Walk The Aftermath

The puddles of water hadn't yet dried up the next morning, so FireStarter's back and mane were more or less soaked when he stood up from under the car.

"Well, that's about all it needs I think. The wiring on this thing was scrambled pretty well somehow."

"Any resonable explination?"

"Not really. Only thing I can really think of is some sort of EMP."

"Excuse me?"

"Electromagnetic pulse. Basically they're used mainly by the military to disable certain electronic devices."

"Why would military use it now?"

"Well, there could have been something really bad going on in this world before all this, we really have no way of saying. Maybe whatever they were trying to stop was what caused all this."

"Maybe this is what they were fighting."

Stitch remarked as he closed the hood of the car and threw the keys to FireStarter.

"Well, what are you waiting for? Start it up?"

"Are you sure? The exhaust leak still isn't fixed, and the noise might attract a lot of-"

"Just do it. If it does start, we'll shut it off quickly."

Meanwhile, inside the compound, Shadow Spot was just waking up from her sleep, and looked over to see Angel Boulon sitting against the wall. Her eyes were open wide and bloodshot.

"Angel? Wh-what's going on? What time is it?"

"Almost noon. I couldn't sleep last night Shadow. It's ThunderBolt, and Bubble Blitz."

"Look, all the time that I've known ThunderBolt, and that's a long damn time, he's always been able to get himself out of a bind."

"Yes, but what he's told us, his 'binds' are trying to remember what happened the night before, not looking for his daughter in the zombie apocalypse."

"Well, I guess that's true. But still, I'm sure he'll be able to-"

"It's not just him I'm worried about, it's his daughter more specifically. Just an innocent foal in the middle of the apocalypse."

Shadow Spot didn't exactly have a response to that, as the same thing worried her. Angel was almost in tears at this point, thinking about the survivors outside.

"I just can't...take this anymore. I always just wake up thinking 'maybe it's all a dream' but, it never is. I just try and think that just maybe there will be an end to all this. We've lost too much, all of us."

Shadow Spot sat beside Angel and wrapped her hoof around her, moments before the car outside fired up and started to idle.

"They got it started."

"You know what that means, right?"

"What?"

"We've got another way outta here."

Shadow Spot tried her best to comfort Angel Boulon, and it almost seemed to work before the back door burst open, ThunderBolt falling inside as Stitch struggled to keep him standing. FireStarter and Bubble Blitz followed inside as the commotion attracted all but Redline and StarFire, who were on tower duty.

"ThunderBolt, you're ok!"

"That's a relative term Shadow."

Shadow Spot looked down at ThunderBolt's left rear leg and gasped. It had a bullet wound just below the knee joint, and most of the dripping blood had already dried up. She quickly helped Stitch carry him over to the medical care area, where multiple of the compounds residents gathered around again. Angel was one of the fiest on the scene, and delivered good news.

"ThunderBolt, I checked over your daughter, and she seems fine except for-"

"Yeah, I know. She got caught up in another one of those fucking traps, but I was able to patch her up. Someone please get this damn bullet outta my leg."

"On it."

Angel quickly ran for her medical bag as an already hopeless Windy Nights approached the table.

"Did, did Oscar make it out?"

"I'm sorry Windy. I didn't exactly see it, but I'm pretty sure he got bit, and possibly worse. It's probably better off that way though, judging by what I saw."

Windy Nights teared up, and held a hoof to her mouth just before turning and walking quickly away. Ivroy Spark walked forward and looked at ThunderBolt.

"What did you happen to see?"

ThunderBolt took a deep breath in as he looked at the faces around him, and was just about to speak when Angel came back.

"Clear out please!"

The gatherees moved back, all except for Ivory Spark.

"What did you see?"

"Not now!"

Ivory was pushed out of the way, and his wife took him away from the now operating table. Many turned and looked away, but Ivory Spark, Shadow Spot, and Stitch didn't as Angel Boulon pulled out an anesthetic needle and jabbed it into ThunderBolt's leg. ThunderBolt's eyes opened wide at first, but soon relaxed and started to close. Angel quickly started examining the leg, looking for where the bullet was.

"It almost went through, I'm just gonna cut it out."

Angel levitated a scalpel up to ThunderBolt's leg and cut a thin two inch long slit on his leg. After a few moments of using a pair of medical forceps to find the bullet, she raised the now bloody tool, and dropped the bullet on the floor.

"Done. Now just give me a minute to patch this up. While I'm at it, somepony please turn that noisy car off."

While Angel started patching up ThunderBolt, Stitch walked outside to shut off the car. When the door shut behind him, the car revved up, and started driving out of the lot.

"Hey!"

