Game of Circumstances

Chapter eight: Hellhole

I got up and put my shotgun on my back.

‘’ Who the hell are you?’’ I asked. The stallion, who was facing me now, was wearing the same old duster that the other wore. He had a sand-colored fur with a bleached-bone colored mane cut short falling on a side of his head. Under the duster, a steel armor could be seen. He had also a blindfold on his right eye, and his left hind leg had been replaced by prosthesis.

‘’ Sergeant Lycan Raveus, Ash Ranger. And these are my companions, Burned Apple…’’ He showed a brown stallion with a blond mane. ‘’… Broken Jewels…’’ He showed a grey stallion with a silver mane. ‘’… Bloody sword…’’ A blood-red stallion with a brown mane. ‘’ …Camellia…’’ A mare with a white coat and a light-purple mane tied in a ponytail. ‘’ … and Sapphire.’’ He ended, showing a… well… sapphire-blue colored mare with a pale blue colored mane. ‘’ And you? I’m sure I already saw you before.’’

I was both surprised and happy. Surprised because we had just been saved from mutants and I really didn’t expected help, and happy because I had finally managed to find that Raveus that I had been looking for.

‘’ I’m Callixus, but you can call me Cal.’’ I said. ‘’ I saved you in the ruins three days ago. And you saved me after.’’

‘’ I’m sure you remember me, Sergeant.’’ Sirius said.

‘’ Of course I do, doctor Sirius.’’ The ash ranger replied. ‘’And yes, I remember you too, Miss Callixus.’’

‘’ You can drop the ‘miss thing’, sergeant.’’ I replied.

‘’ Ooh! Ooh!’’ Happy said, overexcited as usually. ‘’ I’m Happy Pie, but you can call me Hap’, like she does, or just Pie, but it’s boring, and… we should totally do a party!’’ She began to bounce happily around us.

‘’ Is she… always like that?’’ Burned Apple asked with a strong southern accent. He was an Apple family member, after all, so I guess it’s normal.

I sighed. ‘’ Unfortunately, yes…’’

‘’ Tha’ trip to Hellhol’s’ gonna be long...’’ He mumbled, though I could hear him perfectly.

‘’ Well, the presentation are finished, so what are we waiting for?’’ Raveus asked. ‘’ Let’s go!’’

And the now eight of us started to walk along the greyish road of the 3rd highway.

‘’ Sergeant!’’ I shouted as I caught up with him. Sirius was speaking with Camellia, that happened to be the squad’s medic, and Hap’, well, was visibly annoying randomly the rest of the squad, and was the only one that didn’t noticed it. She’s like that. Always happy and smiling, but bloody annoying.

REALLY annoying.

Anyway.

‘’ Miss?’’ Raveus replied, still leading the group to Hellhole.

‘’I said that you could drop the ‘miss’. Uh… I wanted to know…’’ I started. ‘’ You know, four days ago, I wasn’t a mare.’’ He rose an… uh… well… his only eyebrow. ‘’ I was a colt until that last pillager shot me in this old ruined school.’’ He continued to walk, without saying a word.

‘’ That’s... weird.’’ He finally replied.

‘’ Yeah, you can say that.’’ I said. ‘’ So, I was wondering if you… remembered something.’’

‘’ Hmmm… well, now that you speak about it, I do remember something.’’ My face lit up. ‘’ The pillager was carrying a strange weapon that I would qualify as a prototype, with a beautiful Sun.INC scripted on it. I would do research on it when you’ll be arrived to Happiness, if I was you. I heard that there was a Sun.INC laboratory not too far. Of course, if Happiness is your destination.”

‘’ It is.’’ I replied. ‘’ Thank.’’

‘’ You’re welcome.’’ The trip finished in silence, apart Happy and the mumbling of Burned Apple, who looked ready to use Hap’ as a training target.

I can easily understand him, though.

We reached Hellhole quite quickly and without encountering other problems like mutants or raiders.

