Chapter 7
88
88
Well now, I ain't no hero, that's understood
All the redemption I can offer
is beneath this dirty hood
~Bruce Springsteen, Thunder Road
88
88
The rain fell hard and fast on the ground, and it was what pulled Lightning into consciousness. He'd been having a random dream about Sally; they were back at Radiator Springs and were just laughing together.
It was such a simple dream, but it reminded Lightning of home; and his current situation, which was so far away from it.
He blinked to his side, where Chick was sleeping. He must have been so tired; to sleep through this heavy downpour, anyway.
Lightning knew he should perhaps nudge the other car awake; like Chick had said, the sooner they get moving, the better.
"Hey," Lightning edged a little toward him, hesitated, then stuck a tire out to bump Chick's. "Hey, are you awake‑"
"Huh? What?" Chick sprang upright, eyes wide and shining abject fear if only for a few seconds. When he noticed Lightning, who'd been granted some surprise himself at Chick's reaction, his eyes narrowed into hostility.
"McQueen. What're you playin' at? Trying to give me a heart attack or something?"
"Sorry, I just...I thought we'd better get moving soon, you know." Lightning did feel sorry for it. He could tell that Chick was far too tired. Certainly in no condition to be pushing Lightning along, anyway.
He gave Chick a look which teetered on sympathy. Maybe a little more uncertainty.
"Um...do you know how much further we gotta go? Till we reach that station? Not much longer, right?"
"The station?" Chick blinked, and looked like he was trying to dislodge sleepiness from his mind. "Oh. Um. Yeah. No worries, McQueen. We just gotta keep moving for a little longer. I'm pretty sure we'll be there soon. Damn., I shouldn't have dropped off like that."
He seemed preoccupied, it wasn't hard to notice. He glanced wearily about and then appraised Lightning.
"It's raining,"
Lightning raised a windshield. "Yeah?"
Chick seemed to struggle to resist an exasperated sigh, "Well. We might be at an advantage. Or disadvantage."
"Because of the rain?"
"I don't know. But it looks like it could get pretty muddy," Chick raised a tire in demonstration. It was already plastered in a coat of soggy dirt. "my old man always told me-ah- I mean…I'm not sure if bikers will be able to handle this too well."
Lightning peered down at his own tires doubtfully. "Well. We could get stuck in it too."
Chick almost optimistic face was quick to vanish into some sort of grimness. Lightning didn't like it, anyway. That look made him worry and feel sick. Like something bad was going to happen very soon.
Realisation, at the back of his mind, reminded him that he'd seen that look on Chick just the other day, when the green car had come to rescue him from the garage. Lightning was quickly starting to learn that he preferred a sickeningly cocky Chick to a worried one.
"Yeah, we might get stuck," Chick nodded a bit. "Chance we'll have to take, though."
Lightning swallowed down his fears and offered him a weak smile. "Yeah. But I think we'll be alright."
The rain was still spitting harshly on both their windshields, yet Lightning managed to see Chick's small grin through it anyway. It must have been contagious, or maybe it was the final threads of sanity breaking away, because Lightning returned the grin and let out something between a whimper and a laugh.
It was partly because to his injured motor; but mostly due to his terrible nerves.
Some bright flash streaked across the ground, and Lightning jumped before the thunder even rumbled after it. The rain started falling harder against him.
"Storms," Chick muttered at the sky, not seeming to flinch.
"As if it could get any worse," Lightning said. "if we get struck by lightning I guess it's only fitting,"
To Lightning's surprise, Chick laughed easily at that. "maybe you'll get struck, McQueen. I'll just have to deal with what comes after, right?"
Lightning found himself laughing then. How strange it was, and yet Lightning felt a little better for it. Against better judgement he started to move forwards, but his engine protested with a strange whir, and he cringed to a stop again.
"Hey," Chick's eyes widened a bit. "don't do that, stupid. We'll be at the station pretty soon. Then we can get you seen to, alright?"
