The Zombie Chronicles: Road to Sanctuary

The morning came quickly for Kyle and Sunset. After eating a pair of packaged MRE’s from the police station, Shining escorted the duo to the garage, where a plethora of police vehicles stood at the ready.

“I put as many keys inside as I could, so odds are any you find will be ready to go... take your pick. I wish I could spare you some weapons, but once all of the guys are on their feet, I’m gonna need everything we’ve got...”

The two nod, understanding Shining’s position.

Sunset observed the massive SWAT vans in intrigue, but Kyle kept his eyes on the rows of cruisers. Shining smiled at Kyle’s tactics as he checked a few cars that interested him.

“How about this one?” Sunset asked, pointing at the SWAT van.

Kyle glanced at it and quickly shook his head.

“It’s too big—we'd never be able to get out of a jam in that thing. Besides, it guzzles gas, and odds are Shining’s gonna need it for an attack on the Caribou.”

Sunset seemed disappointed, but understood his logic.

“Maybe this one?” Kyle asked, pointing at a sleek black car with the Canterlot PD emblem on the sides.

Shining saw that car as smiled to himself.

“Yeah, that one’s a good choice.” He said.

Sunset walked over to it and began to admire it as much as Shining did.

“I think it’ll work.” She smiled, making her way to the driver's seat.

She inserted the key and turned the ignition, allowing the engine to roar to life. Kyle set their bag of supplies that Shining scraped together for them in the back. It was barely a day’s worth, but to them it was better than nothing.

Kyle was about to hop in the passenger seat when Shining stopped him.

“We found this on you... I wasn’t sure if you were under Dainn’s control or not, so...” He said, presenting a holster holding Kyle’s mother’s revolver inside.

Kyle glanced at it and nodded, taking it off of his hands.

“Thanks, man. It was good seeing you. If you guys ever need somewhere to go, I’m sure we can arrange something with Princess...”

Shining paused, confused over the new name, but nodded.

“Sure... take care, little dude.”

With supplies and a fully-fueled car secured, the two drove off back into the world...

“So, where to? Home is my first guess.”

Kyle nodded, pondering to himself. This distant behavior didn’t go unnoticed as they drove past the wreck of their former vehicle.

“Unless you can think of somewhere else that your mom might wander off to? Somewhere that she’d remember?”

Kyle thought for a moment, but he only knew one place she could go. One place that Kyle wasn’t ready to go back to... but if there was a chance, she was there...

He took a breath and slowly released it.

“Yeah, I know a place... it’s at least half a day’s drive from here... if she isn’t there, we can go right home.”

Sunset hesitated, unsure if she wanted to chance another Caribou encounter. However, her doubts slowly faded once he said it was a bit far.

“How far is it from the city?” She asked him.

“It’s out in the countryside... it shouldn’t be anywhere near the Caribou. I know the way from here... You wanna get on the highway and get off at Exit 102.”

Sunset nodded, and started to find the closest entry point for the highway.

As they drove, Kyle glanced out the window, watching the familiar sights speed past him. Silence stayed between the two for a while until Sunset finally broke it.

“You didn’t kill your mom.”

Kyle turned to her in confusion.

“What?”

“Last night, you said that you got your mom killed. You can’t think like that, man—you didn’t kill her. It just happened.”

Kyle nodded to her and turned back to the window.

“We should talk about what we can do about the Caribou. We can’t just let them keep doing what they’re doing...”

Kyle nodded and leaned back to the seat.

“I agree, but what can we do? I don’t see Princess letting us send a couple dozen soldiers to clear them out or taking in refugees... we’re hours away from Townsville.”

Sunset sighed.

“Yeah, but we have to do something! Maybe... maybe we take Princess out of the picture.”

Kyle’s eyes widened.

“What, you wanna stage a revolution?”

Sunset paused and grunted.

“I don’t know... but we can’t just do nothing! People are suffering back home, and things are getting worse. You’ve seen the restaurants and stuff, lately, right? They’re running out of food. What happens when the ration line runs out? It’s a city— with about 10,000 people inside. one ration line just isn’t enough...”

