Welcome to Happytown (April Almighty Book 2) Read online

  There were more spiders on the ground, so many it felt like the floor was moving. She looked around but Todd was nowhere to be found. She looked at her hands and saw they were covered in blood. Her right hand had a huge piece of glass protruding from the back of it. She touched it, but searing pain shot down her arm, as if it were on fire.

  She stood as the spiders stopped coming from above, but they were all over the ground. She rounded a corner, feeling her way along the mirrors for guidance. Blood ran into her eyes, making it hard to see. She got around another corner when she heard laughter. It wasn’t Todd laughing though.

  “Todd? Is that you?” she asked, already knowing the answer.

  “Todd? Todd? Is that what you call me? I’m much prettier than Todd! Hahahahaha!” the voice said. It was one of the clowns.

  She wiped her eyes and forced them open. Crazy Koko was standing just feet away. Though his makeup frown was now a smile, an ugly smile.

  “Oh my God!” Kim said as she saw him.

  “What’s wrong honey? Don’t I get a kiss?” he said with his arms out.

  “What do you want?” she was so bewildered by the clown, she almost forgot about the spiders.

  “I want to play!” He reached into his clown suit and undid one of the bottom buttons. He pulled out his penis, but it was freaky looking. It was long, white as his face, and the tip was a big, red bulb. He squeezed the bulb and it made a honking sound as a thick, green, mucous-y liquid squirted out, some of it hit her in the face. She screamed as he let go of the snake-like body part and charged her.

  Chapter 7

  Coy sat just down the street from the Funhouse looking on. He couldn’t hear anything happening inside the place. In fact, he’d never set foot inside the Funhouse. He grew up in Happytown, so he was exempt. Uncle Monkey had only come out once that he could remember, and that hadn’t been pretty. No sir, them clowns could stay right where they were, inside that creepy place.

  Part of him felt bad for sending those kids in there. This was his first time taking a group to the place by himself. The other times it had been him and a group of men from the town, so he took a secondary role. It was easy to excuse himself from those. He pretty much sat back and watched the other men handle everything.

  This time though, it was all him. He’d heard stories of what goes on in there. The rules were, any outsider has to go through the Funhouse. Truth was that very few, if any, ever made it out. Another truck came pulling up as he sat. It was Old Man Gunn. He was sort of the town patriarch, even though he had no actual family to speak of.

  “There you are,” he said as he rolled down the window. “We were startin’ to wonder if you’d gone in there with ‘em.”

  “No sir,” Coy answered. “Just kinda looking at the place. I never looked closely at it before. What all is in there?”

  “Uncle Monkey and his boys are in there. That’s all you need to know son.”

  “I know. I mean, like people who go in, what all do they have to do? How do the clowns in there eat and such?”

  “We drop off a supply truck once a week there. They take care of the rest. What’s with all the questions?”

  “I dunno. Just kinda feel bad I guess. They seemed like good kids, especially the one girl, the dark haired one with the blue eyes.”

  “So that’s it. Yeah, she’s a looker all right. But not yours for the taking. That’s the rules. They’re outsiders. All outsiders go straight to the Funhouse,” Old Man Gunn said.

  “I get it. But whose rule is that? That thing has been there since I was a kid. Where’d it come from?”

  “Jesus kid. You ask way too many questions. That thing has been here longer than any of us. I’m not sure where it came from myself. It was there when I was a boy. Back then we had to bring folks back here on horseback. Now we just drive ‘em right to the front door. I used to have the same questions you did. You know what my Pa did when I asked shit like that?”

  “What’s that?”

  “He walked me right up to the front door. I was no more than maybe twelve at the time. One of them clowns stuck his head out and waved. Scared the goddamn shit outta me. Them clowns aren’t your circus variety. They’re something else entirely.”

  “Like what?” Coy asked.

  “Hell if I know. That was the first and only time I actually seen one of them. You know Uncle Monkey came into town a few years ago. Thank God I missed that.”

