Hidden Spark on Earth (TFP)

Chapter 39

She made her way out of the mall towards Ratchet only to tense a little and glance around at the sudden feeling of being watched. The feeling was unnerving and she walked over to Ratchet quickly, opening the door and sliding in, sighing with relief when the feeling went away.

"Everything okay?" Ratchet asked as he started his engine and drove towards the exit of the lot.

"Yeah...I just felt the sudden feeling of being watched when I was walking back to you," Saphira said, glancing out the windows with a worried expression. "It was a little bit unsettling. But...I think I was just being paranoid."

Ratchet hoped that was the case, it wasn't exactly a good thing to hear she felt she was being watched. Saphira sat the slow cooker beside her and put the seatbelt on to keep it secured and relaxed in the seat as he drives away. She was already thinking about the different recipes she could try with the slow cooker, and she was excited about it.

"I haven't asked in a while, but how has your school been going?" Ratchet asked curiously, and Saphira raised an eyebrow before chuckling softly. "What? Oh, I see...you're thinking about the time I helped Raf, Jack and Miko with their schoolwork. Don't worry, I am not going to interfere with yours."

She chuckled again at Ratchet as she was laughing at him mainly because of the question he had asked. "It is just a bit strange that you would be interested in human schoolwork. But, if you want to know, I am doing quite well. I got back the results for my exams last week and they are all A pluses. I am not worried about getting through school, though. I do not see myself going to college in the future anyway."

"Why not?"

"Firstly, the cost. If you have a look at how much it is just to go to college, you will be shaking your head." Saphira shakes her head as she speaks about it. "When I was a kid, I used to want to go to Princeton because my mother went there. But that is one of the top places to get into, and I have no means of paying for it without going into debt. Personally, I would rather just keep myself with you and the other autobots. I feel that being a part of something to help save this world from destruction is a bit more important than going to college."

"If you were able to pay for college, would you still consider going?"

She pondered about the answer to that. If she had the money to go to college, it would definitely be something she would want to do. But...her relationship with Optimus would stop her. "I don't know, if I am honest. I guess I will never know. If I did have the money and my relationship with Optimus played out as it has already...I am not sure."

Ratchet was satisfied with the answer. He himself would have encouraged Saphira to go to college, but with what she has already admitted, she would not want to leave the base to go to college. He smiled silently to himself, he was happy she would likely intend on staying with them for a long time. Ratchet still hoped Saphira would have future plans for herself. Seeing her building the garden on that abandoned piece of land showed how good she was with tools. He could see her doing that for herself for the rest of her life.

Saphira smiled as the sky was dimming due to the setting sun. "It has been a good day today. I can't wait to get home...and just...spend quality time with Optimus."

"Pfft, I hope the quality time means talking, maybe him watching you do this Zumba," Ratchet said in a stern voice, making Saphira giggle at him. "Though, it will be good when you apologize to him. Even if you didn't mean anything by it, it still affected him."

"Yeah...I guess..." Saphira glanced out the window and sat up straighter when she spotted something ahead of them. Something that wasn't there earlier when they were heading into town. "What the frag?" She leaned a little to take a closer look before gasping and pulling back in fear. "There's a body hanging in that tree!"

Ratchet drove by the tree, he too was shocked by what he saw. It was a human body, a mutilated human body. It only hand the uppers and chest still attached, the head and lower half were gone, except for the dripping intestines. The wrists had been slashed and it was hanging for anyone to see.

"Who in the All Spark would have done that?" Ratchet asked in disbelief. "Could that mean some dangerous human is out roaming this part of the world?"

"Could be." Saphira shuddered as she tried to get the image out of her mind. "I am not going to forget that in a hurry. You should warn the others about it, the kids will certainly have nightmares about it. Even I will." She was very unsettled by the sight, shaking her head in disbelief. "If only I was old enough, a nice, stiff drink might do the trick. Especially..." She gasped loudly as a pair of headlights, coming from the left at a crossroads, sped towards them. "RATCHET LOOK...AHHHH!"

She screamed when the large, heavy vehicle slammed into Ratchet's side, turning ever so slightly to push him off the road. Saphira clutched the seat tightly, clenching her eyes closed as Ratchet was dragged through the dirt. She opened her eyes briefly, only to see the bot being pushed off the edge of a cliff that fell up to twenty feet down.

Ratchet slammed on several sharp edges before he suddenly transforms, causing Saphira to fly from his grasp as he landed on his stomach and face onto the ground. She screamed, hitting a sharp rock, her right shoulder instantly was a blaze with pain as the dusty, rock dug into her flesh as she slid down it. She landed on her rear and grasped her shoulder with a grimace, her shirt was torn and she looked over to Ratchet. He had been knocked unconscious.

She scrambled to her feet and ran over to him. "Ratchet! Ratchet, wake up!" She yelled as she grabbed his antenna and shakes his head to try and wake him. She glanced up when she heard the loud rumble of the car engine that had pushed Ratchet off the cliff, she could hear the car rolling down the road. She glanced to her right and saw there was a way down, smooth way down into this lower area of the desert. "Frag..." She realized this person might be the person who had that other person strung up in the tree. "Frag, frag, frag!" She glanced around in a panic and pulled a bush from it's roots to place in front of Ratchet, a feeble attempt in covering him. "Ratchet..."

She felt panic filling her and she realized she had to run or she would be killed. She glanced at Ratchet, she didn't want to leave him, but she also did not want some other human to discover the autobots. Not ones she wouldn't trust. She had to run to not only to stay alive, but also to keep this person away from Ratchet. She looked around and ran away from Ratchet, she had already forgotten about the watch on her wrist as her panic caused her to only think of running and keeping this person away from the autobots. At least for the moment, especially as she heard the angry rev of the vehicle turn her direction to follow her while Saphira looked for rough enough terrain to prevent them from following.