"Scientists are calling it the most in depth virus system ever created. The government is urging you if you are still in control of your vehicle to as soon as possible disconnect it from the network and turn it off. Meanwhile communications have been lost with the eastern coastline. All major communication stations have been disabled and are considered lost. As peace talks break down among some European nations this sudden viral programing among mechanical appliances could not have come at a worse time. If you are in an Eastern seaboard city and are still able to receive this transmission... Our thoughts and prayers reach out to you. Good luck and God Speed... In other news... Good news for chocolate lovers! Studies have found that-"
There was a soft click as the screen suddenly went blank, the cheerful blond human, replaced by darkness as the power was cut. Sheriff really should have been surprised when the picture died, but he simply kept staring.
"When I was a little girl I use to watch that over and over again. I always imagined that she was still alive, and that really wasn't a hundred year old recording of a woman that probably died during the war..." Joe muttered softly as she came up beside Sheriff, kneeling down on the dirt floor of one of the many rooms carved into the tunnels. The one they were in was a small one. Uncomfortably small to Sheriff's size, though probably rather homey to the much smaller human.
"I use to convince myself that she was real, and the fact that she was still talking meant that there were other people like her... Like me... Still out there. That they were still fighting and we would get to come out of hiding soon... My Dad use to tell me otherwise... He use to tell me that it was all just a fairy tale and that we wouldn't be going up into the daylight anytime soon... I didn't believe him though."
Sheriff nodded slowly, still turning over what he had just seen in his mind. Sarge had watched a few minutes of it, though after some rather disturbing images of some war, the old jeep had quietly excused himself to go read through something a bit more peaceful. Sheriff couldn't really blame him... After all he imagined seeing it all first hand was far different than watching it unfold as he was now...
"Sheriff you've been watching for hours... Sarge has already gone through most of the newspapers and records... If you don't leave soon you won't be able to leave until tomorrow evening or someone might see you..."
"It's amazing..." Sheriff finally muttered, a somewhat bemused tone to his voice. "A hundred years apart and the press is still the press..."
Joe smiled and gave a quiet shrug, thinking that over for a moment. "True. I don't watch many of your broadcasts. They're really hard to get down here and... For us their really discouraging. So we tell everyone of the colony that nothing is coming in. That we should stay put and wait. We don't want them to see what we do. There's no hope ya know? Things are never gonna change, no matter how bad we want them to."
"You don't know that." Sheriff put in gently.
"Yeah I do Sheriff. I figured that out when I met Blaire. He had no idea we were even down here... But ya know what? If we were to fight back now... Even if there millions of us... It would only end in two ways. Either we all die... Or we do to your kind exactly what they did to us. I can't be that person ya know?"
Sheriff smiled a bit and nodded, thinking it over for just a moment. It made sense... Perfect sense... Painfully perfect sense...
"So... Cars won the war?"
"Well not at first. Humans kicked it into high gear and for a while we were winning again... It kinda went back and forth. That news broadcast happened about the time the U.S. split in half... Again..."
"Again?"
Joe sighed a bit and nodded, quietly leaning back against a side wall. "Yeah... Long story. It's in one of those books that Sarge has. It wasn't the first time our country has split itself apart... Funny it all seems to silly now..."
"Lizzie... Once mentioned some kind of plague..."
Joe gave a slight blink, looking for a moment entirely puzzled. "Lizzie?"
"A very old car. She was... One of a kind..."
Joe nodded slowly, a frown crossing her features. "It's her grave isn't it? Up on the hill outside of town?"
Sheriff sighed and gave a slow nod to that. "Didn't seem right to put her anywhere else."
"She... Must have been very old... Very old if she remembers the plague..."
"She remembered the war to." Sheriff offered softly, pulling a slow nod from Joe.
"Then she was only second generation at best... Maybe first... I'm willing to bet her creators were the firsts..."
