TTWI: FINALLY finished this garbage. Took me long enough. Next chapter should make more sense.
Have to thank y'all for your responses. They give me some direction and make me see my own story differently.
I don't claim to be affiliated with the owners of Transformers and their whole brand and whatnot, but do I really have to put this in every chapter?
. . .
"… Hello..?"
Samantha let out a questioning hum as she stretched, but flinched when her limbs knocked into a few things. She lay stretched out on the reclined passenger seat, and slowly moved to sit up. She was slow from having lain there for hours, and tired because she still hadn't been able to sleep. (This time it was mainly due to the constant pins and needles feeling in her limbs, since Optimus' presence had eased her paranoia.)
She had heard someone approaching since they'd first pushed open the station door, but now Sam knew it was Tessa who'd come out. To do what, though, she had no clue.
The gravel and sand outside hissed as Tessa shifted. "Uh… Sam? Are you… in there?"
Sam could see Tessa's scrunched eyebrows in Optimus' side mirrors.
Instead of answering, Sam sat up, ignoring how long it took her, and how her bones creaked with the movement. She set her arm on the part of the door that the window should have been in, and squinted at the blonde through her sunglasses.
Tessa only seemed to grow more perplexed, if possible. "...Guess you are."
A sharp exhale through her nose was Sam's only reaction.
Tessa toed at the loose dirt, her hands behind her back. "Um, my dad told me to tell you that he, um, wants to… talk… with you…"
The awkwardness was so intense it was almost tangible, but it was like only Tessa felt any of it. Sam only blinked slowly, like a cat fresh out of a nap. The brunette managed to yawn, though her shortness of breath made it seem like a normal exhale. "Yeah." Sam was almost humored by Tessa's behavior. The girl was acting like a little kid, robotically reciting her father's message instead of passing it on.
Sam smiled a little to herself, which led to a distraught Tessa hurriedly shuffling back from where she'd come. That is, until a voice sounded through the radio.
"You should go. We have to leave before midday."
Sam resisted the urge to question Optimus, and inched her way out of her seat and into the desert. The sun wasn't too high, but it was already incredibly hot. Sam realized her body must have been thrown out of whack during her time with KSI. Yesterday, she'd gone from nearly fainting due to the heat, to needing it.
Today, the glare of the sunlight bouncing off the ground made her want to faint.
She decided that yes, her sensitivity and response to temperature were definitely off-kilter.
As Sam walked, she found herself hesitating the closer she got to the station door, and to her horror, she took a glance at Optimus over her shoulder. She immediately tore her gaze away. It wasn't like she was seeking comfort or anything...
The door closed in on her way too quickly, and it stared her down as she reached out her hand. She considered knocking, but the door swung open before she could decide. Surprisingly, Shane was the one holding the door open for her.
Contemplating the status of their acquaintance, Samantha realized that for all the silence she had given Shane, he seemed more relaxed around her than anyone. Optimus was the most confident around her so far (presumably due to their preexisting relationship, whatever it had been), but of the total strangers involved, Shane hadn't seemed to be walking on eggshells around her for too long.
"Thanks," she heard herself saying before she could overthink it. "Not just for the door," she wanted to add, but somehow controlled her mouth.
He gave her a smile, no teeth showing from behind his dark lips. "No problem." He flattened himself against the doorframe a little as the bundle of dark clothing that was Sam hobbled past him. "Tessa's just over there, if you're lookin' for her," he told her, pointing to an obscured corner of the main room. Sam nodded. She'd need to ask Tessa about Cade anyway.
Trying not to get distracted by knicknacks, Samantha slowly crossed the room, not being able to completely stop herself from letting her eyes linger on things for a second too long.
Tessa turned before Samantha could speak. "You actually came," she muttered, yet she cracked a small smile after a brief pause. "Dad- My dad's in the back-" she began, also pointing, but cut herself off. "I mean, not in the back, like, outside or anything, just, over-"She finalized her statement with a wave of her darkly tanned hand. "Just-here. Come on."
And then Sam was somewhere behind the self-proclaimed inventor, Tessa announcing her presence.
"Uh, Dad? She's-" Tessa pointed her head at Samantha once Cade had looked away from whatever he was inspecting on a dusty table, expecting him to understand her half thought.
And he did, in that way Samantha always wondered at.
"Oh, right, Sam, good, you…" Cade messed with his hair a little, and at some point conveyed to Tessa that he'd like a moment on his own. It seemed he waited until he couldn't hear his daughter's footsteps before going on.
"Sam," he began after silence had settled in. "Last night, I-" He suddenly stopped.
