A babble of rising voices drowned out anything the chairwoman might have wanted to say next. Katia, watching her, saw her sit back with a satisfied expression and exchange almost smug glances with the other members of the Committee. Something about the way they looked, self-assured and confident, made the hair on the back of Katia’s neck stand on end. She shook her head in response to Jian’s questioning look, but before she could speak, Zephyr pushed himself up from his seat next to her.
“I’ll do it.” His voice cut through the chatter, fading it into silence again. “It’s cross-country, right? I want to do it.”
“No.” Katia caught his wrist and gave him a pleading look. “You have no idea what it’s like up there.”
“Can’t be that bad, right? Besides, I’m not going to just sit back and let Six win.” He looked back at the Committee. “Sign me up.”
“Same.” That was Taz; another one, Katia thought, who hadn’t even been born when they’d been forced underground. She reached down absently to rub at her right leg, even though she knew the pain she was feeling was only phantom; fake legs didn’t feel real pain.
The younger racers agreed first, followed by a number of the older ones, though more than one refused and left the room. Evita shrugged when asked then said she might as well, leaving only Katia and Jian undecided. They exchanged a look then Jian sighed and nodded, mouthing ‘sorry’ in response to Katia’s glare. Katia looked away from her and up at the Commission, then at Zephyr, who offered her a grin.
“Fine,” she said into the waiting silence. “Tell me the rules.”
A Committee member got up and passed out neatly typewritten booklets, which Anais began to go through with them. Katia listened to her talk with half an ear, scanning through the booklet quickly on her own. A lot of it was legal jargon, disclaiming any responsibility on the part of the Racing Commission for any injuries, dismemberment, or death. The rules seemed simple enough: get from the starting point to the ending point nearly 2000 kilometres away in the shortest possible time on skates. She saw that they were allowed to bring one small pack containing supplies but otherwise they would be forced to rely on what they could scavenge around them. They would only be carrying a small camera and a recorder that they had to keep on at all times, in order to broadcast their progress back to the Commission. Other cameras, placed topside by the government to keep an eye on what was happening above them, would also send any footage back.
“What happens if someone does get injured up there?” Katia called. “Or dies?”
“Injured participants will be immediately brought home, of course,” Anais said smoothly. “We will also have armed guards stationed around the route to help protect you. The entire area has been scouted intensively and there is very little... activity left there. Just don’t go too far off the track and you should be fine.”
“And we can have anything we want?” Evita asked. “Anything at all?”
“Within reason. You can’t ask to have someone murdered, for instance.” Anais gave a little laugh that made Katia unconsciously curl her upper lip, until she caught herself doing it and made herself stop. “Nothing illegal.”
“Isn’t just going topside illegal?” Evita arched an eyebrow slightly, her tone innocence itself.
“We have special permission, of course. Any other questions? No? Then please read over the booklets. If you still wish to participate, there will be another meeting here on the Wednesday after the season end banquet, where you can officially sign up.” She got up and left the room, the other Commission members following after her like obedient ducklings.
“You are a special brand of idiot,” Katia snapped at Zephyr once they were gone. “Do you have any idea what you’ve agreed to?”
“It’s been twenty-three years. It can’t all be the same up there.” He pulled her to her feet. “Besides, you heard her. Armed guards to protect us.”
“I still don’t like it.” She looked at Jian. “You should know better too.”
“In my defense, I was only about two when everything up there crashed. Zeph’s got a point, it’s been a pretty long time.”
“You saw what ran past that camera just as well as I did.” Katia looked between them as they went quiet, then sighed. “Well, we have a few weeks. Hopefully you’ll both regain your common sense by then.”
Jian snorted. “Zeph doesn’t have any common sense.”
“I do too,” Zephyr protested as they headed out of the building. “And if Six can—” He cut off with a yelp as Jian punched him hard in the meaty part of his upper arm. “Ow.”
“Remember what I said about super-glue?” Jian smacked her fist into her other palm.
“Six, Six, Six,” Zephyr said, then stuck out his tongue and ducked behind Katia.
“Children,” Katia said absently. “Save it for when I’m not around.” She held up her hand as they exited the building and flagged down a cab, giving the driver the address of a local bar. “I need a drink.”
