Somebody was running his hand through my hair.
Funny, huh? My head is pounding, my arms and legs are aching, and I can barely feel my fingers or toes, and the first thing I notice is somebody touching my head. Ah well; some things you just cannot explain.
I gasped and my eyes snapped open. I tossed my head from side to side, looking for whoever was touching me. A hand laid itself on my forehead, stopping my wild movements.
"Shhhh, calm down." A soft voice said. Blinking, I looking up at the man standing over me. He was around twenty-five, with messy dark brown hair and flashing green eyes. A frown was set heavy on his lips, and his forehead was furrowed. "You're going to hurt yourself." He whispered.
"Joseph?" I asked, dumbfound. "What are you doing here?"
He chuckled. "What, I'm not allowed to check in on my little sister now and then?" He asked, brushing a strand of my black hair away from my face.
"What about college? What about your job?"
"I took a leave due to family matters." He said softly, sitting down next to me. It was then that I finally noticed I was lying on the big queen-sized bed in the guest room. Joseph had wrapped me up in a soft afghan that my mom had made before the crash. It was a deep, rich ocean blue.
"Mom's been in a coma for three weeks, and you're just now coming down?" I asked, giving him a blank look.
"I couldn't get off before now. Actually, I wasn't planning until coming down for another week, but Jay e-mailed me two days ago and said that dad wasn't in a good mood and was close to getting fired. I got here as quickly as I could." He frowned and curled a strand of my hair around his finger. "Unfortunately, I didn't get down here soon enough."
"What?"
Joseph gave a morbid chuckle. "Makes sense that you don't remember; dad hit you pretty hard."
Hit....It all came back in a rush. Kyle and May had started hitting me, swinging at me with the baseball bat now and again. I had gotten beaten up pretty badly when the front door had burst open and Joseph rushed in. He had restrained them until they finally passed out. Just barely, I remembered him picking me up and carrying me up the stairs, out of the kitchen. Then I had passed out.
Slowly, I pulled my right arm out of the afghan and touched my head. A bandage was wound around my head. I felt part of it become stiff from the dried blood it had stopped. I shuddered and slid my hand back into the blanket; it was freezing! I felt Joseph wind his hand around my shoulders and pull me into a tight hug. I relaxed against him and sighed, taking in his familiar scent. Joseph and Jay had always been the ones that looked out for me. Often times, Joseph more than Jay. He was the oldest of us six kids, and took right after our mother. I felt him stroke the back of my head.
"I'm sorry I couldn't get here sooner."
"It's not your fault. Its mine. I was gone for two days. I should have known not to come home during the middle of the night."
"Two days?" Joseph leaned back. "Where the heck were you for two whole days?"
"Out in the forest."
"Of course."
"Hey Jo?"
"Yeah Rave?"
"You don't think I'm crazy, do you?"
"I don't know..."
"Joseph!"
"I'm just playing! Of course I don't think you're crazy."
"Okay."
"Why?"
"Just wondering."
"That's a big yawn. Why don't you go back to sleep? The doors locked; nobody will bother you."
"Thank you."
"Night."
"Night."
Nearly six hours later I woke back up. I was still in the guest room, curled up in the afghan. Yawning, I nestled my head into the pillow and closed my eyes once more; this was a luxury to me!
A loud banging on the door brought me out of my trance. I sat up fast, clutching the afghan around my shoulders. I could hear shouting on the other side of the door, and then a nasty crack. Wincing at what I imagined the crack to be, I pulled my legs up to my chest. In the process, I knocked something off of the bed. It landed on the floor with a soft 'thump.' I blinked and looked at the foot of the guest bed. A pile of black clothes were folded neatly at the edge, along with a leather backpack.
"What the heck?" I asked, allowing the afghan to drop from my shoulders. Joseph had taken off my evanescence hoodie so he could bandage up a cut on my arm, so all I had on was my slightly-damp tank top and my mud-encrusted jeans. Crawling across the multi-covered quilt that was laid across the bed, I grabbed the black clothes and pulled them towards me. A note was pinned to the top of the fabric.
