There was a long pause between them. John held Dash at gunpoint, mentally debating with himself whether or not to just put her out of her misery.

Cody was processing on what just happened, or more specifically, why it happened. They had just met her a day before. He himself promised her to return her home. Why did it come to this?

“You didn’t you say anything,” John’s finger twitched on the trigger, ready to shoot her without the intent of missing. "why?"

“I... I don’t know! It just.... I... I just forgot!” Dash stuttered. Trembling, she wanted to back up away from them. She took one fearful step backwards towards the shadows.

“Don’t you dare fucking move! You stay right here in the sunlight.” John snapped out of pure fear.

“Shit, I can’t take this.” Cody grabbed his hair out of sadness. He turned away, unable to look at her final moments.

A tear left from Dash’s now closed eyes. All hope of her getting home where destroyed. She was coming to terms with the fact that she was dead. That very moment when she was scratched by the creature, she was dead.

She blamed herself.

If only she had told them, they would have taken extra precautions. If only she hadn’t been so ignorant to forget an important detail of herself. Now, because of her mistake, her friends will search all of Equestria with false hope.

It was all her fault.

“Just... just end it already...” She said, almost as a whisper. “I don’t want to turn into one of those things...” She couldn’t open her eyes as she started to sob. John’s hand was trembling. He wanted to end her suffering, but his instinct told him to save the bullet. As heartless as it was, he needed to conserve ammo for his sidearm. The sun would kill her just as quickly as a bullet when she turns.

“John?” Cody snapped John from his thoughts, but he still held Dash at gunpoint.

“What?” he asked with annoyance. It was the wrong time to say anything.

“It’s been five minutes... She’s not showing symptoms.” Cody said with a dim hope in his voice. “Maybe, just maybe, she is...” He said optimistically.

“Bullshit. Nothing is immune to this, you know that. Dogs, rats, hell, even deer become bloodthirsty savages.” John explained to Cody, who already knew that information.

“In five minutes, hair and fur should start falling off from the victim’s body. In six minutes, cells will start to mutate and skin should start to peel. In seven minutes, the victim completely turns, and UV radiation will harm them.” He stopped for a breath, and checked his watch again. “Six minutes now, and she still looks fine.”

Dash’s ear twitched. She kept her eyes shut and hoped what Cody said was true. Now that she thought about it, she felt perfectly normal, albeit the burning sensation of cuts on her leg.

There was another good minute of silence, which seemed to seal the deal for John. “Well, I’ll be damned.” He relaxed his arm, but didn’t holster his weapon. “I need to check on something. Let’s head back to the car.”

Cody approached Dash with sturdy rags, presumably homemade bandages. Cleaning up her tears, she let him examine her wounds. He sucked in air through his teeth. “The motherfucker really dug into you. We might need to stitch you up when we get back.” He wrapped it tightly around her leg in an effort to stop the bleeding. She winced a little in pain. “Sorry. Hurts that bad, huh?”

“It’s nothing,” she said, still holding on to a little bit of pride. “I’ve had worse.”

“I bet.” He chuckled. “Come on. We better get going before he yells at us.” Dash nodded, and hovered eye level with Cody at his full height. He clicked his tongue, a habit that Dash seemed used to hearing now. Anya happily joined her master’s side, as his hand stroked a spot behind her ear. They all followed John’s footsteps.

“So... let me get this straight. A long time ago, two princesses rule your land and they each controlled the sun and the moon. Moon Princess gets jealous and turns into an evil, night loving asshole, and then Sun Princess banishes her to the moon.”

“Right.”

“So, a thousand years later, Moon Princess comes back as Evil, Night Loving Asshole, and threatens your whole country.”

“Yep.”

“Then, you and your friends defeat Evil, Night Loving Asshole and Sun Princess comes in and... let me emphasize this... forgives Moon Princess for becoming evil. Right on the spot?”

“Exactly.”

“I call bullshit. I mean, why would Sun Princess forgive Moon Princess? I mean, Moon Princess became Evil, Night Loving Asshole! That at least earns some time in prison.” Cody emphasized with his hands. Dash shrugged.

