The Devil's Carnival

Consiousness

Daniele and Mina were vaguely aware of some or other commotion in the centre of the tent but a heavy veil clouded their minds. Mina was the first to stop her applauding. Something was not right and it was only just occurring to her. What made her mind clear she wasn’t sure, it was strange. She could hear a conversation, then a yelling and a loud thump. Then she heard growling and then after a while screaming. It hadn’t bothered her or even seemed out of place, but now that her mind was clearing she gathered that something probably wasn’t right. Why she thought something might not be right she really couldn’t tell, but the feeling was strong enough that she stopped to think. The longer she thought on it the more she noticed the tiny horrors running around among frustrated and feral looking acrobats. They looked like starved animals ready to cannibalise each other out of hunger. How she managed to stay so calm and collected she would never know but she was grateful for it on the one hand. The first thing she thought to do was stay completely still and not to make a sound. Then, just to see if anyone else had come to their senses, she looked over the faces next to her. Almost all looked hypnotised with sheepish expressions and apparently no free will. It was a terrifying prospect. Fortunately, or so she thought for about a second, Danielle looked to be snapping out of it as well but Allen was missing. What might have become of him was an uncomfortable prospect and not something either the women wanted to deal with right at that moment. Clearly they had bigger worries. The more conscious the two of them got the more they looked to each other with one simple question, what the hell do they do now? They weren’t given much time to come up with a plan. The woman who had been swinging so gracefully from her silk thread just moments ago now looked wild and animalistic. She didn’t sprout horns or massive fangs, she just looked to be possessed. Danielle unable to stand it any longer reached over and slapped Bob through the face. He was somewhere between confused and shocked. In his head it reminded him of when he had told his mother about Klara, she had a similar reaction. He was about to scold Danielle for crossing such a line but the growling from down below made him forget all about it. His shocked and angered expression soon changed to one of absolute terror. It the back of his mind there was an ‘I told you so’ brewing but he elected not to say it, for obvious reasons. Seeing how well it worked Mina reached over and slapped Brian with as little force as she could. For him it reminded him of Amanda and he came to as well. The acrobats in the centre of the tent suddenly looked up, attracted by the commotion. The lot of them froze, except for Tom and Michael who still cheered and laughed like idiots. No one else even noticed that Allen was missing. They were too occupied with praying for a way to save their skins, something that might just be literal. Falling down on their hands and hissing just loud enough to make their blood run cold Bob and his passengers realised with soul crushing consequence that something had to be done now. The acrobats ran in their direction like spiders to a fly caught in their web. They scurried up the pavilion three rows at a time and by the time any of them could move the crazed pair were already on top of them. It was a horrifying prospect. Not just knowing that they were going to die but realising it was going to be by the hands of two feral humans who may not be human at all and it might just be more painful that their scrambled minds could conjure up. Time for thinking was up and as the woman leapt into the air and descended on where they sat Bob grabbed Michael by the shirt before he and Danielle leapt to the one side. Mina and Brian followed example but Mina wasn’t strong enough to get Tom out of the way in time. She pulled him to one side but the woman landed right on his chest. By the time he came to his senses it was already too late. The woman had already sunk her teeth into his neck and not far behind her came the man, who looked even worse. While his partner was tearing out poor Tom’s throat he grabbed an arm and dug in, again literally. Mina realised too late she should have started running already. As they gorged themselves Tom’s blood sprayed in her direction and left several red lined on her clothing and the side of her face. Once the two of them got a mouth full of blood and flesh they seemed to calm down. They had a look on their face that looked like they hadn’t seen any kind of food in several lifetimes. Bob and his party were already running even if they didn’t have the slightest idea where but Mina was unable to move. She stared at the cannibalistic display with terrified eyes. She felt sick and scared and she wondered how she ever thought this was a good idea. With growing anxiety she watched as the two growled at each other and fought over the remains they had been sharing. Brian was far faster on his feet and more coherent. He grabbed Mina by the arm and tired to pull her in the other direction but she couldn’t move. “Come on, we need to go!” When he still couldn’t get through to her he wrapped an arm around her waist and hoisted her up on her feet. As he pulled her away her mind cleared up just enough for her to know she needed to run and it had to happen now.