Chapter 9: Business

Dreams… I don’t have them very often. Most times, my sleep is either a complete dark void or split in many parts due to some disturbance (like artillery or uncomfortable beds). Occasionally, however, my mind is filled with images. Sometimes I’m back at the camps, struggling to survive with what little my family could gather. There are times where I come across a cheerful memory of my university years, going to a party or sitting at a bar with good friends and living the good life. Sadly, it’s really hard to dream something when you’re resting in the hard soil filled with rocks and without a blanket…

“Come on Alex, wake up!” The voice of someone pierced through my skull. God dammit, I just can’t get some rest, can I? “Seriously, it’s late already, get up”.

I grunted a little in annoyance, my mind slowly composed itself as I began to shift in my spot. I twisted my neck a little and then my limbs, feeling my sore muscles as the result of sleeping in such a crappy condition. Finally getting into a sitting position, I opened my eyes, fighting the sudden brightness that hit them. In front of me were five individuals, arranged in a circular manner. Four of them were a mix of black and grey, the other had some distinguishable white and blonde details.

“Calm down man, he’s been through a lot,” Another voice spoke, this one much calmer. I recognized it as belonging to Dima. “It’s not even that late either”. My eye focused as he said that, allowing me to notice more details and to comprehend what was ahead of me.

The fucker who awoke me was Barin… typical. “I know, I’m just screwing with him,” He said in that same sarcastic tone he always uses. Uh, sometimes I really don’t know how we get along so well. “You’re no longer green so I need a new person to annoy”.

I’m in a small crater, in front of me are all my squad mates and Snowdrop, who looked rather isolated. This was the only place we found along the road to rest, once the sun was down. Our mission is to reach the settlement Snowdrop had come from and see what we can find. The reason why Barin was back with us is that we had acquired many medical supplies from the slaver base, allowing us to heal up most of the wounded, such as him. While I’m glad to have my dear friend back with us, I really wish he could be less annoying…

“Or maybe you could try not to be an asshole,” I said, rubbing my eyes. “That would be a nice change…”

“Ha, but where’s the fun in that?” He replied.

Looking around, I noticed they were all in the process of eating their breakfasts, while Suvorov kept watch (knowing him, he probably woke up first and had already ate his meal). Feeling the emptiness of my stomach, I turned to my left and grabbed by bag. I began to shift through my stuff, trying to find my MREs. I should try to be more organized with my stuff…

“So, what’s the plan, sergeant?” My friend asked, as everyone went back to their meals. “Unless we’re really lucky, I don’t think going there and searching randomly is going to work”. He had a point, exploring a ruined city with less than a dozen people is not really an efficient way to get something as specific as we were looking for. However, we don’t really have many options, what else can we do? Sit down and wait for rescue?

Finally, my hands grabbed what I wanted. Taking it out, I recognized the familiar square shape of the MRE package. This success brought some joy to me, as I proceeded to prepare my meal. “Yea, I’m aware of that, but right now, that’s everything we got,” I argued with him.

“Still, I wished we had more than the word of a pony to go along with,” He replied, taking a quick glance to the pony in question. “Not that I have a problem with her, but we don’t even know where to begin”. Snowdrop was to my right, eating her own meal, completely oblivious to our conversation (since we were speaking in Russian).

Eh, he does raise some good points; I wonder what Snow thinks about all this. “Hey, Snow,” I called, causing her to look at me in confusion. She must’ve been in deep thought.

“Uh? What is it?” She asked, looking at me with those huge golden orbs.

“Do you have any idea where we should start looking, once we get to your home?” I said, while taking the first bites of my meal. She looked away, brows furrowed as she thought.

After a few moments, she looked back at me. “Well, I was hoping to get in touch with some of my family and friends”.

“Why is that?” I inquired, raising an eyebrow. She didn’t really spoke much about the people she knew, back at her home. Perhaps she’s more resourceful than she looks? Well, certainly not enough to get proper security, I guess.

“My family is part of one of the gangs there,” I almost spit my meal right there. What the fuck? She lives with a bunch of thugs? What about all that whinnying in regards to killing? “They have a huge library filled with pre-war documents”.

“Explain this gang stuff better,” I said slowly. I realize that I shouldn’t have high expectations to what kind factions rule that place, but that still makes me concerned. “It would be nice to have an idea of what we’re jumping into”.

She nodded while drinking some water. “Well, to do that I need to tell you how Ministry Square works,” She began. “The place is the central square of the city, and as the name tells, where the pre-war ministries once stood. There are six buildings in total, each one belonging to one of the three major factions. The whole place is surrounded by walls and barricates, with only two gates for access. Outside, in the pre-war residential and industrial district, is where most of the inhabitants of the city live”.

