Realistic or Modern A Night in Carnevil! (IC)

[MidwayLives]

You ever hear of the saying 'what would a dog do if he finally caught the car he was chasing?'
If you did then you know the answer. The dog wouldn't know what to do. It never expected to get that far.
Well, needless to say, that saying didn't apply to just man's best friend.

The Kid had wanted to just have a good time on Halloween.

Well....he'd gotten more than he bargained for alright.

Having been thrown back by the sheer force of magical energy that'd seeped out of Tokkentaker's gravesite, the Kid scrambled to his feet as fast as he could. Around him he could hear people screaming in confusion, terror, both? The ride had come to a complete stop and people were climbing off in droves. Mothers were clutching their children close to their chest, fathers were trying to guide them to the gates, kids that only seemed a little older than the Kid himself were awash with fright. This was too sudden to be some kind of planned out prank or sabotage. This was too real! All of it felt like walking headfirst right into a nightmare! Feeling two of his friends scoop him up to his feet, the Kid's eyes darted around. He'd chalked the legends of the cemetary to just be that: a bunch of BS meant to scare little kids like him. But as he saw a massive zepplin soaring through the night sky and circus tents as far as the eye could see, there was no longer any gravestones in sight. It was as though they'd been pulled into a completely different place! A graveyard of the dead replaced by a circus of horrors!

"Help! Help! Someone! Anyone! Let us out! PLEASE!" "Mommy! I wanna go home!" "H-Hey! The gate won't open!!! It won't open, man!! LET US OUT!!"

The Kid could hear the people screaming, he felt his legs tremble with shivers so bad he was 99% sure he'd collapse if he didn't force himself to stay upright. Watching as the adults tried to throw their weight against the steel gate, their efforts would prove to be in vain as purple smoke filtered in from underneath the gate and a figure could be seen standing in the center of the parking lot, a sword in hand and two piercing yellow eyes. No matter how old he got (if he even managed to get out of here and survive to adulthood), he'd never forget that thing's laughter.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"

It raised it's sword and cleaved through the smoke, revealing itself in full. It looked like a demented take on the archetypical knight in shining armor! A figure that one would expect to come and save the day and slay the evil! Quite the contrary, this creature dressed in the form of man WAS the evil! Dragging the sword's blade across the pavement, the Laughing Knight approached the gate, looking across the terrified occupants, and jabbed a finger forward.

Right at the Kid.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! YOU WHO'VE CALLED US HERE! STAY THERE TREMBLING IN FEAR! YOU REAP WHAT YOU'VE SOWN! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" The monster cackled as it put it's fingers to it's gaping maw and whistled. The Kid barely had time to react as he could hear the distinct moans and growls of creatures that he'd never mistake. Zombies. The Living Dead. Flesheaters. Whatever you wanted to call them. He saw them shambling towards the people at the gate. It was as if they were pouring out of nowhere, limping from around corners, knocking over garbage cans in their wake, some listlessly swung cleavers and machetes as they approached.

One caught the Kid's eye. These things were absolutely disgusting. Palid skin, bits of bone poked through, maggots fell out of open sores and their eyes, milky white and clouded over, zeroed in on the Kid as at least four of them broke off from the group to pursue him. The Kid struggled to find his voice. He'd expected his friends to urge him to run. To try and find another way out of here. If there even was one. But there was nothing. His friends had ran off, likely to save their own skins. Were he less terrified to his core, he might have felt the slightest bit offended they'd left him to the literal ghouls so easily. Drawing his BB gun, he took aim at the nearest zombie, and shouted. "S-Stop! You better stop or I'll shoot! I-I mean it!!" The zombie didn't heed the child's warnings and instead bared it's teeth. "Ghk....Grra.....aaaahhhhhh....." It croaked, it's rotten jaw shifting in place as it raised the cleaver above it's head, it's legs slowly closing the distance between itself and it's soon to be lunch! The Kid stood his ground and fired.

*PEW*

The shot hit it's mark, dead center right in the chest. The zombie staggered, looked down, noticed the abrasion on it's decaying skin, looked up again and thought nothing more of it. This was a gun that could break skin or poke out an eye. It wasn't meant to do battle with the un-freaking-dead! Despite that, the Kid continued to fire. Anything to get his mind off the absolutely horrible noises pounding away at his ears. Children, kids even younger than HIM, begging the zombies not to hurt them. The sound of flesh being ripped open, the wet splotch of guts being pulled out and fought over, and that Knight's hideous laughter through it all.

"Grrraaaa...ahhhhhh...." The zombie moaned as it continued, unimpressed and unimpeded by the plastic BBs pelting against it's chest and stomach. So focused was the Kid on trying to take down this one zombie if nothing else but sheer spite alone, he'd somehow failed to notice that another of the four that'd originally split off to attack him had closed the distance. Reaching out with both of it's decrepit hands, the Kid felt the zombie's hands close around his neck, his gun falling to the ground as the zombie hoisted him off his feet. "Grrr...grrrrraaaaaahhhhhhh....." This zombie didn't have any eyes which somehow made it even scarier. It didn't know or care what it's prey looked like. It smelled fresh meat and it was ready to DEVOUR! The Kid kicked and punched but the zombie wouldn't budge. It'd sink it's teeth into the child's skull and devour the succulent grey matter inside-

*BANG*

The Kid fell to the ground, hard, damn near rough enough to leave a bruise across his lower back. Glancing back up while hacking up a lung(thankfully, not literally!), he saw a bloody hole in the zombie's neck. That wasn't any BB, that was a REAL gun. His eyes darted around for his would be-savior and rested on some grown up, standing near some porta-potties(where there'd once been trees) and an actual handgun with smoke hissing from the barrel. "...The hell are you waiting for, Kid?? RUN! GO!" He shouted and he was right to do so. The zombie that'd been shot was having trouble keeping it's head from inclining to the left but it hadn't been stopped. You'd need an honest to go headshot or full dismemberment for that. "Braaaains....." The zombie coughed as the other three shambled in behind it. Quickly scooping up his BB gun, the Kid raced away from the encroaching zombies. There was a ticket booth in the center of this...this amusement park...and that floating head from before was floating behind the counter!



"Ohohoho! Why if isn't the BRAT of the hour?? It's YOU that we have to thank for giving us back our power! Go on and make a pick! Those zombies want to take more than just a prick! Hahahaha!" The head laughed uproariously as 'UMLAUT' could be seen spelled out in bright lights behind it.

