Chapter 16 - "In The Dark of the Night"
by Jim Cummings
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Before I start the chapter I just want to say thank you all so much for all your support with this! Anytime I get a review, a fav or a follow it makes me smile. I'm sorry for the delay but I hope you enjoy this latest chapter!
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Is this how the other kids feel whenever their guardians go out on missions? Worry and excitement mixed together in my chest as I watched Ratchet stride over to the ground-bridge. He rarely went out but this time they were dealing with dark energon. Goosebumps ran up my arm. It wasn't something to be messed with and since Megatron was the one carrying it, the mission was twice as hard.
I yawned as the ground-bridge powered to life. I'd been working 7 days straight between the diner and my uncle's shop, and my cold from our little trip to the Arctic had made it all the more draining. Safe to say I was beat. I had to try and wake up very quickly though when I felt something brush by me: Miko was booking it to the bridge. I stumbled down the stairs with Jack overtaking me and Raf trailing behind. The punk-teen wrenched herself out of Jack's grip and we followed her through the portal.
I reeled back at the onslaught of sunlight glaring into my eyes before clambering up a hill of rocks after her. "Miko!" I hissed quietly. This was bad. They hadn't seen what dark energon could do in person. And if it was going to be used on a full-sized Decepticon instead of some small piece of broken equipment? This wouldn't end well.
Said girl wasn't listening though. "Let's see some fight of the living dead already!"
"Miko, what were you thinking?"
"She wasn't." Raf replied to Jack dryly.
I pulled on her shoulder to try and get her attention. "We need to get out of here, now."
She shook me off. "No way! I totally missed out last time."
"This is serious, Miko-"
"Exactly! This could be my only chance to take some snaps." She patted her back pocket before jolting up and checking the others with a look of horror on her face. "My cellphone! I must have dropped it back at base."
"Good," Jack said snidely as he stood up, "let's go back and get it then. And while we're there, how about we stay there."
Wrong choice of words apparently because she made a loud noise of frustration and shot to her feet. "I can't believe you made me lose my phone!"
"I can't believe you ran off through the ground-bridge!" I rebutted and gestured out to where the Autobots were, not even thinking about how we were drawing attention to ourselves in my tired state. "You have no idea how dangerous dark energon is! We shouldn't be here-" Our argument got cut short by the sound of not one but two ground-bridge portals opening.
"You four, into our ground-bridge! Now!" I halted at the blatant fear in Ratchet's voice, how his face was filled with it. Raf tugged on my hand to get my attention and we led the way down the rocks and into the swirling vortex. Something was off though. There was a high pitched ringing that I'd never heard the bridge make before and the energy around us pulsed wildly. The ringing got louder and louder until we were thrown backwards, tumbling across the rocky ground. I supported myself up on my forearms; a shower of dust rained down as I shook my head.
"Is everyone alright?" Jack got three 'yes''s in return.
"Wha-What just happened?" Came Bulkhead's unusually subdued voice.
I pushed myself to my feet and moved closer to the other humans. Relief filled me at seeing Ratchet unharmed after the blast, and I listened earnestly as he stood up. "I can't be certain. But if two ground-bridges sent to the same coordinates crossed streams, the feedback could have triggered a system overload."
"Could? Hello, more like totally did."
"The kids made it through, right?" The four of us looked at each other. Did something get knocked loose in the blast?
"What's he talking about?"
Miko gestured widely to herself. "Bulkhead, we're right here!"
"Arcee, did the children make it safely back to base?" My eyes darted back and forth between the bots in disbelief. Now Optimus too?!
"No sign."
"What? 'No sign'?!" Miko squawked before storming towards her guardian. "Okay, seriously, Bulk- wah!" The big wrecker stepped towards her and I grabbed her shoulders in a vain attempt to pull her out of the way but instead of punting us across the ground, his large foot passed through us.
"He went right through you." So it wasn't just us two that had seen it. Jack was staring at us with wide eyes, his hand still reaching for Miko's arm from when he'd tried to pull her away as well.
I gaped down at my shaking hands and turned them over. I paled. "Oh my god, are we dead?."
"I don't want to be a ghost!" Raf cried fearfully and tugged on my sleeve.
"Wait. How can we still touch each other?"
The Autobots started to walk away from us and panic shot straight down my spine. Even though they hadn't been able to hear us before, I still called out to them. "Wait, come back! We're right in front of you!" Like before though, they seemed to be in a world of their own. "Ratchet!"
"Another place but in the same place?"
I felt near manic as I spun back to stare at Raf. "What? What are you talking about?!"
"We're probably in a different dimension, some kind of alternate reality. A 'shadow zone'." Great. Just great.
