Attention everyone! I have an important announcement at the end of the chapter. Please read!

Chapter 7. - Lightning's Injury -

6 AM: Lightning groaned painfully as he slowly woke up. His axle was very swollen and warm to the touch. Lightning wanted to scream in pain every time he moved it. Luckily, his refrigerator was within reach. He reached in and pulled out an ice pack. Twenty minutes later: Lightning sighed in relief as the ice numbed the pain. He lowered the ramp and slowly drove out. The three haulers were making their way back from the diner.

"Feel better?" Mack asked "You seem to be driving a little easier."

"That's because I just spent twenty minutes sitting on ice." Lightning said "My axle was so sore when I woke up, I couldn't move without pain shooting through it."

"Head back to the trailer." Abby said "I'll bring you something to eat."

Without another word, she headed back to the diner. Ten minutes later: Abby brought Lightning a huge mound of food.

"I know you can't eat all of this; Jeff is used to cooking for semis." Abby said as she sat the tray down "Just eat what you can."

To everyone's surprise, Lightning ate most of the food. "My word… you were hungry." Abby said as she picked up the tray "You just stay there and rest, I'll take the tray back."

"Sure Abby, that's a pretty lame excuse to flirt with Jeff." Mack said playfully "Just don't take too long, we'll be leaving soon."

"I can't help it, he's almost as handsome as you." Abby said, then kissed Mack on the fender "You will always be my number one."

Lightning watched Abby drive away. "I can't believe you're okay with your girlfriend flirting with other guys." Lightning said "If Sally did that, I would be upset."

"No offense, but you're a car." Mack said "In trucker society, flirting is an acceptable behavior."

"Oh okay." Lightning said "When Sally and I flirt with each other, we usually end up having sex."

"Flirting can lead to that." Mack said "Most of the time, it's a compliment. I trust her, Abby won't cheat on me. She just likes to flirt."

An hour later: "Are you guys ready to hit the road?" Lightning asked "I don't want Doc mad at us for showing up late. He's been very moody lately."

"As soon as Abby finishes her drink and the pit crew gets back from the convenience store, we can head out." Mack said "I've already looked at the weather reports, it looks like it's gonna be a great day for driving, nothing but sunshine."

"That's wonderful." Lightning said "Abby, you spend a lot of time with Doc. Has he said anything about what has gotten him upset?"

"No, he sleeps or watches TV." Abby said "When we do talk, it's about the weather. He hasn't said anything that would make me think he's upset about something. Normally when Doc's upset or mad about something, he complains about it for days. I know all the curse words in the English language because of him."

Mack and Lightning laughed. Lightning knew Abby was Russian by birth, so English is her second language. Her parents immigrated to America when she was just a young child. The entire racing team have witnessed Doc's legendary swearing and his love for the f-word. Ten minutes later: The pit crew came back with arms full of junk food and candy. They climbed aboard their trailer, chatting excitedly.

"Oh great! If they eat all that, the pittys are going to be jacked up." Lightning said to Daniel "If they get too rowdy, just let me know."

"Everybody is present and accounted for." Mack said "We're ready to hit the road."

Lightning nodded and headed to his trailer. Throughout the day: The haulers had to stop every few hours, so Lightning could get out and drive around. In the afternoon: Lightning was in so much pain, Mack tried talking him into going to a hospital and be checked out. As expected, Lightning refused. At bedtime: Lightning was still in a lot of pain. The haulers and the pit crew tried to make Lightning as comfortable as possible, with little to no luck. Since ice wasn't dulling the pain, one of the crew members offered Lightning his heating pad.

"I know it sounds weird, but for me, heat works better than ice." The pitty said "Do you want to try it?"

Lightning nodded. Minutes later: With team work, the pittys had Lightning propped up on a pile of pillows and the heating pad wrapped around his injured axle. Soon: Lightning finally got some relief and he started to nod off.

"All right guys." Mack said as he quietly shut the trailer's door "Hit the sack. I want to be on the road very early tomorrow, we're only about three… three and a half hours from the track." Without another word, the pit crew headed for their trailer and the haulers settled down.

