After the First Death by Robert Cormier

Author:Robert Cormier
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Horror, Young Adult, Suspense
ISBN: 9780307834249
Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers
Published: 1979-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

“Why are you doing this?” she asked, trying to keep any harshness out of her voice, needing to seem friendly and interested. By this she meant the bus, the children, the hijacking, this entire nightmare.

Miro knew her meaning. “It’s what we must do,” he answered in his carefully measured English, as if he were walking a verbal tightrope. “Our work, our duty.”

“You mean your work is to kidnap children, hurt people, terrorize them?” The hell with trying to appear docile, let the chips fall.

“It’s the war. It’s all a part of the war.”

“I haven’t heard of any war.”

He looked so young, so defenseless, the brown eyes innocent, the mouth sensitive. So unlike the person in the mask.

After Antibbe left the bus with one last lingering look at her, Kate had retired to the back seat and sat there, pondering the time ahead and what she must do. One of the things was winning Miro over. Or at least getting him to talk, to let down his defenses. She had seen that look in his eye and had to take advantage of what that look meant. He had to look upon her as a human being. More than that: as a desirable young woman, and not a victim. She knew the perfect terrible truth of the situation: she had to make it hard for him to kill her. Thus, when he looked her way on his return as he checked the children, she forced a smile to her lips. A weak substitute of a smile maybe, but it had done the trick. After a few moments, Miro came and sat beside her on the back seat. He removed his mask and placed it on the seat beside him.

And now they were talking about some kind of war, something she hadn’t expected when she’d started this conversation. But, she thought: At least, we’re talking, we’re communicating.

“The war is going on all the time,” Miro continued. It was a topic he loved, a topic they had discussed much in the school. “Our duty is to let the people know the war exists, that the world is involved in it, that no one is free from war until our homeland is free.” He wished Artkin was here to listen to him, to see how well he had learned his lessons.

“Where’s your homeland?” Kate asked.

“My homeland is far from here. Across the ocean.”

Kate detected a wistfulness in his voice. “What’s its name?”

Miro hesitated. He had not said the word of his homeland for so long—like his own name—that he wondered how it would sound on his tongue. And he hesitated also because he did not know how much he should tell this girl. He wanted to win her confidence, but he must not betray himself or the others. If he did not say his name aloud to Artkin, how could he tell this girl the name of his homeland? “You do not know the place,” Miro said. “But it is a place of beauty.”

“Tell me about it,” Kate said.

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