Amber's eyes fluttered open tiredly as morning came, sounding off a quiet alarm next to her face on the night stand. Her eyes burned from a sleepless night, and she breathed in deeply, stretching as she smelled the cologne in the sheets. It took a moment for her to recap last night's events, and her hand sleepily slumped over the alarm clock, turning it off. Her arms then slowly sat her up, and she took a minute and leaned on the wall, sighing as she wiped the sleep from her eyes. She was stiff all over like wood, hurting to move and ripped the sheets from her legs, trying to get out of the bed without falling down. She had dreamed last night, a nightmare with the same monster chasing her through the night. She thought about it, remembering it for a split second.
Night after night, this nightmare would creep back to haunt her, the same monster that had ran her over. It would try to hit her, speeding up and capture her in an icy embrace and crush her until she could breath no longer. Grace and Stacy would blow it off as just a phase, telling Amber that it would pass, but the dream kept coming back to get her. Amber had gotten used to it, but that still doesn't mean that it didn't scare her. The monster would never quit unless it had her in it's arms.
Her hand grasped the door weakly as she opened it slowly, hearing sobs coming from the living room. Many thoughts ran through her mind at this point, expecting the worst outcome, but maybe it was something else. She prayed to God that it wasn't what she thought it was, she pushed those horrible ideas out of head and bit her lip. Her feet moved her through the hallway, fearing to step in front of that one open door, Vince's room. She couldn't bare to look in, but she was in front of the doorway before she realized it. She gulped and grasped the door hinge, heart racing and breaths slowing as her eyes looked to see Daniel, pulling a white sheet over Vince's face…
This wasn't happening, this was a different nightmare, it wasn't real. She saw Daniel stare into her eyes, tears threatening to fall from his tired face. He breathed in and turned his head, not wanting her to see his tears fall. Amber felt like she had been stabbed in the heart, and her throat swelled when she tried to contain her own cries.
"Is he…dead?" she asked, knowing the answer already, but she had to hear it. She had to know for sure that this wasn't a dream. She wanted to hear him say it, she wanted to hear anyone say it. Daniel took another deep breath, putting a fist over his mouth.
"Yeah…" he murmured and closed his eyes, and Amber's heart sank, and she lowered her eyes to the ground, seeing hot tears fall to her feet. "He died during the night…" he added, and Amber shook her head, shutting her eyes tight.
"No." she breathed. "No, he cant be. He cant be dead, no. No, I don't believe it, no…" she said, and she heard a cry escape from him, and she shook her head again, and pushed herself away from the doorway, breathing in. She dashed for the living room and found Grace and Stacy crying into pillows on the couch with Carlos sitting in the chair, covering his eyes. Amber ran for her bed, looking underneath it and grabbed a handful of clothes. Grace turned around and watched Amber stuff her clothes into a bag.
"Amber." she sniffled quietly. "W-what are you doing?"
Amber didn't answer. Stacy turned to see Amber too, and wiped her black makeup off her cheeks that had also stained the pillow.
"Amber?" Stacy called, but all they heard were quiet sobs from her.
Amber was running away, away from her dead brother that she had loved dearly. He was taken away from her, and she couldn't stay here, she had to leave. She had to be alone, otherwise she would go mad. Running away always seemed to solve her problems, too scared to face them like always.
She stood up and stared at her bed, seeing a small little piece of metal on her pillow. She blinked to clear her foggy, teary vision and snatched it up, shoving it into her bag and zipped it up, not thinking twice or even cared of what she grabbed.
"Amber, where are you going?" Grace whimpered, and Amber breathed.
"Away…" she said and ran for the door. Grace jumped up and tried to catch her. "Amber, come back!" she called, but Amber was already gone, slamming the door behind her.
Grace sighed and wiped more tears from her face, holding her head and looked over at Amber's bed, and widened her eyes. She gasped and threw her pillow onto the couch, and ran for the hallway.
"Grace?" Stacy called.
"I'm going after her."
"Why?" Carlos asked, and Grace pointed next to Amber's bed, and they all saw a single pocket knife. Carlos and Stacy perked up their heads when the realized what it meant.
"She forgot her life line." Grace said and ran for her room.
