Rise of the Mudmen

by Thompson, James FW

They waited on the roof of Colby for almost an hour.

  David knew the moment when the sounds of the carnage below them became too much for Nicole: she started singing Cure songs to herself. He saw some of the tension leave his sister’s face as she sang about running into a forest; disappearing into the trees.

  An explosion that shook the building stopped her.

  “What the hell was that?” she shouted.

  “Something exploded,” David replied, reverting to smart-aleck-brother mode reflexively. “Something close by, I’d say.”

  “Well, do you see anything that exploded?” Nicole said, standing on stiff legs, looking around. “I smell smoke, but I don’t see anything.” As David crawled to the edge of the roof to take a look, he had the feeling that things had gone from terrible to worse.

  When he didn’t go back right away to report, he felt her presence as she joined him, looking down.

  Below, the chaos continued, only there looked to be fewer survivors than he expected. They watched as three ran into the wood. They saw someone hiding under a burning car. Nearly everyone left was one of them—the attackers. Directly below, David saw the cause of the explosion.

  The school was on fire.

  As he looked, a window burst open, flames pouring out, black billowing smoke rushing up to meet him. The fire itself moved like liquid, but there was something in it. Something solid and clumsier than the elegant flames.

  A body. A body was on fire, but still shambling out the window. Not running, not panicked. It made no sound as it moved, as if unaware that it was engulfed in flames.

  “Oh my God.” Nicole sounded panicky. “What do we do? Oh my God, what do we do? David! What are we going to do?”

  “I dunno,” David replied, the words coming dryly from his mouth. “We can’t stay here. I don’t know if there’s anyone to—”

  Nicole quickly cut him off. “Someone will help us! They have to! They have to.”

  David turned away from the sight of the fire. Nicole was shivering, despite the great rush of heat that came from below them. She ran her hands up and down the straps of the backpack—her survival kit—had she even taken it off since they’d arrived at the school?

  Some survival kit if we all burn, David thought.

  Nicole turned to look over at St. Joseph’s, not all that far away, but still impossibly far. David followed her gaze. It looked so calm. After a moment, it seemed like Nicole couldn’t stand to look at the other building any longer. She sat down beside Ryan, and silently held his hand. He didn’t acknowledge it.

  David quickly realized that it might be up to him and his options were not good.

  On the ground were things which would kill them horribly.

  On the roof was fire which would kill them slowly.

  There was nothing in between.

  Frantically he darted around the roof, hoping to find some last-minute rescue; hoping that somehow the school had installed escape pods for just such an occasion.

  When he got to the side farthest from the fire, he looked down. Things didn’t look that bad there. No one was around, a few trees waved gently in the breeze, the little brook at the rear of the schoolyard slowly dribbled by. Beyond that, he saw their salvation.

  “Hey!” he yelled back to his sister, who looked up at him, tears in her eyes.

  Nicole came over, glaring at her brother, clinging to the hand of the little boy she had just met this morning, whose arm hung down limply from hers. “Keep your voice down, spaz!” She spat at him, wiping her eyes. “What do you want?”

  David smiled and pointed. “That’s where we’re gonna go.”

  “How are we gonna get over there, David?” she snarled at him.

  “The path’s all clear,” he said. “Fire’s only on the other side.”

  “And no ...” she paused, “deadies?”

  “What?” he asked, though he figured it out before he even got the word out. “No, none of them either. Look for yourself.”

  Nicole looked down and saw the same peaceful space that David had. “Okay,” she said, wiping tears from her eyes. “So we go down there. How?”

  “Um ...” David hadn’t thought that far. “Gimme a second, okay?”

  Suddenly the opposite corner of the school began to collapse, smoke pouring through cracks.

  “Think fast!” Nicole said.

  “Um ...” He couldn’t think fast enough. “Jump?”

  “Ugh!” Nicole pushed him aside, peering over the edge. “Here,” she said, shoving Ryan into David’s arms. “Take him.”

