Blood Land by J.R. Lawson (top ten ebook reader TXT) 📖

look over at Rogan, “Where did you find this place?  How did you know about it?”

Rogan sighed softly and looked behind him at the glowing view of lights before answering, “It belonged to my dad.” He didn’t turn around and kept staring at the fairground for a few quiet seconds but soon then continued, “I’ve kept it up as a place to go and think to myself.  In fact, this is probably the last time I’ll be here.  With all that’s going on, I just don’t think I’ll be coming here much anymore.  So I thought it would be a good idea to bring you on my last night here.” Then after a few more silent moments, he turned back to Nora and added, “So, ready to go have some fun?”

Nora grinned widely and nodded. “Definitely.”  The two of them then went together through the trees to the magical fairground.

It didn’t take long for the two of them to ride almost every ride there was in the area.  Rogan knew how to work all of the rides and he did for the both of them.  Nora was actually really enjoying herself.  She’d never actually been to a fair or carnival before and even though it was only the two of them, she was having as much fun as she probably would have had there been tons of people there with her.  After getting off of one of the spinning rides, Nora and Rogan decided to walk around the area.  Nora wanted to look at all of the different booths that had different carnival games.  One in particular finally caught her curiosity; it was called Duck Shoot.

“How do you play this one?” she asked Rogan as she stood in front of it.

“Oh, you just shoot the ducks as they go by.  It’s pretty easy.”

“Well, start it up!” Nora playfully demanded as she picked up the play rifle in her hands.  Rogan lightheartedly rolled his eyes as he went behind the booth and started the game up.  Instantly, the mechanical ducks went by as the wheel they were on turned.  Nora attempted to shoot them, but missed most of them by the time it was over.  It was then that she heard Rogan laughing.

“Hey, shut up!  It’s hard!” Nora complained.

“Come on, you can do better than that.  I’ve seen you shoot in real life better than that!” Rogan continued to chuckle.

“Well…” Nora put the rifle down for a brief moment, “Maybe because there’s really no reason for me to want to shoot the ducks, I can’t do it.”

“What are you saying?” Rogan looked at her mischievously.

“What I’m saying is, aren’t you supposed to win prizes at these things?  I don’t see a prize anywhere.” Nora smirked as she spoke.

“Ooooh…I see.” Rogan jeered.  It was then that he put his hands into the pockets of his long jacket and started to dig around inside them.  Not too long after, he pulled something out of one of them and held it up to her. “Here ya go,” he said.

Nora looked at what was in his hand. “It’s a button,” she stated somewhat confused.

“This is not just any button!” Rogan scoffed jokingly, “This is the very special spare button for this jacket!”

Nora chuckled slightly, “So?”

“So?!” Rogan went on, “So…this jacket is vintage!  It’s a 2018, ya know.  So if I lose a button on it, this right here is the only spare button I have to replace it.  Without it…well…my jacket is ruined!  This…is a very valuable button.” Rogan looked at her with a fake seriousness and a smirk on his face.

Nora laughed and rolled her eyes. “O.k. o.k., I guess that’s a good prize.”  She then proceeded to pick the game rifle up again. “Start it,” she commanded and Rogan did.  This time, Nora hit every duck. “Yes!” she joyfully shouted as she jumped up, “I did it!”

“You did.  So here you go…the rarest of rare buttons.” Rogan playfully bowed in front of her hand held out the button for her to take.  Nora laughed and took it.

“I’ll take good care of it,” she smiled and said.

“Make sure you do.” Rogan smiled back.

It was all of a sudden that Nora felt almost uncomfortable in front of Rogan.  She’d never had this kind of fun with him and it almost instantly felt strange to her.  She sensed herself blushing and feeling unexpectedly awkward.  She put the button in her jeans pocket and pulled her arms up to rub the sleeves of her flannel shirt nervously. “Well….um….what, uh…should we do next?” she said, trying to get rid of the strange sensation that was between them.

“Uh, well, we could….” Rogan stuttered as he looked around him as he spoke.  His gaze then stopped dead and he answered, “The Ferris Wheel!”

Nora now looked where he was looking and saw how tall the giant lit up wheel was. “That thing?!” she nervously asked.

“Yeah!” Rogan answered, “You can’t go to a fair or carnival without going on the Ferris Wheel.  Everyone has to go on the Ferris Wheel!”

“No I don’t.” Nora nervously protested.

“What’s wrong?” Rogan asked, sensing her nervousness.

“It’s…so high.”

“So?”

“So….” Nora looked down at her Converse sneakers apprehensively as she answered, “I’m afraid of heights.”

“What?!  You are not!” Rogan laughed slightly.

“I am too!” Nora somewhat angrily retorted.

“But, you fly with me all the time!”

“Doesn’t mean I enjoy it!  It freaks the hell out of me!”

“Oh, come on, you have to go on the wheel.   I promise it’ll be fun.” Rogan now begged.

“I don’t know…” Nora nervously responded.

“I promise, it’s real slow.  You just can’t go without going on the Ferris Wheel, come on!”

