Clown

Apocalypse

Tim Miller

Copyright © 2015 Tim Miller

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright laws.

Cover model Hayley Clinton aka Pieces the Clown

Part 1

A History of Clowns

We all know what clowns are. Some of us are terrified of clowns while others find them funny and a great source of amusement; online, a whole subculture exists of people who love scary or sexy clowns. We see them at circuses, birthday parties and on TV. The clowns that society knows are simply people dressed in silly costumes, wearing grease paint, and wigs dancing around making balloon animals and giggling while spreading cheer and joy to all the children.

This story isn't about those clowns. This story is about another classification of clown all together. These clowns are not human. They are born as clowns; hideous clowns that they grow and live among us, hiding in circuses and carnivals. Most of them have dwelled in special Funhouses hidden throughout the country. Needless to say, if you came upon and entered one of these 'special Funhouses', you would not be reading this today.

We first met these clowns in the story "Welcome to Happytown" and encountered various versions of them. Little is known of their origin but what has been established is a large company known as Jericho Systems once tried to study and even weaponized these clowns. They learned the hard way this was not possible in less the results were intended to be disastrous. Instead, Funhouses erected to keep the clowns occupied and contained.

These building proved to be of significant success, clowns contained and content. The purpose of the Funhouses was to give these clowns a place to wreak unimaginable havoc on unsuspecting travelers, vagrants, or anyone else passing through. The clowns would 'trick' the visitors entering then expose them to a variety of traps, rodents, and various torture devices. Most were brutally killed in the process, and the rest turned into these wretched clowns, but only one person was ever known to survive.

Mad Maxwell was a special sort of clown. While just as little is about his past as the clowns themselves, he's become a mythological figure in the world of the clowns and Jericho. Very few have seen him and most who do never live to tell about it. He's more dangerous than he is crazy, but describing him as ruthless would be a gross understatement. He thrives on human pain and suffering and relishes in the screams and agonies of his victims.

For almost two centuries, Mad Maxwell has traveled the countryside doing his deeds wherever he could without drawing too much attention to himself. He managed to stay out of sight for decades until recently. Mad Maxwell had popped up in Dallas, Texas in a direct assault on Jericho. Though his attempt failed, he did create through Jericho's technology his love interest and protégé, Icy Kate. Kate managed to escape Jericho, but Maxwell, unfortunately, did not.

During his time in Jericho custody, Mad Maxwell would sit, think and plan for the day he would see freedom again. In the meantime, Kate went about her business engaging in her own, special, wild clown activities. This tale is one of woe and terror; this is the story of the atrocious duo of Mad Maxwell and Icy Kate.

Chapter 1

Nolan Collinsworth sat looking at his empty inbox on his laptop screen. He wasn't sure why it was bothering him today. It had remained empty for quite some time. Nolan was an actor, at least had been an actor at one time. When he was eight, he starred in the cult horror film, "Family Night" where he played a cannibalistic six-year-old. That film had become a cult hit, much to everyone's surprise and he had made some money off. However, over time that well had begun to dry up.

Problem was, he was forty-five years old now and hadn't had a real acting role since then. He'd done some reality shows and had a few small roles in some indie horror films. There was a film he'd starred in a decade ago; this was supposed to be his triumphant return to the big screen. He played a slasher with a complicated back-story.

The killer had been a schoolteacher who had been falsely accused of molesting students. After being fired and going to prison, he returned as the Headmaster. He wore the skin of a severed head as he hacked and slashed his former administrators one by one. It had been a blast to film, and things had mostly gone smoothly. Plus, the job had paid well. It would have paid even better on the back end according to his contract.

Problem was, some of the investors had accused one of the producers of embezzling money. The director was fired just before filming wrapped and the lawsuits began flying. The investors were suing the producers who were suing the director who was suing all of them. Ultimately, it never got distribution. It has been sitting in limbo ever since while many of the lawsuits were still going through the courts.

His last gig had been two years ago on a reality show called "Celebrity Fat Ass." While he could stand to lose twenty pounds or so, he figured this would be a good way to do it and make some money in the process. Boy was that a mistake. The pay was pretty good. Except the show was determined to humiliate the "fat asses" as much as possible.

They had fitness trainers from hell that did nothing but scream at them the whole time. Then they had events like cake wrestling. All he wore was a pair of tights while he wrestled with the kid who played one of Mikey's friends from the old Life cereal commercials. The kid never actually spoke and was on camera almost two seconds, but that bought him a gig on "Celebrity Fat Ass" by the age of 50.

The purpose of the cake wrestling was supposedly to help them fight their temptation over cake. Moreover, after rolling around in it, they were supposed to be disgusted by it. Pretty much every challenge was like that. The rest of the show was them running on treadmills, climbing ropes, and biking, all while throwing up and being screamed at. It was the worst experience of his life. He got thirty grand for ten weeks of hell, so it wasn't a total loss.

After that, the gigs started to dissipate. He'd had some offers to appear at some comic book and horror conventions, but he had no desire to enter into that kind of atmosphere. Sitting at a table taking selfies with people and selling photos. Then he'd have to talk about being Jeffrey from "Family Night" again like that was all he could ever be in life. He didn't want that. He was an actor and needed to act, though, at this point he was wondering if he could still act.

Maybe he should try one. Some of them had offered decent money. He picked up the phone and dialed his agent, Pierce Pritchard.

"Nolan! Baby boy! How's it goin' mate?" Pierce asked in his authentically thick English accent. He'd been Nolan's agent for the last fifteen years. He wasn't sure if Pierce was actually from England; it was kind of a thing for people to do in L.A. in an attempt to sound more intelligent than they were.

"Hey, Pierce. Not bad. You mentioned some convention bookings before. I know you'd bugged me about taking them."

"Yes! Yes! I just had one come in. They had a last minute cancelation. Let's see." Nolan could hear the sound of Pierce typing on his keyboard. "Yes, here it is. Permian Basin Horror Fest. It's in Odessa, Texas."

"Odessa, Texas?" Nolan asked. "Where the fuck is that?"

"Well, in Texas I would imagine."

"Yeah no shit. I mean, I never heard of it. Is it a small town? What's out there?"

"Only steers and queers partner!" Pierce said in a horrible Texan enunciation. He sounded more like a wounded Mexican.

"Cute. Isn't there anything out here? I don't want to go clear to Texas."

"Not anytime soon. This is for next week. They will pay your guarantee along with your travel, hotel and per diem."

"Really? That's pretty good. Who is the promoter?"

"Umm, I'm looking," Pierce said. "I guess it's some lesbian couple."

"What do you mean?"

"Email is signed Chris and Casey Slatox or something like that. Sounds like two chicks."

"Or the guy could be Chris," Nolan said.

"A guy could be Casey too. I don't know, doesn't matter anyway. Don't be such a cunt."

"Ok, fine. Set it up."

"You got it," Pierce said as he hung up.

Nolan closed his laptop and walked to the fridge that was almost empty. He'd been running low on cash, so this convention is certainly needed. Not to mention it might make a nice little vacation. Being treated like a celebrity for a few days would be nice. Plus, if he has fun, maybe he'll do some other conventions and at least bring in some money. He took out a beer, popped the top, and took a huge slug. He sat down and wondered what he should pack.

Chapter 2

Kate was bored. This was not a new development. She was bored most of the time. Ever since her transformation, she found it more difficult to keep herself entertained. Such was the life of a clown. Icy Kate was a real clown, not one of these whackos that smears paint all over themselves and makes stupid shit like balloon animals.

Kate's skin was an awful pasty white, and her lips were bright red. Her hair often changed color on its own, which was weird, but mostly cool. Some days it was green, others red, or just black, occasionally it would transition to a bright white, similar to her skin. She enjoyed that nifty side effect. Trouble was, she didn't remember much before her change. A clown named Mad Maxwell had put her into some kind of machine and she came out like this.

There apparently used to be Funhouses for clowns like her to live in and had lots of fun things to entertain themselves with. Now most of those were dismantled. Thus, life on the street was not the easiest for a clown, but Kate managed. She came up with a nice gig of turning tricks on craigslist. She posted some pics of herself online almost nude, causing her phone to immediately blow up. She had no idea how many men out there had clown fetishes. Sick fuckers. Turned out she could make real good money this way.

Sometimes she even had sex with them if she liked them. Which led her to the next big lesson in life as a clown. It wasn't hard for her to get pregnant, and when she did, a baby clown was born within hours. They'd be fully grown within weeks. She now had her own little gang of clowns to hang with. She might give up turning tricks all together in lieu of just taking what they wanted. Though, she feared drawing too much attention to themselves.

Her brood consisted of Stinky Bob, Ramsey, Kinky Caveman, Corkscrew and Doug. Yes Doug. He came up with his own name and while he was the most fucked up looking of the bunch, he wanted to go by Doug of all things. Kate didn't care. They went where she went. Tonight she had a trick lined up, but there would be no sex or clown-creation. Just some good old fashioned clowning around.

Kate reached the motel and knocked on the door. The door cracked revealing a short, chubby middle-aged man inside. His bald head glistened in the low light as Kate noticed a stain on his wife beater. None of that mattered.

"Hey baby," she said. "You order a sexy clown?"

"Wow!" he said, licking his lips. "Look at you."

"Damn straight baby, I love to clown around if you know what I mean." She ran a finger down his chest. He was quivering at her touch, the guy probably just jazzed in his pants.

"So you gonna let me in? Or are we just gonna flirt here in the doorway?"

He undid the chain lock and opened the door. She stepped inside as her crew appeared from around the corner pushing their way in.

"Hey! What the hell?" he asked as he backed away. "What is this? I didn't order all this?"

"Circus is in town, playboy!" Ramsey yelled as he took the baseball bat he always carried and popped the man in the mouth with it as if it were a pool stick. The man flopped on the bed onto his back as Kate walked up and grabbed the bat from Ramsey.

"Careful with that thing. Don't want to hurt him too much too soon," she said. "Strip him, boys."

The clowns ripped his clothes off as the man weakly struggled, but he was no match for them whatsoever.

"What are you doing? Please don't hurt me!"

"Who has my bag?" Kate asked. Stinky Bob stepped up holding a leather satchel that Kate promptly snatched away; setting it on the bed, she opened it up, removing a drill and several bits. She attached one of the longer bits and revved the drill watching it spin around and around.

"What are you doing?" the man asked. "What are you doing with that?"

"I'm not going to lie to you, baby," she said. "This is going to hurt like a motherfucker."

She revved the drill again and inserted the tip into his kneecap, pressing down as she activated the power tool. The smell of burning bone and flesh filled the air as he screamed while she ran the drill bit through his kneecap, all the way through the back of his knee. She pulled it out and revved it again as chunks of bone and flesh flew off the spinning bit. She began on the other knee, this time he wiggled around much more.

"Hold him still guys!" she shouted over his screams. Once she finished with that leg, he lay there breathing hard while crying.

"Why are you doing this?" he cried.

"Because it's fun! More fun than me letting you stick your sorry little pecker inside of me."

"I—I'm not paying you for this!" he said. Kate burst out laughing at the threat. Of all the things a guy in his predicament could say, he threatens not to pay her?

"Oh it's ok baby. I plan on taking all of your money anyway. You'll be dead so it won't really matter."

She took his flaccid penis in her hands and began stroking it. To her surprise, it grew quite thick and long. It had to be at least six inches.

"Wow, you're much bigger than I thought you'd be," she said. He was still quivering. Kate knew she'd get him hard despite his current trauma. She had a soft touch when it came to cock handling. It was the most fun way to fuck with guys. They get all hard and can't help it, then do something horrible to it and watch them freak the fuck out. Made her giggle every time.

"Please? Please don't hurt me anymore!" he begged as she held the drill bit over his hard cock, placing the tip over his urethra and shoving it in slowly. Her smile grew bigger as she looked at her crew holding him down.

"Do it mom!" Corkscrew said. The others laughed and nodded. "Yeah! Yeah! Do it!"

She nodded and squeezed the trigger as the drill bit spun through his dickhole and the length of his shaft. The man howled as Kate wiggled it around, and the shaft tore free out of the base of his penis. She ripped the drill out and revved it in the man's face as chunks of his dick flew off the drill and into his eyes and mouth.

"You won't be sticking that thing into anyone else now will you?"

The man just stared up at the ceiling silently as she taunted him. For a minute, she thought he had mentally checked out. That is, until she drilled into his testicles.

Chapter 3

Nolan walked through the terminal at Midland airport in Midland, Texas. There was a man in a ball cap holding a sign with his name on it. That must be his ride.

"Hi, I'm Nolan," he said to the man.

"Hey! I'm Chris, good to meet you." Nolan noted Chris was in fact a man.

"Yeah thanks."

"I figured I'd give you a ride myself. Get you all situated."

"Yeah, that's great," Nolan said as they walked out and to his car. On the ride to the hotel, Chris made some small talk but Nolan was tired from the flight. Plus, looking around Midland and Odessa once they arrived, he wondered what people ever did for fun around there. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw someone in a clown costume? They were right there on the street in broad daylight. When he turned his head, they were gone.

"What's wrong?" Chris asked.

"Did you see that?"

"See what?"

"Some guy in a clown costume over there. He's gone now. He was just walking down the street."

"No, didn't see any clowns. Maybe cosplayers are already dressing up for tomorrow. Gonna be exciting!" Chris said. "I'm honored you chose us as your first convention."

"Thanks. I appreciate the invite."

Once they reached the hotel, Chris got Nolan checked in who went up to his room. It was a nice hotel, not the Ritz-Carlton but nicer than what he was used to. He walked over and looked out the window where he could see the town. He could see Ratliff Stadium from the window. That was where Permian High School played their football games. He'd seen a movie about them years ago.

Part of him was looking forward to the convention, but the another part was dreading it. He'd never liked crowds, but at this point in his career, he'd be happy to have a small crowd around him. When he was younger, crowds followed him almost everywhere. Over the years, the crowds got smaller and smaller. Now he was lucky if a photographer from TMZ was watching him come out of the bathroom.

He went down to the hotel lobby and headed outside. Across the street was a small bar. Nolan figured he could use a beer. He went inside, sat down at the bar, and ordered a Bud Light. The bartender put the bottle in front of him, and Nolan gave him exact change, prompting an eye roll from the bartender. He may be a celebrity, but he was a broke one.

As he nursed the beer, he noticed a couple girls in the corner looking at him, giggling. They apparently recognized him. He smiled and nodded to them. It had been awhile since he'd run into any groupie types. In L.A., he was just another has been. In Odessa, Texas, he apparently still was a celebrity. Maybe there was something to this convention thing.

