WEDNESDAY


"Hey Suzy get up, time to start packing up." Klepto says tapping your shoulder.
"Okay…" you reply groggily. You don't feel a small figure near the bottom your legs so you assume Shrimpy must've already gotten up.

"Well that wasn't that bad, Shrimpy even honored the agreement." You say sitting up.
"Or maybe you're just a really sound sleeper." Klepto remarks.
"Hrm, well if that's the case he better at least have the sense to not brag about it. Anyway, I suppose I'll take my leave to wash up a bit and change clothes."
"Wish I could come with you." Klepto says.
"Excuse me?" you say.
"Ha ha ha no not that, I meant it sucks having to share the small ass bathroom we have in this trailer. Fatty's in there right now and well you can figure out how it's going to be after he leaves."
"Yeah, I'd rather not have that mental image right now. See you around." You say and start to leave.
"Wait, uh Suzy…I…" Klepto calls out.
"Yes?"
"(Sigh) Look I know I probably haven't been showing exactly prince charming behavior, but I just want to say, I really like you. I mean REALLY like you."
"Yeah I got that impression a long time ago." You respond.
"Yeah, but I'm trying to say it's not just physical."
"I find that a little harder to believe…however I'm not really going to fault you for it, but I'm going to need a lot more proof that you want something deeper than just sex."
"Well what? Like a ring or something?"
"Heh, I don't think you're exactly in a financial position for all that. Look, I like you too, but this probably isn't the best time to expect anything more from me than just friendship. I'm still trying to get used to the fact of this being my new life now not to mention I'm just getting over breaking up with what was my first and only boyfriend. So I might prefer my own company for a while. However that doesn't mean you shouldn't TRY to gain my affection. But only IF you REALLY want something meaningful with me. If not, then I'd suggest that you not waste either of our time and you go find a less discerning mate. I don't need prince charming either, I just need someone I can count on and isn't going to be a complete jerk. And if it helps, so far you're doing a little bit better in that department than anyone else here."
"Okay." Klepto says with a nod and brief smile before you leave.

Well there it is, someone has openly professed a desire to be your boyfriend. You knew it was going to be one of them eventually though. You can only imagine the others will be attempting to woo you as well just like in your routine with them. Funny how life starts to imitate art.

You don't know how sincere Klepto is even if he has been pleasant for the most part. (Can you really ever trust a guy with the name Klepto?)

Attractiveness wise, Klepto probably is the best of the lot. Lifto would probably provide the best protection, but the guy is tough to look at even with clown make up on and as far as Fatty is concerned, the only thing that runs through your mind is potential sexual positions and only one of which doesn't result in you being crushed.

Part of you wonders if you're bad for being shallow, but then you remember they're all attracted to you mostly due to your looks in the first place.

Though for some reason you find Shrimpy's size adorable… in fact you might find some of the others dwarves that work here adorable as well if they weren't quite so vulgar with you. Maybe you've got a hidden dwarf fetish you didn't know about before.

Oh well, you're not going to worry about any of this right now.

As you head back to your own trailer, you see most of the dwarves doing all the labor of packing down the carnival; others are helping, but most are just packing down their own respective stages and such.

"Hey clown slut, if you're not actually going to be sleeping in your own trailer and just going to be playing cum dumpster to your painted freak friends, the least you can do is give it to one of us!" a tattooed lady with big black Mohawk and several piercings in her face remarks catching you off guard. A couple of other tattooed women stand behind her agreeing with her statement. You briefly remember her calling you names from yesterday. Her name's Razor and she does a human pincushion type act.

"I didn't use my trailer last night, because I didn't feel safe by myself." You say.
"Oh? Just a scared little babe in the woods huh? Well you're by yourself now. What're you going to do without your clown crew to protect you?" Razor remarks and pokes you in the chest with her finger.

You look around and while there are a couple of people standing by, none of them are helping you. While Razor isn't much bigger than you, she definitely looks tougher. Combine that with the fact she has two friends that also look like they'll join in and you don't think you'll stand a chance if it actually came down to a fight.

