Boys Life

appreciate the-”
    “SPIIIIIDERS!”
    The world ceased its turning. The owl went dumb. The Milky Way flickered on the verge of extinction.
    Ben hollered it again: “Spiders!” He started thrashing wildly amid the pine needles. “ They’re all over me!”
    I couldn’t draw a breath. Just couldn’t do it. Davy Ray stared at Ben, his mouth hanging open as Ben writhed and yelled. The five men were frozen where they stood, all of them looking in our direction. My heart thundered. Three seconds passed like a lifetime, and then Biggun Blaylock’s shout parted the night: “Get ’em!”
    “Run!” Davy Ray hollered, scrambling to his feet. “Run for it!”
    Wade and Bodean were coming after us, their shadows thrown large by the crossing of headlights. Davy Ray was already running back in the direction we’d come, and I said, “Run, Ben!” as I got up and fled. Ben squawked and struggled up, his hands madly plucking at his clothes. I looked over my shoulder and saw Wade about to reach Ben, but then Ben put on a burst of frantic speed and left Wade snatching at empty air. “Come back here, you little bastards!” Bodean yelled as he chased after Davy Ray and me. “Get ’em, damn it!” Biggun bellowed. “Don’t let ’em get away!”
    Davy Ray was fast, I’ll say that for him. He left me behind pretty quick. The only trouble was, he had the flashlight. I couldn’t see where I was going, and I could hear Bodean’s breath rasping behind me. I dared to glance back again, but Ben had headed off in another direction with Wade at his heels. Whether Mr. Hargison and Mr. Moultry were coming after us, too, I didn’t know. Bodean Blaylock was reaching for me, about to snag my collar. I ducked my head and changed directions on him, and he skidded in the pine straw. I kept going, through the dark wilderness. “Davy Ray!” I shouted, because I no longer could see his light. “Where are you?”
    “Over here, Cory!” he called, but I couldn’t tell where he was. Behind me, I heard Bodean crashing through the underbrush. I had to keep running, the sweat leaking from my face. “Cory! Davy Ray!” Ben shouted from somewhere off to the right. “Goddammit, bring ’em back here!” Biggun raged. I dreaded finding out what that monstrous mountain and his brood would do to us, because whatever had been going on back there was definitely something he’d wanted to keep a secret. I started to call for Ben, but as I opened my mouth my left foot slid on pine needles and suddenly I was rolling down an embankment like a sack of grain. I rolled into bushes and vines, and when I stopped I was so scared and dizzy I almost upchucked my toasted marshmallows. I lay there on my belly, my chin scraped raw by something I’d collided with, while I waited for a hand to winnow from the darkness and grab the back of my neck. I heard branches cracking; Bodean was nearby. I held my breath, fearing he could hear my heartbeat. To me it sounded like a drum corps all slamming an anvil with sledgehammers, and if Bodean couldn’t detect it, he was surely as deaf as a post.
    His voice drifted to me, from my left. “Might as well give up, kid. I know where you are.”
    He sounded convincing. I almost answered him, but I realized he was just as much in the dark as I was. I kept my mouth shut and my head low.
    A few seconds later, Bodean shouted from a little farther away: “We’re gonna find you! Oh yeah, don’t you worry, we’ll find every one of you sneakin’ bastards!”
    He was moving off. I waited a couple of minutes longer, listening to the Blaylocks calling to each other. Evidently, Davy Ray and Ben had both escaped and Biggun was furious about it. “You’re gonna find those kids if it takes you all goddamn night!” he roared at his sons, and they meekly answered “Yes sir.” I figured I’d better get out while the getting was good, so I got up and crept away like a whipped pup.
    I sure didn’t know where I was going. I knew only that I needed to put as much distance between my skin and the Blaylocks as possible. I thought about doubling back and trying to find the other guys, but I was scared the Blaylocks would nab me. I just kept walking into the dark. If bobcats and rattlers were anywhere around, they couldn’t possibly be worse than the two-legged beasts behind me. Maybe I walked for half an hour before I found a boulder to crouch on, and under the stars I realized my predicament: my knapsack, with all it contained,