Cherry and Atticus Save the Neighborhood

chapter 10

Atticus checked his watch. "Guys, we got 20 minutes until the bulldozers come!" he realized. "Come on, let's roll!"

Arnold took a rope and a hook and helped them off the roof to safety as the rain stopped, but thunder still rumbled.

"Going down." Patch said.

"By the way, Helga, it doesn't affect you that Patch is talking?" Arnold asked.

"Patch can talk?" Helga asked. "Huh, guess I haven't noticed..."

"Seriously?" Patch asked. "How could you not notice?"

Helga, Atticus, Patch, and Arnold made it to a stop and a familiar bus came up, much to their reluctance.

"Sorry, we couldn't find a cab." Cherry said to them.

"Get in," Gerald said before seeing Helga with them. "Helga? What's she doing here?"

"No time to explain, Gerald," Arnold replied urgently. "We got exactly sixteen minutes to get back to the neighborhood to stop the bulldozers."

"Behind the yellow line." Murray warned them.

"Yeah, yeah, just get to driving." Patch said.

Murray didn't even phase out that a dog talked to him and drove his usual speed. The others were by Murrays' side while Cherry was curled up on a seat, leaning her head against the window, her eyes were shut and her mouth was half open, making strange noises.

"Murray, could you please go faster?" Atticus asked.

"I do 25 miles an hour," Murray replied. "No exceptions, no discussion."

"But people's lives are at stake!" Arnold cried out.

"It's not my problem." Murray still refused.

"The thing is, Murray, we're kind on in a hurry," Gerald urged. "A whole neighborhood's about to be torn down and we have a proof that can stop 'em from doing it. We have to get there in fourteen minutes."

"I'll get you there when I get you there, which, according to my schedule, will be in about 44 minutes." Murray droned.

'Does nothing faze this guy?' Patch thought to himself.

Murray ignored Arnold and Gerald's protests.

"Don't you care that every building from 33rd to 39th Street is going to be demolished?" Atticus asked, disappointed.

That got Murray's attention however. "Did you say 33rd to 39th Street?"

"Yeah, why?" Patch asked.

"Hey, that's where Mona lives!" Murray realized before actually speeding the bus up for them. "Hang on to your goodies, kids. We got a neighborhood to save."

The kids and puppy flung back as soon as Murray sped up.

"Huh?" Cherry snorted, slowly waking up. "What...?"

"We just motivated Murray to go faster." Patch and Atticus smiled.

"Is there anything we can do?" Gerald asked.

"Yeah," Murray replied as he kept going super fast, above his speed limit. "You can get down on your knees and pray this hunk of junk holds together long enough to get us uptown in one piece."

"Already on it." Patch said before beginning to praying that they would make it.

"Look!" Arnold pointed to a blocked road from FTI men who were going to ambush them.

"This guys sure is persistent." Atticus said.

Cherry yawned and came over, rubbing under her glasses. "What'd I miss?" she asked, slightly mumbling from sleepiness.