THURSDAY


Several gunshots cause you to wake up.

"What the?!" you say still staying on the floor.
"Shhhh! Quiet!" Klepto remarks and points over to the one in charge of the guardsmen. He and five others stand near the tent entrance with weapons out.

"I don't give a shit WHO started the fight or even why! You carny freaks can tear each other apart after we leave, but until then we're here to maintain order and by god that's what the fuck we're going to do! If I have to break up another fight for any reason, next time the shots aren't going in the air!" the officer remarks and leaves. The other guardsmen continue to stand near the entrance watching everyone who eventually all sit back down.

"What the hell happened?" you ask.
"Razor and some of the others got into an argument with Phil and his friends." Klepto says.
"Who's Phil?" you say.
"He does that fire eating stuff. Anyway, they kicked his ass and just as things were going to get worse, the guardsmen came in and put a stop to it like you just saw. Looks like the battle for control over the carnival is already starting."
"Surprised we didn't get attacked then."
"Well like Shrimpy said yesterday, we've got dwarf protection for now, but who knows how long that arrangement is going to last."
"Can't believe I slept through a fight, where's Roofie?"
"Oh him? He's still over there out of it, even the gunshots didn't wake him up." Klepto says pointing to Roofie, who then surprises everyone.

"I'm quite awake Klepto, I'm just resting with my eyes closed No point in getting up at this point anyway. It's obvious this carnival has lost respect in me; I'd blame you all for smashing me in the back of the head last night, but that was really just a catalyst. (Sigh) Doesn't matter, I predict that we'll all be dead in two days at best." Roofie says.

"Roofie, we really didn't want to do it, but you were talking crazy with your idea of attacking the military. Your plan would've gotten everyone killed." You say.
"And that may still happen if recent events are any indication. At least with my plan I would've died with the carnival intact rather than seeing it splitting up before my eyes."

Nobody else really knows what to say at this point, so you all just get silent and continue to converse with each other.

"So what's the next move?" Klepto asks.
"I dunno, escape I guess? Can we get to one of the vehicles quickly and drive off?" you say.
"Good luck with that given all the guardsmen on high alert now." Fatty points out.
"Yeah I don't think we're getting very far." Lifto adds.

You sit down and exhale wondering what to do next, but you can't really think right now. It would seem that due to your more proactive suggestions and Roofie's apathy you've somehow become the "leader" of your little group now. You hadn't really planned on that.

"For right now, we're just going to stay put, I'll try to think of something." You remark. The rest of your group lack any ideas of their own, so they comply with your plan (or lack there of).

Time passes and you mostly do a lot of casual conversation and mental speculation of what might happen "if you do X." You half expect someone else to try to escape, particularly when they say they need to use the bathroom, but given that they always return under the same guard they left with it would seem nobody has the guts to really try it, not even Razor.

Nobody else in your group comes up with any plans either, but you do notice Shrimpy occasionally heads over to the group of dwarves. He claims he's just securing the "alliance" but you're more inclined to believe he's just trying to secure his own safety. So far though the dwarves are still supposed to be on your side.

Roofie has continued to lie on the sleeping mat not saying anything to anyone. You still feel a little bad about betraying him especially given that he not only brought you into this carnival and liked you enough to give you a personal trailer, but also that he potentially saved you a lot of pain when Razor was going to kick your ass.

You go over to talk to him.

"Hey Roofie." You say.
"Hrm, hey Suzy." He grunts.
"Are you okay?"
"Me? Well other than not having a drink all day, I'm fine. Just been making peace with my life I suppose." Roofie says.
"Roofie, I'm still very sorry about…"
"What? Having Lifto wack me over the head? I've forgotten about that or rather I've rethought my own stance on that. You probably were right, I mean sure I would've rather died like that, but that was sort of selfish of me to want to use my last bit of dwindling influence to get everyone to follow me. Would've especially been a shame if you'd gotten killed in the crossfire. You're actually very talented."
"You're just saying that."
"No it's true. I didn't make my decision to hire you based on looks or on a whim. In the brief moment you've performed as a clown you were good. I mean it's obvious you're even a leader with how you got the other clowns hanging on your decisions. (Sigh) If only you had come across this carnival sooner. Things might've been much different."
"Well I'm not sure how much of a leader I am, because I can't think of what comes next." You say.
"You'll figure out something I'm sure. One thing though and while I don't hold out much hope, if you can somehow keep this carnival together…do it. I know the current situation isn't the best and I know you haven't exactly been welcomed by everyone, but I see something in you that would feel fulfilled if you could experience the carnival like it once was. Like a family."
"A family?" you say with a smirk.
"Hey like I said, you came in during the family fight. And that's what happens in families sometimes. Family fights are always the most vicious, but after it dies down, sometimes the family unit can be stronger than ever. And I think you could be happy if you can keep this family from tearing itself apart completely. But you'll have to be the one to do it. I don't have it in me anymore."

At this point Roofie touches your hand and you pat his before leaving him be again. You wonder if this is more of a last request by a "dying" man rather than looking out for your personal fulfillment. Still, you think he's genuine and sure it would be nice if the entire carnival became the happy family you never had, but you just don't think that's going to be possible.

You look around and see nothing much has changed except a changing of the guards. One of them happens to be Roger, which makes you think of a possible way you could escape. The only problem is it's going to rely on being more "charming" than you already have been with Roger and that could potentially get you into a situation you don't want to be in.

