orc

He pictured himself at the lake, on a houseboat. Dekka would be there, and Brianna and Jack. He would have friends. He wouldn__ be alone.But he couldn__ stop himself from looking for her.She no longer had Little Pete to worry about. They could be together without all of that. But of course he knew Astrid, and knew that right now, wherever she was, she was eaten up inside with guilt.__he__ not coming, is she?_ Sam said to Dekka.But Dekka didn__ answer. She was somewhere else in her head. Sam saw her glance and look away as Brianna laid a light hand on Jack__ shoulder.Dahra was staying in the hospital, but a few more kids came. Groups of three or four at a time. The Siren and the kids she lived with came. John Terrafino came. Ellen. He waited. He would wait the full two hours. Not for her, he told himself, just to keep his word.Then Orc, with Howard.Sam groaned inwardly.__ou gotta be kidding me,_ Brianna said.__he deal was kids make a choice,_ Sam said. __ think Howard just realized how dangerous life can be for a criminal living in a place where the __ing_ can decide life or death.

Astrid felt a towering wave of disgust. She was furious with Sam. Furious with Little Pete. Mad at the whole world around her. Sickened by everyone and everything.And mostly, she admitted, sick of herself.So desperately sick of being Astrid the Genius.__ome genius,_ she muttered. The town council, headed by that blond girl, what was her name? Oh right: Astrid. Astrid the Genius. Head of the town council that had let half the town burn to the ground.Down in the basement of town hall Dahra Baidoo handed out scarce ibuprofen and expired Tylenol to kids with burns, like that would pretty much fix anything, as they waited for Lana to go one by one, healing with her touch.Astrid could hear the cries of pain. There were several floors between her and the makeshift hospital. Not enough floors.Edilio staggered in. He was barely recognizable. He was black with soot, dirty, dusty, with ragged scratches and scrapes and clothing hanging in shreds.__ think we got it,_ he said, and lay straight down on the floor.Astrid knelt by his head. __ou have it contained?__ut Edilio was beyond answering. He was unconscious. Done in.Howard appeared next, in only slightly better shape. Some time during the night and morning he__ lost his smirk. He glanced at Edilio, nodded like it made perfect sense, and sank heavily into a chair.__ don__ know what you pay that boy, but it__ not enough,_ Howard said, jerking his chin at Edilio.__e doesn__ do it for pay,_ Astrid said.__eah, well, he__ the reason the whole town didn__ burn. Him and Dekka and Orc and Jack. And Ellen, it was her idea.

I__ trying to help,_ Albert said.__y paying him with beer?___ paid him what he wanted, and Sam was okay with it. You were at the meeting,_ Albert said. __ook, how else do you think you get someone like Orc to spend hours in the hot sun working? Astrid seems to think people will work just because we ask them to. Maybe some will. But Orc?__ana could see his point. __kay. I shouldn__ have jumped all over you.___t__ okay. I__ getting used to it,_ Albert said. __uddenly I__ the bad guy. But you know what? I didn__ make people the way they are. If kids are going to work, they__e going to want something back.___f they don__ work, we all starve.___eah. I get that,_ Albert said with more than a tinge of sarcasm. __nly, here__ the thing: Kids know we won__ let them starve as long as there__ any food left, right? So they figure, hey, let someone else do the work. Let someone else pick cabbages and artichokes.__ana wanted to get back to her run. She needed to finish, to run to the FAYZ wall. But there was something fascinating about Albert. __kay. So how do you get people to work?__e shrugged. __ay them.___ou mean, money?___eah. Except guess who had most of the money in their wallets and purses when they disappeared? Then a few kids stole what was left in cash registers and all. So if we start back using the old money we just make a few thieves powerful. It__ kind of a problem.___hy is a kid going to work for money if they know we__l share the food, anyway?_ Lana asked.__ecause some will do different stuff for money. I mean, look, some kids have no skills, right? So they pick the food for money. Then they take the money and spend it with some kid who can maybe cook the food for them, right? And that kid maybe needs a pair of sneakers and some other kid has rounded up all the sneakers and he has a store.__ana realized her mouth was open. She laughed. The first time in a while.__ine. Laugh,_ Albert said, and turned away.__o, no, no,_ Lana hastened to say. __o, I wasn__ making fun of you. It__ just that, I mean, you__e the only kid that has any kind of a plan for anything.

He didn__ mind Drake so much. Drake was a creep.It was the girl who made Orc want to cry.She was a monster. Like Orc. Begging for death. Begging for someone to let her go to her Jesus.Kill me, kill me, kill me, she begged every day and every night.Orc took a deep swig.Tears seeped from his human eyes and fell into the rocky crevices of his face.

