literature

Fire and Rescue-Still I Fly Ch. 4

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Still I Fly

Dusty stared as the Fill ‘n’ Fly burned. Next to him, Spray was yelling for Sparky to get Mayday up. “I’ll get Mayday!” Sparky said as Chug nodded.

“I’ll hit the shutoff valve!” Chug replied as the two sped off to do their duties. While Chug shut off the fuel flow, Sparky went into Mayday’s old station and hit the alarm’s emergency button. It sounded weakly, ringing in a wimpy manner before the center bolt rattled and it fell to the floor with a CLANK. Mayday fell down the lift and looked out. Sparky bit his lower lip. Mayday’s station was way out of date. In fact, he couldn’t remember the last time the bell had rung! Mayday’s eyes went wide as he saw the smoke.

“Whoa! I’m on it!” He called as he sped out of the station, only to return a few seconds later. “Had to get my glasses…” Mayday explained with a sheepish chuckle before he raced off again. He knocked down the rickety fire house sign on his way out, making Sparky sigh.

Spray saw the sign fall and bit his lower lip. Even back home, and not at Boost Town…, the fire stations had made an effort to be up to date. His ailerons twitched again. Deep down, he had a feeling that Mayday wouldn’t be able to put out the fire. Mayday threw open his gate once on the scene and Dottie and Sparky unrolled the hose before hooking it up to a hydrant. Throwing open the valve, they watched as the hose puffed up with water and Mayday aimed the nozzle at the flames. Spray stared as the hose began to leak! “Oh, crap…” He murmured before Sparky saw what he was staring at and tried to plug the holes the best he could. Alas, the pressure got too much for him and he was pushed towards Chug instead.

“I got ya!” Chug said as he caught the ex-medic. Spray gulped. Without water, there was no way that Mayday would get the necessary pressure to put out the fire. Sure enough, Mayday ended up with nothing more than a small dribble of water. Looking into the mouth of the hose, Mayday only got a single drop of water, which hit him right between the eyes. No water meant the fire could not be put out the normal way. Needing a new plan, the old fire truck fixed his eyes on the water tower and looked back at his friends behind him. “I’m gonna need some help!” He said as he looked back at the tower again.

Spray gaped at the idea. “Are you INSANE?!” He exclaimed before Skipper spoke.

“No time to argue! Get over here and help!” The war veteran barked as Spray nodded. In no time, the group was in position. Dottie had already loosened one bolt on the water tower’s base while Sparky had pried up the other. Then, the old hose was wrapped around the tower’s legs and everyone grabbed hold. Mayday hooked up his winch cable to the tower and gave the signal. “PULL!”

Spray, Dusty, Skipper, Chug, and Mayday all grunted as they pulled with all their might on the old hose. The tower let out a low, long groan as it began to lean over. The crew pulled harder and harder, prompting the old hose to fray, but then, the tower tilted and collapsed, crashing onto its side and sending water everywhere. Spray yelped as he was pushed aside by the waves of water. The fire was finally put out, and as for Spray, he was upside down groaning. “Please make the spinning stop…” He groaned as Skipper rolled up to him, looking down at his form.

Dusty looked down as one of the Corn Festival flyers floated amongst the debris. It was all his fault…

-----
Next day

The next day, two representatives from the Transportation Management Safety Team came out to the small town, and Spray was confused. “TMST?” He asked as he looked at Skipper.

“Transportation Management Safety Team. They check out and make sure towns are up to code on fire fighting and other emergency procedures.” The Corsair explained as Spray nodded. But what Spray wasn’t expecting was the head of it to be there. Ryker, a serious-looking airport rescue fire truck, narrowed his blue eyes as his aide, a strict-looking pittty came up. The two eyed Mayday while everyone else stood by, concerned.

“TMS…T?” Chug asked as Spray sighed. While Chug was a loveable lug, he wasn’t exactly the brightest in the bunch.

