Chapter 3: Monsters

"Professor," the voice called. Kathryn pushed her back up against the wall, Tabitha trembling in her arms. "I am not known for my patience." There was a second rumble, screams of metal tearing metal. The professor shielded both Kathryn and Tabitha as the light above them shuddered, glass shattering from the strain on the ceiling. Tabitha was bawling, her body shaking in Kathryn's arms. The older girl could feel the wet streak of tears dripping over her neck when the younger child pressed her face against her skin. Shots rang out, an explosion echoed through the facility when Professor Ivan grabbed Kathryn's arm, pulling her back through the door she'd originally gone through into the factory.

"This way," he said, "there's an underground bunker that was designed to withstand a nuclear explosion," Kathryn's eyes widened, why would such a small facility plan for that kind of catastrophe? The professor pulled harder on her arm, dragging Kathryn, holding Tabitha still, behind him into the main section of the facility. The floor shook, pieces of the ceiling above dropped down, the walls and floors groaned dangerously. The professor slammed his hand into the emergency stop button on the wall; an alarm rang out shortly after followed by the confused shouts of the students. Everyone came walking out of the previous door where the metal was being melted down, the confused look on their faces only grew, a loud shriek of metal grinding against metal meeting their ears; a voice, the sound of crumbling brick accompanying it.

"Professor!" the voice roared, "you are trying my patience! Surrender them or we will destroy this antiquated facility and kill every living flesh-bag within its confines!" There was a pause, a low and slow chuckle creeping its way down through Kathryn's ear canal. It felt like the fine hairs within were tingling, a shiver running down her spine. Her lungs burned reminding her to breathe, dragging in a breath of air that felt hot against her tongue. "If you will not come out," the voice spoke again. The same horrifyingly amused tone licking at its center, "then we will simply come in."

The next thing Kathryn knew was she was lying on her side, her body covering Tabitha's as brick and mortar fell down on top of them. The professor was a little ways further off. Kathryn looked down at Tabitha and realized the girl's mouth was moving, but Kathryn couldn't hear a word the girl was saying. Kathryn looked down at her confused until the girl waved wildly, pointing at Kathryn's back. Kathryn thought she was asking about the explosion, she shook her head and felt her ears pop. It sounded like air was rushing into them and she could finally hear the girl screaming. She was just screaming, not saying anything, but Tabitha continued to point and wave wildly at something at Kathryn's back. That was when she realized she heard more then just Tabitha's screaming… others were screaming as well. She could hear the rat-a-tat-tat of bullets being fired at an extreme velocity; the bullets were bouncing off the metal in the building, denting the tables and turning the walls into shreds. The muffled sound of bullets entering flesh hit her ears, a sickening wet thud. Kathryn turned her head, pulling Tabitha's face against her neck, keeping the girl from seeing what was happening.

"Don't look, don't look, don't look," Kathryn whispered into Tabitha's hair. A blast rang out behind her and Kathryn felt something splatter across her neck. She flinched, closing her eyes tight before opening them again. Sweat beaded on her brow, trickling down in between her breasts, her breath came in faint puffs of air. Her legs shook, but the sobbing girl in her arms forced her to move, pushing herself up and pulling Tabitha up into her arms again. "Don't look," she whispered, "don't look. Whatever you do don't look." Kathryn pressed a hand against Tabitha's hair, holding her face against her neck. The little girl's arms were wrapped tight around her ribs, holding on with as much pressure as the eight year old could manage.

The thundering movement of the ground made it difficult for Kathryn to stand. The bile rose in her throat looking at the body of a student that was now lying just behind her, eyes open and ghosted already in death. His mouth was a gape, his previous blond hair was now a pasty looking red. Hands fell down onto her shoulders startling a scream out of Kathryn's lips, turning to look up at the professor. Without a word he shoved her, pushing her down and placing a hand against her collar bone. Kathryn hardly got a single word out before she was forced under one of the machines, her head smashing into the metal under workings. His hand came up, his finger pressing to his lip shushing her to silence before returning the metal covering to its place. He leaned in, whispering through the grate.

"It will not hide you for long," his voice was hoarse; blood was dribbling from the side of his mouth, a gash running across his brow. "But I need you to hide here, keep Tabitha safe. There will be someone outside waiting for you both. Go with him. Tell him I'm sorry I put her at risk." Kathryn opened her mouth to reply, but there was a resounding snap, metal warping, a cry of pain before something fell just to their side. "Wheeljack!" The professor called out, jumping to the side as something massive crash landed in front of them.

