Read Online Suspending Reality by Chrissy Peebles - Free Book Online Page B

in. I knew a stray bullet could hit us, or one of the drug-crazed people might decide to attack us. We had to get out of there, fast, before something happened. A cold chill rushed through me as the cart stopped at the wooden platform.
    I scanned the area for the best possible escape route. Crazed weirdoes were biting and tearing into the flesh of screaming, innocent bystanders, their blood staining their clothes and the asphalt beneath their feet. My stomach protested, ready to hurl up all the greasy hotdogs, funnel cakes, and cotton candy I’d eaten. My mind screamed, This can’t be true! People just don’t go around biting each other like cannibals! It has to be a joke. But I knew from the grotesque salty-metallic smell wafting through the air that the blood was all too real. It wasn’t a joke…but the grossest thing I’d ever seen in my life.
    “Dean, what’s happening?” Sherry asked, shaking my shoulder frantically.
    “I have no idea, but we’ve gotta get out of here.”
    The possessed people shuffled toward us. My pulse pounding in my ears, I spun quickly in hopes of getting out the other way, but the entrance was blocked with more people flooding in. The silver line dividers dropped to the ground with a loud clang .
    “We’re trapped!” Sherry said, grabbing my arm tight.
    “No!” I shook my head vehemently. “Don’t even think that. We’ll climb up the Ferris wheel.”
    “And if that doesn’t work?”
    I hesitated, considering my words. “Then we fight,” I said, suppressing a gag at the rotten smell.
    Guttural sounds—strange growls—emanated from the group as they stared us down like they wanted to rip through our flesh. They had greenish-looking, cracked skin, torn clothes, and white eyes. Contacts? A wicked case of cataracts? Liquid latex? Special effects? I had no idea, but I was ready to take them on.
    A girl with long blonde hair inched closer. She looked dead, her head unnaturally askew. Sudden recognition hit me with a jolt: Sherry’s sister!  
    “Jenny!” Sherry shouted; her voice overwhelmed with emotion. “Oh my gosh! What happened to you? You’re creeping me out.”
    Jenny suddenly lunged at me, snapping her jaws like a rabid dog. She came within only inches from sinking her teeth into my carotid when a policeman fired shots. Jenny—or whatever she was—crashed down to the ground.
    Shocked beyond all belief, Sherry leaned over the cart door, letting loose of her stuffed animal. It fell to the ground, right next to the thing that looked remotely like Jenny. Her gaze darted to the policeman holding the gun. “You shot my sister!”
    “I’m sorry, miss, but that’s not your sister anymore!” he shouted back. “She would have killed and eaten the both of you!”
    More of the possessed group shuffled toward us. My heart raced. I clenched my fists, ready to take down anything in my path. I slid my leg over the bar, preparing to jump out of the cart and fight when one of the policemen fumbled with the controls. We took off with a jerk. I fell back into Sherry’s arms, and we shot up about five feet in the air.
    The beings lunged after us, shaking the bottom of the cart so violently we nearly fell out. Sherry clung onto me with a death grip. The group continued with their guttural chanting, and I swore I was trapped in some kind of lucid nightmare.
    “What are they?” Sherry screamed in my ear. “What’s going on? What happened to Jenny? Why was she…like that?”
    I steadied myself by holding onto the steel bar with one hand and wrapped the other around her as I tried to make sense of what was happening. Below us, the group of possessed people seemed to have multiplied, holding up their arms as if they wanted a ride too. I dared another peek over the edge and regretted it instantly. The whole gathering looked like something out of a horror flick, blood covering their clothes and caking their skin.
    Some started to stumble toward the officer, who shot anyone—or