City Troubles - Chapter 1

City Troubles – Chapter 1

Night had fallen. Over the city, the sky was lit up from all the lights and neon signs, but out here, the night sky was of a very dark blue, almost black. It is said, that "The night is darkest right after dusk and right before dawn." and tonight, it seemed very true.

Normally, on a dark night like this, it would be very silent around this area in the canyons, but this night was different. The freeway, normally deserted at this time of the night, was filled with people. Lots of people. Almost everyone from the city who was interested in fast cars and bikes had come out to a festival of the illegal street racing scene. It was the biggest one yet and the date had been known for months. Lucky, the gangs who had organized it, were able to make a truce with the police. At least for this night and this freeway. Tonight, the freeway was filled with people showing off their tuned cars and motorcycles, they had come either to race or to watch the races.

High above all the hustle, a way up in the hills, a man stood on a dirt road leading around this hill, leaning against his car, a black and red Dodge Challenger. He was watching the buzz below him with mild interest, binoculars in his hands if anything would seem interesting enough to take a closer look. He was waiting for something, drumming his fingers on the binoculars. As he took a look on his cellphone to check the time, the crowd in the middle of the freeway below him opened up an alley for the first race.

A few guys rolled out their motorcycles into the middle of the road and, followed by cheers of the crowd, were announced by a guy with a megaphone. Some of the names were familiar to the man up in the hills and some weren't. There always were some new people wanting to make a name for themselves. This time, it seemed to be only guys, three of the best motorbike drivers of the city and two new guys. But then the announcer called out a sixth name he didn't quite understand and the crowd started to catcall and whistle. Down on the road, in the middle of the alley the crowd had formed, a young woman was pushing an orange motorcycle to the starting position. Most of the other drivers were laughing and one, obvious as hell, even tried to hit on her. She didn't react, neither to the whistling crowd nor to the laughing drivers.

"Oh, this is gonna get interesting..." the man up in the hills said to himself, smiled knowingly and raised the binoculars to his eyes to look at the girl. She had wild, two-colored hair, but she only shot quick and shy looks at the other drivers before she put on her helmet. He looked at the bike she was now swinging her leg over and had a feeling, that there was more to this Kawasaki Ninja than the naked eye saw. "They'll never see it coming..." he said and chuckled.

He took out his cellphone, hit the "dial" button twice and raised it to his ear, waiting for the answer.
While he listened to the sound of his phone, he searched the crowd below for a certain person. He found the guy he was looking for only a few steps behind the announcer and saw him taking out his cellphone and answering his call.

"Yo dude! Where are you? The shit is going down, man! You could easily strip half of the posers here of their cash!" the guy on the other end said.

"You know I don't wanna race anymore...especially not against these guys." the man up in the hills answered grudgingly.

"Aw, sorry man, I forgot..." the guy in the crowd said.

"No, you didn't, you just wanted to place save bets." the man said, interrupting the other guy."

"Okay dude, you got me... Why are you callin' if you don't wanna race?"

"What's the name of the girl who is crazy enough to race against Jay, Mark and Lobster?"

"Oh! So you are somewhere around here!" the guy in the crowd said and the man up in the hills saw him looking around.

"Yeah, but I just came to watch…. So what's her name?"

"Interested in her, huh? Just wait a sec... YO! What's the name of that racer chick? .... What? You sure? …. Dude? Still there?"

"Yeah, go on."

"It's Bree.... Bree McPhearson. She's new in town she says...that's all I know..."

"Hmmm.... You got cash on you?" the man up in the hill asked.

"Does the pope shit in the woods? Of course I'm loaded! Why? Got an Idea?"

"Yeah, put me down with five on her."

"Five? As in five hundred? I don't know man, you sure?"

"Yes, five hundred. Call it a hunch." the man on the hill road said and pushed the hang-up button.

Bree McPhearson. He had never heard that name before, but he was sure, before the night was over, everybody down there would remember it.

