Dandy wasted no time in making his mark on the show. He ordered a banner to be made up, introducing him and his new act to the public. Once it was finished he had demanded that a group of them, with Paul as their supervisor, take it to the main road in and out of Jupiter to hang it in a prominent position.
Greta held the ladder steady while Eve went up and secured it in place. While the brunette was fiddling with the hangings, the younger woman wandered round to look at the illustration. She screwed up her nose in disgust as she ran her eyes over the image.
"Charismatic crooner Dandy Mott sings Cole Porter…" She read aloud, snorting with amusement. "He is about as charismatic as the paintbrush they used on this banner.
"Hey!" Eve's head poked over the top of the banner and she grinned down at her lover. "Your reading is really coming on."
"Paul told me what it said." Greta admitted, wrinkling up her nose. "I could read most of the words, though."
"How's it looking?
"Yeah… you wanna put it up a couple of inches on your side, love…" Paul advised.
"Okie dokie…"
"You really think anyone's gonna pay to see this rich nancy sing show tunes?" Penny asked, pulling a face.
Barbara shook her head instantly. "I wouldn't."
"He does not sing show tunes…" Greta added with a shrug. "He ruins show tunes."
"Alright Elsa. Just because your mum's left it doesn't mean you have to fill her shoes." Paul teased her. The young woman simply stuck her tongue out at him.
"He gives me the creeps. He keeps wanting to spoon-feed me and then making these weird airplane noises." Barbara told them, receiving disgusted looks in response to her words.
Penny sighed deeply. "We should just leave… all of us… join a new show."
"Penny, do you really think if there wasn't another option, some other freak show out there, I wouldn't take you away in an instant?" Paul asked her seriously. "There's nowhere to go. Our world is dying, sweetheart… this is the end of the line. But we've got to eat and that kid's got money pouring out of his ears. I say we let him keep feeding us until that lemon runs out of juice."
From her spot at the bottom of the banner, Greta looked up at Eve and attempted to catch her eye. The older woman avoided meeting her gaze by descending the stepladder and moving round the side to secure the edge of the fabric to the pole.
"I do not think Paul is right." Greta whispered, determined not to let her avoid the next round of the conversation they had been having for days, weeks even. "I think we should leave as soon as possible."
Eve kept her voice just as quiet as she replied. "He has a point though, sweetheart… how are we going to eat if we don't have jobs. If we stay here we can save up and leave properly, knowing that we'll be able to survive."
"I would never let you go hungry or thirsty or have to sleep on the streets." The younger woman promised, her voice rising towards the end of the statement and causing Eve to shush her quickly. She took a breath. "We could go to Elsa, if the worst came to the worst."
"Greta…"
"No… I do not want to stay here longer than we have to. I have a bad feeling…"
"One of your feelings again?" Eve asked, raising an eyebrow.
The blonde scowled at her. "I was right about Spencer, was I not? And Maggie? And Chester?"
"OK, OK!" The older woman held her hands up in defeat. "We'll consider it more seriously."
Satisfied with that response, Greta moved to fold up the stepladder, before helping Eve carry it over to the others. They all stared at the banner for a moment, with varying expressions of distain and disgust, before trudging back to the camp to inform their new boss that they had followed instructions and done exactly what he had asked.
Suzi informed them that Dandy was in the big tent, rehearsing for his debut performance that evening. No one was particularly impressed with the changes that he had made to the billing; combining, or even completely dropping, a lot of the acts in order to free up more time for him to be on stage. Greta's solo act was cut and Dandy had declared that she was only allowed to perform if she agreed to duet on 'Let's Do It' with him. So far she had not outright refused him, but she had made excuse after excuse not to rehearse the song.
"I'm surrounded by amateurs!" Dandy was exclaiming loudly when the six performers walked into the tent in search of him. "Ah, flipper boy! You're back! Have you hanged the banner in clear view for all to see?"
"Yes, sir, just as instructed."
"Good, good. How many tickets have we sold?"
They exchanged a look. "Um… well… as of this time, none… quite yet."
"You haven't sold a single ticket?" Dandy asked in a low, dangerous voice as though he couldn't believe that he had heard right.
"Well… we only put out the banner half an hour ago." Paul reasoned. He seemed nervous, his voice shaking slightly as he faced the younger man. "The town hasn't gotten wind of your new act."
This explanation wasn't good enough for Dandy. He clenched his fists at his side and jutted out his jaw, his gaze turning aggressive. "I don't understand. You must have done something wrong."
