Riley Park Read Free

around my shoulders.
    Something crashes into the back of my head. The impact sends me flying. At first I think that Darius hit me, but when I turn, I see three guys are on top of him, and one of them is swinging a steel bar.

Chapter Three
    Swimming. The guys are swimming in front of my eyes, three guys. They’re wearing hoods, but I can see their faces, sort of. Their faces are blurry, like I’m seeing them from underwater. The guy with the bar, he’s swinging it behind him and over his head. The steel bar arcs and I see it like a blade, a cold gray blade, cutting open the night. The bar crunches against Darius’s shoulder, and he pitches forward onto his knees. I hate that Darius is in the dirt. I hate that he’s on hisknees. I blink, trying to clear my vision, and I struggle to get up. Someone boots me under the chin. My head rockets backward and my teeth puncture my tongue.
    The steel bar swings again, thudding against Darius’s back. Darius makes a whooshing noise, that’s all. Another guy is kicking him in the ribs. Darius reaches for the guy’s foot, puts his hands on the guy’s boot as it lands on him again. It looks like Darius is kissing the guy’s boot. The guy with the bar swings it like an axe over Darius’s head.
    There is a guy between me and the one with the bar, but it doesn’t matter. I launch myself at the guy with the bar, knocking him off his feet. My fist connects with his face so hard that I feel bones give way. Then the bar is in my hands, and I’m swinging it, bashing it into someone more by chance than skill, but it still doesn’t matter. It just matters that one guy is hurling puke in a perfect spiral as I hit him again, taking out his knees. Blood is running into my eyes and I can’t see, but I swing that bar, my hands slipping on blood and snot and puke. Somewhere I hear sirens,and then there’s nothing to hit. They’re running. I take off after them, the path crazy under my feet. I hear a car engine, a nice car, and gravel spewing. I drop the bar and claw at my eyes, trying to see. The car has no lights. It slews around in the lot, and then it’s gone.
    Darius. I reel along the path back to the fire pit. In the light of the fire, I make out his shape on the ground. I crumple beside him. “Darius.” Don’t move him. My head is pounding, an actual noise, like a helicopter is inside my head. “Darius!” I shout it, but I can’t hear my own voice. Darius’s eyes are open, but he’s not looking at me. Then I feel hands on my shoulders.
    They’re back.
    I’m on my feet and my fist is roundhousing and I feel flesh. I hit again, and teeth crack under my fist. I hear voices and they’re shouting and a light burns into my face. I’m blind in the light, swinging, and I plant my fist into the big square face of a cop.
    The Taser hits me in the chest. I don’t know it’s a Taser when it hits me, but in a split second, I know.
    Every muscle in my body goes stiff. My teeth bang down, my lips crank back, my neck is like wire rope. It’s the worst pain, and in every muscle, every single muscle. I fall backward and I can’t stop myself, can’t even put my hands out to break the fall. The pain of the Taser is like my body is the puck on the end of a slap shot, and the slap shot never ends. I call out to the cops to stop. I’ve never felt anything hurt so badly, but I’m totally aware of the cops. It’s like I’m watching them in a movie, a really scary movie, and I can’t move to turn it off. They’re talking to me, telling me to calm down, and I’m screaming at them to turn it off, just turn it off.
    I don’t think it’s ever going to stop. I’m going to die. But then it does. The pain vanishes. The cop with the Taser says, “That was five seconds, big guy. Do you want another?”
    Five seconds. The pain is gone, and at first all I