The world felt so much smaller under his helmet. Granted, his vision was limited by the window of his visor, but that wasn’t the reason why.
Zack made sure to finish his preparatory stretches before getting in the car. It was something he was supposed to do, apparently mandated by some sort of health code. The reasons as to why was beyond him. But he supposed that the legality of these races was already teetering on the edge, so they had to do anything to keep them from being outright banned.
Once he was done he climbed into his car, a sleek M540 model painted in a dazzling metallic violet. He turned on the ignition, and the engine rumbled to life. He could feel it purring from under his seat, the sound muffled and yet so large that it reverberated through his entire body. He couldn’t help but smile.
The reason the world was so much smaller to him was because he knew that for the next twenty minutes, he’d be invincible.
The effects of the oxycodipine lasted much longer than that, as a precaution. It would take about 48 hours before his body had used up all of the juice, which was more than enough time to test the limits of the human body.
Zack pushed his thoughts aside as his attention was drawn to the start line. There was a digital timer counting the seconds before the race started. His grip tightened on the wheel, and he revved up the engine. Several colorful panels lit up around the car’s interior, with all sorts of information about its speed, thruster power, and many other minute technical details.
Some of the panels were reserved for the pilot’s vitals. He’d been told at some point that this information was not much useful for him as a pilot, but rather for any paramedics who would come to his rescue should anything happen to him.
The lights at the starting line turned from red to yellow, and Zack took the opportunity to flip a few switches on the control panel near the transmission. The engine responded by roaring louder, eagerly waiting for him to let go of the brake.
By now all he could hear outside was the incessant noise of all forty-six cars each revving their engines, louder and louder each time. There were mere seconds left on the timer, and Zack took a deep breath. He could feel his heart beating faster as adrenaline gradually built up in his veins. The timer kept counting down.
3
2
1
Go.
An enormous cloud of dust arose as all the cars rushed forward, the noise from the engines growing louder by the second. This had always been the worst part of the race, Zack thought. The start, before he was able to build up enough speed, at the point where every competing car was huddled together. It almost felt like being stuck in traffic.
But it only took a few seconds before the cars dispersed enough for him to maneuver around. Some drivers preferred to lag behind as a way to conserve their car’s energy, and Zack was not one of them.
His car was optimized to accelerate fast, so usually, at the start of a race, he’d be pushing the accelerator pedal all the way down. He quickly swerved around a few cars, and established himself in 3rd place.
Up ahead was the track’s first obstacle, a huge turn that tilted the track on its side, and then upside down before settling back on the ground. He knew that he’d need a lot of speed to clear it, and so did the other drivers. Just before the turn, the track had been marked with yellow LED arrows. This was to indicate a free charge station, which would provide an electrical boost to his car.
Every single driver converged towards it, knowing that the extra speed would be crucial in the coming moments. Zack could see a few cars overtake him. The LED arrows took up enough space that it allowed for more than one car to drive over it at once. But even so, the competition was fierce.
One of the drivers that couldn’t overtake Zack decided to simply ram onto his car instead. It seemed they were trying to shove him out of the way. Of course, he didn’t want to let them, but he knew that it was a bad idea to take damage this early in the race.
In a risky maneuver, he let go of the accelerator, and quickly pushed down the brake, letting his opponent suddenly overtake him. The other car, which had built up enough speed to ram into him from the side, simply went flying to the edge of the track as they missed their target. Zack immediately floored the accelerator again, barely paying attention to the violent explosion behind him.
“Fucking amateur,” he muttered to himself, letting go of the stress that had been building up inside him.
His reward was now right in front of him. Zack easily drove over the yellow LEDs, and the inertia pushed him further into the seat as his car was given a hefty speed boost. It was enough to keep him tethered to the track as it turned on its side.
The sudden speed combined with the quick flip made him feel like his stomach had turned upside down. If it weren’t for the oxycodipine rushing in his veins, he’d have thrown up all over his windshield by now.
After he cleared the loop, he glanced at one of the side panels to check his position. It wasn’t looking good, his little maneuver from earlier had shifted him into the 17th position.
But he wasn’t all that worried. He had recovered from worse before, and the race had just begun.
Hayden was speechless. His eyes were glued to the TV, and he almost couldn’t believe what he was seeing. His brain searched for any sort of explanation – maybe a faulty signal distorted the image for a second, or maybe the broadcast added an effect to make things appear more exciting. But he still couldn’t shake the feeling that what he saw was real.
“It just blew up,” Nero said, confirming Hayden’s fears. “That car literally just blew up.”
“And the race just keeps going…” Hayden muttered in response.
“I guess this must be one of those death races I’ve been hearing about,” Theia said, and all the others turned to look at her.
