Four Rusted Horses
Two days after the Nemesis Landing
The camp was on edge as they waited for news on what was happening inside that giant ship. Prime had gone aboard to negotiate with Megatron while the rest of his team waited anxiously...Ratchet was on his 7th round of chess when the doors finally opened Optimus and Megatron walked out as the bots and cons gathered around waiting for the outcomes of their talk. "Autobots and Deceptions these are truly dark times, for this planet and it's people..as this plague rises the dead, new bonds have been forged to ensure the survival of the living." the prime stood tall along with Megatron "As of this day our war is over a truce has been made, and a new battle begins a battle for survival. may Primus help us all." he finished as the bots and cons awkwardly nodded and shook hands, Then Megatron did the mistake of letting Temperance off his shoulder.
Jack got one look at her and froze Miko on the other hand's face lit up and went to go greet her only for her boyfriend to 'mom arm' her "What the hell is she doing here?" he sneered as his girlfriend looked at him surprised along with Bulkhead and Arcee as the grey eyed woman frowned "your still on about that? I thought you would've forgiven me by now." the cybertronians looked down at their charges confused as the raven haired boy kept his angered gaze on her "you don't deserve forgiveness not after what you did to Miko!?" he hissed as Miko looked perplexed "You mean save my life?" the Japanese girl said bluntly now it was Jack turn to be confused.
"What are you talking about? she attacked you and ripped out your eye!?"
"Wait, were you the one who made coach leave?"
"Becase she attacked you!?"
"I asked her to!"
Raff curiously poked his head out of the tree house as Jack blinked and looked between Temperance and Miko, a ball of ice formed in his stomach "W-what do you mean." his girlfriend sighed piching the bridge of her nose "Boys I swear..." she grumbled and took a breath as her good eye stared off as she gathered her thoughts. "Remember that day? we went to the grocery store for supplies?" Jack nodded hesitantly "Yeah, you and coach went into the back to look for baby formula and diapers...then I found her on top of you holding a knife." he said glancing at Temperance who stood back leaning against Megatron's foot.
"What you didn't see was the walker hanging from the vent dripping blood everywhere." she shuddered as she recalled the feeling her eye slowly dying. "some of it's blood got int my eye and it got infected, Temperance gave me two choice. Take me back to the school let me say goodbye to everyone and put me down...or option B, you can guess what I chose." she said lifting her bangs showing everyone her empty eye socket Bulkhead looked like he was gonna purge,
"That's what you walked in on...Baka." she slapped Jack upside the head he yelped rubbing the spot before Miko walked over to Temperance and hugged the woman who looked very uncomfortable before awkwardly hugging the teen back, who then noticed her metal hand and started asking a million questions as she dragged her to Abby's trailer only for Knockout and Ratchet to stop them KO grabbed Miko while Ratchet had Temperance before taking them to their respected medical stations. as Optimus and Megatron watched on.
"So, you and Temperance?"
"You and Bellamy."
"fair enough."
"...It went on before all this. that's all I'm going to give you."
The Prime nodded respecting their privacy as the warlord followed after his mate and the grumpy medic while Optimus went join his team on supply training, while Jack was left to think and get the facts right, the next time he goes judging and pointing fingers...that, and he knows he's gonna be sleeping on the floor next couple days. as he was pretty deep in the dog house with Miko...
Meanwhile a few hours north of Greendale....
"how much longer Breakdown?"
"Another two days kiddos just hang in there."
The ex-wrecker said as he sped down the empty highway, Starscream was flying ahead of him the scout out the area for any Rotters while he and the kids they picked up Alexis and Rad were both 10 while Carlos was 8, the were following the Nemesis which they saw flying over their temporary camp the other day. the kids were confused why their guardians wanted to follow the scary ship. till Breakdown explained it was his and Starcream's home and they'll be safe there. He still couldn't believe the seeker let them come with. as far as he knew Starscream hated humans! maybe his seeker instincts were registering them as sparklings? it would explained why he took care of their sick friend. when they first found them...
{They were walking around some town called Haik, Breakdown was just about ready to offline himself or Starscream which came first, as he listened to the seeker bitch and moan about not getting his way...When something caught the ex wrecker's attention he looked across the road at the elementary school, and saw a large bright pink sign with[Kids alive!! Trapped inside!! Please help!!!] in bold black letters. the two cons looked at each other as Starscream rolled his optics "argh...You wanna save them don't you?"
he moaned Breakdown just frowned as the seeker snarled "FINE!!" throwing his hands in the air. They transformed and activated their holo-avatars, good thing they don't give off heat Breakdown mentally noted as they entered; the building was in disarray as books, papers and few rotted bodies lined to halls, it took every circuit in Breakdown not to purge; especially when they walked passed the kindergarten. and saw little human toddlers feasting on what looked like a dog.
