Vacation

ooo000---000ooo

There were a lot of things Dee expected once he found himself on the second floor overlooking one of the giant indoor swimming pools; undead wandering around under the water; a Floater lying in wait at the bottom; or maybe nothing at all.

What he didn’t expect to find was a whirlpool inside of said pool that was currently sucking down whatever was inside it down to the bottom.

He wasn’t a hundred percent sure on whatever the hell was currently going on.

Dee was running along and making his way through the area-fire-axe in hand and being mindful of his surroundings. Once he entered the pool area, the building violently shook and windows started to shatter nearby; things collapsed and rolled off of shelves and tables; and a few undead tumbled down the stairs to break their bones.

The pool he stared at briefly had started to change as well and was whirling around and around like a whirlpool. But why was it doing that? Pools didn’t do that, or the ones he knew of didn’t. “This wasn’t in the game,” He murmured and watched the whirlpool after making sure it was clear around him. Most of the undead were too far away, but even so… he couldn’t keep his eyes off of it.

Garbage, body parts, the blood itself, all swirling around faster and faster with no sign of stopping anytime soon. The sound of rushing and swirling water kept his attention for some time, as it did the infected wandering down below. He watched as a few running infected jump into the pool with a screech, probably drawn in by the loud sound. Once in the pool, they got sucked down under with screams, bodies twisting around before going under.

It was amusing to watch, at least to Dee, that is.

Well, aren’t I just a ray of fucking sunshine. He scrunched up his face and continued watching. Dee realized how dark that was in his head, but shook the thoughts away and instead went back to focusing on the mission at hand.

‘Obtain medical supplies for Lyra.’

Yeah, right… spooky pool water aside, she needs help and on top of that, I need to get back there fast before she wakes up. Somehow I doubt she’s going to be very happy about me disappearing. He thought, turning and beginning to make his way across towards the small bar area nearby. The lines of booze caught his attention, maybe a run back here later to get some would benefit them both. For medicinal purposes only, of course… but getting plastered might be medicinal at this rate!

Dee was careful to hide when needed and avoid as much confrontation with any undead as possible; he was still injured and moving around as much as he was now was enough to cause some pain to flare up. His head was better and from his clear thoughts, he guessed he’d been lucky enough to not get a concussion. He pressed on through the pain, and besides...

Lyra’s health was on the line here, and he needed to raid the medical bay. He would be fine after a good long rest, but her? She needed more substantial help.

There was a pretty good chance of there being nothing there, of course… crisis situations were never kind and left little in its wake.

But it was worth a shot, damn it.

“You… you there!” Dee stopped in his tracks, his heart pounding in his chest after hearing the voice and few screeches from somewhere, “How did you get in here?!”

Oh shit… I forgot about that dude! Dee glanced up and looked around; off to the far corner he saw one of the security cameras glaring right at him, red light blinking and focusing on him.

A loud gunshot also sounded off from somewhere in the hotel, startling Dee.

“Shiiit! Ken! Hurry up and get back here, there’s someone out there!”

Another gunshot had gone off, but this one was louder… it also caused some glass next to him to explode-sending shards flying. “Shit!”

“I see him! Intruder on the second floor walkway!” Another man had yelled, someone close by.

“What the fuck, I’m not an intruder! I’m a survivor! Please don’t shoot!” Dee screamed out at him, but another gunshot nearly took his head off. “Ahh!” He collapsed onto the ground, and quickly scurried away towards the bar, “Stop shooting at me! Please!”

“He’s running!”

“Ken! He’s heading towards you!”

What the fuck is this?! He knew that was one of the security guards from the game, the ones who helped out the heroes get to the bank truck inside the garage. So why were they attacking him?! “Shit shit shit!” He scurried further before getting back onto his feet, coughing as his ribs stung.

He made his way past the bar, an undead popping its head up and growling at him and only making matters worse.

The gunshots gave him even more cause for concern; a stray bullet could seriously injure or even kill him.

Screeee!

Even worse was that it was drawing in the infected!

The pounding of running feet could be heard below him and no small amount of panic coursed through his system. It was also alerting the ‘sleeping’ undead and causing them to get up and start moving, which was bad for him.

Dee rushed forward as another bullet was fired, zipping over his head and hitting one of the undead in front of him, causing it to stumble to the side and spraying blood.

Glancing back, Dee saw one of the security guards aiming at him, “Stop!”

He didn’t stop, however, and rushed past the undead; he slid past him and—fighting through the pain, kicked the zombie back behind him and moved forward, making his way towards the door on the other side he knew led to where he needed to go.

“Don’t shoot me, you asshole!” Dee yelled back, but his pleas went unheard as another shot was fired. Fuck! This guy isn’t giving a single fuck, I gotta move fast! The pain in his body suggested otherwise; throbs and stings whenever he moved in any direction made him want to find a place to rest and hide.

He was being watched by whoever was in the security room, so that would make resting anywhere dangerous.

How many guards are even still alive? Are they just hiding around the inside of the hotel? All good questions, of course.

BANG

Ones for later, when he wasn’t about to die.

A sudden exclamation of pain left Dee and he fell forward, sliding across the smooth floor after something hit the back of his leg. His axe slid out of his grasp away from him, a violent curse leaving his lips.

Another gunshot sounded and hit the floor beside him, forcing him to roll out of the way and crawl behind a wall for cover. “F-fuck.” Through heavy rapid breathing, a quick cursory glance at the floor and his leg once he was in cover revealed a trail of crimson. He had been shot!

“You’re done!” The guard yelled out.

