CHAPTER 3 - A NEW VENTURE

Johnny made it back to his racing trailer a few hours later, with track security. They watched as Johnny got out and headed for his trailer. They kept an eye for anything out of the ordinary as it was very late and dark out now.

Johnny activated the security on his racing trailer from his phone pulling it out of his pocket. His trailer lit up with all sorts of lights. The words D.R.I.F.T. could be seen lit up in bright blue letters. He slowly approached it hoping for no one to come running out after him. He was worried about being mobbed by crazy fans trying to break in or rivals trying to kill him. There had been a few times where incidents like this had happened to him.

Johnny looked at his trailer where an old attack from a rival had tried to kill him once. The scratch marks were still visible near the trailer's entryway. Johnny could only shudder at the thought. It only helped him to have D.R.I.F.T. as his main sponsor. They wanted to keep their lead test driver for all of their products alive from harm.

Johnny looked back at his phone with the security app open. It showed that no one was around or anything had been hiding in wait. He could only sigh with relief before dismissing the track security. They told Johnny goodnight as they drove off leaving Johnny alone as he walked up to his trailer.

Johnny walked in tired and exhausted. He let out a long yawn. It had been a long day. Knowing that he could have died. He looked over at the trophy wall in his trailer as he dragged his feet across the floor. It contained his most valuable trophies from his ten years of racing in the sport. It is nice to have such success. I just wish I could do something more with my racing career. Johnny thought as he walked over to sit down in a comfy leather recliner. Right now, all he wanted to do was sleep. He was too exhausted to do anything else. Tomorrow, he planned to look to find other racing endeavors.

Johnny eventually dozed off but was woken up by a phone call from his cell phone. Johnny answered his phone tiredly.

“Hello, this is Johnny,” he said with a yawn.

“Hello Johnny, this is Joseph from the testing and marketing department of D.R.I.F.T. How are you doing?” Joseph asked.

“I’m fine,” Johnny yawned.

“I’m sad you have decided to quit Banzai Bangers after this year. I was hoping to persuade you to take part in a test session at least. Banzai Bangers is wanting to test for a virtual market. Where we would send drivers into a virtual test track in real racing vehicles. Right now, we are having a hard time finding a test pilot. Most applicants we have looked at up until now, were turned away from being too inexperienced.”

“Since you are retiring from the sport now, I wanted to reach out to you because of your experience and history. D.R.I.F.T. believes your background in the special forces is a big advantage for one of the requirements. How would you like to be the test driver?” Joseph asked.

Johnny was uncertain about the deal. He was currently out of his mind from being tired. “Can I think of it in the morning? I’m mentally exhausted,” Johnny yawned again.

“Sure, I’ll call you back in the morning,” Joseph replied with a sigh as Johnny ended the call. Johnny dozed back off to sleep.

Johnny dreamed that night he was racing as a stunt driver. He had taken a gig as a part time stunt driver. When he wasn't facing death at Banzai Bangers, Johnny was called on during the weekdays or off season to perform some stunts in movies. This only added more to his fame in titles such as Days of Destruction and The Fast and Destructive franchise.

The scene he dreamed of that night wasn’t a hard stunt. Other attempts ended up with destroyed cars or injured stunt drivers. The director for the movie wanted to get it all in one shot.

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The stunt had him driving an armored truck. That had him smash into a bunch of police cars. Followed by him driving up a ramp that would have the truck get clipped by a freight train. The truck would roll over and back onto its wheels. This is where the movie was having most of the stunt problems. Stunt drivers kept losing control of the truck at every attempt. This is why they had called Johnny to fill the stunt.

Johnny would continue to drive the truck onto a small ramp to help the truck go onto two wheels. The last part had Johnny driving past a blast of electricity. That's where he would stop the truck.

Johnny was given the signal to start up to speed for the stunt. The truck was given nitros boosters to help it get up to speed faster. He activated the boosters as he was about a 100 yards away. Johnny plied into the police cars, barriers, and all. Explosions from pyrotechnics went off as he rammed into the police cars. He then acted in phase two of the stunt.

Johnny hit the second set of nitro boosters as he hit the ramp. He managed to time it just right by getting clipped by the train. This made the truck roll over and go onto all fours. There were more effects to the scene with electrical surges and more pyrotechnic explosions going off as Johnny drove on.

He engaged in the final part of the stunt as he ran over a small ramp sending the truck up onto two wheels. He could see the electrical effects being turned on as he headed for the stopping point. He was hit by a giant blast of electricity. Johnny straightened the truck onto all fours while his eyes adjusted from the light.

When his eyes recovered. Johnny was lost for words. He was still in the armored truck. Although it had shut off. He was no longer in the studio either. Instead he found himself in a very dark place. There were no lights to be seen anywhere. The surrounding landscape was dead and barren. It was dotted with rotting trees and crumpling structures. Behind him he could see a portal of some sorts that he assumed was how he had gotten there. He slowly tried to get the truck restarted as he looked around.

Johnny had a confused expression on his face as he looked off over the horizon. Just then the ground began to shake as the world he was on began to fall apart. Across the distance horizon he could see the land being snuffed out by a tsunami of darkness. He looked back at the portal as it began to fade from existence.

He tried to fire up the truck with no avail as the impending void crept nearer. He desperately kept turning the ignition, hoping it would restart. It finally fired to life. The truck went into gear. He sighed with relief only to be met with terror a few seconds later.

Johnny had no control over the truck. It seemed to have a mind of its own. He had tried to turn around only for the truck to drive on its own. It headed straight for the tsunami of darkness. Johnny had tried everything he could to stop the truck. Taking the key out of the ignition. Hitting the brakes. Each attempt made the truck go faster.

He then tried to bail out of the truck. Unfortunately, the truck made sure Johnny couldn’t escape. He had tried to get the seatbelt undone. Only for the truck to tighten the belt so hard he was being suffocated. Even trying to open the door was futIle as the truck locked all the doors. He had tried to open the door only for it to lock on him.

Johnny watched in hopeless horror as the tsunami hit the truck. His dream went black after that. He woke up with a start and had a hard time going back to sleep.

What was that all about? Johnny thought waking with a start, only to yawn after. He then tried to go back to sleep, only to lie awake for the rest of the night.

The next morning Johnny was given a call by Joseph again. “So what do you think of the offer?” Joseph asked him.

“I don’t know. There is a lot that could go wrong. Now that I think about it. Something like this hasn’t been attempted before,” Johnny replied.

“Don’t worry about it. There are a ton of fail safes involved to keep you safe. You can read more about it in the manual I'm going to email you now.”

Johnny’s phone pinged him of a new email alert. He was quick to check it and was surprised how big the manual was. He looked at the index of the manual after opening the email. There was tons of material on how the vehicle worked, what it could do, its features, and more. Another section had what to expect for the new venture as well.

The two talked back and forth a few more hours before Johnny finally agreed to the test session.

“Alright, now that is settled, I'll email you the information about the test session in two months back here at Banger Blitz Raceway. It was good talking to you Johnny,” Joseph said before ending the call. Johnny could only sigh thinking of what he signed up for. Well, at least this is something new to look forward too…