The Trotting Dead

“This is notgood,” an earth pony muttered under his breath as a bullet flew above the wagon and over his head. A Pegasus ran from a nearby wagon to join the earth pony. Their police uniforms were somewhat torn from luckily missed bullets that had sped past. The earth pony looked over at his fellow police officer and said, “I don’t think he’s from around here.”

“I think that’s a safe bet,” the Pegasus pony began, ducking as another bullet whirled by. “When they opened that prison in Grant County I didn’t think we’d be getting their run-off!” The earth pony listened to his fellow officer and stuck his head above the barrier to see a stallion with a Unicorn horn load his gun.

“I ain’t goin’ back! I’ll die first!” the Unicorn, who was wearing a prison uniform, yelled before cocking the gun and pointing it towards the wagon. The two officer ponies ducked behind the wagon once again as shots were fired and bullets ricocheted off the wooden barrier.

The Pegasus scowled and looked at his partner. “Dammit! Our back-up is probably more than ten milesaway!” he said, all while staying alert. The Pegasus leaned over the barrier and shot a gun, modified to allow his hooves to pull the trigger. The bullet missed the stallion and he took cover once again. “We’re sitting ducks behind this wagon! Cover me, I’m going to try and make it to that ditch so we can surround him.”

The earth pony gave a nod to show he understood. When the Pegasus turned and began to run, the earth pony peaked from the side and began to shoot at the prisoner with his modified gun. The prisoner gave a few shots of his gun towards the earth pony. The two of them battled it out for a moment before the prisoner turned and shot a stray bullet.

The two officers turned and screamed in unison, “Rick!”

Rick gasped and opened his eyes, staring at a white ceiling. One of his hooves wrapped around the blanket and the other lay limp as he stared in shock. A glance around, and he saw he was in a hospital. The light brown Pegasus sat up and, panicked, pulled off the oxygen tubes that wrapped around his ears and nose. Rick dangled two out of four of his legs over the edge of the bed and he stumbled to the ground, reaching for the iv stand. His wings were spread out to help keep his balance but he still continued to sway around the floor. The Pegasus took a step forward and stumbled before collapsing to the cold ground with a loud thud.

        “Nurse!” Rick yelled out, waiting a moment before he groaned and sat up to press the nurse’s call button by the hospital bed. He turned and sat down, staring at the cold floor for the longest time. He didn’t know what else to do. He just sat there expecting something to happen. Rick turned his head to look over the rest of the hospital room now that he had the chance and looked at the door. he began to wonder why the nurse hadn’t walked in yet. He waited a moment before he felt as if he were strong enough and he stood, slowly walking out of the hospital room.

        “Hello?” Rick stepped out into the hallway and he began to head down towards one end. “Hello?! Anybody?!” The Pegasus continued to yell in hopes to get an answer of some kind. He walked past a counter and desk and frowned when he noticed it was deserted. “What the hell? Did everypony just decide to take a break at the same time?!”

        Rick turned a corner and spotted an elevator. He trotted over and pressed the down button, watching the button light up a bright yellow-orange color and he stepped back to wait. The elevator made the usual ‘ding’ sound and the doors slid open. A pony flopped to the ground in front of Rick and he screamed, staring at the body with wide eyes. He made his way to get inside the elevator and tripped, falling so he was close to the body.

        “Help!” Rick screamed, staring at the torn body in front of him before scrambling back to his hooves and quickly trotting down the hall, deciding it would be best not to take the elevator.

        “Somebody help! Anybody?...” Rick’s ears fell back as his trot slowed to a walk and he became more hesitant as he turned a corner. Seeing there was nothing but abandoned equipment, Rick walked towards a set of doors with the words Cafeteria written above them.

        The Pegasus approached the door slowly. “What the hell?” he asked, seeing the door had a board between the handles. “What happened here?” Rick reached out with his hooves and removed the board from the door handles and opened the cafeteria doors.