Kathryn's breath caught in her chest when the professor approached a moving mass of metal. Crystal blue orbs looked up at the professor as he approached; glancing to the machine the man had hidden the girls in before returning his gaze to the man in front of him. Parts of his body looked like the Porsche she'd seen earlier. Something moved in the giant's metallic hands, one of the workers, an old man, was laying there, his head rolling to one side when the metallic monster put him down. The man was badly hurt, but the gentle motions of the monster seemed genuine. A small hand clasping her neck forced Kathryn to intake air into her lungs, turning her eyes down to Tabitha. The girl was shaking, her eyes were wide, pupils dilated in fear and Kathryn realized with an absence of disgust that the child had wet herself. At the back of her mind Kathryn was glad she had been holding the girl around the waist rather then by her bottom, but she kept her hold on Tabitha, not allowing the child to see out through the grate as something else came up from behind them.

"I requested you surrender them to me, Professor Ivan Cross," the same voice said. Kathryn felt Tabitha shivering against her, pulling her closer and whispering into her ear. The girl choked back a sob, trying to keep quiet. "But you chose instead to ignore my offer, and now the deaths of these others of your species are on your head." A foot came down in front of Kathryn's view as another metal monster approached the one called Wheeljack and the professor. Her eyes moved up from the machine's foot, but her eyes could only travel to where the thigh would be on a human. The grate forced her to keep her neck bent.

A body dropped from above, landing on the floor in front of the second metal monster's foot; a wet splatter following the impact of ruptured meat. Kathryn's eyes widened, recognizing one of the football guys. His arm reached out, the other behind his back the bone protruding, sticking out of his flesh like some ivory spear. His hand reached up, reaching out to the professor. Kathryn couldn't see his face, but she could almost sense his lips moving in a silent plea for help. His body was a mangled mess, blood dripped down from overhead where the second monster's hand would have been positioned. It stepped forward, its foot bumping against the teen's side. The one called Wheeljack remained where he was standing; the professor's face pasty white.

"You really are quite… delicate creatures aren't you, professor?" questioned the monster. "So similar to the insects and vermin on this planet," Kathryn's stomach twisted on itself, knotting; feeling her own bladder about ready to give. Her eyes were fastened on the sight when the monster's foot snapped down on top of the teen, giving him no time to scream as he crushed him. A sickening lurch hit Kathryn's stomach, sweat dripped off her nose as the crunch of bones reached her ears. The monster twisted its foot, crushing the remains further as a human would crush a beetle. Bile rose in Kathryn's mouth, her tongue thick and choking. The professor's skin was tainted green by the sight, his knees buckling and falling forward similar to the position the first monster, Wheeljack, was in.

"But like them," the monster said, not removing his foot from the gory mess, "you will be crushed." Faint clicking, metal glancing off metal, the creature closed its hand. "Now, Professor Cross, where are they?" It stepped forward towards the professor, the metal groaning as it moved, making strange noises as gears and wires shifted position. Kathryn's eyes were still focused on what was in front of her, her gore rose, she was ready to vomit.

"Ironhide," the tiny voice spoke in her ear, "Ironhide, Ironhide," Tabitha was shaking, ignoring as the sweat dropped off of Kathryn's nose onto her hair. Her brown eyes looked down at the terrified child, shushing her, bringing a hand up over her head and keeping her face pressed to her neck. The girl was becoming more upset, her sobs becoming harder for the eight year old to control. Kathryn just hoped the child didn't know what those sounds were, they could be mistaken for something else later on, but the voices, the words could not be. Kathryn held onto the sobbing girl, but even the child couldn't hold back the hiccup that escaped from her chest. The noise from her heart felt like it tripled when the girl couldn't stop hiccupping, the sound escaping her mouth. The pounding beat against her rib cage, feeling like it was bruising the bones with its pulsation.

"Don't!" the professor cried out. Metallic feet ground against the floor until it clattered, a raucous noise when the one called Wheeljack was attacked from both sides, his arms being pulled, forced, behind his back by two other monsters. Blood was spattered against their weapons from firing at close range, their eyes a bloodied red compared to the crystal blue of Wheeljack's. Another monster's hand came down, latching tight around the professor's waist, the older man kicking and struggling against the grip, being ripped from the ground when Kathryn looked back out of the grate.