"Possibly. She never said much about her family. Even in her younger days." Sheriff offered with a slight shrug. "So... Was it really the way she said? Was there a plague?"
Joe sighed deeply and nodded. "Yeah... There isn't much information from back then... All I know is from what my Grandpa told me... He said that there was some kind of peace talk. Cars and Humans were starting to see eye to eye. Starting to agree on some things. There was even talk of the U.S. being united again, and the cities the vehicles had taken over, let loose from the hold they had on them... They were going to let the humans they had holed up in the cities go... It was the first news in years that those people were even still alive... Then people started getting sick."
"The plague..."
"Didn't seem that way at first. Just a few outbreaks of some kind of sickness... Happened a lot in the conditions we were declining to... No fresh water, everything dirty... A lot of sickness was spread that way... But then it started getting worse. More and more people started dying... Then the vehicles struck one more time... Some extremist group to the south... They had set the virus loose by infecting dogs and cats... When the strays started getting sick it spread to humans. It was a contact kind of thing... The survivors fled underground."
"Dogs and cats?" Sheriff mused, looking a bit confused which in turn drew a soft chuckle from Joe.
"Like Ranger. Back then pets were so important to people, they just couldn't live without them. When it started going through pets, people still wouldn't give up their animals. Then people started getting sick..."
"So if that was the basis, why do you have Ranger around?"
Joe smirked and shrugged idly. "Just look at his little face! Aside from that they're rare, even here... There's fifteen dogs currently in our colony... As far as we know that's all the ones that are left in the world... Cats we have more of... Cats are in no danger of extinction anytime soon... They keep the mouse population down in the caverns. The dogs are for the most part hunters."
Sheriff gave a slight nod, his attention returning for the moment to the blank screen. Joe sighed and shook her head a bit as she laid a hand on Sheriff's fender. "Go to the abandoned tunnel and see if you can convince those two knuckleheads that they fell into an old mine shaft will ya? Then go home. I've got to see where my idiot of a brother has gotten off to, and then I'm gonna come back to Doc's clinic and stay with Blaire alright? Things will look up. You're just a little smarter now. Nothing has changed but the information we gave you."
"Right..." Sheriff muttered softly, a flinch given as he pulled his tires back underneath him. "So I've gotta ask ya... Why did you let us know about the two hunters... Rather all of this? You could have stayed just as recluse..."
"No... I really couldn't." Joe explained with a gentle shrug. "I couldn't let those two die and still look Blaire in the eye. I mean... Aside from my people down here, he's like my best friend. Besides... If we exterminated them, we wouldn't be much better than the people who put us down here now would we? There's also a political view... I mean if we kill them, and the whole story comes out about the humans... We'll look like a bunch of savages now won't we?"
"You're just an ol' softy arncha?" Sheriff questioned with a smirk. Joe rolled her eyes and shook her head. "Don't let anybody else know. I have the others convinced I'm an evil harpy. Don't wanna kill that rep."
XXXXXXXXXXXXXX
"Alright, so quick glance around and we're out of here right?"
Sally gave a deep sigh and nodded, gaze cutting over to the ebony Mustang at her side. "Mhmm, what are you so worried about anyway?"
"That Sheriff gives me the creeps... Something about him... Bad vibes..."
"Seth you've never even met him." Sally scolded, pulling a brief shrug from Seth.
"He still gives me bad vibes... Something about the way he talks on the radio..."
"Seth radio talk is so bland and professional... You talk the exact same way when you're on a police frequency talking to your dad."
Seth gave a light grunt in response as Sally rolled her eyes, the two pulling up to the city limit sign of the somewhat larger town of Triston. Area wise it was about the same size as Radiator Springs, but being closer to the interstate it still had a fairly decent population. It had never really suffered the way Radiator Springs did. It in fact grew a bit over the past couple of years with the building of the new emergency clinic and a Wal-Mart. However, it was still a small one horse town, no matter what way a person decided to look at it.