<-THE HAUNTED HOUSE

<-THE FREAKSHOW

<-RICKETY TOWN

<-THE ZOO

~~~



Lawrence was definitely not a stranger to gory scenes.
But seeing what looked like a bunch of walking corpses rip a crowd of people limb from limb and then gobble up the remains, children included?
It... was a lot to take in.

"What the hell is going on here....?" He asked aloud, pausing only to give a zombie a swift bash in the head with his bat after it'd made the mistake of straying too close. The ensuing THUNK caused the zombie to stagger, the second blow caused it to crumple altogether falling to the ground in a bloody heap. Propping his boot on the back of the zombie's neck, Lawrence surveyed across the grisly scene he'd found himself neckdeep in. All the death was a tragedy for sure, the circumstances were still wildly baffling to him, but he wasn't going to let a certain weasel worm his way out of here just due to circumstance alone. His eyes roamed across those present, whether it be the zombies(he really couldnt believe he was even thinking that. Was easier to imagine they were just a bunch of drug-addled tweakers. Er, including the one who's skull he'd just smashed into pieces) or the people who'd avoided getting eaten and were running everywhich way.

....

There!

"YOU! STOP!"

Richard Burke was a lot of things. Sure, some might have put coward amongst those things. Dirtbag, too, couldn't forget that. Asshole was another popular one. BUT, above all else and the one that mattered the most in his opinion was: opportunist. Now that may have sounded like an ugly word to most people. But he certainly didn't think of it that way! Living life with that mentality is how he'd managed to stay alive even during the worst of times! Whether it was avoiding the dame that you'd told you loved and that you'd spend the rest of your life with her to pocketing your boss's mother's jewels and pawning them for the big bucks. He'd gotten out of stickier jams and this one wasn't going to trip him up. Reaching inside the interior of his own jacket, Richard grabbed his own handgun, more than ready to try and cap Lawrence while he was probably distracted with all the crazyiness that was going on right now.

Only for a lady to bump into him and nearly cause him to drop his piece.

"Christ, lady! Can't you see the world's ending or somethin?? Why don't you fucking watch where you're going huh??"

The lady didn't seem to even acknowledge the gangster's cries of annoyance, instead clinging to the lapels of his jacket. "Please, sir!! You have to help me! E-Everything happened so fast! When everyone was climbing off the carriage and running, my....My little girl! My little Jodie! She got knocked down!!! I can't find her anywhere!! Please, you have to help me!"

Oh for christ's sake...

"L-Look, lady! I got my own shit going on! Sorry but I can't help you! I'm sure little janey will be fine! Now get OFF ME!!!" Richard roared as he gave the lady a good shove. Right into the arms of a nearby zombie that proceeded to messily bite out her throat. Nice.



"Haha...this has all gotta be some kind of sick joke, right?? Some sort of group induced acid trip? A gas leak maybe??" That had to have been it. He hadn't really just shoved a frightened mother looking for her child to her death. No, this was all in his head. He'd managed to escape with his money and gotten all the way to Mexico.

*BANG*

The sound of gunfire startled him back to reality. Pulling out his own sidearm, he turned and saw Lawrence pushing through the civilians, murder in his eyes. "Ah crap...." Why couldn't it have been HIM that Richard absentmindedly shoved right into the arms of a zombie?? Before the two men could engage in a proper shootout however, Lawrence's attention was taken by some kid in a red jacket. Richard didn't know the kid but he recognized the jacket. That was the little twerp that hopped off the ride along with a couple of his buddies and lo and behold things went to shit not too long after.

It looked like the kid was about to end up zombie chow. Which, hey, one less person for Richard to possibly have to butt heads with while trying to get out of here alive.

It also distracted the guy who'd come here to kill him and that was just the cherry on top.

*BANG*

Lawrence cried out in pain as Richard's shot hit him right in the side. Would have been nice to stick around and make sure that it ACTUALLY finished him off but with y'know zombies creeping around every corner, Richard holstered his gun and ran off, not realizing he was running in the direction of 'THE HAUNTED HOUSE' section of the park...

Watching as the very same person he'd come to this damned cemetery to kill ran off, Lawrence holstered his own gun and clutched at his bleeding wound. If he'd had a second to sit down and inspect himself, he could get himself all patched up. Wouldn't be surgeon levels of work and he'd still have to see a doctor no doubt. But trying to do any of that careful work here was liable to end up with him getting torn to pieces. Swinging his bat to ward off any zombies from getting TOO close, Lawrence sprinted towards the ticket booth. May as well, maybe the talking head knew where to go next.

"Why...? Why can't ANYTHING be as simple as I want it to be...?"
~~~
She'd come to the graveyard seeking some kind of solace.

An escape from reality.

Well, being stuck inside what she could only have described as 'Satan's circus' wasn't exactly what she'd had in mind.

Ducking and weaving out of the arms of any zombies, Ophelia glanced around for someone in particular. The two weren't exactly besties and Ophelia always made it a point to be too nosy when meeting new people. Least of all when they deigned to take a chance on her and actually talk to her for once. But this kid was different, the two of them both saw the cemetery as place to just go and be themselves for a while. Let the world of the living and all the bullshit that entails pass them by for a while.

"Beaut?? Beaut!!!!" Ophelia shouted as she climbed aboard her motorbike and revved up the engine. She didn't have a DAMNED clue of what the hell was happening but she wasn't going to just stand by and scream like any other damsel in a cheesy horror flick. Pulling the handlebars, the bike roared to life and Ophelia rammed numerous zombies either too stupid or too slow to move out of her way. Their grunts and moans were cut off as the tires mulched their rotten bodies like a rotten grapefruit. All up until she got to the gate where the Laughing Knight had bent the bars apart on the gate to allow himself in, paying little mind to the zombies still chowing down around him.

"HAHAHAHAHAHA! LEAVING SO SOON?? THE SHOW'S JUST BEGUN!"



"Please. I've been through ENOUGH today, you giggling freak. Now, get out of my WAY!"

Ophelia revved up her bike and prepared to charge the monster. The Laughing Knight bellowed in raucous joy and raised it's blade.

Ophelia had to put aside all the gore and viscera scattered around her. She HAD to. Otherwise if she had to stop for even a second to think about the little kids she'd heard getting caught by these zombies, t'd drive her mad. She had two goals in mind. Getting past this asshole, hijacking a car, and getting Beaut and damn near anyone else she could OUT of here!

DoctorDunno SavannahSmiles Paroe Bambiholic Lord Moldoma ​

 

[Lord Moldoma]

“Ophelia!” The sound of running followed by a small impact of someone hopping into the back of the bike and landing on it was what would come next to Ophelia’s ears, in unison with the calling of her name.

It was Beaut, who had vaulted herself onto said motorcycle, hog, whatever you wanna call it. And managed to land without knocking it over.

She was covered in blood, the neutrality of her expression showed that she was about as distant from her generally gleeful psychopathy as possible. Probably for Ophelia’s benefit moreso then the fact that she had just seen people dying in front of her, and/or had to cut open a zombie on the way there (she was surprisingly, or maybe not so surprisingly, adept with a knife, and zombies staggered enough when slashed at to allow momentary escape.) This was the friendless little girl who drew fanart of surrealist horror films after all. Even if that experience wasn’t enough on its own, she was convinced it was enough, and that’s what mattered most.

---

Carrol passed through the foggy horror stricken carnival, coming out at an end a few meters from where Ophelia and Beaut were, and ignoring their presence. She only had the idea of survival in mind it seemed, and was doing her best to escape on foot.

In classic horror movie fashion, she tripped over a possibly intentionally placed spiked bramble, which tore into her foot. She let out a scream of annoyed pain and fell to the ground. Moving her hands down to check her leg. Before getting back up just nearly in time for a zombie to try and pounce on her and narrowly miss, collapsing onto the patch of brambles.

She gritted her teeth and continued to run approaching the fence and moving to try and scale it immediately before the zombie could get untangled from the bramble patch in its severe lack of coordination (that all zombies seemingly possess.)

 

[Bambiholic]

​

---

It all had happened so fast. The last thing Tiffany remembered was seeing that kid messing with one of the gravestones, followed by a terrifying bang. It had surprised her so much that the next thing she knew she was on the ground without even remembering falling over. Usually, the first thing she would’ve done would’ve been complain about getting dirt on her brand-new dress, but Tiffany didn’t have the time to think. Complete and utter chaos had erupted around her. The once perfectly normal albeit slightly creepy cemetery had transformed into something right out of a horror movie, and better yet, the “friends” that Tiffany had been there with were nowhere to be seen. She’d been completely abandoned.

Feeling a mixture of fear and betrayal, Tiffany glanced around desperately as screams erupted around her. After spotting the hand mirror she’d dropped she scrambled across the floor to grab it as fast as she could with the intention of immediately making a run for it. After turning it around she saw that it had one crooked and diagonal crack running through it now. “Dammit, my mirror!” She exclaimed, her voice cracking.

As she inspected it she caught a glimpse of something in the mirror’s reflection. Behind her, which was where the exit was situated and where she had planned to escape from, a child that looked about the same age as her was cowering in fear, as something Tiffany could only describe as a “monster” inched closer towards the child, its eyes glowing red. Before she could react, the monster had grabbed the child by the head and bitten a chunk out of their face, dark red blood gushing everywhere. She wanted to let out a scream but all that came out was a small whimper. Unfortunately, that was enough to gain the monster’s attention, its blood-hungry eyes glistening in the mirror’s reflection. She gasped and quickly got up to her feet as tears began streaming down her cheeks. Without even looking back, Tiffany ran as fast as she could towards the zoo. Being an animal lover, it was the next best thing she could think of, seeing as though the exits were... Occupied.

---

<- GO TO THE ZOO
​

 

[Paroe]

Petey Rossi​

DRIP! DRIP! DRIP!

