The Long Walk

by Richard Bachman

Garraty supposed a person could do a lot of things when his life was at stake.

“It’s amazing how the mind operates the body,” he said at last. “It’s amazing how it can take over and dictate to the body.

A pitiful little noise of defiance in the big dark.

“It’s like shaking a box of crackers through a sieve, Garraty. The crumbs fall through pretty fast. Then the little pieces break up and they go, too. But the big crackers”—Parker’s grin was a crescent flash of saliva-coated teeth in the darkness—“the whole crackers have to bust off a crumb at a time.”

None of us really has anything to lose. That makes it easier to give away.”