“What if we get caught?” I asked after I’d stepped away from the ladder.
Lucky shrugged. “What can they do? Shoot us?”
I saw his point. We were already at the end of the line as far as getting in trouble.
It’s a good thing I wasn’t afraid of the dark. Torchie had forgotten the flashlight and nobody felt like going back for it. We walked in total blackness through the pipe. It was a darkness so complete it made me feel I no longer existed except as a bundle of thoughts. Even though I wasn’t scared, I didn’t like the experience. It’s weird what visions the mind can create when the eyes can’t see. But I got through it.
The pipe spilled us out on the side of a wooded hill, about fifty yards from the road. We followed the road into town and headed for the arcade.
The thought of video games made me realize I had a problem. “I don’t have any money,” I told them.
“No big deal,” Lucky said. He reached in his pocket and pulled out a handful of quarters.
I hesitated. It felt funny taking money from him.
“Go ahead. Help yourself. I didn’t steal it.” He shook his hand, jangling the coins in his palm.
“I never said you did. It’s just that I don’t know when I can pay you back.” I figured I could ask my folks for some money, but they probably wouldn’t send me any.
“Don’t worry about it,” Lucky said. “It’s my treat. You want it or not?”
“Thanks.” I took the coins from him and put them in my pocket.
The town of Edgeview wasn’t very big. Actually, the main part was across the interstate. The side we could reach was only about seven blocks from the school, but traveling through town felt like walking into a different world—a world of houses, homes, and families.
It didn’t take long to figure out that I was marked. Groups of kids, standing and horsing around in the streets, got quiet when we went past. Some of them crossed the street when we came near. A couple little kids even ran away from us.
“What’s going on?” I asked Torchie.
“Huh?” He looked around as if he didn’t know what I meant. Maybe he was used to seeing kids flee from him.
“They’re scared of us,” Cheater said, grinning. “Can you believe that? They think everyone from Edgeview is dangerous. Do I look like a killer?”
I squinted at him. “Hard to tell in the dark. Take off your glasses and try to look mean.”
He had his hand halfway to his face before he realized I was kidding.
I wondered how the kids from town knew we were from Edgeview.
“It’s a small place,” Cheater said, as if he’d guessed my next question. “So we really stick out. They know we don’t go to the public school. They call us ‘Alters,’ since we go to the Alternative School.”
“Guess what we call them?” Flinch asked.
“I give up. What?”
“Edgies,” Flinch told me. “I came up with that.”
I wasn’t surprised. Flinch had a gift for funny stuff. He was the one who’d started calling Waylon Hindenburg.
“You’ll get used to them,” Cheater told me. “Hey, I’m certainly used to people treating me different. When everyone stares at you, after a while it’s like nobody at all is staring.”
“That’s the truth,” Flinch said.
I guess they had a point. But it really felt strange the way the town kids acted. I’d wondered how they’d react to someone who was really dangerous, like Bloodbath. He’d plow through these kids like a bulldozer through a basket of light bulbs.
As we got closer to the small strip mall, I scanned the stores, hoping for a pizzeria or a burger place. No luck. There was a video store at the end nearest us. I guess it closed early, because the lights were off. I realized I hadn’t seen a movie in weeks. Past that store, a laundry pumped the steamy smell of clothes dryers into the air. The drugstore next to it had a sign in front that said NO LOITERING. Beyond the drugstore, jangling and flashing in that unmistakable way, stood the arcade. It was called MondoVideo. Nice surprise—it was larger than I’d thought it would be. I went inside, expecting nothing more than a few hours of fun.
But it was in the arcade, surrounded by the bright noise of mindless electronic entertainment, that I began to see the whole picture.
TWO EDGIES TALKING ON THE SIDEWALK A BLOCK FROM THE ARCADE
Edgie One: Oh man, it’s Alters.
Edgie Two: Let’s get out of here. Those guys will beat up anyone they get their hands on. [he starts to run]
Edgie One: [running] I hope they don’t follow us.
Edgie Two: I heard some of them carry knives.