The Flesh Pile

A pair of brown eyes meets mine as I turn. The eyes can't see to stay focus on mine. They move around the room and never stay at one place for very long. They look into my eyes and follow the chamber again.

The eyes belong to a young male griffin, only a kid by the looks of it. His face is dirty with snow-white feathers and a dark brown beak. His clothes neat with no rips or tears and looks warm. He wears grey cargo pants, a black, puffy jacket with the zipper up to his neck, and dark brown boots that have a piece of metal at the tips. He holds a black pistol that's bigger than his forearm, and he can't keep it steady in his white hands.

We look at each other for some time almost like neither one of us knows what to do. "Well?" the young griffin speaks, "put your hands up." I slide my pistol, out of his view, and into my jacket and turn around with my hands up. The griffin takes a few steps back. "What are you doing here?" he asks in a deep voice.

"Just doing a supply run," I reply, "Not here to cause any problems."

"That's bullshit," He yells. "You're here to steal my food. I need that food. It's all I have."

"I know. I know," I try to calm him. "Food is always outstanding. It's why I'm out here."

"Yeah, and you saw me outside as some easy target, didn't you?"

"I didn't say-"

"I can kill you right now!" He screams. "You can't have this food. It's mine! I need it!"

"Ok. Ok." I whisper. "I'm not gonna steal, and I can just go back outside. I don't think you want to kill me either, and I won't force you to." I take a few steps back and move to the door.

"I can't let you go," he states. My heart travels into my throat. "There's ghosts around here."

I blink a few times. "Ghosts?" I ask.

"You must have seen them. They look like griffins you know."

Volt downstairs must be one of these 'ghosts.' "Yeah, I saw one. It ran up here. So I was looking for him."

"Don't. It'll rip you apart," he explains. "I don't know you mister, but I need to survive until my cousin finds me. She can give you some stuff."

I repeat his words over and look into his eyes again. They bounce around again and never stay put. I've seen the fear in a pony's eyes before, but I'm not sure what to say to him. "Yeah, I'll stay. Just put the gun away, alright."

"No. I want to keep it out." His eyes settle down, and he relaxes. "Petri by the way." I look at him and squint. "That's my name."

"Ah. My names Dapper." Petri smiles at me.

"Nice," He approves, "It makes you sound neat."

"Thanks," I reply. I lower my hands down. Petri watches me without a disproval. He holds the gun at his side. "You think we can get your cousin's attention by shooting that."

"Shit no. It will attract all kinds of freaks," Petri protests.

"Good point," I agree. I sit down across from Petri, and he does the same. He looks up often at the door and checks his ammo quite a bit. He lowers the mag out. It falls between his fingers and hits the floor.

"Shit," he curses. It slides to me. I pick it up from the ground. A small noise stops me half-way. "Hey, you fucker give it-"

"Shh," I interrupt, "You hear that."

"Yeah, you." Petri stands up and smacks the magazine away from me. He walks back to his seat on the ground. He stops as the noise goes off again. "I hear something too."

"Stand still. Don't move till I tell you," I command.

"What makes you think I'll-"

"Shut up," I demand. The noise stops. We wait for it again. We wait, and wait, and wait. "Hide somewhere, I'll check outside." I walk to the glass door and focus my vision. The wall opens up as I look through it with an x-ray spell. Nothing is there.

I end the spell and look back at Petri. He aims his gun up. "Duck!" he screams. A massive explosion erupts behind me. It shakes the floor. I jump down to my left and hear a loud bang. My ears ring with a sharp pain. I turn to the door and see a giant fist that takes up most of the doorway. It has no skin and has bloody muscles with joints of his bone that protrude out with veins on top of them.

The fist jerks back and vanishes into the hall. A shimmer goes to the lockers. "The fuck was that?" Petri asks.

"Don't know," I reply, "That's something new for me." The creature must be larger than a car from the size of his arm. That's impossible. I would see it with the spell. So does this thing cloak. It's not new from what I hear but nothing this significant has done it, yet this can. "We need to go," I tell Petri.

"Not without my cousin!" He demands.

"That's suicide," I tell Petri, "I don't know what that thing is. We got to go!"

"NO!" Petri protests. I can't let this kid kill himself. I grab his pistol with my magic and pull it towards me. The pistol levitates to me. I catch it in mid-air and tuck it into my jacket. "FUCK YOU!" Petri screams.

"Sorry Petri, but I'm not going to let you die." I rush to him and grab his torso. I toss him on my left shoulder. He kicks and screams to get away.

The hall is a mess of rumble and imprints in the tiles. I rush to the same stairs, same ones I came up from before, to my left. The rail is a mess of destruction down the middle of the stairs. A bang erupts at the bottom of the stairs. I get to the end and see the front doors contort under my skin. The beast turns to me after he finishes.

He has no skin on any part of his body. He crawls on all fours with muscular arms and pointy muscles for fingers. Bones stand tall around the beast with veins around them. He doesn't have a head or neck, but he has eyes with a bright blue glow and a mouth that has a jungle of teeth. His eyes pop out on the surface of his muscles and start to scan the room. He never has his eyes sink, which gives him the appearance of a chameleon.

He looks at me and drags his tongue on the sharp points of his teeth. He rushes me. I draw Petri's pistol. I shoot a round into his mouth. He stops and cries out. I unload another one into his eye. He disappears from my sight right in front of me. I steady the pistol. A massive hole breaches through to the second floor.

