Chapter 2:

It was cold, freezing in fact. Where was the damn blanket when you needed it?

Mnnnn.

I tried to search for it with my hands.

Something wet?

I shot up, eyes wide open.

The green damp grass was underneath me. The stars above me. Foliage surrounded behind and to the sides of me. In front of me was a dirt road and further was more trees. Darkness surrounded everything, and a cold wind blew past.

What the fuck?

"What the fuck?" I said outloud. Where? How? WHAT?!

WHAT?! THEBFUFHDHDVJSHSUSFEJSSV -:$-":$&#!¡!?

A beetle landed on my hand and I screamed. I stood up, flailing my hand to get rid of the bug, while the beetle lazily flew off. I quickly brushed myself off and checked myself over to ensure there weren't any other unwanted guests. A gust of wind blew around me and I shuddered, my teeth starting to chatter. It was cold and I was in my pajamas in the middle of God damn nowhere. I rubbed my arms and looked around.

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

My eyes began to tear up.

Okay, no need to freak out. I had to stay calm. Calm. So last I remember, I went to sleep on my bed after making sure Carie went to sleep. Now I was in a forest.

A howl sounded from some distant place.

NO NEED TO FREAK OUT!

My breaths became shallow as I looked around. I was alone in a completely foreign place. The darkness seemed to close in from all sides. Where was I? How in the world did I get here? The world was suddenly spinning.

I held my stomach as I ran to my left near the trees. I fell to my knees and threw up. Once I had emptied my stomach, I clenched my eyes shut and took slow deep breaths. I wiped my tears and sniffled.

Another cold breeze flew past as I stood back up.

Prioritize Rachel. Prioritize. First it was too cold to stay outside, so I had to find a shelter. What do I have?

I shakily checked my PJ pockets and found nothing. I looked around on the ground hoping my kidnapper (or whoever) left anything besides me (please be a phone). A soft blue glow grabbed my attention from the grass behind where I had woken up. I walked over to where it laid.

It was a short, glowing blue rod. I picked it up, surprised it was light as a feather. I looked around. What was this? Why was it left here, wherever "here" was?

I inspected the the rod. Lightly slapping it against my palm. It seemed to be made from a sort of metal, and was emitting a glow from it. I pointed it away from me. The glow seemed bright enough to light the ground in front of me. I hope it wasn't going to give me cancer later.

Snap!

I dropped the demon glowing stick. I covered my face with my arms and cowered.

Nothing happened.

I opened one eye to stare at the rod, than opened the other. I slowly got out of my safety huddle and looked at the rod. It had elongated, but was slowly retracting back to its smaller size. I picked it up again and looked at the retracting end. It was bizarre, because the rod seemed to dissolve into itself. There was no opening or slot to retract the extension into. Oh forget it! It was cold and I needed to find help asap. I could worry about the creepy, weird, demon stick later.

I held out the rod again, and it snapped into its longer version (this time I didn't drop it). I started towards the dirt road, impromptu flashlight in front of me to ward off both the darkness and any would-be-attackers with it's ethereal blue glow.

… Or more likely I'd throw it at the first thing that tries to attack me.

I couldn't see any tell tale sign of a city, so I randomly picked to go right. You can't go wrong with right. I walked on the dirt road as quickly yet carefully as I could, not wanting to damage my bare feet.

"Hello? Anyone there? I need help!" I yelled out . I kept going occasionally repeating my call. What felt like 30 minutes passed.

"Hello?"

A small speck of light appeared in the distance. I almost cried in relief. Yes! A person! Please be a good person who won't murder me and toss my body into a river! Please, please, please!

One light became two and the sound of a car speeding could be heard.

A car! YES!

I stood to the side of the road and began waving my hands.

"Hey! Over here! Could you please stop!" I yelled out.

As the car sped closer I realized there were two cars! I repeated myself when both cars were within hearing range.

"Hey!" I yelled out.

Both cars sped right past me.

I quickly turned around and took a few steps towards the direction they had gone in desperation.

"HEY! I KNOW YOU SAW ME! Jerks!" I screamed as I kicked the dirt in frustration, completely forgetting my bare toes. I shook my fist angrily in their direction. UGH! Whatever!

I turned back around and continued down the road angrily and with a slight limp.

Ouch. Ouch. Ouch.

Calm down Rachel. Maybe they were in a rush or maybe they didn't see me. It sucked but maybe them passing through means this road will have more visitors? Or maybe they were my last hope of civilization and a wild pack of wolves will devour me. My body not found until some archaeologist uncovered them hunting for what happened to the missing Rachel Evensbrough in a TV special or something. Think comforting thoughts, comforting, not morbid worse case scenarios.

Ahead of me three more lights appeared, and they were approaching twice as fast as those other cars had. I knew it was dumb, but I stepped onto the road and started to wave my hands.

"HEY!" I screamed.

The vehicles skidded to a screeching halt and I heard a slur of mumbled curses from within.