Raven,
Just in case!
I love you,
Joseph
Tucking the note into my pocket, I inspected the clothes. A black tank top, another fishnet top, a clean pair of black jeans, and a pair of black boots that had once belonged to Joseph himself. Depositing these at my side, I inspected the backpack. My brother had packed it with enough food to last three days. He had also included my notebook, sketchbook and a pack of pencils. I smiled at this; he hadn't forgotten how much I enjoyed sketching.
My head snapped up to the door as it shuddered again. Quietly sliding off the bed, I pulled off my shirt and jeans, changing into the clean ones Joseph had left me. My foot nudged the thing I had knocked off of the bed; a black hoodie with a tragedy and comedy mask logo. Pulling it on over top of my shirt and fishnet, I shoved the blue afghan into the backpack and slung it across my back. I door shuddered once more, and I saw the center of it splinter.
Tiptoeing to the window, I slid it open. It creaked slightly, but not enough to give me away. Swinging my leg over the sill, I stepped onto the roof of the back porch. Carefully following through with my other leg, I turned around and closed the window. Before I shut it all the way, however, I heard Kyle yell something about my mom. Shaking my head, I snapped it shut and began to shuffle towards the edge of the roof. Carefully skirting around a loose tile, I crouched down beside the gutter and looked down. I was around ten feet above the ground.
"Great." I muttered sarcastically, taking off the backpack. I dropped it down onto an extremely grassy spot. It landed with a nearly inaudible 'plop' and fell forward. A pencil dramatically rolled out, stopping when it hit a small white mushroom. I raised my eyebrows, then shook my head and focused on turning around without slipping. Slowly, I eased myself off of the roof, wrapping my legs around one of the support columns as I went. Carefully inching my way down the column, I soon reached the ground, and not a moment too soon. Above me, I heard the guest room door shatter. "Thank the gods." I said to myself, grabbing my backpack and sprinting across the backyard. Scrambling over the tall fence, I escaped into the forest.
I was lost. Very, very lost. It was around ten in the morning, and the trees seemed to stretch high above my head, which was spinning confusedly. I stumbled and fell against a sturdy old oak tree, panting. I didn't know why my dad was so angry with me; I hadn't done anything wrong, had I? Sliding down against the tree trunk, I pulled a pack of snack crackers out of my bag and eagerly bit into one. My stomach growled a thank you as I devoured the rest of the pack. Crumpling up the colorful plastic wrapper, I dropped it into my bag and leaned against the tree, closing my eyes.
BAM!
"WHAT THE HECK?" I screamed, jumping to my feet. Swinging my bag up onto my back, I looked around wildly. A second explosion rocked my surroundings, sending several of the fall leaves drifting to the ground. I fell back against the tree as the earth gave way to several violent tremors. Faintly, above the sound of tree branches shifting and birds screeching, I could hear shouting and the sound of a helicopter rotor. It was growing louder by the second. Hitching my backpack higher, I took off running through the trees. As though stalking me, the helicopter rotors only grew closer. Finally, I burst out into a large clearing. The tall grass whipped up around my legs as the helicopter came to hover right above me. Placing my arms in a cross above my head to block the man-made wind from my eyes, I looked up into the cockpit of the helicopter.
Nobody was there.
"Hehehe, lookie what I found!" The helicopter laughed, a tint of insanity echoing through his voice. Resisting the urge to cuss out fate, I took off across the field, although not as fast as I would have liked. The tall grass held me up just a little bit. "Oh goody, a chase!" The helicopter cheered as he came across the field after me. Stumbling over an old fallen log, concealed by the grass and some sweet smelling flowers, I felt my hair fly back away from my head, caught in a strong gale. He was gaining.
"EEK!" My foot caught on a stone, and I landed hard on the ground, effectively flattening all of the grass within two feet. My backpack half-fell, twisting painfully around my arm. Wincing, I pulled my sleeve free and looked up at the helicopter, who was laughing again.
