Sue shook her head. “That's sick.”
Catherine nodded and softly said, “Yeah.” Catherine started getting to her feet and rolled her shoulders as she continued, “The little girl shot her parents while they were sleeping one night. They wanted to plead self-defense due to the abuse and I was geared up and ready for it. I wanted that case so bad.”
Sue looked up at Catherine. “What happened?”
Catherine looked down at Sue.“My firm said there wasn't enough proof to back the girl’s story and they didn't want to risk taking on a losing case.” She looked down at the ground and shook her head. “I had to tell that little girl, that after all she had been through, I couldn't help her. She cried and screamed ‘Please Mrs. Briggs, please’ but there wasn't anything I could do.” Catherine’s fingers tightened around the handle of the machete and she softly said, “That's the worse thing I’ve ever done.”
Sue sat there staring up at Catherine. She stood up and ran her blood stained hands down her shorts.
“I let my friend drive us home from a party. I was drunk, but she was worse, and I should have called someone, or just told her no, but I just laughed and nodded, thinking everything would be fine.” Sue started walking towards the shop doors of the gas station. “We hit a tree just three miles from home. I woke up in the hospital with a broken collarbone but she didn't make it.” Looking over her shoulder at Catherine Sue said, “I don't drink, haven't for two years now.” She pulled open the shop doors. “I’ll turn the pumps on and grab some food.”
Sue came out a few minutes later with a bag of water and another bag of junk food. “This place didn't have much, but we can double back with the van-” Sue stopped as she saw Catherine staring at the road. She walked up next to Catherine and looked at her. “What's up?” she asked.
Catherine pointed and said “Something's coming.”
Sue stared down the road as a white van was quickly speeding into view. “Maybe they can give us a ride to my van, then we can gas it up and-”
Catherine started running back towards the gas station, Sue stood there for a moment then quickly followed behind her. Catherine got on the floor picking up the loose shotgun shells.
“What are you doing?” Sue asked.
Catherine didn't even look up at Sue, she just continued to toss things into the bag. “The fuck you think I’m doing? Getting our shit together and getting out of here.”
Sue looked over at the road once again and then back at Catherine,“I know you haven't talked to a lot of people, but don't you think you're overreacting?”
Catherine looked up at Sue but before she could answer and tell her how stupid she sounded, the van came to a stop.
Catherine slowly got up from her knees and stood side by side with Sue as the driver of the van let down his window, old country music started blasting from inside the van as a young man in a black baseball cap poked his head out with a smile.
“Y’all got any gas?” the young man asked.
Sue’s eyes widened as she got a full view of the guy. She smiled and whispered, “He’s cute.”
Catherine started to turn around slowly towards the shotgun on the floor as she whispered back, “Well cutie pie is about to get a mouth full of shotgun.”
Catherine’s hand went towards the handle of the shotgun and Sue grabbed it, “You can’t go around shooting people.” Sue whispered as the man took in the bloodbath that was once the gas station parking lot.
“Goddamn, did y’all do this?” the man said.
Sue pointed her finger at Catherine. “No, Kill Bill over here did all this,” she said softly and turned on her heels towards the van. “It’s gonna be okay,” she said to Catherine.
Catherine stood still and closed her eyes as she listened to Sue walking towards the van, she whispered to herself “I should have shot your ass.”
Sue smiled as she placed her hands on the lowered window of the van, her fingertips resting along the cold glass. “Sweet baby Jesus, he has AC!” Sue said.
The guy laughed and rolled down the rest of his window slowly, watching Sue’s fingers follow the glass. “That I do, y’all need a lift somewhere?” he asked.
Sue nodded and Catherine sighed as she turned and started walking towards the van.
“We’re good.” Catherine said.
Sue rolled her eyes. “Sorry, my friend was raised by wolves. We’re trying to make it back to the highway.”
“Well, if you girls want, I can take y’all to the highway, it’s no problem,” the man said with a smile, then he leaned out the window closer to Sue. “It’s up to you,” he said softly.
Sue smiled turning to looking at Catherine, who shook her head and said, “Your mother never told you not to get in the van with the creepy guy, who’s giving out candy?” Sue’s eyebrows went up and Catherine rolled her eyes pointing at the van, “Creepy van.” She looked over at the driver and pointed, “Candyman!”
The young man stared at Catherine and said, “You know I can hear you right.”
Catherine looked over at him and said, “No offense.”
The man put his hand up and smiled, “None taken, listen I’m heading south if you want, I can take you to the highway and you never have to see me again.”
Sue kept her eyes on Catherine “You wanna see your family right?” Catherine bite down on her lip and slowly started walking towards the van, Sue put her hand on Catherine’s shoulder and said, “It's gonna be okay, come on.”
Sue slid open the van door and Catherine turned around.
“Let me just get our..”
“Catherine!” Sue screamed.
Before Catherine could turn around, she felt a quick blow to the back of her head and she smacked into the ground.
“MOMMY? MOMMY?” Catherine started turning her head slowly, she could feel a sharp pain pulsating from the back of her head to the front.
“Jordan?” She let the name come out weak and soft.
