by Aline Riva
“Fuck you!” Jason yelled and he lunged at Rick, shoving him through the loose entrance to the tent.
Rick tumbled through and hit the ground, Jason ripped the curtain aside, ready to steam in for more of the same, then he stopped, his expression changing to one of horror as the others ran closer, yelling to Rick to get the hell out.
Rick was on his back, looking up at the high interior of the big top. And that view was rapidly being obscured as they came at him, snarling and teeth bared, all of them clowns, all of them very much undead and starving...
Chapter 4 : The Lion, the Girl and the Icky Stick
All their faces were painted – there was a large, heavy set man in a red wig, beside him a short, thin man in a striped clown suit, the other two had red noses on and all their faces were smeared with way too much red for the whole of the scarlet to be grease paint. Their eyes were dark and their teeth bared.
Rick aimed a punch with his steel fist, slamming the head of the large clown against the smaller, then kicked out, sending them sprawling as a third lunged.
The bullets that sprayed the tent made their bodies jerk, the force of the shots sent the attacking clown flying backwards, into the circus ring as beside him, the head of another clown was shattered by bullets and then as the group concentrated fire power, Rick drew his own gun, looking away as he rammed it under the chin of the final clown, pulling the trigger and sending skull fragments and brain matter flying into the air, spattering the side of the big top loudly as he rolled to avoid getting caught in the mess. The final body fell heavily, then Rick got up, brushed dust from his clothing and with the gun still in his hand glared at Jason, who had stumbled backwards into the circus ring as Rick followed, waving his gun in his human hand angrily as his metallic one clenched into a fist.
“You're a prick, do you know that, Jason?” he yelled, “Clowns! Fucking zombie killer clowns, I had to get the clowns...all thanks to you!”
He lunged at him and then David ran forward, slamming into the two men who were locked in another struggle as he forced them apart with a shove.
“You shut your mouth!” he yelled at Jason, then he turned to Rick, “And you, put that fucking gun away! We're low on ammo, we don't need more shit to deal with!”
Then he stepped back cautiously.
The two men looked at each other.
“I'm not shaking his hand,” Rick said.
“Did I ask you to?” David yelled in anger, then he turned away, stepping over the body of a clown and running his fingers through his hair as he paused for breath.
“Oh, fuck this petty shit! We have to work together!”
“I didn't know about the clowns,” Jason said quietly.
“Fuck off, Jason,” Rick said dismissively.
David glared at him and Rick held up his hands as the metallic one caught the light as it filtered in from the opening in the tent where the others stood looking on .
“Okay, okay, I'm calm...”
David paused to look about the place – he noticed a couple of cages, large cages, empty with the doors open. Over in a far corner were impressions in the dirt that seemed to suggest other cages had been kept here but moved...
“Missing cages,” he murmured, “And empty ones....where are the animals?”
“Probably in the zoo, who cares?” Rick said as he put his gun away.
Then he walked out of the circus tent, pushing past the others and wandering over to a wide green picnic area, where he could pause for breath and calm down as he tried to remember what David had said about ammo – he was right, it would run out soon. It was pointless to waste it on the results of stupid arguments... Rick stayed there on the lawn, alone and gathering his thoughts as he waited to calm down completely, because there could be no more fights like this, not when they needed to stick together – David was right about that and he knew it...
As the others turned away from the circus tent, Jason was still protesting his innocence.
“I never would have done that if I'd known!” he said, “Who could have known about the clowns? None of us did! It wasn't my fault!”
The others walked on, going over to join Rick as Jason hurried to catch up, his protests falling on deaf ears as not one of the group turned around to acknowledge him. As they stood together on the lawn, up ahead the sign posts pointed to the zoo and the fairground, and the path split in two directions.
“What now?” Tara said as she looked to David, “Is there any point to being here, because all we've done is stumble across a handful of undead. I see no survivors here.”
“But this place is vast, it's still quite possible,” he replied as he looked about the huge park where over treetops, the rollercoaster stood tall and looped with no cars to ride its ghostly tracks.
“We can't give up,” Sandra agreed, and Toby nodded.
“I make you right, David – we have to be sure. Even if we find one person alive here, the search will be worth it.”
“What about Mortiz?”
They all turned to see Lois standing alone, her head turned as she looked over to the other side of the lawn to where Rick stood alone, his hands on the hips of his dark jeans that emphasised his slender frame as he paused for breath, his back turned, as he tried to wind down from the fight with Jason.
“It's possible he could be here somewhere,” David told her, “That's why we have to save our ammo. If his people come for us, we have to shoot them before they get a chance to reach us or we'll wind up being just another massacre like those at the mall and the mess we found by the diner a few miles back.”
Lois shivered, keeping her gaze fixed on Rick.
“Then we should search and leave,” she replied “I don't want to stay around here...”
“It'll be getting dark soon,” Toby added, “We should find a safe place to bed down for the night.”
“Yeah, back through the maze and into the safety of our cars!” Lois exclaimed.
“No,” David said, “We have to search the whole of the park.”
Then the group headed over to where Rick stood waiting, and they headed for the path that would eventually lead to the fork in the road.
