Chapter 4

It's not dark yet when they arrive at the carnival and the carnival is nearly shoulder to shoulder with people. It looks like quite a few people have come out from the city to have a good time at the carnival as well. For Reana and Jeff, it seems like they're stopped and congratulated every few steps by people they know and complete strangers. Jimmy and Melody both have to be dragged away from a beer concession stand. And as darkness falls, the crowd thins out slightly as people with small children head home.

"It's nice and dark," says Jimmy hugging Greta from behind, "Time to enter the House of Lost Souls, MUWAH, HA HA HA!"

"OK," Jeff agrees, "but then Reana and I are done for the night."

Reana grabs the hand of a young woman they all know coming out of the House of Lost Souls and asks, "Tammy, was it scary?"

Tammy answers with a blank face and flat tone, "Yes, you will enjoy it."

Reana snatches her hand back to herself and Tammy walks away. "Whoa," Reana taking Jeff's arm, "that was freaky."

"She didn't look right," is Yvette's opinion.

"Her eyes were strange," shares Greta attempting to describe what they all saw.

Jeff's description is the best, "She looked empty, as if she wasn't home."

Jimmy and Melody are both under the influence. So, neither really noticed what the others saw.

"Maybe she's sick," speculates Brian.

"Come on," Jimmy tugs Greta's arm, "She's probably just drunk. Don't you hear the screaming coming from inside? This is gonna be a blast."

"Yeah," shouts Melody throwing a fist in the air as she throws her head back and laughs. "Come on. Let's go," getting Brian and Steve each by an arm.

There are two small cars connected together for the ride. Each car holds four people. Jeff and Reana sit in the front seat on the first car. Jimmy and Greta sit behind them. In the second car, Steve and Yvette sit together with Brian and Melody behind them. The sign at the entrance of the ride says BUCKLE UP FOR SAFETY'S SAKE, so they all do.

The attendant quickly checks things over and makes sure they're all secure. The attendant touches start on a screen and the cars lurch forward slowly and they enter the opening of the House of Lost Souls. It isn't actually a very scary haunted house; least wise, not for anyone over the age of fourteen. But things popping out at you and zombies reaching to grab you are good excuses for a young woman to scream and cling to the man sitting next to her. But then things start dropping down on top of them. These things are clinging to them and crawling on them. Screams of surprised delight instantly turn to shrieks of panic stricken terror. The young men who usually curse at unpleasant surprises scream like frightened school girls. Jeff is the only one that doesn't allow panic to take hold. But they're all swatting, slapping, brushing, grabbing and throwing.

Under the screaming is the cracking, crunching and popping of the ones getting run over by the wheels of the two cars as they continue forward. Jeff grabs hold of one that landed on his shoulder. It's the size of a large kitten. It writhes in his hand as he hold it out. There's just enough light for Jeff to make out its six legs flailing in the air. It's like the smaller one that jumped on Jimmy's face a couple of days ago.

"What the hell," Jeff doesn't even hear himself speak as he realizes this is exactly what Reana thought the smaller one was, a cockroach. As he throws it away from himself, Jeff thinks this is impossible. Roaches don't get that big. For a moment he thinks that they can't be real. It has to be some obscene section of the ride or some cruel fool's idea of a joke. Except the terror filled screams coming from Reana are real.

Jeff grabs one from Reana's head as she grabs one from her arm. Reana throws it with such force, its exoskeleton shatters when it smashes against a wall. The one from Reana's head has her by the hair. Jeff starts to squeeze it and as its exoskeleton cracks, it releases her hair. Jeff and Reana quickly discover working together is better than swatting and grabbing wildly.

Jeff and Reana finally see lights from the rides outside as they approach the exit.

"Unbuckle your seat belts," Jeff orders everyone, "We're coming out!"

"It's stuck," shouts Reana tugging furiously at her seat belt, "I can't get it! My seat belts stuck!"

"Here!" Jeff reaching over Reana's lap, "Let me." In his large strong competent hands, Reana's seat belt is no trouble.

The cars exit the haunted house ride and they leap from the cars to the gang way checking to make sure there's nothing still on them. The attendant of the ride is nowhere in sight and the carnival is in chaos.

