Claws
I know you're tired, little one. Just keep fighting.

A sharp breath of air, stale and crackling with radiation, flooded my lungs. Water trickled around my hooves, making a horrible sizzling sound as it did. The smell was somewhat akin to that of a hayburger slowly chargrilling above crackling flames—except with the horrible, metallic note of blood and a side of endless, heart-pounding pain.

But both Thorn and I kept quiet, holding our breaths as best we could. Our wide eyes flitted desperately around the barely illuminated room—but we soon realised there were only two means of escape from here.

One was back the way we had come, through the tiny hole which was now blocked by the beast’s shrivelled but deadly forearms, claws and all. And the other?

Well, the other was blocked by the sleeping devil before us.

The monstrosity flared its nostrils and snorted, its beak idly tapping the rock. Its claws twitched every now and then, scratching small holes into the stone. Its wings—this one had almost a full set of colourless, dry feathers—beat sporadically as air rumbled through its chest. Its tattered plumage bristled occasionally, sweeping up clouds of dust.

I took a deep breath in, letting the stale air slip into my lungs. I exhaled shakily, moving my hoof slowly as I released it.

“O-kay,” I whispered. My voice was barely louder than the sound of breathing. I rose my hoof hesitantly. I kept my eyes focused on the beast’s head, watching its every move. “If we get around this thing—” The creature snorted in its sleep, momentarily spasming. “—then we can hide in that space back there. Right?”

Thorn rose onto the tips of his hooves, stretching his neck out as he tried to look over the abhorration’s body. He then hunched his back and clamped his tail, hissing somewhat. A few small sparks shot from his horn, pattering on the rock below like droplets of rain. I cringed and took a small step away from him—but quickly swallowed that distaste when my hoof landed a little too close to the first creature’s claws. I leapt back to his side, thanking the merciful gods for my grace. Any other heavy-hoofed earth pony would have caused a miniature rock fall.

“Watch it,” I murmured before slowly nudging his flank. Lamely he fell forwards before hobbling a few tentative steps around the beast’s body. The crudely carved walls scratched at our ears and sides, but we didn’t flinch away; to do so would have sent us closer to the monstrosity’s deadly claws. But, for now, we were fine. The beast slumbered on lightly, snorting in its sleep but not awakening.

And then my sure-footed confidence failed me. My hoof landed directly on top of a fragment of rock, ripping a scream from my throat as I fell to the side. My fore legs entwined with Thorn’s rear legs, dragging him down with me so that we both landed heavily on the beast’s side. It was on its feat with a howled cry immediately, knocking us directly into the wall. I crumpled on the ground, and Thorn fell in a small pile beside me. He whimpered and scrambled to roll onto his stomach, his horn sparking again as the beast turned to us.

This one was even bigger.

“Klip!” Thorn yelled as the beast lunged, its beak open in a massive scream. It smashed into the rock an inch from his head, turning the stone to mere dust. It only took a moment for it to recover, striking again with renewed anger. It snagged at my mane and tore a chunk out; with a cry I jumped to my hooves and slammed into Thorn, knocking him onwards in a gallop of sorts as the beast turned to attack. Our hooves tore up the rock as the beast reared up, shrivelled foreclaw poised to deliver a still lethal blow—and then it froze, coughing. A tiny pebble had flown into its throat, making it grasp at its neck desperately whilst heaving. And then it attacked again, its aim true and set to catch me...

And then I felt that familiar, horrible feeling of magic encasing my body. I tried to thrash, but could only flick my eyes about. And when they landed on Thorn, I saw with wide eyes as his magic encased the both of us and we slowly, slowly turned invisible before my eyes.

We literally vanished.

The beast snorted and squawked, throwing its hideous head about in sudden confusion. It bumbled dangerously around its small cavern, calling out almost woefully. It bucked at the walls with its rear legs heavily, pebbles raining down from above.

This was our chance. With a small, uneasy smile I fumbled forwards, falling over the monster’s tail in my excitement to flee. I ducked flailing limbs and sidestepped swinging limbs, carelessly bumbling towards that tiny cavern. It would be worth it. I felt sure it would be worth it.

I all but fell into the hollowed-out wall when I reached it, unceremoniously heaving Thorn in too when he overshot. But we could not yet rest, for the beast was still in hot pursuit. It scrabbled after us with its sickle-like claws, cleanly slicing through the air. It dug desperately through—through!—the rock, throwing pebbles everywhere as it snuffled and snapped and snarled at us.

“Go, go,” I urged, trying to keep my voice somewhat calm. We weren’t in immediate danger, I tried to reason with myself, but my body didn’t believe it. My steps were quick and erratic and my heart thudded dangerously loud in my chest. Thud, thud, thud, thud. It was an endless drumroll of terror.

