Pit Lane of the Damned
Chapter 1: When the Lights Went Out in Austin
Summary: After a disastrous qualifying session, Kimi Antonelli gathers the other drivers in his hotel room for a night meant to drown out disappointment—but something far darker answers instead. When the power fails and an unexplainable terror stirs behind a locked door, the group is thrust into a nightmare that will chase them far beyond the Austin skyline.
Warnings: Blood, Swearing, Death (Major), Sudden Outbreak, Body Horror, Panic/Fear/Confusion, Infection Themes
Word Count: 2.6k+
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Oct 18, 2025, 7:32 PM
𝐺͟𝑟͟𝑖͟𝑑͟ 𝐺͟𝑟͟𝑒͟𝑚͟𝑙͟𝑖͟𝑛͟𝑠͟
6:37 P.M.
> Kimi: movie night?
> Kimi: need to get my mind off that shit quali session
> Ollie: I’m down! Room 203 right?
> Liam: Ollie why on gods green earth do you know Kimi’s room number? Also yes, and I’ll grab Isack and Franco on the way.
> Kimi: stfu
> Charles: Rookies only tonight?
> Lando: cgarles you dumbass if it was rookoes only he’d message the rookie cgat npt the main one
> Alex: Lando what the fuck was that??
> Oscar: his fingers move faster than his brain
> George: And he has autocorrect turned off.
> Oscar: he’s also 6 shots in
> Kimi: all are welcome charles
> Esteban: Yuki and Pierre said sure! Need us to bring anything?
> Lewis: I’ll swing by for a bit :)
> Charles: If I can drag Max out of bed we’ll come too.
> Lando: trll him he’s a biych if he skios
> Isack: Oh yeah?
> Kimi: perfect. jack told me he’s going to bring the aston boys. george? alex? oscar? lando? nico?
> George: Coming!
> Oscar: mark me and lando down
> Alex: Let me find Carlos and then sure!
Kimi shoved his phone into his pocket harder than necessary, like he could silence the day itself along with it. Exhaustion clung to him in a way that felt almost physical, dragging at his limbs, settling into his bones. Sweat beaded along his hairline and slid down his temples, the Texan heat pressing in from every angle despite the air conditioning humming weakly in the background. It was supposed to be cooling the room. Instead, it only made the air feel stale.
Eighty-three degrees, the forecast had said earlier. It felt worse. Heavy. Suffocating.
After a few long minutes of lying there and staring at the ceiling, he forced himself upright with a quiet groan, running a hand through his damp hair. His muscles protested immediately, sore from the day’s driving, his shoulders tight, his neck aching. Everything about today had gone wrong.
Practice had been shit.
Sprint qualifying had somehow been worse.
Getting outqualified by an Aston Martin? Fine. Embarrassing, but survivable.
A Sauber? Pathetic.
He exhaled sharply through his nose, pushing himself off the bed and crossing the small hotel room toward the kitchenette. “This heat is fucking insane,” he muttered under his breath, tugging his Mercedes shirt over his head and tossing it aside without a second thought. It landed half on a dining chair, half slipping off like even it didn’t have the energy to stay put.
The tile floor was cool under his bare feet—one of the few small mercies.
He reached for a bottle of water, twisting the cap off and taking a long drink, letting the coldness settle him just enough to feel human again. His phone buzzed faintly in his pocket. He ignored it at first, but the silence of the room made it impossible to forget. With a sigh, he pulled it back out, unlocking it as he leaned against the counter.
𝑂͟𝑙͟𝑙͟𝑖͟𝑒͟
6:51 P.M.
> Ollie: Almost to your room!
> Ollie: It’ll be a minute though. Just got in the elevator with Jack, Fernando, and Lance.
> Kimi: no worries
> Kimi: take your time
> Kimi: how’s jack feeling btw
> Ollie: I had no idea he was sick? He seems alright from what I can tell!
> Kimi: yea he got scratched by some dude in the line at the brisket stand
> Ollie: He’s showing us now actually. It looks pretty nasty.
> Ollie: Doors are opening now! See you in a bit!!
A knock at the door came not long after.
Kimi blinked, pushing himself upright. “Yeah, yeah,” he muttered, running a hand through his hair again as he crossed the room. He opened the door—
—and was immediately pulled into a hug.
“Kimi! Nice to see you again!”
Ollie’s voice was bright, familiar, grounding in a way Kimi hadn’t realized he needed until that moment. He returned the hug without hesitation, arms wrapping around Ollie’s shoulders, breathing in the faint, familiar scent of his cologne—fading now, but still there.
“Yeah. You too,” Kimi replied, quieter but no less genuine.