Nero raised an eyebrow. “That’s what they’re called?”
Theia shrugged. “Yep, that’s what I heard. Apparently they do something to the pilots to make them super resistant to bullshit like this.”
The group’s attention went back to the TV. For a second, the camera panned over to the wreckage, and Hayden thought he saw something red staining the metal. A team of paramedics ran towards it, but the camera barely gave them any attention as the broadcast switched to another camera with a better view of the race. He felt a sweat drop form in his temple, and although his eyes were fixed on the TV, his mind was elsewhere.
Could this have something to do with the oxycodipine? Was it just some hidden effect it had on people?
Just what the fuck had he been selling all this time?
He supposed he’d just have to keep watching, and hopefully everything would make sense soon.
The inside of the car had gotten warmer, as a result of the engine burning as fast as it could. By now the machine had reached its top speed, and even the smallest mistake would turn into a fatal crash.
Luckily, Zack had gone through this entire song and dance before, and all his moves were calculated.
He reckoned a few more pilots had crashed at this point. It always happened, and that is the sad reality of any competitive sport; in order for him to win, someone else has to lose.
Zack had already considerably recovered his position, and was now at 9th place. It was better, but he still had a long way to go. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed one of the panels on his dashboard light up. It was the kill barrier warning, which would destroy all cars below 15th place.
He shouldn’t need to worry about it for now, but that was just an extra incentive to speed ahead. He ignored the warning for now, as he could see the track’s next obstacle approaching.
This time, it was a gap in the track. Below it, there were several spikes, sharp enough to pierce metal. Zack couldn’t imagine what it would do to something as soft as human flesh, and he really didn’t want to find out.
The only way to clear the gap was to build up enough speed to soar over it. He could see a few yellow LEDs near the edge, but he could tell that they would not give him enough speed alone. He had no choice but to use his car’s built-in boost system.
The yellow arrows were called free boosts because that’s what they were: free. There was no consequence for using them. Driving over them would give a speed boost to the car, which meant that there would be very little contact between the wheels and the LEDs.
But the built-in boost system was not free. To say that it was a speed boost would be an understatement. The amount of energy released inside the car was enough to damage nearly all of its components.
And Zack had no choice but to use it if he wanted to clear the massive gap ahead of him.
He took a deep breath, his hand hovering over the transmission lever. On the knob, hidden on its side, there was a small button. Zack gently brushed his thumb against it, before pushing it down. He held onto it, almost by instinct, as he felt the car speed up. His muscles were taut, and he had to force himself to tear his hand away from the gear stick and back to the wheel.
The built-in speed boost was much more forceful, and it lasted longer than the simple LEDs on the track. He focused on the road ahead of him, the speed pushing him flush against the seat. If it wasn’t for the cushion, he’d have broken a few bones with the force of the impact.
Zack drove over the yellow arrows, giving in some extra speed, and then the road disappeared from under him. He could practically hear the sound of his heartbeats as the car soared into the air. He couldn’t see anything below him as his own car obscured the view, and he just hoped he’d built up enough speed. For now, the worst thing that could happen was if he crashed against another car midair.
Fortunately, there weren’t any cars in front of him. Zack’s car was good at accelerating, and that included his absurd speed boost. But that didn’t exactly mean that he ahead of every other car.
He was actually above them.
The other side of the gap got closer and closer, and now Zack had to focus. His car had an anti-crash suspension installed, but he needed to activate it right before he landed.
He watched as the ground got closer, and he quickly pushed a button on his dashboard, a mere second before his car landed on the track. His seat belt held him down onto his seat as the inertia pushed him up, and the car bounced a few times before it landed, thanks to the souped up suspension.
From then, he just needed to stabilize the car, and just like that another obstacle was cleared.
Zack quickly glanced at one of the panels to check his position. 4th place. It seemed that the gap had claimed several of his opponents. Victory was within reach once again.
He checked the car’s vitals, and it seemed like it would hold out until the finish line, as long as he didn’t crash into anything. He was able to keep the speed he’d gained from the boost, and from then it was easy to swerve into 3rd place.
Almost there. He knew he could afford to boost one last time before the car broke down, and he had to save it for when the finish line was in sight.
At times, it was difficult to make out the images being shown on that old dingy TV’s screen. The signal had a lot of noise, and sometimes the screen would flicker for half a second.
But Hayden could barely notice all the faults as he watched the broadcast. The pilots all landed after flying over the huge gap on the track. Hayden winced when the camera panned over the wreckage of those who didn’t clear it.
He noticed that one of the cars had soared higher than the others.
“So, that’s your guy,” Nero said, and Hayden had to blink a few times before he realized his boss was talking to him.
“It seems so,” he replied. “Not that it matters, I’m pretty sure all of these guys are souped up.”
