The Killer in Us — Ted Taber

Christopher James and a handful of his classmates are being tormented and assaulted daily by a beast of prey named Donny Blackmon. Clearly, someone has to make it stop. For Chris, wishing the class bully was dead, oddly seems not all that unusual. Killing him is quite another matter. Yet undiscovered by Chris, there is a killer lurking in him, as there is in many of us. Most of us refuse to believe it or pretend it isn't there, but as an innocent fourth-grader, Chris learns that when there is no choice, staying alive wins. Thrust into a life-or-death situation on a cold winter day, Chris finds there is no time to think, only time to act. When an unexpected opportunity arises demanding a split-second decision, the killer in him emerges and he does the unthinkable. But it doesn't end there. In the ensuing years, Christopher discovers that evil is everywhere. It just wears different faces. So make no mistake, the killer in him will be summoned again.