I stared quietly at the cuffs chaining my wrists together, aware that my whole world was about to be changed because of one stupid lie....What was I even thinking? I had held ALL of it in for SO long and I...I just had to be so...... stupid.
My thoughts were quickly interrupted by the officers eye on me, he had turned the mirror, adjusting it to my face.
"Well," he started "I reckon you didn't do it then."
I looked over out of the window, trying to ignore the conversation.
"Does it really matter?" I said quietly, trying not to break out into a sob.
"Y'know I've driven a BUNCH of fellas out to this prison. Lord knows how many." I stared at the back of his blue and black mane, which rubbed up against the old, leather, car seat.
"Usually about now is when I get the 'I didn't do it." He continued, a small hoof gesture in the air, and he was done.
"Not from me." I replied, sulking slightly deeper into the back seat. He just looked at me, then continued to drive further to the prison.
Suddenly the radio came on, I carefully listened to it, seeking something to take my mind off of the present situation.
"We've got what looks like a 10-91E Near Peachtree exit of 285. All cars asked to keep on the lookout for a 91V in the area."
I looked at the rear view mirror, staring into his eyes.
"I've followed your case a little bit, you being a Macon girl and all." He said, breaking the silence.
"So you've got an opinion then?" I asked, awaiting an answer.
He looked at me.
"I've seen some cases in my time, yours isn't much different from all the others." He said, trying not to look into my eyes. I stayed silent.
"Oh..." I said, after a short state of thought. I had already knew what I did was horrible...
"Be advised of medical personnel on route to Hartsfield, various 10's and 20's coming in." The radio stated, I was confused on his lack of attention.
"I have a nephew up at UGA, you teach there long?" he asked, his pathetic attempt at a conversation.
"Goin on my sixth year." I said, hoping the subject would change.
"Your dad worked at the plant, up north right?" He said changing the subject. I suddenly wished he hadn't said anything. I stayed completely silent, my eyes drifting back to my handcuffs, which had now started to rub uncomfortably under my fur.
"....You wanna know how I see it?" He said. I had just noticed his tall hair rubbed against the ceiling of the cop car as he moved.
"Sure..." I sighed, awaiting his answer.
He began to speak, then saw my expression, he hesitated.
"Seems like you just chose the wrong thing to do." He said, ending our conversation.
"Riot in progress. All officers available for incoming 217's. Rolling calls and dispatches to all locations." The radio spoke again.
"...Any of that seem IMPORTANT to you?" I said, still confused by his lack of empathy for the current "riot".
"All of it," he said "that box NEVER shuts up. Sit in this seat and pay too much attention, and you'll drive yourself crazy."
He was right, I let it go and continued to sit in silence.
"I'm driving this man once, h-he was the WORST one. He wouldn't stop going on about how he didn't do it!" He continued his story "He was an older fella. Big, soft, eyes behind a pair of smart folk glasses, and he's just WAILING back there, says it wasn't him, crying and snottin' all over, right where you're sitting!"
I started at my seat, imagining the snot that covered it, I gagged slightly. He reached over and turned off his radio.
"Then before long he starts kicking the back of the seat, li-like a fussy foal on an airplane. And I tell him he's gotta stop, that's celestial property, and I'll be forced to ZAP him otherwise." I began to smile.
"So he stops," he continued "and having exhausted all of his options, he starts cryin of for his mamma. "Mamma, it's all a big mistake! It wasn't me!"
"Man." I said, laughing slightly.
"Yeah! They caught the fucker red handed! Stabbin' his wife, cuttin' her up as the boys came through the door! He sits in the back of my car, screamin' bloody murder that it wasn't him! I think he actually believed it himself.....It goes to show, ponies will up and go mad when they believe their life is over."
He was right....
My thoughts were interrupted by a figure in the distance.
A pony. Right in the middle of the highway.
"Oh I got another one for you! This one is a little less depressing and a little more HILARIOUS if I do say so myself."
The pony became closer and closer, he continued to drive, unaware of the figure before us.
"OH SHIT!!!" I screamed, but it was too late.
The car hit him, toppling us over off of the side of the road. I couldn't hear, I just watched in horror as the fall continued, trying to ignore the pain.
Then, I blacked out.
I lie in the crashed car, my head throbbing, my eyes refusing to open.
I drifted in and out of consciousness, at one point I was sure I heard a scream, but I had drifted back in before I could comprehend it.
When I finally awoke, the car had toppled onto it's side, and I was lying up against the car seats. I tried to move, but every part of my body ached.
"Ugh..." I moaned as I shifted, looking at my leg.
"Ow...shit...."
I could now see the large wound on my leg, cut right above my kneecap. I writhed in pain, noticing the blood that had been splattered.
