The Rise of Rachel Stark Read Free Page A

confident the four of us can handle it. Five of
us, Tabby. You'll be taking care of Rachel."
    Silence.
    "Tell me again," Tabby said, "why we decided
to yell 'police' instead of actually calling the police. It's their
job. They know how to do these things."
    "Two reasons," Sheldon said. "First, the
Chante town cop, poor old Harley Jones, doesn't have jurisdiction
up here. We're in Neehawk County now. Harley wouldn't be of any
help anyway. He's totally useless.
    "Second, the county sheriff's office is in
Neehawk, half an hour away. Probably 45 minutes to an hour away on
a Christmas Eve when it's snowing like this. We don't have that
much time."
    "Yes, but do we have the right to do this?"
Tabby asked. "Isn't this a private matter? Who do we think we are?
We're four teenagers, and we are planning to break into someone's
home and … and what … take over? Do we have the right to do
this?"
    "No!" Jimmy shouted from the back seat. He
leaned forward and pounded his right fist into the palm of his left
hand as he spoke.
    "We don't have the right! We have
the duty! For the
love of God, we have the duty! Rachel is our friend. We are
probably the only friends she has in the world! She has nobody but
us … nobody but us. We're all she has. We're the only ones she has
told about getting raped, and she is being forced to have an
abortion she does not want! And we cannot let her die. We cannot. We have to
do everything we can – "
    A large whitetail buck deer suddenly darted
onto the road and into the path of the Galaxie. Sheldon hit the
brakes just as the 3,400-pound car slammed into the deer, which
weighed 250 pounds at most.
    For a moment, the four did not know what had
happened. The loud crunch of metal colliding with living flesh
surprised them, but they did not know where the sound came from or
what it was.
    Then time slowed down.
    They watched as the deer rolled up and over
the hood. They shielded their faces as the animal slid up, but did
not break, the windshield. They heard the buck skid across the top
of the car before it fell spinning to the road. They hung on as the
car slid sideways and smacked into deep snow in the opposite side
ditch and wound up facing downhill. Then the motor stopped
running.
    For a few moments, silence.
    "Is everybody OK?" Sheldon asked. "Tabby, are
you OK?"
    "Yes, I think so," she said. "Yes."
    "We're OK back here," Bull said. "Right,
Jimmy?"
    "Yeah, OK."
    Sheldon took a deep breath and exhaled
loudly.
    "Oh, god," he said. "That was close." He and
Tabby hugged.
    "Let's get out and see what's what," Bull
said.
    The snow on the passenger side of the car came
up to the bottom of the window, so Tabby and Jimmy had to crawl
over to the driver's side to get out. Even then, the snow was
nearly knee high.
    Bull and Jimmy dragged the dead deer off to
the side of the road, leaving a trail of blood.
    Sheldon looked at the back of the car, buried
in snow.
    "That's why the engine stopped," he said. "The
exhaust pipe is plugged up." It was too dark to tell the extent of
damage to the front of the car, but Sheldon felt the broken glass
of the passenger side headlight.
    "Where are we, exactly?" Bull
asked.
    "My guess is about a mile, maybe less, from
the cemetery," Sheldon said. "That means we're about two miles from
the Stark place."
    "Well, we're never going to get this car out
of the ditch. Not tonight anyway," Bull said.
    "And we're wasting time talking about it,"
Jimmy said.
    "What are you suggesting?" Sheldon
asked.
    "C'mon, two miles," Jimmy said. "We can walk
this, run this. But we have to hurry. Let's go!"
    "Tabby? Bull?" Sheldon said.
    "Sure, why not?" Tabby said.
    "Let's do it!" Bull said.
    Sheldon looked at his Christmas present,
trapped and sitting cockeyed in deep snow in a ditch, brand new
only a few minutes ago, but as useless to the four of them now as
an old, dead clunker. He threw up his hands.
    "What's Dad going to say?" he said to no
one.
    Tabby gave him another hug.
    "I'm sorry, Sheldon," she