If My Voice Had Wings

Book One

Chapter 05 – Jasmin de Verginie

Written By: Wrath of an Aerow

(Flower, also meaning "Ash-Leaved Trumpet Flower") Jasmin de Virginie ~ Seperation

Forest behind the Lennox ranch.

"Jesus Christ!" yelled Sam as he fell on his backside, scampering backwards away. Bumblebee swished around, his gun locked and loaded. He targeted wherever it was his charge had screamed about.

And it came to a spider.

Bumblebee let his arm shift back into a servo and his battle mask shifted out of place. He beeped in confusion to his charge, and Sam hopped to his feet.

"God, that spider's huge!" Sam stated with a raised voice, and dusted the dirt off the backside of his jeans.

Optimus, Ironhide, Ratchet, Bumblebee, and Jazz were the only Autobots still on Earth, or, have been on Earth. They kept their audio receptors and scanners open, just in case a new group arose. Optimus seemed to always be searching for slight signals on his spare time, worried about something, anxious.

Their base was surrounded by the forest behind William Lennox's and his small family's farm, and well hidden from the rest of the world. Though a base lived in the heart of the forest, wildlife still surrounded it, and more than once a curious cougar had made its way into their base. They never took action on the animals, but they couldn't help but be annoyed sometimes of the spiders and snakes that would enter the base.

A nearby river was close enough to the base for even Sam to hear through the gaps of the trees. Large trees towered above the base and a few random rock formations scattered across the land. The smell of the forest constantly smell like fresh sap from the trees and the rich scent of the pine. Sam thought of it as paradise, and he'd thought his cousin would like it here. She would like to walk around, climb the rocks, or wade in the creek. She would like these transforming robots. She would have liked just spending time with him.

Too bad she couldn't be here because of her dad.

Optimus stood by a tree, watching as the guardian-charge pair fought about the arachnid that Sam was so scared of moments ago. It reminded him of a distant memory, lost when he began his far search for the Allspark. Something…he should never had done without backup.

The Autobot commander sighed heavily, and fought the memory away as best as he could…

But he could not.

Shauna's hand began to tremble, and she almost dropped the house phone. She recognized that voice, that gruff, full of hatred voice. She was scared to reply back to the officer, and what scared he even more is that he knew her house number. The officer had stole her phone, yes, but she didn't have her home phone number programmed into it.

Finally, summing up the courage she almost didn't have, she spoke into the mouth piece quietly.

"What do you want now?"

The voice on the other end chuckled darkly, and she could feel the grin in his voice. "To talk, is all. All I wanted to do before was have a nice little chat, now, I think you'll want to hear what I have to say."

She was quiet, and the officer continued:

"I have your friend…what was her name again? Oh yes, Emily, was it?" He was toying with her, and he grinned on the other line. "If you'd like to see her…I suggest we have our little talk."

Again, Shauna almost dropped the phone. Her eyes watched her wall unblinkingly, and her lips parted slightly. Her hands were slippery from sweat and she thought the blood stopped running through her veins.

He had Emily…?

She could feel her fingers twitching slightly. Was this ransom the cop was trying to pull, or was it just a prank? Shauna knew she couldn't take the chance. The only reason she knew he would kidnap her friend was that he chased her on end for hours straight, and also tried to kidnap her.

"Where is she?" she demanded quietly, cautious that her father may hear her.

"You've heard of the parking garage by P.F Changs?" asked the officer.

Though she knew he couldn't see her nod, she did. That was a fifteen minute walk from her house, ten if she tried to run the whole way, which she might end up doing anyways. "Yes."

"Meet me there, and make sure you come alone. If not, you will be sorry. Oh, and don't get hit by a car on your way here, would you? I'd hate to clean up two messes."

Then the line went dead.

Shauna finally let the phone hit the floor.

Clenching her fists out of anger, she quickly slipped on a different shirt. It was a simple plain black, but baggy collar shirt. She put a new baseball cap on, but kept the lip hovering over her eyes. Running her fingers through her hair a few times, she shoved her shoes on and unlocked her door.

The first thing she could even think about, much less smell, was the strong tinge of alcohol and smoke. She could see the smoke snaking through the walls and heard chatting in the living room. Somebody told a joke, and a holler of laughter filled her eardrums from more than three people.

Huffing, she tried not to stomp down the hallway.

In her living room were five people, including her father. Each had a tall can of Keystone in their hand and a cigarette in the other. They were all guys, and all were in the same condition as her father.

Stupid.

One man saw her and waved his empty can in her direction.

"Hey girl, get me another one of these from the cooler."

Shauna's eye twitched oh so slightly. "Get it yourself, fat-ass."

"Hey! That is uncalled for language, young lady!" shouted her father, who turned around in his seat.

"Oh sorry, I can't help but notice the cooler is right beside you, John. Or do you want to slap my ass again?"

"Shauna Marissa Fairheart! Get your ass over here!" yelled Trent, fuming.

Shauna took one long look at him before saying:

"You aren't the boss of me."

She then opened the screen door, and slammed it behind her. She heard her father spewing insults about her, and she just kept walking. After Shauna heard him slam the door, she did some quick thinking. Remembering her window was unlocked, she ran to it, and opened it. She crawled inside, got her roller blades and slipped them on. She climbed out, and started to skate to P.F Changs' garage parking lot.

