Fallout Equestria and The Number Station

Chapter 4: Ambush

A Stable GoE-EoHS jumpsuit! This mare had been from Stable GoE-EoHS, Aroma's Stable. Now she was trying to kill or had killed Aroma, the more Artemis thought about it the less she liked this experiment. She emptied the pony's saddlebag and found a half drank canteen, a knife and a small box of .308 rounds. She pocketed the spoils and walked over to her pipbuck.

-Warning 0 life signs, your local medical personnel have been notified.

-Warning local emergency care signal unresponsive.

Artemis scanned the notices and tried to remove the pipbuck but it was fastened and locked on her foreleg, the only way she get it off is if she cut the mare's leg off. It's not like she's going to be doing a whole lot of walking anyway but then snapped herself out of it. Aroma was still injured! She flew into the air and back to the wagon. Mr. Bay was looking up to the sky as she landed. "Are we safe?" He asked. Artemis assured him they were and she hoisted Aroma's body into the wagon and they began to move in a hastened pace.

"How bad is it?" Bay asked.

"Bad." She replied.

Aroma's wounds had stopped bleeding but the projectile was still inside her. A doctor would have to remove it. Artemis laid her head gently to Aroma's chest. A faint heartbeat could be heard, she was alive.

"Well shit, you're alive!" Artemis exclaimed even though Aroma didn't respond.

~Later the caravan finally gets to Happenstance and found a doctor~

The doctor's clinic was inside the town Stable. It's giant steel door lay open. Majority of the town's structures were outside while more important functions happened in the Stable. Artemis sat in a waiting room. The doctor's had taken her back for diagnosis.

"Ms. Arrow, a word please." A medical pony asked.She walked to the stallion with the white lab coat.

"What's the situation doc?" She asked openly worried.

He sighed. "She's badly wounded. The bullet is lodged in one of her abdominal muscles and she'll need immediate surgery in the next twelve hours if she wants to have a chance to regain full functionality." Artemis cringed, surgery was a personal fear of her's. She'd sometimes rather die than someone operate on her. Maybe she was being rigid.

"She has no notable next of kin and as her boss that gives you her power of attorney, you can make the decision for her. We can operate or relinquish her into your custody. But I highly recommend surgery Ms. Arrow." It was no argument, Aroma needed that surgery. She opened her mouth to okay the procedure when a nurse walked in.

"Dr. Silver! Dr. Silver!" She was frantic.

"What is it nurse?"

"We're out of anesthetic!" She cried. The doctor looked concerned and Artemis knew what this meant, Aroma might wake up during the surgery or worse might feel the entire thing!

"When's our next shipment due?!"

"Not for a couple days, and the scavengers haven't been finding much either."

"Wait!" The doctor said. "Isn't there a hospital in the north in that uh what's it called Old Olneigh?"

The nurse looked at him with a worried expression. "But doctor none of our scavenging parties have returned from there and even if there was anesthesia we couldn't form a party to go in time."

"Where's this Old Olneigh?" Artemis asked.

"Up north, over by Splendid Valley but not quite at Splendid Valley. If you follow the roads it will take you there check that pipbuck." Doctor Silver explained.Artemis hadn't realized she was still wearing it. She pulled up the map interface and found on the map what probably was the township of Old Olneigh.

"Alright, I'll grab that anesthesia and be back soon." Artemis replied.

"Don't be hasty Ms. Arrow." Doc Silver complained. "We don't know what's there. Examine your options first."

"It's fine, I'll sneak in grab the stuff and I'll be gone and I can fly and it's a one man mission." She reassured them.

The doctor and nurse bit their lips, hesitant about this course of action.

"Look just be ready to operate as soon as I get back. Maybe even go ahead and fix that flesh wound of hers while I'm gone." Artemis suggested and began to leave. The two nodded reluctantly and went into the OR.