“And why is that?” I asked.

“The city used to be a center of industry of the island, and the square was the source of much of it,” She explained. “The place is a goldmine of pre-war equipment and data. Because of that, there’s a lot of ponies interested in going there, and not always with the best intentions, so only those who work, have enough money or own property can go inside”.

“So that’s why you think we can find something there?”

“Exactly,” She concluded with a vague smile. “Is there anything else you would like to know?”

I placed my free hand in my chin, thinking what else might be useful. “Who are these factions?”

“Well, there’s three of them,” She answered. “There’s the White Coat Society, where I’m from…” Can’t help but to think that’s quite amusing. “… The Lunar Caravans and the Black Watch Mercenaries”. Mercenaries, eh? I guess that was expected.

We kept eating our breakfast for a few more minutes. There wasn’t much to do really, except complain about the heat. There aren’t many clouds in the sky, not after the light rain yesterday, and so we have to endure the sun in all its glory. It’s nice to have some change from the freezing conditions back home, but that doesn’t mean I enjoy being fried by sunlight.

-x-

Soon, we were back on the road, moving to our objective. It must be an interesting sight, five PAC troopers, fully equipped, accompanying a pony. This wasn’t an easy walk, especially since we’re carrying extra ammo and supplies. In addition, we had switched our standard PAC assault rifles for a mix of Lambert Carbines and Baur H-ARs (heavy assault rifle). These were they only weapons in our arsenal that didn’t use plasma-based case-less ammo, and they were quite heavier when compared to our usual Krylov FA-37s.

The landscape from the coast was now giving way to a much wider area, the “Golden Valley” if I’m not mistaken. From our position, I could see the large plains that composed this region, so vast that I could barely see the hills on the other side. I could also see some ruins up ahead, similar to what you would find in archeological excavation, nothing but the base of countless structures, which had vanished in the sands of time.

I looked forward, trying to distract myself from boredom, a common problem during long walks or patrols. The area was quiet, with a constant breeze coming our way, moving some of the sand and rocks around us. I suppose this place has a strange… beauty to it, looking calm and peaceful, even though we know of the struggle and bloodshed going around.

“You know, I wonder what we’re going to do, once we get back home,” Dima commented, obviously trying to break the silence. Most of us shrugged as a response.

“I guess we’ll head back into action,” Said Barin. “There’s still a war going, after all…”

“Who knows, maybe they've got Europe taken care off already”.

“Well, we’ll only know for sure once we’re back,” I stated.

Eventually, we approached a new area, a village of some sort. It looked simple, and had no walls or barricades defending it. I gestured my comrades to halt, thinking what we could do. Snow had told me about a small market area, such as this, being on our way. This was likely the place where she had joined the merchant caravan that was ambushed.

“Snowdrop, is this the place you told me about?” I asked, as we stood there, analyzing the surrounding area.

She approached me, stopping on my right side and looking at the place. “Yes it is,” She answered. “You want to go there?”

Honestly, I don’t know. On one hand, that place could have some useful stuff. We had acquired a lot of bottle-caps and equipment from the recent hostilities, so we could probably trade for things like food and clean water. On the other, I had no idea how these people might react to us, they could attack, and I can’t afford to go into unnecessary conflict. Well, I suppose it’s worth a shot, if all goes to hell we can just back off and go around it.

I turned towards my teammates who were staring at me, waiting for an answer. “Alright, we’ll go there, but I need you to pay attention,” I said. “We don’t know how they might react to us, so be ready to act”. Receiving nods of confirmation, I turned around and began to walk towards the village.

We carefully approached it, making sure to keep our eyes open to any threats. As we moved closer, I heard the distinctive sound of movement and voices. My mind wondered the many possible ways this could go. There’s almost no cover around, if this go down into combat, we’ll have a hard time. Well, we do have a pony with us, one that was here before, and if the ex-slaves are anything to go by, there’s a chance we won’t cause too much commotion.

My thought were interrupted by the distinguishable metal clicks of weapons. “Who goes there?” a raspy voice asked. Looking for the source, as all of us tensed up, I spotted a mustard pony staring at us from the second floor of a house. He appeared old, bearing a big mustache and wearing a Stetson. On his side was the barrel of a rifle. “Ah asked, who goes there, freaks!”

