Chapter Text
------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------
The winter feels harsher this year. Snow lightly falls for most of the day, things are still covered in thin layers of snow with thicker layers on areas that are left unattended.
Johnathan ruffles his hair once again, getting rid of the bits of snow on it that look more like powdered sugar on his chocolate colored hair.
His breath fogs up his glasses once more, thanks to the mask he wore. He sighed, taking off his glasses and carefully wiping them clean with his tie before placing them back on his face.
The time is currently 5pm in the afternoon. As the sun slowly starts its descent, workers like him and students make their way home, while some people are enjoying the cold yet beautiful evening.
After a walk, he finally reached the bus stop. He quickly sweeps away a layer of snow from the seat before sitting down. He once again adjusted and zipped his jacket higher as if that was gonna make him any warmer.
“Ugh, this is just the start of winter,” he complained to himself “How can it be so cold already?” If the temperature stays freezing it's only a matter of time before he gets sick and he knows that he can't afford to have any more days off. He has so many tasks to do in the office and has to finish them as soon as possible, especially with the holidays coming.
Johnathan shifts in his seat, trying to get comfortable despite the chill. The wind picks up, sending a shiver down his spine. He glances at his watch and checks the bus schedule again. The bus is running late.
He sighs and scans his surroundings, looking for something to entertain himself as he can't do much but sit and wait. He didn't find anything interesting, but he noticed the missing persons posters all around him. How odd? Seems like there are more papers, more new faces. Johnathan shook his head, worried, slowly more people are going missing in this town and he needs to make sure that he won't be one of them.
As the minutes passed, Johnathan’s impatience only grew. The cold is seeping through his coat, and the thought of waiting outside much longer is starting to wear on him. Just as he thinks about going home with a cab, he notices the bus finally approaching its stop.
As the bus rolls to a halt and the doors swing open with a hiss, Johnathan lets out a sigh of relief. He stands up, brushes off the remaining snow on himself, and steps onto the bus.
As Johnathan steps inside, grateful for the warmth, he takes notice of the bus driver, a seemingly middle aged man with a mustache. He stared at the road in front of him emptily with his dead eyes. Johnathan gave him a quick smile and a nod to be polite but the driver didn't acknowledge him at all. Jonathan didn't think much of it and proceeded on his way to find a seat.
But all of the seats are taken. He sighs and reaches for the grab handle hanging from the ceiling, continuing to stand on his already tired feet.
With no one else entering, the driver closes the door and the bus takes off with a hiss. As the vehicle treads on, Jonathan observes the people sitting and occasionally glances at the driver.
something doesn't feel right.
There's a very strange contrast between the people sitting at the front and at the back. Similar to the driver, all people at the front just sit without much movement, if any.
Their expressions are blank and they stare forward, devoid of emotion. “What the hell are they staring at? The back of the seats?” Jonathan thinks to himself. “I don't even think I saw them blink.”
Meanwhile, the people in the back look pretty lively and normal. He saw some of them snacking, engaging in conversation, reading a book, a kid playing with his toy cars, or looking out the window and enjoying the view. The difference is so uncanny.
The more he observes, the more the atmosphere at the front makes him feel uncomfortable. so he quickly moves to stand at the back where the people don't look like robots pretending to be humans.
The bus rumbles forward, and Johnathan tries to settle into a more comfortable spot near the back. He notices a pair of girls sitting together next to where he stands, one has short spiky black hair and wearing a beige trench coat, while the other is a long wavy blonde with a pink scarf and striped sweater. Their laughter and animated conversation is a stark contrast to the eerie stillness at the front of the bus.
------------------------------------------------------------
Hazel leans back in her seat, gazing out of the bus window as the snow-dusted streets turn into a blur as they pass. It had been a fun day—though she'd never admit that to Holly. Her friend had basically dragged her to that bakery across town, pleading for Hazel to join her on another sugar-fueled adventure. Hazel wasn’t much for sweets, and Holly knew that, but it was hard to say no to her when she got that excited.
Despite her initial reluctance, Hazel had to admit, it hadn’t been a total waste of time. Holly was good company and Hazel always enjoyed listening to her endlessly talk, even if she could be a bit overenthusiastic most of the time. They’d laughed and joked around. It was a pleasant day, the kind of day that seemed simple but left her feeling good inside.
