"Zombies!?" Twilight repeated, shaking like a leaf.
"Well, I guess that explains why Pinkie was yelling about the apocalypse earlier." Dash mumbled.
"Oh yeah!" I recalled.
{Note to self, always trust the Pinkie sense…} I thought.
"So, what now?" Twilight asked.
"Make our way above the rooftops." I answered.
"But how to we cross the street?"
"Climb the old electric cables?" I suggested.
"I think I'll stick with life." She growled.
"Then think of something better, smartass." I spat back.
Without warning, there was the sound of an ear-splitting bang! The sniper had removed the silencer…
We looked over the edge of the building to see the zombie all running down the road, towards the sound of the gunshot; there was another BANG, and a zombie's head exploded. The bullet went straight through and killed the zombie behind it as well.
"Quick, cross the road while they're distracted." I ordered.
I unblocked the door and we descended the stairs as quickly as possible, when we reached the road all the zombies were down the far end and we were clear to cross; we went back into the old barber's shop and used the back door to find an alley. We crept down the alley and used the first turning to arrive at the next large road, four zombies were lumbering around in the road; while they would be easy to kill, I didn't want to use my gun in case it attracted more of them.
"Wait here." I told the girls.
I slowly walked into the road, making sure I wasn't being seen, I crouched behind a car and noticed a zombie coming my way; I waited patiently as it approached the vehicle and stopped, inhaling hoarsely and twitching. It then turned around to walk away and I took my chance, I came up behind him and lunged forward, wrapping my arm around the creature's throat, constricting it. The zombie thrashed around in attempt to shake me off, but I leant back and let its weight assist in choking it. It continued to struggle for a good ten seconds, wriggling and trying to claw at my head, before it finally went limp in my arms.
I laid the zombie on the ground and moved over to the next, I was about to repeat the choking technique when it turned around and saw me; before it had the chance to make a sound I punched it right in the throat and rugby tackled it to the ground, now I was on top of the zombie I could choke it with my hands. I took no hesitation as I pushed down as hard as I could, making sure it was unable to breathe or make a sound, it took slightly longer than the first zombie and the struggle lasted for a good minute before its thrashing and clawing became more and more tiresome and eventually ceased all together and died into a small twitching. I stood up and wiped my brow before moving on to the next zombie, and the next, and the next.
And the next…
I had successfully killed all except one zombie, and was about to kill the last one when it turned to face me, I almost cried out in shock as I saw its face. The creature had no eyes, but instead a large set of antenna, its head was covered in a fleshy fungus, it genuinely looked like it had two great big mushroom caps stuck on its forehead. The human jaw has split in two to create an extra set of sharp teeth down where the chin would normally be; the mouth itself had extended out, creating a giant set of fleshy pincers.
I stood absolutely still, and was amazed to find the mutant couldn't see me at all and had no clue I was there. That's when it started to making odd clicking sounds; it sounded a lot like Predator.
{Don't… Move… A muscle…} I thought.
The mutant swung its head around, continuing the clicking sound, it then walked off in the other direction; I quietly crept back to Dash and Twilight.
"What the heck is up with that one?" Dash asked, looking at the clicking creature.
"It can't see." I replied.
"Echolocation." Twilight mentioned.
"Aaahhh…" I hummed in understanding.
"What?" Rainbow Dash quizzed.
"Echolocation," I repeated, "they see using sound."
"So, like a bat?"
"Exactly like a bat."
I picked up a brick and threw it down the road near the zombie, as the brick hit the ground the creature screeched and ran to the brick, swinging its arms around violently; it then stopped and swung its head around, clicking loudly.
"That's freaky." Dash mumbled.
"C'mon, let's move." I ordered.
We left the alley and moved up the road to the turning to find a load of houses, creating a dead end.
"What now?" Asked Twilight.
"Cut through a house, leave through the garden."
She nodded, and we moved to the closest house on the right, the front door was missing which made things easier. I entered first and looked around, before walking into the kitchen. The room looked empty; this area seemed to be clear.
"Alright guys, it's clear." I told the others.
They walked into the hallway when Rainbow Dash suddenly shouted in terror, before I knew what hit me I was shoulder rammed forward and smacked into the wall, I turned just in time as the zombie grabbed me and head-butted me in the face. I grunted in pain and held the creature back as it lunged forward and tried to bite my neck. I looked into its eyes and saw nothing but death and hate.
"Callum!" Dash cried desperately.
