Protocol Zena

Chapters

Chapter 2: Rendezvous
Chapter 3: Discovery
Chapter 4: Choices
Prologue
Chapter 1: Entering the Frey
Update

Chapter 2: Rendezvous

The fall was a good time for me since the leaves would change into miraculous shades of red, orange and yellow. My eyes were absorbing these images as we continued deeper into the woodlands. If circumstances were different, I would have sat there and admire the colors all day long especially since they were extra gorgeous this year.

As we drove, the pavement became uneven, then it turned to gravel, and eventually became dirt. Soon after, Joe left the roadway and we were venturing into the woods. Despite our vehicle’s ability to handle off-road driving, the ride was rough and I wasn’t able to enjoy the scenery around me. I wanted to protest this decision, but I was sure my friend knew what he was doing so I left him alone and tolerated the discomfort.

After what seemed like a half an hour of driving, we found a dirt road and thankfully, Joe decided to dive on it. While the road was by no means a smooth ride, it was significantly better than driving on no road at all. I was beginning to feel sore while Joe appeared to be just fine.

“Please don’t make me go through that again!” I exclaimed to which Joe responded with a snicker.

“Won’t have to. This road’ll lead us to where we need to be.” I’m not sure I believed him but I wasn’t in the mood to question him.

Eventually, we found a small clearing that was covered by some nearby trees and Joe parked the vehicle on the far end of it.

“So, this is where we’re staying?” I asked as I handed him back his M1 and its ammunition.

“No” Joe said. “We’ll have to travel on foot through the woods since-”

“What!?” I exclaimed. “After driving through all that, which I swear was the worse drive I’ve ever been on, you’re expecting me to carry all of those totes in the back through the rough terrain and leave the vehicle here? That’s insane!”

Joe thought about how to respond to this. “Yes and no. Yes we will have to get to our actual destination on foot and leave the vehicle here only because the area won’t allow our vehicle to traverse it. Trust me on this. We’ve tried.”

“By we you mean you and your female friend right?”

“Not exactly. The no part is that there is a small group coming with us so we won’t be carrying the entire load. My friend is in this group but since she left town, she won’t be with us.” I wanted to learn more about this group but I decided not to ask. “We’ll wait here until they arrived. Until then, let’s get your hiking bag equipped with the supplies you’ll need.”

I reluctantly agreed to this as both of us stepped out of the vehicle. My body protested as I stretched my arms and legs but after being in the vehicle for over an hour, I wanted to get back on my feet. As I slowly made my way to the back of the Land Rover, Joe brought out a metal hiking back pack and started sorting through the various supplies he had. By the time we were done, I was equipped with about 25 pounds of supplies including but not limited to food, water, tarps, a basic first aid kit, matches, duct tape, and a compass. Joe even managed to put by backpack on it using some extra rope he had in his pack.

As if on cue, a white SUV appeared coming from the opposite direction which we came from and parked next to us. I saw four people in the vehicle though only three stepped out.

“So this is the group that’ll be with us?” I said out loud.

The farthest person, a white man with blonde hair and a look of a leader, replied in a calm manner, “Part of it anyway.” Addressing Joe, he said, “Looks like you brought a friend with you. He won’t hold us back will he?”

Joe insisted, “Shouldn’t be a problem Mac. He’s got a good eye and’s a decent shot.”

“We’ll see about that.”

The person next to him, a black guy with a mildly built body, said, “I thought we agreed no people outside the group would be with us. I don’t know about you but I don’t like leaches using up our stuff and offering nothing in return.”
Mac seemed to agree but said nothing and gave Joe a look as if wanting an explanation from him.

“Please, let’s not make judgments of our guest” said the person closest to me, a guy with glasses who looked like he could be a nurse of some sort. “We’ll give him a bad impression and we all may suffer because of it.”

“An agreement is an agreement Jeff” said the African American. “You know I take this stuff seriously. He hasn’t joined our ranks and therefore deserves none of our privileges.”

Jeff pondered this for a moment. “Joe, why did you bring him with you? I know you are aware of our rules and procedures and it is clear you’ve broken them.”

Joe took his time to think of a satisfying answer. “When these creatures came along, Richard was at my house. I haven’t seen him since high school and we were catching up on everything since then. I was aware of the agreement I signed at the time, but to say that I would’ve felt sane dismissing my friend out of the blue like that would be a lie. Also, since I knew Natalia was out of town, we were going to be a man, or in this case a woman, down. Plus, Richard was in the boy scouts so I knew he would be able to satisfy the requirements Natalia would be leaving open.”

I had a feeling he was stretching the truth at that last bit. Scouting was not a topic I remember discussing with him at school. He probably only realized all that after I told him how I learned to shoot a fire arm.
Mac seemed satisfied with his response though I could see a hint of concern in his expression. “Reasonable enough” he said “but how are we supposed to know how much of this scouting stuff he even remembers?”

“We don’t” said the female voice inside the vehicle. “We’ll just have to trust that he knows enough to be able to hold his own and not be an annoyance to our operations. If you ask me, he should be able to help us just fine.”

I recognized that confident voice. “Shela?” I said. The others seemed surprised at my knowledge of this person.

She stepped out of the vehicle and said, “Surprise.”

Shela had a body very similar to that of the girl from tomb raider with the exception of her boobs being a bit smaller. I swear she embraced this since she was wearing the same outfit as the character, utility belt and everything. I must admit I was slightly attracted to her despite the fact that I knew she was dating someone.

We first met in, ironically enough, personal wellness class about midway through the fall semester this year where we were assigned to make a list of all of the necessary supplies we would bring to a camping trip. This was supposed to be punishment for the constant intrusions several students made throughout the year and for most of them, it was exactly that. However, our teacher was surprised at how well Shela and I did on the assignment. Afterwards, he continued to assign us in group assignments where we learned more about our knowledge of the wilderness. Basically, if I had the choice of one partner to survive the apocalypse with, it would be her since she could hold her own in almost any situation.

“W-what… h-how” I struggled to say despite the fact I could speak to her normally back on campus.

“I joined this little survival group when it first formed six months ago. When I was asked to join, I thought it was unnecessary since the odds of it ever being needed were basically zero. I ended up joining only for the fact they would teach survival skills and I’m always looking to sharpen my skills.”

“Ok so he knows somethings about survival” the black guy interrupted, “but still” he looked towards Mac, “he hasn’t passed the tests needed to join our ranks. And I hate bringing this up but our terms stated only members of our group could be together when disaster strikes.”

Mac took all this in. “You are correct Jeremy. He is not part of this group and therefore does not have the right to be with us.” Joe looked like he was going to object to this. “However, our rules do mention that I can give honorary membership to anyone that I believe is worthy of it. Before me are two witnesses who claim the person before us will be helpful to our cause so I have reason to believe he can aid us.” He looked at me. “As leader of the Mountain Goats Survival Group, I grant you honorary membership to our group.”

I breathed a sigh of relief as I realized I was holding my breath through this ordeal. Jeremy looked at me with an angry expression. I could tell he wasn’t satisfied with the resolution, but he didn’t have any leeway to argue his case.

“Welcome to the group” Joe told me as everyone clapped with approval with the exception of Jeremy of course.

“Now” Mac said in a serious tone, “we need to prepare our bags while we wait for the others.” He looked at Joe. “Looks like you brought the necessary gear with you so-”

“Richard and I already have our hiking bags ready so the rest of you can take what you need.”

“Excellent. Jeremy, you go first.”

Jeremy managed to crack a small smile as he got his bag and sorted through the gear.

I looked towards Mac. “So who else are we waitin’ for?” I asked with curiosity.

To my surprise, Jeff answered, “Charles and Henry. They’re like the tech specialist of the group. They’re also brothers so it’s safe to assume that either they’ll both show up, or neither of them will.”

“Have any idea when they’ll show up?” I asked.

“Not a clue” he replied.

“We all came to an agreement that we would meet up here so that we have enough time to get over to our shelter before dark” Mac said. “If anyone failed to show up, they would have to get there on their own.” He looked at his watch. “It’s 3:30 now so if they don’t show up in a half an hour, we’ll have to leave them behind.”

I didn’t like the idea of leaving people behind but I understood why it was necessary. This got me thinking of my family. Did they get ambushed like we did? Were they safe? I decided to try and call them but my phone couldn’t get a signal, not that I was surprised with this. I just hoped they were safe.

The next half an hour was spent getting everyone’s gear ready and small talk that I didn’t bother paying attention to. I looked down the roadway in both directions, but I didn’t see anyone coming. I was anxious for them to get here so we could get a move on, but I realized they probably wouldn’t show up.
Mac looked at his watch and sighed. “We gotta get moving.” We all looked at him with disbelief. “They know the rules, we all do. I don’t want to leave them either but we don’t want to be here after dark.” We all reluctantly agreed to the reality of the situation. “Get your things. We have a long hike ahead of us.”

Everyone gathered their belongings and gathered near the far end of the clearing. I was a little hesitant to leave.

“Come on Richard” Joe said. “We have to go.”

I looked over my shoulder in some vein hope I would see them coming and in the far distance, I saw a vehicle heading up the path Joe and I took.

“Over there!” I told everyone pointing towards the vehicle as it came closer. Everyone looked in surprise as they realized the brother duo would in fact be joining them.

