Mystic *ON HOLD*

37

It only got worse the further in we went.

Shocked and morbid curiosity occasionally led me to take a peek, only to immediately close my eyes again. I could not look at those corpses.

So many dead soldiers.

This was more like a graveyard than a battlefield....without the graves. Decepticons and Autobots alike were sprawled on the ground, their final moments showing on their faces and positions.

"Do not look, Mystic." Orion told me again. I knew he could tell just how disturbed I was.
"Instead, you should try again to find Alex's coded message."

He stopped to pull the box of pillows out of his chest compartment.
"Good idea." Alec brightened up a little bit.
I nodded absently. I didn't really want to, but it was better than looking at the horrible battlefield.

Alec and I pulled out the pillows again, one by one and ran our hands over them, searching for anything different. Any slits, stains, or markings at all.

Nothing.

We tossed them back in the box and then went through them again.

Nothing.

We tried a third time.

Still nothing.

"Argh!" I exclaimed, at my wit's end. "What are we missing? What could Alex possibly have done that we haven't thought to check for?"
Alec shook his head in bewilderment. "Whoever this 'Alex' is, he must be pretty smart."

I punched the pillow I was holding before throwing it back into the box. "A little too smart." I grumbled. "Are we almost there?"
"No." Ratchet responded without looking back.

Alec gave me a helpless shrug. "Okayyyy, maybe we should try something outrageous."
I glared at him, making him shrug again. "Or not."
He looked up at Orion's face. "You should put this away for a bit. I don't think Mystic is gonna be very productive right now."
I humphed and turned my face away, while also trying not to look at the impaled remains of an Autobot on that side.

I hate this battlefield.
-----------------
I kept dozing off, still swaying with Orion's steps, and began slipping in and out of a mindless stupor, leaning against Alec's shoulder.

The battlefield felt much bigger now than it had looked from the beginning. Two days and a night had passed, with nothing but travel. Whenever we found another barrack, we trudged over to it so Alec and I could eat and drink some of our supplies, and that took even more time.
I did my best not to be snappy, but all of this was getting to my head.

Suddenly, I noticed stillness, and that jerked me awake. Why had Orion stopped? "What's happening?"
Alec shushed me. "Do you hear that?"
I blinked and squinted, listening for anything.

A faint scraping sound came from somewhere off to one side.
What could that be in a place like this?
Then as I listened harder, I realized that it was coming from the other direction too. No, there were lots of the sound, coming from every direction. But there was nothing to see out here but open metal field! And corpses. But no movement whatsoever.

I found myself cowering against Alec. "What is that?" I whispered in fear.
Orion and Ratchet shook their heads, looking confused. "Whatever they are, they sound far away." noted Ratchet. "They will probably be gone in a moment, if we're careful not to make our prescence known. Let's keep going."

He was wrong. The sounds continued for a long time afterwards, getting periodically louder and quieter.

I had gone back to closing my eyes, but I couldn't cover my ears with my helmet in the way. I flinched as something touched my arm, but it was just Alec. I grabbed his hand and squeezed it, reassured by his prescence.