Mark Cooper finished his coffee then got readied for work. In that order every day. A uniform hung on the valet stand without wrinkle or blemish. The coffee would be far away in the kitchen from the uniform. He called it the stain magnet. After washing up, Mark shaved, ate breakfast, and did anything else he had to do before leaving.

Then and only then after all else was finished and organized Mark put on the uniform of the North Carolina State Highway Patrol. He looked in the mirror. Mark practiced twenty draws of his pistol, getting a sight picture of himself in the mirror. He holstered the weapon in the reverse movement. Then ten draws of his handcuffs and ten of the expandable baton. When finished, he did one last slow draw of each.

As he walked out of the house, he walked around the car. No dents or blemishes. Once inside it started with low hum of a new engine. He called in to dispatch to start his shift and left his driveway. In two hundred feet Cooper was on the I-485.

Karen Blitzy Sparks rolled out of her side of the bed to do the morning shopping before breakfast. Her husband Arthur Spark-Gap Sparks snored. A bedside bassinet had Archie still sleeping.

Tip-toeded out of the bedroom and got ready for the farmers market. Blitzy wore a jogging suit and tied her shoes at the front door. New shoes were due. The soles on this pair were going to go bad soon. A speedster that ran on maypops didn’t run for long. With a canvas grocery bag on her arm, Blitzy headed out. She left Mint Hill turning onto the I 485. She planned to be gone and back before anyone woke up.

Janice Alacrity, also know as Go-Go2, walked outside as the party was winding down. She had been away from her apartment for three days now. The sound of the music faded as the door closed. The sunrise blinded her for a moment solved with a pair of wrap-around sunglasses. Janice checked her boots and form-fitting body leather. The hightop running boots would need retreaded soon. The leather clung tightly to her body. She adjusted the Velcro compression straps.

A quick pull at the ends of a new red ribbon kept Janice hair tight. She looked around at the daylight. With a step, she zipped down the road. The alcohol began to burn from her system as she got up to speed on the beltway.

Mark drove his usual route with a full tank of gas and a new calibrated radar gun. Traffic slowed down around him. As the apex predator of the new interstate, no one with common sense wanted to attract his attention. It was also taking time for people to get use to the new sections that were opened. A red-black blur passed Mark on the hard shoulder. A speedster.

Go-Go? No. colors are wrong, that's the other one, the daughter, Mark thought. She ran with the flow of traffic. He clicked the radar, sixty five miles per hour. On the other side of the road, a second speedster passed the other way. She ran against traffic. The radar gun clocked her at eighty.

Wrong side of the road, Mark thought. The Speedsters were allowed to run on the Interstate. There were never enough of them to have a dedicated lane. And only a hand full of that could run over a hundred mile an hour. They all had bad habits of crossing traffic and short cutting through median strips or the road side brush. Paths could be seen in the kudzu near the ramps.

There was a rumor of an archipelago culture of median divider islands and rest stops developing. That was a rumor, but there were places where traffic worker and Speedster could pull off to stop.

As Mark came around a turn. The speedster who had kept pace with the traffic, stepped wrong. She rolled out over the gravel for a few dozen feet. Mark turned on his lights and pulled to the side of the road.

The speedster got up as Mark got over to her. Stones had driven into the leather jacket and pants.

"Are you alright?" Mark said. She pointed to the road.

"That bitch did something to the road," She said as she got up. Her hands brushed off the stones.

She seems alright, Mark thought.

Mark walked up and down the median.

"I don't see anything wrong," Mark said.

"I'm telling you she did something," She said.

"OK. What's your name?" Mark said.

"Go-Go," She said.

"Your real name?" Mark said.

"Janice Alacrity," Janice said.

"Your mom's Go-Go?" Mark said. He could smell the alcohol on her breath. 

"Yeah."

 She'll be stone sober by the time I could test her, Mark thought.

"Can your mom pick you up?" Mark said.

"We don't drive. I can walk it off," Janice said.

Blitzy came back from the market with a bag of sweet potatoes. At the turn in I-485, she saw the other speedster on the median. Blitzy passed and hit a patch of loose stones. Her foot slipped out from under her, which sent her into a roll-out. Sweet potatoes went flying.

The other speedster looked at her in shock. Blitzy pulled herself off the gravel.

That Go-Go woman, Blitzy thought as she got up to dust herself off. Her knee bled. Blitzy zipped for a potato. Her arm came back for a throw. Go-Go zipped to the side as the potato passed, then ran.

You are not running from this, Blitzy thought.

The two ran down the I-485 against traffic. Blurs ran between cars moving from lane to lane. The women ran around the loop twice over the next hour. Janice stayed ahead of Blitzy. It ended when the two passed Spark Gap. He had pulled the family sedan over on the side of the road past the airport. A cigar burned in his mouth as he leaned on the side of the car. Blitzy stopped; Spark-Gap opened the car door with a flourish of his hand and a stern look. She climbed in, and he closed the door.

"Why are you doing this?" Spark-Gap said as he dropped into the drivers seat.

"She started it," Blitzy said.

"It don't look good that I have to come down here to get you off the streets," Spark-Gap said.

"You make that sound insulting,” Blitzy said.

