Freakshow

by Aline Riva

  “I'm sorry if I startled you – the door was open, I knocked... you didn't hear me. I wanted to stop by and talk to you about how you're settling in here.”

  “I'm fine,” she said, feeling tense as his pale gaze burned into her flesh, he was taking in the sight of her in her light summer dress, the sun was behind her and he saw a perfect silhouette of her body beneath it.

  “Please, sit down with me,” he gestured to the sofa and she sat down as he did too, and then she shifted over, keeping a clear gap between them. His gaze was fixed on her, the thought had struck him that she looked quite exotic, being so pretty and so unusual with her hair shaved so close to her head that it was barely noticeable.

  “What do you want?” she asked quietly.

  He studied her for a moment, then smiled.

  “I'm aware you've had some struggles. You need a quiet and stress free life. I have no intention of causing you harm, I wanted to tell you that. We all have our demons, Vicki. But after staying so long at the medical centre, it seems Cleo won't be improving any time soon. I need to find a new girl to do the rope stunt – not you -” he laughed as he saw the look of alarm on her face, “I also need to fill my free time until Cleo returns. I'm not asking for you to do anything you wouldn't want to do – I'm just inviting you to spend some time in my company. This afternoon would be perfect. Just your company, Vicki.”

  She had stiffened as she sat there, looking at him with mistrust.

  “Maybe you should wait for your girlfriend.”

  There was an icy shine about his gaze.

  “Cleo is mine and will always be mine. I would just like some company. I'd also like to tell you about possible advantages of taking a job with me – if you chose to do that. A nice, easy job that wouldn't require much effort on your part.”

  “Just tell me what you want,” she said, looking at him coldly.

  “Okay, I''ll be honest. I really like the way you look... very exotic. I'd like you to get your head completely shaved smooth, and anywhere else that needs shaving. Then I want you to come over to Cleo's caravan, where I will be waiting for you. I have needs and Cleo is injured. I would like you to fill in for her, and I want you to start today. My girlfriend is willing to please but not to the kind of extremes that you would go...We can play some very heavy master and slave games until my girlfriend recovers. Don't worry, I'll make sure Marc doesn't know what's going on!”

  She was staring at him in horror. He smiled but his eyes were cold as ice.

  “You know you want me.”

  “I want you to fuck off and leave me alone!” she said in disgust, then she stood up as she glared at him in anger, “Fuck off, Flint!”

  He got up, rage burned in his gaze but he tried and failed to mask it with a smile.

  “I was just being nice, Vicki. I've seen the way you look at me. I thought you might like to play some games, that's all. Never mind, I'll leave you to stay bored in your room. At least your boyfriend can be trusted. He's going to make a great member of my team, and I can see us having this conversation again very soon. Who knows, you may even say yes next time...”

  Then he turned away and walked out of the suite, leaving Vicki standing there alone and shaken. She waited for his footsteps to fade out, then ran to the door and locked it, then slid to the floor where she stayed, her back against the door as she watched the clock and hoped Marc would be back soon, because now she was terrified to be left alone in the hotel...

  It had taken a while for Christian to sort out the medical centre and get the place organised as he wanted it to be. They had been open almost two days now and people were queueing outside and the sign was still on the door, a sign that had been up since they had opened that stated URGENT CASES ONLY. For now, Christian was seeing all of the patients, while Greg spent his time up the corridor in the room where Cleo was resting. There was an office through another doorway, and Zodiac stayed in there during the open hours, sitting at a desk and writing and drawing on paper, mostly getting bored too – but his father had told him he was not allowed to leave because he didn't want to let him out of his sight. So Zodiac stayed bored, starting on another drawing as he looked at the clock and gave a sigh, knowing they wouldn't be heading back to the hotel until five thirty.

  In the next room, Cleo was resting in bed sitting up, her aches and pains from the fall were improving now. Her arm was bandaged because Christian had taken a look and then pointed out to Greg that he had missed a likely hairline fracture. Greg's response was to smile and say to Cleo that she definitely wouldn't be back doing the rope act for many weeks thanks to that break.

  Now as she rested and Greg sat on a chair next to her bed, as she looked at him, she smiled fondly and he smiled back. They had done a lot of talking over the past three days and he was very sure Cleo mattered to him, she had reached his heart quickly and he was glad to have her in there.

  “I'm going to miss you when I have to go back to Flint,” she said sadly.

  “I'll figure something out,” he replied softly, “I don't want you going back to that lunatic, you won't be safe. I'd rather...” he stopped, looking away, wondering if he had said too much. He barely knew her and had never even kissed her. It seemed to soon to be so honest about something he was keeping to himself.

  “You'd rather, what?” Cleo asked, looking at him intently.

  “I'd rather take you with me, back to the hotel. But I can't see a way to do that. He wouldn't stand for it. Flint won't let you go but he needs to because it's the right thing for you.”

