Energy and Motion

Declaimer: I do not own Transformers or McDonalds, Subway or Jeep

All Racing Events are Fictional


Chapter 3: ATV Whiplash


It was two days later, the air was cool and the sun had yet to peek over the Nevada horizon. Early birds sung to each other across the street as dew glistened on the grass. The Nevada heat was gone for the moment and the peaceful street seemed quiet and asleep. But on this early Friday morning, not everyone was in bed.

Shia came walking down her porch steps of her small gray home. The brown wooden door was pulled closed as she hefted a canvas bag over her shoulder. She was halfway dressed in her bike racing gear; Shia wore the white and bright green body suit with old worn tennis shoes. Her blond hair was pulled tightly back into a ponytail and her snazzy sport sunglasses were pushed up to rest on her forehead. In her bag where her racing boots, gloves, goggles and a few other items. The white, black, and green-checkered dirt bike helmet was tucked under her left arm. Her overall appearance showed she was a champion who was waiting to kick butt and win.

"We ready Code?" asked Shia as she walked down the sidewalk to the 2013 Jeep Grand Cherokee Trailhawk that was parked on the curb. The white armor of the vehicle reflected the shot shades of blue, purple, and pink from the brightening sky. Cody quickly glanced up from behind the Cherokee at his friend's voice. Then he went back to sliding the last pin in for the trailer connection. He grabbed the steel bar and jostled it, making sure it was a sure fit.

"Almost," he stood up and dusted off his hands and adjusted the black ball cap he was wearing. "We got your four-wheeler, dirt bike, and street race bike all loaded up in the back. All we need to do is swing by my house and get the cooler and the passes. You ready?"

"As Ever."

Shia and Cody where going to the annual Recreation and All Terrain Vehicle competition over at the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah. Shia was a racer in the amateur racing, but she was really good for her age. She could skillfully drive a four-wheeler, a dirt bike, and a street bike safely while pulling great aerial stunts for the various competitions she could enter.

Shia's parents were out-of-town with Cody's, since they were business partners. So the two teens were in change of getting to the Salt Flats, were this year's event was taking place, with the vehicles. It wouldn't be a problem and at all, they parent's agreed they were highly responsible and they entrusted them with the Cherokee to drive.

It'd be a two-hour drive at the fastest speed heading east. When pulling three other vehicles, it was bound to take longer. Cody was coming along to help direct a paint ball match he had helped set up with a committee. His older brother Mike would meet up with them there, to help with all the events the two teens were participating in. The young man knew a lot about this type of racing, so his experience would be helpful. He also wanted to fill in for the third pass Shia had and enjoy the day with his little brother. Hopefully he'd be able to embarrass Cody a bit too. Oh, the joy of brotherly love.

Cody finished strapping down the vehicles in the trailer. He twanged the straps and hopped in the driver's seat. Shia had to run back to his house to grab their lunch and the passes. Cody pulled the Cherokee onto the street and waited for Shia to come out after gathering up the items and locking up his house.

Shia came out with a cooler of lunch, placed in the backseat and they were off.


A few hours later, Cody pulled into the dirt parking lot. The trailer bounced in the back as he hit the uneven gravel from the road turnoff. His hands slid and spun the steering wheel as he directed the Cherokee to a place to park and unload. The jeep stopped and dust blew into the west by a quick wind.

Shia looked around through the windows, she stopped and waved at a tall early-twenties man that was striding closer to them. "There's Mike," she pointed to a older version of Cody, but with longer, curlier hair. "He'll help you unload. I'm going to the information booth to see what I need to do and pay the fee." She unbuckled and got out. "I'll be back in about twenty minutes."

The white and green-clad biker walked away at slow trot. Eyes scanning the several tented pavilions for the information booth. The Salt Flat environment was very bright, even in the mid-morning light of the rising sun. Trucks and other Jeeps of various sizes were lined up in the parking lot as people of all ages unloaded their vehicles or herded children to their next event. A few men were eating their late McDonalds Breakfast meals in the shade of their big Ford truck, while others were sitting up shady tents and camping chairs. Two sport ATVs charged quickly down the gravel roadway, their tires spun out rocks and clouds of dust. Everyone was out and about, getting ready for the races of the day.

The brown-haired boy got out of his car and started undoing the cargo straps that held down the single-rider automobiles in the trailer. Mike quickly joined him and he clapped Cody on the back. "Glad to see that you made it here without any problems," Mike said. "Wouldn't want Shia missing any of her big races."

Mike was a tall twenty-one year-old. With curly brown hair that fanned out behind his ears and was held down by a dirty college football cap. His tanned face was bright and smiling and he quickly slipped on his gloves over his calloused hands. The big brother looked much like Cody, but he was a lot more bulked up then his younger version.

"So what is Shia up against today?" Cody asked as he dropped the steel ramp down at the back of the trailer. It clanged on the gravel and Mike walked up it.

