Cookie was a big kid, not fast. But the other kid, the one holding the broken mallet, was smaller and quicker. He broke into a sprint. Howard and Orc were farther back, running full out, but Orc was heavy and slow and Howard pulled away from him.

The kid with the mallet caught up to them. “You better stop,” he said, panting, running alongside.

“I don’t think so,” Sam said.

“Dude, I’ll stab you with this stick,” the kid threatened, but he was panting harder. He made a weak stab with the shattered end of the mallet.

Sam caught it and twisted it out of his hands. The kid tripped and sprawled. Sam tossed the stick aside contemptuously.

Howard was almost in range, coming up directly behind the cart. Astrid and Quinn watched calmly as Howard pumped hard, skinny arms windmilling. He threw a glance back and realized Orc wasn’t going to catch up.

“Howard, what do you think you’re doing, man?” Quinn asked in a perfectly reasonable voice. “You’re like a dog chasing a truck. What are you going to do if you catch us?”

Howard got the point and slowed down.

Edilio said, “It’s a low-speed chase, man. Maybe we’ll be on the news.”

That got a nervous laugh.

Five minutes later, no one was laughing. “There’s a truck coming up fast,” Astrid said. “We need to pull over.”

“They won’t run us down,” Quinn said. “Even Orc’s not that crazy.”

“They may or may not want to run us down,” Astrid said, “but that’s a fourteen-year-old driving a Hummer. You really want to be on the road?”

Quinn nodded. “We’re in for a pounding.”

TEN

274 HOURS, 27 MINUTES

THE HUMMER WEAVED back and forth across the road, but there was no way to pretend it wasn’t going to catch them.

“Keep going or pull off?” Edilio asked. His hands were white-knuckled on the wheel.

“They’re going to kick our butts now,” Quinn yelled. “We should have just stopped. I told you we should have just stopped, but no.”

The Hummer closed the distance with shocking speed.

“They’re going to hit us,” Astrid yelled.

Quinn jumped off the cart and ran. The Hummer shuddered to a stop. Cookie and the Mallet Kid piled out and went after Quinn.

“Pull over,” Sam said. He jumped off and ran to Quinn’s aid.

Quinn tried to leap the ditch beside the road, but landed badly. The two thugs were on him before he could recover. Cookie pounded him in the back with his fist.

Sam made a flying leap at Cookie. He grabbed Cookie in the crook of one arm and yanked him forward with his momentum.

Cookie landed hard on his belly, and Sam rolled free. Cookie had dropped his bat to pound Quinn with his fists, and Sam dived for it. Mallet, Edilio, and Quinn had a brief but violent tussle that left Edilio and Quinn standing and the other kid down. But it had given Orc and Howard time to climb down from the truck.

Orc swung his bat and caught Edilio behind the knees. Edilio dropped like a sack of cement.

Gripping Cookie’s bat, Sam raced to get between Orc and Edilio.

“I don’t want to fight you,” Sam shouted.

“I know you don’t want to fight me,” Orc said confidently. “Nobody wants to be fighting me.”

Astrid came striding up. “All of you stop it,” she yelled. Her fists were balled up. There were tears in her eyes. But she was angry, not sad. “We don’t need this crap.”

Howard slid between Orc and Astrid. “Step off, Astrid, my man Orc has to teach this punk a lesson.”

“Step off?” Astrid shot back. “You don’t tell me to step off you…you invertebrate.”

“Astrid, stay out of this, I got this,” Sam said. Edilio tried to stand firm, but he could barely stand at all.

Surprisingly, Orc said, “Hey. Let Astrid talk.”

Pumped on adrenaline, Sam almost didn’t hear him. But then he processed what Orc had said and kept his mouth shut.

Astrid took a deep breath. Her hair was flying wild. Her face was red. Finally, struggling for calm, she said, “We’re not looking for a fight.”

“Speak for yourself,” Cookie muttered.

“This is crazy,” Astrid said. “We’re just looking for my brother.”

Orc’s slit eyes narrowed further. “The retard?”

“He’s autistic,” Astrid snapped.

“Yeah. Little Pe-tard,” Orc sneered, but he didn’t push it.

“You should have stopped, Sammy.” Howard made a tsktsk sound, shaking his head regretfully.

“That’s what I said, and I’m the one who ends up getting pounded?” Quinn gestured wildly, angry at Sam.

Howard nodded toward Quinn, amused. “You should have listened to your bro there, Sam. I told you last night, you need to take care of my man Orc.”

“Take care of him? What does that mean?” Astrid demanded.

Howard turned cold eyes on her. “You have to show Captain Orc some respect, that’s what I mean.”

“Captain?” Sam resisted the urge to laugh.

Howard stepped close, brave with Orc standing right behind him. “Yeah. Captain. Someone had to step up and take charge, right? You were busy, I guess, maybe surfing or whatever, so Captain Orc volunteered to be in charge.”

“In charge of what?” Quinn asked.

“Stopping everybody running crazy, that’s what.”