What Do We Do Now?

For a while, the talk back and forth on the radio was almost constant. I learned that Bumblebee had awakened alone, naked as I had been, yet unlike me he remembered where he had awakened and that he had been inside of his car. He hadn't left that place yet, and instead had remained in the same spot, awaiting someone to answer his call, as I had. He was on the other side of Los Angeles, and it was taking me a while to get through all of the traffic as well as navigate through its labyrinth-like streets. There was a variety of different roads, some that were almost free, others that were full of vehicles, and the more vehicles a street had the longer it took to go down them. I found myself absentmindedly tapping my finger on the wheel more and more as minutes turned to well over a few hours. I was relieved when at last I wasn't faced with overly-strong traffic, and travel became relatively smooth. But at that time, that is where everything went wrong.

Bumblebee's replies had been less frequent, as were mine, as there were less things to report as the time wore on. Yet when the radio fell silent for far too long, my eyes flickered from the road to the radio, becoming more anxious to hear his reply. Yet no sound came, it remained quiet, giving me no sign that Bumblebee was on the other end. I took up the receiver once more, my brow furrowing as I pressed the button. "Bumblebee. Are you still there?"

I was met with static yet again, and for a moment I ran a few scenarios as to what would be going on, and why he would not be answering. I did not think he could have been overcome by sleep; it was too early for that, the sun was only just beginning to set, and he had seemed to be responding well only a few minutes before. I narrowed my eyes and at last pressed the button when the static persisted, and asked, "Bumblebee. Can you hear me?" For a moment, there was still static. And then, there was a rustling noise, yet this was no answer. Instead, I was met with voices, silent, as if far away, all of them unkind.

"Hey, kid."

"Nice car."

"Mind if we take it for a short spin?"

There was a short clamp, the sound of a shutting door, but then it opened again, and the static started up. Without a moment's hesitation, I pressed down on the gas pedal, increasing my speed through the streets. I was almost there; it would only take me a few minutes to arrive. Yet, I did not know what the owners of those voices were doing to my scout, and I knew that now a few minutes was all they needed to do what they pleased. Both of my hands gripped the wheel now, hard enough to where the cream turned a pale white, yet I didn't loosen my hold. If they harm him, in any way . . . I thought, my eyebrows furrowing further. . . . I will show them the wrath of a Prime. I was not going to have any of my Autobots suffer more pain because of my mistake. And here, I had a chance to protect at least one of them. I was not going to fail. I could hear the GPS counting down the mere meters I had left before I arrived where Bumblebee was supposed to be, yet I was not paying full attention to it. Instead, my mind was focused almost completely on searching for that unmistakable yellow Camaro.

When I did see it at last, I knew something was wrong from the beginning. There was a circle of male humans surrounding it, in matching jackets, one of them sitting in the front seat of Bumblebee's car. A boy was in the middle of this circle, and the males were taking turns kicking him, or hitting him with metal bars. I swung my truck into the lot that the car was parked in, a swinging turn that caused the wheels to screech on the pavement, and all of their attention was turned toward me as my truck skidded to a stop a mere ten feet away from them. I turned off the engine and opened the door, sliding out and landing on the balls of my feet, my blue eyes flashing at them as I looked up them, my voice taking on commanding tones. "Step away from the car, and the boy."

The male sitting in the car, whom appeared to be the leader, turned on me, his mouth taking on an amused smirk. "And who are you to tell us what to do? What'll you do if we don't?"

"I would rather we not dwell on that subject," I said, though I clenched my fists, and readied myself, preparing for any form of attack they would try to direct at me. The leader laughed, again amused by my warnings. "Oh, yeah? Alright, boys. Leave the kid alone." And then, he directed the bat in his right hand at me. "Beat him up instead."

The other men reacted to his orders, turning from the boy and looking at me, arrogant smiles on all of their faces. I narrowed my eyes, as they formed a horizontal line, and looked to each other, as if waiting for one another to attack first. I remained defensive, patient, looking from the group to the boy and over to the men again. At last, one of them moved, running toward me and wielding the metal bar. He swung, and I had my hand up to catch it. It smacked against my skin, yet came to a stop, and, surprised, he turned his eyes on me as I used his momentum to place him on his back. Taking his weapon from him I swung and struck his face, and then turned back as the second one rushed. He had a weapon as well, yet as he aimed high, I aimed low. I hit the back of his knee, and heard it crack, and caught his bar as it swung for my head. The man crumpled to the ground, and I took his weapon as well, and turned aggressively toward the remaining three men. They stared for a moment, looking at me, and then to the two groaning men on the ground, and then toward their leader, who was looking just as astonished as they were. And then, they rushed to their fallen comrades, hauling them up. The first was holding his face, as it spurted a deep crimson liquid, while the other couldn't walk on his own and needed assistance. Together they ran, abandoning the last man. A wise choice, I thought as I watched them, and then turned to their leader.