The familiar metallic taste coated his tongue despite his teeth gritted close. Bright scarlet splattered onto his face after a child was brutalized right before his eyes. If you asked Petey what he thought he’d be doing this Halloween evening, fighting off rotting corpses was the farthest thing from his imagination. Unfortunately, the reality was far stranger, far worse than what he’s hoped for.

It’s was a chilly night when he noticed his dog whimper. It was normal, in his eyes, for the canine to want to walk in the evening to do his business. Like a routine, he donned his red hoodie, hollering to his mother that was busy preparing dinner in the kitchen, “I’m taking Ringo for a walk!” To which his mother passively responded, “Okay sweetie,” probably too preoccupied with how to season the roast beef before putting it in the oven.

The young boy clipped the leash into Ringo’s collar before the dog seemed to very eagerly take off, half dragging his body along with him. ‘What’s gotten into him today?’ he wondered. Row by row, he could see the house lights begin to turn on as the residents of Greely Valley began to prepare themselves for the children coming to trick or treat. He could see people hang their last minute cobwebs and set down their carved pumpkins unto the porch. Everything would appear as normal if there wasn’t a low fog onto the ground.

As the rounded the end of the street, Petey’s shoulder began to hurt from the constant tug of his overactive companion. 'Where were we going?’ he thought, allowing Ringo to take him to where he so desperately wanted to go. If only to relieve the tension for a moment, he loosened his grip on the leash and Ringo sprinted off into the darkness.

“RINNGGGOOO!” He called after him sprinting to catch up to the dog.

…

The chase ended in a graveyard that was littered with posters and an empty table advertising for something called “Spooky Sam’s Ghost Tour”. Yet, the station seemed to be deserted as if the patrons left in a hurry with the way the chair was tipped on its sides.

“AHHH! AHHH!”

“MOMMY! MOOOOOMMM!”

“HELP US!.. STOP!.. NO, NOT MY BABY!..”

Sounds from what seemed like a live horror film assailed his ears. Both the moaning and groaning accompanied by wet slushing sounds filled the air. Not being from this town, he couldn’t make sense of it until he saw people, disheveled and crying, brushing past him. Something was wrong here. Something was very wrong. While his instincts told him to take off in the other direction of the wails of pain, he couldn’t simply ignore that there may be others suffering. It didn’t take long before he saw the sight that would fuel his nightmares until he died.

Lifeless bodies – men, women, children – strewn without care as they fall prey to decaying creatures with mottled flesh and an absolutely putrid scent. Not too far from the site was the sounds of machines pinging and the whoosh of roller coasters grinding upon rickety tracks. What kind of monstrous event did these people plan for Halloween? Still taking in the scene, his ankles were grabbed by a rigid hand erupting from the ground. Violently shaking his leg caused the grip to loosen as he ran closer to what appeared like a haunted house.

“Help me! Help me! Please!” A child from the corner of his eyes yelped as his cape was stuck on one of the wooden steps on the front porch.

Before he could process what was happening, he’d heard gunfire bring him back to his senses. It didn’t take long before he himself was tackled before he could help the crying child.

“Arggh!” He body landed close to the porch as he was body checked against the railings of the porch. He was lucky enough that one of the rails came loose as he pried it and stuck it onto the zombie reaching for his neck.

“AHHH! AHH! STOP!”

Came the final words of the boy to his left as his super hero costume was torn to shreds. Intestines sprawled out like pasta being feasted upon by his tormentor. He knew he needed to find his dog. And he needed to do it fast.

CODING BY: PAROE

 

[MidwayLives]

She was covered in blood, the neutrality of her expression showed that she was about as distant from her generally gleeful psychopathy as possible. Probably for Ophelia’s benefit moreso then the fact that she had just seen people dying in front of her, and/or had to cut open a zombie on the way there (she was surprisingly, or maybe not so surprisingly, adept with a knife, and zombies staggered enough when slashed at to allow momentary escape.) This was the friendless little girl who drew fanart of surrealist horror films after all. Even if that experience wasn’t enough on its own, she was convinced it was enough, and that’s what mattered most.

"Beaut! I'm..."
Well, was it really 'OK' that a kid young enough to be her little sister was covered head to toe in the red stuff?

Probably not.

"..I'm gonna get us out of here." She revved up her motorbike and went straight for the cackling swordsman.

"OOOH! TRYING TO LEAVE AFTER ALL?? I DON'T THIIIINK SOOOOOOOOO!~"

The Knight spread his feet apart and leveled the sword as though he were holding a baseball bat. From where she was seated on the bike behind Ophelia, Beaut could see what appeared to be the faces of agonized souls seeping off the Knight's blade which was otherwise black as night. Ophelia was confident in operating her bike. She was the one who bought it and she made damn sure she was the only one who used it despite the neighborhood kids wanting to try it out. All she had to do was get past this bozo and either hotwire the closest car or if failing that? Get the hell out of here and to the police station. She didn't have a damn clue what was going on but after seeing what 100% LOOKED and ACTED like zombies tearing into a crowd of innocent people and this THING rip it's way through an iron-clad gate?

She wasn't taking ANY chances.

"Hang on tight, kid...!" Ophelia ordered as she blasted towards the Knight. The Knight pulled back the sword and just as Ophelia had entered into the range of his blade, he swung! Giving the handlebars a sharp tug, the bike swerved and Ophelia immediately let go. Grabbing ahold of Beaut, the two rolled off the back of the motorbike as the Knight's swing went wide and the bike smashed right into him. The impact sent him flying back into the crowd of zombies still eating their meal. The back wheels pulverizing their skulls and pinning the Knight down, even if it was only temporarily. Though our two heroes weren't without their own bumps and bruises. Ophelia taking the brunt of it as she wrapped her arms around the child and slammed into the ground right near the busted gate. "Ugh...my head..." The teenager complained, her vision blurry and her head dazed. It wasn't until she heard the sound of metal groaning that she glanced over and saw the Knight angrily pushing the bike off himself and the zombies breaking away from their meal to lurch towards the two. "Ophelia! Get through the gate! I'll be right there! I promise!"

A zombie got too close and Ophelia punched it right in the face. It crumpled to the ground, staggered but certainly not out. As it started to pick itself back up, two more zombies took it's place and grabbed at Ophelia who gave one a sharp kick to the chest and an elbow to the other. "Go!!!" She shouted once more as the Knight had finally wrenched the bike off him and snarled. What he failed to notice was the gasoline leaking out from the fuel tank on the bike. "HOLD HER! I'LL KILL HER AND WEAR HER SKIN LIKE A NICE COAT OF FUR! HAHAHAHAHAHA!!"

"glad he didn't lose his sense of humor...ugh!"

The zombies obeyed and grabbed under Ophelia's arms as the Knight held his blade overhead. Ready to bring it down and slice Ophelia in half from head to toe. "ANY LAST WORDS BEFORE I SEND YOU STRAIGHT TO HELL?? HAHAHAHAHAH!"

"UGH...Yeah...actually. Hold this for me."

Pulling her left arm free from the zombie on that side, she grabbed her switchblade and jammed the blade right into the Knight's neck. A foul smelling yellow substance dribbled out of the wound, the exposed part of the neck right where the edges of the Knight's helmet ended. The attack caught him by surprise and his swing reflected that yet again. Instead of cleaving Ophelia in half, he struck the zombie on her right. Splitting it's head wide open and biting into Ophelia's right arm. "AAAAAGHHHHH!!!" Ophelia shrieked as she gave the armored monster a kick with all the force she could muster. Which wasn't MUCH given that she'd seen this thing bend an iron gate like it was silly putty but it was either this or lose her arm. The Knight didn't stumble back much but it allowed Ophelia to pull her bleeding arm back and trip-sprint out through the gate after Beaut.

"COME BACK!!!!"

The Knight bellowed as it ripped the switchblade from it's neck and tossed it underfoot. Shoving the other zombies out of it's way, the Knight cut through the bars and stomped towards the two girls, it's eyes BURNING with HATRED! Ophelia's bloodied arm hung limply at her side as she desprately fished her lighter out of her pocket. Sparks flew as the Knight dragged it's blade across the pavement. Before it got close enough for another swing with it's sword, Ophelia pulled out the lighter, got a spark going, and threw it! Landing on the ground near the Knight's feet, the monster went up in flames in almost an instant.

