The Last Night At The Carnival

“I really don’t think we are going to find anything. I doubt the store inside is even open,” Trevor muttered, pulling into the highway rest stop. I rolled my eyes and exchanged a look with Amanda. “Come on, Pete, back me up. This is so stupid. We should just get some beers and go back to the house.” 

Amanda and I glanced at Pete, but he was too preoccupied with his phone. We smiled mischievously at each other. 

“Pete!” Trevor cried out. Finally, Pete looked up and looked around to see everyone staring at him. 

“What?” Pete asked. Trevor gave him a look before shaking his head and getting out of the car. I got out of the car as well and moved around to link arms with Amanda. 

“Hey! If they’ve got Monsters in there, bring me a couple!” Trevor demanded. I waved him off as we walked towards the door. The bell gave off a slight ding when we walked inside. Everything looked normal, but there was a thin layer of dust on all the products. It didn’t seem like anyone was behind the counter. 

I pulled out my toto bag and nodded at Amanda. She smiled, knowingly. We started scamming around the store and slipping things carefully into our bags. I couldn’t help but wonder when the last time someone had been in here. It had been almost a year since the new pandemic hit. Supposedly, this was worse than COVID - it truly changed people, the news had said. Of course, there was no way to know for sure since people weren’t really allowed to leave their homes except for specialized, approved reasons. I scoffed at the idea. 

“Look at this,” Amanda whispered, holding up a shirt that said: ‘Boner Manager’. I laughed and shoved three more Rockstars in my purse. 

“You should grab that for Pete,” I replied. Amanda smirked and shoved it in her bag. 

“Do you see any Monsters?” I asked, speaking a bit more normally now. There was a slight bang that came from the back. I locked eyes with Amanda. She pointed at the Monsters, indicating she had already put them in her bag.

We started heading for the exit when we saw a big man coming out from the back room. His face was so puffy we almost couldn’t see his eyes. But the part of his eyes we could see seemed too white and glossed over. He had a strange white goo dripping from his eyes and mouth. 

“Hey! What are you doing?” he gargled out, like he was trying to speak with a mouth full of food. He stumbled forward towards us. Amanda and I booked it out the back door, laughing as we jumped back in the car with Trevor and Pete. 

“Go! Go! Go!” I screamed out, still laughing. 

“What happened?” Trevor asked, looking back at us sporadically and pulling forward into the night. 

“I think the owner was there. He was sick or something, but he almost caught us,” Amanda answered breathlessly. 

“What do you mean he was sick?” Trevor asked, wavering in his tone. I rolled my eyes. 

“I don’t know. Like he had an infection or something; he was all covered in pus…”

“Dude! What if he was infected? What if he had NOVA-1?” Trevor screamed. 

“Come on, sure, you get sick, but like, it’s not a big deal. Besides, he didn’t even touch either of us. You have to get touched or, like, share fluids or something to get infected,” I replied.

“Suzie, like, three million people have already died from NOVA-1… this is serious. We should go back.” 

“Look, we, like everyone else, have literally been trapped inside for over a year. They keep saying it’s ‘so bad,’ but where’s the proof? How many of you actually know someone who’s died? I mean, they have damn AI and robots showing up to deliver ‘safety-checked food’ and whatnot. I think this whole thing is a bullshit hoax,” I mumbled out, rolling my eyes again. “COVID was twelve years ago; the world was fine, but now people are acting like NOVA-1 is going to wipe out the human population.” 

“Look, my cousin’s friend’s Dad died from this; there are real people out there dying,” Trevor argued. 

“Your cousin’s friend’s Dad? That sounds legit. Have you ever met this person?” I shot back. Trevor huffed and kept his eyes on the road. 

“Look, we are not going to hurt anyone or interact with anyone infected. We all agreed we just needed to get out of the house. If we don’t find anything fun to do in an hour, we’ll just go back, agreed?” Pete interjected. All of us grumbled, " Okay. " 

We drove through the night, looking for anything that could be fun or entertaining. There were billboards offering exciting places, but it was clear it had been a while since they were updated. Some of them were starting to peel off. 

As we turned to follow the highway, there was a small light up ahead off a side road to the left that was growing larger. 

“What is that?” Amanda asked, between sips of her energy drink. I threw a few more potato chips in my mouth and stared. I swear I could hear music. It sounded like carnival music. Instead of answering, Trevor simply turned to follow the road towards the light. 

As we got closer, I could see the Ferris wheel rolling, slowing. There were several other rides lit up with lights, and the music was growing louder. 

“You guys, I think we found a carnival…” Amanda said with awe. 

“I’m sure they aren’t open, not with everything going on… I mean, I didn’t even see any signs,” Trevor muttered, but I could tell from his voice he was excited.

“We have to stop and check,” I ordered. Trevor looked at Pete for support, but he was once again buried in his phone. 

When we pulled into the open parking lot, there were quite a few other cars. I got even more excited at the idea that the carnival was open. We all piled out of the car and headed towards the entrance. Immediately, I saw two strange-looking clowns dancing in front of the entrance doors. Their eyes were a strange milky-white, and their make-up seemed to be peeling off. But they looked happy and gestured for us to go on in. 

“How much are the tickets? Is the ticket booth inside?” Pete asked one of the clowns. The clown said nothing but made a more exaggerated movement, beckoning us to come in. Amanda and I linked arms without hesitation. The boys lingered behind us, gingerly. 

The music was loud, and the lights were bright, but there didn’t seem to be many other people besides the employees. The few people we did see seemed to be walking around almost like zombies. Some of them had toys, some of them had popcorn or cotton candy, but none of them looked at us. All of them looked strange. 

