Chapter 14: The Dead City – Part 2

“So you came to this place without a clue of what you might find and where to go and then ended up separated in this infested hole?” The mare said. “Bucking pathetic, I thought aliens were supposed to be smart…”

I rolled my eyes. “Well, it doesn’t look like you got any better at your end,” Just as she asked, I told her how and why I was wondering this place. My mood quickly descended as she began to throw these teases whenever I mentioned something going wrong. Seriously, who the fuck she thinks she is? “Anyway, as I was saying, I thought I could find a way up at some station around here, so far I had no such luck.”

The pony flew around a bit, hiding in the shadows. “Why should I believe you?” Because I didn’t blew your brains out… yet. I suppose that isn’t good enough, to be honest, the main reason why is simply because I’m stuck in this shitty situation, any other time I wouldn’t hesitate to fight. Not only that, it would be best if I don’t kill too many of the natives and risk creating a bad image for me and my comrades. “A minute ago you tried to kill me!”

I shook my head. “I told you already, I thought you were a Nosalis! I don’t want to fight.”

This little chat allowed me to have a good look at her. There were a few details, beyond the batwings, which made her different from the rest of the ponies, like the fluffy ears and what looked like fangs. I think Snowdrop told me something about this type of pony… I think they were called bat-ponies or something, quite fitting, I guess. Well, no matter what she is, I’m still stuck in this gods-forsaken shithole.

“Going inside this place just to find a way up? You would have better chances trying to climb up the crater you fell in!” She then pointed her hoof at me, “And don’t try to put me in the same ship, I’ve come here a few times already and I always come prepared!”

I raised an eyebrow. “Then how do you explain your current situation?”

She crossed her hooves and huffed. “I did come prepared, but the idiots I brought with me got themselves killed,” I’m starting to despise this mare, her ego is almost leaving the atmosphere…

“What exactly were you doing here?”

“I’m a Blackwatch, I came here to deal with the nosalises,” Interesting, she doesn’t look like one. The guys I saw usually carry heavier equipment. “Not that I can do much by myself… damn those idiots,” The mare shook her head a little.

Well, what can I do now? If she’s being honest, I won’t have to worry about her, however, that means I’m still stuck in this place. Maybe she can point me the way out? No,… she doesn’t look like the type of person who would do something out of pure goodness. She did say she has been here before, but how can I get her to help me? I didn’t brought any caps with me and the things I scavenged at the mall are not very precious…

Perhaps I could offer to help her? It isn’t much and I have no idea what we might face, but right now I’m running out of options. “Hey, you said you can’t do much by yourself, right?”

The mare looked at me with a raised eyebrow. “Well, yeah, you deaf or something?”

I let the little comment slide. “Well, I need to find a way out and get back on track, so how about we help each other? I’ll aid you in taking out these nosalises and you show me the way out.”

“As if you could be of much help…” She replied, rolling her eyes, “Although I suppose I don’t have much of a choice". She turned to face me, while attempting to put an intimidating expression. "Why should I let you help me, for all I know you could simply stab me from behind or leave me to the wolves when things get tense."

I crossed my arms. She does have a point, there's no reason for her to trust me, especially after what happened. "True, but if I wanted to kill you we wouldn't be having this conversation. Plus, as I already told you, I need to find a way out, and right now you're the only one who can help me on that."

She didn't seemed fully convinced, but nevertheless she still accepted what I said.

Hopefully I’m not getting myself into something too big. I spend a few minutes wrapping my wounds, while the mare checked her equipment. Taking a few glances, I made a mental list of what she’s carrying. A short sword, pistol, dagger, spear and what looked like a type of blade attached to the hoof (hoof-blade?).

She pointed a hoof at me. “If you want to help me, make sure you don’t get in the way,” You know, I always thought my armor and weapon implied I knew a thing or two about fighting, “We need to take out the alpha and that’s no easy task.”

The alpha? Interesting, that does says a lot about how these nosalises live, and I guess it makes this simpler. Better take care of one, probably big mutant, than a whole pack. However, if my luck is anything to go by, it won’t be anywhere as simple as it appears. I need to get back to my primary objective as soon as possible. Each minute wasted down here could compromise our success; we cannot lose whatever intel might be in there.

As I stood back up, ready to move on, the mare brought a big saddlebag to me. “Take this,” she said.

“What is it?”

“Explosives,” She replied plainly.

I raised an eyebrow. “Why do you have explosives?” A lot of it, if the weigh is anything to go by.

“Big mothers are usually very hard to kill; it’s easier to just blow up their nests.”

“Okay… so how exactly are we doing this?” I asked, “Do we just go inside, guns blazing?”

She rolled her eyes. “Of course not, we need to keep a low profile and stay away from large groups; once we identify the main nest, we’ll dump some charges around and hit the trigger.”

“Do you know how to get there?”

“More or less, I was investigating a few tunnels before I ended up here, I think they might lead towards the alpha.”

