Hey, everyone! This is a new story that I'm attempting to write, but I need to know if people like it in order to continue. I'd suggest reading chapter seven of The Reunion first, if you're serious about reading this. It could help you better understand what's going on. Anyways, hope you enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't know how many of my 29 OCs are going to be in here, but I own them. So please don't take them. Remember, this is strictly OC.

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CHAPTER ONE

South Carolina 1978

Alex looked around him. What started off as a few cars wanting to watch an illegal street race quickly turned into a large mass of gathering fans. The news of tonight's event spread through town, and before he knew it, the Mustang found himself locked into a race he couldn't turn down.

Alex was well known, this side of South Carolina. Won many races, had the attention of everyone, and the earnings of a professional racer. Deep orange with the number 74 on his sides, Alex was tough to beat with his 429 engine.

The car that challenged him tonight had traveled a long distance just for this chance. He wanted more than anything to win against a racer so popular as Alex, especially to achieve victory in the guy's own town. Nothing better than that kind of defeat...

But these races were special. It was Ford versus Chevy, winner takes all.

The crowd's cheers were deafening, and Alex found it hard to concentrate on his surroundings. The heat being generated that night was overwhelming, and his engine was already burning up.

Alex had been pushed to the limit. Never, never could he remember having to race this hard in his life. His abused engine lingered on the verge of complete failure, not to mention that everything else was beginning to have severe problems as well.

But he had to make it... one more race...

Both opponents having two wins tonight, this final one deciding the overall champion. The bragging rights would be more rewarding than the pay he would receive afterwards. Their reputations were at stake here.

And so were lives.

Alex wanted to call off the final race, even offered to split the prize, because he knew he couldn't race under the condition he was in at the moment. He was breaking apart, in complete agony.

The Mustang breathed in deep, trying to control his breath as he rolled towards the starting line for the final time tonight. For everything, this was it. He had made it this far, and he was no quitter.

Coming to a stop next to him, Alex looked over to his right and saw his Chevy rivalry. The silver car wore a sneer, knowing very well that the other racer was in trouble.

Alex sighed and tried to concentrate. He zoned out the crowd's cheers, and in that moment, all he could hear was the sound of his own bellowing engine. There was pain, more than he thought. He winced and once more sighed, trying to relax as he stared at the mile long track in front of him.

"C'mon, you can make it... Just a quarter mile..." Alex told himself, but it was harder than it seemed. He could hear the Chevy's laughter as he tried to focus.

A pretty female car drove past them and to her post. She gave the two racers the signal to warm up their tires, and they did.

Alex slammed on his accelerator as he locked up his brakes. His tires squealing on the asphalt as his tires heated up. The smoke his tires created began to float away in the night's breeze, fading away. He was ready.

The Chevy did the same, and soon the two racers were lined up for a head to head race. Both cars evenly matched.

"Gentlemen, are you ready to race?!" The female car called out to the two. They revved their engines in response, looks of determination etched across their faces. More cheers from everyone, and that was all the racers needed to get their adrenaline flowing.

The silence returned in his mind, and Alex watched in slow motion as the girl dropped the flag.

He quickly took the lead, but it didn't last long.

Disaster struck him as one of his rear tires exploded. Debris and shreds of rubber were sent flying everywhere. The shock made Alex lose control, he couldn't keep steady, and before he knew it he was heading straight for a concrete wall.

He tried hard to correct his steering, but the more he fought the worse it got. His steering wasn't an option, it locked up and jammed on him. In desperation, Alex slammed on the brakes. To his surprise, they were shot. Of no use to him now.

"Ahh what the--"

Alex rammed head on into the wall. The gasps and cries of the fans in the crowd almost enough to over power the sound of crunching metal.

He sat there, this time the silence was for real. There were no more cheers, only murmurs of others all around him. It was then that the Mustang heard the steady hiss of his engine, and could see smoke pouring out from under him through the night, blinding him.

Pain didn't even register to him anymore. He couldn't feel anything, the whole world was beginning to wobble back and forth as he tried to regain focus on things around him. Through the corner of his vision, he could see a car approaching him. It was his teammate.

"Alex! Alex, hold on!" The car arrived by his side, looking over his damage inch by inch. "Alex..." He said, his expression grim.