The zombie was strong, he pushed harder and harder in attempts to reach my neck, I had to push him back with all my might; his face was almost touching mine now as he growled and yelled nonsense, biting thin air as he snapped his bared teeth. I growled back in desperation as he got closer and closer to my neck, his teeth clicking loudly as he bit at me savagely.
"Get, the fuck… OFF ME!" I roared and pushed back with my last burst of energy.
The zombie was forced a step back, where I was able to quickly hop to the left and grab the back of its head and slam it into the wall; it fell to the ground, dazed. I took no hesitation as my survival instincts kicked in, I pinned the creature down and hit it in the face, over and over, I didn't stop until it had stopped gurgling, which by then I had caused its face to cave inwards.
I slouched down on my knees and panted heavily, worn out. After a moment's rest I was brought back to Earth by Rainbow Dash as she prodded my shoulder with a hoof.
"Are you okay?"
I looked up to her and nodded, although I didn't quite feel it; I looked back at the body and realised how savagely I'd beaten the zombie, I had gone all out on him and left his face completely unrecognisable. I looked at my hands to see them dripping with thick dark red blood. My hands were shaking with shock and adrenaline.
"Dude, we should go." Dash advised.
I wiped some of the blood off onto the zombie's chest and stood up, gulping; Twilight walked past me and roamed the kitchen, she came back with a tea towel and gave it to me.
"Use this."
"Thank you." I replied quietly.
I took the tea towel and properly removed the rest of the blood, before covering the zombie's face with it out of respect. I headed through the kitchen and out of the back door into the garden; luckily the fence was low and we were all able to climb over it with ease and headed across an empty road to a large town square, in the middle of the square was a large bronze statue of a man riding a horse, a flag in one hand and a rifle in the other.
"Whoa, that looks badass…" Dash mumbled.
"Agreed…" I hummed.
We crossed the small road in front of us and approached the statue, when we heard shouting to the right of us; we turned to see eight zombies running in our direction.
"Quick, shoot them!" Twilight ordered.
"I can't, the sound will attract more!" I growled back.
"Do we run?" Dash asked, full of panic.
"No…" I hissed.
I withdrew Kroksbane and glared at the closest zombie to me, it was about twenty metres away; I took a deep breath as I began to slowly walk towards it. The half-dead woman screeched as she ran full pelt at me; she was about to shoulder ram into me when I ducked and thrust the knife into her gut and yanked it upwards, mutilating her organs and multiple arteries, blood sprayed out of her gut and she was dead before she hit the ground.
By the time I was ready for the next zombie it was already in front of me, he lifted a hand to strike me, and I quickly stabbed him in the throat and jumped to the side to avoid his attack; in a matter of seconds he lost too much blood and dropped to the ground like a sack of potatoes.
The next zombie was about to reach me when I heard a loud hiss and half of the zombie's head decided to explode before my very eyes; the sniper was here…
The bullets reached the zombies before they could reach me, the rifle must have been semi-automatic; I looked up to see the barrel of the rifle pointing directly at me from the top window of a four story building. Without warning the gun went off and I dropped to the ground, thinking it had fired at me. I then heard the sound of a body hitting the ground and turned to see a hooded zombie lying on the ground, dead.
"Thank you!" I called up to the sniper.
There was no response, and the gun was pulled away and disappeared from sight; I thought the sniper was gone when without warning a package flew out the window at me; I caught it and opened it up to find a pistol silencer.
"No fucking way…" I breathed.
Somehow, the sniper knew I had this type of pistol; from this gift I could assume he was trying to help us, and signalled the ponies to come over. They joined me and we entered the building together, the ground floor was an old restaurant; I turned to face Rainbow Dash and put a hand on her shoulder.
"I want you to wait down here and keep a lookout; I don't want any zombies trapping us upstairs." I told her.
"You got it." She nodded.
Twilight and I then went through the back door of the restaurant and found a stairwell to the second floor; we headed up the stairs and into the next room to find a series of open-plan rooms, two kitchens, a laundry room, and a few toilet stalls; the stairs to the second floor were on the other side of these rooms.
"Second floor then." I smiled at Twi and walked forward.
On my third step, the floorboard under me creaked; that's when I heard a shrill screech and a zombie ran into the room. I didn't move a muscle as I recognised another blind bug-faced clicker.
It began clicking to gain a sense of the room around it, before three more of them entered the room and began searching aimlessly. I looked back to Twilight and put a finger to my lips to signal her to be quiet, and then beckoned her to follow me; she nervously shuffled over to me as the creatures hunted for us. We moved ever so slowly on our knees to prevent making any sound at all; when another floorboard creaked beneath Twilight. One of the creatures hoarsely inhaled and began clicking franticly as it paced over to Twilight, she moved as quickly as she could and began shaking with terror; the creature approached us and stopped right in front of us.