At least she isn’t an idiot. Her plan, as basic as it is, does carry some thought into it. Still, only god knows what kind of shit I’ll have to deal with. Without further conversation, we set out into the metro tunnels. Interestingly, the mare didn’t have any flashlights with her. Are her eyes adapted to low-light conditions? Or does she use echolocation, like actual bats?

I noticed the overall quality of her barding was a lot superior to previous leather jackets I had seen along the way. Her version was designed with a more military look, providing good protection to her center of mass and rear. Some of the joints and shoulder blades had small metal plates attached. In addition, the armor also had pouches in a few places. All in all, this looked a lot more professional and effective.

The mood between us didn’t change as we walked. It was easy to notice none of us was comfortable with each other. She was pissed off and I was annoyed. However, I did enjoy the silence somewhat, a lot better than hearing her remarks about my current predicament. Well, I don’t have to like this, as long as she holds her end of our little bargain, I can tolerate her behavior.

Eventually, we arrived in a large hole going through one of the walls. The gap was big, I could easily move inside without any restrictions. I could also see other smaller tunnels nearby. Where could they lead? Hopefully not to somewhere irradiated or filled with poison gas.

“So, is this the place?” I asked, as the mare checked her weapons one more time.

She glanced towards me. “Yea, I think so,” she seemed to settle for her… hoof-blade thing and spear, “There might be Nosalises nearby, so keep your guard up.”

We walked inside. I discovered this tunnel wasn’t really long. After about five minutes we reached some sort of bunker… or maybe a control station of the metro, I couldn’t really tell. There was a lot of dust, no illumination and the smell of something rotting. This must be their nest or something.

“Hey, can you turn the flashlight off?” The mare asked, “That thing will make you a glowing target.”

She has a point; however, I don’t really have anything else I could use instead. “True, but without it, I’ll be practically blind in this darkness.”

“You don’t have anything else you could use?” I shook my head. “Ugh, that’s just great… at least tone it down as much as you can.”

I did as she asked. I could barely see anything beyond three meters, just the general shape of things. While the lack of details could be a problem, I suppose I could shoot anything that moves, it’s not like I expect to find anything friendly down here.

“Okay, so what are we looking for?” I asked her.

The mare pondered for a moment. “Well, usually they need a pretty big room to setup a nest, both wide and tall,” She looked around at bit. As I observed her, I couldn’t help but to notice her eyes seemed to… glow a bit. “We need to find a map or something to know if there’s anywhere around here that could fit that.”

“And if we don’t?” I asked, with a raised eyebrow.

The mare shrugged. “I suppose we could just look around for a place like that.

The two of us proceeded to look for a map or anything that could guide us through this place. True to my early assumptions, it appeared this place was indeed some sort of control center for the metro system.

-x-

“Okay, so I guess we need to go one floor down…” I said while analyzing the map we had found in one of the walls.

“That’s what it looks like,” The mare agreed. “Come on, let’s end this.”

Without waiting for a reply, the bat-pony moved towards the stairway outside. After shoving the small map inside one of my pouches, I followed. This place is awfully quiet, the silence makes me uneasy. Well, at least I’m not alone, even if it’s not the best company. We moved down the stairs, into the next level.

As we walked, the mare slipped on something, almost falling. Her quick movements brought a small cloud of dust up on her face. She sneezed once while giving a step back and shaking her head to get the dust out of her red mane. It would be an amusing sight, if it wasn’t for our current situation. The mare gave a quick glance towards me, probably to see if I was laughing at her, and then pushed on.

The next floor was no different, the same old concrete walls devoid of colors and the dust-covered floor. There were also a few skeletons laying around. The two of us kept going, deeper into a corridor, leading towards a depot where we assumed the Nosalises had made their nest. Unlike the previous floor, this time we could hear things far away.

I looked at the mare; her ears were up and turning around, searching for these noises. “Nosalises?” I asked. She just nodded. Her expression was cold and determined. We advanced more carefully, watching for anything suspicious. Further ahead, our path split into two. Before we could reach it, however, we heard something crashing nearby.

“Lights off!” The mare whispered to me. I complied immediately. My eyes quickly adjusted to the darkness, providing some help, but not much. We both stayed there, in combat stance, waiting. I could hear it walking, getting closer to us. That’s definitely a Nosalis.

The sounds of something moving our way became louder. I gripped my pistol tightly and pointed at the end of the hall. Just as I did so, a dark shape appeared there. I aimed at it and prepared to fire, hopefully I can get a headshot.

However, before I could squeeze the trigger, the mare besides me snapped her wings open and rushed forward like a bullet. She collided with the Nosalis, extended hoof first, the one equipped with blades. There was a light crush as the she pierced his chest, probably destroying his heart and other vital parts in the process. The creature fell dead without any reaction. That’s… impressive.

I lowered my pistol as she looked at me. “Come on, let’s keep going.”