At the sound of running footsteps closing in on his position, Dee pulled out his handgun. Not today asshole!

Just as he flicked the safety off, another screech filled the air followed by some thumps. “Ahhhh! Shit!”

Dee cringed and trembled, fear rushing through him when more gunshots sounded out-the screams of the guard that had shot at him began to morph into twisted and blood curdling shrieks of agony.

Peering past his cover, Dee saw the security guard was downed and being ripped into with a scream; the undead and infected didn’t hesitate to descend upon him and tear the guard apart.

A muffled curse left through clenched teeth as he peered down at his leg; the bullet had indeed hit him, luckily going all the way through. I’m not up for playing surgeon. Blood steadily flowed out as a growing sensation of pain filled his leg.

Crawling over to one of the tables nearby, he climbed up into one of the chairs with a growl and quickly ripped the makeshift bandana off of his head. He used it to tie around his leg to stop the bleeding, and he knew it wouldn’t do much, but it was something until he could get some proper bandaging.

Gotta move, gotta move, gotta move fast! A few quick breaths and Dee got back up, his leg crippling him. A brief spike of pain rushed up his leg whenever he took a step, he was going to have a bad limp for a while. Damn it, this is going to fuck me over big time!

He carefully made his way over to the ax he dropped, finding it laying near the door he had intended on entering, he picked it up, turning away from the gruesome scene of the now dead guard being torn into like a prime rib.

The crunching of flesh and sinew and cracking of bone filled his ears once he opened up the other door, peeking inside… then promptly vanishing on the other side.

He had to hurry…

I just hope my blood doesn’t attract them...

ooo000---000ooo

The rapid beating of her heart, agonized whimpers, and the screams of the damned… that’s what filled Rainbow’s ears when she zipped over to the lifeguard tower. She felt and smelled the warm sensation and iron scent of blood on her clothing, but she didn’t care…

Dinky had been bitten and she needed to stop the bleeding, now!

The lifeguard tower came into sight and she landed atop a chain link fencing that acted as a sort of roofing for the north part of the second floor deck, immediately in front of her she saw the tower and the blood on the staring and floor. There was blood everywhere, body parts, decimated bodies…

The survivors here had been turned into zombies, there was no help here.

“No no no!” She saw a few of them wandering around, with a couple directly below her and reaching up at her. The door leading into the tower was open, and she doubted anyone was even alive here. “Damn it!” Ripping off her backpack, she quickly pulled out her old shirt-still damp, and used it to bind Dinky’s bleeding shoulder as best as she could.

Rainbow stood seconds later and gripped her lead pipe tightly, she had to deal with these things!

Zipping down onto the nearly rain flooded floor, she landed and spun around as the crowd of zombies turned towards her. They shambled at her in an awkward gait while one remained behind to try and get at Dinky, but he was a short thing, she would be safe.

She waited until the first one approached her and attacked; she spun her body fast and brought up her heel, smashing into the side of its face with a sharp crack. It stumbled to the side with a groan as another approached-she grabbed onto the first one’s arm and spun hard, dragging it towards her and around to kick and slam into the second, causing them both to fall back. Rainbow kicked off of the floor next, zooming over to the next and crouching low-the undead was too slow to react once she shot up with her fist, connecting it to the underside of its jaw. The brief momentum of it flying gave her the chance to spin around and slam both of her legs into the chest to send it flying.

The undead flew back into the shelving nearby and broke something-evidenced by the loud snapping noise and it’s brief cry of pain as it hit the floor, hard. The others didn’t seem too perturbed by her speed, let alone her combat prowess, they didn’t even look scared!

Rainbow wasn’t going to stop however.

Zipping over to the railing nearby, a quick glance revealed several zombies down below, wandering aimlessly. She focused back on the ones in front of her, specifically the one charging at her with a wild sounding noise.

She waited, fighting back the primal fear inside her for the right opportunity. He made to attack but she was faster-utilizing her speed, and grabbed onto his arm and smashed a fist into his chest and with a yell, brought him up and threw him over her shoulder and off of the balcony before kicking off into the the air above. The smack of the body sounded once it hit the wet concrete down below, she shuddered and spun back around to face the remaining ones, all of them being soaked by the rain.

Gotta keep fighting!

She had to...

“Rah!” Limestone yelled and swung her hatchet hard to the right, swiping through the rain and the undead’s head, taking off the top part of it. Blood covered her shirt and she kicked him away with a violent growl before running down the path. She glanced behind her and saw Marble’s terrified gaze.

She kept moving though, tearing a path to the lifeguard tower. Unbelievable! They were making progress, and then suddenly Dinky gets a chunk taken out of her! The blood… bright red, stained the ground where Rainbow had been before she zipped off to the tower without the both of them. Limestone had to move fast to get there in time.

Damn it! If that shit about being bitten is true… She didn’t want to think about the kid turning into one of those things; Limestone couldn’t even begin to imagine what that would be like… she hoped she would never have to.

She didn’t get much chance to worry as another infected ran out from one of the paths and slipped on the water soaked ground, falling and spotting her with a scream before climbing back up and running at her; given ample warning, she was quick to respond to its attack.

She skidded and pulled back her fist, knuckles lined up-once the infected jumped at her with flailing arms, the earthen mare threw her punch. Back where Limestone was from, there was a certain set of rules to follow when you were with an Earth Pony Mare. The first and foremost rule?

CRACK-BOOM

Never, ever piss them off.