  As he took the boy, he watched as his sister slowly crawled to the edge and lowered herself down, legs first. She glared up at him. “Keep an eye out for deadies! I swear to God, David, if there’s anything down there when I land—” She didn’t bother finishing the threat. He was just glad that she had gotten her confidence back.

  She dangled for a few seconds, then dropped the remaining fourteen feet. She hit the ground with a thud, landing on her feet then rolling onto her side. She quickly sat up, rubbing her elbow.

  “You okay?” David shouted down at her.

  “Shut up! You want them to hear us? Stupid.” She quickly looked around as she got to her feet. “Lower him down. I’ll catch him.”

  This would prove to be much more difficult than David had anticipated, especially considering lifting Ryan onto the roof had gone well. This time he seemed heavier, his clothes were soaked through with sweat, and he was not helping. Plus, David realized he had much less adrenaline forcing him to move. Holding the boy clumsily around the waist, he lifted him over the edge and lowered him as far as he could. Nicole stood, arms outstretched, a few meters below them.

  “Is that seriously as low as you can put him?”

  “Now who’s yelling? And yes! That’s it.”

  “Okay,” Nicole said, bracing herself. “Drop him.”

  “You’re sure?”

  “Yea—”

  Before the word was out, David lost his grip and Ryan fell. Watching the boy in the air, seemingly oblivious to the fact that he was in free-fall, it was as if he was standing in the air, his arms staying by his sides, and legs still outstretched beneath him. He landed on Nicole, knocking her flat under him.

  David waited until she started moving. “You okay?”

  “No!” she sat up, rolling the boy from her. “That really hurt! God! Ow! Probably sprained my wrist! Ugh!”

  She continued making pained noises, as her brother watched from the roof above. “Okay. Well, I’m coming down now!”

  “I’m not catching you!” she called up.

  He expected as much.

  He lowered himself quickly over the edge, again much quicker than Nicole had, and then hung, holding on. He peeked down through his arms at the drop. Even though he knew he was closer to the ground than he had been when he dropped Ryan, it felt much higher. He froze and his hands tightened.

  “Come on! Just let go!”

  “I ... I can’t!”

  “You have to! Now!”

  “I can’t!”

  “Right now!”

  “Fine!” He took a deep breath and closed his eyes.

  He landed with a thud, his legs buckling under him. His feet and ankles instantly ached. He rubbed them. “Can you at least help me up?” he asked, still looking at his feet. “And way to yell a whole lot! We’re lucky that you didn’t—”

  He stopped when he looked up. Hoping to see a hand ready to help him up, instead he saw three of those things—deadies—stumbling toward him. About five feet away, his sister held Ryan up by the armpits.

  “David,” she said calmly, though he could hear the terror in her voice. “Get up now and run.”

  The things lumbering toward him looked right at him. Just like the one from the window had, only now there was no glass between them. Now they were going to get him.

  Despite the pain in his ankles, the terror he felt, and the fact that he couldn’t feel anything above his knees, he got to h
is feet and ran.

  His sister ran a few feet ahead of him, Ryan’s limp legs dangling at her side. He passed her, without looking back.

  ALEX

  Alex didn’t know how long he stayed in the tub, shivering, crying, and sore. His knee throbbed from when he had fallen in earlier. The worst part was the sound. Again, he found himself wishing for the creepy silence. He could hear them out there, pulling at the car: crunching metal noises, glass smashing, trying to get further into it, looking for more people to eat. And the chewing. He could hear them through the window. Chewing on the woman. Probably the driver too. The driver must have gone through the windshield and then they ate him. Probably died on impact. The woman was alive when they ...

  He threw up again. He tried to do it quietly. He was worried that since he could hear them out there, they might hear him in the house. He’d be trapped upstairs if they came in after him.

  Then they’d eat him.

  He glanced up at the window. It was much darker than when he first went upstairs; the sun was setting. At that moment, he heard a creak on the staircase.

  Did I lock the door?

