TTWI: Quick formatting thingy: the few paragraphs between 5 periods just signal a "partial" POV change. Not really, just, the story is told mainly from Sam's perspective, so for a few paragraphs I kind of switch it to Tessa's view, but not really. Just to get into her head without complete POV change. (I wanted a more subtle way but it didn't show up and I'm not gonna waste more time lookin' for a way) REMINDER it's just ONE section. Multiple paragraphs, one section. I just wanna be not-vague.
I had to thank Skylight Prime for their review from like, October. They kinda gave me that push to publish this chapter. [For new, confused readers, I took a long break between chapter 2 and 3.]
Other than that, I would like to thank those who have reviewed. I deeply appreciate them, (believe me, they made me smile like a dope) and I hope to receive ideas from future reviews.
Now, disclaimer (sheesh): I don't have like any claim over AOE or Transformers and-ugh, forget it.
Samantha held the gun in her shaky hand as steadily as she could, aiming it at the blond teen in her grasp. Tessa had stopped struggling, and merely let Sam hold her captive in defeat.
As Samantha had suspected, Savoy had ordered her to use Tessa to scare Cade into revealing the whereabouts of the truck. (Or instructed, as Sam preferred. She wasn't fond of the idea of taking orders from the wrong leader)
It wasn't that Sam wanted to do it. She never fancied hurting other beings, especially innocent ones like Tessa. However, she had been given something resembling a promise of freedom in exchange for this one simple task as far as she knew.
Then again, a change had been taking place within her that she was not aware of. Decepticon energy had been pooled into her, which was gradually rendering her morals useless. She tended to be more rude and aggressive after especially large dosages of the "evil" energy, but the effect usually faded with time.
And, yes, Harold appeared to want to make Sam his very own super soldier, once they somehow gained control of her, which they already kind of did. Torture was a good way of breaking the human psyche, and with Samantha, it was having a similar effect. Yet, Samantha figured that when she saw her first chance of escape, she'd take it. Then they'd see what she could do.
For the moment, though, she continued to be closely monitored. Sam doubted, or actually hoped that she wouldn't, have to actually kill Tessa. Toss her around a bit, perhaps, but not mortally wound her.
At the time, Sam's thin arm was wrapped around Tessa's neck. Sam didn't have the strength to back up her skills, so she resorted to simply cutting off a portion of Tessa's air to debilitate her. She didn't enjoy it, knowing well the pain of struggling for your every breath. Tessa was clutching her concealed arm with tears in her eyes. "You're not actually gonna kill me, are you?" she panted.
Samantha stayed as still as her chronic twitching would allow her.
"Are you?" Tessa choked again, quieter.
Samantha strengthened her grip on her weapon, which she believed to be fake. It was much too light. But she wasn't risking some sort of misfire. Even more so if James decided to electrocute her out of nowhere. (He had been handed the leash, after all, and up to then he seemed as trigger happy as his boss)
"Doubt I'll have to," she whispered back, minding to hide her lips' movement. She didn't need anyone getting suspicious.
Tessa's sniffling lessened, somewhat. She didn't seem to want to provoke Sam, but after hearing James shoot into the ground near Cade's head, she had to speak. "But if you did have to…?"
Samantha bristled. "Dunno," was her nearly-silent answer.
"You don't know?"
Samantha could almost feel herself cooking in her dark clothing. 'Damn this crap...Why couldn't these guys live somewhere cooler? Near the coast or something?' The sun was making her see spots, and she couldn't even bear to squint at it, even through her sunglasses.
She found herself missing the West Coast all of a sudden, but the feeling did not last. How could she miss a place she'd never been to, after all?
But the memory of a cool California breeze lingered.
"Listen," she hissed into Tessa's ear, hoping she wouldn't catch the inevitable waver in Sam's voice. "I know the 'truck' is under that barn. If James loses his patience, I'll let 'im know. He probably won't want to kill ya so much then, got it?"
Tessa tried to nod frantically, but Sam's chokehold restrained her from doing so.
Having not paid attention to whatever had been going on in the past minute, Samantha's knees locked up at hearing Savoy's last remark.
"Shoot 'er."
A sob escaped Tessa's throat and shook her head as much as she could, which was, admittedly, not much. "Please don't shoot me! Please!"
Samantha's strained breaths quickened as panic settled in, and not necessarily because she didn't want to pull the trigger. She panicked at the realization that she, in fact, truly didn't want to pull the trigger. 'Does that even make sense?'
