“Stop,” Nicole said. “He’s right.” She went back to her examination. “He is really small and skinny, like he hasn’t been eating. Probably came in looking for food.” She handed the cat back to Ryan. “There you go. Ryan? When did you get the cat?”
Ryan motioned for her to come closer, so she crawled in. Nicole whispered and waited.
Maybe he can talk after all.
Alex’s thought was confirmed when Nicole stood back up. “He says he first saw her—sorry, him—two days ago when we went out to rescue you,” she said to Alex. “But he only started feeding him yesterday.”
“How come we never saw him?” asked David.
“Maybe it doesn’t like all the noise that some people make,” Kaitlyn answered, glaring at Alex.
“Oh, whatever,” Alex said. “Hey, Ryan? Can I see your cat to show some people that it likes me?” He looked back up, “You’ll see. Animals love me. So, Ryan? Can I see the cat? Please?”
Nicole grabbed him by the arm and pulled him back up. “Actually,” she said with that smile that he was growing to hate, “she’s right. He runs away when there’s too much noise. This time he got caught because there were people everywhere. Which,” she added crossing her arms, “is another reason why everyone should just shut up.”
“Okay,” David said, now lying on the floor, as he examined a stain on his shirt, “but where did the cat come from?”
“He doesn’t know,” Nicole said. “He just found him downstairs and took him up—”
“Downstairs?” David burst out, causing the cat to bolt out of the room. “When was Ryan downstairs?”
Nicole looked down at him. “Ryan probably does all kinds of things when we’re not looking.” She looked back into the fort. “He’d go nuts if he just stayed in there.”
“So, the kid that lives in the box made of cushions isn’t nuts?” Kaitlyn asked.
Alex stepped forward, getting between Nicole and Kaitlyn. “He’s not nuts. He’s been through a lot, that’s all.”
For a moment, everyone stopped and watched. Alex didn’t feel angry anymore, nor was he instigating. He was just sticking up for Ryan.
“Sorry,” Kaitlyn said after a moment of staring into his face. “I didn’t—”
“Don’t say sorry to me,” Alex cut her off. “Tell Ryan.”
“What?”
“Tell Ryan you’re sorry.”
“Okay,” she said. She crouched down to talk to Ryan.
Alex looked up and Nicole gave him a quick nod and a smile. He smiled back, knowing he had done well.
“I really didn’t mean that he was nuts,” Kaitlyn said as she stood up. “Just ...”
“Yeah, whatever,” Alex cut her off again. “Just be careful, okay?”
“Yeah,” she said, looking at her feet. “I ... we ... me and Hannah ... we know what he’s going through. What you’re all going through.”
“Oh yeah?” said Alex. He sat on the floor and looked up at Kaitlyn, waiting for her story. Everyone else looked to her as well.
“We were at Colby,” she started. Hannah squirmed against her as they all sat down.
“It’s okay,” Nicole said. “You don’t have to tell that part. David and I were there too.” She looked down at Hannah. “Your sister doesn’t need to hear about it again, anyway.”
“Oh,” Kaitlyn said, looking down at Hannah. “No. I guess not. I’ll just ... skip that bit.”
Hannah clung to Kaitlyn as she continued with her story.
KAITLYN
When Kaitlyn finished, they all sat in silence.
Hannah had been weeping throughout the story, and now she mumbled, “Daddy. Where’s Daddy?”
Kaitlyn looked around the group, hoping that someone would have a better answer than the nothing she could offer. She caught Nicole’s eye; normally she would have backed away from a girl like Nicole—with her mass of tangled black hair, pale skin, and far too much dark makeup around her eyes, she almost looked like a bad impression of those things outside. However, when Nicole nodded, she felt comforted that someone knew what to say.
“We weren’t all here originally,” Nicole started, sounding hopeful. “And there must be other people out there—people like your daddy—and they will find us soon. All we have to do is be found! It’s not that hard,” she smiled. “After all, we found Alex, and he’s an idiot!”
“Hey!” Alex shot back.
