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Without really thinking it through, Tho to hide his progress, he pushed aside branches as he walked, letting them whip back to position when he passed He squinted, willed his eyes to work in the growing darkness, wishing he had a flashlight He thought about flashlights and hisfron it to any specific time or place, couldn’t associate it with any other person or event Frustrating

"Anybody there?" he asked again, feeling a little calmer since the noise hadn’t repeated It was probably just an animal, maybe another beetle blade Just in case, he called out, "It’s uy"

He winced and shook his head, hoping now that no one was there He sounded like a coe oak and pulled up short An icy shiver ran down his back He’d reached the graveyard

The clearing was small, maybe thirty square feet, and covered with a thick layer of leafy weeds growing close to the ground Tho through this growth, their horizontal pieces lashed to the upright ones with a splintery twine The grave markers had been painted white, but by solobs covered theh Names had been carved into the wood

Thomas stepped up, hesitantly, to the closest one and knelt down to get a look The light was so dull now that he alh black one to bed for the night, and the sound of insects was barely noticeable, or at least much less than normal For the first time, Thomas realized how hu sweat on his forehead, the backs of his hands

He leaned closer to the first cross It looked fresh and bore the nae because the carver hadn’t estiht, feeling an unexpected but detached sorrow What’s your story? Chuck annoy you to death?

He stood and walked over to another cross, this one alround firm at its base Whoever it was, he rave looked the oldest The nae

Thoraves A couple of them appeared to be just as fresh as the first one he’d exaht his attention It was different fro beetle that had led hih the ries sli to asped when it carave--one that had the dusty re body

Coet a better look anyway, curious The tomb was smaller than usual--only the top half of the deceased person lay inside He remembered Chuck’s story about the boy who’d tried to rappel down the dark hole of the Box after it had descended, only to be cut in two by solass; Tho to all:

You can’t escape through the Box Hole

Thoe to snicker--it seeusted with hi his head, he had stepped aside to readbroke, this tiht behind the trees on the other side of the graveyard

Then another snap Then another Co closer And the darkness was thick

"Who’s out there?" he called, his voice shaky and hollow--it sounded as if he were speaking inside an insulated tunnel "Seriously, this is stupid" He hated to admit to hi, the person gave up all pretense of stealth and started running, crashing through the forest line around the clearing of the graveyard, circling toward the spot where Tho hirew louder and louder until Tho in a strange, lilting run

"Who the he--"

The boy burst through the trees before Thomas could finish He saw only a flash of pale skin and enore of an apparition--and cried out, tried to run, but it was too late The figure leaped into the air and was on top of hi hands Tho into his back before it snapped in two, burning a deep scratch along his flesh

He pushed and swatted at his attacker, a relentless ju on top of hiain purchase It seehtmare, but Thomas knew it had to be a Glader, so open and closed, a horrific clack, clack, clack Then he felt the jarring dagger of pain as the boy’s mouth found a home, bit deeply into Thomas’s shoulder

Thoh his blood He planted the palainst his attacker’s chest and pushed, straightening his arure above him Finally the kid fell back; a sharp crack filled the air as another grave marker met its de in breaths of air, and got his first good look at the crazed attacker

It was the sick boy

It was Ben

CHAPTER 11

It looked as if Ben had recovered only slightly since Tho but shorts, his whiter-than-white skin stretched across his bones like a sheet wrapped tightly around a bundle of sticks Ropelike veins ran along his body, pulsing and green--but less pronounced than the day before His bloodshot eyes fell upon Tho his nextfor another attack At soht hand Thomas was filled with a queasy fear, disbelief that this was happening at all

"Ben!"

Tho at the edge of the graveyard, a ht Relief flooded Thoe bow, an arrow cocked for the kill, pointed straight at Ben

"Ben," Alby repeated "Stop right now, or you ain’t gonna see tomorrow"

Thoue darting between his lips to wet theht The boy had turned into afroet the wrong guy" He snapped his gaze back to Thomas "He’s the shank you wanna kill" His voice was full of madness

"Don’t be stupid, Ben," Alby said, his voice calot here--ain’t nothing to worry about You’re still buggin’ fro You should’ve never left your bed"

"He’s not one of us!" Ben shouted "I saw hiut him!"

Thomas took an involuntary step backward, horrified by what Ben had said What did he mean, he’d seen him? Why did he think Thomas was bad?

Alby hadn’tfor Ben "You leave that to ure out, shuck-face" His hands were perfectly steady as he held the bow, alainst a branch for support "Right now, back your scrawny butt down and get to the Homestead"

"He’ll wanna take us hoet us out of the Maze Better we all juuts out!"