He watched the girl named Bree sitting on her bike, preparing for the race. A fleeting smiles rolled over his lips as he saw her rev up the engine. "You better win, girl...I got some money on you..." he said to himself and continued to look at her through his binoculars.

- - -

"Just focus on the race, just focus on the race..." the girl whispered to herself as she pushed her bike to the line. Bree was nervous as hell, and the catcalls from the crowd and the snide and jeering laughs from the other racers weren't helping.

She straddled her bike, flicking the switch and starting the engine, it quickly revved to life and soon the nervousness of the race melted away. She looked around at the group, scanning all the faces and eying up her competition more. She knew her bike was fast, it was a Kawasaki Ninja after all... and she had made some adjustments to it.

Her eyes scanned ahead of her at the track, but she stopped as she noticed something up in the hill to her left. From the reflection of the city's lights in the distance, she thought she saw a car shaped shadow. However, her eyes quickly went to the road in front of her as she heard the other bikers start their engines and the flag girl saunter to the start line. She rolled her eyes and figured you'd have to be real attention whore to do such a job.

She regained focus again, her eyes locking in on the flags the girl was holding, waiting for the moment they dropped. The adrenaline was starting to kick in and she loved it.

- - -

For a moment there, the man on the hill road could have sworn the girl had seen him, but she quickly looked away again. He noticed that she had changed. While she had held her shoulders and head down before, she now seemed... energetic. "You're getting more and more interesting, girl..." the man whispered.

The starter girl stood there quite some time while the drivers made their engines being heard. One last time she looked at every driver and started to wave the flags. Once, twice, three times and then she threw them down. The engines howled in unison like a pack of wolves. Lobster, the show-off he was, did his usual wheely and followed Jay, who had always been the fastest to start. After them went one of the new guys and fourth came Mark. He was the leader of a smaller gang of bikers and probably the best driver on the freeway tonight. Or so he thought.

- - -

Bree looked after the guy doing a wheelie as she shifted up and up again. She was in last place and she smiled knowingly. "OK Kiki, let's show them what were made of..." she said and laughed frenetically as she overtook the guy before her. The adrenaline was rushing through her veins and she loved it.

She had been quite disappointed when she heard that the race was just a mile down the freeway and back again. Then, she had heard what the price was. That kind of cash could keep me alive for months! she had thought and had happily applied for the race. The guy holding the bank had just raised an eyebrow at her and snorted a laugh, but he had taken her starting fee anyway while smiling like a child on Christmas morning. But she was sure she could win this. Easy money.

- - -

The man up on the hill saw, how the girl named Bree overtook that one new guy without any effort at all. She just shifted and passed him. Just a short way before her, Mark shot past the other new driver that had just shifted too soon and fell back. He's gonna boast about that one... the man thought as he watched.

The new guy now in fourth place got notably nervous as he noticed Bree closing in on him. He tried to make himself as wide as possible and swerved left to right and back again numerous times to block her from passing. Bree waited, calmly following him only feet behind him, waiting for a mistake. And then he mad one. He had gotten closer and closer to the right side of the road and suddenly got scared, left just enough space for a motorcycle to pass through and the girl took the chance. She shifted once more and pulled away from the poor guy and started to close in on Mark who had made his way towards Jay and followed him by a few yards. Lobster was already ahead since his front wheel had touched the road again and all his bike's power was pushing forward.

The man on the hill road continued to watch until the racers drove through a curve and dissapered from sight. He was eager to see who came into sight and smiled as he suddenly felt the vibration of his phone. He wondered who could send him a message at this time and took it out to look.

"Mayor knows of race fest. Forced Chief to break truce. Speed Cops on their way!". Bad news...with a capital BAD! He deleted the first two sentences and sent the last to a list of people named "Tell them, tell all". He shot a last look  in the direction of the girl and the other racers as he thought Seems like you took the wrong night to race, girl. He smiled, went around his car and got in. Seconds later, the Challenger's engine roared to life and he disappeared into the night, leaving behind a dust cloud.