But it didn't seem perturbed in the slightest.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"

Ophelia panted and pushed herself up into a seated position. What on Earth was it going to TAKE to put this guy DOWN??? To only compound their problems further, it wasn't just as though this place had popped up out of nowhere, Ophelia couldn't see ANYTHING that resembled a cemetary anymore. Even the street at the edge of the parking lot was engulfed by a wall of purple smoke. It was like they were boxed in this carnival nightmare!

*twitch*

Beaut might have felt something scurry past her leg. If she looked to see what it was, she'd see a wall of glowing red eyes leering back at her from the smoke permeating the boundaries.



Ophelia threw her-only working-hand up in frustration. "Oh come ON!"

~~~

In classic horror movie fashion, she tripped over a possibly intentionally placed spiked bramble, which tore into her foot. She let out a scream of annoyed pain and fell to the ground. Moving her hands down to check her leg. Before getting back up just nearly in time for a zombie to try and pounce on her and narrowly miss, collapsing onto the patch of brambles.

She gritted her teeth and continued to run approaching the fence and moving to try and scale it immediately before the zombie could get untangled from the bramble patch in its severe lack of coordination (that all zombies seemingly possess.)

The zombie trashed and screamed with as much force as whatever rotting remnants of it's lungs allowed.

"BRAAINS!!!! BRAINS!!!!" It roared as it tried to stagger through the bramble. The thorns ripping at it's decomposing flesh, revealing bone and muscle tissue. But the creature didn't care about that. It was interested in the potential meal before it. "GGRAAAAAAAGHHHHH!!!!!" Having reached the fence however, Carrol would notice something, or well, somethings standing at the top of it waiting for her. Whatever force animated Carnevil, it didn't seem keen on letting it's guests leave!

*skritch-skritch*

Coming to the top of the fence, Carrol would come eyes to six spiders glowering back at her.

...Then, they leaped!


Lord Moldoma
~~~

As she inspected it she caught a glimpse of something in the mirror’s reflection. Behind her, which was where the exit was situated and where she had planned to escape from, a child that looked about the same age as her was cowering in fear, as something Tiffany could only describe as a “monster” inched closer towards the child, its eyes glowing red. Before she could react, the monster had grabbed the child by the head and bitten a chunk out of their face, dark red blood gushing everywhere. She wanted to let out a scream but all that came out was a small whimper. Unfortunately, that was enough to gain the monster’s attention, its blood-hungry eyes glistening in the mirror’s reflection. She gasped and quickly got up to her feet as tears began streaming down her cheeks. Without even looking back, Tiffany ran as fast as she could towards the zoo. Being an animal lover, it was the next best thing she could think of, seeing as though the exits were... Occupied.

---

<- GO TO THE ZOO

The zoo looked to be in a complete state of disrepair. Graffitti across the walls, lights flickering overhead if they worked at all. There was no staff or keepers nearby and the petting zoo seemed to be mostly abandoned. Apart from some strange adult-sized eggs in a nest right in the center of the field. One twitched but otherwise they sat dormant and next to the entrance to the zoo? There was a food truck with [FUNNEL CAKES] written across it in big neon letters! Sliding open the window on the side of the truck, a figure leaned out the window towards Tiffany.

"Hey kid! You got a mommy or a daddy??"

The figure was dressed like any other typical fast food worker. He even sounded like one too, a real dork if one was being honest.



"If not then scram unless you got some dough! This ain't a charity!!! Beat it! Vamoose! Andale!!!" The creature mocked, spitting as it talked what with the whole lack of a lower jaw and all. Following Tiffany's line of the sight, the teen-like creature pointed towards the eggs in the petting zoo. "Ohhhh! I get what you're going for kid! What?? You want me to make you a dino omlette or somethin?? Go and get it if you're so hungry! I ain't your mama! Better yet..."

Two more identical looking workers came out of the back of the truck and moved to grab Tiffany by both of her arms.

"We'll give you a helping hand! Hahaha!"

Throwing the child into the pen, the eggs would start to rumble and crack and Tiffany would hear a LOUD growl escaping from inside them.

"Look at her! 10 bucks she pees her pants!!" "She's not wearing pants, doofus! It's a skirt!" "Shut up! Who died and made you the pants expert??" As the workers continued to argue, one of the eggs fully erupted and just as the teen monster had explained, it was an actual dinosaur!

Well.

If dinosaurs had bloody sores, rotting flesh, and razor sharp teeth. Okay, the last one sounded rather normal but the other ones?



Not so much.

"GRRRRRRRRR!!!"

The dinosaur bellowed as it took a swipe at Tiffany with it's claws, narrowly missing and instead smashing apart some of the wooden beams holding the pen together. Diseased looking the creature might have been, it was still a newborn. But one might have doubts it'd miss twice if Tiffany stayed in place!

"Yeah! Get her, Carnie!" "Hahaha! Cleanup on Aisle 7! I think I saw her pee her pants!!" "Skirt, idiot! Skirt!!"

What would Tiffany do??

