How to: Survive the Apocalypse
Author's Note
I'm worried that a lot of my writing seems too 'over eager' in this story, and I would like to know if it bothers anyone else, or if it's just me.
How to: Survive the Apocalypse
Marcus was around 19, average build and not the worst when it comes to physical condition. If it was needed, he could run away from a pack of hungry zombies, or fight off at most 3 of them. The first one would come in handy a lot, but the second one needed to be upgraded. Fast.
He was currently running from an extremely large group of undead chasing him, through a city he had traveled to by car. Didn't seem like such a good idea right now. He made a turn that brought him into an alley and up against a wall. Turning around, he saw the living corpses quickly closing the distance between him and themselves. Taking another glance at the wall, he found that there was no way out of this.
"Alright. Uh... Shit, this isn't good... Let's see, obvious choices... Die, die, or uh... D-"
Before he could finish the sentence, something fell on his head, and it was lights out for him.
When he woke up, he could hear perfectly, the undead running toward him. There were exactly 34 running through the alley, all pushing and shoving to be the first to the feast. He got up, and noticed that they were moving slower than they should be. It was like they were in a weak form of slow motion.
Before he could think any more about it however, he lost it. These maggots thought that they could even come close to hurting him. He laughed at the thought. He would crush them underfoot like ants.
Falling forward to land on all fours, he forced his fingers into the cement ground, and moving slightly back, pulled himself forward with his arms, launching himself towards them. The first one he got to had a slight gap between him and the rest of the group.
Separated. Easy prey. Crossing his arms in a sideways slashing attack, he gutted the rotting maggot, his hands carving a pathway through flesh and organs alike. But he wasn't done with the walking corpse yet. Continuing with his momentum, he tackled it to the ground, grabbed it's head, forced one hand's thumb into one of it's eye sockets, and digging his fingers into its neck, he grabbed the corpse's jaw with the other hand and pulled, tearing its head from its shoulders, the spine following the skull.
Tossing his prize to the side, he focused on the rest, which had barely moved an inch closer to him and his first victim. He leapt into the crowd, and the sound of flesh being torn, limbs being ripped off, and skulls being crushed filled the air. Among the physical things, limbs were tossed aside, blood flew, and bones and sinew alike shared a new home on the wet ground.
In short, it was a massacre. It would have been, at least, if they were alive. Marcus himself was soaked in blood, and covered in gore ranging from internal organs, flesh, bone, even a few teeth.
He wasn't out of breath. He wasn't hurt, he wasn't even scratched. All the blood on him wasn't his. He was just amazed. He had blacked out for a second, and then started to remember things that had just happened. He had just torn apart a horde of walking corpses with his bare hands. Bringing them up, he looked at them. They were covered in blood, intestines, bone fragments and what he thought were parts of an eye.
"Holy shit... The fuck just happened?"
He stood there for a good few minutes before he realized that it would probably be a good idea to get cleaned off. He made his way out of the alley, and, surprisingly went for a nearby park to clean off in one of its streams. After all, it had only been a few weeks into the apocalypse, and there was sure to still be working showers in any of the nearby houses, but he hadn't even thought of that.
He had thought to bring his backpack from the car, and tossed his old clothes to the side before getting into the cold water.
It was after a few minutes that he realized he wasn't alone. He didn't see them, he heard them. When he opened his eyes, he saw what he thought was a wolf, but couldn't tell whether it was that or a coyote. Either way, it had three pups following it, and he could tell it was afraid of him. Which filled him with a sense of pride he never thought he would feel. He watched it in amusement as it avoided him, moving off to look for another stream.
He stayed in the water for another five minutes before getting out and shaking himself dry like a dog would. Didn't seem very effective though, as only his hair was dry at the end of the shaking.
"Why the hell did I do that?"
He began to think if anything was wrong with him, if he might be infected before he realized how stupid the thoughts were. He was the strongest. He wouldn't let himself be taken down by a pathetic disease.
He went through his backpack, trying to find the extra clothes he had packed, and when he did, put them on and took his backpack to a nearby tree to lay down and go to sleep. He wasn't really tired, it just seemed to him, like a good time to preserve his energy.
Waking up to Pointy Pokers and Perilous Ponies
Marcus was falling, but he wasn't sure for how long. He had just woken up, and couldn't remember when he had started to fall, but was soon informed of when he would stop, his back slamming into the ground, followed by his head, arms and legs.
