After a long night of raving, Sadie, Henry, and Bennett knew it was time for the long journey home. Being in the deep south, the Kudzu Kidz had just performed a concert in a swamp--a swamp rave if you would. The night was humid and dark. Who knew what was lurking in this crazy corner of Florida.
They were tired after a long night of performing for their adoring fans, so they silently trudged on. The night was getting older, but the swamp was never more alive.
The only way back to their home of course was train 66. And the only way to train 66 was by foot. Walking many miles through the creepy swamp. And the only time the train was functional was at night.
The Kudzu Kidz walked on for a few more minutes, then Henry tripped over something. As he tumbled over he shouted in horror; of course he did, in Florida everything’s much scarier and much wackier. Sadie thought about this, and the wise words of her grandmother echoed through her head: they drop all the wackoes of at the Florida border. Anyway, it turned out Henry had a close encounter with a gator. “EEK!” the band exclaimed as they scrambled away from the unusually large, neon green alligator.
As they delved further into the alien swamp, everything began to develop a psychedelic glow. The exotic wildlife had a magnificent fluorescent brightness. A thought came across all the Kidz:
pink and purple green and yellow colors haunt me now i scream
A pink frog hopped by. Purple mosquitoes flew around the group. Green fish hopped around the bog. A yellow tree stood before them. The colors were hauntingly bright. The glow illuminated their faces. The Kudzu Kidz could finally see eachother again. But something was wrong. It felt as if their eyes and faces were melting. At first it was subtle, but then it felt hot. It felt painful like needles. They screamed and the lights went out immediately.
They kept walking. They could not get distracted by the horrors of the marshland. After walking a little more they came across a small hut, and Sadie said, “How about we try knocking on their door? I am very hungry. Maybe they’ll spare us some food?”
Bennett said, “Hmm, why not give it a go?”
So the Kidz walked up and knocked on the hut’s oddly short door. It reminded them of trick or treating as children. After knocking on the door, quiet footsteps came towards them. It slowly creaked open. A small, hunch-backed old woman appeared. She wore a nightgown that was a color that they had never seen before. She held a candle that radiated an odd shade of yellow. She wore a cold face and an unforgiving glare. This was clearly one of those Florida swamp people you hear all about.
Her eyes, which were very big like those of a nocturnal creature, watched the Kudzu Kidz and she mumbled something:
count up the children they wear purple and blue try not to scare them or they’ll run from you gather up the children make them into stew follow the recipe all the way through
The lady pounced on Sadie who was able to narrowly avoid capture, and the three of them dashed away easily outrunning the woman who was quite short and consequently slow.
After a few close encounters, the Kidz decided to take a moment to rest. Although they barely had any time to spare if they wanted to get to train 66 before daylight, they were so tired that they needed a second of calm. Henry decided to tell a spooky story. He called it the Kudzu Stampede Saga.
“First, I must remind you of the horrors of kudzu--the plant that ate the south,” he said. “The scariest plant in the south!” Sadie chirped back. “Indeed!” said Henry. “Anyway, once there was an older farmer. He lived in Soviet Russia. He took care of his herd of cows and also grew feed for them. He had spent so many days toiling hard for his Russian Rubles that he grew lazy, and wanted a quicker easier way to tend to his animals.”
“Well, he had heard of this strange new plant: kudzu. From legends, he learned that it grew faster than anything else. He learned it was very easy to grow as well. It hardly needed to be watered or anything else, but he never thought about how difficult it would be to tame. He thought, ‘I will grow it to feed to my cows! It will be so much easier and faster than corn or wheat.’ But he was so wrong.”
Henry continued, “The next day he bought a packet of this strange new seed. He planted his kudzu and watered it. The very next day, his entire field of five acres was filled with kudzu. The farmer was beaming. He could become rich by selling all this new cow feed! He harvested some and gave it to his cows. One cow nibbled at it for a few seconds and then quickly turned green. The farmer gasped. He was appalled by this. Kudzu began to grow from the cow’s mouth. Kudzu sprouted from its eyes. The cow was quickly engulfed by the demon plant. A few moments later, the cow burst open. Kudzu encased organs flew everywhere. The farmer shrieked. Green blood splattered all over the farm. The cow had popped like a balloon!”
