Walk The Aftermath

"You just had to go and blow shit up didn't you?"

Windy Nights sighed and shook her head as she walked, FireStarter close beside her.

"I didn't mean for anypony to get hurt, and besides, you're the one who blew the damn thing up."

"Be that as it may, I wouldn't have been defusing it if someone didn't have their hooves on it in the first place."

"Whatever. Let's just find someplace to hunker down for a while."

"A while? We won't be going back. May I remind you that Command Chain's wife died?"

"Come on FireStarter, you knew she was dead anyways."

"Point made."

The two walked for another hour or so, before they both heard one of their stomachs growl.

"Wow, that was pretty damn loud there."

"Well, I didn't have anything to eat. We left at like three AM and it's gotta be an hour past breakfast by now."

"Once again, could've had breakfast-"

"If I didn't blow the place up, you ever gonna let that go?"

"Why would I?"

Windy Nights sighed as she looked at the buildings in the intersection they had stopped at.

"There, there's a corner store."

"Great. Every great pony at one time ate breakfast in a corner store."

"Would you shut up and just cover me? I'm hearing somepony inside there and I sure as shit don't wanna die if they're alive and armed too."

Sighing, FireStarter drew his Glock and aimed it at the door. Windy Nights drew her Uzi, which unbeknownst to her was empty, and pushed the door open. When she walked in and looked around, she nodded to FireStarter.

"Just cover the outside."

"Got it."

Windy Nights slowly moved through the building, gun aimed in front of her. Her ears perked up when a rustling noise came from the counter beside her, she aimed and tried to fire. Just as she realized that the gun was empty, a figure jumped over the counter and delivered a swift kick to the head. FireStarter, hearing the commotion, ran in, just in time to have the unknown pony cock a gun beside his head.

"Drop it."

He immediately listened to the quick command and dropped his pistol. Windy Nights shook the pain off and drew her spare pistol, aiming it at the hostage taker.

"Now you drop yours."

"Windy?"

"Huh?"

The figure reholstered her gun and pulled the bandana off of her muzzle.

"Windy! So good to see you!"

"What the, Stone Temple? It's you?"

"Who else? Shit, I really got you good, didn't I?"

"Yeah, lucky my gun was out I guess, otherwise it would've been the other way around."

"Guess so."

Stone Templed chuckled as she wrapped her hoof around Windy Night's neck and walked her toward FireStarter.

"This place is empty, pick your gun up and let's go."

Fire Starter blew out the breath he was holding in and did as Stone Temple said as she walked by.

"That was not how I wanted this morning to go at all."

When FireStarter Reholstered his gun and caught up to the the mares.

"So, why the hell are you two out here?"

"We could ask you the same thing, where did you go last night?"

"Eh, I was a diversion. Anyways, you two, what happened."

"What happened lastt night, with the explosion, that was my fault."

"How? Why?"

"I'll tell you over breakfast."

"Ha, that is if we can find some. I've been going from building to building all night, nothing but murder scenes and like twenty zombies."

"Nothing? How, we haven't been out this way, have we?"

"Nope, but they're all looted just the same."

"Looted, so there are other survivors?"

"Guess so."

"Keen observations ladies, but can we maybe find a building that isn't looted and get some food?"

The two mares stopped and rolled their eyes, turnibg to face FireStarter.

"Tell ya what. Windy and I are gonna go farther out and see what we can find. Since you got the magic, we need to find a building, clear it, and fortify it. We can set up a base, make some traps, recruit some survivors, and just maybe we can die the way we were born to and not get eaten alive, yes?"

"Some big plans, this what you were thinking about all night?"

"Basically."

"Alright, let's do it."

Windy Nights smiled and put her hoof out in front of her. Stone Temple smiled back at her and put hers on top. Both pegasi looked at FireStarter, who sighed before walking closer.

"Trusting you two is where I usually go wrong, but what the hell. I'm in."

Command Chain grunted as he pushed the last in tact pew into place in front of the door.

"There."

He turned back to see High Road putting her guns into their respective holsters and slipping on a backpack.

"And where do you think you're going?"

"Back off 'general', you aren't in control of me, I'm going out to find them. And I plan on bringing them back here."

"You do that, and I'll have the three of you killed on sight!"

"With what? Face it, we lost everything that we had, which wasn't much to begin with, and they could die out there."

"Then why not go join them? The way I see it, it's either die out there, or die in here."

High Road looked away and scoffed before smiling and looking back at Command Chain.

"You know, you're right."

High Road finished putting on the backpack and started toward the exit through the bell tower.

"Save a spot in hell for me will ya?"

