She found a suitable cave for them, then hobbled back towards Fillmore. When she got back to him, she couldn't suppress her shriek of horror this time as she looked down at him with nightmarish horror in her face, which turned very white in a matter of seconds. "F-Fillmore!" She gasped, sinking down to her knees so she could be face to front end with him. "Wh-What happened?"

"There was a lot of rocks that came down after ya left, man." He whispered softly, his eyes shut tightly, not able to bear looking down at her horrified face.

"There's a cave back that way. D-Do you think you can get back up?" She asked him worriedly.

For an answer, he rose to his wheels shakily. She arose from the ground just as shakily, and together, the two made their way back to the cave. Fillmore laid down at the back, then looked up at Foxy, who was looking him over in horror. "

It's pretty bad, right man?" He asked, and for an answer, she sank to her knees again, placing a hand gently on his front end. She looked up at him, and he could see her eyes were filling up with tears. He gently nudged her, cringing slightly.

"Come on, man. It'll be all right. Don't cry." She whimpered for an answer, then curled up against his front gently, pressing her side against him. He could hear her sobbing quietly, and it made him feel even worse then the crack in his eye and the various dents.

"Hey, Elizabeth." The sound of her real name shocked her out of her sobs, and she looked up at him, tears running down her cheeks. "I'm gonna be fine. I've been through much worse."

"Bu-bu-bu-but-" She whimpered, placing her hand on his VW symbol gently. The touch of her hand made him feel a thousand times better, but he had gotten her attention. That was what mattered.

"I've been through much worse in runnin' from them soldiers, man."

"Wh-What are you talking about, Fillmore?" Her eyes grew even more worried then they already were, and she didn't realize that she had begun gently running her fingers over his VW symbol, tracing it lightly.

"They wanted me to go into that war, man. I refused to do it."

"Bu-But why didn't you want to?"

"I didn't want to be a dog to the MAN, and I didn't wanna be shootin' other cars for no reason at all. It just isn't right."

Foxy gently rested her head against Fillmore's front.

He looked down at her worriedly, and asked if she was all right.

"I'm all right, Fillmore." She replied, but there was a hint of worry in her eyes. "What did the soldiers do when you said you wouldn't do it?"

"I heard the MAN say over their radios to shoot at me, and to try and convince me into joining the military."

Foxy's bottom jaw dropped nearly to her chest. "That's horrid!" She replied, and Fillmore nodded slightly. "They didn't hurt you too badly, did they?"

"Nearly shot my engine out when I turned tail, man."

Foxy gently set her head against his front again, never taking her hand from his VW symbol. "Why would he order them to do such a horrid and barbaric thing?" She asked.

"That's what things were like then. If ya didn't wanna join up, they'd MAKE ya join. Of course, there were ways around it."

"Like what?"

"If ya couldn't see, ya were missin' a tire or somethin'."

"Why didn't you just say that you had something like that?"

"I'm not a liar, man."

"I'm not much of one either." She agreed. "How'd you get away?"

"Sarge."

"Sarge?"

"He tried convincin' them that I wasn't worth it. I don't think it worked, but it got me enough time to get away."

"Where'd you go?"

"I went back to my dome, got some of my stuff, then came out here."

"And Sarge followed you?"

"No, he came out here later, man. After that war was over."

Foxy nodded in understanding, her fingers tracing his VW symbol absentmindedly.

"Said that I owed him for that day."

"What did you owe him?"

"I never found out, man. Right after he said that, he started goin' all nuts, shoutin' stuff out, pacin' back and forth."

"What was he shouting?" Foxy asked.

"It mighta been commands to someone or somethin', because he seemed like he was really worked up about somethin'."

"PTSD." Foxy muttered to herself, and Fillmore looked down at her in confusion.

"What's that mean, man?"

"It's when soldiers come back from a war, and if they hear a loud noise, like a helicopter, a tree breaking, or really loud thunder they'll freak out, like Sarge did that day. It doesn't even have to be something they heard. If they see anything that reminds them of the war, if it's bad enough, they'll act like Sarge also."

"What do ya think made him go all weird that day?"

"I wasn't there, so I wouldn't be able to tell. Were there any helicopters flying around?"

"Not that I know of."

"What about a gunshot?"

"I think someone was shootin' somethin', maybe a rabbit or somethin'."

"That's what it was." She whispered.

"What's wrong, man?"

"That's what makes him freak out. The sound of a gun."

"That'd freak me out too, man. 'Specially if it was a really big gun."

"No, this goes beyond normal fear and freak outs. Sarge must've killed at least a few cars in the war."

"Sarge? Killin' someone? Ya sure that ya don't have that thing?"

"No, I'm being serious, Fillmore. If Sarge killed more then a few cars, then he'd become familiar with it. And if he ended up being covered in all that... oil, that would've been like teaching a puppy that you'll smack him if he doesn't do something you want."

"So what you're sayin' is that if Sarge killed cars durin' that war, that he'd learn to be scared of that gun, an' go into a panic attack every time he hears one?"

"That's exactly what I'm saying, Fillmore."

"But then why don't he try killin' you?"

"I'm not sure... has he tried that?"

"Whenever he hears one, I guess."

"On who?"

"Who else, man?"

"That's awful, Fillmore." Her eyes became worried again, and she set her head against his front gently, her hand resting on his VW symbol.

