Rise of the Mudmen

by Thompson, James FW

  Alex had been in a daze as he heard this horribly sad story, and was surprised when he heard his own name. “What?” he asked, shaking it off.

  “I’m telling you because I want you to know that I know how to help out and put others before me.” Jared stopped and looked at Alex. “I’m not that bad a guy, right?”

  Alex looked back at Jared and realized that he was waiting for a response. To be assured that he was not a bad guy. He needed Alex to tell him that. Alex didn’t know what to say. “I guess not,” he finally said, although he didn’t sound convincing even to himself.

  “Thanks,” Jared said, putting his hand on Alex’s shoulder before he continued walking.

  Alex looked around; they had gone pretty far from the community centre. They were near the trees where he had found Shadow the week before. “Where are we going?” he asked. “I thought we were just looking for food.”

  “We are,” Jared replied with a smile. “This is a shortcut.”

  “Um ... okay.” Inside, part of him screamed to run away; to go back to the community centre, or at least get away from Jared. Another part of him was curious. They weren’t that far from his own house. Is that where we’re going? My house, with my food? Maybe Dad and Mary will be there!

  “It won’t take long,” Jared said. “It’s nearby.”

  And with that, Alex followed the boy he swore he would never trust, into the woods.

  Jared stayed chatty throughout the short walk. Alex felt amazed at how friendly he was acting, and even more amazed that he was being friendly back. Maybe they could be friends. Perhaps this catastrophe was something that would unify people. It would bring them together against a common enemy. It would—

  What was that noise? Alex looked around, certain he would see mudmen roaming around the woods, but there was nothing. Perhaps it was the wind, or maybe he was just hearing things.

  No, there it is again. If he held his breath, he could almost hear something; like a droning noise under the snaps of twigs and crunches of leaves as they walked. He was about to ask Jared if he heard it as well, when Jared stopped.

  “Right here,” he said.

  When they stopped, Alex could tell the sound was real. There were mudmen close by, but Alex couldn’t see them. Am I really losing it that bad?

  Jared stared at a large hole in the ground. The noises came from inside.

  He walked slowly around Jared and peered into it. Four mudmen looked up, clawing at the wall, reaching toward Alex and Jared. They swiped at the air, trying to grab him, to pull him down, to feed.

  He took a startled step back—straight into Jared.

  Jared put one hand on his shoulder and another on the collar of his coat. He shoved Alex toward the hole.

  He’s going to kill me after all.

  Four pairs of dead eyes stared up at him; four mouths drooled and moaned with hunger for him. Alex couldn’t even scream—it stuck in his throat as he gasped for air, air that stank of them. He closed his eyes when the grip on his collar tightened, but then quickly snapped him back.

  “Saved your life!” Jared yelled into his ear, laughing.

  Alex turned, putting his back to the horrifying pit, and threw off the hand that still gripped his shoulder. “Jesus, Jared! What the hell are you doing?! You can’t just—”

  “Calm down, Alec,” Jared said, grinning at him. “I’m just fucking with you.”

  Alex felt an odd wave of relief rush over him. Jared hadn’t changed, not at all; he even called him Alec! But even Jared wouldn’t kill him. Jared was an awful person, but not that awful.

  Then Jared’s grin vanished. He leaned so close that Alex could smell his breath and he whispered into his ear. “Don’t worry Alec, we’re all on your side.”

  “What?” Alex asked, but he didn’t need an answer. That was what Kaitlyn had said to him when Jared was sleeping—when they thought Jared had been sleeping.

  “Except me.” Jared shoved Alex closer to the shallow pit again.

  The mudmen clamoured for him. Jared forced him back to the edge of the hole, and he felt soil loosen below his feet. Alex panicked. “Help! Help me!” he screamed, though he knew they were too far away from the community centre for anyone to hear.

  “Hey!” someone in the distance shouted. “Who’s over there?”

  Someone heard! Soon they would come out, and he would be saved from this psychopath. Evidently Jared thought the same thing, as he stopped and looked around nervously.

  “Over here!” Alex yelled again, the force of the words tearing at his throat.