You stay in the tent

While it might be an opportunity to escape, you're not going to risk it. Roger might be a little smitten with you, but he's athletic enough looking that you don't think you could easily fight him off if something went wrong. Given that there is a state of martial law right now, you're likely to get yourself shot or worse.

Better to stay in the tent and come up with a plan where you at least might have some back up.

So you're currently back to square one, sitting around doing much of nothing until the National Guard decides to leave (whenever if and when that happens).

You spend most of your time thinking on what Roofie said and your current position at the carnival. The only way you're ever going to have safety and have a family is if you take direct action towards those goals.

"Lifto, Shrimpy, you're with me." You suddenly say and say you going to see the head of the dwarf faction.
"Uh, I dunno if that's a good idea, he's been doing a lot of preparation lately." Shrimpy says.
"I'm sure he has, and its in our best interest to find out exactly what that is. Maybe YOU can afford to play both sides, but I'm not taking that chance." You say and start walking over to the crowd of little people.

As you approach, the dwarves instantly start closing ranks and their demeanor changes to a defensive one.

"Back again Shrimpy? I didn't anticipate your sycophantic antics for another hour or so. And you must be Suzy, the new clown girl that's been pissing off all the ladies and turning on all the guys. Hrm. Upon a closer look, I understand the appeal, but you're still no dwarf woman." an older dwarf says, though many of his fellows probably don't share that opinion.
"I take it you're the leader of your group?"
"Yep, though I don't suppose Shrimpy's bothered to mention my name is Billy. If you're here about our current alliance, you needn't worry since I've reassured Shrimpy so many times about it that it's getting to the point of annoyance. Glad to you at least changed it up by appearing yourself, could've done without the big ugly clown behind you though, but I'm guessing he's a poor attempt at intimidation."
"A girl likes to have a big strong man to watch her back sometimes."
"Heh, and that's why you've practically begged a bunch of little men to do it to eh? Let's cut to the chase, what do you really want? I already know that you're the new leader of the clowns given what you did to old Roofie over there. Bet he didn't see that coming."

You don't know how else to put it so you just say it, which comes to a surprise to Shrimpy and Lifto as well.

"I'm going to be the new leader of this carnival and YOU'RE going to support me in this endeavor."
Billy smiles at this remark and then chuckles. Several of the other dwarves do likewise.

"You? Really? And you think we're just going to support you in this? I hope you had a better plan than preparing to fuck every munchkin in munchkin land Dorothy, because at this juncture I guarantee that would be the ONLY way that you MIGHT come close to your dreams of being in charge. And if that was your plan, you can forget it, because I'm happily married. However, it might gain you favor with some of my friends. Could ensure that your group will have a place in the new carnival order that will be coming soon, but that's a choice you'll have to make on your own."
"You really think the rest of the carnival is going to follow you?"
"They won't have a choice, we dwarves have always been the backbone of it and it's about time we just took the spotlight. Just like my Great Uncle Charley always wanted to do so long ago."
"Yeah and apparently that didn't work out so well given your current situation. You know why? Nobody truly respects you. They're content to let you do the grunt work, but they don't want you to be in the spotlight, unless you're making a fool of yourself like Shrimpy here." You say.
"HEY!" Shrimpy remarks.
"Watch your tone there blondie, you're starting to tread on very dangerous ground." Billy warns.
"Yes, I know and I'm also trying to explain that you're ALREADY in control by being the backbone of the carnival. You might very well be able to win this internal struggle, but would there be anything left? This place has languished under Roofie, obviously, but it could be great again if it had the right ring master. Someone who could bring in the people. You said it yourself, I've got most of the guys here salivating over me just by my presence. You know how advertising works, I bring 'em in with a wink, a smile and some sweet talk, the other performers get the money out of them and someone has to keep the infrastructure together and that's you. We could work together as a more than just co-workers we could be like…a family. Like how carnies are supposed to really stick together."

Your words give a moment of pause for Billy who ponders them for a moment, but then shakes his head.

"Y'know, that's a really good speech, the problem is you haven't been here but a few days and you're already trying to take over. In family terms, you're like the hot twenty year old nurse that married great grandpa on his death bed in the hopes of inheriting everything despite the fact he's got a multitude of family members that are far more deserving since they had to put up with his shit a lot longer. Now that doesn't mean I don't think you're sincere or even that your idea isn't a worthy one, its just I don't see YOU as that potential leader. If this carnival does split apart after the dust clears, well maybe it was meant to be, but I'm not spending the remainder of my life following another half-assed leader again. So to sum up, if you want to be on our side then great, if not, then I highly suggest you all get in your clown car and all get jobs at a rodeo or something."

At this point Billy's done talking and waves you all away.

Well that could've went better.

"Are you nuts?! Why the hell did you do that for? You're lucky he isn't cancelling our protection!" Shrimpy says.
"Well I can't say it was the best of moves, but I guess you had to try." Lifto says.

Between Shrimpy's concern for his own self-preservation and Lifto's impotent comment, you're wondering if you shouldn't re-consider trying to escape again.

Ultimately you all head back to the table where upon Shrimpy and Lifto explain what happened. Fatty and Klepto are both surprised by your actions, but Klepto again makes the usual attempt at being more "understanding" than the others. Christ, he never quits.

"I don't need this right now, I'm going to be by myself." You say grabbing the small radio that they were listening to and head to where Roofie is still lying on his mat with his eyes closed. You don't know if he's still awake or genuinely asleep now, but he at least doesn't appear to be in any mood to bother you right now.

