Cold

Cooper peeked out through the slightly ajar door. He slowly scanned from left to right for any signs of the raiders while keeping his rifle at the ready in his shoulder. Once he was satisfied that there were no hostiles immediately in sight, he turned and looked down to Twilight.

"Alright, ready?" He asked, almost sounding unsure himself.

Twilight let out a long, slow breath, "Ready as I'm ever going to be."

Cooper nodded down to her and pulled the door open fully. He pushed out into the snow and instantly looked to his left. All he could see was smoke and dead bodies littering the bloodied snow. He hastily turned right, finding more dead bodies, but no burning buildings.

The sounds of gunfire and screaming were coming from all around, making it difficult to discern which way was safer. However, sparing a glance straight ahead, and with only a second of deliberation, Cooper rushed toward the nearest building.

We still have to cover over a hundred meters of open ground, but at least it looks like they haven't raided this one yet. The alleyway should give us some cover at least. He thought to himself as he broke into a sprint.

Twilight galloped after him with a slight limp in her step; but was otherwise unimpeded. She stayed close to his side as he ran, and they both quickly found themselves alongside one of the only unscathed buildings in the settlement. They stealthily skulked around the alleyway next to the building, ensuring to keep a watchful eye out for the surrounding buildings.

Cooper led the way to the far side of the building and peeked out from the corner to look over the nearby courtyard. There were several raiders searching the area in front of them and in the nearby buildings.

"Son of a bitch... looks like they did get around us after all." Cooper muttered under his breath.

"Is there another way out of here?" Twilight questioned, a steady frown forming on her face.

"I don't think so. Unless we can get a distraction that'll draw them away from the pipeline, we're stuck." Cooper replied.

Twilight furrowed her brow in thought, "I don't think I have enough magic to do anything impressive..."

"Hang on, I think we might have a chance here." Cooper cut in, pointing at the raiders in front.

One by one, they moved from the courtyard over to the next building, leaving a bewildered Twilight and Cooper with room to maneuver.

"Where are they going?" Twilight inquired.

"No idea. Doesn't matter either; let's go while we have the chance." Cooper ordered.

"There's no cover out there though. Won't we be exposed if they see us from another angle?" Twilight pressed.

Cooper squinted his eyes to see better out in the distance before something caught his attention, "Out there; see the snow bank right over there?" He asked, pointing to a rather large patch of piled up snow.

"Yeah?"

"It's just big enough for us to use as some concealment, and we need to head in that direction anyway. It won't stop any bullets from hitting us, but they can't hit what they can't see. Only other option is to hope for a miracle and find a way through the town." He explained.

Twilight bit her lip in thought as she rationalized the plan in her head, "Well... that might work, but we're gonna have to be fast." She reasoned.

Cooper shook his head, "We're kinda running out of options at the moment."

"Alright, let's go." Twilight firmly replied.

They both ran out into the courtyard and toward the pipeline. As they moved, Twilight glanced to the side to see the raiders as they set fire to a nearby building on their right. Several people fled the burning structure through the front doorway, only to be mowed down as soon as they stepped outside.

Twilight jerked her head away and bit back the bile forming in her throat at the sight. More and more distance was crossed, leaving a deeper and deeper pit in her stomach that made her feel sick. From his position in front of her, Cooper eyed the atrocity with much the same disgust, but only grit his teeth and gripped his rifle ever tighter.

Just as they reached the edge of the courtyard, the sound of incoming fire raked at their ears, making Twilight jump and startling Cooper almost into falling over. The harsh crack and whiz of bullets flying through the air screamed in both of their ears as snow was kicked up around them. It took a fraction of a second for him to retaliate with his rifle. Cooper took aim and wildly fired a volley of bullets that did exactly what he intended them to.

"Run! While they're pinned!" He cried, waving to Twilight as he shuffled backwards, firing a round off every second.

Twilight needed no encouragement and galloped as quickly as her hooves could carry her to the pipeline. The explosive sounds of gunfire were more than enough motivation for her to ignore the ache in her foreleg and push all of her strength into the fastest gallop she could muster.

Twilight quickly arrived at the pipeline and turned to see Cooper as she panted for breath.

"Cooper! Come on!" She cried, flinching as a bullet hit the pipe to the left of her.

"On it!" He called back, firing the last round from his magazine.

With one last pull of the trigger, and a loud metallic click, Cooper turned around and sprinted the last of the distance to the pipe. Just as he arrived, more gunfire erupted from the buildings behind them, peppering the pipe and ground all around with bullets. He dove behind the pipe and grabbed Twilight's mane, dragging her down with him.

"Stay down!" He shouted.

Twilight complied, although she barely choked back a cry of pain from the rough treatment. Once Cooper let go of her mane, they both crawled forward, along the pipe, and away from the incoming fire. Bullets tore through the aluminum pipe and into the snow behind them.

Together, they struggled forward, wincing as bullets punched through particularly close and nearly hit them. For over a hundred meters they crawled with their faces dragging against the snow in an attempt to keep as low as physically possible.

Finally, Cooper and Twilight reached the small shack at the end of the pipeline. The distant sound of gunfire still rang in their ears as they got to their feet and hooves to take cover behind the structure. Cooper rushed to the far side of the building and peeked out to see if any of the raiders had followed them along the pipeline.