The Mustang could feel his oil draining from him. It wasn't long before his burnt tires felt the warmth of that oil as it gathered beneath him. "How bad?" He breathed.

His teammate tried to speak, but couldn't find the words as he just stared.

Alex began panting, trying to keep calm, nausea was replaced by weakness. The sound of his hissing engine faded away as he heard something else. Someone laughing.

The Chevy had pulled up next to Alex's teammate, admiring the scene. "You fool! Did you expect to beat me? You're an idiot to believe such a thing!" The silver car chuckled as he looked Alex over. "That's what you get for racing dumb, Chevy will always come out on top."

Alex could see looks of panic on them as their attention averted to something else. The sound of approaching sirens.

"Awe man! Someone called the cops!"

Before Alex knew it, his teammate and the Chevy spun their tires and hauled out of there. No way were they going to get arrested. And suddenly, he had this feeling that he was all alone.

The crowd was also long gone.

Alex was fading, no denying it. There was nothing he could do now as he sat there helpless and vulnerable. The distant engines were now gone, and the sound of sirens were getting louder by the second. But that didn't matter. Because darkness was fading in, and Alex drifted off into unconsciousness.

There was no time for fear.

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What was he doing here? This was ridiculous. He felt fine, ready to go. But the doctors refused to release him, Colby wasn't convinced that his main patient, Brian, was able to be independent.

That pissed him off.

Brian tapped one tire on the ground impatiently as he sat there in his hospital room. Ever since he had became totally aware of his ability to drive, that's all he wanted to do. But he had enough of driving around in circles on the recovery floor, and besides, it was closed this time of night.

The tires underneath him wobbled slightly, they've done that every so often since Brian's been stable after his engine failure day. A drink, he needed a drink. And he about killed Colby when the doctor told him that he'd be staying here another two months for recovery.

"That's not right..." He mumbled as he studied his room for what seemed to be the hundredth time today. There was nothing to do here; no one to talk to, no one to call.

Brian's withdraws for liquor had been mild at the moment. But no telling how bad they'd get over the next two months. That scared the green car, being deprived was not an option.

He'd been active for only a week, and more than restless. Although he got short of breath easily, a side effect of not having done enough in the recovery process. As the doctor said, it'll take two months before he's fully functional and back to normal.

Brian scoffed as he settled down on the floor. That actually hurt. The insides of his engine ached, burning the more he tried to lay down. He perked up immediately, now agitated that his nightly special can of oil was not here to lull away that pain.

He pressed the call button to the nurse's station once. When nobody showed up, Brian resorted to pressing the button repeatedly until he got tired of paging them.

The green car growled and started up his engine. "Damn, that hurt..." It was definitely time for some medicine.

"I guess I could stay a little while longer..." He admitted, reflecting on how he felt now.

Driving down the halls, he peeked into the room to the left of his. He sighed with disappointment. The room was empty, and that eerie silence started to get to him. "I guess Nevinger finally died..." He said softly before moving off down the hall. He'd be getting a new neighbor soon.

Coming to the nurse's station at the front of the lobby, Brian parked there. No one was behind the desk... that was unusual. Nothing to do now but wait until someone came back from what ever pointless task they were doing.

Sitting there, Brian looked around. The waiting room was to his right, a small clinic to his left. But in front of him, the doors of freedom. He could run for it, right now, escape and go back to his wife and friends.

He took another quick glance around the room, no one was here oddly enough.

Brian's wish was about to become reality until someone caught him off guard. "Excuse me, sir, do you have a question?" A female asked.

He sighed and turned around to greet the nurse behind the desk. "Yes, why aren't there more of you working here?"

The nurse's concerned expression faded and now she wore a look of boredom. "We're very busy tonight. What do you need?" She asked bluntly.

"You know," He sneered. "Thanks to today's laws, I could sue you for your attitude..." He said coldly. "But I'm in no mood to go through with it. Where's that can of oil I always get each night?"

"You'll have to wait your turn. Others are receiving them at the moment." She began to look at his file that sat before her on the desk. Trouble was written all over his report.

"Tell each and every one of your co-workers that--"

"Sir," She snapped, cutting him off. She was tired of hearing his rude voice. "If you'll wait right here, I'll go retrieve one myself so you can go back to your room for the night. How's that?"