Kyle wanted to respond but recalled the different times he had to go to the ration line because of other areas being closed.

“Yeah... Princess seems to have a pretty big food shortage. Maybe we can find something out here?”

Sunset sighed.

“Kyle, do you know how many people live in that city? At least a couple thousand... anything we find out here won’t be enough to last a day.”

Kyle thought for a moment, but an answer quickly found him.

“The Caribou...”

Sunset scrunched her brows in confusion.

“Yeah, what about them?”

“Sunset, they have to be loaded with supplies! They took all of Canterlot’s, all of whatever other settlements they’ve raided, and not to mention the amount of people they have! I didn’t see any of those guys who Shining had hostage at the verge of starving... that’s it, that’s our answer!”

Sunset thought for a moment but began to see where Kyle was going.

“Yeah... we tell Princess that they have plenty of people, meaning tons of supplies... and we take them out, Townsville gets more supplies, and the Caribou are gone. Everybody wins!”

Kyle smiled, knowing that he was one of the only people Princess might listen to.

“I’ll run it by her as soon as we get back.” He nodded.

With that, the two fell silent again. For the next hour, they rode on the relatively empty highway. Every now and then, they stopped and searched a few wreckages, securing a few boxes of food and some gas. One of the cars contained a double-barrel shotgun that Sunset decided to hold on to.

“Have you shot one, before?” Kyle asked Sunset.

She shrugged.

“Not really. I had some practice at Canterlot and a big more back home, but... never shot a double-barrel.”

Kyle chuckled.

“Me neither, unless VR counts.”

The two shared a laugh as they finally reached the designated exit. As they got off the highway, Kyle took a breath.

“Sunset... when we wrecked... that one Caribou. He was your ex, right?”

Sunset slowly nodded.

“Yeah... you saw what those creeps did to him. Why?” She asked, despite knowing what Kyle was more than likely going to ask.

Kyle paused a moment, wondering if he should ask her his question.

“Did he... you know...”

“No,” She sharply cut him off, “He barely touched me. Besides, that wasn’t him. Not really... the real Flash wouldn’t hurt a fly.”

Kyle let out a chuckle and Sunset kept her eyes on the long winding road before them.

“You know, I always wondered why Dainn wanted guys every now and then. I guess now we know...” Sunset said.

“Yeah... did Shining tell you that he was under Dainn’s control?” Kyle asked.

Sunset felt her heart sink as she shook her head.

“No. He didn’t.”

“He described it as a living hell... I can’t imagine what that was like for him.”

Sunset didn’t respond, her mind turning to the worst-case-scenario of Shining being controlled...

“Kyle, do you think that he...”

Kyle gestured to her to stop.

“No. We can’t think about that, right now. If he did, then it’s like you said—it wasn’t him.”

The two continued to drive for a while longer until Sunset saw an old sign hung against a telephone pole.

“Sanctuary Foster Home & Shelter for the Homeless, 3 Miles.”

Underneath the sign was a yellow label reading “under construction”.

Kyle observed the old sign with waves of emotion flowing over him. Sunset noticed only a few of these emotions.

“That’s where we’re going?”

He only nodded.

Sunset continued to drive, now knowing their destination.

“So, did you live here? For a while, at least?”

Kyle shook his head.

“My dad owned it.”

Sunset’s eyes widened as she hummed to herself.

“Oh.”

The turn to the building was not far ahead, and as they turned, Kyle felt a wave of dread wash over him as he saw large construction vehicles parked by the turn and chainlink fences blocking most of the fields save for the road.

“Oh, wow... some kind of expansion?” Sunset asked.

“No...” Kyle simply answered.

The two pulled up to the building, and Kyle’s dread quickly faded away. Before them was the cleaned and preserved building that stood tall and seemingly untouched by nature.

“It’s here... they finished it...” Kyle whispered in awe.

