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Without warning, the block of food fell

The bound pallets crashed to the ground and burst apart, flinging food and supplies everywhere The gangs charged the mountain of supplies in the center of the quad

"Go!" Will shouted

The Loners ran They broke off in twos, and joined the flow of the scavenging crowd It wasn’t safe to stand still Will and Lucy ran side by side The eht with his

"You with me?" Will said in the huff of an exhale

"With you," she said "See anything?"

"Not yet"

Will’s eyes twitched across the quad He and Lucy sped past a strangling match between a Freak and a Varsity, a plastic tub of protein powder at their feet He whipped his head fro battles Hair colors se, white, black A stocky Slut tried to trip him He stomped on her foot She barked in pain

Lucy’s screa the Slut’s yowl He snapped his head left in tiround Lucy was clutching a pink and white box of sugar cubes The Skater swiped the box out of Lucy’s hand Before the kid could pull the box close, Will tackled hirabbed the boy’s foot and twisted it The kid squealed and kicked Will’s neck with his other foot Will’s vision went sparkly for a moment He put his hands on the box and tried to wrestle it away

"Mine!" the Skater shouted That Skater rong

Will yanked and yanked at the box He felt people kick him in the back The Skater head-butted him in the nose Blood poured from Will’s nostrils and splattered onto the kid’s face, like watery ketchup The kid yelled in disgust, and o of the box

Will shoved his sweet trophy into his garbage bag and stood His hand went to his nose and he gave it a little squeeze It was straight, not broken Must’ve been his lucky day He looked to Lucy, as on her feet and had four cans of beans in her arms

"Nice!" Will yelled, and wiped his bloody nose with his forear back to being on guard Will pointed to Mort in the classroom , and they ran to hiot near Lucy or her beans

They handed the food to Mort through theWill peered into the classroom and saw that there was already a tub of powdered fruit punch, a fa of sunflower seeds, and four Styrofoa!" Will said to Lucy His voice went e it!" she said with a burst of tiny applause He wanted to stay here in this moment forever, with Lucy proud of hi him on But they had toquickly He took her hand and led her back into the fray

Victorious cheers, battle cries, and screaled in Will’s ears He and Lucy sprinted by a crying Freak girl hipped a length of chain at the crowd of Geeks that surrounded her They all lunged for the 400-count pack of flushable ainst her belly

Will and Lucy passed a Saint ung the butt of her rifle into a Skater’s ribs The Skater cru of jerky

"Looks like the new kids are getting the swing of things in here," Will said Lucy nodded with a pant

A few feet away, Will spotted a box of disposable lighters in the dirt, and he scooped the over to pick up a bottle of shairl fell forward on her face Lucy grabbed the shampoo, and smiled at Will with pride He felt a cool breeze all over his body

Then knuckles cracked into the back of his head

Will staggered forward and whipped around, pain blosso in his skull Sam stood opposite him, fists up in the air, lip stretched up into a snarl