Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead

The bus rattled and clanked down the dirt road that snaked along the top of a hill, giving a good scenic view of the surrounding rural area.

Sunset wanted to look outside, to distract herself from the gloomy atmosphere that was prevalent inside the bus, but the view was partially obscured by the tousled hair on Rarity's head, which was resting on her shoulder. She fell asleep not so long ago but after one particularly nasty bump on the road she slid to the right and ended up nuzzling to Sunset’s side. Sunset felt increasingly awkward with Rarity leaning onto her, but she couldn’t find it in herself to shove her aside. And so she just sat there, looking for something to focus on.

At first, she listened with interest as the soldiers tried to establish contact with the HQ and other units, but after several minutes of vain attempts, she actually learned all of their callsigns. Apparently these two soldiers were part of a squad called "Tower Shield", other squads were called "Stelet", "Broad Sword" and "Spyglass". None of them responded.

“Control, this is Tower Shield. Please respond. Over.” The private changed the frequency on his radio and tried again to no avail. “It’s no use. All frequencies are dead.”

“Let’s just hope that we are simply out of range, or being jammed. Cause I don’t want to think of the alternative.” Muttered Combined Arms. “Keep trying.”

“Yes, sir.” Answered First Strike without even a hint of enthusiasm in his voice and returned to his monotonous task.

But Sunset filtered out any subsequent attempts. She tried to overhear what the other survivors were talking about, but those few who spoke about something, did so in whispers. The rest simply sat in silence or sometimes sobbed quietly.

A sudden gust of chilly wind from the smashed window made Sunset shiver. ‘It’s chilly, but at least it vents out the smell of blood.’ She thought and zipped up her leather jacket all the way to her neck. There was a movement on the seat behind her as someone stood up and went to the other row where the draft was not as strong.

The bus slightly jumped on yet another pothole in the road and Rarity stirred in her sleep. She mumbled something, but Sunset could make out only, "Sister is coming soon."

“How is she doing?” Sounded a quiet voice from behind.

When Sunset turned her head, she saw Fluttershy sitting on the recently vacated seat. She moved so quietly, that Sunset didn’t even noticed when she came.

“She cried herself to sleep.” Sunset shrugged, bobbing Rarity’s head slightly. “Not sure if her dreams are pleasant though.”

“Poor thing.” Said Fluttershy, looking at Rarity’s troubled face. “I know how she feels. I am also worried about my brother, but Zephyr is much older than Sweetie Belle, he can handle himself, I know he can, even though sometimes he doesn’t act like it.” She looked to the side with a warm smile on her face.

‘I guess I should be glad that I have no family. I can’t imagine what I’d be doing right now otherwise.’ Sunset thought as she looked from Fluttershy to Rarity. While she was looking at the two girls, Sunset suddenly realized the absurdity of this situation. Rarity must have hated Sunset, especially after everything the red-haired girl did to make sure Rarity didn't get the Princess title at the last fall formal. And yet there she was, leaning on her shoulder and Sunset hesitating to push her away. And then there was Fluttershy. This quiet pushover, whom Sunset usually bullied just for fun and to demonstrate her superiority, not only ended up calming her down and bandaging her wounds but was also sitting right next to her and actually talking to her! On any other day Fluttershy would do anything she could to not be anywhere near Sunset, and whenever she had to speak to her, she would stammer and shake like a leaf. ‘The world really gone insane!’ Sunset thought, barely managing to stifle a stupid giggle, and masked it as a cough. 'Well, this might as well be a distraction that I wanted.'

"You know, you are faring surprisingly well, all things considered." And that was true. Sunset never suspected that Fluttershy, of all people, would be the one to keep it together in a life threatening situation. And by the looks of it, she managed to get through that whole ordeal completely unscathed. "Ahh, you are okay, right?"

"Um... Yeah..." Fluttershy looked back at Sunset with surprise, she didn't expect a note of concern in her voice, and to be honest, Sunset didn't expect it either. "Physically I mean. But I am horrified." She whispered.

"Not you alone." Sunset nodded. "Still, you are far from quivering mess that I would expect you..." Sunset stopped herself when she realized that she was about to insult Fluttershy, by this point it was just a force of habit more than anything else. "Um, sorry about that." She muttered. Sunset really didn't want to drive away and antagonize the only person, who was willing to talk to her right now.

