We all stood there proudly by the gates, exhausted, yet exhilarated, when Weisel, the Delanceys, and a dozen or so goons appeared. "Time these kids learned a lesson." Weisel demanded, and the men advanced on us.

"Newsies! Get 'em!" Jack screamed, and a massive fight broke out, the biggest I'd ever seen, much less been in. We raced to the wagons and grabbed bundles of newspapers, throwing it at the goons, but it didn't do much. These guys were huge. Though we weren't winning, we were standing our ground, and had the cops not showed up, we mighta had a chance.

"It's about time you showed up!" Romeo cried, running to the police officers, "they're slaughterin' us!" Before he could say anything else, however, the officer swung a quick blow, sending my friend to the ground. I couldn't even go to help him, because it got worse. Snyder the Spider was there, too. I heard Jack screaming my name, I heard him telling me to come on, but I couldn't. My friends were still in this fight. Most of 'em had ran off, and I would've, too, if not for Race, Crutchie, Albert, Romeo, and Finch. Snyder hadn't seen me yet, but he saw Jack, and my heart plummeted.

"Jack, wait for me!" I turned to see Crutchie calling to my brother, and for a split second we locked eyes, when Oscar and Morris got a hold on him.

"Crutchie!" I yelled. He couldn't defend himself, so while Snyder was occupied, I raced over to the Delanceys.

"Let go of him ya dirty, rotten, no good-" I threw incoherent insults at the boys as I swung wildy. The blows stuck at first, but pretty soon the fight was turned around on me. I took a hard hit the the knee with the crutch, and Morris began punching my stomach over and over again. He grabbed hold of my hair and pulled as hard as he could, holding me in place as the blows to my stomach continued. My vision started to blur, and Morris struck me across the face and head over and over again. "Jack! Jack, help!" I screamed, tears beginning to pour. Where was he? Where the hell was my older brother and why wasn't he protecting me? I made eye contact with Race as I went down, and I had only one thought before my head hit the ground.

I'm gonna die.

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