The Principles of a Grand Hunt // Part 1 - A Cars Story

Chapter 5 - Nineteen Days

The next morning...

It was a quaint summer's day as it had been for the past week or so. Dash gradually came to grips with the lovely Thursday morning around him. He looked over at Phillips, who was snoring loudly next to him. It was evident that he stayed the entire night by his side considering what had happened the night prior. Dash pat him on the fender gently and went up to the door, opening it and taking in the fresh breeze.

"Glad to see you're up early." Phillips said in the background, groaning and yawning as he awoke.

"I'm surprised you stayed with me the night." Dash said.

" Well, someone had to take care of you in your condition." Phillips said.

Dash looked over at Phillips, smiling in admiration.

" Thank you... for staying with me last night... for keeping an eye out." Dash thanked.

"Hey, that's what we're here for. To keep our inmates from harms way..." Phillips quipped.

"I think that's more of a cop thing." Dash joked.

"Whatever. We don't need to establish semantics." Phillips retorted.

Phillips slowly rolled over next to Dash, taking a long breath and staring out into the open.

"Well... I should really get back to it now that all seem to be awake." Phillips notified.

"Hey, I think I can get through the morning 'til the doctor arrives." Dash affirmed.

"I mean, this isn't your decision to make... prisoner..." Phillips quipped.

"Heh... my bad. It is not." Dash realized, sighing.

"But, in saying that... considering what happened last night... I'll bring breakfast over for you. How does that sound?" Phillips gestured.

Dash smiled warmly at Phillips. Grand gestures are something Dash finds himself initiating more often than not, so having someone else do one for him felt nice.

"Yeah... I'd like that... thank you." Dash thanked.

Phillips turned around and began to leave. Dash's eyes briefly wandered over to Bog once again, whom sat outside with a newspaper under another guard's supervision, the exact same as yesterday. Something came to him.

"Hey, sir!" Dash called out.

Phillips stopped, reversing and spinning around to face Dash.

"Do you have any spare papers from today at all?" Dash asked.

"As in, newspapers?" Phillips said.

"Yeah." Dash confirmed.

"Aren't you a bit young for that?" Phillips joked.

"Well, what else am I gonna be able to do here?" Dash affirmed.

The guard looked at him up and down, thoroughly confused.

"You're an odd one, Boltarius. I'll bring one to you." Phillips said, leaving chuckling.

Dash awkwardly smiled at Phillips as he closed the door, immediately racing over to his mat and deflating. As he sunk into his mat, he calmed, letting his inner monologue begin.

"Jeez... so only 19 more days to go. I'm feeling like I might come out a good car after this... well, Deme seemed to think I was always a good car. But, I mean, surely I'm the best gauge for that? Surely I'd know if I'm a good car or not? ...agh, I dunno. I'd like to think I am... but does that make me a narcissist? Oh, by the Manufacturer, what if I'm a narcissist?! What would Deme think of me now? Am I worse than I used to be? ... I mean, c'mon. Surely asking to fulfill a sentence is worth even a smidge of soul-searching cred... right? But then again, it shouldn't be about the cred... it should be about bettering myself as a car. Jeez... If I have to think about these things this hard, maybe I've not completed my soul-searching journey... maybe I need more than 19 days to do this." Dash thought.