Carnival World Boxed Set (Episodes 1-3) Page 7

“What are you doing?”

  Flinching, Darien jumped to his feet as Ryan shuffled toward them, sleepily rubbing at his face, and then his crotch.

  Summer cringed. Boys were so disgusting sometimes. The things she had to put up with living with Sam. And here she was essentially living with three more. Teenage boys, to boot. She could just imagine the things she was going to see and hear.

  Darien rubbed the palm of his hand down the side of his leg, nervously. “Summer hurt herself. I was just checking to make sure she was okay.”

  Ryan shrugged as if to say “whatever.” Then he turned and looked around. “We should get everyone up, so we can start searching the cars. There has to be something more substantial to eat out there. If I eat any more snack cake I’m going to get the shits.”

  “Too much information, Ryan,” said Summer. He was crude but not wrong. Carnival food was many things but a nutritious, square meal wasn’t one of them.

  “I’ll go wake up Justin and Maddie then.” Darien moved back inside the pavilion but glanced over his shoulder at Summer.

  She gave him a reassuring smile. He turned back around and strode into the smoky interior. She glanced down at her foot and wiggled her toe. It wasn’t broken. But, in a way, Summer kind of wished it was. That way it would give Darien another reason to look at her, to smile at her, and to touch her. Something she would’ve given her right arm to experience in the other life.

  The little bitch!

  Nicole clamped her hand over her mouth to keep from screaming as she lay curled up on the sticky, filthy picnic table. She had managed only two moments of fitful sleep during the night and both times nightmares had haunted her. It was hard to relax in the first place, lying on a hard wooden table that was covered with dirt and splinters. The first time she dreamed about demon dogs that were about to eat her. The second time had been even worse. She dreamed that rust spread like a fungus from the ruined carnival rides and infected every one of them. She had seen Darien, Ryan and the twins staggering around. Their skin had rusted away, exposing hollow insides like an old drain.

  The only reason she hadn’t awoken screaming was because the scream caught in her throat and she sat up silently gagging next to Darien. She had wanted to reach over and touch him, just for reassurance. But she decided to wait until the morning came.

  Just a moment ago she’d gotten up. She wanted to talk to Darien about the other night. But more than that, she wanted him to hold her, to comfort her. But when she woke, she saw him holding Summer. Nicole gagged on another silent scream.

  Back home she would have torn the tramp’s hair out. There, she would’ve had her friends backing her. They would have egged her on, especially Katie, the ringleader of the Crooks High popular girls. Hanging out with Katie and her posse wasn’t always makeovers and gossip. But it was better than being on the bottom rung like Summer Vaughn.

  One time Paula Turner had kissed Jack Rice, who was Katie’s boyfriend at the time. The next day Katie got the whole gang together, including Nicole, and they descended on Paula in the girls’ locker room after gym class.

  They surrounded her and chanted “Slut! Slut! Slut!” Nicole was nervous at first but got into it and enjoyed herself. Then Katie threw the first punch. Nicole stopped yelling and stood still as the rest of the girls piled on. Paula screamed and cried. She was curled up and bloody at the end. Katie hustled everyone out and Nicole felt her glare. She knew Nicole hadn’t participated in the beating.

  Nicole went home troubled that day and tried to talk to her mom about it. She said her friends had done something. Immediately her mother told her, “Nicole, you have a good group of friends. They’re all from splendid families. I’m sure they would never do anything wrong.”

  Nicole tried to explain but her mother cut her off.

  “Nicole, dear, it’s important you understand this. You must get along with your friends. You may not always agree with what they say or do. But you must get along. No one likes a complainer. No one likes a tattletale.”

  The next day at school a police detective arrived and asked students what had happened. He spoke to Nicole for about ten minutes. Nicole said she had no idea who attacked Paula. She hadn’t heard anything.

  The next day she learned Paula wouldn’t return to school.

  Nicole found herself now wishing Katie and the others were with her now in this strange place.

  Katie and the others wouldn’t have hesitated. They would’ve made her stronger, or at least too embarrassed not to strike back.

