The Dead Boys (14 page)

As they continued on, the dust thinned, and the sycamore rose in front of them. It lorded over the darkness, more dominant here in the world it had created than in the light of day. Despite its trunk being still more than thirty yards away, its twisting branches reached over the boys' heads and into the storm beyond them.

Teddy didn't sprint toward it. Instead, he froze, suddenly drained of courage. He glanced at Lawrence, who wore the same expression he'd shown when Teddy first saw him—none.

“Are you going to make a run for it?” Lawrence asked.

Teddy was surprised that the boy knew exactly what he planned to do. “I
was
,” he said.

“No one's stopping you,” Lawrence said.

“Really?”

“I brought you this far,” the tall boy replied, glancing up at the branches as if to make sure they weren't listening. “And I'll need to chase you when you go. Understand?”

Teddy nodded in agreement. Lawrence nodded back, then he bent down to tie his shoe, lowering his head and turning his eyes away from Teddy.

It was now or never, Teddy thought, and he took off running toward the house.

Lawrence waited a moment before he looked up. “Hey!” he shouted halfheartedly. “Come back here!” He rose and stumbled, tripping over his untied shoelace.

The tree groaned and rotated its huge limbs toward Teddy as he broke out of the waning storm and into the open. The A-house was visible beneath the sycamore on the other side of the trunk, and Teddy headed straight for it.

Teddy heard a whistling sound above him and dodged to his right just as a giant branch whizzed past and slammed into the ground where he had been only a moment earlier. He leaped over another limb and danced through a tangle of roots that wove up through the sand. The tree was a split-second slower than him, and as Teddy neared the A-house, he almost dared to hope that he would reach it.

But then he saw Sloot step out from behind the trunk, flanked by Joey and Oliver.

Teddy trotted to a stop between the tree and the house, facing the dead boys. He was trying to remain calm so that he wouldn't miss a chance to get past them, but he couldn't help his anger.

“You brought me here!” he accused.

“Aww, you're not sore at us, are you?” Sloot said. “We're your friends.”

“No you're not,” Teddy said. “You're the one who tried to get me into the tree.”

“Sloot told me to hide in the chimney,” Oliver offered innocently.

“Shut up, Olive Oyl,” Sloot snapped, “or I'll bust you in the chops.”

“Don't call me that,” Oliver complained.

By now, Lawrence had trotted to a stop behind Teddy and stood over him like a reluctant prison guard. Teddy cursed himself for taking too long to get to the house.

“You were the first one in,” Teddy said, pointing directly at Sloot. “You helped lure everyone else.”

Teddy's accusation drew a smirk from Sloot. “You think I'm bad?”

“I think you're scared,” Teddy said.

That quieted Sloot, and he stared off into the distance, a reaction Teddy hadn't expected. The sycamore groaned impatiently above them, and Teddy braced himself for an attack, watching for low-hanging branches in the darkness above.

“Have you tried to fight back?” Teddy asked. “Tried to escape?”

Sloot spoke without looking at Teddy. “My dad used to take his boots off in our yard when he came home from a hard day at the nuke-u-lar plant. He'd empty the sand out of them right beneath the old sycamore. Sometimes he would get mad at me, but I could always climb faster than he could throw a boot—”

“I mean escape from the
tree
,” Teddy interrupted.

Sloot looked up at him, his eyes glistening with tears that wouldn't quite come. “The tree is where I came
to
escape.”

“Well, I'm not staying here,” Teddy said. “I got into this world on my own, and I'm going right back out!” Teddy marched past them to the bedroom window in the house. He was surprised when they didn't try to stop him.

Teddy pushed up on the window frame. It didn't budge. His heart sank as he turned to find Sloot grinning.

“You dumb palooka.” Sloot laughed. “It's locked.” He waved to Lawrence, Oliver, and Joey. “Take him to the tree,” he commanded, “before it sucks one of the rest of us completely dry instead.”

The dead boys converged on Teddy, and he had to think fast. He whipped out the flashlight and shined it straight into Oliver's eyes. Oliver doubled over, and Teddy shoved him to the ground. It bought Teddy just enough time to yank the zipper open on his backpack.

“Get in there!” Sloot yelled at Lawrence. He pointed wildly at the scuffle between Teddy and the other boys.

Joey was on Teddy next, his hands grabbing at Teddy's shirt. They struggled, standing toe-to-toe for a moment before Teddy pulled the pocket of the backpack wide. Joey looked down just in time to see the rattlesnake's triangular head dart out and sink its fangs into his leg.

