Chapter Ten: New Day

Chapter Ten: New Day

Doc groaned as he opened his eyes, light shining in through the window of his small apartment in the back of the clinic. Of course, he pulled back under the blanket, trying to block out the bright morning light. A small sigh of contentment escaped the blanket as the Hornet snuggled under it completely.

But his small cocoon was soon noticed by Maria. The red Dart noticed the blanket wasn’t left on the floor like it normally was and that raised her suspicion as to who was under it. She moved over, only to see it move a bit and she groaned. “Not again…” She groaned as she made her way next to the lumpy form under the soft blanket. “Doc, please get up…”

“No…” The Hornet groaned as he pulled the blanket around himself even more. The female Dodge Dart rolled her eyes as she tried to grab the blanket. But Doc just yanked it away from her tire and she growled.

“You have to get up.” She said as she eyed the form under the blanket. “It’s not like you to be in bed this late.”

“Don’t care…”

“Doc James Hudson, you get up this instant or you will receive a shot in the most painful place I can find!” Maria snapped as she reached for said blanket again, but once more, it was pulled out of her tire’s reach.

It was clear that the midnight blue racer was not willing to get up so easily and Maria sighed in exasperation. “Just get up…”

“Too…sleepy…”

“Why?”

“Up…late…last night…”

Maria groaned as she recalled what was happening over the last week or so. As a result of the new restored connection, Doc was more prone to being overprotective of Lightning, and as such, he was often up late practicing his sniping skills. But thankfully, it was to only last a few weeks. Still, it played havoc with the darker-colored car’s sleep habits, and now was one such occasion.

While she didn’t want to disturb him, she knew he had to get up, so she grabbed the front of the blanket and yanked it off of the Hornet, making him wince as the light from outside hit his eyes.

“Maria…” He groaned, but he didn’t argue with her. If he was up, he was up.

A yawn escaped Doc as he finally shook himself to regain some sense of wakefulness.

Maria smiled as she saw him come up next to her. Then, the two of them left the clinic for the outside world.

At Flo’s café, Doc once more yawned as he took his spot next to his son. Despite the reunion with Lightning and the restoration of the connection between them, Doc found himself a bit more protective than usual. Strip had explained it was a side effect of the trauma the connection had been put through, and had said it would last only a few weeks. But the Hornet found himself hating it, as it was messing with his usual sleep patterns.

Of course, Filmore was going on and on about his conspiracy theories as usual that morning and Doc groaned. He didn’t want to have to deal with the hippie van’s crazy ideas at the moment.

“Can you please shut up?!” Doc snapped as he glared at Filmore. His blue eyes were blazing with irritation and annoyance.

“You can’t silence free speech, man!” Filmore exclaimed before Sheriff rolled his eyes and began to urge the hippie back to his home.

Doc grunted once before he felt another yawn escape him. He felt like he wanted to pass out on his tires, he was so tired.

“Damn Chick…” The Hornet growled as he tried to shake off the feeling of sleepiness creeping up on him. “He just had to put Lightning, and me, through that…”

“Well, Chick Hicks isn’t allowed to race anymore, so he will be getting what he deserves.” Maria replied as she came up next to the darker-colored car. Doc grunted once.

“I hope so…” He growled before Sally spoke to him.

“Well, I heard Chick left for the woods not too long after his conviction, before they could send him to jail.” The Porsche commented as Doc looked at her in confusion.

“Why would he do that?” The Hornet asked as Sally just shrugged.

“How should I know?” She replied as Doc just sighed.

Strip heard Sally’s comment and headed over, certain he could explain why. “Well, I may not be an expert, but I think Chick left civilization because of what the Racing Commission did. They basically said he couldn’t have a job anywhere with this conviction, so if he can’t have a job anywhere, then what else can he do? Living in the woods as a hermit is the only option he has available to him.” Strip explained as Doc, Sally, and Maria all looked back at him.

“So, Chick can only hide out in the woods now?” Sally asked as Strip nodded.

Doc grunted. “Serves him right…” He growled before Maria nudged him gently. “After what he pulled, it suits him.”

“Doc…” Maria scolded lightly, making the Hornet look back at her.

