Well hello there.
I was just admiring all the lovely reviews I have for this story and decided that they put me in such a good mood I dusted off my keyboard. Review will do that to you: make you feel good . Looking back on my previous chapter: the autobot dialogue sucked. I cringed, I winced, I slapped my wrists and told myself to pick up my act. So now I will try and do better; anyone wanna beta me? Your salary will be nil, but I have bucketfuls of gratitude to give away!
Disclaimer: I own...-dramatic music-...Axel's. Ass! (Random, yes, I know)
Not. I have a longstanding obsession with Axel's...ahem...posterior. Rrrwwerr.
I LOVE YOU ALL MY REVIEWERS!!!! Especially the returning ones -hearts-
If she could bite her nails while driving, she would; the little brunette in a bike helmet was in such shit, and she knew it, not day-to-day shit, but shit made worse by foreboding paranoia. Pissing off your brother, who is related to you and may not wring your neck, was one thing, pissing off a cop was another, even if they couldn't wring either. Hailey was brimming then overflowed with paranoia as she mentally braced herself for that cop car to come and pull her over.
Here's why. (I go from what it says in handbook)
M1 (Motorcycle- learners permit) license drivers were only allowed to ride only during daylight hours: 1/2 hour before sunrise to 1/2 hour after sunset. It had long gone past sunset, into twilight, into the full blown pitch black of night. Hailey prayed to the gods of mercy that she didn't look like a prime target to any cops lurking in speed traps. If her brother had to come all the way down to the city bail her out, then find his bike impounded with her, it might be safer for her skin to be behind bars.
Maybe he would leave her for the night, alone, in jail, to teach her a lesson. The old-fashioned kind of jail with lumpy beds and grimy walls while guards walked up and down in shifts swinging their keys. The fact that they may not actively use those places these days notwithstanding, her brother could convince them to break out those keys, for a 'special case' she was sure.
The bordering ditches and trees changed to signify she was going past the golf course outside the city; it was built by a private club. She knew it had 'No Trespassing' signs around the gates at the front, but there back 18 was a popular place for Hailey. The rolling manicured hills were studded with fragrant pine trees like calculated chess pieces. It must be nice being rich, Hailey thought.
Hailey slowed down to see if any of the lights were on in the lodge; there was a snack bar and she wouldn't say no to a little food now that it was past dinner. It was all dark, blue-white solar lamps revealed an empty parking lot, unmanned guard post, and a chainlink gate shut. Feeling a little disappointed Hailey sped up again.
Far behind her the lights of another car appeared on the road.
It took her a little while, but she noticed the reflection of his hi-beams glaring from the rear mirror, the car covering ground much faster then it should have on country highway. Hailey questioned the heavens why she deserved this with a roll of her eyes: a lone biker on the highway with a speeding car coming behind them. Speed usually equaled drunk; for all she knew he could be drunk near blind behind the wheel, he might not even see her.
She panicked.
Hailey started to pull over to the off shoulder when he was about a football fields' length behind her; if he wanted to go tearing down the highway like a maniac, she would let him. She didn't want to drive with a guy like that behind her.
She came to a stop and watched as the car came closer.
And then the car pulled onto the shoulder, straight at her like an oncoming train.
Hailey cried out and her pupils contracted in shock under her helmet. With a shrieked she gunned the bike and hit the gas as hard as she could go.
'Oh my god, they're trying to hit me!,' her mind screamed as her body shivered.
She craned her head over her shoulder. She watched the car coming closer like a deer, or a moth, caught in the light. Between one breath and the next she slapped herself mentally to get a hold of herself once more.
'What are you doing idiot!'
Hailey looked around her for a way out, somewhere to get off the road. A bike handled sharp corners like cars couldn't; if she could turn off the road suddenly, the car might shoot past her. If they were drunk they might not notice her disappearing at all.
Unfortunately for her there were no signs for streets, and if there were any unmarked roads, Hailey couldn't see then, not now, not in the dark.
