Dead Pony Rising 2

Chapter Three

Worst Has Yet to Come

Date: August 29, 2011 5:10 p.m.

“WHAT?!” Ace asked in his loudest tone. Everypony stood there in silence for a moment.

“I want you to shoot me with your gun.” Diamond says again.

“But…there’s Zombrex.” Ace says. “We can get you some.”

“I don’t want Zombrex…anymore.” She says. “Taking Zombrex twice a day just isn’t the kind of life I’m willing to live. I just can’t imagine Buck’s daughter going through that.”

“But…you’re my whole world.” Ace says. “I haven’t been the same since your mom passed.”

“You’re just going to have to deal with it, Dad.” Diamond says. “Now, quit wasting time and shoot me.” Diamond then kneeled down in front of her father. He slowly and shakily aimed the gun between his daughter’s eyes.

“This is just too much.” He says. “I can’t bring myself to kill my only daughter.” Buck slowly trots up to him and places a hoof on Ace’s shoulder.

“I’ll do it for you if you want.” He says. “I, unfortunately, already have some experience.” Ace stands there for a moment with the gun shaking in his hoof. He turns around to face Buck.

“Please, just make sure she doesn’t suffer.” He says. Buck is about to take the gun, when Ace aims the gun at his neck and pulls the trigger. Blood lands on Buck’s face as Ace’s body collapsed to the ground.

“Daddy! No!” Diamond rushed to her father and wrapped her arms around his body. “You could’ve moved on!” Buck nearly vomited as he watched Diamond try to put her father’s brains back into his skull. “Everything will be fine.” She said sadistically. She then reached for the gun and placed the barrel in her mouth.

Buck turned away the moment she pulled the trigger. The shot rang out throughout the small town. He slowly turned around and saw the top half of her head all over the roof. Buck couldn’t hold it anymore and vomited all over the roof.

“This is by far…the worst day in Equestrian history.” He says wiping some vomit from his lower lip.

*** *** ***

Date: August 29, 2011 6:55 p.m.

Buck slowly trotted into the repair shop; Katey and Juniper cowering behind the broken down chariot. Juniper peaked her head out and saw Buck slowly trotting in with blood all over his shirt and face.

“By Celestia, are you okay?” She asks as her and Katey step out from behind the chariot.

“Physically, I’m at my peak…but mentally, I may have to see a therapist after all this.” Buck says as he trots into the main room of the repair shop. Katey trots back over to the couch she was on all day as Juniper follows Buck.

“Why? What happened?” She asks. “And does it have something to do with those loud gunshots earlier?”

“Yeah…it does.” Buck grabs a bottle of sarsaparilla and sits on the floor.

“So,” Juniper says while sitting down next to Buck, “what happened?”

“Well, do you remember that old stallion at the bank?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, I found his daughter…but she was infected.”

“Oh, no.” Juniper says. “What happened?”

“Well, she told her father that she wanted to die, she couldn’t deal with the fact of taking Zombrex twice a day. Needless to say, Ace pulled the gun on himself and blew his brains all over the roof. Diamond, the mare, freaked out, grabbed the gun, and killed herself.” The two remain in dead silence for a few moments.

“And, I got your jewels.” Buck says as he pulls the necklace out of his back pocket. “Diamond jacked them and claimed they were hers.” Juniper takes them and puts the necklace around her neck. More awkward moments of silence.

“Why did you push me away when I kissed you?” Juniper asks. Buck sips from the bottle and looks over to Juniper.

“I’m…well, I was married…until last night.” He says.

“What happened?” Juniper asks.

“My wife…was attacked by a zombie.” He says with a small choke. “It was in the early hours of the Pegasus outbreak.”

“By Celestia, that’s horrible.” Juniper says.

“But that’s not the worst part…she…” Buck’s watch starts going off and he notices it’s time to give Katey some more Zombrex. “I’ll tell you later.” He says as he gets up and pulls the box out of his front pocket. Katey was sleeping lightly on the couch when he came in to the garage. Buck trots over and kneels down in front of his daughter.

“Katey.” He says shaking her awake. “It’s time for your medicine.” Katey pulls herself up and pulls up the sleeve of her jacket. Buck takes out the syringe and carefully injects the blue serum into her shoulder. He lightly rubbed it and pulled down her jacket sleeve.

