Billy has made it quite clear that no matter what happens you're going to be on the bottom rung of any sort of restructuring so why should you even bother? This whole area is going to shit and it would be best if you just got the hell out of here.

"Do any of you have keys to your vehicles?" you ask.
"I got my truck keys." Lifto remarks.
"Good, we're getting the hell out of here while everyone is distracted."
"What?! We're just going to leave Billy?" Shrimpy asks.
"Look, if YOU want to help Billy then go right ahead, but he's basically said that I'm the low girl on the totem pole, and I am NOT going to go through a bunch of verbal and possible physical abuse for the rest of my time here. I left home to get away from that shit. Quite frankly given how disliked clowns are around here, I'd suggest the rest of you follow me because no matter who wins, you're going to lose." You say and turn to leave

Lifto, Klepto and Fatty don't even think twice, they're following you out the tent and leaving the chaos of the carnival clash behind. Shrimpy however is unsure, his loyalty to his "kind" is still holding him back, but you're not waiting around.

When you exit the tent, things aren't much better. There aren't any guardsmen in the immediate area, but you still hear the shooting and their yelling. You also hear odd growling sounds and a couple of screams.

"I don't know what's going on, but we need to get to your truck NOW!" you exclaim where upon Lifto takes the lead.

You don't get too far when you see Roger staggering from between two other tents. He's wounded heavily and bleeding profusely. He sees you and desperately calls for your help.

"Suzy…hel…" is about all he gets out before collapsing a few feet from you. He tries to crawl towards you and you nearly head towards him to help, but given all the gunfire going on and the big brawl still going on, you focus on your goal of placing as much distance as possible from this place.

"Sorry, Roger." You say quietly and continue moving.

Lifto points towards a pick up truck in the area where you first parked your own vehicle.

"Shh, you hear that?" Klepto remarks.
"No." you remark.
"Exactly. All the gunfire stopped."
"Well we need to hurry up because that either means the guardsmen killed whoever was attacking and they'll be returning to us soon or…"

And then from behind one of the army vehicles you're passing something leaps onto Lifto. It's human but its snarling and growling unnaturally. If you didn't know any better you'd almost think it was a….

"ARGH! ZOMBIE!" Lifto shouts and struggles to get it off of him. Fatty moves in to help immediately and between the two of them they easily knock it to the ground. Lifto then proceeds to stomp on its head repeatedly with his brightly colored clown boots.

While Lifto is determined to smash its head into mush, another one of these creatures pop out of nowhere and nearly grab you. You scream and manage to pull away before Klepto steps in and tries to help.

Unfortunately the creatures manage to bite him in the process. He cries out in pain, but manages to get the creatures off of him thanks to someone else helping by blowing the thing's head off. Blood, bone and brains splatter all over Klepto.

"Come on! I don't know how many more of these things there are!" Shrimpy shouts with one of the guardsmen's assault rifles in both hands. Looks like he's made his choice.

Lifto finishes destroying the one that was attacking him and soon all of you are off and running again. You look around as you run thinking more are going to be jumping out at you, but that doesn't happen. You are slightly concerned about Fatty getting bit though. You don't think anyone else has noticed it yet except you and of course him.

When you get to the truck, Lifto quickly opens up the driver side and opens up the passenger door. You get in, followed by Klepto, meanwhile Fatty gets in the bed of the truck along with Shrimpy.

"Where the hell are we going?" Lifto says as he drives from the carnival.
"I don't know yet, but we probably should stay away from large areas of population if those…things are any indication. Just head further away from the town for now." You say.

Honestly you don't know what comes next, but you're seriously starting to believe Roofie's comments about the end coming soon. Were those creatures zombies? Crazed humans? Alive? Undead? Does it matter? How many are there? Have they overrun civilization already? Has any of your old family survived? Is this the beginning of the end?

And most importantly…do their bites work like they do in the movies?

Klepto sits next to you nervously still clutching his arm where he was bit. Lifto hasn't noticed yet because he's been paying attention to the road and while you haven't said anything yet Klepto's not subtle enough about keeping his wound secret…

"Why do you keep rubbing your arm?" Lifto remarks.
"Uh, that thing grabbed me and its grip hurt a lot and uh…"
"Klepto, I've known you long enough to know when you're lying! Did that thing bite you?!"

Klepto doesn't answer so you try to unsuccessfully help.

"It was just a little bite, we don't even know if…" you start to say before you're interrupted.
"Oh fuck! That's it man! Game over!" Lifto shouts and suddenly stops the truck. Fatty and Shrimpy both knock on the window shouting what's going on.

"Klepto, I know we've known each other a long time, but you need to get out of this truck right now."
"Lifto, I…"
"I don't wanna hear it. Get out before I make you get out or worse."
"Lifto, we don't even know if this is infectious! This isn't a movie you know!" you exclaim.
"And you willing to take that chance? You're sitting right next to him! Not to mention he's covered in that thing's blood when Shrimpy blew its head off. Who knows what the hell he's caught."

As paranoid as Lifto is right now, you have been feeling a little nervous sitting next to Klepto this whole time.

Without another word Lifto shifts towards you and reaches over towards the glove compartment. He opens it up revealing a pistol, though Klepto already figured out what he was doing and tries to grab it before Lifto can.