Sunset glanced at the new building in confusion when the answer finally hit her.

“The fire... it was here?”

Kyle nodded, and Sunset quickly recognized the entrance... She noticed the exact spot where she saw him standing outside looking in, crying out in horror...

“We should be quick...” Kyle said, walking up to the door and knocking.

A few moments passed, and Kyle could hear rapid footsteps sprinting towards the closed door. In moments, infected bodies were throwing themselves against the door, trying to get out. The sudden sprinting and pounding at the door caused Kyle to jump back a little.

“What did you say Shining called them? ‘Ragers’?” He asked her, chuckling as he held the door shut.

Sunset smiled and nodded.

“Yeah... Ragers.”

Kyle smiled and looked around for a weapon. He noticed a set of tools on a nearby crate. Pliers, hammers, screwdrivers, a fire axe, and a crowbar.

“Can you hand me that?” He asked Sunset, pointing at the crowbar.

She nodded and picked up the weapon.

“What’s the magic word?” She teased him.

Kyle shot her an annoyed look and chuckled.

“Please?” He rolled his eyes.

“Better.” She said, handing him the crowbar.

Taking the weapon, Kyle swung open the door and quickly whacked the screaming zombie in the head, knocking it to the ground. With one final swing, the Rager’s head was reduced to mush. As Kyle killed that zombie, Sunset grabbed the fire axe off the ground.

“Okay, it sounds like this was it... let’s head inside.” Kyle said.

The two entered the blood-smeared doors. Inside the building, they saw clattered cans of food, blood stains across the floor, and other signs of zombie activity.

“I guess it explains why the infected infested certain buildings, now...” Sunset started.

Kyle took a moment to respond, fixed on the sight of his father’s life’s work covered in blood and zombie remains.

“Yeah, especially supermarkets... they need the food. Do they scavenge for it? Hunt, maybe?” Kyle asked himself.

Sunset shrugged, and their conversation was cut short by hollow rasps and groans...

“And those are ‘Rotters’?” Kyle asked.

Sunset nodded, knowing the sound all-too well.

“Yeah...” She nodded, preparing her axe.

Kyle reached to his side, pulling out his mother’s gun.

The corpse that shambled to their view was an absurdly thin, pale construction worker. Torn orange fabric covered its chest and its mouth and hands were caked in old, dried blood... The boy’s eyes widened at seeing the state of a Rotter for the first time. It haunted him, imagining his mother like the monster slowly stepping towards him.

For a moment, Kyle looked into its eyes, trying to find a semblance of life inside, looking for a sign that the person within was still in that hollow shell... but he found nothing. He saw a withering puppet with the virus within pulling the strings.

As the Rotter approached him, he holstered the gun and grabbed the baseball bat sheathed over his shoulder, and he brought it down, splattering the zombie’s head contents across the floor.

He looked down at the now-dead body in disgust and hints of terror in his eyes.

“So that’s a Rotter...?” He asked.

Sunset nodded, still having flashbacks to the hordes that she and her friends killed sparking back to life.

“Yeah.”

Kyle flicked the excess blood and brains off his bat and slung it back over his shoulder.

“We should go... we have a lot to search...”

As they walked, Sunset noticed signs of Sanctuary’s former life, with classrooms that have been reconstructed more like apartment rooms...

“What was this place?” Sunset asked Kyle.

“It was what the name said. It was a home to anyone who needed one.”

She nodded and searched a couple of classroom-apartments, seeing that they were all empty and unfurnished.

“Must’ve finished just before the outbreak. Who knows? Maybe this will be quick.” Kyle noted.

Suddenly, a quiet screech rung out through the dark corridors...

The two both drew their guns at the noise, but saw nothing in the darkness.

“Please don’t tell me this is another zombie...” Sunset sighed.

Kyle pulled back the hammer of his revolver, allowing a distinct click to echo through the empty building...

He watched one side while Sunset watched the other with her shotgun. As she surveyed the distant halls, she could swear she saw a figure quickly rush in and out of view, crawling on all fours from the start of the hall to a nearby room.

