Rage Within (3 page)

Mason nodded. “We had all that rain earlier this month. Our basement even flooded. It’s safe enough.”

“I dunno,” Scotty said again.

Kurt stepped forward, removed his shirt, and tossed it next to Tom’s. “I’m in,” he said. “The fact that some guy ended up a veggie and wore diapers for the rest of his life isn’t enough to scare me.”

Mason nodded, although that certainly was enough to scare him. But if the other guys were hell-bent on doing it, he’d have to do it too. No way he’d let Tom hold something like that over him. He’d never hear the end of it. Brothers by choice, daredevils for life. If one of them did something, the other had to follow. That was the code. Even on the minuscule chance he might wimp out, the least he could do was watch
and make sure no bones got fractured. And he was a strong swimmer. He’d be good to have around in case something went wrong.

“We should just head back,” Scotty said. “It’s gonna be dark soon enough. I got homework tonight.”

“Don’t be such a coward,” Kurt said. “Especially not in front of the ladies.” He pointed in the direction of Staci and Britney, who were trying to find a graceful way to crawl under the fence. Britney was struggling—some of her hair seemed to be caught in the chain link. “How’s it going, girls?” Kurt yelled back at them. “You stuck? I can always give you a hand.”

Staci gave them the finger.

The boys waited, but when it became apparent that the fence wasn’t going to let go of Britney’s hair, Mason trotted back to them.

“How’d you manage this?” he asked. A good chunk of hair was twisted into the metal wire. Staci was trying to unwind the strands, but it only made the knot tighter.

“How should I know?” Britney muttered. “How on earth did you talk me into this again? This is the last time we do this sort of crap, Mason. Next time we’re staying at the mall.”

“Fair enough,” he agreed. “I’m gonna have to cut it.”

“Great,” Britney said. “Just destroy it, why don’t you? Why don’t I just spend the rest of the semester bald? It’s not like I have a social life or anything.”

Mason pulled out his jackknife, a final gift from his father before he died. “I won’t ruin your pretty hair. Just don’t move or I might take off an ear.” He grinned and twisted away when she tried to playfully smack him.

He managed to trim the hair without doing too much damage. Once Britney was free, she picked up her purse and grabbed Staci by the arm.

They returned to the group, where Tom and Kurt were arguing about how to best climb up onto the concrete pillars. The plan was to swing out onto the metal rafters and, from there, carefully work their way toward the middle of the bridge. Once there, they would each take a turn jumping and then swim back to shore. The girls would judge who jumped the farthest.

Easy as pie.

“Of course you’re welcome to jump too,” Tom said to Britney, giving her a wink and a kiss on the cheek. She shoved him away, half smiling.

“I’ve done enough damage to myself today,” she retorted, patting down her hair with her fingers. “Besides, we’re not crazy. There’s no way you’d ever catch me in that river. It’s polluted. You may want green skin and hair loss, but not me.”

“And the undercurrent,” Staci said. “My mom said that even some of the world’s strongest swimmers have died in there. The current pulls you down and you can’t swim back up. So you drown. Not me. I’m not that dumb.”

“You really believe that?” Tom asked. “I’ve swum in there dozens of times and nothing ever pulled me under. That’s just crap parents tell their kids when they’re little to keep ’em from taking a dip. Name one person who died. Just one. I’ll bet you can’t.”

“I don’t remember their names,” Staci said. “But I know they died.”

“Did not.”

“Children, calm down,” Mason said with a grin. “Or we’re going home right now.”

“Now or never,” Kurt said. He began to scale the concrete pillar, putting his feet into the cracks and pulling himself upward. It wasn’t long before he was six feet above everyone else.

Mason looked over at Tom, who shrugged.

“You’re not really gonna do this, are you?” Scotty asked.

“If Kurt’s doing it, I’m doing it,” Tom said. He stepped forward and began to scale the pillar.

“Same here,” Mason said. There was no way he was going to let the others show him up. He pulled his shirt over his head, dropped it on the grass, and handed Staci his phone. He put his hands against the concrete, studying the best crack to shove his sneaker into so he could pull himself up. It didn’t take long, and minutes later he swung his leg over the top and dragged himself into a standing position.

