Walk The Aftermath

High Road opened her eyes, looking up at the bright sky through blurry, squinted vision. She looked over to her right, at the hoof that she had raised. No surprise to her, it was surrounded by a pool of blood, and she could see the bullet wound on either side. Trying to recollect herself, High Road rolled over onto her stomach and looked down into the pharmacy. Many of the zombies had dispersed and left, being otherwise distracted. She pulled out her pistol and shot down the ones that were in the office. Turning around to drop her back hooves in first, High Road dropped down into the office and dazily drew her pistol again. As she poked her head out, she saw no zombies.

"I gotta...barricade that door."

High Road used what strength she had to drag a shelf in front of the rear door, the front one already being barricaded, and pushed another shelf down in front of it to hold it still. Exhausted and in pain, she slumped down and looked at the large bullet wound in her hoof.

"Gotta be...something in here....to fix this."

High Road's vision was hazy due to the astounding pain, and putting sentences together took an inordinate amount of breath from her lungs. She fell to her knees looked at the shelves, and after rummaging around in them, found some gauze and a roll of medical tape.

"Disinfectant."

She looked behind her at a shelf behind glass that held mutiple bottles. From behind the glass, she would have been able to make out the words on the labels. However, her blurry vision prevented her from fully reading it.

"Hyd-hydr, oxi...that's, hydrogen peroxide? I hope so."

Her thoughts racing, she reached for the bottle, soon hitting the glass with her hoof. After trying to slide it open, she let out an exasperated sigh.

"There's gotta be...a key..somewhere."

High Road slowly pushed herself off the floor and started walking around the shelves to the office. Every drawer and every surface turned up empty, unless she was looking for assorted files and discared .22 cartriges.

"Must...be on...somepony."

She tried to visualize the flash of the ponies she had seen below her, but none seemed to be wearing a uniform or anything of the sort. As disbelief started to set in, she sat down against the counter, and eventually let herself slip to the floor. Many minutes passed before she opened her eyes and looked through still blurry vision under the desk she was beside. She perked up slightly when she saw the familiar burgandy and white plastering the bottle, and quickly reached to grab it. The weight of the bottle indicated that it was full, and she tried her hardest to read the label.

"F-Fer..al..yde. Fermaldehyde, that's gotta be what it is. Wow, how amazingly convienient."

Hope filling her heart, she quickly twisted the lid off the bottle and poured some of it onto the gauze. As she pushed herself into a better sitting position, she took the gauze in one hoof and the tape in the other.

"Ok, ok, this is gonna sting a little. One, two, three."

On three, she wrapped the gauze around her hoof, gasping at first from the sudden pain, but biting her lip and pushing through it. She ripped a long strip of medical tape off with her teeth and wrapped it around the gauze, securing it down when she felt that there was enough tape.

"That should be good. Now to just get the hell out of here."

She looked up at the open section of the roof, wondering if the sniper was still out there. She drew her pistol and moved back into the main building, moving toward the front. There were a few zombies scattered around outside, and she watched them shamble along.

"Isn't enough ammo in the world."

There were a few moments of what had become silence to most, as the constant moans of the walking dead never ceased. Her eyelids were slolwy starting to shut, before three figures came into view and shot down the infected in front of the building.

"W-windy? FireStarter? Stone?"

High Road leaned in closer to listen to what was being said as they approached.

"Look, it's barricaded."

"Is someone inside?"

"What if they're dangerous?"

"Come on, let's just go in. Fire, Stone, around back, I'll go in up top."

"K."

High Road smiled and started laughing to herself slightly as she ran to the back. In her excitement, she forgot that not all her limbs were up to snuff, she tripped over her bad leg, and ended up falling, smashing her head against one of the glass shelves. The blow to the head both from the glass and the ground after was enough to knock her out cold. Windy Nights, already on the roof, heard some of the noise that was created, and quickly drew her pistol as she approached the hatch. Looking inside, she saw no immidiate threat, and dropped down inside. She quickly moved to the back door and moved the shelves so that the others could get in.

"Thanks."

"No problem. Did either of you hear that?"

"Hear what exactly?"

"I'm not sure, I heard something when I was on the roof."

FireStarter drew his pistol after Windy Nights' sentence, and Stone Temple was quick to push it down.

"Woah woah woah, I know for a sure fact that no walking deadbeat would be smart enough to barricade a place down, so clearly somepony is alive in there."

"Yes, but what if they want to hurt us just as much as the zombies do?"

"Just stay alert, but weapons tight. I'll take center, Stone far right and Fire far left."

The group nodded to each other and started toward there respective positions.

"Left aisle clear."

"Right aisle clear."

