“I don’t know!” Kaitlyn said, almost afraid to look. She picked herself up, her limbs aching from the strain she had just put them through, and moved slowly to the window. Outside she couldn’t see much. Just darkness.
Hannah pressed up against her, sobbing and holding her as tightly as she could.
Then Kaitlyn saw it.
A light.
Someone is out there with a light! she thought, with hope. Mom, or Dave, or anyone!
It was someone with a light and they would help them.
For a moment Kaitlyn and Hannah watched the light coming from the building across the street. Occasionally, it bounced off glass. They both started yelling.
“Help!”
“We’re over here!”
“Help us!”
When the light finally stayed on them, they screamed harder.
They continued to scream and cry as those things crashed and stomped downstairs.
NICOLE
“Holy crap!” Alex said. “It ... it blew them apart!”
“Blew what apart?” Nicole said, still comforting Ryan. “What are you guys seeing?”
David moved the beam around. “Well,” he started, “there’s a leg. Just standing there. And ... bits of others.”
“Other what?”
“Other—them. Mudmen. Lots of pieces. And ... oh ... there’s a full one. Well ... mostly full. He’s ... he’s a head and a body ... no arms or legs, though. He ... he got blown apart.”
“That’s ... that’s crazy,” Alex said, sounding more confused than impressed.
“There’s blood everywhere!” David said, continuing his report. “It’s ... just a sec.” He moved the beam back to the SMASHER! “Yeah, there’s blood coming off of it, and there’s little pieces of ... stuff stuck to it. And ... woah, the blood goes far!” He moved the light in a straight line from the SMASHER! farther out into the parking lot. “It must have thrown them right across the—”
Nicole waited for him to finish the sentence.
He didn’t.
“Across the what?” she waited, but got no response. “David? Across the what?”
“Um ... Nicole?” It was Alex who responded. “Come here.”
“I’m kinda busy right now.”
Alex turned to face her. “Nicole. Come here. Please.”
His face held something urgent. She gave Ryan a hug, “Stay here, okay?” As if on cue, Shadow walked over to them; Nicole felt her tail against her leg. “Okay, yeah,” she said with a smile. “Stay with the dog. She’ll protect you.” She couldn’t see the boy’s face, but he reached out a tentative hand to pet Shadow. He’d be okay for the time being.
This better not be something gross, she thought as she approached the window. If they just want me to see a bunch of arms or a pile of heads or something ...
Her mind went blank as she looked out into the street.
The first thing she noticed was the mudmen. Still moving. A lot of them. The SMASHER! might have killed a few—maybe four or five—but there were at least twenty more of them out there, still moving around.
But that wasn’t what kept her from speaking.
At the end of their beam of light, just a little over a hundred feet away, was the house across the street. It had a splatter on it, likely from what the SMASHER! had just smashed. In the upstairs window, two pale faces stared out. They, too, were looking down at the carnage in the beam of light.
Two little girls.
Above the gurgling, sloppy moans coming from the street, she could hear them screaming.
They stared in shock for a few silent moments. As far as Nicole knew, none of them had seen any other people—any living people—since they had all come together.
“Who are they?” asked Alex.
“How long have they been there?” asked Nicole.
“Have they been watching us the whole time?” asked David.
No one answered; they just stared as the two girls kept screaming. The sound was audible, but they couldn’t make out any actual words. One thing was clear: the more noise they made, the more the mudmen were drawn to them. More and more shambled toward the house.
Nicole grabbed the flashlight away from David. “They need to shut up,” she said, flashing the beam of light at the creatures as they moved across the street. “Those things are headed right for them. And ...” She found the broken window. “... they can get in!”
“We gotta help them!” David said, in a loud whisper.
“Well, duh, spaz” said Nicole. “We can’t just leave ‘em there.” She paused, and narrowed her eyes at her brother. “Happy now? You know your SMASHER works.” She turned back to the window as his eyes widened and his head hung.
The girls continued calling out. The mudmen continued their approach.
“They need to stop screaming for starters,” said Nicole. She waved her arms and the flashlight frantically at the girls. With the light in her own face she mouthed the words ‘STOP SCREAMING!’
They kept screaming.
“They either can’t see me, or they don’t care,” she said, shaking her head. “Or, you know, they’re terrified.”
“I think they’re terrified,” said Alex.
Nicole sighed, shaking her head. “Yeah, I know. Never mind.” She shone the flashlight back on the girls. The older one was now looking behind her. “Okay, so what can we do? They need to stop making so much noise.”
All three thought for a moment.
“A-ha!” exclaimed David suddenly, grabbing the flashlight from his sister. He began flicking the button on and off at the girls across the street.
“What are you doing?” Nicole demanded.
“Morse code!” David said with a smile.
“You don’t know Morse code!”
“Yeah, but they might!”
“That doesn’t make any sense!”
Alex put his hand the flashlight. “David, stop it.” He directed the light to the ground. Some of the mudmen had noticed the flashing and were headed back toward them.
KAITLYN
“What’s happening?” asked Hannah. “Why are they flashing the light so much?”
“I think it’s Morse code.”
“What’s More’s code?”
“It’s something you do with lights. I don’t know.”
The noises downstairs grew louder. Smashing, crunching, glass shattering. Footsteps on the staircase.
They were coming for them, and Kaitlyn knew that they wouldn’t stop. With each step they heard, the girls grew more frantic. Why aren’t they doing anything? Kaitlyn wondered. Maybe they’re just like the others. Maybe the building across the street is
