She's Just a Human | Transformers

48: Facing The Edge

His laugh slices through the darkness like a knife into flesh, piercing through my ears, making me shiver.

With my hands stretched in front of me, I try to run without slamming into any wall.
I can't see anything.
I could put my hand right before my eyes and not see a finger.

I trip several times and even fall down twice, but in less than a second, I'm already up again, running.

I can listen him behind me, clinking his daggers together.
I made the mistake of turning around at a moment. Only to see him some feet away from me, his bright red psychopath-optics illuminating his faceplate and his twisted metal smile.

My breath is heavy and uneven, my stomach is hurting, my legs soar and I even feel tears in my eyes; not because of sadness but because of frustration.
I feel damn desperate, I feel I've been running for hours, not even knowing if this place has an exit, not even knowing if I will get out alive...

"You run fast for being a human" he chuckles behind me. "First of all, You are still running! But I can listen to your breath, I can hear your steps, I can feel your desperation"

I trip once again and try to run faster, pushing myself through the walls of this dark hallway.

At every step I give, my heartbeat gets faster, pain runs through my body and the lump in my throat gets thicker. I want to scream, stop running and just curl into a ball on the ground, close my eyes and cover my ears. But that can't happen. I can't let it happen.
I have to keep going. There's a way out of here.
There has to be.

He laughs once again and I feel my hair being slightly tugged.
I swallow a scream but a little cry manages to scape my mouth as I try to grow the distance between us.

There's something else besides the weird look and twisted face of this con that makes me shiver, something else that makes this way more... Personal.

Now where is this freakin corridor heading?!
With the other Decepticons that have chased me, I had never feel this way. I knew they needed me, so I wasn't exactly running for my life. This time I am.

I feel myself getting weaker and weaker, I'm starting to run slower.

"Goddammit no!" I clench my teeth, wishing I hadn't said that out loud.

"Well, well, look who's tired!"

I start running normally, without my hands stretched before me.

Bad idea.

Suddenly I crash against something. My face slams first so I instantly feel pain in my nose, I scream in pain as I fall down on my back, feeling blood dripping down my mouth and nose. Trying to ignore the pain, I stand up and explore the surface of the wall with my hands. It seems to be a metal door... Which cannot be opened.
"No no no no..." My voice trembles and I turn around, my back against the metal, my hands on my nose, trying to make the bleeding stop. I see his optics, shining through the dark. But I can't bare this...
So I close my eyes.

I breath through my mouth and my whole body is shaking.
Shaking with nothing but fear.
Fear of this Decepticon.
Fear I couldn't say goodbye.
Fear I...

Fear I might die.

For a moment, everything is silence. Complete silence. Sometimes, worse than noise. Most of the times...

"Well look at that... The human I was supposed to take down..."
His voice gets closer at every second.

I take my hands away from my face and squeeze them in fists. Having nothing to hold on to, I grab my sleeves, wishing I could have anything to hold on to.

"Now don't move... Don't. Even. Try"

I try to regularise my breathing, but I can't. It's shaky and heavy...
I try to swallow the lump in my throat, but only a nervous squeak leaves my mouth.

"Now why would you close your eyes? Don't you wanna see this?"
I feel cold metal brushing my arm. So cold I feel it through the sleeves of my shirt.
He chuckles.
"Oh well..." I hear how he steps back for a moment. "Now, wanna hear my story, Caelyn? Oh, because I know yours... Believe me I do" he says, I feel him standing right next to me, clinking his daggers. "I was meant to go after you... But then they said I was... What was the word? Oh yeah, defective" he spits that last word in front of me as I listen how he moves around. Still, I don't dare to open my eyes. "So I was left in a cage, they thought there was something wrong with me, that I couldn't do things everyone else does... I don't see it that way... On the contrary! I can do a lot more than anybody else"

His voice gets lower and deeper.
I listen he rises one of his daggers and I feel the cold metal on my left cheekbone.

"A lot. More."

He slides the dagger, drawing a cut through my cheekbone, which certainly starts bleeding, I feel the pain and in the moment he takes the dagger away, I let go a small sob out of my lips.
He chuckles.

"If only they could see me now... If only they could see this exact moment... Oh, and what's about to come..." I can perfectly imagine him smiling. "You know, it's funny, you were the human I was supposed to kill when they said I wasn't functioning correctly... So I'll just assume it was your fault. But now... Now you're the one that's gonna give everything I lost back... My duty and place to be... Now isn't that funny?" He chuckles. "And I didn't let you say goodbye or anything, you may ask yourself: why? Well..." He gets closer to me. Way too close. I feel his faceplate right next to my face, against my right ear. "Just for mere fun..."

I listen him step back.

"Who knows? Maybe I won't stop with you.... There's your new family, the rest of them, their sparks and hearts waiting for me..."

He tells me everything, every cruel, heartless threat you can imagine. Every word, every thought, every detail.

"Stop.. Please stop..." I breathe out, my whisper almost impossible to be heard.

Chuckling.
Sharp, deep, terrifying.
And then silence.

I swear I'm trembling like crazy, I feel the world spinning, even with my eyes closed. The air I breath is thick, my face feels sticky and wet, the metallic taste of blood fills my mouth and all I want to do...
Is scream.

"Oh how I wish they could see me now!" He suddenly speaks, making me cringe. He's right in front of me. Talking really close to my face. "But oh well... I guess I'll have to do this with no witnesses... But I'll show them... When I get to them, dragging you behind me... They'll see. They'll see the mistake they made... They'll see"

I hold my breath.

And listen to it before I feel it.

A loud noise that fills my ears and makes me freeze.

A strange cold takes over my body.

I listen to a last breath. And some words, impossible to understand...

But they're not mine.

I don't feel any more pain.

So I open my eyes.

To see the con lying on the floor, a shot right on his head.
His optics offline, his smile gone.
Dead.

I slowly and shakily look up and find a man I'd never seen before holding my gun and the lantern that was on top of the desk back on the other room.
When my gaze meets his bright blue eyes, I understand.
It's Optimus' holoform.

I finally breathe again and run to him. He drops the gun and lantern and opens his arms as I instantly wrap mines around him.

"O-Optimus..." My scared shaky voice echoes in the silence that just took over the place.

"I'm here... I'm here" he holds me tight but sweetly under his arms.

"I...he... He was saying all these things and I... I couldn't... I was so afraid..."

"It's alright.... You're alright now" he squeezes me a bit.

"Don't let me go just yet..." I whisper, strongly closing my eyes and holding him tighter. He strokes my hair.

"I won't"