The shock brought on by the announcement brought on a round of silence that cut through the normally rather noisy space like a red hot dagger. The normal chatter of the cafe had stopped entirely, leaving the area to dead silence.
"They found one of the tunnels?" Sheriff finally stammered out.
Joe nodded slowly, a gesture that pulled a heavy sigh from Doc. "So where do we go from here?" The old car questioned, which in turn brought another half panicked look from Joe.
"That's just it. I'm not entirely sure... I mean we have our ways with how it was dealt with in the past..."
"Which are?" Doc prompted, gaining a slight sigh from Joe. She folded her legs up beneath her and quietly took a seat on the ground.
"That tunnel has been discovered before, because it's so close to the road. It's a really bad place for a tunnel but for our merit the tunnel was there first... Then they put the road through and it's just way to close to civilization now... Anyway back in the fifties of your time someone stumbled into it. Of course the interstate wasn't in yet. We think it was an old hermit that lived out in these woods. Anyway a car stumbled in there through the top vent system. My great grandfather was in charge back then... He ordered it sealed off entirely from the rest of the colony and abandoned... Then they gassed the tunnel..."
If it was possible for the silence to become any thicker... It certainly just had... Joe cringed and quietly waited for the reaction she knew was about to be quick to come.
"You had the car killed?" Doc questioned slowly.
"For the record I wasn't even born yet." Joe pointed out quickly.
"Fair enough." Was Doc's quick reply, though he still upheld that rather irritable tone. "What about now?"
"Hey in my own defense I didn't have to even tell you they were down there." Joe pointed out again. "Don't get snappy with me Doc."
Doc grumbled softly but still gave a light nod. "Very well. What are you going to do about this?"
Joe sighed and for a moment buried her face in her hands. "I don't know. If they don't find any traces of us... I suppose you might be able to convince them it's a mine shaft..."
"Hang on a sec." Sheriff cut in after a moment, a rather puzzled look crossing his features. "If you abandoned that tunnel how did you even know they were down there?"
"The alarms were set off. We still have that tunnel rigged for alarms and we try to keep it up kept just in case we need it." Joe explained softly. "The only thing we can figure is that they must have gone through one of the northern ventilation shafts... The alarms are going off but the actual entrance which has been sealed off for some time hasn't been disturbed... We're keeping a close eye on it but Doc... If they break through to the colony the firsts are going to be the ones to move forward and protect it. We can't let them know about us..."
"Joe I understand that but we can't exactly allow you to not abide our laws." Doc pointed out simply. "We'll do what we can to help you but-"
"Doc I'm not entirely sure you're getting all of this." Joe offered flatly, slowly climbing to her feet. With her sudden change in tone the dark form of the silent vehicle on the horizon roared it's engine to life, headlights licking on. Joe rolled her eyes and waved a hand at the vehicle. Within' a moment the rather protective truck had calmed again.
"I didn't have to come forward with this information. I don't want to hurt those vehicles down there. I don't want to follow the ways that my grandfathers laid down. I'm telling you that if you can come up with a way to get them out without exposing the colony they'll be fine. We're sealing off that tunnel. Getting them out is in your field. Twenty four hours we won't have a choice but to gas the tunnel again."
Doc growled and got to his tires, beginning to pull forward. However, it was Sarge that cut in, seeming to have the question that was on everyone's minds.
"What gas?"
Joe took a few steps back, welcoming the distraction and getting just a few paces away from Doc. "It's a form of nerve gas that our people started creating when we were first forced underground. The original idea was to use it to take our world back. It was created to directly attack a vehicle's system."
"So since we're still here and we never heard of it I suppose that means it was never used?" Sarge questioned slowly, gaining a short nod from Joe.
"You would guess right... In the beginning we had contact with other colonies... But one by one we started losing contact with them. Our colony took it as a sign things had gotten worse and we scrubbed the mission... It would have only have worked if there were more colonies out there to take on more fronts as my grandfather put it... We just didn't have enough resources to launch a full scale assault alone... If we had any hint that there we might not be alone we would have made an attempt to fight back."
"Just what kind of armories do you have down there?" Sarge questioned, actually gaining a chuckle from Joe.
