Hewma CH1

Chapter 1: Findlay

He had never been the most gifted when it came to physical challenges, or mental challenges either for that matter, but that never stopped him before. Findlay was the sort of jack of all trades, master of none type. He generally would find himself amongst the better half of the group in any challenge but not very often did he best everyone else. That is not to say he didn’t try. He always gave his best effort, it was just that more things needed to line up properly in order for him to win than some of the other, more gifted, kids in the Marjaw area. He had to have his wits about him, be feeling very good, and have a bit of luck on his side as well if he wanted to win.

They had this same race plenty of times before. The object was to get from the south east corner of the City, past the City Center Building and through the city out to the scrap piles outside the city. There, in a large open area was a very distinct scrap pile with two cars at the top. They were smashed together like they had been in a head-on collision at some point and were never torn apart. At the bottom of that scrap pile sat the head of a Konkerbot. The first to get the head of the Konkerbot won the race.

Once in a while all the stars would align and Findlay would win. Most of the time, though, Bracks would win, although not always by the most fair of ways. Bracks was the type of guy who had a “win at all costs” type of mentality, even when it came to just a simple race between friends. It didn’t matter to Bracks if you had just met him or if you had been friends for years like he and Findlay had been. The only difference was that if Bracks knew you, then you had a bit longer than the new comers before he would try to take you out of the race.

They waited for the traffic light to turn green before they would take off running. All six of them crouched in the shadows of the alley, ready to pounce at a moments notice.

There really were no rules, you could run wherever you wanted. Across roof tops, along the roads, down back alleys, through back yards, it was all free game. You could even push and shove as much as you cared to. The only real rules were first to the scrap pile and pick up the head of the Konkerbot wins, and don't get caught.

Since the Konkins had taken over the city, before Findlay or Bracks were even born, they had installed cameras throughout the city. These cameras constantly were scanning the city looking for people breaking the law which then triggered a nearby Konkerbot to give chase. Having the camera see you breaking the law didn’t take you out of the race, but getting caught by a Konkerbot did. This was really because the fact that if caught by a Konkerbot you would at least be put in the day cell, thus ending the race for you for that day.

Even though being seen breaking the law by a camera did not take you out of the race you still didn’t want it to happen. If you were seen breaking the law you had to be pretty cautious the next 10 days not to be seen by another camera or Konkerbot, or caught by a Konkerbot. The 10 day buffer was because that was how long the memory bank of the Konkins’ system would hold your facial recognition and other identifying marks, like scars and tattoos. After the 10 days the information was automatically deleted from the Konkin Central Computer Memory (k-mem for short), unless it was re-triggered, starting the 10 day period over. The only reason you would be kept in the k-mem longer was if you were caught breaking one of the 3 major laws. In which case, your information would be held there until you were caught.

The light turned green and they were off to the races. Findlay decided to stay at the back of the pack as they raced across the street. There were only two people between himself and Bracks, which was a pretty good spot to be in. It kept him close enough to keep an eye on the big brute but not close enough to become a target, yet.

Not that Findlay had to worry too much about that, at the start anyway. Bracks would usually leave Findlay alone until there were one or two other racers left, after that Findlay became free game for Bracks. And he rarely held back. One time he had pulled Findlay down off the side of a building and onto the pavement below. Findlay was sure he had received a concussion but never did get it looked at, he felt fine after the stars stopped dancing around in his head.

Being in the back of the pack also allowed Findlay to see where everyone would go off the start. He knew someone would try to climb the City Centre Building, someone did it nearly every time. It was a good move if you were lucky. There were some pretty large obstacles you had to clear if choosing that path though. First you had to make sure you were far enough ahead of Bracks, or far enough behind him that he wouldn’t take you out on your way up the building. If you were lucky enough to steer clear of Bracks and make it to the top of the building, then you had to get around the Konkerbots. There was always at least two on the roof of the City Centre Building. If you made it without feeling Bracks’ wrath and without being caught by the Konkerbot then you had a pretty clear path. The roof was a good spot to start because from there you could jump from roof top to roof top with relative ease, just needing to clear small alleys if you took the right path, and you wouldn’t have many problems with other racers, Konkerbots, or the general public getting in your way.