When he looked up, one of the girls was coming toward him with a big smile on her face. Her friend was trailing behind her. He figured a threesome just might make his night. If that happened, he vowed he'd never leave Odessa.

"Oh my God! Are you Nolan Collinsworth?" the blonde asked.

"Yes, I am," he said with his best smile. Both girls giggled

"See?" the blonde said to the brunette. "I told you! We saw you on Celebrity Fat ass a few years ago. You were so hilarious!"

Great.

"Oh yeah?" he said, immediately wanting to either curl up in a ball and die, or find a gun and immediately blow his brains out. Hey, this was Texas, good chance someone in the bar had a gun they'd loan him for a second.

"Yes! When you did that cake wrestling and your tights slid off! That was so funny, all that chocolate cake stuck to your ass." Now they were laughing uncontrollably.

"Yeah. Thank you. You ladies have a good night." He stood and headed for the door. As he walked out, he could hear the girls still laughing behind him. If that was any indication, tomorrow was going to be a really long day. Stepping outside, he stopped and lit a cigarette. Taking a few drags calmed his nerves. He'd mostly quit smoking a few years ago, but occasionally he lit one up.

It was beginning to get dark out, but he did notice how cool the sunset looked. He didn't remember seeing the sky look so clean and pleasant in L.A. To be fair, out there he never really stopped to look at the sky. He heard someone laughing again, but this wasn't the girls. It sounded like a guy. Turning his head to his left, there was a clown standing on the street corner holding a set of balloons.

Nolan was terrified of clowns. Ever since he was a kid, a few years before Family Night came out. His mom had taken him to a circus. The clowns were already scary enough to him as a little kid, let alone the big tall ones on stilts. One stood over him looking down. The guy may as well have been a hundred feet tall to a six-year-old. Nolan had screamed and hid behind his mom. Another bent down honking his stupid horn in Nolan's face that only made him cry more. The clown had tried doing some magic tricks, but Nolan was having none of it. Ever since that time, he'd hated clowns or anything having anything to do with clowns. Part of him wondered if someone wasn't fucking with him. Could it be Pierce? Pierce wouldn't do something like that, and if he did, Nolan would kick his ass.

The clown was tall and wearing a yellow suit. He had a big red nose but no hair. His red painted smile looked odd. It was much bigger than most clown smiles. Went almost to his ears. When he really smiled, his teeth were yellow and brown, as if they were rotting. The clown lifted a gloved hand and waved at Nolan. The whole sight made Nolan shudder. He looked away and took another drag as he quickly walked across the street. Looking over his shoulder, the strange clown disappeared...again.

Chapter 5

Damien Carter worked his way through the crowd of officers outside the motel. He finally reached the door to the room where he showed his FBI credentials once again. He wasn't really FBI, however. He was a tracker with Jericho Systems. Jericho is a research and development company who at various points in history had studied and run tests on clowns like Icy Kate. The clowns themselves were a race that pre-dated Jericho by a long shot, but Jericho has in some ways made them what they are today.

"Why are the feds in on this?" One detective asked. He walked over to Damian with his hands on his hips. "This is our jurisdiction."

"I know," Damien said. "I'm only here to observe and gather some info. This M.O. matches the one of a serial killer I've been tracking. I'm just looking to see if it's her."

The detective looked him up and down for a minute before answering.

"Well, this was done by a 'her' all right. Come on in and have a look," the detective said as he stepped aside. Damien walked into the room and marveled at the amount of blood. There was blood on the walls, ceiling, and sheets. The dead man on the bed was naked. His genitals had been mutilated to the point of resembling raw hamburger. His eyes were gouged out, chest ripped open, and his heart, liver, and intestines were strewn about the room. There was a rat in the corner gnawing on a piece of intestine. The victim's heart was hanging on the wall, stuck there with a pen.

"Jesus," Damien said. He'd been tracking Icy Kate for months now. She'd left some ugly scenes behind, but nothing like this. She was getting worse, but why? Was she angrier? No telling at what. He was suspecting there were other clowns with her. The carnage left behind at these scenes was way too much for one person to have achieved, even a mutant clown. He knew they could procreate quickly, so perhaps she's been building herself a little 'clown' family. Not likely, she just found other clowns to join on her rampages.

"You ok there Fed?" the detective asked. "You're not looking so hot."

He was feeling queasy, and apparently was looking sick as well.

"Oh, yeah I'm fine. I just ate lunch is all."

"You really think this is a serial killer? I've had a few dead johns the past few weeks, but nothing that looked like this. It's weird though. Usually, we get dead hookers. Not dead johns. Maybe the hookers have had enough?"

"I guess so. Not sure what they expect shopping for prostitutes on Craigslist anyway," Damien answered.

Damien walked around the hotel room. There were chunks of skin lying on the floor along with the blood and organs. Damien looked around the bathroom where he found a strand of green hair in the sink. After examining under the light, it tucked it into his pocket. It was Kate's he was sure of it. No need to let the cops find her hair.

He walked out of the bathroom and out of the motel completely. Once in his car he sat and looked at the hair again. Unfortunately, the hair won't tell him where she may be. This was the fourth similar killing in the area, but this was the most brutal. In past towns, this had been her method; posing as a prostitute, only to kill her clients, each time more savagely than the first. The last one, she really tore up and then skipped town only to repeat it again in another city.

One town, Damien had tried to find her on Craigslist by posing as a client. None of the girls he picked out was Kate. You'd think finding a girl who physically looks like a clown would be easy. Not like she blends into a crowd. Yet, she'd managed to fly below the radar no matter where she goes. Damien gazed at the hair one last time before rubbing his eyes and returning it back to his pocket. It was getting late, and he'd barely slept the past few days. He'd asked the executives at Jericho for some help in finding her, but after Mad Maxwell and April Kennedy had their epic fight at the Dallas building, they've been restructuring and rebuilding. In other words, he wasn't getting any help any time soon.

He started the car and pulled out of the parking lot and onto the freeway. It was time to head back to Jericho anyway. There was someone who might help him if he can convince him to assist. Not sure yet how he'd do that, but since Mad Maxwell had created Kate, Damien suspected he'd have some insight on how to find her.

He'd never actually spoken to Mad Maxwell. Very few people had. He was being kept in a bunker beneath the basement of Jericho's Houston location. It was a few hours away, but if he left now, he'd be there by morning. It was possible that Mad Maxwell wasn't actually there. The powers that be at Jericho had never officially confirmed he was there. It was one of those non-secret secrets like the stealth bomber. Everyone knew it existed for ages before the government admitted to it. He'd heard from some other trackers that Mad Maxwell was in fact located there.

Then there was the actual process of getting in to see him. Odds are he was pretty well guarded and after the war in the Dallas office, Jericho didn't mess around with security.

First thing was first the drive, and that ended up going rather quickly. Once he was on Jericho grounds, his stomach began to tighten up as his nerves took over. Not only was he coming home empty handed, but he was about to seek help from the most dangerous being ever to exist. The whole thing could be a big mistake, but if he didn't get results, he'd be a dead man anyway.

Chapter 6

Nolan arrived at the venue just as the convention was getting started. Chris drove him there and walked him in through the back entrance. As they pulled up, he was shocked to see such a long line around the building.

"Check it out man," Chris said. "They're all here for you. We sold out of your VIP tickets."

"Wow, seriously?"

"Yeah! Why you sound so surprised?"

"I don't know. Guess I've been out of the game too long. A few girls at a bar last night said they recognized me from Celebrity Fat Ass. That show wasn't my most shining moment."

"Yeah don't worry about them. You have a lot of horror fans here from Family Night. You were a creepy ass kid in that movie."

"Ha, thanks. I don't remember a lot of it. Most of it is a blur. It was like playing slasher or something."

"Well you nailed it dude," Chris said as they pulled up to the back door. As they headed inside, Chris took him to the green room where there was food and beverages set up. Nolan grabbed a water as Chris walked him to his table. There was a huge banner set up with his picture now, and a picture of himself as Jeffery from Family Night. He was rather impressed by it. Once he got to the table, there was already a long line waiting for him.

He sat down and began signing. For the next several hours, he signed pictures, books, posters and many other things. There was even an action figure of himself he didn't even know existed. It was all going smoothly until he looked up at the next girl, dressed as a clown.

"Hi!" she said. "I'm such a huge fan. I love all of your work," the clown girl said. He tried his best to keep his fear of clowns at bay as he swallowed hard while looking her up and down. This one was an anomaly. Her hair was jet black, and the clown makeup was terrifying. Yet, she wore a button up shirt that was buttoned up halfway and tied around her waist along with a pair of tight shorts. She had white makeup on all of her skin which he found disturbing; she had really gone all out. He wasn't sure if he should be aroused or terrified

"Would you, um…like an autograph?" he asked.

"Sure!" she squealed

"What would you like me to sign?"

She undid the buttons at the top of her shirt and pulled it open while leaning down.

"Right there," she said.

He reached up, his hand trembling and signed his name in sharpie across her tits. She giggled as he signed them and even bounced up and down once he finished.

"Wow! Thank you! So, I guess I'm yours now."

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"You branded me with your name. That means I'm all yours!"

"Uhhh…." He wasn't even sure what to say. Thankfully, there was a convention staff member nearby.

"Ma'am, thank you, but can you let the next person go now."

"Oh sure!" she said as she stepped aside, waving at Nolan. "Catch ya later cutie pie!" she said as she walked away. Nolan told the staff member he needed a short break, so they walked him back to the green room where he grabbed another water. That clown chick had shaken him up, unbelievably bad. He wondered if she was with that clown, she'd seen walking around the night before. Once he got his composure back, he returned to his table. Before he sat down, he looked around and saw several clowns around the convention floor. The one he'd seen near the bar last night was standing by a table making balloon animals for kids. For the life of him, Nolan had no idea why those kids weren't running away screaming. He was fifty feet away and wanted to run from the thing.

He signed dozens more autographs over the next several hours before the convention closed up for the day. Thankfully, this was only a few hours. Saturday would be almost twelve hours long. He wasn't sure if he could handle it, but so far it had been mostly fun. Other than the weird clown girl. He'll probably have nightmares just from her.

Throughout the day, he was impressed with most of the costumes. He saw Freddy, Michael, Jason, a wolf man, Frankenstein and some he didn't recognize. A few people showed up with skin masks like he wore in Family Night and had him sign the masks. He found that a bit creepy. Nolan didn't even know what happened to those original masks. He remembered being scared of it the first time he saw it. His mom and the director assured him it was all for fun. Once he wore it for a bit, he was fine. Though seeing them after all these years, it felt odd.

One of the event staff drove him back to the hotel where he grabbed something to eat and flipped on the TV. It had been a long day, and Saturday would be even longer. It was a good time to get some rest. On the news, he faintly heard about a string of murders near Dallas involving a prostitute on Craigslist cutting up her clients in the most horrific ways. Nolan watched the story and shook his head. Only a loser would try to buy sex off Craigslist. Those guys were just asking for it. That was the good thing about being a D-list celebrity. Even when there was no work, there was always plenty of ass. Granted,  it maybe not premium tail, but it was better than his hand or paying for it.

He turned off the TV and closed his eyes. It was a matter of minutes before he was asleep. Sadly, the night before his big day wasn't a restful one. It was a night filled with dreams of blood, violence...and clowns.

Chapter 7

Getting in to see Mad Maxwell wasn't as hard as he'd feared. The attendant in the basement of Jericho knew who I was and that I was on the hunt for Icy Kate. He didn't look like he got out much and was just happy to see a new face.

"Yeah Mr. Carter, I'll take you right to him," the man said. His name was Henry.

"Is he here? In the basement?"

"No sir. He's beneath the basement. A few stories below in a special holding chamber built just for him."

"Wow, not taking any chances are they?"

"No sir." Henry walked them to a freight elevator and pushed a button that said "A" on the lift. "Some quick rules before you go down there. He's sealed in a solid cell. Nothing goes in or out. There is a four-foot chain link fence around his unit. You do not lean over or go around or past the fence at all, ever for any reason. He'll try to talk you into it too, trust me."

"So he stays in a tiny box 24/7?"

"Yep."

"No exercise?"

"No sir."

"What does he eat?"

"I trap rats down here and give them to him as I catch them. He eats them pretty quickly," Henry said.

"Isn't that inhumane?"

"I'm sure it is. But he's not human. Follow the rules and you'll do just fine. Last time, I was down there he didn't even look at me. He just sat there staring off into space. So, no telling what mood he'll be in. Good luck."

Henry pulled the lever, and the elevator descended into the huge black hole. It didn't move very fast, and Damien wondered how far down it was. Finally, there was a single light at the bottom as the elevator came to a stop. Just ahead was a small cell that looked like glass, but was probably some kind of thick plastic or something. Strong enough Mad Maxwell couldn't break out. There was a single light bulb dangling just a few feet in front of the cell on a chain. The fence was there just as Henry had mentioned.

Damien stepped off the elevator and made his way toward Mad Maxwell's cell. Maxwell was sitting down Indian style with his back to Damien. He had on an orange jumpsuit. His bright red hair was sticking up in all directions. Damien reached the barricade and cleared his throat.

"Um, excuse me. Mr. Maxwell? I'm Damien Carter. I'm a tracker with Jericho."

Maxwell didn't move or make a sound as Damien waited for a response.

"Maxwell? Can you hear me? I'm Damien—"

Mad Maxwell stood and spoke as he slowly turned.

"And this was the reason that, long ago,

In this kingdom by the sea,

A wind blew out of a cloud, chilling

My beautiful Annabel Lee;

So that her highborn kinsmen came

And bore her away from me,

To shut her up in a sepulchre

In this kingdom by the sea.”

Damien recognized it as a verse from "Annabel Lee" by Edgar Allan Poe. The clown finished turning and was now facing Damien, who took a step back at the sight of the creature. Mad Maxwell's huge red smile was in some deformed smirk. His eyes were wide and teeth were brown and decayed. There were what appeared to be wrinkly bags under his eyes, or they were naturally black and saggy. He didn't look like any typical circus clown for sure. Mad Maxwell began to laugh, as he looked Damien up and down.

"Heh, heh, heh, heh, good evening Damien. Did you like my little serenade? Are you a fan of Poe and his Annabel Lee?"

"I'm familiar with him and the poem," Damien said as his throat went dry.

"Good. That's why you're here isn't it? For my beloved Icy Kate? My Annabel Lee? You looking to find her to take her away from me?"

"I'm looking for her. Looks like she's already been taken away from you."

"Oh, now that is where you are wrong young tracker. She is out, free like the lovely bird she is. I am merely waiting for the right moment for us to reunite."

