The Dead Boys (13 page)

“Lawrence?” he called out, but there was no answer.

Teddy kept moving, but the chimneys were getting closer together. Some nearly touched each other, and he had to squeeze through the space between them.

“Lawrence? Somebody? Help!”

The walls were so close together now that they touched at the corners, and Teddy couldn't see between them anymore. He stood in a square, surrounded on four sides by the chimneys, and the only light he could see was a dim speck straight above him. It was almost like he was
inside
a single chimney, and the walls were still closing in.

Teddy felt the rough bricks wedge against his body, starting to squeeze him like a vise. The air smelled of old soot. Lawrence had led him into a trap—right into Oliver's personal nightmare.

The sycamore roots that wound through the holes in the brick tickled Teddy's bare skin, teasing him as if they were waiting for him to succumb. The tree didn't need to attack now—it could simply wait for him to die. He wondered how long it would take wedged in an old chimney. Hours? Days?

While Teddy waited for death to take him, something small and black dropped in front of his face and dangled from a thin line. It stopped and swung back and forth in the narrow space between his head and the brick.

A spider?
Teddy thought.

He squirmed as the spider rotated and slowly unfolded spindly legs, revealing a bright red hourglass-shaped mark on its belly.

The spider was only inches from him now. Teddy could see the twin fangs and the spinneret with which it would wrap up his face after it injected poison into him. He struggled against the bricks, scraping his elbows and knuckles, desperately trying to climb, but it was no use. He wondered if it would bite his nose, which was closest, or crawl up his cheek and sink its fangs into his eyeball.

As if in answer, the black widow launched itself and landed on his upper lip.

There was no more time to think. Teddy opened his mouth and sucked a sudden breath, pulling the spider straight in. Before the spider could react, he clamped his mouth shut, shoved it to one side with his tongue, and bit down.

Teddy felt the spider snap like a juicy kernel of corn between his teeth. His stomach lurched, and he had to fight to keep from vomiting. But he felt no sting in his mouth. The horrid little thing hadn't been able to bite him first.

He spat the legs and runny remains of the spider's body against the brick in front of him, and when the queasy feeling began to pass, he grinned. He wasn't so helpless after all.

Teddy's heart was still thumping hard when he felt a tug on his ankle. Then something grabbed both of his feet and yanked. He came unstuck from the chimney and slid down between the crushing walls, landing on his rump in a huge, open fireplace.

Lawrence dragged him out by the legs, dropping him in the sand. “I told you not to go in,” he said.

“I didn't,” Teddy gasped, bending at the waist and spitting more spider parts on the ground. “I went around.”

“
All
the way around.” Lawrence sighed in frustration. It was the first sign of emotion the zombielike boy had shown, as though being forced to help Teddy had given him some energy.

“You look a little queasy,” Lawrence commented.

“Just something I ate.” Teddy coughed.

Lawrence helped him up, and Teddy now saw where the forest of chimneys began and ended. They began to hike around the entire bunch, keeping well clear of even the chimneys on the outer edge to avoid being sucked in again.

“How did Oliver get stuck?” Teddy asked as they walked.

“His parents were at a church talking about getting divorced. I guess neither of them wanted to keep him. When he heard them arguing about who would have to take him, he hid up inside an old chimney in a boarded-up room the church didn't use anymore. Oliver said he didn't want them to find him, ever. Guess it worked.”

“What about Joey?”

In response, Lawrence pointed ahead of them again.

Through the blowing dust, Teddy could see a huge wall coming into view. As they approached, he realized that it was made of intertwined roots, like a giant woven basket. It was high enough that the top of it faded into the dust over their heads, and it ran to their right and left until it disappeared in the distance, blocking their way completely.

“What's that?”

Lawrence pointed to the base of the wall, where a broken place in the roots revealed a black hole. “It's a crawl space.”

“That's Joey's place?”

Lawrence nodded. “His dog liked to squeeze under a neighbor's house through a hole in the lattice. When it went missing for two days, Joey went looking for it. He never came home.”

“He crawled under the house?”

“Yep.”

“What happened to him?”

“We don't know. He won't talk about it. Doesn't talk much at all, really. He's a quiet kid anyway, and the tree drained him down pretty low as soon as he got here. It's getting hungrier, you know.”

“No, I didn't know, actually,” Teddy said. “All of this getting eaten by a plant stuff is new to me.”

“Oh, yeah, right. Sorry.”

“Okay, then . . . ,” Teddy said, trying to sound confident in the face of yet another dreadful-looking obstacle, “how do we get around this thing?”

“We don't,” Lawrence answered. “That would take too long.”

“So what do we do?”

