Close Your Eyes

“What the hell happened? Everything was fine just a few days ago, then everything went to hell in a hand basket and then some. When the whole celestia forsaken thing started I was sitting in my tiny cubicle like every other lifeless peon in the building. I was typing up yet another report on a project my boss had set me up with so he could fire me when it inevitably failed when I noticed a commotion over on the other side of the room. I decided to hell with my boss, I’m gonna go check it out.

All of my coworkers were gathering around a small TV set up in the lounge, which for some odd reason was always tuned in to the news and had all the knobs broken off. They were all gawkin' at the screen and talking amongst themselves. From what I could catch from their talking a government run laboratory on the other side of town had been broken into. I guess some conspiracy theorists thought they were building biological weapons and had broke in earlier in the day to find out. The idiots got caught and arrested on the spot but the weird part was the fact that all the cops were wearing hazmat suits.

I got off work – well I’m lying, I got fired – and headed home for the final time. That lab was only a block away from my house and I passed it on the way. It was covered in yellow “DO NOT CROSS” tape and surrounded by red and blue lights. The fuzz were all over and even more hazmat suits were crawling all over the building. I got stopped by the cops and interrogated but after I explained that if I didn’t get home then somepony would be job searching to feed their donut addiction. To cut a short story shorter, they let me go.

When I finally landed in my yard the sun was going down and my neighbor was shuffling around his yard, which wasn’t too strange considering he was half blind and manic depressive. I had to call the cops on him once when I spotted him outside, tying a noose to a tree and climbing onto a chair.

He looked at me as I got out my keys and started sauntering over. Something wasn’t right, I could feel it; I just couldn’t put my hoof on it. I asked him how he was doing but he didn’t answer. He just kept shuffling closer and closer. When he got close enough my jaw hit the ground. He was dead; a bullet hole right through his cheek and part of the back of his head was gone. His eyes were glazes over and lifeless. Ha, I guess the poor bastard finally did himself in.

He kept coming closer and closer, I didn’t know what to do. I tripped over my porch and nearly landed on an axe I kept by the door. I grabbed it and stumbled to my hooves just fast enough to back up. I swung at him, only trying to scare him off. Instead, I chopped his leg off. He still didn’t stop; I swung again this time connecting where I was aiming. His guts spilled out all over my lawn, staining it red.

He. Kept. Coming.

I swung one my time and buried the axe in his face. By then adrenaline and panic had taken over and I couldn’t just stop. I bashed his skill and flayed his face apart long after he hit the ground and stopped moving. His face was gone, nothing more than bloody chunk s of meat stuck to his crushed skull. I dropped the axe and locked myself in my house, already puking all over myself. I turned on my TV desperate for answers, those I got.

Turns out that the lab was building bio-weapons. When the conspiracy theorists broke in they must have gotten in contact with it and contracted it, when they got caught it went airborne and spread. Or at least that’s what the newscasters were told. Dead were coming back to life all over the area, killing everyone.

The royal guard had been called in but they could only do so much. They were only making a small dent in their massive enemies numbers and every one of their own that fell came back to kill his friends, and anyone else close enough to bite. That was the really freaky bit, when the dead come back, they feed on other ponies. If you get bit you die from the infection, and if you can’t get away from them after they bite you then they just tear you apart.

I held them off the best I could. My daughter had found her way to my place after her mother got killed, she hated me, but I was all she had. If we kept quiet the dead would leave us alone. One day we screwed up, we screwed up bad, real bad. I had left the door open for a minute or two to throw out some trash, and apparently they’re attracted to light. I got the door closed and locked but the damage was done. Minutes later they were swarming the porch, decaying faces pressed tight against the glass. They just kept pounding and pounding until the glass finally broke.

It was the same nightmare for my daughter all over again. We got up the stairs as fast as we could but when the dead smell the living, they can move. We almost made it to my upstairs safe room when one grabbed hold of her leg. I kicked it off but it was only replaced by more. There was nothing I could do, I tried to fight them off but she had already been bitten, so I… *shaky sigh* I just stood there. I stood there and watched as she begged for help, pleaded for her daddy to make it stop. Stood there and listened to her scream as they tore the flesh from her face. Stood and looked her in the eye, trembling, confused, and afraid.

I should have paid attention. I didn’t notice one of the bastards come up past the horde that was eating my daughter. I only noticed him when he sank his teeth into my leg. I managed to beat him off and get out the window and into the air. I ended up in here, in this abandoned storm cellar. The infection is going into its advanced stages as I’m recording this, my breathing is faster, my heart rate is faster, I’m starting to see things, I don’t know how much longer I can hold on. If you found this tape, don’t let them bite you. If they bite you you’re going to die, and if anyone is near you when it happens, they’ll die too. You’ll kill them. The only way to stop it is through the head, a gunshot, a blade, a hammer, anything to destroy the brain.

For celestias sake don’t put your loved ones in danger. If you get bit, you can’t stay near them for long. If a friend gets bit, put them down while you can celestia damn it, it’s your only choice…”

*click*

Twilight turned off the TV with a flick of her hoof. She looked around the storm cellar at her friends, their dirty faces illuminated by the single lamp in the middle of the room. They all stared back, fear pulsating in their expressions. She looked down at her leg, at the now pus encrusted bite wound throbbing painfully. She looked at the shotgun sitting in her lap, loaded with the few shells they could scavenge.

She lifted the gun slowly, sliding the bolt back and racking a single round into the chamber with a seemingly deafening click. She turned to face the three fillies cowering in the corner, skinny malnourished bodies shivering uncontrollably and eyes wide with fear and confusion.

“Close your eyes” she whispered. They obeyed and covered their faces with their hooves, turning to face the cold concrete wall. The rest of her friends watched as she put the end of the barrel in between her trembling lips, biting down on the cold metal. She gave them one last smile and with teary eyes, pulled the trigger.

In the deafening silence, they closed their eyes.