"Yeah, yeah," Lightning stared at the congealing ground beneath him. Honestly, how much longer did he have to be the hopelessly immobile lump, made glaringly more hopeless by Chick's apparently perfect mobility?
But that wasn't quite right, Lightning knew. And that was confirmed when Chick reversed backwards, toward Lightning's rear. His engine gave a creaking groan, and Chick groaned with it.
"Oh man." he mumbled. "That hurts."
"What is it?"
"Nothing. Just my tires. Something like that."
Lightning couldn't see the tires through the thickening coat of mud, but he could gather that they'd probably come close to burning out more than a couple of times now. Lightning knew this because his own tires felt much the same.
In some respects he supposed he was lucky that he was getting a push along. It was probably incredibly sore…
"‑it's incredibly sore," Chick said, as he began nudging Lightning forwards. "Man, I hope they have spare tires at that station,"
"Did you look?"
"Can't say I had much time to," there was some sarcasm in Chick's voice. "I was kinda in a rush about it all,"
"You did you see any mechanics? Anyone?"
"Nope."
Lightning felt a bit frustrated. Or maybe he was feeling that to eliminate terror. "Well, there has to be someone there. I mean, it's a station, right? Someone's gotta own it."
"That's what we're hoping," Chick said. He paused and then; "hey, you know what I'm really hoping they have?"
"What?"
"A phone line. Then I can call my crew chief and have them get me outta this place."
"Good plan," Lightning agreed. Once more he was reminded of his dream; being back with Sally at Radiator Springs. It all felt a little hazy now, though.
He took his time about gathering the dream together in his head, and then wondering about Mac, Mater, Doc and everyone else who knew him, and what they might be doing. It was comforting to focus on those guys. Imagining them close by, time seemed quicker.
And also, he was still a little weary about striking up proper conversation with Chick Hicks.
Eventually, the green car cleared his throat and sounded awkward as he spoke;
"So, um. McQueen. What did that truck do to you, anyway? D'you remember any of it?"
Lightning was surprised, not so much by the subject of conversation, but more by the unmistakable trace of concern which seemed to mingle in Chick's voice.
"Well, er. I can't remember much, to tell you the truth." he admitted. "You know, all I remember is him knocking me out. Then I remember...waking up and feeling weird. In my engine."
Chick didn't reply at once. It took Lightning a little while to realise the green car was gathering his strength in order to speak at all. Obviously casual conversation along with pushing a race car were not a fantastic combination.
This served to remind Lightning of his own uselessness.
"Hey, we can stop for a little rest if you like."
Lighting felt himself slowing a bit, but they didn't stop.
"Nah. It's okay, McQueen. We'll be there soon anyway."
Lightning couldn't help but notice that Chick had been saying 'we'll be there soon' quite often this past hour or so.
How long was soon anyway?
He pondered the idea absently, so absent that he didn't notice the sludge congealing about his tires until Chick pointed it out with his own colourful language;
"Damn...Oh jeez…I knew it!" the green car's engine growled along with his temper, and Lightning attempted to pull his own motor into life, though it didn't do anything, as he'd expected anyway.
Chick drove round to meet Lightning's front, "looks like you're stuck,"
If not for Chick's obviously contorted expression, Lightning would have thought the other car was going to abandon him again. Instead, Chick stayed where he was, looking somewhere between thoughtful and irritated.
"What do we do? Those bikers won't be long catching up to us." Lightning strained at his engine once more, even trying to squelch through the mud on unmoving tires. But it was no use.
"I could go on ahead. Get some help at the station and they could tow you the rest of the way,"
"What? No!" Lightning was aghast at the thought. "Please, don't leave me again, Chick! I swear-"
Chick raised a windshield, "you gonna chase me down with your non‑existent super‑charged engine?"
"Not funny!"
"Wasn't trying to be," Chick pulled a face, and then Lightning knew the green car wasn't trying to be spiteful at all. "Okay, okay. McQueen. Calm down. I'm not gonna up and abandon you. We'll just have to figure somethin' out, is all."
"Figure something out?" Lightning looked doubtfully ahead of them.
