Vacation

ooo000---000ooo

Huddled on the rooftop of an apartment building that was locked up as tight as possible, Derpy shivered and hugged herself. For hours she had sat there, having zipped her way out of that one apartment she had so curiously gone inside of—to see if she could find someone to help her with her problem, but instead all she found were nightmares that would haunt her for the rest of her natural life. She hugged her knees to her chest, her eyes half closed and body shas the storm over the island had let up slightly, but there was still a drizzle of rain.

Down in the city she could hear the monsters still—faint as they were, screeching and howling in their never ending chase for blood. Out of pure fearful curiosity, she crawled over to the edge once again and looked over. In the streets there lay streaks of brackish red, crashed automatic carriages cluttering the bridge and keeping many from running across it... as if there were any people left to do that anyway. What people she did see down there had been killed or turned into monsters, drug away into the sewers, or torn apart in the streets.

CRACK BANG BANG

Went the sounds of those odd devices the creatures were using, forcing her to hide a tiny bit so she wouldn’t get spotted… but she kept watching. She heard the rumbles of those carriages to the far north and saw a few with big boxy cannons on the back making their way through the carnage in the streets. Some of them blasted through the monsters, sending them flying, cracking bones and splattering them across the pavement, spilling blood and gore as the tires squished them and caused their heads to explode.

The odd vehicles moved up to the bridge, all of them colored like the jungle. More of those people stood on the back and manned the cannons while some sat in the back holding smaller flintlock like rifles before coming to a stop.

"Move move move! We have to blow the bridge to keep them from crossing! Jenkins, Roberts, move up!" Other similar cries and orders were yelled out and it was then Derpy realized they must have been soldiers. They moved from the vehicles and onto the bridge, firing their flintlocks several times and making her wonder if they were enchanted to fire more than one shot.

The monsters stood little chance against the soldiers and were swiftly cut down from their fire. Derpy watched as several of the soldiers moved forward through the crashed vehicles, where in the distance she saw the police officers that had been holding out on the bridge near a wall were gone, only blood, severed limbs, and monsters remained. The soldiers themselves from what Derpy could see, were moving towards the middle where the wall was. Some taking up positions near the vehicles and aiming their guns around, keeping watch for more monsters.

She noticed a couple of armed ones were guarding one who had a rather large backpack and looked nervous, he was a young one, barely in his twenties if Derpy had to guess his age.

He's so young... She thought, watching the group. Why are they making males do all this fighting? Was the first thought that came to mind despite all she had already witnessed… it was just so strange to see.

Just as they made it to the middle, the group of three soldiers started to head down some stairs off to the left of the bridge as more smoke rose from several parts of the city on the other side. Suddenly she heard one of them yell something out before some more loud cracks sounded, rapid pops before the two were suddenly tumbling down the stairs with a cry, roars and screams of pain and fear sounding after. As the one with the bag tried to run, he ended up getting hit in the back instead mid-sprint and was knocked off of the bridge, a shocked cry leaving him as he fell into the water below.

FLAP

Derpy had no idea what made her spring into action and fly out from her hiding spot, whether it was his cry of panic or some other factor, but she ended up overcoming her fear and flew over a large compound that sat next to the bridge, large pipes and pumps snaking throughout it like a maze. She glided over it as her eye caught sight of the other soldiers being pushed back by others of their kind, ones in street clothes, hockey masks and hoofball helmets before charging at the soldiers. Derpy shook her head and focused instead on the one who fell into the water, he needed her help!

Circling in from the far left, she saw him struggling to stay above the surface as blood was quickly beginning to cloud the water.

She angled her wings and flew in low, hovering with a few wing flaps above the water as he finally spotted her. He screamed suddenly, "Ahh! W-what the f-fuck!?" He managed over the waves and water threatening to drown him. He screamed again, like he was in pain as he thrashed around, "Aaaah! Haaah!"

