a chaser’s tale (yes, i won one of those pretty red medals)

i am, indeed, more accustomed to the act of verbal storytelling, please bare with my written word. it is unclear what i was expecting that night of the race, but having gone through it, i can’t imagine how it could have unfolded in any other way...

i was anxious when the race began at wicker park. the crew i was with (20 or so people of the foecakes persuasion) began at a dead sprint. within the course of but a couple blocks, we had already divided into subsections. i was not prepared to be prey.


BLUE. the way of the herd.

i leap over the high curb and splash into a stagnant puddle pooled below. great. my shoes are now soaking wet. there are 10 of us, or so, i’ve lost count and don’t want to waste the time to look behind me. close by is another large group of blues we’ve been trying to avoid. larger numbers = easier targets for reds. i hiss at them, trying to shoo them away. why do they keep coming into the same alleys as we do?

every bicycle is suspect. i listen for the soft sound of tires on pavement, ready to sprint. somehow, we come upon the first checkpoint, quicker than i anticipated, but it has come at a price. i hurt now from an old injury (stoopid rugby). it is easier for me to jog than walk quickly, but this steals away my breath faster than those i travel with. i know the ones i am left with are the most fleet of foot and i wrestle with the discomfort. i tell myself that should a red come, i will distract them and sacrifice myself for the remainder of my group. that is what i tell myself... it is what i would like to think...

a church bell starts it’s melancholy swing, ringing off the walls around us. we are in an alleyway. there is a bloodcurdling scream that echoes from a couple blocks off. blues begin running behind me at a sprint. they are from that other group we could never shake. i don’t look back because we are running now. yes, we are running now. our herd. running. charging through the muck. no thought. flee.

i am on a sidewalk. there are only 5 of us left from the original 20. at the corner ahead are some people loitering. is that a red? OMG is that a RED?!? my phone rings in my pocket. it is one of the others of my original crew (REX) calling to see where we are at. i begin to tell him, but there is not time, the reds have spotted us and are making their way over, weaving through the cars like a vicious swarm. they seem like a swarm. there is probably only 4 of them, but in my panic there might as well be 40. i close my phone and sprint again. i do not know where i am. the reds go for some of my companions. i do not attempt to save them. i do not attempt a noble deed of self-sacrifice. i run. i am prey. i think only of myself.

there are 3 if us now. i am lost. there is the sound of someone coming. they are coming fast. i see a dark entry to another alleyway. it is hidden. it is safe. without a word, i sidestep, leaving my final two friends as the obvious targets. perhaps i will have a moment to collect myself. get my barrings. look at my map. come up with a new plan. i know that i am within a couple blocks of the second checkpoint. i have hope.

the light in the alley flickers and buzzes loudly. i am stooped behind a couple cars, catching my breath. i am convinced that i am alone. safe. in the semi-dark underneath that crackling light. i go to look around the corner and reach for my map in my back pocket.

*crunch*

uh oh. i slowly turn around. it is my friend, Big. i haven’t seen her since checkpoint one. she is frozen in place, stepping towards me. i can’t see her arm, it is hidden behind the rest of her body.

“heya Big”

“hi”

(crickets)

the buzzing of that damned light is really loud. it flickers again.

“umm, how’s it goin?” something is definitely not right here.

“ok” she says and shows her teeth. that’s a smile, right? a friendly smile?

“blue?” i ask. i know the answer already. i sprint. i don’t know where i’m going. i gain a little on her, but only for a moment. i’m lost. i’m tired. i’m hurt. i’m alone. i don’t know where to turn, literally. i stop. she pounces.


RED. the way of the predator.

instantly i know that i have finally transitioned into my calling (having worked 5 seasons in the professional haunted house industry, with much glee and satisfaction, should have instantly clued me into my love of Red). the change is relatively painless. a euphoria enters my blood stream. i look at my hunting mate, Big, and am grateful to her. we are now a team. and we have prey to catch. there is no more panic. we have time. and we will gorge on the Blues innards. a feast it shall be.

we look at our maps and pick checkpoint 5 as our destination. it is many miles away. we walk at a leisurely pace. no reason to blow our energy. we must reserve it for the sprints that will, most assuredly, win us victims. a cameraman joins us along the way. the city is sparkling before us and the lights glitter satisfyingly.

we are at the corner of checkpoint 5. across the street is the hated “safezone”. we linger in shadows. what? what is that? that looks like a... another red? wait, no there are blues there too. we lope with casual strides across the street, keeping to shadows, cars absent. hunched, ever so slightly. arms wide. they are around a corner. they are the “runners”... those that showed up in their fancy running shoes and shorts. some of the quickest to get so far so fast. some of them are red. they are traitorous reds, defending their blue friends. my blood grows heated. how dare they. they will not get in my way.

they see us. Big darts after one, the chase is on. there are two other blues, but there are two reds in my way. blocking me. i dart and shove them out of my way (yay rugby!) and proceed to pursue the one i’ve chosen as my target. she crosses the street. i follow her, but we are in a safezone. i look at her face and realize that she does not know this. she crosses again, fleeing me, to the other side of the safezone. is this too good to be true? i don’t follow her but cross back. she crosses a third section, back into my zone. she will be mine. at this point she doesn’t see me anymore. she looks back the way she came. she doesn’t see me darting and winding my way through the cars towards her... until it is too late. her eyes are so wide with surprise and she jumps in the air. i am five feet away. my arms spread wide. i pounce.

she doesn’t want to give me her blue band. she is angry. i grin at her and demand my due. she finally pulls it off her arms and i clench the blue band in my teeth. satisfied. Big and i are reunited. she had raked in yet another blue, after chasing him into bushes. we lazily make our way to another hunting spot at the train station, but our bellies are full. we have our kills.

walking toward the end spot by the shedd aquarium, i pick up someone saying that there are still chaser metals to be had. Big and i look at each other. oh really? we pick up the pace ever so slightly. and yes. there they are. our metals. cupcakes. nomnomnom. the end of the journey.

at this point Big and I spend time laying around in the grass. conversing with the cameraman who had been with us for so long. very quickly it is apparent that beer and food needs to be in our near future. i send txts to other members from foecakes, (Little Monk) being one of them, asking them of their progress. no one responds. that’s right. they are my friends. since this is a game, they know not to trust me. i laugh. it is time to eat and drink. and we do.