Vacation

ooo000---000ooo

Tires screeched on the roads, snarls slowly fading behind them as the engine’s own noise took over. Dee gripped the steering wheel tight and struggled to keep the SUV in a straight line, driving at such fast speeds was difficult for him, especially on such a twisty road that led up to the resort and hotel.

He had tucked the Beretta he found in his pocket as best as he could before speeding away from the gas station, an angry glare etched into his face. He tried to keep his head in the right place, using everything he had to focus and trying to stave off the pain that radiated from his head. He could feel it throbbing every second as he drove, and he felt tired and woozy… he felt hot, even, or rather his head felt hot.

Damn it, I’m surprised I’m still awake after everything that’s happened.

He had taken so many hits to the head and body, he figured it wouldn’t be very long until he just collapsed. Dee could feel it in his body, in his head. He wasn’t sure when, but judging from how blurry everything was getting…

Shit, gotta stay up… gotta stay awake… can’t crash now. He told himself, his eyes spotting two wrecked police cruisers on the left and right side of the road. Dee steered the truck to avoid them, but only just barely—the suv grazed one of them, shattering a headlight with a loud crash noise and jostling everyone inside “Fuck.”

“We’re out!” Dinky had cried happily from her place between Lyra and Vinyl in the back, the former holding her side in pain and the latter holding on for dear life when he looked back at them for a brief moment. “I can’t believe it!”

Looking over to the final occupant who was sitting next to him, he saw Rainbow let out a massive sigh in relief, chest rising and drawing his eyes for a moment… he certainly felt more awake now! She then looked over to him with a smile, catching him just as his eyes flicked up, “Damn good thinking,” She playfully punched his shoulder in praise, “Your idea worked! Not bad… for a stallion, hehe.”

Dee scoffed lightly and punched her back, “J-just barely,” He remarked with a tinge of annoyance lacing his tone… ‘for a stallion’? What the hell was that supposed to mean?

Ignoring that piece of information for now, his thoughts turned to Liam and the others as they drove down the road. Attacking him and ditching them all to escape, leaving them for dead? A dick move on their part and he was fairly pissed about that. In fairness, when he thought about it, he was basically planning on doing much of the same, but he was planning on going back for them once he had driven everyone to the Lifeguard Tower.

“That asshole lifeguard hit me in the head - again mind you - and left us to die. We got lucky,” He added, thankful the SUV was in working condition. They honestly got lucky and he wasn’t counting on it lasting much longer. “Really fucking lucky.”

Finding the Beretta inside was also a lucky bonus, he gave props to the police who were kind enough to be slaughtered and leave a fully loaded firearm in the glove box for him to use.

Going back to watching the road, he saw a rust red bus almost blocking the road—some discarded baggage was sitting out and piled up next to it, and wandering around the bus were several infected people who growled upon spotting the truck before beginning to move towards it. Inside the currently shaking bus, he noticed there were living people still inside…trying to fight off the monsters inside, it must have just crashed recently.

He turned and avoided it, driving past it and the zombies as Rainbow and the others watched it with wide eyes.

“A-aren’t we going to help them?” Dinky asked… but no one answered.

Dee said nothing. He wanted to stop… he really did, but he knew they couldn’t.

“Holy Celestia...” Rainbow murmured as they passed the bus, “What is going on around here?”

Dee knew what was going on all too intimately. Having played the game dozens upon dozens of times, he knew just about everything about it top to bottom. All of that information would come in handy for them during this… he hoped. “It’s a pandemic, if I had to guess about it,” He started, gulping as they drove past a fenced up building with more of the monsters trying to rip the gate down and get inside at whoever was inside. “Fucking zombies everywhere, this ain’t natural… probably a virus or something.”

He saw a familiar looking turn coming up, it was the entrance that led to the jungle portion of Banoi. Once they drove up the hill, he paused to stop the truck and think for a moment.

“A virus?” Rainbow questioned as the truck idled. “Like... the feather flu or something?”

