Chapter 5 - The Everfree

"Shouldn't we close the door?" Vulsegardt asks while looking back.

Fedor stops and turns around. "Yeah, but the power is out and I can hear them coming this way, how do you suggest we close it?"

Vulsegardt ponders for a few moments until looking at Fedor's left side of the belt he was wearing. "That power rod of yours could do the trick."

Fedor takes the rod off his belt. "I suppose you're right. But let's be quick about it."

They begin to return to the exit from which they came when a sudden wave of force rushes out of the entrance and knocks both on the ground. The same sound was produced when the Marker was first activated, but this time it was louder and lasted for minutes.

Vulsegardt was unable to get up. The force that knocked her down made her feel like her brain is going unstable from inside her head. She begins to scream of pain, while holding her head.

Fedor on the other hand felt nothing. He got up and stared back at the facilities entrance. His vision began to narrow down as all he heard became quiet. He didn't realize that Vulsegardt was down screaming. He drops the rod on the ground, as his mind begins to shut down.

From inside a loud banging and hitting could be heard on one of the doors leading into the garage. It was a group of creatures they seen inside of the facility. Fedor at the sound of screaming and hitting regains his sense of vision and sound. He hears Vulsegardt screaming, quickly shakes his head and runs to Vulsegardt, trying to help her get up.

Suddenly the sound of horns stop and Vulsegardt stops screaming.

Fedor helps her getting up. "Are you alright, you screamed like you were dying!"

Vulsegardt moans, "I-I don't know what happened. It's like my brain couldn't take the frequency that the Marker was giving... my head hurts."

"Well, no time to waste, we need to get the hell out of here!" Fedor quickly says.

"What about the door?" Vulsegardt asks.

"Now!" He pushes Vulsegardt as they both begin to move away.

They walk down a narrow path, which lead to a river, from there they followed the river for a short while until they started to go up a hill. Not to far away screams of the Ares workforce could be heard. Fedor looks up the hill. "We should get to the car if we go up here."

For a short while they climbed up a hill until reaching the hatch from where they entered and the pick up truck parked close by. Fedor opens the door and sits in. He pulls out a key from his pocket and puts it in the keyhole. He twists it, but nothing happens. "Uh oh."

Vulsegardt looking down the cliff, she notices creatures lurking from the barely visible garage door into the swamps. She turns to Fedor with fear in her eyes. "Uh oh is bad, what do you mean uh oh?"

"The battery died," Fedor explains.

"How could the battery die right now, don't you have another one back with the other junk?" Vulsegardt asks panicked.

He gets up and starts to search the trunk of the car. He pulls out a small battery and observes it. He moves to the front of the car, replacing the old battery with the new one. He sits back in and tries to start up the engine again. Nothing happens. In anger he hits the wheel of the car. "Great! That's just my God damn luck!"

"What do we do now?" Vulsegardt asks.

He thinks for a moment, "Baltimare isn't to far from here."

Vulsegardt looks at Fedor with confusion. "You're not thinking of going on foot are you?"

"Yes, I am. Come on." He answers and goes to the back of the car, grabs some items and puts them in his backpack. "You coming?" He asks.

"I guess I have no choice." They begin to go into the forest.

It was a silent walk.

Vulsegardt was looking at Fedor's shoulder with a worried expression on her face. "How is your shoulder?" She asks.

"Better. We need to get to Celestia as fast as we can." Fedor replies.

"Actually, this is EarthGov business. After I've got the runes from the Marker I'm supposed to translate them and bring them to Ryan Atlax and him only," Vulsegardt explains.

"Atlax? Does Celestia know about this?" Fedor looks at Vulsegardt with suspicion.

"I... Uhm..." She remembers that Celestia wasn't with her and Atlax when she was given this expedition. "Of course she knows! Look, let's just try to find a hospital for that shoulder of yours, find a quiet place to sit down, translate this and then we go to Canterlot. Please?"

Fedor slightly sighs. "I knew you were trouble the moment you entered my workshop. Besides, I could get a new arm if I wanted to."

Vulsegardt grins, "Your shoulder is injured and, where would you get an arm? You can't just get something like that by the way."

"Back in the Crystal Empire, Prince Armor financed me to create a mechanical limb replacer. And know you too can become a cyborg," Fedor explains.

Vulsegardt smiles. "Sounds like fiction. But we should get you checked and settle down."

"What about the creatures?" Fedor asks with worry.

Vulsegardt thinks for a moment. "We'll inform Atlax of them, but it doesn't do much damage if they go wandering around in these swamps, of course on some point Atlax will have to take them out."

They reach a small dirt road on which there was a parked car. By the car there was a man and a Unicorn. The man was in front of the car with the hood open and the Unicorn was watching him. Fedor raises his hand and begins to walk towards them. "Hey! We need some help here."

