He drove over to Lightning's cone, and found Mariana, Paul, and Harry parked out on the ramp, occasionally sobbing quietly. "Hey, you three are going to stay with me." Sarge called to them, and as one the three turned to look at them. They all wore expressions of dull, unmoveable misery.
'They're dying from the inside out.' Sarge thought in shock. "Get anything you want to bring over, then we're heading over. All right?" The three nodded, then they went back inside to collect some of their things. They returned shortly, and the group headed over to Sarge's. Mariana had gotten her blanket, and all of them huddled under it except for Jack, who sat by the heater, saying nothing, and sobbing as she cried.
"Jack, please stop crying. He'll be fine." Mariana said gently, reaching a tire out to try and comfort Jack.
Jack swatted it away fiercely and turned to the wall, still sobbing.
"I'm serious, Jack. Doc knows what to do. He'll be as good as new."
"No, he won't. You don't get it, do you? He was lying there for a long time. That's what happens when somebody dies. I would think you would know that, considering the same thing happened to you." Jack replied hoarsely, and even with tears and blood covering her hood, she was looking at Mariana angrily, so that she looked insane.
"He might still be-"
"No, Mariana, no! He's not, all right?! It's my fault, he's dead, it's my fault that this happened." Jack said firmly, starting to yell even though her voice was weakening by the minute.
"Don't you yell at me! I'm your sister, and all I'm saying is-"
"No, you're not! I never had a sister because my parents are dead, like yours are! And don't go saying that you're my sister because we live together, and that Thunder's our dad, because he's not! He's a dog! A DOG! Can you understand that?!" Jack screamed, panting heavily, sobbing, and shaking with rage.
Mariana looked down at her hood and her eyes started filling up with tears. The others were all watching from under the blanket, shaking in fear.
"What's going on in here?" Sarge exclaimed, rolling into the room. He saw Jack glaring at Mariana, who wouldn't look at her. "Jack, he's safe."
"How can he be? He wasn't moving when you found us, remember?" Jack said, her voice now a mere whisper.
"Doc said that the snow saved him."
Mariana turned around to look at Sarge, her eyes still full of tears as she looked at him in disbelief.
"He also said that only one of you can see Thunder at a time." The others all looked around at one another, when Jack spoke up.
"You go." She looked at Mariana in an irritated way, then laid down by the heater again, falling asleep instantly.
"I think she's right. You've known him the longest." Sara spoke up, looking at Mariana kindly.
"If you guys are sure..." She said doubtfully, looking over at Jack worriedly.
"No, you go ahead."
Mariana smiled at Sara and the boys in thanks, then rolled out of the room, Sarge driving alongside her to the door to open it for her. She drove outside, then turned right to go to Doc's. She saw Thunder, lying on the lift limply, infinite wires and tubes hooked up to him. Suddenly, she couldn't look at him, and she had to get out. She darted out of the clinic quickly, and Doc didn't even notice she had seen Thunder. She arrived back over at Sarge's, and darted inside quickly.
"What's the matter?" He asked, looking at her worriedly. She just shook her hood and closed her eyes tightly, trying to unsee what she had seen. She drove into Sarge's living area and curled up under the blanket, falling asleep instantly, along with the others. She was startled awake by her nightmare with a sudden jerk. It had seemed even more horrible then the real thing.
She looked around at the others, and saw that it was two in the morning. She sighed, and crawled out of her spot under her blanket. She went over to the window she had climbed in to find Sarge, and climbed out that way. She jumped to the ground quietly and landed in the snow. She looked around again, making sure nobody had heard her. She crept through the snow over to Lightning's cone, and looked up at the window doubtfully. She might be able to get in, but how would she close it afterwards? She sighed, then drove around to the front of the cone.
She opened the door, then crept inside, quickly closing it. She rolled into the living room quietly, and then turned the television on quietly. She climbed onto the couch, pulled the blanket down from the top of the couch, then wrapped herself in it. She snapped the television off after about ten minutes, yawned, then drove back to Thunder's room, dragging the blanket along with her. She snuggled deep into Thunder's bed, then pulled the blanket all the way over herself and fell asleep.