“Well I’ll be” Jeremy said in relief and for the first time, expressed a real smile on his face.

I soon realized the vehicle was some sort of older red corvette. It looked sweet despite all of the dirt it accumulated while on the road. While all of this was a boost to morale, I had a feeling something wasn’t right.

As the corvette parked next to us and its occupants exited the vehicle, we realized someone was missing. Henry was there, a man who certainly had the appearance of an engineer, but instead of Charles being there, some red headed girl, who looked like she was from the big city, took his place.

“Henry” she said in a tone that high society people speak in, “you said we were going someplace safe and comfortable, not in the middle of nature.” I was already annoyed with her.

“Brittani” Henry said in a relaxing, though tiring tone, “if I told you we were heading out here, you would be complaining the entire way. Besides-”

“We you should’ve told me so that I would be able to go somewhere else. Someplace just as safe yet soooooo much more relaxing.”

Typical big city attitude, I thought.

“There is no other safe place” Henry tried to explain. “You saw how we barely got here in one piece.”
Brittani took out her phone and was fiddling with it. “Ugh. No service, seriously?”

“Nice to see you Henry” Jeff said before Henry could try to reason with, I was guessing, his girlfriend.

“Hi Jeff. Though you’d be gone by now.”

“Where’s Charles?” Mac asked.

Henry’s face turned from tired to sad. He sighed and said “He didn’t make it. Damn Pegasi ambushed us and took out his vehicle. I’m surprised we even got out of the ordeal alive.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. Many more souls didn’t have a plan and they’re either dead or under these creatures’s rule. Be sorry for them. At least we had a plan and he died trying to execute it.”

“Does anyone have any lip gloss I can borrow?” Brittani interrupted. “Mine’s wearing off.”

Shela answered that. “Didn’t bring any. Not necessary to survive situations like this.”

“Seriously? How am I supposed to look pretty without-”

“Who the heck do you think you are!?” said Jeremy as if it were more of a thought rather than addressing anyone.

Brittani looked at him with a surprised look on her face. No one said anything so she went back to messing with her phone.

I went over to Jeremy and whispered, “Do we have to bring her with us?”

“I’ll be damned if we do” he replied. “I won’t lose any sleep if we leave her here.”

I cracked a small smile. “Seems like we agree on something.”

“Henry could I talk to you for a second?” Mac asked. They both went to the other side of the clearing. I had no doubt it was about Brittani.

Shela looked at us. “Look, I respect everyone here and I understand the position Mac’s in, but if he doesn’t resolve this within five minutes, I’m leaving.”

“I agree” Jeremy said. “I know there’s not much to worry about out here, but I can barely walk the way there in the daytime. I don’t wanna try it out in the dark.”

“Same here” said Joe.

“Agreed” said Jeff.

I said nothing. While I agreed with them about traveling at night, I didn’t want to leave Mac behind with this city girl and Henry.

“What about you?” Shela said to me.

“What?” I replied even though I was aware of the conversation.

“Leave here in five even if Mac’s not done?”

I paused. “Whatever Joe said, I’ll back.”

“Then it’s settled then. Who’s gonna tell them?” We all looked at each other. No one seemed willing to tell him.

Suddenly, we heard a branch break and everyone was on edge. I pulled out my pistol and scanned the trees seeing if I could find anything. I saw Brittani cover her mouth trying her best to hold back a scream. A few moments later, we began to relax. We all looked at each other.

“We need to move out now” I said almost surprising myself. “I ain’t gonna wait out here to be ambushed by some Pegasi looking to increase his kill count.” Everyone spoke in agreement. “Then it’s settled. Make sure you got everything. I’ll tell Henry and Mac.”

I then went over to them only to realize they were heading towards us.

“Look” Mac said to me before I had a chance to say something, “I’m sure you’ll hate this decision, but we’re taking Brittani with us. I know I said only members can be with us, but all of this was a last minute thing for all of us including Henry. She doesn’t stand a chance if she’s out there in the middle of the wild. We’ll decide later if she gets to stay with us or not but for now, we have to get moving.”

“Ok then” I said indifferently. I looked at Henry. “You got a pack ready?”

“In the back” he said. “I also have a few guns for ya. There not much but you’ll need them.”

“I’ll tell them.” I walked towards the others and shouted, “Henry’s got guns if you want’m. Just be quick about it.”
Jeff and Jeremy went over to Henry’s car to get one while Shela just showed me her pistol and Joe removed his M1 from his pack. By the time everyone was settled, Henry and Mac had pistols of their own while Jeff and Jeremy had hunting rifles. Brittani refused to carry a weapon so Jeff took the extra pistol.

“Alright, is everyone ready?” Mac asked. “We’re not gonna stop until we get to the rendezvous.” Everyone indicated they were ready. “Well then, let’s move out.”

Joe wasn’t kidding about the way being difficult for vehicles. First of all, there wasn’t a trail to follow meaning that we were stepping on every single rock, twig and leaf coming across our path. While my shoes were sufficient, I wanted to have some type of hiking shoe since they would protect my feet better than my sneakers. Also, I had to stay behind someone since I had no idea which way to go. This became annoying at times since I was used to walking at a faster pace.

Also, the land we were traversing wasn’t ideal for new hikers. While the area was flat at first, it wasn’t before long that the woodland floor was a series of rolling hills. Going up and down all those hills was becoming a chore and was rather annoying after a few hills. At one point, there was a seventy foot hill that had a near 90 degree drop we had to climb. Fortunately, there was a small zigzagging pathway that was carved into it several years ago making the climb a bit more bearable. By the time we finished traversing the hill, I was kind of tired. The feeling was rather unpleasant but since I wasn’t at the point of exhaustion, I made myself go forward.

The others seemed to be fairing a bit better than I was, except for Brittani. She seemed to continuously complain about how dirty she was getting and how sore here feet were. Being that she was in high heels, I wasn’t surprised why here feet ached so much. I suggested she take them off but then she went into a rant about… something so I tried to ignore her.

Eventually, her whining got under Mac’s nerves so we took a break to which her whining subsided for a while. Henry sat with her while Joe and I sat in our own small group. Jeremy and Shela were discussing something and Mac and Jeff were checking the perimeter for any threats.

Joe looked at me with a serious expression. “I don’t think we’re going to make it to the shelter before dark.”

“What makes you say that?”

“Well, we’re traveling at about three fourths the pace we usually do and we’re taking a break which we’ve never had to do beforehand.”

“Damn. And I thought we were going at a decent rate.” I saw Jeremy coming towards us. “How much farther do we have to go?”

“We’re not even a quarter of the way there.”

“Seriously? That ain’t good.”

Jeremy sat down beside me. “Man, that girl is going to get us killed if we don’t get her to get with the program” he said.

I was taken aback at the sudden change in conversation, but he had a point. “I agree” I said. “Brittani’s acting like an anchor with sirens attached to it. That’ll get us killed faster than Usain Bolt can run a hundred meters.”

“Yea.” Jeremy looked over his shoulder to make sure no one was listening. “Shela and I were talking earlier and we think that Brittani needs to be left behind.” Joe and I looked at each other. “She’s slowing us down way too much and we think it’s best if she and Henry travel separately so we can get to the shelter on time.”

Joe seemed to understand why he was saying what he did, but he seemed concerned. “Have you discussed this with anyone else?” Joe asked.

“Not yet, but I think if we can get the others to speak up, either she’ll pick up the pace or allow us to get ahead of her.”

I thought about this for a moment. “I don’t want to leave Henry behind like that” I said, “but you’re right. He brought her here; he’s responsible for her safety.”

Satisfied, Jeremy then looked at Joe. “What about you?”

Joe thought about it. “I’ll back your decision. I don’t like it, but it’s necessary.”

“Then it’s settled. I’ll talk to Mac and Jeff and we’ll see what they want to do.”

Jeremy was about to get up when Mac said, “We need to get moving. We’re behind schedule so we’re gonna have to pick up the pace.”

Everyone then rendezvoused with Mac except for Henry and Brittani who were still sitting there.

“Come on guys” Jeff said, “We need to go.”

“Go on without us” Henry said surprising everyone. “Brittani’s in no condition to be moving at our usual pace. We’ll be holding you back if we go.” I think we all could agree with that. “I’ll catch up with you later. Just make sure the shelter’s ready when we get there ok?”

Everyone waited for Mac to say something. “Very well then” He said. “Just give us the emergency radio. It’ll take a while to set up once we’ve settled in.”

Henry removed a metal box from his bag and handed it over to Mac.

“Hey Henry” Jeff said, “catch.” He threw his rifle towards him and Henry nearly dropped it.

“No Jeff I-”

“We’ve got plenty of weapons on us as it is. There’ll be more once we get to base. You’ll need it more than we will.”

Henry smiled at him. “Thanks.” He then addressed Mac. “Now get moving. I’ve kept you waiting long enough.”

“Aright then” Mac replied “If there’s nothing more to discuss, let’s roll. We ain’t stopping this time.” The group moved out as we looked behind us watching Henry move farther away from us.

Chapter 3: Discovery

The landscape mercifully flattened out a bit as we continued into the woods. Like Mac said, we were moving at a faster pace which I was able to keep at first. However, when dusk came, I was becoming sore and tired and was falling noticeably behind. Still, I made myself move on. I wasn’t going to be the one who got someone killed simply because I prevented everyone from making it to the shelter.

