Game of Circumstances

Chapter nine: Mutants

My foreleg hurt. I was hungry. At least, I wasn’t lost, given that the road was going in only one direction. I had just escaped hours ago one of the worst situations of my life. I was miserably limping along the road. There was a scratching noise, and blood stained again my fur.

‘’ Shit…’’ It was bleeding again. I took my bag, and opened quickly the medicine pocket. I had rather preferred drip the blood with some medical tape, but it kept reopening itself. I took one of the syringes plenty of this healing liquid, something with ‘heal’ in it, but I can’t remember the name… Heal-1ng, I think.

Whatever.

Without hesitating, I plunged it in my hurt foreleg. I winced a little when the cold needle penetrated my flesh, and then emptied its content. All the muscles of my forelegs contracted at the same time. I yelped in pain. A green light was pulsing under my skin. For a second, I had a buckin’ flashlight instead of a limb, and then it went limb, and the light disappeared as quickly as it appeared.

‘’ The hell just happened…?’’ I whispered, hoping that nopony had seen me. I quickly inspected my foreleg. The hole that traversed it has disappeared with the pain. Sheesh, a healing thing that make you suffer before healing you!

Later, I’d learn that it’s normal, because it recreate the missing muscles, skin, bones and veins.

I closed my bag, put it on my back and began to walk carefully at first, testing my newly healed foreleg. Seeing that it worked perfectly –why not, after all- I took again a standard speed.

What can I say? The landscape was still as crappy as I was used to, and the air stank. I mean, it stinks usually in the closed buildings, but here, I was outside, and I wasn’t above some sewer. Still, it smelled various things, and mostly, there was that smell, that horrible smell of decomposing flesh…

Yeah, you got it: I was near of a mutant’s camp. They were legions on the 3rd highway. No kidding. I noticed it when I heard a noise. It was like somepony snoring, but much lower. It was a growl.

‘’ Oh no…’’ I muttered, before the mutated hoof met my left cheek. I went in a wall and all became black.

When it snapped back to reality, I was tied. That’s bad. I hadn’t my stuff. That sucks. And moreover, I was in an old kitchen, plenty of ash and dust, on the table. I turned, and yelped. A freakin’ pony’s skull! ‘’ Celestia…’’ I groaned. I started to struggle against the rope that tied me to the table, but nothing was to do. I was definitively cursed. ‘’ Shit! Why everything I meet on this blasted road tries to eat me?!’’ I shouted.

Bad move. One of the mutants walked in the kitchen. He was big, biggest than a normal pony, and he had tentacles. Six tentacles, getting out of his bag. It was disgusting. He was also green without any mane of tail, but I’ve never seen a mutant with that before. Guess it’s because of the magical fallouts. ‘’ Will you shut up? Food doesn’t speak!’’ He said.

‘’ Yeah, yeah, go brush your …’’ He slapped me before I could finish my sentence.

‘’ What did I just say?!’’ He shouted. ‘’ shut up, meal!’’

‘’ I won’t shut up because I’m not food, you son of garbage!’’ I yelled. He hit me again, and got out a knife.

Uh oh.

I could see where this was going, and you guess that it didn’t please me. I shrugged again. ‘’ Hey, ugly face?’’ I said. ‘’ I got another plan.’’

‘’ What?’’ He said.

‘’ I escape, and you die.’’ He laughed.

‘’You’re funny, piece of food.’’ He said. ‘’ but I barely see another thing to eat today.’’ My situation sucked. Hard. He leaned the knife above his head. And then he stroke. I turned my head just before the knife touch it, and it pursued freely his road, cutting the rope. And my chest. At least, it freed one of my hooves. I screamed in pain, blood spreading out of the injury, and punched him right in the head with my free hoof, sending him flying against the wall. Yeah, I got a Celestia’s goddamned punch.

I liberated myself, and jumped on the ground.  The mutant was already up again.

They are made tougher than a normal pony, you know? And he was taller than me by four good inches. He tried to hit me with a hoof, but I dodged. And then, I noticed that I had forgotten something.

Tentacles.

