Equestria Undead

For once, Rose was right.

        We made our way through the countryside shortly after sunrise. Even after the end of the world, the trees, flowers, and fields were all beautiful. Even if I was in too much pain to enjoy it.

        Even with the drugs in my system, every step was a challenge. I could feel my lungs press up against my broken ribs with every breath. Still I kept walking.

        Rivet had thrown together a firing bit for my rifle so I would be able to fire it. He showed me how to hold onto the gun with my hoof while resting the stock on my saddlebags. Bit down on the bit to fire. It was just too bad my leg hurt to much to hold the enfield. I wish we could just rig me up a battle saddle.

        So, I was downgraded to a small pistol in one of the pockets of my vest. Yay.

        The others at least, where in good spirits. Violet and Dusk where in the middle of the dirt road, chatting and goofing around. Gambit, Rivet, and Fang were in front, talking about old missions and teasing each other. I was in back, slowed by my hurt leg, and my damaged pride. Rose trotted marily beside me.

        I know that they were trying to protect me, but I didn’t need it. I could have easily been up front scouting, or at least up front with them. Just because I was hurt didn't mean I was useless. I could still shot. I could help.

        They hadn't even put any of the food or ammo in my saddle bags. They were afraid putting too much weight on my would slow me down. Fangs words stuck out in my mind. She's just a liability.

        I sighed and whispered quietly to myself. “Axious.I can do this. I just need a few days to recover, then I’ll be back up there. I can slack off a bit for a day or two.”

        “Who you talkin to back there cripple?” Fang asked, looking back at me.

        “Just thinking outloud.” I muttered.

        “You sure you didn’t hit your head to?” She asked.

        “Oh no.” Rose cut in. “It would take more than her falling to the floor as she had to give herself a bad enough concussion to do any brain damage. Much more likely that the pain meds are messing with her in some way, but even the odds of that are very slime.”

        Everyone looked at her for a moment. Fang just sighed.

        “She was trying to offend me Rose, she wasn't being literal.” I rolled my eyes.

        Rose blushed as she averted her eyes. “That...makes much more sense.”

        Fang looked to Gambit. “Remind me why we brought her?”

        “Shes a doctor, shes a friend, and shes alive.” Gambit said. “Even if she’s a little naive, she’s still welcome.”

        “Fine.” Fang grumbled. “At least gimpy hoof knows she’s being offended. I’m going to scout.” With that, the griffin unfurled her wings and took to the sky. Lucky bastard.

        I rolled my eyes while Rose tried to come up with some kind of response to the insult. “While you're mean!” She shouted as the griffin soared through the sky.

        “Mean?” She asked. “I’m a fucking bitch!” She shouted, roaring with laughter. I couldn't help but laugh with her. A look from Rose shut me up.

        “Hey, it is true.” I said.

        CRACK CRACK CRACK!

        Fang chucked as she landed beside me and fired. “Wow, you really are hopeless without magic aren't you?”

        “I just need to get used to it.” I mumbled through the mouth grip of my gun. Dear Luna, I really missed my magic.

        “Well, areas clear now.” Fang said, taking to the sky once again. I trotted up to Rivet and Gambit as I put my gun away.

Rivet had a stream of shotguns shells running from his saddlebags to his shotguns on both sides. Gambit spat his machine pistol in the holster on his leg.

“So, I heard something about a plan?” Before we ran into the trotters, Gambit and Rivet had been discussing what we should do next.

“Yup. We’re going to fillydelphia.” Gambit said. “The place is a little shady, but otherwise not to bad.”

“You want to go into a City? Are you fucking insane!?” I asked.

“No Silver, Filly is different than the others. The place got taken over by a bunch of EUP remnants shortly after the outbreak. There are still a lot of zombies in the town, but they have a bunch of smaller settlements built inside that are well protected.”

The EUP guard was a part of the Equestrian military before the spread. The earth, unicorn, pegasi guard. They were developed after the first defeat of nightmare moon to protect the land from darkness. Apparently they were still trying.

“While I would rather stay away from the EUP,” Rivet said “I have to admit that filly has the best places to scavenge. They are the ones who had the wonderbolts take out most of those sky bandits.”

