CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Cordie climbed onto the trunk of a fallen tree. She held a dead limb to steady herself, and gazed ahead. Nothing was visible in the darkness except more trees.

Ben climbed up beside her. “Which way? ” he asked.

“I guess it doesn’t matter. I mean, they might be anywhere. ” Cordie couldn’t keep the despair out of her voice.

“Do you want to go back? ”

“Go back where? ”

“Try to find the others again. ”

“Oh, you know right where they are? ”

“Not exactly, but…”

“How the hell are we supposed to find them, then? Just turn around and start walking? That’ll do a lot of good. ” She sat on the trunk and scooted forward, her legs stretching toward the unseen ground. She pushed off. Not hard enough. A rough jutting stub of branch jabbed and scraped her back as she dropped. “Damn! ” She stumbled forward, grabbing at her back.

“You hurt? ”

“Yes! Shit shit shit! ”

Ben leaped down.

“God damn! ”

“Let me see. ”

She turned away and lifted the back of her blouse.

“It’s just a scratch. ”

“Kiss it and make it well. But gewfy. ” She felt the soft brush of his lips on her back.

“Better? ”

“Yeah. Thanks. ”

He stood beside her, and she took hold of his hand. She studied the dark wilderness. “I don’t know, Ben. They might be anywhere. ”

“We’ll just keep going. ” He shrugged. “Not much else we can do. ”

“If we could just find that clearing… I thought it was this way, but…” She shook her head. “None of this looks familiar. ”

“I don’t think we’ve gone far enough, yet. ”

“Maybe not. ”

“It’s a big clearing. We’ll probably run into it. ”

“I sup–”

She staggered back as a naked boy leaped from behind a tree. He planted himself in their way, crouching slightly, one hand forward. The hand held a knife.

Cordie and Ben backed away, but the boy stepped forward, staying close to them.

“Run? ” Ben whispered.

“Let’s get his knife. He’s just a kid. ” Cordie lowered her eyes, hoping to spot something she could use for a weapon. The ground was too dark. But her heel knocked into a hard object. She stooped and felt for it. Her fingertips found a moist surface of bark. She grabbed, clutched a thick branch, and lifted. It started to pull free from the ground, but one end stayed down.

The damn thing was a dozen feet long!

As she let it go, the boy lunged. His knife flicked at her face. She threw out an arm to block it. The blade sliced into her forearm. Then Ben was on the boy, pulling him back, reaching for the knife hand. He couldn’t get a grip on it, but Cordie grabbed the wrist with both hands. She twisted sharply. The arm made a sound like crackling gristle. The boy cried out. The knife fell.

Cordie dropped to her hands and knees while Ben struggled to hold the writhing boy. She raked the moist ground cover. Found the knife. Got to her feet. Braced herself. “Okay, hold him. ”

She pressed the point against the boy’s belly. He stopped moving.

“Where do you live? ” Cordie asked.

The boy growled. His upper lip curled, baring his teeth.

“I don’t think he understands, ” Ben said.

“Yeah. Maybe not. ” She leaned close to the boy. “Do you speak English? ”

Again, the boy growled.

“The kid’s an animal, ” Ben muttered.

“Kid. I’m looking for my parents, my mom and dad. Do you know where they are? Where do you take the people you catch? Do you have a camp or something? ”

“He can’t talk. ”

“What’ll we do with him? ” Cordie asked.

Ben shrugged. “I don’t know if we ought to let him go. No telling what he might do. ”

“Well, I don’t think I’m up to butchering him. Are you? ”

Ben sighed. “I guess not. ”

“Hey, let’s have your belt. We can loop it around his neck, maybe use it like a leash, see where he takes us. ”

“We can give it a try. ”

Keeping one arm clamped around the boy’s neck, Ben unfastened his belt and yanked it free. As he held it out to Cordie, she passed the knife to him.

She slipped the broad, leather tip through the buckle, and dropped the loop over the boy’s head. Ben forced the belt down to the thin neck. Cordie jerked it taut.

“Okay, ” she said. “Let him go and we’ll see. ”

Ben let go.

The boy leaped at Cordie. She sidestepped, tugging the belt, and swung him off his feet. He sprawled, choking. He clawed at his throat, but Cordie stepped on his back and kept the belt tight. He rolled. Cordie’s foot skidded off. Balance lost she fell. The belt flew from her hands.

She saw Ben kick. His shoe slammed into the boy’s face, and the boy went down.

“He’s out, ” Ben said after nudging the body.

“Dead? ”

“Just unconscious, I think. ”

They took the time to bandage Cordie’s cut arm. Ben used the tail of his shirt, slicing it off with the boy’s knife and tying it around Cordie’s wound.

Then Cordie knelt beside the boy. She loosened the belt. Touching his neck, she found his pulse.

“Let’s just leave him while he’s still conked out, ” she said.

“Okay with me. ”

Leaving the boy, they ran through the trees. They had gone no more than fifty yards when a voice boomed the single word, KRULL

Not the voice of the boy.

It came from behind. Cordie stopped, and turned.

Its roar still vibrated through the woods like a furious, echoing blast of hate.

It sent a shiver of dread through Cordie. “What do you think that was? ” she whispered.

“I don’t…”

The shriek of the boy ripped into her ears.

Ben grabbed her arm. “Come on. ”

They ran a few steps. Then Cordie pulled free. “Wait. ” She crouched behind a tree, and pulled Ben down beside her. “What’d that sound like? ” she whispered.

“Like a voice out of hell. ”

“I mean, didn’t it sound like somebody yelled ’Krull, ’ and then maybe killed the kid? ”

“Yeah, that’s what it sounded like. ”

“Maybe he’ll help us. ”

“You’re nuts. ”

“No, really. I mean, we’re not Krulls. Maybe he’s trying to get away from here, too. Just like us. ”

“Not just like us. You heard him, for Christsake. He hardly sounded human. ”

It’d be…” Her voice froze in her throat at the loud crushing of underbrush.

Ben’s hand tightened in hers.

A tall, broad shape strode between the trees.

Cordie heard a strangled whimper inside her throat.

Ben lunged away, pulling her hand. She jerked it free. Ben glanced back.

The awful voice roared, “KRULL”

Ben ran.

Cordie saw the hulking shape lope after him. In a patch of moonlight, she saw its shaggy arms, its thick legs.

Then there was only forest. She heard the crashing footfalls.

Ben yelled, “No! Please! ”

She covered her ears.

Ben’s final cry was cut short.

She curled at the base of the trunk, and held her knees, and listened to the woods.