Holley and the Phantom Chapter 5: The Third and Final Quiz

Phantom led me to a dark room where I couldn't see anything. I soon felt a strange uncomfortable feeling about this and the hype that I had before was gone in a flash.

"I wish you good luck, and please be careful, you're competition is fierce." Phantom said, and with that he exited the room, locking the door behind him.

Just then the lights came on one by one and there at the end of the room, was the final key in a glass case, this one had a heart-shaped object circling in it.

I moved cautiously forward looking left and right for anything in the remaining shadows. Just as I was nearing it, I stopped dead because there, on the right side of the shadowed room, were two glowing red eyes looking furiously at me.

"There's no way out Holley, why don't you just snuggle up with Phantom?" The voice said darkly.

"Who are you?" I asked nervously.

The figure moved out of the shadows, and then something shiny caught my eye, a rusty hook.

I gasped in fear as the figure came closer, and stopped in full view, my boyfriend, Mater, was looking at me with dark red eyes (instead of his regular green eyes) and so much disgust, they looked that they were trying to penetrate my soul.

I was beyond horrified, Mater, the one who accompanied me on my first field mission, the one who loved me so much, the one who wanted to protect me, was looking as if he were trying to kill me.

"Did you miss me, or were you too busy with Phantom!?" Mater said fiercely.

"Mater, no it's not what you…" But before I could say anything else, Mater pushed me.

"It's never what I think, you think you're so smart, you never loved me, you always thought I was a stupid tow truck, everyone did, even McQueen and Finn, now I know the truth, AND I WISH YOU ALL WOULD JUST DIE!"

My head was spinning as tears filled my eyes, I did think Mater was a bit silly when I first met him, but I grew to like him, even love him, but now it seemed that everything would change.

"Mater, no, I do love you!"

"SHUT UP, you never listen to me, but now they will, they all will, I'll kill McQueen, and I'll kill Finn, but first, I'LL KILL YOU!"

Then he quickly pulled out a gun and tried to shoot me, but I dodged it quickly.

"Mater stop, you don't know what you're doing!" I cried out.

"You think I never know what I'm doing, but I do, NOW DIE!"
He lunged at me, but I dodged again. He kept coming at me, but I kept dodging. I just didn't have the heart to kill him, because I knew the real Mater was still in there, I just had to find it.

Then I finally had an idea, I knew it was risky, but I also knew it was all or nothing now.

"Mater, wait, if you want me dead, please let me kill myself!"

I could see a flash in his eyes, an almost despairing looking flash.

"Very well, and do it quickly."

He tossed the gun at me, and I put it against the side of my body, but I put it at an angle where the bullet would miss me but where Mater wouldn't see.

Suddenly Mater's eyes flashed again.

"WAIT, HOLLEY, DON'T DO IT!" He yelled, trying to fight it.

"I'm sorry, Mater, forgive me." I said, and as more tears filled up my eyes, I shot the gun, luckily my calculations were correct, and the bullet missed me entirely, but I faked being hit, and fell on the floor.

I heard a loud scream of despair, and Mater came rushing towards me, and held me.

"Holley, Holley, HOLLEY, NOOOOOOOOOO!" Mater yelled, crying.

I tried not to move, but I could hardly stand Mater's cries.

I knew he still wasn't the same old Mater because his eyes were still red, but he looked as if his old self was trying to escape his new persona's grasp.

Mater held me close, and he kissed me. That was the chance I needed. I knew that it would hurt me more than him, but it was the only way. When he was done kissing, I punched him, hard.

He was knocked out cold, so it was easy to look over him. Then I saw a blue square chip attached to his bumper, similar to the ones that were on the flowers. I pulled it out hid it, then I went beside Mater, and wept.

"Oh Mater, I'm so sorry, it was the only way!" I cried out, burying myself in his side. Just as I did, I felt something rub my tire. I looked up, and I saw that Mater, the real Mater with his green eyes, was back and crying too.

"Holley, oh Holley, I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry."

"Mater, I love you!" I cried out happily.

Mater looked up, and the joy on his face was more than I had ever seen.

"HOLLEY, OH THANK GOODNESS YOU'RE ALIVE!" He cried out. And we both kissed.

"Holley, they told me you were…, oh I'm so sorry, I don't know what came over me, and I felt myself being controlled."

"It's not your fault Mater; you were being controlled, by this chip."

"Dad gum, whoever did this must've put it on me."

"You mean you don't know who did it?"

"No, all I remember is that I was sucked down in a submarine, strapped to a table; saw some red car put something on me, and now I'm here."

"Wait, we're someplace underwater!?"

"Well I think so."

"Well, we're going to get to the bottom of this, I'll grab the key." And I drove toward the glass case.

"What key, what's going on?"

"Well, Mater, it's a long story." I said as I grabbed the key.

I told Mater about all that I remembered, about Phantom, about the quizzes, about the strange occurrences, and even about the bath.

"Dad gum, you've been through a lot, Phantom's gonna pay and… OH NO!"

"What is it Mater?"

"McQueen and Finn, they were probably looking for me, they must be in trouble!"

"Come on, let's go."

So Mater and I drove quickly out of the room, with all of the keys hidden.