"J-just hold on!" She told him in a frantic and panicked voice, lowering herself until her sneaker clad feet and legs ended up in the water. She flapped her wings harder before grabbing onto the him who struggled slightly. He coughed and clutched his chest as she dragged him through the water, trying to lift him up and out of the water, but he was too heavy for some reason! But she pushed herself regardless things beneath the surface of the water tried to grab onto her feet, struggling against the water and whatever was underneath as the storm picked up again, she could feel it in the air... the wind was picking up and the clouds growing thicker and thicker by the minute! Come on! She growled to herself before finally reaching the shore and subsequent dock for boats.

She dragged him up out of the water and onto the metal walkway with a thud, landing next to him as he coughed and harked. Derpy knelt by his side, looking back out into the water as the pops and cracks continued up above on the bridge, and in the water she could see things underneath moving about. She gulped and looked down at the male who was suddenly very pale looking and struggling to breath.

He coughed as she checked him—which proved rather difficult with his armor and thick clothing, but she did see rips in his clothes around the chest, tiny holes and pieces of slightly warm metal embedded in a vest of sorts. But there were a few holes in that and blood flowed out of the obvious wounds. Derpy felt a bit of horror seep up in her chest, he was bleeding badly! "O-oh no..."

The male shook as he looked down at his legs, where Derpy also spotted several rips and tears in his ankles, and when she lifted up the tattered fabric she saw chunks of his flesh were ripped out forcing her to recoil slightly. Looking back at the man, she saw him stare at her for a few moments before he began to struggle to take off his backpack, unclasping it. Slowly, he pulled it out from under him shoved it into her chest, causing her eep. "D-don't l-lose t-that!" He choked on blood, his eyes now getting bloodshot.

"W-what?! Why? What are yo-" Derpy started before finding a small black object being shoved into her hand, making her tremble slightly… it was a flintlock, but one unlike anything she’d ever seen.

"T-take this... k-keep t-the bag s-safe an-and b-blo-..." He gurgled up blood, eyes rolling into the back of his head. His body fell limp as she watched, eyes wide as he choked on his own blood and gurgling.

"W-wait!" She dropped the backpack, hand wrapped around the other object she was given before she tried shaking him awake, "D-don't die!" Derpy cried, body trembling and heart pounding in her chest when he didn't respond. The mare shook and pushed herself away from the body, her breathing rapid and panicky before looking down at what he gave her to 'protect herself' with.

It was shaped like one of the minotaur's flintlock weapons, but with blackened metal parts instead of smooth wood and bronze parts. It was also heavier than she would have thought it'd be, but she could still hold it. It was oddly shaped as well, not like the usual wooden muzzle loaders she had heard about from time to time from her friend Berry Punch. It had the trigger and hammer, but everything else except for the hole in the front eluded her.

She moved her hand across the smooth metal along the top, her fingers touching a little raised bit at the end that lined up with the one in the back near the odd looking hammer. There also appeared to be a lever on the side, like one could flip it down or up if they wanted to, but for what purpose did it serve?

She was just given a dangerous weapon... one she wasn't sure if she could use properly.

Looking towards the backpack, she dragged it over and fiddled with it for a moment. It was colored black and had a flag on it, but she didn't pay it much mind before picking it up and standing, legs shaky as she looked down at the body. "I-I'm sorry..." She choked back a silent cry as she heard growls and snarls, and looking up near the stairs nearby she saw more of those monsters approaching. She spread her wings before tucking away the weapon into her pants and putting on the backpack and blasting off into the sky.

ooo000---000ooo

Down near the front, the roars and snarls of the undead and infected continued as Dee stared down at the blue pickup that was currently waiting for them to snag. It was the perfect plan! He thought about it for a few seconds longer; just get down there, take the truck and drive to either the Lighthouse or the Lifeguard Station, immediate profit. That was all there was to the plan, of course… easy as taking candy from a baby.

Rainbow however, didn't seem to think it was as easy as he made it sound.

"Dee, you sure you’re okay?" She had asked him after his quick declaration of using the truck to get out of the situation they were stuck in.

He blinked in confusion and turning to her, asked the mare, "Uhm... of course, why’d ya ask?"

