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BENNY IMURA COULDN’T HOLD A JOB, SO HE TOOK TO KILLING

It was the family business He barely liked his family—and by family he meant his older brother, Tom—and he definitely didn’t like the idea of “business ” Or work The only part of the deal that sounded like it

He’d never done it before Sure, he’d gone through a hundred siym class and in the Scouts, but they never let kids do any real killing Not before they hit fifteen

“Why not?” he asked his Scoutuy named Feeney who used to be a TV weatherman back in the day Benny was eleven at the ti “How come you don’t let us whack some real zoms?”

“Because killing’s the sort of thing you should learn from your folks,” said Feeney

“I don’t have any folks,” Benny countered “My ht ”

“Ouch Sorry, Benny—I forgot Point is, you got faht?”

“I guess I got ‘I’ Perfect To from him ”

Feeney had stared at him “Wow I didn’t know you were related to him He’s your brother, huh? Well, there’s your answer, kid Nobody better to teach you the art of killing than a professional killer like Touess being his brother and all, you’ve seen him take down a lot of zoms ”

“No,” Benny said with huge annoyance “He never lets me watch ”

“Really? That’s odd Well, ask him when you turn thirteen ”

Benny had asked on his thirteenth birthday, and Toain It wasn’t a discussion Just “No ”

That was o, and now Benny was six weeks past his fifteenth birthday He had fourjob before town ordinance cut his rations by half Benny hated being in that position, and if one oing to screa hard work and they said crap like, “Holy s at that like he’s fifteen and out of food ”

Like it was so your butt off for the rest of your life Benny didn’t see where the fun was in that Okay, inally okay because it meant only half days of school from then on, but it still sucked