The Trotting Dead: VG

Written by: bobby ray
Proofread/Edited by: KJay

Lee led Dash, Carley, AJ and Mark down the desolate street. They moved fast since they couldn't waste time, but made sure not to attract attention from anything that could be hiding in the dark alleys or buildings. Dash was confined to the ground like everyone else, she could only use three legs since her combat knife was bound to the fourth. Back at the Dairy, when Andy had shot her, the bone in her left wing had completely shattered, making her unable to fly until it healed properly. Until then, a length of rope was tied around her so she couldn't accidently use that wing. It would be at least two or three months before it could be used again.

Katjaa pretty much ordered Kenny to stay at the Motor Inn while he healed up: Carley was more than willing to take his place for the time being. After what happened to Doug, going with Lee and everyone else on these scavenging trips really helped take her mind off of everything. Applejack started going with them after Rainbow Dash refused to stay back at the motel, even though she couldn't fly with both wings. Plus the arguing between Lilly and Ken were getting to be too much for her to stay there all the time. Twilight had actually tried forbidding either of them from even leaving the Motor Inn. Ever since they escaped from the St. Johns she'd gotten really strict about her friends safety. She wouldn't have been so easy to persuade if her head wasn't the mess it is now.

The group was on another trip to the drugstore to gather anything left they could find. They only ever went into Macon when they really had to since the place had walkers hidden everywhere, ready to come out and swarm when the slightest sound was made. Applejack possesed a saddlebag to carry anything they found, Mark carried a blue backpack for the same reason. Lee, Carley and Mark each carried guns while AJ and Dash obviously could not: Lee's was a rifle which Lilly lent him when they went out, Carley's was her Glock 17. Mark preffered to use his bolt-action rifle, but he still had Brenda's revolver tucked away in the back of his camouflage pants. They tried to avoid using their firearms for obvious reasons.

They slowed down as they neared the end of the street. Not sure if the next block was clear or not, they stopped near a brick building to stay out of sight. Wasting no time, Lee was the first to walk out of cover to get a view of the next street. The others joined him a moment later. Standing in the middle of the street, all five of them got a good view of the area to make sure nothing was wandering around; whether it be walkers or some stray animal that could bring in some walkers. Nothing was ahead other than the brick buildings, the abandoned trailer from two months back and some abandoned cars scattered about.

Applejack finished her scan, "It looks clear ta me."

Mark looked at the drugstore just down the road. This time around, there was nothing between it and them, "I think we've gotten lucky this time. Not a single walker."

Lee turned to Mark as they began walking toward the store, "Maybe we have. Still, let's keep quiet and get this over quickly."

"You don't have to be over cautious, Lee." Dash told him, "We aren't going to have any problems with walkers this time around."

Carley wasn't as certain about this as Dash was, "Lee isn't being over cautious. After what happened last time; he's being smart."

They checked inside a few windows they walked past, making sure nothing of interest was inside. Most of them were boarded up or had almost no glass left in them. The ground they walked on was littered with old papers and other things the wind had picked up and moved long ago. The drugstore wasn't in the best shape; a military chopper had crashed through the roof and ruined part of the building just a few weeks back. There was abandoned military vehicles spread throughout Macon, clear and final signs that the army had failed to exterminate the walkers. Macon now belonged to the dead.

A few members of the group sometimes asked themselves if it was like this everywhere else. None of them knew how wide spread this epidemic was since they lost all means of communication during the first days. It could only be happening in Georgia, it could be all over the south, it could be all over North America. For all they knew, it was happening all over the world and there was nothing left anywhere. All they could do was get by each and every day, keep their heads together and survive. It wasn't getting any easier to do that, not with some new problems they'd been getting lately.

Mark had something on his mind, and now that they were away from the motel, he could let it come out, "I'm glad to get away from the Motor Inn. Kenny and Lilly's arguing has started to get out of control."

