Read Online Running Scared by Gloria Skurzynski - Free Book Online

We’ll be fine—”
    When Jack heard the sound, the words he’d been speaking died in his throat. Somewhere in the blackness swelled a strange, eerie noise, guttural and low. Ashley stared at him, wide-eyed, her lips parted.
    â€œJack—”
    â€œShush,” he whispered. “There it is again.”
    It was hard to tell how close the sound might be, but Jack guessed it couldn’t be too much more than 50 feet away. It wailed, high, then low, like a cat in the dead of night. Images of Goatsuckers crowded into his head. A shadow to his left seemed to move on its own—Jack’s insides turned to ice.
    He could feel his sister’s arm encircle him, her fingers tightening around his waist. Then another cry rose up like a specter’s shriek.
    It was definitely time to panic.

CHAPTER SIX
    J ack and Ashley clung to one another in terror, as the lantern light cast their own shadows into huge shapes on the cave walls. For what seemed like an hour but was probably little more than minutes, the terrifying sound wafted through the darkness, now loud, now soft. Jack’s first impulse was to run away from it, as fast as he could, as far as he could. Then, slowly, fear began to loosen its hold on his brain, enough that he recognized that the cries were coming from a human. From a very young human.
    Sam!
    The cries were so eerie!—nothing like the wails an ordinary child would make. They sounded strangled, alternating between low guttural rasps and then high, muted shrieks. It was as if Sam had never learned to just let loose and cry out his pain, as if he’d always had to hide his fear—or else be punished for showing it. What kind of hurts did he have from his past life? Jack had never heard a sound like that coming from any human being. The sound made his skin crawl.
    â€œIt’s Sam!” Jack told Ashley. “Don’t call out to him or he might stop. We need to follow his crying so we know where to go.”
    â€œAre you sure it’s him?”
    â€œWho else would it be?” he asked, impatient.
    Ashley didn’t answer, but Jack knew what she was thinking. Trolls. Blood-sucking bats. Cave ghosts haunting the bizarre formations. But this sound was all too human, and they couldn’t let their imaginations take them off into the netherworld. The two of them had to get a grip on reality.
    All around them they heard the drip of water falling from the cave ceiling into small puddles, mostly invisible except when the lantern light skimmed the surface with golden brushstrokes. His own shallow breathing and the shuffle of his shoes filled his ears, but above it all, he heard those heart-wrenching sobs of a little lost boy. Once, Jack picked a finger tunnel that dead-ended, and another time Ashley made a wrong turn that took them away from the eerie wailing. At last they reached him, alone, sitting in complete darkness, his arms around his legs and his round head bowed. The knees of his jeans were covered with a soft layer of cave dust. His hands looked grimy, even in the half-light.
    â€œSammy, we’re here,” Jack called softly. “It’s me, Jack.”
    â€œAnd me, too. Ashley.”
    Sam raised his head to stare at them with the most desolate expression Jack had ever seen. “I a-b-b-bout d-d-died,” he sobbed. Pressing the tips of his fingers into his eyes, he dropped his chin onto his chest and let out another sob.
    â€œNo you didn’t about die; you just got lost.” Jack knelt beside Sam and awkwardly patted his back, his hand making rat-ta-tat-tat sounds on the fake-leather jacket that covered Sam’s thin shoulder blades. “No worries. We’re going to take you back. The tour rangers are probably already looking for us by now. That’s bad, because we’ll get in big trouble for leaving the trail—but good, because we’ll just follow them out of here.” The words sounded far more confident than