#arthur bailey

Arthur was the first to spot you at the side of the road. Broken down car, bloody and beat up, limply waving as you clung to the open driver door.

“Grace, stop the car!”

“Why?”

Grace paid no mind to the panic in Arthur’s voice. He was a softie, after all. Which meant an incredible liability in the race. So with Grace determined to win and keep her head in the process, she couldn’t risk always listening to Arthur’s “kind hearted good boy” concerns.

“Up there!” Arthur pointed at the fast approaching vehicle and it’s clearly injured passenger. “Someone’s hurt. We need to help them.”

Grace didn’t take her eyes off the road. “No can do, Barbie. We’re finally ahead of everyone else. No way I’m slowing down now.”

“Grace, we have to do something!”

“No, we don’t,” she frowned, literally putting her foot down on the accelerator.

With the broken down car about to pass them and your body obviously slumping to the ground, Arthur quickly made up his mind.

Within seconds his seatbelt was undone and the car door was open as Arthur threw himself out of Grace’s car.

“Shit!”

Grace slammed on the brakes immediately. The sleek red car skidded and spun to a painful stop as Grace threw forward in her seat. Looking behind her she could see Arthur jump to his feet and rush over to whoever he claimed needed help.

She clenched her jaw and put Sexy Suzy in reverse. “I’m gonna kill him,” she grumbled.

Arthur checked for a pulse and was relieved to discover you were still alive. He tried gently to shake you awake, thankful when your head rose up. You were covered in blood. There had clearly been some kind of a scrap. Stuck out in the desert for god knows how long, your skin was dry and your eyes could barely stay open.

“Hey, listen to me,” Arthur said, putting his hands on your arms. “You’re gonna be alright. I’m gonna help you, okay? Can you stand?”

Despite the delirium you were experiencing and the dehydration seizing your system, you managed to nod, barely been able to make out the face of your saviour.

Arthur guided your arm around his shoulders and swooped his own across your back. Standing up was not an easy task.

Grace’s car screeched to a halt in front of Arthur, the door flying open.

“Get in, Barbie! And don’t ever do that again!”

She seemed to ignore your presence entirely.

“They need help, Grace!”

“Not interested. We don’t have to get fuel yet anyway.”

Arthur, unimpressed and still not comfortable with that notion, limped you over to the car.

“Don’t even think about it,” Grace warned. “We need to get back to the race before anyone else catches up.”

“We can’t leave them here.”

“Yes, we can.”

“Well, I can’t. What if this were you?”

“It wouldn’t be.” After all, Grace wouldn’t let herself get stranded. She was too smart for that.

But she could also see that Arthur wasn’t giving up. And the more time they spent arguing about this, the more time that gave the competition behind them.

Grace sharply rolled her eyes, relenting.

“Fine, put them in the back. But make it quick.”

The briefest smile was all the response Arthur gave her. Might have been nice had it not been for the ‘you did the right thing’ quality he gave off.

Grace huffed as Arthur hauled you into the backseat.

“If they get blood on my car, they’re going in the engine.”

As soon as Arthur was back in, Grace took off, not giving time for him to apply his seatbelt. He turned back around to you, lying across the backseat, barely conscious.

“There should be water at the finish line,” Arthur offered. “You’re gonna be okay.”

His voice and the sudden, violent movement of your surroundings brought some lucidity back to you.

“Wh…where am I?”

“You’re safe,” Arthur assured you.

“Where’s my car?”

“We had to leave it behind. What happened to you? Is that your blood?”

“No. Don’t…don’t think so. Driving. Got…jumped.”

Grace glanced at you through the rear view mirror. Well, that explained the look of you at least.

“I…put them in the engine.” You were beginning to fade. “Ran out of fuel…”

Grace found herself smiling. “My kinda hitcher.”

It was clear you were still breathing, so Arthur turned around.

Great, so…he had saved someone who needed help. But they also turned out to be another lunatic who feed people to their cars. Hopefully you were more civil about it than everyone else he’d seen.