Well here's my after-vacation upload...I was surprised by being taken camping in a pop up camper having to walk through the woods to the bathroom in the middle of the night XD probably not the best way to get me in the spirit of camping even though I love the outdoors...anyway the point is there was no way to get internet so here you go:
Chapter 9
The Autobots drove past the hangar and Rachel climbed into one of the SUVs after Sam, it followed the Autobots up to the launch pad. Rachel got out of the SUV first and ran over to the Autobots. She found Ratchet standing there as if he'd been waiting for her. She walked up to him, her dampened eyes downcast.
"Ratchet, I'm sorry our race can't understand you guys are here to help," she said almost choking on her own words.
"No, it's not your fault, Rachel, we said we would honor your planet's rights and we are. Here, I believe I have something that belongs to you," Ratchet said.
He dropped a small silver object in Rachel's hand. She looked down at it and fought back tears.
"My ring," she said looking down at the Autobot insignia inscribed on it.
"I thought I lost it forever the night I socked Ironhide," Rachel said smiling past tears and placing the ring back on her finger.
"He told me what it meant to you, he found it and gave it to me a few days ago to hold it until I could give it back," Ratchet said.
Rachel battled tears, trying to keep them in, this scenario was exactly like before, her ring, the Autobots leaving, but now she knew they wouldn't be back. Ever. The only thing she had left that reminded her of Ironhide was the ring, she was glad she had it back, but the memory would always be bitter-sweet. She looked up at Ratchet, the Florida sunlight glinting off the tears she'd lost the battle with.
"If you leave, they're going to kill us, we'll die...all of us. You are our only hope and they're sending you away, it's all so wrong," Rachel said.
"You won't die, Rachel, NEST is still out there, and they -and Colonel Lennox- will do everything to protect the human race," Ratchet said.
Rachel knew Ratchet knew what she said was true, but she also knew he didn't want her to worry. She looked down at her ring again, then back up at Ratchet.
"Thank you, Ratchet, and I guess this is good-bye?" Rachel said.
"Good-bye, Rachel," Ratchet said walking back with the rest of the Autobots as they prepared to leave.
Rachel turned and started walking back, she saw Optimus standing in front of Sam. She walked up to Sam, standing next to him.
"What your leaders say is true. This was all my fault, I told them whom to trust...I was so wrong," Optimus said.
Sam had been shaking his head, "That doesn't make it your fault, it just makes you human for a change."
"Remember this, you may lose your faith in us, but never in yourselves," Optimus said.
Sam suddenly tensed up beside Rachel, grunting in pain. Tears continued to roll down her cheeks as Optimus started walking away, Sam looked about ready to tear up too.
"I need to know how you're gonna fight back. I know this is strategy, I- I know you're coming back with reinforcements, something, I know there's a plan," Sam's voice started choking up as he spoke. "You can tell me, no other human will ever know."
Optimus looked back at them, "There is no plan."
There was a short pause between them, tears had started falling from Sam's face now.
"If we just do what they want, how are we going to live with ourselves?" he said.
"You are my friend, Sam, you always will be," Optimus said leaning down.
He stood back up straight again and looked over the land, "But your leaders have spoken. From here, the fight will be your own."
Optimus turned and started walking back towards the shuttle, he passed Bumblebee and Bee started walking toward Sam. Rachel saw Sam was crying just as hard as she was, and they were the only ones, she knew why too. The Autobots meant more to them than any other person here, they'd fought with the Autobots and in Egypt fought for them. They'd both almost lost their lives trying to save Optimus, and succeeded. That brought them closer to the Autobots than any other person on this planet, and for that it was unbearable for them to see the Autobots go.
Bumblebee had walked up to Sam and Rachel, while she was thinking.
"All right, hustle up! We're launching at dawn!" one of the Wreckers called out.
Bumblebee knelt down in front of Sam.
"We're gonna do whatever we can, to make it like it was. You will always be my friend, Sam. I gotta be going on," Bumblebee said through his radio.