"Sir, this is quite typical. You haven't got a lot of experience in this sort of thing, but you'll see."
"You think you're so smart... you don't know anything, you stupid freak."
"Hey!" Greta exclaimed, unable to bite her tongue any longer.
"He's only trying to help." Eve pointed out at exactly the same moment.
"Oh shut up, you ugly cow." Dandy snapped at her. Greta felt white-hot rage surge through her and she lurched forward, intending to physically punish him for his words. Paul blocked her attempt and Eve put out her arm to prevent her making any further lunges. "No one cares what you think… any of you. I'm in charge here and I say it's your fault. Obviously, no one's coming to the show because you are boring. The town has had their fill of your mediocre oddities. The thrill is gone; you're yesterday's news." They listened in silence to his insults but when he knelt down and prodded Suzi in the shoulder to punctuate his words, Greta flinched. Eve shook her head sharply, mouthing 'not yet'. "Audiences want a new type of freak… something different. Maybe I need to give you all some new, startling look. I think a pair of horns would be quite attractive on you."
"Don't you touch her!" Paul was the one to react this time, pushing Dandy away as he tapped Penny on the head, indicating where he imagined placing the horns.
"This is my show!" He reminded them, shoving the older man hard in the chest."I'll do whatever I want!"
Having enough of standing back and taking the abuse, Eve pulled her fist back and punched him square in the face. "That's is, mister."
"You hurt me." The man whined childishly from his spot, sprawled on the floor of the tent.
"You will hurt a lot more if you do not shut up." Greta told him darkly. "Give me one good reason–"
Eve laid a hand on her arm and she stopped talking abruptly, biting her lips together to stop her exploding again. Her blood was still boiling in her veins and she felt as though the temperature in the tent had rocketed. Taking advantage of his position, Penny, Suzi, Barbara and Greta all stood on either a hand or a foot, preventing him from moving. Eve stood by his head, scowling threateningly down at him, while Paul stood by his feet.
"I was willing to eat shit to keep this place going, but I'd rather starve than listen to your whiny voice one more time." Paul spat at him. Dandy struggled, attempting to lift himself, but Eve put her foot on his shoulder, pushing down hard. "No one wants to see some pretentious prick prancing around on the stage and no one gives a shit about bloody Cole Porter. You think you're special; your mum probably told you all your life. Well I've got news for you. I've heard you sing and you're not special… you're rubbish! Even worse, you're boring…" his friends all laughed softly at Paul's words, nodding their agreement, "and we don't trade in boring. We're freaks. You'll never be one of us and you don't own us!" Paul spat at the man beneath him."We quit."
Leaving their former employer lying on the ground, they left the tent proudly. Outside they stopped and just looked at each other for a long moment. Then each one of them let out a long, deep breath as though they'd forgotten to breathe the whole time they were in the big tent.
"I can't believe we just did that!" Penny half-laughed, half-sighed.
"Well we did." Paul told her, bringing her hand to his lips and pressing a kiss to the back of it.
"What do we do now?" Barbara asked, looking around anxiously.
"We set up our own show." Greta told them seriously. "It will not be a freak show… it can be whatever we wish it to be... a talent show. I think Elsa owes me at least a little of the money Dandy gave her for this place… we can set up on our own."
Paul nodded slowly, mulling over the idea. "We can do it." He agreed. "Right… we gather up everyone else, tell them what's happening and grab as much stuff from here as we can. He doesn't deserve it… Greta's right; we should set up our own show."
Everyone nodded in agreement and headed away in different directions to spread the news and then begin to gather up their belongings. Greta and Eve went back to their caravan stopping in on Desiree on the way and telling her what had happened. She smiled as they outlined the plan and started suggesting ideas at once.
Laughing, the two women left her still thinking about what they could do. They finally reached their trailer and shut themselves in, away from the world. Eve fixed Greta with a look that made her go weak at the knees. The younger grasped the lapels of her lover's coat in both hands and yanked her closer, claiming her lips in a passionate kiss.
"We haven't got time!" Eve chuckled. "We need to start making preparations."
"There is always time." The younger woman informed her with a cheeky grin, before pushing her backwards onto the bed and crawling towards her.
"Where do you think we should go?" Greta asked, rolling onto her stomach and looking at Eve. The older woman paused in her redressing and turned to look at her lover properly. "We need to choose somewhere away from here to make a fresh start."
