Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It had started like every other week – a shitty Monday weather, raining and thundering like it had a bone to pick with the city, just as Blaster had been driving to work. In hindsight, that should have been his sign the week would absolutely suck. He had spent most of the day inside or wrestling with the weather to bring food to Jazz and Prowl. The two mers were underwater most of the time, only surfacing for air, probably also not enjoying the weather. One good thing was that it at least gave Blaster some more time to convince the other staff members to not separate Prowl from Jazz.

‘I know Prowl’s place is not here and he has to be released just… I hoped maybe Jazz could have the same opportunity too, being with other mers and not alone here, doing tricks.’ – Blaster thought sadly, as his initial plan was almost a guaranteed failure.

Tuesday the weather had cleared but Blaster’s mood remained sour, especially with the head vet’s nagging about finally getting Prowl to the wild, since the mer was apparently proving quite ‘problematic’ to work with.

“I don’t know, doc. I don’t have nearly as much trouble with Prowl as you do. Maybe you should try changing your approach?” – Blaster aimed a pointed look at the older man.

Wednesday was when the disaster began. Blaster had just parked his car in front of the employee entrance sometime around noon, coming for the afternoon shift, when he heard the sound of sirens in the distance. An ambulance soon screeched to a stop and one of his colleagues practically ran out to open the door for the medics.

“Hurry up! He’s over there-!”

Blaster barely heard what the panicked employee said before they ran back inside, leading the paramedics.

‘What the-?!’ – he thought but then he took a better look and noticed a moving truck parked inside the aquarium.

A sinking feeling settled in his stomach at the sight of the specialized moving truck near the main building.

‘No. Oh, no- they didn’t!’ – he cursed and ran inside.

Blaster had just reached the main building when the doors flew open and the paramedics came out, wheeling out Josh – one of the trainers at the aquarium. He was sobbing and distressed, clenching his shoulder, pain visible on his face and his left hand- a bloody, mangled mess barely held by bandages.

Inside it was not much better – everyone was panicking and running around, trying to figure out what to do, oh and did Blaster mention the blood trail? Because there was a damn blood train coming from the door to Jazz’s pool and all the way to the nurse’s office! Blaster felt his anger and worry rise as he stormed into the staff room, opening the door with a bang.

“What the heck happened here?!” – he bellowed, his naturally loud voice echoed through the room and silenced everyone.

Many eyes turned to look at the redhead, the unease was clear on their faces. His second looked practically anywhere but at him, the director shifted a bit in his seat and Josh’s fellow trainers, still in their wetsuits, wrung their arms and looked down in shame. Only the head vet visibly scoffed.

“WELL?!” Blaster crossed his arms “Or do I HAVE to say it out loud for you to fess up?! WHY was I not informed you were planning to move Prowl today?! I am Jazz’s and Prowl’s primary caretaker! I should have been informed about ANY changes beforehand! So- tell me… what EXACTLY HAPPENED!”

“W-well…” his second stuttered “When- when we tried to move P-Prowl, he wouldn’t cooperate, so we had to traq him but then Jazz would not leave his side or let is pull him close so Josh… he reached out-.” she shuddered “Before anyone knew it Jazz had lunged and there was so much screaming and thrashing, there was blood everywhere and- urp- the snap.” – she looked sick and ran out after remembering the recent events.

Blaster watched, flabbergasted by what had apparently happened. How could they be so stupid as to not realize that-

“See! That’s why I told you to keep the two mers separated. Ever since you let that wild one in, Jazz has been acting out and causing trouble. Look at what happened – a man was attacked and might even lose an arm! We should remove the problem as soon as possible while the situation is still salvageable.” – the head vet said.

“Excuse me?!” Blaster felt his eyebrow twitch in anger “You can’t be serious right now. This is clearly your fault for escalating things! You not only came in without a warning and tried to get Prowl away, but you tranquilized him and tried grabbing him while Jazz was not willing to part with him! And YOU have the audacity to call ME reckless!”

“Well, consi-.” – the head vet began.

“What were you thinking?! I know Jazz, I can read his body language and know what he might be thinking, I’ve been TRAINED to do so! I know he had not attacked anyone, like ever, but what was Josh thinking, going there and reaching with his hands while Jazz was cornered?! You know an accident can always happen when you push things too far!” – Blaster cut the vet off.

“Hmph! What I was thinking was what’s the best for the aquarium.” – the head vet huffed, acting like he was talking to someone dumb.

“Hah?!” – Blaster raised an eyebrow.

“Jazz is a valuable specimen; he’s been raised by humans and is so far the only mer capable of imitating and understanding human speech.” – the older man began.

Blaster just gaped at him – the audacity! If the old vet had spent even some time actually listening, he would have heard Prowl talking too! Even though the mer did not have a handle of human speech yet, in just the few months he’s been in here, he’s learned the meaning of few words and could say both Jazz’s and Blaster’s names along with the names of a few objects.

“It would be a shame to lose such a valuable specimen, just because Blaster wanted to but a temporary buddy in there. Jazz interacting with the wild mer has been risky and harmful to his current progress. He’s been causing more trouble and acting out.”

Prowl was also crazy smart and this old coot was trying to insinuate that Jazz was what? Becoming dumber? Acting wild? It’s exactly the opposite – Prowl’s been teaching Jazz, helping him remember things, how to speak, how other mers like him are like. Jazz had been beaming the whole time Prowl had been there – Blaster knew about that very well, after all Jazz would sometimes excitedly come and share what new and amazing thing Prowl did.

“You know how it is with animals. Even the best trained ones can fall back to primitive behaviors when they have a bad example and are allowed to do whatever they want.” the vet continues, unaware that Blaster was reaching his limit “I suggest we separate them as soon as possible. We’d probably have to re-train Jazz and get rid of these unwanted behaviors before it is too late.”

Oh, hell NO!

Before anyone knew it, Blaster had punched the head vet straight in the face.

*Smack! Pop- CRACK!*

The punch was loud and the crack of the vet’s nose could be clearly heard, the man falling to the floor soon after. Blaster was standing over him, fist trembling a bit and knuckles throbbing. The head vet meanwhile was writhing on the floor, clutching his busted nose and cursing. At that moment, Blaster had felt great – he had wanted to punch the older man’s pompous face for a while now!

“Son of a bitch!” the vet was finally helped get up on his feet by his assistant “What is your problem?! Have you gone crazy?!”

“What is MY problem?!” Blaster bellowed “My problem is you people not listening to anything I say! Just hear yourself! How can you talk like this about Jazz and Prowl when it was your fault for escalating the situation?”

“They are animals!” the vet shot back with a glare “Smart animals but nothing more than that. Like parrots and elephants, but in the end they are still not the same as us. You are projecting on them your own emotions and views. I think your logic’s been compromised and is not sound to handle the move properly, hence why you were not informed.”

“I will show you compromised, you old fool!” – Blaster lunged at the vet once more.

In the end, both of them started fighting in the staff room and security had to come and separate them. In the end, both the head vet and Blaster were escorted off the premises and suspended for a whole week, unpaid. The aquarium was also temporarily closed to clean up the bloody mess and all of Jazz’s shows for the week were canceled due to what happened.

“You will not step a foot in here for the whole week of your suspension, no sneaking in, no getting in as a visitor, got it, Blaster?” – the aquarium director crossed his arms.

“Yeah…” – Blaster grumbled and shot a glare at the vet just as the older man passed by.

He felt a sense of accomplishment, seeing the head vet’s usually smug face bruised and with a bandaged nose.

“Listen, I get it you are attached to Jazz, after being his caretaker for the past 5 years, but you can’t fistfight with someone because of it.” the director pinched his nose at Blaster’s defiant look “Alright, how about this, we’ll postpone Prowl’s release until the end of the next month. In that time your suspension would be over and we could discuss it again. You know we can’t legally keep Prowl here indefinitely, right?”

Blaster could only nod. This was the best he could hope for after his outburst, so he was not going to open his mouth and risk saying something that might change the director’s mind.

=== 2 days later ===

Two days into his unpaid suspension, the literal apocalypse came and Blaster wished he was joking.

It had been an ordinary Friday, people out and about in the city, the sky was a bit cloudy but nothing out of the ordinary for the season. Blaster had been out strolling at the time, since he felt antsy staying at his home – which… looking back, might have saved his life. He was sitting on a park bench, sipping from his water bottle and scrolling on his phone when the sirens started blaring.

“What-?!” – Blaster was startled and started looking around like everyone else.

Then, he saw it – from the seaside, a GIANT wave was coming straight at them! A freaking tsunami taller than most buildings was coming at HIM! There was a lot of panicked screaming, cursing and shoving as everyone started running for their lives. Blaster pushed through the crowd and to one of the side-streets, not wanting to be trampled by the panicked crowd. For a moment, he contemplated trying to run further inland or maybe hitching a ride in a car, but then he saw the pure chaos on the streets and threw the idea out. He’d probably get stuck in a traffic jam and won’t be able to escape on foot, so he started looking for a higher place to go to that was nearby.

‘There!’

He noticed a nearby high-rise had a fire escape ladder with a safety mesh net around it, so he ran to it and started climbing for his life. His heart was pounding like crazy in his chest.

‘Hurry! HURRY UP! Oh, GOD! It’s coming nearer! Faster! I just hope this place is high enough.’ – was all he could think of at the moment.

He barely managed to pull himself up the final steps to the roof when the wave hit. The whole building shook, the sound of the rushing water and destruction echoing all around Blaster as he clung to the edge of the roof by one hand and by the safety railing with his other, praying the building doesn’t fall.

*Cra- Crack~*

Blaster just barely peeked up at the loud noise but wished he hadn’t. In the distance, he saw a few of the skyscrapers tilt and fall down. One fell straight into the raging waves, another fell on its neighbor, the two tall buildings leaning on each other. The water was merciless and uncaring in its destruction, sweeping everything and everyone in its path. Blaster squeezed his eyes shut and clung even tighter to the railing.

He stood in that position – huddled against the dusty roof for who knew how long, he clung until his fingers felt numb and the loud noise of rushing water stopped completely.

Blaster breathed heavily and his heart felt like it was about to explode, his strained muscles had also started to burn after the adrenaline rush was over. He carefully pried his fingers from the rooftop and collapsed, laying on his back as he watched the cloudy sky above him. He just stared up… until the sounds of splashing water made him move. Blaster groaned as he pushed himself up and finally had to take in the disaster surrounding him.

The whole city was gone, flooded and destroyed – fallen buildings, floating cars, trucks, broken trees… everything was in shambles, Blaster’s roof one of the small safe havens still above the water, but just barely. The high rise he was on must have been at least 30 stories up and currently he could just stretch his hand and easily dip it in the water.

“Oh, frag! My mom and dad!” – Blaster suddenly remembered, his mind finally clearing from panic.

He had to call his parents, to tell them what happened, where he was and to be careful not to go near the coast. Was this only happening here or were other coastal cities affected?! He had to call for- His phone was not on him. Blaster searched his pockets, then searched them again but he could not find his phone anywhere.

“Damn! Must have dropped it at some point in the crowd. Shit!” – he cursed as he looked at the watery hellscape that surrounded him.

He was stranded, alone and without a way to contact anyone.

…………………….

Blaster spent the night on that rooftop. He cleaned a small corner for himself and used his backpack as a makeshift pillow and his jacket as a blanket. It was not much but it kept him from freezing at night. When morning came, he found that the water had gone down significantly and now around half of the building was above the water level.

‘Ohkaay…’ Blaster looked at the water below ‘Do I stay here or do I move to some other place and look for help?’

Blaster looked inside his backpack and found only his half-empty water bottle, a sprite and a granola bar left. He bit his lip and decided the least he could do was try and go downstairs to look for some supplies that might have survived the tsunami.

“So, now to figure out how to actually get in.” – he was speaking to himself, but what else could he do?

He was alone, nervous and missing his tunes, the least he could do was talk to fill the silence. After some struggling and searching around, he managed to rip out a slightly rusty metal pipe that was a decent size and used it to bash the rooftop door open.

“Alright! Hopefully there’s something useful down there…”

Blaster gulped and went down the damp staircase. The inside of the building was even worse than the outside. It was dark with no way to turn on the lights because the power was out, broken glass from the windows littered the hallway and many doors were broken down. Blaster went from room to room, not quite daring or brave enough to break into one of the closed apartments out of fear of seeing… what’s left of the residents that might have been inside, so he only went through the broken doors. He ruffled through drawers and cupboards and loaded whatever was still usable in his backpack – canned food, water, first aid kit, he even found a flashlight that still worked on one of the lower floors!

*Splash-splash~

Water licked the staircase leading down, the floor below half-submerged still.

“Well, I guess this is as far as I can go right now.”

*Skitter~ Kssshhhh~

“What the…?” – Blaster immediately tensed at the strange noise.

He had seen more than enough horror movies to know you should NOT go and check weird noises out. He slipped his pipe out of the backpack strap and held it in his hands while slowly backing away towards the staircase up. Then, he saw it- the freakiest-looking crab crawling up the stairs. It looked grotesque and misshapen – one giant pincer dragging on the floor, bulging greenish blobs growing from between the cracks in its shell and oozing slime. Blaster immediately tensed at the sight of it.

‘Please, don’t come near, don’t come near…’

But then it seemingly spotted him and started crawling towards him fast! It’s giant claw shuddered and snapped in the air.

“Aaagh!”

Blaster swung his pipe down with quite the pathetic battle cry and cracked the mutated crustacean’s carapace open. Green oozed out as it twitched underneath, but Blaster swung the pipe a few more times until it stopped moving and was just paste on the floor.

“What the hell was this?! First a giant tsunami and now these… mutated crab things?! Frag! What the hell is going on?!!”

After that encounter, Blaster retreated up the stairs in case any more of the freaky crabs decided to come up.

“Eugh… gross…”

He looked at the pipe still having some of the green goo on it. He did not want to be anywhere near the stuff – what if it was toxic or radioactive or contagious? He did not have any on him but still… he no longer felt safe without some sort of weapon.

…………………..

Blaster was back on the rooftop once more, the door to the lower floors closed shut and barricaded with a few broken pieces of furniture in case more of these… things decided to come up the stairs. He shuddered as he remembered the mutated crab, still he was glad it had not been something bigger or more dangerous.

Blaster’s left hand ghosted over the new metal pipe he had liberated from an apartment’s heating system, this one far less rusty and clean of green monster guts, he even wrapped some black tape around one end for a better grip. He was nibbling on a protein bar while looking at the desolate landscape around him.

‘All alone in the middle of a disaster, no way to contact anyone or see if anyone else is alive. What great luck I have…’ – he laughed bitterly as he thought.

What should he do now? He couldn’t really be the only one alive – there must be other survivors out there, somewhere. But then again, he did not know where they might be. What should he do now? Should he try and head inland? Look for other survivors first or wait for help?

‘There should have been at least some helicopters or boats sent by now, where are they? They can’t possibly leave people stuck here, right? Don’t tell me this is happening to the whole coastline? The whole peninsula? Just how far inland did that wave reach?!’ – panic raising, he looked at the whole city swallowed by the water.

It was then, as he was looking at the destroyed buildings that it hit him – Jazz and Prowl were in the aquarium when this all happened!

“Oh, no…” the protein bar fell from his mouth “The AQUARIUM!!! Jazz and Prowl are still there!”

What happened to them? Were they alright? Did they survive the tsunami? He knew what the protocols were during a sudden disaster and he knew very well that they would NOT have time to secure any of the animals, nor would it be a priority to do so, since all of them were instructed to evacuate if such situation ever came. This also meant that every animal was left in their enclosures to basically survive on their own. It would be horrible in ordinary circumstances but now the whole place was flooded to hell and back and there were apparently mutant things out there! What if Jazz and Prowl were trapped there?! What if the aquarium crumbled on top of them when the wave hit? What if some… some thing came in while they were trapped or injured? Would they starve to death?!

“Frag! Oh, FRAG! I promised! I said I would try and help the two of them and all I did was get suspended and stranded on a rooftop! Damn it!” – Blaster gripped his hair and kicked an empty soda can away in his frustration.

He HAD to go see if they were alive, to go and help them if they had gotten trapped somehow! He couldn’t just- just sit here and twiddle his thumbs!

Soon, night fell and Blaster had to hunker down once again. He could not sleep that night – listening for the skittering legs of crabs or other off noises coming from the barricaded door in case something had decided to come up, his hands were holding onto his makeshift weapon.

The moon had long passed its zenith when Blaster was starting to doze a bit, but was startled by a sudden noise.

*Pfeeeeew~ Bang!

He rose up to his feet to see a red emergency flare streak through the dark sky in the distance. It was coming from where the highway that led to the next city was, before it got covered by water of course.

‘No way! There are other survivors there!’ – Blaster felt excited at the possibility of finding other people were alive but…

It was in the opposite direction of the aquarium. Should he go there and meet the other survivors? Maybe if they had flares, they might have a working phone, a radio maybe? What if they were trying to gather other people to be rescued? But then… he could not just bear to leave Jazz there, the guilt would gnaw him alive, not knowing what happened to his pal all while he could have helped.

He had spent the last 5 years working in the aquarium and had gotten close to Jazz, even becoming his main caregiver due to his previous experiences working with mers. Obviously, they were much smaller than the orca mer and more aggressive, also quite dumb. Jazz had surprised Blaster quite a lot the first time with just how smart and friendly he was, while all other mers had barely tolerated humans or were trying to claw his face off. Even Prowl, despite also being wild, was still less aggressive and even smarter. The two orca mers were not just very smart animals, like everyone tried to dismiss them as, they had their own personalities, likes and dislikes. Jazz had even figured how to work the door passcodes and would have probably taught Prowl too, if they had more time.

‘Well, at least the fact Jazz can open the doors raises their chances of getting out of there.’ – Blaster tried to reassure himself.

He bit his lip, still a bit unsure about what to do, but his mind was soon made. Next thing in the morning, Blaster was going to find a way off this building and would head for the aquarium – to make sure what happened to Jazz and Prowl.

Chapter Text

“Black Oil” extraction has been going smoothly since the completion of the oil rig 4 months ago. Drilling operations have yielded large amounts of the “Black Oil”, compared to the miniscule amounts previously extracted from the “unusual fish” the crew of [Redacted] has been providing DeiCorp.

The “Black Oil” extracted from the fish carcasses while they were still fresh was compared to the substance directly extracted from point α by Dr. [Redacted] and it has been discovered that the extracted Oil is a weaker, more diluted version of with a lot of impurities from the sea creatures still mixed in, despite the multiple rounds of filtration. Its effects are weaker, almost unnoticeable in short-term exposure, proven by test subjects 223a and 223b.

By being exposed to the same substance, both subjects experienced no noticeable changes, only mild discomfort based on their body language and hissing. Subject 223a was then exposed to the “Black Oil” daily for an extended period of time while subject 223b was kept as a control marker for comparison. Subject 223a started experiencing nausea and vomiting within the next 10 days, there has been some minor hemorrhaging from the inner lining on the nasal cavity; subject 223b showed none of the symptoms even after 2 weeks.

After 1 month of exposure, subject 223a has shown significant deterioration – loss of fur, lack of proper balance, coughing blackened blood and bleeding from the orifices. Black splotches and puss-filled boils have started showing on the furless parts of the body. Subject 223b has remained unchanged but its behavior towards its cage neighbor has become wary, while previously it would sit close to 223a’s cage, now it does not.

After 45 days of exposure to “Black Oil”, subject 223a has shown signs of rapid mutation – subject has lost almost all fur on its body and dry, scaly patches of skit had started encrusting its body. The subject’s behavior has become erratic and extremely aggressive – trying to claw and bite anything that moves closer, to the point of self-harming by smashing into the cage. Any lacerations now bleed blackened blood and the pus-filled boils seem to be cracking the dry, scaly skin. Subject 223b now shows fearful behavior towards 223a and acts threateningly whenever the other subject tries to claw at it through the bars.

Subject 223a seems to have entered a state of stupor and stopped eating or reacting to the “Black Oil”, the only thing it still reacts to is movement and loud sounds. In 2 days subject 223b would be re-introduced to subject 223a in a controlled environment to observe the reaction.

Subject 223a reacted violently, as expected, to the presence of subject 223b. While subject 223b tried to escape and run away, subject 223a relentlessly pursued the other subject, even at the risk of injury. After killing subject 223b, subject 223a gorged itself on its body and would not stop even when its own shriveled stomach burst open. Subject 223a died a few hours later from the bleeding and the infection that had been ravaging its body. The autopsy revealed signs of necrosis on all organs and the brain of the subject having turned black along with the cerebrospinal fluid having also turned black and thickened to the consistency of oil.

The experiment has been deemed a failure by Dr. [Redacted] and further trials have been temporarily put on hold. The “Black Oil” extracted from the mutated sea life proved to be too volatile and impure, unfit for human trials until further notice.

Similar tests using the newly-extracted “Black Oil” from point α have proven to have a similar effect to the test subjects but instead the changes occur much faster and the risk of dying during exposure is over 60%. The pure “Black Oil” proves to be more reactive and would sometimes cause mutations by simply being exposed directly to it. Barrels of the “Black Oil” are set to be shipped and stored at warehouse 113 at [Redacted].

{Some staff from the oil rig has reportedly heard whispers and odd noises coming from the “Black Oil” but there’s no proof of such claims even after extensive lab testing.}

………………………………………….

Mutant fish have long been an unwanted sight and a cautionary tale of many fishermen. Their appearance a sign of disaster, bad weather, poor fishing or disease, sometimes all of the above or even more. No one really could explain where they came from or how they came to be, they were weird, gross and dangerous, so people preferred to get rid of them and forget about the wretched creatures – out of sight, out of mind, hoping they would never have to deal with these… twisted, squirming, mutated beings ever again. It had been like that for a LONG time… until the CEO of DeiCorp took notice of the mutated creatures.

The CEO got interested in them, plus the many rumors around the region where he first saw said fish. He was getting there in age and was looking for a way to extend his life through all the newest ‘age-reversing’ procedures and operations, even to superstitious beliefs like “Eating mermaid fin soup would grant you eternal youth.” but nothing like that worked. Then, he saw the way some mutated fish still lived, despite how their bodies were twisted and mangled and should have been impossible to be alive, so he hired poachers to go and seek out the mutated fish for him and he’d buy them for testing. That continued for years, until his company discovered a crack in the ocean floor a few kilometers off-shore one of the islands. From that small crack, black ooze was seeping out but it was not crude oil, instead it was the now-nicknamed “Black Oil”.

DeiCorp purchased the plot and started building an oil rig, saying they had discovered a possible oil deposit, while actually in was the mysterious black substance. The construction of the rig took a while, even with all the money DeiCorp put in the project.

Drilling and “Black Oil” extraction started at ………………

Incident report at…………… probable reason for….. death of ……….. has been deemed to be faulty equipment.

On………. Strange seismic activity has been………….

Lost contact with……….. at exactly 7:45 ……………

Last transmission: {WE HAVE SINNED! SINNED! Judgement has zzzzzz for us ALL! We’ve messed with things beyond our comprehension! It will come zzzzzzzzzzz us ALL! The end is NIGH! KZZZZZZZZZTTT!}

Chapter Text

Morning came agonizingly slow, especially when Blaster was having trouble sleeping due to nightmares and paranoia from the mutated crab he saw. The night had been chilly and quiet with only the sound of water lapping at the buildings and occasional cry of a seagull far in the distance. When the sun rose, he forced down a granola bar for energy and some water before packing and leaving the apartment building.

‘Alright then! Let’s go!’ – he thought and adjusted his cap a bit before moving on.

He had to get creative about getting down, since a large part of the fire escape he used had been wrenched off the wall by the giant wave and he was not eager to go back down the way he met the mutated crab the previous day. With a bit of jumping and rooftop hopping, he had managed to get close to the ground or in his case water level.

“Huff~ Finally! This was quite the workout and I work at an aquarium with animals that can kill me by accident!” – he dusted his hands as he hopped down on the roof of what was once a residential building.

Blaster looked around, scanning the surroundings carefully. Now that he was on a lower level, the destroyed city looked even more like a scene of those apocalyptic movies. Destroyed buildings, cars, trash and other lighter debris was floating and bobbing in the water and all the water damage to the buildings… He could see where the water had reached during the tsunami and it was several stories above him. He gulped nervously and decided not to think too much about the giant wave – he had more important things to do!

‘Alright! First – go to the aquarium and check if Jazz and Prowl are fine! The faster I am able to do that, the faster I’ll be able to go to where the emergency flares were. Second – find a way to contact my parents! I need to know if they are fine and tell them I’m alive, so I have to be on the lookout for a phone. Third – find more rations and water whenever possible! These would last me for a bit but better be safe than sorry! Lastly – look for survivors! If someone else is still out there, maybe they can help or need help?’

