Alright guys, hopefully this one-shot will fair better than the last one. Enjoy!
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1. A New Home
Taylor and her human family stood in a bustling train station. It was six o’clock in the morning. Taylor had a black, plastic suitcase in her hand, and a red shoulder bag in the other. The treaty between humans and the Autobots had been signed. The United States Government permitted them a location for a headquarters: in a small countryside in Colorado. Optimus Prime requested that she join them. Without any hesitation, she accepted. She even had a house to live in!
“Text us when you get to Silver Springs!” A young, Jacob “Spike” Witwicky requested.
“I will! Don’t worry!” Taylor replied, smiling.
She exchanged hugs with the Witwickys’ as she heard the whistle on her train blow to signal it was boarding passengers.
“Well…, I guess I’ll see you” The redhead sighed, awkwardly, adjusting her glasses. Daniel Witwicky took both of her hands and ordered firmly with a hint of nervousness in his tone:
“Please be safe Taylor.”
Taylor nodded. “I will. Trust me, I’ve gotten this far. Plus-” she winked, “-I have a very good friend looking out for me.”
Daniel chuckled. “Of course.”
The whistle blew again.
“I need to get going” said Taylor, gesturing to the train as she started slowly walking backwards.
“We’ll plan a trip soon, okay!?” Spike called.
Taylor grinned. “I look forward to it.”
And with that, she rushed to the train and boarded the second car. She settled into a seat near the window in the very back, and sat down, placing her luggage in front of her. She put her handbag in her lap, and watched as the rest of the passengers stepped into the car and took their places. Then, a few minutes later, the train jolted, and it started on its way. Taylor watched, as the town in Michigan that she called “home,” fading away over the horizon behind her.
*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*
Taylor jolted awake hours later as her train car crossed over an intersection with a loud rattle. She looked over to the window. She could see thin, grassy plains, and tall rocky, clay orange and brown canyons soaring above it. Taylor yawned, and pulled out her phone to the camera. She had put on a little makeup the day before and needed to adjust it. Her mascara had run a little in different directions. She sighed and just decided to wash it all off with a wipe. She was a soldier, she had absolutely no need for makeup.
Her train soon stopped, and the hustle and bustle was overwhelming to the senses. Taylor pulled out her phone around twenty minutes later, and her left thumb flew on the keyboard, texting her friend and escort that she had arrived. She struggled to hold her suitcase, two bags of miscellaneous items, her purse, and her phone. But she wasn’t paying attention to that.
“I’ve arrived! :)”
She anxiously awaited a response, and then a minute later, her guardian responded with:
“That’s a smiley face. I get it now. I’ve got to learn how to do that! We’re about five Earth minutes away. I’ll be waiting outside the entrance.”
Taylor smiled, and chuckled.
She texted back, “Affirmative. I’ll be there!”
Suddenly she felt herself colliding into something and almost fell! Her luggage went flying, including her phone! A young man, about in his mid twenties, with a cowboy hat and pale blue shirt, long jeans with boots, stared at her with frozen brown eyes.
“Oh gosh! I-I am so sorry, ma’am!” He exclaimed.
He picked up Taylor’s phone. Taylor froze herself when he picked it up.
“Please don’t see my messages, please don’t see my messages” she thought, holding her breath.
However, the young man quickly handed Taylor her phone and stammered, “Here! Let me help you!”
Taylor said nothing as she shoved her phone into her jacket pocket and zipped it up. She bent down along with him to pick up her luggage.
Once they stood up, the man was about to give her her luggage back, but then said, “Let me help you get your bags out front! Your hands are full.”
“Yes. I could use the help, thank you. I think I overpacked.”
The man chuckled. “That’s nothing to be ashamed of.”
When they exited the station, Taylor looked around, then spotted a yellow Volkswagen Beetle slowly pulling up to the front. Taylor turned to the young man and thanked him for the help.
“You sure you don’t want me to help you load your luggage?”
Taylor shook her head. “No, I can take it from here.”
Then, the man tipped his hat and said, “Have a good rest of your day ma’am.”
And with that, he disappeared from sight.
When the yellow beetle pulled in, the trunk in the back popped open. A soldier hopped out to assist her with her bags, although she didn’t really need it, and only stood there. Then, Taylor slammed the truck door shut, and hopped into the front passenger seat. “Phew!”
“Who was helping you with your bags?”
Taylor jumped. She forgot Bumblebee would speak through the same way the radio projected music in his alt mode..
She composed herself before replying, “Just someone I ran into, literally.”
“Hmm…I see.”
“What, you jealous?”
“What? No!” the voice retorted, “What makes you think I meant that?”
“Mmm, I dunno.”
“Knightingale” the voice warned,
Taylor laughed. “Sorry, Bee. Earth habit.”