Brian smirked. "Now why couldn't you have just done that in the first place?"

The nurse rolled her eyes and left her desk to head towards the back room.

He sat there looking at random things, trying to pass time. He smacked his lips together as another craving hit him. "I need a drink so bad..."

The green car turned around just in time to see his Freedom Doors being slammed open. Three paramedics were rushing in a victim covered with white tarps. They were shouting at invisible cars to get out of the way as they moved to the back ER room.

Just as soon as they had arrived, they were gone.

"I hope that one makes it," The nurse said, returning behind the desk, once again startling Brian from his thoughts. "We got a call earlier that he was coming in any minute."

Brian turned around to face her. "Hey Sweetie, do you know where I can buy some liquor?" He asked, ignoring her sympathetic statement.

The nurse sighed. "No," She told him, now highly annoyed.

"Whiskey?"

"No."

"Vodka?"

"No..."

"Tequila? Wine?"

"Nope."

"Beer?" He asked desperately.

"For the last time, no!"

"Damn it, lady! Listerine Mouth Wash?! Anything?!"

She sighed again. "Sir, go to bed before I pager--"

"Fine! I'm leaving..." Brian told her, snatching his oil can off the counter in front of him. He drove back down the hall to his bedroom.

The nurse watched him leave. She placed a tire on the call button to Colby's office intercom. "Sir, your star patient is on the prowl for alcohol..." She took her tire off the call button and waited for a reply.

"It's only normal," Colby's voice started. "Just make sure he doesn't get a hold of any."

She replaced her tire back on the button to add a comment about that. "He's not in my division, so he's not my problem."

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Brennard sighed. "I don't know what else we can do for him tonight. We've done all we can..." He said, looking over Alex's pitiful form that lay motionless.

"Well," Colby started. "He's stable, and that's all that matters right now."

The two doctors were noting the steady beep of one of the many machines hooked up to the Mustang. Both had slaved away for hours to make sure he would make it through the night. Tomorrow morning would be a whole new miracle.

"What's his status right now?" Colby asked his colleague, who was still busy pondering his own thoughts.

Brennard drove up to Alex's form and took a look at the chart that sat next to the lift. "Not including massive front end damage, our patient has a significant amount of destruction to his engine. It's dislocated completely. If you look here," Brennard said as he popped open the hood to Alex. "You can see how his engine has been smashed in. Visibly, everything's been shifted."

Colby drove closer to inspect it himself. "Continue..."

"Over here," Brennard said, pointing to a certain area. "Everything to the left, after impact, needs to be rebuilt. From his exhaust manifold, left valve cover, cylinder head, to his oil filter... Also, the alternator, power steering unit, pulley assembly, and oil pan will have to be reset... Although I do say so myself," He stated proudly. "He is very lucky that is all the damage done to his engine. Nothing interior besides that has been dislocated or misplaced, thankfully."

"Anything else?" Colby asked.

"Yes." Brennard stated, closing Alex's bent hood as best as he could. He then moved over to the lift system and proceeded to raise the Mustang off the ground. "See for yourself..."

Colby moved under Alex's frame and examined the other injuries. Not quite so bad as his engine, the Mustang seemed to be in better shape than expected. His exhaust system and driveshaft were jammed. His front springs and rear axle needed attention also.

"All this can wait until tomorrow?"

Brennard lowered Alex back down to the tile floor and turned to Colby. "It can, but he will need to be monitored most of the day and through the night."

Colby sighed and closed his eyes briefly. "This kid's in trouble..."

"He is, I had a nurse inform me not too long ago that the cops were are already waiting for a release date so that they can charge him. But rest assure, I will not let the law take him out of this hospital until he's ready to go."

"Got any information off of him? A list of contacts?"

"No, but I can most likely put up a notice for him." Brennard regarded Alex's looks. "But around here, it won't be hard to find another racer such as himself."

Colby nodded in agreement.

"So what about your patient? The green car?"

"Well, after fighting for his life for three damn months," He announced sarcastically. "I'm just glad to see him back on his tires... He really had us working our hardest."

"What made you fight for him so long?"

"You know that teal car that keeps driving around here?" Colby asked, inching closer. "That's his wife."

