The Expatriate-the story of a Prodigy

22. The Lotus and Three Other Cars

If Thomas had driven like hell last time, he now drove as if he was racing to the exit of hell with the devil chasing his tail. However, Alex Mars didn't even consider trying to slow him down, since he already knew they were out of time and things were bad already.

"So what the heck is the Food Store?" What a dumb name, he thought. "The city's impossible to hold agriculture, so we grow organic stuff in the Store and give it out to the residents for free or with little prices. Jesus, dial Lew, Miles," Before Thomas' rap could end, Miles quickly pulled out his phone and pressed the numbers for Lewis in such high speeds that the phone emitted a single line of a beep as he entered the numbers before he stuck it to his ear. 

3 seconds later, Lewis received the call. "f**k Miles, I know what's happening-" "So what exactly is happening?" Miles barked into the phone. Lewis seems to be running, Alex noticed with his ears. "The fire sensors have been slow to react, and the water turned on minutes after the fire, so the apartment's burnt out crisp like bread. Residents are all out, I think. Jesus, if we only had a fire department," "We're on our way," Miles murmured, then disconnected first. "Luckily, we have this Chiron," Thomas said breathlessly. 

Alex turned to the window to find more buildings streaking across it-they were near the center of the city already. Worried about the scale of the explosion, he tuned off his ears to the sounds of the car and focused on the sounds outside the car-there was the loud noise of sirens, people scurrying, rushing, and the fire crackling about, and he shuddered. The scale seemed to be huge, according to his ears-and it was sure to be hard to get a long line of cars and its passengers and the other Raiders out. 

His heart fell when the Chiron swiveled, turned, and screeched on the road across from the burning buildings. 

Yes, just as Lewis had said, the apartment with lined windows and doors were black and windows were shattered from the successful attempts of the residents to escape the fire, who had all jumped or run out-if they had all been normal people, they all wouldn't have made it. But the worst part was that the fire had jumped over to the other places near it, and one of them was a tall building that had trucks and cars lined up neatly in the outdoor parking lot in front of it. Jesus, why did Melanie have to go to the underground lot when there was space up here? Alex groaned. The fire was now, just as she had reported, burning at the cement walls leading to the underground parking lot, and he could see with his eyes that there were cars inside. Though he was sure that he could get to the building faster than Thomas was driving, he was soon reassured by Thomas' fast driving when he slid the car extremely over the road, shortening the distance in seconds. 

"We gotta deal with the other buildings as Mel said!" Miles shouted, as soon as the car stopped its spin. "We have to allot jobs," Alex observed. "Right-wait a sec, boys," Thomas stopped the car abruptly, only a few meters away from the Food Store. Alex groaned audibly having the most impatient moment than any other time of his life. "What?" "I think things might be working in our favor-rain seems to be coming down now, and Lewis and his men are here," "So what?" Miles asked. "It might not take much to help the minors, but the underground lot is sure to burn for long-Miles, and Alex, you both get there, I'll take care of the minors with Lew," It seemed clear that they both wanted to growl at Thomas for he had managed to subtly stick the two together in his plan, but kept their lassos in their grips only since the background was a burning building with people, including those they directly cared of, in it. "Get off," Thomas ordered, and simultaneously this time, Miles and Alex jumped out of the car-not led by the feeling of competition but the urgency to save the other Raiders and minors. Miles pulled out his phone once more and dialed like crazy while running. "Lyra! Where the heck are you guys?" He yelled. Though his legs were running and getting him closer to the building, Alex's attention stayed on the phone mainly. Come on, I'm listening, speak, he thought to Lyra. 

But there was silence on the other side of the phone. 

"f**k," he whispered. Knowing that Alex had also heard the silence, Miles gave him a frozen stare. "f*****g lord," The other boy added. For a moment, their eyes met and Alex had to give him a meaningless nod. Miles returned it back, all done while running at high speeds. Just as they both turned their heads back to face the building, their bodies crushed against the door, just with enough strength as they both had calculated unconsciously. The door swung open wide easily and they crashed in. 