        “Uungh,” groaned a pony who was cross-eyes and their cheek was no longer there. It looked as if it were torn off or even bitten off. Dried blood covered the pony’s doctor’s uniform and it wouldn’t stop staring at Rick. Rick glanced around the cafeteria to see it was filled with these things and his eyes widened his shock and panic.

        “Uh, uh, uh,” Rick stammered as he took a step back. His hoof, at least he assumed, had gotten got on something and he fell backwards, staring up at the monsters or whatever they were.

        “Uungh,” the creature groaned, stepping closer along with the others inside the cafeteria.

        Rick began to panic and he shoved his hooves into the ground and pushed back so he scooted across the ground. “Stop!” he yelled frantically. “Get away from me! Can’t you understand?” The Pegasus reached a door and he stood quickly and reached for the handle, pushing it open just as the monster grabbed him. “Please!” Rick yelled before he felt his head repeatedly hit each stair as he fell down the staircase. Towards the end of the staircase, Rick managed to rolled over so the pony attacking him was beneath and Rick was safe from hitting his head.

        There was a loud snapping once both ponies fell down the last step and to the floor. Rick looked at the pony whose neck had actually torn from the rest of it’s body. The formal police officer turned and ran down the other flight of stairs and he opened the door and closed it, looking around for something to block the door. He spotted an unmoving body with a belt on and he quickly got it off and tied it around the door to prevent the creatures from getting through the door to attack once again.

        Rick ran into the lobby of the hospital and out the door, looking back at the hospital he was in before he walked down a paved path towards the road. The Pegasus stretched his wings out and he flapped them, hovering above the ground to give his legs a rest from all the running. He went down the road, seeing a turned over wagon with a few ponies dead and torn apart, unmoving as they just lay there. “Jesus…” he said softly while shaking his head and hovering past the wrecked wagon and followed the path over a hill.

        The Pegasus walked up the hill slowly, still trying to process everything that was going on around him. He stood next to a post with a sign of the speed limit and a sign saying there was a hospital just up the road where he came from. Rick took a moment to look around before he gasped, his eyes falling to a path of grass.

“Guk, glark,” a unicorn lay on the ground, her ribcage torn open and her insides spilled across her body. Dried blood covered the blue unicorn. Rick raised a hoof and covered his mouth in disgust before turning and beginning to trot away, feeling a few tears roll down his cheeks.

Rick made it down the path a small ways before he stopped and knelt down in

distress. His wings spread out and just lay on the ground as his front hooves hid his face. Rick remained this way for quite a while before he stood slowly and walked down the highway. His head was lowered and his wings dragged behind him. He folded them in after a moment and his walk slowly turned into a gallop as he ran down the highway.

        Rick ran down the highway to his town, Ponyville. Once he made it to the town he slowed to a trot, looking at the town that was abandoned. There wasn’t a single pony inside the small town. The houses looked almost destroyed as if the place had been attacked at some point while he was in the hospital. He continued to trot down the road until he walked to his house. Rick saw that door was wide open and his eyes widened, running over.

        “Son of a bitch,” Rick muttered just before he opened the screen door and stepped inside. The place was in ruins. The furniture was turned up and must have been used as some type of barricade. lamps were knocked over and papers sprawled over the floor. Rick walked down a hallway and glanced at the picture of him, his wife, and son that hung crooked on the wall. He took a look into the bedrooms to find them empty of his family and any of the undead. Rick walked into the kitchen and looked around. Pots and pans were scattered over the floor along with newspaper articles. A phone, which was wired to the wall, laid on the floor. Rick could only assume his wife made a phone call before leaving in a hurry.

        The light brown Pegasus walked out onto the porch and leaned against the railing with a sigh. “There’s nothing,” he mumbled. Rick heaved a sigh and stepped off the porch before making his way back down the road to head out of town. He heard footsteps and began to turn around but didn’t get the chance to as a shovel hit him in the back of the head and he fell to the ground with a thud.