“Can’t you go to the mall and shop lift or pick pockets?” Spark-Gap said.

“The mall has high speed cameras,” Blitzy said.

“The heroes are going to break this feud up eventually,” Spark-Gap said.

“Let them try.”

“This is going to end with you in the joint. You want someone else raising Archie. Because I’ll need to get a nanny or some shit like that,” Spark-Gap said.

“She started it.” Blitzy said.

“You better end it.”

Mark Cooper stopped at a roadside coffee truck just off I-485. With a refilled thermos, he watched the traffic. Janice zipped up to the car.

"Hello Mark," Janice said.

"Go-Go," Cooper said.

"Catch any bad guys?" Janice said.

"No. Just speeding tickets. You?" Mark said.

"I've been chasing that Blitzy around," Janice said.

"You two are a menace on this stretch of road. Your going to cause an accident someday," Mark said.

"She started it," Janice said.

"It doesn't matter who started it. And Blitzy's husband is a mob capo," Mark said.

"So?" Janice said.

"Their dangerous people," Mark said.

"But I have you to protect me. Right? Trooper Cooper?" Janice said.

August 20th, 2002

Blitzy sat with Spark-Gap in the sedan across from the church parking lot. Just in time to see the wedding procession of Mark and Janice Cooper walk out of the church.

"Look at that Bitch," Blitzy said. She started to get out, but Spark-Gap grabbed the back of her neck. A tingle of electricity ran through his fingers. He pulled her back to the seat.

"We could be married in peace because of the truce. Our parents lived through chaotic times. I want more of a life than that. We do not violate weddings and funerals," Spark-Gap said. Blitzy crossed her arms and slumped in the car seat.

"Have you seen enough of the wedding?" Spark-Gap said.

"Yes," She looked into the back seat at Archie. He played with a toy dinosaur.

"Can I get a dinosaur?" Archie said.

"To expensive, we'd go broke feeding it," Spark-Gap said.

"We'd have money if you didn't send them a card," Blitzy said.

"That was a professional courtesy. And besides the fifty's are counterfeit," Spark-Gap said.

"You didn't?" Blitzy said with a smile.

"I had to get rid of them somewhere," Spark Gap said.

March 7th, 2004

The two speedsters passed on I-485/I-84 interchange. Both turned back around at each other to run up to speed. Knees and elbows struck in the pass. Both skidded along the median. Overhead a weave of roads blocked out the sun, the new turbine interchange. The women looked at each other for a moment. Then the fight turned into a whirring cloud of dust too fast to follow. It paused when in a clinch, only to break in more speed. The two crossed over traffic, dodging each other and cars.

The fight cut across traffic and ran up the on-ramps causing cars to the side of the road. The two speedsters chased each over the medians changing lanes and winding through the turbine.

Then at a turn in the road before the lower underpass. Blitzy tossed an egg into Janice's eyes; Janice threw a bolo that caught Blitzy's left ankle. Both stopped in the middle of the interstate in the shadow of the lower bridge. Blitzy held her ankle wrapped with the bolo. Janice wiped the egg from her face.

The women paused to catch their breath. Until a screech of breaks. Both zipped to the side of the road, but the car turned off to slam into the underpass supports. Blitzy saw it; a State Trooper car smashed under the bridge. She took a few steps back and then zipped away. Janice zipped over to the car. The windshield was blasted open where Mark had ejected.

November 11th, 2020

Janice and Jenny arrived at the cemetery by cab. A small group had gathered at the grave site. The names carved on the headstones were Arthur 'Spark-Gap' Sparks and Linda 'Blitzy' Sparks.

I never knew her first name, Janice thought.

She stopped herself from getting closer.

Jenny went over to Misty, who waited with a group of men. Janice felt relief when Jenny and Misty hugged. She looked over the small group. A Cartel funeral, she thought.

Janice saw Crusher Mike, the Underboss of Charlotte. That man had come up under Spark-Gap, Janice remembered. He talked to Jenny. Next to Mike, the man in a perfect dark suit. The unmistakable black and white striped hair. Manticore. Other members of the old Fifth Street gang and the Cartel of Doom stood around. The gangsters scowled at Janice but respected the peace.

With the caskets lowered, the grave keepers started their work. The mourners drifted away. Manticore greeted Janice with a wave.

"Janice, how's your mother?" Manticore said.

"Good. She's still running," Janice said.

"I'm glad to hear it. Is this Jenny?" Manticore said.

"Yes."

"She takes after you," Manticore said.

"Thank you," Janice said.

"How is Mark doing?" Manticore said.

"It became to much to care for him at home. Without him the house feels empty—" Janice said. Janice clenched her jaw to hold back the tears. Not in front of this man. Not him, Janice thought.

"All the more that the girls need to be at peace," Manticore said.

The Cartel members started to blink away in puffs of mist. Manticore looked over his shoulder.

"I'm sorry, I have to go," Manticore said.

"I understand," Janice said. Misty and Jenny walked over, and Misty took Manticore's hand. And were gone. Janice looked back at the grave.

"Wait here, I want to say goodbye.” She walked up to the grave. "Blitzy, our pride got out of control, I'm sorry.” The speedster feud was over.