Gaming Night
The four survivors spilled out into the sunlight on the hotel roof, deafened by the roar of the helicopter overhead.
"Come back, we're still here!" Ellis tried to shout over the roar.
"Hey, come back!" shouted Rochelle.
"Come back! Come back! Aww, he ain't comin' back," said Coach.
"That chopper looks like it's headed to the evac center at the mall," said Ellis.
"Gotta agree," said Coach. "Let's follow them to the mall."
Nick dashed to the nearby table, where a supply of weapons and supplies were laid out, and armed himself with two pistols. "Grab something, I have a feeling this isn't gonna be easy."
Ellis grabbed two pistols and took off racing around the roof like an energetic 8-year-old, jumping up and down on top of a chair, and mounting the air conditioning unit. Coach grabbed a fire axe and stood back calmly, while Rochelle stood in place and did nothing.
"Come on," said Nick.
"Come on, Fluttershy, this isn't that hard," Rainbow Dash snapped.
"I'm just not sure what I'm supposed to be doing," said Fluttershy.
"Look, it's easy, all right? To pick up a weapon, point your crosshair at it and press the use key."
"W-weapon? I-I don't know about this, girls…"
"Come on, please don't back out now," said Rainbow. "You need four players to play this game, and no pony else would play it with us. We need you."
"It's really fun once you get into it, Fluttershy!" chirped Pinkie Pie. "You don't shoot any ponies, not when there are so many zombies everywhere! They swarm all around you and you have to shoot them and hit them to get them off of you, and sometimes there are these special zombies that can kill you really really fast unless another pony helps you…"
Fluttershy whimpered.
"Yeah, that's enough, Pinkie Pie. Just give it a try, Fluttershy. For me? I bet you'll pick it up really fast."
"A-alright, if you really want me to, Rainbow Dash."
She pointed her crosshair at the pistols and pressed the use key twice to pick two up.
"Are we all set, then?" said Twilight.
"Looks like it," said Dash. "Don't forget to pick up a health pack too, Fluttershy. You can heal other ponies by clicking the right mouse button."
On their screens, Rochelle brandished her health pack and whacked Nick several times over the head with it.
"Not now," said Rainbow. "We haven't even started yet. We're still at full health."
"Oh, sorry," said Fluttershy.
The survivors began their descent down the stories of the hotel. Nick led the way down the first flight of stairs, Coach and Ellis close behind, and Rochelle bringing up the rear. They opened the door into the hallway below, where they were met with straggling undead.
"Holy shit, what are these things?" said Nick. They were already opening fire to clear out the hallway and the rooms.
The three began to fan out in search of supplies, while Rochelle stayed put in the hallway. They heard a distant, maniacal laugh, but before any of them could react, the small zombie snuck under Rochelle's fire and pounced onto her head.
"What's going on?!" Fluttershy cried.
The other three didn't say a word as they raced back into the hallway to shoot the zombie off her head. As fast as it had begun, the ordeal ended, and all was quiet again.
"That was a Jockey," said Rainbow Dash.
"It's one of those special zombies I told you about!" said Pinkie. "Try not to let them grab you, or you'll need some pony else to save you."
"O-kay…" said Fluttershy.
A moment later, a glob of green spit hit the floor underneath them, sending them scrambling in all directions.
"Oh yeah, watch out for the Spitters, too," said Rainbow.
"Okay," said Fluttershy. This game is hard…she thought.
The survivors proceeded through the hallways, Nick running ahead of the group to scout the rooms. He came to a pause when he heard a growl.
"I hear a Hunter," said Rainbow Dash.
Nick carefully opened the door into the next room, and locked eyes with the clawed monster on the other side. Hastily he tried to retreat, and time his melee attack to deadstop the beast in mid-air, but in an instant its pounce connected, and he was helplessly pinned.
Rochelle froze up. From behind her, Coach came running into the room and buried his axe in the Hunter's side, killing it. Nick picked himself up off the floor.
"Thanks," said Dash. "Hey Fluttershy, when you see some pony pinned like that, shoot it, okay?"
"Okay, sorry Rainbow," said Fluttershy.
Rochelle whipped out her health pack and began applying it to Nick.