Amber felt hot tears continue to ripple down her face as she dug around for her shirt in her bag, keeping a look out while she undressed in the girls bathroom at a gas station. The floors hurt her feet with small, broken, blue tiles on the floor, and her legs ached from running a few blocks from her apartment. The walls where gray and brown, originally white, and most of the stalls were either missing locks or the doors themselves, so she locked the door and hoped no one would walk in. Her bag sat in the sink that she washed out before setting it in there, and finally found her strapless, black and white striped shirt. It was a bit wrinkled, but it would have to do as she slipped it on, fixing it so it fit right. It hung down to her waist, fitting tightly around her and she fixed the little sewn-in pocket to the side. She then looked for her skirt, and she pulled out a red plaid skirt, similar to Stacy's. Maybe it was Stacy's? Oh well, she didn't care as she tore it from her bag, pulling it up and it was a perfect fit. It was a little short and came up above her mid thigh, and it didn't quite match her shirt, but she wasn't picky at this point in time. She then looked to see if she could find any shoes, and found black, low-heeled boots with a buckle on the side, and long black socks wrapped around them along with a black and white striped scarf. She grinded her teeth angrily, looking up in utter frustration.
"Great, I had to grab the heels. I just had to grab them…" she growled, unwrapping the socks from the boots and slipped them on, and they reached all the way up to her lower mid-thigh. She wrapped the scarf around her neck once, then finally put on her boots. She didn't want to wear the heels, especially if she needed to run for some reason. All she could do was hope that she didn't get a reason to run, and dug in her bag for anything else, feeling around the bottom and suddenly felt a cold piece of metal at the tips of her fingers. She grasped it and pulled it out, holding it up close to her face to see it.
She remembered when she got it, a friend of hers had given it to her after spring break when her friend had visited the Smithsonian air and space museum. She had found it lying around under a plane, but decided to give it to Amber, and she had kept it ever since.
Amber smiled and slipped it in her pocket, and picked up her bag, fixing her hair one last time before taking off out of the beaten bathroom.
A few hours passed as she walked through the town park, hearing children laugh and play as they swung on the swings and played on teeter-totters. Large oak trees passed over her and let rays of yellow sunlight pour down on her blonde hair, making it shine a luminous gold. She moved her bangs behind her ear as she watched her feet step out in front of one another, carefully taking her slow strides on the sidewalk. She was lost in deep thought about Vince's death, and she still refused to believe it. It was like a dream that she couldn't wake up from, but it felt all too real. Vince had been her brotherly figure since she woke up from her coma the night she ran from her father. He had treated her as a little sister, always watching out for her and keeping her safe and out of trouble. He was like Grace, like family, that would never betray or hurt her.
Grace was her sister at heart, a sister and a mother. Even though Amber was 19, and Grace was 21, Grace seemed to always be concerned about Amber's future, and even suggested collage, and discussed boyfriends.
Amber never had a boyfriend, and Grace had told her that boys only wanted her for her virginity.
Amber still had hers, thank God…
Carlos was like her uncle that was always out at parties, hitting on girls, yet never bringing one home. She figured it was to keep that kind of reality away from influencing Amber and he most likely took the girls to a hotel or something. Daniel was a fatherly figure that Amber never got to have. He laid down the rules of life and taught her to adapt to the real world, accepting the cruelty of humanity and the tragic reality of the gang war she was now apart of. He had gotten her out of many situations with the Montys, saving her from shoot outs and God knows how many drive-bys. Those kind of attacks were commonly used by the Montys and was a constant threat to any Ally walking on the streets without protection or alone.
Then it hit her, making her stop cold in her tracks. Her eyes widened and her heart missed a beat when she realized that she had no protection on her. She had left her knife at home and didn't even think twice to grab it, and her senses kicked in. She listened to the laughs of the children that suddenly became louder, and her protective instincts kicked in along with paranoia. Paranoia was an Ally's best friend when it came to no defenses, another tricked learned by Vince.
At this point, not only was she defenseless, but also alone…
She looked up and all around, seeing nothing but passing street cars and normal people walking on the sidewalks, minding their own business. She kept in mind that every car and every person might be a threat, and she breathed in deeply. She had to keep a low profile and find a safe place to hang until she was ready to return home. She figured that Vince's dead body would be out of the house tonight, and would return when night came. That way, she would have less of a chance of being seen, but it would still be hazardous, even fatale if she ran into the Montys.
Her eyes scanned all around one more time as she started walking again, shoulders up and arms crossed as she made her way down the steps, making her next destination into the safety of the ally ways that she had come to know and love.
