Don't own it.
I know, I update fast. This is how the story is going to be, anyway, with only a couple of days in between chapter. I have my exams next week, so...you know, studying. Who knows, this story might be over by the end of summer. Anyway, for some reason I feel like i annoy people when I update fast...hm...I guess I just have a lot of free time on my hands. So this special, action packed chapter, and i hope the action scene doesn't suck too bad.
Read and review, please!
The screaming was as loud as the gunshots. It pierced through Prime's audio receptors, causing them to ring. Optimus was too engaged in the battle to even think about muting them.
Out of the corner of his optic, Optimus saw a human, one of the few remaining humans in the town, running. A bug the size of a Prime's own foot raced after him, long, flexible tongue shooting out to wrap around his waist. The human disappeared into the bug's mouth, screaming, sobbing.
Another one, a sickly pale human female, was lifted into the air by a flying bug and devoured in seconds.
So far, none of the humans had noticed the gigantic robot thundering down the street. All eyes were focused on the bugs that flooded the street. A few bugs had gone into a nearby hospital, one being so big that it blocked the doorway. Some had managed to get in.
Optimus slid across the concrete, kicking away cars like they were nothing. A bug was on him in seconds, its tongue gliding across his neck. Optimus grabbed the tongue, crushing it, then, he stuck his blaster right in the bugs demonic, red eye.
BLAM!
The bug shuddered, but did not die. Optimus gave a fairly impressive snarl, sticking the blaster into the gaping hole.
With one simple motion, Optimus caused the bugs head to finally explode. Sticky, slimy bug juice oozed down Prime's armor, and he shook it off, disgusted. He ran, leaping through searching mandibles and flailing legs.
On to the next one. This one was huge. Larger than any he had ever seen before. Its clicking mandibles were inches from his face when Optimus managed to stab it with his sword. He thrust his blaster through the open wound, fired, and skipped back as bug guts rained down.
Optimus was learning as he went along. The bugs had a variety of weak spots, the most effective one being the place where its chin would have been. They weren't stupid, though, they were actually quite intelligent. They picked out their prey, and pursued it. There was no hiding that the bugs had been built by Cybertronians.
Already, the bugs had devoured many of the helpless citizens. Optimus saw Epps blasting away at the back of a bug, not slowing it down one bit. Then, the bug spun, lashed out, and Epps retreated.
Snarling, Optimus crouched low as the next bug came towards him, mandibles clicking menacingly. He slammed his sword in its eyes, and then stuck his blaster through the hole. It exploded, and Optimus skipped back.
Suddenly, Optimus saw Ironhide, cannons forgotten, smashing a bug with his fist. Smashing and smashing, until the bug was reduced to a pile of green goo.
"Ironhide! Shoot them in the head!" Optimus bellowed. Some of the human soldiers overheard, and heeded Prime's advice.
"Trying!" Ironhide responded, cannons raised.
The bugs were resilient. Only a few remained, but they kept fighting. The humans could go up against them one on one, unlike they could with a Decepticon, so that gave them the advantage. However, they were quicker than the humans, and backed up with the intelligence and intellect of a Cybertronian.
Ironhide went down, long, black tongues hooked around his armor. He was shouting for help. Lennox got there before Optimus could even move, blasting the bugs into oblivion.
Ironhide stood, backing away again. If the bugs caught Ironhide, then the battle was pretty much over.
Optimus raced, grabbing Ironhide and yanking him to temporary safety behind a large building.
CRASH!
A bug slammed into the ground beside them, and Optimus silenced it with one shot.
Ironhide was on his knee plates, cannons raised in a defensive position. Then, he glanced down. Optimus followed his gaze and saw that Lennox had followed them, also on his knees, breathing labored.
"So, how the frag are were going to get out of this?" Ironhide asked.
A pair of optics, and one pair of organic optics, turned to look at Optimus. The Autobot leader gazed out at the massacre before him, plans whirling through his processor. He didn't know if the bugs had been programmed to perform different task, or if they were just here to kill. If so, then destroying them all would be the only logical course of action. There was no negotiating with them, no taking them hostage. No interrogations.
"I have a plan," Lennox wheezed, sweat trickling down the side of his face. "Listen, we won't be able to contact N.E.S.T in time to do an air strike….we have to act quick with the resources we have, or else we'll have more blood on our hands than ever before."
"Your plan, Major?" Optimus asked, already inching his was out of the alley. Ironhide tensed up as a large bug narrowed its demonic red eyes.
"Gas station! No time to explain!" when Optimus or Ironhide moved, Lennox shouted, "Hurry! It will work! I promise!"
Already, Ironhide had transformed down. Optimus followed, wheels screeching across the asphalt which was slick with blood –some human, some insect. He popped open his doors, and Lennox threw himself in.
"Ironhide," Optimus said through his internal communications.
"Hm?"
"Can you buy us some time?" Optimus asked, already disliking the proposition. Ironhide screeched to a halt, sliding to the side so his alt mode faced the surge of oncoming bugs.
"No problem, Prime."
The gas station was nestled at the end of the long street, alone. To Prime's amazement, someone was there, parking his motorcycle. At the sigh of the semi bearing down on him, he yelped.