She was so deeply asleep that she didn't hear Lightning's exclamation of surprise the next morning. She distantly felt something closing around her, but she rolled over in her sleep and the feeling was gone. It was like she was encased in a warm, fluffy cloud, and it was comforting. She imagined that she heard the voices of the others, as though they were coming from two different ends of Willy's Butte. Her eyelids cracked open, but all she could see was darkness. She smiled sleepily, rolled over, and went back to sleep.
Meanwhile, Lightning had found her lying alone in the bed, and used the blanket she was wrapped in to make a sack. He was holding the corners all bunched together at the top, and he had tied a rope around the bag just in case Mariana woke up or moved in her sleep, that way she wouldn't be blinded by bright sunlight. He set the bag on his hood, and the others all exchanged confused and slightly worried looks.
"Do we want to know what's in that pathetic excuse for a bag, man?" Ramone asked.
Lightning offered him a wry grin, which made Ramone even more confused.
In one swift move, Lightning reached up and pulled the rope tying the bag shut as hard as he could. It stayed in that position for a moment or two, then the top collapsed in on itself, revealing a small bit of metal and white paint. The others were all more confused. Lightning pulled back a bit more of the blanket, revealing more of the metal, and black lines to join the white space. The blanket moved as Mariana rolled over, and the others all gasped.
"Lightning, if you stole a kid, I'm going to-" Sally threatened, but stopped when Lightning held up a tire. Sally looked at him in confusion, and that's when it happened. Mariana slid off Lightning's hood when she rolled over again, and fell into a heap on the ground. The sudden fall woke her up, and she pushed the blanket off her slightly, so she could see out one side of her windshield.
"Hey? How'd I get out here?" The others laughed at Mariana, who had the blanket covering her entire right side. She looked so confused that the effect was increased.
"I'm not sure. You tell me. Hey, by the way, how did you get inside last night? I thought you were with Thunder, but I didn't see him. Or any of the others." Lightning asked. And though his tone wasn't angry, she knew she was in trouble.
"I fell asleep over at Sarge's, then I woke up at two in the morning because I had a bad dream. Then I found a way out of his Hut and opened the garage door to your cone and drove inside. I went to watch tv, but then I started to feel sleepy, so I went to Thunder's bed and fell asleep." She finished, snuggling back inside the blanket and pulling it over herself more. "Now do you mind? I was sleeping."
"I didn't wake you. You fell off and woke yourself." Lightning replied, and the others all laughed. She yawned for an answer and went back to sleep. "Jeez, how does Thunder keep you awake?" Lightning sighed, shaking his hood in bewilderment. Everyone else except Flo, Ramone, Sarge, and Doc chuckled. The four looked as grim and somber as if they had attended a funeral. Lightning looked over at Doc, confused, and just then realized that Thunder wasn't there.
"Where's Thunder?" He demanded loudly, looking around, confused. The others all looked around, mildly interested.
"Hey, Rookie, you should practice for your next race." Doc called, and Lightning sighed, an annoyed expression on his face. He rolled down to the track, Doc following. He explained what had happened the night before to Thunder and the others, and Lightning braked suddenly in the middle of the dirt road.
"Whaat?" Lightning asked in horror. "You're joking. Tell me you're joking."
Doc sighed and shook his hood for an answer. "I wish I could say that I am, but I can't."
Lightning looked down at the ground, deep in thought. Doc watched him for a few minutes, then said quietly, "They're all alive, if it makes you feel any better Hotshot."
"Not by much." Lightning replied quietly in a low voice.
He and Doc continued driving down to the Butte, and reached it in silence. They did a short race, and even then Doc could see Lightning's heart wasn't in it. When they had finished, Lightning rolled off the track, and parked where the others usually watched from, looking out at the dusty track, seeing it but not actually seeing it.
"You all right, Rookie?" Doc asked, rolling over cautiously.
