Chapter 11
Detox

Approximately seven hours after the raid...

Of the six cells in the nest, five were in use. Two of the prisoners had been addicted to the venom, one mare and one stallion. The other captive was a Pegasus stallion who took his leave of us as soon as we freed him, not wanting to risk any vamps returning to the nest and trapping us inside. Zephyr and her mother who I later learned was Cloud Feather decided to stay for a few days while their injuries healed. I’ll never forget the comical, yet calloused way Patches addressed the junkies.

“So you two are addicted right?” Patches asked, looking into the two cells. Both of which shared a wall so he could easily manage the feat.

“Yes, please don’t burn their bodies! I need it!” The stallion cried as he lunged at the bars, his arms reaching out at Patches and his fingers curling at the air.

The mare simply nodded quietly, as she had curled up into a shivering ball. Her horn sparked a little like she was trying to cast a spell.

“Congratulations!” Patches exclaimed, trying to raise his arms and failing miserably in the cramped quarters. “You’ve both just quit!” I had to give him credit for trying to put a positive spin on a terrible situation, one that could likely end the lives of the ponies he was talking to.

The stallion wailed, making a dramatic show of sliding to the ground. “Nooooooo!!! You don’t understand! I need it or my skin will fall off!” The Earth pony started rolling around on the floor and babbling.

“Shit, you weren't kidding about those withdrawals,” I muttered as I looked into the cell at the pathetic creature. “Hey, loud one, how long since you were last bitten?”

“Three dah-ha-ha-haaaayyysss!!!” He bawled as he grabbed the bars once again. “I was scheduled to be bitten again today and then YOU had to show up and kill them all!” Spittle flew from his shuddering face, as he slung his accusation at me.

“Look at the bright side!” Patches cheered. “Tomorrow will be the worst of it all! then you should get better!” His cheery demeanor was lost on the pony who now seemed to be hallucinating and talking to imaginary people.

I gave Patches that ‘what the fuck is wrong with you?’ look then moved on to the mare’s cell. “And you? How long since you were last bitten?” I asked.

She just shuddered quietly, not answering me. Her breaths were quick and shallow but with her back turned to me I had no read on her expression.

“Well turdknuckles, that looks like the day four kinda shit. She must have pissed someone off for them to do that to her,” Patches mumbled grimly. “The withdrawals on the fourth day can kill ponies of lesser willpower,” he whispered.

“They’d risk losing a source of food punishing them like this?” I asked.

“Well like I said, she must have really pissed someone off. Plus it makes an example of her for the rest of the prisoners, resist and they do this to you. Break your body, your mind, you die in pain. A pretty powerful tool for instilling obedience,” he said grimly as he turned to leave.

“Can’t argue with convulsions like that,” I said as she started to shake a little more violently. “Is there anything we can do to help her?” I asked as I started to follow him.

“Not much, we can give them sips of water every hour or so. Too much more and it’ll just come back up, and trust me you don’t even want to try to feed them when they’re that far gone. You’ll just end up with another mess to mop up,” he grumbled, speaking from experience.

We rounded the corner at the intersection connecting the cells to the rest of the nest and I could see Zephyr standing a few feet from the corner. I guess she had been eavesdropping on us.

“Are you going to help them get better?” She asked quietly.

I knelt to talk to her. “I’m not going to lie to you, we’re going to do everything we can for them. It’s just not very much right now,” I said whilst looking her over. A night’s rest had done her some good but the swelling on her bruises looked a little worse, hopefully they had reached their absolute worst and would start improving.

“Are they sick because of what the monsters did to them?” She asked, shuffling a little to try to look past me at the babbling stallion crawling across the floor.

“Yes, they are,” I said as I looked back at the stallion who had begun rolling across the floor whilst muttering something. What a drama queen.

“Am… Am I gonna get sick too?” She asked, edging away from the noisy hallway.

“You didn't get bitten by them, so no. You won’t get sick like they are, but we have to make sure all of your injuries stay clean. If they get infected you could get a different kind of sick you understand?” I asked, pulling my chin down a little.

She nodded and smiled a little.

“Did your mother check your bandages yet?” I asked as I stood back up.

She shook her head, her smile fading a little.

“Go ask her to do that for you, I’ll go get the extras from the room,” I said as I turned to Patches. “You good to start cleanup?” I asked as I headed down the hall toward the torture room where all the medical supplies were, Zephyr close behind me.

“Go on,” Patches said with a dismissive wave. “I’ll be halfway done dragging them topside by the time you have the bandages in hand,” he finished his challenge with a smirk.