You stand your ground

Maybe this isn't the best idea you've ever had, but after all those years of dealing with your sister Kelly, you aren't going to put up with bullying anymore.

You've never really been a fighter before (Trying to protect your face from Kelly's couple attempts to disfigure you don't count) so it isn't surprising that when you throw a punch at Razor she easily dodges and catches your arm.

"Oh ho! Harley Quinn has some fight in her! Good, didn't want this to be too easy!" Razor says and throws you to the ground. Before you can get up you feel a kick to your ribs.

Lacking any other tactics you lunge at one of Razor's legs and sink your teeth into it hard enough to draw blood.

"AH SHIT! WHAT THE FUCK!" Razor yells trying to get you off of her leg, at this point her friends step in to help pull you off. You're dragged off and restrained while Razor takes a moment to examine her wound.

"Goddamn it! Shit!" Razor exclaims looking at the fairly deep bite wound you've left.
"I thought you were a human pincushion, what's the matter can't handle a few little teeth?" you ask spitting blood in Razor's direction.
"Hope you enjoyed yourself, because that's the last time you're going to be using those pearly whites. Say hello to eating through a straw from now on, but look on the bright side, the next time you engage in your favorite past time of sucking clown dick, they won't have to worry about getting scraped." Razor says and starts to walk toward you, but suddenly Roofie stops her.

"Alright that will do Razor, I saw what happened and I'll not have unnecessary strife in this carnival! Go back to packing down your stage!" Roofie scolds.

Razor looks at him a moment and then you and then waves to her friends to let you go.

"One day you aren't going to be running this show Roofie." Razor says as she leaves with her friends.
"Maybe not, but that day isn't today." Roofie says.

As you get up and try to brush yourself off, Roofie slowly walks over to you. He already smells like alcohol.

"Well Suzy, first Ranko, now Razor, looks like you're just making friends all over."
"It's not my fault! I didn't do anything to her!"
"I know you didn't, you alright?"
"Yeah, but now I probably got a target on my back, one of many probably since Razor isn't the only one who hates me around here."
"Yeah I've noticed. Just because I'm half drunk most of the time doesn't mean I'm not aware of what goes on around here. Listen some of the negative feelings that some have for you will die down in time. You seem to be getting along with your new clown co-workers very well though. You spent the night over in their trailer despite the fact you have your own."
"I only did that because I didn't feel safe sleeping alone last night. There was a really creepy big guy staring at me all day yesterday, I dunno maybe I was just being paranoid."
"Hmm, did you wish to bunk with them or even someone else then? I mean I can make arrangements if you feel uncomfortable sleeping alone."
"No, I appreciate the fact you gave me my own trailer. Besides, given all the new friends I'm making, I'd be safer sleeping alone and bunking with Klepto and the rest, well I get the impression that would cause other problems." You say.
"Okay then. Well, I'll let you get back to your trailer. We'll probably be ready to go just before nightfall so I'm sure Lifto will be around then to hook this thing up to one of our trucks. So until then just enjoy the downtime."
"Wait, aren't I supposed to be helping pack up the carnival?"
"You? Nah, the rest of the guys can handle it. Really I get the impression they wouldn't let you do much work anyway what with them all being enamored with you and all. And the dwarves got the overall pack up covered. Always have, it's what they do. Backbone of the carnival and all…and all a bit of a waste of time given what's to come, but hey we do what we know." Roofie says and leaves.

A little more cryptic future doom prediction by Roofie, you get the impression that's his general personality, but at least he's always pleasant with you.

With no more distractions you arrive at your trailer and that's when you begin to feel nervous again.

First of all the door is slightly ajar. You also notice a couple things out of place from last time, not to mention it looks like someone spent some time in your bed and soiled it with their "essence". Your cell phone that you left here is also gone, but given that its batteries were starting to die and you wouldn't have Bobby to pay for it much longer it isn't much of a loss. Someone was definitely here last night. You don't know if it was Ranko, that big creepy retard staring at you or someone else, but either way you dodged a bullet.

You half expect the person to jump out at you from some hidden spot, but that doesn't happen. Whoever was here, probably left before the morning, and probably when they realized you weren't coming here.

