AN: Meanwhile back at the ranch
"How long do you think it'll be before someone from town sees that tweet..."
Lightning looked across at Jr, who was still lying prone with his hat pulled low over his eyes.
"Can't be that long..." It had already been retweeted a few hundred times before his phone had died. Someone had commented they would call Radiator Springs PD.
"How long have we been out here?" Cal asked.
"Over an hour..."
"Feels longer..."
Lightning sat beside Dusty, going through his backpack for at least the 30th time, just in case he had overlooked an extra water bottle he already knew he hadn't packed. He looked up at the cloudless sky over them, squinting into the sunlight briefly before looking back down. The hottest part of the day, and they were stuck on a stone slab. He could feel the heat radiating off the rock they rested against and sighed lowly, stretching his neck to relieve nervous tension. He dug through the old backpack again and noticed the shine of cellophane. He wasn't sure how long that pack of crackers had been buried, but at the moment he wasn't that concerned. He opened the pack and silently offered one to the pilot beside him.
Dusty glanced at him and shook his head, thanking him anyway.
There was no more joking around or light conversation, the seriousness of their situation had settled in and the group all remained uncomfortably silent.
"Did you hear that...?"
"Nothing good ever comes from you saying that." Bobby warned.
"No, listen." Lighting shifted slightly, turning an ear toward the path they'd been walking that morning.
"It's an engine." Dusty commented.
The sound of sirens echoed faintly in the distance, sounding miles away.
"At least they're on their way." Cal muttered, staring up toward the edge of the cliff.
Bobby frowned. "Yeah, but what if they don't know where to look? Or can't even get back here?"
Lightning zippered up his pack roughly, nearly taking the comment as an insult as tempers began to flair.
"I think you're underestimating their abilities."
"No offense, McQueen, but we're in the middle of nowhere."
"They'll find us."
"And get back here how? That road's barely drivable-"
"You'd be surprised." He snapped.
An even more uncomfortable silence descended, the sirens still echoing through the canyons. Lightning could only imagine what everyone was thinking. He hoped Sally wasn't panicking, if he was lucky she was still too busy at The Wheel Well to even know.
That was wishful thinking.
Doc was going to kill him, he already knew that.
"They'll use ATV's..."
Everyone turned to look at Dusty.
"Or ORV's...Offroad Rescue Vehicles. Same thing really but better equipped."
The Hudson Hornet fishtailed as it found purchase in the soft ground beneath it. Doc had never cared much for driving on sand, he merely tolerated it. It was less predictable than dirt. Obstacles on dirt could at least be seen and avoided. Sand was deeper and hid any number of things that could trip a driver up.
Sand wasn't nearly as forgiving.
"How the hell are they going to get anyone back here..." He asked aloud as he shifted gears.
Ramone didn't answer, watching the road for any evidence of the boys' presence. He'd gone back through all the tweets and messages of that morning, hoping that something would have given another clue as to their whereabouts, an image of the road, anything, but it was only pictures of the town and some banter with fans.
They flew past the 1st and 2nd mile markers, and Doc only began to slow when the left side of the road began to open, the trees thinning out and the image of the cliffs beginning to peak through.
"There-" Ramone pointed ahead of them at a disturbed section of the bank. "That might be it."
They skid to a stop and Doc once again slammed the door shut, vehicle still running. Making it to the edge, he fought back a wave of panic before looking over the cliff side, afraid of what he might find.
He was relieved to see five emotionally, and physically, exhausted faces staring back up at him.
"You boys sure know how to get everyone's attention."
There were some murmured comments he couldn't make out but he did hear Lightning's, "Hey, Doc..."
Heat exhaustion and dehydration he could tell just by looking at them.
"We're gunna get you all out of there." He started a mental checklist of what would need to be brought in and asked a few questions before turning to Ramone. "Will you stay here with-"
He didn't get to finish when Ramone waved him off. "Go, man. I'm not going anywhere."
Doc nodded, getting back into the vehicle. He got himself turned around on the narrow trail and was soon heading back for the main road.
Bobby looked toward Lightning as the familiar sounds of the Hornet faded. "Call me surprised..."
Nearly halfway back, he came up alongside Mater's truck, Doc waited until he rolled the window down.
"It's no good. Your truck won't make it."
"You find 'em?" He asked hopefully.
Doc nodded sharply. "Come on back and we'll go back out on the quads."
The junction of the logging road and the main road to The Wheel Well was chaos. Traffic control had been put into effect and the entrance of the logging road closed off, curious onlookers were being ushered along on their route to or from the hotel. Doc pulled the Hornet up on the inside of the tape, seeing Sally's porsche, and shut the engine off before seeking out the Sheriff.
Sally caught sight of him over the Sheriff's shoulder and ignored any formalities. "Did you find them? Is-"
"He's fine, Sally." He guided her to the E-Z pop up awning that had been set up as an impromptu headquarters for search and rescue. He then made mention to one of the responders present to keep an eye on her.
Handing her a bottle of water, he added. "Won't help him at all if we have to treat you too. Take it easy."
