Rise of the Mudmen

by Thompson, James FW

  “But ... anyway,” Kaitlyn said, “we’d just feel ... better, if we could stay down here. Is that okay?”

  Alex nodded in the darkness.

  “Are you nodding?”

  “Yeah,” Alex said, shaking his head at how stupid he was acting, and not entirely sure why. “Yeah, of course you can stay down here.”

  After a brief silence, Kaitlyn replied, “Thanks.”

  Alex smiled until another worry came to him. “What about Hannah? Is she okay with Shadow? Shadow has to stay in here too.” He would not let Shadow out of his sight after what Jared had done with Ryan’s cat.

  “I’m okay,” Hannah said. “She’s nice.” She paused. “I don’t know about Jack though.”

  “I’m just being paranoid,” Kaitlyn quickly said. “I think I’m just making her paranoid too.”

  “You’re not being paranoid,” he blurted out. “You can’t trust them.”

  Silence filled the room again.

  “What really happened out there?”

  This was his chance. Kaitlyn didn’t completely believe Jared’s story. He could feel the words building up in his throat. You can’t trust them? You should be terrified! About all the things that they had done; all the things that he had seen. Everything that had happened.

  “Nothing.” He couldn’t say anything else. It was too dangerous. He sat next to the girls.

  “You locked the door, right?” Kaitlyn asked.

  “As soon as you came in.”

  DAY 11: THE LAST DAY

  ALEX

  “Holy shit! What the hell?!”

  A sound woke Alex up. The room was bright and sunny. Kaitlyn was also wide awake, probably jolted by the same sound.

  Screaming.

  Hannah, who had been sleeping with her head on Kaitlyn’s lap, sat up and let out a yelp.

  Shadow was already at the door.

  They stared at each other, neither sure of what to do. But the screaming continued, followed by the sound of people running down the hall, heading for Kyle’s room.

  Alex jumped to his feet and fumbled with the door. Once he got it open, he saw David in the hall with Jared and Steve. Steve looked upset and Jared was trying to restrain his laughter, though doing a poor job of it.

  “Shut up!” Steve said, punching Jared in the shoulder.

  “I’m sorry!” Jared laughed, “But, oh man! That was—”

  “What the hell did you do that for?” Steve asked, rubbing blood off his face. A large, fresh scratch crossed his cheek.

  “Come on, man!” Jared said, now with his hands on his knees, weak from laughing so hard. “It was just—”

  “It was just what?” Nicole asked, storming out of the room, between the two older boys. “What the hell are you doing, Jared?”

  “It was a joke!” Jared said, straightening. “It’s fine!”

  “Not a fucking funny joke,” Steve muttered.

  “It’s not a joke!” Nicole yelled. “What is wrong with you? What if he got hurt?”

  “What?” Jared asked, laughing even harder. “The kid is like, what, five? How’s he gonna hurt—”

  “Not Jack!” Nicole yelled, her nose almost touching his. “Kyle! What if Kyle got hurt?!”

  When she pulled back, Jared’s expression was almost blank, and very unpleasant. It resembled the look Alex had seen right before he grinned and held him over the pit of mudmen.

  “So what? Kyle? Who gives a shit? Kyle’s gone, Nicole. Are you telling me you don’t know that? Kyle went crazy and it’s just a matter of time before he comes out of that room and kills us all just like the fucking dead things out there.” He took a breath, trying to stare Nicole down. “He thinks he’s one of them, you know. He thinks he’s one of those things out there. And he’ll kill us—just like them.”

  Nicole glared at him as he tried to hide his grin. “He’s five,” she said to Jared in a flat tone. “How’s he gonna hurt you?”

  Jared’s nostrils flared. Alex could see him trying to find the perfect nasty thing to say in response. Or maybe he would just haul off and hit her.

  He did neither.

  “You’re right,” he said, taking a step back, hanging his head in what Alex knew was a phony display of shame. “You’re right. Kyle ... Kyle’s just a little kid. He doesn’t know what he’s doing. He’s just sick or something, and ... and it worries me, you know? I get worried about stuff like that. He’s really the worst off of all of us, I think.” He turned away.

