Don't read if you get triggered by satire. All characters are made purely for this fanfiction.
Six o'clock in the morning. Again. Makayla groaned as her alarm clock pulled her out of sleep, annoyed that it had ended an amazing dream - she was in Radiator Springs, talking and laughing with Lightning, her all-time favorite character of Cars. She wished more than anything that Cars could've been real… maybe she could actually be friends with him instead of just fantasizing.
Shrugging the thought off as she threw on her school clothes, she trudged down the stairs to grab breakfast before catching the bus to school - she didn't attend just any school, though. It was a gifted school that specialized in mechanical engineering. Of course, it was yet another reason she loved the concept of living, breathing vehicles. The idea fascinated her to no end… but alas, they were only fictional.
She made her way to the kitchen table, finding that her mother had already made her two waffles with globs and globs of maple syrup, just the way she liked it. But then again, she mused, everybody loves waffles. As she cut one up with her fork and began to eat it, though, she realized that something was… off. No one else was in the house… typically her father was rushing around the house, trying to leave in order to get to work on time, and her mother would eat breakfast with her, but instead of the morning rush, she was surrounded by silence.
No. Not silence. There was a strange whirring sound coming from the kitchen. Waffles forgotten, she got up to go investigate. An eerie green light streamed out of the oven, and it seemed to beckon her…
xXx
It was an ordinary day in Radiator Springs - being an Arizona summer, the temperature was soaring over 110, and there was no relief in sight. Rain wasn't due until next month. The majority of the residents were gathered at Flo's, as she had several industrial fans set up to at least keep a decent air current.
Lightning, however, wasn't among them. He was out on the dirt track, driving a few laps before the next day's race. He wouldn't be at it all day - he needed to rest some if he wanted to be at his peak the following day - but he was sure Mater had some kind of crazy plan for later. He didn't want to admit it, but he couldn't wait. As long as it didn't involve train tracks.
He could've sworn he saw a flash of green light in the distance, but thought nothing of it. Stranger things had happened before.
But he wasn't prepared for the creature that emerged from the desert overgrowth.
His thoughts of insane adventures with Mater dissipated. Covered in stickery branches and covered with some sort of fabric, the thing actually tried to move closer to him, attempting to get his attention by waving its appendages from the side of the road. The race car blasted past her, screeching to a halt on the other side of the track - hopefully the distance would be safe enough. He turned around to get a better look at the thing, which immediately began moving towards him as soon as it determined that he wasn't coming any closer.
Lightning was terrified. This thing was attacking. He didn't have long to think before it came too close for comfort, even if it seemed to be moving much slower than a vehicle could… but could he risk leading it back to the town? What were its plans? It certainly didn't seem to be showing any fear of him. Maybe he couldn't harm it… but it wouldn't hurt to try.
He released all the horsepower he had in his engine, ramming straight forwards into the creature - it went flying over his roof and collapsed to the ground behind him, leaking some kind of red fluid and soaking the fabric it was covered with. Was it some strange kind of oil? Hydraulic fluid? Was it corrosive? He didn't know. And it was all over him, too.
Knowing all too well that he hadn't thought this through, he turned tail and sped back into town. Thank goodness Mater's girlfriend had dropped by for the weekend.
xXx
"What did you do, exactly?"
"A-a thing. I-I-I think it was an a-alien or something. Please, you just have to go look! I left it out at the track! This stuff came from it and I don't know if it's gonna-"
The Jaguar's eyes widned. "Why would you just leave something like that! You don't know if you killed it or not!" A blue light quickly scanned one of the darkening red splatters on Lightning. "The chemical composition shows it's not dangerous. Have Red wash you off and meet me back where you left it. I'm going to need as much information on it as you can provide," she said quickly, speeding away in hopes that nothing had changed after Lightning had abandoned the creature.
Sure enough, it hadn't. The thing was still in a crumpled heap on the ground, the red liquid still seeping out of it. Holley quickly ran a scan of it, trying to take in as much data as possible without touching it. If it was alive, it was most certainly dead now. She switched on her communicator. "Finn, come in?"
The other side crackled to life. "Miss Shiftwell? But you're on holiday."
"There's a situation here. Erm… I don't know if we should even he handling it or not…"
Her partner was on full alert now. "Why? What is it?"
"...do you believe that extraterrestrials exist?"
A silence. "I'll be right there."