Brindal was a griffin with light blue feathers and Carmel color fur, from the 27th mobile battalion's J squad, from the Griffin Empire fresh out of training. They had been sent north but no of them had been told why but the theory was they were going to attack the River Federation.
They were all piled into trucks the day after their graduation and started their journey north. Only stopping at noon and at midnight to refuel the trucks and let the solders take care of any business.
On one stop, about 4 days after they started their journey one of the privates ask there squad officer. "Hay! Any idea on how long we have to go through this hell? Setting in the back of a truck for my time in the army wasn't what i had in mind when joining." The only answer he got was a quick look from the officer as he walked by.
It wasn't all bad though, one of his squad mates, private oneup, had mange to smuggle some whiskey for the ride. Another somehow got a hold of a radio and was playing whatever they could find on air.
Brindal's platoon commander, Lieutenant Sharp was sitting in the passenger seat of the truck he was in and would occasionally look back at them through a slide on the back of the truck's cabin and engaged in some conversation. Once asking for the whisky when he saw it, took a drink, and gave it back to us saying. "What? Did you think i didn't enjoy a drink now and again?" And everyone laughed.
A couple of days after that most everyone was asleep when the entire battalion came to a halt, walking everyone up. A couple of solder, including Brindal, hopped out of the truck to see what was up since it was still early in the morning.
About 5 trucks up he could see a group of griffins getting gear out of a truck that had run off the road and into a ditch. One of them was helping the driver get out of the truck. They where to far up for Brindal to see if they where ok and before he could get closer his lieutenant got out of the truck and ordered him back in.
When he was getting back up oneup asked. "Do you know what this is all about Brindal?"
"One of the trucks ahead of us put their self into a ditch." He answered. And private Filson, nicknamed Joker, said. "And that is why we have the eye test people. So, we can see those holes before they get us."
A couple of solders chuckled, one throw his boot at Joker but he managed to duck and it hit the canvas behind him.
About 30 minutes later they started going again, passing by the tuck with a couple of griffins trying to get it out of the hole and Brindal said, to no one really. "I don't know if they are lucky or not."
"Well, they get to get up and move for however long it takes them to get that tuck out of there, I say they got lucky." Joker said.
2 days later the 27th battalion had started to get snowed on and dense fog had seemingly come out of nowhere while they were driving and seemed to get worse the farther they went. It got to the point that Brindal could just barley see the headlights of the truck behind them.
Suddenly he heard a crash and a horn go off as his truck veered right and started to slide to a stop on the frozen ground sending solders to the floor of the truck. Brindal looked up just in time to see the tuck behind them coming up to hit them sending the rest of them down.
Brindal set up mooning, holding his head that he hit against one of his squads helmets. He looked around as everyone was checking themselves for injury as a couple of griffins landed near by dressed in medic uniforms.
One of them ran over to their truck and helped everyone get out then cheeked to make sure they didn't have any serious injures. But bedsides a few concussions, including Brindal, the biggest thing was a dislocated wing which the medic got set back and went off to help more the others in the wreck of vehicles up ahead.
As the medic finish up Lieutenant Sharp walked up to them. "Alright we are setting up camp here." He said. "Just until this dammed fog clears out."
"Yes sir." The squad said.
"Oh, that's not all, we are going ahead of the group, command wants us to check up on a small village about 4 miles out and they have given us three half tracks to take us up there."
The squad looked around at each other confused. Why are we being given halftracks for essentially a scouting mission?
But none of them asked why and went to the halftracks to mount up. Brindal took the gunner spot with the .50 Cal as oneup sat in the driver seat and the rest of the squad filed in the back. Once the halftracks where full they started heading out.
As they left they pasted the wrack again and saw there was a couple of cloths with bodies under them of those who died in the crash.
"May Boreas guide their souls." One of the solders said in the back of the half track and they left.
It took about 10 minutes to reach the village but the fog made the trip extremely ominous, especially when every so often Brindal could swear he saw something in the fog moving.