  Jared looked right at Alex, hiding his grin from everyone else, as he continued, “‘Cause, he can’t take care of himself. Something could happen to him or Ryan. They’re both so ... helpless.”

  Alex watched him walk away, terrified, but not for himself anymore. Terrified for what Jared was planning to do to Kyle and Ryan. He knew now that he had to tell someone what had happened with Jared and Steve; he couldn’t risk them doing something to anyone else. Since Kaitlyn was already suspicious, he decided it would be her.

  Taking Shadow by the collar, he motioned to Kaitlyn to follow him back in the room they’d slept in. After locking the door, he told her everything that had happened the day before. The woods. The pit. The cat. Hannah’s dad. Her tears made him stop at that revelation.

  “The only reason they didn’t kill me right then was that it would look weird if I wasn’t with them anymore,” he concluded.

  “Oh, my God,” Kaitlyn said, shocked. “You have to tell Nicole!”

  “I can’t!” Alex insisted. “If I could, I would. But Jared is always around her. Plus, I think she’s on his side.”

  Kaitlyn looked at him in disbelief.

  “She is! He was totally messing with Kyle earlier. If that was me, she woulda chased me right outta here. But when it was Jared and Steve? Nope. They barely even got yelled at. She’s totally falling for all their crap!”

  “I think Nicole is smarter than that.”

  “Well, whatever,” Alex said, shrugging it off. “I can’t tell her. I wasn’t supposed to tell anyone. They said they’d kill me and whoever else they wanted to if I told.” He walked to the door and unlocked it, hoping that removing this level of secrecy would end the conversation. “I don’t want to talk about it anymore.”

  “If only you’d said that five minutes ago,” said a voice from outside as the door opened.

  Steve walked in. Alex and Kaitlyn backed into the room. “Not smart, Alec.” He glared at them, flexing his hands as if he was getting ready to strangle them both right then and there.

  After staring at each other in shock for a heartbeat, Alex and Kaitlyn nodded in silent recognition of their only option:

  Run.

  Alex managed to sneak right of the bigger boy after faking left, but Steve snagged Kaitlyn by the arm as she tried to squeeze past. Seeing the grin on Steve’s face as he looked down at her, Alex realized Kaitlyn was always the main target. His prey. Once again, horrible images of what Steve and Jared might do to her flashed into his mind.

  With his fists balled at his sides, Alex stepped toward Steve, not at all sure what he would do when he got to him. Even though he had killed a few mudmen, he had never punched anyone in his life—at least not to cause any actual harm or get what he wanted. But he had no choice. He would punch Steve, grab Kaitlyn away from him, and run.

  His plan changed when Steve put a knife against Kaitlyn’s throat.

  It was just a pocket knife, but Alex guessed Steve kept it sharp. He probably uses it all the time on small animals. Or kids. Or his parents.

  The grin on Steve’s face showed that he was enjoying this. His eyes darted back and forth. Kaitlyn’s arm was pinned against her side. She swung her head back, hoping to do some damage, but only hit his chest, which he would barely feel through his stiff leather jacket. She stomped on his feet, but his thick boots protected those as well.

  I can’t hurt him, Alex thought, looking for some weakness in the much taller boy’s suit of armour. Evidently, Steve knew exactly what Alex was thinking.<
br />
  “Whatcha gonna do, Alex?” he asked, his chin now pinning Kaitlyn’s head to his chest, her neck more exposed as he pressed his knife blade against it. His other arm wrapped around Kaitlyn’s chest in a horrible embrace.

  Alex said nothing as the knife dimpled Kaitlyn’s neck. At any second, a drop of blood would appear at the end of it. Then more blood. He froze. What could he do? He couldn’t talk Steve out of this. He certainly couldn’t overpower him. He couldn’t disarm him; he imagined reaching for the knife only to have it stabbed into his arm. Maybe his face. He was lost.

  Fortunately, Kaitlyn came up with her own solution.

  She grabbed the arm across her chest with both hands and lifted her feet into the air, swinging them out in front of her. Steve’s stance went wide to catch his balance. On the back swing, she bent her knees and drove both feet into Steve’s crotch, effectively launching herself out of his grasp, as well as knocking him to the floor.

