Welcome to... The Run! Enjoy, and I don't own anything.

Chapter 1: Straight Shootin' from San Fran- Part 1

Duncan Rourke is in Oakland, sitting in a brand new bright red Porsche 911 Carrera S, suspended in the air by a giant crane magnet. The reason? He owes a large amount of money to his lender, Chris Blackwell, who also happens to be a street racer and has a "connection" with the Mafia. Duncan is dropped into a car crusher whilst taped to the steering wheel. He tries to break free, but it wasn't enough. He bites the duct tape off, freeing his hands. However, there was a question of how to get out of the car. Every second passes by, and the car slowly crushes from all sides like an empty soda can. He then sees the sunroof and tries to punch it open, to no success. After trying to smash the sunroof open, he successfully escapes the certain doom inside that now-crushed Porsche.

He sneaks around the compound, hoping to find a way out. And guess what he stumbles upon: a silver Audi RS4 that belonged to one of Chris's henchmen.

"What the hell? He's out of the car! Grab him, grab him!" yelled Chris.

Duncan gets in the Audi and drives off. After what seemed to be an easy escape, a pair of black Porsche Cayenne Turbos showed up on his rear-view mirror, both of them with machine guns mounted on the roof.

You guys want to play, he said to himself. Alright, let's play.

Then he hears a hail of bullets coming from the Porsches. "Keep firing!" yelled Chris. "Don't let him get away!"

"What the hell?!"

Duncan tries to swerve all over the road to avoid the gunfire, nearly crashing into lamp posts and oncoming traffic. After a couple miles and an Audi full of bullet holes, he finds Lady Luck is on his side: an oncoming train. He sped over to at least 100 miles an hour, and jumped across the railroad, avoiding a fatal collision with the train and Chris. Unfortunately, however, one of the Porsches crashed into the train whilst chasing the Audi. "Stop!" Chris yelled.

Chef stopped the vehicle a few feet before the train tracks. "Shit. He got away, boss," said Chef. "What are we going to do now?"

"Don't worry, Chef. I'll handle him," he smiled as he rubbed his hands in evil.

After driving for a few more miles, he found a parking garage and ditched the now-ruined Audi. Holy shit, he whispered to himself. Thank god I ain't dead. After realizing he has no one for him to help him, Duncan takes out his phone and calls Courtney Harper, his ex-girlfriend and and long time friend who works at a San Francisco-based law firm. "Hey, Courtney!" he said, nervously.

"Hello, Duncan. What do you want this time?" Courtney replied angrily.

"Listen, if you're still mad about the past, just drop it. I really need your help this time," said a nervous Duncan, which resulted a scoff from Courtney. "What is it this time?"

Duncan was too nervous to speak to her ex-girlfriend. "I need to get out of a situation."

"How much are we talking?" the future lawyer asked.

"Five million dollars," he gulped. At that moment, Courtney's eyes grew wide, knowing the situation. She stopped for a few moments, trying to think of what she can do to help Duncan. "Meet me at a Chinese restaurant in Chinatown in an hour."

Since Duncan had no car to get to San Francisco, he had to walk to a local train station and ride it to get across the bay, then take a bus from the station to Chinatown. He makes it to the restaurant, only to see Courtney sitting at a table, with a small cup of green tea in hand. She is wearing a red blazer with a black tanktop and khaki slacks. He takes a seat across her and proceeds to drink a small cup of green tea.

"So, Duncan. Word is that you made a wrong turn," she said, worryingly.

"No one ever got ahead sitting on their hands, now did they, Sam?"

She sat there smiling. "Nobody at our block, at least. You know, I can help you straighten that out."

"And my end?"

"What you do best. What you do better than anyone."

Just then, Lightning Garrett, the San Francisco 49ers Running Back, came out of the back doors with the tablet needed for The Run, whilst staring at Duncan as he is headed through the front doors.

Duncan then looked at Courtney, who game him a choice. "Right now. Yes or no?

A confident Duncan stared into Courtney's eyes. "You knew the answer even before I walked through the door."

The two got up and walked to the back of the restaurant.

"There is a competition called 'The Run'. The race starts here in San Fran all the way to New York, with the best racers ever assembled. You win this race, I'll handle your problem and give you a 10% cut."

Duncan grabs Courtney by her arm. "Whoa there. Ten percent?" The CIT then sees fellow racers Sammy and Amy Smith walk past them with her equipment for The Run. She then stared back at Duncan. "The prize is twenty-five million dollars. Do the math."

She walked away, with Duncan following her, smiling. "After you." Courtney then led him to a dumbwaiter lift and places her briefcase in it. The lift went up to another level, with a person taking her briefcase in exchange for the tablet needed for The Run. The lift went back down, with Courtney opening it and taking it out of the lift for Duncan to see.

She held up the tablet. "This will keep us in touch. Now we have to get you a car." He looked at Courtney nervously. "Cars. I can handle it."

"Call me when you get all set. I'll be in my apartment guiding you," she smiled.

"Thanks for doing this." He walked out of the restaurant, feeling confident of what he's attempting to do. As he headed out, he happened to run into his longtime best friend, Geoff Williams.

"Hey, Duncan," the party boy greeted. "Whaddup?"

"Hey, pal," the ex-convict replied. "What's going on with you?"

