Author's Note: Now, the Dreads will be showing up in this chapter and Optimus will be revealed as what he really is to protect his owner for the second time. Teri's relationship with her family will now be strained and she decides to move out.

Chapter Nine.

The next morning, Teri walked down the stairs as she headed for the kitchen to wash her bowl and silverware. Her dad smiled at her. "Did you hear the news?"
"Heard what news?" Teri asked, as she started to grab the sponge to start washing her bowl.
"The Semi serial rapist was captured last night in Eldon," Charles said.
"I know, I would have been his victim but he got my knee on his ball and bat," Teri replied, as she went about rinsing her bowl and silverware off.

"WHAT?" Charles cried out in shock.

"Yeah, he attacked me last night and I gave him what he deserved," Teri replied. "I didn't tell anyone when I got home,"
"Why didn't you tell us?"

"You two were already in bed when I got in and I was just too tired to wake either of you up and tell you the news," Teri placed her clean but wet bowl on the towel to drip dry as she looked at her dad. "Besides, you know how mother reacts to being awakened in the wee hours of the night."

"That I know, but still this was important news, Teri," Charles stated.
"What important news?" CJ asked, as she entered the room.

"The Semi Serial Rapist was captured last night," Teri said.
"Well, too bad he didn't nail you. Maybe that would make you decide to take a different job, Teri," CJ snapped off.
"Mother, he tried and I was the one who captured him!" Teri screamed. CJ looked at her stunned. "How dare you try to state that being raped would stop me from being a Semi driver?"

"Well, it would. You have always been the one who would hide if something happened to you, this would be no different," CJ snapped off.

"Mother, you are dead to me! Do not even try to contact me or talk to me as you are nothing to me!" Teri snapped off. She turned to her father. "I will call you later, dad, I have a job to do today."

With that said, Teri grabbed her purse and headed for the garage and walked out towards the pasture where Optimus was located at. As soon as she got into the cab, she started him up and drove away. She knew her mother would expect her to come back later on tonight and apologize for yelling at her but for once in her life, she decided that it would be her mother who would apologize for what she said first. Teri made her decision also to move out of the house as soon as possible, but it would also mean that the new house would handle having a Semi parked in front. She also thought about getting a large farm to where she could have horses at since she was considering getting some.

She drove into the quarry and attached her trailer to Optimus and headed off to get a load of rock for another property drop off that she was hired to do. Red noticed her look on her face as she stood by him as he signed off on the load. "So, what's wrong, Teri. I never have seen ya look so angry before?"
"Mom wanted me to get raped by the Serial Semi rapist to get me to stop driving a Semi and get a nicer job, but the thing is, I was the one who caught the bastard instead of being one of his victims. I was the one who stopped him," Teri replied.

"So what will be happening now with your family?" Red asked, as he finished signing his name to the paperwork.
Teri shrugged. "I'll worry about my dad but mom . . . sadly; she burned her ties with me. She might not even get anything from me anymore," Teri accepted the load list from him as she walked over to her Semi to climb in.

Red caught up to her. "You be careful out there, Teri, anything could come up and you need to keep an eye out."
"Thanks, Red," Teri drove down the road, handed her sheet and had it checked before she headed out onto the road and drove south of Lebanon.

The whole day was filled with going back and forth from the quarry to Lebanon where the new road was being placed at. It was a long and tiring day for Teri. All she wanted to do was return home after she dropped off the trailer at the quarry. She headed back to Lebanon to eat at the local Mexican restaurant in town and had a bite to eat. She spent the time checking out the local property for sale magazines searching for a nice large property that would allow her to live away from neighbors and have space for her horses when she got them.

After she finished her meal, she gathered her magazines that she picked up and headed for Optimus, as she climbed into the cab, she wondered if she could really move out of her family home but then she remembered that she had the funds to do so, with the military sending her a lot of money to help with Optimus's care, surely, they wouldn't mind her using it for herself. She knew she would need a good location away from her folks but yet close to the quarry since she didn't want to drive too long to get to it.