"Kenny doesn't believe Lilly can handle being in charge any more, he never liked her being leader anyway." Lee gave his view on things.

"He's just worried 'bout his family; worried 'bout Duck" Applejack defended the man without hesitation, "Especialy since those bandits started attacking us."

"I wonder why they stopped attacking us." Carley questioned, "They fought us for a few days and then went quiet."

"Maybe they gave up." Dash suggested.

Lee shook his head, "Nah, I think it's more likely they found something else worth their time."

They walked a few more seconds before Mark spoke up again, "Kenny said he's just about done repairing that RV. I don't get why he's spent so much time on that thing." He looked at AJ and Dash, "I mean; aren't we going with you guys once that machine is done?"

Dash looked back at him, "We meant to ask Twilight again about that, but..."

"She's still not acting right?" Lee inquired.

Applejack nodded, "We're really startin' ta get worried for her."

They reached the trailer; it, along with some debris blocked their path to the only remaining entrance to the drugstore. A rusted ladder near the end was their only way to get up, getting down on the other side was easy.

Lee looked at the drugstore for a moment. He'd gotten over the loss of his family a while ago, but he still didn't like coming back to his parents drugstore with the shape it was in. He took a moment before turning towards the trailer, "Okay, everyone, let's get inside and grab everything we can carry. It'd be best to not waste any time."

"How much is left exactly?" Dash asked him, "We didn't leave a whole lot last time we came here."

Carley got closer to the ladder, "It doesn't really matter. We'll just take whatever's left." She grabbed hold and quickly climbed up. Just like last time, the rungs creaked under her shoes. She crouched down once she was on top, everyone exept for the ponies had to do that on the trailer to avoid any form of complications.

Mark hung the strap of his rifle over his shoulder before beginning his ascent. The top rung broke under him, and as he got on top of the trailer the ladder broke off of three of its hinges. He looked back at the ladder, "Fuck, it's busted. It won't last another trip."

"I'm surprised it's lasted ya'll as long as it has." Applejack commented.

Dash got in front of Lee so he could give her a lift. Since Dash couldn't fly at this time, and their hooves weren't the best when it came to grabbing something, AJ and Dash couldn't use the ladder to get up. They had figured out the best method to get the ponies up onto the trailer. Lee knelt down and cupped his hands together. Dash stepped back until her back hooves were in his hands, once they were she raised her free front hoof off the ground and stood up on her hind legs. Lee raised her up as high as he could while Dash did her best to remain standing up. Once she was as high as Lee could raise her, Mark and Carley each grabbed hold of one of her front legs and pulled her up the rest of the way. They repeated the process with Applejack.

They all looked down at Lee once AJ was up. Carley glanced from the ladder to him, "I don't think that thing can support anyone else."

"We haven't got much choice but to try." Lee claimed before approaching the ladder. He grabbed hold of the lowest rung, once he tried pulling himself up the entire thing broke off its last hing. He threw the broken scrap metal to the ground, it made some noise as it landed but not enough to grab any attention. He looked up at the four others waiting for him, "Looks like it's had enough."

Dash looked from the ladder to him, "How are you gonna get up here?"

Lee shrugged, "I guess I'll have to look around and find something else."

AJ scanned around to make sure no walkers had wandered onto the street, "Don't dilly dally. We shouldn't stay out here longer than we have to."

Lee nodded his head instead of a verbal responce. Dash sat down as she and the others waited for Lee, there was no way for them to help him from where they were. Lee looked to see if their was another way onto the trailer, another way past it or perhaps another entrance to the drugstore. The front doors were replaced with the downed chopper, this is why the back door was the only know option. An abandoned car was right next to the trailer; unfortunately the roof of the trailer it was close to was destroyed so it wasn't an option. A ton of debris blocked off the windows so that wouldn't do. More debris was underneath the trailer so it wouldn't be safe to go under it.