"You take the West side and I'll take the East. We'll meet up again here in an hour." Sally muttered quietly, gaining an odd look from Seth.
"Why do I have to take the West side?"
Sally rolled her eyes with a deep, tolerant sigh, her frame tipping just a bit to the side. "What's wrong with the West side?"
"Sheriff Dawson patrols that side..."
"Seth he's Sheriff he patrols every side. Now the car's not going to hurt you, lets go." Sally scolded gently, gaining a panicked look from Seth. "Fine... We'll go over the town together... Now come on." Seth grinned and quickly surged forward after the other car, company seeming to ease the car's nerves entirely.
Still the second Lightning had told them what Doc wanted them to do, Seth had been nervous and tried his best to get out of it all together. Strange behavior from the normally fearless Mustang.
Sally shrugged it off with a deep sigh, her attention trailing across the dimly lit road. Behind her she could hear Seth's steady engine, for a moment that and her own engine their only company. Only when the town's lights flooded the streets did really start looking around. The town was pretty active for so late at night...
It looked like all the businesses had closed down but all of the lights were on in a twenty four hour diner in the middle of town.
"Wow... That place is..."
"Yeah..." Sally agreed with Seth's unspoken comment. The diner was indoor, so the place was a massive garage like structure, chrome and glass decorating the outside in a 50's set up that had absolutely nothing to do with the fifties...
"It looks like a chrome truck threw up..." Seth commented slowly, earning a soft giggle from Sally.
"Well it looks like that's the only place that's active so it should at least make our jobs easier." Sally reasoned as she shifted into gear. Seth gave a slight blink and pulled forward, quickly following behind the other car. She had a point and in his opinion the faster they got out of that town the better...
XXXXXXXXXXXXXX
"Alright, I'll all packed and ready to go." Lightning called from the other room, causing Doc to give out a soft chuckle as he checked Blaire's vitals.
"Good. Now go get some sleep."
Lightning paused where he sat parked in the doorway, his frame tilting just a bit to the side as he thought. "Doc can I ask you something?"
Doc glanced up from his clipboard, a puzzled expression playing across features as he nodded. "Go right ahead."
"Just what do you expect Sally and Seth to find?"
Doc sighed heavily glancing up to Blaire where he was perched on the rack. The Mustang had been silent for most of the night, simply watching Doc and Lightning move around the clinic with some amount of interest. However, his interest now seemed peaked.
"I honestly don't know. I think-" Doc trailed off at the sound of engines outside of the clinic sounded. A deep frown crossed Doc's features as he hurried to the window and glanced outside, the darkness cut by two sets of headlights. One down low and one set slightly higher, the running board lights suggestive of an off road vehicle. In a few moments his suspicions were clarified as Sheriff and Sarge coming back. Close at their heels a very large animal trotted happily along, only set off from the darkness by splashes of white against a darker pelt.
Doc heaved out a deep sigh of relief and silently opened the main clinic door to allow the three inside. The two vehicles rolled inside, happy to be out of the desert night, followed closely by a tall pinto horse being ridden by a human... Doc was almost certain he had never seen before.
"Nic?" Blaire blurted out from where he was on the rack, gaining a somewhat wry smile from the light haired human on horseback.
"What's going on?" Was the next words Blaire blurted out, causing Nic's smile to fall.
"I honestly don't know the details. Elizabeth sent out a search party for David. She'll be here by nightfall tomorrow but she wanted me to come keep you company."
"He's missing?" Doc suddenly questioned drawing a nod from Nic. "We've been getting a bit more desperate... We've been going out during the day for the past few weeks for what fuel we need... That's really not a norm for us..."
"I've noticed... So David is..."
"Joe's brother." Blaire responded, backed up by a quick nod from Nic. "He should have been back with the evening..."
"He wasn't." Nic explained idly sliding off the back of his horse. "He took ol' Bear out to the next town over and never came back."
"There was quite a commotion heading towards there a few hours ago." Doc mused softly. "I sent Sally and Seth to check it out."
