Not only that, but there were also far more people here than I originally thought. When I considered all the columns and list of names on the maps, though, this all made more sense. It further revealed how intricate this situation was. For every single person here, whether they be alone or in a group, a path had been laid for them.
We were all experiencing a different level of chaos. All at risk of dying from either failing to solve these complex riddles or by the masked assailants that seemed to have doubled in number since Goetia.
Dion was forced to slow and yield, maneuvering the pick-up around various scenes of mayhem, trying to stay as far away from them as possible. As we passed by another intersection, a man surrounded by a small gang of misfits was set on fire, sent running away from his mortified group who could only watch as he screamed in agony before being forced to flee for their own safety. Before he vanished from my line of sight, I saw him fall to the ground a few feet away, his screams dying off as he burned alive.
“This is so fucked up,” Dion muttered.
I clenched my bloodied palm. The skin was still stinging from the glass I’d brushed off the seat so that I could sit down again.
A black van bypassed the driver side of the truck, making no attempt to stop us or stray from their lane. I expected it to be being driven by someone who’d had the same idea as us, but the business decal on the side of it proved otherwise.
“Maid For Retrieval,” Grace read off. “So, they just ride around and collect dead bodies?”
“They’re probably one part of the system in charge for keeping this place so immaculate,” Mel responded, sounding completely unsurprised.
“How are we on gas?” I asked.
Dion took another turn and then slowed. “We’ve got seventy miles left on the tank.”
I opened my mouth to reply, promptly cut off by a rainbow of fizzling light arcing through the pitch-black sky. As it faded away another colorful burst erupted, leaving behind a faint trail.
“Go towards those fireworks,” I implored.
“Huh? Why? What could be over there other than a celebration of people dying?”
“We need to go that direction,” I reiterated.
He twisted around to look at me. “I’m asking you; how do you know?”
“We got a hint. Do you want me to drive?” Grace cut in.
“A hint? Why didn’t anyone fill me the fuck in?”
“I will. Right after you start driving. Unless that’s a yeah for me to take over…?”
“Nope,” he quickly objected. “I got it.”
He began turning around, cutting the wheel all the way to the left. Still in a partial U-turn, a blue car came screeching around the corner. This one was definitely driven by someone who’d had the same idea we had.
“Look out!’ Mel warned.
There was no time to move out of their way. Their car’s front end smashed into the already dented bumper of the heavy-duty pick-up. Dion and Grace both cursed as we fishtailed. She was nearly uprooted from her seat while he had to fight for control of the truck.
Metal colliding with metal overshadowed the boom from the next set of fireworks. The blue sedan took way more damage than it could dish out, the hood of crinkled like an empty soda can.
The driver lost control of the vehicle and veered towards the curb on the opposite side of the road, bouncing off another parked car and crashing through a glass storefront before ultimately coming to a stop.
Dion jerked the wheel to prevent us from crashing into anything else. The pickup jumped the curb and seemed to bounce its way back into the street.
He hit the gas as soon as were in the clear, wasting no time racing away from the scene of the crash.
A wise choice on his end. That collision made an unmistakable carrying sound. For the sake of the person driving the blue car and whoever may have been with them, I hoped they got out and away before someone showed up to investigate.
If they were even alive.
Pulling into the parking lot was an experience within itself. I don’t know why I was so shocked to see a fully operative carnival in this place, but there it was.
The grand finale of the fireworks occurred as Dion coasted into a parking spot and cut the engine.
“You never explained the hint,” he said quietly after a solid few minutes of silence rolled by.
Grace sighed and looked over at me.
“Show him.”
I raised a brow. “Show him what?”
“What we found back at the apartment,” she hinted.
I was thrown for a second. I wasn’t sure what she had going on inside her head, but she could’ve gone about this an entirely different way. I wasn’t ready to show him this photo. There was still way too much we didn’t know about it and him.