You spend a few more hours listening to one of the radios while the others play cards and try to talk about mundane things. You're not getting the best reception and it's no Internet, but it's better than nothing.

You mostly listen to a lot of special breaking news talking about how bad things are getting in various parts of the world. You hear about the riots going on and think about your own town and how your "real" family is doing. Ben's hidden personal bomb shelter was somewhere in the backyard, you wonder if you shouldn't have just tried to look for it and moved in there, it probably was stocked.

Then as the sun starts setting, you hear a bunch of shooting and shouting outside. You see the other guardsmen near the tent entrance rush off, leaving everyone unsupervised.

Naturally no longer being supervised means chaos within the tent begins to erupt though you have no idea why people aren't more concerned about why the National Guardsmen are shooting and yelling at something outside.

Lacking any better idea, you try to wake up Roofie, but he doesn't stir.

"Oh shit…" you say to yourself.

Apparently his last words to you WERE his dying request literally.

While you're the only one aware of poor Roofie's unexpected passing, a full on fight in the tent breaks out. Predictably, it's Razor and her faction vs. Billy and his faction. Some of the smaller factions join in while others just run out of the tent altogether. It's very lucky that your group is nowhere near the center of the tent where the fighting is and more or less in a corner.

"Suzy! It's begun!" Lifto shouts.
"Yeah! We need to get in and help Billy or we're going to be next!" Shrimpy adds.

You help Billy

With all the gunfire going on outside, you don't exactly feel as if that would be any safer. Better help Billy for now.

You all approach the massive brawl, but none of you save for Lifto has any real desire or ability to fight. Shrimpy finds a place to hide and occasionally throws something at someone, Klepto gets knocked out by one of Phil's crew and its only with the help of Lifto that he doesn't get his face stomped in. Fatty does a little better due to his size, but he's not much in the endurance area and has to stop to catch his breath every few minutes (which results in someone inevitably trying to attack him)

You try to stay out of it and maintain a close distance to either the dwarves or Lifto. You occasionally point out potential dangers and sometimes even manage to club someone in the head with a juggling pin you found on the ground, but you're nowhere near in the thick of it.

While all this is going on, you notice a decrease in the gunfire from outside and a lot more screaming and groaning. Through the chaos you see Roger staggering just outside the tent and collapsing near the entrance of it. Seeing that you're not really affecting the "power struggle" you rush over to Roger to see what the hell happened out side the tent.

When you get to Roger, you notice he's badly wounded and bleeding a lot. You don't know if he's going to make it.

"Roger! What the hell…what happened?!"
"(Gasp) They…just…came out of nowhere…(gasp) a bunch of them."
"What?! What came out?" you ask.
"I dunno. Ugggh…hurts…(gasp) they were insane looking…snarling, biting…"

You notice that most of Roger's wounds do look like bite marks. You can't believe that you're even pondering this, but…
"Shit, Roger, are you telling me you just got attacked by…fucking zombies?"

At this point Roger doesn't respond he's falling unconscious and his breathing is getting short. You attempt to sit him up and smack him awake, but nothing is working. He's going to die and if your vast knowledge of zombie movies is any indication he's going to soon become on as well.

That's the least of your concerns however since while you're holding on to Roger, one the "zombies" that Roger alluded to suddenly comes out from behind one of the parked military vehicles. It doesn't see you immediately, but it will if you hang around out here.

Standing up and backing away from Roger's soon to be lifeless body and trying to get back in the tent, you bump into another equally unpleasant individual and no less dangerous. Her face is bloody and several of her piercings have been pulled out, but if she's out here that can only mean she won.

"There you are, clown bitch. I was hoping to get the pleasure to beat your blonde ass myself, too bad Wanda the Red caught a knife to the throat because it might've been fun to watch her anally rape you with her twelve inch strap on before I kicked the shit out of you." Razor remarks.
"Razor, there are zom…there are some insane people that just…" you start to say and then Razor punches you across the face, knocking you to the ground.

While you're holding the side of your face, Razor pulls out a bloody straight razor.

"Don't worry, I don't plan on killing you, I just plan on making you the first in our brand new freakshow!" Razor says and is about to get on top of you to carry out her promise, but all your survival instincts kick in and you scream and kick at her. If she were a man, you would've gotten in a couple good ball kicks. Eventually she grabs one of your legs with one arm.

"Good! Struggle bitch, this is just making it more fun for me. Ain't nobody gonna save you anyway. Everyone else is licking their wounds or dead! The carnival is under my control now!"
"I wasn't screaming for someone in carnival to save me." You say.

Razor is confused by your remark only because she's been so focused on doing harm to you that she's completely ignored her surroundings. Not only did the zombie hear your scream, but so did several of his fellows and unfortunately for Razor they're the fast variety.

The one that was near the military vehicle is already upon Razor by the time she does look up and two more are loping quickly behind. You quickly scramble into the tent hoping that the dead that Razor mentioned inside aren't turning and this is a "bite style" infection.

Razor wasn't kidding when she mentioned people either being wounded or dead. Granted there are more than a few people in fair condition, but resting from the past brawl is more of a priority right now. Too bad for them that isn't an option.

"Oh god! Hel… AGGGGGH!"

"You hear that? That's the sound of your short-lived leader getting ripped to shreds by cannibal freaks. So if you idiots are done killing each other over power, you better get ready to kill for survival!" you shout and grab the nearest blunt object as you hear the screams of Razor being presumably eaten alive outside.

