CHAPTER 18 – THE DEATH DERBY 500 (OFF ROAD) PART 1
Johnny glanced in the rearview briefly, then focusing back on the race with the green light to go, flooring the gas pedal. He knew what had happened when the light turned yellow. Seven cars had been taken out in the explosion.
Johnny thought back to an event from where that car had been when tte explosion happened, driving the prototype over a rough, rocky landscape for the first leg of the race.
His car had been tampered with in a race. He was lucky the race had been postponed for a few hours due to a bad crash with a car flying into a portion of the grandstands, tearing out a section of fencing and starting a fire. The race was immediately red flagged to put it out and fix the damage to the fencing.
Even though Banzai Bangers was sadistic to the drivers. It wasn’t the same for fans on the matter. People had to sit up in higher sections of seating.
Due to the postponed race. He had left his car on the track under the red to get food and sign autographs. About a half an hour into the delay Johnny’s car exploded into a massive fireball that consumed six other cars in the process.
Johnny shivered from the thought of how his car had detonated. Banzai Bangers never caught the culprit which made Johnny mad. From that day on he had his car inspected twice before and after every race if his car was still usable after. He could only sigh being thankful his life hadn't ended that day.
An half an hour had passed with Johnny doing well at first, but was now falling behind just outside the top fifty. His progress was slowed from getting hit by others who kept ramming him or trying to shoot him with weapons.
As a result, he chose a different route that was more challenging, having fewer drivers.The alternate route was riskier but was shorter in length. It would go up and down a mountainside. Whereas the regular route looped around the whole mountain on a dirt path with gravel.
Johnny slowly began the ascent of the mountain as he drove. He paid attention to his surroundings for other drivers. He only caught a glimpse of ten drivers using the mountain road. Many of which had already made it off the mountain.
About half an hour later he made it to the top of the peak. He got a good look at the rest of the off-road portion. He stopped for just a few minutes to get a good look at his surroundings, looking down the mountain, Johnny saw where both roads merged back into one route. The road led over a dry canyon with a wooden bridge leading across. He looked around the canyon in both directions. One side rounded a bend that was blocked by other mountains. The other side led uphill with a wooden dam holding back some sort of black liquid he couldn’t identify.
An alert made Johnny come back from his sightseeing. His on-board computer was letting him know he was running outside the top seventies. Johnny let out a curse to himself as he thought. I cannot be so distracted with the sights… He drove down the mountain trying not to beat himself up over it.
The descent down the mountain wasn’t as bad as going up. Johnny had made up time with the alternate route going down. He had made it back to the upper fifties in position as he was now heading for the wooden bridge. He could see a handful of vehicles crossing the bridge in front of him as he approached.
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Johnny floored it as he drove over the bridge not wanting to be rammed off by any rivals. A few were whacking each other as they crossed. He only made it about half-way before the ground began to shake violently. Fearing the bridge was going to collapse, he gunned it to the other side, only for the bridge to collapse from the shaking. Johnny watched in horror as a few vehicles plummeted off the edge of the broken span. He looked back to see the other side of the bridge still stood.
The other drivers on the bridge began to panic with the shaking. Johnny remained calm although deep inside he wanted to panic too. He put the prototype into reverse as he drove backwards as the ground finally stopped shaking. Johnny let out a sigh of relief. Only to be followed by a loud crashing noise of splintering wood. The sound was soon followed by a loud roar of raging rapids.
Johnny looked over in the direction of the noise as he was still reversing. His face soon turned to an expression of horror as he saw the wall of black liquid rushing down the canyon at a horrific speed.
All hell was braking loose on the bridge as the remaining drivers were ramming into each other trying to get off the bridge. Some were going in reverse, others had turned around and drove to the other side. Johnny was one of them. Knowing his life was on the line and the other drivers were just clones of himself. He didn’t care who he rammed into on the bridge as he made a dash for it. He knocked the others off the bridge as he made his dash. Johnny looked at the wall of black liquid as it was now several hundred feet from the bridge. Johnny had only two hundred more feet to go…
The black liquid started to consume the bridge as it hit it. The first part of the bridge to fall was the side that already had collapsed. Within seconds the bridge began to fall apart completely with Johnny bumping up and down as the bridge collapsed behind him. Johnny barely made it across as he skidded to a stop. That was too close. Johnny thought breathing hard.
He watched with an expression of horror as the bridge was washed away along with six other drivers who hadn’t made it in time. After about a minute the black liquid had completely vanished from the canyon leaving no trace of the bridge.
A message on the prototype’s terminal alerted Johnny. It informed him he needed to take a new route. Johnny groaned as he had to go in a new direction.
This is just too much…, thought Johnny as he plotted a new course for the checkpoint…
Once again, he took the less traveled routes to keep from getting rammed or blown up. The last ten miles ended up being the most difficult for him.
Johnny was minding his own business when out of nowhere the clone that gave him the bad vibes at the start of the race, slammed into his side of his car coming around a blind corner. The collision blew out Johnny's left front with an audiuble pop. Johnny nearly lost control, almost flying off a cliff.
Johnny swore under his breath as he now had to battle with a blown tire. He rapidly began to lose positions falling out of the top fifties to mid sixties, struggling to grip the wheel and continue.
With three miles to go the tire completely shredded apart driving on a bare rim kicking up sparks. Johnny’s frustration only grew now that he was going slower. Which cost him even more spots. Johnny was determined to not let a bare rim keep him out. He pushed the humvee with all his skill and might.
He was only half a mile from the next checkpoint when the bare rim completelty disintegrated. Johnny’s frustration was at a boiling point, not wanting to lose any more positions. He pushed the prototype to the limit, dragging the left front on the ground creating a shower of sparks, limping into the next checkpoint.
As soon as he passed over the marker for the one hundred- and twenty-five-mile mark. Johnny’s ears were filled with loud bangs. He looked back to see seventy-sixth position explode into a massive fireball, who was just one feet away. The car wasn’t the only one to blow up. Johnny had heard other multiple explosions that were close bye and far away, which was followed by rising columns of thick black smoke.