Chapter 16: The Storm
One Week Later.
Jostling him up from his nap, Harley sprinted passed Sheriff in the clinic and straight to the phone that was riding nonstop.
"Harley!" He snapped and she giggled to herself.
"Sorry, Sheriff." she said then pressed and pedal in front of the phone to answer it. "Heeelloooo!" she shouted into the device. It was met with a laughed out the other end.
"Hey, Har!" Doc said, his voice happy. "Where's Sheriff?" Harley's smile turned frustrated. It seemed he didn't want to talk to her.
"Why?" she asked in a pouty tone.
"I'll talk to you in a minute. I just need to speak to Sheriff real quick, okay?" Doc tried to compromise, and it worked. Harley sighed.
"Okay…" she drove off the pedal and went to get Sheriff. He was already making his slow journey over and she almost ran into him. "Oh! Doc wants to talk to you."
"I'm sure he does, thank you Harley." Sheriff said and went over to the phone with Harley right behind him. "Hello? Doc?"
"Hey, old friend." Doc said. He hadn't talked to anyone back home in three days. He wore a warm smile and held a cheerful tone.
"Hey Doc. How's it been going?" Sheriff asked and Doc sighed tiredly.
"Well… the weather has been put to bay just enough for me to get a call through," Sheriff nodded his hood in understanding. "It's crazy. If never known California to have this kind of weather."
"Yeah, neither have I. Are you in California or Texas?" they both laughed, but Harley stood there clueless, not getting the joke. "So the storm is passing?"
"Yes, the rain has calmed to a drizzle. I'll hopefully be leaving this evening. If the wind doesn't pick up any more that is." Sheriff's smile faded at his plans.
"Doc, please be careful. The roads gonna get rough. And driving at night in these conditions, are you sure?" Doc's expression changed as well,and it was translated into his voice.
"I know, but I've been gone a week. I was supposed to only be gone for three days, four at the most." Doc lowered his tone. "I need to get back now while the weather's calm. How are things back home?"
"Same old, same old." Sheriff said and paused. "But the weather has been strange here too. Lots of wind-"
"I got pushed down the road by it!" Harley chimed in by yelling from behind Sheriff.
"Yes, Harley slid down the road when it picked up real bad earlier today."
"What?" Doc asked concerned.
"Don't worry, she's fine. We got her inside and we've just been in the clinic all day." He glanced back at Harley. "She's doing okay."
"No I'm not! I'm bored!" Harley called back and Doc chuckled.
"It'll be sunny soon enough, just you wait." Doc said in a kind voice making Harley smile happily. "If I leave now," he said addressing Sheriff by his change of tone, "I'll be able to beat the storm and get home safely. I'll be fine, Sheriff. Just watch after Harley for another day. That's all I need." Sheriff sighed at Doc's stubbornness.
"Alright. Drive safe." He said and Doc subconsciously nodded his hood.
"I will. See you guys soon. Love you, Harley." He said and Harley came closer to the phone.
"Love you too! Come back soon!" she said and Doc chuckled. "Bye!"
"Bye Har, bye Sheriff." Sheriff chuckled with him.
"Goodbye." They both hung up and Doc was left in silence. He looked out the window of his motel room. The wind was howling and the rain was pouring. He had lied about the weather, but not about the timing. If he left now, he'd make it home in a day. But he had to leave through the storm. Doc took a deep breath before leaving his room and heading to the lobby.
"Oh, Mr. Hudson. Good afternoon." a young Toyota Tundra was at the front desk. She was yellow with black racing stripes running from her hood to her tailgate. She chuckled to herself. "Well, as good as it can get with this buzzard weather. Doc chuckled with her.
"I must agree, Miss Watkins." Doc said "But I'm afraid I must go through it." Miss Watkins smile quickly diminished.
"What?" she asked astonished.
"Yes. I need to get home. Harley is waiting for me." She said and smiled to himself.
"Wha… okay… Are you sure?" Miss Watkins asked, concern still covering her features as he looked him over.
"I'm positive." Doc said. "I'm can't keep her waiting." Miss Walkens shook her hood.
