The Fast, Dangerous and the Furious

Chapter Five: Infected

Sheriff closed the door behind us while we all stared down a long grey hallway. Nothing about this room was colorful at all, even the crates had somehow become a dull grey. I took a crouched position behind some crates. Sheriff put his ear against a door next to us. He pulled it open and looked inside. “Take whatever you want from here, could come in use.” I trotted inside immediately finding a wooden plank, a broken pair of scissors that left me with one blade, and a bundle of tape. Silver Shoe looked inside and grabbed some batteries on the shelf above my head.

The lights inside the room flickered.

“Dang vermin must’ve messed up a generator.”

Darkness.

I turned on my flashlight shining  its light down on the supplies in front of me. With some creative ideas going through my head I taped the scissor blade to the wooden plank. I swung it around a few times before strapping it to the back of my saddle bags. This’ll do nicely. I trotted back out into the hallway and shined my light down to the intersection.

“AGRHE!”

An infected looked at me breaking right into gallop in my direction. Taking a few shaky steps back I felt my heart sink while the infected jumped at me, Sheriff caught hold of its neck and put the creature straight into the wall. The infected struggled for freedom, but with each passing second it began to move less and less until it lay against the floor. It didn’t move at all. Sheriff carefully moved back. “Interesting note, regular infected like these can be choked out like any other pony. Don’t try it on clickers though.” That’s good to know. Silver Shoe crawled over to one of the crates. Her hoof fumbled around inside until she pulled a bottle out.

She practice swinging the bottle. “I don’t think infected are smart enough to ruin a generator.”

“Stupid enough t’ run into ‘em.” Silver Shoe tossed the bottle. It shattered near the intersecting hallway and an infected ran around it. We all took shelter behind a few different stacks of crates. The infected twitched, beating its head several times with a free hoof, then stumbled around before turning to face the bottle behind it. Silver Shoe crept up behind it, she got within a foot of its fungus covered body before it turned around facing directly at her. It swung its hoof. She ducked around it, wrapped her fore hoof around the things neck before quietly pulling it back to us.

Shhhhhhh. Go to sleep. Shshshshshshhhhh.

The infected thrashed about struggling to break free, but with each passing second it slowly began to give in. It lay perfectly still on the ground drifting off to slumber land. Silver Shoe levitated the body up and set it down on top of the other body. Deputy pulled out a pistol with a silencer attached to it. He finished the job for us.

Another infected stumbled into the intersection. Each one of them had come from the same direction. Sheriff leaned close to my ear, “Go on, choke it out. We’ve got you covered.” I looked at the infected. Alright. Just do what Silver Shoe did.

I crept forward. The dancing dead infected body that Silver Shoe used as a prank ran through my mind. If that happened again … I’d … I’d … oh screw it, it’s Silver Shoe. I’m used to her stupid stunts. Then again this job isn’t about being shot this time, maybe I’m not used to all her stunts.

I was right behind it.

My heart began to pick up its pace. I brought my fore hoof up and the infected turned around. “AREGH!” The thing tackled me against the wall biting straight for my chest. My makeshift weapon was shoved right into its mouth. It bit down on it trying to break it, but the wood wouldn’t give. Sheriff tackled the infected into the intersecting hall slamming it hard against the wall. Two more infected came running after Sheriff from the adjacent hall. I galloped over to them telekinetically throwing the makeshift weapon under one of their hooves. It fell while I unload some bullets into its neck. The other infected went for Deputy. He dove underneath the creature and bucked it up against the low ceiling.

BLAM! BLAM!

Silver Shoe finished it off in the air and reloaded her gun. Another infected ran around the corner forcing  her to the ground. She shoved the long end of the shotgun barrel into its mouth and held it back only a few inches from her face. I took the bladed end of my makeshift weapon and jammed it like a hook into its mouth. A good smack into the wall made the thing stop twitching. Silver Shoe sent three rifle rounds into its body before it finally dropped down dead.

Sheriff threw the infected he had pinned against the wall to the ground while Deputy finished it with two silenced shots to its chest. I picked up my makeshift weapon and strapped it back to my saddle bags. Silver Shoe shrugged off a few nasty scrapes.