No sooner have you grabbed a piece of chair leg, one of the zombies rushes in. You manage to bash it once across the head and then again before it goes down. It grabs at your feet and you're about to smash your improvised club on it, when Shrimpy suddenly has run up and done it for you with a juggling pin. You both at that point keep hitting the thing until its brains are mush and it isn't moving anymore.

"(Whew) Thanks Shrimpy. Glad to see you survived."
"You as well, what the hell are…"
"Later, Shrimp. Concentrate!" you say as the other two zombies come lurching in. Fortunately at this point you and Shrimpy get a little more back up from some of the other carnies and luckily nobody else gets hurt.

After killing the pair of them, you're suddenly bombarded by questions about what the hell they are. The only thing you can think of is zombies, but after a bit of cautious investigation by some of you, you start to wonder if that's even accurate.

You come to several fortunate conclusions and discoveries.

First of all it looks like there aren't anymore of those things alive anymore and the National Guard are all dead as well. So those dangers are out of the way.

Second, nobody dead has come back to life, (bitten or not) so at least this isn't contagious whatever it is. In fact you see one of the "zombies" laying dead with several bullet wounds to the chest and no head wound, so you don't think these things are undead at least. But the fact that you've got crazed cannibal people running loose is still cause for concern!

As you, Shrimpy and several others continue to cautiously investigate outside the tent, Shrimpy mentions some bad news while you two are away from the group. Namely Lifto, Fatty, Billy and Roofie were all dead, though you mention you already knew about Roofie.

"Yeah, the old guy died peacefully in his sleep I guess. Probably best that he did just before what happened. So what about Klepto?" you ask.
"Oh he's still alive. He's still unconscious, from that first hit, but he's still alive. Hey, I meant to say I'm sorry about being so self-serving like I was, before all this went down Suzy. I guess I just got scared."
"Well…it's in the past now. Besides you came through for me when I really needed it. So you said Billy's dead?"
"Yeah, that bitch Razor got him just as he was finishing off Wanda the Red. As you might expect the remaining dwarves are pretty broken up about it. But then I guess Razor's dead too, so I'm not sure where that leaves us."
"A possible opportunity I'd say. Looks like the National Guard left a lot of supplies that could be useful in the near future. Come on let's head back." You say and pick up one of the rifles. Laying on the ground nearby.

When you get back to the tent, people haven't moved much from their original positions though the medical supplies taken from one of the military trucks should help patch up the wounded.

You stand in front of everyone and give a speech. You know it probably won't go over well, but this is as good of time as any.

"Okay people as a great man who recently passed away once said, a carnival can be like a family. Now we've just gotten over a major in house feud and an external threat and guess what, we're all still here and alive to talk about it. That means we can move on and grow stronger from this because I get the impression that we're REALLY going to need to have that unbreakable bond of family in the near future. A strong family also needs a strong leader and that's why seeing as I'm currently the only one more or less in good physical condition at this time, I nominate myself as ringmaster."

You expect some verbal outbursts at this point, but everyone is still too exhausted or unwilling to get into more conflict, but you are getting a lot of frowning looks.

"Now I already know what you're thinking, this bitch hasn't been here but for a few days so who does she think she is telling us all what to do? Well let's answer that. You're right, I'm new here, but I know A LOT about dysfunctional families. And every dysfunctional family ALSO needs a scapegoat to place the blame on. Now as ringmaster all the major decisions and such would fall to me and as such if I fuck up severely, well who gets the blame? Me of course. It's my hope of course that as a leader I can change everyone's perspective of me through successes. However, most of the females here already hate me based solely on how I look, and most of you guys just see me as a living sex doll, so really what have you got to lose? If it turns out that I'm a total failure as a leader then you all can easily throw me out on my ass and choose someone else."

Nobody says anything. Just an awkward pause, which you decide to fill in with more talking.

"And if someone is worried that one group is going to get preferential treatment like say the clowns well you can stop worrying since most of them are currently dead and I'm probably going to be too busy with being ring master than clowning."

"Fuck it, let the cute clown slut run this place. Her mouth looks like it's a highway for oral sex, but she can't be any worse than what that mean ass cunt Razor had planned. At least she's got a positive attitude." Some dwarf woman says in the back holding a bloody rag over her forehead.

And with that "sterling" endorsement several others just agree as well.

Looks like you're the new leader of this carnival and all it took was a complete bloodbath and the apathy of the survivors to do it.

The remainder of the night is spent building a small barricade around the big tent and clearing out the dead. Nobody knows if more of those geeks (Which is the new name for the "zombies" and appropriate considering the history of what a carnival geek does for a living) are going to show up and where they came from so for safety reasons everyone stays close for the night. Some are in no condition to move anyway.

Eventually you fall asleep realizing that tomorrow is going to be a busy day for you.

Next day...

FRIDAY


"Hey fearless leader, wake up, your people demand it." Shrimpy says tapping you on the shoulder.

Groggily you sit up, you swear you feel like you've barely gotten any sleep at all. Shrimpy stands nearby along with Klepto, the dwarf woman who "endorsed" you yesterday and a wiry scraggily looking man. You think he runs one of those carny games…specifically the one where you shoot a water gun at a clown's mouth.

"What's going on?" you ask.
"What's going on is a bunch of shit, that's what darling. After the midgets here…"
"Fuck you Jack, we're DWARVES." The dwarf woman interrupts.
"Whatever Dolores. Anyway after the…little people rounded up all the military supplies last night I got one of their radios tuned in to other military frequencies. Turns out that the nearby town has been overrun with those things we killed yesterday. The poor bastard that I spoke to just before it sounded like he got his guts ripped out said they don't know whether it was a virus or not., just that there were a shitload of them. Either way I say we got lucky that only a few wandered out this far. We need to get the fuck outta here."
"My town…wow…uh…" you say being surprised by this revelation. You really are at a loss for words right now. You start to think about your real family and even Bobby. Are they okay? Are they already dead? Are they one of those things?