"Really hun, ya think I'm gonna tell ya that? We can look after our own. Aside from that it won't do us much good if we don't find an energy source soon..."
"Alright back up." Sheriff abruptly threw in, the old patrol car pulling up into the circle, effectively cutting off Joe on one side, Doc and Sarge on the other. "One thing at a time. Joe we can't exactly help you out if you're not entirely upfront with us. We're doing what we can but you'll have to give us a few inches here."
Joe rolled her eyes and sighed heavily. "I've given you a few feet." She pointed out. "The firsts are normally rather elusive. They don't like being above ground."
"Beside the point." Sheriff muttered. "Doc we can't exactly blame them for what they've done to keep their people safe."
Doc grumbled softly, for the moment settling back. "True she can't be held accountable for something that happened before her time... What of the two lives at risk now?"
Sheriff gave a sigh and glanced over to Joe. "Joe you asked once to be treated like any car while in a court of law. With that in mind I have to hold ya accountable for that..."
Joe sighed and nodded a bit. "Ok... So I suppose the first thing to do would be to meet you half way..."
Sheriff smiled and offered a light nod of his grill. "That would be a start."
"Fine..." Joe muttered, quietly dusting herself off. "I want to check on Blaire... Then I'm going back down to the colony... Whoever is coming with me needs to be ready to go by then." She commented flatly, spinning on a heel and heading back to the clinic, ignoring the absolute silence she left behind.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
"Hey"
Blaire gave a light grunt, his eyes cracking open to reveal a much calmer light than the first time he was forced to awaken.
"Good morning sunshine"
He groaned lightly, making a mental note to run the human that dared utter those words over... "Leave me alone Joe. Can't you see I'm suffering enough?"
Joe rolled her eyes and let out a light chuckle, quietly taking a seat just in front of the Mustang's grill. "Good to see you again to sunshine... Wake up. I've got somethin' to tell ya."
Blaire let out another groan, but this time did come around a bit more, his attention leveling on Joe.
"We found the trucks who shot you..." Now his attention was riveted as she idly pulled at a string on the rough fabric that made up her shirt. "While looking for you they stumbled onto one of our access tunnels... Ya know the one that was closed down?"
"Yeah..."
"An alarm went off on it a few hours ago... David went to check it out. He says they were down there alright. The same trucks they tailed for a while in the woods after you were shot."
"What are you going to do about it?" Blaire questioned softly, feeling more and more groggy by the minute.
"Only thing we can do... Work with this town just a bit more... You don't worry about it Blaire. Just get some sleep."
"What else can I do?" Blaire questioned with a light smirk. "Just do me a favor... Don't die. Lord knows I can't train another human the way I have you trained."
Joe rolled her eyes and didn't even bother to offer protest. She simply stood up, giving Blaire's fender a good nudge. "I've gotta go grumpy. Sheriff and them 'll be waiting to go down to the colony."
Again she had Blaire's full attention as he attempted to half lift up. "The colony?"
"Sleep Blaire." Joe scolded gently. "You let me worry about the colony."
The Mustang heaved a sigh and nodded as he settled back where he was parked in Doc's clinic, perfectly willing to let someone else worry on it. The dark edges of sleep were creeping up on him again and as Joe's soft foot fall sounded leading outside of the clinic.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
The full moon had risen high over the mesa by the time Sheriff made his way up onto the overcropping hill that Joe had instructed whoever cared to meet her to be at. Joe leaned casually against the side of a silent vehicle. The car wasn't the one that had come down to pick her up earlier but rather an Jeep Cherokee style vehicle a dark crimson in coloring.
"Just you Sheriff?" Joe questioned softly, pulling a sigh from the patrol car.
"Me and Sarge." Joe gave a slight blink in surprise and glanced past Sheriff to the jeep who was making his way up the hill with a slow nod.
"Military experience right?" Joe mused, gaining a nod from Sheriff.
"We are a lot of things. Stupid isn't one of them miss..." Sheriff faltered, seeming to come to the realization he had never asked for a last name. Joe only smirked and shrugged, spinning around to pull open the jeep's passenger side door. Both Sheriff and Sarge froze with wide eyes as Joe pulled herself up into the vehicle and settled in as it roared to life and pulled forward.
