Sidewinder - Chapter Seven

Zephyr rubbed at the goosebumps rising on his bare arms, leaning against the elevator’s back wall as it rose slowly up to the Commission’s waiting room. Excitement puddled low in his belly and he pushed himself away from the wall again, pacing through what little room he had to move in. After a moment Jian reached out and shoved him back.

“Knock it off, Zeph. You’re making me dizzy.” She patted his head. “Good boy. Sit, stay.”

“That stopped being funny when I was ten.”

“I strongly disagree. It will never stop being funny.” Jian glanced at Katia, who was staring moodily into space. “Right, Kat?”

“Mmm.” Katia blinked when Zephyr waved a hand in front of her face. “Sorry, what?”

“What are you thinking about?” he asked.

“How much I want to strangle you.”

“I love you too, Kat.” He blew her a kiss and straightened up as the elevator gave a low ding and finally stopped. He was the first one out of the car and down the hall to the meeting room, though he waited outside, bouncing from one foot to the other, until Jian and Katia had caught up. They walked into the room together, joining the half-dozen racers already waiting.

Six was the last to come in, taking a seat at the far end of the room from the rest of the group, which now numbered an even dozen; down from the twenty-odd who had originally agreed. Anais McCall and the rest of the Commission entered shortly after and arranged themselves at the table at the front of the room. Zephyr expected another talk but instead they were just handed a booklet full of forms to sign and told to bring it up to the table when they were done. He paused before he started writing, looking around to see exactly who his competition would be, and caught Six looking at him with a funny expression. He offered a smile, but Six only rolled his eyes and went back to his forms, absently tucking his hair behind one ear. Zephyr stuck his tongue out at him and began filling out his own forms.

After completing the forms they were split by gender, then separated into pairs to be sent for physicals. Zephyr found himself paired up with Six, to Six’s obvious disgust, but before they could even leave the room, Taz balked.

“I don’t see why I need to go for any tests,” he snapped. “I’m a racer.” He gestured to the room. “We all are. Obviously we’re in shape.”

“That’s not the point, Mr. Anaru,” Anais said, leaning forward over her crossed arms. “This is not a normal race, and I must insist that you have the tests before I allow you to participate. If you refuse, then you will be disqualified.”

“What are they testing for? I want to know that at least.” Taz crossed his own arms, chin jutted out stubbornly.

Zephyr saw the displeasure on the chairwoman’s face before she quickly hid it. “Diseases and defects that don’t affect performance here, but certainly would topside. We don’t wish to spend all this money only to have to bring a racer home five minutes into the race. It’s for your own safety.”

Taz gave her a long, steady look. “I’ll bet. All right, I’ll let your doctors poke at me. Come on, Vik.” He led the way out, followed by the boy he’d been paired up with, a quiet racer named Viktor.

Half the group had gone through by the time Zephyr and Six were called out and directed down to the testing rooms. Zephyr fought the urge to make a joke about going to their doom as they walked in silence down the hall, guessing from Six’s stormy expression that he wouldn’t appreciate it. They were shown into a room that looked like a larger version of a doctor’s office and told to strip down to their shorts, then left to wait for a while.

“So,” Zephyr said, just to break the silence, “feeling any better?”

“Shut up, Zeph.” Six didn’t even look at him, green eyes fixed on the door.

“I’m just asking a question. What crawled up your ass and died today?”

“If I wanted to listen to yapping all the time, I’d buy a puppy.”

“You’d probably turn it rabid,” Zephyr muttered, lapsing back into silence until the doctor came in.

He kept an eye on Six during the exam, watching to see if he would show any sign of the same muscle spasms as after the race. Six remained perfectly steady even through the balance tests, but the fierce look of concentration in his eyes made Zephyr wonder if he was doing it all on sheer willpower. The doctor didn’t appear to notice, making marks on his clipboard and telling Six to wait until Zephyr had gone through the same tests. Zephyr barely paid attention to what he was being asked to do, going through the motions automatically until the doctor finished and told them to get dressed before leaving the room.

“Six,” Zephyr said as soon as the door had shut again.

“What?” Six stepped into his jeans and pulled them up, and this time Zephyr saw him fumble slightly with the button.

“I don’t think you should go up.”

“Remind me why I give a shit what you think.” Six did up his jeans on the second attempt and pulled his shirt over his head.

“I think you’re sick and should be seeing a doctor, not going topside to race. You’re pretty good at faking that you’re fine, but if the Commission found out—”

“Zephyr, I will kill you if you do anything to sabotage me.” Six didn’t raise his voice or even look at him. “Keep your mouth shut.”

