Earthside

    Victor stared at Twilight. His mind was racing with all sorts of implications of what it meant. Either he had brought what could be considered an alien into his world, or he was absolutely loony, and unable to tell reality from imagination. He looked down at his hand. He had wiped it on his mouth, a dark red streak on the back of it. He couldn't even begin to think of what he could say to Twilight. Eventually, he held up his hand for a handshake.

    “I'm Victor Hernand—” He barely got part of his name out before Twilight's hoof slammed down on his hand, causing Victor to scream in agony.

    “Oh, for the love of Pete! Get! Off! My! Hand!” He retracted his hand as Twilight removed her hoof. Victor rolled around, holding his hand. He couldn't tolerate that level of pain. Twilight backed up, unsure of what exactly Victor was doing.

    “Ooh, uh, what do I do?” She backed up in shock when Victor glared at her.

    “Don't step on my hand again.” He was visibly angry, a metaphorical shadow crossing his face. He held his hand underneath his arm, trying to keep the pain from showing on his face, even though he could feel it clearly was.

    “I'm sorry!” Twilight sat down, her face a mask of worry and shock. She had no idea what she had done, or what she could do to help. Victor held up his hand, trying to calm her down.

    “Don't shriek, okay? The pain's subsiding already. Wait, what's that?” A voice could be heard coming from somewhere. Victor got up on his knees, creeping towards a window down the hall. He slowly peered over the sill, to a sight of what seemed like the entire police force sitting on his front lawn, and the whole SWAT team as well. He ducked down. As soon as he did, shots riddled the wall, scaring him half to death. His snoring sister didn't seem to budge at all. Victor slowly moved, being careful not to show himself through the window, lest they get a bead on him again. Twilight was standing down the hall, shock in her eyes.

    “This can't be happening! I'm not even supposed to be here!” Her face started twitching, prompting Victor to run past her. She had a horn, and he didn't want her trying to gore him with it. He didn't even know how the lavender unicorn was handling nearly being shot. He peered into his sister's room, looking at her sleeping form.

    “Can't be helped.” He shut her door, sprinting to his room. Reaching into the smoking husk that had been his computer, he retrieved the hard drive, sliding it into his pocket. Walking over to a shelf near his bed, he picked up his laptop, pushing it into its bag. He slung that over his shoulder, staring at the floor.

    “Twilight, we can't stay here. We've got to get out of here, or we're going to get killed!” He tried to open his window, but it wouldn't budge. In a fit of rage, he kicked the window, knocking it loose. It slipped down into the pool without so much as a splash. Victor heard the front door crash in, heavy footsteps preceding loud shouting, alerting him to the SWAT team that had broken in. He dropped his laptop bag out the window into some bushes below. It landed on the ground quietly and softly. Without thinking, he dived out the window. He landed in the pool with a great splash, giving away that he was escaping.

    “Get him! He jumped out a window!” The heavy footsteps thundered around, clearly audible even from outside. Twilight, seeing no other choice, dived out the window after Victor. She landed on the edge of the pool, watching Victor as he dragged himself back up. Running over to the bushes, he picked his bag back up, sliding it back onto his shoulder.

    “Let's get out of here!” Victor ran as fast as he could in the opposite direction from the house. Hedges surrounded the back part of the property, beyond which lay a large, undeveloped lot. Twilight didn't need any coaxing; she didn't want to die, and going with Victor seemed like the best idea.

    “What do you mean, they escaped?!” Agent One seemed dangerously close to having an aneurysm out of pure rage.

    “You're the best SWAT team in the country, and you couldn't even catch one measly teenager?! He jumped out a window! You should have had men waiting outside!” He shook the SWAT commander vigorously.

    “I'm sorry, sir, but we didn't know he'd kick his window out of the wall, then dive out after it! That kind of thing is impossible to plan for!” He stood still, resisting the attempts by One to shake him. One stopped as Agent Two approached them.