She coldly said without looking back. Command Chain watched her climb out through the bell tower, and heard hoofsteps fade off into the distance. Almost too angry to even speak, he blew out a breath and started walking over to his son.

"What, what do we do now?"

Command Chain sat down beside Wind Up and put his hoof on his shoulder.

"Sometimes all you can do is wait, and that's what we'll do."

"There, looks like a pharmacy."

"Let's hit it. FireStarter, you go around back, Stone I will go in the front. Got at least four rounds left."

Windy Nights slid the magazine back into her pistol and aimed it at the door. When she nodded to the others, they all started moving. When Stone Temple and Windy Nights approached the front door, Windy Nights slowly reached a hoof toward the doorknob, gun held up at it as well.

"Wait!"

"What?"

"What if there's an alarm or something?"

"Then we run like hell."

"Ok, I like that plan."

Windy Nights nodded and slowly turned the knob, then pushed the door open. The same as the corner store, just enough natural light was poking in from the still low sun to see just about everything clearly.

"Looks clear, and even better, I'm seeing stocked shelves."

"I see some bodies, let's just make sure they don't start moving."

Stone Temple holstered her gun and drew her knife, flipping it once in her wing before walking slowly down an aisle to the left. As Windy Nights took the right, Stone Temple looked up and down the shelves until she spotted a shelf full of pain-killing drugs.

"Well well well, mama likes."

She chuckled to her self as she looked through the various vials and pill bottles.

"Methadone, nah. Fentanyl, no way. There we are, Oxycodone."

While stuffing bottles into her backpack, Stone Temple was too oblivious to notice the zombie that had heard her and was now walking toward her. Windy Nights was just done walking around the end of her aisle when she saw it stumbling towards her friend.

"Stone!"

She quickly took aim and fired, the shot blowing straight through the zombies head, and breaking the glass on the locked shelves behind it. The alarm started going off the moment the bullet struck the glass, and Windy Nights quickly ran over to the mare on the ground.

"You good?"

"Yeah, sorry."

Windy Nights pulled Stone Temple up just in time to see FireStarter run in the front door.

"We got trouble!"

The two pegasi ran out the front door, but stopped short when they spotted the oncoming horde of zombies.

"Shit, back inside!"

All three ran back inside, and FireStarter levitated two of the shelves in front of the door.

"Is there any other way in?"

"The back isn't open, I couldn't get in. Think we could get out that way?"

"Let's try it, Stone, you guard the door."

"Kay."

Stone Temple aimed her gun at the door and peeked at the horde outside through the slots in the shelf. The other two ran into the back of the store through the door over the counter. When they pushed the door open and looked into the alleyway, they found it clear.

"Go get Stone Temple, we can get out over this wall."

Before Windy Nights even finished her sentence, FireStarter had run back inside. Windy Nights walked out into the alley and slowly drew her gun. As she peeked around the corner, a gust of wind blew, slamming the door behind her. A small group of zombies heard the sound and split off, now coming towards her.

"Fuck."

As she ran back to the door, she remembered that it was locked. She knocked on the door, but the zombies had already rounded the corner. She had to run. Remembering the wall, but for some reason forgetting she had wings, she jumped up on a dumpster and onto the parking lot high above the pharmacy alleyway.

"They'll be fine, I'm sure."

As she ran off, FireStarter opened the door just to see zombies. He tried to pull the door closed, but a few zombies reached their hooves in and blocked it, reaching for him.

"Shit, help!"

Stone temple ran up, pulling the reciever on her gun back and letting it slide back into place. She shot three rounds, killing three zombies. It certainly wasn't all that was out there, but it was enough to let the door close. As it slammed shut, the two ponies pushed a shelf in front of it and slumped down.

"Where's Windy?"

"I don't know, when I opened the door, she was gone."

"You don't think-"

"No, no way, she's just out free, I know it. She'll come back, I'm sure she'll have no trouble finding the place."

The parking lot extended up and just under a freeway, which ran far past what Windy Nights could see. From where she stood, she could see a ladder up to the freeway, and what looked like a small police vehicle.

"Ok, if I can get in that, maybe get enough ammo to clear one door out, we can all get the hell out of here."

When she set her hoof on the bottom rung of the metal ladder, she felt something touch the top of her head. She looked up, only to have a drop of blood drop onto her bangs. Looking up after stepping back, she spotted the source. There was a body, be it alive or dead, hanging half off the edge of the ladder.

"Great, as if today didn't already suck."

She sighed and set her hoof on the bottom ladder rung again, keeping her head down this time.

"Fucking sucks, can't even look where the hell I'm going, 'cause if I get this shit in my eyes, I'll turn into one of these stupid things, and I really just don't care for that."

