Heres the thing, people: We have some serious problems. The lights are off. And it seems like thats affecting the water flow in part of town. So, no baths or showers, okay? But the situation is that we think Caine is short of food, which means hes not going to be able to hold out very long at the power plant.How long? someone yelled.Sam shook his head. I dont know.Why cant you get him to leave?Because I cant, thats why, Sam snapped, letting some of his anger show. Because Im not Superman, all right? Look, hes inside the plant. The walls are thick. He has guns, he has Jack, he has Drake, and he has his own powers. I cant get him out of there without getting some of our people killed. Anybody want to volunteer for that?"Silence.Yeah, I thought so. I cant get you people to show up and pick melons, let alone throw down with Drake.Thats your job, Zil said.Oh, I see, Sam said. The resentment hed held in now came boiling to the surface. Its my job to pick the fruit, and collect the trash, and ration the food, and catch Hunter, and stop Caine, and settle every stupid little fight, and make sure kids get a visit from the Tooth Fairy. Whats your job, Zil? Oh, right: you spray hateful graffiti. Thanks for taking care of that, I dont know how wed ever manage without you.Sam, Astrid said, just loud enough for him to hear. A warning.Too late. He was going to say what needed saying.And the rest of you. How many of you have done a single, lousy thing in the last two weeks aside from sitting around playing Xbox or watching movies?Let me explain something to you people. Im not your parents. Im a fifteen-year-old kid. Im a kid, just like all of you. I dont happen to have any magic ability to make food suddenly appear. I cant just snap my fingers and make all your problems go away. Im just a kid.As soon as the words were out of his mouth, Sam knew he had crossed the line. He had said the fateful words so many had used as an excuse before him. How many hundreds of times had he heard, Im just a kid.But now he seemed unable to stop the words from tumbling out. Look, I have an eighth-grade education. Just because I have powers doesnt mean Im Dumbledore or George Washington or Martin Luther King. Until all this happened I was just a B student. All I wanted to do was surf. I wanted to grow up to be Dru Adler or Kelly Slater, just, you know, a really good surfer.The crowd was dead quiet now. Of course they were quiet, some still-functioning part of his mind thought bitterly, its entertaining watching someone melt down in public.Im doing the best I can, Sam said.I lost people todayII screwed up. I should have figured out Caine might go after the power plant.Silence.Im doing the best I can.No one said a word.Sam refused to meet Astrids eyes. If he saw pity there, he would fall apart completely.Im sorry, he said.Im sorry.
About This Quote
About Michael Grant, Hunger
Michael Grant, Hunger.
Themes
- Anger — Managing emotion, frustration, and the fires within