The Final Drive
The Final Drive
This story is clean, however the character Lance (my fursona) does disobey the law, which is only done for entertainment purposes, and should never be done in real life. All characters belong to me and should not be used unless you are given permission.
Okay I was listening to 'Red Barchetta' by rush, great song, when I opened up word, and it made me want to write a story similar to the story in the song, which was inspired by another story, 'A Nice Morning Drive' by Richard S. Foster, this story is heavily based on the song and story, and i give all credit for the idea to the writer of the story. Anyway, I'll just shut up for now, and you can read.
The fox walked along the streets, his silvery white pelt mostly covered with the crisp new clothes he wore. He walked along inconspicuously, blending into the others walking along the sidewalks. He met nobody's eyes, making sure to keep a low profile.
Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted his destination and weaved his way through the other furs, stepping off of the main sidewalk; he walked down an old dusty path that lead to an old farmhouse that held what he was looking for. He knocked on the front door, in the pattern he had been taught, and used for many years now.
A small slot on the door opened and familiar, old eyes peered through.
When they spotted the fox, all traces of hardness left them, and they brightened up, "You're here, I thought they passed a law against any motor vehicles now." The fur behind the door said.
"They did, can I come in?" The fox asked, hoping for a 'yes'.
"I'm not going to turn down my nephew." The fur behind the door said, cheerily.
The fox smiled, that was just like his uncle. The fox's uncle had always wanted the fox to live freely, outside of the oppression the government had begun to bring on everyone.
The door opened and an old, wizened fox appeared in the doorway, "Come in, Lance, I know you must not want to wait."
Lance didn't hesitate, he walked into the old barn, excited to get started.
He walked into the barn with his uncle in tow, "I filled 'er up, and it's all ready to go, you know, it's her fiftieth birthday today, it's good that you're here for it."
Lance smiled, he had known the old thing was turning fifty today, which was precisely why he had come. The two walked into the back, and into a large room that had once been a horse stable, according to his uncle. Now, though, it was something much better than a horse stable, it was the garage for the machine that he used to defy the law.
As the old, worn and frayed cloth was pulled back, the beautiful machine was revealed, a gleaming, polished red sports car, there was no top to it, not that Lance would like it any other way. Lance walked over to the car, and ran his paws on the hood as he walked to the driver's seat. He opened the door, climbed in, and pulled out the keys that he knew were in the center council.
Pushing the key into the ignition, he turned it and the engine roared to life, it gently vibrated Lance, purring like a cat. Lance let the motor run for a while, letting it heat up. Once he felt the car was ready, he two-finger-saluted his uncle, pulled out his goggles, and putting the usual bandana over his muzzle, it masked his features, and helped to keep the dirt and sand from entering his mouth and nose.
He shifted the car from park to first gear, and slowly drove out of the barn, leaving his uncle to hope he came back safely. Once he was out of the barn, he rubbed the dashboard, "Well, are you ready to go out one last time?" he asked the car, getting a quiet purr from the engine as a response. With that, he sped off, increasing his speed, going to a deserted road he knew of.
Lance's body tingled, the prospect of breaking the new law thrilled him, as well as worried him, that meant that the much larger 'safe' cars would be free to hunt him down, the 'safe' cars, otherwise known as NMV's or 'Non Motor Vehicles' were gigantic cars that would withstand outrageous impacts with little to no damage to the car, or the driver, which had brought on the 'bumping', cars bumping into each other due to carelessness. As cars got safer, drivers got more and more reckless, being able to do whatever they really wanted without damaging themselves, or others if they crashed, this left the small cars, like his, vulnerable to the reckless drivers.
The reckless drivers weren't his worry though, they wouldn't go into the mountains like he was doing; it was what Lance called 'targeters' drivers who sought out the smaller cars, only to destroy them, seeing as their car would take no damage, and they could drive off without the other driver being able to do anything at all about it. What brought on this animosity, Lance didn't know, but he knew that they were dangerous, and that they would be stalking un-used roads for their next victims. Lance could only hope that they wouldn't be patrolling the mountain pass.
When he reached the mountain pass, he saw no NMV's and was relieved. He sped through the turns he knew so well, the wheels kicking up gravel and dust as he flew through the turns, shifting gears and breaking heavily before each turn. He looked at his speedometer, and saw the old car was going 130 miles per hour, he grinned as wind pulled on his clothes and fur, had it not been for the goggles, his eyes would be watering heavily from the wind.
The dusty path wound up, and at a fork in the road he noticed a NMV behind him, and cringed, this wasn't good, this could only mean that the car was after him.