Have you seen Sam?_ Mary asked.__hat do you want with Sam?___ can__ take care of all those littles with just John to help me.__oward shrugged. __ho asked you to?__hat was too much. Mary was tall and strong. Howard, though a boy, was smaller. Mary took two steps toward him, pushing her face right into his. __isten, you little worm. If I don__ take care of those kids, they__l die. Do you understand that? There are babies in there who need to be fed and need to be changed, and I seem to be the only one who realizes it. And there are probably more little kids still in their homes, all alone, not knowing what__ happening, not knowing how to feed themselves, scared to death.__oward took a step back, tentatively lifted the bat, then let it fall. __hat am I supposed to do?_ he whined.__ou? Nothing. Where__ Sam?___e took off.___hat do you mean, he took off?___ mean him and Quinn and Astrid took off.__ary blinked, feeling stupid and slow. __ho__ in charge?___ou think just because Sam likes to play the big hero every couple years that makes him the guy in charge?__ary had been on the bus two years ago when the driver, Mr. Colombo, had had his heart attack. She__ had her head in a book, not paying attention, but she had looked up when she felt the bus swerve. By the time she had focused, Sam was guiding the bus onto the shoulder of the road.In the two years that followed, Sam had been so quiet and so modest and so not involved in the social life of the school that Mary had sort of forgotten that moment of heroism. Most people had.And yet she hadn__ even been surprised when it was Sam who had stepped up during the fire. And she had somehow assumed that if anyone was going to be in charge, it would be Sam. She found herself angry with him for not being here now: she needed help.__o get Orc,_ Mary said.__ don__ tell Orc what to do, bitch.___xcuse me?_ she snapped. __hat did you just call me?__oward gulped. __idn__ mean nothing, Mary.___here is Orc?___ think he__ sleeping.___ake him up. I need some help. I can__ stay awake any longer. I need at least two kids who have experience babysitting. And then I need diapers and bottles and nipples and Cheerios and lots of milk.___hy am I going to do all that?__ary didn__ have an answer. __ don__ know, Howard,_ she said. __aybe because you__e really not a complete jerk? Maybe you__e really a decent human being?__hat earned her a skeptical look and a derisive snort.__ook, kids will do what Orc says,_ Mary said. __hey__e scared of him. All I__ asking is for Orc to act like Orc.__oward thought this over. Mary could almost see the wheels spinning in his head.__orget it,_ she said. ____l talk to Sam when he gets back.___eah, he__ the big hero, isn__ he?_ Howard said, dripping sarcasm. __ut hey, where is he? You see him around? I don__ see him around.___re you going to help or not? I have to get back.___ll right. I__l get your stuff, Mary. But you better remember who helped you. You__e working for Orc and me._____ taking care of little kids,_ Mary said. __f I__ working for anyone, it__ for them.___ike I say, you remember who was there when you needed them._ Howard turned on his heel and swaggered away.

Leslie-Ann set down her own bucket and watched, marveling, as a quarter of an inch of water covered the bottom.When she looked away, she saw an older kid. She__ seen him around. But usually he was with Orc and she was too scared of Orc ever to get near him.She tugged on Howard__ wet sleeve. He seemed not to be sharing in the general glee. His face was severe and sad.__hat?_ he asked wearily.__ know something.___ell, goody for you.___t__ about Albert.__oward sighed. __ heard. He__ dead. Orc__ gone and Albert__ dead and these idiots are partying like it__ Mardi Gras or something.___ think he might not be dead,_ Leslie-Ann said.Howard shook his head, angry at being distracted. He walked away. But then he stopped, turned, and walked back to her. __ know you,_ he said. __ou clean Albert__ house.___es. I__ Leslie-Ann.___hat are you telling me about Albert?___ saw his eyes open. And he looked at me.

If you do bad stuff and don't repent, you go to hell," Orc said, like he was begging for a refutation."Yeah, well, you know what? If Howard's in hell, I guess we can all have a big get-together soon enough. a

God knew our lives would be really bad sometimes. Like maybe we'd be turned into a monster and then our best friend would get killed. So he made up this story about hell, so we could always say, 'Well it could be worse. It could be hell.' And then we'd keep going.

Yeah, let__ get John here. That way we can stall for a while longer. We can keep on doing nothing for just a little while longer.__lbert said, __ake it easy, Howard.___ake it easy?_ Howard jumped to his feet. __eah? Where were you last night, Albert? Huh? Because I didn__ see you out there on the street listening to kids screaming, seeing kids running around hurt and scared and choking, and Edilio and Orc struggling, and Dekka hacking up her lungs and Jack crying and__ou know who couldn__ even take it?_ Howard raged. __ou know who couldn__ even take what was happening? Orc. Orc, who__ not scared of anything. Orc, who everyone thinks is some kind of monster. He couldn__ take it. He couldn___but he did. And where were you, Albert? Counting your money? How about you, Astrid? Praying to Jesus?__strid__ throat tightened. She couldn__ breathe. For a moment panic threatened to overwhelm her. She wanted to run from the room, run away and never look back.Edilio got to his feet and put an arm around Howard. Howard allowed it, and then he did something Astrid never thought she would see. Howard buried his face in Edilio__ shoulder and cried, racking sobs.__e__e falling apart,_ Astrid whispered for herself alone.But there was no easy escape. Everything Howard had said was true. She could see the truth reflected in Albert__ stunned expression. The two of them, the smart ones, the clever ones, the great defenders of truth and fairness and justice, had done nothing while others had worked themselves to exhaustion.

Don__ want no more rock,_ Orc repeated.The bleeding stopped almost immediately.__oes it hurt?_ Lana asked. __ mean the rock. I know the hole hurts.___o. It don__ hurt._ Orc slammed his fist against his opposite arm, hard enough that any human arm would have been shattered. __ barely feel it. Even Drake__ whip, when we was fighting, I barely felt it.__uddenly he was weeping. Tears rolled from human eyes onto cheeks of flesh and pebbles.__ don__ feel nothing except_ He pointed a thick stone finger at the flesh of his face.__eah,_ Lana said. Her irritation was gone. Her burden was smaller, maybe, than Orc__.

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.