Tough times and difficult decisions

Hamus

I looked on in concern as Umbra fell onto the hard linoleum floor with a thump. He really needs to stop passing out.

"I'll go rouse a doctor." The blue one said worriedly before walking down the hallway the doctor and nurses went. I looked on with conflicted eyes. On one hand, people and friends died everyday. It was a fact of life with our group. But on the other hand, I couldn't help but worry for my friend. We'd been friends ever since I saved his life sixteen years ago…

"Get off of me! Get. The. Fuck. OFF!" I heard a gruff, young voice shout from an alleyway to my right. The shout was shortly followed by the ear piercing roar of gunfire. I carefully worked my way over to the alley and saw just what was going on. A teenage boy was fighting off a group of Militia Men. These were the bottom of the military totem pole, nothing but brutes and low lives. Somehow, the military deemed them fit to serve. They easily had him out numbered 7-1. As I began to creep along the edge of the alley to assess the situation, one of the military men fired a low caliber weapon at the boy. He fell to his knees as the shot tore through his thigh, causing him to drop his gun. He quickly drew his knife and, with a shout of pain, rose to his feet.

His legs were shaking violently, threatening to drop him back to the cold, broken concrete below. One of the men laughed and drew a knife of his own. His knife could have been considered a short sword with it's length. I noticed the boy wasn't phased by the blade and had an almost calming smile on his face. He shifted his weight onto his good leg and got into a defensive position. The soldier drew back his arm for a wide slash but the boy was more than eager to block his arm and plant his knife in the soldiers chest. He then heaved his bleeding body over his side and ripped the knife from him.

Squaring off with the next one, he went to attack. He would have too except he forgot something. There was a lot more of them than there were him. He was smashed from the back and side by two more soldiers and shrieked in pain. Looking at the boy, I noticed a small knife stabbed into his lower back. I grit my teeth and raised my rifle to the stabbers chest. I let my rifle release two terrifying roars and didn't wait to watch him fall. Aiming at the next one, I shot one round clean through his head, the round opened him up like a can. I took aim at the next one but before I could shoot, he was taken to the ground and stabbed in the neck by a very pissed and bleeding teen.

Moving on, I shot at the next one but jerked the rifle a bit too hard. The shots went off to the left and tore apart the brick wall behind him. He raised a handgun to me and pulled the trigger. Closing my eyes, I waited for my end...It never came. Instead I heard a cry of pain, I looked on to see two soldiers laying on the ground. The first from a gunshot wound to the back. And the second had a short sword sticking from his chest.

The last soldier looked on in fear at the teenage boy. His battered and bleeding body was racking from the pain. His pained, angry face was contorted into a grimace of pain. His blade was dripping with the blood of the soldiers behind him. Then, the soldier went wide eyed as I stepped out of the shadows and approached the kid. He saw my large frame, rifle, My worn military vest, My hateful glare boring into his skull. Then, with all the stress, terror, and confusion building up in him...He fainted.

I placed a hand on the kids shoulder and he looked up to me. His wide, fearful eyes began to leak tears. The stress of the situation finally caught up with him. The poor kid didn't look much older than Echo come to think of it, I guessed he was around eighteen or nineteen. I held my hand on his shoulder and dropped to a crouch. The kid slowly collapsed onto the ground causing him to wince at his injuries.

"What's your name kid?" I asked in a low, gravelly voice. He looked up to me quickly before returning his gaze to the bloodstained concrete below.

"Nate, Nate Cor. Who are you?" He asked in a small, detached voice.

"My names Mike. Mike Daniels. So what caused all this?" I asked, still keeping my voice low and soothing. I watched the kid tense up quickly.

"I...Uh...May have blown up a supply truck of theirs. Then I may have killed two of their soldiers to distract them while I ran off. Then I got cornered here by a patrol and, well...You know the rest." He finished lamely. I nodded at the kid and saw as he crumbled before me. The kid did more recently than my entire camp has!

