Not With A Bang, But A Whimper

With the altercation with the thief as well as the shambling dead behind them, Lucky Draw and Star Shimmer made their way through the forest at a break-neck pace, eager to get to a more open area.

"C'mon kid, try to keep up," Lucky beckoned, pushing both the filly and himself to move faster. His head was still pounding from the hard hit he took when fighting the thief, but he ignored it- the alternative was far worse. Star nodded, galloping as fast as her legs would take her. Thunder rumbled in the not so far-off distance, causing Lucky to curse under his breath. "We need to find cover, and quick," he said. After a few solid minutes of straight galloping, they eventually reached a break in the forest. The two ponies stopped to catch their breath.

"That... that was crazy," Star said, shaking her head, her chest heaving.

"You ain't seen anything, kid," Lucky said, taking a seat on the ground. "We'll stick here for a few minutes then keep moving."

"Where are we going?" Star asked.

"There," Lucky said, pointing ahead of them. Star turned to look, and saw what appeared to be a small town that was rustic in appearance. It was plain to see that the town had either been bombed out or burned out, as several buildings looked like hollowed-out husks. Tiny specks in the distance appeared to move about the streets of the town, alerting Lucky to the good chance that that town wasn't empty.

"Are- are you sure that's where we should go?" Star asked, concerned.

"You got any better ideas?" Lucky asked. When Star fell silent, he nodded. "Just stick close to me and you'll be fine," he said.

"Right..." she murmured.

"Let's get a move on, the rain could start any minute."

The two ponies quickly and quietly made their way to the mouth of the town, avoiding whatever undead they could and killing the ones they couldn't. Lucky quickly found that he had probably made the right choice in deciding to bring Star with him when he watched her sneak up on an infected and taking out one of its legs, causing it to topple over. She quickly disposed of it by inserting her knife into its temple, the creature twitching for a few moments then falling still.

"That's actually pretty smart, kid," Lucky said.

"I've survived this long for a reason," Star said, drawing a hankie from her bag and cleaning the rotten blood off the blade.

"No kidding," Lucky said with a small smile. He then heard movement not far from them. "Stay close," he warned. They silently made their way towards a burned-out building further in the town, approaching an open door in the back. Lucky entered first, his shotgun raised. After checking the first few rooms on the bottom floor and finding nothing but old blood stains and burnt furniture, he signaled for Star to follow. They took the time to barricade the doors and windows as well as locking and barricading the door they came in through behind them. They decided to take a minute and rest.

"Alright, we can stay here for now, it seems secure enough. We need to check the upstairs, though," Lucky said, nodding in the direction of the staircase.

"Right..." Star said, swallowing hard as she peered into the darkness of the upstairs. Lucky could see the anxiety in the filly's eyes.

"Don't worry, I'll take the lead," Lucky reassured. "You just gotta watch my back."

"Yeah, I can do that," Star said, feeling a little better. The two slowly made their way up the stairs, careful not to attract any unwanted attention. They rounded the right corner at the top of the stairs, seeing two doors, both shut. Lucky tentatively pushed open the nearest door, finding it to be the upstairs bathroom. He gave a small sigh of relief, shutting the door again. He then signaled to Star that he was going to open the other door, raising a hoof. He gently nudged the door open, the barrel of his shotgun raised. The door slowly opened, and the sight that lay within was something Lucky was not prepared for. The bed that sat in the center of the room had two occupants, both long dead, massive blood spatters on the wall behind them giving Lucky an idea what had occurred here. As they approached the bed, he saw the gun that had come to rest between them. Star felt a strange sadness run through her.

"At least they went together and on their own terms," Lucky said. Star simply nodded, unable to find the right words. He leaned over the bed, grabbing the pistol and checking to see if it was loaded. He ejected the spent casings and forced the chamber back in place. "Still got three rounds left," he said. He then turned the gun over. "Take it."

"You... you want me to have it?" Star asked, a little shocked.

"You need to have something to defend yourself. Your knife is good, but this'll save you in case you can't get to it," Lucky said. "Only use it in extreme cases, though. We don't need the extra noise."

