On the Run by Tristan Bancks Read Free Book Online Page A

out!” Dad stormed out of the cabin. He was carrying the sports bag.
    â€œBe careful, Ray,” Mum said, following him. “And please make the arrangements today. I can’t stay here.”
    Dad climbed into the car and slammed the door.
    â€œRay?”
    â€œYes, I’ll make the arrangements,” he said through the window.
    â€œAnd get some clothes for the kids!”
    Dad reversed, spun the wheel, and powered off up the hill, leaving them in a cloud of swirling dust.
    Ben turned and, without a word, he let the trees take him. He let himself go off the edge of the slope and disappear. Down, down, down.

 
    CULPAM POENA PREMIT COMES
    Ben flew steeply down, dodging thick, rough chocolate-brown tree trunks, his feet deep in pine needles. Sun lit him in sharp bursts as he thundered into the valley. The water-rush became ever louder, filling him up.
    The river emerged through the trees, and Ben began to slow, digging his heels into the damp black soil beneath. He came to a skidding stop at the large, mossy sandstone boulders that led down to the water. The river was about thirty feet wide. Sun hit the surface in patches, revealing muddy brown rocks beneath. Ben wondered how deep it was. Downstream there was a small waterfall leading to a lower section of river. On the far side, a sheer sandstone cliff soared a hundred feet above Ben’s head. Fishbone ferns poked from cracks and scars in the cliff. The wall ran along the river’s edge as far up- and downstream as he could see.
    Thirst tore at him then. He jumped onto a small boulder that was shaped almost like a pyramid and leaped from rock to rock, careful to avoid the slippery-looking patches of moss. He was halfway down to the water when he thought about snakes. They liked rocks. He had a book on snakes at home, a library book that he had never returned. (After snakes, his greatest fear was ever going back to the public library, in case he was arrested for theft.) Ben loved to scare himself in the comfort of his bedroom, but out here he couldn’t shut the book and stop the fear. Nature was real and true and terrible.
    He paused on a rock and looked up the hill, thinking of running back to the safety of the cabin. Which was worse? Snakes or his family? Fear told him to get off the rocks, but thirst drove him down to the water. He pulled his school socks up to his knees and stepped carefully, eyes darting all around, waiting for venomous fangs to emerge from a crevice and end him. He stepped onto a mossy green rock near the water, slipping and breaking his fall with the palms of his hands. The sting screamed, and he quickly dipped his hands into the fast-moving river. The water was cold, soothing the sting. His throat and stomach howled for liquid.
    Ben looked upstream, wondering if the water was safe to drink. He cupped water in his hands. There were tiny specks of moss and other plant matter floating in it, but Ben’s thirst was too great. He brought the cupped handful to his mouth and gulped it down. He scooped his hands in again and sucked the water back into his throat. It felt so good and cold that his head and insides lit up. He scooped again and slurped thirstily, drinking water till his belly ached. He splashed his face and collapsed back onto the mossy rock, another boulder behind him making a backrest.
    There was something uncomfortable in Ben’s back pocket. He took it out. The book he had taken from the cabin. My Side of the Mountain. Ben flicked through. There were illustrations showing how to make a trap for deer and a fishhook out of twigs. He read the back cover. It was about a kid named Sam Gribley who runs away from home in New York City to live in the Catskill Mountains by himself. He sleeps inside a tree and survives off the land. Ben threw the book onto the rock next to him. His eyes darted around. He knew that he would have no chance out here alone. Ben’s survival skills included hunting for leftovers in