Chapter 32 Chapter 32 The Man Who Looks for the Nose

A small cry came from deep in Thomas' chest, and he didn't know if it was an audible sound or if it was just something he was feeling inside, imagining it.Brenda stood beside him, silent—perhaps stunned, the light of her flashlight still shining on the hideous stranger.The man took an awkward step toward them, waving the good hand to keep the good foot moving forward steadily. "I think Rose took my nose," he repeated, phlegm making a sickening sound in his throat, "Bastard!" Thomas held his breath, waiting for Brenda to make the first move. "Got it?" the man said.The snarl appears to be replaced by a grin.He looked like an animal about to pounce on prey, "Bastard. My nose, Rose took it, I think." Then he laughed, a laugh that made Thomas fear that he might never sleep well again. up.

"Yes, I see," Brenda said. "That's an interesting story." Thomas felt her move and looked at her.She secretly took out a can from her bag and held it tightly in her right hand.Before Thomas had time to figure out if this was a good idea and whether he should stop her, Brenda threw her arms behind her back and threw the can at the lunatic.Thomas watched the can fly and hit the man in the face. He let out a scream that stunned Thomas. Then, others showed up.First two, then three, then four.There are men and women.Everyone dragged themselves out of the darkness and stood behind the first lunatic, and everything seemed out of control.It was horrible, those people were completely tainted by the Flame, completely insane, and injured from head to toe.Thomas also noticed that none of them had noses.

"It didn't hurt that much," said the lead patient. "You have a nice nose, and I'd love to have another." He stopped growling, licked his lips long enough, and then started growling again.His tongue was a hideous scarred purple thing that seemed to chew on it when he was bored. "My friends want noses too." Fear crept through Thomas like poisonous gas rejected by the stomach.He now understands more than ever what the Flare can do to people.He'd seen it from his dormitory window before, but now he faced it all up close.Right before his eyes, there were no barriers separating them.The faces of the lunatics were primal, bestial, and the man in the lead stumbled another step forward, and then another.

It's time to leave. Brenda said nothing, didn't need to say anything.She threw her arms back and angrily threw another can at the demented patients, and Thomas immediately followed her and ran away.Behind them sounded the nervous screams of their pursuers, like the charging horns of an army of disaster. They ran forward at full speed, turning left and right many times, and the beam of Brenda's flashlight flickered left and right.Thomas knew they had an advantage—the demented people were half-crippled, crippled by injuries, and there was no way they could catch up.But after thinking about it, there may be more demented patients here, and they may be waiting for them in front...

Brenda stopped, turned right, grabbed Thomas by the arm and pulled him into a run.After a few staggering steps, he regained his footing and brought himself to a full run as the angry shouts and boos of the demented patients faded away. Then Brenda turned left, then right again.She turned off the flashlight after the second spin, but still didn't slow down. "What are you doing?" Thomas asked.Convinced that he was going to hit a wall at any moment, he held out a hand in front of him. All he got was a boo, wondering how much he trusted Brenda.He put his life on her, but he had no other choice, especially at this moment.

After a few seconds she stopped again, completely.They stood in the dark, out of breath.The Crazy Man was far away, but the voice was still loud enough to keep coming closer. "Okay." She whispered, "It's about...here." "What?" he asked. "Just follow me into this room. There is a perfect hiding place here - I found it during an exploration. They will never find it. Come with me." She grabbed his hand tightly and pulled him to the right. He felt them go through a narrow door, and then Brenda pulled him inside. "There's an old table here," she said, "can you touch it?"

She didn't push his hand away until Thomas felt the hard, smooth wood. "Yes." he replied. "Watch your head, we're going to crawl under it and go through a small hole in the wall to the hidden cubicle. God knows what it's for, but those lunatics won't be able to find it to it. Even if they had flashlights - which of course I doubt they would - they wouldn't be able to find it." Thomas had to wonder, how did they get around without flashlights?But he'd have to think about it later, Brenda was already on the move, and he didn't want to lose track.He followed her on all fours and crawled quickly towards the wall.He followed her closely, his fingers touching her feet from time to time.

Then they crawled through a small square opening into a long, narrow compartment.Thomas felt around, patting the surface of the cubicle, trying to get a feel for where he was.The ceiling was only about two feet off the floor, so he dragged himself further into the cramped space. Brenda was lying on her back against the inner wall of the hideout as Thomas awkwardly positioned herself.They had no choice but to lie straight like this.The place is very narrow, but it can accommodate him.He was facing the same direction as her, with his back against her upper body.He could feel her breath on his neck.