  But they weren’t here.

  Here she was alone and all she could do was stifle a scream.

  She quietly curled back into a ball because she didn’t want them to see her like this. That would be too much. She was Nicole Pratt. She’d almost made the cover of Seventeen magazine. She’d almost made the cheerleading squad. She was part of the most popular clique in Crooks High. She wasn’t going let Summer Vaughn see her all teary eyed.

  She knew what Summer was doing. Stubbing her toe? Could she be any more obvious? She’d pulled that very same trick on Darien last August, at the beach. She’d pretended to get bit by a crab. Darien didn’t believe her then, but now he swallowed Summer’s lie. What a dummy. He was fawning over her like a nerdy freshman, sprinting to her the second she “hurt” herself.

  He doesn’t do that for me, not that way. Not anymore. I could lose an arm and he wouldn’t notice.

  She wanted to die.

  “Nicole? You up? Come on.”

  Now he was asking for her. But he just poked her in the ribs and moved on. He didn’t even bother to check on her, the pig. She swallowed her cries and got herself ready. She was still Nicole Pratt. That still meant something to her even if it meant nothing to the rest of these dweebs.

  Once she was ready she stepped out of the pavilion. She saw the others gathered near the entrance.

  “Summer!” The little voice squeaked from behind her.

  “Sam?” She swiveled around to look at him.

  He was still on the table, gazing around wide-eyed with worry. He was squeezing the football Darien had given him like it was a teddy bear. As angry as Nicole was with Summer, her feelings stopped when they came to Sam.

  He’d nearly been eaten by that dog thing the other night. Nicole shuddered at the thought. The funny thing was she hadn’t been scared for herself, not really. When the dog was chasing them, her thoughts had been on Sam. It was only after he’d been rescued by his sister that Nicole had worried about her own safety.

  She tapped him on the shoulder to get his attention. The poor thing nearly jumped out of his skin.

  “Hey, it’s all right. She’s with the others.” She pointed to where the rest of them were stretching and rubbing away the last remnants of sleep.

  “I woke up and she wasn’t there.”

  The irony wasn’t lost on Nicole. She knew exactly how Sam felt. She almost laughed.

  “What’s the matter? You miss your mom?”

  Nicole wished she hadn’t said that. She knew her own mother wouldn’t be wondering where she was. She’d been out all night before, with Darien. Her mother never yelled at her about it. Nicole sensed that she’d even approved. But she would be mad at Nicole if she let Darien get away. And for Summer, of all people!

  Sam sniffed. “I do miss her, but that’s not it. It’s Summer. She won’t believe me when I tell her about the Barker.”

  Sam was sticking to his story from last night; a carnival barker, a game of darts, and a bunch of other stuff that didn’t make sense about going down to Warren. For once both Darien and Ryan were in agreement. Warren was the one place they should steer clear of. That was where the state penitentiary was located.

  And that’s where he is, Nicole thought.

  Nicole looked around. In the daylight, or what passed for it, everything was clear. The carnival was empty except for them. Nothing around but broken old ruins, waist-high weeds and dry ground. Nicole felt the need to shower just looking at it all. And
everything was so still and quiet. Even those weird animal noises were gone. She hoped that meant the dog creatures were also gone.

  They were utterly and completely alone. But still...

  “About that barker stuff...” Nicole said.

  Sam glanced up at her, his doe eyes big and hopeful. “You believe me now?”

  “Not exactly. I don’t not believe you,” Nicole answered. She felt like she was back in school trying to answer a question she hadn’t studied for.

  Sam made a face. “What does that mean?”

  What did that mean? Nicole sort of believed him. Rather, she couldn’t discount it like the others had. Things were just too weird. They were in a time warp or a space hole or a worm something or other. If things made sense they wouldn’t be here, would they? They’d be home and she’d be with her friends plotting some kind of revenge on Summer for flirting with her boyfriend.

  “It means anything’s possible, right?”

  “Thanks.” Sam wiped his face with his sleeve.

  Nicole patted him on his little tow head. Together they walked out of the pavilion to the others.

