Road Trip
They all watched in shock, unable to believe what they were seeing.
"What?! That's impossible!" Ratchet commed."Ghost don't exist. At least, I think they don't." He peeked out the window.
Bumblebee just stood there frozen, not knowing what to do. He knew ghost were real! Ratchet didn't believe him! By the allspark! They were going after Ratchet!
"It's a ghost!" Jack shouted in fear.
"No, it's not!" Raf responded shakily.
"Well then what is it?"
"It's a zombie!" Raf squeaked.
Bumblebee gasped. "That's worse!"
"Ratchet is in there! He's going to get eaten!" Jack said, worried.
"Not on my watch," Bumblebee said with determination.
Bee started to charge but he stopped. "Stay here," he ordered the boys. And then, he turned around and ran. Raf and Jack had no problem staying away from the zombie.
"Wait, what if more come?" Raf stuttered. They both looked at each other before running after the scout. "Bee, we're here to help you!" Jack shouted.
…..
Ratchet was in the saloon, and he didn't want to admit it, but something was wrong with this place. He heard footsteps behind him and hastily turned around, weapons ready.
What he saw startled him. It looked like a zombie, and that was enough to send him into an attack mode.
"Ratchet?" the zombie asked.
Ratchet stopped, the familiar voice and now familiar figure staring back at him. "Bulkhead?" he demanded. He quickly sheathed his weapons, not wanting to admit how close he had been to off-lining the ex wrecker.
…..
The two boys were behind the scout, in case if things got out of hand. Just to be safe.
Tumbleweeds rolled past, brushing up against Bumblebee. The feeling of the tumbleweeds startled the scout, causing him to shoot at the nearest one.
Those darn tumbleweeds! They were attacking him! This was not his day!
"Bee-" Raf said.
"I told you to stay put," Bumblebee scolded. At this point, he was too scared to be angry. But the boy's safety always came first. And he couldn't go in and save Ratchet without endangering the kids.
"Bee," Jack said fearfully. "Turn around!"
The scout did just that, his weapons out, and was shocked to see two zombies running towards him. Of course there were more! And why were they running? Zombies were supposed to be slow! And was the smaller one wearing the bones of its victims?
All those thoughts swarmed through Bumblebee's processor as he took a step back. Unfortunately, the tumbleweeds he backed into wrapped around his legs and caused him to fall on his back.
"Bee! Get up!" Raf shrieked, trying to tug at his guardian.
"The zombies are coming!" Jack shouted.
…
Arcee recognized Bumblebee the moment she saw his form, and it filled her with relief to see someone familiar. She charged forward with an excited Miko following behind. "Bumblebee!" the girl shouted.
Arcee's delight turned to horror when she saw Bumblebee fall with tiny, white creatures swarming on him!
"Arcee! Shoot them! Their eating Bumblebee!" Miko screeched. That snapped the femme into action.
Her weapons were shooting around Bee in the hopes of scaring off the vile creatures. But that only served to make things worse, as one of the stray shots nearly hit the scout. And a tumbleweed near Bee was caught on fire from one of the shots. "Shoo! Shoo!' Arcee screamed. "Leave him alone!
….
"Bee, zombies die from fire!" Raf shouted, the fire illuminating in the dark.
That was music to Bumblebee's audio receptors. Ignoring the sudden pain in his servos as he picked up the flaming tumbleweed, he launched it at the largest zombie.
"Bumblebee!" the zombie yelled.
Bumblebee stopped, startled. "Arcee!" He shouted happily. Then he blinked, realizing what he had nearly done to his friend. "Oh Arcee," He said the last part really slowly.
Arcee huffed in annoyance before holding out a servo to help Bee up, which the scout took. "Uh, Arcee," he started, glancing at Miko and the many bones stuck in her hair. "Uh, Arcee why does Miko-"
"Don't tell Miko that she looks like something from a horror film," Arcee hissed quickly, cutting him off.
The two boys were staring at Miko before she caught them staring at her. "What?" she demanded, hands on her hips.
"Don't tell Miko she looks like something from a horror film!" Bumblebee whispered to Raf, repeating what Arcee had said.
"Uh, Miko-" Jack started as the girl turned to face him, but he saw Arcee, Bee, and Raf making hand motions that meant 'don't say it or you'll regret it'.
"- great to see you again?" Jack finished off.
Miko blinked, before smiling. "Thanks!"
"She looks like a zombie," Raf whispered to Bee, who nodded his helm, before going rigged. "Ratchet!" Bumblebee yelled, suddenly running off toward the saloon. Everyone stared in bemused shock as Bumblebee ran through the walls, weapons blazing.
"Is he on hygrade?" Arcee thought aloud.
…..