“Alright…”

The two of us sneaked deeper into the darkness. With the threat of mutants nearby, we couldn’t afford having a flashlight on. It was annoying to walk with little to no eyesight, but the mare did a good job guiding me. Whenever there was something laying on the ground, she would tell me.

“We should be coming close,” I commented. “What are we going to do once we reach the nest?”

The mare paused and looked at me with those big yellow eyes. “Good question, I figure we should try to plant the charges undetected and then leave.”

I raised an eyebrow. “And if that fails?”

The mare shrugged. “We plant the charges faster.”

Not exactly a genius plan, but I suppose I shouldn’t expect a pony version of Austerlitz from her. After all, we are just two people who barely know each other trying to take down a whole nest filled with an unknown number of bloodthirsty and deadly mutants…

Fuck, now that I think about it, we have some shitty odds on our side. Well, it’s either this or keep wondering this underground deathtrap. I’m pretty sure my chances of surviving that are even worse. Okay, maybe I should stop thinking about this. Focus on the mission; I can debate whether this was a good idea or not once I’m out of here.

Finally, we reached the doors separating us from the nest. We silently stared at each other, as we prepared for what might come ahead. I checked my pistol and the charges (the bag contained four blocks of what appeared to be C-4, and a detonator), while the mare drew her spear. I still don’t know why she has such weapons.

“You ready?” She asked.

“Yeah, let’s do this.” I replied.

The mare took a step forward and pushed the doors open. They revealed a large storeroom filled with glowing mushrooms. They might be radioactive, but at least they provided a small source of light. I could hear the sound of Nosalises nearby. The two of us sneaked inside. The room was almost devoid of objects, I could see a few lonely boxes and some piles of rubble, but beyond that, not much else. In the far corner, I spotted a large shape surrounded by other smaller and moving ones. I guess the large one must be the alpha, and the others are the youngsters.

“Okay, here’s what we do,” The mare said, interrupting my analysis. “You go plant the charges in the main supports and I’ll watch out for threats.”

“Alright, can you point me where the nearest one is?” The mare did as asked, and we went towards our first goal. We reached the concrete pillar without any issues. I put the bag down and took out a single charge. I’m not an expert on this, but the pillar doesn’t look very tick, a single block should be enough. I placed the explosive on the base and turned it on.

We did the same in the next two pillars (there were four main pillars). I half expected us to alert the Nosalises at some point, but so far our luck has been holding. That’s not to say we didn’t had some close calls. More than once, we had to change directions or hold for a few moments to avoid drawing attention. It appears the mare does have some sort of night vision; she had zero issues guiding me around and keeping an eye out for hostiles.

The two of us were almost reaching the final pillar. My heart was beating slightly faster, because of my eagerness to end this and go back to my original objective. However, at that moment our good fortune ran out. Something moved on my left side, the two of us froze in place. Turning my head towards it, I spotted a single Nosalis getting up and sniffing the air. Oh god… please don’t notice us.

It did, and the thing let out a loud bark before moving in our direction. “Oh, god-fucking-dammit!” I shouted, as I pointed my pistol and fired. Three rounds hit the beast on its upper chest and neck. The wounds were enough to put it down, but it didn’t matter, for now every single creature inside this place was aware of us. I could hear the others shouting and howling.

“Hey, alien!” The mare shouted. “You get the last charge in place; I’ll try to distract them!”

Without wasting time, I did as told and sprinted towards the pillar. A nearby mutant tried to jump on me, before being pierced by a spear. If I had time, I would probably stop and wonder a little bit about that, this girl is pretty strong. Nevertheless, I don’t have such luxury. In a few seconds, I was already on the ground planting the explosive. I blocked out all sounds around me as I worked. This isn’t the time to get anxious, just focus on getting this job done.

A quick glance behind me assured me I didn’t have to worry about my temporary companion. With a skillful use of her sword and hoof-blade, the mare had already killed two mutants, and was now taking down the third. She flew around it, occasionally snapping her wings and delivering quick blow to it. The mare denied any chance of recovery or counter-attack.

After what felt like an eternity, the charge was ready. Now is the time to get the fuck out of here and blow this place. I stood up and was about to shout to the mare, however, before I could, she was knocked to the ground by a slow, but very big creature… the alpha. The thing was ugly, more than usual. Worse of all, it looked strong and tick, the mare wasn’t kidding when she said they were hard to kill.

The thing was about to deliver a killing blow to the pony, who was too stunned by the previous attack. Fuck, what can I do? I won’t leave the mare here, but I doubt my pistol would do much damage… however, maybe my sniper rifle would work. Using such weapons in close quarters is never a good idea, and I’ll only have one chance before the thing kill her. Well, not like I have much of a choice.

As quickly as I could, I picked up my sniper rifle and aimed. At this distance I don't even need to use the scope. Without thinking, I pulled the trigger. The bullet zipped through the air and found its mark at the alpha's chest, easily punching in. The creature gave a step back, obviously in pain. Using this moment, I dashed towards the fallen mare. A few steps away from her, I shouted.