~later~

Artemis stared down at Old Olneigh with her binoculars, her pipbuck....Aroma's pipbuck was correct. She saw figures moving around the town, oblivious to her. By their shape they were most likely hellhounds, it explains why no one returned. Hellhounds are some of the nastiest creatures in the bestiary of the Equestrian Wasteland. Vicious and angry. They are large in stature and topped off with devastating claws. It's a good thing Artemis was sneaking in.

She descended slowly and landed on the roof of the hospital. The cover of night helped her a lot the town was dark but bathed in the ethereal light of the moon. She tugged the doorknob. Locked, luckily she was a expert locksmith.

CHZZZIK KASHING!

The door window broke... somewhat quietly but she wasn't going to remain to find out if she was still hidden. She unlocked the door from the inside for her escape and went down the stairs. Her EFS had lit three entities as hostile. Artemis kept to the shadows one light began spinning around her compass.

"He's a floor above me." She thought to herself. She leaned against a corner and peeked around. Clear. But she felt something behind her she turned and saw a piece of flesh dangling in front of her face.

"Huh?" She whispered.....then looked to what the flesh was attached to. On the ceiling some goddless creature hung on it's.....six hooves?!

Artemis screamed and it's head pivoted on it's shoulders and it's eyes flashed red and Artemis could not move! Her body wasn't responding and the monster began to move. It raised a hoof and fell to the fool with a squish. It's tongues moved rapidly as it stumbled closer and closer. She strained to move with all her will. Just as it wrapped a tongue around her ankle.....

"Get away!" She uttered and sliced the tongue off with her talon. The decapitated tongue flailed spewing green blood. Artemis kicked back and grabbed her famas. It flashed it's eyes again but she closed them just in time.

Artemis unleashed half of the magazine into the creature. She opened her eyes one at a time and saw the monster die. It's fleshy colostomy bags that riddled it's body punctured and deflated filling the hallway with a agonizing stench that made her eyes water. Then she realized, the hellhounds!

She heard them coming up the stairs!

Artemis kicked up and turned quickly. Their footsteps grew louder as they beat up the stairs. She looked around to find a place to hide. Quickly she ran into a patient room and close the door just as her pursuers finished up the stairs. Inside she found her boon, a bag of anesthetic hung on a pole over a patient's bed. Unhooking it a medical bot hovered around beds that had those creatures in them. It turned to her.

"Hello ma'am do you require medical attention?" It asked jubilantly. Artemis's hairs......feathers stood on end.

"I think it came from here." One barked outside and the knob turned.

"Do you require medical atten-!" The robot asked but the hellhound violently smacked it to the ground. It laid there spouting "error 404".

Artemis kicked on the SATS feature and unloaded several rounds into the hellhound's head. It fell to the ground dead but the others were alerted. CRASKIN! One hellound jump through the observation window and fired his magical energy rifle, Artemis barely dodged and ducked behind a desk. She knew a hit to the desk would disintegrate it so she couldn't linger. She raised her famas over the desk and blindly shot, it wasn't so much to hit them but to keep them back for a little while longer. Under the desk Artemis raised it with her back and hands and barreled for the broken window. The hellhound made swipe at the desk but he was buffeted. After hearing him fall down Artemis abandoned the desk and jumped over the window frame. As she jumped the second hellhound behind took a decapitating swipe. Artemis cried as the long gash opened on the back of her neck. She fell on the floor with a thud sluggishly she rose to her feet in a daze. She put a talon to her wound and her claw had a bad amount of blood on it. She whimpered as she ran up to the roof. More hellhounds could be heard giving chase, Artemis opened the door and stumbled to find the ability to take off. She flapped her wings and struggled to lift off. If she could just get in the air she'd be able to do the rest.

All that was left of her for the hellhounds was a small splash of blood on the roof. She could hear the them as they raged about their quarry that slipped their grasp.

~Later~

Artemis's vision was becoming fuzzy but she could Happenstance. The next events we're like a dream.