Disclaimer: Cars belong to Pixar of course. And Disney. Two great companies! Seth, Joe, Ranger, David, and Blaire are mine. (Yay I get to put Blaire in somewhere!) If you want to use them, just ask.
Notes: If this chapter sounds a bit strange it's because I'm just getting into the introductions. Things should kick up in the next chapter. I'm also afraid it's coming out as incredibly light. Mostly because at the beginning of this I was tired of such dark stories. However, I'm afraid it's not coming out as serious enough. I mean it doesn't matter that it's Cars. You start talking genocide of a race it's serious stuff. So any opinions? Comments? I want to know because I don't. Do I need to start trying to make it a little darker and more serious? Or keep it flowing along the way it is? (Though mind you either way it is going to get a little darker later on.) I'm a little worried about how it's flowing. So opinions please! Y'all Rock on!
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"Howler!"
Sheriff sighed heavily and rolled his eyes as Mater shot forward and skidded around the pavement in front of the impound lot. "It's a howler! I told you they was real!"
"Mater calm down it's not a howler. Obviously it's a..." Lightning balked, the name escaping him as he thought that over. "Dang it what was that thing called... I saw it once on the Discovery Channel..."
"I think you're thinking of a fox. I thought that was what it was to but it's to big." Seth explained with an idle shrug.
Dawning realization crossed Lightning's features as he nodded. "That's what I was thinking of! A fox. Though you're right... It's way to big..."
"It's a howler!" Mater insisted, though Sheriff only gave a soft grunt. "There's no such thing Mater. Now leave the thing alone all of you."
They all backed up from the fence, the dog that was currently locked behind it barking franticly as it leapt back and forth, every now and again leaping at the chain link. It was holding the thing back remarkably well. Seth had managed to lure the thing in there the night before by bolting in and slipping out and closing the gate quickly behind him. The dog now growled, his attention narrowed on his 'rival' Seth.
"It's a bio. That's all we need to know." They backed off as Doc came through the group, pushing in front of him half of an old container which had been filled with water. "Open the gate."
Seth sighted and cracked the gate open so Doc could push the container in. The dog growled at them but instantly started lapping quickly at the water.
"Bio things need water to live. It's their way of life." He stated simply, a light sigh released.
"Them bio things... Do they always look like that?" Mater asked gaining a slight shake of Doc's grill. "No... The one in my clinic looks very different. It's also very fragile. From it's little tumble last night one of it's appendages is injured. I'm fairly certain of it."
"So what do we do?" Sheriff asked slowly. "Call a vet or somethin'?"
"Don't be silly nobody works on them bio things anymore..." Sarge scolded, gaining a sour look from Sheriff.
"They do to. They gots bios at the zoo." Mater insisted with a smug looking smirk. "Lightning took me to see a zoo last year when we was in California for that big race."
Doc chuckled softly a nod given to the memory. "I remember that... Kept you both out of my way for a while..."
"Oh very funny Doc" Lightning commented a slight shake of his grill given. "So anyway, what do we do with it? Take it to the zoo? These things might have escaped from one."
"I don't know about that kid." Sheriff commented, a slight huff released. "The female was talkin' to another one like it... The male escaped into the desert. No tellin' where it went off to... They were usin' more bio critters to get around. One was attached to the wagon that we flipped. I've seen um before but it's been years and I can't rightly remember what their called."
"Horses" Seth replied with a somewhat smug looking smirk. "I looked it up after we saw them. They run wild in some of the western states like Nevada and California and Utah. I've never seen them around here though..."
"That's great Seth but what about that thing? Your research pull up anything that matches that?" Lightning questioned, referring to the dog that was once again leaping at the chain link of the fence. "I mean we can't keep calling it the howler..."
"I heard them call it a Dog..." Seth mused with a slight shrug. "And they also called it Ranger."
The dog instantly perked his ears up at the sound of his name, another bark given. He then went back to sniffing around the impound yard, sniffing at the ground and scratching at it every now and again with a paw.