Thunder exploded through the skies as the infected’s head snapped back with such force, she could feel the bones in its body shatter and crack, and something inside its head popped. It gave a pitiful noise before flying back, sent flying fifteen backwards and skidding across the path. The infected hit the concrete hard and rolled for a foot before smashing into a pole, producing a loud noise.

And she kept moving.

“Move faster!” Limestone yelled back at Marble, to which the younger mare squeaked in fright and sped up behind her. The only thing she feared more than the undead surrounding her was incurring the displeasure and outright wrath of her big sister, who she admired greatly

After another sharp turn that involved running down some stairs and back up some more, and Limestone found one of the entrances to the Lifeguard Tower to her right, a locked up gate with bodies lying around, torn into and bloodied.

This place is a fucking mess. She heard the sounds of someone fighting in the tower-it had to have been Rainbow.

Before she could move forward however, one of the bodies suddenly sat up and stared at her. A groan left his bloodied lips and he slowly stood up, one eye twitching before locking onto her.

“Great,” Looking behind her at Marble, she said, “Stay back.”

Marble just cowered as Limestone ran off to clear the way, trying desperately not to get too wet from the storm going on, her increasingly torn and tattered shirt clinging to her, becoming see-through.

Burning… that was what Dinky felt, burning.

Her eyes stared aimlessly into the bright blue sky above, at the lazily drifting clouds and the birds… was she back home? She swore she could smell her mother’s cooking-fresh chocolate chip cookies and pecan pie.

Delicious.

Dinky figured she must have fallen asleep while she was outside with her friends… maybe, she wasn’t sure. The one thing she was questioning right now was the weird burning pain in her shoulder, and the odd growling noise behind her…

She was laying down, wasn’t she?

A blink of her eyes and everything changed, she saw storm clouds overhead and felt water hitting her entire body. She turned her head to the right and she saw a building-definitely not her house. A flash of blue and… was that Rainbow? Why was she covered in so much red?

She looks angry.

Rainbow yelled and flew out of sight for some strange reason… leaving Dinky to wonder.

I hope mom comes back… I’m tired… and wet, she decided as she fell back asleep

Rainbow landed on the ground with a splash and spun hard, kicking another of the undead off of the second floor and onto the concrete down below-that only left one! But then it grabbed onto Rainbow’s back and she panicked when the hungry growl sounded in her ears. “Gah!”

“Rrrr!” The undead tried to bite her, but a quick move from her and she managed to move around fast enough to stop it from sinking its teeth in her, and instead shoved the lead pipe into its mouth. The clink of its teeth on the metal told her he bit down-she was quick to smash it into the back of its throat, causing it to gag.

A spin and precise aim of her elbow into the side of its head dislodged its hold on her, and she drop-kicked him away-not before using her wings to stabilize her from falling onto the floor.

The undead slid back and hit the rail hard, his poor gait and slow reflexes was not enough to prevent him from falling over the side. The rustle of bushes and dull crack filled the air, and the fight was over… for now, that is.

Rainbow was breathing heavily, chest heaving and sucking in air-fists and shirt stained with blood, mane askew and feathers ruffled. Hand to hand combat was nothing new to her, everyone in the Wonderbolts trained in it for self defense… but she had never properly used it on anyone, let alone with the intent to… kill.

No… no, they’re monsters, not people. Rainbow reminded herself and flew back up to Dinky.

She knelt down and examined the filly-she was breathing rapidly, eyes almost vacant and flicking around, and the shirt she had used to bind the wound was heavily soaked in blood and rain water. Both of their clothing was covered in blood and water… in the case of Rainbow, it was more Dinky’s blood than anyone else’s.

Why… Celestia, why?!

She stood up on shaky legs and looked off to the left to the ground level where vehicles could drive into, and the gates. She saw Limestone swinging and slicing away with her hatchet at one of the monsters through the storm, one that was trying to get at Marble who was hiding nearby. She thought of going to help the other mare, but she seemed to have the situation well in hoof, and she was afraid to leave Dinky again anyway.

Rainbow found her eyes scanning the entire area, the storm clouds and the rain… this was supposed to be their vacation…

Not a fight for survival.

She was about to go down and get the Pie sisters over to the tower, if only so they could eventually clear it out… or at least get everyone together and away from the undead, but she ended up hearing more commotion from down below where they were at.

“Shit! What are those things?!” A woman yelled.

“Who cares, just kill the zombies!” Another one yelled, a male this time.

Survivors? She spread her wings and quickly flew over. Rainbow had lost her weapon, so she would have to be careful if they were hostile.

Once she was overhead, she saw a group of four humans, two of them were darker skinned individuals-wearing baggy pants and a jacket with a gold chain, the other an obvious female wearing a purple dress and carrying a weird weapon in her hand, another was wearing a torn red skirt, and the final one was a male with a mohawk and shorts.

Marble was staring at them and backing up as Limestone kicked away another of the monsters-it stumbled back from the hit and landed in a bush. One of the other humans looked up, and his eyes went wide, “They can fly?!”

“We’re not like them!” Rainbow was quick to yell down at them, landing next to Marble who immediately moved behind her to hide. “We’re just trying to survive this crap.”

“And they talk? What the hell is this shit,” The one ebon-skinned male scoffed, holding a paddle in his hand.

“Calm down, Sam,” The skirt clad girl told him and looked at Rainbow and Marble. “What are you?”

“We’re talking to them now?” The other male asked, frowning and holding up a pipe - he looked rather impatient. “How do we know they won’t try and kill us?”

