"Close the door! Close it!" Zoey yelled as her and the others tried to close the door in the new building they had taken residence in.

They had been running through buildings after the dentist's office had been overrun. Now, they were all pushing against the metal door to the new safe room Bill had luckily spied as they were running. Fluttershy, having wings, was the first to enter. She was currently inside a ten gallon bucket on the other side of the room.

As the other three survivors pushed against the door, they slowly managed to close it. Louis, using his knee, kicked the metal bar into place and jumped away with the others as the infected began to try and reach them through the bars. Getting up, they wiped the blood and other fluids off from themselves before moving tables and boxes in front of the door.

"Finally," Francis groaned as he sat against the wall. "I hate having to run that far. Especially since I was the one having to use my elbow to bust down the doors." He said hotly while giving Louis a glare. "Only if there was someone else to help."

"Hey, don't give me that glare." Louis said. "You're the one who decided to go silver back on the Hunter and then act like an NFL player when you saw a regular infected going after Fluttershy. Besides, your shoulder shouldn't hurt that much, you did use the zombie to plow through the doors."

He rolled his eyes and snorted. Looking to the side, he tapped the side of the bucket and chuckled a bit as it flew an inch off the ground. Slowly, it rose up and Fluttershy peeked out from behind her mane.

"A-Are we safe?" She asked.

"Take a look," Francis said pointing to the door. "They can't get in."

She spared a glance at the infected attempting to get in, she quickly slammed the bucket back down in silence. Rolling his eyes, he took the bucket by the top edges and lifted it up.

"Wait, what?" He said seeing nothing.

Feeling the bucket rattle slightly, he looked up and saw Fluttershy hanging onto the inside. Frowning, he held out the bucket and shook it slightly, she slid off the inside and onto the floor where she latched onto his legs. He dropped the bucket and fell back onto the concrete floor, trying to pry her off.

"Fluttershy," Francis groaned. "My leg. I'm losing feeling in my leg. Get off me."

She loosened her grip and sat with her back to the door.

"So, where the hell are we?" Zoey asked. "Are we still on track?"

Bill, looking over a map on the wall, traced a finger over a road and began going up. stopping on a marker called Florence Road, he tapped it twice. Holding his finger there, he looked over at where the military outpost was and traced a path to it.

"Well, we went slightly off path for a bit, but if this part here," he pointed at a cross road. "Isn't blocked off, we should be able to have a straight shot at it."

"What are waiting for then?" Louis asked. "Lets go!"

"Not yet," Bill said. "We need to do an ammo count. I haven't fired any bullets, so I'm still at two clips, three if you count the one already in it."

"I've got four clips." Zoey said.

"Uh... Thirteen shells." Louis said. "How many-"

"I'm out." Francis said. "Hang on, I'll get something." He said shouldering his shotgun.

They all watched him trace the pipes on the ceiling, seeing him stop and stare up at one, he reached up and grabbed it. Hanging an inch off the floor, he shook his body in hopes of loosening it. Feeling it rattle, he pushed his lower body up and planted both feet against the opposite sides of it. Pulling it with all his strength, it finally disconnected and he fell to the floor, unfortunately taking the pipe down faster than himself.

He laid there for a minute, the others not sure what to do. Even Fluttershy was at a loss for words as she stared at the biker. Slowly, he stood up, using the pipe as a cane, he had one hand holding it while he cradled his mistreated masculinity with the other.

"Alright," he said. "Now I'm ready." He grunted as he stood straight up.

"Francis, are you sure you don't need to sit down?" Zoey asked. "You took a hard hit in the ba-"

"Shut up you monkeys and lets just go." He said beginning to limp towards the door. "I'll just hang in the back for a bit. Fluttershy, why don't you go with Louis for a bit?"

She merely nodded and bit her lip when she saw him hobble over to the second door, took out the bar and exited. The others all shook their heads before following.

The new area was a dimly lit alleyway, piles of trash littered the ground while trashcans and bags were lined on the walls. The wail of the infected could still be heard from there, with only a building separating the two factions.

Going down the alleyway, the others kept their eyes on the windows above, prepared if a Smoker or Boomer came down. Fluttershy was still shaking, shaking and observant. She was especially scared that it was dark, there were zombies, and she was in the back. Moving up to where he was next to Louis, he gave her a glance before going back to staring ahead.

Seeing a light shining through the darkness, they pressed themselves up against the wall and slowly slid to the corner. Francis stuck his head out from the side, standing still for a moment, he got out from cover and went around. The others keeping watch from the sides and back followed immediately, not wanting a gap to be made.

The light was coming from a burning car on the side of the road. Walking past it and into the street, only a few cars could be seen. Infected stood idly on the sidewalk or in the road, occasionally they would move from one spot to another.

"Just stay quiet and try not to attract them all at once." Bill said as they huddled by the car. "I'm telling you especially Francis."

"Jerk. I can be stealthy." The biker muttered as they all went to another car.

An infected stood by the side, back turned to them while it fought over another for no indiscriminate reason. Bill, Looking at Francis made a motion with his head towards the two infected. Francis nodded and crouch walked to where Bill was at, and in a swift motion, smashed the pipe against the closest infected's head and knocking it onto the other. He quickly beat the other zombie's head in before getting back behind cover.