"Awww, poor little squishy!" The helicopter cackled. I rolled onto my back up looked up at the helicopter in fright. "TRANSFORM!" My mouth practically dropped to the ground as the helicopters armor shifted around, forming a yellow, silver and purple robot. He landed on the ground, one foot on either side of me, a triumphant grin on his face. "Oh, Megatron's going to be so pleased with me!" He said to himself, looking down at me. An evil grin suddenly seemed to cross his face as he reached for me. "He might even let me keep you as a pet!"
'I'm gonna die!' I managed to think as I tried to push myself away from the oncoming hand. Before I could get to my feet and run, however, five tree-trunk like metal fingers encircled my beaten and bruised body. I let out a strangled cry of fright as my feet left the ground. The copter-bot gave me a less-than-gentle pat on the head. "No need to scream, squishy." He said, tightening his fist to accent the hidden order. "I'll take real good care of you."
"Take care of THIS, Cyclonus!" A familiar voice yelled as a grey and yellow fist slammed into the robots face. He flew back into the trees, crashing through them as though they were no more than toothpicks. Unfortunately, Hot Shot's obvious plan (Cyclonus letting go of me to catch himself) failed. The robots fist tightened painfully around my already injured body as he slid along the ground a good two hundred or so feet, only stopping when he hit the solid rock wall of Bear Claw Cliff. He sat there, dazed, his hands lying in his lap. His fingers were still curled around my tensed body, but they slowly relaxed as he came to his senses. Before he could stand back up on his unsteady feet, however, a shadow eclipsed us, and we found ourselves looking at a very, very angry yellow-head.
"Let." He had his pistol pointing at Cyclonus's face. "Her." A small ball of light began to gather at the tip of the barrel. "Go." He pulled back his lips in a triumphant grin and Cyclonus slowly raised his hand, with me in it, up towards his adversary. Gently, I was picked up by my hoodie and slid down into the palm of Hot Shot's free hand.
"Are you alright?" He asked. I swallowed hard and gave a slight nod. He gave me a grin, and then turned back to Cyclonus, as though trying to decide whether or not to blow his face in. I relaxed in his hand, glad that for the moment, at least, I was safe. Until I noticed a black shape emerge from the trees right behind Hot Shot.
"Look out!" I screamed. The bot turned halfway in surprise before a fist collided with the side of his face, sending him-and me-to the ground. Amazingly, I managed to keep my grip and stay in his hand. My right arm was looped around his middle finger, while my left clutched the cross around my neck. Our attacker glared down at us with livid crimson eye panels that were slanted in rage. He had two large horns protruding from his helmet that rivaled the height of his shoulders. Slowly, his eyes traveled down from Hot Shots terrified yet defiant face to me, who was crouching behind his fingers, scared out of my wits. He smirked and began to reach for me.
"Not so fast, Megatron!" Someone yelled with a voice that was heavily laden with authority. All four of us glanced over to the source of the shout. A fourth robot stood there, large than Hot Shot and Cyclonus, but slightly smaller than horn-head. He had a silver pistol in his hand and was glaring daggers at our captors.
Horn-head chuckled. "Ah, Optimus Prime, what a surprise." He said sarcastically. Optimus frowned beneath his grayish-silver faceplate.
"Let them go Megatron!" He shouted angrily. Horn-head smirked and withdrew his hand, turning to face Optimus. His hands curled into fists at his side as the two glared at each other. Without warning, he wheeled around and swung his fist hard. It made easy connection with the side of Hot Shot's face. He crashed to the ground, curling his fingers tightly around my battered frame as he did so.
"Hot Shot!" I heard Optimus shout. The bot didn't move. Groaning, I managed to struggle to my knees and look up at him. His eye panels were dark, and there was a deep dent on his cheek. My thoughts were torn away from him, however, as another hand wrapped itself around my shaking frame. It was Cyclonus.
"Megatron, I got her!" He shouted, holding me tightly and waving his fist around, making my stomach lurch. Horn-head smirked at Optimus.
"Retreat to the base, Cyclonus!" He ordered. "We'll follow as soon as we've found that blasted Minicon!"
