Howard Bassem

Howard Bassem was part of Orc's crew and ran a black market, even while being a member of the Town Council. He was killed by Drake in Fear.

Description
Howard is a short, thin, physically weak black boy. He is smooth, mocking, cowardly, and sycophantic, as well as intelligent and sly. Howard is a drug dealer and home brewer in the FAYZ, which means he works harder than almost anybody else. However, he despises drugs and alcohol personally.

Howard is not a good fighter, being defeated easily by Drake, so he uses his wits to escape tricky situations. He is devious enough to fool a pack of hungry coyotes into letting him pull out a knife, which is Howard's weapon of choice. Howard is also one of the best drivers in the FAYZ, being able to steer easily with one hand while otherwise occupied.

Appearances
Because of Sam's absence, Howard took advantage of the confusion and helped Orc come to power as appointed “Captain,” in charge of "stopping everybody running crazy" and "busting everything up, taking anything they wanted". Howard made sure that someone helped Mary get the necessary materials to take care of the prees as long as she knew that it was Orc's crew that helped her.
 * Gone

Caine arrives and takes control. Howard then takes an important position under Caine's leadership, such as tying Sam up, guarding shops or trying to stop Sam and his friends from escaping, until Orc is maimed by coyotes. Howard makes a deal between Drake and Pack Leader, but runs away to find Orc. When he sees Orc's mutation due to his power, he is horrified, but helps Orc.

Howard is seen acting as Orc's manager. He decides when Orc should work, and how much he gets paid, usually in the form of alcohol. He also spots Drake with a gun in the hole created by Sam at the power plant. This ultimately saves Dekka's life and probably many others.
 * Hunger

Somehow, Howard has managed to weasel his way onto the town council, being Orc's representative due to Orc's cement body making him ideal for doing the more dangerous jobs. He also aids Edilio, Dekka, Computer Jack, Ellen and others in preventing the fire created by Zil and the 'Human Crew' from spreading across parts of Perdido Beach. After the fire has stopped he has a breakdown, crying in front of Astrid, Albert and Edilio, because he is not coping with everything that has happened. Through the book he starts standing up against Astrid, because he thinks she is a bad leader.
 * Lies

Howard is tasked with guarding Drake/Brittney with Orc. He later saves Albert's life and conceals a boy's corpse which Orc was responsible for killing.
 * Plague

Howard leaves the lake to check on his alcohol production at Coates Academy. He encounters Drake and his coyotes. Although the coyotes are starving, they are forbidden by the Gaiaphage to kill anyone (they could not discern who was "important" to the Gaiaphage's plans, like powerful freaks). Howard is strangled by Drake in order to feed the coyotes.
 * Fear

Relationships
Sam and Howard originally disliked each other. Howard was part of Caine's team before the Thanksgiving Battle, but joined Sam. After the events of Hunger, Howard began to work with Sam on the council. He and Sam began to respect each other more and work together better.
 * Sam Temple

Howard understands the stress Sam goes through and Sam understands what Howard has to do to keep Orc relatively safe. An example of this is when Sam confiscates a bottle of alcohol from Howard, although he knows how many Howard has, and Howard shrugs, knowing that Sam is going to drink it, although Sam does not intend to at the time.

Howard was originally Orc's "number-one toady", giving him protection, first at their school, and then in the FAYZ. When Orc becomes an alcoholic due to guilt from killing Bette, Howard provides Orc with alcohol, and it is shown that he somewhat cares for him. When Orc becomes a Christian after attempting suicide, Howard is resentful of this, as he is no longer able to manipulate Orc with alcohol.
 * Orc

Howard and Astrid disliked each other. Howard enjoyed annoying her, and Astrid didn't like how he ran the alcohol operation. However, Orc likes Astrid so Howard had to spend some time around her. They were on the council together, which Astrid hated and Howard enjoyed. Like his fellow council members John and Edilio, he does not want her as head of the council.
 * Astrid Ellison

Howard was scared of Drake, but agreed to keep him locked up in his and Orc's basement. His fear is possibly strengthened when Drake goes up against Orc. No-one messes with Orc, and yet Orc couldn't manage to beat Drake. When Howard goes to fetch some of his homemade alcohol from Coates Academy and bring it back to Lake Tramonto, Drake strangles him to death in order to feed the coyotes. In his last moments, Howard tries to bring back Drake's sanity, but does not succeed.
 * Drake Merwin

Quotes
Howard at the Town Council:
 * "Yeah. Don't you know only Astrid is allowed to keep secrets?"
 * "Yeah, we get to lie because we're the smart ones. Not like all those idiots out there."