Route 62, Ch. 25

I’ll Meet You On Route 62
(A Disney/Pixar Cars fanfic)

Chapter Twenty-Five:
Meanwhile...

That same morning, back in Radiator Springs…

“What in Ford’s name happened to my clinic?” Doc demanded as he looked around the room. Puddles of oil and transmission fluid congealed on the linoleum floor. Various tools and parts lay scattered about, many bent or broken. Papers lay soaking in the puddles and a monitor sat screen-side down, surrounded by glass. It was impossible to move an inch without driving over something.

Doc turned to Sheriff with a heated glare. “Who did this?”

“It was that Vroom woman,” the squad car replied, looking equally enraged. “She thrashed the place last night.”

Doc stared at him as though he’d just been struck. “What? Sheriff, are - are you sure it was her?”

“She was the only one in here at the time.”

Doc frowned and looked down at the floor. “There must be another explanation,” he murmured, though he sounded doubtful. He picked up a socket wrench from a nearby oil puddle and turned it over in his tire, then dropped it. It clattered loudly on the linoleum, shattering the silence. With a heavy sigh, he turned to look at Sheriff again, his expression unreadable. “Where is she now?” he asked quietly, his tone as empty as his eyes.

Sheriff opened his mouth to reply, then stopped. He looked ashamedly down his hood, scuffing a tire on the floor and clearing his throat. “Um, well, that’s the thing, Doc,” he murmured, not meeting the Hudson’s eyes. “I put her in Impound last night and she sort of - well…”

“She done flew the coop!” Mater finished for him.

“And took my trailer with her!” Lightning added indignantly.

Doc stared at Lightning in surprise. “Your trailer?”

“Yes, my trailer! It’s gone!”

Sheriff sighed and shook his hood. “I think you’d better come see this, Doc,” he said, turning toward the street.

A minute later, the four vehicles stood in front of the impound lot. Doc stared at the broken fence, then turned to Sheriff with a smirk. “You’re not going to tell me she did this too, are you?” he said skeptically.

“Of course not!” Sheriff retorted. “It was that damn big rig!”

Doc’s eyes widened in shock. “Mack? You’re pulling my tire!”

“No I’m not, Doc! Look, it had to be him! He’s the only one strong enough to knock the fence down and hijack the trailer!”

Doc stared at Sheriff for a long moment, then his gaze drifted off down the road as though expecting to see Mack and the trailer driving away at that moment.

“Ah jist cain’t believe Mack’d do a thing like that,” Mater remarked. “Ah always thought he were a good guy. And Miss Vee seemed like a really sweet gal.” He turned to Lightning with a quizzical look. “Now why d’ya suppose he took yer trailer?”

Lightning shrugged. “I don’t know… but I don’t believe Mack would have done it without a good reason!” he said suddenly, looking not at Mater but at Doc. “Mack IS a good guy, Doc. Even if he did steal my trailer…”

Mater looked around worriedly. “Daggum, what’re we gonna do?”

Doc nodded agreement. “I’m sure you’re right, Hotrod,” he murmured, then turned to the tow truck. “Well, first off, I need to know everything that happened yesterday before we make any rash decisions.”

Mater frowned down at his air filter. “Ever’thing? Well uh, le’s see… oh yeah! Yesterday mornin’ Ah waked up, bright ‘n’ early like usual. Weren’t easy gettin’ goin’ at first, due to mah hook gettin’ hung up under mah back bumper again. How that keeps happenin’ Ah reckon Ah’ll never know. Anywho, Ah got up, all creaky like, an’ stretched real long like a limo-zeen, then uhhh… then the first thing what Ah did was go out back tuh drain mah -”

“Ahem!” Doc interrupted. “Yes, thank you, Mater, but how about skipping ahead to when my clinic got thrashed? Can you tell me what happened then?”

