The Attack
Vin and Buck got to the edge of the science building around 11:25, having run almost the entire way because it was so damn cold. Vin positioned them in a corner next to a heating vent, much to Buck's relief. Sure, it smelled like must and bacteria, but at least it was warm. Ducking behind the bushes, Buck knelt and blew hot breath into his gloves, trying to warm his fingers. Vin stationed himself at the corner, so that he could see when Ezra came down the side path from the main lot.
Since they hadn't seem him yet, Vin figured it wouldn't be long. Ezra always got back from the poker nights by midnight, and, since he couldn't imagine Ezra running unless absolutely necessary, he figured that meant Ezra would come around the side of the building sometime around 11:30.
"He better hurry up," Buck muttered. "This vent may be warm, but it smells like something dead lives in it."
"Shut up, Buck," Vin replied, not bothering to look at the older boy. "And think about what you're going to say when we see him, because it better be good."
+ + + + + + +
Catfish had dropped Ezra off at the gate, as promised, somewhere close to 11:20. The kid grinned and waved as his ride drove off, knowing Catfish was heading back to Eagle Bend where he lived. Then the boy turned, made sure there was no one around, and used his copy of the gate key to get back onto campus through the tiny, shuttered gatehouse. But, before he left the small room inside of it, he climbed up on the small table where the guard usually sat and dislodged a couple of bricks from under the beam under the low ceiling. With a smile, he pulled out the locked money box hidden there and, with another key from his chain, opened it to reveal over fifteen thousand dollars. Placing the $2500 inside that he'd made this night, he locked it back up and put it back in its hiding place.
A few minutes later, he was out of the gatehouse and moving swiftly down the drive to the main parking lot, pulling his pea-coat tight around him against the freezing cold air.
"Just a few more games," he muttered to himself, gripping the keys in his pocket as he stared morosely at the pavement he walked across. "Just a few more games, and you'll have enough to move on."
He let his fingers draw across the key he knew fit his hiding place, his skill letting him know exactly which one it was amongst the five he had without needing to see it. The metal was cool against his thumb, the rough edge barely registering as his mind continued to drift. With his fingers, he felt another key, this one to a bike-lock for a bike he had loved and which had long ago been stolen. He no longer need the key, obviously, but he had kept it to remind himself how easily things that seemed precious could be lost.
Unbidden, the image of playing soccer with the others on the quad hit him, the game where they, as representatives of their dorm and Spencer, had beaten the kids in Winchester and Richardson. They had won by one point, and the cheering and laughter filled his ears again as he recalled making that final goal after receiving a perfect pass from Vin. He remembered the feel of Buck patting him proudly on the back, of Chris laughing as Ezra did a little dance, of Josiah ruffling his hair….Ezra quickly frowned.
"It's not real, Ezra," he reminded himself angrily. "Maude was right. The only things that are real are cash in hand, food on your plate and a pillow under your head. And if you want that cash to last, that food to be steak and the pillow to be silk, then you have to get out of this way-station and make something of yourself."
A smile graced his lips, growing to a full chuckle. He was repeating the words his mother had said to him last time she had seen him--she would have been proud to know he had heard her. She had been encouraging him to run away, since she herself lacked the ability to get him out, being "temporarily" on the run herself. He had defied her then, partly because he was angry with her for letting him be shuffled into this school to begin with, and partly because he had become good friends with Josiah, Vin and Buck.
He snorted. Buck and Josiah. What jerks.
No. That was not fair. Josiah had just been telling the truth and Buck…Buck had said nothing wrong. In fact, he had been correct. It was about time he acted his age. Ezra had allowed himself to get used to this environment, to being part of a group, to just living each day without purpose other than to maybe do well enough to get into a good college. But what was the point? It's not like he could afford a top ten school or even the better state schools. And what good would working full time to get a degree from the Community College do him? Not enough to make the work, debt and pain worth it. If he wanted the life of his dreams, it was time to grow up and go find it. Make enough money to run away, set himself up somewhere, and find a mark. Invest in his future the way he had been taught.
It was what he was meant to do. It was no use trying to fight the future.
He sighed.
Just a few more games. He wanted to leave with $25,000—a good solid starting point for any con.