"Yeah, I'm fine. You go on back, I'll meet you there." Lightning replied, and was relieved to hear that his voice wasn't shaking with rage, and sounded normal. He heard Doc driving away, and went over to a large bush. He began kicking it with a front tire as hard as he could, growling curses and empty threats through gritted teeth. When the bush was clear out of the ground, he moved onto another.
He kept kicking the bushes out of the ground until he heard the sound of an engine approaching. He looked up and was surprised to see it was dark out.
"Looks like you've been doing some landscaping, Rookie." Lightning turned around and saw Doc parked there, surveying the various bushes pulled up by their roots.
"Ha ha, very funny." Lightning rolled his eyes and then began kicking at the nearest bush again. Doc rolled over to his side, watching him with mild amusement for a few minutes.
He knew Lightning would start to speak, and he didn't have long to wait. "I could've saved them all."
"Yes, and you possibly would've gotten killed doing it. And if you didn't, then you'd be in no condition to race any longer." Doc replied with a sigh.
"Thunder's one of my best friends, and him and I could've fought it and won."
"Do you think that's possible? There was more then a foot of snow on the ground at the time, and you might've gotten stuck, thus, making yourself an easy target for the mountain lion. Thunder would've ended up finishing it off by himself, all the while protecting you from it." Doc said firmly, looking over at Lightning.
Lightning looked down at the bush that was almost uprooted and gave it a hard, swift kick, sending it toppling over into the dirt. He drove over to the next one and began kicking at it with progressively harder kicks.
"Have you ever thought that Thunder can take care of himself?"
The question made him freeze, his front tire lifted comically in the air for a moment, then he set it down and turned back to see Doc standing by the previous bush. He thought hard about Doc's question, and couldn't come up with a reasonable answer. He closed his eyes regretfully and shook his hood three times.
"Now he's got Mariana, and all the others, and I just feel like I should help him with stuff like that, an-"
"That's really the point then, isn't it? You feel like you should help him, even though you don't have to, and are often somewhere too far away to help effectively."
Lightning sighed and looked down at his hood again. Doc was right.
Lightning turned away from Doc without answering and proceeded to kick the nearest thing he could, which was a tall saguaro cactus. He barely suppressed the string of curses that almost flew out of his mouth, and instead settled for a muffled bellow that sounded slightly like Frank, biting down on his bottom lip as hard as he could.
Doc chuckled, then said, "At least turn your headlights on, then you'll be able to see what you're trying to remove from the ground." With that, he chuckled again and began driving back up towards the town.
He paused only once, turning around to look at Lightning. "Come back up before morning. And please leave at least some of the bushes. I think you'll find that it's nice to have a few obstacles to slow you down during our next race." He drove away with that, laughing.
With an annoyed grunt, Lightning began kicking at the saguaro cactus again, exclaiming loudly in pain and cursing worse then a sailor every time he felt the spines impale his tire even more. He limped back to the town just as dawn was breaking, his tires full of cactus spines. He made it into his cone, and discovered that Mariana was snuggled under the blanket she had from yesterday, looking at the television blankly.
As he watched in horror, she slumped against the bottom of the couch, then slid on her side to the floor as her eyelids slid shut. He hobbled over to her as quickly as possible and attempted to wake her up. Her eyelids fluttered open, and she saw Lightning, who was looking worriedly at her.
She looked up at him dully with a glazed-over expression from fear and lack of sleep.
"Are you all right?" Lightning asked, even though he could tell she wasn't. She looked horrible, like she hadn't slept in weeks. Lightning reminded himself that it was probably out of fear for Thunder that she couldn't sleep and looked the way she did, which made him feel worse.
"Just peachy." She replied quietly, staring up at him eerily, seemingly not blinking. Lightning looked down at her with a mixture of sorrow and slight fear. "When did you get your paintjob a different color? Or was it pink before?"
"Pink?! I'd never get pink, disgusting!" Lightning exclaimed loudly, before he realized she had slid down off his hood again and was now limping over to sit back down in front of the couch. "What's the matter? Why are you limping?" He asked.
