Digger Field by Damian Davis

me. He’s going to kill me,’ said Wrigs.
    Why would anyone want to kill Wrigs? I know he is my best mate but he is pretty unimportant to everyone else.
    ‘Why would he want to kill you?’ I said.
    ‘Why else would he be watching everything I do?’
    Then I had a flash, like a bullet to the brain.
    I asked, ‘Are you sure your parents are your real parents?’
    ‘Yeah.’
    ‘Well, maybe they’re not, and you have some secret that a Russian criminal gang is trying to find out.’
    It was suddenly obvious.
    ‘Like your real dad was an undercover police agent and he infiltrated a Russian gang. Maybe the gangsters found out, but just before they killed him, your father had a computer chip implanted into your brain with all their secrets.’
    Wriggler started scratching around on the top of his head, looking for a scar.
    ‘And maybe he sent you to Pensdale, the most boring place in the world, to hide you. But the gang have finally tracked you down.’
    All the blood left Wrigs’ face. I’d never noticed how many freckles he’s got but they really stand out when his face is pale.
    ‘Bull,’ he said.
    It was such a good story I was a bit disappointed to admit I had only made it up.
    ‘Yeah,’ I said. ‘But it would be pretty cool if it was true, though.’
    These holidays had gone from bad to worse. Nothing had worked out. We hadn’t made any cash and I was nowhere near the world record. The skimming was my shot at glory and I wasn’t going to let Mr Black or anyone else wreck it.
    ‘I’m sick of this,’ I said. ‘I reckon we should find out what he is up to.’
    ‘Who?’ said Wrigs.
    ‘Mr Black.’
    ‘Are you mad?’ Wrigs said.
    ‘What can he do to us?’
    ‘He’ll vivisect us,’ Wriggler said.
    ‘Vivisect?’
    ‘Y’know, cut us open and pull out our insides, while we’re still alive.’
    Typical Wriggler. Always expecting the worst. It was time to stand up for ourselves.
    ‘We can sit around here being bored to death, or we can do something. It’s our river. We have to find out what Mr Black is up to at the deserted house, so we can stop him and get back to working on the world record.’
    ‘You reckon?’
    ‘Yeah,’ I said.
    ‘Well all right,’ he said. ‘But if I see him, I’m bolting.’
    We walked down to the river. Just as we got to the path Wrigs said, ‘I’ll be the lookout.’
    He said he would stay at the top of the path and call out if anyone came down towards the deserted house. I reckon he’d been working on that one since we left my house. How soft can you be?
    So I had no choice but to go down to the house on my own. I was scared but couldn’t show it. I had to show Wrigs that I wasn’t weak like him.
    I crept down the path and stood at the edge of the clearing. The vacant lot was to my left and the deserted house was to my right. At that exact moment the sun went behind a cloud and everything got darker. A gust of cold wind made me shiver.
    But I wasn’t going to let Wrigs think I was a wimp, so I kept going. I picked up a half-brick from the ground in case there was someone inside the house. I didn’t know what I would do with it, but carrying it made me feel braver.
    I slipped through the doorway and crept down the hallway as quietly as I could. There were rooms on either side, but they were empty. The hallway opened up into another room that must have once been the kitchen. It had a big chimney that probably used to have a stove in it. The kitchen was empty, too.
    I was clutching the half-brick so hard my hand was hurting.
    There were a couple of little rooms behind the kitchen. I guess one used to be a toilet and the other one was a pantry, or something. I didn’t really know what I was looking for.
    I called out, ‘Hello.’
    Nobody called back. There was no one there.
    I was squeezing the half-brick so hard I was amazed I hadn’t crushed it. I pegged it against the chimney in the kitchen and it bounced off and rolled across the floor.
    It made a