He ran across the main parking lot, relying on speed over stealth, and on to the main walkway. A moment later, he turned off the walkway, taking the shortcut between the science building and the woods. The walkway narrowed as it left the main path, the pavement roughening, the tar cracked and broken by the cold winter frosts and the burgeoning roots from the tree wall.
Ezra slowed, a strange feeling of being watched coming over him. Lifting his head, he looked around him, scanning first the trees to his left and then the bushes to his right that lined the science building. The four story brick building was dark at this late hour, the windows closed and locked, the faint sickly smell of yeast and bacteria floating on the air. Ahead of him, he could see the path leading to Main, and behind him he knew he'd see back to the parking lot he'd just left.
Overhead, the lamp lighting the walkway flickered, weakening as he passed slowly beneath it.
He stopped. The hairs on the back of his neck were raised, and every instinct told him to run.
He swallowed, and turned to look behind him. The parking lot glowed orange, and suddenly seemed much farther away than it had been a moment ago.
The lamp overhead went out, plunging the walkway into darkness.
Nodding to himself, he turned back in the direction of the quad and even took a couple of jogged steps, intending to run the rest of the way home.
At the same moment, a shadow peeled off the wall and blocked the path, startling the boy and forcing him to stop again. Slowly, he took a step backwards, his hands now lifting from his pockets and up to show he had nothing in them. Three more shadows, one from behind him and the other two from the trees, effectively blocked any possible escape routes. Ezra turned a full circle, his heart racing as he understood that they had been waiting for him.
The fickle lamp lit up again, and Ezra saw the face of the man blocking his path.
Earl smiled his gap toothed smile back at him, and flashed the knife in his hand.
"Hey kid. Seems to me, we's got some unfinished business."
+ + + + + + +
Vin gripped the edge of the science building and hissed. Buck looked up from where he had been sulkily tossing bits of broken bush at nothing in particular.
"What? He coming?"
"Buck, he's in trouble," Vin whispered back, his voice frightened.
The older boy was on his feet instantly and leaning around the corner to see what Vin saw. His eyes widened at seeing Ezra surrounded by four men, the boy's hands up in a placating gesture as they closed in. A flash of metal in the hand of the man blocking Ezra's path caused Buck to imitate Vin's hiss of worry.
"Oh shit, oh shit," Buck whispered, "We have to do something."
"I know," Vin strained. "But how? We can't take 'em on, just the two of us. They got knives."
"Plus they're all huge," Buck shook his head. "Look at 'em. Linebackers, gotta be."
"Maybe if we distract….Aw crap," Vin hissed, as the tall man blocking Ezra's path grabbed a handful of the boy's jacket and dragged him sideways off the path into the woods. The other three men followed, the last one looking around for witnesses.
Vin and Buck quickly ducked back out of sight, both boys holding their breaths. After a couple of seconds, Vin risked another look then straightened up at seeing the empty path. Gritting his teeth, he turned to Buck, who was watching him, almost as if he were looking for orders.
"Go get help," Vin said, his voice tight. "I'll follow them and leave an obvious trail for you."
"But…."
"You know I know how to track, Buck, an' you don't. Now hurry! We don't got time to argue 'bout this."
Buck frowned, but he nodded. Without another word, he took off running towards the dorms. Vin watched him go, trying to get his nerves under control. Then, with a steeled jaw, he walked swiftly out into the open and down the walkway to the woods where he'd last seen the four men take his best friend.
The Woods
"Where are you taking me?" Ezra demanded, trying to keep his feet under him as he was roughly pulled into the trees. Earl chuckled.
"Someplace no one'll bother us, boy," the large man snarled. "Someplace where you can give me my money."
"Your…? But that money isn't yours! The game was fair and you lost, and I…."
"You're a cheating son of a bitch, is what you are," Earl snapped back. "You may have those other geezers snowed, including that simp, Yosemite, but not me. Just cause I couldn't see you doin' anything wrong don't mean you didn't cheat. No kid could beat me fair, no way."
"I did not cheat!" Ezra stated indignantly, raising his voice. "I am just a very good…." Suddenly, he yelped in pain as Earl grabbed his throat in one of the large man's meaty hands, squeezing tightly and cutting off the boy's air. Ezra struggled for breath, his eyes rolling slightly as the pain and lack of oxygen registered.