 Bandits where a big problem in the wilds. Nothings worse than a group of pegasi with a sky wagon. Almost impossible to take out without flight, or some kind of rocket launcher. I had never seen one, but I knew ponies who had. They didn’t last long in Rose's clinic.

Rose and the fillies were the ones hanging back now, Rose looking at some kind of plant, and Dusk showing Violet some kind of magic trick.

“Wait….Fillydelphia is at least five days from here. Might as well call it seven with this.” I nodded towards my injured leg. The brace helped me walk, but I still couldn't move as fast as I would have liked.

“Yes?” Gambit asked.

“Well, we have maybe two days food left.” Gambits eyes shot up at the revelation. They had always been well stocked on scouting missions. They never had to get food for themselves, just the town. I guess I had one up one them after all.

Rivet licked his lips and sighed. “We’ll have to go into ponyville for a food run.” He said. “There are a bunch of buildings in the center we haven't gone through yet. We might be able to get something.”

“Yea….yea good.” Gambit looked over at me. “You take the fillies, and Rose, and find a place to camp outside of town. We’ll meet back here tomorrow.”

“I’m not going with her!” Violet shouted as she trotted up. “I can fight!”

“So can I.” I said. “How about this. We all go into the city. We all know how to fight, and so long as no pony does anything stupid, we may not have to.”

        Gambit thought about it. Fang landed next to us, shaking her head. “What do you think?” Gambit asked Rivet.

        “I think it doesn't matter what you do, she’ll come one way or another. She’s stubborn like that.”

        “I am not stubborn!” I snapped. Rivet raised an eyebrow. “Ok, maybe a little bit…”

“Ok, three rules. No gun fire, unless you're backed against a wall. No screaming. Most importantly, keep your head, and do as you're told.” He looked over at me. “That means everyone.”

        “Alright, I got it. I’ll follow orders.

        “See that you do.”

        Fang handed Rose a knife, and a small pistol. It was much smaller than mine, most likely a 22. She had better know how to use it.

        Through all the horrors, hardships, and hard liquor I had endured in my life, I managed to come to one, solid concussion: walking was boring.

        It felt like we had been walking for hours, and no one had even spoken. Every few minutes someone would warn that there was a walker over her, or a herd over there, but actual conversation? I wish. The awkward silence made me uneasy.

        When there on the job, Gambit, Fang, and Rivet do little else. Even the kids were quiet as we walked, preparing for the coming challenges.

I wouldn't have minded the trip if I could have shot some of the zombies when they came along, but whenever I tried with the mouth grip pistol, all I managed to kill was a tree and my pride.

        And so, we walked.

        Finally, ponyville came into view. It was nothing like how I remembered it. Last time I had been there, it was just a town with no power and a zombie problem. Now the place was in ruin. buildings were smoldering, debris was far more plentiful, shell cases and bodies covered the streets. Dozens of zombies walked the roads.

        “Welcome home.” Fang muttered. Gambit nodded and sighed.

        We went yard to yard, trying to be as silent as possible. Whenever a zombies did notice us, it was silently taken out by knife, bolt, or claw. It was slow moving, but I had no problem with that.

        Finally, we got into the unscavanged part of town. Unscavanged for good reason. The yards in the center where nearly as populated as the streets near the edge. I was really glad we had taken the kids into town with us. Violets crossbow and Dusks magic kept some of the trotters from getting to close.

Then, we reached a house that the team hadn’t searched. Rose, Dusk, and I stayed outside and watched the door while the others cleared the one story house. Once the main floor was clear, we went inside.

Violet and I sat down on the Lone sofa in the living room while the others searched the house. Gambit said once the main floor was clear, we would move to the basement. That was fine with me.

Violet may have hated me, but we had one thing in common. We were both exhausted. We hadn’t traveled very far, but our busted legs decided to make things more difficult.

My leg was inflamed. I took some more pain meds out out my bag, and swallowed them dry. I hoped that one of these buildings would have a healing potion or two in them, but I doubted it. Just because they hadn’t been searched by us didn’t mean others hadn’t lotted before. You couldn’t find a single building that hadn’t been torn to pieces while someone rushed through for supplies. The good part about the mess was that the pony before rushed. That means they may have missed things.

