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Things in Ashbrooke looked fairly normal for a sleepy little town but this particular night looked a bit more sleepy than
normal. There didn’t seem to be much movement out in the streets at all, except for a stray dog here and there. The
lights were out in most of the shops along the Town square and a strange hush just seemed to smother the town like a giant
wet blanket.
Tara pulled up at the Johnson's Brother’s Garage at the fervent request of Brian. “I need to go tell Pete and
Bill what's going on. I also wanna call Gran and tell her to lock the doors and stay inside. Randy, Steffi, you coming?”
”I'm just fine right here.” Randy assured him.
”No you’re not,” Steffi elbowed him. “We’re going to go to the diner and check on Devin.”
Steffi grabbed Randy’s arm and drug him out of the SUV and in the direction of the nearby diner.
“You kids be careful and meet us back here ASAP!” Tara yelled at them as they disappeared around the corner.
“Brian I don't think you should go in there alone.”
”He’s not going without me!” Smiley said as he spit out the butt of his already snuffed out cigar.
”Well I'm going too.” Smitty chimed in as an afterthought.
”Than you boys make it quick! I've got to go tell the sheriff what's going on.”
********
Steffi and Randy slowly walked up to the diner door. It was dark and empty inside.
“This is unusual.” Steffi said. “Devin usually keeps the diner open till midnight on Wednesday nights. The
basketball team always comes here after practice and cleans her out.”
When they got all the way up to the door, Randy nudged Steffi and pointed out into the parking lot. There was the delivery
boy’s truck parked haphazardly next to the side entrance and the windshield was broken and splattered with blood.
“That can’t be good.” Steffi whispered.
“Well maybe he just had a little accident and he came here to let Devin bandage him up or something.” Randy was
trying to look on the bright side of things.
They entered the diner slowly and carefully trying to be as quiet as they possible could.
”Yeah this is much too quiet for a Wednesday night, isn’t it?”
Randy squeezed Steffi’s hand tight. ”Yeah, something is definitely not right.”
Randy opened up his cell phone and turned on the display light to use it as a flashlight to light the way. After what they
had just been through in the circus they didn’t dare try to turn on any lights and attract any unwanted attention. They
made their way through the kitchen to the stairs leading up to Devin’s room, but as they approached the bottom of the
stairwell, they hear moaning coming from her second floor room.
”Oh god,” Randy said quietly, “please let that be Devin getting her groove on.”
“Well, Steffi replied, “The delivery boys truck is outside. Maybe he needed some post car crash sex to calm his
nerves.”
They slowly and quietly made their way up the stairs doing everything in their power not to make as much as a peep. They slowly
made it to the top of the stairs where they peeked around the corner into Devin’s bedroom. Sure enough, in the dimly
lit room there was Devin on the bed fucking the delivery boy, who was lying on his back under her.
Devin and the delivery boy were both moaning and writhing on the bed in such a way it seemed that they were enjoying the fuck
tremendously. How they could be “doing it” in the midst of a zombie holocaust of living dead circus freaks was
beyond Steffi and Randy but they thought it must have been nice to be completely oblivious to the horror that was happening
around them.
”Oh my god, Devin are you crazy?” Steffi said in a loud whisper. “You have to get out of here... the entire
circus is over run by zombies.”
Devin just ignored her and kept on fucking the delivery boy.
”Ahem,” Randy cleared his throat. “Devin... sorry to interrupt you, but this is no time to be fucking around...literally!”
Suddenly Devin and the Delivery boy stopped their grinding. The delivery boy, who was facing toward them, sat up so they could
get a clear view of him. To their shock and horror half of his face and head was gone, and his brains were partially exposed.
”Oh my god... she fucked his brains out!” Randy yelled and grabbed a hold of Steffi.
Devin began to get up and turn toward them. It was then they could see that a massive portion of flesh had been ripped from
her face and the delivery boys chest was torn open as well... the fact was obvious they were both zombies.