She took a deep breath and nodded. "Yeah...ok."
Turning back toward Sheriff, he pointed down the trail. Sally listened in and was startled by the shift in the tones and speech they used, she'd never seen this side of either of them before.
"They're about 2.5 miles back, Ramone stayed on the road."
"Med-evac?"
"Won't be necessary, but I want a full EMS kit sent back with me. Prevalent heat exhaustion but I was unable to do true evaluation."
"The kit on engine #99 was just replaced."
Doc nodded, already heading for Red's favorite engine. Upon retrieving the large duffle, he answered Sheriff's last question.
"Transportation?"
He'd paused briefly and looked over the vehicles present before continuing on.
"Stick with the ATV's."
They were granted two search and rescue quads. As he secured the response kit, he watched as Mater was given a case of waters to strap down. Sheriff held the tape up as the two of them, along with a handful of other responders, headed back out to the location.
It seemed to take longer the second time, every bend they came around he expected to see Ramone standing on the side of the road. Finally spotting him, the group came to a stop and got themselves organized.
"Not yet, Mater." He cautioned when he saw the tow truck driver opening the case of water. He spoke while getting his own supplies in order. "We're going to set up over here in the trees. The most important thing is to get them out of the sun first."
Doc continued to give him instructions, asking him to make sure there was a bag of ice ready for each of the boys as they were brought up from the ledge. Explaining that they needed to concentrate on getting their body temps down.
Ramone moved out of the way as the responders looked over the edge, a young EMT in sunglasses spoke.
"Any serious injuries?"
He was met with a chorus of 'no'.
The other responder questioned him quietly. "There's not much room down there. It'll be tight getting them secured in a harness..."
"I can do it." Dusty spoke up, at the skeptical looks he received he continued. "I know what I'm doing."
"Look, kid-"
"I'm certified."
The EMT stuttered briefly before consenting and the two disappeared over the edge. Moments later, a harness and safety paracord were lowered down.
Cal was the only one to comment. "This group's just full of surprises huh..."
Slowly but surely, the group was brought back up to the logging road. All of them sitting or lying in the shade of the trees on the other side. Lightning sat, dazed, as he watched Mater bringing more ice from the coolers. He felt someone taking the Gatorade from his hand and started to protest, only to look up in exhaustion to see the sharp blue eyes of Doc considering him with concern.
He replaced the sports drink in his hand with an open water before putting the blood pressure cuff around Lightning's arm. Lightning was silent, watching as his heart rate was taken before Doc adjusted the stethoscope for a blood pressure reading.
Undoing the velcro of the cuff, he pushed Lightning's shoulder gently. "Lie down."
"What?"
"Lie down." He looked over his shoulder. "Mater, I need more ice over here."
"What's wrong?"
Doc could hear the edge of panic in his voice and explained as he placed a rolled towel behind Lightning's head. "Relax, Hot Rod. Your bp is high and I'm just not particularly fond of how your heart sounds right now."
"Will I be ok?"
Doc grinned faintly from where he knelt with an arm over his knee, answering as he took the bag of ice from Mater. "You'll be fine, you just need to cool down."
After making sure he was comfortable, Doc went to stand but paused, seeming to have noticed something. "Did you hit your head?"
Lightning's brow furrowed and he answered even as Doc was checking his eyes. "No? Pretty sure I-" He reached up and pulled his hand away again to inspect it, finding blood. "Um...yes?"
He was silent as Doc inspected the wound hidden in his hairline, wincing when he brushed his thumb over it.
"It's been clotted a while..." He leaned back and sighed. "Alright. Where are you?"
"What?"
"Where are we."
"In the middle of the woods."
"The date?"
"Umm...where's my phone?"
"It would just be easier to diagnose you with a concussion."
"It's July. Right?"
"Lightning this isn't funny."
He fell abruptly silent at that, he was rarely referred to as Lightning, and definitely never in that tone of voice. He studied his mentor a moment and realized he seemed just as exhausted as the rest of them. Under the veneer of professionalism he was extremely fatigued.
"Right..."
He answered the last few questions to the best of his ability. Doc nodded once and stood, brushing the dirt from his jeans before moving to check on the others.
Lightning closed his eyes and listened to the conversation between Doc and the first responders, he had no idea what half of the terms they were using meant and tried to figure out what they could be referring to. He wondered idly if Sally felt that way when they were talking about racing.
"-aside from dehydration, there's no treatment needed."
"What about number 5?" What were they talking in code now? Oh right, Hippocratic oath and all that.
"Nausea, headache and ringing of the ears-"
"Any hypocapnia?
"No. Administered ondansetron for nausea. He said as soon as he got on even ground he'd be alright." Dusty.
Lightning couldn't see Cal, Bobby or Jr from where he was lying, but shifting to his right he could see where the pilot was lying with his eyes closed.
"Hey."
Dusty blinked a few times, having nearly fallen asleep. He looked toward Lightning questioningly.
Lightning grinned tiredly. "Welcome to Radiator Springs."
AN2: This apparently is going to be longer than two parts...not sure how many!