"You raise your voice again, boy, and you won't live long enough to tell me where that money is, understand?"
Ezra could only nod, gasping again as the hand was released. He did not speak again as Earl shoved him into one of the other men's hands, his jaw trembling as the dull pain at his throat slowly faded, and they continued their path through the woods.
+ + + + + + +
Vin heard Ezra's yelp, and he fell behind a tree, his eyes staring hard at the ground where the men's footprints glittered in the snow under the shifting moonlight. He took a couple of deep breaths, trying to calm his own nerves down. He was not close enough to make out the conversation, but there was no mistaking the malice underlying it.
He shut his eyes for a second, losing himself in the smells and sounds of the woods, using the comfortable, familiar sounds blanket him. When his eyes opened again, there was someone else looking out of them. The boy was gone, and the tracker had taken over.
Quietly, Vin stepped out onto the nearly invisible path that he guessed the others were following, and continued to track them. As he did so, he ripped part of the bark off of the pine, revealing the pale wood underneath and thus leaving an obvious "gash" for the others to follow.
+ + + + + + +
JD sat at the top of the stairs leading down to the common room, watching through the thin wooden rails at the boys below. He could see Josiah sitting in a chair by the fire, reading, and Nathan lying on his stomach on the rug, doing some kind of homework. Chris, meanwhile, was pacing up and down, occasionally looking towards the main door leading to the outside.
The young boy was fingering a slingshot in his hands, a gift from Buck for Christmas, twisting the rubber around his fingers. He'd half thought of using it to toss wads at Conklin, should the old man emerge from his rooms in the back, but seeing Chris's nervous pacing had given him second thoughts. He didn't like it when Chris was worried.
JD sat up a little straighter at the unmistakable sound of footsteps running up towards the front door, boots crunching the ice and snow as they bounded up the steps.
Chris released his fingers from the fists they'd been held in for the last ten minutes and stared towards the door. Josiah closed his book, and Nathan turned around and sat up.
Buck threw open the door and stood panting on the threshold, his eyes wild as he pushed his thick black hair off of his face.
"Ezra's in trouble. Four men grabbed him. I don't know why. They've taken him into the woods behind the science building. Vin's following, leaving a trail. We have to go help!"
JD gripped the rails, watching as Chris ran to get their coats while Josiah jogged over to the tall walking stick in the corner, obviously thinking about using it like a staff. Nathan just stood up, gripping his arms with his hands, not hiding the nervous drumming of his fingers.
"But…we have to tell someone…an adult…the police…." The thin boy said. Buck shook his head.
"No time. We'd have to explain it all, and by then…."
"Besides," Josiah agreed darkly, shrugging, "it's not like anyone else care what happens to him, besides us."
Nathan's face pinched close, his lips pressing together in a thin line. He couldn't disagree.
"Let's go," Chris ordered, throwing Nathan's coat at him, then tossing the large poncho Josiah liked to wear at the older boy. Josiah caught it deftly and slipped it on.
As Nathan struggled into his own coat, Buck looked up at the stairs, perhaps some sixth sense telling him that someone more was watching. The older boy gave a taut-faced nod to the 12 year old, the expression telling him to that he knew JD would keep quiet. There were volumes of trust in that brief shared look, and for a second, JD felt proud to know that he had earned the other boy's confidence.
The youngest nodded back and stood up as all four boys disappeared out of the door, their crunching footsteps fading into the distance.
The Confrontation
Vin swallowed, finding it increasingly difficult to follow them men's trail in front of him as the forest gathered more thickly around him. The moon was barely visible now, limited to thin slits of light that lasted only seconds before clouds obliterated it, pitching the boy into near total darkness most of the time. He was moving almost blindly now, trying to use what he thought sounded like the men's footsteps in the snow ahead of him and the feel of broken branches beneath his fingers as his guide.
Reaching up when he felt the rough bark of another pine, he ripped another piece off for the others, all the time hoping the others would have a flashlight so that they would be able to see the marks.
