This just has to end somewhere…just has to…. OOF!

Applejack took a step back after colliding into another dead end wall of the vents as she used a hoof to rub her head. She turned herself around to walk back the way she came. Her use of her front hooves to feel her away was fading in reliability as she tried to find the turn she had made. The low noises echoing through the vents were the only thing filling her ears as she felt herself come to another intersection. This time she made sure to remember which way she had come from just as ….

a loud squeek suddenly filled her ears.

Just as she heard that noise, she felt one of her hooves sink with a piece of the vent. She gave the section a bit more pressure with her hoof resulting in the same squeaking sound just as she heard something bang against the walls inside the vents. She turned off in the direction she heard it come from as it echoed throughout and both her back legs ended up on the squeaking section.

“hello?” Applejack whispered into the darkness.

She awaited a response from whomever or…whatever was in the vents but only received another loud bang echoing once again. She slowly began to move herself backwards… with the squeaking becoming more drawn out…

In that same moment, Applejack felt herself drop like a rock. In quick secession, she flung her front hooves out and managed to grip the edge of the vents with her upper torso and front legs. She kicked her hind legs forward trying to get against the vent’s exterior and hopefully push herself back up. However any time she managed to get one hoof against the outside of the vent it slipped. Her weight pivoted her backwards from a few tries before she felt her make shift grip loosen.

“WOAH!” Applejack yelped out as she plummeted towards the ground her mind quickly flashing the fate that awaited her.

She collided with several objects that easily collapsed under her but ultimately broke part of her fall. She finally hit the ground with several objects falling ontop her. She laid still till the commotion had ceased before she got herself up onto her hooves causing the objects on her to fall right off. From the sound of them falling onto the floor and how light they were, she finally made out that they were boxes and she was in a small room however it wasn’t nearly as dark as the vents. There was only one doorway out of the windowless room that seemed slightly brighter but not by much. Applejack made her way over towards the doorway past the discarded boxes and went around the corner. She was greeted with a large equally dim room with several counters and various objects on them that were indistinguishable. At the front of the room, there was another doorway with large glass windows on each side of it. Applejack proceeded towards the doorway finding she was on the upper level of the first area to be taken over by the zombies as she exited the room. She walked right up to the edge of the level blocked off by bars to be greeted with a familiar sight down below…

“Well shoot…” She whispered to herself as she eyed the feasting zombies from above.

Tearing her gaze from the sight below as it adjusted slowly, she turned to her right spotting a set of stairs on the other end of the level. The path…was covered in scattered… motionless corpses. Applejack kept her sight trained on the stairs resisting any urge to look at one of the corpses anytime a hoof brushed by one. Unfortunately curiosity got the better of her, she quickly glanced down at the zombie next to her. Their grotesque appearance’s initial affect had worn off not long ago, but… her pace slowed as she saw a hole directly in the side of the fallen zombie’s head. Small but…direct and whatever had caused it had made precise penetration. Same with the next zombie corpse….and the next one…and the next...

a less decayed corpse dressed in a red shirt… with more life present in the skin, but was slowly fading…with the same precise hole in the head…

Applejack felt a rush of fear alongside realization come over her as she slowly turned her head to scan the area excepting to see….. She was greeted with the same upper level bayed in moonlight from above. The only sounds she could hear were the moans from below the level as she found herself expecting…

Applejack held her breath not wanting to make a single sound as she focused back on the stairs and approached them keeping her hoof steps quiet. She had just descended the first top one..

A loud clang…

Applejack nearly yelped, but forced herself to keep silent, as her eyes went wide and she quickly descended the stairs. She made a hard left but came to a sudden stop seeing the gate from earlier in the day still shut. She turned around and proceeded down the familiar path in hast like she had done before. She raised her gaze upwards towards the upper level as the bars of the ledges slide in front of the walls as she moved. At one point she could have sworn she saw something move…but quickly dismissed it was her eyes playing tricks on her…however…she wasn’t finding the thought too far-fetched.