She was panicking at the thought that she actually pitied Tessa, not at the fact that she was being ordered to shoot the girl.
"Please!" Tessa's pleas seemed to ring even louder in Samantha's ears.
Samantha now had to focus entirely on her hand to keep it from trembling. "I don't wanna shoot you anymore than you wanna die," Sam whispered, pinning Tessa to the ground. 'But I'd also like to spare myself an electrocution.'
"Then don't," Tessa whimpered, her nose starting to run.
Time slowed as Samantha weighed her options. Shoot Tessa and hopefully have a chance to escape? Or spare Tessa and completely eliminate any and all chances she'd ever have to flee?
James opened his mouth to yell at her again, but she beat him to it. "Wait!"
Surprisingly, everyone quieted.
Sam's eyes darted, not wanting to be the focus of everyone's attention. She cleared her throat, determined not to let it waver. "...I know where...it is," she announced hesitantly. Not because she was frightened, but just because she didn't know how to refer to a fellow alien.
Especially an alien everyone insisted she'd known.
The people in her field of vision looked just about ready to laugh, but Savoy spoke up roughly, dampening their mood. "Do you, now…" He stepped away from Cade, who was evidently relieved by the current distraction.
Savoy reached Sam and held her in an intense stare.
Knowing she was expected to speak, Sam did so. "...I saw...something, a big...thing in the barn." Sam knew that James planned on contradicting her with what he thought was the obvious truth, so she shook her head, ignoring the extra strain the movement put on her throat. "Under."
James was so eager to prove her wrong, he blurted out his question without thinking. "Under where?"
Despite the gravity of the situation, Sam heard a few "snrk"s off to the side. She was struggling from letting one escape her own mouth, but she couldn't help but crack the hint of a smile.
Savoy glared, but showed no other sign of anger.
But Sam certainly felt one. Gritting her teeth, she heard Tessa gasp, and immediately let the teen go. The shock lasted a second, so she grabbed Tessa immediately after it was over.
"Where is he? Where is he, then?" Savoy growled out, loud enough for his underlings to flinch. Sam, in her effort to stay stock still, forgot to respond. (Her mind didn't completely wander off or anything.) "Where is he, hm? Where is he!?"
"HERE I AM!"
Planks of wood and scraps of metal flew through the air, some of them already ablaze somehow. Nearly everyone on property immediately scattered, seeking a suitable spot from which to fire at their target. Except, of course, the person holding the battery powering her collar. He (the person to whom James had handed the leash to) pulled Sam toward the car. She was practically forced to let her captive go, which she probably would have done anyway.
Cade managed to pluck a drone from the air in the midst of all the commotion. Rolling over and getting up, her helped his daughter hide behind a tree to briefly shield themselves from the explosions.
Samantha coughed and sputtered and she was forcefully dragged back to the vehicle in which she came. "Watch-!" Against her will, she clawed at her collar, and as she expected, she automatically got shocked. The more she was shocked, the more she clawed, and the more she clawed, the more she was shocked. It was a ruthless cycle.
The man hastily crawled into the SUV and tried to drag her along with him, but the energy was taking its toll. Samantha's legs gave out, and she collapsed beside the back tire.
As her vision began to fade out, she vaguely noticed Cade, Tessa, and the man she'd called "Lucas", run past "their" house and toward the field. Tessa gazed back and noticed Samantha slumped on the ground, twitching. She broke away from her father, though he chased and called after her, and she made a mad dash in Sam's direction.
The Autobot might have said something, but Sam was too out of it to know for sure.
Tessa's green eyes looked over a fainting Sam once she was near and reached out. "Hey! Get up!" she cried breathlessly. "You…! Have to move or," she panted, "you're gonna get killed!"
Samantha gazed up at Tessa through her sunglasses with heavy eyelids. She fruitlessly tried to wiggle away. She didn't want Tessa to get shocked again. "Can't…" She wheezed as she tried to restore oxygen to her fried lungs.
Cade finally caught up to his daughter and tried to pry her away. "Tess, c'mon!" Though he was panting, he didn't sound nearly as bad as Sam. "What are you doing!?"
Were she conscious enough, Sam might have been envious of the panicked urgency in his voice.
"Wait! Dad, can't you see?" his daughter cried. "Look, they're killing her!" Cade put his preoccupations aside for a few seconds as he hurriedly analyzed the wire. He looked up at the man inside the SUV, who was starting to climb out, and instinctively slammed the door shut with every ounce of strength in his body.