"Starscream," said another voice. This one sounded reasonable in comparison to the others. Kathryn swallowed against the urge to vomit, her skin feeling clammy inside of the machine. It was getting too warm, too stuffy. Tabitha coughed slightly, pulling her head up and trying to breath in the fresh air. "Why are you wasting your time with the human?" Something crashed down on top of the machine she and Tabitha were hiding inside of. The grate crashed down onto the floor, the scream that erupted from Tabitha's lips echoing out. Kathryn clamped her hand down over Tabitha's mouth, but it was too late.

Screeching steel assaulted Kathryn's ears when sharp digits cut into the metal, ripping away at the layers of metal that had previously protected herself and Tabitha from notice by the metal monsters. She felt the metal cut at her back, a shallow cut running up her spine. Kathryn tucked herself over Tabitha, holding the girl close as the steel was ripped away, a bright light shining down on them in the darkness.

The roof was gone. The entire building had been ripped apart, walls crumbled, blasted to bits. Kathryn's eyes blinked, adjusting to the brightness of the light shining down on them. Her breath stuck to her lungs like a hot rag. There was blood everywhere, the entire staff and the visiting students were on the ground. Some of them were still alive, other metallic monsters watching over their movements while they struggled to just breathe. Her hands tightened over Tabitha, practically suffocating the girl, but she refused to allow her to see what was going on.

Kathryn's eyes finally traveled upward to the creature standing over her, its knee bending and coming closer to look at them. Its single purple eye boring down on them tingeing her face and skin. Kathryn's entire body began to shake, pushing herself back against the inner workings of the mechanisms inside of the machine she and Tabitha had been hidden in, pulling the smaller girl closer into her lap. The one machine's arm was a massive gun of some kind. Kathryn cowered under its gaze, closing her eyes and yelling as its hand slammed down next to her where the grate had fallen. Tabitha clung to her, arms wrapped around her chest, crying and sobbing the same name over and over again. The clawed hand moved up off the floor, fingers spreading out and coming close, brushing against Kathryn's side, her own arms tightening over Tabitha. Her skin shivered feeling the cold metal tip of a claw touching her arm, laying his finger tip there while a strange light moved over hers and the child's body. It tingled like a charge had moved over the hair on her arms and legs across the back of her neck and into her scalp. A burning sensation traveled down the arm the monstrous robot was touching.

"Shockwave," the one called Starscream spoke in grudging acknowledgement. Kathryn didn't dare to open her eyes. It was like she could feel the heat of those eyes boring into her body, over every inch, but she still tried to protect Tabitha from their sights, her knees curling up, arms wrapped over the girl. Her own shirt was soaked from the child's tears. Her own sweat dripped down her neck as the hand moved, a digit pushing behind her shoulders and forcing her forward.

"I believe," said the reasoned voice that was identified as Shockwave, "we have found what we have been looking for." Kathryn couldn't move. She felt like someone had paralyzed her spine. Her eyes tightened, her arms covering Tabitha moved, almost crushing the girl against her breasts. Shockwave's fingers pushed behind her back, prompting her to a standing position with Tabitha dangling in her arms. Kathryn bent low, pulling Tabitha's legs up and holding her close, keeping the girl's eyes pressed to her neck. If she could shield her… what could she do? These… these things they were massive. One snap of their fingers and both she and Tabitha would be dead. The only thing Kathryn was doing was trying to give the girl as much comfort as she could while waiting to die.

A cold clutch of metal, a vice grip wrapping around her body. Tabitha screamed, her small fingernails clawing at Tabitha's neck leaving bloody furrows; trying to pull away from the freezing metal embrace. Kathryn's bile rose, she could smell the death around her, wondered if she would feel any pain when that moment came.

"Don't touch them!" Wheeljack yelled. For a moment the clamp of metal stopped, Shockwave looking up to the Autobot, his voice monotone.