No…he wouldn’t be that stupid…

Applejack went even wider in the eyes as sudden realization that reality was giving her pulled her back to her main concern tearing her away from her wave of fear from the…

Applejack focused on the doors at the end of corridor hoping…just hoping…

Frank was the first one to burst into the monitor room. He let out a sigh welcoming the sense of safety back as Otis and the woman from the park followed right behind him. He could recall the dark trip through the Paradise Plaza and its limitations. The darkness had deemed attacking unless with the limited light that could have been produced with the flashlight, which Frank now held in his right hand, and adjusting eyesight was even more unreliable at the time. However his mind was torn from the plaza, when he took quick notice to the empty green cushions… He quickly blinked hoping he was just seeing things before heading to the door in the back of the monitor room and bursting through it. He checked the through the windows of the various sections of the back room…coming up dry in his search. He went back into the monitor room focusing up on the screens overhead. He scanned hoping to catch a glimpse of Burt or Applejack but came up dry once again…

“What’s going on?” The woman asked.

“Don’t worry about it,” Frank heard Otis say, “Just rest here. Frank… you spot them yet?”

Frank scanned the monitors once more coming up dry…. His eyes fell upon one monitor viewing an upper view of a pair of horizontal moving floors. Zombies were lumbering around them…but he picked out a certain figure moving about them…surprisingly without much trouble as he was simple shoving the zombies aside.

Fat...Supermarket...fuck…

“Oh crap…” Frank heard Otis say before going wide eyed.

Frank tore his gaze from the monitors to the vents but knew at this rate…

He turned his gaze quickly to the desk spying a microphone propped up on the desk. In a split second, he reached for the microphone and pressed down on the transceiver button.

“Burt! Don’t do it!”

He returned his gaze to the single monitor only to find Burt still moving towards the supermarket in the distance. He clenched his teeth as a way of helplessness rushed over him and trying to pick from the remaining options… His gaze switched to the monitor beside the one that held his attention. It was off the food court and making its way across the main center of it…

“Applejack! Hurry! Burt’s almost at the supermarket!”

Frank saw the pony whip its head around while keeping her pace. He saw her appear to kick it into high gear and quickly make her way towards the corridor to the Wonderland Plaza. Frank went back to the monitor with Burt who was almost out of view. The options now exhausted. He just stood there… gazing at the monitors.

Burt limped his way towards his goal…the green doors of the supermarket…knowing well what he came for. His trip had been a long one…but he could only remember fragments of it…

A dark narrow opening….falling down…adjusting eyesight…the food court….the upper level of the wonderland plaza…now…

Summoning up the needed strength, he shoved another zombie out of his way. He saw no need to dispatch them like before. The only thing he could think about besides his goal…was the luck that had followed him like a parrot on his shoulder…just hoping every time he encounter zombies…it wouldn’t fly away. He proceeded towards the doors while reaching out a single hand to grab a handle. He paused only for a moment as he looked at the familiar interior through the glass but now in darkness. The same his eyes had accustomed to during his trip. An inner flame flared up as he spotted…right near a food stand… Burt clenched his teeth while letting out a low growl through them as he pulled the door open and walked in. Greeted with silence…dead silence… he walked forward towards the corpse of his late friend….who still looked the same as he had left him… Burt felt a wave of emotion crashing on him as he kneeled down despite the pain. He drew in a breath trying to hold back the…

“Where are you?” Burt mumbled hoping his voice would carry throughout the store as he got onto his feet once more, “Where are you hiding?”

He walked around his friend towards the back of the supermarket and peaking around the corner of an aisle…coming across nothing but food and more food. He proceeded from cover and began walking towards the side of the supermarket close to the pharmacy. Then came the distinct sound…rattling metal followed by a metallic screech. Burt jerked his head towards the direction the sound came from….near Aaron’s now…

Burt retreated and put himself flat against the short edge of the last aisle closest to Aaron before peaking around the corner.

“good for nothin’ employees…leave the manager to clean up….see how your next payment is…” The fat man commented to himself as Burt watched him start moping around Aaron’s corpse with a handy mop.