"You...Blew up a supply truck? That's impressive. How long have you been here in the zone kid?" I asked with appreciation in my tone.

"I've been here for almost nine years now. I came from a camp a ways west of here." He said with a lazy wave to the side. I suppose he expected me to kill him, but that wasn't going to happen.

"I know a few camps around here. How far west is it?" I asked calmly. The best I could do was get on this kids good side.

"Ten miles."

Ten miles? That's out by Tango camp. This kids been around...

He stood and walked over to the body of the soldier he stabbed. He bent over and grabbed his rifle and handgun. He tucked the handgun into the back waistband of his jeans and turned toward me. It looked like he was about to say something but a new sound stopped him.

"THIS WAY!"

"Move it you bastards!"

"Here kitty, kitty, kitty!"

"Shit. Nate, run!" I said as I jumped to my feet. I saw Nate take off through the alley. I ran after him, the sound of our breathing and the stomping of six sets of boots were our soundtrack. We sprinted through the alley faster than we ever thought we could. I could hear the cackling of our chasers gaining on us faster and faster. Once we emerged from the other side I took the lead.

"THIS WAY!" I shouted as I took a sharp right and ran down a service road. I could hear more boots on the ground now, too many to fight. The steady 'womp' of a helicopter was getting closer. At the end of the road, we turned a corner and were greeted with a roadblock and a wall of lead. I jumped back with a shout as the ground in front of me exploded from the force of the shots. We turned and came face to face with thirty soldiers. All of them had their weapons trained on us, but none fired.

"Fuck! What now!?" Nate asked as he readied his rifle. The metal scratching overtook all the sound around us as the soldiers cocked their rifles. The flashlights on their rifles blinded us and disorientated me. I looked over at Nate and saw him staring at something on my chest. I followed his gaze to a tubular, perforated object. Before I could react, he grabbed the Flash grenade and pulled the pin. He dropped it at our feet and dragged me off to the side. We took off running but I flinched when I heard the deafening explosion of the grenade mixed with gunfire. The bright light reflected off of the surrounding debris and buildings for a second before disappearing. The thunderous stomping of our boots resonated off of the short confounds of the alley we sprinted into. Before long, the deafening report of rifles firing and boots hitting concrete echoed through the space.

"Shit! Nate, go! Go right at the end of the alley and go into the woods! Go north until you hit my camp! Tell them I sent ya!" I shouted as I spun around and dropped to a crouch. Raising my rifle, I returned fire on the soldiers. I watched as they scurried to whatever cover they could find. I slowly started retreating as I emptied my magazine. I dropped the mag as the soldiers started shooting my way again. I jumped behind a nearby dumpster and finished reloading my rifle. I inched out enough to return fire before sprinting out of the alley. I pointed my rifle behind me to fire off bursts to keep them suppressed as I ran.

Reaching the end of the alley, I ducked off to the right and ran down the street. I saw Nate almost enter the woods when he looked behind himself. I saw him raise his rifle and watched it flash dangerously. Not even a second later I heard the thunderous boom and the scream of a soldier getting hit. Smiling slightly, I ran with all I had toward the forest. I heard the report of another shot and yet another scream. I was within ten yards of the forest now, closer to safety. Then, the world erupted into white from the spotlight above me.

"Hamus? Hamus! Snap the fuck out of it!" I heard a gravely voice shout from in front of me. Shifting my focus, I looked at Umbra. He looked like hell, His once bright brown hair now looked like mud with specks of blood in it. His green eyes looked muted of all color.

"Hamus! What is wrong with you!?" He shouted as he snapped his fingers in my face. I shook my head and glanced at the clock. 03:52 we arrived around 01:30 if memory served. I looked back at Umbra and said the first thing I had in hours...

"Huh?" I said in a daze. I looked around and noticed both princesses as well as Twilight's friends standing around me.

"Welcome back!" Umbra said as he backed up and spread his arms. He had fresh bandages around his midsection as well as a few bloody pinpricks from a needle on his arm.

