The 17 by Mike Kilroy Read Free Book Online Page B

because he was just as insecure as Zack, but was blessed with better features and physical prowess.
    Whatever the reason, Zack had never really stood up to a bully before. The fear of repercussion was one of the reasons. Self-loathing was the other—he always thought he deserved it in some way.
    If coming to this place had done him any good at all, it made him unafraid of bullies like Harness. Bullies aren’t quite as terrorizing when you have died twice —perhaps three times—and been forced to battle strange life forms in a macabre death cage.
    That epiphany made him bold. It made him do what he was about to do.
    Zack stood slowly. He was attempting to be as serious and as menacing as possible, but was failing miserably at it based on the grin on Harness’ chiseled face.
    He stood in front of Harness, tilting his head up to stare into his eyes. “You can keep it. It’s probably the biggest thing down there, anyway.”
    Jenai chuckled, covering her mouth.
    Harness’ face turned red and that vein began popping on his forehead again. “Get out of my face, loser.”
    Zack didn’t budge.
    Harness made a fist and flinched. Zack didn’t waver. By now, the rest of the group had filtered in to see what the ruckus was about. Zack could feel them press into the small dining area behind him. Harness’ eyes veered off his glare at Zack and to the group. Zack held his breath in the hopes Harness would not call his bluff.
    “Whatever, man,” Harness said, grabbing a red apple off the bowl on the corner of the table. He pushed past Zack, the force of his shoulder ramming into him nearly knocked Zack to the floor, and took a big bite of the apple as he disappeared down the hallway.
    Zack twirled to see the others, all, except for Cass, with half smiles on their faces. Jenai simply clapped and giggled.
    “Wow,” Jenai said, half mockingly and half seriously. “My hero.”
    Cass was as snooty as always. “You’re bloody lucky he didn’t kill you. He could have seriously buggered you up, you know.”
    “All right. All right,” Brock said. “Drama over.”
    Jenai began laughing again, prompting the others to look at her strangely. Even Zack was at a loss to explain her giddiness until she finally made it clear. “He still has that paper football thingy in his pants.”
    Cass shook her head, rolled her eyes and sighed, disappearing down the hallway again. Brock smiled. Mizuki just stared at her, slack-jawed, and Zill grabbed an apple and took a bite, completely ignoring the situation.
    She had other concerns. “When are they gonna test us again?” She asked between chews of her apple. “Like, we’ve been in this cabin for days with nothing to do. I’m so bored. I’d almost rather be fighting creepy aliens with nunchuks or something.”
    Even though Zack had only been with the group for a short time, he could tell it had been a much longer interval between experiments than normal.
    There were many explanations for such a hiatus. Few of them were good and that fact was apparent on the faces of his companions.
    “It’s never been this long before,” Brock said with apprehension. “What are they waiting for?”
    Jenai blurted out, “Maybe it’s the Gorn.”
    Zill cocked her head in confusion, a mush of half-chewed apple visible in her slacked mouth. “Like, what are you talking about?”
    “The things Zack and I saw when we went on that walk the other day. They looked like Gorn from Star Trek. Lizard people. Maybe there is something wrong with them. I hope so. I don’t wanna kill them or be killed by them.”
    Zack had made a choice not to tell the others about what he and Jenai had seen on their excursion—he thought it would just add to the already high level of anxiety. Jenai had agreed, but perhaps she thought it needed to be said now.
    Brock did not see Zack’s logic. “You should have told us.”
    He tried to explain. “It’s not like we could do anything about it. There was a barrier. They’re over