Chapter 4
Sam and Jenna peddled on their bikes through town, the pair constantly looking back to see if they were being followed. So far, they seemed fine, but that didn't really mean anything. For the umpteenth time since getting on her old bike, she wished she had brought her purse with her gun.
"Think we lost it?" Sam asked her out of breath.
"Probably not." Jenna replied. And then, as if the universe wanted to use it now to prove her right, the yellow and black striped Camaro appeared down the block behind them. They were indeed being followed. Jenna cursed.
The Camaro sped up and was almost tailgating them at this point, "You're not gonna get me. You're not gonna get me." Sam repeated to himself as if it was a mantra.
"Sam," Jenna yelled, "We need to get it away from the civilian population. If this turns into a fight, we don't want people getting hurt." Or worse, killed. Jenna didn't want to say that out loud, but her point to Sam was heard and received.
Sam nodded, "We'll lead it to the woods outside of town." The pair turned down another street, to try to lead it away from the more populated areas when Sam tripped his bike over a rough patch on the sidewalk and did a somersault, landing on his back with a loud groan.
"Holy shit! Sam!" Jenna slammed on her breaks and skidded to a halt next to her brother. "You okay?"
"Sam!" A voice from nearby exclaimed as well. Jenna looked up to see that they were next to a restaurant that had teenage girls sitting at a table near the sidewalk. The girl with brown hair stood up, "Oh my god, are you okay?"
It was then that Jenna realized that this must be Mikaela. The same Mikaela that Sam had a crush on. And said crush had just seen him wipe out spectacularly. She winced at the social implications. High School drama, how she didn't miss it.
Sam slowly got up, dazed a bit, patting himself down to see if he had any injuries, "Me? No, I'm fine, it was… great to know you… I've had a good life and-"
"Are you hurt? I mean-"
Sam noticed the Camaro appear, creeping around the corner, "I'm losing my mind! I gotta go!"
In terror, he grabs his bike and pedals off fast. Jenna gave a shrug to the confused Mikaela and stated, "Boys." Then peddled off after her brother.
The friends share glances. Mikaela bit her lip then made a decision as she watched the pair ride off, "I'll catch up. See what's up." She unlocks a Vespa from a rack and climbs on. As she's about to pull out into the street, a police car pulls out, nearly hitting her. She throws up her hands in annoyance but the police car just drives away. She sighs and speeds after Sam.
Jenna and Sam had been riding for a while now and were almost out of town. They had reached the overpass and it was now close to sundown. Both siblings were out of breath and had stopped talking to each other halfway through the ride other than which direction they were headed. They biked fast across the parking lot, both looking back over their shoulder every so often.
Jenna was a wreck. In the past 24 hours her husband had died from his base being attacked, Sam had bought a possessed Camaro which turned out to be from the same race of aliens that she currently archived at her top-secret government job. And said alien was currently stalking them. She was going to throw a fit when she got back to work.
"Is it still following us?" Sam asked in a whispered shout.
"Yes." Jenna confirmed as she looked behind her shoulder to see the Camaro driving down a parallel aisle, still following them, "He just won't give up will he."
Sam blinked then looked annoyed at Jenna, "Don't give human attributes to it! It's attacking us! Next thing we'll know is you've named it, once you name it, it's all over. You're attached and have to keep it."
Jenna rolled her eyes, "Are you seriously talking about the pet squirrel I had when I was in seventh grade?"
"YES!"
"You weren't even born!"
"I've seen the pictures!" Sam argued back.
"More peddling, less talking." Jenna shot back. During the brief sibling spat, Jenna had momentarily forgotten her training and didn't pay attention to their surroundings. A car pulled out in front of them and the driver's side door swung out and hit the pair, causing them to crash into each other and then the ground, "Sam! Uggg." Jenna pushed her bike off of her and scrambled up off the gravel as Sam did the same, "Ow."