Bennett and Sadie were speechless. Henry took a deep breath and went on with his story, “This of course startled the other cows and they began to stampede. The farmer was still in shock, but the cows didn’t get very far because they reached the other end of the field. The next day kudzu covered the entire farm. It covered the house, the barn, and the entirety of the farmer’s ten acres of land. The next day, the kudzu killed the farmer’s remaining cows, and trapped the farmer in his house. The next day he died of dehydration. So...that’s the story of kudzu!”
Bennett replied, “Bone chilling indeed.” Sadie had gone quite pale and said, “It was a little gross.”
Afterwards there was a long pause, a silence. Henry tried to talk, but he couldn’t. They heard a siren perhaps from just in their head. The siren grew louder and louder until it burned their ears. After a couple of seconds, the siren stopped, and there was silence again. An eerie silence the type only heard before a kudzu storm.
Kudzu began to violently fall from the sky. It rapidly grew up the Kudzu Kidz’s ankles. They were trapped. Vines of kudzu flew through the wind. As well as the showers of kudzu, other things fell from the sky and blew in the wind. A cow, a bicycle, a gallbladder, a knife, a beating heart, and then right in front of the Kidz fell, seemingly from nowhere an old television. The TV flickered on to a static screen. It beeped and flickered a little more then suddenly showed a weatherman who reported:
this is an urgent weather warning kudzu showers coming in from the south faster and heavier than ever! expect gusts of kudzu exceeding 100 miles per hour take shelter! run and hide while you still can!
The Kudzu Kidz shouted and screamed as they were eaten by kudzu. Suddenly they heard whispers from beyond. It was quiet at first, but it echoed and got louder and louder:
let the devil in
They knew it was their only option so in exact unison they spoke, “Let the devil in, and her kick her out. Be ready to scream and shout.”
The kudzu burned up in flames. The ashes sparkled in the moonlight. They felt empty inside. Maybe they didn’t realize it, but they had sold their souls to the devil in exchange for their lives. They marched on. They did not have much time. Eventually, they reached the station. The structure resembled a bunker. It was made from concrete and had a set of huge, rusted , iron doors. The doors were guarded by two gargoyle-like statues of vultures. They were carved from a deep black stone, but their eyes were electronic. From the eyes beamed a red laser light. The vultures scanned each of the Kudzu Kidz. It recognized their familiar faces and the doors slowly opened. After the Kidz walked in, the doors immediately locked shut.
As they waited for the train, a wind blew which is strange because they were completely indoors. The Kudzu Kidz suddenly felt quite cold. It felt like their bones were ice. Then a voice came to them. Perhaps it was a ghost warning them of the horrors that await. Nonetheless, the Kudzu Kidz were hit with a sudden fear. It felt like their bones of ice were suddenly melting.
my bones are gone from my body haunting haunting my heart won’t stop pounding help me help me the sounds won’t stop sounding haunting haunting my mind is crazy end me end me
The train slowly crept up to the station. It wasn’t a train as much as it was a spaceship. The rest of the station was old, but train 66 was far from aged. Its cylindrical body was made from a lustrous white metal. Not a scratch or flaw visible on the magnificent vehicle. The Kudzu Kidz hesitated, then slowly walked aboard. This wasn’t their first ride on train 66, but you never truly get used to the feeling of falling through time and space.
Train 66 travels faster than light. It rips through dimensions. It travels through space. It is mostly used to travel its doomed passengers to hell. But to a select group of individuals, including the Kudzu Kidz, its power can be used for high speed transportation.
As the stars and planets blurred past, the Kudzu Kidz watched from the windows. When they reached Saturn, they spotted some strange aliens. The creatures’ bodies were slim and tall. They were a tanish yellow color. Their eyes glowed like stars. They were staring at the Kidz with their fiery white eyes and screaming:
you and i are the same you and i are the same
A UFO began to circle the train. With some sort of magnetic beam the train was set off its path and began to slow down. The horrific screams of the aliens only got louder. Bright blind light came from the UFO. Suddenly, Bennett was sucked out of the train. Sadie and Henry began to yell, “Help! Help us!”
But the aliens didn’t do anything. The Kudzu Kidz were sucked into the UFO one by one. They were now lost in space. The aliens continued to scream: