Chapter Text
“C’mon ‘Raj, how about we don’t speed through traffic and save me a couple death threats!” Noah spoke over the sound of the Porsche’s radio.
Mirage made a sound between a snort and an over exaggerated gasp. “NOAH! You of all people should know better than to talk over JUDAS!!”
Mirage still slowed down, but didn’t hesitate to cut off a minivan in the lane over. Noah sunk a little lower in his seat to avoid the pointed glares from other drivers.
“Didn’t know you liked Lady Gaga so much” Noah replied with a goofy grin.
“If it was Shut up and Drive we’d have police tailing us” Mirage’s voice got staticky for a moment as he revved his engine at someone who had given Noah the finger. “Primus, this traffic is terrible”
“Yeah, thanks for pointing that out” Noah said, eyes locked on the seemingly endless horde of cars spanning the highway as Mirage drifted to a stop.
“Areee we allllmost thereeee Noahhh” Mirage whined as he gave in and turned the radio down.
Noah pulled up the map on his phone. “It says we’re about about 2 hours out from Louisville”
“TWO HOURS!?!!?” Mirage groaned. “I’d take driving through the forest over this man”
“This was your idea, Raj’!” Noah smirked “Ooohhhh I know, we can take a trip away from the cityyy in Kentucky!” He mimicked Mirage’s proposal.
Mirage huffed “You agreed to it!”
“I know, and i’m excited for it, but it’s more fun to annoy you so you stop literally trying to kill me in a traffic related accident” Noah patted the steering wheel.
“Hey- me? Annoyed? No way! I’m the annoyer, not you!!” Mirage gasped with fake injury in this voice.
Nearby, people had started getting out of their cars to see if they could see what was causing the traffic.
“Hey, i’m gonna go out there and see what the hell is going on, alright Raj’?” Noah opened the door to the Porsche.
“Don’t be eying any other cars out there! Oh wait, nono- find some good ones I can race once this road gets moving again!”
Noah smiled as he shut the door. Looking ahead, all he could see was a highway filled with cars and various people. Noah walked along the shoulder, asking around to see if anyone knew what was going on.
Mirage clicked idly through the radio, only to find most stations reporting on a virus outbreak in Kentucky. Boooring.
Yet Mirage listened with slight curiosity, a first for the yapper of a bot.
“Multiple sources across Kentucky have reported an outbreak of…”
“MIRAGE.”
Optimus’ sudden booming voice caught Mirage off guard, revving his engine in surprise.
“MIRAGE. WHAT IS YOUR CURRENT LOCATION?”
“Slow it down there big man! Not exactly in the neighborhood at the moment, no time for a booty call!”
“THIS IS NO TIME TO JOKE, MIRAGE. THIS IS SERIOUS. WHAT IS YOUR CURRENT LOCATION? IS NOAH WITH YOU?”
“Yeah yeah, big man,” Mirage continued to fiddle with the various lights and buttons. Optimus was usually serious- this wasn’t a big deal, was it? “We’re abouttt- 2 hours or so from Louisville, in Kentucky. Stuck in a massive traffic jam, though. Big pain in the aft, if you ask me.”
“YOU AND NOAH ARE IN KENTUCKY?”
“Yeah, he went out to check out how long the jam was” Optimus’ tone was starting to worry the bot. He realized he couldn’t detect Noah in the vicinity. “Sooo… what about Kentucky is scaring you, big guy? You said I had a week off! You need your best Porsche to come up there and kick some decepticon aft? I’m honored, really, that you would-”
“IT IS IMPERATIVE THAT YOU AND NOAH GET AWAY FROM POPULATED AREAS. KENTUCKY HAS BEEN BARRICADED AND MONITORED. YOU AND NOAH CANNOT LEAVE.”
“Wait- WHAT? WE CAN’T LEAVE?! The hell’s going on!” Mirage, for once in his life, waited for Optimus’ response. He scanned desperately for Noah, to find him somewhat nearby.