When Ollie pulled back, he was grinning, eyes crinkled at the corners. Behind him stood the rest of the first group—Jack lingering slightly behind, Fernando offering a small nod, Lance giving an easy, almost lazy wave.
“Come in,” Kimi said, stepping aside and gesturing them in. “Before the hallway melts.”
They filed in, bringing with them noise and movement and life that the room had been lacking just moments before. It was cramped with four people—going to be worse with more—but it didn’t feel empty anymore.
Kimi shut the door behind them and leaned against it for a second, letting the shift settle.
“Nice place,” Lance commented, glancing around.
“It’s a hotel room,” Kimi deadpanned.
“Still counts.”
Kimi rolled his eyes faintly, moving toward the living area and dropping onto the arm of a chair. He gestured lazily toward the space beside him. “Sit.”
Ollie didn’t hesitate, settling in next to him, close enough that their shoulders brushed. Kimi leaned slightly into it without thinking, picking up the remote and flicking through channels with idle disinterest.
“Since you guys are the first ones here,” he started, voice low, “you get to pick the movie.”
He tossed the remote toward Fernando, who caught it easily.
“There aren’t many options,” Kimi added. “Cable’s all we’ve got.”
Fernando hummed thoughtfully, flipping through channels with a practiced ease. “Let’s see… ah.” He paused. “Mission Impossible. The first one.”
“Classic,” Lance said.
“Good enough,” Ollie added.
Kimi shrugged. “Sure.”
The movie started, the familiar opening music filling the room. For a while, things felt almost normal. The tension of the day eased, replaced by quiet conversation, the occasional comment about the race, the track, complaints and jokes shared between them.
Then the door opened again.
Lando stumbled in first, nearly tripping over the threshold before catching himself on the counter. Oscar followed behind him, looking far more composed, though there was a hint of exasperation in his expression.
Lando didn’t even bother greeting anyone before he made his way—unsteadily—into the living room and promptly collapsed face-first onto the rug.
A muffled groan escaped him.
“I’ll have you know,” he slurred into the carpet, “I’m only a bit tipsy.”
“Bullshit,” Kimi and Oscar said in perfect unison.
Ollie laughed softly, the sound light against the tension still lingering in Kimi’s chest.
“I am!” Lando protested, rolling onto his back and pointing vaguely upward. “Perfectly functional.”
“You just faceplanted,” Oscar said flatly, setting his things down on the island.
“Strategically.”
Kimi snorted under his breath, shaking his head.
More arrivals followed, one after another, the room growing louder, warmer, more crowded with each passing minute.
George walked in first among the next group, already mid-sentence. “—I’m telling you, the rear just wasn’t stable—oh. We’re watching a movie?”
“Barely,” Lance replied.
Charles followed close behind, glancing around the room with raised brows. “This is… a lot of people.”
“It’s about to be more,” Alex said, stepping in after him, looking slightly overwhelmed already.
Lewis and Nico entered together, deep in conversation that paused only briefly as they took in the scene.
“This reminds me of old times,” Nico remarked lightly.
“Hopefully with less chaos,” Lewis added.
“Doubtful,” Max said from the doorway, stepping in with his usual quiet confidence. Yuki trailed behind him, already eyeing the snacks on the counter.
Carlos clapped his hands once. “Alright, who brought food? Because I didn’t come empty-handed for nothing.”
“I did,” Alex said quickly.
“Good man.”
Esteban and Pierre slipped in next, bickering about something minor that neither seemed willing to let go of.
“I’m just saying you cut the corner—”
“I did not—”
“You absolutely did—”
Franco hovered near the back, looking slightly out of place but clearly trying not to show it. Gabriel followed him in, offering a small nod to Kimi.
Isack and Liam were among the last to arrive, the former quieter, observant, the latter already pulling out his phone.
The room was packed now. Shoulder to shoulder in some places. Voices overlapping, conversations blending together into a steady hum.
It should have felt overwhelming.
Instead, for a brief, fleeting moment, it felt… safe.
Normal.
Kimi leaned back slightly, letting Ollie’s shoulder support him as he half-watched the movie, half-listened to the conversations around him.
He noticed, distantly, Jack slipping away toward the bathroom.
Weird.
He made a mental note to check on him later.
Time passed.
The movie played on.
The room settled into something resembling calm—messy, loud, but familiar.
Then Liam’s voice cut through it.
“Hey, guys?”
Something in his tone—sharp, uncertain—made conversations falter.
“Is anybody else seeing this?”
Kimi frowned, pulling his phone out again. Ollie did the same beside him.
A notification.
His stomach dropped.
