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                         Countdown                         
                     -by kartingister-                     
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                     The first meeting                     
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The first meeting
A man with a backpack was moving through an empty street. He was wearing a dark leather coat, copper-tinted ESS glasses, black hat, black cargo pants and heavy military boots. He was armed with an old "Škorpion" Vz.61, and had spare magazines in pouches, strapped to his belt.
He was moving fast, but quiet, using cars on a road as cover. They were abandoned a long time ago, when Tarkov was put under lockdown. A lot of people were trying to leave the city using cars, but not many of them succeeded. Most of them had to go on foot through military cordons, or use the sea vessels, which were convoyed by UN or Russian Military warships and helicopters.
Suddenly, the man stopped, as he heard voices ahead. They were rough, and the speech was filled with swearing. "The wild ones," the man thought, "probably two or three. If I attack properly, I can do all of them in one run."
He quietly moved forward, and lifted his head above the cover. The man saw two bandits, talking about something. They were armed with sawn-off hunting shotguns. "About one hundred meters. Alright, let's do it."
The man turned his "Škorpion" into full-auto, aimed and pulled the trigger. The first bandit's head immidiately released a large amount of blood, and he fell on the ground. The second one tried to run away to the nearest cover, but also didn't have a chance, as his body was pierced with bullets.
"Alright, let's see what you've got," the man thought, and got from his cover. As he listened to the surroundings, he quickly moved to the first body. After checking the bandit's pouches and backpacks, he took some ammo and food from the corpse, and moved to another one. But as the man turned his head, he saw something strange.
Right at the place, where the bandits were standing, the man saw a net. Under it, was lying something blue. As he got closer, he was shocked -- that "something", in fact, looked like "someone", and didn't fit in his mind.
The creature looked like nothing the man could remember. Figure of a woman, but with short blue fur. Rainbow-colored hair, or even better to say "mane", as it was very long. Same-colored tail. A pair of feathery wings, the same color as the fur. And finally, the face, which looked not like a human one, but more like from an animal. And the creature's clothes were strange, too -- sport shorts, bra and running shoes. Not a choice of someone, who wants to survive in a dead city.
The man got to the body and slightly punched it with his boot. The creature hummed, and opened its eyes.
"Ti kto?" -- the man asked, when the creature started to look straight at him.
"I don't understand... AND LET ME GO!" -- suddenly, it shouted, and started squirming, trying to free itself from the net.
"English language, huh? Strange. Well, at least I can communicate with it." The man stood on his knee, and faced the creature, making an eye contact.
"If you stop making noises, I will let you go. This land is filled with killers, and you don't want to be killed. Or I can leave you here to rot, or even worse," the man said, and the creature stopped moving. "Good. Who are you, and where are you from?"
"Rainbow Dash, from Ponyville. And free me already! My wings hurt!"
"Alright, just don't shout. Noise attracts bandits."
The man put his "Škorpion" into a holster, and took out a knife. After a few swift moves, Rainbow Dash was free. She immidiately got up on her feet, and stretched her limbs. Only after that the man saw, that she was much taller than him.
"Thanks. Hey, you look strange, you know that?" she smiled, and got into air with her wings, hovering above the man.
"Same to you... Fuck me, and that's not just a vision," the man said, while taking off his glasses. The show was very strange to him, and he could hardly believe his eyes.
"Huh, not used to seeing pegasi? And something tells me, that you don't see other ponies much, too," Rainbow Dash smirked, and landed on a ground. "Anyway, where am I?"
"Welcome to the dead city, where only bandits and mercenaries live. See these two corpses?" the man asked, pointing at bandit's bodies. As Rainbow Dash looked at them, she gasped and hid behind the man.
"Wh-who did it? Why? Is he somewhere near?" she started to mutter, shaking from fear.
The man sighed, faced the newcomer and slapped her face. As Rainbow Dash slightly got into consciousness, the man started talking again.
"Alright, I know, this might be shocking to you, but we don't have time to think about it right now. Our main objective is to get to my safehouse in the city center. There we can talk about everything. And you have to be very careful and sneaky. Everyone here will try to kill you. Understood?" After recieving a nod, the man continued, "Good. And also, stay behind me. Don't talk or do anything without my permission."
The pair was moving to the city center. Broken glass of high buildings replaced the cold concrete walls of industrial zone. Pretty soon, they could see the skyscrapers.
"Alright, stop and listen up," the man said, hiding behind an old trolley bus. "See those skyscrapers? The safehouse is in a nearest one. But we need to be ve-e-ery careful. Listen to the noise."
As the man stopped talking, Rainbow Dash listened to an ambient. She heard a strange sound in a distance, which was like a very fast clock ticking.
"I hear the noise... But I'm not sure what is it," she shrugged.
"And I'll tell you, what is it. It's a gunfire. Probably a submachine gun. Maybe even like mine," the man showed his "Škorpion" to Rainbow Dash, "and it can kill you in no time. That's why we will go very quietly a bit closer, and when there will be noone alive, loot what we can and go further. Understood?"
"Understood... Shoot, your world is horrible!" Rainbow Dash replied, and moved after the man.
Street after street, the pair was going closer to the sound. At some point, they could even hear someone's shouting. After a few minutes, they saw, what was going on.
Down the street, the fight was raging. But not a regular fight between some bandits. Two groups of mercenaries were trying to get control of an old building, which was a supermarket at some time.