"How are we going to use that weird carriage to get out of here?" Rainbow followed up, pointing to the front of it, "There's no hitch at the front and we don't have anything to pull it with!" She argued with him.

It was then he realized they probably had no idea how human vehicles worked, if the carriage comment wasn’t enough of an indication.

A sheepish chuckle left him, "Uhm... Rainbow," He turned back towards her, eyes taking in her form for a brief moment. Damn she is just... gorgeous, hell, they all are. He noted and pushed those thoughts back as a grin grew on his face, "It doesn't need a hitch to move, it'll move on its own if the key is in it." At Rainbow Dash's look of confusion, he sighed and squatted down and fell down into a cross legged sitting position. "Okay, I don’t have any earthly idea how shit on your world works—" At the world bit, Rainbow looked a little worried for a second, "—but here on mine, these don't need any kind of like... creature to pull them. All we need is gasoline—that’s a kind of fuel—to get it going, and a key to turn it on. I won't get too technical about it, but if the key is in it we can get out of here." He stressed the final words carefully to her.

He hoped the key was in the truck, if it wasn't, he could try hot-wiring it — hopefully wikihow’s information quality would hold up, but if that failed then perhaps they were truly screwed.

Rainbow continued to look skeptical about the idea, arms crossed and face set in uncertainty. "I don't know... what if it doesn't work? What if you get hurt or something?" She asked him, looking uncomfortable with the idea of him going down there and testing the vehicle.

He fully understood why—at last count, there were perhaps just under a hundred of those undead monsters down in the streets, most of them rapid moving monsters with a taste for flesh and a thirst for blood. They had taken down the woman with no problem, ripping her apart and feasting on her remains... he had no doubt that all that remained of her was the blood stains and bones.

Dee took a peek over the edge of the station rooftop and down into the horde—thankfully it looked like some of them decided to wander off in search of something else, decreasing the horde’s size greatly. But the number was still too much for him to feel safe jumping down and rushing through them, with every single one of them attempting to either climb up or get into the gas station. They failed thanks to the barricades they set up below still holding strong and for the roof being too high up for them to climb up.

If he was doing to do this, he needed to be fast on his feet to check the vehicle and get it running.

Damn it... this might be toug—

He started to think. But then he realized something, a daring plan came to mind, one that had no possible chance to fail!

Suddenly, Dee whirled around to face Rainbow Dash, "I have the perfect idea!"

“What is it?” Dinky found herself asking him, looking up from where she was crouched next to Lyra.

Dee clapped his hands together and stood up, “Okay, Rainbow, you can fly—” At that she nodded and the others followed him with their eyes as he walked over to the northern portion of the roof, “—So my plan is you fly,” He gestured over the crowd of undead, adding, “Well out of their reach but low enough to keep their interest, and you lead as many of them away from here as you can. You’re the diversion—” Dee glanced over to Vinyl and Lyra next, “Lyra will climb down with their help if I can get the truck moving, and then I’ll drive us out of here to somewhere safe!” He finished.

It would be the perfect plan… he goes down and quickly checks to see if the key is inside it, and if it was they were golden! Lyra will get the help she needs, they’ll get away to safety and won’t have to be on the run constantly!

It was—

"—insane." Rainbow stated as she stood near the northern part of the gas station where the horde of undead monsters were trying to get at her. “You’re insane.” She told him as Dee glanced down at the monsters-it seems they didn't care what kind of meat was in front of them, as long as it was moving and fresh.

Dee just shrugged and twirled his shovel before moving towards the back of the building, crouching down and gripping tight his shovel-his only means of defense. "Look, I know it sounds insane, but it's foolproof!" He told her, looking back at her as Vinyl was near Lyra. Dinky was watching Dee and Rainbow worriedly, and he took note of it but opted to focus instead on trying to get his plan underway. "Those things can't fly and while they can pretty much climb anything short of a sheer wall, they won't be able to get at you as long as you're up high enough." He explained to her, moving slightly in anticipation of jumping down and checking the truck.