"So what are we going to do with-"
Sheriff was abruptly cut off as a loud bang sounded through the streets, coming from the general direction of Doc's clinic. Doc sighed heavily and rolled his eyes, not sounded at all surprised as another loud bang sounded, the sound rather repetitive.
"Sheriff with me. The rest of you stay outside and keep an eye on the..." He paused searching for the word, forming it in his mouth as if it tasted a little funny. "Howler..."
The group nodded as Sheriff fell into step behind Doc, rolling quietly along behind him as they headed for his clinic. Only once they were up on the massive double doors did the sounds of the human screaming touch the air. Enraged sounds of fury came from within', sounding as if the human had, had quite enough of this little vacation.
"Let me out of here you damn, dirty cars! We made you! This is cruel and unusual punishment!"
"Think she ever shuts up?" Sheriff questioned, drawing a soft chuckle from Doc.
"Alright... It's locked in my garage, so if we go in through the clinic we can open the double doors. Therefore if it gets loose on us it's still contained." Doc suggested, gaining a nod from Sheriff.
Sheriff nodded his agreement as they slipped in through the clinic doors. Doc carefully locked the doors behind them, his attention then turning to the muffled yells and bangs coming from the far door that led to his garage/office.
"You wanna go in first?" Sheriff questioned slowly, gaining a soft grunt form Doc.
"Not in particularly."
"You put her in there..."
"You're the law in these parts Sheriff."
"You're the judge, the mayor, and the Doc, Doc"
Doc rolled his eyes and backed up a bit, stubbornly shifting into park. "Just open the damn doors Sheriff..."
Sheriff sighed, somewhat dramatically as he made his way across the clinic, pulling a soft chuckle from Doc. The old patrol car slowly approached the double doors and listened. It had gone quiet. More than likely the human had been able to hear them arguing about who was going to open the door.
Within' a moment of listening he heard a loud bang against the double doors. He waited for silence again before he would abruptly pull forward, throwing the doors open. To the human who had been intent on hitting the doors again. Her eyes widened as she fell forward in a heap on the floor, a dull thud sounding as she landed against the concrete. She wheezed heavily and coughed as she sat up, struggling to pull a breath into her lungs to recover from the air that had suddenly rushed out upon impact.
The two vehicles watched her somewhat helplessly as she slowly pulled herself upright again, cradling her injured arm as she looked up at them with a somewhat sour look.
"Now miss you need to calm down. That will not help you any." Doc's smooth voice would only pull a deeper frown from the female.
"Do you have a name?" This time it was Sheriff that spoke. The female shot her gaze in his direction, expression turning just a bit fearful as the full weight of the situation she was in pushed in on her. She was on her own. Two vehicles had her cornered. They were faster than she was. They were much stronger than she was. To some degree they were possibly even smarter than she was. She was young... They were both obviously highly respected officials. From what she can tell she was in a mechanic's shop... Or she supposed a doctor's office. It was strange that she couldn't tell.
"Well we know you can speak." Sheriff commented flatly, pulling a slight nod from Doc.
Doc frowned deeply and glanced one of the frosted glass windows of the clinic. He couldn't see anything through it, but natural light coming in from outside. "That... Creature... What is it?" Doc questioned softly.
The female instantly jumped to her feet, her good hand clenching at her side. "What have you done with Ranger? Where's my dog you mechanical box from hell? And my horse!"
"Calm down. The dog is fine. He's currently enclosed in the impound yard and entirely unharmed. As for horse, if it's that creature Sheriff reported was pulling the wagon we don't have it. Sheriff says it kept running when the wagon detatched." Doc assured, gaining the briefest of nods from the female as she sat down.
"Now... We know the name of your... Dog... What is your name? Or don't you have one?" Doc mused slowly.
"I have one." She snapped flatly and let out a heavy sigh. "My name is Joesette."
