Annabelle

Night Terrors

I was running.

I didn’t know where, and I didn’t know why. But I knew whatever it was behind me was going to hurt me.

I kept running and running. I didn’t understand why, but I kept going. My feet were burning each time they touched the ground. My side ached with the forming cramp, urging me to stop and stretch. My lungs were wheezing, struggling to overpower my desperate need for more air.

It was dark. I was already scared from that, but now running from something that I didn’t even know was there.

I felt a hand on my shoulder.

I screamed and twisted away, running in the other direction.

I kept running and running, knowing now that the something behind me was a something.

Suddenly a wall showed up.

NO!

No, no no no nononononononononononononono, I have to going! No!

I banged on the wall, hoping it would open, but knowing it wouldn’t. I turned around as I heard the thing behind me’s footsteps. I closed my eyes and screamed.

!@#$%^&*(

“Annabelle!” a voice called from beside me.

I was panting, being soaked in my own sweat, looking dead ahead, sitting straight up. There was movement on my back, someone was touching my back. But it was gentle, just a smooth rub, very nice. Arms then wrapped around me, pulling my head on on their shoulder, hugging me tight and close. And I wasn’t protesting it.

“Bells,.” the voice said again, soothing me.

I felt around me. It wasn’t like the hard stone I was used to, it was the soft squishyness of a bed. And there was a human next to me…

I looked next to me to see Ironhide’s holoform, gently rubbing my back. His blue eyes shining against his black hair, watching me carefully.

“Ironhide…” I whispered, suddenly remembering everything that had happened. I looked down at my arms and saw that they had been bandaged, along with various other parts on my body. Optimus Prime had set up a watch, per Ratchet’s advice. The autobots took turns watching Bells as she slept. Keeping the holoform up was tiring, and a single autobot couldn’t be chosen for the task as they all cared for her. As Ironhide was the least hurt with the least amount of medical experience, he was first.

The autobot smiled, taking me into his arms. I sobbed into his shoulder as he continued to rub my back. I slowly began to regain a hold on myself, and he leaned back down against my bed, my head still resting on his shoulder, his arms wrapped protectively around me.

“Go back to sleep, Bells.” he ordered. “You still have a while until morning. I’ll protect you. If you have any more night scares, just imagine me there. I won’t let anything hurt you. Promise.”

And with that, I dozed back to face those demons again.

!@#$%^&*()

“How’s he doing?” Optimus asked Ratchet, looking over the green autobot in front of him.

“He’s still in stasis,” Ratchet replied, careful not to disturb his work. “I only have a few more welds and energon lines to repair. I secured all the main lines, subdued the leaking, and have began an IV to restore the loss energon.” Ratchet looked up, and let out a mechanical sigh. “Bulkhead’s a tough one.”

“That he is. And what about you?” Optimus pointed out. “When was the last time you recharged?”

Ratchet outwardly laughed at that, much to Optimus’ surprise. “Don’t start lecturing me on the importance of recharge, Prime.” Ratchet snarled, looking back down on Bulkhead. “Or need I remind you of the chain of command when it comes to medical conditions?”

Optimus smiled. He knew that the medic out-ranked him in medical situations, and was slightly annoyed that Ratchet freely used it to his advantage.

Before another word could be spoken, an ear-shattering scream filled the entire base.

Again.

“How many is that now?” Bumblebee asked, looking up at Optimus.

“Thirteen.”

“In how long?” Ratchet asked, pausing from his work.

“Three hours, forty-seven minutes, and thirteen.three seconds.”

“That’s not enough..” Bumblebee stated the obvious. “Should someone relieve Ironhide?”

::: I swear on Primus’ spark, Bumblebee if you even mention replacing me again I will presonally rip out your vocal cords again myself, and make fragging sure Ratchet won’t be able to fix them again. :::

All of the autobots except Bumblebee laughed at the threat from the weapon’s specialist that shot over the comm link system that they all had.

“Who left that open!?” Bumblebee demanded.

Optimus chuckled, then turned to his computer’s, looking for the decepticons. He had heard that Ratchet had injected Megatron with enough sedative to kill him four times over, but he still had a bad feeling about it.

!@#$%^&*(

“Shockwave!”

“What?”

“Look!”

The two decepticon’s stared in awe at the silver mech standing before them.

“My decepticons...prepare for battle!”