RIDE OF THE HORSEMEN
by
Alaskan Olive
A/N: For all those who read this story under my other account 'Cause Without a Rebel' it was in fact me who was writing it the entire time- I have no idea why I put it under another account; maybe it was curiosity to see how it would do the reason I have no idea anymore. It is the same product for those that read it I just made some correctios to sentences.
Nevertheless I hope yiou enjoy it the same under my primary account.
'Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds'- Bhagavad Gita
Chapter 1: Apocalypse Now
He always found them to be feral, vicious little animals even before they lost their humanity but now they were their ugly instincts personified; he could see it on every of their rotting lifeless faces. Hook and Mixmaster had engineered them to be compliant and stupid; their memory banks and personality chips distinguished. Like the humans used to say "vegetables."
The objective was to render them slaves but with permanent effects unlike Dr. Arkeville's hypno-chip which was only a temporary success. Also unlike the hypno-chip, which had to be implanted, this was an invisible, odorless and gaseous formula that was undetectable to the subject—the humans they gathered for testing had no idea they were guinea pigs. However the usual perfectionist had made a mistake—his experiment had side effects.
At first Hook thought he had failed when they exhibited no changes, until human 13 expired from a heart-attack brought on by Ravage. 13 reanimated and slaughtered the other experiments-eating them alive. Then like a contagion, the ones bit reanimated into cannibalistic beings with no regard for humanity…
Megatron enjoyed it.
The only problem was that they were unresponsive to any orders. The only order they would follow was to feed—and on any flesh they could find. Nevertheless Megatron's optics gleamed and another idea formed and found they could still serve another plan. Megatron knew that Hook would find a solution for controlling them eventually, but converting the human race would take more time which was the only reason why Megatron ordered the distribution of the formula— starting with the most occupied cities.
Megatron was wrong—it took a shorter amount of time then the Decepticons had predicted it would, but in the end it was not surprising. It only took months untill the world was in ruins and the last of Earth's energy was the Decepticon's for the plundering.
The Autobots retaliated with the humans of course, their medic Ratchet and the crackpot inventor Wheeljack working with the human's CDC on a cure, however nothing prevailed and the human race depleted.
As the human's numbers dropped the Autobot's priorities turned to the last of the uninfected and protecting them from the 'walkers'. However he knew that the Autobots would continue to find a hopeless cure; they would never stop.
He stood upon the rubble of what was left of the ancient city of Atlanta, the dead passing him with little care; the everlasting hunger on their rotting minds fueling their search with tired feet. It disgusted him; he hated them but found no humor in their condition like the others did. As he kept watch in silence Rumble and Frenzy goofed off nearby; he let them be since Blitzwing and Astrotrain were still gathering the energon on the other side of the city. He didn't even understod why they still needed look-outs; the walkers weren't going to notify the Autobots that they were here.
"Hey Frenz'— watch this!" Rumble called nearby.
Thundercracker turned his attention towards the Rumble sitting upon a corpse of a battered tank, a dead cat he found in a convenient store across the street hanging in his hand. The five walkers nearby smelled it instantly, their hungry gaze fixed upon the cat like it was their salvation. Immediately they came at Rumble, their pace quickened as much as their broken bodies could muster, an orchestra of hissing and groaning issuing from them as they stumbled towards their prize. Rumble grinned with a humored and malicious disposition, like one of a kid pulling the wings off of flies.
As the walkers started to clamber onto the car, Rumble tossed the dead cat to the other side onto the street. They turned away from Rumble and headed to where he threw it, four reached and fought amongst themselves, the fifth, an elderly woman with rotted mouth and teeth was victim to Rumble's foot which he used to stomp her head in against the roof of the car. Rumble chuckled as her head popped like a rotten tomato, her blackened blood coating the dented and rusted car like tar.