"Joesette?" Sheriff questioned slowly, pulling a soft sigh from Joesette.
"Call me Joe"
"Joe then... Joe do you have any idea how much trouble you're in?" Sheriff pointed out sternly.
"Oh I can take a few guesses..." Joe mused slowly.
"Oh drop it. Flo is a kind fuel pumped vehicle. It took me days to even consider who could possibly be wanting to take advantage of her or her business when she helps all of us the way she does and with her going through such hard times herself." Sheriff lectured, pulling another sigh from Joe as she flopped down on the floor, her head propped up in one hand.
"Oh now come now officer. Is this really about the fuel?"
"Well what do you think it's about?" Doc pointed out flatly.
"Young lady I will not have you coming into our town and-"
"Well where else are we supposed to go?" She abruptly demanded as she got to her feet. "You can sit there and lecture all you want but I don't see you having to coming out in the middle of the night and scrounge for food like an animal and steal fuel from a race that frankly wouldn't even exist without the help of our race."
"Young lady that's enough. Now this isn't about what you are or who you are or what you have to do to survive. This is about the fact that you stole fuel from the town cafe." Doc snapped flatly. "Now around these parts that's good for at least a few weeks in lock down."
"Oh?" Joe questioned, arms crossing in front of her. "You've contradicted yourself. You said it's not about what we have to do to survive. However, stealing fuel was survival. We can't scrounge that out of nature. And I can almost promise that if I had come up here in broad daylight and asked for the fuel you would have had every military helicopter in the area buzzing overhead to take down the scary two legged creature."
"Do you see any helicopters out there now?" Doc pointed out simply.
"It's not the same. I wasn't even awake when Deputy Dog here brought me in, therefore I wasn't so scary."
"Hey!" Sheriff protested, a slight blink given. He had no idea of the reference but he was pretty certain he had just been insulted.
"Now young lady. We haven't insulted you, no need to insult us. You can call me Doc. This is Sheriff." Doc stated with a nod, drawing a slow nod from Joe.
"Oh how original..."
"That's enough. Now it seems to me you've done a bit of contradicting yourself. You claim that stealing fuel from Flo was a matter of survival. However, I know for a fact that bios do not take fuel." Doc pointed out, looking just a bit smug.
Joe rolled her eyes and sighed. "We needed it for the generators. We need power to keep our colony going. To keep the fans going to circulate air down through where we live. We also need the electricity to cook and run other equipment that makes keeping ourselves isolated possible. Not that you would understand that. I mean you don't have to hide from our kind the way we have to hide from you."
"Joe you can not fall back to that since you did not give us the chance to accept you in the first place. Do not turn your own crime around on us." Doc snapped, gaining a frown from Joe.
"You remind me of Grandpa." Joe abruptly blurted, gaining a frown from Doc. So use to being called Grandpa by Lightning those few early days he was around, the vehicle bristled.
"Now young lady what did I tell you about-"
"I didn't mean to insult you." Joe commented, cutting him off. "I mean you remind me of my Grandfather. He always played these mind games with me and it didn't matter what kind of explanation or excuse I tried to give him he could always point out all the flaws in my reasoning."
Doc instantly deflated just a bit, a soft chuckle released. "You mean he didn't take any excuses."
"Well no... He didn't. But the point I was trying to make is that I'm not making excuses. I did what I did because my people needed it. I would do it again..."
"Alright... Getting off of that point... You've obviously been up there a while, why is now the first time that fuel has come up missing?" Sheriff questioned, trying to get back to the point at hand.
"Well we haven't needed it before in such a large amount. Up until a few months ago we had a power supply tapping in from the power lines that gave us what we needed. Then in the middle of the night one night... It just stopped. So we had to fall on the backup generators. We had a lot of fuel stored up. We were hoping to fix the problem before we ran out of that fuel. However, we haven't been able to do it. It was easy enough to get the fuel since there's only two officers in town... However, with two of them patrolling even that's not easy. We've almost been caught so many times... And it's way to risky to try and reconnect the power lines..."