Mac was becoming concern at my condition. “Hey Richard.”

“Yea?”

“Wanna take a break? We only have a mile left to go and you don’t look so good.”

I shook my head. “Only the more reason to finish this thing now.”

“Well at least get a drink of water. In fact, all of you get a drink.”

The group then sat down and took a drink out of their packs. I took my canteen out from my backpack that Joe secured with some rope and took some sips from it. Raspberry lemonade, my favorite flavored drink mix. I could still feel some of the pieces that haven’t dissolved, but it was still nice and sweet.

“You think Henry and Brittani are alright?” Shela asked us.

“I’m sure they’re alright” Jeremy said. “Henry’s got a lot of experience out in the woods. If he can’t survive with her out there, none of us can.”

“Jeremy’s right” Mac said. “I wouldn’t allow Henry to do such a thing if I didn’t think he could do it.”

“I’d be more concern of his mental health rather than his physical health” Joe commented. “Did you see how pissed off she was when she found out where she was?”

“It’s for the best that she didn’t know” Mac replied. “I’m sure Brittani would’ve tried to do something stupid if she knew she was going to the shelter.”

“You have a point. Besides, maybe they can settle their differences now so we don’t have to hear any of the arguing.”

All of us could agree with that. I was now starting to feel a bit better about leaving them behind, but it still felt so wrong at the same time. After we caught our breath, the sun was about to go under. Fortunately, we all had flashlights that strapped around our foreheads so we put those on and started walking again.

I must admit, I was glad we took the break. While I was still sore, I could keep pace with the others without having to gasp for air. I might have been in better shape than most Americans, but the others had trained for this situation so they were better off than I was.

In no time, we reached a small wooden building that had windows on all sides except for the one facing us which had a door instead. The building looked like it was made in the 1950s though I had no idea why someone would make one in the middle of nowhere. Ironically enough, each side of the building was facing in one of the four cardinal directions (the door facing south, right side facing east etc.) so whoever built this had his compass in mind, or something to that extent.

Mac unlocked the door. When we entered, Jeff turned on a lantern illuminating the 15 foot by 15 foot building. Sleeping bags and foam padding were rolled up across both sides of the room; Good. I won't have to sleep on the floor now. In the back, there was a shelf filled with canned goods and MREs (Meal Ready to Eat) and two gun cabinets that looked like they could hold four guns each. In front of them, there was a three foot by four foot table that stood about waste high with a small wooden chair on the right side.

“Well, here we are” Mac announced. “Our new home till things settle down.”

I took off my bag and lied against the wall allowing my sore muscles to relax for a while. Everyone else did the same except for Mac who took out the box Henry gave him and set it on the table. He opened it revealing a radio that picked up emergency frequencies and turned it on. The radio lighted up like a Christmas tree and picked up a bunch of static. Apparently, all of the local radio stations were down but that wasn’t what Mac was looking for. He started adjusting it but I could tell he had no idea what he was doing. I sure didn’t know how to operate that thing nor did it look like anyone else knew how to mess with it.

“I know we all want to rest” Jeremy said, “but I think we need to check our perimeter real quick. I don’t wanna get settled in only to realize there’s an enemy camp right next to us.”

“Good thinking” Mac said. “You and Jeff perform a basic perimeter search.”

“I’ll go with you” I said almost reflexively catching myself by surprise.

Mac stopped messing with the radio and looked at me. “No Richard. We only need two people to perform this task.”

“But I need to do this” I retorted.

“Why?” Joe asked. “You’re in no condition to perform this after that hike.”

“Because I’m playing catch up.” There was a pause. “You guys have practiced this emergency situation drill before or at the very least discussed what to do with one another. I may have knowledge on how to camp and stuff, but I don’t know how you prefer to do things around here and the only way I’m going to learn those things is if I do them.”

“But you can do those things-” Shela began to say when Mac interrupted, “He’s right. He’s gonna have to learn our ways somehow.”

“But he’s not ready to do these tasks in the state he’s in!” Shela protested.

“Good point.” Mac went to the shelf and grabbed an MRE. “Catch” he said to me as he threw it at me. “At least get some food in your system before you do your patrols… all of you.” He grabbed two more MREs and tossed them at Jeff and Jeremy.

I put some water into the bag and began eating. Spaghetti with sauce; not as good as the stuff back home but it was still tasty for a meal out here. I wish I had utensils but I guess we’d have to live without them for a while out here. As the three of us ate, the others went over and grabbed a can of food and ate with us.

“What do we do with the trash?” I asked as I finished my food.

“Put it in the bag” Mac said.

I looked around but couldn’t find one. “What bag?”

“This one” Jeremy said as he pulled a trash bag out from his gear. “Put all the trash in here. Don’t want critters coming on over smelling the leftover food you threw away outside.” He opened the bag and placed it near the table. I put my trash in it and Jeff did the same.

“Can I get a better gun?” Jeremy asked Mac. “I don’t like bolt action rifles if I can use something better.”

“Give your rifle to Richard. I’ll get you and Jeff something better.” Jeremy gave me his rifle as Mac opened one of the gun cabinets. “What do you want?”

“What do you have?” Mac moved away revealing an AR 15, an M1 grand, an M14 and some other rifle I didn’t recognize. “I’ll take the AR” Jeremy said enthusiastically.

“And you Jeff?” Mac asked.

“I’ll take the grand.” Mac then tossed the rifle to him.

“Can I get a better gun?” I asked.

“No” Mac said, “Not yet. You still need to prove yourself worthy of getting a better rifle. Until then, you get that.”

“Ok then. Can I at least get more ammo for it?”

“You got five shots in there. If you need more, we’re fucked.”

“What about my pistol?”

Mac though about it. “What kind of ammo does it take?”

“9 mil.”

“We got that. How much do you have?”

“A partial mag. That’s it.”

Mac opened the other cabinet revealing boxes of various caliber bullets, magazines filled with ammo for the various guns, several pistols, and two more hunting rifles. He tossed me a mag for my pistol.

“Give me your partial.” I first checked to be sure the new mag would fit in the gun. When I saw that it did, I gave him the partial. He filled it with bullets then tossed it back to me.

“Now that that’s all taken care of” Jeff said, “can we go now?”

“Ready when you are” I said as I put away my pistol and carried my new rifle.

“Then let’s go. Don’t want to be out there all night.”

It was quite dark outside despite it only being six o’clock in the evening. Since it was autumn, it meant that it became darker early so I wasn’t surprised by this. I could barely see the stars and moon since the trees blocked the sky. As much as I hated not seeing the night sky, I could live with it since this meant those Pegasi couldn’t see us from the air. Jeff and Jeremy went east and I followed them closely.

“Now listen up” Jeremy said in an authoritative tone, “you maybe one of us, but that doesn’t mean I trust you more than if a random stranger showed up and asked me to do something. You’re new to this group and while you have shown part of your abilities, you have a long way to go before I’ll even consider letting you do tasks on your own. Right now, you do what we say, when we say it. Anything done without our consent will be regarded as disobedience and will be punished as such.”

“Now now Jeremy” Jeff interrupted, “we don’t want to go so far as to prevent him from doing anything without asking.” He looked at me. “He’s right about our orders though. You do what we say until you prove yourself worthy to us. Understand?”

“Yes sir” I replied.

“Good.” We stopped at the top of a small hill. “Now, there’s not much to this patrol thing. All you have to do is be sure everything is in order. If something looks off, report it to Mac. He knows the area better than any of us and he’ll know how to respond to it.”

“Easy enough.”

“Yes, it is. But first, you have to get yourself familiar with the area. You’ll get a basic overlook tonight, but we’ll expect you to know the area quite well the next time you do this.”

“Also” Jeremy said, “there are three types of patrols we perform: basic, intermediate and extensive. The only difference between them is the area you’ll be searching: 100 foot, 300 foot, and 500 foot radiuses respectfully. While it may not seem necessary to look beyond a hundred feet,”

“The terrain makes it necessary to do so” I interrupted. “The numerous hill and trees make it difficult to see things from certain points so we have to go past those objects to get a better view.”

“You catch on quickly. Maybe you will be useful after all. See where we’re standing?” I nodded. “This is about a hundred feet from our house.”

You're actually going to refer to the shelter as a house?

“Yes I am.” Damn it I did again! “Anyway, see that tree over there?” He pointed to a tree that split into three pieces and looked more like a tall bush. “That’s about 300 feet out. You can’t see the 500 foot mark because of that hill” I didn’t need guidance to see that, “but there’s a stump just beyond that marks the point.”

“That’s quite a distance when you see it in person.”

“Agreed” Jeff said. “That’s why we have these markers so we know how far we need to go.”

“Usually, we just walk the outer perimeter” Jeremy said. “We don’t see everything but it’s the most effective way to do a patrol. Mac knows about this and actually likes it.”

I wasn’t so sure about this method despite Mac’s ‘approval’ of it, but we’ll see how good it is.

“Anyway” Jeff said, “let’s get this over with. I don’t want to stay out here too long.”

“Agreed” I said. “Let’s go.”

“Pop quiz!” Jeremy said. “What kind of perimeter search did Joe ask for?”

“He didn’t” I answered. “Mac asked us to do a basic perimeter search.”

Jeremy had a grin on his face. “So you were paying attention, good. Let’s start by heading south. You saw most of the area so it should be easy to see if any changes happened.”

