zil-sperry

I__ killing Zil. Clear enough? I__ putting him down.___hoa, man,_ Edilio said. __hat__ not what we do. We__e the good guys, right?___here has to be an end to it, Edilio._ He wiped soot from his face with the back of his hand, but smoke had filled his eyes with tears. __ can__ keep doing it and never reaching the end.___t__ not your call anymore,_ Edilio said.Sam turned a steely glare on him. __ou too? Now you__e siding with Astrid?___an, there have to be limits,_ Edilio said.Sam stood staring down the street. The fire was out of control. All of Sherman was burning, from one end to the other. If they were lucky it wouldn__ jump to another street. But one way or the other, Sherman was lost.__e should be looking to save any kids that are trapped,_ Edilio said.Sam didn__ answer.__am,_ Edilio pleaded.__ begged Him to let me die, Edilio. I prayed to the God who Astrid likes so much and I said, God, if You__e there, kill me. Don__ let me feel this pain anymore.__dilio said nothing.__ou don__ understand, Edilio,_ Sam said so softly, he doubted Edilio could hear him over the roar and crackle of the fire raging all around them. __ou can__ do anything else with people like this. You have to kill them all. Zil. Caine. Drake. You just have to kill them. So right now, I__ starting with Zil and his crew,_ Sam said. __ou can come with me or not.

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.

He__ a murdering chud,_ Zil was yelling.__hat do you want to do? Lynch him?_ Astrid demanded.That stopped the flow for a second as kids tried to figure out what __ynch_ meant. But Zil quickly recovered.__ saw him do it. He used his powers to kill Harry.___ was trying to stop you from smashing my head in!_ Hunter shouted.__ou__e a lying mutant freak!___hey think they can do anything they want,_ another voice shouted.Astrid said, as calmly as she could while still pitching her voice to be heard, __e are not going down that path, people, dividing up between freaks and normals.___hey already did it!_ Zil cried. __t__ the freaks acting all special and like their farts don__ stink.__hat earned a laugh.__nd now they__e starting to kill us,_ Zil cried.Angry cheers.Edilio squared his shoulders and stepped into the crowd. He went first to Hank, the kid with the shotgun. He tapped him on the shoulder and said, __ive me that thing.___o way,_ Hank said. But he didn__ seem too certain.__ou want to have that thing fire by accident and blow someone__ face off?_ Edilio held his hand out. __ive it to me, man.__il rounded on Edilio. __ou going to make Hunter give up his weapon? Huh? He__ got powers, man, and that__ okay, but the normals can__ have any weapon? How are we supposed to defend ourselves from the freaks?___an, give it a rest, huh?_ Edilio said. He was doing his best to sound more weary than angry or scared. Things were already bad enough. __il, you want to be responsible if that gauge goes off and kills Astrid? You want to maybe give that some thought?__il blinked. But he said, __ude, I__ not scared of Sam.___am won__ be your problem, I will be,_ Edilio snapped, losing patience. __nything happens to her, I__l take you down before Sam ever gets the chance.__il snorted derisively. __h, good little boy, Edilio, kissing up to the chuds. I got news for you, dilly dilly, you__e a lowly normal, just like me and the rest of us."____ going to let that go,_ Edilio said evenly, striving to regain his cool, trying to sound calm and in control, even though he could hardly take his eyes off the twin barrels of the shotgun. __ut now I__ taking that shotgun.___o way!_ Hank cried, and the next thing was an explosion so loud, Edilio thought a bomb had gone off. The muzzle flash blinded him, like camera flash going off in his face.Someone yelled in pain.Edilio staggered back, squeezed his eyes shut, trying to adjust. When he opened them again the shotgun was on the ground and the boy who__ accidentally fired it was holding his bruised hand, obviously shocked.Zil bent to grab the gun. Edilio took two steps forward and kicked Zil in the face. As Zil fell back Edilio made a grab for the shotgun. He never saw the blow that turned his knees to water and filled his head with stars.He fell like a sack of bricks, but even as he fell he lurched forward to cover the shotgun.Astrid screamed and launched herself down the stairs to protect Edilio.Antoine, the one who had hit Edilio, was raising his bat to hit Edilio again, but on the back swing he caught Astrid in the face.Antoine cursed, suddenly fearful. Zil yelled, __o, no, no!__here was a sudden rush of running feet. Down the walkway, into the street, echoing down the block.

You__e supposed to be the big boss.__am said nothing. The crowd hushed, ready to watch this one-on-one confrontation.__ou__e the big boss of the freaks,_ Zil yelled. __ut you can__ do anything. You can shoot laser beams out of your hands, but you can__ get enough food, and you can__ keep the power on, and you won__ do anything about that murderer Hunter, who killed my best friend._ He paused to fill his lungs for a final, furious cry. __ou shouldn__ be in charge.___ou want to be in charge, Zil? Last night you were running around trying to get a lynch mob together. And let__ not even pretend that wasn__ you responsible for graffiti I saw driving into town just now.___o what?_ Zil demanded. __o what? So I said what everyone who isn__ a freak is thinking.__e spit the word __reak,_ making it an insult, making it an accusation.__ou really think what we need right now is to divide up between freaks and normals?_ Sam asked. __ou figure that will get the lights turned back on? That will put food on people__ tables?