"I shall do as I wish, Autobot," the vice clamped down, his hand wrapped around both Kathryn's and Tabitha's body. The two girls pressed together, Kathryn's feet being pulled off the ground, legs dangling outside of the monster's grip. A pathetic sound reached its way out of her lungs; a cross between a whimper and a grunt a panic attack slowly setting in. Kathryn's eyes cracked open, watching the ground move away. The creature, the… the robot stood up to its full height. Her heart beat increased, she began to hyper ventilate, her lungs burning as she tried to drag in air. Tabitha felt the change in rhythm and looked up at her, green eyes met brown and Kathryn felt herself trying to force her lungs to calm. Her brain felt sluggish, like every thought cost her, but she knew, she knew that if she passed out now no one would be here for this girl. If she were on her own, if it was just her she would pass out. She'd go unconscious so she wouldn't have to feel the pain, but she had to hold on. No matter how much the contact, the enclosed space, the tightening grip…

Her vision split, blacking out as she succumbed to a minor panic attack. Her body shaking as she held tight to Tabitha. She couldn't let her see how scared she was! Her hearing went in and out, a ringing in her ears while her heart rate tripled. She'd gone this far before, it was too close. She could pass out at any second. Damn it she could not pass out, she had to stay awake she had to–

Air rushed into her lungs, the sudden space of air catching her off guard. Kathryn opened her eyes, noticing Tabitha's hair moving up while they were moving down. A roar entered the room that was both primal and carried a similar reverberation to a stereo system. Kathryn landed hard on her back, Tabitha landing on top of her where Shockwave dropped them, turning to face the oncoming threat. Another set of massive metal robots came pouring in from around the roof of the ceiling, agile, being careful not to step on the injured, the dying, and the dead. One, a four-story tall black beast with twin cannons on his arms came forward and smashed both fists into Shockwave's 'face'. The roar had come from him. Blue and orange light spewed out of the cannons, attempting to blast the larger robot at point blank range. Kathryn rolled herself over, noticing several other robots in similar fights. The one called Wheeljack was attempting to free the professor from the grip of the robot who'd picked him up, twisting the arm this way and that.

"Take the professor and leave!" called the one named Starscream. "We still have need of his information. Decepticons attack and destroy all Autobots! Soundwave activate your minicons," he slurred the word, making it an insult. Kathryn pushed herself up, dodging between a set of legs. There was one thing and one thing alone that she could do in this situation and that was to run.

Her feet slipped on the bloody surface of the floor, racing through the first door and shoving her way outside. Her eyes widened, looking around at the fire that had caught the trees. She coughed, sputtering as a blast erupted behind them. The fire outside was bad, she hadn't noticed the smoke. Kathryn adjusted Tabitha into one arm, grabbing at her own shirt and ripping half of it off, tearing it away from her body before pressing it up against Tabitha's mouth.

"Breathe into this," she said. "Don't open your eyes," her voice hitched, she coughed. Kathryn inhaled ash and debris from the air tasting the wood and smoke while Tabitha buried her face into the piece of shirt Kathryn gave her. "We have to get to the road," she coughed, ducking down and trying to run under the smoke. A majority of the forest around them had been set on fire. A tree branch had fallen, landing on top of the van they had used to get to the building. It had caught on fire and when Kathryn attempted to pass it the gas tank exploded. The blast hit Kathryn on the left hand side slightly in the back sending two girls were flying, twisting through the air again, Kathryn landing on her back to protect Tabitha, the gravel digging into her skin and ripping her shirt open further. She could feel it gouging deep into her and knew it would have to be picked out later. Her hands clasped tight on the girl, pushing herself up and gagging on the fumes from the fire.

Her eyes burned, watering from the smoke. Everything was a blurry midnight-blue and red haze. Orange flecks danced in front of her eyes while she stumbled forward towards the road, aware only of the presence of something following her. Kathryn looked over her shoulder, her stomach flipping at the pair of red eyes staring out from a darkened shadow the fire light hadn't touched. A great black and silver metallic cat stalked out of the brush. Its body was easily the size of a tiger. The tail whipped back and forth, lashing out and smashing into a tree. The resulting forced caused the already crippled tree to crash down to Kathryn's right, the fire biting at her skin, turning away from it when Tabitha screamed.

Without another thought Kathryn turned and ran. Her legs pounding into the gravel not daring to look back; she could hear the metallic thunder that followed behind her. Four paws smashing down into the gravel at a speed greater then hers. If Kathryn could just get Tabitha somewhere safe, the cat would be unable to get at her and Kathryn could lead it away.

Salvation presented its form in the guise of an emergency vehicle. Some kind of hummer, she wasn't sure what model was sitting outside of the fight. Kathryn stumbled, tripping and nearly falling down face first. Tabitha raised her eyes, looking up and taking note of the vehicle before pushing at Kathryn's arms to let her down. Her arms wobbled like jelly, releasing the girl who ran screaming for the truck, calling out something that Kathryn couldn't hear, but the roar behind her reached her ears just fine.