Little did she know that she was being watched from afar, recording every step she made, and every look she gave to surrounding people. His engine revved as he stayed still, parked next to a sidewalk in front of an old antique shop. His wheels ached to spin at top speed after her and his armor was hot like fire, ready to feel the cool breeze ripple over it and chill him to the frame. He wanted to see her stumble and run from him, he wanted to see her terrified face when she fights to keep going, and wanted to see her breathe heavily as his grill pins her against a wall. He wanted a hunt, but he wanted her to start it. Just one look would do the trick, but he wasn't getting her attention as she hopped off the stairs, looking at cars from another street. This infuriated him as he grew impatient, and revved his engine louder, scaring passing people next to him.
Amber heard a revving engine nearby, making her stop and stick her head up like a frightened deer and scan all around her. Her heart pounded in her chest when that sound seemed familiar to her, and it revved again. She knew which direction it came from, she was just too scared to look. That was the same sound that she heard in her nightmares, roaring and bellowing like a wolf ready to attack it's prey. The sound of the rev sent shivers down her spine and the hairs on the back of her neck stand up. Her eyes were the first to see what had made that horrendous noise, but her body was too scared to move. She gathered enough courage to see, and what she saw made her pupils shrink and adrenaline rush through her body. There it was, that same cop in that same cop car that had ran her over all those years ago. He had sun glasses on his face that hid his bright hazel eyes that stared at her, and she saw the paint job on the car sparkle and shine in the afternoon sun. He stared at her with no expression, no emotion, and she stared back at him wide-eyed. She didn't believe what she was seeing, and so many thoughts ran through her head that she couldn't even begin to fathom what they meant. The same cop that had saved her at the diner was in the car that had nearly killed her.
What in God's name was this?
Amber felt her legs begin to shake and move on their own, taking small, wobbly steps back. Each of her steps made the cop car pull out from it's parking space, and each of her steps slowly turned into strides. Her legs twisted her around and before she knew it, she was sprinting down the sidewalk as fast as she could go.
The cop car revved loudly, speeding out of the parking space before stopping with a screech in the tires, then speeding forwards with white smoke from spinning rubber against the hot asphalt. The hunt was on as it took off after her, dodging traffic to catch up to her.
Amber breathed heavily, nearly crying with each breath. Tears welded up in her eyes, fogging up her sight. She couldn't see, so she wiped her eyes on her arm and came close to running into a lamp post, jumping out of the way to dodge it. The cop was gaining on her fast, so she ran faster, trying hard to keep herself from tripping on her heels. She almost tripped, but caught her balance and looked back to see the cop catch up to her. She had to get away from it, maybe it wouldn't follow her through town square? She made a sharp turn to the right, away from the car and ran onto fresh green grass, up a hill and looked back to see the cop slow down. She stopped for a breather, feeling her feet and ankles ache from her heels. The cop car revved angrily and sped off around the hill. She gulped and took off again for town square, balancing herself on her high black boots.
The sight of a large, white stone water fountain was a haven as she ran breathlessly to it, sitting on the edge and savored the cool mist from the water spray against her sweating skin. Her chest was throbbing painfully, and her legs felt numb from running, but she didn't care. All she cared about was taking off her shoes because she knew that it wouldn't be long until the cop found her. She un-strapped her shoes and opened her bag, shoving them in it and looked all around.
No sight of him.
Swinging her bag around her shoulder, she decided to take this moment to get a drink, her throat was dry and breathing was getting harder, and water from a well-kept fountain was good enough. She cupped her hands and leaned in to get a drink, feeling the sweet water ripple down her dried throat. It was probably the most delicious water she had ever tasted as she drank more, occasionally splashing her forehead to cool her down from the hot and humid summer air. She swallowed hard and breathed, feeling her bangs become soaked from the water, but the sound of the same revving engine stopped her. That rev was starting to taunt her, like it was laughing at her and egging her to run. She looked up and wiped the water from her face to see the cop at the side of the town square, only about fifty yards away.
No way he would try to drive near her, it was a public place where citizens walked, it would be against the rules for a cop.
She was wrong when the cop drove up the steps fast and sped towards her, and she instantly got up and dashed away from it. People screamed and dove out of the way from the roaring Mustang as it drove towards Amber, swerving to miss the fountain.
"That's no cop! That's no cop, I swear to God!" she panted, glancing to see the cop chase her.
Amber ran as fast as she could off the sidewalk and into the road, stopping when cars came close to hitting her and slapped their hoods when she ran in front of them.
"Sorry! Sorry!"
Tires screeched to a stop when she sprinted in front of them, honking loudly. Amber finally made it across the road and looked back to see the cop car fly over the hill and roll down onto the road, following her as she ran up the sidewalk!
She was thankful that she worked out on a regular basis, but she had never expected to be running from a deranged cop that wanted to kill her. Her bared feet slammed against the concrete, occasionally stepping on a rock, sending spikes of pain up her legs and spine, but she sucked it up, bit her lip, and kept pace and ran past people.