"Well… no offense, but you're pretty, well… old. I'm not sure you can make it through that!" She admitted and to her surprise, Doc laughed.
"You'd be surprised how much I can handle." Miss Walkens shrugged her tires.
"Okay… I can't stop you." She said with concern.
"Thank you, Miss Watkins. I'll just be checking out." he turned to leave. "Thank you for the stay." He said and Miss Walkens waved a tire at him.
"Safe travels, Mr. Hudson." she called out as he left.
As soon as he drove out, he was hit by a wall of wind. It was ice cold and made him shiver and squint his eyes. He inched forward to the road and began his journey. He drove slowly, his chassis shivering. The rain felt like needles hitting his paint and leaving it freezing.
"Come on, Doc," he told himself. "It's just a few hours.. then it's home. In the clinic… with Harley…" He smiled warmly and it warmed his engine. "Yeah… it's just a race against the storm… no big deal…" he kept going and the wind picked up. It was pushing against him, making his tires work to go forward and get any traction on the pavement he could. His headlights didn't help much either. The darkness was so much, he couldn't see past five feet in front of him. "Come on, old timer, you can do this…" he said aloud to himself. He drove in silence until he was right outside of town. "Harley's waiting…." Doc spoke to himself again, but another car heard him and quickly responded.
"Oh, I'm sure she is…" Doc stopped and looked ahead of him. Did he hear a voice? "Dear, little Harley …" The voice said again. It was cold and metallic. Then it hit him and Doc realized who owned the ominous voice. He narrowed his eyes as the wind continued to whip around him.
"What do you want, Jeremy?" Doc barked back into the black darkness. Jeremy's dark chuckled echoed around Doc. He looked around, unsure now where the voice was coming from exactly.
"Want? Nothing… I just have unfinished business to take care of…" Doc scowled at the voice.
"What business could you possibly have!" Doc shouted above the wind.
"You just waltz in here and make me sign my daughter away to you?" Doc tensed at the phrase "my daughter"
"She was never your daughter!" Doc yelled.
"Yes she was! And our family conflicts were our own! Now I've got half the population of Auburn of cars butting into our family issues!" Jeremy's tone tuned angry. "I can handle it all on my own without your involvement!" Before Doc could respond, he was met with a hard hit to the the side that sent him spinning off the road. He grunted in his efforts to stop on the slick pavement but nothing worked, and he hit the railing of the bridge. From the darkness emerged the red car; a sleek Dodge Charger with thick black stripes on his side skirts. He narrowed his eyes at Doc in a vindictive glare.
"What the hell do you want…" Doc scowled back a he moved away from the railing.
"I want my daughter back…" Jeremy growled. "She's mine… I want those papers to be burned, I want what rightfully belongs to me!" Jeremy's words had venom in them, and it made Doc seething mad.
"She's not a prize to be won! She's a car! With an engine and a mind and a spirit!" Doc shouted at him.
"Spirit? Spirit is damn right!" Jeremy came charging again, and Doc quickly moved to get out of the way, but he caught him and tail-ended him, again sending him spinning, but not flipping. "She's got a racer's spirit! She's born from racers! Her uncle, her grandfather, her mother even dabbled in it when she was in high school!" Jeremy laughed like a psychopath. Then his voice lowered into the darkness that equaled the storms. "Even her pathetic excuse of a father raced…" Doc gritted his teeth. "Don't you dare talked about Harley's father like that…" Doc hissed, but Jeremy only scoffed.
"Why? It's true! And if it wasn't for me, she'd be just as cowardly as he was! He would've been a legend! A legend you hear! But Harley…. Oh, she will be just as great as her whole family, if not greater! She will be the face of our legacy!"
"She will not! She chooses her own path! And I don't care what it is! She can be a painter, a doctor, a soldier or a sheriff, it doesn't matter. But I would never force her to be anything!" Doc's voice now lowered as he revved his engine in anger. "But she will not be a racer…" Jeremy laughed at him.
"Really!? That something else! The great Hudson Hornet telling a child- his child that he stole!- to not be a racecar… tsk!" Doc stopped short of himself, his harsh features dissolving.
