CHAPTER 21 - THE DEATH DERBY 500 - (DRAG RACE) - PART 4

Johnny had crossed the line in tenth coming into the next check point. He was surprised only that many people had finished.

The humanoid rift eater approached him giving him a dirty look. “It is a pity you survived all that. Let's just hope you can't beat the last leg.”

The beast walked away from Johnny who went to work on fixing the damage. He input commands to repair tte damage on the terminal. It warned him he would be down to twenty percent after. He ignored the warning and fixed the prototype. Now he needed to figure out the final setup.

Johnny made a quick assessment of what he was going to need for this leg. Unfortunately, the terminal said he wouldn’t have enough core essence. Before he could panic, a hidden option on the terminal allowed him to transfer any used weapons or armor back to the core for more essence. Johnny hit yes on the terminal as he decided to leave only a few select weapons. He was now back to thirty-five percent with essence. He then moved onto the next phase of commands.

Johnny set up the prototype run as fast as possible. He turned the prototype into a Koenigsegg Phantom.He added a six-speed automatic transmission. Although he had more core essence, he chose not to add any armor or new weapons. He added two tanks of nitrous oxide to help him get a boost. With the changes made he hit the terminal to change to the prototype. He was given another warning that he would be down to ten percent in essence, again he ignored the message and hit yes. He watched as the prototype glowed a dark purple as the prototype shifted from a Ford Fiesta RS turning into Koenigsegg Phantom. I’m coming for you Julia.

With his preparations made Johnny pulled up to the starting grid for the last 125 miles. He would be starting in tenth position. Johnny looked past the other cars at the track ahead.

Nighttime soon would be over as the moon was setting low and the light of day was just beginning. It passed over the blackened desert landscape. The road was smooth with no signs of wear or tear. Johnny noticed the road had a banking when reaching the turns.

The countdown with the lights initiated as they went from red to green. When the light hit green, everyone took off from the starting grid. Johnny quickly passed two drivers at the start. He was hitting 250 mph within the next few minutes trying to get a feel for the car.

“This is way too fast.” Johnny thought to himself with excitement as his heart was hammering from the speed.

Within a few minutes Johnny had already clocked off about 8 miles running in fifth position, roaring the engine at 300 mph. He used draft from other cars to pull ahead into his current spot.

Johnny was having a frustrating time trying to pass fourth who kept blocking him every time he tried to pass. He had almost spun out and crashed from trying to pass.

How I am going to pass this guy. Johnny thought with frustration gritting his teeth. Low on ammo Johnny didn’t want to use his weapons till the very end. Sixth place pulled up next to Johnny on the left. The driver was going for a pass on Johnny. Thinking of a move. Johnny pulled to the right as both now were going to pass fourth going three-wide.

As Johnny began to pull by with the driver on his left. Johnny heard a whistling sound which was followed by a massive explosion. Johnny looked to his left to see both cars exploded into a massive fireball as he drove on. He watched from the rearview as both cars tumbled down the road ripping off pieces of their cars. Flaming debris littered the road where a few unlucky drivers ran over blowing out tires or breaking some other part of the cars.

Johnny then noticed in his rear view as he rounded a corner. A black mass began to appear on the roadway behind him. It started out with a glimmering form as is faded into existence. A midnight black semi-truck with an attached trailer began to barrel down on Johnny and the remainder of the field. Mounted on the trailer of the truck were guns and cannons. Johnny looked out in horror as it fired another shell towards him, he had to swerve to avoid being pelted by the shell as it exploded just feet in front of him.

Johnny had made it to the final quarter of the last leg of the race. There were only five cars running due to the truck continuing to shower the racers with bullets and cannon fire wirh Johnny having enough of it.

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“I need to get this monkey off my back.” Johnny said in frustration who was running in third currently. Johnny went over the options of left over weapons he still had. “I have oil slick, flame thrower, and a gatling rifle with 100 rounds left. I also have a pistol but that will not work.” He sighed. “Let’s just hope this idiocy of a plan works and I don’t blow up.” He complained to himself.

Johnny hit a button to activate the oil slick. It splattered on the ground causing both fourth and fifth to lose control and crash into the truck. They spun into its front bumper and off into the sand. The truck began to slide when Johnny used the flamethrower to ignite the oil. It instantly went up in flames as the truck was engulfed in an enormous fireball. The other two cars were also engulfed in flames.