The pain meds started to work, dulling the pain in my leg and making it easier to breath

After 10 minutes, The main floor was clear. Rivet came into the living room to tell us.

“Alright,” I said getting up. “I’m good to help.” I levitated out my flask and took a swig. Rivet stared at me as I tucked it back into my vest. I looked over at him. “What?”

“Your magic is back?” He asked.

“I-Oh thank Luna my magic is back!” I exclaimed. I was so distracted, I hadn't even noticed. I tried to pull my rifle out of my bag. Pain erupted from my horn as it tried to lift the rifle. I dropped the spell as I gasped for breath. My horn was on fire, my chest burned with every breath. I gritted my teeth and clenched my eyes shut as I waited for it to pass.

Horn pain was by far the worst pain a unicorn could ever fell. Take the worst pain you have ever felt, and double it. Then, slow time to a crawl. You might be almost halfway there.

Once the pain had subsided, I noticed Rivet was sitting beside me with his wing draped over me. I didn’t even remember sitting down. I sat in his warm embrace, catching my breath.

“You alright?” Rivet asked softly. I could feel Violets eyes baring into the back of my skull. She was weighing me. Measuring me. I needed to show her I could fight. That I was worthy.

I took a breath. “Yea. I just-I’m fine.” I said, getting up. I heard a grunt behind me. Violet was narrowing her eyes at me. I shook it off. I wasn’t weak. I wasn’t allowed to be. I levitated my pistol out and checked it’s load. “Least I can hold this.” I said.

Holding the pistol was much more tiring than it should've been, but it wasn't painful at least.

“Ready?’ Rivet asked.

“Yea.”

“Gambit and Rose are about to clear the basement, then we’ll get moving again.”

“Alright. how’d we do?”

“A couple cans of food.”

“That’s it?” I was really surprised. If we only got a few cans of food per house, it would take over a day for us to get enough. And the longer we were in ponyville, the longer we had for something to go wrong. Sure, food was hard to find last time I was there, but a few cans for one house?

“Yea, that’s it. Some houses are better than others. If you were hoping to get enough food for the journey in a few hours, then you’ll be very disappointed.

“Damn, I was hoping it wouldn’t-”

A terrified scream cut me off, followed by a series of gunshots. Rivet and I glanced at each other.

“Rose.” We said. We dashed towards the scream. Rose was standing near the basement door, her gun aimed at a dead zombie on the floor. She had hit the thing 6 times before she got a head shot.

Gambit was behind her, looking at her in stunned silence. His look said it all. Can anyone really be that stupid?

        A moment later, Fang ran into the room. Apparently she had been keeping watch on the roof. “Hey, we have to go.”

Oh shit.

        “How many?” Gambit asked.

Oh dear Luna, please no.

“A herd of at least 40 to the south. Maybe five minutes.”

        “Fuck me sideways.” I cursed.

The gunshots had attracted some unwanted attention. That’s why we aren't supposed to be using our guns. Rose had just turned on zombie into dozens

“Time we left.” I said.

        The others nodded in agreement.

        We didn’t bother searching the basement. We didn’t have time. We got Violet and Dusk, packed up the stuff we found, and ran.

        It didn’t take long for us to attract some attention. In no time, there was over two dozen zombies charging after us. We dashed down the street as fast as we could.

        “Fang!” I shouted. “Get high and find us a way out of this!”

        Fang looked to Gambit. He nodded. Fang took the sky seconds later, scanning the streets ahead.

        Zombies funneled into the street ahead of us. I cursed and pulled out my pistol. Even with my magic, shooting a little gun while running is very different than a rifle while sitting. Gunfire filled the air.

Fang flew up beside us and opened fire with her pistols. “Aim higher!” She shouted at me. “That thing has a much shorter barrel than your rifle!” I did as she said. It was much more effective. “We are shit out of luck. All the streets out of town are blocked.”