Thundercracker rolled his optics as Rumble and Frenzy laughed. Despite the amusement the casseticons found in the walkers, Thundercracker couldn't understand why they entertained the other Decepticons as well. Others took part in the killing them, even Starscream used some of them for target practice when he got bored enough. Only he and a couple others left them alone. They were not a challenge for Ravage so he didn't pursue them, however he did give them a sharp swipe with the paw if they moved too slowly out of his way. Soundwave only cared about is duties and had no time for antics. However he found his biggest surprise to be the Insecticons. There was no question in his processor that they ate humans from time to time, now he noticed they wouldn't touch them.
"They're rotten, rotten— tastes like slag, slag." Shrapnel had explained.
He glanced down when he felt something brush his foot.
A walker had stumbled into him; uncaring and dumb. The male walker groaned and shuffled away, unaware that the statue he stumbled into was alive. They didn't bother them— they did not smell of flesh and blood.
Jet engines roared overhead followed by the sound of transforming metal and Skywarp's laugh.
"Whoops! Squished one," the Seeker chuckled. A pause came and Thundercracker turned to see why Skywarp became quiet. The purple mech glanced down at the remains on the bottom of his foot and grimaced.
"Gross," he said with a frown..With a quick swipe, like a houseguest wiping their feet on the mat, he removed it from his foot and approached Thundercracker.
"Hey TC, they try and eat your leg yet?" He smirked.
"Not yet," Thundercracker replied.
"Aww slag Skywarp's here," the jets heard Rumble groan quielty.
"Great," Frenzy frowned. "He's gonna hog killin' all the squishies."
Like the cassettes, Skywarp got pleasure out of killing walkers in various and creative ways that it had developed into a rivalry with the cassettes who loved killing them as much as the transporting prankster. Whoever was the most creative was the best squishy killer.
"We just finished up with time to kill—not an Autobot or squishy in sight. I was bored out of my fraggin' mind," Skywarp said, letting out a disappointed sigh.
"My sympathies 'Warp," Thundrecracker responded, a sarcastic brow raised.
Skywarp narrowed his optics, "What's eatin' you—I know it's not them."
"Nothing," Thundrecracker lied. "Just bored is all."
"Eh ok…" Skywarp murmured doubtfully. He decided to change the subject. "Where the triple-afts run off to?"
Skywarp groaned in pain as a strong brute hand suddenly clamped down on his wing. "Behind you aft," Blitzwing growled. "We actually work instead of playin' with the meatbags."
Astrotrain laughed as well, his shuttle mode rolling down the street behind Blitzwing. The triple-changer released Skywarp's wing and approached Thundercracker.
"We're done. Let's head back to base camp," Blitzwing said. He turned and headed back down the street, but not without sending a nearby walker crashing through a department store window with a swift kick with his foot.
"Pfft," Skywarp scoffed. "Doesn't play with 'em my aft. Everybody messes with them—it's fun."
"Yeah. Fun," Thundercracker commented stoically.
Skywarp flashed him a brief suspicious brow but then shrugged off his friend's comment. Skywarp smirked, transformed and took into the sky, heading back to Deception Headquarters. Rumble and Frenzy followed shortly, powering on their anti-gravity and following Skywarp.
Thundercracker paused before following, taking one last look at his surroundings, the dead eyes glancing over his metallic form as he moved like a titan among them, only attracted by his movement. They did nothing but continue on their pointless existence; no realization of fear, sadness or any other emotion that would be present in a functioning mind. It was interesting to see what happened when you had no emotions but one motivation in life (or death); almost like a bunch of fleshy and stupid Soundwaves. They moved but they were the most lifeless, pathetic things he had ever seen. He hated humans, hated their little ant bodies and and how easily it was to surrender the human race to such an depressing apocalyptic state. Slaves would have done fine; dead rotting bodies that stalked the land with a feral hunger was different. It was… cheating.
He turned to leave, his cogs prepared for transforming but he didn't move when he heard gunfire nearby. He paused— he knew it came from a human gun.
Two more shots rang through the city, coming from one of the alleys up the street. The nearby gunfire attracted the walkers standing around Thundercracker and began walking in the direction of the noise. Then he emerged, a hoard of walkers close behind him.