“I don’t know, but the story is true. I was there and so were my friends.”

“What do you think, John?” Cody asked, thinking that John would back up his side. John simply sighed.

“I called bullshit when she said that there were princesses who can manipulate celestial bodies.” He ended up being a killjoy instead of backing up Cody.

“You’re no fun.” Cody said, disappointed in his brother.

“Sorry, but it sounded like a children’s fairytale more than anything else.” John deadpanned. “Do you still have that microscope, Cody?” he asked, completely changing the subject.

“Do you mean the one that you said was completely useless and would be nothing more than dead weight?” Cody smirked. John sighed.

“Yes, Cody, that one.”

“Yeah, I still have it. Aren’t you glad that I didn’t listen to what you said and didn’t throw it away?” His smirk grew wider. John didn’t say anything, but lifted a single finger without looking behind him. Cody chuckled victoriously. Dash was just confused at the gesture, but was amused of the small arguments the two had.

The streets were becoming familiar to the lot. The buildings that they first marvelled at became visible once again as they were closing in on their destination. A flock of birds flew across the sky as they manoeuvred around the abandoned vehicles.

Eventually, their backtracking led them to the alley where the car was parked. John was the first one to turn towards the shadows. He stopped abruptly as the others followed closely behind.

“Fuck!” He shouted at the top of his lungs. He unmasked himself and grabbed his forehead, as if he had a headache.

“What’s wrong this time?” Cody walked at a faster pace to look down the alley. It was the same broken road between the same foliage covered buildings. There was only one thing out of place.

The car was missing.

Cody pulled out his keys from his pocket. There was only one explanation: someone broke into the car via picking the lock, or smashing a window, and hotwired the car. They must’ve been professionals as well, giving the fact that the alarm never went off.

“You have got to be shitting me.” Cody threw his keys on the ground. “Of all the professional car thieves in the world, one had to be in this city and steal our car.”

“Are we going to walk to Berlin now?” Dash was not looking forward to hours of walking and doing nothing.

“We can’t. There isn’t another town for miles. There is no way we can make it to a town between sunrise and sunset on foot.” John kicked a small rock with sheer force. "Fuck!”

“We are stuck here?” She started getting worried.

“Until we can find another vehicle, which is a miracle itself, yeah. We are stuck here.” Cody said without his usual optimism.

“So... what are we going to do now?”

John took a second to calm down. He grabbed his hair and snapped his fingers repetitively to think of a quick plan. “Okay, the safest place we went to today was the body shop. We should stay there for tonight and... we... we should find something to get us out of here.” he slowed his hectic breathing to calm himself. “I’ll come up with a better plan once we get to the garage.”

“You alright, John?” Cody asked. John looked at him, but didn’t answer. He shifted the strap of his bag on his shoulder.

“Let’s go. We don’t have time to waste.” He started walking down the street.

Cody and Dash looked at each other for a quick second. There was a slight frown on Cody’s face. “He’s not alright, is he?” She said rhetorically. Cody nearly sprinted to get to John.

“Look, we need to keep our heads. We will get out of this, trust me.” Cody smiled reassuringly while placing a hand on his shoulder. John shot back a grim look, forcing Cody's hand off. His smile disappeared.

John continued walking, leaving behind the rest of his group. Cody threw up his arms. "You're not going to talk to me?" he nearly shouted to get John to hear him. He was ignored.

Dash slowly approached Cody, who was waiting for an answer he would never receive. "What's wrong with him?"

"He's just stressed. We've had bad times before, but this is the worst it has been." he sighed. "Let's just go. I'll talk to him later." He started walking ahead. Dash shook her head and followed closely to Cody and his dog.

The sun left its high peak in the sky, indicating that the evening was swiftly approaching. The group traced their former path to the garage with an eerie silence. That was, until there was a low grumbling noise.

"Christ! If you were that hungry, you should have said something." Cody chuckled, taking a quick glance at Dash. She blushed with embarrassment.

