The C̸̞̙̭̽̌̀̈́̽̕̕ȗ̵̧̨̢̻̩̞̘͙̉̋̊͂͘ŕ̷͖̦̍͝s̵̫̪̋̍͂̆̆͆̄é̶̡̧̺͖d̸͎͒̒̿̈̀ Apocalypse

"We all set?" Twi hurled her saddlebag on.

Everypony and Discord nodded. Flutters had been talking to me ever since I left Twi's room. She didn't seem very keen about leaving. "Can you and I ... maybe ... stay here while the others leave?"

The zombie attack must have scared her. It hurt hearing her nervousness.

"I'm sorry, Flutters. I have to go. You can stay here if you'd like. We'll be back as soon as we get this all figured out. Right?" I gestured to Twi for help.

"Yeah. Don't worry, Flutters," Twi came over, "Everything will be fine."

"Well, since you guys are leaving, I'll come with you."

Now, I don't know if you could tell, but I've grown very fond of this bunch over time. I had been with them for a seemingly endless ten months. They had been like family to me. And that's why it hurt me to see them suffer. I gave Flutters a meaningful glance. She smiled back wryly.

"Let's go."

Twi led the others out the door. A long walk awaited us. There was a reason they put a train there. First, we headed out for the train station. We still didn't know what condition it was in and I still highly doubted it was functional, or even there at all.

We followed the now risen sun. Flutters stayed close to my side, still very anxious. Nurse Redheart tagged along with numerous supplies just in case we got hurt on the way there. It was okay, because right after I left Twi's room, two of the four nurse ponies returned. They had been on patrol, healing survivors, I assumed.

There was small talk between the group about the plan and what we were going to do; also, some random topics to occupy the time and get our minds off this current running disaster.

As expected, Flutters and I were talking to each other. I was getting increasingly worried about the way she was acting. Normally, Flutters would be quiet and shy, and just ... cute. But right now, she was talkative, attentive, and anxious. I was carefully observing her as we walked. She looked fine for the most part. She must have been shaken up from the attack, but I was starting to doubt that. The specks of heat for the day were slowly inching their way towards the cool grass as we approached the train station silhouette through the morning fog.

After my long ten months, I'd only ridden in the trains about four or five times. I didn't know much about the train station and its layout. Would it really matter though? I didn't think so.

Just as I had expected, no trains could be seen. Throughout all the track, there wasn't any sign of a train car. The station looked regular for the most part, but we weren't close enough to pick up all the details just yet.

"Devan ..." Flutters whispered nervously.

"What is it?"

"Can you tell the others to hurry? Please?"

Now that I thought about it, we were headed at a pretty slow pace. Without question, I asked.

"Hey guys, can we speed up a little bit?"

"Sorry. I was just scanning the area," Twi picked up her pace, and the others followed.

Closer and closer we approached. The crossing was ahead, but I figured it didn't matter to us. Not like any trains were going to show up, right? Sometimes I may be a bit too optimistic.

The side door to the station, which I assumed to be the employee door, was wide open. The closer we got, the more rotten it smelled. There were bits of blood on the doorstep that we could see when we approached the tracks. Now my sense of "optimism" seemed to transfer to the others.

"Well. Crap," Twi stopped. I pulled out my m9 from my holster in case things got out of hand. We made our way around the door slowly. Unexpectedly, a zombie had detected our scent and jumped out of the doorway. "Bang!"

The others had flinched and jumped back, but Twi and I already saw it coming. It was an easy shot; nothing to worry about. Twi helped me pull the body out of the way.

"Clear," Twi directed, after looking around the door and peering into the room.

"Not even dead bodies?" I asked. She shook her head no.

"Rarity, Devan, and I will go in and look around. The rest of you, stay on guard," Twi instructed.

We swooped in, welcomed with blood stains blotted around the floor. The room was fairly small, but potentially held a good amount of essentials. We quickly began scavenging.

We managed to gather up very useful items, such as: expired train tickets, empty boxes, and old papers. Seriously. The only valuable thing was in the mini-fridge in the back ... a half eaten apple fritter and carrots. I guess we shouldn't have expected much from looting a train station. Looting wasn't what we were here for anyways. We were just looking around.

What were we still doing here though? It was a simple detour. But, Flutters was anxious enough just walking slowly. This must have made her insides burst. We had to get moving.

"Are we done scuffling through this dump?" I asked.

"I guess so," Twi gathered Rarity and we started walking toward the door. Just before we reached it, a sound was heard in the distance. There was no time to react. The window from the train station shattered, and glass fell on the ground we stood upon.

Gunshots.