  She started to smile. She had decided she had known enough about this man in the days they had spent together to know he wouldn't be a mistake. Greg had told her all about Stacy and how he had lost her. He had talked about Zodiac and how tough it was bringing him up on his own. He was glad she liked his son, she didn't mind that he was a virus kid. She looked at Greg with the same lingering glance he gave her. They often looked at each other saying little but understanding so much. They were right for each other, it was just the situation with Flint that was in the way...

  “I really like you a lot, Greg.”

  As she said those words his face flushed and he smiled.

  “I think you're a very lovely woman,” he told her, “And if Flint wasn't a problem...”

  “I don't care about Flint,” she replied, “You're worth the risk.”

  “You shouldn't have said that, Cleo,” he told her.

  Now she looked worried.

  “Why? Did I say something wrong?”

  He shook his head.

  “Not at all,” he told her softly, “You're worth the trouble!”

  Then he leaned closer, sliding his hand up her neck and through her long raven hair as he pulled her closer and they kissed for the first time.

  Zodiac had been peering through the gap in the door. He saw his father kiss Cleo, they stopped and talked, then kissed again. Zodiac turned away giving a sigh. He had seen his father kiss Vicki and he knew when he started kissing a lady, it would be something that he did many times in between talking, and if they had been back on the island now, he would have been sent over to Uncle Marc's or over to play with the village kids for an hour. But instead he was stuck here, and so knew he would be stuck for a while longer as their conversation went on in softly spoken voices in between more shared kisses. Zodiac was truly bored. He turned from the door and looked to the open window. A sudden idea came to him and he smiled as his translucent eyes lit up excitedly, then he ran and jumped, clearing the window and landing on the grass outside. Then the boy was up and running, heading for the road that led to the fairground.

  When Zodiac reached the fair he suddenly wished his father was with him. As he entered the gates, he felt the stares before he caught people looking – then they looked away. Despite the merry music and the turning rides and the sizzle of the cooking food that masked the stink of the zombie parts used in the side shows, he was sure he could hear whispers, they all knew he was different and he felt it
more now he was alone. He looked left and right, felt a surge of panic and bolted down the path, dashing so fast that he didn't catch the stares or hear the low voices that said freak and zombie kid, then he was past the tent and through the caravan area and running through the open field. There was large building in the distance. Curiosity go the better of him as he headed for it.

  By the time he reached the building, he was only slightly breathless. The sudden thought occurred to him that he had jumped high and landed well considering he was so young, he could jump better than any other kid of his age. And he had just realised how fast he could run, too... Maybe it wasn't so bad, being different... Then he heard a heavy door open and crept around the other side of the building, peering around a corner in time to see a masked man with a truck of meat carcasses replacing an empty container back on the truck.

  “Next stop's the out of town units!” he heard him call to the driver, then the man at the wheel said something and the guy pushed the door almost shut and went up to the cab of the truck.

  Zodiac saw his chance and darted on, he ran up a stairway and reached a platform. As he heard the door downstairs shut heavily, he was plunged into almost darkness save for small square windows set high up on the building where limited light filtered in. The sound was all around him, the undead were moaning... he could smell them and as he looked down and saw them feasting on meat carcasses, he gave a gasp. Fear gripped him at once as he wondered if he could find a way to get that door open again. They had zombies here and he was locked in with them... he had to get out...Zodiac turned sharply and slipped on the platform, giving a cry as he fell into the enclosure. He landed on his feet, crouched on the dusty ground, his eyes wide with fear as he stared at the sight of the horde feeding on the carcass remains. Then they slowly started to turn around, wondering what else had fallen into the enclosure. His wide translucent eyes looked at them as several hundred pairs of dull white, dead eyes looked back, setting their sights on him...

  Chapter 6

  While Christian was busy with patients, up the corridor in the private room Cleo and Greg's closeness had been uninterrupted for almost an hour. He was sitting beside her on the bed, embracing her as they shared another kiss, then he broke off from their shared moment and pressed his face against her shoulder as he gave a deep sigh of impatience.

  “I want to do so much more than kiss you,” he whispered, “But Zodiac's in the next room!”

  As he raised his head from her shoulder he met her gaze and her eyes shone with the same deep need to be even closer.

  “We'll just have wait and figure something out,” she told him, “Maybe there is a way... Harvey hasn't been to visit me since the night of the accident. He thinks I'm laid up for a long time. He has better things to do than come and see me.”

  “And?”

  She smiled as she spelled out her plan.

  “Maybe you could sneak me back to the hotel? He would never know!”

  He still had his arms around her as he laughed.

  “My common sense says no, but my heart and mind say yes, just like the moment when I kissed you...” he paused for a moment, feeling his heart race as he looked into her eyes, “I know you're worth the risk.”

  They kissed again, then he got up and walked to the door and glanced out, saw the waiting room was still packed and went back inside.

  “I'll go into town, find Marc and ask him to grab a car from security. We can sneak you in around the back of the hotel.”

  “I like this plan!” she said excitedly.

  “I'll just let Zodiac know what's happening,” Greg replied, then he opened up the door to the next room.