She ordered only a half-pint when they reached the bar, nursing it at a table while Jian and Zephyr alternately bickered and talked about the race. After a while she told them both to change the subject and relaxed a little when they did. By the time she’d finished her drink she felt more than ready to go home and relax for the evening, in preparation for her race in the morning. She said goodbye to Jian and Zephyr, who wanted to stay longer, and caught a cab home for a long hot shower and a funny movie she watched in her PJs while eating popcorn.
She went to bed early and slipped quickly into sleep, despite her spiralling thoughts. Her sleep was restless and after a while she began to dream, though it was more like a memory. In it she was five years old again, holding her father’s hand as they stepped onto the train to visit her grandparents halfway across the country. Her mother was sick with a nasty upper respiratory infection and had decided not to come. Katia wasn’t sure if she was more scared or excited, torn between looking around at the crowds of people and the enormous train, or clinging to her father’s hand. As they passed into the car, he scooped her up and held her on his hip until they reached their seats, where she knelt to press her face to the window.
The train pulled out of the station and she watched the scenery pass by for the first few hours, occasionally pointing things out to her father, who sat reading his newspaper beside her. She was just beginning to get bored with watching endless fields when she saw something bounding through the high grass towards them. Her breath misted over the window and she scrubbed at it impatiently with her sleeve, her eyes widening as the creature came out of the grass. For a moment its eyes seemed to meet hers, red and crazy, then it stood up on its hind legs and snarled at her, foam flying from its long jaws.
Katia screamed and scrambled back, almost spilling herself to the floor. Her father caught hold of her and asked her what was wrong, while other passengers craned their necks to see what the problem was. She tried to explain but it all came out garbled and after a few moments he dismissed it as a bad dream, telling her to go back to her seat. She did, but she pulled the blind down on the window and sat clutching her teddy bear.
The explosion came only minutes later, tearing the train in half and spinning its pieces across the fields. Katia was thrown into the aisle, striking her head on one of the opposite seats. Dizziness swept over her and then darkness dragged her in, the sound of screams following her down.
She opened her eyes again to warm rain on her face, running from the crumpled wreckage of the train above her. She tried to get up and found she couldn’t; something had fallen on her, pinning and crushing her leg. Her leg looked so twisted that she was confused, thinking for a moment that it couldn’t belong to her. She looked around again, trying to find her daddy, and saw only broken metal, smoke, and things she at first took to be strange life-sized dolls, like the ones in stores.
She tried again to free herself and burst into tears at a sudden sharp pain that shot up her thigh. Her screams went unanswered and eventually she slipped into unconsciousness again, while the rain puddled around her. She had jumbled memories after this, of people moving around her and bright lights shining right in her face, then the sensation of movement. Somebody placed something over her mouth and she heard garbled voices shouting to each other, then nothing until she groggily opened her eyes in a hospital room.
She didn’t understand what her mother tried to explain to her at first, asking over and over again about her father and being told over and over again that he had died in the accident. Doctors in white coats came in and out, talking over her head with words she didn’t understand, though she gradually came to realize that the word ‘amputation’ referred to her right leg, missing below the knee. It frightened her and she cried, refusing to look at it for a long time, even when they began rehabilitation to fit her with a prosthetic and teach her to walk again.
The monsters began to appear shortly after, while she was still struggling to coordinate herself. She saw them on the news and read the fear on her mother’s white, pinched face, especially when she said that she’d seen one before, on the train. She had almost learned to walk again when they evacuated the hospital, bundling her and her mother into a long army truck and taking them to an underground bunker. She heard more words she didn’t really understand, words like ‘radiation’ and ‘mutant’. She didn’t want to go down into the dark tunnel leading under the earth but they ignored her tearful pleadings and took her anyway, away from sunlight and the open blue sky forever.
Katia woke with a jerk from the memory-dream, feeling nauseated and overheated. She ran both hands back through her hair and swung her legs out of bed, sitting up and looking down at what was left of her flesh right leg. She ran a hand down her bare thigh and across onto the smooth plastic covering the prosthetic, then shook her head hard and got up, making her way into the bathroom to wash off the nightmare-induced sweat. It was nearly dawn and she had a race in a few hours, one she was determined to win in order to maintain her standing. After that she would convince Jian and Zephyr that going topside was the last thing they should ever do.
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