“We’re ponies thank you very much and we’re not going to attack you guys… not unless you attack us first,” Rainbow warned, holding out an arm out in front of Marble. “We just need a safe place to hide out so we came here… I don’t want to fight any of you, if anything… we can help each other.”

The other woman who gripped a weapon similar to Dee’s was aiming it at them… Rainbow wasn’t a genius, but she knew a dangerous weapon when she saw one. They had a stare off before she reached into her pocket and pulled out a little plastic card. “We have a way in.”

“We’re not seriously considering that, are we?” The other male questioned the woman.

“We need the numbers,” She replied, walking past them and over to the gate.

Rainbow backed up with Marble and glanced towards Limestone who was using the shirt of one of the monsters to clean off her hatchet-she spit onto the ground and looked towards the others. “Who the hell are they?” She asked, walking over and to Marble.

“Backup… hopefully.” Rainbow told her as the light above the door lock turned green… and it opened and the four humans rushed in. She cracked her neck and flew up into the air and Limestone was quick to move in with them, Marble was more hesitant…

And then the fight began again.

ooo000---000ooo

Derpy shivered when she woke up-her head throbbing, body cold and wet. She sensed a storm had arrived, blanketing her with rainwater. She opened her eyes with a groan and coughed, gripping her head and rolling onto her side. “Nnng...” What had happened?

Memories of earlier flashed through her mind and she saw the strange ape like creature running ather, wildly swinging a bat at her. She got hit somehow-a moment of hesitation on her part, and the female suddenly disappeared with a scream…

Over the edge of the building.

The rain still pelting her body, she clambered up onto her knees and shakily crawled over to the edge… her mind was hazy, her eyes having trouble focusing, but she was able to peer down at the ground below.

Those odd vehicles were still parked around the lot, some crashed and others tipped over with a few intact ones around. Bodies lay everywhere-chewed and gnawed on, with little more than bones and sinew left on their bloodied bones. The city had grown quiet now… there were a few noises here and there, but nothing major like before. And directly below her, she saw the body of what could have only been the female… she could tell from the half torn apart face and the bat still clutched in her hand, one that was being chewed on by one of the monsters.

Failing to fight back the urge to throw up, she ended up expelling the contents of her stomach out onto the ground below, the putrid bile leaving her with a bad taste in her mouth after she was through. The monsters down below didn’t seem to care that she did it on top of them.

Derpy fell back with a gasp, a hand flying to her mouth and eyes brimming with tears. She felt horrible… her entire body, her stomach, everything about her felt incredibly disgusting. The mare was tired, hurting, she had a splitting headache… and all around her she smelled death!

I need to get out of here.

Looking around for the bag and weapon, she grabbed both of them and unzipped the pack’s top. She took a glance inside and found… odd, she found some weird looking blocks inside and some equally weird looking strings; they almost looked like the stuff she had seen in Doctor Whooves’s house. Derpy shook her head and shoved the weapon inside, zipping it back up.

She would have worn it, but given its weight, it was made more for earth or unicorn ponies in mind, so she wasn’t sure how she could wear it without sacrificing her flight. She huffed and opted to just carry it… it wasn’t too heavy.

I can’t stay here… I don’t think anyone else is here either, maybe further along the coast?

Derpy honestly had no idea where anyone was… but she wasn’t going to find them just sitting around. Hefting up the bag she took a deep breath and jumped up, flying up through the driving rain-it weighed both her and her clothes down, making them cling cloying to every curve of her form, but she was able to gain enough lift to soar above the buildings.

Once she was up high enough, she could see more of the city in its entirety on both sides of the river. She didn’t see anything that resembled the airship at all and could only assume that she had flown somewhere else entirely…

I gotta find it… find Dinky…

As she started flying across the city along the coast, she couldn’t help but find herself wondering just why this was happening. How was it they had gone from planning out all of the fun things to do on their first ever vacation.

I had spent so long saving up for this. Months, if not an entire year since Dinky’s seventeenth birthday. Derpy wanted to give her only child something special, something that she would remember and hold dear for the rest of her life.

Sadly for both of them, they would never forget this horrible experience… the monsters, the chaos, the fighting, all of it.

But maybe if they got out of here as soon as possible, they could shove it into the back of their minds and forget about it entirely! All of the monsters, the smells, the sights… just forget everything and move on.

Could they do that? Would it be that simple?

As Derpy flew over the city and eventually out of it alongside a coastline roadway, she had no idea if it would be.

The road below her was nearly choked with more of those vehicles-many had crashed off to one side and a lot of the longer ones had crashed, jack-knifed onto their sides and creating blockades down some other roads. But for the most part, it wasn’t completely blocked off. It continued around to the east away from the town.

She kept flying until the town was but a distant smoke billowing ruin on the horizon behind her and arrived at a building on the side of the road with some vehicles parked out front, but no people. A sign on the other side of the road caught her attention though, and when she flew down low enough to read it, she saw it detailed what was further down the route.

Baroki Town - 16 Kilometers
Royal Palms Resort - 43 Kilometers

Derpy had no idea what a kilometer was, but the island didn’t appear to be too big… and while she wasn’t necessarily a very fast flyer, she could cross vast distances with little issue. Being trained as a postal worker pegasus had its perks; what she lacked in speed she made up for endurance, able to deliver overnight packages all over the province when called upon. Given enough time, she could fly across Equestria from house to house, carrying bags of mail to every mailbox and not get tired.

She had no idea what to expect in either of these places, but… maybe Dinky and the others were in them?

