Asphalt. Pebbles lay still–
The city's streets are completely empty. Zero movement, stuck in time, like a polaroid picture.
A couple decades ago, humans discovered a way to teleport, making cars obsolete. On the edge of the automotive industry’s collapse, the world government decided to make every road a legal racetrack. Birthing the Global Race Series (GRS).
Famous GRS racers and infamous street racers share the same streets…
An energetic roar approached, shaking the once-stagnant pebbles.
A futuristic white race car with golden accents rushed past–
Pebbles flew away from the asphalt.
A purple accented race car swiftly followed. Corporate golden boy, Jett Cooper, was piloting the car.
Inside Jett’s race car, wires snaked from the race seat to his helmet. Cars talk with racers. Signals from the brain get sent directly to the race car’s AI, Neo-gen.
“How are the tires?” Jett asked Neo-gen.
Both his hands firmly gripped the steering wheel, his eyes set on the car in front.
“Tire core temperature: 100 degrees. Optimal grip on current road conditions.”
“Alright… time to win this title,” Jett told himself.
Jett closed the gap with the white race car.
“You are half a second behind Nexi, you better make this count,” the Forefront’s radio operator informed Jett.
The two race cars fiercely battled in the middle of a sprawling complex of low-rent residential apartments.
Somewhere in the residential block a massive billboard screen showed the race live.
“Previous world champion, Joanna Nexi vs the promising Forefront Industries rookie racer, Jett Cooper.”
Two siblings from the residential district hurried to pack up their camera equipment. They wanted to film the race cars up close.
Hailey, the older sister, said, “Mikey, come on, the race cars are coming soon!”
Mikey, the younger brother, was still packing.
Mikey said, “I heard the engines roaring, I hope we can make it in time. Are you sure we can enter the Race-zone through the abandoned building you said?”
“I’m sure, Mikey, turns out the Race-zone’s security is not as airtight as they say!”
“You sure would do anything to get close to the race cars.”
“Hehe– anything for the footage!”
The two siblings wove through the crowd cheering at the live GRS screening on the billboard. The crowd thinned out. Their eyes darted from side to side, making sure no one saw them.
They entered the abandoned building one after another. Hailey spotted a window that she could set up her camera in front of. The window was boarded up, but Hailey was not discouraged. She punched the loose plank, and it fell to the ground. She was quite proud of herself.
Mikey unpacked his sister’s camera equipment.
“Alright, go film your next viral hit. I’ll head upstairs to get a wider view of the race,” Mikey said while handing Hailey the camera.
Hailey grinned from ear to ear, and took the camera from Mikey.
Mikey climbed the decrepit staircase. He went to the balcony and leaned on the railing, but jolted back after the railing started to move.
Smuggling Leader, Vance, walked upstairs with calm purpose then froze when she noticed Mikey. She quickly hid behind a pillar, keeping her eyes glued on Mikey.
The race cars were a couple blocks away.
Mikey mumbled loudly, “Brake… Apex now– downshift…”
His hands mimicked a steering wheel.
Vance noticed how Mikey was acting.
The race cars approached them– super close. Engines roared so loud that Vance couldn’t hear Mikey anymore.
“Approaching the 278th corner, Cooper is on Nexi’s rear bumper! If Cooper can take P1 here, he can win the entire race!” the commentator announced.
“No… he’s going too fast into the corner.” Mikey muttered.
The billboard screen next to the building went dark and all street lights turned off. The whole block plunged into darkness.
“NO– NOT LIKE THAT!” Mikey exclaimed.
Jett’s car lost control and flew into the barrier–
But it wasn’t enough to stop the car–
The car slammed straight into the abandoned building the siblings were in.
Vance didn’t make a sound. She quickly turned and paced downstairs.
Sirens rang throughout the residential block. Fumes from the burning race car rose into the night sky.
Mikey quickly sprinted down the stairs to see his sister laying down on the floor with Jett’s race car half way through the building’s wall. Debris and fire were everywhere.
“Sis! Sis! Are you okay?” Mikey shook Hailey.
“Heh…I got… the footage, Mikey…” The barely conscious Hailey responded.
Jett watched Mikey and Hailey in the race seat motionless as the car race radio repeatedly called out his name.
“Cooper!”
“Cooper, respond Cooper!”
Mikey teared up, “Come on, sis, let’s get out of here…”
Hailey fell unconscious. Mikey picked her up onto his back and brought her out of the burning building.
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
A couple of days later, in a pristine hospital room.
Jett Cooper lay on the hospital bed while his dad and CEO of Forefront, Jackson Cooper, stood at the bedside.
Jackson stared coldly at Jett, who had yet to open his eyes. His advisor awkwardly took short glances at him before a nurse entered the room.
“Good news, Mr. Cooper, it seems like your son has no major injury and will likely recover soon,” the nurse said.
“In time for the next race?” Jackson asked.
“Uhh... yes, quite likely, sir, his injuries won’t prevent him from competing.”
The paparazzi and news reporters burst into the room.
“Is Jett Cooper alright?”
“What caused you to crash, Mr. Cooper?”
“There were no major crashes for the past decade! Why now?”
“Are Forefront’s new race cars to blame for this incident?”
Jackson looked at his advisor and the nurse.
“Who is letting all these people in? Go take care of them. I need to talk alone with my son.” Jackson commanded.
His advisor and the nurse escorted the paparazzi and reporters out of the room.
“Dad…?” Jett woke up.
“I am to blame. I should've never let you compete.”
Jett stared into his dad’s cold gaze.
“I know that being the face of Forefront Industries is a difficult task. You are not ready. Take some time off– I will find someone else for the next race.”
