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The dank smell of death permeated the air in the big top. Corpses and circus performer zombies were everywhere wailing and
moaning as if some horrible pain came with being dead.
The Ringmaster stood in the center ring relishing the carnage he saw all around him. It was a mixture of old bony zombies
and new bloody zombies as well as zombie animals lumbering around intermingled with the other living dead. It was like there
was no separation between human and animal as they had all been reduced to cannibalistic flesh craving savages.
The three ring circus was filled with every zombie that had been converted up to this point, as if the Ringmaster had assembled
them together in his own personal army of the dead. The three rings were separated into groups of zombies. In one group were
Master Pong and the Siamese twins, still gnawing on left over bits of the fat lady.
In another group were the organ grinder and the puppeteer zombie. The organ grinder worse for wear after his scuffle with
the puppeteer, but he was still mobile and able to get around. There was Boris and Dexter his demented rotting dummy along
with Freckles the decaying clown, who was a severed arm behind him, whose hand was still grasping the strong of a floating
helium balloon.
Pei Chee and a much mangled Carson were meandering around as if waiting for some direction or call to battle from the Ringmaster.
In addition there was an army of generic circus performer zombies, poor unsuspecting circus folk who had fallen victim to
the blood-thirsty hoard that rose from the grave.
Some still attempting to perform; clown zombies still juggling severed heads and body parts a the magician zombie shoving
swords into a large wicker basket that was oozing with blood. In each group there were zombies eating flesh all around. A
horrific flesh-fest of the dead, a spectacle the likes of which no human eye had ever seen and lived to tell their tale…
or ever would. Still in the center ring the Ringmaster, who is holding a severed head, ripped the tongue out and threw it
to the zombie Walrus Boy, who caught it and began eating it as if it were some delectable Scooby snack. Gazing upon his handiwork,
the Ringmaster began laughing a hideous inhuman laugh.
********
Back in the darkened tent where the magician’s cupboard sat, he sound of a creaking door could be heard. Everything
seemed to be quiet outside and the puppeteer zombie had long since stopped banging on the cupboard door.
As the gap in the door widened a feathered head adorned with bright colored ostrich and pheasant feathers pocked out.
“I think the coast is clear you guys.” Randy’s plan had been put into effect.
The group slowly emerged from the wardrobe wearing the glitzy, feathery show-girl costumes that were used by the trapeze girls
during the circus finale parade. Henrick and Simon had squeezed into the gaudy costumes and looked quite ridiculous but Randy
somehow seemed to wear his with style. ”What part of inconspicuous did you not understand?” Simon said in a
groaning whisper.
“If you tell anyone I dressed like this, I'll break your skull” Henrick’s “Terminator” demeanor
didn’t go well with the colorful frilly costume, but he meant every word. Crushing Randy would have probably made his
day at this point. ”Oh stop bitching you muscle head…” Randy clicked his tongue, “some day you'll
look back at this and tell your grandkids how FEATHERS AND FRINGE saved your life!”
”Yeah, right… that’ll be the day.” Henrick tugged at his licra covered crotch.
“Potatoes too big for the sack… huh Henrick baby?” Randy brushed his nose with a feather and walked past
him.
”Shut up guys… the goal is to NOT attract attention.” Steffi slowly squeezed out of the door behind them.
”Randy, if this works… I'll kiss you.” Smitty said as he too tugged at his ill fitting costume. “It
rides up my butt.”
”Sorry… but you're not my type dear.” Randy rolled his eyes. “And THAT was way too much information.”
As they made their way out into the tent, they noticed that the organ grinder was also gone, leaving the path ahead looking
clear and safe with the acceptation of a few dead bodies and severed heads still scattered around. The coast seemed to be
clear as it was going to get so they slowly began to make their way toward the big top tent.
As they crept along, one of the bodies that had been lying motionless on the floor in a pool of blood began to rise. Henrick
quickly hit it with a powerful punch that came down into the middle of its head, smashing it flat. A spray of blood and brain
matter stained his brightly colored spandex but he didn’t seem to care.
“Ok well so much for the coast being clear.” Randy whispered.
In need of some weapons, Steffi had the presence of mind to grab a table leg while Smitty grabbed a metal rod from the broken
divider that was lying on the ground.
“Don’t worry girls, I’ll protect you.” He put his arms around the twins and gave a little squeeze.
Completely snapped out of his previous funk, Buggy grabbed a wooden bowling pin from a box of props lying nearby. He gave
his open palm a few beats with the pin to make sure it was hard enough and they make their way along.
Suddenly as they passed through the darkest part of the tent, a charred corpse came out of nowhere and grabbed Mel Kandie,
yanking her out of Smitty’s embrace. Smitty tried to help her but the zombie was much too strong. The others saw what
was happening, as Smitty fought off the zombie, who had a death grip on Mel and they turned to help. The very moment they
go to her, Smitty took the metal rod and slammed it into the zombie's face, impaling it through the eye socket and pinning
it to the canvas tent.
