"Dead Reckoning" -Clint Mansell

Chapter 2

“You can stand me up at the gates of hell, but I won’t back down…”

A strange tingling feeling enters you through your stomach as you lead Rainbow Dash through the woods. The golden glow of early morning coats the both of you in an eerily calm light. Mosquitos buzz around your head, much to your annoyance. In one hand, you hold your father’s pistol. The six bullet magazine it had was quickly drained, and had been rendered useless for over two months. Though it had no value in terms of survival, you held it close to you. It was the last thing your father had ever given you. In his dying breath he slipped it into your palm. On the side of the stainless silver, an inscription was clear in bold letters.

“Keep Going and Never Back Down.” There was no chance in hell you were giving this up.

In your other hand, you hold Dash’s tiny hand softly, caressing the back of it with your thumb in an attempt to help her relax. She had stopped crying for the most part, but her quiet sniffles could still be heard. Her eyes were still bloodshot and her mane was still a mess. Her dirty blue t-shirt had dried up, but the tear stains still showed through, simply adding to the list of stains. Words couldn’t describe how badly you felt for her above all else besides the obvious death of her loved ones. For three months, she’d had to wear the same clothes without any hint of a bath. Of course, neither had you. The smell was becoming too much to bear as of late, and the recent extreme loss of blood didn’t help to keep you from passing out. Then again, she’s only six. AND she’s a female. Through experience, you know females, kids or not, had less tolerance for stink as much as males. And if the smell makes YOU wanna pass out, clearly she’s not doing too hot either.

The dead leaves under your worn down black sneakers crunch as you step on them. Birds can be heard in the distance, singing merrily to each other. The sound nearly drives you over the edge in half of you. To hear their happiness and carefreeness makes you envy them. And they’re BIRDS. Fuck them and their tiny lifespans.

A quiet cough breaks through the near silence. It was your cough. In fact, this was basically your ninetieth cough of the morning. Ever since you and Rainbow Dash set out again, your throat had been dry and stung. Though you had told Dash you couldn’t get some water out of your gullet, you knew the real reason.

You’re coughing up blood. Your untreated and probably infected wounds are getting the better of you. The only thing you could possibly hope for now is that you were at no point bitten.

With the hand that holds your weapon, you raise it to your lips and cough into the back of your wrist. Pulling your arm away to examine it, you notice that the expected blood covering your wrist is oddly dark. As if it were within a shadow, even though being in direct sunlight. It didn’t glisten in the sun; it remained a deep, dark, monochrome red. It was more like a reddish black to be honest. This reaction could only come from one source. With wide eyes you come to the heinous realization.

You really were bitten.

The disease would soon spread to your mind and corrupt your basic senses. It would send primal, terrible commands to your body; make you hunger for the most uncouth of meats: the flesh of your own kind. You’re starting to become one of them. From the corner of your eye you see poor little Rainbow Dash look up at you with curious eyes. You fall short of breath as she asks you what’s wrong.

“Dash… Go straight back to the cabin. Hide somewhere, I don’t want to know where. Take this,” you say, handing her the pistol. She takes it in both hands and looks to have to strain to lift it. Her breathing increases in speed.

“Wh… Why…? What’s going on? …__? Please tell me…” The pitch in her voice rises to a squeak and she sounds as if she’s about to cry again. The more you think about the reaction you’re having, the more you begin to lose your temper.

“Rainbow Dash!” the use of her full name startles her. With a deep breath and a sigh, you calm down just a bit, but not too much. “I have no time to explain. In fact I have no time at all. I have to run as fast as possible and I can’t carry you right now. I’ll be back as soon as I can. Stay hidden. Stay safe. If you see any of them on the way back, call for me. If you’re hidden and you see any… Stay. Put. Don’t scream. Don’t run. Don’t cry.” You lift the pistol to her chest and place it where her heart is. “This gives me strength. It’ll give you strength too.” As expected, Dash rushes in and gives you a tight hug, which you return. Pulling away, you put your hands on her shoulders. “Follow the path. Run. Now,” you whisper. She nods once and bolts back to the cabin. As she runs, you notice her tiny wings are flapping, trying in vain to get a lift. You would’ve flown straight to Cloudsdale with your wings, had one of them not been broken. The second she’s out of sight, you take off in the opposite direction. Where you’re going, you’re not sure, but you have to find help. In the very last news broadcast you saw, you could see that there were emergency staffs that could treat the newly infected.

Though, what does ‘newly’ entail?

With a severe loss of blood, aches everywhere, and a serious lack of proper sleep and food, sprinting isn’t exactly working out too well. The nearest city from here was Canterlot, but something tells you that you won’t exactly have the needed strength to sprint twenty-three more miles and climb a mile-high mountain. Your breath is already nowhere to be found and you halt in your pursuit of treatment. A small cloud of dust rises as you collapse onto the ground, coughing and hacking the whole way. Blood splatters onto the ground and mixes in with the light brown dirt. Though as hard as you hack and beg for air, your lungs simply won’t take anything in. A feeling of incredible unease washes over you as your stomach churns. The ground suddenly hardens and the world seems to distort as you fail to hold back your vomit. Once, twice, three times you let it out onto the ground with your eyes shut tight. The flow finally comes to a halt and a ringing enters your ears. The muscles in your arms fail to hold you up and you fall to the ground, only just missing the massive pile of puke. You lay on your side as the world continues to spin out of control. Opening your eyes, you finally see that your vomit wasn’t vomit at all.

Three times you had puked up massive piles of your own blood.

The world collapses in on itself after spinning a million more times, simply making you dizzier. Though you feel the blood rising from your stomach once again, and against your better judgment, you decide to force it out and get it over with. But nothing comes out. You’re drained. You’ve got nothing left.

You’re becoming one of them. You ARE one of them.

The Earth shatters, the clouds fall, the sun extinguishes, the ground crumbles, and the atmosphere collapses. Death has finally taken you. Your family welcomes you back home with open arms. You’re at your childhood home, your happy place that you thought up whenever you were stressed. And all of that stress lifts and you accept your inevitable fate. A long awaited smile spreads across your lips as you run toward them. Though, the second you reach them, they disperse, leaving you to hug the open air. The second you look back at them in confusion, you see that they aren’t there at all. That damned ringing enters your ears once again and threatens to tear your mind in two.

Where your family used to stand now stands one being. One mind opposite yours.

It’s Rainbow Dash, holding her new pistol and running in place for her life, calling your name. Tears stream her face and she runs as fast as physically possible. Screams fill your ears and you realize that the ringing from before wasn’t ringing.

It was her screaming. She screams your name in terror. She needs you and you just left her.

They found her and you left her.

Rainbow Dash’s screams continue to flood your ears. But those screams disperse and become your own. Now you’re screaming. At the top of your lungs you’re apologizing to her, telling her with all your strength that it was your fault, not hers, hoping that by some chance she’ll hear you. You plead to the gods to spare her life and instead take yours down. Suddenly, your world of pure blackness begins to shake and your very name floods your ears and threatens to deafen you. You continue to scream random apologies as you fall. Falling to your doom. Falling into the hell you deserve to be in for leaving her alone. All the while, your name rattles your eardrums.

Author's Note

Here's chapter 2
P.S. Could anyone let me know how to add italics? I can't figure it out. It just looks weird to me.
I probably look like an idiot.