They Call Me...Wyatt Lee: Adventure Kids, #4

By T. James Logan

Games, Go-karts, and Grinding Gears...

Wyatt loves two things. Video games and go-kart racing. They're even better when he can do both at the same time.

Wyatt spends weeks trying to beat the Big Boss on a new kart-racing game, a boss no one in the world has been able to beat. When he finally does, a weird guy shows up, saying he's from the game company.
And then things get even weirder, taking Wyatt on the ride of his life...

• Language: English
• Publisher: Bear Paw Publishing
• Release date: Jun 9, 2020
• ISBN: 9781393778929

Book preview

They Call Me...

Wyatt Lee

By

T. James Logan

Bear Paw Publishing Denver

www.bearpawpublishing.com

Copyright © 2020 by T. James Logan

Cover Illustration by João Rodri

Cover Design by Kaylen Helgason

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, or mechanical without explicit permission in writing from the Author or Publisher.

I

Wyatt Lee leaned into his game controller, applying feather-light pressure to the thumb stick. On the television screen, his go-kart zoomed down the twisty-turny rainbow track, imaginary spectators whizzing past at impossible speeds. He was in second place, again, in the last level of StarKart, the Belt Blaster Championship. His shoulders were tense, his upper lip sweaty, his breathing tight, his body leaning left and right with the turns, his fingers squeezing the buttons hard to hit the brakes and drift into a hairpin turn. Frenetic music and kaleidoscopic colors washed over him.

The last kart between him and finish line was XOLTHOR, the final Boss Racer, forever just out of reach, his kart always just a little too fast, his moves a little too quick.

The translucent track spiraled and undulated through a field of asteroids, with no walls to keep karts that lost control from flying off into space. There was no up or down, only the track as it looped and curved.

His hands were sweaty.

He was dimly aware of Cassidy watching cross-legged behind him , her breath catching at close calls, gasping in excitement is Wyatt’s kart inched closer to XOLTHOR’s rear bumper. She loved to play StarKart, too, but being only nine, she wasn’t as good at it as he was. She was often the annoying little sister, but he secretly liked it when she watched. Somehow, it helped him get into the Zone.

With half a lap to go, Wyatt picked up a Hyper Boost at exactly the right moment and catapulted into the lead.

Cassidy hooted with encouragement.

On the sofa behind her, Hot Rod, their dachshund, gave a growling huff.

Shh! he said, concentrating so hard it was like he could feel the go-kart around him. He had long since lost count of how many times he’d tried to beat XOLTHOR, dozens, maybe a hundred. The insectoid alien’s moves were always a little too crafty or quick for Wyatt to get around him at the crucial moment, which was right before the finish line. No one ever stayed ahead of XOLTHOR for long. His kart was perfectly setup for the Belt Blaster track, just the right tires, just the right suspension, just the right gear ratio to balance torque with high-end speed. After every race with XOLTHOR, Wyatt tweaked his kart’s stats, trying to find the optimal numbers, just like his dad always talked about with stock car racing and Wyatt’s own go-kart.

StarKart was a new game, and like all video games, there was plenty of information on the internet for on how to beat the bosses, but strangely, no one had yet beaten XOLTHOR. This led to Great Internet Whine Storms about how the game was too hard. And the developers, Ganymede Games hadn’t released any kind of statement or strategies, which in and of itself was weird.

Around Loss Number Fifty, Wyatt had decided that he was going to be the first to beat XOLTHOR, no matter what it took. The name Wyatt Lee would go at the top of the leaderboard and remain there for all time.

Coming up on the last section of the track before the finish line, a complicated, curving spiral that looked like someone had bent a stretched Slinky toy. It required precise control or else losing control and skidding off the track into deep space, even more complicated by trying to avoid XOLTHOR rocketing up behind him. Wyatt squeezed the controller harder and leaned in, tucking his tongue in the corner of his mouth.

A Homing Missile lock beeped a warning. XOLTHOR had picked up a Homing Missile from one of the boost pickups that popped up along the track.

Wyatt Lee!

The voice from right behind him levitated him into the air, all four limbs jerking straight. The controller went flying. His heart seized, and he made a kind of bawling-bleat sound.

XOLTHOR’s homing missile blew Wyatt’s kart off the track, sending him spinning off into space. XOLTHOR’s kart zipped across the finish line to much fanfare.

His mother loomed over him. Wyatt Lee, you are supposed to be mowing the lawn!

But—!

"I said, video game after mowing the lawn!"

Cassidy pursed her lips, eyes wide, and tried to fade into the carpet.

XOLTHOR appeared on the screen with a smug expression and a gesture of his pincers that looked like a thumbs down. All you race are belong to us.

Wyatt lay on the floor staring