Chapter Seventeen

Zundapp studied the complex engine-electromagnetic-pulse-emitter system in front of him. A bullet was wedged between the EMP and the engine proper, and he spotted another under the defroster vents earlier in the examination. "The one under the defroster vent can be removed easily, he said, but the one near the engine will be trickier. That was a lucky shot, for both you and Montgomery."

"Are they dangerous?" Lexie asked in reply.

"No. Bullets by themselves, once motionless, are harmless, but considering the novelty of a few of the circumstances, I don't want to take any chances." Zundapp turned to Ramone and asked for a few specific tools and then set to work. Lexie relaxed when the bullet near the defrosters was removed with little to no hassle to speak of, but cursed herself for it when Zundapp worked his way around her engine and EMP. She winced and squirmed, gritted her teeth, tensed her body, struggled to obey Zundapp when he told her to be still, and finally let out a cry when the bullet came free. She settled onto her chassis, her eyes closed and her breathing heavy.

"Ouch," she whispered.

"I told you to sit still. It probably would've hurt less if you listened to me."

"I tried. You pulled too much at what's supposed to be there."

"You expect me to argue this point with you all day, don't you?"

Lexie rolled her eyes and drove off of the platform. "I've got better things to do," she said.

Outside the body shop, near the V8 Cafe, she spotted Finn and Shorts filling the Sheriff, Holley, and Mater in on what happened the previous night, but she drove by without giving any indication that she noticed.

After a little while, she drove off Route Sixty-Six and into the desert. The sand crunched under her tires, the one source of comfort in the mess that was her life at that exact moment. She drove in a lazy circle around Radiator Springs, choosing a path of least resistance that would get her to the cliff under the Wheel Well Motel and Restaurant. A soft breeze kicked up some dust as she drove along, but it wasn't as bad as it could've been.

She reached the base of the cliff, and ten feet to the right of her arrival point was the pile of parts covered in a thin layer of desert sand that used to be Montgomery. Her mind flashed back to his fall, namely that he laughed that oily cackle that seemed a perfect match for him as he tumbled into the valley.

"Yea, though I walk in the shadow of the valley of death, I shall fear no evil," a voice behind her said, and she turned to face the Land Rover that had arrived in town several days earlier.

"What are you doing here?" she asked.

"I know a few things about the depravity of the soul," Axlerod replied as he parked next to her. "Once you know and understand something like that, you have no need to fear it."

"What if you begin to fear yourself?"

"This will pass."

"How do you know?"

"I spent twenty years in a maximum security prison, pouring over every detail of the Allinol case. After I began comprehending what I had done, I feared and hated myself, thinking myself the most depraved car on the planet. Then I thought about who I had done my work for, and I realized that perhaps I hadn't been as depraved as I judged myself to be. I've figured out that the car who orders others to be killed is worse than the car doing the dirty work."

"What is this, the stages of grief and the moral stages having a bastard child?"

Axlerod chuckled. "You could argue that, yes, but I personally see it as a process all its own, accomplished only by a few distinct sets of circumstances. You will come to the end of it in time, though I can't say exactly how much time, since every car's different."

Lexie turned to face him and held a tire out. "Thanks, Axlerod."

"Call me Miles." They shook tires, and Lexie gave him her name in return. "It's a pleasure."

"Same here." After a moment, she said, "I've done what I needed to do here, so I guess I better pack up and go to school." Without another word, she turned and drove back toward Radiator Springs.