A couple of last roaches are pulled off, thrown to the ground and stomped. Then they notice that they're not all there. They look at the cars as they re-enter the House of Lost Souls in time to see that Greta, Jimmy and Melody are still in the cars and they're not moving. A roach slightly larger than a mouse is on the back of Jimmy's neck.

"We have to get out of here," Jeff directing everyone to the exit ramp.

Reana pauses, "Greta!!!"

"We can't worry about them right now," Jeff taking charge, "Back to the cars, now!"

Jeff finds himself leading the way with Reana clinging to him. There are people running and screaming in all directions. Many have roaches clinging to them and the roaches are getting larger.

The group pauses as they see someone fall from the top of the Ferris wheel. Or maybe she jumped for all they know. One thing they do know, there's no way she survived that fall. They continue to run.

Reana screams in horror at the sight of a boy trampled to death on the ground and nearly collapses.

"I see him, honey, but we have to keep moving," the sight of the dead boy is almost too much for Jeff. The boy is covered in muddy bloody foot prints.

"We're almost there," Jeff tells everyone.

But not everyone is running panic stricken. Jeff sees a group of people walking calmly. Tammy is with them and they all look zoned out like zombies. They seem to be being herded by roaches the size of large dogs.

Reana freezes in her tracks and Jeff stops and follows her line of sight. Directly in front of them is a giant cockroach. It rears up on its back legs taller than Jeff and hisses at them. Reana can't even scream. Jeff's reaction is to kick it in its middle. Jeff is astonished that the exoskeleton gives way to his foot. And when Jeff draws his foot back, the giant roach collapses in on itself.

Reana faints just as the roach is collapsing. Jeff manages to not allow her to hit the ground and scoop her up. Without a second thought, Jeff puts Reana over a shoulder so he can run. "Let's move people," Jeff orders now in a full out run. Brian and Steve have to pull little Yvette so she can keep up.

They reach Jeff's jeep along with Jimmy's and Melody's cars. Except, Brian and Steve won't be riding with Jimmy and Greta just like Yvette won't be riding with Melody.

"Who can drive a stick," ask Jeff.

"I can," answers Yvette.

"Good," Jeff unlocking the passenger door, then he tosses his keys to Yvette, who doesn't miss. Jeff gives Brian's shoulder a shove indicating he wants him to hurry up and climb into the back.

Brian quickly followed by Steve climbs into the backseat of the jeep. Yvette hops behind the steering wheel quickly adjusting the seat so she can reach the pedals. Jeff eases into the passenger seat with Reana in his arms. Yvette has the jeep started and in gear before Jeff even has the door closed. Jeff closes the door. The jeep kicks up rocks and dirt as they speed out of the parking lot.

"Is she alright," Yvette ask Jeff.

"Yeah," answers Jeff stroking Reana's hair. "She just fainted," then he kisses Reana's forehead.

They soon discover the chaos wasn't limited to the carnival. The main road out of town is blocked by burning vehicles. The police station is on fire with the fire truck on its side in front of the burning building. They drive back to Reana and Jeff's house passing a couple of other overturned vehicles and crashes as they exit the town. But they don't pass any other vehicles that are driving.

Thwang! ... Thwang! Thwang! Whump!

"What now," ask Yvette realizing something is hitting the vehicle.

Whomp! Whump! Thwang! Thwang!

"It's more bugs," Steve pointing to the remains of one on the windshield.

Whump! Whump! Whompt! Thwang!

Jeff takes a closer look at the remains of an insect on the passenger window, "Flying roaches. In Florida they call them palmetto bugs, but they're still roaches."

Brian releases a low moan, "Disgusting."

"Under the right conditions," Yvette talking to talk, "These cucaracha would be a fascinating study." Yvette's hobby is entomology.

"Listen," Steve says, "They've stopped." And he's correct. The flying roaches have stopped hitting the jeep.

Yvette pulls the jeep right up to the porch steps and asks, "Are the doors locked?"

"How many times have you come over and found the doors to the house locked," ask Jeff.

