When Life Gives You Lemons

Chapter 24- Panic

Just another filler chapter here and I named it after what I feel is the main theme in it.

Chapter 24- Panic

"Out with it", Sarge ordered flatly once Team McQueen arrived in their hotel in London, England and they were in the elevator up to their rooms.

They had made it to London a couple of hours earlier, still entirely unaware of the trouble Mater and Fudge were in. After getting past the press at the airport, the five cars had taken a scenic drive on their way to the hotel. Luckily, it seemed like all of the racers had or would recover in time for the third and final race in the World Grand Prix.

Lightning looked at Sarge blankly. "Out with what?"

"Something's obviously been bothering you since the race in Italy", Sarge replied, "and I wanna know what. So, out with it."

Lightning sighed sadly. "After the race... I really thought I heard Mater and Fudge."

Immediately, Lightning had Luigi and Guido's full attention.

"You heard Fudge?" Luigi asked.

"Well, I thought I did!" Lightning corrected him. "I could've sworn I heard her shout, 'McQueen! It's me! Fudge!' Mater was calling out to me too. And I thought I saw him... but it was another tow truck. It wasn't Mater."

Sarge sighed as the elevator stopped on their floor with a ding and the doors opened. "Look, soldier", he began as they all rolled out and moved into the hallway, "I think it's obvious that you're upset over your fight with Mater. Why don't you just call him? You're not gonna feel any better until you do."

Lightning looked doubtful. "Are you sure he'd wanna talk to me? I mean, back in Tokyo, I said some things-"

"It's Mater", Luigi reminded him.

"He's right, man", Fillmore agreed. "Mater's gonna wanna hear from you."

The others all chimed in with their agreement.

Lightning sighed, realising that his friends were right. "All right. I'll call once we've gotten settled in here."

So, he did. As soon as he entered hotel room 624, Lightning tried to get through his packing as fast as possible (just because he was fast on the track, that didn't mean that he was fast at everything; like packing and unpacking!), so he could get on the phone with Radiator Springs quicker. When he was done, he got out his phone and scrolled through his contacts till he found Sally's name. Even though he was calling with the main goal of talking to Mater, he was hoping to talk to everyone else as well, especially Sally. Plus, he promised Luigi and Guido that he'd let them speak to Fudge when he was done.

Ring, ring! Ring, ri-

"Hey, Stickers!" that familiar voice greeted him.

Lightning lit up in an instant. "Hey, Sally!"

"So, you made it! How was your flight?"

"It was... all right." He could hardly think about his flight. The entire time he was on that plane, he couldn't get Mater and Fudge out of his mind. He really thought he'd heard them...

"How's London?"

"I haven't seen much of it, but from what I have seen, it looks amazing." He sighed. "I really wish you were here."

"Me too. I can't wait to see you again in a couple of days... So, is the final race still going ahead? Didn't most of the racers crash?"

"Yeah, but most of them had been cleared to race." Even Carlos Vega, who had broken his leg, was raring to go. ("I'm hurt", he insisted, "but I'll live. And I will race.") He had gotten a sturdy cast and was deemed fit enough to race. So had Lenny Zbikowski and Sebastian Freudenberger, both of whom had suffered a concussion amongst other minor injuries.