“AREGH! AREGH! AREGH!”

My head snapped over to those horrible sounds. A cold sharp chill rolled up my spine. Three clickers. All charging at us! One of them knocked me straight to the ground. My hoof wrapped around my makeshift weapon, putting the dull end of the wood into its neck. It swung its flabby hoof at me, knocking my weapon into the wall. Deputy and Sheriff pulled the clicker back and put it against the wall. Silver Shoe levitated her shotgun up, but it was knocked out of her levitation field by one of the other clickers.

I pulled out my rifle and fed three bullets into its fore leg. The third clicker tried to jump me, but a fast turn around and bullet to the chest pushed it back. I floated Silver Shoe’s shotgun up pulling the trigger in panic.

BLAM! BLAM!

It went down hard. I lost track of how many infected we had put down. The second clicker went for Deputy. He pushed himself away from the wall and let the infected run past him. The clicker Sheriff had against the wall broke free from his grip and violently began biting at him. Deputy tried shooting at it, but it swung its hoof in retaliation, knocking the gun out of his mouth. The clicker scrambled for me and I put my hoof down on my makeshift weapon. I wrapped it in my hoof, then slapped the scissor blade across the clicker’s mouth, sending the blade right through its fungus flesh ripping off a large chunk.

I engulfed the weapon in my magic, telekinetically lifting the makeshift weapon up, bringing it crashing down on the clicker’s head so hard the wood broke in two pieces. The clicker hit the ground while I took three precise steps away from its cold seemingly dead body. The thing didn’t move at all. Silver Shoe tossed the last infected down on top of the dead clicker and unloaded her rifle into both of them.

Her chest puffed in up several times. She let out a low relived sigh.

I started checking myself for bite marks. Please, please no bite marks. I don’t want to become, I looked at the clicker bodies, one of them. Silver Shoe checked herself. Neither one of us had any. Thank Cadence! “Deputy, you got any bite marks on you?” Sheriff checked both of us once more then Deputy. Nothing, aside from some gashes from the walls. I swear those things are like sandpaper.

Silver Shoe pointed at my leg. I looked down and … blood … that was blood!

I didn’t get bit. I didn’t get bit! I swear I didn’t!

Silver Shoe took a rag out from her saddle bags and wiped blood off my leg. It wasn’t even mine. “Just some blood from those guys.” She nudged her head at the dead infected. Oh, thank Celestia!

I sat on my haunches taking in a few deep breaths to calm myself. If the infected don’t kill me it’s going to be the stress from all of this. We all checked and reloaded our weapons. Sheriff pointed down the hallway our unwelcomed guests came from. “Runner, you’re with me, we’re going t’ fix that generator. Silver Shoe, you’re going with Deputy t’ flush out the rest of the infected. You two stay safe.” We started moving again, eventually parting ways once we found another break in the hallway.

It took me until now to realize that Sheriff didn’t have a flashlight on him. I kept shining my light into various rooms we came across. We didn’t find anything inside aside from a few rats. Maybe we’ll get lucky and there won’t be any more infected down here. I can hope for that, but let’s be reasonable about this. Probably not going to happen. I opened the door to the next room finding two large turbines broken beyond repair that stood several dozen ponies wide. “Is this it?” Sheriff shook his head and pointed down the hall to a large debris barrier. I left the room and approached it.

“We put this up to keep the infected away from the other generators. As you can tell those turbines got ruined after a fracas with them.” You don’t say. Not to mention there are a lot of burn marks around here. It took me a minute to figure out that it was dynamite scorch marks. These guys have a bad infected problem. No roaches though!

They’d need something better than just a debris wall. Sheriff nudged me, pointing my attention to the platform on top the structure. “Give me a boost.” I lowered my back and let Sheriff step on me long enough to boost him up. He climbed onto a wood platform then pulled me up with firm grip on my hoof.