"Come on, get up!" I said, receiving no answer. "We have to get out of here!"

The mare moved, having a lot of trouble getting back to her hooves. My heart was pounding inside my chest, each second brought us closer to our death. I could see the alpha approaching again. However, the mare was finally able to run towards me. Without second thoughts, I turned around and went to the exit, with the mare following me closely. As we passed through the old doors, I grabbed the detonator a pressed the trigger. The resulting explosion threw both of us on the floor.

The adrenaline in my bloodstream kept me alert. Despite the ringing in my ears and the pain in multiple parts of my body, I looked around and attempted to analyze the situation. A quick glance behind me confirmed that the nest was gone; without the main pillars, the whole room collapsed. To my right was the bat-pony, who was awake and trying to get up. I tried to do the same.

"Hey, you alright?" My voice sounded like a whisper, muffed by the ringing which still hadn't subsided. The mare shook her head a few times and nodded. A new sound came... nosalises, they must've heard the explosion and are coming back to investigate. "Can you walk?"

"I had worse," the mare replied, "Still, I could really use a healing potion..."

"Well, I don’t have any, but I do have some bandages. "

She frowned at that. "Not ideal, but it'll have to do," I gave her the bandages and she quickly wrapped her wounds. The nosalises reached us soon after, and we found ourselves fighting for our lives. She skillfully cut down several mutants, as I used my pistol to keep them away. However, we weren't making progress to the exit; soon, we'll run out of energy and ammunition.

"Shit, I'm running out of ammo!" Another Nosalis tried to jump on me as I said that. He was met with strong kick to the jaw. “We need to find another way!"

"I know that already!" The mare replied. She was pissed off and really busy, doing everything she could to keep the nosalises away. "For Celestia's sake, where did they came from?"

The two of us were almost surrounded. We have little to no room for manouver and more mutants swarm the area with each second. There's only one thing we can do, run as fast as we can to the exit. Despite the chaotic situation, I couldn’t help but to admire her ability with melee weapons. For someone with hooves, she can deliver some serious beating. Thank God she's on my side.

"Come on, let's move!" I shouted. We had force our way into unknown areas, hoping to find a different path. This was a risky strategy, but it was our only choice. Thankfully, I still had the map of the local area, so we didn't get lost. Nevertheless, we still faced some issues like collapsed sections and locked doors on our way. At some point we managed to lose some of our enemies, or perhaps they were simply too disorganised by the loss of their nest. While we still had to worry about a few, this allowed us more freedom to manouver.

After a while, we made it back to the main tunnels. I was forced to use my grenades to stop our hunters. This whole thing is taking a lot of effort. I don't know how long we ran, trying to get away, probably around twenty minutes. At the end, both of us were sweating and panting, while we rested inside an old train. I looked at the mare, she appeard to be just as exhausted as myself. I suppose this scene would be somewhat amusing, a fully equipped soldier and a pony resting inside an old train. We remained in silence for a little while, trying to breathe normally.

"Fuck... that was close," I said. "You think we lost them?"

The mare shook her head. "No idea, probably yes, we still should keep going further, just to make sure."

While part of me was inclined to just agree and move on, most of my mind kept reminding me of my mission. I did my part in this little adventure, the nest is destroyed and now I need her to do her end of our deal. I need to get back on track, to find my friend and discover whatever secrets might be hidden in the Equestrian Strategic Command.

"Look, before we go, I need to ask you something," I stood up and faced the mare, who looked at me with a frown. Her face twisted in confusion. "The main reason I'm following you is because of our deal, I helped you destroy the nest and now I need you to hold your end."

I expected her to throw an angry comment or something, but to my surprise, she just closed her eyes for a second and let out a long breath. "You want me to guide you out of here?" I nodded. "Alright then, you did help me so I guess it's only fair... even if I did most of the work..." I rolled my eyes. Ugh, I just can't stand this girl...

-x-

Despite her general behavior, she did as asked. The two of us spend almost a full hour walking through more tunnels, but eventually we found a way out. The mere sight of an exit brought a wave of comfort to me. I felt glad and slightly excited, now is the time to end this. Hopefully I can find Barin nearby, he’ll probably be waiting inside a tall building where he can keep an eye on his surroundings.

The air around us was filled with dust, highlighted by the sunlight coming from the exit. None of us spoke a word as we took the final steps out. Still, it feels wrong to just walk away like this, I might as well say a few words. There’s still a few questions in my mind. I halted and faced the pony, who also stopped.

“Well, you wanted a way out, here it is,” She said, waving a hoof at the open way. “Is there anything else?”

“I have a few questions,” I replied. My words took the mare by surprise.

She frowned a little. “What is it?”

“Why did you listened? Most ponies I’ve come across usually shoot before asking.”

“Well, I did tried to kill you at first… but I decided to give you a chance.”

“Why?”

