Underland(34)

The whites’ goal was to cross the finish line alive. The others groups’ goals—stop the white runners from crossing. That was it. Simple enough, except that there were no rules regarding how they were to stop the white runners. They could delay them, capture them, tie them up—

Or kill them.

Kira saw Chaz’s head towering over everyone in the black elevator and realized why he had chosen to compete. Who could outrun a shapeshifting cheetah? What if he was there to make sure she didn’t cross the finish line?

Kira tasted blood. She’d bitten the inside of her cheek. She couldn’t focus on him. She had to focus on the problem at hand. Outrunning the others in this car. If she could stay ahead of this group, she’d be less likely to get picked off.

The deeper they lowered, the closer they came to the gorge floor, the more the tension rose in the elevator car. People started jumping, flexing, shaking their legs, preparing to sprint as soon as the door opened. They surged toward the door they’d entered.

But the runners in the other cars were facing the gorge. Kira scanned the back wall and noticed a mechanism above—it would raise the glass wall and let them straight out onto the rocky track.

Loud horns blared throughout the gorge, slightly muffled by the near soundproof glass. The people in the gorge walls started to stand and cheer. A giant projector flashed the names of the runners in the first car, and Kira stared up at her own name on the cavern wall.

She’d always wanted to see her name in lights, but not like this.

The glass elevator touched down, and the runners began to push and pry the door open. Kira waited for the glass door to lift. The glass slid upward, but ground to a stop with an awful scraping sound. The back door had only opened eight inches.

“Open the doors!” Someone shouted and began to pound on the door frantically. A huge fist punched the glass, but it didn’t break or shatter. It was reinforced.

“Maybe they’ll reset the clock and let us start again?” a girl asked.

Kira bet the gray elevator’s door wasn’t going to stick. “I wouldn’t count on it.” She immediately dropped to her hands and knees and began to slide under the eight-inch gap. The tight squeeze required a lot of twisting. As soon as she slid through, the grinding noise came again. It closed to six inches—an impossible amount of room for any of the other runners to make it out.

The crowd erupted at her progress, and she turned and looked at the path in front of her. She should run. She’d have a huge advantage.

“Go! Run!” The girl inside yelled at Kira. She held up her arm against the glass and motioned for her to go. Kira saw her band. Red numbers. She was here because of the debt she owed.

Kira shook her head in disgust. “Come on, everyone!” Kira yelled, dropping to her knees. She lifted, prying, pulling against the machine with all her strength. The girl caught on and reached down to help.

Others quickly joined in. Inch by inch, they pulled the door up until it was two feet off the ground. But the grinding noise started again, and the timed door worked against them.

They were going to lose what little ground they’d gained.

The girl slid out first. Instead of helping, she looked fearfully up at the gray elevator, turned and ran. The runners slid out one by one. Inside, a large, pale man with a horn for a nose, and a smaller bird-like beast were helping Kira hold the door open for the others.

“Go!” The rhino-man commanded. His breath left a mist across the glass. The bird took his advice and slid under the door. The rhino yelled in pain as the door closed another foot. He wouldn’t make it out.

“You too. Go.”

“But you’ll be left alone.” Kira heard the gray elevator—only a hundred yards above her to her right.

“You could have just left us, but you didn’t. I’ll sacrifice myself for you.” He placed his large hand against the glass, and Kira matched him against the other side. His massive palm dwarfed hers.

Then the beast turned, crossed his arms, and closed his eyes. Waiting for the inevitable. Kira heard the gray team pounding on the glass as they lowered the final few yards.

She was out of time. She spun to run.

But her steps faltered. Such dignity in his eyes. Such malice in her. How could she possibly deserve his sacrifice?

She wouldn’t let it be in vain. Her legs pumped like pistons and she shot down the path like an arrow from a bow. The second elevator opened and the gray team was released. She looked over her shoulder and saw most of the runners had bypassed the beast imprisoned in the glass. Maybe he was too easy of a catch?

A blur of gray passed her, and she barely had time to register the thing running ahead of her. Whatever it was leapt into the air and brought down someone in white. She heard a quick cry. Kira didn’t even look, just kept running, using her arms to propel her faster. She could see some of the other runners slowing ahead of her, and she was quickly overtaking them. They hadn’t paced themselves and she wasn’t either.

She needed to watch out for that. This wasn’t a fifty-yard dash. The gauntlet was a marathon. Kira tried to slow her panicked breathing and find a rhythm she could keep. She couldn’t burn out like the ones she’d just passed.

One

Two

Three runners left in her dust. Kira saw the image above her change, and she glanced up at the wall to see the projection of the last two elevators dropping. The camera zoomed in on the first white elevator. One of the red runners was attacking the elevator with the horned rhino man. A blur of black bolted out of the elevator. Kira knew Chaz was out and running for her.