The Trotting Dead

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.