Journal 2

Prefab Story

Dan looked to his left, outside of his passenger mirror sat the person he hated the most Mark Wylde. Most people just called him Wylde though. Dan had learned street racing from his brother unfortunately the lessons came to an abrupt halt after an accident. His brother's name was Tony and all Dan had left to remember him by was his steering wheel and the chain with a “T” on it his brother wore. Dan’s crew finished checking his car over. His friend Kurt tapped his window.

“Don't be so stressed man, you got this in the bag. You've been practicing non stop for months now. This course is pretty turn heavy, remember, go easy on the inside at the start of the turn, then power through and take him on the outside.” Kurt had a big smile on his face and gave Dan a thumbs up before tapping the top of the car and handing him his helmet. Dan looked back over at Wylde, all he had on were some sunglasses, the cocky fuck didnt take this serously, espeically not after what he did. The starting guy walked over to the makeshift light tree he had set up, he cycled through the red, yellow, and green lights a few times making sure everything was sunk properly. He turned to give the announcer a thumbs up.

“Welcome, to the fourth annual race in the desert bluffs ladies and gentlemen! For your viewing pleasure we have contracted a helicopter for this high profile street race that will be recording the race, the race will then be projected onto this screen so you won't miss a thing! Remember if the cops come and you get caught, we are not liable for anything. Welcome to underground street racing! In the Left lane, we have Dan Dresden, brother of the famous Tony Dresden, and to the right we have the new champ around these parts, Wylde!” The announcer said with great enthusiasm, his voice was grough as if he had been a cigarette user as a child. Please turn your attention to the starting light! Gentleman please start those mean machines!” 

Both cars roared to life at the starting line. Dan knew his car was only a few horsepower from Wyldes, but if he had a good start that wouldn't matter. The light turned on shining a bright red light over the crowd. Dan gave his car a rev. The middle three lights turned yellow, Dan grabbed the wheel white knuckling it. 

“Three, two, one.” The crowd chanted. 

The light turned green and the audience roared, but it was quickly drowned out by the sound of engines. Dan did have  faster reaction time but Wylde was a dirty racer, he was immediately bumping the back of Dan's car

“I'm not going down that easy” Dan said dropping a gear flame shot out the exhaust pipes of Dan's car temporarily causing Wylde to lose control. Dan upped the gears and took off, he had at least a second or two lead on Wylde. The desert path trailed down a steep curvy mountain Kurt came over Dan's headset.

“Alright bro, here's your first chance to gain some distance, this is a hairpin right, take it wide and come in on the inside, after that hairpin is a straight away then you have about a half mile till another turn.” Kurt said enthusiastically.

“Alright, I got it. Dropping a gear.” Dan slowed down to about 30 coming into the turn, getting wide into the turn Wylde passed him, he was going at least 50 and had too much speed to get onto the inside of the turn, sparks flew as his car hit the guard train. Dan waved to him as he shot passed him

“Haha Dan you're killing it, your car is running better than ever!” Kurt yelled.

“Yea yea Kurt i know i'm pretty good, we cant get ahead of ourselves we're only in the first leg.” Dan let out an exhausted sign, his heart was pretty much in his throat. He knew what was coming. A few more left and right turns later Dan was still seconds ahead of Wylde, Kurt came over the headset again breaking Dan's focus, Dan's grip loosened on the wheel as he realized where he was.

“Okay, this is it, just keep a level head and try not to think about it.” Kurt said, his tone of voice somber.

“Yea okay.” Dan said nervousness eating him alive. Dan's pulse quickened as he saw the broken guard rail, the memories flooded back. Tony was taking the third to last hairpin turn on the course, he too was a few seconds ahead of Wylde, Dan watched as Tony took the turn and Wylde instead of breaking, hit the back of Tony's car causing him to flip. Dan shut his eyes and grabbed the necklace. Tears welled up in his eyes.

“Hey don't go quiet on me, stay in the groove.” Kurt said before his voice was abruptly cut off.

“I know the groove, Tony taught me the groove.” Dan said through gritted teeth. He grabbed the emergency brake, pulling it, sending the car almost 200 degrees around. Just as he had predicted instead of breaking before the turn Wylde was going full speed. Dan watched as he dove out of his car, the 71 camaro went straight off the cliff. Dan saw the finish line, he knew he had won, he knew he was the best, and he knew his true prize was getting revenge for what wylde had done to Tony. 

“Uh oh!” The announcer yelled over the microphone, it looks we have a DNF, since Wyldes car is now scrap metal falling down a mountain it looks like Dan is not only the winner but also the new champion of the underground!”