    “Sir, I've got the information you wanted. Unfortunately, we can't tell whether or not Victor did use the Shadow Protocol, as the hard drive from his computer was either destroyed, or removed.” Two stared at One as the latter clenched his fist.

    “We have to find him! Period! What's beyond that empty lot beyond those hedges?”

    “Sir? That's a no-mans-land.” Two took One aside to speak with him quietly.

    “One, that's where 'they' go.”

    “Then we have nothing to worry about. In the off chance he makes it through, I want a single security checkpoint on the other side, to neutralize him if necessary.”

    “Sir, if I may─”

    “One checkpoint is all we need.”

    The lot was annoyingly huge. Victor noticed a grouping of tenements off in the distance; unfortunately, he couldn't see what stood between them and the tenements.

    “Twilight, I don't trust this. I can barely see anything, let alone my own hands and feet.” He crept along carefully, grabbing each rock with care. Twilight crept beside him. As they crossed one small little hole, Twilight froze. Victor shook his head, turning to face a dead body. He nearly screamed in surprise.

    “As I said, I don't trust this. We've got to hurry.” He examined the body as best he could in the darkness.

    “He's been eaten. There are bite marks all over. What could have─ crap.” There had been cloud cover overhead. It cleared, allowing moonlight to illuminate what actually was ahead of them. Dead bodies were everywhere, but that wasn't the shocking part. Twilight turned green from the people shambling around, some appearing to be crying in agony, others in pure terror, many bumping into each other and tearing each other apart. Victor had to look away to keep from retching. Twilight smiled a little bit, her face contorting into a mask of insanity.

    “We almost got shot, and now we're in a field of things that look like you, but eat each other! This is so much better!” The shambling people stopped. All of them stared at her. Her face returned to normal.

    “Oops.” She stood beside Victor, whose face had gone whiter than the moon.

    “Twilight, when I say run, run. Don't ask, just run.” He stood up slowly, looking towards the tenements.

“Run!” He broke away at a dead run, sprinting as fast as he could away. Twilight galloped, catching up with and passing him easily. The shambling people shrieked, alerting others to the prospect of fresh meat. More and more began to chase them.

    “Oh, for crying out loud! These guys are fast!” Victor vaulted over a rock, slamming his foot into the head of one who had just happened along at the wrong moment. He held his hand over his mouth as he kept running. Oh God above, I just killed someone! Twilight didn't even see him hit the person; she was intent on her own survival. They neared the other side of the lot.

      Twilight leaped onto the asphalt as Victor clambered up and ran away screaming. She looked behind, seeing the large numbers at the base of a hole at the end of the road. There were other shambling people on the road who stared at them, baring their teeth.

    “Great, we trade one group of cannibals for another group! Run!” Victor and Twilight sped down an alleyway between two tenement buildings, turning at one junction to hide behind a dumpster. Victor watched as the shamblers ran past.

    “They're not as bright as one would think. Twilight?” He turned around to see her slowly walking away.

    “Twilight, what are you doing?”

    “No, I can't do this! I don't even know why I'm with you!”

    “Twilight, those cannibals are going to find you, and most likely eat you!” She kept walking away as he watched.

    “Victor, why should I stay?”

    “Because I'm the only one who can help you! I brought you to Earth, so now, I have to be responsible for what I did. Also, besides the fact that as soon as you walk into the middle of that junction, they'll see you.” He looked at the dumpster. The tenement was missing its ladder, but the dumpster was in the perfect place for them to climb up. Facing Twilight, he watched as she approached him.

    “Well, you're definitely responsible, that's for sure.” She sat in front of the dumpster, confused by what the container did.

    “What exactly is this thing for? Storage?” Her comment made Victor chuckle.

    “It's a garbage dumpster, but right now, it's our way up.” He clambered up, stopping to lift Twilight up as well. She seemed slightly disgusted by the fact they had to walk on the garbage to get up. Victor climbed up onto the rickety tenement stairs, pausing yet again to help Twilight up.

