He felt something grab at his back and try to pull him down. The extra weight slowed him, but only for a second, his legs pumped with the power of an entire universe. The weight fell away and he was once again free. He distantly heard the roaring booo of the crowd, a faraway noise that was none of his concern.
He crossed the goal line, and the world blinked back to real time with a rush of deafening sound. He tossed the ball to the floating Harrah ref, then knelt and plucked a few blades of black grass. He sniffed deeply — smelled like a sappy pine tree. Hawick and Scarborough arrived suddenly and leapt on him hard enough to knock him over.
“Touchdown, Krakens, 62-yard run by Quentin Barnes,” the loudspeaker blared amidst the crowd’s boo and the hiss of Quyth Workers scraping in derision. Quentin laughed and pushed aside Hawick and Scarborough. He stood, only to be knocked down again, this time by Fayed and Kobayasho.
“What an excellent run!” Fayed screamed at him, his facemask smashed against Quentin’s. “A much better use of energy than punching me in the face!”
Quentin managed to stand amidst friendly-but-hard slaps to his head and shoulder pads. He ran to the sidelines and was engulfed by teammates. They seemed energized as if they were up by four touchdowns instead of down 24–14.
“Barnes!” Hokor screamed in his headset. “What was that? I called a dive!”
“Sorry Coach,” Quentin said. “I thought you said QB draw.”
“You dirty, lying Human! Run the plays that I call!”
“Yes, Coach. Got ya.”
The long touchdown run was like the harbinger of doom for Orbiting Death. Two plays later, John Tweedy came free on a linebacker stunt and put the first really solid hit on his brother Ju. The ball popped free, wobbled on the ground, where Shayat the Thick smothered it. The Death had the lead, but something intangible had changed hands. After a pair of passes to Kobayasho, Fayed scored on a 15-yard run to cut the lead to 24–21.
In the fourth quarter, Quentin dissected the Death secondary as he knew Pine should have done, hitting Scarborough for two TD passes. Ju fumbled one more time, setting up the second TD strike to Scarborough, but the wrecking-ball running back couldn’t be completely stopped. He scored on a long 44-yard run that left John Tweedy on his rear and put Shayat on the sidelines for the rest of the game.
When the final gun sounded, Quentin had led the Krakens to a 35–31 win — 28 of those points coming in the second half.
THERE WAS A NOTICEABLE difference between a 1–2 locker room and a 4–2 locker room. Players laughed and joked and shouted. The Pioneers had lost again, were now 4–2, and still had two games to go without their star quarterback. The Glory Warpigs had soundly whipped the Woo Wallcrawlers 24-6 to move to 5–1 The Krakens were now only one game out of first had to go head-to-head with the ‘Pigs in Week 8.
A conference title was no longer a fantasy — they were three wins (their own) and one loss (by the Pioneers) away from winning the championship.
Every Human took their turn coming up to Quentin and giving their respects.
“You’re a stone-bred monster!” John Tweedy shouted, hugging Quentin with his powerful arms.
“Huge comeback, kid!” Yitzhak said with a massive grin, tousling Quentin’s hair as if he were a little boy. Quentin pushed Yitzhak’s hand away, but laughed along with him.
Everyone wanted to congratulate him. Everyone, it seemed, except Donald Pine. Pine’s ham-sandwich fixated buzz had worn off just as the fourth quarter ended. He sat alone in front of his locker, still dressed in his soiled uniform, his head hanging in his hands. Quentin felt a pang of pity for the man, but he chased that thought away — Pine made his own bed, and if sleeping in it sucked, then that was the breaks. Quentin had kept his secret, and even that was more than Pine deserved. It didn’t matter, the Krakens were 4–2 and almost — almost — in control of their own destiny.
The Quyth Irradiated Conference standings saw a major shakeup this week. The Ionath Krakens (4–2) crawled another thin notch higher in the standings with a 35–31 upset win over Orbiting Death (4–2). The Krakens continue to show no continuity at quarterback, as this week veteran Donald Pine was ineffective while rookie backup Quentin Barnes led the team to a come-from-behind win.
The Whitok Pioneers (4–2) seemed to be walking away with the conference title, but without star quarterback Condor Adrienne they lost their second straight game, this time 24-8 to the Grontak Hydras (3–3).
First place now belongs solely to the Glory Warpigs (5–1), who thrashed the Woo Wallcrawlers (1–5) by a score of 35-3.
The Sheb Stalkers (4–2) remained in contention with a key 1714 win over the Bigg Diggers (2–4). Arkham, All-Pro cornerback for the Diggers, notched her tenth and eleventh interceptions of the season. She leads the Quyth Irradiated in interceptions for the season, well ahead of the Warpigs’ Toyonaka, who has eight picks so far this year.
Sky Demolition (0–6) still can’t find a win, this time losing 3210 to the Quyth Survivors (3–3).
DEATHS:
Shak-Ah-Tallo, offensive guard for Quyth Survivors, was killed on an illegal hit by Yalla the Biter. Yalla has been suspended for two games.
WEEK #6 PLAYERS OF THE WEEK:
Offense: St. Petersburg, wide receiver, Glory Warpigs, hauled in 12 catches for 162 receiving yards and three TDs.
Defense: Kitiara Lomax, linebacker, Bigg Diggers. 9 tackles, 1 interception.
YASSOUD, OF COURSE, wanted to drag everyone, non-Humans included, out to the nightclub district. Quentin put a stop to it, saying the team had to stay sharp in a dangerous place like The Ace — and after beating the Orbiting Death, many of the city’s residents would have been most happy to mess with an Ionath Kraken. Instead, most of the team headed to “The Dead Fly,” a laid-back bar owned by Choto the Bright’s family. Choto’s family shut the bar down for the impromptu private party. Quentin wanted the team to stay together — most came along, although Pine wanted to be alone, and Quentin wasn’t going to argue with him.
Liquor flowed, which Quentin didn’t mind as long as everyone stayed inside. The quarantine angered Yassoud and Tweedy, but Choto backed up Quentin’s desire to keep the team off the streets. Quentin started feeding Yassoud and Tweedy beers, and after six or seven the two stopped complaining and started enjoying the night.
While drink was in plentiful supply, food was another story.
“But you are hungry,” Virak said to Quentin. “There is nothing wrong with this food.”
Quentin worked hard to keep a straight face as he stared down onto a tray covered with fried critters that looked a lot like foot-long centipedes, only not quite as appetizing.