8 A.M.: The racing team arrived in Philadelphia. After everyone got parked, Lightning drove over to Doc, who was waiting for them. "Hey, Doc!" Lightning said holding his tire off the ground "We're here!"

"Hey, Kiddo." Doc said furrowing his brow "Why are you drivin' so funny?"

"I sliced my bad axle open." Lightning said "I have four staples in it. It's extremely sore and tender. The drive here was torture."

"I'm sorry Kid, I should've been there." Doc said, almost angrily "It's just… I…"

"Don't worry about it." Lightning said slowly "Doc… I know you're dealing with some personal stuff… I shouldn't have snapped at you… I was being selfish. I said things out of anger that I shouldn't have said. This is all my fault, for that I'm truly sorry. If you need some more time off, you can have it. I'm sure I can find somebody to be my crew chief."

"I'm sorry too, I let my personal problems get in the way… I…" Doc said tearing up "I… I… can't… not right now, I…"

"It's okay. There's no rush, I just want you to know I'm here whenever you want to talk about it."

"Thanks Rookie, that means a lot." Doc said tearfully as Lightning winced painfully "How did you cut your axle?"

"I ran over a piece of debris from that big wreck." Lightning said "When I took my brace off after the race, Sally noticed that I was bleeding. So, we went to the track doctor. He said that there was a gash that needed four staples."

Lightning winced as one of the staples pulled on his axle, causing pain to race along his axle. "You're in no condition to train." Doc said "You have always done well at this track so I'm going to recommend that you don't do any training until Friday or Saturday."

"I'm sorry, Doc." Lightning said earnestly "I didn't see that piece of debris. The track doctor said it would have sliced my axle in half if I hadn't been wearing my brace."

"I know that you didn't mean to." Doc said "But, I would like to look at it."

"Right now?" Lightning asked "I haven't even checked in yet."

"I've already done that when I saw the haulers arrive." Doc replied "Let's go to the medical building." Doc headed to a red and white building.

"There's something else I want to talk to you about." Lightning said as he followed Doc "You told me to break the one hundred lap sprint record… So I did. Why didn't you tell me it was your record?"

"Because you wouldn't have done it if you knew." Doc growled "I knew someone would break it eventually… so why not you."

"Because it was your last record before…" Lightning said before he paused "Your wreck."

Doc paused for a moment, before he continued driving. "It's ancient history." Doc said "Now come on, I don't have all day."

Lightning and Doc were almost at the medical clinic when a series of high-pitched screams were heard. Out of nowhere, Lightning was surrounded by five female fans, two of them being Mia and Tia. Lightning groaned painfully every time he was bumped or jostled.

"I'm sorry Mr. McQueen." One of the security guards said "I have no idea how they got through the fence."

It took several minutes for the security guards to shoo the cars away from Lightning. Lightning closed his eyes and took a couple of deep breaths as he waited for the pain to go away.

"Are you okay?" Doc asked "You should enroll in a karate or Muay Thai class. You never know when you're gonna need it."

"I'll think about it." Lightning said "It's something I can do during the off-season. I have good news, I stuck to your training schedule last week and I didn't get distracted."

"I'm not surprised." Doc said "You don't need to be pushed; you just need some prodding along the way. My main problem is keeping you focused, you tend to get distracted... the shinier the object is, the more you're distracted by it."

"You can say that again." Lightning said "Sally's very shiny. I've never seen her dirty."

"She's a female, you know most of them don't like getting dirty." Doc said "Sophie sometimes takes three showers a day. It's a good thing that she has a large water heater that can satisfy her demands."

"Oh really." Lightning said playfully "I thought satisfying her demands was your job. What's a matter old man? Can't get it hard?"

"That's none of your fucking business." Doc growled as he grabbed his codpiece "And for your information, Sophia is a very satisfied woman in the bedroom."

Once Lightning and Doc arrived in the medical building, Lightning got on the examining table. Doc drove under the table and flipped the light on and gently removed the bandages.

