Carnival World Boxed Set (Episodes 1-3) Read online

  There, she said it. There was no point in sparing the kid from the cruel facts of life, even if he was cute like a puppy.

  Sam slid off the bench. “I’m going to go find Summer.”

  Nicole heard another noise. This one shuffling, like something moving. She grabbed Sam’s arm before he could move.

  “Don’t leave me alone.”

  But Sam had already stopped moving and his eyes were wide with fear. He whispered, “I think there’s something in here with us.”

  Then they saw it. Ryan’s dog. It was more hideous than she could have imagined. It was crouched under one of the picnic tables with its teeth bared.

  “Looks like some kind of dog,” said Sam.

  “Not like any dog I’ve seen.” Nicole’s heart was hammering in her throat.

  Growling, it slunk nearer.

  “Sam, get up on the table.” Nicole scrambled onto the bench.

  Sam did as she said and hopped on top of the picnic table. Nicole got up there too and put him behind her. Sam grabbed hold of her.

  “It’s going to eat us.”

  Nicole didn’t answer. She couldn’t do anything but stare as the twisted, raw-looking thing drew closer. She saw its open maw—razor-like teeth lined every inch. And she had nothing to fight back with.

  “I have to get Sam.” Summer started toward the pavilion. Nothing else mattered but holding her brother. She’d promised her mom that she would take care of him. And she never broke her promises.

  Darien grabbed Summer’s arm. “You can’t go charging over there. What if you run into it?”

  She grabbed a piece of wood from the ground. “Then I’ll bash its head in.”

  “We’re going with you,” said Darien. He looked at the others. “All of us.”

  Ryan shrugged like he didn’t have anything else to do. Justin helped Maddie to her feet.

  Not waiting for the others, Summer sprinted toward the pavilion. She could hear the others running behind her. Ryan had his metal bar, the others held torches.

  “Sam! Sam! Answer me!”

  Summer reached the pavilion fence just in time to see Sam jump from one picnic table to the next. Nicole was right behind him.

  As she jumped, the dog snapped at her retreating legs. It was twice as big as the creature from the carousel. And Summer’s heart leapt into her throat.

  Its teeth snagged Nicole’s purse and yanked it from her arm. The tug pulled the girl off balance and she fell to the ground. But the monster ignored her and kept after Sam. It smelled the weaker prey. It knew Nicole would put up a fight, but Sam... Sam had the smallest fists and the shortest legs. No power behind them.

  “Sam! Jump to me!” Summer screamed.

  Sam turned toward her voice and jumped to the next table. He wobbled a bit and nearly fell. But he righted himself and leapt to the next table. Then the next.

  Summer reached over the side of the pavilion and grabbed him. With all her strength, she pulled him over the fence and out of harm’s way.

  Nicole scrambled to her feet but her knees were banged up and bleeding badly. The blood was like an elixir to the monster dog. It stopped and sniffed the air, turning in Nicole’s direction and let out a long, guttural growl that sent shivers through Summer.

  Just then, Darien, Maddie and Justin all rushed it with their torches.

  “Get out of here, Nicole.” Darien waved his torch at the beast.

  Nicole limped away as the group threatened it with fire. It barked at them but did not back off.

  Ryan climbed onto one of the picnic tables, his metal bar held high in the air. He jumped down right on the dog, smacking it with all his strength and weight behind the blow.

  There was an audible crack as the animal’s back broke.

  Summer hugged Sam tight as three more smacks echoed from the pavilion.

  THWACK. CRACK. THUD.

  “Jesus, Mulvaney. Are you a freaking psycho, or what?” said Darien.

  Sam’s face was buried in Summer’s side. “Did he kill it?”

  “I think so,” said Summer.

  Ryan walked out of the pavilion, the metal bar dripping with dark-tinged blood. Drops of crimson were splattered across his t-shirt and shoes. And if Summer wasn’t mistaken, she thought she saw a small smile on his thin lips.

  Darien, Nicole (who was limping badly), Maddie and Justin followed him out. They all looked ashen and badly shaken up.