Burt took notice to the manger’s weaponized kart separated just a few steps away from the psychopath as he tended to the ‘mess’. Burt drew in a deep breath as he slowly exited his cover when he was sure the manager had his back turned. He took great strides to make sure his sneakers didn’t make any noise. His eyes looked over the various tools protruding out of the kart. Remembering the shotgun…and another thing… he tried to see if it was there. However taking a glance at the manager, it was in the psycho’s left hand while the other held the mop. Burt looked over the kart once more before settling on a pitchfork. Burt kept his approach at a snail’s pace only hearing the manager ramble on and on using the mop to slowly move Aaron’s corpse across the floor leaving more blood to be cleaned. Burt reached out a hand towards the pitchfork griping the shaft and began to pull it out. Just as he managed to get the pitchfork from the kart, he heard the sound of the one of the entrance doors opening.

“Burt! Egh….oh no…”

Burt jerked his head to the manager whom had taken his attention from the ‘mess’ before he letting out a bellowing roar very familiar of the previous encounter. He saw him drop the mop and grab the shotgun with newly freed hand. Burt, with the pitchfork still in hand, made a grab for the handle bar of the kart and forced the kart’s point of direction towards the manager who was starting to take aim.

Applejack stood near the entrance to the supermarket as the insane human wielding the metallic object aimed directly at her. Just as she was about to make a run and dodge..

“NOT ON YOUR LIFE!”

Applejack saw the human lose its concentration as her ears were filled with the rattling of metal as the weaponized kart came charging in. The human sidestepped the kart with ease before its attention was focused behind him. Applejack caught sight of Burt, immediately thanking Celestia he was alright, wielding a pitchfork with…almost the same intensity in his face as the insane human had exhibited…and was still exhibiting.

“Don’t you know…when management… asks you to leave…..you…LEAVE!!!” The human roared before aiming right at Burt.

Applejack saw Burt take a dive behind a stand just as the flare of light appeared at the end of the object and another loud bang. Applejack got herself moving just as the human turned his aim onto her. She dove behind a stand nearest to her just as the loud bang was heard again and something struck violently near her.

“I HAVE THE RIGHT TO DENY YOU SERVICE AND GOD DAMMINT I WILL EXERCISE THAT RIGHT!”

Applejack drew in a breath as she peaked around the corner of the stand to see the human making its way towards the weaponized kart just near the first counter by the front of the supermarket. She broke away from her cover with adrenaline coursing like a violent river.

“YEEEHAAAAAAAW!!”

Applejack charged forward letting out a shout at the top of her lungs with her head titled down. She gave it everything she had with full intent on collision. She felt the top of her head make full collision with the human sending it off balance. She didn’t get a chance to make any move before feeling something grip her forcefully by the throat and lift her up. She heard another fury filled roar as she felt the grip pull her quickly before letting go. She felt herself being air born for a few seconds before colliding into the ground head first.

Her vision and hearing came in bits before fading.

The human aiming that metallic object at her….

The sound of Burt letting out a yell….

Burt and the human in a stalemate with the pitchfork…

The sound of Burt letting out a yelp…

Applejack, once her vision returned again for a moment, began to get herself to her feet taking particular notice to the kart…the side with no tools poking out was facing her and pointed right at the human who was now towering over Burt with the metallic object in both hands.

“THANK YOU… AND DON’T….COME…”

Applejack let out a scream as she ran forward with her returning vision. She turned herself around and gave the kart a powerful buck kick. The sound of fast rattling metal filled her ears…

“AGAAAAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNNNNN!”

She heard the blood curdling scream sound throughout the market before something slumped over onto the ground before she turned to see. The human was on the ground…in pool of its own blood. The tools on the left side of the kart were now painted with blood… Applejack stood her ground as she regained her breath as she shook from the rush of adrenaline. She saw Burt get up into a sitting position and take a good look at the dying human in front of him. She saw him quickly eye the discarded metallic object on the ground… before reaching out for it and trying to get to his feet.

“Burt! Wait!”

Applejack dashed towards Burt as he got to his feet and immediately aiming the metallic object right at the dying human before…the loud bang…along with the bright flare.

Author's Note

Another chapter for you all. Hope you enjoy this one and are enjoying the story. Please leave your feedback in the comments below and Happy Easter everyone.