"Looks like the storm stopped, man."

Foxy didn't reply, and Fillmore assumed that she was asleep. He leaned against her gently, trying to fall asleep. He looked down at her hair, seeing that it was still slightly wet from the storm. He shakily put a wheel around her and pulled her closer.

Drawing comfort from hugging her, he soon fell asleep also, lying on the sandy ground. He woke up the next morning to something at his injured side. He leaned away from whatever it was, wincing.

"Sorry, Fillmore."

"It's only you, Elizabeth." He seemed to relax once more, and Foxy sighed.

She was almost done pulling the dents out of Fillmore's side and roof. All she needed to finish up were the deeper ones in his side. "This might hurt, Fillmore."

"What're ya doin', anyways?" He asked, and Foxy grunted, pulling the biggest dent out. Fillmore yelped as it popped back into place with a CLANG.

"Sorry!" Foxy replied worriedly. "And to respond to your question, I'm pulling the dents out."

"How do ya do that?"

"It's quite simple really. All I needed was a suction cup of reasonable size, and-this-dent-is-really-tough!" She exclaimed through tightly gritted teeth as she pulled as hard as she could. She let go finally, panting slightly.

"It's all right, man. Ya don't have to get them all."

Foxy didn't answer right away, instead she dug in the heels of her shoes and pulled with all her might. She grunted, and the sudden CLANG from the dent popping out of the metal, along with the release of the suction cup sent her flying backwards onto the ground.

"Oof!" She exclaimed as she landed on her posterior.

"Ya all right, man?" Fillmore replied, turning to look at her in confusion. "You're sitting in the dirt, do ya know that?"

"Doesn't surprise me." Foxy replied, and smiled. "At least they're all out. I don't have any replacement windshield glass in my back pocket, so we're going to have to get back to the town and see if Doc has any."

Fillmore nodded, then nudged Foxy up.

"Do you feel up to it?" She asked him, gently setting her hand on his VW symbol.

He ignored the sudden warmth that he felt when she set her hand on the VW emblem gently, and rose from the sandy soil, stretching out like a cat.

They departed the cave cautiously, looking around for any other rocks that might come tumbling down. When they cleared the area, they set off quickly, or at least as fast as Fillmore could go with one eye virtually useless. They arrived back in town about two hours later, and everyone had apparently noticed their absence.

"There you guys are!" Lightning pulled up beside her, and whispered something to her that made her jump about a foot into the air, then smack him on the hood.

"No, we weren't! If you need to know so bad, we got caught in a cave during a rockslide."

"You didn't get hurt, did you?"

Foxy shook her head sadly. "I didn't, but Fillmore did. I pulled all the dents out the best I could." She replied, and Lightning looked at her curiously.

"What dents?"

"From the rocks."

"I get that, but I don't see any." Lightning replied in a low voice as Fillmore drove over to Doc's.

"That's because I pulled them out."

"With your hands?"

"No, with a suction cup. It's really simple. My 'boss' at the mechanic shop I 'worked' at showed me how."

"What's with all those air quotes?"

"First of all, he wasn't really my boss because I didn't get paid, but he wasn't a teacher either. Secondly, it was more of like a mechanic shop in a school where kids and their 'bosses' could bring their cars."

"You could've just said that someone showed you how to do it." Lightning teased, and Foxy sighed, laying down on his hood.

Lightning's expression softened, growing more worried. "You all right?"

"Just tired. I was up most of the night pulling out the dents."

"Go over and get some sleep, if you want to. Thunder's still over there yet."

"Thanks, Lightning." She offered him a smile, then yawned. "Sorry." She giggled quietly, then Lightning nudged her in the direction of his cone.

"Go on."

"All right, all right, Mr. Bossy." She replied, then yawned again. She opened the garage door, then limped inside and shut it. She heard a padding sound coming down the hallway, and was instantly attacked with a slobbery bath, courtesy of Thunder. She yawned, and Thunder tugged her in the direction of his bedroom. She followed, too tired to think of anything except Fillmore and sleep. Once she saw his bed, she sank down into it, curling up underneath the covers.

Thunder laid down beside her, placing his paw over her side as he laid his muzzle on her side also. Foxy was asleep in minutes, and didn't wake up until noon, nearly four hours later. She yawned, sitting up and stretching. Thunder licked her once, then nudged her.

"Okay, okay, I'm up." She yawned again. Thunder wagged his tail, then licked her nose.

"Bleg-Thunder!" She laughed, taken by surprise. He licked her again, then sat down as she stood up.

"Let's go see Fillmore, okay?" She asked, and he barked. They left the cone, and she was instantly swamped by the triplets, Jack, and Mariana.

"You're okay!"

"You're back!"

"We thought you guys died!"

She collapsed on the ground, giggling as they formed a circle around her, nudging her with their front ends happily. "Okay, come on, let me up. It's good to see you guys too." She laughed. One by one, they backed off until Thunder nudged her back up. The group went over to Flo's, and she sat down next to Fillmore, who had gotten his windshield repaired by Doc easily.

Fillmore ruffled her hair playfully as she yawned, making her giggle.

"Fillmore!" Fillmore chuckled, but didn't take his tire off her head.

Here's the next chapter! I know it isn't Saturday, but I'm leaving for vacation in a few hours, and didn't want to leave you guys high and dry with nothing new to read, so here it is! :) See ya soon, Liz