The Race

Chapter 4: Run Far, Run Fast

Meredith couldn't quite believe her 'expose the ass of the Ass' gambit had semi worked. Excellent.

Hey! Don't get cocky.

The timing had gone well though. He'd only been slightly faster than she'd estimated so her escape route was available as planned. Mrs. Hernandez and Mrs. Gonzales, the two old birds who let her through their back gate, thought the whole short cut through the yards thing hilarious.

Mer panted as she ran super hard uphill for the next showdown point. She was slow, slow, slow! It was imperative she get there ahead of Alex. If he caught up with her out in the open where she had no escape he'd pulverize her. She knew he'd be hard to surprise again and he was a strong, fast athlete who would have no compunction about paying her back.

She was approaching the crest of the hill, the area where Hamilton Street sloped steeply downhill, switching to the right and then switching back to the left, doubling on itself but going lower down the hill. Monroe Street crossed Hamilton and created another switch to the right and then a switch to the left, each section lower than the last. Meredith had realized when she checked the course that this was a place she could pick up time if she could go straight down in a straight line rather than running along the road in a series of mini switchbacks. All she needed was a way to drop straight down in the dark without injuring herself while preventing Alex from following her. The roads were both scenically lined with a green verge of woods and underbrush. Meredith could go from the road, through the woods, down the cut face of the hill to the road below cutting off whole loops of road and saving tons of time. Since the road serpentined back and forth she could pull the trick three times. If only she could beat the Hulk to her off road point.

Meredith glanced behind her and caught sight of Alex's light clothing in the distance. Darn it, she ran as fast as she could and knew it was going to be tight. She frantically searched for the drop point marked with reflective tape. She wanted to duck into the drop and peel off the tape before Alex could tag where she left the road. She knew she was extremely hard to see in her shadow colored sweats, so she stayed as unobtrusive as she could on the street, dodging to avoid the few streetlights or cars that illuminated the area. Her feet were pounding out the words of her frantic mantra. Where's the tape? Where's the tape? Where's the tape? There it is!

Meredith gasped in relief. The stitch in her side from all out running was excruciating. There was no time. Every second counted. She didn't know if Karev could see her or not. She ducked into the dark wooded area and pulled her marker down as she went. There was the white clothesline cord on the ground she'd used to mark her way through the woods. She just had to follow it. She fell to her hands and knees and crawled through the heavy underbrush in the pitch black dark following the cord by feel. It was only a few feet but it felt like forever. She bumped head first into a chain-linked fence. She carefully crawled through the hole she'd cut in the fence earlier in the week. She still had two blisters on her hands from that operation. Meredith pulled her thin leather gloves out of her pocket and grabbed the long, thin, green, climbing rope that was securely tied to the fence. She dropped down the steep hill, going as fast as she dared, hanging on to the camouflaged rope for support.

Alex was running easily and quickly. He kept checking for Mer ahead of him, but she was hard to see in the dark in her pavement colored sweats. Every now and then he'd catch a glimpse of a street light reflecting a streak of shiny blond in her dark honey hair. He knew the uphill climb would be tough for Mer and he anticipated it slowing her down drastically. He was going to pass her again on the downhill switchbacks. He wondered what she'd try next when he passed her. He had to hand it to the Lilliputian, he thought in admiration, even as the cold breeze chilled his bare legs and thinly covered backside, she was game. He suddenly realized she'd disappeared. The last time he'd really seen her position was half-way up the hill when a car had passed her. Where was the bantam? He increased his speed knowing now that she was tricky. Better not take any chances.

Meredith panted and her arms felt like they were being pulled out of their sockets when her foot slipped out from under her again.

Stay focused! Stay focused, Mer. Just keep going one step at a time as fast as you can. That's all.

Another part of Meredith reminded her that as she was playing Spiderman, her nemesis, Doc Oct was probably going to round the bend any minute and she had to cross the road and get into the underbrush of the next verge before he saw her. She could use some of the webslinger's strength.

Meredith's feet hit level ground and she heaved a sigh of relief for her abused biceps. She threw the end of the rope as high up the slope as she could and ran across the road to the next covering layer of shadowed brush. There was no sign of Alex yet. Wild hope filled her heart, maybe she could pull this off.

Meredith crawled through another fence and grabbed another rope. This was a slope instead of a drop so she actually made good time dropping down without too much pain. She ran across the road again and crawled through the last tree and brush covered verge. Mer didn't notice her hair filled with twigs and leaves and pulled lose in messy wisps all over her head. Her face stung from two scratches on her cheek. Her knees were caked with mud and leaves. She took off the gloves each time she crawled because she didn't want her gloves to get slick or wet from the muddy ground. She wiped her dirty hands on the thighs of her pants and pulled the gloves on for her last, most difficult drop. It was almost vertical.

ooo

Derek paced the second floor attendings' lounge overlooking the race 'finish line'. Addison thought he was insane getting up at three o'clock this morning so he could be at the hospital extra early. He'd just told her he had an early surgery and things to do before it. A crowd was beginning to gather down below. Judging from the pink, grey, brown, green, white, lavender, blue and orange uniforms the entire hospital was represented. This was crazy. What was Meredith thinking? What was Karev thinking, for that matter?

The door swung open and Burke entered. He raised an eyebrow at Shepherd pacing agitatedly back and forth in front of the beautiful picture window.

"So, you've heard," said Burke.

"Who hasn't?" Shepherd gestured out the window at the throng, "What does Cristina say about all this? Has Meredith talked to her?"

"Cristina says next to nothing to me about her friends. She says it's an intern 'thing'. She did tell me that Grey had challenged Karev to a race from the Hancock Street bridge due to 'pissy' differences. That's all," Burke shrugged.

"Karev is going to leave her in the dust. She'll try, but in the end she'll lose and be humiliated or physically hurt or both," Shepherd rubbed his hands through his curly, black hair.

The door swung open again and the Chief entered carrying a cup of coffee and a Danish. Both his Head of Cardiothoracic Surgery and his Head of Neurosurgery gave disapproving looks at the pastry and his waistline.

"Shut up," he said, "Any word yet on the race?"

"You know about it too?!" Shepherd asked, "You could have stopped it before Meredith gets hurt."

"Not my jurisdiction. What these first years do off duty, before work is their own business," said the Chief, "Besides, what makes you think Meredith will get hurt or will lose? I've known Grey women for years and they don't lose. They are tougher and more competitive than you will ever know. In fact I've got one hundred that says Grey wins this race. Karev won't know what hit him."

"I'll take that action, Chief," Burke said amusedly, "Grey has guts, I'll give her that, but she needs speed and brawn to win. Karev has it all over Grey."

Shepherd couldn't believe they were making book. He paced back to the window and looked into the distance for any sign of the two combatants.

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