  It always scared him when he had slept over here with Mark—the stairs always sounded like something was coming to get him. Now he knew that something actually was. It—they—had come in while he lay useless in the tub. He could hear their feet on each stair. He could hear them breathing.

  He closed his eyes and sank deeper into the tub, trying not to make a sound. It was in the room with him. It was standing by the tub. Looking at him. Waiting for him to start screaming before it tore into him.

  He opened his eyes, holding his shaking hands in front of his face. Through his fingers, in the faint light, he saw—fur? Shadow stood by the tub, looking down at him. He wrapped his arms around her neck and pulled her into the tub.

  They lay there for hours. A flickering orange light came from outside; the car was on fire—burning, with no one to put it out. He held onto his dog even tighter.

  Eventually, it started raining. He heard a few drips hit the window, then hundreds and thousands of tiny drops falling on the house all around him. Finally—a familiar noise. He fell asleep, exhausted, his arms wrapped around the dog, who drifted in and out of dog dreams all night.

  KAITLYN

  Kaitlyn watched the things—covered in blood and drool—tearing through the crowd of people at the school, blood and screams filling the air. She was frozen, trapped there with the insanity. She wasn’t sure what she feared most: those things, the fire, the crowd breaking down into violent anarchy, or the fact that she was all alone. Her mom was gone. Her friends were gone. Just her and the wave of mayhem bearing down upon her. Paralyzed, until they were right on top of her, tearing at her—

  “Oh my God,” Dave said.

  She snapped back to the present and had to force herself to remember. She wasn’t alone. She hadn’t been left there. The four of them—Kaitlyn, her mom, Hannah, and Hannah’s dad, Dave—had all rushed out as soon as the first crowds burst out of the school. They were at Dave and Hannah’s house, just a few blocks away.

  When they had first entered the house, Kaitlyn felt a wave of relief. Everything was calm and comfortable—as if all that had happened that morning was merely a bad dream. Maybe she would quickly forget about the things that she—that they all—had seen at the school.

  Dave and Joanne had spent an hour boarding up windows, securing doors, and finding whatever they could for supplies: blankets, candles, water, and the very small amount of food left in the house. Kaitlyn heard Dave curse from the kitchen. When he came back, he explained that taking their extra food to the emergency centre had been such a good idea at the time.

  Not that anyone felt like eating. Instead they lay low, huddled together in the Moore’s living room. For a while they heard people running down the street, screaming, or calling out names. They heard windows smashing, cars starting up and speeding away, and crashes and explosions, distant and very nearby. Flashes of light and shadows streaked by the almost completely covered windows. When things got quiet, Dave left the group to look through cracks between boards.

  “Oh my God,” he said, then for a while he was silent, clearly distracted by the events outside; otherwise, he would have noticed Kaitlyn approach the window as well.

  She peeked out. Fog, mixed with smoke from some unseen fire. No—there was a truck on fire. Through another crack she saw a truck wrapped around a pole. The windows were shattered, and there was a splatter of blood, but no one was there. How could someone survive that? she thought to herself. Maybe they need help? Could they call someone? Maybe—

  Her thoughts ceased when she saw someone staggering in the street. He was bloody, and soaked, and walked with a limp. The victim of the crash. He’s walking around in a daze and—

  “Why is he going back to the truck?” Dave said; he still hadn’t noticed that Kaitlyn stood just three feet away from him.

  Kaitlyn moved to another opening to get a better view. She would regret that move.

  The scene was practically silent, though she thought she could hear the sound of the fire. It might have been her imagination. The man was definitely headed for his truck. Maybe someone else is in there! Someone I can’t see! Oh, someone should help!

  The man got to the truck and reached in. He pulled something out. A sweater? No! It’s an arm. There is a person in there! She was just about to yell to them, or tell Dave to go out and help when the man started ripping at the bloodied arm. Destroying it. Eating it.

  In horror, Kaitlyn watched as the thing tore and ate. She backed away from the window, shock and nausea washing over her. She suddenly felt very cold as she stared at the crack between the boards. The only thing that brought her attention away was the sound of Dave gagging.