From there he had a clear view of the underside of the train bridge. It required some bravery, but if they could walk across the rafters to the next few pillars, they’d be able to jump. It wouldn’t take more than a few minutes to make it out to the middle of the river. Below him, he heard Scotty swear as his sneaker lost its grip. Scotty had decided that it was better to risk his life than stay on the shore with the girls.

“Next bit’s gonna be tricky,” Kurt said as he jumped in the air, grabbing hold of a rafter with one arm and swinging back and forth like a monkey. He was showing off now, waving at the girls, who weren’t even watching. Britney had her phone out and was showing Staci something. They were both giggling. Carefully, Kurt worked his way out toward the middle of the river.

They watched until Kurt was a good third of the way out. Mason followed second, with Tom and Scotty behind him. It was harder than it looked. The metal was rough and it bit into Mason’s hands. He didn’t really have to use such a death grip, but his brain seemed to believe he had to hold on for dear life. There was a lot of open space underneath and it wasn’t
hard to imagine himself slipping and falling down into the water below. Everyone knew that the river was deep only in the very middle; the edges were shallow enough that the fall would probably kill him. Or at the very least, leave him crippled for life. Neither sounded very enjoyable.

So he concentrated on putting one foot in front of the other, ignoring the brilliant blue water beneath him. When he paused and looked back, he was surprised to see the shore was far behind him. Staci and Britney were tiny figures now; he couldn’t even tell if they were still playing with the phone. Tom was right behind him, and even Scotty was just a few feet beyond that. Mason could see beads of sweat on Scotty’s bright red face.

“What’s the matter?” Tom said with a big grin as he caught up beside Mason. “Getting tired, old man? You need a nap?”

“Not even close,” Mason said. “Just checking to make sure you don’t slip and break your pretty little neck.”

“Never gonna happen,” Tom assured him. “And if by some miracle I do die, I’m gonna come back and haunt your ass for all eternity anyway. Just think, for the rest of your life I’ll be there, smiling at you every time you try and make it with a girl. You’ll never pee in private again.”

“Nice.”

A few minutes later, all four of them were in the perfect position to jump. It was windier out there in the open; Mason could feel the coolness of the breeze on his body. Suddenly it didn’t seem as summery as it had half an hour ago. He looked longingly at the shore, wondering why he’d bothered to take off his shirt.

“Water’s gonna be cold,” Tom said, reading his mind. “We should have done this back in July or August.”

“Now’s just as good,” Kurt replied. “Think of the stories
we’ll be able to tell tomorrow. We’ll be kings.”

“Doubt anyone will believe us,” Mason said. “We should have told the girls to take pictures. Think they’ll do it anyway? Staci’s got a nice camera on her phone.”

“Maybe,” Tom said.

A gust of wind blew up over the water, raising goose bumps on the back of Mason’s neck. To the west, the sun was starting to lower itself into the ground. In half an hour or so it would be twilight and too dark for them to even consider doing this stupid stunt. They’d have to take the plunge soon or head back to shore with their tails between their legs.

“I’m not doing it,” Scotty suddenly said. “I can see the bottom. It’s not deep enough.”

Mason looked down, but he couldn’t see anything but dark blue water washing up against the concrete pillar. It was a good forty feet to the surface beneath him.

“It’s deep enough,” Mason said, but he wasn’t so sure anymore. “Anybody got something we can throw in to test it?”

“Why don’t we just toss Scotty in first,” Tom joked. “If he sinks, we head back to shore. If he swims, we jump.”

“Not funny,” Scotty said.

“I think it’s a great idea,” Kurt said. He swung his legs around the side of the rafter and stepped in front of Scotty. “What do you say, coward? Heads you sink. Tails you swim?”

“I’m not going first.”

“No one said this was voluntary,” Kurt said. He reached out and tried to grab Scotty’s arm. The smaller boy pulled back, almost tripping over his feet and slipping out from underneath the metal.

“Dude, watch it,” Tom said. “You’re gonna make him fall.”

Kurt smiled and lunged at Scotty again. “That’s the idea.”

Scotty stepped backward, bringing his arms up to try and block Kurt’s advance. His foot slipped off the railing, throwing his body off balance. Mason witnessed the whole thing in super slow motion. There wasn’t enough time to do anything but watch. Scotty’s eyes grew wide, mouth opened at the beginning of a scream. Kurt was laughing.

