Hidden Spark on Earth (TFP)

Chapter 40

Saphira looked around for something to defend herself with, and she spotted a large, dead tree. It was something. She ran towards it, hoping to Primus that the branches would hold her up. She jumped up at the first branch and pulled herself up, yelling as one of the coyotes managed to jump and ran her left pant leg. She kicked its face to make it let go and climbed up to the next few branches and held them tightly, she heard the tree creaking as she did so.

"This watch better work, Ratchet," Saphira said to herself breathlessly, pressing the blue button on her watch and glanced around hoping for a bridge to open nearby or for Optimus to show up very soon.

Meanwhile...

"Ratchet! Respond!" Ratchet groaned as he heard echoes yelling at him. He onlined his optics and looked up, glancing around in confusion for a moment before he remembered what happened. "Do you read me Ratchet?"

"I read you, Optimus," Ratchet responded with a light groan, he rubbed the bridge between his eyes. "I was knocked off the side of the road." He slowly stood up, noticing a stain of blood on a rock near him and he widened his optics. "Saphira! Saphira, where are you?!"

"We will bridge to your location, your signal isn't reading properly. You must have been hit hard enough for your tracker to be damaged." Ratchet was surprised by that, but he sent Optimus his coordinates. "We are bridging to you now."

Ratchet scanned his body and found damage to hit right side, there was a small energon stain and he realized something cut into him. "By the All Spark..." He stepped closer to the rock and scanned it to see how old it was. It had been a couple hours. He looked to his left as the bridge vortex opened and Optimus ran through with the other autobots. "Optimus, I am sorry. Saphira isn't with me."

"Did you give her the watch you made?" Optimus asked worryingly before he noticed Ratchet's injury. "Was it a decepticon?"

Ratchet shrugs with a confused expression. "I don't think so. There's something up there you should see when you get a chance. There's a human body strung up in a tree, Saphira and I saw it on our way back to the base. It was horrific, even for me to see."

"We are aware of it, Arcee and Jack came across it when they went out for a drive," Optimus said, he glanced around at the desert with a worried expression. "Jack said he assumed it could be a bloodthirsty maniac."

"Saphira said something similar...and then I was hit by a big vehicle." Ratchet shakes his head and rubbed the side of his face. "I can't even remember what it looked like." He shuddered and looked at Optimus with a sad expression. "I'm really sorry..."

Bee whirs loudly to them. "Tracks! I see tire and human tracks leading this way!" He points at the ground as he had walked around looking for the direction Saphira might have gone.

Optimus walked over to Bee, glancing down at the tracks, narrowing his optics. "Get Ratchet back to base so he can get himself patched up. I will track Saphira down."

"I can come with, boss. I'm more all terrain than you are," Bulkhead offered. "You may need the extra muscles if Saphira needs rescuing."

Optimus appreciated Bulkhead's offer. "I would agree to it, if you didn't sneak Miko along with you." He gestures to Bulkhead's chest, making the bot groan a little. "This is not the time to play games. I will go after Saphira, you will return to base."

Bulkhead opened his chassis slightly and Miko poked her head out with a frown. "But we wanna help too!"

Optimus transformed with a huff. "This is not up for discussion! Get back to..." He paused as Optimus picked up the signal of the watch. "I have her location! I will let you know when to bridge us back!"