FRIDAY

“…this was a paid announcement by the Ground Zero Corporation…”

“Agh! Shut the fuck up already. What the hell did GZ buy up all the goddamn stations?!” you hear Roger shout as he angrily turns the radio off, waking you up.

It would seem you’re in motion again and you slept through it.

“What’s going on?” you ask.
“Huh? Oh you’re up. Nothing’s going on, just dumb ass Ground Zero commercials warning about an impending nuclear holocaust as usual. Never mind the fact we got a very real threat that I can’t seem to get any information on. Anyway I didn’t sleep that much so I just started driving again. Figured you could still sleep though so I didn’t bother waking you” Roger says.
“So how long have we been on the road?”
“More than a few hours definitely. Starting to by pass all this farmland area now, we’ll probably be hitting a more populated area soon. I also started to see a few more moving vehicles, though I’ve also been seeing a lot of abandoned vehicles as well. Oddly no military. Saw a few people even trying to hitch a ride, but I’m not playing good Samaritan right now.”
“You see any of those things?” you ask.
“Hrm, I thought I might’ve seen a few while I was driving, but from the distance I could quite tell. Wasn’t like I was going to check.”

So far it looks like the plan is still going to Fort Timons, but if you didn’t think that was a dubious idea before, you’re really uncertain now. He can’t get any signal from the radio, for all you know the base might be overrun by those things. Which is exactly what you bring up to Roger, but he seems confident that wouldn’t be the case and he’s determined to head to Fort Timons. Funny thing considering he abandoned all his comrades at the carnival and said they were all assholes. Guess he’s still military at heart.

He senses that you still aren’t comfortable with his plan though.

“Suzy, you don’t need to come with me you know. I mean I can drop you off at the next town we go through.” Roger says.
“And what exactly am I going to do there? I don’t have anything except the clothes on my back and with the way things are going, I can imagine I’d be resorting to taking those off a lot just to survive.” You say.

There’s a moment of silence before Roger replies.

“I’m guessing that’s what you were doing with me back at the carnival. It’s fine, I sort of knew that’s what was going on. I knew you didn’t actually like me.”
“If you knew all that, why did you risk your career and possibly your life?”
“You’re kidding right? I mean I know I’m not hideous, but you’re a little out of my league. When the hell am I going to get a chance to be with someone that looks like you? I mean sure I knew it was all an act, but in MY mind I could pretend you were being genuine. Though I admit when you stopped me from kissing you and didn’t want to look at my face, that sort of hurt.”
“It wasn’t personal. I just don’t know you that well and I wasn’t ready for that level of intimacy. I was going to pretend you were my ex-boyfriend. (Sigh) I can’t believe I even went that far and was going to go through with it. I mean contrary to whatever you may have heard shouted at me, I don’t do stuff like that like…ever.”
“Really? Because you’re pretty good at the whole seduction thing, even if you are a bit obvious with it.”
“I’m obvious with it because it’s only just a new skill I developed within the last few days I joined a goddamn carnival just to get out of my goddamn shitty life at home…What the hell was I even thinking?! I’m not cut out to take care of myself! I should’ve just stayed home and let cannibals eat me in the comfort of my basement!” you say, tearing up a bit. The stress of the week is starting to get to you.

“Whoa! You don’t mean that. Things aren’t totally horrible. Hey if it make you feel any better, I felt a little bad knowing that I was going to take advantage of what was obviously the act of a desperate woman.” Roger says.

Now you stop sniffling and start to chuckle at the absurdity of that statement.

“But of course that wasn’t going to stop you.” You say.
“Well no of course not, but I assure you I would’ve felt guilty about it.”
“No you wouldn’t have.”
“Okay you’re right, I wouldn’t have, but I would have still gotten you out of that carnival if you had asked afterwards.”
“Well at least it wouldn’t have been for nothing. (Sigh) Guess it all worked out anyway. I mean we’re both still alive due to our choices and I am thankful I’m not dead and that you probably saved my life back there.”
“And I’m thankful I at least got to see you naked.”
“We’ll always have the trailer I suppose.”