"Move people! Move!" They frowned at her when she had to push some of them out of the way, gasping out when she controlled her breathing. Cardio was key at this point, and she felt her heart and lungs work at a harmonic pace, keeping her going when her legs burned. Adrenaline was making her run faster and stronger when she hopped over stands and carriers. She looked back to see the cop trail right behind her, so she pushed herself to go faster and faster, faster than she had ever gone. She was no longer scared, and if this cop was going to hunt her down, then she was going to be one hell of a difficult catch!
She growled and clenched her jaw when the cop drove next to her and ran towards it, hopping on the hood and sliding across it! Her feet hit the hot road and she caught her balance when she ran to other side of the road, making people gasp at the dangerous stunt, but Amber just laughed and continued to run.
About an hour passed, and Amber hopped over fences with ease, ran through buildings, jumped over ditches, ran through the park several times, and even hitched on dumpster trucks through a few blocks! She was actually having fun, but she just couldn't seem to shake this maniac, but honestly, she didn't want him to stop chasing her, not yet. Because if he was going to kill her, he would've already shot her or sped up to run her over. That didn't mean that she wasn't still scared of him, so she made sure that she wasn't going to get caught. Soon, she started running up another sidewalk, knowing that she needed to take a small break, even if it was just a few seconds.
She turned sharply into an ally way, hearing the cop stop suddenly. She stopped too and turned around, breathing and feeling cold sweat run down her forehead. She smiled as the cop backed up a little, trying to find a way in, but the ally way was simply too narrow.
"Ha! Cant go down ally ways, can you?" she yelled tauntingly, hearing the engine roar furiously before speeding off to find another way.
She shook her head and started running again, making her way out of the ally. Soon, she heard the engine roar behind her as the car pulled around a corner, and she gritted her teeth with a smile.
"Catch me if you can, bitch!" she laughed and sprinted as fast as she could, possibly even faster. She saw the cop speed up next to her and she could even see the cop stare at her, continuously driving as fast as she was going without looking at the road. She thought fast and realized that he couldn't turn back, so she stopped dead in her tracks and spun around, taking off in the other direction. The cop sped up and swerved in a U-turn, making other cars swerve and crash into each other. Amber laughed at her quick thinking, but gasped when she saw the cop speed back towards her.
"Damn it!" she screamed and sprinted even faster down the sidewalk, listening to her bare feet slam against it painfully. Her energy was running thin, and her legs couldn't keep her going much longer. Her mouth was dry and sore, and her lungs felt like they were on fire. Her abdomen cramped painfully, and her heart began to hurt as it continuously pounded hard against her chest. She had to hide, somewhere, anywhere, as long as she got to rest. She made a quick turn to try to run into a store and hopefully run out the back, but she ended up slamming against a young man with short, brown, semi-curly hair with dark brown eyes. He gasped as he caught Amber and himself from falling to the ground, and he heard the rev of the cop car that stopped in front of the store. His eyes got big and he noticed the strange girl's heavy breathing as she struggled to push herself off of him.
"S-sorry! So sorry!" she called as she ran through the small store, filled with roses and flowers of all colorful sorts. The man watched her dash into the back, hearing the slam of the back ally door in the room behind her. He then saw the cop car take off, skidding the tires against the hot black pavement. He looked down and picked up his crushed rose off the floor that he had dropped when the girl had ran into him, and picked his cell phone out of his pocket, speed dialing a number. He waited a moment, hearing a few rings until a feminine voice answered.
"Hello?"
The man sighed nervously and looked back at the ally way door before heading out of the store.
"Mikaela? We need to call Optimus…"
Amber jogged down another ally, listening to the distant revs of the cop car and glanced behind her a few times. She gasped and thought fast, spotting an old green dumpster to the left of the ally way. The revs became closer and closer, so she ran for it, diving behind the dumpster and heard the rocks crack and crumple under slow-moving rubber tires. She could see the flashing red and blue lights on the wall, holding her breath and feeling her heart beat and thump in her throat. It felt like an eternity of this horrible tension, praying to God that the cop didn't find her. Finally, she heard the sirens bleep once before she heard the car roll off, and her breath slowly escaped her in a relieved sigh.