Derpy would just have to fly out there and see.

ooo000---000ooo

The growling didn’t cease beyond the glass doors that separated Dee from the horde of undead. They held strong under the ceaseless snarling and attacks, but even so, he grew nervous about what would happen if the door just so happened to burst open. So many were behind it too, all of them hotel staff members who suffered at the gnarled hands of the infected.

“Fuck.”

He took a glance at a sign to his right and he saw a small sign that pointed to where all of the facilities inside the building were-such as the security office, janitorial duties office… and the medical bay, all of which were located on the other side of the door which was currently being bombarded by the undead.

“So close...”

He only had a few more rooms to pass and just a little further to go before reaching the medical bay. He was cut off! And he didn’t want to go back the way he came, not if those security guards were still back there.

“Damn it, now what do I do?” That was the million dollar question right there. How could he proceed forward without going back and getting shot at? The other guard was likely dead, yes, but who knows how many more were potentially stalking him. Fuck, I’m gonna have to risk something her-

He stopped when he heard the creak of a door to his right-a janitor’s closet-and mere seconds later, the door swung open fully and out ran one of the security guards! He yelled and tackled Dee up against the wall, surprising him enough to knock his axe away and pin him down, “I have him!”

“Aahh!” Dee struggled once he hit the wall, pain hitting his back and his leg once the man grabbed onto him. A moment of clarity hit him when he saw who this was-it was one of the NPCs of Dead Island, Ken, a security guard. “Get offa me!”

“You’re not going anywhere!” Ken yelled and slammed Dee up against the wall again before pulling out handcuffs.

Oh hell no! Acting on pure instinct, Dee shot his head forward into Ken’s with a sickening thump noise-and Dee felt pain explode across his forehead, “Rah!”

That admittedly stupid and painful attack made Ken yell out and loosen his grip. Once he was free, his self defense instincts kicked in-he launched a jab at Ken’s throat, making him back off and grab at his throat in pain before he swung wildly from the right, his fist connecting to the man’s head and making him stumble.

The door that held the undead rattled and shook from the force of more joining, no doubt enticed by the two lively survivors.

Dee found himself getting tackled by Ken once more, slammed against the wall and onto the floor with a yelp. His leg burned as Ken loomed above him, fist poised before being swung down into his face.

The side of Dee’s face exploded in pain once the punch connected, snapping his head to the side. “Gah!”

“Rotten bastard!” Ken growled and stood up, picking Dee up with him and throwing him against the wall.

Dee hit the wall and slid down, growling and trying to figure out how to get back at him. The door to his right rattled and shook, glass still beginning to crackle. In front of him, Ken pulled his baton out-with a flick of his wrist it extended with a violent snap.

“You let them into the hotel!” He snarled and pointed his baton dangerously, backing Dee up to the door of the janitor’s closet. “You let them in!”

Dee coughed and shook his head, “No way! They were already inside the damn place! They’re everywhere!” He gestured to the door to his right, where the glass was beginning to break further. Wait… I still have my gun. He realized, and his hand dropped to his side, he could sneak it out… shoot Ken, but he was a survivor! Why was he acting this way?

“You brought more of them here and let them into the lobby!” Ken argued, his eyes wide with a flicker of something deranged.

Shit, they must have gone insane or something. Key wasn’t like this in the game, nor was the other guy. Dee wasn’t sure how this was going to go, and he wasn’t liking the solutions that came to mind. “L-listen, buddy… I’m not a bad guy, nor are my friends! We were just trying to find a safe place to hide out!”

“You shouldn’t have come here!”

A crackle next to them both drew their attention. Dee looked over at the door holding back the undead, the door was weak and he knew it wouldn’t be long until it completely gave away and they flooded through the hall. The gun he had came to mind, and the remaining six bullets he had left.

He could use it to kill Ken, fire a few rounds into his chest and take him down.

Or… he could fire a single round into the door, allowing the undead inside.

No way. He couldn’t do that… “Buddy, just listen to me! I need help, one of my friends i-”

“I don’t care! You got one of my co-workers killed!” The man swung his baton dangerously.

“You fucking shot at me! I’m not gonna stick around while you try to kill me!” Dee screamed as the door next to them cracked and groaned under the weight of the undead. Fuck…

“You’re done!” The man suddenly yelled before moving forward.

Fuck fuck fuck fuck! Scrambling back, Dee pulled out his handgun causing Ken to back up. He shook violently, he couldn’t do it! His finger was twitching against the trigger-regardless of how much he wanted to pull it, he couldn’t… “Just stay away from me!” The other man didn’t-Ken’s eyes were twitching and his feet were shifting.

Left with no other option…

He aimed towards the door and fired into it twice, each blast impacting the glass and shattering the glass. Ken backpedaled and yelled out as the horde of growling undead broke through the remaining glass and forced themselves to open it.

Dee didn’t waste time before sliding back into the janitor’s closet and slamming the door shut with his foot and putting his body up against it. “Grr!”

“No! No! Open the door! Ahhh!” Ken screamed from the otherside of the door-shuffling and running footsteps sounding immediately after.

Chest heaving and sucking in as much air as he could, Dee held his gun tight and shook. Outside of the door he could hear the groans and moans, the half choked and snarled cries for help and for death. The high pitched screams of the infected and their stampeding footsteps alongside the slow shuffling caused his entire body freeze up.

He didn’t hear Ken screaming… only the never ending shuffle of the monsters between him and a flimsy wooden door.

Fuck, stay quiet. He trembled and held his gun tight. His leg burned as did his body, seems he just couldn’t get a break from the agony.

Dee heard the stumbling of undead keep moving-a train of shuffling feet against the carpet, the runners had long since left and only the slower ones remained, until all was silent.