— 𝟕:𝟑𝟐 𝐏𝐌 — 𝐅𝐎𝐗 𝟕 𝐀𝐔𝐒𝐓𝐈𝐍 —
𝐁𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐊𝐈𝐍𝐆:
𝐏𝐨𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐦 “𝐦𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐢𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐚𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐬” 𝐢𝐧 𝐯𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐭𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐓𝐫𝐚𝐯𝐢𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐖𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐚𝐦𝐬𝐨𝐧 𝐂𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐬. 𝐒𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐜𝐞𝐬 𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭 𝐯𝐢𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐬 “𝐛𝐞𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐯𝐢𝐨𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐥𝐲” 𝐚𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐚𝐧 𝐮𝐧𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐩𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐠𝐞𝐧. 𝐂𝐃𝐂 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐃𝐇𝐒 𝐨𝐟𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥𝐬 𝐞𝐧 𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐞.
“What in the hell is ‘unknown pathogen’ supposed to mean?” Alex murmured, his voice thin, hands beginning to shake despite his attempt to stay composed.
Before anyone could respond, the TV cut out.
A high-pitched tone filled the room.
Kimi flinched hard, instinctively covering his ears as the Emergency Alert System blared through the speakers.
“This is the Emergency Alert System. This is not a test.”
The room fell silent.
Completely.
Even Lando sobered slightly, pushing himself upright as everyone turned toward the screen.
“A statewide public health emergency is now in effect due to confirmed cases of the HDC-1 viral outbreak detected in the Austin metropolitan area.
Local hospitals have reported multiple incidents involving individuals exhibiting extreme aggression, confusion, and loss of speech following exposure to infected bodily fluids.
All residents of Travis, Williamson, and Hays counties have been ordered to shelter in place immediately.”
No one spoke.
Not until—
“HDC-1? What in the living hell—”
“Franco, would you shut the hell up!” Charles snapped, eyes wide, voice sharp with panic. “It’s still going.”
Franco went red immediately, falling silent.
“Curfews are in effect from 8:00 PM to 7:00 AM.
Emergency shelters have been established at Del Valle High School and Round Rock Civic Center.
If you believe someone in your household is infected, isolate them in a separate room and await instructions from emergency personnel.”
Each word made things worse.
Mass infections.
Violence.
Avoid contact.
Stay inside.
Lock doors.
Kimi felt something cold settle in his chest.
Then something clicked.
Jack.
He hadn’t come back.
Kimi stood abruptly, the movement drawing attention.
“Jack?” he called, already moving toward the bathroom. “Everything alright in there?”
No response.
He knocked.
Nothing.
Just… movement.
Faint. Uneven.
Something wasn’t right.
A hand caught his shoulder.
He turned.
Max.
“Go sit down, kid,” Max said, voice steady but firm. “I’ll check on him.”
Kimi hesitated.
Then nodded, stepping back.
Behind him, the room had dissolved into chaos.
News channels replaced the alert—footage of riots, people running, sirens wailing.
Lewis and Nico moved to the balcony, peering down into the street.
Kimi hovered near the doorway, unable to sit, unable to fully move.
Then—
The bathroom door burst open.
Jack lunged out.
Straight at Max.
They hit the ground hard, Max barely managing to brace himself as Jack pinned him, hands clawing, teeth snapping just inches from his face.
Screams erupted.
“MAX—!” Charles shouted, already moving.
Isack and Carlos were right behind him, grabbing Jack, dragging him off with effort as he thrashed violently, movements jerky, unnatural.
Max scrambled back, breathing hard, eyes wide as he collided with the island.
Jack stood.
Wrong.
Completely wrong.
His posture was hunched, head twitching, movements sharp and disjointed. His eyes—God, his eyes—
He locked onto Nico.
And ran.
“Nico!” Lewis reacted instantly, grabbing him and pulling him out of the way just as Jack lunged.
Momentum carried him forward.
Too far.
Over the balcony.
Time seemed to slow.
Then he was gone.
A sickening thud echoed from below.
Silence.
Then movement.
Kimi found himself on the balcony without remembering crossing the room.
Jack lay twisted on the pavement.
Still.
Then—
He moved.
Slowly.
Brokenly.
He stood.
And ran.
Not away.
Toward someone.
Kimi’s stomach turned violently as he watched Jack collapse onto a person in the street, heard the distant, unmistakable sound of—
He stumbled back.
His chest tightened.
Too tight.
Air wouldn’t come in right.
Everything got loud—
Then too quiet.
Muted.
Distant.
His vision blurred at the edges, narrowing, tunneling as panic surged through him, fast and overwhelming.
No—
No no no—
His heart was racing too fast.
Too loud.
He couldn’t breathe—
His hands trembled violently at his sides, then came up to his chest like that would help, like he could force his lungs to work properly if he just—
Nothing.
It wasn’t working.
The room tilted.