It was then that Jenna noticed that it was a police car. Sam noticed the same thing and with a relieved sigh word vomited what was going on, "Oh, officer, thank God! You're not gonna believe this, but my car's trying to kill me!" The cop doesn't move out of the car. "HEL-LO!?" Sam was yelling at the cop angrily, "ARE YOU LISTENING TO ME?!"
"Sam, maybe you should calm down."
Sam slams his fists onto the hood and Jenna winced, that wasn't calm. The police car juts forward, knocking Sam on his ass. Jenna stepped backward. She had a terribly bad feeling, "Sam, stop!"
"Sorry, Officer, I didn't mean any disrespect-"Sam stumbled over his wording, now realizing that he was in trouble. The headlight covers swing open and the bare bulbs clip outward like two alien snakes, right in front of Sam's face.
"Sam!" Jenna screamed, lurching forward to drag Sam back. Then the cop car transforms into a gigantic 16 feet tall robot. "Another one." She breathed out.
"Shit!" Sam yelled, allowing Jenna to drag Sam up and the siblings sprinted as fast as they could away from the alien robot, "Oh shit! Oh, Shit!" However, their speed wasn't fast enough and the robot caught up with them in seconds.
Jenna felt the impact knock her breath away and sent her and Sam flying and both of them slam, hard, into the windshield of an old dilapidated car. She let out a groan which was a cross between a sob and a squeak. The car stomped forward and leaned down close to them, getting in their face, "Are you LadiesMan217?"
Jenna blinked, shocked into silence by the fact that the alien robot could talk. This changed everything. There was a chance for communication!
Sam stumbled out, "I-I don't know what you are talking about, man."
"ARE YOU LADIESMAN217?"
"Yeah." Sam nodded, terrified.
"Where is ebay item 21153?"
"What?"
"Where are the GLASSES?" The robot roared.
Just as the robot was rearing back to smack them again, the Camaro drove out of nowhere and body slammed into it. Jenna and Sam scrambled back and off the car, taking off from the fight in a dead sprint.
"What the fuck SAM?" Jenna yelled.
"How is this my fault? I didn't know they wanted grandpa's glasses! I just wanted money to take out Mikaela!"
Jenna glanced back at the fight just in time to see a car hurtling towards them, "Duck!" She screamed and dragged Sam out of the way and into another aisle. The car hit the ground with a large crash and the sound of shattering glass.
She then heard the sound of a motorbike and it came into view at the entrance of the aisle. On top of it was Mikaela. Her eyes widened. She must have followed them. The pair continued to sprint towards the exit and Mikaela when Sam ran directly towards her, grabbed her by the waist and pulled her off her bike.
"OW, my arm!" Mikaela groaned, "Sam? What's wrong with you? What's going on?"
"MIKAELA, YOU GOTTA GET UP!" Sam was screaming as Jenna caught up to the pair and helped Mikaela stand up, "GET UP NOW! MIKAELA, SERIOUSLY, RUN!"
A massive steel foot slammed down on Mikaela's Vespa, crushing it to dust. She looked up and her eyes widened and tensed up, not expecting to see a gigantic robot "SHIT!"
Another car revs and rolls into the area. Jenna tenses but then sees Sam's striped Camaro. Mikaela rolls out of the way as the Camaro powerslides into the police car knocking it over. The passenger door swings open and Rescue Me blasts from the speakers. The car honked when the trio didn't move, still shocked at the turn of events.
"What the hell's going on?" Mikaela asked, looking back and forth to Sam and then Jenna before the car honked its horn again, seemingly impatient.
Jenna made a decision for the group as the other robot began to stand up, "Sam, Mikaela, get in the car!" She used her military, 'I'm in command' voice, which seems to startle Sam enough to hightail it into the car. She grabbed Mikaela's arm and dragged her closer to the car until she began to walk for herself, the shock turning into fight or flight. In this case, flight won.
The Camaro peeled away and the Police car ran after them, transforming mid-job back into the cop car. Jenna's head turned sharply to look out the rear window as she heard the swish sound of missiles being launched. Her eyes widened and she shrieked to the car, "Missiles, dodge!"
