Worlds Collide: A Cars Fan Fiction

Strangers

As Stevens carried out his boss' orders, the subjects of their experiment had already escaped down the mountain. They were out of breath, and stopped for a quick rest. They all needed a moment to comprehend what had just happened.

The five "freaks", as the head scientist had called them, were human beings. In less than an hour, their group of six had been sucked from their world into a lab full of living machines, one of their friends had been captured, and they'd barely escaped. The only reason they'd gotten down the mountain so fast was because one of the humans had accidentally brought her mountain-climbing ropes along. When they were all safely down, she'd practically kissed the ropes.

"And to think," she laughed as they sat and rested, "my mom tried to talk me into being a cheerleader instead!" She smiled and handed the ropes to her friend, who placed them into his backpack. They'd found a rock ledge that sheltered the five of them moderately well from the rain. 

"Thank goodness you talked her out of it," her best friend responded. "I've never known Nikki Washington to do anything she didn't want to do."

Nikki blew him a small kiss. "You're sweet, Zane." He did his face so that she wouldn't see him blush. She was about to speak again when her attention was caught by another member of their group, a dirty-blond girl named Elsie. 

"What now?" she signed, looking deadly serious. Her sister, Zhara, translated for the others. Elsie was nonverbal, and used either American Sign Language or her notebook to communicate. Zhara knew as much ASL as her sister, and often translated for her.

"Yeah," shouted the youngest, a ten-year-old boy named Hector. "We have to go back and save Abbey!"

"Everyone, please!" They all stopped talking at the sound of Nikki's voice. She stood up to address her friends. While no one had actually said it, the sixteen-year-old had been named the unofficial leader of their group. "I know that none of us have dealt with a situation like this before. We all want to save Abbey, and we will. But our first priority has to be keeping ourselves safe. 

"In other words," she said, gesturing upwards, "we need to get as far from that compound/fort/thing as possible. Let's go."

"I agree," Elsie signed, with Zhara translating. "We can't help anyone if we're caught."

"But we can't leave Abbey!" Hector looked back up at the compound, his face full of determination. "I know that I can get her out of there! I'm fast enough, I'm tough enough, I'm--"

A raindrop hit him right in the eye, causing him to stop his monologue and cry out in disgust. Despite the situation, Elsie and Zhara choked back laughter while Zane reached into his backpack and pulled out a tissue. 

"Buddy," the sixteen-year-old said gently as Hector wiped at his eye, "we aren't leaving her. If we go back up there we'll be caught. And then how will we help her? The best thing we can do for Abbey is find a place to rest and make a plan. Then we'll save her. Okay?"

Hector still looked conflicted, and looked back at the compound. Then he turned back to Zane. He sighed, then nodded. 

"Alright," Nikki said, getting their attention. "We need to go." Everyone gathered what gear they had and began to follow her.

The trudge around the mountain wasn't fun. Climbing down the mountain hadn't been a picnic, either, but at least then they'd been fueled by adrenaline and had been sliding down Nikki's ropes. Walking around a mountain when they weren't in immediate danger was a little harder. 

Along with the rain, the sun had gone down, both making it colder and leaving them in near total darkness. Elsie had a flashlight in her bag, but Nikki had asked her not to use it. They didn't want to attract attention to themselves.

Finally, after what felt like hours, the quintet made it around the mountain. Nikki led them under another rock ledge, which kept off the rain and gave them a moment to dry off. The rain had lightened to a sprinkle at that point, but they were all still very wet. 

While the others sat and complained about the rain, cold, or their aching feet, Elsie found herself standing apart from the others, staring out into the distance. While she didn't know it, they were actually behind the rock formation known as the "Radiator Cap", a famous landmark of Radiator Springs. The town was a mere mile from where they were resting. Perhaps that's why she thought she could hear something. 

Zhara, having realized that her sister wasn't sitting with the group, quickly went over to her. Elsie turned to her sister and smiled while lovingly rolling her eyes. Zhara was the older of the two girls (only by a year, although this didn't seem to matter). As a result, she had always been incredibly protective. 

"Are you okay?" Zhara signed, looking concerned.

"Yes," she signed back. "Listen. What's that?" 

Zhara listened for a moment, and her eyes went wide. "Music!" she said aloud, grabbing everyone's attention. 

"What are you talking about?" Hector spoke up.  "I don't hear any--"

"Shh!" Nikki shushed him, cupping her hands over her ears. Zane did the same. Hector, after hesitating, copied them. 

Just like Zhara, their eyes widened. There was no mistaking it. Somewhere in the distance, music was playing. 

"There must be a town near here! Where there's a town, there's people!" Zhara cheered. "We can get help, food, dry clothes!" She pointed to her shirt, a long light pink tank top that was drenched from the rain. 

"Slow down," Nikki said. "We still don't know where we are. Most likely, those 'people' are car-creatures like the ones that brought us here. How do we know that they'll help us?"

"Nikki," Zane said, "we may not have a choice. I have food, water and my first aid kit in my backpack, but none of them will last forever. Not only that, but we need to find a way to help Abbey and get home. Asking for help might be the only option we have."

"Plus, if it turns out that they're bad guys, I can beat 'em up!" Hector punched his fist into his hand, trying to look tough. Nikki laughed a little, then decided.

"Okay, we'll head towards the town. But, we'll hide until we know for sure whether or not the townspeople are dangerous. And if there's a possibility that they'll help us. Agreed?"

Everyone agreed. Compared to spending the entire night sleeping under a rock, investigating the town seemed the best option. Once again, they gathered their gear and began to head towards the sound of the music.