{You… Ugly, mother-fucker…} I thought as I stared at the beast.
Its head was completely deformed into something similar to a hammerhead shark, its long antenna wriggling around as it attempted to feel for us; it opened its mouth and began clicking to build another map of the room, and I could see its hideous tongue as it extended out to create the clicking sound. The tongue was split down the middle and the forked tips had hardened, making vile little black barbs.
It would have been so easy to remove Kroksbane and quickly shiv the creature in the neck, but I didn't want to risk anything and waited it out. The mutant leaned forward and began to click even louder, the antenna almost brushed Twilight and she leant back; which only told the creature that someone was there; it hissed and clenched its fists, when a floorboard creaked in a different room and it turned around and walked off to investigate the sound.
Twilight gulped and took a breath of relief; I then put a hand on her shoulder and rubbed it with my thumb, comforting her. She nodded at me to assure me she was okay, and we continued to another room. On a shelf in the next room was a glass bottle, I picked it up and smirked; I had a little plan.
I beckoned Twilight to follow me as I tiptoed closer to the stairwell to the third floor, and just as I expected there was another bug-faced freak in the way. I backed up to the wall beside me and threw the bottle into the room we had just come from and it smashed loudly on the floor; every mutant on the second floor began screeching and poured into the room like ants, one whizzed right past us and we quickly ran to the exit. I burst through the door and almost fell to an untimely death, thanks to the lack of railings on the bloody stairwell; Twilight shut the door behind us and turned around to face me, and screamed.
"LOOK OUT!"
I turned around to see another clicking freak charging down the stairs towards me, its large pincers snapping viciously as it approached me.
"Fuck yourself!" I growled and kicked it square in the chest.
The creature flew off the stairwell and into the alleyway bellow, hitting the ground with a loud thud and breaking its neck.
"Well, that's that." Twilight murmured, still recovering from the earlier shock.
I gave her a weak smile and headed up the stairs, the rusty supports moaned painfully as we reached the third floor; I doubt they would hold our weight for too long. I pulled out my knife and entered the room, only to find…
Fuck all.
No people, no weapons, just a make-shift tripod by the open window; the sniper was nowhere to be seen.
"Where did he go?" Twilight asked.
"Not a clue." I muttered.
We went into the other rooms on the third floor to find a series of bedrooms and a trashed library; the books had been ruined, and the few readable ones were all in Ukrainian so there wasn't any point in reading them. I went around and searched every drawer and wardrobe on the floor and was able to find nothing but an air horn.
"Seriously? That's the only thing you could find?" Twilight grunted.
"Well, did you do any better?" I retorted.
She snorted and walked past me.
"This was a complete waste of time…" She spat.
She opened the exit and walked out onto the stairwell platform, when the rusty metal screeched and broke away from the wall; Twilight screamed with terror as she was about to fall to her death. I sprinted forward just as the entire platform gave way and grabbed Twilight's hoof and pulled her towards me as hard as I could. The whole stairwell collapsed into the abyss as Twilight and I shot backwards and I fell onto my back, causing Twilight to land on my chest. We made eye contact for a good few seconds before her breathing returned to normal and she blinked.
"You… You saved me…" She mumbled.
I smiled warmly as I continued to stare into her eyes.
"Don't get used to it; it's a one-off sort of thing." I teased.
She huffed in amusement and smiled briefly, before I cleared my throat.
"Twilight, you're kind of lying on top of me." I reminded her.
She jumped up and took a step back, allowing me to stand up.
"Thank you…" She sighed.
Could it be? Twilight actually appreciated something I did!? Outstanding…
I looked out of the open doorway and over the edge to see the broken stairwell at the bottom of the alley.
"Well, we're definitely not getting down that way…" I hummed.
I then heard a loud roar in the distance, and jogged to the nearest window to see numerous zombies in the distance running towards the building. From the first floor I could hear Rainbow Dash shouting for us.
"Guys! We have a lot of zombies coming our way! What do we do!?" She yelled.
Next thing I know, I hear Rainbow Dash screaming at the top of her lungs and the mutants on the second floor screeching; she had come upstairs and they were going to kill her.
"Rainbow Dash!" Twilight cried in horror.
I didn't allow myself to think, I sprinted out of the doorway and leapt onto the wall opposite, and wall-jumped into the second floor doorway. I flew through the doorway to find Rainbow Dash on her side, using her hind legs to kick away the mutants that were savagely attempting to tear into her.