"How are Twilight and Rainbow Dash?" I asked with another head shake. That memory seemed...Off this time.

"Recovering. You broke Rainbows nose pretty good and Twilight had surgery to get her ears fixed. From what the doc said, they're going to be super sensitive for a few days minimum and even then she may go deaf."

"So they're both fine?" I asked in summation.

"Seems like it. Now then, if it's the same with you, I'm heading back to our base." Umbra said as he donned his pack, once more grunting under the weight.

"No strenuous activity!" A brown stallion chastised from a nearby hallway. Umbra snorted and carried on. I stood up and checked myself over. All my gear seemed to be in place, the only thing wrong was my rifle was off safe. I sighed at the fact I could have died but flipped the small lever all the same.

"How are you girls? Y'all seemed pretty pissed earlier." I said as I hefted my much smaller bag onto my back.

"We're fine. Just a might worried. Y'all managed to hurt two of our friends. Not exactly the best o' beginnings to a meeting." AppleJack said carefully. I noticed she was giving me a dangerous look. That look might kill a lesser man with the emotion in it.

"Yeah, I'm real sorry 'bout that." I said while nervously rubbing a hand on my head. "I just kinda acted on reflex rather than thinking it through. Plus, we did give y'all a warning."

"Yeah, why didn't you guys listen? We could have avoided all of this." Umbra said in agreement. The ponies shifted under our gaze.

"We didn't really understand until it was too late. Twilight heard something from the forest and we checked it out. We followed the explosions until we came to your tree. We heard you shout but by the time we understood what you said...It was too late." Fluttershy said in a shy, saddened voice.

"Just be glad that was only a warning shot. I can't imagine this situation if it wasn't. Maybe from now on, when you hear us yell something to you. It might be in your best interest to follow it immediately. People have lived longer that way." Umbra said in an almost parent like tone. The ponies let out nervous chuckles and rubbed the back of their heads with their hooves.

"How about you two? How are you holding up?" I asked the princesses. They looked ragged, there were heavy bags under their eyes and their...Manes? looked unkempt.

"We are...Not exactly happy about the current situation. It wasn't expected to meet you two in the middle of a fight after hurting two of my subjects. Let alone two of the Elements of Harmony and my personal student." the white one said while letting out an irritated sigh.

"Yeah...As we already said, we're very sorry. Where we come from it's...well...needed to act like we do. We're having trouble...adjusting from a constant war zone to...This." Umbra finally stuttered out. I don't blame him though, we're practically staring Satan in the face right now.

"Indeed. You have said that. But dost thou mean it? If so, I think we have a way to make certain you are truthful." The blue one said smugly. She looked to her sister and had some sort of silent conversation before the white one let out a small gasp.

"Luna! You can't do that! Invasive spells have been banned for two-hundred years!" The white one shrieked. I made a mental note that the blue one's name is Luna. Not exactly a...normal name, but then again, Nate's last name is Cor so we aren't one's to judge.

"It's no different than me going into dreams sister." Luna said confusedly.

"Well...I...Fine." The white one sighed out. She obviously wasn't happy about this but whatever.

"Very well." Luna exclaimed contently before turning to us. "I am going to use a spell that will let me see your memories. This way I can tell if you are truly telling the truth."

"Fuck that! I ain't letting you dig around in my head!" Umbra shouted in defiance. Luna seemed a bit...shocked? no more like...confused at the outburst.

"We assure you that it is indeed safe. And we can only see the memories thou allows us to see." She reassured.

"Not gonna happen! I don't care if I got all the gold in the world, peace for everyone, and my own fucking PIXIE! I will NOT let you dig around in MY head! That’s the only thing that has ever been MINE and I intend to keep it that way!" He shouted angrily. I could tell he was straining to not attack the princess. I agree that this is fifty shades of FUBAR but still...This seems a bit excessive, even for Nate.

"I'll do it." I said under my breath. It must have been loud enough because everyone went silent. The silence was nearly deafening to sit though.