"Hm. We got some pretty skilled racers here today in general. Only a few of them are in the amateur races. From what I've heard, they're pretty good. With Shia's skill, we won't have to worry about a sore lose." Mike said as he unfastened a cargo strap on the red sport ATV. He pulled it loose and started to bundle up the dusty straps, carefully sidestepping around the cramped trailer space.

Cody made a sound of agreeing. "So what other events do we have today, Mike? What can we watch?"

His brother looked up from where he was sitting on the ATV, Mike was preparing to drive it down the ramp and off the trailer. "Well…" he paused, rubbing a dusty glove over the small stubble on his chin. "There are the ATV Races and the Dirt Bike X-tremes, including the Bike Rally this afternoon. The Street Dashes are tonight down South at the new professional track. The Pros got the Salt Flat Flyers going on all day on the open stretch. Those are all the races I know of." He shifted on the seat, whipping at the dust along the ATV's controls. "There's paintball, stunt shows, I think a hamburger eating contest, and some contest booths too."

"Sounds like it's going to be a lot of fun today," Cody commented as the shrill sound of the ATV engine stopped the conservation. Mike had turned it on and was slowly rolling it down the forty-five degree ramp. The flag on the back of the automobile swung around on its spring and bonked Mike on the head. The taller young man just glared at the notorious addition and pulled the four-wheeler to the side of the Cherokee.

He shut it off and turned to Cody, "Do you have your camera?"

"Yeah, I do," answered Cody as he rolled the white and green Honda dirt bike down the ramp after Mike. He kicked the kickstand and turned back to get the matching colored sport bike.

"Good," smirked Mike. "Because I want to get a picture with your girl." He came around to lean against the side of the white automobile, his arms folded over his chest.

The little brother looked up alarmed, then he quickly turned to popping open the trunk of the Cherokee. Trying to hide the blush on his cheeks. "She's not my girl," he muttered.

Mike laughed and clapped his little bro on the back. "Yeah, right."

Cody scowled and he quickly took out his paintball gear bag. He slammed shut the trunk and briskly walked away, leaving a laughing Mike to attended to the vehicles.

:(O):

A couple of hours later, after an exciting and refreshing paintball match, Cody was in the stands at the Dirt Bike Rally. The special constructed jump course was rolling with excitement as fans and spectators cheered on the competitors. Dust clouds faded into the bright, yet surprisingly cool, afternoon sky. The high wails of the dirt bike engines screamed as the competitors prepared to jump off the ramps, launching themselves into the air.

Cody cheered and whistled loudly with pride and excitement as Shia pulled some stunning moves on her dirt bike. She flew up into the air and did a stunning one-handed handstand on the back of her seat. The crown went wild and they cheered as she stuck the landing. Shia pulled to the side of the track, a wave of moist dirt after the hairpin turn. She saluted stiffly to the crowd and then took off with a high pitch engine wail, gunning it towards the next jump.

Cody continued to yell and cheer with the crowd as the racers continued to impress them and the judges. Shia was now waiting on the sidelines for her turn to begin again. Rapidly, Cody's head began to pound, and the deafening sound all around him began to become muffled. As if he was sinking underwater. The arena around him slowed down and became unfocused, as if he was looking through the wrong end of binoculars.

The disorienting sensation continued to grow until Cody wasn't seeing the bike arena anymore. His vision had shifted to a whole different environment, one that was quieter and more eerie.

He glanced around. The wind was cool as it blew thousands of fluttering paper sheets in the sky and black soot across the broken roads. The buildings near him and the tall skyscrapers had broken windows and chipped or collapsed infrastructures. The wind carried the smell of burning buildings, charred flesh, and molten steel.

The whole setting was eerily familiar to Cody. Was it 9/11 or something from a movie he recently saw? The teen looked up into the sky as an alien sound caught his attention. A strange aircraft zoomed overhead with a blast of orange thruster and quickly fell into a large circular barricade around the city, high up in the bright blue sky. Towers of gray smoke swirled around the barricade of alien ships, and a sense of doom seemed to fall across the land.

A tumbling newspaper slammed against his leg and Cody reached down to pick it up, trying to find a date on it. Chicago Tribune September… Was all it read, the rest was burnt away.

"Chicago?" he looked around with concern. "Where is everybody?"

Before the confused Cody could get an answer, his vision suddenly became very bright. As if someone was increasing the white contrast of what he was seeing. Then the cold, doomful atmosphere melted away. With a low pop, the biking atmosphere returned full force. The cheering crowds and wailing bike engines clamored in Cody's aching head. He was sitting on the bench, his head clasped in his hands.

After his senses returned, Cody shot out of his seat and threaded through the crowds. A nagging sensation urged him to go find Shia and talk to her as soon a possible.


