31
I knew I'd made a serious miscalculation as I looked in despair at the terrain I had ahead of me. For some reason I'd assumed I'd be running on a straightaway, and that was not the case. Yim had even said it would be cross-country but the implications had blown right past me, and now I was in serious trouble.
We were back on the island where the season opener had taken place, on the beach, and the target for the run was the summit of the motherfucking mountain. It was literally ten miles from where the competitors would start to the summit, but practically it might be twice that far depending on how one ascended the slope, which started as dunes that led into jungle then light forest before bare mountain rock.
I'd gone most of the way during the opening event, but never all the way. I knew there was a trail and that it would probably be my best bet, but anyone who'd spent the last few days studying maps of the terrain rather than writing fucking music would have a serious advantage over me. I couldn't even fault Yim or Pala for not warning me about this. They had warned me. The fact that I'd blown them off and not looked into the details was my own damn fault.
I glanced over at Maximus only to see him gazing steadily at me, his 'baton' in one hand, the other flexing absently.
The baton was actually a dagger, which I figured was probably a step worse than the whole 'don't run with scissors' thing my mom used to yell. We were all down to what amounted to spandex and not only were there no pockets or places to secure the dagger, it didn't even have a sheath. I made a mental note to ask Yim if SDM Inc. sold a deadly blooper reel. My bet was 'yes.' The way they set up these events, there'd certainly be enough material.
"Last chance."
Glancing up, I met Maximus' eye. He'd approached while I was distracted and now towered over me, casting me in shadow. The other competitors were all grouped up here and there, some with their allies but most of those would be participating at various stages of the race and were already in their respective start positions elsewhere.
"For what?" I asked.
His ears flattened as he said, "Join my pack and I won't kill you on the way up the mountain. I have your scent now. If you don't belong to me when the race starts I'll track you down and kill you before finishing the ascent. You already know you can't beat me with weapons far more effective than these."
He waved the dagger as his lip curled in disgust.
"Either join me, or I'm going to end your run right here."
I glanced around, but while there were SDM reps scattered throughout the crowd, none of them were looking our way at the moment. I frowned up at him and seriously considered his offer.
"Why are you so intent on joining me rather than just killing me?" I asked.
"Structure is important," he said. "A powerful pack is more efficient at everything, and we can control the pace of the game."
"I was told no borealan ever won SDM, so I'm not sure your strategy is really as good as you seem to think it is," I noted.
"A combination of corpo interference and ... instinctive mistakes," Maximus said. "I won't be making those mistakes, and I have one of the most powerful sponsors in the game. This event was arranged because I asked for it. I knew you'd want to run the first segment and here you are, at my mercy. I will win this season."
"Sounds like you don't need me then," I said, raising an eyebrow.
"Everyone needs someone," Maximus hissed, glancing around. "Why can we not be comrades!? You're strong, smart, and with my leadership we can block out the top four, maybe all five spots! I respect you and I really don't want to kill you, but if you don't join me I'll have to when the time comes. I can't afford to let you stay in the game unless you're on my team."
I considered him for a long moment in silence, weighing the pros and cons. The easiest thing to do here would be to agree to an alliance and break it later, but something about what he'd said raised a question in my mind and I said, "You said 'under your leadership.' What happens if I agree to that?"
"Our scores will swap," he said.
"Hah! Yeah, that's not happening," I said. I had my answer.
"Then you're about to die!" he hissed.
I looked him dead in the eye, smiled, and said, "Good luck."
He snarled in pure frustration and whirled, stalking away.
I, meanwhile, returned to my examination of the mountain and sighed as I tossed out the idea that I could just make straight for the summit. Maximus had told me his whole game plan — which was both very thoughtful and very, very fucking dumb — but it left me in an awkward position. I had to figure out a way to beat him before I could reach that peak alive.
Fortunately, I had a great deal of experience in jungle survival and more than a couple ideas knocking around in my head. Maximus would have his work cut out for him if he expected to trail me down, and a nasty surprise in store if he managed it.
Still, it would be a shame to kill him. Maximus seemed so strangely earnest to me, and the last thing a killer wants is to feel like a mark has value independent of his cooling corpse.
"Five minutes to start. Please assemble in the designated area."
The voice was so sultry that the actual meaning of the words took an extra second to sink in.
"Great. A succubus with a megaphone," I grumbled as I turned toward the place where they had a very elaborate start-line set up, complete with a small cloud of floating camera drones and ... yes, Valenteen, along with a few of her buddies.
The one thing that was improved over the last time I'd been on this island was the footwear. The soles were grippy. Even better, they were custom fit and pretty much vacuum sealed to my feet, which would keep debris out. I'd been assured they were essentially tear and puncture proof, so that was one less thing. Other than that, I had the dagger that was my baton and a skintight uniform that was not camo. It was in fact almost precisely the opposite: Liminal Science blue and gold, which sucked. I'd be visible for fucking miles.
As I took my place at the head of the line of contestants, I noticed more than a few eyes and eye-like paraphernalia turned my way. I was the man to beat. I knew it, and everyone in that line knew it. If any of them found me they'd try to kill me ... which was fine because that's what I intended to do if I found any of them. The speed factor would cut out ambush hunting, but it also meant I'd probably have plenty of warning if someone was coming up on me.
The only real rule for the first leg of this deathrace — aside from the staggered start — was that no fliers were allowed.
I gave them all a half-smile, then deliberately turned my back to take my place ahead of them. Given the chance I'd kill all these fuckers and good riddance.
As I waited for the start gun, or gong, or whatever, I idly wondered what would happen if I just waited at the finish line of the first leg and killed every single one of these assholes as they came in.
It appealed to me, but I eventually had to discard the notion because not all the people waiting in line behind me were competitors. Many were allies, and I wouldn't be able to kill them — at least, not according to my trainers. I might be able to steal their batons, but it seemed like a lot of work and if any of them got past me I'd have wasted my advantage.
I glanced around and saw that there was an estuary about half a mile to my left. It would lead back to a stream that almost certainly wound up the mountain. I'd need that watercourse to make my admittedly rather hazy plans come together, so when the gong sounded I took off, then veered left as soon as I was in the trees out of sight of the start line. I was running as fast as I could considering the debris, but I'd only just reached the water when I heard another gong.
Maximus was loose, and he'd be hunting me.
Time to go to work.