"Probably not a bad idea..." Sheriff muttered softly. "I'm gonna go try and get those to knuckle head trucks out of the tunnels and see if I can convince them it's an old mine shaft. Someone keep an audio out for the radio. Might need help up there if they don't buy it." Sheriff muttered, quietly revving his engine and pulling back out into the night without another word.
Doc sighed heavily and nodded, a quick glance given to Blaire. The Mustang didn't look up. Only seemed to stare out the window into the night.
XXXXXXXXXXX
"Can you see anything?"
"Again... No!" Sally snapped softly, causing Seth to back up just a bit. The diner was a bustle of activity... To much activity for the early hours of the morning... At least in the opinion of those normal and sane people who awoke with the sun... Predawn wasn't exactly her time of day.
"I'm gonna go inside and see what I can pick up from the locals. You stay out here and try not to get into trouble." Sally muttered softly as she pushed her way inside... She had learned a long time ago that at times it was best to give seth a simple task and stick to that plan. Especially with the car as nervous as he seemed to be. Who knew why... It wasn't as if they were doing anything illegal. They were just going into a diner that happened to be open. Though Seth was a bundle of nerves.
He hadn't wanted anything to do with the town. To the point of near panic.
Now he was 'Standing guard' while she did her own investigating. Which wasn't going so well either...
"It's government experiments. This has got to be stopped."
Upon approaching one truck's voice in particular caught her attention as she approached the bar, a frown crossing her grill. It seemed one hunter was rallying the other's for support maybe... A hunter green Chevy was pacing back and forth in front of the bar, addressing the other patrons. She wasn't entirely sure what point he was trying to make as she settled in to listen.
"First two of our own go missing up in those woods. We've been losing fuel from the pumps for weeks. Supplies are going missing right and left and now... NOW this monster shows up in town. No I don't know about you all but I'm a little concerned about this. Just what is up there?"
Well that didn't sound good... Had they seen one of the humans during a run? Sally frowned and gave a deep sigh as she nosed her way just a bit closer, trying to see just what was going on.
"My guess is some kinda government experiment." The truck went on, gaining a mixed review on his rather political view point.
"Man it's aliens. The government couldn't pull this off!" Another opinion was shot back and the voices around Sally rose up again as they argued back and forth over the origins of whatever the hell they had found.
"Might be some natural mutation. Some reaction to the pollution in the air." The suggestion had been shot off from a young mini van beside Sally. Her suggestion went mostly ignored, the suggestion that they themselves were to blame not exactly going well.
Sally shook her head and turned her attention to the pale blue van who now had a deep set frown across her grill. "Excuse me... What are they going on about?"
The van blinked quietly as her attention pulled to Sally. "Wow... You're not from around here are ya?"
"Next town over." Sally explained with a shrug.
"Ah... Guess that would explain it. One of those hunters shot some kind of monster in the woods. Never seen anything like it..."
Sally blinked and gave a slight shudder. Shot a monster? That didn't sound good... "Did they hit it?"
The van blinked and gave her a strange look. "Huh?"
"Did they hit it? I mean... Did they kill it? Do you know?"
"Did we kill it?" The truck that had been the original speaker barked out a laugh as Sally's presence suddenly became very much the center of the conversation. Sally gave a hard swallow as she glanced around, not entirely certain if she shouldn't have rethought Seth's idea to stay outside and brought the Mustang in with her.
"Let me set it up for ya little lady." The truck cooed softly, the massive thing seeming rather content with having a lady's full and undivided attention as he recounted his story most likely for the hundredth time.
"It was just this afternoon. The light was perfect. Nice time of day... I was trudging through the woods just north of town and I saw it... A massive critter coming towards town. At least what I thought was a critter. So I get a little closer and sure enough. This thing is huge. Well I line up the shot all careful like. And BOOM! Nail the thing dead center. Then somethin' incredible happened. The lower part of the critter and the upper part of the critter split up. It just up and shed half of it. Then I figured out somethin'... I'm thinkin' there were two critters."