"Suzy? You okay? You're spacing out." Klepto says.
"Huh, yeah, I'm just…okay yeah we obviously need to get out of here. Start packing up the rest of our stuff and…"
"Sweetheart didn't you hear what I said? I said there's probably fucking crazed cannibals on their way here right fucking now! We ain't got time for that shit! We need to just load up as much supplies we can and take off in our vehicles. This is the fucking end times man!" Jack says.
"It's not going to take that much longer to pack down, we had most of the stuff ready to go before the National Guard arrived. Some of our people are still wounded badly and need the rest as well. Besides, living in our trailers is going to be a lot more desirable than living in just a regular vehicle if there is a complete collapse of society going on right now." Shrimpy remarks.
"Okay then Tom Thumb YOU and the rest of the lollipop kids do it. Me and some of the others? We're taking supplies and leaving. Not stayin' around here waiting to be cannibal chow."

You've been in charge for less than one full day and already someone is threatening to break away and worse, not even taking any notice of you. You just bludgeoned crazed freaks to death yesterday, you're tired of not being taken seriously.

"Jack, if you or others want to leave you're free to do so, but what you're not doing is taking any of those military supplies from here. Those belong to the carnival and as such belong to all of us. Now if you don't want any part of that any longer, lots of luck, but you and anyone else that wants to leave you go with what personal items you came with."
"Pfft, whatever. I didn't elect you as leader. I'm only telling you as a courtesy, you can stay here and get eaten or come along and I can keep you safe. In fact to pass the time we can play shoot the clown in the mouth, except it won't be water going in your mouth, it'll be my…"

Jack isn't expecting you to kick him in the balls. The moment you do he winces and crumples. You follow up with a knee to his face. He's down and you have everyone's attention in the tent.

"That's the last fucking blow job reference I'm going to hear from you or ANYONE else for that matter. Now listen up, as I remember most of you were fine with me being in charge yesterday and goddamn it that's what I'm going to do, be in fucking charge. This is STILL our carnival, that hasn't changed and I'm not going to let it fall apart just because the rest of society seems to be. Now this is what we're going to do, we're going to finish packing up our shit, get our trailers and such in order, we're going to also take the military trucks and then we're going to move on. Now if some of those geeks show up well we've got some brand new rifles and pistols to try them out on. Anyone who doesn't like this plan can leave with the shirts on their back and nothing else! Now let's stop fighting and get some of this damn shit done!"

At this point those that are in condition to work, proceed to do so.

"What about him?" Shrimpy asks pointing at Jack who is still on the ground.
"Throw his ass out, he made his decision." You remark and then notice Dolores smiling.
"What're you smiling about?" you demand.
"Nothing, but I'm beginning to like you, blondie." Dolores says and then whistles over several dwarves who promptly pick up Jack and haul him away. Dolores then leaves to go tend to other matters. Shrimpy says he's going to go help and leaves as well, leaving you alone with Klepto.

"Well, looks like you underwent quite a change while I was knocked out yesterday. I like it. Assertiveness is an attractive trait on you."
"Klepto, I've got a lot on my mind and I'm in no mood for your nice guy trying to get into my pants routine right now." You say.
"Okay, okay, sheesh, I'm just…nevermind…fuck I'll just leave you alone ringmaster." Klepto says and walks off.

You can't worry about Klepto's fragile ego right now, you've got bigger concerns and that's on top of still thinking about your "old" family. You know you made the decision to leave them all, but that was still just a few days ago and you still never wanted any of them to suffer at the hands of whatever the hell those things are.

Speaking of which you still have to worry about those geeks. Jack might've been out of line, but he still might've been correct about some wandering towards the carnival like those yesterday did. Considering the dwarves still seem to be the largest faction and friendliest toward you, you have some of them armed with the rifles to stand on top of the trailers and keep a look out. You keep yourself busy by helping with the clean up.

Hours pass and that's when your lookouts see something approaching. Not the geeks, but rather a few pick up trucks which look like they're holding several men carrying shotguns and rifles. You call everyone to immediately take a defensive position and to fall back.

You aren't sure what to expect, but a bunch of heavily armed men can't ever be a good thing. Unfortunately as leader, you're going to have to be the one to handle this visit, hopefully peacefully if you can.

As the pick up trucks stop, you stand several feet away with your "snipers" keep a bead on your visitors. You hang on to your own rifle and several other carnies do likewise. One of the men gets out one of the trucks with his hands up. Looks like a redneck, in fact you imagine this lot are from the trailer park a few miles down the road.

"It's okay, it's okay li'l lady, I see yer guys up there. Ain't nobody lookin' for a fight." He says.
"Doesn't look that way, given that you've come with three trucks full of armed men and don't tell me its hunting season." You say.
"Heh, well I'm sure given your own heightened state of awareness, you know things are getting' dangerous nowadays. Anyway my name's Mel, I'm guessin' since you're the one talkin' you're in charge here. Ringmaster or something like that?"
"Something exactly like that." you say.
"Okay. You…uh…got some military gear here too I see. That truck over there."
"Yeah, what of it?"
"Oh nothing, but that brings about the question of where are the guardsmen…heh yeah they tried to tell us what to do too. Didn't work out so well. The second amendment says you got the right to pack it after all. Government can't just do what they want."