Reaching both the end of her rant and the top of the ladder, Windy Nights pulled her head back and looked up. She gasped and let go of the ladder when she looked and saw the body staring at her and moving to attack her. As she fell toward the ground, her eyes opened wide, and she spread her wings.

"Oh yeah, I can fly. Wy the hell didn't I just do that then? Holy shit, I need breakfast."

She flew past the body and over to the back of the police truck, stabbing a zombie in the back of the head with her knife just after she landed.

"Alright, let's see what'cha got in store for me. Oh, locked. Figures."

After a quick search around the area for a keyholder, she was forced to move on.

"Son of a bitch, that was just about my onl-"

When a small thud came from a beaten up old pickup from ahead of her, Windy Night's ducked down behind a car and drew her pistol. After a quick ammo check, having nothing, she drew her knife and slowly started moving up to the truck. She decided to check the cab first, and after flinging open the driver side door, found nothing. Then a noise came from the back, prompting her to move to the tailgate. There was a blanket covering almost the surface of the bed, but there were multiple lumps all around under it. Windy Nights held the knife in her right wing as she grabbed the edge of the blanket with the other. When she threw it up, her mouth dropped open and she quickly sheathed her blade.

"Well hello there little fella, how did you get under here?"

The dog slightly inched back at the sight of the stanger, but Windy Nights slowly extended her hoof to it.

"Don't worry buddy, I'm not here to hurt ya."

When she was reaching as far as she could, the dog started sniffing her hoof, and soon started licking it and moving closer to her. She smiled and started petting the dog as it sat beside the closed tailgate.

"Here, let me open that for you. There you go. Aw, you got a lot of fur on you don't ya? Don't ya little guy? What's this?"

Windy Nights noticed something poking out from under the blanket and lifted the blanket out of the truck with a small gasp.

"Well look what you were hidin' with. You gotta love the apocalypse sometimes."

"There, it's off."

"Finally."

FireStarter stepped down from the counter he was on and walked over to the front door, staring at the zombies through the window.

"Well, maybe if there's a noise somewhere else they'll go away?"

"It worked when I did it, why wouldn't it now?"

"Hold on, have we checked this place for a roof?"

"No, why?"

"Because, if Windy was able to get out through that alleyway, then we should be able to get out from the roof."

FireStarter walked over to the office of the pharmacy and looked around inside.

"Here, there's a little emergency hatch here."

FireStarter pushed the hatch open with his hoof and drew his pistol with his magic.

"Clear."

The two made their way up onto the roof and closed the hatch behind them. Stone Temple walked over to the edge of the roof overlooking the alleyway and looked down.

"Well, there certainly are more here than before. But it looks like we can get across here."

FireStarter put his gun back into his holster and walked over to the edge, standing beside Stone Temple.

"Oh yeah, here's a parking lot, looks like it streches over there."

While the two talked about what to do, they failed to notice the body by the edge of the roof standing up and hobbling towards them. Just as it was about to reach them, Stone Temple turned around and went to fire at it. Before she could even pull the trigger, a shot from seemingly nowhere ripped through it's head and it dropped to the ground. They two ponies on the roof looked around for the source of the shot, and eventually saw Windy Nights, holding a sniper rifle and waving to them.

"Well I'll be damned."

"Girl's quite a shot, wish I could do that. I ain't trained like her though."

"Either way, let's go, she's waving us over."

Stone Temple and FireStarter jumped across the alleyway and ran up the ladder, where the body from before was sitting at the bottom. Once they were up, they started towards Windy Nights, slowly at first, but when they were close, Stone Temple ran in for a hug.

"Damn girl, I was so worried for ya."

"Don't worry, I'm fine."

"The hell'd you get a peice like that from?"

"Back of that truck, same place I got him."

FireStarter walked closer as Windy Nights pointed to the dog sitting beside her. He took a quick look at his tag when it allowed him to get close.

"Male Australian Shepard, fully vaccinated, no name. Guess that's up to you Windy."

Windy Nights turned to the dog, who was looking up at her and panting slightly with his tongue out. She smiled and scratched tee back of his head with her hoof.

"What do you say boy, we get you a name and you coem with us?"

The dog barked and moved to lick Windy Nights' face.

"Alright, well, we should get going, none of us have had breakfast, and we gotta feed this guy too."

"Well, you see any restaraunts or, even a supermarket?"

Windy Nights walked to the edge of the freeway and scoped in on the buildings they way they had been walking.

"Looks like a fast food joint over there. Not ideal, but it'll feed us."

"Well, what are we waiting for?"

"Can we get down to it from here?"

After scoping in again, Windy Nights put the rifle on her back by the strap and started walking.