        “Fuck.” I muttered. I looked over at Gambit, who was already looking at me. I glanced around quickly. We needed a way out. That buck trusted me way too much.

        Then I spotted it. A manhole in the middle of the street. Gambit smiled when he saw what I was looking at. “Everyone to the manhole!” He shouted.

        There was about 2 dozen runners behind us. Countless more walkers. I knew we would have to do something fast if we wanted to get out of this. Just as we reached the manhole, a zombie charged us from between some nearby houses.

        A pink flash hit the runner square in the chest. I stared as the trotter floated off the ground, towards the clouds above.

        Dusk was smiling beside me, panting. All eyes were on her. I was the first to snapped out of the daze. “Everyone down the hole. Dusk, get it open.”

        She easily uncovered the manhole with her magic..

        “In in in!” I shouted as Rivet made his way into the hole. I pushed Dusk in after him.

        “Wait, I changed my mind!” She shouted.

        “We don’t have time Dusk!’

        “Just let me go after you.” She pleaded.

        Gambit made his way down while I fought with my sister. Everyone else was trying to keep the zombies at bay. The fast ones were mostly taken care of. Now dozens of trotters had taken their place.

        “We don’t have time for this!” I roared, grabbing her in my magic. We both screamed as I tossed her down the hole. “Catch her!” I shouted through gritted teeth. Hot pain shot up my horn. My head burned. Tears ran down my face.

        The trotters where getting close. Surrounding us. I knew we wouldn’t be able to hold them off any longer. I looked down the manhole, which was now lite by Dusks horn. She was screaming frantically. “Wait for us!” I shouted down the hole. Then I replaced the manhole cover.

        “New plan?” Violet asked as she backed up to me. We were running out of space. I could hear uncertainty in her voice.

        “Yea,” I said, thinking fast. Rose was sitting beside the manhole shaking in fear. “Fang, air!” I shouted.

        “Got it!” She took to the sky, covering us from above. Violet kept on killing zombies with her crossbow, but it was clear she was running low on blots. I took my pistol into my mouth and opened fire. My horn hurt to much to levitate it.

        “Rose, I need you to levitate my horn.” I said.

        “W-what?!” She stammered.

“Silver, what are we doing!” Violet asked.

        “Something stupid.” I muttered. “Just do it.” The pain in my horn waned as I felt Roses magic coursing into my horn. I prayed to Luna that what I was about to do wouldn’t kill us both.

        “Violet, get close.” I ordered. She did as she was told. I looked out past the herd of undead, to a nearby ally. “Here goes nothing.” I said as I channeled Roses magic with my horn. Then my horn exploded.

No. Not this. Not again.

I was back in the cottage with Rhythm.

I shrieked as the pegasi sunk its teeth into Rhythms neck. I leveled my rifle at the pegasus. I gasped for breath.

        It’s red eyes followed mine as it used my friend as a shield. It new I wouldn’t fire so long as he was in the way. Even after being bitten.

        The thing grunted as it tore out a large chunk of Rhythm neck. It pushed him towards me. I staggered away from the flying Rhythm, trying to keep my gun trained on the cursed one.

        The yellow pegasus went wide for a moment, before charging right at me. I fired wildly at the charging zombie.  It barreled into me, sending both of us to the floor.

        It lunged at my face, teeth baring. I screamed as I grabbed it’s head in my magic, fighting to keep my face in tact.

        I screamed as it beat at my chest with it’s hoofs. My screams amplified as I throw it back into its the closet with my magic. I quickly got to my hoofs and glanced around for my rifle. Before I had time to pick it up the zombie was charging again.

        I pulled my knife out of it’s holster and swiped it out in front of me. The zombie stopped it’s charge and lept back, narrowly avoiding the blade. I held the blade out in front of me, trying my best to pick up the fallen rifle behind me. I sucked at levitating things I couldn’t see.

I jabbed with the knife, forcing the thing back a few steps. “Not today!” I screamed as I charged. This caught the thing off guard. I slammed into it, pinning it to the ground. With a final scream, I plunged my knife into it’s head.

        I gasped for breath, watching it for movement. When I saw none, I rolled away from it onto my back. Once I could breath again, I got to my hoofs.