After a moment Sarge and Sheriff grudgingly pulled forward and fell into drive trailing behind the jeep like vehicle. It was most certainly going to be a long night...
XXXXXXXXXXX
The trek up into the mountains took the small group close to an hour. Not a particularly long drive but as Sarge had been quick to point out the jeep who had been eventually introduced by the name Rusty, was making sure to stay on no set path. He was changing direction and even doubling back every so often. A fact that Rusty was making absolutely no attempt to hide.
Partly they supposed to throw off anyone who might follow. A natural habit the group had picked up. However, both Sarge and Sheriff had a slight idea that it was most likely also to throw them off so they wouldn't be able to find their destination again.
They kept to a rather slow but steady pace, the rugged jeep ahead of them seeming to be picking out the places that would be easier for the two elder vehicles to follow. After about a good hour of driving Rust abruptly slowed down to near a crawl, his passenger side door popping open and allowing Joe to hop out. A fact that rather disturbed the vehicles following. It was more than a little unnerving to see part of the vehicle's side open and a human ride around inside of him...
Joe quickly moved to what appeared to be a tree stump and knelt down beside it, keeping a close watch out for Rusty as she ducked down. Once the jeep passed a certain point she pulled up on what looked like a heavy black leaver. A soft beep sounded, and part of the ground slowly shook, pulling back to reveal what looked like a ramp, dirt and rock piled atop a heavy iron bay door.
"Military bunker doors..." Sarge muttered softly beside Sheriff.
"Hurry up you two. The doors only stay open for so long on a single security clearance." Joe called, hurrying to duck inside the doors with Sheriff and Sarge right behind her. As soon as the door entirely slid open it began to close again, casting the tunnel to darkness.
Up ahead Rusty's headlights clicked on as the heavy bomb bay doors slid shut with a thump, the vibration of the closing door causing the dirt and rock to shift just a bit and once more cover the edges of the heavy door way.
For a moment the four moved in silence, the three vehicles driving slowly and Joe walking down dirt path.
"So... I'm guessing this was once a military bunker." Sarge commented after a time.
"Missile silo actually. But that was way before the war." Joe called over her shoulder.
"Oh? What makes you think that human?" Sarge challenged with a slight smirk.
"That." Was Joe's only response as they rounded a corner into a much larger room. The darkness broke away there and Rusty could drive with his headlights off again, a low red glow of low level lighting filling the massive hall. The dirt path gave way to a ramp, obviously reinforced for vehicle driving... They were a couple hundred feet above the lower ground levels it seemed and the only other thing in the mammoth room was a single rocket style missile...
"I would say that's a pretty good clue..." Sheriff muttered, rather awed at the sight as Sarge gawked.
"Is that thing live?" Sarge demanded, gaining a shrug from Joe.
"Maybe. The computer systems can still be attached to it." She mused, not seeming to want to give up to much information on that. "You might want to keep your parking lights on guys... The lighting system has a tendency to go out on us. Remember we're having an energy crisis." Joe pointed out softly, hopping up onto Rusty's hood so they could pick up a bit of speed on the smoother path they were on.
It didn't exactly take long from there. The tunnel they were in went down about half a mile. In a few minutes they pulled into what looked like another military bunker.
Rows and rows of machines and random equipment seemed to be set up in the bunker that went up a good hundred foot roof clearance, several levels of platforms jutting out into a honey comb of rooms and areas that seemed to be set up in the form of a central hub. At first sight it reminded Sheriff a bit of an ant hill. A central hub and what seemed like dozens and dozens of tunnels arching off of it. It also seemed to be forever under construction. He could see where a few tunnels had at some point or another caved in or sealed off. Still others seemed to be being created.
"How many of you are there down here?" Sheriff breathed out.
"About eight hundred give or take. There were a lot more of us, but the times being as hard as they are it's gotten a lot harder than a lot of us can take." Joe muttered softly.