As they reached the village the fog seemed to clear out enough to be able to see much farther then before but the village looked abandoned.
The halftracks stopped and the solders dismounted. Sharp then called out. "Form up in squads of three and spread out unless you are operating the halftracks and if you find something give a holler."
As the other solders left Brindal let looked around in the fog, which seemed to form a wall around the village. He couldn't help but feel like something was out there, Watching them.
Suddenly there was a scream from one of the houses and Brindal turned the gun to face the house as another two soldiers ran in. Only to come back out a minute and one retched as the other walked over to Sharp and said. "It's clear there was just a... Mutilated corpse of a pony."
"A pony?" Sharp asked. "What where they doing here?"
Before anyone could speculate more another scream rang out from he house fallowed by gun shots.
The door bursts open and two solders, one of them without his weapon, ran out yelling. "IT GOT UP! IT GOT UP!"
"Solder! Calm yourself and tell me what is going-"
Before Sharp finished the last solder got to the doorway turned with his SMG and fired into the darkness of the house, emptying his last shots from the magazine and turn to run. But then a pony jumped out of the darkness and on top of the solder, driving something into his back and the griffin fell limp.
Everyone in the clearing stood still staring at this pony. It had patches mint color fur and was wearing a ripped apart cloak that swayed slightly in the breeze. It looked around at the griffins and Brindal thought he saw it smile.
Then the pony let out a scream and ran back into the house. Oneup, who was hanging out the open door of the half track, then said. "What the hell was that?"
A solder made her way up to the door way, aiming a rifle into the house, and kicked the fallen solder's wing.
The solder on the ground started to move. She slung her rifle and grabbed him and pulled him away from the house and back to the group, leaving a trail of blood.
Brindal kept the .50 Cal aimed at the house bit watched as the soldier got dragged back to them as a medic ran over and started working.
Then the medic paused after a couple of seconds and reached for the solder's neck to it acting for a pulse, looking confused.
Then he looked up at Sharp and said. "Sir. This griffon doesn't have a-" he was interrupted by the solder suddenly swiping his talons straight through his throat.
Blood poured out of the medic's neck, covering the solder under him in blood. Brindal turned the .50 towards the blood covered griffin, but before fire a gun shot rang out and a hole opened up in the blood covered the griffon's head and they fell to the side.
Brindal looked over to see Sharp holding a pistol with a bit if smoke still around the barrel.
But before anyone could comment one of the solders yelled. "Contract!" And started shooting into the fog.
Brindal turned the .50 Cal towards the edge of the village and what he saw left him with a feeling of despair.
There where hundreds of ponies and griffins emerging from the fog. They were in all sorts of states of decay. Some looked alive and others where just bones but still walked.
Then a shot rang out that sounded like a musket in the distance and a something hit the side of the halftrack, knocking Brindal out of his pause and he pulled the trigger.
His .50 Cal light up the night and he watch as the tracers flying into the horde, causing many of the creatures with wings, or at least what was left of wings, to take flight.
"By Boreas." Oneup said as he shut the door of the halftrack. "There's so many of them."
Brindal just held the trigger and watched as the bodies he aimed at shattered and limbs flew away from their owners and there owners kept going without seeming like they notice that there arm, leg or even chunks of there heads or chest was gone. The other gunners on the halftracks opened up upon the horde of the creature coming towards them.
Then there was suddenly a metal screeching sound and sparks flew from the halftrack next to Brindal and he looked over his shoulder to see a cannon ball sitting in the driver side of the cab.
"Screw this, let’s get out of here." Oneup said and stared to turn the halftrack way from the horde that was about 500 feet away now, the ones that where flying where even closer then them, and as they got closer the more they shot at them with there muskets and cannons.
Some of the solders had already started to run blindly into the fog, others took to the air to try and escape but the flying creature managed to catch most of them. A couple of solders jumped onto Brindal's halftrack as they pulled away.
