****Hey everyone! This is a revamp of my original story, the Lost and the Lonely (I wrote the original back in high school and never finished it). For those who have read it, there will be a lot of changes you will see...characters, locations, situations etc. If you have never read the original before that's alright too, enjoy the story of my Texan Tahoe, Big Thing! And don't try to take this story too politically in the sake of our world, this is how I see the gas situation in the cars world to be. Enjoy!****

Chapter 1

Between two apartment buildings was a dark and dirty alleyway in the city of Houston, Texas. Trash was littered everywhere and the alleyway's dampness gave it a musty odor. However, this alleyway was different from many others, which were simply gaps between buildings, where cars would throw away trash or make drug deals. This alleyway housed a resident, who lived in a shelter made of metal and old cardboard boxes.

The alleyway's resident had been asleep for the night, and it was finally daybreak. As soon as the sky brightened the car woke up, emerging from his makeshift shelter. He slowly drove out of the alleyway and into the light, which slightly burned his eyes. For a moment he squinted at the light, then shook his hood and yawned. Once he was ready, he started driving off down the bustling city streets of Houston to start his day.

The alleyway's resident was a 2004 Chevrolet Tahoe, who had been homeless for about fifteen years. He never knew who his parents were, and he never had a place he could call home. When he was a baby he was abandoned on the city streets of Houston, and was picked up by a car that brought him to an orphanage. Until he was eight he was raised there, and he hated every minute of it.

He had always wanted to be picked up and taken to a new home, but his newfound family never came. For years he watched cars be happily adopted and he was left to stay, unwanted by any of the cars that were looking for a child. Right away he was never considered because he had low gas mileage, a burden many adopting parents did not want to have on their tires. He was harsh on one's wallet, since the amount of gas he needed to keep going was a lot more than the common sedan.

Another reason he had hated living at the orphanage was that he was one of the largest kids there. Being an SUV, he towered over a lot of the other kids and some of the staff as well. Since no one knew his real name, everyone at the orphanage gave him a nickname. He was called Big Thing, since he was simply big and a thing, and the name eventually stuck. However, his nickname soon became his real name, since the staff always identified him as Big Thing when cars were looking to adopt.

When he was eight, Big Thing decided he had had enough of the orphanage. With the help of a friend, he was able to escape and took his life to the streets of Houston. However, the streets did not present him with a better life as he had hoped. Instead he found himself hungry and alone, and no one in the world seemed to care about him.

As he drove down the streets that morning, he stopped at a gas station. With the little money he had found and begged for, he saw that he was going to get a decent amount of gas this time. Usually he had no money and had to steal gas and food, but having money would keep the cops at bay.

As he pulled up to the pump, the price was three seventy-five a gallon, one of the highest prices that year. When he was a child, prices had been much lower, but they had increased drastically in the past few years. This rise in gas prices brought panic to the world of cars, and with this panic came a rise in fuel efficiency conscious.

Before the rise in gas prices, cars could care less what each other's fuel economy was, but now it was everyone's business. Cars that had high gas mileage were praised and seen as the next big thing in vehicular advancement. Cars that had low gas mileage were looked down upon, and became the blame for the rise in gas prices. The gas-guzzlers, as they were called, ranged from trucks to SUVs and even classic cars. They were constantly criticized for the amount of fuel they took in, which made them feel ashamed of something they couldn't help. This constant criticism allowed them to become outcasts in terms of politics and advancement in society, and this allowed fuel efficient cars to gain power. The fuel efficients, the term for cars with high gas mileage, did whatever they could to keep gas-guzzlers from advancing. They tried to show that they were the superior type of car to change the world, not the gas guzzlers.

Being a gas-guzzler in the time of rising gas prices was what made Big Thing an undesirable car to adopt. As Big Thing ordered a 20-gallon can of oil, he couldn't help but think of all the times he was passed over because of his gas mileage. All his life he wanted someone to sincerely care about him, but all he got was hate.

After he finished consuming his oil, he continued to drive around the city. As he drove, he heard cars yelling at him, calling him dirty and ugly, and one car even threw trash at him. He ignored these insulting gestures and drove on, since this happened to him everyday. Being a homeless gas-guzzler defiantly made him a target, but it was nothing to fear.

Although, there was one group of cars that Big Thing did fear that lived in the city. They were a group of fuel-efficient extremists about his age, who desired the destruction of all gas-guzzler kind. He had become their ultimate target, where he had been subject to many of their physical and mental attacks. He lost count of how many times he had been cornered by them and beat up for their sick pleasure, and he had the dents and scratches to show it.

As he drove down the streets, he was happy he did not see them anywhere today. He could only hope that they would continue to simply beat him up, but he was waiting for the day to come when they would do their worse. He hoped that day was never going to come, but he knew that after living on the streets for years, things could take a turn for the worst very quickly.