A weak and malnourished man emerged from the alley, bloodied, battered and tired but desperate not to be eaten alive. Thundercracker couldn't blame him, from what he had seen, it was not a pleasant experience. He had always thought Cosmic Rust was a terrible way to die slowly, but it didn't compare to what the walkers did when they found something to eat; dying agonizingly slowly, but also having to watch yourself being torn apart and eaten. Not pleasant at all.
The man whimpered in fear and hopelessness but still continued to fight. Thundercracker knew he was done, he was surrounded on all directions by walkers and the weapon he was holding only held a minimal amount of bullets. The four walkers that were nearby Thundercracker closed in on the man with determination, fueled only by their hunger.
The man halted when he saw Thundercraker and took a step back. The side of the Seeker mouth tugged indifferently to the reaction, perfectly understanding why the man didn't dare to outmaneuver the four walkers in his way; Thundercracker might as well of been a brick wall— he was trapped.
The man aimed, cocked the hammer of the revolver back and shot one of the four walkers by Thundercracker in the head. Despite the Decepticon in his way he was damned determined not to die.
Thundercracker watched the scene like a curious spectator; interested to see if the human would do everything he could to produce a different outcome.
Another shot fired from the revolver but this time the man missed, hitting the walker in the left arm; the walker ignored it as nothing had happened and continued towards its goal. The man turned back towards the hoard of 25 walkers that had chased him, and picked the one closest to him.
Missed—shoulder hit.
Another shot— head shot.
As they grew closer tears of fear and trepidation ran down the man's face. Thundercracker continued to watch the scene with indeffrence, even when he saw the horrifying realization on the man's face as he sank to his knees.
It was over. Terrfying seconds dragged on for eternity as the man waited for the inevitable.
In his last final moments— aware that the Decepticon was watching—the man dared to look into the red optics of the Decepticon, his terrified disposition replaced with absolute rage.
"Murderer…" he seethed, his words filled with all the animosity he could muster. Then with nothing but his gun to save him from an agonizing death, the man placed the barrel in his mouth and pulled the trigger.
Fear and alarm flooded across his face when he discovered he was still alive and that he would not die on his own terms. Arms and teeth swarmed upon him and he screamed before the pain came.
Thundercracker's optics dimmed when the walkers finally reached their prize, greedily taking what they could from the man's body; his screaming seemingly neverending as well as the sound of wet flesh ripping and devoured happily by the walkers.
Perhaps it was because he found the scene repulsive, or because he found the sound of flesh ripping grating to his audio receptors or he felt that the human had suffered enough, whatever the reason he raised his arm cannon and blasted them until there was no one left.
The walkers groaning ceased, the man's cries of pain ended and besides the burned asphalt from the effects of his shot, there was no evidence of the encounter.
Thundercracker stared down at the asphalt, questioning his own actions. He couldn't help but feel… disappointed.
Ever since the beginning of the contagion he felt as if they were being lazy to let a virus do the work for them. It was all too easy—there was no honor. They were all dead, whether they fed on flesh or not. If he was going to participate in conquest for the Decepticon cause, shouldn't they of done it themselves and not the humans?
It was a perverted domination for someone like Thundercracker to consider a great victory over Earth and the Autobots.
It was all façade. They were murderers and from the destruction they created demons.
They created Hell.
Crimson turned to pink as the sun began to settle; turning from dawn to day as the last of the human race lifted their heads and began with their chores. Tents unzipped and weary heads poked out, guns in hand and their nerves on-edge; men, women and children—all of their clocks ticking.
The camp in the yellow prairie was small but tough— they were the ones that learned faster than the rest. However despite their living standards which was forced upon them, the often dreamed of things returning back to the norm. But that dream would shatter when a walker stumbled back into view and would destroy their illusion of security.
The prairie was in the middle of nowhere, but not far from neighboring civilizations. Groups of walkers—hoards—would find them and when they did not even the Autobots could help all of them when the numbers of the group were outmatched.
However it wasn't just the humans who were in troubled times.
Ratchet surveyed the surrounding camp with a saddened bitterness. Every day, no matter how much they established barriers, sent patrols, did routine sweeps of the area, it seemed that walkers always found ways to sneak in and kill sooner or later.