“Yeah, uh… sorta.” Dee looked down both paths — to his immediate left was the tunnel, where the ceiling lights were still on, showing the path to still be in one piece still as opposed to collapsed like the last time he saw it in the video game, he figured it was destroyed by the military to stop the influx of infected from spreading across the island… fat lot of good that did. To his right was the roadway leading to the Royal Palms Hotel; the massive building could be seen even from the hill, its unique build visible from all around.

Now which way to go? He had no idea where the tunnel went… was it another path to the jungle?

He was stopped from his decision when the mare next to him spoke. “If it’s a virus… do we have it?” Rainbow asked next, her voice on the verge of… fear?

As far as I know, it’s spread through bites, not any sort of aerial transmission so I think we should be safe from infection… for now, anyway. Dee thought and shook his head in reply to her, and he gave her a reassuring smile. “No, we’re safe for now.” He looked towards her, breathing heavily and blinking away the blariness. “I think it’s only transmitted through bites, as far as I can tell.” At the mare’s curious look, he elaborated, “Think about it. Every one of the things we’ve come across had bite marks and tears on their bodies—on their arms, legs, necks… it’s the only thing I can think of that could have spread this.” The water source might have spread it as well for all I know… I barely remember how the damn thing infected everyone or where it came from exactly, bah! What a great time to forget this stuff.

He saw Rainbow purse her lips and looked back at the others—she then said something to Vinyl using her hand gestures, leaving Dee to wonder how difficult it’d be to actually learn it, if only to make communication between him and Vinyl easier.

Maybe not too hard, he thought as a hand drifted down to the handgun they found in the glovebox, which from what his inner car-nut told him, was a Toyota Highlander outfitted for policing duties.

“Shit… where do we go now?” Rainbow murmured softly, drawing his attention. He turned and saw the mare looking out of the window past him, eyeing the distant hotel with a curious look. “What’s that place over there?”

Following her gaze, he asked, “That?” The hotel appeared to look the same from the game, an area that had a lot of infected around it. “That’s the Royal Palms Resort. It’s the hotel where guests would stay when visiting Banoi.” Thinking about his own trip to the Hawaii made him sigh heavily. “Probably would have ended up staying at a nice hotel myself if shit hadn’t fucked up for me.” He slumped his shoulders and sighed, remembering how hyped he was for a solid week of fun and relaxation in the sun; meeting cute Hawaiian girls and maybe checking out some of the local tourist spots!

But he didn’t get that. Perhaps in another life he would have gotten to enjoy his stay in Hawaii, instead of being thrust into a life or death situation right out of a video game versus creatures that shouldn’t exist! Then again the gorgeous anthro mares from a kid’s TV show he was surrounded by shouldn’t exist either, so said the logical part of him.

For fuck’s sake… I get a free vacation and all of a sudden this happens? he asked himself, smelling something fishy about the whole thing.

“We could try the hotel,” Rainbow said, flicking her gaze to Dee, “It’s our best bet.”

An uneasy feeling crept up Dee’s spine before he glanced back at the hotel, noting the tall structure and the dozens if not hundreds of rooms inside of it… that wasn’t even taking into account everything else inside of it. “I dunno… it’s a big building, and you saw how big that hoard was at the gas station.” He shuddered, seeing such a large gathering of undead made him rethink how he handled things in zombies games.

He felt bad now for the characters he had played and put through so much shit in the games when they had to face down such odds, now that he had experienced the same horrors himself first hand.

“It’s too big. There could be a lot more of those things in there for all we know.” He told her, knowing if it was anything like Dead Island’s version then there were going to be plenty of infected there, waiting for someone to fall into their trap. “I remember seeing a Lifeguard Tower down near the beach before I got chased, so I say we try there… it’s just a little further down the road, but it looks like a better idea then the hotel since it’s fenced in.”

Rainbow frowned slightly, looking past him towards the hotel again, “You sure about that?”