Bee stood back up and walked back to the other Autobots, Rachel could see Sam's eyes filling with tears, her own were as well. She knew how strong the bond was between Sam and Bee was, it often reminded her own of the one she had with Ironhide. She knew how hard it was for Sam to know Bee was leaving. Sam went over to the railing and knelt down, holding it, he cried as hard as Rachel who stood behind him. Rachel's face felt hot and sticky from the heat and her tears, she couldn't stop them though. She thought after Ironhide she wouldn't have had any more tears to cry, but apparently she had a lot to spare. She then noticed Simmons had come up behind them.
"Years from now they're gonna ask 'Where were you when they took over the planet?' We're gonna say, 'We just stood by and watched,'" Simmons said.
For Rachel dawn couldn't come soon enough. Every second that went by made her hate the Autobots leaving even more to a point where she felt like she would explode from her emotions. She paced the inside of the hangar all night in stead of sleeping. Adrenaline was what was keeping her awake as the late-night hours rolled by, if not for that she would have dropped on the hard floor and slept. She also did not want dawn to come, she didn't want to see the Autobots go, but then again she knew time wouldn't change anything so she wished for it to be over faster. After many days of being up, the Sun finally rose on the most important and life-changing day. Rachel walked outside in the pre-dawn light, she saw Sam had gone to the roof of one of the buildings a mile or so from the launch pad. She left the hangar and walked a few feet where she found a ladder leading up to the roof Sam was on. She climbed up the ladder and walked across the roof, coming next to Sam, she sat down next to him.
The Decepticons had taken everything from her; her family, almost her life, and Ironhide, and now they were taking the only thing she had left. She was sick of it, but she knew nothing could be done to change the way things had become. She ignored the courtesy of asking Sam something like "Sleep well?" because she knew his answer would be the same as hers. Silence was the only thing that passed between them, words would have been too hard. Florida mornings were better than Washington mornings to Rachel -she decided this as she tried to take her mind off things- it was warm but not humid and not at all like the chilly D.C morning air. She remembered how much she'd liked Florida as a kid; the beaches, the weather, the whole lifestyle were fascinating to her. Of course, that was before she moved to L.A -which she had liked almost as much- and then her whole life had been turned upside-down.
Helicopters circled the launch pad as the Sun rose over the horizon. Rachel had been to many shuttle launches when she'd lived here, but now this was different. She looked at Sam, his eyes were fixed on the launch pad, Rachel mimicked his glance. She could barely hear the countdown from the distance, but she didn't have to hear "zero" before she knew they'd reached it. Smoke billowed up from the ground as the space craft's engines roared to life. Rachel could see the Xanthium as it shot off a pillar of flame and smoke, leaving the Earth. She and Sam both looked up, watching it go until it was covered by clouds. Sam's phone started ringing and he dug it out of his pocket.
"Sam, put it on speaker," Rachel said.
Sam pushed a button and answered it.
"You wanted an answer, you got one," Sam said.
"I always get what I want, Sam," a man's voice said from the phone. "We just needed to be sure."
"Sure of what?" Sam asked angrily.
"That they would go without a fight," the man said.
Rachel and Sam were both confused, then Rachel saw it. The clouds had parted and Rachel could see lights streaming toward the Xanthium. By the time she realized they were missiles the Xanthium had exploded in a burst of flames and smoke.
Rachel felt like she was going to be sick. She watched in complete horror as the flaming remains of the Xanthium streaked down into the water. For -what seemed like- the millionth time she broke out in tears, silent tears, that streamed down her face. Sam, beside her, was holding the phone, his mouth agape in the same shock as Rachel, tears in the corners of his eyes.
"Oh, my God," Rachel breathed, but it was hardly audible.
Sam was silent in complete shock as well. Rachel covered her mouth with her hand, not trusting herself to say anything, for fear of being sick. She didn't want to think about what had just happened, it was too horrible to think about. They both sat there, motionless. Sam winced as the watch on his wrist transformed into a centipede-looking Decepticon and slithered away. Sam tried to stomp on it, but it was already gone. He ran across the roof, Rachel flowing him. By now it was full daylight as Rachel ran after Sam, she had no clue where he was going until they reached the hangar and she saw Simmons and Dutch.