Though, as the bus carried them toward home, the lighthearted mood from earlier was slightly fading, now the two girls are focused on their own thing. Holly continued to chomp down on one of the few pastries she had left while Hazel watched trees pass through the slightly snow tinted window as she listened to songs from her favorite band.
Holly noticed a man who was standing at the front of the bus start making his way to the back. she wonders why. Is one of the passengers giving him a weird look? or maybe they just straight up harassed him? No, that's too far of an allegation, she's probably overthinking it. but still, she saw how tired the man looked. “Why not?” she thought, both girls were in a good mood today, a bit of kindness wouldn't hurt.
Holly lightly nudged Hazel, gesturing her to move closer to the frame of the bus. Not knowing why, the spaced out girl quickly moves over until she's practically squished between the side of the bus and her friend. Holly moves closer too, glancing at Hazel and giving a small but decent space on the edge of the seat. “Uhm, why?” Hazel asks as she turns down the volume of her music. “I feel bad, he's the only one standing.” Holly replies, gesturing to the man standing, she smiles. Hazel gives another bewildered look before quickly shrugging it off. Denying it or not would be awkward either way.
“Sir, sir.” Holly quietly calls out. The man turns to look at the voice that calls him and spots a girl who looked to be in her late teens. She smiles sweetly as she pats the empty space on the edge of her seat, inviting him to sit there. At first, the man tried to gesture a polite decline, but still, the girl insisted. To make things less awkward, he gave in, giving the girl an apologetic smile as he sat on the very edge of the seat hoping he wouldn't cram the girls further.
------------------------------------------------------------
Minutes passed as they sat in awkward silence, which is pretty much expected in any public transportation. Other people around them just go about their business to pass time as they wait to reach their destination. Jonathan watches the people at the front, occasionally glancing at people stepping out of the bus and new people walking in.
Jonathan continued to survey the people at the front, so much so that it didn't come to his mind that he could just move from this awkward seat to an empty one, which probably made some passengers give him a weird look for ‘insisting’ on sitting next to teenage girls.
“None of them have even moved…” He thought. He noticed that not one passenger talked to each other, read a book, or even got up and left. It's like only the few people in the back that are normal. Maybe it's nothing, maybe he's just overthinking this whole thing, maybe his brain was so bored from all these years of doing mundane work that he's now imagining strange things so he can keep himself entertained.
He has a very bad feeling about this, something in the back of his mind screams for him to flee but he can't quite see why. The unmoving people creep him out but what else? Why does he need to leave? As the bus stopped once more, another passenger stepped off. “She just dodged a bullet.” His mind screams, “But what's the bullet?”
When he was just about to follow his gut feeling, he immediately stopped himself. He just needed to wait for three more stops. As he reaches the stop closest to his home, his anxiety only grows. He's so close. Though he can't just leave now and walk there, or worse, spend extra on another bus.
He reaches in his pocket, fishing for his wallet, preparing the money he’ll give to the driver when he arrives at his destination. While the wallet was still open he stared at his family picture. It was a somewhat old picture, taken maybe like 4 years ago? He's not too sure, with how fast time seems to move nowadays for all he knows it could already be far longer than that.
It was a selfie of him, his wife, Jessica, his son Kenny, and his daughter Sarah in an amusement park. He remembers how it was probably the last time he brought his family far away from home to spend the day together.
lately he has been thinking about finding an opportunity to get the family somewhere nice for a quality time again, and maybe updating the picture on his wallet since the kids have grown so much.
Well, if whatever his gut tells him is gonna kill him now this would be the best moment, at least he's reminiscing a happy memory of his family.
the blonde girl’s emerald eyes curiously glance at the photo in Johnathan’s hands. "Hey, cute kids!" She comments with food still in her mouth, some crumbs fall and land on her skirt. Johnathan turns to her.
"Oh? Yeah, they are pretty cute. But hey, I'm their dad so I'm probably biased." The girl chuckles a bit.
"That boy looks pretty tall, I think he could be a great basketball player." She says before taking another bite. "He is actually a part of his school's soccer ball team." He proudly declares as he points at said boy.
"That's neat!" The girl nods.