Despite Lifto being in an awkward position and you being in his way, he's strong enough to get the grip on the gun first. Klepto grabs his hand and the struggle ensues.

At this point Fatty opens up the driver side door and Shrimpy opens up the passenger side.

"What the fuck is going on here!?" Shrimpy asks.
"ARGH! Sonofabitch!" Lifto suddenly shouts, Klepto has bitten his hand causing him to drop the pistol on the truck floor.
"Shrimpy keep that rifle on Klepto!" Lifto shouts.

You're stuck in the middle with Lifto's body half on you. All you know is you're scared and desperate to get out. You manage to wiggle down a bit and grab the pistol on the floor.

Klepto hasn't proceeded with an attack and doesn't look any different.

"I'm not a zombie! Or whatever you think I am! I'm fine! And if you kill me, you're going to have to kill Lifto too!" Klepto exclaims to everyone.

Klepto may or may not be right, but he was pretty quick to bite Lifto. Whether that was a desperate attempt to ensure his own safety or a possible glimpse of what's to come, you don't know.

With the pistol in your hand you don't know if you shouldn't just shoot them both.

You try to save the situation

You didn't leave the carnival just for MORE in fighting. If the end days are coming you NEED all the people who you are actually on good terms you can get because you don't fancy your chances on going it alone. So you'll be damned if you're not going to try to keep this little group together.

"ALRIGHT GODDAMN IT! STOP IT! JUST FUCKING STOP IT!" you shout pointing the gun towards the truck ceiling. Lifto at this point has returned to his driver's seat position.

"NOW EVERYONE OUT OF THE TRUCK AND JUST LISTEN!" you say looking at Lifto and briefly glancing back at Klepto.

Lifto steps out looks at you as if he is thinking about taking the pistol away from you. He probably could without any problems because as close as you are to shooting someone, you aren't exactly "there" yet.

Thankfully Lifto doesn't try anything.

When everyone exits the truck, you follow and Shrimpy now stands by you as back up (Fatty doesn't have a weapon, but he stands near you anyway)

"Okay, Suzy what next?" Lifto calmly says.

You've got an idea, but it would go better if rope was involved. You take a quick look in the truck bed and see some locks and chains sitting there, which will work just as well.

"Look everyone, we don't have all the information on what this creature situation is, killing someone who got bit, might be jumping the gun. I mean this isn't a movie!" you say.
"Yeah!" Klepto says.
"Shut up, I haven't finished! Of course that doesn't mean we need to be foolish about this because Lifto could be right. Now Lifto we don't know if a bite causes infection, but if it does then you're already doomed unless we cut your hand off, but I'm guessing you don't want that. Do you want that?"

Lifto gives a dirty look at Klepto before answering.

"Look if you're going to shoot me, at least shoot Klepto first so I can watch." Lifto says.
" What the…I thought you two were supposed to be friends! (Sigh) I'm trying to give you another option here! Like I said, we don't know if this sort of thing is contagious. I don't want any of us to die, do you get that? I'm proposing that the pair of you stay in the bed of the truck until we get to a destination where we can get some medical attention. I mean if the pair of you start not feeling well or different in any way, then we can consider shooting you."

Lifto doesn't say anything, but Klepto is certainly agreeable.

"Sure Suzy, whatever you say! I mean that sounds reasonable to me!" he remarks, though you get the impression he'd go along with what you'd say even if he wasn't bitten.
"We're going to have to tie you up you know." You say.
"That's fine. I totally get it." Klepto remarks.
"Lifto?"

He exhales and doesn't say anything while looking at his hand. Then he looks back at you.

"You really don't want any of us to die?" Lifto asks.
"No. Why the hell would I want that? I mean if these are the end days coming then we're all we have left! We need to stick together as much as possible. And in any case you lot are the closest I've had to family for years, well other than the fact that most of you are undressing me with your eyes half the time…but I'm getting off track my point is that despite all the fucked up shit that's occurred this week, I know I want you guys in my corner. All of you."

At first you wonder if you've laid it on a bit too much, but you hear a couple of sniffles in Fatty's direction and Klepto is obviously showing signs of emotion. He probably thinks you just professed your love for him or something.

"Okay. Okay. We'll do it your way, but if I start to turn or if I think I'm going to become something other than I am, then I want YOU to be the one to shoot me." Lifto says.
"Well let's hope it doesn't come to that, but I promise." You say.

With those words Lifto and Klepto both submit to being chained up and to sit in the truck bed. Lifto is still giving Klepto angry looks, but hopefully they can work out their differences during the ride.

Fatty takes the wheel, Shrimpy gets in the middle and you sit near the passenger's side. You've never exactly been the best with directions, so you just tell Fatty to stay on the main road and hopefully you'll reach a place that is in better shape than your own home town which probably is a warzone by now. You can't help but wonder how your real family is doing, but really you'd rather not dwell on it.

Fatty turns on the radio in the hopes of finding out something, but he doesn't get much other than a few random religious stations talking about salvation and end times, but those things are ALWAYS talking about the end times so its hard to tell if they're even referring to what's currently going on. You'd think something like the news or an emergency broadcast might pop up, but nothing. Oddly you do get some stations just playing nothing but those infernal Ground Zero advertisements.

