The Stompers

It Demands the Children

Without the slightest bit of friction, the entity drifted through the glass like it was not there. There was no sound or change in the light. The entity just drifted forward and was suddenly in the room with them. Pure, unadulterated fear flashed across the room. All the other kids at the same moment leaped from their desks and ran towards the exit screaming for their lives. A stockpile of young bodies quickly gathered at the classroom entrance. The door wouldn't budge. Panic bubbled over in all of them. The kids at the back scrambled to get through the barricade of small bodies. The ones in the front desperately tried to force open what quickly became an immovable object. Alice continued to sit and stare at the figure. Now that it was inside, she could see it more clearly. Its skin was a lighter gray than the storm clouds outside, and it turned out to be just as tattered as the robe. Large and small cuts covered the entire body. An inky substance seeped from the different layers of skin that were penetrated. It was still wet from being in the storm. Rainwater dripped to the floor. Alice looked down and noticed that the stubs were a little longer than they looked from behind the glass.
The room went quiet again once everyone realized they were caged. They all crowded together in the corner, pressing backward as hard as they could. Thinking that simple millimeters made them any safer. Mr. Red reluctantly stepped forward. He was one of the toughest teachers Alice ever saw. Especially, when he was at the court. The man constantly looked like he was built rather than born. His heart was probably made out of concrete, Alice thought. But now, that foundation was quickly weathered. He looked paler than the figure that loomed next to her. He was very clearly afraid, but something inside of him forced his feet forward, forced his head to stare straight ahead, and forced his nerves to steel themselves as best they could. Maybe he was feeling a duty of care towards the students? No matter how much concrete a heart is made out of, it's still a heart. He took a few more steps forward then stopped. With a voice as shaky as his pointing, Mr. Red asked, "Alice, what is going on?" It seemed like a pretty strange question at first to Alice. Why would she have any clue? Sure, she was the only one who wasn't acting like a dog when it saw a mailman. But that's only because she wasn't scared of whatever this thing was. She had no reason to be. It could be as friendly as the mailman for all she knew. Alice ended up shrugging her shoulders, not sure how else to respond. The teacher then directed his gaze to the creature. Nobody could see its face. The hood's shadow was deeper and blacker than the thick muck oozing out of its wounds. "What do you want?!" The teacher spat out. The creature tilted its head to look behind the teacher. Mr. Red registered that as a response. "The children?" He asked. In a surprisingly silky motion, the figure lifted its right arm to extend two, long bony fingers. Everyone followed the line from the fingers and came to the same conclusion. The Stompers. It wanted the Stompers.
Insurmountable dread covered their faces. A horror straight out of a child's nightmare was suddenly there in the room with them. Beckoning. Countless eyes stared directly at the two boys. Wondering what they were going to do. Judging how they were going to react. Surprisingly, they stood their ground. An ounce of bravery must have seeped into them. They didn't attempt to put even one millimeter more between them and the monster. They even had the nerve to ask, in unison, "why?" The poor kids couldn't keep the fear out of their voices, but Alice was impressed by the display. Mr. Red couldn't conjure any more words. The gravity of the situation was taking too big of a toll. The man who screams until his face turns red was as pale as a ghost with nothing to say. Alice turned towards the creature instinctively. Something invisible emanated from the creature. It made the hairs on the back of her neck stand up. Alice's body was aware of something. Then, she realized, the monster was about to answer The Stomper's earlier question.

A vile squelching sound was heard. It grew louder and louder, filling the room. The sound flew through the air and wrapped itself around each student. They had their hands over their faces. Hiding from the terror in front of them. The more curious ones peeking through their fingers instantly regretted it, but couldn't stop watching. The creature's stumped legs started growing, extending. Little by little more grey flesh protruded from the bottom of the stumps. Black sludge poured out onto the floor. More and more these new portions kept breaking out from the layers of saggy, dead flesh. Balls of the feet began to form the second the legs connected with the ground. Before the rest of the foot was fully formed, little slits on the front of the toes split open, releasing more sludge. Jagged toenails began growing from the freshly open wounds. Nobody could move while this display was going on. Most of the new limbs got covered by the sludge shortly after, so nobody could see the twisted anatomy play out. But the sound resonated in the stomachs of every person in that room. Until finally, it stopped. The outpour of blood-like tar lessened, and everyone could see the finished transformation. Exactly like the hands, this creature's feet were long and bony. You could see every joint. Each toe was twisted like screws turned too far. The monster stared intently forwards. Nobody realized that it was still watching the two boys. It never looked away. The creature took a booming step forward. Little cracks appeared on the tile floor. Alice knew exactly what was going to happen next. Another booming step split more of the floor apart. Alice couldn't stand by and let something so awful happen to anybody, even her worst enemies. Boom! Another step forward. Sweat caked the two boys' faces. They started getting fidgety. Boom! Another step. Alice only wanted them to see the error of their ways. That's all. She never wanted to hurt them. This was just as wrong. Boom! But what could she do against such a creature? BOOM! It stopped right in front of them. The two boys instinctively stepped back, bumping into the cluster of kids behind. Where they were immediately shoved forward, falling to the ground, hard. Their classmates cowering at the door made it clear they wouldn't get any sanctuary, and Mr. Red felt powerless to help. The two little boys stopped being people, and instead became sacrifices. Nothing more. They could clearly see the figure's pale, jagged toenails. If they fell an inch closer, their eyes would've been gouged out. The creature's right foot lifted off the ground. Flecks of the flooring fell off as it was raised higher and higher. Some pellets fell into the burnt auburn hair of the first sacrifice. The foot was high above his head, ready to be brought down with the force of a guillotine. "Is this right?" Alice thought. She had always wanted the Stompers to understand what the grass felt like when they uncaringly trampled it. And that's exactly what this was. It's payback, justice, Alice argued in her mind. But physically seeing the looks on their faces. How scared they were. The tears that streamed from their eyes mixing with their snot. Their heads controllably bobbing up and down in giant sobs. The sound of them wailing their long guttural pleas to not die. It was all too real. Alice didn't want this... Right?