Chapter 8

A Beautiful Beast of Burden

Wednesday : March 5th 2025

Ruby stood with what could only be described as a thousand mile stare. It was now noon, she was standing in the parking lot of the Phillip Island racing circuit, and she was looking at what could only be described as a supercar. The distinctive wedge shape, perfected by the Italians over decades, was only masked by the glossy smooth banana yellow paint. SV marked on the fender, a massive rear wing pointed towards the sky. It was the most extreme car Lamborghini had ever made in 2008, and yet by today's supercar standards it was a dinosaur. 

The Lamborghini Murcielago LP670-4 SV, it was the last hurrah of the Murcielago model and was the fastest of the breed. Its long, wide, muscular stance barely contained the beast inside, a 6.5L V12 with a specially tuned exhaust made to mimic the most ferocious animals of the wild Kingdom. A roaring lion, a charging bull elephant, a crackingling alligator, all could describe the soundtrack from this beautiful machine. Somehow, someway, through little more than dumb luck and stupid Australian insurance law, Ruby now had the keys to this monster. At least for today, it was hers, and safe to say, Ruby was terrified. 

“Oh shit.” Ruby muttered to herself, realizing just how much trouble she had gotten herself into. She would be driving around Melbourne, a massive, busy city in a car that was expensive, hard to see out of, and worst of all, totally unavoidable. Especially after the embarrassing dog debacle, the social media notifications of “Ruby Starfire spotted driving a Lamborghini” and the subsequent flood of love notes from gold digger men and women alike sent a chill down her spine. 

“Ugh, whatever, it's just a car, it's just a car…” Ruby chanted to herself. However, that was quickly disproven as the Lamborghini’s trademark scissor door swung upwards. Then, rather stupidly, she realized it was left hand drive and not right hand drive like most cars in Australia. Shutting the door again and walking around to the other side, she finally managed to get behind the wheel of the raging bull. 

“At least it's more roomy than that Ford.” Ruby said, getting comfortable into the deep bucket seat. After getting the door shut, the next task was figuring out how to start the damn thing. Key in, she pressed the start button…

“Click.” 

Nothing happened…

Foot on the brake this time, she tried again, and this time, the massive engine behind her back woke with a startling roar. The car shook, quivering like a horse as it awakened from its slumber. Goosebumps going up her arm, Ruby now had to figure out how to get this thing out of the parking spot without hitting anything. 

If you crash this thing Ruby, not only will it be embarrassing and likely put you in debt for the rest of your life, but you would have pissed off someone who just claimed to be immortal… no pressure.

Following Revz instructions, she pulled both of the paddles behind the steering wheel and then the one on the left to shift into reverse. With the clunk, it went into gear violently, and the car began to roll backwards. Ruby looked over her shoulder, but only found a visage of the massive rear wing. The mirrors weren't much help either, so it was a case of going slowly and praying. However, with some care and much to Ruby’s relief, soon the car was out in the middle of the lane, free of the confines of the parking space. 

“Okay, I'm not backing this thing up ever again.” Ruby promised herself. Now getting the car into the forward gears, she now had to escape the parking lot, and then Phillip Island itself. Luckily that was much less daunting of a task, even if there were some quirks she had to be mindful of.

Driving on the opposite side of the car was going to take some getting used to. That and constantly reminding herself of the Lambo's girth. Trying to center the car in the lane was now something she had to actively think about when meeting oncoming traffic, lest the right side wheels fall off the pavement. Also stop lights, reminding herself to change down into first with the paddles while rolling to a stop for the light took some ingraining too. The first time she tried to set off in third gear, and the car protested by stuttering and jerking, threatening to stall until Ruby could surmise the problem and step on the clutch to stop it. Back down into first gear, the Lamborghini’s voice returned, and the car roared away triumphantly as if the near stall had never happened.

Everything with this car was an event. There was no moment, at least a slow speed, where something wasn't poking at Ruby’s anxiety. Turning at an intersection was a game of chance, as once you started to turn, you fell into the car's massive blindspots. So Ruby just had to hope that someone hadn't suddenly appeared, and if they did that she could outrun them to the speed limit. It took a bit of getting used to, the pure stress of driving a supercar, and safe to say, Ruby really never did get used to it. But by the time she hit the highway to Melbourne, she was starting to relax as the car finally started to come into its natural habit. 

Accelerating to merge with traffic, Ruby foot sunk deeper into the pedal than she had before. Like a switch had been thrown, the bull awoke to her command and threw itself forward with alarming brutality. It threw Ruby back into the seat, engine howling happily as it signaled its arrival back among its kind. It easily cruised to 120kph and would have happily gone farther with no signs of hesitation even at only half throttle. 