‘’ It’s that, Hellhole?’’ I said. In front of us lied a big hotel, entirely built in scrap-metal and other rusted things.

‘’ Eeyup.’’ Burned Apple said loudly. I sighed. I saw him more after, and it confirmed my impress when I first saw him. His gun is cleverer than him.

‘’ It was purely rhetorical...’’ I replied.

‘’ I guess we’ll see the three of you in Happiness?’’ Raveus asked. I nodded. ‘’ Well, goodbye then. I and my rangers have got to move to Happiness without stopping if we want to be in time for the annual council where I must give my rapports on how the 3rd highway is doing. Oh, and, tell me how was ou night here, I've never got the chance or the time to sleep here, and never got any reviews from customers too’’

‘’ Well, good luck!’’ Sirius said. And the three of us entered the big inn as the rangers continued their way to Happiness.

‘’ What’s with their ‘annual council’?’’ I asked.

‘’ I believe it’s the moment where all the rangers are in one place to get to the high command their rapports on how the zone they had to watch for the year is doing: raiders activities, wanderers, mutants, towns, all that stuff.’’ He answered. ‘’ They got the whole capital’s ruins covered with that.’’

‘’ Wow.’’ I muttered. I can assure you that it takes lots and lots of rangers to cover this whole ruined shit. How I know? I saw them, duh!

Anyway, that’s not the matter for now.

The hall where we had entered was big and quite empty. There was a counter in the middle, and behind the counter was sitting a grey stallion with a crimson mane that seemed to be bored. When he saw us, his face lit up, and he said:

‘’ Oh! Welcome in Hellhole, travelers!’’ I nodded in return. ‘’ What it’ll it be for you? A room? A meal?’’

‘’ No, we’re here for a room.’’ Sirius answered.

‘’ Ah, a room!’’ He said. ‘’ How much night?’’

‘’ One.’’ I replied. ‘’ And I’ll skip dinner. I’m tired tonight.’’ I wasn't hungry.

‘’ Well, it’ll be twenty bits for each one of you.’’ He said. Twenty bits a night by pony?! Mighty expensive, for an Inn in the middle of nowhere! But I put my bits on the counter. The pony checked that they were reals, and allowed me to go upstairs.

‘’ Room number forty-five.’’ He said. I waited. ‘’Well?’’ He asked, raising an eyebrow. ‘’ Aren’t you going to sleep?’’

‘’ I was waiting for a key or something like that.’’ I replied.

‘’ Oh! Sorry, I am distracted lately.’’ He said passing me a key with the number forty-fife incrusted on it. I thanked him and got upstairs, found my room, and threw me on the couch. I wasn’t the big luxury, but it was rather comfy, and there wasn’t any roaches to bother you. But there was a strange smell in the air, like blood…

‘’ Bah,’’ I said. ‘’ It’s probably because of the mutants. They must have killed some of them lately…’’ And I closed my eyes.

Sleep would make me only good, I figured. How wrong I was…

Skipping dinner was okay, given that I ate a lot of these blasted apples at lunch and I had still a few of them in my bag, with my bits and my bullets. Being the paranoiac wanderer I’ve always been, I had my shotgun with me on the couch, in case of attack.

And I had still this damn insomnia.

I looked at my watch.

Eleven hours and fifty minutes in the evening. Wow, time had passed much quicker than I thought. Guess that the others were already sleeping in their rooms. Oh, yeah, another thing to say, all rooms were single.

Still, I’ve been here cursing my bad luck while looking at the ceiling and thinking about all the things I had found odd in this Inn. I took my bag. Given that I wasn’t going to sleep, taking vitamins would help me to keep my mind clear and think properly. I searched quickly the bottle in my medicine pocket, through the sterilized needles of painkillers and healing liquids created by spells.

I finally reached and opened it, before taking two pills and putting them on my tongue. I then took a water bottle and swallowed them. I think it’s psychological, but the fact that I had took vitamins made me feel a lot better.

