Hunger

in. “See, guys: stick with me and we get nice, fresh meat.”
    “Got that right,” Turk said.
    “So, leader, is it time to deal with this chud?” Hank asked, respectful but impatient.
    Zil laughed again. The food in his belly filled him with a sense of well-being. He felt almost giddy. And a little sleepy now, with the sun going down.
    And he liked the use of “leader” as a title for him. It fit. It felt fine.
    Zil Sperry. Leader of the Human Crew.
    “Sure,” Zil said. “Let’s have ourselves a trial.” He glanced around the yard. “Turk and Hank, drag him over to the back steps, prop him up.”
    Hunter could not seem to sit all the way up. He was conscious, but not fully. One of his eyeballs looked funny, and Zil realized it was because the pupil was twice as big as the other. It gave Hunter a stupid look that made Zil laugh.
    “You should have just admitted you stole my jerky,” he scolded Hunter.
    Hank knelt down to get right in Hunter’s face. “Do you confess that you stole the leader’s jerky?”
    Hunter’s head lolled to one side. He seemed to be trying to speak, but all that came out was a slurred sound.
    “Blrrrr gllll pluh,” Turk mimicked.
    “I think he said, ‘Yeah, I did it,’” Hank mocked.
    “I’ll interpret for him,” Turk said.
    Hank asked, “Hunter, do you admit you killed Harry?”
    Hunter said nothing, but Turk supplied the answer. “I sure do. I am a freak, nonhuman, chud scum who killed Harry.”
    Zil laughed happily. “What can we do? He confessed.” He adopted a severe tone. “Hunter, I pronounce you guilty. Guilty as charged.”
    “Now what?” Lisa wondered. “He’s hurt. Maybe we should let him go.”
    Zil was about to agree. His rage against Hunter was mostly burned out, the flames smothered by his sense of joy at having a full belly.
    “Going soft on a freak, Lisa?” Hank taunted.
    “No,” Lisa said quickly.
    Hank looked hard at her. “You think if we let him go he’ll just forget about this? No. He’ll get together with the other freaks and come after us. You think Sam will be gentle with us?”
    Zil looked at Lance. “What do you think, big guy?”
    “Me?” Lance looked troubled. “Hey, I do what you say, Zil.”
    So, Zil realized, it was on him. The thought soured the happy buzz. Up until now he had known he could more or less justify his actions. He could say, ‘Look, Hunter killed Harry. I was bringing him to justice.’ Kids would accept that. Sam might not accept it, but he probably would have no choice but to let it go.
    But if they actually executed Hunter, like Hank obviously wanted, then Sam and all his kids would come after Zil. And the reality was, the five of them wouldn’t last a minute in a fight with Sam.
    If they killed Hunter, it would be open war with Sam. Sam would win.
    Zil could not admit that, though. It would make him look pathetic.
    He was trapped. If he looked soft, Hank would turn against him. And Hunter was sure to come after them if they let him go. But killing Hunter would doom Zil.
    “We need more kids than just us five,” Zil said. “I mean, we need other kids to be in on this.”
    Hank looked wary.
    But Zil had an idea now. It was blooming like a flower inhis mind. “Sam can fight the five of us, but he can’t take on the whole town, right? Who is he going to boss around if the whole town is against him?”
    “How we going to get a bunch of kids to be on our side?” Hank demanded.
    Zil grinned. “We have all this meat, right? Kids are really hungry. What do you think they would do for a deer steak?”

    Edilio drove faster than he ever had before. Seventy miles an hour down the highway, weaving through the abandoned or crashed trucks and cars. The wind whipped words away as soon as they were spoken, so they drove in silence.
    Turning onto the coast road that led to the power plant, Edilio had no choice but to slow down. There were hairpin turns, and a moment’s inattention would send them all hurtling down the slope through brush and boulders into the sea.
    Suddenly Edilio screeched to a halt.
    “What?” Sam said.
    Edilio held up a finger. He strained to hear. And there it was. “Gunfire,” he said.
    “Drive,” Sam said.

    Orc was peeing when he heard Howard yell, “Ahhh!”
    He didn’t care. Howard yelled more than was necessary. He was small and weak and scared easily.
    He turned around just as Drake fired. He could see the muzzle flash coming from a hole in the wall.
    Dekka was