Zero car ocean slayers r.., p.1
Zero Car (Ocean Slayers Racing Book 1), page 1
Zero
Car
Alex Knowles
Zero Car
Copyright © 2021 by Alex Knowles
Published by Alex Knowles
All rights reserved.
No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system without the prior written consent from the author, except in the instance of quotes for reviews. No part of this book may be scanned, uploaded, or distributed via the internet without the permission of the author and is a violation of the International copyright law, which subjects the violator to severe fines and imprisonment.
This is a work of fiction. The names, characters, incidents, and place are products of the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real except where noted, and authorised. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, or actual events are entirely coincidental. Any trademarks, service marks, product names, or names featured are assumed to be the property of their respective owners and are used only for reference. There is no implied endorsement if any of these terms are used.
The author and editor have taken great effort in presenting a manuscript free of errors. However, editing errors are ultimately the responsibility of the author.
This book is written in American English and includes relative diction.
Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
More from Alex
Cultivation/Litrpg/Gamelit Links
Litrpg
Other Recommended books
1
Saturday, July 25th
Year - 27514
“Hold,” Tonis ordered.
I sighed at his officiousness. The rain poured, soaking me through. I wanted nothing more than to get out of the city. The stench, the people. Did we really have to do this same rigmarole every single day? “It’s just me, Oto.”
His bright light shone in my eyes and I shielded them as best I could.
“You’re getting earlier and earlier every day. Has to stop, Oto,” Sta, Tonis’ twin, said, approaching me with his clicking scanner. I stared at it briefly, waiting while he flicked it on, then ran it over the top of my head.
My details illuminated the gates behind them in an eerie green.
Gate log - July 25th, 27514
Oto Benes - Number 4188927
Birthdate - April 18th, 27492
Title - Scrub
Sponsor - 0
Address - 0
Education - 0
Skills - 0
Lying piece of shit, I thought. I had plenty of skills.
Memories flooded me while he took his time checking over the rest of me.
Every. Single. Damn. Day.
“Sam, one more.” I was twelve, the woman had stopped to check me over on the streets. She’d scanned me, just like Sta did now, then glanced at her colleague. “Implant’s dead.” She shook her head. “Sorry, kid.”
I’d watched her walk away, tears in my eyes. Then I’d heard her tell her colleague. “No hope for that one.” Those words echoed in my mind every single day.
“No hope?” I’d clenched my fists. Just like right now, that incessant clicking triggered me every single time. “I’ll show you no hope.”
Sta passed the clicking device over me once more, confirming what we both already knew. “He’s clean.”
“Did you expect anything else?” I asked, my stomach growling. Breakfast had been the decidedly unfulfilling scent of baking bread from the shop I walked by every morning. I could only hope their bin had some scraps in it for my dinner tonight.
“You’re looking worse,” Tonis said, studying me. “You wouldn’t be the first to sneak something out to one of the other cities.”
“No way. Vartoth’s not making a punt out of me. I like my head attached, thank you.”
“Scrubs have said that to me before,” Tonis said. “Never changes their ending. Don’t be late tonight.” His dismissal clear.
I gave him a royal wave to egg him on, much to his brother’s amusement. “Get outta here, before the others show up.”
I only needed to glance back to see some of the other early risers making their way over. I had to hustle if I wanted to get ahead of them. I needed to walk for a few hours to get where I wanted, and I didn’t want anyone following me.
First stop, the lake for a refill.
The rain grew heavier in the Wilds. Where I could shelter under the canopy, the wash off the leaves soaked me even more instead. The constant rain and cold meant winter was approaching. Only the effort I put into my pace kept me warm.
Reaching the lake, I glanced around before I approached. No sign of the sun, even with the rain, indicated how early I’d arrived today. The night critters, usually rotters, could still be around.
Silence echoed back at me.
I edged closer to the water’s edge. Nothing stirred.
I’d be safe for a while.
My backpack slipped off my shoulder, landing with a squelch as I squatted down. I fumbled inside for my tatty water flask and quickly filled it. At least in the Wilds, we got access to this wonder. In the city, you had to pay for it and I never could.
“No hope for that one.”
I stared at the calm, still waters, letting the cool wash over me, wash those memories away.
The silver sheen to the water changed to ripples of orange. I glanced up as the sun tried poking its head through the clouds. Might be a nice day after all.
I hitched my backpack up, then blew out that breath.
A twig snapped.
I whirled around and ran for the bush.
