Escape from Happytown (April Almighty Book 3) Read online

  Escape from Happytown

  Tim Miller

  Copyright © 2015 Tim Miller

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

  Cover photo by Katelyn Elizabeth Oliver

  Cover Model: Meghan Chadeayne

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright Page

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Also by Tim Miller | About the Author

  Prologue

  April woke up in someone’s bed, alone. She looked around and assessed the room. It had flowery wallpaper and a large vanity in the corner. Sitting up, she was still in her bra and shorts and still bloody, though the blood had dried into a brown crust on her skin. She climbed out of the bed and opened the door. In the hallway, she heard a TV coming from another room. She walked into the living room to see an old woman sitting on a couch, with several children sitting around playing.

  The kids had all been cleaned up and were wearing different clothes. The woman looked up at her.

  “Oh! You’re awake!” she said.

  “Where am I?”

  “I’m Mrs. Reynolds. You’re in my home. Coy brought you here.”

  “Where is Coy?”

  “He’s out tending to some things. You slept a long time,” Mrs. Reynolds said.

  “How long?”

  “About two days. I’m cooking dinner right now. Got a nice roast in the oven. Why don’t you get cleaned up and dinner will be ready. You could use it I’m sure. Coy said you’d really been through the ringer.”

  “Yeah, I have.” Though the whole incident at the Funhouse felt like a crazy dream, but it had been all too real. “Where is Coy?” Coy had been the one to drag her and her friends to the Funhouse, but he went back to help her escape. He was too late for any of her friends though.

  “He had to go take care of some things. There’s clothes in the closet there that should fit you. Some of my daughter’s clothes. Get you out of those rags.”

  “Yeah. Thank you,” April said as she headed back to the bedroom. She undressed and climbed into the shower. Blood ran down the drain as it washed off her. She washed her hair and body until all the blood and dirt was gone. Once she was clean, she stepped out and wrapped a towel around herself. After the shower, she felt like a new person. Looking at herself in the mirror, she brushed her black hair and found some women’s jeans and a t-shirt in the closet.

  Once she was dressed she headed back to the living room but followed the smell into the dining room. There was Mrs. Reynolds seated at the table with the children seated around, some were in booster seats.

  “There you are! You look so pretty!” Mrs. Reynolds said.

  “Thank you,” April said. Looking at her plate, there was some cut up roast, steamed broccoli, mashed potatoes and a can of Diet Coke.

  “You’re probably pretty hungry.”

  “Starving,” April said.

  “Well don’t wait around. You need your strength. Go ahead and eat, dear.”

  April sat down and dug into the roast. Each bite was juicy and tender. It was cooked to perfection. She scarfed down the meat, the potatoes, and broccoli and washed it all down with the Diet Coke. She sat the can down and looked up at Mrs. Reynolds.

  “Wow, you were hungry,” the old woman said.

  “Yeah, I guess I was.”

  “How was it, dear?”

  “Oh it was great. Thank you.”

  “Oh good. I’m so glad. My daughter always loved my roast.”

  “Yeah. Where is your daughter anyway? Does she still live around here?”

  “No. I’m afraid not,” Mrs. Reynolds said, setting her fork down.

  “She move away?” April asked.

  “No. You killed her you little cunt.”

  No sooner did Mrs. Reynolds speak when April began to feel lightheaded. At first just a little, but suddenly the room began to spin. She tried to stand, but stumbled to the floor, trying to hold herself up against the table.

  “How’d you like them roofies, bitch?” Mrs. Reynolds said as she came around the table, standing over April. “My daughter went out there to help save you and your friends. I told her not to go, but she wanted to help. Always was a tomboy. Well you cut her in half with that goddamn chainsaw. Couldn’t just kill the clowns. You had to kill everyone. My daughter, my friends. Now there’s just a few of us left in this town.” She paused to give April a feeble kick in the side. “Everyone in this town isn’t bad! We’re not murderers! You saw those clowns and what they could do. You think we liked them lording over us for all these years? You think we enjoyed grabbing travelers and their kids and forcing them into that place? The few times one of us didn’t do it, we disappeared. No thank you.”

  “You really thought I was gonna take care of you? You’re not nearly as smart as Coy thought. Though he always was kinda slow. How you feelin? Got the spins yet?”

  The woman kept talking, but April couldn’t tell what she was saying. It all turned to gibberish as things kept spinning faster and faster until everything went dark. Right before she passed out, she wished she had killed Coy.

  Chapter 1

  April awoke, her vision foggy as her head pounded a thumping pain as if a little man with a sledge hammer were standing inside her skull bashing away. As her wits came about her, she tried to rub her head but couldn’t move her hands. They were suspended above her, tied around a beam with plastic zip ties. Looking around, she realized she was in a barn and completely naked.