“Eeeehh… fairly,” Dee replied with an uneasy tone, “From what I saw it had some walls and wouldn’t take much time to clear ou-”

A sudden wave of lightheadedness prevented him from speaking further, and he swayed slightly. His lungs inhaled sharply and his hands slapped against the wheel to stabilize himself, nausea filled his being but… he managed to keep his head up.

“He- -right?” He heard from his left and saw Rainbow giving him a worried look. Her eyes were a little wide, and she had placed a hand on his shoulder. “Hey.”

A shake of his head, where had that come from? He looked at Rainbow ab it more clearly and nodded. “I’m fine, just… t-tired is all.” He shifted the vehicle back into drive and turned right, sending the truck forward with a press of the pedal and driving down the hill towards the hotel.

He certainly wasn’t planning on heading to the hotel itself, only planning on passing by it on their way towards the lifeguard tower further down. He knew the Lifeguard Tower had walls and fences, and looked fairly easy enough to fortify if it came down to it. It would take a bit longer to get there, but it would be worth it… assuming the location itself had been cleared and taken over by one of the protagonists from the game. But even if it wasn’t, they could move in and clear it out themselves. It had a significantly lower population of undead than anywhere else.

As he drove by a crashed taxi cab, the one fateful question came to mind…

Would they be able to get inside if the other group was there?

HOOONK

“Shit! Look out!”

“Fuck!”

SCREEECH

CRASH

We’d find out, in due time.

ooo000---000ooo

Limestone wasn’t able to sleep very well on the couch—despite her rock hard attitude and tough nature to doing things in rough conditions, she found it difficult to sleep inside a building with several rotting bodies stinking up the place and the monsters outside scurrying around like Timberwolves and screeching as loud as a rooster come morning time.

What sleep she did get was filled with nightmares of Marble being mauled by the monsters and Limestone unable to save her in time. Something held her back, something was always holding her back from getting to her sister in time...

What a fun vacation this was turning out to be.

Limestone had awoken to Marble being cuddled up next to her, arms wrapped around her and face buried in the crook of her neck. One thing she immediately noticed was that her left arm was squished between her sister’s incredibly busty chest, causing her to puff out her cheeks in annoyance.

It was obvious who inherited the most from their mother, Cloudy Quartz; Pinkie Pie and Marble, both having grown into beautiful young mares with generously sized breasts. Meanwhile, Limestone was left with… well, hers were decently sized of course, enough for more than a handful of course. But still... even Maud was bigger than she was!

The younger mare didn’t seem to care all that much about her bust though, and didn’t even so much as try to flaunt them about like Pinkie Pie did during her parties, wearing those tight shirts and squeezing her tits together. Marble was more reserved… but even then on occasion Marble had a tendency to inadvertently show off her chest somehow…

Or at least, she assumed it was inadvertent, finding herself looking down at them again, noting how neatly their mass spread out to pillow around her arm.

Limestone felt her face burn and a pang of jealousy pop up in the back of her mind before it was swiftly quelled with the aggressive smashing of a mental sledgehammer, trying to find a way to disentangle herself from her little yet bigger sister.

Stupid brain, tits are tits. She thought to herself before gently wrenching herself free from Marble’s petite grasp, given a moment of pause when her sister pawed at her, trying to hold on to her for safety and comfort, a hand finding and closing on her big sister’s boob briefly. Pushing it away gently despite her suddenly flushed cheeks, Limestone sat up and looked around the room and saw the lights were still on from the other room, casting their disturbing pink glow into the main room. The faint music was also still playing. She slowly stood up before moving over to the room and peering inside, snorting and wrinkling her nose in disgust once the smell of iron hit her.

She had to do something about the bodies… but she wasn’t too keen on opening up the front door just to dispose of a dead body. Not only was she disgusted, but she still felt incredibly tired… how long did she even sleep for?

