It Only Takes A Bite: The Canterlot Trail

  I stood back from the cliff's edge as I looked at the once peaceful city of Trottingham. What was once a peaceful city was now hell on earth. Tartarus in reality, as I usually called it. I sighed as I felt the cool breeze blow against my face. I could see groups of hordes wandering the streets that I spent days maneuvering out of. Now, I was free. With only my bow and arrow on me, I had escaped.

  I still wasn't safe, however. I still had to find a place to shelter for the night.

  I trotted away from the cliff and went through the bushes. I went onto the trail and started trotting down the dirt road. The world around me was eerily silent, save for the occasional scream that resonated from the city or the occasional chirp of a bird.

Moan...

  I yelped and quickly pulled up my bow using my magic. I could already smell the smell of decaying flesh, causing me to gag. I quickly put the arrow in ,my bow as I saw an undead stallion rise from the bushes nearby with another unnerving moan that made me want to run away instead. However, I knew better. Undead never give up until they finally get you. I pulled the string back, and released. Within a second, the stallion was now truly dead, no longer cursed to walk around for all eternity wanting to eat the living.

  I went up closer to the stallion and looked at it. His lower jaw had been ripped off, leaving his tongue dangling out of his mouth in a slightly funny but gruesome fashion similar to a dog. I saw that his hind leg was bent grossly in the wrong direction with one of his bones sticking out from his skin. I sighed as I yanked the arrow out of the skull of the body, intending to reuse it for later on. After that, I quickly fled in a silent gallop. Undead were attracted to noise, and one thing I learned over the past week was that they also are attracted to each other because of the moans they make.

  "All I wanted to do was draw," I muttered to myself, "I never wanted to have every minute of my life pondering if I will live again."

  After a few minutes of galloping, I was sure I was now in the clear. I was now next to a railroad that bordered the small dirt trail. If I kept silent, I would hear the distant sound of a train horn. However, I knew it was my imagination playing tricks on me.

  As I walked down the trail, I started to think about memories from before the outbreak.

  I remembered seeing the first undead, eating somepony alive. I remembered seeing a foal's eyes get yanked out with a crowbar just because she took some food from some bandits. I remembered spending the first day of the outbreak sheltering in my home, not caring about the chaos outside that laughed at Discord himself.

  Even after all of that, I still have a positive view. If I don't stay positive, I lose the will to live, and Celestia knows how bad that will be.

  "Grey, what have you got yourself into?" I sighed to myself, looking at the clouds above. The outskirts of the city were eerily peaceful, up to the point where I just wanted to stop and set up a campsite. However, I knew how dangerous that was, sleeping outside completely defenseless.

  I continued to walk down the trail until I eventually reached a small home. If I hadn't been paying attention, the house would've been hidden from my view by the trees surrounding it. From the looks of it, it has been abandoned long before the outbreak judging from the uneven foundation and the broken windows. Even the door was off its frame and laying against the wall. If I was desperate, I would sleep here. However, I would probably make the entire place collapse just by walking up to the door. I sighed as I continued walking down the dirt trail.

"Help me,", a voice coming from the bushes wheezed, "My stomach hurts..."

  I yelped as I heard the croaking voice mutter from the bushes nearby. I pulled out an arrow from my quiver and readied my bow. I still have yet to get used to undead that were able to talk. They were rare, and this was the second one I had seen ever since the outbreak began.

  As I pointed my bow towards the bush and pulled my arrow back, a bloated mare shuffled out of the bushes. Intestines filled with writhing white maggots dangled out from her ripped abdomen. I quickly released my arrow, and within a second, I heard a body fall to the ground.

"Thank you..."

  I forgot about the arrow because of how fast I wanted to get away from her corpse. She had thanked me for putting her out of her misery. I felt a wave of sickness surge over me like a wave at the beach. I dropped my bow and bent over before releasing a wave of sick brown bile onto the dirt. I spent a minute gagging and retching before finally getting a grip of myself. Tears flowed out of my eyes and snot hung from my nose as I picked my bow back up. I coughed the remainder of the bile in my mouth out and continued on my way.

  For an hour I traveled down the dirt road. Nothing eventful happened as I traveled, aside from the occasional undead stumbling upon me. Eventually I was able to find an actual place to call a shelter. It was a small cabin. It wasn't roomy, but it would do for the night.

  As I took one last look up into the sky to look at the darkening void of blue above, I opened the door to the empty cabin and went inside. The entire room was dark. I could hear the scuttling of a few rats running outside. I shut the door and proceeded to lay down on the floor with my bow in hoof. I shut my eyes and fell into the world of dreams.

  "Tomorrow is going to be another horrible damn day," I muttered to myself as I went to sleep.

Stormc12 Presents...

It Only Takes A Bite

Road To Canterlot