CHAPTER 16 -THE DEATH DERBY 500 (SEVERE WEATHER) PART 2
The humanoid rift eater greeted Johnny as he came up to the checkpoint. "I see you were able to hang on after all that." The beast said with disdain.
"What the heck was with the explosions?" Johnny asked with fear and concern.
"I might have forgotten to mention at each quarter, a quarter of the field gets eliminated." Replied the beast with a toothy grin as he slapped the device he had put on Johnny's car.
The beast informed Johnny on the next leg of the race, which was an all-weather challenge. The beast let Johnny know he had half an hour to make repairs and changes. The beast began to walk away after giving his talk to Johnny. Johnny was about to mess with the device the beast put on his car. The beast paused as it headed towards the checkpoint building. It didn't stare at Johnny but let out a warning not to mess with the device planted on his car otherwise it would explode. It would kill not only Johnny but Julia and the others too. With that Johnny began preparing for the next quarter.
Johnny accessed any damage to the prototype from the onboard computer terminal. He needed to know what would need to be replaced by the matter/ anti-matter core. After a few minutes of processing the prototype. The only damage he found was with the suspension. Along with a left front wheel assembly. He quickly let the prototype repair the damage. He was given a warning on how much essence in the core he had left. Johnny had completely forgotten about that. He just ignored the warning and pressed yes as the prototype went to work. The prototype glowed a dark purple as it repaired itself. The suspension made popping noises as it bent itself back together.
Johnny knew he would have to be more cautious with driving. The prototype could repair itself but required rift eater cores or their essence to do it. With no rift eaters around to kill. He had to be more careful of damaging the prototype. The next step was to outfit the prototype for the next quarter. He let the onboard terminal calculate how much rift eater essence would be used for the next run. He put his ideas of what he wanted or thought he would need. In the end he chose not to add any more weapons or customize the look. When he was done adding the adjustments the computer alerted him, he would have around 65% core essence left.
Johnny went to work on inputting changes for the prototype. He first turned the prototype's chassis into a storm chasing vehicle. Since the race was going into severe weather he thought why not. Unsure how the weather would play out. He changed to manual transmission to a four speed with midrange gearing. Next, he chose to add window guards for the prototype to keep windows from being penetrated. Driving at high speeds with debris flying into the windows was one issue. Having hail or ice added to the level of risk. He then added better steering and traction control for ice or snow. He didn't want to end up in a ditch and lose the race or his life. The next thing Johnny altered were the tires for better grip. Speeding in the rain would lead to hydroplaning. He decided to add extra lighting onto the prototype if he were to drive through any fog or dust cloud. He was given another warning on how much essence was left in the core. Again, he ignored the warning selecting yes as the prototype quickly transformed. He was now left with less than forty percent after making all those changes. The whole prototype glowed purple as it made the changes merging from the Humvee into the storm chasing vehicle. The transformation only took a few seconds. With less than a few minutes left Johnny pulled to the starting grid.
Johnny drove the prototype up the starting line for the second leg of the race. He was starting in seventy-fifth position on the grid. Johnny was frustrated starting last but was grateful that he wasn't eliminated. He took note of other cars at the starting grid. Some still had some sort of damage that had not been completely repaired from the first leg of the race. Some of the Johnny's had managed to change their vehicles to fit the next quarter of the track. Johnny had no idea how they managed to change their vehicles as he looked at them in confusion. He pondered over ideas but was brought back to reality when the humanoid rift eater appeared on a jumbotron screen.
The beast spoke. "The leg will be the same as last and only fifty of you will make it to the next round. Good luck." He finished as the screen went blank and the starting lights turned on.
Johnny looked at the course ahead of him as the signal lights turned on to start the next part. He looked past the starting grid to see the track descended onto an eight-lane highway, with four lanes going in either direction. The highway went on as far as Johnny could see. Johnny was having doubts about the severity of the weather now since it was calm and collected across the landscape of blackness. Johnny's expectations for an easy win would soon be shattered as the lights turned red now.
In that moment the weather on the highway began to change in an instance. The wind started to pick up from out of nowhere as precipitation began to blow sideways. The weather got so nasty it had looked like mother nature was having an argument with her mother-in-law. Within just a few seconds the highway could no longer be seen from the end of where the starting grid stopped. Then the lights changed to yellow.
When the lights began to turn yellow Johnny noticed something completely unexpected. Traffic began to appear out of thin air. Cars, trucks, buses, and all sorts of vehicles begin to start driving into the chaotic mess of weather at full speed. Johnny was guessing the vehicles were easily doing 100 mph if not more. At this point Johnny was a trainwreck.
How am I going to even compete in this? He thought worriedly. Johnny knew his best chances were to finish in the top fifty. Looking at some of the other vehicles he knew his odds were not good, but at least he had a shot if he played it safe.
The lights turned green, and the race was back underway. Now that the traffic had been added, he needed a new game plan. Johnny turned on a radar from the cars control terminal as he took off from the start. This radar had a special feature to let him see where any hazards or obstacles on the map. Such as traffic or accidents. The radar appeared as a HUD on the passenger side of the prototype's windshield. The display showed Johnny where the traffic was always. It also alerted him with sounds of distance.
Johnny took it slowly as he drove the prototype into the rough weather. The wind howled as it blew rain drops onto the prototype. The rain soon got fiercer as he drove into the raging storm. He couldn't see a thing. Luckily, the radar was helping Johnny navigate in the white out of a downpour. He chose to use the slow lane to have a better chance at finishing. He slowly picked up his speed after a few miles. Johnny was now hitting 80 mph as he weaved in and out of slower traffic spawns.
