Enhanced

Urban’s vision narrowed, blurring out the crowd. She focused on the parking lot with the pulsing blue augmented arrows marking the course.

“One, two, three, GO!”

Urban pulled hard on the accelerator.

Her motorcycle was specifically designed for quick bursts of speed to get around Smart lights. She went from zero to max torque and power, instantly leaping ahead of the others.

The Inventor caught up to her as she sped down the ramp to the floor below and reached the first bend.

Urban kept her speed until the last second, then slammed on the brakes and skidded across the pavement as she rounded the bend.

Beside her, the Inventor quickly pulled ahead miraculously.

Urban glanced over and saw the Inventor had launched a hook to grip the opposite wall and then whipped her bike around the corner with lightning speed.

A moment later, they came to the next bend. Again, the Inventor sped ahead with the use of her metallic hook.

Another racer began pulling up close behind her too—a Flyer.

At the next corner, the Flyer extended his wings. They worked like a parachute, instantly slowing his momentum. Then with incredible speed, he flipped his motorcycle in a new direction and accelerated past her.

Urban ground her teeth.

She heard another racer close behind, but she made it the rest of the way down while managing to stay ahead.

At the bottom, the arrows continued through a brightly lit garage. The Flyer and Inventor were nowhere in sight, but the other racers weren’t far behind.

Out of her peripheral vision, Urban saw Coral creeping up on her. Urban swerved to the right, blocking her from passing.

Coral slammed on her brakes, then skidded left.

Urban moved left, cutting her off.

“Get out of my way!” Coral yelled.

Urban laughed. It sounded strange in her helmet.

Coral tried another angle, but Urban cut her off.

Suddenly Coral, along with her whole motorcycle, disappeared.

“What?” Urban said in shock. Then realizing what had happened, she groaned. “Stupid Camos.” She swerved right then left, trying to block Coral wherever she was. She heard the screeching of wheels behind her, but then all was silent.

Coral was gone.

Checking her augmented map, Urban saw the red square representing Coral pulling ahead of her. There were only two racers behind her now. But she noticed with satisfaction that Trig’s green triangle was a long way off.

The garage ended and a building closed around her. At least, that’s what she thought it was. Her field of vision was narrowed to the marble path illuminated by her headlight. Everything else plunged into darkness. Urban switched on her night vision and easily weaved in between giant pillars, around debris, and through puddles.

What is this place?

On her left, the road seemed to drop away into nothingness. Urban angled closer toward it and made out tracks. Up ahead she spotted a decrepit train cart.

So this is what a train station looks like.

Before she had more time to take in the wonders of the historical site, she heard a strange clanging noise next to her.

Glancing down, she glimpsed what looked like a metallic anchor being pulled away.

Clang!

This time, the sound came from the other side of her motorcycle.

She turned and glimpsed the guy with the tattoos. He reeled in the anchor before aiming it back at her.

“Not today.” She swerved out of the way and behind a pillar, skidding so hard she almost wiped out. She heard the metallic ring of the anchor as it hit the marble surface where she’d just been.

Suddenly ear-splitting music vibrated through her body. She clawed at her helmet to try and plug her ears.

She checked her mirror. The Artisan on his bass-pumping motorcycle tried to pass her.

Stupid enhancements.

His wheels trembled with each drop of the beat. He cranked the sound up higher until Urban was sick. The tattooed rider was also having difficulty. He swerved and almost hit a pillar.

The tattoo rider fired his anchor at the Artisan’s motorcycle, but there were no spokes on his musical wheels, and the anchor bounced off harmlessly.

Urban’s head screamed in pain. “Find another route,” she ordered her augmented map.

A moment later two options appeared. One would take three minutes longer than her current route. The other was—

She blinked. How can that be?

It was two minutes faster than the track set for the racers.

She zoomed in. It seemed to be weaving through some tight spaces and went through an orange zone. She hesitated for a split seconding before deciding. I’ll be fine on my motorcycle.

The music was so loud she wanted to throw up. Desperate to get away, she followed her augmented maps and swerved toward the platform’s edge. Taking in a deep breath, she launched herself over the edge and onto the tracks.

She landed hard but steadied herself and kept going, bumping over each track as if she’d grabbed a jack hammer. The tracks sloped upward until finally she was out of the train station and back into cool polluted air. She watched carefully as the tracks began to deteriorate into pebbles and overgrown weeds.

Following her maps, she veered off the tracks and onto a narrow road. The abandoned buildings turned into rubble. She almost spun out twice on loose bits of gravel and debris.

Gritting her teeth, she kept her speed, refusing to slow, and weaved in and out of the narrow, ghostly streets. Even with her filtration mask on high mode, the dust she kicked up caused her to start sneezing.

After blinking to clear her watery eyes, she slipped around another corner and found the path completely blocked by rubble.

“I don’t have time for this.” She slid to a halt and pulled up maps. If she backtracked, she would definitely lose. Maybe there was a way over the pile. She studied the rubble, then hopped down from her motorcycle.

She walked her bike up to it. It was slow going, but she made it all the way to the top before slipping and sliding down the other side. She climbed back on and sped the rest of the way through the orange zone. Once she exited the last street, she checked her augmented map.

“Yes!” Urban pumped her fist in the air. “First place!”

She followed the map toward the finish line and noticed the Inventor creeping up behind her again.

Urban sped around a corner into another abandoned garage. The ramp slanted upward this time.

“Not this again,” she moaned as she began speeding round the bend.

The Inventor started to pass her. With a dip of her head and a salute, she rounded a corner and pulled back into the lead, leaving Urban fuming.

The Flyer wasn’t far behind. By the time Urban reached the top, both had passed her. She checked her map and saw Coral had fallen to last place, and now the Artisan was the next racer behind Urban. She wondered what had happened to Coral.

At least I’m not last.

At the top, her map showed she was close to the finish line. There was a ramp at the edge of the roof that looked like it led to a large jump between several buildings before landing on the finishing building.

Her body froze. I’m sure there’s a safety net or something below. She tried to console herself. But she knew there wasn’t. You can do this. Just get lots of momentum. You have to do this. There’s no other choice.

Her bike calculated the speed she’d need to be at to make the jump, then began automatically accelerating along with her beating heart.

Urban flew across the deserted roof and up the ramp.

As she got closer, a message flashed across her augmented display.

“Whaa—” Urban realized with horror it had to be her mother accessing her system. Not now.

Her motorcycle was linked to her account. If her motorcycle went into lockout mode, it would stop accelerating, and she wouldn’t make the jump. She pushed harder on the speed and hit the base of the ramp.

As she was halfway up, a red warning light flashed.

Urban’s heart turned to ice.

She considered bailing but was too far along the ramp. She remembered what had happened when she’d gotten cold feet the last time she’d tried a jump. Everest’s words came back to her: “You have to commit to the jump. That’s the key.”

She neared the end of the ramp.

Urban’s overlays went dark.

Her motorcycle stopped accelerating. Nothing but her momentum hurled her over the edge.

As she rose in the air, it was as if time slowed.

She saw the waiting crowds. The Inventor and Flyer were already at the finish line. Lillian stared up at her. The thought that this was probably her doing crossed Urban’s mind. Why else would they be locking her out of her system right now?

Then Urban looked down, and her stomach tightened. She had to be at least thirty stories in the air. As she drew nearer the other building and dropped, she sensed someone staring at her.

At the building across from her, a figure stood in one of the balconies—a masked Flyer.

As Urban approached the other side, she realized she’d fallen even further. Too far.

She tried to do another reboot of her system but was still locked out. Not that it would do any good.

All was silent and dark except the air whistling through her helmet as she plummeted to the ground below.