"Stay away!" cried High Winds, stepping back from the masked unicorn wielding the saw, almost tripping over the medical bed. The "doctor" didn't flinch, continuing to walk towards the mare.
"Come on now, dearie, this is the only safe solution, you know? We have to prevent the infection spreading further." He said in a calm tone, the rusty saw floating menacingly through the air towards the mare.
"Doctor, I don't think that this tool is the right one to perform this operation… or any kind of operation, for that matter." Noted Silver Streak, looking worriedly at the other pegasus, who whas now trying to slip around the medic, without success. "Maybe you should use more… professional things…"
"Listen lady, don't try to teach me how to do my job!" snarled the doctor, glaring slightly at the other mare, before taking a few steps towards High Winds, who was now cornered against the wall.
"But you aren't even going to use any anesthesia?" asked again the other mare, trying to reason with him. She surely hadn't expected this outcome, when she decided to bring the other pony to him.
"It'll be fast." Purred the doctor. High Winds finally screamed, as the saw placed itself against her wing bone, right under the joint, ready to tear away the black, infected wing.
Something banged at the door.
The medic turned his head, as a serious of coughs and gurgles rose from behind the door, as something hit the door again.
"That stallion before… he didn't lock it." he whispered, fear leaking into his voice. There was another hit against the door, and a few cracks appeared. The medic turned, still holding the saw in his magic grasp. Silver Streak dashed towards the other pegasus and grabbed her hoof, pulling her towards the medical bed.
"Come on…" she whispered, as there was another bang against the door, a few splinters flying away. The medic seemingly had totally forgotten about the two mares, facing the doorway with his masked face, the saw ready. There was another hit, and another. At the third hit, the door finally broke down in an explosion of splinters as a creature smashed into the room, emitting a gurgle. High Winds felt a cold chill run down her spine, as the other mare pulled her under the bed: the creature that had just entered inside the room seemed to be a hairless earth pony, but of course that wasn't all to it.
It was morbidly obese, and his skin was covered in bubbles and fleshy protuberances. The skin had a sick greenish color, contrasting its purple veins. The face of the pony seemed to be half-melted, and from the open and distorted mouth was oozing down a greenish mucus. High Winds had the chance to see a second one enter through the door, before hiding under the bed with the other mare.
"Stay away, you sacks of illness!" screamed the medic, with a sound like he was swinging the saw towards the two abominations.
"Come on, we have to get out of here!" whispered Silver Streak, as the sound of something splashing on the ground filled the room, followed by a gurgled scream. "Stay on to my tail." she whispered, before crawling out from under the bed and running away. High Winds immediately did the same as her, sprinting out from beneath the bed and running down the corridor, passing through the smashed door. She had just a glimps of one of the two creatures sprawled on the once clean floor of the room, its abdomen ripped open, as the second one vomited over the unicorn medic a shower of greenish stuff, before turning a corner and finding herself in the dark corridors of the hospital again.
"What were those things?!" she asked, following the tail of the other mare. She saw a glimpse of a couple of other side corridors, where other obese ponies were crawling slowly, emitting their disgusting sounds. Luckily, they were apparently too slow to try to catch the two pegasi.
"Don't know exactly. But I know they usually stay in the rooms of the hospital." Answered back the other mare. "Don't know why they are out. Let's just run out of here!"
"But Camo and his sister, they are still here, we should…"
"There is no time!" cried out the other mare, as the walls around them started to ooze out mucus and other yellowish fluids.
-oOo-
Solaris shoved his hooves into the soft dirt, digging. He and Metal Hooves had continued to walk in the dark for… they didn't even know. After leaving the flaming abyss behind them, they just continued to move, Solaris' nose the only thing guiding them, following the thin trail of fresh air he could smell in that place.
After a few minutes, they had ended up in front of a wall. But different from all the other walls they had seen so far, it was a wall of soft and fresh dirt, slightly lit up by a bunch of luminescent mushrooms growing out of it. Apparently they were inside a cave, judging by the few inches of surroundings that the shrooms lit up: rough stone walls, and the pile of dirt closing off the exit.
"We are almost out." grunted Solaris, shoving away the dirt. The other stallion let out a heavy breath to show that he heard. After running away from the dragon chasing them, they had said few words, both of them lost in their thoughts. They surely didn't want to share anything, that was clear.
After another hit, the dirt finally collapsed. The cold and fresh air entered inside the cave, bringing the smell of mud and rain, accompanied by all the typical sounds of a storm.
"Seems like it's raining."
"Thank you Captain Obvious." grunted Solaris, taking a few steps outside: they seemed to be inside an uncared-for playground, a rusty slide that had been devoured by ivy and a swing dangling sadly by only one chain were the only things still with any shape. The stallion looked behind him, seeing that they were stepping out from a little hill in the middle of the playground. He shoved away the wet mane that was starting to fall in front of his eyes and looked around: they weren't too far away from numerous buildings, all with that abandoned look.
