CATANOOGA CATS
Chapter Two
"One Wild Race!"
During the time they had spent in the store, the sun had sank in the west. Inside the bus, Groove and Scoots were struggling to eat their snacks while reading their new comics before it got too dark to read.
"Don't make too much of a mess, guys," Kitty Jo said.
"Don't worry about it," Scoots said, rubbing his mouth. "We got napkins."
"But they're disgusting looking!" she told him. "They look like somebody's been sleeping on them!"
"They do?" Groove said.
"They look okay to me," Scoots said.
"Oh, that reminds me," Groove said, handing a comic to her. "I figured you'd want some girlie thing so I got you this Millie the Model. I don't think I ever heard of her before."
"Ah'll put it away for later," she said, looking for some place to put it. Besides their instruments, the back of the bus only had their various lunches, sleeping bags, and the tent they sometimes used. She put it in there. Then she pulled out a sleeping bag and wrapped herself up in it.
"Let me get a little rest, and then ah'll drive some," she told Country.
"You don't have to give me a rest," he told her. "I can handle it!"
"Don't try to be a big hero," Kitty Jo said. "It's not like ah don't know how to drive!"
"Why are we fighting?" he asked.
The girl's face fell. "Ah don't know," she admitted. "Ah guess ah just have a bad feeling about this concert or something."
"I'm sure there won't be anything up ahead but fun," Country assured her. "Now, come on, give me a big smile!"
She gave him a weird half-grin.
"I said a big smile," he told her. "You look like you need to see a dentist!"
"Ah'm smiling!" she told him. "Ah just hope that truck back there doesn't mean anything."
"What truck?" Country said, as the truck suddenly sped up and drove alongside them. "Oh. That truck. Um...can I help you, fellas?"
"That's a mighty cute girl you got with you," one of the two humans inside said.
"Yeah, she is, isn't she?" Country said.
"Maybe she'd like to be traveling with somebody else," the guy suggested.
"Ah'm just fine where ah am!" Kitty Jo said. She motioned to Cowboy. "Bye bye, now!"
Country speeded up. "Dang it!" he said. "Seems like everyplace we go, somebody wants to be a creep!"
"Do we have any weapons onboard?" Scoots asked, digging around in the back.
"There's nothing there but our tent and sleeping bags and the stuff we just picked up," Kitty Jo said. "And a little bag with what looks like crackers and cheese."
"I was wondering where that got off to!" Groove announce. "Can you pass that to me, Scoots?"
Bam!
"What the heck was that?" Kitty Jo asked.
"Those guys are bumping us!" Scoots said. "Hey, you guys! Go away!"
Bam!
"I can't lose them!" Country said.
"Well somebody do something!" Kitty Jo said. "Ah don't want to go with them!"
"It's getting dark," Groove said. "Maybe if we lose them someplace they won't be able to find us again!"
Bam!
"I don't think that's likely," Country said. Bam! "They're gonna ruin the car!"
"Ah just don't want them ruining me!" Kitty Jo complained. She shivered, suddenly remembering the boyfriend she'd had before Cowboy. She swore she's never be with someone like that again!
Country took a turn in the woods. Unfortunately, the truck followed. "Hang on, guys," he said. "I'll try my best to lose them!"
The others dropped to the ground and covered their heads.
Left turn. Left turn. Right turn. Up a hill. Down the hill.
"Dang it!" Country said. "Those guys just won't take a hint!"
"Take that path over there!" Kitty Jo suggested.
Country took the path. The truck followed.
"Dang! If I knew they were gonna do this, I'd've gotten some peashooters and rocks!" Scoots cried.
It was very dark by now, and only the headlights showed where they were going. The wilderness was pretty, and would have made an interesting trip for the four, if they weren't in so much trouble.
Suddenly they realized the ground was heading down. Were they going down some weird rode or something? Then up ahead, Kitty Jo's sharp eyes picked out the problem.
Up ahead, the ground suddenly stopped in a cliff!
"Oh no!" Kitty Jo cried.
"I can't stop!" Country shouted. "Something's wrong with the brakes!"
The Cattanooga Cats screamed as they reached the edge of the cliff...and kept on going!
