Free Rewind by Peter Lerangis Page A

happening.
    Again.

We’ve almost got him.
    Unless he gets himself first.

2
    “I ’M COMING!”
    Adam’s feet were flying. He sprinted toward the lake, high-stepping over roots and rocks.
    “Ripley! Where are you?”
    “Die, suckah!”
    The light hit him square in the eyes.
    Footsteps. Someone was running up to him.
    “Uh-oh. Are you okay?”
    Adam blinked and looked up. “R-Ripley?”
    Ripley Weller was standing over him. His laser pack glowed dully on his chest. “What were you yelling about?”
    “It’s just that—I thought you were—you shouted for help—”
    “Did you really think I was in trouble?” Ripley grinned, clasping his hands to his heart. “Oh, Adam. I didn’t know you cared .”
    He was alive. And well.
    And still a jerk.
    “FREEZE!”
    Ripley’s smile vanished. He clutched his gun and spun around.
    Too late. A direct hit. Right to the center of his pack.
    “Yyyyyyes!” Lianna Frazer emerged from the trees, pumping her fists in triumph. “The winner and new Vermont champion!”
    “It was a time-out,” Ripley said. “Adam was wounded.”
    “Yeah, right. I killed you!” Lianna turned to Adam. “You’re my witness, Adam. Didn’t I kill him?”
    Kill him.
    Adam’s teeth were chattering. “I guess.”
    Ripley shot Adam a look of disgust. “Thanks a lot. You always agree with her, Sarno.”
    “Only when I’m right,” Lianna said.
    “Lianna’s own personal slave.” Using two different simpering, high-pitched voices, Ripley chanted: “ ‘Nice day, Adam.’ ‘Yes, Lianna.’ ‘Do my homework, Adam?’ ‘Okay, Lianna.’ ‘Jump off a cliff for me?’ ‘Right away, Lianna.’ ”
    “Cram it, Weller.” Lianna turned and walked away, glancing briefly at Adam.
    Say something. Don’t just stand there.
    Words tumbled around in Adam’s head. Defenses. Insults. But they were lame. Ripley would easily swat them aside.
    “Not that I blame you, Adam,” Ripley said with a smirk. “I mean, hey, if it weren’t for her, you’d be a stiff at the bottom of the lake like what’s-his-name.”
    Lianna spun around. “Stiff?”
    “Corpse, whatever,” Ripley replied uneasily.
    “Never. Speak. About him. Like that. Again.” With each word, Lianna advanced on Ripley, backing him up until he was trapped against a tree.
    “It was a joke,” Ripley protested.
    Lianna pressed her face close to his. “Edgar died that day. He was Adam’s best friend. You didn’t live around here back then. You don’t know what any of us went through. My advice to you is watch your mouth. ”
    “Fine.” Nodding nervously, Ripley slipped away.
    Adam forced his gaping jaw shut.
    He’d never seen Lianna like this.
    She defended me.
    Brave Lianna rescues Adam the Wimp.
    I will never, ever hear the end of this.
    “Thanks,” he muttered.
    But Lianna wasn’t paying attention to him. She was staring at the lake. In the reflected moonlight, Adam could see her face slacken. A slight change, something no one would notice. No one but Adam.
    She was thinking about it.
    The accident.
    “It was four years ago Saturday,” Adam said softly.
    Lianna shot him a look.
    “I know this is crazy,” Adam continued, “but when I heard Ripley yelling, I thought it was Edgar.”
    Lianna nodded and turned away. “Let’s go, Adam. What’s past is past.”
    She jogged off, her footfalls echoing in the cold, dry air.
    Adam stole one last look at the lake.
    That’s all it was. A body of water.
    The rest was just memory. Brain waves.
    Nothing more.
    Lianna was turning off the lake path now, onto the narrow trail that led toward the clearing.
    Adam ran to catch up. But as he veered onto the trail, something yanked at his foot.
    He stumbled to the ground. Wrapped around his ankle was the strap to a small backpack.
    “Wait up!” he cried.
    Adam pulled the strap away. The pack was small but heavy.
    In a moment his two friends were running toward him.
    “Eeek. Kill it before it multiplies!” Ripley speared his laser rifle