Hours pass of driving through farm country and Klepto and Lifto aren't moaning or even arguing so you're guessing that they're feeling okay. Still, even though you don't want any of them to die, you do know it still might be a possibility.

As it begins to turn to night you're already tired from the events of the day. Feeling somewhat safe you allow yourself to close your eyes and drift off as the truck drives onward.

Next day…

FRIDAY


"…don't delay, buy a Ground Zero shelter today!"

"Fatty turn that radio off, there hasn't been anything on it of importance for hours. It's just those damn Ground Zero ads. Christ, you'd think someone would be reporting about oh you know a zombie apocalypse?" Shrimpy says.
"I still say those things are still alive. The ones we saw didn't look like they came back from the dead or anything." Fatty remarks.
"Well whatever, still seems like reporting SOME sort of outbreak would be of importance."
"Maybe its local and not happening anywhere else?"

At this point your eyes open and you completely rouse from your sleep.

"(Yawn) What's going on?" you ask.
"So you're finally awake." Shrimpy says.
"We've been driving all night?" you ask.
"Somewhat. Fatty here pulled over at one point and we both slept a little. If you're wondering about the gruesome twosome back there, we checked on them and from what I can tell both of them feel fine. In fact I think they're both still sleeping. Guess all that bite drama yesterday really exhausted them. Dunno if that means they're okay or not, but right now we do have another problem." Shrimpy says.
"What's that?" you ask.
"Well Fatty here managed to get us fucking lost."
"Hey it's not my fault, I couldn't see shit in the night and I thought we were on a main road. Damn GPS." Fatty says.
"Told you that it was broken and hasn't worked correctly for years. Anyway, I know you're native to this area so I'm hoping you know your way around." Shrimpy says.

A brief glance of the practically non-descript landscape to the left and right of you leaves you at a loss.

"Sorry, but like I said, I never was a big traveller. Never left the basement if I could help it." You say.
"Oh yeah, that's right. Well any suggestion regardless of that fact?" Shrimpy asks.

You don't really have any, though you probably should be near some sort of farmhouse as you do know there are some out this way. You could get your bearing by stopping at one and asking for directions.

You also remember Fatty's comment about supplies.

"There should be some sort of farmhouse nearby. Just keep driving along this road and we'll probably hit one where we can ask for directions and possibly get supplies."
"Sounds like as good of an idea as any."

You really don't know if that will be the case, you're just hoping at this point.

Fortunately, your hopes come true this time.

"Well, there's a house. Can't tell if anyone is home or not though." Fatty says pulling up to a large traditional looking farmhouse.
"Okay, so how are we doing this?"
"Well…I suppose I'll go up to the front door and see if anyone's home and the rest of you guys stay in the truck." You say.
"You nuts? This place looks like it's out of a horror movie! Might be a bunch of psycho rednecks living in there! They see a pretty young thing like you and they'd grab you before we could even do anything." Shrimpy remarks.
"Right like arriving at a door with a group of clowns isn't straight out of a horror movie. I'm currently the only one dressed in regular clothing and not covered in blood, I think it would be best if I just asked for help at first."
"Hey what are we going to do with Klepto and Lifto?" Fatty asks.
"Well check on them again and if they seem to be well unchain them I guess. I mean they could use a stretch. Anyway like I said I'm going to the door. I'm taking the pistol with me and I'm confident that if something does happen you'll be able to react in time to save me from getting chopped up or whatever you think is going to happen. We need help getting back on track and looking at the gauge we might even need gas so hopefully they got that here too. Don't worry I'll be fine." You say and get out of the truck.

You make your way towards the front porch looking around the entire time. This place is creepily quiet. Seems like you should at least hear the sounds of animals or something. Shrimpy's got you totally paranoid now. You really weren't worried until he mentioned psycho hillbillies. You look back at the truck.

"Goddamn it Suzy, you need to brave through some of this shit yourself. You survived your serial killer uncle for Christsake. Nothing is going to happen, probably just some kindly old farm couple that lives here." You mutter to yourself and walk up the stairs and knock on the door.

You knock several times with no answer, but just when you're about to give up it opens.

"WHO YOU!?" a large disfigured man exclaims completely scaring the shit out of you and causing you to fall backwards.

You're in a state of utter fear as this large freak approaches you with his hand outstretched towards you…

Even in your fearful condition, you're still able to react to a dangerous situation. You pull the pistol that you had on you and shoot the disfigured man. You hit him twice in the body and he reels backwards bellowing loudly as his body hits the front door and then the house's front room floor.

"WHHHHHHY!? GOING TO HELP YOU!" the man shouts.

"Junior? What in tarnation is goin' on down there? I hope you didn't shoot yourself in the foot carrying your father's rifles again, you know how he hates a waste of ammo." An older female voice shouts from inside.
"MAMA! MAMA! HURT A LOT! BAD GIRL HURT ME!" the man cries.
"If you've been fightin' with you're sister again…oh my god…JUNIOR! CLEM SOMEONE SHOT JUNIOR!" you hear the older female voice scream.

By this time you're running back to the truck, which Shrimpy has gotten out of. Lifto and Klepto are also both awake and shouting at this point.

