The Guy Named Harrison: Book One

46

It was pouring rain in Chicago, just as Harrison said it would. The Bears field was a mess, and the Panthers white jerseys were now stained brown with mud.

They were winning 14-0. But the game was filled with turnovers. Harrison had two forced fumbles by the start of the third quarter. The Bears defense recovered three Panthers turnovers as well.

It was raining so hard and the field was so wet Harrison and the guys slipped multiple times trying to make a tackle. And the ball was hard to hold onto and catch.

Trying to make another tackle, Harrison's feet slipped out from underneath him and he was barely able to grab the tight end's feet and take him down.

"This sucks," Luke muttered as he helped Harrison to his feet.

"Tell me about it. I feel like I'm doing a mud run."

The rain got so bad that Carrie gave up on trying to take pictures and simply grabbed his giant jacket and used it to shield herself from the rain. She wondered if they were ever going to call the game. Because with all this mud, someone was going to get hurt. It was too slippery to be playing tackle football on.

The Bears quarterback did a little shovel pass to the running back, who took off around the line of scrimmage. Harrison and Luke got to him first.

Carrie knew it was bad when Luke slipped and fell face first onto the ground, leaving Harrison to tackle the running back himself. Harrison wrapped his arms around him and tackled him to the ground.

The following play, the Bears ran the ball up the middle. Harrison closed in on the running back from the front. Just as he had one arm around him, and was about to tackle him, he slipped. The running back cut to the right as he started to slide. Harrison tried desperately to cling to the running back and have his weight pull him down as well. He totally lost his footing. As the running back barged by, the crown of his helmet smashed into the side of Harrison's.

He fell to the ground and stayed there while the play continued. Carrie didn't see him go down until after the play was over. When she did, he was on his knees with his helmet still pressed against the ground.

The trainer came running out as Luke knelt next to him. She saw him pound his fist into the muddy ground before rolling over to his side. Although she didn't see what happened very well, Carrie knew he must've hurt himself when he slipped, or in the worse case scenario, got another concussion.

It was a minute before the trainer was able to get him to sit up. And another before they got him to his feet. Harrison walked to the sidelines under his own power with Luke and the trainer at his side. He wasn't limping at all, meaning it was an upper body injury, or a possible concussion.

Carrie watched him walk right past the bench as some of his teammates gave him high fives, and right down into the locker room. She was already following and walking behind the Panthers bench and into the locker room after him.