"We can go wherever we want." Eve told her with a smile. "We're free."
"Anywhere? What about–?"
The blonde broke off at the sound of a shot being fired somewhere in the camp. Her eyes widened and she scrambled into a seated position on the bunk, hastily pulling one of Eve's shirts over her head. Eve returned her look, flinching as they heard another gunshot. She turned to the caravan door, but Greta wrapped her hand around her wrist and pulled her back.
"It'll be fine." She promised softly, but the younger woman shook her head and tightened her grip. "I have to go, Greta. I need to see what's happening… help if I can. Stay in here."
"I cannot lose anyone else. I cannot lose you."
"I'll be fine. I promise." Eve assured her again, pressing a kiss to her forehead before leaving the caravan.
Greta dressed quickly and tried to be patient, waiting for Eve to return. More gunshots were fired and she found that she couldn't just sit and wait. Standing, she walked hesitantly to the door and opened it, peering outside. The camp seemed to be completely deserted, but she knew that there had to be people around somewhere. Wondering which way to go, she descended the steps and chewed her lip nervously.
Suddenly, she spotted movement in Desiree's caravan and hurried towards it without thinking. She poked her head inside and frowned. The caravan had been turned upside down; the mattress and bedding ripped off the base of the bed and everything thrown around as though there had been a struggle. Stepping cautiously inside, Greta's attention was drawn to the other door where she could hear a scuffling noise.
"Get down!" Someone hissed from beside her and she gasped, looking down and seeing the owner of the trailer cowering in the corner.
Desiree grabbed her hand and yanked, bringing the blonde crashing down almost on top of her just as a gunshot went off just outside. They both flinched, holding onto each other tightly. Greta buried her face in her neck and Desiree stroked the girl's hair reassuringly, as a second gunshot sounded. The older woman had seen Eve tackle Dandy, saving her life in the process, and knew exactly who had just been shot. She tried to believe that the woman might possibly have just been injured, rather than killed, but in her heart she knew that was incredibly unlikely. Her entire being ached for the loss of her friend, but it was too late to help Eve and she knew she had to keep Greta inside or she would be lost as well.
They both froze as footsteps entered the caravan coming closer. There was a bang and a thud and then the sound of coat hangers being shoved roughly aside. A frustrated growl and the sound of the bead curtain being disturbed made them both jump again, before footsteps and another growl from outside told them that they were alone and, hopefully, safe. They waited another couple of minutes before moving to make sure their attacker was really gone.
"What is going on?" Greta whispered, her voice shaking with fear.
"Dandy… he's gone mad. He's wandering around with a gun, shooting everyone he comes across."
All of the colour drained from the blonde's face. "Eve is out there… she went to see what was happening…" She made to stand, but Desiree pulled her back down, hugging her tightly. "No! We have to go and–"
"We'll end up with a bullet in us! We won't be no use to anybody."
"But–"
"Just wait, baby." Desiree pleaded with her. "Wait a couple of minutes and we'll go together."
Tears leaked from beneath the girl's eyelids as she leant against her friend, feeling strong arms wrapping around her and holding her tightly. Desiree kept her own eyes tightly closed, pressing her lips against the top of Greta's head as they waited it out.
Time passed and the sky grew darker, no one came into the caravan and there was no sound from outside. The inevitable truth stabbed like a knife in both their hearts as they realised what the lack of movement meant. Shaking her head as Desiree tried to stop her, Greta climbed to her feet and moved to the doorway she had entered through hours before, looking outside. The camp was deserted.
And then they heard a shout; a terrible, heart-wrenching scream of pure pain that ripped straight through both of them. Their eyes met, full of terror and the desperate need for the nightmare that they had found themselves in to be over.
Putting one foot on the ground outside the caravan, the younger woman felt her friend's hand clutch painfully tightly at her shoulder and she turned. Desiree shook her head, looking past Greta to gaze fearfully in the direction the cry had come from.
"Come on, Desi." She urged the older woman gently, taking hold of her hand. "We need to see… We need to know..."
Shaking her head again and letting her tears roll down her cheeks, Desiree allowed herself to be pulled from the trailer and through the darkness. They looked around them as they walked hand-in-hand, almost pulled towards the big tent by giant magnets, not seeing anything out of the ordinary.
Greta pushed through the tent flaps first and almost collapsed at the sight that greeted her. Her legs turned to jelly and she heard a horrific scream filling the tent. It took the young woman a couple of moments to realise that the scream had been ripped from her own throat.