"Get back in the fucking truck! We gotta…" you start yelling and then a shot from one of the farmhouse windows rings out. You hear it whiz by your ear causing you to drop to the ground immediately.

You continue to crawl towards the truck where you hear more gunfire behind you and the sounds of an assault rifle returning fire. You hear someone trying to start the truck, but a few more shots hitting metal seem to put an end to that causing the engine to make a less than operational sound.

"Fatty get out of the front seat!" Shrimpy shouts.

You hear more gunshots followed by Fatty crying out, though you don't know if he's actually gotten hit severely since you just hear "OW MY ASS!"

The whole time you're praying that you don't get shot in the back, but you're the lucky one…

Ever the white knight, Klepto attempts to go "rescue" you.

"Klepto get out of the open!" you hear Lifto shout.
"Suzy's out there I can't…" Klepto's words are cut short when a bullet to his skull drops him. In fact he drops about a few feet in front of you. You try to put the sight of his death out of your mind as you continue to crawl towards the truck.

"YOU FUCKERS AREN'T TAKING THIS FARM! THIS FARM IS MINE! ALL OF YOU SONSOFBITCHES ARE GONNA PAY FOR WHAT YOU DID TO MY BOY!" a male voice shouts.

You finally reach your destination where the rest are hiding behind the back of the truck, though Fatty's having a hard time of it due to his size and the fact he's got a bullet in his ass.

The shooting on both sides for now has stopped though.

"Shit, shit, shit, Klepto's dead! That redneck bastard says that we're going to pay, no fucking way, HE'S gonna fuckin' pay!" Lifto says which is a bit surprising considering that he was ready to kill Klepto himself just yesterday.

"Fuck, my ass…ah! Shit…wish I had a gun, I'd shoot that fucker in the ass. Not the cheek either, the fucking HOLE!" Fatty says who is normally calm, but given he got shot his anger is a bit understandable.

"Well luckily I picked up a few extra clips back at the carnival and Suzy's probably still got a few shots left. I say we can probably take out the shooter with a bit of strategy. Just as soon as we come up with one of course." Shrimpy remarks.

You don't know how to feel about all this. Maybe it's all the increased violence over the past few days along with losing Klepto, but your clown crew is starting to become a lot more vicious, though events haven't exactly been encouraging a peaceful life lately.

You can't help but feel a little responsible for this current situation though. The retard was just trying to help you up from your fall, but you couldn't have known that…you just reacted to your fear. You were the one who harmed the farm inhabitants first even if the rest of your clown friends think you were being attacked.

Part of you wants to just run from this place, but where would you go? Staying of course means doing more things you don't necessarily want to do…but then you think if you can put yourself in the "right" frame of mind you'll be able to do it.

The farmer HAS tried to kill all of you and did succeed in killing Klepto who attempted to save you, surely revenge for that isn't totally wrong?

You get revenge

If you ran, you doubt if the rest of them would follow and despite the feeling that this isn't the greatest idea, you're tired of running. You've got nothing to run to anyway, if you can deal with the inhabitants inside, you'll at least have a place to catch a breather from the ever-growing chaos in your life.

You hope at least.

"Shrimpy can you get inside the truck without getting hit and put it in neutral?"
"Yeah I think I could." Shrimpy says.
"Good, give me the rifle and the clips, get in the truck and when it's in neutral Lifto and Fatty I want you to start pushing it forward. We should be able to get close enough to the house using this thing as a large shield."
"What are you going to be doing?" Fatty asks.
"I'm going to be crawling around in the truck bed taking shots at that bastard firing at us when I can. Hopefully the closer we get the more likely I'll be able to hit him. Now you want to avenge Klepto or what?"

This statement gets a nod from everyone.

"Let's do this." Lifto says and all of you enact your plan.

It goes well, or about as well as a plan can when someone is shooting at you. Another person soon joins the farmer the closer the truck gets to the front of the house. Presumably the farmer's wife. The pair of them unleash a torrent of curses at you, but nobody is hitting each other yet.

Bullets tear into the truck and while you're all safe, when the two front tires get blown out, it makes Lifto and Fatty's pushing a lot harder.

"Goddamn it. (Wheeze)" Fatty gasps.
"Fuck." Lifto grunts.

Still crawling around in the truck bed, you head over towards the back and speak to Lifto and Fatty.
"Okay, stop pushing, no point in straining yourself, because you're going to need to save your energy. I don't think the shooter on the left is quite as skilled so run to the left and around the back of the house, there's got to be a back door. I'll provide cover, I still got a half a clip left in this thing and one more full one, so when I go full auto, start running. Here take the pistol." You say tossing the pistol over the back end of the truck.

Honestly you'd rather have Shrimpy do this since he's a much smaller target, but the little guy is probably hiding in the leg area of either the driver or passenger's side of the truck hoping not to get hit.

You take a deep breath as more bullets tear into the sides of the truck. You grip the rifle and exposing only a bit of your hands, you blindly fire and spray the left area of the house where the second shooter is.

Luckily through the gunfire a small cry is heard, you think you've hit someone again.

In any case it allows time for Lifto and Fatty to crouch run towards the house, hug the wall and then crawl around the corner. Fatty sure is fast when he wants to be, you just hope he doesn't suffer a heart attack. Meanwhile you hear shouting within the house.