Shit! To hell with the others--he wished he had a flashlight! What had he been thinking? This was impossible! No one can track in the dark. Not even Chanu could have….
"Focus," he commanded himself angrily. "You can do this! You have to!"
Taking a deep breath, he continued his slow forward movement, forcing himself to rely on his instincts--even if he didn't fully trust them.
+ + + + + + +
Buck skidded to a halt in front of the place where he'd last seen Ezra, knowing Vin would have gone this way.
"How do we know which way they went once we're inside?" Nathan asked, peering into the gloom. What during the day normally seemed so pretty now looked threatening and treacherous.
"There," Chris replied, pointing to a pine tree. The moon showed the revealed pale red wood where Vin had ripped off a chunk of bark. "The wood there is exposed—that's Vin's doing."
Buck's shoulders slumped, suddenly realizing what Vin already knew. Once out of the moonlight, it was going to be impossible to see the marks. "Aw hell. Anybody think to bring a….?"
Josiah pulled out his keys, to which he'd attached a tiny penlight. Shining it on the bark, he nodded quietly before leading the way into the woods, the penlight shining its weak light before them.
"Oh," Buck grinned, "nice."
Chris followed Josiah next, then Buck, and Nathan took up the rear.
None of them saw the shadow that crept around the edge of the science building behind them, tracking their movements.
+ + + + + + +
For what seemed like an eternity, Ezra was roughly pulled through the woods, the man holding him by his arms half-dragging, half shoving him while Earl led the way with a flashlight. It seemed to Ezra he could not go fast enough, nor slow enough, to make the man holding him happy. By the time they reached a small clearing, the boy felt sure he would have black and blue marks up and down both arms and his back.
The clearing was longer than it was wide, almost like a long rectangle, bordered on all sides by the black forest. Moonlight shone down, flooding the thin space, reflecting off the nearly perfect snow like a mirror, making it appear brighter than it was. After the nearly impenetrable woods, it felt like daylight to Ezra's eyes.
The man who had been shoving him pulled him to the middle, then stood behind him, huge hands still gripping both of Ezra's arms. Earl faced him, while the other two flanked Earl on both sides. The trees came alive to the boy then, leaning over them all like spectators at the Circus Maximus.
Looking at their undisguised faces, Ezra knew he would remember them all…but somehow he guessed such information wouldn't be important. That fact sent shills down his spine that had nothing to do with the frigid weather.
Earl crossed his arms, emphasizing his girth, which, suddenly, seemed as big as a giant's to the boy. Ezra set his chin, trying not to show too much fear in front of these men. Appearances are everything, Maude's voice whispered in his ear, never let them see you are afraid.
"He's shaking," the one holding him said. Earl grinned. Ezra just sighed. So much for that idea. Earl stepped closer, forcing Ezra to tip his head back in order to see his eyes.
"Where's the money kid."
"Why should I tell you?" Ezra snapped back, secretly impressed he could summon up that much bravado.
Earl snorted, and his smile deepened. "Oh, I don't know, kid," he mocked. "Looks to me like you're in a bit of a tight spot, wouldn't you say?"
"You think I'm scared of you?" Ezra threw back. Earl's eyebrows shot up.
"You saying you're not?"
"Right now I'm just afraid you'll breathe on me, especially as it appears you had onions for dinner."
The man holding Ezra chuckled, as did the others, and Earl's smile faded somewhat. He shook his head, then grabbed a handful of Ezra's wool coat. Quickly, he padded up and down the boy's frame, double-checking something he'd already guessed, that Ezra had stashed his winnings somewhere else. The boy suffered the touch, ready to meet Earl's gaze when the large man faced him again. Earl's eyes were like flint when they finally did look at him.
"Where is it? Where's the money?"
"You can't have it," Ezra spat. "It's mine. I earned it. And I need it."
"For what?" Earl laughed, "a new bike? A present for your jailbait mother? A new dolly?"
Ezra's jaw shook, "I said, you can't have it. Beat me all you want, but I'm not going to tell you."
Earl's eyebrow shot up, and he looked over Ezra's head at the man holding the kid. "Kid thinks he's tough, don't he Jeb?"
"We could find out," Jeb replied softly, his voice a smoker's rumble. "See how far he can push this bluff."