"Thirsty...." I whispered to myself, my magic floated around my hoofcuffs, but there was no getting out of them without a key. I attempted once more to get up, this time my leg bent the wrong way, sending a wave of pain into my body.
"Fuck! My leg...." I stared silently at the blood oozing out of my leg. I needed to find help, quick.
I looked outside of the broken, police car, window. Out there I saw a...body.
I focused my eyes on it....there was no doubt it was the same stallion who had cuffed me earlier. He lie on the ground, a blood trail behind him, he must have been dragged.
I looked over, and saw his gun on the ground, this scared me.
"W-why the hell did he have his gun out?" I said to myself.
Having exhausted all of my other options, I called out to him.
"Hey! Hey officer! Are you alright?"
No response
"I-i'm still cuffed back here!"
Still no response.
I HAD to get out of this car! I would die out here if I didn't, and I didn't plan on dying.
I glanced to the window at my right, seeing it as a chance to escape.
I kicked the glass as hard as I could with my good leg, a large crack forming in the middle. That got my hopes up.
I repeatedly kicked the window until the point where it shattered. I had successfully broken it.....now what would I do?
I had no other choice than to throw myself out of the window, I sighed, and leaned onto the door. I was being careful not to hurt my leg or cut myself on broken glass.
I pushed myself up and out with my good leg, toppling onto the dirty forest floor.
I painfully stood up, quickly falling over onto the wrecked car.
The car had landed on an angle, which meant I had to get down the hill safely. I looked once more at the limp body of the officer, and cringed in fear.
I continued down the incline, carefully holding onto the car and being sure to use my cut leg lightly.
Once I had finally reached the bottom, I noticed the Officers shotgun, which lay on the ground in a small puddle of blood.
I bent down, and picked it up. Pain shooting up my spine as my injury spread its skin.
I examined it, I didn't know much about guns, but I knew this one was empty.
"It would be easier to carry with these cuffs off...." I said to myself, placing it back on the ground.
I continued towards him, examining my surroundings. All forest...
It wasn't until I was closer that I realized all the damage that had been done to his body.
"Officer?!" I said worriedly, there was blood everywhere.
"Goddamn...."
First thing was first, get these cuffs off. I wasn't usually good on my hind legs, but I was getting used to it.
I used my mouth to pick up the keys out of his pocket, the rusty taste made me gag.
I used my magic and attempted to unlock my cuffs, I moved the wrong way, a slight pang of pain made my drop the keys, right in front of his face.
My stomach churned as I leaned down, once again, picking up the keys with my mouth. This time successfully unlocking the device on my wrist. I didn't know why I was so scared anyway, what was he going to do? Come to life and bite me in the fa-
My thoughts were interrupted by breathing.
His breathing
"Uh...officer?" I said, confused and scared. I thought he was dead....
Suddenly he lunged at me his hoof wrapping around my bad leg, knocking me over, the pain was bad but the fear was worse. I screamed and backed away.
"H-holy shit!" I yelled as I backed away, was he delusional?!
He crawled towards me, like some kind of rabid animal, his eyes pure white.
I had backed up so much I had hit the car again. There was nowhere else to go.
"Get away from me!" I screamed, but he continued to crawl.
Having no other options, I picked up the shotgun to my left, and grabbed the shell to my right, shoving it inside...whatever I thought would work. The shell flicked over to the side, I cringed in fear, he was so close and I didn't know WHAT he was going to do....
I picked up the shell again, this time successfully shoving it into the....gun.
"Don't make me do this!!" I screamed at him, it didn't phase him at all, his murderous growl still rung in my ears. I had no choice.
I shot, the gun ramming into my stomach, and the shot exploded his head.
I shook with fear, and stared at his corpse, I noticed, he had already begun to rot before I killed him.....again....I think.
"Ugh! He smells like shit!" I whined "What the hell is going on?"
I looked to my right, and saw a figure, way out in the distance. It looked like a little filly, at least, one that was alive.
"Help!" I yelled to her "Go...go get somepony! There's been a shooting!"
She galloped off, whether or not she was looking for help, I probably would never know.
I looked over to my right, hearing a moan.
A pony came, limping out of the trees, except it wasn't a...normal pony....it looked exactly like the officer I had just killed...
I got up and began to walk out into the woods, trying to avoid..whatever it was. But I panicked as more of them came out and followed me. some close, other farther away. They all scared me equally.
I saw a fence, and ran. I had never been the athletic type, but now was not time to worry about that.
Just as they were about to catch up to me, I pulled myself over the large wooden fence, landing safely onto the other side.
I landed roughly onto the soft grass on the other side of the fence, I had no idea what I had just saw, and I lacked the mental ability to think straight.