The unicorn turns to Fedor and notices the shotgun on his back. He takes a step back. "You dangerous?"

Vulsegardt steps in front of Fedor. "No, our car broke down. We need a ride. Can you help us?"

The unicorn looks at Vulsegardt with a confused expression on his face. "Yours stopped working too? Where were you two, we didn't see any other cars behind us."

Fedor takes a step and pulls out his wallet. "I give you 1000 bits if you stop asking questions and take us wherever you're going."

The man closes the car's hood and looks at Fedor with a smile. "Ho, that looks pretty shiny, we're going to the Everfree's camp. I just got my car working and you two are welcome to join for that pretty shiny."

Vulsegardt sighs. "Fine, guess this is the best we can get."

Fedor steps to Vulsegardt and begins to whisper. "Everfree camp isn't exactly Canterlot. I'd rather see us avoid it."

"Ponyville isn't far from the Everfee. They have a good hospital and a train station there. We can go from Everfree to Ponyville and stay there for a few days," Vulsegardt explains.

Fedor thinks for a moment. "Alright, sounds good." He looks at the man and Unicorn by the car. "Is the car really working?"

"Yeah, the first battery got broke and we put another one in. This one doesn't look so good either, but it will probably get us to Everfree." The man steps to Fedor and extends his hand. "But first the payment for our services."

Fedor sighs and hands over a number of bills. "And if I didn't have anything to offer?"

The man smiles. "Heh, lucky for you that's not the case." He pulls out a pistol out of his back pocket.

Vulsegardt on the sight of the pistol takes a step back.

"You're not the only one who is armed in Hayseed." He puts the pistol away. "Come on, we're leaving."

Vulsegardt and Fedor look at each other with doubt on their faces, but they knew they had no other option. They get into the car along with the man and unicorn. The drive lasted for a few hours. In this time not much was spoken in the car. They arrive in front of a metal gate. The man turns around and looks at Fedor. "This is where you get out."

Fedor smirks and leaves the car, Vulsegardt following him. The metal gate was surrounded by a wide big brick wall. Everfree camp was a small community of People and Ponies who wanted to stay low or avoid authority. It had a big round brick wall which was used to fend of any forest creatures. As the metal gates open they enter into something that looked like a small village.

Vulsegardt turns to Fedor. "I hope there is a doctor somewhere around here, you need help."

"That wouldn't be so bad, yeah." He looks around, looking for someone to ask for a doctor, but the people walking around the everfree camp seemed full of people with untrustworthy expressions on their faces. He looks around to notice an earth pony who didn't look at his belongings when he went by them. Fedor raises his hand and steps to him. "Hey you! I need some medical attention, here you got anything?"

The earth pony, shakes his head and turns around, almost to scared to answer. "Z-Zed is the town's doctor. He's by the inn on the other side." He turns around and quickly trots away.

"Good, now we can get you patched up and if they have an inn we can stay here for the night too," Vulsegardt says.

Fedor whistles. "If it goes like this I'm going to end up broke."

Vulsegardt chuckles and they start to make their way to towards the said inn. Upon their arrival to the inn they notice a man covered in blood wearing a medical mask with a jar that had a heart in it. Vulsegardt frightened by the sight of what might possibly be another monster leaps back and slightly bumps into Fedor, hinting that he should do the same.

The man puts down the mask the jar mask. "I could hear my name being said a mile away, heard you folks might need some help."

Fedor looks at Vulsegardt with small worry in his face, after a second he looks the man back in the eyes. "You named Zed?"

"I am. I'm the doctor of this little community. Name's Zed," He introduces himself.

Vulsegardt looks at the jar Zed dropped. "And are you a licensed doctor or a butcher?"

Zed smiles. "Neither, but I have medical training, for the right price."

Fedor tips his pockets, checking if he still has all of his belongings. "I can pay you."

Zed looks with a little bit more interest at Fedor. "And what is your problem?"

"I got bit." Fedor answers.

"By what?" Zed asks.

Fedor at first didn't answer. He thought for a second on what to say. "Don't know. Our car broke down, something jumped up and bit me. My friend here shot it once but it got away," He points at Vulsegardt. "Probably a rabid fox or something."

"I can help you, follow me." Zed picks up the jar and begins to lead them into the inn's basement. The basement was badly illuminated and had lots of jars with organs inside of them stored on shelves. Zed puts on round glasses on his face and looks at Fedor's shoulder. "Duck tape huh? You must work a lot with machines then," Zed speculates.

"How did you guess?" Fedor asks.

Zed smiles. "An organ donor once came in here covered in the stuff. He was an engineer too."

Vulsegardt joins the conversation, "And did he leave this camp alive?"

Zed looks at Vulsegardt with an insulted face, "No. But that was his choice, not mine. Why don't you sit down and be nice, since I'm generously offering my help."