"Yes sir!" Cyclonus shouted, making me wince. He held his opposite arm up to his face as a small panel flipped open. "Warp drive! Destination: Decepticon base!" He commanded.
My body was suddenly falling apart into thousands of pieces. I gasped as the world around me blurred, then was replaced with a square gray room. I went limp in Cyclonus's hand, feeling dizzy and weak. I was half conscious of the copter-bot walking somewhere, and then lying me down on a smooth cold surface somewhere dark. I closed my eyes tightly and pulled my legs up to my chest, tucking myself into a ball. Gradually, I blacked out.
I woke up a few hours later. My head was aching and I was hungry again, but at the moment I was too worried about the five bots that were looking down at me to care. I recognized Megatron, Cyclonus and Scavenger, but not the other two. One was brown with two green eye-panels that were different sizes and a curious look on his face. The last one was red and white and orange eyes and a sneer upon his lips.
"Aw, Megatron, can't I keep her!" Cyclonus whined, not caring if I was awake or not.
"I barely trust you with your own minicon." Megatron snapped. "Why would I trust you with something as fragile as a human?" Silently, I thanked Megatron for his insight. "No, I need someone who can assuredly keep a human alive until we need to use her." My little thanks went right out the window. He looked at the remaining three. He grinned. "Scavenger."
"Yes sir?" Scavenger replied, fully aware of what Megatron was about to assign him.
"You will take care of the girl until the Autobots come to their senses and give into our demands." He ordered.
Scavenger frowned and glanced down at me, then back up at Megatron. He obviously wanted to protest. After all, who would want to be assigned babysitting duty? One glare from his leader, however, sent him into silence. He sighed and gave a slight nod. "Yes sir."
"Good." Megatron smirked before leaving the room. Cyclonus and the other two followed, leaving me staring up at Scavengers hardened face.
"Come on girl." He said after a minute, setting his hand flat on the table next to me, palm facing the ceiling. I stumbled to my feet and just looked at it for a moment, considering the consequences if I refused to. "You forget yourself, human." Scavenger snarled, noting my hesitation. Reminding myself that I didn't have a choice in the matter, I clumsily approached his hand. My legs still felt weak, and my stomach was churning with hunger. The cuts and bruises from when my dad and sister attacked me in the kitchen burned, as though someone had rubbed salt water in them. "Pitiful." He scoffed before snagging the back of my hoodie and dropping me into the palm of his other hand. Straightening up, he walked around the table and out of the room.
I sat hunched over in Scavenger hand, arms wrapped around my stomach, looking down at my feet. He walked down a rusted, dim hallway that had wires criss-crossing the ceiling. He paused in front of a badly dented door. The scary thing about it was, the dent came from the inside. I tensed as the door slid open, sticking momentarily when the dented part tried to slide into the slot in the wall. Scavenger growled and kicked it, effectively sending the dent back into place and allowing it to slide the rest of the way in. I sat riveted on his hand, staring at the door. If he could do that to steel, then what could he do to me?
I barely glanced around the small (to him, at least) room we entered. A large steel table rested against the far wall, resembling the one I had woken up on. Beside it was an equally large desk that was dwarfed by an even larger computer. Other than a chair that was shoved under the desk among thousands of wires, the room was empty. Taking a second look, I saw that several spots on the walls, floor, and even the ceiling were dented. My body gave way to an involuntary shudder.
Scavenger's footsteps echoed loudly around the silent room. He crossed the dust-covered floor, stopping at the desk. Sweeping away a bunch of wires, he set me down on the cold steel. I sat on my knees, arms wrapped around my stomach, watching him. He pulled out one of the drawers set into the desk and rummaged through it, fully aware that I was watching him.
"Take off your shirt." He ordered, pulling out a long rod that resembled a glow-stick. I blanched.
"Excuse me?"
"Take off your shirt. You have an extra one on, do you not?" He laid down the glow-stick and began to look for something else. "It will mess up the scan if you keep both of them on."
"Scan?" I asked, tugging defiantly at the bottom of my hoodie; I didn't want to take it off. Wherever we were, it was freezing!