This car is unbelievably, terrifyingly fast! 

“I'm going to die in this thing…” Ruby sighed, accepting her seeming fate. But the Lamborghini seemed to understand her hesitancy. Now safe from the danger of oncoming trucks and roadside mailboxes, it embraced Ruby and tried to seduce her under its charm. The Murcielago was the king of this road, the apex predator of the Melbourne highway food chain. Nothing could outrun it, and other drivers were seemingly terrified of it. Dashing out of the passing lane as soon as the yellow beast appeared in the mirrors. It was like having a buff bodyguard that followed Ruby around, and it was a feeling that she realized she could get used too. 

Still, even as the Lamborghini tried its best to win over its pilot, practically begging her to go faster. Ruby just couldn't bring herself to step on the gas. She wanted to… she wanted to slam her foot down on the pedal like she was stomping on a cane toad. Riding the V12 lighting to 300kph and tearing through traffic like a bat out of hell, but she just couldn't. The fear of disaster was ever present in her mind. She might be able to put on a confident smile when she took the keys, but once behind the wheel, an actor's bluff meant nothing compared to actual talent and skill. She knew that, as badly as she wanted to take the persona of an experienced high speed pilot, to lie to herself and let it rip, she knew it would get her killed. So the speedometer didn't climb much to the dismay of the soul of the car. 

Once into Melbourne proper, the Murcielago once again struggled with the stop start reality of city traffic. Buses, bikers, speed humps, curious pedestrians, and especially police all had to be carefully considered and avoided. However that was easier said than done, when every gear change was teamed with a “Vrooom” of the engine and a spit of flames out of the car's hot exhaust! Put simply, there's no blending in with a bright yellow supercar. All eyes and cameras were on Ruby, attention she would normally soak in and adore but not today. 

“Here comes the rich rumors…” Ruby said with a small chuckle to herself. Then, as if to prove herself embarrassingly wrong, she tried to set off in third gear again this time stalling the engine completely. The car ground to a halt in the middle of the intersection, the crowd laughing and cheering at the spectacle as drivers behind started to honk. 

“Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit…” panicking, Ruby went through the starting procedure again, but the engine refused to fire. “Shift to neutral” came up on the dash, so Ruby grabbed both paddles again behind the steering wheel. With a clunk, the car popped out of gear and for a brief moment started to roll. Foot on the brake, finger on the button, the engine fired back into life the crowd cheered as people behind continued to honk. Paddle on the right, petal on the right, all four wheels spun, tires smoking, as Ruby finally cleared the intersection. 

“That was so embarrassing!” Ruby cried out, annoyed. She couldn't even run away from the crowd of gawkers and angry drivers behind as she had caught the next light too. This time she made sure to get the car into 1st before setting off.

 Eventually, Ruby made it to her first destination, the gym she had been coming to to work out and shower while in Melbourne. It was no 4pm on a Wednesday, and mercifully it wasn't busy. However, what Ruby realized much too late was that this parking lot had the supercar's arch nemesis installed, a speed bump. Easily ignored and hardly a thought in her Holden and having already nosed the Lamborghini into the parking lot, she now couldn't proceed forward because she had no idea how low the nose was compared to the hump. 

“How do people drive these things?!” Ruby now yelled, allowing her shattered nerves and emotions a brief reprieve before the inevitable. There was nothing else she could do, but open the door, get out, and just look to see if the car was going to scrape. Now a new crowd was forming, who was this beautiful young girl driving this exotic sexy car, and why was she blocking the road? Normally Ruby would blow a kiss, wink, or wave to them, pulling on their heart strings, anything to earn a new fan, but today she kinda wanted to run them over. Not that they would fit under the Lamborghini’s low nose either… Seeing the car wasn't going to make it over the bump normally, and with drivers impatiently waiting, some choosing to swerve around the bull blocking their path, she suddenly remembered something Revz had said…

“Avoid speed humps if you can but if not, there's a button that can lift the nose.” 

“Ah ha! Where's the button?” Hopping back into the car, Ruby started pressing every button she could find. The headlights came on and off, The Boys are Back in Town by Thin Lizzy blasted on the radio for a split second, and the fuel door popped open. Finally there was a whirring and wheezing sound, and slowly the nose of the car started to lift up!

“Yes!” Ruby cheered, pumping the air with her fist. Carefully she creeped the car over the speed bump and out of the way of city traffic. Finding a parking spot, she could finally get out of this damn thing, and go to take a well earned shower!