  Pale and wet with sweat, Dave looked up and locked eyes with her. He knew, then, that she had seen what he had and must have felt horrible for allowing it. When he glanced down, Kaitlyn’s heart sank with his.

  Hannah stood at her side, her eyes darting from her father’s face to the window.

  Did she see that? Kaitlyn wondered. Oh God, I hope not. That would—

  “Girls!” Dave suddenly yelled, more flustered and upset than Kaitlyn had seen him yet. “Get away from the windows. No more going near the windows.”

  “But, Dad,” started Hannah. “We want to see what’s—”

  “No!” He stopped her. “No, you don’t. There’s nothing happening out there anyway. Just more of what was happening at the school.”

  “But I want to—”

  “Kaitlyn,” Dave eyes darted to her, surprising her with the sudden change, “you don’t want to look outside anymore, right?”

  “Oh,” she said, thinking I kinda want to see what’s happening, yeah. But, she quickly caught on to Dave’s plan. Right. Act responsible. Be a role model. “I don’t want to see any more of that,” she said, drawing the younger girl away from the window. “You don’t want to see any of that, do you, Hannah?”

  Hannah looked back and forth between Kaitlyn and her father with frustration. “No. I don’t. That was scary.”

  “You’re right,” said Kaitlyn. She swallowed back the lump that had been sitting in her throat since she had looked out. She had to act like nothing was happening outside. This was working. She was proving herself to be responsible. “It was really scary. So let’s go sit down for a while and think about good things, okay?”

  “Okay,” said Hannah.

  Kaitlyn could tell by the girl’s tone that she was doubtful about the request and would probably still rather see out the window. She was mostly glad that Hannah evidently hadn’t gotten a chance to look before they caught her.

  Dave continued staring around the room. His eyes wouldn’t focus on anything; he looked lost and pale. “No more windows. No more looking outside. Outside is ...” He paused, trying to find the right words to describe what he had seen.

  Kaitlyn led Hannah out of the room.

&nb
sp; “Outside is bad,” she heard Dave finally say, though there was no one else left in the room.

  DAY 3

  ALEX

  The next morning, before Alex opened his eyes, he could tell it was still raining. It wasn’t as heavy as it had been throughout the night, but it was still coming down. He had trouble sitting up—his neck and back were very stiff after sleeping curled up in a tub. He looked at his watch: 9:30. He wasn’t sure when he’d fallen asleep, but he felt surprisingly well rested, despite his pains. Shadow had left the tub and curled up on the bathmat.

  He stood up, stretching. Shadow looked up at him and yawned, then did some stretching of her own before walking out of the bathroom. For a moment Alex debated looking out the window to see what had happened to the crashed car. He decided against it and stepped out of the tub. A bitter smell stung his eyes. Had one of those things—covered in all sorts of rancid—gotten in after all? When he put his hand to his chest to catch his breath, his shirt felt damp and crusty. He remembered that he had thrown up twice the night before.

  “Ugh, gross.” He very carefully peeled the shirt off, making sure the crusty-wet parts didn’t touch his face and threw it in the hamper. His jeans were also filthy, so he took them off too. He’d just borrow some clothes from Mark. They were about the same size, though Mark was pretty scrawny. He was sure no one would mind if his clothes didn’t fit so well.

  He found a clean t-shirt in a drawer in Mark’s room. Fortunately, Mark liked to wear his clothes big, so it fit Alex pretty well. All the pants, however, were too small, so he found a pair of jogging pants that stretched to fit him well enough. After putting on clean socks, he was ready to head downstairs to check outside, when something caught his eye.

  A box on top of Mark’s dresser. A shoe box, covered in laundry and magazines. The Adidas logo on the side made him look. He remembered Mark telling him about a pair of shoes that he wanted, but they didn’t have his size, so his mom bought him a pair he could grow into. Pulling them out of the box, smelling that new shoe smell, he forgot most of his problems. They were beautiful: white with the black stripes, just like RUN DMC. He put them on and laced them up. Perfect fit.