A scoff escaped her as she silently stared at the decaying bodies of the males and female, it was horrifying and disgusting and yet, she didn’t particularly feel all that disturbed by it for some reason. She entered the room with a cautious gait, but not enough to stop her from stepping in blood and immediately regretting her decision to go inside. A silent growl and she continued further in despite her shoes being ruined. Limestone stepped over the bodies and entered the other hall on the other side of the room where a door and a steel white box greeted her, the door itself led into the bathroom, but the box...

Limestone eyed it curiously… there were lots of boxes around, big wooden ones and some crates, but this one was drawing her attention. Huh, it’s different looking… was one reason it caught her eye as she made her way over and knelt down before it—it was a fairly simple looking box, with an unsecured lock on it and made of what looked like steel. Limestone unclasped the locks on it and lifted the lid, revealing a matte black interior which was filled with some papers, but nestled right in the middle of it she found something that made her immediately ditch the notion of using her wrench…

She found a hatchet inside.

A little grin made its way onto her face as she reached in and pulled it out, feeling of the weight of it and giving it a twirl, finding it to be made entirely of a black metal of sorts with a silver bladed edge. It had a nice weight to it and she was willing to bet this would be a much better weapon than the wrench, in many many ways.

Cleaner hits, for one.

Standing up with her new weapon in hand, she made her way back into the main room where Marble was just now waking up—the younger mare was sitting, yawning wide and stretching her arms far above her head with a squeak. Once more, Limestone was shown just how big Marble was in the chest region. For whatever reason, Marble had opted to wear her sweater and baggy pants on this trip instead of something more suited to the tropics, thus, her sweater wrapped snugly around her breasts in a way that accentuated just how plump they looked. It didn’t help she refused to wear a bra either, preferring to go without for whatever reason.

Jealousy reared its ugly head once more.

Limestone grunted when Marble looked over to her, a curious look in her baby sister’s eyes. Limestone just took a seat on the couch, clutching her hatchet in one hand. A wrinkle of her snout at the stench lingering inside, she wondered what they were going to do now.

Going outside didn’t seem like much of an option at the moment, considering the current circumstances…

She did have a nicer weapon now, nice and sharp! But she didn’t feel very confident in taking on an entire group by herself with just the hatchet.

She snorted and twirled it around once more, garnering a tiny noise from Marble who twiddled her fingers together in that timid way. Limestone noticed her sister had scooted over to the couch, sitting near her but staying far away from the weapon.

Limestone didn’t blame her… Marble wasn’t a pony that took up weapons let alone actually fought anyone else. If an argument broke out, there was that rare moment she might get grumpy and voice her own disapproval with a huff.

Damn it, this is so stupid… hiding in here like a couple of scared kids. Looking down at the younger mare, she saw her ears standing straight up as a faint gurgling hiss passed by the bungalow; one of the monsters, she figured.

Hearing Marble squeak and hunker down made Limestone rethink that scared kid comment, it was true, at least in Marble’s case. The mare had plenty of moments where she could be incredibly timid; it was a surprise she even agreed to come on this stupid trip with her, given how shy she got around strangers.

The first time she’d willingly left the Rock Farm and it ended in disaster for both of them.

Limestone suddenly felt the urge to smash the Choosing Stone with a sledgehammer, damn rock.

Stupid thing barely gave us anything to work with, just showed us the stupid airship and told us to board it to the island… gah! If I had know, I woulda smashed it to pieces! She shook her head, cursing the stone for its shadowy premonitions. It was dark when they were shown their chosen one, only a vague outline of his body and where to meet him on the island. Who the fuck meets their supposed ‘true love’ in a fucking hospital room?

Limestone wasn’t sure what the Choosing Stone’s fucking deal was, but if Marble ended up getting hurt because of this…

She was going to blow what money she had left to buy the strongest hammer she could find and destroy it.

SCREECH!!!!

She heard outside the bungalow along with a panicked cry from something, something alive. Limestone shot up and held tight her hatchet, staring at the door.

