A New Nightmare

Author’s note: A Huge thanks goes to PinkiePiedPiper for editing. This is my first fiction, and please don’t be gentle.
–-Rainbow Platypus

You are running through the abandoned mall like your life depends on it, which it does. Behind you is a swarm of the things that used to be survivors, just like you. Now, however, they are mere shells. You would not be able to recognize them if it weren’t for the fact that they were infected and transformed right in front of you. You continue running, unwilling to look back, for you already know what happens to those who slow down. Your body is burning from exertion, every step feels like nails jabbing in your legs. After what feels like forever you see the exit and your ride out of this hell-hole, it’s an old Chevy complete with a camper shell and mounted contact beams facing front and back, and enough food and ammo to supply a small platoon.

Suddenly, as you reach the exit, you feel you’re being burned by thousands of fire ants all biting at the same time. You fall from the excruciating pain, and yell in agony as you see what or who the offending party is. It is a puker, and it is rearing for a second shot, no doubt aiming for your head. The monstrosity hurls its sickening brown vomit right for you, but at the last second you roll out of the way of the acidic projectile. As you recover from the roll, the puker starts to charge. What’s worse is that you can hear the rest of the swarm not far off. Knowing that you’re a goner if you take too long, you pull out your plasma cutter and start to fire away at the puker, Each shot connecting with its target; spraying blood and other bodily fluids everywhere. Your plasma cutter quickly runs out of ammo but the puker is still alive and within striking distance. As it lunges for you, you quickly strike the puker in the head with your plasma cutter. You’ve been at this too long to go down from a frontal assault. You know that the blow, while powerful enough to kill a normal person, would not keep the puker down for long. You quickly maneuver yourself into a good position and put down the monstrosity with a powerful stomp in the face. Knowing that the swarm is rapidly approaching, you limp out the door, and make your way to your car. You try to reach out for the handle but feel a huge claw wrap around your lower torso and in a swift motion it throws you to the ground with a loud CRACK.

You turn to face the attacker, but your entire field of view is taken by the hulking mass of a brute. Looking upon the grotesque beast, you see, much to your horror, the faces of your fallen comrades, Doug and David, in the mass of bodies. Your observations cost you dearly though, for it allowed the giant necromorph to grab your torso and your legs. As it begins to rip you apart, time begins to slow to a crawl. You then see your entire life pass before you; your birth on a space ship leaving Titan station, your first baseball game, and your first kiss, but the last memory seems to take longer. The memory is of the day you met Veronica, later the two of you would be married only to find out you and her both have a genetic disease that would be fatal to the offspring.

After the initial out-break of necromorphs in 2538, you and Veronica tried to make it to one of the last remaining safe havens left, but fate had different plans. As the two of you were making your way down to the haven, you found a little girl hiding in a shopping center. So, naturally, you took her in but as you left the store, you see Veronica’s mutilated corpse being transformed by an infector. You watched in horror as your wife was transformed in to a grotesque mass of flesh, bones, and internal organs. With tears streaming out of your eyes, you raised your plasma cutter and dismembered your own wife leaving only a bloody mess.

You snap back into real time, the brute ripping your torso from your legs. The ligaments in your back begin to break with a sickening POP and you feel your diaphragm tearing from the sheer strength of the brute. You momentarily black out, only to wake and see that you lower half is now completely detached from your body and your intestines are dangling on the ground. The brute then raises your head to its mouth for a killing bite. Just as the monstrosity is about to bite down on your head, you violently sit up in a cold sweat.

You realize that is was just a dream. No. That was more than a dream; it seemed so real… Your thoughts were interrupted by a small child, no more than 7 or 8, beginning to stir next to you. She yawns and says, “Good morning, daddy.”

“Good morning Hope.” Hope was the orphan that you took in just before Veronica died. Her real name was Samantha, but when you adopted her you changed her name to Hope so she wouldn’t have to remember the pain of seeing her parents brutally shot to death in a riot after the necromorph outbreak. Looking around, you remember that you are in your truck on the side of the rode, while the same car from the dream, it is hardly supplied and has only a few plasma packs for your plasma cutter, much less the contact beams and ammo.

Sighing, you stretch you stiff limbs. You and Hope eat a quick breakfast before heading on your way to the haven that was probably over-run by now, but any sort of shelter will do. Hopefully, there will at least be some supplies.

