-Ruth Anne POV-

'I can't believe I'm doing this, I must be insane... Well, I was just having a conversation with a tractor, so yeah, I probably am insane at this point.'

"Hey! Would you watch where you're going?! I'm not exactly strapped in up here," I yelled at the demonic tractor as it bounced over a rut in the ground about the size of me. The wheels just kept on a turnin' though, not even the slightest change in our speed made at all.

I mentally growled as I was once again jounced and thrown about in the seat as the Demon tractor continued to tear down the small dirt road towards the main field. At this point I was starting to wonder if I wouldn't be a better driver than this thing. I mean, come on! At least I made an effort to avoid the major ruts and potholes in the road! Well, this was probably the tractor's revenge on me for almost getting poop on him earlier.

A small smile made it's way onto my face as I recalled the incident with trying to finally get the manure into the spreader.

"Don't be such a baby, and besides, its not like I'm going to chuck this onto you anyway," I said as I continued to lift the heavy shovel full of poop up and then dump it into the bin atop the actual spreader, "Though if you keep this up, I might." The only response that I received from the demon tractor was the shuttering of its frame as it tried to inch away from the large pile of manure that I had parked it by.

"Uh uh uh, don't even think about it. It took me long enough for me to finally get you to drive over here, so don't event think about driving away," I scolded him as I continued to load the spreader. "And besides, I'm just about done with this anyway."

The tractor seemed to droop on his shocks and relax at my mentioning of being almost done. I almost chuckled at the sight of the grumpy tractor being relaxed, because there was no way that he knew what was about to be asked from him. Just the thought of him getting the surprise of his life when the poop begins to fly from the spreader was enough to turn my frown upside down. A smile little devious smile adorned my face as I turned to look at the tractor as I set the shovel down on the ground next to the pile of manure.

The tractor then took one look at my face before he tensed up so tight that I could hear some of his inner workings and metal creek and groan. At the sight and sound of his apprehension my smile grew larger until my mouth could stretch no more. Oh, this was going to get interesting.

I was roughly brought back to the present as the tractor yet again drove right through a huge pothole that took up almost the entire right side of the dirt road that we currently on. My eyes soon sought out the steering wheel, which was turning itself as we continued to traverse the little strip of dirt and I sent a glare that was deadly enough to stop any man in his tracks, though sadly this was a Demon tractor that I was glaring at and no ordinary man.

My hope soared a little higher though as I noticed that a line of trees was quickly approaching and I realized that this little ride of terror was about to get a little more interesting. On the other side of the trees was the largest field that my family had, so it was where we were going to start fertilizing. The trees were upon us quickly and the tractor started to slow on its on accord and we continued down the path until we began to enter the small forest before we stopped completely. I raised an eyebrow at the steering wheel as the engine cut off, leaving us in an eerie silence that seemed far to quiet to be normal.

"Come on you lazy hunk of metal, just a little more and we'll get to the other side of the trees where the field is," I said as I tried to coach the tractor into moving. At my words the engine started to crank up and we yet again started to continue down the path, though now we had entered the tree line and were traveling in the eery darkness that was because the trees blocked out most of the sunlight. It wasn't but about a minute until we reached the clearing on the other side of the trees and made our way back into the sunlight. This time though, the sun seemed to drop behind a few clouds and the world darkened a bit as the wind started to pick up a miniscule amount.

The hair on the back of my neck suddenly stood straight up as I heard a strange whirling sound up over our heads and I turned my eyes skyward to look up at the belly of a huge helicopter. I couldn't help but think that it was weird that a helicopter was flying that low over the forest and for some reason it seemed to be headed right for us. I felt the tractor stiffen as the helicopter continued on its path straight towards us and just continued to lose altitude until it was barely skimming the tops of the trees before the world seemed to just explode before my eyes.

The world slowed down as a small flash signaled that a rocket had been launched from the hovering beast as I was suddenly airborne from the tractor seat. I watched in awed silence as the tractor that I had just been astride suddenly broke apart. My mind couldn't make sense of what was happening because the missile hadn't hit yet, so why was the tractor coming apart? It was just a second before the missile hit that the tractor stopped falling apart and started to rebuild itself. But this time, it wasn't a tractor.

It was a huge robot that had a flaming red paint job. After that, the world seemed to pick up speed again as the missile finally reached its intended destination. Or, what would have been its target if the red robot hadn't moved in time as it did. I stared in awe as the robot turned to face the oncoming helicopter, or at least what had been one. Not a second after the rocket impacted the ground the helicopter had dropped from the sky and done the same trick as the tractor had, though this time it didn't look quite as friendly with its black paint job and glowing red eyes.

At the sight of the monstrosity that had been the helicopter I was suddenly awash in fear and the feeling that I wasn't going to make it out of there alive. I was suddenly distracted before my fear as the ground jumped and shook as the hug red eyed robot landed and ran the few steps that were between him and the red robot. The titans then clashed in a hold that looked almost like a hug, though there was absolutely nothing nice or loving about the act.