Blaster continued walking along the rooftop as he went over his mental checklist. Sometimes, the roofing underneath creaked and made him stop and tense before moving forward. Jumping over flooded alleys, going through busted windows and quickly crossing through waterlogged apartment hallways, his legs carried him forward until he reached the end of the road or in his case the end of the solid rooftop. In front of him was a large stretch of water – the main street.

Before the tsunami, it was a large street, many cars and pedestrians used it all the time, even Blaster often jogged through here, sometimes resting under one of the trees planted beside the sidewalk when the weather was too hot, but now, the wide, open road was an obstacle for him. He looked down at the deep, dark water, shuddering at the possibility of what may be below the surface, it would be dangerous to go in it. He watched as the faint current made a few plastic bags and empty cans float by – yeah, with all the trash it would not be a pleasant experience to go swimming.

‘What should I do now?’ Blaster bit his lip ‘I have to pass through the city center and then through the industrial area to reach the aquarium. That’s the fastest way there and I can’t just jump in the water and hope for the best!’

The main street was now an obstacle instead of a convenience. Should he try and circle through another place where there was not as much free space to cross or… His eyes scanned the area once more, darting from one place to the other, before they landed on a floating car. There were several such vehicles in the water and even a broken bus that was wedged into the side of a building, its frame twisted and windows smashed by the initial wave. A chill went down Blaster’s spine – it was empty, maybe for the best because the bus was a wreck and he did not want to see or even imagine what might have happened if there were people inside when the wave hit.

‘I just hope they could have gotten away safely.’

It was going to be risky, but when choosing between some hopping on the floating cars and trekking several kilometers more, looking for a path that might not be there, in a flooded city, he chose the improvised car pathway. He took a few steps back and darted forward, picking up speed with each step, then when he reached the roof’s end, he jumped. Blaster was in the air for a bit before he landed a bit roughly on the closest car. The half-submerged vehicle sank a bit lower and bobbed on the water, sending ripples across its surface.

“Oohkay… This went rather well-! Gah!” – Blaster almost bit his tongue when his improvised raft started moving and tilting to one side.

He scrambled to steady himself and move closer to the center, so he doesn’t end up in the water- the car rocked with every move he made. He looked forward and between his float and the next car was just a small jump, but as he shifted and the car below him shook…

‘I- I may not have thought this through properly.’

Blaster tried using one of his arms to paddle a bit closer to the next car but it was not enough to move the vehicle and he only ended up splashed with some water. In the end, he had to just try his best and take the jump.

‘I can do this. It’s just a jump. Not even that wide. Just don’t miss. Don’t slip. Don’t look down.’ – he repeated like a mantra before he took the next leap.

He landed with a thump on the next car. Behind him, the previous one drifted away, tugged by the current and his momentum. This time, Blaster was more prepared, so he quickly stood up on his feet and moved forward, towards his goal. He jumped on several cars, the abandoned vehicle sometimes groaning and bumping into each other with a loud scrape of metal. Blaster almost slipped a few times, one of his sneakers was now dripping water due to a too short jump and his sock felt gross inside the shoe but he kept on moving forward, there was no way back even if he hesitated now. Finally, he reached the bus’s remains.

‘I’ve got this! I just need to get up on… this thing!’ – Blaster thought as he pulled himself on top of the bus.

He huffed as the bus was still slick from the water and was literally sticking out of a building at an awkward angle, but with a bit more effort, Blaster managed to haul himself up. The metal below his feet groaned and screeched like it was alive with each step Blaster took, but the bus was a piece of cake, compared to the floating cars, at least it stood in one place!

‘Oh, what won’t I do for a slice of cake from the café? But it’s ruined now by all the water.’ – Blaster thought.

The redhead reached the building – he had a busted window near him that he could use but there were large pieces of glass still attached on the frame, so he used the metal pipe he had on him to smash them to bits and make his entry easier. Blaster clambered through the window frame and swung his legs inside.

“Ow!”

There was a quick stab of pain just as he lowered his right leg, he yanked it closer to him quickly. He quickly brought it up and examined it to see what had happened. There was a small tear on his jogging pants and the tiniest, almost invisible scratch on his skin. There must have been a shard of sharp glass he had scraped it on, but thankfully it was barely a scratch, he was not even bleeding, just a droplet of blood and a split skin. A band-aid quickly solved the problem and he continued his journey.

………………………..

Blaster was nearing the industrial zone but his journey had been much slower than he had anticipated. Usually, he would have been able to walk all the way to the aquarium in a few hours, since the city was so big, but now he had barely reached the industrial zone and it was the afternoon!

He was on the upper floors of a large apartment complex, thankfully they were dry since the building was so tall and the water had not reached there. Still, it was eerily quiet as he looked around. He knew it was logical that the lower floors would have no one since everything was a mess from the water and the faint smell of sea and fish was wafting through the damp hallways but the upper floors? Where the water had not even reached during the tsunami? He expected to at least see some people there! Instead, it was just empty apartments with the occasional open door.

‘Just what happened here? Did everyone just… leave at some point?’ – Blaster wondered as he entered one of the unlocked apartments.

The inside was mostly clean but there were clothes and other smaller items scattered around, the wardrobes were also left ajar and emptied. Whoever had been here had recently packed and left. Maybe he had just missed them?

‘Well, at least I know there were people here recently.’ – he tried to reassure himself, despite the small pang of loneliness.

Blaster rummaged through the kitchen and managed to find some more preserved food and cans of luncheon meat that were in good condition, even a loaf of bread had been left in the pantry! He practically inhaled a sandwich on the spot and took another one to the balcony.

‘Well, what do I do now? Should I continue or stay here?’ – the redhead wondered as he munched on his sandwich.

From the balcony he could see the flooded landscape much clearer now. The toppled and flooded buildings, the water flowing through the streets and just ahead was the large expanse of the industrial zone and beyond that, in the distance he could just make out the domed roof of the aquarium. It was close and if it wasn’t for the water, he’d have been able to go there and be back before the sun set but…

‘I don’t know what the situation is around the factories…’

He did not know whether he’d be able to find a safe way through all the factories and warehouses fast enough, nor if he’d have to take a detour if the buildings were too damaged by the water.

‘And I certainly don’t want to be stuck out in the open when night comes.’ – Blaster grimaced.

He wanted to go and make sure Jazz and Prowl were not trapped or currently dying in the aquarium but then again, he did not want to risk it.

(A memory flashed in his mind – him and Jazz. The orca mer trying to teach him some simpler whistles and him miserably failing. His pitch had apparently been wrong and too high, according to Jazz. Prowl on the other hand had been glowering at him from the other end of the enclosure and wincing almost every time Blaster whistled too sharply.)

There was a painful pang of concern and guilt but he shoved it away for the moment. Better safe than sorry, as his pops said, so he decided to use this abandoned apartment for the night. It was the better option and although he had not seen any more freaky fish monsters after the crab, who knew if there were not more out there? So, Blaster settled down for the night, closed and bolted the door, cursed that the power was out and he could not use the stationary phone to call home and went to bed when the sun set.

…………………………………

The night breeze flowed through the flooded city; some seagulls were still squawking somewhere in the distance. Occasional speckle of light from a lantern or a fire marked the few survivors still in the city. They were few and far between, but the city was not entirely empty as some thought. A couple more red emergency flares lit the night, drawing the eyes of survivors to them, to possible salvation. Some looked on with hope while others scoffed and huddled together, not really having anything to look forward to over there.

Small waves lapped at the destroyed buildings and small silvery fish swam between the debris. They, just like many other sea creatures were brought into the city by the tsunami. The school of fish was feeding on some of the trash floating on the surface when a couple of seagulls decided to try and get a late snack before night came. The birds swooped down and tried catching some fish. They circled the water, squawking loudly as they scanned for more prey but then, when one moved closer to the water, the fish scattered all of a sudden.

*Shaaaa~!

Something burst out of the dark depths.

“SkaaaaAAAWK!” – one of the seagulls screeched in distress as it was caught and pulled down.

The other gulls quickly flew away in panic. There was a lot of squawking and flapping and splashing as the bird struggled to escape, even after hitting the water. Alas, it was all futile as a sickly green-tinted, webbed fingers with almost black claws had wrapped around the gull’s neck. From the murky water emerged a head of some sort of creature.

Scaly patches covered the top of the mutated being’s head, it was bulbous and had large black eyes, sharp, needle-like teeth were poking out from its half-open maw, slimy green skin and lumps covered the soft parts of its body.

“Huukh! Hueeekh!” – it breather and gasped heavily as more of it emerged from the water.

Its head was fused to its bony body, lacking a movable neck, long, spindly arms covered in scales and fins hung off jutting shoulders. Its bulging eyes looked down at its struggling prey, the seagull struggled more but the mutant just gurgle-wheezed and lifted the bird higher, since it could not move its head. Its eyes didn’t blink. They just twitched — always twitching, like they were trying to see in all directions at once. Its second hand grasped the bird behind the wings, black claws piecing the skin and drawing blood.

“SkwaaaAAAK! ScreeeeeeEEEEEK!” – the gull cried as the mutant started to pull and twist.

“Ghak- Gueehk…” – the monster choked on air once more.

With a sickening crack, the gull fell limp. The mutant opened its mouth wide, almost splitting its flat fishy face in half. Sharp teeth bit into the bird’s meat as it greedily devoured it, even sucking out all the blood as it fed. Behind it, the water rippled some more and a set of 3 glowing eyes emerged.

………………………………….

Blaster woke up with a groan when a beam of sunlight hit his face. He sat up, feeling a fain throbbing in his feet from all the climbing and jumping he did the previous day.

‘Yeah, today is going to be a very fun day.’

(Little did he know that this would probably be the best part of this particular day, or for the next few days…)

Chapter Text

With his backpack restocked and strapped on, Blaster left the apartment. But as he reached the lowest unflooded floor, he froze.

Below, in the murky stairwell, glowing, jellyfish-like creatures pulsed under the water. They weren’t moving much, but the sight still made his stomach twist. Worse were the claw marks — long, jagged scratches near a shattered window. Cold sweat prickled the back of his neck. It was like something had come and clawed its way through the window.

He tightly gripped his weaponized metal pipe just in case whatever creature left the claw marks was still around. He did not like the implication and knew he had to get moving! He left the scene quickly and continued his journey to the aquarium.

As he made his way into the industrial zone, however, he started noticing a bit of a disturbing trend – there was less and less noise the closer he got. On his way here, he had seen and heard many birds flapping and seagulls squawking, there were even fish swimming and splashing in the flood waters but near the factories, those were few and far between. The place felt eerie, with the big factories, metal walkways, partially collapsed buildings and the towering chimneys, some of which were dangerously tilted. Then, he noticed more of the glowing jellyfish floating in the water, an almost white and long fish-like shape quickly darted by one of the glowing jellies, the dark waters obscuring most of its shape but it did not look quite right.

‘I’ve got a bad feeling about this…’ – Blaster thought as his heart thumped in panic.

Further away, some torn power lines still sparked and crackled as they touched the water, making the area deadly. Blaster could also smell the pungent smell of trash and oil in the air, with all the waste and oil spilling from large dumpsters and overturned cisterns. In the water and sometimes lodged into the metal roofing, the sides of factories and warehouses were trucks or even large storage containers. This place had been hit just as hard and the heavy, unsecured machinery had been swept by the wave plowing through the city.

He gulped and looked around nervously, there was no other way but to go forward, despite the potential danger. One wrong move in this murky, polluted water, and he could end up dead or badly injured. From what he could see, the floating trucks and storage containers ahead formed something resembling a path across the flooded expanse. He’d have to do some jumping around but he’d manage to go to the factory ahead.

Blaster took a steadying breath, double-checked that his metal pipe was still secured at his side, then leapt.

*Khlank!

He landed on a large storage container with a metallic thud. Thankfully, it barely wobbled—much more stable than the cars from before. The metal underneath his shoes was thankfully dry and not slippery, so it was quite easy to reach the first factory. Blaster vaulted over the safety railing of a metal walkway and straightened up, adjusting the straps on his backpack. The water lapped less than a meter below and a bit of rust fell in the water from the metal railing. A nearby truck floating in the water was lightly bobbing and scraping against the wall, making a faint screeching noise.

*Thunk-thunk-clack~

His steps on the metal staircase echoed as he climbed up towards the roof. He had looked inside through the windows but this factory was very dark and mostly flooded by the looks of it, there was a lot of empty space and machinery hanging inside, so he chose to not risk it and go over the rooftop.

“Urgh~ Come on… Opeeen!” – Blaster grunted as he tried to pry open the roof access hatch but it was not budging.

After trying for a bit more, Blaster sighed and pulled out his pipe.

*ClANG! CLANGG!

He hit the hatch with the butt of the metal pipe, wincing at the loud noise, until it popped open. He climbed up the ladder to the rooftop, but down below, in the darkness something stirred. The loud clanging had sent vibrations traveling around the industrial zone, like an alarm, it had woken the sleeping horrors in the dark depths.

Inside the factory, they stirred, long, spindly limbs, clawed grasping digits, they hissed and stirred. Sickly green skin and fleshy lumps, their bulging, dark eyes scanning for their next prey.

……………………………..

Blaster felt like something was wrong, there was suddenly this sense of… fear? Dread? Like a stone in your stomach that urged you to hurry up. Pinpricks on the back of his neck made him feel like he was being watched, which was weird because he was the only one there at the time. Even as he scanned the old factory rooftop, he saw no one. He had reached the end of the rooftop and now had to make his way to the next factory over. This factory looked in better condition than the one he was currently standing on – the walls were solid, there was no rust he could see and the metal roof was still clean and a bit shiny. On the front of the factory he could see a tilted, partially fallen sign of a logo that looked like a C-shaped gear with a jagged D inside.

The redhead carefully climbed down the fire escape that was mostly whole and then jumped on another series of storage containers and trucks that were jammed between the two factories.

*Splash~

There was a loud splashing in the water behind him when he had almost crossed the gap between the buildings. His head quickly spun back to see what had made the noise, hand darting to the metal pipe on his side. He thought he saw something green with large eyes but it quickly slipped back down and a long-ish shape quickly swam to the depths.

“Oh, heck no!”

Blaster was NOT going to wait around for- whatever the hell that thing was! He ran the rest of the way across and climbed up to the upper floors of the factory. Meanwhile, many odd, malformed shapes were swimming out of the nearby factories and storage facilities, attracted by the noise and sudden activity.

There was no way up, the walkway had collapsed in the middle, Blaster was in a dead end and he could hear the hissing and gurgling of mutant creatures, their wet, webbed limbs slapping on the metal steps and the walls below him.

‘Oh, frag! These things can climb on land?!’ – he was starting to hyperventilate.

Frantically, Blaster looked around for an easy escape, but the only available path led inside the factory.

‘Screw it!’ – he thought and smashed open a window.

“Hhh- Heeekh!” – one of the creatures shrieked.

Blaster jumped through the window and ran as fast as he could – his life depended on it. He rushed through dim hallways smelling like seawater and moisture. The creatures were inside – he could hear them splashing below and climbing up. A webbed, bony limb with 6 fingers stretched further ahead in Blaster’s path. A mutated fish monster dragged its misshapen body on the floor, gasping and wheezing as crusted over gills tried to take in air. Its head was like that of a carp but it had long sharp teeth, one giant, bloodshot eye and one so small it could barely be seen from between all the pustules that plagued its body. As it appeared in his path, Blaster had to stop and do a sudden turn down a side hallway to avoid the mutant.

“Aakhh” – it wheezed as it dragged itself on the floor.

Blaster almost slipped and fell but managed to stay on his feet and continue down the hallway to his left. He could hear the screeching of mutants getting closer when he saw an open door. He knew it was stupid to go in a random room but he had to hide from the mutated fishmen.

‘To hell with it!’ – Blaster decided and slipped in the room.

He closed the door behind him and braced himself against it. His breathing was labored, but he did his best to slow it down and be quiet. Wet steps and hisses and growls sounded from the other side of the door. They came closer and closer, the hairs on Blaster’s body stood on end and his heart was hammering inside his chest, he held his breath as one was just outside the door.

“K-khak! Gueehh…” – the mutant paused but then moved on, followed by other wet, scratchy steps.

Blaster had gotten away, for now at least. He quietly breathed out and started counting to calm his nerves. Now that his head was cleared and he could actually think a bit more rationally, he noticed the room he was in was more like a large closet filled with cleaning supplies rather than a proper room. A small, green emergency light was illuminating the place but just barely enough for Blaster to see. There were no windows, the only way out was the door behind his back – he was trapped in here.

Dread pooled in his gut as his predicament sunk in.

‘What am I going to do now?! There’s no way out but the hallways full with whatever those mutated things were!’ Blaster shuddered as he remembered the grotesque fish creatures ‘Maybe I can try wait a bit until these mutants leave? But I don’t know how long that would take and whether my rations would last if they decide to hang around long-term. I don’t know whether or not these things might find my hiding spot and then I’ll be a goner. And the flares… What if rescue comes and I am still trapped here? I also need to check on Jazz and Prowl!’

So, he waited and then a bit more, listening for any noises or the mutants’ hissing to make sure there really was nothing waiting to pounce on him out there. One good thing came out of his cautiousness – his eyes got used to the dim light and he could see more of what was in the closet, including a map taped on the wall with all the hallways and emergency exits marked. A plan was starting to form in his mind – as long as nothing went wrong, he could get out of the factory through the emergency exit and get as far away from the mutated creatures.

‘So, straight down the hallway, then left, then left again and there should be the door leading out.’ – Blaster thought as he studied the map.

Carefully, he opened the door just a tiny bit to make sure there was nothing in the hall and then came out, metal pipe firmly held in his hand. He tiptoed through the hallways, scanning for any signs of the mutants, but it looked like there were none around… until he rounded a corner and saw one. It was the same asymmetrical mutant that was dragging itself on the floor earlier.

Its eyes turned up to look at Blaster – drool dripped from its toothy maw; its long, clawed arm dragged its long, malformed body forward. He didn’t think—just swung. The pipe smashed down with a sickening crack. Flesh and bone gave under the force behind the pipe, he hit it again and again, even as it tried swiping at his feet with its jagged claws.

“K-Kyeeek!” – it screeched one last time before it fell limp, then silence.

Panting, Blaster stood over the broken creature. His arms trembled from the effort—but the moment didn’t last. Wet footsteps. Slaps. Gurgling hisses. He looked up, eyes wide. The others were coming. Dozens of them.

He had to get to the exit but monsters were climbing over railings, popping out from smashed doors and dark hallways, he was being surrounded and his path to the outside was cut off when one of the mutated fishmen dropped from a hole in the ceiling and landed with a wet splat right in his path.

It rose up like some slimy fish zombie, long fishy tail, humanoid legs and arms, scaly skin stretched over its ribs and head that had multiple eyes and mouths, like someone had mashed together 3 heads into one.

“Screee!” – its mouths screeched as it staggered towards the human.

Blaster cursed and ran down the hallway to his right. He had been so close to the exit and now he was running the other way! More and more mutants were attracted by the noise- he was going to be screwed if he could not get away from them, plus he was feeling short of breath from the constant running. Then, he saw a set of large metal doors that were slightly ajar. There was a sign that read “Entry restricted” with big red letters, which was not a good sign, but with the monsters coming closer, he went inside and slammed the doors shut. He turned the lock and used a few nearby broomsticks to jam the doors closed, then toppled a few stacks of crates and heavy storage containers to form a makeshift barricade by the doors.

*Bam! BaMM! Bang-thunk-bam!

And just in time as just a few seconds later, something collided with the metal doors, then another, and another. The mutants were hitting and smashing themselves against the doors, clawing at them to get inside. His makeshift barricade worked for now but…

*BANG! Rattle~

It shook after something slammed against the door really hard and he could see a small dent on the door. It would not last much longer with the aggressive barrage of hits from the other side. His heart beat faster as more and more dents started forming.

‘Damn! Damn it all!’ Blaster almost threw his cap to the floor in frustration ‘Why did I have to even come here?! Why couldn’t these fish monsters just let me go?! Frag the apocalypse and these mutants! I am dead! I am so dead if I don’t do something!’

He frantically looked around for something nearby that he could use but then, he noticed that this room was actually bright! He glanced up and saw his way out – up there, near the ceiling were large windows, letting light stream inside. This room might not have had any other visible doors but there was a way out!

Blaster then looked down and cursed his bad luck again – just as he thought he might get out, he noticed the water. It was a large room with several different levels with railings and stairs leading up and down. The ‘lower level’ and most of the room in front was flooded and the stair leading up to the upper level and closer to the windows were on the other side, separated by said flood water. Normally, when considering his life was in danger, Blaster would have jumped in the water without hesitation and swam the short distance to the stairs, but the state of the water in front of him was stopping him. He did not know what the hell they were keeping in here or what they were doing, but there were several yellow metal barrels with warning labels and hazard signs plastered all over them and their contents was leaking into the water. There was this thick, almost petrol-like dark substance he could see slowly dripping from one of the barrels, straight into the water. The water looked dark, murky, like sewage almost and the smell-! The whole thing was giving him the creeps!

Blaster gagged – he did NOT want to get anywhere near it!

*BAM! Rattle~

Another loud bang made him jump in fright. His barricade was falling and the mutants were really messing with the door – he could swear he was now seeing some light coming from the gap between the two doors! He had to hurry up! Blaster looked around for an alternative way to the other side that would not have him taking a dip in heavily polluted water.

‘The pipes! I could use them to get across and even climb to the upper level!’

There were pipes on coming from the floor on his right, just above the water level along the wall, leading all the way to the ceiling. They formed a narrow pathway across the water and up to the upper level.

*Bam! Screek!

A few more crates fell from his barricade, from a slowly widening gap between the two doors, a green, spindly arm was poking out, the bony, webbed fingers wiggled and claws scratched at the metal. Blaster hesitated, but only for a second before he made up his mind – better the narrow path than the monsters coming for him.

He cautiously stepped on the pipe and tested if it would be able to hold him. It creaked a bit but was otherwise solid and stable, even after he put both feet on top. The pipes were too narrow and close to the wall to walk normally, so while facing the wall, Blaster carefully inched his way over the polluted water. He was slowly but surely getting closer and closer to the other side. He was 2/3rds along the way-

*BANG! Rattle- Crash!

“Heeekh!” – one of the mutants had wedged its head and one arm through the bent door and it thrashed around, swiping in Blaster’s direction.

He was startled by the loud crash and jumped a bit with fright, despite his better judgement. His foot slipped and he fell backwards.

“Agh!” – Blaster shouted in surprise, arms flailing before he managed to wrap one arm around one of the pipes.

He dug his nails into the metal and held on for dear life, but it was not enough – cold, nasty water splashed as his feet slipped from the precarious perch. It soaked through his trousers and sent shivers and a pang of terror to his heart. Blaster’s eyes widened as he scrambled up the pipes and almost ran the rest of the way, his soaked pants and shoes dripping filthy water after him, squelching with each step.

His barricade was barely holding as the creatures tried to squeeze in through the bent doors, but Blaster did not care. Once he reached the other side, he climbed to the upper level in record time thanks to all the adrenaline pumping through his veins. The window was now within reach – he threw himself out of it and rolled onto the factory’s rooftop. Blaster shook himself as he rose to his feet and ran as fast as he could, away from the factories. He could hear hissing, crashing and screeching far behind him but it was mostly muffled by the loud beating of his heart. He was getting out of there and NEVER-EVER coming back!

…………………………….

Blaster felt like he was going to die – he was panting and covered in sweat from all the running, he hadn’t stopped until he got out of the industrial zone and then some, just to make sure the freaky fish mutants were not following him. It was only then that he stopped running, his feet shook but he continued walking, now that he was near the aquarium.

The large parking lot he used in the past was now a wide, open space of deep water, but that did not stop Blaster. He used his old car jumping strategy and did end up going into the water for the last few meters but after the whole ordeal with the mutants, he was too tired and didn’t care about swimming.

‘Frag it all for all I care! I am smashing my pipe in the next mutant I see!’ – he angrily thought and pulled himself out of the water. He had reached the aquarium and was now standing on top of the front gate’s arch.

He sat down to catch his breath; his wet clothes were dripping some water but at least he was not feeling like he’d collapse from exhaustion anytime soon. It was very hard but he forced himself to stand up once more and move, now that his goal was within reach. The aquarium was just as flooded and there was no way he was going to be able to swim all the way to where Jazz and Prowl were with how his muscles burned. The staff building was also out of his reach at the moment, being on the other side of the mer enclosure, so he steadily made his way to the visitors’ entrance. It was close to the front gate and he’d be able to easily get in through one of the broken windows and properly enter the aquarium.

