CHAPTER 20 – THE DEATH DERBY 500 (OBSTACLE RACE) PART 3

Johnny pulled the prototype up to the next checkpoint. He let out a frustrated sigh. That was too close even for me. Thought Johnny. He was getting tired of the close calls, but it was also giving him all the excitement he was dying for.

The humanoid rift eater approached Johnny from the checkpoint building as he pulled up. “It is a pity you made it this far. At least my master is getting a performance from this.” The beast chuckled as he finished his response. The beast eyed Johnny again. “As before you have thirty minutes to prepare for this next quarter. It is an obstacle race that is split into two sections. The first heads up to that mountain over there with the second part being a suprise going down,” The beast pointed his finger at the mountain very far away, chuckling before walking away. The beast's look gave Johnny a bad feeling. He ignored the remark for now working next on the prototype.

Johnny got to work using the onboard terminal to determine the damage that was caused and what needed to be fixed. Once again, the suspension had minor damage. He sighed with grief. When I get back to D.R.I.F.T. I am going to have them give me a suspension that will never break on me. This is just costing me too much with the core essence. A few other parts of the prototype needed minor repairs. He inputted the commands to fix the issues on the terminal. The prototype gave him a warning prompt he would be down to forty percent of essence after the fixes. He just ignored the warning and accepted yes. The prototype soon glowed with a dark purple color as it repaired the damage.

Johnny picked out what he was going to add to the prototype or skip. He quickly dismissed the customization process along with any new weapons not having to use any in the last quarter. He chose a body of a Ford Fiesta RS, with a rally car-based setup, including tires, that had a five speed mid ranged manual transmission. He quickly made the changes as he watched the prototype begin to glow. The prototype glowed a dark purple as the body shifted into the Ford. The prototype warned him he was now down to thirty percent in essence. I am really going to have to be even more diligent in this run. He sighed with more frustration, preying he wouldn't get any more damage of some sort.

He pulled the prototype up to the next starting line. Only 250 more miles to go. He let out a breath of excitement combined with fear looking ahead at the course in front of him. The course broke off from the main starting point into different directions that zig zagged through a hilly terrain with jumps, ramps, hoops, loops, etc. The roads all converged into one path that led further on up a mountain. He couldn't see what was on the other side. Johnny could only imagine what was on the other side. He would have to reach the tip to find out.

Johnny focused his eyes off the course right as the lights flickered on the starting grid. A screen above the lights flickered revealing the humanoid rift eater. “A quarter of the field will be eliminated at the next quarter.” The beast spoke as the lights then turned from red to yellow. Johnny revved the engine with excitement as the light turned from yellow to green. As soon as It turned green he floored it down out of the starting grid for the route he decided.

Johnny was surprised how many other drivers broke off in other routes on the course, turning into a chaotic mess causing some cars to clip each other. He made his way through a path that was meant for rally cars. Johnny put his driving skulls to use as he soared over jumps, drifted turns, and sped down straight aways.

The race through the obstacles that lasted one hundred and fifteen miles, was uneventful for Johnny, heading back to one road heading up the mountain. He had pulled away up to the mid twenties, looking like he would make it to the next checkpoint with ease.

Things came to a screeching halt for Johnny when he made it to the top. He had to apply the brakes looking at a new problem, with the other drivers sitting their. A giant walled barrier blocked everyone's way, that had a giant monitor on it. No one could get passed the wall that extended in each direction as far as the eye could see.

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The screen turned on showing the humanoid rift ester, just as one more car crested the mountaintop.

“The last ten miles will have you going down the mountain to the next checkpoint. When the doors open on the count down of three, you will go,” the beast said with a haunting smile. The screen turned black counting down from three to zero, with the gates opening.

Johnny could only watch as everyone pushed their way through the gate flooring it down the hill. He folllwed after everyone else down the ten miles steep grade. The road narrowed near the bottom going from twenty lanes wide to just four. At the bottom of the mountain was a giant wooden ramp spanning a two hundred and fifty foot gorge, with the next checkpoint on the other side.

The second portion of the obstacle's leg started very chaotically, with some drivers using their weapons while others went for it.

Johnny barely managed to dodge a missile firing from a car. He had to yank his wheel to the left, hitting a driver in front of him blowing it to smithereens as it tumbled down the mountain. This is nuts, was all Johnny could think before a warning on his onboard terminal went off.

He was a half mile down the mountain when he looked over to see what it was. A countdown timer for something had appeared. Johnny could only assume more trouble with the timer.

Johnny had to dodge other drivers blasting each other to smithereens going down. He took a few shots himself to clear others out of the way as the timer kept ticking away.

About two-thirds of the way down. Johnny ran into more trouble. His brakes wouldn't respond as he kept hitting them. Johnny began to panic putting the car in neutral hoping to slow himself down. Only to be rearended by one of his clones. The same one that had cut his tire down in the first quarter.

The clone rammed Johnny causing him to go into an out of control spin. His tires skidded hard sliding down the grade now driving backwards. His clone locked his front bumper while pushing his car faster and faster going backwards, only to havie his car rammed into tte back of another driver. The other clone didn't take kindly to the shove with a missile locking onto Johnny's car.

Johnny had to think fast or he would be blown to pieces. He yanked his wheel to the left, unwinding himself as he slid sideways. The clone behind him slammed into causing Johnny to bump into the clone in front of him, right at the missile fired.

His car clipped the driver going up on two wheels, while the missile hit the clone behind him. The blast blew Johnny on his roof as he slid down the mountain. Other drivers behind were caught in the blast and ensuing fireball. His car slid a quarter mile before flipping back over, after getting bumped by a destroyed vehicle. Johnny tried to get back to speed.

This isn't good, I won't have enough speed to get over the gorge. Johnny thought flooring now for the ramp.

His thoughts were interrupted with a warning from the terminal again. The timer was down to twenty seconds when he approached the ramp, he floored the car as fast as it would go. A few seconds later, Johnny reached the ramp hoping he had enough speed. He drove off the ramp with his heart pounding realizing his speed wasn't enough.

Johnny jumped the ramp cursing to himself he wasn't going to make it. His momentum stopped when he was only two thirds of the way before his car lost to gravity. He could only watch as his car nose dived into the gorge with an endless river of nothingness.

This is the end. I'm sorry Julia i couldn't win, was all Johnny could think with tears coming out of his eyes with them closed, feeling his car plummet fast.

The only sound he could hear was the countdown timer hitting zero before he was suddenly jolted to open his eyes by a powerful blast that shattered his ear drums. He couldn't believe what he was seeing, flipping through the air. The mountain had blown itself to pieces in a massive volcanic eruption that destroyed everything on the other side.

The shockwave catapulted the prototype onto the other side with a hard landing nose first. The car rested on all fours with major suspension damage. So much for trying not to get another trashed suspension. Johnny sighed as he crawled the crippled prototype to the next checkpoint.