antoine

Go, Breeze,_ someone yelled.But another voice yelled, __uit showing off, stupid mutant.__rianna stopped dead. Her dress settled back into place. __ho said that?__il. The same jerk who had picked on Jack over the phones.__e,_ Zil said, stepping forward. __nd don__ bother trying to look tough. I__ not scared of you, freak.___ou should be,_ Brianna hissed.Suddenly there was Dekka, up off her chair, hand extended between Brianna and Zil. __o,_ she said in her deep voice. __one of that.__uinn joined her. __ekka__ right, we can__ be having fights and stuff here. Sam will shut this place down.___aybe we should have two different clubs,_ a seventh grader named Antoine said. __ou know, one for freaks and one for normals.___an, what is the matter with you?_ Quinn demanded.__ don__ like her acting like she__ so cool, is all,_ Zil said, stepping beside Antoine.__ou should be on our side, Quinn. Everyone knows you__e a normal,_ another kid, Lance, said. __ell_kind of normal. You__e still Quinn.

The food is ready,_ Zil announced to loud cheers.__ut we have something more important to do, first, before we can eat.__roans.__e have to carry out some justice.__hat earned a silent stare until Turk and Hank started raising their hands and yelling, showing the crowd how to act.__his mutant, this nonhuman scum here, this freak Hunter_ Zil pointed, arm stretched out, at his captive. __his chud deliberately murdered my best friend, Harry.___a troo,_ Hunter said. His mouth still didn__ work right. Brain damage, Zil supposed, from the little knock on his head. Half of Hunter__ face drooped like it wasn__ quite attached right. It made it easier for the crowd of kids to sneer at him, and Hunter, yelling in his drooling retard voice, wasn__ helping his case.__e__ a killer!_ Zil cried suddenly, smacking his fist into his palm.__ freak! A mutant!_ he cried. __nd we know what they__e like, right? They always have enough food. They run everything. They__e in charge and we__e all starving. Is that some kind of coincidence? No way.___a troo,_ Hunter moaned again.__ake him!_ Zil cried to Antoine and Hank. __ake him, the murdering mutant scum!__hey seized Hunter by the arms. He could walk, but only by dragging one leg. They half carried, half marched him across the plaza. They dragged him up the church steps.__ow,_ Zil said, __ere is how we__e going to do this._ He waved his hand toward the rope that Lance was unspooling back through the plaza.An expectant pause. A dangerous, giddy feeling. The smell of the meat had them all crazy. Zil could feel it.__ou all want some of this delicious venison?__hey roared their assent.__hen you__l all grab on to the rope.

We__e searched all of the homes and carried the food to Ralph__,_ Sam continued. __he problem is that all the fruit and veggies spoiled while we were all filling up on chips and cookies. The meat all rotted. People were stupid and careless, and there__ nothing we can do about that now._ Sam swallowed the bitterness he felt, the anger he felt at his own foolishness. __ut we have food sitting out in the fields. Maybe not the food we__ like, but enough to carry us for months__any months__f we bring it in before it rots and the birds eat it.___aybe we__l get rescued, and we won__ have to worry,_ another voice said.__aybe we__l learn to live on air,_ Astrid muttered under her breath but loudly enough to be heard by at least a few.__hy don__ you go get our food back from Drake and the chuds up there?__t was Zil. He accepted a congratulatory slap on the back from a creepy kid named Antoine, part of Zil__ little posse.__ecause it would mean getting some kids killed,_ Sam said bluntly. __e__ be lucky to rescue any of the food, and we__ end up digging more graves in the plaza. And it wouldn__ solve our problem, anyway.