"That's okay. But really, I am surprised myself." Fluttershy admitted. "I guess they were right, blood and gore doesn't bother me all that much any more." She added thoughtfully.

“Huh?” Sunset’s eyebrows shot upwards at that, she shifted in her seat, letting Rarity to slide down a bit, and stared at the yellow girl. “What do you mean?”

“O-oh! Well...” Fluttershy wilted a little under Sunset’s gaze. “Y-you see, I work in an animal shelter after school. There’s also a veterinarian clinic there and I sometimes assist the vets there, if they allow me to. It used to be nothing special, and they rarely needed my help, but recently there was a significant influx of the injured animals. A-and I mean severely injured. Cats and dogs were coming in with their legs missing, bellies torn...” Fluttershy grimaced as she remembered some of the worst cases. “And the clinic is understaffed as is, they were not ready for that, so I was called forth much more often. When I first saw a disemboweled dog I fainted... Later the doctors told me that I will eventually get used to it and it will get easier. And they were right. After a week I was able to get through most of the operations without filling sick.” She paused and turned her gaze to the spatter of blood on the floor. “I guess it also worked here.”

“I see.” Sunset muttered. She raised her hand to her chin and stroked it in contemplation. ‘I admit, I’ve misjudged her. She is introverted and non-confrontational but she is not spineless.’

There was another bump on the road that made the bus jump a little. Rarity slid even lower and nearly fell, but Sunset reached out and held her back. Then she gently returned Rarity to a seated position, but made sure she would leaned to the other side away from her. And when she saw Rarity leaning against the wall by the window, Sunset sighed with relief, she was beginning to get tired of being used as an impromptu pillow.

Fluttershy watched this with a small smile on her face. If someone had told her a couple of days ago that she was going to see that Sunset could care about someone other than herself, she’d have a hard time believing it.

Now that nothing was blocking her view, Sunset was finally able to look out the window. "Wow." She muttered looking at the highway, which was not that far from them. "It seems like driving on a dirt road was the right decision."

The highway was packed with cars, and many cars looked like they crashed into each other, some even caught fire. It was also full of people, but they were in no hurry to put out the burning cars, save the victims, or at least get away from danger. They just wandered among the wrecked cars, occasionally bumping into each other and shambling further along the highway.

"D-do you think these people are like those in the city?" Fluttershy whispered from behind.

“Probably. At least they are not running towards us.” Answered Sunset still observing the people on the highway. ‘That’s a lot of them. But we are still not far from the city. I hope this hasn't spread too far, but if this has already happened in other cities for several months... Are there any safe places at all?’ She turned her gaze to the two soldiers who were still trying unsuccessfully to get in touch with someone. This was not encouraging in the least.

Their journey continued for about ten more minutes. During this time, they moved away from the highway and drove next to the forest. Soon, a thin column of smoke appeared above the tops of the trees.

“The camp is there.” The lieutenant said looking at the smoke. He turned on the radio attached to his body armor and put his finger to the earpiece, “FEMA dispatch, this is the Tower Shield squad, do you read me? Over.” He waited for a response. “Dispatch, we have a group of civilians with us, some may need medical attention. Over.” Still nothing. “Respond God damn it!” Combined Arms shouted and slammed his fist against the wall. “Shit.”

“I told you that all frequencies are dead, including FEMA.” Privet Strike noted.

“I know. But we are close enough to the camp that even a damn civilian grade walkie-talkie could pick up the signal.” The lieutenant rubbed his eyes and let out a heavy sigh. “I hoped... I don’t even know anymore.”

“So... Now what?” Asked the driver as he glanced at the soldier over his shoulder. “Are we still going there?”

“Yes.” The lieutenant nodded. “Besides, we are already here.” He pointed forward.

As soon as the bus rounded the last patch of trees and drove out to a large clearing, everyone saw a large area enclosed by a high concrete wall over which barbed wire was stretched. On one of the walls was an inscription that read ‘FEMA’ in big blue letters and smaller ‘Federal Emergency Management Agency’ underneath it. An asphalt road led to the camp, which most likely led to the highway next to which they passed recently. The road ended in a parking lot with about a dozen cars, including several military humvees. Also it turned out that the smoke did not come from the camp itself, but from a larger hole in the ground a few meters away from the parking lot.

