Author's Note

Mind the gap (and logic errors)

Surprise

My senses buzzed after I felt something on my leg. There were moans. I shot up as AJ awoke, attempting to shake the pony off my leg. Twi had made me sleep in one of the tents with AJ, so we were trapped in, but I'd woken up in time to push her off before she bit me. Commotion stirred outside as I dove for the knife in my bag and sliced it up her forehead, killing her instantly.

Rarity screamed loudly outside. "AJ! Stay here!" She nodded intently, startled from the ruckus.

Grabbing my m9 and leaping outside, I looked over at Rarity, who had the zombie pony all over her. Having a clear, easy shot, I quickly aimed and fired, causing her to collapse on top of Rarity as I gripped the knife in my other hand. "Bang!" A shot from Dash whizzed past me and struck a zombie behind me. Twi waved her own gun at the remaining attackers. There was a herd of at least twenty starting to gather around. It was impossible to believe we were snuck up on.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!" The others fired promptly, dropping the rest of them. Spike was by Rarity's side, shaking her eagerly. I'd gotten off two more shots before it clicked. I was out of ammo, and had no magazines in my pocket. With an attacker just feet away from me, I gripped the knife and shoved it through her eye before pulling it out and backing up against the tent. Beyond this point, we were unphased to finding who we were killing, simply because we were trying hard to ignore it. It was either them or us, and Celestia said there'd be a way to bring them back. Hopefully ...

A half-faced, torn zombie leapt for Rarity, who Spike attempted to push away. Unfortunately, the young dragon was too young and nimble, and was immediately pushed to the ground. Another one came from around the tree and sprung on Rarity, and the others were too busy fending others off. The camp was almost completely invaded, and three of them surrounded me and the tent. Unable to juke them, and unwilling to leave AJ in possible danger, I made the hard decision to flee inside the tent and quickly zip up the front. They immediately sprung on top of it, but only the front flap collapsed on itself as I scooted to the back of the tent with AJ.

"Are you alright?" I asked.

"I'm fine, just keep them away!"

I glanced over the m9 as I reached in my pack for an extra magazine. Gunfire blasted outside, and I hoped everypony would get out safely ... somehow. Popping another mag inside, I cocked it and fired through the front of the tent, hearing them drop outside.

"What do we do now?" AJ asked warily.

"Just stay in here, I'll push em off. I don't want you moving around, you need to heal."

I ripped through a bullet hole in the tent, and expanded it large enough to reach out, struggling to shove them off the front so I could unzip it. While the gunfire continued outside, I managed to push two of them off and unzip the front. The herd outside was less severe, and I put in a few shots to the remaining zombies. I looked over to the tree to see Rarity unconscious underneath one of them and Spike nowhere to be found. Nurse Redheart was against a tree behind Twi's tent, taking sharp shots at more approaching attackers and Twi was hanging out the tent's front, joining in with the shots. With nothing but bodies to step over, I stepped out and ran over to Rarity, who was very still, with blood dripped from her mouth.

"Rarity! Rarity! Stay with me!" I kneeled beside her. I checked for her pulse with no avail. "Rarity!" I yelled. I didn't know CPR very well, but I tried it anyways. Push ... 1 ... 2 ... 3 ... Push ... 1 ... 2 ... 3 ... Push ... 1 ... 2 ... 3 ...

I bent down to give her mouth to mouth, then repeated the pushing a few more times. "Come on Rarity. Just wake up. You can do this." Her wounds were bloody and deep. The zombie had bit into her sides before I'd been able to shoot him.

"Bang!" A final shot rang out, followed by silence. Where was Spike?

"Here, let me." Redheart came up beside me and shoved herself into my spot. I had to find Spike. Allowing the nurse to work on her, I backed up and looked around before scurrying over to Twi's tent. "Where is everyone?"

"Dash and one of the guards are in here. I don't know where Redheart or the other guard went, and last I saw of Spike, he ran off." She sprung out of her tent. "Is AJ okay?"

"Yes, and the nurse is with Rarity," I pointed to them.

"Spike ... calm down. Rarity will be okay. Snow is with her." I couldn't imagine that she'd be okay after what she looked like, but I tried to keep optimism on the situation.

"No! Let me see her!" He almost snapped out of Twi's grip before I held him down by his right side.

"Rarity!" he hollered, "Let go of me, you jerks!"

He struggled for a few more moments before falling and rolling into a ball. We let go and Twi comforted him.

Dash came around the tree with a few tears down her cheeks.

"She's gone," she whispered.