It was closing time. Working at the bakery was always fun until the evening became slow with no customers.
Sierra enjoyed her job. Her boss/manager was kind and had a warm heart. The cheerleader enjoyed rolling the dough to the necessary dimensions. She was entranced by the scent of freshly baked bread: French, wheat, rye and the like. As any other business receives in town, the customers were not particularly friendly; always blaming the decent service and product they were purchasing.
Sierra was given the ring of keys to shut down and secure the mini restaurant; staying longer, she was automatically entrusted with the responsibility. Placing the skeleton key in the deadbolt, turning it to lock the entrance, and then doing the same with the knob itself. Dancing around on her toes, she turned to walk to her home a couple miles away. She always basked in the leisurely stroll just before dark. Except the fact she was leaving later than normal, the Nevadan skies were swirled with vermilion and violet.
Hmm. That's odd. Sierra is the only one the street aside from a couple cars on the opposite side of the intersection.
It was quiet. Too quiet. Jasper may have lost several buses full of tourists but it was never unnoisy before 8:00 p.m. There would usually be a few at-home college students hanging around the 'abandoned' park or the parking lot of the Knock-Out burger where Jack works, there always was.
Not minding the silence, actually thankful for rare peace, Sierra continued on her saunter, passing by the K.O. restaurant, a few houses, and alleyways. Completely oblivious to her stalker, she whistled an impromptu tune. Walking toward the jungle gym ready to make the next turn, she heard a clash! coming from a nearby window. Some sort of dense object made heavy contact with the clear object, making a hole big enough to look like a target sign.
Slightly disturbed with all the factors of the night added with the strange noise, Sierra walked over to the window warily looking inside to find the offending weapon, so to speak. A rock large enough to overflow the palm of her hand was her only clue. A quick glance around to see that there was nothing else in the building and then stalked away, still unnerved by her physical loneliness.
She walked faster, rounding the outer perimeter of the park, looking back as if she was being followed, snapping her head forward only to collide with a broad chest. A masked figure, face covered by the dark of the night, dressed in a dark grey hoodie with some sort of working gloves donned on the hands. The 'brick wall' had on black skin-tight jeans and on his feet were black steel-toed boots, also for working.
Half a second after Sierra ran into the man (she didn't come face-to-face with a woman's jugs) he grabbed her arm to prevent her from falling backwards form the force. When he didn't let go after a moment then Sierra was starting to get worried. She tried to wrench herself for his grip only to end up struggling. A handkerchief appeared from his front pocket emitting a small odor and put it on his captive's face forcing her to breathe in the chemical soaked cloth to keep her under control.
When the girl started to cough he removed it, not wanting her to pass out yet, and dragged her to the nearest alley with her stumbling after him. The dark stalker shoved Sierra to a wall, smirking at her cry of pain from the sharp needles of the bricks digging into her back, tearing open delicate flesh.
Sierra had an idea what he wanted but she didn't want to be a victim. She began to thrash in his hold, wanting to get free and run to her nearest friend's house. Instead she received a harsh blow to the rib just above a kidney. She whimpered and that goaded on more attacks. Punch after punch she just stood there waiting for it to end, waiting to die.
He stopped after what seemed like hours. She slumped a little from the wall clutching her bruised and damaged abdomen, both of them knowing she won't make the night. The man decided on one last move to gauge his prize's reaction. He drew back an enclosed fist, hitting sierra square in the chest causing her to spasm violently. A blow like this, if delivered at the precise and exact moment, could make the heart stop beating and the prey would be out like a light. When the redhead slid down the wall, gripping her chest, the attacker had guessed she was done and sprinted from the scene.
Sierra didn't even bother to scream for help because she couldn't find her voice and she knew her plead would fall on deaf ears.
O.0.O.0.O.0.O
The overhead light was bright enough to wake a dead person. Raising an arm to shield the brightness, Sierra groaned alerting the beings in the room that she has awoken.
A woman in familiar scrubs ran over to check her vitals while craning her head to behind her and loudly whispering something like "hide yourselves" or "be quiet" but the teen could care less as she started silently crying and curling in on herself wanting the pain to go away. A gentle hand on her shoulder made her look up the owner and recognized it to be…Jack? She sat up block the light from his face which held a severe expression of worry and fear.
"Si-Sierra, are you okay? What happened to you?" She always thought it was cute when he stuttered. She didn't say anything; she only smiled and jumped from the gurney to hug him, ignoring the hurting throb, well, everywhere about her body. The black-haired teen hugged back tightly, minutely surprised at the other's reaction.
