“How long did it take you to—?” he couldn’t really finish the question since he had no real idea of what any of it meant.
“Not long!” David laughed. “It’s called the SPLICER! Or the SPLITTER!” He paused, with a serious look. “I’m not sure which one sounds better, but I’m thinking SPLITTER! actually.”
As he continued explaining, growing increasingly excited, Alex got the impression that David hadn’t talked to anyone else in a while. Other than his sister, of course, and based on what he had learned about Nicole, maybe not even her. When he noticed that David had stopped talking and was waiting for some kind of reaction, Alex blurted out the first thing that popped into his head. “What does it do?”
“Well,” David sighed, deflated “it splits things.” Alex said nothing, so he continued. “It’s ... it’s like a big arm—that’s what this thing here is,” he shoved Alex aside and pointed at the drawing—a long piece extended from the main body of the machine. “And it’s got a big blade at the end.”
Alex remembered David swinging the paper-cutter blade around like a sword. “Whoa! That thing was, like, two feet long!”
“Well, eighteen inches,” David corrected, “but yeah. It’d definitely do some damage with some of those springs attached! They don’t look like much, but they have a lot of spring left in ‘em!”
“Wicked,” Alex replied. He looked at David, apprehensively. “Will it work?”
“Of course! I wouldn’t build it if it didn’t work.”
“Yeah,” Alex said, a bit unsure. “But, have you ever built anything like that before? I mean, I saw the SMASHER! thing outside, but that’s different, I guess. It just smashes, right? This looks ... complicated.” He looked back at the pile of rolled plans. “And are you even sure it would smash anything?”
“What?” David gasped.
Alex realized he had likely insulted the boy. He was not having a lot of luck with either of these kids.
“Did you see that thing up there? How could it not work? It took the two of us to lift it up there with ropes and stuff! If it swung down, the force of the wood alone would tear someone’s head off, but all those spikes and stuff? That would destroy them!”
“Okay,” Alex replied, not sure any of that counted as proof.
“Look,” David shook his head, “it doesn’t really matter. The reason we don’t know if it works is that no one has gotten to it yet. The barricades and spikes and stuff have kept them all from even getting near it, and that’s a good thing.”
Alex nodded.
“And if they do get through that? SMASH!” David swung his arms in an explosive demonstration.
Even though he still wasn’t one hundred percent sure it would work, Alex couldn’t help but picture the large SMASHER! hitting a row of the mudmen and sending them all flying. It wasn’t the SMASHER! that lingered in his mind, but rather its intended targets.
“David,” Alex started, unsure of what he wanted to ask. “Those things ... you guys called them deadies, right?”
“Yeah. Well, Nicole did. I didn’t really call them anything. I like mudmen better. It’s apt, I think.”
“But,” Alex continued slowly, “you think that they’re actually, you know ... dead?”
David paused for so long Alex was certain he wasn’t going to say anything. His eventual answer wasn’t much better. “I don’t know. Probably. I think so. I saw some at St. Joe’s ... the hospital ... thing ... before they started attacking people. They looked dead ... before they got back up.”
The mention of the school—where the evacuation centre was; where he had visited just the day before to witness the aftermath of the outbreak and fire—made him remember.
That’s where my dad was.
Tears started to blur his eyes. He sniffed them back so that David wouldn’t see. “Did you ... did you see my dad at the school?” He watched David’s confused face for a moment before he realized that they barely knew each other—why would David know what his dad looked like?
“He’s tall. Kinda skinny. He was wearing ...” Alex tried to think back to the last time he had seen him for something to help with his embarrassingly vague description. The morning that all of this started. It was only four days ago, but it seemed much longer. “... a shirt and tie. I think it was blue and red? Blue shirt and red tie?” He nodded as if assuring himself that the description was accurate. “Did you see him? He probably had my sister with him. She’s a baby.”
David paused again, but Alex could tell he was trying to think back. Maybe he has a telegraphic memory, or whatever it’s called.
“I don’t know,” David eventually shrugged. “There were a lot of people there, and a lot of them were looking for their families and friends. Your dad was probably one of them.”
This wasn’t helping. Wiping his eyes, Alex knew his next question, though he didn’t want to ask it. “Before they ... attacked everyone ... did anyone ... did anyone else…?”
“A bunch of people got away,” David said, putting his hand on Alex’s shoulder. “If he’s anything like you, which would make sense since he’s your dad, then he probably got away and hid. Just like you did.”
Alex nodded, looking at the floor, sniffing, no longer trying to hide his tears. David had seen them and he was trying to be reassuring—to be helpful—so, no sense in shutting him out. He had one more question, but he kept his eyes on the floor. “Where are they now?”
David paused. “I don’t know.” He looked at