"Wha...what?" He asked backing up.
"Oh I'm sorry, did I get your name wrong?" Jeremy said as he advanced forward towards the dark blue car. "I meant the Fabulous Hudson Hornet…" Doc tensed up at how harsh he said his old name. His racing name.
"How do you know that name…" Doc asked, fear mixing with anger gleaming in his eyes.
"Don't acted dumb, your honor… I know a racing legend when I see one… you're not fooling me!" Jeremy took his chance and went around to nail him in the other side, knocking him much harder into the railing. His paint was snatched up and his sides were badly dented.
"I'm leaving, and you're never seeing Harley again!" Doc said and began to speed off. But Jeremy was younger. He was also faster. Doc managed to get passed the bridge, but Jeremy soon caught up and hit his back bumper. Doc swerved, but gained control. He tried his best not to slide off the road, but Jeremy drove up beside him and hit it side, trying to push his off the road or make him spin out.
"I'm getting that girl one way or another!"
"Over my dead body!" Doc said and pushed back.
"I can arrange that!" Jeremy said and pushed harder. Doc was getting closed to the edge of the road where pavement turned to mud. His right tires were kicking up mud everywhere and he was losing control. Jeremy moved away from him then gave a forceful hit, sending Doc complete into the mud. He then hit him head on sending him off into a pile of rocks. He hit them hard and he felt as if he couldn't move anymore. His eyes he were closed ashe winced in pain. He was breathing heavily and his tires shook as his chassis slumped low on them. Jeremy slowly drove up to him with a half smile. Doc looked at him through squinted eyes. He was outraged and wanted to keep fighting back, but he knew his old body couldn't take it.
"I'm going to let you go…" Jeremy said slowly."But I'm leaving you with a promise… I'm getting Harley. She'll be a legendary racer, and she's going to owe me big time from saving her from the likes of you and her father…" he began to drive passed him and stopped when he was side by side with Doc. "Goodbye, Mr. Hudson… for now…." Doc watched him disappear into the darkness with his mirror. He caught his breath as the rain washed off the mud. Lifting himself up and off of his tires a little bit, he slowly made his way back to the road. He could hear himself squeaking and struggling, but he kept driving against the wind and rain. He could see road clearly whenever the lightning flashed and heard the aftermath thunder booming through the air. He huffed as he made his way on and continued like this all the way back home.
Doc soon took a break in the next town. The storm has settled, but it was still raining. Doc was cold and parked under what seemed to be an abandoned parking garage, but he was mistaken. He sat there for a second then heard a chilled voice.
"Hey, looks like someone had the same idea as me." Doc looked from side mirror to side mirror to see if the stranger was behind him. Instead, he emerged from the side of him. Doc turned to face the bright blue car. His body tensed. "Whoa, old timer, you can calm down. He said and looked Doc over. "What happened to you?"
"That's none of your business, who are you!" Doc firmly asked.
"Hey, chill out! I'm Storm, Charles Storm." He said, somewhat bowing his hood.
"Storm? Really?" Doc asked, his stance not changing.
"Yeah, really." said the much younger sports car. "What are you doing out here?" Charles asked, decided to forget about his last question.
"I'm just passing through… I'm trying to get back home." Doc told him and Charles nodded.
"Ah home, a place I've never known." he almost sang and chuckled. Doc eyed him but relaxed slightly.
"So, Mr. Storm-"
"Please just say Charles. Charles is fine. Hell, Charley even!" Charles said and laughed a little. His laugh was calm, almost welcoming. Nothing like the red Dodge Charger from Auburn. Doc seemed to be okay with this new car.
"Okay, Charles then. What brings you here?" Doc asked.
"Oh, I've been going from town to town watching races, racing in a few of them. I'm trying to do some racing research." He smiled warmly to himself as he looked off. "I hope it one day have a son who want to follow in his dad's tried marks." he then looked back to Doc. "Do you have any kids?" he asked almost curiously. Doc hesitated but answered anyways.
"...Uh… yeah, yeah I have one." he said and Charles nodded. "I, uh, have a daughter back home." Charles smile was soon gone.
