Be Careful What You Wish For: A Zombie Apocalypse-Chapter 257: Find Your Way Out?

My eyes narrowed on the tiny, round man slowly making his way toward us; his lips curled back in a sneer as he eyed me up and down. "You the one making all the trouble?" he asked before he hacked up a glob of spit and sent it sailing to my feet.

"Lick it up," I snarled back, my lips curled in disgust. "Or your carnival can find a new owner."

"Yeah?" chuckled the walking penguin. "And who the fuck are you? I’m immortal; I can’t die. I have run the Carnival of the Damned for over 300 years, traveling from one place to the other. You are nothing more than a soon-to-be exhibition. Everyone! Close up! It’s time to move out. Anyone not in their trailer in the next 10 minutes will be forced to stay outside while we deal with the rift."

The Carnies around us went pale at that threat, but I didn’t react. "Lick it up," I repeated, seeing the disgusting blob in the dirt. "Or your carnival will find a new owner."

"You don’t scare me, Little Girl. I have dealt with demons and monsters much scarier than you, and they are now exhibitions in my carnival. I’m sure you will meet them soon."

Letting out a long breath, I looked around me. My men were ready to go to war. Ronan and Désiré were holding Max down, their faces promising violence to the next person who so much as looked at me wrong, and I knew I was home.

"Any takers for the carnival?" I called out, looking around at the fearful audience. They were terrified but, like most species, couldn’t pull away from the spectacle in front of them.

"Me," announced a woman, stepping forward. She was tall, well, taller than me, and she looked down at me and smiled. "My name is Miranda, and I would love to take over the carnival."

Spinning around at the sound of her voice, the Ring Master, or whoever he was, growled low. "You are nothing more than a half-breed. An exhibition that I took in as a baby and raised to this day! She is never going to be able to kill me, and now... I will kill you."

"There is nothing inside of him to reap," whispered Chang Xuefeng into my ear as he stared at the penguin huffing and puffing. "I can’t kill him."

"You can’t?" I mused. "Could you kill me?"

Daddy went white at that possibility and stepped back, his eyes narrowing. "No idea," he snapped. "And I am never going to try."

Nodding my head, I thought about it for a second. I had no idea if I could kill the Ring Master or not, but now it was a matter of pride. Thinking long and hard, I came up with an idea.

Closing my eyes, I thought about the world I wanted to create. It couldn’t be big. After all, this creature thing seemed to enjoy putting others in cages, so let’s make his world the size of a cage.

Next... what should be around him?

Nothing. Pure and utter darkness without a single twinkling of light. "What sound bothers him the most?" I asked, opening my eyes to look at Miranda.

"The sound of wings flapping," she quickly replied, a startlingly beautiful smile forming on her face. The longer I looked at her, the easier it was to see her. She had stunning red hair with streaks of orange hiding throughout. Her eyes, a bright blue color, seemed to see right through you, and her smile made everything seem okay.

"He was once trapped outside in the open when we went through a rift," she continued, looking straight at me. "Before the monsters come, you can hear their wings beating as they get closer."

Huh, good to know.

Adding the sound of beating wings to the darkness, I opened the door to the space I had just created. "Since you are sure that you can’t die, and I have much better things to do than to try and kill you. This is your new home; hurry your ass up and get in."

"Fuck that," snarled the Ring Master as he looked at the bright blue door. You couldn’t see anything from this side, so I didn’t know what he was freaking out about. "I’m not going in there."

"Tank," I sighed, wanting to hurry up and get out of here.

My hound growled low as he physically picked up the overweight penguin and flung him through the door. The space snapped shut the second its intended inhabitant was inside and disappeared.

"Can he get out?" asked Miranda, staring at the spot where the door originally was.

"No," I replied, already moving on to something else. "If you want it to open, you’ll have to come find me. Otherwise, we don’t want any misguided attempts at freeing him from people too stupid to live."

Miranda’s eyes scanned the crowd around her, and she nodded her head. "Then how about we just keep that door shut forever? He can’t get into any trouble?"

"It’s a realm made just for him," I assured her. "Four feet by six feet, pitch black, and only the sounds of wings flapping to accompany him. Will that suit you?"

"Thank you," breathed Miranda before straightening to her full height. "What can I do to pay you back?"

"Come visit every so often," I replied, a bright smile on my face. "I had a lot of fun!"

"Then I will make sure to come back here. Generally, in this realm, we only come once every five years, but if you want us back sooner, just send us a message."

"Want someone for your exhibition?" I asked, tilting my head toward Max. "Human with superpowers might be interesting for aliens and monsters."

"Rodrick would have accepted him without a doubt," smiled Miranda sadly. "But I am getting rid of the exhibitions. I’m going to rehome all the people who we have stolen over three centuries and make sure they can have the type of life they want."

"Commendable," I smiled, not really caring. "Then we’ll take him and be out of your hair. I’m sure you have a lot to do before you hit the road."

"You can find your way out?" asked Miranda as the crowd was already parting to show us to the exit.

"No problem at all!"