Z 2134

hard to his knees. The stench of caked urine immediately greeted Adam.
    Tommy was on top of him again, pushing the cold knife against his neck. Tommy was pressing it so hard, Adam was sure he was cutting into him, or close to it.
    Tommy said, “You better stop your crying, or we’ll leave you for dead. No one will doubt it was Johnny that done it.”
    While Johnny had always been nice to Adam, he was prone to violence and would be an easy kid to set up with a stabbing.
    Morgan crammed into the stall between Tommy and Daniel, though Adam couldn’t see anything with his face near the toilet.
    Morgan asked, “Why’d you rat on us?”
    Adam could barely think through his terror. He’d say anything they wanted if he knew what it was. He could swear innocence, insist he had no choice, but would that be enough?
    He never wanted to hurt anyone, especially his only friends, but he’d had no choice. What was he going to do, upset Keller by not telling? Choosing to disappoint either his friends or Keller, his friends had seemed the obvious choice — until now.
    “I’m so, so sorry,” Adam whimpered, hating himself for not being able to hold his tears inside, worried that Tommy would slit his throat at any second. “I never meant to do anything wrong; they took me to the schoolmaster’s office!”
    Tommy pulled the knife away, turned Adam around, facing all three of them in the tiny stall, then reeled back and punched him hard below the throat.
    Adam gasped, clutching at his neck, swallowing to keep from vomiting.
    Tommy said, “I can kill you right now, and no one will know it was us.”
    “No one would even care,” Daniel added, taunting him. “Fucking freak!”
    Adam surprised himself by swallowing tears. “I had to tell on you guys! Mr. Keller already knew, and if I didn’t admit the truth, they would’ve done something even worse. I was trying to protect you! Besides, he said one of you, or the girls, had already told on me! So I figured he already knew and was just testing me to see if I’d lie.”
    “Yeah, right!” Daniel said, punching Adam hard in his left ribcage.
    Adam ignored the pain, insisting, “I swear, why would I ever want anything bad to happen to you? You’re my only friends.”
    All three laughed out loud, but Morgan said, “You think we’re friends? We’re not friends, Freakshow. We only talked to you because your daddy was in The Games, and then your sister. Without your fucked-up family, you’re just another freak destined to end up in the Quarters!”
    Tommy’s knife was again under his throat. “Give us one reason not to kill you now.”
    Adam had at least 100, but couldn’t get a single one out. He tried speaking, but only stuttered.
    Morgan turned to Tommy. “What do you think?”
    “That he’s dumb enough to believe everything he said.” Tommy dragged the knife from Adam’s neck to his chin, then around his lips as Adam shuddered and tried not to bawl. “But if we let his deed go unpunished, people will talk. Then maybe they’ll start disrespecting us, too. That can’t happen inside The Rock.”
    Tommy pulled the knife back and turned to the others. “So, should we punish him, or just go ahead and kill the freak and get this finished?”
    Morgan said, “Kill him.”
    Daniel laughed. “Yeah, I can’t think of a reason to keep this asshole alive.” He punched Adam again in his side, pulling him into a headlock while Tommy brought his knife up to Adam’s face.
    Adam sobbed and whimpered, squirmed and squealed, certain he was seconds from dying.
    Hot piss poured down his pajama bottoms. The smell, along with the fear churning in his guts, made Adam feel like he was going to vomit.
    No sooner had he felt it than he did it.
    Daniel’s fist landed on his guts, launching a violent spatter of liquid chunks from Adam’s mouth.
    Daniel threw Adam down, the toilet seat smacking hard into his jaw. Adam’s world was an explosion of pain as the three laughed, taking turns kicking and punching him. Adam couldn’t move. Every time he tried, another hand shoved him back down, his face against the filthy toilet seat.
    And as the abuse continued for what felt like forever, Adam wondered how long it could go on. He wished to God that he would die right there on the spot.
    End it now.
    Please.
    I’ve got nothing.
    My family is gone. My mother is dead. Please, God, just kill me before they do.
    The laughter was followed by spitting, and then, the unmistakable warm stream