  Jared tightened his hands on Alex’s coat and looked at him, thinking of the best way out of the situation. He flashed Alex a quick, ugly smile. “You’re lucky,” he growled, and flung Alex to the ground beside the hole.

  “What’s going on?” said a man, as he rushed through the trees and underbrush. An adult! Or, at least an older teenager. Not only would he be saved from Jared, but they all might be saved and everything might be okay!

  Quickly, the thought crumbled around him.

  “Steve, buddy!” Jared called back with a smile. “What’s up?”

  “Jared? Nothing much, man. Where you been? Thought you were dead or something.”

  The two chatted for a while. Steve told Jared about his time since they had seen each other. Alex took the opportunity to attempt an escape. When he stood, Jared and Steve stared at him. Then Jared grinned and knocked him back to the ground.

  “This is Alec-suh,” he said, pinning him down with a knee to Alex’s chest. “He’s one of the idiots living at the community centre. That’s where I’ve been for the past couple of days.”

  “Really?” Steve asked, not giving Alex a second glance. “What’s going on there? Rescue centre or something?”

  “Naw,” Jared said, getting more comfortable on top of Alex. “Just a bunch of kids.”

  Steve looked disappointed, but Jared continued.

  “But, they have food and stuff, first aid kit shit. They’re set up pretty good. Plus, the building is big and strong. It’s not too bad, actually.”

  “Really?” Steve said, his interest piqued. “That sounds pretty bitchin’. Any chance I could get in on that?”

  “Big, strong guy like you?” Jared laughed. “Why not?”

  “So, what are you doing with your friend?”

  “Just gonna feed him to them,” he said, looking back at Alex. “Just like he was going to do to me. Only, he didn’t have the balls to let it happen. Just didn’t bother warning us. Fucking pussy.”

  Alex suddenly felt more afraid than he ever had. Not because Jared said he was going to feed him to mudmen; it was the way he had said it. So casually. Like he did it all the time. He kept them fed.

  “Probably not a good idea, bro,” Steve said. “I mean, you show up with a new guy and without the one you left with? That looks awfully suspicious, ya know?”

  “Yeah,” Jared said, thinking it over. “I guess so. But, the problem is, now he knows I was gonna kill him, so ...?” He left it hanging, hoping for a suggestion.

  “So, cut his tongue out or something,” Steve said quickly. “Feed that to them.”

  Jared considered the suggestion before he stood. “Naw. I’ve got a better idea. And it’ll work too because Alec is such a fucking pussy shit. And he won’t say a fucking word or I am going to fucking kill him and some of his little friends. So, right, Alex? Not a fucking word?”

  Alex lay on the ground and quickly nodded. Tears ran down his mud-covered face.

  “Look at him!” Jared laughed. “He’s crying! What a little shit!” He kicked Alex in the leg, almost rolling him into the pit with the mudmen. They clawed for him as he dragged himself back to safety.

  “Still,” Steve said, “nothing for them? They look awful hungry. Maybe you could just cut off some of his fingers or something?”

  “Again,” Jared said, taking off his backpack, “I have a better idea.” He unzipped the bag and stuck in his hands.

  A
lex heard a jingle. Oh God, no.

  Jared pulled Ryan’s cat out of the bag. It was shaking, and trying to meow, but no sound came out. Jared rubbed it under the chin, and nuzzled his face against the cat’s fur. “You’re just a little snack, aren’t you?” he said to the cat in a baby voice. He smiled at Steve, then tossed the cat into the pit.

  Alex watched, frozen and sick, as the mudmen clawed at each other trying to get at the little cat. They all tore at it, though it would barely be a meal for any of them. They destroyed it more than they ate it. Looking at them, covered in blood, Alex wondered how long Jared had been keeping them. Feeding them. What he had been feeding them. He couldn’t tear his gaze away as Jared and Steve laughed.

  Then, something else caught his attention. One of the mudmen wore a green vest. A green jacket-vest. He had a beard and brown hair.

  “That’s ... that’s Hannah’s dad,” Alex said through his tears and ragged breaths.

