My eyes grew wide at the chaos in front of us.
"Look! Buckethead is there!" Miko pointed. "Doc Knock and Screamer too!"
I looked at Jack, confused.
"Megatron, Knockout and Starscream, respectively," Jack hurriedly explained.
I only had encountered Knockout, but not Megatron and Starscream, but from whatever Miko told me about them, I'm quite scared of them.
"Miko, this was the worst idea you ever thought of yet!" Jack scolded Miko.
"Well, I didn't ask you to follow me!" Miko argued back.
Maybe it's because we care for your safety I signed angrily.
"Guys, don't fight," Raf tried to stop us, his voice pleading. I stopped when I heard him. I could see the fear in the young boy's eyes and knew immediately that he didn't want to be here. He didn't want to get caught up in the middle of a Decepticon fight, and in a fight between Jack and Miko. I held onto his shoulders.
"Seriously, Miko, if you're trying to get us killed, it's actually working! We've almost died so many times because of your ignorance!" Jack crossed his arms.
"When have we ever not almost died on every mission?" Miko argued back.
"The cave has been invaded by humans!" the sudden loud voice made me jump. We looked up and saw a Decepticon right in front of us!
"Uh oh," Raf gulped. My face paled. It's giant hand started to reach for us.
"Go, go go!" Jack shouted as he pushed us aside so we could run away from it.
We started running as fast as we could across the Energon mine, trying our best not to be squished by the other Decepticons and not to be seen by the Autobots.
I was really starting to regret following Miko.
I still hasn't gotten used to running with my fake leg much yet, so I didn't have any balance while running and was limping. This caused me to be behind everyone else, who were far in front of me that I could barely see them.
I was glad that they managed to get far in front so the Decepticons couldn't catch up with them.
I was also not good at running and didn't have much stamina so I started panting quickly and my lungs were burning.
But I could hear the heavy and loud footsteps of the Decepticons running after us, so now was not the time to quit.
I turned around and saw that the con was right behind me, just about to step on me!
I lunged myself forward and did a somersault to avoid being stepped on. But that was a failed attempt as my neck nearly cracked and I fell to the ground and laid on my back.
As I lay down, staring at the Decepticon which towered over me, fear gripped my heart. It's giant feet hovered over me, and I scrambled to get away, but my leg slowed me down. I was still on the ground. My arms immediately moved to protect my head.
"Get away from her!"
Suddenly, a blur of movement streaked past me and I heard the clang of metal against metal. I opened my eyes and saw the Decepticon falling to the ground in shock. The ground shook is it hit the ground.
"Let's get out of here," I heard Jack tell me. I turned around and saw him, and he pulled me up. I wonder how he managed to come save me so fast, since he was already far ahead of me.
He grabbed a hold of my hand and we ran away as fast as we could.
But the Decepticons upgraded their game, and they brought out the big guns.
Literally.
We heard them take out their blasters and started shooting at us.
I started to get tired from running and was slowing down, but I couldn't because Jack was pulling me along. I was breathing heavily and quietly screamed when we barely dodged a blast. It gave me small jumpscares.
Jack could sense me slowing down, but didn't stop running. We couldn't. The cons would catch up to us and eviscerate us. My lungs were burning and tears formed in my eyes.
Jack pulled me behind an Energon crystal and we both took a breather. I slumped against it and started crying while coughing at the same time.
"Erin, look at me. We don't have much time. I know it's tough, and I know you don't have a lot of stamina, so just do what I say, alright?" He held onto my shoulders. I nodded, trusting him.
"Okay, take one deep breath in..." I did what he said.
"Good, now breathe out slowly," he said. I breathed out slowly.
"Do it two more times," Jack said. I did.
But I still had no motivation.
I can't do this anymore I signed through my tears.
"Listen to me. Do you remember that promise we made to each other when we were kids?" He locked eyes with me. I closed my eyes and I was instantly taken to a flashback when we were 7 years old.
"Hey freak! What are you doing here?" David, the playground bully walked up to me. I was on my bicycle, because my Mom just taught me how to ride it and I was practicing.
I am riding my bicycle I signed to him.
"Sorry, I don't speak stupid!" He laughed. "This park is only for kids who can speak! Not for losers like you." He crossed his arms.
I did what my Mom always told me to do when I encounter a bully, ignore them.
"So you're ignoring me, huh? Well, this will teach you to never come to my park again!" He said angrily. With that, he pushed me off my bike and onto the hard ground.
I felt my knee scrape against the rough floor and I felt pain. I started crying when I felt blood go down my leg.
He pushed my bicycle on top of me and it pushed me to the ground. I started crying heavily.
"Get away from her!" I heard a boy shout.
I heard his footsteps walking to me. He lifted the motorcycle from my legs and helped me get up. I was crying in pain.
"Are you okay?" He asked me, and he saw the blood on my knee and his eyes widened.
"Come with me, my mom's a nurse. She'll help you!" He said cheerfully and helped me walk to his mom, who was sitting on a bench, reading a book.
"Mom! My friend just got hurt by the mean guy, David," he called to his Mom. She looked at me with soft eyes and walked over to me.
"Hi, sweetie. It's alright, don't cry. Everything's gonna be just fine okay?" She bent down to my face level, wiped away my tears and smiled. She walked over to the bench, took a towel and poured water on it.
She made sit on the bench as she cleaned my blood and pressed on my knee. I started crying because of the pain. The boy sat next to me and held my hand. After that, she put a smiley face bandaid on my knee.
"There you go. All better! You were so brave," she praised me.
Thanks I said in sign language.
"Oh, you can't speak honey? Here's my book and a pen. Write down your name," she said. I wrote my name in a very messy handwriting.
"Nice to meet you Erin," she smiled. "Now, both of you go play"
The boy held my hand and we ran back to the playground.
"I'm Jack! I don't like David. He's mean. You were so brave, Erin! You know, my Mom said this to me last time David bullied me. When the going gets rough, the rough gets going," he said. I smiled because my mom said that too. "You are my new best friend! Can you promise me something?"
I nodded.
"Whenever you feel like you can't do anything, just remember that when we are together, we can get through anything, and we can defeat David!" He said happily and held out his pinky finger. I wrapped my pinky around his.
We both smiled together as we ran to the swings.
"Whenever you feel like you can't do anything, just remember that when we are together, we can get through anything," Jack repeated.
Even David? I smiled through my tears. He chuckled.
"Yes, even David," he smiled. "Now, come on. We need to catch up with Raf and Miko."
We held each other's hand.
But before we could run, we heard a blaster being fired.
Uh oh.
The shot hit the Energon crystal that was blocking us, and exploded. Jack and I were flung back.
We were thrown back at the explosion and I winced as we hit the ground hard.
I lay on the ground and started to lose consciousness.
My eyes looked around, hoping to find Jack, and I did, but my vision was blurred so I couldn't make out his form, but he was also on the ground.
Before I could reach my hand out to him, my consciousness slipped.
The last thing I heard before I passed out was the sound of the entire cave exploding.
Darkness.