“THE INFECTION KNOWN AS THE KNOX VIRUS IS SPREADING RAPIDLY WITHIN THE KENTUCKY AREA. TRANSMISSION IS THROUGH SALIVA AND BLOOD. DO NOT LET THE INFECTED NEAR NOAH.” Chatter escaped through Optimus’ com. “I MUST GO. MIRAGE, STAY AWAY FROM POPULATED AREAS UNLESS IT IS COMPLETELY NECESSARY. WORD WILL SOON HIT THE PUBLIC AND ROADS WILL BE FLOODED IN PEOPLE TRYING TO ESCAPE. LEAVE NOW.”
There was a click as Optimus turned his com off.
To the untrained eye, some might say Mirage lost his mind (processors?) for the next few minutes. Mirage, however, insists that he handled it with calm and precision.
“SHIT WHAT?! SHIT SHIT-” He had to get Noah’s attention. His scanners picked him up nearby. Anything to get his attention.
“Yeah, man. We’re from New York. I mean- my friend and I. He’s still in the car. Yeah” Noah smiled awkwardly at the man he was talking to. “Anyways, once this traffic gets moving we might just take the next exit outta here and-”
He was cut off by the sound of a car alarm nearby. It couldn’t possibly be Mirage, right? He would probably lay out anyone trying to steal him. Still, Noah craned his neck to see over the car behind him.
Mirage was the one with the car alarm on.
Shooting an awkward goodbye to the man he was chatting with, Noah rushed over to Mirage, who opened the door and stopped the alarm as soon as he saw Noah.
“Mirage? what’s wrong, man?” Noah examined the Porsche as he walked closer. No signs of damage or anything.
“Noah. Get in. We need to get out of here asap” Mirage’s voice was uncharacteristically serious.
Noah sat down in the driver’s seat, surprised to hear the engine rev to life and the door slam shut as soon as he was all the way in.
“Dude, you’re kinda scaring me. What the hell’s going on? Is sitting in traffic that boring for you?”
“Well, change of plans! Still staying in Kentucky, just more of a- camping experience?” Mirage honked at nearby cars as he pulled onto the left shoulder of the highway, trying to find a place where the guard rail ended.
“WOAH! Mirage, we can’t use the damn shoulder just because we hate traffic-”
Noah was interrupted as Mirage sped up.
“I might need to go through the rail.”
“WOAH WOAH THERE- Wait, Raj’ what the hell is going on?!”
Mirage sped up as he saw a gap in the railing. “Ok- so there mighttt be a little virus outbreak in Kentucky. Optimus just commed me and told me Kentucky is completely shut off. No more going in and out. We’re a little stuck.”
“Wha- What kind of virus outbreak warrants that?!” Noah practically yelled.
Mirage swerved off the road as soon as the guard rail ended, handling the dirt better than a normal car would.
“I dunno. Optimus just told me to stay away from populated areas and that it transmits through blood and saliva.”
“What the hell? What are we fighting? Zombies?!” Noah laughed incredulously.
“That’s what I was gonna say! Optimus didn’t seem in the mood for a Mirage chat though, obviously I'm too cool for his comms.”
The pair fell into silence as they continued on a small dirt path next to the highway. That was, until they came across what seemed to be the source of the traffic. As they approached, smoke rose from a fire raging on several wrecked cars.
“Jesus-”
“Primus-”
A scream pierced the astounded silence of the pair as they approached. A woman was wailing as two figures pulled her from the shattered window of her car.
“Shit man, what the hell!” Noah made a move to open the door, to do anything to help her. He found the door locked.
“Dude. Don’t go out there. I just scanned them, they’re not- shouldn’t be- alive.” He could hear the unease in Mirage’s voice.
As they drew closer, the figures seemed to be slumped over the woman.
“Oh my- Primus, they’re eating her.”
Noah could now see them clearly. Clearly ripping the woman apart. He felt nauseous.
The sound of the Porsche's engine attracted the attention of the figures. Mirage had slowed down to get a clear look of the crash, so Noah could clearly see that they weren’t human. They obviously were at a point in their lives, but now they were reduced to shambling, rotting corpses. Both were covered in the woman’s blood.
“Holy shit.” Noah whispered.
The woman who was eaten not even a minute prior rose to her feet and started shambling towards the Porsche.
“Holy shit is right” Mirage spoke as he sped up once again, merging onto the blood covered highway as the dirt road ended.