The plan was simple, very simple. Rainbow would distract the horde of undead, flying up high out of their reach but low enough to lure them into following her away from the station. Once she did that, he would hop down and quickly check the truck to see if it was in running condition, if it was, they could get out of there and to safety. Thinking back to earlier, he figured the Lifeguard Station would be the perfect place to hide out, given its near-perfect defenses and ideal location, they'd be hard pressed to find another well defended place in the resort area.

Well,... there are the bunkers, but I'm not sure I trust those enough to risk it. He remembered from playing the game, his thoughts turning to not only the bunkers, but the lighthouse and Hotel as well. The former was high up and overlooking the resort for miles around, it was also well defended with a fence and hillsides that were difficult to scale up. It could be another location to hide out in should the Lifeguard Station turn them away. There was also the Royal Palms Resort Hotel, but if it was anything like the game, there were tons of infected inside the building and he wasn’t sure how well defended the place could be even if they got around to clearing it out.

Thinking about the Lifeguard Tower, he hoped being turned away wouldn't be the case.

Dee heard Rainbow growl and shake her head, "Ugh, just… just be careful, for fuck's sake..." She told him, spreading her wings and loosening up her joints for the plan. He could see how uncomfortable she was with this idea of his; if he fucked himself over and couldn't climb back up in time, he'd be dead for sure until Rainbow got to him... if she did. As fast as she could move, he wasn’t sure she would be able to get to him in time.

He swallowed hard.

"Okay, on three... one," Dee prepped his legs, playing out how this was going to go in his head. Leap down and land in a roll, parkour 101, no biggie at all. "Two," Dee took a deep breath, foot nearing the edge and body tensed. I got a baaad feeling... Already he felt like something was going to go wrong. "Three!"

Just as he said three, Rainbow took off from the roof and flew off a bit towards the north, yelling, "Come on you dirty monkeys!"

Oh come on. Once phase one of the plan was done and he saw the infected turn to chase after Rainbow, Dee leapt off the roof and onto the ground, he braced himself once he hit the ground—landing on the ground and bunching himself up into a roll to avoid any serious damage to his feet and ankles. His legs stung from the impact, a muffled grunt coming from him before he quickly recovered. Dee quickly stood up, gripping his shovel tightly and quickly looking around.

He didn't see any other infected around and from the louder growls and snarls, it appeared his plan was working. Creeping over to the corner, Dee peeked out and saw the giant crowd of infected monsters following Rainbow Dash, arms in the air and attempting to grab onto her feet or legs to bring her down. To his immense relief, she was being smart and flying low enough to hold their interest while still being too high for them to get her—there was at least a two foot difference between her and the infected.

The faster moving ones tried to use their speed and animal-like leaps to reach her, but their jumps were nowhere near high enough to get her and end her ceaseless taunts and insults.

So far, so good, now to check the truck!

Dee turned and rushed towards the truck with a barely contained smile and finding it in such a glorious condition it almost made his mouth water and his heart pound in excitement—said organ was already pounding though, from the sheer rush of what was happening, the infected horde was so close by and he had to act fast, or they were buggered until Rainbow could lead the horde away again... assuming he made it back to safety in time.

Gripping the door handle, he pulled on it and found the door was unlocked to his luck. He opened it up wide and slid into the driver's seat, laying his shovel aside and checking the ignition…

They weren't there.

"Fuck!" He slammed his hand on the steering wheel.

Dee quickly looked around the truck, pulling down the visors and grimacing upon not finding the key stored up there. He opened up the center console, only finding a bunch of work papers, someone's ID, and some other junk that served him no real or useful purpose. Dee slammed it shut, his heart pounding faster as the sounds of Rainbow's yelling continuing. She was still drawing them away, thankfully. which he was glad for.

Finally, he checked the glove box, ripping it open and finding nothing but old yellowed papers inside.

"Damn it!"

Then suddenly...

"Looking for these?"

Dee gave a start—his head whipping around and spotting Liam, the lifeguard with his bat.