She would have to go through the ditch then, she planned, over the deep ditch to the golf course beyond. He wouldn't follow her over all those hills she severely hoped, if he couldn't even get over the ditch. When he crashed into the ditch she'd get out her cell phone and call an ambulance, the police should show up with them. If he crashed into the ditch he was going to need help, her plan could kill him.
Hailey leaned and crossed over to the lefthand lane; there was no oncoming traffic and she would need a big arc when she kicked up the speed to jump a couple of feet. The drunk driver took a few seconds to copy her. The distance between then shrunk down to fifty feet and closing.
Hailey slunk down in her seat like a horse jumper and held the handlebars for dear life and put the metal to the pedal. The revving acceleration did not get her much farther then her pursuer, but her worry about him was remote at best. Hailey violently wrenched the handlebars and broke the bike away at a dangerously wide angle. She was off the tarmac in a heartbeat and the tires bit gravel for a scant moment before she was soaring.
Now as fast as one may be able to go on a motorcycle, one mustn't forget that a bike is Heavy, an engine, batteries, plating and all that. So initially Hailey did fly using speed to dupe gravity, if only for a short time, but like many motorcycle daredevils, she did not follow through with her smooth landing on the opposite ramp.
The front tire bit into cool green grass on the other side and spewed dirt as it slid backwards after the heavier half of the bike. The rear tire dragged through the air like a laboring fat bird and made an early touchdown on the ground on the slope of the ditch. Coming over the ditch at an angle caused the bike to land bodily at an angle and plow helplessly down the slope.
In the air Hailey couldn't yell with her heart so lodged in her throat, but when the bike's front went horizontal to the back wheel she screamed all the way down the messy slide, expecting the car to be coming right down on top of her.
The squeal of tires made her close her eyes in fear of dying at the bottom of a ditch. Tears slid down her cheeks.
The car, however, did not come down to her like a plowing train. She picked up the sounds of what she could only later catagorize as an accident: gnashing of rubbing metal, the clanking of gears, but it was the sound, the lack of sound of glass breaking that made her furrow her brows. There was no crackling of splintering windows, no rain of splinters tinging against each other like music as they hit the ground.
Hailey lay there, panting, while her heart slowly unclenched itself and started beating again in its rhythm. A giant second crashed halted her struggle to sit up.
'Oh my god...someone hit the other car'
Struggling wildly under the weight that pinned one of her legs she twisted and reached in her jacket and pulled out her cell phone and pushed the button to turn it on. Punching in the buttons 9-1-1 and would have pushed the call button had there been no frustrated roar followed by a crunch of metal.
Her eyes went to the top of the ditch and the sky beyond it. She couldn't see the top where the road was from her position, but that had no impact on how she felt the ground tremble underneath back and leg.
Hailey dropped the cell phone back in her jacket pocket urgently feeling like she had to see what was happening. Using all her strength Hailey heaved at the motorcycle on top of her, making it rock painfully on her leg making her wince. Repeating this a couple more times while timing tugs of her leg she was able to pull it out and under her.
Feeling relieved and curious, the sounds of conflict constantly coming from the highway she got down on her belly and wiggled her way up to the lip. It was dark but the silhouettes made her squeak, and ducking her head down she rolled onto her back to hug herself.
'They're so big,' the voice in her head sounded as tiny as she felt; whatever it was, it was like a bus...
"Get out of my way Prime," a sinister voice snarled like a cat, a curious accent—like a recorded voice. It echoed like the speaker was far away.
Hailey clawed out ground as she whipped herself around and up the ditch again; she couldn't have just hear that thing speak could she? Now she saw that the large mass had split itself into two darker shapes, no, movement behind one of them suggested there were three of these things. This was getting weird–well technically it had gotten weird a long time ago but now it was enthralling weird– it was scarey but Hailey felt like she was privileged, to be front seat in a battle while the combatants fought unaware of her attendance. She looked intently at all three, trying to identify which one of them had spoken.
"I don't think so you piece of slag," came a voice full of more bass–the one behind the one on the left.
They have eyes, she realized with shock; seeing two bright glows of light on each monster–like jars of fireflies shaken till their light blurred.
Both things–they looked human like, they were standing on two legs Hailey noticed– on the left where crowned with blue eyes like some captured star in the pictures from space. The one on the right glared a warning in red; burn, it said. Burn and suffer.
