Matt: She died in Chapter Nine.
I am a burglar: Ugh...
Godzilla183: Thanks.
This past year, and especially this Halloween Night, I'd seen some scary stuff.
I'd witnessed Mud Monsters crawl out of their boggy graves. I'd seen my neighborhood flooded with ravenous monsters. I'd even a few of my classmates, some of whom I grew up with, some of whom I liked, and others I didn't so much, get dragged to their doom.
None of that held a candle to what I bore witness to at this very moment.
It was a Mud Monster, just like all the others I'd seen tonight. But this one was. . . different.
It was massive, towering over all of the other Mud Monsters. Jagged, crooked teeth protruded from the ridges of its massive jaws. But most notably, its hide was riddled with knives.
And its pitch black eye sockets were unlike the empty ones I'd seen from the other Mud Monsters. Within these eyes, I saw the cold, hateful, furious eyes of a murderer, the type of eyes I knew had existed long before he had died.
It was the Butcher. Old Man Butcher.
And he was a Mud Monster.
For a few moments, I was simply frozen still, petrified. I tried to find the will to move, to run, to do anything, but it was like I'd looked into the eyes of a gorgon. All I could do was stare in silent horror as Mud Monster Butcher raised its massive arms, slime dripping from its wrist, and brought it down upon my head.
A sudden force slammed into me, knocking me out of the Mud Monster's swing. Landing on the ground hard, I looked up to see Courtney lying upon me, sweat dripping from her forehead.
It took a few moments for us to process the position we were in. When it did, terror was replaced by immature embarrassment, and the two of us scrambled to untangle ourselves.
Glancing to the side, Courtney noticed three figures lying on the ground in the middle of the hallway. "It's your brother!" She said to me.
I whipped my head around to where Courtney was pointing and saw them. For a moment, I was worried that they were dead, but to my luck, Kevin and his friends were breathing. However, upon squinting my eyes further, I saw that they were covered in mud.
"Kevin!" I shouted, and was about to rush to my feet when the shadow of Mud Monster Butcher loomed over me. As I looked up to him, Courtney stepped between us, brandishing the gun and knife.
"Go free your brother!" She commanded, keeping her eyes on the Butcher. "I'll deal with him!"
For a moment, I simply lay crouched on my knees, insure of what to do. Courtney responded to my hesitance by roughly kicking me with her heel, and I immediately scrambled over to my brother and his friends.
"Get this off of me, Bugs!" Kevin pleaded. "Please!"
"Alright, alright!" I shouted, panicked. Quickly, I started ripping the hard mud off of my brother with my bare hands, freeing him. As I was about to move on to his friends, I looked around and asked, "Where's the lighter?"
"Vic has it," Kevin said, his upper body free.
"Right!" I said, and rushed to Vic's side. "Don't worry, Vic, I'll have you free in a moment!"
"Quickly!" Vic cried, tears in his eyes. "Before I become monster-ized!"
Nearby, Courtney faced off against the Butcher. The massive Mud Monster growled and lumbered forward, towering over the blonde. Courtney stepped back; though she tried to look brave, she could barely hide her fear.
Without warning, Mud Monster Butcher made a quick lunge at her. Without hesitation, Courtney fired the bullet into his abdomen. The Mud Monster stumbled backwards, only to keep on going, unaffected.
Courtney stepped back, her entire body quaking. Veins began to appear on her forehead as her confidence deteriorated at an alarming rate. She continued firing, only for a swipe from Old Man Butcher's arm to send the gun clattering onto the ground. He then reached for Courtney, but she raised her knife and slashed his arm, causing the Mud Monster to let out a deep howl of pain, jerking his arm back.
"Courtney!" I shouted, turning back towards her, horrified.
"Hey, don't just stand there, free me!" Vic shouted, still half-covered in mud.
"Do as he says!" Courtney demanded, even though I could hear the vulnerability in her voice. Fighting back my urge to intervene, I reluctantly resumed scraping the mud covering Vic.
Courtney turned back to Old Man Butcher, ready to resume the scuffle, but was befuddled to see the monster letting out a strange noise. It took a moment for her to realize that it was laughter.
Then, before Courtney could react, the Mud Monster let out a belching sound and unleashed a torrent of mud out of its jaws. The force of the blow collided with Courtney, knocking her backwards. She slid over the mud, skidding over to where me, Kevin and his friends were, and slammed right into me, throwing me off of Vic.
As we came to a stop, we heard groaning sounds coming from the end of the hallway. Looking up, we could just barely make out the silhouette of the Mud Monster horde approaching us, no doubt having heard the scuffle.
Mouthing a swear word, I scrambled to my feet. "Vic, pass me the lighter!" I called out. Using his free arm, Vic hurled the lighter towards me. Catching it, I quickly ignited it and whirled upon the horde, ready to throw it. Before I could, however, I was grabbed by the wrist and lifted into the air. The figure holding me turned me around, revealing Mud Monster Butcher.
We locked us, my fearful eyes gazing into his black, empty ones. He let out a deep howl and brought me closer, his jaws hanging open as if to devour me.
Suddenly, someone pounced onto the Butcher's back, nearly knocking him forward. My eyes widened. It was Courtney.
Ripping out one of the knives lodged in his back, Courtney wrenched her arm back, and plunged it deep into the Butcher's empty eye socket. The Butcher threw back his head and let out a howl, dropping both of us onto the ground.
The lighter clattered onto the ground. Quickly, I snatched it up, evading the Butcher as he stumbled about in agony. Behind me, Kevin had finished freeing his friends. "Eddie, let's go, now!" He called out to me. Vic and Gregory were already running.
Whipping around to face the horde of Mud Monsters, I growled out, "Fire in the whole!"
Then I threw the lighter.
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