A worried Geoff sighed, "Well, I'm entering The Run." That statement made Duncan worry. "Why?" he asked.

"You know Bridgette?" Duncan nodded. "Well, she's pregnant, and I need the money to help her out."

The two embraced each other. "Hey, pal. Congrats! You're going to be a dad!" Geoff sighed. "If I win, I will give you some of my winnings. Deal?" Duncan asked, in which the party boy agreed.

"Thanks, man. Well, I gotta go inside and get ready for The Run."

The two went their separate ways, with Geoff headed inside the Chinese restaurant, and Duncan, who is headed for his garage along the Embarcaderro.

When he arrived, he saw strips of "DO NOT ENTER" tape across his garage. Them fuckers, he whispered. He ducked under the tape, and opened up his garage to reveal five purpose-built cars waiting for him: black Nissan GT-R with a wide body kit, a Porsche 911 Carrera S in orange and black, a black AC Cobra with red stripes, a tuned red Euro-spec BMW M5 F10, and a race-ready silver 2014 Z/28 Camaro.

I'm thinking… I should go for the Beemer, he says to himself.

After a couple of hours tuning and preparing his car for the race, he placed the tablet on the attachment and turns on his car. Just then, Courtney popped up on the tablet.

"Hey, you ready?" she asked.

"Locked and loaded," he smiled at Courtney on the tablet. "There's over 200 other drivers and 3,000 miles of asphalt between here and New York," she warned.

"Sounds good to me!" he said, confidently.

"Now go! Get to Nob Hill or you'll miss the race start." He quickly drove off, leaving some fresh rubber behind him. He swerves through Broadway Street in the early morning Tuesday morning traffic as he makes his way towards Nob Hill. Then something comes up on his scanner: the San Francisco Police Department.

All units, there have been some illegal activity involving numerous exotic cars along the Nob Hill area. Bring in some back-up, the police officer ordered.

Oh shit. Thank goodness I have 600 horsepower at my disposal. Let's see if they try at all, he said to himself as he saw numerous muscle and exotic cars ahead of him, namely a Pagani Zonda Cinque and a Challenger R/T.

Okay, yeah. This is definitely some sort of street race. We'll back up as soon as you can, said another officer. Then another officer responds back. Okay, we have backup on their way.

Talk about a police presence, he said to himself as he turned right from Market Street to Battery Street. He made a powerful drift as he turned left into the Nob Hill area. As he inched closer towards the start line at Nob Hill, he sees other racers entering the party, late. There is a traffic camera that spotted the oncoming racers.

As the traffic camera caught the action, Courtney popped up on the tablet. "Duncan!" she yelled. "You have to get to Vegas in the top 150!"

"Copy that," he replied. Duncan and the other racers are hitting over 200 mph as they jump through the hills of San Francisco as they make their way out of the city, and hopefully, out of the Bay Area. All units. There are numerous drivers heading out of the city. Close the city… NOW!, commanded a police officer.

"Duncan! Cops are shutting down the city. You need to get out NOW!" yelled Courtney.

What the FUCK?!

Duncan and the other racers make their way down along the Embarcadero desperately trying to avoid roadblocks, PIT maneuvers from cop cars, and oncoming traffic.

Courtney once again showed up on the tablet. "Duncan, take a right here where AT&T park is. There is a bit of road that should lead you to the Bay Bridge. But I gotta warn you, there's a lot of police presence there, so there is a shortcut that will get you out of the city. I'll tell you when, okay?"

"Okay," replied Duncan. As he and the other racers entered the Bay Bridge, they discovered a foggy and unruly trail of despair; a last chance to get out of the city. The other cars are hitting their top speeds, but as they exit the tunnel portion of the Bay Bridge, they then immediately brake as there is a roadblock set up at the middle of the bridge.

"Duncan, you're going to need to stay on the left farthest lane. That lane will lead you to a ramp that will get you out of the Bay Bridge and out of Frisco."

"Okay."

Duncan steadies his red Beemer on the left farthest lane as he sees other cars braking and crashing into other cars and into police cars. Guys, there's a red Beemer going out of control! Stop him!, yelled one of the police officers.

"Sayonara, guys!" He makes the jump and lands his Beemer in one piece on the other side of the unfinished portion of the Bay Bridge and escapes the SFPD and the fellow racers. OH SHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIT!, he exclaimed to himself.

"Wow, Duncan. You actually did it!" said Courtney. "According to the stats, you are still in the running for the $25 million prize. Oh, and you're in 206th place. You got a lot of ground to make up."

"Copy that. Where's the next route?" asked Duncan.

"Uh, through Interstate 580 East, along the Altamont Pass. From there, the race should lead to a route to Yosemite."

"Okay, thanks Courtney," said Duncan. As he gripped on the Beemer's steering wheel, he finally had the guts to ask his ex-girlfriend a question. "You still mad at me?"

"Why would I be? There's no reason for me to be mad at you," she smiled.

"I'm sorry."

To be continued...

A/N: And this concludes the first part of Stage 1. As you can see, I'm doing the chapters based on the stages, so basically this concludes part 1 of Stage One of The Run. Next chapter will be a just a long drive across California and Nevada. Oh, and I'm also incorporating Duncan trying to rekindle his relationship with Courtney. Hope you guys liked it, and please, please, please… review, follow, and favorite? Thanks!

Bye! XD

-J