Problems of a Dead World

Chapter 16: Escape

Earl remained silent, only staring in horror at the sight before him. A small pool of crimson-red blood had pooled around Shining Armor as he twitched and writhed in pain, his chest bouncing up and down repeatedly as he gasped for air. By now, the nervous blaze in Earl's stomach was burning into his throat and tugging on his vocal chords. The human raised a shaky hand to his injured friend and tried to take a step forward. He ended up stumbling sideways as his balance left him, still staring at the mortifying sight that lie before him. The man caught himself on the key rack, causing all of the keys to move and create an audible jingle as it shook.

"Earl?!" Twilight called out from the other side of the key-rack. "What do you see?!"

Her voice was frantic and terrified, as if she already knew what had happened to her older brother.

"I... He..." Earl replied, his voice dry and choked.

"What?!" Twilight asked, her voice at it's peak.

"Ah... Applejack... K-Keep Twilight over there..." He replied, trying to simplify his words.

"Tell me! NOW!" Twilight shouted, her tone growing angrier.

"I don't... I-"

"Sugar cube... Just stay calm, stay calm-" Applejack said in the most motherly tone she could provide.

"NO! Let me go!" Twilight shouted in reply.

After a few pained groans and grunts from the other side of the rack, Twilight appeared on the opposite side, looking to Earl anxiously like a loved one waiting to hear the news of a life-threatening procedure. The black-haired human simply continued staring in disbelief as Shining twitched in agonizing pain. After a moment of no reply from Earl, she looked past the mortified man and paused.

Instantly, Twilight fell to her knees, still keeping her eyes fixated on her dying brother as they twitched back and forth in disbelief. Her jaw had fallen open, and an almost inaudible sound was erupting from her dried throat.

"S-Sh... Shining?" She asked, a slight squeak accenting her words because of the dryness in her throat.

Shining Armor couldn't reply, only groan as the pain of his bullet wound continued to shock his veins. Twilight continued staring in disbelief for several moments before rising to her feet again and breaking into a full-sprint in the direction of her fallen brother. Earl watched as the two siblings met, brother and sister, both changed from their original forms, one gunned down violently. Twilight paused upon reaching her bleeding sibling and scanned his body with a terrified expression. After a few seconds of contemplation, she knelled down and took him in her arms, causing a slight groan to sound from his throat.

"Shining?!" She asked frantically.

He looked up at her with drowsy eyes.

"Tw.... Twilly?" He said weakly in return.

"Yes! Yes, it's Twilly, It's Twilly..." She replied, a worried smile coming to her face as tears began to roll down her cheeks.

The blue-haired former-equine looked down to his wound and twitched again, grimacing at the bloody gash in his midsection. He looked back to her again.

"It... It hurts Twilly..." Shining said absentmindedly.

Twilight nodded and reached down, grabbing his hand in hers and holding it firmly against her chest.

"I... Know... It... It-" Twilight said, trying to search for her next words.

After a moment of pondering what she would say next, the purple-haired girl settled for resting her head against her bleeding brother's chest as the tears fell with more swiftness.

Watching this caused Earl's eyes to well up as well. The guilty fire had finally burned it's way into his eyes, and now the sprinklers were turning on to douse the flame of emotion coming over him. Tears rolled down slowly at first, but then began to flow freely from the human's eyes. Shining groaned softly in pain and rested his chin on Twilight's head as she sobbed vigorously into his chest.

"This is... Like... When you got that thorn in y-your... H-Hoof... Remember?" Shining said weakly.

Twilight nodded in response, still crying into him.

"I... I love you Twilly..."

"I-I love you too big brother!"

Earl shook his head and slammed his fist against the rack of keys, causing the almost taunting jingle to ring throughout the room again.

"Task completed! They're in the motor-pool Colonel! Send everything we've got!" A voice shouted from behind a nearby pile of scrap.

Everything immediately stopped for the sobbing man. He slowly turned around, loosely gripping his shotgun as the tears halted their assault. A soldier quickly sprinted out from behind the pile of scrap, a small pistol in his hand. Things continued slowing down and blurring for Earl. One second, the soldier was miles away. The next, right in front of him. A ringing sounded in his ears as he looked down to the vicious looking weapon in his hands. The guilty fire slowly began burning with more intensity, turning from guilt to anger in a short amount of time. With a scowl on his face, Earl raised the shotgun and elicited a bloodthirsty cry of anger and grief that shook the walls, and the hearts of Applejack and Macintosh who were waiting on the other side of the rack.

As the ringing in Earl's ears reached it's peak, he pulled the trigger on the shotgun in his hands. The shell left the weapon with a large flash of light and traveled slowly to it's target, Earl's mind still lost in the moment. After it's lengthy adventure, the bullet flew through the sprinting guard's right leg, completely severing it from the rest of his body in a bloody mess of flesh. The soldier instantly fell to the ground as his appendage went in the opposite direction, screaming on contact with the cold cement floor.

Applejack and Macintosh quickly spun around to see the soldier screaming in pain as blood spurted out of his dismembered limb. The blonde-haired humans quickly raised their weapons and began to fire, but Earl had beaten them to it. As the ringing continued in his head, Earl continued walking towards the screaming soldier and shot at him again, missing completely. The soldier still flinched greatly however as the shell went flying past him, his attacker still approaching. After a moment, the soldier struggled into a sitting position and reached for his dismembered leg, still screaming in pain as blood flowed freely from his exposed wound. Within seconds, Earl was next to the man, and swiftly rammed the end of his shotgun at the guard's skull.