Nora then sighed in somewhat defeat, “All right, fine,” she then submitted.

“Great! Let’s go!” Rogan then began to walk toward the giant lit up wheel while Nora reluctantly followed.

CHAPTER 23

 NORA STOOD, AS she looked up at the enormous lit up wheel in front of her and heaved a huge sigh, trying to calm her nerves.

“O.k. go ahead and get in the seat and I’ll start it up,” Rogan instructed from behind her.

Nora turned around to face him, “But then how will you get in?”

“I’ll just jump in real quick at the last second.”

“What?!” Nora nervously asked.

“Oh, come on, it’ll be fun.”

“I’m not really seeing the fun in this…” Nora quietly whispered to herself as she then unenthusiastically sat in one of the swinging chairs of the Ferris Wheel.  Almost instantly following, Rogan started the wheel turning.  He then quickly jogged over to Nora and jumped into the seat with her as it ascended upward, causing it to swing violently for a few seconds.  Nora let out a small shriek as she gripped the sides fearfully and shut her eyes, not wanting to look down.

“Nora, it’s o.k.  Just relax!” Rogan teased her as the wheel turned and they continued to get higher and higher.  Nora didn’t respond to him, but just continued to sit as still as she possibly could, her eyes still shut.  All of a sudden, there was a quick holt and jerk of the giant wheel and it soon became apparent that the Ferris Wheel had stopped.

“It stopped!” Nora shrieked as she opened her eyes and looked around her in a panic, “It stopped! Why did it stop?  Do something!”

Rogan lightly chuckled at her panicked state, “Its fine.  Sometimes it gets a little stuck.  It is old, after all.  I’ll give it a few minutes.  If it doesn’t start up again in a minute, I’ll fly down and get it going again.”

Nora looked over at him in a mixture of horror and disbelief, “You…you’re not gonna fix it now?  You’re just gonna do nothing?!”

“Relax, Nora, just enjoy the scenery up here, it’s nice,” Rogan casually said as he put his hands behind his head in a relaxed position.

“No…I’m just going to sit here with my eyes shut until it’s over, thanks,” Nora answered in a squeaky tone as she then shut her eyes and began gripping the side of the seat again.  It was then that Rogan managed to take a break from his relaxation and look over at Nora curiously.  With a small smirk on his face, he shook his head as he watched her panicked situation.  He then sighed a bit and adjusted his position so he was facing her slightly.

“Nora,” he quietly spoke.  Nora didn’t respond but kept her eyes shut and ignored him.  Rogan chuckled and tried to get her attention again, “Nora,” he said.

“What?” Nora squeaked briefly.

“Open your eyes.”

“No.”

“Come on, it’s not that bad, really.”

Nora then sighed heavily and soon made the decision to open her eyes slowly, however, she had turned her gaze upward and was now looking up at the sky with her eyes.  Rogan laughed at her. “Come on, look over here.”

“No thanks.”

Rogan heaved a very huge, very audible sigh as he then almost frustratingly touched Nora’s chin with his hand and turned her head to face him. “Look at me.” He now said in a very demanding tone.

Nora didn’t respond but let out a small whine.

“Come on, I promise it’ll be fine.” Rogan now said in a little more comforting tone.  Nora then sighed and slowly brought her gaze down so that her eyes now fell on Rogan’s.  It was almost instantly that she felt a bit of calm.  She stared at his red eyes, his features on his face, his hair; everything.

“There see,” Rogan said as he gave her a small smile, “It’s not so bad now is it?”

Nora let a small smile peak out from her lips as well as she let out a deep breath.  “No…it’s not bad,” she continued looking at his face, “Not bad at all.”  She couldn’t help noticing how relaxed his features were at this moment.  Normally when she would look at him, he seemed tense or frustrated or, even at some times, angry.  It was nice seeing him like this.  Almost…happy?

“O.k. well, now, when I say so, I’m going to move my head and you’re going to look past me,” Rogan now instructed.

“What?  No…I don’t want to look down…” Nora protested.

“I’ll be fine!  I promise!” Rogan lightly chuckled.  “Just trust me.”

Nora let out another huge breath. “O.k.” she then complied.

“O.k., look now,” Rogan said as he then tiled his head to the side so Nora could see past him.  She instantly gasped at what she saw.  It was the human city a small distance away, glowing with lights in the night as if they were a distant cluster of stars in the sky.

“Oh my god…it’s beautiful!” She gaped smiling, “I’ve never seen the human city look like that before!”

Rogan chuckled, “I thought you’d like it.  You know, it’s only like that on Freedom Nights.” Rogan then shifted a bit in his seat and sighed, “Used to be like that every night,” he quietly added.

Nora now brought her gaze away from the city’s lights to look at Rogan again.  He was looking out in to the darkness and he almost looked sad.

“You o.k.?” Nora hesitated to ask.

Rogan gave her a quick fake smile and answered, “Yeah, I’m fine.”  He continued to look at Nora and quickly noticed by her expression that she didn’t believe a word he had said to her.  It was then that he sighed and nervously chuckled to himself slightly, “I guess…this