"Middle too, check the othe-"

"Come here!"

The sentence, and the audible gasp that came before it sent FireStarter and Windy Nights rushing toward the second last aisle to the right. When they arrived, they simultainiously gasped. In the small spot of sunlight that was able to creep into the building, they saw the body of High Road, head surrounded by a small pool of blood.

"Oh shit, is that?"

"High Road, is she breathing?"

"Vital signs seem to check out, but seems she did too. Out cold like the dead themselves."

"Shit. Alright, can you bring her back to base by yourself?"

"For sure."

Stone Temple carefully picked High Road's body off the floor and started carrying her out the back door on her back.

"If I can get her up I'll come back for you two. Wait here for about half an hour. If I'm not back, keep going, I'll do my own run."

"If you're sure."

"I am. Go on now."

As Stone Temple left the building and made her way back to the outpost, Windy Nights looked at the scattered shelves.

"We ever going to not move these around every time we leave or arrive here?"

"Don't poke holes, just shut up and find us a harware store."

High Road awoke, the sharp pain immediately forcing her eyes shut again.

"Hey, welcome back."

The soft, accented voice was unfamiliar to High Road, but at the same time was comforting. She forced her eyes open through the pain and looked at the bright blue eyes that stared back at her. She shot upright, looking around.

"Where am I? Am I dead?"

"Far from it, though I suspect a concussion is present."

"Wh-who are you?"

"Name is Angel Boulon, and yours?"

"High Road. How did I get here?"

Angel Boulon looked backwards over her shoulder to see a red mare with an orange mane approaching.

"There she is now."

"Stone Temple?"

"Hey there little darlin', finished napping?"

Stone Temple chuckled as she sat down beside her friend and gave her a small hug.

"I don't understand, I saw you three outside, and-"

"Yeah, well when we saw you, you were passed out on the floor. Really got yourself good, so I brought you back here, Angel's been appointed the base's nurse. Either way, you're safe and awake, so I gotta go. I'll see ya later!"

"Yeah, seeya."

Angel Boulon pulled a small set of needles out of the white bag to her side, making High Road squirm slightly.

"Wh-what are you doing?"

"Taking a little better care of this."

High Road looked down at the hole in her hoof, now that the gauze had been removed.

"Now, I'll apply a mild sedative, and you shouldn't be able to feel me patching this up."

"O-ok."

Angel slowly injected the needle, making High Road wince slightly. She chuckled as she put the needle in the disposal bin and started patching up tee wound.

"Not much one for needles?"

"Never have been. Even though my father was a doctor, and I was around them quite a bit."

"Well, who does like them, right?"

"Well said."

"You got one hell of a friend, that pharmacy's gotta be at least twenty minutes away with the carry-on she had."

"Yeah, she um, she really is something. How about you, how'd you get here?"

"My husband and I were running away from a rather sizable horde of those, things, and luck had it that we stumbled upon this place. The survivors here helped us to thin the herd, and we got along just fine when they saw my husband's weapon stash and control."

"Gun handling huh? He wouldn't happen to-"

"I know where you're going, wrong caliber. His rifle uses point three seven five, or something like that. This looks smaller than that, perhaps a nine milimeter or twenty-two."

"What? What kind of sniper rifle shoots nine mil?"

"Not sure, you'd have to ask him. Either way, this is about patched up here. Just stay off it as much as possible, get some good bedrest, and it should heal up quick with any luck."

"You seem to rely on luck quite a bit."

"It's gotten me this far hasn't it?"

Angel Boulon smiled as she closed up the bag and started walking away from what was being used as an operation table of sorts.

"I'll see you around, remember what I told you!"

"Come on, it's been thirty minutes."

"Nope, we still got five left."

"How do you know? Been counting the seconds?"

"It's a wonder I have been with all your complaining!"

FireStarter sighed and raised a hoof to his face as Windy Nights looked out the front window.

"You scoped out a hardware store yet?"

"Yes, there's one just down the street. Back that way."

FireStarter followed Windy Nights' hoof, and what was barely a smile already faded from his face.

"That way? That's back towards whatever's left of our previous establishment, and may I remind you that they don't exactly like us anymore."

"Well, it's not that close, as long as we don't stray from the path we'll be fine."

"Sure, because so far everything has gone just right for us. Has it been five minutes yet?"

"Almost. Why are you so antsy? Isn't this mission stuff usually what you try to avoid?"

"What I avoid, is anything that may get us killed."

"Well, guess you're the apocalypses first hermit."

"I'm fully ok with that."

When Stone Temple appeared around the corner, Windy Nights tapped her hoof on the shelf she was leaning against and started walking out.