“Mmm mmm!” Marble murmured and turning around to face her, Limestone saw her baby sis shaking her head rapidly.

“Shh!” Limestone hissed and Marble slapped her hands over her mouth. Limestone said nothing as she slowly moved up to the door and placed an ear against it.

“Shit!” She heard a distinct voice yell, “Get offa me!”

“Rainbow, they’re everywhere! Ahh!”

Rainbow? Wasn’t that… that was Pinkie’s friend!

A fierce glare growing in her eyes, Limestone yelled, “Stay here!” She kicked off of the floor and grabbed the couch she pushed up against the door, and with little effort on her part she hurled it out of the way, sending it skidding roughly across the floor with a screech. With that gone, she burst through the door and back out into the bungalow area and the humid air.

Immediately she caught sight of the bloodied monsters wandering around to her far left where, to her surprise, she saw the cyan mare herself - Rainbow Dash, who was trying to ward off one of the damned things that had grabbed onto her. She managed to pull up her leg and kick it off of her, sending it flying into one of the buildings with a snarl and smashing the wood. Meanwhile, a blonde unicorn filly was scurrying around in a panic, filling the air around her with yelps and scared cries as she was being chased.

“Dinky!” Rainbow yelled, trying to fly over to her but being stopped by an ape that decided to jump at her. “Gah! Get off me!”

“Ahh! Help!”

Limestone spotted another of the fast moving ones running towards Rainbow and she sprang into action. With a yell, she ran forward and pulled her arm back and then threw it forward, hurling her hatchet through the air.

The cyan mare turned in time to see the head of the monster violently split open, the hatchet cutting through the bone with ease and splitting it right down the middle. It collapsed onto the ground shortly after, a sickening hiss escaping it’s bloodied lips.

Limestone rushed over and grabbed onto her hatchet, freeing it from the skull with a sickening schlick-ing sound, “What the fuck is going on!?” She didn’t waste anymore time with that as another infected rushed over, prompting her to whirl around and sucker punch it with her fist.

Any watching would be given the glorious sight of the earth pony mare’s fist caving in the infected’s face, the disgusting sound of bone crunching from the force and the gooshy sound of blood and sinew tearing as the monster crumbled before her, no match for her strength.

“I’ll explain later!” Rainbow had cried back. Limestone just growled when she turned to yell some more, but spotted her rushing over to Dinky and yanking the filly over to her. “Shit, we need to get out of here! There’s more of them coming!”

Twirling her hatchet again, Limestone yelled, “Come on!” She turned and ran back towards the bungalow she and her sister were hiding in.

Seeing her sister rushing out with an infected hot on her tail made her change her mind about going back inside. Limestone ran and slid on her feet past her Marble with a yell as she swung her weapon, it sliced through the air and cut clean through beast’s head, sending the top half of it flying.

She kicked the body away from her and whirled around to glare at Rainbow, “Damn it, we need to get out of here!”

With a yell of her own, Rainbow said, “The Lifeguard Tower, it’s over there somewhere!” Rainbow pointed behind Limestone, making the mare look. All she saw were tall bushes, overturned tables, and a pathway heading who knows where. “We gotta get there!”

A bloodcurdling roar was heard just before the four mares spotted several tall males in swimwear stumbling towards them, bulging muscles, eyes as red as the blood that covered their bodies and behind them were a dozen or so smaller ones…

They had to move... and fast.

Following after the pegasus, Limestone could only hope Rainbow knew where she was going.

ooo000---000ooo

Lyra was not happy… not at all.

Her ribs felt like they were on fire, her bad arm burned from her attacks, and the base of her horn had a painful headache coursing through it. The mare held out her pained arm—the palm of her hand still smoking from the spell she had used to propel a monster away from her.

“Grr!” She focused on her magic regardless and conjured up another low level pulse spell—her arm shook as the spell rippled through it, being channeled into her hand again before blasting out, sending the infected horde that threatened to overtake them flying or stumbling back from them and also causing her a great deal of agony.