  “What?” Jared said, stomping over to Alex. “What was that?”

  Alex pointed into the hole at the vested mudman. “That ... that one is ... was ... Hannah’s father.” As soon as the words were out of his mouth, he regretted giving that information to Jared. Who knew what he would do with it? What it would do to Hannah.

  “So fucking what?”

  “Yeah,” Steve added. “They’re all somebody’s something.”

  “We should tell—” Alex started.

  “We should tell nobody nothing,” Jared said, as he reached down, hauling Alex to his feet. “Remember? You’re not saying shit about anything, right? If you say anything about this fucking thing then you and your little girlfriends are fucking dead. Do you understand that, Alec-suh?”

  Alex nodded again, trying to blink back the tears.

  “Well, good then,” Jared said as he let him go. “Clean yourself up. You look like someone beat the shit out of you. Is that what happened? Did someone beat the shit out of you, Alec-suh? Steve? Is that what happened?”

  “I didn’t see anything,” Steve said. “Just that you guys found me and I was oh so glad you did!”

  “So, yeah, Alec-suh; did someone beat the shit out of you?”

  Alex stared back at Jared, then at Steve. He shook his head and mouthed “no.” He had no choice.

  “Great!” Jared said, wiping mud off his jeans. “I guess we can head back now. Too bad you couldn’t find any food, huh Alec-suh?”

  Jared and Steve trudged back through the woods. For a moment, Alex stood alone by the pit full of mudmen wondering if it would be better if he just stayed there. The only thing that pushed him to follow the boys back to the community centre was that he was the only one who knew just how bad Jared was.

  The rest had all fallen for his act, and it would likely end up getting them hurt. Or worse.

  “Jack was in the back of the store we went through,” Jared told the group at the community centre, very convincingly. “I guess someone else had the same idea as us, ‘cause all the food was gone. Jack—it is Jack, right?—locked himself in the back room to avoid them and the mudmen and anyone else that came in after him.”

  “No idea how long I was in there,” Steve added using his best innocent and frightened voice. “It was just so dark all the time.”

  “Yeah,” Jared said, continuing the false tale of heroics, “and we found him just in time, ‘cause a bunch of those dead guys came in right after us.”

  “Really,” Nicole said with a nod. “That’s some really good timing.”

  “I know! We had to take ‘em all out before we booted it back here, right, Alex?”

  Right. Alex glared at the two storytellers. Murderers. They’ll kill us and feed us to their mudmen. I have do something. I have to say something. But he knew what they’d do if he opened his mouth.

  Alex, hanging his head, said nothing.

  “Poor guy’s still pretty freaked out,” Jared said.

  Alex almost grabbed David’s hand when he felt it on his shoulder. Instead, he shrugged it off.

  “It’s okay,” David said. “You’re safe now. Right, Jared?”

  Jared smiled, a big nasty Cheshire Cat smile. “Right. Safe and sound.”

  “So,” Nicole said, “tell us how you got away from all these mudmen.”

  Alex couldn’t take it anymore. The lies. The big, fake smiles. The whole hero act. He wasn’t sure what was worse: keeping his mouth shut about what he knew, the fact that his friends were accepting Jared’s lies without question, or the fact that he had been so stupid in the first place. Some leader.

  No. The worst was not telling Hannah about her father. Ever since she arrived, when she wasn’t playing games with someone, she sat at the window, hoping to see her dad looking for them. But even if he could tell her, he wasn’t sure how he could say what he had seen—the mudman version of her dad, stuck in that hole, tearing animals apart to feed.

  Alex avoided the others for the afternoon. He locked himself in the back room with Shadow. When David and Kaitlyn knocked, he let them in, explaining that the mudmen they had run into had really shaken him up. They accepted that and left him alone when he asked. It wasn’t exactly a lie—the mudmen had certainly scared him—but he couldn’t tell them that they practically belonged to Jared and his friend.