“That’ll teach you to mess with my employees!” Smitty pulled the pole out of the zombie’s eye socket,
letting it collapse to the ground.
“Wow, I’ve never see that side of you.” Buggy said.
“Well that’s cause you’re always looking at my knee caps.” Buggy and Smitty laughed and gave each
other a high five. The atmosphere became a tad bit more relaxed for a few minutes, but the reality of pending danger around
every corner was far from gone.
No sooner had Steffi helped Mel to her feet and began helping brush her off, when three more blood sucking zombies came through
a nearby opening in the tent. One was the decrepit midget zombie clown, Jake Box, from the 1946 circus, as well as another
skeletal and emaciated roustabout zombie from the old circus, but the third zombie was none other than Master Pong, who was
a much fresher and stronger zombie than the other two.
Simon the roustabout quickly did a spinning “kick-boxing” kick and took off the midget zombie's head, sending
it flying across the room, where it bounced off the canvas wall on the far side of the tent. Randy could almost swear he heard
it grunt when it hit the wall.
“Take this, you decaying bastard.” Simon yelled in his very east end of London accent.
He turned and punched the other emaciated zombie square in the chest with rib busting force. He hit the rotting corpse so
hard that his fist punched right through the rib-cage impaling his arm on the broken ribs in such a way that he could not
pull his arm back out without the broken ribs ripping into his flesh. Sort of like a fish trap where the fish can go in but
they can’t come back out.
Simon whaled in pain and struggled to free himself, but it was no use without completely filleting the tendons and muscle
from his forearm. After punching Master Pong square in the face, knocking him back a few paces, Henrick stepped in to help
Simon but instantly had the very quick Master Pong on his back again. Before Henrick can dispatch him once more, four more
come out of nowhere and joined the attack. ”Go… get out of here.” Simon waved the others away so they
would get the hell out.
“No, we'll help you.” Buggy yelled.
“Buggy I said get the hell out of here. we will hold them off so you can escape… just promise me one thing.”
“Anything, Simon… anything!” Buggy held back tears.
“Don’t tell my Granny I died in a bloody dress!” Argh! He punched the zombie repeatedly in the face, pulverizing
its face.
“You have my word… you son of a bitch!” Buggy wiped a tear on his sleeve as Smitty grabbed him.
“We can’t just leave them here.” Smitty made a move toward them when suddenly more zombies came out of the
tent behind Simon and Henrick, making Smitty's help futile.
“Goddamit Smitty…get the hell out of here and save yourselves.” Henrick and Simon held back the horde of
zombies allowing the others to escape in the direction of the big top tent.
As the others fled the scene they could hear Henrick and Simon overwhelmed and killed in the tent behind them. The sounds
were horrifying as the zombies overcame the two strong men and ripped into them devouring their flesh like Sunday afternoon
pot luck.
Smitty and Buggy had the presence of mind to pull down two tent poles behind them collapsing the end of the tent they had
come through, slowing down the zombies and forcing them to have to rip through the sturdy canvas to get through that end.
They finally made their way to the split tent door that led to the big top and now it was a clear shot through the big top
tent, across the parking lot and into the woods where they would have a much better chance of making their way safely to town.
“Do you think there are any of those “things” in the big top, Smitty?” Kara Kandie was holding tightly
to his arm.
“Don’t worry babe, if there are, we’ll just bust our way through and get you girls the hell out of here.”
Smitty always looked at the silver lining even if in his heart he had no idea if they would make it out alive.
“Yeah girls,” Buggy added. “I may be little but I can pack one hell of a punch, so you just stick with me.
We’ll make it out of here as long as we keep quiet and don’t lose our heads.”
“Oh what a choice of words….”Randy said to Steffi under his breath. “I’ve certainly seen my
share of heads lying around.
“Shhhh!” Buggy shushed Randy and Steffi and motioned for them to follow him to the big top tent. There was no
sign of movement that they could see through the curtain and it looked safe, but the actual opening into the tent was a good
twenty feet away and as they had seen already anything could happen.
Bowling pin in hand, Buggy was leading them, inching their way along when they were suddenly confronted by Boris the ventriloquist
zombie and his creepy little dummy on the end of his rotting charred arm. It was like the trio of death because Boris had
Giggles the emaciated but somewhat in tact female zombie clown, who was still sexy in a disturbing sort of way and Freckles
the completely rotting maggot covered zombie clown. They were both part of the Ringmaster family or risen corpses from the
past.
Suddenly feeling like he was losing his mind, Smitty yelled at the zombies in utter frustration.
“I've had just about enough of this shit.” Smitty threw off his sequined tail coat and rolled up his sleeves.
“What the hell do you God Dam…Mother Fucking Circus Freaks want from us anyway? What did we ever do to you?”
Slowly and methodically, as if completely understanding the question, the ventriloquist Boris, turned and looked at his dummy
and moaned. His lower jaw was completely missing and his tongue was draping from his open throat like a shriveled up tie made
of beef jerky. It was like there was a moment of recognition between him and the melted, charred dummy. Suddenly the dummy’s
eyes turned back toward them and then his head followed and he looked square at Smitty spoke in a squeaky demented yet completely
audible voice.