"Dieeeeeeeeeeeee!" Bumblebee screamed as he rammed right into the zombie. And just in the knick of time too. The zombie had been advancing on the poor, defenseless old medic!
"You will stay dead!"Bumblebee said with a threatening tone as he pinned the zombie to the ground. He raised his gun, powering it on.
"Bumblebee! What are you doing?!" Ratchet scolded.
"I got your back Ratchet!" Bumblebee said as his weapon got ready to shoot. Ratchet's optics widened. "No!" he shouted, tackling Bumblebee off the zombie. The movement caught Bee off guard, causing him to shoot the ceiling to avoid hitting the medic.
"Ratchet! Why did you do that?! You doomed us all!" Bumblebee yelled.
"This 'zombie' is Bulkhead." Ratchet huffed as he got up. He was pretty sure he had dislocated something in his back, thanks to the way he landed. That alone set him off in a bad mood. He knew the scout's spark was in the right place, but he may have a brain circuit loose.
"Hey Bee," the zombie or Bulkhead said with quite annoyance in his voice.
Bumblebee got off of Bulkhead as the medic and the ex wrecker turned to glare at him. "Opps," the scout said sheepishly.
….
Optimus got back from patrol, and the first thing he noticed was the silence. He frowned, "Ratchet?" he called out, noting that the medic was not in the base.
He was startled to find the ground bridge opened, and to the exact coordinates the children and their guardians had gone to.
His frown deepened when he attempted to contact Ratchet, only to be met with static. Glancing back at the still open ground bridge, Optimus onlined his weapons before walking through. Ratchet would not have left the ground bridge on without a good reason. And usually, those reasons came in the forms of Decepticons.
The night was chilly, which was unusual for Nevada, and Optimus could see the small town not too far away.
Behind him, the ground bridge let out a snap, before disappearing rather suddenly.
"Must have ran out of energon," Optimus said to himself. His head shot up at the sound of gunshots in the distance. He noted that it came from the town...where the children and autobots were.
…
"Everyone's here!" Jack said with relief. He stuck close to Arcee, never intending on leaving his partner's side. Bulkhead cuddled Miko close to his chassis, keeping a wary optic on the strange shadows dancing on the remaining walls.
Everyone looked at Ratchet who was typing something on his arm with a frown.
"Ratchet, what's wrong?" Arcee asked, concerned.
"The ground bridge closed, quite unexpectedly," Ratchet said, glaring at the device, as if it was somehow all its fault.
"Well, we can still get out by driving," Miko suggested.
"No, Miko. Remember Raf said that this place is off limits which means-" Ratchet started.
"It would be blocked," Arcee finished with a groan. "Well, this complicates things!"
"But we got here before, and it wasn't blocked," Miko said.
"Through the ground bridge," Bulkhead said.
"Uh, not to be the be the bearer of bad news but I just picked up some Decepticon
signals," Ratchet said.
Everyone stilled. "How many," Bulkhead demanded.
"I don't know! Something is messing up the signal. It could be an army, or a lone scout!" Ratchet blurted out. "All my tools are acting weird!"
"It's the ghost!" Bumblebee gasped.
Arcee whacked him upside the helm. "It's not the ghost Bee! Ghosh, you gotta stop watching ghost hunters!"
Bumblebee put his hands on his hips before saying some words that not even Raf could understand.
"Bumblebee, there are children around here!" Ratchet scolded.
Bumblebee's door wings went down sheepishly.
Arcee left the mech's to argue as her optics flickered over to a dark figure that emerged into the building. She quickly onlined her weapons before rushing at the dark figure with a battle cry. The figure seemed ready for her attack and flipped her over, pinning her to the wall. Bumblebee rushed forward, colliding with the intruder, but the weight of the two mechs caused the wall to break, sending them both outside.
Arcee jumped to her feet and ran outside to see Bee on his back, the larger mech pinning him down.
"NO!" Arcee screamed, her blades emerging as she launched herself at Bee's captor. She ducked the mech's arm as he tried to swipe at her.
"Arcee!" a familiar voice said. The femme stopped her attack, her optics widening. "Optimus!" she said.
"Well ,that's professional," Ratchet grumbled as he and Bulkhead, along with the children, came out of the saloon.
"Yay! Boss Bot is here! We can go home!" Miko shouted with glee.
Optimus sent a questioning look to Ratchet he shook his helm. "I'll explain later. But all you need to know right now, is that everyone here thinks that there are some spirits attacking them."
"Is that why they are all covered in white and look like ghosts?" Optimus asked.
"Uh, no. Long story, but it means we need to leave," Jack urged. "No reason to stay here!"
But what Ratchet had said caught the Prime's attention. Spirits? While everyone was transforming and getting ready to leave, Optimus approached the saloon.