"I said let me go! You're such a dirty liar!" Emily shouted, kicking the seat with ferocity.

Emily now was in the back seat of the silver sports car that had been following the police car earlier. Her hands were cuffed behind her and the seatbelt restraining her from getting up. She had found out that her friend wasn't missing, and this was their trick for getting her. Both of them. Emily still knew not why she was taken, but it had to be for a bad reason, right?

Emily bit the inside of her cheek.

How could she have been so God damned stupid? The least she could do was tell her mother what had happened, but no, Emily didn't even do that! Now, she was in deep trouble, and she had no way of getting out of it.

"Kicking the seat's not going to help you," said the man in the front seat with heavy irritation in his voice. The man looked to be in his early twenties with short cut brown hair and black eyes. His skin was tanned from the sun and his nose was crooked. He wore a leather jacket with a tank top underneath and baggy jeans. He almost, almost, reminded Emily of the singer Eminem. "And I'm not the one who lied to you, mind you."

The fourteen year old rolled her eyes. "It's the same difference! Tell me why you're takin' me!"

"That's classified," he growled.

"FUCK CLASSIFIED!" She yelled, which made the man flinch. "Why is Shauna inta this? Why am I inta this?" Emily was livid, scared, and confused at the same time. Being like this, she might say something she might regret later, and she hoped she didn't. Her eyes narrowed at the man at the wheel when he didn't answer. "Can you at least tell me your name?"

"Nope," he chimed, "That's also classified."

Emily let her head fall on the back of the headrest in front of her.

This guy just loved pissing her off. She could see it in the rearview mirror.

Speaking of rearview mirror, something was moving in the background.

When the man saw, she saw his expression change drastically.

"BARRICADE!"

Shauna didn't stop skating towards her destination. Beads of sweat trickled down the sides of her face as she went the fastest she could without tripping and falling. More than once already, she had fallen and even skidded a few feet, and the palms of her hands stung from an encounter with the pavement. She didn't let a little pain stop her, and she kept going. She was going to get Emily and get out. She didn't want to talk with the officer.

It was going to be a hit and run.

For defense, Shauna had brought a pocket knife when she went into her room to get her skates. If the cop tried to kidnap her and punch her again, she could bite back. She knew how to use it.

About five minutes later, she arrived at the empty parking garage. The wind made an eerie sound as it slithered through gaps in the concrete wall and down the floors. It was black, except for the occasional yellow light, but even then, it was still dark. Cautiously walking in, she could hear her skates along the smooth concrete floors. One hand kept in her pocket, and her eyes kept open and wary, looking for any signs of her friend or the police cruiser.

Going up two more floors, she almost thought of giving up. It was cold in the garage and the wind brought a chill up her spine. She has to be yelling, I should hear or have heard her by now… she thought as she grabbed the arm with the pocket knife in grasp with her free one out of comfort. Emily…make a noise…

But there was nothing.

The sophomore frowned as she kept looking left and right as she slowly skated through the hall where cars would drive to pick their spots.

Finally, she decided she'd speak;

"Hello? Is anybody here?"

She thought she heard a faint slither coming from behind her, and she swooshed around, only seeing the darkness.

Her heart was racing out of fear in her chest. She knew she was being watched; she could sense it.

"Emily?"

The response was simply her echo.

She took a scared gulp. Where was she?

Suddenly, out of nowhere, the lights on the floor she was on burned out at once, leaving the girl in complete darkness. Shauna gasped, and quickly lost direction. Being the clumsy girl she was, if she walked in the wrong direction, she could fall out of the concrete building, and she knew it. The eerie sound coming from the wind crawling through the corridors and didn't bring any ease to her at all.

'Cause now I'm…Knee deep in the water somewhere, Nice cool breeze blowing wind through my hair, the only worry in the world "is the tide going to reach my chair?"

Shauna stopped dead as she saw a light in the corner.

That was her phone. She'd received a text message, to be correct.

Thinking hard, she stood where she was, fearing it'd be a trap.

Silence crept through the garage for two very long minutes, and the phone rang to life again. Shauna then made her way towards it. After getting to it, it rang a third time, and she kneeled down on the pavement slowly. The light sent a blue hue coloring her cheeks and she picked it up. Unlocking it so she could get to her messages, she opened the latest one.

Shauna immediately wished she hadn't read it.

I've got you now.

She suddenly found her feet leaving the ground and her cell phone fell out of her hands, hitting the ground. She could feel something metallic circling around her waist, and she yelped. A feminine chuckle entered her eardrums and when she was stopped being raised, she saw a pair of four, bright red, glowing eyes.

"Hey girl, I see you got my text."

A/N - Another cliff-hanger, I know. I like it that way. Anyways, you'll see Optimus' little 'can't get out of my processor' memory in the next chapter. Hope you all enjoyed. I only own my OC's, but Charlie belongs to SouthAmerican Eggplant. Transformers rightfully belong to Hasbro/Takara. I also do not own any of the songs, bands, brands, or anything of the sort, and all belongs to their respectful owners. The song mentioned above is "Knee Deep" by the Zac Brown Band ft. Jimmy Buffet. Please review.