Either he was totally delusional or just trying to fuck with Damien's head. Either way, the head fucking was working.

"So how can I help you, Damien? You think I know where she is?"

"I think you know how to find her."

"And why would you think that?"

"You made her. Most of you clowns have some kind of psychic or mental link to those you've created; or so I've heard. I thought maybe you could reach out and see if you could sense her or however it works."

"And just why would I help you do that? Help you capture my sweet little bird, my Annabel Lee, and lock her away like you've done to me?"

"She's dangerous, to herself and others. At least if I bring her in, she'll be safe. Hell, maybe they'll put her in there with you."

"Ha!" his laugh was so loud it made Damien jump. "Do you even know where I came from? Or anything about us clowns?"

"Just what I've read in Jericho's files. They've been studying you for quite a while."

"No, no, no. I'll tell you what. I'll help you. But first, you need a lesson."

"What kind of lesson?"

"Let's call it Clown 101. I suggest you pull up a seat. What Jericho has on me doesn't even scratch the surface. I'm so much more than what they think. Kate is even more special, yet she's just a baby in clown years."

Damien looked around and found an old folding chair in the corner. He walked over and grabbed it, setting it up in front of the barricade. He hoped this wouldn't take long.

"Ok, I'm sitting. Now tell me what you need to. I need to find her before she kills again."

"Oh she'll kill again before you find her," Mad Maxwell said. "Just get used to that fact. Now where to begin. I guess from the beginning. We'll start with my birth. It was just over two hundred years ago. Clowns were almost extinct back then. Luckily, a few clever ones managed to save us all. This is how..."

Chapter 8

Nolan arrived at the convention center Saturday morning. He after a rough few hours, he ended up sleeping pretty well and was excited to start day two of the horror fest. As he walked to his table and took his seat, he was pleased to see there were no clowns in the building. He wasn't sure what it was about those particular clowns, especially the girl clown whose tits he signed, but something seemed off.

They didn't seem like "normal" clowns. Though to him, there was no such thing as a normal clown. All clowns were evil spawns of the devil as far as he was concerned, and he had no idea why anyone would want to dress like that. Needless to say, he would not be dressing like a clown...ever. Not even if he were offered the role of a lifetime.

His line was even longer than Friday's when he arrived. He sat and began signing right away. He was sure he'd made more than his guarantee, so the money he'd make from this show would be good. Pierce was right all along. It was time he stopped sitting around hoping for some big role and started working the convention circuit.

After a few hours, his wrist was getting sore, so he decided to take a break. He stood and headed to the green room where he noticed one of the clowns. This was a new one he hadn't seen before. He was skipping around and had what looked like a bright colored croquet mallet. Nolan stood and watched as the clown danced around waving it all over. The dance reminded him of the one Leatherface did at the end of Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

Soon several more clowns joined him, including the girl clown. Today she was holding a large pink baseball bat. He was surprised they let them in the convention with stuff like that. She was skipping along and even looked Nolan's direction and winked at him. They scooted past as Nolan decided against his better judgment to see what they were up to.

One of them bent down and made a balloon animal for a child. The others stopped and posed for pictures with some fans. One man walked up and said something to the girl and the next sequence of events appeared to occur in slow motion.

The girl clown took her bat, reared back and bashed the man's skull in with a swing that almost knocked his head off his shoulders. The man's body crumpled to the floor as a woman standing nearby screamed. Her scream was silenced by a knife one of the clowns threw as if it were a ninja-throwing star. The male clowns all ran off in different directions, and sealed the exits as people began screaming and running for cover. The girl clown continued running around bashing anyone and everyone she could with the bat.

Nolan ran toward the green room but saw the clown with the throwing knives was there flinging them at anyone who was nearby. People were falling left and right as blood was beginning to cover the floor. Some folks were slipping and sliding in the pooled blood. Nolan looked around and dove under a nearby vendor table. He lay face down as he listened to the commotion around him as people screamed and ran for their lives.

After a minute, Chris, and a pretty blue haired girl crawled under the table next to him.

"Dude, what the fuck is going on?" Nolan asked.

"I don't know. These clowns, they just started attacking people. I don't know who they are." Chris said.

"Doesn't someone here have a gun? This is Odessa, Texas." The woman said. Nolan looked at her confused.

"This is my wife, Casey," Chris said. "And no one has guns here because we have a metal detector and security checking cosplay weapons."

"How'd that clown get those throwing knives in?" Nolan asked.

"I saw one on the floor after he threw it. They're some kind of thick plastic. Metal detector didn't pick them up."

"Fuck."

"You should have let people bring their guns," Casey said.

"Yeah, thanks. I'll remember that if we survive this bullshit."

"Ladies and gentleman!" A girl's voice boomed over the PA system. It was no doubt the girl clown. "My name is Icy Kate, but you can call me Kate if I don't kill you first! Haha! Me and my family here are now in charge of this show. We may or may not kill all of you. We will definitely hurt each and every one of you badly. So just let that sink in and accept it. So now! Who wants to go first?"

The convention center had gone quiet except for a few people sobbing.

"Anyone? Going once! Going twice! Last chance or we pick someone!" Kate said over the PA, but no one was about to volunteer to be an act in her demented circus. The sound of footsteps grew louder as Nolan noticed a pair of clown shoes getting closer and closer. He put his head down and held his breath fearing they were coming for him.

Casey screamed as she slid backward out from under the table.

"No!" Chris yelled as he grabbed her hand. He held on as long as he could until the croquet mallet came down smashing Casey's hand, breaking their grip. Chris started for her, but Nolan grabbed him by the arm, stopping him.

"Don't man. They'll kill both of you," Nolan said.

"Get off me! That's my wife!"

"Look around! How many people did they just kill in about two minutes?"

"Fuck!" Chris said as he pounded his fists into the ground while the clown dragged Casey to Kate in the middle of the convention floor.

"Here she is! Our first contestant!" She held the mic in front of Casey. What is your name honey?"

"C-C-Casey," she said.

"Casey! Sounds like Kate. What a pretty name! I love your hair. Is your hair really blue?"

Casey shook her head rapidly.

"Gotta speak up honey. Our fans can't hear you shaking your head."

"Um, no."

"Well, I still love it. But why are you so sad? You're so pretty, and you're crying."

Casey put her head down as she began sobbing.

"Oh, it's ok. I can help you with that," Kate said as she dropped the mic and wrapped her arm around Casey's neck. Casey tried to struggle but Kate was too strong. Kate held up the knife and stuck it in Casey's mouth and began slicing along her cheeks. She slashed each of Casey's cheeks open from ear to ear, making a fake, but permanent smile. Blood oozed from the new wound as Casey cried and heaved. The flaps of skin on her cheeks flopped back and forth with each breath. Kate released her grip, and Casey fell to her knees.

"Now there's a pretty smile!" she squealed as the other clowns laughed and clapped. Kate straddled Casey, bent down and grabbed a handful of hair. She began slicing along Casey's forehead. Casey screamed and put her hands up, trying to fight Kate off, but Kate just applied her weight, pressing Casey to the floor face first. She continued to scream as Kate sliced and ripped Casey's scalp from her head. When she was finished, the top of Casey's head was bright red, bloody and bare as Casey held up her scalp with the blue hair as if it were some kind of trophy.

"Yay! Looky what I got! I have too much hair, though. Hey, Stinky Bob, you want to try it on?" A short, bald clown ran over to her smiling and nodding. She handed him the scalp, and he put it on his head, the blue hair dangling in his face as blood from the scalp ran down his forehead. He tossed the hair from side to side as if he were a fashion model.

"I love the new look, Stinky! I approve!"

Casey laid on the floor at Kate's feet crying and screaming. Kate looked at her then back to her crew.

"Will someone shut this bitch up?" she said.

Ramsey took out one of his plastic throwing knives and threw one at Casey, nailing her square in the forehead, burying the blade several inches into her skull, piercing her brain. She let out one final gasp as she collapsed to the floor. Under the table, Chris had his head buried as Nolan tried to comfort him. The rage Nolan was feeling was almost too much for him to contain, but he'd been a coward and weakling for so long, all he knew was to hide. Kate picked up the mic and looked around the convention center.

"Ok folks! Who's next?"

Chapter 9

Mad Maxwell stroked his chin while Damien sat and wondered if the clown was wasting his time. He'd have to make a decision soon. There was a very good chance Maxwell was going to stall and fuck around as he had no interest one way or the other if Damien caught Kate. He was probably happy just to have some company. If clowns got lonely anyway, no telling especially with Mad Maxwell.

"So, I was born in fact. Unlike most clowns, both of my parents were clowns. I wasn't sure how this was possible, but apparently my mom and dad got it on. As is standard, moments later I burst through my mom's belly. I'm guessing she didn't know that would be part of the deal for fucking my father, but from what he'd told me she was a very young clown." Maxwell began.

"What year was this?" Damien asked.

"Oh gosh, let me think. It was in the 1800's. Not sure the exact date. I want to say 1840? There were some traveling carnivals back then. That was the only way we had to blend in. Stay with the circuses and carnivals. I hated it. Going out and entertaining those losers. The clowns in my family seemed to love it. I found it boring and stupid. So once I was grown up, I ran away. That didn't go over well with the family, but I didn't care. I lived on the run for years. Those fools said it couldn't be done. I just wore baggy clothes and a floppy hat and no one noticed my face unless I wanted them to."

"I did kill plenty of people during that time. Look up any unsolved murders between Texas and Arizona until the 1920's. There's plenty of them. I usually killed kids. Families had lots of kids back then, and teenagers were known to run away. Easy pickin's and no one bothered looking for them."

"Why did you kill them?"

"Because it was fun! I thought that would be obvious."

"Sorry, I guess not," Damien said.

"Well yes, if you haven't figured out by now, I enjoy killing very much. Come the 1920's, Jericho comes along. Yes, they were in business back then. They trapped me in some steel cage like a wild animal with some other clowns. Apparently someone figured out what we were."

"And just what are you?" Damien asked.

"I'm a clown of course."

"Yes, I see that. But you're not a human. Where did you guys come from?"

"Oh I'm sure you don't have time for that, but I can get to it later. Anyway, so Jericho rounds a bunch of us up and tries to experiment on us. The weaker among us succumbed rather easily and allowed them to cut them open like some science experiment. Some of them were still alive and wide awake as they did it. Brutal stuff, our cages were right there, and we witnessed the whole thing."

"Well, the stubborn clown that I've always been I wasn't about to just sit around and wait my turn to be cut to pieces. Plus, I'd been observing. These humans at Jericho were smart guys, geniuses! But they were also arrogant. I sat in my cage and cowered, cried and played scared the whole time. When they opened my cage, they took no precautions, just left the door wide open and strolled on in."

"What did you do?" Damien asked.

"Oh, I was far stronger than any of them. I beat them all silly and then dissected them with their own surgical instruments. It made quite a mess but was a hella good time!" He smacked the glass as he laughed. "From there I went through and made my way out of Jericho, killing anyone who got in my way. They never caught me again after that. I'm fairly certain they didn't want to. Didn't matter. I moved around, spent some time in Europe, traveling around Ireland and even Norway. Being so pale doesn't stand out as much in those places."

"In the meantime, Jericho continued to grow and built the Funhouses here for the rest of the clowns. Gave them a nice place to chase their tails and keep them entertained. Kind of like a scratch post for an ornery cat. Except for me, that would never be enough. I spent the next ninety years or so just traveling up and down Europe, occasionally killing when it suited me. I even found some carnivals there to join, but couldn't help but destroying them after some time. I tell you it's like a drug for me."

"What is?" Damien asked.

"Chaos, mayhem, death, and carnage. I can't get enough. That's why being stuck in here is so awful. Though I'm old enough to know, I can outlast any cage."

"So why did you come back?"

"I'd heard through some little birds what had happened in Happytown. I had to see for myself. At the time, I'd been traveling around South America. So it wasn't so hard to get up that way. Your people sure made a mess of things. Then I met a young lady named Isis and turned her into Icy Kate. You guys managed to catch me again; she got away, and now here we are."

"Ok, I listened to your little story. You said you could help me find her now."

"Yes, I did didn't I? Well, let me see what I can find." Maxwell closed his eyes and stood there quietly for a moment. After a minute, he began making snoring sounds.

"Maxwell!" Damien yelled, losing patience. If Maxwell didn't give him something, he might never find her without finding another pile of bodies. Mad Maxwell's eyes snapped open as Damien yelled.

"Haha, yes sorry. Just messing around. I found her. I hadn't used the whole mind tracking thing in a long time. I guess it still works. Just like riding a bike!"

"Fine! Where is she?"

"You're going to love this. She went back to Happytown. I'm guessing to rebuild the Funhouse. I couldn't talk to her, just see her is all."

"Happytown?"

"Yes, sir!"

"You're sure."

"Scouts honor!" Maxwell said as he raised his right hand.

"If you're lying to me, I will come back here and kill you myself."

"I believe you!"

"All right. Thank you, I guess." Damien stood and ran out of the room and to the elevator. He got to his car as fast as he could. It was several hours to Happytown. No telling what kind of damage Kate might do by then. As he got in the car and drove away, he didn't give Mad Maxwell another thought. Which was a good thing since at the same time Mad Maxwell was in his cell using his long fingernail to cut through the material keeping him captive.

Chapter 10

"Any takers? We need another volunteer!" Kate screamed into the mic. Nolan still had his hand on Chris' arm, but Chris was trying to pull away. He'd stopped and cried for a second after watching the murder of his wife. Her lifeless body lie in the middle of the convention floor caused Chris to quiver and turn away. Finally, Chris yanked his arm hard, pulling away from Nolan. Once his arm was free, before Nolan could react, Chris was out from under the table and charging the clowns.

"Chris! No!" Nolan yelled, but he was already upon them. He moved pretty quickly. Fast enough to land a punch on one of the taller clowns and tackled one of the shorter ones. The one he punched looked more amused than hurt as he watched Chris, and the other clown topple to the floor. They rolled around struggling before the one who went by Ramsey grabbed him by the collar, pulling him to his feet.

"Wow! We have a volunteer!" Kate shouted into the mic. "Oh! He looks so angry! Why the sad face honey?"

"You killed my wife!" he screamed.

"Aww, was that your wife? Well, we can't have you all sad. But I don't want to slice your face up, it's such a nice face!"

"Hey, ma! How about we just keep his face?" Corkscrew asked.

"Yes! We'll keep his face! Hold him down boys!"

