"What are we going to do?" Marcia's voice cracked with disheartenment as a few tears augmented her sorrow.
"I...I...I don't know..." Claudia shrugged.
Marcia glanced over at Claudia, the appearance of her green eyes had deteriorated (which Marcia found extremely difficult to comprehend), Claudia's eyes were even more bloodshot and puffy than before. Marcia deduced that Claudia was on the verge of having a mental breakdown.
The two girls (especially Marcia) didn't want to conceptualise what may have happened to Marty. He was lying before them, indubitably hurt very badly. His face and back were smothered in blood. Marcia was frantic and beside herself thinking of the pain he was in. Just the sight of him in that pitiful wounded state, pulverised and almost unrecognisable made her heart twist with sympathy. She wanted to scream out with all her heart because she couldn't stand seeing Marty without dignity and in pain. She hated that she'd let Marty go and sacrifice his safety for them. The clowns were devilishly dangerous, they could've killed him.
Due to all these thoughts (both empathetic and macabre) bouncing throughout her mind, Marcia couldn't contain herself. She started sobbing as quietly as she could, hot tears flowed down her face. The back of her throat began to pulsate and hurt as well as her eyes which began to sting immensely. She was horrifically maimed and her body ached. Her head, neck, shoulders; her ankle, legs, arms, wrists, hands; her chest, rib cage and ribs as well as her heart.
It was the first time ever that Marcia wished death upon anyone or anything. She wished that the non-human, barbaric biological entities, parading as clowns would cease to exist. She wanted the stupid, merciless, brainless blobs to vanish from the face of the Earth. To never bother Marcia and her friends again; in fact, never touch any other living creature, human and animal.
She wished that they'd never found themselves in such an apocalyptic situation and that the bestial clowns as well as the whole circus tent never existed. Marcia desired to go back in time and change their plans for that day. She wanted them to have watched a movie at the cinema or to have gone for a leisurely stroll in the park. But she mostly wanted to have been just at home.
Marcia hated that she was in a completely helpless state. She wanted to be the aggressor and to fight back. To kill the clowns for laying their hands on Marty. Marcia detested that she was incapacitated and incapable of doing anything to help her friends. She couldn't even think properly.
Marcia sniffed and wiped away the last of her tears. She knew that it felt good to cry and let out all of her emotions instead of keeping them bottled up inside. However, she couldn't continue crying because if the clowns saw her, they'd be stoked by the fact of having successfully impacting their victim. They simply cherished seeing her suffer and cry. She wasn't going to give them the pleasure or satisfaction of seeing her cry.
At that instant, the male clown (the culprit who bashed Marty to a pulp) walked in. His beady, protruding swine like eyeballs, hesitantly housed within the ugliest sockets, scanned the room and fell upon Marty's bruised and bloody body. He grinned sadistically, raised a large metal hammer and began waddling towards Marty in an excited state.
Marcia started to panic as she believed that he was going to try and hurt Marty again. She couldn't let Marty go through another bashing. If he was further injured, he risked being killed. But if she tried to fight off the clown she'd be killed. She had to think of a way to stop him and make him desist in tormenting them.
As Marcia began to think up a plan, Stanley broke her concentration by shouting,
"Hey! What the fuck are you doing!"
The clown's evil grin disappeared as he turned aloofly. His gaze was fixed onto Stanley as he held his hammer.
"Leave him alone! Don't touch him! Just leave us alone!" Stanley cried.
The clown stood still, doing and saying nothing. He just kept on staring at Stanley, not taking his eyes off him. It seemed as though the clowns enjoyed staring at their victims. Stanley was creeped out. The clown wouldn't take his eyes off him and it was making shiver and feel queasy. Stanley had to do something. He couldn't let his best friend be killed by that clown. He acknowledged that it was a very stupid idea for him to yell at the clown like he had; he was now regretting that action. He needed to think of something more rational than just making commands and expecting the clown to follow them.
The clown finally decided to make a move...inching towards Stanley with the hammer in a raised position. Marcia's heart beat quickened and within a fraction of a second, she frantically tried to process what was happening and what she should do. As the clown got closer, Stanley started kicking and punching him. But it was useless. He kept on screaming at the clown and attacking him but it had no effect on the malicious psycho, he just stood there laughing.
"Why don't you just let us go and leave us alone!" Stanley cried.
The tormenting clown raised the hammer higher and was about to bring it down when Claudia unexpectedly jumped onto his back, a miasma of rotting excrement prevalent. She started pounding her piston like fists against his head and scratching her long fingernails against his scalp; blood and flakes of crusty skin building up underneath her nails.
The clown let out a cry of anger and turned around (sloth-like) only to discover that there was no one attacking him. Claudia cringed as she dug her fingernails into the clown's eyes, feeling the gooey, mushy consistency within his eyeball sockets, which then started to seep out onto her fingers as blood simultaneously sprayed out.
The clown was blinded, yet he kept on violently swinging his hammer around while yelling out to the other clowns. He couldn't see what he was doing or which way he was swinging the hammer. However, he somehow managed to grab a hold of Claudia and threw her onto the ground.