“I’d say save a few for me, but honestly dragging a corpse around only for it to suddenly immolate or turn to stone doesn't really sound like my idea of fun!” I said with a chuckle as I rounded the corner toward the torture room.

But then again… Going back into that shitty little room was far from my idea of fun as well…

I stepped around the bloodstained table as quickly as I could, knocking the bucket over in the process. Halfway congealed blood spilled across the floor and the stench assaulted my nose.

“Agh fuck!” I shouted as I slipped on the blood-slicked floor. My arm shot out and I managed to grab the table, keeping my torso off the ground as I landed on my rear. I took a slow breath and huffed, gripping the table more tightly. I grimaced as I carefully rose and inspected my backside. Yep, pretty fucking nasty…

I opened the cabinet with a little sigh as I squatted to peek into it. There were more bandages and bottles of antiseptic than Zephyr would ever need for her injuries, a little stroke of luck. I made sure to wipe myself off a little with the towel hanging off the side of the cabinet before gathering the supplies for Zephyr. I carefully grabbed a bottle, several pads of gauze, and a few rolls of elastic bandaging. With luck, I wouldn’t have to come back in here to get supplies for her.

Making sure to avoid the fresh puddle of not-so-fresh blood on my way out, I carried the supplies down the hall toward the bunk room Zephyr and her mother were sharing.

I made sure to knock rather than just go barging in, the way Cloud Feather cracked the door open to greet me made me think I made the right choice. She looked abused as well, not nearly as bad as her daughter did, but she still had several bruises and cuts on her arms and face. Her expression softened slightly when she saw the medical supplies I was holding, I offered a small smile and a shrug.

“Figured you’d need some of these. You two have more reason to want to stay out of that room than I do so I went and got these for you,” I said as I moved my hands forward.

She offered a quiet thanks as she took the bandages.

“How are you two holding up?” I asked, hearing little hoofsteps as Zephyr walked across the room and peeked around the door as well. She smiled a little when she saw me but was quickly shooed back into the room by her mother.

“We've been through a lot lately, thanks for everything but please, we just need space right now,” she said as she withdrew from the doorway.

“Alright we-” she cut me off with the door. I sighed and shrugged, leaving to help Patches with the cleanup.

Thankfully vamps were easy to clean up, Masters set themselves on fire in the sun, Gargoyles turned to stone that we could smash, and Bats exploded into ash and cinders. All we really had to do was drag them out of the factory and toss them into the sunlight. The blood on our armor even turned to ash and floated off when the sunlight hit us. The worst we really had to deal with were the chunks left behind by the vamps we blew up with the grenades. The one by the entrance had been shot, then hit by the grenade. The legless Gargoyle had tripped Patches’ trap and painted the intersection red.

Oddly enough, the vamps had plenty of cleaning supplies in the storage room across the hall from their blood harvesting room. It took nearly an hour of scrubbing the entryway stains and the intersection stains to get rid of them, but we managed it. If we were going to stay here a few days, especially with a filly, the area needed to be at least a little bit clean.

During the cleanup, we met with a stroke of luck as well. We found a garden where the vamps had been growing vegetables to feed their prisoners. There was enough to keep everyone fed without touching our own supplies!

Patches and I prepared very small meals for the two addicts and brought them to their cells. Patches went into the stallion’s cell while I stayed in the doorway in case he tried to escape.

“I don’t want food! I want the venom!” He shouted as he tried and failed to smack the plate out of Patches’ hand.

“Hey, these withdrawals are gonna get worse tomorrow, you need to eat and keep your strength or you could die,” Patches said with an odd calmness about him. Earlier he was joking with this guy and being calloused, now he was being gentle, I didn't get it.

“Look at yourself, you were too weak to even knock a plate out of my hand, you need to eat if you want to survive, you do want to survive right?” Patches asked as he squatted next to the trembling pony.

“Nothing left to live for anyway,” he grumbled, his teeth chattering. “Just let me die,” he whispered.

“Dammit I am not going to let you just give up! You are going to eat if I have to put a damned funnel in your mouth!” Patches yelled as he rose and hit his head on the ceiling. “Gghh-fuck,” he recoiled slightly from the impact and pointed at the now cowering stallion. “I've tried being nice to you but if orders from someone in charge are the only things that are going to get through to you. Then by the Ancients I’m going to give you orders! Now EAT!” He punctuated his order by slamming the plate down on the table so hard the table shook, his knuckles hit the table instead of the plate, keeping it intact as he released it.

The stallion sat up, quivering as he regarded the giant Pegasus. “O-ok… I’ll eat,” he said as he leaned over the plate and started nibbling on a carrot. Patches grabbed the glass of water and set it on the table as well before leaving the cell and locking it up.