"Is thou sure?" I heard the chilling voice of the princess ask.

"Just do it before I change my mind." I said with a sidelong glance to Umbra.

"Very well. Relax and think of a memory. After we are linked then any memory you think of I will see. It will be as if we are there at the time. All sights, sounds, smells, feelings will be exposed to us." She said as she calmly walked up to me. Her horn started to glow a deep blue, it was almost black really.

I sat and thought of a memory that wasn't nearly as bad as the rest. This one was about my first scavenge run for Camp Echo.

XxX

The heavy rain pounded down on the surrounding concrete as the lights of a vehicle broke through the dreary, starless night. Over the constant patter of rain, a pair of hard soled boots clacked across the concrete. The deafening boom of thunder echoed throughout the small city as a flash of lightning lit up the buildings. I could see the far off destroyed skyscrapers and the small craters of explosions. Just on the horizon I could see the mile wide pit caused by one of the nuclear missiles.

I laid prone, covered in dirt, leaves and debris on a small park in the heart of the city. I was watching the man walk toward the vehicle and just when he was about to get in another boom and flash from the storm lit up his face. His tan face was covered in dried mud and had specks of blood on it. His graying hair looked sickly in the green glow of my night vision monocle.

He looked around the deep, abysmal blackness surrounding him, as if searching for something. He gave in imperceptible nod to the blackness. To anyone else it would have been unnoticed or shrugged off as a twitch. To me...It was a sign. As he climbed into the vehicle and drove off, I reached down to my wrist and clicked the device attached to it on. A faint beep signaled from it and the dull blue glow of the display lit up. I quickly placed a cloth over the display to block the light. Rising from my prone position I heard the thumps of the material falling off of me.

I looked down at my muddy, moss covered body armor. Then at my soft soled, run down boots. I could see the blackened steel covering the toe of the boot. I looked out over the wasteland ahead of me. The collapsed buildings forming hellish works of art over the large expanse of land. I slowly moved from the park to a nearby building. The peeling paint showed the age of the single story house. What was once a beautiful wall was now lying in splintered fragments around the base.

I stepped through the hole and into an abandoned living room. A moldy couch sat against the far wall with a small television smashed across the hardwood floor. Old paintings, once beautiful, sit in weathered ruin. I took a venturous step into the room and heard the clinking of metal below my feet. I glanced down and saw small brass and steel casings littering the ground. Crouching down and picking one up I saw that it was a fairly new bullet casing.

"6.5? That's not a common round. Definitely not military...I don't think it's a locals either." I quietly whispered to myself. Hearing a rattling coming from another room caused me to freeze. I slowly raised my rifle, a short barreled ACR up to the next room. The sleek, futuristic looking rifle worked through the doorway ever so slowly. The small suppressor poked around the corner as I slowly brought the iron sites across the room.

The room glowed a sharp green from my monocle, the faint smell of cordite wafted through the air. I looked at the destruction in front of me. small holes tore through every chair and table in the dining room. Potted plants and picture frames sat smashed across the floor as moonlight filtered through the small holes peppered across the wall.

I looked across the broken flooring and saw dozens of small brass and steel casings. I picked two of them up and rolled them in my palm.

"6.5 and 5.45's...Well, whoever was here ran into a patrol. I wonder if they got away..." I said breathlessly to the empty room. I quietly placed the shells down on the floor and moved on to the next room. Before I even reached the door I could hear the flies. Ungodly amounts of flies were buzzing through the air as the dank retched odor of copper wafted through the air.

Stepping through the portal I looked at the chaos ahead of me. Three bodies lay still all about the small bedroom. One of them was shot multiple times straight through the chest. His body was thrown carelessly on a vanity. The mirror lay in shards across the floor and, presumably, on his back. I looked at the next one, this one only being a young lass. She appeared to have been stabbed by something. A jagged gash ran through her stomach and multiple holes were in her chest. Looked up on her I saw her head was little more than paste. I've seen firsthand what people getting hit in the head with 5.45's can do, this is the result.

