“Of course, honey pot,” she replies.
“Remi,” Madix warns, and I can’t help but crack up at the exchange. We all know he’s going to do what she wants, and he’s going to like it. We all like the things she does, but it’s fucking hilarious watching him try to fight it.
They continue with this playful bickering back and forth as we follow a group of people into the gym. I blink back my surprise at the state of the inside. It’s decorated with streamers everywhere, and there are hand-painted signs that say things like, “We did it!”and, “Congrats, Enders on your endgame!”
There’s a stage set up on one side of the gym, directly across from where the bleachers are. It’s packed, and just like last time, we head toward the white cinderblock wall on the side to stand and observe.
“What’s with the decorations?” Theo asks.
Madix is still arguing with Remi about the clothespins, looking more and more distressed by the second, so they don’t even hear us.
I shrug. “Maybe they had a basketball game or something and went all out in order to distract everyone from the virus. You know this place. They get hyped up about the weirdest things,” I reply, and he gives me a snort of agreement.
When we first moved into town, they were celebrating something they called theTwo Tail Festival. When I asked what it was, I was told that someone read an article about a town that had a festival for a chicken that got its head cut off, but managed to live for a couple years after that.Mike the Headless Chicken Days, it was called. Well, apparently, the mayor at the time decided Endstone needed its own peculiar set of celebrations, so when his niece found a lizard with two tails, the mayor pounced on it. I guess the lizard was named Uhtred, but that was way too hard to say, so theTwo Tails Festivalwas born instead.
“It’s called nipple play, Mady,” I hear Remi telling him, and Theo and I have to swallow back a laugh when Madix instinctually raises his arm to protect the body part in question.
“I’ll give you fuckingnipple play,”he growls.
She just laughs and looks excited about that proposition. “I’m all for taking turns.”
Restless chatter fills the gym, and there’s sense of anticipation and energy that wasn’t here at the last meeting we attended. I notice small groupings of more somber looking townspeople sitting amidst the crowd, and notice that each of them is wearing a black t-shirt with a white X on it. It looks ominous as fuck, and I suddenly wonder if people in town have become sick.
Worried, I turn to the others to ask if they noticed the shirts too, but before I can, the townspeople suddenly burst into applause and cheers. I look up to find the mayor, the current sheriff, Zeke, and Sheriff April, all walking into the gym with big smiles on their faces.
My blond brows furrow, and I look over at Madix and Theo, but they seem just as confused as I do. Remi is just kneeling down beside Puddles, scratching my dog’s belly and looking bored. We all watch the leaders of the town step up onto the stage and raise their hands in celebration while the townspeople eat it up and cheer even louder.
What the fuck am I missing here?Did the CDC get the virus contained? Are we celebrating because things aren’t as bad as we thought? I fucking hope so. I look around the room again, trying to piece together what’s going on. The mayor steps up to the podium and taps on the microphone.
“Alright, everyone, I’m here to announce the conclusion of our fifty-sixth annual End Of Days Scenario!”
The place explodes into applause again, so loud that it’s like the fucking superbowl was just won inside our dinky gymnasium.
Madix winces from the noise level, but I’m too busy staring open-mouthed at the mayor as my brain races and then trips over itself.
Laughing, the mayor looks behind him to the others on the stage, who are also wearing smiles, and then holds up his hands to quiet everyone down. “I know you all are eager to get to the celebration cookout, so I’ll announce this year’s survivors and succumbers.”
People whoop and groan simultaneously, and Mayor Jeffries grins and points to the groups wearing the black shirts with X’s on them. “I’m sorry to say, you lot succumbed to the Handshake Plague. You had the lowest points of all, but the Bodean family got the worst of the worst.” The crowd chuckles at their expense, and the Bodeans, a robust family of nine wearing matching holey overalls under their shirts and bare feet, wave everyone off and flash their middle fingers—even the five-year-old little girl.
“The Bodean family ran out of food on account of not rationing, their garden wasn’t kept up, and instead of asking a neighbor all friendly-like, they tried to steal,” the mayor says with a disappointed shake of his head. The crowd boos, and the matriarch, Mrs. Bodean, hocks a loogey onto the gym floor.
The mayor shakes his finger at them. “You know better than to turn on your fellow Enders,” Mayor Jeffries rebukes. Mr. Bodean nods slowly, feeling obviously chastised. “Now, aside from that, you lost because your family then decided to try to scale the wall, thus leaving Endstone’s safe borders and exposing yourselves. You were then overtaken by contaminated Plaguers,” Mayor Jeffries points to the bleachers, showing a group of people wearing black shirts with a yellow biohazard symbol on it. “Thus, you succumbed.” He picks up a large wooden gavel from the podium, slamming it down on the wood, and the crowd lets out a, “wah, wah.”
“...What...What the fuck is happening right now?” Madix snaps, but I have no answers.
Theo is completely wide-eyed, and Remi is still petting the damn dog like nothing is happening.
At our expressions, she looks up at us from her spot on the gym floor and tilts her head. “What do you mean?”
I wave my arm around at this fucking mind-blowing scenario that’s going on right now. “This! What the fuck is happening?”
She frowns and stands up, looking between the three of us. The crowd behind me starts clapping as the mayor begins to announce thewinners. “This is Endstone, guys.”
Madix scowls and his jaw tenses. “We fuckingknowit’s Endstone. We live here.”
“Exactly.” she says, as her eyes run over each of our confused faces. “I mean, I didn’t initially take you guys as themilitiatypes, but I’m coming to terms with it, if that’s what you’re worried about.”
“Wait,” Madix cuts in. “What the fuck are you talking about?”
