Trey

Unknown date. October-December, 2048.

“Trey, do you have any idea where we are actually going, or are you just pretending to?” Mitchell asked. We had been walking for about half an hour now along the road with trees at our sides, along with the sound of the birds chirping.

“Yeah… No clue where we are. We need to find something that gives us a clue of our location. Like a newspaper or a sign, then I can search for it in the map.” I said back.

“Newspaper? I doubt there’s many of them hanging around anywhere,” Mitchell exclaimed, “you know how I joined the time travel project and got to stay? They were gonna kick me out, leave me to fend for myself.”

“Well, I guess it was better if you joined the group. The more people the better don’t you think?” I said back. “Not to mention your aim...”

“I held a gun to Clark’s head, threatened to kill him,” Mitchell admitted sheepishly, “the same one I use now. I was serious, I was actually going to kill him if they didn't let me stay. That would have screwed up the project.”

“That would’ve been catastrophic for the project indeed.” I agreed. “Clark...”. That doesn’t matter anymore. Clark is still a human, somewhere a few kilometers from here. We cannot fail this.
“Remember how we got a response from Clark on the radio?”

“When he was ponified?” Mitchell asked, confused.

“Yeah, I still can’t believe it. How can it change you to the core so fast?” I said. “Scares me to think what it feels like.”

“All I know is that I heard it tastes of grapes, makes you really tired, then mindfucks you. I will admit I am a little curious as to what it would be like if I drank it, or got it on me,” Mitchell said as he walked down the road, “I mean, if it could change a guy like Clark that quickly, that shit must be powerful. Would I really just slip away like that?”

“Scary to think.” I admitted, as I looked at my surroundings. “That serum must have some very complex composition to do such a thing. But I also wondered if it could be used for medical purposes, such as limb regeneration, but without the conversion. It would of been a huge medical achievement. What a shame.”

“It was a huge medical achievement,” Mitchell commented, “they found the blasted cure for cancer and what have you. Mind you, we still haven't found a permanent cure for the common cold, so I'm not that impressed with its healing power.”

“True that.” I responded, as I looked at the trees at my right. “Maybe once this is all over, they’ll be able to modify the potion for healing.”

“Maybe, but everyone will be so busy trying to get the world back on track, and we will go down in every history textbook ever: The two young adults who ended the worst war in the history of humanity. We’ll be famous!” Mitchell yawned, “It's been a long day, we need somewhere to rest.”

“I think I can see a building over there.” I said, as I pointed forwards. Above a few trees, you could notice a tall metal fence. “I’m pretty tired as well.”

“That's one hell of a garden fence.” Mitchell remarked, gesturing at the metal structure.

We kept walking towards the fence, having to pass by some trees and bushes. It was an abnormally tall fence. Why was it so tall? Oh well, it was a sign of civilization, which was both good news and bad news. Towns, and especially cities were definitely not the safest places to be in. Often there would be either a group of raiders installed, or an Equestrian camp installed in some building. But the good side of it was shelter, since living out in the wilderness is not very safe from animals, weather conditions, along with other threats. At least that was what I’ve been told, since I had been lucky enough to join the HLF as soon as conversion had been declared mandatory. Yeah, I only heard the stories of the squads sent outside base, while I worked on the center of operations. Lucky me.

We finally got past the trees and bushes blocking our way, until we reached clear ground to be met by a very tall fence. It didn’t take long to realize what this place was. The two tall fences one behind the other. The squared, one floor white buildings. The limited grass field, which had overgrown a bit. The bars on the windows.

“This is a prison, isn't it?” Mitchell said, “you got wire cutters?”

“Not from what I remember.” I responded. “I guess we’ll have to go around and go by the entrance.”

“It's not like anyone's preventing us from just walking in.” Mitchell commented.

I gulped at that. A prison is a very good place for a base. It has the fences, light towers, alarms, surveillance cameras… It’s not crazy to think that a Potion squad would set up a camp here.
“Ok, let’s go.” I said, as we began to walk by the fence to the entrance. I had my attention at the buildings, as I tried to spot anything by either sight or sound. We kept on walking around the fence for a couple seconds, until Mitchell spoke up.

“Look man, it's time you and I had a talk.” Mitchell said, as he stopped walking and so did I.
“We have time and, well, let's face it. You need it. I know you don't like killing the bastards, but it's them or us. They don't negotiate, they destroy our lands and kill our families. It's best if you don't personify them. It's how I kill them easily, I kill them thinking that they are a sack of meat, a bag of organs, a skeleton with a heart that has beaten too long. It helped me to think like that. Don't show them compassion, they'll stab you in the back.”

Well, they technically don’t destroy or kill… or do they? It had been a big moral conflict between the two points of view for a lot of people. It it destroying, or is it reforming? Is it killing, or is it fixing? That was one of the reasons why so many already joined them willingly in the beginning. They had lost faith in our species. But I, along with the remaining ones, didn’t. Yet, I still have mercy to them. From their point of view, it looks like they’re trying to help us, with honest good intentions. Still, it’s wrong, awfully wrong, but they can’t see it. But he’s right, it’s them or us. They’re sacks of meat. A bag of organs. Nothing more.

I sighed. “Ok. Got it.”

“Good, this is important. If we're ever stuck in a shootout situation with a large group of the bastards, I need to be able to rely on you to help kill them.” Mitchell said.