“Daddy,” she says, “why did mommy bite me?” Buck started tearing up.

“That wasn’t mommy, sweetheart,” he says, “it just…looked like her.” Suddenly, there was a sound from behind them. Buck turned around to find a giant Clydesdale unicorn trotted in through the back door. He had a massive tank strapped to his back and had a shotgun floating in front of him; a pitchfork crudely duct taped to the barrel. Buck noticed his Cutie Mark was that of welding equipment.

“Hey, buddy,” Buck says, “sorry if this is your place…we just needed to get some supplies.” The Clydesdale looked over Buck’s shoulder and saw Katey slightly cowering behind her father. He chuckled lightly.

“Well, all right, a little’un.” He says in a rough southern accent. “Perfect to complete mah collection.” He chuckles a bit more.

“What the hay are you talking about?” Buck asks. “You stay away from her.” The unicorn starts pacing back and forth.

“Zombies are good huntin’ son,” he says, “kinda’ like shootin’ ponies, but without all the legal hassle.” He smiles evilly as he looks back at Katey. “This here outbreak’s been a pill ‘a fun.” He starts laughing hoarsely. “Ah never liked that feller next door anywho.” He says as he cocks his gun.

“Hey, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa,” Buck says, “listen, she’s not a zombie…she’s just little filly.”

“Oh, Ah seen you give ‘er that shot.” He says. “She’s a zombie alright, now, c’mon now, step aside and let your buddy Weld finish the job.” He slowly trots closer to Buck.

“Katey,” Buck says, “RUN!” Buck then grabs Weld’s gun and starts holding him back as Katey gallops out the back door.

“There’s no call fer that now.” Weld says. “Ya’ know it’s just a matter o’ time. Ah’m just doin’ you a favor.” Weld pushes Buck down the ground and starts trotting to the back door. “Better now than later.” He says as he leaves the garage. Buck pulls himself up and gallops after Weld.

Outside, Weld had his gun aimed in front of him as he searched his junkyard.

“C’mon out now, little’un.” He says. Katey gallops behind him and jumps into a compartment in a broken chariot; Weld turns around and sees Buck standing outside.

“You’re not gonna’ hurt her.” Buck says. “Not over my dead body!” Weld aims his gun at Buck.

“Ah dun had ‘nuff of you, zombie lover.” Weld says angrily. “Get outta’ mah way!” Buck dives behind a chariot just as Weld fired a round in his direction. “You better hide!” Weld shouted. “You stay where you are, Ah might just let you live.” Weld the started trotting to another part of the junkyard. Buck looked around for any kind of weapon he could use. He looked around and found a small hatchet.

He picked it up and looked for Weld. He spotted the crazed unicorn looking through some of the more damaged chariots. Buck took careful aim and threw the hatchet with near perfect precision. The blade struck the hose connecting the welding device to the tank and caused an explosion that sent shrapnel flying in many directions; most of which embedded itself into Weld’s neck.

Weld started suffering major shock as he leaned into the chariots to keep him standing on all four hooves. He looked over at Buck and started shouting at him.

“Ya’ might’ve saved her fer awhile.” He shouts with some bloody coughs. “But somepony will get yer little zombie sooner or later…you can be sure o’ that…it’s only a matter o’ time!” He fell into the chariots and started causing one on the very top to shake violently.

“And If Ah can’t do it…Celestia will!” He fell against the chariots again and pulled himself back up. There was a loud creaking sound and Weld looked up to find a rusty chariot slowly sliding down from the top of the tower. Weld didn’t react enough in time and was crushed by the weight of the chariot. Buck slowly trotted up to Weld’s still twitching corpse and just trotted away. He starts looking around for his daughter; hoping she’s still close by.

“Daddy!” Katey shouted as she climbed out from the compartment she was hiding in.

“Katey?” Buck asks as he turns around. Buck starts galloping to his daughter and helps her out of the chariot. The two share a quick hug and Buck sets her down on the ground; Buck kneels closer to his daughter.

“Don’t you worry, honey.” He says. “Daddy will never let anypony take you away.” She starts hugging her dad. “Not for any reason, never.” Buck continues. Juniper trots through the door and sees the knocked over chariot.

