Octavia E. Butler - Earthseed, Book 1 -… [792]

We couldn’t locate the source. The echoes bounced around the canyon, confusing us, sending us first in one direction, then in another. The canyon was full of loose rock and spiny, vicious plants that kept us on the pathways where there were pathways. — , Octavia E. Butler - Earthseed, Book 1 -…, 792

Note

The helplessness is composed rather than stated: an unseen sufferer, sound ricocheting off rock so the searchers are physically redirected. ‘Kept us on the pathways where there were pathways’ — the self-correcting repetition enacts being herded, hemmed by terrain while the horror stays somewhere else.