The station, which Chick had been persistent in stating was not far away was still not in sight. Maybe Chick had just imagined it. Chick was the type of car who'd probably had one too many knocks on the hood along the way in his fast lane life. Enough knocks to call up too‑good‑to‑be‑true hallucinations, perhaps? Lightning wouldn't have been surprised.
And anyway, Lightning didn't think himself obliged to take Chick's word on anything just yet. Because there was still that annoying niggle; simply being that this was Chick Hicks. And Chick Hicks was still that jerk. That jerk with far too many stickers.
"Why do you have all those stickers, anyway?" he wondered aloud. It probably sounded so stupid and out of the blue.
Chick's double‑take assured Lightning that it certainly was stupid and out of the blue.
"What the ‑ ...what are you talking about, McQueen?"
"I don't know," it was a little too late to be embarrassed now. And besides, Lightning had almost run dry of the stuff in these past few hours, if such a thing was possible. "I was just wondering, why do you have all those stickers? What's wrong with just the one? Or two?"
Chick seemed to recover a little of his composure, and rolled his eyes; "because they're my sponsors?"
"I know that. But isn't there such thing as over‑advertising? To the point where it all looks a bit...cheap? I mean, you're a good looking car…" Lightning tailed off, not really sure why he'd said that aloud. Complimenting Chick was never supposed to be part of the plan.
Chick looked just as confused. "I-.." he stammered a bit, which was interesting in itself. Like he was embarrassed. "what..what are you saying? You think I'm cheap looking?"
Lightning was glad he'd chosen to ignore the good looking part. He smirked. "How can I tell? You've got too many stickers on you to know."
Chick opened his mouth; like maybe he was going to launch verbal attack, but he must have caught the teasing glint in Lightning's eye, and clearly he wasn't biting.
"Look, you're stupid." he said instead. "Very stupid, McQueen. So just shut up and stop being stupid."
"Okay." Lightning grinned broadly.
It was a little absurd. Very absurd actually. That Lightning should find solace in taunting his long time race rival. But here he was finding this very much the case. It reminded him of being back at the Piston Cup, on familiar ground. Because Chick was familiar. And he was used to petty arguments with this car. Chick reminded him of being safe and back at home.
Oh. Then Lightning realised. He was trying to find comfort in Chick.
A few days ago it might have been a lost cause. But now, Lightning thought there might be some kind of potential there.
Because Chick was probably, shockingly, nice when he wanted to be.
Lightning watched with interest as Chick veered round to his side. His expression still edging on embarrassment.
Then Lightning felt another shove against his rear, and Chick's motor was revving loudly. Lightning peered round to see mud spattering up against them both as the green car attempted to push Lightning forward some more.
"I don't think it's gonna work," Lightning said, when Chick made a sound of frustration.
The green car's engine revved again, as if to argue the statement, but it didn't work.
"urgh," Chick rolled back round to Lightning, "I think you're right. Don't go tellin' anyone I said that."
"I won't," Lightning tried to smile, but it was hard when he felt so useless, and Chick was looking at him like that.
He could race off if he wanted to. Lightning knew that. But he wasn't; he was staying.
The green car rolled forward only a few metres; "I'll see if I can flatten the ground out a bit, maybe then I can push you free easier, or something-"
His words cut off into a yelp, and Lightning watched in horror as the other car seemed to slip suddenly into the mud; his tires disappearing completely beneath him.
"-Chick!"
At the same moment Chick swore and pushed his engine into gear, but it didn't seem to help anything.
"Damn it…" he hissed. "I'm stuck…" he glanced back at Lightning, his face almost apologetic. "I don't think I can get outta here…" he revved again, his engine like a low rumbling growl. "argh…damn!"
"Chick, wait…" Lightning looked back, almost expecting crazy bikers to be on the horizon (as if it could get any worse), but they were okay for the moment.
Instead there was another crackle of lightning, and the rain beat harder against Lightning's hood. He could feel the mud about his tires moving and creeping up some more. Looking at Chick he realised this wasn't good for either of them.