If only there was an end to this madness, and he couldn't help but feel the deaths of the survivors on his shoulders. His efforts for a cure were becoming pointless. They found after doing blood tests that it was in the human's system—in all of them. They were sick and didn't even know it and nothing he came up with was working to drain the formula out of their systems.
If only he knew what the Decepticon's created. It would be simpler to create an antidote knowing the formula and so far their attempts to find it in Decepticon Headquarters had turn up nothing, as if they never invented it.
He suspected that Megatron had it destroyed when the Decepticons succeeded, after all what was the point in keeping it around? Earth was gone. The only sure confirmation of victory would be to destroy it so it they couldn't invent and antidote.
It was a burden on him— on all of them. The humans were diminishing and there was nothing they could do. Even if they could make a cure, the world would still be in ruins but with a slim chance of hope. The dead would remain dead and they would still walk.
Noise caught his attention and his optics fell upon the green Ford F150 pulling up from patrol. Ratchet counted the men in the back of the pickup and a wave of relief settled on him when he saw that all were accounted for. Mirage and Hound soon followed behind them, transformed and walked towards Ratchet.
"We spotted a hoard 20 miles southeast of here but it's heading away from here," Hound reported, "Sunstreaker and Sideswipe said they'll keep on them though."
"We found some solo walkers wandering around the area," called Winston, a heavy white male in his early thirties from the back of the pickup. Ratchet met his tired eyes with concern, but Winston nodded. "We got 'em all."
"Make sure the fences are good," Ratchet said, his optics scanning the horizon suspiciously. "There's always more where they came from. Hound and Mirage— a moment?"
Hound and Mirage approached them as the human patrol drove away towards the camp to unload. Ratchet sighed. "Optimus wants me back at the Ark to help Wheeljack; he thinks he's got a formula that'll work this time. Hound will be in charge. Call if there is any problem," Ratchet told them.
"We have it covered here Ratchet," Hound nodded. "The hoard's moved on and with the twins tailing them I don't think we'll have problems with keeping them safe, but we'll call you if there's any sign of trouble."
"Alright," Ratchet murmured. "I'll be back as soon as I can—I'll direct any survivors your way."
With that he turned and transformed, the grass of the prairie molding into his tires as he headed away from the camp and towards the interstate… heading in the wrong direction.
Dr. Jenner hadn't responded to any of his calls in the past week and his growing concern for the man that he worked with when the apocalypse started had become his friend. Many of the members of the CDC had given up when the world went to Hell, but Jenner was always optimistic that they would find a cure and he had inspired Ratchet to not lose faith either. They were friends and he hoped his friend hadn't committed suicide like the others.
((Ratchet to Dr. Jenner: Come in.)) Ratchet called over a private frequency. ((Ratchet to Dr. Jenner: Come in.))
Silence.
((Ratchet to Dr. Jenner: Are you still out there…?))
Dead silence.
"This is Spike Witwicky calling on the emergency broadcast channel. If there is anyone listening out there come in. This is Spike Witwicky calling on the emergency broadcast channel if there is anyone listening out there please come in. You're not alone out there, there are still people... there is still hope. The Autobots-"
Rewind.
"You're not alone out there, there are still people... there is still hope..."
Rewind.
"You're not alone out there, there are still people... there is still hope..."
Rewind.
Bumblebee knew that it was turning into a daily activity for him but to him it felt as if it happened yesterday. Besides a few pictures and videos stored on his personal computer there wasn't much of Spike that was left for him to remember him by.
He never thought he would have to collect things of his friend, and that he would ever leave him so suddenly because of a mistake he made. The message was recorded days before Spike died; only a few had answered the call and were saved before the number of responses to the broadcast died as quickly as Earth did.
It was such a confusing and chaotic time for him; he didn't understand how people could become such monsters and forget all of their humanity. He was naive and stupid.
It would be a mistake that he would never make again—it costed his friend's life.
