I can't believe this story is already 1 year old! Thank you all for the love and support you've given this story.
IAMALIVE! I kinda lost hope in this story for a little bit over these past couple of months because I can't swim or play cello anymore….or at least for a really long time. I want to apologize greatly for making you all wait this long! I was originally going to include a scene in here that required me to re-do Chapter 2 but eh, oh well. Just learn from your mistakes. Now, since there were so many reviews on the Crash chapter, I'm going to answer according to the majority and not to a specific person this time.
Also I would greatly appreciate it if you check out my other story "Make It or Break It" that I posted in November.
And for those of you who don't know, I will now be posting updates on Tumblr under the name Kaderp so if you want, you can check it out. :)
(Those who asked about McQueen having remaining injuries after crash) I agree with you guys, and if you look at his stats in Cars 3 when on the treadmill, you can see he has trouble breathing and staying balanced so that most definitely will be in the story
(All your suggestions about what happens to Sally, Jackson, McQueen etc.) You'll just have to see ;)
(Those of you who suggest what happens while Lightning's in the hospital) I actually agree with most of you and you guys read my mind! I was gonna put most of those suggestions in anyway!
Also thank you for sharing the songs that you listened too! I really enjoyed listening to them!
I'm sorry if I didn't answer what your specific review was, there was just too many to do them individually! I got like over 50 new reviews which is amazing! So thank you guys! I can't believe I have over 200 reviews on this story!
Now let's get onward with the chapter that took too long to come!
Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep!
The loud, headache educing beep woke Jackson from his light slumber. Darkness surrounded the racer as he slammed his right tire on the beeping alarm clock. Ray had set it up trying to get Jackson into a normal 'healthy' sleep schedule. Jackson looked at the alarm clock as it read '4:00AM'.
"Damn it Gus! This is like the exact opposite of 'healthy'." Jackson fumed from under his covers, still not fully awake. He tried to close his eyes and collect his thoughts, the events from the night before were still fuzzy and couldn't be seen clearly. Ugh...that was the best and the worst dream I've ever had. First crashing McQueen kind of on accident and then winning the Piston Cup….Jackson smacked his lips together and yawned before removing the blankets. Even in the dark he could still see a golden luminescence in the corner of his room at the IGNTR center. Jackson looked over and froze at the sight before him. It hadn't been all a dream. McQueen crashing hadn't been a dream. Winning the Piston Cup hadn't been a dream. Jackson stared at that Piston Cup for a good long ten seconds before shaking his hood. He took a deep breath before slowly exhaling in slight shock. It wasn't anything big that he usually worried about, but he didn't want to be held responsible for someone's death. He stormed his way over to Ray's room and began pounding the door.
"Gus! Gus! Hey Gus! GUS!" A smiling pickup truck opened the door and appeared to be wide awake. Jackson arched an eyelid rather baffled at why Ray was smiling.
"It's about time you woke up early! Now we can go over your racing technique for once now that you're up early!" Ray beamed with delight as he looked on at a very confused Jackson Storm.
"What?! No! Gus, I didn't come here for that. I need to know something else." Jackson almost glared at Ray. Ray knew that look, it was the look of trouble. He had seen it in many other young cars before and he wasn't about to put up with it.
"Like what? If you aren't here to talk about racing, then why are you banging at my door this early?"
"Look," Jackson started with a straight face, "I just want to know if I'm going to be held responsible if McQueen dies. I don't need his death on my record. So I'm asking you to tell me what you know about him as of right now. Cause if he dies, and word gets out that I coaxed him into killing himself, then I'm screwed." Jackson's eyes drooped as if he were about to fall asleep at any second and Ray took note of it.
"Jackson, even if McQueen were to die, you wouldn't be held responsible, don't worry about that." Ray saw Jackson relax his muscles ever so slightly. If this were any other car, Ray would be chewing them out right about now for not caring about another car's life but this was Jackson we were talking about. This is probably the most emotion Ray had ever seen leave from Jackson's body. "As for his current state right now? I'm not one hundred percent sure but what I've heard that he's blind, in a coma, and has his engine crushed. That's about the extent of my knowledge kid." Ray kept his voice as neutral as possible.
"Ok, that's all I wanted to know. Now if you don't mind me, I am heading back to bed. I can't stand that dumb bed time wake up time thing you're trying to put me on Gus." Jackson rolled his eyes as he turned away. That boy is never going to learn is he. Ray shook his cab and headed back into his room. Jackson reentered his room and for whatever reason, not feeling as tired anymore. He debated whether or not to see if Chase was awake but came to the conclusion that he didn't feel like talking and figured Chase wouldn't exactly want to talk to him right now. Jackson not so gracefully climbed back under his covers and sat there. Great. Now I'm probably not going to be able to get back to bed. Jackson grumbled to himself. That race had seemed so long ago even though it had happened merely seven hours prior. The memories kept on replaying in his mind while he tried to get comfortable.
