The Running Man
by Stephen King
Contents
…Minus 065 and COUNTING… Dreaming sleep had just begun when h
Overview
Stacey brings Bradley to Richards’s hiding place, and Bradley quickly realizes Richards is the wanted Running Man fugitive blamed for the Y.M.C.A. disaster. Instead of turning him in, Bradley decides Richards is too exposed and leads him toward a safer place where they can talk, shifting Richards from desperate isolation toward uneasy dependence on new allies.
Summary
Richards is jolted awake in Stacey’s hiding place by the arrival of Bradley, the older youth Stacey was sent to fetch. Still half-caught in nightmare and fear, Richards turns on the light and sees Stacey with Bradley, who enters suspiciously with a switchblade and demands to know whether Richards is armed.
Bradley recognizes Richards from the Free-Vee reports about the Y.M.C.A. explosion on Huntington Avenue. His hostility shifts into wary interest and grim admiration when he realizes Richards is the fugitive credited with killing police, while Stacey boasts that he found Richards emerging from the manhole.
Richards admits that he needs to get out of Boston but has no clear plan. Bradley concludes that the hiding place is too exposed and decides Richards must come home with him and Stacey so they can talk somewhere safer, especially because police are cruising the area.
As they leave by the back way, Stacey kicks Richards to remind him of their bargain. Richards remembers and pays Stacey three New Dollars, which the boy quickly hides.
Who Appears
- Ben RichardsExhausted fugitive hiding after the Y.M.C.A. escape, seeking a way out of Boston.
- BradleyStacey’s older contact; recognizes Richards and decides to move him somewhere safer.
- StaceyPoor child who brings Bradley to Richards and collects his promised payment.