Circus De La Freak by Piper (short story to read TXT) 📕

and I exchanged looks.
“Doesn’t that mean that no air can get in here either…?” I asked hesitantly, an iron fist of fear gripping my heart. Xena looked down and nodded.
“With the three of us, there would be enough air for us to last an hour. With you all in here with us, we have twenty, fifteen minute’s max.” she said dejectedly. Piper’s eyes widened and she jumped up.
“No way. I am not dying in here.” She snarled, her brown eyes flashing angrily. She stormed over to the shelves and started to look through the foods and chemicals, trying to find something that would help us get out of here. I got to my feet as well and started rifling through the cabinets, looking for something. Anything.
“What’re you looking for?” Belle asked us, getting up as well. Piper shrugged, just continuing to look. Xena gasped and jumped up.
“Manganese heptoxide!” she cried, running over to the shelf and grabbing a small vial of green liquid off of it.
“Manga-wha?” asked Piper confusedly.
“Manganese heptoxide is an inorganic compound with the formula Mn2O7. This volatile liquid is highly reactive and more often discussed than intentionally prepared. It is a dangerous oxidizer and was first described in 1860!” crowed Xena happily.
“Could you dumb that down a bit?” asked Aria dumbly. Xena rolled her eyes as she pulled a small medicinal cabinet open and started to dump its contents onto the floor.
“A liquid mini bomb! If you place liquid manganese heptoxide next to a heat source, boom! A small localized explosion!” said Xena, talking faster than most of us could even comprehend.
“W-what do you need?” asked Kai, getting up from the floor.
“Matches! I need matches.” Said Xena, looking like a crazed scientist as she searched for a box of matches. Kai nodded and started to search the room up and down. A few minutes later, I hit the gold mine.
“Matches!” I cried, a small matchbook held tightly in my hands. Xena cheered and grabbed the matches from me. She shrugged her t-shirt off, leaving her in a sports bra as she darted across the room to the door. She set the small vial beside the door and ripped her shirt into long strips, arranging them in a pile around the vial of manganese heptoxide. She pulled out a match and quickly lit it, dropping it onto the shredded shirt and leaped up, backing quickly away from it.
“Everyone get down. If my proficiency with pyrotechnics is as good as it has been for the past few years, this is gonna be big!” said Xena excitedly, all of us moving into the farthest corner. We all hunched our hands over our heads as we awaited the explosion.
We waited almost two minutes and no explosion. Xena grumbled angrily and got to her feet.
“The one time I actually mean to blow something up and I can’t.” she muttered as she walked over to the bottle of manganese heptoxide.
“Um, Xena? That might not be a good idea…” said Kai uncomfortably. Xena rolled her eyes as she bent over.
“Don’t worry, Kai.” She said reassuringly as she bent over and tapped at the bottle. “It’s totally sa-“ her encouragement was cut off by a deafening explosion and a small fireball flew upward. Xena went flying backward and crashed into Belle and me, knocking us both to the ground. Her hair was blown back and dark singe marks around the edge of her face. The door fell to the ground with a groaning squeak and a resounding crash. I helped Xena up and smiled slightly at her as she swayed dizzily.
“That…was awesome!” she cried. “I’ll have to try it with ammonium dinitramide next time…” she mused as she tottered towards the door, Kai jumping up and racing out ahead of us all. We all left rather quickly, none of us wanting to stay inside a small airtight room for much longer. Kai sprinted up the stairs, Xena still trying to gain her bearings from the explosion. There were loud clattering and zipping sounds from upstairs and a few moments later he appeared on the stairs again, a backpack over his shoulders and a pistol in his pocket. Xena stumbled towards him, grabbing onto his arm.
“Kai,” she cried, “where’re you going?” she demanded. Kai pulled his arm out of her grip and started towards the door.
“I’m going after my brother.” Said Kai bravely. Xena rolled her eyes.
“Not alone you aren’t.” she snapped, running up the stairs and coming back down with a backpack identical to Kai’s. Kai smiled and hugged her.
“Nice meeting you all, but we’re leaving. I’d advise you do the same.” Kai recommended us quietly. “Good luck you guys.” Kai said with a tiny smile before starting to leave. I bit my lip, trying to decide if I should follow my heart. So I did. I ran forward and grabbed onto Kai’s arm.
“I’m coming with you.” I blurted out, freezing Kai in his place. He looked over at me and Zephyr looked confusedly at me.
“What?” asked Kai dumbly, a jumbled look in his blue eyes.