"Uh-huh... Alright, listen up. Those men can't see us here, so we'll wait a bit. Those are mercenaries. The most dangerous enemies here," the man said, looking from a wall of a building, where he and Rainbow Dash were hiding.
"Mercenaries? What do they do here?" Rainbow Dash asked, poking her head to see everything better.
"That doesn't matter. The only thing you should know, is to avoid them. Understood?"
"But... Why they are shooting each other? They look almost the same..."
"Two different companies hired them, that's why. Now get back to cover!" the man whispered.
"No-no-no, that isn't right! I will teach them a friendship lesson!" Rainbow Dash shouted, flexed her wings and flew with incredible speed towards the gunfight.
"Stop! Stop, I tell you! Vot blyat'," the man swore, and ran after her, hiding behind everything he could.
"HEY YOU! STOP SHOOTING! THIS IS WRONG!" Rainbow Dash shouted, until she got an attention of the mercenaries. But their reaction was unexpected to her -- instead of stopping the gunfire, now they were shooting at her. And quickly, one of the bullets hit her wing.
"Agh! Help!" Rainbow Dash shouted, trying to stay airborne and fly back to cover, but the wounded wing didn't help much, so she fell behind a burned bus. After a few seconds, the man ran to her and helped to get back on her feet.
"Vot chem ti dumala, a?! Just tell me, why did you do that?!" he shouted, lifting the wounded pegasus. "Can you still run?"
"Yeah, only my wing is wounded..." Rainbow Dash answered, fighting the pain.
"Good, because now we will run! Stay behind!" the man shouted, and sprinted to the next cover, away from the battlefield.
After leaving the battlefield, and emptying one magazine towards the following mercs just to keep them away, the pair finally got to the skyscrapers. As they quickly got into one of them, the man lead the way to an old elevator shaft. After checking the surroundings, he opened the shaft's doors, and got on a ladder, which lead upwards.
"We're going to use this ladder to climb to the third floor. Then, we're going to get higher, using regular means," the man said, closing the shaft's doors, when Rainbow Dash got inside. Then, he took a little radio transmitter, which looked like a car alarm, and pushed the button to open a door on a third floor.
After twenty minutes of walking, the pair stopped at fourty-second floor. The man opened the door and let Rainbow Dash inside the room, which once was an office. But now, it looked more like a base of operations -- glass windows had been sealed with net made of steel, so noone from the outside could tell, what was going on inside. Doors also had armor plates and heavy locks. On one wall, there was some sort of an armory, as a few guns were hanging on it. Magazines and cartridges were lying below guns on a table, all sorted out. On a farther wall was hanging a TV screen, which was connected to a computer. And while Rainbow Dash was looking at everything with awe, the man already took the first aid kit.
"Okay, get over here. Let me see your wound," the man said, sitting on an old couch. As Rainbow Dash got to him, and flexed her wings, he heard a grunt of pain. "That was your fault, so don't complain."
"Thanks, by the way..." she replied, trying not to fall on a floor from the pain. "Anyway, what's your name?"
"Doesn't matter. However, I had a lot of nicknames -- Cider, Seed, or even Khrusch," the man replied, while applying meds to the wound.
"I will call you Cider then. Sounds good?"
"Sure."
As Cider was healing Rainbow's wound, he noticed, how quickly it was getting better. "Metabolism, probably," he thought. As he finished, he patted the pegasus's back.
"You can stand up. I'm finished here," he said, hiding the med kit.
"Thanks again. I will not do anything stupid again, I promise."
"Of course you will not. Or else your body will be filled with bullets."
Rainbow Dash got to the window, and looked at the sight. As the sun was going down, the city looked very impressive -- big, yet absolutely empty. She could see the industrial zone, the "sleeping area", a big park and some other structures, placed at different parts of town. A lot of buildings were burned, along with vehicles and some other machinery.
"Woah... A whole abandoned city? What happened here?" she muttered, trying to fit everything in her mind.
"Everything has gone into deep shit. Welcome to Tarkov, Rainbow Dash." Cider stood beside Rainbow Dash, while unloading his "Škorpion". "It's located in a country called Russian Federation, but after a situation with Terra Group Labs, it's under lockdown."
"But... That doesn't explain anything, really. Do you know, why it's under lockdown?"
"I'll be straight with you -- I don't know much. However, everything started with a corrupted mayor. Through him, a British company called Terra Group illegally bought a lot of territory for its own purpose. I don't really know, for what, but there was something scandalous."
"Still, not really a big reason to start a street war, right?" Rainbow Dash asked, while looking through a window.
"Exactly. Everything fell apart when our government tried to re-take what it lost thanks to corrupted mayor. Our special forces faced heavy gunfights, explosions, and a private military company called USEC. As Terra Group owned a lot of facilities around the city, a street war began. With it, came bandits. Most of civilians left the region through the seaport and using public roads being secured by our military forces or "blue helmets" of United Nations, but some of them had their ways cut. Like myself."
"That's horrible... But, what about those mercenaries? If the city is under lockdown, what are they doing here?"
"I don't know. Two private military companies operate here -- USEC and Bear. Something tells me, that Bear boys are looking for something in this region, and USEC tries to intercept them, or what they are looking for. And both parties won't stop, until the task is complete."