Samantha normally would have waited grumpily, but standing there to have a serious talk was the last thing she wanted to be doing, so she told him to say something.
Cade glanced over his shoulder at the table he was now leaning against. For the first time, Sam noticed the small black drone on the table. It seemed to have been gutted by Cade since its wires were everywhere. The nest of cables seemed to be connecting the drone to an old box TV.
"Don't worry," he started again. "I didn't find a tracker of any sort, so-"
"I know," Sam interjected, wanting to just get to whatever had been Cade's point. "Tracking systems aren't exactly their strong suit. Bastards couldn't find their own car in a parking lot."
Cade looked like he wanted to smile, but held it back for some reason. "So listen, I managed to extract video footage from their drone. Saw some disturbing stuff."
"Figures. Those things went everywhere. Saw everything."
Cade became even more somber than he was, and didn't look Sam in the eye. "I wanted to talk to you because… Because you're in there, too."
Sam's eyes blew wide, and she tensed so much that she wasn't even sure if her blood was still flowing.
"I stumbled upon it by accident, Sam, it's not like I was lookin' for that horr-"
"That was a complete invasion of privacy, unintentional or not," Samantha bit out. She clenched her fist, wondering if she could smack the knowledge out of his head. It wasn't entirely improbable.
"Hey, don't hold this against me," Cade shot back, immediately on the defensive.
"I'm not," Sam defended, not giving him the chance to be even more suspicious of her. He may have relented the day prior, but she could tell he hadn't been thrilled to have her sticking around. "But I wasn't exactly in a position I'd want people to see me in."
Cade ran a hand through his hair, his other hand on his hip. "Trust me, I understand-"
"You're not gonna say you're sorry, are you?" Samantha rushed out. She didn't want consoling. Not from Cade, specifically, for specific reasons.
"I didn't call you to force my comfort or any of that shit on you," he responded just as quickly. Their conversation was like an intense game of tennis, responses being shot out as soon as the other was finished talking. "I wanted to know if you wanted to save the footage to potentially use it in the future, if we ever get the chance and decide to take legal action-"
"No."
"Are you-"
"Yes. Erase whatever that drone has about me; I don't need anyone else seeing it. You wouldn't intentionally put me through such humiliation, would you?" In spite of the question, her voice remained completely monotone. "It's not like I have rights," she muttered, not caring if she was heard.
Cade was slow to respond, bringing an end to the sudden back and forth. He turned around and hung his head, eyeing the drone intently. The room was suspiciously quiet, and Sam realized with dread that someone could have been listening.
"Yeah, fine." Cade's voice nearly made her jump. "It'll save us a load of time if I do it here and now, so, you let the others know I'm going to need a few."
Sam internally winced. Either her language storage had been affected by the electrocutions as well, or she had simply never learned this phrase. She doubted the latter.
Sam blinked cluelessly. "...A few what?"
Cade whipped his head up, and slowly looked at her over his shoulder. "...A few minutes."
Sam nodded minutely, hoping to quickly put this behind her, and wondered what time it was. "Optimus said we had to leave by noon."
Cade plopped himself down in an old ratty chair, looking just about ready to collapse. "Then everyone better start packing. We're not getting anywhere empty handed."
"Here."
Tessa held out a rumpled bunch of clothes in front of Samantha. Sam stared.
"What…"
Tessa regarded Sam with something that wasn't quite pity. "Don't take this the wrong way, but that's yesterday's clothes." She turned away from Sam and bent over, rifling through the cardboard box at her feet. "Not only do we not need to be dragging that day around with us, but just because we're running from the stupid police, and nobody else cares about what happens to us, we're not going to suddenly stop caring about ourselves." The clatter Tessa had been making ceased, and the teen pulled out a worn pair of sneakers. "We at least have our dignity, don't we?" she asked, offering to Sam the shoes, as well.
Samantha didn't answer.
"We may be criminals in everyone's eyes, but we know we're not. We can't let our situation drag us down, or we're fucked," Shane bluntly added. "Right from the start."
"Unless… you don't think so?" Tessa questioned, sounding slightly suspicious.
Samantha knew she couldn't rationally expect these people to fully trust her, since they shouldn't, but their distrust still bothered her. She swiftly snatched the offerings and tried to hold her head a little higher as she looked for a place to change.
A sneeze.
Static cracked from the radio."Bless you."
Sam hesitated. "Uh… Thanks…" She unconsciously rubbed her throat through the thin sweater she wore. Her throat was, surprisingly, feeling a little less sore that day. It was only a matter of time, she hoped, before she could finally-
"If you didn't cover your face with a dusty scarf, you... probably wouldn't sneeze so much."