"We are paying you." Vulsegardt says.

Fedor turns to Vulsegardt. "Just sit down."

She scrunches and sits down, observing the basement they were in with an expression on her face that makes her look like she is preparing for a fight.

He looks back to Zed. "Sorry, my friend is a bit tired."

Zed shrugs and removes the duck tape and gauze Fedor applied earlier from his shoulder and observes his wound. He leans forward and smells it. "My my, what were you bitten by again?"

"A fox?" Fedor replies.

"A radioactive fox?" Says Zed with a suspicions voice.

Fedor and Zed both staring at each other both with suspecting faces. "What's it to you?" Fedor asks.

"I haven't seen a bite like this since a few years back when someone covered in blood ran here begging for help. He looked like a scientist and spit out the same excuse you did," Zed answers.

Fedor looks at Zed with interest. "Did he survive?"

"He did. He and his friends stayed here for a couple of days until Princess Celestia herself made an appearance to pick them all up." Zed picks up small a bottle of antiseptic from the ground, opening it and begins to apply it's fluids with gauze from his pocket.

"I still don't know what does this mean to you, heal me, I pay you, that's it," Fedor says.

"What's your name?" Zed asks.

Fedor didn't answer right away. "Dell."

Zed leans a bit forward. "Have you ever been here before, Dell?"

"No," Fedor answers.

Zed wraps a bandage around Fedor's wound and pins it. "That would be everything. I even helped you before demanding a payment, aren't I nice?"

Fedor pulls out his wallet and gives Zed whatever was left in it. "700 bits, It's all I've got."

"That would do nicely." He takes the money from Fedor.

Vulsegardt gets back up. "Isn't that a bit much? We still need some money to pay the inn if we are going to stay here.

Zed looks at Vulsegardt. "I own this inn."

"Oh, so you're an doctor with no medical license and a inn owner?" Vulsegardt asks with an unfriendly voice.

Fedor jumps in the conversation. "That's enough Vulsegardt."

Vulsegardt sighs and looks back to the shelves with jars as Fedor looks at Zed. "Is there any way me and my friend could stay here for the night?"

"Do you have any more money?" Zed asks.

Fedor scratches his head. "I uhh... No."

"Then we have nothing to talk about." Zed points to the exit of the basement.

Vulsegardt looks back at Zed. "I'd be a shame if someone would find out that illegal medical procedures were being made here."

"Curiosity kills the cat little miss. You may not make it out of town if you don't find the respect for others. Get out." Says Zed while still pointing towards the exit.

"Wait!" Fedor pulls out a small bag from his pocket and from the bag he pulls out one of the crystals he picked up at Ares. "I give you this and we forget about our argument and you let us stay in here for the night. Sounds good?"

Zed looks at the crystal in Fedor's hand with big interest on his face. "My, where did you get that Dell?"

"I'm an engineer. I carry these around all the time," Fedor lies.

Zed takes the crystal from Fedor's hand. "Really now?"

"Yes, it's standard." He explains.

"You must be some high society engineer then. What brings you to the Everfree?" Zed asks.

"As I said, our car broke down." Fedor replies.

Zed looks stares at Fedor with disbelief, but accepts the crystal anyway. "Alright, we're friends for a day, top room on the left of the inn, but you two leave tomorrow."

They leave the basement, Zed goes out of the inn, Fedor and Vulsegardt go upstairs to their room. It was a small room with two beds and a desk with a lit candle on it and a chair in front of the desk.

"Am attitude like that is gonna get you killed," Fedor says to Vulsegardt.

"What do you mean, this man doesn't have a license and is hoarding organs in his basement. He could be a crazed killer!" Vulsegardt says with a quiet voice.

Fedor takes a deep breath. "He isn't a crazy killer and even if he was what would be the point in angering him?"

"How do you now that?" Vulsegardt asks.

"I recognise him. He was arrested on Earth for experimenting on animals with new medication. He served his time in prison and after that he vanished. Had no idea he ended up in Equestria." Fedor explains.

Vulsegardt thinks for a moment. "Should we call in authorities after we leave?"

"Let's not screw over someone who helped us, you're pretty rude Miss Vulsegardt." Fedor replies.

"We don't know where he got those organs!" Vulsegardt says with worry.

Fedor sighs. "Stop worrying over unimportant things already! He helped us, we leave, end of story."

"The sooner the better." She lifts up the book she was writing in runes from the Marker and another empty book.

Fedor looks at the books that were put on the table. "What are you doing?" He asks.

"Well, I'm sure not leaving this inn until tomorrow, might as well translate these now." She sits down by the desk, pulls out a pen, begins to hum a song and starts to translate the markings she wrote down earlier.

"Alright. I'm just gonna hit the bed." He puts his gear under the bed and lays down. "Good night."