As we walked, I kept a sharp eye for anything that stood out as odd or unusual. The light admitted from our foreheads was quite helpful though it was causing my forehead to itch. To my surprise, this circling the perimeter technique was indeed effective at analyzing the area. Very rarely could I not see the shelter or see the area beyond it.
The only problem I had was identifying threats. Because we were in the woods, most of what I saw was very similar to the next except for the shape of the ground. The longer we were out, the darker it became. Soon, we were only able to see the area that our lights shined on making the analyzing process longer as we passed.

We were half way done when the terrain became less flat and more of rolling hills. We had to go out a bit farther so we could get to the top of the higher hills. This expanded our view tremendously but was rather pointless since our lights didn’t have the power to illuminate the new area. Still, we didn’t find anything that required our attention.

We were nearly done when I saw the outline of a hill that was no more than fifty feet ahead. There was nothing different about this hill from the other ones I’ve saw but for some reason, my curiosity was getting the better of me.

“I’m gonna check what’s beyond that hill” I told them.

“Why?” Jeremy asked in a slightly annoyed tone. I could tell his suspicions of danger were quenched and he wanted to end this patrol as soon as possible.

“I don’t know; want to mix things up a bit. Also have a feeling something’s beyond it.”

Jeremy sighed. “Be quick about it.”

“I will.”

I jogged to the top of the hill. At first, it looked like all of the other areas we’ve analyzed. However, as I looked closer, I saw something at the edge of my light. I looked at it and saw something purple laying there. I aimed my rifle at the object but this just messed with my light. I put the rifle down and took out my pistol.

“What do you see?” Jeff asked as he noticed me changing weapons. I continued to analyze the object from a far only to realize the object lying there… was a unicorn?
My eyes must be playing tricks on me.

I signaled for Jeff and Jeremy to come over. “You wanna take a look at this.”

As I heard them come over, I went down the hill to further analyze this creature, pistol in hand. When I got there, I noticed that both the tale and mane of this creature was a dark purple with a streak of pink running down the middle of it. (From this, I assumed it was female.) As I run my hand through her mane analyzing each hair, I was surprise to figure out it was natural and not dyed. On her rear, there was a large pink star surrounded with five small white ones which also appeared to be natural as well.

I smelled the air around me and could clearly smell the scent of blood. When I analyzed her lower body, I noticed a massive gash that went down her body becoming wider as it got closer to her… front hooves? (Whatever they were, they sure weren’t feet.) This puzzled me as I had no idea as to how such a wound was even possible. There was also a pool of blood at her feet that took up the area of a paper plate. To my surprise, she wasn’t bleeding further.

“Why’d you leave your rifle up here?” Jeff said from the top of the hill.

I turned my head and said, “Can’t aim down its sights without my light shifting on me.” Jeremy then came into view. “You both wanna take a look at this.”

As they went down the hill, I noticed some bags a few feet in front of me with the same pink star as on the ponies’ rear. I got up and tried to open them only to realize that the straps keeping the bags closed were locked. Since I didn’t have a knife to rip open the bags, I left them alone and went back to the body.

“Oh my god” Jeremy and Jeff both said as they realized what they were looking at.

“Yea” I said. “Who would’ve thought this would be here beyond that hill?”

Jeff analyzed the creature checking for vitals and other things. I then realized that there was no golden armor nearby only increasing my interest in this unicorn even more.

I was about to point this out when Jeff exclaimed “No way!”

“What is it?” I asked. Jeff had a shocked expression on his face.

“Jeff, what did you find?” Jeremy asked.

Jeff looked at us both. “This creature’s alive!”

“What!?”

“Impossible” I retorted. “If the gash didn’t kill her, she bled out. Look.” I pointed to the gash. “She’s not bleeding.”

“I know, but that only raises more questions. Touch her neck as if looking for a pulse.”

I did so and was astonished. Not only was her body warm, she had pulse… barely. I then noticed her chest expand and contrast meaning she was breathing… but just barely.

“I don’t know how” Jeff said, “but she’s managed to keep herself alive.”

“I say we end it now” Jeremy said as he pulled up his AR 15.

“No!” I exclaimed putting my arms between her and the gun.

Jeremy looked at me with surprise. “Why not? These damn things have attacked our homeland. They’ve done so much damage.”

“That was the work of soldiers” I retorted. “Do you see anything indicating she’s one?” Jeremy looked for her armor, but couldn’t find any. “Besides, even if she was a soldier, they get their orders from their commanders who get their orders from their superiors until we get the leaders of this faction. Killing a soldier won’t end this war.”

Jeremy looked bewildered at my response. “Whether or not she is indeed a solider, she still poses a threat to our safety. If she is allowed to live, she could betray us and take us to the enemy. Who knows what they’ll do to us if we are a prisoner.”

I couldn’t think of a counter argument for this. “Look, let’s get Mac over here and discuss the situation with him. After all, he is the leader of the group and he needs to know what’s going on before we do something we’ll regret.”

“I agree” Jeff said. “There are many reasons to both spare and kill this… unicorn. We need to get the big picture before taking action.”

Jeremy looked impatient. He lowered his weapon. “Fine, but I’m staying here to make sure nothing is done to her in the meantime.”

“As will I” I said.

Jeff looked startled. “Guess that means I’m going.” He got up and looked at both of us. “Give me your rifles.”

“What?” Jeremy and I said in astonishment.

“Give me your rifles. I don’t want either of you to go shoot each other while I’m gone.”

“What if others show up?” Jeremy asked.

“Then we’re fucked. Plain and simple.” Jeff then handed Jeremy is pistol. “You can have this if you feel like you need protection.”

Jeremy looked annoyed, but he took the pistol. “Fine. We’ll both have pistols.” He then gave up his AR 15.

“Fair enough” I said as I gave Jeff my rifle. He slung his rifle over his shoulder and carried our weapons in each hand.

“I’ll be right back.” He then hustled over the hill and left the two of us alone.

Chapter 4: Choices

The time waiting for Mac to get here was the tensest experience I’ve ever faced up to that point in my life. Jeremy and I watched each other intently waiting for someone to make a move. I was glad our rifles were taken away. If they weren’t, we would’ve pointed them at each other the entire time and if one of us fired, well I surely would’ve been the one killed.

I wasn’t angry at Jeremy for wanting to kill the unicorn. I understood why he wanted her to die and to some extent I agreed with him. However, the situation just didn’t make it seem right to do so.

Finally, Jeff and Mac showed up. Mac was carrying a lantern while Jeff had a massive first aid kit.

“I thought we said we weren’t going to anything until Mac approved of something” Jeremy said to Jeff.

“Correct” Mac said. “We aren’t doing anything to the creature just yet. I asked him to bring it just in case one of you decided to shoot the other.” I don’t think he was being honest, but I wasn’t going to argue.

Mac looked at the unicorn. “So this is the fine specimen we have here?” He leaned over it and analyzed it. “You’re right about her being in horrible shape. I don’t know if we could even save her if we wanted to. In fact, I’m unsure if even the best hospitals could save her.”

What a great way to begin the conversation.

“We’ve discussed this with Joe and Shela. Joe said he’d back whatever decision Richard makes and Shela thinks it needs to die.”

“I’ve decided to not vote on this issue” Jeff said.

“And I’m not sure what to do just yet” Mac said.

“So if we put it to a vote right now” I said, “It would be a three way tie since Jeremy wants to kill her and I want to save her if that’s indeed possible.”

“I see.” Mac paused for a moment. “Since you two seem to disagree on what to do, why don’t you present me your reasons for me to take your side?”

“I thought that was the plan to begin with” Jeremy said.

“Same here” I replied.

“Technically” Mac said, “I’m the leader of this group so what I say goes no matter what the group thinks. However, since our group is evenly divided and I can’t decide what to do, I guess I’ll need some… persuasion as to what action should be done.”

“Fair enough” I said. “So how are we going to ‘persuade’ you? Have a debate about what to do?”

“Something like that. One of you will present a reason why your action is the right one and we will discuss whether or not that point is valid. Once that point is done, the other will make a point and the process repeats until either a decision has been made or we’re just tired of discussing this topic. Is that fair for you two?”

I looked at Jeremy. He didn’t seem to mind this method. “If Jeremy likes it” I said, “we’ll do it.”

“I’m ok with it” Jeremy said. “It’ll be nice to hear the consequences of each decision.”

“Very well then” Mac said. “Richard, you go first.”

I was hoping Jeremy would get to go first, but oh well. Can’t get everything you want.

“Ok then” I said. I thought about what to say first.

Has to be a good point.

After a while, I thought of one. “I think this unicorn has some useful information.” I let everyone take in the thought. “Take a look; she’s not wearing any battle armor. This means she had no intention of getting into a conflict.”

“We don’t know that for sure” protested Jeremy. “We didn’t look around this area when we found her meaning the body armor could be nearby. Besides, she could’ve been taking a break and decided to take off the armor while she rested and then got attacked.”

“Doing that in the middle of a warzone is unlikely. Besides, I don’t think soldiers would be carry bags like that if they intended to get into a fight.” I pointed towards the bags.

“I noticed those coming down here” Mac said. “Jeff, could you see what’s in those bags? Maybe we can figure out who she is with the content inside.”

Jeff went over to the bags and tried to open them. When he couldn’t, he took out a pocket knife and tried to rip the bag open.