Lennox threw himself out, and Optimus backed up. The human man stared.
"H-hey, man, what are you doing?" He stuttered as Lennox fumbled with the gas pump. He eyed Optimus suspiciously.
Lennox gave the man a brief glance, his hands fumbling with the pump. He finally let it go, smoothing back his hair. "You. Pump the gas. Now."
"B-but there's not a tank to put it in…" the man stammered. He shot Optimus another incredulous look. "Unless…."
Lennox was on the man in seconds, grabbing the front of his shirt. "On the ground," he gasped. "On the ground. All over the place. Pump it!"
The man gulped, skeptical, prying Lennox's fingers away from his shirt. Optimus revved his engine, already on the verge of transforming as he heard the bugs approaching. Sighing deeply, he realized that he had no other choice.
The man's eyes went wide as Optimus transformed into his bipedal mode, a towering creature dozens of feet tall. The human's hands dropped to his sides, and he stared.
"No freaking way. So it is true…."
"Pump. The. Gas," Lennox said. "Ignore. The. Alien. Robot."
The man obeyed, needing no further explanation. As he pumped, gas gushed in irregular spurts onto the concrete.
Optimus thudded a little ways down the street and saw Ironhide driving madly. He grabbed a bug as it neared him, stabbing it, over and over again before blasting it with his blaster.
He had bought Ironhide a few seconds. No more.
Optimus thudded back to the gas station, resting a hand on its roof. Gas covered the ground, the smell overpowering. The human man had gone onto the next gas pump, and was busy pumping more.
"That will be enough," Optimus rumbled. "Thank you."
The man looked up, startled, jaw ajar. He made a sound in the back of his throat, and then nodded, backing away slowly. Optimus stepped into the gas, balancing his hands on the roof to keep himself from slipping. That was the last thing he needed.
"Prime!"
Optimus saw Lennox running out of the gas station store, triumphantly holding a lighter in one hand. He ran right through the gas, oil splashing up and covering his military uniform. Optimus stepped back, shuddering when he felt the sticky oil trickling down the seams of his armor.
He looked back. The bugs were advancing now. Ironhide had pulled off the side, and the bugs bypassed him. They were more focused on Optimus and Lennox now, and their sharp mandibles clicked in anticipation as they neared the gas station.
"Hurry, Major, we don't have much time!" Optimus said through clenched dental plates. He had kept his voice as calm as he could, but inside, he was screaming at Lennox, who was looking reluctantly at the lighter.
Lennox flicked on the lighter. He yelped as Optimus scooped him up into the palm of his hand and began to run, long strides, away from the gas station and away from the bugs.
Optimus had seen the human made films where people outrun explosions. Both he and Ratchet agreed that it was nonsense, for even a Cybertronian could not outrun, or outdrive a fireball. However, their was standing in the middle of it, or standing away from it. The explosion wouldn't happen immediately, so that gave Lennox and Optimus a pretty good advantage. Plus, the bulk of all the bugs might shield them a little. If the bugs were smart enough to figure out the trick, then all was lost.
Lennox spun in the palm of Prime's hand and screamed at the human man, cowering in fear in the gas station. "Run, man, ruuunnn!"
The human glance back at Optimus, eyes still wide, as he ran. The bugs were at the gas station before the human could even reach he road, long legs slipping across the gas. Optimus watched, horrified, as a long, black tongue reached out and wrapped around the human's waist. In seconds, he had been devoured; the sound like someone putting chicken bones in a blender.
"Lennox…." Optimus pressed as Lennox stared at bug who had devoured the poor human.
"Right. Get ready."
Lennox flung lighter.
Whoooosssh!
It wasn't a military-grade explosion, like the ones in Egypt. But it sure was a fireball. Optimus fell to his knee plates, letting Lennox hit the ground before he covered him completely with his large, metal hands. The fire licked across his armor, the paint practically melting off. There was a sharp pain, and Optimus cried out. Even though they weren't directly at the gas station, Prime could still smell oil burning. Luckily, most of the bugs had shielded them from the worst of it.
Speaking of the bugs, a majority of them had evaporated on the spot. Unlike Optimus, they didn't have any armor, making them far more susceptible to heat.
A few bugs remained, on their backs, legs kicking madly at the air. Some lay dead, mutilated pieces of flesh and wire.
Fire crept down pump hose, down to meet the heavy gas vapor in the massive underground tank.
Ka-BOOM!
Pumps, concrete, bugs, and the rest of the gas station exploded in a fireball that made the first look like nothing.
Optimus felt bug guts rain down, hitting his smoking armor. He struggled to get up, wincing, pained. His processors screamed that he was damaged. Lennox crawled out from under Prime's hand, on his hands and knees, coughing. He looked up at Optimus, and nodded.
The lead bug, a huge moth, with teeth like a shark, lay on his back, still alive. Its wings had been blown completely off, but it was still determined, even though it could barely move. Optimus saw Ironhide approach it, cannons raised, the most intimidating and menacing look on his facial plates. He knelt down and jabbed his cannons against its eyes and snarled.
"When you get to the pit, tell The Fallen that Ironhide 'hi!" He shot it twice, and its head exploded.