Ramsey held Chris' arms behind his back as he struggled in vain. Another clown grabbed a handful of hair while Corkscrew took a straight razor out of his pocket and began cutting below his chin, in a straight line up the sides of his cheeks and along his forehead. Chris growled and screamed as Corkscrew kept cutting and pulling on the loose skin until he'd literally ripped Chris' face off. Ramsey let go as Chris collapsed to the ground, somehow still alive and conscious. He lay there moaning as Corkscrew pressed Chris's face to his own, using the blood as a sticky glue.

"Ooga ooga booga! Hahaha!" Corkscrew chuckled as he pranced around with Chris' face as his own. The clown looked even more terrifying with the flesh face pressed up against his clown face. The other clowns sat around laughing hysterically as he pranced around. Beneath them, Chris was on his hands and knees trying to stand. Ramsey caught sight of him and kicked him in the gut, sending him back on his face. More like where his face used to be, now there was just blank and bloody hole.

Chris took one last deep breath and leaped to his feet letting out a loud scream as he tackled Ramsey, looking even more horrifying than any of the clowns. They stood around in amusement as he punched Ramsey repeatedly, ground and pound style, like a faceless MMA fighter. Doug (who had been standing off to the side quietly), grabbed the croquet mallet from one of the other clowns, reared back as far as he could and caved Chris's head in with one swift blow.

Chris toppled forward, the only part of him moving was his left foot twitching. Doug took the mallet and continued bashing Chris' head in. He struck over and over until there was nothing but a pile of red soppy and bony mush where his head once was.

"Wow, well done Doug! You fucked him up good! I'm impressed!" Kate squealed. Doug just nodded and stepped aside, still holding the mallet. "Ok boys. I think it's time to grow out family. What do you think?"

"Yeah!" they all shouted.

"Great! Each of you grab a partner, line ‘em up here along these tables. Time for a good old-fashioned orgy, clown style!"

The clowns ran off in several directions, grabbing women from various hiding places throughout the convention hall. People were hiding under tables, behind displays, and one was hiding under a modified DeLorean. They walked up with their partners and lined them up along the nearest table by Kate and bent them over.

"Fantastic job guys! Line them up!" she said. "Get their panties off, let's see some asses! Oh, Stinky honey, that's a guy you got there. He can't have clown babies."

Stinky shrugged and patted the large man on the ass.

"He's got a big juicy ass! I wanna see what it feels like." Stinky said.

"Ok honey. Just find you a nice girl after ok? Ready boys?"

The clowns all took out their deformed clown cocks with big red bulbs on the ends of each. Their victims struggled, but the clowns were too powerful as they each made entry. Stinky fucking his victim in the ass, but all in a beastly synchronization of doggy-style pounding. There was a collective scream among them all as they continued their clown fuck fest. Almost in unison, each clown climaxed at the same time, and the victims screamed as the clowns filled them with their thick clown jizz.

They all pulled out and danced around as the women struggled to their feet. Though one by one, they fell to the ground writhing, holding their stomachs. They screamed in pain while Stinky's victim, the fat guy stumbled away from the table. His asshole was stretched out to the point that it appeared like a huge black hole in the middle of his back. He tripped over one of the women, and as he stumbled, his bowels let loose; dousing her in a putrid pile of shit-jizz as he fell backward and slid in his own horrific mess.

One girl let out a blood-curdling shriek as her stomach began moving, and huge lumps appeared in the center before her flesh tore open. A naked clown, the size of a toddler, climbed out of the bloody opening and began running up and down the convention center. Shortly after the other women followed suit. Their stomachs were ripping open as naked clown babies tore their way free and squealed while running around the aisles. They were all pasty white and smeared with blood as their "moms" all lie dead on the floor. Somehow, the fat guy died in all this, probably from a heart attack.

Kate jumped up and down watching the mayhem as the older clowns chased around the babies trying to corral them, but the little ones weren't having it. One baby clown found a man hiding under a nearby table and proceed to chew on his face, ripping his nose off with its razor sharp teeth. Another was running and sliding across the floor in the blood that had pooled around.

"All right!" Kate screamed. "Now this is a party!"

Chapter 11

From the time Damien left Houston, something didn't feel right.  Happytown was nothing but waste and rubble after Mad Maxwell had been through there. Why would Kate go back there? Part of him kept thinking of the things Maxwell had talked about. Was there any hidden meaning in any of it? Was it all bullshit? When he arrived at San Antonio, he stopped and pulled out his phone.

Mad Maxwell emphasized how much they loved chaos. Not to mention even though he personally hated carnivals and circuses, the clowns, in general, loved that type of environment. The festive, somewhat chaotic events where they could blend in and even be celebrated. He did a google search for circuses or carnivals in the area. Nothing substantial came up. He did another for events and several of those came up.

One, in particular, got his attention. Permian Basin Horror Fest. There was a whole list of events and activities at this event, plus it was in Odessa which was about as far away from anything as you could get and still be in Texas. Not to mention it was almost a five-hour drive. Looking through there were some other conventions that weekend, a small comic convention was nearby and an anime convention near Dallas.

For some reason, the horror convention made the most sense. Kate was crazy and loved to inflict fear, pain, and suffering. Not to mention clowns like Kate were completely fucking terrifying. So, to Damien, a horror convention would seem more up her alley. According to the website, the show started Friday. He called into Jericho's switchboard until an operator answered.

"Yes, this is Tracker Damien Carter, my Tracker ID is 427991."

"Ok. You're verified," the operator said.

"I need you to check police logs. Odessa, Texas. Any calls of any unusual disturbances in the last twenty-four hours?"

"Checking now," she said as Damien heard the faint sound of the tapping of keys on a keyboard. "Ok, there were a few 911 calls of a disturbance at the convention center. Not many details yet."

"How long ago?" Damien asked.

"About an hour ago."

Fuck.

"Ok. Thank you." He hung up and peeled out, heading to Odessa. He wondered why Maxwell would have tried to send him to Happytown other than to slow him down. Did he have something waiting on him there? It was unlikely. It was a waste of time talking to Maxwell other than getting some kind of read on the mythical clown. After all the horror stories he'd heard, he finally confirmed every single one of them and then some.

On a normal day, it would be about four and a half hours. Damien was able to make it in just over three hours. He only had to make two stops and luckily never got pulled over. When he arrived at the convention center, local police were in the parking lot and walking around the building. Damien parked and reached in the glove box, thumbing through his ID's. He pulled out his FBI one. He had a Texas Rangers ID, but he rarely used it.

For one, he didn't have a cowboy hat to wear, which would raise suspicion. Second, he found a lot of cops in Texas knew people on the Rangers. So he figured it best to keep it federal. If they had to call anyone to verify, he gave them a number that routed straight to Jericho that would confirm his story. Damien climbed out of the car and stretched his legs as he approached one of the officers and showed his ID.

"Hey, Special Agent with the FBI. Who's in charge of the scene?" Damien asked. The officer pointed to an older cop nearby that was walking toward him and again identified himself.

"FBI? I never called you," the man said. He had captain bars on his collar and name tag read "Sutton."

"Yeah, I was sent here after you all arrived. Word has it a fugitive we've been looking for might be one of the subjects inside. What do you have so far?"

"Not a lot. No gunshots, it's been quiet, but all the doors are locked. One officer said he heard screaming earlier but nothing since we got here."

"You didn't try to make entry?"

"We're waiting on a warrant. I called the DA. He said it's not an active shooter, but it is suspicious. All these cars here yet total silence."

Damien looked at the building and then back to the captain.

"I'm going to suggest you guys don't go in," he said.

"Why would you suggest that?"

"Because the person I'm looking for is extremely dangerous and requires a very, um…specific type of approach."

"Oh really? And who is this person?"

"I'm afraid that is classified. But trust me on this."

"Look here Special Agent," Captain Sutton said. "This is Texas. We don't need the Feds to come around here to save our asses. If you got someone in there on a Federal warrant, then great. Tell me who it is and we'll round them up. I've been doing this for thirty-five years. Never needed the FBI to bail me out yet. In the meantime, I suggest you stay out of our way. This is my jurisdiction."

Damien didn't want to say too much but didn't want to see these cops walk into a bloodbath either.

"Captain I—"

"I'm about to arrest you myself for obstruction," the Captain said. "FBI or not this is my scene, and you're starting to interfere. Maybe you're new around here but we don't have a lot of trust in the Federal Government. So you want to move on out of the way so I can do my job before I get more pissed off at your presents."

Damien nodded and stepped back. He knew some agencies were harder than others against the Feds. Maybe he should have used the Texas Ranger badge after all. After a few minutes, a squad car came racing up and stopped near the captain's car. A man climbed out, handing him a piece of paper. Sutton looked it over and nodded.

"Ok boys. We got our warrant. Prepare to make entry!"

Chapter 12

Mad Maxwell watched his fingernail grow an additional inch just before placing it against his thick plastic cell. His nails were incredibly sharp and sturdier than most cutting materials. No one else knew that of course. He always liked to keep a little something to himself. Fact is, he could have broken out of here ages ago had he chose to. The problem was he had nowhere to be in any rush, and he was mostly comfortable in this little box.

The tracker's visit changed all that. Damien made Maxwell long for his sweet Kate and her company. Though their time together had been short-lived, he knew there had to be a future there. Once his nail was extended, he pressed it against the clear, plastic wall. Although, this material wasn't plastic it was much stronger, not that it would matter to him.

He ran his nail from the ground up just above his head, over and back down cutting into the shape of a door. Thick hard shavings fell around him as he cut away. He had to make several passes, as it was very solid. After the fifth pass around, he stood back, admiring his work before unleashing a kick to the makeshift door. The section flew away leaving a fresh opening. He stepped outside, taking a deep breath as the cool air blew across his skin and face. There was very little ventilation in the box, so the fresher air felt good.

He jumped the short barricade and headed up the stairs. When he reached the top, he peeked into the hallway to find Henry sitting at his desk. Poor Henry. The guy didn't realize he was dead the instant they assigned him to look after Mad Maxwell. Maxwell stepped out and cleared his throat. Henry turned, and his eyes went wide when he saw the clown.

"Mr. Maxwell! You're out? How…how did you—"

"Oh stop stuttering Henry. You didn't think they'd keep me there forever did you?"

"No. I mean I don't know. Please don't hurt me. I always treated you with respect. Please?"

Maxwell was amused with his groveling. Of course he was going to kill the man. Henry was right, though, he'd always treated him with respect and kindness so he'd do the man a solid and give him a quick death.

"I won't hurt you, Henry, I promise. It won't hurt a bit," Maxwell said as he extended his hand to shake Henry's. Reluctantly, Henry put his hand out, and they shook. Using his other hand with the elongated nail, Maxwell cut Henry's arm open from wrist to elbow. Henry's eyes went wide as blood sprayed Maxwell's jumpsuit. Maxwell maintained his grip on Henry's hand as the color flushed from the man's face, still looking at Maxwell in both shock and betrayal.

"See Henry? I told you it wouldn't hurt." Maxwell said as Henry collapsed into Maxwell's arms. The clown gently put Henry on the floor and watched as the man bled out. Once he was gone, Maxwell dug through his pockets and removed his car keys and headed to the elevator. At the ground floor, he wasn't as polite to the rest of the Jericho staff. Security pulled a gun on him and shot him in the chest which had no effect on him at all other than knocking him a little off balance. He took the gun away from the guard and shot him twice in the face.

Other staff ran for their lives, but Maxwell ran after them. Some he sliced up with his fingernail, some he bit their faces completely off or shot until the bullets were no more. Once he was satisfied with the carnage, he went to the parking lot, hitting the keyless remote until he heard the chirp of a door unlocking. Henry's car was a black Taurus. Not exactly Maxwell's style but it would work.

He climbed in and started the engine. Looking at himself in the mirror, his crooked smile was smeared with blood. Biting people wasn't his first choice of killing. Far too primitive and barbaric, but the situation called for improvisation, so Mad Maxwell had no problem doing what was necessary. His orange jumpsuit was soaked in blood as well.

At first, he thought he should change clothes, but then again he was a clown so not like he was going to blend in no matter what he wore. He put the car in drive and headed out of the parking lot toward Odessa. It would be a long drive, but worth it to find his Kate. He wondered if Damien had reached Happytown yet. He figured that would keep him chasing his tail for a while anyway. Unless the guy was smart enough not to trust him. After all, if Mad Maxwell were someone else, he wouldn't trust him either.

The drive took much longer than he'd feared. He also hadn't accounted for running out of gas every few hundred miles. That was easy. He just stopped off and waited for a Good Samaritan to stop and take their car; all of which was much easier than he'd anticipated. When he reached the outskirts of Odessa, he stopped at a McDonalds. He figured he could use a bite to eat.

He climbed out of the car and looked around when he saw a mom and little boy coming out of the restaurant. The mom had bags of food in one hand and her son's hand in the other. The little boy spotted him and pointed.

"Mommy look! It's Ronald McDonald! Why's he all bloody?" the boy said.

"Because, I ate the Hamburgler!" Maxwell said.

The woman screamed, dropped the food and picked up her son and ran straight to their car. He watched in amusement as she climbed and peeled out of the parking lot. Once they were gone, he picked up the bags of food and walked back to his car munching on a french fry as he walked. Max pondered the ease of everything thus far and felt he needed to release some pent up energy from the long car ride. Max began to whistle Dixie as he strolled into the restaurant.

Chapter 13

Kate laughed watching the baby clowns run up and down the convention hall. They were rooting out all the hiding convention goers. One of the tiny clowns was chasing a guy in a Deadpool costume around. The Deadpool guy had a plastic sword out swatting at the clown, but this obviously had no effect. Turning a corner, the Deadpool guy slipped on a pool of blood and face planted had on the floor. He tried getting to his feet but the little clown was on him in seconds.

The tiny clown bit into his stomach, tearing through fabric and flesh. The guy in the costume screamed as he flopped around. The little clown ripped into his stomach and pulled intestines out, stringing them along the floor. Kate giggled as she watched the bloody, gory sight. Nolan remained in his hiding spot watching the whole thing. There had to be a few thousand people in the convention center, most of them now were lined along the walls looking terrified. One woman screamed and ran for one of the doors. She reached it but found it locked.

She began kicking the door when one of the bigger clowns walked over, grabbed her by the head and snapped her neck in a quick and sudden motion. Her body slumped to the floor as the crowd around her screamed. The clown stepped over her body and looked at the crowd with his finger over his lips saying, "Shhhhh!"

Nolan had thought of making a break for it but seeing the woman's futile attempt made him think otherwise. Besides that, his own fear had him firmly frozen in place. It was sheer luck so far the clowns hadn't spotted him. That or they had but were just holding off on killing him. He'd moved further back against the barrier after Chris had run out from under the table.