Stitch aimed his SMG at tee drivers seat and shot half the clip into the door, unsure if the shots hit the driver or not. Much to his dismay, they hadn't, and the car sped away from the compound. Multiple survivors rushed outside at the sound of gunfire, including High Road, Shadow Spot, and Ivory Spark.

"What the hell happened?"

"What happened is somepony just stole our car."

"Well, we still have the RV, right?"

"Of course, but that car was-"

Stitch cut himself short, and sighed roughly as he walked over to the broken section of fence. He stared down the road, gun now holstered. He stood there for a few moments before looking all around and reaching for his gun again.

"Back inside. Back inside now!"

As the car stopped just outside of the incomplete high rise and the engine slowly stopped, the stallion inside let out a long sigh. He turned off the fast-paced music playing from the radio and pulled the key out of the ignition. He looked down at the left side of the seat, watching blood from the bullet wound on his leg drop down onto the floor. Letting out another sigh, he picked up the still-lit cigarette from the ashtray in the cupholder and brought it to his mouth. After only a few drags, the loud exhaust had, as predicted, brought some unexpected company to the car. Calmly, the stallion opened the sunroof and pulled out one of the smaller assault rifles from the duffel bag beside him. He checked the ammo in the clip, and after being assured he had enough, he put it back in and racked the gun. Letting the cigarette drop from his mouth to the ashtray, he pulled himseld onto the roof of the car and looked around at the gathered mass of zombies. Pulling a silencer out of his pocket and carefully screwing it onto the barrel of his gun, the stallion began gunning down the horde. All the zombies easily fell with the delivered headshots, and after only expending a mag and a half, the stallion looked at his body count with a smile that barely showed from under his long dark cloak.

"Never gets old."

He softly chuckled to himself as he slid off the roof of the car onto tee ground, opening the door and grabbing his guns from the passenger and back seats. Draping the duffel bags over his back, he slowly started his long ascent to the top of the building.

Stitch slammed the door shut behind the group and pushed a shelf in front of it. The commotion grabbed the attention of almost all the compound's current residents, all except the two on guard duty, who were now finding their own problems. StarFire was scoping around the area, when she spotted a small group of zombies appear from behind an alleyway from afar.

"Group over at the flower shop."

"Let me get 'em, yer rifle ain't silenced."

Redline quickly set the bipod of his rifle on the edge of the tower and aimed at the group. He took in and held a deep breath as he lined one zombies head up before even more zombies excited the alleyway. After them came more, and more. When Redline looked away from the group, and turned his head away from his rifle to look at StarFire, he could tell that she had seen them.

"Go inside, warn the others. I'll try 'n take care of this as much as I can."

StarFire didn't need to be told twice, immediately dropping her rifle and running into the main building. When she got inside, she was met by chaos. Stitch and Windy Nights were trying to hold the back door closed, while the rest were arming themselves or packing away supplies into backpacks. She stood still for a few seconds, realizing that both sides were compromised, there was no way out. Stone Temple noticed her and grabbed a second rifle, running to her sister.

"Take this! If that door breaks open, you'll need it!"

"I can't! They're all over the front too!"

Stone Temple muttered something that StarFire didn't fully hear, and looked back up to nod.

"Okay. Go keep them out of the front, we'll work on this."

StarFire nodded to her sister before moving forward to hug her.

"Please stay safe."

Stone Temple nodded to her sister after they parted, and ran off to defend the rear exit. StarFire, now armed with an automatic rifle, ran out the front door behind the gate, and saw that Redline had already aquired a decent body count. However, many more undead were swarming in, from more directions than before as well. StarFire racked her weapon and aimed it at the group to her left. Her inexperience with firearms lead to her missing seven out of twenty shots, and only killing nine zombies out of the shots that did hit. She sighed in slight anger as she dropped the magazine out and replaced it with a full one. Redline, still in the tower, was quickly turning and shooting down zombies with impecable accuracy. When he noticed the growing horde at the gate to his left, he turned and tried to minimize it. StarFire was able to hit a few more shots now that they were closer, and many of the zombies were falling rapidly. Inside, Stone Temple and High Road were at the back door with their guns trained on it, Stitch and Windy Nights still holding it.

"We gotta do something, we can't hold this forever!"

"The front's pinned, we have to until they deal with it. There is no escape."

Stitch's rather grim words resonated in Windy Night's head for a second, making her zone out slightly as they triggered an old memory of hers.

Windy Nights and one of her fellow soldiers, private Bonfire, were stuck behind enemy lines on a stealth mission, trying to sneak out of the rogue military camp. It was deep in the jungle to the south, and they were a long way from home, also just as far from any backup. The two were behind a pile of sandbags, waiting for the guards to move to somewhere they wouldn't see them.

"Alright, I think if we move now, we'll be able to make it out."

"Don't be too hasty private, we have time. If we rush it, we'll surely make a mistake."