  “Oh fuck. Not again,” she muttered as she took in the situation. Her life had descended into an ongoing nightmare. She’d seen and done things in the past couple years that most would need decades of therapy in order to recover. She struggled against her bindings as much as she could, but they cut into her wrists which were already bleeding.

  It was then and there she decided she would kill Coy. Not just kill him, but brutalize him in the most horrific ways she could think of. How stupid of her to trust that redneck asshole. He was the whole reason they’d ended up in the Funhouse to begin with. Fucking redneck goatfucker.

  “Oh look! You’re finally awake, huh bitch?” a girl said from the doorway. She came inside glaring at April. The girl was rail thin, with long, blonde hair and wearing a t-shirt and shorts that were both way too small.

  “Who the fuck are you?” April asked.

  The girl walked up to her, looked her up and down before slapping her across the face. The slap stung and her eyes watered while her cheek throbbed.

  “You’re gonna learn some respect you fucking cunt! You killed my whole family. You think you can just come in here with your big tits and tight ass and destroy our way of life?”

  “Yo
ur ‘family’ forced us into that fucking Funhouse from hell. So yeah, I killed whoever I had to in order to survive. All my friends were murdered in there!” April said.

  “Fuck you and your friends,” the girl said and punched her in the stomach. The blow took the wind from April as she tried to double over, gasping for air. “Fucking hurts don’t it! My name is Candi Jean. I want you to remember that so you’ll know who fucking killed you.”

  “Where’s Coy and Mrs. Reynolds?” April asked.

  “Mrs. Reynolds is busy. Coy, you won’t see him again. He told me about your little mind trick. I was willing to bet it don’t work on girls. Am I right?”

  April looked down, refusing to reply.

  “Ha! I knew it! Good. So don’t expect to see him or any other guys you can fuck with anytime soon. Yeah you’re pretty and have a bangin’ body, but you won’t be once I’m finished with you.”

  “I’m going to kill you with my bare hands,” April said. “And make sure you feel every second of it.”

  “Yeah, good luck with that bitch,” Candi Jean said as she turned and walked toward the door. “I’ll be back soon. So don’t go nowhere.” She laughed as she disappeared through the door and slammed it shut.

  Fucking cunt. April couldn’t help but wonder how and why she always ended up with these crazy ass rednecks. She swore if she made it out of there, she was never leaving Austin again, and probably not even her house. Being a hermit was much safer than this chaos. Her face still stung from the slap. For a little skinny chick that girl was strong.

  For the next hour at least April tried to distract herself from whatever was about to happen to her. She had escaped much worse situations, so no reason she couldn’t get out this time. Unless of course they just up and killed her, which she doubted. Finally Candi Jean came walking back in, looking as smug as she had earlier.

  “You ready to play bitch?” Candi Jean said.

  “Sure. Untie me and we can play real good.”

  “Nice try, but I don’t think so. You’re fine where you are. So tell me. How does this little trick of yours work? The jacking guys off with your brain? You learn that or something?”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” April said.

  Candi Jean slapped her across the other side of her face.

  “Don’t play dumb with me you stupid bitch! You know exactly what the fuck I’m talking about. How do you do that thing you do with men?”

  “I don’t know. I just up and did it one day, on accident. Then I realized I could control it. I have no idea how I actually did it.”

  “Yeah whatever. Don’t matter. Coy said it only works on guys. So you won’t be controlling me you fucking bitch. Maybe it works out of your pussy.”

  “I can assure you,” April said. “My pussy has nothing to do with it.”

  “Well I guess we should find out,” Candi Jean said as she dug into her bag and pulled a stun gun. April tried not to visibly cringe as she knew exactly what the girl had in mind with it. Walking up to her, Candi Jean took the stun gun and jammed it between April’s legs, the jolt instantly sending pain through her as if her body were on fire. The spark fired right against her vagina, feeling as though her girl parts were being ripped out by a set of pliers. That probably would have been preferable.

  After a few seconds, Candi Jean let up.

  “How’s that feel cunt? That tickle? Getting you all nice and wet?”

  “You’re so fucking dead,” April said.

  “Yeah. Not looking that way, huh bitch? How’s that snatch feeling? Kinda twitchy? Tingly? How about another?”

  Candi Jean jammed it back against her pussy and activated the stun gun yet again. April did everything she could to keep from showing pain, but it was near impossible. She didn’t cry out at least. Wasn’t going to give that little bitch the satisfaction of hearing her scream. Despite her best efforts though, a few screams did come out. Candi Jean stopped and pulled it away as she backed up.

  “See bitch? That’s just the start. When I get back, we’ll have some real fun!” she said as she grabbed her bag and headed out. Once the door slammed shut, April closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Tears she had been holding back started to flow. She didn’t want to cry, but at least it wouldn’t be in front of that crazy bitch. One thought that gave her comfort, was thinking of all the ways she planned to kill Candi Jean.

