Vacation

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“Shit! Fuck off!”

Legs burning and heart pumping, Dee sprinted for his life through the jungle, blasting past trees and rocks as he carved a new path to safety. Lightning struck and thunder rolled, rain and wind pouring down and doing everything they could to impede his progress. Behind him—screeches and growls amidst the stomping of rapidly moving feet, and he thought he heard a few actual words tossed in as well.

Bursting free from the treeline, he found himself entering a large beach area. His spark of optimism was dashed immediately as the sound of several more infected emerged from various hiding places—the bushes, dressing huts, just lying prone on the beach; and all of them were wearing swimsuits and other beachwear. Blood marred their bodies like the others, crimson and brackish stained bandages wrapped around their arms and legs. They immediately spotted him and charged. Left with no other option, Dee turned sharply on his heel and angled himself diagonally back into the jungle, avoiding his original path.

From the sweat covering his brow, the pounding of his heart, and his breath coming in short bursts, he knew he couldn’t keep this up much longer. He ignored the fire in his legs and the knives in his lungs. He was not going to die here!

The underbrush leading further inland progressively thinned out, less bushes and palm fronds blocking his path, and Dee found himself on a pathway leading to god-knows-where. Up a hill, past rocks, over a fallen tree, he was chased relentlessly. Just as his body was about to give up, he saw the end of the path—a large, dark gray building right next to what looked like a gas station.

Dee didn’t even question it, instead hiking up his backpack and summoning what little energy he had left in him to keep moving.

“Go! Go! Go!” a voice that struck familiarity with Dee yelled, one he never expected to hear again… mostly because he assumed he’d finally gone insane.

Risking a backwards glance, he spotted Rainbow Dash—still anthro; yep, he was insane—running as fast as she could and carrying a terrified, mint green unicorn mare on her back. Just behind them were another pair of unicorns—a younger, blonde filly and a blue-haired mare, the latter of whom was gripping a thick pole in one hand. Chasing after them were several infected, all screeching for blood.

“Over there!” Rainbow shouted, pointing to the gray building up ahead.

Rainbow, Lyra, Dinky, and Vinyl? Am I hallucinating?! Distracted by the confusing sight and wondering if perhaps, he did eat something that was causing him to see things, Dee didn’t pay attention to where he was going and plowed chest-first into a low-hanging branch. The blow forcibly knocked all of the air out of him, his feet leaving the ground and arcing over his head, causing him to land heavily on his back. His ribs and chest burned and his lungs struggled to bring in oxygen as the growling behind him slowly got louder.

Scrambling drunkenly to his feet, Dee stumbled towards the building as fast as he could go. Just as victory was nearly within reach, he felt something hit him in the back and cause him to land on the ground. A pained gasp escaped him when he landed on his already-bruised chest. Jerking his body around to see whatever was scrambling up his body, panic shot through his mind as he found himself face to face with an infected that began holding him down and trying to bite into him!

“Shit! Get off! Get off!” Dee yelled, holding the snapping jaws at bay with one hand on its forehead, the other on its neck and gripping hard to keep it away.

The rest of the infected—from what he could see, were lagging behind, but they were closing in quickly. Even if he somehow escaped the grasp of the one on top of him, he was too drained to keep running for very much longer.

Was this it? Was this how it all ends?

Dee’s life flashed before his eyes…

And by Odin’s tits, it was really fucking boring.

The snapping jaws were inching closer to his face, sending fear through his mind. “Shit! Shit! Augh!” It was close, so terribly close to biting him and possibly infecting him with whatever mutating disease caused all of this mayhem.

THWACK!

The sound of wood smacking against bone rang out as the infected’s head snapped to the side, skin splitting and blood flying as a snarl left its maw. Grip loosening on him, he seized the opportunity to escape; Dee squeezed his legs up under the infected and kicked it hard, sending it flying back. Finally looking for had rescued him, Dee saw his savior and once more questioned his sanity.

V-Vinyl Scratch?

Deciding to deal with his deteriorating mental state after he got out of the chase alive, Dee rolled stiffly to his feet before turning to the mare.

