Bombus

Chapter 7

  "Let's go. Get in." Charlie gestured to the beetle, and Memo shifted on his feet.

  "Uh, go on. I'll buy some time with these guys." Memo said, and the two smiled at each other. Charlie kissed Memo on the cheek before grabbing the driver side door. "Did you just kiss me?"

  "On the cheek."

  "Still counts." Charlie rolled her eyes and sat down while closing the door. Driving away from the garage, we had a head start on the second wave of trucks that were coming our way. Soldiers fired on us when we neared the security gate, but Bee didn't slow down in the slightest and kept going. The soldiers dove out of the way to keep from being ran over, and Bee broke through a fence as his tires squealed when he sharply turned onto a road.

  "Faster, Bee! Faster!" Charlie urged as she saw the trucks were gaining on us. Another vehicle came up on our side, honking loudly, and I saw Mom in the passenger seat with Otis in the back.

  "Charlie!"

  "Mom?"

  "You pull that car over right this second! This is very unsafe what you're doing!"

  "Mom, you've gotta get out of here, okay?" They swerved out and back onto the road to avoid hitting a car. "Mom! You have to trust me, please!"

  "Charlie!" Mom yelled and Bumblebee sped up.

  "Nice driving, Ron." Charlie mumbled, looking back to see he had caused a block at a four-way to keep the trucks from following.

~

  Slowly pulling up to the tower, Bumblebee transformed as soon as Charlie and I stepped out. From where we were, we could see alien tech covering the tower and glowing green lights that pulsed with electricity.

  "Okay, what's the plan?" Charlie asked, and Bumblebee opened a dumpster and grabbed Charlie and I to put us inside it. "This is the plan?! I hate this plan. Bee, we want to help."

  "~I would hate anything to happen to her~" Bee's radio played.

  "You're actually talking." Charlie made a face. "And you're listening to The Smiths!" Bee didn't say anything and closed the dumpster lid to hide us as he ran off toward the tower.

  I didn't like this one bit.

  I could hear explosions and helicopter blades cutting through the air. Pushing up the lid, Charlie and I could see Bee fighting the blue robot as they were crashing through old boats while throwing punches at each other.

  "Oh, shit! Alex!" Charlie yanked me down, causing the dumpster lid to slam shut before something exploded against the side of the dumpster and sent us flying. Tumbling out onto the hard concrete, I checked on my sister as soon as I got back up. "I'm fine, I'm fine." We took cover while Bee and the blue bot were still fighting and clashing like titans as sparks flew. "Alex, we need to stop that transmission."

  'How the Hell are we going to do that?' I signed, and Charlie swallowed.

  "We climb up that crane and cut off the power source from that box." She pointed, and I just waved my hand to the red robot. "She's distracted, she won't even know we're there until it's already over." I paused for a brief second before nodding, and we ran while trying to avoid getting swept up in the fight between Bee and the blue bot.

  We barely made it, and I snatched up a utility belt left out on a table full of tools. Tossing it to Charlie, she slung it over her shoulder and began to climb up the ladder on the side of the crane. I followed behind her, making sure she got up safely.