Kate picked up the microphone again when there was a loud crashing sound near the end of the convention center. One of the doors burst off its hinges as several cops burst in wearing tactical gear and carrying an assortment of firepower. The crowd near the door screamed and dove out of the way, though some of them may have fallen as the cops stormed in. There was at least ten cops Nolan counted.

"Thank God!" he said to himself as they ran in. Another convention goer in yet another Deadpool costume, (there were many Deadpools at these things) ran up to the cops screaming for help. Problem was he was holding his prop gun in his hand. One of the officers turned and fired a burst of rounds into the Deadpool's chest, sending him flying backward. The cop froze as more people screamed.

"Everybody on the ground!" The cops shouted. "Get down everyone! Hands on your heads!" The crowd did as they were told. Nolan stayed put since they were still a good ways from him. Kate and the other clowns looked around at each other confused. One of the tiny clowns ran at the cops and leaped at them. They fired a burst of rounds, hitting it in the face and exploding its head. The clown fell to the floor dead as the cops moved through the building.

Kate screamed when she saw one of her new babies killed. That was the same time the cops came upon the carnage in the center of the building. The dead bodies of Chris and Casey as well as the "mothers" of the baby clowns and their mutilated abdomens.

"Oh my God," one of the officers said. Another cop fell out of formation and threw up at the bloody sight. The sound of him puking made Nolan's own stomach lurch. Kate and her sons walked up to the cops slowly and stood around them in a horseshoe. Kate had her bat in her hand while each clown had their other various blunt or sharp weapons.

"Freeze!" The lead officer said as he looked Kate up and down. Kate stood and put her hands halfway in the air, still holding the bat. "Who are you people?" The cop asked trying to hide his own fear. Despite their heavy duty military gear, they were small town cops. They weren't used to this kind of thing. Kate knew it and the cop could tell she knew it. He adjusted his grip on his rifle as she smiled.

"Well," she said. "I'm Icy Kate, and these are my babies. We're a family!"

"Family of what?"

"Clowns silly!"

"Whatever, get on the ground."

"Are you sure honey? Tell you what. You boys turn around and go back out that door. I promise neither me or my boys will hurt you," Kate said.

The cop swallowed as he took a step in her direction, but she lowered the bat slightly, and he stopped.

"Yes. First drop the bat."

"The what?"

"The bat. Drop the bat. Tell your boys to drop their weapons too."

"If you say so," she said as she let go of the bat. It fell behind her, just over her shoulder. Before it hit the ground, she kicked her heel up, hitting the handle which flipped the bat into a one-eighty. She grabbed the handle from mid-air and hurled the bat side-arm at the cops. The bat was spinning horizontally like a propeller striking each cop in the face going right down the line. A few stray gunshots sounded as they each toppled to the ground.

Once they were all to the ground, the bat fell to the floor behind them with a loud clank. Kate's boys descended on the downed officers like a pack of lions on a downed zebra. They began hacking and pounding away with their clubs, mallets and knives. Nolan covered his eyes and thought for sure he was going to start crying. Kate bent down and picked up one of the cops helmets and put it on her head. The other clowns each grabbed the cops' rifles and side arms and slung them over their shoulders or stuffed the handguns into their clown suits somehow. Kate picked up a hand gun and pressed it against her cheek before skipping back to the center of the hall and picking up the microphone again.

"Wow! Was that fun or what?" she said. "That was some wild shit guys. Hey Ramsey, can some of you boys seal up that door please?"

The clowns nodded as they dragged the officers' dead bodies toward the doorway. Then bent their bloody and broken bodies into all kinds of positions as they used them as sandbags, stuffing them into the doorway until it was closed off. They stacked the rest of the bodies just behind those for reinforcement.

"Great job, guys! Now that's using your head! Phew!" She fanned herself. "Those cops really got their juices flowin'. I think I need me some action. Any boys here want to come and play with Miss Icy Kate?"

Chapter 14

Damien stood next to the Captain as he watched his Special Response Team make entry into the convention center. There were gunshots and screaming for several minutes. When he radioed for the men to check in, there was nothing but silence. He made one more attempt to radio someone when wild, maniacal, laughter erupted over the com. Sutton turned and began kicking the side of his squad car.

"Goddamn! Cocksucker motherfuckers!" he screamed.

Damien knew it was bad. He sent about a dozen cops in there, by his reaction Damien figured they were all dead. Captain Sutton had turned, walked over to Damien and before he could react, grabbed him by the shirt and punched him in the face. Damien's eyes watered as he fell to the ground. He stood slowly with his arm up in defense.

"What the fuck are you doing!?" he asked.

"You let me send my men into a bloodbath! They're all dead! Those were good men!"

"I told you. Fuck. I'm sorry about your men. I really am. Are you ready to listen to me?"

"You see what they did in the doorway? They stuffed their fucking bodies in the doorway like sandbags. Those were my friends. Some of them I've known since they could walk and talk. They're not fucking sandbags!"

He took out his gun and pressed it to Damien's head.

"Holy shit man!" Damien said. "I didn't hurt your guys ok? What the fuck are you doing?"

"Now you hot shot are going to tell me. Who the fuck is in there and what do they want in my town? You start talking, or I put a bullet in your brain. I see that gun in the back of your pants. I'll put it in your hand and say you pulled it on me, and everyone here will believe me. So talk."

Damien didn't have to think long to know that Sutton was dead serious. He took a breath and nodded.

"Ok, ok, just take your gun away from my head, ok?" he said. Sutton looked at him and slowly moved the gun away.

"This girl, her name is Kate, she goes by Icy Kate and she's a clown. Somewhere along the way she got more clowns with her. They're sadistic murderers. All of them and they are scary as hell."

"Clowns? What the hell do you mean clowns?"

"Clowns. Like their faces are white with big silly smiles and shit."

"You mean makeup?" Sutton asked.

Damien wasn't sure how much more to tell him. If he told him, Sutton would most likely not believe him anyway.

"I guess so," Damien said.

"Captain!" a deputy came running up to Sutton. He was a young cop whose face was white as a sheet.

"What the hell you want son?" Sutton asked.

***"Did you hear your radio? Call just came in from dispatch. Some guy dressed as a clown just killed three people at McDonalds on the east side. He bit one woman's face clean off."

"Jesus H. Christ. A clown?" Sutton said as he turned back to Damien. "What the hell did you bring to my town? Some kind of fucking circus from hell?"

Damien's throat went dry at the news. A guy dressed as a clown. Could it be Maxwell? How'd he get out?

"I don't know. Captain, I'd like your permission to check out McDonald's first. He's probably gone by now, but send me in and I'll tell you when its safe to send them. Please? Do you believe me now when I say this is dangerous shit?"

Sutton took a few steps back.

"All right. Go on. Call me when it's clear. What should we do about the convention clowns?"

"Nothing yet. They're having fun in there. Just hold fast."

"What about all the people inside?"

"They're already dead, even if they don't know it yet."

Damien climbed into his car and took off toward the McDonalds. When he arrived, there already some officers there. He got out and showed them his ID.

"It's all clear," one cop said.

"There any witnesses?"

"Right over there," the cop pointed to an ambulance. There was a woman being looked at by a paramedic. Damien wondered why Maxwell didn't just kill everyone. Though if he was in a hurry that would explain it. He was looking for Kate so he wouldn't waste too much time here. The woman was having her arm wrapped by the medic.

"Ma'am. I'm Damien Carter, FBI. Ok if I ask you some questions?"

"Sure,' she said. She was in her thirties with brown hair down to her shoulders. She was wearing a blue tank top and white shorts.

"You got a good look at him?" he asked.

"Fuck yeah, I did. Ugliest ass clown I've ever seen. His mouth was all twisted and crooked. He had blood all over his face and clothes."

"What was he wearing?"

"Some orange jumpsuit. Like he just got out of prison or something."

Fuck. That's Mad Maxwell for sure.

"So what happened?"

"I was standing inside the door and he came bursting in. I guess he stole some kid's food in the parking lot and some woman screamed. So he ran in here and I was in his way. He grabbed me by the arm hard. I thought my arm would break just from his grip. He flung me aside and then began screaming at everyone. I couldn't tell what he said after everyone else started screaming and freaking out."

"Any idea what he wanted?"

"None. Some guy pulled a gun and shot him a bunch of times in the chest. The clown just laughed and then took the guy's gun way, shoved it in the guy's mouth and pulled the trigger. Then some chick hit him, and he bit her face, chewing it off. It was so gross. Just ate her face right off her. I think she's dead too. Then it was just chaos from there. I ran out the door as soon as his back was turned. So did a bunch of others. He finally left in whatever car he came in."

"Ok, thank you. You've been very helpful." He turned and ran back to his car and headed back to the convention center. However, Mad Maxwell got out, he must have killed several people in the process. Damien just hoped he would reach the convention center before he did.

Chapter 15

Mad Maxwell sped through town. He'd gotten enough to eat at McDonald's, and now it was time to see his lady. He drove up and down the streets trying to figure out where she might be. He had no actual place in mind, he just knew she was here. There was a sign pointing straight ahead. It said, "Permian Basin Horror Fest next right." Well, that sounded like Kate's kind of party. He followed the signs until he arrived outside a large convention center.

The problem was, there were police cars surrounding the place, a lot of them. This didn't look good, but it did appear like Kate is here and hard at work. But, how to get in? He was always a fan of the straight approach. Sneaking around was a waste of time and energy. Time to announce his presence.

He pulled around the back side where there were some large overhead doors that were closed. There were two police cars guarding the back. The officers were out with their shotguns facing the building. This looked like just as good a place as any. He turned the car around until he was headed toward the building. There was a good twenty feet between police cars. He stomped on the gas and sped in between them. Neither cop noticed him until he was almost past.

Once he was by, he pressed the gas to the floor as he headed for the double door. He hit the metal door with a crunch as the car felt as if it were going airborne for a second. The back wheels came down as the car ripped through the sheet metal but got stuck halfway through the hole. The windshield had shattered during the crash. Mad Maxwell kicked out the remaining glass and climbed off the hood.

He dusted glass and debris off himself as he looked up, everyone in the convention center was staring at him. Including the band of clowns toward the center. He looked around and threw his hands up in the air.

"Hey, kids! Daddy's home!" he yelled.

"Maxie!" Kate squealed as she ran toward him, jumping into his arms. "How'd you get out Maxie?"

"Sweetheart, please don't call me that. Sounds so, so…just yuck."

She looked him up and down.

"Aww, you're all bloody? Are you hurt?"

"No, my love, this is the blood of my enemies. And chunks of some woman's face apparently," he said as he picked a dried piece of flesh off his collar. "So looks like you'd been having fun without me."

"Oh yes. This horror show is great! So many cool costumes. We blended right in up until we started killing people."

"Yes, that would draw some attention," Mad Maxwell said. Someone behind Kate got his attention. He walked around to get a better look. It was another clown. Except he was against the wall with some of the convention-goers. He walked up to the clown who only cowered away from Maxwell.

"Just what are you supposed to be?" he asked.

"I'm uh…uh..I'm a clown. Pennywise," the man said.

"Pennywise? Who is Pennywise?"

"He's a scary clown. From a story."

"Oh, I see. Scary. What is your name sir?" Maxwell asked.

"It's…uh…..Larry."

"Tell me, Larry," Maxwell put his hand on Larry's shoulder and leaned in. "Do you think clowns are scary?"

Larry shifted back and forth as he stuttered and stammered.

"I—I guess. Kind of yeah. Sometimes."

"Great! Such a firm answer, Larry. Love a man with backbone!" Maxwell said. "How about me? Do you think I'm scary?"

"Um, a little I guess."

"Yes! Of course I'm scary, Larry! Hahaha! I'm Mad Maxwell! Maybe you can write a story about me! How does that sound! Mad Maxwell the Scary Clown! Hahahaha!"

"Uh, sure."

"Come with me Larry. Let's learn some clown stuff. You want to be a real clown right?" Maxwell asked.

"Well, not really."

"Oh. So...I should just kill you then?"

"Uh, no, no! YES, I was to be a real clown!."

"Well, okay then. Clowning it is! Kate! Who are your new friends here?"

"These are my boys! My proud children!" she said.

"You gave birth to them? All of them!?"

"Yeah! Except these little ones running around. Some of the fine ladies over there are the mamas."

"I don't understand. How did they not kill you? Didn't they tear out of your belly?"

"Nope! I just squirted them right out!"

"Fascinating. No matter. Take Mister Larry here and let's teach him some proper clowning around!" He gave Larry a shove who stumbled toward Doug and Ramsey. They took him toward one of the tables where Corkscrew had grabbed some random guy from the crowd. This guy was dressed as Freddy Kreuger from Nightmare on Elm Street, except it looked like a cheap costume, with just marker on his face for his burns. Corkscrew effortlessly lifted him onto the table as Doug helped hold the man down. Ramsey handed Larry the croquet mallet.

"Ok boss," Ramsey said. "Bash his head in nice, and messy like!"

"Uh, I…uh, I can't!" Larry said.

"I don't think you get it. You bash in his head, or I bash in yours. Which is it?"

"Can we just do neither? Maybe you could just let me go…"

"Shut up!" Ramsey screamed causing Larry to jump, almost dropping the mallet. "You bash in his head now!"

Larry nodded as he raised the mallet over his head. The man on the table was trembling and sobbing.

"Please! Please don't do this! My family is here!" he said.

"I—I'm sorry," Larry said as he brought the mallet down, but it only bounced off the man's head making him cry out in pain but little else.

"You're going to need to do a lot better than that," Ramsey said. "You got one more try. Better make this one count"

Larry raised it again, this time brought it down with much more force, but not enough to be lethal. It did break the man's nose and shatter most of his teeth. The man cried and gagged as his teeth ran down his throat. Without hesitating, Larry raised the mallet again and brought it down several more times. Finally, the man lay lifeless on the table. Blood had splattered onto Larry's costume as he looked at the gory indentation in the victim's head where his face used to be. From behind, Mad Maxwell began clapping and cheering.

"Bravo! Bravo!" he said. "There you go! Now this is clowning good time! Wouldn't you agree Larry?"

Chapter 16

Nolan wanted out. He took several deep breaths as he looked around. He wasn't that far away from that Maxwell clown's car that was partway stuck in the door. If he could make a run for it there, jump in through the windshield, he could climb out the back seat and be out the back door. It could work. Except those clowns could move pretty fast when they wanted. He'd have to wait until the right time.

They were currently laughing while in the process of torturing some poor family. Doug the Clown had a little boy who wouldn't stop screaming. He was carrying the kid around, but the kid kept struggling. Finally, he snapped the kids neck and carried him around as if he were a rag doll. One of the other clowns was leisurely humping the mom. No doubt a new baby clown would come ripping out of her soon. The dad was being held down by Maxwell and another while Kate was snipping his fingers off one at a time with some kind of tin snips. No telling where they found that.