"N-no! I-I can't race boss!" Ryan Laney was heard shouting from across pit road. Half an hour after McQueen's crash, it was declared that the race was still to be held that night. Many cars were still in shock about what had happened and it was also then that the Next Gens had learned that Ed Truncan had panic and anxiety attacks. Jackson glanced over at the his pit crew trying to calm Ed down while hooking him up to an oxygen tank. Jackson continued staring at the other pit crews from the safety of his own pit box. He couldn't help but feel a tinge of regret watching everyone else freak out over McQueen's crash while he kind of just brushed it off. Thirty minutes until the race would start again from lap 462 and finish the last 38 laps. Jackson already knew that he was going to win the Piston Cup, but at the moment, he didn't really care. He just wanted to go anywhere but the track.
"Hey! Kid! Get your head in the game! We're back on in thirty, we need to make sure your all ship shape before we send you back out there." Ray called to Jackson through the headset. Jackson groaned as he moved further into his pit area.
"Do I have to race again?" Jackson whined. "I'd rather just not race today. I mean, I already know that I'm going to win, so what's the point of starting the race again?" Ray looked at Jackson for a while in surprise. As he looked harder, he saw the real reason why Jackson didn't want to race. It wasn't because he was shaken up at McQueen's crash, it wasn't even nerves. What was really holding him back was he didn't want to be viewed badly. Jackson knew he was going to be blamed for McQueen's crash. Ray saw that he was attempting to lay low for a while; or at least until everything has died down.
"Yes. You do need to race. All you have to do is forty more laps, get the Piston Cup, and then you can lay low for a while until we know what happens to McQueen." Ray sternly replied. Jackson groaned loudly before heading back out onto the track. The race restarted without a hitch and the racers jumped into action as the green flag was waved high in the air. Jackson, of course, sped ahead of the pack from the start and created a mildly large gap between him and Bubba Wheelhouse. Jackson had to admit, it felt weird not having McQueen trying to chase him down throughout the race. Deep down he was actually worried for the racer's well being. Jackson didn't want to see anyone get hurt or die, and what had happened shouldn't have happened in the first place. All he wanted McQueen to do was retire; that was the only outcome he wanted.
For almost every single lap, Jackson was zoned out. Thinking of nothing, just gazing on in the distance and instinctively taking in all of Ray's commands. Everyone was still too shaken to try their hardest during the last couple laps which let Jackson speed across the finish line without realizing it.
"You won kid! You did it! You won the Piston Cup! Jackson! Whoohoo!" Ray yelled through the intercom, startling Jackson in the process and causing him to swerve slightly.
"Woah, w-what? It's over already? I didn't even notice. Wow, I actually won the Piston Cup." Jackson couldn't help but smirking in satisfaction as he did his victory lap. He however didn't do any victory donuts due to the fact that he was worried that it would raise the chances of the crash being blamed on him.
After accepting his Piston Cup, Jackson was guarded by Ray from the press as the other racers left to their trailers. The paparazzi kept on shouting questions to all of the racers many different questions, most of them relation to McQueen or how he felt about winning his first Piston Cup. Ray blocked Jackson and started shouting at the press.
"Hey! Back it! No questions right now. We're all shaken by the events of McQueen's crash and Jackson won't be accepting any questions right now!" Ray barked. Jackson was secretly thankful for Ray being there and keeping everything level.
"'We're all shaken' my ass. Of course Storm isn't shaken, why would he be." Ryan mumbled under his breath to Daniel a couple feet away from Jackson and Ray. Ryan had thought that no one except Daniel heard, but that thought changed as soon as Jackson whipped his hood around and gave them both the death glare. They both quickly scrunched their faces and left. Jackson rolled his eyes as he backed into his trailer. It was dark, quiet, warm, and just the way he liked it. Jackson had a small blanket that was dark blue with small thunder clouds that he kept in his trailer at all times; no one knew about it except Gale and Ray and he wanted to keep it that way. Jackson tucked the blanket under his tire and turned on the TV. It was already replaying the race and going into depth. Jackson quickly turned it off and turned on the trailer's speaker.
"Hey, Gale. You there?" Jackson asked through the speaker. A couple seconds later, Gale's image appeared on the TV above Jackson's head. She had a small smile letting him know that she was up for whatever Jackson was about to ask.
"What's up kid?" Jackson frowned at being called 'kid'. He had already given up on trying to get Ray to stop calling him kid and he didn't need Gale calling him kid too. Sure they both were technically old enough to be his parents, but he really didn't need that right now.
"I don't really want to stay in a trailer or hotel tonight. Can we head to the IGNTR Center instead?" Jackson's straight face told Gale that he wasn't really asking to go, but rather commanding her to take him to the center. She nodded and turned off the camera after Jackson looked away. If Gale had a say in what would happen, she would have made him at least make a statement to the press, possibly wishing McQueen to get better soon or something like that.