Voices blurred into static.
His ears rang, high and sharp, drowning everything else out.
Something grabbed his shoulders.
“Kimi—hey—hey, look at me—”
Ollie.
Kimi couldn’t focus.
Couldn’t—
“Kimi.”
Closer now.
Firm.
Hands grounding him.
“Kimi, breathe. With me. Come on.”
Kimi shook his head weakly, panic clawing up his throat.
“I can’t—”
“Yes, you can,” Ollie insisted, pulling him closer, one hand steady against the back of his neck. “Just follow me, okay? In—”
He demonstrated, slow and controlled.
“—and out.”
Kimi tried.
Failed.
Tried again.
Air came in shaky, uneven, but it came.
“That’s it,” Ollie murmured, his thumb brushing small, repetitive circles against Kimi’s shoulder. “Again. In…”
The world started to come back in fragments.
Sound first.
Then clarity.
The ringing faded.
His chest loosened, just enough.
“…out.”
Kimi clung to the rhythm, focusing on Ollie’s voice, the steady pressure of his hands, the warmth anchoring him in place.
Gradually, painfully, his breathing evened out.
The panic didn’t vanish, but it receded—like a wave pulling back, leaving him shaken, hollow, but functional.
After a few minutes, he nodded faintly.
“I’m okay,” he said, though his voice was still unsteady.
Ollie didn’t fully let go, just eased his grip.
“Yeah,” he said quietly. “You are.”
Kimi took a slow breath, then another.
Then he pulled away.
There wasn’t time to fall apart.
He moved.
“Everyone,” he called, voice stronger now. “Listen.”
They did.
“We stay here tonight. No one leaves.”
He crossed to the storage closet, pulling it open and dragging out blankets, tossing them onto the floor.
“Spare blankets and pillows are here,” he continued. “Not enough for everyone, so—figure it out.”
Liam immediately stepped in to help distribute them, while Alex began organizing sleeping areas with surprising efficiency.
Oscar moved to the door, locking it before dragging a table in front of it, reinforcing the barrier.
He hesitated, then leaned forward to look through the peephole.
What he saw made him recoil.
The hallway was chaos.
People running.
Shouting.
Doors slamming.
The room across the hall stood open, a family frantically packing, movements sharp with fear.
Someone screamed further down.
Oscar stepped back, shaken.
“We might be here for a while,” he said, grabbing tape and covering the peephole completely. “Get some sleep. We deal with this tomorrow.”
No one argued.
There was nothing else to do.
Kimi retreated to the bedroom, Ollie close behind, followed by Lando and Oscar.
The room felt smaller now.
Too quiet.
Too heavy.
He helped settle Lando—who was suddenly very sober—and Oscar into one bed before moving toward the hall bathroom.
The sight stopped him.
Blood.
Smeared along the wall.
His stomach twisted again.
He reached for a cloth—
A hand caught his wrist.
“Focus on getting ready for bed,” Franco said quietly. “I’ll handle it.”
Kimi hesitated.
Then nodded.
He turned to the sink, brushing his teeth quickly, mechanically, trying not to look at the reflection, at the faint smear of someone else’s blood still visible in the mirror.
He left as soon as he could.
Back in the bedroom, the lights were dim.
Lando and Oscar were already asleep, tangled together, the former clinging slightly like he needed the contact.
Kimi changed quickly, exhaustion hitting him all over again as he slipped into bed.
The mattress dipped.
Ollie.
Familiar.
Comforting.
An arm wrapped around his waist, pulling him back slightly.
“Kimi,” Ollie whispered.
Kimi turned carefully, facing him.
The room was lit faintly by an orange glow filtering through the curtains—fires, somewhere in the city. The lamp had turned off minutes ago, the power finally giving up.
Ollie’s face looked different in that light. Sharper. More fragile.
“I’m freaking terrified.”
Kimi studied him for a moment.
Then sighed softly, placing his hand over Ollie’s, thumb tracing slow, absent patterns.
“Quiet. Go to bed,” he murmured.
Ollie huffed weakly. “Our friend just launched himself off your balcony and you want me to sleep?”
“There’s nothing we can do,” Kimi said quietly. “Not right now.”
Ollie didn’t respond immediately.
“…I hate that you’re right.”
Kimi shifted slightly, turning back toward the window.
“Sleep,” he repeated softly.
After a moment, Ollie tightened his grip, pulling him closer.
Kimi let him.
Outside, sirens wailed.
Somewhere distant, someone screamed.
But in the room—
There was breathing.
Steady.
Close.
And eventually—
Sleep came.
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All characters and real people depicted are fictionalized for storytelling purposes. No harm or offense is intended. Content may include mature themes—reader discretion advised