Chapter Three
1
Cody Martin shivered as he walked out of school that afternoon, despite the stifling heat.
He had been counting on Zack to walk home with him, but now Zack was stuck in detention and Cody had to walk home by himself, bullies or no bullies.
Hopefully no bullies, he thought. He had had enough for one day.
It had been a weird day for him in general. He was feeling scared and upset from his encounter with Chris and his buddies – but it was mixed with a sort of pleasant warm feeling in the pit of his stomach, knowing that Zack had protected him when he needed it.
It's not just in my mind, he smiled. He really is there for me.
It was a very reassuring thought.
But Zack wasn't here now.
He had never walked home alone before and although it couldn't have been more than a twenty minute walk – fifteen if he walked really fast – he felt distinctly anxious about it.
At least everything would be okay when he got to the Tipton, he thought. Moseby would never let the bullies in.
Doesn't even like it when we have friends over.
Maybe I'll bake a cheesecake for mom and Zack...well, for Zack, really, to say thanks.
After I do my homework, of course.
He knew his brother would like that.
Feeling encouraged, he stepped away from the school gate, and turned right, heading down the path that would lead the quickest way to the hotel.
He walked quickly and chose to look down at the ground in front of him, rather than looking straight ahead.
Best to avoid making eye contact with people and risking icy glares or cutting remarks.
It wasn't the same walking home alone. He normally got annoyed at Zack moaning about a teacher giving him a hard time for not doing the latest homework assignment, or bragging obnoxiously about some girl who liked him...but today, he really missed the sound of his brothers voice.
Reaching the pedestrian crossing, he pressed the button and waited for the traffic lights to flash green.
He thought he heard someone call him name from far away and turned around.
Chris.
No – worse: Chris and about four other boys.
They were pretty far away from him – back near the school, perhaps 100 yards away.
Far enough away so that Cody thought he could run if he had to.
But not far enough away so that he could not make out Chris' mouth form the words "Get him" and then all five of them start sprinting in his direction.
2
Sitting behind his desk, a bored expression painted across his face, Zack Martin was the only one in the detention class that day.
The teacher glanced at him over the top of the book she was reading and he glared at her, crossing his arms across his stomach, and slouching down further into his chair.
I didn't even do anything! He thought.
What kind of messed up school gave you detention for standing up to bullies? Wasn't that what you were supposed to do?
Like I even had a choice. How could I possibly have just left Cody like that to get hurt? Nobody would stand by and watch somebody they loved being treated badly like that.
He pulled a bag of M&Ms out from his desk, poured a few into his hand, and tossed them into his mouth, watching out of the window as everybody else headed home.
"Zack. Do you know you're not supposed to do that in class?" the teacher snapped.
"No, but if you hum a few bars, I'll give it a go." He said, grinning cheekily with what he hoped was a winning smile.
"Very amusing. Put them away".
He emptied the rest of the candy directly into his mouth, chewed and swallowed.
"Done!" he announced.
He thought back to how scared Cody had looked – both that morning before school, and then again when Chris and those guys had been having a go at him.
It was like the look on his own face after they had snuck in to see Zombie Mom, even though Carey had told them not to....except worse.
I don't think it was just a onetime thing, he thought.
Could his little brother be being bullied?
Surely Cody would have told him?
He hoped Cody would have told him. They should be able to tell each other anything.
As he looked out of the window, he saw Cody walk past.
Smiling, he waved and tried to attract his attention, but his brother seemed to be intently focusing on the pavement in front of him.
He wondered what he was looking at.
After Cody had passed the window and walked down the street to the crossing – barely visible from the classroom where Zack sat – he turned back to his desk and sighed, wishing this would just be over so he could go home and watch TV.
Rapid movement from outside the window caught his eye and he turned to see a group of bigger boys dashing past, off in the direction that Cody had gone in.
His heart hammered in his chest.
It couldn't be...?
But something told him that it was.
He felt his blood run cold and glanced at the clock. Still almost half an hour until he could leave.
3
Come on, come on...
Cody thought impatiently, pressing his thumb on the button over and over again, as though it would make the light change any faster.
He watched his tormenters get closer and closer to him, and quickly turned back to the road ahead.
Cars raced past almost continuously. There was no way he would make it if he tried to just run for it.
He was shaking like crazy and his stomach kept lurching. Bile burned the back of his throat forcing him to swallow hard to resist the urge to throw up his lunch.
The lights finally changed and he pushed off, sprinting across the road, faster than he had ever moved in his life, not even bothered to look side-to-side for oncoming traffic or cars that had failed to stop when the lights changed.
Reaching the other side, he turned right again, still heading for the Tipton, breathing heavily, feet pounding the pavement.
He told himself not to cry, but tears leaked out of his eyes anyway, slowly running down his cheeks and dripping off his chin, making his face itch.
One of the boys – he didn't know who – shouted that he had better stop, or it was just gonna be worse for him when they caught him.
He hazarded a glance over his shoulder and saw they were slowly gaining on him.
They were mostly twice his size, and Cody had never been athletically inclined like his brother. He had always concentrated more on reading and his studies.
Halfway home, he thought, lungs burning.
Looking over his shoulder, he saw Chris only a couple of meters behind him and re-doubled his speed, struggling not to trip over his own feet, legs feeling like rubber.
Identical residential houses lined the path on the other side of the street, while a small forest-like plane of trees was just off to his left.
Eyes spinning wildly around, he saw nobody that could help him if he needed it.
Despite his efforts, he felt fingers grasp at his shirt, just below the nape of his neck and tug backwards, knocking him off balance and sending him stumbling to the ground.
He hit the back of his head off the pavement (vaguely thinking how it was the second time he had done so that day) and his vision swam, everything going fuzzy and black spots appearing before his eyes.
He moaned, his skull pounding.
He just had time think about how big the lump was going to be when five scowling faces appeared, looming over him.
Before Cody knew what was happening he was grabbed by two of the boys, their arms hooking under his as they lifted his top half off the ground and began to drag him off the path and through the thicket of trees and shrubbery.
Out of sight, he thought, his bowels feeling hot and squirmy.
As he watched as the street faded into obscurity through shrubbery and felt himself dumped back down in the dirt beside a tree, he felt alternately hot and cold waves of anxiety pour over him and he could not stop shivering, despite the heat.
"Told you you'd be sorry," Chris said and punched him in the face, point blank, his fist connecting with Cody's cheekbone, leaving a horrible numb sensation, rather than the pain he expected.
He barely had time to recoil when he was suddenly pummelled with blows from all directions, fists and feet connecting with his face, stomach, sides, legs.
By the time they had finished beating him, he was lying on the ground, bloody and bruised and barely able to move.
He had finally stopped crying – he no longer felt upset or scared, he was just numb – and his tears, mixed with blood and dirt had begun to dry on his cheeks.
His last conscious thought was of his brother – Zack, where are you? – before something struck the side of his head and everything went black.
He was still lying there in the dirt several hours later when the sun had gone down and it began to rain.