Safety Kid's Arc

Chapter 1 of 1

Safety Kid caught the falling ladder with one hand and steadied the old woman on it. Behind him, three blocks away, someone screamed. He turned too late. A crate had already tipped and crushed a bike rack. He was tall and thin, hard hat low over his eyes, reflector vest bright in the sun. He had one job in this town: keep every single person safe from every hazard. But he had one body, and the town had a thousand corners. He ran to the crushed bike rack. By the time he arrived, a fire hydrant was leaking down the street. He couldn't watch both. He couldn't watch any of it, not really. Every time his back turned, someone got hurt. He was tired of arriving second. He followed the wet trail to its source. A stack of pipes lay across a walkway. A wet paint bucket sat on a stair. Loose nails glinted on the ground. One man stood in the middle of the mess, whistling, eating a sandwich. "Nick Hammer," Safety Kid said. Nick was the construction worker who caused half the hazards in town. He grinned, brushing crumbs off his stained vest. His hard hat sat crooked. "Safety Kid! You following me now?" "I'm following the danger. It keeps leading here." Safety Kid pointed at the paint bucket. "You left that on a stair. Someone could slip." Nick shrugged. "I move fast. Can't clean up every little thing." He kicked a nail aside like it proved his point. Safety Kid opened his mouth to argue. Then, across town, a car alarm blared. Somewhere else, a dog barked at something falling. He felt it again, that pull in ten directions at once. He couldn't chase Nick and guard the town too. He stopped. He looked up. Above the shops stood a rooftop garage with a wide deck on top. It was the highest point around. From there, you could see every street, every corner, every falling crate before it fell. He climbed the metal stairs two at a time. On the deck, the whole town spread below him like a map. He saw the leaking hydrant. He saw a child near a wobbling sign. He saw everything. "One body," he said to himself. "But one high place." He couldn't be everywhere. But from up here, he could see everywhere. He could spot the hazard first and shout the warning before anyone got hurt. He cupped his hands and yelled down at the child. The child stepped back. The sign fell on empty ground. Safety Kid grinned. He had his command post now. The town had a watchman with a view. But seeing a hazard was not the same as reaching it in time. Below him, Nick Hammer picked up his tools and wandered off to the next job, leaving a fresh trail of loose nails behind. Safety Kid watched him go, and knew his real problem had only just started.