CHAPTER 23 – BACK FROM THE BRINK
“I’m so excited for my first Banzai Bangers event.” Jamie spoke to Johnny. Who was reliving an old nightmare.
He occasionally had the same nightmare repeatedly. When stressful Banzai Bangers events were around. Johnny would manage to push on. He liked the thrill of adrenaline and danger.
He watched his brother get into his car. Johnny then climbed into his car. He taking a deep breath. “Remember Jamie you don’t have to win or be aggressive. A lot of drivers die in the first few races because they make bone headed decisions.” Johnny spoke with a calm tone.
“I’ll be fine,” Jamie replied as both pulled out of the pits. They made their way with the rest of the field to the starting grid. Johnny had managed to get the pole for the race. While Jamie had a minor crash and had to start in the rear next to one the new recruits for Road Rage Renegades.
The Road Rage Renegades were a nasty bunch of a four-car team. The early years of the team couldn’t find talented enough drivers. So, the team’s owner ended up bribing the head of Banzai Bangers in recruiting to hire felons in prison. The felons though were carefully selected. Those who were not at risk of harming fans but could take out other drivers in a race with any means. Once a felon was selected, they were then given a fake identity and cover story to race. They were strictly monitored while racing.
The race started off poorly as two of the four drivers for renegade crashed out in the first few laps. Jamie unfortunately, ran into the wrecked vehicles. The damage wasn’t noticeable until very later in the race when things would take a turn for the worst.
As the race dragged on, coming to the closing laps, Jamie reported to Johnny that he was suddenly starting to lose fuel. His car slowed to a stop as he finally ran out. He had stopped around a blind corner. He limped his car next to the pit road wall.
Johnny looked ahead of where Jamie was, who was five laps down. Johnny had instructed Jamie to pull over and get out if able in a situation like this. Jamie had stopped by the pitroad wall to get to safety.
Johnny was sure Jamie had climbed out of his car and was safe, going around the turn. Unfortunately the only thing Johnny heard was a loud explosion followed by a massive fireball. Fearing the worst, Johnny gave up the lead, pulling into the pits. Jamie's pit crew and his were carrying away his injured brother. Johnny was relieved he wasn't in the burning car which sat propped up on the pit road wall. Jamie was in bad shape being taken away unconscious to an air ambulance to a hospital. Sadly, Johnny found out later just how bad things were. His brother suffered a spinal fracture that left him paralyzed from the waist down.
After the race, Johnny was told by witnesses or exactly what happened. The driver deliberately knocked his bumper loose to make it spark to ignite the spilled fuel from Jamie’s car which was caused by a severed fuel line. If that wasn't concerning enough, the driver had reportedly sped up, slamming the rear of Jamie's car. It was set flying into the pitroad wall with Jamie climbing out of his car at the exact moment when the car was hit. The hit launched him over the wall, knocking him out cold, lying on his back. His car almost came over the wall on top of Jamie.
Johnny since then had a grudge with Road Rage Renegade. He would try time and time again to cripple the driver who injured his brother. The driver soon vanished mysteriously one day after a few seasons of racing. No one had an idea where the man disappeared too.
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Johnny soon woke up with a start waking up in the medical tent again. He felt stiff near his abdomen. He looked to see he had been banaged up over the area where he had been pierced. Although the skin had completely been healed over. He sighed with relief after checking himself over.
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Johnny then looked to his left to see Qin and Margaret sitting on a bench talking to each other. They both had small bandages covering different parts of their bodies. To his right he saw Cleo and Lisa, who were peacefully asleep in their beds. They were also bandaged as well.
Qin quickly noticed Johnny. “Glad to see you awake.” She said as she got up with Margaret to walk over to his bed. He tried to get up, but Qin pushed him back down.
“Where is Julia?” Johnny asked in concern.
“She is with Orion right now talking of what happened in the void portal.” She replied. He then turned his gaze to Cleo and Lisa. Qin caught his glance. “They are just physically and mentally exhausted. They will recover, they just need rest.” Johnny sighed with relief before asking his next question.
“What exactly happened when I finished the race and how long was I out for?” Johnny asked.
Qin quickly went over how they healed him after he passed out. She told him healing him was tougher since his regeneration is not taking effect somehow. They then had him escorted back to the prototype with the help of Albert. She then talked how they were fighting endless waves of rift eaters, to where she had gone berserk. After that she couldn’t recall anything more. She finished the story with him being out for only a day. Apparently, after the rift eaters died. Johhny was absorbing the essence. It was enough to restart the healing regeneration again.
“So, you can’t recall anything after that.” Asked Johnny. Qin just shook her head in response.
“What about you Margaret?” He asked. She just told the same tale. Except gave her part of the tale of them getting into the prototype and trying to save Qin before they all collapsed from exhaustion.
He just sighed and asked Albert what the AI knew. Albert said the same thing but was puzzled when the core overloaded. The Ai lost all records of what occurred after that. The AI just managed to wake back up when Johnny had.
Johnny pondered on the idea they almost lost. I really need to learn healing if that is even possible. His thoughts were interrupted when Julia walked in with Orion. He saw Julia was bandaged up. She had bandages around her forehead and arms. They were both talking low so Johnny couldn’t make out the conversation. Julia then quickly spotted him. She excused herself as she ran over to Johnny.
“Thank the Radiant you are awake.” Julia said as she ran and hugged Johnny crying. Orion had a look of frustration on his face when she ran for him. Orion just sighed as he left. “I hope next time we won’t need to save you all again. I have also returned the void core for tranport to the alliance HQ. They are going to study more on the intact core.”
Johnny thanked Orion before looking over Julia. “Are you okay? I see you have been bandaged.”
“I am fine. That is the sweat you are concerned about. Nothing my healing magic won’t fix when I recover my mana.” She finished.
“So how did we all end up back here?” Johnny asked Julia.
“Orion was the one who saved us all. He didn’t tell me much after I had passed out. Does Albert have any idea?” Julia asked.
Johnny just shook his head in response. “Albert told me he went offline after the core overloaded.” Added Johnny. Well, no one has any clue what has occurred. As he thought more, an idea came to him. He quickly asked Albert if the prototype had any log histories. Albert was silent for a few moments before saying the prototype did have a log history. He then asked Albert if he could pull up the information. Albert said he didn’t have access to that information and it was stored in the prototype.
Johnny informed Julia he may have a solution to knowing what had occurred when they all passed out. “I need to have a look at the prototype’s logs.” Johnny was weak as he tried to stand. He stumbled a bit as Julia caught him.
“Careful. You are still recovering from the blood loss it seems. I left the bandages on your abdomen. It seems when I was in a rush to keep you from bleeding out. We found a piece of metal with rift eater essence on it that was still lodged in your body. We had to remove it before it did more serious issues.” Julia spoke with a shiver.
Johhny shivered all over from the comment. Julia went to his right side. She had Qin to take his left as they walked out of the tent. Margaret was about to join them when Julia told her to stay back and let her know if Cleo and Lisa awoke. Margaret sighed with frustration but followed her orders. The three of them slowly made their way to the exit of the tent.