It connected hard, sending the soldier back to a lying position with another scream of pain. Earl continued his relentless attack by stabbing the end of his shotgun into the man's stomach, immediately tearing the skin and digging into the contents beneath as the soldier continued screaming in agonizing pain. After carving away for a few moments, Earl ripped the bayonet out and stared at the soldier.

Macintosh quickly grabbed his sister and pulled her away, causing her to look in the opposite direction.

"I don't think you should watch this, sis'." He said, shaking his head.

Applejack complied, and continued looking away from Earl and the soldier.

After several seconds of staring into the soldier's eyes as he screamed, Earl raised his shotgun, holding both hands along the barrel with the point of the knife aiming directly at the man's throat. The soldier tried to protest, but was quickly cut off by another war-cry from Earl as he plunged the shotgun downwards. The soldier's flesh was no match for the cold steel of Earl's bayonet, and the flesh on his neck instantly gave way to the weapon. Blood sprayed in every direction from the man's neck as the knife continued plunging into him, a pained gurgle sounding from his mouth.

After successfully cutting the throat of Shining's attacker, he pulled the bayonet out, screaming in grief again as it left the soldier's flesh. He quickly raised the shotgun back into his shoulder and fired a shot into the dead man's chest, and then another, and then another. A seemingly endless string of shots left Earl's weapon as he continued his firing, an angry shout leaving his throat after each shot.

"YOU...

MOTHER...

FUCKER!" He shouted.

After a moment, the gun began to click, signaling that he had dispersed all of his shots.

But Earl wanted more. He turned the weapon upside-down and wrapped his hands around the barrel. With one last cry of anger, he slammed the stock of his shotgun onto the head of the fallen soldier. It immediately split, sending blood flying in multiple directions. He then dropped his gun on the ground, and growled in anger as he stepped away from the corpse. Twilight was still cradling her brother in her arms behind the key-rack as Earl approached. He eyed the two, and then eyed Shining's gunshot wound, then the key resting in his hand.

With confidence and a slight amount of anger in his step, he walked to them and crouched down, retrieving the key from Shining's hand. The blue-haired human twitched in surprise, but calmed as Earl came into view. Earl looked up to Twilight and extended his hand, presenting the key to her.

"There's going to be a hole on the side of the door, Put this key inside of it, Turn it, Pull the handle, Wait for me there." He said sternly.

Twilight looked at him slightly shocked and dumbfounded.

"Just trust me! I'm going to get him home, I promise you babe. Just please trust me." He said, his tone growing slightly angry.

After a moment, she gently released her brother and took the key from Earl's palm with a shaking hand. He nodded in response as she returned to her feet, and placed his arm under Shining Armor.

"I'm getting you out of here, man. Just stay with me, alright?" Earl said.

Without a second thought, he reached over the bleeding brother and picked the syringe out of his neck, and tossed it to the side.

"Ah... Alright..." Shining replied with a nod, not noticing that something had just left his neck.

Earl placed his other arm under Shining's legs and quickly hoisted him off of the ground with a pained grunt. Clumsily, he began making his way across the room as Twilight sprinted across the garage and began unlocking the car door. After a few times, she successfully opened it and waited for Earl. He quickly motioned to Applejack and Mac with his head. They began following behind him, remaining silent as they took in the sight of their fallen friend.

As Earl reached the van, he balanced Shining and quickly threw open the side door. To his advantage, the first row of seats had been ripped out, and he was able to place the bleeding man on the floor softly.

"Get in," Earl said, making his way into the front seat. "We need to move, now."

The rest of his friends obliged and made their way into the vehicle. Twilight sitting in the passenger's side, and Applejack and Macintosh sitting in the seat behind Shining.

After a few turns of the key, the engine revved to life and echoed throughout the walls of the enclosed garage. Earl looked around for a moment, hesitant to place his hands anywhere.

"What are you doing?" Twilight asked impatiently.

"I never got my fucking permit!" Earl replied.

Twilight gave him a look of confusion, but he shrugged it off. With a sigh, he went from his best memory and put the car in gear.

Right pedal is go, left pedal is stop. Easy enough. He thought, sweat forming on his forehead.

With a quick breath, Earl looked forward and saw the garage door in front of him. An almost sinister grin crossed his face as an idea entered his mind. Without a second thought, he slammed his foot down on the right-pedal, causing the vehicle to jump forwards and slam into the garage door. It buckled on contact, allowing the survivors passage out of the garage.

At that moment, Jackson and his soldiers had charged into the garage, weapons at the ready. The Colonel quickly noticed the massive hole in the garage door and pointed his weapon to it.

"Go! Now!" He shouted angrily.

The soldiers complied and sprinted towards the door of the garage, readying their weapons as the van strolled across the road, nearing the chain link fence. Without question, the soldiers opened fire on the van, Missing every shot, but causing Earl to shift the wheel left and right nervously.

"Luna's Dick! What the fuck are they doing?!" He shouted as the van shifted and turned awkwardly on the road.

Twilight paused and looked at him quizzically.

"What?!" She asked, dumbfounded by his word-choice.

"Did he... Just say... L-Luna's-?"

"Eyup... Just... Save your energy Shines." Mac said.

The Colonel threw his pistol to the ground in anger as the van continued rolling across the road and through the chain link fence. After a moment of heavy breathing and cease-fire, he pointed a finger back towards the base.

"Get the trucks." He said quietly, his head aimed to the ground.

The soldiers nodded in response and began making their way back to the base as Jackson pulled another cigarette from his shirt pocket. With a flick of a lighter, the small stick of tobacco caught flame and allowed the man to take a lengthy drag.

"You fuckers want a chase?" He asked rhetorically.

The Colonel let out a lengthy exhale.

"I'll give you a chase."