Mason lunged forward, grabbing at air as Scotty’s knee cracked into the railing. Scotty emitted a cross between an “oomph” and a high-pitched yowl. He managed to clutch blindly at the black metal, tightening his arms in a death grip as gravity took over and his body swung downward into the open air.

“Take my hand,” Mason shouted. Wrapping one arm around the bar for safety, he reached out with his other hand, grabbing hold of Scotty’s shoulder.

Kurt was no longer laughing. His face was pale and he stood there panicked and obviously unable to do anything. Tom rushed past him, stepping carefully around Mason to try to help. Scotty was still suspended in the air, his legs kicking helplessly beneath him as he held on. Far below him, the river flowed dangerously fast.

“Don’t let me fall,” he kept repeating. The words shot out of his mouth like a machine gun firing.

Let him drop.

The voice whispered in the back of Mason’s mind. He blinked several times. What the hell was he thinking? Tightening up his grip, he pulled until his knuckles whitened.

“I’m not going to let go,” he said.

“I’ve got him,” Tom said. He’d gotten down on his stomach, reached down, and grabbed hold of the boy’s belt.

“I don’t want to die. I don’t want to die. I don’t want to die.”

Mason dropped down onto his stomach, copying Tom. Wrapping both his hands around Scotty’s shoulders, he was able to get a firmer grip. His palms were coated in sweat and at one point he almost let go, but Kurt suddenly reached down to help. He’d somehow managed to shake his earlier paralysis. He reached past Mason, grabbing hold of Scotty’s now free shoulder.

“Relax, man,” Tom said through clenched teeth. “Stop kicking. We can’t pull you up if you’re doing that.”

It took forever, but the three of them finally managed to haul Scotty back onto the railing. They sat there, breathing heavily as they tried to catch their breath. Finally remembering the girls, Mason looked back at the shore where Britney and Staci were watching. He waved at them and shouted that everything was fine.

“What the hell were you thinking?” Tom finally said. “Are you really that stupid? You could have gotten us all killed.”

“I’m sorry, man,” Kurt said. “I didn’t think he’d freak out like that.” He turned to Scotty, who was on his knees, leaning against the railing and still trying to catch his breath. “I’m sorry. You know I was joking, right? I’d never have actually pushed you. Don’t take everything so seriously.”

Scotty glared at him for a long time before finally nodding.

“Let’s get out of here,” Mason said.

No one disagreed.

Tom went first, climbing along the railings and back toward the shore. Mason went second. He’d traveled only about ten feet before he heard the splash. Turning around, he saw only Scotty. He stared straight at Mason, dark eyes glowing in hatred.

“Who’s joking now?” Scotty said.

“What the hell did you do?”

He didn’t wait for an answer. Crisscrossing the metal beams, he moved underneath the bridge and to the other side. He scanned the water below for Kurt but he couldn’t see anything. The current was moving unbelievably fast. He tried to calculate how far Kurt might have already traveled. Searching the water out in front of him, he finally saw something moving just below the surface.

He didn’t stop to think. No voices whispered in his head. He jumped.

The water was just as cold as he expected. The shock made him gasp, forcing a good pint down his throat and into his lungs. Kicking hard, he propelled himself upward until his head broke the surface. Treading water, he coughed liquid and scanned the area for Kurt. He spotted him, thirty feet away and moving fast, his head bobbing up and under the water.

He couldn’t tell if Kurt was unconscious or not. All he knew was that his friend wasn’t trying to swim for shore.

Ignoring the numbness in his arms, Mason immediately headed in the direction the current was taking his friend. Pumping his muscles hard, he tried not to think about what might happen if he didn’t reach Kurt in time. He concentrated on putting one arm in front of the other.

Come on, Dowell! Move it.

He could hear people shouting from the shoreline but he didn’t take his eyes off Kurt. Tom and Scotty were way behind them now, probably just reaching the ground where Staci and Britney waited. There was nothing any of them could do.

He pumped harder.

The next time Kurt bobbed to the surface, Mason was closer. It made him kick his legs that much harder.

He almost cried out in relief when his hand brushed against Kurt’s back. Reaching around his friend’s neck,
he managed to pull Kurt’s head up and out of the water. Ignoring the moment of panic when he saw Kurt didn’t seem to be breathing, he concentrated instead on working his way to shore.