Racing Royalty

Prologue

The sun was high overhead, drying out the dirt and the grass, beating down on the backs of the necks of thirty something spectators sitting on the tops of their trucks in the middle of nowhere. Off in the distance, clouds of dust spewed out from behind dozens of cars, as they raced across the dusty desert road.

As the cars drew closer, their engines echoed across the valley and those watching, stood up, and squinted their eyes to see who was in the lead.

Two cars were neck and neck, one black and one red, the others trailing far behind as if they'd already given up. The red car was drawing ahead of the black as they crept up a small incline and almost lifted off when they hit the rise. Tires squealed in protest as the red car swerved, before spiraling out of control and slammed into the black car. The scene slowly was enveloped in a thick cloud of dust.

Those watching in the stands protected their eyes from the sand and strained their ears as engines revved again and the sound drew ever closer. They waited in anticipation and waited to see what happened to the black and red cars. With a mighty roar the red car emerged from the dust, the front end crunched just slightly, engine sputtering in protest at the same time as the black, sporting a nice dent on the passenger side. The black car drew ahead of the red at an alarming pace and the crowd screamed as the rest of the racers flew through the dust cloud towards the two cars.

As the two cars drew closer to the finish line the black car almost seemed to slow down before the engine gave a horrendous roar and the car accelerated at a surprising rate, leaving the red car, and all the others in the dust as it crossed the finish line.

The crowd screamed as the rest of the cars passed the finish line and the red car finally sputtered across, smoke coming out from underneath the hood of the car. The bystanders jumped off the back of their trucks and raced towards the black car as the small frame of the driver climbed out and steadied themself against the door.

A circle formed around the driver, their helmet still on as the rest of the racers gathered, their helmets left behind. The driver was smaller than any other racer out there and as the circle around them grew, the driver was near impossible to see from outside the circle.

The driver placed both hands on either side of the helmet and pulled it off of their head revealing their face. It was a woman.

With a bit of dramatic flare, she shrugged her shoulders and propped her helmet under an arm. The crowd laughed as she mouthed "Oops." before tousling her short brown hair and wiping sweat away from her forehead. She smiled at the crowd and struck a pose. They screamed when she stepped forward to shake hands with each of the drivers before pushing past the circle around her, and approached the man who had driven the red car.

The man was easily a foot and a half taller and wider than the tiny driver and ten times more intimidating with his thick muscles and dark skin. He stood with his jaw clenched and he glared at her before accepting her outstretched hand and shaking it once.

The crowd roared with cat-calls. He grunted and rubbed his shoulder before turning back to his car to work on the engine. Questions rained down at the girl who was now walking away from the red car back towards her own, the entire crowd following.

"How many wins does this make Royal?"

"Royal, will you be racing against The Bulldozer in next week's race off?"

"What was it like racing against Thor today? Did he live up to his hype?"

The driver they were calling Royal raised her hand to stop their questions and put her finger to her mouth, silencing them.

Off in the distance, sirens were wailing, and the sound was getting closer.

Royal smirked and winked before slipping her helmet back over her head, and jumped inside her car, revving the engine dramatically. The crowd roared with the sound and not a moment later she was screeching off towards the far end of the valley away from the sirens.

Everyone who was left standing around scrambled towards their cars and trucks and sped away from the scene as the blue and red lights rolled up to Thor and his broken down car, with more on pursuit of the fleeing crowd.

Far off in the distance, Royal's black car zoomed onto the distant highway and out of sight.