Then something slammed into the the front of the half track and Bridal looked over to see a cannon ball wedged into the hood of the half track with a fuse that was burning.
"What in Boreas' name is tha-" Brindal didn't finished his comment before it exploded, knocking him unconscious.
He awoke outside the halftrack on his side with a ringing in his ears and struggled to lift his head to look around, noticing he couldn't see as what was on his left side now. The fog around him was still dense and the halftrack was behind him, the front half engulfed by fire and a few bodes laid around him.
Brindal more senses started to return to him, including pain all over his body and feel cool air in his mouth, finding a gap in his left cheek with his tongue and he could hear lots of gunfire all around him. Then he took a shaky breath and could taste the smell of burned feathers, fur, and flesh in the air. Brindal lifted his talon to his face and touched his left half of his face, finding a lack of feathers and the gap in his cheek but strangely couldn't feel his talons touching his face and there was no pain there. Then Brindal then tried to get up but fell back down.
Then a griffin solder with a oddly shaped wing that was dragging on the ground, Brindal didn't know who, ran into view and over to him. The solder quickly went over Brindal's body and grabbed Brindal's sidearm off his side and started to leave when a figure stepped out from behind the burning half track and the solder almost fell backwards.
The figure stepped into the fire light revealing her to be a beautiful, in pony standards of course, young dirty white mare in her adolescent with a frightened look in her eyes but there was something else there as well that Brindal couldn't place.
"Mister?" She said to the solder. "Please don't let the monsters hurt me." And she stepped towards the solder who had raised the pistol.
"Stay back!" The solder said.
The pony stopped and she gave a cruel smile revealing two fangs in her mouth and jumped forward faster than what seemed possible and knocked the pistol out of the solders talon and into the ground in front of Brindal and bit into the solder's neck and forced him to the ground and seemed to start drinking the griffins blood.
Any sense of pain varnished as he watches the solder have his blood drained and Brindal started to get up and reach for the pistol on the ground in front of him.
As he picked it up there was a screech from behind Brindal and he looked to see a skeleton of another pony running at him and, out of the corner of his eye, the vampire pony turned to look at him and smiled with blood dripping down her face and held her hoof out to the skeleton and it stopped.
"No no." The vampire said to the skeleton. "I will handle this." And she turned back to Brindal. Looking at him with interest.
"You where in this half track, yes? You should be dead." She said.
"Well I don't die easily." Brindal said watching her the best he could.
"I can tell." She laughed. "You are a survivor."
"I try to be."
The vampire seemed amused. "Tell you what griffin, I like you so I will make you a deal."
"A deal?" Brindal asked slowly realizing that the sound of gunfire has died down and had almost stopped.
"Yes. You can join me and enjoy immortality as one of my servants or you can return to your battalion, and be wiped out with them."
Brindal stood there confused was she letting him go? Why?
Brindal looked at the skeleton that stood there starring at him unmoving. If that is what she meant by servant then Brindal made his choice.
"I am touched by your offer but I will have to join my brothers."
The vampire, still smiling with her mouth covered in blood, said. "But what about these brothers?"
Brindal watched in horror as lieutenant Sharp with apart of his gut missing, Joker with his lower beak missing and a piece of wood buried deep in his side, oneup with most of his body burned almost to the point he couldn't tell who he even was, and more solders from his squad that had been killed in varies ways.
As he stared in horror of his squad mates the vampire stepped to Brindal's left side so he couldn't see what she was doing, although it's not like he was already. Then she jumped him.
Brindal manage to hear her and lifted his talon to try and protect himself, only to find his talon in the vampire's mouth and he could feel the vampire's fangs burying themselves into his talon.
Blood ran down his arm and the vampire tried to force him to the ground but Brindal managed to fire the pistol in his other talon into the gut of the vampire. It let go of Brindal's talon and retreated a few steps to look at her wounds.