The matrix inside of him immediately urged him to stop as he poked his head inside. Something was not right here. Something was wrong. Laughter and footsteps sounded above him, but it was so soft that he wondered if he had even heard it.
Optimus frowned before running a quick heat scan on the room. He blinked his optics in shock. There were many forms of negative energy forming in the room, none of them friendly. Then, as one, all the doors and windows swung open, before slamming shut.
Optimus stumbled back in horror. The doors continued to open and slam shut. It was unnerving. One thing came to mind. They were not welcome here. There was evil in this place. The autobots and children were from the land of the living; they were not welcome here.
"Optimus?" Arcee called out, approaching him. She had started getting concerned when he had not joined them, and as much as she didn't like this place, she was not leaving anyone behind. Her optics widened as she heard the doors slamming. "What..?"
"We need to get out of here," Optimus said, grabbing Arcee's arm and dragging her away from the building.
"Autobots, roll out!" he ordered. They didn't need to be told twice. Everyone sped out of there, following their Prime.
It wasn't long until they reached the roadblocks. Ratchet thought for sure that Optimus would stop. But to his surprise, their leader increased his speed and smashed through the roadblocks in his way. Even then, Optimus did not slow down. He was driving like Unicron himself was chasing him.
"The ghost is chaseing us!" Bumblebee shrieked.
"The ghost is not chasing us!" Arcee yelled. But she too, increased her speed as she remembered the slamming doors.
Ratchet looked at his rear view mirror and saw that Jack's grip tightened on Arcee's handle bars. Ratchet let out a sigh, knowing he would have to give everyone a thorough checkup.
…
At Base
"Bumblebee, you're next. I will have to examine your helm," Ratchet insisted.
"Ratchet, our scout is fine," Optimus spoke up
"You can't be serious," Ratchet said, confused.
"Our scout is fine," Optimus assured him.
Ratchet walked away, muttering something. The medic observed everyone in the room. Bumblebee was scratching away at the salt and flour. Arcee and Bulkhead had yet to clean themselves from the dirt and dust. Optimus pulled out a piece of wood that had gotten stuck in his arm, no doubt from the many roadblocks he had run through. The children looked no better. Jack and Raf had white powder in their hair while Miko looked like something from the underworld.
Optimus's optics flickered over to Miko who was sitting next to Bulkhead. "Rough day Miko?" Optimus asked.
Miko let out a groan. "You have no idea. How did you know?"
Optimus flicked one of her pigtails. "Just a hunch," he said with a small smile. A small bone fell to the ground.
"What's that" Miko screamed as she touched her hair. "Bones! Oh my God! Get them out!" Bulkhead rushed over to her side trying to pick her up but the young girl was jumping around yelling. "Get it off! Get it off!" Arcee came to rush over, trying to pick out the bones with her large servos. But Miko would just not stay put.
"Jack, Raf, help!" Arcee yelled, gesturing to the girl.
"I'm not touching that," Jack stated, backing away.
"Get over here!" Arcee yelled, leaving no room for argument. The two boys reluctantly came over and started picking bones out of Miko's hair. "Eww! That's a finger!" Jack screamed, holding out a finger. Raf bolted.
"Raf! Get over here!" Bumblebee yelled at the 12 year old.
"I am not touching those bones," Raf said firmly.
Optimus let out a laugh while Ratchet turned to face him. "Really," the medic said.
"You didn't expect her to go home looking like that did you, old friend," Optimus said gesturing to Miko.
Ratchet let out a huff. "You could at least help!"
"I did," Optimus said. "I simply pointed out the bones stuck in her hair."
"Am I the only one wondering what happened to those Con signals?" Bulkhead asked after getting Miko to finally calm down.
"Yeah. What did happen to them?" Raf asked.
…
Starscream transformed in his elegant grace, while Megatron transformed in his awesomeness, his armor glimmering in the moonlight.
"Why do you think the Autobots were here? Could this be their secret base?" Starscream asked his master.
"It could be," Megatron said as he approached one of the larger, ruined buildings. "And it looks like there was a battle here." He touched one of the splintered walls. "A very recent battle." He straightened up, testing the flooring of the building before entering with Starscream following. "Whatever the case, it is worth investigating," the warlord said.
Starscream stopped, thinking he had heard...something! Was that laughter? Who dared laugh at him!
Though Megatron would not admit it. There was something wrong with this building. The dark energon alerted him. He slowly entered one of the nearby rooms, leaving Starscream alone.
Starscream's spark was uneasy. Just for safety measures, Starscream powered on his weapons. "My…my liege?" he called out, only to get no response.
Starscream could have sworn he heard something. Not to mention, the feeling of being watched was unnerving. Doors started slamming. He quickly turned around before letting out a horrified shriek.
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
The End