"Works for me," Earl backed away, letting Ezra's jacket go. "Take off the coat, boy."
Ezra frowned, "My coat?"
"And the sweater, and your shirt." He pulled his knife out again, "Now."
The boy stared hard at Earl, as if testing his conviction, and was answered by having the knife pressed to the side of his face. An involuntary shudder ran through him as the knife cut down the edge of his jawline, the sting and the wet stickiness of the blood from the slight cut ran down his neck into his scarf. With his free hand, Earl grabbed the scarf and pulled it out from under Ezra's collar and threw it to the side.
"Take off the coat, kid. It's pretty hard to run a bluff in a game if you're face is all sliced up."
Earl couldn’t have used a better threat. Ezra was telling the truth—he could stand a beating, but not one that could permanently damage his face. His face was his trading stock in a con, and he couldn't risk it. He'd once seen his mother voluntarily offer her back to the belt of one of her ex-husbands rather than let him punch her in the face for the same reason. With shaky fingers, his resigned eyes now watching the moonlight skip over the ugly blade, he lifted up his hands and started undoing the buttons on his coat. In a few minutes, he had it off, looking around as if expecting someone to take it.
Jeb grabbed it from his already cold fingers and threw it on the ground in front of the man to Earl's right. That man promptly stepped on it, driving it into the wet snow. Ezra shut his eyes, then opened them again. Without saying a word, he pulled off his sweater, then unbuttoned the oxford shirt underneath. Both were thrown on top of the coat, and promptly covered by snow by the same man.
Standing now only in his light T-shirt, Ezra tried to stop his shaking as he moved to lift it up over his head. Cold wind whipped through the trees, stinging the young boy's skin as he tossed the shirt. He looked over at Earl when he was done, crossing his arms across his thin chest..
"Kid's already been striped," Jeb noted, his voice neutral. Earl looked surprised, and motioned Jeb to twist Ezra around, which Jeb did roughly. Sure enough, faded scars lined the kid's back. The man to Earl's left frowned, shaking his head at Earl. The large man sighed, then pushed Ezra back around and into Jeb's gloved hands.
"I'm not the first person whom you've pissed off then," he observed quietly. Ezra made no response, just stared up at him with green eyes that suddenly seemed much older. For some reason, some of Earl's anger faded as he met that stare....
Allowing different, cooler thoughts to emerge.
At that same time, wind whistled through the trees again, and the boy shuddered involuntarily in response.
Earl gave a crooked smile, then chuckled. "Know what kid? I think you're right. I don't thinking beating you will have much effect."
Jeb frowned at the news, but the man to Earl's left looked slightly relieved. Ezra himself showed no emotion, well aware that those words could mean Earl had something worse in mind.
"Besides," Earl had crossed his arms again, "I think I'd rather have you healthy."
"Then can I have my clothes back?" Ezra asked, his voice shaking with cold now.
"Not yet, no," Earl smiled, then tilted his head, "I want to make sure I've still got your attention. See, here's the thing, kid. I admit, I was angry with you, since you'd cheated me. I was going to pummel you into the snow, get the money from you, then leave you here to die. After all, who would look for you? Dregs like you get lost all the time from this place, and the taxpayers have one less child to worry about feeding. We're paid, the taxpayers get a tax-break….Everyone wins."
"Bully for everyone, then," Ezra snarled. He was shaking badly now, unable to hide it any longer. The temperature had to be in the teens out here or lower, and the wind was picking up, almost as if to mock the young boy's predicament. Earl didn't notice, tapping his finger on his chin.
"But, you know what? I've changed my mind. Truth is," Earl looked up, "you cheat well, real well. Better n' anyone I know. Makes me think that, maybe, you could continue to cheat like that."
The dread in Ezra's stomach grew, knowing already where this was going. Earl's greed was almost palatable on the air now.
"Seems to me," the large man continued, "I could set up some games in town, maybe, and maybe further out, and we'll see how long your luck holds. We'll take half of what you made tonight now, and the rest you'll use to play poker for us. Now, someone at some point'll probably not be as foresighted as me and take you down for cheating, but, by that point, I imagine my friends and me will have made some pretty decent money, and your abilities no longer needed." The large man smiled at his friends, and they smiled back. "We'd just have to sneak you out a couple if times a…."
