by K. Weikel
21: Day One
Happy Birthday to me, the Runner thinks as he stares at the ceiling, awake before the Elite Runner comes to get the eighteen year olds.
Then, the doors open. They’re quiet, but the Runner jerks out of his stupor and looks over. Blaise stands in the doorway with his arms crossed as his minions sweep through the room and gently wake the eighteens. When they get to the Runner’s bed, they flash a dim flashlight in his face. He obeys and gets down from the top bunk slowly, pulling the standard Runner Jacket over his nervous figure. Today is the day to make it or break it. He needs to come in towards the end in this first race. If he doesn’t, everyone will be studying him like a Solver during a war. He needs to be smart about this, and he needs to watch out for Blaise and whatever he’s going to do.
The Runner follows everyone out into the dawn, and they move like a pack of mules. The other Runners come together and they all start to jog to the other side of the World, the track. The Runner guesses this is their warm up, aside from whatever they do themselves and the first Competition.
Day starts to break as they reach the track, the Runner in the middle of the group. He watches people and tries to guess which ones will make it, tries to justify where he will be placed. But he knows it does nothing to do so. Strange things can happen out on that track.
He’s reminded of last year.
The Unnamed is the enemy, he reminds himself as they jog on.
They do one lap around the track, and the Runner feels good when they stop. Blaise can’t seem to keep his glaring stare off of the Runner, and the Runner tries not to let it get to him. It’s day one. Make it or break it time.
There’s a stage off to the side of the track, where the starting line is. A group of Leaders in their red jackets and red outfits scramble about as an Announcer takes her place behind the podium set on the right-hand side of the stage.
Someone holds a camera up to her as the group of Runners move around and stretch.
About half an hour later, they’re moved to the starting line. The Runner jumps up and down in his spikes, making sure they work, even though he knows that they do. He bends down low, ready to run, the number on his blue muscle-shirt crinkling slightly. They were all allowed to take off their jackets, because of two reasons. One: if they become an Unnamed, they will not have a jacket. Two: it makes it easier to run if they don’t have it on. The Runner is in the front, ready before everyone else as they pile on and get in one of the rows, ready to dart around whoever is in front of him.
There’s a still as the Leaders talk into the camera, as the Announcers make their announcements. The Runner breathes.
Make it or break it, he thinks. This is for you, Master.
BANG!
The gun goes off and the Runner pulls ahead. A few other people shoot out in front of him as he slows down to run behind someone else, riding on the less-resistant wind flowing behind them. More and more people dart ahead, and the Runner is sure to count them. He’s in sixth.
The girl passes him.
Seventh.
Another girl Runner, one whom he does not know.
Eighth.
They’re halfway around the track, and all the Runner can hear is beating feet and heavy breathing. There are so many Runners… He almost feels bad for the ones who will lose.
He focuses on his breathing as Three passes him.
Ninth.
He needs to run.
Three-fourths of the way around the track, he passes the boy in front of him, making him eighth once again.
He can see the finish line now. It’s just up ahead.
Suddenly, two more people file in front of him.
Eleventh.
He feels himself start to panic, but he calms himself down. He can’t lose it now.
He pumps his arms and his legs even harder, pulling forward. The finish line is only a meter away, and he draws closer, closer.
He passes the finish line.
And the boy that had been in front of him.
Tenth.
He had made it.
He had passed the first day.
To the Runner’s relief, nothing out-of-the-ordinary happened. He stands in line, ready to be Named. He gets a name…
Nothing has ever felt as good as when he steps onto that stage. The girl had been named Rose. Three had been given the name Jim.
And now it’s the Runner’s turn.
His heart pounds in his chest as he tries to hide his smile. He won’t be just a Title anymore. He won’t be just a category. He’ll have a name. He will be one of the Named.
He stands by the Announcer’s podium and fidgets with his number nervously. She holds out her hand for him to give it to her, and he does, a smile playing on his lips. The happiness he feels radiates outward as he watches her look down at the paper with all of the names on it.
“Congratulations for finishing in tenth place, Runner,” the Announcer smiles. “Your name is now Daniel.”
The Runner wants to jump up and down, laughing. He wants to hug the Announcer. His heart is filled with happiness and joy and he is overcome with his new name.
Daniel.
The name of the Runner.
Daniel.
He steps off stage, high-fiving Jim and Rose, feeling a bit strange to call them by a name now, and stands beside them, beaming.
“You seem happy,” Rose says, something in her voice sounding off to the Runner.
He ignores it and watches as the Unnamed are declared Unnamed and as they walk off stage, some crying and some figures seeming broken in two at their back. Something inside hurts the Runner’s heart, but he ignores it, overcome with selfish joy.
+ + +
The Newly Named are led to the room they will stay in for the next three days. The door is locked behind them, and some of them stand around awkwardly while others plop down on a treadmill or a bed, resting their sore legs. Some are just overwhelmed by the First Race—shocked they had even made it this far.
And then night falls. All ten of the Newly Named Runners crawl into a bed and fall asleep almost immediately.
The Runner, still in shock he has a name, repeats his name over and over, as if it would disappear from his memory forever if he didn’t.
Daniel, he thinks to himself. Daniel.
He feels something sad inside of him creep up. Thank you, Master, for all you’ve taught me. I hope you would have been proud of me today.
He rolls over onto his side and stares out into the room. It seems so strange to him that he’s closer to the floor than usual. These aren’t beds stacked on top of one another, but they are singles, like the ones inside his former Master’s mansion.
Now it’s time to beat Blaise the Elite Runner and knock him out of office, the Runner, Daniel thinks dangerously to himself. This is what I’ve always wanted, and nothing’s going to get in my way.