Through Ash and Dust (ROTB)

Chapter 23

Saphira did not really know how long she had been running through the city for. She had been keeping an eye out for any of the autobots as she wanted to find them, while also keeping away from Transit after he had targeted her directly. She did consider trying to stick around to where Bumblebee and Mirage were, but given that Transit seemed to be very smart and knew the map of the city extremely well, she guessed it was not worth trying to hang around because of that. She didn't want him to catch her so quickly, as she did not know where Optimus was. And she was hoping that she could find him.

But as she was running through the alleys as a means of avoiding the road to keep herself from Transit, Saphira had to think on what to do if she could not find the autobots here. She figured she could go back to the wharf or the warehouse, as the autobots may go back to those buildings as well. It could be a long shot, but Saphira didn't really know where else she could go that the autobots would even know or think to find her. She could find other random factory buildings, but it was a slim chance that they would go there. She would have to go to places by the water.

But as the city was so big, and Saphira was going to refuse to get on any of the buses. That would be stupid. But she could use a taxi, but she didn't have her money with her right now. That was with Optimus. She had no choice by to run through the city to try and get to the other side as quickly as possible. And she hoped to avoid encounters with unsavoury people as well. She did not want to have to deal with people stalking her through the city. But she expected that to happen.

She did eventually stop in a small alley to take a moment to give herself a break while thinking on her next plan. She looked up at the sky to see it was still night, and the moon's light was shining over the high rises around her. It was eerie, and she was cold. Even though she was moving quickly through the city, she was still feel the chill of the air. And the snow was starting to fall heavier as well, making it harder and more slippery on the cement as well.

I really hope that I can find one of the autobots...I don't even know if I'll be able to find my way to the wharf.

Saphira shivered as she took deep breaths while she thought on what to do. She needed to figure out how she was going to get to at least by the water so she could potentially find her way around. She knew the wharf had a few of the Statue of Liberty, so she would need to first find the statue at least. She focused as she had to remember the names of the streets that would leave her to the ocean, knowing that it was the only way to even make her way back to the wharf.

She rubbed her hands together as she shivered while getting her thoughts together. She really wished that there was a backup plan in case something like this was to happen, but they had not really thought or planned for something like this anyway. They had confidence that this would not happen. Saphira couldn't find it in herself to feel angry about it though. She knew this was not their fault. And she didn't want to blame them at all.

She took a deep breath and proceeded to the end of the alley to the next street, looking around and deciding to walk down the street to find a street name. She was lucky she wasn't in a busy part of town, so the streets weren't busy. But people who were in the streets were giving her weird looks as seeing a young woman walking through the streets in a panicked way did make some look at her with concern. Especially as some were looking in the opposite direction from her to see if they could spot who might be following her. It was kind of nice to know people were looking out for danger.

But before she reached the end of the street, she stopped as she saw a bus turning into the street and began to drive in her direction. Saphira did not know if this was Transit or not, even though she could see a drive and passengers in the bus, but they could easily be holograms. She glanced both ways on the street before she ran across it towards the next alley. She knew it might look funny to others to see someone run and hide from a bus, but she knew they would not understand at all.