<-TRY TO FIGHT?
<-TRY TO ESCAPE THE PEN AND FLEE DEEPER INTO THE ZOO
<-TRY TO ESCAPE AND FIGHT THE WORKERS

Bambiholic

~~~



"Haunted house! Take me to the Haunted House!" The Kid shouted and Umlaut giggled with devious glee! "ACCEPTED! Now what about you, my fine sir! I'd choose carefully for this might be your last day on planet Earth-"

Umlaut stopped as Larry pointed his pistol at him, pressing it right up against the Jester's nose.

"...Haunted house....Wherever...Just get me out of here. Now!"

"Hmph! No sense of fun these days! Alright then! Welcome to the Haunted House! Meet a ghoul who lost her head! If you'd like to stay and join us, you're more than welcome! Alive OR DEAD! HAHAHAHA!" Just then both Larry, the Kid, and anyone else who desired to go to the Haunted House found themselves pulled of their feet and roughly deposited right at the porchsteps of the decrepit old mansion. The Kid whined and groaned on the floor. Larry was a bit more vocal having been shot and all. "Ow! Fuck! Fuck!!!"

Pushing himself up to his feet, he looked up and saw a neon sign hanging overhead.

[HAUNTED HOUSE]

"clever." He grumbled as he kicked open the front door and was damn near instantly attacked by a group of zombies for his trouble. Some of them wearing party hats! Festive! One swung a cleaver and cut a gash across Larry's back. "Ow!!!" Shooting the zombie right in the head, it's head cracked open like a ripe watermelon as it fell to the ground, blood spilling out across the floor with pieces of brain floating in it like salsa.

The Kid didn't know why or how this guy was carrying a gun. Unless maybe he was some kind of undercover cop but then what had been doing in the cemetary to begin with?? Being pulled to his feet by Larry, the Kid decided to point out the obvious. "U-Um, mister...I hate to be the bearer of bad news but you're bleeding! Like a lot!"

"Yeah, thanks Einstein. Maybe if YOU hadn't done whatever you did, this wouldn't be happening!" Grabbing the Kid by the collar of his jacket, Larry shoved-tossed him inside the house as more and more zombies started to surge towards the front of the house. "BRAINS....BRAINSSSSSS!"

"Get in! Hey, kid!! You too!" Larry called out to Petey, only for his eyes to widen as he aimed the gun...at what looked like the child himself! "Get down!"
If Petey failed to listen, maybe the hissing behind him would have been a good enough clue. If he deigned to look over his shoulder, he'd see a skeletal spectre looming behind him, it's hands held out to try and throttle the poor boy.

What would Petey do?

<-TRY TO FIGHT OFF THE GOOL HIMSELF?
<-GET DOWN AS LARRY INSTRUCTED

He'd have to hurry! There were at least 50 zombies shambling towards the house....

Paroe

 

[Lord Moldoma]

"Is there... Anything outside of that mist?" Beaut asked. Approaching the mist entrancedly. She was always a weird kid, so maybe it was in character for her to suddenly take to entering whatever was behind the mist, or at least try. She couldn't be certain that the wall was solid. Could she? She reached her hand out just to check. Not the hand that was keeping her steak-knife safe, of course. The other one, her left hand.

---

On the other hand, as Carrol was immediately accosted by the spiders, she let out an angry. "Step off!" And threw the first of the six spiders, into the brambles on top of the zombie, hoping to see if it would take the bait and refocus its attention.

She moved to take out her switchblade and cut into one of the spiders, slicing it in half, its carapice providing little defense against the hardened steel, the others however managed to overwhelm her and pin her to the ground, leaving her essentially weighed down by 4 dog-or-cat sized spiders, struggling futilely against their combined mass.

She liked spiders but this was pushing it. She had to hope they wouldn't bind her up in webbing all vulnerable like, and carry her into the mists to put eggs in her, as some spiders tend to do, and would just bite her instead. Being carried off into the night by a bunch of giant arachnids was not on her bucket list.

 

[Bambiholic]

Tiffany ran into the zoo as fast as she could, only slowing down when there was no sign of what had been chasing her. When she eventually felt safe enough to slow down and take in her surroundings completely, her horrified expression turned into that of a confused one. The place barely looked like a zoo at all! There were no cute and cuddly animals nor were there parents with children to run to for protection. She started to hug her arms close to her body - not to warm herself up but to try to comfort herself desperately in this bizarre situation. Tiffany's eyes eventually landed on what appeared to be eggs but were far too large to be. "Those can’t be from chickens.." she said under her breath, wiping the tears from earlier off her face.

Just as she was about to investigate the strange-looking eggs further, a figure leaned out of a food truck nearby, calling out to her. Monsters shouldn’t be able to talk English, right? If it was a monster, how could it be communicating with her? She thought monsters could only say.. Well, something along the lines of ‘braainsss’. Tiffany cautiously approached the truck, her voice trembling as she responded, "Please, you need to help us mister, there’s-”

Before she could finish her sentence, she was interrupted by the fast-food worker mocking and taunting her with snide remarks. She looked up at it in shock, her blue eyes welling up with tears. It was then that she noticed the deteriorating state of its face. It soon became apparent to Tiffany that she wasn’t much safe here at all. She quickly glanced back over to the strange eggs in the pen, wondering what kind of disgusting creatures could be growing inside. Tiffany thought about making a run back towards the exit and trying to find her friends who she hoped were still alive out there, but two more identical-looking workers emerged from the food truck and forcefully grabbed her by the arms. Fear tightly gripped Tiffany’s body after they tossed her into the pen sadistically, her body going completely limp as the sound of the eggs rumbling and cracking surrounded her. ‘Is this.. What it feels like to be laughed at?’, Tiffany thought to herself in horror. Though she wasn’t a violent kid, she had only ever been on the giving end of bullying before - and at that moment, each time she had ever been mean to someone flashed through her mind. If she got out of this situation alive, she was sure as hell going to try being nicer to her classmates. The sound of a loud growl echoed from within one of the eggs, dragging her out of her thoughts and brutally snapping her back into reality.

If she was going to live, she needed to stop cowering and actually do something. As the workers continued their arguing, Tiffany caught sight of an oddly coloured creature emerging from one of the eggs. It was a horrifying sight, with bloody sores, decaying flesh, and menacing, razor-sharp teeth. It almost looked like one of the dinosaurs she’d learned about in class last year, only far more terrifying than she’d ever imagined. Tiffany let out a quick and pathetic squeak as she dodged the dinosaur's swipe, rolling to her side and scraping her knees in the process but at least narrowly avoiding colliding with the dinosaur’s claws. Now all she could feel was adrenaline, her heart working desperately to keep pumping blood through her veins. “Shut up! Shut up shut up shut up, you’re not real!” she screamed back at the workers after clambering to her feet. Spotting the damage done to the wooden beams during the dinosaur's attack, Tiffany mustered every ounce of courage she had left and, with a burst of adrenaline-fueled determination, she darted toward the damaged section, her small frame managing to squeeze through the opening. She knew she stood no chance of trying to slip past the monstrous workers, so instead she attempted to make a run deeper into the so-called zoo. She could worry about everything else later.​

 

[SolsticeArcanum]

It's Halloween and kids everywhere are excited about it. The costumes, candy, parties, and pranks. Well for everyone but Joe at least, he doesn't care about the candy or costumes, he definitely didn't care for the parties, if he wanted booze he'd buy it himself. He didn't care for the holiday one bit, well he does enjoy the movies that are inspired by it, but that's all. So instead of hanging around the fools and ghouls, he decided to shoot shit.

When night rose and the fell, Joe decided to have some fun. When his uncle and aunt had fallen asleep he snuck into his uncle's office and opened his safe, and what awaited Joe was his uncle's Glock 26, it's small enough to hide it on your person yet strong enough to do some damage. Joe took his uncle's Glock and 2 extra magazines filled with ammo, giving Joe 30 bullets. Tonight was an unlucky night for any bird or rodent to come across him. Joe tucked the gun in his jeans behind his back and pocketed his extra magazines, he also brought a box of Marlboros, his lighter, and 3 of switch blades, incase he wanted to skin a few rats alive and force them to be stuck in some questionable positions on some graves. He also brought the keys to his car, which he didn't mean to bring.

Joe snuck out of his uncle and aunt's house and went to the one place he thought he could find some targets and where no one would be around. Much to Joe's dismay a hay ride going through the cemetery, and he couldn't find anything. Joe just watched and waited for the hay ride to leave but then a red hoodie kid and a few others, most likely his friends, hopped off and ran to one of the graves. Joe couldn't see much other than the kid with the red hood messing with a grave, not bad of an idea for a kid other than having several witnesses. BANG! Some sort of explosion went off and the kid was sent flying back. After what kid did the cemetery was replaced by some kind of circus.

A knight appeared from somewhere and was... laughing? And then not long later a horde of zombies show up. The zombies begun to delimb men, women, and children, people were in fear and running from the horde. Yet Joe was scared or running; he was in awe, blush covered his face, the tormented screams and gore made him beyond excited. The screams of these people were like beautiful symphonies to Joe's ears, to him no sound in the world could be better than this. Joe had to gather himself for a moment, as a zombie seemed to make it's way to him. Joe smiled and stared as the zombie got closer, when the zombie got into an arms length to Joe he took out one of his switchblades and stuck it right into the side of the zombie's head. He took the blade out then pushed the zombie on its back. Joe saw some kind of food truck in the distance and was feeling kind of hungry. Joe calmly walked over to it and took out his wallet and pulled out 5 bucks preparing to buy something, he'd close his wallet and pocket it.

Joe is going to the Zoo.

 

[MidwayLives]

"Is there... Anything outside of that mist?" Beaut asked. Approaching the mist entrancedly. She was always a weird kid, so maybe it was in character for her to suddenly take to entering whatever was behind the mist, or at least try. She couldn't be certain that the wall was solid. Could she? She reached her hand out just to check. Not the hand that was keeping her steak-knife safe, of course. The other one, her left hand.

"Beaut, don't!-"
*SHUNK*

Ophelia had reached out towards the child. Beaut wasn't perfect by any means and that was fine. This world was shitty enough without society trying to force people to conform to what's EXPECTED of them rather than what they CHOSE to be. Like Ophelia didn't CHOOSE to have a sword ripping through her back and protruding from her front, the tip of the blade biting into the concrete. Even trying to draw in a breath felt absolutely impossible. The strike must have punctured one of her lungs on top of whatever else it ripped through like a thanksgiving turkey. She clutched one hand around her throat, not wanting to look down at the cold steel, stained with her own blood.

Behind her still awash with flames, the Laughing Knight threw back his head and howled in joy! "HAHAHAHAHA! NOBODY ESCAPES THE CARNIVAL UNTIL ALL'S SAID AND DONE! BUT YOU...." Grabbing a handful of Ophelia's hair and yanking her head back as she coughed up streams of blood, the Knight leered down at her, the light flickering in his helm. "YOU'LL BE HERE WITH US....FOREVER!!! HAHAHAHA!" He propped his boot on Ophelia's back and with an absolutely disrespectful kick, pulled his sword free of her body and let her body crumple in a pool of blood. Feeling her throat closing up and a cold chill running across every inch of her body, she held her fingers against the ground and forced her head to look towards Beaut who was gradually approaching the darkness. "B.....e....aut...." Glancing down and noticing that Beaut was still breathing, albeit struggling immensely to do so, the Knight lowered his boot across her head and raised the blade high.

It was then that Ophelia felt a strange voice whispering, not in her ear, but in her mind...

"You try to call out but you're too weak from bloodloss and damage to your internal organs. Your vision is growing blurry and your entire body's broken out in painful tremors. Your eyes widen as you see the shadow of the Knight's sword hanging overhead! You try to find the words to plead for him to stop! To let you and Beaut go! But in your heart of hearts, you know it's too late. The sword bites through your skull and as your eyes begin rolling back, it all goes black..."

As a bright pool of blood oozed around Ophelia's head, her body went limp and the Knight let out another uproarious cacophony of twisted laughter.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