"It's so comfortable here," he whispered. "Do not talk." Thomas moved up a little so his head rested against the wall; that way he could relax a bit.He settled down, breathing deeply and slowly, listening carefully to the noises made by the demented man. It was so quiet at first that there was a buzzing in his ears.But then the noises of the demented patients began.Coughing, occasional shouting, manic laughter.They are getting closer.For a moment, Thomas felt a panic at how foolishly they had trapped themselves here, but then he started thinking again.The chances of a dazed person discovering this hiding place are slim, especially in the dark.They walked on, but probably getting further and further away, maybe even forgetting about him and Brenda.That's much better than a protracted chase.If the worst came to pass, he and Brenda could still protect themselves through the little opening in the cubicle, maybe.

The crowd of delirious people was now so close that Thomas had to hold his breath desperately.A casual gasp can give them away.Despite the darkness around him, he closed his eyes to listen intently. Scuffling and humming and heavy breathing.Someone hit the wall with a dull thump against concrete.Someone started arguing, frantically exchanging something.He heard "this way" "that way", more coughing.One of them stopped abruptly and spat violently, as if about to cough up one or two of his organs.A woman laughed maniacally, and the sound made Thomas shudder.Brenda found his hand and squeezed it tightly.Once again, Thomas felt a sense of guilt, as if he had betrayed Teresa.He can't help himself, this girl is too sensational.What a stupid thing to do when you...

One of the delirious patients entered the room outside the cubicle, and then another, and Thomas could hear their breathing and the thumping of their feet on the floor.Another one came in, with a slipping step and a plop, a slipping step, and a plop.Thomas thought it might be the first time they'd seen the lunatic, the only man who spoke to them—his left arm and leg dangling uselessly. "Boy...boy," the man called, a mocking and creepy cry.It was a voice Thomas would never forget. "Girl... mother. Come out, come out. Make a sound, make a sound, I want your nose." "There's nothing here," said a woman, "nothing but a table." The crunch of wood against the ground pierced the air, then stopped abruptly. "Maybe they hid their noses down here," the man replied, "maybe the noses are still on their pretty little faces." It sounded like a step or two away when Thomas heard a hand or foot scrape the ground just outside the entrance to their hideout.He shrank back and pressed against Brenda. "There's nothing there," the woman repeated. Thomas heard her walk away and realized his body was curled up with tension.He tried to relax himself, still carefully controlling his breathing. There was an increasing sound of shuffling, and then a murmur, as if the three were meeting in the middle of the house to discuss a battle strategy.Thomas wondered, Are they sane enough to do such a thing? He listened intently, trying to catch a few words, but still couldn't make out their vague words. "No!" shouted one of them.A man, but Thomas couldn't tell if it was the man. "No! No, no, no, no, no." These words gradually became a stuttering of self-talk. The woman interrupted him, saying repeatedly, "Yes! Yes yes yes yes." "Shut up!" said the leader, and it must have been the leader. "Shut up, shut up, shut up!" Even though the sweat had beaded on his skin, Thomas felt cold.He didn't know if such an exchange meant anything, or if it was just more confirmation that they were mad. "I'm leaving," the woman said, weeping and finishing, sounding like a child leaving a game. "I'm going, I'm going too." The words came from another man. "Shut up, shut up, shut up!" the leader yelled, louder this time, "Go, go, go!" The sudden repetition of words made Thomas shudder, as if some desire to control the words suddenly exploded in their brains. Brenda clutched his hand so hard it hurt him, and her breath cooled the sweat on his neck. The sound of shuffling feet and clothes rubbing is outside, are they leaving? Perhaps the sharp drop in sound was due to the fact that they had entered a corridor, a tunnel, or something, and the group of delirious patients who had come with them seemed to have left long ago.Soon everything was quiet again, and Thomas heard only himself and Brenda's breathing. They waited in the dark, lying flat on the hard ground, facing the small entrance, huddled together in sweat.The silence continued, and the faint noise outside became farther and farther away.Thomas continued to listen, with absolute certainty that they were gone.As much as he wanted to get out of the tiny cubicle because it was so uncomfortable, they had to wait. Minutes passed, and minutes passed, and there was nothing but silence and darkness. "I think they're gone," Brenda whispered at last.She flicked on the flashlight. "Hello, noses!" came a terrible cry from the room. Then a bloody hand came through the hole and grabbed Thomas' shirt.