Shortrange Encounter Ch. 5

Charlie squealed Shortrange to a stop a good thirteen miles away from the starting point of the race.  She almost kicked the door open of the car and stomped out, her screams echoed through the night sky.  The crickets that once chirped fell silent from the cursing verses that spilled from Charlie’s mouth.  Shortrange was able to make out a few of the words that he could probably say in Cybertronian but he didn’t do anything but let Charlie let out her steam in her own way.  It was all he could do.

Thankfully the night was warm with no clouds in the sky, the crescent moon was out though, with it’s little bit of light it was able to light up parts of the road and fields.  Shortrange noticed that Charlie started throwing rocks out in the field still swearing under her breath.  Shortrange than decided he was going to help a little.  He started looking through the Internet to find some relaxing music that may help Charlie cool down.  His scanners stopped on a musician named Gustavo Santaolalla.  The musician’s acoustic guitar playing was soothing to the receptors and he knew it would calm Charlie down.

Shortrange noticed Charlie looking over towards him, finally hearing the music after throwing a huge stone, she was breathing heavily as she made her way back over to him.  She sighed deeply as she sat side ways down in the car, her head in her hands.

“Ma was right...” Charlie finally spoke.  “…like always.”  Charlie straightens her back and sat straight in the car, started Shortrange back up and pulled out back on the road.

Shortrange knew it was going to take a bit for her to calm completely down but she was doing better than when she was pulled over.  Shortrange continued to play the soft, yet alluring guitar music.  He took noticed that Charlie wasn’t squeezing the steering wheel as hard as before so he knew the music he picked was accurate for this situation.

Suddenly high beams appeared behind Charlie and Shortrange.  Charlie hissed from the bright lights.

“What the hell?”  Charlie tried to look back to see the asshole that was shining his brights at her.  But the light was so bright Charlie could only make out the lining of the vehicle.  Charlie slowed down so the ass would pass her, but instead the vehicle slammed it self behind Charlie.  Shortrange’s spark jumped as he took control over his motor system.  He used his mirrors to look back but he too couldn’t see the human that was driving…in fact he couldn’t see anyone in the vehicle.

Shortrange couldn’t form the curse word that came to his thoughts when a huge hummer truck came out of nowhere and slammed itself on the side of his vehicle form.  Charlie screamed but kept a firm grip on a steering wheel she had no control of.  Charlie looked back at the two vehicles pursuing her.

“Is Cara trying to run me off!?”  Charlie gasped in fright as the hummer slammed behind her again.

Charlie looked for her phone to call for help.  She saw it was on the passenger seat right away, she quickly reached over to grab it but what she didn’t noticed was the up coming sharp turn and Shortrange didn’t notice that she wasn’t paying attention and turned the wheel sharply, thinking she would.  Charlie lost her grip on the steering wheel and slipped.  Shortrange got distracted when Charlie slipped and that was enough for him to roll off the sharp turn.

Charlie screamed sharply as she and Shortrange tumbled down the hill, they finally stopped with Shortrange landing on his wheels.  Shortrange’s passenger side window shattered during the fall and cut Charlie up, his front viewing window was cracked and so was the driver side window.  Charlie picked her upper body up from leaning over on the passenger side.  Her back slumped back against her seat.  She was breathing loudly in panic.  She had some blood streaming down her face, her arms where cut up and bleeding, her legs where spared because of her jeans.  Shortrange was fine; he was built to with stand tumbles like that but Charlie wasn’t.  Shortrange scanned her body for any fractures or internal bleeding, not seeing two giant figures walking towards them.

Charlie started to breath heavily.  She tried to calm down and tried to remember what her mother said about what she should do if she ever was in a wreck.  Charlie kept her head straight and not to move her neck any more than she already did.  After she got her head and neck where she wanted them to be, she command her brain to wiggle her toes and fingers.  Charlie could feel her toes and fingers wiggling, she than tried to move her hands and feet, they too also moved.