‘Just a bit more… I have to make sure they are safe.’ – he thought as he glanced at the dome-shaped enclosure.

Jazz’s pool was there, the so-called Mer Theatre according to some of his colleagues, it was where Jazz would perform on show days and it was where the two orca mer should be if they were still in the aquarium.

Blaster hopped inside the main building quite easily, the windows were already long smashed open by the tsunami, the building’s fragile glass exterior had stood no chance against the giant wave and all the things it carried with it. Blaster stepped around a motorcycle that had wound up smashed into the building and now laid in the hallway, covered in broken glass, trash and smelling like stale seawater. In fact, the whole aquarium had that smell of sea and fish.

He knew what to expect, he knew the evacuation protocols, so he knew they would have left the aquarium without trying to secure any of the animals. He thought he’d be prepared for it, but the sight of the destroyed aquarium brought a pang of sorrow to Blaster. He had been working here, walked through these same halls not even a whole week earlier, he had watched the many tanks full of colorful sea life swimming around, children laughing with their parents and asking the ‘mister aquarium worker’ all about the different fish they had. The few that recognized him, from the ONE time he had to substitute the trainers in one of Jazz’s performances, would also ask him a ton of questions about the orca mer. And yet, now this place was dark, empty, quiet and trashed.

With no electricity, the place had gone dark, none of the filters and pumps worked, not that they were needed, seeing as the tsunami had also swept through the halls and destroyed the many tanks that they had. The whole place was full of sand, broken acrylic pieces and dead fish – the main reason for the unpleasant smell.

‘Poor thing. Swept by the big wave and then left to suffocate and die.’ – he thought as he bent down and gently poke one of the colorful fish laying on the linoleum floor.

It really was a shame, but he had more important things to do. He continued down the long, dark and damp hallways, still cautious and listening for signs of something potentially dangerous being there, but the place was quiet. Eventually, he reached the outdoor enclosures and the show pool. Blaster climbed down the bleachers, plastic chairs glistening in the setting sun and trash strewn around the area. He circled the large pool – he did not see any signs of the mers, only a couple of seagulls hanging around, probably waiting to get something to eat. He went to the smaller pools in the back but he still did not see any signs of the two mers, even the sea lions and dolphins they had out there were nowhere in sight.

‘Oh, thank God!’ – Blaster almost collapsed in relief after not seeing any bodies or trapped animals.

It was a miracle, really, considering how big the tsunami had been and the state the aquarium was in – dead fish inside and all. A huge weight fell off Blaster’s shoulders with the knowledge that Jazz and Prowl were not trapped or dead. What if it meant he had made this whole trip for nothing? At least he wouldn’t feel guilty for abandoning them.

It was getting really late and Blaster was not eager to spend his night out in a potentially vulnerable place, especially with the earlier encounter with the mutated fishmen. So, he headed for the staff building – its entrance was on the other side of the outdoor area, currently submerged, but the upper floors were still above water and that was where he was heading either way.

As every other place until now, to Blaster’s disappointment, there were no signs of survivors, plus the place was still damp from the initial wave due to the poor ventilation. Blaster cracked a window open before he started rummaging through the lockers and supply closets. He managed to find a few med kits that were mostly intact and a few sets of work clothes.

Blaster grimaced as he looked down at his pants – the earlier swim had washed most of it, but there were still traces from his less than pleasant dip in that factory.

“Yeah, better get that off me first.” – he muttered to himself and undressed.

He took one last look over his pants and shoes before he threw them out of the window. He was not even going to try and wash whatever gunk that had been off his clothes, he was going to use his work uniform for the time being or until he found a better alternative. He also found a few cans of soda in their ruined break room and bottles of water.

‘I have more than enough to drink, so I guess I can spare a bottle or two…’

He ended up using 4 bottles to clean himself up from the sweat and grime, washing his legs and feet with extra soap just in case. He was not eager to find out what his quick dip might do to his skin.

‘It doesn’t seem like anything has happened… No rash or chemical burn that I can see.’ -he thought as he peeled off the band-aid on the tiny scratch on his leg, pleased that it had closed by now.

After drying himself and putting on his work clothes, Blaster ended up sleeping in the break room. It was the most intact of all rooms and had an actual couch he could lie on. What if it was still damp and smelled of sea? There was nothing a large piece of nylon couldn’t fix.

Sleep did not come easy to him that night, memories of the mutants chasing him and nightmares of being caught and torn to shreds by them woke him up frequently until he finally fell in a fitful sleep at some time after midnight.

(What he did not know at this time, but the little, almost forgotten scratch had not been as healed as he had initially thought. During his accidental slip in the factory, some of the water with diluted black ooze had soaked his injury. This was only the beginning.)

= Bonus =

Something big was moving through the city, its shape big and dark, tearing through brittle obstacles in its path. It was a large leviathan, displaced from the depths where it should have been, but now it was prowling through the city, its bellows enough to echo through flooded buildings and bring fear to smaller creatures.

“W-what was that?!” – a young boy asked and huddled closer to the others with him.

“I-I don’t know.” – another boy responded.

“Shh! Be quiet! Do you want that thing to hear us?!” – an older boy scolded them while whispering.

“Rrrrrrr~” – their guardian quietly rumbled, pulling them a bit closer to him.

“Shh~ Don’ worry, Sir Pancake. We’ll keep ya safe.” – the youngest patted the flank of ‘Sir Pancake’.       

Chapter Text

Blaster woke up when a bright beam of sunlight fell right into his eyes and pulled him from dream’s depths.

“Uuugh…” – he groaned as he sat up.

A few of his joints popped and he massaged his sore neck, his whole back aching, probably from sleeping all night on the narrow, lumpy couch in the break room. His head also felt heavy and he was sluggish, even as he got up – in short, he was not feeling too good at the moment.

“Aha! There it is!” – he cheered after rummaging through the cupboards for a bit.

He pulled out a box of instant coffee — small, miracle packets still dry and usable. He made himself a warm cup in hopes of waking him up and easing his aches a bit, plus a granola bar to start the day.

He had already confirmed Jazz and Prowl were not dead or trapped in the aquarium, so now he was going to head towards the evacuation point. He remembered where the flares had come from and he was going there as fast as his feet could carry him through the ruins of the city. Blaster stuffed the rest of the coffee packs and whatever else he could find in his bag before leaving, glad to leave the destroyed aquarium and smell of dead fish behind.

This time, knowing what atrocities lived in the industrial zone he decided to stay as far away from there as he could – he was not even thinking of attempting to trace his steps back.

‘Who knows what these freaky mutants would do if I get close. I was lucky this time but next…’ – he shuddered at the thought of being caught.

So, he decided to head down to the mall and go through the city center instead. It would make his journey twice as long but it was preferrable to being eaten. Blaster had to get creative while travelling, since even with the tide low, there were not many tall buildings around, it was mostly parks, wide roads and small houses in this district close to the city’s edge.

Blaster took a running start and jumped across the gab between the rooftops of two houses, landing on his knees and palms, almost missing due to the distance between the two. He stood up, huffed and wiped the sweat off his forehead before putting his hat back on. The sun was high in the sky and he was sweating like crazy from walking all this time. He took out a half-empty water bottle and chugged it all in one go before continuing. After a few steps, he paused, took off his unzipped jacket and tied it around his waist in hopes of keeping cooler – his work clothes might not have been the best for everyday use, but he hoped they would have done a better job at keeping him dry in the flooded city, instead he was damp with sweat.

“I can’t wait to meet a rescue team. A nice bath sounds amazing right now.”

………………………………………..

In the abandoned mall, a group of children was huddled in front of what once was a toy store. The youngest of them, a small boy with a missing tooth was playing around with an action figure while the older ones were arguing about what should they do.

“What now?! That thing almost got us! It is not safe to stay in this city anymore. First the mutant crab Sunstreaker found and tried keeping as a pet-.” – Trailbreaker started.

“Hey! Bob was super cool and would have made a good pet if you let me train him!” – the younger boy with yellow jacket protested.

“It almost got my toes, Sunny!” – Damus shouted.

“ANYWAY!” Trailbreaker raised his voice before another argument could start “Back on topic – there are mutants appearing all over the place and after that huge creature last night-.”

“Leviathan.” – Thundercracker added, only looking up from his little booklet for a moment.

“Right… that leviathan, it is obviously getting more dangerous around here and we need a plan as to where to go next. We can’t stay, especially when the merman got injured fighting that bone thing yesterday.” – Trailbreaker gestured over the railing.

Said merman – a giant pancake-like fish with large fins and a humanoid torso was resting on a slab of concrete on the lower flooded level. He was lightly dozing but not completely asleep, his hands were bandaged, a few band aids and he had a few large cuts of cloth and duct tape to cover the larger gashes on his body and fins.

“It’s Sir Pancake! Not some mer!” – the youngest one they had picked after the whole apocalypse started, Bluestreak stood up, protesting.

“We know it is Sir Pankake, Blue.” Sideswipe pointed at Trailbreaker “Breaker is just a dummy.” – he grinned mischievously.

“Yea, he is! Only he doesn’t call Sir Pankake by name! Very rude!” – Blue agreed.

“Anyway, how is he doing, Blue?” Damus asked “We did what we could but if it was not enough… We need to make sure he’s Ok, so we can move safely with him.”

“I will ask! Sir PANCAKE!” – Bluestreak grinned and pounced to the metal railing.

The large mer, or how he’s officially referred to – senator Shockwave, was roused from his doze by the shout. He jolted up a bit and looked around before his large, blue eyes focused on the child looking down on him.

“Rrr?” Shockwave tilted his head “Whii- clic-click whistle~?” <Huh? Little one, what’s wrong?>

“Umm…” Bluestreak hesitated a bit, thinking, before answering in a clumsy and off-tune whistle <Shocky good good? Bad bad?>

Blue pointed at the bandages and repeated the question.

<Ah, I see, you are inquiring about my injuries.> - Shockwave looked down at his hands.

He was feeling proud that the littlest human pup he had helped from these ruins was already trying to communicate with him in just 3 days! Little Blue was a quick learner indeed! Hopefully the others would also be able to learn to communicate with him properly in the future. Ah, he was getting distracted!

<You need not worry. I can assure you I shall be fine as long as nothing more attacks us.>

But at the confused and questioning tilt to Blue’s head, Shockwave had to reconsider his answer. In the end, he lifted one bandaged arm while pointing at it with the other.

<This – good good!> - he whistled and smiled.

“He says he’s good!” – Bluestreak beamed and proudly announced to the others.

“That is good to hear. Once Soundwave and the others return from the patrol, we should finally decide where to go next. I know you all saw the flares they shot at night, so that’s an option but…”

“NO way!” – the twins, Sunstreaker and Sideswipe said at once.

“I don’t wanna go back to the foster home! I rather stay with you all! You are much nicer than the other kids.” – Sideswipe protested.

“And I don’t want to be leaving my brother!” Sunstreaker added “Before this whole tsunami happened, some couple wanted to adopt me but they didn’t want Sides! He was going to be left alone with those bullies in the home! I know the chances of the adoption happening now are sh-.”

“Language, there are young kids.” – Thundercracker pointed at Blue.

“Scrap.” Sunstreaker corrected “But I am not taking chances.”

It was then that the sound of hurried steps echoed through the abandoned mall. Down the hallway above and then the metal clang as they descended the broken escalator, Soundwave, Skywarp and Skids came running towards them.

“Mrowww~!!!” – Just a bit later, a displeased Ravage also appeared.

The large, black, fluffy cat running after the boys and yowling, it’s fur was puffed up, and eyes were wide and alert.

“What’s wrong? What happened?” – Trailbreaker asked worriedly.

“Are you alright, Warp?” – TC approached a hyperventilating Skywarp.

“Someone is coming!” – Skids announced to the other boys.

“Whoah, slow down! What exactly happened?” – Damus stepped closer to the two taller boys.

“Well, we were up on the roof, or at least the part that was still intact, looking around if we could see a rescue boat or a smoke and then-.” – Skids began explaining.

“And then Ravage started hissing and puffing up!” -Skywarp suddenly popped up beside Damus, a sly grin on his face.

“Jesus!” – Damus jumped in surprise by the sudden appearance.

“Kitty there noticed some dude in the distance before any of us did!” Skywarp continued like nothing happened “I swear, whoever it was, Ravage saw them before any of us.”

“Ravage: superior.” – Soundwave added as he lifted his cat and placed the furry monster on his neck.

“And what exactly were you doing up there, Warp? I thought you were with TC and then you come running with the others!” – Damus pointed at the younger, shorter boy.

“I got bored, listening to you arguing, so I went to stretch my legs.” – Skywarp shrugged his shoulders and sauntered back to Thundercracker.

The young teen was always like that – Skywarp had a knack for disappearing and suddenly reappearing later, startling people for his personal entertainment. The only ones that were never startled by him were TC (because the two had been roommates at the orphanage since forever), Ravage (cat senses) and Soundwave (he always knew where things were).

“Are you sure they were coming this way?” – Trailbreaker asked urgently.

“Uh, yeah… We did lay low up there and watched them through the binoculars for a while. They were slow but definitely heading for the mall.” – Skids nodded.

“Alright, then! Everyone, prepare for ambush just in case. We don’t know if they won’t be hostile or want to steal from us. Blue, you stay here, closer to the- to Sir Pancake, in case you need to run.” – Trailbreaker instructed.

Everyone nodded in agreement, even if Bluestreak wanted to help, he knew not to argue when the others were in ‘serious mode’, so the young boy hid under the broken escalator. The twins took a long rope and hurried ahead, prepping for an ambush. TC and Skywarp had a metal pipe each, Thundercracker’s longer and used more like a long pole while Warp’s was like a club for hitting. Skids brandished a spiked baseball bat while Trailbreaker used a pair of cast iron skillets as makeshift weapons. Damus and Soundwave were the only ones with proper weapons – Damus had taken one of the bone mutant’s long, sharp spines and made it into a spear while Soundwave had a rather odd collection that consisted of: a taser, a nunchaku, a ninja sword that was actually sharp. No one really trusted the others with the zappy and cutting stuff, so he kept them, plus one tactical Ravage for good measure.

The kids spread into the hallways ahead and waited, listening for when this mysterious individual might enter. Hopefully, they would be just passing by and won’t bother them but if they came towards where Bluestreak and their ‘fish dad’ were, the children would use force to drive them out.

…………………………………

It was already the afternoon when Blaster finally reached the mall. The building had not fared any better, compared to the others he had passed. Most windows were broken and the first 2, maybe 2 and a half floors were underwater at the moment.

Blaster was feeling overheated and miserable, very ashamed with how long it took him to just get here. He had to admit, he was not feeling too good – he was drenched in sweat, he was tired, felt warm and miserable. He managed to clamber up to the unflooded floor using a truck floating near one of the broken windows. This time, he was more careful where he grabbed to pull himself up as to not get cut, mindful of the broken glass.

Inside the abandoned mall, Blaster breathed a sigh of relief, the shade which the structure provided and the cool air inside were like a balm to his sweaty, overheated body. A nice retreat from the sun outside. He took another water bottle from his backpack and cringed a bit – it was mostly empty. What was this? His 3^rd one since he left the aquarium? His fourth? He still had more water but he should be careful with his rations until he finds more or reaches the evacuation zone.

Blaster drank the contents greedily, he still felt thirsty and warm but this would have to do for now.

‘Maybe I could find something here, if the place has not been looted by now… But now that I think about it, I have not seen other people around, only – the monsters and animals.’ – Blaster thought and wiped his forehead once more with the back of his hand.

He found a bench and sat down, taking off his backpack and using his cap as a fan to blow some more cool air on himself. The mall was eerily quiet.

*Clatter~*

“Shi-!”

Something fell on the ground, there were voices!

“Nice goin’ dumbaa-aft.” – someone whispered.

“Hey, it’s not my-!”

“Shh!”

The voices sounded young- could it be? No, no way! No one would be cruel enough to abandon children here during the tsunami! Did they get separated from their parents? Did no one find them? Were they alright?

Blaster stood up and rushed down the hall without thinking – there were other people here! Children! He had to make sure he was not going crazy from being alone for so long. He was not hallucinating!

It was then that he tripped, something caught his ankles and he faceplanted rather hard.

“Now!” – someone shouted.

Suddenly, several children jumped out of hiding and descended upon the man. Two almost identical boys – one with a red, the other with a yellow jacket jumped on his legs and started wrapping them in the rope they held. Two slightly older boys armed with metal pipes literally threw themselves on his back and knocked the air out of him in a painful wheeze. Two more joined them by pinning his arm to the tiled floor. Finally, the last two emerged and stood in front of Blaster.

One was shorter, clearly younger and had this… weir, almost boney-looking spear in his hands, pointing it at Blaster, while the other boy was tall and intimidating, almost an adult, he wore a hat, a face mask and goggles with a hissing black cat on his shoulders. He might not have drawn a weapon, but Blaster saw one hand resting on a- was that a katana?

“Who are you?! Why the heck are you here?!” – the boy with the… bone spear demanded, bringing the sharp tip closer to Blaster’s face.

“Gah! Ah- I- I am not someone suspicious!” – he blurted, making himself sound even more suspicious.

“Really?” – the older boy pinning his left arm and brandishing a frying pan looked at him with suspicion.

“Y-yes! I- My name is Blaster I was heading to the evacuation point – those red flares? Yeah, I was going there!” Blaster nodded “I just passed through here to rest for a bit but then I hear you…”

“See! I told you to be careful!” – the yellow twin poked the one in red.

“Stop poking me!” – the red twin poked back.

“Children: Silence.” – the boy with the cat said and everyone shut up.

“So… You are not going to try and hurt us? ‘Cause we’ve dealt with nasty adults before, you know!” – spear kid was still scowling.

“Y-yes! I promise, I just wanted to rest a bit and look for food.” – Blaster wiggled a bit, feeling uncomfortable being held down like that.

“Hmm…” – the boy with the mask looked at his cat.

“Hiss~!” – it puffed up and hissed at Blaster but didn’t move from his neck.

“Ravage says he’s ok.” – the masked boy said.

He apparently understood cat – it wouldn’t be the weirdest thing that has happened since the apocalypse started, at least?

……………………………………….

“So… You were also alone, stuck in the flood?” – Trailbreaker asked.

“Yes, I was lucky to get somewhere high when the wave hit and was safe.” – Blaster answered.

The redhead rubbed his wrists where he had been held down just a bit ago, his side and ribs were throbbing and he hissed when a sharp stab of pain came from his left side. He guessed being tackled like that could really bruise you.

“Then why are you here?!” a shorter teen, Sky-something he believed, suddenly appeared beside him “We also saw the flares and if you really came from the aquarium, then why didn’t you just go across?”

“Well…” Blaster shuddered “There are monsters there, a lot of them. I had to pass through just to check if my friend at the aquarium got out and was not stuck inside and these… freaky fishmen chased me through the factories. I barely got away and I am not stupid to go through there again.”

“I guess this is good to know for when we plan to move. Stay away from the industrial zone.” – Damus nodded, yet the boy still held the spear pointed at Blaster.

The children, teens more like it, led him down through the mall to their ‘temporary base’ to apparently meet up with the others that were with them. But if they were all children…

“Say… are you all alone? I mean, you don’t have any adults with you?” – Blaster asked.

“Sounds and Breaker are adult enough! We also have Sir Pancake, so we are perfectly fine!” – Sunny, the kid in yellow jacket huffed.

“Yeah! The stinky, mean adults can go f-f” Sideswipe, the other twin began but stopped when Soundwave looked at him “Well, they can go away!”

“But… It can’t be safe for children to be alone here! Even if you are doing fine now, what if something happens? What if you come across mutants? You could get hurt or killed.” – Blaster was very concerned.

“A bit late for that. You don’t need to bother with us, mister. Just finish yer business and leave us afterwards, OK?” – Damus glared at him.

“Alas, this is the life of a crew. We do daring adventures and travel together on our vessel.” – Thundercracker nodded.

“We are pirates!” – Skids announced with a wide, toothy grin.

“YEAH! Pirates!” – the twins cheered.

“Hah?!” Blaster was not prepared for that answer, but he shook his head and continued “I… think I get it – you want to be together, but this is not some fun adventure. This a serious crisis! We need to evacuate to someplace proper, least the mutants spread somehow. You can come with me and we can go to the evacuation point together.” – he offered.

Everyone immediately quieted and then-

“Heck NO!” – Damus pointed the spear tip at Blaster.

“You are not taking us anywhere!” – Sunstreaker and Sideswipe cried out.

“Just try me! I will kick your nuts before you can blink!” – Skids threatened.

“Want me to smack him?” – Skywarp popped up beside Skids, waving his metal pipe around.

“Situation: unfavorable. Please, calm down.” – Shockwave tried.

“But it is dangerous here! It would be for the best for us to evacuate-.” – Blaster tried again.

“You don’t know shit about us! So don’t go speaking like you do!” – Damus was threatening him with the spear.

“Everyone, please stop shouting! We can talk things out!” – Trailbreaker shouted, wanting to resolve this as peacefully as he could.

“RRRRRRRRR~!” – a deep growl rumbled from the end of the hallway.

Just behind the children, Blaster could see the hallway opening to a larger, circular area, light streaming from above and some dried-out sea plants hanging from the railing. There was another deep rumble coming from the floor below before something huge jumped up.

*SPLAASH~ THUMP!

A giant shape jumped up and landed heavily on this floor – It was a mer, the largest mer Blaster had seen in his life, even bigger than Jazz and Prowl and it looked angry! The metal railing had screeched as it had landed on it, even ripping it easily off the floor with one swoop of its arms. The mer’s large, clawed hands pulled him up and towards them, those huge claws left deep gouges in the floor as the beast dragged its massive body closer. Every instinct from working with mers for years told Blaster to grab the children and bull them as far away from the hissing mer as he could.

“Jesus!” Blaster screeched “Fuck!”

He grabbed the two closest children and pulled them back into the hallway in hopes that the giant mer won’t be able to squeeze in. Instead, the children shouted and struggled to get away from him.

“Hissss~” – a low, threatening hiss emerged from the mer’s mouth, now all its fins were standing up straight in a clear threat display.

“We have to get higher-.” – Blaster was panicking.

“NO!”

“Let us go, you weirdo!”

One of the mer’s large hands quickly swiped at him, incredibly fas for something of that size.

“NO! Stop fighting, Sir Pancake! You are hurt!” – a small boy, no older than 8 or 9 suddenly stood in the way, arms spread.

“Rrrrrh~” – the mer scowled and rumbled as he peered around the kid.

It seemed… that it was actually listening to the child! What?! And was also intently staring at Blaster, still holding the two struggling teens. He let them go and immediately the children darted past their friends and huddled close to the giant fish-man.

“EVERYONE!” Trailbreaker shouted “Please, everyone calm down and stop freaking out! You are making things worse!”

“Yes, let’s all sit down and have a civil conversation before anyone gets hurt…” TC pointed at Blaster “Especially him.”

“A-alright…” – Blaster agreed, stumbling a bit.

The mer’s fins lowered a tiny bit and he clicked something towards the children.

“Don’t worry, Sir Pancake! We are fine!” – the youngest smiled up at the mer.

…………………………..

Well, after calming down and settling, Blaster finally started to understand the situation. The kids were just a bunch of orphans, some from the orphanage, others from foster homes, except for little Bluestreak, whose family had been on a trip to this city, mostly to see the aquarium but also a few other sights like the famous Recreation Center that was often visited by a wild mer and the museum, but little Blue had gotten separated in the crowd and lost just before the tsunami hit. The other boys had found him and they had been together since.

It had been a miracle to see children out here, but with the intimidating mer that had… seemingly imprinted on them, it was not that unbelievable that they had survived. Blaster’s eyes once again landed on the white, bony corpse of a large mutant fish, long dead and impaled on a few rebars.

That thing had attacked them when they were scouting the mall for supplies and they had managed to kill it with the help of… Sir Pancake (what a ridiculous but kinda fitting name) but the mer had been injured and they were only staying in the mall until he was somewhat healed. But with the news of more mutants, it seemed they might need to move out sooner rather than later.

“And you are sure you don’t want to come with me?” – Blaster asked one last time.

“We are. Look, mister, we have not exactly had the best experience with adults, well, everyone except Blue, but none of us want to go back to wherever they will put us, we don’t want to get separated.” – Trailbreaker shook his head.

“I see…” - Blaster looked down at his lap, a nauseating feeling was starting to bother him.

