The Conversion Bureau: The Dead.

Important message at the end of chapter.

They heard thunder as they neared the barrier. Or at least it was thunder like. It was far too short to be thunder. It also didn't "rumble" like thunder usually does.

They had chased Strong Shield to the armory. They didn't even try to change his mind, since they knew all too well it was near impossible to change it (they never looked at honey the same way). They took their respective weapons: Strong Shield had a lance that fitted over the withers. Quick Draw had a crossbow. Bold Wing had an ax.

Silverhoof couldn't help but think of the human encounter over and over in his mind. The one question he couldn't answer, but was constantly thinking of, was why. Why had the human eat Bob alive?

His musings was interrupted by Bold Wing. "You ok?"

Silverhoof nodded. "Yeah. I was just thinking."

Bold was about to reply when the "Thunder" changed. It turned into a sharp crack. They had just passed the barrier when Quick Draw, who had been in the front of the group, stopped; her mouth agape.

The scene before them was the stuff of nightmares. A teeming hoard of grey and red and other colors writhed before them. Men, women, and even children(1) stumbled and made a cacophony of moans and groans that would make a grown stallion wet himself(2).

They all seem to be drawn to a lone human. The human was different from the horrors that staggered towards him. He had a tanish skin tone instead of grey. He had what looked like a stick that flashed fire at the end for a second, causing the thunder they had heard.

Since the human was apparently attacking the monsters, Strong Shield deemed that it wasn't one of them. Considering the size of the group of monsters, the human would need help. He looked at his leader, silently telling him what he was thinking of doing.

Silverhoof sighed as Strong Shield readied his lance and flew down to help the human.

Silverhoof led his squad after Strong Shield.

John knew he could run, but they would home in on him were-ever he would go. He would have to hold up in a place that could withstand a siege from those things to even have a chance of surviving. But, even then he would need help. One man versus a hoard of zombies; he wouldn't last long.

John heard somthing land behind him. He whirled around to see one of the aliens he saw earlier. He scowled at it before turning back to fire at the hoard. In his mindset, they were the ones that got him into this mess. Sure, he had his free choice to go or not, but they could have at least arrived quieter.

"What are you doing here?" He asked the alien.

Strong Shield flinched at the hostility in his voice. "We... came to help."

The human made a mocking laugh. "Really? And what would you do? Charge blindly at the zombies?"

"Hey," a new voice spoke. "don't talk about Bob that way!"

John regarded the hoard for a moment. Seeing if he went soon, he could escape and mount a defense in time. He turned to the new comer. "Your friend died because he was stupid. You didn't know what you were getting into?"

By that time Quick Draw and Bold Wing arrived. Quick turned green when she saw a child no more than ten with her intestines hanging out of a ragged hole.

John took notice at Quick's reaction and aimed at the girl. "You want to help? Well, they aren't gonna kill themselves."

Bold Wing looked at him in horror. "Kill your own kind?"

John frowned. "They aren't human anymore." He said as he fired. The back of the little girl's head exploded in a fine mist. The girl crumpled in a heap, limbs twitching. A young woman -who could have passed as a supermodel, except with her larynx torn out and and dangled out- tripped over the girl. Soon more and more tripped on the undead dog pile.

Quick Draw, who wielded a crossbow, aimed and fired. The bolt flew 50 yards before embedding itself in the throat of an one-armed man. He staggered before continuing trudging along toward food.

John quickly decided that this wasn't the best corse of action. They needed to get out of there. The only problem was Zack would follow them like a heat-seeking missile. That, and finding a place that could hold out against a siege. If they move now, they could out-monuver the hoard before them.

He turned to the aliens. "If you want to live, follow me. Or you could go home."

He didn't wait for them to converse. He shouldered his rifle and took running. The sound of hoof-falls following him told him they were coming.

As they passed through a less crowded part of the mob, one of the zombies grabbed Quick Draw by the tail. As she screamed, John turned around. He quickly put a bullet in the cranium. They started moving quickly again.They evaded the rest of the mob with ease.

