Problems of a Dead World

Chapter 13: Being Persuasive

Twilight and Applejack both jumped in fear as the high-pitched whine of the flare gun sounded, followed by a ghastly scream from the soldier. The blood-drenched screech of sheer terror sounded throughout the hallway for a moment and shook the two former-equines to the core, while their brothers simply sighed. Shining shook his head and stood up from his seat against the wall, causing Mac to raise an eyebrow.

"I'm not sure if I can keep letting him do this..." Shining said quietly as the scream continued, followed by the distinct sound of crackling flesh.

"Do what?" Macintosh replied, silent as well.

"That!" Shining said, pointing a finger at the doorway. "He's torturing them!"

Macintosh paused for a moment, searching his thoughts, his expression slightly angered.

"You think the shit they did ta' me wasn't torture? Ah thought they were gonna beat me til' there wasn't a chunk big enough to hit..." Mac replied pointing to his still-battered face.

It was Shining's turn to pause as he collected his thoughts, trying to make a retort as the screams from the other room died down.

"Well I mean... just look what he's doing to Twilly and AJ... You think they're OK with seeing this?!" He replied after a few moments.

Mac shook his head.

"Of course not, but this is what we gotta' do to survive... I just want to get home, and if this is what it takes, so be it. But I will be makin' sure mah sis' get's home, and that should be your motive as well, not what Earl is doing to the fucked up humans in this here buildin'." He replied.

Shining shook his head and slid back down the wall, taking his seat yet again. The blue-haired human let his head fall into his hands with a sigh. Before any more words could be exchanged between the two, Earl stepped out of the room, a scowl plastered across his bruised face. Without a word, he walked straight to the other fallen soldier and began dragging him into the other room.

"Twilight, cover your ears." He said quietly, and with a dark tone in his voice.

The purple-haired girl nodded and bowed her head, firmly placing her hands over her ears and motioning for Applejack to do the same. Earl then looked to Shining and Macintosh, on the opposite side of the door frame.

"Can you guys watch the hallway?" He asked in the same grim tone.

Macintosh nodded, but Shining stood up and looked Earl in the eye confidently.

"Earl, c'mon, do you really need to do this?" The former-pony asked.

"Yes." He replied frankly.

"I don't think you need to..."

"They're insane. The only thing they know is violence, so I'm going to give it to them."

Shining paused and swallowed nervously.

"What if they're not the insane one?" He said, almost inaudibly.

Earl twitched in anger slightly and craned his neck towards Shining.

"With all due respect Shines," He said growing into a smirk. "I haven't been sane in 5 years."

Before another word could be said, Earl looked down to the soldier in his grasp and continued dragging him into the room. Shining simply looked to the floor and sighed, returning to his seat yet again.

"He's right you know..." Macintosh said quietly.

"About what?" Shining asked, arching an eyebrow.

The blonde-haired man let out an exasperated sigh.

"I haven't been the same in 5 years either..." He replied.

Shining shook his head and kept his eyes fixated on the floor.

"None of us have..."

* * *

Wasting no time, Earl cocked his arm inward, and threw it forward, the back of his hand meeting the face of the soldier. The man instantly jolted awake at the force of the smack and groaned as the pain set in. He fell to the side, his eyes still shut tight.

"Gah.... wh-what the... f-f-fuck man?!" The soldier asked in an angry, exhausted tone.

Earl simply remained silent as the man writhed in pain. After a few seconds of silence, the man slowly opened his eyes, and took in the sight across the room. Sitting propped up against the wall, was the corpse of his fellow soldier. The head and face of the body was charred completely black, an expression of intense pain burned onto it. It's stomach had also been cut open, allowing it's contents to show freely. The man sat, choked by fear and complete disgust as he stared at his dead friend. After a few seconds of processing the butchered corpse before him, he choked and gagged for a moment, and eventually ended up heaving the contents of his stomach onto the floor.

"He didn't want to help me." Earl said quietly as the soldier continued vomiting.

"Y-You're... sick..." The soldier replied, still choking.

"Hells yeah I am." Earl replied with a smirk.

The soldier shook his head and quickly jumped to his feet, his fists in the air.

"C'mon mother fu-!" The soldier said, assuming his fighting position.

Almost instantly, Earl pulled the flare gun from his pocket and pushed it against the soldier's head, cutting him off and rendering him completely silent.

"Listen here you fucking parasite," Earl said, pressing the flare gun harder against the front of his skull. "The keys to your little 'kingdom' are jingling in the hands of the opressed, and they're not happy about being fucked with."

"P-Please.... just..." The soldier tried to say.

Before he could finish however, Earl pulled the gun away and swiftly swung it forward, causing the barrel to collide with the soldier's face and send him flying back to the ground again. The soldier coughed and groaned in pain as he collided with the cement floor. Before he could recover, Earl grabbed him by the collar of his jacket and dragged him across the floor, coming face to face with the burnt corpse. The soldier instantly began tearing up as his face litterally collided with the dead corpse of his friend. The furious human reached downwards and placed one hand under the soldier's jaw and one atop his head, and brought him face to face with the charred corpse.

"Do you see this?!" Earl shouted angrily.

"Yes!" The soldier replied, terrified.

"DO YOU SEE THIS?!"

"YES!"

"YOU'RE LOOKING IN A FUCKING MIRROR IF YOU DON'T DO EXACTLY WHAT I SAY!"

At this point, the soldier couldn't take anymore, and burst into frantic sobbing.

"Anything! Anything you want!"

"YOUR VEHICLES. WHERE ARE THEY?!"

"They're in the East Wi-"

Before the soldier could finish, Earl threw him onto his back, pulled the flare gun from his pocket once more, and aimed it at the whimpering soldier.

"Don't tell me, SHOW ME! Or I'm turning your ass into a COOKED STEAK!" He shouted, his voice echoing through the cement room.

"OK! Just please don't fucking kill me!" The soldier pleaded.

Earl scowled and shoved the flare gun back into his pocket. He then reached down and pulled the soldier up by his collar.

"You don't look at anypony in my group, you don't talk to anypony in my group, you don't even think about anypony in my group. You just lead us there, and act as a fucking meat shield. Do you understand me?" Earl said quietly, and with a sinister tone.

The soldier nodded furisously for a moment.

"Good." Earl replied, dropping the soldier.

The whimpering man fell to the ground with a harsh thud against the concrete flooring.

"Crying little bitches first." Earl said, motioning to the door.

The soldier nervously scrambled to his feet and sprinted out of the door as Earl retrieved his shotgun from the floor. As the guard exited the room, Mac and Shining instantly stood up, alarmed. They relaxed slightly however as Earl exited the room next, pointing his shotgun at the crying soldier.

"Earl?" Mac asked, raising an eyebrow.

"It's alright... this kid is gonna' show us to the vehicles... aren't you?" Earl said in a sinister tone.

The soldier nodded furiously and looked away from the group, careful not to make eye-contact with any other the humanized-ponies.