After driving about twenty-five miles Johnny had managed to gain seven spots. He had managed to pass slower vehicles that were playing it safe like him. A few others had ended up sliding off the road or gotten into a wreck in the process. The rain soon began to change into a heavy snow fall, which turned into a whiteout.
Again, Johnny was thankful for the radar as he passed more vehicles that were having trouble getting throw the snow storm. He gained around another seven positions.
The next twenty-five miles passed quickly. This time Johnny was driving into sleet with freezing rain. Johnny passed a few more competitors who were having trouble with the icy roads. The site reminded Johnny back to the Banzai Bangers event in the snowy Alaskan wilderness. It was an expo event that did poorly. Johnny ended up winning. Although Banzai Bangers never did the event again for poor performance.
Johnny was now running in fifty-nineth position with less than fifty miles to go. The precipitation now had all stopped, but now a thick fog covered the highway with a sandstorm blowing in the mix. Johnny hit the accelerator. Once again Johnny praised the prototype for having the technical advantage. Even though the visibility was zero he didn't need to see. He let the radar do all the work he spent on gaining even more positions. He now has met his goal of reaching fifty or higher to be in the next quarter. This all came crashing down when the weather changed again.
The last twenty-five miles had proven to be the most difficult of the second quarter. As Johnny approached the final twenty-five miles of the quarter. His radar alerted him of a massive crash ahead. The weather had gone from zero visibility to adding hail.
As Johnny approached hail stones started to bounce harmlessly off the chassis of the prototype that was harder than diamond. The window bars kept hail from shattering the windows of the prototype. He had to slow the prototype down to avoid sliding on the hail. He ended up passing a few competitors that had crashed into some of the spawned traffic. Two of which had caught fire. I can't stop to help they are not even real. Johnny reminded himself as he passed the burning wrecks. He was determined to stay in under the top fifty in drivers.
Johnny was soon given a warning on the radar. The hail stones began to stop. He was puzzled why the hail had stopped falling. The radar told him there was hail, but he couldn't see anything until one hit the ground in front of him. The hailstone was the size of a minivan. It even looked like one when he got a better look. Johnny soon had to take evasive action as more minivan sized hailstones started smashing the ground. He watched as a few hail stones pelted spawning traffic. As well as a few competitors. The hail only lasted for a mile as he weaved his way throw the onslaught.
The hail ended up only lasting for five miles before the weather changed again. This time Johnny hit the brakes of the prototype and came to a stop. In front of him was a tornado dashing back and forth across the highway. It kept picking up vehicles that spawned on the highway. To Johnny's surprise other drivers had come to stop as well. Ahead of them cars had been tossed all over the place, even a few competitors. The vehicles were destroyed beyond recognition. A few were nothing but a pile of burning cinders. This made Johnny worry. He watched as a few drivers decided to go for it a few made it. While a few were picked off the ground and thrown all around.
Johnny went to work with the terminal letting it collect info on the twister. Johnny was going to have to thread the needle with this twister. He let the terminal work out the math of how he was going to time the twister. By the time it helped Johnny figure out the intervals. He was now outside the top 50 with less than twenty miles to go. Johnny was alerted that forty-five drivers have already completed the race. He was in dire desperation. He waited for the interval with the longest run on the tornado.
Johnny was given a countdown to hit his accelerator and he needed to time it perfectly. The clock counted from 5-4-3-2-1-Go. Johnny gunned it as a few of the other racers followed him. He barely made it past the twister as he watched a few cars get picked up and start falling all around him. Johnny weaved in and out of all the lanes trying to avoid the falling cars. The twister soon did something Johnny hadn't expected. It began to chase him…
Johnny heart was pounding out of his chest as he was dodging all sorts of falling debris. He drove like a madman possessed as objects kept falling and missing him by feet to inches. The other competitors were following behind the tornado as it chased Johnny.
Well, that is just nice. They are waiting for me to get destroyed before passing me. Johnny thought as he looked like his radar with disdain.
Johnny continued aggressively dodging falling objects the next ten miles as the next checkpoint came into view. He was running in fifty-first spot. He was now neck and neck with spot for fifty with the other drivers on his tail. They decided to ignore the tornado and pass Johnny. He now was in a mad dash for the halfway check point. A few of the drivers had gotten a few car lengths in front of Johnny. All seemed lost for him as he thought of Julia and the others and pressed the gas harder.
Johnny was soon distracted by a noise coming from the radar. It was warning him of an incoming object. He watched in horror as a truck carrying two tankers with gasoline was chucked out of the tornado. The truck twirled through the air as a passed over the remainder of the field. The truck crushed the lead cars in front of Johnny as it blocked the road as it began to bounce. Johnny saw an opening as the two tankers lifted off the ground. Johnny drove for the hole as the other competitors followed as they tried to shove Johnny out of the way.
Johnny barely made it under the tankers as they fell back down. Johnny watched in his rearview mirror as only one other driver managed to pass under as the tankers landed. The other drivers piled into the tankers causing it to ignite into a massive fireball. The other vehicles crashed into the tankers blowing up as they impacted.
With less than half a mile to go Johnny floored it. He was neck and neck with the other driver who made it under the tankers with Johnny. They both slammed and banged both of their cars as they approached the next checkpoint. Neither Johnny or his clone were giving an inch. Meanwhile the tornado was still on their tail.
With two hundred feet remaining, both drivers ended up hitting each other to hard. They both losyt control as they spun. Johnny was the first to regain conrol. His clone manged to recover nearly at tge same time.
Both cars were about forty feet apart as they both were neck and neck as they closed in on the checkpoint. Johnny barely made it in fiftieth posistion as the otger car blew up conihg across the line. He had managed to get tge spot by two inches.
Just as had before he heard other cars exploding behind as he crossed the line.