After that small conversation, they immediately run out of things to talk about once again, and the journey continues with another wave of awkward silence.
He wants to mention how he's just thinking about bringing his family somewhere nice for the holiday later or what gift he already has in mind for his kids later for christmas.
But it feels too random to say to a stranger.
Holly taps on hazel’s shoulders, prompting the dark-haired girl to take off her headphones with annoyance.
"Hey Haz, do you smell that?" The blonde asks.
the other girl sniffs the air and nods, acknowledging the odd odor. “No idea what this is." Hazel shrugs nonchalantly, puts her headphones back on her head and continues to stare at the window, ignoring everything once again.
Hearing the girls' conversation, Johnathan curiously sniffs the air and notices the odor they were talking about. The smell reminds him of stepping into a pharmacy.
He looks around and spots some people at the back commenting on the strange odor too. For a moment he wonders what it could be. Maybe one of the passengers brought something funky? Or are there some leaks in the bus? He shrugs it off, it's probably nothing big, nothing to worry about.
Time passes in a blur. Just one more stop until Johnathan reached his.
He noticed how the bus that was once full of chatter of the passengers has now become oddly quiet. Johnathan feels oddly lethargic all of the sudden. He looks around, the girls next to him are already asleep. The black haired one resting her head on the window, while the blond one lays her head on her friend’s shoulder.
His eyes scan around the bus. All other passengers are either asleep or seem extremely tired, just like him.
Johnathan's eyes become heavier and heavier as he grows more somnolent. No, he can't sleep now, it's just one more stop, he’ll miss it if he falls asleep now.
The more he tries to fight it, the drowsier he becomes. He blinks slower, trying to keep his sleepiness at bay, he blinks and he blinks.
The next thing he knew he was a moment too slow in his blinking and the world around him slowly fades into a quiet lull of darkness.
------------------------------------------------------------
“Y'know, this is not the best weather to fly,” the air commander scoffed into his radio. “Might just be a bit of snow down there, but the higher you go, the worse it gets. It’s a heck of a blizzard up here!”
He chuckled, shaking his head. “Where even are you?”
The pilot checked his radar. His wingman was below him—faint, but still visible on the screen.
The grey and red jet descended lower, and in the distance, he spotted the delivery cargo on the ground. The supplies stored inside would be a huge help to his team in the long run. The only problem? If the enemy found them first, they’d lose everything.
“Any sign of an ambush?” his wingman asked.
From his vantage point, the pilot noticed something approaching the empty highway. His radar picked up enemy signals.
“Don’t worry, pal,” he smirked, fingers hovering over the trigger. “I got this.”
Rolling his jet, he prepared his weapons, ready for another epic combat.
And then he saw it-
Wait a second-
Oh.
That’s the playground.
Tommy smiles knowing when he sees the playground that always means the stop is close, he can finally get dinner and go to bed!
The boy always enjoys any type of car ride, he loves looking out the window to see the motion blur of things outside imagining cool people hopping with his toys around buildings to keep up with his speed and the power lines dancing around from pole to pole.
It's always a fun thing to watch for hours. Maybe sometimes he fell asleep in the comfort of the low rumble and vibration of the vehicle. melting on the comfy seat and his mom’s lap. then he’ll wake up still in the car but in a new place or already at home, it's a pleasant surprise either way.
But this one? this one didn't feel as fun… tommy and his mom is on their way back after a quick trip to the grocery store because after she came back from work she realized there is nothing in the fridge for her to make dinner with… which is weird, he can't understand why cant she just go buy something when she was outside working? two birds and a stone!
not only does the tom’s tummy growl, he’s now also really tired and woozy. He feels abit happy he might get sick which means no school, but a part of him is still bummed out because feeling sick sucks.
On top of that he feels really-really sleepy for a while now. but his mom fell asleep and she always said if she did he had to stay up so they won't miss anything.
“Mom! mom! the stop is coming!” The boy put his toy jet into the grocery bag and start shook his mother's shoulder with a smile. always said if she fell asleep outside he have to stay awake to make sure they didn't miss out on anything.
but there is no response.
It's pretty weird. grown ups like her never sleep! and when they do he knows that they have superpower to always wake up on their stop.