        Rhythm was laying a few feet away, in a puddle of blood. My eyes locked on it for a moment, then I got to work. I was done killing for the day.

I dragged Rhythm and the zombies bodies into the closet. He would come to life soon. I was too sad to put a bullet in his head, to tired to dig any of them graves. I guessed a closet in a cottage would have to do.

        I looked around the room until I found something to identify the zombie. I found a photo album under the bed. “To Fluttershy, happy birthday” was written in gold letters on the front. I opened the book. Dozens of pictures of a pegasus, full of life, were glued inside. Taped to the last page was a butterfly necklace.

        I picked it up and put it in my bag. No one would trade for it, but I didn’t care. The necklace, dads rifle, rhythms pistol. All reminders of the mistakes I made. All telling me the same thing. Do better.

I walked over to the door and took out my knife. I started etching letters into the wood of the door.

RIP: Rhythm and Fluttershy.

Do not open. Ever.

        I made my way through the countryside, using the everfree to keep me in the right direction. It wasn’t hard to climb out of the second story window and get away from the herd. In fact, it was nearly to easy.

        I walked in silence towards my house. There wasn’t nearly as many zombies in the wilds back then. Most of them were still in the towns and cities, looking for the poor ponies still trapped inside.

I gasped as a blur landed in front of me. It was a griffin. I had never meet a griffin before, but I had heard a lot about them. “Oh, hi.” I said. It didn't seem to have any weapons, so I didn’t bother drawing mine.

“Hey.” She said. A few more blurs landed around me.

Oh shit.

“We’ll take thise .” The lead griffin said with a grin.

“What? No!?” I shouted. “This gun was my fathers!”

“So? What are you gonna do about it?” She asked. I heard guns clicking around me.

“Yo, what caliber’s that rifle?” One behind me asked.

“Shut up Morning Mist.” The leader growled.

“303.” I said.

“Just give us the guns, and you can go.”

“Gilda, we hardly find enough 303. rounds for harlys rifle, that things useless without bullets. I say we leave the rifle, and take the pistol.”

“Can it Mist!” The leader, Gilda, snapped.

“She has a point.” One of the other griffins said. We have enough trouble keeping harlys rifle loaded, another 303. would be worthless.”

“Then we can trade it off!” Gilda snapped

“She’s just a little girl G, just let her keep the damn rifle.” Another said.

The griffin glanced around, clearly mad. “F-Fine! Whatever. Throw down the pistol and get out of here kid.” I did as she asked, looking back at Mist as I walked away. I smiled at her, and she nodded back.

I continued on my way, following the forest back home. It sucked that I lost the gun, but I had kept the enfield, and my life. I owed everything to that griffin. I quickened my pace, eager to get back to my sister.

I could feel someone dragging me. Someone was yelling at me to get up, asking if I was ok. They sounded like they were miles away. I felt cold and damp. Strange. I had cased a teleportation spell. I thought I would be in much more pain then I was. I smiled as I reveled in my genius

        “Hey, she’s moving.” Violet said. Was I? “Silver, can you hear me?”

        “Ugh...kind of.” I chuckled. “You sound strange.”

        “I….what?”

        “Dont worry about it Vi, it’s just the morphine.”

Morphine? They had given me more pain meds? why? I wasn’t in any pain. Wait….I wasn’t in any pain! That’s why! I guess I’m not dead then.

        “What…... happend? Is everyone ok?” I asked. I tried to open my eyes, but I still couldn’t see.

        “You used Roses magic to port them away from the herd.” Fang said. "When I landed beside you guys, you were out cold. We managed to get into some ponies storm cellar before the zombies noticed us.”

        “Good, good.” I said, smiling at what I hoped was the ceiling. "Why’s it so dark in here?”

        There was a spark in the darkness. Then the whole cellar appeared around us. It was a small, damp, musky room filled with old rusted shelves, weighed down with food and survival equipment. Empty food wrappers littered the floor. Violet was sitting beside a kerosene lamp.

