all the remaining three still standing needed for discouragement, and they turned and ran for their lives to the back exit. Marbles bounded after them, forgetting about his biggest threat, who chased behind him with hammer primed.
Just as Marbles took out the legs of the slowest man, Gus leaped onto his back, knees first, sledgehammer held high above his head. He brought it down with every last ounce of his incredible strength in a sickening thud to the back of the monster’s head. Marbles was heavily stunned, sprawling flat on his belly with the adrenaline-pumped strongman kneeling on his back. Blow after blow rained down onto Marbles' skull, each strike knocking more and more sense out of him, until everything swirled into darkness and he lay still. Gus continued his violent hammer assault long after the beast stopped moving, crushing the skull flat and spraying blood and brains all over the mangled man who lay before them. It was over. Kendrick the drifter – Marbles the Clown – The terrifying beast of Johann’s Family Circus was finally and permanently dead.
EPILOGUE
Gus stood from the dead werewolf, trembling with fear and adrenaline. He watched with disbelief, as the monster at his feet gradually shrank and transformed before his eyes, back into the naked form of his old friend. He didn’t hear the wail of sirens and screech of tyres outside the Big Top. He didn’t notice the dozens of cops pouring into the ring, only to stop and stare in awe at the bloody scene that greeted them. Giuseppe the strongman dropped his hammer and fell to his knees beside the deceased Marbles, bursting into tears of relief and terrible desolation at the fate of his poor friend. Officers surrounded the pair with their guns trained on Gus. More than a few of them emptied their stomachs at what they witnessed. Gus was handcuffed and led out of the tent into the cold night air, only to be released from custody once the reports of what had actually happened circulated.
News reporters and their crews flooded the circus grounds and surrounded the hero of the night, blasting him with rapid fire questions, but Gus just slumped to the ground and sat despondently, not saying a word. Nearly all of the circus performers had been viciously slaughtered, including the Ringmaster. The death count overall climbed to several hundred. All three of the escaped lions had been shot dead by police. This was a night that would haunt the people of this city for the rest of their lives, but none so much as Gus. He had been fortunate to survive, but he was never the same again. He lost all purpose once the circus closed and, in a strange twist of tribute to Marbles, Gus lived out his days, drifting from place to place, avoiding the company of people and never staying in any one place for more than a few days.
The Bitter End
Blood Moon Big Top Page 7