Hickham answered out of the side of his mouth. “Logan, you really believe these things will understand a damn thing I tell them?”

“You’re one of them, Coach, one of the boys from the bus. They’ll understand. They may not know much, but I think they understand two things really well—food and football.”

“Under different circumstances, I’d call it the ideal team.”

“Just say what you gotta say. They’ll understand it all right.”

“What the hell happened to Meekin?” Hickham indicated the linebacker with a nod. Philip no longer had the left third of his skull. Bits of steaming brain matter still clung to his cheek.

“Oh, I shot him in the head.” Cole shrugged at the coach’s look. “That was the shot you heard. What’d you think, that I was hunting pheasants?”

“But, how could you . . .”

“He was about to eat a little girl.”

Hickham paled.

Cole just rolled his shoulders again. “Don’t worry, the girl’s safe. And don’t worry about Phil, either. He didn’t feel a thing. None of them can feel any pain at all … watch.” Cole shouldered the rifle and took aim at Chili Blaylock, tight end. Hickham pushed the gun barrel down before it fired.

“All right, all right, I got it!” He shook his head. “Jesus, I gotta get out of this town.”

He turned away in a huff, hitched up his pants, and paced the length of the line. General Patton would have envied the intensity of his scowl. “All right, men, let’s get to it. Logan here tells me that even though there’s not a pulse among you, you understand what it is we’ve got to do today. Basically, it all boils down to this: You wanna spend the rest of your miserable deaths scrounging around town, looking for somebody to eat, then you go right ahead. But if you wanna go up and sit with your maker the way He intended, then you’ll do exactly as I say. You cross me, I’ll run your asses from here to Shreveport. You try to eat me and I’ll plug you with that Winchester until it does hurt. That goes for eating anyone else, too … including your opponents. We’re gonna settle this score one way and that’s my way … on the field, regulation rules, no exceptions. Is that clear?”

Cole saw no glimmer of comprehension. Hickham continued.

“All right, then.” He cocked his cap back. “Having said all that, if you do listen to me, I can promise that you’ll exit this world as the East Texas Two-A champions of Region Six, District Four … which isn’t a hell of a bad way to go out.”