“This stuff’s tougher than Kevlar” he said. “My knife’s not gonna be able to cut through it.”

“Must be a special type of material” I said.

“Maybe” Jeremy said, “Though it doesn’t prove anything. All the soldiers could’ve received bags made of the same stuff.”

“Perhaps, but look at the belt attaching the straps together.” They looked. “It matches the mark on the unicorn’s rear. If you ask me, there’s a good change this was custom made for her and not standard issued.”

Mac looked indifferent. “I’ve made up my mind on this point.” He looked at Jeremy. “Your turn to make your case.”

“Very well then” Jeremy replied. “Right now, she is a threat to our safety in more ways than one. For starters, her mere presence threatens to bring unnecessary attention to our base. There is a strong possibility that there are scouts out here looking for her despite her level of importance. The closer she is to our base, the more likely it is we’ll be discovered and our safety will be compromised.”

“So?” I retorted. “Killing her won’t make her any more or less likely for scouts to discover our location. Besides, moving her towards our base may divert their attention away from us since they won’t have any clues or reasons as to where we are located.”

“Or it can give them that many more clues and reasons to look in our area since the previous area lacked them.”

“Same with moving her away from our location.”

Mac considered this. “What other threats does she pose on us? You did say there was more than one so let’s hear them.”

“Biological threats.” Jeremy replied. Mac looked just as confused as I felt with that statement. “Look, she’s not from our world so it’s safe to assume that other diseases might be lurking on her. Therefore, the longer she stays around, the more likely it is we might contract something just like the Ancient Americans did when the Europeans came over.”

I had to counter this statement. “If any of these diseases could’ve been spread, I think one of us would’ve gotten something before we got here.” Now everyone was looking at me suspiciously. “Think about it. When they came, they swarmed us by the hundreds, maybe thousands, and we were all close to them. If the diseases were spread by air, we already have it in some form or another so having one here wouldn’t make much of a difference.”

“What about by contact?” Jeff said. “Some viruses spread by touch. None of us have touched one of these beings except for Richard and I so we could’ve contracted something.”

I could counter this. “Joe can confirm what I’m about to say. When we were heading to the rendezvous, one of the pegasi landed on the top of our vehicle and in order to get him off, I threw it off the vehicle. If the disease spreads from creature to human to human, I already have it and probably the rest of us have it.” I looked at Jeremy. “Anything other threats you think she can possess now?”

Jeremy seemed to have a trick up his sleeve. “In the off chance she does come back, we don’t know if she’ll be cooperative with us or not. She could reveal her position to her allies or turn on us and kill us while our guard is down. We just don’t know enough about her to take such a chance.”

He has a point. How do I counter an argument like that?

“You guys didn’t know much about me when you first saw me. Perhaps you still don’t.” I looked at Mac. “Either way, you still trusted me enough and allowed me to venture with the group-”

“Only cause two of us knew something about you beforehand” Jeremy interrupted. “This situation isn’t the same as yours because none of us knows anything about her except that her race has attacked us and we-”

“I’ve heard enough about this point” Mac said. At this point, I couldn’t tell which side he favored more. Mac looked at me. “Have any other points you’d like to bring up?”

That I did. “What if the tables were turned? What if we were her and she was us? What would you want her to do to you?”

“Kill me” Jeremy responded, “that way she can’t get any of the secrets I possess.”

“That’s easy to say, but if you have no secrets to hide, what then? You would’ve died for nothing.” I addressed Mac. “I don’t know what these creatures are, what they would do or what they are capable of, but we don’t have to treat them as if they are not equals. We maybe at war, but ethics and morality still apply and if we’re not careful, we’ll lose who we are.”

Jeremy responded, “There are times where we must put ethics aside to save ourselves”

“And now is not the time to put them aside” I retorted. “Look, I can kill them as easily as anyone else, but I must have a reason to do so. On the way here, I was attacked and I could kill them since my life was on the line. Here, there is no clear threat being presented and if I kill her, I might as well have murdered another human.”

There was a long pause. “Jeremy” Mac said implying it was his turn to make a statement.

He looked at Jeff. “Mac said that you claim the unicorn is in critical condition did you not?”

Jeff looked surprised at the question. “Theoretically, yes. I don’t know the anatomy of unicorns, but if they are similar to that of humans, then she is in unstable condition.”

Jeremy had a grin on his face. “And would you say that the odds of her surviving are rather slim?”

Jeff thought about that. “If we were in a hospital like Mac said earlier, she would have a…” he did some calculations in his head, “56 percent chance of survival I think. Not exactly favorable odds, but miracles have happened before.”

“What about these circumstances?”

“These?” He did some more calculations. “From what I’m willing to perform, less than 3%.”

Jeremy looked at Mac. “Even if she is innocent and can end up helping us somehow, do you really want to use what little resources we have on those slim odds?”

He had a valid argument, and used Jeff as his source.

Cleaver one I'll give you that.

But, like all arguments, there had to be some kind of leverage I could use. I thought vigorously.

I looked at Jeff. “If you were to get permission, somehow, to perform first aid on her right now, what would you use on her?” Any chance I had on persuading Mac now rested on his shoulders, and I wasn’t sure how he would respond.

“You guys need to warn me before you put me into your arguments” Jeff replied. “For what I would use…” he opened the first aid box and looked at what he had. He considered his options for a few moments. “For starters, I would not use any medicines on her. Without knowing how these creatures would react to the drugs, she could easily die from an allergic reaction to the stuff.” I figured he would say this much. “However” he took out a small brown bottle, “I would use some hydrogen peroxide on the wound to clean it up. Not too much, but enough so that I’d be confident the chance of infection is rather low.”

“How much would you use?” Jeremy asked.

“Not even a quarter of the bottle. It doesn’t take much to clean a wound so we would have plenty left over to attend to any wounds we may encounter.” He put the bottle away and took out some medical thread and a needle. “Afterwards, I would stich the wound up so that nothing else can enter the body. I think I’d be pushing the power of what the thread can hold, but I’m confident I can mend it.” Jeremy looked concerned about the amount of thread he had. I must admit I was feeling the same way. It wasn’t a lot and we may need it later on.

“How much thread would we have left if you were able to mend it?” I asked.

“I wouldn’t worry about that” Jeff said. “I managed to scavenge some extra thread with me before we left so we’ll have plenty of thread even if I use all of this up. Besides, if my skill of the needle were needed again, I doubt you would be alive before I could operate on you.”

I addressed Mac. “As Jeff said, we wouldn’t be using enough resources to freak out over. Even if the odds aren’t favorable, I think we should take a chance with what we have to gain from it.”

Mac indicated he didn’t want to hear any more arguments and took everything we said into consideration. I wasn’t sure what he had concluded which made me that much more nervous. All of us waited in anticipation.

After a few minutes, Mac said, “I agree with Jeremy that she does pose a threat to our safety.”

Damn it!

“However, I do not think the threat is significant enough that we need to take action against it. I don’t know if she does have any information that would aid us in the long run, but those bags have made me curious as to why she’s here, though not enough to try and save her.”

One step forward, one step back.

“I think this situation makes the morality of taking her life questionable at best, but I think there’s enough reason not to kill her… not yet anyway.” This flip flopping was testing my patience. “I do think the benefits of saving her are minimum, and the odds of saving her are thinner than a hair. However, since we won’t use much of anything in attempting such a feat, I think the risk might be worth it…”

Mac looked at me. “However, I will only allow this if you accept full responsibility for what happens. If she gets any of us killed or injured, you might as well have done it. If we get captured because of her presence, you might as well be a traitor to us all. You will also have to find the means and resources to aid her. I will not allocate any of our scarce resources to help her. These are the terms you must agree to. Nonnegotiable.”

I blinked in disbelief. “Those are some harsh terms.”

“And they are the only terms I offer. Do you accept them?”

I paused. “Let me think this through.”

“Please do.”

Gosh. Was I willing to accept such a burden? I mean, the odds of this being favorable... ugh, this is too much. I had to ask myself many questions: Why do you want to do this? Are you willing to take the responsibility of another life? Are the benefits really worth the consequences?

I contemplated all this for several minutes which tested everyone’s patience including my own. In the end, I had made a decision, and I had a reason to back it.

“While I was heading over here, I saw many people being attacked. I saw many innocent beings tortured and there wasn’t a single thing they could do about it. During this trip, I wanted to help them out so bad, but I forced myself to hold back aid knowing it would probably kill me if I helped. This has slowly chipped at my thoughts even if I wasn’t giving them much attention at all.”

I looked at Mac. “I wouldn’t accept your term, but I’ll be damned if I let myself walk away from another suffering, innocent soul, even if they aren’t on our side. We maybe at war, but my conscious won’t use that as an excuse to let me destroy who I am at heart. I don’t know if the soul before us is innocent, but like our justice system, I’ll look at her as innocent until we can prove she is guilty. So, as much as I hate this, I accept your terms and the responsibilities and burdens that come with it so I can save myself.”

Everyone was stunned with what I just said. I must admit, I was surprised that I said what I did. Jeremy looked a bit disappointed at the decision, but he seemed to understand why it was happening.

Mac seemed satisfied with my answer. “Very well.” He handed me his lantern. “You and Jeff will fix her up using only the materials Jeff said he would use” he turned to Jeff, “that is if you are willing to do such a thing.”

