Sup, guys. Jimmy10.0 here. Prime Circle is my first Transformers fanfiction. I was inspired to do this when I heard 'Prime Circle's' Out of this Place. They're a South African band, I'd suggest checking out their music. The name stuck, but might be changed in the future. This chapter is simply an attempt to see if I should continue the story. So, RnR, ok?
I own nothing, not Transformers or Prime Circle (the band). If I did, I would be rolling in dough.
Soft sunlight filtered through the leaves as a fresh and gentle breeze moved through the bright green grass. The tall trees stood as sentinels to the forest, their great numbers covering the mountains and valleys as streams trickled into rivers. A deer was gracefully grazing close to a babbling brook, her head bent with the assurance of security.
Twitch.
A twig snapped and the deer's head bolted up, immediately looking towards the sound, her ears twitching in alertness. After moments of assessing the situation, she returned to her grazing. The was a faint zip sound before the deer collapsed, an arrow protruding from her chest, killing her instantly. The muffled sounds of footsteps went unheard as the hunter sprinted towards the kill. Knowing the tight time constraint, the hunter made quick work of taking all the necessary parts, letting none go to waste. The hide, the meat, everything that he needed he took stuffing it all into a rather large bag.
Stepping into the stream, the hunter lowered the bloody bag into the running water, making sure to rise off the worst of the blood to help hide his scent. Fixing the bag to his back, he started the trek home.
After walking for about an hour, the hunter suddenly turned left, appearing to turn right into the cliff-face of the mountain. Those with keen eyes would have seen that there was a hidden tunnel there and hidden it stayed. Placing the tools down, the hunter quickly dragged the skin from the bag and briskly walked outside again, moving into a rocky outcrop that would shield him from view.
Placing the hide flat on the ground, he nailed it tightly to the ground, making sure it was stretched and had some contact with direct sunlight. Making sure to leave no trace, he grabbed his tools again, hefted the heavy bag, and plunged into the darkness of the tunnel once more.
An hour of twists and turns later, the hunter emerged in a cavern only a few feet taller than his head. It was a large, round cavern, with various tunnels heading in various directions here and there, cables crisscrossing on the ceiling with what seemed to be a fire pit in the centre. Against the one wall stood a white painted wood cabinet, and the hunter coughed slightly, the smell of fire still strong. Moving over to the table next to the cabinet, the hunter placed the meat on the table before removing a formidable knife from the cupboard, the hunter removed the thick animal skin jacket and tossed it in a safe corner.
The hunched shoulders of a tall woman came into view, her long brown hair a braid running down her back, stopping just below her bra. Sweating, she carved the meat into long strips, taking three quarters of it and placing them on small hooks, hanging them on the cables that hung from the ceiling. Rubbing them with salt, she shifted them over to where the fire pit was and carefully worked at the hinder coals, encouraging them to produce heat once more. A mellow, warm heat settled into the room, slowly curing the meat to prolong its life. She picked up her jacket, the leftover meat before leaving the room once more.
She was freezing by the time she reached her storeroom. This was a large, natural cave that for some mindboggling reason never strayed above 4°Celcius, making it the perfect freezer. There were large steel racks in the cavern, all of them holding a great variety of items. There were bottles upon bottles of disinfectant and various medicines and first aid equipment, there were racks of bars of soap, and large containers of bits and bobs of things that might spoil, of things that may not, and areas to safely put away the raw meat.
Placing the meat into its designated container, she quickly made her way out of the freezing cavern once again. Dull lightbulbs hung at lengthy interval, dimly lighting the corridors. There was also the lazy, near silent swishing sound of the ventilation fans that ensured that she didn't suffocate. She walked, treading softly, making her way to the main chamber.
The main chamber was a large circular room, 50 metres wide and 20 metres tall. A collection of homemade coloured plastic bottle lamps hung randomly from the ceiling. There were a couple of bear rugs on the slight concave floor with a large table in the centre of the floor, surrounded by a small variety of chairs. Against one side was a bed with a thick, colourful crotched blanket lying on top of a fur covered mattress. There were various cupboards against the one wall and just next to on crooked cupboard was a small doorway with a curtain as a door. There was a ticking grandfather clock in the corner, dutifully showing the time.
The other half of the room consisted of various tables with a wide array of tools scattered on them. There was one set of shelves that were painstakingly neat: the weapons. They ranged from light weapons like daggers to the heavier shotguns and rifles. The guns were a last resort in the case of an attack. The wall between the tables and the bed, was another doorway which led into the infirmary, if it even graced that title. It contained a bed, a clean water source, good lights and medical supplies. True, most of it was in the storeroom, but these were for emergencies.
Walking into the curtained room, she moved over to the small constantly flowing stream, washing her hands in the cold water. Rinsing her face of all the sweat, she looked into the mirror. A 29 year old woman stared back at her in the rectangular glass, her brown hair neatly pulled back to keep it out of her dark eyes. There were no laugh lines on her face, she had no reason to smile anymore. A dark scar ran along her left cheek, a reminder of her first couple of weeks in the wilderness. At least she had not been alone then. Sighing, she moved away from the mirror and her memories.
The ticking clock told her that she had three hours before she had to go and check on the smoking meat. She had four hours of daytime left. Deciding that she did not need to go foraging again soon, she walked over to one of the cupboards and allowed herself one simple pleasure: music. Taking the iPod out of the cupboard, she placed it in a docking station and set it on random, just letting it play in the background. Eye of the Tiger started playing as she took her place on the floor, starting with her daily exercise routine. She stretched before strapping a 20kg weight to her back, leaning forward to start her push ups.