"When can we eat something? I haven't eaten anything all day!" she complained as her stomach started to consume itself.

"We'll eat when we get to the garage. It won't be long now." As if on cue, the garage was in sight. "See?"

Dash sighed in relief, eager to eat almost anything handed to her. The group approached the building in a seemingly rapid manner. John was the one to lift up the heavy garage door and motion everyone to go inside. Once everyone was settled, he slammed the door shut. The room immediately became less bright due to the lack of sunlight.

John threw his bag down, allowing Cody to grab a couple of tins from it along with the tin opener. Swiftly, he opened the tins full of baked beans, and handed one to Dash, who proceeded to consume them without the need for a fork. Cody did a similar process, tilting the can as if were a bottle of water instead of food. John sighed at the savage-like display.

"You two acted like you've never seen food in your life." He scoffed, but couldn't help but smirk a little. He grabbed a first-aid kit from the bag he placed on the ground. Cody noticed his actions as he poured the half eaten beans on the floor for Anya. John received a barrel from a syringe from the kit. Finally, Dash noticed him after her rather quick meal.

"What are you doing?" She tilted her head out of curiosity.

"Remember when I said that I needed to check something?" it wasn't really a question, but Dash nodded anyway. "I need a blood sample." He twisted a hypodermic needle onto the barrel with an antibacterial cloth. "You aren't afraid of needles, are you?"

"I'm not afraid! What made you say that?" She said defensively. It was partly true, anyway. She wasn't a big fan of having her blood siphoned or having chemicals injected into her, but she didn't let anyone know it.

"Relax, I was just asking." he handed the syringe to Cody. "Would you do the honours?"

"Why me?"

"Because I am no good on non-human patients." John answered, moving his hand for him to take the syringe. Cody snatched it from his palm. He approached Dash while mocking John's statement quietly. He sat down in front of Dash, tapping the needle instinctively to make sure that there wasn't any excess air.

"So, uh... hand me one of your hooves." he ordered. Dash placed her left hoof in his opened palm. He stroked it gently, tracing a vein with the tips of his fingers. Satisfied, he placed the sharp tip of the needle against her coat. "Hold your breath." he warned.

She felt a sting as the needle pierced through her skin. The sensation lasted until Cody drew a decent amount of blood and withdrew the needle. He took the disinfecting towelette John used to clean the syringe to wipe down the tiny wound. He reached over towards the first-aid kit to grab a small bandage.

Cody handed the partially filled syringe to John, who took it carefully. Cody turned to take a look at Dash. "Does it hurt?" He asked spontaneously.

She looked at the bandage on her arm. "It still stings a bit, but I had shots lots of-"

"Not that," Cody pointed to her back leg, where a larger bloodied bandage was located. "that. Does it still hurt?"

She looked at her wound. Images of the monster that had caused it flashed through her mind. She quickly shook them off. "Kinda." She admitted.

"Let me see." Cody said softly as he moved closer towards the wound. Cautiously, he removed the bloodstained rags and examined the wound. Much to his surprise, it was already scarring over. "Amazing." he whispered. He cleared his throat, and scooted over to his bag. "Those scratches healed up nicely. Just don't do anything to reopen them." he said as he searched for something in the sack.

Anya's ears perked up as Cody found what he was looking for. In his palm, he held a grimy tennis ball. He shook it to grab Anya's attention and the dog wagged her tail in anticipation. Finally, he tossed the ball towards the metal garage, and she eagerly chased after it. Cody chuckled as she brought the ball back to him. "Good girl!" He took the ball from her, stroking her head as he did, and tossed it again.

Dash just watched them as they continued their pastime. "How long have you had her?"

Cody threw the ball again at a slightly different location. "Uh, about five years now." he said, collecting his memories. "She was kind of a "get out of my house" gift from my mum." He stroked the dog's ear when she brought back the tennis ball.

There was a noticeable gasp from one side of the room. "That's impossible." John said audibly.

"Did you find something?" Cody stood up and walked towards John, whose eye was still glued to the microscope.