Windy Nights poked her head around the corner, then pulled it back when she saw more soldier walk into her view.

"Alright, we may have to backtrack. Let's go back the way we came in, and we'll just-"

"Drop your weapons!"

A raspy voice ordered, making Windy Nights freeze up. Bonfire however punched the sallion in the face, and held him in a headlock for a few seconds before the two of them were shot multiple times. Windy Nights watched in horror as multiple other stallions came to the situation and aimed their guns at her. She dropped her gun, raising her wings up and out fully.

"Lock her up, we'll see how much info we can get outta her tomorrow."

As two stallion walked toward Windy Nights to takeeher hostage, she looked at down Bonfire.

"There is no escape."

As the memory ended, Windy Nights eyes widened, and the burning hate of that memory filled her body.

"Yes there is. High Road, hold the door."

Windy Nights grabbed the gun from High Road as the two switched places, and looked at Stone Temple for a second.

"I really hope you've got a plan, girl."

Windy Nights didn't respond verbally, but rather pulled the molotov cocktail from her backpack and held it out to Stone Temple.

"Now? But, our plan only works if FireStarter-"

"I'll make it work. Stitch, are there any ways up to the roof from in here?"

"Of course, in the janitors closet by the bathrooms, there is ladder to roof. What is your plan?"

"I'll explain later. Stone Temple, when the zombies get in there, you need to throw it. I'll only be ahead of them by so much, so you need to get up to a nearby rooftop and wait for me there, now."

Stone Temple had an unsure look on her face, but nodded and gave her gun to the other mare before she took off. Windy Nights ran away and through the front doors, helping StarFire gun down a few more zombies outside before flying over the gates and landing behind them.

"Come on! Over here!"

Windy Nights followed her taunting by shooting into the crowd, also while motioning for StarFire and Redline to go back inside. The two were able to get the message and went back inside, the zombies now following Windy Nights. Stone Temple watched this happen and ran to the back of the roof to do the same with the horde at the bacm door.

"Hey! Up here! Come on!"

The zombie group's attention turned to the shouting mare on the roof, and they started shambling toward her. Stitch and High Road felt the pressure on the door release. Stone Temple ran across the roofs of the buildings, intermittently shooting a few rounds into the crowd. Windy Nights was a good distance from the group behind her, and she too was shooting rounds into them at an interval. When she reached the pharmacy, she looked up to the roof of the garage where they had first met Stitch, and saw Stone Temple jump onto it. Windy Nights signalled to her with her wing, and Stone Temple signalled back, before Windy Nights ran into the building. When she was inside, Windy Nights quickly grabbed ther gas cans and started spreading the liquid all over the pharmacy, dropping the cans in the middle afterwards. She looked at the office, and nodded to herself before running in and shutting the door behind her. The lock was busted off, and the handle was broken. She would have to hold or jam the door shut. Stone Temple watched, a catch forming in her throat, as the dead poured intonthe building. The group from the back of the mall had merged in with the ones from the front along the way, and when almost all of them were inside, Stone Temple pulled the lighter and molotov from her bag. She lit it and stood still for a moment, waiting on the signal.

"I sure hope this works."

Stone Temple said aloud, seeing the gunshots being fired through the hatch in the roof. After letting out a long breath very slowly, she adjusted her stance, and threw the cocktail with all her might at the front door. When it struck the ground, the glass shattered, spilling the alcohol and letting the flame spread.

"Come on Windy, just get outta there."

Stone Temple was too distracted by the burning building and zombies inside to notice the zombies creeping up on her left. Just as she did, a shot raced through it's skull, and Stone Temple turned to see where it came from. When she saw Redline on the roof, she felt relieved, before noticing that his rifle was at his side.

"Um, th-thanks for that."

"Nope, that wasn't me."

"I didn't think so, but then who the hell was it?"

Redline turned around and looked at the tops of the buildings, spotting a sniper glare on top of a high rise.

"Well I'll be damned. Looks like the sum'bitch is on our side."

Redline chuckled slightly as he stood beside Stone Temple and watched the fire.

"She get out yet?"

"No, I'm still waiting on that. She might have though, when I had my back turned."

"Maybe. Say, y'all didn't happ'n t' fully clean out tha place, did ya?"

"No, why?"

"Well, it's just that some'them chemicals in there may be kinda volatile, and-"

Redline's sentence was cut off by exactly what he was talking about when an explosion went off, blowing out all the windows and sending copious amounts of blood and body parts flying.

"Windy!"

Stone Temple cried out, Redline having to grab her and keep her from running to the building. She fought the restraining, but eventually have up and cried as Redline held still her. StarFire was just now arriving on the scene, having stayed behind to check up on the inhabitants. Her mouth dropped open, and she raised a hoof to cover it as she watched her sister cry, and looked just to the right to understand the reason. A few tears started rolling down StarFire's face, and they landed on the asphalt roof as she hung her head. All Stone Temple could do was watch as the building continued to burn.