You don’t exactly feel good about your situation, but Roger’s attempt to lighten up the mood at least has you feeling slightly better.

“So…why don’t you tell me about this ex-boyfriend of yours? I’m guessing he must’ve been some sort of handsome stud if you’re still thinking about him.” Roger says.
“Heh. Not especially. He was a normal looking guy. Not too much different from you in that department. He’s just the only guy I’ve ever been with, so, it was more comfortable to think about him instead. Anyway it was sort of complicated with him. Long story that I don’t want to get into right now.”
“I understand. Well I’ll just say this, he was lucky to have you as a girlfriend and was a damn fool to let you get away.”
“Hrm…actually you know what? You’re exactly right. He WAS lucky to have me and a damn fool to let me get away!” you say with a bit of pride.

You know Roger is half saying this just in the hopes to get you into a compromising position again, but what the hell, it’s an ego booster and it keeps you in a positive mindset at least.

“Shit.” Roger suddenly says.
“What now?” you ask.
“I just looked at the gas gauge, we’re practically out. Goddamn it I thought Ernie gassed this thing up recently.”
“We can’t make it to Timons?”
“Well we could risk it on fumes to Fort Timons, but I’d rather not chance that during these circumstances. I don’t even have a rubber hose that we could use to suck out the gas from one these abandoned vehicles we’ve been passing.”
“Well I guess we’re stopping at the next gas station then.”
“Assuming they got any. I get the impression just popping into the next gas station isn’t going to be that simple.”

You and Roger continue to drive for about a half hour before you see something of interest in the distance. Namely a truck stop, which apparently has been converted into a minor fortress.

“Hey look at that!” you point out.
“I see it. It’s a truck stop and it looks like whoever is there is trying to block the place off by putting trucks around it. They even got people standing on top of the trucks with rifles as look outs. They probably got gas.” Roger says.
“I dunno. Whoever is there probably isn’t going to be too trustful of anyone, especially someone from the military. They might just try to rob us.”
“We gotta try. I mean we need gas, and given how well this place is defended, we at least know they probably got some. Who knows if we’ll get lucky some place else.”

You and Roger drive to the truck stop, which immediately causes the lookouts to point and raise their rifles in your direction. When you stop in front of it there are a lot of shouts for you to stay in the truck.

“We don’t need any government assistance here, we’re doing just fine as you can see. I highly suggest that y’all just continue on your way.” One of them shouts.
“I’m not here for trouble. I just need some gas. We get that and we’ll be on our way to Fort Timons.” Roger shouts back.
“Gas? Don’t fucking think so soldier boy. With the way society is collapsing that shit’s gonna be valuable and money is gonna be worthless.”
“Well, would you accept a trade of supplies for gas?”
“Hrmmm, well whatta you got?”
“Got some military rations in the back of this thing. Those things last for years you know.”
“We got tons of food, what else? Any weapons?”
“Uh…there might be a couple…oh we got some medical supplies in here!”

There is a long pause and he tells you to wait before climbing down the truck and disappearing from sight. Eventually you hear his voice again which is now coming from behind the truck barricade.

“Okay, we’re gonna move this truck, but one funny thing happens and you’re the first one getting a bullet to the head. Alright, we’re letting this one in, everyone keep extra look out for those rabid bastards!”

“You still think this is a good idea?” you ask.
“Well it’s like I said, our options for gas are limited.” Roger answers.

As soon as the truck is moved out your way, the man who was barking orders at you waves you in and motions you over to the gas pumps. As soon as you drive in they put the truck back. Either they’re really safety conscience or they don’t want to risk having you get away.

From this distance you see several more people in the building part of the truck stop. Looks like it’s a general store/diner combo. Most of them are watching you from the windows, though a few of them come out, one of them is an older man with a cane who walks directly to the pumps.

“Okay, I want the two you in that truck to exit it slowly. I don’t care if you got weapons, but don’t point them at me or anyone else in a threatening manner.” The old man shouts.