“This Means Serious Trouble.” Sparky replied before Dottie rolled her eyes and sighed.

“Transportation Management Safety Team.” She said as Chug then nodded.

The TMST vehicles spread out orange safety cones around the area and then approached Mayday to discuss the fire. Spray watched before the pitty noticed his golden police badge and waved him over. Spray stared in shock before he gulped and headed over. The rookie cop watched as the pitty placed cones around poor Mayday as well. Then, the pitty clicked his pen and began to write things down on his notepad in a furious manner.

Ryker frowned as he looked at Mayday, who was now appearing to be uneasy. “What happened here?” He asked as Mayday shook a bit.

“A fire…what else?” Mayday replied with a nervous chuckle. Ryker just narrowed his eyes even more, making the poor fire truck gulp. “Bad answer…”

Ryker then took notice of Spray and looked at him. “Do you know what happened here?” He asked before Spray gulped and took in a shaky breath.

“Part of the Fill ‘n’ Fly collapsed after a friend of mine collided with it. Apparently, part of the overhang collapsed and fell onto a gas pump. That set the gas ablaze, which resulted in the fire.” Spray explained, his voice wavering every now and then. “I saw it all happen.”

That seemed to satisfy Ryker and his pitty. “I see.”

“Is…uh…is that guy writing down everything I say?” Mayday asked as he pointed at the pitty.

“Yes.” Ryker said.

“Well I—I…so, he just wrote that down?”

“Yes.”

“And that?”

“Yes.”

“And that?”

“Yes…” Ryker was now getting frustrated.

“Oh…Chevy…” Mayday replied at last.

“Can you provide me with your self-inspection records and emergency procedure plans?” Ryker asked as Mayday gulped. Spray could hardly believe it. Mayday hadn’t been up to date on the procedures!

The fire truck chuckled nervously before he spoke. “Sir, Propwash Junction hasn’t had many emergencies, especially of late. This is a very safe little town.” But Ryker didn’t like hearing that. His blue eyes narrowed even more. “Besides, we did get the fire out.” Mayday added with a nervous laugh.

“Is that your contingency plan, Mr. Mayday?” Ryker asked with a growl to his normally monotone voice. “Every time there’s an incident, you topple a water tower?” He was clearly pissed now.

Mayday looked down, too ashamed of himself to speak now. Spray saw this and frowned before he faced Ryker. “Sir, Mayday didn’t expect this, and nor did the rest of us.” He said, hoping to get the airport fire-rescue vehicle to give a bit.

“That doesn’t excuse not following proper procedure.” Ryker growled back, making Spray back up nervously.

Dusty then stepped in. “This was my fault.” He explained, making Ryker look back at him. “I clipped a tower. I flew out last night ‘cause I…” He trailed off, not sure of how to explain to the TMST head what happened to him.

Mayday looked back at Dusty with understanding and whispered back to him. “Dusty, it was an accident…”

But Ryker didn’t want to hear any more of this. His decision had been made. “It’s clear that this airport has no plans for an emergency, and it has equipment from last century. So unless Mr. Mayday gets refurbished and acquires a second fire-fighting vehicle, in accordance with CFR title fourteen, volume three, chapter one, second one-hundred thirty-nine, subparagraph B, I am pulling this airport’s certificate of operation for non-compliance of rescue and fire-fighting regulations.” He said as the pitty clicked his pen and put away the notepad. The two then left, leaving the town in shock. The airport was being shut down?! That meant the town would shut down! Spray gaped in horror, unable to believe what had happened.

Everyone began to gather around the main terminal to determine what to do next. Mostly they were walking about the terrible news. Worry over the corn festival began to come up, but Spray ignored that part. Things were now a disaster!

“I can’t believe it! No Corn Festival!” Chug wailed as Sparky looked down.

“Don’t feel bad…” He murmured as he laid a prong on Chug’s side.