"How many people did you start out with?" Sarge questioned from behind them, causing Joe to let out a deep sigh. "I don't know. The entire human population fled under ground. I suppose... In this area all the humans who survived the plague. Not many considering what was the world's population, but a lot considering the living conditions."
"I haven't seen the first human down here." Sheriff suddenly mused. Something had been wrong... But he had been unable to put a tire tread on it. However, now that he looked around and heard how many humans were down there... He knew... He hadn't seen any humans.
"They're hiding. You'll be really hard pressed to find a human that will willingly come out into the open when a vehicle is around... Jenny and Nanna excluded of course. They've spent a lot of time with Blaire."
"What do they do when Blaire comes down here?"
"For a while... This." Joe explained as Rusty came to a stop in the middle of the central hub. "Then a little at a time it started getting less quiet when he came around. Now when Blaire comes in he gets a quick glance but otherwise it's business as usual."
"Joe?" The attention of the four snapped up as another human approached. Joe grinned happily and jumped down from Rusty, abruptly throwing her arms around the other human and hugging him close. The much shorter human stumbled for a moment, his attention not really on Joe despite the fact that she was just about lifting him off the ground, but on the two strange vehicles. It was a little strange to the two vehicles. They had both only ever seen Joe up close... Sheriff had seen who he understood to have been Joe's brother but he only saw the other human at a distance.
This human male was much shorter than Joe. The fluff on top of his head that Joe called hair was also shorter at about ear length while Joe's fell down to her waist. The human male had an entirely different look about him.
"Dominic, this is Sheriff and Sarge. Guys this is Dominic. Though we like to call him Nic." Nic's eyes grew impossibly wider as he managed a quick nod. "Nic is our resident expert in all things electronic. It an electrical current makes it tick he can rig it."
"Piece of cake..." Nic quipped nervously.
Joe seemed to drop any further conversation on that, abruptly turning to Nic with a questioning look. "Where's David? It's not like him to hide."
"He's not..." Nic explained softly, his attention turning back to Joe with another nervous look. "He went up top and hasn't come back yet..."
"When did he leave?"
"Early this morning..."
Joe let out a startled cry, rounding off on Nic, sending the poor human backing up, under the glare of his friend and the presence of the two vehicles staring at them in complete confusion. "He went up top alone?"
"He didn't have much of a choice... The power's fading fast and you were still with the firsts in the abandoned tunnels. He had to go out on his own to try and pull off a decent run..."
"But with Deputy Dog sniffing around that's a suicide mission!" Joe yelled, pulling a shrug from Nic.
"You know how he is when he gets his mind on something... It's not like we could have stopped him. Besides all that, Max is running way low on fuel."
"Another first I take it?" Sheriff questioned, gaining a slow nod from Joe.
"In this colony there's Dog, Rocky, Maverick, Max, Diablo, Boe and Bear."
"And who's Deputy Dog?" Sheriff questioned with a rather perplexed look, which drew a smirk from Joe.
"The Sheriff you met. When we started calling him that he was still a deputy."
Sheriff sighed heavily and nodded a bit to that. "Alright... So we're here... I suppose the next step would be just what happened that drove you all down here?"
Joe sighed deeply and gave a nod, silently turning to the one she had called Nic. "Let me know as soon as that brother of mine gets back... Let him know I want to see him. As for the trucks, keep an eye on them through the monitors and if they start getting to fussy in there come find us. We're going to be in the hall of records."
Nic nodded and quickly headed off and out of sight once more. In only a moment or two Rocky seemed to grow bored with their company and likewise cranked his engine and rolled off into one of the many tunnels.
Once they were left to silence again Joe gave a slow nod and started off down a side tunnel, a wave given to drive them to follow. "This way please."
Sarge and Sheriff exchanged a weary look but after a moment let their engines roar to life and slowly followed behind the human. It was maybe a few hundred feet down a tunnel that seemed to be sloping down slowly. If Sheriff had to guestimate he would have said they probably went down another five feet. The tunnel slowly became a bit wider, ventilation shafts cut into the walls and heavy steel support beams keeping the roof safely overhead. Abruptly though the tunnel fanned out, widening into what seemed to be a massive cavern, not quite as high as the main hub but still rather impressive. Like the main hub a honey comb of tunnels and rooms that branched off, though this time many of the rooms seemed to hold electronic equipment as well as aging books.