”Oh my god Randy, we’ve got to get out of here.” Steffi took off down the stairs with Randy on her heels.
Back in the bedroom the two zombies ignored the interruption and started fucking again.
********
Brian eagerly ran into the garage, with Smitty and Smiley close behind him. The garage was empty and quite dark but they could
hear something in the distance like a television playing or something. Anxious to warn Bill and Pete about the pending danger,
Brian ran into the office where his bosses often hung out after work watching television.
Upon entering the room, Brian and the others saw the backs of Pete and Bill’s heads as they sat in front of the shop
television as they had so many times before. Everything appeared to be quite normal in the Johnson Bro’s garage.
”Man… I'm glad you guys are here! You won't believe what kind of hell has broken loose at the circus in Saunders's
field.”
Brian ran around the couch, the whole time blabbering on about the evenings events when he suddenly realized something was
not right. Bill and Pete were both sitting in front of the television. Drool running down their chins and their eyes glazed
over with a white milky film. They both had minor lacerations on them where they had obviously been in a fight with someone
infected with the zombie virus and now they had become zombies themselves.”
”Fucking hell it's spread into town.” Smiley began to look around to see what could be used as an appropriate
weapon.
At first the two Johnson brother zombies seemed docile and completely unaware of the presence of Brian and the others, but
suddenly almost as if it were programmed in them, the two brothers both lunged off the couch at the exact same time one going
after Brian and the other going after Smitty.
The two zombies attacked with an aggression Brian never would have expected and the worse part was that Brian and the others
didn’t have any weapons in hand. Dodging the attack on him, Brian suddenly remembered the nice shiny juggling knives
Pete had given him earlier that day, so he ran over to the desk and grabbed them out of the drawer.
”Smitty, Smiley here!” Brian threw them both a knife leaving him with one. The Johnson zombies gathered their
footing again and the fight commenced as they lunged at Smitty and Brian. The two stocky men were quite a match for Brian
and the others because they were not emaciated skeletal creatures but newly converted corpses that could still move very fast
and they were not going to go down without a fight.
Smiley quickly jumped in and used his juggling knife, catching Pete’s throat with the tip of the blade, slicing it and
making his head fall backward leaving him looking like a giant PEZ dispenser. Zombie Pete continued to amble around with his
head flipped backward making it impossible for him to see where he was going. Pushing his brother aside, Bill made a dash
for Brian, going right for his throat. I was almost as if he was aware of what had just been done to his brother and he was
going to make Brian pay.
Brian scrambled over the couch to avoid the advancing zombie when he lost his footing and fell backward. His knife flew out
of his hand and happened to spin through the air right at zombie Bill. With reflexes much quicker than any of them would
have imagined, Bill caught the juggling knife and stopped in his tracks. He looked at the knife for a second then back at
Brian. It was as if he remembered that he himself had given the knives to Brian as a gift just that morning. Taking this as
a perfect opportunity, Smitty snuck up behind Bill and was just about to stick his knife through the zombie’s skull
when the Bill spun around and knocked the knife out of Smitty's hand. Bill looked at the knife in his hand again and he seemed
to ponder rather to use it or not on Smitty when suddenly Brian stuck a screwdriver through zombie Bill’s back, causing
him to turn back around to face Brian again.
Given that split second to get his wits… Smitty picked up his knife and used it to slice horizontally right through
the middle of Bill’s head. With blood and pus oozing from the incision that went through his head, Bill stood there
a moment looking at Brian with a puzzled sad look on his face. Then it was over, suddenly the top of Bill’s head slid
off and fell to the ground with a hollow bloody thump.
Moments later zombie Pete, who had been meandering around the office with his head hanging behind him, banging against his
shoulder blades, fell in a pile on the office floor He too was finally dispatched.
“Jesus… we've just killed my BOSSES!” Brian covered his face with his hands.