The green car pulled urgently against the ground, his engine starting to whine with the effort.
Lightning took a breath and started wriggling his tires. They're almost seized up with lack of use, this past couple of days, so it was awkward in itself trying to move them, sort of like cramps. But they did move a little.
Then, with another deeper breath, he attempted to start his engine.
There was that strange puttering about his innards, like something had definitely come loose which wasn't supposed to, and an odd sparking noise which was not supposed to happen.
"McQueen? What're you doing?" Chick heard it, and looked at the red car in some confusion.
"Don't worry," Lightning said. "I think I got this,"
He attempted to start up again, this time the sparking noise was louder and with it there was a flash of horrible pain, like a stinging sensation all around his undercarriage.
"argh.." He couldn't help crying out, and his engine puttered out once more.
"McQueen, don't," Chick said sharply. "Don't do that. It's okay, I'll get out," he revved again, but the effort seemed to make him sink lower into the ground.
Lightning closed his eyes for a second, recovering some of his severely lacking energy.
"I can do it," he said, and gritted his teeth as he pushed his engine back to life.
It sounded strange, but more than that it was agonising. Lightning had never known pain like it before.
The only thing which worked against his natural instinct to switch off (and maybe pass out), was Chick's wide eyes. It wasn't even the fact that the green car looked so afraid.
"McQueen! What're you doing, you moron!"
"You…you came back for me…" Lightning growled, as he pushed through the mud; feeling it loosen around him. "It's only fair…I gotta help…"
He broke free of the sludgy mess, allowing for a tiny relief as he rolled along the clean track Chick had already made for him.
"C-careful, McQueen," Chick sounded tremulous, maybe disbelieving, as Lightning pulled up to him.
"Heh," Lightning couldn't resist flashing a grin at the other car, despite everything. "got it all under control," he exhaled shakily.
"You're so stupid," Chick said, but his face was still worried. "what's the plan now?"
There was a flash in the sky, and the rain started beating down even harder, almost disorientating Lightning's vision. Chick seemed to have the same trouble, but he wasn't so concerned about that.
"I'm sinking," he said unevenly, and started revving again, in a panicked kind of way.
"Chick, stop!" Lightning said. "you're making it worse! Just stop your engine!"
"But I'm gonna sink!"
"Yeah you are, if you keep that up!"
Chick's eyes were wide on the other car's for a second, and another flash of lightning seemed to highlight the terror in them.
"Please, just switch your engine off," Lightning repeated, as calmly as he could manage.
The familiar roar of the Buick died away then, and Chick stared at Lightning as if there was nothing else in the world.
"McQueen-"
"It's okay,"
Lightning took a breath, steadying the pain about his own engine, then edged slowly forward some more. He had to be careful; it'd be easy to follow Chick into the mud, then they'd both be finished.
"I can't see your tires…can you try and lift yourself up?"
Chick hesitated, "Yeah…" he pushed up as far as his axles might allow, his muddied undercarriage trembling and suddenly easier for Lightning to see.
"Okay," he budged up some more, then slowly reached out a tire, twisting it under Chick, and then around, so that their axles clumsily entwined. "I'm gonna reverse back now…" he blinked at the green car. "See if I can pull you out, okay?"
Chick didn't say anything, but Lightning thought he saw the vague motion of a nod.
Taking it as a positive, he revved his motor some more, trying to garner some power. It was not a good move; the pain rushing through his body in an instant.
"McQueen, stop it!" Chick sounded angry, maybe. Lightning couldn't be sure; his eyes were tight shut, and he couldn't focus too much on anything else.
He just needed to get the damn car out…
The ground moved beneath his tires, and there was the creak of metal against him, a gasp which seemed to come from Chick but felt very far away to Lightning's ears.
The rain was pelting now; like hundreds of tiny knives stabbing at his body, trying to contend with the heat of his engine.
It didn't matter; he floored what was left of his accelerator, the noise so loud that it was hard to know if it was the engine or the thunder rumbling about him; they seemed to mingle and merge into one.