Jeff was taken back a bit. “I meant what I said, so I will mend her wounds.”

“Ok then.”

“Can we move her closer to the shelter” I asked, “and perhaps place her on the table so she doesn’t have a greater chance of getting infected?”

“You can move her as close to the shelter as you like, but she stays outside.”

“I wouldn’t put her on the table though” Jeff interrupted. “It’s not large enough to support her and I fear it may harm her more than if she laid on a bare patch of ground.”

“Makes sense” I said.

Mac looked at Jeremy. “Let’s grab the bags and leave them to their work. Don’t want to cause them to mess up because we distracted them.” Jeremy agreed, grabbed the bags, and went back to the shelter with Mac.

For the next two hours, we treated the gash the purple unicorn had on her chest. Jeff did most of the work while I just held the lantern so he could see what he was doing. I kept my head turned away most of the time since the sight of the stitches going through her was a bit gruesome for me.

When he was finished, I asked him, “Want to help me move her up to the shelter?”

“You gonna move her whether or not I help you?” I nodded. “Well, might as well. Don’t want to ruined my handy work cause you did something stupid.”

“Thanks man.”

Jeff carried the front end leaving me with the rear which was… awkward to say the least. The walk may have been short, but carrying the unicorn made it seem much harder than it really was. When we got to the shelter, we cleared out an area near the north side and gently placed the body down. Jeff then grabbed a water bottle he brought with him, cleaned his hands, and gave the bottle to me to which I did the same.
By the time we were done, we were both exhausted. Honestly, I didn’t really care what the others thought of this; I just wanted to get some sleep. When I entered the shelter, I didn’t focus on anything except me getting some sleep. I grabbed a sleeping bag and a foam pad, made enough room for me to lay down in, unrolled the padding, unrolled the bag over the padding, entered the sleeping bag, and tuned out the world as I fell asleep.

When I opened my eyes, I saw the unicorn floating over the table with white light gushing out of her eyes. A field of energy surrounded her which blinded me as I tried to understand the situation. Everyone was standing up and had their guns aimed at the creature.

“What the hell is going on?” Shela exclaimed to Mac.

Before he could respond, the unicorn shot lightning out of her body at everyone but me causing them do vanish in a burst of light. I laid there terrified at what just happened. As I stared at the creature, her eyes turned to mine.

As we looked at each other, I asked “Who are you?”

She responded with a bolt of lightning to my torso. My vision suddenly went white.

I jolted up from my sleeping bag painting for breath as I noticed the room was dark and everyone was sleeping. I breathed a sigh of relief.

It was just a dream.

This just made me question my decision to save this creature more which gave me a slight headache. As I rubbed my head, the door opened. It was Shela.

“Are you ok?” she asked. “I was just on patrol duty when I heard-”

“I’m fine” I said as I tried to catch my breath. “Just a bad dream.” I let out several sighs as I tried to relax from what I saw.

Shela looked at me curiously. “You questioning your decision to spare that unicorn?”

I nodded. “That dream made me do just that.” I explained what I experienced to her.

“Gosh. That’s… something. I can’t find the right word for it.”

I chuckled. “Terrifying would be the word I’d use.”

“If you say so.” There was a pause. “Mac told us what you said to him.”

“Did he now?”

“Yea. I don’t necessarily agree with sparing her life, but I can understand why you though so after what he said.”

“What else could I do?”

She gave me a serious look. “Trust me when I say this. Unless something happens that causes us harm, don’t question your decision no matter what. The more you think about it, the more you’ll go crazy over it. The last thing we need right now is more craziness; that city girl’s got too much of it as it is and I don’t want you turning into her because you made the decision that you did.”

I chuckled. “I suppose you’re right… Anyway, I’m gonna try to go back to sleep.”

“Yea. Guess I should go back on patrol as well. Goodnight Richard.”

“See ya in the morning Shela.”

As she closed the door behind her, I lay back down and went back to bed.

Prologue

Canterlot, the capital city of Equestria, was bussing with activity. The inhabitance were going about with their daily routine except for its leaders who were holding an emergency meeting at the royal palace at the request of Princess Celestia, the leader of Equestria. She and Princess Luna, Celestia’s sister and secondary leader, were in a conference room filled with advisors, local leaders, concerned citizens and special interest groups. Here, they were discussing about recent events and what the proper course of action should be. Celestia and Luna listened to every suggestion and considered every consequence that came with each action.

This started at around noon and continued until dusk. Celestia then announced “I appreciate all of your suggestions and understand all of your concerns. I will make sure to put these things into consideration when I make my decision.” Afterwards, the room was cleared except the princesses and a few of Celestia’s guards. When the doors closed, Celestia then released a sign of relief thankful that the ordeal was over. Luna looked over at her sister and could see that she was exhausted. She wanted to say something to her but she couldn’t find the right words.

The room was silent for a moment, and then Celestia said “I’m going to announce my decision tomorrow after the sun rises.” Luna looked at her sister with concern. It was far too soon to be making such a decision especially with all of the options out on the table, most of which they haven’t analyzed thoroughly. Despite this, she could tell her had sister made up her mind despite the fact that she appeared displeased with her choice. Both of them had discussed this matter before so she knew what Celestia was going to do.

“Are you sure about this?” Luna asked. Celestia nodded. “Are you sure there is no other way to resolve this? I mean, there are plenty of other things we could try before we attempt such a feat. Our people haven’t had to do this in…” she hesitated, “I just don’t think we are ready for this.”

Celestia acknowledge her concerns. She replied, “I was thinking the same thing, but I just can’t see any other way to resolve the situation. We have other things we can do and we were given new suggestions at the assembly. However, all of these ideas resembled those of which we have already considered to be futile.” She paused. “I know we lack the proper skills, training, and technology needed to compete with the problem at hand, but I do believe we will prevail. Our country has pulled through thick and thin before and I have little doubt our citizens will be able to pull through for us once again.”

“But this is not like any problem we have faced before” protested Luna. “Sure there are some situations that have been ‘similar’ to the one we face, but it has been centuries since we have had to encounter something of this magnitude. The ponies that faced this threat are long gone and most don’t even remember the stories of their struggles yet alone understand what they did. I… I just think there has to be another way to resolve this. There just has to.”

Celestia smiled. “You don’t think I dismissed those facts have you?”
“No” Luna replied “but sometimes, we need to be reminded about them.”
“Yes we do. I’ve read the tales of our old friends and while I can’t say I fully understand what they experienced, I do have a good comprehension as to what happened. I have compared these challenges with our own and sized them up with our nation as it is and I do believe we have the ability to face the challenges that lie ahead and win the day.”

Luna did not share in her sister’s confidence. She did, however, say “I hope you’re right. For Equestria’s sake, I hope you’re right.” The two sisters stared at each other for a moment.
Celestia then said, “If it makes you feel any better, I will look over our options one more time tonight. However, if I can’t find one that is better, I will announce our current one at sunrise.”
Luna smiled, “Yea. You do that.” She then left the room leaving Celestia to ponder as to what will happen next.

My god I can’t believe it happened. I can’t believe everything that went down. Seriously, when I think back, it sometimes seems like it was just a dream. But no, there’s too much evidence to prove it did happen. The witnesses, the cities, the bodies... god all the bodies! Their smell, appearance… the sheer number of them! I swear they haunt me in my dreams. They all wish that I was there so they could be here! But I’m getting ahead of myself.

My name is Richard Miller. I was a 5 foot 8, 140 pound guy who was 19 years old living in southern West Virginia with a slightly geeky personality. Many stories have been told regarding my role in the following events, but this is the only part that all of the stories seem to agree with. Some call me a hero while others claim I was a reckless fool. A handful even suggest I was a traitor or even a double agent.

What I am about to describe to you today is what most of the stories seem to lack: the truth. This story will be told through my memories, how I saw events through my own eyes and what each moment felt through my own sensations. I want people to understand what really went down in those woodlands. I don’t care if I dispel many popular theories or discredit the highest ranking people because the truth doesn’t care and I want to tell it. You can determine for yourself if I am a hero or a villain since I honestly don’t know which one I am. This is my story.

Chapter 1: Entering the Frey

From what I can recall, my story begins when I was on my way to a friend’s house on November 22 at around noon. I haven’t seen him since we graduated high school and I wanted to catch up on everything we missed out on. My dad was driving our minivan with our mom in the front passenger seat while my brother and I were sitting in the back. They were heading down towards Georgia so my brother, who was a senior in high school, could look at a college. I was never told which college he would be looking at but I assumed it had a good marine biology program since he wanted to work with whales and dolphins at Sea World. Nonetheless, they agreed to drop me off at my friend’s house since I didn’t have a license yet and they knew I really wanted to see him. We were all in casual clothes suited for a cool day; I was wearing black Under Armor, jeans, a t-shirt, and some slightly worn blue tennis shoes.

We were on the main road when my brother turned up the volume on is mp3 player jamming out to the beat of the song and becoming oblivious to his surroundings. I could hear the music through his ear buds which is annoying since it sounded like one of those spinning toys children play with at parties.
“Turn your music down man” I told him, but he didn’t seem to hear me. I asked again in a higher tone but he was still focused on his tunes.

My mother turned around and tapped him on the shoulder and said calmly, “I can hear your music from up here.” That seemed to get his attention so he, reluctantly, turned his music down.

