Highway Hooligans
Day 0, Part 1 - “What’s Under the Hood?”
In the Driver’s Meeting
“So, the Oregon Trail. Interesting little road trip.” Marcus said.
“Says the guy who raced Route 66 a couple years ago. And you said you’d retired.” Cody said, giving his brother a good ribbing.
“Was hardly a race, most of the people there brought out large barges and cruised it. Only a handful of us actually made decent time.”
DING! “Your headlights are on.”
“Jake, turn the headlights off.” Trevor snapped.
“Why, we’re driving in a few minutes anyway? I’ll just turn the engine on.”
“Fine.”
A few moments of cursing later, and Jake had his key in the ignition, and the engine running. With the drivers’ meeting over, Marcus wandered back, then saw Jake in his seat.
“Really? Fine, you’re in the hot seat, you take the first leg.” Marcus said. “And before anyone thinks about it, Shotgun.” With that said, he settled into the passenger seat. Cody took the seat behind his brother, while Trevor sat there on the driver’s side, eating a bag of chips.
“Really, Trev? I know we didn’t pack any of those, either.” Cody said, rolling his eyes.
“I’m regretting the decision anyway. They suck.” Trevor said, throwing the empty bag out of the window.
Departure
Marcus grabbed the cassette adapter cable, then plugged in his phone. With a few quick clicks, he raised the volume, then started the first song in the playlist.
He reached up, then turned the Neons on, and set them to “Music Mode” so they’d pulse in time with the music. “Gotta love that mode. In my XR-3, I had it labeled as ‘Dance Fucker Dance’ but I didn’t bring a label maker this time.” Marcus said. Jake nodded, turning on the bright green fog-lights and trying to carefully roll the car up to the starting line.
CRUNCH! GRRRRR!
“Use the clutch, Jake.” Cody said, grinning. “The old rule of ‘If you can’t find it, grind it’ doesn’t work so well in a car with a big engine, and I’m not going to be happy if we have to go without second gear.”
“I’m trying, but you know I suck at driving stick.” Jake said.
“Consider this a learning experience, then.” Trevor said.
CRUNCH!
“Fine, you need some incentive then.” Marcus said. “Grind my gearbox again and I’ll give you a charlie horse.”
At the line, Jake managed to get it stopped up without stalling the engine. The flag dropped, and Jake dumped the clutch halfway up the rev range, leaving in an almighty cloud of tire smoke, noise, music, and flashing lights. Second gear was an easy slap shift, and the traction control finally stepped in to keep the rear wheels from burning.
CRUNCH!
THUD! “OW!” Jake yelled, the car weaving all over the lane as he tried to lean away from any further attacks.
“I warned you. Use the fuckin’ clutch.”
Eventually, the gear changes smoothed out, and the Highway Hooligans were hurtling down the highway at breakneck speeds, hauled along by the mother of all I4’s and its pet snail. “You can almost feel the explosions.” Jake yelled over the colossal racket in the car.
“I know. Imagine this with one less cylinder, no turbo, and a straight-pipe.” Marcus said.
“That had to shake like crazy!” Trevor said from the back seat.
“Soda was not an option on that trip. It was like driving a paint shaker.”
Jake reached over, grabbing a can of Monster and downing most of it. “Least we’ve got a little smoother engine this time, and we’re making great speed.” he said, before finishing the can. “Um, where’s the garbage?”
“Right here.” Marcus said, grabbing the can, opening his window and sending the empty metal container flying. Jake grinned, lightly horrified by how quickly Marcus had made that decision, and yet amused that, for once, he could litter and not hear an earful from his parents about it.
Trevor rolled down his window as Marcus rolled up his, then sent two empty beer bottles flying into the passing lane. “Weight reduction, bro.” He said, before laughing like a drunken madman.
“Well, if anyone wants to find where we started from, just follow the trail of trash.” Cody said, laughing.
They hurtled down the highway for a while before Cody looked at the GPS and then realized something. “Dude, I think we’re in the fuckin’ lead!” he said.
“Don’t. Don’t you fuckin’ jinx us, Cody, or I swear to fuck you’re going to have road rash on your ass.” Marcus said.
The Highway Hooligans raced down the Highway to the sound of thumping music and the roaring engine. And the occasional flying object evicted from the car.
Aftermath:
Morale: +1 (Change: +1)
Fatigue: +1 (Change: +1)
Waypoints Complete: 1
Notes: Listening to music on the highway at high volume.
