GEEK ON THE TEAM, PART 2
Nate has felt like an outcast for the entire wilderness adventure, but now it's time to step up. With the youth pastor's life in danger, who can lead the group? Does Nate have what it takes? Don't miss this exciting conclusion.

Fiction by Rick Barry

In Part 1, Nate struggles to keep up with the rest of the youth group. Why am I even here? he thinks. All the jocks and girls think I'm invisible -- the geek from planet zero. Even when he stops the other guys from eating poisonous mushrooms, he gets little thanks. But when the youth pastor and guide, P.D., is stuck in the head by a falling rock, Nate may be the only one with the knowledge to help. . . .

Character Revealed
Mr. Tice dashed over. “Drew! Can you hear me?”

P.D.’s eyes remained shut. Blood oozed in his brown hair.

The girls ran to the spot. Diana seemed on the verge of hysterics.

“If only he’d had on his helmet,” Mr. Tice muttered, unsure what to do.

Of course, P.D. hadn’t been wearing his helmet, because he had only been near the rock face, not on it.

Nate normally didn’t take charge of problems that didn’t involve software or motherboards, but nobody was following the proper steps. He shoved his glasses up his nose and stepped forward.

“I took a first aid course. We have to check for vital signs.” He knelt and placed two fingers on P.D.’s neck. “He has a pulse. He’s breathing.”

“Praise God,” Mr. Tice said.

Nate pushed open P.D.’s eyelids one at a time. “When there’s brain damage, the pupils become dilated or have unequal sizes,” he said. “They look about the same size. I think that’s a good sign.”

More thankful murmurs, this time from the girls.

The other boys had scrambled down and unclipped from the ropes. They looked on helplessly.

“It was an accident,” Jesse blurted. “I reached for a handhold, and it just broke loose before I could stop it.”

Unexpected Leader
“We need to get him to a hospital as soon as possible,” Mr. Tice said. “But how?”

“I’ll call 911 on my cell,” Tony said, whipping it out of his pack.

“You can try,” Nate replied, “but you’re probably not going to get a signal in these mountains.”

Jesse ran a trembling hand through his hair. “Oh man. What do we do now?”

Mr. Tice remained silent. Nate spoke up. “Let’s make a stretcher. We can lash branches and backpacks together with the ropes and cushion it with P.D.’s sleeping bag. We must keep him warm and immobilize his neck and head, too. Then we can carry him carefully down.”

“Backtrack a week’s worth of hiking carrying an unconscious man?” Coral asked.

“Not backtrack,” Nate said. “Go forward. I’ll show you.” He retrieved a map from a pocket on P.D.’s backpack and unfolded it on the ground.

“This the topographical map P.D. followed to bring us here. Remember when he explained the contour lines? They show the elevation of the terrain for miles around. These slopes to the west aren’t too steep. We can follow them to the valley, and the town of Altamont is down there. Once we reach the road, we can flag down a car — hopefully.”

The group hesitated. They seemed reluctant to follow Nate’s suggestion.

“What do you think, Mr. Tice?” Lisa asked.

The man shifted his eyes from the map to P.D., and finally back to the map. “Guys, I’m from Detroit. I can follow a street map, but I’m no outdoorsman. That’s P.D.’s department. I’m just along to help lead Bible studies.”

He caught Nate’s eye. “If Nate can use this map to guide us by the shortest route to Alamont, the rest of us can take turns carrying P.D. It seems like the best option.”

“Let’s go for it,” Jesse agreed.

Immediately the group sprang into action. While Mr. Tice and the boys constructed a stretcher, the girls removed anything unnecessary from the backpacks. They would travel as light as possible. Within an hour, Nate, the boy who had toiled up the mountain last in line, was leading the way down with a sense of purpose.

Saving the Day
Three days later, a disheveled group of hikers clustered around the doctor in the waiting room of Altamont General Hospital.

“How is he?” Mr. Tice asked.

“Your friend has been in a coma,” the graying physician replied. “But the MRI looks promising. Twice he came to enough to ask what was happening. He was confused, but at least he’s thinking and trying to talk.”

The motley-looking bunch exhaled a collective sigh of relief.

“From what I hear,” the doctor continued, “you had quite a chore getting your friend out of the wilderness. Congratulations on saving his life.”

Mr. Tice laid a hand on Nate’s shoulder. “We all helped to carry P.D., but this is the man who deserves the credit. He led the way.”

Nate blushed. “Maybe even a geek comes in handy once in a while.”

Jesse stepped in front of Nate and looked him in the eye. He began clapping. Mr. Tice joined in, then all the other teens.

“Nate, you’re not a geek,” Jesse said after the applause. “You’re a smart guy with guts. You can be on my team any time.”

READ PART 1 OF GEEK ON THE TEAM. GET THE SPECIAL ILLUSTRATED VERSION ONLY IN BREAKAWAY'S PRINT EDITION.

THOSE OUT OF THE ORDINARY ACHIEVED THE EXTRAORDINARY

People don’t come from cookie-cutter molds. God wires different skills and interests into each person. Here’s a quick look at some historical figures who weren’t particularly good-looking or athletic. They might even have been considered geeks if that word had been invented. But these guys changed the world. • Apostle Paul: Critics considered Paul a powerful writer but a weak and ineffective speaker. (Check out 2 Corinthians 10:10.) But negative gossip didn’t stop Paul from fulfilling the mission God gave him. By focusing on Jesus more than on himself or others, Paul rocked the Roman Empire with the Gospel. • William Tyndale: A bookworm who studied at the universities of Oxford and Cambridge, William could speak seven languages. He lived during a time when powerful leaders in England were fighting against efforts to translate the Bible into English. William spent countless hours doing just that, translating God’s Word from Hebrew and Greek for ordinary people just like you. He wanted even poor farm boys to read the Scriptures for themselves. Eventually, Tyndale was burned at the stake for this “crime” — but not before his English versions of God’s Word reached England. • Thomas Edison: Thomas’ mind wandered in school. One teacher thought his brain was “addled.” So his mom took over and home schooled him. In his teens he became partially deaf. But that didn’t stop him from tinkering and inventing things. People were amazed when he created a device called the phonograph. Thomas and his employees went on to invent or improve many other widely used products. He often failed but always kept trying. • Jesus: Isaiah foretold that the Messiah wouldn’t be a good-looking hunk (Isaiah 53:2). “He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.” If that describes you, then you’re in the best possible company!