"Reconnect? You mean you've been draining power from the town?" Doc asked flatly, causing Joe to flinch.
"We don't need much! It's not like we have all the lights on down there. We just needed enough to get by. It's always worked for us and it's never hurt anyone... But then after the lines were severed we had to start using the fuel... We couldn't get enough as fast as we were using it. Then a few weeks ago we ran out... We had to come up here and get some from the cafe just to keep going."
"Hold on... A few weeks ago?" Sheriff questioned. "Flo's only been missing fuel for five days."
"We started tapping fuel as soon as we saw the new tanks go into the ground. The car that owns the cafe wouldn't have noticed..."
"She does keep track of that. How do you think we know you've been doing it now?" Sheriff pointed out.
"No I mean... Up until five days ago we've been able to pay for the fuel we've been taking. We've broken into her office and left funding and changed the records to make her think she sold it to someone. But then we ran out of funding to... We thought if we could just keep it going a little while longer we could hook up the power lines again or at least figure out how my Grandfather did it... But we just couldn't do it."
"How was it attached in the first place?" Doc questioned slowly, gaining a somewhat sheepish look from Joe.
"Back in the sixties I think... My grandfather... There was a..." She paused for a moment, eyes closing as she tried to think. "Sheriff McDuffy in office then. He knew about us. Helped my Grandfather hide us all... I think he was friends with my Grandfather. Anyway one night while everyone was asleep he showed my grandfather how to hook up the lines so that we could tap electricity into our colony..."
"Sounds like something the old Sheriff would have done... He had a bit of a soft spot in him." Doc muttered softly, pulling a slow nod form Sheriff.
The old Sheriff despite his tough ways had, had a soft and almost fatherly like personality about him. After all he had taken in Sheriff... Seth tagging along and all. Seth...
"The lines must have been severed the night Seth and Damien took down the power grid." Sheriff abruptly blurted. Doc nodded slowly to that. It made sense...
"The time line is about right..." Doc mused softly.
"We found a dead line that we couldn't identify when the power company came out to reset the relays. We figured it was to one of the businesses that closed."
"That was our line!" Joe blurted happily, a smile crossing her face. "We couldn't even find the thing... It wasn't where it should have been."
"That's because we took it out."
She deflated a bit and flopped down on the floor once again, a soft sigh released.
"You said you had a few months worth of fuel... How did you get ahold of that?" Doc questioned slowly.
"We have a contact. But he can only do so much. He couldn't replace it fast enough without looking suspicious... He helps but it's just not enough."
"Who's your contact?" Sheriff questioned, though Joe only shook her head.
"I'm not answering that."
"Doc?" The voice was yelled from outside. Obviously Lightning's. "There's a really strange blue car pulling up..."
Doc's gaze slid to Joe who only shrugged. "I have no idea who that is... But whoever it is I'm going to kill him. Send him in here so I can kill him."
Doc rolled his eyes and sighed. "Back in the office young lady" He commented, though Joe instantly stood up in protest. "No! Please I'll be good just please don't lock me in there again!" She pleaded, a look of panic crossing her features again.
"Young lady you are still a suspect and I can not allow you to wander around town free." Doc reminded her, though Joe would nod to that.
"I'll stay in here then... Or with Ranger. Put me where Ranger is... Just please don't leave me in there."
Doc blinked for a moment but he nodded, silently judging Sheriff to get moving. "Very well. We will leave you in the clinic... I warn you though. No funny business."
Joe silently nodded and moved over to sit against the far wall, injured arm absently cradled in her lap. For a moment Sheriff actually felt a stab of sympathy for her. As the door closed on her, locking the young human in Sheriff could have sworn he heard soft crying welling up from inside. However, that wasn't the point at hand anymore.