“You guys should try to put up an electric fence or something.” I only mentioned it when I saw a few chain link fences thrown in with the debris under us. Sheriff thought about the idea then nickered. We approached the edge of the platform and looked down. No sign of any infected. That’s a good sign. I dropped down to the ground first then Sheriff followed me.

“See we thought about that, but the generators we have here aren’t strong enough t’ keep one of them going for very long. We have just enough power to keep the town alive.” That sucks. If I had the parts, time, and blueprints I could probably help them out. At the very least help make a better barricade. Sheriff went silent while I checked the rooms around us. I kept finding nothing.

Wait. No, that’s just a rock. Every time I took a look at Sheriff he seemed to be thinking about something deeply. I mean I was starting to realize he always had that stone expression on his face, but this time he really looked like he was thinking about something serious.

I pushed open another door and found another large turbine. It was also in bad condition, broken beyond repair, with no signs of any salvageable parts. Nothing worth bringing along either. I kept moving and kicked open another door.

Drip. Drip. Drip.

Just some rusted leaky pipes. Sheriff clear his throat, “I didn’t want to say this in front your friend, but you two might not be happy about what you find.” I stepped out of the room rejoining Sheriff with utmost curiosity. “That pair stole food, ammo and medical supplies that we needed for the town.” I stopped walking.

What?

I mean I’ve stolen things, but not from nice ponies like these. Sheriff trotted past me. “That’s why I brought us inside. Townsfolk don’t take kindly to pegasi or griffons anymore.” Well that explains a few things. But … what the hell am I supposed to tell Silver Shoe? I started walking and caught up to Sheriff.

“Then why are you willing to tell us where they’re at?”

Sheriff stopped us before focusing his full undivided attention on me. “Because it’s none of my business what you guys have with those thief’s.” Fair enough. I just hope when this is all over he actually tells us where they’ve been seen at. We kept moving down the hall until we entered the generator room.

Pipes hissed while a fan creaked eerily nearby. Their shadows stretched around like branches from a creepy tree on a silent night. I looked around the room coming face to face with a few large generators beginning to power down. They were all linked to what looked like a glider engine converted to be a generator. I galloped over to it, examining it carefully. No real damage to it, just a part knocked out of place. I attached the wire and screwed part of it back into place. “Just pull the handle right there,” Sheriff remarked, pointing at a handle attached to a long cord. I wrapped it around my hoof and pulled.

Bruuup … Bruuup … Bruuup …

It died.  I looked back at the machine and saw a burned infected body lying next to it. Sheriff was right, these things are stupid enough to run into things. I gripped the chord again and pulled.

Bruup … Bruuuup … Bruuup …

“AREGH!”

HOLY SHIT! I tumbled back with an infected. I bucked it back into the machine but it scrambled back to me.

CRACK! CRACK!

The infected stumbled and hit the ground dead. I put my hoof against my chest and breathed slowly. My heart was in my throat again. I swallowed letting it return to my chest. From the way it was beating it was pissed off at me. “Dang vermin went an’ lost its head.” THAT’S NOT FUNNY WHEN YOU’RE SECONDS AWAY FROM HAVING YOUR FACE CHEWED OFF!

I pushed myself up and approached the generator’s cord carefully and cautiously. My telekinesis brought up my weapons pointing them all in the direction that infected had leapt from. Yeah just try it again I dare you! I gripped the cord around my hoof and gave it one more good pull.

Bluuuur! Bluuuuurp! P-PAT-PAT-PAT!

Now breathe in, breathe out. Breathe in, breathe out. Don’t let your heart jump out of your chest. Don’t let your heart jump out of your chest. I’m going to need therapy after this.

The lights flickered on while the eerily squeaking fan started turning at full speed without the squeaking. Once the generator kicked back on the other generators connected to it started back up. I put all my weapons back in their holsters except for the rifle. Sheriff looked around the room inspecting each generator before returning to me. “Now that the powers back on we need to head down that hall.” He pointed the way and I went with him. It didn’t take us long before we turned a corner to find yet another barricade. There was a large hole through it.