John reckoned that the majority of the zombies in New York had been attracted to the noise the island had made. He estimated that he had about an hour to fortify once he found a suitable place.

He knew of a place that _could_ stand against a hoard of hungry zombies. There was a place he liked to call "The Workshop". It was basically a place that sold woodcrafting supplies. It was on a street surrounded on all but one side by buildings. It was also near a gun shop, which was a bonus.

As the group turned the corner of the street that had The Workshop, there two zombies in the way; a male and a female. John shouldered his rifle and fired. The ponies flinched at bang. The woman's side of her head exploded in a fine mist. "She" dropped like a stone. The man turned it's glassy dead eyes towards John. John aimed at him and fired. The round went off it's mark and tore off it's lower jaw. It stumbled while it made a gurgling sound from it's ruined  maw.

John cursed and pulled the trigger. It clicked, signaling that the clip was empty. As he uttered a slew of obscenities that would make a sailor proud, he heard a twang and thunk.

He looked up and saw the zombie stumbled from a newly implanted crossbow bolt sticking out of his chest, the zombie never once took it's dead eye's off of John.

John gently put down his gun down, since he didn't want to waste any more ammo. He pulled out his crowbar and jogged over to the monster. He was in mid-swing when he tripped on a rock. The weapon landed on the shoulder instead of the head, imbedding it self deep into the flesh.

The zombie leaned in to take a bite of flesh from John's neck,so he put up his arm; hoping to God that his armor would protect him from a bite.

Instead of a piercing pain that signified teeth piercing the skin, it was a dull one.   John shook his arm free, and pulled the bolt free. He stabbed it in the zombie's eye and shoved it onto it's back.

He put one of his feet onto the thing's neck- electing a choked gurgle from it- stomped on it's head over and over again until it was little more than reddish pulp.

He looked back and saw the ponies looked back in horror. "What? C'mon. We'd better get moving."

He yanked out the crowbar out of the corpse. He loped to the door and tried it. It was locked. No problem for a crowbar.

After he opened the both the doors to the shops, he turned to one of the strange horses. "There's a super market around here, a Wall-Mart I think. Go and get food and medical supplies. As much as you can carry. If you meet any zombies, destroy the brain. That's the only way to 'kill' these things. And hurry. They'll be here soon."

The pegasus nodded and flew off. John opened the gun store, with an ever-growing grin on his. Gun of every model and size one person could ever dream of lined the shelves* .  His eye spied a high power sniper rifle, and his grin grew wider. He saw a Winchester shotgun, and his grin threatened to split his face in half. He took both guns and ammo.

"Fuckin' A." He muttered to himself.

He went back to the Workshop and opened it. Almost immediately the stench of rotting flesh hit his nose like a semi, literally staggering him.

Since the apocalypse started, his nose had long since grew accustom the that stink. Just because he was used to it didn't make any more pleasurable.

The ponies, however, were not. Almost immediately John heard the ponies retching out the contents of their stomachs.

John frowned and quietly put down the guns.

That stench could mean one of two things. Either there was a decaying body somewhere, or a zombie. He readied his crowbar.

There was a flash of movement that caught his eye. He ducked out of the way of a zombie's swipe and turned to face the enemy.

To call the infected big would be an understatement. It looked like a sumo wrestler, but with muscles. It must have been from the first wave of infection from the state of decay. The eyes were sunken into their sockets, the skin on the head clung tightly to the skull. Some parts had split open, revealing grey bone. The body, how ever, was in fairly good condition.

How a monster of that size snuck up on John was beyond him.

He ducked under another swipe and backed away. The monster lurched forward after him. John looked to the ponies to see them tremble in fear. No help from them.

He readied his crowbar.

He side-stepped another attack and struck a blow to he back of the cranium. The zombie lost it's balance and fell. John finished it with another swing.

He looked at the others. "Help me with the body."

After he heaved the corpse out of the shop he ordered them to help fortify the place.

He sighed. Things were about to get interesting.