While Cade only did it to protect himself and his daughter, it turned out to benefit Samantha as well. The energy stopped feeding into her, cut off, but her collar stayed on.
Samantha choked on her own heaving breaths and blinked repeatedly. (It wasn't so much blinking as it was twitching.) She almost drunkenly stood up and tugged at the cable, trying to get it to tear completely. Weakened, she couldn't do much, but Tessa gave it a harsh jerk as well, and the wire eventually snapped.
Sam's vision was going black as she fell from the force. The damned collar was constricting, and had she been able to get air down her windpipe, her lungs were too mutilated to work.
But, as the wire was cut off, so was the battery power. The electricity responsible for torturing her and keeping the two halves of her collar together was no longer flowing.
Of course, it didn't magically fall off as Sam had hoped. Still, she realized that without having the collar actively pulled against her, it wasn't as tight as it'd seemed. It had fit her neck from months ago, the "healthy" one. And though it had been fitted as she had continued to be starved, there was only so much adjustment that could be made…
Sam, never being one to look on the bright side, faintly recalled that she was still on the verge of fainting. Soft, yellow-green grass and earth cushioned her fall, and as she lay there shuddering and spasming, she wished she could just lay there and sleep forever.
She felt herself being lifted.
Why couldn't her wishes ever come true?
The monotonous ring in her ears receded, and a muffled voice made its way through the fog in her brain. Her bleary vision let her know only that she was slowly being dragged toward a field of tall grass. A hand gripped her under her shoulder, and an arm curled around the little flesh of her waist. Not finding a proper grip, the arm lowered to her hips.
'At least the grooves and shit of my hip bones should give them a better grip,' Sam internally joked, if only to keep her from despairing. Her habit of taking things lightly had become one of her very few comforts during her imprisonment.
With the added support, she found they were making faster headway toward the field. Not wanting to be a ragdoll, she willed her dragging legs to support her meager weight. She felt sure that she was being carried only because she weighed so little.
With all the cloth covering her body, Samantha could only listen to the grass brush the entirety of her legs as they cut through it. Little by little, her vision cleared a tad more, and the reflective surface of what she guessed was a pond entered her sight.
Behind them, she heard nearly muted explosions. The ringing was still so bad that the destruction of the Yeager's home was no more intrusive than the panting of the people carrying her.
She briefly wondered what it'd be like to lose all her possessions in such a way, then remembered she had no possessions other than her own body. 'But it comes with a bunch o' cool accessories!'
Yes, she sucked at sympathy.
The now dusty ground rumbled below them, and as they reached the peak of a small hill, a small white car flew - literally flew - into their sights. Sam wished she had the breath to laugh as one of the front tires struck a member of the Cemetery Wind team square in the jaw.
They stopped advancing, and the white car drifted toward them, finally coming to a stop before them. Samantha noticed the person inside, and wondered how in the world he had managed to drop by in the nick of time.
'Always thinking of the important things, I see,' Samantha scolded herself. She decided to read the lettering on the side of the car: SHANE A+
Or something like that. Her vision wasn't the best at the moment.
The man-or was it boy-leaned over to throw open the door for them. "C'mon! Hurry up! Get in the car! Let's go!"
His unexpected screaming brought Sam out of her daze a little. She reminded herself to not acknowledge his unintended assistance, ever.
Sound seemed to change to her, then. It was still muffled, but was more prominent. Instead of feeling like she had her fingers in her ears, it felt like a never-ending yawn. In slow motion…
She assumed her microphones must have gotten damaged. 'Wait. I'm in human disg-oh wait, right, right.' She'd forgotten she wasn't completely organic in any disguise.
Tessa's warped voice rang out. "Daddy, get in the car!"
Too panicked to question his daughter, Cade hastily got in the passenger seat after making sure Tessa was safely situated. She took care of adjusting her position so that Sam was safely against her. The tallest one of the group plopped down in the remaining space, which was plenty given both Sam's and Tessa's smaller frames.
Sam's head lolled and came to rest on Tessa's shoulder. Samantha noticed the surprised look Cade gave the driver, but he said nothing for the moment. Sam thought it wisest for now.
Speeding across the uneven terrain, Sam longed for a paved road as her head continuously bumped on Tessa's shoulders. For a moment she marveled at how much more of a jerk the Decepticon energy made her.