”Pull yourself together, Brian.” Smiley put his arm around Brian and spoke reassuringly. “These pus-filled
cannibalistic cadavers are NOT your bosses anymore. You were just lucky you didn’t come busting in here alone expecting
to find your pals alive and well. They would have recruited you to the cause and we would have had to split your head like
a piece of firewood.”
”I know, but just a few hours ago I was sitting in church with them… How in the hell did all this happen?”
”I don't know anymore than you do,” Smitty said as he wiped he goo off of his juggling knife, “but I do
know that we have to protect ourselves.”
Brian suddenly realized his Grandma might be in immediate danger. “Gran… I have to go get my Gran. I’ve
got to make sure she’s ok.”
”Man... whatever is causing this zombie plague spreads like wildfire, if we’re going to save your granny, we need
to work fast.” Smitty and Smiley cleaned off the other two knives and were preparing to head out to Brian’s granny’s
house when suddenly the rest of the group, minus Tara, came running into the office.
”Oh my God, Brian,” Steffi said between breaths… “It’s spread into town!”
Running up behind her, Randy finished explaining. “”Devin and the delivery boy are zombies... and we just found
them fucking!”
Smiley, Smitty and Brian all looked at each other. “FUCKING?”
They shook their heads as if they didn’t really believe what they had heard when suddenly Randy looked down and saw
the bodies of the Johnson Brothers lying bloody on the floor. ”JESUS…YOU KILLED BILL AND PETE.”
”Believe me, they weren't themselves.” Brian assured Randy.
Suddenly Tara ran in with her shotgun! “Guys… I just blew some zombie circus freak away.”
”Oh my god, they must have followed us here.” Steffi grabbed Brian’s hand.
”Ok people, we need to get the hell out of here and find you guys a safe place to hold up until I can get some help
from the next county.” Tara cocked her shotgun to punctuate the seriousness of the situation.
”Can't you get the National Guard out here or something?” Brian asked.
”Yeah I need to go find the sheriff and call them from the radio in the office…”
Smitty interrupted her and held his hand up as if to make a serious point. “Well if we're going to find somewhere to
barricade ourselves we're going to need some supplies. We can’t just run into some closet and starve to death with no
weapons or any way to defend ourselves.”
”That's true…” Brian agreed, “Steffi, why don't you take Smitty, Buggy and the twins over to Karl's
Hardware store and get some supplies. I'm going to go to Gran's and make sure she's ok.”
”I'll go with you…” Pastor Fred piped in.
Looking at Brian and slapping the pastor on the back Smiley volunteered too. “I'll go along with you guys. You might
need my help if something goes wrong.”
“Um, Smiley, Buggy,” Tara looked at the two clowns and cocked her eyebrow. “Do you boys want to take this
opportunity to get out of that crazy clown stuff?”
“Well,” Buggy looked at Smiley, “We don’t really have time but it doesn’t matter because believe
me when I say we’re so used to this get up that we’re probably more comfortable in it than in street clothes.”
Smiley nodded in agreement.
“Ok, it’s your call.” Tarra shrugged, “As long as you don’t kill yourself tripping over those
dam shoes.” Tarra turned back toward the others. “Smitty’s idea is a great one. Steffi you take the SUV
and get the supplies.” She threw Steffi the keys to the SUV. “I'll take Randy with me and we'll go get the Sheriff
and his car. Once we're all done we can meet over at the old church. That's the best place I can think of to barricade ourselves
in until reinforcements come.”
”Sounds good to me…” Brian agreed. “It's pretty sturdy, being made of stone and all and we can keep
those bastards out by boarding up the windows which will be pretty easy.”
”Steffi make sure you get some lumber at the hardware store…. Oh and some hammers and nails.” Tarra was
loading her nine milometer when Kara Kandie spoke up.
“Hey, I want to go with you, Deputy.”
”Why?” Smitty looked indignant.
”Because she's got a gun… that's why.” Kara went over to stand by Tara.