  “Yeah. I remember. Didn’t someone feed an outsider?”

  “That’s exactly what happened. Don’t ask me how he knew, he just did. Mrs. Johnson took pity on the poor fool and gave him some coffee. No sooner did he take a sip when Uncle Monkey was at her door. Full clown getup and all.”

  “So what happened? I just heard she disappeared.”

  “That’s exactly what happened. He took her back to the Funhouse I reckon. She ain’t been heard from since. That’s the last time anyone around here even tried to help an outsider.”

  “Did anyone else see Uncle Monkey?”

  “A few of the neighbors did. Said he just appeared outta nowhere and walked right up to her front door. Soon as they saw him, they ran back inside.”

  “How’d they know it was him? Aren’t there a bunch of clowns in there?”

  “Beats me. There you go again with all the questions. I probably told you too much as it is.”

  “Sorry Mr. Gunn. Just don’t make sense to me, all the secrecy.”

  “To protect the Funhouse and protect this town. How you think no outside authorities ever show up here? No tellin’ how many outsiders have disappeared in there. Yet no one from the outside ever comes looking for them. You think that’s an accident?”

  “I don’t suppose it is,” Coy said.

  “Damn right. It’s because we don’t ask questions and keep our mouths shut. The town keeps thriving and everyone leaves us alone. I aim to keep it that way. Make sense?”

  “I reckon so.”

  “Sure it does. Now come in back into town. I’ll tell Ruby to make you some a her pecan pie.”

  “Now that sounds real good!”

  “Good. I’ll see ya back in town,” Old Man Gunn said as he rolled up the window and drove off. He did a turnabout and headed back into town. Coy didn’t leave though. He drove back to the parking lot and climbed out of his truck. From there, he looked some more at the large building. Everything Old Man Gunn had told him made perfect sense, yet he felt he needed to see it for himself. Against his better judgment, he walked toward the Funhouse looking up at it. There were no windows or any way to see in, but he needed to. Whatever was going on in there was eating at him. Maybe the pretty blue eyed girl would fall for him if he went in and rescued her. Maybe it was too late. He took a deep breath and headed to the front door. Whatever was about to happen, his questions would be answered.

  Chapter 8

  April bolted around a corner with Stacy close behind. The huge clown’s footsteps could be heard thundering over the crazy music that never stopped playing. Looking in one of the mirrors, April saw the clown was still behind them, though he looked even freakier through the mirror’s distortion. It was gaining on them and she couldn’t run any faster.

  “April!” Stacy screamed. April hadn’t realized Stacy had fallen so far behind her, and now the clown had her by the hair.

  “Stacy!” April yelled. She didn’t know why her ability hadn’t worked on the clown. Maybe it wasn’t really a guy? Maybe it wasn’t human? Though if he wasn’t human what the hell was he?

  The clown flung Stacy into a mirror, shattering it.

  “No!” April screamed as Stacy staggered backward, her face already soaked in blood. He lifted her up by the hair, pulling her several inches off the ground. He looked at April, as if he was daring her to do something. His O shaped smile was now a large, grotesque grin. Stacy had been her friend since grade school. They’d been through everything together. She couldn’t imagine losing her now, not this way.

  She charged at the clow
n, who just stood there holding Stacy. Before she reached him, he flung Stacy back into another mirror, this time letting her flop to the ground. April lunged at his legs, throwing herself into a body roll. He hadn’t expected that move, and went toppling to the ground. She climbed his back and began clawing at his face.

  Immediately she realized two things, one, his face didn’t feel like skin. It felt fake, almost rubbery. The second thing was the clown makeup wasn’t makeup at all. That was his actual face. None of these things mattered at the moment, other than she didn’t seem to be causing him any pain. His huge hands flailed behind his head and managed to grab a handful of her hair. As he began to pull, she dug her claws into the side of his face, when there was another scream. Todd appeared from around a corner and was running toward them. The huge clown reached his arm out and grabbed Todd’s leg, tripping him onto his face.