Lungs struggled to suck in air and not escape as terrified whimpers, he was scared and he couldn’t deny it. But he had to move, had to get to the medical bay and find a safe route back that didn’t get him killed. From how things were going, the route back was likely going to be overrun with monsters… maybe even more security guards.

It certainly didn’t help that he only had four bullets left in his gun.

Fuck, I n-need more ammo. There was no ammo in the hotel, at least not any that was nearby. In the security room, possibly, but that was where the security guards were… assuming enough of them survived to put up enough of a fight against the infected.

A few more minutes of waiting passed him by-the one thing keeping him plastered to his ass was the lingering sensation of fear of opening the door and too many undead being outside. He didn’t want to move, he wanted to stay there, perhaps for the rest of the night, maybe next week, maybe if forever was an option…

No, no! He couldn’t do that, he had to suck it up and get moving!

Dee swallowed the lump in his throat and shakily stood up. The axe is on the floor, I need to get it back and get moving. The medical bay shouldn’t be too far now. Hands trembling and nerves attempting to steel themselves, he slowly gripped the door knob and turned it, drawing the bolt back and allowing the door to open.

All was silent as he opened the door a mere crack and peering out into the hallway-luckily for him it appeared to be empty. He heard nothing, no crunching of glass, no moans or shuffling of feet.

He opened the door some more and looked back to where Ken must have run and he saw it was empty as well.

The coast was clear!

Dee quickly moved out of the room and tucked his gun away behind. Pain from his gunshot wound made itself firmly clear when he began walking, or rather-limping towards the axe on the floor and picked it up.

Fuck, I’m not going to be able to move fast until I heal. He growled and shook his head, using the axe as a makeshift crutch to move down the hall, making his way towards the medical bay. “There better be some bandages in there… fucking hell.”

The broken doors he passed gave way to a small lobby esque area filled with chewed up corpses strewn about everywhere, another door leading somewhere, and a door that was left open and leading into the medical bay itself. The buzzing of flies filled the room as did the stench of rot itself-iron, blood and decay almost made him want to throw up, but he managed to keep his stomach from reacting too horribly.

Covering his nose he began moving through the room and heading towards the door. Axe in hand he hugged the wall and leaned over, peeking inside to see what the situation was.

Inside of the room leading next room leading to the Medical Bay proper, he saw an empty receptionist area with a desk and computer. But what really drew his attention was the nearly eight foot tall body covered in tight muscles from head to foot. It was a man dressed in camo swim trunks - below, bandages wrapped around his ankle from what could only be a bite mark.

It was one of the more advanced infected, one that Dee knew was called a Thug.

Fuck, there’s no way I’m taking that thing out on my own… A thought occurred to him to use the handgun, the one that only had four bullets left in it. Even if I got lucky, I don’t think my bullets are gonna do much, even headshots don’t really work on that thing. I gotta find another way to get it out of there.

He pinched the bridge of his nose and thought; he needed to find a way in that room… he was so close to a prize, one that he wasn’t even sure was still in there or not. They both needed medical attention now, and it was up to him to get it.

I could lure it out with some noise, but I can’t get caught by the fucker or I’m dead. His body felt heavy as did the weight on his mind and shoulders - back at the room they were hiding out in, Lyra was either still asleep - blissfully unaware of what was happening, or was awake and worrying herself endlessly about where he was.

He had to take a risk here if he was going to get the first aid… if it was even in there to begin with.

I’m not going to be very fast here… my leg is busted and I can’t run, and I’m not really confident my gun can penetrate its skull. Thugs aren’t really known for their weaknesses… except the legs, not really sure I could take his legs out though. He glanced back at the bodies, and a gruesome thought came to mind. Well… I could use some chunks of meat to distract it, better then nothing.

Disgusting as it was, he went over to the closest dismembered limb he could see and picked it up. It was a meaty looking arm, and hopefully it would distract the zombie long enough for him to sneak past to the door.

Another peak past the wall showed the giant undead was still staring at the wall—aside from the occasional twitches of his shoulders and head, and the intermittent growling noises, he appeared unaware of Dee’s presence.

Now was his chance if he was gonna go any further through this hell hole.

A gentle toss was all it took to send the arm gliding towards the air into the wall—promptly hitting it with a dull thud. The tall muscle bristling beast’s attention was drawn to it moments later.

Once he started stumbling over to the arm, he fell to his knees to pick up the arm—bringing it up to his mouth and tripping chunks from it and gnawing on it.

The plan worked!

His throat struggled to swallow the lump in his throat as he timidly stepped out from his hiding place and carefully crept his way into the room, each step as soft as he could physically make it with his injury. Every crunch of the meat and snapping of bone sent shivers down his spine… one wrong move and that would be him.

Let’s try and avoid that, shall we?

Every step led him closer and closer to the door, each spike of pain rushing up through his leg causing him to grimace and suck in his breath sharply and quietly. Once he arrived at the door he slipped inside and gently closed the door—ear pressed to the door, his hand twisted the knob as he closed it shut, then he released it, allowing it to shut properly with the softest of clicks.

A few moments passed as he continued to hear the munching, and he let loose a sigh of relief.

Thank Christ.

He allowed himself a moment of reprieve to gather his thoughts as his eyes glanced around the room.

There was a medical bed in the middle, several cabinets, desks, a computer nearby, a fridge, and some boxes, as well as a window that allowed him the perfect view of the pool he passed by not too long ago, it wasn’t swirling anymore it looked like.