“Mommy? You got to wake up, you got to wake up.” Catherine’s eyes shot open only to see the tan darkness of a sack over her head. There was a metal taste in Catherine’s mouth, she rolled her tongue around till she felt the sting of her busted lip. She wanted to kill Sue.
After she broke them free and got back on the right path to finding her family, Catherine was sure she was going to kill Sue, or at the very least, break a bone or two.
She could make out a small bit of light from the moon pushing through the mesh of the tan sack. Hanging by her arms, Catherine slowly swung back and forth in the cool night air. She turned her head to the left and then the right as she whispered, “Sue?”
It was a few moments before Sue said softly, “Catherine?”
Catherine closed her eyes as Sue started to speak again. “Don’t worry everything’s going to be-”
Catherine screamed, “If you say everything's gonna be okay one more fucking time! I swear I’ll rip what’s left of your brain out!”
They hung there by their ropes, slowly swinging in the night air, taking in the stomach turning scent of the room, it was a mix of rotten meat and shit. It was so strong it filled Catherine’s mouth, so much so she could taste it. She dropped her head down and closed her eyes.
“Mama’s coming,” she said softly to herself, she rolled her ankle slowly. “Mama’s coming!”
CHAPTER 4
Swinging back and forth in that still summer night, Catherine and Sue resembled old southern wind chimes, each equipped with their own unique sounds that seemed to echo through the night.
"I'm sorry," Sue would say.
"Drop dead," Catherine would quickly reply.
A muffled sigh was heard from under Sue’s dirty tan sack, Sue softly let out words that she was fighting to believe herself. "This could have happened to anyone."
Catherine laughed and then started to wildly kick her legs out, cutting through the air as she screamed, "But it didn't, did it Sue!"
Sue felt a brush of wind rush past her as Catherine feet c
ontinued to find a target of any kind. Catherine’s legs slowly stopped swinging.
Sue said again, “I’m sorry Catherine.”
They hung there going back and forth with their words till they heard a loud sigh that made the air stand still.
Catherine took a deep swallow and closed her eyes as she listened for the sound again. Part of her wanted it to be that creepy son of a bitch from the van, she wanted to cave in that pretty face of his. Yet, all anger aside, Catherine was in no place to fight anyone and she knew that.
She didn’t want to face them tied up and helpless, she had no idea what they had in store for her and Sue but Catherine knew it wasn’t good. There were stories of people, losing their minds after the outbreak and doing wicked, wicked things to other survivors. Catherine didn't believe in those stories, not because she didn't think people were capable of doing wicked things, no that wasn't the case. Catherine didn't believe anyone was going crazy, they were just showing their true colors. People are wicked, deep down inside, that's what Catherine was starting to learn.
A soft mocking voice followed the sigh with, "Yap, yap, yap, yap! Don't you two ever shut up?"
Catherine's head spun to the left then to the right causing her sack to swing wildly. "Who said that?" she asked. Sue's head popped up and she started kicking her feet in the air, as if trying to run even with the ground 3 feet below her.
"Who's there? Let us down, please!" Sue screamed out into the darkness of her sack.
The unknown voice let out a laugh then a whole new voice joined them in the darkness, it was colder than the first.
“Faith, why did you start talking to them? Now they'll never shut up," the second voice said.
Faith groaned and pulled at her ropes, a massive creak was heard through the darkness as her ropes rubbed along the wood beam that held them. "I couldn't take it any more!" She yelled out.
Catherine was fighting to turn her hanging body towards the female voices that were stealing attention away from the darkness. She screamed, the burlap sack over her head caused the shouts to come off a bit muffled "I don't know who you two bitches are, but let us down now!"
Faith’s mocking laughter started once again, it was like a child who was one bad word away from a timeout or an ass kicking in this case. Faith’s laughter started to fill Catherine’s head, she didn’t know who these two women were but she already hated them, just their tones were enough to set her off.
Catherine closed her eyes and let out a scream, "Let us down now!" Just as her words hit the air, a bright light filled the room and broke through the darkness of their sacks. Catherine went still as her body slowly started to turn towards the light, she could hear from the left of her sack Faith say “Here we go with this shit again”
The other female voice shouted out, “All I wanna do is fucking sleep!”
“Ladies and Gentlemen!” a familiar voice commanded the room now and a soft melody started to play in the background.
The song was slow at first, then it started to pick up faster. The melody started getting clearer and clearer as it played. Then the song hit a switch in Sue’s mind and pulled her back to a dark moment in her life. A moment when she was 6 years old, lost, crying, and surrounded by clowns. It was just a bad day at the circus, one that should have been forgotten long after it was done, but everyone holds onto one fear or another. Sue listened to the music and was reminded of the dirty whiskey smelling clown that leaned over and parted his red lips as he said ‘You lost little girl?’ Sue’s heart started pounding in her chest as the familiar voice sounded off once again.
“Boys and Girls! We would like to welcome you to the grandest show on Planet Dead!”
Catherine heard a deep cackling coming from right in front of her, and then with a quick yank she was ripped from the dim light of her sack and pulled into the bright spotlight of what seemed to be a circus tent.