She barely even registered Jimmy standing in front of her as she walked numbly towards the bodies of their family, laid out on the ground. Behind her, Desiree had fallen into Jimmy's arms, sobbing desperately and clutching him as though afraid he, too, would leave her. Greta's eyes roved over each familiar face as her sobs caught in her throat and her tears made her vision blurry. As her gaze settled on Eve, her legs gave way beneath her and she collapsed in a heap, crawling forwards and grasping desperately at her, running her hands down the woman's arms and back up and over her shoulders as thought she could bring her back with the sheer power of thought. She cupped Eve's cold cheeks, pressing her forehead to the older woman's.
"She promised me…" Greta choked out. "She promised me she would be fine…"
Jimmy tried to pull her to her feet and into his embrace, but she struggled against him, crying and scrabbling at Eve's shirt. With Desiree's help, he finally managed to move her away. The young man held both women tightly as they sobbed, knowing that he needed to be strong for them. Everyone was accounted for, their entire family, except the twins. He frowned wondering what had happened at the camp to cause such a massacre.
"What happened?" He asked gently a short while later. He had led them out of the big tent and back to his caravan, knowing that they probably wouldn't want to return to their own trailers. "Who did this?"
"Dandy…" Desiree told him bitterly. "He just… took out his gun and started shooting everyone."
"We told him we were leaving." Greta added, rubbing her eyes with the back of her hand and sniffing. "He blamed Paul for not having sold any tickets and he told Penny she was nothing. He called…" she let out a dry sob, "he called Eve an ugly cow and I… I should have killed him then. We all quit and he… he killed everyone…"
"Where are the twins?" Jimmy asked.
Desiree shook her head. "We haven't seen them. We haven't seen anyone…"
The young man's face hardened as he looked between the two women. "We'll get him." He promised them determinedly. "He'll pay for what he's done to our friends."
Greta's tears dried up instantly and she looked across at Jimmy, her lips twisted into a snarl. "He is definitely going to pay. I will make him sorry he even heard of us. Death is too good for him."
"But first we need to bury them, respectfully. We'll hold a service for them." Desiree told them firmly. They both nodded at the older woman, happy to follow her lead. She reached out and took each of them by the hand, squeezing reassuringly. "We'll find the twins and we'll get our revenge. We're family, alright? We stick together."
"Come on, kid." Jimmy nudged Greta gently in the side and nodded towards the door. "We need to get digging."
She nodded tearfully and followed him outside into the night. They picked up spades and made their way to the edge of the camp where they began digging. Both hated the thought, but it was more practical to dig a mass grave rather than individual graves for each of their family members. It took them several hours to dig a hole big enough and a while longer to transport the bodies over to the grave.
Desiree joined them as they lowered the corpses carefully down into the hole. Greta bit her lip, her eyes already red and puffy from crying as they finished their task and stood back, waiting for the older woman to commence the ceremony. Jimmy reached for her hand as they listened to Desiree talking, tears falling from his own eyes as the full gravity of the situation hit him.
"… we will be reunited some day… all of us back together again." Desiree finished her speech and nodded to the other two.
Greta had not heard any of what the older woman had said as they stood together in front of the hole. Her eyes had moved over the faces beneath her, but they had returned time and time again to the one she had traced so often beneath her fingertips. It was burnt into her memory and now that was all she had.
"You ready?" Jimmy asked, handing her a spade.
"Yes." She agreed, not meaning it in the slightest.
Once they finished filling the hole in, Jimmy and Desiree headed back to camp to begin plotting their revenge. Greta sat on the grass beside the grave, wrapping her arms around her legs and resting her chin on her knees. She sighed deeply and stared at the freshly turned soil in front of her.
Jimmy turned to look back at her as they reached the perimeter of the camp. He shook his head as he watched her perfectly still form. Desiree followed his gaze and sighed, laying her hand on his arm.
"The poor girl has lost so much in her life… this is just one more kick in the guts."
"I think it's more than just a kick in the guts." Jimmy told her. "Greta thought this was her future… this place was all she had. It's all any of us had."
"Her mother is out there somewhere."
"Elsa just abandoned her again. She abandoned all of us. Our family are buried in the ground."
"We're going to find the twins and show that posh piece of shit that no one hurts our kind and lives to tell the tale." Desiree promised him viciously. "We need to start planning. Go and get Greta."