Hide and Seek

HYoung people worst of all.

Because kids don't believe in death. They have to be taught in order

to believe- and the teacher is always disease or gaping holes in the

flesh. Wounds. Pain. That usually comes later in life, but it comes

eventually.

All the heroes are children.

So we two, playing with makeshift bats and sharp objects, went

inside.

Just a little at first. In that first passageway there was only room

to go one at a time, so I led the way, pitchfork always leading me a

little, flashlight in my other hand. I could always feel Steven right

behind me, crawling up over my ankles half the time, in fact, keeping

contact. It felt really good having him there too.

When we turned the corner the passage opened up a bit. But there still

wasn't room to gu two abreast. So when he started to move up on me I

waved him back again. I didn't want to feel cramped in there any more

than I had to.

Casey's flashlight was up ahead. I knew when Steven saw it because I

heard him groan a little. It sounded very loud in there.

The wind was colder but not so forceful as before. The stink was still

bad, though. I wondered what Steve was thinking, encountering it full

blast for the first time. I wondered if it was making him sick. You

think weird things at times like that, irrelevant things really, as

though your concentration can't handle the sudden strain. I found

myself wondering how his whites were holding up. Actually thinking

about laundry. It was stunning to me.

one

kne mis; awa

I put my flashlight down and tried Casey's. It was dead. I put it in

front of my own beam and saw that the clear plastic head was broken,

splintered with tiny webbings. Just behind the plastic the aluminum

backing was deeply dented in two places roughly opposite one another.

As though gripped by a powerful hand or pair of jaws.

I handed it back to Steve. There wasn't any need to speak. I knew

he'd find the same things I had- the dents were impossible to miss. So

was their meaning. Somebody had taken the flashlight away from her.

And they did not do it gently.

I heard him put it down beside him. I picked up my flashlight and

started to move on. Just ahead a seam of lighter-colored rock

IDE AND SEEK