My heart was hammering in my chest, there were loud sirens and shouts behind me, but I ignored them as I ran faster. I ran until my legs felt numb and my lungs burned, and I loved the feeling. The excitement of being on the move and the pure adrenaline rush that pushed me to run faster.
The sirens grew louder, and I could see flashes of red and blue behind me. I rolled my eyes, quickly pulling into an alley. The alley was dark, with only a dumpster and a large, metal, fence. The sirens sounded like they were coming closer, and I muttered curses as I threw my dark backpack over the fence. I grunted, as I climbed up the fence as fast and quickly jumped down, grabbing my backpack and began to run again.
I took another right down a mostly empty street, and cursed again when I could see the red and blue lights in the corner of my vision. I snuck into another small corner between stores and held my breath as the police cars crept by, driving slowly through the street.
"Come on….come on." I muttered. I could hear my heart pounding, the pulse making my head ache.
Finally, the cop cars were gone and I sighed in relief. I poked my head out of the small corner, looking both ways before quickly sprinting across the street. I crawled carefully through a weary brick wall, and into an abandoned building's parking lot.
I collapsed to the ground, taking deep breaths as the high adrenaline I was running on drained out of me. I shuffled through my backpack, looking for the item when I heard a familiar growl of an engine and looked up, smirking at the Mustang police cruiser with the words 'To punish and enslave' written on its left side.
"Took you long enough." I muttered as the passenger door swung open.
Barricade chuckled as I climbed in, and the door shut as he took off.
"Did you get what I asked?" He asked as I shuffled through my backpack again.
"Yup," I said with a wicked grin, "And a few other things."
I opened the brown bag that was filled with mineral gems, crystals, and rocks….or what looked like a rock anyway. Some were smooth and round, others were jagged, others were shiny and others were very dull. Why Barricade took so much interest in these that he had me steal them from a science museum was beyond me…as long as I got to keep the pretty crystals.
A small compartment opened up, and I put the bag inside and his compartment closed shut. Frenzy hopped up from the back seat, snuggling into my lap and muttering happily, I smiled as I pet the top of his head, giggling slightly as he purred to the touch.
Barricade gave an annoyed sound,"Stop babying him."
I smirked, "Why? Everyone needs a little love and compassion sometimes."
Barricade just snorted, "We do not need such foolishness."
I rolled my eyes, "Love ya too Cade. May I ask why you made me bust my aft to get those?"
"With the right amount of tools, I can convert the minerals with these elements inside the rock to an equivalent of Energon. Frenzy and I are running low."
"Oh." I said nodding, before smiling back down at Frenzy who was curled up like a cat on my lap, his red-gleaming optics half open and a content look on his face. Barricade growled something which I chose to ignore.
"So, where are we off to next?" I asked.
"A motel just sixteen miles from here. You can rest there and we'll depart first thing in the morning."
I nodded before leaning back into my seat, and mumbled a 'thank you' when Barricade activated his seat warmers.
My life wasn't perfect growing up, if anything it was far from it. My dad walked out on my mother just when she found out she was pregnant with me, I guess he didn't want to stick around to raise me or something. When I was eleven, my mom was diagnosed with breast cancer and only two years later did she pass away. After that, I was supposed to be sent off to live with my grandparents, but I couldn't take any more of the pain and hurt, and emptiness. So, I chose to get out of town. That's when I became a runaway. I remembered that day clearly….
I was scared and upset and my face was stained with tears as I walked down the street, deciding to leave before my grandparents could pick me up. The same black backpack was on my back with as much clothes and snacks I could pack into it. I noticed a strange man behind me, and my heart quickly picked up speed. I remembered he was tall, with dark shades and a trench coat, only walking some feet behind me.
Strangers, I hated strangers. I quickly took a sharp turn and ran down the street, not looking back until I hit the woods. As soon as I was a few feet into the woods, and my legs ached is when I slowed to a walk as I nervously walked through the woods. Now, I know maybe going through the woods was probably not the smartest thing to do, but with so much emotions welling up inside me, I couldn't think clearly and trudged deeper into the forest.
After a few hours, it was getting darker and I kept walking. My legs had small cuts and bruises from the thorns and sharp branches, and my stomach growled a bit, I quickly took out an apple and munched in silence as I continued my trek. Then, there was a loud crashing sound, so loud that a high-pitched shrills filled my ears with pain.
I winced, automatically covering my ears to keep from going practically deaf from the sound. The ground shook furiously and I stumbled around before, falling to my knees as loud bang filled the air. As I staggered to get up, I heard a crackling noise and looked up to see trees ahead of me fall forwards and I dodged as many as I could.