”Suit yourself…” Smitty really couldn’t blame the girl after all the crap they had already been through
and he thought for a couple of busty ditsy blonds they had done pretty well and not freaked out as he thought they had the
potential to do.
Steffi gave Brian a nice tight hug. ”Brian, you hurry and get Gran, I'll come by her place and pick you guys up when
we’re done at the hardware store.” Brian smiled and nodded and hugged her back.
”Ok people;” Tara urged, “go do what you gotta do and make sure to get your asses up to the old church in
one piece.”
They decided to split into three groups with Steffi, Buggy, Smitty and Mel taking the Deputies truck and getting supplies
at Karl’s hardware store and Deputy Tara, Randy and Cara going to the sheriff's office, to see if he was still around.
Brian, Smiley and Pastor Fred planned to walk over to Brian’s granny's house, get her, and then be picked up by Steffi
once she had gotten the supplies. It was a good plan but having everything work out according to that plan was another thing
altogether.
Deputy Tara Wood slowly entered the dark abandon looking police station. The door had been left wide open and there was no
sign of anyone especially the sheriff. She, Randy and Kara slowly snuck in, being cautious as they made their way. In the
distance they could hear a thumping sound coming from somewhere but they couldn’t make out where. ”Do you guys
hear that thumping sound?” Kara whispered. ”Oh… you can hear that too?” Randy asked. “I
just thought it was my heart!” ”Shhhh… you two be quiet, if one of those things is in here… I wanna
hear it before it hears me!” Tarra put out her hand as a sign for them to stop and listen.
********
The frightened sheriff was beside himself hiding in his office. He, himself was surprised to be alive after his run-in with
the severed hand. He had been curled up under his desk mumbling to himself over and over. Hearing a noise he stuck his head
out to look and see if someone had come into the station. Accompanied by the sound of the front door squeaking to a close,
the sheriff saw three figures moving slowly in front of the frosted glass window that separated the stations entrance from
the office area. Suddenly it occurred to him they were probably zombies; probably ambling their way into his office to eat
him alive.
“What the fuck is that?” The sheriff mumbled to himself under his breath. Then without hesitation like some crazed
lunatic the sheriff pulled out his revolver, took aim at the last of the three figures and pulled the trigger.
Out of the three trespassers sneaking into the sheriff’s station Tara, Randy and Kara, it just so happened, that Kara
was the one that got the sheriff’s bullet through her head. With a spray of blood and grey matter she collapsed on the
floor in a twitching pile of blond hair and blood clots. The sheriff sat frozen still holding the smoking gun in his hands.
”STOP… DON'T SHOOT!” Tara screamed and gathered up the dead girl.
Randy stood up and looked through the large hole where the bullet had shattered it’s way through and smashed the glass
out. ”OH MY GOD… YOU KILLED HER!” ”It's us, dammit! It's Deputy Wood and Randy…. Don’t
shoot!”
Tara ran into the office and quickly grabbed the gun away from the sheriff, who was out of his mind with fear. ”I
got it… I got the bastard. I'll be dammed if those fucking things are going to get in here and rip me to shreds!”
Tara grabbed the sheriff and shook him. “Tucker, you bastard… that wasn't one of those things you just shot, that
was an innocent young girl. You killed her you son of a bitch!”
”Young girl…innocent young girl?” He suddenly snapped out of his funk and instantly became defensive. “You
watch your mouth deputy! It wasn't my fault… I thought it was one of those fucking zombies. How in the hell was I supposed
to know?”
As the freaky surreal scene was playing out in front of Randy’s eyes he and Tarra barely noticed a strange thumping
sound coming from one of the drawers of the sheriff’s desk. Randy looked around as if to spot the source of the thumping
but then he was quickly snapped back to reality upon looking at the dead girl, lying in a pile on the floor. ”You blew
her head off… she didn't do anything… and you blew her fucking head off, you redneck mother fucker!” Randy
was getting increasingly indignant toward the sheriff, whom he already hated.