There was Chick's voice again, suddenly much clearer;
"-can't believe it…you did it…"
Lightning opened his eyes.
The sky was clearing, an orange tint seemed to have covered it, and the ground was still sludgy but smooth on his tires.
"That was kinda amazing, McQueen…"
Lightning blinked to see Chick rolling in front of him, breathless and covered in mud. He looked alright.
Lightning grinned lazily, and only because he was so exhausted. His whole body felt like it might be on fire. He started to speak but found himself coughing instead. His mouth felt so dry.
"Easy, McQueen," Chick said. "take it easy," the green car rolled forwards a bit.
Lightning closed his eyes, comforted by the sound of Chick's voice somehow, even though he had no idea what the other car was saying.
888
"Let's just hope we put enough distance between us and those bikers."
Chick was sure he was talking mostly to himself.
"Mmn," Lightning said, and sounded almost asleep.
Chick felt sick, and then thought maybe he was worried.
They really needed to keep moving, but for now Chick knew that all McQueen could do was sit and hopefully not die. Chick was amazed that the other car had not burned out so badly as he had, considering what he'd done.
Dear Chrysler..what a crazy stupid hotshot.
Chick rolled his eyes at the sky; the early morning sun had come out, and it was as if the thunderstorm had never happened. Chick looked back at Lightning, whose tires were shredded and caked in mud. It made Chick's insides twist.
Yeah, it had definitely happened.
"You okay?"
"Uh…yeah," Chick hadn't realised the other car was awake. "…are you?"
"…uh-huh," Lightning didn't sound convincing. "Just…little tender." He started to move, but his body groaned a protest. "bad idea…"
Chick rose up on his axles, not realising he'd tensed so much. "give it a rest, rookie. You've played hero enough today."
Lightning snorted, but didn't argue.
"What?" Chick said.
"Nothing,"
Chick was confident it wasn't nothing, but then he wasn't in the mood to learn something else so intriguing about McQueen. Well maybe he was, he just wasn't sure he'd be able to handle it just yet.
"Anyway, you don't look okay," Lightning said, pulling him out of the thought.
"huh? Oh well…I'm just kinda wishing I had headlights, you know," Chick said quickly. It wasn't really a lie, he had thought about it. "Like last night. That would've been really helpful. Us being in the dark, and all. Help us find this damn station a bit quicker."
To his curious surprise, Lightning gave an empathetic nod. "Oh boy. I know what you mean. You know when I got lost in Radiator Springs?"
"Who doesn't know about it?" Chick said, and kind of wished he didn't sound so cold.
Lightning didn't seem to mind anyway;
"Well, before I got there I was stuck on the motorway. And man, it was scary." the red car visibly shuddered. "You get all these cars, normal cars, and they all have these headlights shining in your face. I didn't know where I was, where I was going. It was so scary. I thought it was gonna crash for sure."
At any other time Chick would've taunted Lightning about that, for sure. Now all he could think about was Lightning's tired face, and his muddied tires, and Chick genuinely wanted to know.
"So, er…how exactly did you wind up in hillbilly land? Um, I mean Radiation Stinks. Er, Radiation Springs...Whatever that place is."
Lightning's expression was more amusement than annoyance. "Your guess is as good as mine. I just got lucky, I guess."
"Lucky?" Chick did not bother to hide his incredulity.
"Sure,"
"McQueen, you got stuck in a dead end town. With a load of loser cars. And they nearly cost you the Piston Cup final. How is that lucky?"
McQueen laughed a bit. "Of course I was lucky, Chick. I met all my friends there. I mean, before I got lost...I was all...I didn't have any friends. Well sure, I had Mac. But that's only cos he was the only one who could stand me."
There was an infuriating, knowing look in Lightning's eyes as he spoke. Like maybe he thought he was that bit wiser than Chick. Which was all wrong anyway. Because Chick was the older car, and he was certainly a damn sight wiser.
But Chick let him carry on, wearing a sceptical face.
"And going there, to Radiator Springs, it showed me there was more to life than racing. Before that I was like...like..."