Jackson continued staring at the wall; clearly in no train of thought whatsoever. Even though he thought against it at first, he turned on the news again. Every news channel was either covering last nights crash, or some other political thing that was going on. RSN was going into depth about the crash and that actually caught Jackson's attention. The show had been from a couple hours prior and what he was watching now was a repeat.
"….know you folks are still very shaken about the events, but I have to say there is good news." Darrell's voice played over footage of tow trucks and fork lifts cleaning up the track. "We have been, and will continue to get updates about Lightning McQueen throughout the week. He's alive...but that's about it. However don't get your hopes up, this could have been the first death in the Piston Cup since Dale Senior all those years ago. We greatly discourage any interviews between the Radiator Springs Racing Team at this time wherever they may be. Viewers are speculating that Jackson Storm is to blame for the crash after viewing it again." Of course they are, I knew they'd try and blame someone else. Jackson rolled his eyes. What are they gonna do, arrest me for something I didn't do? He sarcastically thought to himself.
"Looking back at the footage," The TV showed video of Jackson talking to Lightning right before taking off again. "We can clearly see Storm and McQueen havin' some sort of conversation before Storm takes the lead back. Though we can't hear them due to not being able to access either of their black boxes, we can see that whatever Storm said, had left a huge impact of McQueen. Now here we can see McQueen's chassis start to take abuse from his engine, causing his body to shake. And right here 'round turn four, upon deeper search, we can see that McQueen's rear axle did in fact slip. Meaning, much to IGNTR's relief, Jackson Storm cannot, I repeat, cannot be charged for any type of penalty regarding Lightning McQueen's crash. Anything verbal besides swearing can't be given a fine or penalty. Jackson is not a 'murderer' as some of you are calling, and he most definitely didn't do anything that would cause us to penalize him."
Jackson smirked and laughed a little bit in relief before turning off the TV. Knowing that he didn't have a thing to worry about regarding his career, he started thing about McQueen. He didn't really care about him, but he didn't want him to die either. He thought back to everyone rushing to his body. The amount of fear on everyone's face is what really hit him hard. When the blue Porsche, who Jackson later learned was Sally, rushed out to the track, he instantly knew that it was going to be a favorite topic amongst the media. They had already deemed it one of their 'favorites' and became one of the most talked about things regarding the crash. She wasn't really known on the track, or in general, but this definitely stirred up some commotion. Jackson decided it would probably be best if he just didn't think about anyone else and go to bed instead. He didn't want to put all those negative thoughts in his head again, especially after the day he had had. Jackson gave one last glance at his trophy before making his way under his covers.
She didn't know what was going on. It was quiet a few minutes ago. Now the machines were beeping out of control. Sally tried looking around but several doctors pushed her out of the way and out of the room in order to get better access to Lightning. They all burst through the doors shouting and trying to tend to the machines and Lightning's life support. He had stopped breathing. His twisted, mangled body that was lined with so many cuts was turning paler by the second. Sally tried to look through the door's window and get a better view by raising herself as high as she could, but found that she was slightly too short. All she could see were the cabs of the doctors, and the top half of Lightning on the lift. Everyone was trying desperately to get him stable. Inside the room looked chaotic; enough so that Sally lost track of who was where and what was happening. Sally gave up on trying to look and sat outside the door, struggling to keep calm and pace her breath.
"It's ok...everything's fine. He's gonna be ok." She was able to calm herself for a short while and bring herself to some sort of reassurance. However, it was short lived as the yelling from inside the room grew louder.
"We're losing him! His major oil lines are too loose!" A female doctor shouted.
" I can't get them back in! There's too much oil!" Another yelled.
"His engine is completely dead!" A long beep arose in the background that was muffled by the shouting. Sally prayed that she was hallucinating that sound. The sound that so many cars feared to ever hear from a friend or a loved one. She aggressively bit her lip when the doctors stopped shouting, revealing that she hadn't been hallucinating. Sally was about to look through the small window again but was blocked by cars exiting the room. Her eyes widened and darted back and forth, staring at the vehicles that were before her. They all gave the same expression, a sorry expression, a 'we did everything we could' kind of look.
"No, no, you're kidding right?! This is some kind of sick joke...he's not dead." Sally tried denying anything that the doctors told her. She ignored everyone and went through the double doors into the hospital room. Everything seemed too quiet. Lightning no longer had an oxygen mask around his mouth and his engine was completely covered in oil. No, no, no...h-he's actually dead! But he can't be. This isn't right. No! No! Sally internally screamed while looking at Lightning on the lift; tears flooded her vision.
"You weren't supposed to leave! This isn't right! None of this is!" No, he couldn't actually be dead. But the silent machines and Lightning's face said it all.
OOOOOOOOOO?! Cliff hanger maybe? I've been waiting SO LONG to do this, I've had this particular scene planned out in my mind for exactly a year now. But sorry this chapter is drastically shorter than the last one. This chapter had to be shorter in order for next chapter to ride more smoothly, cause if I added more to this chapter, then it would all turn into filler and filler isn't exactly good.