The Race

Chapter 5: Run For Your Life

Alex Karev was beginning to get worried. Where was the munchkin? He ran swiftly and easily looking left and right as he went, making sure she wasn't collapsed on the side of the road somewhere. He should have passed her by now or at least seen her. He wanted her defeated and writing his post-ops, not lost or hurt. He ran downhill through the set of switchbacks faster and faster. He couldn't believe Toto was ahead of him still, but he kept looking forward into the distance trying to catch a glimpse of her through the gloom.

ooo

Meredith gave a strangled scream as she dangled precariously from her last rope, about ten feet above the road. She scrabbled for purchase against the hill and lowered herself hand over hand. This was definitely not one of her better ideas. She should have visited the wizard to get a brain before trying this stunt. Her heart beat rapidly and leaped into her throat.

Every thing's going to be okay. Everything's going to be okay. Yeah, where is Glynda when I need her?

Maybe being Karev's slave for a month wouldn't be all bad. She was actually good at rectals, vaginals, and enemas. Her hands and arms were burning. Her right shoulder felt sprained. Her knees were bruised and she couldn't catch her breath. Maybe she was a teeny weany after all. Ow.

Her feet hit the ground and she scrambled to get herself together. Maybe she could take a minute 'cause she really was still ahead of Alex somehow... No... No way. She was ahead and she was going to stay that way! She would be a winner. That loudmouth would be stuck with her enemas and vaginals, not the other way around, he was good at them too. She staggered down the yellow brick road. At least her arms weren't involved.

Meredith's pace was excruciatingly slow – too slow. Alex would catch her for sure if she couldn't pull it together. She gritted her teeth and forced herself to think of the plan. She knew exactly how far she had to go to get to the next showdown point, but now she doubted her ability to get there before being overtaken. She had underestimated the toll the three drops would take on her. So she needed to go to desperation plan B. She knew it was risky, involving close contact with Karev, but it was all she could think of as a contingency plan. He would be expecting something after the last close encounter so she had to plan it out just so. At least one way or the other it would soon be over. They were getting closer to the hospital.

Meredith kept running. She shifted her knife from her right hoodie pocket to her right hip pocket. Then she checked for the desperation plan B tool in her left hip pocket. She untied her scarf which had been loosely knotted at her throat, and left the ends dangling down her chest. She carefully checked her time and sped up. She chanced a look over her shoulder and gasped. There he was. Closer than she would have thought possible. Either he was moving faster or she was moving slower than she had predicted, or both. She was definitely in dire straights.

Alex saw Meredith ahead of him finally and breathed a sigh of relief. She was favoring one side slightly and he couldn't tell if it was because her side or her leg. She was covered in bits of foliage and dirt as if she'd rolled on the ground. At least she hadn't got off lightly for whatever tricks she'd pulled this time to get so far ahead of him. He smiled inwardly in admiration. She was a game little chickadee. He was closing in on her fast. He had this race just about won.

ooo

Other attendings gathered in the lounge waiting for the ending of the great race between two crazy first year interns. More than one wager was cast. Talk buzzed irritatingly around Derek's ears. He wished they'd shut up. Where was Meredith? Surely she and Karev should be closing in on the hospital by now.

Down below the crowd had more than doubled. Personnel going both off duty and on duty paused for the race finale. Dr. Grieg, a sixth year general surgeon stood on top of a scaffold with a pair of binoculars, looking at the far end of the street.

"There they are!" the shout went up from Grieg and the crowd applauded and cheered loudly, "Grey is in the lead! She's a dark horse, that one," he announced incredulously, "But not for long, Karev is overtaking her with twice her speed. Grey is limping!" Money exchanged hands and the crowd noises increased.

The attendings in the room above opened the windows so they could hear the announcing from down below, staying out of sight so they wouldn't have to reprimand anyone. Derek felt as incredulous as everyone else that Meredith was still neck and neck with Alex. How in the world had she managed that?

ooo

Meredith saw her next showdown point ahead and knew all she had to do was make it there to stand a real chance at winning. But with Karev overtaking her like a fast moving tornado she was in trouble. Okay, desperation plan B better work. She veered to the right, seemingly forcing Alex to pass on the left as she had done before. He didn't fall for it, of course. He charged up behind her on the right, carefully watching her right hand which was hidden in her hoodie pocket. She whipped it out and he was ready. He grabbed her wrist in a vise hold, slowing them both down. There was nothing in her hand! What the...

