Carnival World Boxed Set (Episodes 1-3) (8 page)

“The pickings here are pretty slim.” Ryan gestured with the snack cake. “We’d have to leave here pretty soon or starve.”

“Okay, but why Cedar Falls? Why not Warren?” asked Justin.

“What? Like Sam said? You really believe that talk about the Barker?”

“Anything’s possible, right?” said Justin.

And Maddie noticed Ryan had no answer for that.

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D
arien was on the other side, over the fence, with a torch in his hand. He peered out into the night and muttered. Nicole tried to relax on the table nearby. Her shins still stung, but that was from the antiseptic gel. She was surprised at how calm she was. She was still close to completely losing it, but for now she could keep it together.

There was something about her conversation with Sam that comforted her. She didn’t believe him about the Barker and everything. But she didn’t disbelieve him, either. It was nice to think that maybe somebody was looking out for them. But a carnival barker?

Still, Nicole told herself she’d soon be back in her nice clean house with her soft bed. She wouldn’t have to put up with a hard picnic table that was so covered in grime there was no sense in wiping it down.

As she tried to get comfortable, Darien’s muttering grated on her raw nerves. Finally she asked him, “Who are you talking to?”

“Nothing. No one.”

Nicole could tell he wasn’t being honest. Normally she let it slide because she didn’t want to be a shrew. But now was not the day to hold back.

“Don’t you go weird on me. I need one person in this group who is normal or I’m going to lose it.”

Darien went back to standing guard. After a few seconds he turned back to Nicole and said, “I lost.”

“What are you talking about?”

“I lost. Mulvaney won. He was right.”

“Yeah, well, he’s a freak and this place is freak central. Anyway, being wrong is not losing.”

“Yes it is!” Darien hissed. His intensity alarmed Nicole.

“So if you flunk a test in chemistry, you lose?”

“Yes! If you accept losing, you become a loser. The only way to be a winner is to reject losing,” said Darien.

Nicole shook her head. Jesus. Maybe Darien was losing it as well. Why couldn’t there be just one person in their group who was level headed?

She glanced over at Sam and Summer huddled together on one of the other benches. Was it crazy to think that maybe Sam was the answer to all their problems?

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S
trewn before Summer and Sam was an assortment of candy. “You said you wanted cotton candy for dinner.”

Sam hugged the football tighter to his stomach. “No I didn’t.”

“You sure? I think I remember you saying something along those lines.”

“I’m not a baby.”

“No. Of course you’re not, Sam. So what do you want?”

“Mom’s pot roast.”

“Maybe a little later.”

Summer rummaged through the sweets. “Snack cakes. Those will give you a sore tummy. Chocolate bars are okay. We’ll have one of those for dessert. Aha! Popcorn balls. Nutritious. Sort of.”

She found one for Sam and unwrapped one for herself. She smelled it. “Smells okay. I always said carnival food could survive a nuclear winter.”

They chowed down on their popcorn.

“Are we going to be all right?” asked Sam.

“Sure we are, buddy. Don’t worry. I won’t let anything happen to you.”

“Do you think Mom’s dead?”

“What? No. I’m sure Mom’s just fine. She’s just not here,” said Summer.

“Then where is she? Where is anybody? Are we the only people alive in this world?”

“I don’t know. We’re someplace else. Someplace different, like Ryan said. I don’t know how we got here, but...” She ran a hand over his head. He was so little. It had nearly destroyed her when she’d seen the mutated dog hunting him. If he had slipped... Her gut clenched at that. She couldn’t think about it anymore. Not if she wanted to actually get some sleep.

“Close your eyes and try to get some sleep. I’m sure everything will be different in the morning.”

Sam closed his eyes. “But what if it isn’t?”

She didn’t respond. She had no idea what to say to him, so she just kept brushing his hair and hoping she didn’t have to say a thing.

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B
eyond the pavilion, in the darkness of the surrounding trees, the Barker watched the children as they settled in for the long night. The first step had been taken. He’d done what he was tasked to do by speaking with The Fortune Teller. Now the rest was up to the boy.

As he watched, the Barker twirled his cane around and around and around.

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P
lagued by bad dreams, Summer woke just as the sun pierced the cloying darkness. She yawned and stretched, mindful not to disturb Sam who was still, thankfully, sleeping beside her.

As carefully as she could, she climbed down from the picnic table where she and her brother had spent the night. It had been as comfortable as a block of wood, but Summer had still managed to get a decent sleep. The previous day was exhausting. Sam had snuggled in against her, and they both drifted off fairly quickly.

Fighting demonic dog creatures wears you out
, she thought. She instantly felt bad making a joke about it. Sam had almost been hurt, or worse. If she was just a few seconds late...

Summer took some deep breaths to calm herself. She couldn’t afford to freak out. Not first thing in the morning. She looked back at the picnic table. Sam was still lying there, off in dreamland. She hoped they were good dreams despite the madness they’d been plunged into.

She was glad that Sam fell asleep as quickly as she did. She didn’t like listening to him going on and on about The Barker and the game he played to win the compass. It bothered her that he wouldn’t just admit he found it and had instead made up some elaborate story. It wasn’t like him though to do that. Sam had always been an honest kid.

She walked out of the pavilion and into the daylight. The sun remained hidden behind a vast stretch of clouds. She stretched again, working out all the kinks, while she looked around. No one else seemed to be up. The smoke from their two fires hung in the air. Darien was there, sitting on the bench and poking at the ground with a stick. He smiled when he saw her.

Was it bad form that her stomach did a little flip at the sight of his beaming grin?

“Am I the first up?” she asked.

He nodded. “Looks like it. Unless Ryan is lurking around. He said he was going to sleep when I took over the shift about three hours ago, but who knows with him.”

She gave him a shy smile. “Yeah, he’s kinda weird.”

“Kinda?”

“But he is like smarter than all of us put together — well I don’t know about Justin and Maddie — but the rest of us for sure. So, I kinda think maybe he knows more about this stuff than we do.”

He rubbed a hand over his face and sighed. “Yeah, I suppose.” He tossed the stick away. “Doesn’t mean I have to like him.”

“I don’t like him either, but I’ll at least listen to him.”

“Yeah, you’re right.” He smiled at her again. “See, you’re pretty smart yourself.”

She blushed. She couldn’t help it. Embarrassed, she looked down at the ground and at her sandal-clad feet. He probably thought she was some sort of loser now. She kicked at a stone on the ground in frustration but it didn’t move and she ended up stubbing her big toe instead.

“Ow,” she yelped.

Darien jumped up and was at her side in seconds. “Are you okay?” He looked down at her foot, then up to her face.

“I stubbed my stupid toe.” God, she felt so dumb, so silly; like a weak little girl.

“Here, you should sit down.” He touched her then, right on the arm, and she felt the fire ignite in her belly. The way her stomach lurched was like she was on a roller coaster. Going up and down. Up and down.

Darien led her over to the bench and helped her sit. He knelt next to her and studied her injured foot. His hand brushed against her calf and she nearly jumped out of her skin. She couldn’t help the little jerk in her body though.

She brushed it all off with a nervous laugh. “I’m fine. There’s no blood.”

“Maybe I should, ah, feel it to see if it’s broken.” He too gave a little nervous laugh. “I’ve seen lots of broken bones out on the field and in the locker room.”

She gave a non-committal shrug and hoped like hell that her face wasn’t red. She knew it was just her foot he was going to touch, but it might as well have been connected to the rest of her anatomy, what with the way her belly and lower parts were reeling.

“What are you doing?”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The little bitch!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Nicole tried to explain but her mother cut her off.

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

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

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

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

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

But they weren’t here.

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

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

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

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