“No guards at the gates.” Said First Strike as they observed the area. “No one on the towers either. Sir, are you sure we need to go there?”

“Unfortunately yes.” Answered lieutenant Arms. His eyes scanned the perimeter of the camp and his gaze lingered on the smoking pit. “I have no idea where the Safe Zone is, and FEMA is our best bet to figure it out. Check your gear, we’re going on a walk.”

Following the lieutenant's instructions, the driver drove up to the parking lot and stopped the bus in a way that in case of danger it would be easy to get onto the main road.

"Don't turn off the engine." Arms said as he prepared his rifle. "We do not know what awaits us there, so it is better to be ready for anything."

"Uh, about that." The driver pointed to the dashboard. “We have almost no gas left. You can say that we’ve been running on fumes for the last twenty minutes. I was supposed to go refuel after this round.”

“Your gotta be kidding me.” The lieutenant facepalmed. “At least tell me that you have a gas canister or something.”

“I do.” He kicked something under the seat and a dull metal clang came from there. "Only it is also empty."

Combined Arms cursed under his breath and looked at the empty gas canister that the driver pulled out from under his seat. “Shit. Well, maybe we can find some gas out there.” He nodded towards the camp.

“What if it’s overrun?” Asked the privet, looking at the parked cars.

“Then we’re fucked.” Arms stated and shrugged.

No one liked the sound of that and the people began to grumble.

Sunset didn’t want to be stuck in the middle of nowhere with the empty tank and a potential danger lurking nearby. She looked at the parking lot and got an idea. “What if we siphon gas from those cars?” She asked.

The lieutenant, who was about to exit the bus, stopped and looked directly at her. “Do you know how?”

“Well, I...” Sunset hesitated. She didn’t want to stick her neck out and going outside could be dangerous. She spared a quick glance at the rest of the survivors, hoping that at least someone would say that they could do it, but Sunset was certain that none of them knew how to. Except maybe Rover, but the Diamond Dog simply set quietly, not even looking in their direction. And so Sunset let out a sigh and nodded, “Yeah, I do. But I’ll need a hose.”

While the driver was looking for a hose, the lieutenant went to Sunset and unhooked a sheath with a combat knife from his harness and handed it over to her. "Here, just in case." He said and tapped her on a shoulder.

Sunset took the sheath and attached it to her belt.

"Alright, Strike and I are going in, and you go get the gas. Work quickly, in case we'll have to get out of here in a pinch." Combined Arms summed up the plan.

"Hold up." Sunset raised her hands. "Maybe we can just wait until I fill up the tank?"

The lieutenant shook his head. "You saw the high way. That horde is moving in this direction. They might pass us, but do you want to take this risk?"

The scenes of carnage that happened in Canterlot flashed in front of her eyes. "Good point. Let's go."

"We'll go first and check behind the gates. If it's all clear, we'll go in and you can proceed to the parking lot. Got it? Good. Let's go." Arms tapped the shoulder of a private who was waiting for a command and they got off the bus with their rifles at the ready.

Sunset watched as the soldiers reached the entrance to the camp in one quick dash and took up positions on both sides of the gate. The lieutenant pushed the gate and it gave way. He slowly opened it and and got down on one knee, giving the private a better view of the other side of the gate. After a few moments lieutenant Arms turned to the bus and gave a thumbs up, indicating 'all clear'.

Sunset nodded and a moment later they disappeared behind the gate.

"Please be careful." Said Fluttershy as Sunset was about to go outside.

"Yeah, sure. I got this." Sunset said not looking back, and left the bus. To be honest, she said that more to assure herself than the yellow girl.

'By Celestia, what am I doing here?' Sunset thought as she made her way to the parking lot with the empty gas canister in one hand and a hose in the other. 'Since when did I decide to be a hero?'

"Hay, Red! Wait up!" A sudden call from behind made her stop in her tracks. She turned around and saw Rover getting off the bus and running towards her. He approached her and, seeing a silent question on Sunset’s face, stated, "It’s dangerous to go alone."