A racer in a green hooded and sleeveless sweater, bound to draw extra attention from Bracks as he hated those sleeves sweaters, added to his bad luck when he started climbing up the corner of the City Centre Building. Findlay could tell Bracks was zoned in on the green hoodie by how he moved with slightly more purpose and speed now.

Just as Bracks was about to run past the corner of the building he launched himself up just high enough to grab the right ankle of the racer as he climbed the building. He tried to hold on to the building as Bracks’ weight added to his own, pulling him from the wall and putting him on a crash course with the ground. He grappled at the air as if he could grab hold of it and stop his fall. That was the green racers last move in the race that day. He came down crashing into a pile of empty boxes which cushioned his fall slightly, but not enough.

Findlay raced by just as he was crawling out of the mess, sucking in air continuously and holding his back.

“One down,” Findlay thought as he sped past the racer trying to get the air back that had been knocked from him.

Everyone was in the alley now and Bracks was making a mess of it. Findlay, and the two other boys that were behind Bracks, had their first stretch of the race turned into hurdles as they jumped over all the debris Bracks tossed behind himself as he ran down the alley. Right in front of Findlay a racer in a grey sweatsuit caught his foot on a large piece of metal, that had bounced higher than expected, and went sprawling forward onto the ground. Findlay expertly launched over the same piece of metal but nearly landed on the rolling mess of the one who had tripped. Stumbling a bit, Findlay managed to keep himself moving in his desired direction.

“Two down,” Findlay grunted, as he nearly fell forward onto his face.

They went on like this for another two blocks. No one changed positions but Bracks was slowing down slightly, still keeping the leader within striking distance but allowing the third place racer to catch him slightly. Ahead was a brick wall as the alley didn't go straight ahead any longer, instead it split off to the left and right in a T-intersection. The leader swooped slightly to his left to prepare for the right hand turn. Bracks followed on his back right pocket and kept the inside track slightly. The third place racer followed suit and did the same to Bracks. Bracks glanced quickly over his left shoulder and grinned as he rounded the corner and stopped. The third place racer, seeing Bracks stop, sped up to take advantage of the perceived mistake by the bull of a human. He didn't see it coming, but Findlay did. He cringed as Bracks planted his feet and threw out his right elbow, directly into the face of the racer behind him.

The racer’s feet went flying out from under him as his body became parallel with the ground. He was nearly level with Bracks’s shoulder before his limp body started its descent to the cement ground. Bracks had only lost maybe a second or two on the leader. Before the body of the unconscious racer even hit the ground, Bracks was off down the alley then made a hard turn to his left, headed back toward the outskirts of the west side of the city again.

The new third place racer followed the two ahead of him. Findlay had seen enough to know Bracks was on a sort of mission of destruction and that even being behind the big brute wasn’t safe today. Findlay knew going to his left, rather than following the others to his right, was a slightly longer path to the scrap pile but he took the chance hoping that the two others would get occupied with each other enough that they would slow their pace slightly.

Findlay never saw the others until he rounded the corner of the last scrap pile. There sat Bracks grinning while tossing the head of the Konkerbot up in the air repeatedly with one hand. Findlay slowed and walked over to the pile as he seen the other racer was there already also. Only he were sprawled out on the ground, and even from the other side of the clearing Findlay could see his chest heaving as he tried to catch their breath.

“Heyo! There’s Mr. Findlay. What took you so long?” Yelled Bracks from the bottom of the scrap pile.

“Oh you know me, stopped for some ice cream on the way. Good thing too, or I would have beat you,” Findlay said with a lopsided smirk.

“Oh, of course. So it wasn’t because you got scared and took a different rout to stay away from me,” Bracks said, his grin still large as ever.

“Ha! You wish I was scared of you, ya big softy”, Findlay said as he punched Bracks in the arm. “Whats up with these two?” he said nodding towards the two racers laying on the ground.