It was a cold night outside, and even colder inside the mini-mall. ThunderBolt shivered as he walked up to the tower door, just having put Bubble Blitz to bed. He traded off with High Road and took his place in the tower, checking the rifle for it's ammo count. Redline was still up in the adjacent tower, but ThunderBolt didn't look at him. There was of course some awkwardness between them, due to the fight just before ThunderBolt stormed out. However, Redline wanted to make peace, and picked up his walkie-talkie.

"How's the leg?"

"Fine. It's healing fine."

"Good. I'm, uh, I'm assuming you heard-"

"About Windy? Yeah, yeah, I heard. It's a damn shame. Probably gonna fall apart with her."

"What?"

"Well, I mean, she was kind of our leader. Sure Stitch's leading this place, you're basically second in command, but Windy really seemed to keep us in order. Man, really feel bad for Stone Temple though, I kinda think that something was going on between them."

"I'm sorry, what?"

"One thing you gotta learn about me Red, I can read personalities perfectly. That also includes sexuality, and Stone Temple, she's for sure batting for the other side."

"How can you be so sure?"

"Natural gift, lots of experience, take your pick. Gotta tell you though, comes in handy for the whole apocalypse thing."

"Bet it does."

A few more minutes passed, the only noise being the ambient sounds of the night, before ThunderBolt sighed and picked up his walkie again.

"Listen man, I'm sorry about what happened."

"Don't be, I understand. I should be the one apologizin'. Shouldn'a tried to stop you."

"Well, Bubble Blitz is safe, we're both still alive, I'd say all's well for that situation. Wasn't exactly either of our faults."

"Well, I think it was mine. And what you said, about Angel and I... well, truth is, we wanted to, and we tried."

"Oh, what happened?"

"I don't 'member most of the medical jargon, but either way, no dice, no matter how hard we tried. So, we went to an adoption clinic and, well-"

Redline stopped talking to levitate his wallet out of his gun case and toss it over to ThunderBolt. When ThunderBolt looked inside, he easily found the picture of a white coated unicorn colt with a bright blue mane.

"He was the one. Angel's heart melted the second he was brought into the room."

"So what happened?"

"We adopted him. Cutest little kid, so full'a life 'n joy. But, nopony knew 'till too late, he had an enlarged heart. Poor bugger didn't even make it to hearts warming with us. Words can't even express how Angel felt after that."

ThundeBolt looked over to see Redline staring blankly into the night sky. A few distant gunshots shook him from his trance, and he looked to the direction from which he heard them.

"How much you wanna bet that that's that sniper guy?"

"Willin' to bet that. Who's side ya think he's on anyhow?"

"Probably on his own side."

"S'not a bad side to be on."

"In the apocalypse it is."

ThunderBolt let out a long sigh as he leaned back in the tower.

"You go it alone, you're almost guarenteed to die. Sticking together's just about the only thing we have going for us nowadays."

"Well, if it'll get us through this, I'm all right with that."

There was little more talk outside in the towers, but inside, Stitch and Angel were having a discussion.

"Get everypony up early so we can move out of here as quick as possible."

"I disagree. Just because some things have gone wromg lately doesn't mean we have to leave. This place is still good."

"Sure it is, but we need to think about the greater possibilities. We've got to run out of supplies around here soon, and we can't just keep sending groups out further and further each time."

Stitch opened his mouth to respond, but Angel's stare made him stop.

"I suppose you're right, but we can't just run away blindly. Get somepony to go out and look for a place we can drive to."

"Why not just drive west until we find something? If those rumors are true, we wanna stay as far away from it as we can."

"We only have so much gas though, remember that."

"I'll send somepony out for it."

"You know, you're going to have to go out at some point. We only have some many able ponies left, and we need two guards out there. Also, if we're moving out, you'll need to move without fearing the dead ones."

"I know, I've wanted to go out with Redline and get some training, but he hasn't had the time, either on tower duty or sleeping to recover from it."

"Well, I'll go switch with him, then he can take you out in the morning."

"Or I can."

Stitch turned around and saw Stone Temple, who was now standing beside Angel Boulon.

"You're really good at that."

"Yeah, did it since I was a kid. Either way, does that sound good?"

"Angel?"

"Well, I suppose that would be-"

"Great, I'll see you tomorrow morning at ten."

Stone Temple said as she walked back to her sleeping mat and laid down. Stitch motioned for Angel to come closer so he could say something to her more quietly.

"Just be careful, she's been through a lot, her thinking might not always be there. Loss makes you do stupid things sometimes, that's why we grieve."