Lightning's eyes scattered about his surroundings for a short moment, before eventually falling on Chick.
"Yeah you don't need to say it," Chick finished. He couldn't help the strange bitterness which seemed to reign in his voice. "Say no more, McQueen. I think you've already made that point, anyway."
"Hey, no, that's not what I meant," Lightning tried to amend, looking apologetic.
He really was trying, Chick could see.
"Chick, I didn't mean it like that. I didn't mean I think you're bad...cos I don't, really..."
McQueen was floundering about in his words, yet strangely Chick didn't feel half so vindicated as he probably should have done.
Instead, he just felt...kind of empty.
"Forget about it, McQueen," he shook his front briefly. "I know what you meant, and you're right. I'm a bad car. But hey, that's who I am. And I got a reputation to live up to, right?" he hoped he looked anything but bothered.
He'd most probably failed, since McQueen's face flashed uncertainty.
"But don't you want friends?"
Chick prickled; "Friends? What are my crew for?"
"Chick. I know what crew are for. They're there to do a job and that's it. At least that's how I used to think of them. And you probably think the same. Am I right?"
Chick glowered at McQueen, but at the same time felt uncomfortable.
"Rookie, you'll never be right."
Lightning laughed faintly, but the effort seemed to make him wince. Chick remembered the burn of his engine. He must still be in some pain.
Hesitating, he reversed back a bit, and then rolled slowly in front of the red car. He felt inexplicably embarrassed for some reason.
"Uh, McQueen...if you want me to look at your engine, it's not a problem."
"You know much about engines?" Lightning asked, sounding polite.
It gave Chick the courage to look the rookie in the eye without feeling his reputation might have been damaged; "well, I know a bit. My old man taught me some. Him being a racing freak and all."
Lightning didn't give away anything, but neither did he seem to protest the idea. So Chick moved forwards a little more.
"I won't be able to fix it, but I can probably give you a clue about what's up with it, alright?"
Lightning nodded quickly. He looked nervous and embarrassed. "Okay. But just be careful," he said in a meek voice.
Chick grinned a little, and then, with a motion he'd seen demonstrated plenty of times on race cars both on and off the track; and himself a few times, he nudged McQueen's bonnet open.
He was met with a thin stream of smoke and an unpleasant gastric smell which made him cough.
"That doesn't sound good," McQueen mumbled, behind his bonnet.
"Ah, just a little smoke, McQueen," Chick dismissed, his eyes focussing through the fumes onto his components. "Nothin' wrong with that,"
"For maniacs like you, maybe," McQueen put in. And Chick let it slide, because he could hear the tremble in the rookie's voice, and perhaps the ounce of truth which came with his words.
Because a bit of smoke had never bothered Chick much at all.
"Can you see the problem?"
"Um. No," Chick blinked back over Lightning's internal parts, where he plainly saw the motor. He didn't like to lie to McQueen, well, maybe in the past he would like to, but right now he felt a lie suited the situation just fine.
Because McQueen's innards looked a mess.
The smoke had dispersed to reveal a wild tangle of short circuits and damaged parts. And the motor was leaking quite a bit.
Chick was glad that McQueen's upturned bonnet hid his rather horrified expression.
"So, um. It's not that bad right?" McQueen sounded hopeful.
"Erm. Yeah. It's not too bad, kid." He was quick to close the bonnet, and then direct a weak smile at McQueen. "It'll be fine. Just a bit of loose wiring. We can get that fixed up at the station."
That wasn't a lie, Chick consoled himself.
"Wow. Loose wiring, huh? That's a relief. I was thinking I was all busted up or something. It just feels all mixed up in there, you know? Maybe I was overreacting,"
"Maybe,"
Lightning looked up at Chick, and then his face softened; "hey, listen. Thanks. That wasn't so bad. You checking it for me, I mean."
Chick was surprised; "No problem, rookie."
"You can stop calling me that,"
"Calling you what, rookie?"
"That,"
Chick grinned. "sorry," he said, but it was nice to go back to this. Almost forget they'd both nearly died a couple of times now already.