"I need your help to track a phone call, there's a man on this phone he's the head of their human operations and he has Carly hostage," Sam said to Simmons.
"What!" Rachel exclaimed. "Sam, you let them take her!"
"It's not like I had a choice, Rachel," Sam fired back.
They followed Dutch and Simmons into the hangar. Dutch took Sam's phone and sat down at a computer.
"The call was placed en route, I'm hacking into the phone's camera now. There, that's it, that's a live stream from the camera," Dutch said.
The computer screen showed a wait-level shot of someone walking.
"Someplace...Hold on, I can triangulate this," Dutch said.
Codes popped up on the computer, Dutch looked at them and started typing.
"Okay, it's Chicago cell sites, there, I've got it. Trump Tower, Chicago, lower penthouse," Dutch said.
A diagram of the building showed up on the screen, showing exactly where the phone was.
Sam took his phone back and typed something in it, looking at it.
"I'm going," he said.
"You sure?" Simmons asked.
"She's done nothing but try to help me, and I can be there in fifteen hours," Sam said.
"You're not going alone," someone said.
Rachel turned to the familiar voice, she smiled when she saw Epps.
"No you're not, Sam," Rachel agreed.
The three of them walked out of the NASA building, heading across the grass. They walked up to Epps' car which was parked a few feet away.
"I still got my NEST friends out there," Epps said. "I'll round them up, we'll find your girlfriend, we're gonna bring this guy in."
"Why are you helping me?" Sam asked.
"'Cause that asshole killed my friends, too," Epps said.
They climbed in the car, Epps and Sam up front, Rachel sat in the back. As the car pulled away, she wondered what would happen now that the Autobots weren't just gone, they were gone forever. Despite Optimus' claim that they'd had no plan she knew they did; that, somehow, they were going to come back when humans had realized their mistake. Now she knew that wasn't true, the Decepticons had planned this from the beginning of all this mess: down to every second. Rachel then found herself falling asleep, not that she wanted to, but she couldn't even remember the last time she'd slept more than half an hour.
When she woke, Rachel found that sleeping probably wasn't the best idea. Her dreams had been plagued not by her years past, but the horrible past few days and every mind-numbing event therein. She looked forward out of the windshield of Epps' car, it was either night or extremely-early morning of the next day. She had no clue where they were, the long hours of driving hadn't seemed to effect Epps, but Sam was asleep in the passenger's seat.
"You mind filling me in?" Epps asked seeing her in the mirror.
"Of course not," Rachel said launching into a short version of what had happened since Egypt.
She only got chocked up when she reached Sentinel's betrayal, she quickly apologized and continued until she'd caught up to the Autobot's exile.
"And from there you know everything from there," Rachel said.
"A lot's happened," Epps said.
"Yeah, it has," Rachel sighed.
"You okay?" Epps asked.
"Yes, I'm fine, just shocked that so many things have gone wrong," she hadn't meant to spill her feelings, it just happened.
"Don't worry, we'll beat this," Epps said.
She wanted to believe him, but the way things had been going it made it hard. The dark night soon changed into a light navy blue as dawn came near. Rachel still had no clue where they were, but they were passing houses now. Outside the houses men sat on a truck, a few men came out of the house as Epps' car drove by. The men got in the truck and the truck pulled behind Epps' car. They continued driving, passing more houses until two trucks were following and one of Epps' friends sat in the back with Rachel.
Soon they were approaching Chicago, Rachel's phone made a beeping sound. She looked down at it and a "No Signal" notice flashed across the screen. She saw Sam look at his own phone and then he placed it on the dashboard.
"We had a signal before, it's not working now," Epps said.
As they continued to drive, the road became more and more torn and messy. Rachel then saw at least a hundred people crowded and running frantically under a demolished overpass. Their clothes were ripped and torn, fear was on all of their faces as they ran away from the city. Ash riddled the ground, Rachel looked toward the sky and saw a vast amount of very Cybertronian-looking ships hovering around the city's skyscrapers.