"Oh that's unfortunate." Doc then frowned.
"What's unfortunate?" He asked defensively.
"You have a daughter instead of a son! You can train a son to be a racing legend! But a girl? You need to get pretty damn luckily on that one." Charles said with a chuckled. "Women never last on the racing world." Doc shook his hood at him.
"What about Louis le Nash?" Doc asked, remembering the old car he once knew.
"Who?" Charles asked, suddenly confused.
"Louise Nash. 'The First Lady of Racing' is what some remember her as." Charles slightly shook his hood.
"I have no idea who that is." Doc sighed and also shook his hood.
"She is a legend. Raced in the 50's. Won a few Piston Cups." he said and smiled kindly. "She was great."
"Sounds like you knew her well." Charles said suspiciously, causing Doc to quickly forget about her.
"No. I just wish I did. I, um, used to watch a few races. But I have no intention of teach my daughter to live that lifestyle." Charles scoffed and shook his hood.
"Your loss." he said and began to drive off. "By the way, Radiator Springs is about an two and asked half hours away. Maybe three." Doc nodded then realized he never said that's where he was headed.
"Wait, Radiator Springs?" He asked and slightly followed him.
"Yeah. Be careful there. The copper there is harsh, and so is his little sidekick." Charles said and Doc stopped and relaxed as he laughed to himself.
"Oh, yeah, I've heard." he said the called out to Charles. "Hey, what time is it?"
"5:30!" Charles said and disappeared. Doc was left alone and shook his hood. He looked off the way he came.
"I need to get home." He said and slowly began to drive back outside to the unyielding wind and rain.
Once he got back to Radiator Springs, the storm had gone and the town was barely waking up. He glanced at the big welcome sign as he passed it and saw that Sheriff was nowhere to be seen. He smiled to himself because he knew where he was. Doc slowly drove through the sleepy town and straight to his garage. Taking a deep breath, he looked around. Everything was how it was when he left. He sat there for a while and simply rested. With his eyes closed, Doc ran through made up scenarios to explain all the damage to himself. And then backed out of his garage and began to make his way over to Ramone's, but Sheriff drove out of the clinic and caught him before he even made it passed the clinic.
"Doc!" he said at first with joy, but it soon vanished. "Oh my God, Doc… are you okay, what happened?" Sheriff asked as he quickly went over to him. Harley then came speeding out with a loud and cheerful voice.
"Doc's back!" She yelled as she drove to the front door, but as soon as she caught a glimpse of him, she stopped. "D-doc?" She timidly said as she saw all the damage. "Wh-what happened?" She drove up behind Sheriff and Doc looked from one to the other.
"I, uh, I got caught in the storm." He said which wasn't a complete lie he reasoned to himself.
"Doc, I told you that you should've waited…" Sheriff said and shook his hood. "Thank Ford you're even still alive!" Harley's eyes began to water.
"D-Doc could've… could've d-died?" she asked and inched forward.
"No, no Harley, I was completely safe. I couldn't have died it was…" Doc remembered the night before and shook his hood slightly. "It was just a bad storm… but I'm okay, just a little banged up." Harley nodded and gently nuzzled him.
"I missed you." Doc smiled and closed his eyes as he nuzzled back.
"I missed you too." Doc said then moved away. "I'm going to get Ramone to fix me up and see if Guido and Luigi have anymore tire rims and whitewalls " Doc said and began driving off. Harley quickly drove up beside him.
"But… but you're okay?" Harley asked and Doc nodded.
"Yes, I'm fine. I just slipped into a railing is all." Doc said, only half way lying.
"Ouchy…." Harley said and continued to follow him. "I say we go to Ramone's first!" she said with a happy smile.
"You know, that sounds like a good idea." Doc said with a smile. "And maybe he'll let you fix my paint job?" he asked and Harley shrugged her tires.
"Eh… I don't know. Maybe!" she said and Doc chuckled.
"Yeah… maybe."
A/N: Hey guys! Don't forget to go to my profile and vote on that poll concerning this here story! Thanks everyone for reading!
