Chapter 23- Radiator Springs Race Team
"Life is a highway!" everyone sang as they made their way down the long and winding roads, all in competition with the sound of Sheriff's sirens (he was giving them the police escort he'd offered Lightning). "And I wanna ride it all night long! If you're going my way, I wanna drive it all night long!"
"Are we nearly there?" Fudge wanted to know from her spot in Mater's truck bed, interrupting the song.
"We still got a couple more hours, kiddo", Sheriff replied.
"A couple more hours?!" she whined.
"Come on, soldier", Sarge piped up. "You're the one who wanted to travel to places like India and Russia and Australia. How are you gonna do that if you can't handle driving from Radiator Springs to Los Angeles?"
"She might be able to when she's older, man", Fillmore reasoned. "She's only five."
"Almost six!" Fudge reminded him. Then her mood dropped a little bit. She didn't want her sixth birthday to ever come.
"Well, Fudgie", Luigi piped up, sensing her mood, "why don't you draw some pictures of what you can see on your first road trip?" She had packed some paper and crayons in her backpack. "And when we get there, you can watch a good race. But not as good as the Ferrari races", he added with a smile.
Fudge lit up. "Okay!"
At long last, they arrived at the Los Angeles International Speedway. By then, the race was close to starting and there was a massive crowd. There was no way they were gonna get through in time! How were they gonna get to the pits? Things got tougher than they thought when, right as they were about to enter the pits through Entrance A113, security guards approached them.
"Hey!" one of them called out to the RS gang. "No admittance without a garage pass!"
Doc rolled forward. "It's all right! They're with me!"
The security guard gasped and his eyes widened. He was speechless!
"Oh! M- my apologies!" he sputtered once he seemed to have recovered from the shock a little bit, moving aside to allow them all through. "Yes! O- of course! G- go right ahead!"
The cars and human from Radiator Springs thanked him and went through.
The place was so overwhelming, especially for Fudge. As a little girl from a small town, who had never seen so many people before (there were even more than there had been in Radiator Springs when Lightning was found), she found it extremely overwhelming. Not only that, but with the amount of cars coming through, it was hard for her to stick with the others. She had jumped out of Mater's truck bed upon their arrival and was now thinking that that was a mistake.
"Hey! Move it, kid!" a green pitty for the green race car, Chick Hicks, barked at Fudge as he barged past her.
Fudge had no choice but to wait for him to get past. Then three more went past. And they were followed by a bunch of reporters. By the time they'd all gotten past, the RS gang had disappeared from Fudge's view.
She glanced around nervously, not recognising anybody she saw. Where did they go? Where were the pits? Fudge didn't know. She remembered something Luigi had told her once. If she was ever lost, she should stay in the one spot till someone found her. So, that's what she did. Someone would find her. But when nobody did after five minutes, Fudge started to cry.
Meanwhile, the others were all busy getting the pits sorted. Lightning was still in his trailer and the only crew he thought he had was Mack. Boy, would he be surprised when he left the trailer. Doc and Sarge were quick to take charge. Doc because he had the most amount of experience of all of them and Sarge because he was just a natural leader.
"Fillmore! We need some fuel over here!"
"Is that all the tyres we got?!"
"Mater! Out of the way!"
"Look at what the other pits are doing!"
"No, Sarge! We have some more tyres here!"
"Well, what are they doing over there, Luigi?! We need tyres over here!"
That was when Sheriff uttered two words that none of them ever wanted to hear go together. "Where's Fudge?"
Immediately, everyone glanced around hurriedly to find an absence of the five-year-old.
"Who saw her last?!" Luigi demanded.
They all looked at Mater.
"She done jumped out when we got here!" the tow truck announced defensively. "I ain't seen 'er since!"
Doc sighed. "Let's go look for 'er!" He turned to Lightning's driver. "Mack, you stay here, so the rookie knows he has some crew! And, of course, in case she comes back! Rest of you! Split up! We gotta find that kid! Now, does anyone remember what she was wearin'?"