One hundred push ups, hanging sit ups and lunges later, she went back to her bathroom, greedily sipping water from the running stream. Wiping her mouth, she made her way to the smoking chamber. Spicing the meat once more, she rechecked the coals before going back to the main chamber. Going into the bathroom area, she stepped over to a large basin like hole in the ground. Plugging the hole, she pulled on a cord, tying it into place. She started stripping as she counted down from 70. 30 seconds later, a stream of water finally started running into the basin. It steamed as it hit the bottom and continued to run. It ran for twenty seconds before she untied the cord once again, leaving to go and get her pajamas while she waited for the water to stop pouring. The stream turned into a trickle before stopping completely as she stepped into the large bathtub. It was just the right temperature. It was quite simple really. The cord was connected to a little gate that redirected a little bit of water from a nearby river to run over a large plain of smooth rock before going through a small filtration system before ending in the tub. The rock would be hot in the late afternoon, thus heating the water as it runs. The result? Warm bath water with just a tell-tale little gate. Laying in the water, she reflected.
Her name was Arabella Michaels, but she had not heard it in years. She was from a small town in the middle of Montana that was safely tucked into the mountains. It has been seven years since… it happened.
She shuddered as she thought of everything that had occurred in those times. There was so much panic in those times. She had barely escaped alive and ran into another person that had been running in the same direction that she had. James Weston. They decided to stick together and make a way of living for themselves so that they could be comfortably hidden from the world.
The first year was the hardest as their bodies had to suddenly build the muscle it had not needed before and as they were hit will all sorts of problems, but with a lot of work, they forced their way through the trouble. By the time the second year had rolled to an end, they had a functional system going. They had electricity that was generated by small machines hidden in the rivers that was enough to run the lights and the barest of appliances. They had dug and opened the channels between the caverns, creating an underground fortress. There were emergency exit tunnels everywhere and great care had been taken to hide the entrances and keep the animals out.
They had made many trips into the surrounding towns to collect whatever forms of supplies they could. Driving two trailered cars in the dead of night with no lights, they would collect things like flint, weapons, soap, containers, wool, tools and anything they could think of from the stores. Hitting a Wallmart was generally the best.
The most important places they stopped, however, were the libraries and any other places that had books. They made sure to collect any books on living outdoors, making your own weapons, clothes, how to tan hides, books on hunting and anything else that could be of any use. As the time passed, the trips needed to the towns lessened to near rarity. Everything was going well and they were happy together, but then the fourth year had rolled around.
That was the year that James died. She only found the cougar when he had almost finished eating him. She killed him with an arrow through his eye and all that she could do for a funeral service was bury the cougar's stomach near a tree and carve a crude sign in the bark. That cougar's hide was the one hanging against the wall, the arrow still lodged in the skull to serve as a reminder that she had gotten revenge for James. She had not eaten the cougar and left it for the wolves. The only thing she had left of James was his class ring and her memories.
Sighing at the morbid tone that her thoughts had taken, she got out of the bath after having used the scentless soap and pulled the plug. Dressing in cotton pajamas, she made her way to the kitchen, where she reheated a stew that she had made the day before. The kitchen was the only room where some attempt at an even floor had been made. They had dug out clay and slathered it on the floor, leaving it more even than it was before.
The kitchen was small, with one wall lined with shelves holding containers, bowls, cups, and a mishmash of kitchen utensils and spices. In the wall next to it there was a wooden door stuck horizontally into the wall. Inside it was a plastic bathtub, also worked into the wall. The tub had ice cold stream water running over it all the time, acting as a freezer for the kitchen. The stove was on the opposite side of the room. This one was gas powered and they had made sure to collect as many gas bottles as they could find. Considering that she was only cooking for one now and only at night, she was not going to run out soon. Cleaning the bowl, she made her way the bed, yawning from the long day's work. Flicking the main light off, only the dim passage lights gave any indication as to where anything is. Snuggling beneath the colourful blanket, she closed her eyes and fell asleep.
"Hey mom! I'm home!" Arabella called as she walked into the house. "Mom?" She called again as she walked into the t.v. seeing her mother standing in shock at what was showing.
"… as you can see behind me, there is chaos as the alien robots are fighting. The marines are running around with machine guns and the heavy artillery. We have been receiving reports that these are the robots involved in the news a not too long ago. It has been confirmed that it is the Autobots that have taken action against the Decepticons, who have threatened to destroy earth. As you can see behind me, there are bots fighting everywhe… Oh, God, what is that?!" The rickety camera swerved to reveal the sky, dark as a humongous metallic structure cut out the sunlight. "Oh, God… I don't know if you can see thi…" Intermittent bursts of static filled the transmission. "… there is a… structure in the… it appea… to be metallic… looks like… planet… wait… disappearing…" The camera's clarity returned. "The portal has been destroyed and the metal structure has vanished from sight. It looks like we might have this thing beat… Hang on…" The news reporter touched her ear piece as her eyes widened in alarm. "Optimus Prime is dead! I repeat! The leader of the Autobot faction has fallen! Megatron has managed to kill him! Oh, Go… Megatron has gained control! I repeat! Megatron has won this war! Everyone! Save yourse…" The footage cut out as a missile slammed into the camera. The silence filled the air as they stood in shock. The tell-tale sounds of jets filled the air as the sounds of bombs exploding followed. The droning became louder.
"Mom, I love yo…"
Something exploded and a sharp pole ended her mother's life.