The car swerved to the left and then right as the missiles streaked past their car. The trio are tossed in the air like rag dolls. Sam and Mickaela scream in fear while Jenna loudly screamed, "Fuuuck!"
The car chase continued through the abandoned skeletal warehouses leading through an old train yard. Jenna was thankful that Tranquility had such abandoned places. She dreaded to think what would happen if this fight ever reached the civilian population. Oh, she was so getting fired for dragging two civilians into this.
"This isn't happening!" Sam continued to yell, "This is not happening!"
The Camaro turns and Jenna stared at a dead end, fear mounting in her. She was used to the archives, not combat missions! The Camaro did a 180 spinning so that it's now facing the oncoming cop car and revs its engine. "We're playing chicken." Jenna realized aloud.
Sam must have had the same realization because he yelled out, "Bad idea! Bad idea! BAD IDEA!"
The Camaro revs his engines and speeds towards the Police car which bolts towards them and fires a missile. The Camaro swerved and the missile streaked past the windshield. The missile detonated nearby, the sound ringing in Jenna's ears. That one was closer than the first two.
Seconds before the two cars collided, the Camaro swerved, and suddenly a grappling cable launched from the Camaro, coiling around the cop car's bumper. It's spun around and now the Camaro's pulling the cruiser left and right, smashing it into old telephone poles and any other junk it could find.
The car screeched to a stop, the doors flying open. Jenna let out a scream as the car dumped them out onto the dirt. Jenna scrambles up into a half standing, half crouching position, ready to pull the two teens back at a moment's notice.
She watched in fascination as she saw the Camaro transform in close quarters. Sections of the Camaro peeled back like a banana, the bulk of the car rising and stacking in on itself and lifting itself up from a dramatic backbend refilling a close-up of the robot Jenna and Sam saw the night before.
The cop car also transformed, a lot faster than the Camaro had, and charged. Jenna grabbed the two teens and yanked them back a couple of feet, watching as the two robots duked it out. Then a section of the cop car's chest opened out and a smaller robot popped out and raced towards them. Just then, the cop car bounded, getting ready to throw a punch at the group. However, the Camaro noticed the change in target, lept, and blocked the charge, taking the punch meant for the trio.
"Run!" Jenna yelled, pulling the two teens ahead of her and practically pushing them away from the battle. Once moving, Sam and Mikaela didn't protest, not wanting to find out what would happen if the small robot ever caught up with them. When a voice in Jenna's head echoed. As they ran, Jenna scanned the ground looking for anything that she could use as a weapon.
Jenna grinned as she spotted an old broken copper pipe and she diverted her current path to run over and pick it up, "Jenna, what are you doing? Follow us!" Sam yelled when he glanced back to see his sister leaving the 'safety' of the group.
She skidded to a halt, picked up the pipe, and whipped around when she heard Sam yell, "Jenna! Watch out!"
Jenna had the pipe up and ready and swung it like a bat, hitting the small robot that had jumped at her when it looked like she wasn't paying attention. Metal on metal rang out and the robot flew a good few yards away before righting itself, chirping in what was probably curse words, and charged right back at her. At this point, Jenna had already turned and was sprinting towards Sam and Mikaela who had slowed to wait for her.
"What are you doing? Don't wait, run!" Jenna hissed out at the two teens, breathing heavily.
The trio began their sprint again, this time with Sam being next to Jenna and Mikaela leading the way, "That was stupid." Sam breathed out heavily, out of breath from all the unexpected running.
"Stupid or not, we now have a weapon." Jenna pointed out.
"Still, don't scare me like that."
"Aww, are you worried about your older sister?" Jenna goaded Sam. Despite the danger they were in, siblings were siblings.
Sam rolled his eyes, "Just run!"
They raced through the construction site, around piles of different materials.
"I have an idea, keep running!" Mikaela shouted and broke off from the group. Jenna spotted the workers shed in the corner of her eye and knew her plan.
