186
As Tessa and I ran, we could hear them pounding after us, their paws slamming and scraping against the ground. Their growls made a shiver of fear go up my spine. We tried finding a way to lose them, but it seemed impossible. The further we ran, the more of those creatures seemed to appear.
Tessa made a sharp turn at an opening, causing my to make a skidding halt and almost fall trying to catch up with her. Those hairy, robotic monsters tried catching us, but ended up toppling on top of one another.
We were able to squeeze ourselves through a narrow opening in a doorway styled like a vent. The creatures slamming themselves against it, oil and other liquids dripping from their mouths. Tessa gave a screech in surprise before we scooted away from the doorway.
Cages hung from the ceiling. We couldn't move a few steps without bumping into one of them. Once those monsters had finally left, louder footsteps came down the hallway. One of Lockdown's men inspected the door we squeezed through, pulling it off and saying something in Cybertronian.
Lockdown's man held a metal ball in its hand, parts of it glowing bright red.
Tessa climbed on one of those dangling cages, an alien strapped upside down inside the cage. I followed her lead.
The aliens in the cage were making wet, gurgling sounds, making Tessa uncomfortable.
A metal ball rolled underneath the cages we stood on, scanning the area. We tried to stay still, but those alien prisoners were causing their cages to shake with all of their movements.
I saw the alien in Tessa's cage extend its tongue and wrap it around her ankle. She winced, trying to carefully pull her leg from its super long tongue. She closed her eyes, looking disgusted. Once the scanning ball was out of sight, I quickly jumped from my cage before the alien's tongue decided to wrap me up. Tessa had fallen trying to get her leg free, but there was a strong grip in that thing's tongue.
Reaching for a jagged piece of scrap metal, Tessa cut its tongue off, green colored blood spurting from the wound. Tossing the tongue aside with an 'ew', she gave the alien one last disgusted look.
We heard voices above us, not sounding Cybertronian.
"Dad!" Tessa cried. "Help me!"
I pursed my lips. Cade was here; and if I didn't know any better, I'd guess Shane was, as well.
We immediately got running, following Shane's and Cade's voices. Finding them, Cade looked relieved to see his daughter again.
"Shane, I love you, I love you, you saved me!" Tessa cried, hugging her boyfriend. Shane looked absolutely flustered. Cade looked irritated by that point.
"Yeah, he saved you," Cade said sarcastically. "Yep. I think you and him have a lot to catch up on. I mean, you should've seen him in there. Our hero - come on!"
We all followed Cade out of the room.
It was bugging me on where Cade and Shane found their guns. They weren't human guns, obviously; but if the ship was big enough for a weapons room, with guns big enough for human use, than it would be wise to possibly have Tessa arm herself. Out of the five of us, Tessa was vulnerable, a reliability. She didn't have any special powers, she didn't have any weapons. For a lack of a better word, she was dead weight.
We kept on running around various parts of the ship, making our way outside. A bunch of thick cables were in a nearby building, probably some kind of anchor.
"What about Optimus?" I asked sharply.
"The others went to go get him," Cade said. "The ship was going to launch into deep space, we had to get you guys first."
I felt my chest ache painfully. Even if it wasn't because Lockdown captured him, wouldn't Optimus and the rest want to go back into space? Surely they'd figure a way to escape, they were the Autobots, for crying out loud. They had a solution for everything.
"I'm not doing this," Tessa said breathlessly. "I'm not doing that."
Cade jumped onto one of them, the cords were shaking, looking a little unstable.
"Yes we are," Cade said. I hesitantly stepped on one, Shane doing the same. "It's stable, c'mon."
"No way." Tessa shook her head.
"Sweetie, you know why I'm here? I'm here to protect you." Cade watched as Shane helped Tessa onto one, scowling slightly.
"You're doing great at that." A hint of sarcasm leaked into the seventeen year old's voice.
"I want you to trust me," Cade said. "We're getting down, let's go."
We all took hesitant steps. The cables curved significantly near the building. Jets flew overhead, distracting me momentarily.
"The cables are thinning here," Shane announced.
"Be careful," Cade said.
The cables thinning out and separating caused us to drift apart. Tessa carefully knelt down, trying to scoot her way across, but she froze.
"Tess?" We all looked at her. "Don't look down," Cade said. "Alright? Don't look down. We'll be at the building in no time."
"You OK, Tess?" Shane called. The cables shifted under our weight, trembling as we moved on had to grab onto nearby cables for support.
"Keep stepping," Cade suggested.
Tessa's screams caused us to stop, looking to see what was causing her so much distress. She was practically sitting on the cables, gripping it tightly with her hands. She was breathing heavily, looking completely horrified.
"Sweetie, you need keep moving, OK?" Cade said carefully. "Come on."