Brennard smiled and laughed slightly. "What's her name?"

"Sadie," He told him. "Real sweet gal, but doesn't love anything else but her husband... Though Brian doesn't deserve her. I'm sure you've seen her here these past three months, haven't you?"

"Oh, I definitely have," Brennard said, driving back to Alex to put away his status chart. "But I've got a question for you, Colby, just how much work is this car going to need exactly?"

"Judging what we've seen, I'm saying anything between thirty to forty percent rebuilt. We can work his frame into position, as well as fix his chassis. So all that's left is his engine."

"I better get going," Brennard started. "I've got other patients to tend to. I'll assign a nurse on watch for this guy, other than that I think he'll be okay for now..."

Colby and Brennard exited the room to resume their jobs, leaving a small lamp on in the corner of Alex's room for some light.

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The two doctors had slaved away the next day for hours, repairing what they could and replacing what they had to. Finally, they reached a stopping point, satisfied with the progress made. It was midnight when they looked up at the clock, something they expected.

Brennard looked over at Colby and sighed. "Think we've got it covered for now?" He asked, reversing away from Alex a little. After much stress, he was glad to finally have a break from it all.

The more experienced doctor inched forward, evaluating their work on the Mustang's engine. "This is good work, we can call it a day..." Colby said, turning to face him. "We've covered the major damage, we can finish the little things some other time. The car's lucky that he made it this far, that crash should have killed him."

Brennard thought on that, putting away certain tools. "What do we have to do next?"

Colby started cleaning up also, the place was a mess. "Don't worry about that, you have other patients in critical condition right now. I think it's safe to move him into another room until we work on him next. Besides, we need this room open for tomorrow."

The other doctor nodded, he understood. "Well, what room do we have for him? We don't have many rooms open, currently..." Brennard noted, closing Alex's hood.

"I've reserved a room for him, it's Nevinger's old room."

"Oh, isn't that the car that just died?" Brennard asked bluntly.

Colby sighed as he pressed the nurse's call button. "Yeah, it is," He said wheeling the tools out of the room. "Wait here for the nurse, have her help you move Alex to Nevinger's." With that, the car disappeared around the corner as he rolled down the hall.

Brennard looked down at his reflection on the tile, his white chassis a bit blinding at first. He then looked up at the sleeping form in front of him, Alex's chassis was completely distorted on the left. The doctor began to wonder just how long it'd take to fix it all.

"Sir?" A voice from behind him asked. "You called?"

Brennard turned around to see a nurse parked in the doorway. "Yes, I need help moving this patient to another room..."

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Brian was on the verge of falling asleep when from the room to his left, he heard movement and voices. The dull murmur of their conversation was barely clear, so he made no effort to figure out what they could be talking about. Instead he sat there, waiting for the muffled sound of multiple engines to leave.

But when they didn't, he began to get upset.

The green car growled and got to his tires, moving over to the other side of the room hoping to possibly hear their conversation better. Just as he got to the wall, he heard the door close, and the cars that were once there were now gone.

He sighed and started to drive back to where he slept. "So much for that..."

The darkness in his room was cut by a beam of light coming through an air vent that was near the bottom of the wall. Brian stared at, looking for movement. Through the silence, he could hear the steady beep of a machine. It wasn't his, for he had made the doctors take that annoying thing out of his room. So who was in there now?

Brian once again drove over there and tried to listen through the wall. Someone grunted for a moment, who ever it was could possibly be awake. But Brian's curiosity had him digging around in the cabinets by his door for a screwdriver. When he found one, he returned to the vent and began to unscrew the covering, using his headlights to see what he was doing.

Removing the cover, he was met by the angry glare of a large, orange figure. "Do you mind?" The car asked.

Brian jumped back in surprise. "Sorry, just bored..." He said, replacing the cover back over the vent. The green car didn't expect his new neighbor to be so close to the wall. He was about to fix it when the car spoke again.

"Next time mind your own business, prick."

Brian dropped the screwdriver and slammed the vent cover on the wall, it dropped to the floor with a deafening clatter before settling on the tile. "Fine, fix it yourself." He told him, not too happy with the other car's attitude. He pulled back from the wall slightly, out of his neighbor's view range of him and turned off his headlights.

