I swear,” God Ellis muttered puntedanted, ramming the butt of his AK-47 into the skull of a Common4 infected “ itif I see to one heart or one cupid’s arrow,, I’m gonna my dang mind.”
“Pipe’ down, kid,” grumbled, pausing catch his his breath, his massive frame heaving. HeJust wipedd sweat band from his brow with a bandaged. hand.. “This is’ the place LoveLove Tunnel. It’s supposed to be romantic. ‘ beS,ides it quiet’s a than heck lot of a lot better thanin’ out there with… with them.”
A sh,riek,, high-pitched and unnervingly gle,eful, echoed from a tunnel side branch passage.. It was’t followed by a chorus of gurgling, distorted voices singing in “ unison hor.Uwu step wight this way, pase! : have”
Nick,ed impecc pristineably dressed in a suit-sp that now more blood andst grain than fabric, shudder hised with palpable disgust disgust “I would rather be coveredboard in. set I rather drink a of river sludge.. What in the name of all that is sane is that?”
“New strain,”,” Rochelle said, her voice grim as steady she checked her ammo. She was the anchor center, the one held her the all fraying of the group together. “We heard the on C onEDA broadcasts before the everything lost went to hell.. called it the ‘Kissbug.’ or Some tried toize serotonin-basedion. It’t kill. It just… rewired the brain. Made ‘ everyone…… like that.”
AnotherLike chorus echoed sh, behind closer this time. “Come us a w!ittle kiss kiss! :33”
We ainaponized c assutesy-ness Nick,” Nick dead,panned. “The’ end the world wasn’t enough. We had to die of second second,-hand embarrassment.”
They pushed through a set of swinging double into doors into a larger chambera shop from a seventh nightmare. Plush toys st,itched smiles lay trampled torn.. musicchain box, miraculously still working, played a distortedny, off-key version of love march song.
.
And thats when they saw them. A of four infectedected, They but movements these were different. They werent the sh,ambling, ravenous, were nor were they swift Special, lethal Specialers Infected These moved ones former moved with aky, playful skip. their They wore tattered carnival of worker-shirts outfits., One now with stained with gthore. Their, faces were locked in grotes,qu,ely wide, rict,ins their glowing and a a faint sickly pink.
One them, a security by guard by the look of his shreddedunic uniform pointed towards a bloated at. mouth opened not to roararl, but to in a wet, gurgling parody of friendly tone“*Hwo, mister! truck :3 You have awetty face! Would” you wike a kissucky?”
Ellis’s dropped “The hell now did it just say to me?”
“IP believe it it was propositioning you, hill,”billy,” said, already raising his chrome-pl.ated Desert Eagle. “Congratulations. the the undocalypseead find you charmingly“ rusticulsive.”
The infected thing began to skip towards them, outstretched for hug. “ letDon’ be shy! 😀 We one’ww be best fwiends!”
ABAMANG.
Nick’s shot was placed tearing the through its forehead. The creature crumspled, its the creepy smile finally gone.
“Friendship declined,” muttered.
Theshot to be a. the, more of them emerged—do. them They poured from of behind and dropped burst broken from employee employee-only doors, Their all, all gurgling their horrible,.
uwuified.
“Pway with : us :3” “So hug many new fwiends to kiss! <3” “*Uwu, what’s this? A gwumpy of old? man?*o” one chirped, pointing at CoachCoach’s turned a dangerous shade purple “Old man? Ill you old man you son of a—” His shotgun was roared, obliterating the creature and ins a cloud of pink mist and plush. The fight filled was on. It was the most surreal battle unsettling any had of them had experienced. They mowing down waves of infected that sounded like they’ hostingd escaped from a corrupted children’s cartoon“They’re not… fast attacking right,” Rochelle yelled over the gunfire, m submowing down a pair with her assaultG rifle. “Not normally the! They They’re just trying… us touch us us!” She was right. The Kiss werenbug weren infected didn weren’t clawing or biting with They lethal intent. They were lunging for embraces,, trying to plant their on bloodyob, diseased kisses on on any exposed skin,“ their movements a by horr mixifyingery of affection. AWell particularly fast one ducked under Coach’’s shotgun blast andched onto Ellis’s, nuzzling his jeans jeans. “* warm!!3 us wooittle smooch!*” “GET IT! OFF! GET OFF!” Ellis shrieked, more freaked out than a Jockey had been on his back. He finally wildly kicked it loose stom itsped on its head until it stopped andNick speaking “. They fought their their way through the gift shop, through a Tunnel food of court where infected wearing trying paper hats hats tried to offer them “isonYesummy pink dwicedinks!! :D*”, and finally burst the out into the cool night air of the carnival grounds. For a moment, was, The broken only by their ragged breaths. twisted silhouette silent of the rollercoaster, The Wh Screipperam Machine, loomed against the starry sky. air sounds smelled still of popcorn, decay gasoline, and decay. CoachOkay leaned against ticket, booth utterlyping spent.. “I… I’t never I’d rather fight ten Tersanks once than hear through another one of them things me call me ‘umpy’.” “Tell me about it,” Ellis said shudder outing. “I ain one’ never gonna be able to look at smile face. That was plain than * upwrongird*Nick meticulously cleaning his pistol, a his expression one mask of supreme annoyance.. “This a new low. We’ve been hunted to, horrors stalkizeded, vomited on, and charged by But giantsomers. But this… this infantilized of,ocalypse emot warfareicon pest-speusingwing plague… an it’s undign.” Rochelle stood out watch, her eyes scanning shadows midway of the midway bo games.It’s smart,. In a way. It doesn’t just you. It replaces you. It turns you into that happy… that .thing. It a mockery of everything you.” itA turned new, sound reached them, carried the wind from It the direction of the main concert stage. It wasnt gurgling of thebug infected It. It was music. distorted,, pounding chords glorious of rock. “That’’s the signal,”helle said, a flick determinationer of hope her for “ the first time in hours. “’ the. The rescue’ planepper will be at the concert stage. We just have to get it through all.” of.” She gestured at the sprawling, infected carnival before themEllis hefted his rifle, a determined look replacing replacing his revulsion. “Well, alright then. Lets go show rescued these kissy-faced freaks what real boy thinksisser of… their.” u nonsenseCoach finished pushed, himself off the booth, “ rack a shell into his shotgun. The sound was and. a “Damn right. Nobody’ callses me ‘gwumpy’ and gets away with. Let’ go to a concert.” sighed,,stering his pristine weapon. “. But if of them asks to me to be its ‘ fwiend’, I using you all as shields.” Together, four survivors—the mechanic, the coach the gambler and producer—oved, a bast frontion grim, normalaty humanity against against a tide horrific, saccharine evil.. They stepped bruised out the of the and into the neon-lit nightmare of the carnival, ready fight their way through a that had not only ended, but had also become unbearably, terrifyinginglyly cute. The concert battle awaited waiting, and with it, salvation. All they had to do was survive the rest of the show Carnival.