Chapter Four
Frankie and Mac had their shares of crazy nights?enough to start a wacky cartoon program for kids and adults. But what they had gone through the other night was beyond crazy. And they both had a real hard time trying to convince the officers at the police station that what they were telling them was the truth and not some sugar- or drug-based delusion. Luckily, through one phone call that they made to Sean Andrews, they didn?t have to stay for much longer to convince the local authorities.
Unfortunately, Bloo, Wilt, Eduardo, and Coco just happened to have been with Sean and his sister at the time they called, and Bloo?s continuous chanting of ?Mac and Frankie got arrested!? in a singsong voice and from the top of his lungs only made matters seem worse for the two.
?Cut it out, Bloo.? Mac demanded. ?We were involved in a serious situation last night. Frankie?s car did something that no other
ordinary car should ever do.?
?What? Blow a gasket?? Bloo laughed wildly over his own joke.
Frankie just rolled her eyes at him. ?Just ignore him Mac. He wouldn?t even believe us if we told him.?
?Believe what?? Wilt curiously asked.
?Nothing.? Frankie replied. ?Let?s just get back home and pretend like none of this had ever?? The familiar roar of a car engine soon interrupted her. It was at that moment when she spotted her Camaro parked near the sidewalk, only a few blocks away. ?OH, NO!!!?
?IT?S HERE!! IT?S BACK!!!? Mac yelled.
Their friends looked to each other in confusion, as both Mac and Frankie screamed. They wondered what was up with the two, even as they started running in the opposite direction of the car. Chasing after them, they barely even noticed how the Camaro had been trailing them.
?Frankie!? Sean yelled after her. ?What the heck is this all about??
?We thought maybe it was a dream! It?s not! It?s real! My car?s
alive! I bought Satan?s Camaro!?
Their friends again found themselves exchanging odd looks over the bizarre behavior of Frankie and Mac. Even Eduardo had to ask, ?Have senor Mac and senorita Frankie gone muy loco?!?
?I hope not, Ed.? Alissa remarked.
How the group ended up in the parking lot under the freeway overpass they were not sure. Mac and Frankie only wished they had turned right instead of left at the last main intersection. On the other side of the lot, a familiar yellow Camaro kept pace easily, paralleling their process. Even the siblings and the imaginary friends found that very peculiar.
?Other way! Other way! Other way!? Frankie yelled, and she was so focused on the Camaro that she failed to see the police car that had parked directly in front of her. The driver?s-side door swung open sharply, and she ran right into it. She hit the ground very hard. Wincing in pain, she slowly peeled herself off the pavement.
Seeing what happened, Sean quickly went to Frankie?s aid while glaring at the driver of the cruiser. ?Hey! With all due respect,
officer, why don?t you watch how you open your doors??
?No. It?s okay. It?s okay. I?m fine.? Frankie told him, as she stumbled around to the front of the cruiser. ?Officer, you?re not gonna believe this, but my car?s trying to kill me and my friends.? The vague shape seated behind the wheel did not move, did not respond. Frankie squinted, her perception slightly blurred by the lights revolving steadily atop the cruiser?s roof. ?Are you listening to me? Hello?!? She slammed her fists down on the hood.
The police car responded by jerking forward and knocking her backward. Mac, the siblings, and the imaginary friends all looked on in shock, not expecting such a fierce reaction from a police officer. Sitting on the ground, the car looming over her, it struck her that she might have acted a tad rashly.
?Sorry,? she began, genuinely scared, ?no disrespect inten??
Before she could finish, the headlight covers swung open and the glaring bare bulbs telescoped outward, halting only inches from her face. Seconds later they rose skyward as the rest of the car transformed into a sixteen-foot-tall bipedal loosely humanoid robot. Enormous metal fingers reached downward.
?IT?S ANOTHER ONE!!!? Frankie screamed, scrambling backward. She somehow skidded just out of their reach as the blunt tips slammed into the asphalt. Pavement cracked, spider-webbing in all directions away from the metal fingertips. On her feet now, Frankie was running like heck, while her friends just looked on in shock. When she looked back over a shoulder, she saw that the thing was coming after
just her.
Swinging around and down in a broad, swift arc, the gigantic hand struck her square in the back and lifted her right off the ground, sending her flying into the windshield of a parked car, glass cracking underneath her. Badly bruised, Frankie turned on the hood as the robot stomped toward her. The mechanism that had taken the name of Barricade leaned over her. Massive metal fists smashed into the car on either side of Frankie, smashing fenders and support steel, splintering plastics and shattering glass.
Then Frankie heard a voice. Though the words that reverberated in her ears were perfectly lucid and understandable, they contained not a shred of humanity. ?ARE YOU FRANCES ?FRANKIE? FOSTER??
?What? I?yeah.?
?WHERE ARE YOUR ANCESTRAL ARTIFACTS?!?
?I?I?I?I have n-no idea what you?re ta-ta-talking ab-about?? she managed to stammer.
At that moment, three hard objects struck the ?face? of the robot, and it directly its attention in the direction that the objects came, seeing Frankie?s friends doing what they could to buy her enough time to escape from the mechanical menace. It worked.
Frankie leaped onto the roof of the badly damaged car. Sliding down the rear window and off the lid of the trunk, she hit the ground running along with her friends. Emitting a metallic snarl, the Decepticon reached down with one hand and flung the car aside as it started after its fleeing quarry.
?Frankie! What the heck is that thing?!? Sean asked.
?I?ll let you know once we?re away from it!? She responded.
Out of the eight of them, it was Eduardo who seemed to have screaming the loudest, crying out words in Spanish that only he himself could understand. Meanwhile, Bloo was enjoying every minute of this wild and unusual chase. ?OH, MAN! THIS IS THE MOST AWESOME AFTERNOON EVER!!!!?
Just then, another machine roared into view: the Camaro. They all stopped in their tracks, as it did a forty-mile-per-hour power slide and smashed sideways into the oncoming metal behemoth, knocking it into a skid across the asphalt. Both passenger doors swung open as the song ?Rescue Me? blared from the car?s speakers. Adding emphasis to the music?s message, the car?s horn began honking.
Across the pavement, the enormous robot was rising to its feet. After everything that had happened that afternoon, Frankie?s decision was not an easy one to make, but she felt she had no choice but to worry about it later. If there was a ?later.?
?EVERYBODY IN THE CAR!!? She yelled.
?Is there enough room for all of us in there?? Wilt wondered aloud.
?JUST GET IN!!!!!!!!? Frankie screamed, her voice squeaking at a very high pitch.
Entering from opposite sides, they dove into the front and back seats. As soon as they were in, the doors slammed behind them and the Camaro burned rubber peeling out. Falling behind, Barricade swiftly transformed back into its police cruiser persona and gave chase.
END OF CHAPTER FOUR