Lovely, Lovely Freaks

Chapter 7

Matt woke up when the bus came to a stop. He looked around while rubbing his eyes and noticed that they were surrounded by trees. They were in some sort of forest.
He looked at Scar and noticed that he was still asleep, his head leaning against the window. That's when Matt noticed something. Androcles, the lion, was sitting on the ground and staring at him through the window. It just kept staring at him with knowing eyes that seemed to pierce his every being.
"Scar? Scar, what's up with the lion?" Matt asked while gently shaking him. The boy stirred but didn't wake up. Matt looked back at the lion and noticed that the lion was nodding it's head towards the woods. Matt looked and noticed that many of the people on the bus were asleep, and others weren't paying attention. "Hey, pretty boy, the lion wants ya!" Someone yelled from a seat. He looked and saw that the monkey was staring at him, his little overall strap hanging off his hairy shoulder. He was sitting by Rapunzel, who was dozing against the window. The others on the bus ignored them and kept doing their own thing.
"You going to move or what?" The monkey yelled again.
"Okay, okay you grumpy little ape!" Matt grumbled while walking past him. The monkey hopped on his shoulder and pulled Matt's hair, hard. "Ow! Hey you little-"
"My name is Simon you stupid kid! I am not an ape, I will not accept bananas from you like some show pet, and I will rip your face off if you disrespect me again. Do you understand?!" The monkey pulled his lips back and snarled, and Matt was legitimately terrified of a two foot tall monkey on his shoulder. "Simon, leave the kid alone!" Rapunzel said groggily as she woke up. Simon looked at Matt, and then at Rapunzel, and slowly let go of the boy's hair. He hissed one more time for good measure and sat down beside the bearded lady again.
Matt stumbled out of the bus and saw that the lion was still sitting and was still staring at him. It suddenly stood and shook it's gorgeous golden mane, then began to weave through the trees. Matt followed quietly while wondering why he was even following a lion to begin with. This would never happen to some normal kid during the summer. He could have been home then, sleeping and eating and watching tv, but no. Matt was there following a lion through a forest and he had no idea where he actually was.
The lion stopped at a clearing and faced the teenage boy, and Matt felt the hair on the back of his neck begin to tingle. Someone who was not a huge cat was watching him. "Hello, Mathew." An elegant voice called out. Jethrow seemed to appear out of nowhere and the lion purred and rushed over to it's master, it's tail flicking back and forth as he rubbed his huge body against the human's legs.
"Hi." Matt muttered. Jethrow stared at him until Matt grew uneasy and looked away. "I'm sure you are wondering why I brought you here."
"Well, we are in a secluded wooded area and you have a pet lion. I'm going to hope that it wasn't to kill me."
"I don't need your sarcasm right now, boy. I meant into my clan, my family."
"Actually, yes that is kind of strange and random."
"Mathew, you are a child who has had everything handed to you your entire life. You have been a very spoiled person. You do not know the hardships that me and my people face daily. I plan to show them to you." Jethrow's voice seemed to grow darker as he spoke, and by the time he finished he was almost growling. Matt had the urge to run away and hide, like this lunatic really was about to kill him.
The ring leader grunted and growled to his lion, and it nodded it's head and lurked away. So the lion wasn't going to maul Matt, that was a positive thought.
"What is he doing?" Matt asked about the lion. "He's fetching something. Something you want to see."
Matt waited quietly, never taking his eyes off of Jethrow. The man was terrifying, and Matt was uneasy about the entire situation.
The lion came back, dragging something in his mouth. Matt tried to get a good look at it, but they were still hidden by brush and trees.
The lion walked into the clearing and dropped the thing beside his master's feet. Matt looked at it with curious eyes, while also being slightly disgusted.
There was a small creature in front of him that looked like a combination of a frog, a human, and a troll. It's skin was pale and covered in rough warts, it's head was wide and it's nose was large and stubby, and it hunched down like an animal ready to leap. The thing was naked, and it had large black eyes on the edge of it's head.
It's eyes locked onto Matt and it growled at him. When it tried to leap, Matt fell backwards and quickly tried to stand back up as the lion held the thing down with it's large paw. "What is that thing?!" Matt yelled as the creature spat and hissed at the lion, Jethrow, and the boy. Matt noticed that it's tongue was forked and black. This was truly something out of a nightmare.
"This 'thing', Mathew, is a demon. It has crawled straight from Hell and has been sent to try and find people like us. There is a man who feeds on our kind. His name is Terror, and he too is a demon. These are his minions, and he tries to hunt us down like dogs. There are many people in the world like Terror, and we run from them every day of our lives. There is a saying that some of the younger generations of freaks like to say. 'You can only die too ways, old age or being killed.' This is not an easy life, and I protect my people. I've brought you here as a learning experience," Jethrow looked at the demon and sneered at the thing hissed back at him. The lion looked up at Jethrow, and the man gave a nod. The lion nodded and opened it's mouth, revealing it's large teeth.
"And this is how I deal with things that try to harm my people." Jethrow said. Matt watched with wide eyes as Jethrow's gloved hand flicked at Androcles, and the lion smiled. Actually smiled. Before Matt could register what happened, the lion let out a roar, and reached down and ripped the demon's throat out. Black blood splattered everywhere, and the creature let out an ear piercing scream that Matt had to cover his ears for.
Androcles continued to rip the creature apart, first his throat, then each arm followed by the legs, and finally the lion ripped the head off. Matt watched with disgust and vile creeping up his throat as stringy muscles were torn apart, and the crunching of bone echoed throughout the woods. After the lion tore off a new piece, he would turn and spit it off to the side, too disgusted with the creature to eat his kill. The black blood oozed onto the ground and seemed to actually kill the grass around it.
When the lion was done tearing apart the demon, it threw the remaining carcass to the woods, and tried to clean his paws of the black blood. The once gorgeous coat was now stained with black blood, and his mouth still had blood dripping off it.
Jethrow during this whole time was just standing and watching with almost a bored look in his eyes. Once everything was over, he turned to Matt and jerked his head towards the bus. "Go now. They will need your help to set up the tents." Matt didn't need him to say anything else, he turned and ran towards where he had came. He stumbled and stopped when he was far enough away, only to lean against a nearby tree and let loose all the vomit he had been holding back. "These... people... Are sick..." He said in between pants. "But I'm stuck with them."