Hunger

Zil didn’t have a plan. Zil just knew that freaks were running things in the FAYZ. And not just in Perdido Beach, but up the hill at Coates, too. And now at the power plant. Freaks running everything. Well, freaks and their helpers, like Edilio and Albert and Astrid.

And the other thing Zil knew was that things were a mess. People were starving. And if the freaks were in charge, who else’s fault could it be?

“They have food, I guarantee you,” Turk said.

“Yeah, well, we have tree,” Antoine said, and laughed at his own wit.

The front door opened and Zil reached for his baseball bat, just in case. It was Hank. Hank came in, stepped right up to Antoine, who was easily twice his size, and said, “Put that away.”

“What are you, the po-po?”

“This is not about getting stoned,” Hank said. “That’s not what Zil is about. That’s not what the Human Crew is.”

Antoine looked blearily at Zil. Zil was surprised at hearing himself referred to as if he had some larger meaning. It was flattering. Also confusing.

“Yeah, put away the weed, man,” Zil said.

Antoine made a dismissive noise.

To everyone’s amazement, Hank knocked the joint from Antoine’s hand.

Antoine rose from the couch, looking like he might flatten little Hank. But Zil said, “No. No fighting between ourselves.”

Lance said, “Yeah. That’s right,” but he didn’t sound too sure.

It was left to Turk to settle the matter. “Hank’s right. Zil’s not about us acting like everyone else, like kids. Zil’s about us dealing with the freaks. If we sit around getting high, Zil’s not going to be able to deal with the problem. He needs us to be cool.”

“Yeah,” Lance agreed. “But be cool about what?”

“I found Hunter.” Hank delivered the news with quiet pride. Like he was presenting a straight-A report card to his parents.

Zil jumped to his feet. “You found him?”

“Yeah. He’s across the highway, hiding out in a house over there. And you’ll never guess what he’s got there.”

“What?”

“Food. The mutant freak killed a deer. Then he cooked it with his freak powers and last I saw he was cutting it up with a knife.”

“Keeping it all for himself,” Turk said. “Just him and the other freaks. They’ll eat venison, the rest of us can go boil some grass or whatever.”

Zil’s mouth watered. Meat. Actual meat. And not rat or pigeon, but something that was almost like beef.

“I’ve eaten venison,” Lance said. “It’s good.”

“Has to be better than dog,” Antoine said. “Although I’d eat some more dog right now, if I had any.”

“What do we do?” Lance asked Zil.

Every eye, even Lisa’s, turned to Zil. “What do you think we do?” Zil asked rhetorically, stalling for time.

“We go get him!” Antoine said.

Zil slapped Antoine on the shoulder and laughed. “Yeah.” Then he high-fived Hank. “Good work, man. Venison is on the menu.”

“Right after we hang Hunter,” Hank said.

That stopped the conversation cold.

“Say what?” Lance asked.

Hank looked coldly at Lance. “You think the freak is just going to give us the food? He’ll kill us, if he gets the chance. Freaks don’t care about us, don’t care if we starve. Anyway, he’s a murderer, right? What are you supposed to do with a murdering freak?”

Zil swallowed hard. Hank was pushing this thing too far. It was one thing busting on Sam, trying to get some respect for normals.

To Zil’s relief, Lance spoke up. “Dude, I don’t think we want to, like, kill the guy ourselves.”

“It was Zil’s idea,” Hank said. “That first night. Why did we have a rope with us if we weren’t going to execute justice on Hunter?”

The rope had not been Zil’s idea. But should he admit that? He’d just figured on giving Hunter a beating. He wanted Hunter to cry and confess that he’d stolen that last shred of beef jerky. He hadn’t been thinking about actually killing Hunter. That was just talk.

“You think Sam and Edilio and all of them are going to let us just execute Hunter?” Lance argued.

Hank smiled. It was a strange, little-boy smile. Innocent. “They’re all gone. Dekka’s at the power plant, right? And Sam and Edilio just blew out of town in that Jeep. The whole bunch of them, off trying to deal with Caine, I guess.”

Zil’s heart was pounding. His mouth was dry. They weren’t really going to do this, were they?

But Hunter had meat. And how else were they going to get the food from Hunter?

Turk said, “We can’t just take out Hunter.”

“Right,” Zil blurted.

“We have to give him a trial first,” Turk said.

And Zil found himself nodding. And he found himself grinning, like that had been his idea all along. And maybe it had been. Maybe it was what he had known in his heart had to happen.

Yes, Zil told himself. You’re soft-hearted, but you know it’s what’s got to be, Zil. You know it’s what has got to be.

Every face was turned toward him expectantly. Lisa, not so bad looking, really. Not when she smiled at him like he was some kind of rock star.

“We’ll have a trial. Because the Human Crew is not just about doing random violence,” Zil said, sounding as though he believed it. Setting aside the fact that random violence, smashing windows and such, was all they’d done so far. “This has got to be about justice. Otherwise the other normals, our people, will be weird about it. So, we have to have a trial. Then we deal with Hunter. Give him justice. And we share some of the deer meat around, right?”