A military jeep, just lying out along the road with some debris on it, caught Lee's eye. He could possibly push it over to the trailer, which would allow him to elevate himself enough to get within reach of the others. Lee approached the jeep as it was his only option now. The rubble and junk on it wouldn't cause any trouble, so that was good. When he got closer, however, he saw that two or three of the tires were flat. He couldn't push in this condition even if he had a day to do it. He inspected the jeep closely to find anything useful. It didn't take long at all for him to find the winch attached to the front of the jeep. It didn't seem in too bad a shape, might even still work.

He grabbed the winch's hook and started pulling it out, it was difficult but not nearly impossible. He kept pulling it towards the trailer. The others were immediately invigorated at the sight of Lee's progress. Deciding now was as good a time as any, Mark brought up another subject from the Motor Inn, "Lilly hasn't been doing so well lately. Ever since we got back from the Dairy she's been, well, she's losing it."

"Not to mention she's really started hating you girls after what happened." Lee spoke to Dash and AJ.

"What'd you expect?" Carley asked, "From what you guys told me; she saw Twilight kill her dad right in front of her."

Dash looked at her, "She wasn't in her right mind, it wasn't her fault."

"I didn't say it was," Carley responded, "but she did still did it. You can't deny that."

Applejack thought about it, "I truly feel sorry for Lilly, almost as much as I am for Twi. Both of 'em haven't been doing so well after what happened."

Lee reached his destination, "We just need to help them both as much we can, and avoid pushing them over the edge. They'll get past this." He bent down when he reached the tires at the desired end of the trailer. Reaching past the damaged rubber, he attached the winch to the trailer's axle. A few moments later Lee returned to the jeep and found the winch control along the side of the door. Fingers crossed, he flipped the switch in high hopes it would work. Soon after, a medium humming sound was heard as the winch began to retract. Since the hook was holding onto the trailer, and the trailer was far heavier than the small vehicle, the jeep was forced forward even with its flat tires. Lee followed behind it as it inched forward.

"Things haven't been entirely bad lately." Mark continued to make conversation, "I mean, we found enough food to last us a while."

"You mean the food you guys all stole." Dash was still agitated over the car.

"I know you didn't like what we did Dash." Carley told her, "But we needed that food."

"We coulda found more!" She remained quiet as she continued, "We could have gotten more food from here in Macon!"

"She's right," Lee agreed, "There must've been another place we could have found food."

"We've checked all over Macon," Mark reminded them, "there's nothing left in this town other than the few things inside that drugstore."

Applejack got her friend's attention, "Rainbow, they were runnin' outta food. Duck and Clementine needed some fast and you know it. There was no other option." Though she hadn't agreed with it at the time, AJ would have never agreed to taking that food if Duck wasn't beginning to starve. She knew it was still wrong, but she kept thinking to herself that 'the ends justify the means'. It wasn't like she could've stopped Kenny and the others anyway.

The jeep kept going forward until the bumper was right next to the side of the trailer. Lee put the strap of Lilly's rifle over his shoulder before climbing up on the hood. Applejack remembered something after thinking about Duck for a moment: she looked from Dash to Lee as she spoke, "You two should know that Duck was askin' Katjaa and Ken 'bout Shawn last night."

"Really?" Lee asked, "It didn't seem like that had affected him at all. Why would he bring it up now?"

"I don't know. He had this look on his face, a guilt as if he'd killed the man himself."

"It really wasn't his fault." Dash stated, "He didn't mean for anything to happen."

"Either way I'm worried." Applejack told them, "This morning he seemed much better, but..." She paused for a second, "I'm just afraid he's blaming himself fer what happened." Carley and Mark weren't clueless on what the others were talking about. Lee and AJ had told both of them a while back, a few weeks after Mark joined their group.

Carley and Mark both reached their an arm down as far as they could. Lee grabbed hold of each, and after a few seconds they pulled him high enough to allow the man to pull himself the rest of the way. Mark glanced down at the jeep, "Well, that was easy."

