Chapter 44 of 99 · Book 8, A Parade of Horribles

Chapter 44 — Upano: the pit stop; Jamal on the ceiling; three deaths in the street

Book: A Parade of Horribles · Part: Horrible One · Previous: Chapter 43 — The cannibals; Great Rusty; Pasty Inferno · Next: Chapter 45 — The garage of One Fine Pig · Floor: Floor 10 — Don't Come in Last · Series: the series

Opening

The piranhas did indeed fly.

Summary

The piranhas fly; the tires inflate to ford; Donut's Fresh into Salt (from her Champion of Nekhebit title) finishes the river, still no level. Finley chews his claw — 'No pay is worth this' — and Donut tells him he is trying to save his friends as much as they are. Under a neon PIT STOP arch: the Lost City of Upano, 'Mind the locals', safe-room rules off, every cul-de-sac house from all three heats rearranged in one suburban street with the Wienermobile poking from a garage, black tubes rising to the east, cliffs opposite, the slum beyond. Two-hour timer from parking; garage doors may not close. Eleven of twenty-four doors open — fourth place behind Sparkles, Flamengo and the Dominators; two houses boarded up. Hedy picks bloody red hair from the bumper: 'Race ain’t over yet, though'; 'They don’t want your shields too perfect. It’s a game. Don’t you be forgettin’.' A double-decker bus with a dromedarian behind an anti-air battery; the bugbears' van looks stepped on by a god. Jamal is stuck to the ceiling — afraid of heights — and then says why: Hedy told him if Carl dies they all die and will not even know, like the gremlin and the other races' houses; he climbed up to see everything at once the way the real Jamal used to, 'He was so brave, but he was not me […] I’m scared to come down, because if I do, maybe I won’t ever see it again.' Donut hovers up and whispers; he drops beside the truck; Mongo curls against him. What she said: worrying about what we cannot control ruins what we can; he is family now, and family helps even when it is frustrated. Finley comes out with Olga in his arms and Quemada strapped to his shoulder in a patch made for it, going to find a temple: 'How you feel about him, I feel about these guys. They’re my family […] I will do what it takes to protect them.' He steps into the street and One Fine Pig's APV runs all three down, reverses, and drives over them again.

Characters

• Carl — Counts eleven open doors: fourth place.
• Princess Donut — Hovers to Jamal and whispers him down; 'that’s what family does.'
• Team Helix (Olga, Finley and Quemada) — Finley: 'this is my family' — and all three run down in the street.
• Hedy — Picks bloody hair from the bumper; 'It’s a game. Don’t you be forgettin’'; unprotected with the door open.
• Jamal — Stuck to the ceiling, afraid of heights: 'He was so brave, but he was not me.'
• Mongo — Curls against him.
• Nico and Dario (One Fine Pig) — Their APV runs the mercenaries down and reverses over them.

Locations

• Upano — The Lost City, a suburban street of every heat's houses under a neon arch.
• The garage and the cul-de-sac — Their garage, door open by rule.

Motifs

• Waking the NPCs — 'If you die, we die. We won’t even know.'
• Carl's family — Donut's speech to the shark.
• The mobs are victims — Three deaths on the way to a temple.
• The tenth floor — Garage doors may not close at pit stops.