Fucking great, so much for doing this peacefully. Looking around, I began to notice other ponies pointing weapons at us from the surrounding buildings. My heart beat faster as I thought of an answer. “We’re here for trade!” I shouted towards him. The pony seemed taken aback by that, I guess he wasn’t really expecting me to attempt negotiation, or even to speak his language. “We’re not looking for a fight,” I added, trying to sound calm and fighting the urge to pick my rifle.

“And how do I know I can trust that?” He answered, trying to sound intimidating. What he got was a roll of my eyes; no matter how I looked at them, I just couldn’t take a bunch of colorful ponies seriously. “Besides, we don’t want anything you may offer”. I’m half inclined to just get the fuck away from here, I don’t need to deal with this bullshit.

I opened my mouth to reply, but Snowdrop beat me to it. “Stop that, Mint Strings!” She said while moving to stand beside me, in clear view. Her presence seemed to confuse our opponents, who shifted a little in their spots, trying to get a better view of her. The one she called, the old pony, had a deeper reaction. His mouth hang slightly open and he even lowered his rifle a little.

“Snowdrop? What’re you doing here?” He said, clearly confused. “Everypony thought you were dead!”

Getting a little more confident, Snow took a step forward, getting closer to him. “These ‘freaks’ over here saved me from raiders,” She stated. Well, that’s actually only half true, I dare to say it was the other way around. “They’re speaking the truth”. I guess working with her is finally paying off. She stood there for a while, glaring at the ponies ahead of us.

“B-but what about the slavers? H-how?”

“Like I said, they helped me, and they also took down Skull Smasher’s group”. So that's how that child-murderer bastard was called?

The old pony’s eyes widened a little at that, but he quickly returned to the same hard glare from before. “Alright Snow, if what you say is true then ah suppose I can give them a chance…” He lowered his rifle and gestured the other ponies to do the same. “Come inside, I’m sure Sandy Star will be glad to see ya”.

I let out a sigh of relief, glad to do this without unnecessary fighting. My comrades had similar reactions, all of them taking a calmer stance. That was way too close for comfort. “Okay, I suppose we should go inside then?” I asked the white mare.

“You said you needed supplies, correct?” She replied, looking over her shoulder. I nodded. “Then we should see Sandy, she’s the one who controls most of the caravans around this part”.

-x-

We went inside, under the careful watch of the “guards”. Taking a closer look at them, I doubted they could even be called that. Most of them were wearing leather armor and jackets while carrying simple hunting rifles, very little to actually make an effective fighting force. The place itself was pretty small, a few old houses with some market stalls here and there selling all kinds of supplies. I spotted a few places selling weapons and ammunition, drawing my attention.

Perhaps it would be useful to see if they had the same caliber as our weapons. I know for sure they exist in this world, but if these merchants have them, we could try to arrange some deal to trade for them. This could prove to be the solution to at least one of our problems, for a while.

Every single one of the ponies here was paying attention to us. Their talking would cease as soon as we got into sight. Some of them outright backed off from where they were to get away from us. This does makes me feel slightly uncomfortable, even a little suspicious, but honestly, I don’t really give a shit. Let them hate us, as long as they fear us.

We approached a larger house, a lot better conserved and with a dark crescent moon painted above the main door. This must be the symbol of those “Lunar Caravans” Snow had spoken about. She halted by the door, looking up at me for confirmation.

“Alright guys, I want you all to remain here while Snow and me go inside,” I said to my comrades. They all nodded in acknowledgement. “Keep your eyes open and pay attention”.

I turned around and began to make my way to Snow. “Alex!” I heard Barin calling. I turned around in confusion and looked at him. “Try not to get ripped off!” That got some smirks from the other guys. That fucker…

Snowdrop and I entered the building. We arrived at a wide room, with two more ponies guarding the door we came from. Across from us were two office tables on each side, and a third larger one on the end of the room, opposite to us. The place looked well kept, with almost no dust and very well organized. Obviously, this place was used for administration and paperwork. On the larger table was a unicorn mare, with a very light green coat (I almost mistaken it for white) and light brown hair. She wore a pair of glasses and an old suit, making me assume she was the one in charge.

Upon noticing us, her eyes widened in surprise. “Snowdrop dear, you’re alive!” She said, walking away from her table, towards Snow. “And… I see you made some friends…” She added, taking a glance at me. My alien appearance and serious expression got her a little tense.

“Yes, to both questions,” Snow replied in a happy tone. She took a few steps forward and greeted the mare with a hug. “How’s everyone at home?”

“Oh dear, they’re worried sick about you, a little filly like you shouldn’t go out in dangerous journeys like this,” The mare replied. Alright, they know each other, which could prove useful. “What about the rest of the caravan? We got a few ponies who ran away from the slavers, but none of them knew something”.

