Chapter 3 A Dead End (Jack and Ryan)

The sun was beginning to set. The road was cracked and falling apart. Bodies littered the asphalt, baking from the still risen sun. It was unbearably hot. And the smell of the burning bodies that were already decaying made Jack want to puke. “Gah…it’s nasty.” He groaned. Jack received a slight nod from his partner in crime.

Ryan was quiet. More quiet than usual. “You okay?” Jack asked. He normally didn’t bother asking that, he knew Ryan wasn’t. He had lost something so dear to him. Something would always bug his mind, wretch his heart, and sicken his stomach.

It may have been a month ago. A good amount of time in this new world. A good amount of time to show you survived. But it had been a month. A month since he lost his daughter.

[Flashback]

“Ah! Daddy!”
“Hang on Claire! Nothing’s going to hurt you!” Ryan stormed through the crowds of Crazies. He had never seen so many. Had they all escape the asylum? Was there any hope that one of them still had their sanity? There was a blood curling screech and a body was flung. “NO!” Ryan dove for her but it was too late.

THUD!
Silence. Utter and complete silence. The Crazies still rambled, their shackles and chains still rattled, Jack still called his name, but Ryan couldn’t hear anything. Not even his beating heart. To him, it had stopped. It’d be better if it did. Ryan’s legs bucked at the sight of his unmoving, limp daughter. His dead daughter.

[End of Flashback]

Just the thought brought a tear to Ryan’s eyes. His head lowered somberly. ‘Never should have mentioned that.’ Jack thought. “Hey. It’s alright…” Jack lied. He didn’t know what to say. He didn’t have any children. “Sorry I brought that up, Ryan.” The green unicorn apologized. “N-no, it-it’s fine.” Ryan shook his head. He lifted it and used his foreleg to wipe away the tears.

“I know you’re taking it tough, it’s a hurtful experience, but we need to keep going. Think positive. Think like…uh…” Jack racked his brain for optimistic people. “Uh…” Ryan answered for him. “Like Ray?” He said with a sniffle. Jack nodded. “Yeah…like Ray.” Jack smiled. Ryan did, too.

And for once, in a long while, they felt a little, tiny, small drop of hope.

………

Jack opened his eyes. He felt like they were going to collapse on him. “Up. Get up, Jack.” He told himself. The unicorn gave himself a violent shake and rose to his hooves. He let out a fairly long yawn. Jack looked around him.

The fire was out. It remained as twigs and ashes. ‘Good.’ He thought. ‘Won’t draw any attention.’ Jack looked for Ryan. But he couldn’t find him. The blue earth pony was nowhere to be found. Jack was going to shout for him but quickly changed his mind. ‘That’d be a stupid idea. Why don’t you run around and ask for trouble?’

He had to squint, he couldn’t find his glasses. He patted his hoof around where he slept. “Now where did I-,” Jack heard a quiet crack under his hoof. “Yup. Those are my glasses.” Jack levitated the glasses to his face and placed them on his snout. A large crack was in the left frame. “Fuck.” He said quietly. “That’ll make it more difficult.”

Jack searched for Ryan. Who knew how long he had been up? If he had tried to run away, he could be miles from where Jack was. ‘Stop it Jack.’ He told himself. ‘This is Ryan. He wouldn’t just abandon you.’ He assured himself.

“Ryan?” Jack called. He made sure to be quiet. He didn’t need a horde chasing him down. “Hey? Ryan? You out here?” Jack’s eyes surveyed the landscape. He would be around here somewhere. He just knew it.

But the land remained still. Quiet. Creepy. Jack didn’t like it. It send a shiver up his spine. He felt like he was being watched. His head whipped behind him. It was very dark and Jack couldn’t see well but he swore he spotted a silhouette of a pony. They looked to be thirty feet from him. ‘Stop it Jack. You’re just paranoid. It’s playing tricks on your mind.’

But no matter what he told himself, Jack couldn’t shake the feeling he was being stalked. ‘Find Ryan. That’s all that is important.’ The green stallion trotted away from all of their supplies and went further out. “Why did I do that? If there really was someone out there they can take all of our stuff. Dammit Jack.” He cursed himself.

His grumbling stopped when he heard a light whimper. Where was it coming from? A very quiet sob was coming from a pony. Jack blinked several times and let his eyes adjust. ‘What the hell? Who is crying?’ Jack poked around. As Jack lightly walked forward, the crying got slightly louder and distinct. It sounded like a young colt.

He spotted a lump. The lump would slowly rise and fall with each whimper. Jack, very cautiously, poked the pony. The crying immediately ceased as Jack did so. A light hazel eye revealed itself. The pupils shrunk down to a tiny size at the sight of the green stallion. Both remained quiet. “Hey,” Jack said calmly. The colt was still frozen in position. “Hey, I’m not going to hurt you.” He reassured.

