Author's Note

The following chapter will contain rather graphic material: You have been warned.

Chapter 7 Part 1: Isolation

Drowning is probably by far the worst way to die. I should know, having experienced several near death encounters, this is probably the most terrifying out of the bunch. I was swimming in the back of the group, dwelling on past actions that had led up to this while the rest of the group swam ahead of me. Yet like any other time I began to dwell and drift off into thought, somepony or something would always be there to toss me back onto my train of thought. This time unfortunately it was a something...

One of the spore creatures must have been trapped in this room when it had first started to flood with water and sure didn't seem to be hindered by the lack of air like I was at the moment as its serrated jaw bit down on my hoof and pulled me away from the group. I let out a muffled cry of distress that only brought up bubbles to blot out my vision of my friends continuing on without me. By the time they would reach the other side of the hall or to another pocket of air, it would be far too late for everyone to go "Where's Shamrock?".

There was nobody to save me, my healing would be completely useless against drowning as my lungs slowly started to beg for air that would never come. The murky green water soon began to change into a deep red as I struggled in a pool of my own blood to break free from the pinned creature.

Terror and desperation filled my mind as I tried to fight off the inevitable end that began to darken around my peripherals. I un-holstered reprisal as fast as I could and pressed it to my bloody and gnarled hoof. The creature still had a death grip of a large chunk of flesh that hung from the bone of my leg as I shoved the barrel to its nose and pulled the trigger in hope that it wouldn't jam.

BLAM

BLAM

BLAM

The creatures splattered brains and riddled corpse went limp and let go, floating to the top of the hall along with my lower left hoof. Yet it was all a vain attempt at staving off the end. My vision became a dark murky tunnel of red as the last of my breath escaped me, a small glint of bright purple filling my eyesight before it all went dark.

"Something better Shamrock, you were made for something better."

"Oh goody you aren't dead yet!" A deranged giggling mare squeed, her coat was a bright white like his own though with far more splotches of dried blood than him. Her eyes were bloodshot and red much like her mane which was, you guessed it, red as well. "I was worried you weren't going to wake up while I was playing doctor!" Her cracked horn levitated a pair of rusted scissors and motioned towards my chest. multiple scars covering it as she dropped the scissors in exchange for a large rusty knife. "You seem to have a sparkly little gem in your chest, don't worry. Doctor Red Velvet will gladly take care of that!" She gave a cruel grin and cackle before plunging the knife into my chest and began to try and pry the gem out of its indention in my sternum.

"N-no let's not do tha-AGH! FUCKING HAYSEEDS!" I tried to move away only to find myself strapped down to a gurney before there came a gut wrenching crunch as the knife began to wriggle around and pry out the bloody gem from its cage, letting it clank to the ground, tearing out some of the melted necklace from the fur on my coat that had grown over it. I gagged and vomited up what little I had left in my stomach onto the floor, watching as the radioactive sludge melted the floor beneath it as Red Velvet shook her head.

"Now look, there went your lunch. Lucky for you, I was able to make a fresh batch of cupcakes for you!" She pulled the knife from my bleeding chest and levitated a tray of bright yellow cupcakes. "They are a little crispy I know but they still taste fabulous!" She lifted one up with a hoof and took a bite out of the pastry making me want to throw up. Yet rather than throw up, my stomach growled hungrily. I hadn't eaten in days and even that was looking appetizing. She waved the tray in front of my mouth as I found myself reluctantly trying to snag a bite of it. "Just a quick lunch break? I'll even let you wash it down with a nice healing potion and water." She cooed as she levitated a yellow cupcake in front of my muzzle once more.

Tears had begun to well in my eyes as I broke down, crying as I took a bite. The lemony tang covered most of the coppery truth behind them as my stomach beckoned for another while my mind and heart screamed at me to stop as she force fed me another. No, she wasn't force feeding me them...I was willingly eating this nightmare food. I tried to fight my instincts and heave up the cupcakes I had just ingested, yet I couldn't bring myself to let go of the first "food" I had received in what felt like forever. Tears fell down my face like a river. "I-I-I-I'm sorry Breeze!" I stuttered hysterically as Red Velvet grinned and turned away to set the tray down.

