Step Right Up to Die

Posted on Sun Nov 2nd, 2025 @ 3:35pm by Kennedy Kelly & Alaric Thane

1,343 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: Episode 7: Pathogens and Contagions
Location: Coney Island, New York City
Timeline: March 3, 1992

As the groups divided and went to their assigned locations, Kennedy quickly fell into character before they arrived at the water pistol game. Hugging Alaric’s arm to her chest, she fell into step at his side before resting her head on his shoulder. He was warm to the touch and she hadn’t realized how cold the night had gotten, the frigid temperature aided in making her hold on him all the more convincing. Plastering a wide, exuberant smile on her face, Kennedy surveyed the games on the midway with a carefree bounce to her steps. She came to a hard stop and yanked on Alaric as they came into view of the vendor dangling the over-sized bear over the edge of the water pistol game.

“Oh! Look at how cute that bear is.” Kennedy cooed with a longing in her voice that almost sounded genuine. “He’s absolutely adorable.”

The man running the game immediately perked up from Kennedy’s reaction and based on how she clung to Alaric, he knew the perfect rube had finally arrived. “Give it a shot, big guy, make your girl’s dream come true tonight. Only two bucks to play.” The man’s tone was casual but baiting in nature as if he was attempting to challenge Alaric without being confrontational.

Alaric followed her tug with little resistance, slipping easily into the play-acting. His mouth quirked into a half-smile as he glanced down at Kennedy. "Adorable, huh? Guess I can’t let you walk away from your dream bear."

He pulled a couple of bills from his pocket and handed them to the barker with a mock sigh before sizing up the rows of water pistols. Choosing one with casual precision, he leaned in just enough to catch Kennedy’s eye and gave her a wink. "Cheer me on," he said lightly. "I could use all the help I can get."

Then he turned and starting shooting at the targets.

With a giggle and a bounce that Alaric had never seen from Kennedy before, she began to clap and cheer for him as he aimed the plastic gun at the moving target. When the round had finished he had managed to earn two tickets for his efforts.

“Only 38 more to go if you want to take that bear home.” The man said with a smirk. “Ready to go again, champ?”

Kennedy tried her best to hide her frown, this truly was an astronomical grift, especially when the game seemed to result in only small gains for each victory. But she hid that awareness and leaned forward to hug Alaric around the shoulders. “You can do it…”

Alaric tossed a few more bills on the counter and nodded. "Yeah I can," he sad as Kennedy released her hug. He looked back at the barker and answered, "Sure, let's go again. Thirty-eight more tickets, huh. Okay."

He looked at the target and spoke, like he was talking straight to it, "I'm going to get more than two tickets out of you this time." Then with a devilish wink and glint in his eye, Alaric flung the sides of his leather waistcoat back, took aim and fired. He didn't summon anything or cast a huge spell. At least not yet. And teleportation portals would be too huge. He wanted to keep the grift intact and maybe throw off the game's owner a little.

“Hey, here he goes! Hot stuff!” The carny shouted with a touch of flourish that was meant to draw attention to his game and hopefully bring in a few more clients.

“Tool…” A young man with a pack of friends shouted back at carny and the guys with him all laughed in response to the insult.

Kennedy looked over her shoulder at the group of guys and immediately noticed their studded leather jackets and combat boots. The whole lot of them were dressed exactly the same as Peter had been.

“Hold on. Those guys look like our vampire friend.” Kennedy whispered to Alaric as she sat down next to him and allowed the carny at the water gun game to get a clear view of the group that was berating him.

“Screw you Damian, you and your trash friend.” The carny shouted at them, the crowds and the bright lights of the midway making him brave.

“Big man out here, my offer still stands Stan, you know where to find me.” Damian said with a wink before he and his group wandered off.

Red faced and lost in the interaction the carny named Stan totally forgot about Alaric’s attempt to win until the bell rang behind him to single the end of the round.

“Huh?” Stan looked at the pair. “Did you win?”

Alaric had glanced over to see the group of guys she was talking about and nodded. Not so much in reply to Stan, but to answer Kennedy. He then turned back to the game and mumbled something in Latin. The targets fell. "Yeah, I won." He paused and looked to where the group of guys had been standing and then turned back to the carny. "Man, sounds like the gangs out here are almost as bad as the ones in the city. Thanks for scaring them away from us." He put his arm around Kennedy and gave her a quick hug, continuing their show.

“Yeah, they’re really dickheads.” Stan replied as he tore off a long, uncounted strip of tickets and dropped them on the table in front of Alaric. He glanced down at the pair and how Alaric held onto Kennedy. “Just keep an eye on your girl, all kinds of people have been going missing lately but pretty girls faster than others.”

“What do you mean?” Kennedy feigned a look of fear and concern, looking up at Stan with troubled eyes. “It’s not safe here?”

“No, no, doll face, you’ll be fine.” There was a crack in his facade that made it obvious that he was lying to them but he also seemed to be a sucker for blue eyes. “Just stay away from under the Cyclone, that’s where they hang out.”

As if on cue, a wave of screams erupted from the massive wooden roller coaster as its frame creaked and shook. Like clockwork, the ride ran and provided perfectly timed screams that masked just about every other sound at the amusement park. It was the perfect place to drag off a victim, their own screams would be mixed with the thrilling shrieks the ride created.

Alaric put the rest of his tickets on the counter and pointed to the bear. The screams and noise from the coaster caused him to turn and look. "Yeah, I don't think that's going to be a problem. No plans on this pretty girl going missing tonight."

He watched as Stan put the bear on the counter in front of Kennedy. Turning to her, he asked, "Well, was it worth it?"

“Definitely.” Kennedy said with a grin before grabbing the bear and placing a quick kiss on Alaric's cheek that left a smudge of lipstick. Hugging the bear to her chest, she stood up and glanced at Stan. “Thank you for a night to remember.”

As the two walked off, her tight hold on the bear relaxed some and the bubbly tone of her voice vanished. “So now we know where they hang out, looks like we have our next lead. Let’s get Joey and meet the others, okay?”

"Okay," he replied, walking alongside her. "We can find out what they learned and, hopefully, get a clearer picture of what we’re dealing with." Alaric hadn’t considered that Kennedy’s kiss might’ve left a smudge on his cheek. And he certainly hadn’t bothered to check.

"I'm sure they'll have something to tell us." Kennedy agreed as they took a long route back to Joey who was standing fairly close to where they had left him with a large amount of hot dogs in hand.

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