"No need," The car replied coldly. "I'll have maintenance do it."

"Boy, if you don't shut up, maintenance will be cleaning you up off their floor."

The car laughed sarcastically at Brian's attempt to make a threat. "Go ahead and do it! I've got nothing else to live for."

Brian was taken aback at the car's retort, he didn't expect him to respond. He hadn't really looked at the car, he'd only saw him at a glance. He couldn't see any damage from his angle, so what was the big deal? Already he didn't like his new neighbor. He found it ridiculous that they were arguing through the wall. And he was wasn't used to having someone stand up to him after all these years of being labeled the toughest around.

For he was, anyone who knew who he was didn't question him. Anyone new in town quickly found out who Brian was from stories, or from a mistake of their own. Though he had always been known as the town drunkard, but that didn't mean that was what cars called him out loud.

Brian backed up from the wall and parked where he usually slept in his room. He hoped the car wouldn't be in that room long, even if it was because he died.

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He was sitting in his room, trying to pass the time by going through his medical documents. And they weren't good, to say the least. He sighed and continued to flip through the pages, finding old papers that supplied bad information.

The car in the room to his left was playing music. At first, it didn't bother Brian because the wall had muffled some of it. It was certainly better than that creepy silence and beeping of machines. But the music, over time, had became increasingly loud. To the point where he could hear the lyrics.

Loud classic rock blared from Alex's speakers as he tried to zone out everything in life.

Enough was enough.

Brian sighed sharply, now annoyed because the doctors allowed the car to have the music that loud. He threw an empty oil pan at the wall harshly, and like that the music stopped abruptly. "Turn that down!" Brian screamed. There was a brief moment of silence when Brian thought he had won, but the music came back on louder than ever.

He growled and kicked on his engine. Pushing the doors to his room open, he moved down the hall one door over. He slammed Alex's door open exceptionally hard, and sat there in the doorway glaring at the orange car.

The slam startled Alex, he immediately turned off his radio and returned the glare.

"Damn it, kid," Brian started through gritted teeth. "If you don't quit, I'll rip your speakers out myself!"

Alex rolled his eyes at the car. "Why can't you just leave me alone? I haven't done anything to you!" He said, shifting his weight so that he appeared to be bigger than Brian. Though that didn't help him much, Brian had seen it all before.

Brian smirked. "Oh yeah, keep trying to act tough," He announced sarcastically with a slight laugh. "It's really effective."

Alex wasn't sure how to handle this for some reason. He decided to use his racing accident as some sort of an excuse. "You see this injury?" He asked Brian, looking at his chassis damage. The green car entered the room all the way. "I got this from a fight just the other--"

"Correction, kid," Brian said, cutting him off. "You got that from a race you couldn't let go." The kid's surprised look gave away the truth, and he knew to continue from there. The orange car was no good at playing the character game. "And if you're so tough, you would have won that fight." The other car's expression became increasingly discouraged.

Alex was confused at all this. "How did--"

"Besides, if you knew who I was you wouldn't have picked a fight with me anyways..."

The Mustang looked Brian over, trying hard to remember anything about him, if he ever saw him before. Then it hit him, and he suddenly knew who this car was. He had heard stories of him, both good and bad. Amazement filled his expression. "You're Brian Car--"

"Yeah... I am." He said, for the first time thinking that maybe this chat wasn't such a good idea.

"You trained The Fabulous Hudson Hornet!" Alex blurted out, the car's inspiration in racing sat before him.

Brian was officially convinced that this conversation wasn't a good thing, not a good thing at all. He stared at the ground as a past life filled his thoughts. "Yeah... I did train him..." He looked up at Alex to see the young car smiling brightly, as if he was trying to find the right question to ask.

For the first time, the green car noticed something. The Mustang reminded him of Colton. Brian sighed to himself and kicked on his engine, he wanted to leave before this conversation could continue. Too many memories were being brought up, along with the bad feelings he got that he tried so hard to suppress these days.

"Wait! Where you going?" Alex asked, watching the car turn around. He hoped he didn't offend him.

"I'm going back to my room. Keep the music down, will ya?" He pushed his way through the double doors and left the muscle car in complete astonishment.

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So what did you think? Did you like it? Should I continue?