"Never," answers Yvette.

"Everything looks okay," Jeff scoping things out, "Just the same, everybody run for it... Go!!!"

Jeff's exit from the jeep is slowed by having to maneuver with Reana in his arms. Yvette is the first one to the front door. She throws it open in time for Jeff to dash through with Reana. Then Yvette's directly through the door right behind him followed by Brian and Steve.

"Check all the doors and windows," Jeff orders laying Reana on the couch, "Make sure they're all shut tight."

The three young people comply with Brian and Steve running upstairs and Yvette dashing from window to window on the first floor.

"Yvette," Jeff calls, "Don't forget to check the window in the bathroom on this floor." This reminds the guys upstairs to check the balcony doors in Reana's room.

A couple of minutes later, the three young people are back in the living room.

Yvette picks up the phone, "...I was going to call my parents, but the phone is dead."

"My phone says no signal," shares Steve.

"Damn it, I lost mine," realizes Brian.

Jeff gets up from the couch, "Brian look Reana over for me." Jeff goes into the kitchen and comes back with the first aid kit from on top of the refrigerator.

Brian looks up at Jeff and informs him, "Pulse and respiration are strong and steady, just minor cuts and scratches. She was too terrified for fight or flight. Her brain just shut down."

"Antiseptic wipes," says Jeff passing the small square packets out, "Roaches are a haven for bacteria. Then we'll apply antibiotic ointment. This should prevent any of us from developing any serious infections at the sites of any of our cuts and scratches... Smelling salts... Should we wake her, or is it better to let someone who fainted to sleep it off?"

"If we let her sleep it off," Yvette speculates, "she may wake thinking it was all just a bad dream. I say wake her so denial can't set in."

Brian and Steve nod their agreement with Yvette.

"I'll clean her cuts and scratches first," Jeff wiping with an antiseptic wipe. Then he dabs on antibiotic ointment. Satisfied with that, Jeff opens the smelling salts, "Here we go."

Reana jerks to life with a loud gasp. Her eyes are wild and confused as her brain reboots.

Then Reana's body relaxes, "We're home."

Jeff responds, "Yes. You fainted."

"Last thing I remember seeing," Reana's mind playing back, "The Taylor boy, Timmy, he was only ten years old. Then that huge," Reana shivers, "reared up in front of us and hissed."

"That's when you fainted," Jeff holding Reana's hand.

"How did we get home? How did we get passed that huge," Reana shivers again, "thing?"

"Apparently," Brian sitting down on the love seat, "the bigger they are, the harder they fall."

"It was kind of cool," Steve giving a mock demonstration, "Jeff put his foot in it, and it like... collapsed in on itself." He settles on the love seat too.

"Left a mess on my damn shoe," complains Jeff.

Reana looks at Yvette on the other end of the couch.

Yvette responds to Reana's look, "Phone's dead, but we have electricity."

"The good thing about not being hooked into the grid," Reana standing, "is we don't have power outages with everyone else. We get preventative maintenance twice a year for our wind turbines and solar panels, so if a line goes down someplace, it doesn't affect us. As for the phone," she looks out the window towards town, "we're wireless. A relay tower must be out, which means, we can't contact anyone for help using the net either. ...Looks like a fire in town."

Jeff explains, "The peace station was on fire when we passed it."

"And the roads leading out of town to the major roads are blocked," adds Yvette.

"Blocked by what," ask Reana.

"Vehicles," Brian answers, "some crashed and burning."

"Some downed power poles and trees too," Steve recalls, "Some of them looked as if they'd been cut, but it's dark. I couldn't see clearly."

Jeff puts his hands on Reana's shoulders as she stares out the window. Reana inhales deeply and ask, "Baby, what's happening?"

"I wish I knew," answers Jeff.

No one wants to be alone. The only one who will dare venture to the bathroom by himself is Jeff. So, they decide to slumber party it for the night in the living room. Both the couch and loveseat are click-clacks so they unfold them into beds. Jeff lends Brian and Steve PJs to wear for the night. Reana lends Yvette an oversized t-shirt. They microwave popcorn and put a movie disk into the living room flat screen.