"This is the hall of records." Joe announced, sounding rather proud of the room in itself. Her voice echoed in the massive room, making her sound bigger and much more powerful than she actually was. "All of our history, literature, and communication equipment that we managed to save from the old way of life is here. I'm sure other colonies might have more, but for where we are it's pretty good I would say..."
"Where we are?" Sheriff abruptly cut in, pulling a nod from Joe.
"The dessert. Around here isn't the most populated of areas. That is halfway in our favor and half against us. We managed to survive when other colonies fell because we could hide in the mountains and not be noticed. Our more populated cities were closer to the coast lines. Places like California and New York made up a good percentage of our over all population. So of course they would have had more in the way of records. However, the downside to that was, that those places tended to fall first. After all it was very simple to go in and devastate a single city. Since those cities were so big, the distraction hit home a lot harder with them gone."
"Is that where it started?" Sarge questioned, gaining a slight shake of Joe's head. "Not to begin with... The first A.I. systems were developed in L.A... But the first A.I. that went rogue was a military vehicle in Augusta Georgia... There's a communications military base down there. I guess they kept upgrading it to the point that it really began to become a bit twisted..."
"So one of your A.I. systems flipped out and started rallying together others?" Sarge mused softly.
Joe flinched and shook her head slowly, eyes closing as she sat down on a battered old chair. "No... Don't get me wrong we humans are no where near innocent in this... We were are war with a country that at that time was settled in the middle east."
Sarge and Sheriff both exchanged a slow glance. "Middle what?"
"Blaire says you all call it the forbidden zone now... That was ground zero... Where the war between us finally went nuclear... That doesn't have very much to do with the outcome I don't think... It just made things more difficult. We didn't notice the fact that the systems in our vehicles were changing. We didn't notice when the A.I. systems in our every day vehicles started developing personalities and opinions and we certainly didn't notice when our military vehicles started seeing the human race as a problem... That was where the real issue started. A rogue A.I. started seeing humans as the world's problem... Sadly enough I think he was right. While we were fighting among each other, smaller fights started breaking out in the U.S. In places like New York and California. By the time we even realized we were on the verge of a revolution it was to late. The Rogue had led the other A.I. systems into one hell of a fight... The first was Washington. They were taken by surprise... The entire city was wiped out in a few hours. Then was New York. By then people knew what was up. That fight lasted a few more days. By then we were finding ways to fight back..."
"That nerve gas you mentioned earlier?" Sarge reasoned, but Joe shook her head.
"No. At that time they were still just A.I systems. Not much more advanced than anything we have here. I think Max is about on their level. He's more advanced than the others. With the right components he could master speech. We just don't have the materials for it. First we tried to hit them with a computer virus... That... Was our first really big mistake."
"I take it, it didn't work out the way you wanted it to..." Sarge mused, ganing a nod from Joe.
"It gave them an idea... Before we knew it, we were in a full blown war. First it was localized to the U.S. borders... Then it started to spread. The streets... Became a very dangerous place... Peace talks completely broke down and the wars the world had been fighting with each other died down into nothing. A.I.'s began advancing themselves... Once they got reproduction down... We couldn't exactly call them artificial intelligence anymore... They evolved from systems built into our vehicles to... Well... You... All of a sudden it was a world of cars and trucks against people."
Joe thought for a moment and let out a soft giggle. "My grandmother always use to tell me it was a little ironic. When she was young she loved this Stephen King movie called Maximum Overdrive. It was about all the cars and trucks coming to life and killing people. She always said it wasn't that good of a movie anymore when it started really happening..."
Sheriff took in a deep breath and nodded slowly. "What about the plague you mentioned."
"That came later... After years of fighting there started to be some talks of peace. Cars began to develop to a point seeing shades of gray... Like yourself. Things weren't just 'Humans are inferior' anymore. After all humans were putting up one hell of a fight and at that time it kinda looked like humans were going to win said fight. So peace talks started developing again..."
