Walk, walk a lot more and then keep walking. Yes, she most certainly still had her goal in mind of reaching her home state and her brother. But despite how quickly she walked even ran or jogged; it seemed that she wasn't really getting anywhere.

They were lucky that day though. A trail of trees lined the road, offering a cool haven that they could travel through instead of the open cemented path.

Sensing something, Alexis let it pass. When she sensed it again, she knew her instincts, as ill honed as they were, but getting sharper every day, were trying to tell her something. And when Tim grabbed her hand and slowed her down as he leaned toward her casually and whispered into her ear, what she thought she was imagining became real.

"We are being followed. We have been for some time. I want you to count to three, Alexis, and then take off and run as fast as you can." Her eyes must have said it all because he squeezed her hand. "Do as I say. There can't be many of them. I'll block your retreat and then follow."

She nodded her head despite the need to do the opposite of what he said. Leave him? Her only friend and companion? She just couldn't.

"One... two... three!"

Tim pushed her and Alexis was forced to take off. Tugging tightly on her pack, she sprinted as fast as she could. Looking behind her shoulders every minute or so, she stopped when she realized Timothy was nowhere in sight. A selfish part of her wanted to continue, but she rarely listened to that one no matter what her circumstances. She gave herself a moment to regain some strength and headed back.

Alexis didn't expect to find what she came upon. Timothy was being held by some men with his nose bloodied, two guys still and unmoving at the bottom of his feet. Both looked as if they had run straight into an approaching car only she was very sure that car had been Tim.

They hadn't seen her yet, and she had just enough time to duck behind a large bush and take off her backpack to peer through the branches. They were pounding into him. Timothy said something in between that only made them angrier. One guy moved forward. The leader, by the way he held himself; his hand formed a fist only to crash against Timothy's jaw.

She didn't mean to yelp out, but she did. However, that wouldn't have stopped her from being discovered anyway. A large hippo sized man came from nowhere and grabbed her, lifting Alexis up as he dragged her to the others.

Timothy was angry at Alexis when he saw her, she saw that pretty well and understood why. But there was no way she could have just left him behind.

"I found someone, boss."

The arms that surrounded her were strong with muscles tight against her that were larger than she would have ever believed possible. The man holding onto Alexis could have crushed her, a simple little squeeze, and she would be done for. But because life likes to take one down as many strange paths as possible, she felt the arms loosen just enough that her ribs no longer felt the strain.

"I'm sorry about this."

Did the guy holding her just apologized to her? No, Alexis' ears weren't deceiving her. He most certainly had and with true remorse in his words.

"Then let me go, please," she whispered back.

He didn't reply only pushed her forward. She saw eight people there, two girls hanging back and sitting on two of six motorcycles. Her questions took off on a different path. How did they get the vehicles to work? How did they use them without being discovered?

"Who are you?"

One of the men stepped forward, a lanky guy with the brightest red hair, the thick strands pulled back into a long ponytail. She almost smiled when she saw the bruising along his cheek and the cut along his neck.

Alexis readily answered, "A human, just like you. Why are you treating him like that? Let him go," she demanded.

The redhead shook his head and frowned deeply. "After he attacked us? After he downed Roddy and Don just for asking for some water?"

Alexis looked over at Tim, seeking the truth but not finding any. She saw the blood that soaked his shirt, the bruised eye, the defiance yet that hung along his limbs while his good eye darted back and forth as he looked for an opening, still ready to go at it.

"He wouldn't just attack without cause," she argued. Alexis was still getting to know Timothy, but knew he didn't do anything without provocation.

"Are you calling me a liar?"

Again, she found everyone's attention falling on her, including the two men who were restraining Tim. Soon enough, their gaze went elsewhere when the redhead turned and belted Timothy in the stomach who doubled over.

"Stop!" she screamed. Arms crushed her back and away, lifting her up and pulling back as she tried desperately to get loose.

"It's a perilous world right now. A dog eats dog world. You want to survive, girl? You're going to need a lot more than this... boy," the leader snarled, his dark eyes dancing with contempt.

Tim was not a boy. He was a couple of years older than Alexis, being twenty-three. Of course, for whatever reason, she took offense.

The redhead came back toward her again. This time so close she felt his hot breath against her cheek. His breath smelled of smoke and cigars and the underlining scent of alcohol. However, his eyes were clear while his hands were steady. He reached toward her, ripping the cap off Alexis' head and stepping back as he looked her over. His fingers curled in her now loose hair.