"Take a look." He slid the tool carefully along the table for Cody to see. Once he placed his eye against the glass, he examined the blood sample. At first, everything seemed normal. He located red blood cells along with white blood cells. It didn't take long for long for him to notice an abnormal looking cell. It was about the same size as a white blood cell, but was a completely different colour. Instead of the normal bluish hue of a white blood cell, they radiated a bright green.

"Okay... so, what am I looking at?"

"That is an "extra" white blood cell. Look closely at it." he said with excitement. Cody focused on the said cell. At first, it looked like cilia, or hairlike organelles on a cell. On a closer inspection however, they were individual Y-shaped proteins that sat on the membrane of the cell.

"Those are-"

"Antibodies." John smiled. "Those are extra antibodies that can kill the pathogen!" His smile grew wider, something that only happened when he discovered something new. "That's why she is immune."

"That's impressive, but what do you want to do with it?" He slid back the microscope for John to marvel the new cell.

"I want to see if I can use those antibodies to make a cure for this." He placed his face down through the scope, smiling at the cell.

Cody sighed, trying to view this at a rational point. "As great as that may be, how do you know that it wouldn't just be another poison to us. How would you even know what type of blood would accept it?"

Dash kicked Anya's toy, and the dog chased it. She tried to snoop in on their conversation, but decided not to listen after the word, "cell". Biology wasn't one of her strengths in education.

"We'll never know unless we try." He stood up from the table. "We need to get to America." He took the sample, and stored it within a compartment on the microscope.

"You're going to become obsessed with this project, aren't you?"

John chuckled as he started cleaning up his mess. "I might."

There was a barely noticeable beeping originating from John's wrist. Cody was quick to respond, clicking his tongue to end playtime for Anya and Dash. "I'm going to go see if we can board up those windows out front." he said, telling his overprotective brother where he would disappear to. John proceeded to carefully return the microscope to Cody's bag.

"So, what you dudes talk about?" Dash watched with boredom as John handled the device with care. "And say it in a way so I can understand it." A whiff of nostalgia came over her as she remembered saying that to Twilight.

"Well," John started, attempting to find the right words. "your blood can possibly be used as a cure against this plague. So, potentially, you are the last hope for humanity." he said, imitating a dramatic movie announcer.

"Really? That is awesome! I mean, I know I'm already awesome, but that brings it up to a whole new level!" She cheered, flying up to the roof with excitement.

"I said potentially." John whispered to himself, trying not to kill her spirit. Cody returned from his job, wiping dust off his hands.

"You are not going to believe what I saw." he said, grabbing everyone's attention.

John sighed in annoyance as he left off with silence. "Don't leave us with a cliff-hanger, spit it out!"

"Christ, all you had to say was "what did you see, Cody?"." John made a motion with his hand, telling him to get to the point. "There are other survivors out there!"

John immediately became concerned. "How many?"

"There were only three of them, somewhere down the street. They looked armed, but we don't need to worry about them, at least not tonight." he said with a smile.

"Well, as long as we don't do anything stupid tomorrow, we should be fine, right?" Dash said tiredly, ready to get some sleep.

"Yeah, let's just get some sleep... I'll make a plan tomorrow morning." John yawned. "Let's get some sleep while we can. I want to wake up early tomorrow."

"You got it, boss." Cody gestured with his sarcastic salute as John rested his head uncomfortably on top of his rucksack. Cody placed his "pillow" on a random place on the floor and rested his head on it. Anya took her place right next to him, curling up in a ball against his chest.

Dash decided to sleep on the cold floor without a pillow. It wouldn't be any worse than resting on top of a bag full of disorganized items anyway. She copied her method of getting sleep the night before. Closing her eyes, she thought long and hard about her friends and family and how she would see them again. After a minute or too, she slipped away into unconsciousness.

It was dark. A void filled with a blackness that seemed to stretch on forever and then some. Dash couldn't hear or see anything around herself, and started slowly becoming full of absolute terror. In a flash, she found herself in the familiar streets of Ponyville. Off in the distance, she noticed the stone bridge at the entrance of the small village, and caught a glimpse of the bakery she knew as Sugar Cube Corner. Though it was all too familiar to her, something seemed amiss in her once friendly home.