"Get the fuck off me you freaks!" She yelped.
"HEY!" I boomed, storming towards the creatures.
I withdrew Ingeo's pistol and shot five of them, leaving two left; they lost attention of Rainbow Dash and began lashing out towards me, swinging their arms around violently. I pulled out Kroksbane and stabbed one of them in the forehead, killing it instantly, that's then the second one grabbed me and tried to bury its pincers into my neck; I grabbed the underside of its jaws and held the creature back and struggled with it for a good ten seconds before I was able to throw the creature aside. It quickly recovered and turned to face me, before it could take a step forward and leapt forward and drop-kicked it square in the chest, sending it sprawling across the room. I ran to the previous zombie and yanked out Kroksbane. I turned to the mutant who was just getting up and ran towards it; before it had the chance to get its bearings I shoved the knife into its neck.
"Sleep tight motherfucker…" I growled as it dropped to the ground, twitching.
I pulled out the knife and went over to Rainbow Dash, who was staring at me in shock.
"Are you alright?" I asked her, kneeling down and putting a hand on her shoulder.
"Th-they hit me… But they didn't c-cut me anywhere, I'm okay…" She stuttered.
"Good." I sighed, standing up.
"That was… P-pretty badass…"
"That's nothing, I saved Twilight less than five minutes ago, and she actually thanked me!" I replied.
She recoiled in shock.
"Yeah, tell me about it." I chuckled.
Our light hearted recovery was interrupted by the roars of more zombies, and the smashing of a window downstairs.
"How many?" I asked.
"I saw at least thirty before I came upstairs." Dash replied.
I went over to a window and saw a horde of over two hundred zombies hurtling towards us.
"That's a LOT more than thirty Dash!" I shouted.
"What do we do!?" She asked full of worry.
I ran over to the door to the first floor and barred it shut just as the first zombie began to thump angrily at the door.
"We're completely surrounded!" I heard Twilight scream from upstairs.
Time felt like it had slowed down for me as I realised this might be the end, the roars of the zombies began to die out as the sound of my own heartbeat thumped louder and louder. The door began to dent as zombie on the other side pummelled at it with all their might; I slowly turned to look at Rainbow Dash, who was beginning to hyperventilate from her short, shallow breaths and she, too, realised she was going to die.
It was at that moment, where I knew what I had to do…
"In that toilet stall, now!" I ordered Rainbow Dash.
She ran in and locked the door.
"What about you?" She called out.
"Just stay put and shut up!" I growled.
I ran over to the doorway to the third floor, and looked out to the alleyway; before climbing down and jumping to the ground below.
"Where are you going!?" Twilight shouted down to me from the third floor.
"I'll lure them away! Get to the nuclear silo and find the orb shard!" I shouted back.
"There are too many Callum! They'll kill you!" She yelled.
"JUST FIND THAT ORB SHARD AND GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE!" I screamed.
I turned and ran out to the side of the building to see about fifty zombies inside the building already, the others still charging like a stampede.
"HEY!" I boomed loudly.
I pulled the air horn out of my pocket and held down on the top, causing the horn to sound off. Every single zombie turned to look at me, and they began roaring in anger and bloodlust.
"Look what I got! A brain! Barely used! COME AND GET IT!" I hollered and let off the air horn again.
They all began charging towards me, the zombies inside left the building and came after me; so I knew Rainbow Dash would now be safe.
"That's it… Come on… Come to Papa…" I murmured.
I kept honking the air horn, making sure they were all running after me before I turned and ran for my life; I shot down the street and narrowly avoided a smaller batch of undead as I sprinted past the slower zombies and ran back from where they came. I only looked back once, to see the entire horde on my heels, I ran like I'd never run before and zoomed down the road, sounding off the air horn as I went.
I had been running non-stop for a good five minutes and I was out of stamina, the zombie's however were not; I was running on fumes and they were gaining on me. I then noticed a ladder on the side of a building and had an idea; I ran into the building and ran upstairs, pulling out the air horn and smacking the top into the nearest wall, causing it to jam and sound off constantly. I rolled it on the ground and quickly smashed the closest window; I then found the ladder and dived towards it, climbing onto the roof and hopping to the next building.
I made my way across the rooftops and crossed five different buildings, just to be sure, before peeking over the edge to see the horde of zombies swarming into the first building like a mass of crazed ants. Thankfully I had been able to slip away unnoticed; I had escaped the horde…
"Well, now what…?" I mumbled to myself.