"Oh, Jack. I totally thought I was going to…" She didn't finish, afraid of the last word. Jack just whispered soothing comforts and sweet nothings into her hair, calming the poor girl. He pulled her back so they can look into each other's eyes, Sierra's being brimmed with tears, fear, and hurt while held a strong look of determination, compassion, and anger. Not angry at the girl in front of him but rather with himself and person that caused this problem.
The nurse who happened to be Jack's mom placed a blanket around Sierra, who looked back and both females smiled at one another. June coaxed the girl to sit and relax while she left to fetch water.
A boy with thick red glasses and the Japanese transfer student who Sierra recognized as Raf and Miko came up to their friend, both wearing the same look of worry. That's when Sierra noticed she wasn't in a hospital room.
The ceiling was high, maybe 100 feet or taller; there were large metal slabs placed on either side of her and one behind her, with some sort of tall chamber. There were also strange devices like huge computers with weird scribbles on the screens and the last thing she ironically noticed was, in front of her were cars. Three she recognized as a blue motorcycle that Jack drives; a green SUV that Miko uses as transportation and a black and yellow custom-made sports car that Raf ride in. Sierra saw an ambulance, which is what June must have used to bring her patient to this place. Park in between the ambulance and the two-wheeler was a red semi-truck.
"Sorry we're not in the hospital. There was a gas leak this morning so we all had to close down for a few days." Sierra was taken out of her stupor when Nurse Darby returned with a clipboard and iced water in a glass. "We brought you here for the next best thing." Sierra accepted the beverage when it was handed to her and gulped it down greedily. "W-where am I," she asked after replenishing her thirst.
"You're at our clubhouse!" Miko chimed.
"You mean the place for your science-fiction club?"
Raf shrugged. "Yeah, pretty much."
"Oh. Cool. It's…nice. And big." She chuckled. "What exactly do you guys do here, for your club?"
"Are you kidding? What don't we do here?" Miko piped in again, obviously wanting to reveal the secret. Sierra looked confused.
Jack wanted to tell Sierra too but he has already discussed with Optimus Prime that it would be best if he didn't. "Hehe. Sierra, what Miko means is that we just hang out, let our imaginations run free, play with the 'cars' a little bit." All the 'bots would have rolled their optics were they not in vehicle mode.
"You play with cars?"
"Uhh, yeah we do. Meaning that we work on their engines. Fix them up, clean them and all that." There was a short silence until Jack continued. "That's why there's a small med-bay here, in case we get hurt. 'Cause playing with cars is dangerous." Again, everyone else would've rolled their eyes. But not Sierra; she just giggled at Jack's awkwardness.
June was smiling that Sierra was recovering and she hated to bring up the subject again, but she had to. "Sierra, sweetie, can you tell us what happened to you? Jack was riding on his motorcycle when he found you. He called me and we both brought you here." Sierra's smile faded a little. "I don't know. I was walking home from the bakery when I got attacked." Sierra started to tremble at the memories.
"Okay, can you tell us what the attacker looked like?" Raf gently asked.
"I couldn't see his face." She sounded apologetic.
"Don't worry, Sierra. We'll find who did this!" Miko had a tone of regret and little anger.
Sierra looked up from staring at her lap to Miko's face. "I thought you hated me?"
"Dude, I don't hate anyone. Not even Vince and he's a jerk. Sure I'm not a big fan of cheerleaders in general but it doesn't mean I don't like you." Sierra's smile returned at the admittance and Miko smiled back.
Sierra stood from the gurney, all pain washed away or barely there, the blanket falling back on the bed. "So, tell me, what do you guys do with your imaginations? And are the cars involved? Because it's freaky that they're all facing us…" Jack, June, Miko, and Raf all exchanged glances and came up with an excuse.
"Well we sort of pretend that they're giant alien robots from outer space." The computer expert stated excitedly. If it wasn't for Miko and Rafael talking over each other about what they do with the so-called machines, Sierra would have heard the quiet conversation between Optimus and Ratchet. The ambulance sunk down on his tires as he made a small groan of frustration.
"Are you sure this was a good idea? Now we have to deal with four children! We can barely handle three!"
"Calm yourself, old friend. The children's classmate does not truly believe their excuse. She only thinks that this is in their minds, not real life. Only if her life was threatened by Decepticons would we bring her into our fold."
Sierra was listening with rapt attention what adventures Jack, Miko, and Raf have 'thought'. A smile brightened her features and the room as she seemed happy and how fun this 'science-fiction club' is. She felt minor pain, only because she was healing. No one ever found Sierra's attacker, but she could care less. She moved forward.