“What are you-?! Gah! Whatever, let’s go!“ he shouted, waving for her to follow him. The two ran towards and around to the front of the building just in time to see the large doors closing—someone was already inside and about to lock them out!

Dee didn’t hesitate to use what little of his strength he had left to run at the door and ram shoulder first into it, forcing it open briefly while the ponies came up behind him. “Don’t you dare fuckin’ close this door!”

“Hey! Buzz off, man! This is our hidin’ place!” a man inside yelled back.

Dee growled and threw himself at the door again. He needed to get it open!

“Go away!” another voice from inside yelled.

“Let us in!” Dee pounded on the door and tried to force it open further so he could slip through. He wasn’t going to die! Not when safety was so fucking close!

The sound of stampeding feet sounded behind him and he knew the two unicorns behind him finally joined in, slamming against the door and pushing on it. Their combined efforts created a gap just wide enough to slip into. Dee being the wiggliest of the bunch forced himself through the gap and shoved away whoever was blocking the door. A startled yelp and he got inside and pulled the door open allowing the mares behind him to follow and get inside.

The inside was surprisingly spacious, basically being a single room—probably a vehicle maintenance building. Rainbow zipped inside with a flap of her wings just before Dee closed the door again. Turning around, they saw a group of a half-dozen or so people staring at them, some armed and others just hiding.

“What the fuck!?” the first man yelled, eyes wide at the sight of the ponies. “You lettin‘ in dem freaks?! You fuckin’ moron!”

“A loud shriek from the back, “Oh my god! Get away!”

Some within the group screamed in fear, rushing to the back of the room past shelves filled with junk and spare parts. Others up front grabbed whatever they could find to defend themselves with; pipes and sticks, even a shovel and hammer!

These people weren’t playing around.

“Damn it! Gimme the bat!” shouted an athletic man in a lifeguard uniform.

A dull boom resounded through the building causing even more panic and chaos, the mass of infected had finally made it to the door and were trying to get inside!

“Fuck!” Dee cried out upon almost losing his grip on the door, they were pushing hard! Dee, Dinky, and Vinyl pushed back against the door as hard as they could. He swore he felt the door slipping and the growls of the infected only made it worse! Thankfully they somehow managed to get it completely closed before throwing the lock down with a loud clunk. They backed away as the snarling monsters slammed against the door, their combined might nearly breaking the hinges and making the door buckle in the middle.

Fuck, that was close.

Tearing his gaze away from the bent metal, Dee was going to start asking questions and possibly chew someone out for trying to keep them locked outside.

Seeing the lifeguard running at Rainbow with a bat changed his mind.

“Raaah!” he yelled, taking a wild swing at the mare.

“Whoah!” Rainbow ducked out of the way, scrambling back from where she had set Lyra down next to a nearby table. She backpedaled to the wall, eyes wide at the glaring man. “What the fuck dude?! Put that down!”

“Goddamn freaks!” The man took another wild swing at her, grunting loudly when his target dodged again.

Dee jumped in and pushed the man back. “Chill the fuck out!” he yelled. A swift kick to the stomach was his swift reply, sending Dee stumbling back with a pained yelp and coughing violently.

“You bastard!” The man stood over Dee and held the bat high above his head.

Dee threw up his arms and tried to scramble away as the man swung down hard-

Crack!

His eyes shot open to witness Vinyl had come to the rescue once again, knocking the bat aside with her pole. Dee watched helplessly as the man threw a kick at her, but Vinyl jumped back, causing the man to stumble from his own momentum, then she jumped back in, raising her leg up and kicking out her heel into his gut to get him to back up. Hard. He flew through the air and into a large shelf, the entire structure and all of its contents collapsing on top of him.

Dee groaned and painfully rolled over to his knees. He saw Dinky hiding near Lyra after a quick look around, the older mare groaning and trying not to move due to whatever injuries she must have sustained. Slowly getting onto his knees, he heard Rainbow growl at the aggressive group of people.

“What’s the big idea?!” Rainbow demanded angrily, her wings flared.