It was empty, for starters. A vile smell flowed in the air, gently grazing her nostrils as she breathed. Something, a tiny voice in the back of her head, barked at her to go see Twilight for an unknown reason. She started trotting towards the allies that led to library near the centre of the town, blindly obeying the beckoning whisper in her mind. She followed the dirt roads, turning sharply at one last corner.

She nearly vomited on the spot.

Mangled corpses of ponies she knew covered the street to the Golden Oak Library. All of them were ripped to shreds, making them unidentifiable. The warm, heavy stench of blood interrupted her steady breaths for a second. The voice, now turning into multiple and audible whispers, demanded her to get to the library.

She trotted on, carefully avoiding the misplaced insides of the destroyed bodies. The closer she was to the entrance of the library, the louder the voices became. The scent of death seemed almost unbearable at the point.

After what seemed like hours, she finally made it to the door. Attached to it, where five photographs. Five photos of five familiar ponies she knew all too well. They were covered with a black ink that displayed the same message over and over.

YOU WILL NEVER SEE THEM AGAIN

A low, horrific growl emitted from behind her. Slowly, she turned around to see the culprit. It was one of the creatures, muscles exposed, and maggots eating whatever was left of its flesh. Suddenly in pounced at her, and proceeded to rip out her throat.

Dash woke up with a sudden gasp for breath, as if she was drowning. She took a second to calm herself, since it was only a dream. Her breathing became less hectic, and she slowly started to become aware of her surroundings.

"Bad dreams?" Cody's voice almost startled her.

"...Yeah..." she admitted in defeat. It wasn't any use to lie to him, she figured. He was probably awake to witness whatever her body did during her nightmare.

"You'll get used to it." He started to fondle with a piece of jewellery Dash hadn't seen before. It was shaped as a small heart, the same necklace that couples would give to each other as a gift.

"Is that yours?" she asked, approaching him to get a better look at it. Cody snapped it open, revealing two black and white pictures, one of whom was a slightly younger, slightly cleaner Cody. The other photo had a smiling female human with long hair that seemed to be the same about of blonde that cleaner Cody had. Although it was used to show their love for each other, the necklace was obviously cheap and really cliché. It did fit someone like Cody, she thought.

"No, it's not mine. It's her's." he explained, pointing to the woman for emphasis. "I'm borrowing it."

It was a rather vague explanation, but Dash left it at that. They could be separated, or worse, she could be dead. She didn't want to get in a sensitive situation.

She looked around the room, only to find that Anya was sleeping on the other side of Cody's lap. "Where's John?"

"He went out on patrol, looking out for those survivors I saw last night. He'll be back in a minute." Cody continued to stare at the necklace, recollecting better memories.

Dash wondered about how they spoke about the survivors, like if they were afraid of them. Isn't finding other people and make friends a good thing? Especially in this situation?

It didn't take long for John to return to the garage. He unmasked himself as he felt comfortable, showing a relieved, dirt covered face. "Did you find anybody?" Cody stood up, waking up his canine companion in the process.

"Thankfully not, but we still need to be extremely cautious today. They could still be out there." he warned. "Pack your shite, you two, and let's get going!" He stomped outside, presumably to wait not so patiently on them.

"Jeez, he doesn't have to rush us." Dash said with annoyance.

"Well, when you think about it, fourteen hours to do whatever it is we need to do is not a lot of time." Cody replied while moving towards the door. "Grab your gun and let's get out of here."

Dash nodded, and swiftly wrapped the strap of her rifle around her. She took one last breath of calmness before following the humans to the hellhole outside.

"What's the plan for today, John?" Cody struggled adjusted his bag to his liking while waiting to be briefed.

"Yeah! Are we gonna go find a working car-thing?" Dash looked around the city, or more specifically, the abandoned vehicles around the city. She was also intrigued by the words: "GOD HAS ABANDONED US" that were spray-painted on a brick wall. It was the only legible writing she could read among the numerous graffiti messages.