You re-check all the trailer's locations (even if it isn't the biggest place) and block the door with a chair before feeling safe enough to shower and get changed.

Afterwards you go through the mundane process of actually cleaning up the trailer. You figure if you don't need to help pack up the carnival, you can at least spend your time clean up your living area. (First thing is throwing out the befouled bed sheet)

By the time you're finished it's the afternoon and you're tired again. You're still not used to being awake so early and you didn't get much sleep last night so you lie down in your now cleaner bed and shut your eyes for just a bit…

You don't know how much time passes while you're asleep again, but when you do wake up it's to a loud thumping at the door.

"OPEN UP BY ORDER OF THE U.S. NATIONAL GUARD!"

National Guard? What the hell is going on?

"Hold on, hold on, I'm getting up!" you shout.
"Open the door miss or we'll be forced to bash it open!" a voice calls back.

Not wishing to potentially get shot you comply and upon opening the door several national guardsmen stand outside.

"Come with us miss, we need you all together for your safety." A young soldier says guiding you out.
"Where are we going?" you ask.
"Just to that big tent over there. Don't worry, this is all for your protection."

Somehow you don't quite believe that, but when you scan your surroundings, you see that the carnival appears to be under control by the National Guard so there isn't much choice but to comply. You don't know why or how this came to be, but from some of the military radios you overhear it sounds like riots have broken out in your town. Is this some sort of martial law?

When you arrive in the big tent, most of carnival is there. Most are sitting at tables and complaining about this fate. You see Roofie actively arguing with one of the higher ranking soldiers who looks utterly unmoved by what he has to say.

"Goddamnit, just because people are rioting in the town doesn't mean any bullshit is going on here! We're not even locals! We're just passing through and were about to leave!" Roofie says.
"Yeah I heard you the first time, but my orders are to secure this entire area and will be under watch until further notice. Now I suggest you get out of my face before I stomp a mud hole in your ass clown!" the officer remarks and walks out of the tent.

You go over to Roofie.

"What's going on exactly?" you ask.
"End times like I always knew would come Suzy. Just didn't figure I'd have to spend my last days stuck under the gun by a bunch of fascists! These government dickheads think they can control what's coming soon, when they really can't control shit. These fools don't even know they're all really just puppets for that fucking Ground Zero corporation that's been shilling bomb shelters ads all over the damn place."

This is definitely a new side you've seen of Roofie, he's really mad. He's also really drunk even if he's pretty coherent. You see Klepto and the rest waving you over.

"Why don't we just go over there and…"
"Y'know what Suzy? There aren't even that many of these fuckers. It's a skeleton crew at best. I bet we can take them. I mean we certainly outnumber them."
"What?! Are you nuts? They're armed with machine guns!" you say.
"And? So a few of us die? We're ALL gonna be dead soon anyway, why wait? Better to die on your feet than live on your knees. Seriously, all we gotta do is get a couple of those guns away from them and it already evens up the playing field. Seriously you think they're probably going to let us live anyway? They're probably going to line us up like baby seals and blow our brains out by tomorrow. I'm telling you I'm getting our own troops in order to rebel tonight."

Roofie seems pretty intent on going through with this plan, the only thing you can think of to do is either try to help or try to prevent the violence.

You help Roofie

"Okay well maybe you've got a point, but can you really stir this lot up to swarm attack people with machine guns?" you ask.
"One way to find out!" Roofie says and without another word he runs over to the nearest guard and smashes a bottle over his head. It might've been more effective had the guardsman not had a helmet on.

The guardsman that was assaulted bashes Roofie to the ground and fires several shots into him. This causes shock from everyone and in your case you even freeze up for a moment. Nobody is bum rushing the guardsmen though.

Roofie won't be getting up again, but at this point the guardsmen continue to panic and believe they're under a greater attack. (Despite that everyone is too scared to do so)

"SHIT! WE NEED BACK UP! WE'RE UNDER ATTACK!" the other guardsman exclaims and begins firing randomly at carnies, which includes you.

Unfortunately, you were close enough that you fatally get hit by some of these bullets despite trying to get out of the way.