"I remember you being dead Barricade. I don't think even Megatron is strong enough to revive upon pure hate, how are you here now, and why were you in Mission city." The foremost blue-eyed shadow spoke, his voice the most real sounding with a deep base only without the rumble of the one behind them.
'They all sound like guys,' came the random thought as she followed the conversation, already sure that these guys weren't friends.
'Big guys,' she made a little joke for herself.
"There is no reason I should share this little secret with you, Optimus Prime. You have become compliant, and now I am back; you may find–," it taunted smoothly, until it cut off to dodge the burning path of a bright shot that smoked past it and tore a crater in the ground behind it.
"How about we just kill you again; I'm sure Bumblebee won't mind if I do the honors this time in sending you to the Matrix," the second being kept its arm raised, smoke coming from it.
The blast cast a brief highlight on the fronts of the group to Hailey's eyes. Not only could it be confirmed that the things in front of her were built like humans: two arms, two legs, torso, head, but it gave a quick impression on shine and hints of color as well.
They were metal, thought Hailey in a numbed daze...They were...big, fighting, robots; and they have guns on their arms...
Guns! The familiar threat–much easier to accept then fighting robots–made Hailey much more aware of how much danger she was in. Guns in all shapes and shapes were bad, bad news; she should get out of here pronto.
'But I'm still in a ditch,' she mentally wailed, 'I can't get out of here.'
"Unfortunately for you I have more important things to do..." Barricade trailed off, "And if I am correct, what I need to collect is right within reach..." he purred then rapidly shot three blasts, followed by leaping out of the way before returning shots could be fired.
His leapt carried him closer to Hailey's patch of grass, and sprinted on thick metal legs directly toward her. Just dawning on her that she was in serious risk of being stepped on, Hailey was only able to watch, stuck like only humans could be, as every step carried him farther.
Far enough that when one of the other robots delivered a massive body check he went sprawling, his body digging deep furrows in the road like it was playdough. Recovering with surprising speed to see one robot in the direct path back to Hailey and the other still making wild bright shots that grazed his body he hesitated. A shot launched hungrily for his chest and he flung himself sideways; sounding like the impact him tore apart on contact his body disappeared in a clamor of noise and the squeal of burning rubber followed in the dark.
"Ironhide," the command was understood, the one who nodded his head in the dark transformed smoothly and four tires touched ground.
Before transforming with his comrade, Optimus cast his optics out in the direction Barricade made a break for. Hailey watched the glow turn toward her, his body dimly silhouetted against Ironhide's headlights, making in impressive alien figure. Pressing herself as far down in the dark grass she hoped he couldn't see in the dark.
"Optimus!!!"
The tower turned to watch a speeding ambulance approach; Hailey patted down her pockets and wondered if she really had called the ambulance, not realizing it at the time. Panic was surely going to ensue when the driver caught sight of a 30-foot robot in his headlights. She found herself wishing that he would just get off the road, biting her lip and silently urging him to not just stand there. The headlights came close enough that Hailey could get a real good look at her monstrosity and whimpered at the fortified tank of a creature.
"Bumblebee is right behind me; Sam couldn't make it, it's too late. Where is Barricade, are either of you injured?," the ambulance stopped a few feet away and started to talk like they all knew how to do that.
'The world must be ending,' Hailey thought amused, 'cars have started talking...'
Barricade has retreated, Ironhide is in pursuit. We still don't know why he's alive; before he left he said he was going to collect something, something over there," he gestured with an arm, "and close."
The ambulance was still for a moment, then with a subdued voice, he spoke.
"Optimus," a considering pause, "I am picking up a human life form not 50 feet from our location."
Okay, I'm lazy. I know it's very slow and boring for most of the beginning, but it picked up right? Give me a shout out here about what you like/don't like; I've been having trouble getting inspiration writing. I need a laptop so I can go write in my room or outside somewhere nice.
Am I doing the transformers in character? Anybody no like? I am going to watch the movie over and over when it comes out in DVD. :) Look forward to another chapter relatively soon -