Armageddon's Children - Terry Brooks [125]
They could hear the scurrying sound of rodents, and tiny dark forms shot into view in sudden bursts and were gone.
“Playmates for the pussycats,” whispered Panther with a grin, but nobody smiled back.
The silence was deep and pervasive and troubling. Hawk glanced around uneasily, searching for the entrance that would admit them to the adjoining building, but found nothing. They spread out across the room, peering down corridors and up stairways. Because the buildings were connected, the entrance, if it existed, could be anywhere.
Fixit tugged on Hawk’s sleeve. “Cats are climbers,” he said softly, glancing over at the broad stairway leading up.
Hawk had counted the floors from outside, and there were at least seventeen or eighteen—several more than in the adjoining building. He didn’t like the thought of climbing that high with no idea of what he was getting into.
He didn’t like leaving the relative safety of the open streets. He considered his options, and then gathered the others about him.
“Panther and I are going up. The rest of you wait here. Watch our backs.
Don’t let us get trapped up there. We’ll be quick.”
He was just turning away when Candle suddenly doubled over, clutching at her head and sagging to her knees. She moaned softly, her eyes squeezing shut, her breathing turning quick and harsh. Hawk knew at once what was happening and knelt in front of her, gripping her slender shoulders.
“What do you see?” he whispered. He could feel the others pressing close about them.
“Blood everywhere,” she whispered.
“That’s enough for me,” Panther said at once. “I don’t like how this place feels either. Let’s get out of here.” He made as if to leave, but Hawk and the others stayed where they were. Panther wheeled back. “Are you paying attention, man? Are you listening to her? Are you listening to your own self?”
Hawk ignored him. He stroked Candle’s blond head and cradled her against him. “It’s all right, sweetie, it’s all right. Tell me. Where is the blood?
Whose is it?”
The little girl shook her head, then opened her eyes and looked at Hawk.
“Here. It’s here. But I can’t tell whose it is.”
Hawk went cold and for an instant thought about doing what Panther wanted and just leaving without taking this business any further. He forced himself not to begin looking around the room for whatever might have caused Candle’s vision to come to pass.
“Do you see anything else?” he asked softly, holding her gaze, showing her he was not afraid.
She shook her head again. “I’m sorry, Hawk.”
“No, it’s okay. You have nothing to be sorry about.”
He got back on his feet, bringing her up with him, still holding on to her, waiting until she was steady enough to release. Then he looked at the others. “I’m still going up. I’ll do it alone. No one else needs to go. I want to see what’s up there, take a quick look around. The rest of you wait here, and I’ll be right back. If something happens, get out right away.”
“No!” Candle said at once, reaching for him anew, grabbing his wrist.
“Don’t go up there, Hawk! Don’t!”
“Candle, let go,” he said firmly, and he disengaged himself, moving her back into Bear’s arms. “I’ll be careful.”
Her head lowered, her eyes closed, and she began to rock. “Don’t go, don’t go,” she said, over and over.
The rest of them kept silent, but they were saying the same thing with the looks they gave him. He turned away quickly and started up the stairs.
“Aw, man!” he heard Panther exclaim. “Wait up!” Then the other boy was beside him, his dark face clouded with anger. “Can’t be letting you go alone.
You die up there, who you think gets the blame? C’mon, let’s get this over with!” Hawk nodded, and together they began to climb.
* * *
IT TOOK THEM awhile to get to the top floor. Hawk had decided that it would be best if they worked their way down rather than up. He thought that Fixit might be on to something. Cats liked to climb, so it figured that Tiger and his bunch, true to their name, might have chosen a place on the upper floors. If so, the passage from this building to the next was probably