"Geeze, Rookie!" Doc exclaimed "When you hurt yourself, you hurt yourself."

"Is it bad?" Lightning asked, wincing as Doc examined him "Can I still race on Sunday?"

"I don't know, we'll have to see how this week goes. You must have driven over a piece of metal; it's the only thing that would cause this amount of damage. The wound is deep, but it's clean cut so it should heal well." Doc said "There's a lot of swelling, you need two more staples than what you got and it's also infected. Did the track doctor even bother to clean the wound before he stapled it shut?"

"I don't know, he seemed to be upset with me coming in after the race." Lightning said "He didn't discuss with me what he was going to do, he just did it."

"Did you get some antibiotics?" Doc asked "He should have given you some."

"No, the doctor said nothing about antibiotics." Lightning said "Are you going to put more staples in?"

"I'm gonna have to." Doc said "It's a very long gash without anything holding it together. I'm also ordering you antibiotics. I'm going to get some local anesthesia, I need to remove those staples and thoroughly clean out the wound. Just sit tight, I'll be back soon."

"That's just great." Lightning said to himself "This is the last thing I need right now."

Twenty minutes later: Doc came back with a tray of tools and a nurse. "This is Harper, she's going to assist me in cleaning out your wound." Doc said "She's going to inject some local anesthesia into your axle so you won't feel anything."

"That's a painkiller!" Lightning said "I can't have painkillers!" "Lightning relax! It's not a painkiller, it has a different chemical compound." Doc said "Besides, this one is made for racecars."

Harper drove under the table, She flipped on a powerful light and shined it on his wound. "Ouch, that looks like it hurts." Harper said when she saw the condition of the wound "Are you ready for this?"

"Just get it over with." Lightning said "I'm tired of being in pain."

Lightning winced as he felt the needle in his axle. There was intense burning for a few seconds and then his axle went numb, then gradually he couldn't feel anything.

Ten minutes later: "Okay, Rookie." Doc said as he pinched Lightning's axle to see if he could get a reaction. "We're ready to start. We are going to document your injury so we will be taking pictures as we work."

Doc picked up a device and started removing the staples. "The track doctor did a poor job in cleaning this injury." Harper said "The infection gets worse as we get deeper." Every now and again Doc would stop and take a couple of pictures.

"This is worse than I expected." Doc said "Look what I found."

It was a small shard of metal. Harper got a specimen container and Doc put the metal shard in it. Doc found a few more shards.

"Kid, once we're done, you need to file a complaint against the doctor that treated you." Doc said angrily "I just found a sixth piece of metal in your axle. One or two I would expect, but six, this is just unacceptable." Harper pulled a huge shard of metal out.

Lightning groaned as pain shot through his axle. "I know, I know… the anesthesia is starting to wear off." Doc said "Just hang in there. We need to get the staples in and then we'll be done."

Doc drove over to a drawer and pulled out a large medical stapler. He drove back under the examining table. Doc pulled the trigger on the staple gun. Lightning jumped as he felt the staple shoot into his axle.

"Ugh!" Lightning groaned "I hate getting staples."

"You and me both, Kiddo." Doc said as he added another staple "Just hang in there; I'll be done in a few minutes. You would need a lot more than six staples if you hadn't been wearing your brace."

Lightning's stomach lurched as intense pain shot through his axle as Doc added another staple. Lightning swallowed a few times. "That looks much better." Doc said driving from underneath him "Are you all right?" He noticed that Lightning had his eyes tightly closed.

"I will be as soon as the stars go away." Lightning said "Could you get me a bucket or something, I think I'm going to vomit."

"Sure Kid." Doc said, grabbing the closest trash can and scooted it right under Lightning's chin. "Harper, thank you for your help."

"Anytime Doc." Harper said "If you need me again, I'll be around. *She turned and faced Lightning." Do you want me to come back and check on you?"

"No but thank you for asking." Lightning said "Doc can keep an eye on me."

"Oh, I'm sure he will." Harper said as she bandaged his wound "I'll see you around."