She sighed in relief, but that relief was cut short when a deep electric shock coursed through her body.  Charlie never screamed so loudly before in her life.  Shortrange couldn’t help himself but scream out loud as well.  The shock was intense that he transformed in his bot form, thankfully he was careful as he transformed around Charlie.  After his transformation he cradled Charlie in his arms.

“Well, well, well.”  Knock Out chuckled darkly.  “Guess our scanners were correct!”

Breakdown chuckled as his hand transformed into his signature hammer.  “If you wanted to hide, you shouldn’t have squealed out of that race like you did.”

Shortrange cursed, he wanted to help Charlie prove her point to the other human female but he didn’t realize two decepticons where close by.  How would he have known?  Even though he asked himself that question, he knew deep in his spark that it was because he was distracted by Charlie and what was going on with her.  Thinking of her, he jolted as he looked down at her, expecting to see those blue eyes look up at him in horror but was he saw made his energon go cold.

Charlie is limp, she didn’t even seem to be breathing, her head laid to the side, her right arm rest on top of her body as her left arm was tucked under her body, while her legs turned into the fetal position.

“Well, looks like we got his pet.”  Breakdown laughed as he jumped in the air.

Shortrange held Charlie close and as comfortably as he could as he tumbled away when Breakdown slammed his hammer deeply into the ground.  The hammer’s impact on the ground made a huge dust cloud and a five foot crater.

Once Shortrange was stable on his legs again, he looked down at Charlie, scanning her body, but he was shaking.  He was shaking so much he wasn’t able to focus, he shut his eyes, he couldn't take seeing Charlie like this.  His spark started to hurt like it did when he failed his squad during the war.  He couldn’t help the sharp bark.

“Girl!”

Shortrange opened his eyes to watch her, trying to see any kind of twitch.

Nothing…

“Charlie!”  He shouted her name for the first time, and possibly...the last.

When Charlie again didn’t respond Shortrange started to hyperventilate as he held Charlie’s limp body in his arms.  “Please,” Shortrange started to shake more as emotions started to take control.  “…don’t be one with the All Spark!”

Shortrange continued to hyperventilate as images of his fallen comrades flooded into his mind.  Spilt energon seem to seep from his hands as Charlie’s body was replaced with a hallucination of a fallen autobot.  Finally Shortrange’s weak knees gave out and landed hard on the ground, his mind gone blank as he continued to stare at Charlie’s body.

A small whimper finally came from the girl’s weak body, after the shock from falling.  That single whimper knocked Shortrange back to reality as Charlie moved her head slightly in pain, tears started to run down her cheeks.

“Charlie!”

“Mom…” Charlie gasped out.

Shortrange felt a sinking feeling in his spark chamber.  “Don’t worry…I will get you out of here!”  He raised himself from the ground, he cradled Charlie in one arm and than pulled out a small rod.  He squeezed hard and edges extended into a staff.  

“There is no escape autobot!”  An evil chuckle rang in Short’s audio receptors; he slowly turned to face his opponents with a cold glare.  Knock Out walked along side Breakdown, who pulled out his hammer from the ground, out of the smoke from the crater, Knock Out had his own electric staff out and ready to go.

Shortrange growled.  “There's always an escape."  He raised his staff in the air, the tip of the weapon started to glow when Shortrange started to spin it.  After a two more seconds, he stabbed the weapon into the ground.  Everything went bright white as a flash blinded both Knock Out and Breakdown.

“Gah!  My optics!”  Knock Out screamed.  “My beautiful optics!”

Breakdown tried to shield from the light but it didn’t help, as he too could not see.  “Autobot scum!”

After a few minutes the light finally subsided and Shortrange was no where to be found.  Knock Out sighed in disappointment as Breakdown smashed a boulder that was close to him in annoyance.

