The Long Walk

by Richard Bachman

“Keep Hint Thirteen in mind.” Hint Thirteen was “Conserve energy whenever possible.”

But of course it had hurt. It had hurt before, in the worst, rupturing way, knowing there would be no more you but the universe would roll on just the same, unharmed and unhampered.

Hint 3: Do not, repeat, do not wear sneakers. Nothing will give you blisters faster than sneakers on a Long Walk.

Hint 10: Save your wind. If you smoke ordinarily, try not to smoke on the Long Walk.

“Rich men don’t enter the Kingdom of Heaven,”

“Rule 8, no interference with your fellow Walkers.”

The French lords and ladies used to screw after the guillotinings. The old Romans used to stuff each other during the gladiatorial matches. That’s entertainment, Garraty.

Once, in the eighth grade, he had read a story by a man named Ray Bradbury, and this story was about the crowds that gather at the scenes of fatal accidents, about how these crowds always have the same faces, and about how they seem to know whether the wounded will live or die.

the longer you went without speaking, the harder it gets to break the silence.

“Any game looks straight if everyone is being cheated at once.”

“All we are is mice in a trap.”