"I'm telling you Shia. It was just like Dark of the Moon, or 9/11 repeated itself again in a different city. But I'm sure it's the former. Everything was just like the movies, the sense of dread and all hope is lost was so overwhelming," Cody said over their lunch. It'd taken him a while to find Shia and lunch was the only possible time they could talk. "I didn't faint like you did, it just over took me and I felt like I was transported to somewhere else."

Shia whipped the dirt off her hands before taking a quick bite of a potato chip. "I believe you Code. That's how my vision went: something so realistic that it's almost unimaginable. Where there any Autobots or anything from the third movie that you saw?"

Cody looked at his half eaten Subway style sandwich thinking, "The only thing was the Decepticon armada fleet surrounding Chicago. One of the fighters flew over my head," he took another bite and said with a half full mouth. "It's all really strange and I wonder what it means?"

Shia brushed back her bangs that had fallen into her eyes with a fingerless glove. "Something's going to happen, I know it."

The two teens continued to eat their semi-cool lunch in silence under the tented pavilions provided by the racing committees. They were enjoying the hearty meal and the time to take a half an hour and just sit down.

But something always had to disturbed the small moment of peace you get. And that form of a disturbance was Mike. He dashed under the pavilion and slid on the picnic bench Cody was sitting on. His light colored tee was covered in various colors of paint splatter and dust. He ducked his head down and checked over his shoulder continuously, like he was looking out for someone. Over the soft chatter of multiple voices talking, they could hear his name being shouted accusingly with a few unkind words and threats.

"Uh, Mike my man, what's going on?" asked Shia carefully, wondering if she really wanted to know. Mike ducked down and started to jester with his hands as he began to explain.

"Okay, I might have exploded a can of blue hairspray on some buddy's white car. But Mr. Angry Pants thinks it was a can of spray-paint. It'll wash off, but he doesn't know that!" he glanced over his shoulder and cursed when he saw two guys spot him. Mike threw his hands down on the picnic table and asked in desperation. "Shia, can I borrow your ATV to get out of here?"

"Sure…" then he ran off like a jack-rabbit being chased by a coyote. "But it's almost out of gas." She finished, by then Mike was long gone.

The remaining two occupants of the table looked at each other with a raised eyebrow. Shia snorted and they broke out laughing loudly.

"I swear that he get's into more trouble than I do," gasped Cody between fits of laughter.

"You sure about that?" snorted Shia loudly, almost choking on her water. "Because remember the time when you busted that kid's snow ramp at the sledding hills on accident and he was all like—"

"Okay!" Cody held up his hands in surrender. He did not want the embarrassing story to be brought up in public. "Point taken. I stand corrected."

They quickly cleaned up their lunches and threw away the trash. Then they walked outside of the pavilion's shade to where Cody's Grand Cherokee was parked. "We'll need to head over to the speed racing tracks down south by two." Shia said, as she put away the lunch cooler in the shade on the back seat. She pulled out another cold water bottle from the other cooler and took a long swig from it.

"Are the Salt Flat Flyers down there too?"

"Yes. We could go to one before two o'clock if we hurry," pointed out Shia as she walked to the back of the trailer to load up her speed bike. Cody jumped into the driver's seat and ruffled through their tickets and passes to find the correct ones for the events.

On that calm, slightly windy day, the unexpected happened. A fiery explosion erupted on the other side of the parking lot by the mobile gas station and power poles. The angry red ball of smoke and flame mushroomed up into the sky. People screamed, the ground shook, and electricity hummed through the air with a chaotic symphony.

Shia looked up as a loud snap caught her attention. She gasped in shock at the thick power lines that were free-falling right for their vehicle. Mad blue sparks ignited on the torn end of the cable.

Time slowed, a woman's scream echoed loudly and was drawn out. The sparking, thousands of pumping volt power lines draped over the top of the car and they hit the trailer. Huge plumes of yellow-winged-sparks sprayed everywhere as the electricity made contact with metal. Shia fell over her dirt bike, her foot on the seat as her shoulders touching the speed bike.

Thousands of white-hot-burning agony volts of electricity shocked Shia and Cody. Their screams were drowned out over the higher zapping of energy and hissing metal.

Shia's vision blurred as glyphs few in front of her eyes. Her heart beat faster and faster as everything seemed to disconnect.

Then it was over, and the rest was silence.


KTAB: And YES! This one was a lot of fun to write. I hope I caught all my mistakes, but please let me know if you notice any. Sometimes my brain has a tendency to skim and skip over them. I'm only human after all. :D These past three chapters I wrote were just to let you see some of Shia's and Cody's skills. Mostly Shia's though. Cody's mostly a climber and a great sharpshooter. I can't wait to get to the next chapter, it's going to be fun! One hint to it? Primus.

I want to thank you guys for the reviews and the follows!

Thanks: Elhini Prime, MFogarty, Sharpshooter7, TheGhost129 and AndromedaAI! For the support!

And thank you LGTracy for the notice on my mistakes! I should have looked those chapters over again for them! Oops! But hopefully now they're fixed. If you catch any more, you can PM me.