Catherine was eye to eye with the pretty boy from the van, but now his good looks were buried under white makeup, a dirty red wig that hung past his cartoonish red lips. The pretty boy clown was fixated on Catherine.
He leaned in close and pushed up the brim of his top hat that sat atop the dirty red mess of hair, and said, “Welcome to The Rhodes Brothers Big Top Family Circus!” The Clown’s voice echoed throughout the night as he threw his arms back into the air to scream out over the music. “I am your Ringmaster and tonight we have for you a show sure to satisfy us all!”
The Ringmaster smiled and licked his painted lips. His hand went up to block out the bright light. “Cut the fucking light,” he said.
The Ringmaster stood there in a dirty old black tuxedo and he pulled out a red handkerchief and patted the sweat of his face, pulling a bit of white off with every dab.
“The heat’s making my makeup run,” he said.
The lights went out and Catherine closed her eyes, she shook her head for a moment then opened them to see small orange spots take over her vision.
“Oh My God!” Sue screamed as her sack was pulled from her head and her eyes filled with images of clowns and blood.
Catherine’s eyes popped open and finally she could see what was creating the smell of shit and rotting meat in the room. Her eyes went passed the large spot light that stood in front of them and landed on the metal bleachers that normally housed an eager crowd of families and children who set aside an evening to see the magic of the circus.
That spot was no longer filled with smiling faces, instead there was blood, lots of blood and pale skinned, gray eyed zombies staring back at her. One in the center went to leap forward with his bloodstained yellow teeth snapping, but he shot back into his seat when one of the clowns shoved a cattle prod into the zombie’s chest. The spark was bright and loud and the smell of burnt meat started to crawl into Catherine’s nose. Catherine’s eyes scanned over them and she could see they were all chained together and locked to their seats.
“What the hell is this?” Catherine’s words slowly fell from her lips and her head turned to see Sue’s eyes fixed on the clown that were poking and prodding the trapped zombies.
The man was massive, the muscles that made up his shoulders were bulging through his bright red and yellow clown suit. The cattle prod wasn't even needed with the amount of force he used to push the zombies into their seats.
He had a bright purple wig and a cigar was tightly held between his teeth as Sue heard him growl “Sit down you little shits or I’ll cancel dinner time!”
There was no other sound in the tent other than the sparks of the prod and the ear splitting, rapidly repeating tone of circus music. The Ringmaster slowly started walking towards the middle of the circus tent, his black boots kicked up dust as he did a little dance and twirled his cane between his fingers. The clown spun and then came to a stop and pushed up his top hat with the handle of his cane.
The large painted smile grew on his face as his eyes came upon the female bodies hanging by their arms, hoisted in the air like some kind of backwoods deer rack. Swinging slowly, back and forth, while the Ringmaster started walking past them, pulling off the remaining two sacks.
The pale white makeup, and bloodshot eyes of the Ringmaster locked onto Sue, she shook her head and closed her eyes tightly as the clown started coming closer to her, his hand shot out and grabbed a hold of Sue’s face tightly, causing her to let out a scream.
The world had gone to hell, monsters were eating people, life as Sue knew it was over but still in that moment her biggest fear was staring her in the face with a twisted, menacing smile.
“No, No, No!” Sue screamed out.
The Ringmaster let out a laugh as he looked over his shoulder at the cattle prodding Clown. “Happy!” The Ringmaster shouted and the cattle prod slowly lowered to the clown’s side.
Happy turned to face the hanging women, Catherine could see the whites of his knuckles as his fingers tightened around the handle of the prod. He pulled the cigar from his lips and tossed it back into the pack of zombies. The orange ambe
r exploded like a firework as it smacked into a female zombies face. The zombie’s head didn't turn. It didn't even seem to blink. It just stared as Happy continued towards the women.
Happy started getting larger with every step he took. Broad shoulders were connected to massive arms that seemed to be rupturing the tight bloody clown suit. Happy stood in front of Catherine staring at her. He was a juggernaut of a man and Catherine’s heart started to race as she saw Happy’s attention leaped from her onto Sue.
The Ringmaster released Sue’s face and placed his hand on Happy’s large shoulders before asking, “You see that Happy? It looks like we have a little coulrophobe here!” The Ringmaster smiled at Sue, before he rested his head on Happy’s shoulder. “It’s just down right disgusting the way people treat us clowns isn’t it Happy?”
Happy just stood there, with both hands on the cattle prod, he started wringing his fingers tighter and tighter around the handle. The Ringmaster turned his eyes towards the rest of the women.
“How many of you ladies are dirty little clown haters like your friend here? Huh? How many of you little whores got a problem with clowns?” The Ringmaster screamed out.
He gazed over the four faces that hung before him, then his red paint cracked as he started to smile, “Well no matter, we’ll fish you out one by one. Happy here can smell a dirty little coulrophobe a mile away. They stink of fear, hate, and, and!” The Ringmaster started snapping his finger trying to make the word appear in his mind.
Planet Dead (Book 1): Bloodthirsty Page 5