When they reached the fork they paused by a large tree and an odd looking statue of a lion that sat beneath it, the group had almost mistaken it for a real lion as they double took, casting their weary gaze over its crafted body which didn't seem at all different to the average lion except for its face, its grotesque looking face. Its eyes were hardly visible beneath the mass of skin that was inflated around them and its teeth far too long and razor sharp as its mouth hung open, but it seemed quite in place in this structure that had once been a fantasy fun land.
“Zoo or Fairground?” asked Toby, Which way?”
“It has to be one or the other,” David replied, “We won't be splitting up – look what could have happened to Rick if we hadn't been together to concentrate our fire power. We have to explore this place slowly and carefully. I say we head over to the old time fair and then find a place to bed down for the night – there must be some under cover places there, structures that we can secure for a few hours.”
Something was squeaking.
They all heard it but nearby, the sign posts that hung from a chain shifted in the breeze, so they had all ignored it as they discussed plans, until the squeak-squeak of something metallic and thirsty for oil sounded suddenly louder.
“What was that?” Lois said nervously, her eyes wide as she looked left and right but saw nothing. By now Rick was standing beside her, and he gave a shrug.
“You'll hear a lot of strange sounds around here, with all this abandoned equipment, the rides, the gates, debris...could be anything.”
Then as a movement registered at the corner of his eye, David turned sharply, his eyes wide as he realised the lion was no statue. It raised its head, sniffed the air, looked to the humans lazily, then looked away again, its hazy gaze shifted to somewhere deep in the park, far beyond where they were yet to ventu
re.
“Oh shit!” Tara whispered.
“It's a mutant...” Toby muttered.
“And it doesn't care about us,” David said, cautiously stepping forward, one careful pace at a time.
“Don't!” Tara said in alarm, but he took that final step, hand outstretched, and placed it on the lion's partly turned back.
The beast's head moved in a blur, fixing him with a fearsome gaze that sent him staggering back as he feared it would lunge – but instead, it regarded the humans thoughtfully, then looked away once more.
“It doesn't want to eat us!” Jason said in surprise.
“Mutant animals...they must be affected differently by the virus much like it affects humans differently...some turn zombie, some don't - some part mutate and no one knows why...maybe it affects DNA in different ways...no one knows for sure, but if it wanted to eat us it would have done the moment we approached it.”
David stepped back further, his gaze still fixed on the lion. As it shifted position again it moved over, revealing the remains of its recent meal – body parts that were clearly zombified...
David looked to the others in amazement.
“It eats the undead? It doesn't care about us but it eats them?”
Tara shook her head.
“This is incredible...”
Then as the squeaking grew louder, they all turned towards the circus tent, to see a strange sight:
There was a child aged around eleven, she stood there in a black school uniform, her long brown hair reached her shoulders and she was pushing a battered old dolls pram.
“What's a kid doing on her own in this place?” Toby said quietly.
They all watched.
The girl stood with her back to them, looking in the direction of the circus tent. Then she raised her head, sniffing the air, and turned around to face them, eyes set with an almost alien darkness about them as she smiled at them across the lawn. Her face was pale but the skin was unbroken, in her hand she clutched a candy floss stick, but on the stick was the remains of her recent snack – a human brain had been munched away like she had been eating a toffee apple, now the last remnant of it clung to the stick as she held it and looked past it at the humans, still with a smile on her face.
The lion raised its head, looked in her direction and then looked away again, uninterested. The girl began to walk over to the group, oblivious to the way they all reached for their weapons.
“Is she undead or mutant?” David wondered aloud, raising a hand to signal caution, “I'm sure none of us want to shoot a child...”
“I won't shoot her if she doesn't try to eat me,” Toby replied.
“She doesn't seem aggressive,” Tara noticed, glancing to the lion and then back at the girl, “What if she's mutated like the lion? Sees humans as harmless? I see no aggression...”
“Yet...” David said cautiously as the girl made her way up the path, eyes set on the group as she clutched the brains on a candyfloss stick.
As she reached the group she looked up, taking in the sight of all their faces in turn, then as the lion bounded past her and made for the circus tent, she gave it a casual glance and looked back at the humans who stood before her. Then as she took a bite from the remains of the brain on the stick, the last piece fell to the ground and her smile vanished as she looked down, frowning.
All of them were staring at her. As the lion dragged a zombie corpse from the circus tent and started to eat it, the girl was still looking down sadly at the dropped morsel on the ground much like she may as well have lost the last part of an ice lolly.
It was Rick who spoke first, cautiously extending his metallic hand as the girl looked up sharply.
“Hello,” he said kindly, “Are you friendly? If you're not, don't go biting my hand because it's solid steel and you'll break your little teeth, okay?”
The child kept her gaze locked with his as he reached out, then he gently patted the top of her head.
“I think she's okay with us... like the lion...”
“But mutant or zombie?” David wondered, “Mutants are harmless...I think, but a bite from the undead is infectious.”
The girl looked back at the lion as it swiped the head of the clown corpse and the skull cracked open like a walnut, then she grinned as she poked Rick with the stick, prod, prod, prod gently as he couldn't read the look in her eyes.