"Be careful!" Jenna yelled back to the teen. As she yelled that, the small robot had caught up with them and leaped out at the siblings. Jenna couldn't turn around fast to hit him fast enough and ended up being pushed out of the way by the robot. She fell and landed on her side. She winced and scrambled up as the robot landed on her brother, tackling him to the ground.
"Sam!" She screamed. Jenna lifted up her pipe but realized that if she swung and missed, she would hit her brother. By this point, the robot had dragged him closed, pulling down his jeans as it attempted to get at Sam.
"Get OFF! GET IT OFF! HE ' S GOT ME, I"M GOING TO DIE!" Sam yelled, fighting with the robot, trying to get it off of him.
"Stop moving so I can hit it!" Jenna yelled back.
Sam eventually wiggled out of his jeans to escape the small robot's grasp. Once the robot was fully on the ground, Jenna took a swing and to her sock, the robot caught it. It began to pull the pipe closer to it. Sam hopped up. His shirt was still on but the bottom half was just his black socks, tennis shoes, and boxers.
The robot used her momentum to throw Jenna off-balance, knock the pipe out of her grip, and took a leap at her face. She felt something slash her skin. Jenna stumbled back with a cry of pain. She felt warmth on her face and something trickled down it. She automatically knew it was blood.
"NO!" Sam roared. He scrambled for the pipe that Jenna had dropped before wacking it over and over again on top of the robot.
By this time Mikaela had returned with a power saw, "Hey, asshole, over here!" The robot turned and Mikaela revved the power saw like a weapon, "Why don't you come after me you metal freak!"
The small robot ducked one of Sam's attacks and leaped at Mikaela. She swings the saw, cutting off its arm. Sam swung the metal pipe and its head, waking it clear off. It fell to the ground. The remaining torso of the small robot crumbled on the ground, "Not so tough without a body now, are you?" He kicks the head but its teeth clamp onto Sam's foot. He dances around in a panic, trying to shake it off, "GET IT OFF! GET IT OFF!" His right shoe flings off with the robot's head attached to it.
"Sam, chill. You got rid of it." Mikaela glanced down at his boxers. She blushed and anywhere but Sam, "And put your pants back on."
Sam gasped, "Jenna!" He turned to his older sister, "You were hit."
Jenna winces and gives the concerned teens a small smile, "I'll be fine."
"Hold on, I think I saw a first aid kit in the shed that I stole this from." Mikaela threw the power saw on the ground, turned, and ran towards the shed. The sounds of battle from the Camaro and Cop car slowly died down. Jenna was afraid to see who had won the gigantic deathmatch.
Mikaela returned with the kit. She opened it and took out the wipes and began to whip the blood off Jenna's cheek. Jenna winced as the alcohol wipes stung, "Sorry." Mikaela murmured.
"It's okay." Jenna told Mikaela, "Nice spot with the first aid kit."
Mikaela put some antibiotic ointment on the cut and then covered it with a bandaid, "We should keep this with us, just in case your cut bleeds through."
Jenna nodded, "Good idea." She looked in the direction of the fight and saw the Camaro standing tall. She breathed a sigh of relief, "It looks like we both won our battles." She looked at Sam who was looking at her with concern, "You should put your pants back on."
Sam blushed and went over to grab his jeans to put them on. Unfortunately, his right shoe was a goner, "Let's make our way back to the Camaro. Find out who or what is behind all this." Sam waved his arms in the general direction of his car.
The trio made their way back towards the Camaro. Jenna carried the first aid kit. The Camaro turned to see the group walking back to them. The Camaro smiles.
"What are you, like some kind of robot?" Mikaela asked.
Sam turned to Mikaela, "I think, but probably Japanese." Sam took a step closer.
Mikaela grabbed his arm, "What're you doing?"
The car takes a step closer, too. Looks down at Sam, like a puppy coming to meet his master. Sam smiles, "I don't think he's gonna hurt us."