Teri knew it would be a long shot but if she found something close it would be a good thing.

She looked in her right hand side mirror to check the lane to see that it was clear of traffic as she moved Optimus into the right hand lane and drove for home. She noticed that there were now vehicles behind her. "Suck it up boys, I'm not going to speed to give you space,"

She reached over to the radio to turn it on to listen to some music, when she felt a hit on the rear of her truck. She glanced in the side mirror to see the black SUV on her left side and it was not pulling back either. "What the hell?"

She started to slow down to pull over to the shoulder to talk with the owner and pass insurance information between them, when the black SUV struck her side again and then she felt the gas petal move away from her foot as the speed of the semi started to go faster. She tried to pull the emergency brakes and regain control but the emergency brake refused to budge for her and she tried to pull it into motion but it refused. She started to panic and suddenly her seat belt went tighter on her by itself. "What the hell?"
She tried again to get the vehicle to stop but nothing was happening beyond speeding madly down the road and it was like the Semi was driving on its own and it went right down their street speeding at full speed still. Teri glanced in the side mirror to see the head beams of three vehicles still following them. She was totally scared out of her pants.

Optimus knew it was the Dreads by the readings he got from them. He sped down the highway and pulled all the tricks that Lennox had shown to him on TV. He spied the road that led to Teri's home as he made the turn onto the road. He hoped that the Dreads would zip past and he could drive back to Teri's home at a slower pace, but the Dreads followed him down the road.

He sped all the way to the side road called Post Office Rd, he took it fast and kept on speeding down the road with the Dreads behind him. He reached the top of the road and turned right and sped down the road. With him speeding so fast, he didn't gauge his speed around the curve and flew off the road towards the pine trees below.

The next thing, Teri knew was that she was flying through the air and then felt something grab her and suddenly, the area went bright with light as the thing that grabbed her started firing off towards the road.

Teri followed where the shots were going towards and saw three black SUVs speeding off down the road towards town. She turned to look at the being that held her. "Who are you and what happened here?" Her voice showed that she was scared out of her wits.

Optimus turned his head towards Teri. "I am, as General Lennox stated, Optimus Prime."

"So you were not one of his vehicles that he used?" Teri asked.

Optimus shook his head. "No, we were never that, we are in truth allies fighting against the Decepticons, which I just dealt with."

Teri looked at him. "But what are you?"

"I am an Autonomous Robotic Organism from a far distance planet called Cybertron. Our enemies the Decepticons call us Autobots," Optimus stated, as he strode towards the parking lot that he saw.

"You are friendly to my home planet, Optimus?" Teri asked, her voice still showed her fear.
"I would die first before we harm your planet, Teri, as we, Autobots have sworn to protect your planet," Optimus stated, as he lowered his left hand down and placed her on the asphalt and transformed back into his truck mode. He opened the driver's side door and spoke, "Come, we need to get moving. General Lennox needs to know about this attack on me and you."
"Will he be receptive to what we have to tell him?" Teri asked, as she climbed in and sat down in the driver's seat. "And is it okay for me to be sitting here?"
"It is okay as you are my owner and you need to be there to look like you're the one doing the driving. Lennox will be up for what we have to state, it is the one who did the ordering of us to remain in vehicle mode forever or remain on base for the rest of our lives that might be the problem." Optimus replied, as they drove down the road and towards town.

Teri watched as they sped towards the East as Optimus drove she started to nod off in the driver's seat. Optimus tinted his driver's side window to where no one would see that his driver was asleep at the wheel. He almost made the decision to wake her and have her move to the passenger seat so his hologram could take over. But he kept quiet as he sped towards Washington DC. Using his internal radio to call out to the Autobots to break with the promise, the time is now to return to NEST headquarters immediately, there are Decepticons out there and it is time to return to doing what we did best.

All Optimus could hope for was that they heard him and was now on their way home to NEST, like he was with his owner.

Stay tuned, the next chapter is coming.