Deep down in her soul, she could feel her magic wasn’t charging as fast as it usually did back in Equestria. She wasn’t some low tier unicorn like most; she had more mana in her reserves. But now it was depleting rapidly and being overtaken by what she could only describe as some other form of magic… her old magic wasn’t coming back fast enough.

Twelve spells in and she was already running dangerously low… though she did end up using a few high-level ones earlier that were known to take hefty chunks of magic, so that was on her. Right now, she was having to resort to low level spells to keep her and Dee safe.

The latter of whom couldn’t even fight because he was out cold.

How did this all happen?

They were still moving down the road in the weird human vehicle, a motorized carriage of sorts… headed for the Lifeguard Tower Dee had mentioned, Lyra was still in pain and she was hopeful to get some kind of medical attention there, lifeguard towers had first aid rooms in them.

But a loud blaring noise sounded, followed by Rainbow screaming, “Shit! Look out!”

“Fuck!” Dee had screamed next.

All Lyra knew next was the white hot fire burning through her body and an intense feeling of vertigo as she tumbled around the vehicle like a ragdoll. The crunching of metal against metal, the screeching of tires, and finally the harsh impact that led them to where they were now.

When she managed to get a good look, she found out that another one of those vehicles had sped out of control and crashed into theirs, sending them flying onto the road leading to the hotel and crashing once more into something else. She briefly heard panicked screams, loud pops and cracks followed by growls, but stunned and disoriented as she was, she was unable to do much of anything to help.

She awoke a few minutes later, her vision fading in and out as she somehow managed to drag Dee out of the vehicle, struggling to heft him up and carry him but ultimately failing-she could only drag him. The infected were grabbing at her, but she pushed them away with a roar and what little of her magic she could muster as she dragged the human away, she wasn’t going to let him get taken by them!

Now here she was-struggling to get to safety, wherever that may be.

She was thankful for whatever boost of adrenaline she was able to conjure up from the depths of her being, dulling the pain to a manageable degree and letting her push through the undead horde to a hopefully safer place.

Lyra kept moving, casting another force pulse spell and sending a running monster flying away to her right; it smacked into a pole with a disgusting crack as its bones broke. Behind her she dragged the human and kept moving with him until reaching one of the busses situated near some stairs, she began moving up them with Dee towards some doors she saw past a large pile of luggage. She would have carried him, but her arm was in intense pain from being used to channel her spells more accurately, and she couldn’t use it very well anyway.

Once up the stairs, she shoved past a zombie and punched him. She was successful in connecting a hit and making him fall over, but her arm stung with such fierceness it almost overtook the adrenaline spell she cast a minute ago.

She cried, holding her arm to her chest and rushing towards the front door with everything she had left. She slammed her shoulder into the door, forcing it open and dragging Dee inside. Once she gave it a quick look around and found no one inside, she turned around and quickly shut the door with a pained yelp.

Lyra growled and fought back the pain bubbling up in her chest and arm. The minty green mare struggled to get the door closed, to lock it shut and move further inside the building and hide from the monsters. She had to! It was her obligation as a mare to protect a stallion from harm and these pesky monsters were not making it easy!

“Rah! Back!” Lyra bellowed, her eyes glowing for a brief second from perhaps the last spell she’d be able to conjure for a while. A surge of strength rushed through her body and focused on her legs and arms, and she pushed the door close. Moving fast, she turned the lock causing the bolt to activate and shut the doors down tight.

She backed up now, the door only barely holding back the hoard that slammed into it full on and trying to crack the windows.

Turning back towards the human, she heard a groan come from him.

“F-fuck.” He murmured in pain, blood running down from a cut on his forehead.

Rushing over to him, she knelt down to help him up…

But then her spell wore off, her magic running dry as her world became nothing but pure pain.

“Ahh!” She collapsed, falling onto her uninjured side and scrunching up her body. Her arm burned furiously and her ribs stung-it felt like fire was covering her body. “S-shit, I overd-did it.” She cursed herself, wheezing now.