“Not sure, looks like they are tired. Like they just ran a race or something,” Bracks said still juggling the head of the Konkerbot.

The two racers laying on the ground both lifted their head and looked up at Bracks and Findlay. Then letting their heads fall back to the ground, they both proceeded to roll over and stand. Without saying a word they both flimsily waved one arm as they started to walk back to the city.

After the other two racers were out of sight, Findlay looked over to Bracks and said, “Bracks, do you get the feeling that someone is watching us?”

“Now that you mention it, yeah, I kind of do,” he said as he caught the head of the Konkerbot. His dusty grey eyes squinted and patrolled the area in front of them. He didn’t see anything out of place.

Like they had planned it, the pair of them turned around and looked up to the top of the scrap pile behind them. Pausing to listen for a moment, neither said anything. Nothing moved, nothing made any noise. Just silence.

Findlay broke the silence as he turned and looked at Bracks. “I’ve only had that feeling a few times before. Only once was there actually no one behind me.”

“Well,” Bracks said not yet turning around. “Looks like this time makes two bud.”

Then Bracks looked down at his smaller friend with a look of slight confusion. “You get the feeling you are being watched too?”

“Yeah. Not like every day, but enough times that I find it weird.”

“I know what you mean. When it happens to me though I don't think I've ever had anyone actually watching me, that I could see anyway. The odd time its one of those damn cameras in the city or a big dumb Konkerbot,” Bracks said as he glared off toward the city. Then he turned back to his friend, his expression softening. “Do you think you have a stalker?”

Findlay’s eyes widened. “I dunno, never gave it much thought to be honest.” Pausing, he turned and looked at the ground, deep in thought. “Now that I really think about it, I would say no. I don’t think I have ever seen the same person twice. Well at least not anyone wearing the same clothes anyway.”

“You realize some people actually have more than one set of clothes they wear, right?” Bracks said jokingly.

A smile appeared on Findlay’s face as he looked up at his friend. “Yes, I realize not everyone wears the same clothes for days, sometimes weeks, like I do.”

“You do know you don't have to.” Bracks said narrowing his gaze slightly. “My mom still has some of my old clothes that might fit you. Or you could have some of my little sisters hand me-downs, they might fit too.”

“HA!” Findlay threw his head back in a mocking laugh. “Very funny.” Stopping the mocking laugh and snapping his sights back to Bracks. “I’m not that small.”

“Pretty damn close.”

“Shut up,” Findlay said playfully, then changed the subject. “When do you want to do the next race? We might have to wait a few days to round everyone up and let them know. And to let the two you took out recover a bit.”

“HA!” It was Bracks’ turn to laugh. “They will need more than a couple days to recoup. I think my elbow broke that one guys noes.” A look that said Bracks was almost sorry came across his face. “A day or two should be fine for me though. How about we take tomorrow to find and tell as many people as we can? Then we will do the big race from the other side of the city to here. You know, from that big pile of car doors?”

“Yeah. Right. That should work, we haven't done that one in a while. A day should give us lots of time to find some other people. Seeing how you seemed to have beat up the racers today pretty good, I doubt they will want to race again that soon. I should be able to find a few new people. Not like I have much else to do tomorrow anyway.”

“Sounds like a plan to me. I’ll see who I can all find too.”

The sun was starting to set in behind them as it was just about to tuck itself in behind the Thresher Mountains to the west.

“I’m gonna head back into the city before it gets too dark. Probably bunk up in the old church, its been pretty quiet around there lately.”

“You got room for one more? It can’t be any louder than my place has been lately, that’s for sure. I don’t know what the deal is with my sister but she doesn't want to sleep, and then when they get her into bed she freaks out for what seems like hours,” Bracks said shaking his head.

“I dunno, Its pretty limited for space,” Findlay said with a heavy dose of sarcasm.

“Race ya,” said Bracks with an excited look on his face.

“Nah, I’m gonna save up for the next race. For some reason I got a good feeling about it.”

“If you say so,” Bracks said rolling his eyes. “We’ll see in a couple days wont we?”