The World is on Fire

Chapter 5

Josephine wasn't entirely sure how many days had passed since she and Simon had been brought aboard the ship before they, along with several other humans, were brought into what looked like a makeshift throne room. Starscream watched them with an eager glint to his eyes while lounging on his chair. Several other Decepticons were scattered throughout the room, Thundercracker and the purple one, who, she had learned from scattered conversations with the other humans on their walk here, was named Skywarp were both flanking Starscream.

She allowed herself to observe the three and now that her adrenaline had worn off, she immediately noticed the similarities among them, the only difference she could find (beyond their personalities) was their color schemes.

As Josephine glanced around the room, she felt the stares that landed on her briefly before shifting to another one of the humans in their group. Every now and then she would meet a pair of those red eyes and would quickly look away from the hate-filled or curious stares.

Simon lightly squeezed her hand, grounding her. Josephine squeezed his hand in return, briefly catching his eye. They'd had hours to converse and plan for what they could only imagine they might face in the coming weeks and months, concluding that goal number one was to survive by any means necessary. Goal number two, which Josephine had argued was the same as the first one, was to stay alive. Goal number three, look for any way out and potentially a way to free more than just themselves. And finally, goal number four, protect each other.

It had given her a purpose and a goal to preoccupy and prevent her mind from wandering into bleak thoughts and worries that would do nothing good for her.

Josephine was jarred from her thoughts by the Decepticon that had herded them into the room barking at them to kneel before Starscream. Every instinct in Josephine warred against the request. Goals for surviving suddenly left her mind at the humiliating demand, and had it not been for Simon pulling her down as he got to his knees, Josephine was certain she would have either been killed on the spot or given over to Knock Out.

At that thought, her eyes found Knock Out who smirked as his own gaze met hers as if in promise. Josephine fought a shiver that trailed down her spine.

"Well, aren't you all a pathetic looking lot."

Starscream's voice grated on every single nerve, making Josephine wish she could cover her ears.

His comment was met with some laughter as the rest of the Decepticons took in their new group of slaves.

"Perhaps not all of you are completely useless though," Starscream sighed, resting his chin on a fist as he looked the humans over.

Seconds ticked past in silence, and Josephine could feel the collective breath being held by every single human.

"You there," he pointed a finger toward a cowering woman just to the right of Josephine, "Stand up and look at me."

The woman hesitated, clearly shaking from fear. And the hesitation seemed to do two things at once to Starscream. He looked clearly annoyed at her lack of immediacy, yet somehow seemed thrilled about it too. He waved a hand to the Decepticon that had marched them into the room.

If Josephine had blinked then she would have missed it. Out of nowhere, a male human appeared right beside the woman, gripping her arm hard enough that Josephine winced. He hauled her toward Starscream, a few strangled pleas for help escaping the woman's lips as she was unceremoniously flung to the floor at the Decepticon's feet. And as quickly as the man appeared, he disappeared, the black and white Decepticon behind them shaking his head slightly as if to reorient himself.