Rainbow Dash stepped from the window. Her face showed, that she was in a deep thought, trying to think over the situation. As she got to the couch, she sat on it, and closed her eyes.
"And you? Who the hell you are and how did you get here?" suddenly, Cider asked. Rainbow faced him and opened her eyes.
"Well, I am a pony. A pegasus, to be more specific. I live in a town of Ponyville, which is in a land of Equestria. And... I don't really know, how did I get here. Probably, through a book..."
"Through a book? How?" the man couldn't help, but leave a laugh.
"Yes, the magic book. You know, the one that you read, and then it suddenly sucks you inside? Don't you have something like that here?" Rainbow Dash said, being confused. As the man shook his head, she sighed. "Looks like in your world there's no magic..."
"Nope. We live without magic. Our machinery can fly, float or ride on its own."
"I see... No wonder that your city has gone into this mess," a pegasus replied with some anger. "I can't believe that you have to live here..."
"The main point is, that I "have to". I want to leave, but I can't," Cider replied with a sigh, "the seaport is filled with mercenaries, all other exits are blocked not just by military forces, but also bandits. They kill everyone, who tries to leave the city. Only if I had a chance to contact our military and get past those wild ones... But, it's literally impossible right now, as I don't have many resources. So, I just have to stay here, looting corpses and avoiding the living."
"But, if that's true, why did you save me? You could kill me and leave my body on a road, after all." Rainbow Dash asked.
"You don't belong here. Something tells me, that your stupid attitude is normal in your world. I mean, trying to befriend those mercs -- that was stupid. Bold, but stupid. And you won't survive here without a good friend," the man said and smiled, facing Rainbow Dash. She looked straight into his eyes, and she saw a spark, almost literally -- something clicked in her mind.
"You know, Cider... What actually do you need to leave the city?"
"Why do you ask?" the man asked with confuion.
"We need to prepare," Rainbow Dash smiled, "prepare for escape."
"And what makes you so confident?"
"Because now," Rainbow Dash hugged a man, "you have a good friend of your own."

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               Prepare for escape: part one                
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Prepare for escape: part one
"Alright. First of all, we need to structurise everything. Point "A" -- resources. Point "B" -- the use of resources," Cider said, while turning on the computer. After a few minutes of loading, it was fully operational.
"Cool stuff. What this thing can do?" Rainbow Dash asked, being interested.
"A lot of things. Before this whole situation has gone deep, I loved videogames... But anyway, let me open the map."
In a few clicks of a mouse, Cider opened an image of a map, and it emerged on a TV screen. Rainbow Dash gasped -- the size of a city was enormous. There was no place in Equestria, that could be THAT big.
"And that is your city?! How?!" she shouted in amazement.
"Machinery, that's how. And also, Tarkov is not even a biggest city in our country. You should see Moscow... Ahem, back to work." The man pointed his finger at the city center, "Alright, that's where we are right now. We have two options -- go to the seaport and try to hijack a vessel to go by sea, or we can use this highway to navigate and go at the opposite direction on foot."
"Can you repeat, what are the dangers of both ways?"
"If we go to seaport, we'll face mercenaries. We'll be outnumbered and outgunned. And if we go to the highway, we'll face an army of bandits."
"Also, I think that there will be another problem. How the army will know, that we're not those baddies? Alright, I can try to negotiate, but I don't think that this will work, hehe..." Rainbow Dash replied nervously. "And your clothes... You don't really stand out of this marauder crowd, so they will shoot you, too."
"Ugh, even if we can go through bandit zone, we can't do the same with military... Seaport, then. At least, we have a small chance there," Cider said, while scratching his head in thinking. "What about a vessel, these mercenaries are coming and coming, so they probably use small or medium-sized boats. I can hijack something like that, but if they try to intercept us... That will be tough. Especially without help."
"And why?"
"Mercenaries have a lot of weapons, and are well-equipped. There was a rumor that they use anti-tank grenade launchers. And they blow up... Well, enough to kill an armored vehicle."
"And what about help? I can't believe that you are the only friendly person here!"
"Well, we can contact bandits, or one of PMC's to do what they want, as they provide us some cover. Or we can make a deal with UN or Russian Military. What a great range of choices, I can't believe it..." Cider sighed.
"Ugh, definetely not bandits or mercs. I suggest that we should contact your government first. I think that they will understand," the pegasus shrugged.
"Alright, let it be. But to establish contact, we need a radio transmitter and a power battery. There was a rumor, that an old sawmill was transformed by Terra Group into a secret site with radio equipment. We should go there first. After we get a transmitter, we should establish contact with military forces. If they ask for anything, we'll do it. After recieving a green light, we're going to make a plan how to get to the seaport."
"Sounds good to me. A sawmill will be a good place to start," Rainbow Dash smiled.
"Good. Now, we have to sleep well. Tomorrow it will be a hard day," the man said, while turning the PC off. "Have a nice sleep."
The built-in alarm inside Cider's wristwatch rang at 4:00. As the man woke up, he quickly got on his feet and headed towards Rainbow Dash. She was having a nice sleep, but it needed to be stopped. As Cider got to the pegasus on a couch, he slightly punched her.
"Utro dobroe, blyat," he swore, "we have a transmitter to find."
"U-u-ugh... What time is it?" Rainbow Dash opened her eyes, being not very happy.