Two figures entered the area from the city. They’d been fast. Or had I been hanging out too long? I checked the time. Crap. No, it was me, staring at the lake instead of getting a move on.
“Heading out west?” one of them asked, approaching the lake.
“Gather some berries now, then that’s a good call. East side is getting hit pretty hard with Vartoth’s crews. Hardly any finds this last week, or monster hides to sell.”
“Yeah, and I’m hungry,” the other whined. “A canillion nest or rotter den would be an awesome find. Feed us all week!”
Fuck, they were heading the same way as me. I really had to move. Slinking back into the bushes and then into the trees, I watched as long as I could while they filled their canisters. Then as soon as I could, I turned and ran.
Hitting the town exits before the rest of the scrubs made it out of the city was super important. Everyone now left the city earlier, not just me. Salvaging in the Wilds grew harder and harder. I had to get away from them, to the areas no one else had dared, yet.
I ran as fast as I could, as quiet as I could. The latest area I’d been exploring had given me hope; seemed no one else had been out that far. I’d found several items I’d sold quickly, even if for a pittance. Just enough for a decent meal and a snack or two. Traveling further and further away from the safety of the city walls worried me, worried me a lot.
My legs ached with lactic acid build up; I stopped running to shake them out. I needed to preserve some energy, or I’d never do any digging. The digging was the worst. Trying to find anything worth having in the wastes of what came before us. Mountains of overgrown buildings, ruins. The older kids said Isala was once a beautiful planet. A beautiful planet burned by a terrible war.
No one around me knew the actual truth. Only conjecture and rumors. Most of us weren’t even born when everything fell apart. You soon learned here, on Isala, there were two kinds of people. Those who had the gift and those who didn’t. The gifted became racing drivers, using Azris to connect with the most expensive, high-tech vehicles around. Sentient vehicles. Those who didn’t, fortified their bodies with tech, and guidance from the overall monitoring system. Then there were people like me, the rejects, the scrubs.
Our city gates had only been open the last few years. Letting out those few of us they could afford to lose, the scrubs. Easier to let us out to dig than for them to risk life or limb. Out there were precious artifacts, metals; everything and anything we found we could sell.
I’d stood as a scrub, an outsider, watching the racers and the tracks for most of my early life, wishing I could be one of them. Wishing I had a way not only out of the scrubs, but the city. Everything looked so much better out there. It was, I knew it.
I glanced again to the sun as it rose. It would be a good fourteen hours before it set, and I had time out here to do what I needed.
I followed the same route I had the las
If I caught it, which I often did, it hurt a lot, still sore. I walked for a while longer, watching as the sun rose fully behind me and the rain finally stopped.
Much later, when I arrived at my dig area, I couldn’t help but grin. The whole place excited me. There were several deep caves here. I wondered which I should check today. I’d been down three of five, sometimes finding nothing, other times I’d pulled out the oddest items. I just kept hoping there was much more here. I needed something. Ugh, anything.
The backpack fell off my shoulder as I reached the fifth cave. I reached in and pulled out a small dyno torch. I wound it fast to get its energy going.
I stepped into the cave, shaking slightly from the cold, and flicked the torch around. I might be able to dry out some over the course of the day. At least I shouldn’t have to worry about finding any monsters here. The creatures in this area either liked to be out in the day or were sound asleep.
My left boot caught on a rock. The torch flew from my hand as I crashed to the ground. My elbow broke the fall, something sharp slicing into my flesh. I cried out from the pain.
Then I realized the torch was lighting up row after row of sharp teeth in the biggest mouth I’d ever seen.
I froze. My heart beat faster and faster. I tried not to move, but my arm. I wanted to keep cursing. I gritted my teeth, my jaw tight.
Maybe if I didn’t move, it wouldn’t get me. It wouldn’t see me.
All nose and teeth.
All smelly, wet, and nasty, rotten, hence its name… Rotter.
I’d seen them in the day from afar, never this close.
The adults were huge, their heads bigger than a pet dog. Bodies the size of a small horse.
I closed my eyes. Held my breath, then let it out, steady.
Time passed by, slow, ever so slow. I stayed as still and calm as I could, and the light from my torch eventually faded. It lasted an hour at least. It usually did. Had I been like this, in this awkward position for that long?
Maybe the creature couldn’t see me, just hear me?
The light went out, and darkness followed. Sure the creature had gone, I tried to recall where the torch had been and edged away from the cave wall. Pain thrummed through my arm now, and cold. I shivered even though my clothes were drier.
