Worlds Collide: A Cars Fan Fiction

Playing with Fire

It was eight in the morning by the time Zhara finally woke up. The first thing she noticed was that she wasn't in her room, and that she was alone. The events of the night before came flooding back, and her first instinct was to find Elsie. 

Her stomach growled as she left the Cone, reminding her of how long it had been since she'd eaten. What she wouldn't give at that moment for a bowl of her mom's homemade upma! She shook her head. She had to find Elsie. 

"Oh, you're up!" Zhara, startled, turned around to see Sally, the blue Porsche from the night before. She calmed a little, but was still on edge.

"Good morning, Sally. Have you seen my sister?" 

"Yep, you're the last one up. The other humans are with Sheriff in his office. They asked me to come check on you."

"Okay," she replied, beginning to relax. Elsie had always been more of an early riser than she was. Apparently being in another dimension didn't change that.

"Come on, I'll take you to them," Sally offered. Zhara nodded and began to follow the car.

"I like your motel; it's really nice."

"Thank you...sorry, I don't remember your name."

"Zhara Anthony."

"Got it. So, how many of you are there again?"

"Including Abbey, six. Nikki, Zane, Hector, and Abbey are my neighbors back home. That's how we became friends in the first place. Elsie's my sister; my parents adopted her when she was two and I was three."

"You two seem pretty close."

"We're best friends. I'd do anything to keep her safe."

"Safe? I'm sorry but I'm confused; safe from what? I know that those scientists are after you, but there isn't anything in Radiator Springs that could hurt anyone. Well, there's the cacti in the desert, but that's it."

"I know, I know. Elsie always tells me that I'm a little overprotective, but how can I not worry about her? She's my sister; I can't not care!"

Sally was silent for a moment. Zhara took a breath. "Sorry, I'm a little worked up. Elsie and I sort of argue about this a lot. Plus, this is kind of an insane situation. No offense, of course."

"None taken. I understand being worried about someone you care about, though. Remember Lightning McQueen from last night?"

"The red race car with lightning bolts all over him?"

"That's him. He and I have been dating almost since he moved here. I watch his races on TV, and each time I see him put himself in risky situations. Racing can be dangerous, and sometimes he gets hurt. I worry so much about him getting in wrecks or crashing. But, at the same time, I have to trust that he can protect himself, and that he knows what he's doing."

"I guess that's a good point. But Elsie isn't a race car. Even back home the world can be a scary place. I just want to keep her safe."

"Part of caring about someone is accepting that you can't protect them from everything. But you can give them support when they need it most."

The normally talkative Zhara was left speechless by Sally's words. She was contemplating the car's words when she heard someone scream. She whirled around, trying to find its source. Was someone in trouble? 

She heard it again, and realized that it was coming from the side of the courthouse. Without a second thought, and ignoring Sally calling after her, Zhara took off running.

---

The second he was awake, Hector had shot out of his Cone like a bullet from a gun. The fact that he was in a completely new world, full of talking cars, gave him twice as much energy as usual. He wanted to see EVERYTHING.

Luckily, he ran into the one car in town with his level of enthusiasm. "Good morning, Mater!"

"Mornin' Hector! I was wonderin' when you was goin' to wake up."

"Sorry, when I sleep, I sleep hard. Anyway, I really want to see the town! Can you show me?"

"Well, sure, but don't you want to go see what your friends are doing?"

"They'll be fine; they're probably just talking about boring stuff. I want to do something fun!"

Mater's face broke into a massive smile. That phrase was clearly music to his ears (if they had them, anyway). 

"Dad gum! Come on, I'll show you around!"

The boy and tow truck began driving through town, with Hector asking question after question and Mater answering every one. They finally stopped at the town hall. 

"Well, I reckon we need to go into Sheriff's office now."

"What? Come on, let's keep having fun!" Hector pouted for a moment, sticking his hand into the pocket of his khaki shorts. Then he got an evil grin. "Have you ever seen a smoke bomb before?"

"A what?"

Instead of answering, Hector pulled a tiny sphere out of his pocket and threw it on the ground. A cloud of opaque smoke rose into the air, causing Mater to gasp. When it cleared, Hector had disappeared!

"Hector!" Mater called, trying not to panic.

"Yes?" Mater yelped, jumping in the air. He spun around to see Hector laughing.

"What was that?"

"A smoke bomb. You throw them on the ground to distract people so you can 'disappear'. I've been carrying them around since my parents sent me to magic camp two summers ago. When school starts again, I'm going to try it out on my sixth grade teacher."

"Dad gum!" Mater was silent for a moment, then got a mischievous grin. "You want to help me play a prank?"

"Yes!"

"Come closer." Hector leaned forward, and Mater whispered his plan. Then, trying  very hard not to laugh, the two made their way to the front of the town hall. In front of a statue of an old horseless carriage was a firetruck, watering flowers.

"Okay, go!" Mater whispered. Hector, acting innocent, made his way over to the fire engine.

"Hi! My name's Hector Vasquez!" The boy introduced himself. "Your name is Red, right?"

Red nodded a bit, smiling. The night before, he, Mater, and a green van named Fillmore had been the only vehicles to not act weird about the humans.  He turned off his fire hose so he could hear Hector better.

"Do you want to see something really cool?"

Red nodded. Hector pulled another smoke bomb from his pocket and threw it down. When the cloud of smoke arose, the boy dashed behind the statue of the town founder. Red, once the smoke cleared, was completely floored when he realized that Hector was gone.

"BOO!" Mater jumped out from behind the firetruck, who was so startled that he sprayed a bit of water into the air. Hector emerged from behind the statue, laughing as hard as the tow truck. 

Red, less amused, got a mischievous grin of his own, and aimed his fire hose at the duo. Mater stopped laughing when he realized what was about to happen. He quickly got between Hector and the firetruck. 

Red let them have it, not spraying the water at full blast but hard enough to get them both wet, regardless of Mater's protecting the human. Hector screamed for joy, and started to run away. Mater still did his best to protect him, but Red soaked the escaping pair until they were out of range. Then he went back to watering his flowers as though nothing had happened.

"That...was...COOL!" Mater finally said. The two were dripping wet and out of breath, having escaped to the side of town hall. Unknown to them, they were right outside the Sheriff's office. 

"Thanks, Mater," Hector said when he could speak without gasping. "That was awesome!"

"Hector!" The two looked up to see Zhara running up. Hector groaned a bit. When she wasn't around Elsie, Zhara would baby him worse than his mother and all three of his older siblings.

She noticed that he was soaking wet, and was about to ask why when the door to the Sheriff's office opened. 

"There you are!" Nikki said, sounding both relieved and annoyed. "Get in here! We finally have a plan!"