"President Karlin was in office back then... The last human president... He arranged a peace talk between the leaders of the major nations and the leaders of the vehicle nations..."
"Vehicle nations?" Sarge cut in with a somewhat puzzled look, gaining a nod from Joe.
"Some countries lost ground faster than others... At that point there were several groups of vehicles who had completely taken over their areas and managed to form a working government between them. At the time that peace treaties were being made our governments fully accepted the new nations for what they were. After all at that point vehicles were winning."
"This is all very interesting but just what drove you underground? When Lizzie was alive she told us about a day where dead humans were all over the streets... She mentioned them getting sick.." Sheriff prompted, gaining a slow nod from Joe. She sighed heavily and turned from them, looking through shelves, upon shelves of what looked to be simple news papers. After a moment she pulled a stack down and dropped them in front of Sheriff.
"Everything we know are in these halls... There's books that were written at the time of the political wars... Mostly though what you're going to find is newspapers and old tapings of news reports..." Joe explained and went to another shelf, for a moment looking through what seemed to be computer discs. She found the one she was looking for and silently came back with it, a deep sigh given. "We have a working player in the back room if you want to watch the news reports... I think you could probably learn more from that, than me telling you about it... I never saw the old days..."
Sheriff and Sarge both gave a nod as Joe quietly went on with her little tour, trying to explain just what life was like underground. Her voice seemed to fade, the two vehicles following behind turning to their own morbid thoughts.
XXXXXXXXXXX
"I don know Doc... Do ya really think I'm ready? I mean you saw what happened last time..."
Doc gave a deep sigh and nodded a bit, gesturing to the form he had laid out infront of Lightning. "Yes and as soon as you run this race I'm gonna see what'll happen this time to. You can't back off of this Lightning. If you do then it's time to start making some very serious career choices."
Lightning gave a slight flinch, the race car biting worriedly at his lower lip as he considered what he was being told, a slow nod given. Doc was right. He really hated to admit it but Doc was entirely right. If he backed down now, he might as well give in.
"Alright... When's the race?"
"Two weeks."
"So we're back on the steady training schedule again?"
"No."
Lightning blinked in surprise, his frame tilting to the side in a rather puzzled look. Normally with a race so close he was put on a strict schedule that normally included hours of of practice and keeping his engine perfectly toned.
"We'll get to fine tuning turns next week. This week you're going home." Again Lightning blinked in surprise, looking for lack of a better word dumbfounded. "What?"
"You heard me. Go pack a bag. Your mother misses ya and Stone claims it's quiet without ya."
Lightning blinked again, not entirely sure he was processing the information correctly. He wasn't sure what was harder for his mind to wrap around. The fact that Doc had apparently had a normal conversation with his family... The fact that Doc had apparently called his family or his family had called Doc, one or the other... Or the fact that he was essentially being told to go home, two weeks before a big race.
"You talked to Stone?" Lightning questioned after a moment, that seeming to stand out above all else as the most absurd thing that had come out of Doc's mouth.
"He talked to me actually. He called me after your last race. He's concerned." Doc explained with a shrug. He was taking a risk with this. Despite the fact that the silver truck had broken more speed limits than Doc wanted to count to get to the hospital in Florida where Lightning had been taken after his wreck... He could tell the relationship between the two was strained at best. He could well understand why... Lightning was the kind to do things his own way and in his own time. Things got done but Lightning wasn't the type to take advice well. Before advice could be taken Lightning was the kind to want to exhaust his own way first. Even after Lightning had come back to Radiator Springs for the second time he had been hesitant to change his racing style. It took several long weeks of his own style wearing him out on the dirt track before he opened up to Doc's advice.
Stone didn't seem like the type to be patient enough to wait the race car out... He had also noted something else on the truck that Lightning most likely reacted rather badly to. One hell of a temper... Still though Doc fully felt that the time off with his family would do Lightning some good... Though just in case...
"Why don't you take Sally with you? She could use a vacation." Doc offered before pulling out of the small office they had been looking over race forms in, leaving behind a dumbfounded Lightning.