We moved on to the mare’s cell with significantly less food and water for her, she was curled up on the bunk in the corner and shivering. Patches knelt next to her and shook her shoulder gently. “Hey, we brought you some food and water. You should try to eat or drink whatever your body can handle,” he said as his hand moved up to her forehead. He held it there a moment and looked back at me.

“Alex she’s freaking freezing, go to the Master’s chambers and get some of their nicer blankets for her would ya?” He asked as I set the plate and glass on her table.

I nodded and headed off to look for something to keep her warm. It wasn't difficult to find an acceptable blanket, the Masters had a lot of nice things for people, no, things living underground. I shook the thoughts out of my head and returned to Patches with the folded blanket, the mare was sitting up now, arms crossed over her body as she shook.

“Good, give it here please,” Patches said as he held out a hand for the blanket.

After I handed it to him he wrapped her up and grabbed the glass of water. She was only able to manage a tiny sip before she grimaced and shook her head.

“No more,” her voice rattled as she laid on her side and curled up, pulling the blanket as close to her body as possible.

“You’re doing good,” Patches said softly as he placed the glass back on the table. “Just hang in there ok? You’re almost through this,” he said reassuringly. “Just… Uh, crud. You can’t yell for help if you need us, I’ll go look for a bell or whistle,” he said as he left the cell.

I followed him the the Master’s chambers where we’d most likely find a noise-making object, intent on figuring out the reasons behind his constantly shifting demeanor.

“Patches what the fuck is up with the shuffling deck of emotions? First you joke like some asshole who doesn't care about them, then you’re nice, then you’re yelling, then you’re nice again. You’re confusing the crap outta me. Care to explain?” I asked as we dug through the sports fan’s stuff.

“Gauging reactions, every person responds to different stimulus. Some people appreciate humor in a shitty situation, some people need a gentle hand, others need to be yelled at to stop laying in the muck. I was figuring that out by testing different personalities on them,” he said as he looked up from a desk at me. “That stallion is ready to give up on life and will if we let him, we have to be harsh on him if we wanna see him make it out of here. We already worked out the mare pissed someone off for them to do that to her, which means she’s definitely a fighter and wants to make it out of this alive. All we can do for her is help her maintain a decent body temperature and give her encouragement and she should make it through the day,” he explained as he resumed digging through the desk’s drawers.

I was poking through the trophies, maybe this guy had coached a team? If so, there’d be a whistle hanging off one of these, I hoped. “Alright, I don’t like it, but if it helps them survive I guess I can get behind it,” I grumbled as my eyes scanned the shining objects.

“Aha!” Patches called out, getting my attention immediately. He held up a whistle with a little string attached to it. “This’ll do!”

We returned to the mare’s cell and Patches presented the whistle to her. “If you need us, use this to call for us ok?” He said as he helped her put it on, letting it hang around her neck. She managed a weak smile as she held out a hand. Patches took it and smiled back, holding it a moment before he rose and left.

“As much as I hate to admit it, that Pegasus who bolted as soon as we sprang him was right. We don’t know if the nest had a patrol out there or a group of vamps hunting for more victims. There were a lot of them here and only a few non-infected ponies to bleed, so I wouldn’t be surprised if they were actively searching for more during our attack,” Patches explained as he looked up the stairs at the entrance.

“Are you suggesting we post a sentry at the entrance until we’re ready to leave or we spot a returning party of vamps?” I asked, looking at the entrance as well.

“That’s exactly what I’m proposing, you want the day or night watch?” He asked, looking at me now.

“I’ll take the night watch,” I volunteered.

He chuckled a little and shook his head. “I figured you would. Go ahead and get some sleep then, I don’t want you nodding off in the middle of the night,” he patted my shoulder. “And don’t worry about tending to the addicts, I’ll help them if they blow the whistle or call out for help.”

“And leave us unguarded? No, I’ll get up and help them,” I insisted. “Don’t you argue with me either, it’s the most sensible thing we can do,” I said as I headed down the hall to the unused cell.

"Have it your way!" He called after me. "I'll get Zephyr and her mom some food at least! Try not to handle everything yourself ok?"

I took a seat on the cot hanging off the wall of the cell, testing it. It seemed sturdy enough. I slowly reclined until I was looking at the ceiling and closed my eyes. Hopefully it would be a quiet day… I was so foolish for harboring such hopes...

Author's Note

Poor Alex just can't catch a full, honest break... I do realize this chapter is a bit short, but it just felt like a good place to stop before moving on to the next part.

-Jake