“I-I don’t have any supplies, but I want to help you.” I said honestly. “Please let me come.” I said pleadingly. Kai glanced over at Xena who nodded encouragingly at him.
“Fine then.” He agreed, his lips quirking into a smile. I breathed a sigh of relief and looked over at Zephyr.
“Thank you for everything. All of you. Just, I need to help them…” I said, hoping they would understand. One by one they nodded. Pip suddenly ran forward and hugged me. He looked up at me, his brown eyes dewy and wide.
“Promise you’ll come back?” he asked me innocently. I smiled and patted his head.
“Don’t worry. I’ll come back.” I laughed, ruffling his hair.
“Alice, we have to head out.” Said Xena quietly. I nodded and smiled at them all.
“Good luck you all. I’ll meet you up with you all in a while!” I said cheerily waving at them before turning and heading towards the door with Xena and Kai. I glanced over my shoulder and gave the group a tiny wave before slipping out the door with my new group. One dedicated brother and one pyromaniac teenager.
“So who are you all?” I asked curiously as we walked down the streets. Xena smirked as she turned around to face me and walked backwards, the setting sun making her face glow.
“We’re the people that are going to save the world.”
Chapter Twelve (Alice's POV)

“We’re the people that are going to save the world.” Said Xena with a large smirk on her rosy lips, walking backwards as she spoke to me. I raised my eyebrows, a confused look on my face.
“What does that mean?” I asked, pushing my filthy blond hair out of my eyes. Compared to Xena and Kai, I looked like a beggar compared to their cleaned hair and only slightly torn clothes. Kai smiled slightly, still looking worried as he picked up the pace.
“It’s a long story, but the short version is that we’re looking for a cure.” Said Kai, shoulders rolled back and chin held high. His tension and worry was obvious, even as he tried to hide it.
“What do you mean, ‘a cure’?” I asked wonderingly, jogging to keep up with Kai’s fast pace. Kai glanced over to Xena with a pleading expression, rifling through his backpack as he walked. Xena veered to the left so she was standing beside me and smiled at me.
“Kai, Xander and I’s parents were scientists who were working for the military. The military was in a war as you know, and they needed something to do with all the dead bodies. Xander and Kai’s father was a geneticist and was working on reconstructing genetic codes to try and heal fatal wounds. He practiced on cadavers and made a discovery.” Xena said ominously, Kai seeming to tense up even more at the mention of his father.
“What do you mean a discovery?” I inquired hesitantly; slightly afraid of the answer I would receive. Xena sighed heavily and looked down.
“He reanimated an animal. He was working in his lab and was trying to heal the wounds on a goat I think…but instead of just healing it, he brought it back to life.” Said Xena, a disturbed look on her face. My jaw dropped and my eyes widened. I had heard of attempts at regeneration, but all had failed. Was this why we had the apocalypse today…? Xena gave me a wry smile when she saw my expression.
“The animal was only alive for a couple of moments before it gave out. That’s where my father came in.” she said grimly.
“But how did he bring it back to li-“ my question was cut off by Xena’s hand.
“Kai’s father injected a virus into the dead bodies that would repair the cell tissue. His idea was solid, but my father sort of ruined that…” Xena murmured, casting her eyes to the ground. Kai pulled a small hand held monitor out of his backpack and was watching it unwaveringly as he walked quickly down the street.
“My father was a specialist in the department of viruses and wanted to make it so that the virus would bring things back permanently. He was careless and mutated the virus by adding other viruses into the mix. He didn’t wait to do lab testing and put it to the test right away. He injected the virus and reanimated a corpse. It didn’t heal the mind though. Just a few vital organs that were needed to live. He thought it was a stroke of genius. Without permission, he dropped a shell filled with the virus. The virus permeated through the ground and into every single dead body, reviving them. What he didn’t realize though was that they could spread the disease through their bite.” She said grimly. My blue eyes widened and instantly I thought about the bite mark on my shoulder. I had the virus…Xena failed to notice me horror and kept on with her story.
“He was tending to the first one that he made when it bit him. Over the next few days, his life was accelerated until he wasted away. He was thirty three. When he died, he was eighty seven. He died three days later.” Said Xena darkly. My eyes widened and I took in a sharp breath. He’d aged fifty four years in eight days…that was unheard of. However, Xena just kept plowing right through her story.
“He literally rotted while he was alive. He was dead for one day before the virus reanimated his body.” She said disgustedly. I felt such pity for her. Her father had died at the hands of his own creation…
“Then the virus started spreading as more people were bitten. You won’t last three days after you’ve been bitten.” She said bitterly. This froze me in my tracks. Three days? I’d been bitten two weeks