"Go to the hardware store, and you get the list. The whole list." Uncle Cade says as I followed him and Lucas out to his car.

"What, you're gonna try to fix him?" Lucas asked, taking the list from him.

"Yeah, we're gonna fix him. Why do you think we're going to the hardware store?" I say from behind them. They basically ignored me.

"He's not a model train set, Cade." 

"No, that's right. He's important."

"Yeah, but important to who? You can't keep an alien locked up in your barn. What are you gonna do, play with him?"

"Will you calm down?"

"I'm trying to, but I just got hit in the head with a ten-foot cannon!" Lucas shook his head. I got in the passenger seat and buckled myself. "If he eats you, I get the GTO."

"He's not gonna eat anyone, he's an Autobot." I say out the window.

Cade nodded. "And if he does eat me, I've already left Hannah with the GTO, so you're not getting shit." He got down and looked in at me through the window. "Make sure he doesn't call the number."

I nodded as Lucas started the car and we pulled out of the driveway.

. . . . .

"Yeah, I can't take this anymore," Lucas says, making a sharp U-Turn on the 4-lane intersection. "I'm going to Urgent Care."

"Seriously? You're that much of a baby?"

"I would like to not have a concussion, Hannah."

I rolled my eyes. "I'm going in with you."

He didn't say anything as he turned into the parking lot of the hospital near the Urgent Care wing. We went inside, Lucas checked himself in, and we sat in the waiting area in complete silence. I didn't say anything at all during the check-up process. When we were leaving, I went to the bathroom, then we went straight to the hardware store and left.

When Lucas pulled in he did a weird half-donut and turned off the car. "We're back!"

"Took you long enough," Tessa says from the porch.

"My head hurts. I had to go to the doctor. I got a welt on my head that makes me look like a fricking Star Trek character."

I rolled my eyes as we went into the barn. Uncle Cade sent me back out to get some lunch, so that's what I did.

I was mid-spreading my peanut butter when Tessa called out to Cade. I put the stuff down on the counter and walked out. A bunch of black SUVs were pulling into the driveway, and it made me really uneasy. Uncle Cade came out as they pulled up to the house, circling around him on the dirt driveway and parking. All of the men that got out were wearing black and had sunglasses on. Some of them had really big guns.

One of them, a guy with silver hair, came up to my uncle as I did. I didn't feel comfortable being near the guy that was walking up onto the porch.

"Mr. Yeager, my name is James Savoy. I'm a federal agent." He said as I gripped my uncle's hand. "My men and I are trying to track down an abandoned truck." He looked around the yard, staring at me for a good bit. "Nice spread you got here. Too bad she's for sale."

"Well, thanks. She's not." Uncle Cade says. He let go of my hand and put his jacket on. "That the truck you mean?"

His head barely shook. "Afraid not. You know, Mr. Yeager, we received a call from someone concerned about this truck. That wasn't you?"

I barely heard Lucas curse to himself, but I didn't pay it any attention.

"The only thing I'm concerned about is you being on my property without permission. You know we got a rule about messing with people from Texas. And I don't know what truck you're talking about."

I knew. Loud and clear.

The man got right in his face. "The kind that cost American lives. Search the property!"

At that second they all dispersed and went into the barn, the house, and the garage.

"What do you mean, 'search the property?' You don't have a warrant."

"My face is my warrant."

That's a whole lot of bull. This is completely illegal. Then again, hiding a Transformer in your barn is kind of illegal, too, so...

"Wait, but if you guys do find a truck, we get a reward, right?" Lucas asks, backing away from the guy with the missile with his hands up. 

A helicopter went over and I saw a couple people throw up some drones. They went up in the fields and along the fence. "No signs. We got nothing."

"Sir, we have a live armed missile in the trash."

"Live? I carried that to the trash! You told me that was a dud, dude! I could be dead, right?"

My breath hitched. He freaking called.

"Look. Okay, yes, I found a truck, alright? I towed it back for the parts. I left it here last night. This morning, it's gone. When? Where? I don't know. I swear to God. That's as much as I know about him."

The guy put his hand to his ear. "Mr. Yeager."

"What?" He grabbed my hand and pulled me close.

"Excuse me. You just said, 'him.'"

He just stared at him.

'Now he's done it.'

"Take them down."

"What?" 

A guy from behind me pulled me away from Uncle Cade and I just starting screamin like it was bloody murder. "Let go of me!" The guy threw me on the ground and put his foot on my back. Another guy did the same to Tessa. I started to cry. 

"They don't know about the truck, I do! Just let them go!" A guy pushed Cade on the ground and heard guns click. 

"Alright! Load up! Search the perimeter!"

"Let them go!"

"Lucas, you called, didn't you?"

"No!"

"Yes, you did! You did when I went to the bathroom!" I shouted at him.

"I don't know any of these scary guys." They dropped him to the ground. The guy above me grabbed my hair and pushed my head down, pulling on my hair in the process. I only cried more because of how much it hurt.

"Now, you got ten seconds. Where's the truck?"

"You're gonna shoot my girls?" Cade asked, trying to get back up.

"If I have to,"

I was just screaming no, hoping that it would just stop. But they weren't letting up.

"Look, I don't. I told you everything I know! He's gone! He left! He was in the barn, I swear to God! Just let them go!"

It just kept going. I was already preparing to say hi to my mom.

"He was in there! Let them go!"

"Seven seconds."

The guy fired at the ground next to him. "Two seconds."

Then he just changed his mind. "Shoot them,"

I crammed my eyes shut, waiting for the impact.