The little clowns were running around randomly attacking whoever they came across. One person did have a real gun and got a shot off, hitting the tiny clown in the chest. It quickly got to its feet and lunged at his crotch, ripping his dick and nuts off in a single chomp. The man dropped his gun as he doubled over, falling to the ground as blood squirted in huge spurts from his crotch. The little clown who had grown in the past hour turned and ran to the other side of the hall.

The clowns were a good hundred or more feet from the car with their backs to it. Nolan felt this would be the only chance he was going to get. If he died, at least it would be from doing something brave for the first time in his life. He closed his eyes and counted to three silently. On the count of three he slid out from under the table and bolted for the car. The convention goers looked on with an odd curiosity, as the clowns didn't even seem to notice him. Just as he reached his car, a woman standing by a nearby table screamed.

"This guy's getting away!"

The clowns immediately turned and started for Nolan, who was in shock at the betrayal. This lady was in just as much shit as he was. Why would she do that? Wouldn't she want someone to get out of there? Not to mention why would she draw any attention to herself at all?

Nolan was shocked how quickly the clowns had closed in on him. Just as he reached the front of the car, he could feel a clown's breath on the back of his neck. Without stopping, he jumped onto the hood and dove head first through the busted windshield. The clown managed to grab his ankle, keeping him from going all the way in. His leg hung out of the opening as he grabbed the seats and struggled. If he couldn't get his foot free, he was dead for sure. He kicked and wiggled as the clown's hand slid down just a bit. Nolan quickly jerked away as his shoe came off in the clown's hand, but his foot came free.

He wiggled into the back seat and out the car's back door. He was now standing outside the convention hall. He took a few steps when someone shouted at him.

"Freeze!" the man yelled. It was a cop. There were several with their guns trained on him. He did as they said with his arms up in the air.

"I'm not one of them!" Nolan said. "I'm an actor. I was at the convention. Please get me out of here!" Nolan wanted to be as far away from the building as possible. All he could think of was a pair of pale, white hands reaching out from the car and pulling him back inside.

"Move away from the building slowly," one of the cops yelled.

"My name is Nolan Collinsworth! I was in a movie! Please don't shoot me!"

Another officer walked with his gun out and quickly patted him down. He turned to the others and nodded as they all lowered their guns. The cop pulled Nolan back behind their squad cars and handed him a bottle of water.

"You ok? You hurt?" the cop asked.

"Just fucking scarred for life after being in there, but other than that I'm fine."

"The captain and that FBI agent are going to want to talk to you." He walked him around the building until they got to the front where there were several other cars. The officer walked him up to an older cop and a guy in plain clothes. He explained to them what happened and the plain-clothes guy nodded to him.

"Hey there. Damien Carter, FBI. You ok?" he asked.

"No, not really."

"I can imagine. That took some guts."

"They were distracted," Nolan said.

"With what?"

"Killing people. That's all they're doing. One by one they go through and just tear people to pieces. The clowns raped a bunch of women who like immediately got pregnant and had these fucked up clown babies except they were huge, and they just ripped their way out of their stomachs."

"Son, I think you're delusional," the Captain said. "You've been under a lot of stress. I'm sure it was hard, but this isn't helping us."

"No," Damien said. "Let him continue."

Nolan went on and told them everything he'd seen and heard while inside the horror fest from hell. He made a note to fire Pierce the first chance he got. Granted it wasn't totally Pierce's fault all this happened. But he'd had so little control of anything, that was the one thing he did have control over and he was going to exercise it, god dammit. Once he was done, Damien stood silent and looking at him.

"So what do you make of all this?" the Captain asked.

"Captain," Damien said. "I think it's time you know everything."

Damien proceeded to tell the Captain everything about Icy Kate, the clowns and Mad Maxwell. He left certain things about Jericho out, but felt like he told enough the Captain should get a good grasp of what he was dealing with. For the most art he seemed to take it ok. Though he stood there silent for the longest time.

"So you're telling me, a group of non-human clown mutants have taken over this convention in my town? And they're in there killing everyone and making mutant clown babies and are almost impossible to kill which is why they mowed down my SRT team so easily? Is that what you're saying? Tell me, do I have everything correct...Agent!?"

"Something like that, but yes. These are some seriously mean motherfuckers. Only way to kill them is to blow their heads up or cut their heads off. That is it." Damien said.

Captain Sutton looked around not sure if he wanted to believe it or not. Nolan didn't believe it, but he saw it. He knew what he saw regardless of what was supposed to be. This was all too real.

"And you let me send those men in there to be slaughtered?" the Captain said to Damien.

"I told you not to, if you'd have trusted me then this wouldn't have happened. Either way, nothing we can do now. You can stand there not believing this and be pissed or we can figure something out."

"What do you suggest?"

"I suggest we blow up the building."

Chapter 17

"Did you see that Maxie? That guy got away!" Kate said.

"I saw my dear. No worries. We're almost done here. You didn't want just to sit around in here forever did you?" Mad Maxwell said.

"Of course not, we figured we'd just stop and play."

"How would you like to have a place you can play around forever? Our own home with people of our kind. No hiding, no Funhouses."

"That sound amazing Maxie!"

"Yes it does. Let's make some more babies, shall we? Boys! Round ‘em up!" Maxwell yelled. The clowns ran around grabbing more women. This time the tiny clowns were chasing more of the women and girls. The men in the crowd tried to fight some of them off, only to be brutally dismembered or decapitated. They rounded up the next group of women and proceeded with their violent mating ritual. Within minutes there were ten more baby clowns running around. They began attacking more of the convention goers.

One guy dressed like Michael Myers had his head ripped off while still in the mask.  Another guy dressed like Frankenstein had his own stomach ripped open, the tiny clowns stringing his guts out while the victim watched.

"This is so much fun!" Kate said.

"Indeed. Let the little ones eat so they can grow big and strong!"

They watched for a moment as the little clowns tore through the crowd, ripping up and shredding anyone they got their hands on. The party was interrupted when an explosion sounded on the far side of the building. Even the clowns jumped when the roof blew off as another explosion sounded closer to them. From there the walls and ceiling caved in, crushing a group of people who were standing nearby.

"Ok boys!" Kate yelled. "Party's over! Let's go!"

She ran toward the large opening as her family followed behind her. Mad Maxwell chose to casually stroll out. As Kate cleared the rubble and came outside, she was met by gunfire from the dozens of police lined up outside. She dove to the ground and rolled out of the way as bullets ripped through her body. It hurt only a little as she crawled behind a dumpster. Her boys descended on the police, overtaking the closest ones. One clown shoved a cop's own shotgun up his ass and pulled the trigger.

Another clown found a female cop and bent her over the hood of her squad car and took her from behind. When he was done, she pulled her gun and began firing until her stomach swelled as a baby clown burst from her stomach. The rest of the clowns squealed with laughter. Maxwell came strolling out of the building, but by now no one was even looking. They were shooting and scrambling at the mayhem in the parking lot.

Kate turned and looked up as one police officer stood behind her.

"Freeze!" he yelled with his pistol trained on her. "Put your fucking hands up and turn around!"

Kate raised her hands and stood. All this excitement and violence was beginning to arouse her. She'd been aroused already from the games inside the convention. The total mayhem was about to put her over the edge.

"Hey copper," she said. "You ever made it with a clown?"

"Shut up," he said. He removed his handcuffs with one hand and slowly approached her with the other hand on his gun. "You're under arrest. Don't move." He placed his hand on her wrist and barely touched the cuff to her when she spun around, taking his handcuffs from him while knocking the gun from his hand. Her speed and strength were no match for his. She swung the cuffs like a weapon and knocked him to the ground. She straddled him as he looked up at her horrified. She leaned down, undoing some of the buttons from her shirt, exposing her bare white breasts.

"What's wrong sweetie? Never seen a pair of clown titties?" She sat up and played with her tits, squeezing them in her hands as she moaned. "My pussy is so wet. You wanna eat my pussy for me copper?"

He vigorously shook his head no as she lifted her mini-skirt. "Oh looky," she said. "It seems I forgot my panties."

Her legs and pelvis were as white as her face with a small tuft of bright green hair between her legs. She wiggled herself forward and straddled the cop's face. She pressed her pussy into his face until he actually started licking it. The feeling of his tongue on her clown clit sent shivers through her body. She placed her hands on the ground in front of her, grinding herself on his face. Within seconds, she was in the throes of climax, moaning and squealing with delight.

As she finished, she stood looking down at her unwilling lover. His face no longer looked horrified. Instead, he had a huge smile froze on his face which was now as white as hers.

"Hey? You ok copper?" she said. The cop began laughing uncontrollably as the smile on his face grew until it was distorted, almost reaching each of his ears. His nose grew into a large red bulb as his hair fell out in patches while turning shades of blue. The cop laughed and laughed as he rolled onto his side. After a minute, the laughter stopped as he stood looking at her. He was no longer the cop she had just assaulted, but was now a clown, just like her boys.

"Wow! That was awesome!" he said. "Can we go again?"

Kate wasn't sure what to think as this had never happened before. He was still in his uniform, and bent down to pick up his gun while looking at her with his huge, deformed grin.

"Maybe later honey, you want to help out the boys? Sure, could use ya."

"Sure!" he said as he held up the gun and bounded away, firing wildly into the air. She watched him skip away as she sat and thought about what had just occurred. If she wasn't mistaken, her pussy juice had just turned this guy into a clown. If that were the case, things just got a whole lot more interesting.

Chapter 18

Damien watched as the deputies rigged the charges around the building.

"I can't believe I'm doing this," Captain Sutton said.

"Trust me. We need to take them out all at once. You sure those charges are enough? The thing needs to go up in one big ball of fire," Damien said.

"Deke worked with explosives in Iraq, so he knows what he's doing."

"I don't doubt that but has he taken down a building this size?"

"Do you want to set the shit up yourself smart ass?" Sutton said. Damien just stepped away and let the captain stew by himself. They both new this mess could make national headlines if they weren't careful. He'd need to make some calls and get additional Jericho resources out there and help set up a cover story.

He called in and asked for a task force informing them he had the clowns trapped, including Mad Maxwell. It would be great if they could just take them all out in one big blast. If it didn't work, well then, it's going to be ugly. Tons of civilian deaths and then having to still round up the clowns. They gave an ETA of two hours to have a task force in Odessa. They'd be coming by helicopter so not as long as it could have been.

He hung up the phone just as a blast sounded, shaking the ground. Only the west corner of the building collapsed with the explosion. Within a few minutes, there was another blast on the back side. This was not how it was supposed to go. Damien ran toward Sutton.

"What the hell is that? You said he knew what he was doing?" Damien said.

"He assured me the whole building would go up at once. I think some of the charges didn't fire."

"Yeah, I can see that. Jesus fucking Christ!"

Damien watched the gaping hole in the building as the dust around it settled. Clowns emerged from the rubble as officers opened fire. There was more than just a handful of clowns running out. There were at least a dozen, maybe more. Kate had been busy in there.

The parking lot descended into chaos as the sounds of screaming and gunfire rang out. Damien ducked behind his car, knowing it was futile to fight those clowns head to head with a handgun. He watched as the clowns ran and overtook one officer after another. He looked up in the sky hoping beyond hope this Jericho Task force was flying in, but no such luck. Damien looked around, wondering where Nolan had run off to or if the clowns had gotten to him.

Looking to the right answered his question. Nolan was running across the street at a full sprint. Damien didn't blame him, but no telling how far he'd get. If these clowns got out of here, the whole town was fucked. Damien watched as Captain Sutton retrieved an AR-15 from his car and began firing at the mob. The Captain even hit one of his own men in the barrage. A small clown leaped on to the top of Sutton's car and dove on him. The clown thing bit into his face, ripping flesh off in a huge bloody chunk.

The next bite took one of Sutton's eyeballs. Damien climbed into his car, started the engine and threw the car in reverse hightailing it out of the parking lot as fast as he could. He did a one-hundred-eighty degree turn and sped away. Once down the road, he stopped and pulled up next to Nolan and signaled for him to climb in. Nolan jumped in; his face was almost as pale as the clowns.

"You ok?" Damien asked.

"What just happened?" Nolan asked.

"All hell just broke loose."

"Yeah I see that. God we are so fucked."

"Maybe not. I called my headquarters. They got a task force on the way who has dealt with these clowns before. They can lay them to waste."

"I hope so. Can you take me to the airport in Midland? I'm going back to L.A."

"Not sure we can make it on time. These clowns are going to tear through this town."

"Exactly. No reason for me to stay around. I'm not a cop or FBI agent, I'm an actor. Just get me the fuck out of here," Nolan said.

"Unfortunately, I'm not leaving just yet. So unless you got another ride, you're stuck here for a bit."

Behind them, there was an explosion. Damien looked in the review mirror to see a large plume of smoke and flame.

"Jesus Christ. They are going to tear this town apart," Damien said.

"You sure you don't want to get us out of here?"

"No, we're staying." Damien pulled into a hotel parking lot where people were coming outside to see what the commotion was. Damien parked and waved his FBI ID at the group.

"Stay calm everyone. I recommend you all go back inside," he said looking up again. Last thing he wanted to do was get stuck in a confrontation with the clowns being outmanned and outgunned. Part of him felt guilty for running, but nothing he could have done back there except for get himself killed like the rest of the cops. Tires squealed just down the street, as Damien looked he saw a pickup truck filled with clowns in the back racing by. Two of them jumped out of the back of the truck and ran into the restaurant across the street.

"Everyone get inside!" Damien yelled. "Go now! Lock all the doors!" He ran in with the crowd, Nolan behind him as screaming sounded from the restaurant. People ran outside covered in blood. One clown was chasing them carrying a chainsaw. The engine revved as one hapless victim tripped and fell. The clown ran up and cut him in half with the crude weapon. Blood and bone chunks shot into the air as the clown laughed wildly.

"Jesus fucking Christ," Damien said as he turned back toward the hotel, ran inside and locked the door.

"Who are those guys?" one person asked.

"We need to form a prayer circle," one woman said. "Ask God to protect us from those demons."

"Prayer won't help lady," Damien said. "Those aren't demons; those are clowns. And God is scared of clowns."

Chapter 19

About thirty miles east of Odessa, Texas U.S. Army Colonel Hal Goldbrick stood on the hill looking down at the training exercises. This was one of the largest exercises for the United States Army Special Operations Command. Training operation dubbed Operation Jade Helm, had been met with much opposition from the locals. In twenty-two years of service, it had been the craziest thing Goldbrick had ever seen.