“Uhhhh…”

“I can!” Sheriff spoke up. Doc gave him a doubtful look. “Miss Vroom let herself in yesterday afternoon on the pretense of tidying up. She left the doors wide open, so I reckoned I didn’t need to waste my time watching her. I left to make my rounds, and some time later I heard someone screaming, so I went to investigate. When I got back to the clinic the doors were closed, and Miss Vroom was all alone inside, and everything was just the way it is now. A mess.”

Doc frowned. “Wait, you heard someone screaming?”

“That’s what I said.”

“Who was it?”

Sheriff shrugged. “Hell if I know. I just know what I heard, and I heard a woman screaming.”

Doc raised a brow. “A woman? And it wasn’t Sally or Flo or the twins?”

“Nope, they was all workin’ at the diner,” Mater replied.

“And Sally was with me,” added Lightning.

“Now I coulda swore it were Miss Vee doin’ all the yellin,’” Mater continued. “But if she were inside the clinic then Ah guess -”

“That’s where the screams were coming from!” Lightning insisted. “I heard it myself! She was screaming for help!”

Doc stared at him in surprise, then turned a questioning look on Sheriff. “She was screaming for help, and you didn’t find that at all suspicious?”

Sheriff looked down at his hood and shuffled his tires. “Well, I - I didn’t really think about it much at the time…”

“Well, did she give you an explanation? Or were you too busy arresting her to listen to what she may have had to say?”

Sheriff scowled. “I resent that, Doc! What kind of vehicle do you take me for, anyway?”

“Well, ya wasn’t all that kindly tuh Miss Vee,” Mater remarked. “Specially not when ya was arrestin’ ‘er, so Ah guess that’d make ya uh - what was it ya called ‘im, Lightnin’? Oh yeah! A Dodge-rammin’ jerkmobile! That’s it!” Sheriff glared at Lightning, who in turn glared at Mater. “Whut? That’s whatcha done said, wudn’t it?”

“All right, we’re getting off track here,” Doc said. “Now, let’s get one thing straight: all three of you heard her screaming for help, correct?” Mater, Lightning and Sheriff each nodded in agreement. “And when you got to the clinic she was all alone?”

“And the place was in shambles,” Sheriff confirmed. He sighed and shook his hood. “Honestly Doc, I never would have believed she’d up and do a thing like that.”

Doc frowned. “You wouldn’t? Huh, that’s funny, because I thought you were the one who told me not to trust her in the first place. Wasn’t that you? Or is there another disgruntled old squad car around here I’m confusing you with?” Lightning snickered and Sheriff blushed. When he didn’t argue, Doc continued. “Now, is there anything else I should know? Did Miss Vroom say anything about what really happened?”

There was a long pause during which Mater appeared to be thinking especially hard. “There were somethin’ ‘bout a guy name o’ Joy, if’n Ah’m rememberin’ rightly.”

Doc looked at him curiously. “Joy?”

Mater nodded. “Yeah, tha’s right. Guy name Joy. She said he’s the one what trashed yer clinic.”

Lightning smirked. “I think you mean Joey. And now that you mention it, the name does sound familiar…”

“Are ya sayin’ ya know a guy named Joy?”

Lightning ignored him and turned to Doc. “I remember now - she said something about her boss coming to get her. To - to kill her.”

“Her boss?” Doc frowned. “I thought his name was Slade.”

“That’s what she said, all right,” Mater agreed. “Her boss ‘n’ Joey an' another guy named Crony.”

“No no no,” Lightning shook his hood. “It was her boss and his crony NAMED Joey! That’s probably what she meant!”

Sheriff snorted and turned away, mumbling something about empty-hooded lemons. Doc glared at him.

“Now wait just a darn second, Sheriff! I need to hear your side of the story as well!”

Sheriff stopped and grudgingly turned around to face the Hornet with an annoyed look.

“Are Lightning and Mater telling me the truth? Did Miss Vroom herself testify that someone was out to get her?”

Sheriff sneered. “What’re you asking me for? I thought Wingus and Dingus here just told you that.”

“Because you were there too, and I want the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth!” Doc was practically yelling by the time he’d finished his sentence.

