the strange, disquieting notion that some supernatural force was trying to carry her back in time, back to the waterfall roar and the darkness of the cavern.
She said, “Something about the mood of that place—the bone-deep chill, the dampness, the darkness, the steady roar of the waterfall, the sense of isolation—made it easier for the savage in them to come out. They beat Jerry ... beat him to the floor and kept on beating him.”
She trembled. The trembling became a more violent quivering; the quivering grew into a shudder of revulsion and of remembered terror.
“It was as if they were wild dogs, turning on an interloper from a strange pack,” she said shakily. “I ... I screamed at them ... but I couldn’t stop them. Finally, Carl Jellicoe seemed to realize that he’d gone too far, and he backed away. Then Quince, then Parker. Harch was the last to get control of himself, and he was the first to realize they were all going to wind up in prison. Jerry was unconscious. He was ...”
Her voice cracked, faltered.
It didn’t seem like thirteen years; it seemed almost like yesterday.
“Go on,” McGee said quietly.
“He was ... bleeding from the nose ... the mouth ... and from one ear. He’d been very badly hurt. Although he was unconscious, he kept twitching uncontrollably. It looked like there might have been nerve or brain damage. I tried to ...”
“Go on, Susan.”
“I tried to get to Jerry, but Harch pushed me out of the way, knocked me down. He told the others that they were all going to go to prison if they didn’t do something drastic to save themselves. He said that their futures had been destroyed, that they had no real future at all ... unless they covered up what they’d done. He tried to convince them that they had to finish Jerry off and then kill me, too, and dump our bodies down one of the deep holes in the cavern floor. Jellicoe, Parker, and Quince were half sobered up by the shock of what they’d done, but they were still half drunk, too, and confused and scared. At first they argued with Harch, then agreed with him, then had second thoughts and argued again. They were afraid to commit murder, yet they were afraid not to. Harch was furious with them for being so wishy-washy, and he suddenly decided to force them to do what he wanted by simply giving them no other choice. He turned to Jerry and he ... he...”
She felt sick, remembering.
McGee held her hand.
Susan said, “He kicked Jerry ... in the head ... three times ... and caved in one side of his skull.”
Mrs. Baker gasped.
“Killed him,” Susan said.
Outside, lightning slashed open the sky, and thunder roared through the resultant wound. The first fat droplets of rain struck the window.
McGee squeezed Susan’s hand.
“I grabbed one of the flashlights and ran,” she said. “Their attention was focused so completely on Jerry’s body that I managed to get a bit of a head start on them. Not much but enough. They expected me to try to leave the caverns, but I didn’t head toward the exit because I knew they’d catch me if I went that way, so I gained a few more seconds before they realized where I’d gone. I went deeper into the caves, through a twisty stone corridor, down a slope of loose rocks, into another underground room, then into another beyond that one. Eventually, I switched off the flashlight, so they wouldn’t be able to follow the glow of it, and I went on as far as I could in complete darkness, feeling my way, inch by inch, stumbling, until I found a niche in the wall, a crawl hole, nothing more than that, hidden behind a limestone stalagmite. I slithered into it, as far back into it as I could possibly go, and then I was very, very quiet. Harch and the others spent hours searching for me before they finally decided I’d somehow gotten out of the caverns. I waited another six or eight hours, afraid to come out of hiding. I finally
She said, “Something about the mood of that place—the bone-deep chill, the dampness, the darkness, the steady roar of the waterfall, the sense of isolation—made it easier for the savage in them to come out. They beat Jerry ... beat him to the floor and kept on beating him.”
She trembled. The trembling became a more violent quivering; the quivering grew into a shudder of revulsion and of remembered terror.
“It was as if they were wild dogs, turning on an interloper from a strange pack,” she said shakily. “I ... I screamed at them ... but I couldn’t stop them. Finally, Carl Jellicoe seemed to realize that he’d gone too far, and he backed away. Then Quince, then Parker. Harch was the last to get control of himself, and he was the first to realize they were all going to wind up in prison. Jerry was unconscious. He was ...”
Her voice cracked, faltered.
It didn’t seem like thirteen years; it seemed almost like yesterday.
“Go on,” McGee said quietly.
“He was ... bleeding from the nose ... the mouth ... and from one ear. He’d been very badly hurt. Although he was unconscious, he kept twitching uncontrollably. It looked like there might have been nerve or brain damage. I tried to ...”
“Go on, Susan.”
“I tried to get to Jerry, but Harch pushed me out of the way, knocked me down. He told the others that they were all going to go to prison if they didn’t do something drastic to save themselves. He said that their futures had been destroyed, that they had no real future at all ... unless they covered up what they’d done. He tried to convince them that they had to finish Jerry off and then kill me, too, and dump our bodies down one of the deep holes in the cavern floor. Jellicoe, Parker, and Quince were half sobered up by the shock of what they’d done, but they were still half drunk, too, and confused and scared. At first they argued with Harch, then agreed with him, then had second thoughts and argued again. They were afraid to commit murder, yet they were afraid not to. Harch was furious with them for being so wishy-washy, and he suddenly decided to force them to do what he wanted by simply giving them no other choice. He turned to Jerry and he ... he...”
She felt sick, remembering.
McGee held her hand.
Susan said, “He kicked Jerry ... in the head ... three times ... and caved in one side of his skull.”
Mrs. Baker gasped.
“Killed him,” Susan said.
Outside, lightning slashed open the sky, and thunder roared through the resultant wound. The first fat droplets of rain struck the window.
McGee squeezed Susan’s hand.
“I grabbed one of the flashlights and ran,” she said. “Their attention was focused so completely on Jerry’s body that I managed to get a bit of a head start on them. Not much but enough. They expected me to try to leave the caverns, but I didn’t head toward the exit because I knew they’d catch me if I went that way, so I gained a few more seconds before they realized where I’d gone. I went deeper into the caves, through a twisty stone corridor, down a slope of loose rocks, into another underground room, then into another beyond that one. Eventually, I switched off the flashlight, so they wouldn’t be able to follow the glow of it, and I went on as far as I could in complete darkness, feeling my way, inch by inch, stumbling, until I found a niche in the wall, a crawl hole, nothing more than that, hidden behind a limestone stalagmite. I slithered into it, as far back into it as I could possibly go, and then I was very, very quiet. Harch and the others spent hours searching for me before they finally decided I’d somehow gotten out of the caverns. I waited another six or eight hours, afraid to come out of hiding. I finally
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