Clowns on Parade Read online

  Johnny scooped up the cattle prod dropped by the man with the overalls and jammed it into the clowns stomach. A gash opened in its stomach and it leaned back, slumping onto its knees. Tentacles writhed out of the gash then fell limp.

  “What was that?” shouted Johnny.

  “I've seen something like that before,” said Jason.

  “You have?”

  “Yeah. At the fairgrounds.” Jason snapped his fingers. “In fact, it reminds me of something that would happen in a movie.”

  “Are you sure?” asked Johnny.

  Jason looked at him levelly. “I've been going to church.”

  “Okay,” replied Johnny with a sheepish smile.

  “We should check it out.”

  They walked a ways towards the fairgrounds and came across a car crashed into a light pole. Its doors were open but it was empty. They found the keys were still in the ignition. Johnny sat in the driver's seat and gave the key a turn. The engine sputtered then roared to life. “Get in,” he said.

  Jason climbed into the passenger side and they shut the doors, backed the car up, then drove it down the road.

  Chapter 13

  The car rattled up to the open gates of the fairgrounds and stopped. Jason and Johnny climbed out, retrieving the backpack, shotgun, and bat.

  “Where to next?” asked Johnny.

  Jason scanned the area. “It was over here. A small tent,” he said, indicating with a finger.

  They moved across the short grass in the general direction Jason thought the tent was in. Part-way there a shape stepped into their path. “Hey, hey you kids!” it said.

  Jason paused, putting a hand on Johnny's arm to stop him. “Hello?” he said.

  The figure stepped into the irregular lights of the fairgrounds. It was a man with scraggly gray hair and a short trimmed beard, wearing a flannel shirt and jeans. “What are you doing here?” he asked, words slurred together.

  “We're looking for something. Who are you?” said Jason.

  “I'm Bob, the groundskeeper.” He belched lightly. “'Scuse me.”

  Jason wrinkled his nose. “You been drinking?”

  “Not lately. It's been at least, at least a couple minutes. I'm all out.”

  “Well, we have to go,” said Jason as he began moving away.

  “Oh no, you kids can't go in there. It's dangerous! Hasn't, haven't you kids seen what's going on?”

  “We have to go, there's something we need to check out,” said Jason.

  “I can't letcha.”

  Johnny started raising the barrel of his shotgun. Jason pushed it back down. “We can't solve every problem that way,” he said.

  “Sorry,” said Johnny. “I guess I was just kinda getting used to it.” He turned to the man. “If you let us through, I'm sure my parents would be very grateful. In fact, they might even buy you some booze.”

  The man's eyes lit up and he smacked his lips. “You don't say?” Johnny nodded. “Then,” said the man, “don't just stand around here.” He took a step back and waved them on while bowing.

  Jason and Johnny hurried onward. “See?” said Jason. “There's more than one way to solve a problem.” A clown leaped in front of them and Johnny blasted it. “But sometimes that works too.”

  Soon Jason spotted the small tent. “There it is,” he said, pointing. Moving as quietly as they could they slipped into the tent. The green lights were still on, illuminating the jars on their circular shelves. Everything was as Jason had left it.

  All but one jar.

  The top had burst off. Twitching tentacles spilled from its mouth, down the shelves and around the other jars. Inside the jar the tentacles massed around what looked like a large, throbbing brain. Johnny gasped. “Eww,” he said. “That looks like Miss Ecklesten.” The math teacher.

  “That wasn't that big when I was here before,” said Jason. A few of the tentacles wavered in the air then began reaching for them. Jason smacked the tentacles with his bat and they reared back and a hissing came from the jar. The tentacles began moving towards them again, more rapidly this time.

  Jason swung his bat hard, smashing the jar. A wail went up from the tentacled mass while a low keening sounded from outside. The mass flopped onto the floor where it rolled slightly from side to side in the broken pieces of glass, then raised up on a few of the tentacles. A rustling behind them made them glance around. At the tent flap two clowns were pushing their way in.

