Did Lucas know this was a bad idea when this first began? Yes. Did he know that this would involve them doing a very dangerous sport in illegal conditions? Of course not. And did Atlas care? Not in the slightest.
This guy, who they now know as Malachi, has infuriated Atlas. How dare he think he could just walk around and do something so awful to somebody, and then get away with it. Just because he's "the champ". Oh please, he's no better than a fucking coward. Or at least, that's what Atlas thought.
Now, you see, let's take you back to before there were two people sitting in there cars. One crashed, and one was victorious.
Drag racing is not something that is taken lightly, and especially not with these people. Most people make money from gambling, playing poker, making some dumb bets with their friends. These guys betted on them. More specifically, they betted on pwho would win the race. The newbie or the champ. Who would you pick? Needless to say, no one saw this coming.
Now the crash quite honestly wasn't anyone's fault but the driver. To busy trying to throw the enemy off, they sent themselves spiraling. They lost control over themselves trying to control someone else. They lost their own mind, in an attempt to get into someone else's. Interesting, is it not?
Now let's go back to the two competitors. Sitting in their cars. Icy gazes locked on the road ahead, but was intended to be towards the other. The roads were empty. The round they were going on was very simple. Cross the bridge, make you turn, first one here wins. Simple, so it seemed.
Malachi was a good driver. After all, he had to earn his title somehow. But his downfall, as well as the downfall of many others, was his arrogance. He overestimates himself. Placing himself above anyone else, whether or not he knew who this person was was trivial. It meant nothing. After all, no one could beat him, right?
Their engines were revving. The cheers in the background were deafening. Lucas had a look of what appeared to be dread and anxiety on his face. This could go horribly wrong, and he was aware of that. He immediately regretted not just telling to let it go. That it wasn't worth her time. That he wasn't worth her time. But it's too late now.
A girl, maybe about 16 years old, came up and stood in front of both cars. She had 2 flags in her hands. Her brown hair had pink and some faded blonde streaks in it. She began raising both flags. As they came up and met the dark horizon, both cars zoomed past. It had begun.
The one thing Atlas felt in this moment was determination. She was going to win. She wasn't going to let this guy get what he wanted as he so clearly always seems to do. As they were racing down the road, they could see the bridge coming up ahead. Malachi pressed harder on the gas pedal, motivated and refusing to allow his title to be taken away from him by an outsider.
Malachi was beginning to feel as if that just might happen though.
Allow me to make something clear to you, fear makes people do things. Things that they never thought they ever would or could do. Fear is something that works it's way into one's veins, refusing to leave until the thing that has inflicted it came to pass. Fear takes ahold on you, and makes you it's prisoner. It makes you into the very thing you never wanted to be. Malachi's character truthfully could've never been told by his actions. He was under an influence. The influence of fear. One of, if not, the strongest influence of them all.
Malachi began easing his car towards Atlas'. It was headed towards the driver's side.
He knew the consequences, he didn't care.
He knew one of the could very likely end up dead, he didn't care.
He kept inching towards her. Closer, and closer, and closer. He didn't see what was coming up ahead. He didn't see the fork in the road.
Atlas quickly turned to the right and onto the road. But immediately stopped when she heard a crash behind her.
Malachi was paying too close attention to her, he didn't turn.
All she could see was the wreckage of whatever was left of Malachi's car, right in an abandoned shop.
She ran towards the scene, terrified. Had her damn ego cost this guy his life? Had her inability to back down made this man die?
But up close the wreckage was so much more awful.
Malachi had taken a blow to the head, he was bleeding, his lip was busted. He was passed out.
Atlas immediately made a move to check for a pulse. She let out a sigh of relief when she felt one. Barely.
She opened up the car door and begin carrying him over to her car. They needed a medic, and they needed one quick.
She heaved out a breath after placing him in the passenger seat and moved quickly to her side. She sat down and pressed the gas pedal.