“What the fuck...?” Sunset asked herself.

“What?” Kyle asked.

“I think some zombie just snuck into a room.”

Kyle turned to Sunset for a moment in confusion.

“That’s impossible, why would a zombie sneak?”

“I don’t know, but I know what I saw...”

Kyle shrugged and turned towards the hall facing him, watching for any signs of what Sunset was referring to.

“I don’t know... if any zombies are here, they’re definitely starved out, by now.”

Another, slightly louder screech turned Kyle’s attention down the hall he was facing. He was able to determine that something was indeed down there, but he had no clue as to what...

“Let’s keep moving... just keep your eyes and ears open.” Kyle said, turning to Sunset for a brief moment, taking his eyes off the hallway.

As he looked away, a zombie peeked out from the office closest to him, and quickly started crawling towards him...

Thankfully for him, Sunset turned to face him just in time to see the ghastly pale figure softly screeching as it was about to tackle Kyle to the ground.

“Watch out!” Sunset screamed as she pulled the trigger of her shotgun, blowing a hole in the creature’s chest and sending it back a few feet.

Kyle’s ears rang for a moment thanks to a blast that close to his ears, but he turned and saw the twitching zombie on the ground...

It was so boney thin that it didn’t seem to be able to stand upright, anymore. The sounds of its stomach rumbling one last time sent chills down Kyle’s spine.

The two had no time to take in this new discovery, however, as three more of these monsters crawled out from the other offices and sped towards them, galloping like a lion towards its prey.

“Run!” Kyle shouted, shooting one of the zombies in its shoulder, knocking it back but otherwise doing no harm.

The two ran up the flight of stairs as a few of the pursuers stopped and hovered over their fallen comrade, their stomachs growling as they sunk their teeth into the body’s flesh, beginning to devour their prey...

“What the fuck?!” Sunset shouted as the two rushed up the stairs, quickly turning and shooting or kicking the crawling zombies down the stairs, causing some bones to be broken due to the how thin and seemingly weak they were.

Sure enough, this effort sent the rest of their still-living predators down the stairs and forced them to join the feast with the others...

The two survivors watched the scene in horror.

“They’re eating each other...” Kyle noted.

“Yeah... these guys must’ve been here since the beginning. They’re wearing construction uniforms, so...” Sunset added.

“They got infected, stayed here until whatever food was here ran out, and... began to starve.”

Sunset reloaded her shotgun, and Kyle his revolver.

From the side, Kyle suddenly found himself tackled to the ground with a drooling zombie with its blood-stained teeth mere inches away from his throat...

“Fuck!” He shouted as Sunset pulled the stalker off of him, stomping on its head with her boot.

Kyle panted for breath at the sudden close-call as Sunset looked around them, shining her flashlight into the dark halls... After a few times peeking at both, she clicked off her light, seeing that the coast was clear for real this time.

“This looks like it’s all of them.” Sunset said, aiming her gun down the railing and towards the feeding horde.

Kyle finally got to his feet and aimed his gun down, as well. Looking over the stalkers, the two prepared to open fire, but they stopped once they saw a pack of Rotters roam from the front door and into the lobby.

“Oh, shit...” Sunset said, ushering Kyle to get back.

Kyle was frozen, however, as within the horde, he saw her...

He recognized the strands of black hair that remained on her head along with the torn police uniform she was wearing... with an unmistakable gunshot wound through her chest.

“Kyle?” Sunset asked, trying to follow his eyesight until she saw the Rotter he was looking at...

“That’s her...?”

Kyle was unable to answer as more of screeches rang out from the upstairs halls...

“Kyle, we gotta move... we’re out in the open, here.”

It took him a moment to break his trance with the corpse of his own mother, but Kyle turned and followed Sunset away from approaching zombies.

The two ran and fired shots behind them at their pursuers, nailing a few but not deterring the several others that were hot on their tail.