"Mother fuck..."
Turning over to his stomach, he began to push himself up, focusing on opening his eyes to the sight of smooth marble. Setting himself up on one knee, he looked up, and found himself staring at a few small horse-like looking creatures, spears in hoof, the tips all pointing at him.
That's all that it took to set him off. His eyes going wild at the thought of blood, he dug his fingers into the floor, breaking through the marble and grabbing hold of it, he launched himself at the nearest pile of meat, knocking the spear aside with a quick flick of the wrist and, bringing both hands together over his head, slamming the poor fool's face into the ground.
It was all done in a simple blink of the eye, and those around him only gasped in surprise as something happened. Before they knew what was going on however, Marcus moved on to the next victim.
His hand went into his prey's side, ignoring any armor and piercing flesh with a satisfying sound of cracking ribs. Pushing forward, Marcus found the heart, and ripped it out, tossing it to the side as blood followed and his victim stood stock still with shock.
The 'guards' had a hard time keeping track of their target as they focused their attention on the blood spilling across the floor.
Marcus was already on to the next, picking him up and slamming him down on his back. While Marcus leapt to the next, he grabbed the poor fool's throat, and tore it out as he was moving on.
One of the guards turned to run as he saw movement he could barely track.
Marcus barreled into the next one, sinking his teeth into his victim's skull. A powerful enough bite to crack the skull, Marcus ripped his head back, smiling a blood filled smile as he heard the sound of bone breaking.
Turning to move on to his next prey, he spotted one of them trying to get away. Smiling, he forced his fingers into the ground again, and pounced with a war cry like that of the fiercest of warriors, taking no time to close the distance between him and the coward. He landed on his prey with enough force to bring them both down, and as Marcus let his hands claw their way into his victim's flesh, he tore out what he had a hold of, blood, flesh, and two pieces of rib sent across the floor.
He heard a strange sound as he turned to finish off the rest, but was surprised to see a new, larger one had arrived. He noticed before he pounced, that this one was noticeably more feminine, and had a horn and wings. The horn was glowing, and her wings were spread.
Marcus flung himself in her direction as she shot something out of her horn. It wasn't too fast that he couldn't dodge it, but he wanted to see how hard prey could fight back, so he put his shoulder first, letting it take the blow.
Other than enraging him, it didn't do much. It pierced his skin, and embedded itself in his bone, but other than that, it would just be fuel for his bloodthirst.
Putting his right arm down and burying his fingers into the marble again, he increased his speed and watched as she reared back, trying to fend him off with her front hooves. Nothing too dangerous. Moving quicker than his own eye could follow, he broke through the marble once more, and brought himself down, flipping himself over so that his feet were above the rest of him, and slamming them into her jaw, sending her across the room.
Allowing momentum to bring himself back to his feet, he dug his fingers into the floor again and prepared to finish her.
He stopped as he saw something coming towards him out of the corner of his eye. Pushing his arms forward, he flung himself backward and looked in the direction of where it had come from, as a darker copy of the first projectile that was embedded in his shoulder flew across where he just was.
A few yards away from him, he saw another one with a horn and wings, although this one was a little smaller, and much darker.
His eyes showing his rage, he let his mouth form a vicious snarl as he launched himself at her. She moved, putting her head down and prepared to meet him head on. She stood as if she were a predator herself. Maybe he would keep her alive, as a prize for his work here.
Giving her what she wanted, he refrained from using his hands to tear her apart, and instead, met her skull to skull, a sickening crack emanating from her head, and a growl of rage coming from Marcus as he barely avoided skewering his eye on her horn.
Pushing forward, Marcus knocked her back, and then knocked her down with a quick, yet powerful headbutt, slamming her into the ground.
Either she was dead, or unconscious. Either way, she wasn't moving, which meant Marcus could move on to his previous prey.
As he turned around, he was met with a pinkish see through wall that quickly turned into a bubble, enveloping him. Hatred forming in his eyes, he slammed his fist into whatever this was, and, as it cracked, smiled and pushed is body forward, breaking through it and carrying on to it's owner, the first one to fight back.
He let out a fearsome war cry as he saw her smile, and increased his speed, running face first into an invisible wall. Bouncing off of it, he snarled and began to claw at it, stopping only when he heard movement behind him.
