General Lee's Revenge--A Car's Worst Fear

Chapter Six: Deadline

(Bear: named after the lovely regular at the store I work at who calls me 'cutie' and likes to stand around and talk for a while. Would love to hear more of this guy's Vietnam stories, dude's awesome :)

Gravedigger staggered up the ridge, finally coming to a stop in the trees. He heaved and huffed, collapsing finally in a cloud of white steam. Autumn hopped off of Cooter's tow truck and ran to him, Thunder, Tank, Grant, and Caleb rolling up to them, a handful of Defects in their wake.

As Cooter climbed out of his tow truck and started pacing back and forth, running a hand through his hair and muttering to himself. So consumed in his thoughts, he didn't notice Autumn yelling at him until Thunder honked his horn to get his attention.

"Hey, what the hell was that?" she yelled, stomping up to him. She had a fire in her eyes as if she were fixing to punch him.

"What?" Cooter exclaimed, putting his hands up defensively.

"You were supposed to have the Duke boys' backs, what happened?" Gravedigger growled with a sputter of his engine.

"L-look, I made a mistake, alright? It won't happen again."

"Cooter there ain't gonna be no next time, we had one shot at this. It's up to General and them other cars now, providin' they ain't strung up with Bo and Luke," Thunder explained.

Autumn sighed and gave Cooter a look. "Cooter Davenport, what the hell is goin' on with you? You've been actin' strange lately and I ain't taken too kindly to it!"

"Yeah, somethin's been off about you this past week here, is there somethin' you need to tell us?" Tank asked.

Cooter looked taken aback. "What? No! No, I ain't got nothin' to hide!"

"Which is exactly what a person with something to hide would say," Grant retorted, rolling forward.

"I'm with Grant on this one," Caleb said.

"Is this about that phone call you made at the gas station?" Autumn asked, folding her arms in front of her and giving the wily mechanic a skeptical look.

"How did you-" Cooter started.

"I've been watchin' you, and gettin' mighty suspicious. You know somethin', and I wanna know what it is, so spill it."

They all looked at Cooter with burning angst. The Defects exchanged glances and he watched Tank mutter something to Thunder. Finally, he sighed, looking back over at Autumn who still stood with her arms crossed and a look on her face that told him she had an iron fist with his name on it.

"I... guess I owe y'all an explanation..." his voice trailed off and he scratched the back of his head uneasily. "Look, I never meant to get y'all caught up in this mess, and I never hoped to get Christine in here neither. See, me and Rosco have been bird-doggin' the Prescotts for a while now, and... well, been tryna shut 'em down legal-like. But Rosco hit a dead end. I've been tryin' everythin' to keep y'all from knowin' what was goin' on 'cause we both figured it'd only be causin' problems. But that was when we ran into problems of our own and Christine got taken, and this whole thing started."

Autumn's expression hardened as she scowled. "What kinda problems?"

Cooter shrugged awkwardly. "We found out Boss Hogg was behind it, then Grant and Caleb started talkin' about Impound and PASC, and Rosco got hung up because, turns out, there ain't no laws protectin' Defects."

Grant's engine rumbled with thought. "There isn't?"

Cooter shook his head. "No, not a single one. That's why I needed to get 'em on different charges, and why I slipped up at the gas station. I was hopin' Bo and Luke and General, bein' as headstrong as they are, God bless 'em, would go in alone. Then I'd get the Colonial City police in here and bust the Prescotts for that. So, no, I didn't have Bo and Luke's backs in there, sorry."