86.
  The centipede’s eyes flashed with arrogance. “I want to savor this.”, it drooled. “Four heroic creatures who’ve lived a good life and just wanted to give something to the world, four little centurions who marched off to war to make might right and evil good are tragically cut down and swallowed into the belly of the beast. No one will know what happened to them. No one will ever know their hopes, their dreams, their loves. No one will ever know of their horrible deaths. The world will go on in its stone cold, arbitrary way without them. Goodbye cruel world.”

   Suddenly a piercing light shot into the cave. The pulsing, quivering machine above us shrunk away into the darkness. A huge yellow hand grabbed hold of the four of us. It held us tight but did not hurt us. I put my hands on one of the fingers wrapped around my waist and they sunk into it as if it were made of the light that emanated from it. The light filled the cave and lit up its endless stalactites. It lit up the eyes of the mummies who were almost smiling.
   “Crawl back into the darkness where you belong, insect!”, a thunderous voice boomed.
   The centipede was knocked on its back snarling and cursing. It rolled to the feet of the mummies. One of the mummies hands fell away from its body and onto the centipede. The centipede swung around and angrily bit at it. Another hand fell on it then another. Hands clutched. Limbs straightened. Feet stomped. For an instant the centipede looked up at the mummies. Then they tore it to pieces.
   “Come back into the light where you belong, children.”, rumbled the voice. We were pulled from the cave through the darkness and into the starlight.