“We both drove,” I said to Donut as we limped back to the garage. My shredded kangaroo suit only had two hours left, which meant I could soon ditch it, but I still had to do little hops. We didn’t get teleported inside like we had after the first race, which was weirdly inconsistent. “That means neither of us can so much as touch the controls for the next race. We’ll need someone reliable to drive.”

Donut huffed. “I didn’t drive! All I did was touch the pedals! That doesn’t count.”

“It does count,” I said.

I eyed the house with the number 6 painted on the door. We wouldn’t find out who our new opponent was until just before the next race. I hoped it would be another NPC team, though I knew, realistically, that the odds were against us. I sighed. One problem at a time. At least we’d come in first place.

“Those poor foxes,” Donut said. “I never even knew the creepy Juggler people, but the fox ninjas were starting to grow on me.”

“I will drive next race,” Dong announced, looking over his shoulder. He and Bucket Boy had the groaning Gluteus Maxx strung out between them. Dong had rushed down to the scene of the wreck to try to talk to Corky, but Rapture and Genesis had scooped him up and gone straight to their garage, pushing Dong aside without saying a word to him.

“We’ll talk about it,” I said.

“What is there to discuss?” Dong asked. “I am . . .”

He paused at the sound of a commotion at the finish line behind us. We all stopped and turned as two giant figures walked over the finish line. It was Onikuma the bear mount for the dead razor foxes and Old Shuck, the giant dog from the Juggler team.

“What the . . . ?” I asked before both of the biological mounts blinked and disappeared.

“Carl, I thought they were dead!” Donut exclaimed. “Why is the stupid dog still alive?”

“I guess if the riders die but not the mount, the mount is saved. It makes sense. Sort of, I guess.”

“But where did they go?”

I shrugged. “It doesn’t matter. Not here.”

Donut harrumphed.

A grumbling gremlin, pushing a wreckage-filled wheelbarrow much too big for it, passed us. From the smoking debris within, Dr. Metcalf beeped.

Would you look at this? I’m a shattered husk. Shocker.

“Dr. Metcalf!” Donut exclaimed, waving at the wheelbarrow. The gremlin grunted with annoyance as we sped up to keep pace with him. “We thought you were broken into a million pieces!”

I could only be so lucky.

“At least we won,” Donut said.

The GPS took on a mocking tone. At least we won.

Donut huffed indignantly. “You really must make an effort to be nicer to the team. We’re doing our best.”

Anyway, the GPS unit beeped, we have limited details on the next race. And since neither of you can drive in this next one, I just can’t wait to see who you pick. We already had a prepubescent wuss of a crocodile and a drug-addled knockoff Sasquatch. What’s next? Maybe the sex-doll head? The dinosaur?

Even though we were just walking and not in the truck, an info box popped up, which was really strange.

Distance: ~99 kilometers.

Note. There will be a single mandatory refueling pit stop along this route. Pit stop will be within the lost jungle city of Upano.

Track: The You’re Gonna Die If You Go in Here Jungle Trail of Tremendous Cannibalistic Slaughter. There are a variety of surfaces available. Ain’t none of them will be paved. At least not with asphalt.

Tasks required to complete: Certain paths may have a unique task.

Special Rules: Your vehicle will have a special containment unit surrounding you for this race. More info on that coming soon. You will also share this track with three other heats. Special rules regarding this will be announced soon. Base rules will still apply.

Environment: It’ll be a jungle filled with horrifying traps and monsters and vaguely racist and definitely overexaggerated themes based on grind house and exploitation cinema, but with racing added to the mix. There’ll be acid rain, too.

Hazards: The whole damn track is a hazard.

Time Limit: 20 hours.

Next race starts in 7 hours and 3 minutes.

“Only seven hours,” I said. “The time between races is getting shorter.”

A few spots over, Jasha and Radoslav were already setting up their lawn chairs and beer cooler. They both gave us a wave.

“I don’t think you broke the truck into enough pieces,” Hedy said as we approached. “At least we can get some catch-up upgrades. And don’t forget, we all get a bonus Golden upgrade after the next race, too. That’s in addition to the regular prize for heat four. So you gotta make sure you win the next one, too.”

“Will the pig team get an audience vote, or will they get to pick?” Donut asked. “They came in last place, but we lost two teams.”

“That’s a good question,” Hedy said. “Don’t know. I think it’s still an audience vote, but I ain’t sure.”

“It’s an audience vote,” I said, remembering some of the chatter on the messaging system. “The last surviving team always gets an audience vote, no matter how many other teams were taken out.”

“We ain’t gotta worry about that right now,” Hedy said as she flipped through her tablet. “We needs to figure out how we’re updating your truck. You can either choose one Golden upgrade or three regulars. Been looking at the info for the next race, and we gots a few choices.”

I nodded. “In a second.”

I hopped to the wall and leaned against it, just spending a moment to let my heart stop beating so fast. Donut, I noticed, was basically doing the same thing. She’d called Mongo to her and jumped on his back. She was stroking his feathers with her right front paw, just staring off into space. I knew she was checking in on everyone and wouldn’t be fully focused until she knew everybody was safe.

People were finally starting to check in. Imani and Elle had come in second place, but they’d lost another two teams, including the one crawler team that had joined them this race. Florin and Lucia had come in first, but they’d lost three teams. Prepotente and Jurgen had also won, and they hadn’t lost any teams. Chris’s big rig had come in third place.

Louis, Britney, and Bautista had survived, but they were the last of the survivors again, meaning they’d get an audience vote. Their replacement team had been another group of NPCs, and they’d taken them out right at the beginning. Louis’s team was in trouble, as they still didn’t have proper tires.

Zhang said they had won again, but the only remaining teams were fellow crawlers, including a fire truck driven by a crawler named Sammi Harrison, an isopod summoner who’d been instrumental in keeping the FUPA safe during Faction Wars. Some people called her “the decapitator,” but I didn’t know why. Zhang was afraid she and the other teams were conspiring against them.

Everyone’s races were all different the next race, though it sounded like Imani and Elle’s team would be on the same track as us, which worried me. Prepotente’s and Louis’s teams both appeared to be on the same track as each other as well, which was described as “Satan’s Water Park.”

I closed my eyes for a second, pretending I was alone. It didn’t work. My chat was constantly moving. Loud clanging and drilling filled the garage.

Rosetta: Tipid and I are already in town at the mercenary market. Need anything in particular?

Carl: A driver and defense. Fast reflexes. We’ll need at least two who can drive since neither Donut nor I can next race. Nobody too crazy.

Rosetta: Prices will be double because you lost the last two mercenaries we hired.

Carl: It’s okay. Just get the best you can.

I opened my eyes to find Hedy glaring.

“You just gonna laze about? You want me to pick for you, kangaroo boy?”

I sighed and peeled myself off the wall. The truck was already half built. A group of gremlins was shoving the freezer unit into the back.

“Okay, hit me,” I said. “What are your suggestions?”