I looked over at the third one. His broken body lay over a small couch. His head laid on the cushions while his legs hung over the back of the couch. One would think he was sleeping if it wasn't for the large hole blown through his chest. I looked around the room and saw a scorch mark and busted wood by the door.

I felt the urge to vomit racing to my throat. I pulled down my bandanna and lost my lunch across the floor. My head felt woozy and I felt tired. I had to get out of there! I turned and pulled my bandanna back up. I raised my rifle and moved on to the final room. I pushed open what was left of the door and peeked in.

"Nice try. You have two seconds to get out of here. You've done enough." I heard a shaky voice beside me say. I felt the cold steel of a gun placed on the side of my head. I slowly ducked my head out of the room and backed up to hard cover.

"What the hell happened here? It looks like a slaughter!" I shouted out in an authoritative voice. I heard the sounds of scuffing shoes before a scraggly man peered around the door frame. His skin looked mottled and scarred. He had a disgusting rash running over the side of his face and I could see maggots gnawing at his cheek. This guy has either been here a while, been in radiation or has never been in water...Ever.

"They killed them all...But I gots 'em back! I gots 'em so good they never gonna come back!" He cracked out in an insane tone. His eyes glazed over and his grip on the handgun tightened. "And now! Imma gets ya too!" He shouted as he raised his handgun to my chest. I popped behind the hardwood bed frame as a slug rammed through it and into the floor behind me. It popped up as the old wood finally snapped. I heard the stomping of feet as he walked toward me. Without looking I raised my rifle over my head and let loose a few rounds. I heard a muffled crack and a cry of pain before hearing the sound of a heavy thud and metal scraping against metal.

Is he...Reloading? My answer came in the form of a copper coated slug slamming into the bedpost beside me. I ducked to the floor and pulled up some floorboards before jumping underneath the house. The wet splash seemed like thunder as my feet hit the mud below. I tried to sneak off but every time I stepped it let out a loud sucking noise. A slug raced through the floor at me and buried itself in the muck. I raised my rifle and fired a few shots through the floor before wading through as fast as I could.

I finally made it out of the muck and I noticed my heart was beating like a drum. Every beat rocked my head and deafened me. I collapsed onto the ground before scuttling away from the house. I raised my rifle to it and waited. After a few minutes my heart calmed down and my breath returned. I slowly worked my way away from the house.

After about twenty minutes of walking I stumbled across another likely spot for my target. A large apartment complex sat in front of me. The brickwork on the outside threatened to fall on anything that disturbed it. The concrete sidewalk had large plant growing out of the cracks. Once I reached the door I noticed the thick oak doors looked relatively unscathed.

I pushed the heavy doors open and looked upon the atrium. A quick scan showed nothing of interest. I walked over to the receptionists desk and started rooting through the papers and drawers. I stumbled upon a map of the town and a few side notes about problems in some of the rooms. I pocketed the map and studied the notes to know which rooms to avoid.

Hey Joyce it's maintenance. Rooms 241, 564, 309, 87 and 134 are off limits as of now. We're getting all sorts of problems in them. Everything from pipe leaks to deathly ill customers! I haven't a clue what's going on with this place but I think it's on its last leg. I thought about contacting the boss but I doubt he'll do much. Probably make us work overtime to fix it...Again. See ya later doll.

Love,

Mikeal

I placed the note back on the pile and looked toward the stairs.

Deathly ill customers? I wonder what caused that. And I'd also love to know where the hell the military is. I haven't seen a single camp, or base. Something's up here...

I walked toward the stairs and started heading down. Once at the bottom I looked at all of the labels on the doors until coming to the one I was looking for, Security. I pushed open the steel door and walked into a dark and dusty security room. I scanned the room thoroughly until I found a small metal box sitting on an end table. A loud creak echoes throughout the room as the old, rusty box opened.

