A/N: Well, I'm now addicted to Transformers, so I'm being spontaneous and writing a fic for it.
Enjoy.
Disclaimer: I do not own Transformers in any way, shape, or form.
o-o-o-o
Prologue
Erik was lost. Hopelessly so.
What had started out as a hike on a trail had somehow turned into a bushwhacking excursion. Luckily, he'd remembered to pack all sorts of things in his backpack before heading out, so he wasn't all that concerned. It was mostly irritation he was feeling at the moment, as he had somehow managed to lose the trail.
This had to be a new record.
"One day, I need to get myself a compass." He grumbled as he came to a small dip, about thirty feet deep and double the length wide, the only available means of crossing an ancient spruce that wasn't actually all that reassuring. Sighing, he leapt onto the giant expanse of roots and began climbing up to the trunk, coughing and blinking the dirt out of his face. Dirt was not a pleasant thing to be consuming. It was way too gritty, and one never knew where it had been or what had been on it.
About halfway across, one of his feet slipped for a moment as rotted wood crumbled beneath his weight. Snarling a profanity, he held on tightly and slowly moved the slipping foot cautiously back onto solid wood. After that, he was pretty much ready to get the 'hike' over with and get the hell out of the forest permanently.
"Stupid tree." He muttered after jumping off the other side. "I'm finding a different way back. You tried to kill me."
Grumbling under his breath, he hitched the straps of his bag higher and continued, gnawing on an energy bar of some sort that he was pretty sure had gone stale. But, he was hungry and getting a little cranky, so he didn't really question the due date on it.
-;-
It was a couple of hours later that he finally reached the peak of the mountain. Gratefully, he allowed himself to collapse against the ground, breathing deeply. His legs felt like they were about to fall off, and the cool air and higher altitude had him feeling like he was about to hack up a lung. But, the view was great, he had finally found the trail, and he couldn't really ask for much more at the moment.
Rummaging through his bag, he pulled out one of the several bottles of water and pulled one out, twisting the cap off easily and nearly inhaling it. After a couple of moments, he pulled away, sighing as the cool water soothed his throat.
He leaned back against the rock, fully intent on having a moment to rest, when the ground below him suddenly gave way from beneath him.
With a yell, he plunged into the damp, cold earth.