  Steve looked up with tears in his eyes. His face went red with rage as he reached for his dropped knife. He breathed hard through gritted teeth, wads of spittle flying out as he did. “You’re fucked, you stupid, fucking bitch.”

  Alex and Kaitlyn backed out of the room and ran down the hallway. Their only safety would be to get to the others. He glanced at her to see how she was reacting; her face looked shocked and pale. He assumed his own looked the same. A smear of blood marked a small cut on her neck from where Steve had the knife pressed against it when she jumped.

  Alex turned and saw Steve pull himself out of the room they had just left. He was almost doubled over at first, but quickly straightened up.

  “Don’t even fucking run!”

  We can’t hide. Even if we find everyone else, he’ll still come after us. He doesn’t care. He’ll knock down a door. He’ll kill someone else or threaten to until we come out.

  “Run!” Alex shouted, clutching Kaitlyn’s hand and pulling her along. If they got outside, they could hide until Steve got far enough away that they could double-back and lock him out. If that worked, at least part of the problem would be solved. No one would want him back inside. He would be an outcast.

  But first they had to get him outside.

  As they approached the bedroom, Nicole came out. “What are you—” was all she got out before Alex and Kaitlyn ran past.

  Alex turned back, realizing that Nicole would just be a minor obstacle that Steve would have no problem cutting through to get to them. “Watch out!” he yelled, as the older boy gained on them, his face now fixed in a snarl.

  “What?” Nicole turned around, straight into Steve. She managed another “what” only to be thrown aside, against the wall and onto the floor as if she weighed nothing.

  Nothing, it seemed, would stop Steve from getting Kaitlyn.

  They ran down the darkened stairs to the front door. Alex hoped Steve was a slow runner as he threw open the door, not bothering to check for anything outside. Mudmen were the furthest thing from his mind.

  The sudden brightness of daylight almost blinded him. For a moment, all the world was white; anything could have been in front of him, but he couldn’t stop. Stopping meant death. He knew that. Darting out of the alcove, his first thought was for them to run along the building, get around the corner and hop the fence, hoping that Steve would be far enough behind to not see them. Maybe if he was temporarily blinded as they had been they would gain a few precious seconds.

  Steve wasn’t that far behind at all.

  Alex heard the door fly open again, smashing against the wall just a few feet behind him.

  Steve let out a growl-like scream as he kept after them.

  There was nothing to protect Alex or Kaitlyn in the parking lot; nothing to hide behind. This wasn’t going to work! He had screwed up and it would cost him and Kaitlyn their lives. Probably Nicole’s life too; she had clearly seen Steve for what he was and he wouldn’t ignore that. He’d make short work of everyone else at the centre. Alex regretted not telling everyone sooner what had happened in the woods. He had failed everyone.

  Steve screamed, “I’m going to fucking kill—!”

  Then nothing. No quick footfalls; no spit and rage-filled breath on their necks as Steve got closer. His threat—his guarantee—cut short by a sudden snapping sound.

  Whatever had stopped Steve, Alex knew it wouldn’t last. When he got to the corner, he glanced at the fence and quickly realized how foolish it would be to try to climb it before Steve got to them. They would be wide-open targets. He decided they should cross the yard to the houses across the street. We can hide under a patio, or in a barn, or even inside one of the houses, or—

  Another scream cut his planning short. At first it pushed him to run faster. Steve must be back on their trail and could see where they were going. He would know where to look. Alex had screwed up again.

  As the scream turned into a sobbing yell, he realized it wasn’t Steve at all. He chanced a glance over his shoulder, as Kaitlyn pushed past him. He pictured Steve’s eyes and knife blazing as he ran them down.

  Steve wasn’t behind them.

  But ... someone was outside. Nicole. She stood just outside the door, screaming loudly ... at nothing.

  They stopped and looked back across the yard, across the parking lot, trying to figure out where Steve went and why Nicole was so upset, screaming at nothing at all.

  No, wait, Alex realized. It’s not nothing. It’s ...

