Gone (Gone #1)(103)

"Ore,get up, man"

No response,

"Ore. Get up. We have trouble" Howard poked him in his shoulder.

Ore opened one slit eye. "Why are you bothering me?" "Sam Temple is coming back "

It took Ore a while to process that. Then he sat up quite suddenly and grabbed his forehead. "Oh, man. Headache"

"It's called a hangover," Howard snapped. Then, when Ore shot him a murderous look, he softened and said, "I have some Tylenol in the kitchen" He filled a glass of water and tapped two pills into his palm and brought them back for Ore.

"What's the big deal?" Ore asked. He'd never been exactly quick, but now Ore's thick-headedness was really irritating Howard.

"The big deal? Sam is coming back. That's the big deal."

"So?"

"Come on, Ore. Think about it. You figure Sam is cruising into town and he doesn't have some kind of plan? Caine isn't here, man, he's up the hill. Drake, too. Which means it's you and me in charge."

Ore reached for one of the beer cans, rattled it, sighed contentedly When he heard an inch of beer sloshing. He poured it down his throat.

"So we have to go kick Sam's butt?" Ore asked.

Howard hadn't thought that far ahead, if Sam was back, thai wasn't good-Sam was back a:id Caine wasn't? It was hard to figure that out.

"We go spy him out, man. We see what he's up to"

Ore squinted. "If I see him, I'll kick his butt."

"We have to at least figure out what he's after" Howard cautioned. "We should get whoever is around at town hall. Mallet, maybe. Chaz. Whoever we can find."

Ore stood up, belched, and said, "I gotta pee. Then we'll get the Hummer. Go kick some butt"

Howard shook his head. "Ore. Listen to me. I know you don't want to hear this, but backing Caine may not be the winning move."

Ore stared his blank, stupid stare.

"Ore, man, what if Sam wins this? I mean, what if Sam gets over on Caine? Where does that leave us?"

Ore didn't answer for so long, Howard was sure he hadn't heard him. Then Ore heaved up * sigh that was almost a sob. He grabbed Howard's arm, something he never did.

"Howard: I killed Bette."

Howard said,"You didn't mean to, Ore"

"You're the smart one," Ore said sadly. "But sometimes you're dumber than me, you know that?"

"Okay*

"I killed someone didn't do me any harm. Astrid ain't ever going to even look at me again unless she's hating me "

"No, no, no" Howard argued."Sam is going to need help. He's going to need someone tough. If we go to him now, eat crow, you know, say, 'Yeah, you're the man, Sammy"'

"You kill somebody, you burn in hell "Ore said. "My mom lold me thai. Once my dad was beating on me, we was in the garage, so I grabbed up a hammer"Orc now pantomimed the scene-Grabbing the hammer, looking at it> raising it-Then he let it drop-"She said/You kill your father, you'll burn in hell'"

"What happened then?"

Ore held up his left hand. He pushed it close to Howard's face. There was a scar, almost perfectly round, no more than a quarter inch across.

"What's that?" Howard asked.

"Power drill. Three-sixteenths bit." Ore laughed ruefully. "Guess I'm lucky it wasn't the three-quarter-inch, huh?"

"That's messed up, man," Howard said. He'd always known that Ore came from a tough home. But a power drill was off the hook. He himself came from a fairly average home, neither of his parents was a drunk or violent or anything. Howard did what he had to do to survive, being small and weak and not popular He liked being in charge, having people scared of him, so being Ore's friend had worked out for him.

But now Howard was starting to see that though Ore was stupid, he wasn't wrong, Ore and School Bus Sam, the big hero, were never going to get along.

And now, Howard was as trapped as Ore

Trapped.

"Okay, then," Howard said."Wego to Caine" Ore belched loudly. "Caine's maj at us" "Yeah," Howard said."But he still needs us."





THIRTY-SIX


64 HOURS, 41 MINUTES

'HOLD HIM DOWN! Diana yelled.

The sound of her voice was far off Drake Merwin heard it bubbling up through a red scream that filled his brain.

Screaming, screaming, screaming everywhere* all through his brain, from a million mouths, rising and falling, gasping for breath.

"I can hold him," a voice said. Caine. "Back away on three. One -.. two ,, f Drake Sailed madly, unbound, shrieking, thrashing, hurting himself but unable to stop. The pain ... he had never felt anything like it, never imagined anything could be like it.

A force pressed down on him like a thousand hands holding him with firm pressure.

"You have the saw?" Diana's voice asked. Not smug now, not smug at all, but raw and horrified.

Drake struggled against the invisible force, but Oine had him pinned down with his telekinetic power. Drake could only scream and curse, and could barely move his facial muscles enough for that "I am not doing this" Panda said, weeping. "Pm nol sawing off his arm, man"