Rat race

Lachlan sits in the stands, watching his brother Bryce in the pit duelling with a wooden stick against a training partner, both atop their heaving rats. Lachlan’s mother had let him come down to watch his brother train, since he had finished all of his chores. He had raced through cleaning out their rat’s pen, gathered their sewer-chicken eggs in a whirlwind, and swept out their hut with the upmost haste. Lachie enjoyed watching Bryce fight. He wasn’t like his brother. Maybe it was the rat race training that Bryce got over him or the fact that their parents fed Bryce twice as much as Lachlan, but he was not the fighting type. There were only three days till this years ‘Sewer City Rat Race’ and Bryce looked good, tossing his training partner with one mighty swipe of his stick. Bryce had only just missed the winner’s circle last year, but there was no stopping him this year, Lachlan thought to himself.

“Please hold for an announcement from mayor Teller.” a voice boomed out of the speakers placed around the stands. The people sitting spread out around the stands fell silent as they awaited the announcement.

“Hello good people of Sewer City, before I begin, I would like to have a moment of silence for the two brave men who lost their lives this morning in the burst radioactive waste pipe in sector 7.” Lachlan closed his eyes and looked to his shoes but before a moment of reflection could be had he continued, “Now I’m sure everyone is excited for the upcoming big race however its important to remind everyone that as exciting as this spectacle is, we have to thank these brave competitors for the sacrifices they’ve made to be here.” Easy for him to talk about sacrifice from his luxurious suite on the top level of the sewage complex, Lachlan thought to himself. “Some will die, some will be injured and only three will cross the finish line victorious, winning passes for themselves and their families to move into the domed city above, but no matter the result every one of these brave young adults deserve our admiration.” The scattered spectators cheered as the training competitors waved and bowed in response. The speaker system turned off and everyone’s attention was back on the pit. 

Bryce and his beloved rat Mortice galloped along the obstacle track that circled the pit. The pair leapt over every hurdle in front of them. As they continued around the pit, the hurdles grew in height; the duo pounced and landed over one after another till it all went wrong. With a bang then skid, Bryce and Mortice laid sprawled across the track with a fallen hurdle accompanying them. Mortice sprung up and shook off the fall however Bryce did not. Laying contorted and twisted, even from the stands it was clear he must have had multiple bones broken. Frozen in place Lachlan was overwhelmed with the implications of that fall, if Bryce couldn’t compete that meant no winning... Meaning another year in the sewer, another year in their cramped, leaky hut and another year that their father might not survive working on the maintenance crew of sector 5. Lachlan was woken from his frozen nightmare as he saw Bryce’s unconscious body lifted onto the stretcher.

Dinner later that night ticked by painfully slow. With an arm and leg cast-bound, Lachlan watched as Bryce struggled to cut his rat steak up one handed. Father sat quietly stewing in his angry disbelief Bryce could make such an ‘irresponsible choice’ as he had described the accident, as if Bryce had been crippled by that hurdle jump purposely, meanwhile mother ate silently between bouts of tears, she was initially as angry as father but she seemed to now just be coming to terms with another year in this hellhole. Lachlan sat at the table, deep in thought. It was possibly insane but Lachlan had an idea, an idea that would not leave him alone. He cleared his throat before spitting out his idea “hey guys, I’ve been thinking, um...” his family looked up from their plates “Ah, what if I took Bryce’s place in the race?” Lachlan held his breath as his family processed what he had just suggested. 

“What!? No! Lachie, you’d die before the flag came down!” Bryce shouted in response. His parents said nothing, just sharing looks back and forth as if silently discussing the proposition, “Mother, Father, tell him he’s crazy! He has no training! Lachie, please think about this bro!” Bryce pleaded. 

“I have thought about this... Our family can’t survive another year here, it’s only a matter of time before father is killed in an accident working the pipelines and then what!?” Lachlan’s voice raised into a yell before he stopped for a composing breath, “I know i don’t have a good chance... But what other options are there?” Bryce sat back in his chair in silent acceptance. 

The family sat in quiet contemplation before father broke the silence, “It’s not fair but we have to do this, Lachlan I commend you for your courage son.” with that said the conversation was over and the family agreed, Lachlan had to do this.

                                                           *** 

The next three days passed by in a blink, Lachlan had spent what little time he had learning the basics of riding Mortice. Bryce tried his best to give him the essential knowledge he would need but Lachlan doubted much stuck.

With Bryce hobbling ahead, Lachlan led Mortice by his reins to the starting position in line with the other competitors, who sat ready. Lachlan looked around, roughly 50 people were in line on his right and 2 on his left, the crowds that packed the stands around the pit cheered and chanted in a roar that thundered down making the mess of anxiety that Lachie felt that much more intense. 