That actually worked?

"Move out of the way! We're in a rush!" The girl on the blue motorcycle yelled. I scowled. Their headlights made it difficult to see properly.

"Look, I just need help! I'm sorry, I know that was reckless, but I was just wondering if I could use one of your phones to call the police!" I stood my ground.

"We didn't bring our phones-" she grumbled out. I cut her off.

"Then could you at least tell me which direction the closest town is?" I begged.

The girl was about to reply when she suddenly looked at the yellow chevy with a black stripe, then turned back to me, this time looking at me up and down.

"Did you come from that direction?" she pointed the way I had come from.

I paused.

"Why?" I cautiously responded. My mom made sure I was suspicious of strangers! I'm not going to get mugged, not that these people looked like they would, they actually seemed pretty well off to afford such vehicles. Not that I knew anything about vehicles. Not to mention I had nothing of worth on me, I was in my freaking PJs.

"Look, did you or did you not come from that direction?" She demanded.

Startled by her tone, I told the truth "Yes." I heard a loud screech coming from a distance.

The yellow car spun around, and the back seat door opened infront of me. I covered my face and coughed to dislodge the dust that had been kicked up and brought into my throat.

"Get in." She demanded. I took a step back.

"Hey, you know what? Never mind! I can walk. You seem busy." I said nervously.

The sound of a roar was coming closer.

"Get in." The lady said with more force.

I didn't know if it was the force in her voice or the deafening roar of what was definetly cars, but I choose to do the dumbest thing.

I got in.

Can you blame me? I was confused and disoriented and scared. So I did the thing that my mom would have kicked my ass for. I got into a complete stranger's car.

Please dear God let me not regret this.

The seatbelt buckled around me immediately and the car speed forward at a speed that knocked the air out of me. I closed my eyes and clutched the seat belt for dear life. The force of the drive pushed me further into the seat. Behind me, despite the car I was in's engine being extremely loud, I could hear the roaring behind us. I slightly opened my right eye to look out the window to notice the motorcycle girl was gone.

I opened my other eye slightly to look at the front seat, and to my horror, I saw no one at the wheel.

I screamed.

The possessed car continued on the road, and I continued screaming until we finally stopped at some empty parking lot at a rest stop. I stopped screaming, and tried to undo the seatbelt with my shaking hands. It came undone by itself. I grappled with the door next, searching for the door handle when it occurred to my panicked mind that there was no door handle. It finally opened and I scrambled outside as far away as I could before I fell. Somehow during all of that I had managed to hold onto my blessed stick, so I quickly got back up and faced the yellow and black car. I pointed my trusty flashlight at it and the rod elongated.

"What the hell is happening here?!"

There was no response.

The silence loomed, and after a beat I ever so slowly let the rod to fall to my side, putting my free hand to my heart. I squeezed my eyes shut. My heart was beating a mile a minute.

I needed to calm down, rationalize this. I shouldn't have gotten into the car, but realistically this had to be one of those self driving cars. Good. I could just find an emergency phone. Usually they have those, right? And we were at one of those rest stops that you usually see near a highway. I relaxed a little.

I took a good look at the car now that there were enough street lamps to see. It was a yellow Camaro with a black stripe down the center.

Now that I looked at it, it clicked where I'd seen that design before. It was Bumblebees design from the Transformers movie franchise and Prime.

I started laughing, quite at first but quickly growing into full blown laughter.

"Okay, okay, I get it. It's a joke, a prank." I looked around searching, "Where are the cameras?"

A screeching pierced my ears.

"Cameras? If someone's filming, be sure to get my good side." An arrogant, slightly husky voice called. I looked up and there was a giant fucking robot casually sitting on the roof of the station building, filing his nails on the roof. Either this was a big budget prank or I had gone insane.

"This is a really elaborate Transformers prank… right?"I said quietly in disbelief.

A blast of wind pushed me down, a boom sounding just seconds later. I felt a heat lick around me, and when I opened my eyes another robot was in front of me. Shielding me, my mind helpfully provided.

I stared into his eyes, a bright light blue, wide and innocent. I could see small lenses and gears turning. Turning. Seeing me as much as I saw him.

I broke the gaze to look at where I had been standing mere seconds ago. It was blackened and charred, flames still sputtering from the blast.

I could have easily died just now.

Bumblebee (or at least it looked like Bumblebee) was suddenly knocked to the ground by something. It wasn't until they both started rolling on the ground trying to get the upper hand on each other that I recognized the other robot. It was the one that would be later dissected by Silas in transformers prime, what was his name?

Now wasn't the time. I needed to leave or wake up or something. Last thing I would want is to be squished to death.

This wasn't right. This couldn't be real.

"Now that's an interesting toy." The voice shocked me out of my daze. I had just been standing there, frozen. The robot that had been on the roof was now right in front of me. I slowly started to walk backwards.

"I suggest you hand it over human," he said darkly, coming closer. I looked down at the rod.

