The Dead Saga (Novella Part 2): Odium Origins Read Online Free

around us.
    Everywhere has gone quiet, apart from the music blaring from each ride. You would think it was just a real quiet night at the fair, but looking closer, that’s not true. Blood smears several of the tents that house attractions, bodies lie prone on the ground. The police cars lights still flash, illuminating several bodies close by them.
    I look back at Brown Eyes and the woman with Emma. I watch the woman gently push the hair back from Emma’s face to reveal purple bruising, and blood seeping from her nose and eyes—the same eyes that stare up at nothing. The woman cries louder and Brown Eyes looks to me to do something, but there’s nothing I can do. Emma is dead, and it’s partly my fault. If I hadn’t shouted at her to stop, maybe she never would have fallen.
    The woman looks pale and shaky, tears free-flowing down her cheeks. Blood has pooled around her from her injured leg, and I take a moment to really look at how bad it is and wince. The man has bitten right through her thin tights and into the fleshy part of her calf muscle. I’m almost certain that I can see bone, and I gulp and look back at Daryl. He’s picked up his two-by-four again and is looking around us anxiously.
    I step forward to get Brown Eyes to come with us and realize that I don’t actually know her name. If I could hashtag this, I would: #awkward. I’m about to reach out and touch her shoulder when I hear someone close by.
    “We gotta go, Matty,” Daryl says behind me. His voice sounds strong, yet I can hear the slight quaver to it.
    “What’s going on?” Brown Eyes looks up at me from her place next to the woman, blood from the bodies pooling around her knees. “Why would that guy do this? Where are the police?” She looks from me to Daryl and back again before slowly standing and looking around us. “What’s wrong with everyone?” Her voice sounds desperate, like she’s begging me to answer her, to give her the answers that she needs.
    Her face holds the same expression I presume mine did several seconds ago as she begins to notice the lack of people and the blood everywhere. When her eyes come back to meet mine there’s a determination there.
    “I need to get home to my parents,” she says and stands. She looks down at the woman. “I’m sorry. We’ll bring back help, I promise.” She walks away without a second glance.
    I stare after her in amazement, admiring her strength of character but confused as to how she could just turn it all off like that. Daryl casts a look back at the woman, who’s still crying over the body of her child, before following me. There’s nothing we can do for her now but go get help—if there’s any help left to find.

Five.
     
    It’s a funny thing when you see the world in a different light. When we arrived I thought this place was pretty cool: tons of rides, food stalls, flashing lights and loud music, the smell of popcorn and cotton candy filling my nose. Now, the whole place seems like a walking nightmare. And instead of the sweet smell of cotton candy, I smell blood and decay.
    “You good, man?” Daryl steps to my side, and Brown Eyes gives us both a quick nervous glance.
    “Yeah,” I reply. “Why?”
    Daryl frowns, his eyes looking me over. “The blood.” He gestures at me, his hand still clutching his two-by-four.
    I look down at myself, seeing blood splattered down my jeans and across my T-shirt. I suck in a breath, feeling a mixture of things, but mainly feeling dirty. I look at Brown Eyes and see that she’s in the same predicament as me, though I wonder if she knows.
    “I’m, I’m fine. It’s not mine.” I look into the shadows between two stalls; nothing jumps out, so we quickly move forward. “What’s going on, Daryl?”
    “No clue, man. People just started going crazy after that fight. The police turned up and tried to separate them. They had someone in the back of their car, and he just started going mental. After that, I don’t know. Everyone was