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hand on his pants and then took Cody’s. “Hi, I’m Tom. It’s a nice place.”
    Cody looked around in surprise, and then said, “Nice? Is that what you call this place, nice? You must have come from quite the place if you think that this place is just nice.” He laughed. “They had to drag me around for about a week when I first got here because I was in shock at how huge the place was.”
    Tom turned red and John grinned. John walked past Tom toward the stairs. “Cody, you’re in charge of Tom for the time being. Make sure you teach him the rules and show him the ropes. For the first two weeks if Tom messes up it is your hide that will pay.”
    Cody snapped to attention giving John an exaggerated salute saying, “yes sir, anything you say sir.”
    Cody couldn’t hold the pose for long because of the explosion of laughter that escaped his mouth. Tom couldn’t help but join in. John just shook his head.
    John stopped for a moment then turned and walked back to the boys.
    Oh no! Now I’ve done it.
    John put his hand on Tom’s shoulder. “The choices you make today affect your future but they do not decide your end.” With that John left.
    Cody looked after John for a minute. “So Tom, lets get down to business. First, I guess I better give you the run down of how things work around here. That’s your side of the room. If it doesn’t have a name engraved on it with blood then its fair game.”
    Tom looked around the room.
    Cody continued, “There are room inspections weekly by Sam. He is a stickler on the rules but if you follow them he will be the first one at your side. We have school from seven in the morning until three in the afternoon. That means you need to be up and dressed by six thirty so that you can eat and get to class on time. Lights out at ten.” Cody counted off the rules with his fingers.
    “ How old are you?” Cody asked inquisitively.
    “ I’m thirteen, sir,” Tom said.
    Cody broke into laughter again. “Ok, that’s another rule don’t call me sir ever again.” He thought for a second. “ Thirteen, hmmm, ok that means that after classes you will be trained in weapons and warfare. You will do that from four until seven and then you have free time until lights out.”
    Tom’s eyes widened.
    Cody looked at him and smiled. “Don’t worry too much about it Tom, I’ll keep you on track until you get the hang of things.”
    “ Cody,” someone shouted from outside in the hallway, “you better get out here quick.”
    Cody’s face was serious as he left the room. Tom sat the bag down and trailed after him. There was a commotion coming from down the stairs and Cody was taking the stairs two at a time. As Tom descended the stairs things were getting louder. When he got to the bottom he saw a boy’s head jerk back as another boy’s fist slammed into it. The kid staggered back almost going down, he tried to regain his balance but he was too slow. The other boy came at him again slamming his fist into his face once again. This time the blow was too much and Tom heard the boy hit the ground with a thud. Cody jumped in front of the boy on the ground and held the other boy back.
    “That’s enough Joe,” Cody yelled pushing him back.
    Joe was red with fury and he had blood dripping from his knuckles and lip. Even though Joe was at least a head taller than Cody he was unable to push past him. Tom suspected that if Joe was able to get past Cody, the other kid on the floor would be dead for sure.
    Joe tried to push past Cody again. “Cody, he started it, I’m going to kill him.” 
    “ And you ended it Joe.”
    Cody pushed Joe back farther from the kid bleeding on the ground. Joe started to relax and his natural color began to return.
    “Help him up and get him looked after. Joe may have really killed him this time,” Cody said.
    A kid helped the limp form up and with the help of two other kids they were able to get him up the stairs. Cody helped Joe sit down on the couch and he sat