After Harper drove away: "I'm going to get you some ice. It'll help with the pain. We need to get a hold of the racing superintendent."

"Why?" Lightning asked "Am I in trouble?"

"No. You need antibiotics to get the infection under control. Most antibiotics will show up on a drug screen. So, to prevent any problems, we need to file paperwork with the superintendent. On top of that, I'm serious… you need to file a complaint." Doc said "The track at Houston has three doctors, which one of them did you see?"

"Uh…one…of…them." Lightning said slowly "I don't remember; I was bleeding at the time."

"Never mind, I need to call and get your record any way." Doc said "Just wait here, I'll be back in a little while." Still feeling the effects of the anesthesia, Lightning nodded off.

An hour later: Racing Superintendent Fabio came by the table, startling Lightning awake and making him wince painfully.

"Sorry." Fabio said "I didn't mean to startle you."

"It's okay." Lightning said "I didn't sleep that well last night and I'm tired."

Doc had called Houston International Raceway and had Lightning's medical report faxed to him. Lightning recounted what had happened at Sunday's race. Fabio looked over the medical report and then he looked at Lightning's axle. Doc even showed him the metal fragments that he pulled out of Lightning's wound.

"I know your reputation Doc, but just to make sure that there is no conflict of interest, I'll need one of the track doctors to look at Lightning's injury. If they agree with your findings, I will approve the use of the antibiotics." Fabio said "Did anyone witness you pulling the metal fragments out of Lightning's axle?"

"Nurse Harper assisted me." Doc said "She also pulled out a few shards. In fact, she pulled out the largest piece."

"I will make a report to Dr. Bull Riddell. As you know he's the head of medical services for the league. So, all medical services are under his command. I'm assuming that he'll want to talk to you." Fabio said "It looks to me that you have a valid complaint."

It was only about ten minutes until a track doctor appeared at Lightning's table. "Hello Lightning, Doc." Anna, the track doctor said "I'm Dr. Anna Underwood; I got the superintendent's request. He wants me to examine your axle. Do you want to do it now, or later?"

"Now, please." Lightning said "The sooner the better." Anna started her examination by reading Doc's report, then she read the report from Houston. After that, she asked Lightning what happened. When she was done with the interview, she drove under Lightning and examined his axle.

"Wow, that's a nasty gash." Anna said, Lightning could feel her poking around. "I can see why Doc is requesting permission for antibiotics."

"Good." Lightning said "Are you going to approve Doc's request?"

"Absolutely, you definitely need antibiotics." she said "Just wait here; I will give the superintendent my report."

AN: As some of you know. I work retail. My boss has put ne in charge of the toy department(yikes!). Working long and demanding hours has left me with little free time. As much as it pains me to do this, I need step away from this story for a while. It won't be long, I'm figuring I'll be back around the middle of January. I'm not abandoning the story, I just don't have the time and attention it deserves.

So with that said, I wish all of you a very Merry Christmas and have a happy New year... I'll see you guys on the other side!

COMMENTS:

Guest 2- Shows how effective a naughty night can be on racing. I did that before and I paid the price. Haha!- I think we have all done it al least once.

That's funny with the pranks all the racers pull. I guess it's all part of humour and banter. Bit like in the army. Nasty collision during the race and bad result for Bobby being docked points.- All I'm going to say is, they're rookies. Not to mention, they're prone to doing stupid stuff.

Doc's not a happy man. Doesn't like having it put to him even though he knows he just disappeared out of nowhere. Can't blame him for scolding about the result of the race.- Lightning doesn't scold him, but they do come to a understanding.

Some nasty beating from debris Lightning took out there but good he had good doctors on hand or should I say on wheel.- You're funny! LOL

Mack and Abby show what life's like being a trucker- Yep, there is more in this chapter.

I do not own Cars or any of its characters. PIXAR AND DISNEY CLAIM THAT RIGHT. READING ENJOYMENT ONLY

Please read and review! I need criticism and encouragements! Rated M for language and sex.