In the middle of the street a silver colored vehicle sat parked. Low to the ground and built for speed it was obviously a Mustang... Much newer model than Seth though. If Sheriff had to guess he would say a Saleen Mustang Cobra... Dark gray eyes stared back at them, giving the vehicle a rather... Eery look. "Good morning officer." The vehicle greeted, his voice upholding a very light English accent.
"Morning... I take it that it's not just by chance that you show up in the middle of a crisis..." Sheriff mused softly to the stranger. The Mustang would offer a smirk, a quick nod given, speaking in a soft English accent. "It's not by chance at all... My name is Blaire. You have something in your possession that is very important to me. I would very much like it back."
"Son I assure you I have nothing that belongs to you." Sheriff commented flatly.
"Oh? Not even a couple favored pets?"
That brought a round of silence from the group as Doc's eyes narrowed just a bit. "Your pets?"
"Mhmm. Ranger silence." The dog who had been up until that point steadily barking instantly fell quiet. He sat back on his haunches, tail wagging back and forth happily, tongue lolling to one side of his open muzzle.
"And can you give us the name of the other 'pet?'" Doc questioned slowly, gaining a nod from the car. "Sure can. Joe. A little fire ball she is. I'm sorry if they've caused damages... You know how exotic pets can be..."
"Pets this exotic are illegal son." Sheriff commented flatly. "Keeping a bio is something best left for zoos. Aside from that we have conflicting stories. One of you is pulling my tire."
"Oh that's Joe for you... I taught it to speak years ago. She watches a bit to much t.v..."
"Right... Then you will be held accountable for the past weeks worth of fuel your little pet has stolen from the cafe?"
"A little harsh officer. However they are my pets and therefore my responsibility. I'm willing to pay for whatever damages they may have caused."
Sheriff narrowed his eyes a bit, gaze shifting from the Mustang back to the clinic and back again. "Alright son... Come with me." Sheriff stated flatly and turned back towards the clinic. They were going to settle this once and for all.
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Joe's attention snapped up as the doors to the clinic swung open once more. Light poured in and she shrank back against the far wall. Sheriff was first to enter. Followed closely by Doc. Right behind him...
"Blaire?"
She jumped to her feet, but a sharp look kept her firmly in place.
"So you two do know each other. Now I wanna know what's going on."
"Sheriff I told you what's happening." Blaire explained smoothly. "My pets have been getting out on me. I assure you it won't happen again. Will it Joe?"
Joe blinked several times, shooting Blaire an enraged look. Pets? Her? His pet? Oh she was going to kill him...
"So... You're little pets get out. You decide to come here... Where the hell are you from anyway?"
"I have a cabin up in the mountains. I'm not much of a people vehicle. I enjoy the peace and quiet."
Sheriff looked uncertain of that. Therefore the next question was Doc's.
"So how did you lose them?"
"Well I've had a feeling they were getting out at night. So when they didn't come back I went looking for them."
"How did you know they were here?" Doc asked slowly.
"I heard Ranger's barking. I figured I would start in the towns and ask around. Your town is the closest. I just got lucky."
"Right..." Sheriff muttered slowly.
"Sheriff. Can I speak to you a moment?" Doc muttered, gaining a nod from Sheriff. The both of them quietly backed off into Doc's office to converse, leaving Joe and Blaire alone in the room. As the door clicked closed, Blaire turned an almost furious gaze on Joe.
"Joe!" He whispered harshly, keeping voice as low as he could. "How much did you tell them?"
Joe glared at him and shook her head a bit, voice dropping. "Pet?"
"It was all I could think of! I never expected them to find you." Blaire pointed out, gaining another huff from Joe.
"Did you see Ranger?"
"Yeah... He's out there. He's fine..."
"What about my horse?"
"David caught him up in the hills." Blaire whispered softly, the Mustang falling abruptly silent as Sheriff and Doc came back into the room.
