Chapter 27: Water

They all hear the trickling sound together and it makes every one of them freeze. Reid's mouth instantly starts to water,

his terrible thirst almost strong enough to turn him into a desperate animal.

Almost.

Instead, he waits with as much patience as he can muster while the rest of the kids surge forward, stumbling over each

other, shoving and pushing to get to the water. Reid is disgusted that Marcus is the first in line and refuses to share

when the source of the water glitters into view up ahead. The kids crowd around behind him while he sticks his face into

the vertical stream and drinks as it tumbles from the ceiling and into a small pool on the side of the trail. Some of the

kids manage to sprawl at his feet and scoop handfuls from the pool but they don't last long. Reid sees them spit the

stuff out and back off. But it's obviously clean from the source or Marcus wouldn't still be taking up the whole thing

for himself.