At this point more of Mel's men get out of their trucks as well. Your people and Mel's people are both starting to eye each other waiting for someone to fire a shot.

"Look let me cut to the chase honey. I'm assumin' you might know by now what's been happenin' back in town. Besides the government tryin' to pull their shit, there's a bunch of freaks runnin' around tryin' to eat people. A bunch of them attacked us last night and while we fought them off, some of us got badly hurt and are in need of medical supplies. Now of course we did try goin' into town first, but was just too fucked up there an' we didn't make much head way what with the freaks AND the guard all over the damn place. Then it occurred to me today that your circus might still be around and the National Guard probably would've been here as well so we decided to investigate. Now the group of weekend warriors at the trailer park had shit for medical supplies. So I'm hoping your detachment had more in that department."

Mel looks up at your dwarves upon the trailers.

"Now you might get a few of us, but I'm bettin, most of us are better shots than y'all, so if you give us what medicine supplies you do have we'll leave here in peace, if not well…"

At this point things could get very violent very quickly.

You open fire

You let these assholes come in and take medical supplies and they won't stop there. After all you've been through you're not putting up with MORE people not taking you seriously.

"FIRE!" you shout and run back for cover as your people do just that. Naturally the trailer park crew do the same as their own leader runs for cover too.

You've never shot at a human before, but you do remember when your brother Ben tried to show you how to shoot once. You weren't very good at it then, and you're not very good at it now, and sadly neither are a lot of your people.

Several carnies get killed in the ensuing gun battle and many more get hit. While your own side does score a few hits of its own, Mel wasn't bluffing when he said his people were better shots. It's actually amazing that you come through unscathed, though that might be because Klepto in his foolish attempt to play hero gets fatality shot when trying to shield you.

The only thing that prevents the rednecks from completely overrunning you is one of the jugglers lobs one of the few grenades that were acquired from the military with fairly good accuracy, blowing up two of their trucks (and some of them) and giving the survivors enough pause to understand that a continued attack is not in their best interest.

Mel and the rest quickly pile into the surviving truck and drive away. You've won, but at a high cost. The carnies have already suffered losses and wounded with the recent internal struggle. Those that aren't wounded or dead are now experiencing a mixture of sorrow, rage and loss of hope.

"Well what now fearless leader?! We got even more dead and wounded thanks to your leadership!" Dolores exclaims.
"Would it have been better if I just let them come in a take all our shit?!" you snap.
"It would've been better had we not got all our asses shot off! If it hadn't been for Zackary throwing a grenade we'd probably all be worm food!"
"And how the hell is that my fault?! I was shooting at those hillbillies right along the rest of you! I didn't see YOU hitting any of them!"

While you and Dolores continue to argue Shrimpy steps in to try to mediate.

"Hey we don't have time for all this infighting! Haven't we had enough of that shit? Now we survived and that's the most important thing. I say we continue with our original plan and get the fuck outta here, in fact I think we should just pack up and go RIGHT NOW. Those rednecks aren't going to just take this loss, they're going to come back in force."
"Are you kidding me? You want us to just turn tail and run after this? We need to get revenge!"
"Dolores, we already got several wounded people who are in no condition to fight! Never mind the amount of dead! We have no idea how many of those gun toting rednecks there are or even how much weaponry they have!" Shrimpy says.
"Most likely a lot and that's not even counting whatever they got from the military." You add.

Dolores isn't deterred however, she's just angrier specifically at you.

"Are you…(Sigh) can't believe I supported you as a leader, must've been the goddamn blood loss from my head wound after the carnival fight. Look, now maybe this gunfight was a cluster fuck and that's why I'm pissed, but I suppose in the scheme of things you at least stood up to these bastards. If we hit them now, they probably won't even expect it, and you heard their leader, he said they had a lot of wounded of their own, so how many of them could there really be?"

Dolores exhales and now gives you an even more glaring look, which you didn't think was possible.

"However, your plan is to just run off and not avenge our fallen then maybe you need to get the fuck outta the way and hit the road like you told us to do with Jack not too long ago. Suzy, if YOU want to continue running this carnival YOU better do the right thing. "

Dolores' intentions are obvious and clear. She's going to go take revenge no matter what. What isn't quite obvious is if she's going to have the support. There are probably some that will support her, but several more are likely to not want to do any more fighting.

You leave now

"Dolores, you're not going to intimidate me any more than those stupid rednecks, if you want to go get your head blown off in a futile task then be my guest, but the rest of us are leaving…"

Without another word, Dolores points her weapon at you. This action causes the few that are still in fighting condition to raise their own weapons as well. Some of them at Dolores and some at you.

"Don't think so blondie. I'm running this show now."
"Dolores have you lost your mind?!" Shrimpy exclaims.
"Shrimpy, you better pick a fucking side, because your days of riding the fucking fence are soon coming to an end, now you either support the carnival or you can get the fuck out too!" Dolores says.

While having a rifle pointed straight at you, would've been terrifying at one time for you, it's not anymore.

"Dolores, if you think this is going to make me back down, you're sorely mistaken."
"And if you think that I won't shoot you, you're sorely stupid."
"Dolores look around you, I don't see a united front against me. All you're doing is going to cripple your own cause by opening fire and that's assuming you even survive this. If you really want to get revenge on those rednecks then you're going to need everyone you can get. And THIS is not the way to do it."

Dolores might be angry, but she's not stupid and knows you've got a point.