“What?” he asked her, “What are you doing that for? Don't touch my clothing with that...that...” he looked at the stained, stinky candy floss stick, “Don't poke me with that icky stick!” he said firmly, then she turned away and ran over to the place where the lion was devouring the lower half of the clown.
”What is she doing now?” Rick wondered aloud.
As the girl leant over the corpse's exposed brain, she stuck in the stick and pulled it out with a jubilant look on her face, the group looked away, some gave groans, and as she ran back over, Rick drew in a breath of fresh air before the stink of the brains on a stick got to him again.
“Oh I see!” he said as he looked down at her, “You wanted to know if I wanted some? Well that's very kind but no thanks...we don't eat that, it's all yours...humanities gift to you.”
The girl took a bite, chewing as she savoured the brains on a stick as if it was every bit as nice as candy floss. As she chewed, she looked to Rick, then Lois, then to David and Tara, then she cast a glance at Toby and Sandra, then finally to Jason, who looked away, feeling sick at the sight of the brains being chewed on as she stood there in front of them.
“I think we should be on our way,” David said, indicating to the sign post that pointed towards the path that led to the old fashioned fairground. He turned towards the path and led the way, then as the others walked on beside him, Rick turned back to see the child standing there, watching them leave, still holding the brain on a stick.
“Bye,” Rick said, then he smiled at the little girl and turned away, shaking his head as he chuckled.
“Friendly brain eating kid...what ever next?”
“Look behind you,” said Lois, and he glanced over his shoulder again.
“Oh no, she's following us!”
“Following you,” Lois replied.
David laughed as he led the way along the path.
“Made a new friend, Rick?”
“I knew eye contact was a mistake! I never should have looked back!” he exclaimed.
Then the child was beside him, then behind him, pushing her way between Rick and Lois as she walked on, brain on the icky stick, stinking of dead zombie as it glistened in the fading light of the late afternoon, and the others glanced at her, looked away and a few smiles were exchanged as Rick looked more than a little annoyed.
“Looks like we're stuck with her now!”
“Yes,” David said as he laughed, “You are, Rick!”
And the child made no sound, just walked on, wedged firmly between Rick and Lois, carrying the brain on the candy floss stick like it was a grand trophy.
“Maybe we can lose her,” Lois whispered.
The girl looked up at her, pale face and dark eyes meeting her gaze in an unearthly way as the brain on the stick stank of dead zombie.
“Maybe not,” Lois said uneasily, forcing a smile and then looking ahead, where the landscape opened up into a riot of colour and before them sprawled a large area filled with old fashioned fairground rides.
The sign above the open gates said Olde Tyme Fair. They entered the grounds to see carousels with horses, a helter skelter standing tall and colourful, a big wheel, bumper cars and many side shows, all gaily painted like fairgrounds back in the Victorian days. The girl abruptly walked off, separating from the group as she headed for the kiosk marked Candyfloss, she looked down into it, saw it was empty, then turned away, taking a bite out of the brain she carried on the stick, then as she chewed on the mouthful of brain matter she looked to the others with glee in her eyes.
“Urggh...I wish she wouldn't do that!” Lois exclaimed.
&nb
sp; “She's happy enough, and she doesn't want to eat us, which is fine with me,” David replied.
Then something darted across the fairground, in a blur of flowing black that had everyone in the group reaching for their weapons as they thought of Mortiz and his black cape.
“What was that?” Tara whispered, looking nervously about the now still fairground.
“Steady on,” Toby murmured, “Ammos low... think before you fire... If it was Mortiz and his people, we'd be dead by now.”
As she leapt out from behind the thick bark of a nearby tree, Sandra gave a gasp, her finger almost slipping on the trigger as she hastily lowered her weapon and the others did the same.
“The sun is almost gone!” whispered the stranger, making a dramatic gesture to the sunset with a sweep of her hand, “The dead shall arise! I foretold this, I see it all, they didn't listen!”
David looked at her cautiously, thinking before he spoke to the oddly dressed woman. She was average height, her curvaceous body poured into a black dress that clung at her cleavage and pulled in her waist, laced tightly like a corset. Her skirt came down to her ankles, it was black and flowing and her boots were laced up and the heels were high. Her dark hair hung to her waist, it was loose and slightly wild, much like the look in her mascara coated eyes as she parted ruby red lips and spoke again.
“I,” she announced, gesturing to a nearby tent, “Am Emerald Darke, Romany gypsy and seer of fortunes!”
“She's a nutter,” Jason muttered, and Sandra shot him a sour look.
“You would be too if you'd spent months shut up in here with undead crawling all over the place!”
David stepped forward, feeling relieved this new encounter was with a harmless member of the living and not another bunch of undead clowns.
“Hi,” he said, humouring the woman, “Romany gypsy? You sound more like North London to me...I'm David, this is Tara, and these people are my crazy army...”
He gestured to Sandra, “Sharpshooter,” then Toby, “The Night Watchman,” he glanced to Jason, “Troublemaker...” then he looked to Lois, “The...um...” he paused, running out of suitable nicknames as her eyes widened, “The Lois...Loris...the Slow Loris! And this...” he looked to Rick, still struggling as Rick smirked.