Samantha felt herself pouting dramatically for a moment, brows furrowed. She quickly wiped the expression off her face, and very nearly pouted again at her slip. "I like the colors, alright?" she defended, childishly mushing the scarf against her face. "And who knows, maybe I like sneezing." She suddenly sneezed again, and coughed out a tiny sheepish laugh.
She felt the truck sag then, and she could almost hear the "yeah, right". It was frightening.
Her eyes darted left and right behind her still-present shades. "Are you somehow crossing your arms without physically crossing them?" she cried incredulously, not appreciating the itch it caused in her throat. "Because I think I'm sensing it, and honestly, it's freaky." The truck seemingly straightened itself out, and the seat she was on suddenly wasn't as wilted.
"You didn't choose the sweater," he told her instead.
Samantha almost rolled her eyes, but Optimus' words bothered her a little too much for that. "Don't tell me," she muttered. "It's not my style?"
All was quiet for a moment, and Sam thought she had won, but Optimus spoke before she could feel smug. "Not necessarily. It fits."
Silence reigned for at least a minute. For all the questions swimming in her mind, all Sam's baffled mind could manage was, "What?"
Again, Optimus didn't answer right away. In fact, it was only until Cade, Tessa, and Shane started filing out of the service station that Optimus spoke. "I... was told you never picked clothes your size."
Sam realized, as the others drew near, that both she and Optimus were being pushed to talk before they got too close. "Um." She mentally slapped herself. In her rush, she didn't even think about how to respond. "That's…" She huffed, feeling a tad too conflicted to laugh. "Why?"
"You liked to enjoy your freedom."
Against her will, she laughed, and tried to suppress it by pressing the fabric of her hoodie against her face even further. She shouldn't have been feeling that comfortable with the guy, but she was. Despite his being a Transformer, there was a quality of (what humans called) humanity in Optimus that was not present in any KSI lab worker. That, Samantha was sure of.
She grew somber at the thought, and just in time. She spotted Cade just reaching the door, and she went to push it open. (It was surprisingly easy, and she suspected Optimus had "helped".)
Why did she try, anyway? She swore she wasn't in control of herself anymore. At times, the humans didn't even cross her mind. At others, she actively wanted to help them.
What would Optimus think if he knew that the person he had met wasn't real? That "Sam" was just a persona her true self had adopted, had made up, to blend in?
…
Why did she care?
"Stop!"
Sam blinked. An impossibly rotted wall stared back at her. She abruptly pitched forward, and she landed on wood.
A table.
Cade's table?
"Oh my god-"
Something was being pried out of her scrawny hand, and her body was finally back in her control. In a rush, she pushed herself up and away from the table, whipping around to see a bug-eyed Tessa huddled near the door frame, clutching something against her chest.
"Sam, what the hell?!"
With wide eyes herself, Sam realized what was going on.
It had happened again.
She had literally lost control of her actions for the second time that day.
"Answer me!"
Tessa's breaking voice compelled Sam into focusing. "I-" Her voice cracked as she cut herself off. What could she say? Tessa probably knew better than Sam herself. "What-What happened? What's that?"
Tessa's eyes were bright with panic. "You idiot! What do you mean, what's this?! Did you actually manage to get a hit in before I got here?!"
Even without being able to see Sam's face, Tessa somehow came to the conclusion that Sam was utterly perplexed.
Some humans really were remarkable.
"Oh god. What did those people do to you?"
Sam recoiled at the comment.
Maybe not that remarkable.
"They really must've fried your brain," Tessa murmured, and Sam failed to recognize the concern behind Tessa's words.
Tessa took a step forward, looking like she wanted to approach, but refrained. "I-"
She shook her head a little, and began again. "You were in- with Optimus. You opened the door for my dad." She waited, and Sam eventually nodded, remembering no more than that. "You… You got this… I don't know, you started walking all weird, all the way back here." She looked to the side, probably trying to recall something specific. "You said you forgot something?" Her green eyes were wide and questioning.
"I thought you maybe meant your old clothes, which I tossed who-knows-where, so I came to tell you." Her eyebrows rose high on her forehead. "B-but I heard noise in here, and-and I just come in to find you about to drive this into your head?!"
Tessa's chest rose and fell rapidly, and in her quaking hands, Sam finally noticed the hammer. She blamed her stupidity for not seeing it earlier, and for foolishly asking, "Sharp end first?"