        Fang sat in the back corner, watching the door idly. Violet was now working to get a can of beans open. Rose was watching me with a sad expression. I came down from my high for a second to wonder if something was wrong. She must have seen it on my face.

        “Silver-”

        “Did Dusk make it out safe? Did the zombies get in?”

        “No, they're fine, but-”

        “Then what’s the problem Rose?” I asked. If the zombies didn’t get at the others, then that couldn’t be the big deal. Fang seemed grumpy as usual. Rose didn’t get hurt, although she was definitely spoked. Violet was being….Violet.

        “When you cast that spell with my magic, something happened.”

        “Yes, we teleported to safety. You can ask me how I did, thank me, even throw me a Luna damned parade after we find the others.”

        “No silver….I don’t know how to say this that won't be a shock to you, but-”

        “Your horns fucked up.” Violet said, finally getting into her can.

        “My-what?” I asked in shock.

        “When you teleported, it was much more energy than you were able to use at the time. The magic built up, and when it was release…...Your horns cracked. Right down the middle”

Rose levitated over a piece of metal so I could see my reflection. I smiled at it. My nose was all bloody, and there was a hairline fracture going down the front of my horn. My breath caught in my throat. It wasn’t a bag fracture, but it was still a big deal. Without my magic, I was nearly useless. My mane was a mess. I was glad to see that my eyes had a slight silver glow to them. Still couldn’t see in the dark though. Must have still been day time.

I laughed as I looked at my reflection in the metal. “I might never use magic again.” I giggled. “I might be screwed.” I couldn’t help but laugh. It wasn’t the crazy, psycho laugh of a pony whose lost their mind. It was a laugh of a pony who laughed to keep from crying. I laughed because I knew if I cried, I would never leave that celler. I really wanted to cry.

“What the hells wrong with her?” Fang asked.

“She’s had a lot of morphine.” Violet answered.

“When?” I asked. I was already starting to come down from my high. Now I just felt tired.

“About two hours ago. We had just gotten down here, and you started screaming frantically. We had to dose you with a few syringes of morphine to calm you down. You seem to be having some side effects.”

“Is being really……..really...tired on of...those?” I asked, closing my eyes.

“Yea it-” I was out before I  finished I sentance

“We’re ok, Dusk. Calm down.”

        “N-n-no. We need to get out of here. The zombies are going to find us. They’ll block us in. O-o-or the sewer will collapse. A-and what if we run out of air!?” Dusks horn flickerd as she got worked up.

        Rivet stood over Dusk trying to call her down, He put a hoof on her shoulder. “We’re fine Dusk. We just have to wait a bit.”

        “B-but what about my sister? The others?”

        “They're fine. We’ll meet up with them after we get out off here. You just have to calm down.”

        Dusk noded, and got to her hoofs. She looked looked down the sewer and grimaced. “No, I can’t do this.” She gasped, trying to breath. “I don’t like it down here.” She fell to the floor, and laid in the faltle pososion, shaking. “Get me out, get me out, please Silver get me out.” She whispered to herself.

        Dusks horn went out, not that there was much to see. Just a massive concrete tunnel filled with pipes and water. The sewer seemed to go on forever.

        “We need to get going.” Gambit said from behind.

        “Silver said wait for her.”

        “We need to get Dusk out of here. Theres no way we’re getting out the way we came.

        “Ok, just...let me calm her down.”

        “Gambit, she’s terrified. Nothing you say or do will change that. All we can do is get her out of here, and find her sister.”

        “Silver will get me out, silver will get me out.” Dusk said softly to herself. “I know she will. She’s a big pony now.”

        “There must be something we can do. Maybe some way we can get her to snap out of it. I mean, she’s fine with the undead, surely she can get over this.”

        “Rivet, you know nothing about her past. Either of theirs. No one does. If she is this afraid of being in a small space, she must have good reason to be. Without knowing anything about it, theres nothing we can do.”

        “I-She never told me about this. You’d think that her sister being claustrophobic would come up at some point.”

        “Did you ever consider that maybe this is something neither of them want to remember?” Rivet looked down at the floor. “Rivet, in this world, everyone has a past. Everyone has a skeleton in there closet, whether it’s something they did, or something that was done to them.”

