Baccano! - Volume 20 - Chapter 1.2

Interlude

December 29, 1931 Noon

While Jacuzzi’s friends were still in Chicago and Cazze was studying quietly in the Runorata mansion, a child was playing alone in a forest in upstate New York.

His parents had told him he mustn’t ever go in there by himself.

There was a river a ways in, an iron railroad bridge over the river, and a road that led all the way to that bridge. The forest wasn’t really deep enough for people to get trapped in.

However, woods were woods. You could never get careless in them. The boy’s parents had grown up hearing that from their families as well. He had come here anyway.

He was here to prove he was old enough to walk through those dangerous woods. In short, it was a test of courage.

He hadn’t been threatened by local bullies, and he hadn’t made a bet with his friends. He’d stepped inside the woods voluntarily.

There were no signs of coyotes, wolves, or wild boars, and as he ran around in the woods, he felt vaguely disappointed.

Had he been an adult, he probably would have picked up on the fact that the situation was already abnormal.

No coyotes, no wolves, no boars, no deer or dogs or wild rabbits—even for winter, the animals were far too scarce.

That was why the boy saw it—something that had remained in the forest. Something he should never have seen.

He saw him.

It wasn’t as if the boy had had a close encounter.

From a great distance—so far away that the boy’s eyes could only barely make him out—there he was.

The boy was standing far, far, far away, somewhere safe, but the sight still paralyzed him. He started to hear a strange clicking, gnashing sound. He didn’t realize it was the sound of his own chattering teeth.

His figure was just that overwhelming.

Even though he looked no bigger than the little bugs that were flying around near the boy, the boy understood just how fearsome he was. His own instincts made him understand it, almost compulsively.

Abruptly, he turned his head in the boy’s direction.

At that, the kid bolted like a rabbit.

It took only a few minutes to get away, but to him, it felt like ten years.

He didn’t know how he’d fled or what path he’d taken. The next thing he knew, he was in front of his own house.

He didn’t tell anyone about it. He just crawled into bed, pulled the covers up over his head, and shivered.

The boy was hoping what he’d seen had been a dream.

There was nothing else he could do.