Looking over to Dee, she saw the human look back towards the door with a bleary look in his eyes. He managed to climb up onto shaky legs before reaching into his pocket and pulling out the strange human firearm. Where did he get it? She didn’t recall him having it earlier… though she hadn’t exactly been paying attention either; preoccupied with dealing with her own injuries.

He managed to back up a bit, haphazardly pointing his firearm at the door. “C-can you move?”

Lyra took a deep breath and struggled to stand up, her entire body protesting. “D-damn it!” She collapsed again, heaving and looking up at him. “J-just go! Before they get inside!” She didn’t want him risking his life for her; she’d provide a decent distraction… at least for a tiny bit.

But in an act of defiance she had never seen from a stallion before, the human instead pocketed his firearm and knelt down. He pulled on her good arm and pulled her onto her feet with a groan, “Sorry, n-no can d-do.”

Lyra frowned, “D-Dee, just leave me! They’ll b-be bus-”

“Shut up!” He yelled at her, “I’m not leaving you behind!” Her ears snapped back against her skull from how… determined he sounded. Dee growled and helped her stand up; her arm being looped around his shoulder and gun in his other hand as the hoard of infected tried to break through the door.

J-jeez, what a stallion. She shuddered from how he just… took charge like that. He was putting himself at risk just to save her? Why?! She wasn’t worth the risk… at least, that’s what she thought, she was one out of millions of mares in a finite population of stallions.

But he was doing it anyway, to keep her alive.

“P-please, I’m n-not worth it!” Lyra tried to fight him on this. But he just continued to help lug her down the lobby past completely devoured bodies and elevators.

“No!” Dee yelled once more, a growl escaping him as he helped her along. He turned with her down a hall through double open doors, leaning Lyra up against the wall in order to swiftly shut the doors. That done, he returned to Lyra and helping her further down the hall. He was breathing heavily, looking in scarcely better shape than her and ready to collapse at a moment’s notice, but he pressed on regardless.

The duo passed by baggage trolleys, several of which had been used as a makeshift barricade to block off one hall and forcing them down another. The doors leading into the hotel rooms themselves were all shut, a small pad and red light telling her they all must have been locked somehow.

The two heard several growls and snarls from one room they passed, followed by rapid and hard hits against the wooden door. Lyra felt the human speed up, and she tried her best to keep up with him despite the pain.

I wish he would just leave me! He could move so much faster! She knew this was true, and she was sure he did too. And yet he stayed with her! What kind of stallion was so determined like this to keep a mare alive? It was practically unheard of.

Eventually the duo reached a pair of utility doors leading to the stairwell. Dee slammed into the door and opened it up, looking up and down before Lyra was set down on the ground. She groaned in pain and watched Dee close the door up tight, breathing hard as his hands shook.

“D-Dee.” She tried getting his attention, looking up at the human male who was sweaty, bloody… he was hurt and it made her feel so bad. “You gotta go,” Lyra told him, holding her aching chest. “F-find your way back to R-Rainbow and the others, d-don’t worry about me, I’m j-just slowing you down!”

Turning to look down at her, Lyra saw something in the human’s eyes… something dangerous and yet… protective; frightened yet fiery even. “Lyra,” he started, “I’m not leaving you.” The young male stressed each word carefully. Raising an arm, he wiped the sweat and blood from his face, but he only smeared it and made it worse. “We just got-” He was stopped when a roar came from upstairs.

Everything changed when a fast moving infected in medical clothing jumped down at him from behind. Dee was smashed back and the two went tumbling down the stairs with a pair of screams.

Lyra’s eyes snapped open in fright, “No!”

She tried getting up, but her body had simply given up; she had no physical or magical reserves left. She collapsed onto the floor as she heard his scream of terror…

As her eyes closed shut for what she was only too certain would be the final time, all Lyra could think was that she had failed in her single greatest duty as a mare.