Fanfic: In The Fast Lane

3|| A plan

Chapter 3: A Plan
1 Year Later: 1990

Harley was speeding down a beaten dirt road. She could hear another car right at her tail. She had no idea how fast she was going; all she knew was that she wanted to get away from him. From him.

"Get back here, young lady!" His thunderous voice boomed around her, she couldn't see him anymore, but what she could see wasn't much better. Everything was dark as she sped straight to a dead-end. She spun around and still could not find him. "You think you can hide? Hide from ME!" suddenly; a huge tire came crashing down in front of her. It rose up and moved closer. Then again, it slammed into the dirt, inches from her face. She watch it lift into the air, aim straight for her hood, come hurdling down and-

"Ahh!" Harley gasped for air and looked around the room. Her eyes were blurred with tear. It was still dark so she searched for a clock and blinked away the tears to read it, 4:56 am. She continued to pant as the tears went down her hood. Just then, Doc came rushing into the room.

"What's wrong!? What happened!?" he frantically asked. He searched for an intruder, but none could be found.

"I-it's okay… just." she sniffed and looked up at Doc with a small smile. "It's was just a nightmare." the pale moonlight shone through the curtains of a single window in the room. She could see the light shine on Doc's tired but relieved face.

"Okay… okay." he said and drove next to her. "But you're okay, right?" Harley nodded and leaned into him with a slight smile.

"Yeah. I'm okay…" she closed her eyes again, but didn't drift off.

"You've been having those more often." Doc said and Harley's smile faded.

"... Yeah…" she almost whispered.

"... Do… you want to talk about it?" Doc carefully asked and she shook her hood.

"No… no, not really." she mumbled, but he still heard her.

"Okay… that's okay." They stood there in silence. Harley leaned into the royal blue side of Doc, and he somewhat leaning back. He now found the clock. 5:05 am. He looked around the room. It was small and simple. Doc knew that if she was going to be staying here, she'd need a temporary space to call her own. He had cleared out an extra office in the clinic and replaced a bulky desk, a filing cabinet, and plenty of scattered papers with a nightstand, a mirror, and a place to sleep. He wasn't sure how to decorate a girl's room, so the walls were left blank, until Harley had asked Ramone to paint it all a bright blue. Without telling Doc. He smiled at the memory and then looked over at Harley. She was again breathing lightly and at a smooth pace. Her eyes were gently closed and she was asleep again. Doc moved away carefully then sighed. 'Hopefully she won't have any more tonight.' He thought to himself and drove back to his own room.

The daily alarm came around 7:50 rather than 7:30 that day. Doc woke with the usual sound of "Reveille" being clashed with a Hendricks's version of "The Star-Spangled Banner." Undoubtedly, it was followed by the daily argument about disrespectful versus respecting. Doc yawned and blinked a few times. His first thought was to go check on Harley. He slowly made his way to her room and knocked twice on the door. No response. For the past year she had always been awake at the sound of Hendricks. The music had already been playing for a while.

"Hm..." Doc opened the door and saw not a trace of Harley in sight. Her frantically looked around then sped around the clinic. "Harley? Harley!" he called out but got no response. He sped out of the clinic and saw Sheriff coming in from the Radiator Springs sign. "Sheriff!" he called and quickly met up with him.