Chapter 26—Nightmare Ride

    Cruella honked her horn and screamed, “Jasper, Horace! I found them!”
    Jasper and Horace’s truck followed Cruella, and Cruella got out her gun and aimed it at the trunk just as Angel and Peg settled themselves inside in the back of the trunk. She barely missed, hitting underneath the car instead.
    “Get in quickly,” Pongo told them. “We have to shut the trunk.”
    “There’s a button here,” Lady exclaimed with surprise, indicating to a button next to her.
    “Come on Pidge, try it out,” Tramp added.
    Lady did, and then the trunk began to shut. However, Cruella got her gun out, aimed it, and a bullet crashed through the window of the car and hit the back seat.
    “You little beasts… you can’t get away from me!” Cruella shrieked. She then proceeded to throw her jar of purple powder. The jar crashed, and a horrible stench emerged from it.
    “Haha… now with the window open, you will be able to suffer from the puppy poisoner! All of you puppies will be dead if you take it in…”
    “Hurry,” Patch exclaimed to the other puppies. “Let’s go to the front of the car...it’s farther away from the poison.”
    “Right,” Penny added. The five puppies successfully made it to the front of the car, and Roger and Anita drove fast enough for the powder not to reach them.
    “Goodness,” Anita exclaimed. “What on earth…”
    Anita went to the backseat, and she looked over into the car. Cruella just loaded her gun and prepared to shoot.
    “I don’t believe it,” Anita explained, returning to the front seat. “It’s Cruella, and she has a gun.”
    “Oh, I knew she was a witch from the start!” Roger stated with venom in his voice. “But I can’t believe she’d follow us here!”
    “I don’t understand how I possibly could’ve been so mistaken,” Anita stated sadly. “Oh no, she’s doing it again,” Anita added as Cruella loaded another bullet.
    “This feels like the pound all over again,” Peg stated sadly.
    “Yes,” Lady stated worriedly.
    “Hey,” Scamp asked. “Do you feel wobbly at all?”
    “Wobbly?” Penny asked. “But… what do you mean?”
    “Shaky,” Scamp explained.
    Then, the car gave a violent jitter. “Oh no, you’re right,” Lady explained.
    “What’s happening?” Lucky asked nervously. “I’m uncomfortable enough as it is.”
    “Let me take a look,” Patch explained as he went on an empty seat to see out the window.
    “Be careful Patch,” Perdita stated with worry in her voice. “Cruella.”
    Patch put two paws on the side of the car and then looked out the window. Then he gasped, “Oh no, it’s Buster!”
    “I thought he would be gone,” Angel stated sadly, looking out too. Then she gasped, “He’s puncturing the tires!”
    The car lost speed and continued to violently jerk up and down, and Cruella was also gaining on them. Eventually, Roger noticed the wobbling too. “I can’t drive anymore,” he stated with a groan in his voice.
    The car continued to roll on and on until it reached the end of the street, near a large cliff with a beach at the bottom. Then, it stopped with a thud. Roger got out of the car, and then noticed Buster lurking at the bottom. “What are you doing!” Roger cried angrily. “Shoo! Go find your home!”
    And then, abruptly, Buster, with a devilish smirk, indicated his neck, where there was no collar.
    “Oh Roger,” Anita answered. “It looks like he doesn’t have a home. Maybe we should give him a ride home too.”
    The dogs in the back all gasped as Buster smirked. “What should we do?” Lucky asked nervously.
    “We must refuse him,” Lady explained.
Peg nodded, and then Lady explained, “We’ve got to refuse. But I suppose all of the Dalmatians should keep hiding or else Cruella will shoot you on the spot.”
    “But they don’t know you,” Perdita whispered. “Let me and Pongo come out… the puppies will be in too much trouble if…”
    “Aw Mom, let me come out too,” Patch explained.
    “But, no!” Perdita gasped.
    “I’m shorter than you two,” Patch argued. “Cruella will notice me less than you.”
    “Well, all right,” Pongo conceded. “But stand behind Tramp, Peg, or Lady so Cruella won’t see you. We’ll stay in with Lucky and Penny if you can tell Roger and Anita no.”
    Perdita nodded, with a look of worry with seeing Patch preparing to leave.
“So, we’ll get out,” Tramp explained, pressing the red button. “All of you, hide under the seats.”
