Savannah Past Midnight Read Online Free PDF Page A

to lift ya. You got down there; surely we can get you
back out.”
    “Just hurry.” She squirms violently, trying to free
herself.
    I get a firm grip under her arms and start to pull,
quickly realizing that she’s not budging an inch.
    “Oh God! Oh Jesus! Something’s biting me! Pull!!
Heeeelp me!”
    Biting her?
    I freeze in shock and she begins screaming at the top
of her lungs. I pull desperately at her little body as my heart
thunders violently in my chest. She is writhing manically,
desperate to get away from whatever it is.
    “Colton! Pull harder, oh God! Puhleeeezzze!”
    She is shaking and sweating in my grip as I use
everything I have to heave as hard as I can. Finally she is
wrenched free and I fall backward with the weight of her on top of
me.
    “Vivian! You all right?”
    Scrambling back up, I crawl around her to have a look
at her leg. The bloody scrapes are nothing compared to the dozen or
so puncture wounds that are covering her calf.
    Oh no, oh shit, please no … prairie rattlers. Pa
warned us to steer clear of ’em. Normally they are reclusive. Maybe
she scared then or stepped on ’em or something.
    She is shaking and crying as I touch her shoulder.
“We gotta get you to a hospital, Vivian. You wait here and I’ll go
for help.”
    “No!” She sobs harder, her arms flying up to cling to
my neck. “No! Don’t leave me here, Colton! I’m scared. I’ll try and
walk if you help me, okay?”
    “Yeah, okay. Not sure what bit you but we gotta get
you help real quick.”
    I get her up and half walk, half drag her as we inch
our way back toward the house. Every few minutes I look down at her
swollen, bloody leg, which is rapidly getting worse.
    She stops, panting, and manages to eke out, “Can’t
walk anymore ….” Tears track down her pale face.
    “Shh, it’s gonna be all right. Let’s get you up on my
back. Here, try to bind your legs about my waist.”
    The added ninety pounds of weight on my skinny frame
slows our progress to a crawl. My legs are shaking as I put one
foot in front of the other, determined to make it to help. I’m
about to lay her down in the meadow and sprint back to the house
when I see Pa coming toward us on horseback.
    Quickly I pant, “Pa’s comin’ now on Outlaw, Vivian.
Everything’s gonna be okay.”
    A pathetic moan is her only reply.
    I set her down as gently as I can and raise my arms
in a frantic crisscross motion, hoping my father will understand we
need him. He seems to understand because Outlaw breaks into a
gallop, heading straight toward us.
    “Vivian, wha-what’s wrong?” The words fall from my
trembling lips as I stare down at my sister, who is now ashen white
and unconscious.
    “Pa! Pa! Hurry!”
    The horse comes to a halt not two feet from us. My
father jumps down and bends to scoop up my immobile sister. “Jesus
Christ, boy! What the hell happened to her?”
    “Need to get her to the hospital. She was bitten a
bunch of times, might have been prairie rattlers. I didn’t see ’em.
She got her leg stuck down between two rocks.”
    With my sister clutched high in his arms, he sets her
gently atop Outlaw right before he mounts up behind her, her back
leaning into his chest. He glares down at me—a hatred I’ve never
seen before in his dark eyes.
    “Headed to the hospital in Helena. For your sake,
boy, you’d best hope she’ll be all right.”
    I watch as he whips around and takes off in a
billowing cloud of dust.
    “Pa, wait for me!” I race after them but by the time
I make it to the house the taillights of the old blue Chevy are
already a quarter mile up the driveway.
    I collapse on the front porch swing and sob
uncontrollably. I didn’t know that many tears could come out of a
body. Then I just become numb, fearing deep down that something is
wrong—very, very wrong. Day turns into night and the only words
that are pounding around in a repeat loop in my head are, “Is she
all right?”
    Finally, after what seems like a year-long