"Exit about a half a click down the freeway. Let's go."

The three ponies were sitting at one of the tables close to the counter while the dog laid on the ground chewing up the bits and peices they'd throw him.

"So, I have a little plan."

"What's that Windy?"

"So, those dumb things are attracted to sound right?"

"Sound, light, smell, anything that shouldn't be there normally per say."

"Well, I got a little something from that truck that I think could really help thin the herds around here a little."

Windy Nights observed the questioning looks on her friends faces and smiled.

"So, we soak the place in gasoline, right? Then, we throw this."

All four other eyes shot open when Windy Nights set the molotov on the table in front of her.

"Well, it's certainly nit the most, modern, or, safe, but I'm sure we can do this. Any specifics?"

Windy Nights looked up and thought for a second before nodding and swollowing the food in her mouth.

"I got it. So, if we want to this as quick as possible, and I say we do, we'll have to get as many zombies in there as we can, and quick. FireStarter, you run in there and turn the alarm back on. Stone Temple, you run gas into the building through the roof, there are still zombies around there and we won't want them in 'till we're ready. Me and, really gotta find a name for him, will run around and see if we can get as many as possible to follow us to the pharmacy, but we'll have a way up to the roof that those dumb sons of bitches will be too damn clumsy to get up. Once we're all on the roof, we'll wait for just a bit to get as many as we can, then we toss this in there and book it down past the parking lot and find somewhere to hunker down."

"Alright, this sounds like a great plan, but I have a few things to point out."

"Shoot."

"Well, we need to build that ramp or whatever onto said roof. Then, we need to get all the gas into said building. And, we need to find a spare building for said hunkering. Also some more ammo never hurt."

Windy Nights leaned back and passed a few scraps to her dog and thought.

"Ok, we can get this all done before nighfall. Stone, you and me will siphon some gas from the cars on the freeway, and maybe we can scope out a building on our way. FireStarter, you have the magic, you can build the ramp."

"Ok, ok, with what?"

"I don't know, just find sheets of plywood and stuff off of windows or something. As long as he can get up it and they can't."

"So we're doin' this little plan of yours?"

Windy Nights looked at the two other ponies, then down at the still unnamed dog.

"Yes, let's get moving."

"So, what kind of building do you think would be best for stayin' in?"

"I don't know, something a little more isolated maybe, something tall, defendable."

"What about a hopspital?"

"Maybe too big, lot to clear out and secure."

"Right, right."

Stone Temple looked in through the windows of the cars they were passing by, checking for anything of use. Windy Nights was scoping out the nearby buildings every few seconds with her rifle, until she spotted something.

"Hey, look there. Gas station."

"We flyin' down?"

"Yeah, let's go."

Both mares flew up and over to the gas station, quickly drawing melee weapons and looking around.

"Clear. Let's look inside. Maybe we'll find some full cans."

"Wouldn't bet the farm."

Stone Temple smiled as she approached the door and slowly pushed it open. A zombie laying on the counter started growling and she quickly moved to silence it.

"Well, I'm seein' a lot of empty shelves, prob'ly not much left here."

"Well, can we-"

Both mares stopped moving and looked towards the back where the sudden noise had come from.

"Great, this could only go terribly."

"I imagine so, you leadin'?"

"Yeah, stay close."

Windy Nights pulled her flashlight out and held it in one wing while she held the knife tight in the other. When she walked up to the slightly ajar door into the back room of the gas station. After she quickly exganged nods with Stone Temple, she pushed open the door and started shining the flashlight around the room. When she stopped and saw a can sitting on the floor, wobbling slightly.

"Oh, huh, it's just a can. Why'd we react so much?"

"Ya always assume the worst in the apocalypse. I guess it's jus-"

Stone Temple was cut off when a figure from a dark corner jumped onto her with a deep, loud snarl.

"Ah, shit, help!"

Windy Nights checked her pistol. One round left. She quickly took aim and fired her last round into the skull of her friends assaulter. After the lifeless body fell to the floor at Stone Temple's side, she scrambled away from it and looked herself up and down.

"No bites, no scratches. Thanks."

"No problem. Kinda was saving that one, but I guess this is more important."

Stone Temple rubbed the back of head with a hoof and looked at the blood on it.

"Gosh, fucker got me good."

"Glass half full though. Look at this."

As Windy Nights put her now empty gun in it's holder, and pointed to two jerry cans. When she lifted the first one, the gasoline inside sloshed around, and it did the same for the second one.

"Mission complete?"

"Hell yeah."

Windy Nights chuckled as she held a hoof out to Stone Temple and pulled her up when she took it.

"Now we just gotta hope that FireStarter is done his job, and we can light this candle."