“Because you aren’t the first alien I stumbled upon,” It was my time to be surprised. How? Was there any more humans on this place? Maybe from other sectors of Verdun? No, if that was the case we would probably be able to get in contact with them.

From what I remember, the Blackwatch guy I met did mentioned a small group of his people being aided by someone down the coast. This mare was probably part of those people. Strange, guess I should be thankful for that. Still, I’ll ask about this once I get back to the outpost, perhaps we can gain something from helping these people.

“Since those freaks helped us, I figured I should at least keep an ear up for you,” The mare added. I can’t help but to feel slightly angry at her choice of words. “Anything else?”

“I haven’t seen anything like you before, are you some sort of… bat-pony?” Her face twisted in anger. What the fuck did I do wrong?

“We’re called Thestrals… not bat-ponies you little idiot…” Great, I just said the pony version of nigger…

I raised both arms in a placate gesture. “Hold on, I didn’t know that, sorry.”

“Whatever,” She replied, rolling her eyes. “Is there anything else?”

“Actually… there is, what’s your name?”

She raised an eyebrow. “Why do you care?”

“Just curious.”

While she appeared to be suspicious of what I said, she complied. “It’s Starry Night…”

Jesus, I’ll never get used to these names. “Well, I’m Alex.”

“I don’t give a shit, now, if you excuse me, I need to go back,” Without waiting for a replied, she turned around and went back inside, leaving me alone once more. Guess it’s time to get back on track, can’t believe I can finally leave this hole. I walked forward, into the light. After the initial blindness, my eyes adjusted and I took stock of my surroundings.

Again in the torn and dead city. The area is mostly quiet and I can see my objective is near, probably less than one kilometer. After giving a last glance to the metro, I set on to find Barin. Traversing the streets isn’t easy with all this rubble laying around. Luckily, there weren’t any hostiles in my path, which obviously speeds my progress.

Eventually I reached an open area separating me from the Equestrian Strategic Command. The building was tall and mostly intact, with the exception of a few destroyed walls and collapsed areas. Separating me from it was a large parking lot filled with wrecked vehicles. My first instinct was to go straight up to the objective, but I decided to be more cautious.

Looking around, I spotted a small shop where I could stay for a moment and figure something. I went inside, finding nothing but dust and bones. I settled down for the top floor, where I had a nice view of the area. After moving some of the furniture to cover any holes and placing my sniper rifle near the window, I sat down and turned my radio on.

I don’t know for sure if my friend will get this, or even if it’s safe to break radio silence in here, but it’s not like I have much of a choice. “Hello, this is Sergeant Alexander of the PAC, does anyone copy?” I said in Russian. I waited a minute, receiving nothing but static. “Come on Barin, are you there?” I couldn’t help but to feel a light tug on my heart, please tell me he’s okay. “Barin, come on, it’s Alex here, answer me!”

After a few torturous seconds, to my relief, there was an answer. “W- Hello!” There was still a substantial amount of static, but at least I could understand something. “A- Alex, I hear yo-!”

“Hold on! There’s too much interference, try to get somewhere higher,” At this point, I was rushing upstairs towards the roof. Once I reached the top, the signal became clearer. “Alright, say again, do you copy?”

“Yes! I hear you loud and clear!” I let out a breath I didn’t know I was holding. “For god’s sake Alex, why the fuck did you took so long?” It was easy to notice the worry in his voice.

“Sorry, I ran into some trouble, but I’m okay, how’re you doing on your end?”

“Well, I managed to lose those birds, got real close to our objective but haven’t been able to get inside.”

I frowned. “Really? Why is that?”

“I spotted a few armed ponies inside, and I have no idea how they might react to us.”

What? Ugh, for fucks sakes, we just can’t have it easy, can we? “Well, that sucks… where are you right now?”

“I’m inside some sort of market, facing the right side of the main building, what about you?” Shit, he’s probably on the other side of the area, not very close.

“I’m also inside a building, but I don’t think it’s near, perhaps I could move closer…” With the threat of hostiles around, I’ll have to be extra careful when moving, this could prove difficult. “But I don’t know how long that might take.”

“Great, that makes things even better for us… can you at least try to get somewhere high? Maybe you could spot me.”

“I suppose I can try, not really a lot of things standing around here, but there might be something, I’ll see what I can find,” I can see some ruins up ahead, maybe one of them is good enough. “Try keeping radio contact, over and out.”

How long have we been out here? It feels like an eternity. This little journey has taken a lot more than expected, and it doesn’t look like it’s getting any easier. Home… I haven’t thought much about it in these last few days, I’ve been too worried about my friends and comrades, constantly searching for answers and information that might give us a better chance to survive. However, right now the memories of better times keep showing up. Maybe I’m just in a sad mood, or perhaps I’m more eager than I realize about what we could find in there.

I should probably stop, there’s no point to keep worrying about that until I can get a real chance to get the fuck out of here. Focus on the mission, anything else is a waste of time and energy. I need to find a tall building, somewhere where I can spot Barin and finish this.