The two ran down the hall with the occasional door opening and freeing another thinned construction worker. Eventually, the two found themselves backed against a dead-end, with at least a dozen fastly-approaching zombies...

“Fuck it... get ready.” Kyle said, holding his gun up with shaky, exhausted arms.

Sunset knelt down and aimed her shotgun at the figures approaching them. Slowly, they began opening fire, killing or injuring the approaching freaks, but the ones still standing only got closer...

By the time Kyle’s revolver was empty, the two had killed over half of the infected, but six more were lunging towards them.

With their backs against a corner, the two resorted to the bat and the axe, bashing and chopping into their predators... The two displayed levels of vicious brutality that was unknown to either of them before... not even to Kyle, who had been killing zombies from the beginning.

Once the last zombie was killed, and the sounds of growling and twitching had stopped, the two finally caught their breath, collapsing to the ground and panting for breath.

“We’re alive...” Kyle said in disbelief.

Sunset chuckled and nodded.

“We’re alive.”

The two sat there for a moment, facing each other as they slowly got back up, reloading their guns.

“Come on... we have just a few more to go through.” Kyle started marching towards the staircase, desperate not to lose his mother again.

The two rushed back to the spot of the feeding frenzy, finding the remaining stalkers just finishing their meal, reducing their comrade to scattered bones with some muscle and flesh still attached. They wasted no time, firing their guns and wiping them out.

“It’s official: Those things are the worst.” Sunset nodded.

Kyle chuckled.

“Oh, yeah. Without a doubt.”

The gunfire attracted the pack of Rotters who had roamed out across the first floor, allowing Sunset and Kyle to use the axe and bat to pick them off as they walked up the stairs.

Near the end of the horde, was Kyle’s mother.

Once he saw her, he froze up again, as Sunset killed the remaining Rotters, only leaving his mother.

“Kyle, I could do it if you can’t...”

He shook his head as his mother tripped over the bodies of her fellow Rotters, resorting to crawling up the stairs, rasping at Kyle.

He stepped closer to her, holding his gun at her head.

“I’m sorry...” He whispered, pulling the trigger.

The single gunshot rang out as Sunset got up and searched the first floor for stragglers.

Kyle sat there, staring at his mother, struggling to comprehend what he had just done. He sat in reflection, his last words to her playing in his head on repeat.

It’s like you just stopped caring for me.

He felt tears begin to form and put in no effort to stop them this time. He let them go as he tossed his mother’s empty gun to the end of the stairs, unable to hold it any longer.

He sat there for a few minutes, letting his sadness flow through him after so long of keeping it inside. His tears subsided, however, and he stood up, picking up his mother and setting her by the front door.

Looking outside, he noticed that the sun had begun to set...

“We’re clear, for now. Is there somewhere safe we can fortify for the night?”

Kyle nodded and stood up, making his way through the first floor. As Sunset followed him, he turned down the hallway and passed the several cleared doors.

He all-but ran to the end of that hall, seeing a room that was more than likely a former principal’s office, entering the assistant’s office and approaching the door with a small metal sign reading “Administrator” on the top.

“It’s weird... they got a lot of it right, but... something’s just different.” Kyle said to himself, opening the door and stepping inside.

Sunset wasn’t far behind him, and they both looked inside for a brief period. Sunset admired the simple yet welcoming aura she felt inside while Kyle stared at the office desk...

Unlike before the fire, this desk was simple and seemingly cheap. Plastic and metal stood where once handcrafted, stained wood was. It took Kyle a moment to adjust to the change in décor, but once he focused again, he glanced at the nearby wall.

“I remember Dad stole the old vending machine that was outside and had it put right here by his desk... The others were removed and sold, but for some reason he kept that one...”

Sunset chuckled, imagining the man who owned the building still putting dollar bills into that machine for a can of coke.

“Why? Doesn’t he just get the money back, anyway?”

Kyle shrugged.

“No idea... he was a bit of a weirdo sometimes, my dad...”

