CHAPTER 16Matt’s retreat was blind and almost mindless. He plodded heavily through the dripping brush. Wet leaves stuck to his face and clothes. He leaned into the rain-blowing wind and didn’t look back. He would never go back. One more failure like that would be one too many. He assumed Spotty was behind him. Then he forgot about his friend. His thoughts were choked up completely with himself.
While he threw his pack on the truck and covered it with the tarp, he thought of all the things he’d lost along with the cave. Fame, riches, the big new house in town with servants to do his mother’s work, two cars. Adventure and excitement and meaning to it all—he’d lost those things; and he had also lost his future and his friends and the respect of others.
He got into the front of the truck and