Well, she could blame it on that, but it wasn't as if she had been an absolute angel to everyone she had ever met…
She felt someone tap her forearm. "...Hey."
Sam opened her drooping eyes wide in an effort to focus her vision. "Whut..?" she croaked.
. . . . .
Tessa's blond hair fell in front of her face as she leaned forward. "...Are you…? Okay…?" she asked rather lamely. Now that her bout of protection was over, Tessa remembered that this person had held a gun to her head. Not to mention this...woman...was a complete stranger.
Tessa wasn't too wary, though. She'd asked for mercy, and what she assumed was a mercenary had granted it, albeit hesitantly.
That act of mercy wasn't what drove Tessa to help her, though.
That "James Savoy" guy had actually electrocuted the person Tessa thought was a member of his team. She had seen him press a button on a small contraption in his hand, had seen the wire, had felt the electricity flow through her own body before this woman had pushed her away, if only to spare her of the pain.
The stranger spoke, bringing Tessa out of her thoughts. "Mmmno…" she mumbled. Tessa opened her mouth to ask for her name, but her boyfriend addressed her first.
. . . . .
"What's happenin', baby? Who are they?" He sounded like he was trying very hard to keep his cool, but too panicked to turn back. He also sounded like he was faking an accent, but Sam couldn't place from where.
Tessa craned her neck to look back, not wanting to sit up and risk hurting the person sandwiched between herself and Lucas, who was doing the same thing she was. "It's the truck!" she cried hoarsely, chancing another glance backwards. "They want the truck!"
Tessa spoke too loudly for Samantha's liking, but she couldn't exactly lower her hearing level in her disguised form. Still, she had been forced to learn to tune out loud noise a long time ago. However, she was very out of practice.
For the first couple months of her imprisonment, when Joshua had been most eager to learn her "secrets", she'd been forced to stay awake for long periods of time by having music blasted into her ears. Halfway into the third month, the researchers had realized she didn't need to sleep.
In actuality, she very much did want to sleep, though it was not a necessity. She'd had to put up a good act (as in, convince them she wasn't going crazy) that whole time until they were convinced enough to give up and let her rest.
At the moment, though, she had a feeling that she was going to be witnessing some drama.
Sure enough, Cade interrupted. "Who are 'they'?" he began, looking back before turning to their driver. "Who are you? And who are you calling 'baby'?"
For a moment, neither Tessa or the mystery man/guy answered. For that, Sam was thankful, and she hoped Cade would drop the subject in favor of focusing on other, more important things. Like surviving.
Unfortunately, this was not to be. Because the world didn't care about what Sam would like.
"I know you heard me!" Cade insisted.
"I'm her boyfriend!" "He's my boyfriend!" the two answered simultaneously, both looking regretful.
Cade's eyes bugged out of his head. "What!? You're not her boyfriend!"
Tessa, naturally, defended her not-her-boyfriend. "His name's Shane and he drives, Dad!"
Sam rolled her sunken, red eyes. 'How convenient.'
She held a trembling, gloved hand up to her forehead. "...Now is not...the time…" she rasped with a shaky voice. She couldn't be loud, so she settled for emphasizing her tone.
To her annoyance and discomfort, all eyes landed on her. It was like back at the labs, where researchers would watch her all day. Unless it was one of those days, in which case that asshole would watch her all day. Over all this time, she'd never had a second to herself.
And she despised it.
She hardened her gaze, and even though no one could see her glare through her sunglasses, they could feel the coldness coming off of her, so they turned away.
Or, their attention was captured by the vehicles giving chase. They were bulky looking, but still kept up with them. Shane's Sonic wasn't slow by any means, but the terrain was certainly not making their escape any easier.
"What kinda cars are those!?" Lucas shouted, looking out his window. He was bouncing in his seat so much, it was a miracle he didn't bang his head somewhere. Sam believed it had happened to him recently, given his head injury. Lucas leaned back in his seat. "They're so scary!"
Sam was only vaguely aware of her surroundings, but the patch of black she spotted in the rearview mirror stood out against the gold and green hues of the tall grasses. She didn't have the breath to speak, but Cade voiced her concern.
"There's another one comin' up the back! You gotta try to lose them in this cornfield!"
Shane made a sharp turn to the left. With all this being knocked around, Sam was sure she'd get a headache. Oh wait, she already had one.
The environment turned dark green in a flash as they drove into a cornfield, reminding Sam of the "pointless billboard".