- - -

There was the turn marker. She could already see it. She could also see the other three divers in front of her. The guy in the front on his red bike was out of reach for now... but there still was the way back. She looked at the other two drivers before her and saw how they both battled to get ahead. They were driving side by side, looking a each other, shifting like they were dueling. Then all of a sudden, the guy on the blue bike grabbed his breaks and swerved off. Bree was past him not even a second later and noticed the words on his bike's side, "Ray Jay", written in jagged letters. She heard his engine roar when she had passed him and saw in her mirror that he was now following her.

Bree had already ticked him off in her mind as he sudden pulled up to her, his front wheel close to her foot rests. She almost fell when she saw him reach out for her shoulder and swerved away from him. "YOU SON OFFA..." she shouted as she shifted and twisted the handle to get more distance between them. What the F was that about? she thought as she saw him fall back in her mirror as she pulled further away.

Only seconds later, she was close to the guy on the black bike and saw, how the driver of the red bike tried to stop in time for the turn. He failed miserably. He overshot the marker by almost 20 yards and killed the engine in the process. He was no danger to her anymore. He did have some power, but seemingly he failed to acknowledge all the weight of his bike. Or of his body for that matter, his shoulders were damn wide and his arms could have been someone else's legs. All muscle, no brains... Bree thought as she closed in on the guy before her.

She was still a few yards behind the driver on the black bike as he reached the turning marker and took an unnecessarily wide turn around it. Seeing her chance to finish this early, she smiled devilishly and hit her brakes so hard, that her back wheel rose off the street by an inch. Almost completely stopped, her front wheel next to the marker, she revved up the engine again and made her bike turn while her back wheel smoked and left half a circle of black skid marks on the street. The guy on the black bike had passed her again before she got to top speed, but she didn't really care, she was right behind him, only a few feet off his tailpipe. The adrenaline was pumping in her brain and she loved it.

They raced through the night, Bree following easily while the guy before her did everything he could to lose her. "Oh yeah boy, fear me... and fear the fury of Kiki!" she shouted and she smiled. She was wondering where the blue guy, "Ray Jay", had gone, but only for a second. She saw the last curve, a long one, very soft, sloping upwards. There was her. She knew she had the lighter bike. The slope would slow the other guy, even if it was just half a mile per hour, it would be enough for her to overtake him.

As they got closer to that last curve, Bree prepared herself. He knew, she was right behind him. She wondered what he would do. She shifted up one last time, building up power. Then the curve came and she felt the slope take effect in the black bike. She shifted down again, swerved to the inner side of the curve and shot past him without him having even a chance to hinder her.

She shouted "Yippie-ka-yay... Beatch!". She was happy. Really happy. She just won herself a shit load of cash. She was getting even happier as she saw the guy behind her slam his fist repeatedly on his bike's tank. Oh, he's gonna remember this for all of eternity... she thought as she shouted out a loud "Woohooo!".

Bree thought everything was just great until she saw the crowd at the finish line. They were all running wild, getting into cars and on bikes. Oh no! No, no, no, nonononono, just NO! STOP! Gimme my cash, dammit! I needs it!" she shouted without anyone hearing her. She crossed the finish line, hit her breaks hard and looked around for the guy holding the bank. Then she noticed the flashing, red and blue lights past the far end of the crowd. Great! Trust the Cops to bust you while trying to earn some fine money! Just effing great! she thought and rolled her eyes.

She turned her bike around again and went for the next freeway exit she had passed during the race. Minutes later, she was on a dark side road leading through a forest and stopped as she came to an exit to a dirt road leading up the hill. She got off her bike and pushed it into the shadow of the trees, trying to hide as best as she could with a bright orange motorcycle. She just had made it behind a bush when she heard an engine closing in. She ducked and saw a car coming down the dirt road. She was wondering why a cop would switch off his headlights during a search... until she noticed that it wasn't a cop. The car passed her, switched on its lights, drove out onto the side road and sped of into the night. She didn't get a good look at it, but could have sworn she had seen the car before.