Free The Mason List by S.D. Hendrickson Page A

wanted to scream but nothing came out. 
I thrashed around on my back, trying to breathe.  I heard the sound of pounding
hooves.   
    No!   BB was coming back to trample me. 
As I tried to move away, I saw Jess ride up on Clive.  He jumped off and ran
toward me.
    “A…lex…a…are
you ok?”  He was out of breath and his words came out in spats.  Leaning over,
his black hair flopped into his blue eyes.  “I don’t know…what…happened.”
    “I’m…
going to… kill you!” I tried to rise up and throw a swing at Jess.  My left
foot gave out, and I crashed back onto the ground.
    “Alex,
you have to calm down.”
    “This is
all your fault!”
    “No,
Alex.  Be still.”
    “Jess!” 
I snapped with anger.
    “There’s
a snake.” His voice remained steady while his blue eyes darted to the left
again.  I looked over my shoulder to see the tan and dark brown shape about a
yard from my hand.  The tail rattled just a little, sending prickly fear down
my spine.
    “What do
I do?” I whispered through clenched teeth. 
    “I wish I
had my gun.  It’ll take too long to go get it,” Jess whispered back.
    Since
moving to the ranch, I had listened to numerous tall tales involving rattlers. 
Right in that terrifying moment, I recalled the photographs Davey Rawlins had
brought to school of his uncle’s foot half-rotted off from a snake bite.  Davey
said it struck his Uncle Skeeter straight through his boot. 
    The
images spread fear through my body.  It would hurt as the snake sunk the sharp
fangs into my skin.  The venom would burn as it ate away the tissue and then my
hand would gradually fall off.  Very simple.
    “Alex,
you listenin’?” His voice sounded like a hiss.  Beads of perspiration dripped
down the front of my pale, clammy face.  I saw his eyes move to the snake then
back to me.
    “I’m
gonna move in slowly to the left.  Then I’ll toss a rock over in the other
direction as a distraction then pull you real hard.  You gotta push off with
your good foot.  We only got one shot at this.”
    “It might
bite me,” I whispered.
    “Yup.”
    “But…”
    “Let’s
go,” he whispered, giving me no time to think any more.
    Jess
tossed a baseball-sized stone in the opposite direction and then yanked my arm,
pulling me up from the ground.  In the dusty air, the sound of rattles played
like background music.  His body held me up, dragging me along to keep the
weight off my throbbing ankle.  For several yards, we stumbled through sage
bushes and vines cursed with thorns.  The sharp spikes dug into the legs of my
denim jeans. 
    “Are you
sure it’s gone?”  I peered through the grass for signs of the scaly body.
    “I think
he went the other way when I threw the rock.” 
    “You
think?”
    “No.  I’m
sure.” Jess lowered us both to the ground.  The muscles in my legs felt like
Jell-O. 
    “That was
really scary.” 
    “I know. 
I ain’t ever been that close to one without a gun.” I watched his grungy
fingers push the hair off his forehead.   
    “You
saved my hand from rotting off.” 
    “Your
hand was gonna rot off?” his eyebrows scrunched up in a frown.
    “Never
mind.  I just wanted to say thank you.” 
    Jess
looked at me for a moment then shrugged. “It’s no big deal.  Friends have each
other’s backs.  I’ll always have your back and you’ll always have mine.”
    “Always? 
That’s like forever.  How do you know we will be friends forever?”
    “I just
do.”
    “You
do?”  I looked over at him in disbelief.  He had no control over the future.  I
knew first-hand how life changed faster than the flash of a hummingbird wing. 
One moment you’re playing Barbies, and the next your mother is dying while you
eat moldy sandwiches.     
    “If you
don’t believe me, then we should swear on it.  Then it ain’t gonna change.”
    “I don’t
think swearing will make a difference.”
    “Alright. 
A blood pact,” his famous grin