Roger takes his rifle over his shoulder and exits the truck. You do like wise, though being unarmed you exit from Roger’s side just so you don’t feel quite as vulnerable. Naturally rifles are pointed at the pair of you, but the old man with the cane shouts telling them to calm down.

“You lot, stop pointing your guns and start unloading this truck. Sorry about that, everyone’s a little on edge. Name’s Henry. I own this place.” He says.
“Roger and it’s understandable.”
“Well, a military man eh? Thought all the National Guard were off fighting those rabid things in the city. From what I’ve heard the place is completely overrun now.”
“The city? You mean Security is overrun?” you ask.
“Yep. Heard it on the radio. Not the regular one of course. Those GZ bastards seem to be clogging those up, but on my Ham Radio. Been trying to communicate with Fort Timons, but my radio isn’t exactly in the best condition…”
“Hold on! You’ve been in communication with Fort Timons?!” Roger exclaims.
“Well, somewhat. More like my old buddy I served with back in the day who still works there as an inventory clerk. Haven’t heard anything from him since yesterday. All I know is the last thing he told me was the fort was on high alert and further communication was going to be limited to a need to know basis and only to those with the proper clearance. Typical military bullshit I suppose, well I don’t need to tell you.”
“Uh, we were on our way to Fort Timons. Do you think it’s safe?” You say.
“Heh, well I couldn’t tell you if the fort is safe, but I can tell you that those rabid fuckers have been making their way out of the city en mass and given how far the city is, they apparently don’t get tired and can cover a lot of ground. We just repelled a bunch of them yesterday. Hence the make shift fortress here. Fort Timons is even closer to the city, so at best I’d wager that you’re going to have to wade through a bunch of those things before getting there. Not something I’d want to do to be sure.” Henry remarks.
“Shit, those things are in the city and they were in my town! This means this can’t just be a local thing! It’s probably a nationwide epidemic! We can’t go to Fort Timons now!” you exclaim.
“We don’t know if the place has fallen to those things.” Roger replies.
“Exactly! We don’t know!” you say.

At this point Henry interjects.

“If I may, the both of you can stay here. We’ve got the room and your truck full of supplies as far as I’m concerned buys your way in. And I’m sure as a military man, you’d pull your weight here to defend this place if need be. So you and your girlfriend can stay here if you wish.” Henry says and then walks over to oversee his people unloading the truck.

It’s an incredibly tempting offer and one you’d jump at the chance for, but Roger still seems sure that Fort Timons will better in the long run. You wonder if he feels a little obligated to go back to Fort Timons because deep down he feels like he abandoned his post even if hasn’t admitted it.

The only downside is if Roger doesn’t stick around and you do, you’ll be left in the company of a bunch of strangers again and that didn’t go so well last time. You can only imagine all the leers, grope attempts and possibly worse from a bunch of horny trucker types.
> You continue to Fort Timons
While you probably could talk Roger into staying if you turned on the charm again, you’ve done enough of that for quite some time and honestly he might be right as far as safety is concerned.

Despite the best efforts of the people here, this truck stop is still open enough that those things could get in. (Crawl under the trucks for one thing) Also while the owner seems cool, you don’t know everyone else and the last time you encountered a cool owner was the carnival and you know how that turned out. You also imagine that a military base might indeed survive an extended siege a lot better than this place.

“Suzy, I still think going to Timons is a better idea than staying here. I’m going, so if you want to stay…” Roger says before you interrupt him.
“No, I’ll go with you.”
“But I thought you thought it was a bad idea.”
“Well, I still sort of do, but I guess if this is a major crisis and the end of civilization, I’d rather be with you. So if you believe we’ll be safe there, then I believe we’ll be safe there.”

Roger smiles at that remark. He immediately goes to hug you, which you weren’t quite expecting, but you hug back. You suppose you are getting attached to him. Just a sucker for men who save your life you guess.

After this happy experience Roger goes over to gas up the truck and you wait nearby. You don’t even notice Henry come up to you.

