Surviving?

                      Jester gagged and spat out as much gasoline as he could from the hose. He put the gushing end into the half full can, being cautious of the ever present undead.

                       It had been three days since Jester had woken from his coma and met up with Octavia and Steven. While he was trying to accept his new way of life, he started to learn more about his allies. Octavia was a well-known musician, taking her cello on tour with all over Equestria. She arrived in Hoofston around the time Jester was shot, planning to stay in town for a few days until she arrived in Las Pegasus. When the plague reached the small town, they got hit hard, leaving Octavia in a literal city of dead.

                       Steven on the other hand actually lived in Hoofston, owning a small shop on the edge of town. He always seemed to talk about his wife, who he sent to Manehatten when the plague escalated, hoping the dead never reached that far. When it finally hit Hoofston, he had already stocked up on ammunition and food, so he held up in his shop for a few days.

                       They both met quite simply actually, Octavia ran past his fortified shop, looking for help. Steven took her in, them both providing for each other, but were set back when the dead finally found there location, forcing them to move to hospital with what few supplies they had. Now they were working on siphoning gas from the many cars for an ambulance they found so they can get to out of the undead nursery they lived in now.

                        Jester slung the gasoline on his back, making a mad dash back to the hospital, trying not to attract the cadavers. He turned a corner, the building now in his sights, the entrance a few yards away. As he galloped to the entrance, waved a piece of cloth in his mouth, signaling as a friendly. A few feet from the metal door entrance, the doors swung open as he rushed inside, a familiar gray mare shutting the door behind him.

                         Octavia slung the metal bar down, sealing the door and she turned to the panting scavenger,"How much did you get?" Jester slung the half full gasoline container to the ground, receiving a disappointed sigh,"This town is tapped; I doubt there's anything left out there."

                         "Yeah," he slid down the lobby wall and rubbed his hooves together, ", the faster we get out of this place the better. I can't last another night." No power meant no heating for the frigid below zero temperatures of the desert. And there's no coat stores out here to scavenge, "Are we even close to what we need?"

                         The musician shook her head,"We need about two more gallons." She tugged on her pack, going up the hospitals, the now non panting Jester following close behind.

                          Once they reached the third floor, they were greeted by a levitating pistol, then it lowered as a maroon unicorn holstering the fire arm. "Tell me when you guys are coming up stairs, I prefer to keep what few living ponies alive."

                          "You got it." Octavia snorted, walking past Steven to the next room,"What's her problem?" Jester flipped his spoils to the floor and Steven sighed.

                           The teal stallion trotted over to the window, eying the lumbering corpses that walked slowly in haphazard patterns,"It's been a couple days now, there are only a few cars left, and our supplies are running low. I think we should go."

                            “What?" The unicorn walking next to Jester, "We barely have enough gas to get down the interstate, where are we gunna go?" The earth pony just stared out window, thinking heavily. What were they going to do? They couldn't get what they needed here; the number of the dead here was growing. Wait...

                            "How far are we from Las Pegasus?" Jester broke the silence.

                            "Twenty..." Steven stared at the dreamer, " You can't be serious, that city is dead, if we go there, we die."

                            "Well to my understanding we need gas, food, and water, an unpicked city like that will have what we need."

                            "But how are we going to get back?"

                         Jester smirked, " By the time we got what we need, we'll be able to go anywhere." Steven just looked at the risk taking colt, and broke that stare, partaking in observing the ruins of Hoofston.

                            "We leave tomorrow."

Surviving?

                            “Watch it." Octavia grunts as her and Jester balance a box on their backs, it's weight shifting. They were preparing to leave the next morning so they were packing what little they had into the ambulance, which had been stripped of its gurney and most of its original medical supplies(which were contaminated) to make room for the supplies they would probably stow when they picked Sin City dry. Once the box slid of their backs into the back, they both stretched, Jester sitting on the bumper, wiping a loose strand of gray hair from his brow.

                              “Any thoughts on leaving?", the colt asked softly as the mare put her pack in the ambulance, save for the fire axe she held in her mouth.

                              She shook her head as she sat next to him and set the weapon down next to her," I'm just glad were finally leaving. Not saying that Pegasus is any better but it's a start I guess." They was an awkward silence, both ponies eyes shifting around the garage, until Jesters eyes wandered over to the axe at the mares side.

                               He pointed a hoof at the weapon," You ever used that?" Octavia was taken aback by the question, a depressed look spreading across her face," Don't wanna talk about it?" She shook her head. The musician just sat there as Jester wasn't good with this kind of situation. He opened his mouth to say something but was stopped by the sudden and quiet sobs of the mare, tears falling to the concrete floor. Uh oh, um...

                               “Are you alright?" His voice cracked when Octavia looked up, her tear streaked face was miserable.

                               “How could Celestia let this happen?" She put her face in her hooves, sniffling, " For ponies to just eat each other, why the hell I would she let this happen?!" Now she leaned on to Jester, wailing, making the stallion incredibly uncomfortable.