Snow gave her a sad expression, her eyes going low. “I don’t think any of them made it… at least not that I know of”. The other mare’s look hardened somewhat, sad but not really shocked with it, if her apparent age is anything to go by, she’s probably used to this kind of thing. “I was lucky to bump into this guy,” she continued, pointing a hoof at me.

The older mare looked away for a second, letting out a sigh. “Well, what matters is that you’re okay,” She said. After a moment of silence, she turned her head towards me. “But enough with that, who’s this fellow I own for saving you?”

Before Snow could say anything, I answered. “Call me Alex,” I tried to sound normal, but it’s hard to cause a good first impression when wearing full combat gear and carrrying a heavy assault rifle on my hands. The mare seemed a little surprised at my sudden words. This is becoming quite annoying. “And you are?”

“I’m Sandy Star, pleasure to meet you!” She said with a smile, raising one of her hoofs, which I gently shook. There were a few more minutes of small talk between the two mares. Occasionally, I added a few things, in regards of what Snow was doing in the last few days. It’s amazing how this ponies can break the ice.

“Alright, I get it why Snow decided to come here, but what about you and those other folk?” Sandy asked.

“Well, as I already said, we arrived here by accident,” I replied. “Snow told us about her home, and so we were hoping to go there and see if we can find something related to our arrival”.

“Ah, yes, that place is the best when it comes to information, particularly pre-war documents”.

“Yes, however, that isn’t the only reason behind our journey here,” Sandy raised an eyebrow at that, slightly confused. “We’re also looking for supplies-“ The mare opened her mouth to speak, but I quickly added, “-And we’re willing to trade for them”.

The mare looked away for a second. “Well, I suppose that’s more than okay, I would be happy to give you a few things we can spare, plus a nice discount in anything else”. Goddamn, I’m sure glad I helped Snowdrop now. I mean, not that I didn’t enjoy helping her in the first place, but this is definitely more than I was expecting. “Although you’ll have to take everything here, can’t risk sending another caravan to the coast”.

“That won’t be a problem,” I replied. “We have taken out most of the slaver and raider groups in the area”.

“Well, that’s very nice of you, they've been quite a torment for a while now,” She said. “Why did you do it?”

There were many reasons, those groups were an imminent threat to us and they had attacked us before. There was also the moral reason; we can’t stand idly by while they practice something as bad as slavery, not when we can do something about it. “Do I need a reason?” I said. “We strongly oppose this type of practice”.

The mare nodded in understanding. “I see, in that case I’m willing to send one more caravan. There are villages over there that would surely be interested in merchandize. Is there anything you would like to prioritize?”

Well, ammunition was necessary, but we still had a good supply of them, at least for a few weeks. I could try to ask for medical supplies, but I doubt the mare would have a lot of it. We had some of it stocked, but not enough to be safe, if we're faced with a large number of casualties, we could easily run out. “Well, food and clean water are the main issues right now”.

She nodded. “Alright, I can do that, I’ll make sure to add some extra bags with those items,” The mare floated a pen and notebook in front of her, quickly writing down the information. “Is there anything else, dear?”

“What about medical supplies?” I asked. “They aren’t a priority, but it would be nice to know if you have any,”

The smile vanished from Sandy’s face. “Oh, that’s actually a problem…”

“What is it?” Snowdrop asked. If she’s asking, it must be something recent, I presume.

“Most of our medical supplies came from a pre-war clinic, not far from here,” Sandy Star explained. “However, a few days ago a group of ponies from the north came and took over”.

I raised an eyebrow at that. “Raiders?”

The mare shook her head. “We don’t rightfully know,” she said. “From what we understood, they looked more like refugees from the conflict up north”. Refugees? This place is beginning to look like home.

“So… what can we do about it?” I asked.

Sandy thought for a while, brows furrowed. “Well, you could always try to speak with them”.

“Then why didn’t you?”

“We did, but they are charging a high price for those supplies, and they aren’t willing to negotiate,” The mare replied, still in deep thought. “Alternatively… you could kick them out”.

Ah yes, this was too sweet to be true. No matter how pleasant this place looks, it’s still a wasteland. It appears that everybody on this place has blood on their hands, one way or another, and I guess it would be naive of me to expect otherwise. Now I'm faced with a unpleasant oportunity, the chance to acquire vital supplies at the cost of people I don't even know. Can't help but to feel like a thief for even considering this...