“What? It’s true!” He exclaimed as Maria sighed.

Spray then came up, having just returned from a morning flight with Dusty and Skipper. “What’s going on with Chick Hicks?” He asked as Sally looked back at him.

“Apparently, Chick has left civilization to become a hermit living in the woods because he can’t get a job anywhere.” The Porsche replied as the two warplanes and police plane all gaped at her words.

“What?!” All three exclaimed as the baby blue car nodded.

“Yep.”

Spray whistled as Dusty and Skipper both grinned like loons. “Well, he deserves it then!” Dusty quipped before Spray glared at him.

“Hey! It’s only the truth.” Skipper replied. Spray rolled his brown eyes before Lightning spoke up next.

“Chick didn’t deserve to be called a racecar if that is what he was willing to pull…” He growled before he winced. His engine was prone to flare-ups of pain ever since that day he had been rescued. However, the doctors had said the flare-ups would go away within a few weeks, so that was good news.

Doc noticed the wince and frowned a bit. It didn’t help that the green stock car had not fed the red racer during his time as Chick’s captive either. “You should still take it easy, rookie…” He warned as Lightning sighed.

“I know, dad…” He murmured. “I know…”

Despite his racecar lineage and being a fast healer, Lightning would take some time to recover still. It only showed that even racecars were vulnerable to fatigue and overexertion too. Doc nudged the younger racer once before Spray then spoke again.

“So…just to be clear, what happens if a racecar becomes a hermit?” He asked as Strip felt everyone’s eyes on him.

“Unfortunately, not even I know.” The light-blue racer replied as Doc frowned. “No one knows, because the ex-racers are never seen again, and no one bothers to search them out to find out either.”

“So we will never see Chick again, is that what you are saying?” Doc asked as Strip nodded.

“It is.”

“Good.”

“Doc!”

“What?”

A loud THUNK was heard as Maria smacked the midnight blue racer with her tire, well, more like a hubcap that had fallen off a few days prior.

“Ow…” Doc groaned as he shook with the pain. Spray snickered at the sight.

“She got ya there…” He quipped before he backed off.

Maria rolled her eyes before she sighed and shook her front. “How could you act like that? Especially towards another racecar?”

“He tried to claim Lightning as his son, remember?” Doc growled back as the red Dodge Dart sighed again. Oh, she remembered alright…

Just then, a small red and white stunt plane came speeding over and came to a screeching halt near Spray. “HHHIIIEEEE~!” Zippy sang as he bounced on his landing gear happily.

“Zippy!” Spray groaned as the stunt plane giggled.

Doc groaned. Great, just what he needed to deal with: one hyper-active stunt plane… “Get out of here, Zippy…” He groaned as the stunt plane just sat there in defiance.

“Nope~!” He sang as Doc sighed. He didn’t need to deal with this while he was still half-asleep.

“Please…just leave me alone…”

“Nope~!”

“Just back off…”

“Nope~!”

“Just get lost…”

“Nope~!”

“Zippy, Doc’s been up since 1 in the morning! Do you really think he wants to deal with this right now?!” Spray snapped as little Zippy stopped his bouncing.

“Aww! No fair!” He whined before Skipper spoke.

“Why don’t you bug someone else?”

“Okay!” Zippy said happily as he settled near the Corsair’s side.

Skipper groaned. “Not me…”

“Why?”

“Oh no…”

“Why?”

“Stop it…”

“Why?”

Spray snickered as he saw Skipper groan at the non-stop ‘Why’s’. “Just stop!”

“Why?”

“Stop it!”

“Why?”

Dusty laughed as well before Flo sighed and took pity to poor Skipper, offering Zippy a fuel-cone. “I got a treat for you.” She called as Zippy turned and saw it.

“Fuel-cone!”

At once, he began to lick it as Flo fastened it to his wing. Zippy didn’t even notice Skipper sigh with relief, he was too focused on the treat.

“Thanks Flo.” Skipper said gratefully before she smiled at him.

“No problem, dear.” She replied before turning to fill the next order.

Things seemed to be looking up, despite the ups and downs that were to come…

If only it would come for those who were really in need…