"Alright, two down and," Francis looked up and then groaned. "Six more to go. I hate math."

"You hate everything." Zoey remarked.

"Not true."

"What don't you hate?"

"Fluttershy, guns, explosions, vests, fire, and beer."

She rolled her eyes before peeking over the edge herself. She stayed like that for a second before taking a pistol out from a holster on her side. Pointing it straight ahead, she fired off six shots, holstering the gun again she stood up and began walking.

Getting out from cover, they all saw each of the infected laying in a puddle of blood. She looked back and smirked as she saw Francis stare dejectedly at his pipe. Coming out, Fluttershy felt nauseous as she saw the blood, swallowing what little bile that was coming up, she took in a deep breath but only to cough from the horrid smell of the two zombies Francis killed.

"Don't worry," Louis said. "You get used to it quick. Just take small breaths."

She nodded and began taking, small deep breaths in. Slowly, the bile went down and she gave a small smile. Looking ahead, she saw the others had stopped in the center of the road.

"W-What's wrong?" She asked flying up to Bill. "Are there anymore zombies?"

"No, but the intersection ahead is crowded with cars." He said. "We can get through, but it will take a while to get to where we're going. Alright, everyone stay sharp. We're going in."

She looked ahead and saw a neat line of rusted cars, paint chipping off from them and piling on the ground. Windows were shattered, even pieces of metal from torn car doors jutted out from the sides.

Going forward again, they all slowly approached the wrecks. Glass crunching underfoot, they all squirmed their way past the first row of cars into the more open areas between them. Giving each other looks from the sides, they all let out a simultaneous sigh as they continued on.

Fluttershy was breathing slowly. Trying to keep the smell of molded seats, blood and oil out of her lungs. Looking next to her, she saw Louis wipe his eyes with a sleeve as he coughed a little.

As they progressed further into the maze of wreckage, the cars and vehicles created large walls of metal, blocking each other from view. The only way they could tell if someone was close, was by how far their breathing was from where another was at. Fluttershy, was for her part freaking out whenever her and Louis passed a large vehicle with rotting corpses hanging out from the windows.

"Great, there's a fork here." Louis said as he stared at the pile of vehicles blocking the way. "Which way do you think we should go, Fluttershy?" He asked looking down at her.

"O-Oh... I don't really care. Just as long as we can get out of here." She said.

"Alright, let's try something." He said putting a hand over his eyes. "Eleven, ten, nine-"

As he was counting, Fluttershy heard glass crunching from behind her. Turning, she saw an infected running at her, lips curled back and ready to kill. Gasping, she ran through the left fork.

"One." Louis said looking at the left. "Come on Fluttershy. Where'd you go?" He asked before getting tackled by the infected. "Son of a bitch! Get off me!"

Fluttershy was running as fast as she could, her wings locked up in fright as she saw more bodies in the shadows. Hearing Louis yell made her stop before she realized some of the shadows were moving. Seeing two infected shamble out from a bus, she immediately turned and began running again with them hot on her hooves.

Looking wildly around, she tripped when a gunshot, presumably Louis, startled her enough that she tripped and hit her head on the bumper of a car

The first one grabbed her roughly by the right wing making her semi-conscious self yelp in pain. The second one grabbed her by the front left leg. The one holding her leg bit down and she screamed, the infected were blown away by Louis as he got there a second too late, and she was left on the ground holding her bleeding leg.

"Shit! Shit! Shit!" Louis yelled as he stared wide-eyed at her wound. "H-Hang on, I just need something to wrap around it!"

Tearing off the bottom of his shirt, she quickly wrapped it around her should and propped he reg into it after tying another piece of cloth over the wound. Helping her back onto her hooves, he quickly looked around with a certain twitch in his movements.

"L-Louis...!" She cried. "I-It bit me! Am I going to turn into one of t-them?" She asked.

"No dammit!" He yelled. "You will not turn!" He yelled. "Fluttershy, I need you to promise me something, can you do that?"

"Y-Yes..." She sniffed.

"Do not say a word about this to anyone, got it?" He asked. "I don't want them freaking out and... Well, you know." He said staring at her leg.

"D-Don't say anything? But what if they ask what happened?"

"You tripped and cut your leg on a piece of metal." He said. "Come on, let's see if we can't find the others. Can you walk? Fly? Or do you need me to carry you?"

"I-I don't think I can walk, and my wing needs preening." She said wiping her face with her god leg. "C-Can you carry me?"

"Sure," he said picking her up by the back legs. "Your a lot lighter than I thought you'd be. "

"Pegasai have hallow bones so they can fly better." She said. "We also make the rainbows, fix the weather and, once a year make a pony powered tornado to bring water up from Ponyville's reservoir to Cloudsdale."

"Sounds fun. But we need to be quiet so I don't get tackled again."

"Oh, sorry. I rattle off things when I'm scared."

"No problem."

Author's Note

Sorry for the late chapter, I had a bit of trouble wording this. The next chapter shouldn't take as long. On the bright side, after I finish the chapter after this one, I can move on to King of Velrain!