"You shot me..." She said as rage grew in her eyes. "Why you little-"
She never got to finish what she was going to say as Brindal fired 2 rounds into the vampire's skull and she fell to the ground still. Along with the rest of Brindal's dead squad mates.
Brindal immediately took flight into the air, flying the way he thought they had came in from but only got a few minutes away as adrenalin started to ware off and he landed.
As soon as Brindal touched the ground he throw up anything that was in his stomach, thinking of what he had just seen. Pain then started to make itself known as he tried to collected himself but he could still walk so he continued on his way in the Direction he thought was right, holding his bleeding talon.
About 30 minutes later he found the road they had used to get to the village and followed it back to the rest of his battalion.
About 15 minutes later he could see lights in the fog moving around, with a few in the clouds above undoubtedly with a sniper watching the lights, and as he approached two spot lights suddenly turned on blinding him and he turned his head to the left and squinted trying to see.
"Who goes there?" Someone called out.
"Private Brindal, J squad." Brindal said.
"J squad? Aren't they out on portal to a small village?"
Then another voice said. "Yeah, i saw them heading out in a few halftracks about an hour or two ago."
Brindal turned his head towards the voices as his eyes adjusted to the light.
"Well if your from J squad then what..." The guard's voice grow quiet and Brindal could hear one of them retching.
"By Boreas, someone get the medic!"
A solder came running up to Brindal's right side to offer support to him and they both walked past the makeshift gate.
The solder walked him over to a few crates and had him sit down as the medic ran up to them with med bag.
"Alright solder, lets see what happened to you."
As the medic looked over him he stopped on his left talon, looking at the bite from the vampire.
"What got you here?" The medic asked.
"A vampire." Brindal answered. The medic gave him a unbelieving look but continued on.
"So where is you squad?" Asked the medic.
"Dead or did die. They were wiped out by the undead only to come back and fight against us."
The medic gave him another look and said. "So, they are dead, then got back up?"
"Yes sir. And we are next on the kill list. You have to tell the commander and get us out of here. Before it's too late."
Then an ambulance pulled up and another medic jumped out and walked over.
"What you got for me?" She asked.
"Severe burns to the left side of the face and left eye and a bite wound to the left arm. He may also have a concussion and may be experiencing hallucinations."
Brindal jumped up at that. "I am not hallucinating! I know what I saw and if we don't do something soon we will all be killed!"
The female medic turned towards him and tried to smooth him by saying. "Don't worry, we will go talk to the commander. But first let me give you something to help you."
She then reached into her med bag and pulled out a small vile with some medicine with a cork lid and pulled out a needle and filled it with the medicine and walk over to Brindal.
Brindal stood still as she inject him and started felling woozy.
"There, that will help. Let me help you to the ambulance."
As they loaded Brindal up into the ambulance they made sure to talon cuff him to make sure he didn't hurt anyone and one of them got in the back with Brindal but he couldn't make since of it before passing out.
Epilogue
After Brindal fell asleep the ambulance went to a field hospital that had been set up for the griffins that had been in the wreck and got with a small group of vehicles with other injured soldiers that were injured enough not to be help full but still safe enough to be moved without injury to be taken to a near by hospital.
They left without incident and was taken to a nearby city only 21 hours away without stopping.
After they arrived they where administered to a hospital and later received news that the 27th mobile battalion was viciously attacked during the night wiping out almost everyone. At the hospital the doctors found a few odd things about Brindal. His pulse was weak but he didn't seem to have any ill effects from it. During the day he seemed much more lethargic and weaker but during the night he was much more active, not to mention that any time he was in the day light he would show discomfort. But one of the biggest things was once during a meal he expressed a craving for blood or at leat he thought so.
There where also multiple cases when he would start to panic saying "She won't get me" or "I’m sorry for leaving you behind" amongst other things.
After a few weeks Brindal had seemed to recover physically and returned to the military and later got a commission as an analyst officer, as far away from any windows and as many ghost of his past as possible.