Breakdown was starting to wonder if this was a lost cause, until they saw a female walker with it's legs missing trying to crawl down the hall reaching for something they paused before Breakdown grabbed an ax that lay few meters from her, and bashed her head in. Starscream picked up what she was reaching for a walkie-talkie and someone was calling them. Breakdown nodded at the seeker to turn it on "Hello?" he said as a small voice gasped before shouting at someone.
"Guys someone answered!"
"we saw your sign outside and came into check."
"is ms. Penny with you?"
"erm..."
The two avatars looked at each other then Breakdown pushed the body over they winced seeing the Teacher ID badge: K. Penny. Starscream tried to find someway to tell the children. but they beat him to it "She's dead isn't she?" the voice said numbly as the seeker sighed "Yes, I'm sorry." the ex wrecker gawked at the lanky avatar; did..Starscream just apologize to someone? and mean it?! Where was he right now?
"where are you?" the seeker asked as he and Breakdown looked around the hallways "In the teacher's lounge. east wing room 211." the kid said the two nodded and made their way there when they got they saw two large desks pushed up against the door Breakdown pushed them out of the way and small girl poked her head out her green eyes stared at the two 'men' warily "hi.." she greeted before letting them in. and the two mechs were hit by the awful smell of rotting flesh and horrifying screeching and thrashing coming from an overturned metal cabinet.
And three little kids starring at them. the room was habitable. But, it was obvious the kids had long over stayed their welcome. the shelves were almost bare with what little rations they had left. and they looked like they haven't washed in weeks. the girl's brown hair was matted and greasy and her two male companions where no better. "How long have you guys been here for?" Breakdown asked as he stared at the cabinet knowing what was in there it was small enough for a child to fit in "A month maybe two? I don't know Ms. Penny locked the five of us in here." the blond haired boy explained as he fiddled with his baseball bat.
"There's only thre..." Starscream finally connected what was thrashing around in the cabinet "When Ms. Penny didn't come back after a week Billy thought she ditched us and tried to escape." the girl explained, jumping when the cabinet moved "He got his pinky bit off by a kindergartner. he turned within the week." she swallowed as the other kids backed up a bit. "We didn't know what to do...so we lured and locked him in there." the two mechs frowned one of them was going to have to...take care of Billy "and the other kid?" Breakdown asked the smaller boy pointed at the freezer "Freddie in cold box." he said in broken english the two cons looked between the freezer and cabinet.
"Why isn't he like that?"
"we don't know Billy scratched him when we locked him in there."
"Did he get sick?"
"yeah, same symptoms and everything...but, he didn't come back like Billy did. Rad, Carlos and I wrapped him in the curtains and put him in the freezer."
Breakdown and Starscream looked at each other having a conversation through their comms, and looked back at the kids "pack whatever you have left and follow me outside" Breakdown said handing Starscream the axe as the kids finished packing and followed BD's avatar out. while Starscream waited a few moments then kicked the cabinet open and a small pudgy boy rolled out he growled looked around wildly. causing his bloody dislocated hands to flail as he sniffed to air he wheezed picking up the kids scent and walked toward the door. Not noticing Statscream behind him who silently reeled the ax back and swung...}
The Seeker was pretty silent after that, it took a few days before he told Breakdown he killed all the small ones before, setting one of his missiles at the building, He just couldn't stand the thought of seeing them walking around like that. Needless to say Breakdown was starting to feel like he was in an episode of the outer limits.
it was freaking weird seeing Whiny,conniving,delusional Starscream acting all emotional and parental towards a bunch of kids and fleshlings no less! was creepy. Don't get Breakdown wrong , he's not calling the kettle black here. He's just as protective of them too. but...it was just to surreal for him. he was brought out of his thoughts,
by Starscream comming him to stop for the night the was cabin near by. the blue jeep pulled off the road and found the cabin. activating his holo-avatar and went in first; the kids waited curious as Alexis said "how long you this one will last?" Rad and Carlos thought it over "thirty seconds." they said just as a gunshot came from inside the cabin. the kids watched as a man was thrown from the front door to ground starring fearfully as Breakdown appeared in the doorway holding the man's gun.
the kids watched as their guardian grimaced his jaw flexed around before spitting something out at the man the kids knew it was a bullet and giggled as they watched BD snapped the rifle like a toothpick causing the man panic and run towards the jeep and pull out a pistol pointing it at the he yelled something. when Carlos knocked on the window the mans crazed eyes looked at the little Latino who smiled and pointed up.
the man follow the kids instructions and went 60 shades of pale. when he saw a fully transformed Starscream glowering down at him; the man swallowed stuffed the pistol back into his pants and ran off into the night. When Breakdown was sure it was safe he let the kids out and they all settled down for the night.