  “You didn’t have to kill it,” said Darien.

  “Why, did you want to play with it?” asked Ryan.

  “I’m glad he killed it,” said Maddie. She moved to stand by Ryan.

  “Maddie...” said Justin.

  “The other one almost ripped my throat out. That one would’ve done the same to Nicole or the kid.”

  At the mention of this, Sam squeezed his sister harder. She soothed him as best as she could. But it was getting harder and harder to do that in this place.

  “Thank you. Finally someone who’s reasonable around here,” said Ryan.

  There was another howl in the distance. It made them all jump.

  “I think we should all stay together. It’ll be safer,” said Summer.

  “I agree. It doesn’t make sense splitting up again,” said Justin.

  Everyone looked at each other. Summer wondered if anyone would disagree. They’d be stupid if they did. Together they were stronger. Apart, they were all sitting ducks for whatever was out there hunting them in the dark.

  Finally, Darien nodded. “Yeah, that makes sense.”

  “I concur,” said Ryan.

  “Where should we hole up?” asked Maddie.

  “In there.” Ryan gestured to the pavilion. “It’s easier to defend.”

  “What about the dead dog?” asked Justin.

  “Well, we’ll have to move it won’t we, genius?”

  Justin looked like he was going to say something but Maddie moved toward Ryan. “I’ll help you move it, Ryan.” Ryan smiled at her.

  Justin frowned. Summer could tell he did not like this development one bit. She didn’t blame him. If she had a sister, she’d definitely not want her to get involved with a guy like Ryan. Sure, he’d saved Maddie and Nicole from the mutated dogs, and he had some ideas about what was happening to them, but she’d seen the look of glee in his eyes when he killed that animal. It didn’t make Summer feel safe, not one bit.

  Grudgingly, Darien went to help as well.

  “Does no one care that I’m hurt? I could have rabies,” complained Nicole.

  “It didn’t bite you. You just fell,” Summer said. Although the girl did look a mess and was still bleeding.

  “Look at my knees, I didn’t just fall.”

  Justin gestured to an errant cement block. “Sit over here and I’ll see if I can clean them up.” He took off his outer shirt and ripped it at the hem.

  Nicole limped over to Justin and sat down. “Oh, and someone grab my purse in there. I think I have anti-bacterial lotion.”

  Later, the dog’s body was gone but its blood stained the ground black. They all congregated in the center of the pavilion. A fire burned in the middle of the surrounding picnic tables.

  Sam lay on a tabletop on his side. Summer was lying beside him, rubbing his back.

  Nicole, her knees hastily bandaged with strips of cloth from Justin’s t-shirt, had decided to lie down on another table.

  Maddie and Justin were huddled together. Justin rubbed her arm but her attention was on Ryan, who stood at the pavilion entrance with his metal bar in both hands. Ryan practiced sword grips and strikes on the air.

  “Where did you learn how to do that?” Maddie asked.

  “Took a little kendo. And... Some LARPing,” said Ryan.

  Justin laughed.

  “Some what?” she asked, not getting the joke that Justin obviously knew.

  “LARPing. Live Action Role Playing,” Justin answered. He laughed some more. “You’re a geek? Dude, I thought you were in a gang or something. I thought you were a
drug dealer.”

  “Drug dealer? Yeah right. Contrary to what you see on TV, those guys have a seventy five to eighty percent chance of getting busted. Federal drug trafficking charges result in a minimum sentence of ten to fifteen years. I got better things to do with my time.”

  “You researched drug dealing?” asked Justin.

  “I research everything. I have a mild case of ADD and 24/7 access to the internet.”

  Ryan was unusually gabby. Maddie hoped it was because of her.

  Justin smirked. “Nerd.”

  “I’m a nerd with a broadsword and a nasty disposition,” said Ryan.

  Maddie was fascinated with what he was suggesting. “So what? Are we trapped inside some kind of video game or fairy tale?”

  “If parallel universes really do exist, and the evidence is pretty strong at the moment, then anything’s possible. I sure hope this isn’t a video game.”

  “Why not?” asked Justin.