"Four o'clock. Come on, after a quick breakfast we're heading out."
As Rainbow Dash was waking up, Cider set up an electric plate to boil up the water in a small pot. "As you've said, you're a pony. I suppose that means that you are herbivore, am I correct?" he asked.
"Right... But why do you ask?" a pegasus replied.
"Humans eat meat. As I don't know what are you into, I can't risk. I'll make a fast-made porridge for you. Mostly it contest wheat, but also some fruits."
"Wait... You eat meat? U-u-uh, this keeps getting better and better." Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes in disappointment.
"Stop whinies. Here, take this."
Cider took a bowl with fast-made porridge, and gave it to Rainbow Dash, along with a plastic spoon. At first, she wasn't sure, could she take it, as it looked pretty unnatural, but as her stomach started to rumble in hunger, she decided that she could get past it.
"Anyway, I wanted to ask you. Where do you get all this energy to power up your stuff? That machine that can show pictures or this plate?" the pegasus asked before taking a spoon.
"Solar panels on a rooftop, along with a small wind generators. They store energy in a power bank, made of a few heavy batteries. However, all this stuff was here before I came, I just use it for myself right now," Cider answered, while eating canned meat.
"Cool... In Equestria, all stuff like that is powered by magic, mostly."
"Well, we don't have magic here, so we don't really have a choice. We build big powerplants to power up cities and towns. They are not really healthy, but very effective."
Pretty soon, the pair was finished with their breakfast, and Cider started to equip himself and Rainbow Dash.
"Alright, as much as I can tell, you are not ready to kill anyone to survive, right?" the man asked his companion, while putting on the leather coat. As he recieved a nod, he continued, "Well, let it be. You're going to take my backpack, then, so I can strap more ammunition and guns to myself."
After putting on a hat and protective glasses, Cider walked towards his armory. He took his old Vz.61 along with seven spare magazines and put it into a holster. After that, he moved towards his old AKM.
"Hello there, nice to see you again," he thought, and took it along with a warbelt. Inside its pouches were lying twelve spare RPK magazines. As all this equipment was considerably heavy, Cider didn't use it very often. But with Rainbow Dash carrying his backpack, he could afford it.
"Uhm, Cider?" suddenly, Rainbow Dash spoke up.
"Yeah, what is it?"
"Don't you think that my color is... Um, a bit standing out?"
"Fuck me..." the man also realised, what she meant. Her bright colorful body was an easy target. "Wait, I'll bring you something."
Cider quickly got to the table near the couch, where all his clothes were lying. He took an old trench coat and a bit rusty grey cap.
"Take this. Old clothing, but it will keep you a bit more safe."
"Ugh, gross... Well, still better than nothing," Rainbow Dash replied, while taking the provided clothing. Meanwhile, Cider looked at his wristwatch.
"Four-thirty. Let's roll out."
The pair was quickly moving through empty streets of Tarkov towards the sawmill. Approximately at 6:15, the industrial zone was replaced by forest. As it happened, Cider and Rainbow Dash stepped from the road and kept themselves covered by grass and trees.
"Alright, if my calculations are correct, we'll be at sawmill in about... Twenty minutes," the man said after checking the map.
"Ugh... That's too long! Can we make a break? My wings hurt under this trench coat of yours!" Rainbow dash complained.
"Fine. You can have a break for a couple of minutes," Cider replied with a slight disappointment.
After recieving an agreement, Rainbow Dash immidiately took off the backpack and the trench coat. As she freed her wings, she immidiately flexed them with a cracking sound.
"O-o-oh yeah... That feels good!" Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes in enjoyment. "Hey, and there's also no sign of a yesterday wound! Thanks again, Cider."
"No problem... With that," he replied, while looking at a stretching pegasus. "Damn, she's hot..." he thought to himself.
Yes, Rainbow Dash looked gorgeous. Her sports outfit revealed much of her body. And how all these muscles were flexing and rolling under her skin... The man even became jealous, that he wasn't that fit. "Well, surviving ration can't really help a muscle growth..." the man thought.
But, the timer in his writwatch has gone off, showing that the pause was over. As Cider turned it off, Rainbow Dash was already in a trench coat and with a backpack.
"We had our time. Come on, let's go," she said, and the pair contunued their way towards the sawmill.
In a fifteen minutes, the pair reached the main gate. The sawmill itself wasn't very big -- everything could be seen just from the gate. A few abandoned lumber trucks, a few buildings here and there... However, one thing was standing out -- a massive satellite antennae, placed on one of the rooftops.
"Uh-huh. So the rumor turned out to be not a rumor," Cider smiled, but immidiately became serious, "however, no time to celebrate. That facility was owned by Terra Group. That means that we can face USEC as guards or Bear as they might want something to extract from here. Also, there can be marauders. So be careful. Understood?"
"Understood," Rainbow Dash nodded.
"Good. Now, let's see where the wiring from this antennae goes."
As Cider stood on guard to open fire at anyone, who tries to interrupt them, Rainbow Dash climbed on a rooftop using an outside ladder, and tried to figure out, where the wiring would lead them.
"Let's see... Hey, there's two types of wires," she said, "one of them is really big and marked black, and another one is orange with a writing on it, which says "optical". What does that mean?"
"Probably, we need an optical cable. Where does it lead?" Cider asked, while Rainbow Dash jumped on a ground.