I don't have the full picture of this, for all I know I could be dealing with a local gang or a bunch of helpless people who were driven to desperation. Should I ignore this? I could be putting the lives of my comrades at risk and have no idea if a similar oportunity will come again. However, even if I do agree with this, that still raises the question on how we should proceed. We can try to negotiate; we’ve managed to do so here, why not over there? Sandy did say they attacked without provocation… and if they are not willing to negotiate with their fellow equines, what chances do we have?

What if they are truly refugees? That could explain why they attacked, and I'm not about to attack a bunch of desperate people. Still... I can't ignore the chance of getting more supplies.

“I’ll think about,” I answered.

Sandy nodded, bearing a vague smile. “Well, just know that if you’re willing to take the place back, I’ll be happy to reward you”. After some more small talk, Snow and I bid farewell to the mare and went outside. My comrades were exactly where I left them, watching the area as the ponies around moved on with their daily routines (while trying to avoid them).

Of course, Barin was the first to notice us. “Oh, Alex! How much de we owe this place now?” His expression changed when he noticed my mood.

“Shut up Barin, we got a new job,” I said, bringing everyone’s attention. Noticing my serious expression, he complied. He may be a jerk sometimes, but he knows when to stop. I proceeded to explain everything we had discussed inside the building. At first, they didn't seem to care much, but as gave them a bigger picture their expressions changed. I kept every detail, and my comrades were equally surprise with what the mare had suggested. We have all done our share of sins, but that still doesn't make it any better. It was wrong, but I suppose it’s expected in a place like this. Can I truly ask these people to uphold an extensive moral code when they have to fight every day for survival?

“So, what do you think about this?” I asked them, after I finished explaining.

“Well, we can’t go around attacking people without provocation,” Said Dima. “No matter how desperate we are”.

Everyone nodded in agreement. “Yea, I think that’s pretty obvious,” Added Barin. “Besides, we’re not that bad in medical supplies”.

“Alright, I guess it’s settled then,” I concluded. “I still want to check that place though, see if we can get something. if they refuse, we’ll back off”.

This is not ideal, but at the very least, we have some of the problems taken care off, for the moment. It’s good to know that there are people willing to talk to us, and even better, to trade and negotiate with us. Still, we know very little about this place, as long as we don’t get a full picture of everything and everyone that might pose a threat, we won’t be safe to operate. I’m also a little hesitant with the idea of depending on these people for supplies. Not because of the quality, the canned food I had found at the research facility proved to be edible without any problems (except for small bits of radiation, but then again, pretty much everything here is irradiated to some degree). It's never good to depend on an outside group for something as essential as food and water.

We kept speaking for a few more minutes, discussing our next steps. However, we were interrupted by a new voice speaking up. “Excuse me,” The voice said. I turned around in confusion, who the hell would be interested in speaking with us? At first I didn't see anything, until I noticed the voice was coming from below. “I heard you were going to the clinic nearby,” The voice belonged to a unicorn, with a bronze coat and slightly long yellowish mane, who was sitting right in front of me. He wore a long duster and a cowboy hat, obscuring part of his face, as well as a bag (saddle bags?). I could also see a plate carrier vest beneath his long coat.

I stole a quick glance to Snowdrop, who seemed equally confused. “Why do you want to know?” I said. For some reason, his face was strangely calm, as if he were speaking to another pony. After what happened earlier, I wouldn’t expect a pony to just casually approach us like that.

“I happen to be going there too,” The pony said in the same calm tone as before. Do I look like a bodyguard for hire or something? Hasn't this guy noticed the combat gear and all the weapons?

I don’t like where this is going. “So? What does that have to do with us?” I replied, raising an eyebrow. I crossed my arms while trying to show him that I wasn't interested. My squad acted in a similar way, remaining silent while staring at the him. However, our natural attempts at making him unconfortable didn't work... or at least he was doing a good job at not showing it.

“Well, I figure we could work together,” The pony took a step forward. “Besides, I’ve been there before-”.

I interrupted him. "We don't need a guide," He raised a hoof and tried to speak, "And we are also very busy". He narrowed his eyes at that. What? I had bigger priorities than dealing with some creepy dude.

He struggled a little bit to reply. "I-listen... uh-" He stopped and took a deep breath. "Will you just hear me out for a bit?" Honestly? I would rather not, but I guess I could spare a few seconds.

"Why should I?"

"Because this could be beneficial to both of us?"

"Go on..."

"Right now, I happen to be looking for some data inside that clinic but haven't been able to get it because... you know, all those ponies taking over and all that. However, I did manage to scout the whole area around it in the last two days so I know more or less how many they are and what we could expect. If you let me help you we could solve this whole ordeal much more smoothly."