"Figure that out all by yourself?" Sally questioned flatly, not to impressed with the truck even if she didn't already know what was going on. Still though... A knot of concern was growing in the pit of her fuel tank.
"So... The gist of that is you didn't kill it?" The van parked beside Sally mused.
"No" The truck stated flatly with a wry smirk. "The gist is I only killed one of them."
Sally held her breath for a moment, glancing back behind the truck to where an old tarp was covering something rather small. Already she could feel that dread starting to build.
"Oh really..." The van mused. "Funny we've yet to see this... Monster you keep talking about."
"Oh little lady... I just wanted to wait for everyone to gather. So... My friends... Feast your eyes on this!" With that the truck snapped back the tarp. There were a few screams in the crowed at the unknown creature, though all Sally could do was stare.
It was a human... A human male if she judged correctly the differences she was noticing between this human and Joe... It had indeed been hit once. It looked like it had been shot in the back. Thick red fluid had pooled on the tarp beneath it, soaking through the cloth that covered it's upper and lower body. That seemed to have been it's undoing. She was guessing that the other creature the truck spoke of was one of those... Horse things that Joe had spoken of. When it lost it's rider it must have bolted.
"The way I figure it folks there's more of them up there. Somewhere in them woods. Don't know where... Maybe they live in trees. Maybe they fly. Maybe they live underground. Who knows? What I do know is that if there's one there's got to be more. The government can try and hide them all they want but now... Now we got proof! There's something up there in them woods!"
Sally quickly backed up as the truck started rising up for another rant, going on and on about government theories and just what it was up in those woods that was causing such a stir. She had to get Seth and then get home and report.
"Alright that's enough!" She froze at the powerful voice coming from the side of the bar, and pulled back up just a bit to see what was up. The county Sheriff had pulled up, the lower set vehicle eyeing the dead human thoughtfully.
"What we got here is just a pest. It hadn't hurt anyone and I'm willing to bet that whatever it is up in those hills it ain't no more dangerous than any other critter there is. So before you go off starting a panic, Chuck... Check your facts and lets see just what this thing is."
"Sheriff ain't no one gonna tell us what this thing is." The truck argued right back. "We have a right to protect our homes. This thing... For all we know might be poisonous. The government sure as hell ain't gonna tell us so it's up to us to find out just what's going on ourselves!"
"Is anything at all going on?" Sally suddenly spoke up. "That animal looks rather small. I mean... What if it's just a harmless forest creature?"
Sheriff Dawson turned his gaze to Sally, a rather odd look given as he tried to place her. She could see the dawn of realization coming from him when he finally did.
"A very long way from home aren't you ma'am?" He questioned, gaining a shrug from Sally.
"Change of scenery. The fool shooting his grill off and scaring the hell out of these poor people for nothing caught my interest."
Sheriff Daweson chuckled softly as he pulled into gear and rolled a bit closer. "Sally my dear, you have no idea. No I suggest you take it back to your own stompin' grounds and let me take care of my own backyard. Understand me? I don't need a backwater lawyer tellin' me how to do my job."
Sally gave a snort, not really bothering to deem that worthy of a response. She revered her engine and pulled off, grumpily rolling out the door to where Seth was waiting.
"Well?" The waiting Mustang was quick to approach as soon as Sally stepped through the doors of the diner. She sighed heavily and cast a glance behind her making certain no one would hear or step outside mid conversation as she motioned him to move on. As they started down the road she let out a slight shudder.
"Those hunters up there have shot and killed a human..."
Seth gave a deep sigh, speeding up just a bit as they zipped through a red light on their way out of town. "This isn't good.... I wonder who it is?"
"I have no idea... Whoever it is though Joe won't be happy about this..."
"To say the least..." Seth muttered softly to himself, his voice fading off as the sound of a siren cut through the darkness. Seth and Sally glanced back behind them with a soft groan as the red and blue lights of a police car awakened behind them.