"Okay... I don't know how to use it, though," Star said. She took the gun from Lucky's hoof, almost dropping it.

"Careful! If you drop it like that it could go off!" Lucky chided.

"Sorry! I didn't know!" she apologized. "I didn't think it'd be so heavy," Star said.

"Hold on, I'll look around and see if we can find some more ammo for it, maybe get you a holster," Lucky said. He began to rummage through the dead pony's belongings, finding a box with four more rounds as well as a small belt. "Four shots," he said. He slipped the rounds into the belt and trotted over to Star. "Okay, hold still," he said. He swung the belt around her waist, adjusting it until it fit snugly. He then took the pistol and slipped it into the small holster. "Better?"

"Yeah, I guess-" Star began to say, but was suddenly cut off when they heard the sound of screaming coming from outside. Lucky instinctively raised his gun, pointing it towards the door. The two quickly made their way downstairs, watching the scene unfold through cracks in a boarded window.

"Get away from me! Somepony, help me, please!" a stallion begged, hobbling away from a few infected. He was clutching a profusely bleeding foreleg, a good section of flesh and tissue having been ripped away from a bite.

"Should we help him?" Star asked.

"Better we stay here... he looks like he's hurt already, and Celestia knows we don't need the trouble..." Lucky said. He would soon come to find out that his decision would be one that he'd have to carry with him forever.

The infected were bearing down on him, almost at his ankles. The stallion found himself in a bad spot, surrounded by wreckage on one end and the infected on the other. Without warning, an infected that had been hiding underneath some of the wreckage crawled out towards him It latched itself to his rear leg and bit down with unearthly strength, ripping out a chunk of flesh, blood spraying from the new wound. The stallion screamed in agony, collapsing to the ground.

Within moments the other infected bore down on the poor stallion. One infected immediately went to work on its new meal, digging into the stallions gut and tearing it open, rivers of hot sticky blood shooting from the massive wound. The infected then began to tear out the stallion's organs, chewing into one of the many dark red coils of his intestines. The stallion, still alive, screamed as hard as his now-exposed lungs would allow, begging for mercy.

"Goddess..." Lucky whispered, the image burned into his memory.

The infected then began to effectively disembowel the stallion, digging into his stomach and rib-cage. Lucky watched in horror as he forced Star to look away, who was now in tears. He grabbed her and held her tightly, the sound of screaming mixed with flesh tearing and bones breaking filling the air- at least, until the stallion suddenly stopped screaming, as the infected that had bitten his ankle made its way up to the stallion and bit down on his throat, ripping out his vocal cords. The stallion could only gurgle in vain as blood filled his lungs and his mouth, now unable to speak. Death took the stallion in mere minutes, though for the stallion it would seem like an eternity. The thick, pungent scent of fresh blood filled Lucky's nostrils, turning his stomach.

Lucky turned away from the horrid sight, unable to shake what he had seen. His decision cost that stallion his life. Could I have saved him? He was already bitten, he had to have been! he thought, desperately trying to justify his choice. He then turned his attention to the filly, who was trembling violently and unable to stop crying. He was certain that if by this point she hadn't been traumatized by the horrors of the world around her, she definitely was now. "It's okay, it's okay, just relax... I'm right here," he soothed, holding her tightly. "I know it was scary, but don't worry, I'm not gonna let that happen," he said. Star then looked up at him.

"Y-You can't promise that," she choked, trying to keep her voice as low as possible.

Lucky sighed. She had him there. He couldn't promise that she wouldn't meet the same fate. "As long as I'm still kicking, I'll keep you safe, okay?"

"You promise?" Star asked.

"I promise..." Lucky said. "We're partners after all," he said with a small smirk. Star nodded, and hugged Lucky again, desperately trying to forget the nightmarish scene that had unfolded mere yards from them. Thunder rumbled overhead, rain beginning to fall and mixing the dirt with the blood of the now-dead stallion.

Looks like we're getting comfortable...