Lyra and Melanie, he thought as he raced to the elevator bank and pressed every lift's button in 5 seconds. He had only met them a day ago and barely knew them, but knew that they were like his friends and family for the moment and would be, for the rest of his life, probably. And when he thought of Lyra especially, the memory of Andrew in his past life came to him in seconds. The blood, the gunshot, and the calm, victorious face of Fawkes-the thing he abhorred the most in the world. Though they weren't going to die from an execution, Melanie and Lyra was still in the danger of death and, and...

He simply knew he just had to save them. 

Thankfully, Miles seemed to agree with him at least on that matter, and they both jumped into the first elevator that arrived at the same time and their fingers jabbed the button for the parking lot. Enveloped in awkwardness, the elevator took them both down to the battlefield, slowly compared to the Prodigies' standards. s**t, s**t, s**t, fasten up, you box of steel, Alex growled.

So when the elevator had barely reached the bottom, Alex Mars shouldered the door aside, leaving a considerable dent on the door-but it actually opened more slowly. f**k, he thought. But all the while, he wasn't able to miss Mile's smirk and snort at his act, and couldn't bear it any longer. "Why?" He growled for real at Miles' nose. The boy was still laughing with the same arrogance of the day before when he stared back. "Did Tom tell you my ability? I have great strength, Alex Mars," Even before Alex could say 'So what, you arrogant b***h,' Miles threw his body against the door, which was still in the process of opening slowly from Alex's blow, and hurtled through it, the door blowing out of his way, afraid. For the few seconds after the blow, Alex knew that the worst and silliest act to do was for himslef to gasp and stare at the place where the sliding doors had been, and recovered quickly. So before Miles could turn to howl laughter at him full on the face, he murmured 'I see,' and walked out of the elevator with the door blown away, and into the parking lot, frowning.

Just, as usual, his ears went in advance and sensed everything ahead-and let out a shrill sigh of alarm. 

They heard crackling all around, tires screeching, and tens of cars honking at each second. After a second of his ears' notice came the report from his skin-of heat. Jesus, he thought as he pushed himself into the lot further. The heat crept up to his knees in seconds, though the fire was at the entrance of the lot, far away from him-that was how intense the inferno was. And then he saw the fire. 

At the entrance burned the fire, crackling at engulfing the entire gate-and the more terrible thing: just as Melanie had said, there was a long line of honking, frantic cars there, all stuck into each other like a neat, but frantic piece of the puzzle in front of the stove. "Bloody hell!" Miles exclaimed, running beside Alex Mars. Exactly, Alex nodded. s**t, so find the freaking Lotus, Al. 

"We gotta take the passengers to the elevator once more!" Alex Mars yelled to Miles. Miles frowned. "I mean, why can't they get to the elevator and get the hell out of this place now? Also, why aren't Lyra and Mel doing that even when they know that there's an elevator?" "They're minors, but in the case of Lyra and Melanie, I'm not too sure-" His voice trailed off when he saw the gist of the problem why the other Raiders weren't foolishly getting to the elevator to escape. 

It hadn't been the matter of foolishness-it had been the matter of inevitability.  

The Lotus Evija was halfway stuck in the line of cars, and worst of all, every car's tires had melted, from the fire, which was actually snaking all the way from the entrance to the path of the line, burning the rubber and emitting smoke with each passing minute, going on from car to the next. 

Alex's eyes turned to stare at the interior of the Lotus, and found its doors partially open, the only doors open among the line of cars. His feet could only race faster to the Lotus, and as he got nearer, he started to notice the increase in the heat against his soles from the approaching fire-which was 5 cars away from the Lotus. 