As the people heard the car engine in the distance they were cheering. Joyous, even if they weren't right on who would win. It was excitement from the moment. Adrenaline. And Lucas was relieved when he saw their car pull up first. He didn't want to know what would happen if Malachi had won. What he would've made them do. What he would've made her do.
But as everyone saw Malachi's bloodied form from the passenger window. It all immediately died down. Into shouts of worry. Anxiety building up in everyone's chests, choking them. Fear.
Needless to say, Lucas' relief was short lived.
Atlas skid to a stop at their starting point. She gout her head out of the window.
"Lucas get in the fucking car! He crashed!" Atlas yelled. Her anxiety was reaching unhealthy levels at this point and all she wanted to do was get to the nearest emergency room.
Lucas seemed paralyzed for a second, but came to his senses when Atlas beeped at him. He immediately moved to the back seat. Before he could even fully close the door, Atlas sped off and away from the raging crowd. Now worried for the health of their leader.
As Atlas was driving at an unreasonable and way too fast speed. Lucas went up and asked her the question that had been burning him since she first skid to a start at the beginning.
"What the hell happened?"
Atlas was not in the mental state to be answering question she didn't even fully know the answer to. She was petrified and frustrated and completely focused on getting there before it was too late.
"I'll tell you later."
Lucas chose to leave it at that. Clearly noticing the tears pricking the corners of her eyes. She was in distress and he didn't want to add to that.
They drive silently the rest of the drive. Praying to whatever the fuck was up there that they would make it on time.
Atlas pumped the breaks as they came up to the emergency room. Bringing the car to an abrupt stop.
They both got out of the car, each had an arm around Malachi.
As they entered the infirmary doors, Atlas yelled. "Help! Help please he crashed!"
Two nurses came to grab him and put him on the bed. They took him away. Leaving Atlas and Lucas in the waiting room.
• • •
They had been waiting for awhile, although both lost track of time. In this time Atlas managed to tell Lucas and one of he doctors what she knew of what happened. Of course she left out how this all occurred during an illegal drag race. But Lucas already knew that part.
A doctor call me out of the door, "Atlas? That was your name wasn't it?" He called.
Atlas stood up along with Lucas, "How is he?" She asked, somewhat scared of he answer.
"He should be ok, although since you're not family I'm not obligated nor am I allowed to tell you more. I'm sorry." He told her, a look of fake sympathy on his face.
Both Atlas and Lucas breathed a sigh of relief. "It's ok that's all we need to know." Lucas told the doctor.
The man gave them one final nod and look of sympathy before going back to wherever he came from.
Atlas looked towards Lucas, "Thank fuck he's gonna be ok." She said, smiling slightly toward the end.
"Yeah." He told her, the relief seemed to be overwhelming him. He didn't need someone's blood on his hands. And neither did Atlas. Not again.
As they took a moment to look at each other. They finally felt something they hadn't in awhile. Peace of mind. He was ok. They were ok.
They both made a move to go back to the car. They've done all they possibly could now.
As Atlas began starting the car and it roared to life, Lucas looked towards her. "So, is this the part where we call it a night?" He asked her. He felt after that experience she'd want to not continue.
She looked back at him with an incredulous look painting her features. "Look at the time hun, you're not getting rid of me that easily."
The time was 3:58am. Nowhere near 6.
"I just thought after that-" Lucas began saying.
"Well you thought wrong." Atlas cut him off, turning towards him. "Ok just because this happened, doesn't mean this needs to end." She rotated towards the front once more, looking at the road in front of her again. "We just need to do something to forget this." She spoke again, although it appeared to be mostly to herself.
As they continued driving, a lightbulb went off in Atlas' head. She began smirking as the destination came to her head. "And I know the perfect way to do that." She said once again. The statement hung in the air as Lucas looked at her. He released a silent chuckle. He looked towards the clock once more. The time was 4:00am. Right on the dot.
• • •
I'm starting to realize that these chapters are really long. Should I make them shorter?