"I'm not a rookie anymore, remember." Lightning seemed interested in keeping the argument going.
"Compared to me you are,"
"Oh yeah," Lightning rolled his eyes. "by that logic the King would be calling you a rookie,"
Chick cringed at the name; it was an automatic reaction at this point.
"I probably shouldn't have brought that up."
"Huh?" Chick blinked out of a faint reverie; images of a Piston Cup stuffed away, out of sight, out of mind...
"I shouldn't have brought it up," Lightning repeated. "it…I know you probably don't wanna think about that."
"What makes you so sure I was thinking about that?" Chick glared at him.
"The fact that you don't even have to explain what 'that' is," Lightning countered at once.
Chick opened his mouth but shut it again just as fast. He knew he'd been caught out.
"It's not like I'm gonna pretend like it didn't happen, McQueen. I'm not…that bad,"
"No, you're not,"
Chick blinked at McQueen, surprised by his confident tone.
"You can't be that bad anyway. You came back for me, didn't you? You didn't have to. I think that's pretty good, don't you think?"
Chick knew, without even turning to face McQueen, that the other car was grinning like he knew he was right.
It was terrible enough to imagine, never mind look at. So Chick settled for keeping his back turned.
It was probably just as well he did.
Or he would not have noticed the two bikers approaching in the near distance, at full and roaring speed.
Chick revved backwards with instinctual fright, almost colliding with Lightning's side as he did.
"This is...bad," he half‑whispered, before turning his gaze wholly to McQueen. McQueen's bright eyes had widened with considerable terror, and he was pushing in vain to get out of the clots of mud.
It was no good. McQueen wasn't budging an inch, and Chick knew it.
He turned back to the horizon, and the bikers were becoming larger and larger.
"Chick! Chick where are you going?" Lightning cried.
Then Chick realised he was backing up again, away from McQueen.
"McQueen...I can't‑ I can't stop here! They'll catch us both!"
"But...but don't leave me!"
"I‑I gotta get out of here!" Chick turned his gaze backwards.
The station...if he could make it...he could get help...someone had to be there, surely?
He turned a panicked look back to McQueen, but had no time to say any of this to the rookie. The bikers were almost on top of them.
Chick turned sharply and spared McQueen a firm look which was lost in his frightened voice; "I...I'll go and get help..."
Then he heard the bikers engines, drowning out his voice, and he didn't look back as he sped on. Away from McQueen.
Tearing along the wet ground, he could hear an engine close to him; one biker had obviously chosen to follow him. What could he blame them? He was an easy target now; almost out of fuel.
Then, almost like some hallowed gates of heaven, he saw the sign.
It looked different in a dim early morning light to what it had in the night, but it was there, nonetheless, and it read; "Fuel For You". Chick, if having the energy or the focus, might have given a great whoop of delight, but as he strained into the small station, he thought of nothing but McQueen, who was probably in great danger right now. Probably being carted off back to that garage...
"Hey! Hey is anyone here?" he yelled about the station, circling some of the gas stops. "Anyone? Can anyone hear me?" his voice echoed about uselessly. It seemed, as Chick had feared, to be completely deserted. "C'mon! Is anyone alive in this dump or what?"
As he finished turning the final station he came face to face with the biker that had been following him. It was grinning triumphantly.
Chick wouldn't give it the satisfaction of his easy capture, though. He revved what was left of his poor, abused engine, and arched up a little more on his axles.
"Ok then. You wanna take me back to your creepy little garage, fine. But I gotta warn you, I won't be coming very quietly this time."
The biker seemed up to the challenge for a mere couple of seconds, until suddenly his face fell into what couldn't only be horror. Chick was rather pleased with himself; he hadn't known he might be so menacing, after all...Then he saw the bikers gaze was looking past him. Behind him...
Chick swallowed hard, his own face falling. He turned very slowly.
There, flanked at his sides, were three road cars whom Chick could recall vaguely from a couple of days ago.
He hadn't cared much for them then. In fact they'd been downright annoying.