Yes, she also sucked at focus.
She hadn't expected to get hit by one of the cars. She expected them to survive that crash even less. Instead of appreciating the fact that they all had, she instead let her mind go off on a rant about how unlikely it had been, and how much it had jostled her.
Yes, she especially sucked at gratitude.
Her scarred hands trembled as she picked pieces of glass off the clothes she wore. She wrinkled her nose when she heard the sound of helicopter blades whipping through the air. That was a sound she was definitely not fond of.
After more chasing and fleeing, (Samantha could practically hear the dramatic music) they found themselves on a highway that came out of nowhere. Had she been in better shape, Sam probably would have downloaded some maps, but she WASN'T. So she DIDN'T.
Weaving between cars, Sam's dizziness intensified. Tessa was sweating from sheer panic, but still made an effort to try to hold both Sam and herself steady. Lucas was...well, Lucas was taking care of all the screaming that had to be done.
Shane spoke up again, breaking Cade's focus. "Mr. Yeager, this is not how I wanted us to meet, okay?" Sam's red eyes squinted as she tried to figure out what accent the boy had. It sounded distorted, but for the time being, she could blame it on her banged up microphones. "I'm Shane, and I am a completely-"
"And I am not talking to you!" Cade interrupted, grabbing Shane's hand and smacking it back down onto the steering wheel. "Drive the car!" Shane did so, leaving a trail of destruction behind them. Samantha, in all honesty, was surprised the cars didn't burst into flames. Back at (not) the Yeager's home, she'd seen a piece of metal burst into flames as soon as it touched down.
When it began to rain bullets, the passengers of the car ducked, including Shane, making the car swerve from side to side. Luckily, they were in a small street, so it wasn't too difficult to navigate based on the walls bordering the road. There were also civilians on the street, though, so that wasn't good. Not to mention unethical.
"This may be primarily my fault, okay?" Lucas finally admitted, giving the people they were trying not to run over no more than a glance. "They said they were gonna bring a check! I didn't know they were gonna send a death squad!"
Behind tinted lenses, Sam rolled her eyes, even though they were just about to shut close from exhaustion. The person who'd saved her, Tessa, didn't deserve to be running for her life because of some dumb man's greed. For sure Lucas had believed the "rumors" - which had been leaked intentionally - and called for the reward.
"Hang on!" Shane warned, careening the car to the left. Sam, feeling weaker by the second, only heard glass shattering, people screaming, and wood snapping. And felt a small hand on her shoulder.
"We lost 'em!" Lucas patted Shane's seat roughly. "Good job, stranger from the cornfields!"
Letting her mind veer off, Sam took a second to wonder where the Autobot had gotten off to; to wonder if it had left the humans that had harbored him for who knew how long or planned to retrieve them, or at the very least assist them.
'Oh, well would ya look at that.'
As they turned a corner, she caught a glimpse of two Transformers clambering up the side of an abandoned building. "How convenient.." she mumbled. Still, she did not let her eyes slip close again. It didn't take long to identify them, despite her impaired vision. They were Lockdown and the Autobot leader, Optimus Prime.
She resented both.
TTWI: Finally came back and finished this chapter. On a horrible spot, too, but the longer a document gets, the laggier the whole page becomes, ya know.
I don't think I mentioned this on here, but this was a test story. Like, I wasn't even that willing to go through from the very start, and I still am not. This is just to get ma mind off life, ya know, nothin' serious.
Not that I don't appreciate anyone who reads this. TRULY, honest-to-the-dear-lord I do. I, myself, am just someone who doesn't mind if no one reads this. I just kinda wanna get what I want/can OUT there. I think you can tell, in my writing. It's more casual (lazy) than what I was going for but that's on me. I'll deal. I also came back to edit 'cause I forgot to put thoughts between these (') instead of these ("). Oop.
Okay, I will apologize for rambling, it's a habit. And who knows when future chapters will be out. Maybe I just need to make 'em shorter. My word goal per chapter has changed a LOT over time. (and believe it or not I have written what is supposed to be like, the "prequel" to this, and finished it! But I don't plan to post it. Not in its current state)
I also hope it's not confusing. Like, sometimes ya wanna throw hints into yer story, or allude to somethin', but it comes across as random. And if it's centered too much around Sam, uh, sorry? That's what these are for, I guess.
ANYWAY if ya read all that, wow, you're nice and considerate, unlike me. Bye for now :/