“What’s with the sudden curtesy?” Sunset squinted at him, trying to read his expression, however his broken nose and the resulting two shiners around his eyes made it a really hard task.

“Got sick of sitting around doing nothing.” The gray teen answered and looked around the parking lot. “I needed to get out of there before I go crazy.”

That sounded honest enough not to mention that Sunset could relate to ‘going crazy’ part. “Alright, let’s go.” She turned around and headed to the nearest parked car. “Ever done this?” She asked, looking for any signs of a car alarm. Even if the camp was abandoned, it would be smart to keep a low profile.

“Nah, just stole some shit.” Rover lightly kicked the front wheel of the car and it made two short beeping sounds in response. “This one is a no go.” He stated and they moved to the next one. “That was much easier. Just take a brick, smash a window, grab whatever and book it as the alarm wails. You?”

They approached the next car and Sunset repeated Rover’s technique of checking for the alarm. It reminded silent. She checked the door just in case, but of course it was locked, so Sunset moved to the fuel lid, drawing the knife out of its sheath. She slid its tip under the lid and drove it dipper with a push, then she readjusted her grip on the knife handle and gave it a twist. With a crack the lid opened, exposing the fuel cap underneath.

“I’ll take that as a ‘yes’.” Rover muttered, looking how Sunset unscrewed the cap and inserted the hose into the gas tank. “So, where did you learn to do that?”

“I needed money. Badly.” She opened the gas canister and put it nearby. “And gasoline sells for a good price if you know the right people.” Sunset took the hose, pressed it to her lips and sucked the air out. Her mouth was immediately filled with the acrid taste of the gasoline vapors, and she silently thanked Celestia that this hose was transparent. The last time she had to do this, the hose was not only made of a normal rubber but it was also way too short, and as soon as she began the process of siphoning she got a mouthful of gasoline. She couldn’t get rid of that taste for days. So when she saw the fuel flowing over the bent part of the hose, she lowered it into the canister and let the gravity do the rest of the work.

“Say, Red...” Said Rover as they wait for the gas can to fill. “Just for the record, you didn’t have any dirt on Fido and the others?”

“What?” Sunset raised her eyebrows at the sudden question. “No, I... Wait, what are you implying? That he attacked me because I blackmailed him or something!?”

“No, no, of course not! I am not a fucking idiot.” Rover shook his head. “But lately almost everyone in the gang were on edge for some reason, they got jumpy and started stirring up shit for no apparent reason. I mean, Spot nearly got shanked by one of the Griffons’ bitches.”

“And how is that my fault?” Sunset crossed her arms.

“Well, you do have a reputation...”

“Yes, I do! This is exactly why you must know that I always stick to my word!” Sunset raised her voice and to a step closer to the Diamond Dog. “I don’t get in your way, you don’t get in mine! That was the deal!” In her early days in CHS Sunset evaluated every social group in the school to better segregate them and to determine if any of those groups are best to be left alone. The Diamond Dogs were one such group, and although taking control over them could be beneficial for her goals, it just wasn’t worth the risk. Even though they never were actually violent or even too aggressive, they were all hotheads, who preferred actions over thinking, so she formed a sort of a ‘nonaggression pact’ with the gang.

“Okay, okay. Keep your voice down.” Rover raised his hands defensively. “I just wanted to make sure, alright?”

Sunset wanted to make a snarky comment, but the sound of two shots fired, that came from behind the wall, interrupted her. Both teens turned towards the gate, expecting a crowd of crazy people to rush from inside the camp. Sunset clutched the knife handle so hard that her knuckles turned white. They stood like that for a minute, but nothing happened.

“I guess we’re safe for now.” Said Rover, looking around for any other sign of danger.

“Yeah, but we better hurry.” Sunset looked at the gas can. The fuel stopped flowing, but the canister was only half full. She closed the gas can took the hose out of the fuel tank and they went looking for the next car.

As they moved through the parking lot Sunset noticed a lot of fliers scattered around the ground. When they repeated the process of opening the gas tank and the fuel was flowing into the canister, Sunset picked up a couple of fliers.