It took me quite a while to find a good place. On the other hand, perhaps I’m just too eager to go on, probably that. I found some sort of water tower near a big house; the thing was rusted but still steady enough to be safe. I moved up through a stairway, which went around it. Once I reached the top, I confirmed this place had indeed a good view of the area. From here, I could easily see my target, as well as much of the surrounding area.

“Hey, Barin, I managed to find a higher position, where are you?” I asked through the radio.

“Really? Well, I’m inside some sort of market, facing the right side of the main building; this place has a big propaganda sign on top.”

Looking through the scope of my sniper rifle, I searched for him. After a few seconds, I spotted the sign. “Alright, I think I see the market, can you reach one of the windows?”

“Okay, I think I can, hold on,” A few moments after that, I saw something moving. It was him, his PAC armor was easy to recognize.

“I can see you now.”

He nodded. “Good, now we need to decide what we’re going to do about the ponies up ahead.”

I frowned. “Where are they exactly?”

“They’re near the entrance of the main building, searching through the wreckages.”

“Do you think they’ll leave after a while?”

“That’s hard to say…” He paused for a second. “I saw one of them setting up a few tents, so I don’t know…”

I let out a sigh. “Fucking great… what the hell should we do?”

“You want to try talking to them?”

I’m really inclined to, but still have some doubts. While we did have some small success a few times before, I can’t risk it. There’s nobody else here to help us and we’re too far from the HQ to call for help, if something goes wrong we’ll have to deal with it. Not only that, I’m low on ammunition, I don’t have enough to go into any sort of prolonged firefight. We should also take into consideration that none of us is at 100%, I'm pretty sure I have a broken rib and several other minor wounds. I'm tired and without a clue of a good way to approach this. I do remenber the radio transmittion from before, but for all I know these people might not have heard it or simply not care. Like it or not, there really isn't much room for diplomacy, or at least not enough to deal with the consequences.

At the same time… the idea of killing people who have nothing to do with us is troubling, to say the least. “Are they raiders or some shit?”

“Doesn’t look like it…” Shit, just what I need, more stuff to add towards a guilty consciousness.

I shifted from my position and looked towards where the ponies were. I spotted four, two guarding the front, and to others searching around and setting up tents. They looked normal, three males and one female. They seemed to be chatting, with an occasional laugh coming from someone. However, they were also well armed, carrying revolvers, shotguns and even a submachinegun. Depending on how experienced they are, we could end up in deep shit.

“We can’t talk to them, it’s too risky,” I stated.

“What? Then what do you suggest?” Good question, I suppose we could attempt to sneak by, but we don’t really know how many of them could be in there, plus this would severely cripple our freedom to search the inside of the building.

God, the more I think about it, less options I see. “Perhaps… we will need to fight them.”

Doesn’t feel right saying this, but I don’t see other options. These people stand right in front the most solid lead we have, and I can’t just turn around and leave. We need to go inside and find out more. At the same time… just because they picked the wrong spot to stay is hardly enough to earn a death sentence. For all I know these are just random scavengers, a small band of local civilians. As a soldier, I also have a few rules to uphold (even if many ignore them) which includes the protection of non-combatants.

“What? Are you insane, Alex?” His sudden voice broke my thoughts. “Are you really suggesting we attack these people?” He was angry, as expected. “For fucks sakes Alexander, are you sure you didn’t suffer any head trauma on the way here?!”

“These people are standing in our way and it’s too dangerous to try diplomacy!” My crappy mood and general exhaustion from everything I went through is beginning to show in my voice. “Our job is to go in there and find out more about pre-war facilities, and we can’t do it with these people on our way!”

“That doesn’t mean we can just gun them down like animals, for god’s sakes!” At this point, he was practically welling in his radio. I guess we were simply too frustrated to deal with this in a more civil matter. “Did you even consider sneaking inside or waiting until nightfall to try something?”

“I… But what if they find us? We’ll be stuck in a hopeless firefight against a large number of hostiles, you know that’s too dangerous!”

“And I would rather suffer the risks than just throw my morals out of the window!” I held myself from answering as I heard him letting out a sigh. “Look Alex, I know you’re eager to find out more, I am too, but we can’t just kill a group of innocent people to do so.”

I closed my eyes for a second. My body hurt, my head was pounding and I could feel sweat dripping through my clothes. Part of me is screaming to end this nightmare, to go there and get closer to our home. The other points out how pathetic I’m being for even considering doing this. He has a point… we can’t just kill them because of this. Sometimes we all end up in the wrong place without knowing, and we can’t be guilty for something we aren’t aware.

“Alright… you win,” I opened my eyes again. “So, I guess we’ll have to sneak around...”