"Three guesses who that is..." Sally muttered softly as she slowly pulled over to the side of the road with Seth right behind her.
For several moments all they could see of the mystery car was the steady strobe of emergency lights atop the vehicle though as it came up beside them the black and white paint job of Sheriff Dawson became more and more clear.
Sally heaved out a heavy sigh and twisted around just a bit to face the Co. Sheriff as Seth backed up just a bit behind her.
"Alright you two... I wanna know what you're up to. Kinda far from home aincha?" Dawson demanded as soon as he pulled up alongside Sally.
"All we did was come to a very public diner. I don't see the harm in that." Sally snapped right back, as Seth took a peek around her, his dark hide mostly hidden in the dim lighting.
"Ain't no harm so long as ya don't plan on sticking around to long. Now what are you up to?" Dawson questioned, his gaze shifting from Sally to Seth, a frown crossing his grill as if attempting to put two and two together.
"Like I said. We're just out for a drive and wanted to stop into the diner. It was a little crowded for us so we're moving on. That's all." Sally stated flatly, causing Seth to give a little nod from behind her.
"Oh really..." Sheriff Dawson muttered, his full attention suddenly turning to Seth. "Who's that back there with you?"
"Oh leave Seth alone." Sally stated flatly. "He never even came inside."
"Seth..." Sheriff Dawson muttered with a slight frown 'cross his grill. "Sheriff Carson's boy?"
Sally opened her mouth to speak, though from behind her she felt Seth pull himself together just a bit and step into the light of Sheriff Dawson's Headlights. "I wouldn't be sticking my grill where it doesn't belong if I were you Sheriff Dawson... Don't you owe me something?"
To Sally's surprise Sheriff Dawson suddenly paled several shades and stumbled back as if he had seen a ghost. Seth only offered a smirk and rolled back behind Sally again.
"You two carry on..." Dawson muttered, quickly pulling off and heading back down the road without another word.
Sally stared down the road where Sheriff Dawson had gone until the red dots of his tail lights disappeared into the darkness, still not entirely sure what had happened.
"Can we go now?" Seth muttered, shaking Sally out of her thoughts as she turned her attention back to Seth.
"What was that all about?"
"What was what all about Sally?" Seth muttered, causing Sally to blink in surprise.
"What does Sheriff Dawson owe you?"
Seth only stared at her for a few long moments, seeming to be considering whether or not Sally had truly lost her mind. "Nothing that I know of... He's just a creepy ol' car..."
"But you said he owed you something." Sally protested.
"When did I say that?"
"Just now Seth. You said, 'I wouldn't be sticking my grill where it doesn't belong if I were you Sheriff Dawson... Don't you owe me something?' So what does he owe you?"
Seth gave Sally a rather blank look and shrugged. "Sally... I didn't say anything to Sheriff Dawson... And that I know of he doesn't owe me a thing. I like to keep my distance from him if I can..."
Sally rolled her eyes and pulled off down the street once more, with Seth right behind her as she went on. "Seth I know what I heard."
"I'm sure you do Sally... But I know what I said and I didn't say anything to Sheriff Dawson. I stayed behind you the whole time..."
Sally gave a harsh huff and dropped the subject, irritation driving her on as a confused Seth fell into line behind her. They drove the rest of the way in silence, one irritated and one entirely confused...
XXXXXXXXXXX
The lights of town couldn't have come on fast enough for the two speeding sports cars. Sally quickly broke off from Seth, leaving the Mustang to his own devices as she headed off to find Doc and report what she had seen. She quickly ducked through the main doors, in a rush into Doc's clinic, skidding to a halt in surprise when she came face to face with a strange human upon the door opening.
Nic gave out a yelp as he backed up quickly, dropping whatever it was that had been grasped in his hands with a clatter and quickly darted back behind a rolling cart in the back of the clinic before Sally could get so much as a squeak out.