Lance slowed slightly; allowing the NMV to get closer, closer, and just as the NMV was going to catch up, he sped up as well, keeping a good distance away. He saw his chance, a side road to his right, and sped up a tad bit, giving him enough space to make the brake for the turn. As the side road approached, Lance slammed the brakes and turned sharply, he heard the tires scream out and give a shriek, he skidded, the car's back end over turned, but Lance corrected it before the NMV could clip it; the one downside to NMV's was they couldn't turn well, due to the heavy metal that kept the drivers safe. The NMV skidded, but couldn't make the turn, the driver knew it, and let the car skid to a stop, just turn around and go home... please... Lance begged the driver in his head.
The driver turned around, and turned down the side road, and went on pursuing Lance. He caught a glimpse of the citizen's patrol symbol on the car and knew they would stop at nothing short of obvious death to destroy Lance's beautiful car. Lance didn't slow this time, he took every inch of distance between him and the other car as a blessing.
The engine whirred, letting its pleasure of being used, and used well, be known to him. The NMV was slowly falling behind, the sports car's superior speed and handling giving Lance an advantage, and just as he thought he could lose it, he saw ahead of him, a gleaming, hulking monster of a car sitting in front of his lane. Lance was starting to get worried; CP was not a force to be reckoned with, the drivers were outstanding.
Lance started to approach the other car, and started to his left, trying to lead the NMV to the left lane as well, the four lane road was large, but the NMV took up half of the space. The second NMV took the bait, moving over to the left lanes, and stopping once again. Lance smiled, outstanding drivers, but predictable all the same. At the last possible second, he turned to the right, getting into the lanes he had opened up from his trick.
The NMV's driver saw this a moment too late, and tried to pull back into the way of Lance, but the bulkiness of the NMV wouldn't allow the speed needed to cut off Lance's car. The NMV's pursued Lance through the mountain, and when one split off, and went a different way, lance worried that he would be seeing it again, this time in a more inconvenient area.
Lance thought quickly, trying to map out the mountain in his head, thinking if there were any one lane roads in the area. The old bridge popped into his head, and he grinned, the NMV's wouldn't dare try, it was too narrow, and wouldn't support their massive weight. He sped off, trying to find a familiar path so he could get to the bridge. He sped past side roads, trees whipping past him as the engine still purred contently.
He suddenly recognized an area ahead of him, and knew the way to the bridge from the road. He braked, and turned, noticing that the NMV was getting quite close now, somehow it was faster than the usual NMV's. Lance disregarded the fact, knowing he could still lose the two NMV's at the bridge. The tires shrieked again and whipped up another large cloud of dust where he turned. He sped off again, shifting at the bare minimum, trying to get speed, fast, everything around him was a blur, greens and browns and grays flitted past his peripheral vision, indicating just how fast he was truly going.
The NMV was no longer toying with him as it had been, it was going full speed, a speed to match the sports car, the only advantage Lance had was superior handling. The two cars raced down the deserted roads, when suddenly, the trees became sparser and Lance saw the bridge. He shot down the final stretch of road that led to the bridge, when he saw the other NMV speeding next to him on another road. The glass was tinted, but he could feel the angry eyes glaring at him.
Lance started to pull ahead of the other NMV, and the road turned slightly, making the other NMV go out of his field of vision. He knew he was on a timer, if he didn't go as fast as the machine could go, he would end up at the bottom of the river that the bridge spanned, the precious car along with him.
Lance's foot was even with the car's floor below him, and he was using his brakes sparingly, just a little further... come on... Lance thought and focused on the bridge and the road ahead of him, instincts taking over the driving of the car, his mind was solely focused on making it onto that bridge. The other NMV was behind him, but he didn't notice, everything other than the stretch of road and the bridge ahead was gone.
The road in front of the bridge was suddenly gone, and Lance's attention was no longer focused on only the bridge, I made it... he thought as he shot over the bridge. The tires squealed again, this time bringing the car to a complete stop. Lance looked over his shoulder, and saw the two NMV's at the other end of the bridge, just sitting there, not believing the MV had actually escaped them.
Lance didn't stay, he knew if he didn't hurry more could come, and his uncle would worry. He shot off again, going on a familiar road that he knew would bring him to the road that brought him to his uncles. He didn't meet any more NMV's, but he kept a wary eye on the mirror; although it had been exhilarating, he would never drive the car again, he would only visit his uncle to pop in and say hello and chat, rather than drive the car again. The danger of the day was not the factor that decided this; it had been decided before Lance had come to the barn to drive the gleaming red barchetta.
He pulled into the barn, cut the engine, and gave the car one last look; he had taken plenty of pictures of the machine, but there was nothing like being in its presence. He walked into the farmhouse to drink with his uncle, and tell him the news.
Short, at least I think it's short, but I really loved the story and song...