"It leads into the woods over there," Rainbow Dash pointed a finger in a direction of a cable, "and I can see that the wire is buried. Not enough to hide it under our feet, but enough so noone could see it from a bird's height."
"They were hiding it from satellites, but making it easy to maintain... They surely had a control over this place," the man said, while tracing the bump on a ground, that meant a cable location. "Alright, let's go."
After about ten minutes of walking, the pair left the sawmill and headed into the woods, following the cable. The path wasn't rough like in a regular forest, and that was something.
"Hey, Dash. How are your wings? Everything's fine?" Cider asked.
"Yeah. And why do you ask?"
"Because before the sawmill you were complaining. That means, that this path is not so rough. Someone was using it a lot," the man explained.
"Yeah, you have a point there..." Rainbow Dash replied. "Anyway, how this facility must look like? I mean, I don't think that there will be a skyscraper in a middle of a forest."
"According to satellite maps, there are no big buildings in this area. So I think that there will be a small house or a bunker... Like this one," Cider smiled and pointed a finger.
"What do you... Oh, that's a good timing!" Rainbow Dash released a laugh, when she saw, what the man was pointing at.
A really small entrance, made of concrete and steel, was growing from the ground like a pyramid. And it had a massive steel door, that was slightly open.
"Someone left the door open? That's strange," the man said, while walking towards the door. As he pulled it, he met no resistance or even a squeak of rusty metal.
"Oiled door in a middle of nowhere? That's convinient," the pegasus said in a worried tone.
"Not convinient. Because that means that someone can be inside. So we go very quietly. And always be on guard."
Cider took out his forehead flashlight, and strapped it to his hat. After checking the power, he slowly got inside. Rainbow Dash followed behind.
The bunker, in fact, was very small. It had only three rooms. The first one was an armory, with nothing left in it, and the second one was filled with gas masks and individual food rations.
"Outdated, outdated, outdated... Oh, these two are still good. Hey, Rainbow, take these two boxes and throw them into a backpack."
"Will do!" Rainbow Dash replied, while taking a backpack from her shoulders. While she was re-packing it, Cider went to the last door. It was almost the same as the one, that lead into the bunker. However, there was one strange detail in it.
"Zoomers. That's not good."
"What do you mean?" Rainbow Dash asked, as she got to her companion.
"It's connected to an alarm. And we can't tell, where it is. And as we found out, this bunker is still in use... Damn it." As the man swore, he started thinking.
"So, what should we do now?"
"Hm, let me think... Alright, here's the plan," after a few minutesof thinking, Cider said, "this facility must be important, if it's still in use. So they will not use frag or HE grenades. Most probably, pepper gas or smoke. Let's see these gas masks."
As the pair got into the room with gas masks, the man investigated it. "Old GP-7V masks. Let's hope that this will fit on your face."
After a few minutes of struggle, Cider managed to fit the mask and the filter on a Rainbow's face. She tried to complain, but the man explained, that it's better, than nothing.
"Alright, here's the plan. We quickly go inside, search the proper transmitter and a battery, and run away from this place. If baddies come here before we can leave, we ambush them. Understood?" Cider asked Rainbow Dash before putting a mask on himself. After recieving a nod, he took a door's handle. "Three, two, one... GO!"
After a command, he pulled the door with all his might, while Rainbow Dash ran inside. Cider heard a small zooming sound, which meant that the zoomer was triggered. As he ran inside after Rainbow Dash, he saw that this room was much bigger than the previous two.
"Alright... Transmitter and a battery. Let's find them," he thought, while searching with his eyes for equipment.
The room itself looked like a communication center. It was filled with computers, monitors and control pads. And in all this mess he had to find everything he needed...
Minutes were passing slowly, while Rainbow Dash and Cider were searching for the transmitter. Or, better to say, Cider was searching, and Rainbow Dash was following him.
"Anyway... How this transmitter and battery look like?" Rainbow Dash asked with a voice, muffled by the gas mask.
"Basically, both look like a metal or plastic boxes. The transmitter must be bigger and have a lot of handles and levers, also a tangent indicator. The power battery should be a bit smaller, and have two metal contacts. And yes, you shouldn't touch them -- that will hurt a lot," Cider replied, while searching inside one of the chests.
"Hey, what's that?" suddenly, Rainbow Dash spoke up. As the man looked, where she pointed her finger, he was confused. He got closer to investigate the thing, and that let him speechless.
The thing looked like a big backpack. But instead of having a cargo compartment, it had a metal box with a small LED screen, and a little control panel. On its right side, it had a long metal stick, that was facing upwards. The box itself and the straps were painted in TAN color.
"Dash, you are a genius. This is a RS-2000 transmitter. No need to fuck with metal boxes and break your spine, huh..." Cider spoke, while checking that transmitter was operational. As everything seemed good, the man smiled while strapping the transmitter to himself. "Alright, we've got it, time to roll out."
"Not so fast, dude! Do you hear?" Cider heard a worried voice of a pegasus. As he listened, he heard that someone was going down the bunker.
"Shit, they're here! Hide!" the man whispered, and turned off the flashlight, while running to the door and standing at its side. As veins in his head were pumping, he heard some voices behind the door.
"Supply room is clear," the first voice said.
"Armory is clear," the second one emerged.