In a clumsy scurry, Lachlan lumbered into the saddle. From this vantage point atop Mortice, he looked down the line, taken by the determined looks that practically all his fellow competitors held triggered yet more fear. Bryce noticed the fear in Lachlan’s expression and pulled Lachlan’s head down, bringing their foreheads together. “Look at me bro, you’re gonna be okay.” 

Lachie’s eyes watered at that remark, “What!? No! You were right the other night, I’m not like you, I can’t fight these fuckers, I don’t wanna die!” Tears rolled down Lachlan’s cheek as the reality of his eminent death set in. 

“Listen, you’re right, you’re not like me, you can’t fight and you’re half the size of everyone else here, but that’s ok Lachie, that’s your advantage!” Lachlan’s brow furrowed in confusion. “Look, you’re at the edge of the line, when the flag goes down everyone is gonna head for the centre, it’ll be a slaughter but you are gonna stick to the edge of the arena and head for the tunnel through to stage 2, ok?” Lachlan nodded sheepishly. Bryce dug his hand into his pocket, exhuming a heart-shaped locket, he put it in Lachlan’s hand. “Gran gave this to me when I competed for the first time. She told me it would protect me and so far it’s worked. You will not die today Lachie...” with those words, Bryce backed away from Lachlan and began hobbling away, Lachie looked down at the locket, briefly taken by his memories of his sweet gran before pocketing the locket, he wipes the trails that remained from his tears shed and looks up to the flag bearer who stood ahead. 

After an eternity of waiting for that flag to drop, suddenly it was on the ground and in a flash everyone took off sprinting. Into the centre of the arena most competitors headed to kill as many of their peers before they proceeded to stage 2, Lachie steered Mortice along the edge, and surely enough Bryce was right, it was a clear sprint around the crowd in the centre, a murderous scene of shrieks and screams. Into the tunnel Lachie raced, leaving behind the chaos of stage 1. 

Out of the tunnel Lachlan stopped taking in stage 2, three entrances into the maze were in front of him, it looked entirely different from the stands where lachie was used to seeing it from, with the gallop of approaching riders behind him Lachie rolled the dice and entered the third entranceway. He raced through the maze, stopping only when met with a dead end or the sight of another competitor. As he came around a bend, he was met by yet another dead end. Twirling Mortice around, he froze as another competitor stood at the intersection of four passageways, blocking Lachie’s escape. Blood drenched the woman atop her rat, brandishing a long blade begun a full sprint towards Lachie with a deafening war cry. Frozen in place Lachie sat wide eyed accepting his fate however just before reaching him the woman’s war cry abruptly stops and she falls forward off her rat with a hatchet lodged in the back of her skull. Behind her, beyond the intersection, the man that had killed her was reaching for another hatchet from his back. Lachlan darted around the dead woman and turned left at the intersection, narrowly dodging the hatchet that whizzed by behind him. Racing down the next passageway, Lachie continued. Two more random turns and just as suddenly as the maze had consumed him, he was out and sprinting through the tunnel into the last stage.

The last stage was a straight sprint a few hundred metres along the track that circled the pit however as Lachlan emerged from the tunnel his heart sank. Two people had already passed the finish line, and two racers were ahead of Lachlan. Spurring on Mortice, Lachlan took off after the two racers. As he gained on them, he noticed they were trading blows mid-sprint. Busy clanging swords, they failed to notice Lachlan gaining on them. Lachie flew by the two brutes in the last few metres before the finish line. As simple as that it was all over, Lachlan had done the impossible. He stood victorious, bathed in the arena’s cheers. 

                                                      ***

In a blur the podium ceremony, the mayor’s gifting of the ‘Domed City’ passes, the party that night with his family and neighbours flew by and now Lachlan stood at the doors of the heavily guarded elevator that the city was built around with the other two winners and all of their families. The elevator doors opened to reveal the mayor and a line of guards. The group of giddy winners and their families squeezed aboard.

Lachlan peered around, taking in the excited faces of his fellow derelict sewer dwellers, the helmeted guards, and the mayor who stood behind his guards. A question popped into Lachie’s mind, “Um, Mayor... sir, why do you need guards on the elevator? Isn’t their job just to stop people from getting on the elevator?” 

Mayor Teller chuckled in response. “Good observation. I guess the rats out of the pen. Well, your sacrifices as competitors aren’t over just yet.” His cryptic response had everyone confused. They all began looking around at Teller for further explanation. “Those races we hold annually give everyone hope and hopeful idiots are that much easier to lead.” The elevator erupted into screams and cries of umbrage and outrage, however their protests halt when the elevator abruptly stops. The doors open, revealing the outside world. 

It was not the domed city that they had all heard stories of, but a baron wasteland, hollowed out shells of buildings, and stretching mud plains as far as they could see. At that moment the guards started shoving the group out into the wasteland, still in shock the bunch barely protested as they piled out. With the guards blocking the elevator from re-entrance Teller spoke from behind them. “On behalf of everyone of Sewer City we thank you all for your sacrifice.”