The Troop

The only way you’ll ever really know people is to see them in a crisis.

How could you hide from a murderer who lived under your skin?

They’d made a pact to be friends forever, but forever could be so, so brief.

God in Heaven hear my prayer,

Keep me in thy loving care.

Be my guide in all I do,

Bless all those who love me, too. Amen.

fighting this rage that was a kissing cousin to pure madness

Pressure turned fear into rage as surely as pressure turns coal into a diamond. Fear was an internal emotion: it got trapped inside of you. You had to let it out. For that you turned to rage, the ultimate external emotion.

Twisting the knife in a person’s psyche was nearly as much fun as twisting it in living flesh

He understood how the world worked—bad things happened to good people, bad people died happy in their beds. It happened every day. So why bother being good?

Do you want to know the best, most effective transmitter of contagion known to man?”
Edgerton asks me this with a pinprick of mad light dancing in each iris.
“It’s love. Love is the absolute killer.

‘Insects can make a home for themselves almost anywhere.