“What the hell is that thing!?” the lifeguard hissed to a burly black man in a mechanic’s outfit.

The mechanic shook his head, frowning as he twirled the pipe he was wielding. “I dunno, but it’s fuckin’ ugly!”

“Hey! Fuck you!” Rainbow flipped them the bird at them and Vinyl gripped her pole tighter, both glancing at each other. “Stupid stallion! We’re just trying to get away from those things!”

“Shoulda stayed out there you goddamn freaks!” The life guard pointed his bloodied bat at her. “We don’t need you coming in here and infecting us! We got enough problems already!” Rainbow visibly bristled from what Dee could see, looking ready to tear them all to pieces.

“Dad! They’re trying to get in!” a girl screamed from the back. Immediately, everyone turned to the back of the building. There was a door for employees that was left wide open and Dee could only assume the infected from outside were approaching fast and intended on breaking through the fence that surrounded the back. The mechanic cursed and ran to close the door, locking it shut just in time. He then braced himself against the door, shortly joined by one of the other women.

“Listen here stallion, we’re staying here whether you like it or not!” Rainbow growled out, slashing a hand through the air in defiance. “And if you got a problem with it? Well, too fuckin’ bad!”

“You wanna go bitch?! I’ll fucking kill you!” The lifeguard swung his bat threateningly at them. Vinyl’s eyes were flicking between as many of the other humans as fast as they could, her body was twitchy but she looked ready for a fight with Rainbow looking keen on starting one. “I killed a bunch of those things! I have no problem killing a freak like you!”

Rainbow’s wings flared out as Dee finally stood up, coughing still and glaring at them. “I’m a fuckin’ Wonderbolt and you’re just a stallion, you couldn’t kill me even if you tried!” the mare yelled back, fists clenched. “I don’t wanna hurt you though, I know how fragile stallions are.”

“Try me!” The lifeguard looked ready to charge, as did Rainbow.

“Guys! Can we not-” Lyra called hoarsely before falling into a coughing fit. Dinky hesitantly put a hand on her back, rubbing it slightly. “W-we have bigger p-problems!” Lyra pleaded between coughs.

Dee knew Lyra was right, with all of the yelling and fighting going on, they were drawing in more of them! He stepped in between the lifeguard and Dash, holding out his hands to both.

“Fuckin’ cool it!” he yelled, his voice almost cracking. He was shaky, body aching and legs about to buckle under his weight. All of the running and getting hit had worn his body out, he wouldn’t be able to move much longer. “She’s right, we have way bigger problems than this shit right now!” When no one said anything, he added, “We need t-”

He was cut off by a blinding pain in the back of his skull, causing him to drop heavily to the floor like a sack of rocks. A loud ringing in his ears made it difficult to discern the words being thrown around.

“Y- … -hole!”

“Shu- … -p!”

Blinking past the pain, Dee could see the blurry outline of a person waving around some long object. A furry white knee suddenly entered his vision and it took him a few seconds to recognize Vinyl was kneeling next to him. Head feeling like it had been cracked open, another painful throb made him groan and tenderly hold the back of his noggin, wincing from the flash of pain lancing through him. The ringing finally dissipated enough to let him hear somewhat clearly, but it still sounded like he was listening through a pair of earplugs.

“Y-you’re freaks! Get the fuck out of here! This is our hiding spot!” It was the lifeguard who yelled that.

Someone snorted near him. “No fuckin’ way! We’re not going back out there!” Rainbow, it sounded like, her scratchy voice all too familiar to him.

While they continued their shouting match, Dee once more found himself struggling to get to his feet. The back of his head throbbed again and he felt a warm trickle run down his neck, setting off warning bells. Shit, I’m bleeding… Did that fucker hit me when I wasn’t looking? He couldn’t remember that well.

His vision still a blurred mess of colors, he could hear Rainbow and the lifeguard yelling at each other to his left and the sounds of the growling and snarling infected to his right. They were still banging up against the door, relentlessly trying to force it open and get at everyone inside—the terrifying thought of them rushing inside flashed through his eyes, horrid images of the mares being ripped apart...

