Ghoulish traditions.

A/N My Halloween fic done early! NOTE: This takes place between episodes of my TFA fic. Read the other one, or you may not understand this one! (At least get to chapter 20) Enjoy! WARNING: One mild swear, and some gross description.

Alexa wandered through the base. Last night was Halloween, and she and the squadron had missed it investigating Powell. Her mind still went back to it being the second Halloween without Travis. It hurt. She ran into Bumblebee in the garage slash storage area.

"Hey Bee! How was the party?"

Bee smiled. "It was fun. To bad you guys missed it! They had soooo many goodies."

Alexa let out an amused breath. Bee cocked his head. She explained "When I was in the agency full time, we never had candy. It was all tricks. Oh man, did we use to scare Galloway silly. This one time, we put a dummy in his office and-" Alexa was cut off by Boon, who had just walked in behind her.

"Ah ah...classified Alexa. Galloway still doesn't know it was us. I don't want to talk my way out of a court martial."

Alexa nodded, but looked kinda...sad. Bee noticed. "Hey, what's wrong?"

"Oh, nothing much. Just... I guess I miss some of the fun we had. Ya know? Halloween was a favorite of mine, and we missed it this year." Her words were heavy, and slightly depressing.

Boon looked thoughtful for a second, but then, his face lit up. A rambunctious tone slid into his voice. "Who says we can't have fun?"

Later, around six at night, Optimus, Ratchet, Prowl, Jazz, and Duke were on patrol. Duke had volunteered to patrol tonight with Prowl.

Optimus opened his comm to Prowl so Duke could hear. "It's nice that you guys did a movie night to cheer up Alexa. She looked like she needed it today." The young Prime observed.

Duke smiled. "It was the least we could do."

Patrol went smoothly for the next hour, then Optimus got a new Comm.

"H-hello? Optimus...pick up, please!" Alexa's voice, glazed over utter with terror, came through the line.

Optimus transformed without bothering to stop. "Alexa? What happened?" Optimus's voice went into battle tone. He opened his comm to the others so they could hear. Alexa's voice was becoming more and more panicked.

"S-something's IN the base! I-we were no match for it! It-it got Samantha! ! I can't find Arcee or Boon, and Bee's hurt real bad!" Optimus heard a a pained bellow, followed by a loud thud. "BULKHEAD! ! No! Help me Optimus! Hurry! ! Hurr-AIEEE! !" A few wild shots sounded from Alexa's pistol, along with sickening wet suction sound. The line went dead.

Optimus spun around hard on his heels. "AUTOBOTS! TRANSFORM AND ROLL OUT! !"

Everyone was pushing as hard as there altmode would allow. They arrived at the base, and already, it didn't look good. The retractable door was forced open by a few feet. Ratchet quickly overrided the controls so they could get in. The base's main hallway was cast in the blood red hue of emergency backup lights. Jazz noticed something sparking on the wall.

"Yo Ratch, whatdaya make of this?"

Ratchet turned on his telescoping optic to examine a wire. After a few seconds, he looked up. "Chewed."

A new voice came from the entrance. "What happened here?"

Everyone jumped ten feet, and turned around to see Sari.

"Sari, what are you doing here?" Prowl asked.

"I got a strange call from Bumblebee. He said he needed help, and then the line shut off. I was worried, so I came down. Is he hurt? Is Bee OK? ?" Sari was inches from crying.

"I don't know Sari, but we'll find out." Optimus said.

They walked into the rec-room. Orange slime trails adorned the floors in multiple directions. The walls were spattered with it too; that and what looked liked...blood! Someone was hurt bad. A chill ran down Optimus's support column as he saw a red hand print that streaked down the wall. By now, everybody was fighting a swell of raw fear.

The red lights glowed brighter before the emergency blast door sprung itself; blocking the hallway to the exit.

"Hey!" Ratchet yelled. He ran over to the door's control box. "Slagging power surge!"

Duke then noticed a familar outline in the shadows. It was Alexa. She was alive. "Alexa! Thank god your Okay! We were worried that-" Everybody froze in horror as Alexa walked out of the shadows. She walked with a limping gait, her shoulders and back slouched, a sinister demented expression was on her face. Her clothes were torn and partially bloodied. Blood droplets speckled her outfit. Along with...Space Barnacles! They were all over her, with the most on her upper chest and legs. A large one had attached itself to her neck; its long fleshy tendrils gripped around her face. A slimy, gurgling voice began to rasp from behind her green stained teeth. "Oh, I'm more than OK." Her voice didn't sound like her. It was...distant, and aggressive. She had her sword out; it dragged along the ground, sending sparks towards them. Her eyes narrowed sinisterly. "But you aren't." She saw Sari. Her voice became animal like. "You, you made me loose my first host!"

Duke panicked. "Alexa, this isn't you. Fight it!"

Alexa let loose a putrid snarl, and lunged. Duke immediately grabbed for a pipe on the side of the wall. It snapped off cleanly. He then threw himself between Sari and Alexa. Sparks flew as her blade made contact with the pipe as Duke parried the blow.