  “Because I’ve played these kinds of games before. And you always die on your first run through.”

  Maddie glanced across the pavilion at Darien, who was off on his own. “So is Darien cool with us heading out for Cedar Falls?”

  “Fido and friends convinced him that staying here is a bad idea.”

  Ryan bit into a snack cake they’d found in the old vending machines. Maddie ate one earlier and it was surprisingly moist inside. But she had heard that some snack foods could survive the apocalypse.

  “The pickings here are pretty slim.” Ryan gestured with the snack cake. “We’d have to leave here pretty soon or starve.”

  “Okay, but why Cedar Falls? Why not Warren?” asked Justin.

  “What? Like Sam said? You really believe that talk about the Barker?”

  “Anything’s possible, right?” said Justin.

  And Maddie noticed Ryan had no answer for that.

  Darien was on the other side, over the fence, with a torch in his hand. He peered out into the night and muttered. Nicole tried to relax on the table nearby. Her shins still stung, but that was from the antiseptic gel. She was surprised at how calm she was. She was still close to completely losing it, but for now she could keep it together.

  There was something about her conversation with Sam that comforted her. She didn’t believe him about the Barker and everything. But she didn’t disbelieve him, either. It was nice to think that maybe somebody was looking out for them. But a carnival barker?

  Still, Nicole told herself she’d soon be back in her nice clean house with her soft bed. She wouldn’t have to put up with a hard picnic table that was so covered in grime there was no sense in wiping it down.

  As she tried to get comfortable, Darien’s muttering grated on her raw nerves. Finally she asked him, “Who are you talking to?”

  “Nothing. No one.”

  Nicole could tell he wasn’t being honest. Normally she let it slide because she didn’t want to be a shrew. But now was not the day to hold back.

  “Don’t you go weird on me. I need one person in this group who is normal or I’m going to lose it.”

  Darien went back to standing guard. After a few seconds he turned back to Nicole and said, “I lost.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “I lost. Mulvaney won. He was right.”

  “Yeah, well, he’s a freak and this place is freak central. Anyway, being wrong is not losing.”

  “Yes it is!” Darien hissed. His intensity alarmed Nicole.

  “So if you flunk a test in chemistry, you lose?”

  “Yes! If you accept losing, you become a loser. The only way to be a winner is to reject losing,” said Darien.

  Nicole shook her head. Jesus. Maybe Darien was losing it as well. Why couldn’t there be just one person in their group who was level headed?

  She glanced over at Sam and Summer huddled together on one of the other benches. Was it crazy to think that maybe Sam was the answer to all their problems?

  Strewn before Summer and Sam was an assortment of candy. “You said you wanted cotton candy for dinner.”

  Sam hugged the football tighter to his stomach. “No I didn’t.”

  “You sure? I think I remember you saying something along those lines.”

  “I’m not a baby.”

  “No. Of course you’re not, Sam. So what do you want?”

  “Mom’s pot roast.”

  “Maybe a little later.”

  Summer rummaged through the sweets. “Snack cakes. Those will give you a sore tummy. Chocolate bars are okay. We’ll have one of those for dessert. Aha! Popcorn balls. Nutritious. Sort of.”

  She found one for Sam and unwrapped one for herself. She smelled it. “Smells okay. I always said carnival food could survive a nuclear winter.”

  They chowed down on their popcorn.

  “Are we going to be all right?” asked Sam.

  “Sure we are, buddy. Don’t worry. I won’t let anything happen to you.”

  “Do you think Mom’s dead?”

  “What? No. I’m sure Mom’s just fine. She’s just not here,” said Summer.

  “Then where is she? Where is anybody? Are we the only people alive in this world?”

  “I don’t know. We’re someplace else. Someplace different, like Ryan said. I don’t know how we got here, but...” She ran a hand over his head. He was so little. It had nearly destroyed her when she’d seen the mutated dog hunting him. If he had slipped... Her gut clenched at that. She couldn’t think about it anymore. Not if she wanted to actually get some sleep.

  “Close your eyes and try to get some sleep. I’m sure everything will be different in the morning.”