"Clem! I'm hit! Ohhhhh…(sob)"
"Honeypie?! Honeypie? No no no…"

With the gunfire completely stopped Shrimpy takes the opportunity to get out of the truck and run behind it.

"Suzy? You still here?" you hear him ask.
"Yeah, I'm still here. Just stay behind the truck I'm gonna…" you start to say before you're interrupted

"NO! GODAMNIT! NOOOO! FUCK YOU! FUCK YOU! FUCK YOU ALL!" Clem the farmer shouts and now the sounds of gunfire start up again, except this time he's not firing a rifle anymore, the booming sound indicates a shotgun of some kind.

As you try to reload your last assault rifle clip, the truck continues to suffer the impact of shotgun rounds. In fact they are starting to damage the truck enough that one of them going through and hitting you is a very real possibility. You roll over to the other side of the truck in an attempt not to get hit.

"I'LL KILL ALL OF YOU!" you hear him bellow. You're too busy keeping down and redloading.

And then you hear nothing, followed by a pistol shot and then another. You take the opportunity to quickly climb out of the truck bed altogether.

"Suzy, did they get him?" Shrimpy asks
"I don't know…" you say and peek your head out hoping that this isn't a mistake.

You soon see Lifto standing in the front doorway with the pistol in hand.

"We got all of these bastards. It's safe." He says.

You and Shrimpy both step out from the cover of the truck and make your way to the house.

First thing you notice is the first man you shot near the entryway, apparently he tried to crawl away soon after the shoot out started and died shortly afterwards. Given his disfigurement and from what you could tell of his voice, he might've been mentally retarded. You remember hearing "junior" being said, so you're guessing he was the son. You don't exactly feel great about shooting him. It really was an accident.

Seeing the other two bodies don't exactly make you feel any better.

The farmer's wife lies dead in the dining room area. She's actually bigger than Fatty which means she's indeed quite on the large side. She has several gunshot wounds to her upper body. You knew you hit her, but you just didn't know where. Your stomach begins to feel slightly bad when you think about it.

Finally you see the farmer himself, or Clem as you heard being shouted. Lifto mentions that Clem was so focused on you that he realized too late that someone was sneaking up on him. Lifto mentions that he shot him in the back and then while Clem was still flopping about on the floor trying to turn over with his shotgun, Clem put one in his skull.

You didn't even kill Clem and you still feel weird about it. You don't understand why you're feeling slightly sick about all this. Or rather you've got an idea why, but considering the little creature rampage at the carnival it isn't like you haven't seen gruesome death before, but this is somehow different.

The adrenaline and survivalist mindset you put yourself into has disappeared now that the danger has passed so you are left with the grim aftermath of your actions.

The realization that you've killed an entire family that was really just defending their home is what is getting to you. That and the fact that you feel like this whole incident is your fault. Adding Klepto's death to the mix and you're directly and indirectly responsible for four people's deaths.

"Toilet." You say in a daze.
"What?" Shrimpy asks.
"I'm gonna be sick…"
"I think I saw one over towards the back of the house, it's…"

You don't wait for Lifto to finish you just run in the direction. Trying to keep from throwing up and you just manage to make it to the toilet where upon you promptly vomit your guts out.

Your fellows come to see how you're doing.

"Suzy, are you alright?" Shrimpy asks.
"Yeah, you aren't sick are you?" Lifto asks.

It takes you awhile to answer, but eventually you manage it.

"Uh…(pant)…I just…I dunno…yeah I'll be fine. I think the stress of all this just got to me. Uh…" You say.
"Well, it's understandable. Look, why don't you go lie down somewhere? You've done enough for today. The rest of us are gonna drag these bodies out of here. It'll take all of us, lord knows what the hell they were eating on this farm, but everyone here seems to be Fatty's size or bigger. Probably should look around the rest of the farm as well. Make sure nobody is hiding in the barns or something." Lifto remarks.
"Yeah…okay…" you say walking past Shrimpy and Lifto.

As you slowly walk back towards the front of the house, Fatty comes down the stairs.

"Well the upstairs is clear from what I can tell. Nobody up there. Hey Suzy, you okay? Could hear you retching from up there." Fatty asks.
"Yeah, just need to lie down." You say.
"You and me both, but I suppose Lifto is going to need me to help him move out these bodies. Anyway, there are some nice beds upstairs, probably should take one of them."

At this point you feel so wobbly that you wonder if you can even make it up the stairs.

You use the upstairs bedrooms

Given that everyone is going to be making a bunch of noise, moving bodies and such downstairs, you decide to head upstairs. You think you could really use the solitude anyway. You think you've spent more time in the close company of people this week than you have in your entire life and that includes when you had a boyfriend.

With everyone else doing a bit of cleaning up, your mind goes a bit numb as you go up the creaky stairs. You put everything that you've experienced this week out of your head. All you want to think about right now is resting from this ordeal.

You reach the landing and look to your left and see a room which is fairly messy to the point of being disgusting. You hear flies buzzing in there and it smells like something died in there, which doesn't improve how you're already feeling. You guess that this was probably the son's room. You close the door so as to keep the odor in and move on.

