Broken Worlds: Age of Ruin

I rolled my shoulders as I lay uncomfortably in the dirt, covered in a camouflage blanket. I was used to staying in one spot, though; after all, that’s the mark of a sniper.

The walkie-talkie on my belt crackled to life suddenly. “Moore? You alright up there?” Dash’s voice whispered from the other end. I reached down and pulled the walkie to my face.

“Yeah, everything’s all set up here,” I whispered back, “are you guys in position?”

I heard a rustling on the other end, and assumed Dash was nodding. “Yeah, we’re ready. Just waiting for your shot,” she replied.

I switched off the walkie and re-fastened it to my belt. Okay, Joseph, I thought nervously, Just pray there isn’t a passenger in the shuttle, and there shouldn’t be too much of a problem.

Just then, I heard the sound of a motor, and aimed my gun in the direction of the sound as a transport shuttle rolled down the road, right on time. I smiled cleverly as my crosshairs lined up with the driver, when I noticed that someone was sitting next to him.

Shit, I thought angrily, this will be tricky.

There was something strange about this guy, though; he wore a dark-grey, hooded sweatshirt, a pair of aviators sunglasses, and a black bandana that covered the lower half of his face with a skull; with all of these items covering his face, it was impossible to identify him.

Oh well, I thought, adjusting my aim, if he’s gonna throw his lot in with BlackTech, that’s his own fault.

As the shuttle turned down the road, and the two heads inside lined up, I squeezed the trigger.

~-~-~-~-~

“So, where are you headed?” the shuttle driver asked nonchalantly.

I sighed. “I’m on my way to New Phoenix,” I said simply. “Some raiders chased me into a portal, and I popped up in the middle of the woods. Now I’ve got to find another portal and get back to Earth.”

The guy nodded. “Yeah, the world’s gone to shit,” he said, twisting in his seat to stretch his back. “Bandits attacking harmless migrants, nuclear disasters everywhere, and riots breaking out anywhere you look. It’s gonna take a miracle to bring things even close to the way they were before.”

I nodded, coughing a little. “Hey, is there anything I can drink?” I asked politely.

The driver pointed to the glovebox. “There should be a couple of bottles of water in there; go ahead and take one,” he said kindly.

I nodded and leaned forward. “Thanks,” I said, but froze when my gratitude was answered by the sound of breaking glass. I looked up to see the driver slumped over in his seat, dead from a bullet hole in his head.

“Oh, shit,” I said, quickly opening the door and rolling on the ground below as the truck slowed to a stop without a driver operating it. I quickly ran and hid behind the inoperational vehicle as Gentle Blade tapped on the wall from inside.

“Hello?” she asked worriedly, “is something going on?”

I tapped the side in response. “Stay quiet!” I growled as I peeked around the corner; there was no sign of any attackers, but I didn’t want to risk grabbing my bag. Just then, I felt a blade against my throat.

“On your knees,” a rough voice commanded. My heart stopped at the cold touch of steel, and I slowly got down on my knees.

“Look,” I said slowly, “I don’t know what’s going on here. Just let me go, and I won’t get in your way.”

My attacker laughed. “You were on a BlackTech supply shuttle; how could you not know what was going on?” With this, he put more pressure on my throat; any more, and I’d be choking on my own blood.

I started panicking. “I really don’t know what’s going on!” I screamed fearfully, “please don’t kill me, I’m just a kid!”

That probably wasn’t one of my proudest moments, but hey; if I get to stay alive, I’m more than willing to act like a helpless child.

Just then, I heard a loud banging sound coming from the back of the truck, and the sword’s pressure on my throat ceased. I looked up to see that Gentle Blade had kicked the doors open and tackled my assailant. I quickly ran and grabbed my rifle from the back and aimed it at the man, who I now saw wore a black-and-red longcoat, and had long blonde hair.

“Gentle Blade, get back!” I called, glaring at the man as my equine companion ran to my side. He held up his hands, glaring angrily.

“I have reinforcements,” he warned, “so I’d put the gun down.”

“Why?” I snapped, taking a step closer, “So they can try to kill me, too?!”

The man held his hands calmingly. “It’s okay, kid, I’m sorry I freaked you out. I thought you were with BlackTech, but I can see now I was mistaken. Put the gun down, and I’ll tell my friends to leave you alone.”

I stared tensely for a few moments, before shakily lowering my weapon and sighing. The man nodded and held up an empty hand, and several ponies and humans rose from the surrounding forest. I watched in surprise as they lined up behind their leader, who was smiling gently.

“My name is Drayke Blackwood,” he said clearly, “Leader of the Resistance. Who are you?”

“My name is Wayne Douglas,” I replied simply. “I’m just heading to New Phoenix, so I’ll be on my way.”

Drayke stared at me for a moment longer, as if he were trying to remember something, but shook his head. “We can bring you to the nearest portal, but first I want to ask you something: how do you feel about BlackTech?” he inquired.

I narrowed my eyes. “Not that it’s any of your business, but they killed my uncle a few months ago,” I said bitterly. “I’ve been on my own ever since.”

Drayke nodded. “So, I take it you hate them?” he pressed on.

I nodded stiffly.

“Well then,” he said slowly, “if that is the case, I would like to invite you to join us in our mission to unite pony and human societies.”

I raised an eyebrow. “What’s in it for me?” I asked suspiciously.

