“No,” Quentin whispered as the ball continued downward.
Keluang and Scarborough simultaneously leapt upwards, but Keluang leapt higher.
She picked the ball out of the air. The two Sklorno fell to the ground, just as Quentin dropped to his knees.
“Crap-crap-crap-crap!” He screamed, leaning forward until his helmet touched the ground. “Crap-crap-crapcrap!”
“Barnes!” Hokor screamed in his earpiece. “Get your worthless face off my field now!”
Quentin stood, ignoring the crowd’s boos as he ran off the field. He didn’t bother stopping to talk to Hokor, he just ran to the bench and sat.
He wasn’t going anywhere else for the rest of the game, and he knew it.
Pine jogged over and sat next to him. “Q, you’ve got to stop going for the home-run on every play!”
“Go somewhere else and die,” Quentin hissed as he pulled off his helmet. He wanted to blame Pine, blame anyone, for that matter. Wounded duck ploy, and he’d fell for it hook, line and sinker.
“I warned you,” Pine said. “But as usual, you don’t listen.”
“Scarborough couldn’t catch a ball if I shoved it right down her throat.”
“No you don’t,” Pine said. “Don’t go blaming her. You threw to a covered receiver, against a defender that has four interceptions this season.”
“Six,” Quentin said morosely. “That was her second of the day.”
“Right, six. I told you all week you can’t play home-run ball against the Warpigs, so don’t you dare blame your teammate for your mistake.”
“Didn’t I tell you to go somewhere else?” Quentin said, turning and snarling at his friend.
“No,” Pine said with a smile. “You told me to go somewhere else and die. Big difference.”
Quentin wanted to knock those smiling teeth into a little pile on the ground. Pine started laughing, and Quentin wanted to tear his head right from his shoulders.
“Take it easy, Q,” Pine said. “You’ve bailed me out enough this season, let me bail you out this time.”
“Oh sure,” Quentin said. “Like you can just go in there and tear up their secondary!”
Pine nodded. “Just watch me. You’re playing their game. Now I’m going to make them play mine.”
THE WARPIGS MANAGED to add insult to injury by marching downfield for a touchdown before the half, making the score 2114. That made Quentin’s stats perfect — three interceptions, all three resulting in touchdowns. Crap-crap-crap.
His mind hunted for someone to blame, but this time the blame fell on only one being.
Himself.
It was his second start in a row, his fourth start of the season. He’d had starter’s reps in practice for two full weeks. He couldn’t blame lack of practice time. He couldn’t blame poor coaching — for crying out loud, he’d been warned right before the play that took him out of the game.
No one to blame but himself. It was a new feeling, and one he didn’t like at all. Not one bit. It occurred to him, suddenly and savagely, that for most of his problems he’d really had no one to blame but himself all along.
IN THE SECOND HALF, Pine wasted no time. He opened up with an entire series of X-set, which put four wide receivers on the field. The Warpigs started out in woman-to-woman, which left the slower free safety covering either Mezquitic or the blindingly fast rookie Denver. Pine showed his repaired legs were as good as new, rolling out to escape inside blitzes and giving Denver more time to make long crossing routes where her superior speed gained her a couple of steps.
His first three plays were three completions, for seven, sixteen, and nine yards. He scrambled on the fourth play, a very un-Pine thing to do, picking up a first down before sliding to the ground to avoid a hit. The home crowd ate it up. After a half of interceptions and incompletions, they screamed their heads off for anything positive.
Quentin watched as Hawick drove deep downfield against Toyonaka, the two speedsters a combined flash of orange and black, white and black and teal. The ball was in the air before Hawick even stopped, and when she turned it hit her dead in the chest. Toyonaka was faster, but at such speeds her reaction time wasn’t enough to match deadly pin-point passing on a timed route.
Fifteen yards.
Pine ran the same play again for twelve yards.
He was merciless — he ran the same play a third time, but pump-faked when Toyonaka anticipated the throw. Hawick shot downfield as Pine launched a soft fade pass. Toyonaka tried to catch up, but Hawick brought the ball in as delicately as a mother holding her new baby.
The crowd roared so loud Quentin wondered if the anti-radiation dome might collapse on their heads. Morningstar knocked in the extra point.
Krakens 21, Warpigs 21.
Quentin shook his head in amazement. Toyonaka was an all-pro, and Pine had gone right after her, victimizing her in just three plays.
Jealousy burned in his chest as Pine put the Krakens on the board two of the next three possessions, one a 21-yard field goal by Morningstar, and the other a lucky break when Keluang fell while trying to tackle Denver. The stumble turned a short out pattern into a 67-yard TD: you only got one chance to tackle Denver.
The Warpigs came back, but the Krakens’ defense showed new energy in the second half. Two fumbles killed critical Warpig drives. The momentum steadily dripped over to the Krakens’ side of the field. Fayed broke a long 52-yard run, his longest of the season, to put the final nail in the coffin.
The clock ticked down to 0:00.
Krakens 38, Warpigs 28.
The team ran off the field and into the locker room, the feeling of elation running rampant through their hearts and minds — they were now in sole possession of first place, one game away from the Tier Two Tournament and a possible Tier One berth.
The impossible comeback now looks probable, but which quarterback will lead the Ionath Krakens (6–2) into their final game against the Quyth Survivors (3–5)? The Krakens’ musical-chairs quarterbacking continued this week in a 38–28 win over the Glory Warpigs (6–2). Rookie QB Quentin Barnes started the game, but couldn’t handle the pressure of the Warpigs’ top-rated defensive secondary. Veteran Donald Pine led the Krakens to the win. After a 1–2 start, the Krakens have won five straight, and now need to beat the Survivors to win the Quyth Irradiated Conference title.
Orbiting Death (5–3) pounded the Bigg Diggers (3–5) 31–17, the Grontak Hydras (4–4) topped the Sky Demolition (1–7) 21–12, the Sheb Stalkers (5–2) defeated the Quyth Survivors (3–5) by a score of 17–10, and the Whitok Pioneers (5–3) trounced the Woo Wallcrawlers (2–6) 52-3.
DEATHS:
No deaths to report this week.
WEEK #8 PLAYERS OF THE WEEK:
Offense: Mayville, receiver, Glory Warpigs. 12 catches for 191 yards, 3 TDs.
Defense: Sven Draupnir, outside linebacker, Quyth Survivors. 12 tackles, 2 sacks.
GAME NINE: Ionath Krakens (6–2) at Quyth Survivors (3–5)