We went pass the small shopping center the town had and turned into a street where there were a bunch of houses. Most of these houses had fading paint, trashy yards and poorly maintained vehicles in the driveways which made me feel a little uncomfortable. I wouldn’t go so far as to say it was a ghetto but I was accustomed to better living conditions than what was being presented.

“Are you sure we’re in the right place?” my mom asked me.

I was about to say yes but my dad answered, “Of course we’re in the right place honey. I read the directions and it said to turn right after we passed the shopping center.” My mom could be a bit of a backseat driver at times which annoyed both me and my dad at times, but she was just a mother concerned about her children and we all still loved her dearly.

“Now, which house did you say your friend stayed at?” my dad asked.

“Should be the last one on the right” I replied. “He said it was more of a trailer, but it should be rather new.”

My mom now had a concerned look on her face and, for once, I didn’t blame her. If I knew someone was going to an area like this, I would feel the same way for them. There were some kids playing in the street so we had to take it easy since the road was only wide enough for one and a half cars.

We continued our way down until we reached the end of the road. There, just like my friend said, there was a 40 foot long by eight foot wide grey trailer that appeared to be about a year old. In the middle of the patchy yard, my friend was waving at us. He was about the same height as me with black hair, brown eyes and looked quite skinnier than I was. I swear he still has those bony arms and hands though his legs seemed to have some meat on them.

I got out of the van and told him, “What’s up Joe? Hadn’t seen you in a while.”

Joe replied “Not too much Richard. Just glad you could come over.” He had a slight southern accent to his voice but I hardly noticed it since I was used to hearing it over the years.

“Glad you called me when you did” I said. “Family’s going to Georgia to look at colleges over the weekend so I don’t have anything to do back at home.”

Joe chuckled. “Guess I have good timing. Want me to help you with your bags?”

“No I got it. Only brought my backpack with me.” I then went to the back of the van, opened the hatch and brought out my black backpack which contained my laptop, toiletries, a canteen out on the side, and a change of clothes. After closing the hatch, my mom lowered her window.

I went over to her and she said, “Well, we’ll be back here Sunday afternoon. Hope you have a good time and stay safe.”

“I will mom. You don’t need to worry about me.”

“I know, but you’re still my son.” She kissed me on the cheek.

“Have a good time in Georgia” I said as I backed away from them. My family waved goodbye as my dad did a three-point-turnabout and drove off. I waved back until they were about half way down the road.

“You are such a goody two-shoes” Joe told me.

I shrugged. “I like my family. Just want them to be sure they know that every now and then.”

Joe rolled his eyes. “Why don’t I lead ya inside? Got a lotta things to catch up on.” I nodded and we went inside.

In the trailer, there was a small kitchen to our left with a sink, stove and a refrigerator. Through the kitchen, there was the living room with a 40 inch TV and some gaming consoles on the far wall and a couch and table on the other side. Beyond that, there was a room with the door closed of which I assumed was a bathroom. To the right, there was a bedroom with a queen size bed on the floor and a small bathroom beyond that. Everything was relatively modern or at least in better condition than the one party I went to where most of the house was dated with a hole in the floor and the place smelled like mold.

“Are your parents here?” I asked noticing that no one else was around.

“My dad’s off at work and my ma’s out shopping” Joe answered. “Got the whole place to ourselves till she gets back.”

“Sweet.” I then placed my bag by the sofa, sat down, and turned on the TV.

“Can I get you a drink?” Joe asked.

“I’m good” I replied. “Got my canteen right here filled up with my favorite drink.” I never enjoyed soda due to its carbonation so I always carried a canteen with me filled with some flavored water.

I went flipping through the channels trying to find something good to watch when my friend said, “So I hear you’re attending college.”

“Yea” I said. “U.C.L.A.” U.C.L.A. stood for University of Concord located in Athens (WV). Most alumni preferred to reference the school by that name rather than Concord University.

“How’s it like?”

“Much better than high school.”

“Do anything interesting?” I was afraid he was going to ask that. While at school, I might have done some activities that would ruin my innocent image. I wasn’t ashamed to share what I did with him but at the time, I was unsure as to how to present it to my friend.

“Nothing in particular” I ended up saying but my friend wasn’t satisfied with my answer. There was a pause. I sighed and said, “Can we talk about it later? It’s too soon to talk about that and I want to watch something good right now.”

Joe looked at me with a confused gaze. “Ok then” he said slowly. There was a pause. I was still flipping through the channels and I wasn’t seeing any show worth watching. “There’s never anything good to watch out here. Why don’t we play a video game instead?”

“Racing game?” I asked. Both of us were massive fans of racing games so I had a feeling he would be more than willing to play one.

“You know it” he replied.

For the next couple of hours, we played a variety of racing games. He almost always beat me at the arcade style games but I gave him a run for his money on the more realistic driving games. I just beat him again and he was complaining that I was somehow cheating. We were both competitive when it came to games. I let him complain since I did the same thing to him when he was beating me earlier.

Suddenly, my phone starts to ring. I check to see who was calling and it’s my friend Nate from college. “I have to take this” I tell Joe. “Maybe you can let out some steam while I’m out.” He gave me the bird of which I replied with a snicker and went outside. I answered the phone.

“Hello?” I said

“Hey Richard, what’s up?” Nate said in his rusty voice.

“At a friend’s house for the weekend while my family’s out. Beating him at a racing game right now.”

“That’s good to hear.” I heard him type something on his keyboard. “I suppose you haven’t been paying attention to the news recently then?”

“That’s right.” This made me interested since Nate never calls me to discuss the news despite his love for it.

“Well, I just finished watching the president address the nation and-”

“What?!” I nearly shouted. I knew the president had at speech next week but since there wasn’t a recent disaster, I was unsure why he would decide to give one now.

“It was an emergency broadcast… speech or something” Nate explained. “I managed to catch the last part of it.”

“What’s going on?”

“The entire east coast, or at least everything east of the Mississippi, is supposed to undergo some kind of emergency lockdown.” Lockdown? By the president? I was obviously missing something.

“Why’s that?”

“Don’t know. I’m trying to figure that out.”

I was becoming concerned. “Did they mention anything about the DEFCON levels?”

“Not from what I heard.” He was still typing something on his computer. “Hold on I think I found something.” There was a pause. He was murmuring something to himself. I think he was reading an article. “Ok I’m on CNN right now and they are mentioning that the emergency procedures are supposed to be related to when an invasion happens on the mainland.”

I was confused. “I-invasion? H-how… who’s invading?”

“The white house didn’t say. However, we are at DEFON 1 right now so something is going on.” I know that level is the highest alert we could be at and since this would be the first time our country has been at that level, the situation must be bad. “Anyway, you might want to inform your friend about this. For now, I’d gather any firearms you might have, stay indoors, and prepare for the worse.”

I sighed. “Ok then. H-”

“I have to go now. I’ll tell you any new information I get my hands on.” He ended the call.

I just stood there trying to process all of this new information. After a few moments, I turned around to go back inside when I suddenly saw a bunch of unusual shadows go across the trailer. I looked up and I saw objects flying across the sky. I turned around and I was in disbelief as to what I saw. I was expecting to see paratroopers falling from the sky but instead I saw… horses with wings- Pegasi I think- flying above us. They were all in golden colored armor and there were hundreds, maybe thousands of them, covering the sky.

“Uh… Joe” I managed to say as I tried to comprehend what was happening.

“I see them too” Joe said. I looked at him standing in front of the entryway. “We have to get out of here now!” he declared knocking me out of my confusion.

“Right” I said. As much as I wanted to take Nate’s advice and stay put, it was obvious we wouldn’t hold out long if these Pegasi decided to go on the offensive. Joe went to the bedroom while I went to the living room and grabbed my backpack. “I hope you have a plan of some sort” I stated.

“I got one.” I could hear him knocking items over. I went over and saw him carrying a hiking backpack filled with various survival gear, some kind of hunting rife with a magazine attached to it, and a bag filled with magazines for the rifle. “Ya need a weapon?” Joe then asked.

I shook my head. “I already have one.” I pulled a 9 millimeter pistol from the back of my pants and cocked it showing it was loaded and ready for use. I think Joe realized why I was reluctant to speak about college earlier but he decided not to push the issue.

“Good. Ain’t gotta spare one for you anyway.”

“No offense” I said “but we’re not going to go very far with a pistol and your customized hunting rifle.”

Joe smirked. “Hunting rifle? This is my dad’s M1 carbine. He changed the scope on the gun so he could use it to hunt deer. Best part is he didn’t disable its semiautomatic features.” I looked at the gun again and smacked myself across the head for not noticing the carbine’s features earlier. Joe chuckled. “Don’t worry. I thought the same thing the first time I saw it.”

“And I doubt I’ll be the last” I replied. Gunshots could now be heard in the distance indicating that if we wanted to leave the area, we needed to do so fast.

Joe put on his pack and said in a serious manner, “Keep your gun out and follow me.” He then cocked his carbine and went out the door. I followed close behind him.

“Where are we headed?” I asked.

“Four houses down, my friend and I have a vehicle that’s suited for situations like this. She’s out of town right now so I’m sure it’ll be there.”