I looked at my comrades for advice, receiving only their confused and somewhat suspicious expressions. Fucking great… what should I do now? On one hand, that guy could prove useful and he did approach us with no problems, however, he fucking creeps me out for that same reason. Well, we outnumber him, and even if he had some friends waiting in the bushes, we’re all heavily armed and ready to deal with such things.

“Alright, you can tag along,” I said. “What’s your name?”

“I’m Bronze Mirage,” The pony said with a vague and even creepier smile.

-x-

“This ain’t gonna work, you know…”

“You’re the one who wanted to come”.

“I thought you were going to do something appropriate, not go there and ask nicely”.

This place keeps surprising me. After the brief conversation with Mirage, I told most of my comrades to stay there and radio the HQ about the most recent developments. After that, Barin, Bronze Mirage and I went out, to the clinic. However, as soon as I spoke my plans of trying to negotiate our way in, the pony began to argue with me, urging me to take a more… aggressive stance. Fuck him; I’m not about to jump into combat over supplies or whatever the hell he wants from that place.

“Look, if you have a problem with my plan, you’re free to go on your own,” I replied to him, not even bothering to face him as we walked down the streets towards the place. The scenery changed quite drastically after the small market, with more houses and other buildings standing around. These structures were somewhat better preserved, making this place look like an old warzone, as opposed to ancient ruins. It was surreal to walk in these vast empty streets, and it reminded me a little of some abandoned small towns I had patrolled back in Europe. “We are attempting diplomacy here, whether you like it or not”.

“We don't know if these ponies are the friendly type,” The pony said, stepping closer to me. “All you’ll get is a firefight!” His previous calm behavior was slightly altered, giving way to some agitation. Meanwhile, my friend Barin walked a few steps behind us. Briefly looking over my shoulder, I confirmed he was equally bored by the ongoing argument. “What’s the problem with just going there and shooting a few-“.

I halted and turned to face. “What the fuck do you want me to do?” I said in a serious tone. “Go there and attack a bunch of people over a few supplies? Are their lives really that cheap to you?” I narrowed my eyes as I said that.

Bronze took a step back, but still maintained his expression. “We don’t have to make a massacre, just scare then a little and they’ll back off,” He said, “We could also try to infiltrate the place, in case that’s still not enough for you”.

Yes, I suppose we could try to scare them or infiltrate the place, however, that would probably delay our mission and there was always the possibility of failure. Sure, maybe diplomacy would also fail, but since the ponies in question were probably refugees and holding inside the building, we could just back away in case something happened. I’ll admit I am a little worried… but so far, this is the best shot we have.

“Look, Bronze…” I said, letting out a sigh. “This isn’t my main priority right now, and I’m not about to take unnecessary risks”.

The pony looked away for a second. “Alright, suit yourself; let’s see how your strategy plays out”. With that, the conversation ended. The three of us kept walking for a while, eventually getting close to our objective.

“Alex!” My friend called. “I think I see the place,” he said, pointing at something down the road. Staring at where he was pointing, I spotted some sort of barricade, not very well built. I guess these ponies must be desperate to defend their new home. “Maybe we should hold up and see what exactly we’re dealing with”.

I nodded to him and then turned my head to Bronze. “Is that the place?” I asked, and he nodded. Well, better find a good spot to scout the area. I scanned the area around me, looking at the ruined structures around us. To my right, I saw what appeared to be a ruined bar, two floors high and reasonably conserved, with only a part of the second floor partially destroyed. Because of the state of decay here, this building is likely our best option, and it does have a good field of view. “Alright, inside that building, we’ll go to the second floor and give a look around”.

Passing through the long shattered glass of the front, we went inside. The interior was just as I expected, a rotted and decayed room, with dust and garbage laying around. I brought my rifle up, just in case. Spotting the stairs, on the other side of the room, I slowly made my way towards it. My two companions were right behind me. However, just before I reached the place, I saw a wooden box right next to the first step. Normally that wouldn’t be an issue, but the object just felt… out of place.

I did a duple take, trying to spot any wires. I didn’t see any, so I moved closer. Standing close to it, I gave it a kick, not very strong, only enough to turn the box over and reveal what might be under it. I then spotted a… yellow metal disk with a red button, blinking?

BEEP! BEEP!

“Get down!” I shouted, kicking the proximity mine away and throwing myself at the ground. Luckily, in my panic I sent the explosive into the next room, shielding us from the explosion. It wasn’t a very loud bang, but it still threw a lot of dust up and caused the floor to shake a little. Fucking great, now I have to worry about traps laying around…

Barin was the first to recover. “Fuck…” I heard him cursing. “I bet the ponies at the clinic heard that”. Shit, he had a point; we have to get out of here.