I backed up, as far away as I could from the fence, the monsters on the other side still wanted me as they rapidly knocked on the wooden planks separating us. I heaved, trying to catch my breath as my injured leg throbbed.
Suddenly I heard a noise in the distance, a gunshot. I didn't know WHO had fired, but I hoped they weren't in the same situation as me....
The gunshot had apparently attracted the others banging on the fence, and it turned almost silent.
I quickly got up, sighing with relief. I was safe for now...
I slowly got on all fours, and wandered around the empty backyard....I didn't see anypony, ANYWHERE.
"Hello?" I yelled, hoping to get a response. "Anypony?!"
It stayed silent, so I proceeded to work my way around. My attention was mostly drawn to the tree on my right, which firmly held a small house-like structure in its grip.
Near the trunk of a tree was a tea set. Me being sensitive, I cringed at the thought of a little filly, so young and innocent, killed by one of those.....THINGS.
I shook my head, the thought receding back into the deepest part of my mind. I looked back up at the tree house, it was a long shot, but maybe somepony was in there...
"Hello? Anypony up there?" I yelled, no response.
I gave up on that, and proceeded onto the back porch, if anything I just needed some help. Maybe some directions, and a drink of water...
I slowly made my way to the glass door, looking inside, my vision obscured by the darkness. I had no choice but to knock.
"Hello? Anypony home? I need a little help!"
No response.
I tried the handle, seeing that the door was unlocked, I opened it slightly.
"Coming in, don't shoot, okay?" I yelled inside, still no answer.
I slowly stepped inside, shutting the door behind me. I bent the wrong way, the cut on my leg stung like hell.
"Ahh! Shit...." I moaned, grabbing my leg, it had already began to swell.
"Hello?" I tried again, I was never one to break into someponys house. "I-i'm not an intruder! Or one of them....."
I finally took a look around, shocked by what I saw. Furniture flipped over, broken glass and wood all over the room. And what really scared me was the huge puddle of blood near the kitchen floor.
"These ponies might need more help than I do...." I said quietly to myself.
I walked toward the kitchen, where most of the gore was, on my way seeing a small coloring book. I stopped and observed it.
A half colored picture of a cartoon unicorn lay on the sheet of paper, next to a few crayons. My heart wrenched again, clearly a little filly lived, or HAD lived here.
I proceeded into the kitchen, only to slip on the puddle of blood I had clearly noticed a minute ago. I dragged myself back up, trying to ignore my stupidity.
I had decided to ditch going into the kitchen, and follow the noise of the answering machine left neatly on the only table standing, at this point.
"3 new messages." It repeated, its monotone voice rang in my ears.
I pressed the "play" button, It felt so weird being in somepony elses house, hearing their own, private, messages.
"Message one, left at five-forty-three p.m." It stated, the message began to play.
"Hey, Sandy, this is Diamond. We're still in Savannah. Earth had a little 'incident' with some crazy stallion near the hotel, so we had to get him back to the ER and have it checked out. Anyway, he's not feeling well enough to drive back tonight so we're staying an extra day. Thanks so much for looking after Clementine, and I promise we'll be back in time before your spring break!"
I had a really bad feeling that "crazy stallion" wasn't what they thought it was, the recording started again before I had time to stop and think about it.
"Message two. Left at eleven-nine-teen p.m."
"Oh my Celestia, finally!" Diamond said worriedly, "I don't know if you've tried to reach us; all the calls are getting dropped. They're not letting us leave, and aren't telling us anything about Atlanta. Please,please,just leave the city and take Clementine with you back to Marietta." Her voice began to break, she clearly cared about her child.
"I've got to get back to the hospital. Please let me know that you're safe."
This was just so heart breaking, I didn't know if I could take anymore.
"Just one more left...." I thought to myself "Maybe it will help me find the filly."
"Message three. Left at six-fifty-one a.m."
"Clementine? Baby, if you can hear this, call the police. That's nine-one-one..." She sobbed, desperately reaching for her daughter. "We love you.....we love you...we lo-"
The message stopped, a single tear rolled down my cheek. I imagined the thought of not being safe, being no where near your child as the world you knew was being torn apart.
My magic floated around a framed picture of what I assumed to be the family that lived here. I couldn't stop myself from crying as I saw the setting, a sweet family photo, probably taken at a studio, a beautiful little filly with two loving parents, one an Earth pony, the other a Pegasus.
I set the picture down neatly back onto the table. There was no doubt in my mind that the parents of this filly, named Clementine, were dead.
I slowly walked into the kitchen, careful to avoid the blood I had already slipped in. My throat burned from crying, and I was extremely dehydrated.
To my luck, a perfectly good cup of water sat right next to the kitchen sink, I ignored the fact that somepony elses mouth could have touched that very cup, and took a big drink. The water tasted fresh and clean.