I noticed it was getting dark, and knew I wouldn't find the silo at night; so I made my objective to find a safe location to sleep, in the distance I saw the outline of another tall building and figured there are fewer zombies higher up. It didn't look too far away, perhaps half a mile away? I took a deep breath and tightened the straps on my back, reloaded Ingeo's pistol, and headed off to the building, hoping it would be safe…
By the time I reached the building, it was night time and everything was near pitch black; I could just see the double doors in front of me. I tried to open them, to find they were locked from the inside.
"It's never simple, is it?" I asked aloud, "There always has to be some complication…"
I walked around the building to find and open window, no bigger than a large shoe box; however with the right technique I could probably squeeze through. I took off my backpack and pushed it through the window before standing on a bin and pushing myself through. I wasn't the best and landings, and landed on my head on a big metal table and grunted with pain. I rubbed my head for a moment before putting my bag back on and looked around to find I was in a large kitchen, unfortunately there was no food; there was however, a box of matches and a gas stove, meaning I could possibly cook the tinned foods in my backpack.
After taking the matches, I left the kitchen and entered a large dining room; in room were three enormous tables, suited with one enormous zombie waddling around aimlessly. It appeared someone had the munchies before the power plant blew up, this motherfucker was big…
Having played a lot of Left Four Dead in my time, I was rather terrified that he would explode upon death, so I decided there and then that melee combat was out of the question. I pulled out Ingeo's pistol and attached the silencer, before aiming carefully at the obese zombie, who still hadn't noticed I was there.
"Yo, Tubby McFat-Fuck." I called.
It turned around, groaned angrily and began waddling its way towards me; its belly wobbled like jelly as the zombie's big black tongue lolled out of his fat mouth; I daresay he was fatter than my mother!
I pointed the gun directly at his head and pulled the trigger, there was a small hiss as the bullet whizzed from the barrel and hit the zombie in the eye. His head jolted back before he fell, face first into the ground.
"Well, at least they don't explode." I mumbled.
No zombies came along after that, so I assumed it was safe and went back into the kitchen. I pulled a tin of baked beans out of my back and switched on the stove, thankfully it still worked and I quickly lit a match and put the stove on a medium flame. I then emptied the contents of the can into a saucepan and cooked it for a while; when it was ready, I left the kitchen with the saucepan in my hand and sat at the dining room table; I didn't bother with a fork and ate the beans directly from my hands. After what I had recently been through, these beans tasted absolutely amazing, I moaned with ecstasy as I chewed up the beans and the flavour flooded my dry mouth. I normally didn't even like beans, but this was just absolute heaven.
When I was done, I got up and headed into the next room to figure out where I actually was, and ended up coming into a large lobby; I knew exactly where I was, this was a hotel.
"Oh… Yeah…" I grinned.
I turned into a hallway and found some stairs, which took me up to a thin hall with doors on either side; I merrily skipped down the hall until I found an open door. I entered the room to find a large queen-sized bed, covers already made, and pillows plump.
"I, am a very happy chappy…" I muttered, smiling.
I shut the door behind me, took off my shoes, bag, and shirt, and dived onto the bed and was almost catapulted out of it again.
"Ooh… Springy!" I giggled.
I got under the covers and nestled myself comfortably into the bed, before taking a long sigh.
It had been a long day; I'd left my brother, found temporal peace with Twilight, and had drop-kicked a zombie in the chest, overall, a pretty interesting day. I went on to wonder where Dash and Twilight were, and if they were alright; I was sure they were, Twilight was a smart mare, I was sure she would be able to find a safe place to stay overnight.
I took my phone out of my pocket and took a selfie for a laugh; I decided I might as well document my life's adventure from now on, just so I can look back on the memories at a later date in time. I knew this adventure wouldn't last forever, and a time would come where we find all six shards, and the six go home, and I find out what to do with my life. But that was a long way off yet…
I put my phone away and lay back on the fluffy white pillow, and just thought to myself about life, and how far I had come over the past few years. One moment, I was a depressive teenager with nothing good to enjoy, then I discover My Little Pony and become a part of one of the biggest and most unique fandoms in existence; now, this…
An adventurer, a hero in the making, a stone-cold killer; I would never be the same again. I knew that from the moment I killed my clone back at my house all those weeks ago. Yet our journey wasn't even half way over yet; who knew what the future held for me and the six.
These thought eventually faded away as I drifted away into a nice calm sleep, and the fears of zombies and the world around me disappeared, and was replaced by the calm sweet sound of silence as I sank deeper and deeper into my slumber, before I was completely out for the count…