Now he thought he might adore them, as they lurched forwards and began chasing the biker away, out of sight.
But watching them rev off, Chick was given little time to relax. He was quickly reminded of Lightning...and the other biker...
Pressing his accelerator down once more, Chick raced onto the tracks left by his brief saviours, and back to McQueen.
He got there in time to see the road cars chasing both bikers into the distance. But he didn't pay them much attention at all. As he neared Lightning's very still form, he gave him a gentle and shaky nudge.
"McQueen? Hey, McQueen? Wake up, kid...wake up,"
Lightning did not respond.
888
"I'm fine, honest I'm fine!"
"Yeah, well don't go doing that again, you little moron."
Chick was unsure about whether to be vastly annoyed; annoyed that he's let himself get so upset, or just very relieved. Relieved that Lightning was alright. And mobile to boot.
He watched as the younger race car wheeled experimentally around the station, a gradual grin spreading on his lips as his motor revved smoothly into being.
"Oh, baby. This is what I'm talking about,"
"You're still a little moron." Chick refused to be too relieved, at least outwardly, that Lightning was alright. "What did you think you were doing? Trying to take the biker on?"
"Hey, he's hardcore, man! Real hard core!"
Chick turned a patronising gaze to the road car stood a little way away from him. Still, he knew he shouldn't act too frosty round him, or the other two. They had, quite simply, saved both Chick's and McQueen's wheels.
"He's not hardcore. No way." Chick decided, and once more turned to McQueen.
"Aw, come on, Chick. If I hadn't done something I would have been back at that garage now,"
Chick quirked a windshield, "So you thought you'd run out your engine until you almost self‑combusted?"
"Hey," Lightning looked sheepish, "It worked out okay, didn't it?" he rolled round to meet the trio of road cars. "You guys did a great job fixing up my engine. It feels great."
"Hey, it's no problem. We're pretty clued up about these things," the army green coloured car grinned, "and anything for cool fighting cars like you,"
"We're not fighting cars," Chick reminded hastily. "We race. And we're supposed to be at the Piston Cup right now."
Lightning seemed to perk up at that; "Oh yeah. Do you guys know where there's a phone round here? We need to get in touch with our crew and let them know we're in one piece."
"More or less," Chick muttered, not bothering that McQueen caught it. He braced himself and spoke in a tight voice; "sorry to upset you, McQueen. But there ain't no phone lines here."
"Huh? What?" Lightning turned to the road cars, as though maybe Chick's statement wasn't true at all.
He was to be disappointed.
"Sorry, man. This is a pretty basic station. No phone line."
"But...but that's stupid." Lightning turned back to Chick, and Chick felt like he was being asked, albeit silently, to offer some kind of comfort;
"Sorry, rookie. While you were out of it getting fixed up I drove all round this place. There ain't no phoneline."
"Argh." Lightning bit his lip, frustrated. "What do we do? Keep driving?"
Chick snorted. "You can if you like, McQueen. Right now, I'm in desperate need of a top up."
He directed a demonstrative gaze to the nearby gas café. It was quite abandoned and very small, but there was fuel available apparently, and Chick was unashamedly gagging for it.
"Wow. You guys fight hard and party hard, huh?" the street cars followed them into the café.
"Not exactly," McQueen's grin was weak. "Hey Chick, shouldn't we be worrying about those bikers and that big truck? You know, the one that tried to gut me?"
"Take a time out, McQueen." Chick said, feeling much too tired to really argue his point.
McQueen didn't look very eager; "But, you know...what if they come back? With reinforcements?"
"We'll watch your backs, man," one of the streetcars said, raising a scrappy rimmed grin. "You won't be far from the interstate now, anyway."
Unsure of why he should do it, but feeling compelled to anyway, Chick gave McQueen an assuring grin; "see? These guys'll keep a look out for us. We're fine, rookie."
"Well. Okay."
McQueen joined Chick at the desolate café with little enthusiasm, and his eyes were wide with apparent paranoia.
Chick knew how he was feeling, only because he was feeling much the same.
He supposed he was just much better at hiding it.
888