And in his hands he saw some keys.

“Nighty night~”

Before Dee could try anything, he was hit in the head with the bat, and his world fell into darkness.

There’s that bad feeling coming to light...

ooo000---000ooo

Vinyl watched as Liam--Rainbow had told her his name--yanked Dee out of the vehicle, throwing him onto the ground as the other three survivors from inside quickly climbed into the thing and shut the doors.

Those assholes! She looked towards Dinky, the smaller unicorn looking terribly frightened as her mouth moved, Vinyl cursed her disabilities. Damn it! Vinyl took a deep breath before jumping down from the roof, landing on the ground in a roll before concentrating her magic. Fucking worthless male! Her horn lit up—she pictured a pulse pushing forth from her hands, a ball of powerful force magic, and once she felt it in her horn, she channeled it down through her arms and threw her hands out towards the vehicle to cast the spell.

Her arms shook from the force of her magic as she fired a force pulse at the vehicle the humans had climbed into, shattering the glass and causing it to skid forward and almost tip over before settling back on all four wheels. The people inside were no doubt shook by the impact of such a powerful spell, glass slicing into the lifeguard and injuring him from what she saw. But before she could do much else, her body suddenly felt weaker from the spell cast—her legs went shaky and her magic felt strangely drained; worse, her spell had failed to stop them, having come out much weaker than it usually did. She saw the angry but smug look of Liam before the vehicle they were in shot forward, passing by the mare and spewing an almost noxious fume into her face.

She covered her nose with her hand, coughing. She felt something wet on her nose, and pulling her hand away she saw crimson.

W-what? Gah! My fucking horn hurts now, what’s wrong with my magic? She struggled to stand back up and fight back the woozy feeling in her head. I gotta get Dee and get him back onto the roof, I knew this was a stupid idea! We shouldn’t have done this! Looking towards the vehicle, she saw it speed off and veer out of sight.

Shaking her head, she stumbled over to the fallen human who was out cold on the ground. She grabbed onto him and tried to shake him awake but he didn’t so much as budge. A surge of fear ran through her—was he dead? Did that damned lifeguard actually kill him?! A quick press of her fingers to his neck to check his pulse ended in relief, he was still alive, if only knocked out.

She continued to shake him, a bit rougher this time. Come on, wake up!

The human’s eyes fluttered open after another shake of his body and he looked woozy, eyes flicking about in a haze. He said something as he clambered weakly up onto his knees and looking behind her, his eyes widened and his mouth moved. He looked towards her, shaking his head and struggling to stand. Vinyl was quick to aid him, helping him stand and leading him away from the front.

Damn it! We need to get back on top of the station. She knew that horde could return at any moment and come down on them and she wasn’t looking forward to fighting them all off. With how her magic was affected from her Force Pulse spell, if she tried fighting with either her kickboxing or magic, she’d be taken down no problem.

Moving towards the back of the building where the lower part of the roof was, maybe they could climb up it? She didn’t know how long the horde of monsters could be kept at bay by Rainbow’s methods, if that odd carriage she saw made any noise, it could have attracted them to their position!

Her line of thought was broken once the two made it to the back, where an abnormally large male stumbled into view, nearly seven feet in height. A bloodied mechanic's jumpsuit covered his body, ripped to shreds around the arms and legs. The creature’s bloodied eyes flicked down to Vinyl’s own, and she suddenly felt very small compared to this giant.

The tall monster threw its head back, mouth open and body shaking back and forth. He looked back down at Vinyl as she felt Dee spring into action, pulling her back with a frantic look on his face.

Holy shit! They can get that big?! She turned and ran along with him, she didn’t know stallions on this island could grow that big! As she looked out ahead she watched Dee’s expression turn panicky during his half limp half run to the front. Dang it! We need a way back to the roof! Was her original thought but then she saw him rush towards another one of those odd contraptions and slam against the back. What is he doing?!

He turned and gestured for her to come over as he slammed the back door of it down, and closed up the other doors except the front two. He slid into the right front seat of the vehicle and slammed the door shut, she had little choice but to climb in with him.