                               He looked over to the crying pony," I-I don't know honestly. But all I know is that ever since I woke up and saw the sun and moon rise every morning and night, I knew this would blow over at some point." And it gave me hope, what Jester would have said but didn't as Octavia now got down of the bumper and wiped her purple eyes, looking much more chipper. The earth pony just trotted out of the garage, leaving the Jester to process what just happened.

                                                                                               ******

                                Jester smoked silently on the roof of the hospital, the moonlight his only illumination. He was thinking deeply about what happened with Octavia. One minute she fine, the next she breaks down crying like a child, wanting to hear his input on the apocalypse. She was obviously holding in a lot of pain, and when she finally let it out, it was explosive.

                                He puffed out some milky white tobacco smoke, it's wisps dancing in the frigid night air. He also thought about what he had said, about the moon and sun. Could Celestia still be alive, there was the evidence of the sun and such but even that was still doubted. Then he looked down at the walking corpses at the ground floor, rage filling his body. They caused this hell he lived in today, they hurt ponies, they ate ponies.

                               He spat the spent cigarette butt over the edge, the still smoking tube landing harmlessly on the concrete sidewalk amongst the cadavers that walked below. Jester just stared up at the moonlight, praying that they'd make it to Las Pegasus, alive.

                                                                                              ******

                              “Breakfast!" Steven shouted at the sleeping Jester, tossing a levitating block of cheese on his bedroll. The sleeping colt took a minute to get up and wake up, eating the cheese in one bite. He looked around the empty hospital room, early morning sunlight spilling from the large window.

                               He whipped his matted grey hair, loosening it, " What time?" Jester yawned.

                               “Time to go, the dead are becoming much more active, we need to go now." Steven was adorned with a pack filled with what ammunition he had left, thirty 9mm rounds for his Glock. Jester was now awake and alert as they left the hospital room for the last time.

                                                                                              ******

                                  “This needs to be done quick and clean," Steven explained to Octavia and Jester, " they have no idea were here but there are at least twenty outside the hospital entrance. Octavia, your gunna drive but not immediately, me and Jester are going to sneak our way to the interstate and clear a path for the ambulance. Got it?"

                                   They both nodded in unison, Octavia climbed over to the driver’s seat, with Jester and Steven climbing out the back to the garage door. Jester had a crowbar stowed on his back strapped down to his back, his partner having his pistol levitating low to the ground. Both of them node and pushed the large doors open, but it was stopped mid swing, Jester looked between the space between the doors to see a small sedan blocking their exit. Steven took a look and crawled over the car to the other side, Jester following close behind.

                                    There were three cars in the way of their escape to the interstate, the dead seemed to void the area fortunately. Jester put his hooves on the along with Steven and applied all their strength. Slowly but surely the car was out of the way in a few minutes. They were both panting as the crawled slowly to the next car, and SUV. Oh boy.

                                     The stallions both attempted to move the car from the front but was unsuccessful. Steven tapped  Jesters shoulder, " Open the doors, we can get a better grip." Jester nodded as he and his ally waked over to the other side. They both opened the doors on either side, only to be startled by the whine of a car alarm.

                                     They both literally heard the sickening growls of the undead as they migrated to the noise. They were fucked. Jester looked at Steven," Go get Octavia!" You didn't have to repeat that twice as jester galloped back to ambulance. Octavia gave a confused look as he slammed his hooves on the hood, but soon she got it.

                                       She turned the ignition, having Jester climb into the passenger seat as they drove the mere ten yards to the whining SUV."Stay here; keep an eye on the walkers." When Jester climbed out, he could see the corpses were at least fifty yards away, closing in onto the escapees. He joined Steven who, to his surprise, had moved the entire car on his own. Damn.

                                       "Next car, go!" This on was a medium sized sports car, it's red paint job had been flawed by the black of dried blood on the side door. Placing his hooves on the door, both colts prepared to push.

                                       "Push!" Steven yelled as he applied ample strength to the car, it hardly budging.

                                       "They’re coming!" Octavia panicked as the ever present dead now were walking alongside the truck, snapping jaws as they neared there potential meal.

                                       "Pu-"

                                       "Ahh!" Jester turned to see the mare being pulled by her hair by a coat less pony, it's innards displayed grotesquely. But the car started to move and was removed from the path.

                                        Steven turned and fired his pistol at the zombie pulling on their driver, exploding the things head, grey matter plastered the side of the truck, effectively freeing the mare," Drive!" She complied and drove ahead of them, stopping. Jester swung the back door of the truck allowing the unicorn to climb in along with himself, closing the door behind him. There was a surge of motion as the ambulance veered off on the interstate, leaving the mob of undead yearning for the taste of pony flesh. They made it, alive and unharmed, on their way to Las Pegasus, the situation waiting unknown.

On the next Surviving?

                  "Octavia," Steven whispered.

                   "Hm"

                   “Jester asleep?" The fully awake colt, heard a shifting of seats.

                  “Yes. Why?"

                  “We need to get rid of this guy, the first chance we get."