“We are going to move out of here in a day, two at most, maybe find a boat or use the fish bus to get out of the city. We will be looking out for Blue’s family along the way though.” – Damus put on his jacket.

How could they all be wearing so many layers in this weather? Yes, it was cooler in the shade but Blaster was still sweaty and miserable even while wearing a t-shirt only.

“How is Sir Pancake, Blue? Would he be up for travelling tomorrow?” – Skids asked.

“Uhm… I don’ know that many words but I can try!” Bluestreak stood up and looked at the mer before starting to whistle <Shockywave!>

The mer suddenly looked straight at Bluestreak, his ear fins wiggling happily as he smiled.

<You almost got it, little one! It’s Shockwave. Shock-wave… Shock-Wave!> - the mer emphasized certain whistles he repeated several times.

<Shock-Wave!> Bluestreak repeated before pointing at the bandaged <Good dood? Bad bad?>

<I am well, you don’t need to worry. Good good!>

“He says he’s OK!” -Blue announced happily.

“He can understand mer whistles?!” – Blaster was shocked and amazed.

“Yeah, the squirt is a language genius! He also knows Spanish and French!” – Skywarp seemingly materialized next to Blaster, scaring him.

<Shock-Wave! Go go… come?> Bluestreak tried and hesitated before shaking his head <Go us home? Mornig good?> - the kid finally settled on a series of words.

Shockwave had to think a bit just to decipher what the human pup meant.

<You request for us all to travel tomorrow? You want to come with me?> - Shockwave pointed at himself.

Bluestreak enthusiastically nodded and bounced in excitement. Shockwave also nodded.

“He said yes! Kinda? But he should be fine!” – Blue said in the end.

“I see. Thanks, Blue, you are amazing.” Trailbreaker patted his head “We’ll rest here for the night. We’re leaving tomorrow after breakfast. You, mister, you can stay here with us during the night, it would be safer but no funny business, OK?!” – he scowled at Blaster.

“I promise!” Blaster nodded “Thanks. Oh, by the way does any one of you have a phone? I lost mine during the flood and I couldn’t contact my family.”

“Nope! There are no phones for us orphans, too expensive or so they say!” – Skids shrugged.

“Same here!” – Sunstreaker raised a hand.

“I broke mine!” – Bluestreak said a little too cheerfully.

Once more, Blaster had no luck in finding a way to call his parents. Sir Pancake had returned to the water below with a loud splash and the children had busied themselves preparing for the evening. Blaster, as an unfamiliar adult was put on cooking duty, where he would stay easily visible to the others. At some point, young Bluestreat had settled on a plastic crate near the camping gas stove and was looking at Blaster.

“Um… Do you, want to ask something or you want to help?” Blaster gestured at the bubbling pot on the stove “It’s just instant noodles, though.”

“Mister… Are you alright? You don’t look very good.” – the young boy asked innocently.

“Eh?”

“My mom and big brothers say you should rest when you are feeling icky, so you can get better faster! Do you need tea?”

It was only then that Blaster started putting things together – clammy skin, all the sweating and feeling hot, being thirsty and the slight nausea… He might have indeed been sick. These were all the symptoms of the flu! Did all the sleeping on concrete out in the open cause it? Or was it all the times he got soaked and ran in wet clothes in the past days?

“I will be fine, it is just a flu, hopefully… But maybe a warm cup would be a good idea. Do you know if someone has tea or some vitamin C?” – Blaster asked.

“Dunno, BUT! I can ask!” – Bluestreat then ran off to the other boys.

He watched as the youngest boy jumped from place to place, then instead of returning, he ran down the broken escalator to the level below. Blaster could hear the sloshing of water below and the melodious whistles and clicks of the mer. Then, he noticed Thundercracker approaching.

“You were not bitten by those mutants, right? Cause that is a prime cause for turning into a zombie or something like that.” – TC prodded him carefully.

“What?! No! I was not bitten!”

“You sure? That’s what most say.” – TC tilted his head.

Bluestreak came back up with a smile.

“Sir Pancake said he’d look the mister over!” – the kid announced.

“Yes! Bring him to the fish dad!” – Skywarp whooped.

And so, Blaster was herded to the lower level, which was half flooded just as he expected. The large met was waiting by the steps, looking at Blaster intently but no longer hostile.

‘Huh? Now that I look at him, he’s like a gigantic angel shark. Has the fins, tail, flaps and even coloration, except he’s gigantic and looks humanoid.’ – Blaster noticed.

The mer had been surprisingly gentle, despite their introduction being less than ideal, Blaster was kind of impressed hos such an big creature could be so delicate and gentle while checking over his body for injuries. Sir Pancake lowered him back on the metal stairs.

<The man is unharmed, as had as I could see. He’s not been hurt but he’s quite warm to the touch. I don’t think I can help with anything else. If we had supplies or if there was a medic nearby…> - Shockwave said sadly.

Shockwave knew the chances of meeting a medic out in the flooded human city was close to 0, the chance of meeting other mers was the same. It had been why he had come here – to get away from his advisors’ constant nagging, but who knew he would witness the giant wave sweeping through the city?

“So? Is the mister fine?” Bluestreak asked <Good good?>  -while pointing at Blaster.

<Good bad? Sick.> Shockwave tried to explain <Good outside, bad inside?>

They were… relatively satisfied by the answer, so after a warm meal, they gave Blaster a few cold pills they had lifted off the mall pharmacy and went to bed, leaving Shockwave as the first night watch.

‘Hopefully, it would get better soon. I don’t need to be getting the flu in the middle of the apocalypse.’ – Blaster thought before he settled down on his sleeping mat.

Soon, he fell in a restless sleep, strange shapes swimming around him, dark and strange, voices, some familiar, some not and then a bright light, dancing with colors like the sun. It was so pretty… He couldn’t help but reach out to it, wanting to hold it close.

Chapter Text

The next morning was even more miserable for Blaster. The moment he woke up, he knew it would be awful – he felt like he was being cooked alive. Beads of sweat ran down his forehead and his hair was damp, his skin was looking pale and he was feverish. He threw the thin blanket he had been using away, rolled to the guardrail and heaved. He had not eaten much the previous night, yet he still emptied his stomach into the water below their floor.

The violent coughing from the taste of acid that followed also woke the others up. The sleeping children were awake and Mr. Pancake that was also in the water below was startled. The large mer chittered and shifted, not knowing if he should see if he could help the human of move away from the potential splat zone.

“Mister!” – Bluestreak rushed to his side.

“Wha?!” “Gah!” – the twins, Sideswipe and Sunstreaker woke up with a start.

“What’s wrong?!” – Thundercracker rushed over.

Blaster wanted to tell them not to be worried, that it is just him being sick but he couldn’t muster a word, he was just heaving and coughing, all while the children watched him from the side, lined in a half-circle. Worried but also not knowing what exactly to do in this situation.

………………………….

Maybe he was really not thinking straight, maybe he shouldn’t have insisted he was fine, but here he was. Still looking sick, feverish with his backpack on his back and about to part ways with the children.

“Are you really sure you are fine, mister?” – Bluestreak asked, clearly worried, clutching his toy action figure.

“Yeah, man, you look terrible.” – Sideswipe began.

“Like ye’r about to croak.” – Sunstreaker finished.

“Hey, don’t be mean! He’s clearly not feeling well!” – Trailbreaker scolded the twins.

“Blaster: sick. You need assistance.” – Soundwave added, holding a disgruntled Ravage in his arms.

“No, no, really, I will be fine.” Blaster tried to wave them off, but wasn’t very convincing “I don’t want to make you assist me while I am a bit sick. Not to mention, I need to reach the evacuation zone, try to contact my parents… see if they're safe. Maybe only the cities right next to the coast were affected?” – Blaster said hopefully.

The children exchanged a look – with how big the wave had been and how long it took for the water to retreat so the city could have its current half-flooded state… It was not likely.

“Just leave him do whatever he wants. I don’t see why we must coax a guy we only met yesterday.” – Damus grumbled, a bony speak in his hand, thankfully no longer pointed at Blaster.

“Because it is the nice thing to do?” – Skids offers but it sounds more like a question.

“It may be so that this could turn to be a decision that shall bring us all doubt.” Thundercracker said, closing the book he had been reading “But at times the heroes of a story must part ways with the companions they met along the way, to maybe one day reunite.”

“What TC is trying to say is – don’t die.” Skywarp seemingly materialized beside Blaster “Also, please don’t end up turning into a zombie or something. The mutant monsters and the flooding are more than enough.”

“Yeah, yeah.” – the others nodded in agreement.

“Oh…kay… I did not need to imagine that. Now I am a bit more worried.” – Blaster moved a step back from Skywarp.

“Way to go, dingus!” – Sunstreaker shouted.

“Yea! Now you are worrying us even more! I never even thought about zombies until you mentioned it!” Sideswipe added “What if there’s actually something weird that turns people into mutants?!”

“Calm down, you two.” Trailbreaker put a hand on their shoulders “We saw the monsters came with the big wave. We were all there when it all happened.”

The twins nodded and the other whispered among themselves. Blaster shifted from one foot to the other, watching the children with concern. Shockwave or how he was currently known – Sir Pancake, was waiting in the water for the children. Their meager belongings were strapped to the giant mer’s back.

“Still, you sure you will be fine? I know you have er- Sir Pancake?” Blaster gestured “With you but it is still dangerous.”

“You don’t need to worry. We’ll be fine.” – Damus said curtly.

“Yeah! We’re gonna find a boat and be proper pirates!” – Skids pointed in the general direction of the harbor.

“And we’re finding my family too! I will tell them all about the awesome adventures we’ve had when we meet! AND I will introduce them to all my new friends!” – Bluestreak smiled brightly.

Blaster just smiled and nodded; not sure he’d be able to keep his voice from cracking. He really hoped they would be able to find the kid’s family but… the odds were not in their favor. The older kids knew it too, judging by the uneasy glances they exchanged behind the younger ones’ backs.

“Alright! Enough of this sappy stuff! We are burning daylight and I don’t want to be out in the city at night.” – Damus butted in.

“Pirate crew: assemble.” – Soundwave said, shifting Ravage to sit a bit more comfortably.

“Well, I should also be going.” Blaster sniffled a bit “Good luck out there, kids.”

The children said their goodbyes and clambered over to Shockwave’s back. The mer clicked and whistled at the children before moving his tail, his large, heavy body moving away from the shallows of the destroyed building and into deeper waters. They were about to leave when Blue remembered something. He whistled something to the mer and with some help got back to the dry concrete.

“Wait, mister!” Bluestreak ran towards Blaster “I have somethin’ here!”

Blaster waited for the youngest child to reach him. Blue rummaged through his pants’ pockets for a bit before he pulled out a souvenir keychain – a small, plastic dolphin and a tiny seashell, the logo of the seaside center on the crumpled cardboard piece it was stapled on to.

“Here! For you to remember us, also for good luck!” Bluestreak grinned “Me an’ my family always get keychains from each trip to remember the good stuff. I got tree, one for me and two for my brothers but got lost before I gave theirs to em, so I am giving you one!”

Blaster took the keychain carefully, the plastic feeling cold to his feverish skin, then smiled.

“Yeah, thanks, kid. Good luck to you too.” – he ruffled the kid’s hair.

Bluestreak grinned and ran back to his friends, enthusiastically waving at him until they disappeared behind some abandoned buildings.

……………………………………

Blaster’s nose was stuffy, his head was pounding and he felt like he was about to hurl again, yet he soldiered on, pushing through the fever. He paused for a bit to rest a bit and took a bottle of water from his backpack, the keychain dangling from one of the zippers. It was maybe half full but he drank it all in one go, his throat feeling scratchy. He looked ahead – many abandoned buildings were waiting for him ahead, a lot of them broken or toppled from the wave and the many, many card that were in the city center at the time. With some hopping here and there, he had been able to make his way across the flooded landscape, getting closer to the evacuation point at a steady pace.

‘Although it seems I won’t be able to go there as fast as I’d like… Damn.’ – Blaster grunted, forcing his feet to move, despite them feeling like they were made of lead.

He fanned himself with his cap, a bit of sweat dripping down his forehead, he adjusted the jacket he had tied around his waist. The hand lingered there and absentmindedly scratched at his stomach.

‘Ugh, more climbing.’

Blaster pulled himself up on a half-fallen staircase, his arms shaking with the effort, the sickness having sapped a lot of his strength. The waves lapped at the walls and a few sea birds could be heard squawking in the distance but other than that, there was not much noise in the area. No humans either, by the looks of it – really, where had everyone gone? With the children no longer there, the silence was even more depressing to Blaster.

His sneakers squeaked slightly against the floor he was currently on – some shop, probably, judging by the linoleum floor and several broken mirrors hanging on the surviving wall. The place was missing its entire roof and one wall had been completely ripped off the building. Blaster chose to stay away from the crumbling edge just in case. The left sneaker just then decided to get caught on an uneven edge, making Blaster stumble.

“Shit!” – he shouted and waved his arms around frantically to keep his balance.

He almost fell but managed to right himself and continued forward, now more careful of stray uneven tiles.

“Just my luck, almost tripping on a flat surface.” – he grumbled to himself.

The shout, however, had been louder than Blaster imagined. The sound echoed through the flooded streets, bouncing between the buildings. Underneath the water, in the darkness of a building, something stirred at the noise. A large shape shifted in the murky water and two giant, glowing eyes suddenly opened.

……………………………………………

There had been people here, at least in the past few days. Blaster had climbed through the broken window of yet another destroyed residential building when he noticed the remains of a camp.

A few crusty mattresses had been laid close to a wall and there were also empty food cans and the remains of a fire in the middle of the room. Someone must have been camping here after the tsunami hit but… there was no one in sight right now. Just like any other place nearby, it was quiet and empty, but this raised his hopes a bit – beside the kids, this was his first sign of human life in a while. There were other survivors out there!

“I knew there had to be others!” – he decided to take a closer look.

The man carefully approached and took a better look around the place. The many empty food cans and the marks from a fire indicated that these people were there for at least several days, but they were gone now. The fact that he saw no traces of blood meant the survivors were fine.

‘There’s no signs of anything being broken or clawed.’ Blaster thought ‘But it is like they left in a hurry. Leaving things laying around.’

An old stuffed toy, a few shirts hanging from a clothesline, some protein bars, food leftovers that had gone bad, judging from the smell.

‘What could have made them leave?’ – he wondered and he was also getting a bad feeling about this.

He rummaged through the remains of the camp, just in case there might have been something useful. He pocketed the few protein bars but there was nothing he could see- Wait!

“Yes! A phone!” – Blaster cheered.

He practically dove for the device, clutching it in his hands like it was a precious gem.

“Please, please, please… please work!” – he pressed the button.

The cracked screen lit up for a bit, showing a picture of a forest landscape. Blaster was overjoyed but soon he noticed two things – the battery was really low, barely 20%, and there was no signal where he was, there was just a single like that appeared for a second then he lifted the device up and moved it around, but it would disappear soon after. He sighed, turned the phone off to conserve battery and put it away for later.

*Shooo~ SPLASH!*

Outside, something disturbed the water, making a loud splashing sound. That made Blaster immediately tense, feeling a chill all of a sudden. There was another loud splash, but this time it was closer and was followed by a rumble.

“Rrrrrrrrr~!”

There was something outside!

Ever so slowly, Blaster stood up and backed away from the windows but it was too late – the creature already knew he was there. The already damaged building shook as the monster outside reared up from the water - a maw full of teeth, two large eyes, fins running down its long serpentine body, two long, finned appendages with curved claws hooked on a window frame as it pulled its long body up.

The monster’s head completely blocked one of the windows as it looked inside – its eyes locked on to Blaster’s frozen form.

“GRAAAAAAH!”- the monster roared and lunged at the human.

“Gah!” – Blaster threw himself back and rolled away from the beast.

The monster’s neck got stuck halfway through the narrow window, halting its attack, it still tried to bite Blaster. Its jaws bit at the air, snapping loudly just a few steps away from the man. The wall held, for now, but as the monster used more force, the window frame started to slowly crack at the edges. The sea monster’s claws scratched at the building’s façade, leaving deep gouges in it.

Blaster scrambled to his feet and ran, his heart was beating like crazy and his eyes were frantically scanning for a way out, away from the monster.

‘There!’ – he noticed a staircase.

He ran up the steps as fast as his tired legs could carry him, taking them two at a time. He didn’t stop until he was at the rooftop, but he could still hear the monster’s roars from below.

*CRACK! Crumble- Splaaash~*

There was a loud cracking noise as the beast finally wrenched its head out, Broken pieces of brick and concrete fell in the water below. The noise only made Blaster panic more – he couldn’t stay on the rooftop; plus, the tremors he could feel from the monster raking its talons across the façade terrified him. He needed to run-! But where?! All he could do at that moment was just find the closest building and jump to it, try his best to get away from the sea monster.

The beast, however, was more persistent than he thought. It noticed him running away on the rooftops and followed. It unhooked its talons from the building, its body dropped into the water with a loud splash, and with a few strokes of its tail it swam after Blaster.

This huge, long, dark shape followed Blaster closely. No matter how hard he tried, he could not outrun the monster swimming below. In fact, it was almost like the beast was circling him, cutting him off from potential escapes with its greater speed. He was getting tired; his body was exhausted and weak from the sickness currently spreading through his body.

‘Shit!’ – Blaster thought when he glimpsed the monster in the corner of his vision once more.

It was still in the flooded street below, following him closely with its glowing eyes focused on him. Blaster on the other hand was wheezing, drenched in sweat, his legs were burning and felt like he was barely able to breathe. He looked away from the beast, and just in time!

His sneakers skid on the building’s rooftop as he suddenly stopped dead in his tracks, almost tripping and falling over the edge. He was at a dead end – the next building was too far away to jump to, he’d need to go back to-!

*Bam! BAAM! Crash!*

The building shook as the monster slammed its body into it. It was once upon a time some old complex, but years or wear, tear, modifications to the first floor in order to make more store space and the recent wave had weakened its foundations. It made the large building barely standing on a few supports below the water and the monster apparently noticed that. It attacked the building’s side again and again, shaking it and making the columns underwater crack more and more.

“Somebody! AnYbODY! HELP! HEEEEEEEELP!!!” – Blaster bellowed in desperation, hugging an old air conditioning unit to steady himself.

=== Somewhere else, but nearby ===

Prowl blew a few bubbles from his nostrils out of frustration.

“Another dead end.” – the orca mer said, clearly pissed.

“Hey~ Calm down Prowler~ Yer going to… to…” Jazz began but fumbled his words, his mer speak still not up to par [Shoot! How to say he’s gonna blow a fuse?!]  - he said, switching back to human barks.

Prowl stared, waiting patiently, even though he could not quite comprehend the human barks Jazz often switched to, he could always listen and encourage the other mer.

“There’s no need. I can guess what you are trying to tell me. You want me to remain composed in this situation, least I do something stupid.” – Prowl nodded and emerged for some air.

“c-Compos-ed?” Jazz repeated, following after Prowl “What does ‘composed’ mean?”

“Well, it means to remain calm in a situation, to not lose concentration.”

“I see.” Jazz hummed, then looked around, squinting at some of the rubble hat had blocked their way “You know, I could probably get myself up there to have a better look, maybe even pull you over the walls with some help?”

“I’d rather you not put yourself in such vulnerable position…” – Prowl looked away.

He secretly did not want Jazz to haul him on dry land again. Their whole escape from that accursed human building called ‘The Aquarium’ had involved a lot of Jarr hefting Prowl over obstacles and Prowl dragging his heavy tail while following Jazz. As much as Prowl was swift and fast underwater, he lost all that advantage once he was on dry land, his tail becoming a burden.

“Oh, come on~ Prowler! I can go up there quick!” – Jazz said.

The other orca mer even demonstrated by grabbing hold of a concrete slab and easily lifting his upper half out of the water. Prowl still looked unconvinced, ever scowling.

“I don’t know. What if you fall or something happens? You might get injured and we don’t have access to a medic.” – Prowl finally murmured.

“We’ve been wanderin’ the city for DAYS! We both don’t know where exactly to go, Prowler! We need to do something!” Jazz dropped back down in the water “It’s either me going high up to look for the big ol’ ocean OR we can ask for directions.”

“How? There’s no other mer here – no one would be foolish enough to enter the human settlement.” – Prowl tilted his head.

“I don’t mean mer, Prowl. Humans!” Jazz said a bit too cheerfully “We saw a few lights from human survivors a while back, right? We could go there and ask them for directions!”

“Jazz-.”

“What? You know I can speak to them! Maybe someone can help us? I know you don’t like humans, but you know not all of them are bad. Like Blaster, he’s always done what he can to help. I even heard he got in a fight when they tried to take you-.” – Jazz quieted down, rubbing his arms.

He still felt uncomfortable remembering that day. Jazz had been so scared he’d never see Prowl, that he’d be alone, so when they tranq-ed Prowl and tried moving him… He lashed out and almost ripped someone’s arm off- there had been so much blood…!

“…” – Prowl opened his mouth but didn’t know what to say.

He did not see anything wrong with Jazz’s actions – he protected a vulnerable pod member. The humans had been the ones at fault by not seeing the obvious warnings Jazz gave with his body language. Yet, Jazz still felt guilt over lashing out. What could Prowl possibly say with his less than stellar record of being emotionally open to comfort Jazz?

*Crack- Sploosh~!*

In the distance, something heavy cracked and fell in the water. The two mers immediately were on high alert. They could see one of the smaller buildings in the distance shaking and was going to fall soon – no doubt thanks to one of the leviathans the two had the displeasure of seeing while they were lost in the city.

“Don’t tell me it’s that creepy one-eyed fish thing… It didn’t follow us, right?” – Jazz turned to look at Prowl.

“Not likely. That leviathan had settled in a territory, plus it is pretty big and loud. We would have heard it coming. This must be a different one.” Prowl’s scowl deepened “Let’s move, I’d rather avoid fighting right now.”

“OK.”

The two mers were about to leave when a noise reached Jazz’s ear flaps.

[-elp!] – it was a shout for help, one of the first words Jazz had learned.

Jazz paused and turned to look back. The shout was desperate and coming from the direction of the leviathan, no doubt someone was being attacked and calling for help. Quite impressive, considering the distance.

[HEEEEEELP!!!] – this time the shout was even louder and it sounded oddly familiar…

“Oh, no! Blaster!” Jazz realized with dread “That’s Blaster!”

“Jazz! Wait-!” – Prowl said but it was too late.

Jazz dove without even thinking, he was swimming towards the panicked shouts. Blaster was his first friend, even though he was a human and technically his caretaker, he had been the only one treating Jazz properly and not like some dumb animal. He would take time to teach Jazz things, bring him treats and entertainment, making sure he was always doing the best he could with what the aquarium allowed. Although the human could not really do for Jazz what another mer could, Blaster always did his best.

In a way, Blaster was lucky that he was naturally loud, very loud, otherwise he might have never been heard when the leviathan cornered him. Jazz swam as quickly as he could, feeling the urgency in Blaster’s shouts for help. He had not been thinking – how was he even going to save his human pal from the monster? What was he supposed to do? But Prowl’s familiar form quickly caught up to him and he calmed down a bit. He was not alone, not anymore.

“Idiot. Don’t dart away like that.” – Prowl scolded him.

Jazz couldn’t help but crack a smile.

=== Back with Blaster ===

Blaster desperately clung to a ledge as the building slowly tilted. If he let go, he’d just drop down and into the waiting leviathan’s maw, if he clung to the concrete, he’d fall when the building fully gave out. His nails scraped painfully on the hard surface as his arms shook with the effort it took to keep himself from falling.

“Krrr~” – the monster waiting in the water chittered, swimming impatiently.

It slammed once more into the building’s already shaky supports before it darted back out, more chunks of concrete and old furniture tumbled down when it tilted more. Finally, it gave out and with one final, loud crack, the structure fell down.

“AAAAAAAAAGH!” – Blaster screamed as he plummeted down.

Water flew high into the air, a large wave rose up from the sudden displacement of water. Floating trash and other debris flew to the side. Blaster was wrenched off his handhold and swept by the wave. He kicked and flailed his arms as he spun in the water, disoriented and afraid. The salt water stung his eyes and some even went up his nose. One of his hands managed to grab onto something hard and solid, so he clung on to it desperately while the water tried to sweep him away.

“Uagh! Cough- COUGH!” – Blaster heaved the moment he managed to breach the surface.

That mouthful of fresh air was like balm to his lungs. His eyes still stung from the salty water and his vision was blurry at best, but Blaster couldn’t afford to linger – who knew where the monster was? He looked around, all while clinging on to a light pole. If only he could swim into a building and go up-!