-x-

We waited until the sun was setting to go in; depending on how this goes, we might have to wait until nightfall. In the time we waited, I was able to gather some good information on these people, which could prove useful. It looks like it’s only four and they are indeed scavengers. The two gatekeepers, as I decided to call them, were the biggest threat. It looks like they have body armor, and are carrying the heavier weapons. The two others, were almost the opposite, not looking strong or well equipped.

The perimeter around the entrance was mostly clear, with the exception of a few wrecked vehicles and ruble. The wall that surrounded the area had a few holes in it, allowing easy access. Of course, we would have to keep our eyes open for traps and any other sort of dangers. Hopefully this won’t turn bad, last thing we need is another fight.

I moved closer to the perimeter, doing my best to stay silent. It isn’t easy to do this with my whole set of armor plates. This task would be much easier if we had active camouflage devices. My heart was faster than normal, reacting to my fears towards what might come. This is heavy gamble; we need to be extra careful to make sure this works.

I pressed myself against a small pile of rocks, a few meters away from the small camp they had set up. I looked around, searching for any ponies. It didn’t appear to be any, but I had to be sure. A few more minutes waiting and nothing came, I still had doubts, but this is as much assurance as I will probably get. I stood up and moved quicker, towards the wall. Once I arrived, I went to my radio.

“Hey Barin, you there?” I called.

“Yes, I hear you loud and clear, what is it?” He replied.

“How is everything at your end?”

“So far pretty quiet, I think they’re taking up watch closer to their tents,” strange, that would leave most of the perimeter unguarded. These people are not rookies, that much is clear, so I doubt they would commit this type of mistake. “They must either be looking out from somewhere higher or have some other card in their sleeves.”

I thought for a few moments. “Well, if there was indeed someone above us, we would already been seem, which isn’t the case,” But then what else? The two of us spent a long time watching them, and we didn’t saw anyone else or any sort of equipment which could help with that. “Maybe they have a few tripwires around…”

“I guess that’s possible, I’ll keep an eye out for it.”

With everything ready, I moved forward. The two of us had decided to meet up in the ground floor inside, after we had passed the ponies. It took a few minutes to find an opening in the perimeter. The hole was just about large enough to allow passage. Before taking a single step, I searched for any kind of wire or unnatural signs in the ground. To my surprise, I spot a barely visible wire, about thirty centimeters above the ground; just high enough for someone to trip in it, activating whatever is behind this wall.

Carefully, I moved to see what laid behind. I found a small metal tube sticking on the ground besides the hole, probably some sort of IED. Slowly, I stepped inside the perimeter, making sure to stay away from the wire. I decided to analyze the explosive, which appeared to be handcrafted… or I suppose it would be hoof-crafted? The metal itself didn’t look very thick, and the wire went through a small gap near the base. Overall, this was very well crafted.

I’m no expert, but I still managed to deactivate the thing, leaving it exactly where it stood. If one of the ponies came by, they would need to be very close to notice the lack of a wire besides it. Ahead of me, I could see a small light coming from the camp. Gradually, I made my way around. I wouldn’t be surprised if there were other traps, forcing me to move slowly. Eventually, I reached an overturned vehicle; I stayed down and searched for any ponies around.

That’s when I heard her…

There was movement, very close to me. One of the main disadvantages these ponies have are their hooves, because while they don’t need to wear shoes they make a lot more noise than humans. I briefly wondered how these ponies would be stealthy when their hooves do so much noise. I stayed as low and still as possible, praying she wouldn’t see me. A dark shape appeared in the corner of my vision, as I slowly turned my head, I saw a dark blue coat and light gray mane. She wasn’t wearing body armor, just a long shirt and a vest with a few pouches. Her mane was tied back, allowing me to see her whole face.

“Hey, Silver! You in here?” Shit, she must’ve heard me… this will turn real bad. “Strange…”

I grip my pistol and combat knife, if she turns around I’m screwed. What should I do? She looks harmless and isn’t carrying any weapons, but the only thing she needs to do is scream. The mare moves towards the wall, I can’t see her expression, but I bet she’s going to check on the tripwires. I can’t allow that, one wrong move and I could end up killed.

Slowly, I leave my bag and sniper rifle on the ground. I begin to move towards her, without the extra weight, I can sneak much better. However, this isn’t my main skill, there’s a good chance she’ll hear me once I come near. Sweat drips down my hair as I get closer and closer, she still hasn’t noticed me. Come on… it’s now or never, I have to take her down.

I take a wrong step and kick a small metal can…

Hear ears stand up and she freezes…

Without thinking, I charge in and tackle her. She attempts to scream but I shove her head in the dirt. Her body twists, she tries her best to break free. I also struggle, my body hurts all over and my broken rib keeps poking my lungs. This is taking too long and someone might notice us. With my pistol, I hit her head a few times to disorient her. It works, the mare loses focus and I’m able to pin her down while keeping her muzzle shut with one hand.

“Keep fighting and I’ll slit your throat!” I whisper, my voice sounds scarier than I intended. The mare freezes once more and shakes a little. She’s very afraid me and is aware of what I can do. Okay, now what?