Spray gritted his teeth as he heard the town’s vehicle residents begin to whine about the stupid festival. Finally, it got to be too much and he then sounded his siren as the light on his body flashed. Everyone stopped complaining as they all looked at him. “Can’t you stop thinking about your stupid festival for a few minutes?! Your town has just been practically shut down, and all you can whine about is your dumb Corn Festival?! You have much bigger problems at the moment! Like figuring out how to get your town back up and running! So I suggest you stop thinking about the dumb corn and focus on getting back in service!” He shouted as everyone looked at one another before looking back at him.

“The kid’s right.” Skipper said as he came up next to Spray. “We need to get Propwash Junction back up and running. And Dottie and I have an idea on how we can do it.”

Dottie then came forward with a drawing of Mayday held by Sparky. “This is Mayday now. But…when we commence upgrades…” Sparky switched out the drawings, revealing a new one of Mayday. “We add a new four-hundred watt siren, a two-thousand GPM roof turret, a high-capacity water tank with integrated class-A foam cell, and we get an all new Mayday.” Dottie said proudly, but Spray doubted it would be that simple.

While everyone began to feel better about saving the town, Spray looked at Dottie. “I doubt it will be that simple, Dottie. Mayday will have to effectively be given an overhaul and a new frame. We don’t have the tools or the tech for that. Well, you guys don’t anyway…” He said in a whisper as Dottie nodded.

“I know, but we need all the help we can get…” She replied, making Spray realize there was one way he could see to it that Mayday was given the overhaul he needed.

“Maybe, just maybe…I can get Boost Town to help. They could help you with the upgrades…” He murmured as the female forklift nodded.

“Good idea…”

Dottie then faced the crowd again. “Once Mayday is updated, all we will need to reopen our town is a second fire-fighting vehicle.”

But it was a bad choice of words, as panic began to set in again. “But we don’t have the funds to train a new fire-fighter!” Leadbottom shouted.

“Yeah! And it’s fire-season! We won’t be able to find a volunteer at this point!” Another resident, a car, exclaimed. It seemed to be hopeless for everyone involved.

Saddened by the turn of events, Mayday slowly rolled back to his old fire station. The sun was now setting on the horizon as he reached out and adjusted the old fire station sign before heading in.

Dusty quietly taxied in, approaching Mayday with Spray at his side. The old fire truck was alone, staring at the back wall of his station.

“Um…knock, knock…” Dusty said as he came in even further.

“Oh…hey, Dusty…” Mayday said sadly as he faced Dusty. But then, he turned back and stared at the wall again.

The air racer/secret warplane felt terrible for what he had caused. And all because he had been mad about not being able to race! How selfish could he have been?! “I just…uh…well…I wish there was something I could do…”

“Oh, there’s nothing. It’s alright…I’m…” Mayday felt his voice crack. “I’m old, Dusty. Looks like my fire-fighting days are over.”

Looking over his wall, Dusty could see all sorts of memorabilia from his years as a fire-fighter. Awards, decorations, plaques, medals, pictures, and articles all showed how Mayday had once functioned.

“No, no, Mayday! There’s still plenty of firefighting left in you!” Dusty exclaimed, trying to cheer up his friend. Spray came up as well. “Yeah. I mean, back in Radiator Springs, their lone police officer, Sheriff, he has been there for who knows how long! He keeps the town safe, even though he should have retired! If he can keep going, then you can too!” The police plane added, hoping his words would give Mayday’s spirits a boost.

Dusty leaned in closer towards one of the awards. “Look! I mean, right here. Firefighter of the year!”

“Nineteen sixty-eight.” Mayday replied dismissively, making Dusty look at another award.

“Okay, then your Bronze Star.”

“Old and tarnished, like me…” Mayday sighed as he looked down.