“MOM! Come ON!” Tommy’s voice grew louder as he shook her harder.
still no response.
The boy looked at the window and saw their bus move past their stop like it was nothing.
panic starts to seep in. Is she alright? Is she sick too? Is this bad? What should he do? Where would they go if they didn't leave the bus now?
“MOM!” the boy yelled, pushing and pulling her shoulder.
Then he pushed too far. and the young woman fell on the nasty bus floor and she just stayed there. even with her dropping like that with a thud. She’s. Not. Waking. Up.
The boy shrieked, tears started to drip from his eyes. What should he do? WHAT SHOULD HE DO??? shouldn't someone nice come to help immediately? Should he ask for help?-
Yea that's right!
He jumped from his seat. The moment he landed on the floor he realized his legs turned wobbly, he fell on his knee but quickly got back up. He had those feelings again where his head hurts and he has statics of colors flashing in his eyes.
He looks around and sees that everyone else is asleep too. That explains abit why nobody helps her but that doesn't make his problem better AT ALL!
“i… um… excuse me…sir?” the boy muttered in between his sobs, pulling on the tired looking man’s dark blue jacket’s sleeve.
but the pale man did nothing.
His hysteria keeps growing and his head spins faster. his eyes feel hurts from how much he cries and how much he wants to sleep.
he asked a lady, no response.
he asked a man, no response.
he asked another man, but still nothing.
nothing?
NOTHING???
Is EVERYONE here sick too?? What is he supposed to do to help mom, or everyone!? He's a kid, he dont know those chest RCP things! He does want to be a doctor when he grows up but now he has not learned anything!
“SOMEBODY HELP!” The boy cried, hiccups loudly and sobbing. crying, screaming, screeching, ANYTHING to get anyone’s attention. but nothing, NOTHING-
“SILENCE!” the boy whimpers and covers his ears as the sudden harsh voice booms all around him.
He did quiet down except for the hard sobs he can't control..
Tommy forces his droopy eyes to look around. Who said that? Who's still awake and can help? He was REALLY panicking and couldn't hear where the mean voice was coming from. In fact, it feels like it came from everywhere.
Wait a second-
The boy looked at the window. the world outside is still a blur while the power lines are still dancing.
Oh yea.
The wheels on the bus STILL go round and round.
THE DRIVER!
the driver should still be awake if the bus didn't stop
—
standard sized humans could be tolerable. but, bothersome is literally the only way Transit could describe small sized humans.
Through most of his career he had worked with many small Cybertronians, supervising those to the likes of Minicons and Vehicons. but for the life of him he couldn't understand why these sub-creature are such immature lousy messes with little to know self control.
With the little research he did about these organisms to his understanding although slow, humans have quite the drastics transformation through their pitiful short life. drastic in the perspective of the organics at least, it will be light years different if it is compared to the transformations Cybertronians did on a daily basis. The most noticeable ones are how they grow in size as time passes them by. Therefore, younger fleshlings tend to be smaller and more incompetent due to their cluelessness.
Though he still sees that as heaps of scraps. if a Vehicon that is less than a cycle old can be a competent working then why can these dry water bags not?
ugh look at that puffy green thing. disgusting liquids poured out of every hole on its faceplate and splat into his interior flooring as it continuously whale like a glitched false emergency siren. absolutely pathetic.
Then for a moment it stops as if it works hard on using its little to no processor while staring at the front side of his interior. an escape plan perhaps? heh, would gladly witness how it tries, not like he would let it leave anyway.
Though he was surprised it stayed online to not only outlast its brethren but also for an escape plan and perhaps an execution.
“Mister! Sir!” The creature calls out in between his vocal glitches. Although rushing, it slowly limped toward the front of his narrow corridor. “Mister driver!” It cries.
At some point it's unnecessarily long and bulky neck warmer gets caught by one of his many seats, causing it to crash down to its back with a thud and a squeak. It tiredly tried to get up and continue its journey.
It wastes the energy that it is already losing constantly from the tranquilizer he had released as it tug at the end of the fabric before deciding to just simply take off the accessory and continue its ‘run’.
he can't help but internally chuckle.
“Mister driver…” it sobs. looking up as it on its knee and weakly leans against his driver’s seat, not even aware by its servos clipping through his holoform. “I think my mom- and everyone is hurt! sick!”