Was this what they were after? I looked back up at him.

"This can't be real," I said in disbelief.

He scoffed. "Oh, you humans always with 'it's not real' or 'I must be dreaming!'. Pathetic attempts, if you ask me, to cover your species stupidity. It's why the humans always die in those films of yours, at least you recognize your inferiority! Though I understand the surprise, I am one to shock and awe those who first meet me." He smiled arrogantly, like he actually believed what he had just said. Still, there was mockery in his words. Anger, for some reason, boiled up inside of me at that.

"No. You don't exist. You're not real. Autobots, Decepticons, it's fiction!" I hissed. "This sort of thing doesn't just happen." The robot paused looking confused at me.

The giant robot looked at me like I was crazy. I was not crazy. It was this place that was crazy. Not me.

I glared at him.

"You want this? Take it. I don't care, I want nothing to do with this." I threw the stick to the ground. I didn't want to deal with giant alien robots. I wanted to go home, hell with everything else! I turned around and started hobbling towards the forest. Just then, the blue motorcycle from before came jumping from the forest. Above me, I watched as it transformed mid-air into a sleek thin robot. Each gear and blue covering shifted in a collage of movement. It (she?) rolled across the concrete, sparks flying as she snatched the rod from where I had thrown it. The red robot became furious, and took out a… a freaking chainsaw?! Nope. Nope, I'm out of here. I turned back around and continued heading towards the forest. It was at the edge, between the layer of concrete and brown dirt, that I saw the metal.

And I looked up.

And up.

And up.

To a really freaking giant robot. And not just any freaking giant robot, for how could someone not recognize the design? Even with the poor lighting from the street lamps, the red and blue plating was unmistakable.

Optimus Prime.

And he saw me. Blue eyes turning, analyzing. Enemy or Ally? I suddenly felt a deep shame at giving up the rod to the Decepticon. I looked down at my feet. Still bare and sore. It suddenly occurred how strange I must have looked. A barefoot girl in her pajamas roaming with giant robots. Well, roamings probably not the word to use, but the strangeness of it all was not lost on me.

I could still feel his eyes on me. I purposely did not meet his gaze again. I felt a little bit relieved when I felt them leave me, finally shifting back to the battle.

"Stay here." A booming voice shook me. It was deep and commanding, yet also not unkind. I realized a second later that it was addressed towards me.

I responded by slightly nodding and scampered to get out of his way. He stepped out from the forest onto the concrete, like a shining knight to defeat the great darkness.

The blue bot and the red one both had a grip on the far-more-trouble-than-it's-worth rod, which, to my surprise, had grown long enough for either of the bots to wield. They pulled it back and forward, like a dangerous game of tug of war including chainsaws and blaster fire. Bumblebee and the bulky bot he was fighting with were squared off. Bulky had a mad grin on his face, relishing the fight, while Bumblebee was clearly getting tired. With Optimus' appearance all fighting ceased. The Autobots looked at Optimus with great relief and joy, while the Decepticons looked at Optimus with dread and fear. The blue bot quickly kicked the red one in his center and he fell a little away from her. She quickly came to Optimus' side, crouched, blasters out and ready to fire in a moments notice, blue rod in her right hand.

"Item secured Optimus." Well, that confirmed that. Bumblebee beeped and buzzed, then he too disengaged from his fight to be at Optimus' side. Optimus for his part had his blasters out and trained on the Decepticons.

"I believe that is our cue to retreat Breakdown." the red bot said. Behind them a swirling mirage of green and white opened. Just looking at the hole seemed terribly wrong, like it was a rip in reality, and I shuttered. Both bots retreated into the portal and it closed behind them.

It was over.

Bumblebee chirped happily, pumping his servos in the air. Arcee grinned, and Optimus smiled lightly underneath his battle mask. Neither of his subordinates were hurt, and that was always a relief. He quickly became serious again though.

Another human had been put at risk, and a human youth at that. This information would need to be given to Agent Fowler. Unlike Jack, Miko, and Rafael, this human had not seemed enthusiastic about the presence of the Cybertronians. When he had arrived on scene, he was able to catch up to Arcee, just as she was about to attack Knock Out, the Decepticon medic. What the human had said surprised him, "...You're not real. Autobots, Decepticons, it's fiction!" Was this indicative that there was a leak of information? Something about this just wasn't sitting well with the Prime. From the strange energy readings they had gone to investigate to the appearance of this human, there was something going on here.

"Optimus," Arcee warned, already suspecting what her leader was thinking. "Watching over 3 human kids is tough enough. Do you really want to add one more? This one clearly doesn't want anything to do with us, which is fine by me."

"Yet, we cannot risk even a single human's safety. I doubt that the Decepticons will share in our respect and leave her be." Bumblebee was beeping and whining, bringing both of their attention to him.

"What Bumblebee?" Arcee asked.

He pointed at her hands.

The artifact was gone.

And surprise, surprise, so was the human.