He had risen to his feet, and was looking at me defiantly, as if thinking about rushing at me as well. I took another aggressive step forward, holding the weapons toward him with malicious intent. He stiffened, and dropped the bat, before turning and running after his group. "Hey guys, wait up!"

I ignored him, yet walked swiftly toward the boy, who was now struggling to get up. He looked about at the age of sixteen or seventeen years, and he had blonde hair, and a yellow jacket with black trim and black stripes that hugged his shoulders, yet stopped halfway down his chest. He wore jeans, with regular hand-me-down-looking shoes, and as I approached his hand reached out for the bat. His fingers closed around it as I got to him, and he quickly struck out at me. I dropped the pipes and caught the bat, stopping its advance at my head. "Bumblebee! It is I, Optimus Prime!" I said, and he looked up at me, his blue gaze that matched my own flooding with realization. His face contorted, as he seemed to fumble with apologetic glances, mixed in with other features that reflected other emotions.

I just looked at him for a moment, my eyes watching his face move, unsure of what else to say at the moment. To be truthful, I didn't think anything needed to be said. There were no words that could comfort him, no words that would have him cease. He needed to get out all of his frustration, and I let him do that before me, without any intention of judging him. Because . . . I felt exactly the same way as he did. Simply trying to grasp the situation was difficult, trying to cope with it was worse. Yet, there was something that was some degree of relieving: Neither of us were alone any longer. We could now stand together, rather than trying to figure out how to deal with the sudden struggles on our own. Bumblebee looked down after a moment, his face turning dark. The shadows had grown long enough to envelope the both of us, and even the streetlights were turning on one by one behind us. After his face had fallen, he seemed to falter, for he dropped to his knees, and I followed, steadying him by placing a hand on his shoulder.

Quickly he turned his face away, trying to hide something, yet I still managed to catch a glimpse of his eyes beginning to overflow. A human's way of displaying of sorrow, or frustration. I knew that Bumblebee was experiencing them both, and for a moment was silent before I ventured to speak again. "I do not know how or why this happened, Bumblebee, but I promise to do everything in my power to make things right again."

He looked back at me, his cheeks streaked with the wet trails, seeming to compose himself. He took the sleeve of his jacket, and swiped them across his cheeks, his emotions being pulled together and at last he nodded once. I paused for a moment, before asking, "Is there anyone with you? Any other Autobots?" He shook his head, leaning back a bit and taking a deep breath. "I see." I said, and stood to my feet, looking toward the lights, as well as the cars that every once and a while passed by. It was silent for a moment again, and I contemplated asking yet another question, when I was interrupted by an audible sound that made my head snap back at Bumblebee.

His arms were over his abdomen now, and his face was tilted back toward the ground, yet through his blonde hair I could see how red his ears were getting.

"Bumblebee."

He looked up at me, the crimson color still splayed across his cheeks.

"Have you consumed anything, in all of the days you have been human?"

At first, he didn't want to answer, he tried turning away, yet I raised an inquiring eyebrow, and he was unable to fully turn away before sighing and reluctantly shaking his head. I turned and walked over to the truck, climbing in and looking to the passenger seat where I had thrown the roll of bills, and secured it in my hands, before walking back. I held up the money when I was in front of him again. "Then we are going and buying food. These bodies need fuel, and energon won't do either of us any good. Get into your car, I will climb into a truck, and lead us somewhere where we can get some."

He looked up at me, his face distraught, shaking his head. I furrowed a brow again, though this time I suspected it wasn't because he was disagreeing with my order. "What is it?" I asked, and he got up and walked over to the car, and beckoned for me to follow. I walked around as he climbed in on the driver's side, and peered through the window as he pointed at the ignition. There was no key inside, and I nodded at once, understanding. I walked back around, and gently pushed him out of the way, and reached up or the visor and pulled it down, my hand stretching underneath. The key slipped out, and landed in my palm. Bumblebee looked at me incredulously as I placed it in his fingers. "I will explain later." I said, as I walked toward the truck and climbed back up into it, settling in the front seat. It was still on, I had neglected to turn it off when I had stopped to chase of the other men, and therefore all I needed to do was to shut the door and look up at Bumblebee expectantly. He had climbed into the Camaro and was shutting the door, yet I waited until the lights turned on to signify that his engine had started before beginning to pull out.