A struggle took place. Timothy yelled at the man to let her go. He obviously got loose, for the redhead suddenly went flying. Tim jumped on him as a tussle unlike any Alexis had ever seen up close began.

Everyone distracted and the grip on her as lax as ever, she reached into her pack, hands finding and fingers clenching around the weapon that had been provided. Out it came, the instructions she had gone over more than a couple of times came into her mind's eye. Immediately, the weapon hummed to life. Aiming the gun, it discharged on a nearby tree, the poor piece of defenseless nature bursting into flames.

The grip on her disappeared, and the large man backed away from her, uncertain, but curiously not scared. Aiming at him, she motioned for the man to back even further up before lowering the weapon down on the ground.

"Get off of him!" she shouted. A firmness laced her voice that if she wasn't so preoccupied with what was going on, she would have been proud of. "Now!"

Away and back the men went. They stared at the gun in her hand as if it was all they saw.

"Look at that," one of them said, "that isn't an earth-based weapon... they must... they must work with the Decepticons."

That got them going. For the first time in her life, Alexis knew what it was to inspire fear. She could have reveled in the feeling and got off on the sense of power, but she was far too sensible for such a thing. However, she did identify the pleasure in such an ability.

"Go away," she said simply. But that was all it took; the men got down to help their unconscious comrades.

"Leave them, come back for them later," Timothy yelled out. He came up beside her, easily taking the weapon out of her trembling hands and then steadily aiming the gun at the people.

Heading toward their bikes, Timothy shook his head adamantly. Motioning for the two women to get out of the way, he squeezed the trigger and then again, killing all the bikes on the spot except for one.

The men and women ran away in a wild panic. Timothy turned to her, astonished and disappointed. The gun Alexis had never told him about was handed back to her with questions resounding in his gaze. But she would have to answer them later.

Making sure he was relatively okay, she assisted him on the one bike that had not been destroyed. Alexis was suddenly grateful for all those weekends she had spent dirt bike riding with her brother near their home. Collecting their stuff and settling down on the thing, it was easy enough to figure the thing out as she brought its engine to life.

Timothy's hand tightened around her waist as they took off.

"Can you walk?"

Timothy nodded his head. Alexis assisted him off the bike and then gave him a side glance. His left eye was now totally shut, forming into one large purple bruise. Settling him down and getting out the first-aid kit, she did as much as she was able. Where she stopped had a purpose behind it.

"Stay here for a second," she gently ordered.

"Believe me. I am not going to argue."

Setting him down, she went toward the motel. Of course, the doors were locked. Going into the empty office, she quickly spotted some keys. Finding one with a number on it that she had already passed on the way, Alexis grabbed it. She unlocked the room and went to the bathroom. Alexis was relieved to find that the shower worked.

Going back to Timothy, Alexis dragged him to the small motel room.

"We need to get you cleaned up."

Helping him into the shower, she located a washcloth. Fortunately, there was a small area for Timothy to sit down on. Alexis got on her knees and scooted closer so she could have better access to clean him. He hissed and moaned, but didn't complain. The blood cleaned off him and ran slowly down the drain, revealing the hell he had gone through. She didn't understand how anyone could go through what he had and still be conscious.

"Soldier boy had quite the beating," she joked lightly while trying to soften the predicament that they had gotten into.

There was no reply to that. When she looked back, Alexis realized he had been silent through most of the treatment with his one good eye heavily upon her.

"We should probably get your shirt off."

He stood begrudgingly at that before leaning heavily against the wall of the shower. She started to help him, forced to push gently into his body as she did so. Alexis felt something odd. Tim gasped as he backed away, color falling out of his cheeks while he tugged the bottom of the shirt out of Alexis' hold.

"I can take my own clothes off. I... can finish up," he told her with a strained voice as he hastily dismissed Alexis.

She left the first aid bag behind and shut the door. Alexis felt her own skin flush at his choice of words. Everything she had just done took on an entirely different perspective that seemed to have crept upon her. Alexis suddenly understood what that strangeness of his was that had brushed across her. Living with her brother, she had learned certain things about guys. And perhaps because she did have a brother, she didn't think as much about stepping into a running shower with a guy as she tried to help him as she would have her own brother.

She felt embarrassed from her just made revelation. Leaving the motel room while trying not to think about what had occurred, she focused on the task of finding a towel to dry herself off with.