  Jason pointed at the mass. “Shoot it!”

  Johnny shot. The wail sounded again and the mass leaked a black ichor. The clowns stumbled and doubled over. Jason knocked one of them to the ground with his bat while Johnny reloaded and fired again. The mass crumpled, all its tentacles going limp. The clown on the floor stopped moving while the one standing fell and joined it. All was quiet.

  The bodies of the clowns began to deflate and flatten, releasing a stink into the air. Johnny sniffed and looked at Jason. “It's not me, it's them!” said Jason. They carefully stepped over the prostrate stinking clowns and out of the tent, back into the night.

  Jason sighed and Johnny shook his head. They walked slowly back through the fairgrounds towards the parking lot. Jason rubbed his shoulder where it had gone sore from swinging the bat. “Hey look,” he said, pointing up. “The stars are coming back.”

  Flickering points of light began appearing in the sky. The moon loomed large, as though pushing up through a mist. Yet strangely, a large patch of sky remained dark.

  A deep, trembling cry shook the ground, causing the lights mounted on posts about the fairgrounds to flicker. A tendril of darkness unfurled and began moving toward the tents. Jason and Johnny ran, covering the last few feet to the parking lot. They jumped in the car and sped away.

  A few blocks later they pulled over to the side of the road and stopped, getting out of the car to look. The tendril of darkness plunged into the fairgrounds again and again, tearing the tents from their posts and churning the earth. A new roar filled the air and they looked up, seeing the distinctive light patterns of jets flying in formation. Lights streaked from the leading pair of jets then they pulled up, followed by streaks from the second pair which then pulled up, each pair doing the same until all the jets had fired their missiles.

  Detonations bloomed inside the cloud, showing strange writhing shapes wrapped in the floating mists. The jets reformed and made another run. A tendril snaked out and touched the lead jet as it let off its second payload. It wrapped around the jet and pulled it into the darkness.

  The other jets fired off their missiles and veered away. Again the cloud lit from the inside. It seemed to slowly slide sideways, as if listing, then it began falling, moving faster and faster. Before it hit the ground, it evaporated, clearing as though the mist had encountered the bright rays of the sun.

  The ground shook slightly beneath their feet and a rumbling clanking came from down the street. They looked and saw a tank flanked by jeeps with mounted spotlights coming down the road. As the procession passed some of the men in the jeeps smiled and waved.

  Jason and Johnny got back in the car and started driving for Jason's house. The ground and roads were littered with the bodies of clowns. Small groups of people were wandering around. Johnny pointed at one group and said, “Hey look! It's my parents!” He pulled up and his parents got in the back seat.

  “Hi son. Who's car is this?” asked his dad.

  “Johnny are you okay? Hi Jason,” said his mom.

  “Hi Mr. and Mrs. Clapper,” said Jason. Mr. Clapper patted Jason on the shoulder.

  “Yeah we're fine. I don't know who's car this is. We just found it. Where were you guys,” said Johnny.

  “We were evacuated to the school when all this started.”

  “Why the school?” asked Jason.

  “Because nothing ever wants to go there, so it seemed like the safest place,” said Johnny's dad.

  “
Let's get Jason home then get home ourselves,” said Johnny's mom.

  Johnny pulled the car back out into the road.

  Chapter 14

  Jason lay on his bed, all the lights on in the house. He had just taken a shower and was trying to relax. The phone by his bed rang and he jumped. After everything being so quiet, it was strange to hear noise again. He answered the phone. “Hello?”

  “Hi Jason!”

  “Hi Dad.”

  “Your mom's here too. How was your day?”

  “Oh, you know,” said Jason.

  “Did you clean your room?”

  ###

  About the Author

  Salubrious Farlight hails from another planet, in another star system. He's a galactic traveler that's gained many stories from throughout the cosmos. He's found Earth pleasing in a backwards sort of way and has decided to stay and share his stories. You can connect with him on Twitter at @SFarlight or at his website https://thecosmicwriter.blogspot.com. You can also find him on Google+, if you look hard enough.