"All right then, you got a suggestion blondie? And don't say just to follow you, because that's not happening."
"No, I can see that. (Sigh) I can see that this carnival is doomed to tear itself apart so the way I see it, anyone who wants to come with me, leaves right now. This means we're going to leave with most of our personal possessions and some supplies, half of that stuff is still ours, but we'll just take what we need. We're also going to be travelling lighter, so we're just going to take some of the smaller vehicles. You can have all the trailers and the bigger trucks. Since I imagine most of the wounded won't be in any condition to travel so you'll need those if only to give them comfortable transport when the time comes."
"What about weapons?" Dolores asks.
"Well everyone keeps their personal ones along with some ammo and YOU make due with whatever is left. Hopefully for you, most people that are armed stay with you. As a gesture of good will though, you can keep the few grenades we have. While I get the impression they would come in useful, I also think if you have any chance of beating those rednecks, you're going to need them more than we will."

At this point you hold out your hand to solidify the deal, which Dolores gives you a sideways glance before returning the gesture.

"Fine, but I better not catch any of you cowards taking more than you need!" Afterwards she starts calling everyone and anyone who'll listen of why they should stay with her and take revenge on the trailer park.

You on the other hand aren't going to try to convince any more people, you're done with speeches for a while, as far as you're concerned it's been a bit of a waste of time. If they want to come, then good, if not, then oh well.

On your way back to your trailer to pick up your personal belonging, you notice that it must've caught a few stray bullets during the gunfire. When you open up the door, you're met with an even bigger surprise.

On the floor you see Ranko with several bullet holes in him and bleeding out. Nearby is a straight razor close to his hand. He sees you and struggles to speak.

"Suz…zy…you gotta (cough) help…me…" he says.
"Oh this is rich, you want ME to help you? What the hell were you doing in my trailer in the first place? Going to attack me? Maybe rape me perhaps?" you say picking up the straight razor.
"I…was…goi…pologize…(gasp) (gurgle)…"
"Yeah, excuse me if I don't believe you. You deserve to die and with the day I've had, I think I'll take the opportunity to enjoy watching it."
"(gurgle) Fuck…you…(gasp)…" Ranko utters.

Those words are his last as he slowly finishes bleeding to death. Well he certainly left a mess, but considering this isn't going to be your trailer anymore at least you don't need to worry about cleaning up.

As you're packing up, someone enters the trailer, you're a little paranoid, so you immediately draw your weapon only to see Shrimpy.

"Whoa! It's just me! I was just wondering which…holy shit, is that Ranko?"
"Yeah, the asshole apparently was hiding in here waiting to ambush me. Caught some stray bullets as you can see. Couldn't have happened to a nicer guy. So what did you want?" You say.
"Oh well, I was just coming to ask which vehicle did you want? I mean considering Lifto and Klepto are both dead, I figure we got more right to those two before anyone else might at least."
"So you're coming with me?"
"Of course. I was against attacking the trailer park remember? In fact there are several people ready to leave. Dunno how Dolores' raid on the trailer park is going to go, but that's hardly our problem right?"

You pause a bit before addressing Shrimpy's rhetorical question.

"Do you think I'm doing the right thing, abandoning the carnival like this? I mean Dolores had a point when she said I just threw out Jack without supplies because he wanted to leave. I feel like sort of a hypocrite." You say.
"Well…I think you're doing the best with the cards that were dealt and that's all you can do sometimes. I mean there are people here that have been with the carnival longer and they're ready to leave without hesitation, so you certainly shouldn't feel bad about it. I mean with the way the world is going nowadays, does something like a carnival even have a future anymore?" Shrimpy says.
"Maybe not, we probably should stick to rural areas for at least a few days until some of this shit dies down, but I'm just wondering what we're going to do with ourselves for the future in general."
"Well I'm sure we'll figure something out. But just know that I'll stand by your decision whatever it is."
"Thanks Shrimpy…hey what is your real name anyway?"
"Heh, oh that. Well haven't been called it in year, but its Lance."
"Really?"
"Yeah, I know I look far from being a Lance though. You probably picture a big tall heroic guy with a square jaw or something."
"Eh, those guys don't exist in real life anyway, well at least they've never existed in my life, but you've been all right."

Lance smiles and waits for you to finish packing and the pair of you head to Lifto's vehicle, which to your surprise has been fitted to accommodate a "shorter" driver.

You, Lance and several others leave the carnival which is now in the process of gearing up for the raid on the trailer park (or housing the very wounded) you can't imagine how that's going to go, but you hope Dolores is successful even if you didn't see eye to eye with her.

Lance and you drive along with several other vehicles in an odd caravan like fashion. Really there is no reason why everyone needs to stay together, since everyone is free to go their own separate way, but perhaps leaving the carnival is too much of a change and at least there is a little bit of a familiarity by sticking with the same people.

You and Lance converse the entire time you drive, though eventually at one point you start to get sleepy and Lance takes over with the driving. Feeling the safest you've been in days, you drift off to sleep…

Next day...

SATURDAY


A loud noise in the distance wakes you up and you also notice you're no longer moving.

"HOLY SHIT SUZY WAKE UP! LOOK!" Lance yells and you feel a rough shake to your arm.

You instantly open your eyes and with a brief head swivel, you see something that is going to change your life more than anything else in the world.

A mushroom cloud in the far distance.