"No."
Earl's eyebrows shot up, as if surprised by the word that had just left Ezra's lips.
"I'm sorry, what?"
"I said, no. I won't do it."
Earl pursed his lips, then half knelt so that he could see directly into Ezra's face. "You don't have a choice kid."
"I won't work for you," the kid's teeth were chattering, "N…not ever. You'll have to kill me."
Earl's eyebrows shot up again, and he started to laugh, as if this was the funniest thing he'd ever heard. Then, as abruptly as he'd started, he stopped.
Ezra actually flinched, surprised by the coldness of the eyes now bearing into him.
"Here's the thing, kid," Earl whispered, "You work for me, or I tell Conklin, James and Royal about your little poker games with the boys. It'd be enough to expel you, and then where would you go? You think I don't know what this school is? It's for kids who can't fit in anywhere else, whom no one wants and no one can handle. You get kicked out of here, and there ain't no where to go but down."
Ezra's jaw clenched, but he didn't answer.
"And what about your poker buddies, huh? I tell on you, it'd destroy them as well. You think Yosemite, Catfish and Greene will keep their jobs after I slip that they've been gambling with a kid? It'd be a real shame if Greene lost his job, with his two little kids…and I hear Catfish has got a baby on the way…." He offered the boy a simpering smile, pleased to see some real fear cross the boy's face. He had a feeling Ezra cared about those men he gambled with, thought of them as friends, and the tremble in the boy's now blue lips had nothing to do with the cold. "It'd be awful hard for men with that kind or reputation to get jobs again. Yosemite, maybe, since he's just the janitor. But Greene's a teacher….he'd be blacklisted."
"You…you'd go d…down too," Ezra whispered. Earl shook his head.
"Nah. That was my first game, kid. How was I to know they'd be playing with real money, huh? And I had no idea that they'd let a kid play. And I'd be doing my duty telling Conklin. I might even get a commendation for it."
"Ha," Ezra snorted, "they…they….they'd see right through you."
"Oh really?" Earl shook his head, "Doubt that. It'd be, what, my word against yours? Cause you know as well as me that both Yosemite and Greene are weak—they'd tell the truth if pressed, that they were gambling with a kid."
Ezra looked down, no longer able to maintain eye contact. Earl grinned up at Jeb. He knew it meant he was winning.
"And, frankly," Earl continued, snake-oil dripping off his tongue, "it wouldn't take me long to find out who your other friends are either, boy. I seen you hanging out with that that tall kid—Sanchez," he nodded at Ezra's head snapped up again, surprise in the boy's eyes. Earl licked his lips, "Yeah, I know about him. With his temper, it wouldn't take much to get him expelled. And if he did, think his dad would be pleased? Heard old man Sanchez has a real violent temper, got him put away in a nuthouse for a couple of year, but heard he was getting out soon. Is the old man's temper the reason why your friend's sister is strapped up in a mental ward too?"
Ezra's face has gone from blank to visibly pained. "You w…wouldn't," he hissed.
"Larabee's your friend too, right? Heard he's got a record, assault and battery, so I've been told, but his dad buried him in this place to hide and protect him from going to jail. Think he'd last long outside these walls?"
"You leave them alone!" Ezra yelled, raising a fist.
Earl chuckled, then grabbed Ezra's bare arm in his hand, twisting the fisted hand around and causing Ezra to yelp again in pain. Digging his fingers deep into the cold skin, Earl pulled Ezra closer to him.
"You want me to leave them alone?" he hissed.
Ezra's eyes were tearing now, but he nodded slowly, "y…yes."
"Then I will…if you do what I tell you."
Ezra's mouth was open, his breathing now coming out shallowly, and every muscle in his torso ached with cold. He closed his eyes.
"A…alright," he whispered. "I'll d..do it."
Earl stood up, letting Ezra's arm go, nodding at the others. "Good boy. And," he looked down at the bowed head, "just to make sure you remember this conversation clearly…." He opened his coat, and started unbuckling his belt, "I think we'll add a few more stripes to your back. Just for good measure…and because I'm still damn angry with you kid."