~~~

Forced to bare witness as one of her only friends was brutally slaughtered before her very eyes, there was a hope, however slim it may have been, that whatever lay out past the fog would help! To give Beaut and anyone else a chance to escape this nightmare! As she drew closer, the child could have sworn she heard voices. None of them sounded loud enough to be considered anything more than a whisper. But if you were to judge based off sound alone, a lot of the voices didn't sound much older than you, even younger perhaps! One pair of glowing eyes settled on Beaut and watched as she held her hand out.

'you're so nice....not like the grownups...' The voice whispered, it sounded like a young girl's voice. 'my parents warned me about the cemetery but I didn't listen....I wanted to be popular...to be more than the laughingstock..." The girl whimpered, sounding as though she were choking back a sob. "But it's okay now. I can spend as much time as I want at the carnival now. Mister Tokkentakker lets all of us stay...You can stay too." A hand reached out of the fog. It was ethereal and pallid. Skin looked as though it was falling off the bone in patches. For a brief second it'd looked as though the entity was going to gently grasp Beaut's own curious hand but instead it moved further, towards Beaut's face. As it drew closer, it seemed to go right through her head and just like that, Beaut felt like she'd had a whole pack of ice cubes shoved down the back of her shirt and pants. A chill colder than any ill wind ravaged her body and flooded her mind with what appeared to be images of the past!

Of a young girl, probably around her age give or take, gently holding the hand of a younger boy, most likely her brother.



'I-I don't know, Margaret! What if all that 'Tokken...Tokk...'

'Tokkentaker, Jimmy."

"Yeah! What if it's all true?? Like Mom and Dad said! I'ld really like to get on home now. I don't wanna go to the cemetery anymore..."
Margaret stomped her foot and pulled her clearly frightened sibling past the gates of Greely Valley Cemetary. "It's nothing but a bunch of superstition, Jimmy! Are you really gonna let our folks keep you from exploring your curiosity??"
"Curiosity killed the cat, Margaret!"
"Yeah, and the cat still had 8 lives left to spare! C'mon!"
As the two continued through the cemetery, Jimmy clung to his sister's hand as though it were a life preserver. "I-I don't know why you gotta do all this anyway. Just because that bully at your school thinks Carnevil is real? I-If he's so sure, then why doesn't he come put the token in the mouth?? Why do we have to do it? What if it's all just one big prank or something, Margaret?"

"Theodore Culkin ISN'T a bully, Jimmy. He's the bee's knees! Why if it weren't for him, all these old maids and buzzards would have probably tried tearing down ol Tokkentaker's gravestone. The fact that he keeps the legend alive through word of mouth gets me all wound up! I wanna see it for myself!"

"...yeah, and who's gonna help US if we end up behind the eight ball...?" Jimmy muttered, mostly to himself, his sister was too excited to really listen. "There! I see it, Jimmy! The-the skull of a jester!" Racing towards the gravestone, she smiled from ear to ear upon seeing it. "S-Sis?? Margaret, why'd you go and do that? Why'd you let go of my hand?? You know I hate it here! Margaret??" Once again, his sister was so wrapped up in the mystique of everything that she failed to notice the groundskeeper of the cemetery off in the distance spotting the two kids messing around where they shouldn't be. "Hey! You little punks go on and get!" For years it'd been nothing but trouble having kids and teenagers running around these parts. All because of that Kraut's gravestone. If it were up to him, he'd have had it smashed years ago. But for one reason or another, the town never got around to it...

"That tears it, Margaret! We've gotta get out of here or else we're gonna end up in the big house!!" Jimmy pleaded as he shuffled awkwardly from one foot to the other. "In a minute, Jimmy! Don't get yourself all wound up!" Feeling around the gravestone, she found the very same coin that The Kid had deposited to get Carnevil all wound up in present day. "Feed it a token all shiny and new..." She raised it up to the statue's mouth and placed it in-and very nearly lost a couple of fingers as it bit down, swallowing the coin and leering at her! "HEHEHEHE!"

The statue began to break apart and the Jester's head flew off the tombstone, circling around and through the air as it went laughing all the way! "Margaret!!" Jimmy screamed and finally shaken from her amazement, Margaret turned and was horrified. There were figures grabbing at her brother. They didn't just look like your run of the mill scoundrels either. Their skin was a putrid green, bones and flesh were visible, organs spilled out onto the cobblestone, and they snarled like beasts. One grabbed at her brother's left arm, another his right, and finally a third closed it's hands around his throat. "Margare...t...Help me!!" Her brother sounded so scared, so terrified! What had she done?!

As the cemetery began to disappear, colorful tents and exhibits began to pop up in their place!

She turned her head away for a split second and saw him. None other than Tokkentaker in the flesh standing proudly above the Big Top tent.

"Is this not everything you wanted, mein dear? This is...CARNEVIL!"

Unable to help as her brother was ripped to pieces by the zombies, Margaret could only scream in terror as a familar sword dangled above her head.

"HAHAHAHAHAHA!"

*SHUNK!*

~~~

"i miss my brother....but I've made plenty of friends since then....come and see. won't you?" It was then that the figure that'd forcefully broadcasted these old memories directly into Beaut's subconscious floated out of the fog and it looked absolutely dreadful!



"WON'T YOU...?"

Thrusting a spectral hand out, it phased right through Beaut's shirt and chest. She felt a pressure in her chest. Almost as if someone was sitting directly on her sternum. She took one breath, inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale and repeat. It gets harder every time.

Then just as had been the case for Ophelia, Beaut heard a strange voice speaking directly in her mind.

"You feel the tightness only gets worse. You try to draw in more air. To get another breath out, something, anything! But it feels as though this ghost, spectre, past victim of Carnevil's machinations has got a good grip on your heart! You grow dizzy and faint. You murmur something and then it's too late. Your heart has stopped beating. Everything goes black and the last thing you hear is the Knight's chilling laughter in the distance..."

And just like that, two more lives had been claimed by Carnevil.

Or so it seemed.
~~~

You were sure that you'd died.

Whether it was a sword being driven in and out through your skull or a ghostly hand holding your heart still. You'd reached the end of your figurative and literal journey! All that was left was to shuffle on off to whatever awaited you after death.

Ophelia had been pretty sure that was the case anyhow. Until she found herself 'waking up' in some kind of tight space. It smelled like somebody had taken the fragrance of roadkill and mixed it together with the nauseating yet almost intoxicating smell of carnival junk food and sprayed it across EVERYTHING. She didn't even have a flashlight to try and make out what the hell was happening or where she was! If THIS was the afterlife then she was pretty damned pissed!

Wait.

The afterlife. Oh god...she could only hope Beaut had gotten away!

"Hello??" Ophelia called out feeling rather dumb as she did so but, hey, if she could speak after having a longsword rammed through her multiple times then why not?? Wasn't as if anything else had gone and made sense tonight! "HellO??" She tried to move around inside her tight space. It felt close and compact. Just enough room for her to lay down in and that was it. Almost as though it were a coffin. "LET ME OUT!!" Ophelia shrieked to anyone who'd hear her. A good samaritan, another survivor, or God if they existed. "I'M NOT DEAD!! ...WELL, I'M NOT SURE ABOUT THAT BUT STILL!! LET ME OUT!!!" She screamed and finally a voice called back to her.