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I remember back in my early teens how my friends and I made a plan on what to do if there was ever a zombie apocalypse. You know, as kids do. We'd mapped out scouting routes and figured out the easiest to defend areas in the school, and we were pretty confident in our little 13 year old selves that we'd be able to survive should zombies ever become a real thing. Only problem was that the first (and hopefully only) zombie I actually encountered just had to be a 20-something foot Decepticon, and we were in the middle of nowhere. My lungs were itching as each breath burned them, forcing myself to keep pace with Jack, Miko and Raf. The sheer fear of it all had been keeping the worst of my attack at bay but the fact that I'd been on the verge of falling asleep before all of this happened certainly wasn't making it any easier.
We managed to put a fair distance between us and it thanks to the fact that it seemed to be following zombie law and was blessedly slow. Stopping behind a large boulder, I braced myself on my knees, hunched over and blinking the sweat out of my eyes. "W-we- we can't keep- keep going like this…"
"You're right," Jack puffed out, "we need a plan."
Miko threw up her hands. "Gee, why didn't we think of doing something before? Oh, that's right, there's nothing we can do because we've been running in circles!"
"Guys, please, stop fighting! It's not helping." A light weight settled on my shoulder blades. The kid was struggling like all of us but he was still trying to keep the peace and look out for me. Leg muscles quivering, I let Raf's bravery embolden me and kept them locked. In that moment I knew that if I let the futility of it all push me to the ground, I wouldn't be getting back up. Push through. The Autobots'll save us soon. You just have to push. Through.
"I think I know something that might just work."
Tilting my head up, I met Jack's determined gaze. God I hope it does.
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Loud wheezes wracked my body and, unable to support myself any longer, I fell against the towering rock walls surrounding us. "Carmen!" Jack ran back and looped my arm around his shoulder.
"I'm sor- I'm sorry," I strained, "I can't- I can't-"
"Yes you can. You have to. We're not leaving you behind."
It was admirable, really, but the adrenaline was finally starting to lose its kick after what felt like hours of more running and I wasn't going to let anyone get hurt because of me. Another chilling roar echoed behind us and the now telltale sound of the zombie's decapitated hand was getting closer. How a zombie's hand could move faster than the zombie itself was just the rotten cherry on top of an already shitty, melting sundae. With Jack's help, I stood back up and he half-dragged me as we continued running for our lives. My chest was constricting further by the second and everything was so dizzy. We jerked to a stop and I looked up blearily to see a large mass of green and blue in front of us. I would have laughed if I could. A ground-bridge, oh thank goodness.
"If we go through, we run straight into Starscream." What? Starscream? When did he get here?
"Follow my lead." Jack shifted next to me and muttered "Get ready, Carmen... Now!" I was shoved through the vortex at his yell, getting pulled forward before I could face-plant into the ground. My head was spinning and as we came to a stop I leant heavily on whoever was holding me.
"Woah, dude, you don't look so good." Miko chimed. All I could answer with was a pathetic whine as I tried to get my breathing under control. Just have to hold out 'til base, then I'll be fine.
Another ground-bridge opened with friendly faces coming through. We were ushered in and the other's guardians crowded around, talking and asking questions all at once. My breathing was still choppy and I stumbled over to the staircase. I need my bag. I just gotta get up to my bag, you can do this- you can do this just get the bag, I needthebagIneEDTHEBAGINEEDTHE-... I need… need to… I need to just- just lie down. Right here. Yeah, yeah that sounds- that sounds good.
Everything seemed to blur together as I stepped up on the first stair. The sensation of falling consumed me but I couldn't tell which way was up and what was down and there was shouting and voices and-
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Bulkhead spun around at his charge's yell, face dropping at the sight of Carmen collapsed on the stairs. He and the other Autobots all moved closer as the humans rushed over, Miko shaking the other girl roughly.
"What happened?!" Oh scrap. He stepped back as Ratchet stormed out from his lab, a look of dread crossing his faceplates. It was gone in a blink though, his normal, stoic mask back in place.
"I- I think she's having an asthma attack." Raf stuttered, eyes wide behind his glasses. "She has an inhaler in her bag." Bulkhead stood in stunned silence, not wanting to get in the road, as the doc-bot ran a scan over her crumpled, wheezing frame before grunting and kneeling down. Bulkhead had never seen him be so gentle. Sure, Ratchet made sure to handle his tools with care, especially since Bulkhead himself happened to break a lot of said tools, but even he could see that there was a tenderness in their medic that surprised him.
It was painfully obvious how little Ratchet did with his charge compared to the time he, Arcee and Bee spent with their human friends. He liked Carmen; she would come hang with him and Miko every now and then and the girl was quick and friendly to boot. She could bat toe-to-toe with Miko's sarcasm when she got comfortable enough but could be quite shy as well. She was a sweet kid. And maybe, Bulkhead started to think as he watched Ratchet lower her onto the lounge, maybe Ratchet saw that too. Maybe he was in deep just like the rest of them.
He wasn't friends with the doc like Optimus was and he wasn't the smartest Autobot either, but Bulkhead knew that that probably scared him.