Across the hall you find a much better room with a big bed. You guess that Clem and his wife slept here, or maybe just his wife, given her size. Unfortunately that smell from Junior's room is still strong enough for this room to catch a bit of the fallout. You can't rest here either so you move on again.

You pass another bathroom and then at the far end you find another bedroom. This one is free of a bad smell and has a comfortable looking bed so you immediately go to it.

You collapse on the bed, with a deep exhale. You lie there in silence for a moment trying to wrap your mind around the situation.

"(Sigh) Ohhhh…shit…never should've left the basement." You say.

You think about what might've happened had you actually stayed home earlier this week rather than going with the idea to go join the circus. You also wonder what would've happened had you gone to live with your younger sister or even made up with Bobby. You then remember of how the National Guard were stationed in your town and then there were those creatures (Still don't know what that was all about or if Lifto is out of the woods as far as that's concerned) so chances are things might've still turned out hectic.

"I was fucked no matter what." You laugh as your eyes start to close a bit. In fact you laugh quite a bit. You laugh at this entire hell week.

It may be your mind trying to cope and a combination of being tired, or you may have snapped a little but in any event you can't stop quietly giggling to yourself.

And then as you're in your minor giggling fit, your eyes stay open longer when you begin to realize your surroundings.

This room. This is the room of a young female. There is a whole area dedicated to make up and such. The walls have a flowery print. You even see a few feminine undergarments sitting on top of a dresser.

You then remember back when you first shot Junior, his mother telling him that he had better not be fighting with his sister again. Funny what you remember during intense situations.

There were only three dead bodies, which means the daughter of this family is still alive and possibly hiding somewhere. Fatty said he searched upstairs, but he could've missed something.

And a quick glance to your left you see a closet door slightly askew, which then begins to open further.

Feeling a sudden burst of energy brought on by danger, you manage to sit up and get off the bed just in time for the owner of this room to reveal herself. Apparently she thought you were going to be easier pickings than Fatty, she finds out how dreadfully wrong she is.

You immediately rush at the woman who holds a large knife in one hand. It's enough to catch her off guard and she fails to hit you with the knife or rather fails to hit you in a meaningful way since the blade does slice your upper arm.

The pair of you fall to the closet floor where she slams her head against the wall. You grab the hand holding the knife and smash it on the doorway until she drops it. You feel a punch to your face by her other hand, but you ignore the pain and with all your weight you slam your elbow into her nose.

You stop her from crying out by following that up with a punch to her mouth. You repeatedly punch her in the face to a point where she temporarily stops resisting entirely. Clothing is falling on the pair of you and you grab a shirt and wrap it around her throat and pull tightly. Your mind goes into a very dark place.

"Shhhh…it'll all be over soon, just let the darkness take you" you whisper.

The woman gasps for air and tries to punch and scratch at you, but you manage to pull your head back just enough for her to miss. She tries to wiggle and squirm away, but you're sitting right on her stomach and there's nowhere for her to go. The woman continues to choke and tries to pry your hands away, but she's unable to do so and her struggle becomes less intense.

"…there we go…now you'll be with your family forever…" you say and watch her face turn unhealthy shade due to lack of oxygen and her eyes roll up into her head.

The woman stops breathing and the deed is done. You don't even feel tired anymore, it's like killing her energized you or something. You don't have the sick feeling either. You just went into a kind of trance. Like this woman was garbage that needed to be disposed of. You wonder if this is what your Uncle Ed felt when he killed whores.

If you were in your old frame of mind, you'd know how fucked up that is. In your current state of mind you still know how fucked up that is, however you no longer care.

Something may very well have snapped within you, whether it was a combination of the entire week, or just this one bad day, the damage has been done and you're not quite the same person that you were anymore. She was going to kill you and you stopped her from doing so, that's the important thing. Nothing else. You survived. There are no limits to what you're capable of, you realize that now.

"Suzy!? Hey are you okay up there?! I heard some noise!" you hear Lifto shout.
"Yeah, I'm fine, just looking through a closet before I get some rest. Some shit fell, no worries!" you shout back.
"Okay then."

With that interruption out of the way you turn your attention back to your situation. You start looking around the room and find lots of make up. You also go through her clothing and notice a lot of it is about your size though a bit on the slutty side. Oddly enough after going through some more personal belongings you find out her name was Susie too. Or Susie Mae to be precise.

After pulling out some of the clothing from the closet you shove the rest of Susie Mae's body into it and shut the door.

"Hmm, yeah I think I could make a new outfit out of this stuff." You remark. You then grab the scissors and sewing material that lies nearby. It's been awhile since you've done any seamstress type stuff, but you remember when your mother taught you to do it when you were in your elementary school plays. Hopefully you've retained enough of the knowledge.

You spend the rest of the day in Susie Mae's room on your own personal project. It's the most solitude you've had in a long time and you happily enjoy it. The rest of your compatriots are busy searching the rest of the farm for the most part though at one point Shrimpy comes up and asks if you're okay.

