“Squash him.” Dwight looked at Leo and raised his eyebrows like he was about to smile. There was a droning in Leo’s ears. He clenched his fists to quiet things. His palms were slick and his mouth had gone so dry he couldn’t swallow. Floyd’s bat came down like it was attached to a spring. Chick dodged to the left but Leo saw and heard it crack into his right shoulder. Chick’s eyes teared up and his right arm hung loose and stiff. He got his footing and lunged up with a hooking left that hit Floyd in the ear and snapped his head to the side, sending him sideways against the flatbed where he dropped the bat. Olin grabbed Chick by the throat and walked him backwards as Dwight grunted out half-words and threw punches over Olin’s shoulder into Chick’s face. Chick kept hooking at Olin’s head with his left, but Olin stuck his elbow out to block the blows. Leo started around Floyd but slipped on the gravel and fell just as Floyd was reaching down for the bat. Leo got his hand around it, pulled it free, and stood up. He grasped the handle and raised the bat over his head facing Floyd who blinked twice and didn’t move. Leo took a running swing at Dwight. He brought the bat down in a sideways arc that caught Dewey under his punching arm in the middle of his rib cage. Leo felt the tip of the bat go in, heard all Dwight’s air leave him in a rattle as his feet slid out to the left and he hit the ground. On the other side of Olin’s shoulder Chick’s face was almost purple, bleeding, his eyes squeezed shut, and he had stopped swinging his left, was just holding onto Olin’s wrist with it. Leo raised the bat over his head. There was nothing else to do; he aimed for Olin’s thinning blonde hair, but Leo’s arms were jerked backwards, there was a sharp pinch in his lower back, then the slam of the ground. Floyd stood over him with the bat. Leo rolled over and jumped to his feet.

“He’s killing him, Floyd! He’s fucking killing him!” Leo took a step toward Olin when Floyd’s bat swing nicked Leo’s shoulder and he stepped back.