"This is a national emergency broadcast. Chicago has suffered a massive attack," the radio announcer's message sent shivers down Rachel's body.
To her this looked very apocalyptic, very scary, but she knew this would happen, just not to this extreme. She hoped the governments -the U.S' and other countries' alike- realized what they had done by sending the Autobots away. The people kept yelling at the car telling them to go back, Epps kept driving. They drove further into the city and Rachel could see Chicago had been completely destroyed, buildings were on fire, a train had been forced off the tracks into the second story of a building, it was chaos. Epps pulled to a stop, Sam got out, holding the door open for Rachel, she climbed out of the car, taking in everything around her.
The rest of Epps' friends joined them and they walked toward the city. Rachel felt a tug of defeat as children ran screaming away from the city and adults ran too, ducking behind piles of demolished cars and parts of buildings. Epps walked ahead of all of them, jumping up onto a huge window that stood, surrounded by concrete, that probably had once been apart of a building, he looked at the city. The Cybertronian-looking ships hovered in the sky, making a ring around the city. Epps' friends were wearing camouflage pants and their artillery vests, they also had different assault rifle-like guns, they stopped behind Rachel. Rachel and the others quickly jumped -the ex-NEST members aiming their guns- as jets flew toward the Cybertronian ships. The ships quickly shot down both of the jets without taking any fire. The two ships that had shot them down, flew back toward the city.
"We came here to find her in the middle of all that?" Epps called to Sam.
"Are we really going out there, Epps?" one of Epps' friends asked.
"I'm not going in there," another of his friends muttered.
"No one's going in there," Epps said.
There was a long pause, and Rachel noticed Sam, he looked like he was thinking. He couldn't possibly be thinking about...
"I am, with or without you I'll find her," Sam said.
"Sam, no..." Rachel said as Sam walked away.
"You're going to get yourself killed, Sam," Epps said starting to climb down from the window. "Is that what you want! Is that what you want?"
Rachel walked after Sam, trying to catch up with him, Epps ran up beside her, also running after Sam.
"You came all the way out here to get yourself killed? Huh?" Epps said grabbing Sam's backpack, trying to stop him. "Listen to what I'm saying!"
Sam wheeled around, riping the backpack from Epps' hands.
"She's here because of me, do you understand?" Sam said turning around.
"Sam! Damn it, Sam, stop!" Rachel said. "Please, you can't go in there."
"Listen, if you go in this building, that's if she's even still alive, there's no way you're going to be able to reach her!" Epps said walking after Sam.
"What do you suggest I do?" Sam asked rhetorically.
"It's over, I'm sorry, but it's over," Epps said.
The way he said it made Rachel believe him; the Autobots were gone, and not coming back, the Decepticons had already destroyed Chicago in a day, and the military couldn't get jets to fire at the Decepticon ships. It was over.
Rachel heard a noise behind Sam.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa incoming!" one of Epps' friends yelled.
Suddenly rounds were flying everywhere as a Decepticon ship flew at them. The remaining people there ran, some of them were vaporized as soon as the ship's fire hit them. Rachel's eyes widened and she rolled to the ground after Sam and Epps. They were showered with broken pieces of asphalt, once the ship had moved away they started running again, but the ship flew over them. They hit the ground again, Rachel covered her head with her arms and pressed herself as close to the ground as she could. The ship then started flying away again, and she, Epps, and Sam sat up. Then Rachel could have sworn she'd seen...return fire? The ship lost control and Rachel laid on her side on the ground next to Sam and Epps, trying not to get flattened by the ship as it hit the ground behind them. Rachel and Sam looked up to see the Decepticon trying to free itself from inside the ship, Epps had turned to look behind them. Rachel went rigid as she heard a gun cock behind her and a giant, bronze round hit the ground next to Sam. Rachel slowly turned her upper body to look behind her, as she followed where the round had hit upwards her eyes widened and her mouth fell open. Behind her stood Optimus Prime.
I didn't know how to cut this chapter any other way so this is how it turned out...a lot happens so I won't try to comment on much besides I was very confused at this point in the movie my first time seeing it... so chapter 10 coming in a few days