“So you two decide on what to do yet?”
“Huh? Oh, yeah we’re going to try to make it to Timons.”
“Hm. Well I wish you luck on that. Too bad you’re not staying though, could use a few more people to guard this place and help out around here.”
“Yeah, well I wish we were staying too, but well he wants to go to Fort Timons so that means we’re both going.”
“Heh, well love for another always has a way of making you act out of character.”
“Y…eah something like that I guess.” You say reluctantly. Henry still hasn’t caught on that you aren’t really “with” Roger, but you don’t bother correcting him.
“Don’t worry, you got this big truck, so you should be safe as long as you don’t get out of the thing or stop for a long period of time to let those things swarm you. And despite my doom and gloom earlier, don’t take that as truth. I mean what do I know. I’m stuck here with a Ham Radio that I can barely get to work right at the best of times. Things might not be as bad as they seem. Who knows? Maybe this will all be over in a day or two.”
“Heh, one can only hope.” You say.
“Remember though, if Timons doesn’t work out, you’re welcome to come back here.”
“Thanks Henry that’s very generous of you.”

After your short talk with Henry, Roger is ready to get going again and you’ve got the fuel to get to your destination.

“We left you those MREs and the water. No need to leave you without the basics. Anyway, like I told your pretty girlfriend here, I wish you luck and if it doesn’t work out, you’re welcome to come back here.” Henry tells Roger
“Thank you and we’ll keep that in mind.” Roger replies and drives off towards the “truck gate” which is now opening up.

And with that you’re on the road again.

“Hey I just want you to know, I’m really glad you’re coming with me. I mean I know you didn’t want to and…look I think you know I really like you and it’s not just because you flirted with me and I saw you naked and all that. I really enjoy your company. Probably not the best time to be addressing all this shit, but I think its better I just tell you where I stand right now. Especially with everything that’s going on. Anyway that’s all I want to say and I’ll drop the subject.” Roger says.

You’re having a déjà vu moment like when Klepto admitted all his feelings for you, though with Roger it feels a little different. You get a little more sincerity with him. Klepto was always a little too sycophantic as far you were concerned.

Hell, maybe you didn’t just decide to go off with Roger out of survival. Here or even back at the carnival. Maybe somewhere you did have an attraction to him and you just denied it for some reason. It’s that damn “good girl” trait you never shook off from your mother drilling it into your head when you were growing up.

“I…I like and feel close to you too Roger.” You say and smile back at Roger.

With this acknowledgement of your feelings for each other, a good period of your drive is in silence, but not an awkward silence, a comfortable one.

The silence isn’t just going on in the truck, it’s also going on outside or least relatively speaking. Despite what Henry said, so far you haven’t encountered any hordes of those rabid things and you’re driving through suburbs by this point. You also haven’t seen many people walking about, but you assume most people are taking shelter somewhere.

Happily the streets aren’t clogged with abandoned vehicles. That was one thing that Roger was more worried about. A line of vehicles is a little harder to drive over even with a big truck.

Night comes and the rabid are a little bit more active though nothing that can’t be handled. Most of the time Roger just drives past them and they give chase for a while, but sometimes he runs them over.

“Sheesh, they are getting thicker. Glad we don’t actually have to go INTO Security. Pftt, Security. Now that’s an ironic name for the city. Anyway we should actually get to Fort Timons around two or three in the morning.” Roger says.
“Glad to hear it. I’m getting tired, but I’m too on edge to sleep.” You say.
“Eh, go ahead and close your eyes at least. I’ll try to keep the zombie smashing to a minimum.”
“They aren’t zombies, I think we established that they’re living right?”
‘Yeah, pretty sure they’re all alive, just rabid. Or whatever is wrong with them. Dunno if they infect anyone though, don’t want to ever find that out.”
“I agree.” You reply and then try to take Roger’s advice by closing your eyes.

You don’t really sleep so much as you rest and sort of drift in and out. You aren’t fully awake again until Roger calls your attention to your destination which isn’t far now.

“Ha ha! Suzy wake up! We’re here! We made it and look they even got the towers lit up! The fort still stands!” he exclaims in joy.
“Huh, yeah. That’s really…” before you can finish your groggy words Roger has stopped the truck, grabbed you and kisses you full on the lips. You’re too tired to resist, though you wouldn’t have bother anyway.