Claudia felt a rush of pain come over her as she fell onto the ground but she forced herself to get up again. Marcia appeared to be like Marty, she couldn't move due to shock.
Claudia started looking around for Stanley and finally spotted him. The blind clown was behind him. The clown's hammer was raised and was going to crash into Stanley's head.
"Stanley! Behind you! Duck!" Claudia screamed.
Stanley tried to duck but failed. The hammer smashed into the back of his head and he was sent flying onto the ground.
"You fucking bastard!" Claudia shouted at the clown as she rushed over to Stanley.
The clown continued wandering around and fortunately walked right out through the curtain and into the bigger tent; not aware of what he was doing. Claudia kneeled at Stanley's side; his whole body was twitching and blood was trickling out from the back of his head and onto the ground.
"No Stanley don't die..." Claudia said, on the verge of tears. "We're going to get you out of here. Please."
In response, Stanley tried to speak but chocked. Blood and saliva oozed out from his mouth and ran down the sides of his neck. Claudia pressed her hand against his head and applied pressure; making an effort to stop the bleeding. However, it was fruitless...to no avail. Within a few seconds Stanley stopped breathing. He wasn't making any more movement.
"No..." Claudia started.
She checked his pulse...but there was nothing to be found. She lightly slapped his face and tried to get him to move or to rouse him. She was trying anything which would indicate that he was still alive.
"Stanley!" Claudia shouted. "Wake up! Please!"
But no matter what Claudia did, Stanley didn't respond. He was dead. His eyes were still open but he wasn't blinking. He wasn't moving nor was he breathing. He was gone...forever...like Todd.
"Shit!" Claudia maledicted, picking up a pebble next to her foot and throwing it into the distance in anger.
Marcia managed to bring herself out of shock and rushed over to Stanley and Claudia. She kneeled down and put her hand on Claudia's shoulder before asking:
"Is he..."
"He's dead," Claudia finished, her cheeks stained with tears.
Marcia pulled Claudia into an embrace as Claudia started crying hysterically. Marcia wanted to say something to comfort her but she didn't know what to say. She wanted to tell her that everything was okay and that they were all going to make it out alive. That the police would arrest the soulless cockroaches. Then they'd be placed into mental institutions for their inhuman, barbaric, evil, sadistic and heinous offences of deprivation, cruelty, torture and homicide in the first degree.
However, Marcia wasn't sure of that because she felt or rather was fully aware that the truth wasn't okay. To compound things, she didn't know if she would be okay later on. She didn't know if she, Claudia and Marty were all going to keep themselves alive and escape...together. She didn't know how long it would be until Claudia or Marty was killed...or if she was killed. She didn't want things to be like they were. She wanted to be able to tell Claudia that the remaining three of them would escape and get help. But she couldn't bring herself to lie to Claudia like that, especially when Todd and Stanley had been ruthlessly and violently terminated.
Claudia pulled away from Marcia and wiped her face with her clammy palms. Looking at Marcia she saw how unrecognisable Claudia had become. Her blonde hair seemed to have turned a darker shade of brown than when Marcia had first found Claudia in the tent. Her arms and legs had scratches on them and were caked in filth. Her face...most of it was coated with dried blood (amalgamated with sweat, dust and grit), her eyes were red, swollen and puffy. She was no longer the same. If they managed to escape, Marcia would never be able to look at Claudia the same way. She wouldn't be able to look her best friend in the eye, without being reminded of what she'd been through.
"Marcia?" Claudia mumbled.
"Yeah?" Marcia replied.
"Are we ever going to get out of here?"
"I hope so Claudia...I hope so."
"What happens if none of us get out of here? If we're all just killed...and left to rot here. No one will know anything about what has happened to us. They won't know about the evil clowns that are here."
"Claudia...I can't promise that you, Marty and I will escape out of here but I promise I am praying...And I'm going to try so hard to make sure that we do."
Claudia looked down onto the floor, avoiding looking at Marcia. The two were left to sit in silence.
"You shouldn't make promises that you can't keep." Claudia suddenly said.
Marcia opened her mouth to reply back but stopped when she forgot what she was going to say. She hesitated and closed her mouth again before turning away from Claudia and looking over at Marty.
***
The curtain was instantaneously and aggressively thrust to the side, revealing Pinky and Penny. A look of fury on their faces. Penny angrily strode over to Marcia and pulled her up to her feet by her hair. Marcia struggled as she fought to pry Penny's fingers off of her hair.
"Let me go!" Marcia demanded, aiming a kick towards Penny.
The kick failed miserably and Penny slapped Marcia across the face. She held the point of the knife up to her throat before saying,
"If you lay a finger on anyone else like that I'll kill you and the rest of your friends. Understand?"
"What on earth are you talking about?" Marcia replied.
"When you stuck your fingers into Grubby's eyes and blinded him you fucking cunt!" Pinky butted in.
"I..." Marcia began.
"Keep your mouth shut!" Pinky commanded as she kicked Marcia.
Penny's grip on Marcia's hair tightened as she nefariously cut a chuck from the amount she was holding, causing Marcia to fall to the ground. Penny dropped Marcia's caramel coloured hair before turning to Pinky.
"Let's get this done and over with." Penny stated.