I've never really explained what happened to Zoe, or why she's in care and where her family is...

Please review, thanks x x x

Zoe's POV

Chapter 16 – Day Two

Part Two

Three years ago...

Zoe's body might have stopped spinning but her mind was still felt as though a toddler had gotten hold of a large globe and rolled it down the stairs. She shook her head but didn't notice the splinters of glass that rained down from her hair or the sticky red on her arms pouring onto her top. Her vision was still blurry and she groaned as her neck cricked painfully. There was a terrifying numbness around her mind, stopping all hearing as if a pillow had been wrapped around her head and held there. A loud thump-thump thump-thump suddenly echoed around her and she swivelled her neck around in confusion. The moment she did, Zoe regretted it and wished with all her heart she had remained still.

Charlie was lying slumped over, as limp as a rag doll, his head lolling against Amy's car seat blood dripping slowly down his forehead. His eyes were closed, shattered glass was intertwined in his shaggy blonde hair and his neck was at an unnatural angle.

"Charlie?" Zoe begged, reaching over to shake her brother. "Charlie please, wake up."

As her hand edged over to the body, Zoe's attention was caught on the still figure in the car seat. Three month old Amy was staring up at her older sister with an empty expression, her mouth opened slightly. Zoe's breath caught in her throat and she gently shook her baby sister cautiously. Tears poured down her cheeks unbidden and Zoe gasped in horror, hyperventilating. A feeling settled on her like a dark cloud, an ancient sense that humans had inherited from thousands of years of surviving.

Amy was dead.

Charlie was dead.

"No." Zoe struggled in her seat; she shut her eyes and continued screaming. "No! No!"

Her eyes filled with terror, she un-latched her seatbelt and flung her body towards the front two. She grasped her father and shook him fiercely.

"Dad! Dad! I... I think... I think Amy's dead dad... and Charlie too!" She cried, growing confused when her parent didn't respond. Desperate, Zoe turned her attention to her mother and grabbed her shoulder.

"Mum! Mum, I think... No, no not you too! Please mum, I don't know what to do. You can't be... you can't be dead!" Zoe was screaming again, tears pouring like waterfalls over the dried blood on her cheeks, cutting groves in them on their way to her neck as she continued to shake both still parents. A fourteen year old Zoe slumped back into her seat and started sobbing, huge uncontrollable shakes forcing their way up her body causing her injuries to sting and her consciousness to waver. Her hysterical cries made it impossible for her to hear the wail of the approaching ambulance, already too late.

Ironhide's POV

Ironhide didn't know what the time was or how long he had been pacing forward and back by the Medic room but he didn't care. It felt like one hundred vorns. It felt like two mega – cycles. Either way, time was the last thing on the Weapon Specialist's processor.

Ironhide had sent an emergency message to the Autobots the moment Starscream reached for Zoe, at the same time; throwing himself towards her writhing form in an attempt to stop the Decepticons blood covered claws from touching his charge. He had successfully managed to throw the 'Dumb Dorito' as Sam liked to call him crashing into the trees and turn around to face Zoe before Ravage slammed into his right thigh, clawing away great chunks of metal in his attempt to stall the Autobot. Startled but undeterred Ironhide swung a cannon heavy fist into Ravage's side and the cat like creature was battered away from the clearing.

He hurried over to Zoe and knelt cautiously next to her, scanning her in alarm as blood pooled around her thin frame. Her coat had been removed, probably in an attempt to maim her easier. Her hair was mattered around her head like a demonic halo and she was hyperventilating, gasps of billowing steams coming out in to irregular shudders as she lay on the cold ground.

"Zoe," Ironhide whispered, gently stroking a warmed finger down one of her arms. "Can you hear me?"

Zoe's eyes fluttered and she turned her head to her charge, raising a weak arm to his finger needing the warmth it was emitting. "Iro... Ironhide?" She asked her voice soft and hoarse as if she had spent hours screaming. The Autobot shuddered inwardly, perhaps she had.

"You came," Zoe managed a weak smile. "They said you wouldn't and..."

A loud roar of jet engine drowned out all noise. It thundered above them and the ground erupted as bullets rained down around them both, edging closer and closer to the two beings. His scans confirmed his fears and Ironhide realized he would have to wait for Ratchet to move Zoe since he had been programmed and downloaded the most on human anatomy. Ironhide wished with his entire spark he could gather Zoe up and run, but the human's delicate body and complicated injuries prevented him from doing so. Doing the next best thing, Ironhide threw himself above his charge, shielding her from the onslaught whilst taking the shots on his back. Zoe looked up into her guardians face only a metre from her own with shock and winced for him as the terrible clash of bullets on metal echoed around her skull. Pressing his hands next to Zoe's body Ironhide had to contain a shout as pain ricocheted up his form and energon spurted out of the deep gashes. His healing units had been upgraded by Ratchet after the Ravage encounter and started to get to work immediately; plugging up the vein like tubes to reduce the flow of energon. The Weapon Specialist shut of his optics as agony screamed through his limbs and he struggled to keep them from collapsing.

"Ironhide?" Zoe gasped as another bout of bullets sprayed the ground and her protector; horrified that he was actually taking the damage and not saving himself. "Stop, go you have to go! He'll kill you!"

Blue light flickered where his eyes were and Ironhide looked at his charge with both a determined and slightly confused expression. "Never," He whispered, meeting Zoe's gaze and holding it. Sparks flew from his right arm and he ground his hand into the dirt, his arm about to give way. "The others are on their way, hold on Zoe."

The teen nodded and clutched her side as breathing suddenly became a chore. Her throat constricted and her eyes widened with shock as she failed to draw in much breath.

After the bullets stopped Ironhide casted his gaze around the clearing and to the sky above; Ratchet, Optimus and Jolt were less than two miles away but Ironhide knew a lot could happen in that short amount of time and kept his scans on high alert. Raising himself to a protective crouch, Ironhide whirled around when a deep snarl met his sensors, blue optics meeting a savage red one.