    “You're incredibly heavy, you know that?” He dragged her up, struggling as he did. She glared at him as she came up over the edge of the stairs.

    “Let's just hurry up and get out of here already. I don’t want to be stuck here.” She pushed past him, forcing her way up the rickety metal steps. Victor followed carefully behind, unsure of those steps. He looked up, watching the dark sky. It was almost morning, the night being in the period of time called twilight. He chuckled at that thought.

    “Twilight, be careful. These steps might not be very—” He put his foot on one step, causing it to break off the stairs.

    “—safe.” He moved quickly, the steps breaking under his weight as he ran quickly up the stairs. Twilight turned around to stare at him. She started moving faster when she saw the steps breaking under him.

    “Hurry up! Don't block my way, Twilight!”

    Agent One stood at the checkpoint, smiling as he waited. He was incredibly confident that Victor would take that specific route. Agent Two ran up behind him, clearing his throat.

    “One, no sign of the fugitive yet. It's incredibly unlikely he made it out alive.” Two looked the other direction before One could see the relieved expression on his face.

    “He'll come. They always do. See, that's got to be him right there!” One pulled out binoculars, examining the incoming person. He dropped the binoculars, one of the lenses shattering as it hit the ground.

    “Get everyone into position. If that was Victor Hernandez, I'd hate to meet him face-to-face.” One slid his pistol out of its holster, pulling back the slide to check the magazine. He let go, the slide locking back into place. He pulled out his radio, his hand starting to shake from tension.

    “All units, this is Agent One. We are about to be attacked, repeat, we are about to be attacked!” The creatures sprinted, some stumbling and staggering as they ran at the checkpoint, where panicked soldiers tried to take down as many as they could. Agent One, Two, and Five were waiting, but even they felt a little panicked. There was no training to deal with sadistic, cannibalistic people who had been alerted into attacking. They had to rely on their wits, and they were at their wit's end. Soldiers lobbed grenades into the charging group, to no avail. Even though some lost limbs, they seemed to not notice as they kept running at them. A few fell over from sheer blood loss. The agents backed up slightly, then sprinted in the opposite direction, looking for some place to hide, somewhere where those “things” wouldn't get them.

    Victor reached the fire escape ladder at the top of the tenement stairs as Twilight did. She seemed to be panicking, glancing about for any way out. Victor watched as the last of the steps broke off.

    “Well, no way we can get down from this side. Only one way to go, Twilight, and that's up. Unless, of course, ponies can climb ladders, I'm going to have to carry you up.” His unspoken question was answered when Twilight lowered her head in defeat.

    “I can't use magic at all here. I don't get it at all.” She sat down on the metal landing, her head down on her hooves. Victor put his hand on her head, patting it lightly.

    “Earth isn't a magical place, Twilight. If magic were real, you need a source to use it. On Earth, there are none, so you're screwed in that regard. I'm sure you'd have used your 'magic' many times by now if you could.” He looked up the fire escape to the roof. Motioning to his back, Victor lifted Twilight up, wrapping the laptop bag strap around them both. He was deep in thought as he climbed up to the roof. Many things puzzled him, but above all, the stuff about “magic” that Twilight had mentioned. As he climbed over the lip of the roof, his mind was still churning the facts and figures over in his head. When he had gotten onto a flat area, he let Twilight off of his back, and sat down himself. She sat down a few feet away, somewhat distrusting of Victor still. He couldn't blame her. He wouldn't even trust himself if he were in her shoes, or hooves. He laid back and looked up at the night sky. The stars were quite vivid, and he could make out many constellations. A ringing from his laptop bag brought him out of his concentration on the stars. Reaching inside, he pulled out his sister's cellphone.

    “Must have forgotten to return it. Probably her boyfriend.” When he answered the call, it was not the person he expected. Instead, he got someone that he doubted even his sister knew.

“Well, Mr. Hernandez, it seems you are in a bind, I see.” The voice chuckled a little, then coughed for a few minutes. The wheezing voice came back after the coughing, but it sounded like whoever the caller was, they were terribly sick.