"Alright then," Lee was glad that didn't take long. He began moving across the trailer to their dropping spot, "let's get inside and..." He was cut off by a rasp scream.

They all bolted their heads in the direction of the noise. More screams were heard as the door to a building at the end of the street bursted open. A dirt covered, skinny figure scrambled out of the building, followed closely by a walker. The figure screamed again and scrambled to it's feet. It ran in one direction but found a walker blocking its path. It tried again but was blocked once more by more of the monsters. The thing kept screaming as it ran back and forth, it soon found itself being surrounded, "SOMEBODY HELP ME!!!"

Everyone was trying to figure out what was going on. Applejack couldn't make it out, "What in Equestria's goin' on over there?!"

"I don't know!" Carley couldn't see either, none of them really could.

Mark removed his rifle from over his shoulder and aimed in the direction of the commotion. Looking through the scope, he was able to see what was happening as if it were only a few feet away. He saw a screaming woman, who was in terrible shape, being surrounded by walkers that were closing in on her.

Dash spoke as Mark had the gun raised, "That couldn't be a walker, could it?!"

"Walkers don't scream!" Lee told her.

Mark looked at the others, "It's a girl! She's got dead all over her!"

"We need to help her, then!" Dash declared.

"How can we help her?" Lee asked.

AJ looked at him and Mark, "You two have rifles! Use 'em!"

Carley looked at the distant figures, there was a large number of walkers being attracted to that woman's screams. She looked at the cowpony, "We didn't bring enough rounds, and the sound would just bring in even more!"

"Well what do we do?!" Mark kept watching the woman try to escape, not wanting to risk shooting any walkers without the other's concent.

"Maybe we could kill enough of 'em to let 'er escape!" AJ suggested, "Or maybe..."

A walker, concealed almost entirely underneath a car, grabbed hold of the survivor's leg and took a bite out of her before she could escape. Mark saw the whole thing, "Shit! She's been bitten, there's no way she's getting away from those walkers."

Lee's heart ached upon hearing that, if only for a second. He looked at the others, "We should end this for her; put her out of this misery."

"Lee, we can still save her!!" Applejack didn't want that woman to die any more than any of them did.

Dash agreed, "Yeah we can!! C'mon, she's not dead yet!"

Carley agreed with Lee, "Either we give her a quick, painless death or let the walkers eat her alive. Those are our two options here."

They wanted to argue on the subject, but the reality of the situation caught up with them as the woman cried out in pain. AJ and Dash went silent and didn't say another word. Carley saw that they'd all agreed before looking at Mark, "Go ahead, Mark."

Mark looked back at her, "Why me?"

"Well you've already got your gun pointed at her."

He looked at her for another moment, "Alright." He steadied his rifle and looked through the scope, aiming the rifle directly at her forehead. He took a deep breath and put his finger on the trigger. Lee kept waiting for the gun to go off, that thundering echo which would fill the drum of his ear. It did not come instantly nor the small time after it. He turned to Mark after a small window of time had passed to see what was holding him back. The man was struggling to keep his gun steady, his hands were trembling and his teeth were clenched. His finger wrapped around the trigger, hugging it, without actually moving it in the slightest. Lee caught a glimpse of Mark's eye as the strained behind those glasses of his and he saw the trouble behind this delay. Mark, no matter how hard he tried, could not shoot this woman even out of mercy; he was completely inable to take her life away.

"What are you waiting for?" Dash asked. She didn't want this to happen at all, and sitting there waiting was eating at her.

The three girls looked at Mark as he fought with himself over his next action. Carley watched him strain for a few more seconds, "Mark...?"

Lee could hear the woman scream once again in pain as another walker got a bite in. Wasting no time, he pulled out his rifle and aimed it at her. The center of his scope fell on her forehead as two walkers knocked her down. One went for her arm while the other targeted her throat. Lee held his breath and squeezed the trigger, the bullet flew through the air and hit its target. The screaming stopped and the woman went limp as both walkers dove in. Other walker surrounded the feast soon after.

