Within These Walls

Chapter 17

"And that's supposed to be you?" Marcus asks through clenched teeth.

"That's right. Hell, any one of those guys over there could take you on. I'll prove it."

A visible shudder rolls through Marcus's body. I can't tell if it's anger or something else. "I don't have time to deal with your tantrum. Back off or I swear I'll—"

"You'll what?" Rudolph closes the gap between them. He's taller than Marcus and uses his height to his advantage. "What're you going to do, Spaz?"

Marcus throws a punch so fast his arm moves in a blur. Rudolph's head recoils. The blow dazes him for two full seconds before he recovers and swings out. Marcus catches him in the face with a second punch, this one harder than the first, packing behind it all his fury.

I hear the unmistakable crunch his fist makes against Rudolph's cheekbone. The force spins him around in a circle. He hits the floor so hard his body bounces off the concrete. Murmurs of shock ripple through the crowd. I lose sight of him as people circle his prone body, his friends jumping to his aid, but the chorus of agitated voices tells me something is wrong.

When I get a clear view, Rudolph lies sprawled out on his chest, unmoving. The world spins out of control when I see his eyes. They're open, lifeless.

"Oh, God," someone moans. "He's dead."

Marcus stares down at him. His shudders have settled into eerie stillness. There's no remorse on his face. My throat feels like it's caved in on itself. I wanted him to beat Rudolph, but not like this. I will him to say something—to reassure us that it was just an accident, that he didn't plan for this to happen—but he does nothing to try to diffuse this horrific situation.

He steps past Rudolph's body and leaves the cafeteria.

Some of the guys decide to move Rudolph into the white room, which is still unlocked. I watch them grab his limbs and carry him away. None of this feels real. I keep expecting Rudolph to stir back to life, but he's completely still. Forever still.

I avoid Marcus the rest of the morning, which isn't hard to do since he doesn't return to the cafeteria. I overhear someone say he spotted him in the gym lifting weights. Such a normal thing to do after killing someone.

Alec comes over to our table at some point. He's kept his distance the past few days, but now that he's not on Marcus's leash, I guess it's safe for him to hang around us lesser folk. "That was something," he says after a long silence.

Willow looks at him solemnly. "You could say that."

"What do your friends think?" I ask him.

"They don't know what to do. Some of them like Buzzcut and Eli want to stick by Marcus, but the others—Pablo, Jones, and Freak—think he's out of control." He gives us a humorless smile. "Only problem is no one wants to face him."

"Why not?" Carson asks.

Alec holds up a peace sign. "Two punches. That's all it took for him to beat Rudolph. No one is exactly gunning for him at this point."

I don't see what the problem is. "Face him as a group."

Alec shakes his head. "That's not how it works. Someone has to be in charge. We can't have five different guys giving orders, or there'll be chaos. The person who beats Marcus will be the undisputed king. It's the one thing they all agree on."

"King of this schoolyard playground," Willow says. "This is too childish."

How could things have gotten so out of hand? Over the past week, my sentiments about Marcus have constantly evolved, never settling because he's so difficult to pin down. He went from being a threat, to a nuisance, to a tentative ally, and now he's a danger to all of us.