The colt eyed him down. “I’m not a zombie. I’m not a bandit. I’m not a Crazie.” Jack gave him the most reassuring smile he could muster. The colt’s lip quivered. A few tears cascaded down his cheek. Jack lifted up a hoof to wipe the tears away but the young pony pulled back. “I’m just looking for my friend.”

He didn’t respond. “Alright. I’ll leave you be.” Jack began to walk away. “Wait!” A little scratchy voice called. Jack looked behind him. The colt was standing. Jack could get a better view of the boy. His legs were fairly long and gangly, he reached Jack’s shoulder. His mane was a light green with a few black lowlights. His eyes and his coat were brown. He was a Pegasus.

His wings were fairly large for his size and covered almost his entire flank. The feathers were splayed out and jagged, not belonging where they should have. A few bruises and scrapes ran about his body but there were no large wounds.

Jack helped the shivering colt up. “You alright?” He asked. The colt nodded. “You sure?” The colt didn’t respond at first. He glanced up at Jack and shook his head. “What happened?” Jack light nuzzled his neck. The young Pegasus flinched at the contact. Jack pulled away.

The colt sniffled. “M-My…my,” he lightly whimpered “z-z-zomb-bie…k-killed my…my g-grandma.” He cried into Jack’s shoulder. The stallion’s eyes went wide in surprise. Just a few minutes ago the colt wanted no part of Jack.

“Hey,” Jack draped a leg around his neck. “It’s okay. If it makes you feel any better, we’re all going through a tough time.” The colt looked up. “W-why would t-that make me…me feel better?” Jack shrugged. “I actually don’t know why. Just something people say.” “Used to say.” The sadden colt corrected.

Jack kneeled next to him. “Y-know, I think you should cut it out with the negativity. I wasn’t very optimistic before either. But that’s because my friend Ray and my friend Gavin were. But we got separated. And it’s my job to be positive.” Jack rose to his hooves. “Okay?” The tall colt nodded.

“C’mon, I’m sure Ryan’s around here somewhere.” The two walked in silence down the road. “What’s your name?” Jack asked. “I’m Grayson. Yours?” Gray asked. “Jack.” Jack held out a hoof. They shook.

“What’s your friend like?” Grayson asked.

Jack was hesitant to respond. Ryan, in his current state, was depressed, lonely, and scared. But that wasn’t the Ryan that Jack used to know, wasn’t the Ryan he knew before the incident.

“He’s…well he…he’s not doing well. Something terrible happened and he’s having a hard time coping with it. He used to be funny, happy, and really smart. Well, he still is smart now but he just isn’t the same nowadays.” Jack said.

Grayson looked around. “Where is he? Where’d he go?” He asked. “I have no clue. His stuff is still at the camp so he couldn’t have left completely, not that Ryan would do that anyway.”

Before Grayson could say anything, Jack put a hoof up against his mouth. “Whdut dhis dfur?” Gray asked. “Shh…we’re being followed.” Jack could sense it. The fur on the back of his neck was standing on end. Jack cautiously turned his head around.

A black figure was standing a good fifteen feet behind them. It was too dark to identify anything about the creature. Its silhouette was eerily still and quiet. The three stood in silence staring at each other for minutes.

Without warning, the creature charged Jack and took him down. “Get the fu-,” the creature silenced Jack and slammed his head on the asphalt. Jack’s vision was obscured. He’d black out any second. The only his was the figure approaching Grayson. “Grayson! Run!” But it came out as a whisper before he passed out.

………

Crickets.
Chirp. Chirp.

Breathing.

Jack opened his eyes. “Huh?!” He flung forward from his position. The sun was coming up, its red form across the horizon. He was still on the road, his head banged up, dried blood surrounding him. “Oh god…how long was I out?” Jack asked himself. “About two hours.”

Jack jerked his head to the left. It was Ryan! “Ryan!” He cheered. Ryan smiled. Jack’s vision still wasn’t the best but he spotted something on his friend’s neck. Jack raised a hoof and pointed. “What is that?” His voice was hoarse.

“It’s the number 6.” Ryan walked forward to show Jack. He was right. A dark splotch formed the number 6. “You have one two.” Ryan gestured to his neck. Jack looked down. Out of the corner of his eye he spotted a 3. “W-what? Why?” He looked up at Ryan, expecting answers. “I don’t know. I went out to walk around for a bit, a guy knocked me out, and I woke up with this.”

“Wait. Where’s Grayson!?” He asked.
“Who?”

“A little colt. I had found him on the road. A black figure knocked me out, too.” Jack huffed. “Fucker must have nabbed him.”

“Well whoever he is, I don’t think we have much of a chance of finding him. We better get going. It’s not safe here anymore.”

Ryan was right. They needed to keep moving. They needed to find more about the numbers. And there was no going back.

Author's Note

I didn't know Ryan's daughter's name. They never say it like they do with Millie's. So that's who I'm talking about when I mention Claire.