Coughing a little, I stood back up. I spotted Barin and the pony already on their feet (and hooves), looking around in confusion. “Are you alright?” I asked, my voice carrying a little more anxiety than I expected.

“Yea,” Said the pony. “Come on, we've got to leave now”. He began to make his way back out.

“I agree with him, come on, Alex,” My friend added.

I nodded in agreement, but before I could comply, however, someone shot at us from the outside. In an instant, the thunder of weapons filled the air, as bullets began to zip around us. “Shit!” I cursed, once again throwing myself into the wooden floor. Adrenaline surged through me as I tried to figure what was going on. There’s no fucking way the people from that clinic are already on us!

We all went to the nearest cover available. Barin and I took shelter by a small pile of furniture, while the pony pressed himself to the bar stand. “What the fuck do we do now, Alex!” My friend shouted. Fuck, what were we supposed to do? The answer seems obvious, but still… god dammit; this day was going well till now…

“Screw this, open fire!” I shouted, lifting my rifle above my head. I let out a short burst of blind fire into the general direction of the enemy. Barin did the same, his Carbine spraying the streets with bullets. Across from my position, I could see the pony floating a… Winchester above his cover. Our counterattack served to suppress the enemy a little, allowing me to give a quick glance outside, hoping to identify our opponents. Across the street, I spotted five ponies, carrying a variety of weapons and taking cover in the buildings and rubble.

They didn’t look like raiders or slavers. “Who the hell are these guys!” I shouted to Bronze.

“I don’t know!” He answered. “Might be a patrol from the clinic!” Now you tell me they might have patrols around? Honestly… I hadn't even considered the possibility, but still… well, nothing I can do now.

I pulled my heavy assault rifle and shot a few rounds towards a pony taking cover near the remains of a vehicle. Lucky for us, these ponies had to keep most of their bodies exposed while firing. Unless we were forced against a group of unicorns, we had a natural advantage. They returned fire and I snapped back into cover. “Alright, you two stay here and keep their attention, I’m going to the second floor!”

Barin rose from his cover and began shooting at another target. “Understood!” He said. I slowly moved to the stairway. Around me, bullets zipped around, hitting the walls and furniture. However, the combined fire from Barin and Bronze Mirage successfully kept the enemy at bay. Finally reaching the stairs, I turned around and unloaded the rest of my magazine into the enemy. Because of the higher caliber, my rifle had a smaller magazine.

With the enemy temporarily suppressed, I moved up, to the second floor, keeping an eye out for more traps. I reloaded my weapon while moving up. Thankfully, there were none, and soon I got to the windows facing the street. Looking outside, I spotted a blue pony firing some sort of SMG. I pointed my rifle I fire two shots, they both hit the pony square in the chest. My target fell down like a rock. Meanwhile, another pony was hit by a burst of rounds, probably from Barin.

The remaining targets were inside a building across ours. The place was little more than a few piles of rubble surrounded by some walls. Upon noticing me, one of them, a unicorn with a shotgun, fire a round in my direction, forcing me back into cover. I cursed once again, pushing myself up and aiming at the pony. I saw his face twist into terror as I fired a round into his neck. At the same time, another pony went down. The final hostile attempted to flee, running deeper into the ruins, but his escape was cut short by a bullet piercing his back.

Just like that, the fighting stopped. I let out a deep breath, trying to calm myself. I looked outside, trying to spot any new targets, all that I saw were the bodies of our recent enemies, slowly bleeding out and painting the dirt and sand red. Fuck, so much for not starting a fight… why did they even attacked us in the first place? Well, screw it, they attacked and I defended myself.

I went to the first floor, finding my two companions. The pony stood in his corner, analyzing his weapon; he briefly gazed at me, his eyes bearing the unspoken “I told you so”. At least he was wise enough to keep his mouth shut. My friend Barin was in a similar state to myself, I could see the anxiety and apprehension in his face. I felt like saying something… trying to justify our actions... but I just couldn’t. I know that deep down, there’s nothing fundamentally wrong with what we just did but… this still leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

“Come on...” I told them. “Let’s go, before more of them show up”. They both nodded and followed me outside. The wind whispered around me as I looked at the bodies. How the hell am I even going to explain this to the rest of my comrades?

Before I could think of something, there was a crack in the distance and a bullet hit the dirt right next to me. “Fuck! Get to cover!” I shouted. The three of us jumped behind a decayed vehicle, with the body of one of our recent victims resting against it. Looking down the street, I spotted more ponies coming against us, from the barricade. “Return fire!”