Sam, I know you__e upset over what happened with you and Drake,_ Astrid began.__pset?_ Sam echoed the word with an ironic smirk.__ut that__ no excuse for you keeping secrets from us.___eah,_ Howard said, __on__ you know only Astrid is allowed to keep secrets?___hut up, Howard,_ Astrid snapped.__eah, we get to lie because we__e the smart ones,_ Howard said. __ot like all those idiots out there.__strid turned her attention back to Sam. __his is not okay, Sam. The council has the responsibility. Not you alone.__am looked like he could not care less about what she was saying. He looked almost beyond reach, indifferent to what was going on around him.__ey,_ Astrid said. __e__e talking to you.__hat did it. His jaw clenched. His head snapped up. His eyes blazed. __on__ push me. That wasn__ you with your skin whipped off and covered in blood. That was me. That was me who went down into that mine shaft to try to fight the gaiaphage.__strid blinked. __o one is minimizing what you__e done, Sam. You__e a hero. But at the same time___am was on his feet. __t the same time? At the same time you were here in town. Edilio had a bullet in his chest. Dekka was torn to pieces. I was trying not to scream from the_You and Albert and Howard, you weren__ there, were you?___ was busy standing up to Zil, trying to save Hunter__ life,_ Astrid yelled.__ut it wasn__ you and your big words, was it? It was Orc who stopped Zil. And he was there because I sent him to rescue you. Me!_ He stabbed a finger at his own chest, actually making what looked like painful impact. __e! Me and Brianna and Dekka and Edilio! And poor Duck.

Then, Zil and a half dozen of his crew swaggered into the plaza from the far side. Astrid clenched her jaw. Would the crowd turn on them? She almost hoped so. People thought because she wouldn__ let Sam go after Zil she must not really despise the Human Crew__ Leader. That was wrong. She hated Zil. Hated everything he had done and everything he had tried to do.Edilio moved quickly between Zil and a few of the boys who had started toward him, sticks and knives at the ready.Zil__ kids were armed with knives and bats, and so were those who wanted to take them on. Edilio was armed with an assault rifle.Astrid hated that this was what life so often came down to: my weapon is bigger than your weapon.If Sam were here it would be about his hands. Everyone had either seen what Sam could do, or heard the stories retold in vivid detail. No one challenged Sam.

Here__ the thing, people: We have some serious problems. The lights are off. And it seems like that__ affecting the water flow in part of town. So, no baths or showers, okay? But the situation is that we think Caine is short of food, which means he__ not going to be able to hold out very long at the power plant.___ow long?_ someone yelled.Sam shook his head. __ don__ know.___hy can__ you get him to leave?___ecause I can__, that__ why,_ Sam snapped, letting some of his anger show. __ecause I__ not Superman, all right? Look, he__ inside the plant. The walls are thick. He has guns, he has Jack, he has Drake, and he has his own powers. I can__ get him out of there without getting some of our people killed. Anybody want to volunteer for that?"Silence.__eah, I thought so. I can__ get you people to show up and pick melons, let alone throw down with Drake.___hat__ your job,_ Zil said.__h, I see,_ Sam said. The resentment he__ held in now came boiling to the surface. __t__ my job to pick the fruit, and collect the trash, and ration the food, and catch Hunter, and stop Caine, and settle every stupid little fight, and make sure kids get a visit from the Tooth Fairy. What__ your job, Zil? Oh, right: you spray hateful graffiti. Thanks for taking care of that, I don__ know how we__ ever manage without you.___am_,_ Astrid said, just loud enough for him to hear. A warning.Too late. He was going to say what needed saying.__nd the rest of you. How many of you have done a single, lousy thing in the last two weeks aside from sitting around playing Xbox or watching movies?__et me explain something to you people. I__ not your parents. I__ a fifteen-year-old kid. I__ a kid, just like all of you. I don__ happen to have any magic ability to make food suddenly appear. I can__ just snap my fingers and make all your problems go away. I__ just a kid.__s soon as the words were out of his mouth, Sam knew he had crossed the line. He had said the fateful words so many had used as an excuse before him. How many hundreds of times had he heard, ____ just a kid.__ut now he seemed unable to stop the words from tumbling out. __ook, I have an eighth-grade education. Just because I have powers doesn__ mean I__ Dumbledore or George Washington or Martin Luther King. Until all this happened I was just a B student. All I wanted to do was surf. I wanted to grow up to be Dru Adler or Kelly Slater, just, you know, a really good surfer.__he crowd was dead quiet now. Of course they were quiet, some still-functioning part of his mind thought bitterly, it__ entertaining watching someone melt down in public.____ doing the best I can,_ Sam said.__ lost people today_I_I screwed up. I should have figured out Caine might go after the power plant.__ilence.____ doing the best I can.__o one said a word.Sam refused to meet Astrid__ eyes. If he saw pity there, he would fall apart completely.____ sorry,_ he said.____ sorry.