Free Powerslide by Jeff Ross Page A

through. We walked for about two minutes before a thick band of trees stopped us.
    â€œWhich way?” Jack said.
    â€œLet’s go this way,” I said, nodding to the left. As we turned, Jack caught his foot on a root and slipped. The board came out of my hands and Goat fell hard to the ground. Other than the thud of his body hitting the earth, he barely made a sound.
    â€œGoat,” I said, shaking him. “Goat.” There was no response. He’d fallen forward and was lying with his face in the mud. “Help me roll him over,” I said to Jack. I grabbed Goat’s shoulders, and Jack grabbed his legs. We gently rolled him onto his back. His eyes were still closed. I rubbed the mud off his face and put my ear to his mouth. He was breathing, but it sounded thin and weak. “He doesn’t look good,” I said.
    â€œThere’s a lot of blood down here,” Jack said.
    I looked at Goat’s leg. His pant leg was soaked with blood, and more was seeping onto the ground.
    â€œWhat are we going to do?” Jack asked. “He’s going to die out here. This isn’t working. I can’t carry him anymore.”
    â€œWhat other choice do we have?” I said.
    â€œI don’t know!”
    I wanted to start screaming “Help! Help!” over and over again. But who would hear us? I took a deep breath. “We have to keep going. At least until we can find some kind of marker.”
    â€œWhat do you mean?”
    â€œLike a really big tree or a path or something . Then one of us can run and get help.”
    â€œHe’s completely out, Casey. It’s like dragging dead weight.”
    â€œCome on, help me get him up.” We sat there for a moment, holding Goat. I heard scurrying in the woods and remembered this was prime coyote territory. Jack got in behind Goat and held him forward. I flung one of his arms over my shoulders and sat him back on the board. “All right, get on the other side and lift him.”
    Jack reached for Goat’s other arm, and together we lifted him off the ground and back onto the long board.
    â€œHe’s too heavy,” Jack said.
    â€œNo, he’s not. Come on, we can do this.” There was more wrong with Goat than a broken ankle or wrist. His breathing was irregular, and blood dripped off his pant leg. If we didn’t get him down the mountain soon, there was a good chance he wouldn’t survive. “One step at a time, Jack. That’s all we have to do.”
    We stumbled forward. The forest thickened, making it difficult to keep the long board level. We didn’t talk much except to give each other directions on how to navigate around a tree or to watch out for a thick root. The incline was leveling out, which probably meant we were nearing the bottom. But there was no way to know for sure.
    â€œLet’s put him down again,” Jack said.
    â€œIn a minute,” I said. I was afraid if I stopped, I wouldn’t be able to stand up again, but I didn’t want Jack to know. He was freaked-out enough already.
    â€œI can’t hold him,” Jack said. “I’m going to drop him.”
    I kept walking. “No, you’re not. You’re going to keep carrying him.”
    Jack closed his eyes and clenched his jaw.
    â€œYou can do this, Jack.” We climbed over a series of large rocks and found a trail of sorts. “Wait a second,” I said.
    Jack stopped. He looked down. “Is this a trail?”
    â€œYeah,” I said. “I think I see something up ahead.”
    â€œWhat? Where?”
    â€œA field,” I said. “Over there. Come on, you can make it that far.”
    â€œI can’t, Casey. He’s too heavy.”
    â€œWe don’t have a choice, Jack. We have to get Goat out of here. If we stop, Goat dies.” Even before the words were out of my mouth, I knew they were true.

chapter seventeen
    We shuffled down the trail. My arms were killing me.