Another sigh. He had made it after what felt like hours, when in reality it was probably around ten to twenty minutes of venturing down zombie filled hallways and trying not to get killed.

A quick little glance down at his leg told him how close he was to fucking up.

“Well, I made it here safe and sound… now to find that morphine.” With that goal in mind, he began searching the room.

ooo000---000ooo

Crack went the next undead’s skull as he was smashed into a wall by Sam B; another was quickly downed by Logan and his pipe. Xian and Purna, the only two human women of the group quickly moved throughout the lifeguard station, heading upstairs to the next level with Limestone and Marble trailing behind them.

Rainbow was in the front, having sped towards the stairs and opening the door that blocked off access to the second level. But an odd noise gave her and the others slight pause, one from an odd boxy device on a shelf that lit up suddenly.

“Mayday! Mayday! This is Oceanic Flight 815, we’ve lost power in all engines and have to make an emergency landing in the jungle north of the city!” It was a frantic voice - panicked and shaky as a rumbling noise filled the air.

Once Rainbow and the others made it back up to the second level, she flew up to where she had left Dinky and knelt down as a high-pitched whining began to fill the skies. Her eyes flicked up just in time to catch sight of a giant aircraft similar to the one Dee was on falling down from the skies - engines burning and screaming overhead as it flew towards a location she wasn’t keen on visiting anytime soon.

The ‘plane’ eventually disappeared once it passed over the hotel, the sound dying down after a few moments leaving Rainbow and the others stuck alone at the now eerily silent lifeguard station.

Jeez… is the world falling apart or is it just this island?

A shake of her head and Rainbow looked back down to Dinky - who was thankfully still breathing. Aside from some paleness Dinky was still hanging in there, which was a good thing. But they still needed to get her wound patched up, the shirt wouldn’t be able to do much more.

They had cleared out of the Lifeguard Tower shortly, thanks in part to the four other survivors who had joined them and gave Limestone and Marble entrance with a keycard. Rainbow had managed to help out greatly, but left most of the fighting to the four humans… she was exhausted, and while she loved a good workout, this was tiring… in more ways than one.

Magenta eyes traveled down her arm to her hand; it was covered in blood, as was her whole arm and parts of her clothing. She felt sick to her stomach, yet the most she could do was stare in disgust.

This wasn’t supposed to happen.

Picking up Dinky in her arms, Rainbow jumped back down to the floor from atop the shelving she hid Dinky on. Once she hit the floor, Limestone and Marble approached from the side, exiting the building that overlooked the beach.

“This place is clear…” Limestone grumbled and held up her bloodied hatchet, covered in the grisled remains of her latest victim.

Rainbow grimaced at the tool’s current state. She would’ve made a comment about it, but there were more pressing matters to attend to; Dinky’s injury needed fixing up. “Dinky needs help, now.” She said and jogged for the stairs heading down to the ground floor.

During their attack on the tower, she remembered passing by an infirmary downstairs… hopefully there would be something there they could use - painkillers, bandages, antibiotics, anything.

Rainbow made it downstairs and passed through the garage on her way into the lifeguard station proper, passing by a store room and bathroom before making a left past some bodies. There, at the end of the hall, the Infirmary!

She passed by Xian, the blade wielder of the human group who said something that went completely over her head, she wasn’t paying attention to her right now, she needed to get Dinky fixed up.

Limestone appeared in front of her once she stopped at the door, grabbing onto the door knob and saying, “I got it.” Limestone pushed the door open and moved inside, with Rainbow following close behind.

Inside the infirmary they saw blood splattered on the walls, covering various medical posters. A body lay up against the wall, one that Rainbow had saw Limestone absolutely destroy with her hatchet. The infirmary bed nearby was empty, the shelves were closed and Rainbow felt some minor relief flood through her when she saw there still appeared to be some medical supplies on the desks.

A grunt escaped Rainbow as she walked over to the bed and put Dinky down on it, relieving herself of the weight. She turned back towards Limestone, who was looking at all of the cabinets before fixing her with a hard stare and saying, “Look around for something we can use to fix Dinky up.”

The earth mare turned to regard Rainbow before going over to the desks and cabinets. “Like what?”

The sight of Marble wandering into the room caught Rainbow’s eyes, and she clarified. “I need something to clean Dinky’s wound with, I need some rags, bandages, antibiotics-” She listed off and went back to the filly to inspect her wound.

Pulling the shirt free made her grimace at the sight of the wound, the torn flesh and blood made her feel slightly queasy. She was able to hold it together however.

Damn it… that thing took a pretty decent chunk out of her.

There was a chunk of flesh missing from Dinky’s shoulder, ripped from her body like wet paper. Chunky bits of blood and flesh clung to the wound, but it wasn’t a complete loss… they could still fix this, they had to, not just for Dinky’s sake, but for Derpy’s as well.

She tossed the shirt away and grabbed some bandages from nearby; she didn’t have a lot of medical knowledge… so her Wonderbolt medical training would have to do for now.

Once Marble saw the sickening wound the younger filly had been afflicted with, she couldn’t stay in the room. Already she felt bile attempting to rise up from her gut for a second time… if seeing the bodies everywhere wasn’t enough, there was a good chance that the filly in that room wouldn’t survive much longer.

She would just have to hope Rainbow and Limestone could somehow help her.

For now, Marble needed air… this tower was too stuffy, and it smelled of death and decay. She rushed through the halls in a fast walk, passing by the bodies and keeping her hands to her muzzle to try and block out the smell-even her best efforts didn’t do much.