The two laughed a bit. Kyle stepped up and set his hand on the wall where the vending machine used to be, sighing for a moment...

“Kyle, do you know what caused that fire?”

Kyle thought for a second, shaking his head.

“No. No-one does. As far as we know, it was some accident in the boiler room downstairs... just some stupid accident.” Kyle repeated, having heard that phrase numerous times after the fire.

Sunset slowly nodded, unable to fully understand Kyle’s anger over that.

He sighed and pressed his head against the wall, hearing a hollow sound on the other side of the wall...

Stepping back, he turned to Sunset.

“Wait... this wall’s hollow.” He commented, tapping the wall again and hearing the sound of pure drywall.

Sunset held her axe and stepped by Kyle.

“May I?” She asked.

Kyle hesitated, but nodded and backed away as Sunset gave wall a taste of her axe. Powdered drywall filled the air as Sunset pulled the axe out and looked inside the hole she made.

“I see a stairway... There’s something underneath this.” She said in confusion, continuing to destroy the concealed doorway.

Kyle stepped forward, clueless as to what could possibly be under his office...

The dust settled, revealing a metallic staircase, with brick walls showing fire damage.

“They must’ve built over this... what the hell?” Kyle asked, stepping in and going down the stairway.

Sunset quickly followed, drawing out her shotgun.

“Um, Kyle...? I don’t think you want to see whatever’s down here...” She started, following Kyle down the stairs.

He ignored her. He refused to imagine what his father could possibly have had down those stairs. They slowly creeped their way down, Sunset being cautious about anything that could be waiting for them at the bottom.

They finally saw the end of the stairs, revealing a metallic steel door with a keypad installed beside it. Kyle stepped forward and tried to press the buttons, but failed to activate anything.

“Shit... step back, I’m gonna try and pry the door.”

Sunset stepped back and raised her gun toward the door as Kyle drove the end of the crowbar in and started trying to pry it.

As Kyle pried, he knew he was having no luck... the door was barely budging, and after a few minutes of trying, he stopped.

“Damn it...” He panted as he stepped back.

Sunset kept her gun trained on the door, and Kyle finally turned to her.

“You can put that down. The way in was walled off, there’s no way there’s anyone down here.” Kyle said to her.

Sunset shook her head.

“Kyle, you didn’t even know this was here, and the only way in was covered by a vending machine... whatever’s down here is something your dad wanted hidden.”

Kyle dropped the crowbar at that.

“Wait, wait, what’re you trying to say?” He asked her.

Sunset lowered the gun as she sighed.

“Kyle, I’m not trying to say anything, I’m just being cautious...” She answered him.

Kyle scoffed and started trying to kick the door. Sunset sighed and kept an eye on the staircase behind them. After a few more kicks, Kyle reached for the doorknob and jiggled it.

Only for the knob to turn and the door opened.

Sunset quickly turned back to the now-open door as Kyle scoffed.

“Figures...” He said, rushing inside.

“Kyle, wait!” Sunset cried, following him.

The two raced inside, and as they found themselves within a hall corridor, lights began to spark to life above them.

“What the hell? I thought the power was off...” Sunset asked.

Kyle jogged down the hall, desperate to know what his father was possibly hiding from him...

The hallway ended with one final door. Kyle raised a shaky hand on the knob and jiggled it open. Stepping inside, they saw a fairly large room with shelves and lockers, their contents obscured in darkness...

Once the lights activated in the room, the two were taken aback at the sight of weapons... weapons that the two had never seen before. Their designs were different from each other, but they all seemed inhuman. While several racks were emptied, the armory was still half-full of weaponry.

“What the hell...?” Kyle whispered, inspecting the rifles and “handguns” stacked and organized on shelves and racks...

“These weapons... the Caribou had some of these!” Sunset said, recognizing a few of the rifles on display.

“How’s that possible?” He asked, recognizing a few from students at Canterlot High.

Sunset paused, putting the rifle in her hands back on the shelf.