  “About time you two woke up. Time is money,” Ryan said.

  God, what a dick.

  Summer glared at her. “Sam! Over here!” she barked.

  While Sam hurried to join his sister, Nicole slid in next to Darien.

  “Sleep okay?” he asked gruffly.

  “Not too well. I was alone.”

  Nicole wrapped her hands around Darien’s bulging arm and rested her head against his shoulder. She gazed back at Summer. The look she gave Summer could burn a hole through concrete.

  When Sam’s not around to watch, you’ll get yours.

  Chapter Two

  “Now that we’re all here,” Ryan said, “we’re going to the lot to look in those cars for some food. Something other than old popcorn and caramel. Hopefully there’s still something good — a packet of jerky, a can of spaghetti, something. After we get something to eat we’ll head back to town and from there make our way to Cedar Falls.”

  Giving commands was becoming easier for him. It was almost natural. He called the plays and everyone followed without complaint. Nobody, not even Darien, was going to challenge him. Besides, from what he saw, the big jock had more to worry about than reclaiming his title as alpha dog. He had a battle of the bitches on his hands.

  Not everyone agreed with his plan, though.

  “No! Warren!” Sam yelled. “The man said we should go to Warren!”

  Everyone was so surprised by his violent outburst that they just stared at Sam.

  “Sam, hush,” said Summer.

  “We should stay clear of Warren,” said Darien. “There’re a lot of bad people down there.”

  Ryan didn’t even have to disagree with Sam; everyone else was doing it for him. Although in a video game, you listened to the kid with the weird dream.

  That thought bothered Ryan, but Darien was right. Warren was the home of the state penitentiary. Ryan wasn’t sure how much time had passed in this world, or whether all the inmates down there were long dead. But he wasn’t about to risk taking Maddie, Sam, Summer or even Nicole to a town possibly overrun with rapists and murderers. Besides, they’d laugh at him if he even suggested that Sam might be right. He’d only just gotten this leadership role; he’d have to be careful if he wanted to keep it.

  No, Cedar Falls was the plan and it was a good plan. Even if the physics lab wasn’t responsible for them being here, the university had a library, a hospital, an agricultural program that maintained its own farms and dozens of other facilities. If there were a disaster it’d be the first place he’d head to.

  His stomach growled. It was time to stop daydreaming and time to start finding food. Either that or they’d have to chow down on cotton candy mix.

  “Let’s go,” he said.

  They shuffled — no one seemed too spry this morning — toward the parking lot. Ryan let himself drift toward Maddie and Justin. Maddie gave him a small smile. It was a crazy coincidence that Maddie was the same girl he’d kissed back in middle school. It was sweet knowing that. He was also sure her brother hated him. And that made it even sweeter.

  Nicole stayed on Darien’s arm as they walked. Something she’d always used to do.

  “What are you doing?” he whispered.

  “Do you want me to stop?” she asked.

  “No.”

  There was something reassuring about the warmth of her. It reminded Darien of when they used to walk in the mall or in school together, back when they didn’t have a care in the world. It felt good.

  He looked over at Summer. She turned away from him suddenly. He wondered if there was something wrong with her. Sam moped next to his sister. Darien guessed that Sam was upset about the Barker thing. It was harsh, but they had to get real if they wanted to get out of here.

  Nicole’s hands tightened around his arm and nearly scratched him.

  He flinched. “What?”

  “Nothing,” she muttered.

  Great, now she was all pissy again. He shook his head. He’d never understand girls.

  They came to the gate. The wood was rotting and the turnstiles were rusted. Ryan tried one but it didn’t move. The fence was covered with weeds and vines, blocking their view of the parking lot. Darien reminded himself it was only the other night that he and Nicole had come through those same turnstiles along with dozens of others. Now it seemed like a million years ago. The air had been hot and sticky, the carnival noisy, bright and alive. The first thing Darien had seen once he entered was a stall with a spinning wheel of fortune and a guy yelling about fate.

  Ryan walked up to the gate and pushed against the turnstiles. They creaked but didn’t move. He backed away and brushed the red dust off his jeans.

