"Perhaps we should go anyway." Ripclaw constantly seemed to be the calmest of the Predacons, at least until she turned into a beast with powerful jaws and a mouth full of venom. Here she was opposing Predaking's decision, and he didn't appreciate her trying to play at being the most logical of them all.

"Are you not confident in our abilities?" Predaking hissed. "We are more than ready to fight. All our enemies will suffer our wrath and be burned into the ash!"

Darksteel always seemed to find humor in everything, so he chuckled, "Heh heh, I was getting bored of doing nothing anyway. I could do with a little action actually!"

"Yes, I agree. We should stay and let nothing drive us away from here!" Skylynx hissed.

"It is final. We will stay here until we have reason to go elsewhere." Predaking nodded down to the assembled Predacons.

"They are fools," Starscream said. "They do not know what Unicron is capable of. They think that they're going to be fighting the undead? Probably nowhere even close. I know what he could do in the other world. Terrifying beasts- they morph and can appear from the shadows themselves."

Starscream realized too late he had said too much around the vehicons. Great. Now rumors of an unstoppable and infinite army were sure to spread quickly. Alas, it was too late now. They might as well say whatever they wanted.

"So you are saying," Knockout confirmed, "that Unicron can basically summon some supernatural creatures out of nowhere and kill us all in our recharge cycles?"

"Well, we don't know for sure what he can do here. But if it's really a problem then we can just post shifts so no one has any problems," Cliffjumper suggested.

"Too bad Axer died, or else I would personally have killed him for doing all this," Starscream growled.

Not too long after, they began sending the refugees out to start organizing the vehicons. The plan was to be like this: no one was going to leave the city except for the seekers, who would be responsible for constantly supplying energon to the population. They had a substantial amount, but they would need to bring in as much as they could in case of injuries, destruction to stores, and because they had no idea how long they would be under lockdown. No one would be alone at any given time. All groups would be in sight of other groups. Jet vehicons who weren't helping the seekers would stay on rooftops or fly over or around the city as guards.

Vos was a lost cause at this point. They couldn't be sure that it would be a safe location as it was far too risky to separate the population. However, because Ratchet was just a little away by the Well of Allsparks, some refugees offered to help defend the Nemesis while it was being fixed.

As for Shockwave, he assured himself that he had his own vehicons to act as guards, and if he was directly attacked, he would escape through his ground bridge, but only as a last resort. His project was far too important to give up so easily.

Now it was merely going to be a game of waiting. Everyone feared another mysterious slaughter, so they stuck well to the rule of keeping in sight. Primus have mercy on any who decided to disappear from sight for the slightest moment. Everyone was walking with guns out for the entirety of that day, but nothing new occurred. When night fell, the shadow beast idea was like a horror story that kept the vehicons awake at night. They huddled around streetlights, gun aimed into the dark corners. When nothing attacked during the night, they were still cautious although some put away their weapons.

On the third night, everyone was weary from exhaustion because they had been staying up. They took shifts, finally heeding the original idea of the Autobots. Some would doze against the streetlight poles while others protected them with a circle of guns around them. No one was getting the acquired amount of rest, and this made them more on edge. They often wondered thoughts such as: Did something move there in the corner? After their sparks skipped a beat, and they felt light and fearful once they finally realized that their minds had tricked them again. Although they were always in the open of the dark, they only stayed outside because of the fear. There was a difference in being in the dark with an escape route, and in a building where the darkness could trap you.

The Predacons felt satisfied that nothing had attacked them, yet Darksteel still complained because of his boredom. Predaking felt insanely prideful because it was like his point was being made when nothing attacked them. He believed they were too mighty and feared to be challenged.

They all had makeshift dens of their own to rest in. They all preferred to sleep in their beast forms, and so they slept in balls formed of spikes, wings, claws, and tails wrapped around their bodies, except for Darksteel, who had no tail. This made it easier to shun the fear. No one even stood guard, and they slept mostly separated from each other.

The night was halfway through. Skylynx was deep in slumber, but then something jolted him out of his sleep. He peered out into the night, but it was completely dark. The plains were old and rusted and did not reflect the brilliance of the moon well enough to bring light to the plains with a silver glow. Skylynx put his head back down and went back to sleep. He received then a restless sleep, and he was constantly stretching and flicking his wings. He and Darksteel were the only ones who shared a shelter; it had been large enough to cover the two who had turned out to be great comrades. Darksteel did a shortened version of his usual screechy trill in annoyance when Skylynx's tail was hitting him constantly in the face. He bit the tail softly to wake Skylynx, not wanting to put the effort into transforming and giving a good cuff on his shoulder. Skylynx blinked at him, two bright and wide yellow orbs penetrating the dim den. Darksteel was glaring back at him.

Skylynx readjusted himself and both settled down again. Then Darksteel perked up and stared out into the dark outside. He seemed to have heard a small sound, so Skylynx opened his optics and stared out with him. They waited, and the smallest of sounds was heard. It sounded like a sigh. They glanced at each other, confirming that they both heard it. Later they heard it again, longer, lower, and closer. Skylynx took a few steps outside and Darksteel followed.

Only a soft breeze was blowing. They watched the dark, but made out no shapes in the dark. They heard then another sigh that was close. Very, very close. Now they were both curious. Skylynx let a steak of fire fly out his throat and soar in the direction of the noise.

One section of the crowd could be seen. Vehicons and Insecticons were standing, with marks still on them from the wounds that had killed them. They stood without moving as the fire briefly lit up their faces that had huge gash marks where their optics had been torn out. Empty sockets stared back a them. The bodies stood still and now made no sound. The light zipped away and they were left in the pitch blackness once more. Skylynx made another streak of fire fly upwards, and he squawked in surprise and the next sight was the still eyeless bodies again, still frozen.

Very loud screeches and blinding blasts of fire woke Predaking and Ripclaw. The night was alight as fire flashed randomly. Predaking and Ripclaw charged outward and joined Darksteel and Skylynx as they leapt upon the bodies. Predaking pounced and caught two under his claws. He ripped the opticless vehicons in two. He went onto the crowd, but his optics widened in shock when the enemy failed to react. Limp bodies flopped under his claws, not moving at all.

The other Predacons stopped abruptly when they realized that they were also, getting no resistance. The Predacons took turns lighting fire blasts over the crowd, keeping everything illuminated. The dead bodies somehow had been balanced upright, but they were not moving at all. Predaking growled suspiciously at the faces beneath him, but he read nothing in the black gashes where their eyes used to be.

The bodies they attacked were felled over like dominos. Ripclaw pawed an Insecticon.

Predaking transformed to speak while his brethren continued to breath fire to cut the absolute darkness. He was as amazed as they all were.

"None of this makes sense," he hissed. "I don't understand the meaning of all this.

They all knew what he meant. That was, where had all these bodies come from? They stood perfectly balanced somehow, appearing as though they were standing on their own. Their optics had been torn out by something as well. Whoever had done it had come up with an incredibly creepy idea, what with one hundred dead staring blankly just meters away from where the Predacons had been sleeping. It was just unbelievable that someone had put them there, with barely any noticeable sounds.

Then a blanket of darkness fell upon them, except it was a mass of shadows with claws and wings attacking. It was a trap.