"Looks like that intruder is in control room. Voozya, cover our backs. Derill, you go first, your weapon is more compact," the third voice commanded.
"Sure thing, Nolan," the second voice spoke, and loud footsteps emerged, as they were coming towards the last door. As they stopped, Cider heard loud clicking, and after a few seconds, a smoke grenade flew through a hole between the door and the wall.
"Thank anyone that I took these masks," Cider thought, while taking out his "Škorpion" from a holster and changing it into full-auto. As the room was filled with smoke, the sound of footsteps emerged again.
"We know that you're here! Let us pass and you'll be spared!" the guy named Derill spoke.
"Oh no, you fucking mercenary shit," Cider thought to himself, while aiming the door, "your beloved USEC has caused this hell on Earth, and now I will rip your guts out."
As the man sat on his knees to be more stealthy, he saw how the rifle's muzzle was slowly emerging through the entrance. After the muzzle, came the barrel, the magazine, the merc's hand... Seconds were passing by, like being glued.
"Come on, show me your face..." Cider thought, while aiming the door. He was scared to his knees, but at the same time, he was concentrated to his maximum. His feet hurt, as he was sitting in uncomfortable position, but at the same time he couldn't move, as it would make too much noise.
Suddenly, after a loud "bang", the door shut open and the first merc almost literally flew into the room and opened fire from his assault rifle in Cider's direction. Howewer, he aimed much higher, as he expected the man to stand, and not to sit on a floor. Right after that, Cider opened fire from his "Škorpion", and after a few shots, one of the bullets hit the first mercenary in his head.
"Derill is down! Voozya, cover me, I go in! SMG fire, 10 o'clock, behind that door!" Cider heard Nolan's voice, while changing from his Vz.61 to the AKM, as he didn't have much time to reload.
"Grenade!" the merc named Voozya shouted, and Cider heard a click of a safety lever.
"DASH, TAKE COVER!" the man shouted, and jumped behind a steel container, that was lying near the wall. As he did so, he covered his ears and opened his mouth, to reduce the impact of a blast wave.
But, that didn't help much. As the grenade blew up, Cider thought that his brain was kicked by a heavy military boot. His vision became blurry, and all sounds in the world were replaced by an awful noise of a broken TV signal.
"Dash... Are you okay? Dash!" he shouted, while trying to get out from his cover. He saw one of the mercs going inside the room. Cider immidiately aimed his AKM and went full-auto into intruder. However, the merc managed to hide behind one of control pads.
"KOGDA ZJE TI SDOHNESH, YOB TVOYU MAT', BLYAT'?!" Cider shouted, sending hot plumbum towards the merc's cover. However, he forgot about one thing...
The man recieved a great punch at his head. From a great burst of pain, Cider lost his balance and fell on the bunker's concrete floor. His vision went red, and he almost lost his consciousness. As he recieved a few more painful punches, he realised that he forgot about the third USEC operator, that didn't come with the second one.
"Hey, Nolan, there's someone else!" the man heard a muffled voice.
"Who is it?"
"I don't know, looks like-UGH!"
Cider heard a loud punching sound, as the body of a second merc went flying into a wall, crushing the bunker's furniture. After a couple of seconds, the merc named Nolan fell on a ground, too, being unconscious. Then, something has lifted a wounded Cider.
"Hey, are you alright?" a Rainbow's face emerged in front of the man's eyes.
"Could... Khe-khe... Be better..." he replied, while taking off a gas mask.
"At least you are conscious, unlike these baddies!" the pegasus smiled, "Can you walk?"
"Yes. Alright, pick their weapons and ammo, khe-khe... We're heading back, until reinforcements arrive."
The road back to the skyscraper was tough. From time to time Cider almost lost his consciousness, and Rainbow Dash was carrying a lot of loot from the fallen mercenaries. So, the pair came to their base only at 17:45. They were tired, but happy.
"Woo-e-e-e! Dash, you've saved my life back there! How did you kick them so hard, that one of them even flew into a wall?" Cider asked with excitement, while closing the entrance door.
"Years of cloudkicking, and being so fit, ha-ha!" she replied with a laugh.
"No, seriously, thank you! Without you, my cold body would lie in that bunker..."
"Oh come on, that's what friends do -- save each other!" as Rainbow Dash took off her gear, she immidiately hugged her companion.
"Aw, shucks... You make me blush," Cider replied, being embaressed.
"Why? Don't you like being hugged?" the pegasus laughed.
"It's not that... It's just... Well, you can fly, you are good-looking, you can get rid of two armed-to-teeth men... I'm a bit jealous, to be honest."
"Hey, pal, I'll tell you what," Rainbow Dash turned Cider so he would face her, "you've saved me twice. Without having awesome wings or cool abilities. First, when you found me. And second, when I acted stupid and got myself in a middle of a gunfight. So you are already better than most of folks around, and maybe better than some ponies. And what about good looks... I promise, when we get out from this city, we'll build a very nice body of yours, I promise."
"Heh, thanks, I guess..." the man replied, blushing. "Ehem, but anyway, let's sort out our loot."
And the loot was great -- they took two M4A1 Mk. 18 carbines, equipped with EOTECH sights, and one AUG assault rifle. What about a sidearm weaponry, all three mercs had Glock 18 automatic pistols with extended magazines. And of course, a lot of magazines.