”We only want to entertain you…. Just before we de-brain you! Ah ha ha ha ha…” The Dummy laughed with
a terrible maniacal laugh that made the girls squint and turn away.
”Oh yeah, little wooden pecker…ENTERTAIN THIS!” With that, Buggy grabbed a flask out of his coat pocket
and took a quick swig. Then with lightning speed he flipped out his Zippo lighter and lit it in front of him. With a deep
nasal breath, he then spat the flammable liquid across the six inch high lighter flame and sent an enormous flame across the
tent, instantly lighting up Dexter like a road flare. Boris screamed and whaled as he watches his little wooden buddy go up
in flames, but it was just enough to distract the zombies so the others could make their move.
Smitty and Randy attacked the two zombie clowns, doing what they can to fight them to the ground and clear the doorway, when
suddenly there was a loud gun-shot. Boris the zombie’s head exploded in a spray of dried dusty blood and petrified brain
matter. Smitty and Randy pushed Freckles and Giggles away, toward the still burning ventriloquist dummy and turned to see
where the gunfire came from.
There was Deputy Tara Woods along with Pastor Fred, Smiley and Brian, standing in a split in the tent that Tara had cut with
her utility knife.
“I don’t know who you are lady, but I’m happy as hell to see you.” Buggy winked and then turned to
kick Freckles the zombie in the groin with his very over-sized shoe, which didn’t seem to particularly hurt the zombie
clown but it did knock one of his hip joints out of place dropping him to the ground.
“So…” Tarra looked at Smiley and then back at Buggy. The two clowns dressed identically except for their
obvious difference in size. “So I take it you two know each other?”
Smiley smiled at her and quickly helped Smitty with Giggles. Now with all the extra help the group quickly dispatch the two
remaining zombie clowns leaving them headless and twitching on the floor.
”BRIAN!” Steffi ran up and hugged him.
”Oh god, I'm so glad you two are alright.” Brian hugged her back.
”Oh you're just in time, Brian, it was terrible…” Randy ran up and hugged him too. “There were zombies
everywhere…”
”What's with the outfits?” Brian asked eyeballing the funny feathered hats they were all wearing.
”These were your pal’s bright idea.” Smitty replied. “He’s a freaking genius.”
“Hey, they worked didn't they?” Randy said indignantly. Then suddenly in the distant big top they could see zombies
coming toward them from everywhere. “Ok, maybe not!”
Tarra cleared her throat to get everyone’s attention. “If you people would like to live, you might wanna come
with me.”
Deputy Tara motioned for the others to follow her. They all made a run for the opening the Deputy had made and escaped. Once
outside they ran as fast as they could following the Deputy to her SUV.
Outside the moon was bright and everything appeared to be normal except for the fact that everything wasn't normal. Tarra
led the others out to her SUV when suddenly one of the doors opened by itself.
To Tarra’s horror three dead mangled clowns got out of her vehicle and just stood there limp and bloody, staring at
the group of escapees. Suddenly one clown turned and shoved the next and they began to meander slowly around the vehicle.
At first Tarra was puzzled because she didn’t know what was happening but then it became clear.
“Oh my god, we were right, Smitty.” Buggy whispered as he slapped Smitty on the leg. “They just continue
to do what comes natural to them.” To their horror and amusement, the three putrid bloody clowns began to do one of
the oldest circus clown routines in the book… The classic clown fireman routine.
The three clown zombies, paying no attention to Tara and the others, ambled around the vehicle a couple of times, when suddenly
two of them got back in, leaving the third one outside. The third zombie began banging on the windows as if upset to be left
out.
”Oh look… they’re doing the fireman skit… how funny.”
”We don't have time for this shit.” Tara took her shotgun and blew the third zombie clown away, splattering his
brains all over the window. Upon seeing this, the other two zombies got out and start toward them at a much quicker pace.
Tara went to shoot the remaining two zombies but much to her surprise she was out of ammo.
”Oh shit!” She looked at the shotgun. “The ammo is in the SUV.
Brian and Smitty run up and attack the two zombies. Brian brained one with his handy mallet and Smitty grabbed the other zombie
and threw it to the ground away from the vehicle.
”Quick, everyone in…” Tarra yelled. “We’re heading back to town.”
”What…. You don't want to stay and see the elephants?” Steffi smacked Randy on the arm for making such a
stupid comment.
Deputy Tara jumped into the driver's side, while the rest of them piled in the other doors: Smitty, Pastor Fred, Brian, Smiley,
Randy, Steffi, Buggy, Mel and Cara all squeezed into the Deputy’s SUV but just as Smitty was closing the door, the third
zombie, who had gotten to his feet, grabbed the door as Smitty was closing it. The zombie reached for Smitty just as the door
closes hard on his arm, severing it completely off.
The zombie ambled around with his arm cut off, trying to catch up to them as they drove away but to no avail because they
kicking up dust and getting the hell out of there, heading for town where it was safe… or was it?
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