In the distance, the leviathan’s head emerged from the waters, it scanned the area before it locked in on Blaster’s form – a red dot on a blue-gray background. Its fins stuck out of the water as it swam closer, like a shark from a movie. He was going to die here, wasn’t he? Eaten by a giant monster, all alone and nobody knowing what happened to him.

The monster opened its jaws as it neared him, about to swallow him in one bite. Blaster finched and tensed, already preparing for the chomp, but a large black and white blur tackled it from the side.

“Blasterr~!” the slightly echo-y, rumbly voice of Jazz called “Come here!”

The orca mer offered his arms to the shaking human. Without thinking, Blaster threw himself in Jazz’s arms and the mar quickly dragged him away. The leviathan snarled but Prowl used his powerful tail to slap it. It lunged, its long neck twisting and jaws snapping, but Prowl just darted out ot the way, before circling the beast and hitting it once more.

Jazz dragged Blaster a good distance away from the fight and soon deposited the human inside a building by lifting him through a window.

“Go high up, where it is safe.” Jazz said urgently “I have to go help Prowl!”

Blaster could only dumbly nod as Jazz quickly dove into the water and rushed to help his other friend. Prowl was fighting the leviathan, his sonar loud and sharp, almost like gunshots – it was disorienting to hear it and made Jazz’s ear flaps lay flush against his head, even though it was not aimed at him.

<Prowl! I am coming!> - Jazz clicked.

<\|||!> Prowl said something Jazz didn’t know the meaning of, before realizing his mistake <Sharp! Pointy! Bring it!> - Prowl clarified with urgency, barely dodging a bite to his side.

‘A weapon!’ – Jazz realized.

Thankfully, there was more than enough trash around to use as a weapon. Jazz sent two quick sonar clicks at his surroundings, mapping out the area despite how murky the water was at the moment. He dove to the bottom and wrapped his hands around a piece of metal – it was sharp and pointy, sticking out of the muck at the bottom. He struggled for a bit before he wrenched the makeshift weapon out of the silt.

<Got it!> - he cheered and rushed towards the leviathan.

Prowl used one of his shoulders to ram the monster, it screeched as the mer forced its back into the wall of a building. It reared its head to bite the annoying mer, but a big rock flew through the air and hit it on the snout.

<Ha! Take that!> Jazz came to the rescue <Prowler! Catch!>

Jazz tossed the metal rod at Prowl’s waiting hands before chucking one more piece of trash straight at the monster’s head.

<Be careful!> - Prowl scolded, but managed to catch the makeshift weapon mid-air.

“GrYEEE!” – the monster screeched in pain as its side was pierced.

Dark red, closer to black, blood joshed from the wound in the leviathan’s side. Prowl grit his teeth as he pulled the jagged metal out and plunged it inside the monster once more.

<Jazz! Get another weapon and come help me!> - he shouted.

Prowl knew how to deal with larger opponents, it was the same strategy he and other enforcers used – overwhelm the leviathans with numbers and teamwork. Once you tire them and injure them enough, they are as good as regular creatures.

Jazz came back with a piece of rebar still crusted with concrete like a makeshift mace. Prowl dodged a tail slap from the creature before jabbing it once more with his own weapon. He instructed Jazz what to do and the two mers systematically harassed the leviathan. Slamming it into the building’s façade, not letting it dive down or run, constantly stabbing or hitting it, until it was barely able to move. Jazz was also panting – clearly not used to the hunting strategies Prowl knew.

<Move back.> - Prowl said.

Jazz listened, pulling back a few paces just as Prowl rushed in for the killing blow. With a few stroked of his tail, he was already next to the leviathan’s head. The beast jerked away but Prowl was faster - he hit the monster’s head from the side, the jagged metal piecing straight through its eye and into its brain.

“KREEEEEEEE!!!” – it roared in pain and thrashed in the water.

The leviathan furiously splashed and shook its head, to try and get the spear out of its eye, not realizing it was too late. The water frothed with its thrashing, Prowl had to move away as to not get flayed by its sharp claws, but soon its movement slowed down, until it eventually ceased completely. The leviathan’s corpse floated motionlessly in the water, still bleeding, its mouth open and fluid mixed with dark red streaming from the stab in its eye.

Now that they were safe, Prowl leveled Jazz with a harsh scowl, immediately stopping the other mer from cheering.

<What were you thinking, Jazz?! Rushing off like that without warning- do you know how dangerous that was?! What if I had not followed?! You are so - --|||!>

<Sorry…> Jazz looked down and fiddled with his fingers, such a human gesture <I just heard Blaster calling for help and- Oh, no! Blaster! I have to go check on him!> - Jazz suddenly remembered and swam off.

<Jazz…!> - Prowl rumbled but followed.

When they arrived to the building where Blaster was, Jazz stopped and called for the human.

[Blasterr! It is safe now; you can come out.] – he barked in human all while Prowl watched suspiciously from the side.

Prowl still didn’t trust humans, not after they kidnapped him and drugged him for months, even tried to take him away from Jazz, how the other mer had been so alone and isolated before his arrival... Plus, as an enforcer, he knew how some mers suffered when captured by humans – their fins cut off and then tossed back in the water. All in all, he’d rather not deal with humans at all anymore, but the human called Blaster was at least somewhat tolerable in his opinion. So far, he had been the nicest human and the only one in that Aquarium building that actually treated him and Jazz with proper respect.

[Blaster, buddy? You there?] Jazz was getting worried [Are you alright?]

The human was not responding for some reason. Jazz went closer and used his much more muscular arms to lift himself up the building, peering through the windows. Prowl’s mind started supplying possible scenarios – had the human left, had he been injured?

[Blasterr!]  Jazz now sounded panicking [What’s wrong?! Did you get hurt? Do you need help?!]

……………………………………

Blaster had spaced out a bit, after he managed to pull his tired body away from the water and onto the upper floor, he had just… plopped down.

‘Just to catch my breath.’ – he had thought, only to be startled when Jazz called for him frantically.

The mer was barely hanging on the windowsill, his lower half danging in the air, as he peered inside, looking at the sick human. Blaster looked not too good – his skin was clammy and had a sickly pallor to it, his clothes and hair were wet, sticking to his body, there were dark circles forming around his eyes and his cheeks were looking a bit hollow, yet somehow his hat was still with him.

“J-jazz.” Blaster said, still not quite believing his eyes “You… You saved me!” – he pushed himself up.

“Well, yea! I heard you shoutin’ and couldn’t just leave my friend!” – Jazz smiled.

Blaster was overjoyed to see the mer was safe and sound. To see a familiar face in this dreadful situation. He forced himself to stand on his throbbing, shaky legs and stumbled his way to Jazz. He grinned and went to hug the large mer.

“I am so happy to see you!”

Blaster hugged Jazz’s neck and pressed his feverish body into his cool, wet skin.

“I am also happy to see ya, but maybe… not have our reunion while I am danglin’ off a window?” – Jazz said, tilting his head.

“Oh, yes, right!” Blaster straightened “Then, see you downstairs?”

Jazz nodded and let go, falling in the water with a loud splash.

……………………………………

Prowl watched from the side as the human, Blaster, made stumbled his way to the lowest level. Jazz animatedly chatted with him about something he couldn’t quite understand, but even from where he was, he could tell something was not right. The redhead looked weak, a sickly pallor to his usually tanned skin and a slight tremor in his steps. Yet, jazz seemed thrilled to be talking to his human friend, so Prowl decided to let them talk a bit before they had to leave.

“Jazz. I know you want to talk to the human, but we need to move soon. I don’t want to be out in the open when night falls.” – Prowl said after a while.

“Alri- Wait! We’re leaving?! Like, right now?” – Jazz looked back with wide eyes.

“Yes, we need to find shelter. Now, say goodbye to your human friend and let’s go.”

“But- We can’t just leave blaster here!” Jazz protested “Look at him – he looks awful, plus he’s all alone in this place! What if a monster attacks him again -OR he can’t find other humans in time?!”

“That’s none of our concern. He could probably handle himself.” – Prowl looked away from Jazz’s pleading eyes, not really wanting to stay with the human.

“Pleeease~ Prowler! We can’t just leave him! He’s my first friend, I can’t just abandon him in the middle of these ruins.”

Prowl still wouldn’t budge, so then Jazz leaned closer and gave a small rumble.

“Oh, come on, Prowlerr! I know you don’t like humans but Blaster is nice! You certainly like him more than the others you met at the aquarium. I know because I am the same- Oh, also Blaster knows the city! He could guide us to the ocean!”

“Are you sure or are you just saying it so I agree with you?” – Prowl raised a brow ridge.

“Oh, let me ask!” Jazz swam to Blaster and started speaking to the human [So, Blasterr, we want to go to the ocean but we got a bit lost in the city… Could you, maybe, show us the way?]

[Uh, sure?] he then pointed to his left [The coast is that way.]

“See, Prowl!” Jazz turned to the other mer, gesturing wildly “Blaster knows the way. The ocean is there and we’ve been going in the wrong way this whole time! We need his help! So… can he come with us?”

“Ugh, fine! But only until we find other humans. As soon as we do, we leave him with them.” – Prowl said finally.

“Yeas! Thank you so much!” Jazz cheered [Blaster! You can come with us! You can help us reach the ocean and we can help you find other humans! What do you say?]

[Well, anything is better than being alone after… all of that.] he pointed at the leviathan corpse [So, yeah, I can come but… is Prowl going to be happy about this?]

Blaster hesitated – as much as he had spent time trying to earn some of Prowl’s trust while in the aquarium, he was still reluctant to be in the water with him, especially after that one time Prowl almost drowned him. That incident had been quite the scare early on in Prowl’s stay but it still rattled Blaster. Prowl was a large mer, an orca which is an apex predator, who also didn’t like humans.

[He said it’s OK, so it will be fine! He’s just a bit grumpier because we’ve been wandering the city ruins since we escaped the aquarium. We- we really need to go to the ocean.] – Jazz said with a slump to his shoulders.

[All-right! Then, how do I – do I go find a float or?]

[Oh, you can grab on to my fin and I will carry you! B-But I can go look for a float!]  - Jazz offered.

[No-no! It’s fine! Just, let’s get out of here. I don’t want to be staying here much longer.]

Blaster then eased himself into the water, right into Jazz’s waiting arms. The orca mer easily lifted him up and to his back.

[Grab on tight!] he told the human before looking at Prowl “We’re ready, let’s go!”

Prowl grunted a bit but nodded and swam in the direction Blaster had pointed. He hoped their trust in the human wouldn’t be betrayed.

=== Later that day ===

Blaster, Prowl and Jazz decided to settle inside a flooded church for the night. The place was wide enough for the two large mers to enter and settle down, while the tall belltower and upper floors were high enough so Blaster could be dry when the high tide came.

The moonlight streamed inside the flooded chapel from the broken windows; its soft light illuminated the two mers cuddling inside for the night. It was so interesting to watch, despite the circumstances. Back in the aquarium, Blaster had watched the night security footage and had seen Jazz just float in the tank at night, but now it was different. Prowl had let jar rest his head on his belly while he floated in his back, all while Jazz cuddled into him. Prowl then suddenly turned his head and glared at Blaster.

“Alright, alright! I am not going to watch!” – Blaster lifted his hands up for surrender, even if he was not sure Prowl quite understood what he was saying.

Instead, the human decided to go back to his makeshift bed on the floor and settle for the night. He had forced down a can of spam and a chocolate bar for his dinner, but now he was starting to regret his decision a bit.

“Ugh…” – he groaned and his stomach churned almost painfully.

He had been feeling sick since last night and it only seemed to be getting worse. In fact, it felt almost like all his insides were churning and flipping around inside of him, he was feeling hot, even though he had stripped to just a t-shirt and boxers. His throat felt dry as the desert, even though he just drank half a bottle of water and his skin was starting to itch. He scratched at his sides, at his stomach, his legs, arms – it was looking quite red.

‘Could it be a chemical rash? From when I slipped in the factory? But I thought I washed it off well enough?’ – he thought sluggishly, the exhaustion and fever sapping his strength.

His eyelids fell and he soon drifted into a fitful sleep. From time to time, he’d toss and turn but soon settle once more. His hand subconsciously moved in response to the itchiness and would scratch at the red rash that had appeared, but…

These reddish patched were not quite right, the skin there was dry and flaking out bit by bit each time Blaster’s nails raked through. The small red dots were not pustules, they were small, hard and bumpy almost like… scales?

=== Somewhere in the city, late at night ===

Gasping, hissing, bulging eyes, sickly green skin and grotesque bodies. They were out to feed – their hunger driving them forward. The night their time, away from the harsh rays of the sun – burning, bright, stinging!

The horde followed the scent- the scent of blood. Dragging their twisted, broken bodies through the flooded landscape. The one had gotten away, the prey had slipped through their grasp-

The scent of blood was getting stronger! A feast! A feast!

The corpse of the dead leviathan still floated in the water, almost untouched, since regular animals chose to not touch its mutated flesh, but the horde of fishmen didn’t care. They descended upon the corpse like piranhas. They were ravenous, their hunger was never truly satisfied. They ripped its scales, its skin, flesh, until nothing but bones were left to drop to the bottom of the flooded street. The hunger still gnawed at their bodies – hunt, seek, devour more!

Their pursuit continued.

Chapter Text

The children rode their magical Fish Dad-

“He’s not Fish Dad!” (Damus)

-to the coast after they bid their goodbyes to Blaster. Even though they only knew the man for half a day and one night, give or take, it had been nice to have a proper, responsible and genuinely kind adult be concerned about them. The boys, sans Bluestreak, having all grown up in orphanages or foster homes, all had very low opinions of adults but Blaster had been OK in their books so far. It was natural they were worried about the man, being alone and sick during the apocalypse.

Trailbreaker and Soundwave were on Lookout for danger – Trailbreaker was watching in case something tried to jump them from the back and Soundwave was in the front with Ravage, keeping watch together and using the cat as an early warning system. The other children were huddled together around their supplies on the mer’s back. Their job was to make sure nothing fell out as they swam towards the harbor.

“What’s up, Blue? You are usually not so glum.” – Skids poked at their youngest member’s cheek.

“Nothin’. Just…” Blueastreak sniffled a bit “I am worried about mister Blaster. He didn’ look good.”

“A-ah, that. Well, don’t worry too much! He’s a grown-up and he said he was going to the rescuers. He should be fine.”

“Uless a giant monster gets him.” – Sideswipe added unhelpfully.

“Yeah, like the one we heard a few days ago.” – Sunstreaker finished.

Bluestreak’s mood immediately soured even more and he looked on the verge of crying.

“Guys! Stop upsetting Blue!” – Thundercracker scolded them while trying not to slip into the water, one hand clutching a booklet to his chest.

“What? We’re just sharin’ our observations!” – Sunny protested.

“And also, Skywarp was the one that started saying spooky stuff about zombies first!” – Swipe pointed at said boy.

“Hey! It’s not stupid!” Skywarp held back the urge to jump at the twins “Also, I was not joking about the mister turning in a zombie. It’s literally one of the first things that happens in those apocalypse stories in movies!”

“Those are just movies, Warp! Nothing there is real.” – Damus glared.

“Yeah, and giant waves destroying the city and bringing freaky fish monsters totally doesn’t sound like the plot of a movie!” Skywarp rolled his eyes “If it wasn’t for Pancake here, we’d still be alone and stuck on that rooftop and scavenging the lower floors for supplies. Nothing of this is normal but it is happening!”

“Uuuu…” – Bluestreak whimpered.

“Come on, guys! This is not helping!” – Skids was rubbing circles on Bluestreak’s back.

“Krrr~?” – Shockwave slowed down and tried looking back to see what was upsetting the kids without making anyone fall.

“MROOOOWWW!” – Ravage suddenly yowled.

Everyone looked at the puffed-up cat perched on Soundwave’s shoulders. The stoic boy nodded at the cat and she mirrored him before settling down. He clapped his hands before doing the ‘shhh’ gesture.

“Everyone- quiet. Approaching coastal residence.” – he said befor turning his back to the group.

“Soundwave is right. Be careful everyone.” Trailbreaker said from the back “We don’t know how damaged the coastline is or if there are more monster out there. Keep an eye out and stay quiet.”

…………………………………

Thankfully, the ragtag group did not encounter any monsters on their way and they reached the docks without an issue. Just as any part of the flooded city, the place was wrecked and almost completely submerged, in fact, it was worse because the wave hit the docks first. Many of the buildings were outright impossible to identify or were not safe to approach.

The place had become a huge dump with trash, broken equipment, a few cars and a lot of debris floating around. Shockwave slowed down a lot in order to safely push the large pieces away or avoid getting injured. The children huddled on his back made the large mer even more paranoid about his surroundings.

“Well, so far this trip looks like a bust.” – Damus huffed, looking at the remains.

“Come on, it is not that bad!” – Trailbreaker tried to object.

“Oh, really?” – Damus quirked a brow and pointed to his left.

There, just under the watery surface was a boat, bobbing just underneath them, anchored to the bottom and VERY waterlogged.

“Would there even be an available boat out here? If all our choices are like that one, we’d have better luck making a raft out of driftwood.” – Damus grumbled.

“Raft – bad idea.” – Soundwave butted in.

“Krr? Whiii-click-clik?”/ [Pups? Is everything alright?]– Shockwave paused and looked at the children on his back.

[Yes, Shock – Wave! We good good!] - Bluestreak answered the best he could in mer.

The mer rumbled and smiled reassuringly before continuing his journey.

“What did he say?” – Sunstreaker asked.

“Sir Pancake was worried, cuz of all the arguing. Asked if everything is good. I said yes.” – Blue explained.

“Wow, Bluestreak, you are getting really good at this! Our official mer speaker! I gotta learn this too but all that whistling is so hard!” – Skids complained.

He tried to repeat some of the whistles only to end up sounding like he’s blowing raspberries half the time. It earned him a laugh from the younger children and a quiet rumble from Shockwave.

“Mrroww~” – Ravage called.

“Dry land, ahead.” – Soundwave informed and pointed at a small speck in the distance.

The other children all wondered at the same time, how did he understand that? But they all chalked it up to being a Soundwave thing and had Blue direct their fish dad toward that direction.

…………………………………

Someway, by some miracle, they found dry land, well, technically part of a tall cliffside that was not entirely submerged, just most of it except the tippy top, oh- and a floating dock too! The structure was bobbing a lot in the waves but the thick ropes and chains holding the floating segments together were still intact. They also found several boats crammed together near raid cliffside, so that was a good bonus!

“Alright, crew! Listen up! We found some boats, but to get a worthy ship for our crew, we need to inspect each one and figure out how to get them unstuck. Any ideas?” – Trailbreaker announced loudly.

“Oh! Make fish dad move them around and see which ones are the best!” – Sideswipe’s hand shot up.

“Nice idea! Blue, can you do that?” – Breaker looked at their youngest.

“I can try?”

“Good. Now, let’s move! The faster we are done, the faster we can move away from here.” – Trailbreaker clapped his hands together.

“Agreed. Proceed with caution.” – Soundwave nodded.

“Yeah, that’ll be for the best. I don’t want to be staying here much longer too.” – Damus scowled at something.

In the distance, right where he was glaring, there was a winding, slightly glowing…. Tentacle/plant thing? Just stuck on the side of a sunken ship, wrapping around the structure. It seemed the weird stuff was not only confined to the city limits.

With some gesturing and clumsy use of mer whistles, Bluestreak managed to convey their plan, after that the giant mer did a quick work of the cluster of boats and had them unstuck in almost no time. Some were leaking or badly damaged from crashing and grating against the sharp rocks or against other boats, but there were a few decent-sized ones that were fine.

“Oh! Let’s take that one! I always wanted to ride one of those!” – Sideswipe shouted.

“You stupid? That yacht looks much better than the tiny speed boat!” – Sunny pushed his brother to the side.

“You both are stupid. What are you even going to do with a speed boat or a yacht?” – Damus chided.

“S-shut up!” “Yeah! Shut up, Dummy!” – the twins said.

“Ey! Stop arguing and help us search the boats.” – Trailbreaker drags the group towards the boats.

The group carefully checks each boat for leaks and if it would fit all of them and their supplies comfortably. Bluestreak pouted as Shockwave whisked him away from the vessels after the third time he slipped and almost fell, instead opting to teach the youngest some more words through a few games. The mer laid comfortably on some tall rocks, heated by the sun while Bluestreak sat beside him.

“Hey guys! Check what I found!” – Skywarp shouted loudly.

The boy had somehow appeared at the very top of one of the tallest boats and was waving something metal and shiny in his hand. No one knew how or when he’d gotten there.

“Warp! Get down from there! It is dangerous!” – Thundercracker shouted, his voice loud and clear.

“Fiiineee~” – Skywarp groaned and ducked down the other side of the roof he was standing on.

Not even a minute later, he popped out of a small door and hopped over to where the rest of the group was.

“Don’t scare us like that! You could have fallen and gotten hurt.” – TC scolded him while checking for scrapes or bruises.

“Hey, I was totally fine, BUT! Check what I found in one of the rooms!” he pulled the object out of his jacket “Look! It’s a spyglass! Like those in pirate movies! We can totally use it when we get our own boat!”

“Nice job, warp!” – Sideswipe cheered.

Soundwave approached Trailbreaker and tapped his shoulder.

“Ravage found boat.” – he informed the other boy.

And true to his words, the cat was waiting for them, loafing on the deck of a medium-sized boat. It looked to be undamaged and was not leaking at all, plus it was the perfect size for their group, there was just one problem – they didn’t have the key for the ignition.

“Hmm…” – Thundercracked kneeled in front of the steering wheel with a thoughtful look.

“Did you figure something out, TC?” – Skids leaned closer.

“Maybe…” Thundercracker shifted a bit “I think I can hotwire it.”

“You WHAT?!” – all but Skywarp look shocked.

“Ya, TC once did so to the director’s car after he confiscated one of his- MFF!” – Skywarp began but was silenced.

“Warp, don’t mention that.” – TC said with a dangerous gleam in his eyes.

Skywarp gulped nervously and nodded.

“Yes, it is embarrassing, but if I have some tools to take this panel off…” TC tapped one panel “I think I could make the engine start without the key.”

“That’s great!” Trailbreaker smiled “Alright, everyone, we’ll do some treasure hunting. We’ll be splitting in groups and we’re looking for any tools left after the wave hit, also fuel for the boat, spare part and- well, basically anything useful you can carry. We need to prepare before we leave. I will stay here with Thundercracker and search the boat for tools or the key.”

Trailbreaker then looked at Damus and Skywarp.

“Soundwave and Ravage would be on lookout, while Damus and Skywarp will help bring in our own luggage back to the boat. When I and TC are done here, we’ll also come and help you with anything.” he then looked at the three other boys currently with them “Sunny, Sideswipe – you two and Skids will go search for supplies outside the boat. Blue is still being occupied by- by Sir Pancake, so he’s in good hands. Thant’s the plan I have. Any objections?”

“I do!” Sunstreaker stepped forward “Why do we need to go with Skids? We’re perfectly well on our own!”

“Yeah, that’s right!” – Sideswipe joined.

“Because when you start arguing, you don’t watch your surroundings. I can’t let you be on your own, so I am putting Skids in charge. Don’t go too far and only bring what you can carry. If you do find something you need help with, come and call for us.”

“Got it, boss!” – Skids winked and led the twins with him.

………………………………

Skids, Sunstreaker and Sideswipe searched the abandoned boats, picking up some small knick-knacks and food cans that had survived the initial wave, but there was nothing much to be found there, so they headed for the closest building. It was an old, half-submerged dock house that still stood, despite the tsunami. They had an easy path to it, using the floating dock to reach one of its busted doors.

“Careful not to fall.” – Skids offered a hand to Sunstreaker.

“I am not gonna fall.” – the boy in yellow ignored the offer and hopped inside the building on his own.

The inside was pretty much in the same state as the outside, just a bit darker and smelling of motor oil. The three boys stuck close, Skids pulling out a small flashlight from his pocket and illuminating their way. They searched through the overturned crates and through piles of spilled tools on the floor.

“Hey, I think I found something. Would this be useful? It IS a tool.” – Sideswipe lifted a soaked drill.

“No, it’s obviously soaked and it won’t work. You have to be picking up things like this!” – Sunstreaker proudly showed off a screwdriver.

“Boo, looks boring!” – Sideswipe made a face.

“Oh, yeah? At least mine will work!” – Sunny butted heads with his twin.

“Hey, you two, there’s no need to be bickering now!” Skids tried to pacify the twins “Oh, look what I found!”