  Sam closed his eyes. “But what if it isn’t?”

  She didn’t respond. She had no idea what to say to him, so she just kept brushing his hair and hoping she didn’t have to say a thing.

  Beyond the pavilion, in the darkness of the surrounding trees, the Barker watched the children as they settled in for the long night. The first step had been taken. He’d done what he was tasked to do by speaking with The Fortune Teller. Now the rest was up to the boy.

  As he watched, the Barker twirled his cane around and around and around.

  CARNIVAL WORLD

  Episode 2

  Chapter One

  Plagued by bad dreams, Summer woke just as the sun pierced the cloying darkness. She yawned and stretched, mindful not to disturb Sam who was still, thankfully, sleeping beside her.

  As carefully as she could, she climbed down from the picnic table where she and her brother had spent the night. It had been as comfortable as a block of wood, but Summer had still managed to get a decent sleep. The previous day was exhausting. Sam had snuggled in against her, and they both drifted off fairly quickly.

  Fighting demonic dog creatures wears you out, she thought. She instantly felt bad making a joke about it. Sam had almost been hurt, or worse. If she was just a few seconds late...

  Summer took some deep breaths to calm herself. She couldn’t afford to freak out. Not first thing in the morning. She looked back at the picnic table. Sam was still lying there, off in dreamland. She hoped they were good dreams despite the madness they’d been plunged into.

  She was glad that Sam fell asleep as quickly as she did. She didn’t like listening to him going on and on about The Barker and the game he played to win the compass. It bothered her that he wouldn’t just admit he found it and had instead made up some elaborate story. It wasn’t like him though to do that. Sam had always been an honest kid.

  She walked out of the pavilion and into the daylight. The sun remained hidden behind a vast stretch of clouds. She stretched again, working out all the kinks, while she looked around. No one else seemed to be up. The smoke from their two fires hung in the air. Darien was there, sitting on the bench and poking at the ground with a stick. He smiled when he saw her.

  Was it bad form that her stomach did a little flip at the sight of his beaming grin?

  “Am I the first up?” she aske
d.

  He nodded. “Looks like it. Unless Ryan is lurking around. He said he was going to sleep when I took over the shift about three hours ago, but who knows with him.”

  She gave him a shy smile. “Yeah, he’s kinda weird.”

  “Kinda?”

  “But he is like smarter than all of us put together — well I don’t know about Justin and Maddie — but the rest of us for sure. So, I kinda think maybe he knows more about this stuff than we do.”

  He rubbed a hand over his face and sighed. “Yeah, I suppose.” He tossed the stick away. “Doesn’t mean I have to like him.”

  “I don’t like him either, but I’ll at least listen to him.”

  “Yeah, you’re right.” He smiled at her again. “See, you’re pretty smart yourself.”

  She blushed. She couldn’t help it. Embarrassed, she looked down at the ground and at her sandal-clad feet. He probably thought she was some sort of loser now. She kicked at a stone on the ground in frustration but it didn’t move and she ended up stubbing her big toe instead.

  “Ow,” she yelped.

  Darien jumped up and was at her side in seconds. “Are you okay?” He looked down at her foot, then up to her face.

  “I stubbed my stupid toe.” God, she felt so dumb, so silly; like a weak little girl.

  “Here, you should sit down.” He touched her then, right on the arm, and she felt the fire ignite in her belly. The way her stomach lurched was like she was on a roller coaster. Going up and down. Up and down.

  Darien led her over to the bench and helped her sit. He knelt next to her and studied her injured foot. His hand brushed against her calf and she nearly jumped out of her skin. She couldn’t help the little jerk in her body though.

  She brushed it all off with a nervous laugh. “I’m fine. There’s no blood.”

  “Maybe I should, ah, feel it to see if it’s broken.” He too gave a little nervous laugh. “I’ve seen lots of broken bones out on the field and in the locker room.”

  She gave a non-committal shrug and hoped like hell that her face wasn’t red. She knew it was just her foot he was going to touch, but it might as well have been connected to the rest of her anatomy, what with the way her belly and lower parts were reeling.