Need for Speed
Train up or…well, just quit
“Go faster,” Joanne said.
Faster? The trees were already screaming by in a blur, his legs ached, his breath burned in his chest. Roger couldn’t go any faster. He couldn’t even manage an objection.
“Faster!” she cried. “Go! Go! Go!”
Roger’s feet tangled, and he fell in a scraped, bruised heap on the pavement.
“Up!” Joanne commanded. “The clock is running!”
He couldn’t. He rolled onto his back and stared at the hazy sky. “I’m done,” he moaned.
From her perch in the odd conveyance, Joanne sneered at him. “You can’t quit now. You’ve got to train up!”
Roger pushed himself almost upright and sneered back. “This wasn’t my idea!” he growled. “You’re the one entered us in that idiot rickshaw race! I’m done!”
“Need for Speed” originally appeared in the Indies Unlimited flash fiction competition, November 12, 2022.
