With sweat dripping skin, sweat soaked clothes and the ambition for a rest, they came to a halt. Panting heavily, hands stemmed over their knees as they crooked over to gasp for air, greedily taking in litres over litres of air.
"Blondie.." -back at that name again "we.. are here..."
Ron, still panting, he looked at him with his eyebrows pulled together slightly "Wh-where?!"
Carl slowly straightened up and pinched the bridge of his nose, as if he tried to squeeze the stress out of him "We- the... well, the place..." he panted some more "Saw this place with Enid, she didn't bother but I wanted to explore it"
Ron who didn't know what the hell he was talking about, let his eyes fly over the surroundings and saw nothing more than a rusty gate, overgrown with bushes and ivy. "Uh, you wanted to explore what exactly?"
Carl clucked with his tongue, then grabbed the blonds wrist and dragged him closer to the gate until they could see it better; an seemingly abandoned place that could have been a funfair a long time ago. It was stacked with weather beaten attractions whose once so bright and shiny colours were nothing more than a faded out reminder that once, there had been more than just grey, stealthy colours a long time ago.
A variety of stands stood in line, the letters on their signs hard to read from the water damage they had gotten exposed to from standing there without humans to look after them. Bumper cars laid kicked from their course between the colourful stalls and a giant ferris wheel was really the only thing that stood out about this place. A couple of passenger cars were missing on the outside of them rim but the colours of this thing were -surprisingly- still intact and shinning down to them in a mocking way as if reminding the boys how stale they looked compared to the fun Ferris wheel.
Ron looked at it in awe, never had he ever been at such a place that once held so much fun and joy within it nor did he ever thought those places still exist. He wanted to run up and drive on the Ferris wheel or follow the sweet scent that lingered in the air.
"You like it" Carl asked him, watching the boys face with a smile on his lips.
"Yes..." Ron said quietly but then he took a step backwards and shook his head "No- well yes I like it but no, we can't go there, Carl"
"Why not?" Carl raised an eyebrow at him.
"We don't know what people might be awaiting us there," Ron said, but Carl wouldn't give up that easy and pulled something out of his pocket. He looked at it before he unfolded it in front of Rons eyes, it was a heavily folded, green ticket, deep crates spread across the thick paper and it was frayed at the corners as if Carl had kept the thing for years in his pants.
He handed it to Ron "We've got permission to enter"
Ron frowned at the small piece of paper and doubted that the thing would be of any worth. It wasn't like any security guard would come up to them and check the ticket prior entering and the fact that Carl thought it would be useful, made the blond seriously query on the boys intelligence.
"Carl... I really don't think.. someone's gonna check" Ron tried to tell him as gingerly as possible, speaking to the brunette like he was a child, speaking to him like he always spoke to Sam.
"I know, dumbass" Carl said untouched "I'll show this whoever wan' one-on-one with me, and as they look I'll slam my burner in their shabby faces" he huffed out air angrily as if the thought kindled rage within him.
"Okeeeey, Carl.." Ron said slowly, handing him back the ticket wordlessly and the brunette snapped it out of his hand, folding it two times before he pocketed it.
"So we go?" He asked
Ron shrugged "I guess, if you really want to, then I'm not gonna Enid you"
"What?"
"Uh..." Ron looked away, and explained to him even though the joke wouldn't be funny anymore after saying it twice "You know, she let you down and if I let you down I'm just like her so- I'm not gonna Enid you"
Carl gave him a weird look, as expected the joke wasn't funny after explaining it
"Ju-just forget it.." Ron said, fanning the air as if he could make the conversation dissolve.
An awkward silence fell between the two boys.
"Oh," Carl said after a while and started laughing a little then with another "Oh" he practically howled in laughter, like an old engine that needed some time till it launched.
Ron was a little irritated but the boys laughter was so contagious that he couldn't help and laugh about the unfunny situation, filling the air with ugly cackling and for awhile it was just that.
Carl was the first to find himself and he poked Ron into the side to kill his laughter then pointed at the entrance "We shall go in, explore"
Ron nodded, holding his stomach from the aching cramps the laughter had caused, then followed the brunette boy inside.
The place was deserted from any human life and the only living things that inhabited here were crows, insects, a couple of squirrels that crisscrossed the road as they went among the stalls and some other birds from which he didn't know the name. The atmosphere screamed from the silence that hung painfully in the air and the lack of motions gave him the chills. At this point it would've been bearable if walkers staggered around, just to give this place a bit of life
Dead rollercoasters, scruffy stalls with contaminated food and some candy that were maybe good enough to eat but didn't look too appetising from the water they were soaked in.
"Depressing" Ron muttered, sharing his opinion about this place aloud with the guy next to him who seemed a tad too enthusiastic, he looked at the attractions with his mouth open ajar, eye glistening as it stared upon.
"'S wonderful" Carl corrected him, still gawking.
Ron smiled a little from the boy's facial expression. He liked Carl that way, the excited little boy and not the grumpy old man who was mad someone stepped over his lawn.
"Yes," Ron agreed to him, regardless of his own opinion, "Wonderful"
"Let's step closer-" Carl said, nodding to a stand by the other side but his eye slid from Ron to a spot behind him and his expression hardened.
Ron turned around but Carl had already jumped defensively in front of Ron into a fighting stance, blocking his view and making the blond blush a little.
"WHO THERE?!" Carl snarled
Ron peeked over the boys broad shoulders and caught sight of an old man staring at them unbiased, cleaning a mug with a ratty towel which didn't look like it could clean off anything since covered in dirt itself
"Who you?!" Carl urged him for an answer,
"I'm no one, in this place of nothing's. Living the last glimpses of life till the lord welcomes me in his arms" The man replied without looking up, his eyes were sunken into his skull and he was bald of hair expect for the black moustache growing from his red skin under his nose. He wore a black tuxedo, untouched from dirt and it fell neatly over his body as if freshly ironed. He didn't make an impression of someone who had a hard time surviving, indeed he actually looked like someone living in a giant mansion, despite the impression the bar behind him would have caused him looking like a bum if it weren't for his clothes and the hygiene in general
"Who you?!" Carl growled again.
"Im the Barkeeper of Lost Jollity"
"What's Lost Jollity?" Carl said who didn't find it funny in the least "You better not kid' me"
The man finally titled his head to look at them and by doing so, the light of the bar shone on his scalp and made it glimmer with either a lot of gel or grease from lacking showers
"I'm afraid that I can't answer that, chum"
"A'ight" Carl huffed and teared the holster open, pulling out his gun to point it at him "Answer! WHAT IS LOST JOLLITY"
The barkeeper put the glass down and threw the towel over his shoulder then he folded his arms together "My friend, I'm truly and utterly sorry but an answer can't be urged with weapons, besides I highly doubt you carry bullets within it. You seem young"
Carl let out a noise that sounded like a growl then the snapped the hammer and fired a shot into the next stand, smoke charged after the bullet. Then, he returned his gaze back at the man who didn't look too confident anymore.
"Answer or next goes in you" Carl said with a warning undertone.
"Carl-" Ron began, his voice shaky "I think we should just go-"
"Shut up!" The brunette snapped at him and Ron startled back, unable to throw a remark since he feared the gun in Carls hands, so he kept quiet and watched with big eyes as Carl grew angrier and angrier with the second. He would shoot the man, and Ron would witness a death scene. And he worst of all, maybe this was all just an ambush and they were about to get attacked.