  While his attention was on Todd, April jumped to her feet and ran to Stacy who was conscious, but dazed.

  “Stacy, come on we gotta go!” April said.

  Stacy mumbled something as April threw her arm around her neck and helped her up. The clown had turned his attention to Todd who was now screaming. As horrible as it sounds, she had no desire to help Todd whatsoever. She also didn’t want to go in the direction from which he was running, but had no choice at the moment.

  Before she turned the corner, the clown had lifted Todd off the ground by his leg and was peeling his clothes off him as if he were a giant banana. Once they were around the corner she could still hear him screaming. Carrying Stacy was slowing her down, but she wasn’t about to leave her friend behind.

  “April?” Stacy asked.

  “Yeah girl, it’s me. Just hang on, keep moving your feet. We’re getting the fuck out of here.”

  “Did you see that clown?”

  “Yeah, I saw him. Big motherfucker.”

  They hobbled around several more corners. April had no idea where they were or how to get out of this hell, but she was determined to find the way. After a few more twists and turns, April stopped and sat Stacy down.

  “What’s going on?” Stacy asked.

  “Nothing. I think we’re safe for a bit. I want to look at you for a minute,” April said as she looked at Stacy’s face. There were shards of glass sticking out of her cheek and forehead. She had lacerations on one side of her face and her lip. There was a ton of blood, but nothing she could do about it. She did her best to pull the glass out of the wounds. Stacy cried out each time, but at least she got it all.

  “Ok,” April said. “Let’s move.”

  “What’d that thing do to Todd?” Stacy asked.

  “I don’t know, best not to think about it.” She pulled her up and was startled by the sound of a laughing clown. She turned around and another one of those mirrors had some huge clown head laughing again.

  “Jesus that is freaky as hell,” April said.

  “Come on kids!” the clown face said. “You’re not going to just slither on out of here are you?”

  The mirror slid a few inches upward as dozens of snakes began crawling out. April couldn’t tell what kind or if they were poisonous, but she didn’t give a shit. She hated snakes. There was a groaning sound above them and something banging. She looked up to see a huge tank attached to the ceiling open up as even more snakes rained down on them. Stacy screamed and April shuddered as each of the scaly creatures bounced off her.

  They began running, but one was already wrapping itself around April’s leg. She pulled it off and threw it aside as they hobbled along. She wished Stacy could run, but it was up to her to get them away from the things. April stepped on one snake which bit her ankle. It sent a sharp wave of pain through her leg. She hoped to God it wasn’t poisonous.

  Stacy’s feet got tangled up in several snakes; tripping her and sending them both tumbling to the ground, face first. The ground was covered with the slithering creatures as April tried to get to her feet, but lost her footing. Within seconds a snake had slithered up her shirt as several more were crawling over her face and body. She looked to see Stacy completely covered with snakes, reaching her hand out toward April. Unable to move, April did the one thing she could do. She screamed.

  Chapter 9

  “Whoa! You’re nice and tight! Hahahaha!” Crazy Koko bellowed as he thrust his weird clown penis in and out of Kim’s vagina. With each thrust, the tip made a muffled honking sound from inside her. Not to mention, whatever that green sludge was squirted inside her every time it honked. Kim tried to scream but he’d shoved a rag into her mouth and yanked on her hair by the handful bouncing off her backside.

  “Giddy up little horsey! Yeehaw!” he screamed. “Hahahaha!”

  The clown’s sludge sperm burned her insides. She felt like someone shoved a hot poker up inside her. Her eyes watered as the pain intensified. The clown went from howling and laughing to grunting and moaning, sounding like some kind of wild animal.

  She tried to distance herself from her body, taking her mind to somewhere else. Closing her eyes, they never made this detour. They made it to Dallas with no problems. Instead of being in this funhouse hell, she was with her friends walking around the water park. They would go down the biggest water slides in the state, and then splash around in the huge pool. Todd would be with her and not staring at every girl that walked by. Everything would be great with her friends and having fun.

