The Race

Chapter 8

Chapter 8

On the morning of the Opening of the Race, I got up at four o’clock, three hours before I had to be.  We didn’t get in until midnight and I was only able to sleep for so long.  I wish I would have at least gotten a full night’s since I wasn’t going to be getting one for a while.

I guess it was my nerves that had woken me.  I had a funny feeling in my stomach that I usually had on the morning of the Opening.  I got up out of bed and headed toward the sitting room, restless.  There was a balcony with two lounge chairs, so I grabbed a blanket off the couch and headed outside into the chilly, early morning air. 

There was a reason New York City was called the city that never slept.  Whoever came up with that had it right on the money.  Cars and taxis were still milling around on the streets below, horns honking occasionally.  Laughter drifted up toward me from people walking down the sidewalks.  They were probably heading to get good places to watch the Opening, since you had to get there early to get anywhere near the front.  I wish I could have been as carefree as they seemed to be.

But I couldn’t be carefree, happy, or relaxed.  Today was the start of another Race for me. 

Before I left, I would have to pack all of my things so that Sonora and Isla could take them back home.  Dad was going to be staying in the city, like all of the trainers of the contestants were supposed to do. 

The trainers were allowed to message their contestants regularly if they wanted, but the officials had to monitor everything that was sent to us.  They didn’t want the trainers to be helping us corner other contestants to hurt or kill them.  They had to work out that little detail after the first Race when something like that happened between two of the contestants and their trainers.

When I heard the door to the balcony open up I turned around to see Isla walking out, a blanket around her shoulders. 

“Hey, what are you doing up so early?” she asked, blinking sleep out of her eyes. 

“I couldn’t sleep,” I said.  “What about you?”

“Me neither,” she said.  “I’m too nervous for you.”

“Can you be nervous for the both of us?  I don’t like feeling this way,” I said, laughing humorlessly.

She smiled.  “I can’t even handle being nervous for just me,” she said.

We sat in silence for a moment, listening to the sounds of the city. 

“What’s it like?” Isla asked suddenly.  “Going across the country totally on your own, I mean.  Is it relaxing to be by yourself or are you really lonely?”

I thought for a moment.  “I guess it’s kind of both.  It’s nice being all alone at first but then you don’t have any human contact for a week or two in between cities and you feel absolutely alone.  Some contestants actually go crazy from it.  I think one guy had actually killed himself in one Race about ten years ago and a couple others have attempted it.  The officials had to send in teams to interfere and take them out of the Race.”

“That’s horrible!” she said, eyes wide.  “Don’t you ever think about doing that, Lennox!  You’ve got too many people who love and care about you.  Like me!”

I smiled.  “Thanks, Isla,” I said. 

“What do you do for food?” she asked.  “They never show any of that on television.”

“They give us about thirty packets of that freeze-dried crap,” I said.  “But once you run out, you’re on your own.  I’ve never ran out but that’s because I actually know how to control my hunger.  They give you three canteens for water and there’s always somewhere you can fill it up.”