G-157 (11 page)

Chapter Twelve

John’s Town

In the beginning…

Sarah and Brenda were sleeping amid a jumble of carnival tents when the sun arose. Each slept in dreamless rest, their young minds exhausted from rising in the early hours of the morning.

The truck began to move.

Brenda let out a yelp at the sudden motion, her eyes like shinning BBs with fright. Sarah let out a hiss to shush her.

“Quiet or they’ll catch us before we even leave.”

The girl nodded, and both began to smile.

“We’re really going to become unicorn trainers,” Brenda whispered.

They looked at each other, and began to giggle. The giggles began to grow, tickling at their insides until they became great gwalluping laughter, and they had to cover their mouths with their hands to keep it in.

“We have to,” Sarah snorted between laughs. “We have to be quiet so they won’t hear.”

“Okay.”

They quieted and remained still as the trucks slowly rumbled out of John’s Town. Sarah began to nod off while Brenda could not sit still. She crossed and uncrossed her legs, and lay on her stomach just to sit back up again. She finally found a good sitting position and stared out a slit in the side of the truck, watching as the trees waved goodbye to them. A smile spread across her face.
We’re finally getting out of John’s Town
.

The truck began to slow, and came to a halt along the dirt road. She could hear men’s voices. They were low and inaudible, as though they were whispering to each other. The sound of a slamming truck door pierced the new silence.

Brenda climbed over the crumpled tent and shook her friend.

“Sarah. Sarah, wake up.”

Sarah rubbed her eyes and sat up, her knotted hair cloaking her sleepy face. “Are we there?”

“I don’t think so.”

“Why are we stopped?”

“I don’t know.”

Sarah shoved the hair away from her face, a grin spreading across her full lips. “We must be there if we stopped.”

“I don’t think so,” Brenda said, shaking her head. “We haven’t been driving long, and I don’t see any houses or buildings.”

“Of course we have to be at the next town. There’s no other reason we would be stopped otherwise.” Sarah stood up and began to climb over the tent towards the door. “Come on, let’s go look.”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

Sarah scrunched up her nose. “Don’t be such a baby. Come on.”

The girl lifted the latch and slid open the heavy door.

“Sarah, wait!”

“Come on.”

The girl slipped through the door.

Brenda sat alone. She felt cold, and a shiver ran down her spine. There was something wrong. She didn’t know what it was, or why she felt sick to her stomach with fright, but something was wrong. She sat hidden in the tent for a moment more before crawling out of the truck.

She squinted her eyes in the early morning light and looked around at the woods surrounding them. They had been on the last truck in the carnival train, and she turned to look at those ahead. In the distance she saw Sarah jumping up to peek her head in the openings of the trucks as she scanned what was inside each vehicle.

“Sarah, come back,” Brenda hissed, motioning for her friend to come towards her. Sarah shook her head, and continued to search the trucks. She had peeped inside three before climbing upon a wheel well.

“It’s in here,” she called, laughing as she stuck her head inside one of the windows.

“Sarah, get down. Let’s go back.”

“I just found the-“

The smile dropped from Sarah’s face as she looked through the window of the truck holding the unicorn. She froze for a moment, her face slack, before scrambling down from the truck. Her motions were frantic, and she lost her footing in her descent, landing hard in the dirt. Brenda’s heart felt like it had leapt in her throat in attempts to escape.

“What is it?”

Sarah began to run towards her. “It’s not real!”

Goosebumps pimpled her skin. “What?”

“The unicorn isn’t real! It’s not real!”

Sarah came barreling at her, her skinny limbs pumping hard, brown hair whipping around her face. She caught Brenda’s elbow and pulled her into a run. “It’s not real, Brenda! Run!”

Her limbs felt numb as she ran down the road, her head feeling fuzzy and sick.
It’s not real
. It felt like she were dreaming as she ran, her legs feeling heavy and slow. A man’s voice in the distance penetrated her stupor, making the world become very, very real.

“There they are!” the man’s voice shouted. She turned her head and saw four men dressed in black standing next to the trucks behind her.

Her legs shot into motion, and Brenda bolted ahead of her friend. “Faster, Sarah! Run faster!”

A loud, thunderous boom answered her. Her hands flew to her ringing ears. Sarah wasn’t by her side anymore.

She took a quick glance behind her, and saw Sarah’s body laying motionless on the road.

Another boom screamed in her ears and a cloud of dirt erupted in front of her. She sprinted faster. An aching knot formed in her shoulder and her legs burned. Another rippling
crack of thunder sent up a cloud of dust, this one right next to her foot. Brenda screamed, and darted into the woods.

***

The men near the trucks shook their heads.

“Damn it, Charlie,” one in the middle said, shaking his head. “What did you go and miss for? Now we gotta go chase her down.”

Charlie, a great, towering man nearest to the truck, shook his head. “Shut up, Rick. You didn’t get her either.”

“So?”

“So? Go get her.”

“No way.”

Charlie shook his head again. “Well, I’m not chasing after her. Get that new guy Jenkins to get her. We’ll throw this other one in the back and head in.”

“Alright.”

Rick jogged up the convoy of trucks and pounded on the window of the fifth one in line. The young man inside opened the door. “Yeah?”

“Jenkins, we got a job for you.”

“It’s not those girls we heard about on the radio, is it?”

“Yep,” Rick nodded. “Grab a bike and go get her.”

“Alright,” Jenkins nodded, and got out of the truck.

The bike engine rumbled, and sent a rooster tail of dirt and rocks out behind him as he set out for the girl. A voice in his ear was distorted and difficult to hear over the engine.

“She cut through the woods,” the voice in his ear shouted. “Headed for the park.”

Jenkins sped down the road, his heart pumping, wind stinging at his face. John’s Town came in to view between the thinning trees. He slowed as he turned onto Main, the bike puttering as he rolled towards the park.

The parked was teeming with people. Jenkins frowned at the sight of them as he listened to the voice in his ears telling him exactly where the girl was headed. His eyes scanned the area, looking for a hiding place to wait for the girl. Two boys did a double take when they saw him, and hurried over to inspect the motorcycle.

“Wow that is so cool!” the red haired boy said.

“Yeah that’s way cool! I wish I had one,” said the other.

“Yeah, then we could race them!”

Jenkins looked down at the boys, the cog wheels in his mind beginning to turn. “Would you now?”

“Spit yeah,” the redhead said. “Dude I would spend all day on one of those things.”

Jenkins nodded, and turned the bike towards the woods.

The girl was coming. She’d be in the clearing in three minutes. He had to act fast.

The bike jerked and tried to topple sideways as he plowed through the woods. He cut the engine and ditched it in a bush, running for a fallen log. The girl sprinted across the tree line and into the park before he could reach it.

“Fuck!”

He sprinted for the log, gun raised, eyes following the running girl. He took a breath, and pulled the trigger. Brenda fell to the ground.

Then the screams began. “Fuck.”

Chapter Thirteen