Once again, we were fighting for our lives. There weren’t many more hostiles, only about seven of them. After our previous fight, this felt almost like a dream. The adrenaline inside me turned me blind to any kind of uncomfortable feeling. All I did was pull the trigger, first at a yellow pony near a pile of rubble and then at another taking cover by some garbage cans. Without thinking, I put my own rage and frustration into these actions, taking target after target.

Meanwhile, Barin and Bronze Mirage also took out another three ponies. I noticed how effective Bronze was with his rifle; he probably had a lot of experience with it. The two remaining targets also tried to flee. With a grunt of annoyance, I stood up from cover and walked towards them, shooting rounds in their direction. I didn’t even registered my friend shouting at me as I moved. One of the ponies went down; the second took a few more steps before one of my rounds got him.

“Alexander, stop!” I halted. My hands shook, my heart raced in my chest, I could feel sweat dripping all over my body. “Hold on for a second, you got hit!” What? I scanned my body, trying to spot something. Indeed, there was some blood coming from my left arm, near the middle. Crap, I didn’t even noticed that. Thankfully, it wasn’t anything serious.

“Oh… right, it’s nothing serious…” I replied. The area was now quiet. The barricade appeared deserted (it was quite far away, so I didn’t know for sure). “Fuck it, let’s end this”. I gestured both of them to follow me. Shit already happened anyway, I might as well make sure there are no more threats.

Slowly we approached the barricade. Looking around, I confirmed it was indeed empty. The three of us climbed the barrier, revealing an equally empty camp, in front of the clinic. This camp was made up of many small tends packed together, with multiple objects laying around. Guess the rest must’ve ran off… Great…

I turned to Barin. “Call the rest of the squad…”

-x-

Well… at least we got the supplies. I sat on top of the barricade, looking at the clinic. My friend Barin was beside me, as the rest of our squad gathered a few boxes of medical supplies. They didn’t spoke much, not even a comment about what happened, but I could see the unspoken doubt in their eyes. Can I blame them? I left saying we were just going to give a look around, only to call them and explain how that turned out into a massacre.

Barin noticed my mood. “Look, Alex…” he began, placing a hand on my shoulder. “I won’t say there was nothing wrong with what happened, but you know we didn’t had much of choice”.

“I know that…” I replied. “But still, this is far from ideal”. Snowdrop was the worst; she couldn’t even look me in the eyes. The look of sadness on her face when she saw the bodies was… concerning, to say the least. Well, my only choice right now is to keep going. Hopefully we’ll get something out of this journey.

As I continued to wonder, Dima approached us. “Sir, we’ve got everything we can carry sorted out”.

“Alright, that’s good,” I said. “What about Bronze?” The pony had slipped inside the building right after we confirmed the area was safe.

“He’s looking into some of the terminals inside”.

I stood back up. “Okay, that’ll be all,” I said to him. “Come on; let’s get this whole thing back on the road”. The three of us got off the barricade, moving towards the rest of the squad, close to the medical boxes. The small pile of objects was a little more than I previously expected. Turns out this place had a small warehouse in the basement.

“What’s the plan now, Alex?” Barin said.

“I want Dima, Suvorov and Akio to grab these supplies and head back to the outpost,” I said. Splitting the unit like this might not be wisest thing to do, but we do need to get these supplies back to the HQ. In addition, I’m not about to call a transport ship this far out here, in the middle of the day. “Barin, Snowdrop and I will keep heading to Ministry Square”.

“You sure about this, sir?” Questioned Dima.

“Yes,” I replied. “I… also want you guys to go back to the market and grab the reward for clearing this place…” Obviously, they were taken aback by that. “I know what you’re all thinking… and I don’t like this either, but well… we need everything we can get”.

As I said that, I spotted Bronze Mirage leaving the clinic. “So… are you heading to Ministry Square?” He asked.

“Yes, we are,” I replied. “Let me guess, you want to tag along?”

“Yep, that place is also my next stop”.

With all decided, we split up. The now four of us quickly got back on the road, hoping to reach the outskirts of the city before nightfall. Barin and I also took some extra equipment to help in any upcoming events. He got a heartbeat sensor (to avoid being stuck in the same situation as before) and I opted for a sniper rifle. The thing was quite heavy (which added to my assault rifle made things pretty hard for me) but it would come in handy to avoid close engagements.

Footnote: 60% to next level

Author's Note

Here's the next chapter, hope you all enjoy. There's still some things I would like to change in the previous chapters (especially the second), but I figure it's good enough to move on. Still, I'll keep you all posted when I get around making more changes.