“Kyle, why does your dad have an armory of alien weapons in his basement?”

Kyle tried to find an answer, but couldn’t find one.

“Let’s see what else is here...”

The two continued in the underground warehouse, with Kyle seeing the several weld lines and supports which held several cargo crates together, forming the unit they found themselves in.

“How did my dad have all of this built...?” He asked himself.

“How old was the school?” Sunset asked.

Kyle thought for a moment before answering.

“It was built in the ‘50’s, why?”

Sunset immediately nodded.

“Odds are it had a fallout shelter underneath. It looks like he expanded it, but that would probably be the foundation for whatever this is.”

The two kept searching and found themselves at the end of the compound, seeing a small filing cabinet covered in dust. Kyle blew the dust away, revealing one of the drawers labelled with his name... Quickly opening it, Kyle found a CD inside with the words “To My Son” written in marker on top of the case it was in.

Letting out a gasp, he quickly grabbed and secured the case, putting it inside his backpack.

“We’ll have to use a DVD player back in Townsville.” Kyle said.

Sunset glanced over at the armory again, curiosity eating away at her.

“What should we do with all this? We can’t take it all back with us...” Kyle asked her.

Sunset thought for a minute before shaking her head.

“No. Let’s leave this here. Right now, we’re the only ones who know this is here... we’ll just cover the entrance up with something.”

Kyle gave her a confused look.

“Are you sure? We could use these back home, we just need to learn how to use them...”

“Kyle, we were just talking about overthrowing Princess, what would happen if we gave her advanced laser-weapons? This could give us an advantage over her, we can’t give that up.”

Kyle paused, quickly understanding what she was saying.

“Yeah... that works. But what about Shining? His people could use these weapons.” Kyle suggested.

Sunset paused and nodded.

“Yeah... we could pack a few up for them. But like I said, we need to be careful with this.”

Kyle nodded and searched the other cabinets, finding large stacks of files and folders with multiple labels-- ‘Gardenia', ‘Townsville’, ‘Bellwood’, and ‘Canterlot’.

Confused and shocked, Kyle skimmed through each file, seeing that they all described instances of extra-terrestrial and/or magical encounters in each location.

Kyle carefully read through the Canterlot file, seeing that Kyle’s father described the story about a crown that was stolen from Equestria and brought to Earth, and how Sunset was transformed into a demon bent on conquering her homeland.

His eyes widened as he turned to Sunset, struggling to see the girl in front of him as a raging she-demon. As he looked, another realization hit him—there was no doubt now about Equestria...

“Holy shit...” He whispered, going back to reading the file.

Further inside were transcripts of an interview with Celestia, asking her questions about the school. When it was built, who built the statue, and if she had any clue about the supernatural happenings around the world...

Struggling to comprehend what it all meant, Kyle shut the folder, putting it back inside the cabinet and closing it, refusing to read anymore...

“What does this mean...?” He asked himself.

“I don’t know... but your dad’s more than he seems. We’re not finding anything else down here. Let’s get upstairs and get some sleep.” She said, gesturing Kyle to come upstairs.

Kyle nodded, taking one last look at the secret room before going upstairs...

Kyle barely slept that night. The questions regarding his father kept him awake for quite a while.

Once the two were awake, Sunset bagged a handful of rifles from the armory and pushed a large bookshelf over the hole she made, concealing the entrance back inside.

“Before we head out, what should we do about...” Sunset paused, gesturing to the front door where a body was covered with a blanket.

Kyle sighed, making his way over to her and picking her up.

“Do you know if there’s a shovel in the car?”

Sunset thought for a moment before going to check the car. She quickly rushed back holding a shovel.

Sometime later, Kyle and Sunset stood over the freshly buried grave containing Kyle’s mother.

“What was her name?” Sunset asked him.

“Beth. Her name was Beth Williams.”

Sunset nodded, and looked down at the ground.

“I’ll get the car running... take all the time you need.” Sunset told him.

As she walked away, Kyle glanced at the grave, kneeling down to her.

