Nine
C old. Darkness. Fear.
The river was even darker, slimier, muddier at night.
A pool as black as coal.
Impossible to see anything but blackness.
The one slice of the waning moon was covered by low, ragged clouds hurrying from one place to another, to discharge their rain.
Sludge. Water weeds wrapping around their legs. There were invisible creatures too. Tommy heard hissing, whispering, gurgling; the plop of something jumping into the water. At one point a chilly beating of immense wings brushed him behind the ears.
They stumbled on blindly, one behind the other, supporting one another, looking for some precarious handhold in the scrub on the bank.
They had to walk against the current. Little by little as they went forward, the water flowed faster, making their balance even mor