What the fuck should I do? Gods, I didn’t prepared myself for something like this, I don’t have a rope or anything to tie her up. I can’t just kill her, but if she warns her buddies I’m dead. God fucking dammit, why does everything needs to be so hard?

My mind rushes as I pin the mare down. Do I take her as a hostage? Maybe I can call Barin and tell him help me out… nope, that won’t work, it’s two people against three, possibly well-armed opponents. The more that I think about it, less options I see. I don’t want to kill her, she has nothing to do with us and is unarmed, but what other options are available?

I look at the mare, her breathing is unsteady, and I can feel her heart pounding and her eyes are wide in terror. She’s not a soldier…

There’s only one option left. I don’t like it and this might put my life on risk, but it’s the only acceptable way. I have to let her go, somehow without revealing us to her comrades. This isn’t good, I’m not a diplomat or negotiator, my skills on this are limited. I’ll need a very convincing act to stop her from compromising us.

I notice she has closed her eyes. “Stop, open your eyes…” I whisper, the mare doesn’t comply. “I said, look at me!” This time she does as I say, I can see her expression turning to surprise as she sees what I am. I feel her muscles tensing up and her legs moving. I apply a little more force on my pistol, pressing it to her head. She stops moving once more. “Look… I’m not going to hurt you…” My words feel empty, saying that isn’t enough when I just attacked her. “My name is Alex, I have no interest in you or your friends, I’m only here to find some pre-war information inside this building.”

I doubt this little explanation is enough, but the mare seems to be slightly calmer. I really hope this isn’t just the adrenaline going down. “Uh… look, I’m only doing this because I can’t trust on how you ponies would react to me, I am not looking for a fight, do you understand?”

I can’t really say if she’s convinced or not, and she isn’t giving me an answer. “Just nod or shake your head…” She nods, very slightly. “Alright, I’ll let you go now; you will go back to your companions and you won’t say anything about this!” Slowly, I lose my grip on her and allow the mare to slip away. She stands in front of me, probably unsure how to react. “Don’t make me regret this,” With those words, she leaves.

Making sure she’s far enough, I continue my journey. It doesn’t take long for me to reach the lobby, where I sit and wait. Each second feels like an eternity. What will come for me? A friend or an enemy? I keep my pistol pointed, ready to fire in case the mare didn’t do as asked. I see a shape approaching, and for a moment, my grip tightens… only to stop once I notice it’s Barin.

I lowered my weapon and stand up. Barin recognizes me and approaches; he looks mostly fine, with an exception of a few scratches and a bandaged hand. I motion for him to follow me into a more secluded room. We both take a stock of this place while we move. Analyzing the place as the darkness quickly increases. We only have a few more minutes of sunlight.

“Did something happened on the way here?” No time for greetings. Both of us are too tired for such pleasantries.

He shook his head. “No, wasn’t easy, but I managed to sneak by without being noticed,” Guess he’s luckier than me. “I did came across a few tripwires, though.”

“Yeah, I know about it…” Time to break the bad news. “However, I had a small problem on my end…” He raised his eyebrow. “One of them crossed my path and I had to attack.”

Barin crossed his arms. “Did you…” He trailed off.

I instantly raised a hand. “I didn’t kill her; I pinned her down and told her I wasn’t looking for a fight.”

“Do you think she believed you?”

“No idea, I did my best to assure her we had no interest in her little group, but I can’t be sure. We better search this place as quickly as possible.”

“Alright, let’s stop wasting time.”

Making this a quick search wasn’t easy, as we soon found out. We already knew just how massive this place was, but the sheer number of offices, meeting rooms, archives and terminals spread around was still stunning. If anything like this was planned back home, people would instantly be suspicious, this whole place just smells of corruption. Wouldn’t be surprised if this was overpriced, just to fill the pockets of some high ranking noble.

Anyway, reading random files and documents was fruitless, so we decided to keep our search to where the more important people stayed (which was easy to find, given the difference in luxury and aesthetic). We also looked into whatever archives were on the way. I honestly don’t know how long it took. It was already night and we were still there, reading things with our flashlights.

I guess the mare must’ve believed on what I said… or maybe she was just too scared, doesn’t matter.

However, our efforts paid off. Not only we found a lot of intel concerning their military technology and strategy. We also found a top-secret list informing how many megaspell facilities there were in the island. It said there was a total of five places, three of them with standard warheads (whatever they were) and two with “Prototypes”. The document didn’t say what these special warheads contained, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they were somehow connected to our arrival.

This is a great find. We need to go back to the outpost, tell them what we discovered and plan our next steps.

Footnote: Level Up!

Survival: 55
Guns: 78

New Perk: Toughness- +3 DT permanently.

Author's Note

I'm really sorry for taking this long to update, I'll try to organize myself in order to deliver chapters sooner. Anyway, I hope you all enjoy this, please leave a comment and point out any mistakes.

I hope this new version is more pleasing