The Freakshow Massacre

2.

"Why are they taking so long?" Stanley demanded.

"Yeah...like what's keeping them?" Marty questioned before continuing. "And, where are the hell are they?"

Marty was seated in the driver's seat, playing with the car keys, which were still in the ignition.  He was bored out of his wits and the gradually intensifying heat seemed to exacerbate the tense situation, as well as making his blood boil with infuriation.  He was so annoyed that Claudia and Todd had left the three of them to practically die from heat stroke.

"Planet earth," Stanley replied, grinning at his own joke.

"Really funny Stanley!  I'm just dying of laughter!" Marty glared at Stanley, his tone overflowing with sarcasm.

Marty gave up on playing with the car keys, he instead turned to the window and began to stare outside.

Silence enveloped the car which then seemed to drone on forever; making things all the more awkward.  Deciding to end the quietude, Marty spoke again:

"It shouldn't have taken them this long just to go and find someone."

"Maybe they'll be here soon." Marcia answered.

"Mannn!  It's so hot in this car!" Stanley childishly winged.

He dramatically semi-collapsed onto the footrest section of the car, which caused a thud and some shaking of the chassis.  Like a Roman Emperor extenuating his decision to terminate the life of a losing gladiator, Marcia and Marty turned towards Stanley giving him a prolonged vile 'death glare'.

"What?"  Stanley gulped.

"Would you just stop winging?" Marty snarled.

"I'm sorry...okay!  It's not my fault that it's so hot and that they're taking their sweet ass time!" Stanley complained.

"Maybe they got lost," Marcia shrugged.

"Then we should go and find them!"

"They'll find their way back.  It's not that vast of an area."

"Well, I think we should go and see." Marty butted in.

"Let's just wait here for a bit more." Marcia said.

"Why?" Marty demanded.

"Because...what happens if they get back to the car and we're not here?  And what if they came back and we became lost?  It would just stall time."

"Fine," Marty muttered, turning to look out his side window. "But if they're not back in the next fifteen minutes, I'm going."

"Okay,"

***

The curtain led to another tent; slightly smaller, with the only source of light being shavings of sun rays penetrating slim seam gaps.  Even so, Claudia fell to her knees as bile simultaneously started to rise up to her oesophagus.  She covered her mouth with both of her sweaty palms to prevent herself from throwing up.  Her index and middle fingers blocking her nostrils.

There were numerous carcasses hanging from the trapezes by way of wrists being tied to the bars with thick rope.  The scene was ghastly, macabre and spine-chilling.  The lesions, contusions and punctures appearing thereon, seem to run deep into the cadavers.  Along with the surrounding greyish rotting flesh is was unequivocally clear that myiasis had come and gone and that rigor mortis had now set in.

Cordylobia anthropophaga, larvae were gorging on the necrotic tissues and would soon morph into blowflies.

Dried (yellow), mustardy coloured carbuncles previously full of noxious putrid pus looked as though it had oozed out from the myriad of deep incisions.  The repugnant nauseating, foul pungent stench augmented the grimly horrendous, unimaginable scene.