She pressed her exhausted body against the red brick wall, breathing harshly with a dry throat and mouth. Her fingers dug into the dirt when the sudden pain from her feet struck through her, feeling millions of pins and needles dig their way through her nerves. She hesitated to look at them, petrified to see what had become of them. Her eyes slowly looked down and saw that her socks had been torn, and the bottom of her feet were bleeding, pink and black from being rubbed raw and cooked from the hot streets! She touched them lightly and winced at the stinging pain, so she bit her lips and tears welded up in her eyes, fighting the awful pain throughout her body. She decided to stay put instead of running, wanting someone to come pick her up and carry her away.
She took in a deep breath and looked up the sky, seeing the sun lower slowly. The smell of the dumpster next to her was horrid, but her nose was so burned from breathing that she really couldn't tell, and she swept broken glass from where she sat. She was tired, and her eyes felt heavy all of a sudden. She couldn't fall asleep, she had to stay awake and alert, especially without her knife.
She had worn herself out, and she couldn't help but give in to it. Her heart thumped loudly in her head, feeling like her eyes were about to explode and drowned out all other sounds of the world around her. The adrenaline was gone, and the paranoia was ignored when her eyes fluttered shut slowly. She didn't want to fall asleep, but she just couldn't stay awake, her body was too tired, all of her energy was gone, and her will was wearing thin. She slowly fell into a deep slumber sooner than she knew, and darkness consumed her.
Skids and Mudflap swerved playfully on the darkening streets of Tranquility, laughing and speeding on abandoned streets with the screeching of tires against the cooling pavement.
"Watch it, man! You almost dinged my rim!" Skids hissed and swerved to miss Mudflap.
"Oh stop being such a wuss." Mudflap laughed and bumped into Skids' bumper, making him shriek.
"Tag, you're it!" Mudflap taunted and sped off down the streets.
"Damn it, Mudflap!" Skids shouted and chased after his twin brother. Why he hung out with him, he would never know. He was the mature one, or at least he thought he was, and thought it was un-cool being seen with him, especially on streets like this.
"Get back here!" Skids called out and caught up to his giggling brother. "Man, we be here on duty, not for playin' tag." he said, and Mudflap slowed down, as did Skids.
"Fine, fine, party pooper." Mudflap complained and the two rolled along the quiet streets, staying silent.
"Look, Mudflap, my bro, my homie, we need to stay focused so Optimus will dig us? You know? We gotta be like, ninjas and keep it cool, you know?" Skids explained.
"Yeah, I feel ya."
"And if a Decepticon comes along, we got to get all up in his face and blow his aft to pieces, you know, get some swag from the others."
"I'm hearin ya, I'm hearin ya." Mudflap understood, after all, he always wanted to be like his heroes, especially Ironhide. They were the laughing stock of the Autobots, but they were determined to change that, and this mission could help them do just that.
Skids then gasped as an enemy signal appeared on his radars, and swerved into a dark ally way, making Mudflap follow, making small screeches from their small tires.
"What? What is it?" he asked nervously.
"Shut up, Decepticon coming this way." Skids hushed and Mudflap parked next to Skids.
"But I thought you said to get all up in his face?"
"Shut up! He's coming!" Skids whispered loudly and turned off his headlights, as did Mudflap. They waited a moment, hearing nothing but quiet streets, and Skids sensed the Decepticon coming closer and closer. They turned off their signals, which meant cutting off communication with the base team. This was just what they had wanted, to be in a real mission and living in dangerous moments like this. The rush was just worth it all as they nervously waited for the Decepticon roll by. Soon, the twins heard a quiet, revving engine come closer, and a black and white Mustang GT cop car slowly rolled by in front of the ally way, passing under the yellow street lights, and they could hear the tires roll over the pavement slowly. They were tempted to chase him, but it seemed like the Decepticon himself was looking for something. Skids waited a moment after the cop rolled by, not noticing the twins in the shadows, and he quietly followed the cop.
/Skids, what the Hell are you doin'?/ Mudflap asked over a com-link, and Skids peeked out to see the cop's red tail lights in the shadows slowly dizzolve away.
/Come on, lets see what this guy is up to./ Skids said and slowly followed the cop, and Mudflap rolled behind him.
/Skids, this is pretty dangerous, man, lets just tell the others./ Mudflap whimpered, but Skids didn't listen.
/No man, we need to find out first, just trust me on this, bro./ Skids said and the two took off to follow the Decepticon, unsure of what they might find out.
I am terribly sorry for the delays due to technical problems. Updates will probably be irregular but I will do the best of my abilities to keep the updates regular. Reviews are greatly appreciated and once again, this story is to step up my game and better myself at writing, so constructive criticism is highly appreciated, just keep it nice because no one likes to have mean comments. :( Love you all!