“But, his dog—that’s Shadow, she’s down the hall—she led us to him and we saved him. So, she’s actually a really nice, good dog,” Nicole said to Hannah, using her kind voice again. “She could have left Alex out there. I would have.”
“Hey!” Alex interjected again.
“But no. The dog saved his life,” Nicole continued, ignoring him. “She would probably do the same for me and David and Ryan and you and Kaitlyn.”
The little girl started crying.
“What?” Nicole said, looking to Kaitlyn. “Can we not even talk about the dog?”
“I don’t know,” she said, leaning over to Hannah. “What’s wrong?”
“David,” she said, tears rolling down her face.
“Yeah?” David said, looking at the little girl.
“He makes me cry sometimes too, Hannah,” Nicole said with a smile. “He does that to people. You’ll get used to it.”
Kaitlyn hugged Hannah tightly against her. Hannah turned her face away from the group, pushing it into Kaitlyn’s side. She could feel her warm little tears soaking through. “It’s not him,” she said. “Her dad ... her dad’s name was David too,” she whispered.
The group sat in silence for a moment. Finally, Alex said, “Her dad’s name IS David, right?”
“Right,” Kaitlyn said, looking at him. She didn’t know why there were tears in his eyes too.
“So,” David jumped in. “Anyone seen that cat lately?”
“Why does it matter where the cat came from anyway? It’s here now,” Alex asked, wiping his eyes.
Nicole and David looked at each other; a look of worry. “Because,” Nicole answered, “if the cat is getting in and out, that means other things can get in too.”
ALEX
No one saw the cat for the rest of the day.
They spent the day making space for the new residents. When sleeping spaces were discussed, Alex did not mention his separate rooms idea. He’d realized he felt more comfortable with everyone all together; there was safety in numbers.
He did notice that Nicole gave him a funny look when the topic came up. Maybe she heard after all.
David told Alex he felt confident that all the rooms they used upstairs were secure, but he was not at all certain about the other rooms on that floor, not to mention the entire first floor and the basement. He didn’t want to look around either lower floor, so he and Alex opted to thoroughly search the second.
They got another room open—the room across the hall from “the hard way”—as they searched for the cat. Using a screwdriver and hammer, along with a bit more determination than before, David cracked the door open. A few folding tables stood around the room, each surrounded by five or six cushioned chairs. Evidently this room was being used as some kind of lounge, or very relaxed classroom.
In the far corner was something that made both boys grin widely as they ran for it.
NICOLE
From the bedroom, Nicole stared toward the street at the mudmen, wondering when they would clear away. She lifted her eyes, looking into the sky; at the tops of trees; at the clouds, trying to ignore the creatures, and the whole situation. She imagined this was a window at her house and she was looking out at a normal day as she waited for her parents to come home. Or, maybe they were coming to pick her up at Aunt Carol’s. Aunt Carol. With those eyes. Coming after me. After everyone. Her daydream stopped as she heard a rumbling, crashing noise coming from the hallway. It startled her so much that she smacked the top of her head on the window.
“What the hell—?” She ran to see what the commotio
n was.
“Okay, let go halfway down this time!” Alex said from his place in a wheeled office chair.
David ran, pushing it along, both boys laughing hysterically. He let go, and watched as its passenger rolled noisily down the next ten feet of hallway before it sharply veered right and hit the wall, spilling the still-laughing Alex to the floor.
Nicole stomped down the hall toward the boys, a slight throbbing in her head. “You are both morons!”
“You both have to let go at the same time.” Nicole instructed the boys as she sat in the office chair. “Or I’ll hit the wall, too. So run, count to three out loud, then let go, okay?’
She saw Kaitlyn and Hannah emerge from the bedroom to see what all the noise was about. They were smiling—a little—and looked more relaxed than she’d seen them since they arrived. “Hey! You two! Move or you’re gonna get run over!”
Both girls laughed, and then ran down the hall to watch the fun from a safe spot.