Johnny looked in his rearview mirror as he heard explosions going off. Yes! Johnny thought with a satisfied tone. His glory was short-lived when he watched the truck come out of the wall of fire. The truck had suffered severe damage from the fire and explosions. The truck was now driving with a blown up and burnt trailer. The cab was smoldering as I drove like a beast rampaging in hell.

Johnny gulped as he looked at the truck that was now barreling down on him. There was now less than ten miles to go. Johnny activated his first tank of nitro as he blasted past both first and second to get away from the enraged semi. The truck then picked up speed as it rear ended third place off the road. The car lost control and flipped violently, landing in a smoking heap.

First place seeing Johnny boost by activated their nitro as well. They both were neck and neck with two miles left. The track went down a hill that soon evened out with the finish line in view.

Johnny was desperate to get the truck off him more than anything. I kept ramming Johnny who was able to keep control. Johnny needed to think quickly. He had the terminal make the tank of nitro appear next to him. He grabbed it, tossing it out of the window. The tank got caught in the truck’s grill, which rammed Johnny again without any avail.

Johnny regained control and lined up the gatling rifle mounted on the rear. He swung the gun around backwards from the top of the car as if fired at the tank filled with nitro. The truck rammed Johnny again while firing the gun. This time he lost control, spinning into the other driver, who lost control into a barrier full of tires. Johnny meanwhile, spun back out onto the track, regaining control for a brief moment.

The truck exploded when Johnny made the shot. The tank of nitro ignited, blowing the truck into a massive fireball, causing shrapnel and debris to fly in all directions. One piece of shrapnel blew through the passenger window piercing Johnny in the abdomen. The sudden pain caused him to lose control. Johnny began to slide off the road, driving sideways as he tried to gain control of the car. The prototype began to bounce on the uneven ground at high speed. The car eventually blew over from the bouncing. Johnny was sent barrel rolling end over end. He ended up flipping back onto the track, losing count of how many times he had flipped over, before eventually stopping on all fours. Johnny was now sitting 100 feet from the finish line. Johnny groaned with blurry vision. A few seconds later he was able to focus.

“This is just great.” Thought Johnny. He quickly did a report check on the prototype. The suspension had been destroyed. “I need to fix this fast.” Johnny groaned from the pain he was in. He knew the core would most likely be depleted if he fixed the suspension. He needed to get the car going. Johnny worked frantically from the prototypes on board terminal. The core began to fix the suspension and finally gave out after it was done. The prototype was now out of power. Johnny now felt even more pain. Like he was going to puke. He ignored it as he slammed his fists on the dash.

He then looked in the rearview to see an unexpected site. The other driver was slowly crawling their crippled car to the finish line. While the remains of the truck could be seen burning behind them. Johnny got an even bigger surprise look on his face when the sun finally peaked over the horizon. The truck faded away like it never existed.

Somehow, the other driver had managed to get their car going and was slowly gaining on Johnny. Johnny got out of his prototype falling to the ground with a thud. Blood came out of his mouth as he looked down at himself. A piece of shrapnel from the exploding truck had lodged itself in Johnny’s abdomen. He coughed up a stream of blood in a fit from the shock.

Johnny had now realized that the core of the prototype had lost all power. So did the core fragment in his head which he couldn’t use the regenerating properties of it.

Johnny pushed through the pain thinking of Julia and the others. The whole universe was at stake. He got up and began to push the prototype to the finish line. It made Johnny want to scream in agony. He slowly pushed the prototype as he began to cough up more blood. The wounded opened up even more as he pushed the prototype.

The remaining driver was a few dozen feet from passing Johnny. Johnny pushed even harder now with only 50 feet to go. He doubled over in pain as he coughed up blood. He stood his ground as he struggled to remain conscious. Finally, Johnny pushed his car past the finish line.

“And the winner is Johnny.” Said a random voice. He had won the race as the invisible crowd cheered. Johnny sighed with relief before collapsing on his back. He laid his arms and legs out bleeding from his abdomen and mouth. So, this is how it all ends. He thought before seeing Julia and the others running to his aid before he blacked out.