Transit let the silence hang for a moment, savoring the little human’s pathetic whimpers. He could hear its tiny internal mechanisms struggling beat rate spiking, vents hitching, joint trembling from exhaustion.
He metaphorically rolls his optics and get a few of his interior sensors to focus on the thing. It is still knelt at the side of his seat, staring up at his holoform with wide, teary eyes.
The human had no idea what it was looking at.
it try to clutch its servo to the fabric of his projected form and perhaps its perception has been corrupted by the chemicals since it can't seems to understand it can't interact physically with the holoform
“M-Mister?” Tommy’s voice cracked. “A..are you okay too?... Please s-stop the bus... M-my mom won’t w-wake up, I- I wanna go home...”
Home.
Transit scoffed.
“Sit down, human.” Transit ordered through the radio. though it doesn't seem to notice the audio is in fact not coming from the faux human driver.
the leaking creature froze, confused, then shook his head violently. “N-no! You need to stop the bus! My mom…m-my mommy’s needs-”
“Get back to your previous position, youngling.” Transit ordered louder.
“what?” the disoriented creature sniffled with confusion seeping in, wiping away the gel-like substance from its vents.
“Have your audials perceived what I have said?” Transit snapped and the flesh bag squeaked by the shock of the more drastic volume change. “return back to your position and regroup with your people.”
The thing now looks fully leaning to the seat as if it lost its spine support, its help now only looks down toward the ground. Finally, the tranquilizer finally shut it down.
“Why are you talking all fancy like a wizard?” The boy mumbled weakly, his tiny voice barely above a whisper before his head lolled to the side. A few shuddering breaths later, the little creature was completely offline, slumped over against his seat.
Transit let out a low, rumbling chuckle, the sound barely audible over the dull hum of the moving bus.
Pathetic. stupidly pathetic
the interruption left a sour taste in his circuits. He had been forced to waste time indulging a small, barely-functional human, acknowledging its pitiful attempts at resistance. What was the point? The creature had no chance of escaping. None of them did.
Still, he could not shake the moment from his memory.
The way the youngling’s eyes, glassy with exhaustion, had searched the driver’s seat. Looking for him. Speaking to him as if he is its only saviour in life.
How curious.
Even in its weakened state, it had fought to keep its optics open. It had fought to think.
also, a ‘wizard’? What makes it draw such comparison?
though perhaps his universal translator is too stiff? well thats just what happen when ones did not have enough local interaction in both speech and writing for the data.
as pathetic as it was, he had to admit its pretty strong to keep up for that long. there was something unusual about this specimen.
But that would be for the others to determine.
Transit ran a final systems check. His internal sensors detected no further resistance. Every single passenger was offline.
Perfect.
"Report. The fleshies are all shut down now. I'm going back to base." Transit transmited to his intercom while his tires get him away from the regular human’s public transport route.
He shuts off all the holoforms, leaving most of him empty except for the few humans in the back area.
He admits that it would be far more exciting for him if he was allowed to get as many humans as possible, it would probably be too much of a vermin for him to handle but he enjoys the idea of sending a large amount of these creatures to their death.
but for the time being Shockwave only wants a small sample, that's why he has to keep the illusion that the bus is packed so only a limited amount of humans are willing to board him.
Turning off the main road, he drove deeper into the outskirts of the town. The buildings gradually fade out, giving way to open fields and sparse woodland. Going to a secluded dirt road leading into dense woods and turning onto it without hesitation. The canopy of trees provided cover from the sky above, shielding him from any human aerial surveillance that might accidently spot him.
He drove past a dark abandoned tunnel and an old bridge before reaching the final destination. An old, abandoned, yet massive warehouse. He stops and waits for the entrance to open.
As the said entrance opened for him, he drove in and parked inside. He split open the roof of the bus to let a pair of Vehicons go to get these vermins out of him.
stacking it on top of eachother and efficiently delivering it to shockwave’s small lab on their servos in one trip
When the last human finally pulled out, the bus began to fold and clatter, revealing a massive mech that was there all along. "Stupid, scrappy fleshies." He mumbles to himself, rolling his optics in annoyance as he watches that troublesome creature get taken away.
------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------