The four of us wandered around looking at all the booths and food carts. Amanda pulled me over to a cart offering funnel cakes. 

“How much for one funnel cake?” she asked. The person working behind the counter cocked their head strangely and pointed towards the sign. There was a sign that looked like it was a finger-painted art project by a class of preschoolers. It stated that funnel cakes were twenty-two dollars. Corn dogs were seventeen dollars, and lemonade was ten dollars. 

“Do you take Apple Pay or Venmo?” Amanda asked, looking at the pitiful pile of cash in her wallet. The salesperson simply shook their head. They almost seemed to be under the influence of something. There were little white flakes around their mouth and eyes. Their long blonde hair looked tattered and unkempt but pulled back with a rubber band. They had what I thought was a layer of stubble on their cheeks, and their outfit looked like it hadn’t been washed since the start of the carnival. I tried not to make an obvious face. 

“Don’t worry, I got you. You can just Venmo me,” Pete offered, pulling out three twenty-dollar bills. “Can we get one funnel cake and two corn dogs?” 

The cashier took Pete’s money and lingered a little too long on Pete’s hand. When he pulled away, I noticed a strange white film on Pete’s hand where the cashier had touched him. I took my hand sanitizer from my purse and poured a generous amount into Pete’s hands. He gave me a grateful look. We waited silently, and I kept looking around the fairgrounds. I noticed the music was loud, and I thought I could hear screaming and laughter, but it seemed like the voices didn’t belong to anyone. I couldn’t actually see anyone talking. A fearful shudder moved up my spine. 

I looked back as Pete took the food - careful not to touch the person again. He smiled awkwardly and handed the funnel cake to Amanda. 

“Thanks again.” 

As we walked on, Pete examined the food carefully before finally accepting that the corn dogs looked fine and shoving them into his mouth. Amanda didn’t seem concerned at all and had already demolished half her funnel cake. When she saw me staring, she shoved the plate at me. 

“Do you want some?” My stomach growled, and I hesitantly took a piece. It tasted normal, much to my surprise. I ate a few more pieces until we reached a giant pirate ship. 

“You guys want to go?” I asked. Pete and Amanda looked hesitant, but Trevor smiled. 

“You go; I’m going to let my food settle a bit,” Pete offered. Amanda nodded, letting go of my arm and taking Pete’s. 

“I’ll definitely go with you,” Trevor offered, taking my hand. Together we walked up to the person holding the door for the ride. There were several people piled on one side of the ship, all looking anxious and ready for it to start. We jumped on the opposite side. 

“Where are you all from? Are you having fun so far?” Trevor asked. But all the people just stared at him strangely, some cocking their heads as if confused by his words. We forced smiles as the ship started to rock back and forth. 

“Trevor, what are the symptoms of NOVA-1 again?” I whispered. Trevor looked at me as if waiting for me to make a joke. “I’m serious.” 

“I thought you didn’t think it was a big deal? I thought you didn’t believe in the pandemic?” he muttered back. 

“Humor me.” 

“Itchy eyes and ears, then it starts to hurt to talk, and your vision gets blurry. I’ve seen images online that show the eyes glazing over. Some people have lost their vision. People start acting like zombies, almost like a shell of themselves. There’s been some argument over scientists suggesting the virus acts like a parasite.” 

“What is the difference? Why does that matter?” I ask, trying to keep the tremor from my voice. 

“Well, a virus is an infection, but it’s not living. A parasite is another living organism that uses your body to survive, often damaging your body for its own benefit… Why do you suddenly believe now?” 

“Don’t you think this carnival is a little strange? It seems lively, but the people here don’t seem… alive… you know?” I whispered. “I think everyone here might be infected.” 

Trevor stiffened and glanced over at the other occupants of the boat. In the time that we had been talking, they all moved to the front row on the other side of the boat. Trevor and I gasped in unison. We stood frozen and didn’t take our eyes off the other riders until the boat stopped. We got off as soon as we could. 

“Pete, Amanda, I think it’s time to go,” Trevor stated when we got off the platform for the ride. We looked around, but our friends were nowhere to be found. I pulled out my phone quickly and texted Amanda. 

“They probably just went to get more food or something,” I muttered while Trevor continuously looked around. My phone buzzed, and I saw Amanda had responded. They were in the house of mirrors. Relief washed over me as I grabbed Trevor’s hand again and headed in that direction. 

We slowly walked inside, careful not to touch anything. 

“Are you positive you need physical touch in order to catch NOVA-1?” I asked. Tervor swallowed hard and nodded. 

“Yeah, and even then it’s not a guarantee you’ll get it until you, like, exchange fluids or something more severe,” he whispered back. I texted Amanda again, and she replied that they were near the back. 

We walked onward until I found her phone on the ground. It was still open to our text messages, but I didn’t see her. 

“Amanda?” I called out. 

“Over here,” came Pete’s voice, but it was crackly and raw. I exchanged an uncomfortable look with Trevor. We found them standing awkwardly together, holding hands with their heads cocked to the side. They were both smiling widely at us, and I noticed little white things around the corners of their eyes and mouths. I squeezed Trevor’s hand. 

“I think they are already infected. Look at their mouths. It must have been the food,” I murmured. Trevor squeezed my hand harder. “What do we do?” 

“Um, you know, I think I’m over the mirrors; we’ll meet you outside,” Trevor said in his normal tone. He turned us around and started heading quickly towards the exit. 

“It’s too late,” Amanda groaned in a scratchy voice. I felt her take my hand and start to pull me back to her. I looked down to see her hand was bleeding. The tears started to flow endlessly as I looked at Trevor in terror.