“Well was it everything you expected?” you ask after he’s done.
“Even better!” Roger says and then tries to kiss you again.
“Whoa, hold on there, let’s save the victory kissing until AFTER we get in this place. I mean how do we even know they’ll let us in?”
“Oh we’ll get in, I know we will.” Roger says and starts up the truck again.

You get within range and suddenly spotlights move in your direction and a loud speaker calls out for you slow your speed to a crawl and to stop at the gates and to prepare to be inspected. Roger complies and soon you’re sitting before the gates of Fort Timons.

You can imagine snipers from the towers are pointing their weapons on you and when the gates open a whole damn squad of soldiers comes out. A young man with glasses comes up to the driver’s side.

“Riley? Is that you? Holy shit, we thought your squad was dead.”
“It’s me Keller and I’m the only survivor. You’ll never believe what the hell happened.”

“Riley?” you think, but then you realize that must be his last name. In fact it’s right on his shirt. Funny how you never noticed before. Never noticed he was a corporal either.

“Well there’s been a lot going on here too, so probably won’t be too surprised. Anyway Captain Higgins will want to see you. Uh, he’s in charge now.” Keller says.
“Shit, I guess a lot has changed.”
“Yeah, who’s this in your passenger side?”
“This is Suzy. She actually saved my life out there. Don’t worry she’s not bit or infected or anything.”
“Guess you never had to suffer it first hand, but if you’re referring to those rabid, they don’t infect you if they bite. One good thing about all this I suppose. Saved your life eh? How’d that happen?”
“Oh I got something surprised when I first encountered one of those things and it was on top of me snarling and growling. Suzy here got a knife and stabbed it in the face. Just enough for me to put it down permanently with a few rounds to its head and body.”
“I’m also his girlfriend!” you add, hoping that by having a closer tie to Roger that they’ll let you in.
“Girlfriend? Hrm. I guess stressful situations really do cause close bonds. Well under normal circumstances we wouldn’t let a civvie in that isn’t blood related or your spouse, but I guess we can make an exception. All right come on in. Don’t want to risk having this gate open any longer than it needs to be.”

As you drive in you at last feel safer than you have been in a long while. Roger and you both exit the vehicle and Roger tells you that some people will probably take you to the barracks or some place with a bed. He says he’ll meet up with you later as he has to go report in.

“Okay, I’ll see you then.” You say and you move in to kiss him goodbye.

Well if you weren’t his girlfriend before, you certainly cemented it now.

You are escorted to a barracks area just as Roger said you would be, but it’s mostly empty. The two soldiers that escort you mention that most of people stationed here never came back after being sent to the city, so there’s a lot of room now. They don’t say much else and soon leave you to your own devices.

And for the first time in a long time during this hellish week, you’re alone. It’s almost a bit scary, but in a way you’ve missed it. You’re too tired though to really appreciate it and you collapse on one of the beds and start to drift off…
> The next day…
SATURDAY

You wake up to a body grinding up against you, an arm holding you tightly around your mid-section and warm breath blowing in your ear in between the kissing.

Not exactly what you expected, but it beats those Ground Zero advertisements.

“Wha the…Roger that better be you.” You say.
“Of course its me. Who else would it be? Bobby?” Roger answers.
“Well I couldn’t tell, your erection pressing into me feels to be about the same size.”
“Wow… way to make a guy feel special.” Roger says.
“Oh don’t be sensitive, I could’ve said it was smaller. Anyway, isn’t there some sort of protocol against this in the barracks?” you say turning you head.
“Pfft, protocol isn’t what it used to be. If you haven’t noticed there isn’t even anyone using this one, except you and barring an assault on this place, the captain was good enough to give me a day to rest up before going back on duty full time. Higgins always was cool about things, glad he’s in charge now.”
“Hmm, so what’s going on?” you ask.
“Nothing important, just holding out until we re-establish contact with the government I guess. Higgins might be cool about certain things, but he said he really couldn’t give out any more information other than the infected humans are not going to be a threat to us as long as we stay in the base. All the units that were sent out into the city were long since asked to pull back here though obviously not a lot made it back and there has been no contact with any of the units sent to your town.”
“Shit.” You say.
“Yeah, guess we both got really lucky. I spoke with some of the guys and a lot are still shaken up about stuff that went down in the city. It’s times like this that make you really glad to be alive.”
“Yeah, I guess we are survivors.” You say and for a moment you lie with Roger finally feeling totally safe from the horrors that are occurring outside right now. You haven’t felt this way since you left your basement.

