force of Licorice’s slamming body knocks Franklin onto the ground. But he uses the fall to his advantage. As he hits the ground, Franklin swings the sheath of his cane sword against the side of Licorice’s knee. The candy coating pops open and his kneecap crumbles like a jawbreaker broken against pavement.
Licorice folds over and shrieks with pain. With his upgraded brain working over time, Franklin calculates several strategies to defeat Licorice right there. But Franklin decides to ignore the calculations. Instead, he reacts with his emotions. All of the hate he has ever felt for the candy people fills him. His eyes burn red. His muscles tighten under his sour apple skin.
Franklin gets up and beats Licorice with the sheath of his cane. The sheath is heavy and made of metal. It feels like a thin aluminum baseball bat to Franklin, or a retractable baton. He clubs the creature in the chest repeatedly with it. Screaming in a fury. Licorice screams as his candy chest cracks open. Black powder explodes into the air with every hit. A spider web of fractures spread across his body.
Once the candy is broken apart enough, Franklin stabs his sword through the soft exposed flesh into the chocolate mud. Licorice’s eyes bug out of his head at Franklin. His fingers curling around large chunks of his broken candy shell as his blood leaks out of his wound.
“I will kill you,” Licorice hisses.
Then Franklin tears the blade up Licorice’s torso, cutting through the shattered candy. His intestines spill out of the gash and his heart stops pumping. His black licorice head gurgles at Franklin as it droops to the side, his tootsie roll hat rolls through the chocolate mud.
As Franklin approaches, Troy quivers into a ball. The kid only sees another candy person.
“I’m not one of them,” Franklin says. He puts his cane sword back together and then kneels down to the boy. “I’m human. I’m wearing a disguise.”
Troy backs away from him.
“You know me,” Franklin says. “I live in your neighborhood.”
He shows him his apple red suit jacket. “You used to always make fun of my clothes.”
Troy takes his pair of thick-rimmed glasses out of his pants pocket. They are cracked and bent. When he puts them on his face, his eyes light up as he recognizes Franklin behind the candy coating.
“You’re the fucking old faggot that killed Jimmy!” His eyes go from fearful to enraged.
Troy charges Franklin and tackles him at the knees. Franklin’s false leg twists and he tumbles to the ground. Troy punches him with tiny fists yelling “Motherfucker! Motherfucker!” with tears in his eyes.
Franklin grabs him by the wrists and tells him, “It wasn’t me. I swear. It was one of them.”
They look at Licorice’s corpse.
“I tried to save your brother but I was too late,” Franklin says. “The creature got away just as you arrived.”
The boy tries to break out of Franklin’s grip. “Liar! Motherfucking liar!”
“I avenged his death,” Franklin says. “I followed the creature down here and killed him. I plan to kill all of the candy people.”
Troy stops struggling and cries. Franklin lets him go.
“What the hell are they?” Troy says, rubbing the blood from his forehead.
“They are cannibals,” Franklin says. “They eat children. This is their home.”
“Where did they come from?”
“It doesn’t matter,” Franklin says. “We need to get out of here before any of the others show up.”
Troy nods.
“Do you know the way out of here?”
Troy shakes his head.
“You don’t even remember the direction you came from?”
Troy shakes his head.
Franklin lets out a puff of air. He looks around the landscape, and then turns back to the boy.
“Do you think you can help me carry that body?” Franklin asks, pointing at the corpse.
Troy nods.
“Good. Let’s go.”
They carry Licorice over a few hills back the way Franklin came. When they feel safe enough, Franklin buries the body in a puddle of fudge. Then they head back to Jujy’s house.
“I’m going to have to bring you back with me,” Franklin tells him. “I will hide you in a place where they won’t find you.”
Troy stops. “I want to get out of here. Now.”
“Unless you know the way out, we can’t leave,” Franklin says.
“I don’t want to stay in this place,” Troy says.
Franklin stares down at him. Troy cowers. When he sees Franklin, he still sees a candy person. There’s not much of him left that resembles a human.
“I will make sure nothing happens to you,” Franklin says. “I promise.”
When Franklin arrives back at Jujy’s house, he has no idea where to hide the boy. The house only has two rooms. Jujy would find him if he hid anywhere inside. He has to find him a place to stay outside. Searching around the outside of Jujy’s house, he discovers a crawlspace that goes under the building.
“Climb down in there,” Franklin says.
Troy looks at the hole leading under the house and shakes his head.
“Fuck no,” Troy says. “I don’t like tight spaces.”
“You don’t have a choice.” Franklin pushes him towards the hole. “They will kill you if they find you.”
The kid reluctantly crawls under the house, turns around and looks out of the hole back at Franklin.
“Not many of them come around here,” Franklin says, “so you are probably safe. The one you have to worry about is the woman who lives in this house.”
As Franklin points up at the house, Troy looks up and inches back into the darkness.
“She’s not here now,” Franklin says and the boy stops. “But if you see her you stay hidden. She will kill you if she finds you.”
“Will you kill her like you killed the other one?” Troy asks.
“I don’t know,” Franklin says. “I need her for now. She is the one who put me in this disguise. She is keeping me safe. But I am her prisoner so I need to get back inside before she finds out I was gone.”
Troy nods.
“I’ll check on you when I can. If you get hungry there is chocolate and candy all around here. You can’t survive on candy alone but it will be enough to keep you going for a few days. We’ll get out of here soon, but I need you to stay here and keep quiet until then. Can you do it?”
Troy nods.
Franklin backs away from the hole and returns to Jujy’s house. To reattach the chain to the bed, he uses the hot air from the showerhead to melt the candy chain into something soft and pliable. When he’s back in the bedroom, he holds the link together until it cools down and hardens back into its original shape.
When Jujy returns home, her belly is stretched so large that the candy on her torso is beginning to crack. She is holding her stomach, digging into her skin with her long nails. Rivers of sweat flow down her taffy skin.
She looks at Franklin with a cringing face. Franklin asks her what is wrong.
“It’s coming out,” she says.
Franklin goes to her. “Already?”
As Franklin helps her into the bedroom, he’s able to feel her human muscles flexing beneath the sweat- drenched taffy skin. Her temperature has risen, causing her candy coating to become softer than usual. In the bedroom, she kicks the marshmallow puppy off of his doggy bed so that she can squat down over it.
“You’re going to have it on the dog’s bed?” Franklin asks.
“It’s not a dog bed,” she says. “It’s a baby bed.”
The candy woman spreads her legs and squats over the round mattress. She has Franklin hold her blue hand