"EVACUATION ALERT. Please make your way to the nearest FEMA evacuation shelter. Travel in groups and avoid crowds. This is believed to be a biological agent that causes violent behavior: do not attempt to engage looters or rioters." She read out loud and switched to the next one. "EVACUATION ALERT. Please make your way to the nearest FEMA evacuation shelter. Avoid crowds. Looters and rioters may turn violent against unarmed civilians. Seek protection from police and military forces if traveling in groups." She crumpled the fliers and tossed them away. “Useless.” She muttered.

“This one is kinda helpful.” Said Rover looking at the flier he picked up. “AVOID BUNKERS: Even in riot affected areas, do not attempt to flee to military bunkers or outposts. Understaffed bunkers are defended by automated turrets, which will shoot those without proper registration.” He read and looked towards the camp. “I hope our brass guy has that ‘proper registration’ thing in case we need it.”

Sunset nodded and returned back to her task. Turned out this car had just enough fuel to fill the rest of the gas can. “All right, take it and go refuel the bus.”

“What about you?” Asked Rover, taking the canister.

“We’ll definitely need more than one can to fill up the gas tank. I’ll go check those humvees, I bet they have more fuel, maybe even another gas can.” Said Sunset, pointing at the military vehicles with her thumb. ‘Maybe I’ll get lucky and even find a gun or something.’ She thought.

Diamond Dog nodded, took the canister and jogged back to the bus.

Sunset approached one of the vehicles, as she walked closer to the wall, she could hear a sound, coming from the other side. A series of dull thuds that sounded like someone was trying to smash their way through a wooden door. She really hoped that it was their soldiers making their way into a locked building, and not something trying to get out.

The first humvee was, naturally, locked. Sunset peered through the window and looked around its interior. She saw only a couple of spare helmets and a bunch of documents on a dashboard. With a sigh she stepped away from the door and looked at the vehicle’s gas lid. There was a lock on the lid and the large screws with which it was screwed to the car’s body gave it an imposing armored look. ‘I’ll sooner break my knife than force it open.’ Sunset shook her head and moved to the next humvee.

As she approached the vehicle, Sunset saw something, that made her gasp in delight. The door wasn’t completely shut! In one leap she reached the door and pulled it open. The interior of this humvee was identical to the previous one but she got a better look at an intricate looking radio that was placed between the front seats and a storage compartment underneath it. She was about to check it, when she noticed that the key was still in the ignition. “Yes!” Sunset cheered, pulling the key out. She was sure that it would fit in the gas lid lock as well. “Looks like I’m back in Celesta’s favor!” Of course she knew that her former mentor had nothing to do with it, but old habits die hard.

With her spirits up Sunset reached inside the storage compartment, half expecting to find a gun and a full box of bullets to boot, but managed to find only one clipboard. Disappointed, sunset spared it a quick glance, fully intending to throw it away, but the something caught her eye.

It was a list containing the names of major cities and towns across the country. Someone has crossed off most of the names, and scrawled "OVERRUN" next to each one, with the exception of Canterlot and a few small towns.

Sunset felt like a pit was forming in her stomach as she flipped through the pages. OVERRUN, OVERRUN, OVERRUN. It really looked like there was no safe place to go, nowhere to run.

There was a photograph attached to the last page. It showed a bulldozer pushing a pile of human bodies into a pit. A familiar looking pit.

Sunset raised her eyes and looked at a column of smoke rising from from a hole in the ground.

“Found something?” Sounded a voice from behind.

“Shit!” Sunset swore and turned around, clutching her chest.

“Ahh... sorry?” Rover stood right behind her, holding a canister.

“Don’t you ever sneak up on me like that! Are you trying to give me a heart attack?” Sunset got out of the car, trying to calm her racing heart. She caught her breath and shoved him a key. “Found this. Let’s go.”

The key fit perfectly and the lid opened with a satisfying click.

“I hope that there’s enough gasoline inside the tank to fill it up in one go.” Said Sunset fiddling with the hose, but as she worked she kept throwing glances at the smoking pit. “Okay, you saw how to do it, so it’s your turn to inhale the fumes.”

“Huh? Why’s that?” Asked Rover and crossed his arms.

“Because my head is spinning after that fright you gave me.” Sunset lied. “Besides, I want to check something else.” She turned around, rounded the humvee and headed towards the pit.

