One For The Road

12: Knockout

With only a light on the two robots, the rest of the arena was cold, dark, and quiet, but as soon as I flipped the do not touch switch, everything would change. I wouldn't be a racer anymore. That world didn't want me, but maybe I had a shot in this new, unknown robot-fighting one.

But there was only one way to find out.

"You got this, Katie," Annie mumbled, and I could barely hear her over the heartbeat in my ears.

As soon as they gave me the signal, I only had one goal: destroy as much shit as I possibly could in three minutes. It didn't take long to learn how the fights worked since the main restriction was the time limit, but I never minded a good fight to the death.

My heart wasn't going to last a full three minutes, though, and I sent a quick prayer to help me knock SBSP the fuck out sooner than that. Dear God, you giveth and taketh away. Stop taketh-ing all my shit—er, stuff—for once and let me win. Love, Katie.

On the other side of the arena, there stood the opposite team, but they weren't nearly as coordinated as us. None of them matched in any way, but the driver wore a bright yellow shirt to match their robot. I couldn't make out any other features on him, but none of that mattered anyway. Hopefully, he'd just be dirt under my shoes after I was through with him.

I was pretty sure that I would start sweating straight through our team t-shirt if we didn't get this show on the road, and someone began to shout a countdown.

Oh, shit. Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit.

"Go!"

I took in a quick breath and flipped the switch of death. The horizontal blade spun to life, and with each millisecond that passed, it roared louder and louder. It didn't compare to a seven hundred fifty horsepower racecar engine, but the sound sent a jolt through my veins. I lived for the loud, daring, and destructive. I lived for the moment, and this moment was my bitch.

I rushed Sacrilege out to the center of the arena, but the bot drove differently when it had the spinner going. The robot didn't respond to the controls as well as it did in practice from the added momentum of the spinner. SBSP flew out to meet me, and even though I had the deadlier weapon on my side, I couldn't let that flipping spatula get underneath Sacrilege. It would toss me, and though the damage would be slight compared to what Sacrilege could do, I couldn't fight upside down.

The robots clanged into each other, and a piece of yellow armor flew across the arena. Sacrilege took some of the force of the hit, and the wheels came off the ground for a second.

I laughed. "Fuck it up, Peanut."

No one told me that it'd be fun to kick the shit out of other robots. I could wreck them and blow shit up, and no one got hurt. Was this heaven?

After I got Sacrilege back comfortably on the ground, I chased after the flipper bot, and smack! The robot that lived in a pineapple under the sea flung across the arena and into the wall. No pieces came off the robot, but it hit the wall hard. I knew all about that. It hurt, and a lot of the damage from a hit like that was internal.

Smoke stalked SBSP as it tried to get behind me, but our spinner couldn't reach all the way behind. I twirled the robot around in a circle, and one last hit knocked the spatula off of their robot and forced it to a stop.

Was that it? Had I really given them all they could handle?

More smoke came from the motor of the bot and began to fill the arena, and I took that as a yes.

"Did I just—" I laughed. "Oh my god, I did that."

There was a trail of destruction that followed me everywhere I went. Everything I touched crumbled to pieces or burst into flame: my career, my friends, my family, myself. But it seemed I had finally found a place where my disastrous nature was an advantage.