"Suzy? Hey thought you'd be asleep…what are you doing?"
"Well I don't exactly have any extra clothes anymore. Even my clown stuff was left back at the carnival, so I'm making a new wardrobe, what's up?" you ask not looking up from what you're doing.
"Um, well just wanted to let you know that we've checked out this entire farm and the place seems all clear and well stocked too." Shrimpy remarks.
"Are Fatty and Lifto okay?" you ask.
"Heh, yeah Fatty's fine, wasn't fun digging that bullet out of his ass though. As for Lifto he seems fine too. Don't think Klepto biting him did anything and he's cleaned out the wound at this point so I guess he's in the clear. Speaking of Klepto, we uh…were thinking we should at least bury him. We already dug the hole in a nice spot. Maybe we should have a small funeral tomorrow?"
"I think that sounds like a fine idea…guess I better finish this thing if I'm attending a funeral." You reply.

Shrimpy pauses for a moment.

"Suzy are you really okay? You seem different somehow."
"I'm just fine Shrimpy. Just fine. I really need to focus on this though."
"Um, okay sure. We'll let you know if anything important pops up." Shrimpy says and leaves you.

You aren't disturbed for the rest of the day or night; in fact they all must sleep downstairs which gives you free reign of the upstairs bathroom to wash up a bit.

After washing up you try on your now finished project. Your outfit is a patchwork of colorful chaos since you just cut up lots of clothing and sewed bits of them together, but you're pleased with your work. In fact you're so pleased with it, you fall asleep in it figuring that it'll save you a bit of time to get ready for Klepto's funeral tomorrow.

Next day…

SATURDAY


"Suzy? You up?" Shrimpy asks and knocks on your door.

Normally you wouldn't be this early, but in this rare instance you actually are.

"Yeah, I'm awake. I'll be ready in a moment." You say applying make up on your face.
"Okay, we're all about as ready as we're going to be, Lifto and Fatty have already put Klepto's body in the hole we dug, so we're all about as ready for this thing as we're going to be. See you downstairs."
"Hey Shrimpy can I say a few things at this event?" you ask before he walks away from the door.
"You mean like a eulogy? Sure I mean if you've got something to say then by all means go for it. Really we were all trying to come up with something formal, but I think we're all still a little exhausted. Lifto actually broke down in tears yesterday about Klepto's death. I think he's upset that he tried to kill him just the day before and wishes their last moments were on friendlier terms."
"Well, tell Lifto that the time for tears and regrets will soon be a thing of the past. I'm almost done, see you downstairs."
"All right."

You look at yourself in the mirror and finish applying lipstick. Not the exact shade of red you wanted, but it was the only lipstick that the previous owner hadn't used yet. You're just glad the girl had as much make up as she did so you could paint up your face proper.

Satisfied with your face, you stand up and look at yourself in the nearby full length mirror.

"Well it's not my old carnival outfit, but yeah… this is definitely me now. Now and forever." you say and walk towards the door.

Before leaving you stop and look towards the closet.

"Thank you for letting me borrow your make up and clothing." You say and then giggle a bit.

You skip down the stairs and meet up with the rest. They're all a bit more somber than you and are quite surprised to see your slightly energetic temperament.

"Suzy? That's a uh interesting outfit." Fatty remarks.
"Isn't it though? Made it myself. Nothing like a new set of clothes to put you in a different mindset! In fact given that all of you have been running around in the same clothes for day on end, I'd say that all of you could use new clothes too. Those rags must be really filthy by now; you'll all probably feel a lot more positive about things once you change. I'm sure we can gather up enough of this family of deadnecks' clothing and I can make you all something. Anyway, we can talk about this later let us be on our way."

Everyone is a unsure of how to react to your new chipperish behavior especially given the circumstances, but they all just lead the way to Klepto's open grave which has been dug out in the backyard of the house.

Klepto still looks about as dead as he did that last time you saw him, though someone has arranged his body in a respectful way. He even has some freshly pulled flowers in his hand.

"The flowers are a nice touch." You remark not knowing who did it.
"Thank you." Lifto says wiping away a tear.
"Shrimpy probably told you all that I was going to do a bit of a eulogy, but does anyone have anything else to say?"
"No, we were all trading Klepto stories last night. We'll probably be doing it for a while. None of us are really good for formal speeches though, probably best if you do it. Besides, it means a lot that you want to do it despite not knowing any of us that long." Shrimpy says.
"Glad you feel that way because what I'm going to say is going to be towards all of you…"

And before you can finish that thought. Your eyes (and everyone else's) catch sight of something quite spectacular in the distance.

A mushroom cloud.

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.

"Well I'll be damned, the world finally went and did it…" you say to yourself.

Lifto, Fatty and Shrimpy all at the same time begin to swear and react to the situation as most people would, namely panic, fear and hysteria. You think in the old days you probably would have too, but not anymore. If anything this is excellent timing for your new outlook on life.

You quickly call everyone to 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 look at we've already survived. Just this damn week we suffered through a military occupation, an internal civil war, an attack by freaks, and took down a bunch of rednecks trying to murder us."

At this point they're all listening to you intently.
"We'll survive this and as long as we stick together there isn't anything we can't do. This is a new beginning and it'll be us against the world if necessary. We are a family and I love you guys." You say.

These words are met with a pause and then of course positive approval by all and everyone goes in for a bit of a group hug. Feelings run a bit high and some more tears are shed.