Everyone obeyed without question. Lightning was completely oblivious to what was going on as he parked inside his trailer, eyes closed and trying to focus on the race.
"Okay", he murmured to himself. "Here we go. Focus. Speed. I am speed. Victory. One winner. Two losers. Speed... speed... speed... speed..."
He was losing focus. All he could think about was Radiator Springs. When he closed his eyes, he pictured the view from up at the Wheel Well, which was where Sally had taken him for their drive, and the smiling townsfolk. And he could've sworn he heard someone outside calling, "Fudge!" However, he dismissed it as being either his imagination or him mishearing a reporter or crew member or whoever else was out there.
Lightning found himself glancing at the only souvenir of Radiator Springs that he had left now that he'd gotten back into his racing paint job and tyres. Fudge's drawing. The sight of it brought a smile to his face and tears to his eyes. Fudge was such a sweet little kid and the thought of her leaving her home where everyone loved her broke his heart. She didn't deserve any of that. He wished that there was something- anything- he could do. Fixing his eyes on her drawing just made him want to give Fudge a big hug. Winning this race didn't seem to matter anymore. Not without his new friends there with him. Besides, what they, especially Fudge, were going through was much bigger than winning some dumb old race.
Before he could think about it for too long, there was a bang at the door.
"Hey, Lightnin'!" Mack called. "You ready?"
"Yeah, yeah, yeah", he stammered. "I- I'm ready."
Reluctantly, he rolled out of the trailer and faced the reporters, but not without wiping his eyes free of the tears that had been forming inside of them. It was time for the big race.
When Lightning made it to his pits, only Mack was there because the others were still looking for Fudge (and he was completely oblivious to them attending the race at all!).
The 95 racer approached the big truck. "Mack, thanks for being my pit crew today."
"Eh, don't worry about it, kid", Mack countered casually. "It's the least I can do. After all, Gas Can is my middle name."
"It is?"
"Eh, not really."
Fudge was beginning to get worried. The race had started. That worried her for two reasons. One, Lightning was off to a poor start. He'd been too busy thinking about Radiator Springs that he missed the green flag completely and was behind. And two, nobody had found her yet. Most people were too distracted by the race to help a lost kid. Even when she had started crying, a couple of people looked at her, but nobody thought to help her or ask if she was okay. Why didn't they care? She was just a little girl. Why weren't they helping her? Were her family looking for her? Fudge didn't know. What if she never saw them again? What if she had to leave without finding them and had to-
"Fudge!" a voice called out. "There you are!"
The five-year-old turned at the sound of her name. She recognised that voice. It was...
"Uncle Sarge!" she whimpered, running towards him and giving him a big hug.
He picked the crying child up. "Where've you been, soldier?" he questioned. "We've been looking all over for you."
"I've been right here!" she sobbed.
"What happened?"
Fudge explained how all of the cars came through and she couldn't see any of the others.
"All right. Well, good thing you stayed in the one spot. Let's go!"
"You got her, man?!" Fillmore made his way through the crowd.
"Yeah! She's here!"
"All right. I'll go tell the others!"
"There is my little angel!" Luigi exclaimed when Fudge and Sarge returned to the pits.
He took her from the Jeep and cuddled her.
"(Where have you been?)" Guido wanted to know.
She told him. "I was so scared!" she wept, clinging to Luigi.
"Sssh... Sssh..." the small Italian car whispered soothingly. "You are here now, angel." He kissed her gently. "Papà's here... Papà's here."
"And now, we can get back to work", Doc added, taking his place at the top of a stand where the crew chief parked. "The rookie needs us."
"What does rookie mean?"
Luigi told her and Fudge nodded, understanding.
"What can I do to help?" Fudge wondered.
Doc smiled at her. "Whenever Lightnin' comes past", he instructed the girl, "you cheer as loud as you can, all right? You can do that, can't you, kiddo?"
Fudge nodded eagerly. She stopped crying and turned her attention back to the race.