  “Oh well,” Ryan said, and hopped over. Maddie and Justin followed quickly after. Summer lifted her brother over and handed him to Justin. As Darien stepped forward, Nicole dug her fingernails into his arm even harder. He yelped involuntarily and tore away from her. He suspected that her scratches broke the skin on his arm.

  “What are you doing?”

  Nicole had a smile plastered on her face. It couldn’t have been more forced. Darien knew that meant she was bothered.

  “Can you help me over?” she asked, her voice small like a child’s.

  “What?” Darien couldn’t believe his ears.

  “Come on Nicole, it’s just a little dirt.”

  But Nicole stayed frozen like a cat stuck up a tree. Darien wondered what to do. He could pick her up and carry her, but she looked like she’d start screaming at any minute.

  Was she really asking him to carry her over the fence? She was behaving like a selfish little brat. Jesus, he was getting fed up with her neediness.

  Then a crash caught his attention. Darien tried to find the source. He saw the door to one of the ticket booths come crashing down. Ryan was on the other side with his iron bar.

  “What’s the hold up?” Ryan demanded.

  “It’s nothing. Stop being a psycho, Mulvaney.”

  He didn’t want to say it, but Ryan had done him a huge favor. He saw Nicole relax a little now that there was a path around the turnstiles.

  Ryan jerked his head. “Come on. You’re both going to want to see this.”

  Darien stepped through the smashed booth and then froze, heart hammering in his throat. He couldn’t believe it.

  “Crap,” Justin muttered.

  Before them stretched a sea of rusted-out and dead vehicles. The asphalt surface beneath them had crumbled away. But what really bothered Justin were the ones that looked smashed in, like something had hit them.

  What could have done that?

  “Come on people,” Ryan said. “We expected something like this.”

  “Ryan’s right,” said Maddie.

  Justin wasn’t sure he liked the way Ryan looked at Maddie. It wasn’t merely a look of interest, but one of predation. It gave him the heebie jee
bies. He moved a little closer to her as they walked out into the parking lot, just in case Ryan acted on that impulse.

  It wasn’t like guys hadn’t come sniffing around Maddie before. They had. She was pretty, he supposed. A couple of his friends had commented on her looks, once or twice before. But they had all known better than to try anything with her. Unfortunately, Justin didn’t have that control over Ryan.

  “All right,” Ryan said, “let’s do this.” He tried one of the doors on the car nearest to them. It was locked. He tried all the doors, to the same effect. “Damn it.”

  “Obviously it’s not going to be that easy,” Justin said.

  Ryan gave him a surly look, then moved onto the next vehicle, an old pickup. This time the driver’s side door opened on the first go. Ryan smirked at him, then crawled inside the cab.

  Ignoring him, Justin tried the door of the VW Beetle next to him. Thankfully, it was unlocked. He slid into the front seat and searched every nook and cranny. It was musty and dank inside. He kicked up a cloud of choking dust. God, he hoped he found something soon. His stomach was grumbling something fierce. The last thing of substance he remembered eating had been the two corn dogs he’d wolfed down when he and Maddie first arrived at the carnival. That had been at least twelve hours ago, if not more. Since then it had been hard, ancient candy bars and some stale popcorn balls.

  He checked the glove box. Nothing in there but a car manual and vehicle registration. Leaving it open — no point in shutting it — Justin pulled open the middle console. He rummaged through the CDs looking for something, anything of use. And that’s when he spotted the blue packet.

  Heart leaping in his chest, he pulled it out and smiled. It was a pack of Dentyne gum, Winterfresh flavor. It wasn’t food but it was the next best thing. He flipped open the packet and counted twelve pieces, enough for everyone.

  He couldn’t resist the minty smell. Saliva pooled in his mouth. Pulling out one stick, he unwrapped it and popped it into his mouth. It was rock hard but after he sucked on it for a few seconds, it softened and he was able to chew it. He hadn’t tasted anything so mouth-wateringly remarkable in a long time. It was even better than chocolate cake with vanilla icing, his favorite dessert.