willnotgogently:

“Of course, I wouldn’t want your friends and family to worry.” 

Though he did wonder how big the group was and why it was that Megatron had gone out alone.  It was just a touch suspicious that they hadn’t sent another mech to carry any items and then had Megatron act as a guard, much like Tacitus did for him.  But perhaps they needed everyone they could at their home base, doing what they could to make it more stable and fruitful for the future.

“I’m Rung, and this is Tacitus… and I apologize for his growling.  We’ve attempted to live with others before and… it hadn’t gone well.  He’s protective of me.”

The little orange mech seemed shy about saying that and the Insecticon actually put his thick primary arms around him, pulling his little frame back into his own so he was all but swallowed up by the much larger one.  Laughing softly, he pet the dangerous looking claws, fingers moving across the deadly points so casually before pushing to indicate that he wanted to be let go.

“I’m ready to go if you are.”

“Think nothing of it. It’s honorable of him, and understandable to be so defensive.” He still wasn’t going to be disarming himself, at least not until they had returned to home base. “I don’t believe such a problem will arise within my group, but if it does, come to me. I will put an end to it, myself.” The only mech he could think that might cause trouble for the new arrivals was Starscream… but then, didn’t he cause trouble for everyone? The silver warrior grinned, a servo on the door. “It’s always inspiring to know that we aren’t alone.”

Time was ticking. He had to return. “Alright. Our holdout is to the east, about a mile. There is decent cover along the way, but leaving this block will be difficult if there are Swoopers. It will be a joy to fight alongside you, Rung. Tacitus. Stay close.” 

Megatron motioned for the two of them to stay quiet now as they moved, before pushing through the door. Fliers were something that he would rather avoid fighting if he could. They were fast, and hid atop their perches so that they couldn’t be seen unless swooping in to attack… like now. “Get down!” he bellowed, charging and leaping into the air to meet the incoming creature with his blade.

willnotgogently:

Well if those two were going to be able to watch the entrance and exits… Rung smiled as Megatron moved to take care of the back section.  He could hear the Empties starting to move and he pat Tacitus on the arm, pointing towards the forward section.  Taking out a crowbar, he silently rushed his way down the aisles.  If they could hold off or at least make a barrier of dead bodies then he could get something more important.

There was a deep clanging in between the sharp shots that Megatron let off, telling of what Rung was up to in the store.  He’d made his way to the pharmacy section that had been locked up and was beating on the lock to get it off so he could get the more valuable items.  Even if he didn’t need some of those drugs right now, it was only a matter of time before he would need first aid supplies or medicine.  He struck down on the lock and then worked the crowbar under the door when it had enough of a crack in it.  Pushing the door open, his optics widened and brightened at the sight there.  Because this section had been in lock down, nothing was touched.  He still had some food at his safe house and he could come back here later for more of the food, but if he was to leave this section open there was no telling how much medicine would be left.

He tugged his backpack off and started grabbing a little bit of everything he could off the shelves, additives, pain suppressors, heat suppressors, mesh bandages, medications of different sorts.  He pushed them all in, arranging to make as much room as he possibly could.  In the middle of one of the aisles, near the bottom he found injectors of Emptinex.  Chemicals that would help to fend off the zombie virus.  He wasn’t infected… but it might happen considering how careless he was with his frame.  

Grabbing a handful of those, he pushed them in and then put the backpack on again, hurrying to meet up with Tacitus again who was casually biting the heads off the Empties and shoving the bodies to the side.  Good thing Insecticons couldn’t be infected…

“Sir?  I– I’ve got all I can carry.  You should load up on what you need too!” Rung called out.

When Rung found them again, Megatron was staring in mild horror at the Insecticon, who had infected fuel smeared all over his face. He relaxed slowly as the smaller mech didn’t seem concerned, and he hadn’t seen any Insecticon undead. Reasoning that they were likely unaffected, the warrior nodded to the orange one. 

“Don’t leave without me. I can help you get past the others outside, and a group of us have secured a safe haven on the edge of the city. We’re stronger together.” He wouldn’t offer if he wasn’t impressed. This pair was strong together, resourceful, collected- they would be a good addition, not a detriment to the survival of the others. Without further delay, Megatron ran directly for the medication.

Slag. The Emptinex had already been raided. Some remained, it it was only enough for a few weeks at best. Better than nothing, he supposed, stuffing the rest into his subspace. What else had Knock Out called for… solder and coolant. He went to grab a few units of each, but realized his servo was still covered in undead sludge. A nearby mesh towel too care of that easily enough, allowing him to safely touch everything else.

Barely a minute later, Megatron returned, walking to stand before the nearest exit with his sword drawn. “Are you with me?” he whispered.

willnotgogently:

No one really expected the Empties to become more of nuisances than they were.  The scientists of Cybertron never truly bothered to put much study into them because it wasn’t a high priority.  There were so few of them at first and the ones that were being turned weren’t from the ‘good’ neighborhoods so the Senate turned their optics elsewhere.

That was the first mistake of course.  There should have been more than just a handful of medical and scientific graduates looking into the matter to try to fix the problem.  Now the planet was in ruins, the people were broken down into factions and things were infinitely more dangerous than they were originally.  Some of the scientists had managed to make some formulas before things got too bad.  Shockwave, for example, had manufactured a synthetic matter that would stop the turning process, but it had to be injected every twenty four cycles.

Rung was going through the old grocery store, looking for some sort of supplies that he could use, hoping that he would find something better than canned food to get him by.  The soft growling alerted him that he wasn’t alone anymore and he turned towards Tacitus, his guard bug that he had trained to scent out any nearby Empties.  The Insecticon was hissing in a low tone and Rung patted his arm before motioning for him to follow.  They’d try a different store, obviously this one wasn’t safe anymore.

@mightymegatron

He still had an hour before the solution would begin to lose its effect. Plenty of time to raid one store and circle back to their hide-out. Worst case, you get caught out on your own and die outside of the camp, far away from the rest of us. What a shame that would be~. Starscream’s words echoed in his helm. As irritatingly happy about his eventual demise as the seeker was, he was right. If anything happened, if the disease began to overtake him, he wouldn’t harm anyone. There was no one alive out here… or so he thought.

He ducked his helm around the corner for a moment and saw two forms, one small, and one very very large. The big one might give him trouble, and if he fired his canon, it would attract more… Slag. They were coming this way. He had no choice.

His weapon whirred to life, the only warning these monsters would have before he blasted them back to the Unmaker. Megatron pivoted around the corner, taking aim-

Blue optics, no rust. Megatron twisted his arm at the last second, firing a shot into the air beside them before raising his arms and letting the cannon wind down. 

“Apologies! I shouldn’t have shot at you, I didn’t know…”