The Masks We Wear

Ch. 10

The crowd was constantly growing. This was the biggest turn out I've ever had for a race. I even saw kids from other schools here.

"Yo, Yuki, are you ready to start the race?" Zane asked as he approached the starting line.

"Yeah, but real quick, I heard you attacked Will. If I win I'd like for you to leave him alone," I said as I tied my hair back. My light green tank-top and shorts where a little tight since I had put on a few pounds. It had been about two months since the last time I had done any exercise this extreme and I could feel it as I stretched.

"Oh yeah, about him. He kindly volunteered to make the race more interesting," he said while putting on his vizor. I grabbed my vizor and accepting his race request. I saw a cartoonish picture of Will for the target a total of four stories up and six points seven miles away.

"What did you do?" I said as a sense of anger and frustration bubbled deep within my chest.

"If you lose my guys get to do what they want with him, but if you win, I'll let him go and I'll never mess with him again, okay?" he said with an arrogant smile.

I would've objected but then he would've given his guys the okay.

"Fine. I just have to beat you again right?" I don't know why, but this strange fire was exactly what I needed right now. It drowned out any sense of doubt that I would win as we both approached the starting line.

"3 ...," My heart began to flutter as I felt adrenaline pump through my entire body.

"2 ...," It was difficult for me to stay behind the line due to my unexpected anticipation. Every second felt like it took days to arrive.

"1 ...," I wondered if this was how big bro felt every time he went out.

"GO!" the crowd screamed as we both took off in a full sprint. We were neck and neck at the start. As for if that was due to me being out of shape or the result of his training, I didn't know nor did I care. Both of us were incredibly fast, each step had so much power behind it that it kicked up a cloud of dirt, until we got off of the grass and on to the pavement. However, I could tell that he'd soon be ahead of me. He was in much better shape than I was at the time plus he held the advantage on plain routes due to his experience in cross country and long-distance running events. By a mile in we were both on the trail that ran through most of the state I was struggling to keep up with him on this part. He had the advantage while on this terrain. That is until the trail started curving.

Zane stayed on the trail as I kept running straight leading me off of the trail into the green brush. As I ran through the bushes and past trees, I looked up to see that everything was nothing but even more greenery. I had sent Yinny, my white tiger, up ahead, her being the quicker of the two young cubs I was raising. She acted as my scout to make sure that I didn't get jumped again. I eventually saw a chainlink fence and the moment I got close enough, jumped on top of it then bounced off it to the top of the building behind it. I was in the lead now as I ran over the busy crowd below. Knowing Zane would be going on the normal route he would hit the traffic of both people and cars, him being capable of using ally ways to the best of their ability would still struggle to get through this massive cluster.

I ran and jumped from one roof to another, over ally after ally. Whenever I got to a street I'd slow down and take a deep breath before jumping off the roof. I had to focus hard as I wasn't as used to this as my brother, all I could do was hope that this worked once. I focused on every cell in my body doing my best to balance myself as my foot landed softly on a light post. I knew I couldn't let my focus go yet though. I then loaded my leg and exploded off once again activating everything in my body to do the same thing on a light post on the other side of the street, this time landing on the roof on the building closest to said light pole. I was running as fast as I could when I got to my last jump. I landed sloppily as I fell over and slide.