The Chair by James L. Rubart Read Free Book Online Page A

he pushed the image from his head and refused to give in to its morbid portent.
    It was all part of the game. A game he had to play.
    A game he had to win.
    The canyon floor was only 465 feet below the cliff, which meant they needed to release their chutes almost immediately after jumping.
    Which meant they had to leap out at least twenty feet away from the cliff to avoid having their chutes catch on anything sticking out from the cliff wall. Branches, rock outcroppings, everything.
    Which meant there was no room for even tracing paper-thin errors.
    It heightened the terror factor considerably more than most of them were comfortable with.
    But it also shoved their brains into the higher reaches of the thrill-zone.
    Krystal’s eyes ping-ponged back and forth between all three of them. “This is good? We’re going to be all right? We’re going to survive?”
    “No doubt. It’s just like taking a stroll through Riverside Park,” Peter said.
    “Twenty feet out,” Corin said. “That’s our target distance. Which means you sprint as hard as you can toward the cliff’s edge and push off with your foot like a trampoline when you jump and you’ve got two seconds max before releasing your chute. There shouldn’t be any wind in the canyon, but if there is, it will be updrafts that will help us, not hinder.”
    Corin looked around at his friends. Rush time. “Anyone want to say a prayer?” Wow, this chair business was frying his brain.
    They all laughed except for Krystal. “I think that’s a pretty good idea.”
    Corin looked at her. “Are you serious?”
    “You weren’t?”
    “Not really.”
    “I’m scared.” Krystal hugged herself. “This is the craziest thing we’ve ever done. Jumping from this low is . . . crazy.”
    “We’re just upping the rush a little.” Corin smiled. “Nothing to be scared of.”
    “Just death.”
    “I’m not scared of dying.” He looked toward the edge. “Not at all.” He ignored the increase in his heart rate that seemed to beat inside his head instead of his chest. “The only thing I’m scared of is not living while I’m still alive.”
    The instant Corin said he wasn’t scared of dying, a shadow seemed to drown out the sun and his mind felt like it was wrapped in lead pulling his head to the ground. Where was this coming from? He wasn’t scared of dying. It’s what allowed him to dance on the razor’s edge without slicing his feet open. It’s what freed him each time he jumped or rode or luged or glided or took part in any of his insane adventures.
    He shook his head and swallowed. Time to roll before his mind told him another lie. “Let’s do it.”
    Corin strode back twenty steps, spun on his heel, and without hesitating sprinted toward the edge of the canyon, every step pumping another nitro-shot of adrenaline into his veins. Launch codes were locked and loaded. Ten feet. Three. None.
    Go!
    An instant later he was airborne, wind racing past him like a hurricane, the river and the shore below rushing up to meet him like a giant silver snake ready to strike.
    One thousand one.
    On thousand two.
    He should pull.
    No, half a second longer.
    Pull! His mind screamed.
    A little longer.
    What are you doing!
    Corin stared at the ground streaking toward him at warp speed, a surge of panic ripping through his body and he released his chute. Too close. He’d waited too long. Why wasn’t his chute opening?
    C’mon!
    A second later his chute opened with a familiar thwap , sounding like a muffled shotgun blast arresting his free fall.
    Twenty feet till impact. He would hit the ground hard. Fifteen. He gritted his teeth and pulled hard on his side cords to give himself as much lift as possible.
    “Uhhh!”
    He landed hard in a tiny grass clearing fifty yards from the edge of the river and rolled to lessen the impact.
    It didn’t help much.
    That hurt.
    He rolled to his left like a slug and stared at a row of rocks three feet to his left. That would have hurt even more.