Tessa shook her head. "I'm freaking out," she said, looking down.
"You need to move now," Cade snapped.
"I'm not moving!" she cried. "I'm going back to the ship."
She started scooting back. I felt my temper flare.
"Back to the ship?" I shouted. "How long are you going to last on that thing?! They'll kill you before you know it. Do you understand what I'm telling you?! They will kill you, slaughter you! They hate you, Tessa! Lockdown and his crew despise you, they'd rather you be dead. You want to go back to the ship? Go ahead! They'll kill you within seconds." They all looked taken aback by my outburst. "You listen to your damn father, Tessa," I said, forcing myself to sound calm. "He came all this way for you. Stop whining and complaining and actually listen to the people who are helping you."
Tessa tried standing, but military jets flew by, causing the cables to tremble violently. Shane went over to try and help her. On the other end, those monsters who cased Tessa and I earlier ran out, jumping onto the cables.
"What is that?" Tessa exclaimed, not turning around.
Cade looked at them in shock before answering his daughter's question. "Tessa? Don't look back."
"Don't say that to me, now I want to turn around," she said. The creatures effortlessly walked across the cables, snarling and growling.
"It's nothing major," Cade tried to assure her.
"Well that means it's totally major!" she cried.
"I'm going to point this gun in your direction," Cade said, "it's going to feel like it's in your direction, but it's not."
The creatures got closer, the hairs on their back prickling.
"You better hurry," Shane said.
"You're trying to kill me?" she exclaimed.
"I had to bust my ass to get up there on that spaceship," Cade snapped.
"Shoot it!" Shane called.
"For the love of..." I muttered. Since they weren't exactly in my way, I shot out a beam of energy at the creatures. I made sure to avoid the cables. The remains of the beasts fell from the cables. Shane and Cade looked at me. "Move," I said harshly. A few more of the creatures came running out, snarling at us.
Being a bit smarter than their dead companions, they used their jagged metal teeth to tear apart the pieces holding the cables in place. Swaying from the creatures, we stood completely still, feeling completely terrified.
The cables were sagging more and more as they chewed on their end. When it felt like we were going to drop, Bee appeared, killing two of the beasts. One of them stayed out of Bee's vision, quickly snapping the connections and they all eventually snapped. Bee jumped after the descending cables, using all his might to try and reach us.
We all had lost our grips on the cables, but Bee managed to snag one. He caught us easily, before he slammed into the building, skidding down the side of it, holding us close to him. He was able to stop himself halfway, all of us looking down, wide-eyed.
"You are the best, Bee!" Cade exclaimed. "You are the best."
"You're damn right...And don't you ever forget it," he responded.
"You see that!" Cade cried. "We're off the ship, right?"
Bee remained clinging to the side of the building, trying to figure out how to get down. A smaller ship flew toward us.
"Bumblebee! Bumblebee! Friendly!" It was Crosshairs. He stole one of the smaller ships, navigating it so we were able to climb in. "Enemy ships are coming in hot." Looking at us, he slammed his fist on the back of the ship. "Get on!"
Bee let us get in first before he loaded himself in. Once we were all safe and sound, Crosshairs flew off at full speed.
Enemy ships flew behind us, shooting. Crosshairs effortlessly avoided their shots, using the tall buildings as cover.
"We've got three ships on us!" Cade yelled.
"I'm givin' it the juice!" Crosshairs responded. Whatever he did, we went even faster. As Crosshairs tried losing them, they kept shooting at us. "C'mon, Bee! Take 'em out!"
Bee took out his cannon. A wire shot out of his other arm, connecting with a boat near the Chicago River and throwing it at the nearest ship. Missiles from our ship hit a bridge, the debris causing some of the others to crash.
"If you're going to do something you better do it!" Shane exclaimed.
Crosshairs continued to avoid the enemy's shots before getting off of controls and putting a hand on Bee's shoulder.
"I'm sick of this crap," Crosshairs snapped. "You fly! I shoot!" He shoved Bee to the controls, scowling at the ships behind us.
"Hey!" Cade cried. "You better let me shoot these big ass guns or make the ship go faster!"
"Listen up! Crash Course - tracer guns! Punch forward to fire; slide back to reload." Crosshairs' instructions were quick and hard to hear over the engines.
"What?" Cade exclaimed.
"Punch, hold, slide repeat!" Crosshairs snapped. "Punch, hold, slide, repeat!"
"What are you talking about?" Cade stammered.
"Good luck," the green Autobot replied.
"Where are you going?" Cade shouted.
"To lay some hate." Jumping from the ship, and some parachutes activating, Crosshairs took out his guns and started shooting at the enemy ships.
What did we get ourselves into?