The Spooky Bloodspread

Chapter 15: All That Skitters is Mold

As the children continued walking through the barren mall, the sight of it was sorrowful to them. It used to be a huge, bustling area, and now, everyone was likely dead. They may have died in the mall too. It broke their hearts to see the lives of so many innocent people be taken that day, and still be taken to this day.

The mall was severely worn down, coated with grime and other icky stuff.

And the leftover food? It wasn't even that good at all. They remembered that when Susie was hospitalized, they ate food supposedly made from human remains, if they weren't simply just put in there as toppings.

The smell of the grime was overpowering their need for a proper meal. Eventually, it began smelling like mold, and they heard crunchy, plant-like noises.

Susie, Skid and Will stayed close together. They looked for what was making these plant-like sounds, and eventually found an entire, disassembled human corpse. They couldn't identify who it was, but it was horrifying and disgusting.

Two vines suddenly lifted the corpse into the air and into a humongous glob of mold, which made grotesque crunching noises, tearing the corpse apart and eating it, with three nauseated children watching in horror.

Those vines almost grabbed Skid too, but Susie grabbed it back and snapped it with a hard tug, making the mold crumble in front of them to form the shape of a familiar face... to all 3 of the kids. Susie didn't know Frank, but she knew of this just as big guy.

The moldy humanoid monster, which now had plant-like body parts all over it, revealed to be Bob Velseb, the man who formerly attempted to take Lila's life... and now that she really was dead, Skid immediately pinned the blame on Bob for taking the life of his mother, but all he got in response was spores being released in his face, resulting in him coughing violently, and eventually passing out.

Susie and Will glared Bob down furiously, and Susie chose to deal with Bob herself, while Will agreed to try and help Skid. The fight between the older sister and the serial killer was enough to make Will try to help Skid faster. Susie's nub was stabbed open again with a branch-like appendage, which made Will feel like he simply wasn't helpful.

Skid eventually woke up, but very groggily. Will took Skid somewhere safe to hide him, just as Susie brought Bob to the ground and pulled out a large, flower-like organ portruding from his back. He completely fell apart, and his moldy remains revealed a stash of human hair and teeth...

He was the one who cooked that horrible food.

Susie gagged at the sight, but realizing that Skid and Will had to eat stuff like that made her comfort them, even with her own amputation having been torn open again. Will begged Susie to heal it, but she responded, "No pun intended, but I think I'll let nature handle this one."

The kids pleaded Susie to at least let them get her some bandages, but Susie still kept treating her wound rather lightheartedly, despite the fact that blood was actively gushing out.

Eventually though, she gave in and scraped a piece of wood on a pebble... and set her own wound on fire. She was screaming, and Skid and Will were sobbing in terror.

Finally, she rapidly shook her arm, snuffing the flames out. She had cauterized her own wound, but even so, it was painful for all three of the siblings to look at. It might not be bleeding anymore, but she was finally wrapping bandages around the charred nub.

Susie picked up both kids and decided to simply just leave the mall. They've seen more than enough. But of course, it isn't ever going to be enough.