The closer she got to it the slower she walked. Sunset knew what was in that pit, she saw the picture, but some sort of a morbid curiosity kept pushing her further, closer to the edge.

The pit was filled with the burnt human bodies. Their flesh was charred and fell away in places, revealing blackened bones. Many had their mouths open, as if they were still screaming in their death throes, and their empty eye sockets were directed to the sky. Smoke oozed from underneath these twisted bodies and rose up as a dense grayish-black column.

“Oh, Celestia...” Sunset felt nauseous. She took a step back and clasped her hand over her mouth. ‘Why did I come here? What else was I expecting to see?’

She turned away and was about to go back, but a sudden twitch, that she saw in the corner of her eye, made her stop in her tracks. She quickly turned back to the pit, grabbing the knife, and looked at the corpses.

The pile of charred bodies remained motionless.

‘Maybe I’m starting to lose it?’ She though and put the knife back in its sheath. ‘I wouldn’t be surprised if that was the case.’

From behind the wall there was a crash, as if something large had fallen and scattered to pieces, which was immediately followed by several bursts of assault rifle fire.

When Sunset turned around she saw an electric arc shooting over the wall and running along the barbed wire. And the gun shots continued to shake the air.

“What the Hell!?” Sunset shouted in surprise.

She saw Rover, with a full canister in his hands, he took several steps away from the humvee and turned towards Sunset, probably to tell her to get back to the bus, but as soon as he saw her, his eyes opened wide. “Red! Behind you!”

Sunset’s heart skipped a bit. She attempted to dash forward, not even looking back, but something grabbed her by the ankle, causing her to fall on the ground with a loud “Oof!”. She immediately rolled on her back, pulling the knife out, but when she saw what grabbed her, she simply froze in place.

A blackened and twisted naked human body was pulling itself out from the pit. It rose above her, still holding her foot in its hand, but Sunset couldn’t do anything but stare at it. Strips of flesh hung from its frame, and a constant haze of thick black smoke was constantly emitting from its wounds and empty eye sockets. When it opened its mouth even thicker torrent of smoke came out, enveloping them both in a grayish-black cloud.

Sunset couldn’t move, couldn’t scream, all she could do was to hold her knife in front of her with both hands.

The smoking monster tugged on her leg, pulling the terrified girl closer to itself. It was about to bend down to her when a sudden shout made it stop.

“Let her go, you freak!” Rover dashed through the smoke and planted a powerful kick right into the monster’s chest, sending it back to the pit. The Diamond Dog then grabbed Sunset by the collar of her jacket pulled her to her feet. “Come on, Red! *cough* *cough* Move!” He said coughing from all the smoke around them.

They both ran out of the smoke cloud coughing and wheezing. The smoke burned their lungs, making it hard to breathe, but despite a coughing fit Rover grabbed the canister right on the run and, without slowing down, rushed to the bus. Sunset followed him, rubbing at her stinging and watering eyes.

When they were near the bus, the camp gate swung open and the two soldiers ran out. The private ran first, the lieutenant followed him at a short distance, but before they had time to run a couple of steps, a jet of flame burst out from behind the gate and hit the lieutenant in the back. With a yell, he fell to the ground and began to roll from side to side, trying to extinguish the fire that engulfed his upper body.

“LT!” Shouted Strike as he turned around and fired his rifle at something.

He slung the rifle over his shoulder and rushed to the lieutenant to help put out the fire.

While Strike was trying to help Arms, another soldier staggered out of the gate. He was dressed in the same uniform as the two soldiers, but he had a gas mask on his face, and a large tank hung on his back, from which a hose ran to a flamethrower, which he held in his right hand. As soon as he saw the soldiers, he immediately raised his weapon and pointed it in their direction.

“Fuck! How are you still alive!?” The private swore, pulled out his pistol and opened fire without aiming. Fortunately, one of the bullets hit the flamethrower's shoulder, causing him to stagger back and release a jet of flame away from them. Then Strike hoisted the lieutenant onto his shoulders and ran to the bus.

Meanwhile, the flamethrower was able to recover and shuffled after them again, pointing his weapon at them.