  In that moment he felt as if the whole world had sharply stopped turning, leaving him feeling jolted, aware of the stillness, even the sound of his own heart beating: His son was gone...

  “Zodiac?” he called out, checking the wide open window but seeing no sign of him. As he went back to the next room, he was fighting a building panic that was slowly rising inside him.

  “What's wrong?”Cleo asked.

  “He's gone!” Greg said in alarm, “The window was open, he must have climbed out. He got bored. This is my fault, he's five years old I never should have left him -”

  “He's a virus kid,” Cleo reminded him, “He's five in years but mentally he's much older and smarter! Stop blaming yourself, he's intelligent enough to know not to wander off!”

  The thought ran through his mind that she would make a great mother for his unusual son, but that thought went past at the speed of a runaway train, chased by all his fears and imagined situations he didn't dare to dwell on now Zodiac was missing in a town that didn't understand his kind...

  “I have to find him!”

  “Do you want me to help?”

  Greg had reached the door. He turned back quickly.

  “No, Cleo. You're supposed to be injured. Stay here!” Then he left the room, dashed off up the corridor and broke into a run as he headed for the entrance, thinking only of finding his missing boy.

  Marc had returned to the hotel. Finding Vicki on the floor had been a shock. As soon as she had unlocked the door and opened it, he had looked down at her on the floor where she sat, her face was red and her eyes were filled with tears. She was shaking and as he closed the door and asked her what happened, as she rose to her feet she gave another sob.

  “It was Flint...”

  As he felt her hands tremble in his grip, the thought came to mind that maybe Flint had raped her. The next thought that came to him was killing the bastard for doing it.

  “Did he -”

  “No,” she said, reading the look in his eyes correctly, “No, he didn't touch me...”

  Marc breathed an audible sigh of relief as he led her over to the sofa and they sat down together. She was still shaking, still tearful.

  “Tell me what happened,” he said to her, “Just take a deep breath and explain.”

  She dragged in a breath and gave a sob as the words all came tumbling out at once.

  “He wanted me for weird sex! He was trying to get me to go with him! He said Cleo was injured so he wanted my company instead, I told him to fuck off!”

  “And did he go?”

  She nodded.

  More relief surged though him as he pulled her close and held her as she wept some more and he felt his anger rising.

  “It's okay,” he said softly as he ran his hand over the back of her head, “He won't come near you again.” And she sobbed hard against his shoulder, not seeing the murderous rage that ignited in his eyes at the thought of what Flint had done. Vicki was vulnerable and he knew it, yet he had still come over here to try his luck. Marc wanted to kill him...

  At the other end of the seafront in the flat above the arcade, Emma's afternoon had gone fast, she had enjoyed the company of Alex Casper so much that when she finally got up and told him she ought to be heading back, she felt like she was doing herself no favour at all – she wanted to stay. It had been the best afternoon she had spent in a long while, simply by sharing his company she had felt almost as if normal life was back. Perhaps it was, in the only way it ever could be.

  This town was a pocket of safety and she was sure there had to be others – humans were adapting, learning to build fortresses to keep out the dead and remake as much of their old world as they could. With this feeling of normality came the hope that maybe they would be able to settle here. The place wasn't perfect, but could life ever truly be the way it used to be again? She doubted it. But she didn't doubt how much she liked Alex.

  He walked with her to the front door, then she paused as he opened it and looked back him.

  “You should come over to me next time, pay me a visit at the hotel?”

  As she smiled so did he and the look on his face was one of sheer joy.

  “I would love to do that! What about tomorrow, about six?”

  “Great,” she replied, “I'll see you then.”

  As he closed the door she turned a
nd walked away, smiling as the sea breeze blew her hair and she noticed how lovely the sea looked as the late afternoon sun shone down on it. The thought had just occurred to her that she wanted today to be tomorrow, so she could see Alex sooner. The horrors of the undead taking over had once wiped out all thoughts of anything but survival, but within the confines of this town she was starting to hope again for many things – including love - and for some reason the thought of him meeting her tomorrow evening felt very much like a date and that notion made her feel happier than she had been for a very long time. Maybe normal life was returning, maybe this was the new normal... she was sure she could get used to it.

  In the zombie storage area, all that could be heard was the sound of the undead greedily feeding. Then as the creatures had turned their heads, looking from the half eaten carcasses to the boy at the back of the room, he had frozen to the spot, hands on the ground, eyes fixed on the zombies as he stayed in the crouched position he had landed in after falling. They were looking towards him. He was still looking back. And then, they turned away and started to eat again, tearing at meat as a few lashed out at each other, keen to gnaw on raw bones that had been snatched away while they had been distracted.

  “They can't see me...” Zodiac whispered, standing up and taking a huge risk to prove to himself he was right.

  “HEY!” he yelled.

  Again the zombies stopped, a sea of undead faces looked around, some creatures stood up and turned, those at the back who were standing began to stumble towards the wall, where he had backed up from the floor and now felt trapped.