Mikaela raised her eyebrows and put her hands on her hips, "Oh, yeah?! You speak 'robot'?! Cause they just had like, a droid deathmatch and you're acting like it's Herbie!"
Sam and the robot stare at each other, "I think ... they want something from me."
"Like what?!"
"The other one kept asking about my 'ancestral artifacts' and something about a code…" Sam trailed off.
"Whatever that means…." Mikaela grumbled.
"The cop car did talk about your ebay page." Jenna said to Sam, "I think it has something to do with one of the items you had on sale."
Sam looked at the car, "Can you. . . talk? Like the other one?"
The car shook his head no, but then the speakers buzzed and a DJ voice floated out, ""XM satellite radio, a hundred digital channels of nonstop, commercial-free music and entertainment.""
"I think he talks through the stereo."
Applause came through the Camaro's speakers. The robot clapped his hands along "Thank you, thank you."
"What were you doing last night?" Jenna asked, curious.
The Camaro replied with a radio sermon, "And a mighty voice will send a message, bring forth visitors from heaven."
"You were calling someone?" Sam asked
"'Visitors from heaven', what're you, like ... an alien or something?"
The Camaro suddenly transformed back into car form. His door swung open. Jenna inwardly groaned. Oh, now the two knew for sure that aliens existed. Simmons was going to fire her for sure then make it so that she never existed. She dreaded going back to work.
"I think it wants us to get in"
Mikaela hesitated, "And go where?"
Sam shrugged and faced Mikaela, "I don't know, but think about it ... fifty ars from now when we're looking back on our lives, don't you wanna be able to say you got in the car?"
Mikaela thought about it, then grabbed her purse that had been flung to the side and nodded, "Okay."
The two climbed into the Camaro. Jenna stood outside, noticing the lack of room, "Um, is it alright if I sit on the driver's seat? It looks a little tight on the passengers."
The Camaro revved its engines in response which Jenna took to mean that it was alright. She climbed in and buckled herself in. The Camaro shut both doors and peeled out of the area, speeding away from the scene. Thankfully the local police hadn't been notified yet or hadn't arrived by the time they left. They had made a lot of noise and Jenna didn't want to wait for the law enforcement to be notified.
The trio sat in the car in silence, thinking over the day's events. Mikaela was checking out the mirror. They entered an underpass, "Wait a sec. If you can, like, restore yourself, why'd you pick such a piece of crap model? I mean, you could be anything, right?
The stereo screeches and jumbles up the channels. The car slams on the breaks, skids, and the passenger door swings open, ejecting both Sam and Mikaela onto the pavement. Cars honked as they swerved to miss them, "Watch your driving, pal!" An irritated yell from a driver as they passed.
The door closed and the car sped off before Jenna could even react, "Wait, no, I'm sure Mikaela didn't mean it like that."
From the stereo, she heard, "Okay, okay, you got me." Then the stereo switched to "Revive!"
She blinked, "You're going to change into a… new car?"
"Ice, ice, baby." The car blasted out in confirmation.
Jenna laughed as the car made an illegal U-turn and went back down through the tunnel. Then she heard, "You- hurt?"
She moved a hand up to her face and winced at the contact with her bandaid, "I'll be fine, thanks."
"I'm sorry-." A male's voice sang from the radio.
Jenna saw a bright blue light shown from the car into oncoming traffic, apparently looking for a suitable match to transform into, "Ohh, what about that one?" Jenna pointed at a brand new 2006 Chevy Camaro.
Jena jumped as the car transformed mid-drive and she was flung back into nice black leather seats and a new interior, "Holy shit, that was awesome!" She ran her hand on the new steering wheel with a bumblebee in the center for the horn.
The car pulls up next to Mikaela and Sam and it opens up the passenger door, "Like the new digs?" Jenna asked the stunned teenagers with a smirk.
Sam and Mikaela gaped as they climbed back into the car. Mikaela smiled, "Hell yeah." The passenger door closed and they zoomed off to a place unknown.