The five spent the rest of the afternoon playing with the chair and making forts in the new room out of the folding tables. Being kids. Nicole checked on Ryan a few times; she noticed that Alex did the same. No one worried about responsibilities or arguments for a few hours. No one worried about the things outside who, despite all the noise coming from the second floor of the community centre, soon cleared off again.
To keep the impromptu fun-day going, they cracked open the portable stove and cooked hotdogs for lunch, and then again for supper. Everyone took turns. The hotdogs ended up a little burnt and shrivelled and tasting a hint like kerosene; the buns were a few days past stale; the mustard was runny, and the ketchup was coming out in semi-dry splatters. Everything was delicious.
Nicole noticed that Alex shared his with Shadow when he checked in on her. David, of course, was thrilled to have his favourite meal again.
Full of food, the group lay around the bedroom, telling stories and playing games of twenty questions and I Spy. No one mentioned how strange it was to be doing such things after everything that had happened earlier in the day. The fact that they had come very close to death went unsaid. Later, a few arguments broke out—but they were at the ends of discussions like: who could skate better, or whether The Real Ghostbusters cartoon would be as good as the movie. No one blamed anyone for anything other than who made the office chair go to one side of the hall when it was pushed.
When darkness started to fall, they felt content. For a little while, they got to be themselves; the people they were before they actually met. Before anything had happened.
The next day would go back to their new normal.
DAY 7
ALEX
Alex stretched in the warm sunlight when he awoke. Something felt odd. He looked at the others around him, all still sleeping, and he realized what the strange sensation was: he woke up on his own—not because something terrible had happened.
The others looked like they would stay asleep for a while. David was curled up in the corner, the flashlight lying next to him on top of his book. In the opposite corner lay Kaitlyn and Hannah—Hannah mostly in Kaitlyn’s lap. Next to Ryan’s mat-fort, Nicole slept up against the wall as if she had fallen asleep while keeping guard. In the fort, Ryan lay sleeping. Actually, Alex couldn’t tell. He could have been sleeping, or he could have just had his back to them as he curled up with his new cat.
The cat. It must have come back during the night.
An idea occurred to Alex. He stood up very slowly, keeping his eye on the fort for any movement, then moved, even more slowly and quietly, to the door. Once in the hall, he closed the door behind him; he wanted to keep the cat in there. His sock feet made no noise as he ran down to David’s workshop.
What a mess. David needs to be a bit more organized. He was looking for something very particular, that he had seen on David’s tour, but he couldn’t be certain where anything was in the chaos. He moved broken pieces of lumber, wires, the large springs from the couch, a pile of cans—some full of screws and nails. Then, as if it had been laid out for him at just that moment, he saw what he was looking for.
A ribbon with a bell on it.
Alex had no idea why it was in the building, which is why it stuck out in his memory so clearly. He picked it up and weighed it in his hands. If it was too heavy, the plan wouldn’t work, but it was quite light and the ribbon was the perfect length. He put it in his pocket and quietly made his way back to the bedroom.
After turning the knob ever so gently and pushing the door without a sound, he was back. Everyone was in the same place, but Nicole’s eyes were open, watching him. She looked at him strangely as he tiptoed to the mat-fort.
“What are you doing?” she whispered.
Kaitlyn woke up immediately. “What’s happening?” she asked Nicole, also with a whisper when she saw that Hannah was still asleep on top of her. Hannah stirred, but did not wake.
“I don’t know,” Nicole whispered back. “What are you doing?”
Alex, crouched at the mat-fort, put his finger to his mouth for them to be quiet. This was a very delicate plan. He would not be blamed for scaring off the cat this time. “Ryan?” he whispered into the fort. “Are you awake?”
Ryan turned his head slightly to look over his shoulder. Sunlight glimmered in his eye.
“Wicked. Good morning,” Alex said, as politely as possible. He wasn’t sure how Ryan would react to his plan, especially since he had threatened to get rid of the cat just the day before. “Is the cat in there with you?”
Ryan looked away, then rolled over to face out, taking the sleepy, but now-awake cat with him. The cat stretched, digging his little claws into the boy’s shirt. Ryan smiled.
