Ride

Chapter 26- A Night In the Caverns

Chapter 26- A Night in the Caverns

Nobody's coming! Fudge told herself for the fifty millionth time in who knew how long. She had no idea how long she'd been stranded in the caverns. As hard as she tried to fight it, she kept falling asleep. Dammit! She'd been so tired lately and that was a very serious problem now! Nobody's coming! Why is nobody coming? God! Nothing seemed to be going right for her.

She could see that it was still raining. A big puddle was resting by her right elbow and it was getting bigger slowly. It made her think of something. Her throat was raging. What was she going to eat and drink? Well, looking around, she didn't know what to do about the food situation, but she read in a book once that you could drink rainwater. Was there a way she could get to it? Slowly, hesitantly, she tried to roll over. Oh, God! Her back hurt so much.

"Ow!" she cried out, wincing with every movement she made with her back. "Owww!"

No. She couldn't do this!

Fortunately, there was another way. It would be a lot easier to wiggle her way around, so that the hole in the "ceiling" was directly over her mouth. It wasn't that far. It was currently pouring onto her neck. Sure, it may take a little bit of trial and error, but it shouldn't be that hard, should it?

Ever so slightly, she edged her way towards the hole. It hurt quite a bit, but she was managing. As she felt the rain trickling against her lips, she sat up as much as she felt she could and opened her mouth. Surprisingly, it worked! Rain was going directly into her mouth. She was sure it wasn't enough to stop her from being thirsty, but at least she had a way of getting some water. At least this way, she could survive a little longer.

The thought of that made Fudge worry. How long would she be here? After all, if she were missing, this wasn't exactly the first place they'd look for her. Exactly. It wasn't the first place they'd look for her, but that didn't mean they wouldn't look for her there. It may take some time, but they'd leave no stone unturned. No matter how long it took. Someone would come for her.

It was pretty late in the day when Sheriff was parked at Flo's, listening to the radio. Everyone else was trying to listen anxiously, but it was hard to hear with the wind, rain and thunder.

"Weather report says the storm's not gonna clear up till the morning", he reported. "We'll start searchin' again at first light", he announced, beginning to drive off towards his office.

"What?!" Lightning cried. "No!"

Everyone turned to stare at him.

"If Fudge is out there", he argued, "then she needs our help right now!" Like everyone else, he couldn't stop worrying.

"It really is the best course of action, soldier", Sarge insisted. "It'll be a lot safer and easier if we wait until morning."

Lightning didn't look convinced in the slightest. Neither did Luigi.

"What if something's happened to her?!" McQueen challenged. "What if she's in trouble?! Or she's been taken?!"

"Who could've taken her?" Sheriff wondered. "There's no one else around here for miles."

"What about the Lemons from the World Grand Prix?!"

"Didn't Axlerod die last year?" Sheriff quizzed him.

It was true. Miles Axlerod had committed suicide in his prison cell a year earlier. Some people were mad about that, believing he took the easy way out.

"He had plenty of henchmen!" Lightning reminded him. "They could've picked her up and taken her without us noticing! Or someone else might have! We gotta do something!"