"ok, ok. hold on, kiddo. don't go thrashing around too hard. you break something in there, could end up stabbing yourself with a splinter and bleeding out nice and slow. Won't be a fun way to go out that's for sure. I mean, not that I still have blood to know. But I did once! A long time ago-"

"LET ME OUT!!!" Ophelia repeated, not at all giving any kind of shit for this guy (if it WAS a guy, god forbid, and not some kind of hideous monster posing as one.) or his long winded BS. Beaut for her part found herself in an identical situation. Stuffed inside a coffin-sized box though more fitting for her height. "Alright! Alright. I'll get out two out of there. But it'll cost YOU extra because you went and rushed me..."

"Cost me extra-extra WHAT??"

"Eh, you'll see when I open the coffin..."

"C-Coffin??"

"Whoops! Uh, right right. Mr. Tokkentaker doesn't like us calling it that. Uhm, I meant your 'life-expiration capsules. Yeah. Those. I'll get you out of those." Ophelia didn't have much time to even PONDER any of that before pressing her back as far as she could as a shovel head wedged itself between a slight gap in the door and her totally-a-coffin and ripped it free before doing the same to Ophelia's and freeing her as well. As the door fell to the ground with a thud, Ophelia came face to face with the man who'd gone and saved her. He was sure dressed like a carnie. Only thing was though? He had glowing eye sockets just like that Knight. The one who Ophelia was still 99% sure had just killed her.

Spoiler: Larry's outfit!

https://dallasvintageshop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Photo-Jul-23-5-44-05-PM.jpg

He also had a skull for a head, no real biggie though.

"W-Who...What....ARE YOU??"

"Oh, no 'thanks for getting me out before the maggots started eating my flesh' or 'thanks for getting rid of the other corpses besides yours that were all stuffed in the same coffin.' No, no, right to personal questions. Lucky I'm in a good mood or else I'd tell you to kick rocks. You can call me Larry. Ladies, Larry. Larry, ladies. As for WHAT am I? Well, I mean, I used to have flesh on my bones just like you two. Lots of it. A full head of hair too. But I've been with Mr. Tokkentaker for so long that I've kinda left all that stuff behind. Nearly a hundred years of loyal service will do that to ya. I'm the one who digs you kiddos up when you kick the bucket on Carnevil's premises. I'm also in charge of the prizes! Well, this year anyway. I had to petition Mr. Tokkentaker hard for the position and I ain't gonna screw it up. Which by the by, you owe me." Larry held his boney hand out expectantly towards Ophelia.

"Look...um..."

"Larry."

"L-Larry. I...I don't have any money. I...I don't even know WHAT is going on. I-I..."

"hey, hey. I get it. Dying for the first time. It's a lot to take in. I remember MY first time dying. It wasn't fun at all. Got eaten alive by a giant spider. Mr. Tokkentaker restored me though. Couldn't do much about the whole being a skeleton bit but eh, beggars can't be choosers and all that. Now, that said, I ain't interested in money. I'm interested in your SOUL and I need two pieces of it. Right. Now."

Spoiler: THE WAITING ROOM

Lord Moldoma

 

[Lord Moldoma]

Beaut was quiet for a few moments, normally she was always mumbling something, but it was just a few moments before she began to laugh inside the box. “Okay! Well we at least not to go into the fog!” She says, clasping her hands together. “You can tell me upfront. Do I have a soul, mister? I didn’t figure that part out. My Ouija board is marked as a spam caller, and I’m always crying in photos, or at least everyone says I am, i don’t know what they’re on about, so I’m narrowly convinced something’s wrong with me.” She says.

“I don’t know, this seems like a win win for me! Resurrections, Adventures, scares, and at the end of it all, I get to stay here? Why would I wanna escape from that?”

Beaut is a love it or hate it type of victim for anyone with a twisted mind. Either you’re working alongside her and you love her enthusiasm, or you hate the fact that she’s not much bothered by even her own death.

Maybe that’s one of any number of issues she had, but it was impossible to deny that a girl like beaut felt more in tune with the environment of Carnevil than she ever did anywhere else.

She had almost seemingly forgotten that Ophelia was likely having serious anxiety
bouts from just being stabbed, and waking up mostly fine.

She felt herself down to see if she was still wearing clothes and had any items on her person.

 

[MidwayLives]

efore she could finish her sentence, she was interrupted by the fast-food worker mocking and taunting her with snide remarks. She looked up at it in shock, her blue eyes welling up with tears. It was then that she noticed the deteriorating state of its face. It soon became apparent to Tiffany that she wasn’t much safe here at all. She quickly glanced back over to the strange eggs in the pen, wondering what kind of disgusting creatures could be growing inside. Tiffany thought about making a run back towards the exit and trying to find her friends who she hoped were still alive out there, but two more identical-looking workers emerged from the food truck and forcefully grabbed her by the arms. Fear tightly gripped Tiffany’s body after they tossed her into the pen sadistically, her body going completely limp as the sound of the eggs rumbling and cracking surrounded her. ‘Is this.. What it feels like to be laughed at?’, Tiffany thought to herself in horror. Though she wasn’t a violent kid, she had only ever been on the giving end of bullying before - and at that moment, each time she had ever been mean to someone flashed through her mind. If she got out of this situation alive, she was sure as hell going to try being nicer to her classmates. The sound of a loud growl echoed from within one of the eggs, dragging her out of her thoughts and brutally snapping her back into reality.

"Hahaha! Scaredy cat, scaredy cat!!" The worker that Tiffany had originally bumped into, yelled over and over again. It wasn't often that Carnevil was manifested and so like HELL were they gonna pass up the opportunity to make some snot nosed little kid cry their eyes out! This was the most fun they had in like forever! Apart from when they'd dunk each other in the boiling vat of acid attached to the back of the truck anyway. Grabbing random food like pretzels and boxes of popcorn, they threw them over the fence and pelted Tiffany with them. "You big baby! Ain't you ever seen a dinosaur before??" "No moron! They went extinct, durr!" "Hey shut up, pal!" "I ain't your PAL, pizzaface!" "WHO ARE YOU CALLING, PIZZA FACE??" Then a brawl broke out amongst the teenaged monsters. Monsters or not, hormones were still a bitch.

Carnie as the denizens of the carnival had taken to affectionately call the grizzly beast, lumbered over Tiffany as drool rolled down it's teeth and dripped onto the grass. It's tail swayed from side to side as it moved towards Tiffany with an almost amicable seeming demeanor to it's sway? If you'd ever watched Barney, you could very well have compared the two! Only most children were pretty sure that Barney wouldn't actually bite their heads off. Closing it's jaws and running it's ulcer covered tongue across it's teeth, the dinosaur snarled and roared.

"GRRRRAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!"

Carnie...was....HUNGRY!

Now all she could feel was adrenaline, her heart working desperately to keep pumping blood through her veins. “Shut up! Shut up shut up shut up, you’re not real!” she screamed back at the workers after clambering to her feet. Spotting the damage done to the wooden beams during the dinosaur's attack, Tiffany mustered every ounce of courage she had left and, with a burst of adrenaline-fueled determination, she darted toward the damaged section, her small frame managing to squeeze through the opening. She knew she stood no chance of trying to slip past the monstrous workers, so instead she attempted to make a run deeper into the so-called zoo. She could worry about everything else later.

Watching as his prey escaped from him, Carnie hopped from one foot to the other (a real feat if you take into account how heavy the guy was and he was still just a baby!) and barreled through the fencing as though it hadn't even been there. Bits of wood and nails flew through the hair. One particular length of wood nailed one of the workers right in the head causing him to stumble back and scream as blood started running down his face in streaks. "OH CRAP!" He squealed as one of his comrades grabbed the end of the board and gave it a sharp tug!

*RIIIIIP*
And pulled his friend's face off in the process. Looking back at the face hanging from the nail like the top off a pizza, and then back at his now faceless pal, the mutilated worker held his hands up. "Soooo, how do I look?"