Sheriff stared at him in surprise before answering. “Well, yes she did, but -”

“But nothing, Sheriff. I want to know everything she said last night. Innocent lives may very well depend on what you tell me.”

Sheriff said nothing for a long time. He stared down his hood, silent save for a heavy sigh. When he spoke again his voice was quiet, distant. “Yes. She said that two men were out to kill her… that one of them was named Joey and that he was the one who trashed the clinic. And that’s exactly what she said.”

Doc studied Sheriff’s face, searching his downcast eyes for sincerity. He cleared his throat. “It sounds to me,” he said slowly, “like Miss Vroom was telling the truth. It also sounds like Mack sprang her out of Impound and took your trailer,” he nodded to Lightning, “in order to protect her.”

A heavy silence followed the Hornet’s words, during which Mater and Lightning exchanged worried looks.

“What’re we gonna do?” Mater asked Doc. Before he could answer, Lightning spoke up.

“I say we go after them!” Sheriff snorted and turned away. Doc frowned at him, but said nothing. Lightning frowned at him too before continuing. “Mack’s one of my closest friends. He always went out of his way for me, even though it was his job and sometimes I pushed him a little too hard…” he trailed off, staring guiltily down his hood. After a moment he looked up again and fixed Doc with a pleading gaze.

“He was there for me when no one else was. Now he’s in trouble and I want to help him. I may not know Vee as well as he does, but any friend of Mack’s is a friend of mine!”

“Tha’s right!” Mater agreed. “An’ any friend o’ Mack’s is a friend o’ Lightnin’s is a friend o’ mine!”

Doc smiled. “Then it’s settled. We’re going to find Mack and Miss Vroom.”

Sheriff snorted. “Count me out.”

Everyone turned to look at him in surprise. “What have you got against Vee, Sheriff?” Lightning demanded. “I mean, if you’re still ticked off about her speeding -”

“It’s not just that,” Sheriff grumbled. “It’s her disrespectful, snot-nosed, stuck-up attitude that I don’t like.”

Lightning opened his mouth to reply, but could think of nothing to say. There was a moment of awkward silence punctuated by the shuffling of the racecar’s tires.

“Sounds an awful lot like someone else I know,” Doc said, his bumper curving into a smile. “A conceited young hotrod who sped through town one night and tore up the road… I believe you remember him, Sheriff?”

The squad car did not reply. He scowled back at Doc in his mirror. The Hornet smiled back. Lightning blushed and Mater looked puzzled.

“He was quick to get on everyone’s nerves,” Doc went on. “Especially mine. It took a long time, and a lot of asphalt, but somehow he managed to pave over the damage he caused and start again with a clean slate. Now I wonder how we ever got along without him.” He gave Lightning a fond smile.

Sheriff still said nothing, nor did he turn around. Doc rolled toward him. “I’m not asking you to come with us. I’m not asking for your help. I’m only asking that you give her another chance. Like you did with Lightning.”

This time Sheriff responded. With a heavy sigh, he turned around slowly to face the other three. His expression was unreadable. “All right,” he said quietly. “I will.” Doc’s smile returned tenfold.

“We’d better get going!” Lightning said suddenly. “Mack and Vee are probably hundreds of miles away by now!”

“Do we have any idea where they might be going?” asked Doc.

“Um, no.”

“Do we know which road they’re on?”

“No.”

“Do we even know which direction they went?”

Lightning didn’t answer this time. His guilty blush said it all. Doc sighed and shook his hood.

“Well that don’t mean nothin’!” Mater exclaimed, looking serious. “Ah say we jist git out there and start lookin,’ ‘cuz we shore as heck ain’t gonna find ‘em standin’ ‘round here jabberin’ ‘bout which a way they done coulda gone.”

Doc smiled warmly at him and chuckled. “You’re actually making a lot of sense right now, Mater. You know that?” Mater grinned proudly. Doc turned to the other two and nodded. “Well, you heard the truck. Let’s hit the road!”



Chapter Twenty-Six: [link]