She turned her hand over and gripped his wrist as firmly as she could. Her left hand, already grasping the desperation plan B tool in her left hip pocket, frantically quickdrew it and snapped it around Alex's wrist. Meredith dropped his wrist with her right hand in the same motion and pulled the filmy opaque scarf from her throat. She shoved it in his face trying to obscure his vision. Karev, outraged that she'd done it again, grabbed her, thinking she'd run for it. She didn't. She stepped closer, twisted like a slippery little eel, trying to catch his arms behind his back. When that didn't work, she turned her back to his chest, drawing his arms around her in the front. She grabbed the dangling end of the handcuffs and snapped the other side onto his free wrist. She had planned to handcuff him to a fence if possible but there was nothing here that could work, so she was improvising as much hassle as possible to slow him down. Too bad she couldn't cuff his hands behind his back at least. Maybe he wouldn't want anyone at the finish line of the hospital to see him handcuffed with no pants. She'd win by default.

"Damn it, Meredith! What did you do that for!?" Karev wrestled Meredith over to a sign post. She fought him the whole way, struggling and slip sliding around, trying to get away, "Give me the key to these, my little pretty, or you'll be sorry."

"It's at work in my locker. I don't have it with me! Aagh! Brute! Wicked! Wicked!"

ooo

"Wait, something is happening! Karev passed Grey and now they are locked in physical combat! Grey has something shiny in her hand. What?! She has locked Karev in a pair of handcuffs. What the h...!" Grieg was laughing loudly at the sight through the binoculars, "And to top it off, folks, Dr. Evil Spawn has apparently lost his pants. He is running out there in his briefs only! We can only guess how that happened! Mwa ha ha ha!"

"This race is turning into a wrestling match... Evil Spawn has the teeny tiny doctor in a body lock. Wait folks! He seems to be tying the munchkin to a sign post, with the sleeves of her own sweatshirt and the remains of his pants!" Grieg had to stop to catch his breath he was laughing so hard, "Ooh she's slippery! She almost got away from him there," the crowd roared with laughter and the attendings up above jockeyed for viewing space.

Derek's gut clenched unhappily at the sight of Meredith in another man's arms, particularly as that man had apparently lost his pants somewhere. Derek wanted Meredith to stop touching Karev now, even if she was making that man's life hellish at the moment. If she was going to wrestle and play and relate with a man, it should be him.

ooo

Meredith made Alex fight for every knot he used tying her to the sign post. She scrabbled round and round confusing him and taking advantage of the fact that he would never actually hurt her and that he really did think of her as a fragile little doll. Before he immobilized her she managed to surreptitiously grab her knife out of her back pocket and hold it in her right hand. Alex finished tying her and turned his back, nonchalantly walking away, thinking her secure.

"Your trip down the yellow brick road is over, Dorothy. Why don't you try saying the magic words, 'there's no place like Grace', three times fast, while you click your heels," Alex threw over his shoulder as he strolled away. Bigmouth. It made her mad all over again. She gritted her teeth and glared at his back. He wasn't even running now. He was walking, slowly at that. Rat fink!

Meredith was tied to the sign post by Alex pulling the sleeves of her hoodie criss-cross her body and then tying around the post behind her back. Her arms were semi trapped in an almost straight jacket fashion. He had used the remnants of his trousers to double tie her hips to the post.

Meredith pushed a button and flipped her wrist as best she could. Her knife's razor sharp blade cut through the fabric binding her as if it were butter. She wriggled and cut and before Alex was ten steps away she'd cut her top half loose. She slid the knife under the torn and tied leg of Alex's sweat pants and sliced it deftly. She was free. She pulled her cut hoodie off over her head. She wore a green body suit underneath it. She quietly walked twelve steps behind Alex saying nothing. If she was lucky they would quietly walk to her next showdown point, without him ever knowing she was loose and sneakily following him. If she could reach the next point a little rested she might actually stand a chance.

Karev worried at the handcuffs trying to get them off over his hands. They were on too tight. Damn, exactly what had that girl intended? Here he was, almost bare-assed in the predawn cold wearing handcuffs. Great. He'd win now, but she had her pound of flesh. Who'd have thought she was lions and tigers and bears all rolled into one. Alex was sorry he had ever goaded her this far.

Oh crap! What was going on at Grace? The lot in front of the finish line was full of crowds of people. What was he supposed to do? Waltz up to the crowd like this? He should have taken her pants off her and somehow squeezed into them. They'd looked baggy on her. Crap! Who was he kidding? That wouldn't have worked. He was so screwed. This stupid bet! Alex's mind worked frantically. He could call Izzie on his cell and convince her to bring him some scrubs or something. Yeah, that was the ticket.

He'd call Izzie and wait here until he had pants. The munchkin was all tied up. He could take the time. He glanced back at Meredith as he dialed his phone. Wait! Where was that rotten little girl?!

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