"See, weren't those yummy? I wonder how the rest of your group will taste...we'll find out once they come out of hiding." She grinned starting to trot away. "I'll be back to give you further treatment later dear. Just lay back and relax" She cooed before the door closed behind her. I could accept dying in a pool of my own blood at the bottom of a canyon. I could accept being eaten by a giant insect queen. I could accept bleeding out from multiple gunshot wounds in the middle of town. All because in those situations, I had my friends with me. I had Scarlet by my side to let me it was going to be alright...but now? I was alone. My friends were who knows where in this godforsaken stable. I tried to use my horn yet with my head being forced to stair up at the scum covered ceiling I couldn't even see what I was levitating with my horn. I had to get out, someway, somehow, I had to get out of this. I wasn't going to die like this. I wasn't going to die alone.

I suddenly fixated onto the straps of my table, physically I was in too bad of a shape to muscle out of them. Yet if I could just get a good grip with my magic...I closed my eyes and began to strain myself, focusing on the straps as I began to feel nauseous from using so much of my strength to little avail as I once again vomited. Though this time the acidic regurgitation had the misfortune of covering my own limbs, burning through both the straps and my flesh as I pulled myself away from the restraints. I had managed to melt through the straps covering my fore hoofs, sitting up and groaning as I stared at my splayed leg. Thinking of the most grotesque thoughts I could imagine, which with the most recent events in the past week? Wasn't very hard and I soon found myself coughing up another volatile salvo onto my restraints. I gritted my teeth and fought back more tears as the acidic bile seeped into the exposed flesh of my cut open leg before I finally rolled off the table and onto the floor with a thud.

I could barely walk. Even if I had all of my legs in working order, the pain from my chest wound flared up with every step as I looked at the small green gem that was once buried in my chest cavity. I shakily levitated the gem into my utility barding's bandolier and pressed forward towards the potion Red Velvet had left on the operating table. Even as I chugged down the potion all it had done was close up the stab wound in my chest and partially mend my flayed leg while I continued to limp for the door, taking a bone saw with me until I could find out where the rest of my arsenal had been hidden. The hallway was eerily quiet except for my shaky hoof steps; in front of me glowed two signs pointing in different directions. "Overmare's office...to the left." I was in no condition for a full scaled fight, but I was determined to finish off this maniac right here and right now.

"Come on out you guys, don't worry about your unicorn friend, he's safe and sound with me. Ready to play plenty of games with me once we've dealt with you." She giggled psychotically from over the intercom as it rang through the hallways. Her deranged banter continued to lead me closer and closer down the hallway towards her. "There is no point in hiding from me, you're trapped in here for as long as I want to keep playing with you. And I intend on playing with you until you break." The door to her office opened up with a click as I limped in.

"You should really learn to lock up...don't want bad ponies getting in." I growled and levitated the bone saw in the air above her as she stumbled back against the intercom, causing a loud screech of feedback to be broadcasted as she stuttered with pure fear in her eyes.

"N-no, please don't touch me! N-not again! Not again! You promised you would leave me after you had your way!" She begged and began to cry hysterically yet it wasn't towards me. Her gaze was locked at someone who wasn't there. as the jagged teeth of the saw came down, slamming into her neck with a wet thunk. Red Velvet screamed in pain as blood sprayed from her wound, writhing on the ground as the saw was ripped from its entrenchment in her neck only to slam back down into it with another spray of crimson and screaming.

Kill Was all I could think of, all I cared to think about as I pulled back for another swing into her neck.

Thunk. Down went the saw once more. Then again.

And again.

And again.

And again.

Her head had been savagely hacked from her neck, the bone sticking out; mutilated and raw as the scent of fresh blood filled the air. I stood over her corpse waiting to be returned to my proper mindset until I realized, much like the cupcakes. I had done this willingly, I showed no form of mercy and butchered her without a single care. What was worse was that doing this had felt...

Good...I had avenged the death of Spring Breeze along with all the torment this mare had put us through. This wasn't murder. It was vengeance, swift and proper.

The cameras within the office were covered with a fresh coat of blood. Yet as the blood dripped down the screen I could see my friends looking up at something. They were staring at the cameras, frozen in fear as I saw the reason why. Red Velvet's hoof was still on the button for the intercom, letting them know of her fate. I stared down at her decapitated corpse, her white coat just like my own. I then stared at the bloodstains, just like my own... A small glint of purple then changed my focus to a silver object. On one of the consoles rested my pistol, its name in plain sight for me to read.

Reprisal

Footnote: Level Up.
New Perk, when in Sneak mode, you gain the option to eat a corpse to regain Health. But every time you feed, you lose Karma, and if the act is witnessed, it is considered a crime against nature.