Chapter 2 The City (Geoff)

“At the gates! Ring the bell!” Geoff hollered. His head dropped down to his satchel as he undid the buckle. Geoff’s teeth grasped a spiked baton. He trotted forward on the cobble streets, wielding his weapon. The other civilians cowered inside the building. The city gates were being pounded on, almost ready to five in.

“Ring the damn bell!” Geoff growled. “What’s the problem?”
He received a trill of a church bell in return. “Good.” Geoff said. “Rodney! Get down ‘ere and ‘elp me!” Geoff said, getting a better grip on the baton.

The gates rocked with loud ‘thumps’. Zombies were starting to get in. “Ugh…god dammit. You want something done ya gotta do it yourself.” He sighed. Geoff opened his wings, prepared to take flight.

The dark blue Pegasus flapped his wings and rose above the street. “RODNEY! GETCHER’ LAZY ASS OVER HERE AND HELP ME!” Geoff growled loudly. A red Pegasus came madly flapping over to Geoff. He had a spiky gray mane and tail and violet eyes. A pickaxe was strapped to his hind quarters where a cutiemark depicting an art pallet and a brush was shown.

He was scraped and bruised but in better shape than Geoff. Though a pretty nasty chunk of his front fore hoof was missing. “Yes Commander Ramsey?” Rodney asked. His voice was scratchy and weak. “The fuck you been? Been calling you for a damn while.” Geoff warned. “S-sorry, sir. Marie and Sten needed help with-,” “Screw it with excuses.” Geoff commanded. Rodney gulped and nodded. “Y-yes, sir.” Geoff raised a hoof at his pickaxe. “Grab it. Ye’ll need it.” The blue Pegasus flew over to where the horde was gathering.

Rodney and Geoff cleared out the horde, glad to see there weren’t many. Both landed back down on the road when Sabbath arrived. “Ah…glad to see you finally joined us.” Geoff said. Sabbath grinned. It was an eerie sight. Most of his teeth had fallen out even before the incident and were replaced with gold ones. He had an emo style hair cut where the top was a gray and the deeper roots were black. He was an earth pony with money and a beer bottle as a cutiemark. Tattoos covered his forelegs consisting of snakes, skulls, drinks, and other explicit content. A large gash was tearing through his back left leg. He had no eyes, only scares. He relied mainly on smell but had good hearing, too.

In his previous life, Sabbath was a pimp. Geoff usually avoided Sabbath, he was his best fighter, but he certainly wasn’t a good pony. Sabbath had lived in Manehattan. His night club was popular in the neighborhood, earning him large amounts of dough.

Sabbath didn’t socialize much. He rarely talked and if he did, it was only a short conversation with Hans, his bodyguard. Hans was a heavy built unicorn stallion with blonde hair and a telescope for a cutiemark. Geoff didn’t know much of Hans’ story besides that he was German, had worked for Sabbath at the club, and was gay. Sabbath often gave Hans a hard time for being a homosexual but never harmed him physically.

“Let’s head up further north. See if they did any damage.” Geoff suggested. Sabbath and Rodney followed Geoff over to the gate. “The gate’s demolished.” Rodney said. Geoff nodded while Sabbath remained silent as usual.

The metal was bent forward, facing Geoff and the others. The wood was broken in half or pierced with knives. Dents were also covering the metal plating and the barbed wire was strung from a downed telephone pole, mocking them.

“How the hell did the pull that off?” Geoff wondered aloud. Sabbath’s ears perked up. He heard a faint zap. “Electric fence.” Sabbath spoke, startling Rodney. Geoff looked at him confused. “W-wh-,” “The electric fence. It’s off.” He raised a green hoof at the sparking wire. It had been cut.

“Oh shit! Rodney! Inform Jay and Sten. Get them over here.” Rodney nodded and galloped off. “Sabbath, get Hans. We might need brute force.” Sabbath turned and trotted over to Hans. Geoff explored the fence’s perimeter looking for anything else.

A zombie was at one of the gates. “Fuck! One already got in!” He cursed himself. Geoff pulled out his baton and slowly approached the zombie. He poked it with the baton’s black front. No noise erupted. It didn’t move. ‘Dead? Huh?’

Geoff got a closer look at the zombie. It was a young Pegasus filly with a blonde mane and a light purple coat. She hadn’t developed a cutiemark yet. She reminded Geoff of his young daughter. Her and his wife, Griffon, had been instructed to go to a safety camp in France. There wasn’t enough room for everyone but Geoff had paid a lot of bits to make sure they’d be safe.

“Oh Millie.” Geoff said, missing his daughter. Geoff was about to turn away when something caught his eye. A fairly large puncture wound. “She wasn’t stabbed but if she…oh my god.” Geoff’s eyes widened. A rustle came from the bushes on the other side of the fence. Before Geoff could react, a stallion jumped out from the brush. Several others followed. Mares and stallions wearing vests, satchels, and bandanas. All but one were unicorn. The one Pegasus carried a heavy shotgun and wore a badge.

“BANDITS!” Geoff dove for cover. He ended up sliding up behind the metal gate. Bullets shot out from the weaponry, completely shattering the wood like it was glass. Loud thumps came from the gate where the bullets hadn’t been able to pass through.

Geoff could hardly control his breathing. Every minutes, endless bullets were wasted on the fence. There were persistent. Determined to see Geoff dead.

‘Fuck off!’ he thought. ‘They won’t get me.’ Geoff glanced through the wires. “Any second now, Rodney will-,” Geoff felt a crippling pain in his right side. The blue Pegasus looked down. “Aaah…” he whispered. A red splotch was forming.

His hooves gripped the wounded side. “Fuckers shot me. Damn.” Geoff tried to find the bullet. He’d need to get it out for it to start healing.

Geoff felt something solid in his skin. A warm, bloodied, lead piece. He opened his teeth and bit down on the top of the bullet. His teeth felt tingly from the metal.

Geoff pulled it out and spat it on the asphalt. The road to recovery would be long and painful…

………

‘Daddy?’ a squeaky girlish voice called.
“Millie?” Geoff asked.

“Geoff.” A soothing woman’s voice cooed.
“Griffon?” Geoff yelled.

“Daddy! Where are you daddy?”
Geoff whimpered.

“Why’d you leave us dear? The sanctuary is hell.” Griffon’s voice teased.
“It was the only way! I’ll find you! I will!” Geoff pleaded.

“You’re too late Geoff. You failed us.”

“Why’d you do this to me, Daddy?”
Geoff cried.

Geoff leapt up from his cot. He was still in the infirmary at the base. A large roll of medical tape was on the floor. Bloody rags were in the sink. ‘Not a very comforting sight.’ He thought. His bullet wound was bandaged. It felt a little better.

Geoff lifted a hoof to his head. His body was in a cold sweat and his head was aching. “Stupid nightmare!” Geoff cussed.

He felt a new pain but this time in his neck. “Huh?” The blue Pegasus ran hoof around his neck. He winced. Geoff lifted himself off the cot and limped to a mirror. The number ‘1’ was printed on his neck. “What the fuck? Who did this?"

Author's Note

Well its finally here. The problem, as I mentioned in my blog post and the comments, I was lazy. Got it posted, though. Currently have about 1/5 of the third chapter done which is about Jack and Ryan. Its called "A Dead End". Hope the people who are following this story, which aren't many, are excited for another chapter. Thanks
-not the real VAV