“What in Equestria is going on here?” She asks. “What was all that commotion?” Buck and Katey start trotting back to the garage.

“I’ll tell you all about it later.” Buck says. “But, now, we need to get the buck out of here.” The three then trot into the garage and over to the bike. “Juniper, I want you to the garage door.”

“On it.” Juniper says as she gallops over to the control panel and presses the red button. Buck attaches the hoofstraps to his hooves and adjusts his body to conform to the body of the bike.

“Katey, sit behind me.” Buck says. “Juniper, you set behind Katey.” The garage doors slowly lifted open revealing dozens upon dozens of zombies gathered near the front door. Juniper helped Katey get behind her dad and she climbed on herself.

“Hang on, you two.” Buck says as he kicks his back leg and starts peddling out of the garage. As he came up to the road; a blinding light filled their eyes. Above them was a Royal Guardian chariot filled with unicorns talking to them through a loudspeaker.

“Halt!” They shouted through the speaker. “Put your hooves up and surrender yourselves for screening. We will be forced to shoot if you do not comply.” Buck looked around and saw many Royal Unicorn Guardians with weapons drawn aiming at them.

“Maybe we should, they’ll go easier on us if we just do what they say.” Juniper says.

“If I comply, I lose Katey.” Buck says. “I’m. Gonna’. Gun it!” Buck then kicked his leg again and plowed past the Royal Guardians.

“Fire at will! Fire at will!” The unicorns in the chariots shouted. The unicorns on the ground started opening fire at the three ponies as they drove down the mane street. As they neared the edge of town, Buck saw a wooden gate and plowed through it, sending shards of wood in all directions.

They ended up on a dirt road that also had Royal Guardian posted. They themselves started opening fire on the trio. They were about to reach the mane road; when several bullets started whizzing over their heads. Buck just dodged them and kept peddling down the road away from Stable Brook.

*** *** ***

Date: August 30, 2011 5:49 a.m.

It was already dawn as Buck started slowing down. Katey was still fast asleep and Juniper didn’t make any noise since they plowed through the guardians.

“How’re you two holding up?” Buck asked, trying to wake them up. Both didn’t budge. Buck just kept peddling down the hot desert road. As he went down the road, he noticed a chariot up ahead with a broken wheel. He slowly peddled beside it and heard Metallicolt playing a song from their latest album. He came to a slow stop and started unhooking his hoofstraps. Buck woke up Katey and helped her down from the bike.

He started shaking Juniper, but she didn’t wake. Buck gave her one last shake and her lifeless body fell to the ground. She slowly started regaining consciousness.

“Juniper, what’s wrong?” Buck asks.

“I was shot…many…times.” She says. Buck looks at her back and sees blood and bullet wounds everywhere.

“No, no, no! This can’t be happening.” Buck says. “You can’t die on me, not when we’re this close to safety.” Juniper slowly took the gold necklace off and placed it in Buck’s hoof.

“Thank you for getting me out of there.” She says. “I’d rather die…out here than in Stable Brook.” Her eyes slowly closed as she died in Buck’s arms. Buck started crying heavily; the most since his wife became a zombie and attacked her own daughter.

After a few minutes, Buck slowly carried Juniper to the broken down chariot and laid her in the back. She grabbed a small blanket and placed it over her body. He looked around and turned off the small radio that was still going on. He grabbed a yellow leather jacket and slid it on. It had the same Tsuaf logo and number four like the orange shirt he was wearing.

He looked down in the chariot and pulled out Katey’s Clop Clop backpack and the remaining supplies of Zombrex he had before the chariot was stolen. And he finally pulls out a small picture of Katey that was taken a few weeks earlier. He trots over to Katey and hoofs her the backpack. Buck sits down on the side of the dirt road and starts breathing heavily…calming himself down from everything that’s happened in the past two days. He looks over to his daughter and starts talking to her.

“Honey,” he says, “listen to me. We’ve made it this far…and I will not stop until you’re safe. Nothing is more important than that. You understand?” Katey slowly nods her head and hugs her dad. He pulls himself up and gets her set up on the bike. “Let’s get going.” He says.

Buck then attaches the hoofstraps to himself and kicks off from the dirt. He starts peddling and the two drive off into the distance; a sign on the side of the road saying Manehatten – 300 Mi.