Hoping that I wasn’t becoming addict, I put all back in my bag and put it where it was before.

With my mind cleared of all tire but still insomniac, I was going to stay here watching the ceiling for a long time. Or, I thought.

Midnight was passed since five minutes now. Something squeaked. Having nothing other to do, I focused on the sound.

Wait a minute. It was hoof steps on the floor! Bah, probably just somepony going to the toilets. Stop being paranoiac, Cal, it’s maybe just your imagination.

There was a noise of something metallic. Like a knife. Okay, here, you can ask yourself question. I uncrossed a foreleg from behind my head and put it on my shotgun. The door squeaked as somepony entered the room. Used to see in the total darkness, I could saw clearly that the somepony that had entered my room had a knife.

Okay, here, you can panic.

I uncrossed my second foreleg and extended it to reach the light. I turned the lights on, closing my eyes to protect them from the raw light.

‘’ Aaagghhhh…!’’ My attacker, a grey stallion with a crimson red mane, shouted, blinded. I opened my eyes, and, without hesitating, bucked him on the chest.  He let go off his air, and was sent right on the door. Without hesitating more, I took my shotgun, aimed, and shot. His head exploded in a big red cloud, staining the iron door with blood. His beheaded body fell slowly on his side, a fountain getting out of his neck. I turned on the flashlight on my shotgun, took my bag, opened the door, and got out.

I froze in surprise.

All the residents were fighting for their lives and butchered by members of the staff!

I ejected the case off of the shotgun. Another member of the staff noticed me and charged. I shot, and his left foreleg flew away in a big sprout of blood. Without his fourth leg, he fell, and his muzzle hit the ground. Before he had even a chance to lift himself from the ground, I knocked him off in the face with a hind leg. I passed him, ejecting the case, and shot another staff’s member who was butchering an innocent traveler.

What the hell was going on? I didn’t know. But my mind told me only one thing: escape this nightmare. No, I couldn’t now! I had to check my friends! I dodged a knife and hit my attacker in the face with the shotgun’s butt. His muzzle cracked, surely broken, and he joined his colleagues on the ground, unconscious.

Where were my friends? The revelation knocked my mind. I didn’t know! I couldn’t see the whole Inn, there were too much members of the staff. It was the chaos. I got downstairs without encountering resistance, having killed or neutralized all he staff’s members on the 1st floor.

I rolled and hid myself behind the counter. I took a deep breath. Something was sure: If my friends were here, they weren’t on the 1st floor. Maybe they had got the time to run away from this hell, after all. But for now, I had got to run.

Three, two, one…

I jumped above the counter and began to run to the front doors. I bucked them hard, but there was nothing to do, they were locked.

‘’ Here! She’s here!’’ Somepony yelled. Bullets stifled around me. I winced in pain as one of them pierced my left foreleg. I threw myself on the ground, and rolled, and got up, passing the first door I saw. I had entered the kitchen.

And then, I saw it. I understood from where came this odor of blood.

Cannibals!

I dodged a cook, killed another, and passed quickly the door on the other side, giving to another corridor.

Cannibals!

I tackled a member of the staff, and shot him right in the head while he was on the ground, reddening the blue carpet.

Fuckin’ cannibals!

I passed another door, giving on a small room. I could hear my chasers behind me. I faced them, shot two times, killing one of them, and rolled on my back.

Run!

I passed another door, knocked the staff member who waited behind it, reloaded my shotgun, and passed another door.

Come on! You can do it!

I brock the jaw of another of these monsters with the shotgun’s butt, stomped with my hind legs on his chest. Finally, I passed one last door, and I got out of this nightmare. IO closed the door, and ran away. I disappeared in the shadows of the eternal moonless night.

I was safe, but my mind wasn’t. I know I’ll never forget what I saw in this kitchen, and you’re lucky that your food isn’t arrived yet because you’ll be puking right now.

I was alone again in the wastes, without a buckin’ map.

And you know the worse in all of this?! No?

It cost me twenty bits!