Work Text:
"Team Beta-four, this is Beta-one's supervisor. We decided to evacuate the planet. Come back to base camp before the end of the day or you'll be left here."
The radio crackled Beta-one's message, almost covered in static. Everyone on team Beta-four knew that no answer could be sent, but Beta-four-two still tried.
"Beta-one, this is team Beta-four. We require urgent assistance for evacuation. Repeating: urgent assistance."
The radio only flashed its failure in red, and the message went unsent.
"Told you," Four-four said.
"It was worth a try," Four-one asserted. "Guess we're really on our own now."
"Not very reassuring," Four-five said. They were gripping their company-issued rifle too stiffly, Four-one thought. They wouldn't be able to actually shoot it with any accuracy.
"It wasn't meant to be," Four-one said.
"Oh."
"I knew I should have gone with Team Epsilon." Four-four suddenly breathed out from where they were slumped against the wall.
Four-three answered without even looking up from the rifle they were checking. "Yeah, I'm not so sure, maybe they all fell into the Rust Sea by now. At least we're on solid ground."
Four-four barked a small laugh. "Wow, what of a relief that is. We're on solid ground to get eaten alive!"
"Quiet!" Four-one shushed them, and at the same time Four-two suddenly raised their hand. The near-universal gesture to shut up, and Four-one's team was well trained at least on that.
Silence immediately fell in their little hideout.
A scritch scratch was heard on the other side of the door. Everyone held their breath in fear. They all pointed their rifles at the door, but Four-one kept an especially closer eye on Four-five and their trembling hands. Then, after an eternity of waiting, the creature in the tunnel walked away from the door.
"We need to leave before it comes back," Four-two whispered once silence has crept up again, echoing Four-one's own thoughts. All around them the rest of the team nodded.
Leaving the hideout was an easy thing. The door to what must have been some kind of closet was a few times taller than any of them, and much too heavy to be pulled or pushed, as expected from a Cybertronian construction. Cutting a small opening through it, though, had been quick and straightforward work. And as an added bonus, their new door was too small for the creature to come through.
But now they had to leave the relative safety of the closet and run back to the ship to evacuate the planet. And hope not to get found out by whatever the creature had been, Four-one thought, but didn't say out loud.
There was no sound outside of their hiding place. But it didn't mean that there was nothing. They had come to Cybertron under the impression that the place was entirely devoid of life, both organic and mechanical. The recent encounter that had taken Four-six from them and forced the remainder of the team into hiding had proven otherwise.
Four-four checked the left side of the tunnel, Four-five checked the right.
"All clear," they both said, so Four-One gave the order to move.
For a Cybertronian, it likely would have been a short walk back to the opening of the mine. For them, it meant hurrying down long and disproportionately huge tunnels, in complete darkness except for their small personal lights. Two turns left, one turn right, and then the ship would be in sight. And before that, countless narrow passageways and alcoves in the walls, that anything could be hiding in.
After the first turn went without issue, Four-one could feel the tension ease in the toxic air between their team.
"Maybe that thing left entirely?" Four-four said, with wildly unwarranted optimism.
"Let's not bet on it," Four-one answered curtly. "Four-three, check the next tur-"
BLAM!
Four-one turned towards the origin of the gunshot by pure reflex, bringing up their rifle. At the back of the group Four-five was clutching their own weapon in shaking hands, pointing it at the darkness behind them.
"I- I saw something move!"
"It will have heard that," Four-two said with an uncommon hint of fear in their voice.
"We need to run," Four-one hurried.
Four-two took off alongside them. They could hear Four-three's distinctive run at their back, then behind them Four-four's slower jog, then behind... Nothing. Four-one removed the safety of their rifle as they abruptly turned around.
Four-five was gone.
Then a movement came from the darkness, from an indent in the wall, and slammed into Four-four.
"Four!" Four-three yelled, but it was too late.
Four-four's head came rolling towards them. Just the head, bleeding from the chopped-off neck. The helmet knocked softly on Four-three's foot.
Four-one could hear Four-two's heavy breathing through their mask. They had always known them to be calm and collected. To see that Four-two could lose their composure at all... It sent a shiver down Four-One's spine.
"Step back slowly," they said, also slowly. "Get around the next corner and run."
"We're not leaving you here alone," Four-two whispered back.
"Fine," then, just a little bit louder, hopefully not loud enough to catch the attention of whatever mechanical horror must be hiding: "Four-three, I need you to step back. We're leaving."
Four-three hesitated.
"Four-three, now. There's nothing you can do, for either of them."
Slowly, much too slowly, Four-three stepped back. Even their personal light didn't cut through the darkness where Four-five's and Four-four's bodies were resting.
A few sounds reached Four-one's ears then. A crunching. The distinct sound of a work suit being ripped apart. Four-one tried not to think about the last time they'd heard that. Then more crunching, and slurping. Chewing.
Distantly, Four-one thought that Four-five's and Four-four's bodies were not resting.
"Oh my god," Four-three said.
Then the scratching came back.
"Run!" Four-one ordered.
The scratching followed. It came from behind them, from beside them, from over them. From behind the walls and from in front of them.
And all the while they could hear the chewing.
Four-one's feet skidded on the metal ground when they ran around the corner. Four-two caught them, then glanced back at Four-three. And they faltered.
"What-?" Four-one asked as soon as they were back on their feet.
"Let's just go," Four-two pulled them forward, then released their hand when they went back to running alongside each other.
"Four-three too?" Four-one still asked, even though they knew the answer.
"I didn't even hear it," Four-two breathed. "That thing cut them in two."
Only one corner left, until the last stretch and then the ship.
They wouldn't make it, Four-one knew it now.
Four-two saw it before Four-one did. They jumped to the side. It wasn't enough.
Four-two's blood spattered onto Four-One's helmet as they screamed and fell. Four-one caught them and, somehow, dragged them into the nearest alcove.
One of the creatures was feasting on Four-two's leg. Four-one finally got a good look at the beast: at least two or three times taller than them, entirely made of metal, it looked like a monstrous version of the insects they knew from back home. And it was eating their team. And, they realized after just a quick glance around, it was far from alone. They were completely surrounded, a full corridor away from all hope of escaping this hellish mine.
"One?" Four-two asked weakly from where they were bleeding on the ground.
Four-two had never been so familiar, but Four-one guessed there was a first time for anything. And a last time, too, given their situation.
"Yes?"
"It has been an honor leading this team with you."
Oh, what the hell. They were all, both, dead already anyway. Four-one took one hand off their rifle and caught one of their companion's own hands. To hold it, hold them, for the last time.
"Likewise, Two."