"Good thing your back, hermit over here was getting antsy. High Road woke up I assume?"

"Yep, probably all patched up by now."

"Good, now let's hit this hardware store, I wanna be back before sundown."

"Sundown? We ain't moving the whole building, girl."

"Yeah, I know, but literally anything can happen, we've more or less proven that, haven't we?"

"Guess so. Either way, let's get a move on."

Redline's scope slowly moved from building to building, looking for not just infected threats but living one too. If ponies were out there, armed and willing to take the lives of the innocent and still living, then Redline couldn't bring himself to leave the tower.

"Come on, where are you ya sum'bitch?"

At the same time her scanned the area, he tried to keep his own head down, as to try and not be hit himself. Quite some time after, he set his gun down and sat against the wall of the tower. A few seconds later, the tower door opened, and he saw a familiar orange unicorn.

"Hey there sweetheart."

"Hey. Come inside, please, you haven't eaten all day. He can't hit us if we're inside you know."

"Yeah, but we still got a group out there, and sure they're rookies, but let's not lose them. I'll be inside when they get back."

"Ok, if you're sure."

Angel quickly moved forward and planted a kiss on Redline's cheek before turning and walking back inside. Redline smiled as he looked back outside the tower.

"What the.."

He quickly grabbed his rifle and perched up, aiming in at what he saw. There was what looked like a mare, trapped in a car with zombies all around it. What struck Redline as odd however, was that the zombies weren't attacked the car, or even noticing the mare's existance.

"Better get someone else with me."

Redline stood upright and looked back over his shoulder at the sight before quickly exiting the tower. Angel, who was the first to notice Redline's entrance, quickly looked over and stood up.

"They're back already?"

"No, no, but I saw somethin' I need to check out, where's Stitch at?"

"Right here, what is it Redline?"

"Look, I saw somethin' out there, 'ts'kinda strange, I need yer help with it."

"Strange in what way?"

"I don't got time to be explainin' this Stitch, let's go!"

Stitch sighed and reluctantly drew his sidearm, following close behind the other stallion.

"This better not just be some joke or something Redline, I'm trying finish plans for reinforcing th-"

"Shhh, look."

Stitch looked from behind the bushes they were hidden in and gasped slightly at what he saw.

"The fuck? What's going on there?"

"Your guess is as good as mine is. Plan?"

"Let's see, we got maybe ten zombies here, shouldn't be too hard. Hold on though, do you see that?"

"See what?"

"The movement patterns, they're circling."

"I guess they are. Didn't notice at first cuz they was movin' different ways."

"What the hell is this? Are you sure that she's alive?"

"Dead or alive don't matter right now, I wanna get to the bottom of what's going on here. Let's go, I'll approached right and take about half, you mirror."

"Got it, silent?"

"Stay violent."

Redline laughed a little before levitating the bayonet off of his gun and running at the crowd. Stitch shook his head and drew the long combat knife from his hind leg.

"I really need to teach him to say less stupid things before runnung into danger."

By the time Stitch ran over to the car, Redline had finished off about half of the zombies, and Stitch quickly executed the few around him.

"So, what's this little thing here?"

Stitch asked as the two stallions approached the car.

"Damned to hell if I could say alive er dead, she ain't moved much."

"Wait wait wait, look."

Stitch very slowly walked up to the car and pointed.

"Holy shit."

"Kinda messed up horror movie shit?"

"Aright, I think I know what's going on. There, there, there, and there, are trips. If anything, say one of the corpses walking around were to put any blunt impact on the doors, it'll trip, and rip this wire all the way through, and right across here."

Stitch ended his sentence by pointing to the mare's neck, which had wire across it.

"Kidding me. As if it weren't bad enough that some of us are tryin'a eat each other, now we got a trap maker out here?"

"Know what I'm betting? I bet it's the same fuck that shot Absent Mind and that other mare."

"Somethin' don't seem right. Two things actually."

"What and what?"

"For one, buildin' on what'cha said, he shot those two and who knows how many others, but he shot them."

"I, I don't follow."

"He shot them, this here's probably the farthest thing from. So if it is the same pony, he went and got personal on this'n. If it isn't him, I'm figurin' we got somethin' worse on our plate."

"Ok, ok, good points. What was the second thing?"

Redline walked up closer to the car, being incredibly careful not to touch it.

"She's breathin', and all them zombies were just gathered around."

"Wait, breathing doesn't mean alive. Last time I checked, the dead kinda like to breathe nowadays. It's right up there with walking, groaning and eating people."

"Well, I guess I could try to defuse this so t' say, but you gotta watch my bavk and her."

"On it, just please be careful."

"Wish I could say I would."