I found myself frozen to the spot that I was sprawled upon as the giant red eyed monster overpowered the smaller blue eyed robot and managed to throw him onto his back and land on top of him. Their brawl had brought them closer to my position on the ground but I was helpless to do anything as the smaller blue eyed robot fought for his life as the former helicopter fought for dominance.

A scream ripped its way out of my throat as the wrestling giants suddenly switched positions with the red robot on top of the black one, but in their struggle they had rolled toward me and almost crushed me under their huge mechanical bodies. I barely managed to get to my numb legs and scramble out of the way only a second or two before the titans crushed the space that I had just occupied.

It was at that moment that everything seemed to slow down as the giant red eyed robot turned his head to glare right at me, and I knew that it saw me because I was only a few measly feet away from the battling duo. At the sight of me the robot narrowed it 'eyes' and seemed to growl and click something to the red robot before allowing a smirk to etch itself into his face plates. At the sounds of the clicking and growling the red robot seemed to be frozen in shock for a second and that was all that the larger robot needed to break free.

The black robot suddenly broke free from the red one's grasp and then did something that I would see in my nightmares. He transformed his right hand into a large gun of some type and placed it under the belly of the red robot. As my eyes widened the red robot managed to move slightly to the side so that the shot only grazed his side, but it still took a large chunk of the robots side with it.

I opened my mouth in a silent scream as the black robot threw the red one over my head as I ducked. My eyes couldn't help but follow the body as it rolled and bounced over the ground before it began to come to a stop on its back. I quickly turned my head back to the black giant as I heard some sort of whirling sound. The sight that greeted me when I finished turning my head was one that I would never forget;

Blood thirsty red eyes that seemed to devour me with their hatred, and a black hand that was covered in a weird purple liquid that was reaching for me with cruel intentions.

Another scream forced its way out of my throat as my instincts won over my body and I suddenly found myself running for my life. It was no use though, for my short little human legs would never in a thousand years be able to match the long powerful mechanical ones the my pursuer had possession of.

All of the air left my lungs as I was suddenly grabbed from behind by cruel, cold, mechanical fingers that narrowed to end in claws that did nothing but add to the terror that I felt flowing through me. As my feet left the ground I was turned to look at the face that I was quickly learning to despise and hate. A cold smile that held no warmth or love greeted me as I was angled to gaze upon my captor. Normally I would have done something stupid like spit in his face or yell and scream at him but seeing as how I was being squeezed so tight that I couldn't breath it looked like I wouldn't be doing any of those things.

I did almost pee myself though when the huge behemoth opened his mouth and said, "Well well well, what have I here? It looks like I found a little Autobot pest and a tiny little Human insect."

His voice nearly shook me to the bone for it was loud and booming, enough so that I was pretty sure that someone in China was probably wondering why they were hearing a loud mechanical voice threaten someone. That someone being me, of course.

"Oh, I think I'm scaring it," the robot said with fake concern in its voice as it turned and started to walk towards where the red robot had landed. Anger suddenly started to build and grow in me as the black robot continued to taunt and make fun of me and my species. I reached my boiling point though when he started to make fun of the red robot, saying that he was a weak coward.

I opened my mouth to scream at him when I suddenly found myself being squeezed like I was a lemon or something. Now all that escaped me was a stream of air that seemed to take with it all of my strength and will to fight. My body was profusely protesting the abuse as my vision began to swim and started to become spotty and blurry. I numbly felt my head roll to the side as my hearing began to fade in and out.

I was suddenly made aware that I was about to die, as I made out a large talon being lifted up in front of me and starting to push my head back. All of the fight was drained from me as I felt something cold and wet being placed up to my throat. Pain then made itself known to me as I saw the talon glide from one side to the other as I felt a sting begin to grown at the base of my neck. The only thing that I knew after that was pain that seemed to never cease as I finally gave into the darkness that was pulling me under and away from the pain.

-Tow-Haul POV-

My vision was full of alerts and warnings as my form lied there on the ground in pain from the shot that had been inflicted upon me by the Decepticon. At the moment that's all that my world consisted of; pain and worry. Pain that had been inflicted upon me and worry for my own spark and the life of the human that was now left to the mercy of the Decepticon.

Ha. That was a good one. The "mercy" of a Decepticon. There was no such thing, unless you counted being given a quick and painless death mercy. And most of the time the Decepticons want to make you suffer as much as possible before they finally offlined you.

My vents shuddered as I tried to intact a bit of the air around me to help cool down my systems but all that I managed to do was make pain erupt from my bent and broken vents. I felt a groan of agony erupt from my processor as I tried to move away from the approaching Decepticon that now held the human femme in his hand.

I could barely make out her form in his huge hand, but there was no mistaking the ruby red that leaked from her frame only to mix with the bright purple energon that was my own.

I shuddered in disgust at the thought of having her fluids leaking out all over my form but if anything the Decepticon seemed to be enjoying her pain and the way that her "blood" leaked from her broken form and ran in small rivers down his hand only to drip down and land on the ground below.