I led him to the first restaurant that sold food that came into sight, a sign on the very edge of the establishment's perimeter marking it as Dairy Queen. For a moment, I wondered how something that fit under the category of 'dairy' could be what humans depicted as a queen, but instead of pondering about it I shoved the thought out of my head and parked at the back of the parking lot. Bumblebee followed, and parked beside me, yet waited until I had gotten out and was at the back of my truck before he caught up with me and proceeded to follow me inside the establishment.

It wasn't very busy, there weren't many others looking for food at this time of day. They looked up at us in surprise as we walked in, yet didn't protest to our coming in, but a woman in a uniform stepped up to some kind of computer-like machine and waited for us to approach the long, rectangular counter. Bumblebee looked at me with wide eyes, his eyebrows raised, and then looked around the restaurant, as if expressing how surprised he was about the whole theme. I couldn't help but notice how the woman was looking at us, yet I hid my confusion and looked up at the screen that displayed every kind of food they had. There were a lot of things, and some of these items had pictures beside them, displaying what they looked like. I decided it would be best to go with some of the ones that had pictures, because they at least looked semi-appealing. I turned to the scout, who was staring up uneasily at the sign as well.

"What do you want?" I asked, and he looked down, rolling his shoulders up and then down in a shrug. I nodded once, and stepped up to make a choice, going with one of the pictured items on the screen. The woman immediately smiled at me, her face taking on a strange composure, and her voice becoming almost overly kind. "Welcome to Dairy Queen! And what would you like today?" And then she blinked, multiple times, looking up at me through the thin hairs on the edge of her eyes that looked too long, flashing a smile at me.

"We both would like to buy the 'three-piece chicken strip' meal." I said quickly.

"And what would you like to drink?" she said, repeating the actions she had made.

"Water would be satisfactory." I answered.

"And you know that comes with a sundae, right? What would you like on it?"

I didn't know what a sundae was. And I had no idea what would be put on a sundae. So I replied, cautiously, shrugging off her strange actions. "I . . . suppose plain is just fine."

"Would that be for here or to go?" her voice was pressing, her gestures making me feel like taking a step back.

". . . For here." I said at last, resisting the urge to step away with her and instead looking to Bumblebee, who looked at me with still-raised eyebrows, and then I looked back to her.

Her face changed, seeming disappointed by something, and said, "That would be eight-forty-five."

I took out the roll of bills from the jeans pocket where I had placed them, and rolled through the bills, until I found a number on the corner that seemed close enough to eight, a ten. She took the bill from me and pressed a few buttons on the machine, and it opened for her. She took out a bill and a few small, circular pieces of metal and outstretched them to me. "Your change. Your food will be ready shortly."

We waited until the food was handed to us, before going to a table on the other side of the restaurant. I passed half of the food to the scout, who sat across from me, and for a long while he stared at it. I had to admit the food wasn't all that appealing-looking. All of the items were in a jumbled-up mess in a single rectangular basket. There were three long brownish 'strips', speckled with small black dots, beside an accumulation of yellowish also rectangular strips. There were two bottles, marked Aquafina, which I suspected held the water, and I passed one to Bumblebee, who was still staring in obvious disgust at the basket of food. There were two frigid clear-plastic containers full of something white that was neither a true solid, nor was it a true liquid, and when I tried some of it was sweet. I looked to the scout again as I began to eat, ignoring how unappetizing it looked, and waited for him to begin to eat, as well. Yet he still hesitated.

"I know it doesn't look good, and it tastes nothing like energon . . ." I said, "Yet you must eat. Do what you can to make it edible to you." I said, and after looking at me for a long while, he heaved a sigh, and in stages lifted up his arm and at last began to consume his portion of the meal. Though the only thing he really seemed to enjoy eating was the cold food. When we were finished, I got up and disposed of the trash and set he tray where they directed, and led Bumblebee back to our vehicles and then returned to the lot, where we parked side by side yet again. For a while, we talked over the radio, until his replies ceased. I looked through the window, and saw him slumped over in the seat, the radio receiver still in his hand, yet it was loose, only just barely clamped in his fingers. The slight, steady rise and fall of his chest told me that he was asleep.

It was not long after that before I drifted off as well, wondering what we were going to do the next sunrise.