TCB: RAGE!

“FUCK, YOU THINK THAT SHIT WASN’T GONNA HURT?!” Buster screamed,

“Please calm down, more of them will hear you!”

“LIKE FUCK I’LL CALM DOWN, YOU FORCE FED ME SOME GUNK A CRAZED ZEBRA PROBABLY PISSED IN!”

“Um, Buster, the lil’ ladies right, more of dem’ angry critters,” Randal said, scratching his head in puzzlement, “I got’s to get us going if we’re gonna live.”

Buster groaned as he took Randal’s offered hand pulling himself to his feet with a grunt, his eyes widened as he felt. nothing, the marvel of zebra alchemy had healed every injury, while a bit sore where his ribs had broken. He was no worse for wear besides the shredded flak jacket he wore.

“I need to get back to my friends, they’ve probably found some place safe to hide in by now,” Gem said, walking up to the two. She backed away, her launcher scraping the ground with a clickety clack as Randal suddenly glared at her.

“Now listen missy, I’m well within my rights to flambe your ass,” He said hoisting the flamethrower. “Only reason I’m holdin’ off is cause my pal here don’t seem to mind ya none. You got that, you ain’t going back to your little group, but. . . we ain’t gonna hurt ya either. We’re gettin out of this place and headed to town, then ya can go from there.”

“Why the sudden hostility?” Gemstone asked unnerved by the mans change in temperament as well as the charred bodies of the berserking herd that lay in the room, filling her nostrils with their stench. She stifled the urge to gag as buster spoke.

“Listen, you come in here, shooting the place up with potion and trying to convert people by force. You go-,” His glare hardened as she interrupted him.

“The H.L.F. were hurting ponies, we couldn’t just sit by idly on our plots while they were tortured.” She said, eyes narrowing as she defended her cause.

“Yeah, bet they didn’t tell you the part about the ponies being ex HLF, who volunteered, did they?” Buster said, he didn’t raise his voice he just looked at her with a emotionless face still as granite.

“Wait, but. . . that has to be a lie,” Gem said, “I can believe some of them volunteered but. . . not all of them,” She said, “What were they hoping to accomplish?”

“I haven’t got a clue, but all I know is that we’ve got to leave.” Buster said, before letting loose a low sigh. “ Got any unicorn mumbo jumbo to help us sneak by those little fuckers?”

“I’m afraid not,” Gemstone said, walking about the room, she stooped low suddenly looking at one of the half charred ponies.

“What?” Randal said suddenly.

“Thinking, trying to come up with some sort of idea,” Gem said, as she gazed into the cold dead blue eyes of the buck in front of her. ‘This shouldn’t have happened to you,’ she thought.

“The dead can’t help us here, and I need to get some more bullets for my gun,” Buster said, holding the revolver by the trigger guard, letting the ammunition cylinder swing freely open. “As you can see, I’m out.”

“Sorry man, I don’t reckon I can help ya with that one, but. . . I do have something you can use,” Randal grinned as he reached into one of his deep pockets, and tossed something to Buster, its chrome plated body shimmered, Buster let out a low whistle as he turned the hefty gun over in his hand. “Desert Eagle, don’t see shit like this too often nowadays,” Buster smile dimmed as the thought occurred to him. “You do have ammo for this one right?”

Randal chuckled, tossing him a loose bag full of clips. “There ya go pardner, now don’t be going and usin’ it all in one place,”

* * * *

“AH HA HA AHHA HAHAH HA HAAAH!” Both the janitor Mikey, and Terry the mechanic laughed, and simply kept laughing hysterically. As the Soldier and Randal sat, dumbfounded listing to the other end. The radio operators sobs and pleas for help were cut short as the sound of the door being telekinetically being ripped from it’s hinges were heard. They could only sit in silence as the only chance for help was snuffed out.

“We’ve got to radio the big man now, tell him help ain’t a comin,” The soldier said, stern faced, he was the type of man to face oblivion with a stiff upper lip indeed.

“ISN’T THAT JUS’ THE GREATEST FUCKIN JOKE YOU EVER DONE HEARD?! Help, help comin for us?!” Mikey cried, in between hysterical laughter.

“What the fuck is wrong with these two?” The soldier said, elbowing Randy in the ribs to get his attention.

“Beats me, these fuckers were already pretty off kilter before, I think there on the edge of jus losing their shit,” He said matter of factly. Glancing sideways at the soldier he began again. “What do we do with’em?”

“We take’em back, we need every able bodied person to fight these things, no point in leaving them to get chewed up later on either,”

* * *

The halls were musty, Gem’s nosed crinkled for a moment, before she let out a loud sneeze, elicting a slight glare from both of the men. ‘What’s up with these two, one moment Buster seems to be my friend and then he, isn’t. He isn’t mean, but. . . are all humans like this?’ She thought, trotting along. It felt wrong to her, they had partially disassembled the remains of her launcher, while the removal of the scrapping barrel was welcome. It still bothered her to let them touch it. It bothered her more that they didn’t trust her with the remnants of her ammunition, ‘Are they really that worried she would use it on them?’

“Here’s the plan, we’re going to stick to the alleys around the warehouses, We’ll head out along that way, the more cramped paths will let us hide out more from those berserkers. We’ll head through a few of the old warehouses and t-,” Buster frowned as he was interrupted.

“Then we’re headed towards the bad fencing along the southern half of this place?” Both men frowned at her, Randal shook his head slowly.

“That’s how yall got in wasn’t it, well. . . ifn those guards ain’t dead there in for a heaping load of trouble,” Randal said, continuing along through the office.

‘Not mentioning it but I don’t think they're dead. . . well after Grim kicked that new foal in the face for having the audacity to attack Shimmer I think he did. Lovely looking pegasus now though,” Gemstone thought to herself, falling along the two men silently cursing her inability to move as quietly as them as her hooves let out a gentle clip clop against the tile.