Free Carnival of Death by Carnival of Death (v5.0) (mobi)

amusing.
    “Jerry,” Matt said. “You don’t have to do this.”
    Jerry smiled and a couple of his teeth fell out. He took the stake by the tip and threw it at Matt like a knife.
    Matt swatted it aside with the ax. It clanged against the blade and dropped to the ground. Matt got a fresh grip on the ax handle and moved in. Jerry didn’t even try to defend himself as Matt brought the ax down and split his head. Grayish goo spilled out, and Jerry tumbled forward.
    Gloria gagged, and Matt took her arm. Blood trickled down her neck onto her robes. She took a handkerchief from a pocket and held it to her throat to stop the bleeding.
    “I told you it would be bad,” he said.
    “I knew it would be,” Gloria said. “I just didn’t know how bad.”
    “It might just be getting started,” Matt said.
    “It is,” she said. “When Serena had her arm around me, I saw something. I saw the Ferris wheel.”
    “What about it?” Matt asked.
    “People are going to die.”

CHAPTER TWELVE
    Sue Jean and Earl met at the entrance to the carnival just as the first fleeing patrons were leaving.
    “Hey, Earl,” Sue Jean said, ignoring the screams and panic around them. She found that she had nothing against Earl after all. “How’s it hangin’?”
    “Better than last night,” Earl said, who wasn’t pissed off at her anymore. “You ready to have some fun?”
    “That’s what I’m here for, but it better be the right kind of fun.”
    “Oh, it is,” Earl said with a grin. “It is.” He showed her the pistol. “See what I mean?”
    “A pistol? Is that all?”
    “It’s enough,” Earl said. “Watch this.”
    He fired the pistol at a man who was running along with a child in his arms. The bullet hit the man in the knee. He screamed, dropped the child, and fell to the ground clutching his knee. Blood seeped between his fingers.
    Sue Jean shrugged. “Is that all?”
    “No way,” Earl said. “I think we can really fuck this place up. You gonna come along or not?”
    “Why not?” Sue Jean said, and they strolled through the crowd as if it didn’t exist. Earl reached out and took Sue Jean’s hand. She smiled at him. “You really think we can do some damage?”
    “You just wait,” Earl said. “You’ll see.”

    The carnival was so noisy, full of music and bells and shrieks and pops, and the crowd so large and dense, that the bloodbath at the ringtoss and the shooting at the entry had gone largely unheard and unnoticed. The shots had been drowned out and the horrified screams blended into those from the rides. Word of the shootings and deaths had yet to sweep through attendees, but the panic was certainly spreading and soon it would be pandemonium.
    Matt and Gloria were heading toward the back of the park, where the Ferris wheel and most of the other rides were, when he saw Sue Jean and Earl, thirty yards away, passing through the crowd like two salmon swimming upstream.
    Even from a distance, Matt could see the swarm of blowflies following them.
    They were walking dead.
    He pointed them out to Gloria. “See those two?”
    “Yes,” she said. “They’re death.”
    And moving toward the rides.
    He headed after them and Gloria followed. But it wasn’t easy. People eager to get to the rides themselves bumped them, shoved them, and cursed them for trying to get ahead.
    Nobody seemed to notice Matt’s ax or the blood that was dripping from the blade onto the dirt.
     
    Earl and Sue Jean reached the rides. The carousel music was “In the Good Old Summertime,” and people were smiling and having a good time, completely unaware of what was happening at the other end of the carnival.
    The Ferris wheel creaked in its circle, the cars swaying, some more than others as the occupants tried to scare each other.
    Small airplanes swung out from their center pole at the ends of strong chains, each plane holding a couple of happy kids.
    Earl felt power surge through him, as if he were hooked up to the big generator that sent