Tessa tossed the hammer forcefully aside, grunting not so much with effort but in frustration. It was astounding that no one had barged in on them yet. "Are you serious?" she cried, reaching up as if to yank at her hair. "Were you-? Were you trying to knock yourself out?! Or-?"
Tessa froze, leaving Sam to stand there awkwardly, still swaying a little on her feet.
After several seconds, Tessa stepped back but hunched forward, backing away like Sam was an animal with rabies. "Are you…? Um, suicidal or something?" she whispered.
Something told Sam that she had to end that conversation before it started.
"Look, no, no. I'm not- I'm not- that. I just- can't explain right now. Let's just- It's been a long time, I don't need your- don't need people getting all 'worried' or whatever." Sam tried not to sound bitter, but it was difficult.
Tessa opened her mouth to argue, but seemed to think better of it. "…Yeah. Okay."
Yet, as they slowly and somewhat shakily headed for the front door, Tessa stopped. "Sam, while- while we're here, can I, you know, can I ask you something?"
Sam had a fleeting thought, dare she think a memory, of a bright, childish voice shouting "You already did!"
The boyish voice unsettled her, and it wasn't familiar at all.
That was what she told herself.
"Sam!"
Tessa was shaking her by the shoulders, but Sam panicked and flung her away before the fact registered.
"Fuck, man, don't- don't-"
Tessa caught herself, and pushed her disheveled hair out of her face. "Okay, that was kind of my fault." She smoothed out her shirt nervously, but apparently not one to be dissuaded, spoke relatively confidently. "I just wanted to ask, um, if you and Optimus have… a history."
"!"
Sam didn't know how to respond. Before yesterday, she would have refuted the assumption. Before yesterday, her supposed tie to Optimus was the bane of her existence. Before yesterday, her tie to the Autobots, mainly Optimus, was a cause of her torture.
Autobots had been murdered for information on the guy. Massacred. Her own alien secrets were surely the only thing that had kept her alive over the past year.
It had frustrated her when random employees would mention her "old life" to her; talking about her, to her, like they knew everything about her. Past friends, experiences, tastes, even making occasional comments about some "relationship" she'd had.
When Optimus brought up small details about her past self, though, she found it didn't bother her as much for some reason. He made it sound like she had been someone that had actually been cared for and liked, and not just some captive to be dissected.
"Sam..?"
With a deep sigh, Samantha finally responded. "Yeah."
Tessa clearly wanted an explanation, but Sam knew Tessa didn't expect one.
Samantha gingerly pushed open the station door, spotting Cade and Shane loading bulky boxes into the back space of the truck. It was evident, even from that distance, that Cade was reprimanding the other for jostling the boxes a little too much.
Samantha's mind brought up the memory of Tessa storming out on her father the day prior. The teen had plainly been upset, and Sam assumed it had to do with Cade. "You still mad?"
What motivated her to ask, she didn't know.
Tessa, whose head was hovering around her shoulder, peered up at Sam self-consciously. "At what…?"
Sam gestured to where Cade and Shane were standing. "At your…"
The blonde's expression did not change. "My… dad?"
Sam dipped her head in a "yeah, that" manner.
With furrowed brows, Tessa continued to squint at her. "When...?" A strong sigh left her, and Sam could feel it on her back. "Can't say I'm not. I can't even pin this on Optimus. It's not like he forced us to let him stay…"
Sam gave the barest tilt of her head. "Stay?" she rasped out.
Tessa didn't answer immediately, and in the silence, Sam became extremely aware of the rattling in her lungs.
"I don't know where he came from," Tessa began, stepping back a bit to lean on the door frame. She closed her eyes tiredly. "I was in my room when Dad and Lucas just show up with him, and-" She gripped her hands in front of her, jaw tight. "We were already in deep crap. I told him so but, he never listens. The day after- yesterday- he somehow discovers the clunky old truck he bought for parts is actually one of those things and obviously the first thing we tell him is that we have to call the cops. And obviously he doesn't listen and then it all went to-"
She cut herself off when Sam held up a sleeve-covered hand. "I know." Sam retracted her hand, paused, then pointed at her sunglasses. Tessa didn't seem to understand for a moment, but then hurriedly wiped at the tears that had sprung to her eyes.
They both returned their attention to the others, who looked to be just about done with loading up the boxes.
"Time to go."
TTWI: To 10/12's Guest, thank you! The feedback means a ton. As for what's happening to Sam, well, that's something to be discussed in a future chapter, hopefully. I wouldn't say this chapter's great, but if you say so XD thanks. (And I actually missed church today, so the blessing is appreciated.)