Crunching and gnawing away…

Killing them or worse, turning them into other infected.

A woman walked forward, gripping a sledgehammer and wearing a bright orange vest and a hard hat; she must have been a construction worker before rushing into the building. “Let’s just kill them and be done with it! We don’t need any more people!”

“W-we’re just trying to hide! J-just like y-you!” Dinky pleaded off to the side, still crouched next to a still injured Lyra. “Those m-monsters tried to kill us! Please d-don’t throw us out to them!”

Dee saw as Lyra winced and his gaze turned back to the others; he counted at least four of them that were armed and angry enough to try attacking them, while the ones more towards the back were hiding out of sight.

The banging noise that sounded against the door just made things worse for all of them as more infected seemingly joined the others outside, increasing their numbers and the amount of stress they were putting on the door, further weakening it. Everyone was arguing, yelling, screaming, or otherwise threatening a fight while Dee was just trying to stand up.

They needed to stop, now, or things wouldn’t end well for any of them.

And he didn’t plan on getting eaten alive!

“G-guys, shut up!” Dee yelled over the clamor of the group. Immediately after, he heard a loud creaking noise which prompted his attention. Upon looking over to the door he saw the lock was beginning to buckle under the combined might of the infected, causing the door to slowly warp and tremble. He shakily stayed on his feet as the door struggled to stay closed, but it wouldn’t be long until it was ripped down! “Guys!” he screamed at them all. “Shut the fuck up! They’re trying to open the door!”

Sadly, they didn’t listen.

“Oh fuck this, I’m outta here!” a man who was previously-silent in the back yelled out, running over and throwing open the back door before sprinting outside amidst the yells from the other people to stay inside. “Every man for himself!”

“Carlos! You dumbass!” the lifeguard shouted after him. Dee watched as Rainbow decided to seize the opening she was given and shot forward with a flap of her wings, slamming her fist into the back of the man’s head and knocking him to the floor. She didn’t even hesitate before shoving the other men away with a swift attack.

“Come on, guys! We need to leave right now!” Rainbow called to everyone, already in the doorway and ushering them over.

A pained groan and Dee felt a surge of something in his body, a sudden burst of energy flooding through his legs and arms; his second wind! He made his way over to the downed Lyra and Dinky, leaning down to grab onto her good arm. “Up and at’em!” Dee attempted to lift her up to get them going, but his previous injuries made that a crapshoot and he just made both of their injuries worse, a sudden wave of pain making him double over again.

So much for that second wind...

Thankfully, Vinyl rushed over to aid them and lifted Lyra up onto her back, sparing Dee the weight and further embarrassment. Swallowing the pain and utilizing what energy he had left, he followed after them with Dinky trailing close behind him. It didn’t take long before the other men tried to regroup and attack, yelling and cursing as the door ended up buckling at long last. But they were already hauling ass for the back door and outside to freedom, away from the infected and the other survivors.

Once through the door and into the bright tropical sun, he saw Rainbow flying up over the fence that surrounded the back perimeter. Dinky had no trouble scaling it herself, vaulting over like a little pro. But that left Dee who had to help Vinyl with Lyra, because there was no way she could carry the other unicorn over by herself. They tried letting Lyra use the boxes nearby as steps to climb up, but the moment she grabbed the fence, she flinched and grabbed her ribs.

“A-ah, my side,” she hissed and whimpered, ears folding back, “I don’t think I can do this!”

“Shit, hey! Come get her!” Dee waved at Rainbow to get her to come back, the mare turned around and shot over the fence before he could blink and left her afterimage a bit ahead. She got Lyra onto her back and climbed up and over the fence, a zip of her impressive speed and she made it up and over safely on the other with Vinyl and Dee to follow soon after.

Being in much better condition, Vinyl made it over quickly, leaving Dee halfway up. Before he could reach the top, however, he felt something smash into his back, making him cry out in pain and almost fall back. Glancing over his shoulder, he saw the lifeguard below him, angrily wielding his baseball bat!

“Fuckin’ bastards! You let them inside!” He raised his bat, prepared to strike again!