The dead boy winced as the snake dropped to the ground and slithered through his legs off into the desert. It left behind two small holes in Joey's flesh, a pinpoint of blood leaking from each one.

Joey looked up at Teddy with pleading eyes, but Teddy couldn't help him. Joey staggered backward. The other boys stared at him, forgetting Teddy for a moment as Joey died in front of them. Shock and poison worked together, dropping Joey facedown into the sand, and it was over in moments.

Teddy didn't wait for the others to recover. If the bedroom window was locked, there was always the broken attic window on the roof. He ran for the porch, hoping to climb up one of its pillars before the kids could catch him.

Halfway to the house, Oliver intercepted Teddy with a flying tackle, and they both went down in a heap. As Oliver wrestled to keep Teddy on the ground, Sloot sauntered over and cocked his foot back to deliver a vicious kick to Teddy's head.

Teddy braced himself for impact. But then Lawrence grabbed Sloot by the collar and hoisted him up off of his feet. There was still no emotion in Lawrence's face that Teddy could see, but the force with which he rammed Sloot headfirst into the wall of the A-house seemed a bit more than necessary.

Oliver rolled off of Teddy to see what had happened and found Lawrence's foot suddenly in the middle of his chest.

“Get up,” Lawrence said to Teddy. “And stay down,” he said to Oliver, holding him on the ground with his weight.

Teddy didn't hesitate. He hopped to his feet, climbed onto the porch, and began to shimmy up a pillar. The tree was moving overhead, but its lower branches were too thick and slow—it couldn't bend them fast enough to stop him.

Lawrence helped push Teddy up, standing on Oliver's chest for a few extra inches of height, and Teddy grabbed hold of the gutter that ran along the edge of the porch roof. He swung one leg over the edge and wriggled his body up onto the rooftop. Tree limbs swung in to sweep him off, but he rolled and dodged them, clambering up the roof toward the broken window.

Teddy was almost to the window when he heard a shout of alarm behind him. He turned around to see Lawrence rising up into the air, lifted by a branch that had curled about his waist. Leaves quickly covered his exposed skin, beginning to feed.

Teddy stared, helpless, as the tree drained the last of Lawrence's spirit. It happened very fast—there was not much of Lawrence left. The tall boy writhed in the tree's grasp, the remaining color in his face fading. Then he gave one last shudder and went still.

The tree continued to suck at Lawrence's motionless form, his body caving in wherever the leaves touched him. As Teddy watched in horror, Lawrence's body began to disintegrate into powder, and the dust of his remains drifted away on the wind. In a matter of minutes, he'd disappeared completely.

Below, Oliver and Joey marveled wide-eyed and horrified at the fate of their former companion. By this time, Sloot had gotten up, and he glared at the other boys, jabbing his finger at the tree.

“You see? You see?” he cried. “That's what you get!”

The tree shook as though renewed by the last bit of energy it had drained from Lawrence. Its branches turned their attention back to Teddy. They were suddenly more nimble, and a narrow limb darted after him, whipping around his leg.

Teddy yanked the hatchet from his pack and brought it down with the force of desperation, chopping the branch in two. The severed end released his leg and writhed on the roof, oozing black sap. He looked up just in time to avoid a larger branch hurtling toward him by throwing himself flat on the roof as it whistled over his head.

He saw two more following close behind. But he also saw the window was within reach. Gathering his legs beneath him, Teddy launched himself through the opening in the broken glass.

He landed hard on the attic's beams but scrambled up and hurriedly started making his way through the room. He stepped over and ducked under the tangles of tree branches that curled around the rafters and wove through the floor beams, balancing carefully.

It seemed as though the limbs had grown and expanded to fill the space, and Teddy was thankful they were so entwined they couldn't move to grab him. When he was halfway across the attic, he swung the flashlight toward the trapdoor. There he saw a dark lump the size of a person wedged between the narrow floor beams. As he approached, he realized that the lump was a boy curled up in a fetal position.

The boy was breathing, but seemed to be asleep. He looked about the same size and weight as Teddy himself. Unfortunately, he was positioned directly atop the trapdoor so that Teddy would have to move him to get the door open and return to his own world.

But if I can wrestle him out of the way
, he thought,
I'm free!

Teddy grabbed the boy's body and shoved him off of the trapdoor. As the boy rolled over, he stared up at Teddy with glazed eyes. Teddy's heart leaped into his throat as he instantly recognized the face.

Oh no,
he thought.
It's me!