"Sally?" The stunned silence was broken as Doc came back into the clinic with a puzzled look.
"Sorry Doc..." Sally muttered with a sigh and turned her full attention back to Doc for the first time noticing that Sheriff was close behind.
"Where's Seth?" Doc questioned, for a few moments looking a little perplexed. He had figured both would be there to give a report once they returned, though it seemed Seth had at some point left the duo.
"I don't know, somewhere in town. Anyway there was a big ruckus going on over at the diner in the next town over. A bunch of hunters gathering..."
"And?" Doc prodded on, getting the feeling a bunch of hunters gathering together and drinking themselves silly wasn't the end of it, though at the moment he dearly wished it could be...
"They managed to shoot one of the humans up in the woods."
"What did the human look like?" The others were startled to a brief silence as Nic came out of hiding, the pale human leveling an even stare on Sally. Above him on the rack Blair cast his full attention on them, the Mustang wanting just as badly to know just what was going on.
"I..." Sally stammered for a moment, struggling to picture the human. It wasn't as if they were as easily recognizable as cars were... "The fluff on top of his head was really dark... That's about all I can tell you."
Nic frowned deeply and glanced up at Blaire who sighed. "Do you think?" Nic almost squeaked.
"It's possible..." Blaire offered with a somewhat miserable note.
"Know who it is?" Doc questioned slowly, his attention turning to the two.
"We haven't been able to find David all day..." Nic ventured slowly. "He went out on a supply run. Everyone else is accounted for that I know of..."
"A supply run during the day?" Sally mused softly, the danger in that obvious enough to her.
"Not much of a choice I'd wager..." Blaire muttered softly. "It's been getting pretty desperate for fuel..."
Nic frowned deeply and nodded his agreement, the human biting down hard on his lower lip. "The situation's become a lot more desperate within' the past couple days... David went out with the dawn... It's been getting so dangerous to travel at night with all the hunters in the area. He thought maybe traveling by day and keeping to the wooded areas might give him some form of advantage..."
"What advantage would that be?" Blaire questioned, pulling a sigh from Nic.
"I don't know... I think he just felt he had to do something." Nic mused quietly. "Has anyone seen Joe?"
"She went off to find her sibling. Then she was coming back here." Sheriff supplied, gaining another nod from Nic.
"Then we need to find out for sure."
There were no arguments there. Only a few nods in agreement.
XXXXXXXXXXX
"Alright Mater... You know what to do?" The tow truck grinned and nodded so fast his passenger let out a startled yelp, causing Doc to briefly reconsider their little plan.
It was a simple one. Someone needed to get in close to identify the body. Nic was the best choice they had a the moment. However, he couldn't exactly walk up and ask to see. Therefore, their best option was to smuggle him in. Mater was the only one among them that could easily hide a human in the back. Therefore, that was where Nic was... Curled up near the hitch where the tow hook was attached, covered by an old tarp among all the other junk Mater tended to throw in the back bed.
"Mater you're going to have to drive a little more carefully than you normally do. Try not to jar your passenger to much." Doc scolded gently, gaining a grateful look from where Nic peeked over the edge of Mater's back bed.
"You'll be fine back there Nic. Just keep your head down." Doc offered gently and backed off again, a smile crossing his grill as Mater started out at a quick pace. This was going to be interesting...
XXXXXXXXXXX
It was well into dawn by the time they regathered. The sun crept up over the mountain tops, sending rays of warming light across Radiator Springs. Mid morning sun fell across the silvery hide of a young Mustang, the vehicles attention intent on the road as he stared down the street.
"You're not suppose to be on your tires yet."
Silence was all that was met with. Doc rolled his eyes as he came up beside Blaire, a rather sour look given to the Mustang.
"You should be on the lift. How did you get yourself down from there anyway?"
"Talent." That was the only answer he would offer. The only thing he could think to say.
"Why are you out here? They'll get here when they get here. You can't force along the issue."