The older boy, not knowing what to do to distract the twins from entering another shouting match, picked up the closest object he could and proudly presented it to them… It was a large metal bucket. The twins stared silently for a minute as Skids sweated under their scrutiny. What was he supposed to do?! It was the first thing he grabbed!

“That’s even more stupid than the drill. What would we even use a large bucket for?” – Sunstreaker gave a flat look.

“We’ve been floating on the fish dad bus for days now. We would have known by now if someone got seasick to need a bucket.” – Sideswipe said sagely.

“Oh, come on guys! Anything can be useful in the right hands! I know we may not need it now but who knows? We might have a need for a… a large metal bucked sometime in the future!”

“LAME!” – the twins said in unison before returning to their competition as to which of the objects they found was more useful.

Skids just sighed and stood up straight but didn’t let go of the bucket. He was serious about everything being useful. They could use it as a makeshift basket for all the things they pick up along the way.

While the twins were busy, they had wandered a bit away from Skids, plus they were not checking their surroundings properly. So, it was no wonder they didn’t notice a mutated creature silently emerging from the water. It was purplish-grey color, blending well with the shaded surroundings, it looked like a fish but had a few tentacles it was using to pull itself along the dry land. It had sharp spines and needle-like teeth jutted out of its mouth. It was not big, around the size of a medium dog or a very large cat, but it was clearly aiming for the twins.

Skids was the first one to notice the creeping mutant and his heart jumped with panic.

“Watch out!” – he shouted.

The twins looked up and finally noticed the mutant coming for them. They screamed and backed away. The fish monster snapped its teeth and tried to lunge at them.

They had gone too far away from Skids and he would not have been able to reach in time. He could already imagine all the bad ways this all could end. Skids was panicking as he darted towards the twins. Then, he remembered what he was holding. He might not be able to run up to them in time but he didn’t need to. He swung his hand back before throwing the metal bucket straight at the creature. The bucket flew through the air at high speed before finally hitting its mark.

*CLANK!*

The mutant was stunned by the heavy blow that struck its head. It staggered in place as it tried to shake the pain off, but that time was more than enough for Skids to run over to the twins. Without thinking, he grabbed the bucket’s handle and started beating the hell out of the wiggling fish mutant that even dared to try and hurt the younger kids!

He hit it again and again, he didn’t stop at the creature’s squeaks and screeches, he continued hitting it over and over until it stopped twitching and its head was a bloody mess. After all was over, he was panting and just staring at the dead monster.

“Skids! That was-.” – Sideswipe began.

“So cool! You were amazing!” – Sunstreaker finished.

The two hugged him and squeezed him tightly for a bit before realizing what they did and pulled away, embarrassed.

“Heh, I just couldn’t let anythin’ happen to you. Now, let’s gather whatever we found and head back to the others. There might be more of these things around here.” – Skids ruffled the twins’ hair playfully.

……………………………………

When they returned from the dock house, the others were almost done loading everything in the boat. TC had also managed to turn the engine on, so they were pretty much ready to go. Shockwave and Bluestreak lingered to the side as the older boys would not let him go anywhere near the boat while they were trying to maneuver it into a better position.

“Skids and twins, approaching.” Soundwave said from his perch on the front of the boat “There’s been trouble.”

“What happened?!” Trailbreaker was immediately on alert “Are you alright? I- Is that blood?!” – he pointed when he finally noticed the bloodied bucket in Skids’ hold.

“Why do you have a bloody pail in your hand?” – Skywarp seemingly materialized from behind Trailbreaker, peering closer at said bucket.

“Well…” – Skids struggled to find a way to explain all of that.

“Skids was amazing!” – Swipe cheered.

“This ugly monster tried jusmping us but he came!” – Sunny.

“And than- clang – BANG! Hya!” – Swipe.

“And the monster was made in a pancake!” – Sunny.

“It was so cool!” – both.

“Really?!” -Bluestreak’s eyes sparkled.

“I was just lucky to find this bucket. Most of everything was swept away or broken, but we did find some screw drivers and wrenches, not sure how much they will help. I just took the bucked because it could be useful for something and it ended up helping me in the end.” – Skids pointed at said tool rattling inside the bucket.

“That was indeed lucky!” – Skywarp nodded.

“Yes, even I can’t believe it! It was like in that moment my body just moved and not only did I hit the monster first try but also beat it!” – Skids swung his arm up and down, rattling the bucket.

Hearing those words, it was like a lightbulb appeared above Bluestreak’s head and he hasped as if a great realization came to him.

“Whoah! That bucket must be a magical lucky bucket!” Bluestreak jumped with excitement “It could be our crew’s good luck charm!”

“A magical bucket?” – the twins tilted their heads.

“A good luck charm?” – Damus also wondered out loud.

“Yes! Skids found it at just the right time, it gave him good luck superpowers and it is not broken even after fighting a sea monster! That means it must be a very amazing, special bucket!” – Bluestreak explained as if it was a known fact.

“Well… He’s not lying. Remember that bony thing we had to chase off before meeting Sir Pancake? Breaker’s bat was all bent and dented after we barely managed to chase it off.” – Thundercracker held his chin.

“Yes, and Sunny’s mutant crab snapped the tennis racket I was using with just one claw.” – Damus grumbled.

“That’s right! And the bucket isn’t even dented! That must mean it is a mighty bucket! We need to keep im as a good luck charm!” – Blue pointed out.

The older boys exchanged looks, not knowing what to do. It was amusing, seeing their youngest, the twins and even Skywarp get so into the magic bucket theory, but should they humor them or not. That decision was quickly made for them when Soundwave came down from his perch on the boat. He took the bucket from Skids’ hand, looked it over once and nodded. He took the tools from inside the bucket and handed it to Bluestreak.

“Well, it seems we are keeping the magic bucket as a good luck charm. Tis such a historic event. The character stumble upon a magic tool to aid them in their quest!” – TC smiled.

“Yay!” – Bluestreak cheered.

“Welcome aboard our pirate ship, Mr. Bucket! As the captain of this pirate crew, I welcome thee!” – Trailbreaker made a show of officially welcoming the new crewmate.

Meanwhile, Shockwave watched from his spot in the water, wondering why the human pups were so excited over a dirty bucket, enough to be cheering and bowing at it.

“Oh, if he’s becoming a member, then he needs a name!” – Sideswipe said.

“Can I name him? It must be something cool! Like Destroyer or something!” – Skywarp butted in, finding the situation hilarious.

“No, that name sounds too mean!” – Blue protested.

“Aren’t we pirates? Shouldn’t we be scary and mean?” – Sunny asked.

“Nope! We are good pirates that help people! Like we did with Mr. Blaster!” Bluestreak said with all the seriousness he could “He needs a good name for a magic good luck bucket!”

“Yeah! All hail the mighty iron pail protector! Smasher of monsters!” – Skywarp couldn’t help but snicker.

“Nah, that’s too long. The iron pail protector sounds more like a ti-tida-title! Yes, a title!” – Bluestreak refused.

“Then how about admiral Iron? That’s the name of a ship captain, right?” – Sideswipe suggests.

“I say we name him Pail-master!” – Sunstreaker said.

“I was thinking of Mr. Rattle.” – Bluestreak added.

As they talk, they take the bucket to the water and wash all the dirt and monster blood off it by repeatedly dunking and swishing it in the sea. All while the kids continue suggesting different names.

“Then how about Iron Protector?” – Blue offers.

“Like the Iron Knight? Isn’t that a comic book character?” – Skywarp asked the youngest.

“Dunno.” – Blue responded.

Soundwave helped the kids to pull the bucket out of the water and shake it dry, but he didn’t return it to Bluestreak, instead he lifted the iron pail high above his head, getting the attention of everyone.

“This is the Pail Protector: Lord Bucketron!” – he declared.

Everyone stared in shocked silence before they burst laughing. No one expected the usually stoic Soundwave to do that! In the end, they all agreed on the name Bucketron. Bluestreak even found some sharpies and drew a scary face with scary eyes, angry eyebrows and a frowning mouth with sharp teeth.

“Here! To chase all the monsters and bad pirates away.” – Blue said, satisfied with his work.

The kids cheered and laughed as they proudly displayed the bucket by hanging it in the main cabin. Trailbreaker and Thundercracker then invited the others up to the deck to watch how they start and drive the boat.

That one didn’t turn out very well as the boys did not know the first thing about sailing a boat and ended up hitting the floating dock while trying to back away from the other boats. In the end, they tied a thick rope to the front of the boat and let Shockwave pull them along for the meantime. Bluestreak sat himself in the front and began humming a song.

“You seem very happy Blue.” – Trailbreaker sat beside the kid.

“Well, of course I’m happy we are goin’ on an adventure! We got a pirate ship, a pirate crew, we have a ship pet (Ravage), a ship mascot (Bucketron), and a sea person pulling our ship! It’s like those pirate movies! We just need a pirate flag!” – Bluestreak kicked his legs.

“Oh, I think we can arrange that later on. You and the others can even draw it together.”

“Really?! Yay! I can’t wait! Oh-Oh! And after we find my family we’d have so many adventures to tell them about! I bet Prowl and Smokey would be soo~ jealous I got to be in a pirate crew!”

Trailbreaker pursed his lips and gave a tight smile to their youngest member. Yes… that was right, despite all of what happened, Blue is still searching for his family. They promised him they will help him find them. The odds were not in their favor, with the state the city was and the unknown that was awaiting them as they travelled along the coast and struggling to survive the aftermath. And yet…

“I am sure we’ll find them eventually, buddy.” – Trailbreaker patted Bluestreak’s head, he could not bring himself to tell him his family was most likely dead.

He was going to keep these kids safe, together, no matter how hard it might be. He was their captain, after all.

=== NC Knox, Wasp class ship, 3 days earlier ===

A helicopter buzzed in the distance, slowly approaching the vessel and bringing yet another group of survivors. The ship’s interior had been converted into a refugee camp after the rescue services struggled to find safe places for all the survivors of the tsunami. The whole coastline had been hit hard, many cities destroyed, currently flooded and teeming with danger and monsters. Many similar ships were dispatched all around the affected area and evacuation points were established. Each day, a helicopter would go and bring more survivors, the inside of the ship was getting a bit overcrowded. There were so many people stranded, still out there and struggling to survive, yet even that number could not compare to the number of casualties.

A family of four got out of the helicopter, a father, a mother and two boys. The paramedics quickly ushered them to the med bay for checkups.

“Excuse me, miss!” the mother called after one of the rescuers passing them by “Can you help me?”

“Yes, mam! What is it?” – the woman stopped.

“You are rescuing people all over the city, right? Me and my family were on a trip at the aquarium when the wave hit and we lost our youngest. He’s a small boy, wee big and has very light hair, he was wearing a dolphin backpack last time I saw him.”

“Sorry, mam, but I can’t say I remember seein’ a kid like that. What’s he called so I can tell the crew to check the list of survivors?”

“He’s called Bluestreak.”

===Cut content, just couldn’t find where to put it===

The kids end up drawing a really bad Jolly Roger, imagine the one Luffy drew in One Piece, but more purple-green and looking like it is melting and so on. The flag ends up becoming infamous among the poachers and crews along the now destroyed coastline.

The kids end up re-painting the ship after Skywarp accidentally pushes a vever that makes them accelerate and scrape the side against some rocks. They paint it black and red and purple to make it ‘scary’ and put fake shark teeth with white paint. They name their ship the Nemesis.

Bluestreak is not related to Prowl the orca. He has a human family and is human. Same with TC and Skywarp – they are not related and are human, Starscream meanwhile is a seagull since I liked that idea from Keferon’s posts, plus the seagull has beef with Bucketron. It actively goes out of its way to stalk them so it can ‘kill’ the pail protector.

Shockwave is declared missing by the council and many suspect he died during the tsunami, since even the mer settlements were affected. Meanwhile the fish dad is struggling to keep his band of stray children alive. Being a senator is not even on his mind right now.

I planned to write about a bunch of sea bandits (just ordinary crooks that now use ships due to flooding) trying to rob the children but then Soundwave smashes them with the help of Bucketron and the other kids. The crew of the Nemesis becomes the terror of this side of the coastline as they terrorize every other pirate crew and group of crooks.

Soundwave is usually silent, so the one time he decides to be a bit dramatic, he says “There’s no treasure for you here, only Lord Bucketron.” Before knocking the daylights out of a pirate with said pail. Now everyone thinks he’s actually calling himself Lord Bucketron as some alias, unaware Soundwave was referring to the bucket in his hands.

The children would reunite with Blaster again in the future, just now in a way they were expecting.

Bluestreak’s family would be in for quite a surprise when they eventually reunite and Blue shows them his new fish dad plus the actual pirate crew he has joined.

Chapter Text

Blaster found himself in that weird dream state, just before waking up. Where his thoughts were swimming around, feeling well and not noticing anything around himself. His sleep had been fitful, full of already forgotten dreams, the fever and the discomfort of his body. A beam of sunlight fell on his eyes and that finally roused him fully from sleep.

“Ugh…” – he immediately felt sick.

The fever he’d had since yesterday was still persistent, his nose was completely clogged and his head was pounding. His throat felt like he had swallowed sanding paper and the itching- it was itching so bad! He started scratching frantically, his sides, his stomach his shoulders, forearm… everywhere it itched. He wanted it to stop-!

“Sss!” – he hissed at a stab of pain from his stomach.

He must have scratched too much. Blaster withdrew his hands, frowning at his nails. There was a small drop of red on his index finger, probably from scratching himself so much, but what made him frown were the many flecks of dry skin stuck under his nails. His skin was very dry and becoming red in patches across his arms, at least from what he could see. They itched like crazy; the rash was spreading.

‘I need a band-aid. That one really hurt.’ – Blaster thought sluggishly.

He lifted his shirt to access the damage, to see just how bad he had scratched himself. His stomach was even worse – his entire left side was looking red and inflamed, he wanted to scratch so bad!

‘No, I will only make it worse. You don’t scratch rashes like that.’

And there it was, the tiny drop of red, right along one of the nail-marks that he’d just left on his skin, the area looking an even brighter red with some of the dry skin peeling off. Blaster moved his fingers, to just wipe the bit of blood off his skin and see how deep it was, but the moment his fingers touched the ‘rash’ he froze.

‘This… this does not feel like a rash.’

The skin was covered with small bumps, that he expected, but unlike a normal rash, these were small and oddly hard. Almost like-!

‘No… I-it must be a rash, from slipping in that water. J-just a rash, right?!’ – Blaster’s hands trembled as he pulled his hand away, like he’d been burned.

The redhead tried wiping the little bit of blood still on his index finger, trying to convince it was all just in his head, that he was being paranoid. He’d show the two mers the way to the sea and then- His thoughts came to a halt just as he was wiping his hand, under his fingernail, it was not just the drop of blood, there was this thin, pale red fleck stuck there. It was hard to the touch but also thin, like a tiny scale.

‘No-No! This-this can’t be real!’ - Blaster’s eyes widened in fear.

He felt sick and his stomach suddenly gave a painful churn. All the man could do was throw himself at the side and them vomit over the edge. He coughed and heaved, even when his stomach was empty, he felt like he was about to puke his guts out.

“Blasterr?” Jazz’s voice reached his ears “What’s wrong? Are you Ohkay? Need help?”

………………………………

Jazz kept watch as Prowl took his much-needed rest. They had switched throughout the night, one being fully awake to keep watch at any time. The sun was rising and it would soon be time to leave again. He was contemplating if he should wake Prowl now or if he could let him sleep in a bit more. That decision was made for him when he heard a clatter from the upper story, followed by Blaster retching and them loudly emptying his stomach. Prowl startled awake at the loud noise and scanned the area, before his eyes settled on the obviously sick human. If Blaster looked bad yesterday, he looked even worse, his skin was sickly pale and there seemed to be reddish patches on his arms now.

[Blasterr? What’s wrong? Are you OK?] – he asked his friend.

“That doesn’t sound good.” – Prowl also noted, moving a bit away from where Blaster was puking.

[F-fine-ghak! J-Just not feeling too good now.] Blaster rasped, his voice sounding almost as bad as the time he came to work sick [I-I will be fine. You don’t need to worry. Cough!]

[If you say so…] Jazz said hesitantly before turning to Prowl “He said he’ll be fine but I don’t think he’ll be. He’s looking really bad. Maybe we should wait a bit until he gets better?”

Prowl looked between Jazz and where the human was now leaning against a wall, a contemplative look on his face.

“Jazz… We’ve been wandering this place for days, the sooner we make our way to the sea, the better it would be for us.” Prowl began but paused after seeing Jazz’s concerned look “You care about Blaster, I know that, but even so we don’t have a way to help him with whatever disease he caught. Neither of us know human medicine, so his best chance is for us to leave him with other humans. We won’t find others by staying in here, so it will be best for us to move.”

“Alright… If you say so.” – Jazz didn’t look fully convinced but he had no better ideas.

………………………………………

Blaster breathed heavily and drank almost an entire bottle of water to try and get the taste of vomit out of his mouth. Below him, the two mers in the water were quietly whistling and clicking to each other, talking about something, but the noise bounced from the walls of the flooded church and made Blaster’s ears ring unpleasantly and made the headache even worse.

‘Ugh… this is the worst. Why? Why now? Why is this happening?!’

He desperately massaged his temples in an attempt to alleviate the pounding headache. His eye caught the discolored, reddish patch on his forearm and he shut his eyes tightly. He did NOT want to be looking at that- No, no way was he g-growing scales! Humans don’t have scales! He must be imagining things from the fever!

But then again… there were these crazy fish mutans in the factory area. He had not seen anything similar to them and he would have heard about such a species if it was ever discovered. Yet, they were there, they almost ATE him, he barely escaped the factory- the factory with all the weird chemicals… The chemicals he fell into.

‘Oh, God!’ – Blaster felt like he was about to faint.

Was it because of the chemicals?! He then remembered the small scratch on his leg and frantically pulled his pants leg up. It was there, the band aid was a bit soggy from the swim he had yesterday, but it was still there, a proof of the injury. With trembling fingers, he took the edges and began to slowly peel it off. His heart froze with fear as he saw the scratch – the small line that had seemingly healed up was now looking red and inflamed, the cut was even more obvious than the time he had just received it. The skin was even a bit discolored around the edge. Blaster felt another bout of nausea come.

He-he needed help! But then again, where would he even find a doctor in this flooded city? Would they even be able to help him if he’s somehow mutating into a fish and- oh, no. He gripped his hair and curled in on himself, breathing deeply in an attempt to calm down, the pull on his scalp was borderline painful.

‘Am- Am I going to turn into one of them? Am I also going to become like those fish mutants?!’ – Blaster thought with horror.

Images of the creatures from the factory flashed through Blaster’s ming – their twisted, misshapen, sickly green bodies, their eyes dark and empty, the noises – GOD- were those people?! Was that what happened to the factory workers that were there?! D-did that mean that when he- that he killed a person?

……………………………………

“We’ve spent more than enough time here. The atmospheric pressure is dropping – it will rain today, so we need to take the opportunity and move closer to the sea.” – Prowl said.

“B-but…” Jazz leaned closer, as if the human could understand or hear them “Blaster is not looking very good. I know he did promise to show us the way to the coast, but I am worried about him.”

Prowl rubbed his brow ridge and puffed some air out of his nostrils.

“I know, Jazz. Something is definitely not good, even I can see that. He smells sick, he’s weaker and is not holding up well, but our chances of bringing him to other humans would be even lower once it rains. They would all hide inside and we won’t be able to bring him to his kind.” – Prowl gestured at the balcony where Blaster was.

Jazz’s pectoral fins wiggled as he nervously shifted and bobbed in the water. Blaster was his oldest friend, he knew the human YEST before he met Prowl and even though Blaster was one of the ‘caretakers’ he was actually willing to listen to Jazz’s opinions and thoughts, to play with him and even taught him a lot – like how to open the electric locks and work the DJ box. He cared about the redhead and didn’t want to do something that might make the sick human even worse, plus a small part of Jazz was reluctant to let Blaster out of sight after reuniting with him again.

“I am worried, Prowl. I finally saw him after this whole mess and he’s sick… What if we can’t find humans before the rain? What if it makes him even worse?” – Jazz pulled at his beanie, clutching the fabric in his hands.

“Well… I am not an expert on humans. You have way more experience with them, but I am sure they need doctors when they are sick, just how we need a medic, but neither of us is one nor has the knowledge to treat whatever illness Blaster has. The best course of action would be to move and find other humans.” Prowl explained “You have to tell him we need to move, Jazz.”

“A-alright… I will ask him.” – Jazz turned and slowly swam towards the balcony.

[…I can’t… if I am going to… at least help them…] – Blaster was muttering something to himself, his voice a bit hoarse.

[Blasterr?] – Jazz was worried.

The orca mer swam to the staircase leading up to the balcony and pulled himself up with his large, muscular arms, easily dragging the rest of his body up. The steps groaned a bit under his weight and a part of the wooden railing snapped when he accidentally hit it with his tail. He winced at the snap.

[Jazz? What are you-] – Blaster peeked out from the balcony.

[Are you sure you are good? You don’t sound very good.] Jazz asked [Prowl says we need to move before it rains. Do you think you can do this, cuz if you don’t feel good I can totally ask im not to go.] – Jazz’s tail nervously slapped the stairs.

[Y-yeah. I should be fine. Just a rough morning getting up. The flu is no joke. Haha-cough!] Blaster tried to laugh it off but a cough interrupted him [Ugh, but yeah, I think I will manage for now. I did promise you I will show you the way to the sea, right?]

[Yeah, you did.]

[And I plan to keep that promise.] - Blaster nodded with a new determination in his eyes, despite how unwell he looked.

[Alright… if you say so.] – Jazz was still hesitant but he trusted Blaster, he knew very well that once the human made his mind, he was going to follow through it.

………………………………………

Blaster grimaced as the urge to scratch returned with vengeance. He had decided to keep his promise to Jazz and Prowl at the very least. The two mer were finally free and able to be together out of the aquarium – this was something he always wanted ever since Prowl was brought to the aquarium and Jazz found a new, proper mer friend. Even though the circumstances were far from ideal and their freedom was brought upon by the tsunami instead of Blaster’s won efforts, he wanted the two mers to be out of this flooded city and in the wild where they belonged.

‘If I really am somehow mutating into a freaky fish-man, the least I can do while I still can, is to make sure at least Jazz and Prowl get out of here safe.’ – Blaster thought.

He had bundled himself, despite the fever and feeling like his shirt might suffocate him, in an attempt to hide the red patches on his skin, but damn did they itch like crazy when his clothes rubbed against them!

‘Don’t scratch at them! Don’t scratch… don’t scratch…’ – Blaster repeated like a mantra as he trudged across the roof of an almost submerged building.

The tide was still pretty high and let the mers swim close by while he led the way. The journey was slow, part due to the limited pathways Blaster could take but mostly because of how sick he actually felt. His stomach churned once more but he felt more nauseated, not really confident he’ll be able to keep any food down after what happened early this morning.

“How are ya doin’ Blasterr?” -Jazz’s head popped up a couple of meters ahead, the mer using his strong arms to pull himself partly up from the water.

“Fine for now… I guess?” – Blaster said, not very convincing with how he was sweating and how parched his throat felt.

Prowl also appeared beside Jazz with his signature scowl, definitely not happy with the human and how long this was taking. He grumbled and clicked something, looking up at the sky and taking whiffs of the air. It seemed like the mer still did not like Blaster all that much, judging by the scowl.

“Prowl’s asking about how much more we need to travel. The rain will be coming soon.” – Jazz explained, pointing at the cloudy sky.

“I don’t know, if it wasn’t for the flooding, I’d say 2-3 hours on foot, but now…” – he glanced uneasily at the water.

With Blaster’s condition, everyone had agreed to keep the human as far away from the cold sea water as they could, even if it would have felt like a balm to Blaster’s feverish, flaking skin. It may have been easier to his still aching legs if he just clung to Jazz’s back and they would have probably moved faster, but no one wanted to risk it.

‘I just need to hold on a bit longer…’ – Blaster desperately thought.

He grabbed a water bottle, one from his rapidly dwindling supply, and chugged it almost desperately. The water eased the dryness of his throat a little bit, he could drink more, finish the bottle and then the next until his throat no longer felt dry and scratchy, but Blaster held himself back. If he didn’t pace himself, he’d run though all his water before they even reach the coastal residences.

“If ya say so… Hey, you don’t need to force yourself. We can rest a bit if ya want to! We may be in a rush but I don’t want you to get hurt.” – Jazz pulled himself up on the roof and closer to the human.