    “Well, if you wish,” Perdita stated in a tone filled with worry, and she, Pongo, Penny and Lucky hurried under a seat.
    The trunk opened, and Lady, Tramp, Angel, Scamp, Peg and Patch left the car to join with Roger.
    “Hello,” Anita asked them. “Should we take him home?”
    Angel and Scamp, responding hurriedly, growled at Buster as loudly and menacingly as they could.
    “Oh dear,” Anita exclaimed. “They don’t sound too happy.”
    Patch also growled at him, and Roger noticed. “I suppose ours do not want him in… I think they know something… well, you’re not coming in,” he told Buster with a tone of definiteness in his voice.
    Buster grew very mad, and screeched, “How dare you!” Then abruptly, he swiped his paw out and attacked Tramp.
    “Remember this place?” Buster delightedly asked. “This is where you supposedly performed your wonderful feat. But now, a true feat will be performed with your dead body!”
    However, just then, as Perdita opened the trunk, Cruella noticed…
    “There they are, the little devils!” Cruella gasped. “You won’t get away from me this time!”
    Patch hurried into the car, but then Cruella honked her horn. Abruptly, Cruella then drove her red car at turbo drive straight ahead.
    “Get out,” Pongo told the other Dalmatians, and they all quickly made their way out of the car just before Cruella’s car latched onto Roger’s. Anita gasped with Cruella’s car hitching on… she and Roger exited the doors hurriedly, but Cruella still was driving, controlling Roger’s car with the weight of hers…
    Bam! The car crashed off the cliff, but luckily, everyone got out. Cruella’s car was still barely on the cliff. But then….
    Horace and Jasper, ambling from behind, were driving the truck slowly and wobbly, but very insecurely. Then, the truck crashed into Cruella’s car…
    “You… idiots!” Cruella shrieked, gesturing fiercely with her hands.
    Cruella’s car toppled off the cliff, but while it did so, Tramp and Buster growled at each other.
    “So, here’s where you’ll die,” Buster explained to Tramp as he prepared to swipe at Tramp. “And following his death, I will finish the job that I started.”
    “What do you mean?” Lady asked.
    “Well,” Buster stated delightedly. “That Scruff’s death was no car accident. It was my handiwork! I accepted him into the junkyard dogs after hearing that he escaped from the pound, but he refused to join my gang. I don’t take kindly to those who refuse me. So now, I’ll finish the job and kill his wife and daughter, too!”
    “Why, you…” Angel began. “How could you…and I can’t believe I lived with you for all those months! You are… dead, Buster!” Angel exclaimed.
    With fury, she rushed over to Buster before he could attack Tramp and bit him. Scamp, Patch, Lucky and Penny followed to join the fight, and Pongo and Perdita also jumped out to make sure that he could not attack Tramp.
    But then abruptly, Lady noticed that the cliff that held both Buster and Tramp began to crumble. She hurriedly made her way over to Tramp, and stated, “Tramp…”
    “Aww, what does little Miss Prissy want?” Buster asked mockingly. “Gonna say goodbyes to your lying husband?”
    “Oh no, the cliff!” Scamp whispered to the other puppies, and they hurried further onto the land.
    “He may lie to me,” Lady explained, “But I love him, and he has promised not to lie again. You would never understand trust and forgiveness.”
    And then, the cliff broke through. Buster and Tramp gasped, and Buster fell. Tramp was just about to fall, when…
    “Tramp,” Lady cried, holding onto his front paw with all her might. “I’ll save you…”
    Lady pulled as hard as she could, and Tramp gasped nervously.
    “We’ll be there… if you get tired,” Angel and Scamp told Lady.
    “Thanks,” Lady whispered. “But… I’ll… get him up, he’s my husband,” Lady groaned.
    “Oh no!” Penny gasped to Patch and Lucky. “Let’s alert Roger and Anita!”
    The three of them barked hurriedly to Roger and Anita, and noticed Lady tugging something over the cliff.
    And then, just as they arrived, Tramp found himself pulled onto the top of the cliff, and then he stated, “I can finish… thank you.” He did, and breathed exhaustedly. “Thanks for saving me, Pidge.”
    “Oh, you’re welcome,” Lady explained. “I’m just happy that you’re all right.”