Once inside she pulled the door close and looked back towards him. Dee was quickly searching through the vehicle’s compartments, in the middle, above and behind the wheel, even opening up a lid of sorts that was in front of her.

That caused something to fall out and land in her lap, giving her a jolt. Looking down Vinyl saw an oddly shaped flintlock sitting on her pants, colored silver with a black handle, an odd little switch near the hammer and was made entirely of metal. Along the side of it, she read Beretta Corp Australia. 9mm. She rose an eyebrow at the object, picking it up and keeping her finger away from the trigger, her brief training with flintlocks coming to mind.

The object was quickly taken by Dee who gave her a look and said something before putting the gun down in his lap, Weird looking flintlock. She noted as the human continued looking around the inside of the vehicle.

She watched until she was about to get out and take him with her back to the roof, maybe she could use the flintlock to some degree to fight off the horde before they got too close. Wait, no… she realized, she didn’t see any extra shots in the box she found it in… damn. But then she saw that the human found a pair of keys and his face immediately lit up before he jammed it into a hole behind the wheel and turned it.

Vinyl felt the entire metal contraption vibrate, making her look around. What was that?! A glance back at the human and his face lit up and he looked like he was laughing as his hand gripped a stick of sorts next to him, he manipulated it before slamming his foot down on some metal pedal on the floor.

It was then that Vinyl was suddenly thrust forward, almost hitting the flat surface of the inside. She stopped herself with her arms, the abrupt feeling of motion sending her stomach for a whirl. Vinyl tried holding on to something to try and steady herself, but that was about as pointless as trying to grab air. She was forced to the right by a sharp turn of the metal carriage and she hit the door, causing her busty chest to bounce about.

Fuck! This is what I get for not wearing a bra. She grimaced as the vehicle swerved around hard and then surged forward, pushing her back into the seat and her boobs to bulge upwards against her shirt. A look over to Dee and she saw an almost manic look in his eyes. Then he slammed into the giant male head on with the vehicle, making Vinyl lurch forward and almost slam against the front of the vehicle again as the bulky creature smashed against the hood, partially splattering the windshield with blood.

Vinyl gawked at the scene as Dee climbed out quickly. She followed him with a shaky walk and watched as he madly gestured to the roof where Dinky was. The unicorn nodded and rushed over somewhere.

What is he planning?

Vinyl looked back to where they came from and saw a couple of the monsters climbing out of the nearby foliage off to the far side and stumbling towards them—bloodied swimwear, torn and rotted skin, blood red eyes; they were terrifying to look at.

They needed to get the fuck out of here!

Looking up into the sky, she spotted Rainbow quickly zip back and land on the roof; Lyra was on her back just seconds later and she flew with her down onto the ground. Vinyl rushed over with haste to help Lyra stand up as Dee helped Dinky climb down—the young filly jumping down and landing in his arms and landing on the ground. They led the two to the back of the vehicle where he opened the back door and they helped Lyra inside, the mare’s face one of slight and barely contained pain.

Vinyl winced from how pained Lyra looked.

Damn it, she needs help… we need to get out of here first.

Turning back around, she spotted Rainbow ushering Dinky into the vehicle with haste..

The human, Dee, was quick to get everyone into the seats, with Vinyl climbing into the back with Dinky and Lyra as Rainbow got into the front alongside him. It drew his attention when she started breathing heavily. “What’s wrong?!”

“I d-don’t know, I feel exhausted,” She groaned, wings wrapped tight around her back. “W-weird.”

The doors were all shut, and Vinyl held on as the vehicle moved backwards again, the entire thing rumbling and vibrating their bodies. Vinyl felt slightly sick to her stomach when she turned around, spotting the hoard of monsters chasing after them, runners jumping onto the back and clawing at the glass.

It wasn’t long until the vehicle sped off down the road and away from the building… leaving behind the thirsty horde of undead monsters...

All she could do was just hang on and hope they made it out of this to safety.