  For a while Alex wondered why Jared called the older boy “Steve” when they met, but now called him “Jack.” Then he remembered all of Jared’s earlier stories—the ones he had tried to ignore. The villain in the tales was Psycho Steve: a tall guy in a leather jacket. This Steve was tall. He wore a leather jacket. The same guy. Probably, the horrible things “Steve” had done were actually done by him and Jared.

  Sitting alone with his sleeping dog, Alex grew more and more paranoid. Guesses and ideas. Assumptions and questions.

  Where was Steve coming from?

  How many others are out there that are also Jared’s friends?

  How long is it going to take them to find us?

  What horrible things will they do when they do find us?

  They will find us.

  They’ll outnumber us.

  They’ll take all our stuff.

  They’ll kill us.

  Maybe he could tell Nicole. She was smart, and wouldn’t tell Jared. She saw through him, too. Only, the last time he had talked to her, she was on Jared’s side. They were all on Jared’s side. Of course, they didn’t know that Jared would kill them if the opportunity came along.

  Or, if he just felt like it.

  Maybe Alex could run away alone. There were still food and supplies at his own house. Plenty for one person. Maybe even one other person. David, or Ryan, or Kaitlyn ...

  No. He couldn’t leave. If he did, they’d be alone with Jared.

  He would just have to silently live with what they had done to him. It was the only way to guarantee his own safety and the safety of his friends. Not that it was much of a guarantee at all.

  After a few hours, there was a knock at the door.

  “Alex?” Nicole called in.

  “Yeah?”

  “Is the cat in there with you?”

  Alex said nothing, his guts twisting.

  “Ryan is really upset,” she continued, “and it has something to do with the cat. He got even worse when Jared asked to see him.”

  Why would he do that? Alex thought. What is he trying to do? Why mess with Ryan? The poor kid never did anything to him, and he knows it.

  As soon as he thought of the question, he realized the answer.

  He’s not messing with Ryan. He’s messing with me.

  “No. I haven’t seen him,” Alex lied. “Not at all today.”

  He put his head against his knees, curled up on the floor, and wept as he heard Nicole walk to Kyle’s room. He knew that the image of the cat—not as he had last seen it, but rather being held so lovingly by Ryan—would haunt him.

  Knock, knock, knock.

  Alex woke up, surrounded by darkness. He must have fallen asleep on the floor.


  They probably forgot about me, he thought bitterly. Good. I’m glad. Then I don’t have to talk to them.

  Knock, knock, knock.

  Right. Someone had woken him up.

  A thin line of light from the hallway showed under the door. He imagined Steve holding a flashlight on Jared as he gripped his mangled hockey stick, ready to smash his head in.

  He ignored the knocking.

  “Alex?” Kaitlyn whispered from the other side of the door. “Alex? Are you awake?”

  He jumped up, surprised. He grabbed Shadow’s fur and she led him to the closed door.

  “Yeah,” he whispered back, fumbling with the lock.

  He opened the door and saw her with the flashlight in one hand and Hannah’s hand in the other.

  “Okay, good. Can we come in?”

  “Be careful. It’s dark.”

  “I have a flashlight.” She shone the light around the room, pulling Hannah in and closing the door behind her.

  After far too long a silence Alex asked, “So ... what’s up?”

  “Well, we were wondering if we could sleep down here tonight?”

  This was the last thing that Alex was expecting. “Um ... well ...” he stammered, unsure of what to say. “Um ... why?”

  Kaitlyn shrugged. “It’s weird back in the other room.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Jack’s weird,” Hannah blurted out.

  Alex suddenly grew very worried. “What do you mean? What did he do?”

  “Nothing,” Kaitlyn replied, looking at Hannah. “Nothing really. He’s just ... I dunno.”

  “What?” Alex asked, taking a step closer and grabbing for the hand that held the flashlight. “He’s what?”

  “You know that feeling like someone is watching you?” Kaitlyn asked.

  “Yeah?” Alex replied, warily.

  Kaitlyn shrugged again. “I get that feeling from him. Like he’s ... watching me or something.”

  “He was,” Hannah jumped in. “I saw him. Jared, too.”

  Alex felt a lump growing in his already twisted stomach. Dread grew as he thought of the horrible possibilities.