Turning around, he saw the first one helping the second one up, and charged at them. When the bigger one noticed he was coming, her horn let out a bright flash of white that blinded him. When he could see again, he found himself laying on a circular rock, chained to the ground. The chains didn't seem to be connected to anything, but when he tried moving to the edge, they restricted his advance. He could only make it so far that, if he leaned forward with his arms behind him, he could peer over the edge.
He had spent a while doing it, but finally managed to break the chains. He had gone to the base of them, grabbed their beginning, and pulled. It had taken a good 30 minutes at least, but he did it. Although, seeing as there was nowhere he could go, being suspended on a rock that floated in the middle of nothingness, he decided it would be best to wait for someone to come for him. Certainly he had made an impression good enough to be noticed.
Putting the chains back so it looked as if he hadn't broken them, he moved to the edge, and seeing as he could go farther than he could before, figured that they didn't fix themselves, went back, and replaced them in their original spots again. He was actually amused. He loved the fact that his prey could send him off like that. It would be fun, reigniting the chase.
He was almost asleep when he heard a voice. It was a female voice, and it spoke with authority. Albeit, shaky authority.
"Are you awake?"
Marcus looked up, and was greeted to the sight of the first large one he had seen. Now that he got a good look at her, he saw she had multicolored hair, gold metal platings covering her front two hooves, and attractive violet eyes. Maybe he would keep her as a prize too.
"Yeah. Make it quick."
He noticed too, that his surroundings had changed. At least, what was in her direction had. There was a large stone bridge behind her. On it, was a giant three headed dog-like creature that had its back turned to them. He laid his head back down and closed his eyes again.
"I apologize for anything we may have done to provoke you, but was it really necessary to kill those guards? You are powerful enough to have subdued them without the bloodshed."
"But how would I assert my dominance then? Listen, whoever and whatever the fuck you are: you step up to me, you die. Simple as that."
"But what did we do to provoke you?"
"Your pups were pointing weapons at me. That's enough of a statement."
"Please, try to see this from their perspective. I spoke with the surviving two, and they said you appeared out of no where. They were only trying to protect their own."
"Ha. And I was just trying to protect myself. Not a very good argument your making, is it?"
"But a being with as much power as you, you could have done so without the violence."
"Like I said. Where would my dominance be then?"
"Please. We can be allies. I can release you from here, but I need to know that y-"
Marcus was on top of her, his hands on her neck, a wild glint in his eyes.
"And what makes you think I can't get myself out of here? All I need to do is kill you and that mutt behind you, and I'm home free."
She had fear in her eyes, and when Marcus lessened the force on her throat to allow her to speak, her voice was shaky.
"Do you think it's that simple? If you kill me, you will be stuck in here for eternity. Behind Cerberus, there is nothing. You require alicorn magic to use the portal to enter and leave here."
"Really? Well then, fuck me right? Alright. What are your terms?"
Marcus got off of her and stepped back, putting his hands into his pant pockets, stared at her with a carefree smile painting his face. The smile broadened as she pushed herself up, coming up to his exact height.
"I ask only that you kill no pony while you live with us. We will try to find any way we can to help you get back to your world."
"The fuck are you thinking? I don't want to go back to my world."
"Then I ask that you don't kill any pony while you are in this world, and that you obey our laws."
Again, she was on the ground with him on top of her, snarling.
"I don't like that word being directed towards me. Only the weak obey."
"Then I ask you to not break our laws."
"Better."
Pushing himself off of her, he stood back, again putting his hands into his pockets, but he had a dead set glare directed towards her this time.
Pushing herself up again, she tried to regain any composure she had lost, and failed miserably. It seemed as if just being around him would terrify your soul.
"As I was saying, I would like you to not kill any pony, and not to break our laws. I will have you informed of the basic laws when we get back, but I ask that you refrain from interacting with anyone. They might be ignorant of your ways, and provoke you without meaning to."
"Right. We leaving within the next decade or so?"
"Very well. But before we go, I would like to ask you another thing."
"Just hurry up."
"You are not like others I have seen that resemble you. You are far more powerful. What happened to you?"
"Ha. The hell if I know. I'm dead, next thing I know, I wake up. 'Cept this time, I want blood, and I know how to get it."
"I see. Shall we go?"
"Actually, I think I'm gonna stay here. It's gotten quite cozy. I think I like it."
Before The uneasy pony could say anything else, Marcus had already moved past her and was walking past Cerberus. The great beast itself seeming to sense his presence, and start to cower back.
