Suzy’s Strange Saga

“Dolores, you’re not going to intimidate me any more than those stupid rednecks, if you want to go get your head blown off in a futile task then be my guest, but the rest of us are leaving…”

Without another word, Dolores points her weapon at you. This action causes the few that are still in fighting condition to raise their own weapons as well. Some of them at Dolores and some at you.

“Don’t think so blondie. I’m running this show now.”
“Dolores have you lost your mind?!” Shrimpy exclaims.
“Shrimpy, you better pick a fucking side, because your days of riding the fucking fence are soon coming to an end, now you either support the carnival or you can get the fuck out too!” Dolores says.

While having a rifle pointed straight at you, would’ve been terrifying at one time for you, it’s not anymore.

“Dolores, if you think this is going to make me back down, you’re sorely mistaken.”
“And if you think that I won’t shoot you, you’re sorely stupid.”
“Dolores look around you, I don’t see a united front against me. All you’re doing is going to cripple your own cause by opening fire and that’s assuming you even survive this. If you really want to get revenge on those rednecks then you’re going to need everyone you can get. And THIS is not the way to do it.”

Dolores might be angry, but she’s not stupid and knows you’ve got a point.

“All right then, you got a suggestion blondie? And don’t say just to follow you, because that’s not happening.”
“No, I can see that. (Sigh) I can see that this carnival is doomed to tear itself apart so the way I see it, anyone who wants to come with me, leaves right now. This means we’re going to leave with most of our personal possessions and some supplies, half of that stuff is still ours, but we’ll just take what we need. We’re also going to be travelling lighter, so we’re just going to take some of the smaller vehicles. You can have all the trailers and the bigger trucks. Since I imagine most of the wounded won’t be in any condition to travel so you’ll need those if only to give them comfortable transport when the time comes.”
“What about weapons?” Dolores asks.
“Well everyone keeps their personal ones along with some ammo and YOU make due with whatever is left. Hopefully for you, most people that are armed stay with you. As a gesture of good will though, you can keep the few grenades we have. While I get the impression they would come in useful, I also think if you have any chance of beating those rednecks, you’re going to need them more than we will.”

At this point you hold out your hand to solidify the deal, which Dolores gives you a sideways glance before returning the gesture.

“Fine, but I better not catch any of you cowards taking more than you need!” Afterwards she starts calling everyone and anyone who’ll listen of why they should stay with her and take revenge on the trailer park.

You on the other hand aren’t going to try to convince any more people, you’re done with speeches for a while, as far as you’re concerned it’s been a bit of a waste of time. If they want to come, then good, if not, then oh well.

On your way back to your trailer to pick up your personal belonging, you notice that it must’ve caught a few stray bullets during the gunfire. When you open up the door, you’re met with an even bigger surprise.

On the floor you see Ranko with several bullet holes in him and bleeding out. Nearby is a straight razor close to his hand. He sees you and struggles to speak.

“Suz…zy…you gotta (cough) help…me…” he says.
“Oh this is rich, you want ME to help you? What the hell were you doing in my trailer in the first place? Going to attack me? Maybe rape me perhaps?” you say picking up the straight razor.
“I…was…goi…pologize…(gasp) (gurgle)…”
“Yeah, excuse me if I don’t believe you. You deserve to die and with the day I’ve had, I think I’ll take the opportunity to enjoy watching it.”
“(gurgle) Fuck…you…(gasp)…” Ranko utters.

Those words are his last as he slowly finishes bleeding to death. Well he certainly left a mess, but considering this isn’t going to be your trailer anymore at least you don’t need to worry about cleaning up.

As you’re packing up, someone enters the trailer, you’re a little paranoid, so you immediately draw your weapon only to see Shrimpy.

“Whoa! It’s just me! I was just wondering which…holy shit, is that Ranko?”
“Yeah, the asshole apparently was hiding in here waiting to ambush me. Caught some stray bullets as you can see. Couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy. So what did you want?” You say.
“Oh well, I was just coming to ask which vehicle did you want? I mean considering Lifto and Klepto are both dead, I figure we got more right to those two before anyone else might at least.”
“So you’re coming with me?”
“Of course. I was against attacking the trailer park remember? In fact there are several people ready to leave. Dunno how Dolores’ raid on the trailer park is going to go, but that’s hardly our problem right?”

You pause a bit before addressing Shrimpy’s rhetorical question.

“Do you think I’m doing the right thing, abandoning the carnival like this? I mean Dolores had a point when she said I just threw out Jack without supplies because he wanted to leave. I feel like sort of a hypocrite.” You say.
“Well…I think you’re doing the best with the cards that were dealt and that’s all you can do sometimes. I mean there are people here that have been with the carnival longer and they’re ready to leave without hesitation, so you certainly shouldn’t feel bad about it. I mean with the way the world is going nowadays, does something like a carnival even have a future anymore?” Shrimpy says.
“Maybe not, we probably should stick to rural areas for at least a few days until some of this shit dies down, but I’m just wondering what we’re going to do with ourselves for the future in general.”
“Well I’m sure we’ll figure something out. But just know that I’ll stand by your decision whatever it is.”
“Thanks Shrimpy…hey what is your real name anyway?”
“Heh, oh that. Well haven’t been called it in year, but its Lance.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, I know I look far from being a Lance though. You probably picture a big tall heroic guy with a square jaw or something.”
“Eh, those guys don’t exist in real life anyway, well at least they’ve never existed in my life, but you’ve been all right.”

Lance smiles and waits for you to finish packing and the pair of you head to Lifto’s vehicle, which to your surprise has been fitted to accommodate a “shorter” driver.

You, Lance and several others leave the carnival which is now in the process of gearing up for the raid on the trailer park (or housing the very wounded) you can’t imagine how that’s going to go, but you hope Dolores is successful even if you didn’t see eye to eye with her.

Lance and you drive along with several other vehicles in an odd caravan like fashion. Really there is no reason why everyone needs to stay together, since everyone is free to go their own separate way, but perhaps leaving the carnival is too much of a change and at least there is a little bit of a familiarity by sticking with the same people.

You and Lance converse the entire time you drive, though eventually at one point you start to get sleepy and Lance takes over with the driving. Feeling the safest you’ve been in days, you drift off to sleep…

You have 1 choice:

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