“Klip!” Thorn whispered, suddenly not moving. “Klip, this is the end of the tunnel!”

I hissed and nodded slowly, turning around so that I could back up next to him. The beast was a way off, but its digging was getting more erratic and it was showing no signs of tiring. It opened its beak in a scream and its black tongue shot out, feeling around the cavern. Its saliva coated the walls, burning them away slowly so that the tunnel widened slightly. And then the beast crept forwards even more and gave another shrill cry; it threw out its tongue again—and this time, it could reach us.

I yelled and thrashed as the black tongue wove around my forelegs, jerking me quickly from my hooves. The mutant’s saliva burned at my skin, filling the tunnel with the smell of cooking meat. I hurled, my meagre stomach contents spewed across the cave walls. My vision, already poor, swam; I collapsed onto my rump, my rear legs suddenly incapable of going on, and wriggled feebly as I was dragged closer to that massive, open beak. I fought as much as I could, but my body was in searing pain and practically rendered useless; I could barely manage a twitch of the legs.

It was Thorn that came to my rescue. I watched blearily as the foal tumbled towards me, rearing up at my side before losing his footing. He fell heavily atop the creature’s tongue; though not exactly the heavy stomp he had surely been aiming for, it worked. The creature squawked and let go immediately, retreating from the cave entrance with a whine and a whimper.

I relaxed automatically, my tensed body slumping next to Thorn as we both heaved for breath. It was quiet in the little tunnel now, save for the occasional dripping of water from the tunnel’s roof. But I hardly heard much; everything was hazy and numb.

“C-C’mon,” I mumbled, uselessly trying to raise myself up onto my hooves. I quickly abandoned that endeavour, instead just settling for crawling forwards like a newborn foal. Thorn beamed at me and quickly put his head under my belly, using all his strength to raise me up to my hooves. It was an exceptionally impressive endeavour and he was ever so patient as I stood there, trembling. When I finally was able to stand unassisted, I tentatively ruffled his mane and said, “Thanks, kid.”

He looked overjoyed.

Wearily we both stumbled to the end of the tunnel, then collapsing again there. Wonderful though it was to be away from the beast, it was still of little relief to us in the end; after all, we were now trapped without food or drinking water. We’d still die in a matter of days, beast or no.

I groaned and hung my head, then banging it gently against the wall in my frustration. As I did so, though, I noticed something; my ears pricked up and I sat taller. I rose a hoof cautiously, not wanting to let my hopes get too high, and tapped the brick wall.

Hollow. It was hollow!

A massive grin spread across my face, and without a moment to spare I stood, shook myself off and took a few steps backwards. With a deep breath in, I then made an awkward attempt at a rear—the tunnel roof was simply too low—and charged. A metre before the wall, I turned my head away, closed my eyes and leapt with my hooves outstretched.

And, amazingly, the wall cracked beneath my weight. Giddily I stumbled towards the crack and spun on the spot; after a moment to catch my breath, I gave a massive, wobbly buck. The rock wall splintered slightly more, creaking under its own weight. Thorn, too, rushed to join in, if carelessly with all his weight held on only one leg.

At the next buck, a few small rocks fell away. Eagerly we both scrabbled at the edges of the hole with our hooves, fighting to make it wide enough to fit through. With his horn Thorn then shone a little light around the room that we now found ourselves in.

It was amazing, by which I initially only meant that there were none of those monstrosities lurking here. After a moment, though, I realised that such was actually true. Gemstones on the room’s walls had now begun to glow faintly so that Thorn could release his magic, and in that light it was easy to see the wonderful state this room was still in. Fungus now grew around the edges of the walls and it was dusty and—if the way our fur stood on end was any indication—far from radiation free. But it was a pre-war facility, and to top it all, it was well furnished. With bean bags, of all things!

There had only been one bean bag in the village. It had, rightfully so, been reserved for the elders.

I let out a sigh and let my body collapse again now, flopping onto the bean bag. It stank of mold and decay but oh, was it still so inviting! So soft, molding exactly to my shape. Thorn, too, let one engulf his tiny frame. It was sheer bliss.

We did not sleep. But oh, was it nice just to lay there.

Level Up!

New Perk: Sleepless Level One

It’s tough to go without sleep, especially in the wastes, but it’s a fact of life and you’re starting to get used to it now. Endurance temporarily up by one when fatigued!

Author's Note

This is so late, I'm sorry, but I will try to do better. If you really want to see this updated, though, please consider becoming my first patron on Patreon? Earning an income from my work would definitely help me justify writing horsewords more, for I'm really struggling right now.

Many thanks (as always) to Word Worthy for his wonderful editing skills!

Love you all,

Aeluna