        Gambit looked over at Dusk, who was still laying on the damp floor shiver. Tears ran from her clenched eyes. “It'll be ok. It'll be ok."

        "Come on, we need to get moving."

        “I-Your right.” Rivet sighed. “Help me get her on my back.”

        The three made their way down the tunnel. It wasn’t that hard to tell where you were going. There was only two directions to go. Rivet had spray painted their direction so that the others could follow. The scav team always carried spray paint, so that they could mark the buildings they had cleared.

        Dusk was on Rivets back, sleeping soundly. Gambit had pulled a blanket out of Rivets saddle bags and covered her up. Neither of them had ever seen someone claustrophobic, so they had no idea what to do. Best they could think of was to try and make her feel safe until they could get outside.

        Rivet thought about what Gambit had said. The buck had more life experience than most ponies he knew. While Rivet  worked with the EUP Guard, Gambit was on the ground, fighting for his life.

Rivet never thought about what other ponies may have done to survive. All he had to do was fly to the right cloud, and tell them he could shot. He was told to do stuff, he got food. But for everypony else, they had to work for it. To kill for it.

Had silver ever killed anypony before? He pushed the thought away. She had trouble killing a zombie of somepony she knew, no way in hell she could kill the living. Right?

Rivet thought about what she had done. It was quick thinking. They didn’t have time to get down, so she stopped the zombies from following. But...what if she hadn’t found a way out? What if they had gotten her and the others?

He shook his head.No time for that. Have to get out of this sewer. Then we can Try and find the others.

Rivet gasped as he ran into something. He was so deep in thought, he hadn’t noticed that Gambit had stopped in front of him.

        “Why-”

        “Shh. zombies.” Gambit whispered.

        Rivet closed his eyes and listened closely. There was definitely something up ahead. “What’s the plan?”

        “I don’t know. I hoped there was nothing down here.”

        “There doesn't sound like theres very many of them. We could just gun them down.”

        “No.”

        “No?”

        “The gunfire would carry for miles through these sewers. If there are other zombies down here, everyone of them would come for us.” He said. “Not to mention mess with our hearing.”

”Great. What if Dusk teleports us down the tunnel some?”

“Can she do that?” Gambit asked.

        “I know she was working on it. Don’t know how well it worked. I don’t even know if she can manage it in this condition.”

        “I can’t think of anything else. We could double back and look for another exit.”

        “That could take hours. I don’t want to do this to her, but theres not much we can do. It’s...you make the call.”

        “No.”

        “What?”

        “No, Rivet. Your idea, you make the call.

        “But...I don’t know which is right.”

        “Neither is wrong. One’s more logical, the other is more empathetic.”

        “I’m not a leader.” Rivet said. “I can’t make choices like this. Just do whatever you think is right. I trust your judgement.”

        “More than yours?” Gambit asked.

        “Is this really the time?” Rivet asked.

        “No, I guess not. It won’t hurt us much if we go back. Might even run into the others on the way. But we will be down here a lot longer.”

        “I can do it.” A tiny voice said from Rivets back. Dusk stirred slightly. “Just...get us out of here.” She pleaded.

        “How are you feeling?” Rivet asked.

        “I’m trying not to think about it.” She said. “You're going to have to do something to get them all looking this way, or they’ll see the flash when we blink back in.”

        “Easy enough.” Gambit said, dropping something on the ground. “Whenever you're ready.”

        “I’m good.”

        “Ok.” Gambit stomped down, bathing the sewer in green light. The zombies started towards them the second they saw the glow stick. “Hope they can’t see that two far down.” He said.

        Dusks horn shune brightly as she powered up the spell. A second later, they were on the other side of the herd, nearly a kilometer down the tunnel.

        Rivet and Gambit looked around them, trying to get over there disorientation. Gambit tapped his ear as he tried to get it to pop.

        “Well,” Rivet stated. “That was…”

        “Fun?” Dusk asked. “Amazing? Magical?”

        “I would say confusing.”

        “Oh.”

        “We should get going.” Gambit said.

        Dusk nodded. “Good idea.”