Dee furiously kicked at his assailant before he could use his bat, forcing him back and allowing him to scramble over the fence to safety. Panicked wheezing escaped him as he dropped to the ground on the other side, climbing onto his feet to follow the mares to the neighboring gas station.

Just as he started to run- more like limp, he looked up and saw a sign sitting above the roadway for drivers to see. It was rather unremarkable looking in design, but the words—more specifically, a single word—caught his eye.

That one word chilled him to the bone and made him run even faster.

Making his way over to the station was a damn chore, but he managed to make it as Rainbow kicked aside a slow moving infected and over to the front door. She kicked it open once he approached, and he rapidly scanned the inside as he entered beside her. He saw one sluggish-looking walker inside near the vending machine, but not much else in terms of threats.

Dee held the door open, ushering the ponies inside as Rainbow moved in. Once they were inside, he quickly moved to shut the door and lock it.

Safe at la-

Just as it was about to close, however, something rammed into it, sending Dee stumbling back into some shelves and knocking them over with a pained yelp. Before he could recover fully, the group from before rushed inside, led by the blood-covered lifeguard.

“Fuckin’ barricade the door and windows!” he ordered. The people immediately followed orders, swiftly moving to secure one side of the station despite a few of them limping from whatever they had suffered.

Dee clambered back to his feet as Dinky rushed towards a set of windows. “There’s so many of them!” she cried.

Growling to himself and grabbing a fallen set of shelves, Dee put aside his anger at the other humans and rushed to help block things up. “Block the windows and lock the door! Now!” Vinyl ran over to help him lift it before giving him a questioning look. Dee frantically gestured from the shelves to the window, and thankfully Vinyl quickly made the connection and helped him lift it up.

The duo slid it over to the window Dinky was at, prompting her to move and run to the back, hiding behind the register with Lyra, who was lying on the floor with a pained expression on her face. As he was dragging the shelves, Dee noticed Rainbow moving to barricade a different set of windows.

Despite the two groups’ anger towards one another, they pushed it all aside to secure the windows and doors as fast as they could. Their combined instinct to survive this madness was strong, and damn it all if they were gonna die because of a petty fight with one another.

Outside, Dee saw infected emerging from the jungle foliage, all of them being former tourists and beachgoers now mad for blood. They ran past cars, vaulting over the hoods as they honed in on the gas station like flesh-seeking missiles. They reached the building just as the barricades were completed, slamming their bodies against the doors and clawing at the windows to get inside to no avail.

Back inside, the lone walker shuffled over to the mechanic and attacked, nearly biting into him.

Probably should have dealt with him first.

“Ahhh! Get it off me!” The man was pushed up against the shelves by the undead monster, struggling to free himself after dropping his only means of defense.

Dee grabbed a nearby bottle of booze sitting on the shelf behind him, smashing it against the wall and shattering it into a deadly weapon before running over to the man. He shoved past the lifeguard before grabbing the walker by a shoulder and raising his makeshift weapon he stabbed the walker in the head. The broken glass cut deep into the rotted flesh, making it growl fiercely and try to turn around and attack. He stabbed again before wrestling it away from the burly man and down to the floor, causing them both to fall.

He kept stabbing; once-twice-thrice, he didn’t stop until the walker’s head was nothing more than bloodied mulch on the floor and his clothes were covered in brackish ooze. The walker was dead now, but the infected had cornered them once again in a building with no immediate way out.

Looking up, he saw that both groups were tensed and ready for a fight, eyeing each other warily. Rainbow and the lifeguard looked ready to throw down, fires raging deep in their eyes. Dinky was kneeling with Lyra behind the counter, the young filly’s face one of sheer terror. Vinyl was next to Rainbow, glaring at the humans and ready to get Rainbow’s back if a fight just so happened to break out. The rest of the humans were huddled together on the other side of the station, gripping their weapons and glaring back.

Dee was caught in the middle of it all, trying to stay alive while the infected tried to get inside. He wasn’t sure what the fuck just happened, or why this was happening to any of them, but at least he knew where he was now. Much as he wished he didn’t...

The world famous resort in Dead Island…

Banoi.