Jerry Shepherd is a misfit in the town of Sawyer Creek. Despite the fangs, the shapeshifting, and the red stuff in his sports bottle, he just wants to be like the other kids on his Little League team. And it doesn't hurt that he's the best player in the league. Well, until the championship game, when Coach Ruttlemyer and Sawyer Creek learn the true cost of victory.... Short story of 6,800 words. Winner of the international Writers of the Future award in 1999, by bestselling author Scott Nicholson. Scott has written 15 novels, seven story collections, six screenplays, and three children's books, including Liquid Fear, The Red Church, and The Harvest.