They'd done similar operations for years. For some reasons only known to God, some of the local people thought Jade Helm was a trap for the Army to be on stand by for the president to declare martial law. Apparently, they were supposed to take over Texas and seize people's guns.

Now there were a few problems with this theory. When the Colonel first heard about it, his first words to his executive officer were "Take over Texas? The United States already has Texas! What the hell are these people talking about?"

From there it was meetings, briefings, and even town hall meetings. Goldbrick had to sit and listen to a city hall room full of people grill him on how will he promise the Army isn't invading Texas. He wasn't sure he got through to anyone. The thing is, how do you guarantee something like that to someone who even think that way? He just repeated himself until they got tired of listening. None of it mattered. The mission was a go, and here they were.

Currently, he was watching a group of Rangers airdrop into a small canyon while tanks rolled nearby. He watched as things were mostly going smoothly when the first explosion sounded. It wasn't enough to shake the ground, but it got is attention. From the hill, he turned and looked through his binoculars.

"What the hell was that?" he asked as he saw the plume of smoke rising above Odessa.

"What is it, sir?" Captain Royce asked from his left. He was the Colonel's executive officer.

"There was an explosion; I can see the smoke. What was that?" Before he could look away, the second explosion sounded.

"Fuck me!" Goldbrick said.

"Yeah, I heard that," Royce said.

"Get everyone together. We're going to take a caravan into town." Goldbrick ordered.

"Sir? You think that's a great idea? They already thought we were going to invade. If they see us all rolling in."

"Listen to me. Either that was a bomb or some explosive, and even if it wasn't there are still going to be people in need of medical attention. We have medics and supplies they can use. So we are checking it out."

"Roger that sir," Royce said as he ran off to follow his instructions. Goldbrick walked down the trail and to his Humvee. He sat for around twenty minutes while waiting for a group of Humvees and five-ton trucks get lined up with troops. He ordered the helicopters to stay behind for now as well as the tanks. He didn't want to freak completely out the town.

Finally, they were ready to move. The drive took a good twenty to thirty minutes. He wasn't happy with how long all of this was taking, but they were a large combat force. Not something to be mobilized like a police department in just a few minutes. All things considered, they were making pretty good time.  When they rolled into town, he feared he'd be greeted by some angry folks afraid they were in fact invading.

What he saw instead, he was in no way prepared. The entire town of Odessa was in complete chaos. There were people running through the streets screaming. Some were shooting in the direction of the explosion. It wasn't until they were almost downtown when he saw them. The clowns. Dozens of people dressed as clowns were running through the street attacking people. Some had clubs or knives they were using for the attack.

One girl clown was running around, lifting her skirt and jumping on people.

"What in the hell?" he said to no one in particular.

"Sir, is this some kind of circus or festival?" Royce asked.

"Did you just see that clown cut that guy's head off?" Goldbrick replied. "What the fuck kind of circus beheads people?"

"You think its terrorists?"

"Beats the hell out of me. I will tell you we are not going to sit around and let a bunch of clowns kill Americans."

"Where's the police?" Royce asked.

That question was answered when several clowns in police uniforms ran by. One had a handgun over his head and firing wildly.

"That's it. Stop right here. Order all the troops into squads and to split up." Goldbrick said. "I'll call Washington and tell them what is going on here. Get some actual emergency crews here. Fucking terrorist clowns. Are you fucking kidding me?" he said as Royce jumped out and carried out his orders. He climbed out of the Humvee and checked his sidearm.

So far none of the clowns had paid them any attention. However, he did get someone's attention.

"Look! I knew it!" a civilian man nearby yelled. "Jade Helm! Jade Helm is here!" the man was on a street corner with an AR-15 slung over his shoulder. The civilian was wearing a camouflage jacket, jeans, and a Dallas Cowboys ball cap. He took out a walkie-talkie and began screaming into it. Goldbrick tried to ignore him as he walked toward the back of the convoy with his men. Behind him, he heard more screaming. There were several other civilian men with AR-15's, but these guys were carrying them at the ready. They were all dressed in camouflage, one of them even had on camo face paint.

"Stop right there soldier boy!" one of them yelled. "I got my rifle pointed right at the back of your head. You're going to get in that Humvee and turn this mess around right now! Or things are going to get ugly."

Chapter 20

Kate skipped through town enjoying the mayhem. Occasionally, someone would resist or try to shoot at them, but they were quickly and easily disposed of. She was enjoying her new trick. She'd turned at least fifteen more clowns from her pussy juice. Kate had no idea such a thing was possible. She also had no idea having so many orgasms in such a short time was possible. Even Mad Maxwell wasn't sure what to make of it. When he watched her turn one poor guy, she couldn't tell if Maxwell was impressed or terrified at her abilities altogether.

Looking down the street, a caravan of military vehicles came rolling into town.

"Look, Maxie, the Army is here!" she said.

"Oh yes. The Army. They have no idea what they are getting into. I'm surprised Jericho hasn't sent a band of goons in yet. They're usually on top of things when we clowns are involved."

"Oh, Jericho Goons! Sounds so scary!"

"Nothing to worry about my dear. As you know, I've handled Jericho many times before."

"Maybe I'll sit on their faces! That could be fun!"

Mad Maxwell rolled his eyes.

"Yes, that would be wonderful," he said.

There was an explosion ahead as smoke rose from a building. They reached a sporting goods store with the windows busted out.

"I think I'm going to find something to change into," Maxwell said. "This prison jumpsuit is a big stuffy." He walked inside as Kate stood on the sidewalk taking everything in. People were screaming in every direction. One of her tiny clowns was on the roof of a car that sped by, swerving in all directions before hitting a utility pole. The driver flew through the windshield and onto the hood where the little clown jumped down and began gnawing on the diver's face.

Mad Maxwell emerged from the store looking much different. He had on a purple hoodie, a pair of jeans and was carrying a baseball bat with several spikes through it. He also had on a pair of purple batting gloves.

"Where did you find a bat like that?"

"Oh, it's just a normal bat. I made some of my special modifications. This all feels much more comfortable." He said.

While she wasn't afraid of Mad Maxwell, in his new clothes, he looked even more terrifying.

"At least now I can join in on the festivities," he said while giving the bat a swing. "Yeah, this should be fun." He ran across the street where a man and his wife were trying to get into a building. Maxwell swung the bat and planted a spike into the top of the man's skull. The woman screamed as the man's body slumped to the ground, but the spike was caught in his head. Maxwell put his foot on the man's head as he pulled trying to work the bat free.

It finally came free as the women continued screaming.

"Shut up already!" he yelled as he smashed her in the face, the spike going through her forehead. The blow silenced her for good as the bat came free more easily this time. He looked at Kate and nodded.

"I guess it works a little too well," he said.

"That was cool Maxie. Too bad you killed him. I could have turned him too!"

"Why don't you turn some more girls? We could use more girl clowns."

"I don't want another girl! Why? You tired of me already?"

"Never my darling. Just thought you could use some lady-friends. You know, girl chat, slumber parties and such."

"Oh no. That's all lamo! This is a real party!"

Before he could reply, the sound of helicopters boomed from overhead. Looking up there was a fleet of them heading toward Odessa. Kate counted at least ten of them.

"Is that the Jericho guys?" she asked.

"It appears so. I guess they aren't messing around this time."

"What should we do?"

"Simple! Make more clowns!"

They both laughed as they ran down the street and into a residential neighborhood. They went from house to house; Maxwell would attack the families in each home as Kate proceeded to sit on their faces until she was satisfied. This time it didn't matter who it was. Men, women, children and even elderly folks. By the time they were done along the street, there were clowns of all ages and sizes. One elderly woman clown hobbled around with her walker.

When they reached the last house, a man stood on the porch with a shotgun, opening fire on the clowns. Before either of them could react, the old clown came running up, her walker over her head and bashed the man over the head with her walker. The man went down as he dropped the shotgun while the old clown was descending on him, tearing him to shreds. Overhead, the helicopters were getting closer. One was coming in to land just behind some houses. Mad Maxwell began walking in that direction.

"Where ya going, Maxie?"

"I'm going to welcome our friends!"

Chapter 21

Nolan looked out the window at what appeared to be World War 3 happening before his eyes. There were gunfights and explosions along with so many clowns running around tearing people apart. He hadn't counted inside the convention center, but it would appear there were dozens of clowns now. Were they turning people into clowns? A few were wearing police uniforms. That was simply unsettling.

He'd seen a caravan of Army vehicles roll in earlier but no movement from them since other than increased gunfire as some random soldiers ran around shooting. Before long, he saw clowns dressed as soldiers. Sitting around in this hotel waiting for the clowns to come after them wasn't his first choice either. Part of him was still fuming that Damien insisted on staying instead of getting them both to the Midland airport. Nolan walked away from the main door and down the hallway. From there he looked out the window from the back door.

In the parking lot, there was a pickup truck with the engine running. The driver was hanging dead half out of the cab with his head split open. The truck was only maybe twenty feet from the door. Looking around as best he could, there were no clowns in the immediate area. It was time to make another run for it. It worked for him last time. Taking a deep breath he closed his eyes, counted to three and burst through the door.

He reached the truck without incident. The hard part would be moving the driver's body. He grabbed a leg and pulled, but the man was heavy and barely budged. Using both hands to grab each leg, he pulled them both until the man's body flipped backward out of the cab. There was blood all over the inside, but he had to tune that out. Closing the door he put the truck in drive and sped out of the parking lot.

He wasn't far down the road when a group of clowns was in the middle of the road chasing a woman around. She was screaming as they took turns ripping her clothes from her. Nolan wasn't sure what to do as he couldn't go back the other way. Instead he stomped on the gas and sped up crashing into the two clowns. One went airborne, flipping through the air and landing off to the side. The smaller one exploded as the truck struck him head on. The woman fell to the ground as Nolan kept speeding by. In his rearview mirror he saw her sitting there looking around. The clown who had flown through the air, slowly began moving.

His first thought was to keep going, but instead he stepped on the brakes and threw the truck into reverse. He stopped next to the woman and opened the passenger door as the clown was making its way to its feet near the driver's side.

"Come on!" Nolan said. "Get in!"

The woman climbed in and closed the door as he pulled forward and backed over the clown. He put it in drive and ran over the clown again as he sped away.

"Hi," he said. "I'm Nolan."

"Hey. I'm Debra. Thank you."

"Sure. Those things are fucking evil," Nolan said.

"So where are we going?"

"As far away from here as possible."

He looked over at Debra, who was holding the rags that used to be her shirt over her body. Besides that, she only had on a pair of panties and some tennis shoes. She was around his age and was probably quite attractive when not having just been assaulted by a group of evil clowns. At the moment, her hair was sticking out all over, and her face looked like she'd been beaten.

"Are you ok?" he asked. "Looks like they did a number on you."

"I'll live if that's what you mean."

"Just be glad they didn't rape you. I've seen that happen. It's pretty hideous, and you'd be dead."

"What are those things?"

"All I know is, they're clowns and not human. Beyond that, I have no idea. They took over the horror convention at the convention center. I saw them rape a bunch of women and minutes later baby clowns came ripping their way out of the women's stomachs."

"Jesus Christ."

"Yeah. It's pretty fucked up."

"What do they want?"

"I don't know. They're clowns. They seem pretty content just causing mayhem."

They drove in silence as a group of helicopters began flying overhead. One of the helicopters began to set down on the road about a hundred feet in front of them.

"Oh no. What the fuck?" he asked. He wasn't sure if they were Army or what. They were black and had no markings. They looked like Blackhawk helicopters from what he'd seen on TV. He pulled the truck to a stop as several men dressed in tactical gear jumped out. They all wore helmets, dark goggles and wore large packs. They surrounded the pickup and ordered them both out. They did as they were ordered, Nolan had his hands up, but Debra continued hugging her shirt to her body.

"Any clowns in your vehicle?" one of the men asked.

"No, there's a bunch just down the road. I ran a couple over. We're headed to Midland to get out of here. To the airport."

"Negative, the town is quarantined." The man said.

"Quarantined? Why?"

"Some of the clowns may be carrying a deadly virus. No one leaves until we get them contained."

"Bullshit. You can't keep us here." Nolan opened the door to the truck, but the man grabbed him and threw him to the ground. Before he could get to his feet, the man pointed his gun at the truck, and that's when Nolan realized it wasn't a gun at all. It was a flamethrower. A long plume of fire came from the weapon, consuming the pickup. Nolan sat by and watched the truck vanish in flames, along with his hope of escape.

Chapter 22

"You're making a mistake fellas," Col. Goldbrick said. "We're here to help. No one wants to take over your town except for these clowns, whoever they are."

"You just shut the hell up and put your sidearm there on the ground," one of the men said.

"Don't move!" A voice called out. Looking up ahead, several of Goldbrick's rangers were walking toward them with their rifles pointed at the men. This was turning into a standoff that was not going to end well.

"You don't move or your Colonel is dead!" one of the men called out.

"I'm going to count to three," the Ranger sergeant said. "If you don't stand down, we will open fire. One! Two!"

Just as he said two, Goldbrick closed his eyes and dropped to the ground. The sergeant yelled "Three!" as gunfire erupted around him. He rolled to his right underneath the Humvee as bodies fell around him. In a matter of seconds, it was over. A pair of boots walked up to the Humvee as the man knelt down. It was the sergeant.

"You ok Colonel? All clear."

Goldbrick climbed out from under the Humvee and got to his feet. There were several dead men lying around with rifles next to them. Goldbrick shook his head. It was unfortunate, but no amount of spending weekend playing soldier and shooting beer cans would prepare someone for one of his Army Rangers. They were professional soldiers, the best in the world. Only problem was, now they just had a U.S. Army engagement of United States citizens on American soil. He didn't even want to begin to think how he'd explain all this.

Before he could think any further, a shot rang out as blood sprayed from the sergeant's neck while the man collapsed. Another shot went out as Goldbrick climbed back into the Humvee and stepped on the gas. The shots were coming from a building. These kooks had a sniper in place. He only got a block or two down the road as a group of small clowns ran out into the road. He swerved to avoid them but drove right over two of them.

This was the closest he'd seen the clowns. Their faces looked twisted and mutated. Not like any clowns he'd ever seen. It was as if those were their actual faces and not just makeup. What the hell was going on? He turned around and drove over the other two clowns. This time he stopped and got out, holding his pistol at the ready and examined the creatures. Most of their heads had been run over; to it was hard to make out their faces.