Drayke laughed. “For you? You’ll be making a difference, that’s what,” he said humorously. “But, if that doesn’t sell it for you, you’ll also have a place to live at our stronghold, as well as a group of humans and ponies that will befriend you and fight alongside you,” he added.

I stared for a moment. “I’ll pass,” I said simply. “I don’t try to seek conflict unless necessary, and I'm not interested in making friends.”

Drayke nodded. “I understand,” he said, sounding disappointed. “We are on a mission right now, but when we’re finished, we’d be more than happy to escort you to the nearest portal.” Then, he turned to Gentle Blade. “What about you?” he asked hopefully, “Will you join us on our quest to build a better world?”

She nodded happily. “Sounds like a good cause to me,” she said eagerly.

Drayke nodded happily before turning back to me. “Even though you don’t want to stick with us, would you be willing to help me on my mission? We can always use an extra pair of hands, even if it’s for a short time,” he said persuasively.

I considered this for a moment. I may not be willing to throw myself into a group, but these guys were doing something that would hurt BlackTech; they were going to help me, so the least I could do was help them in return.

“Sure; why not?” I asked with a dangerous grin, and tightened the knot on my bandana. “What’s the plan?”

~-~-~-~-~

I sighed heavily from inside the cramped metal crate. If I had known my job was to sit and wait inside a tiny box in the back of a truck as it rolled down a dirt road, I would have been a little more hesitant about offering to help Drayke and his Resistance. After several moments, however, I heard the truck’s engine idle and stop, and the sound of the door opening told me it was almost showtime.

Okay, Wayne, I told myself silently, when the shooting starts, that’s when you can get out.

It was exactly thirty seconds later that the shooting started.

I kicked the cover off of my crate and aimed my rifle at the open door, which led to a wide-open loading bay with stacks of metal crates lining the walls and several transport shuttles parked nearby. A group of BlackTech soldiers lay on the ground dead or unconscious as Drayke climbed out of the driver’s seat, and Gentle Blade, two ponies, and two humans climbed out of some adjacent crates. One of the other humans, a guy named Joseph, turned out to be the one who killed the original driver; he apologized for trying to shoot me, and probably wouldn’t have risked the shot if he knew I wasn’t with BlackTech.

I was alive, so I couldn’t really be mad at him.

The other human, who had started the gunfight moments before, was Joseph’s younger sister, Tess. The two ponies that joined us were a cyan pegasus named Rainbow Dash, which I thought was clever due to her rainbow-colored mane and “cutie mark”, and a pink, winged unicorn named Cadence. I couldn’t gather too much about her, other than the fact that the others respected her almost as much as they did Drayke.

“How many people do you have in your Resistance, Drayke?” I asked as we all climbed out of the truck. Drayke was searching the bodies for security passes, and made an impressed noise at the sight of one of their shotguns as he slung it over his shoulders.

Drayke thought about my question for a moment. “I’d have to say anywhere between fifty and one-hundred humans and ponies,” he said slowly, “but I never really counted. I’m sure we have some sort of record back at the base. Why?”

I shrugged as I followed my allies to the double-doors that led into the main compound. “I just thought this seemed like a really small group for infiltrating a BlackTech building,” I replied quietly. “Don’t you think an army would have been a little more appropriate?”

Drayke chuckled. “We aren’t looking to destroy this place; we’re just stealing some information. If we kill a few soldiers and grab a couple of files, that might not be looked at too carefully for a while. Blow up a building, though,” he said, trailing off, “well, I’ll just say we want to remain as far off-radar as we can, for as long as we can.”

We all crept down a series of hallways for several minutes, until we finally reached a room filled with computer terminals, all covered with bright, multi-colored lights. I watched as Drayke pulled a small hard drive from his pocket and plugged it into what I assumed was the main terminal, and he whistled nonchalantly.

“Equestrian magic has a really neat habit of greatly enhancing computer technology,” he explained as a light on the stick pulsed steadily. “This thing used to be a simple one-gigabyte flash drive, but with just a spark of magic, this thing gained the capacity to hold the data of the entire American stock market, three times.”

I widened my eyes, impressed; no wonder BlackTech wanted this world to themselves.

Just then, and alarm sounded, and a large metal panel slammed down in the doorway, sealing us in.

“Intruders detected in the Information Stockade,” an unconcerned female voice spoke over the blaring sirens, “All personnel take defensive action.”

Drayke groaned as he pulled a combat shotgun from his back. “Well, it looks like they beefed up their security. Who’s ready for a firefight?”

Tess jumped up in the air excitedly as she pulled out a pair of submachine guns. “I am! I am!” she cried eagerly.

Joseph pulled out his sniper and aimed it at the door. “Here we go,” he said uncertainly.

Drayke unsheathed his sword and handed it to Gentle Blade. “I’m assuming your name and mark means you know your way around one of these?” he inquired seriously.

The small tan pony eyed the blade for a moment before taking the handle in her mouth. “Do gryphons have anger problems?” she asked rhetorically.

Drayke smiled slightly before turning to me. “Sorry this all went to shit; I was hoping this would be a quick in-and-out mission,” he said disappointedly, “but for the immediate future, consider yourself a full-fledged member of the Resistance.” With that, he turned back to the door and held his shotgun at the ready. “My apologies in advance if that ends up being your entire remaining lifespan,” he added as all hell broke loose.