Emerging outside gave her some relief from the horrible stench and instead was replaced with the scent of rain. The cool tropical air washed over the area bringing with it the smell of the sea, among other things that Marble was able to block out to some degree. The storm let up after a few, with only a mere trickle of rainwater poured down.

But… even though she escaped the horrid stench from inside, she was instead bombarded with something else. She could feel it silently snaking up her bones and into her heart… it was but a faint whisper in her ears, the touch of something old and decrepit...

It was so faint that she couldn’t quite make it out.

W-what is this? Her eyes looked around the area she was in, the parking lot, fences, and the railing that let her look out into the ocean and the beach down below. But for the life of her, she couldn’t tell what it was… it was weak, that was all she knew.

The sound of something approaching the tower brought her out of her staring, as did the sound of footsteps nearby. When she looked, she saw it was two of those other humans, the bulky dark skinned one and the female in the red skirt.

When she watched, the gate nearby opened up allowing a red vehicle to roll in, loaded up with other human survivors… that was good, hopefully they were friendly.

A human with a very intimidating face tattoo climbed out of the vehicle alongside a few others, all of them wielding oars and pipes. The one who had the tattoo was wearing a lifeguard uniform, his eyes glanced around the area before locking onto her…

But he didn’t look too terribly shocked, instead he looked curiously at her.

Marble blinked as the two other survivors who helped clear the tower went over to him and began speaking, about what, she wasn’t sure.

I hope we can get out of this place… it’s scary. She swallowed the hard lump in her throat. Turning around, the mare walked over to the railing and gazed out across the water and the surrounding parts of the island.

It was such a big island, if she didn’t know any better, she would’ve thought this was still the mainland of Equestria. Sadly for her, it wasn’t… it was some strange island full of ‘humans’, a place where the dead had risen by some means. It was disgusting and horrific, and there was nothing she could do about it.

She wanted to escape so badly… but how could she when her only means of escape had crash landed somewhere on the island? They could try repairing it, but she wasn’t sure if they could… not fast enough to escape before they were overwhelmed by monsters.

This is so surreal… She just wanted to go back home to the farm, strip off her soiled and clingy clothes and then hide under her blankets snuggled up against her big sister, safe and far far away from these monsters.

A gentle wind started blowing and her eyes wandered over to the concrete buildings on the other side of the island… what looked like a small city or even a town of sorts. Were they there as well? The rising smoke pillars didn’t give her much hope that it was safe.

“So it’s cleared out?” She heard behind her.

“Yeah, lots of those fuckers were inside, but we killed them all.”

“Good, maybe now we can try and get our bearings,” When she looked behind her, Marble saw it was the lifeguard who was speaking as he made his way over to the garage, “You guys are life savers.”

That they were… Marble had to agree, just four of them selflessly going up to and attacking the monsters without hesitation, Limestone and Rainbow helped, but still. So few against so many, without using any proper weapons.

They were either very brave or foolish. Or just incredibly awesome.

A heavy sigh.

She got her mind off of it, because right now they were safe; they had proper walls between them and the monsters and a place to sleep that was sturdy. But it wasn’t so much as a matter of how long they could keep the monsters out… but how long could the walls last…

A couple of gasps made Marble’s ears flick up to attention, prompting her to turn around. Her eyes caught sight of Rainbow stepping outside into the sunlight, her shirt and pants almost completely covered in blood, and her hands… even worse. Marble’s eyes went wide as the pegasus walked out and over to the wall, her back hitting it and sliding down into a sitting position...

Oh no...

ooo000---000ooo

Being quiet was one of his strong points. Dee knew that for a fact. He liked being stealthy in these types of situations—the ones that required that he limit the amount of noise he made, not whenever he ended up having to keep quiet so he wouldn’t get eaten by an undead monster.

The young man had wandered all around the room for about twenty minutes… he knew it was that long, cause he was checking his watch. Too much time was being wasted in here searching! It should still be in here, he knew that much.

But where?

The cabinets had little in them except bandages and some low yield painkillers, cotton swabs, and other little things that he didn’t want to grab. The tables were filled with nonsensical documents he couldn’t understand and medical profiles about the staff, mostly labeling allergies and any disabilities they had.

Like one he found for Ken, the security guard he ran up on who had a honey allergy...

Pretty useless information he had no doubt he wasn’t going to use.

The only thing he didn’t check was the first aid box nearby… and a sudden wave of stupidity filled him.

Why didn’t I check that first? He wondered and shook his head. Grabbing the axe he began limping over to the box nearby. Fuck, I need to get back soon, I can’t stay out here much longer. There were other threats in this place aside from the undead, and he had no intention of staying long enough to be found by anymore security guards.

The one who put a round into his leg was enough for him.

After making it to the first aid box, he leaned on his axe handle and lifted a hand to unlatch the lock, it popped open with ease and the box lid squeaked open.

Inside he spotted several vials of clear liquid, and beside them, hooked neatly into place… was a pneumatic injector - a needle free device used for delivering medicine via a high pressured narrow jet of liquid to pierce the skin.

A wide grin threatened to split his lips as he plucked it from it’s holder and giving it a look over… brand new it looked like. “Finally got ya, you little shit.” He leaned his axe against the wall and fought back the pain as he pulled off his backpack.

Three vials and one pneumatic injector? Sounded like a good deal to him, plus with the other medical supplies he found, he could patch himself up pretty decently once he got back to the room.

Once everything was packed up neatly in his backpack, he zipped it up tight and slung it back onto his shoulders before grabbing his axe, it was time to mo-...

...Was that growling?