2020-06-20 - Road Hog

It's a good night for this sort of drive - for once, not raining, although a warm mist hangs over the harbor, just visible when the trees break around the curves. The road winds along the top of the cliff, so the air has a strong scent of salt and ocean, and the view that can be glimpsed for moments around the sharp curves is darkly spectacular. There are lights on the Harbor, reflected in the ebon waters - but also lights behind Cristobal. Faintly glimpsed at first, owing to the curved nature of the road. But at the speeds Cristobal is going, those lights shouldn't be getting CLOSER. But they are. Curve by curve, moment by moment; every time they appear, they're closer behind him.

Until he can see the car the lights belong to, as he hits a longer, straighter piece of road. It's Joey Kelly's car, coming up behind him.

It's a bad combination of things, but mostly that Cristobal slows. Joey's car doesn't. Cristobal's not on his guard, because after all, that's Joey Kelly's car, and say what you want about the intelligence of the local criminals, no one in Gray Harbor is stupid enough to steal Kelly's car. Right?

So, does that mean it's Joey who accelerates, the growl of the engine turning to a roar just when it's too close to avoid, and slams into the rear corner of Cristobal's car, nearly sending it in to a deadly tailspin in that very first moment. The driver is hunched in his seat, hard to make out. Especially as the side of the car screeeeeeeeeeches against the guardrail. The car swings to start to pull along side.

Joey's car slips into the other lane and pulls up alongside Cristobal. The man in the driver's seat isn't built quite like Kelly. He barely even looks Cris' way, keeping his eyes on the road, his features impassive, professional. Even as he turns the wheel and slams into the car again, this time from the side, his expression never really changes. He uses Joey's car to push Cristobal hard against the guard rail, and for a moment, Cris' control of the car gives way, and there's another horrific screech as metal bounces off metal, and the passenger side mirror is torn clean off.

The driver was expecting that, which means this definitely wasn't some psychotic joyrider picking a fight with a random speeder. As soon as Cris reaches for the gun, the car drops back with smooth suddenness, and the shots punch through the air where the the drive used to be.

But now he's behind Cris again, weaving back and forth, trying to make him guess what side he's going to attack the car from (and, not coincidentally, making himself a lousy fucking target for that gun). Meanwhile, the music is blaring and they're coming around a long, shallow curve heading back towards to town.

Well, that wasn't quite expected. Oh, the gunfire was - that's avoided with an almost insulting ease as the driver pitches across the road and out of the way of the bullets. But the slamming on of breaks? Cristobal gets a glimpse of that impassive face cracking for a moment, a curse that's seen more than heard as the car slews back in the other direction, just missing having the front of the car slammed into the Fairlane's back end. He's not able to speed match AND dodge at the same time, so Joey's car goes streaking past Cris as the driver fights for control for a moment.

The shots echo in the empty night, and finally, Cris has some success. Joey's rear windshield explodes in a rain of safety glass, and from the way the car lists for a moment, he might have winged the driver. It's clearly not enough to stop the car - though it does seem to be enough to encourage it to leave off turning around and trying again. The tail-lights disappear rapidly around another curve, and there's only the blare of Cris' radio and the sound of his breathing and the sea to keep him company.