I could barely make out the look on her face, but what from what I could see I could tell that is was a look of pure torture and pain. Just seeing that look made my tank turn and feel queasy knowing that I wasn't strong enough to stop the Decepticon from capturing her.

My thoughts of despair were suddenly brought to an end as the sound of a loud explosion made its way to my processor. I weakly turned my helm towards the source of the sound and was relieved to see no other than Optimus Prime and Ratchet running towards my fallen form and the Decepticon. The Decepticon was then distracted from his fun as a large shot from Optimus's cannon impacted the Decepticon's chest.

A strangled yell left me as I saw that the impact of the shot had landed on the con's chest not very far from the small human. The impact from the blast sent energon and shrapnel flying at the unconscious form of the human as the Decepticon staggered back before he dropped the human harshly on the ground where she laid in a rapidly growing pool of her own blood.

The movement of the falling human finally caught the Prime's attention as he advanced upon the staggering form of the black painted Decepticon. "Get that Human out of here," he yelled to Ratchet.

The Medic quickly ran towards the fallen form of the small femme as he began to start a surface scan that would give him a tiny look at what was wrong with the unconscious human. He didn't like at all what he found and he quickly dove in the battle and retrieved the girl before either of the two fighting giants could cause her more harm.

Scooping the girl into his hands, he quickly dogged the blows that were being sent his way as he ran towards the form of the fallen Autobot.

Setting the human down to quickly start clamping and welding lines shut, Ratchet failed to notice as some of the energon was absorbed into the girl's skin and wounds as she lay there unconscious.

It wasn't but a few minutes until the Decepticon lay in his own pool of shed energon and the Prime and Ratchet had called in reinforcements to help evacuate the fallen Autobot and the human girl.

-Ruth Anne POV, A Week Later-

A shiver ran through me as I stared out into the darkness that surrounded my form.

There was no light at all in the place that I was currently in and it felt like it was only a few degrees above freezing.

I couldn't help but wonder where I was, because I couldn't recall at all how or when I had gotten there. Actually, the last thing that I remembered was getting mad at my toaster in the mourning for yet again burning my toast, but that didn't help explain at all how I had gotten to this strange place.

I suddenly felt the hair that wasn't already standing on end from the cold rise and stand at attention with all of the other hair follicles on my arms and the back of my neck. There had been no noise or sound that caused the bizarre reaction to occur on my body, but apparently one of my baser instincts was trying to tell me something.

I decided that it would be wise to listen to my body as I drew in on myself and let myself sink down to the ground where I sat curled up in a ball. It wasn't long until I felt that someone was watching me. Raising my head, I looked in front of my small form and was greeted with the terrifying sight of huge red "eyes" watching me.

I sucked in a huge breath as I prepared to scream for my life, because there was no way that the owner of those eyes had any god intentions for me. In fact, all that I could see in those deadly eyes was hatred and anger.

"What are you looking at, femme," growled out a low and rumbling voice that seemed to come from the direction of the eyes. I trembled in fear as a low chuckle left the being who's eyes were still glued to me.

"Aw, what's the matter, insect. Scared? Well, you should be," was growled in my direction and before I could even move or scream a large mechanical hand that was equipped with huge sharp claws suddenly filled up my sight as the huge being reached for me.

This time though, I did scream as I felt absolute terror begin to flow through my veins.

Right as the huge hand was within touching distance, I threw myself backwards to get away, but the feeling of being in free fall made me instantly regret the action.

I started to scream again as my back impacted with the ground, but I never got the chance.

xXXx

I sat straight up in the medical bed that I was in and let loose a hoarse scream as I felt the talons of the red eyed beast dig into my skin. I turned my head to look at my arms where the stinging was worse and I was confused to see that instead of black talons piercing my flesh, there were several needles that lead to different tubes and devices throughout the room that I was currently in.

My brow crinkled in confusion as I glanced around the room, looking for those evil red eyes that seemed to haunt me even in my dreams. I sighed as I let myself fall back into the soft sheets on the bed and let myself take a breather as I gazed of the small room that I was currently in.

It seemed to be some type of hospital room, for I was resting in a gurney that was made to double as a bed for those who couldn't be moved safely from the contraption. Hanging next to me on several metal poles were the bags of fluid that were currently keeping my body hydrated and medicated.

Besides the bed/gurney there really weren't a lot of furnishings, that is if you count a counter covered in medical supplies and a simple chair in the corner luxurious. At the moment the room was quiet besides the sound of the beeping from my heart monitor and I couldn't hear anything from the hall outside of the door to my room.

That, coupled with the fact that there were no lights turned on in my line of sight and there was no light from under the door, led me to believe that it must be night time.

My eyes soon began to drift shut as my fading terror took with it all of my energy and will to fight the warmth of sleep. It wasn't but a few minutes later and I was fast asleep again, though this time no dreams hung around to haunt and torture my mind as I tried to rest my weary body.