"What's happening?" Petri asks still on my shoulder. I lay him down and hand him his pistol.

"We're dealing with a beast that can camouflage," I state, "I don't know how to handle this so we'll have to find another way out."

"I won't go..." Petri protests.

"PETRI! We don't know what to expect from this thing. We have to get out of here."

"I won't leave," Petri fiddles around in his jacket and pulls out a bright red gun with a wide barrel. "I didn't want to risk using this, but if she's alive. She'll see it. If you want to go, fine. Go. I don't care."

"Petri..." I stop. If she is alive, there is no way she'll miss a flare. However, that bright red star in the sky will get every single infected out at our front door. I can't leave him either. Fuck me. FUCK ME! "I'll help let's get to that hole in that room you were in earlier. We can fire it there. May get my buddy out here too."

"Ok," Petri agrees.

We run back up the stairs as the cold nips at us. The halls have a bloody decore with the dead bodies strewn throughout like confetti. Did he eat some of them? This mess is a whole new level of crazy. I turn to look at Petri. Where did he go?

A bang rings out through the halls. A bright light fills the area with red and vanishes soon after. A shimmer goes across the corridor. I withdraw my pistol from my jacket and aim down the sights. Petri comes into my peripherals. I look back down the halls. I shift my feet to get ready to run.

Petri screams I turn and see him fly back. He slams against the wall with a thud. A shimmer rushes at me. A sharp pain rises from my stomach. The ground escapes my feet as I rise into the air. It rushes back to me as my face slams into the icy surface.

I raise the gun up and shoot at the shimmer. A groan erupts from empty air. Pain fills my head as my face smashes down into the ice again. The shimmer raises up. I roll away and watch the ice crater around emptiness. I fire another shot. Red blood gushes out and hits the snow.

The beast unveils itself. His right eye bulges and spits out blood. He raises a nasty fist and smashes my hands. My gun flys across the hall. I channel heat in my hands. I stop as I look at my hands and see my left hand break in pieces, my fingers contort under my skin, and turns purple enough to see under my fur.

Pain smacks me in the face, and I lose the ground again. I land on something hard with and it reacts with a grunt. I look at the person. Its a griffin but not Petri. Who the hell is this female one? She's buxom with a small head of grey feathers. Her bright yellow beak and blue eyes almost glow in the night. "Can you get off me, please?" she asks in a kind voice.

"Sorry." I apologize and roll off her. "Who the hell are you?"

"I'm Gabby," She announces in a happy tone, "and I'm here for Petri, but guess I came in time for a fight as well." She wears the same armor that Fluttershy was in earlier. Must be in the same group. She wields a semi-auto rifle with a wooden grip and a silvery metal.

She unleashes a barrage of bullets into the chameleon. I charge a firebolt in my right hand and throw it alongside Gabby's gunfire. She shoots like a real marksman as she lands each shot into the creatures. The beast trap at a dead end can only cower as he accepts the abuse of pain.

"Reloading," Gabby calls out. She lowers her gun and reaches her hand into her pocket. The beast sees this and charges down the hall. I concentrate cold and throw an ice shard into his eye. It rips the eye all the way off, but the chameleon ignores it. He stretches his arms to each side of the hall and takes up the majority of the space.

He knocks both of us to the floor. I land on my left hand. The pain travels up my arm and down my back. I roll over and see the stairs. I turn back and see Gabby in the corner with Petri. They were stuck in there by the Chameleon.

I want to run from this. To forget this day but.....Fuck Me! I channel cold in my hand and charge the lizard. I plunge an ice shard underneath his stomach. He groans and a sharp travels up my left foot. I stay firm in my stance. A loud bang goes off, and the mighty titan falls with his entrails across the ice and tiles.

Everyone breathes hard and quick. "HOOOORRRAAAYYY!" Gabby cheers. She reaches for my right hand and shakes it in a rapid motion. My entire body shakes in the motion as my arm travels up and down. "I have no idea how glad I am that you found my little Petri."

"Cuz. I'm not fucking little," Petri complains.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I can't help it. Now, mister, you need help with your hand?" she offers to me. "I know quite the variety of healing and medication and-"

"Just get me something to bite on," I interrupt her. She scours through her pockets and pulls out a washcloth.

"You sure you don't need any help?" She asks again.

"No need I know a healing spell." I bite down on the cloth and start the spell up. My entire hand feels on fire as bones move and stretch the skin. A sharp edge of one dances across my palms as it wiggles into place. I hand swells but its all good now. My teeth hurt as I remove the cloth away.

"Excuse me, sir?" Gabby starts up. "Can I ask you some questions?"

I grab my jaw and massage it. "Sure, what it is?"

"Well, I'm quite curious what your name is? That and if you've seen my group?"

"Dappers my name. Your group the one with the heavy metal armor and heavy weapons?"

"Exactly like that. I need to find them again."

"I think one is coming back to get us. According to a mare named BonBon on your radio."

"Yes. That's perfect." She cheers. She must be the party girl for her enthusiasm. "One more thing."

"Hmm?" I moan out.

"We need a place to stay till then. You have one near here?"

I know Hazel will be mad, but I can't say no to an energetic and useful person. She screams kindness and teamwork to levels beyond what I try to do. How can I refuse her?