    “You're in more of a bind than me. You should see a doctor if your coughing is that bad.” His eyes widened as the voice on the other end of the line laughed. The caller's breaths came through as wheezing, as if he was breathing through a mask of sorts.

“It's nothing. Only dust. You are curious about the Shadow Procotol, yes? Your friend, the code analyst, he can help in that regard. Make sure you find him.” The voice cackled.

    “What do I tell him when I meet him? Who are you?”

“I think you already know that. 'The queen and all her elves come here anon.' Know the reference?”

    “'A Midsummer Night's Dream'. Yeah, I know it. So, you're Anon?” Anon wheezed again while Victor spoke.

    “Yes. I work for Dr. Goman, and you will end up meeting her. Not now, however. Your journey has only begun, and you must discover the truth of what you seek.” Anon cackled again, laughing heartily before coughing and wheezing once more.

    “That's incredibly cryptic! What am I—” The phone clicked, and the conversation ended. Victor tried redialling the number, but could not get a signal.

    “Well, that's just great. 'Discover the truth of what you seek.' Cryptic idiocy that doesn't make any sense!” He kicked a large air conditioner beside him, his irritation visible. He wasn't happy at all, not one bit. He put his back against the air conditioner and slid down to the ground in defeat. Twilight stood in front of him.

    “What's wrong? You seem kind of angry.”

    “I've lost everything. Home, family, a job. All of it lost because I decided to do the right thing, and help you. Is there such a thing as cutting a guy some slack? That's all I ask for, but no! They have to go and make me out like a criminal! I should have just let them shoot me then and there.” He was knocked back against the air conditioner, Twilight having hit him across the face with her hoof.

    “I'm stuck here because of what happened. We're both without homes right now. Victor, you brought me here on accident, and you're trying to fix that. I can respect that. But pitying yourself isn't the way to go about fixing it! We have to work together to save ourselves.” She held out her hoof. Victor grabbed it and hauled himself up.

    “You're right. And all those things my teachers used to say about me being mature. I'm such a child.” He looked down at the phone. Several messages had appeared in the inbox, both text and picture. He opened three of the picture messages, and nearly dropped the phone. Anon had detailed them out a route to the house of Victor's friend, and Victor hadn't even told him where John lived.

    “I guess that's the power of someone with an information network. You get all the cool stuff, and information that people want hidden. Twilight? This is the safest route we can take. The agents seem incredibly incompetent, so I doubt they'll be waiting for us. We can take the fire escape down on the building across the way over there.” He jogged over to the edge of the roof, staring down at the roof that he was thinking of.

    “Unfortunately, we're going to have to jump. Twilight?” Twilight had gone to the other side of the roof, and was pawing at the ground. Victor got the message and dived out of the way, just in time for Twilight to come barreling towards him and jump off the roof. He scrambled to the edge of the roof, watching her descent. He couldn't bear to watch, but he was compelled to. His jaw clenched as he stared at her sailing across the alleyway. She landed on the other roof with a resounding smack, turned around, and motioned for Victor to jump. He ran to the other side of the roof, and closed his eyes.

    “Okay, okay. It's not a long way down, it's just a shallow river. Just like jumping the creek at Grandma's house.” He opened his eyes and set his face in a determined expression as he sprinted across the roof. He put his foot on the edge of the roof and pushed off, sending himself tumbling through the air directly at Twilight, who was scrambling around trying to find a place to duck under.

    “Incoming! Move out of the way!” Victor barely missed Twilight as he hit the roof and rolled. He slammed into a patio chair that had been lying on its back behind an air conditioner, breaking the flimsy chair into pieces. He slowly pushed himself to his feet, groaning as he did.

    “That's the last time I do that. I feel like I hit a concrete wall.” He looked over at the edge of the roof, where the fire escape ladder was. He breathed a sigh of relief that he hadn't undershot his target and slammed into it. Twilight looked at the ladder tentatively, unsure of what to do. Victor glanced over at her, shaking his head in exasperation.