“Yeah, you got a point,” Nero said, casually leaning back on his seat. “Still, that guy seems good. Do you think he’s some kind of celebrity among those freaks?”
Hayden smiled. “He had a lot of cash on him.”
“Well, you might just convince me to stay in the juice market.” Nero smiled back at Hayden, but then he set his sight back to the TV. “Even if just for this guy. Maybe there’s more people looking too…”
Hayden’s smile faded away. He didn’t like Nero’s tone just now. He never liked just how quickly the man seemed to change his mind, but at the same time, his decisions somehow always worked out.
“If you need me to talk to him, I’ll do it,” Hayden said. “We can set up some sort of exclusive deal. Make him pay more.”
Nero looked back at him, and even through the sunglasses Hayden could tell that he’d narrowed his eyes.
“An exclusive deal?” For a moment, Nero’s expression was unreadable, but he suddenly let out a loud laugh. Hayden frowned at him, but he continued: “You’re just that eager to talk to the guy again, aren’t you?”
“What?” Hayden sputtered. “You don’t think it would be good for busin–”
“Don’t talk about business to me, asshole,” Nero cut him off. “I’m the one who decides how we do things. You just worry about moving the product.”
Theia scoffed. “Stop fighting, you two. This isn’t a playground.”
“I think they’re near the finish line,” the muscular man who had been leaning against the wall piped up.
“Oh fuck, Bulk, I forgot you were here,” Nero smiled as he addressed his bodyguard. “You two are right though. Let’s see how this race pans out.”
Hayden’s fists were clenched, and he almost didn’t notice how tense he’d become until he’d relaxed again. He turned his attention back to the TV, where only six pilots had survived to the final stretch of the race.
The finish line was approaching, and Zack had built up enough speed to make it to 1st place. His heart was racing almost as fast as the car itself, he could almost taste victory. But he knew that it wasn’t over yet.
The car behind him drove almost calmly considering that it was going at about 400 km/h. Zack could see it through his rear view mirror, and it was eerie to watch. It was a silver car, and the dark film over the windows obscured its driver.
But Zack knew exactly who it was.
His eyes focused back on the road, and just as he expected, the other driver was able to catch up to him. They were driving side by side. Zack could ram him out of the track, but it would be too risky a move.
By this point, they had gone up a gentle slope on the track. From here on out, the overall width of the road was narrower than before. It still had enough space for three cars side by side, but it was considerably more dangerous than before.
Zack’s car was built for speed, and not force. He knew that trying to crash into the other car might break his own machine down. And so he stayed still, hoping that his speed would carry him to the finish line.
Suddenly, out of the corner of his eye, he spotted the other car move away from him. They were the only two on the track side by side, which gave the other driver ample space to wind up. Zack knew that his opponent was preparing to ram into him, and if he managed to do it, the results would be disastrous.
He waited a split second when the other driver got further away from him, and he pushed down the little button on his gear-stick. It was the last dredges of his car’s electrical boost, and hopefully it would be enough to escape the other car and cross the finish line.
Zack could feel the car’s chassis shake up, almost as if under the impact of an actual crash. The world outside became even blurrier as the machine sped up, already near its breaking point. The engine seemed to roar in protest as he kept pushing down the accelerator pedal, and in that moment he couldn’t see anything else other than the closing distance between him and the finish line. He was almost there.
Or he would be, if his car didn’t suddenly change direction.
It took him a while before he noticed that the driver from before was able to catch up with him. Zack didn’t have much time to figure out what was happening, as the only thing he could see was the side wall of the track.
He didn’t feel anything as the car smashed against the wall. He could see how the windshield shattered, and what seemed like millions of glass shards flew at him. The panels on the dashboard all gave out at the same time, their screens also broken beyond repair. His hands almost didn’t leave the steering wheel as his body was lunged forward, and he was thrown out of the car by the force of the impact.
His head hit the metal wall, but he didn’t feel any pain. He did hear the sound of his own skull cracking though, and something was happening in there as the oxycodipine in this system tried to keep it from completely shattering. And it was happening with the rest of him too. Every single muscle in his body screamed, the force of the impact trying to tear the fibers apart, but the tissue held on. His broken bones pierced through his own skin, but Zack faced it all with gritted teeth.
The next thing he saw were the lights on the track, shining all over. Then, a team of paramedics rushed towards him. The whole world was blurry, and the pungent smell of blood took over his nostrils. He tried to stand up, but he couldn’t move a muscle. He supposed that by this point, he’d been reduced to a bloody heap on the floor. There was a weak breath flowing in and out of his lungs, but not enough to push sound out of his vocal chords.
He could do little but wait for the paramedics to scrape him off the floor.