~!~

The hospital in Wausau was quite, which was nice for a change for Katrina Mills.  She was able to get a chance to finish the book she has been reading for the past couple of days.  She sat down her book, along with a can of soda at her desk.  She sighed as she sat down and picking up her book and began to read quietly to herself.  She chuckled to herself as she turned the page, she took a sip from her soda can before almost choking on her drink from the loud ringing from her desk phone.  

"This is Aspirus Wausau Hospital ER, how may I place your call?"

Shortrange's panic voice got the nurse on full alert.

"My companion is hurt!  I need assistance!"

Katrina snapped her fingers at Lilly, her desk partner, who then pressed a button that would put some of the staff on alert.  

"Sir, you have to remain calm as best as you can, what is the condition of your friend?"  Katrina started typing the information the man was giving her.

"She is bleeding from her head, she has many cuts and some abrasions on her arms.  And I believe she was shocked!"

"Where are you?"  Katrina motioned for Lilly contact an EMT.

"I am under two miles from the hospital!"

"How did this happen?"  Katrina continued typing.

"She was in a car accident!  I think she hit an electric fence!  Because I heard buzzing from the area she was in."

"Where you in the same car as her?"

"Negative!  I was following her, she hit a turn too sharply and rolled!"

"Sir, what is your name?"  

"I am here!!  Hurry!"

Katrina's head whipped up when she heard tires squealing.  She picked up the phone for the intercom.

"We have a Trauma Red at the east entrance!"

Katrina spotted Lilly running towards the door.  

"I repeat, Trauma Red at the East Entrance!"  Katrina hung up the phone and ran towards the doors.  Katrina spotted Lilly checking a woman in a VW Jetta.  The woman is probably in her early twenties, or maybe mid twenties.  Lilly checked the girl's pulse.

"She is weak!"  Lilly went on her radio.  "Need a stretcher now!!"

Katrina went to the other side of the car and climbed into the back of the car and positioned the girls's neck to prevent any more possible harm.  While Katrina's held the head of her victim, she noticed something.  She looked outside the windows of the car.

"Lilly, is the man who called this out there?"

Lilly helped put the neck brace on the girl as the other paramedics came with the stretcher.  

"No...in fact, I didn't see anyone around when I came out."

Katrina didn't question anything further as she helped take the woman out and fasten her in the stretcher.  

"Do we have any I.D. on her? I didn't get a look at her face."  Lilly asked Katrina who was still in the car.

Katrina looked around the vehicle and saw a billfold on the floor.  She picked up to open it up, hopefully it will have an I.D. card or driver's lisence.  When Katrina opened the wallet and read the name of the woman, her blood went cold.  

"Katrina...what is it?  Who is it?"  

"It's Charlie....Suzi's daughter..."  

At hearing the name Lilly's face also went pale.

~!~

10:16p.m.

The night sky exposed the stars and their glistening beauty behind the jagged pine trees.  Furry creatures scampered about looking for a late night snack or looking for a place to rest for the night, while the creatures of the night came out to feast.  A hawk circled over head and dived down for a mouse he spotted but he quickly flew back up in the sky when two bright blue-pink eyes appeared out of nowhere.

The loud noise of sucking liquid through a straw seemed like it could have been heard for miles but the pine trees helped decrease any sound from escaping the surrounding area.

“It’s nice not to see a barren dessert for once.”  Jack stated as he continued to slurp down his beverage, while Arcee leaned against a boulder a mile away into the woods from Charlie’s house.  “You sure this is where she lives?”

Arcee checked her wrist.  “These are the coordinates that I received from Raf.”

“Well…it is Friday, she may be out.”  Jack finished his drink, but kept a hand on the empty cup.

“Possible…” Arcee kept her optics on the house. “But we will stay here for another hour to make sure.”

“How do you even know if her car is the one we are looking for?”  Jack looked up at her waiting to hear the answer to which he probably knew already.

“When that human left with that car, the signal disappeared.”  Arcee than relaxed a little bit more, she looked down at Jack who was rubbing the bridge of his nose.  “Tired?”