I searched the drawers, of the house. I felt like a scavenge, some kind of burglar, but I had no other choice.
In one of the drawers I found a walkie-talkie. I curiously examined it.
"Mommy?" It suddenly spoke, scaring the shit out of me. But it was clearly the voice of a young filly.
I walked out of the kitchen, and towards the glass door, looking out into the yard. Whoever was speaking had to be close.
"Hello?" I replied, looking carefully outside, the lawn seemed unoccupied.
"You need to be quiet." She whispered harshly, I trusted that she knew what was going on. Or at least had some idea.
"Are you okay?" I asked, making sure she wasn't in any harm.
"I-i'm okay. They tried to get me, but I'm hiding until my parents come home."
I stayed silent, this girl had no idea what her parents were going through, or HAD went through.......
I walked back into the broken living room.
"Where are your parents?" I whispered, I needed to know if she was aware her parents were gone.
"They took a trip and left me with Sandy. They're in Savannah, I think, where the boats are..." She replied "I'm Clementine, and this is my house."
"Hi Clementine," I replied softly "I'm Melody."
I slowly trotted back into the kitchen, looking out of the window.
"Are you safe?" I asked, I needed to make sure she was okay before I tried to find her.
"I'm outside in my tree house," she said "They can't get in."
"That's smart." I said, this filly was clearly intelligent, at least to me.
"Can you see me?" She asked happily, looking out of her tree house. "I can see you, through the window!"
I smiled, and waved at her, she was the filly in the picture.
A sudden, high pitched scream came from the walkie-talkie, and Clementine hid back in her tree house.
I looked behind me, meeting face to face with what I assumed was the rotting corpse of Sandy the foalsitter.
She lunged toward me, and I quickly pushed her back, she smelled of blood and stale vomit...
I wrapped my hooves around her neck, her strength was amazing as she clawed at my body.
I struggled, I knew if I didn't get away from this thing, that it would surely kill me, and I clearly didn't want that to happen. I finally restrained her far enough, throwing her onto the ground. A loud smacking noise as her head hit the counter behind her. I panted, and ran for the door. The slip was inevitable. The thick pool of blood on the floor tripped me once again, this time, my head banging onto the side counter. Both my leg and my head ached, I couldn't get a concussion, not now! I had to get up.
My vision was blurred as she crawled towards me, the way these things attacked sent a chill up my spine.
I quickly reacted, my good leg roughly sending a hoof to her face. She stumbled back, giving me time to get up and try again to run away.
She quickly trailed behind me, grabbing my leg, making me fall once more. I fearfully stared into her rotted eyeballs, backing away as quickly as I could. She got too close for comfort, getting her another hoof in the face. I backed right into the glass door leading outside. The door opened, and I saw Clementine tremble with fear.
Sandy quickly climbed on top of me. I weakly tried to restrain her, my strength had drained to the point at which I could barely keep my eyes open, but I had to keep fighting. I gathered up my strength once again, finally able to push her off of me, further than I expected. Clementine stood behind me, a hammer held inside of her trembling mouth.
"Here!" She said, her voice muffled. I reached toward her, she quickly dropped the hammer into my hoof.
Once I got a steady grip onto the tool, I swung as hard as I could, hitting Sandy right in the neck. She tumbled onto the ground, landing straight on her back. I crawled on top of her as she flailed, her loud growling only pushed me further.
I repeatedly hit her with the hammer, her eyeballs bulged, and as her face was crushed, I heard the soft snapping of her weak, rotted, bones.
I panted, trying to catch my breath. I stared at her disfigured face, it was a face of horror, fear, and over all, she looked like she had been stabbed in the face with a hammer.
I got back on my hooves, and panted...
"Wow...!" I said, I felt like I needed a million year rest.
"Uh, hi there...." I grunted, looking at the horrified face of Clementine. She backed away as the pool of blood dripping from Sandys cracked face slid to the doorway.
"Did you kill it?" She whispered. Looking at me worriedly
"I think something else did, before me, I think..." I confessed. Worried I had scared her, I stopped the conversation there.
"I heard her scream two nights ago, maybe one of the monsters got her." She said.
"Two nights ago?" I said, thinking the time I spent in the car. "Yeah, that's probably what happened..."
"You've been...all by yourself through this?" I asked, I wondered how horrible it must be for a filly her age.
"Yeah.....I want my parents to come home now.." She said, rubbing her arm nervously.
I looked down in sadness, this filly had no idea.....
"I think that might be a while....you know?" I said, trying not to give anything away.
"Oh..." She sighed, looking down.
"Look," I said reassuringly "I don't know what happened, but I'll look after you until then."
She gave a small nod, then looked around.
"What should we do now?" She asked.