"Alright then..." Doc started off, his gaze falling to Blaire. "First off... She needs medical attention. Therefore if you are in fact her owner call a vet. Second... You will fully be held accountable for the crimes committed thus far by your pet. You will also be tried for having an illegal exotic animal... If she is in fact your pet we have no choice but to contact animal control. Now do you understand all of this?"
Blaire gave an indignant snort and shook his grill. "Animal Control? Now come on be reasonable..."
"I am being reasonable. Sheriff escort this young man and his pet over to the impound lot... Though first he needs to call a vet..."
"I can take care of her..." Blaire pointed out quickly.
"Very well. Then Sheriff escort them to the impound lot. Court is first thing in the morning." Doc stated flatly, turning sharply in the small area and rolling out of the clinic.
"You heard him. Come on." Sheriff stated, nudging the Mustang into moving.
The early morning light was turning to late morning as the trio crossed the street, Joe tagging along moodily behind the two vehicles. Neither Joe nor Blaire put up much of a protest as they were let into the enclosure. Ranger's barking instantly stopped as he trotted his way over to Joe and flopped down on the ground with a soft pant. Joe sank down to the ground beside him, quietly stroking his head. As soon as the gates were closed, Blaire seemed to loose interest in glaring at the Sheriff and made his way over to Joe, sinking down to the ground beside her.
"Doc, you sure all this is necessary?" Sheriff questioned as he once more crossed the street to where the old car sat parked.
"One of them is pullin' my tire Sheriff. If it takes goin' through the whole judging process to figure out who we'll do it. I want you and Seth to stand guard over them... Let them think about their situation over night. In the morning maybe they'll be more cooperative."
"So you don't want me to call in animal control?"
"No... Though let them think you did. Let them fret over that for a while. I need to go speak with Flo... No matter who is truly at fault someone is going to be doing some community service. I need to work out just what would benefit Flo."
"You got it Doc." Sheriff offered as he silently rolled his way over to Seth. Doc smiled softly as he watched Seth nod a few times at what he was being told. The Mustang then turned and rolled off towards the station, leaving Sheriff to sit parked alone in front of the impound. Doc sighed softly and turned, heading off towards the cafe. One quiet day... That was all he wanted. Just one quiet day...
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"So you think it was that howler thing?" Flo questioned, looking just a bit confused over what she was being told.
"Well I'm getting two conflicting stories Flo... I'm hoping to get the true story out of them tomorrow. Either way though I would like to put whoever is responsible on community service. I just need to know what could help you?" Doc explained, gaining a slow nod from Flo. The show car quietly moved across the living room of her home to look out the window at the cafe a frown crossing her grill.
Doc had always liked Flo and Ramone's home... A quiet blend of old and new, just homey enough to feel comfortable in. It was a small house. Very small. However, it felt well lived in and Flo always kept it neat as a pin.
"Well, I could use one of them working the pumps... Cleaning up around the cafe... Things like that." She mused softly.
Doc chuckled and tilted just a bit on his frame. "You feel guilty don't you..."
"If I thought they needed the fuel I would have given it to them Doc." Flo stated with a light nod. Doc chuckled and nodded again. "Flo, stand your ground. They do need to pay for this. Where's Ramone this afternoon? I didn't see him over at the shop.
"He went into Brixby for a paint order." Flo commented, and turned back to Doc, dipping down on her shocks in form of a shrug. "So what's the Mustang have to do with it? Doc caught the human and the Howler red tired."
"I know. But he rolled into town this morning and took responsibility for the two. I don't know what to make of him... I'm hoping the thought of losing those two bios will get him talking."
"And the bios?"
"Well for them... The thought of being sent off with animal control I think should do it."
"You won't actually send them away will you Doc?" Flo questioned slowly, gaining a shake of Doc's grill.
"Not unless I have to... If they are dangerous I won't have much of a choice." Flo gave a slow nod to that, her gaze once more turning out the window.
"What about Ramone? Can he use the help over at his shop? I think after stealing five days worth of fuel we can uphold their time for quite a while..." Doc mused.