Your moment is then broken by Roger resuming his groping and kissing on you.

“Mmm, you smell so good right now…” Roger says.
“Smell good? I haven’t had a proper shower in days! Nevermind the fact I’ve been running and sweating in the same clothes. I’m disgusting, I’d ask how you’re even getting turned on by me right now, but I probably do smell like roses compared to you.” You say.
“Well, come on let’s go use the shower together.”
“…NOW? I mean those things are open, what if someone walks in on us?”
“Nobody will. I told you, there isn’t even anyone here in this area. Besides we can make it quick.”
“Quick. Just what every girl wants to hear…(snort) don’t you think this is all a little presumptuous of you anyway? I said I liked and felt close to you, when did I say I was going to fuck you?”
“When I helped you escape.” Roger says continuing to kiss on you.
“Oh, that’s low…” you chuckle. “So is this more about me owing you something? Is that the way you want it?”
“Hey, I’ll take it.”
“Fuck it, I was tired of playing hard to get anyway. It’s been several days since I’ve even managed to pleasure myself so I’m about due. Come on let’s go hit the showers.” You say and get off the bed.

You and Roger go to the nearby shower room. The pair of you are stripping your clothes off on your way there. By the time you’ve turned on the water, the both of you are naked.

You enjoy both the force of the cleansing water hitting the front of your body as well as the force of Roger hitting your girl parts from the back. One of his hands starts to grope your breasts while his other remains gripped at your side.

Every thrust feels like a great release from the stress you’ve endured this week. You scream out in ecstasy for more and you don’t give a shit how loud you are and who might hear you. You just hope Roger’s got that military stamina to go the distance.

You don’t know how much time passes because you’re enjoying yourself so much and then you feel it.

“Oh my God! I’m almost there! Keep doing that! Harder! Faster! Oh yessss…” you exclaim and then the explosion.

Namely the nuclear bomb that explodes over the base.

Whether this seemingly insignificant military base was a legitimate target or a misalignment from hitting the city of Security (Which probably still got hit too) is irrelevant.

Who launched the nuke is irrelevant.

Why it was launched is irrelevant.

What is relevant is that you, Roger and many others with the large radius of this blast are instantly vaporized.

At least you went out with a bang.


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.


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 get revenge
If you’re going to have any hope and future of keeping this carnival together with you as leader, you’re going to have to get revenge on those rednecks. Maybe Dolores is correct in that there won’t be too many of them in fighting condition.

“Okay, okay, we’ll do something about those hicks. Just gotta get organized first…” you say before Shrimpy interrupts.
“Suzy are you serious? Haven’t you noticed all of the wounded and dead we have?”
“Yes, and that’s exactly why we’re going to hit those bastards back hard! Look Shrimpy, if this is the way the world is going to work now, we need to always stand up to bullies or else they’ll just walk all over you. Trust me, I know what the hell I’m talking about. Now you can either get with the program or hit the road.” You say.

Shrimpy is taken aback by your harsh tone. He doesn’t reply, he just nods and leaves. He doesn’t leave, so he’s willing to fall in line despite believing that this is a bad idea.

Dolores and yourself both gather those still in fighting condition and convince them that an attack is in order. You manage to convince most, but there are a few that leave. Dolores is nearly ready to blow their heads off for wanting to take some supplies with them, but not wishing to cause another potential internal firefight you allow them to leave with minimal of supplies.