You're not feeling any tremors or aftershocks, a wave of fire hasn't engulfed you, so you're guessing that it wasn't excessively close, maybe it was even a small one. Still, you can't help but wonder if you're in some sort of deadly radiation radius though. If so there isn't much that can done about it.

"That's it then…the world finally went and did it…" you say to yourself.

You're much calmer than Lance is, who is obviously distressed. In fact given that most of the vehicles haves stopped, you can only guess that he's not the only one. Some are getting out to look and that's soon followed by a few breaking down into tears or arguements.

"Lance, we're going to be okay. Just like you said, we'll figure something out." You say and start unlocking the door.
"Where are you going? I think we should stay inside, I mean there might be radiation or something."
"Lance, if we are within the fallout blast, then we've probably already acquired enough rads to kill us anyway. I'm going to go try to calm everyone down because if this is it, then we'll actually do a lot better in the survival aspect if we all work together."

It takes a moment and you stand on top of your vehicle to do it, but you soon get everyone's attention.

"Hey! Listen up! This might be the end of civilization as we know it, but it isn't the end of the world! Sure life is going to be harder now, but when hasn't it been for us carnies? Why just this damn week we suffered through a military occupation, an internal civil war, an attack by freaks, and an attack by a bunch of rednecks. We've already splintered apart enough already. No way are we going to descend any further. We've come too far."

You think you're getting better at making speeches because this time you're seeing less frowning faces and general attentiveness.

"We used to drift from place to place providing entertainment as a source of our survival well what has really changed? We'll still be drifters because that's how we'll survive. This world just got a whole lot shittier and we ARE nomads and vagabonds by nature. Surely we'll be picking up, collecting, and scavenging useful material, items and the like to trade in our travels. I know we all have useful skills, surely with those, our ability to learn and adapt and a team effort we'll be able to keep this FAMILY together a very long time."

"Yeah. Suzy's right. We can survive this." someone says and several others agree.

While you don't get a feeling of enthusiasm, at least this time you are not met with apathy.

In any case, you and some of the others get together to decide where to head next and what to do about food, and fuel. This isn't going to be easy, but then this whole week has been a trial for you.

No longer are you the shy "good" girl who hid away in the basement, harassed by your family and living as one day blurred into the next. You are part of something bigger and not just that, but a leader.

It's a brand new day and this is just the beginning of your brand new life.

…

Nomad


The Future…

"Mom, why can't we just head to Rebirth, it's closer and we can get better deals there." Lucy asks you.
"Because last time we stopped through, they were beginning to go through a power struggle and while I know it's over now, the new ruling head of that town is an asshole." You reply.
"And how exactly does that make him any different than the last guy?"
"The last ruler of Rebirth at least tried to curb the amount of wanton violence and rape in the community. This guy encourages it. The place is little more than a glorified wasteland thug haven now. We walk in there and at best we're going to come out of a firefight alive and poor. At worst, well I think you know what will happen."

Lucy doesn't say anything. She's fully aware of the dangers of being female, let alone a teenage girl that looks like her in this new harsh world. Still, she can't help arguing the point.

"But don't we risk death and worse just by roaming from place to place all the time anyway? Wouldn't it be better if we found some place to settle down?"
"Heh, I guess you don't remember because you were so young, but your father and I tried that once. Didn't work out very well when the little town that we THOUGHT was secure got overrun by raiders. That was probably one of the scariest days of my life. After years of previously being drifters, we let ourselves get unprepared. It was a mistake on my part since I thought a more stable environment would be better to raise you in, as it turned out, should've stayed a nomad and I'd say that's worked out a lot better."
"How? We're always living a hand to mouth existence. Our group still loses people to violence and other causes. I mean dad died because we don't have proper medical treatment available."
"Lucy, your father might've died anyway even if we hadn't been living a nomadic existence. I know they say civilization is rebuilding, but most of the places we've been to aren't exactly stellar in their medical facilities themselves. The exceptions might be those fucked up Ground Zero communities and I doubt if you'd want to live some place like that."
"No, I guess not." Lucy says.

You look at Lucy and understand she's just being a little rebellious due to her being a teenager right now. She's at the age where she doesn't want you to be so close all the time. It's funny because you went through no such rebellious period yourself and your lifestyle was the exact opposite right now. You never went anywhere; you never really did anything save for staying in your basement.

Now? You've seen more and done more than you ever could've imagined. In fact you've lived a nomadic existence long enough that you think you prefer it, even when you temporarily settled down years ago. You (and her father) have taught Lucy how to take care of herself in this harsh world. Still, you do wonder if you're probably a little overprotective of your daughter, you won't be around forever and she should have the opportunity to live her own life and if that means she wants to live in a permanent residence then perhaps she should be given that chance.

"Lucy, the world is still pretty fucked up now, but despite my previous cynicism, I suppose parts of it are getting better. Maybe one day you can find a nice place to settle down that won't be run by a bloodthirsty warlord or in danger of being raided by mutant cannibals. And if that's your choice, then you're free to do it. I know you'll have to live your own life eventually." You say.

Lucy smiles at the permission, but reassures you that she had no intention of leaving you yet. It's comforting, since it shows that she still wants you around. She's still your child.

You, Lucy and the rest of your ragtag band of traders, tinkerers and scavengers make your way to the town of Blivop. Not exactly the best for trade, but at least the people there aren't complete amoral rapists and murderers.

Later that night when your caravan sets down for the night, you drift off to sleep with an old worn clown nose in your hand. You squeeze it a couple times, remembering happy times with your now departed husband.

"Goddnight Lance." You say and slowly drift off with the round red foam ball in your hand.