I was about to ask him about this friend when I heard a crashing sound a few blocks over. I looked and saw some of these Pegasi were on the offensive diving down towards whatever they decided to strike, one of which was diving right at us. I aimed my gun at it ready to shoot when I heard Joe’s carbine go off. The Pegasus lost control and went spiraling down slamming into the ground several feet in front of me. I looked at my friend who had a startled look on his face. I was kind of surprised his shoulder wasn’t blown off since he was so skinny.

“Keep your eyes peeled to the skies” he told me “and only shoot the ones targeting us. We can’t afford to bring any attention to ourselves or waste what limited ammo we have.” I nodded in agreement and we started to run towards our target.

I could now hear many people screaming in fear and agony and my first instinct was to go over and help them. I had to force myself not to reminding myself that Joe was depending on me to get him to safety. Besides, I couldn’t fight these things off with my pistol for very long and even if I could, there was little I could do to aid these people.

We were two blocks away from the house when a police cruiser pulled out of a side street. My friend then froze in fear at the sight of it and I nearly ran into him. I guess he wasn’t used to seeing them in the area so seeing one would surprise him.

The policeman rolled down his window and said, “You guys need to head back inside! You’re better off indoors than you are trying to flee right now.”

My friend was still startled to respond coherently so I told the officer “Understood.” I then padded Joe’s shoulder and told him, “Let’s go; we need to get to your friend’s house. We’ll be safe there.” Joe snapped out of his disoriented state and gave me an approving nod and we were back on our way.

The cop was on the main road as we reached our destination. As I tried to figure out which house was the right one, Joe pointed to the one on the left side of the street which happens to have a grey Land Rover parked in the drive way.

“You’re kidding me!” I said.

“Nope” Joe replied. “That one’s ours.” He showed me the keys as I looked in amazement. “Best part about it is that it’s filled with more survival gear in the trunk. Trust me we’re going to need it.”

What luck, I thought as Joe opened the hatch revealing several totes in the back filled with enough supplies to support a small camping party for nearly a week. We placed our bags in there and Joe gave me his carbine along with the bag of ammunition.

“I’m driving. You make sure those damn things stay off my ride.” I didn’t object to this since I had no idea where we should go yet alone how to get there. I took his weapon and ammo and headed towards the front passenger seat. There, I placed the ammo on the floor and the rifle to my side since I didn’t want to use up his ammunition if my pistol could get the job done. Joe then entered the driver’s seat and started the car. “Remember, keep your eye on the sky” he reminded me. He then drove the car out of the driveway and started heading for the main road.

I lowered my window and stuck my head out, pistol in hand, searching for any threats. The sheer number of targets up there was making my head spin and my friend’s reckless driving wasn’t helping since it was preventing me from keeping a steady hand.

I know the situation is dire, I thought, but do you have to be driving so agressively right now?

“Yes I do.” My friend said as he turned left onto the main road. I was taken aback by his comment but then I realized I spoke out loud. Sometimes, I speak my thoughts out loud and don’t even realize it until someone comments on it.

I look towards the shopping center and saw dozens of Pegasi either on the rooftops or engaged with resisting civilians in the parking lot. Some were trying to enter the vehicles of people who locked themselves inside and I could hear the screams of small children as their aggressors tried to reach them. What a horrifying scene to behold.
I looked towards the rear of the car and saw a Pegasus diving towards us out of the corner of my eye. I aimed my weapon at him (at least I assumed it was male) and was able fired four shots only to see each bullet ricocheting harmlessly off his armor. I did manage to make the Pegasus change its trajectory leaving the vehicle unharmed.

I put away my pistol and grabbed the carbine out. As soon as I stuck my head out, Joe swerved the vehicle to the right forcing me back into my seat and avoiding the van that was just inches away from the door. When I got back into position, I saw another Pegasus heading towards us and landing on the roof before I had a chance to react. Quickly, I brought the rifle to the white Pegasus’s level, aimed it at a gap in his armor, and fired. I could hear the bullet ricocheting between the two plates of armor as the creature fell to its knees. I then noticed that these creatures have eyes about six times larger than what our horses have. I realized that this left a huge weak point in the armor and that I could exploit this flaw later on. With my right hand, I then got a grip on its armor and threw the body off the roof.

Not to self: don't fire a rifle unless you have its butt up against your shoulder. It hurts like hell.

Joe was forced to weave in and out of traffic as it continued to get worse forcing me to get back inside and watch for targets through the windows. I managed to notice one diving towards us and I was able to shoot at it without having to leave my seat. Unfortunately, I was having difficulty aiming at the thing since I wasn’t used to the zoomed in sights and I had to fire three rounds before I managed to take him down.

“I’m gonna make a turn” Joe announced. “Hold on.” He approached the interception with high speeds when I saw two Pegasi, who were in our path, blocking a vehicle in the right crossway. I got out, fired three rounds at them and they got the right idea to move out of the way. I quickly sat back down as Joe made a sharp left hand turn. If I didn’t get a grip on his seat, I would have slammed into my door or been thrown out the window.
Looking ahead, more Pegasi were engaged with both civilians and law enforcement as both sides struggled to gain an edge over each other. I hated speeding on by them but this was not a fight we should to be in at the moment.

Analyzing the sky, there were noticeably fewer enemies but this was no excuse for me to lower my guard any less. In fact, as the city was fading from sight and the noises were becoming less audible, I became more apprehensive. At some points, I was observing multiple targets simultaneously which if I wasn’t as paranoid, I could conclude they posed no threat to us. Time felt like it was slowing down as the minutes ticked away even though they felt like hours.

At some point, Joe pulled me into my seat and said, “Dude, relax. You’re far too tense.” I objected to this at first but as I scanned the skies and saw no threats, I realized he was right.
Soon after, Joe, for the first time, used the brakes as he approached a side street that I knew would lead us to some woods. After he made the turn, I noticed a trio of enemies in formation targeting us. I got the impression that instead of trying to aim for their eyes, I should aim for their wings since they were easier targets to hit and they would leave us alone just as effectively as if I shot their eyes out. With this in mind, I only had to fire five shots at the group causing them to lose control and slam into the ground within a few feet of our vehicle.

The woods were now in eyesight and I could no longer hear the chaos from the city. I also couldn’t see any Pegasi in the sky but I was still reluctant to call it quits since the woods could create an easy place to get ambushed.
As we entered, I saw two Pegasi on some branches ahead of us ready to strike. Unable to get a clear shot at them, I fired off three rounds to keep them at bay. When I tried to fire a fourth shot, I heard that infamous- click- indicating my magazine was empty. I quickly dropped the magazine on the floor, replaced it with a full one, and cocked my weapon.

The two enemies stayed put as we passed them, but a new one appeared down the road. This one was flying straight towards us and I realized I couldn’t react in time to counter his (or her?) movements. I braced for impact but at the last possible moment, the Pegasus gained altitude and missed our vehicle by mire inches. When I realized what happened, I got out and aimed the carbine at my opponent but by the time I did this, it was well out of my range.
I scan the area for more hostiles and after five minutes of this, I found none. At this point, I figured if they were here, we were already dead. I sat in the chair and let out a sigh of relief as I allowed myself to relax.

“So the worried school boy has finally decided to relax?” Joe implied. I laughed at his remark. “Seriously, I don’t think I’ve ever seen you relax since… ever.”

I grinned. “Guess I never did in high school.”
Joe said in a serious tone, “I’m glad I brought you with me.”

I chuckled. “Glad to be with ya” I replied.

“I mean it. If this is happening in our small town, think about what will happen in the big cities.”

“Aye. It’ll be a warzone where every inch counts. While we can flee to the woods for safety, I don’t think the city folks have anywhere safe to go.”

“Exactly.” There was a pause. “Where did you learn to shoot like that?”

“Scouting. They have a merit badge where they teach you how to shoot a rifle.”

Joe laughed. “But not in the way you were taking them bastards out.”

“Gotta learn on the fly I guess.” There was another pause. “So you know where you’re going?”

“Yea. I gotta plan for situations just like this. Don’t you worry. We’ll get through all of this.”

Update

Hi everypony.

It's been a while since I've made a chapter for this hasn't it? Why? Two reasons.

College. I'm currently enrolled in my first year and it takes up a good portion of my day. I can still find time to write the story but:
Writer's block. It is not easy for me to write these chapters when I know there are other activities I want to be doing and I've simply put it off and not find the inspiration to continue the story. It's not that I don't know how I want to progress the story, I just don't like sitting down and typing it on my computer.

Anyway, I have some bad news. My computer has had some technical issues recently and I lost the file for the story. This blows since I had part of the next chapter on it and I really don't want to rewrite it. Also, with my long hiatus, I've forgotten some of the details I put into the story and since I lost the files, it's unlikely that I'll be able to regain those thoughts.

That being said, there might be a silver lining to this. I do want to finish the story, but I think I'm better off starting with a fresh page. I want to start a new story, but have the same premise that this story was suppose to encompase. By doing so, I can implement somethings that I have recently learned into my writings and make the story better.

However, I still want your input as to what should happen next. If you want me to keep the story as it is, I will try and continue to write where I left off. But, if you think the idea of starting anew is a better alternative, I will do that.

One thing I want to make clear is that no matter what choice you guys make, I won't be able to start the story again for a while. I am getting my laptop checked out in the next few days so I don't know how long it'll be before I get it back.

Hope you all understand what's going on and I'll try to answer any questions you may have.

Thanks.