Bold Wing found the store surprisingly easily, considering. Getting _in_ was another thing. There was about 30 of those things( zombies, the human had called them) wandering around the entrance. The zombies were weaving in and out of what looked like metal lumps.

A few had noticed him flying when he had got there. They had their arms out and moaning at him. They were already attracting more. He needed to get in and out fast.

There only was one by the entrance.

He gagged when he saw the state that it was in. It had been completely disembowled. There were bite sized chunks of flesh missing. It's eyes were gouged out by who-knows-what. The lower part of the arms were gone, looking like they had been torn off.

To make it even more sickening, it was a foal. The gender couldn't be told the body was so mangled.

Bold Wing just hovered there, staring. 'Dear Celestia... What happened to this place?'

It was sitting against what looked like a large pane. The child's jaw was moving, so it was alive. Or what could count as alive, in this case.

He silently glided down and was surprised that the glass pane was a door.

He quickly stepped inside and readied his axe in his mouth.

The handled was a specific shape designed to fit comfortably in a pony's mouth.

The store was quiet, dark, and seemingly dead. A feeling dread washed over him.

A disturbing chewing sound echoed throughout the store.

Bold Wing gulped and stepped forward. His footsteps echoed. He saw a figure resting it's head on the conveyor belt in one of the check-out isles.

It moved. Bold Wings breaths became short and fast.

The figure lifted it's head from the blood-stained conveyor belt.

A loud thud came from behind him. He looked to see the girl zombie from before banging her head on the glass.

He looked back at the zombie at the check-out. It had a blue uniform. It shifted and fell down on the floor.

Bold Wing could now see that the monster was tied up with plastic hoof-cuffs. He hesitantly took a few steps forward to the now writhing creature.

In his training simulations he had thought he had seen it all: manticores, timberwolves, hydras, cockatrice, Changelings, even evil gods like Discord and Nightmare Moon.

But this...thing was different from his home dangers.

This moment was when he realized the full repercussions of what happened. The writhing women that kept staring at him with those soulless, dead eyes could have been a loving mother and wife. She could have taken her kids to the park and got them ice cream. Now? Now all that's left is empty shell, a dead husk, all that remains of what the woman was, or could've been.

And the girl. Bold Wing turned to stare at what was left of the girl. It continued to bang it's head on the glass door, cutting it self. It either didn't care, or could not.

Bold Wing imagined what the girl could have been. She could have been the ruler of this land, or a loving wife with kids.

No wonder the human had seem so hostile. Probably all his friends and family are dead...or worse.

Bold Wing noticed a metal cart with wheels. He went over to it and pushed it around. He frowned. He wouldn't to be able to fly with it. And he sure as Tarturuas wasn't going to walk out of here.

Then he saw a plastic hand basket. He thought for a moment, before putting away his axe. He bent over and picked it up with his mouth.

Bold Wing was born in Manehatten, so he knew what canned food was. He knew that it could last much longer than fresh food. So he stocked up as much as he could fit in his basket.

The sound of glass breaking was the signal that it was time to go. He flew out of the store, and back to base.

John was in the process of boarding up the windows when one of the aliens talked to him.

"Hey. We didn't get your name. I'm Quick Draw."

"John." He said bluntly.

Silence fell for a few moments before Quick Draw spoke up again. "What happened?"

"...people got sick. Then they died. Then...they came back."

"Came back? What do you mean 'came back'?"

"They got back up. But they weren't alive," he shook his head. "Oh no. They started to attack people. People tried to reason with them. But they were already gone. Whatever they were was gone. The only option left was to put them down."

He turned to Quick Draw with a serious look on his face. "If you ever get bitten, God help you."

She didn't know who "God" was, but she didn't speak her confusion. "Why? What happens if you get bit?"

"You turn into one of them."

Quick draw shivered, imagining how awful it would be to turn into one of them. "Don't you want to get away? We could go to Equestria."

John raised an eyebrow. "Equestria? You mean that island that appeared?

Halo: Memories.