Ran hard at Kenton, getting inside his swing, going to his left, where he was struggling to raise Brain-biter with his weaker left arm. That put Kenton between Kyle and Josa. Kenton swung the axe feebly and the shaft batted harmlessly off Kyle’s back. And Kyle was in. He grabbed hold of Kenton by the shirt with both hands, ignoring the pain that clawed at his wounded arm. Kenton hadn’t been expecting this and had no hands free to do anything, unless he wanted to drop a weapon. And Kyle was giving him no time to think. He shoved hard, piling Kenton backwards and into Josa, who couldn’t get out of the way quickly enough and was now being forced back into a knot of sickos. Kyle kept moving and, as he felt the two of them start to go down, he gave one last push and they collapsed.

As they fell, Kyle grabbed Kenton’s club, twisting it. Kenton, falling backwards, had two options: let go or risk having his arm broken. Kyle helped him make the decision by kicking hard at his elbow. Kenton cried out in pain and the cudgel was free. Kyle jumped over the falling bodies and ran clear, tensed, ready. Kenton, who had landed on Josa, was first up, fumbling with the axe. Kyle didn’t give him a chance. He gripped the club in both hands, feeling a stab of pain that shot up his arm into his head, and swung.

He got Kenton full in the mouth. It was like hitting a tomato with a baseball bat. Bright red blood splattered out and Kenton was down for good. The shock wave up Kyle’s arm made him scream. It was shuddering and twitching in spasm.

He gritted his teeth and looked at Kenton, who was kneeling on the ground, moaning, Brain-biter dropped and forgotten.

‘Now you’re a matching pair,’ said Kyle. ‘The toothless twins.’

Josa was up, though, and coming at Kyle in a low crouch, the blade ready in her hand. Kyle was about to lift the cudgel to a strike position with his left arm when he was grabbed by two fathers. If he hadn’t been hurting so much already he might have thrown them off, but he was powerless to do anything except curse and try to avoid their teeth.

Josa moved in for the kill. She had Kyle just where she wanted him.

And then Ed was there. And Josa went down again, punched in the side of the head. Stunned. Ed picked up Kyle’s axe, cut the sickos away and brought it around on Josa as she tried to get up.