Author's Note: You're in for a couple of surprises in this chapter, one good, one...well, I'll let you decide on that one. I'm updating a few days early, as the next one might not be on until Sunday, depending on how busy I am.

Disclaimer: I do not own Cars. I do however own Adam Lynbridge.

Staying Strong

Chapter 6

"Stickers?" Sally paused by the open door. Lightning was sitting inside the room, just staring at the wall.

He turned to face her after a moment. "Hey, Sally."

"What's wrong?"

"What do you mean?"

"You've been hiding up here ever since Chick arrived in town. Something's bothering you. What is it?"

"It's nothing." Lightning turned away again."

"It's something to do with the friends you had at school in England, isn't it?"

Lightning closed his eyes and turned even more so she couldn't see his face. "Yeah."

"What happened?"

"They turned on me. One of them was American. He was only in England for a couple of years, but he made my life a living hell while he was there. Adam was scared of him. I think that's why he turned against me."

"What was this American car's name?" Sally asked curiously. She had wondered why Lightning never spoke of his life before Radiator Springs.

Lighting hesitated for a moment. "Chick Hicks."

Sally bit her lip to stop herself saying anything else. That explained why he'd been so defensive when Chick showed up in the town. It also explained why he was hiding away from them.

"Chick isn't like that at the moment. He's being really nice. Please, just give him a chance, for me."

Lightning sighed quietly. He didn't know what to do. His heart was telling him to follow Sally's advice, but his mind was determinedly reminding him of what Chick had done to him in school.

"Please, Lightning."

He turned to face her once more, looking deep into her eyes as he gave her a reply.

"OK, I'll give him a chance, but only one."

Lightning stopped in the shade of a cactus. He'd taken the first step to being around Chick again the day before, while Sally stuck by his side. Now he was seeing how comfortable he felt around the older car on his own. He'd seen Chick leaving the town at midday, and had followed him at a distance. The green racer had stopped on the track at Willy's Butte. He stood by the start line as though he was waiting for something. Lightning rolled forwards slowly, not entirely sure how to approach Chick. He jumped when he ran over a dry stick, causing it to crack loudly.

Chick turned at the sound. It didn't take him long to find the red car watching him sheepishly.

"Hey, McQueen, where've you been? I've not seen you around."

"Nowhere in particular. What are you doing out here?"

"Just thinking. How's the search going?" Chick turned back to the track.

"It's going OK, I guess, but we haven't found any of them yet."

"There's still time."

Lightning went to the start line and sat beside Chick. "You ever raced on dirt before?"

"Nah, you?"

"Against Doc. He's a great guy. I hope nothing's happened to him."

"The Hudson Hornet's tough. He'll be OK." Chick stared at the monument in the centre of the track. "There's something I need to apologise for."

Lightning said nothing; he waited patiently for Chick to continue.

"I wasn't very friendly to you in school. I'm sorry for being such a git, and making your life so hard."

"Why are you apologising?"

"I lost someone I was very close to in a tornado. Hearing about this one reminded of certain things, a lot of which I wish I'd never done, including hurting you."

The two cars fell into an uncomfortable silence for a few minutes before Lightning picked up the courage to start a conversation with Chick.

"Fancy a dirt race?"

"Isn't it a little too soon after your crash?" Chick shot Lightning a quizzical look.

"You've never heard of a gentle race?"

"Well … OK, but you'll need to show me how it's done. I haven't raced on dirt before."

Lightning observed Chick for a few seconds. "Sure, I'll talk you through it as we go around. One of these corners is really tricky."

Sally watched the two race cars from a distance. They seemed to be talking about something. When the pair started to drive around the track slowly she couldn't help but smile. She could have sworn Lightning spotted her as he guided Chick around the corner that had given him so much trouble, but he didn't make any move towards her or show any sign that he had seen her.

Chick drove back to the Wheel Well Motel with Sally and Lightning that evening. He found it strange at first that Lightning was being so pleasant towards him. Maybe the apology had something to do with it.

"Hey, Chick, why don't you join us tomorrow? We're going out to look for the others again. Another pair of eyes might be useful, don't you agree, Stickers?"

"Oh, uh, yeah, sure." Lightning seemed to be caught by surprise.

Chick tried to hide his grin as he thought about the offer. Something Strip had said to him a few days ago came back to him. You've been doing a great job. Doc would've been proud.

"Thanks, guys. I'd love to help you."

"OK, so what do we know so far?" Lightning drove back and forth beside the turquoise paint on the rocks.

"We know Ramone went into his shop, because Mack saw him. Red saw Ramone outside his shop, but nobody saw Flo anywhere." Sally replied.

"And Red spoke to Doc and Sarge, and Sarge helped Mack with Lizzie." Lightning added.

"We found some turquoise paint on the back entrance frame of Ramone's shop, and again here, which indicates Flo came out this way, and this far." Sally followed Lightning's every move.

"Is there any shelter out here?" Chick wondered aloud.

"I don't know. I've never been out further than here before." Sally replied, still watching Lightning.

Lightning was now thinking back to the map he'd studied at the Cozy Cone. It had only survived the storm because it was shut safely in a drawer. He wished they had it with them as he turned to stare along the road.

"There's only one way to find out if Flo went much further." Chick said.

Sally looked at him. "You're right, we should go on a bit further."

The sun was getting low in the winter sky. The day had remained clear, although the wind was icy. Sally glanced at the horizon, then back at the two cars beside her.

"It won't be long before sunset. We should head back soon."

"Sure." Lightning nodded. "We'll give it another fifteen minutes."

They had driven passed a number of crevices in the cliff face, though none of them were wide enough for a car to hide in . A few miles back they had even found a cave, but that too had been a little on the small side for a car to shelter in. Sally spotted another ahead, just before the road disappeared down another hill. She looked into it briefly as they passed, but saw nothing other than a dark, gaping hole. It didn't take her long to realise she was driving along the road alone. She stopped and turned around to find Lightning and Chick bad both paused by the cave. Lightning was peering into it, and Chick was looking at her. She went back to where they sat.

"Have you seen something?" She asked Lighting.

"I thought I heard something." He frowned, not moving his gaze from the cave entrance. "Can we have a bit of light in here, Sally?"

"Sure." She flicked her lights on and positioned herself on the road so they pointed straight into the cave. She gasped as her lights found a large patch of paint on the rocks inside. She caught Lightning's eyes and continued to shine her lights around the cave. They fell upon something shiny that reflected the light back at them Lightning rolled forwards slowly.

"Stickers, wait!" She called after him.

He continued forwards carefully, keeping one eye on the floor of the cave and the other on the shiny object. He drew level with it and turned to get a better look at it. Sally spotted the sudden change of expression on his face.

"What is it? What have you found?" She moved forwards to join him, followed closely by Chick. She stared at the sight before them feeling stunned. "Flo – "

Author's Note: Thanks to LightningAndDoc and Sally Jonson for reviewing the last chapter - much appreciated!

You'll find out more about Flo's discovering in the next chapter, and I think another character in chapter 8 or 9. As I said at the top, the next chapter might not appear until Sunday, but at the same time, I might be able to post it tomorrow if I'm not too busy. In the meantime, there's a big button with green text belowthis message that's just begging to be clicked!