The Dead Frontier

Prologue
28th June, 2016 - Tuesday, 08:33
Secronom Private Research Facility

Paramecium walked through the hallway of the R&D Wing, heading towards the laboratory and testing area, wearing his usual lab coat above his suit and tie. His ID badge shone in the light. It read [Chief Scientist of the Nerotonin Project] and was followed by a picture of his smiling face. His clipboard had some notes on them, one of which flew away and landed at an intern. Suddenly, he heard heavy hoofsteps coming from behind.

'Him again...'

As expected, Vial Breaker, Paramecium's loyal assistant, came beside him. "Sir, the testing on pony subjects are complete. Report shows that the new pathogen does nothing, sir, not even activating! It's... dormant. This early version on the N-3 is a failure." He gave the report to Paramecium, who read it slowly as they arrived at the testing area doors.

"Yeah, I'll read it when we get in. Vial, watch my back." Paramecium said as he entered the code. Vial Breaker turned his view to the hallway behind them and guarded Paramecium from anypony brave enough to take a peek. He heard Paramecium swear under his breath as he tried to remember which code it was. 'Boss forgets password, boss gets angry...' he thought.

Paramecium remembered about the note, took his clipboard, and looked at the yellow post-it note on it.

Don't mess up, Par! Office code: 4-2-0-3-6-0-7-3-3-1. Code for Chief Scientist override: 7-3-5-5-6-0-8.

"That must be it." He slowly typed the numbers on the panel. The beeps echoed through the halls.

"Voice confirmation required."

Paramecium cleared his throat. "Chief Scientist Paramecium, just a check."

"Confirmed. Chief Scientist Paramecium, entry at 08:35. Welcome back to the lab, doc."

Paramecium walked in the room and instantly took notes on every test subject's condition in the room. Their look, skin condition, anything visible. Suddenly, a scientist came up. "Sir, sir, we have an emergency!"

"Oh. Alright, what is it?"

"It's Test Subject 109, sir," the scientist said. "Arctic Wind. 26, male pegasus. The N-3 made him suffer these symptoms: first a heavy nervous breakdown, loss of immune system functions and eventually death. But, sir, now he's trashing wildly in his chair! We were about to bury him, too. The last version never did this! How? HOW?" The scientist shuddered at the thought, but Paramecium just shook his head.

"So you're suggesting reanimation?!" Paramecium brought a hoof to his head. "You do know that once a cell has suffered from necrosis, it CANNOT reanimate, right? And there's no possible chance someone tampered with the N-3. What, a mutation? Bullshit! Take a break. You're dismissed." The scientist nodded, his head down, and instantly went away. Paramecium trotted towards the cage at the far end of the room and tried to get a better look. The scientists examining Wind quietly went back and allowed Paramecium some space. Paramecium finally saw what the scientist actually meant.

"Oh, shhhhit," Paramecium said as he watched Arctic Wind trash about. "Vial! Call that scientist back here now!" Vial Breaker instantly turned and ran towards the door. "Plasm! Plasm, come back here right now! Doc's searching for you!"

While the two were gone, Paramecium tried to take a closer look at the pegasus. "Careful, doc," a nurse said, "the thing bites! Just a few minutes ago Rose got bitten and was sent to the infirmary." Paramecium took no notice of the warning and stuck his head between the cage bars.

"Well, that's new." Paramecium slowly backed away from the cage. "Nurse, get any strong sedative we have here. Midazolam would be fine." The nurse nodded, and ran off.

Vial Breaker and Plasm arrived, both of them sweating profusely and panting. "He's here, sir."

"Great! Plasm, you go with Nurse Dawn over there, and help her calm this thing down. Vial, you're coming with me. We have to report this to the Projects Director." Plasm nodded and went to catch up with Nurse Dawn. "Oh, and sorry about that outburst. We really have a 'no shit talk in work place' rule here, you know, and it's hard to believe that dead cells reanimate when you had a bad day. I would have fired you if I found out that you were just talking lies. Turns out you weren't. Good stallion, you are, Plasm."

Paramecium picked up his phone and called the office of the Director.

"Hello, this is the Chief Scientist of the N-3 project."

"Yeah, I need to see her."

"Alright, we're coming up." Paramecium hung up. "Vial, come here, we're heading to--"

The entrance door to the room exploded. Ponies with safety vests and light armor came in, and it was clear who they were from their voice.

R.G.S.O, all hooves up! Nobody move!

'Seems the royal guard has found us at last.' Paramecium instantly teleported himself and Vial Breaker to his office, a few floors below.

"Damn, they found us! What do we do, sir?" Vial looked around, nervous and very scared.

"We run, run to the bunker. It's in the sub-terra facility section, created for the safety of the high council members and important project leaders. Come with me." Paramecium slowly opened the door, checked the surroundings, and, not noticing anypony, sprinted down the halls, into the stairwell, teleported to the lowest floor, and stopped.

"This place is covered with very strong titanium-metal alloys, with a 2cm layer of obsidian for extra measures. Watch my back." Paramecium tried to enter the code onto the keypad, but forgot which one it was. 'Yeah, I'm pretty sure it's the same as the one on the N-3 Lab,' he thought.

"Vial, you type these numbers onto the other keypad, alright? With me. 7-3-5-5-6-0-8." The doors slid open and they both went in.

"Hey, wait a second, isn't that the code that they use to plant the bomb in the game 'Anti-Strike'?" Vial Breaker said, as they walked down the dark hall.

"No time for chit-chat, Vial. We're in. Take a nice seat and wait for the other members of the council and their assistants to arrive." They took a seat and waited for a long time.

"Hold up, I have to inform the Director. The others aren't here yet, and so is she." Screams echoed through the stairwell and inside the bunker throughout the time, no doubt caused by the chaos of the raid. Shooting. Sound of bullets hitting flesh. Paramecium was confused at why the Royal Guards would use live weaponry. More screaming happened, and then some moans, and then some... unnatural moans. Suddenly, a pony was banging on the door, followed by more moaning and banging. The metal rang from the hits.

"Who... who's that?"

Paramecium's phone rang. He answered it. The voice on the other end was loud. Very loud.

"This is the Director speaking. I have the CEO and other council board members with me. Paramecium, you have to get out of the bunker now! The facility is overrun --static-- ombies! Living dead! The royal guard who participated in the ra --static-- ost likely dead! The N-3 spreads through blood and other bodily liquids. Sorry to say this, Doc, but your --static-- ailed and it's causing hell out here! We're held in Coldcliff Fort, somewhere --static-- utskirts of Equestria. I think the town we just passed through was Ponykarta, but I'm not sure. Just get the hell out of --static-- ut there safely and in one piece!" The call just suddenly ended, with Paramecium not being able to talk. Suddenly, Vial Breaker realised what they meant.

"Oh my god, Doc... Arctic Wind bit Roseflower..."