Sheriff and I approached it with caution. It wasn’t going to collapse on us, but the size of the hole was at least four ponies wide, from the looks of it, also two or three ponies tall. We stepped past the debris. Using my magic along with some creativity, I brought the structure down piling everything together to make another barricade. It was half the size of the one we climbed over, but it would do for now. We kept moving only stopping to checking a few rooms on our way. I found pipes in one room, but they turned to dust the moment I touched them with my hooves. “So how did you meet that mare you’re traveling with?” I stepped out of the room with a smile.

“Well there’s not much of a story to that. See we met during this game of hoof ball and once we got our cutie marks we just sort of clicked. I mean she gets on my nerves sometimes, but I know she has my back.” Sheriff nodded and looked inside another room. Although her plans seem to threaten my life more than once.

We turned a corner finding nothing special around it. I was becoming lost in this place, but Sheriff seemed to know exactly where we were at. “That’s one of the things I like about friendship, you never know where you’ll make a longtime friend at.” I guess he has a point. As we turned another corner a wood plank caught my attention. I picked it up and strapped it to my saddle bags.

KA-BOOM!

The entire hallway shook. The lights hanging down from the ceiling shook several times while dust slowly came down around us. I put a hoof against the wall looking around for the source of the shaking. Sheriff galloped ahead of me. “That came from Deputy’s direction.” Oh crap. I galloped after him. We pushed open a door and found a room filled with rows and stacks of crates.

“Runner, get down!” Silver Shoe pulled me behind a crate while a blur of orange went by. Sheriff pulled the door shut …

KA-BOOM!

Crates exploded into hundreds of pieces along with the door and part of the wall Sheriff had tried to hide behind. A cloud of orange looking dust rose up. Silver Shoe reached into my bag shoving whatever she pulled out against my face. “Spores. Lots of them.” It was my gas mask. I strapped it on and took in a deep breath. The cloud of spores flooded over us while I thanked the Princesses that Silver Shoe had shoved the mask on my muzzle. Sheriff came back into the room with a bandana covering his mouth keeping it tucked into his shirt. It wasn’t the best mask, but it would keep him from inhaling too many spores.

Deputy slid across the ground towards us firing his pistol several times at something moving in the orange clouds. Its hooves moved around while its hulking body just took the shots. It didn't seem to phase the beast at all. Another orange blur flew past us and hit a stack of crates behind me. Silver Shoe pulled me over one of the crated rows while I spared a glance at what was on the ground. It was … a miniature pumpkin?

KA-BOOM!

OF DEATH AND HELL FIRE!

Spore clouds rose up from the explosive bombastic sounds while crate stacks toppled down in every direction. The creature from behind the spores stumbled out. Fungus covered it from head to hoof. From chest to flank. It was a living breathing plant four times the size of a regular pony thanks to the sickly green fungus hanging from its body. It was in every sense no longer the pony it used to be. “It’s a bloater,” Sheriff called out unloading his revolver at it. I lit up my horn and tossed a crate at the thing. It swung its flabby fungus fore hoof around smashing the crate to bits.

I aimed both my weapons at the creature making sure to have clear shots. I unloaded everything into that thing. It reached for its back and pulled another miniature pumpkin looking thing off. With a great heave the creature let it go. I watched the pumpkin bomb bounce around the rows of crates until …

KA-BOOM!

Crates collapsed down towards me while I slid under a table. I reloaded my rifle simultaneously putting my pistol away while I leaned into the gun and pulled the trigger. Shot one. HIT! The thing swung its fore hooves around, throwing another bomb at Deputy. He dove behind some furniture just as it erupted into a cloud of spores. I pulled the trigger. Shot two. Missed. I fired again. HIT! Deputy sprang over a couch unloading his pistol into the bloater. It didn’t do anything but barley slow it down. Silver Shoe crept up behind it and pulled out her shotgun.

BLAM! BLAM!

She fed both shots into its flank only pissing it off even more. Silver Shoe tossed her shotgun away simultaneously throwing three crates into the bloater while it tried reaching for her. Sheriff fired off a few more rounds and distracted the beast long enough for her to slide underneath the table with me. She pulled out her rifle and reloaded it. I reloaded mine. “Ready?” She nodded.