The wind was knocked out of her ribs, pushed out as the large metallic cat landed on top of her, its claws digging into her shoulders. It watched as the younger girl ran for the emergency vehicle. Kathryn could feel the twitch of its tail, its body positioning to chase after and pounce on the child she'd been trying so hard to protect. The cat walked forward in front of her, lowering itself into the pouncing position. Kathryn reached up, her hands wrapping tight around its tail, pulling with all her might when the cat leapt. She grunted, struggling with it, feeling her ribs being knocked against the hard ground again. She could feel the pain racing up her side, but it was obliterated by the adrenaline in her system. She pulled on the sharp edges of the cat's tail, struggling to keep it from moving towards the vehicle.

"Kathryn release him and get in!" a voice spoke out, coming from the vehicle. The medical personal must have seen her before, or maybe the professor had spoken to them. She shook her head, struggling with the cat as Tabitha finally got to the vehicle. The door popped open, the little girl climbing inside.

"Get her out of here!" Kathryn screamed out, struggling to her feet, feeling her heels digging into the gravel. One foot was completely bare, her shoe being lost somewhere before. A crimson banner slid across her vision, the cat turning back on her. One long claw slicing into the muscle of her right leg; Kathryn crying out feeling the wet splatter of her own blood painting the ground. The jagged rupture ran from the top of her hip down to her ankle, the muscle and other tissues ripped away, the bone showing through in some spots. "Go damn it I can't hold him!" She screamed. "Get her out of here or I'll kill you myself!" The medical personal seemed to finally listen to her. The door shut after Tabitha climbed in, the sirens flicking on and a low wail entering the night. Kathryn gave one sigh of relief as she watched the vehicle leave before she felt the tail of the large cat being ripped from her hands.

She screamed, her hands being cut open from the barbed ribs of the feline's tail, her body stumbling back and dropping on her rear. Her eyes looked up, watching the cat chase after the vehicle, knowing that Tabitha would be safe. There was no way a vehicle could be outrun by a cat, no matter how large or how strange.

Kathryn pushed herself up, moving and looking down at the wound in her leg. She was bleeding profusely. If she didn't find a way to staunch the bleeding she would be dead within minutes. Through her blurred vision she saw the blue strip of her shirt she'd given to Tabitha to cover her mouth with. Kathryn picked it up, turning and ripping away what was left of her jean of her right leg, tying off the strip of cloth above as much of the wound as she could. Her breath caught, darts of pain danced up her skin, she screamed in pain as she tied it off as tight as she could manage. The throb of blood slowed, weeping rather then pouring. She could feel the circulation being cut off, limping away from the area she'd fought the cat. It wouldn't be enough; there had been too much blood flow already. She had to do more.

The idea came to her when she found a bar of metal lying on the ground, the one end of it was already cherry. Using what she'd ripped off from her jeans Kathryn picked up the bar of heated steel…

The battle was still raging when she woke up. Her head throbbing, pain lancing across her eyes, her lungs felt caked with ash. She choked, gagging, coughing and vomiting up what she'd been so desperately holding back. Strings of black bile dripped from her lips when she vomited a second time, dragging herself away and towards the edge of the forest using a boulder on the side of the road to push herself up, staggering into the now burnt line of trees. She had to get away; she had to get to another part of the road, away from the facility.

Kathryn stumbled for minutes, pushing herself as far as she could. She could still hear the sounds of the missile fire, the machine guns the monsters were using. She could still feel the cold grip wrapping around her body, the burn of the fire. Her head felt like it was floating, moving around on its own, vision blurry, her mouth hanging open, fighting to breathe.

She staggered through the forest for a half hour, making no progress, no head way away from the facility, away from the carnage. Her breathing came in labored gasps, the pain of her leg reaching up. How many times had she fallen now? Too many to count, she was sinking farther and farther into shock, her stomach rolling remembering what had happened.

Kathryn fell face-forward into a patch of fern bushes. Her head striking a near-by tree as she fell. Her vision split again, went red, and then black. Vomit pooled out of her mouth, coughing and spitting up the blackened paste that caked her lungs; her voice a raspy whisper.

"Someone, someone help."