"Bad robots suck, I'm so getting that bumper sticker," Amanda spoke to Chris as they drove home from the movies. They had been together for years, and Chris was used to Amanda's nerdish ways. "Forget that, I'm getting a yellow Camaro with an Autobots decal on the back and front." Chris had to laugh at that, because he knew if Amada got her hands on enough money, she would do it. "Well we aren't going to have that kind of money anytime soon, hun…" he smiled and patted her shoulder. Amanda merely shrugged, she could have her dreams of being great, not that her beat up Camry was going to 'roll out' any time soon. She sighed as they pulled into the driveway of the old mobile home her grandmother had left her.
"I think I'm going to play some 360," Chris piped up as Amanda went through the mail she had set on the pepto bismal pink dining table. "Go on then, I've got the bills to deal with." She pulled out her laptop then, and began to sift through the mail, sending out payments for everything from water to internet. When she was done there was…$3.42 in the bank account, wonderful. Her dark brown hair fell messily over her shoulders, her curvy body encased in a faded band shirt and jeans. Her chestnut eyes wandered over to the TV and Chris, wondering if he fantasized about Megan Fox, hell she thought she was hot. He was deep in his game play and Amanda moved into the bedroom, opting to take a shower before heading to bed. It didn't take her long to shower and get dressed for bed.
"Chris, can you turn down the game?" she asked as she settled into bed and pulled the blankets over herself. It was South Florida, not particularly cold, but she liked to keep it cool in the house. The volume on the Tv lowered and not too long after, Chris slipped into the bed beside Amanda, just as the thunder began. It being summer, thunderstorms were a common occurrence. Amanda loved the sound of rain hitting the metal roof of the house, she loved even more the thunder that came with the rain. The lightning was debatable, because of how old the house was, the electricity would go out with the nearest lightning strike. But at the moment, Amanda was too deep in dreams to hear the thunder and notice how loud it was. Both were sound asleep when lightning hit the carport her car was in.
The sound woke Amanda immediately, along with everything electrical in the house shorting out. She sat up straight in bed, shaking Chris. "Something's wrong," she mumbled, pulling on her glasses and padding out into the living room and then opening the door to the carport. She cracked it slightly, and her eyes went wide. The top of the carport was gone, and so was…her car.
"Chris!" she shouted as she ran out into the rain, running to the end of the driveway. She had to take off her glasses as she rubbed her eyes. Chris followed her outside and gasped. A large white shape was moving down the street, no it was walking down the street. "No, I'm dreaming right?" Amanda whispered to Chris who grabbed her arm, and dragged her back into the house. "Chris. You saw it too…my car…" she mumbled as he locked the door and pulled her into the bedroom and began a hot shower for her, he was just as shocked as she was. He sat on the bed until she came out, and she looked at him.
"Chris, you have to tell me you saw it too," she said sitting next to him on the bed. "Amanda…I don't know what I saw, it was raining maybe a trick of the lightning." He nodded, yes that could be it.
"Then where the hell is my car?" she shouted, getting up and moving to her side of the bed. He shook his head, she was right, cars didn't just get up and walk away…well in the movies they did, but those were just movies. Nothing like that happened in real life. Amanda dried off, and dressed in dry clothes before moving into the living room with her laptop. Opening it she realized the power was still out, she would have to do her research when it came back on, but in the morning, she was going to talk to her car. In the wee hours of the morning, she fell asleep on the couch, dreams of conversations with her car moving around in her mind.
Amanda woke to Chris shaking her awake, it seemed he had brought her a blanket and pillow out sometime after she had fallen asleep. She yawned and looked up at him. "I'm taking the bus to work, I know you have work today," he said, as he kissed her lips and moved from the house. The Camry was back in the driveway and the carport was…back intact as if it had been hit by lightning the night before. Chris shook his head and headed for the bus stop. Not long after Amanda was dressed and driving her car down Alligator Alley, and soon turned off onto a dirt road. The road led to a dirt bike road and to Amanda it was the most secluded place she knew of. She stepped out of the car and moved before it, her hands on her hips.
She cleared her throat.
"I saw you leave last night…" she spoke aloud, suddenly feeling very stupid to be talking to her car. "And we knew the top of the carport was gone…" she continued, "but now it's back like nothing even happened." She stood there for some time, her hands on her hips, her face trained on her beat up car, but nothing happened. "Come on, I saw you, So did Chris. How could you have kept this from me for so long?" She let out a sigh, debating on whether or not she should get back into the car.
That's when it happened.
Like something out of the movies, her car made a noise like metal grinding against metal, within seconds a robot stood before Amanda, her eyes wide. "I knew it!" she shouted looking up at what used to be her car. A soft laugh came from the mechanical face of the creature as it kneeled down.
"I'm Cassy," it spoke, the voice somewhat mechanical and female at the same time, "I'm sorry to have kept this from you for so long, but secretiveness is something highly regarded by my kind." Amanda just stood there, her mouth agape. It took her a moment to regain her composure, "How many more of you are there?" she asked and Cassy smiled, well smiled as much as robot face could. "Including myself there are six of us down here in this territory." Amanda blinked, there were six Autobots in South Florida? She had to ask the next question. "And Decepticons?" she bit her lip, knowing there had to be a reason for that many Autobots to be in one place. Cassy blinked her mechanical eyes at Amanda and let out what Amanda would think would be a sigh if she was human. "We don't know how many there are here, but I fear we'll find out soon enough." Amanda shook her head, something like this didn't happen in real life, her car wasn't a talking robot, she must be imagining all of this, but if she was, well she was happy to stay in her imagination. "Can I meet the others? Can I help?" Amanda offered and Cassy nodded, soon transforming back into the beat up Camry Amanda had been driving for years. It roared off, without Amanda touching the gas or ignition and sped off down the road, taking the highway to a dirt road turn off that would have been invisible if someone didn't know what to look for. Right in front of them, a dump truck cut them off, turning in, Cassy followed closely.
"What a jerk," Amanda growled as she sat back, Cassy came to a stop not too long after, in a clearing marked with tire tracks of all kinds. The dump truck was there along with two silver and green motorcycles, a Hummer and a Nissan Armada. The door opened to let Amanda out and soon the familiar sound of metal against metal erupted in the clearing. Around her stood five robots, the two motorcycles becoming one as they transformed.
"Who is this human?" asked what used to be the dump truck to Cassy.
"She's the one who has owned me for awhile, she saw me leave last night, but I had no choice, Echo." Cassy sighed looking down at the ground as the lumbering figure, now known as Echo moved closer to Amanda. "Why are you here human?" he asked, his voice thundering. Amanda didn't even shiver. "I want to help…" They all laughed at her then, a deep mechanical laugh that made Amanda uneasy.