  The whole trip had been Stacy’s idea. She’d met Stacy in her political science class earlier in the year. Stacy had introduced her to April who seemed real nice, if not a little weird. Although after what Stacy had told her about what April had gone through, it was no wonder. The original idea was for it to be an all-girl trip, but as usual Todd had found a way to inject himself into the whole thing and ended up taking over. Now they were here, and she was going through a hell of her own. She wondered what exactly April had gone through and if she could be as strong as her.

  “Holy shit girl!” the clown screamed as he slammed her face into the ground, snapping her out of her thoughts. He let out a final grunt as a huge wad of sludge shot out from his penis, filling her with worse pain than she’d been feeling before. He pulled away and stood. His weird shaped penis was throbbing as green sludge dripped from the red bulb.

  “Whew! That was some good stuff! I’m sure glad too. It’s been awhile. Say, you think your friends would be into me too? I mean, I know I’m not much in the looks department, but I got it where it counts! Right? Hahahaha!” He put his penis away as she sat up and pulled the rag out of her mouth. She could barely lift her arms, as all her limbs felt as if they were weighed down. Her head began to spin as nausea took hold of her.

  “What did you do to me? Why does it hurt so bad?” she asked, as she pulled her shorts and panties back on.

  “Oh, just a little surprise is all. Just gotta add water!” He said as he grabbed a flower from his chest and squeezed it. A high powered stream of water sprayed her in the face, and then down her body, soaking her clothing. She gagged and spit as water hit her nose and went down her throat.

  “There we go! Isn’t this fun?” he said.

  Her head was still spinning as her stomach began to cramp. First it was a mild pain, but turned excruciating in seconds. She doubled over holding her stomach which started to throb under her hands. As she let go, it bubbled out as if the flesh were boiling. She cried out as her stomach began to swell, as if it were a balloon being inflated.

  “Oh my God! What’s happening to me? What did you do?” she cried.

  “Just a little present for you is all. Look at it grow!” He clapped his hands while hopping up and down.

  Her stomach continued to swell, stretching the skin to its limit as more pain shot through her whole body, her screaming as it continued to grow. Finally her skin began to tear away. Muscle and fatty tissue with chunks of flesh splattered onto the floor as her stomach continued tearing apart. A small, white hand appeared from inside of her.

  “What the fuck is that?” She
screamed as the hand grabbed her leg, pulling itself out of her stomach. A little white bald head appeared, and then exposing a tiny naked white body. The thing turned and looked at her with a smile on its face. A clown smile.

  Kim screamed as the hideous clown baby crawled to its feet. It was more of a toddler than an infant. It had a tiny clown/horn penis like his “dad.” Crazy Koko stood there jumping up and down. The baby mimicked him, jumping up and down, clapping its hands and laughing with a high pitched cackle.

  Kim looked at the huge, shredded hole in her body. Blood and fluid were oozing out and onto her legs and the floor. There was an egg shaped ball lying next to her. It was one of her ovaries. The clown baby stumbled over, picked it up and took a bite, smiling as he chewed.

  “Hungry!” he said.

  “Haha! That’s my boy!” Crazy Koko yelled from behind him.

  Blood was pooling all around Kim as she watched this demonic offspring she just spawned eating one of her ovaries. The dizziness increased as she fell from a sitting up position, onto her back. Her own blood splashed against the back of her neck and into her hair, matting it down. Staring up at the ceiling, her vision began to fade and by this point, she didn’t care. Going to sleep felt like the best thing. Maybe she was actually waking up from this nightmare. As her eyes drifted shut, the last thing she saw was the two, slightly out of focus, clown faces staring at her and laughing.

  Chapter 10

  April felt a snake crawling up her shirt and against her skin. It slithered between her breasts and across her neck. Whatever kind of snake it was, it was long and thick. She held Stacy close to her, squeezing her tightly as more of the snakes crawled over and around them. They held perfectly still. April hated snakes, always had. The thought of these things touching her made her want to jump out of her skin, but she couldn’t move.