"Looks clear. I don't think they followed us-" Cooper began, before a bullet whizzed past him, making him jump back behind cover, "-still shooting at us though."

"Do you think they can hit us from here if we just run for it?" Twilight inquired, peeking out from her side for just a second.

"Maybe... depends on if they have any kind of magnified optics or not. Since they didn't hit us on the way to the pipe, my guess is no. If we book it from here, we should be alright." Cooper replied, his brow furrowing in thought.

"Alright, so where do we go from here?" Twilight pressed.

Cooper surveyed the barren landscape in front of them; off in the distance there were several more buildings from the city, along with a snowy forest just beside it. The trees all appeared to be dead, providing little in the way of cover or concealment.

"Our best bet is gonna be running into the city. It's about... a quarter mile away. Since we're on an incline, they shouldn't be able to see us from back there, but only just barely. They won't be able to see you at all." He explained.

"What about you?"

"As long as I keep my head down, I should be fine." He gave a confident smile.

Twilight felt her spirits rise immediately at his tone, "Okay, let's get out of here."

Cooper pushed off the wall of the shack and ran down the small slope to the open ground below with Twilight just behind him. Together, they broke into a full sprint and gallop across the frigid, open terrain and quickly covered the distance in just a few minutes.

Throughout the entire trek, Cooper frequently chanced a quick look back at the settlement, finding nothing other than smoke billowing into the sky and the sound of gunfire as the last of the settlers were slaughtered. He sadly shook his head in disgust at the atrocity, but returned his attention to Twilight and the city before too long.

Finally, they reached a small wire fence at the end of the open area. Twilight unfurled her wings and easily soared over it while Cooper jumped up and climbed the rusted fence until he could drop down on the other side. He stumbled on the landing before finding his footing and running after the lavender alicorn as she headed toward the nearest buildings.

Sparing one last look behind them for any potential followers, Cooper pushed forward to the front and re-shouldered his rifle. He pulled the magazine free to confirm there were no more bullets present. With a small sigh, he placed the magazine in his pocket and pulled out the last magazine he still had from his other pocket. He rocked the magazine into the rifle and pulled the charging handle back, chambering the only round.

With the rifle now loaded once more, he pushed forward into the large expanse of the city, Twilight trailing just behind him. Together, they moved from building to building, ensuring to search every angle, nook, or crevice as they progressed, just in case of any potential threats on their path.

The day dragged on as they moved, never staying in the same area for longer than a few minutes at a time. Cooper and Twilight both periodically checked behind them in case any of the raiders were pursuing them through the guts of the city, but every time they looked, they only saw snow.

Eventually, they arrived at an intersection, Cooper eyed a building with a large cross sticking straight up on the roof, collecting snow. A long sigh escaped his lips before he silently nudged Twilight, getting her attention.

"Here, let's rest in the church for a bit." Cooper spoke up, eyeing the building warily.

Twilight turned her attention to the building in question and gave a small nod, "Alright, lead on." She replied.

They pushed across the street, Cooper ensuring to keep his rifle trained on any and all windows that could present a threat as they moved. They quickly arrived at the church and kicked the front door open. Cooper rushed inside and secured the main room of the building while Twilight stayed by the doorway, watching for anyone else outside.

Cooper quickly scoured the building and cleared every room in the small church. Once he was certain there was no one hiding anywhere, he whistled to Twilight. She trotted into the main room to find that the pews were all scattered and splintered from the center of the room, as if something had torn them to pieces. Dried blood stains on the walls and floor painted a haunting picture of what could have transpired. However, there were no bodies, or even bones, lying anywhere on the floor.

"What happened here?" Twilight asked, eyeing the scorch marks on the tile floor.

"Looks like they gathered around the center here and off'd themselves." Cooper gruffly replied.

"What?" Twilight incredulously asked.

"Scorch marks on the floor and chips all over the walls and floor... pews all splintered and busted up... my guess is that they all gathered here in the center of the room, pulled the pin on a frag grenade, and blew themselves to Hell." Cooper shook his head as he observed the room.

"What? B-but... why... why would they do that? Where are their bodies?" Twilight inquired as she searched the room with her eyes.

Cooper kneeled down and inspected the blast marks carefully.

"My guess is that they did this a long time ago. Probably not too long after the bombs dropped. Maybe someone else took their remains out and buried them. Who knows?" He shrugged.

"B-but... why?" Twilight questioned, a pleading tone in her voice.

Cooper shook his head, "Maybe they gave up? Thought the world was ending and they wanted to go out quick? I don't know. Not the first time I've seen something like this though." He explained, a somber tone in his voice.

"Celestia... is there any end to this world's misery?" Twilight asked, her voice just a whisper.

"I think we should bed down here for the night." Cooper suggested.

"Why?" Twilight eyed the blood stains on the wall with a measure of sorrow.

"It's gonna get dark outside soon. Might as well get some rest. I think we put enough distance between us and those raiders for now." He reasoned.

Twilight moved to speak, but thought better of it and sighed, "Alright. Do you think we could get a fire going in here?"