Battling down the main highway towards town, the red Ferrari blazed out in front while the White Lotus remained hot on its taillights. The drivers punched down the accelerators and snapped through the gears, trying to force every drop of speed from their vehicles. The cars weaved in and out of the night time traffic as flecks of snow sparkled in their headlights. The White Lotus surged up to the side of the Ferrari, and its driver angrily swore through the glass, before suddenly swerving across two lanes to shunt the Ferrari off the road.
“What’s wrong with you, Accel? You’re gonna get someone killed,” the man in the Ferrari sports car shouted as he jerked the car out of the way.
The driver of the red Ferrari wore a retro biker’s jacket with a red stripe down the arms and crisp blue jeans with snazzy trainers. His blond hair was parted down the middle with a slight wave on either side, and he had lipstick on his cheek. He looked through the window to see his opponent, Accel, at the wheel of the Lotus. Accel snarled back.
He swerved the car around a big supermarket truck in an attempt to stop Accel from continuing the chase, and then he slowed down to drift behind the truck. As he looked at the exit sign into downtown, he hoped Accel had driven past the exit and out of reach.
No sign of him, he noted, sighing with relief. Then he cut through the traffic and hit the off ramp. He decided he would go and hang out in the downtown plaza until Accel had calmed down. Maybe then it would be safe to go back to the barracks and resolve the issue in private.
It was just a kiss. His mind flashed back to behind the sheds at the army barracks where he had shared a private moment with Julie, or Psy as she was better known. He had no idea that Accel had the hots for her.
How could I know?
#
Scanning the area frantically, Accel hoped to locate the red Ferrari and his competition, Bolt. He’d lost sight of him around the supermarket truck, and then he was distracted by a camper van drifting into the middle lane that he had to avoid.
“Where are you Bolt? You can’t hide forever. I will find you,” Accel said with his brown eyes narrowing to focus on the traffic ahead.
He rubbed the bristles of his shaven head, trying to think where Bolt had disappeared to. He still wore the tracksuit he had been wearing on his run when he caught Psy and Bolt in a passionate embrace. He had told Bolt how he felt about her a few days before, but thinking about that moment, Accel realized that Bolt had been too busy watching TV. Accel had also wanted to tell Psy how he felt about her, but he had never found the right moment.
When the Ferrari pulled around the back of the sheds, he had followed and watched. He saw Bolt run around to open Psy’s door. Then, after Bolt helped Psy to get out of the car, Accel saw the two of them kiss. When he shouted, Bolt darted back to his side of the Ferrari and then jumped in and sped away. It was an admission of guilt. To pursue his opponent, he had immediately sprinted to the garage to get his car, the white Lotus.
As he scanned the reflection in the Lotus’ side view mirror, he saw the Ferrari slip through the traffic, pull onto the exit ramp, and off the highway.
No way are you getting away that easy.
He swung the car into a sharp U-turn. The wheels burnt rubber and screeched as Accel headed the wrong way through the oncoming traffic to the exit ramp Bolt had taken. Behind him, the supermarket truck slammed into the camper van, and cars piled up behind the two large vehicles ricocheting and spinning around the road. Flames burst out and debris scattered across the highway.
In front of him, oncoming drivers beeped and flashed their lights, and he swerved onto the exit. He surged onto the local road in time to catch Bolt calmly driving into the center of town. Accel forced his way into the flow of traffic, hoping to catch up with his opponent.