"Huh, now we have enough firepower to equip a whole squad..." Cider admitted, while taking a reserve warbelt and a holster. "Let's equip all this stuff. After that, we'll get to the radio."
Hours were passing by, while Cider and Rainbow Dash were equipping their gear. While the pegasus was loading magazines, the man was counting and sorting cartridges.
"Alrighty, Dash, here's the thing. Most probably, when we'll head to the port, I won't be able to carry all the guns on myself. Wouldn't you mind, if you carry a few of them?" Cider suddenly asked.
"If you say so. What do you want me to carry?"
"Makarov and the sawn-off double-barrel. They are hanging over there," the man pointed at the farther side of the wall. As Rainbow Dash finished with magazines, she got up and walked towards them.
"That double-barrel looks pretty," she stated, "I like the ornament."
"Yeah, it's sort of a family stuff. Still, I don't think of it like it's something special, as it's just an instrument of survival," Cider sighed, while packing another box of spare ammo.
Rainbow Dash took the shotgun in her hands and started to investigate it. Yes, it looked gorgeous -- polished, with silver-coated ornament. But there was one thing, that attracted her the most.
"Hey, Cider! There's a writing, but I can't tell what it means! Do you know anything about that?"
"It says "Chkalov". He was my best friend, so I named a gun after him," the man replied with a sigh.
"And... What happened to him?"
"He died. His "Grach" was shot down during one of the bombing runs in Chechnya. He was fighting terrorists and died like a hero."
"Oh. Sorry about asking," Rainbow Dash immidiately apologized.
"Ah, don't mention it. These times passed long ago."
"You know what? I think that I will be a personal keeper of this gun," the pegasus replied, "so it will make it through with us. Sounds good?"
"If you want to. But don't get yourself glued to it. It's only a thing, not a living person. A thing can't work on its own, no matter how good it looks or how fat its barrel is," Cider laughed, "however, many people believe that all these things have a soul. Pretty stupid, right?"
"Yeah, totally..." Rainbow was unsure, what she should say, but after a few seconds of thinking, she decided to get past it. "Hey, have you finished yet?"
"Yup. Let's have ourselves something to eat. Bring these two rations that you've picked up in the bunker. Tomorrow, we'll try to make contact with the military."

//-------------------------------------------------------//
               Prepare for escape: part two                
//-------------------------------------------------------//
Prepare for escape: part two
Cider was sitting behind a computer desk, while operating the radio transmitter. He was trying to find a radio frequency of Russian Military, but as hours passed by, there was no result.
"Davay zje, rzjavoye koryto... Ti dolzjno zarabotat'," he mumbled, while changing the frequency again. Yeah, the yesterday fight with mercenaries was tough, and the man's moral state was not the best at the moment.
"Hi there, wazzup?" suddenly, Rainbow Dash came from behind.
"Hi. Nothing's up, the chat is empty," Cider sighed, "and right now we only can wait."
"Wait for what? For a transmission?"
"Uh-huh. I've set up a scanner to track any activity at most popular frequencies, but I'm also trying to search manually. You know, just in case."
"You know, that you're worrying about it too much, right?" Rainbow Dash released a small laugh.
"Maybe... Maybe..." the man closed his weary eyes and laid his head on a desk.
"Come on, let the scanner do its job! You need some rest, after all," the pegasus spoke, but then she noticed thet the LED screen has turned on. "Um, Cider, the screen has turned on."
After hearing this phrase, the man lifted his head and looked at the screen. It said "7992 MHz". He slowly put a headset on his head, and turned on the transmission. After a few minutes of listening, a weary smile appeared on his face.
"Hey, Dash," he said, "looks like that we have contact. You can have a little walk around, I'll try to talk to them."
Rainbow Dash was sitting on a rooftop of a skyscraper, enjoying the evening. A chilly wind was slowly moving her hair, as she took off an old rusty cap and looked at it. A long time ago it was black, but time made it grey and rusty. It looked like that it was much older than this city itself.
"Huh... I wonder, what these military dudes would want us to do? These surely must be something that they might be interested into," the mare thought, and stood up. She got rid of an old trench coat and flexed her wings. A cold wind was cooling down the feathers, that were overheating under heavy coat.
Suddenly, a squeaking noise of an opening door appeared from behind, and Rainbow Dash turned around. She saw that it was Cider, who used the maintenance ladder to get on a rooftop.
"Sup. So, any news?" Rainbow Dash asked, smiling. However, the man's face looked dark. Saying nothing, he sat beside Rainbow Dash, and took out a pack of "Belomor" cigarettes. As Cider took one, he lit it up with a gas lighter, and smoke like a steam engine.
"Wh-what happened?" Rainbow Dash asked in a worried tone, knowing that something wasn't right.
"Army won't help us, Dash. No cover from our government. No cover from "blue helmets". The only thing they can do is to accept us, if we get out," Cider stated, "but noone will rescue us. Also, they said that our bunker deal somehow destroyed their spy's cover. So... We're on our own right now."
Cider's words hit Rainbow Dash like a hammer. She felt, how the time itself was literally compressing around her, as she couldn't believe the man's words.
"But... There is a reason for this, right? They can't just leave us here!" she shouted.
"Of course they have a reason. They said that they can't risk losing equipment or men just because of two doomed souls. Understandable. Still, that doesn't help much..."