"Uhhh...."
"YOU DOLTS! THE KID!! SHE'S GETTING AWAY!!"
"I AIN'T NO DOLT!"
"YOU AIN'T GOT NO FACE, NEITHA SUCKAH!"

Sheepishly grabbing his face, the worker just tried to lazily press it against his exposed muscle. "um, anyone got staples?"

"GO GET THE KID!"

Grabbing a chicken leg for the road, the three Guilloteens started to run after Tiffany with Carnie in the lead. Only for one of them to come to a screeching halt, nearly tripping over and falling on his rear end as he heard another pair of footsteps. Looking over his shoulder, he saw Joe approaching and snickered. "Hey! You two go on ahead! I think I'm gonna go ahead and mess with THIS kid!" Joe's guns hadn't gone unnoticed by the other two Guilloteens but they decided to leave their buddy out of the loop. It'd be more fun this way. "Yeah, sure thing!" "Knock em dad, buddy!" As the two continued on, they couldn't help but laugh their undead asses off! Holding a turkey leg in one hand and his face in the other, the sole Guilloteen shrugged his shoulders. "What are THEY laughin about...?"

As Joe finally got close enough, the fast-food worker backflipped onto the counter of his food truck. "Hey! You! Yeah you, scumbag! Get a load of THIS!"

"Hahahahaha!"

SolsticeArcanum

~~~

As Tiffany continued further into the depths of the zoo, she'd find that the place looked like it'd been outright abandoned and left to fall into disarray over the years, or centuries give or take! Tokkentaker hadn't been thrilled by the idea of adding a 'zoo' area to Carnevil in the first place. Animals were inherently filthy! How could someone in good faith bring their children here and feel comfortable getting food if it was being made just a few feet away from where some disgusting bear was rolling around in it's own filth? Before his death and Carnevil's destruction, Tokkentaker had gotten complaints in the local press about the welfare of the animals Carnevil utilized. There were even rumors of him splicing together monkeys and spiders!

Even as the rest of Carnevil was bright and in your face, the Zoo was the complete opposite. Barely any of the lights worked and no workers could be seen. Most of the cages were empty or at least there was usually little more than skeletons scattered across the floor. It wasn't until Tiffany made her way deep inside that she could hear another person's voice. "Pl...Please! Someone! Anyone! Help meeeeee!" The voice shrieked and screamed! "I think she went down this way!!" 'Duhh! It's not like she could have gotten too far, idiot! She's only got two legs!" "So do we and I'm bushed! Can we take a break??" "SHUT UP!!"

"GRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!"

The workers and the beast were getting closer and closer.. But then again, Tiffany had issues closer to home!

"GRRRROOOAAAAOWWWWWW!!"

Spoiler: Leo The Lion

*THUD THUD!!*



The sound of something HEAVY slamming against metal likely caught the teenager's attention, at least in the intermittent. A man, or well, men that Tiffany could only have assumed to be more creatures spawned from the depths of Carnevil stood next to the entrance of a cell holding in what could only have been described as a zombie lion! Maggots fell out of the lion's filthy mane, some of said maggots looking as though they possessed human faces! Glaring and squirming as they fell on the ground at the beast's feet. The worker had a bucket full of guts and gore with a friendly looking 'ANIMAL FOOD ' written on it in bright red that he'd sat inside the lion's cell. The other hand held a nail-studded baseball bat with a fresh sheen of crimson dripping off the nails. The man looked at Tiffany, both of them did.



"Ohoho, hey there, hi hi...uhuhuhuh....I'm Flapjack...uhwooohoho..." The top head laughed warmly before looking back at the lion. The zombified creature had completely neglected it's meal bucket and instead stared straight past the bars at Tiffany. "Ohohoho yeah, it's feeding time. Feedin time hehehe..." The bottom half of the self-proclaimed 'Flapjack' began moving towards Tiffany, swinging the bat wildly as he went! "Gonna have to bash your head in, sorry, hahaha." While getting her head bashed in and fed to a zombie lion didn't sound like fun, getting bullied and THEN fed to a diseased looking dinosaur mascot didn't sound like a treat either!

But, maybe there was a third option that Tiffany could take? If she managed to get close enough to that cell door and figured out a way past the lock? Well, maybe she could pray and pray that the lion wouldn't eat HER first...

Bambiholic

 

[SolsticeArcanum]

As Joe got up to the food truck he begun to speak, “Hey, could I get a fu—“ Joe abruptly stopped mid-sentence. He didn’t stop because he saw a zombie running the food truck, but because that zombie flashed his ass at him. Joe’s face went deadpan. He pocketed his money, took out his Glock, and walked up to the zombie teen. Joe held the gun by its slide and started beating the shit out of the teens face with the butt of his gun (pistol whipping them).

“You. Piece. Of. Shit.” Joe took a deep breath after he said each word. Joe just continued to slam the butt of the gun into his face repeatedly until the zombie teen’s face was fully caved in and was a completely mushy mess. Joe took a few deep breaths before stomping his foot down on the demolished face of the teen a single time. He would twist his foot on the remains of his face. “Bastard.”

 

[Bambiholic]

Tiffany ❜ ─ 𝘵𝘩𝘦 spoiled brat ─ ❛
mentions: some monsters ; location: deep inside the zoo
tldr: tiffany ends up barricading herself inside an empty cage

The eleven-year-old ran and ran as fast as she possibly could, not sparing any time to take in her dim and decrepit surroundings. If she had looked down even for a second, maybe she would have noticed that the mess she had been hopping over occasionally to avoid tripping over had been long-dead carcasses and bones. She had spent too much of today running, and despite being young and very fast, she felt her legs finally beginning to ache as her lungs begged her for a break too.

She heard what sounded like another person’s voice further into the zoo calling out for help and, without considering that it could give away her location, she called out desperately in response. “Hellooo?!” she yelled back at the unknown person. “Where are youu?!” She added. All she wanted, besides this nightmare to be over, was to not be alone anymore. She continued to run further, hoping to find the owner of the distressed voice, but as soon as she heard the ominous loud thudding sound it was too late.

She had come across the conjoined men, the sight of them causing her to stop in her tracks so hard that she almost lost balance. She gasped audibly but then quickly covered her mouth with both of her hands - her parents had always told her not to gawk at those with visible disabilities, and she’d briefly heard of conjoined twins before in class, so she didn’t want to offend them on the off-chance they were victims like she was. The men were standing beside what appeared to be a dead and decaying lion, only... It definitely wasn’t dead. Just what on earth did they do to the animals here?

“..F-Flapjack?” Tiffany repeated sheepishly, still unsure if the men were friendly or not. She was too overwhelmed to remember if the man’s voice matched the voice she had heard earlier, but her uncertainty was soon made very clear when they started swinging the bloody bat in her direction and walking towards her, not to mention the threatening to ‘bash her head in’. The child was a total scaredy-cat and had only survived this long by fleeing at every given opportunity - there was no way she was brave or smart enough to open the lion’s cage and use it to her advantage - not yet, anyway.

She couldn’t run back the way she had come because that way she would meet a similar fate with the disease-ridden dinosaur. It was then that she finally scanned her surroundings, desperate to find a way to survive even for just a few moments longer. Most of the cages there were open and empty which perhaps was the only good thing about the zoo being in the abandoned state that it was. “Leave me ALONE!!!” she shrieked before beelining it for one of the empty cages. Of course, there was no way she could lock the cage from the inside the conventional way, so she grabbed the longest bone she could find on the floor and weaved it through the bars of the door and the bars of the cage, creating a makeshift barricade.

She didn’t know how long it would hold for or if it would even hold at all, but she grabbed another longer bone and did the same, this time jamming it through the inside handle and the bars of the cage before finally collapsing on her behind and backing away until she was as far from the cage’s door as possible. Tiffany brought her knees up to her chest and hugged them. “STAY AWAY FROM ME!!” she screamed at the top of her lungs, her body beginning to shake as the adrenaline wore off. One thing for sure was that she no longer had anywhere to run. Unless someone came along to save her, which was highly unlikely, she was at a complete dead end and likely wouldn’t get out of the cage alive.

coded by archangel_