Rider School - Damon Calhoun

The city I once knew is teetering on the edge of destruction. The blocks are on fire and the darkness is full of eyes.


Damon opened his eyes. It had taken him twenty minutes to do so, he guessed. It was pretty amazing how your body didn't want you to get up some days.

His phone read 16:13. Light battered through the brown curtains, illuminating the dusty mess of his apartment.

Shit. Rider School.

He turned the radio on with fumbling fingers as he made his way to the bathroom sink. The afternoon disc jockey was talking about... oh, who fucking cared. Bioroid jokes or something. If anyone could be relied on to punch downward, it was a radio DJ.

He shaved, badly. He did a slightly better job at brushing his teeth. The asshole on the airwaves was replaced with the traffic. Same as usual in the Undercity. Main streets clogged, subways busy. Some roadworks down by Island Mile where those crazy communist goths lived. Not that it mattered. He covered for his bad hygiene attempt with mouthwash and a vague scrub at his pits.

"Sorry," he mouthed as he threw a few flakes in for the goldfish. He'd swear that thing lived longer when he was away. Maybe it lived in a time loop.

He yanked on his tracksuit pants and a t-shirt. He had to get there fast. He could feel his chest tightening as he mapped out the trip in his head, the many turns and the long subway ride, oh Jesus, they would be -

He stopped. His chest felt constricted, like wire bands around it. The disc jockey was yammering again.

Breath in.

Count to five.

Breath out.

Count to ten.

breath in.

count to five

breath out

count to ten

He was gonna be five minutes late at most. The subway ride was ten minutes on average, and if he jogged he'd be fine and getting a warmup in at the same time.

Trainers on. The radio jerk was taking a long time to say goodbyes, so Damon turned it off and battled his phone's cracked screen to put a Future Funk mix on.

As he headed for the door, his hand swiped up his keys, and then -

No. Not yet.

He left it where it was and headed out.