He finally reached the car just as he felt as if the heat was touching him directly through his shoe soles and yanked the passenger's seat door open. The first thing he caught in the dark of the car was Lyra's expression-so shocked and eyes spinning here and there, trying to calm herself down, Alex Mars understood. When she found him, he could, a bit disappointingly and with pity, sense that she calculated his number for a tiny moment before showing relief. "Al," She gasped. Though it was the first time a girl had called him by his nickname in his life, Alex Mars was too worried to notice it with high clarity. "Let's get out of here-the fire's only a few cars away from this one," He spoke urgently, looking up briefly at Melanie, who was showing much more relief and happiness at seeing Alex straight away. "But the floor. Alex-" "If you run, it's fine," "What of the others?" Lyra suddenly asked, waving her hand at the windshield. s**t, right, Alex remembered. "Lewis and Thomas' are out there putting out the fire, but it seems like they're gonna be late for here," Miles suddenly spoke, staring at the fire from behind Alex. "So we gotta put the fire out ourselves, then," Lyra concluded. "Miles, do you know of any hoses near here? If there's one, we have to go get it,"Alex asked urgently as Lyra and Melanie scrambled out of the Lotus. "There has been one at the elevator bank-I'll go get it," Alex watched in disbelief as Miles obeyed him straight and went running back to the elevator. Without needing to be told, Lyra and Melanie started to run to the cars in front of the Louts. But Alex didn't move, staring at the wheel of the Lotus, Melanie's keys still swinging inside, stuck to the ignition. 

"Melanie?" He finally managed to ask, hesitant about his plan. Melanie, who had been sticking her nose into the window of the car in front of her, shouting for the people to get out and try to tolerate the heat beneath their soles, looked up, then gave Alex a confused look when she found him staring at the car, without moving. "I swear I'll get you a brand new car-can your Lotus be sacrificed?" 

An incredibly and horribly long second passed, during which Melanie's face turned from shock to horror to anger to understanding. 

"If you're not going to do crazy stunts here, Alex, then it's fine," "Well, the thing is, I am going to do some stunts. And your Lotus, though great, doesn't seem too capable of surviving a blow," "Jesus, Alex," As Melanie gasped, worried for real and still trying to find out what he was going to do, Alex Mars slipped into the driver's seat with the speed of lightning. He noticed for a second that this was his first driving experience after driving Fawkes to the prison for the last time before Andrew was killed. But it was all the past, he reminded himself. Just forget it and get on with the work at hand.

So he stepped hard on the pedal and zapped forward-he was so unused to the Lotus that he nearly crashed into the car right in front of him, then barely avoided it to zoom forward to the exit of the lot where all the burning cars were, with the frantic passengers all stuck inside. In seconds after gaining control of the car, he arrived at the gist of the fire. Positioning himself facing the side of the fourth car in line, which was smoking, he raised down his windshield to wave at a plump balding man who was sweating and trying to get off his unfortunate car.

"Can you move over?" He shouted, and the man looked up in surprise, then nodded, backing his car a bit, then getting out of the line, its back still sizzling from the heat. Alex positioned the Lotus now in the other car's place, staring at the tail of the first car, which was hesitant with the fire threatening to swallow it only a few inches away, and also with no other exit to get out safely. Jesus, I will have to do it in the blink of an eye, Alex knew, then for a moment in preparing, let his hands idle and thought deep whether what he was going to do would work. Though insane, it was still logical at the least, nor was there any more time to lose, he figured out, then-

He hit the accelerator and plunged the head of the beautifully styled Lotus Evija into the tail of the third car, putting all the three cars in front of him and himself into the fire. 

For a second, his feet were just pushing the pedal with all his might, and the cars in front weren't budging. Come on, your car, you were designed for strength-just push these 3 cars, Jesus, he chanted.

Finally, 6 seconds later as if the car understood or was too tired to budging against his force to move forward, it launched forward with a grunt. 

During the next seconds, he was in the midst of the fire inside the Lotus, and also the first car was right in front of him. He could hear, aside from the crackling of the fire, the yelp and groan of the drivers of the cars in front. 

Then, they were out.  