Like Dr. Arkeville's hypno-chip, the subject was able to overrun the commands given from the chip to the subject's brain. He knew it would be useless to control the subject the formula transformed them into— there was nothing left in the subject's brain to begin with. It seemed the subjects only function was to walk and eat; the only commands the dead obeyed was their own.
Hook and Scrapper believed that they were making progress by inventing and perfecting their version of the hypno-chip towards controlling the walkers hunger and movement. If they could suppress the walker's hunger they could possibly control their other functions. Soundwave knew that mobility wasn't the problem, it was the walker's hunger continually overriding the hypno-chip.
Soundwave knew it was a wasted effort; a telepathic scan of the walker's thoughts confirmed it. Their thoughts were violent, chaotic and one track. All they cared for was feeding; it was the only reason they walked— it consumed all the emotions they once had.
The other problem that they presented for potential slaves was that they perishable. They discovered how ironically corpses possessed their own expiration dates; bones and muscle wore away at a faster rate against the elements than preserved in coffins; the outside world made them even more prone to malfunctions and broken parts. The only use that Soundwave could see them was destroying the human race and nothing more. However, walkers weren't the only ones that hunted the last remaining humans left.
Due to the fact that the walkers couldn't be controlled yet and used for slave labor, the humans they found and captured provided the temporary slave force... as well as temptation for the hypno-chip experiments.
He felt his creation approaching him from far off in the distant woods. He had caught a fresh captive, the walker tied on the leash and the tree caught a whiff of flesh and lunged forward, fighting the bind that kept him in place like a rabid dog.
Soundwave produced a newly modified hypno-chip from subspace, bent down to one knee and held the walker's head in place with an index finger and thumb. The walker seemingly either didn't pay attention or was too fixated on the smell of a meal didn't struggle when the telepath placed a hypno-chip on the back of the left ear of the once black business man.
Soundwave released it and ejected Ravage from subspace. Soundwave didn't have to announce to Ravage the 'operation'— they had done the experiment so many times before that Ravage knew by spark. Ravage paced back and forth in front of the walker, staring into the direction Rumble was coming.
Frenzy, who was nearby sitting on a tree branch and swinging his legs in boredom, couldn't help but ask: "This gonna work? I'm gettin' slaggin' tired of doing Hook's stuff over and over and over..."
"Shuddup Frenz'," growled Rumble through their telepathic link, "At least ya got the easy job."
"Hey, I'll take findin' normies any cycle," Frenzy shot back. "At least they don't drool on ya."
Rumble walked into view, a small girl with blonde hair slung over his shoulder plates in a fireman's carry facing away from Soundwave. "Well I'll tell ya what Frenz' we can switch next time."
"A'right," mumbled Frenzy with the wave of his hand. "Where'd ya pick that one up?"
"I found it runnin' around the woods," Rumble said, nodding his head towards the whimpering and frightened girl on his shoulder. His visor went to Soundwave, "She good enough boss?"
Soundwave nodded.
"Okey dokey," Rumble said, flinging the girl of her shoulder with an ungentle shove.
The girl landed on the ground harshly, letting out a pained cry; tears formed around the corners of her eyes and dropped. Rumble addressed the walker. "Look! We found someone for ya to play with!"
The girl looked up and screamed when she saw the walker, her instincts telling her to get away from it as fast as she could. She climbed to her feet and tried to run.
Rumble caught her by the collar of her blue shirt and kept her in place despite her struggling. Rumble smirked "Where ya goin' kid? It just wants ta be your friend," he jested.
"Frenzy. Activate perimeter cage."
Frenzy nodded and pressed the button, Ravage sat up entering the area before the purple electrical cage activated. Two parallel lines of purple electric current flooded the area and creating a fenced area. Rumble shoved the girl towards the retrained walker who hadn't stopped trying to pull itself free of the leash... it's reddened and mutated eyes fixated on her.
Soundwave's finger formed into slight laser and cut the line. The walker lunged forward, arms out in front, claws and teeth ready for flesh. The girl screamed and scrambled away as it came towards her.
"Halt."