Alex smiled back. “Great. That’s wicked,” he started, unsure of where to go next. “Um ... can I see him? Like, can I hold him for a sec?”
Ryan squeezed the cat against him. Evidently, he remembered Alex’s threat.
“I’m not going to hurt him. I swear to God.”
Ryan kept squeezing. The little cat tried to wriggle his way out, but Ryan would not let him go.
“That’s okay,” Alex said. “You can hold him, actually. That’s fine.”
“What are you doing?” Nicole demanded, now crouched next to him.
Alex said nothing, but pulled the ribbon with the bell out of his pocket. He let it dangle in front of the cat, whose eyes lit up at the sight of it. “I have a present for him,” Alex said. “It’s a collar. You know, so he can have something to wear.”
Nicole must have immediately clued into his plan, because she said, “It looks really nice. I bet your cat would like to wear it!”
“Yeah,” said Alex, as he stuck his hand into the fort, dangling the bell.
The cat batted at it, making it ring. It wasn’t loud enough to wake everyone up, but it was loud enough for Alex’s plan.
“There,” Nicole said, “see? He totally likes it.”
“Do you want to put it on him, Ryan?” Alex said.
Ryan sat up and took the bell. He stared at the two the bigger kids, then down at the cat who was still swatting at the bell as he purred.
“Ryan?” Alex prompted again. “Maybe you could—?”
Nicole stopped him. “He’ll do it. Don’t worry.”
“Okay,” Alex said, sitting back. He looked into the fort. “I really do like your cat. I promise.”
Ryan smiled. Alex was certain the bell would be tied around the cat’s neck soon enough. Then they could follow the sound to find out where the cat had come from.
The cat stayed in the room for most of the day. Though he wandered in and out of the little fort a few times, he wouldn’t go much farther. Alex grew frustrated. His brilliant idea would be for nothing if the cat got used to them too soon. Though, he thought, the cat will have to go somewhere soon enough. Cats have to wander. All he had to do was wait.
He was not the only one. When David woke up, he questioned why Nicole and Alex were quietly staring at Ryan. When they told him, he di
d the same. Kaitlyn joined them soon afterwards, and eventually so did Hannah. Ryan didn’t seem to care; when he didn’t stare back, he simply ignored them. When boredom got the better of them, they went about their own tasks to fill the time. With the small amounts of food, and even fewer activities, Alex realized that time was one of the only things they had in abundance.
Later, he sought out David and found him in the workroom immersed in building new contraptions.
“What are you doing now?” Alex asked.
“The tables and office chair gave me lots of ideas for projects,” he said. “But I have to finish the the SPLITTER! first, now that I know how to build it.”
“What do you mean? I thought you had it all planned.”
“Yeah, I did. Originally, I wanted it to slice right through the mudmen ... though ... actually seeing that happen would make me lose my lunch, if not my mind. But now we know it just has to damage their heads. Maybe I should make it strong enough to take their heads right off, just to be safe.”
Alex could tell he was forgotten as David went into his own world, but as he turned to go, David mumbled, “I’ll have this done by the end of the day ... assuming nothing else unexpected happens.”
Alex walked into the hallway and could hear the girls’ voices from afar. Nicole had taken Kaitlyn and Hannah to the ground floor.
At first Alex had been surprised that the younger girl was okay with going down there, but he was starting to wonder which of the two girls was actually in charge of the other. Hannah seemed to be the smarter of the two. Plus, it was because of her that they were down there. Growing bored throughout the day, she asked if they had any board games. At first Nicole brushed her off.
Alex overheard her muttering, “Spoiled kid wants it all, now that she’s calmed down.”
But Kaitlyn spoke up. “If Hannah had some games, she’ll be more easily distracted, and less likely to be afraid and prone to screaming.”
“That makes sense,” Nicole admitted. “The same would go for everyone. I remember seeing a plastic bin filled with activities and craft supplies from summer camps. Don’t know if there are games, but there’s only one way to find out.” Hannah volunteered to go with her, so Kaitlyn—despite her apprehension—tagged along as well.
Rise of the Mudmen Page 22