More Adrenalin

I am continuing my story so hang on to the ride:

I glance back and see Damion. His eyes are glazed red; his huge tumbleweed is almost on me. He wants to crush me because his brother died in the last race. The race I won.

I lean left to steer away from him but he follows. I can see his white teeth and gloating smile through his ice encrusted blue lips. My tumbleweed vibrates violently as the serrated spears on Damion's tumbleweed eats at my logs. His head is thrown back in laughter; his eyeballs are rolled back in their sockets. I am almost in Hurricane Alley, once there I know the wind will separate us. I bang at one of my steerage cones with the heel of my foot until it breaks free. I wait until Damion's tumbleweed hits me again and I throw the huge cone out. It ricochets off the ice and implants into his tumbleweed. Now he is bouncing violently, unable to steer his tumbleweed. He points to me and slashes a finger across his throat. He is saying he will kill me yet.

Suddenly everything becomes a blur; the ice tornado has caught me. A gust of wind tears me out of my harness and now I am hanging onto the outer beams of my tumbleweed. Sticks, debis, and human clothes entangle in my legs. My pants are slashed and blood pours from the cuts on my legs.

I land hard in a mound of snow. Feeling blindly for my harness, I choke and crawl through the sea of powder. I find the harness and strap in just as the snow begins to move. Seeing occasional glimpses of blue sky, I tumble downward in the avalanche.

Without any warning, I am flying again. Hurricance force winds pummel me along the ice, I am in Hurricane Alley. I look back to where we started from and see Ice Cap Ridge splotched red with crushed tumbleweeds and their occupants. I look ahead and see three tumbleweeds far ahead of me. It is my friend Ulag, a woman named Toomba, and Damion. I release my ballast to lighten my load and am soon catching up to the group.

We enter Ice Lake where the glare of Catharsis's two suns makes a blinding white reflection on the smooth ice. My goggles fill with tears as my eyes fight the snow blindness. I see a gap in the ice where the swirling green sea has opened up a channel of water. I see Toomba leaning forward as she attempts to gain speed. She will try to skim across the water in her light tumbleweed. I lean right and the others in my group lean right, we will go around. Ulag's tumbleweed is not turning. He unstops his harness and he waves to me. He drops down through his tumbleweed and rolls violently on the ice. His large tumbleweed skims across the water and plunges suddenly in an ocean swell and sinks out of sight. Toomba's tumbleweed is slowing from the water's strong current; she will not reach the other side. She unstops her harness and shoots off a location flare. Her tumbleweed sinks and she struggles to the water's surface. I hope help reaches her in time. These waters are infested with man-eating Crocodilia and I already see their brown snouts glistening in the distance...more will follow.