Ezra still had his eyes closed, barely listening now. The cold had burrowed deeply so deeply into his skin by now, that he could barely feel his arms anymore. The one bonus was that his back was numb enough now, that he guessed the lash of the belt wouldn't be so painful.
He felt Jeb grab him by his left arm, twisting it behind his back and forcing him onto his knees. The man wrenched the arm up as he did so, and a horrible pain lanced down Ezra's left side, making the arm suddenly fell as if someone had ripped it out. For a second, Ezra blacked out, but not long enough to fall unconscious completely.
"Oh, and one more thing, boy," Earl said, his voice now sounding very far away to the boy as the two men towered over him. "Where is the money?"
Ezra didn't answer. He somehow didn't think he had the energy too any more.
"Boy?" Earl growled, "I asked you a question!"
"His eyes are closed, Earl," said one of the other men, his voice soft.
"Then wake him up! Jeb, take this and hit him!"
"You do," a new voice said, "And I'll rip your arms off and stuff 'em down your throat."
As if through a fog, Ezra looked up, his eyes opening wide as Chris Larabee appeared in the clearing. How the…? From this angle, it appeared like something out of a dream, the older boy's long black coat whipping around and up behind him like the wings of a bat. Was he real? Above him, he saw Earl turn in that direction, also obviously surprised to see the lanky teenager walk towards him. The big man laughed, despite his astonishment.
"Well Lookee here, boys, it's the devil himself. You come to join the fun, boy?"
"We've come to take you down," Vin answered, detaching himself from another shadow in the forest on Earl's other side.
Ezra turned his head, his mouth falling open even more. Vin? Earl chuckled some more, though it was a bit more strained.
"Let him go," Buck's voice snarled from Ezra's right, near the man who had buried his clothes in the snow. That man whipped around, not hiding that he was startled. Buck leaned on one leg, regarding the stranger with a half-smile.
"Three of you!" Earl stated.
"Not good at counting is he," Nathan said, walking up to Vin's left. The kid crossed his arms, standing his full height. Despite being the fourth youngest, he was the tallest of all the boys but tended to hide it by slumping his shoulders. In fact was taller than the man behind which he and Vin now stood, the one who had seemed most sympathetic to Ezra. Any sympathy the man had felt fled, though, in the face of the threat, and he snarled at Nathan. The healer smiled impishly back.
"My mistake," Earl said, his smile truly fading now. "Four. Four stupid boys who are looking to be taught a lesson."
"Wrong again!" Josiah shouted as he threw his staff across Jeb's chest from behind and pulled the man backwards. Thrown off-guard, Jeb let Ezra go and fell into Josiah's grasp, the oldest of the seven wrapping his arms around the staff to hold the larger man in as tight a hold as he could manage. Released, Ezra fell forwards onto his hands, then onto his side into the snow as his left arm instantly gave away beneath him. The fingers of his right hand curled into the ice, seeking purchase as he watched the scene unfold around him.
Earl had backed up a step when Josiah appeared so suddenly, too surprised to think. Chris tapped his shoulder at the same moment, and when Earl turned, the boy slammed him across the jaw with his best punch, sending Earl into the snow next to Ezra.
Buck ducked as the man he was covering lunged at him, twisted around and threw himself on the man's back, yelling and flailing with his fists as his target fell face forwards into the snow from the weight.
The fourth man had gone for Nathan, mistaking the taller boy for the greater threat. Vin used the opportunity to punch him harshly in the side, three sharp jabs that threw the man off before he could reach the Nathan's position. Vin then quickly slid to one side and slammed a two-fisted punch into the center of the man's back, staggering him and sending him onto his knees in the snow.
Earl growled, staring up at Chris with furious eyes. The lanky junior stepped back, hands lifted in a boxing position before him. With one hand, he gestured for Earl to get back to his feet and come at him.
The larger man obliged with a blood-tinged grin, surging to his feet and barreling into the boy.
Jeb yelled and pushed outwards with his arms, the exertion just strong enough to loosen Josiah's hold and allow him to twist to the side. Jeb gripped his fists together and threw an elbow backwards into Josiah's stomach, instantly winding the junior and throwing him back, the staff falling from his fingers.
