The Disaster March

Marlena and I decided to escape today right after the show...the show that changed my life.

During the show, Grady came to tell me that he, Bill, and the boys were going to take down Uncle Al. I was going to ask how when, suddenly, the band stopped playing. They immediately started back up again, but, instead of joyous music, they began to play "Stars and Stripes Forever." The Disaster March.

Animals began to stampede throughout the tent, causing the spectators to run like mad men. I saw Bill next to the open cages with a smile on his face.

I rushed to find Marlena. I spotted her next to August and Rosie. "She hasn't seen me yet, but Rosie has. She stares at me long and hard, and something about her expression stops me cold. I see Rosie pull a stake from the ground. She holds it loosely, resting its end on the hard dirt. The chain is still attached to her foot. She looks at me with bemused eyes. Then her gaze shifts to the back of August's bare head. She lifts the stake as though it weighs nothing and splits his head in a single clean movement−ponk−like cracking a hardboiled egg. She continues to hold the stake until he topples forward, and then she slides it almost lazily back into the earth."

I pick up Marlena and carry her out of the tent, careful not to let her see the thing that was August.