Flo chuckled softly and nodded. "I think he said something about needing some help cleaning out the storage room."
"Works for me. Don't look so glum Flo. You might be feeling down now because of this... But things will look up." Doc offered with a nod, quietly turning and heading out the front door. Flo nodded a bit, a smile shot his way as she was left alone to her thoughts.
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It was amazing how dark the town could get. Blaire stared through the chain link of the impound yard, across the street at the black mustang that was standing guard. The older police car had been standing guard until about an hour after dark. Then he had gone off to his own thing, leaving behind the Mustang. Down the street was a much brighter outlook, the lights of the cafe setting off a soft glow.
"Blaire? What are we gonna do?"
"I'm going to figure out a way to get you two out of here... You two are going to go hide up in the mountains and stay there... Then they can bury me under the jail for all I care." Blaire whispered, drawing a soft frown from Joe.
"Blaire... You can't take the fall for us."
"Why not? Joe you have to get back. Your brother is worried sick. You know he wouldn't have sent me out here if he wasn't." Blaire pointed out softly.
Joe gave a slow nod to that, a sigh released. She hoped he was alright. The last she had seen of her brother she had been right behind him... He trusted her to be able to fend for herself. She doubted he knew she hadn't been behind him until he hit the safety of the forests... Especially of her horse had kept going. He would have heard the hoofbeats behind him and not worried.
"I don't like it Blaire... Aside from that we can't get out of here. We've already looked everywhere... And that car hasn't stopped watching us yet..."
"More than likely he won't... I'll figure it out. We still have a few hours." Blaire muttered softly then turned to face Joe. "So how's your arm?"
"It's fine. I wrapped it. Just a pulled muscle I think. I'm damn lucky to, that crazy car flipped the whole dang cart... And there's not much to figure out Blaire... We can't let you take the fall for us..."
"And I can't let you go to a zoo or a lab somewhere now can I?" Blaire shot back.
Joe nodded slowly and gave a heavy sigh. "I think I was starting to make a point before you declared me a pet... I think we should tell them about us."
"First off the whole pet thing was David's idea. Don't fuss at me. Second... I don't think that's such a good idea. I mean, you tell them about your little thing you've got going on up in the mountains and all of a sudden you have some car from a lab somewhere knocking on your front door. You know the stories your grandfather told us..."
"Yes I do Blaire... I also remember him telling us that without the help of a car from this town we wouldn't be here." Joe pointed out, gaining a sigh from Blaire.
"A car who's been dead for years..."
"But a car none the less... I don't know if you've noticed Blaire but we haven't been doing so well since Grandpa died..."
"Oh I've noticed..." Blaire muttered, a soft sigh released. "So what do you want to do then?"
Joe let out a soft grunt and let her head drop so that her face buried into Ranger's soft fur. "We need help..."
"Well yes we do... But from who?"
Joe was silent for several long moments. That was the big question... Who? "You always tell me I need to be more a leader..."
"Yes I do." Blaire commented softly.
"Well I'm being a leader now. We're going to tell them everything. Tomorrow at that trail. We'll tell them who we are... You're going to have to help me Blaire. They'll listen to you. You're like them. If we tell them everything and they still want are not on our side... You have to get away. Go back up to the mountains and get everyone out..."
"That sounds like a plan of desperation to me..." Blaire muttered softly.
"You got a better one?"
"Well no..."
"There you go. Desperate times call for desperate measures."
Blaire released a sigh and nodded slowly. She was right... Slowly the Mustang pulled up to the fence once more and looked out across the street. The cafe was dark now... The only living thing out there was the black Mustang... Dawn was fast approaching.
"Hey Joe?" Blaire questioned slowly, briefly catching her attention. "We're screwed..."
Joe sighed softly and nodded, as she leaned her back, back against the fence, one hand idly stroking across the top of Ranger's head. "Yep..."
To Be Continued...