Chapter 1: Racing Pedigree
October 3, 2020 Thursday
John was still living with his mother, who didn't know about his street racing talent. One sunny day, when he was doing his math homework his phone rang, he took it and saw a message from Benny.
Benny: Yo mate. You comin' to the meet right?
John: Yea. Lemme finish my homework.
Benny: Ok. See you there. B out.
John put the phone away and focused on his boring, yet relatively simple math problems. When he was done and the clock almost hit 9 p.m., he jumped from his seat and walked to the garage, opening the gate. There she stood. A 570 horsepower, 6 cylinder, fine tuned Nissan Skyline Gojira. He got a yet another text from Benny.
Benny:
Mate, where r u? The race is 'bout to start!
John:
Be there in 30 minutes. Don't drink too much without me.
Benny:
OK, see ya there, mate.
He jumped into his Nissan and drove off. The city skyscrapers were towering high as he drove through the streets. He got to the meet faster than expected, due to less traffic. Despite the abandoned city, people put up a good damn party there and everybody was having fun. As John slowly drove through the wall of cars, while "ABBA-Waterloo" played in the backround, he noticed The R34 and the Austin-Healey that belonged to his friends, who were in the bar. He parked next to the cars, got out and approached his friends, who were sitting behind the bar stand.
"Chaps." He greeted.
"Hey Scott." David greeted back.
"Hey there Scott. Ready to race?" Benny also greeted back.
"Yeah. Any updates?" John asked.
"Well for the starter, the route changed, and also co-drivers are no longer allowed, which means Benny isn't with you." David explained
"Then how am I gonna know where to go?" John asked.
"Relax cowboy, I'm gonna have a drone hover above you and I'll tell you all the turns through an earpiece. The range is bigger than the circuit, so you don't have to worry about any interuptions." Benny explained.
"Well, I hope your drone wont run out of batteries. If it does I'm stuck." John joked. Benny laughed.
"You better hope your car's battery wont run out." Benny joked back.
John and David stood up, went to their cars and set off to the starting point of the race. There were a lot of people crowded near the cars. All the racers were playing cool, chatting with the people. John put his earpiece on and Benny spoke up.
"Alright, I see you." Benny said. John looked up to see his drone in the sky.
"Yeah I see you too" He said.
"These cars are nothing to worry about, except for that Plymouth GTO." Benny said, John turned his attention to the black Plymouth. "That thing is fast on the straights, but that mobile halfords will pay it's price on the corners. So be ready to overtake. But don't underestimate Razor. He's got some dirty stuff." He explained.
"Gotcha." John said.
Everybody lined up to the starting line next to some railways. John and David were in the back, as for Razor, he was upfront. Everybody revved their engines. A train passing by would signal the start of the race.
"Starts 100, hairpin right, caution train. Good luck." Benny said.\
The train passing by turned on its horn signaling the race. Everybody set off. Immediately John and David started to move up. They passed a Mitsubishi Eclipse and a Kia Stinger GT.
"Hairpin Left, careful for the train." Benny warned.
Five cars got away from the train while the Kia got stuck. Continiuing into the race, Razor got a 3 second lead, behind was a BMW M3, then a Lotus Cortina, which crashed at the nearest intersection into a truck. Now all John and David had to worry about was that pesky M3 and the hoppin GTO. The M3 held it's spot, while David overtook John.
"Slow down, hairpin left turns right 1 square, into parking, narrow entrance 1 left square." Benny instructed.
They approached some cones lined up for a hairpin to an entrance into a multi-storey parking lot. The M3 did not calculate it's speed giving the chance for David to overtake on the turn. John also took advantage and overtook him on the inside.
"Sorry bro, but I gotta win this one." John said.
"WHOO! Now that's an overtake, Razor to go! Right 1 square narrow exit, caution right 2" Benny complemented.
The 4 cars emerged from the parking lot to a triple lane road, accelerating off. John and David were slowly closing on Razor. Turns out the GTO is not that fast on the straits and they took advantage of it. Up ahead was the finish. John drove to the left, taking the lead. They scored a 1-2 win with Razor taking 3rd. They stopped near a croud of people cheering. Then a mysterious man approached him.
"Not bad. You've certainly proved yourself. Cmon, let's take a walk" It was Warren Collins, the head of the racing club.
Warren Collins was a old man, hard to impress. He himself won many many races in his younger years. Now he organises illegal races in Detroit.
"I hardly ever watch my races, I've come here because a bird told me there's this fella who's been winnin' a lot. You have skill I'll tell you that. What is your motivation, what gets you up in the mornin' to race?" Warren asked. John took a moment to think.
"The thrill of speed. That's what gets me up in the morning, I suppose." He answered.
"Heh. You know you're just like your father." Warren said.
"You knew my father?" John asked.
"The hell if I did. He was the best racer in Detroit back in the 80s. Then the rookie showed up, slammed him into a building, You weren't even born." Warren answered.
"What was he like?" John asked.
"He was rampant, never afraid to speak his mind. That was what got him winnin' so many races. Everybody respected him. Looks like that skill of yours came from your father." Warren said.
After some time of talking they heard sirens from far. It was the police. Everybody started running to their cars. Suddenly a helicopter flew above them.
"Need a ride, sir?" John offered.
"I would certainly appreciate that." Warren said.
They both ran to his silver Nissan and drove off. Police cars were everywhere. To their lack of luck they were being pushed from both sides of the road by police cars. John took a decisive action and turned left into an alleyway. Unable to get away from the police, he got an idea: the train. If they get there in time, they would win 10 minutes of time. They were lucky, because the train was soon to cross. John slided through, just as the train passed, trapping the police there. They got away.
"Honestly I thought we would crash there." Warren confesed.
"What? No faith in your friend?" John joked. Warren laughed hard.
"God you're your father's doppleganger!" He said. "You can drop me off at the tuning shop just outside the city." Warren said.
John did so. Then he drove back to his house, thinking about how ridiculously magnificent his life is.