The smell hit them first.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Grease, funnel cake, dust, livestock, and teen rebellion\u2014it was the unmistakable bouquet of a county fair.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The fairgrounds sprawled across several acres, dotted with rusting rides, questionably secured game booths, and concession stands with names like Curly Fries 4 Jesus<\/em> and Corn Dog Kingdom.<\/em> A Ferris wheel turned slowly above it all like an ominous eye, watching, judging.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The \u201cstage\u201d for the Battle of the Bands was tucked beside the demolition derby arena and dangerously close to the goat enclosure. A hand-painted banner reading Creech County ROCKS!<\/em> flapped against a bent chain-link fence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The stage crew\u2014two teenagers and a man named Dale with three teeth\u2014helped them load in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dale, eyeing Gabriel: \u201cY\u2019all one of them cosplay boy bands?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Gabriel: \u201cSure. And we bite.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Thane, muttering into his headset: \u201cWe\u2019re gonna die here.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The band before them\u2014Rage Farm<\/em>\u2014had an accordion and a kazoo solo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Jonah stared into the middle distance. \u201cI\u2019ve seen things today.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Maya whispered to her guitar: \u201cWe don\u2019t belong here. But we will<\/em> win.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Cassie was warming up by yelling scale exercises into the porta-potty because it had the best acoustics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Rico was double-checking his strings, fingers flying with practiced precision. \u201cDo we at least win a prize?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Mark read the flyer. \u201cSays here we win a bucket of fried pickles and a fifty-dollar gas card.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Gabriel grinned. \u201cI\u2019m in.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Thane, behind the board, grimaced. \u201cI didn\u2019t bring us to Arkansas for pickles.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Cassie stepped to the mic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe\u2019re Feral Eclipse. This song is called Full Moon Breakdown.<\/em> It\u2019s loud. You\u2019re welcome.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Mark hit the lights\u2014six barely working VL2Bs rigged to the truss. They barely<\/em> survived the jolt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Gabriel\u2019s bass snarled through the speakers. Rico launched into the first blistering riff. Jonah\u2019s sticks flew like fury.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The fairgrounds went absolutely feral<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n People ran from the cotton candy stand to the stage. One kid in a \u201cSupport Local Cryptids\u201d shirt climbed the goat pen for a better view. An old man in a cowboy hat started headbanging so hard he lost his dentures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Thane\u2019s gear survived the set\u2014barely. One speaker caught fire for a second. Mark just used it as a smoke effect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n By the third song, the crowd was losing it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Even Dale was dancing. Dale.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAnd the winner is\u2026\u201d she mumbled, adjusting her bifocals. \u201c\u2026Feral\u2026 Elks?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Cassie: \u201cClose enough.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n They were handed a metal bucket of pickles, a gas station gift card, and a plaque made from a sawed-off cutting board.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Maya held the plaque aloft. \u201cVictory tastes like brine and despair!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Jonah already had three pickles in his mouth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Gabriel took a selfie with a goat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Mark, dragging a coiled light cable, smirked. \u201cLet\u2019s never do this again.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Thane exhaled, exhausted but grinning. \u201cAgreed.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The smell hit them first. Grease, funnel cake, dust, livestock, and teen rebellion\u2014it was the unmistakable bouquet of a county fair. The fairgrounds sprawled across several acres, dotted with rusting rides, questionably secured game booths, and concession stands with names like Curly Fries 4 Jesus and Corn Dog Kingdom. A Ferris wheel turned slowly above […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-376","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-tour-life"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/tourblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/376","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/tourblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/tourblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/tourblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/tourblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=376"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/tourblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/376\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3235,"href":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/tourblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/376\/revisions\/3235"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/tourblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=376"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/tourblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=376"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/tourblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=376"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n\n\n\nThere were seven<\/em> bands scheduled. All of them looked like they\u2019d formed last Tuesday in a group chat.<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nThe stage creaked ominously under their boots. The crowd\u2014a mix of fairgoers, teenage metalheads, and at least one alpaca\u2014looked up with mild interest.<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nAfter the final act\u2014Jugular Honey<\/em> (who ended their set by stage-diving into the pig pen)\u2014a very tired woman from the Chamber of Commerce shuffled up with a clipboard.<\/h3>\n\n\n\n