Shirts and jeans litter the asphalt, the empty fabric limbs askew as if they're attempting to escape. Blood smears Sarah's lips as she struggles against the chest of a dirty looking man with a beard. Terror. Terror is the only word my mind can seize on and it forgets what it means. I forget how to think - to move.
Help me,_ the girl pleaded softly.Sam knelt beside her. He recoiled in shock. __ette?__he left side of Bouncing Bette__ face was covered in blood. There was a gash above her temple. She was panting, gasping, like she had collapsed after a marathon and was trying with her last ounce of energy to crawl across the finish line.__ette, what happened?___hey__e trying to get me,_ Bette cried, and clutched at Sam__ arm.The three dark figures advanced to the edge of the circle of light. One was clearly Orc. No one else was that big. Edilio and Quinn moved into the garage doorway.Sam disengaged from Bette and took up a position beside Edilio.__ou want me to beat on you guys, I will!_ Orc yelled.__hat__ going on here?_ Sam demanded. He narrowed his eyes and recognized the other two boys, a kid named Karl, a seventh grader from school, and Chaz, one of the Coates eighth graders. All three were armed with aluminum bats.__his isn__ your business,_ Chaz said. __e__e dealing with something here.___ealing with what? Orc, did you hit Bette?___he was breaking the rules,_ Orc said.__ou hit a girl, man?_ Edilio said, outraged.__hut up, wetback,_ Orc said.__here__ Howard?_ Sam asked, just to stall while he tried to figure out what to do. He__ lost one fight to Orc already.Orc took the question as an insult. __ don__ need Howard to handle you, Sam.__rc marched right up to Sam, stopped a foot away, and put his bat on his shoulder like he was ready to swing for a home run. Like a batter ready for the next fastball. Only this was closer to T-ball: Sam__ head was impossible to miss.__ove, Sam,_ Orc ordered.__kay, I__ not doing this again,_ Quinn said. __et him have her, Sam.___in__ no __et me,__ Orc said. __ do what I want.__am noticed movement behind Orc. There were people coming down the street, twenty or more kids. Orc noticed it too, and glanced behind him.__hey aren__ going to save you,_ Orc said, and swung the bat hard.Sam ducked. The bat whooshed past his head, and Orc rotated halfway around, carried forward by the momentum.Sam was thrown off balance, but Edilio was ready. He let loose a roar and plowed headfirst into Orc. Edilio was maybe half Orc__ size, but Orc was knocked off his feet. He sprawled out on the concrete.Chaz went after Edilio, trying to pull him off Orc.The crowd of kids who had come running down the street surged forward. There were angry voices and threats, all aimed at Orc.They yelled, Sam noted, but no one exactly jumped into the unequal fight.
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Help me,_ the girl pleaded softly.Sam knelt beside her. He recoiled in shock. __ette?__he left side of Bouncing Bette__ face was covered in blood. There was a gash above her temple. She was panting, gasping, like she had collapsed after a marathon and was trying with her last ounce of energy to crawl across the finish line.__ette, what happened?___hey__e trying to get me,_ Bette cried, and clutched at Sam__ arm.The three dark figures advanced to the edge of the circle of light. One was clearly Orc. No one else was that big. Edilio and Quinn moved into the garage doorway.Sam disengaged from Bette and took up a position beside Edilio.__ou want me to beat on you guys, I will!_ Orc yelled.__hat__ going on here?_ Sam demanded. He narrowed his eyes and recognized the other two boys, a kid named Karl, a seventh grader from school, and Chaz, one of the Coates eighth graders. All three were armed with aluminum bats.__his isn__ your business,_ Chaz said. __e__e dealing with something here.___ealing with what? Orc, did you hit Bette?___he was breaking the rules,_ Orc said.__ou hit a girl, man?_ Edilio said, outraged.__hut up, wetback,_ Orc said.__here__ Howard?_ Sam asked, just to stall while he tried to figure out what to do. He__ lost one fight to Orc already.Orc took the question as an insult. __ don__ need Howard to handle you, Sam.__rc marched right up to Sam, stopped a foot away, and put his bat on his shoulder like he was ready to swing for a home run. Like a batter ready for the next fastball. Only this was closer to T-ball: Sam__ head was impossible to miss.__ove, Sam,_ Orc ordered.__kay, I__ not doing this again,_ Quinn said. __et him have her, Sam.___in__ no __et me,__ Orc said. __ do what I want.__am noticed movement behind Orc. There were people coming down the street, twenty or more kids. Orc noticed it too, and glanced behind him.__hey aren__ going to save you,_ Orc said, and swung the bat hard.Sam ducked. The bat whooshed past his head, and Orc rotated halfway around, carried forward by the momentum.Sam was thrown off balance, but Edilio was ready. He let loose a roar and plowed headfirst into Orc. Edilio was maybe half Orc__ size, but Orc was knocked off his feet. He sprawled out on the concrete.Chaz went after Edilio, trying to pull him off Orc.The crowd of kids who had come running down the street surged forward. There were angry voices and threats, all aimed at Orc.They yelled, Sam noted, but no one exactly jumped into the unequal fight.
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I will come,' the priest answered, 'for I have read in old books of these strange beings which are neither quick nor dead, and which lie ever fresh in their graves, stealing out in the dusk to taste life and blood.
Where got she her sullen mouthAnd where her swaying form?Would she live on eggs and applesWhen the blood of men is warm?(__he Young Witch_)
The stuff of nightmare is their plain bread. They butter it with pain. They set their clocks by deathwatch beetles, and thrive the centuries. They were the men with the leather-ribbon whips who sweated up the Pyramids seasoning it with other people's salt and other people's cracked hearts. They coursed Europe on the White Horses of the Plague. They whispered to Caesar that he was mortal, then sold daggers at half-price in the grand March sale. Some must have been lazing clowns, foot props for emperors, princes, and epileptic popes. Then out on the road, Gypsies in time, their populations grew as the world grew, spread, and there was more delicious variety of pain to thrive on. The train put wheels under them and here they run down the log road out of the Gothic and baroque; look at their wagons and coaches, the carving like medieval shrines, all of it stuff once drawn by horses, mules, or, maybe, men.
I have seen an evil thing this night,' he said; 'I have seen how the dead drink the blood of the living. And the blood is the life.
The most powerful tools of revolution through intention are humility and consciousness.