Fight or Flee

By Patrick Jones

Do the crime, do the time behind bars. But once you've been in, it can be tough to stay out.

When Hinton Helsinger leaves the Youth Correctional Center, he's set on reforming his impulsive ways. But things at home have changed: his dad has been killed, his mom's remarried his uncle, and his uncle is the new kingpin of the family gang that controls the town's drug trade. Threatened by Hinton's return, Hinton's uncle hatches a sinister plot using Hinton's girlfriend, Olivia, as a pawn.

As Hinton struggles between the impulse to avenge his dad's death and the desire to seek a way out of that corrupt life, he embarks on a downward spiral of revenge and madness from which he and those he loves are unlikely to escape.

This modern twist on Shakespeare's Hamlet explores the themes of reform, revenge, and self-destruction.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lerner Publishing
• Release date: Jan 1, 2016
• ISBN: 9781512405149

Patrick Jones

Patrick Jones lives in Minneapolis and is the author of many novels including the Support and Defend series. A former librarian, Jones received lifetime achievement awards from the American Library Association and the Catholic Library Association.

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Copyright © 2016 by Patrick Jones

All rights reserved. International copyright secured. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise—without the prior written permission of Lerner Publishing Group, Inc., except for the inclusion of brief quotations in an acknowledged review.

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Main body text set in Janson Text LT Std 12/17.5. Typeface provided by Adobe Systems.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Jones, Patrick, 1961– author.

Title: Fight or flee / Patrick Jones.

Description: Minneapolis : Darby Creek, [2016] | Series: Unbarred | Summary: In this remake of Shakespeare’s Hamlet set in Williston, North Dakota, seventeen-year-old Hinton, released after a year in juvenile prison, faces rumors that his uncle—now married to his mother and running the family drug empire—caused his father’s overdose. Conflicted, Hinton knows bloodshed is likely however he reacts— Provided by publisher.

Identifiers: LCCN 2015026042| ISBN 9781512400045 (lb : alk. paper) | ISBN 9781512400939 (pb : alk. paper) | ISBN 9781512400946 (eb pdf)

Subjects: | CYAC: Revenge—Fiction. | Criminals—Fiction. | Organized crime—Fiction. | Families—Fiction.

Classification: LCC PZ7.J7242 Fi 2016 | DDC [Fic]—dc23

LC record available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2015026042

Manufactured in the United States of America

1 – SB – 12/31/15

978-1-5124-0513-2 mobi

978-1-5124-0514-9 epub

978-1-5124-0515-6 epub

To Adam, Chrissy, Sabrina, and Shyanne

—P.J.

Prologue

North Dakota Youth Correctional Center Case Manager’s release plan notes:

• Hinton Helsinger, 17-year-old male, from Williston, North Dakota

• Family part of Silver Skulls gang that runs drug trade in Williston / Helsinger denies this

• Highly intelligent, yet history of school suspensions for antisocial behavior

• Arrested for status offenses and misdemeanors several times between ages of 13 and 15

• In January, at age 16, accepted plea deal to serve eight months at Youth Correctional Center in Mandan with five years’ probation for aggravated assault with a weapon (switchblade)

• In June, six months into sentence, his father died (drug overdose). First reaction was anger / attacked and injured a corrections officer (CO)

• Sent to solitary for one month / sentenced increased four months to December release date

• In October, two months before release, mother remarried, to uncle. Helsinger did not attend ceremony

• Upon release from solitary, finally began making progress in therapeutic interventions

• Participated in CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy) and drug counseling at Mandan

• Helsinger completed GED. Upon release in late December, he plans to return home, marry longtime girlfriend in the summer and start college in fall. He seems future focused

• Has large support system, though many are ex-offenders or suspected offenders

• Release plan calls for Juvenile Probation supervision including urine analyses (UAs) at home & Parole Officer’s (PO’s) office

• Helsinger made significant positive changes at Mandan but needs support to continue to curb antisocial behavior and drug use, including court-ordered family counseling

• Helsinger is conflicted about big changes within his family during his incarceration

He seems torn between seeking conflict and avoiding it; a hard case

1

Listen to what I’m telling you! Frank’s hot words cut through the freezing North Dakota evening winds. It was a frickin’ ghost. Hansen. Hinton’s dad. The old man himself.

You’re high, Barry snaps back. He pantomimes Frank smoking a blunt. We’re supposed to move it, not use it.

I’m straight up, Frank says. He shrugs, and then stands at attention like the guard he’s supposed to be. He and Barry work guard detail for the party at Clay Helsinger’s house outside of Williston, a former boomtown now busting on the frozen Dakota tundra. Lowest in the pecking order, Barry and Frank answer to Hinton, his blood brother Horace, and Hinton’s uncle Clay among others. I swear to you, it was Hansen.

I don’t believe in ghosts, but I believe in zombies, Barry says. I see one every day.

Frank snorts. Sure you do. Now who is sampling product? What zombie do you—

Hinton. Ever since he got out of Mandan, it’s like he’s the walking dead, just shuffling around. Barry puts his arms in front of him, groans, and pretends to be a zombie. Frank laughs so hard he’s almost crying. "That kid used to be slam and sharp with a knife, but ever since his dad