"I have a feeling." Blaire muttered softly after a time. "The same feeling I always get when things take a turn for the worse."
Doc gave the other car a puzzled look, and silently pulled out just a bit, following his steady gaze up the street. "A feeling..."
"I think things are going to change after today." Blaire muttered softly. "I think David is dead... I think the realization will change Joe. I don't think they're safe here anymore."
"Blaire... All of that is worrying needlessly over things you really don't need to worry about." Doc scolded gently. "Now get in here and get back to-" He was cut off abruptly as Blaire started his engine, the Mustang's full attention on the edge of town. Mater was coming back. He was hitting a fast pace on the edge of town, moving faster up along the ridge.
Doc quietly passed Blaire, leaving him at the clinic as Mater came into town, the tow truck looking a rare form of character. He seemed rather troubled...
As soon as the vehicle came to a complete stop, Nic was already untangling himself from the tarps and making his way out.
"Well?" Doc called over, gaining a rather weary look from Nic.
"There's soldiers in that there town!" Mater blurted out, looking a bit stunned.
Doc's eyes widened a bit, a glance cast towards the mountains. They had to be wrong about that... What in God's name was going on over there?
XXXXXXXXXXX
"You forgot."
"I did not forget!"
The argument had been fairly steady since they left town. Sarge and Sheriff trudged through the undergrowth and bushes, a rather sour mood between the two of them. They were suppose to be doing this in the dark. However, the dawn had crept up on them a bit faster than they thought it would.
"You did to!" Sarge snapped, gaining an almost predatory growl from Sheriff.
"I did not forget." He repeated irritably.
"We were suppose to do this hours ago!" Sarge scolded.
"I know!"
The argument wouldn't stop. Not until they reached their destination and it was forced to.
"You forgot two trucks in a hole! Good lord Sheriff, what were you thinking?"
Sheriff rolled his eyes and growled once more. Honestly he truly had forgotten about them in the aftermath of all that they had learned in the past twenty four hours. However, he wasn't going to tell Sarge that... Not that he didn't already know...
"I didn't forget them!" Alright so he would have remembered eventually...
"Oh come on Sheriff you might buy that yourself but-"
Sheriff rolled his eyes at Sarge's sudden silence and turned around. "What Sarge? What am I buying myself?"
"Shhh!"
Sheriff gave a blink as Sarge shushed him and quickly gestured for him to get down. Sheriff backed up into the underbrush followed quickly by Sarge himself, taking cover. For several minutes they waited in complete silence. Sheriff gave a deep sigh, just about to pass it off as one of Sarge's oddities and ask him just why they were hiding when he finally heard the same sound Sarge had.
The very soft sound of engines rumbling. They exchanged a look and quietly the two crept out of hiding, moving slowly along the trail they had come across. The caravan was down in the valley, though from where they were once they came out onto an out crop they could get a good look at them.
"That's a military caravan." Sarge nearly breathed out, looking just a bit stunned to see it.
"You sure?" Sheriff whispered, tilting just a bit on his frame.
"Yes... It's just the way I remembered it..."
Sheriff cursed softly and backed up from the overcrop. Just what they needed... He had halfway known it was probably going to be coming if someone actually found a human. This was still a shock.
"Come on... We'd better get back and let Doc know." Sheriff muttered softly, backing up and heading quickly back towards town with Sarge hot on his tail.
If they headed out at a swift pace they could get back to town by midmorning. They needed to know what was going on and they needed to know fast.
"Sheriff?" Sarge's voice broke through his thoughts causing him to slow down just a bit. "What is it Sarge?"
"You forgetting something?"
Sheriff bellowed out a curse and slammed on his breaks, nearly sending Sarge right into his tail lights. He pulled a 180 heading back the other way.
He forgot the dang hunters again...
He picked up speed, hitting fifty on the flat with Sarge right behind him, rare hysterical laughter from the jeep ringing out.