He walked out of the room before Zephyr could reply, letting the door slam shut behind him. Zephyr glared at it for a moment, then finished getting dressed and followed, meaning to stop Six and make him listen. Instead he found the hallway empty, and when he returned to the meeting room to join the rest of the group, Six was nowhere to be seen. Frowning, Zephyr dropped down on the couch next to Katia and Jian.

“What’s wrong with you?” Jian asked. “Didn’t enjoy your flea bath?”

“Just thinking about your favourite person.”

“Zeph, I say this because I love you. Just go watch porn like a normal guy. It’s probably more fulfilling.”

Zephyr rolled his eyes. “Who said anything about fulfilling?”

“So it’s a wham, bam, thank you ma’am type of thing? I can get behind that. That’s what they make ball-gags for.”

“Ugh, stop.” Katia punched Jian in the shoulder. “It’s like sitting with a pair of twelve-year-old boys.”

“I didn’t even say anything.” Zephyr sat up again as Six came back into the room but before he could even think about going over, Anais clapped her hands together, calling their attention like they were schoolchildren. Zephyr tuned her out as she went over the rules again, then told them that unless something came up on the tests, they would be picked up a week later and taken topside for the race’s start.

A crowd of reporters were already waiting for them when they left the building, crowded around in the plaza outside and preventing anyone from ducking away without a microphone shoved in their face. One man, his hair greased back with so much gel that it nearly sparkled, cornered Six as he tried to push his way through the mass of people and cameras to demand his opinion on his competition.

The look Six gave the reporter should have fried him on the spot. “What do I think of my competition? I’m up against a cripple, an idiot, a slut, a bitch, and some cannon fodder.”

“And a giant asshole completes the set,” Jian called sweetly, at the same time that Evita said, “At least this slut won her last race, and didn’t fall on her face doing it.” They exchanged a mutually appreciative look as laughter rippled through the crowd.

Six shrugged. “I’m not worried. It’ll practically be a vacation.” He elbowed the reporter out of the way, grabbing the lens of the camera with one hand and forcing its operator to step back so he could get through. “Piss off.”

“What an ass,” Katia muttered.

“Yeah, what did you ever see in him?” Jian linked their arms. “I’m starving, let’s go eat. Zeph, lead the way. You’re bigger than us.”

“Yeah, okay.” Zephyr pushed through the reporters, trying not to wince as a series of flashbulbs went off practically in his face, and breathed a sigh of relief when they reached the relative safety of the public street.

They went into the first restaurant they found, taking a table along the back wall and gradually expanding it as other racers came in and were invited to sit. By dark almost everyone who had signed up for the topside race was gathered in the restaurant, drinking and laughing as they talked about everything except the race. The party split up around two in the morning to let them all stumble drunkenly home, to sleep and prepare for the race in a week’s time.

Zephyr spent most of the week lounging around the house and going out around town, when he wasn’t chattering away in interviews scheduled by his manager. When asked about his thoughts on the race and his competition, he only grinned and said he expected to win, no matter who he was up against. The week passed rapidly and he was startled to wake up the morning of the race’s start and realize he would be going topside for the first time in his life in only a few hours.

A car picked him and Katia up around ten and drove them to the Commission’s building, where they were grouped together with the other racers to wait for the special bus that would take them above ground. Zephyr whiled away the time watching for Six, wondering if he would even show; if the tests had shown something despite Six’s efforts. The bus pulled up with no sign of him, but just as Zephyr was stepping on—having delayed until he was the last to board—Six sauntered in, skate bag slung over one shoulder and sunglasses on. Zephyr raised a hand in half a wave, grinning despite himself even though Six ignored him completely.

Zephyr took the empty seat next to Skye, bumping his knuckles against Skye’s in greeting, and settled back for the trip. The level of chatter on the bus was low; now that the time was actually here, Zephyr saw more apprehension than excitement. He could feel a strange quivering in his own stomach, and his breath came a little too fast. He told himself to relax, taking deep breaths as the bus left the city and entered a tunnel that sloped steadily upwards, passing through checkpoints every few minutes. Eventually it came to a stop in a high, cavernous warehouse and they were all ushered off.

“Perfect place to execute us all and dump the bodies,” Jian muttered behind him.

He heard Katia laugh softly, but they were only met by Anais and the Racing Commission members for a last debriefing. When it was done, they were handed video equipment and led to a large, heavily padlocked door at one end of the warehouse. A man dressed in the plain green uniform of the military unlocked it and swung it open, letting in a shaft of bright light. Taking a deep breath, Zephyr exchanged a look with Katia, and stepped out into direct sunlight for the first time.