Lawrence pointed at the dark hole. “We go under.”

“What?” Teddy exclaimed. “No way! We don't even know what's under there. Do you know how creepy the last place I got trapped was?”

“Come on. It's not getting any less creepy while we wait.”

Teddy eyed the crawl space suspiciously. After the claustrophobia of the chimney, crawling into a dark hole with a dead kid was the last thing he wanted to do. On the other hand, Lawrence had almost told a joke.
My guide is perking up
, Teddy thought. And besides, he had no choice.

Lawrence went first—otherwise Teddy might not have been able to make himself go in at all. He pulled out his flashlight and shined it ahead as they squeezed through the opening and began to belly-crawl like army commandoes.

The low ceiling was a rat's nest of tangled roots, and Teddy's backpack snagged on it almost immediately. It slid off as though the roots overhead were trying to rip it away from him. He rolled over and caught it by one strap, wrestling it back.

“Hurry up,” Lawrence called back to him.

“Coming,” Teddy said, pushing his pack in front of him along the ground.

They hadn't gone far when the flashlight beam illuminated a dark, furry lump—some kind of animal. It appeared to be sleeping. Lawrence crawled over to it.

“Don't wake it up, whatever it is,” Teddy whispered.

“It's a dog,” Lawrence said.

“Some sort of rabid, monster attack dog?”

“No. Just a dog.”

Teddy eased forward to join him. It
was
a normal dog—an Australian cattle dog, from the look of it. It didn't move.

“Sleeping?” Teddy said hopefully.

“Dead,” Lawrence replied. “This is Joey's dog.”

Teddy had heard of animals crawling into dark places to die, but the dog looked young and, with the exception of being dead, perfectly healthy.

“Look here,” Lawrence said. He pointed to the dog's face, which was curled in a permanent grimace. Tiny bloodstains trailed from two small holes in the dog's snout. “What do you suppose those wounds are?”

“Don't know,” Teddy said. “And not sure I want to. How much farther?”

“Don't know.”

“I think we should get going, and—”

Teddy froze mid-sentence, interrupted by a rattling sound, like a maraca shaken too fast. It was recognizable even to a boy who wasn't from the desert, and it chilled him to the bone.

Teddy flicked the flashlight beam up. The rattlesnake was coiled less than a foot from him, its thin tongue licking the air. Its beehive-shaped rattle rose behind it, vibrating back and forth.

Lawrence lay on his belly, still as a stone.

“Don't move,” Teddy breathed—if they even twitched, it would strike Lawrence, who was closer. It occurred to Teddy that if the rattler got Lawrence, he would be rid of the boy taking him to the tree. But it didn't seem right.

Teddy was still holding his backpack in front of him, and an idea occurred to him. He shoved the pack suddenly with both arms, flinging it between the rattler and Lawrence.

The snake struck, and its fangs sank into the thick fabric on the inside of the pack's open pocket. Before the snake could shake loose, Teddy leaped on his backpack. He pinned the squirming reptile underneath. The rattler coiled angrily, twisting most of its long body into the pocket to join its trapped head. Teddy grabbed its tail, stuffing it in behind the body, then he yanked the zipper closed.

With the snake contained, Teddy rolled onto his back and shuddered, wiping sweat from his brow. “It's more scared of you than you are of it,” Teddy explained to Lawrence, panting.

“I wasn't scared,” Lawrence said. “It can't kill
me
.”

“What?” Teddy exclaimed. “You were never in any danger?”

Lawrence nodded. “Right. It's Joey's death, not mine. But be careful—I figure everything here can kill
you
. And if I don't get you to the tree in one piece, it might drain me instead. I ain't got much life left.”

Lawrence sounded stern, and it seemed to Teddy like he was speaking loudly on purpose, trying to be overheard. But then his rigid face softened for a moment, and he whispered, “But, hey, thanks anyway for trying to save me.”

They crawled on their bellies for several more minutes, until Lawrence pushed a tangle of roots apart. Dust blew in, which told Teddy they'd found an exit. Lawrence scooted between the roots, and Teddy saw him stand up on the other side. They were through.

Teddy slid out of the crawl space and joined him. It was still dusty outside, but the wind was weakening, and there was less sand flying around. Teddy guessed they were approaching the calm eye of the storm—which meant they were getting close to the tree.

He decided that when they finally broke through the dust and wind, he would simply sprint for the house. Despite the hints of emotion he'd prompted in Lawrence, the tall boy still had the energy of a slug. Teddy was sure he could outrun him. Walter and Albert were out of the picture. If he was able to dodge Sloot, Joey, and Oliver, he could make a break for the window and climb back into his own world.