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'That bunch look beat,' said John.
Amber spotted Team Alpha Force. 'There they are!'
They were walking, heads down, determined. Paulo, Li and Hex had linked arms, with Alex walking on his own, but their pace had slackened since they'd set out. 'That does not look good,' muttered Amber.
'And there's the finish,' said John. In the distance, about two kilometres away, was a crowd of people gathered around two flagpoles supporting a fluorescent yellow banner.
In front of Alpha Force were another team. A Land Cruiser crawled along beside them. A figure leaned out of the window, waving and yelling at them.
Amber grabbed the rule book, which was sitting on the dashboard. 'Are they allowed to do that?' She riffled through the pages. 'Aha, here we are. "During the last phase only, members of the back-up team may accompany the competing team, in vehicles or on foot, and are permitted to offer encouragement and training tips. They must not, however, touch the teams in any way." So long as we don't give them a lift or tow them, we can do anything we want.' She threw the rule book back on the dashboard and grabbed her crutches, which were propped in the passenger footwell. 'Uncle, stop the car.'
John Middleton braked in a cloud of dust and looked at her quizzically.
'Guys, I'm hallucinating,' said Hex. A slim black girl on crutches had just come out of nowhere and was now alongside him. What's more, she was grinning at him.
'Hi,' said Amber. Her teeth were brilliant white and her eyes glittered.
'Guys, I'm having a nightmare,' groaned Hex.
Paulo finally registered what was happening. His reactions were so slow he felt like a sloth coming to.
Alex was staring at his feet, putting one in front of the other. He looked up momentarily. 'Hi, Amber.' His voice was groggy.
Li mumbled hello.
Amber kept up with them easily, poling herself along on the crutches as though she was punting a boat along a river. 'Hex,' she said, 'move your ass.'
Hex looked at her distastefully. 'Oh no, it's Miss Motivator. Go away.'
Amber looked at the team in front of them. One of them had fallen over. Now was the chance for Alpha Force. 'Hex,' she said, 'if I beat you to the finish there will be hell to pay.' She took off at a surprising speed, the crutches allowing her to vault over the ground in long strides.
Hex's arm was still linked around Li's. He disengaged. 'Well, I won't be beaten by someone on crutches,' he muttered, and took off in pursuit.
The judge, looking through binoculars from the finish line, could not believe his eyes. A girl on crutches was powering past the leading team, and turning to shout at someone behind her. Team Alpha Force found a burst of energy and began to run. They ran past the leaders, Team Hunter, pursuing the girl on crutches like greyhounds chasing a hare.
The trainer in the Land Cruiser gave his team a loud wake-up call. 'Come on, Hunters!' He was leaning so far out of the window that he was in danger of falling out. Team Hunter suddenly came to life. They began to run, fast.
At the finish line, Amber stopped and looked back. Team Hunter were gaining. She suddenly recognized their trainer: it was the man who had been staring at her when she took her insulin. She remembered the look of pity on his face. She opened her lungs and gave a great bellow. 'Move it, Alpha Force!'
Team Hunter had caught up. The teams were neck and neck. Eight runners in a row, pounding out the last hundred metres of their extraordinary marathon.
'Come on!' shouted the Hunters' trainer.
Hex, Li, Paulo and Alex were running hard. Their legs were on fire and their lungs were bursting. But the finishing line was merely ten or twenty strides ahead. After all they had gone through, Alpha Force were not going to give anything less than their best. Alex was the first to put on a spurt, and when he did, the others found reserves they had not dreamed existed. Adrenaline gave them raw power. Little by little, they drew ahead of the other team, intent only on reaching