Scared and confused, I bolted forward still avoiding trees that fell until I hit a clearing and the woods were silent again. What could all that noise have been? I thought as I shakily stood, swallowing nervously as I examined my tiny cuts.At first it was silent, and then a loud crash that made my heart jump into my throat as what looked like two….giant, HUGE, MECHANICAL ROBOTS STOOD INFRONT OF ME! Or well, they wrestled around a bit, before one brought out a giant cannon, the other one quickly following suit. I opened my mouth, but only a small whimper escaped me as I stood rigidly still and watched in horror as the BIG, metal robots ducked it out. I'm not sure if it was real or not, but I certainly was NOT sticking around to find out.
I clumsily ran back in the woods, screaming like I was being stabbed. I don't know if the robots had heard me or not, but I still kept screaming and running and pushed branches and low tree leaves out of the way. I burst through another pair of trees before ending up in the same sight. Only this time, one robot was there with blue strange liquid leaking out in various places. With the moonlight, I could see his black and white armor, but when his eyes locked on me, I jerked slightly, they were red. And they were glowing.
The robot growled menacingly at me. I wanted to run, but couldn't find any energy left in me. So I collapsed to my knees, and cried. I sobbed loudly in front of the robot, and He didn't say or do anything. He just stared at me, his piercing red eyes not leaving me for one moment. After a few more painful minutes, I finally sniffled, wiping the tears from my face and sighed tiredly.
"P-please," I stuttered, "P-p-please…..don't h-h-hurt me…"
He just rolled his bright, red eyes, muttering something about 'weak and fragile humans'.
I looked back at him, studying his face. Even though I was still scared, I was slightly amazed at how his whole body was made entirely out of metal! This…this creature was obviously not man-made.
"W-who are y-y-you? W-what are you?!" I blurted out.
He just scoffed, "The names Barricade, puny little human femme."
My eyes widened and I jerked awake, my head a bit dizzy from the memory. I looked down at Frenzy to see him give me a worried look.
"S-sister n-n-not well?" Frenzy asked.
I shook my head, "Nah, I'm okay." I looked up and out of the window; we were in another parking lot.
"Where are we?" I asked, looking at the dashboard.
"The motel. Are you sure you're okay?" Barricade asked, a serious tone set in his voice.
I laughed nervously, dismissing him with a wave of my hand.
"I'm fine. I probably need more sleep though." I said, and then looked back down at Frenzy.
"S-s-sister b-be safe, y-y-yes?" He stuttered.
I smiled, kissing the top of his helm. "Yes, I'll be safe. I'll see you guys tomorrow."
The door swung open and I slowly got out, the chilly air of the almost-fall taking its turn. I patted the hood before quickly walking off to the inside of the warm lobby of the motel. I checked in, before walking up the stairs, not really in the mood to take an elevator and went to my room, 13A, sliding the card through the slit before the door clicked open and I walked over to the bed, immediately falling on to it. I snuggled into the covers, before drifting off into a peaceful sleep.
My eyes fluttered open again, and I yawned as I sat up, stretching my arms from sleeping on them. I checked the time on the digital alarm clock next to my nightstand, 7:27. I groaned as I slowly got out of bed, and walked into the bathroom, quickly taking a shower.
As soon as I had dried off, and changed into a new pair of clothes, I walked back into the bedroom and grabbed my black backpack which was lying on the floor. I shuffled around, looking for something to eat and was satisfied when I found a granola bar and an apple. After I tidied my room, and slung my backpack on my shoulders, I left the room and returned to key/card downstairs. I then walked back into the parking lot where Barricade turned his engine on.
I slid into the passenger's seat again, and the seat belt slid into place.
"Did you recharge well?" Barricade asked seriously again and I nodded, a bit annoyed.
"Did you eat properly?" He asked.
"Yes, I'm fine. Now, let's get out of here." I grumbled as the engine revved before pulling out of the parking lot and was down the road.
Frenzy once again crawled into my lap, and I smiled as I patted his head.
"Where are we going now?"
"To Seattle Washington, there is another source of Energon I tracked from there."
I nodded again, as Barricade turned on to an empty highway, and he increased speed. Everything was fine for a while, I occasionally talked about random things, Barricade complained about me "Treating Frenzy too much like a child," and I rolled my eyes at him.
"Hey Cade, can we listen to some tunes?" I asked an hour later.
He sounded like he was about to answer, but the car jerked, and Frenzy sat up. Muttering rapidly in Cybertronian.
"Frag." Barricade cursed.
"What? What's happening?" I asked, frantically looking left and right out the windows.
"I sense two Autobots signatures coming close. We're being chased."