While your words are genuine and do have feeling behind them, but your mind is still in a dark place. You do see them all as family, but you also can't help see them as useful "tools" in the chaos that's going to come. Even now you're sizing them all up on their weaknesses and strengths.

In any case, you and everyone finish up by completing the burial of Klepto and gathering all the supplies from the farm that will be needed. You all know you'll run out eventually, but for now you've got enough supplies to ponder a long range plan of your future.

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. Far from it. Very far from it.

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


The Future…

You sit comfortably in your modified jeep watching yet another small settlement burn before you. Not the first time, and certainly won't be the last. The screams and gunfire are starting to die down which means today's raid is nearly over.

Still, it isn't completely over yet and there's always something fun to see.

"Woo hoo! Looks like that new recruit has got the right attitude!" you say watching a young man wearing an outlandish green wig and novelty nose glasses swing his machete into the skull of another young man who was previously begging for his life.
"Hrm. Wasn't too sure about him at first, but I guess he's proven himself on this raid. Speaking of which, looks like we've made a good haul. Lots of food, water, even medical supplies." Lifto remarks sitting next to you.
"Wheeee! Gimme that map, I want to see where we should hit next." You say.
"I believe Captain Howdy has it."
"Well, call that pierced freak over here then." You say.

Lifto nods and calls for Captain Howdy via bullhorn. Eventually a heavily pierced man wearing a beat up pilot's cap, black face make up and carrying an assault rifle over his shoulder appears.

"Black face today? Isn't that a bit unPC?" you say with a smirk.
"Eh, fuck'em if they can't take a joke." Howdy says apathetically.
"Truer words my friend. Lifto says you've got the map of this area." You say.
"Oh yeah, I do. Here let me get it out of my pack."

Howdy takes off a small backpack and opens it up to give you a well-worn map of the area.

"Let's see…okay…we hit that place…and that one…" you start to say looking for a new target.
"How about Redemption? I hate those religious types." Howdy says.
"While I have no doubt that town of pious zealots is well stocked, they're also very well armed. In fact I've been hearing rumors that they've been launching their own little crusade against neighboring settlements." You say.
"I heard that they went complete Spanish Inquisition on one town. Crucified most of them and burned the rest alive. That was of course after they already had tortured the shit out of all of them." Lifto adds.
"So? We could take those assholes." Howdy remarks.
"That may be, but not in the near future. It would be a very dangerous undertaking and we are not doing this for the risks and to prove how badass we are. We're doing this for survival…well that and to have a little fun in the process." You say with a smile, though Howdy is still one of your more "macho" members and still wants to prove he's got a dick by killing something.

You reach out to his face with a gentle touch and soothing voice.

"I know you like to kill things, but I don't want you to get killed in the process. Just because we tend to pick easier targets just means I really don't want you or any one of us to get killed. We're all family and I don't want to see any one of you die, you understand? That's why our mode of operation is to go for low risk, high reward and I'd say its work for all these years wouldn't you?"
"Yes, I suppose it has." Howdy says.
"That's right. Anyway it's looking like we have hit every place that's worthwhile around here. We should start heading east and raid merchant caravans coming out of those city-states. They're all fucked up after that big war they had with the Ground Zero Corporation so they're lacking in the defense department now. Okay, let's start shutting down this circus and move on." You say and take the bullhorn from Lifto.

"Alright you clowns gather up all the shit we've looted, pile it in the vehicles and let's get this freak show on the road! We're heading east! Flammo! HEY! That doesn't mean start another goddamn fire, it means let's go!" you shout shaking your head and throw the bullhorn in the back seat.

Lifto starts up the jeep and you stretch a bit waiting for your family to finish packing up. Lifto waits in silence, but you feel like talking.

"A Pennywise for your thoughts." You say which causes a snort from Lifto.
"Oh nothing, I suppose I was just thinking about how much things have changed. The past. Sometimes I miss it."
"Oh that. Well I don't miss it. Glad that part of my life is over."
"Not just the old days, but people as well like Fatty, Shrimpy… Klepto."
"Well that's different. I do miss them. They were family and I'll never forget them. We sure had some fun times back at that farmhouse remember?"
"Heh, yeah. Shame what happened; maybe we could've made a more stable life there rather than doing this raider thing."
"Perhaps, but we can't dwell on what if in the past. Just have to focus on today and if possible, the future. That's what's kept us alive and allowed us to build our new family." You say and touch Lifto's hand.

Lifto looks and smiles at you. You aren't sure if he's ever completely agreed with how you've gone about things, but he loves you enough that he'll stand by your side no matter what and that's enough for you.

To be honest you did latch on to Lifto a bit in the beginning because he was obviously a big guy that could definitely protect you in a time of trouble, but it's a bit more than that now. Given that you're both the only two left from the original group, your ties have naturally grown quite a bit.

You've done a lot of bad things since your new life began, but it's a harsh world and you're just living in it. Sometimes you have bouts where you wonder if you should feel bad about doing the things you do, but then you just laugh and remember to not dwell on the past.

"I love you Kenneth." You say using Lifto's real name, looking at him and touching his hand.
"I love you Suzy." He replies back and leans over to kiss you.

With this exchange of affection, you, Lifto and your gang of clowns drive off in search of new prey.