The Spooky Bloodspread

Chapter 11: Gummed Up the Works

The three kids slowly made their way across the abandoned neighborhood. It was also about to rain. As they kept walking, Skid suddenly couldn't move. Something under his left foot was preventing him from following his friends.

"Uh, Susie? Pump? I think I got stuck," he called to his siblings.

They turned around and saw him trying to tug his foot free from whatever was holding it down.

"Did you step on gum?" Pump asked.

"I don't know, but it's a lot stickier than normal," Skid responded.

He tried to lift his foot up to get a better glimpse. It still remained down there. He tried twisting it to reveal what was underneath it. It was held securely in place.

Susie and Pump went up and tried in vain to pull him out. This "gum" was a lot stickier than normal gum.

Susie remembered something. "You have a crowbar, don't you?" she asked.

Skid nodded in realization, pulled it out of his bag and wedged it in between the gum and his foot. Twisting it and pushing through to pry himself free, it was a bit difficult. In fact, that didn't work, as the crowbar got stuck too.

Susie and Pump pushed down on the crowbar to try and push Skid's foot out, but after pushing it down a little too much...

"Aah... aah- OW! OW OW OW, GUYS STOP! OWWWWW!!!" Skid yelped, immediately causing his siblings to stop.

"Sorry," they both apologized. Susie looked down at Skid's foot, and there was now a bit of blood in the gum. She and Pump accidentally pushed down so hard, the flat end of the crowbar dug into the bottom of Skid's foot, cutting him.

Skid started crying, both in pain and hopelessness.

"I'm not gonna make it out..." he sobbed. "I'm just... I'm gonna be stuck here forever..."

"Skid, no no no, stop, it's gonna be okay, we'll get you out," Susie reassured her little brother. "Hmmmm... we should get the crowbar first, then you hold on to one end, I'll hold the other, and maybe that will get you outta there."

Susie and Pump tugged on the crowbar, this time being careful so they wouldn't hurt him accidentally again. That came out easier than expected, surprisingly.

Skid grabbed the hook end of the crowbar, and his siblings pulled him again, putting as much effort into their attempts to save Skid as they could. Sweat rolled down their faces, but Skid wouldn't budge one bit.

After a while, all three of them got exhausted from pulling. That certainly wasn't gum under Skid's foot.

"Oh, what's the use?!" Skid wept. "I'm not gonna be able to go with you guys!"

"Skid, calm down, it's okay," Pump said. "I'll try and find something else to use to get you out of there."

But before Pump could go anywhere, thunder boomed. It started raining.

"Hey wait, maybe the rain can loosen me up a little!" Skid exclaimed.

It did... a little, just like he said. But it also caused the "gum" to expand and spread, so now BOTH his feet were stuck!

"Oh my god are you KIDDING me?!" Skid shouted. This situation just got stickier.

Suddenly, the gum started to crawl up his legs.

"Aah- NO! GET IT OFF ME!!!" Skid screamed, swatting at the gum. His hand got stuck when it reached his torso.

Susie and Pump grabbed Skid's other hand and resumed pulling.

"Too... sticky... can't... pull... harder..." Pump grunted. "I can't... hold... on..."

The gum spread up to his head now, and it seemed to be saving the face for last.

"GUYS, IS IT EATING ME?!" Skid panicked. "I THINK-"

The gum suddenly shot out from under Skid's feet, fully absorbing him. Susie was still holding Skid's hand sticking out. The force of the sudden movement knocked Pump out of Skid's grip.

"SKID!!! SUSIE!!!" Pump called tearfully.

Lightning crackled through the sky and struck the gum, also electrocuting Skid and Susie, causing the latter to let go and fall. Pump emptied the bag and used it to catch her by wadding it up like a pile of laundry. She landed safely and comfortably on it, but she was barely alive.

Suddenly, the gum began morphing into a familiar shape. Said shape resembled a young adult man in a candy store uniform... only 27 feet taller than normal. Other candies, like chocolates, gummies, peppermints, candy corn, taffy and even licorice were present on the man, as well as some human innards.

"Did you miss me, kids?" the man boomed. "Because your ol' friend Kevin sure missed you!"

"LET SKID GO NOW!!!" Pump screamed.

"I'm sorry, I can't hear you from up here! I'm too busy making your friend a delicacy!" Kevin shouted. "Although... you look pretty tasty too! Looks like I'm gonna sprinkle some pumpkin spice on my sugar skulls tonight!"

Pump had to think fast, but it was even harder since he not only had to save Skid, but he also had to heal Susie.

Eventually once he saw Susie shivering, he found a blanket and put it over her. She barely woke up. She was cold, wet, tired and weak.

"Urgh... Pump... just... run..." she muttered.

"No, I'm not leaving you both behind!" Pump protested. He grabbed a gun that fell out of the bag and shot it at Kevin. He took the bullet no problem.

Kevin then bent down and snatched Pump up in his sticky, fleshy hand. He couldn't escape. He was slowly lifted off the ground. He squirmed around, but it was no use. Kevin opened what appeared to be a 3rd nostril in his gumdrop nose, and out crawled about 100 gummy maggots.

"Eat up, my children!" Kevin laughed. "Grind the pumpkin into the spiciest seasoning you can!"

The maggots slowly crawled across Kevin's arm and towards Pump, who was crying.

But just as the maggots started to crawl up Pump's face, a tall tree was struck by lightning, causing it to fall right on top of Kevin. The tree made him topple over, but the immediate lightning strike to the eye afterward made him start melting. The gummy maggots melted off Pump's face too.

Once Kevin was melted enough, his sticky body lost all its stickiness, and he was now a pile of mangled-up candy gore, real blood and guts included. Pump slid out of his grip and pulled a badly injured Skid out of Kevin's chest.

"Are you okay Skid?!" Pump cried.

"N-no... I... I- ow..." Skid couldn't get too much out of his mouth, but he took a wobbly step towards Susie when he saw her. He fell down next to her and cuddled up near her. She wrapped her arm around Skid.

Pump found a wagon by an abandoned playground, and after using the bag as cushioning to make it comfortable, Skid got up to help Pump put Susie in it. She was pretty heavy, but she fit in there like a glove when she was curled up in a ball.

Skid climbed in the wagon with Susie, and Pump tucked them both into a blanket. Then, Pump tugged the wagon along, exhausted and wanting to go home.