Stitch drew his pistol as Redline poked his head in the left rear window. The wire was running on a pulley system, with one pulley mounted on each door. Something that he couldn't fully deduce was holding the pulleys in place, keeping them from moving on whatever momentum they were already given.

"Ok, I just gotta git the pulleys offa here. Right?"

The pulleys were held on by bolts that were screwed onto a shaft sticking out from the door. There were pins holding the wire in place, but could easily be pushed out of the jams that held them if enough force was applied to the door.

"Ok, how the hell? If I remove the bolts, maybe I can get one pulley out, 'n the tension'll be released? Sure, let's go with that."

As Redline pulled an adjustable wrench from a side pocket in his holster, Stitch noticed something.

"Shit, we got movement."

Redline, not needing to be told twice, immediately leaped up and drew his rifle. The mare in the trap's eyes slowly fluttered open, but she gasped when she saw the two stallions.

"Stay away, stay away from me!"

"Ma'am please, don't move! We aren't here to hurt you!"

"Put your guns away, please."

Stitch signalled to Redline, who followed Stitch in holstering his gun.

"Alright, is that better?"

"Where am I? What's happening?"

"Ma'am, -"

"StarFire, please."

"Alright, StarFire, what is the last thing you remember?"

"I, I was running, I came to a settlement, after a few minutes, I noticed a grouping, then they all started moving apart. They started getting hold of the weaker ones in the building; the sick, the elderly. I tried to run, but I got cornered, and that's all that I can remember."

"Ok, well just don't worry, we're gonna try to get you out of this."

"No, please, don't touch anything!"

"It's ok, we know what we're doing, we'll get you out of there. Just keep talking to me, try not to think about what's happening. So tell me the story of StarFire, what were you before all this began?"

"I worked for a little stand in Ponyville. We made our own little necklaces and other accesories."

"Ok, ok, tha-that's nice. How about music, what's your poison?"

"I didn't have the chance to listen to it that much, but I always remember my granny playing old folk records."

"Good, that's good."

"Stitch, I need your help. Down here."

"Alright, I'll be right back. Just, um, think about those memories, with your granny."

The mare nervous nodded, still trying to regulate her shaky and irregular breathing. Stitch crouched down beside Redline after looking around to see if there were any zombies nearby.

"Yeah?"

"So, I got a problem, but I got a plan."

"Go in order, and try to be quiet, she doesn't need to hear."

"So, problem is, if one of them pulleys moves, it'll trip the others, 'cause it won't be taught no more. The only thing keeping her alive right now is how these things are tensed up."

"Great, so, the plan is?"

"I need you to make sure she ain't buckled down, then when I say three, you need to open that door and get her out ASAP."

"Won't that trip the system?"

"That's the thing, if I can jam this up for long enough, you can git'er out. I noticed somethin', look'ere. The seat is still adjustable, she can recline all she wants."

"Wait, let me see if I know where this is headed. The trap is set so that she can escape if she wants to, but if she panics, she'll die?"

"Mmhmmm. Somethin' tells me we's dealing with somethin' military, the whole calm under pressure thing is pretty big there."

"Is that what you used to be? Military?"

"Nah, keep guessin' kid. Anyhow, if you open the door, pull that seat lever, and get her out, we should be fine. I'll hold it for as long as I can."

"Ok."

Redline got into position and readied himself while Stitch ran back to the front of the car.

"Ok, StarFire, we have a plan to get you out, but you have to relax, and you have to do exactly what I say."

"I, I don't know if I can move, I can't feel my back legs."

"It's ok, all I need you to do is lean, and open the door. Redline, can you get the seat lever yourself?"

"I can git it with magic, yeah."

"Ok, that's what I'm gonna need, do it as soon after you jam the pulley as you can."

"Uh, ok."

"Ready?"

"Yeah, you?"

"Count it, and remember StarFire, just relax and do what I said."

As the mare nodded in nervous agreement again, Stitch nodded to Redline.

"One...two...three."

All at once, Stitch opened the passenger side door and jumper in, while StarFire moved her hoof up and opened the door. Redline had jammed the wrench on the bolt, and pulled the seat lever when the wrnech jammed itself against the door. StarFire was half pushed out by Stitch and half pulled out by Redline. Stitch rolled onto the floor and then out of tee vehicle so that he was facing it when the wire snapped and whipped around it. The wire just barely scraped by his forehead, cutting a long but shallow gash along it. As he fell to the ground, Redline quickly ran over and kneeled down beside him.

"You alright?"

"Yeah. Thing got me pretty damn good, but I'll live."

"Alright, well, let's get going. We've got somepony new to introduce to the compound."