Sawblade circus

Chapter Twenty

Annabelle regained consciousness some time later, eyes having to readjust to the sudden dark they were exposed to. The first thing she felt was the cold metal beneath her, then the restraints around her hands, ankles, neck and waist. She tried to squirm to get the feeling back in her limbs, but couldn't get enough movement to help. "Looks like someone's had a good night sleep." A voice said and she snapped out of her stupor. She snapped her head around to see The Ringmaster with his back to her messing around with some things on the table in front of him. The day’s events rushed back into her then, her mind going hazy and her lungs suddenly needing more air. "Where’s my brother? What'd you do with him and my dad?" She tried to sound unnerved, sound strong, but her voice was weak along with the rest of her. "They're playing with one of the acts right now, don't fret." He turned then, and had a syringe in hand. "Now, this is what causes the acts to go crazy, so you know. It isn't the meat, surprise huh?" She blinked. "Then what does?" He scoffed and turned back to the table once again. "Why should I tell you? Do you think this is the part in every movie where I give my monologue and reveal to you the secrets that kept me here all this time? To give you the upper hand if I should fail?"

"It's okay to be scared of being hurt again." Annabelle deadpanned. She saw him still for a moment, turn rigid, but that quickly passed. "I don't know what you mean, child. As your snake friend saw earlier I can't be harmed." He turned to her once more and approached this time, syringe in hand. Annabelle froze then, tears beginning to form until she saw him put the item down and move his hair back a bit, till she saw the bullet hole behind the top of his ear. "If this isn't proof, I don't know what is." Their eyes met when he was pulling away and she saw the tiny veins that ran through the black around his face, and for some reason, that made her even more scared than she was. Probably because she was face to face with something that planned to use her for his own amusement, and if what the pig said, other demons as well. "That's not what i meant, and we both know that you know that." She pressed, grabbing for more time. He just shook his head and flipped on a light. Annabelle was blinded for a moment as it flicked on right above her. The Ringmaster picked up the syringe and help it in front of her. She saw the blue hue turn to purple then, and if it wasn't something meant to kill her, she would've described the change as beautiful. "Now, hold still." He said as he prepped the spot on her neck for injection.

Nathan woke up to the sound of growls and yelping noises. He turned his head to see one of the acts in a cage right next to them, the one they called crazy Louis. "Oh thank god you're awake." His grandmother said as he sat up. "Where’s Annabelle?" He asked, eyes staying on the lunatic in the next cage. "We don't know, we last saw her with Snakey and the Ringmaster." She closed her eyes and swallowed before continuing, "Then we heard gunshots." His blood ran cold then, his heart rate picking up considerably. "Right now though," Nathans father said from beside him, "We have to worry about that thing and the two shadow shits that were talking about letting him out and into our cage." He shook his head, trying to get his brain working tip top again, everything was a blur still to him. "Look who woke up, excellent. Now this can stop crying about food." A raspy voice said from the entrance to the tent. They looked up and saw one of the shadow figures walk in. It strolled over to their cage to inspect them. "Not very much fat on you all, but it'll do. I've seen him run on less." "Where's my daughter?" Mr.Hil yelled. It shrugged. "The Ringmaster told that bird thing to take her to his tent. He's either turning her into a beast, or...” He looked towards Nathan then,"...Being the beast." He finished with a sly smile. Nathan jumped at the creature with a sudden surge of adrenaline in his veins, but of course his hands just phased through the thing and his effort went in vein. "Anyway, we should probably let him eat...” The creature said to the second one that walked in. "Not now, some of the other guys said that they saw some farmer running about with a gun. That's top priority." The shadow figures walked out then, leaving the three captives alone with Crazy Louis once more.

"I hope that man makes sense of what’s going on and leaves before he ends up like us." Mr.Hil said. Nathan was still frozen from his jump of energy earlier, his mind blank and pulse racing. His father got up and put a hand on his back. "I'm sure he was kidding. Just to get a reaction out of you. I've seen it happen a lot when i was on the force." Nathan was about to say something, but the tent opened again, and this time a scrawny looking man stepped in. "Oh thank lord, I got here in time then." "Hey," Nathan said slowly, "You're that farmer Annabelle and I saw." The farmer walked up and began to fiddle with the lock. "Yep, names Luther, by the way. Now hold still I'll try to shoot this off." "No!" Night Angel said quickly, "They'll hear you and kill you! There has to be a key here somewhere." Luther nodded and set about looking for the key, which he saw on a desk on the far side of the room. "It's not a physical copy I’m afraid," he said, walking back to the cage, "It's a code. It unlocks your cage, but it also unlocks the rest of them as well." "Son of a bitch must've rigged it like that in case we got out." Mr.Hil growled. Luther sighed and back up. "Okay, now, I’m going to unlock it, and when I do you run for hell, you understand?" "You'll be killed by him!" Nathan pointed to the psycho. "Probably, so don't let my sacrifice be in vain child." Luther said sternly. The three got ready and nodded. Luther pushed the button on the little pad he was holding, and the cages started to open. "Duck under when you can!" Mr.Hil said as the bars got higher. Nathan ducked out first and then Night Angel, Mr.Hil barely making it before Crazy Louis got out. They ran past Luther who had his shot gun raised. "Get some!" They heard him yell and then shots being fired. They heard the sounds of other cages opening when they got outside. "Now what?" "We find Annabelle!"