It was sundown around seven-thirty as the impromptu crowd formed outside of what would have been a Toys R Us store. The store had been used as a vagabond village but even they cleared out due to the stench that would fill the air. It was the same that night when we arrived ahead of Tony, Chris and Riley: A foul odor which would require a hot shower for hours to get it off. I wore Matt’s long jacket as we got out of his car.

The crowd was mostly from Jefferson High, and it included the two drivers who had the gall to challenge Tony. However, a part of me wondered if Tony bragged a bit too much about his car to the wrong person and he had to prove to everyone he was the best.

Riley and Chris cut through the crowd to where we were.

“No Tony yet?” Matt asked.

“He’s on his way.”

“If he comes in flying, it’s going to be hard to set any bets.”

“There’s always the robot mode,” Riley added.

“Okay, now that I’d pay to see.”

“So would Barry,” Chris replied. “Just watch. He’ll come in a coche de mierda.”

Matt laughed a little as a light shined in the distance.

“All they got is a Honda,” Riley muttered and shook his head.

“A Honda decked out with enough nitrous to probably ignite the gas in the air, I’ll bet.”

An old-looking clunker drove into the parking lot.

“He’s doing it,” Chris said as he slapped Riley across the chest. “I called it.”

“Yeah, yeah, I owe you a taco.”

“You owe me two.”

We watched the car struggle to get next to the rival’s Honda.

“You’re going to race us in that piece of shit?” The taller of the two laughed.

“It’s got it where it counts,” Tony replied as he got out and slammed the door.

“Whatever, guido. You ready?”

“Hell yes. You got your money?”

They each took out two hundred dollars and handed them off to a third person who put the money into a bag.

“Matt, Tai!”

We walked over to the car with Matt sitting in the front and me in the back.

“You going to be okay, Tai?”

“Yeah, I’m stoked for this.”

“Awesome!” Tony exclaimed as he climbed back in.

“If you can get that old rust bucket up again, we can start!” The passenger of the other car yelled.

Tony turned the key, and the car roared to life like a lion but then sputtered like a lame tiger caught under the foot of a stampeding elephant.

There was a roar of laughter from the crowd.

“Just call the race off. We know who the loser is!” Someone yelled as he pointed at us.

The cars rolled into position and by then I had my seatbelt on and held onto the “oh shit” bar behind Tony.

The guy with bag holding the money stood in front of us and then dropped a hat onto the ground, signaling a peel out from both vehicles but the Honda zoomed ahead if us before Tony had shifted into second gear.

“And away we go!” Tony yelled and the car changed from a homage to the Wagon Queen Family Truckster to a futurist sleek car that surpassed anything featured “The Fast and Furious” and blazed ahead to catch up with the Honda.

“Tell me they can’t see the car the way it is.”

“They only see a piece of shit car, Tony,” Matt replied as he waved his hands in front of his face.

“You don’t have to put it like that.”

“Just watch it, we’re heading into the mall.”

Tony’s car was silent as we caught up to the Honda at the center of the mall. The course would have us go straight, leave through another hole in the wall, one that big enough for a single car, then circle around the parking lot. Then we would race in from the east side, continue to the west, and then head back to the starting point. We passed our opposition and they were not happy at all as they attempted to catch up.

“Wanna play chicken, huh?” Tony asked.

We were rapidly approaching the small hole in the wall with both cars matching speed.

“Screw this,” Tony spat as he flipped a switch on the steering wheel.

“Booster at the ready,” a computer-generated voice, which sounded a bit like mine, announced.

“Can you obscure the booster?”

“No,” Matt replied.

“Eh, what the hell! Everyone hold-on!”

“Booster engaged!” The voice said and we shot past the other car, clipping the side wall with no damage to the car.
Tony kept the booster on as we rocketed through the parking lot.

“Grappler ready,” the voice announced.

“Tony, why does that voice sound like me?”

“AI!” Tony replied as he pushed a button on the dashboard. A spike, attached to a wire flew out and buried itself deep into the ground, allowing us to take the turn at a dangerous speed. The wire disconnected at just the right moment, and we drove back into the mall for lap two. This time, we had to jump over an old fountain that was in the center of the food court. The ramp, if one would call it that, was composed of loose concrete and boards.

Tony kept the booster engine on as we hit the ramp, launching the car into the air. I stared in awe as we soared over the dilapidated food court and continued to fly to where the old Sears anchor store was. We touched back down and continued driving through the store and back outside. I looked out the side window, and I could have sworn I saw Katie!

“Was that Katie?” I asked.

“What?” Matt asked as he turned his head to me.

“I saw Katie!”

“Katie? Seriously” Tony asked as he pressed the same button as before.

“I invited her, but I thought she would have been with the others back at the starting line,” I said as the car’s computer beeped as it had earlier.

“Grappler ready,” I sang along with the voice of the car.

Tony looked at me in the rearview mirror as he pressed the button again and another bolt fired and punctured the ground. However, unlike the last time, the bolt did not go down as far, or maybe it had hit a pocket of gas as we undershot the turn and spun out of control.

“Booster disengaged.”

“AG stabilizer!” Tony yelled as the car floated off the ground and repositioned us back in the direction of the finish line.

The Honda appeared from the building in a desperate attempt to catch up.

“I’m converting back to incognito mode.”

“Use P.O.S., it simply rolls off the tongue,” Matt shouted as the car changed back into how it was when we started.

“Whoo!” Tony yelled. "Boo-yah!"

“Finish line!” Matt shouted.

I looked at Matt’s face, and it once again had a fresh set of scratches and bruises. I tried to think what we had hit to have caused that.

We darted past the guy with the hat and Tony slammed on the brakes. We came to a not so sudden stop and the car rattled and hissed.

The crowd cheered; Liberty had come to The Ruins to represent.

We climbed out of the car and Tony threw his hands into the air as Riley and Chris ran in to congratulate Tony.

“That was smoking!” Riley yelled. “They’re just coming in now!”

Chris turned and gave me a hug and a kiss.

“What are you doing?” I asked as I felt a pull at my body, like someone had their hands on my shoulders, throwing me back.

I flew back into the path of the Honda and their pissed-off drivers. I remember seeing their faces as I struck the windshield of the car.