    “Guess I have to carry you down again.” He looked up at the stars, taking it in again.

    “The stars are the same no matter where you go.” He chuckled and hauled Twilight onto his back, her legs gripping onto him, freeing up his hands to grip onto the fire escape ladder. As Victor climbed down, a realization came to him.

    “We should have seen some more of those cannibals. Yet, there is none. Wonder what happened?”

    Victor's question was answered as he and Twilight came to a park-like area that was on the path that Anon had decided for him. The remains of a military checkpoint were there, along with the bodies of many soldiers. As they both got closer, Victor noticed other bodies besides the ones from the soldiers. The cannibals, or at least what was left of them, were all around, some partially intact, others just simply a torso. Victor had to look away for a second, his stomach gurgling as if he was going to lose his lunch. Twilight had near the same reaction as well. He skirted around a pile of dead soldiers when a hand grabbed him. He nearly let out a shriek when he felt it. However, when he looked down, he saw an injured soldier lying underneath the bodies. Beside the pile was a medical kit. Victor pulled the bodies off of the soldier, helping him to his feet.

    “T-thank you. At least someone decided to help.” The soldier stared at the carnage around him: twisted metal husks that used to be jeeps, bodies that had been torn apart by cannibals and explosions, and his own leg, which appeared to be broken. He toppled over, landing on his side. He screamed in pain when the shock jolted his leg. Victor grabbed the medical kit and a nearby straight piece of metal.

    “That leg will only get worse if I don't take care of it. Hold still, let me patch you up.” Victor grimaced as he worked on the soldier. Not only had the leg been broken, but it had been hit by a piece of shrapnel. It wasn't what he wanted to do, but he couldn't leave someone to die, after what he did to his sister. The operation took a short amount of time, after which Victor hauled the soldier to his feet again, holding him up with his arm.

    “A-as I said, t-thank you. What's your name?”

    “I'm probably going to regret this, but I'm Victor Hernandez.” Victor studied the soldier's face as it went completely white.

    “Victor Hernandez? You're the one we were supposed to capture. Eh, they're wrong about you, from what I can tell. I won't forget this, Victor.” Victor walked off towards the carnage, spying an almost intact jeep. He made his way over, the soldier holding onto him, and Twilight following behind. Victor opened the door and helped the soldier sit down.

    “You should be safe in here. If any of those 'things' survived, don't make any noise. It seems to be what pushes them into insanity.” The soldier nodded silently, taking Victor's advice to heart. Victor shut the door and looked towards the city. He pulled out the phone and looked at the map again.

    “Well, we've got a long ways to go. Better get going before something catches us.”

    Agents One, Two, and Five crawled out from under the remains of a jeep, scorched in areas, but otherwise unscathed. One was furious enough to kick the side of a relatively intact jeep, but was stopped when he heard moaning from inside. Drawing his pistol, he opened the door slowly and carefully, to reveal a soldier with a splint on his leg.

    “Agents. What are you doing?”

    “Who put that splint on your leg? We're the only ones who survived.” One holstered his gun, his face a mask of irritation.

    “The one you are hunting. Victor Hernandez stopped to help me, of all people. You're wrong about him. You don't realize it, but you're hunting a guy who wouldn't hurt a fly.” One slammed the door shut in the soldier's face, rattling the jeep and causing the soldier to yelp in pain.

    “One, maybe he's right. Victor Hernandez has no record for someone of his age, which is remarkable. Maybe the general had this all wrong, so—” Two was interrupted by One drawing his pistol and shooting Five through the head. He waved the gun over to Two's face, holding it steady.

    “We are going to kill Victor Hernandez, and that's that, Two. If you want to run, I will shoot you.” He looked off into the distance, deep in thought.

“When I get my hands on you, Victor Hernandez, I'm going to tear you apart, limb from limb.”