Jack shook his head.  “No, I…I just don’t understand why this…Shortrange is it?  Is hiding from you guys.”

Arcee looked up at the sky for the first time in an hour.  “My guess is because he is ashamed.  Ashamed of abandoning his fellow soldiers or he got too scared and ran from the battlefield, he wouldn’t be the first you know.”

“Do you think he joined up with the decepticons?”  Jake had a little unsteadiness to his voice.

“I don’t think so… and if he was, he would have killed the girl the moment she stepped in.”  Arcee stated bluntly.

“Well, I hope…”

Jack went silent as red and blue lights flashed in the distance.  Soon a police car rolled up into Charlie’s drive way.   Arcee and Jack started to move closer as quietly as possible.  They were at the tree line and saw two police officers walked up slowly to the wooden door.

A woman, who Jack remembered being Charlie’s mother came to the door.  After a second one of the officers had to lunge to catch her before she could fall to the ground in tears.

“Arcee?!”  Jack looked up at her in a panic tone.

“There has been an accident about 43 miles away from here…”  Arcee strained her hearing.  “And that girl was in it.”

~!~

Shortrange remained in the spot he pulled up at the hospital.  To not raise any suspicion, he changed his vehicle appearance to keep the story he told true and just in case there was a security camera near by, which he knew there was.  But even if he wanted to leave, he couldn't.  His spark was weighing heavily over him.  He had to make sure Charlie was going to be okay.  His spark went to his stomach when he witnessed Charlie's mother coming to the hospital mere minutes ago.  Shortrange was amazed at the woman, she was visibly shaking but she was focused as she rushed into hospital doors to find her daughter.

Images of his comrades in arms began to invade his mind once again after a week of peace.  He felt like he betrayed her, like how he betrayed his friends.  He should have known that those two decepticons where there, he knew he should have kept his cloaking device up.  Why did he get so distracted?  HOW did he get so distracted?  

From where Shortrange was he looked up at the hospital.  He began to think about Charlie and their week together.  She took him for rides that lasted well over an hour after her time at  the Institution where she studied and it was to different places of where she lived.  He gotten to know what music she liked and what she didn't.  He listened to movies she liked when she would stop in the middle of nowhere and just sit there.  She even just watched as the sun faded into horizon.  He even found how she lost her father to a horrible accident that happened out west.  She was completely different from the other humans he saw on his short time on Earth.  He felt safe and relaxed around her.  

So he answered his question on "why and how he got so distracted".  It was because with his short time with the girl, he realized that even after loosing a great deal, you still have to keep finding something to fight for.  Charlie found to keep fighting for her mother, to keep the car she loved in check and once that was taken away, she still fought to keep her spirits up afterwards.  And that's what Shortrange had to do and protecting Charlie was his reason to live right now.  

Shortrange strained his sensors to check the computers on Charlie's condition.  He found her file right away because it seemed she was the only one in critical condition at the hospital at the moment.  

He sighed deeply in relief.  

Charlie is in stable condition.  She has a fracture collarbone, along with other cuts and bruises, she has some electrical shock but nothing that was too damaging.

With a flicker of his dash, he made a hologram of a human to enter in his vehicle mode and make it look like the human drove off.  Shortrange had to use the deception because he had to get back to the origin of the wreck and transform back into the VW Beetle he was in before, he had to make the story he made convincing and to do that, he had to go back and lay in the ditch until he can get someone to find him

"Don't worry Charlie...I will be right back..."  Shortrange pulled out and headed down the familiar road of where his short battle took place.  Once there he scanned the area of any decepticon or autobot signals, when he found none, he transformed back into his beetle mode and laid on his side, he intentionally cracked his right side window and front window to make it look convincing that he rolled.

Once in place Shortrange place an anonymous phone call to the police of his whereabouts and sat patiently waiting, and after sometime he could hear sirens in the distance.