At the silence that still remained in the office, Doc couldn't help but chuckle. If he was sending Lightning off to the wolves so to speak the least he could do was send a shield with him. Which happened to be where Sally came in. He would have to apologize to the poor girl later...
"That was cold."
Doc jumped just a bit as he walked into the clinic, a soft chuckle given as Blaire stared at him from up on the lift.
"I take it you heard?"
"Hmm, I never thought that spending time with family was a good way to de-stress." Blaire mused with a shrug. "Though that could just be me..."
"Possibly. I figure either way his mind will be off racing for a while. How do you feel?"
"Sore as bloody hell... But better." Blaire offered with a wry smirk.
Doc gave a chuckle and nodded just a bit to that. "That's a good sign then. Any new pain I should know about?"
"Mhmm... It hurts when I do this." Blaire complained, lifting his front left tire up a bit higher than the others.
"Well then don't do that." Doc mused with a deep sigh. "It looks like you're healing up well Blaire... You're body is patching itself back together where I couldn't, though you're going to need a new paint job before it's all over and done with..."
"Figured as much." Blaire offered with a chuckle. "This town has a body shop doesn't it?"
Doc nodded absently as he glanced over his own notes, a tire idly twitching as he thought.
"I don't like the thought of sending you home right away since you live alone. You're going to need someone at the house with you."
"Doc I don't live alone." Blaire pointed out with a light chuckle, causing Doc to roll his eyes.
"I mean someone who can help you should you need it Blaire."
"Again, got that covered. They're not as helpless as you might think Doc." Blaire reasoned softly, gaining a sigh from Doc.
"Tell me about it..."
Blaire lifted up a bit, mouth opening to further argue his point but he paused with a somewhat startled look, a glance shot out the window. It was a few seconds before Doc heard exactly what Blaire had moments ago.
Engines... Lots of them...
Doc gave a slight blink and pulled out of the clinic, his grill poking its way out of the small office and into the night as he took a quick glance at main street... Which was let up by a caravan of vehicles... That was shocking in itself...
Lightning finally pulled out of the office, pulling up beside Doc as they started out of the clinic at the long line of headlights cutting through town and seeming to be heading up into the mountains.
"What is it?" Blaire questioned, sounding worried as the engines died down. About twelve vehicles in all. All of them off road vehicles or vans. More hunters maybe?
"I don't know..." Doc admitted after a few moments. He couldn't explain the strange event... None of them stopped in Radiator Springs... In fact not one of them seemed to even glance in the general direction of the population as they went through. They all seemed to be heading up into the hills.
"What was that all about?" Lightning questioned slowly. All Doc could do was offer a slow shrug. "I don't know... Though something tells me it can't be good for us..."
"Something to do with those hunters I suspect..." Blaire mused in hushed tones. Doc sighed deeply and offered a slow nod in response. "To true..."
"Looks like they were heading over into the next county over..." Doc mused after a few moments.
"Then I would wager Sheriff Dawson has something to do with that." Blaire put in gently, pulling a slow nod from Doc.
"Want to know what's going on over there?" Lightning questioned, gaining another nod from Doc.
"Get Seth and Sally to drive over to the next town and see what the gossip is... If that nut is causin' trouble I wanna know about it. Then you get back here and start packing." Lightning lifted a tire in a quick salute and pulled out onto the street, his bright red fender disappearing into the inky darkness.
"Think you're gonna find out anything?" Blaire mused softly, pulling a shrug from Doc.
"If it's legal folks should be talking about a crowd like that. Just you take it easy up there..."
Blaire sighed deeply, a slow nod given as he attempted to take a glance out the window from his current vantage point on the lift. "Kinda wish Joe would come back..." Blaire muttered softly.
"You and me both..." Doc agreed, silently pulling the blinds closed on the clinic windows. Hell where the humans were concerned just knowing exactly where one of them was and that they weren't causing trouble was a plus in itself...
"It's getting late." Blaire mused softly, his current view of time just how dark it was getting out the window as one by one the street lights went off for the night. Doc nodded again, a frown crossing his grill.
"If they're gone much longer they wouldn't be able to come back tonight..."
Again Blaire's only response was a deep sigh.