The orca mer was still taller than Blaster, despite his lower half laying on the roofing. He fretted over Blaster, clearly worried about his worsening condition. Prowl meanwhile watched from the water, both unable to pull himself on dry land as effortlessly as Jazz and also a bit annoyed with how much the frequent stops were stalling their journey. There might have also been a little bit of jealousy with how much attention Jazz was giving to Blaster.

“Let’s go then. We can’t lose too much time.” – the redhead passed by the mer and continued forward, despite how his legs ached.

Blaster had never ran, climbed or walked so much at once in his life until the tsunami, so it was natural his leg muscles hurt, his feet were killing him and whenever he had to climb somewhere higher, his knees shook ever so slightly from the strain. He wanted to just lie down and not move at all.

‘What won’t I do for a warm bath and a foot massage?’ Blaster wondered but shook his head ‘There’s no time to waste, I need to get Prowl and Jazz to the sea as fast as I can before…’

His left hand scratched at his stomach through his clothes; Blaster noticed it and pulled it away as if it burned him. He was NOT going to indulge in the urge to scratch himself as if he had fleas. He’d like to ignore the red patches spreading on his skin and the horror that was awaiting him – thank you very much!

The three of them continued their journey through the ruined city. Destroyed buildings, vehicles and broken electrical lines making their journey harder. Blaster’s knees shook and at times he tripped and almost fell while clambering on top of fallen buildings. Jazz would always stop and fret when his friend would stumble or when he’d start coughing mid-sentence. Prowl scowled and watched from the sidelines but was not all too happy with their progress – the sky was darkening still and the smell of rain was getting stronger.

At one point, the mers and a human reached a dead end, well, not exactly. It was perfectly passable on land, but a couple of the tall buildings fell in such a way they created a wall that could not be passed by someone as big as an orca mer.

“We can try another way?” – Blaster suggested, eyeing the disgruntled Prowl.

[No time. We need to go past this, otherwise our travel time would be extended by at least an hour with how slow you are moving. We’ll have to go over this.] – Prowl said, looking at Blaster.

[That was rude, Prowler- Wait!] Jazz suddenly came to realization “Are ya saying you’ll be coming up?!”

“What? What’s happening?” – Blaster was confused at what was going on.

Jazz didn’t stop to respond, just did a little swish with his tail and quickly got to the concrete obstacle. With ease that seemed impossible for such a large sea creature, Jazz crawled out of the water, using his arms to pull himself up and his tail as an anchor to brace against the concrete leges. Soon he was up and gesturing invitingly to Prowl.

[Come here, Prowler. I will help you up.] – he clapped his hands.

[Jazz-] – Prowl began.

“Jazz, I don’t think Prowl will be able to go up the same way you did. He’s not used to dry land.” – Blaster interjected.

Prowl scowled at the human once more, looking annoyed.

“We need to find something to get Prowl up.” – he continued, choosing to ignore the scowling mer.

“Something like… A rope?” – Jazz tilted his head.

“Maybe, or at least something similar, to help pull Prowl up. I will go and look” – Blaster mused.

While the two talked among each other, Prowl just stood in the water below, only able to catch a few words he knew the meaning of and feeling left out of the conversation. His scowl deepened even more and he dove under the water. Logically, he knew such behavior was not appropriate for the situation, but he still felt annoyed.

‘The lowest point is… then the water depth, should give a proper way for propulsion… the angle of the fall…’ – Prowl’s brain went through all the calculations at a rapid pace.

Meanwhile Blaster had slowly made his way over to the other side of the blockade, scanning for a place from where they can find some sort of thick rope, even a long chain would also work to get the mer up from the water.

*SPLAAASH~!*

Jazz and Blaster were startled when Prowl launched himself out of the water. He angled himself in a way that he landed wight on the top of the blockade.

“Gh!” – Prowl grunted at the impact and how the concrete scraped his skin, good thing his was pretty thick and durable, otherwise he might have been bleeding.

[Ouch! This sounded like it would leave a bruise.] Jazz winced [You OK there, Prowler? You could have waited for me and Blaster to find a rope or something, you know?]

[Ngh, we don’t have time to waste, the sooner we get moving, the sooner this would be over.] – Prowl said.

Jazz watched as Prowl struggled and flopped on the dry land, trying to pull his body across the dry land. Unlike in the water, Prowl was really slow and clumsy on land. Jazz shrugged and followed with ease, years of experience sneaking out of his pool making it easy. Blaster scrambled in panic after seeing the mer do this stunt, but Prowl just moved on and dropped like a stone in the water on the other side.

[Come on, we need to move.]

“Sheesh! What’s up with Prowler today?” – Jazz wondered, peering down at Prowl.

“Dunno, but I still think we should get a rope or something. Just in case there’s another blockade on the road.” – Blaster replied, staring at the grumpy mer.

……………………………………

The sky was darkening even more and despite walking for so long, they had not met anyone yet. Blaster was panting and his clothes were sticking to him, feeling feverish and the headache… it was like his skull could split open. Everything felt so uncomfortable, his feet ached and felt like jelly at the same time, his shoulders were stiff, his shirt felt like it was strangling him and the itchiness was spreading up his arms and his chest. The eerie emptiness around him, the ruins of the city, skyscrapers and tall apartment complexes precariously still standing, the loud lapping od water against the ruins echoing around… The whole city felt empty and devoid of human life.

Jazz still fretted over Blaster, even offering to carry him personally when the redhead tripped and almost fell on his face. Blaster was grateful for the offer but refused. Prowl… he was not happy at the moment. Their pace had slowed even more; Jazz was constantly circling Blaster and stopping for him and most frustratingly of all – they had not seen a single human survivor out there! Prowl had hoped that by now they would have been able to find at least a few and hand Blaster over for medical care, but there were none!

At least the good news was that they were closer to the sea that they were before. Prowl could see some sand and sea life spread through the large tidal pools left after the wave.

“Just a bit farther-cough!” Blaster said “That building over there… with the glittery globe is the Planet news station. After that was the coastline business strip with all the hotels and resorts, the seaside recreation center too…”

“Recreation center?” – Jazz asked, curious of the new place.

“Well, it is this large building-cough, that had all these small pools, slides and other things, also an underwater observation section. It is very popular, apparently sometimes a wild mer would visit the place and lounge there on the rocks. Not that I ever saw it.” – Blaster explained before reaching into his backpack and draining another half a bottle.

[Hear that, Prowler! Blaster said there was a place here where other mers visited! There were others so close, do you think we might meet them?] – Jazz turned to Prowl.

[Unlikely. I don’t even know why a mer would come to this place willingly.] – Prowl said.

He simply could not think of a reason as to why a proper mer would willingly come to a human settlement. It was probably one of the savage ones, they were sometimes willing to stalk fishing boats and fight for scraps, so it was likely the humans fed one and it decided to stick close.

Anger flared in Prowl – the humans had caught and kept Jazz a prisoner in that small Aquarium place all the while the sea was so close and mers were swimming free in the waters beyond. How could Jazz not be angry about that? How could he still be so excited about humans and their stuff? Yes, Blaster was the nicest human Prowl had met in this whole place, but that didn’t change the fact he was one of the jailers or ‘keepers’ as they were called.

“Yes, after that is just the open waters. We’re going to make it there. And after that, you’ll be free to go with Prowl. Who knows, maybe you’ll meet his pod?” – Blaster tried to lighten the mood, feeling some tension between Prowl and Jazz.

The sky rumbled in the distance, a signal it would rain soon. Blaster gazed up at the dark clouds above.

“That… didn’t sound good.” – Jazz remarked.

“We must hurry then…” – Blaster turned to look at the two mers but froze.

“Blasterr?”

There… in the distance, peeking from behind a building, there was something Blaster had wished to never see again. It was the grotesque, deformed head on one of the freaky fish mutants. Blaster blinked hard, maybe his fever had finally tipped him into delirium. But no—the twisted shape didn’t vanish. The wet, bulbous head leaned into view, black eyes unblinking, fixed on them.

Blaster panicked and started hyperventilating, but it was like he could not get enough air in – he felt woozy and swayed as he took a step back. His knees shook and he felt like they’d collapse right underneath him, he stumbled.

“BLASTER!” – Jazz caught him just before he fell and hit himself.

Jazz looked at the human in his hands with worry – when has Blaster’s skin looked so pale before? He felt like he was burning!

“I-It’s the mutants!” Blaster blurted out “We need to run, now!” – he pointed a shaky finger in the distance.

“M-Mutants?! Where?!” – Jazz squinted at the distance.

…………………………………………

Prowl scowled as the human frantically babbled something and gestured at something in the distance. Whatever it was, it also spooked Jazz too. What was it? He squinted too, but saw some… green dot? Unsure of what it was, Prowl sent a sonar in the direction, only to discover that there were MANY small, weird-shaped things in the distance and they were slowly coming closer.

“Prowl! We need to run, NOW!” -Jazz shouted in panic, already hoisting the human on his back.

They did not need to be convinced further, as soon as Blaster was securely holding on Jazz’s neck, the two mers sped forward. The two orca mers swam as fast as they could through the winding paths through the city, occasionally Blaster would shout something, which would make Jazz slow down.

“Come on! You two can talk later, once these things are no longer following us!” – Prowl shouted.

They had to flee – these creatures were too many to fight alone and with a mer that is still getting used to fighting and a sick human slowing them down, there was nothing more they could do but to swim and hope to lose the creatures.

“But Prowl! Blaster said we-.” -Jazz began.

“Now’s not the time, Jazz! We need to get away and you stopping for that human is just slowing us down!”

“Hey! Blaster is trying to help! It you would just stop and listen for a second.”

“We don’t have the luxury for that, Jazz! We can’t fight these things – there’s too many of them and that human is a liability.”

“Blaster is not a liability! He’s our friend and he’s also doing his best to help!” – Jazz completely stopped swimming.

“I don’t have time for this, Jazz! We’ve lost more than enough head start because of him, also he’s not MY friend. Just- just forget about him for a bit and move out.” – Prowl turned around to leave.

“No.” Jazz said firmly “Blaster said we need to hide somewhere for now. We need to hunker down and think of a plan how to get away from these – things.”

“And get trapped in one of these buildings?! With the monsters out?! Are you serious? This is a stupid idea!” – Prowl shouted.

“No, it’s not! I think it’s a great idea! Blaster has seen these things before. We should go with his plan. You are just acting mean and not listening to him! That’s why you think it is stupid.” – Jazz shouted back.

“Well, if you think it is such a great idea, then go ahead with your human’s plan and get stuck! See if I come to help you when you are surrounded and stuck inside with a sick human when he becomes a liability!” – Prowl shot back.

“Maybe I will then!” – Jazz hissed.

“Jazz, you’re going to get yourself killed over that human! Just leave him somewhere on dry land and come already!”

“No way! I am not leaving Blaster alone again!”

“Ugh! Fine! Stay with the human then if you like him so much!” – Prowl turned his back to Jazz and started swimming.

“Fine! I will!” – Jazz huffed and instead of following Prowl turned towards the nearby buildings.

Above them, the sky rumbled and drops slowly began to fall. The mutant horde swam through the waters, seeking out their prey. Their dark, twisted shapes moving below the water surface.

Chapter Text

Blaster may not have understood mer well enough to understand the argument, but he had the sinking feeling it was because of him, he didn’t want that! He was a goner already, so there was no need for Jazz to argue with the other mer, he tried to say as much, but Prowl still swam away from them.

He and Jazz somehow managed to make their way into one of the flooded buildings before the mutants could catch up to them and hid away. It was a tight squeeze for Jazz – the mer having to squeeze through narrow hallways and doors. Blaster was not doing too well either, his head pounded, he was sweating from the fever and it felt like his clothes were suffocating him, even the backpack straps felt like barbed wire on his shoulders. Outside, rain had started falling and the mutants were now prowling.

“We’re safe for now.” – Jazz huffed, struggling a bit to squeeze through a doorway.

The mer closed the door behind him and pushed a couch damp, half-broken against it for good measure.

“Y-yeah.” – Blaster groaned as he lowered himself on the floor.

His whole body was aching; his feet were killing him and he gelt stiff at the same time. His spine made a few pops while he tried to adjust into a position that was marginally better. He threw his backpack and wet jacket off and dropped them on the floor, pulled out a water bottle and with shaking hands unscrewed the lid before downing the entire thing in one go. It was a bit better but his throat still felt scratchy and somewhat parched. He scratched at his forehead, near his hairline, it was getting itchy too and the fact that ever since the mer’s argument, the spot between his eyes was buzzing uncomfortably.

‘Damn it! Damn it all!’ Blaster silently cursed to himself ‘Why now?! Why did these things have to appear?! Did they follow me?’

His mind raced with possibilities but the fever and nausea made everything worse and intensified his headache. Blaster had hoped that he’s have more time to lead Jazz and Prowl to the seaside. They had made it most of the way there already and he wanted to at least be able to do something right by the two orca mers before he inevitably mutated, but now it seemed like they might not make it at all. He was running out of time.

“So, what’s the plan?” – Jazz turned to him.

“Plan?”

“Yeah, the plan about gettin’ out of here in one piece. You’ve seen these things before, right?” Jazz’s tail wiggled a bit “You know way more than me, so how do we escape?”

Blaster stared at the large mer’s hopeful look and felt a pang of fear.

“There’s no plan.” He met the mer’s eyes “There’s no plan here, Jazz. Nothing. I wish I had something but last time I was just mucky to slip by. It’s because of me that Prowl went away and now I am even going to- CUGH-COUGH! GHAK!”

Blaster suddenly started coughing violently, his whole body shook with the fit. Jazz quickly pulled himself to his friend’s side.

“Blaster! Are you ohk-.” Jazz began but paused, then squinted “Blaster… What is going on?”

Jazz now looked even more worried. This was NOT a normal cold or whatever! Blaster coughed once more and this time it sounded almost like he was choking. Jazz patted his back and Blaster almost fell over but he braced with one hand on the floor, his right hand was on his mouth to hold back some of the coughing, not that it worked. Jazz was about to open his mouth again but then he froze – from between Blaster’s Fingers a few crimson drops fell. Blood.

“Blaster!”

Blaster coughed again but this time he felt something in his mouth. Quickly he moved his hand out of the way and spat it out. His hand- there was blood on the floor, more blood was dripping from his mouth.

“Cafff- CoUGH!” – he coughed and something hard hit the floor.

Jazz and Blaster froze, both looking at the fallen teeth on the floor. Blaster’s breath hitches and he shudders at the sight, his arms tremble as fear grips him even more.

“Blaster… This- This is not normal. Y-you- you are blleding! There’s no way this is just a cold as you’ve said! What is actually happening with you!?! You are not dying, right?!” – Jazz leaned in closer.

The mer squinted and had a really good look at Blaster’s dace. His skin looked feverish and his hair was damp, yet it also looked flaky, like he had been in the sun, there was blood on his list still, since Blaster’s gums were bleeding. Then, Jazz noticed a bright red rash peeking from his shirt’s collar and also a strange dark spot on his forehead.

“I’m sorry Jazz, but… I don’t think I’ll last much longer.” – Blaster said, choking again before a new coughing fit started.

…………………………

Prowl swam through the winding ruins, but then was met with another wall and had to make an abrupt stop. He clenched his fists and sent a loud click through the water to map out the area. The rain was falling and the constant noise was really limiting Prowl’s range. It did not help the fact that he was also trying to get away from the weird, mutated fish horde.

One of his sonars came back with an opening to the left, so he swam in that direction, but his mind kept wandering back to Jazz, and to his displeasure – Blaster. Prowl’s opinion of humans was not verry good, especially after waking up in the aquarium, but he had to admit that Blaster was the only tolerable one and Jazz also cared about him.

And you left them both alone. A sick human and a mer that’s been captive almost his whole life.

Prowl paused once more, the nagging feeling at the back of his head surged again. He was angry, yes, but that didn’t change the fact that he left the two defenseless members of the group to deal alone with a threat.

‘The human might have been a burden at the moment, but I should not have been so harsh with my words. I should not have acted like that, even if the human is annoying and Jazz constantly hovers around him…’ – Prowl shook his head.

He really wanted to finally return to his home, but he could not just leave Jazz here. He was feeling guilty and unsure about his decision already. The mutated fish monsters were still hunting, he could tell as much, he had to move, but then again, Jazz was alone with a sick human and was in danger… With a grunt, Prowl made a complete turn back and swam back to where he and Jazz split paths.

……………………………

By now, there was no denying what was happening. The- the scales had spread so much Blaster could see them peeking from his sleeve, he could even feel the itchiness slowly crawling up his neck. His back was pinching and aching every time he moved too much, his legs felt weak and shaky, toes numb and oddly tingly. Whatever he said, there was no way to dismiss the changes to his body, especially when he coughed out some of his teeth.

“… What…” – Jazz’s voice was barely audible.

The mer stared at Blaster with fear and then this sad look, it made Blaster feel even worse. He had done this. He scared Jazz, it was because of him that Prowl left Jazz, it was because of him the mutants were here and it was because he was so reckless that now he was- he was mutating into a fish monster and Jazz had to witness it all.

‘I should have just left the two with some instructions the moment I saw the scales.’ Blaster chided himself ‘I hurt them even more only because I thought I could help them, despite what is happening to me. Stupid!’

“I-I am sorry you have to see this, Jazz.” Blaster pushed himself int a sitting position, his back muscles spasming painfully “I… should have told you earlier but…”

Blaster carefully pulled his left sleeve up, his blood-covered gingers leaving splotches on the fabric and his skin, not that it was clear with all the red, hard bumps how spreading down his arm. While they had started off as small, red-dotted patches, they had grown both in area but in size, many light red scales poked from his dry, flaky skin. The upper, dead layers of skin having flaked off enough for the new growths to be clearly visible. Blaster shuddered as one of his brushed over the patch.

“Blaster… what is this?” Jazz leaned closer, to look at Blaster’s arm and poke at the red scales “Those are- scales?! But how??! Humans don’t have scales!”

“I- I am not sure how exactly but I am pretty sure I am turning into a fish mutant.” – Blaster gave a bitter laugh, feeling on the verge of tears.

He did not want to become one of those monsters, those twisted, rasping, creepy things. He did not want to become a mindless monster that would hurt Jazz and Prowl and maybe others! He did not want to be gone. And yet, Blaster swallowed back the tears and began his tale, what happened after the tsunami and how he came across the mutants in the industrial zone and his slip into the contaminated water.

“It must have happened when I slipped in that room. I have no idea what those barrels were but these mutants I have only seen there. I think they might have even been the employees that worked there. And now, I am also going to become like that.” – Blaster said.

His mouth still tasted like copper, but at least blood was no longer actively dripping from his gums. Subconsciously, his tongue moved over the holes where his fallen teeth were. The flesh was still inflamed and raw, and to add to Blaster’s dread, he felt a few more teeth wobbling inside.

“B-But this can’t happen! This shouldn’t happen!” – Jazz exclaimed, tail slapping on the floor with his frustration.

“Jazz! Not so loud, they might hear you!” – Blaster shushed the mer.

“R-right. Sorry.” Jazz had almost forgotten about the horde outside “But this isn’t fair! Why do you need to be hurt like that! You helped me and Prowl; things should not have happened like that! Why do you have to be hurting like that?”

“You don’t have to feel bad about this. I messed up. Even if it took a bit longer to get to the Aquarium, I should have taken the other way instead of trying to cut short across the Industrial zone. It would have saved us a lot of trouble.” – Blaster tried to chuckle, but instead coughed again and spat out one of his molars.

“Blaster…” – Jazz did not know what to do.

“I just hoped I’d be able to lead you to the ocean before I turned into one of those, but now- cough- it seems I won’t be able to.”

Jazz fidgeted, hovered over the sick human, but was unsure what to do – should he pat his friend’s back, should he offer a hug or something else? But then something dawned on Jazz.

“Wait, ‘get to the Aquarium’? You were there?! But I didn’t see you nearby when I escaped with Prowl.”

“Well, I was not there…” Blaster wheezed “I was in the residential area.”

At Jazz’s confused look, Blaster clarified.

“Where you and Prowl met me was the south part of the residential area, I was in the northern part when the tsunami hit. I was stuck on a rooftop there for a while, but I was worried about you, so I went to the aquarium to see if you were fine.”

“You did all of that… for us?” – Jazz asked, warmth blooming in his chest.

Blaster had put himself through so much danger just to make sure he and Prowl were safe. Prowl had been skeptical when Jazz told him Blaster was his only friend at the aquarium. Prowl had told him that the human probably thought of him as just some pretty smart, humanoid orca, or a pet, that Blaster probably did not think the same of Jazz, but hearing Blaster say he risked his life to make sure they were fine proved that Jazz was not mistaken!

“Well, yes. I couldn’t just leave you if you had gotten stuck there. I know the procedure in an emergency. They would not have evacuated you and you would have been trapped there.” Blaster reached for his backpack with shaky fingers “I was planning to return and head back to the extraction zone, where the emergency flares were, but that won’t be possible now.”

Blaster struggled a bit to open the next bottle of water with how shaky his grip was, but he eventually managed. He drank quickly from it, the thirst, the scratchy throat… he needed to drink- only to almost choke and start coughing again.

“Blaster, please, don’t drink so fast!” – Jazz patted his back gently as the human coughed.

Blaster’s stomach lurched violently, he felt sick, like he was going to puke his guts out but he swallowed back, even with the burning in the back of his throat.

“I-I am sorry, Jazz. I couldn’t help and now… You have to see me like this.” He looked at his arms, covered in patches of scales “I- I am afraid, Jazz. I don’t want to become like those things or hurt anyone…” – he was starting to hyperventilate.

“Blaster, look at me.” Jazz moved his head so Blaster was looking in his eyes “Just take deep breaths. Exhale… It will be fine, just breathe, slowly.”

“No- Jazz, I am mutating! I will be turning into one of the monsters! It won’t be fine, I- You should just get away from me as soon as possible. Staying here would only put you in danger. You should leave as soon as-.”

“No.” Jazz said firmly “I am not going to leave you to deal with all of this alone. You did so much for me and Prowl. You helped so much, took care of me, chose to check on us instead of evacuating... I am not going to abandon you when you are not well.”

Jazz had made up his mind- He could not deny the scales. Even now, as he held on to Blaster’s shoulders, he could feel the hard bumps on his arms. Blaster might have been turning into a fish-person-thing but Jazz did not care. The redhead had been so good to him. He kept him company when the loneliness became too much in some days, choosing to fill in reports and documentation by the poolside, Blaster shared music with Jazz, told him stories, taught him games, how to open the doors and unlock the ones with passcodes. He even got Jazz a DJ box that one time to mess around with before the other staff members took it away after Jazz learned how to mess with other electronics because of it.

And as much as the vets and ‘experts’ thought they were smart, they often forgot that Jazz could not only speak but understand them perfectly fine. More than once, Jazz overheard the head vet complain about how Blaster butted his nose “where he shouldn’t”. That is how he learned about Prowl arriving in the aquarium, how he knew the head vet wanted to isolate Prowl from him in fear of “the wild mer affecting Jazz’s progress and reverting to primal behaviors”. Gosh, he hated the head vet, but thanks to the man’s ranting he knew it was Blaster that helped convince the head of the aquarium to let Prowl and him be together. Blaster had also worked to get close to Prowl, even when Prowl pulled him in the pool that one time, Blaster had not complained. Blaster had even punched the head vet when they tried to take Prowl away just before the tsunami hit.

Jazz had laughed when he overheard about the fight. In short, Blasted had done so much for Jazz and Prowl. He was his friend; the least Jazz could do was keep him company until the end and hope- just hope and pray that by some miracle Blaster won’t become like one of those things.

………………………………

Prowl swam back and finally reached the crossways where he split from the others. Jazz mentioned about hiding in one of those buildings, right? Maybe he should go and see if he can find some traces?

He had to be careful. His sonar picked movement in the water- must have been one of the strange monsters. Prowl could tell they were out there, hunting, searching for prey.

………………………………

The rain outside grew in intensity, it was practically pouring outside and the air itself had become cooler and damper from all the moisture. The cool dampness brought relief to Blaster’s feverish skin but it also made him even more aware of the condition of his body. The clothes were literally plastered onto his skin and rubbed at the newly-forming scales, making them shift and prickle in pain if a thread caught on an edge while Blaster shifted from his position by the wall.

“Uuugh…” – the mutating man groaned and clutched at his stomach.

He felt even more nauseated than before, his stomach churned uncomfortably and it felt like his insides were having a rave party inside him. A sudden shot of pain cut through his whole body and he lurched.

“Blaster?”-Jazz was startled.

