Artifacts by Pete Catalano

we’ll just keep going.”
    “What if they kill me and leave before you can save me?” Mouth asked.
    Tank laughed. “We’ll send them a thank you note and keep going.”
    “Are we sure it’s safe?” Korie asked.
    “It’s just Mouth,” Crunch said.
    I looked back down the path. “It should be.”
    “Should?” Mouth repeated. “I think you should have your head examined. You’re not using me for anything, much less bait. Hey, somebody stole Bartholomew while you were supposed to be watching him. I can only imagine what’ll happen if somebody takes me.”
    I shot a look at Korie. “They’ll give you back.”
    “Come on, Mouth,” Tank said, starting down the path, grabbing Mouth’s handlebars, and dragging him along. “It’s time for you to be a hero.”
    Korie, Crunch, and I followed them.
    At the edge of the path, Tank let go of Mouth’s handlebars, gave him a big push, and we watched as he continued around the turn. Dropping our bikes just inside the entrance, we cut across, trying to catch up with Mouth.
    “It’s really creepy in here,” Korie said, swiping her hands in front of her face and swatting at the bugs and anything that might be hanging from the trees.
    Crunch agreed. “I betcha there’s a ton more things looking at us than we’re looking at.”
    The path split up into three different directions.
    Tank took the one closest to Mouth and the road, Crunch took the next one in, and Korie and I took off on our own.
    “Don’t lose me,” Korie said, grabbing a handful of my shirt.
    I laughed. “I won’t. Don’t worry. We’ll be fine,” I whispered, taking my eyes off the path and turning to look at Korie to make sure she was okay.
    The moment I turned my head back, I realized why you don’t take your eyes off a path in the woods. Stepping through a section choked with cobwebs, I freaked out, tearing them off my face, out of my hair and dancing like I was on fire.
    Once I was finished and sure they were off me, I remembered I wasn’t alone. Hearing my screams, Tank and Crunch ran over to find us and now all three of them were watching me spaz out through my epic battle with the webs.
    “Are you all right?” Korie asked slowly.
    “Yeah,” I said, nearly out of breath and not able to get rid of the grossness of the feeling of the webs wrapping around me. “Any way we can forget the spazzing out ever happened?”
    “Dude, not a chance.” Crunch giggled. His smartphone video camera was still rolling. “I’ll get like a bazillion hits on YouTube and I’m downloading it as we speak.”
    Tank laughed so hard tears rolled down his face as he tried to catch his breath.
    Korie looked back toward the path. “Hey, where’s Mouth?”
    Tank turned toward the pavement. “He’s right …”
    I looked past him. “I thought I saw him coming around the corner.”
    “Well he’s not there now,” Tank said. “Come on.”
    Tank ran down the path.
    Of course, we were right behind him, Korie showing that hurdler speed, me trying to keep up with her, and Crunch Muppet-flailing away, trying to keep his pants up as he ran.
    We ran through ruts, over logs I knew for a fact had snakes under them, ducked under cobwebs, branches, and any kind of anything that was hanging or growing or living in the trees that I didn’t want touching me.
    Finally, we made it out to the boardwalk in the greenway.
    “Do you see him?” Tank asked.
    “Nope,” Crunch said. “Knowing Mouth, though, he’s probably hiding somewhere in the bushes, watching us and giggling.”
    “I don’t think he’s hiding,” I said, pointing to his bike sticking out of the undergrowth farther down the path. It was turned upside down, the wheel still spinning like Mouth had been snatched off of it while it was still moving.
    Tank was really mad.
    Storming over to the bike, he stopped the tire from spinning as he looked around the ground for any trace of which way they had gone. Frustrated, he picked up the bike and tossed it to