Buck, meanwhile, had won his fight. The man he'd trapped under him now lay facedown in the snow, completely unconscious from the beating he'd gotten. Jumping up, Buck turned around and saw Josiah struggling with Jeb. With a shout, he threw himself on Jeb's back just as the man grabbed Josiah's staff into his own hands and appeared about to beat the junior with it.
Nathan had a good solid grip on the back of the doubled over fourth man's shirt, and, as Vin backed off, shoved the villain down and cracked the man's skull on his knee. Vin cheered as Nathan then threw the now oblivious man into the snow to lie still. Nathan smiled back, then looked to where Chris was now rolling with Earl on the ground, trying to hold his ground against the obviously stronger man. Earl had his hand around Chris's neck, clearly choking him.
Vin was way ahead of him, throwing himself forward an onto Earl's back, pulling him off the junior and into the snow. Chris took a deep breath, thankful to be able to, and rejoined the fight.
Jeb wheeled on Buck, half letting go of the staff to push the boy off his back. Buck slid sideways in the snow, slamming into a tree and getting the wind knocked out of him.
The diversion, though, was enough to get Josiah back on his feet, the oldest boy grabbing the end of his staff in both hands and wrenching it easily from Jeb's grip. Before the adult could maneuver out of the way, Josiah had swung the staff around like a bat and slammed it against the back of Jeb's head.
The man fell like a stone, collapsing at Josiah's feet while the oldest boy panted for breath over him. Buck wiped his face, and smiled up at his friend when Josiah's eyes turned on him, checking to see if he was okay.
Nathan charged after Vin, only to fall back again as Chris took charge of the fight, pulling Earl to his feet and sending a solid punch into the larger man's jaw. Both Vin and Nathan continued to back up as Chris sent punch after punch into Earl's face, forcing the large man back. With a furious shout, Chris leaned back, watching as Earl blinked dazedly back at him, then threw all his strength into one final punch.
Earl's head snapped backwards, and the rest of his body soon followed, to come crashing down in front of the tall boy.
Chris watched him for a second, before finally straightening up from his fighter's crouch.
Taking a number of deep breaths, the blond looked first at Nathan and Vin standing near him, then across to Buck and Josiah standing over Jeb, and finally down at Ezra.
Green eyes, still looking desperately lost, stared back at him.
"Chris? What's going on? I don't…I don't….Vin?"
Chris frowned at the confused words from the younger boy, and, with Nathan, was suddenly at Ezra's side, lifting him out of the snow and pulling off his long black wool coat to drape around the younger boy. Nathan pulled off his scarf to wrap around his neck, while Buck quickly pulled off his gloves and offered those as well. Vin doffed his own coat and draped it around Ezra, effectively cocooning him.
The freshman let them take care of him, even carry him back to his feet and letting Josiah take the bulk of his weight by leaning on the older boy. The world seem oddly discolored and hazy in his vision, the others voices and questions swirling around him without making any sense. He could make out Nathan talking about hypothermia and shock, but the context was lost on the suddenly dead-tired boy. Nothing made any sense any more. His eyes fell to the ground, to where Earl was lying….
No…not lying…moving….
A flash of metal.
"Knife!" Ezra yelled to no one in particular, and tried to fall backwards out of the hands that now held him. Josiah fell back with him, into Buck who was behind them both, while Chris, Vin and Nathan all turned to see Earl climb to his feet, his long, jagged knife gripped in his hand.
"I'll teach you sniveling, weasel…."
THWAP!
The rock bounded off the center of Earl's forehead with perfect accuracy, causing the large man to offer an astonishingly wimpy peep, before falling backwards with his eyes rolled up in his skull.
All five boys, except for Ezra who had fallen unconscious in Josiah's arms, turned their heads to one side, where JD was lowering his slingshot. The seventh-grader offered them a smug smile.
"Thought you boys might need some help," he said, sticking the slingshot into his side pocket, almost like the way cowboys of old used to holster their guns. "Good thing I came along."
"Good thing you did," Chris said, smiling.
"Chris," Nathan's voice was scared, "We got to get Ezra to the infirmary, now!"
The End
Continues in Callings
