love in the time of trash fires

Life had been good for Max and Athena. When he had started to distance himself from gang life, the Hellhounds were surprisingly supportive of his going to nursing school. While he could have done anything, he had decided he wanted to help Michael and Athena out at the clinic. Now that he was an RN, he could really take a lot off of their shoulders.

He was taking vitals for one of their younger patients on his first day fully registered and licensed, but it wasn't going well. The four-year-old was kicking and screaming at the top of his lungs while Max tried to put the blood pressure cuff on him, and his mother was too wrapped up in her phone to care much. Max had learned not to expect much from undercity parents who were usually involved in seedy and undesireable lifestyles, but a little help in calming down her child would have been nice. Eventually she just rolled her eyes in annoyance.

"I'm getting a headache, I'll just be in the waiting room," she said, waving her hand dismissively.

This only made the child scream louder, and Max winced.

"Hey buddy, it's just a little squeeze," he promised. "Hey, calm down. What if I let you do it on me first? Would you like that?"

The kid calmed down and sniffed, then nodded. Max changed the cuff to an adult size and showed him how he strapped it down, then handed him the pump.

"Just give that a squeeze and it starts to inflate like a balloon," he explained.

The kid squeezed the pump a few times. Finally, a smile started playing on his lips.

"See?" Max said. "Nothing to worry about. A tough kid like you isn't scared of a little squeeze, right?"

"Not scared," the kid agreed.

He was quiet now as Max took his vitals, making sure he was quick before the kid changed his mind. Normally he would leave the room until either Athena or Michael was ready to see him, but since his mother wasn't about to come back in, he decided to wait in the room with him.

By the time Athena came in, he was halfway up Max's arm, coloring in his tattoos with marker. She couldn't help but laugh at the sight of him.

"Alright, I think I can take it from here," she said. "Time to put the human coloring book away for now."

Max winked at her as he picked up an alcohol wipe and walked back out. He was wiping the marker off his arm when Michael came out to greet him. He chuckled when he saw the marker on Max's arm.

"Looks like your first day as a full graduate is going well," he said.

"Nah, you guys do the important stuff," Max said. "It does feel nice to do things with an actual license, though."

"Making a patient feel comfortable and creating trust is just as important," he insisted.

The praise made Max smile like an idiot while he worked the rest of the day. He had developed a surprisingly close relationship with Athena's father considering the circumstances they met, but Max was grateful to have him in his life. While he had a lot of father figures among the Hellhounds, Michael had given him a lot of support in abandoning hoodlum life and pursuing an education.

"So," Michael said, casually leaning against the counter. "How's it going on the proposal front?"

Max flinched. He had gotten a ring for Athena over a month ago, but still hadn't found a good time to pop the question. Michael had been pressing him on it on an almost daily basis.

"Relax, she can't hear us," Michael chuckled. "She's with the banshee."

"Still, she has a way of sneaking up on me," Max said. "She almost found the ring twice and I have to keep changing the hiding place. I almost tackled her to the ground once when she was putting my laundry away."

"The longer you wait, the more likely she is to find it," he said. "That girl is a menace when it comes to sniffing out surprises. I tried throwing her a surprise party for her seventh birthday once. You should have seen the performance she put on when pretending like she was surprised."

"I can imagine," Max said. "I know. I'll do it soon. I just don't want to mess it up."

"She loves you. You can't do anything to mess it up, trust me."

Max sort of just shrugged. In terms of married life and a traditional family, he had no idea how any of it worked. He was raised by bikers and his mother was flying all over the world to try as many international foods and men she could get.

"Well, it looks like this is our last appointment of the day," Michael said, checking the calendar on the wall. "You're racing tonight, right?"

"Yeah," he said. "It should be fun and friendly. As friendly as these races get, anyways. I know the other racers, so at least I know no one will shoot me in the head."

"It's exciting," Michael said. "I won't be able to make it, but I'll be watching the stream."

"I don't know, it's a little thuggy," Max admitted. "I left a lot of my past behind, but maybe I should retire racing too. It's sort of unbecoming, isn't it?"

"I don't think so," he said. "You're passionate about it. And you're good at it. It's more like a really exhilerating hobby. You won't find that kind of adrenaline taking blood pressure for screaming kids."

"I dunno, it was pretty scary. He was loud."

Michael laughed and shook his head. Max and Athena still went to the races most weekends, unless Max knew certain racers would cause him trouble. It was clean fun most of the time. That night felt no different. There was an addictive excitement in the air as people took their seats.

Athena kissed Max before leaving to take her seat. She then slipped her scrunchie onto his wrist, which had become a tradition between them for good look.

"Good luck," she said. "Win big and stay safe."

"I always do," he promised, giving her another kiss.

He watched her join Rudy in his personal viewing box. She had made such an impression on the old man, she had a permanent seat right next to him at every race.

Max took his position with his beloved car, giving the dashboard a light pat before the race started.

"Don't steer me wrong tonight, Val."

He hesitated for a moment. He wasn't sure what, but something felt wrong. He had done a full check on the car that same morning to make sure he was good to race that night. He brushed off the bad feeling when the race started. He was probably just a little tired from working all day.

At the start, the race went well. He knew every inch of the track at that point, and things went as expected. Then, out of nowhere, one of his wheels blew. He steadied the car as best he could so he could pull over to the side, but then another tire blew. He cursed under his breath, not sure what was going on. His tires were brand new. They shouldn't have been blowing like this. Then, there was the worst of it. He heard a strange beeping noise, and then something in his engine exploded.

The car was airborne, and in the longest few seconds of Max's life, did three or four flips across the track. The other cars screeched as they dodged him, but there was so much glass everywhere he couldn't see anything. The car finally stopped and landed on its side, but Max could hardly see anything. He was in a lot of pain, but had hit his head so hard his vision was blurry. He could hear screaming in the distance, but then it all went dark.