Blasted didn’t have time. He scrambled away and promptly emptied his stomach a bit farther away on the floor. It was mostly water, yet he still heaved, the bile burned his already raw throat and made the awful, scratchy feeling even worse, like pouring salt in the wound.

Jazz made a worried keen from the side but didn’t know how he might be able to help. The two of them were still hiding out in the room, laying low and waiting for the mutants outside to scatter. The grotesque monsters were still prowling outside, circling the area, not that the two of them had a lot of information. Blaster was sick and could barely focus on the shapes while Jazz’s sonar was not that good at picking their shapes through the rain and air. They were safe for now but how long would that last? There could as well be a dozen just waiting for them in the waters below as far as they knew.

“Hey… I know the question is stupid. But how are ya feeling?” – Jazz asked.

“Like am… gonna die…” – Blaster rasped.

Jazz moved closer and helped pull Blaster away from the mess on the floor. The redhead tried to move on his own but at the moment his legs were shaky at best. Blaster clenched his fists weakly, both frustrated and scared. It was awful, the sickness, the damn scales spreading over his body like the world’s itchiest rash. He wanted to just scratch and scratch at the skin, rip the offending scales with his nails. He barely stopped himself from scratching himself like crazy.

Jazz watched with concern from the side, all he could do was help where he could. Blaster’s condition was progressing as he watched on. The red on his neck had stretched all the way to his chin and his arms were covered by more and more scales- some lighter red, some darker, almost black.

“J-Jazz…” – blaster wheezed.

“Yes? Need my help with anything?”

“If- When I… Mutate like those creatures, can you do me a favor?” – Blaster suddenly asked.

Jazz got a really bad feeling at that request.

“Can you m-make sure I don’t hurt you or-or anyone else. I- I know it is too much to ask but I don’t want to hurt anyone. Just, like knock me out or put me out of my misery or just somewhere where I won’t be a danger to anyone.”

“Blaster… No, I-.”

SCREEEEEEE~!

One of the creatures outside screeched loudly. Jazz and Blaster peered out of one of the busted windows and saw it. A large fish mutant with head that was like 3 fishes mashed together was making the noise. Suddenly many more emerged and gathered. They converged like a swarm and swam off in the same direction.

“Wonder where they are going?” – Jazz muttered to himself.

Blaster meanwhile was massaging his temples, he got a headache from that, it was like the noise was ringing in his head. But still, what could have attracted the mutants’ attention?

“What should we do? They went off to somewhere. Do we move or stay?” – Jazz asked his companion.

“Don’t know. Something must have attracted them. Maybe something to eat?”

………………………………

Prowl barely dodged two of the malformed fish creatures as they tried to lunge at him. He had tried to be sneaky while searching, but one of the creatures spotted him and sounded the alarm. Now they have converged and would soon be upon him. The creatures might have been smaller than him, but their numbers were the problem – he could not handle so many at once and if they managed to surround him… It would be the end for him.

There was a sharp pain on the end of his tail fluke. One of the fish mutants managed to nick him on the tip with its jagged, sharp claws. Prowl scowled and slapped the offending creature with his tail. It flew up in the air and away from him. At that time, two more tried to jump him but he spun away and with two strong strokes from his tail, he was moving away from them, zipping around the buildings.

Prowl’s head would occasionally pop out of the water and send loud clicks through the air, trying to search for a response from Jazz.

‘Don’t tell me those monsters already have found him.’ – the awful thought felt like someone had stabbed him.

He could NOT think like that! Jazz was alive, surely, he found a place to hide! Prowl really hoped he had not doomed the other mer with his stupid decision.

‘He has to be somewhere here!’ Prowl repeated to himself “I don’t care if he’s alone or wants to take Blaster anymore. We need to get away from here before our escape routes are cut off.’

The mutants were simply too numerous and they had the advantage here. The spaces between the buildings, plus with all the rubble around, was making swimming though dangerous. Prowl was not as good when faced with shallows like Jazz was. The other mer was much more mobile on land than Prowl. By the sea, Jazz had climbed up and out of the enclosure with ease, even helped Prowl pull himself out during their escape from the aquarium.

Two more mutants tried to jump him as they had crawled out of the water and leapt from above. Prowl did a barrel roll before they could sink their hook-like claws but it was too close for comfort. Prowl took a right turn and called out for Jazz again, hoping the other mer would respond soon. The abominations were trying to surround and trap him. He could outrun them, sure, but not indefinitely.

Prowl swam through the cluster of buildings, zipping around sharp corners, diving below some that were partially destroyed and leaning to the side, he even swam by two tall towers that were precariously leaning on each other. Alas, his luck was running out. The mutated creatures were cutting him off and soon he found himself forced down a shallow path. There was soon not enough water to swim comfortably in and Prowl was forced to drag himself through the shallows, hoping he won’t get stuck there when the school of mutated fishmen arrived.

“Kshaa!” – one of his pursuers had managed to reach him much sooner.

A green-scaled mutant with long, needle-like teeth, two large bulging eyes and spindly legs leapt towards him. Prowl blew air from his nostrils and lifted his tail high. He slammed it into the creature with force.

*Crunch!*

Bones snapped under the power of the blow and the creature laid there, limbs occasionally spasming but very much mangled and dead, its dark blood oozed out from its broken skin along with slime and onto the concrete below. The rain washing the filth away. Prowl continued dragging his heavy tail but two more mutants arrived and began crawling towards him. Soon the rest of the horde would be there and he still had not found Jazz.

‘I have to fight. I have to face them, giving in is not an option.’ – Prowl scowled and prepared to fight the mutants.

The orca mer rumbled and flexed his fingers, claws ready as the mutants approached.

“Yoo-HOO!” a familiar voice called out “Special delivery!”

Jazz called from several floors up. He was hanging from an opening in the wall, holding on with one hand while aiming with the other. He had a large chunk of concrete in his arm, so he took aim and chucked it at one of the mutants. Jazz’s aim was pretty good and it nailed the grotesque creature in the head. With a loud crunch, blood, bone and rotting brain matter splattered. One mutant down, Jazz took another piece and threw it. This time the mutant was aware of the attack and tried to dodge, but it was still hit in the side. It’s arm and chest broken as it laid gasping and croaking in the shallow water.

Prowl looked up at his rescuer. Jazz waved at him and by his side was Blaster, looking worse, his whole body shaking with the effort of holding himself straight, but still there.

[Prowler!] Jazz thrilled [Catch!]

Blaster handed something over to Jazz and the mer quickly unspooled it. It was a long roll of lashing strap, which he threw one end of towards Prowl. The end clattered on the concrete below.

[Tie it around you! I pull you up!] – Jazz instructed.

Prowl quickly took the strap and secured himself the best he could. The material was sturdy and would be able to take his weight. It might be a bit uncomfortable on the way up but it was better than being eaten by those monsters.

“See, I told you it might come useful.” – Blaster said.

Not that Prowl could understand the human clearly, but he could guess the redhead was rubbing it in that his trip to get the roll of strap had been worth the detour. Jazz meanwhile used his stronger arm strength to pull Prowl up to their floor and help the mer inside. They needed to have to another location. The mutants outside would definitely try and follow them.

[Come on, Prowler. We need ta get moving.] – Jazz beckoned Prowl into the building.

It was very small and suffocating, also very dry inside. Prowl struggled to squeeze through hallways and follow after Jazz. For a while Blaster also followed the two but it was obvious he was struggling. He was leaning heavily on the wall, his back was ever so slightly hunched and his knees were shaking as he tried to move forward. Eventually, Jazz just picked up the human and put him on his back.

[We can’t squeeze ya in our place, I barely got my tail in. You won’t get in. We’re moving to another place.] – Jazz explained, his echo speech getting better.

It was true, Jazz may have had stronger, more muscular arms and upper body, but his tail was also thinner, all from years spent in aquariums, moving on dry land and from a diet of fish. Prowl’s upper body was the opposite, due to living in the open ocean and away from the land, but his tail was thicker and had much more fat reserves on it, making it heavier and harder to move on the dry floors inside.

[Jazz. We can’t stay and hide away. We need to find a way out and slip by the monsters. We need a plan.] – Prowl said while following Jazz closely.

[Yeah, figured that out already.] – Jazz said and huffed.

Prowl nodded but then squinted, now paying closer attention to Blaster. What is that – a red rash? Or did he bruise himself? Is that why there’s a dark spot on his nose?

Meanwhile, outside of the building, the horde of mutants arrived. They had followed their prey and were still hungry, still craving more. Seeing the bodies of the three mutants- dead, broken – the horde descended upon them like piranhas. They tore and bit and broke apart at the fallen ones, until only broken chips of bone were left behind. The horde moved, shambling and crawling towards the building, towards their prey.

……………………………

Prowl knew it was only a matter of time until the grotesque beast outside made their way to their hiding place. They were persistent hunters and moved like one large school of carnivorous fish. They needed a plan to get rid of them and get away from the threat, fast. Jazz was still not that used to fighting as a pod, while Blaster was not only much slower than them, but also smaller and sick to the point he could not really fight. Even now the human was laying on his side, wheezing and looking to be in pain from his body changing.

Jazz had briefed him on what was happening with Blaster and it had stunned Prowl. How is it possible for someone to just… Start changing like that? He knew some old mer superstitions about selkies and land-dwellers that could steal a mer’s tail but nothing like this. If Blaster was indeed becoming like those creatures…

[… We need something and fast!] Jazz insisted [Blaster’s not getting better and we can’t just stay here and wait!]

[I am thinking.]  Prowl almost growled, his mind running through different scenarios [We can’t fight that many on our own and with a sick human in tow. I would have suggested sneaking by but these things know we are up here and would try and surround us. ]\

[Yes, they are so awful! If only there was a way to get rid of them.] – Jazz grumbled.

[Get rid… Maybe if we can- no, that is still too risky, one of us might get…]  - Prowl muttered to himself.

“Jazz, what are we-?” -Blaster shifted, but then he coughed again, a couple of more teeth were coughed out with even more blood.

After the violent fit, Blaster’s chest hurt, like he had bruised his ribs with the constant coughing and there was now even a painful knot in his lower back. He could barely feel his legs below the knees. Blaster spat out a mouthful of bloody saliva and his tongue ran over where his missing teeth were. The gums were still painful and inflamed, throbbing with pain, but he also felt something new – something very small and hard has just starting to poke out where his canines were.

The human shuddered and Jazz quickly moved himself to check on him. Prowl looked… disturbed. The human was deteriorating fast, if he became like those creatures, then he and Jazz would be in even more trouble.

“We’re just talking about a plan to get out of here, but it is not easy to think of something.” – Jazz explained to Blaster.

“I- I see… I would have suggested an emergency exit, since those are larger but… coff, stairs.” – Blaster grunted as one of his legs spasmed painfully.

“Ugh, stairs…” Jazz also hated the stairs, they were rough on his tail [I asked Blaster but he doesn’t have much other than the emergency exit.]

[Not a bad plan, but then there’s no guarantee these exits are useable at the moment or if they had not been blocked. Blaster also does not look like he could go very far on his own.] – Prowl began brainstorming again.

[Yeah, also a lot of stairs there…] Jazz grumbled [We need to all work together to get out of this, together.]

Jazz insistently repeated the world, the two of them had almost gotten in another argument earlier when Prowl noticed the scales growing on Blaster. Blaster had risked so much for them, the least Jazz could do was that all three of them got away safely.

Prowl thought back on their options – no weapons, some food supplies, the strap Blaster had picked up and some human cloth, rubble… The odds were not good. He then thought back on their surroundings, he had a rough mental map of the surroundings. There were several buildings and waterways surrounding their hideout. But nothing much, the human city was like a barren land after the tsunami with nothing too useful. Then, he remembered the building right next to them. It was tall and also leaning heavily on its neighbor. Maybe if they could lure the creatures and bring it down by hitting the unstable base…

[What are ya thinking about Prowler?] – Jazz moved closer.

[How to get away from those monsters pursuing us and not have them follow us, but… It is too risky.] – Prowl shook his head.

There was a screech from outside, it startled the three of them.

[I’d take anything at this point.] – Jazz frantically scanned the surroundings.

[While searching for you, I saw a couple of unstable towers. I think if we can lure the horde there, we can destabilize the already crumbling building and bring it down on them, but… no.]

[What? Why? It sounds like a great plan! We can get rid of those mutants in one go!] – Jazz asked.

[We’d need to lure them there. We’d… need bait.] – Prowl said grimly.

“What is happening? Did you figure something out?” – Blaster asked, not having understood a word from the mers thrilling and clicking.

Prowl and Jazz shared knowing looks, then Jazz began explaining the plan while Prowl added clarifications which Jazz translated. Blaster just stared, his feverish brain missing most of the details but he at least got the gist of it. They were going to lure the creatures and drop a building on them, they just needed bait.

“Let me do it.” – he decided.

“Blaster- no! You can’t do it! You are sick, there’s no way you could outrun those things once you get their attention! I can lure them.” – Jazz protested.

“They can climb, Jazz. As mobile as you can be on land, you are not as nimble and can’t pass through doors easily or climb as fast. Not to mention I am done for either way. Look at me.” he gestured at himself “I am mutating into a fish creature either way, so even if something happens, I at least want to do something to help before I lose my mind.”

The scales had crept up Blaster’s cheeks and down his forearms, looking like a mismatched and odd rash. The edges where his human skin was being replaced looked dry and angry red, the gaps in his teeth could be seen when he spoke and there were dark bags forming under his eyes. The redhead sniffled but them some blood dribbled from his nose. He wiped it with the back of his hand.

“Great. Just great.” – Blaster muttered at the sight of more blood leaking from him.

“But… what if you- There must be a way to make it better! I- I don’t want to lose a friend!” Jazz turned towards Prowl [Prowl! He wants to just- to sacrifice himself! There must be another way!]

[Jazz…] – Prowl placed a comforting hand on his shoulder.

More shrieks and gargles from the mutants echoed through the building. They were moving closer.

“Let me do this. I want to help you at the very least.” – Blaster said, his voice firm.

………………………………

The three of them set the plan in motion. Using the building’s emergency exits, they were able to sneak to the other end of the building and moved further away from the mutants. The neighboring building, although also slightly tilted from the one leaning on it was close enough for Blaster to hop over with the help of Jazz and some of the sturdy strap. Jazz vaulted over and also helped Prowl across the gap. The two mers were quite awkward so high up but they made due. Below them, they could see several mutants patrolling the waters.

“You sure about this? Once you start making noise, those things will rush towards you. We can still-.” – Jazz asked Blaster once more.

“I am sure, Jazz. Once I attract their attention, it is your job to jump down into the water and knock the rubble below so the other building topples completely.” – Blaster leaned on a wall, supporting himself on his shaky feet.

The three had gone through the plan several times as they prepared. If everything went according to plan, Blaster would attract the mutants by hitting a metal pot, then sneak away before the mutants can reach him, by then Jazz and Prowl will knock the supports down, making the whole thing go down and crush the mutants.

Jazz still worried, he did not Blaster to be alone in his condition, but the mutants had surrounded the area. This was their best chance to get rid of them once and for all. Blaster gave a weak smile and shuffled away on unsteady legs.

[Come, we need to get into position.} – Prowl gently nudged Jazz.

…………………………

The mutants searched for their prey, tearing through the building, breaking obstacles down in their pursuit. Their greenish, malformed bodies shuffled through the empty hallways, their hisses and raspy, choking breathing echoed.

*CLANG-CLANGCLANG!*

There was a loud noise outside. All of their misshapen head turned in the direction, black bulbous eyes stared as they crawled towards the noise. There it was! In the building across, there was a living being, clanging a pot loudly, like ringing a dinner bell.

The horde screeched and rushed towards the prey, some crawling down the walls while others just threw themselves off the windows. Some of their bodies splashed in the water while some smashed into the concrete rubble below, splattering blood and breaking their bones. They did not care – that was more meat to be devoured, more to be consumed.

……………………………

The plan was working. The mutants rushed towards the building, even those swimming in the waters below joined the horde and soon broke inside. Jazz and Prowl exchanged looks and nodded, then pushed themselves over the edge of the lower floor and splashed into the water below. The cool liquid and weightlessness immediately brought relief to Prowl – he was no longer weighed down by his tail.

[Go! We must hurry!] – with a few strokes of his tail, Prowl was already swimming towards the leaning building.

Jazz followed close by until they finally reached it. Below the water, the damage was evident, the concrete had shattered in the initial wave and the whole thing was barely being held up.

[What now?] – Jazz sent some clicks towards the crumbly base to get a clearer picture.

Prowl just swam to the cracked concrete and pulled a large chunk out, some smaller pebbles falling into the depths.

[We need to destabilize it, so start pulling and hitting the cracks.] – Prowl said and used the chunk to hammer at the cracked support beam.

Jazz nodded and followed his example. More and more rubble began to fall as the mers worked, more cracks began forming and the pieces started to slide and fall. In just a bit, the whole building would start coming down.

………………………

Blaster cursed as he stumbled down another hallway. One of his legs had caught on something and almost sent him sprawling on the hard floor. He was feeling like he was about to pass out, his back was cramping painfully, he felt like puking, almost choked on another fallen tooth and his legs barely felt anything anymore. It was like he was trying to walk with two slabs of jelly instead of his two feet, his breathing was labored and he felt like he was being squeezed alive by his shirt. The only reason he was able to move as much was because of all the adrenaline pumping through his veins.

The plan had started off smoothly. He watched as Prowl and Jazz jumped down without issue and decided it was time he also moved towards the other side of the building and sneak out but that is where the plan failed. One of the mutants had apparently chosen to climb up the wall with its many crab-like claws and it saw Blaster. It screeched loudly and attracted the other mutants before he managed to knock it off the wall. Now he was running for his life and instead of going down, he ended up ascending up the stairs. His legs shook from all the effort, it felt like he was just stumbling about most of the time, but the mutants were still gaining on him. He could hear them getting closer. It was then that he did not manage to lift his leg high enough and it caught on the last step of the stairs.

“D-damn it…” – he wheezed and coughed as he fell on his knees.

The impact jostled him and sent waves of pain, he almost worried he had felt his kneecaps pop from the impact, fearing he may have cracked his knees but they moved still. From his nose some more blood dripped on the floor, so he wiped it with his sleeve, already bloody from before.

‘I… need to move, but where?’

He was trapped, the mutants had blocked his way down and he could not continue up. He would reach the rooftop and be trapped either way. He was afraid. He did not want to die. Did not want to turn into a monster, but his body was betraying him.

The building shook, there was a loud cracking and rumbling noise. Prowl and Jazz must have shaken the neighboring building enough to start falling. Soon the whole place would fall down.

‘I guess this is it…’ Blaster thought through the migraine ‘I don’t want to die…’

“BLASTER!!!” – someone called his name.

Weakly, Blaster pulled himself up and mustered whatever strength he had to make his way to one of the windows. He peered outside and although his vision was getting blurry, he saw the two mers in the water far away from the collapsing buildings. They were looking for him.

…………………………

Blaster was not there! They had agreed where he would wait for them when they managed to start the collapse but he was not there! What happened? Where was he? Did he fall or the mutants got him?

“BLASTER!!!” – Jazz bellowed desperately.

[Jazz-] – Prowl began.

“Where is he?! He should have been here! Blasteeer!” – Jazz called out again, frantically looking around.

“JA- Jazz!” – he heard a call.

Prowl and Jazz looked up, to see the red shape that was Blaster peeking from one of the building’s higher floors. What was he doing up there?! There was not enough time! The building was already crumbling as it slowly slid and pressed down on its neighbor, crushing the walls on its way. The whole place was collapsing!

[No, Blaster-!]  Jazz was about to swim over but Prowl grabbed his shoulder.

[No, It’s too dangerous! The building is falling and you won’t be able to get away from the collapse!]

[I have to help him! Blaster got hurt because he went to the aquarium on his own to make sure we were not trapped inside! He’s sick because of me!] – Jazz protested.

Prowl held him in place, the scowling mer was silent before he looked Jazz straight in the eyes.

[You can’t reach him in time, but I can. Tell him to jump.] – Prowl instructed.

[Wha-]

[Do it!] – Prowl said and darted towards the building.

“BLASTER!!!” Jazz shouted as loud as he could “JUMP!”

The building was falling faster now, parge chunks of concrete fell in the water and the weight was crushing the still standing apartments.

“What?!” – Blaster shouted.

“Trust me! JUMP!” – Jazz called out.

Blaster stood up and hesitated. He was so high up, what if he fell wrong or he died? But then again, the mutants were still approaching and there was a whole building falling towards him. So, he took a deep breath and took a step towards the ledge.

Just as the first mutants made their way up the steps, on Blaster’s floor, he leaned over and dropped over the side of the building. The wind pelted his face as he rapidly fell towards the water.

*Splaaaaasssh~!*

He fell in and the cold water immediately enveloped him; the impact almost knocked the air out of him. Blaster kicked his legs feebly in panic. He had to get up but he did not know which way the surface was anymore, but then a pair of large arms wrapped around him and lifted him up.

“Augh- Cough-coff!” – Blaster was pulled to the surface and took a deep breath.

Prowl had reached him just in time. The orca mer quickly tossed the human over his back and swam away. The building behind them finally toppled over completely. Concrete, rebar and glass rained down as the whole structure collapsed. The other apartment complex stood no chance as it was crushed once its neighbor’s full weight fell on top of it. The mutant horde inside was also crushed along with it. Tons of concrete fell upon them and crushed their bodies in the process.

Prowl swam as fast as he could, dodging falling debris and fighting against the sucking pull of the water.

“Blaster, Prowl! You made it!” – Jazz cheered in the human language.

“H-heh.” – Blaster weakly grinned before his head lolled to the side, barely able to keep his eyes open.

[We must move to a safer location. It would be unwise to be out in the open with Blaster being so sick.] – Prowl nudged Jazz forward before handing Blaster over to him.

[Y-Yeah.] Jazz nodded as he carefully positioned the feverish man in his arms [Thanks, Prowler.] – he smiled.

The two mers swam away with Blaster in tow to search for a safe spot to stay. They may not know what is going to happen now and what the end would be, once the changes run their course through Blaster. All they hoped was that they would not have to see the man go. And Jazz… he really hoped he won’t have to keep the promise to Blaster to put him out of his misery if he became a mindless mutant.

‘He will be fine. Blaster is tough and stubborn. He’ll pull trough this. He has to!’ – Jazz thought desperately.

Chapter Text

This is the first drawing of mer Blaster I got when I first shared the idea of dunking him in the chemicals and the general plot for the story. It was made by this wonderful artist: https://www. /miscellaneousmellons/779661895454048256/fish-i-was-seeing-some-stuff

Back then I was still unsure of the final design of Blaster, once we dunked him in the chemicals that would turn him in a mer. I was torn between several options - to keep his design and color scheme similar or to keep his theme as being loud. Fish are pretty colorful but they don't make noise, sea mammals would fit his music theme but most were dull and we already had several sea lions in Ratchet and Roddy, so I did not want to make him also a sea lion. The big question was fish OR mammal.

Then I got this little treat below and I liked the design a lot! It looks good and has a few odd things that would fit so much with the theme and the fact Blaster is essentially a mutant and not a natural mer. This sketch has those odd things that help cement that.

For example, only mammalian mers have 'hair' or more like fur, while fish-based mers have fins that may resemble hair (example - Blurr from Keferon's drawings). Blaster, despite being fish has kept some hair and also the fins look a bit fuzzy, while the fins are not actually hairy, they do look so from afar. Another thing would be the ear flaps - again, only mammal-based mers have them while fish-based ones have different structures to hear. Blaster in the drawinf has ear flaps.

Although you can't see it, another mammalian trait I've decided to add (notice bleeding from nose previous chapter) is that Blaster can now close his nostrils when underwater, despite him having gills as a fish mer. He also has a more pronounced nose than other fish mers, basically it kept its human shape while in other fish mers it is flatter and closer to the face. They are small details that just fit his general design, but to someone with more intimate knowledge, or just someone more observant, Blaster's mer form looks just ever so slightly off appearance-wise. Plus, Blaster is kind of awkward at first, which is understandable when he has no idea of mer culture beyond what he's seen in the aquarium or documentaries, also he has to essentially get used to his transformation.

As for keeping his theme of being loud- well, he is a mutant, plus he was VERY loud as a human, so that got carried over. He can be loud as a mer too and it was a very nasty surprise to everyone involved when he accidentally screeched so loud it actually hurt and made their ears ring from the sound.

So, yeah, I am sharing this with @miscellaneousmellons permission, to illustrate how Blaster would look after the transformation is completed. (Boy is not ready for the pain of growing a tail yet, but it is coming.)

Thee Cuban Hogfish irl!