Combined Arms raised his head and took out his big pistol. He raised it with a trembling hand and took aim. A loud shot rang out and the flamethrower's left arm flew off. The second shot tore a large piece of flesh from the right side of his lower torso, but he only staggered and continued walking. The third shot hit the flamethrower in the chest, the bullet went through and pierced the napalm tank on his back. A moment later it exploded, sending chunks of burning flesh flying all over the place.

The two soldiers reached the bus soon after Sunset and Rover. "Go! There're more of them coming!" Shouted Strike as soon as he entered the bus. He sat down and put Arms on the floor.

"Look!" One of the survivors shouted and pointed at the camp's entrance.

At that moment, something that looked like a human, with the worst case of static hair Sunset has ever seen in her life, came out of the gate. Sparks of electricity constantly ran through its body, sometimes jumping to the nearest metal objects in the form of wide arcs. It turned towards the sound of an engine and started to shamble their way.

The bus jerked and started, quickly gaining speed.

Sunset lost her balance and almost fell over but Rarity, who woke up while they were away, caught her.

"Oh my God! I saw what happened. Are you okay?" She asked, looking between Sunset and the wounded soldier.

"I... I think so." Sunset answered, feeling her coughing fit subside. "I'm fine."

"What were those things?!" Asked Rarity, looking through a window at the electric thing and the moving cloud of smoke, that was now some ways away from the pit.

"I have no idea. They looked like damn monsters..." Sunset said, trying to mull over everything that happened.

Combined Arms screamed in pain as Strike accidentally agitated his burned flesh. Fluttershy was already kneeling beside him, trying to do her best to help the wounded soldier, but of course she had no idea what she could do in this situation.

The lieutenant looked terrible. The entire upper right part of his body was badly burned, all the hair on his head was burned and the skin was blackened and charred in places. Some of his remaining uniform fused with his burned skin.

'That flamethrower got him bad, I'm not sure if he'll make it...' Sunset thought, looking at the lieutenant. She lowered her gaze to the floor and noticed that in all the commotion Arms' pistol was knocked aside and close to her.

It definitely wasn't a standard sidearm. First of all it was huge. The main body of the pistol was made of a matte black material that looked like plastic. On the front end of the weapon, just above the barrel, “Rivtech RM103A” was written in white letters. The barrel was a long, silvery tube extending deep into the hull and visible through the cooling slots in it. The handle was made of polished ivory and bore the silvery calligraphic initials CA.

'No way this is normal weapon for a military officer. This gun is probably a gift or something.’ Thought Sunset as she reached down and picked it up. It was surprisingly light for its bulky appearance, but it still weighed about a kilo and a half. And the material was definitely not plastic, but some kind of an alloy.

“Give... it... back...” Combined Arms whizzed reaching for the gun with one shaking hand.

Sunset looked at the gun one more time and gave it to Fluttershy, who stood up to take it. She then placed the gun on the lieutenant’s belly, as it wasn’t burned by the napalm fire. Combined Arms placed his hand over it and held it tight.

Meanwhile privet Strike injected him with a large dose of a painkiller. “There I got you, lieutenant... This should do for now.” He then looked at Fluttershy. “You! You seem to know something about the first aid! Do something!” He shouted.

“I... I... I’m not... I am just a vet...” She stammered, taken aback by the sudden outburst.

“I saw you bandaging people.” Strike took a hold of himself and spoke as calmly as he could. “Start doing it, and I’ll help in a moment.”

“I’ll do my best...” Squeaked Fluttershy and reached for the first aid kit, that the driver gave them earlier.

Strike nodded and stood up. He walked to the driver and pulled out a folded map from his pocket. “Here. The Safe Zone is marked with an X.” He said.

“Is it really safe, or is it like this camp of yours?” Asked the driver, looking at the map.

“We actually managed to contact them via the closed network. They are far in the wilderness, heavily fortified and already have some civilians with them.” Said the soldier. “This is as safe as we can get.”

“Got it. But, damn, that’s far. It’s about ten hours trip. Probably more if we are to steer clear from the towns on the way.” The driver looked at the dashboard and the gas can. “Thankfully we have just enough fuel now.”

“Good. Then let’s go.” Said Strike and turned back to the wounded lieutenant and the yellow girl. “Alright, let me help.”

‘This is gonna be a long ride...’ Sunset thought.