Just down the street, he heard more gunfire, screaming and even an explosion. His Rangers had also made contact. Hopefully, they were wiping these things out. He climbed back into the Humvee and drove toward the firefight. As he rounded the block, he wasn't prepared for what he saw. Bodies of his Rangers were lying throughout the street. Clowns were pulling the heads off some of the bodies. One group of Rangers was running away and firing while a pair of clowns closed in on them. In a few quick steps, the clowns were on the men's backs. One tore the soldier's head off as if it was picking up a bowling ball.

"Mother of God," Goldbrick said as he backed up and turned the Humvee around. The rest of his men were in another part of town, hopefully faring better. He didn't count the bodies, but there were close to a hundred. The clowns had torn through them as if they were rag dolls. What was worse, being shot didn't even seem to bother them.

Just overhead a fleet of Blackhawk helicopters came flying in. These weren't his. They were black and unmarked. One touched town at a parking lot a block ahead. He pulled over and watched as a group of men in black tactical gear came filing out. A group of clowns ran up to the men, but the men sprayed them with flamethrowers. The clowns were engulfed in plumes of fire and fell to the ground as the soldiers continued advancing. They made their way down the street. It wasn't long before they were coming up on Goldbrick and his Humvee. He decided to see who these guys worked for. They obviously knew how to handle the clowns.

He climbed out of the vehicle as the men approached. He put his hands in the air as they approached. One of the men stopped a few feet in front of him.

"Identify yourself," the man said.

"Colonel Hal Goldbrick. United States Army. We were doing exercises nearby when we saw an explosion. Who are you guys?"

"Private security," the man said.

"Who do you work for? You guys have military gear and operating on U.S. soil. You mercenaries? You guys from Blackstone?"

Blackstone was a private security company who had been hired by the government to send civilian operatives to Iraq and Afghanistan. They were known for not following or even having any rules of engagement. They'd been quiet in recent years, but no telling what they'd been up to. This whole thing was too far out there even for Goldbrick to handle.

"That is irrelevant. How many of you are there?" the man asked again.

"I'm not telling you that. Not sure what you think you're doing, but you don't hold an Army colonel at gun point. Now I'm going to lower my arms. Who is your commanding officer? Or who is in charge? Let me speak to them."

"Negative Colonel. Stay right where you are. I'd suggest you get in your Humvee and turn around. Pretend like you were never here and never saw us."

"Or what? Who are you guys? I've lost men here. I'm not turning around and leaving. These fucking weird ass clowns are all over. You guys seem to know how to take them out. We can help each other."

"Negative," the man said. "We work alone. So you're not leaving then?"

"No, I'm not. I'll just follow along behind you guys and see if I can find any of my men who survived."

"Can't do that Colonel, sorry," the man said as he squeezed the trigger on his flamethrower. Before Goldbrick could react he was covered in fire. During his lifetime, he'd been outside in extreme heat. He'd burned his hand on a grill and even walked on hot coals once as a dare. None of those things compared to the pain he felt now with fire licking his skin along his face, hands, arms and back.

He fell to the ground and tried to roll out the flames, but it did no good. Flesh on his face and neck popped and sizzled. He wanted to throw up as the smell of his own burning skin hit his nose. The heat on his head was unbearable. He wanted just to go to sleep and not feel anymore. That became easier as his eyeballs each burst from inside his skull. Everything was black as he felt the fluid from his eyes sizzling along his cheeks. Thankfully, his mind went shortly after his vision. Colonel Goldbrick was K.I.A.

Chapter 23

Kate stood next to Maxwell as they watched the helicopter land.

"Wait until they get out," Maxwell said, but Kate wasn't about to just stand there while these Jericho mercenaries got comfortable. She took off at a dead run and with her speed, was inside the helicopter in a matter of seconds. She ripped one of the men's Adam's apple right from his throat. Blood sprayed inside the helicopter as the other men struggled. One fired the flamethrower next to her head, but missed, igniting one of his fellow mercenaries.

Kate pushed the man in flames out of the helicopter as the aircraft began taking off again. Soon they were hundreds of feet in the air. She heard someone laughing as she threw another mercenary out, watching him fall to his death. Just beneath her, Maxwell had grabbed on to the edge of the helicopter and was pulling himself up. She pulled him the rest of the way in when he promptly kicked another mercenary out of the aircraft.

Another one pointed his flamethrower at her, but she punched him and removed it from his back before throwing him out. Soon it was just the two of them in the back of the helicopter. Kate walked to the front, now with the flamethrower on her back and leaned into the pilot.

"Hey sweetie!" she said. The pilot looked at her in horror as she stood over him. "Take us back to downtown ok? If not I'll have to set you on fire. I'm not worried about crashing. The crash won't kill me. Thank you, dear!" The pilot nodded quickly as she turned and winked at Mad Maxwell. Within a few minutes, they had arrived downtown. There were several groups of mercenaries marching through town firing flamethrowers at clowns and anyone else that got in their way. Buildings and cars nearby were on fire as the men advanced.

"Maxie! They're killing my babies!" Kate squealed. "Take us down there! Right now!" she yelled to the pilot. He flew the helicopter in the general direction until he was a few hundred feet from the crowd.

"I need to find a place to set it down!" the pilot said.

"Here is fine," Kate said as she punched him in the throat so hard she crushed his larynx. He gagged and wheezed as the helicopter went into a spin, spiraling downward.

"Hold on to your hats boys and girls!" Kate called out. "We're going for a ride!"

The aircraft spun around and around as the ground closed in, landing on its side on top of a dozen Jericho mercenaries. The giant rotor hit the ground slicing several clowns, mercenaries and towns people into ribbons. As the helicopter struck the ground, Kate and Maxwell were tossed about the inside. Maxwell had been thrown clear almost fifty feet away as Kate landed flat on her back against the wall. The aircraft lay on its side in the now quiet street. Kate climbed out and looked at the carnage all around her.

"Holy shit! Did you see that Maxie! We fucked all these guys up!" She said. "My babies, though. They killed a bunch of my babies!"

"No worries my dear," Mad Maxwell said as he approached her. "We can make our own baby. Just imagine what kind of clown we could create together."

"Really?"

"Yes really."

"You said I'm not like the others. Why did you say that?"

"Because of the way you give birth, your toughness. Most clowns who are made from human aren't nearly as strong as you are. Then there is the thing with you turning humans into clowns with your vaginal juices. That is totally new. I think it's because as a human you were extraordinary."

"Really?" she said. "I don't remember."

"I know. It's part of the change. Trust me, though. I say we consummate our relationship right here and create the ultimate clown child."

"That sounds great Maxie!" She pulled her shirt off and removed her skirt. He looked at her as he walked toward her, looking her up and down. Kate backed into a pile of dead bodies and lay down on her back. Maxwell approached her, sliding his jeans down, revealing his long, white clown penis. The red bulb on the end of his was the size of a baseball. She reached up and squeezed it, honking it several times.

"Look at you, you tease," he said.

"No teasing here. Let me have it, big boy."

He thrust it inside of her, touching parts inside her she never knew existed. Maxwell thrust away repeatedly growing harder and harder inside her. She moaned as her insides throbbed in time with the movement of his clown cock. She tightened herself around his bulb, twitching her muscles just right, feeling him throb and grunt as he grew harder and harder. Finally, he filled her with his thick, gooey clown jizz. She tightened her muscles around his bulb, squeezing and milking it for every drop of his clown jizz.

Once he finished, he stood and smiled, as she lay there still twitching.

"Damn Maxie! That was good shit!" she said as she felt her tummy twitch and throb. Within a minute, her stomach had grown, stretching out. It began to hurt as it grew bigger and bigger. Much larger than any of her previous babies. She thought of what Maxwell said about clown women not usually surviving childbirth.

She began to push as her tummy grew and grew. Taking deep breaths, she pushed as hard as she could, feeling the clown fetus work its way down her abdomen. She hoped the thing wouldn't rip her to pieces on the way out. She pushed and pushed until she felt it moving. Slowly the baby made its way out, clawing its way out of her, hysterical laughter sounding from him instead of cries.

Finally, it was out of her, crawling on the ground before her and Maxwell. She slowly stood as the pain subsided and put her clothes on as she looked at her newest baby. First thing she noticed, was he was huge. Much larger than her others at birth. Second thing was he was already growing. Within a few minutes, he stood taller than her and Maxwell.

"There he is my dear, what shall we name him?" Maxwell asked.

"How about Baby Beast?" I like Baby Beast."

"Baby Beast it is!"

"Oh Baby Beast?" she said. "Can you hear me?"

The clown stood, towering over the both of them. His eyes were a solid bright green. His hair a green Mohawk and skin pale white. She looked up at him, reaching up and touched his face. His smile was huge and crooked, just like his father's. He put his hand over hers and looked down at her and spoke.

"Mama."

Chapter 24

Damien saw the helicopters landing outside. When the men disembarked the aircraft, he breathed a sigh of relief as he ran out to greet them. They were wearing black tactical gear and carrying weapons. He approached calling out his name. They stopped as one of them looked at him.

"Are you Damien Carter? Jericho tracker?"

"Yes, that's me. I'm glad you guys are here. The clowns are all over the place. It's a mess here," Damien said.

"We can see that. We got it from here." The man said.

"Great. Am I going back with you guys?"

"Negative sir. We have our orders." The mercenary said as he fired his flamethrower right into Damien's face.

Chapter 25

As Nolan watched the men in black incinerate the truck, he grabbed Debra's hand and took off running. At first the men were too focused on their task to pay attention to them. Once they realized what was happening, the pair was almost a block away. Nolan heard them yell for him to stop as he turned into an alley.

"What's going on?" Debra asked. She was holding the piece of clothing to her chest as she ran, hoping over the sticks and rocks with her bare feet.

"Those guys, they're not Army, I don't know who they are but they are going to kill us."

"How do you know?"

"Why would they blow up our truck like that? They had on all black and ski masks underneath their helmets. They weren't here to rescue anyone. Whatever those clowns are, they're here to make sure no one gets out of here to tell what's going on."

"Why? You think they're from the government?"

"I have no idea. I don't care either." They ran in between some houses. Nolan looked around to see if it was clear to cross a street. There was no one in sight. They made it across and cut through another alley. They came out near an empty Wal-Mart. It looked like it had been shut down for a while. There were several shipping containers lined up through the parking lot.

"This way," he said. They ran into the parking lot and up to one of the containers. Nolan pulled the door open as they stepped inside. He pulled it shut and latched the door from the inside. The container was dark and smelly, but other than that empty.

"You think we're safe in here?" Debra asked.

"I think so. I doubt they'll check these. They might, but there's dozens of them. Unless someone saw us head this way, I think we're safe."

From his pocket, he felt his phone vibrating. He'd forgotten he still had the phone. It was Pierce. He hit answer and pressed the phone to his ear.

"Nolan baby! How's the convention! Found any hot horror groupies? They give your knob a good polishing?" Pierce said.

Nolan wanted to throw the phone, and Pierce across the container and into the wall. Instead, he just said,

"Pierce, you're fired."

"What?"

Nolan hung up and took the battery out of his phone and tossed them aside.

"Who was that?" Debra asked.

"Just some cunt," Nolan said as he leaned against the wall and sat down. For the next several hours, he listened for whatever he could hear, but it had been silent. There were a few explosions from off in the distance. He just hoped they'd all forget about him and leave. One thing was for sure if he ever made it out of there alive, he was never coming back to Odessa.

Chapter 26

"Well my love," Mad Maxwell said. "It looks like our dream of a clown utopia has been quashed."

"Just for now. We got Beastly Baby. I say we blow this place and find somewhere else to build our nest." Kate said.

"Good idea. What do you think Beastly?"

"Mama," was all Beastly would say.

"Well good!"

Just down the street, another squad of mercenaries came marching up carrying flamethrowers. Without being prompted, Beastly ran toward them. He moved incredibly fast for his size. When they fired their flamethrowers at him, he leaped over the flame and came down on top of them. They were knocked to the ground. One man turned and fired at him, but he dove out of the way. The flame consumed one of his own. Beastly grabbed the flamethrower from the man's hand and ripped the backpack from him. He raised the tanks into the air and smashed them over the man's head.

They went up in a massive explosion. Watching it all, Kate was convinced Beastly had died, but he didn't seem phased. The mercenary he was holding onto a now a charred piece of meat. Beastly tossed him aside and proceeded to rip the rest of the mercenaries to pieces, all while laughing hysterically. Once he had finished, he took off running down the street.

"Where's he going?" Kate asked.

"He needs to have his fun," Maxwell explained. "He's a big boy you know."

Kate walked over to a red convertible Mustang that was parked on the corner. The engine was still running with a dead woman slumped behind the wheel. She tossed the woman aside and hopped into the car.

"Hey Maxie, let's blow this town! I bet we can find some place more fun to play."

"Good idea. Let those Jericho goons meet Beastly Baby. If they're smart, they'll fly back home."

Kate threw the car into gear and peeled out, doing a U-turn and headed out of downtown, or what was left of it and past the city limits. Most of the buildings were now nothing but burned out shells of their former selves. Dead bodies lined the road and sidewalks as well as charred remains of clowns and Odessa residents. The Jericho troops had spared no one. Be it, clowns or people, they made sure no one would live to tell of the clowns and the Permian Basin Horror Fest, but they failed.

Chapter 27

The following day, Nolan finally cracked open the door to the shipping container. As he and Debra stepped outside, he looked around seeing the entire town looked like a war zone. There were very few if any buildings or houses left. There was smoke and fire coming from every direction.

"Jesus Christ," Debra said. "Is everyone dead?"

"It looks like it."

She hung her head, looking down at her body. There was a box truck parked nearby in the parking lot. Nolan walked over and looked inside, finding an old sweatshirt inside. He tossed it to Debra who pulled it on. She seemed somewhat happy to finally have some clothes on. Nolan didn't ask, but he figured she had lost friends and family in this mess.

"Hey," he said as he climbed into the truck. She looked up at him. "You want to get out of here?" he asked.

"And go where?"

"Anywhere."

The End

About the Author

Tim began writing at a very young age. Even in grade school he'd sit around with his notebook, writing stories for himself and his friends.

As an adult, Tim's writings have evolved into darker realms. He released his first horror novel, "The Hand of God" in 2011. Since then his books have become progressively more violent and gory. With the release of "Family Night" in 2013, Tim had moved into the world of extreme horror where he continues to push the boundaries of human suffering.

Tim is now an international best seller as well. His book, "Hell, Texas" has recently ranked high on Amazon sales charges since its release in Germany under German publisher, Festa-Verlag.

Tim is very active on social media and loves interacting with his readers. You can find him at his website at http://timmiller.org.

Also follow Tim Miller’s Amazon Author Page to be notified of each new release!