Fallout: Oxygen

My body’s not answering me, but I can still hear… barking? A dog, barking like mad is getting close. Oh Luna, please tell me it’s not rabid. I feel fur against me. Wha? The panting dog wiggles itself underneath me. My hind leg begins to drag, fire igniting and pillaging my body, so it starts to trot, making higher steps.

“Hurry, get them inside the house!” hearty stallion commands. Thank you Wasteland! Not getting eaten alive! Thank you! “Wafer, get the smaller one!”

“You got it, boss,” replies Wafer, a sweet, small, and young sounding voice. We pass, the speaking mare going back toward where I was to most likely get the smallest of us, Helium.

A squeaky door and some shuffling later, I’m on the floor leaning against another unmoving pony, sticky blood between us, and still unable to move myself.

More barking, the dog(?) distances itself again, coming back one more time arriving by my side, panting uncontrollably, and barking lamely.

Darkness overwhelms me once more, numbing all senses.

When I come to, my body’s heavy though respondent to my commands. I stir, and immediately regret it. Nausea seizes my insides and I puke all over myself.

“Woah!” grimaces the stallion who had rescued us. I can barely seem him, my vision faltering every few moments, making me increasingly dizzy. It’s dark too. I give up on trying to get a look at my savior and just keep my eyes shut tight and body completely still.

“My name is Oxygen,” I squeak like a pubescent colt.

A smile in his voice, he gives a light chuckle despite nothing being funny and me being covered in vomit. “I know that already, the rest of your family is already up and at ‘em.” Just the thing to make me feel extra lousy and insecure. “My name’s Waffletart. Welcome to Half-Hazard’s Junkyard, Waffletart Bed & Breakfast, and Paper’s General Store.”

Hmmm! Mm… MHm….

I’m up once more, my head rising from the pillow under me with a thudding headache. I groan in annoyance and pain. At least my chest’s been wiped free of barf. But the stench is still there. I turn to my side. “AH!” I freak from a mare in my room, panting(!). Standing from the shock, it feels like a sledgehammer is raging in my head, hitting the sides and ringing it like a church bell. I groan again, and still myself. Buck me! I fall over, unexpected splints on my legs making me confused. The hard floor coming into contact with my chin makes me scream in agony. The mare panics, barks, whines, and scampers out the door. She just barked… I- I don’t even-

Barking is outside cluttering the airspace. Talking and such in the house proceeds ponies to arrive by my door. Seven ponies crowd around me, or rather, six ponies and a frightful dog. A light kiss is planted on my head by Mom, now fully visible without her armor from the corner of my eye. “How are you feeling, Oxy?”

“Been better, been worse,” I groan with a dull pain in my itchy throat. A strong hoof and pulls me up off my face and onto my stiff and immobilized legs. “Thanks,” I quickly say to the stallion.

“You’ve been out for a full day now, time to get moving. Enclave are not to be trifled with,” he says, sitting down with a grim look in his eyes and a tight smile. “You best be out of here before they come searching for you.” He’s sad about the situation we find ourselves in. Well, I am too, my poor friend.

“What’s the plan?” my throat creaks like the old stairs of a destructed pre-war ministry.

“We’ve got 2 spare Enclave armored suits, so we’re suiting up Deadbolt and Helium.” The voice explaining everything gives me the hint that the stallion talking is the same one from before I passed out last. He’s a moderately sized guy with a pale blue coat and a short dark brown mane, highlighted blonde, curling at its lengths. His kind sunrise red eyes are on my bruised ribcage.

I nod. Okay.

“Everypony with Enclave gear rolls out now. You and Carbon stay until night to dash,” finishes the stallion. He’s Waffletart, I remember.

Mom pulls around the bedside, and the rest of the leaving family members pile in too. “We’re heading out in a minute, but I just wanted to confirm… Ditzy Do would be okay with us staying there for a night or two, right?”

My mouth tears open, roaring like a manticore from sleepiness. “Yeah... Totally.”