It slowed down until it came to a complete stop... just 5 feet from the girl. She stared up at it in alarm and disbelief as it casually stared down at her, it's teeth still snapping and it's eyes still glued to her but immobile.
"Walk away from the child: proceed towards me."
Slowly, the walker turned, step by step and walked towards Soundwave. The young girl blinked her eyes in disbelief, sniffling slightly.
Suddenly, the walker turned back towards the girl, it's teeth chomping for flesh that wasn't in his mouth. Soundwave saw the chip start to malfunction, sparks issuing from the microchip liked in the past— the walker's hunger was overriding it.
The girl crawled back, fear rising in her once again as the walker drew nearer and nearer. It hissed louder, it's arms outstretched for her.
"Halt," Soundwave commanded again.
The walker ignored the Decepticon's command, it's hunger was the only order it would take. The girl got up and ran, her legs like rubber and the dirt and leaves of the forest floor like ice. The walker reached and missed. It followed her around the pin, snarling while it pursued her.
Soundwave frowned behind his face mask, for a moment he had to say that he was surprised that the walker had turned around but he wasn't unsurprised that it did override the chip— they all did.
His attention fixed back to the scene below when he heard the girl scream, the much more long-legged walker had finally caught up to her, grabbed her hair and bit into the side of her neck. The little girl screamed in agony when the teeth of the walker sank into her flesh, trying in vain to rip the veins out of her neck like stubborn cables.
Ravage pounced, ripping the walker from the girl and killing with a skull-crushing bite to the head. Ravage growled in disgust, the blood of the walker dripping from his fangs.
The little girl scrambled away, crying and bleeding, but didn't get too far before her body gave up on her. She fell face-down and cried as she bled out; the Decepticons indifferent of her pain.
Frenzy deactivated the cage, the electrical currents disappearing with a hum. Rumble came to the walker and yanked the broken hypno-chip from the back of it's neck.
The corner of his mouth tugged slightly and he shrugged. "Well... it turned around- that's somethin'."
"I liked the one where it made them move faster," Frenzy added with a chuckle. "That was funny to see."
Ravage lifted his head towards his master. "Return back to base camp I presume?"
"Affirmative," answered Soundwave.
"What about the kid?" Frenzy asked, nodding his head towards the girl. "Should we kill it?"
"Negative; subject is already dead," Soundwave answered, his scans showing the girl was already beginning to offline.
They walked away for the scene, leaving the girl behind. Rumble caught up to Soundwave, Frenzy close behind trying to catch up with the group.
"Why are we even tryin' to control the walkers boss? Why don't we just collect all the energon and leave?"
"Megatron's orders, dummy," Frenzy said, punching Rumble in the arm. "Plus ya wanna do all the work slag head?"
Rumble pondered slightly. "Ya guess not."
The monsters footsteps grew out of range and the girl couldn't help but feel a sense of relief in her last dying moments, but she also felt saddened that she was going to become a walker. She knew that when they bit you it would mean you would become a walker too. It was the number one rule— don't get bit. It was the reason she was in the woods and not with her mom and the group— because she was trying to avoid getting bit. She would have if they didn't find her. They worse than the walkers she had been told and everyone was right. They were the true monsters.
The pain in her neck became numb as her breathing grew heavily, the wooded area in her vision began to blur...
"Sophia!"
She heard her name in the distance but didn't have the strength to call out. They continued to call out her name but it was growing farther and farther away. They were looking for her... but she was just so sleepy.
All she wanted to do was sleep...
I'm sorry mom...
In the last few months, she found it to be the most peaceful sleep she had known.
A/N: I don't know about those watching the series but I had always wanted to know how Sophia got bit but managed to escape the walker eating her, turn into a walker herself, get stuck in Hershel's swamp and get placed in the barn and then be shot by Rick... the writer's left a gap there for suspense but I myself always wanted to know. So here is my explanation to that I guess.
I'm not sure if I want to leave this story here and leave it as a one-shot, if I do deciede to continue I was thinking of doing another chapter with the Governor and Megatron. Reviews aren't necessary but appreciated. Thanks for reading.