“Hi, Mom...” He started, his voice already cracking.

“I’m sorry I wasn’t there to take care of it sooner. I didn’t... I didn’t know that it was possible...”

Kyle took a moment and caught his breath.

“I’m doing better, now. I have some friends, a home... it’s safe. I’m safe. I don’t know if I wanna live, but I’m not waiting to die, anymore. I know I disappointed you... I tried to do good after Dad died, but it... it was too much.”

Kyle sighed, rubbing his shoulder again...

“I made mistakes. Made bad choices... but now, I can’t afford to do either of those things. None of us can. I don’t know where my sisters are, but I’ve looked for them... I was lucky enough to find you, here.”

Kyle took another breath.

“I hope this is what you’d want. I read in school that a body that’s buried without a coffin would grow into a tree or something like that. Figured it’d be better than rotting away in a wooden box.” He chuckled.

He paused, looking over to the running car.

“I gotta go... I might be back, maybe I won’t. But please know how sorry I am about what I said that day... I didn't mean it—not a word... but I think you know that.” He smiled, mentally recalling her response to his outburst.

“Goodbye, Mom.” He said, standing up and walking away.

The two got inside the car and drove off. They started with the station, providing laser weapons to a thankful Shining Armor. It was midday by then, and the two heading out towards Townsville, avoiding the main road that they originally rode in.

Not long after they started driving again, a thought in Kyle’s head was finally voiced.

“We should go to Equestria.” He suggested.

Sunset turned to him in shock.

“What?”

“It won’t be easy, transitioning to horse life, but that’s gotta be easier than killing zombies every day until they kill us...” He shrugged, not looking at her.

Sunset struggled to form a response, but quickly gasped.

“Oh, shit!” She said, quickly pulling over.

She desperately scurried through her bag, with Kyle turning to her.

“What? What’s wrong?”

“I left a message for Twilight. T-the one in Equestria... I haven’t checked for updates in weeks...”

After searching a bit more, she found and pulled out her book. Desperately flipping through it, she saw that there was a new message from Princess Twilight.

She carefully read it, her eyes widening in horror.

“No... no, no, no...” She whispered, her hands beginning to tremble.

Kyle undid his seatbelt and scooted towards her, seeing what Princess Twilight wrote.

Sunset,

The virus is here.

His eyes widened and a disappointed sigh escaped him.

“Let’s head back... we can come up with something there.” Kyle said.

Sunset nodded, closing the book shut and tossing it back into her bag.

“Yeah...”

The two continued their drive, silent as the weight of the discovery of Equestria’s outbreak loomed over them. This silence remained all the way back to the gates of Townsville, where only one soldier was on duty, and his back was turned to them.

“Uh... Hello?!” Kyle called out, startling the guard back to the outside.

“S-stay out there! It’s... it’s safer!” The soldier cried out, his eyes immediately being glued back to the scene inside.

The two shared a very concerned look.

“What are you talking about? What’s going on in there?!” Sunset called.

The soldier tried to form an explanation, but sighed and pressed a button at his post, opening the gates.

The two got back in their car, drove inside, and parked. Once they were out, they immediately spotted a smoke trail in the distance...

“Oh, no...” Kyle said, sprinting towards the smoke, gun in hand.

Sunset wasn’t far behind, and as they got closer, a speedy blur took to the skies, a loud boom ringing out as the figure took off. The shockwave of their takeoff caused several windows to shatter, raining sharp glass upon the fortified city...

“The hell was that?!” Sunset asked, running faster to the scene.

The two finally found the scene of the smoke. It was the ration line where a massive crowd formed, partially blocking their view. But they were able to make out one thing from the sides.

The big sign reading that the ration line was closed.

Kyle made his way to the side, trying to get around the crowd. He got close enough to realize what was causing the smoke.

It was a body. The body of someone who was reduced to ash and charred, brittle bone.

Kyle looked to the sky in shock, knowing the only person who was capable of such a horrific killing...