Mark slowly lowered his shaking arms after he realized the woman was dead; he turned as Lee and the others were getting off the trailer. Lee urged him to follow them down, "Let's go!" Mark scanned the area and found their reason to quicken the pace. Most of the walkers who were attacking the woman were surrounding the corpse as they instinctively fed. The others, as well as the dozens who heard the rifle go off, were going towards the source. Regaining himself, Mark slung the still loaded rifle over his shoulder and quickly followed the others. He almost got grabbed by a walker after he jumped down: there were almost two dozen coming towards the trailer from this side alone! Lee slammed the door shut once Mark was inside.

Carley opened up the pharmacy door, "Quickly! Get in!" They all poured in one at a time after her. Mark shut and locked the door once he was in.

Lee ran to a shelf and started grabbing bottles of pills, "We don't have long! Grab as much as you can before they get inside, don't forget to check every shelf and under the counter!" Mark and Carley instantly went to work.

Applejack grabbed her Rainbow maned friend's attention before either of them started searching. Even with all that was going on, she wanted to get this in while she could, "I thought ya said walkers wouldn't be an issue?"

"Oh be quiet!" The farmpony smirked for a moment before she became serious again. All five of the scavengers quickly cleared out shelf after shelf. AJ's saddlebag and Mark's were soon filled with perscription drugs and anything else they could find useful. With their quick work, they cleared out everything that was left as the walkers started pouring into the back office.

Mark ran to the lowest spot in the pharmacy's counter, "C'mon, we've gotten all we can!" He bolted over the counter as the others got ready to do the same. AJ jumped clear over the counter without effort thanks to her athletic ability. Dash, who could only go so high and so far with one wing, was able to get over the counter with some effort. Carley vaulted over after them. Lee was last, he could see walkers filling up the office through the door's window. Before he joined the others, who were halfway across the store, Lee could hear walkers reach the closed entrace between the office and the store. He moved a rusted up refigerator, which was near the soon-to-collapse doorway, infront of it to buy them some more time.

Lee went to join the others near the hole. It was a crack in the wall caused by the helicopter crash, big enough for them to fit through and use as their exit. He passed the corpse of the dead chopper pilot they'd put down the last time they came here. On their last trip here, after Applejack and Rainbow Dash had asked Lee what that big metal thing was, they'd put in the extra effort to get back and forth safely to the wrecked chopper to salvage any electronics Twilight could possibly use on her machine. The walker had crawled out of the rubble and they had a fun time trying to put it down. It was finally dead again after Dash drove her knife up through its chin.

Dash glared at the chopper after Lee went past her. The Pegasus remembered something about their salvage on the helicopter: they couldn't bring everything back at once and had to leave something behind. She turned back to the others as Mark began squeezing through the hole, "Wait just a second, guys. I have to get something."

Confused, Lee called after her, "What are you doing?! We gotta go!" Rainbow Dash didn't respond, she used her wing to bring herself into the wreck through the missing windshield as he called after her.

Mark pulled himself back inside when he heard Dash, "What's she doing?!"

"Grabbing something." Lee told him.

Walkers busted into the pharmacy a few seconds after they got out of it, breaking through the blocked door in their wake. Carley pulled out her pistol in case she had to take any of them out, "Well she'd better hurry up!"

The wait was only a few seconds longer after Carley finished. Dash jumped out and galloped back over to them, some electronic scrap carried in her mouth. She stuffed the scrap into AJ's bag, "Alright, we can go!" She followed Applejack outside, who followed Mark. Carley took out the closest walker before joining them outside. Lee gave himself a second to look around. They had cleared the place out of everything in it, so they had no reason to ever come back. Silently, without uttering a single word, he said farewell to the Everett Family Drugstore; the last fragment of a life now distant. Lee returned to reality as he looked at the walkers pouring inside the store, and crawled through the hole in the wall and followed the others out of Macon.