"Well, nice to see we are still in town." He grunted. The other stallion joined him, sneezing. The cold rain was rapidly soaking their coats, starting to chill them. "We should find a shelter."
"Now who's Captain Obvious?" asked Metal Hooves with a little chuckle. Solaris ignored him and started to trot towards a building. Luckily enough, the door wasn't locked, and he was able to enter inside a ruined and abandoned boutique. His reptilian eyes examined the large room, stepping slightly on the shredded dresses still worn by the mannequins, studying the mirror shards scattered around the floor.
"Seems safe enough." He stated, after sniffing the air a couple of times, as Metal Hooves entered the boutique, sneezing again. "We shall wait 'till the rain stops. Then, we'll find a way out of this place. I don't want to spend any more time in this place."
"I guess so…" muttered Metal Hooves, sitting on the ground, as his eyes started to wander into the void. Solaris glared at him, before sitting as well and leaning against the counter, his mind returning to what the dragon had said, down in the caves.
"I smell the blood on your hooves!"
Well, no shit. He felt that too. Every day, every hour. It didn't matter where he went, nor what he tried to do to redeem himself. The blood was still there.
"Years ago… there was an accident." Suddenly stated Metal Hooves, looking at the ceiling. Solaris moved an eye towards him. "I… was with a friend of mine. In a forge… I… I don't remember clearly what happened, or how it happened… but a fire started."
"Nothing uncommon inside a forge." Commented the earth pony, shifting slightly, his eyes still locked on Metal Hooves. He had the feeling he knew where this story was going.
"I managed to get out with a couple of scorches… but my friend… he didn't get out in time." Stated the unicorn, gulping. "They found his body the day after, when the fire was extinguished. He was…"
"Unrecognizable?" suggested Solaris, with a little twitch of disgust. He knew what happened to ponies when they burned.
"It was a mass of charred flesh…" muttered Metal Hooves. "I can only imagine how much he suffered. And I wasn't able to save him from the fire." He paused, looking out the shop's window-wall, looking at the rain pouring over the street. "I see him."
"Say what?"
"I see him. My friend. His ghost, or whatever… I think I see him, in this town… when we were at the top of the pit… I saw him. He was asking for help."
"Uh. I guess that's why you didn't save my ass right away." Snorted the earth pony, with a little smile, even if inside his head, gears were turning like crazy. What was happening? Everything was starting to make less and less sense. He shifted again, looking into the street as well.
Neither noticed that the mannequins were closer than before.
-oOo-
"We should go out." said Camo Fall, tugging his sister's tail slightly. "We should join the others."
"It's raining. It's not a good idea to get out when it's raining." stated Twisted Soul, raising an eyebrow. "The creatures love the rain."
"Well, we surely can't stay here."
"I don't see a problem with it."
"Isn't that High Winds' voice screaming?" asked suddenly the little filly, stopping the quarrel between the two stallions, who raied their ears. Sure enough, two mares were screaming in the distance.
"Shit." Was the only comment of Camo, before turning and rushing out of the room. The first thing he noticed was how soft the floor was. When he lowered his eyes, he started to feel the urge to vomit: what before was a clean tiled floor was now an expanse of pulsing living flesh, crossed with blue and violet veins.
"Wuuuuh! What is that!?"
Camo Fall turned, to see Twisted Soul walkign out of the room, Dahlia grasping at his neck.
"I thought you didn't want to leave that room." He snorted, before starting to run towards the screaming, followed by the other pony.
"She knows how to be convincing." Muttered Twisted Soul, glancing at the little filly, before focusing on the corridor ahead of them: two fat, bloated ponies were crawling towards the source of the screaming, apparently unaware of the two stallions.
"Don't touch them, or you'll end up dead in no time." grunted Twisted Soul. "I've seen it happen. Luckily, they are slow as heck."
Camo nodded, and rapidly dashed around the two creatures, wich emitted surprised grunts. When the second stallion passed them, he kicked a stretcher in their direction, hitting one of them, which started to vomit and wheeze.
"This place is crazy."
"It is. But it's also impossible to leave it. Why did you think I was hiding in that room?" grunted Twisted Soul. " Running away from the monsters is the only way to survive here."
"Well, we should try to help the others!" grunted Camo Fall, continuing to run, jumping over a wheelchair in the middle of the corridor. "Together we may be able to get out of this hell-hole"
"Don't count on it."
Oo-oOWell guys, as you can see, I'm still alive. This awfull delay was due life. Too long to explain. It include a car axident, a job, and a girl. O well, anyway, I'll try to be back more often, maybe a little less costant than before. But anyway, I'm going to finish these, you can count on that.