Free Dark Water by Kôji Suzuki Page B

will for some purpose. This wasn't a case of seeds washing ashore sprouting naturally on their own. Kensuke and Sasaki looked at each other and verified the impression with each other.
    'Look, over there.' Sasaki jerked his jaw toward the east end of the clearing. Three slender strips of wood stood atop a mound of earth.
    Walking over to take a closer look, they saw that the strips were tablets. Of the ink-lettered characters only two were legible, both of them what you'd expect on a tablet, while the others had completely worn off. What were the tablets doing there? Could they have come drifting to Battery No. 6, too? Why were they staked so firmly into the ground then?
    'What do you think?' spoke Kensuke.
     
    The mound of earth under the wooden strips suggested only one thing to both men.
    Sasaki said it: 'It's got to be a grave.'
    Ants were squirming in columns on the rounded heap of earth. A grave… It just couldn't be anything else.
    Just then, the portable receiver that hung from Kensuke's shoulder sprang to life.
    'Kano here. Do you read me? Over.'
    'We read you,' replied Kensuke, his finger on the transmit button.
    'We've spotted a small dark figure on the western embankment. It disappeared into the woods and must be heading toward the middle. Please exercise due caution.'
    'What?'
    'It was probably just an animal.'
    'A dog maybe? A cat?'
    'No,' Kano refuted him without pause.
    'Why are you sure?'
    'We're not sure. We tried to go after it, but it scrambled into the woods at an amazing speed.'
    'Western side?'
    'Yes.'
    'Roger and out.' Concluding the transmission, Kensuke looked at Sasaki's face and awaited his decision.
    'Come.'
    Sasaki started walking toward the western woods, where the thing was reported to have vanished, and Kensuke followed closely behind. The two men stopped at the edge of the clearing and, taking care not to make any noise, scouted ahead. They couldn't hear anything yet, but the thing was coming their way through the thicket right in front of them. Kensuke held his breath and waited for something to appear.
    A mosquito hummed annoyingly close to Kensuke's nose while he waited in a crouch. If he didn't move at all, he'd be feasted upon where his flesh was exposed. Having to stay in that crouch and make fidgety little movements at the same time was indeed tiring.
    The grass in the bush ahead seemed to sway. Soon, the approaching presence became audible through the branches being thrashed away. And then, all of a sudden, a small black thing jumped out at Kensuke.
    Before he knew it, he was lying face up on the ground. The impact of something hard striking his jaw from below had almost knocked him out, but his two hands had instinctively caught hold of the thing. A beastly roar went up next to his ear, and an instant later, he felt a searing pain in his arm. He had no idea what was going on. He felt a weight upon him, and when it lifted, he opened his eyes to see against the blinding summer sun a small dark silhouette that was flailing its limbs in Sasaki's arms. The creature that Sasaki had pulled off him was a boy perhaps seven or eight years old.
    Kensuke managed to sit up but remained in a state of disbelief. The boy was howling, not in any human language, but like a wild beast. The shrieks contained a frantic appeal but were totally incomprehensible and filled Kensuke with terror. The boy had no doubt bitten him. There were drops of blood on the arm where he'd felt the pain. Kensuke stood up, pressing down on the spot with his hand. Just then, Kano and Naito came dashing out of the woods behind. No sooner had Kano caught sight of the boy in Sasaki's restraining arms than he fetched his receiver to get through to the captain of the cruiser.
    'Prepare to depart… Contact the police…' The instructions Kano issued in rapid succession registered only as fragments with Kensuke.
    He felt dizzy. He tried to reason out what had just happened. The boy must have been glancing behind him as he ran. Not