"I'm not really sure. You're limping pretty badly because of the cactus." Mariana drove back over to Lightning and began pulling the spines out swiftly, and was finished with one of his front tires before he could even realize what was going on.
She finished the others just as quickly, and was done within two minutes. She then returned to her position, and gazed at the television blankly. Lightning looked down at his now cactus-free tires. "Thanks." He offered her a smile, which was returned in a vague way.
Lightning looked at her worriedly, and then picked her up. He set her on his hood and took her over to Sally's, where Sally was busy sorting legal papers. "Sally, I need your help!" Lightning exclaimed, driving into the lobby and looking down frantically at Mariana.
"What's the matter, Lightning? What's wrong?" Sally asked worriedly, then she saw Mariana. "Did she change her paint color?" Lightning looked at her, then shook his hood 'no' slightly, so Mariana wouldn't fall.
"Sally, I think the real question here is 'Did Lightning go from red to pink?'"
Before Sally could make out the answer to such a ridiculous question, Lightning exclaimed, "For the last time, NO, I DIDN'T!"
"All right, just wondering, because you do look a little pinkish today."
"What's your problem, Lightning?"
"This!" He exclaimed, pointing at Mariana with a tire and looking down at her. "I went into my cone about five minutes ago to go to sleep, and I found her watching tv and lying on the floor in front of the couch. All of a sudden, she just passes out! When I wake her up, she's got this look on her face!" He pointed with a tire at Mariana, who was wearing the same expression she had been before. "I asked her if she was okay, and she replied, 'Just peachy.'. When has she ever said that?!" He finished, looking up at Sally with a slightly hysterical look on his face that wasn't helped by the frighteningly serene expression on Mariana's. Sally looked at the two of them carefully, then gently picked Mariana up off Lightning's hood.
"I think I've found the problem." Sally announced, shutting Mariana's hood after opening it to rummage through the objects hidden beneath it.
"You have?"
"What does this look like to you?" Sally asked, and handed him an empty can.
"It looks like... Ohh..." Lightning's astonished expression was all the confirmation Sally needed. Lightning sped out of the lobby and back to his cone. He returned shortly, holding an empty can and scowling. "She took my wine!" He exclaimed angrily, looking down at Mariana with distaste. "Of course, you just had to take the good bottles, didn't you?"
"I thought it was soda... It tasted like soda." Mariana replied airily, looking at him serenely, which made him even more angry.
"How do we stop it?"
"There's nothing we can do. She drank all your good wine. I'm actually surprised she isn't dead, with all that she drank." Sally replied with a hint of fear, looking down at Mariana worriedly. Mariana had fallen asleep, leaning against Lightning's fender. She snapped awake almost instantly and looked up at the two of them.
"When's the party?" She asked curiously. Lightning and Sally shared a surprised glance, then Sally handed her to Lightning.
"You should probably go put her back in your cone before someone else sees her." She said quietly, and Mariana didn't help by abruptly hiccuping very loudly. Lightning shoved his wheel into his mouth to keep from laughing hysterically, then nodded to show that he agreed with Sally. He drove over to his cone as quickly as possible, then deposited her in Thunder's bed.
"I'm a puppy, ARF ARF!" She exclaimed drunkenly, swaying slightly. Lightning rolled his eyes. It seemed like the effects of the wine were just kicking in. She hiccuped loudly again, then laid down, almost toppling over onto her side.
"You are really drunk." Lightning muttered, tossing the blanket she had been using at her. It hit her in the side, and she grunted in surprise, looking around.
"Who punched me?" She exclaimed suddenly.
"Nobody punched you, I just tossed you your blanket. You're going to be here for a while." Lightning told her, sighing. She found the blanket, and attempted to put it on as a robe.
"No, here." Lightning laid it over her, and she curled up underneath it. He left after making sure she wasn't going to randomly say something, closing her door tightly.
Oh boy... *sighs* Mariana the troublemaker... xD and at least Thunder's okay, right? :)