"Hey, don't—" said Rainbow, but Fluttershy kept the right mouse button held down until the healing animation was complete, and the health pack was used up.
"I was only missing thirty hit points, Fluttershy. You've got to save those health packs until we really need them. Wait until we've got like ten health or so."
"Oh, okay."
As the ponies continued their descent, Fluttershy slowly learned to deal with the zombies, line up her crosshairs and pull the trigger. Shoot the zombies, she said. You can do it. Don't hesitate.
Further on, the survivors heard the sound of sloshing bile. Nick, Coach and Ellis stopped where they were, but Rochelle, seeming not to notice, continued on at her normal pace. She turned a corner to find herself face to face with the fat zombie, and immediately, she pulled the trigger. The zombie exploded, covering her in green bile.
Fluttershy cried out again, her screen covered in green.
"Just hold on," said Rainbow. "Try to get in a corner."
The group hunkered down as the horde came down on them, until the bile began to wear off, and the horde thinned out.
"That was a Boomer," said Rainbow Dash. "Those guys you don't want to shoot as soon as you see them. They explode and splash bile all over you."
"Okay," said Fluttershy.
"Click the right mouse button to shove them away first. Then shoot them."
"Okay, I think I got it."
Nick found an open elevator, and went inside to look around. "This elevator still works," he said, and the rest of them piled inside. Nick hit the button to send the elevator down to the ground floor.
"I have a feeling there's gonna be a little welcoming committee when we open this door."
"Get ready, Fluttershy," said Rainbow. "A lot of zombies are gonna come when we open the door, and we need to run through all of them."
Nick pried the elevator door open, and the survivors were greeted by a great roar of the undead. The floor was burning, and filled with blinding smoke, but they ran, Rochelle just managing to keep up with her teammates. Finally, they made it through the red iron door of the safe room and closed it tight.
"We made it!" said Rainbow triumphantly.
"Nicely done, girls," said Twilight.
"Now Fluttershy, in the safe room, you want to grab a health pack and ammo. You should heal up if you need to, but only if there are extra health packs."
"Okay, got it Rainbow."
"Also, here you wanna grab a Tier 1 weapon."
"Why? I already have a weapon."
"Yeah, but those are pistols. You can grab a machine gun or a shotgun to go with the pistols, and switch between them."
"Oh, I see."
Rochelle armed herself with a machine gun, and checking that they were prepared, the survivors opened the safe room door. On the other side, they stepped out into the fresh air and open sky of the afternoon, and began making their way down the road while picking off stragglers.
Nick rushed ahead into a small building, but no sooner had he turned down the staircase than he encountered a giant, muscle-bound monster, standing right in front of him.
"Damnit! Tank!" Rainbow shouted. Her brain barely acknowledged the threat before she was punched into the wall, where the Tank easily beat her hit points to zero and left her incapacitated on the floor.
The scene was set by intense music, and the Tank's every step shook the ground. Fluttershy bit her lip and quivered, and on screen, Rochelle backed away from the building.
"Yippee! This is my favorite part!" said Pinkie.
Pinkie Pie excitedly raced into the building and began raking the beast with gunfire.
"Pinkie, don't—" Twilight was staying close behind Pinkie Pie, but when the latter ran in, the former ran in after her. The Tank's first hit was enough to injure Ellis, and with his movement speed reduced, in the close quarters of the room, the Tank soon incapacitated him as well.
Twilight tried to retreat, but found herself stuck on the wall. Before she was able to feel her way to the door, she too was punched and incapacitated.
Leaving all three lying in heaps, the Tank ran out after Rochelle.
"…How dare you?" said Fluttershy.
The three heard gunfire coming from outside. Rochelle was strafing around the monster in the openness of the road and plugging it with bullets. The ponies looked up from their screens to see Fluttershy gritting her teeth in concentration, eyes glued to her screen.
The battle went on for several minutes, but finally, the last of the Tank's many hit points were gone, and it fell to the ground. The music stopped, returning to serene stillness.
"You got that?" Fluttershy spat, and without taking her eyes off the screen, she raced to her fallen allies to pick them back up onto their hooves.
Only by degrees did she become aware of the silence around her, and she looked up from her screen into the gaping faces of her friends.
"Oh, I'm sorry, did I do something wrong again?"