"Alright, alright... Let's not panic. We still can make it to the seaport, right? You know, hijack a boat and get out of here?"
"You probably don't know, how many mercenaries of all sorts are there, don't you?" Cider turned his head towards Rainbow Dash and smirked. "There will be not just a pretty trio like the one we met in a bunker. There will be two bloodthirsty armies, that will try to rip your guts out if you step on their path. Besides, without any intel or reconaissance we can't tell, what vessel we need to hijack and when..."
"Hey... Wait a minute!" suddenly, Rainbow Dash spoke. "Of course! I can do reconnaisance, because I can fly! You just need to tell me, what do I need to search, and voila!"
"Don't you remember how you tried to fly a few days back? They will pierce your body with bullets!" Cider replied, being confused.
"Oh no, because you haven't seen this... Stand back, pal."
Rainpow Dash stretched her wings, and stood like she was going to make a "low start". However, Cider decided not to argue with her, and made a few steps back. As the pony checked the surroundings, her muscles tensed up, being ready to set off.
"Three, two, one... GO!"
And then, the man's vision became blurry, as the blast wave hit him. However, he managed to stay on foot, but he saw, that Rainbow Dash was gone. He quickly looked around, trying to find her, until he heard a whistling sound from behind.
"Woo-hoo! I was dreaming about doing so!" Rainbow Dash shouted, maneuvering just above skyscrapers. A man couldn't believe his eyes -- she was flying with a speed of a jet airplane, buth with an agility of a glider.
"Fuck me if this isn't real..." Cider thought, while watching Rainbow's flight with awe. The way she twisted, baked and rolled in the air... It was fascinating.
Finally, after a few minutes of flying, the pegasus slowed down and landed near Cider with a wide smile on her face.
"Well, what do you think about that? Will that do?" Rainbow Dash asked, grinning. But Cider didn't reply. Instead, he came closer to the pegasus and tightly hugged her.
"We still have a chance, Dash," he said through tears of happiness, "we still can get out from this hell on Earth."
"Alright, new plan. You will fly to the seaport, and watch anything suspicious," Cider said, while showing the path to the port on a city map, "and I will collect the equipment that will help us to get past these mercs. If you'll have any information about their weaponry, vessels and other equipment, you'll need to find me near this old chemical facility in a working area."
"Okay. But what exactly do I need to look for?" Rainbow Dash asked, while warming up her muscles.
"Small or medium-sized boats. They shouldn't have any mast, we need a boat that's powered by an engine. Also, try to find out, where these guys store their fuel. I don't want to be stuck in a middle of a sea. Maybe you should look out for some heavy weaponry -- something tells me that they have rocket launchers and even maybe anti-aircraft weaponry, which can be deadly for you."
"Why? I thought that you've changed your opinion after you saw me flying!" the pegasus complained.
"Yes, I did. However, anti-aircraft weaponry works not like personal guns. They can have rockets or cannons, that were built SPECIALLY to take down airborne targets," the man's face darkened, "and that's not good for you, since you're gonna be airborne. Understood?"
"Oh... That was unexpected. He-he..." Rainbow's voice cracked, but she kept her emotions inside. "Okay then... When do we roll out?"
"We'll go at night. You'll be more stealthy, and your bright color will be less obvious. And what about me... Yeah, not many people dare to roll out at night. However, I don't want to meet the one, who dare..." Cider stated, while packing his gear, "And we still have a couple of hours before actually going out. Hungry?"
"Yeah, I guess so. What do you have?"
"For you... Hm, let me see..." Cider stopped packing his things and started to search the food in his backpack. After a few minutes, he took a package of fast-making noodles. "Well, that's not very healthy, but since you're herbivore... Let me just boil a water."
After a few minutes of boiling water and mixing it with a solid brick of noodles, Cider gave that more-or-less eatable stuff to Rainbow Dash along with a plastic fork. Rainbow's face showed a few notes of disguist, but she didn't complain, since there wasn't really an option what to eat. After a few moves of a fork, she spoke:
"You know, dude, that's the worst taste I ever had in my entire life. When we escape, I'll wash my mouth with soap."
"I've expected something like that. Some of ours call these things "hobo-packs" or "bitch-packs", because they are cheap. When I was a student of an institute, my ration was filled with these, and also energy cocktails, to keep myself alive during studies and sessions. Huh, these were fun times..."
"Ugh, gross. And you were eating this all the time?"
"Yeah, mainly because I wanted to save a little bit more money. Our capitalist society doesn't really care, how we live. Not just in our country, but everywhere worldwide. There are a lot of people that share the same ideology, you know."
"Seems like that your world is not a pretty place, huh?" Rainbow Dash smiled, while taking another fork of noodles.
"Something like that. But, I like it. Even here, in a dead city, where everything tries to kill you. Because here the life's definetely not boring, you dig?" the man smiled back, while opening a can of meat.
"Yeah, you have a point there. For example, in Equestria, even after all troubles with dark power overlords, there are a lot of problems for me and my friends to solve. Mostly, friendship problems. Still, it's not boring, at least."
"Yeah, that's right. I hope I could meet them one day. They seem to be very nice."
"Totally."
As the sun was going down, a shadow was burying the city under a carpet of night. And when the light completely hid behind a line of horizon, a man stood up.
"Get up. We roll out."