“Yes, you do,” she replied, still looking down.
“But—”
“If you just make noise, they’ll figure out that’s all you’re doing,” she said, looking into her brother’s eyes. “As dumb as they are, I think they have that figured out. We need them to think you’re actually ...” She let the words hang.
David did not. “Food. They need to think they can actually eat me.”
Nicole nodded at his frankness. “But,” she added, “the fence will hold them. They can’t get you. You know that.”
“No, we just think that,” David said, looking down. “There’s never been that many down there. There’s ...” he quickly counted, “thirteen! Thirteen!”
“Lucky thirteen!” Nicole joked.
“Not funny.”
“Don’t worry, it won’t be thirteen for long,”
“Not funny!”
“It’ll be like thirty soon.”
“Stop it!”
“Maybe forty.”
“I swear to God I’ll push you down there right now!”
Nicole looked at her brother as the moans from outside filled the silence. “Be careful.”
David nodded. “You too.”
She was just about to leave when David gave her a quick hug. When the instant of surprise passed, she hugged him back.
“I’m not getting off the ladder,” David said, sniffling.
“Just as long as you’re down there making noise,” Nicole replied.
They both let go of the hug simultaneously.
“Well,” she said turning to leave, “have fun!”
KAITLYN
“HEY!” the shouting from outside continued. “HE-EEEY!”
“What’s happening?” she asked Hannah, whose face was pressed against the cold window.
“I don’t know,” the younger girl replied, her eyes darting back and forth. “Someone out there is yelling.”
“I know that!” Kaitlyn said, forgetting to whisper. “But who? And why?”
“I don’t know. I can’t see anyone.” She sat back from the window. “Do you think it’s the people from across the street?”
“Why would they be yelling?” Kaitlyn asked, unsure why she doubted the suggestion. Other than her mother and Dave she had seen no other people. It just didn’t make sense for them to be yelling outside.
“HEY!”
“I think they wanted us to stop screaming so that the bad people would stop coming,” Hannah said.
“Exactly,” said Kaitlyn. “Then why would they start—”
Before she could finish, the answer came from outside.
“HEY! HEY! MUDMEN! OVER HERE!”
“They’re calling them,” Kaitlyn answered herself, her voice rising with excitement. “They’re making them leave us alone!” She almost ran to the window in excitement. When the door shoved in a few inches, her excitement faded back into fear.
Right, she thought. Keep your voice down.
“Shh,” Hannah said, back to the window. “Just listen. We’re not alone after all.” She gave Kaitlyn a watery smile.
Kaitlyn focused on the voice, trying to block out the growls. The door remained open, just a crack with four bloody fingers crushed against the frame, getting a better grip on the door.
ALEX
Waiting in the darkness of the front lobby with Nicole, Alex felt terrible at having made the other boy the decoy. He could hear David trying to get the mudmen’s attention, but he was yelling, not screaming. If he started calling their names, that was when they had to turn back. It would mean that the mudmen had gotten through somehow. But it wouldn’t come to that. The whole plan would be over in five minutes, tops. Just that simple.
“How’s it look out there?” Alex asked, to get his mind off the plan’s weak points.
Nicole lifted the board ever so carefully and peered out, a faint line of light shining onto her face. “It actually looks like it’s working. There’s ... well, there’s less of them.”
“Less,” Alex repeated, “but still some?”
Nicole sighed. “Yup.”
After another moment of dark silence, Nicole took a deep breath. “Okay.” Alex saw that she was shaking. So was he. “Five minutes?” she asked, as if looking for reassurance. Reassurance that it would work. Reassurance that they would not die.
“Five minutes,” Alex said firmly, looking for the same. Even as he said it, his watch alarm beeped: 7:15 a.m.
“Okay,” Nicole replied, “let’s go.”
Nicole slowly cracked the door open, letting in faint light. Thankfully, there were no mudmen around. They headed into the parking lot, which had quickly become so unknown and foreign.
Six mudmen remained. Of those six, one had impaled itself on the pikes with the previous four. No wonder the rest of them showed up ... with the smell out here, Alex thought, realizing they had forgotten to clean them up.
Only five were left who could get at them.
They were ready to swing and bash some skulls.
The mudmen ignored them.
“Are ... are they scared of us?” Alex whispered, as he and Nicole stood in the parking lot. “Like, are they scared ‘cause of what we did to the other ones?” He pointed at the dead-dead group on the pikes.
Nicole looked at the five wandering mudmen. “Maybe they can’t see us because we’re not moving?”
“Oh, okay,” Alex said. “So ... how do we move if we can’t move?”
“We just have to move really, really slow,” Nicole said as she took a single, small step.
“Right,” Alex whispered and did the same.
They inched their way across the parking lot, keeping an eye on the wandering mudmen, who were seemingly unaware of the food source so nearby.
Suddenly Nicole stopped.
“What?” asked Alex, as he approached.
“I think,” she started, looking at the nearest mudman, “they’re just stupid.”
“They’re not attacking us ... because they’re stupid?” Alex asked, confused. “So, it has nothing to do with us moving fast or slow?”
“No, I wouldn’t say—” Nicole started. She stopped when Alex ran a few steps.
At the sound of his feet hitting the pavement, the mudmen all turned to them. Both kids froze.
“Nice job, moron!” Nicole yelled.
Alex said nothing as he tried to figure a way out of the situation. Nothing came to him.
“Well, keep running!” Nicole yelled as she ran by. “Pretty much have to, now!”
He made it two more steps before he tripped—one of his pads came loose. He rolled, coming to a halt when he hit the curb. He extended his hand when he heard footsteps coming, hoping for some help to his feet, but it wasn’t Nicole who stood above him. It was one of them.
He screamed once, very briefly, stopping when the mudmen went limp