It had all been done in a matter of seconds, and all 4 cars were sizzled, but the interiors were, thankfully, not. Fire now crackled directly on the steel frames of the cars, and Alex Mars watched in relief as the riders bolted out as if he had waited for the moment, the first driver shrieking at the heat as he got out. After getting out, one of the other drivers growled at his burning car, looking for something to put out the fire with. He frowned when his eyes met the Lotus Evija, the car which had butted his poor old car, then looked at the dark, the exit of the parking lot, which entrance was burning less, and smiled at the Lotus. Alex Mars was relived and enjoying the fact that he had managed to survive it all, when he caught the driver jumping up and down, waving his fist at him. One of the guys I saved has abrupt mood changes, he observed calmly until he also felt the heat on the roof of the Evija start to reach him, thinning the roof above his head directly. "Jesus on a pogo stick," He then scrambled out, nearly letting the fire catch onto his hand and jeans, but slipped away quickly so that he wouldn't get any burns. He was dusting his body off in case the fire had left any soot on him(though he rarely cared about his appearance-he was only busying himself at grooming for it would be extremely awkward to stand to do nothing on the field) when someone yelped "f*****g lord, Alex!" from behind, the male speaker's voice getting closer with extreme speed-he knew from that point that it was one of Melanie or Thomas. But Melanie couldn't have scrambled out so fast nor was male, so he knew it was Thomas. 

"Why did you do that?" he turned to face a shrieking Thomas who was covered in sweat and soot-still, the other boy wasn't shrieking for he was infuriated, and shrieking out of not being able to believe what he had just seen. "Huh?" "I mean, weren't there any sprinklers or hoses inside there? And what of the others? You couldn't have let them die in the smoke-" Alex snorted. "Don't you trust your friends, Thomas? Miles had gone to fetch the hose, which was at the elevator bank that was minutes of running off from the line of cars. And these fellas-" he waved to the confused but pleased drivers of the 3 cars. "We're going to sizzle and burn to hell, since Miles somehow doesn't have running as fast as you and had already taken off, so Melanie was also hard to utilize. So I just pushed these guys out, and I believe that Miles and the other Raiders are putting out the fire at the exit, all the other cars behind safe," Alex spoked it as an almost equal rap that resembled Thomas', and for a second, the other boy also looked from the exit to the burning Lotus to the survivors just like the other driver before who had alerted Alex that his Lotus was burning. Then his eyes widened big.

Impatient of Thomas' slow reaction, Alex sighed and started to walk to the exit of the lot, leaving the burning 4 cars to Thomas and Lewis, back into the lot. He found Lyra, Melanie, and Miles staring at him dumb as he came back in, cars slowly driving toward the exit, smoke all over the place like cloud, and noticed that Miles had a dripping hose gripped in his hands, then raised an eyebrow, waiting for his reaction. 

Miles was faster to act than Thomas and actually, and unbelievingly, grinned at Alex Mars. 

"It was the most insane thing, as a 17-year-old Prod, I have ever seen, Alex Mars," he said, dropping the hose. Alex, released, walked quickly to them, observing the others. Melanie's expression was mixed of three feelings-sorrow, shock, then pleasure, observed. "Didn't know people can be showing three feelings at the same time. Let me guess. You're sad for the sacrilege I put forth to your Lotus, you are shocked by what happened, and you're pleased for you'll get a new car from me," Melanie, staring at him intently, swallowed. "Exactly," She said, then added in a slightly smaller voice, still staring, "I would want a final Evolution 3 Eleven 430 Lotus," "It doesn't have a roof nor doors and this Canadian city might not have it now in its abandoned car stores," frowning, Alex turned to glance at Lyra, who was staring at him also in her calculative way, hair sticking to her clothes from the sweat from the heat and urgency of the situation before. She looked away before he could. "I think it'll be fine, Alex. Wait, is Tom's Chiron still alive?" "Yes-maybe he made me and Alex get off and keep away from the Bugatti since he predicted that Alex would be suing luxury cars to push the cars in the front out by crashing into their butts," Miles commented, pulling out his phone to call Thomas. Gee, Thomas was right-Miles' changing his attitude to me, Alex thought before replying. "Thomas' out there, and seemed to have never dreamed of me doing that. Anyway, just call him to bring his car to the front of the building," 

They exited the lot only after all the cars were gone and the fire at the exit was completely extinguished from Mile's hose and waited for Thomas to come fetch them up with his Chiron. The rain was now coming down faster and Alex Mars felt soaked in a matter of seconds before one of the Chiron's tires came skidding to a stop right in front of him, splashing mud onto his pants. Not that he was discouraged simply because of that. 

-Actually, for the first time among the Raiders, he was feeling extremely victorious and hopeful.