"Not exactly." John began his briefing with a sigh. "We need to find a good car battery to use one of them. Our best bet is to search the impound lot near the police station. If that turns out to be a dead end, then we can search the salvage yard. It all depends on our luck to find one."

Dashed winced. Considering the amount of luck that the group already had, it was most likely going to be a waste of energy.

A group of crows had a meal a few ways in front of them. John was the first one to notice, and picked up his pace. Dash wanted to fly past him to go investigate, but decided not to once she got a glimpse of what the birds' meal was.

Once John got close enough, the crows dispersed in the air, cawing in frustration of their unfinished snack. Their said meal happened to be a shredded human corpse. Its skin was completely torn off, exposing the red and white muscles, along with the blue veins that ran across the body. Its head was completely unrecognizable and had one bulging eyeball due to the lack of eyelids. Needless to say, Dash lost the contents of her stomach.

John crouched down next to body, examining it thoroughly. He traced a finger along a certain spot on the corpse's cranium. This action, along with the disturbing squelching noises that followed it, forced Dash to empty herself once more.

"What the fuck are you doing?!" Cody shouted with disgust.

John shushed him and raised his left arm to completely silence him. "He was shot." he explained, pointing at a nearby car. "There's a hole in his head and a blood splatter on the car window." He sighed. "How many survivors did you say there were, Cody?"

"About three or four of them." Cody responded, still cringing about John touching the body.

John sighed as he stood up. "We need to be careful." he said, putting emphasis behind his words. "Let's go."

Cody checked up on Dash, who was still trembling with absolute disgust. "Are you alright?" It was a stupid question, since she obviously wasn't.

Dash nodded her head slowly. "I'm fine." she whispered.

"Come on then, we need to move." Cody warned as he started to follow John. She soon followed him, making sure not to glance at the desecrated body along the way.

It didn't take them long to reach the police station. They started looting the place, since they figured it was a good place to stock up on ammo. It wasn't a very large station, but it was large enough to house a few patrol vehicles, which were missing for obvious reasons.

Cody searched under the reception desk, and was satisfied that he found the same exact pistol he used, only less modified. He took the extra magazine and stored it in an empty pocket. Perhaps their luck was turning around for the better. "Did anyone else find anything useful!?"

"I found some bandages! Or, at least I think it's bandages." Dash shouted from a separate room.

"I didn't find anything yet! We should wrap this up soon though!" John shouted. He tried to break a locked desk by smashing into it, but was getting nowhere with it. He was probably working too hard under all of his clothing. At one point, he could have sworn that he heard unfamiliar foreign voices in the room where Cody was. He continued to pound the lock with the butt of his rifle.

CLICK

Something hollow and metallic was pressed against John's head. In an instant, he knew exactly what it was.

"Put that piece down, or you will die right here, right now." John's attacker pressed his gun harder against his head. John wanted to turn around and apprehend him, but his equipment made him too bulky to even attempt it. He dropped his rifle in defeat, and stood up slowly.

"Get to the lobby. Make any sudden movements, and I will kill you." The voice was definitely a male, and had a foreign accent, presumably German. He forced John towards the lobby, where he could hear others handling Cody. There were three of them in total, not including the man holding John at gunpoint. They were all masked and nameless, and only spoke to each other in German, a language John could partially understand.

"Take off that bag, stand on your knees, and put your hands behind your head next to your friend."

John obeyed him, placing himself next to Cody. Anya laid on her stomach next to Cody as well, growling softly. John shifted closer to Cody. "Where is Dash?" he whispered.

As if on cue, a larger man held a squirming Rainbow Dash. He covered her muzzle to prevent her from screaming or biting. He threw her next to Cody. This man stood out from the others from both his size and the gas mask that covered the front of his face.

"Stay there and shat ahp." he said, both muffled and butchered. He gave Dash's rifle to one of the men as the leader finally showed himself. He wore what looked like a tinted paintball mask along with a hood to shield his identity. He started arguing with the large man in German, pointing at Rainbow Dash.