“Dad, I want to go to the next race, you heard the nurse– I can still compete.”
“Marshal Rinova, an experienced race car driver from overseas. He signed a contract with us. He's charismatic, confident, adaptive, cooperative…”
“Dad, how could you have just signed a deal with some rando while I was out? I’m definitely more of a racer than that guy.”
“Jett Cooper. You promised me a lot. And I’ve provided you everything you need to succeed, but right now the only thing you have that Rinova doesn’t… is my last name.”
Jett shrank at the comment, but he sprung back into action.
“Time– I just need more time!”
“I am giving you resting time.”
“Let me compete in the next race, please!”
Jackson paused.
“Tell me. What's your goal when the race starts?” Jackson questioned.
“To win.”
“What if you can’t do that?”
“To fight as hard as I can–”
“Wrong.”
Jackson shut him down.
“All you have to do is survive… stay as uncontroversial and uninteresting as you can until you can win the next race– this time you neither won nor survived.”
At the same time at a rundown clinic room. Mikey watched his sister from the bedside. An old tv screen was playing the news.
“GLOBAL RACE SERIES CRASH - FORE OF FOREFRONT UNDERFIRE”
“The public’s leading theory is that the new generation of Forefront’s race cars were rushed out– which is why there might be potential ‘equipment failure’, could this be true?” The reporter asked Forefront’s PR.
“We are still working on it– it's under investigatio–”
“Here’s a question from one of your customers. Do all new Forefront’s Autoliner commuters come with this ‘failure prone’ technology as well?”
Hailey chuckled.
“A freak accident! Darn it– I was at the right place at the right time…”
“Glad you’re okay, sis.”
“Come on– a race car could never kill me.”
Hailey nudged Mikey's shoulder, as an old nurse entered the room.
“Can we leave now?” Hailey innocently asked the old nurse.
“If you could walk out of here, kid– your legs are broken.”
“No, they are not…”
Hailey placed her foot on the floor.
“Owwwwww!”
The old nurse gently lifted Hailey’s legs back onto the bed.
“Kid, where are your parents?” The old nurse asked Mikey.
“Just me and sis.”
“The treatment will be pretty expensive, I don’t know if you guys can afford it… hold on, let me check if there’s a government aid program to help kids like you guys.”
The old nurse searched for something on the tablet.
“Can you please tell me your ID and place of resident?”
“We don’t have IDs. They don’t give one to homeless people, and we don’t have an actual home right now because we don’t have IDs.”
The old nurse sighs.
“Welp… Alright, I don’t know. What do you want to do? Your decision–”
Mikey without hesitation responded, “Well, treat my sister– ”
“And I’ll pay you back ten-fold!” Hailey jumped in.
“Don’t promise money you don’t have, sweetheart, let alone ten times the amount.”
“Once I leave this clinic, I would just work ten times as hard and ten times as long to pay you”
“You don’t have to pay that much– just the amount you owe to the clinic. You know what? I’ll personally cover the interest for you guys, so just pay whenever.”
The old nurse’s words caught somewhere in Hailey’s chest.
“I will personally pay YOU ten-fold, ma'am, thank you so much…”
Mikey whispered to the old nurse, “Thank you ma’am, I will be the one paying you the full amount, don’t listen to her.”
The old nurse smirked and nodded approvingly before she left the room.
Mikey exited the rundown clinic. He put on his windbreakers and made his way to his rusted-out bicycle. A stylish white hair lady in an overcoat was leaning against the clinic’s metal railings. The world champ, Joanna Nexi, was carrying a bouquet of flowers– waiting for someone.
Mikey's face widened when he noticed her. He gripped the bicycle’s handle, and blurted out to her after kicking his bicycle’s kickstand.
“You should’ve taken the defensive line at the 277th corner.”
Nexi wasn’t prepared that a random boy would call out her racing.
“I… I– took the inside line because that idiot, Jett, could’ve locked up and crashed into me… Why am I even defending myself?”
“Fair point, he was driving way too aggressively and too unpredictably.”
“Yeah he was…”
“You were also braking too early. Was that because you were scared of Jett Cooper?”
“The person, never. His driving? Maybe.”
Nexi gazed at him from his worn out shoe to his slightly reddened face– still facing away from her.
“You were watching the race really closely weren’t you?”
“Y-Yup–” Mikey blurted.
Mikey slowly got onto his bicycle.
“Say, turn 277th wasn’t televised, was it?”
Mikey froze.
“I’m looking for two kids about your age, a girl and a boy from this district. I…I need to speak to them. I heard the girl was injured.”
“If– If I find them, I’ll tell them.”
Nexi stayed silent– analysing him.
“I… watched many replays online, sometimes fans would film from places they are not supposed to…” Mikey chuckled at his own poor excuse.
“Right… Kid, what is your nam—?”
“I love your racing, Ms. Joanna Nexi!” Mikey interrupted.
“Oh– thank you.”
Mikey pedaled away– leaving the confused Nexi behind.
“If you happen to see them, tell them champ owe them one!” Nexi shouted.
Mikey pedaled through the quiet city at night. His mind was still on his encounter with the world champion.
I saw Nexi. In real life. What is she doing here?
Why is she trying to find us? It doesn’t seem like she meant any harm though…
Let’s just get the clothes and head back to sis, I’ll come clean to Nexi if she’s still there…
Street lights behind Mikey started turning off as if darkness itself was approaching him. A low grumble of a V8 came with the darkness. All the security cameras in the area sparked and died. A pitch-black GR GT darted through the empty city streets. The headlights’ white LED strip made the car look dangerous, like a predator– not just a machine. The GR GT was closely followed by a Red Mica RX-8.
