The second plan made more sense, though it would be incredibly unpleasant and terrifying work: hit or impale the heads at much closer range.
No one volunteered.
“You were both willing, albeit begrudgingly, to touch the things before,” Nicole argued. “This new plan is just an extra step.”
“We weren’t killing them before!” David argued.
“You won’t be killing them,” Nicole said, with forced calm. “They’re already dead, remember? You’ll just be making them ... dead-dead.”
Alex nodded, looking at the ground. “Are you sure they’re dead? What if they are alive? What if there’s a cure, or, like, they get over it, or—”
Nicole stopped him. “Alex, they’re dead. Their guts are falling out all over the place. The one in the middle? It looks like his heart is hanging off the end of the stick. If they someday ‘get over it’ they’re dead anyway.”
“But, do we have to be the ones who kill them?” David whined, glancing to the window. He couldn’t see the creatures from where they sat, but he knew they were there. They wouldn’t leave.
“David,” Nicole said, still calm, “be quiet.”
“Don’t tell me to be quiet! I’m just—”
“Be quiet and listen, okay?”
David’s breath grew heavier. He knew tears would soon follow, so he forced himself to get it under control. When his heartbeat and breathing no longer filled his ears, he could hear what Nicole wanted him to hear.
The things outside were moaning. Loudly.
“You hear that, right?” Nicole asked him.
David nodded, wishing he didn’t have to.
“If they keep that up, they’re gonna bring more here. They’re not all going to get caught on that barricade you made. Some are gonna get through. A lot. And once they’re in ...”
She did not have to finish the thought.
David was very familiar with the building. He knew that if the mudmen got through, they were not only trapped—they were doomed.
Though he didn’t like it it, he accepted what they had to do.
He set to work. They needed at least three strong poles, and they needed to make them as heavy and destructive as possible. They had to get near the mudmen, but they didn’t want to get too close.
The difficult part was finding poles that would be long enough. David had found several very early on in his search of the building: handles for shovels, rakes, hockey sticks—all perfect for this idea. Unfortunately, David had not foreseen such a need and had put all the sticks he found into use outside. Many were currently being used as the pikes that held the mudmen. Others held the SMASHER! in place. They had a rake and gardening hoe (though the rake had been left outside when David dropped it in their earlier efforts). The only remaining boards were two-by-fours, which were great for heft and strength, but much more difficult to actually handle. He’d need to alter them to make them easier to hold onto. None of them were willing to stand for a second against those things—even impaled and trapped—without a weapon in their hands.
NICOLE
While David worked on the boards, Alex and Nicole looked through his pile of useful items to find things to put at the end of them. Things that would cause some head damage and kill the mudmen. They had already found a few possibilities. While checking a brick for weight and balance, Nicole heard Alex leave. Satisfied the brick would do, she followed him into the hall.
He stood in the doorway of the bedroom. His eyes didn’t look right. Not sick, just upset. He was looking at Ryan’s mat-fort.
“What’s wrong with that kid?” he asked, as Nicole got close to him.
Nicole felt a wave of anger sweep over her for some reason. “He’s not ‘that kid’. He’s Ryan, and he’s been here longer than you. YOU are ‘that kid’! Okay?”
“Okay. Sorry, geez. I just—”
“And what’s wrong with him?” She cut him off, feeling a great need to defend the youngest boy. “You know how you’re all upset because you haven’t seen your dad since this all started? Which, by the way, is a lot more than me and David have seen of our parents! Ryan saw his dad since then. Saw him two days ago.”
“Where is he?”
Suddenly, upon hearing the question, Nicole grew less upset—at least, less upset at Alex. She realized that he, too, was defenceless, and very naive about all that happened. “He saw his dad turn,” she said calmly. “He saw him die, and then he saw him turn. Ryan’s dad almost killed him—almost killed me—at the school. He ... he had a hold of me, and he had a hold of Ryan and he ... he got … he killed ...” She couldn’t think of the words to express what she had seen, what had happened. The encounter with Ryan’s father. The teacher. The looks on their faces. The tunnel. Those things following her to Colby.
“Are you okay?” Alex asked, pulling her back from her thoughts.
She felt a tear run down her cheek, and quickly wiped it away. “He’s been like this ever since. That’s what’s wrong with him.”
ALEX
As she turned away, Alex heard her sniffing back more tears. Part of him wanted to go after her, to help her, to say something nice to make her feel better, but he figured that she didn’t want that. Not from him. She wanted to be alone. Or maybe she needed to talk to her brother. Either way, he would let her go do what she needed to do.
Instead, he slowly walked into the bedroom. He kept his eyes on