  “The SPLICER!” he and Kaitlyn said, in a quick exhalation, realizing simultaneously exactly what that meant. For a few seconds, they just stared, then ran back the way they’d come. Before they got there, David and Hannah joined Nicole. Alex saw Nicole grab the young girl and quickly turn her away, shoving her back inside. Then David collapsed to the ground in a dead faint.

  When they arrived, Alex saw that David’s fainting was completely justified. The SPLICER! had worked perfectly—almost. It swung down when Steve, so much taller than the rest of them, ran into the trigger rope. The blade had embedded itself far into his face, almost through to the back of his head. There it stuck in his skull, having snapped off its powerful swinging arm.

  Steve lay below the still-wobbling spring that had held the blade, his arms and legs twisted beneath him, still clutching his pocket knife, blade pointed down, ready to strike, if his arm had any life left to lift it. The look of shock was still on his face: he had seen the blade, if only for a second. His eye—the one that was not shoved to the back of his head—was wide, and his mouth hung open, either in a stifled scream, or perhaps in the last word of his threat. Blood pooled under his split skull and a splatter of bright red ran up the wall next to the machine and on the pavement leading to the door.

  The amount of blood was shocking.

  They had all seen a lot of blood in recent days. It came out of the mudmen—many of whom they practically eviscerated—all the time. But this was different. This was from a person. A person they knew and had lived and talked with.

  Nicole came back outside, having left Hannah safely at the top of the stairs. She was pale and shaking, just like the rest of them.

  “What happened?” she asked, looking to Alex and Kaitlyn.

  Alex had never seen such a lost expression on the normally strong, self-assured girl.

  “He ... he tried to kill us,” Kaitlyn answered, as she began to cry. Her fingers rose to touch the cut on her neck.

  Alex found that he was crying, too.

  Nicole managed to hold herself together, apparently distracted by trying to figure things out. “What do you mean, he tried to kill you? Why?”

  Alex couldn’t get any words out. Kaitlyn was lost in sobs. David woke up and tried to get to his feet. He put his hand in some of Steve’s splattered blood and promptly vomited.

  “All right,” Nicole said, gathering the group together. “Let’s get inside. We’ll figure this out.”

  Then they saw Jared standing in the doorway.

  “What’s with all the screaming?” he as
ked, with a grin. He looked at the group, but no one answered. “What?” he asked. “What happened?”

  Nicole moved the group aside as Jared pushed his way through the alcove. Alex stood, almost defiantly in the way, between him and Steve, but moved the second Jared shot him a menacing grin. The grin quickly faded as Jared looked down on his dead friend.

  “What happened?” he asked so quietly that only Alex could hear him. He stared down at the body for a moment, nudging it with his foot as if Steve might just get up with half a head. “What the fuck happened?!”

  Everyone jumped at the sudden explosion of sound.

  “It’s ... it’s ...” Nicole started, not sure what to say. “We should all go inside, okay?” She gathered everyone back together. She put a hand on Jared’s shoulder to bring him into the group.

  Jared shook her off violently and quickly looked over his shoulder at them. “What the fuck happened to him?!” He turned to the group, his fists clenched ready to strike; to let the rage out. “Somebody better fucking tell me right fucking NOW!”

  The force of his words pushed the group together, shoulder to shoulder, as if looking for protection. David moved behind the rest, peering over Alex’s shoulder as Nicole stepped forward. “He ...” She swallowed hard, still not sure what to say. “He was chasing Alex and Kaitlyn. He chased them downstairs. He was screaming. And he pushed me down. Hard. He must have run into that ... thing.” She gestured at the now blade-less SPLICER! Again, she put out a hand, to hold Jared’s shoulder and steady him as he was clearly upset. “Okay. Let’s go upstairs so—”

  Jared grabbed her arm and pushed it aside. She stumbled, leaving a clear path between Jared and Alex. “What the fuck did you do?”

  Alex felt his heart race and his breath grow shallower.

  “What the FUCK did you DO?!” Jared screamed, rushing at Alex, grabbing him by the collar and throwing him to the ground. David fell too, his legs tangled up under Alex. Jared pounded Alex’s body against the asphalt.

  Alex could not get a word out to defend himself; the air was knocked out of him when he hit the ground.