"Jackpot!" I shouted out perhaps a bit too loudly. Inside was the whole reason I came into this town.

Stacked up to the rim of the box were small, black squares. I picked one up and looked it over. I smiled in satisfaction and counted up the batteries.

Thirty six. Thirty six 9v batteries will keep the camp up and running for a good eight months, nine if we use them sparingly.

I placed the box into my backpack and turned to exit the room, but that wasn't about to be an option.

“Move! Get this place cleared!” I heard a gruff, authoritative voice shout from the lobby. Looking around in a panic, I found a few heavy tables.

Better than nothing… I grabbed the heavy wooden table and dragged it over to the center of the room. I pushed it over so the heavy stone tabletop faced the door. I grabbed the second one and pushed it in front of the door before falling back behind my makeshift cover. Looking around more I found a small door over to the side of the room. I sprinted over and threw the door open…

“Perfect.” I said to myself as I stepped into the cleaning closet. I grabbed the cleaning bin and chucked the mop away. I pushed it out into the room and kicked it over, letting the water run over a majority of the floor. I returned to the closet and grabbed some wax and the buffer. I’d have to be fast but I could do this. I pushed the buffer into the room and placed the wax into it. I plugged it in and hoped for there to be enough power left in the building. Not all the lights were off in the building so I assumed it would work. I flicked the switch and my ears were assaulted with the high pitched whine of the machine. I hurriedly pushed it through the space between the door and my cover. I flicked it off and heard the stomping of boots running down the hallway beyond the door.

I jumped behind my cover and racked the slide on my ACR. I looked up and shot out the flickering bulb above me. I pulled down my NVGs and turned them on. Getting over the momentary blindness I looked over the soon to be battlefield. I heard the heavy thuds of hard soled boots stop but the heavy thud of my heart remained. My breath was ragged and my hands were shaking as I lied in wait for the battle ahead.

The door exploded. Splinters of wood and rock peppered the room and a metallic click echoed multiple times throughout the room. I reacted too late and was thrown to the ground with the force of the grenade. The table slid back across the concrete floor with an ear shattering screech. My body rode the shock wave and stopped a few feet from my cover. I looked toward the door and saw soldiers stomping through the portal before slipping on the wax and landing in the water. I raised my rifle and fired a few shots at the fallen before rolling into cover. My hearing returned slowly with the thumping bass of gunfire. What felt like a white hot rod slammed through my thigh and shoulder. I fell to the ground and watched as a few soldiers trampled across the debris and their fallen. Looking over them I saw a large metal tube by the door. I glanced up to the soldier shining his flashlight in my face and watched as he pulled my Night vision off my face.

I laid there helplessly as they started pulling gear from my body. I tried to reach for my pistol before another shot tore through my stomach. I started to blackout from the pain but cast one last glance toward the door. A set of boots stood defiantly in the doorway next to the metal tube.

I blacked out.

Author's Note

Sorry about the wait guys. I got hit with some pretty bad writers block at the end of this chapter. I'm still not entirely happy with it but I figured I'd at least get something out there to you all.

And for those of you that may be confused on the military, their ranking goes as such:

Militia Men- Lowest of the low. More of a raider/merc than military but military all the same.

Military Men- Your standard military grunt.

Hellcats- A stealth force. They have advanced gear that makes them nigh invisible.

Callers- The military's version of a spy. They'll act like an average survivor and get into major camps. They then relay information or assassinate opportune targets.

Spartans- These are the big boys that no one wants to see. Wearing 100 pounds of pure armor makes them almost completely bulletproof. They carry around LMGs or a crew serve weapon. (ie: 50. cal machine gun, 40mm automatic grenade launcher, et cetera...)

Spidereyes- These are some of the best snipers in the military. They got their name from the amount of optics integrated into their helmets. They have high powered binoculars with rangefinder, nightvision, thermal, and X-ray vision.

I figured it would start getting confusing as I implement new types into the story so I'd throw this in here. Tell me what you thought of the chapter in the comments!