I usually got three hits on the torch. I’d have to make my way back outside to see where the sun settled to see or try to work out the time. For now, I needed light.
I reached for the torch, pulled it to me. I dare not use it, or should I?
I tucked it into my jacket and wound it up. Then, slowly bringing it out, scanned the cave.
There was nothing here. The rotter must have gone.
I leaned over onto my knees and then pushed to stand. The torch illuminated something shiny where I’d landed. Had that thing tripped me up?
Metal glinted off the light, and I peered in closer. It looked like some kind of bar, long and thin with a couple of buttons, maybe? It spread out at the top into two thick prongs. It seemed wires came out the bottom. This was tech, and I’d hit the jackpot if I could get into the city without it being confiscated.
I glanced around, making sure there were no signs of something living at all. I hoped the rotter wouldn’t come back. Carefully I kneeled, noting green moss around it. I pulled the mossy substance, knowing I’d eaten it before and shoved it in my mouth. It would settle my screaming stomach for a while, even if it tasted vile. I then scrubbed soil away from the object, revealing it some more. I couldn’t see it properly, but it seemed pretty big, not even sure it would fit in my backpack.
I’d get a better look outside. I wasn’t leaving it. It had just gotten blood out of me, after all. I pulled the bottles and other belongings of mine from the pack and slid them into pockets. Then I squeezed the object in my bag. It was tight; it wasn’t even fitting in one corner. But I got it in as best I could and made my way out of the cave.
Once out in the sunlight, I let it warm my skin for a while, then looked at my arm. I shrugged the backpack off and took my jacket off too. It was bleeding a lot, a nasty line down almost where I’d broken it. I ripped the arm off the other side of my shirt and wound it tight over the gash. Then dressed once more and tried to make a move again. My arm stung really badly. Throbbed and throbbed.
It was the throbbing that alerted me something else was going on here: poison, infection. Fuck, I had to clean it too, or I risked more than infection. Death.
The sun dropped low behind the city. I had to move and fast. If I didn’t make it back, I risked being stuck out here at night, no protection and no proper food at all.
I ran, exhaustion washing over me again. The nap had done me some wonders, and the moss I’d eaten, but it wasn’t substantial at all. I craved something from the bakery. The more I thought about it, the more I drooled. It spurred me on and I ran faster.
Reaching the city limits, I could see several others crowding around the gates. This was the latest I’d ever been here. Darkness was coming in quick and those trying to get in were looking around, worried they wouldn’t make it. Heck, if they were worried, where did that leave me at the back of the line?
The guards scanned over everyone, logging any changes. Hassling them all. They knew they could, we all knew they could. I frowned. I wouldn’t get through with the item in my pack, no way. They’d confiscate it. Tech. But I wasn’t turning away or staying out the night. I needed food.
Two other scrubs came in behind me, those I’d seen earlier that morning. Their arms were full of things. They’d had a great haul.
Alarms sounded off around the city.
Tonis took one look at me. “Get in there, Oto,” and waved me on.
They never checked.
Nothing. I’d presumed a search, an argument. I was in…
I turned to catch them stop those behind me, checking them over to their protests.
With a sigh, I walked out into the city lights. That had been too close, far too close.
Curved street lamps flicked on as night drew in. Our city truly was beautiful. Beautiful and dangerous. I noted those around me; sixteen cars, twenty-two motorcycles, two trucks, one articulated lorry, and one low loader containing three cars. Seventeen various people making their way to shops, jobs, homes. I negotiated them all and made my way back to my alley and the bakery. I hoped I’d be late enough after they’d gone home, but early enough to be the first one to sneak around the back for the leftovers.
I was not the only scrub who would. Others knew what they left out at night. I also wondered why sometimes they did it. It was clear it should be food stuff, which was recycled instead.
When I got there, the bin lids were open. I looked inside to see nothing and almost cried. The pain in my arm throbbed. I needed clean water to flush it. But I only had bottled water from outside the city, and it wasn’t clean. I knew it wasn’t.
I sank down in the bit of light I had and tucked my backpack behind me for a cushion. The metal object dug in my back. I ignored it and tugged my jacket off. I pulled the ripped sleeve off, taking the dried blood with it, the wound opening up again. With the bottle open, I poured the water over the wound, as much as I could afford to lose, then rinsed the rag, once more wrapping it tight around. I stifled my cries. That would attract attention. I yanked the rag as much as I could without cutting off my circulation.