Within an hour and a half everyone that is willing to come with you is loaded up and ready to go. Shrimpy, in perhaps an effort to show his dedication says he’ll come too, but you tell him to stay behind with the wounded just so there is someone that can help them in case they have to be moved immediately.

“I’m not exactly how much I’m going to be able to help in that regard. My name isn’t Lifto.” Shrimpy says.
“Well, not all of them are down for the count. I’m sure you’d be able to help a few at least.” You say.
“Suzy, you don’t need to do this, we could just leave. This attack is a suicide mission. It’s obvious from the last firefight with those good ol’ boys we can’t hit for shit.”
“Well, fortunately we’ve got some automatic weapons in that regard, more bullets, more likely to hit the targets. Hey it happens.” You say.

Sensing he isn’t going to talk you out of this, Shrimpy wishes you good luck and you’re on your way to a path of rip roarin’ revenge, though there is a part of you that would just like to run.

You lead the drive to the trailer park since you actually know where it is exactly. When you arrive, it’s hard to tell if the place is in shambles from when their leader said they were attacked or if it always looked this way.

No sooner have all your vehicles stopped, when Dolores has already gotten out of the military truck you took and started lobbing the remaining grenades at the trailer homes.

“Come on out you inbred sister fuckers!” she shouts and begins firing randomly at the rest of the homes.

“Dolores, get back in the…” you begin to say and then suddenly Dolores actions have attracted return fire.

“Over there! Fire over there!” Dolores shouts and takes cover.

At this point Dolores is giving out orders and you’re not being listened to at all. Despite Dolores’ enthusiasm for revenge it doesn’t suddenly make her a better “commander.” You at least try to remember all those times you played video games on your computer and know that wading straight forward into battle is traditionally a shit strategy so you attempt to try the classic pincer maneuver.

Unfortunately given that you’re the only one using any sort of critical thinking and nobody is actually listening to you, you’re mainly stuck by yourself, trying to pick off the hillbillies when you see them pop up. If you were actually a good shot, you might’ve actually turned this attack into a successful one.

As it stands, the trailer park crew even with the wounded they have and catching them off guard with the grenades, still outnumber you severely and STILL have better shots. They also have explosives of their own perhaps not military grade like you had, but when you’ve got a lot of half empty liquor bottles lying around and people with too much time on their hands well sometimes even the lower born get creative.

Your vehicles and your people are suddenly bombarded by several Molotov cocktails and someone even has a homemade “launcher.” The explosions are big, loud and fatal to most of your people who were still taking cover behind them. The others who weren’t have already gotten cut down by the gunfire. Dolores herself is lying dead with a bullet hole in her head and you’re suddenly hearing hillbillies whoopin’ it up and seriously worried about your physical safety.

“Whoo hoo! Somebody keep the pretty blonde one alive! We can have a good time wit her!” you hear one of them shout.
“Goddamnit Ray, stop thinkin’ with yer dick for one minute, she’s still armed ya dumb shit!” you hear Mel shout back.

Seeing as none of the vehicles you came in are usable anymore you attempt to run. You just hope you’ve got more endurance than a bunch of overweight beer swillin’ hicks. They aren’t going to be able to follow immediately by any working vehicles they might have due to the flaming scrap heap blocking the trailer park entrance created by their homemade bombs.

You MIGHT have made it, if they weren’t lead by a more pragmatic leader type. Just goes to show that you can’t judge people just by where they come from…

As soon as you make it to the road, a single shot rings out and you feel a burning sensation run through your upper back and up your spine. You then feel numb and collapse instantly. You’re paralyzed, not just from the waist down, but from the neck down. You panic and the tears start when you know this is it.

Mel arrives before the rest of his crew who are now complaining loudly about Mel shooting you.

“(Sigh) Well darlin’ you asked fer this. I get why you attacked, but that doesn’t fuckin’ mean we’re gonna sit and take it in the ass any more than you did. Just be glad, I’m puttin’ you outa yer misery rather than lettin’ the rest have their way with you.” Mel says.

You don’t reply and just close your eyes waiting to hear the final shot.