Alexa hissed. "Stay out of this Earthling!"

"NO!" Duke traded blows with Alexa. She was sluggish, he had the upper hand. Alexa fell to the floor, but let out a high pitched screech.

A deep growl came from the shadows. The Autobots realized Alexa wasn't the only one. Alexa made a terrifying grin before scampering away into the shadows. Something else was coming. It looked like...Bumblebee! His head was leaking hydraulic fluid, and fell on the ground with a erie pitter patter. He had barnacles too! His arms were simply covered, and one barnacle had it's tendril IN his helm wound! Bee let loose a ferocious growl. "Must consume!" He snarled out. It wasn't as clear as Alexa. It was strained. Almost barely audible.

"Bumblebee?" Sari asked. Her heart sank at seeing Bee like this.

"Bumblebee GONE!." He returned.

A new moan sounded. The non zombied Autobots backed up in terror as a grotesquely maimed Bulkhead staggered out. His wrecking ball was out, and his other servo looked gnawed. The Barnacles encompassed his large frame with little issue. He wasn't the only one. Out behind him, appeared a wounded, zombie Boon. Blood flowed from his mouth as the Space Barnacles hugged his thighs and shoulders. His eye patch had been knocked off, revealing a horrid empty socket; a tendril was resting on the edge. "Glad you back. Your in time...for Dinner!"

Optimus was loosing his cool. "N-n-no...t-this can't be happening!"

Jazz spoke up. "I got a plan." His voice was quiet.

Prowl looked over. "W-what?"

Jazz tensed. "RUN! ! ! !"

Everyone ran towards the living quarters hallway. Prowl reached the doorway first, but skidded to stop, causing him to loose balance and fall on his face. Terror gripped his spark as he came eye level to a nearly unrecognizable Samantha! All that remained of of her was one eye. She went to scratch Prowl's face. Prowl jumped back, a high pitched squeal erupted from his lip plates.

Suddenly, Boon grabbed Duke. Duke struggled for a second, before he relaxed. Everybody fully freaked out when they saw a small barnacle had attached to his neck! Duke let out a gurgling choke, before a outpouring of blue slime fell from his mouth, and pooled on the floor around his shoes.

By now, the Autobots were being backed towards the medbay. Ratchet had an idea.

"If I can get to the medbay, I can get my laser scalpel and burn the parasites off!"

The zombies all snarled and began to close directly on Ratchet. The medic bot used his magnets to shove Bumblebee aside, and made a clear dash down the medbay hall. A scream resonated from the hallway, from Ratchet! An earsplitting, grating cry followed. Ratchet backed out of the hallway slowly. A horrified expression was on his face. "N-no..." He whispered.

A barnacle covered Arcee emerged from the shadows. Her swords were dripping her own energon, mixed with an orange slime, no doubt from the barnacles.

Arcee emitted a sick, gleeful smile before shoving Ratchet up against the wall. The medic's EMP activated, but...he couldn't do it; he couldn't bring himself to use it on her. "Arcee..." He quietly murmured.

The others closed around the Autobots. There knee joints began to knock. They watched as the zombies got closer, and closer. This was the end! !

As they braced themselves to offline, Alexa gave a twisted smile, full of conquest. "Guess what, robot?"

There was a silence; before, almost instanly, Alexa's face split into a wide, and FRIENDLY grin. "YOU'VE BEEN PUNKED!" Alexa's mannerisms returned to normal, before she, and all the other Zombie's, began laughing hysterically. Arcee let Ratchet down, Boon took his eye patch out, and put it back on, Bee wiped his head wound; it was paint.

Arcee laughed. "Gotcha!" She snorted. "You should of seen the look on your face plate Ratchet!"

Optimus piped up. "But-I-ah-WHAT? !"

Boon walked up.

"And that, ladies and gentlebots, is how the Stealth Cats spend Halloween."

Jazz looked to Alexa. "But...the space barnacles...how'd you...?"

Alexa pulled the one on her neck off. "Clay, and actors epoxy. Boon had the idea. You guys weren't expecting it, so...we had a meeting, roped in the off duty bots, got some arts supplies from down town, had Omega Supreme send us a file on the barnacles, bypassed the electrical systems, pulled some slime recipes off the web, and popped some food coloring packages in our mouths. Presto! Zombies with a twist! Then we called you, fired off a few blanks, had Bulkhead mess with the door, had Bee maul a wire, and waited for you guys. The rest was easy."

No bot really knew what to say, but one knew what to do. Duke saw first, and tapped Alexa on the shoulder.

"Uh, Alexa we got a problem."

Alexa looked over. "What?"

Duke pointed to a seething, wrench bearing, all out pissed Ratchet. "THAT!"

Alexa paled. "OH CRAP! RUN! !"

The Stealth Cats bolted for the stairway to the roof; Ratchet right behind them.

"THAT WASNT FUNNY! ! ! GET BACK HERE! ! ! !" The medic thundered.

Bee walked up. "Think he'll forgive them?" He asked.

Optimus just shrugged. "Tricks, usually don't go over as well as treats."

A/N Happy Halloween everybody! :D