Then, he saw it. Dusty saw a picture that was out of the way, one that he had never seen before. Looking at it closely, Dusty could see it was of an old crop-dusting plane dropping water on a fire. This was new, and it piqued his interest. He didn’t know crop-dusters could become fire-fighters. “Umm…is this you and…and an old crop-duster?” Dusty asked, making Spray also head over in confusion. Mayday finally turned around and headed over to where Dusty was.

“Ah…that…Reminds me of the good ol’ days of firefighting. That plane there, he was one of the first aerial fire-fighters. He was what we called a SEAT, or Single Engine Air Tanker. You see, instead of dusting crops---ya know, like you and Spray used to do---they dropped water.” Mayday explained as Spray looked back at the fire truck.

“Really? Wow! I didn’t know they could do that!” He quipped as Dusty looked back at the old photo again. The image seemed to be standing out as a beacon of light to him. The crop-duster, or SEAT in this case, had a determined look on his front as he dropped the water. The longer Dusty stared at the photo, the more he felt like it was telling him something, to never give up, to still fly. Like him, this SEAT had defied what he was built to do and had become a fire-fighter. So perhaps…Dusty then looked back at Mayday.

“Hey, Mayday? What if…what if I became our second fire-fighter?”

Spray and Mayday looked at him like he was nuts. “You?! But-”

“Dottie will fix you up with help from Boost Town, and I’ll get certified.” Dusty continued, a smile coming to his face for the first time in hours.

“But Dusty, what about your racing and…well…you know…” Spray added as Mayday nodded.

“Look, right now, we need to get Propwash reopened…me and you.” Dusty insisted as Spray looked back at Mayday. The old fire truck appeared to be on the verge of tears.

“I…I don’t know what to say. Thanks, Dusty.” He replied softly.

Dusty knew it was the right thing to do, and for the first time since he had found out about his gearbox, he had hope for the future. He would continue a legacy that had been lost years ago…

-----
Piston Peak

The fire-fighting team leader looked over the funds listed and sighed. As before, for the last five years, the funds had not increased once. It was impossible to convince others that they had only 20% of their budget remaining, but it was true. Too bad no one else believed them…

Looking outside, the red, black, and grey helicopter sighed again before he turned and left for the outdoors. It was time for the annual fire patrol. He passed by the chief mechanic for the base, who dropped a tool that had broken in two. He swore as he picked it up. The leader looked away from the mechanic and looked ahead, his mind now focused on his job most of all.

Once he was airborne, the mission began.

Looking down, he saw the lodge that was already reopened. It stood out as a symbol of elegance and luxury, which made him sick to his tank. Seeing that large a wooden structure made him tense. It was much larger than he thought should be allowed by the park regulations, but alas, the superintendent didn’t seem to think that the rules applied to him as well.

As much as the red helicopter wanted to strangle the luxury car with his winch, he could not because it would be counted as murder. Putting lives in danger like that, in such a large and vulnerable tinder-box, shouldn’t be allowed either though, and yet there was only so much he could do as the leader of a small fire-fighting team.

The large lodge stood below him, as if mocking him and his team’s hard work. It was the ultimate in luxury, and yet they, the defenders of the park’s status as a park, had no such things at their small, out-of-date base.

No one seemed to respect them, it seemed. Another sigh escaped him. So much for doing their jobs effectively…

-----
Doc and Lightning slept that night, unaware of what awaited them over the next week, and just what was their ultimate fate…

Both racers were going to become embroiled in one of the worst fires and fraud schemes in their lives, and their lives would hang in the balance this time…
Finally! I got chapter four up! Sorry about the wait. I tend to drift from one fandom to another, and it happened again, but I intend to finish this fic no matter what! So I am back! Anyway, I hope you enjoy! It begins to get good from here on out. Once Spray and Dusty arrive at Piston Peak, then it gets good. :D Enjoy! :la: :icondancingcactusplz:
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Comments5
queenpearl's avatar
I hope Dusty keep his head in the game long enough to figure out what he needs to do.
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