I wish they’d just leave humans alone. Stupid equines getting themselves killed thinking they’re doing the right thing.

“See anything camped in there?” Mitchell asked me, “If we’re lucky, we’ll be the first here unless the ponies already came in and ponified the inmates.”

We both fell silent as we examined the area. Only the chirping of of birds and the leaves of the trees moving a couple meters behind us were heard. There was no movement on the place from what I saw, but I couldn’t be sure of the inside.

“I can’t see the inside. I guess we’ll have to go by the entrance quietly to find out.” I said, as we began to walk again by the fence, switching our attention from our front and the prison constantly.

“The alarms probably got power from the generator or batteries, batteries would be long dead by now and the generator will hopefully be out of juice. Nothing to prevent us from just strolling in.” said Mitchell.

“Alright.” I said, as we kept walking by the fence. Within a minute or so we had arrived at one of the corners, from we could see a parking lot, along with the entrance. The place was quiet but a bit windy. When we arrived to the entrance, we could see the place had broken windows, but no signs of dry Potion.

“I say we check out the armory.” I said quietly, as Mitchell opened the door and I followed, getting my rifle ready. “We should secure the whole building first though.”

“Imagine being a prisoner in there, one day all the guards run off because of some unknown threat and you have no idea what’s happened, then when you finally manage to get out of your cell you emerge into a world like this. Must have been quite the piss-take to see a bunch of pastel coloured horses saying they will ‘perfect’ them by converting them,” Mitchell said, “we’ll check the armoury tomorrow, I'm dead tired.”

“Yeah, same here.” I said as I yawned. “I can imagine their reaction when they escaped. The world being taken over by colorful little horses, like, really.”
We kept walking on walking through the building and exited to the small field, in order to get to the cells building. The day was a bit cloudy and it was getting dark, and I was tired as hell. It should take some time for my internal clock to sync with this time.

“That is, if they escaped at all,” Mitchell added, “they could still be in there.”

“If they didn’t escape, then they either starved to death or got converted and taken away.” I said, as we entered the cells building. All doors were unlocked, which convinced me
more that they had been converted.

“These doors,” Mitchell spoke up, “they're electronic locks, probably just swung right open as soon as the backup generators power died.”

We arrived to a cell block, all cells open. To be honest, the only thing in my mind by this point was to go to bed. Tomorrow we would worry about what to do next, figure out where we were and when. But for now, all I wanted was some sleep.

“So… I guess we should secure the block first?” I said, but I was almost sure the place was empty.

“If there was something, or someone, in here, I'm sure they would have heard us and came rushing in now,” Mitchell yawned, “I’ll take first watch, I’ll wake you in four hours for a switch. Next time, you're taking first watch though.”

There was no way I was going to say no.
“Ok then, I’ll just sleep in that cell.” I said, pointing to the nearest cell as I walked towards it.
I entered the small room with gray concrete walls. There was a small window with metal bars, a toilet and a bed. I put my backpack and my rifle down with the lock, as a got into the bed. For a minute I was completely free of worries. Everything around me was now dark and silent, all in peace. I drifted to sleep.

“Trey, wake up,” said the exhausted voice of my partner, Mitchell Fedorson, as he shook me awake with a flashlight, “it's your turn on watch, and I'm bloody tired.”

“Yeah...ok...” I said as I yawned. I scratched my eyes and looked at my digital watch as I stood up from the bed. 11:35 P.M. I looked for my backpack and searched for my flashlight. I took the metallic flashlight from my backpack and turned it on, aiming at the ground to not blind Mitchell, who went for bed as soon as I left it.
“Alright… goodnight I guess...” I said, half-dazed.

“Goodnight,” Mitchell yawned, shrugging off his dark brown trench coat, he curled up on the bed. I heard him rustling the sheets as he got comfortable on the hard prison mattress.

I stepped out the cell with my backpack and my rifle, sitting on the floor beside the cell. With my flashlight still on, I decided to check the map for a prison within the red circle I had drawn.
Let’s see here… Aha!
“Florida State Prison.” I whispered to myself. “We got a long way to go...”.

We had a long journey ahead of us. Who knows what awaited us ahead. Tomorrow we would check out the armory and possibly get better weapons and gear, if we had luck. I observed the map closely and examined the type of places we would go through. We’ll need a car if we want to call Stan Fedorson in time.

This whole invasion was devastating. It’s much more difficult than a war against someone who wants to kill you. Replace kill by convert, and you manage to keep an army from being destroyed. Plus, the converted are more than willing to give any useful information to their new side. Invasion by conversion is much more effective it seems. And as if that wasn’t enough, they can use magic, they can fly, can run much faster than us, and all it takes is for one single drop to touch you and you’re done.
I looked at the map, lost in my thoughts, seeing what places we would go through to get to the last HLF camp. It would be a long trip.

Author's Note

12th May: Changed some spelling and grammar. The dialogue in this chapter is somewhat random because there's just two of them who will be with each other for a long time so they keep conversations up to prevent it being awkwardly silent whilst travelling. -MTB
MichaelTheBoss: hourglass is going on holiday for two weeks so the next chapter won't be for a while. Do comment your thoughts, let us know if there's stuff you feel is missing to it... Please?
On another note, I'll begin work on the side story about Stan Fedorson shortly, and I'll update the timeline next time something major happens.

Have a good day/night

MichaelTheBoss