"You're injured." He said while pulling out what looked like a mattress made out of cotton. He set it down beside me, frowning. "Now take off your extra shirt." His voice held no room for argument. Swallowing hard, I looked away from him and pulled my hoodie off over my head. I felt his eye-things travel up and down my bruised and cut arms and shoulders. They landed on the faded red scar the crossed my stomach, very visible through the fishnet top. Instinctively, I reached up and wrapped my fingers around the bottom part of the silver cross hanging around my neck. The chain rattled, and I felt Scavenger's gaze fall to my fist and the charm within it. "Take that off too. It will interfere with the scan."
I froze; take off my necklace? I gripped it harder; I couldn't! I wouldn't! My cross never left my neck, unless I was taking a shower, because the water would hurt it. "I...I can't." I stuttered, praying to the heavens that Scavenger wouldn't be mad.
"Oh? And why can't you?" The bot asked, more amused then mad. "You have no disabilities that would prevent you from taking it off, and it is in no way grafted to your skin. So why can't you take it off?"
"I...I just can't."
Scavenger frowned; that was not the answer he wanted. "What could be so important about that charm that you cannot remove it from your person for five of your earth minutes?"
"I just can't!" I said, defensively, gripping my cross harder. There was a sharp pain that cut across my palm and I pulled my hand away from the charm in surprise; it had slit open my hand! I dropped the cross-which was dripping blood-and stared at my hand in surprise; that was all Scavenger needed. His fingers nimbly snatched the cross and-less gently-yanked. The chain snapped, making a small scratch across the back of my neck. I let out a startled gasp as the momentum of the pull sent me forward, forcing me to catch myself with both hands. My cut hand, which was bleeding pretty heavily by now, slipped in my own blood and sent me down onto my face.
Scavenger snorted. Pushing myself up with my arms, I looked at him. He was holding the cross between two of his fingers and examining it. He glanced down at me, and the blood that was slowly dripping from my hand. "Things of sentimental value only cause pain, girl." He said, bringing his two fingers together. There was a loud crack, and the cross clattered to the desk in front of me, only now in four separate shards.
"No..." I gasped, stumbling to my feet and running over to them. Bending down, I gathered up the four pieces in my hands and held them tightly. That's when I lost all of my senses. "YOU JERK! THIS WAS THE ONLY THING I HAD TO REMIND ME OF MY MOM, WHO'S CURRENTLY IN THE HOSPITAL DYING, AND YOU JUST CRUSHED IT!" I screamed. It no longer mattered that he was bigger and stronger than me and that I had no way of defending myself. The only thing that mattered was getting my anger through his thick, cruel skull. "JUST BECAUSE YOU'RE BIGGER THAN ME DOESN'T MEAN YOU CAN GO AROUND AND STEAL MY THINGS AND BREAK THEM! THIS IS THE ONLY THING I'VE EVER HAD THAT HAS EVER MEANT ANYTHING TO ME! WHAT MAKES YOU THINK THAT YOU CAN DESTROY THE ONE THING I LOVE?"
Scavenger gave me an amused look as I stopped to take a breath. Then it dawned on me; I had just yelled at someone who was much, much bigger and stronger than I was. The last time I had done that, I have gotten a baseball bat to the head. Slowly, I looked up at Scavenger. His yellow-eye panels met mine, and I swallowed. They were amused, yes, but behind them I could see real anger.
His hand came out of nowhere, colliding with my side and sending me to the ground. Well, almost. Before I could hit the cold metal of the desk, his fingers curled around my flailing form and hoisted me into the air. I let out a startled, panicked cry as he stepped away from the desk and opened his palm. Before I could blink, he had snagged the back of my shirt and extended his arm high above his head, so it was straight. I gulped and my muscles instinctively tightened, ready for a blow. Unfortunately, that blow would come about a forty feet below. With a cruel smirk, Scavenger let go of the back of my shirt.
"NO!" I managed to scream before my throat shut tight. I closed by eyes tightly as the air rushed past, holding my arms in an 'X' shape in front of my face. Somehow, I had twisted so I was falling headfirst. I cracked open my eyes as the ground grew closer and closer. This was it. I was finally going to die.