You have traveled for a good two days now; the signs say that you are now near the Alaskan boarder with Canada. You breathe a sigh of relief. The safe haven was near Juneau, Alaska, but to your dismay you see more and more abandoned cars on the side of the highway. You know something went down here. Traveling through what was left of the United States told you that the more abandoned cars there were the more desperate people would be getting, that is if they were still human. You notice now there are bodies in the cars. Each scene getting worse and worse, you tell Hope to look away from the gory scenes, but she keeps staring at them. You know that she will never look away, never forget these scarring images. All you can do is floor it and hope she doesn’t see too much.

While doing 80mph down the highway did a number on you gas tank, it did get you to your destination faster than expected. It is around three in the afternoon when you arrive at the gates to the safe haven. The gates are broken down and it looks like the haven was left in a hurry; no doubt it was over-run. You hear your daughter say, “What happened daddy?”
“I don’t know Hope.”
“Well what are we going to do now?”
“I don’t know…”

Honestly, you didn’t have a plan if this haven turned out to be a wreck; it was like you expected there to be a thriving community, willing to welcome you at first sight. Just then you hear Hope’s stomach growl, yours is soon to follow.
“Well, I guess we find a livable home and hunker down for the evening. Tomorrow we’ll search for supplies. How does that sound?” you ask.
Her reply is simple, “Anything for a warm place to sleep.”

You eventually find a suitable home, and pull out a box of cereal and two bowls for her and yourself. After eating, the two of you decide to turn in for the night, but not before making sure that the doors and windows are secure. The next morning you and Hope set out to find supplies. You find some plasma cutter ammo in the homes. You see a little strip mall not far from where you are staying. You are relieved when you see one of the grocery marts in it is completely untouched. Not knowing when you will find food next, you grab as much as you can carry.

Upon reaching the main road, you see an unfamiliar sight, an old man, carrying a medium-sized box and running down the road. You pull over next to him and ask if needs a ride but instead he says, “How fast can this thing go?”
“Umm… I don’t know, really. ‘Round 95 on a straight away, I guess.”
“Good, that is quite fast enough,” he mumbles to himself.
“What did you say?”
“Nothing!” he says.
“No, you said something about this car being fast enough. Fast enough for what?”
“I’m sorry that I have to do this,” he solemnly says. Pulling out a pulse rife he says, “Pop the hood.”
“Why?”
“Because, I need you to allow me access to your engine.”
“WHY?!” You are furious at this point.
“So I can save your fucking lives!”
“What?” you say in a calmer tone.
“I said I can save your lives.”
“How?”
“By using what is inside this box.”

Over the course of the next few hours, the old man attached a strange glowing object to the engine of your car and explained that he was actually from the 1980’s, but had made a time travel device, which he used to get to this era. When he got here, however, earth was in the middle of the necromorph outbreak. Seeing that humanity was doomed, he set to work modifying the flux capacitor, as he called it, to be able to make inter-dimensional travel possible. Blown back by all this information, you simply ask, “What does this have to do with me?”
He replies, “Well I can see that you are a loving father, and that is part of the reason, so you can continue humanity. Another reason is that you are the first person I have met to actually have a car.”
“Well this all seems legit but how does it work?”
“Well, all you would need to do is speed your car up to 88 miles per hour, and activate the capacitor by hitting this button,” he said motioning to a large red button on a monitor showing the current speed you are traveling he installed.
Remembering something, you say, “Wait this sounds fine and all, but how is it all powered?”
“Simple,” he says. “It is powered by plutonium, which your facilities here were very willing to give me some. Unfortunately, though, I was only able to get enough for one trip, and the dimension you go to is completely random.”
“Well anything is better than here,” you say matter-of-factly.
“Alright, it is about time for you to go. Just remember, speed up to 88 miles per hour, then hit the red button.”
“Wait, you’re not coming with us?” you say.
“No, I’m too old I wouldn’t last through the trip,” he replies.
“Well, thanks for what you did. I could never repay you.”

You back up your car as far as you can go and face the entrance to the settlement, and revving your engine, you speed down the highway, not noticing that a necromorph infector has made its way to the underside of your car. You quickly hit 88 miles per hour and tell Hope to hold on as you hit the red button. There was a sudden burst of light as you enter a kaleidoscope-like tunnel. The sudden burst of colors cause you to go into epileptic seizures and you pass out.

Elsewhere

Rainbow Dash was lying on a cloud waiting for sleep to over-take her as she prepared for her afternoon nap. Suddenly, she saw a huge flash of light in a field not far from Ponyville. So, being her adventurous self she set off to investigate. What she found was a black…..thing, with two; well she didn’t know what they were. One was passed out in its seat; while the other looked like she was losing consciousness. Rainbow didn’t know what to do, so she flew off to her friend Twilights house thinking, ‘She’ll know what these things are. At the very least she can contact the princesses about their presence.’