  Chapter 2

  Isis Raine sped down the highway trying to clear her head. She couldn’t believe that asshole. After she gave him two years of her life, he just decides to bang some skank at the club? She knew she didn’t like him bouncing at a strip club, but figured she could trust him. So much for that idea. The thought of the whole thing made her blood boil.

  Most her life, she had been prone to blow ups, but in recent years they had gotten worse. She’d been told she had narcisstic personality disorder by one of her professors the short time she was in college, so she knocked the bitch out. That got her expelled, but they didn’t bother pressing charges. Since then, they only got worse. Her boyfriend had put up with it for a while, but he said he was getting sick of it. Well, tough shit. He knew what he was getting into. Though maybe killing him was a bit much, but he deserved it. The fucker had made her a promise! Ok, breathe.

  She stomped on the brakes and the tires screeched to a halt just missing the car in front of her. Once she caught her breath, Isis looked around. The traffic had come to a standstill.

  “Goddammit. Go!” she screamed as if that would make traffic move faster. She took out her frustration on the steering wheel, punching it repeatedly. Slowly cars crept along a few feet at a time. Just ahead there was an exit ramp. She pulled onto the shoulder and sped toward the ramp, ignoring the rumble strips as she pulled off the highway. The access road would be much faster; it had to be. Plus the cops would be less likely looking for her on that route.

  She had only gone down the access road a short way before she hit a “Road Closed” sign.

  “Motherfucker!” she shouted. This was starting to piss her off. She turned down the detour and sped along. Turning up the stereo, she began blasting The Panic Beats through the speakers. Maybe the punk songs about murder and mayhem fed into her rage, but she didn’t really give a fuck. As she raced down the road, she didn’t notice the “Welcome to Happytown” sign.

  It did get her attention when she rolled through the little town and there were some older women and younger girls. They were standing along the road crying while someone with a dump truck crept down the street. She pulled right up behind the truck just as many of the women began screaming at her. Some started throwing things at her car. She slammed on the brakes and jumped out of the car, getting in one of the younger lady’s face.

  “Are you out of your fucking mind throwing shit at my car?”

  “You just drove right up in our funeral procession you stupid bitch!” the woman screamed.

  “Funeral procession? That’s a fucking dump truck—” Her voice trailed off as she looked and for the first time noticed the contents of the dump truck was a pile of dead bodies. Some were just body parts, all of them were mangled and mutilated. “What the fuck?”

  “Yeah. Funeral. If I were you, I’d get back in your car and go back the way you came,” he woman said as one of the older ones came walking over. All of the women were looking her up and down. She was used to such looks wearing her cut off Misfits t-shirt and cut off jean shorts with jet black hair pulled into a pony tail. Her left arm sported a half sleeve of tattoos as well as a large tattoo of a tiger on her right thigh.

  “What’s the problem over here?” the old lady said.

  “This bitch comes driving all up in our funeral procession and now she wants to run her mouth.”

  “What happened to all those people? Why are they in a dump truck?” Isis asked.

  “Don’t you worry yourself with how we handle our business young lady. You should just get on out of here.”

  Isis took a deep breath, tryi
ng to keep from going off.

  “Look, I’m just trying to get to Dallas. The road is closed. I can’t go back that way because the road is closed.”

  “Well, we need to honor our dead and lay them to rest. There’s a diner just down the street. Why don’t you park and I’ll take you there for some coffee while we finish up? Then you can get on your way,” the old woman explained.

  Isis didn’t want to hang out at some hick diner and drink coffee; she wanted to get far, far away from here. But she didn’t want to get into a fight during their fucked up funeral or whatever this was. Something seriously was wrong with a dump truck full of dead bodies, and she didn’t want to stick around to find out. If it got them off her back then hopefully it wouldn’t be long before she could go.

  “All right I guess,” Isis said. “Where is this place?”

  “Follow me dear,” the old woman said.

  As they walked, the woman tried to chat Isis up, but she wasn’t really interested in being her pal. The woman did say her name was Agnes Jameson, not that Isis gave a shit. Once in the café, Agnes brought her a cup of coffee and then sat down with her.

  “So what brings you to Happytown? You seem angry,” Agnes asked.

  “Just had a lot of shit going on. So I needed to get away. What the hell kind of name is Happytown? Especially when you all have a dump truck filled with dead bodies.”

  Agnes sat her coffee down and took a deep breath.

  “Something really awful happened here a few days ago. A lot of men lost their lives as a result. Most of the men in this town died. So we are left to clean up and move on as best we can. It’s been over a hundred degrees out the last few days, so can’t just leave them lying out in the heat. We are doing a mass burial.”

  “What happened exactly?” Isis asked.

  “It’s a lot to explain and not worth your trouble dear. Go ahead and finish your coffee. She sipped at the warm drink, though coffee wasn’t something she cared for. This one had a funny after taste to it. She took another sip before she sat it down and jumped up.

  “You old bitch! You trying to drug me?” Isis yelled.