”Look you cock sucking little faggot! I didn't know it was a girl. I thought it was one of those freaking monsters,
so don’t come in here shaking your finger at me. If you had seen the shit I’ve seen tonight you would have done
the same god dam thing.”
Randy put his head in his hands and mumbled to himself…. He was still in shock over seeing Kara get her head blown off
before his eyes. ”Oh god… Oh god… I can’t believe she’s DEAD!”
”Randy, the fact is that Kara is dead and we can’t help her now. But what we can do is call Sheriff Bowyer over
in Cedar County and get him and his men over here. We need to get as many officers out here as we can. Hell we need to call
in the National Guard… those things are everywhere.” Tara tried to calm Randy and pull herself together at the
same time. She needed to have her head straight to handle the situation correctly. There was nothing in the law enforcement
manual about zombie plagues.
”What the hell is making that thumping sound?” Randy went over to a drawer in the Sheriff's metal desk, where
the thumping appeared to be coming from and grabbed the handle.
”DON'T OPEN THAT!” The sheriff yelled just as Randy opened the drawer, but nothing happened. The drawer was just
dark inside and seemingly empty.
”That's strange… there's nothing in there, but I could have sworn I was hearing some sort of thumping sound.”
Randy moved closer to the open drawer when suddenly the severed hand jumped out at him just missing his face.
”JESUS CHRIST ON A POGO STICK!” Randy jumped backward landing against a file cabinet, knocking it and himself
to the ground. Sheriff Tucker and Deputy Wood just watched in awe as the severed hand quickly scurried away, right over Kara’s
dead body, out the door and off into the darkness.
”What the fuck was that?” Randy got to his feet and checked himself for bumps and bruises.
”I told you not to open it… stupid homo!” The sheriff finished the sentence under his breath.
”Sorry… I was curious.”
”Never mind that…” Tara interrupted, “we need to call for help.”
”The radio is busted in here; I accidentally pulled it out of the wall when that fucking thing attacked me. We’re
gonna have to use the one in my car.”
Just as Sheriff Tucker stood to make for the door the three of them heard a horrible sound outside. He ran to the window and
looked outside but he couldn’t see anything.
“Did that god dam circus follow you into town…? I hate Circus’s!” Unable to see anything, Tucker dropped
the binds, shook his head and went to sit down, leaving the window clear for Randy to get a better view.
In the distance, coming around the bend, down the main drag of Ashbrooke was the most grotesque and macabre circus parade
they had ever seen. The twisted and bloody circus musicians were leading the way with their bend and gnarled instruments.
They were tooting out the most ungodly tune imaginable with their banged up trombones and French horns, as the plucked and
broken string instruments wined out a loathsome melody that they lumbered and hobbled their way into town to. Main Street
was full of zombies for at least three city blocks. Circus performers and recruited mangled townsfolk hobbled and dragged
their carcasses along, determined to be a part of this hideous display. In the distance, Randy could even see a young zombie
boy dragging his dead mangled pet behind him at the end of its leash. Like automatons trapped in some repeat purgatory of
their once monotonous lives, they made their way along with cheeky manic grins on their faces. ”OH MY GOD!”
Randy pulled the blinds all the way up. “You are so not going to believe this! I've heard of the circus coming to town…
but this is fucking ridiculous!”
Tara ran over and looked out. By the time she got there the huge zombie elephant had turned the corner and was walking down
the road into the parking lot area. The sick twisted Ringmaster was riding on top of the elephant, holding tightly to his
cane that was plunged deep into the elephants flesh.
“Ok,” Tara dropped the blinds again.” We're not getting out of here that way. I say we go through the woods
and make our way to the church. We'll meet the others there.
”I ain't going out there!” Tucker took a sip of a flat beer he had opened hours before.
”Then stay here and die… I sure don’t give a shit!” She glanced at Randy, who gave her an uneasy supportive
smile, and then she grabbed some shotgun ammo and they headed out the back door.
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