Page 42 of Speed Crush

I check on the kart driver, she’s shocked, but otherwise good.

“Noah! Are you okay?” June’s voice slices through the panic.

“I’m good!” I call, even though my side is screaming from where I hit the track divider.

I glance over to see her crouched beside Dash’s kart.

He’s been jerked halfway out of it probably because he had no seatbelt on, legs tangled, stunned but conscious.

June’s stabilizing his shoulder with one hand, guiding his foot back into the floor pan with the other—steady as a combat medic.

Focused. Fast. Fierce.

“He needs a medic!” I bark, gesturing to Zeke. “Someone call fire and rescue. He’s alert, but we need eyes on him now.”

“Two minutes out,” Dante answers behind me. His voice is clipped, already assessing.

I scan the scene fast—parents holding kids tight, teens wide-eyed and unmoving, staff yelling over the chaos, trying to guide the crowd back.

Panic is written on every face. Fear. Confusion. Worry.

Then I see it—Dash. Still filming.

June’s already moved on, helping someone else out of their kart.

But he’s there. GoPro in hand, still rolling like none of this matters.

I stalk toward him, fury boiling under my skin.

“Put the damn camera down!”

He flinches. Hesitates.

Not fast enough.

“You think this is a game?” I bellow as I gesture wide—to Zeke on the ground, to the scattered chaos.

“You risked your friend’s life. You riskedYOURs,andmine.”

I glance toward June, thirty feet away, steadying a crying kid.

“You could’ve killed someone. Or destroyed a family.”

The crowd goes dead silent. Cameras are still up. I don’t care.

Dash stammers, finally lowering the GoPro. His hands shake.

The whole floor is mayhem, and I only see red.

Then, Scott pushes through the crowd, in full firefighter gear.

“Rescue just pulled in,” he says, voice tight, eyes sweeping the wreckage.

He doesn’t wait—heads straight for Zeke.

Behind him, EMTs flood the floor, fast and focused.

Chaos shifting back into control. Barely.

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