Let's see how well this son of bitch does against a team!

We both fired at the bloater. Even with our shots sinking into its neck we only managed to make it stumble around. We each fired one after the other in almost perfect unison, each one of us keeping the thing from focusing on our other partners. It stumbled once again after we noticed almost our entire ammo supply for our rifles had been sunk into this thing.

The bloater stumbled over to us. I rolled to the left and Silver Shoe rolled to the right just as the bloater brought its  flabby fungus covered hoof crashing down on top of the table making it collapse. My horn lit up and I brought a wooden plank as hard as I could into the side of that things face. The plank broke in several clean pieces. I starred right into the bloaters blood shot red eyes. Sweet mother of Celestia and Luna. I gallop away from the thing and …

KA-BOOOOOM!

The sheer force from the bomb threw me over a stack of crates. I hit the ground rolling straight into the wall. Ugh. My head started spinning around. The others shouted at me or at the thing, I really couldn’t tell what anyone was saying. Stars were floating around my eyes, they looked so pretty! Oh, look at the birdies!

Medicine. I need medicine. My hoof somehow found its way to my saddle bags. I searched for some kind of medicine. I came up empty hoofed. Silver Shoe’s shotgun was lying a few feet away from me.

The bloated reached for Sheriff, but he rolled out of the way. I closed my eyes for just a second, but when I opened them a flash of light made me close them again. Even with my head spinning around I knew that had to be a stick of dynamite. The bombastic sounds of its explosion ripping into the bloaters face was so satisfying … and then unsatisfying. The creature was still moving, badly burned with a slightly scorched slimy sagging fungus face, but moving.

I turned my head to face the pony shaking me. How long had they been shaking me? Silver Shoe said something. Here words sounded like … a long screech. I couldn’t hear shit.

I looked over at Deputy and saw him knocking over a few crates trying to get away from the bloater. Silver Shoe’s horn lit up and brought a dozen crates over to us. A bright flash ripped apart the only thing protecting us. Silver Shoe stumbled back into the wall dropping some shotgun ammo. I pushed myself up using my already split focus to lit up my horn. A sharp pain shot through my head like lightning. I kept pushing, fighting through the pain. Silver Shoe’s shotgun shakily floated over to me. Wrapping the shotgun in my hooves, I stared down at it for a moment.

I cracked it open. Loaded it with two shots. Cracked it shut.

The bloater stumbled towards us. Crates blocked our way out. I unloaded the two rounds into it only to have the thing stumble back just a little.

Deputy fired off a few more rounds and bucked some crates against its flank. The bloater turned its attention to Deputy then stumbled over to him. Silver Shoe lit up her horn telekinetically pulling the couch in front of the bloater. The thing smashed it apart still pursuing Deputy. “Help! I say somebody, HELP!” Deputy threw the broken table parts at the creature and kept running once he ran out of things to throw. Sheriff grabbed my rifle, wait, I looked for my rifle and didn’t see it. My head slowly stopped spinning around until  I noticed my rifle really was gone. No time to question how that happened. Sheriff unloaded the gun into the things head, but it kept moving. Like I said, whatever this thing was it wasn’t pony anymore.

Deputy jumped behind a few dressers and disappeared for a second. He moved around the furniture while the bloater was busy knocking it all down. Sheriff fired a few rounds at the thing and it caught sight of Deputy. I galloped past Sheriff and levitated my pistol up. I slid across the ground and fired at the pumpkin bombs on the things back. The bloater knocked Deputy towards me, but he hit a row of crates and stopped moving. I unloaded the rest of the bullets into the things back just before it threw one more bomb at us. The bombs on its back erupted and the one next to us …

KA-BOOM!

I had just enough time to shield my eyes from the bright flash. My eyes slowly opened and I tried to stand up. I fell over feeling my eyes becoming heavier than a dragon after attending a buffet. The mask around my muzzle fell off. I started to breath in something that tasted like rust. Silver Shoe and Sheriff ran over to us. The next thing I knew there was darkness.