I swore as my hind legs were suddenly tackled by one of them, and another squeezed my throat. ‘’ You’re not going to surrender, pony?’’ He said. ‘’ I will make you die.’’ He squeezed harder. I hit him with one of my hooves, and he let me go off. I rolled, dodging another of these darn tentacles, and passed behind him, before buck him hard with both hind legs. He went on the wall again, but he was still willing to fight.

‘’ Shit!’’ I shouted, coughing and spitting blood. ‘’ Will you just die?’’ He snickered, and tried to hit me again with his awful mutated members. I dodged, but one of the tentacles hit me hard in the stomach. I fell through the table, breaking it. I yelped in pain and tried to get up, but it was too late. A second later, he was above me and strangling me again. This guy had to have the tentacle strangling fetish. Sigh…. Why, on all the mutants I could fight, I had to be the one with freakin’ tentacles?

I gasped for air, and shrugged to escape his mortal embrace, but he was sitting on my belly, preventing me from even trying to buck him again. Suddenly, one of my fore hooves met something I recognized with a smile. The mutant frowned when he saw me smiling, and didn’t saw the knife coming and cutting the tentacles that strangled me. Green blood stained my fur and he backed up with a stifle, but couldn’t do anything before I dug the knife in his stomach. I retired it, and stabbed him in his opened mouth, ending his miserable life.

‘’ I hope you’ll root in hell.’’ I said. I put the knife off his torn palace with a tearing noise and a real tidal-wave of green

blood.

I had still my stuff to find. I wasn’t going out there severely hurt as I was and without decent equipment, or I would have been dead right now and now speaking with you.

I pushed slightly the door. Bless Celestia, these stupid mutants were deaf. But they were four, big, ugly, and four healthy horrors directly coming out from a mad scientist’s plan against one normal pony already hurt and only equipped with a kitchen knife wasn’t really in my favor.

Sneaking was totally the best option. I crouched and began to creep in the ashes, staying the less soundly as I could, holding my breath to not alarm them, even if I could only wonder how they didn’t hear the infernal racket of my battle with the tentacle-full pony. I passed the nearest door, and closed it behind me.

‘’ Okay.’’ I whispered to myself. ‘’ Now, find my stuff, and I’m out of this shit.’’

I got up, and began to walk slowly, preventing me to walk on the things that could make noises or….

Clap!

I stifled a scream of pain. I had forgotten about the traps! And I had just stepped in a bear trap hidden under the ashes.

Oh, by Celestia. I swear it hurt more than you can imagine. The trap hadn’t cut my left hind leg, but it was close. Cautiously, I opened the trap, letting go a yelp of pain as blood escaped the injury. I couldn’t move correctly my leg, so I was limping again. I could really use some painkillers and this shit that regenerated your flesh right now.

I was letting a real trace of blood behind me, so sneaking was now out of purpose, and I could just pry Celestia to not encounter another of these mutated sons of a trash bin.

‘’ Shhhiiiii-‘’ I muttered. ‘’ I’m really not taking the right way to quit this hell.’’ But givin’ up wasn’t on purpose, and being cooked by mutants either. I ventured myself in another room, empty.

‘’ Fuck!’’ I shouted in despair. ‘’ Where is that equipment?!’’

Still, I must emphasize on how these mutants were deaf. I had successfully killed one of them, mutilated me, swore filthy words, limped in two different rooms, and shouted without being noticed.

It’s not really common. I took another door.

Empty.

‘’ Oh, C’mon!’’ I yelled, losing my temper this time. ‘’ It has to be somewhere! They’re not the kind of … whatever they are… that thrash a bag full of bits, ammunitions and food, are they?’’

I dodged another trap, cleverly using that beautiful blond tail of mine to brush the ash and the dust out of my way. I love my tail. It’s so useful! You can make plenty of useful things with a tail.

Anyway.

I had to go out, but I felt like sleeping. Or, sleeping was a bad idea, given that there were still hostile nearby, and that it would be my dead. I had lost so much blood. My chest, my leg, my neck…

All hurt so badly, If only I could sleep and never wake up… No! Cal, you are not gonna let you die stupidly on this cold ground!

Hey! My though are stealing my lines! Uh…? Oh, sorry…

My vision began to blur. I couldn’t think right, and I was tottering randomly in the room. At some point, I bumped into something that strangely looked like a pony, but I couldn’t see. Finally, I fell on the ground, and unconscious as well.