Thankfully, Scavenger had other plans. He smoothly caught me three feet from the ground, an amused smirk on his face. I laid in the palm of his hand, to scared to move. What if he did it again? Walking back over to the desk, he unceremoniously dropped me beside the pad. "I'd suggest that next time you don't talk back." He grinned. "Unless, of course, you want to play my little game again." I barely managed to shake my head 'no'. "Good. Now lay down on there." He motioned to the pad. I gave a small, obedient nod and shuffled over to it, clenching my hand tightly. It was still bleeding a bit, but not as much as before. The bloody cross shards were now in my pocket, clinking rhythmically as I walked. I slowly approached the pad and, just as slowly, I sat down on the edge of it, not wanting to lie down. A death-defying glare from Scavenger quickly changed my mind. Swallowing hard, I lowered myself down onto the pad, so I was flat on my back, staring at the ceiling.
Scavenger reached across me, thankfully ignoring my flinch, and picked up the glow stick. He hit a button on the end and a thin sheet of light fell out of it, hitting the desk. Slowly, he positioned it over my head. "Don't move or you'll screw everything up." He ordered as I cringed, the light hitting me square in the eyes. I forced myself to relax, taking a deep breath as I did so. The light moved away from my eyes as Scavenger carefully dragged it across the rest of my body. After a moment, he hit another button and the light flicked off. He walked away from me to where his computer sat and slid the glow stick into a hollow tube. A diagnostic of my body came up on the screen and he stood there for a moment, studying it. I pushed myself off of the pad and onto my feet, resting a hand on my forehead as a dizzy spell hit. Scavenger took no notice; there was nothing I could do. At least, that's what he thought.
I walked unsteadily towards the back of the desk, and for a moment I felt Scavenger's eyes following me. Then he shrugged it off and went back to studying the screen. He probably just thought I wanted to get as far away from him as I could, which believe me, I did, and obviously he didn't have a problem with that. What he obviously didn't realize was that I had a perfect means of escape right in front of my eyes. The wires. Dramatically, I stumbled and caught myself on one of them. They were pretty big, but I could get my arms all the way around one of them, so all was not lost. I slid down to the ground beside them, at the very edge of the desk, and kept my eyes on Scavenger. He was completely ignoring me now. Good.
Very quickly, I climbed on top of one of the wires, wrapped my arms around it and slid down the plastic-coated metal. I easily made it to the ground under the desk before Scavenger noticed. Once he did, however, it was as though the sky had exploded. I heard him curse angrily in a language I had only heard once before (when he had been fighting with Hot Shot) and felt the desk rattle as he yanked at the wires. Hastily, I broke free of the tangled mess and ran out from under the desk, right between his feet. I thought that he would be too busy with the wires to notice me.
Fat chance.
The ground shook as he stomped after me, eye-panels now mere slits. He was pissed this time. Really, really pissed. I was flat-out sprinting, trying desperately to reach the door, which I was hoping had pressure sensors in the floor like the doors in the cave did. Unfortunately, I only made it halfway there. My boot caught on a piece of a metal tile that was sticking up, and I went sprawling. I hit the ground and bounced once. Twice. Three times. I slid for two yards, right into the wall.
"Tell me, human, do you like making stupid mistakes?" Scavenger asked, standing barely a foot away from me. Slowly, I looked up at his incredibly tall form, which was cast in shadow and haloed in light, making him look like a demon from an amazing metal hell. At the moment, I was breathing too hard to answer him. Scavenger sneered and stooped down, grabbing me in his long fingers. I lay still this time, having spent all of my energy running. The robot sneered and turned, taking me back to the desk. He dropped me onto the cotton pad and then returned to looking at the statistics on the computer. I curled up on my side, burying my face in my arms.
This was too much. This was just all too much. Slowly, I began to black out. Just before I did, however, I felt Scavenger run his finger down my spine in a strangely comforting way.
Maybe he's not so bad...I thought as I finally lost touch with reality.
10