"You alright?" Cody whispered to Dash.

"Oh yeah. Just fine." Dash said sarcastically.

The bandits argued for a while. John picked up fragments of it, and concluded that they where figuring out what to do with Dash. The leader decided to kill them all after he looted there items. The big man had other plans, however.

"What are they saying, John?" Cody whispered frantically.

"They're going to kill us, except for Dash."

Dash's ears fell to the side of her head. "What do they want with me?"

John sighed, unsure of how to tell her. "The one with the gas mask wants to... get to know you better."

It didn't take long for Dash to understand what he meant, and her heart started to pound in her chest faster. Not only were they about to kill her friends, the most unattractive one wanted to take away her innocence. She closed her eyes and prayed to anything she knew to make this whole thing a dream. She wanted to wake up from this nightmare, and find herself on her bed. Some part of her thought that she was already dead, and this is her Tartarus. What did I do wrong?

There was a loud click of a gun to make her snap back to reality. The leader held a pistol in his hand and approached John first. He placed the barrel of the gun against John's head. She closed her eyes, unable to make herself see what was about to transpire.

BANG!

The bandits shouted in their language as they were being shot at. Dash opened her eyes to see that the bandits positioned themselves in cover behind the entrance windows. They fired at an opposition she could not see, shouting at each other frantically. One of them was on the ground, squirming as blood shot out from his neck like a morbid water blaster. They started moving to the back entrance, leaving their former hostages.

John picked up the dying man's rifle and shot at fleeing bandits. He missed them as he wasn't in a good firing position. The leader noticed him and aimed his pistol at him. John shot first, hitting the leader's firing shoulder as soon as his gun discharged. Knowing that this was a losing battle, the leader retreated while applying pressure to his shoulder.

A heavy, ragged breathing soon caught John's attention. Turning around, his worst fears became too true. Cody grasped his chest, struggling to breath. "Oh shit."

Cody fell on his back as blood started to drip from his mouth. Dash became paralyzed with both fear and sudden shock. John was quick to respond, grabbing the knife strapped on his belt to slice Cody's shirt off. It was a brutal wound. The entrance was the size of a small golf ball, and it was covered with foamy blood.

"Dash, apply pressure to that wound. Quickly!" Dash shook her head, and immediately joined Cody's side, pressing hard on the bloody mess. To her disgust, she could feel his lung flop around inside his bones from every short breath he took.

John had seen that wound before. He hoped he would survive this, but deep down, he knew that it would take a miracle to save him. Frantically, he searched his bag that the bandits left in search for a first-aid kit. "Keep applying pressure to that wound! He needs to breath!" He ordered in a choked up voice.

Cody moved his hand slowly towards his neck. Anya caught sight of this, and moved up towards his face. He used his other hand to stroke his companion's face. "J- John." he emitted between his ragged breaths. John finally found a kit, and sat by his side.

"Don't speak, save your energy for breathing." John said calmly. Cody ignored him and reached out with his hand. John touched his hand as he dropped something in John's palm.

"Tell her..." His breathing became shorter and slower. "... I- I'm sorry." John opened his palm. It was the necklace Cody always would look at before he fell asleep. The necklace that he promised to return it to its original owner.

Cody's hand fell to his side as his breathing became slower before suddenly stopping. "No... no! NO NO NO NO NO!" John shook Cody in defeat. He wanted to attempt CPR, but he knew that his lung would just drown his throat with more blood if he did. It was over. John grabbed Cody's head to place it on his lips. Defeated, he cried in his hair audibly.

Dash felt his wound stop bleeding. She saw Anya licking her master's palms, as if he was just sleeping. She glanced down on her hooves, which were covered in blood. She contemplated on why it happened. Why did he have to die? He was the one that willingly accept her into their group. Without him, where would she be? She started to sob as a single thought entered her mind

I'm in hell.

Author's Note

Sorry I took a long time to update this. I suffered some minor writer's block and school didn't help either. Please try your best not to put spoilers in the comments. Thanks. Also, have some music.