Break’s heart was racing so hard it felt like it could beat out of her body at any moment. What was she going to do? On the hidden camera, she saw that the Cosas had already discovered the old entrance to the basement was blocked, and they were looking for another way in. Somehow, they knew for certain she was here.

Break forced herself to calm down. She needed to think this through. Scavenger wouldn't create this bunker with only one entrance, she was sure of that. Creating another entrance would prevent him from being trapped in situations just like this.

Break cursed herself for not asking about such things before Scavenger left. She searched around the bunker for anything that might let her leave this place alive. After ten minutes of searching, she still found nothing. Break panicked. What if she was wrong and Scavenger didn’t make a secret exit to this thing?

When she moved the bed, she found a vent and almost cried with joy and relief. It looked big enough to fit a pony. It was a small dirt tunnel in the wall. Break thought it must provide air to the room and hoped it provided a way to escape. It was too small to fit her saddlebags. It was just big enough to fit her. She hated leaving everything she had, but maybe she could come back for them later or get Scavenger to do it.

Break decided to at least take a gun and found a leg strap among the various stuff Scavenger found over the years and attached it around her right leg. She put the .45 auto pistol (The same pistol Rivet gave her) into it. Break was thankful that she remembered to retrieve it from Yellow Star when he took it from her. It wasn’t much, but it was better than nothing. Steeling her nerves, she removed the cover and crawled in.

The vent was uncomfortable and Break was too tall for it. It seemed to go on forever. It was pitch black, and she used her PipBuck to light the way. She froze when she heard voices. It was hard to hear from this distance, but she was certain it came from the end of the vent. She crawled faster. Even though she moved the bed back, it won’t take them long to find the vent.

Break found the way out and crawled out into a large cave. She stretched her limbs aching from the small space and the crawling for so long. She looked around and soon found a metal door nearby. It had a terminal next to it. The cave was too dark for her to see anything else. Her PipBuck didn’t provide enough illumination.

Break pondered if she should enter the door, or explore the cave for a way out. She decided to pick the door. There was no way to know for sure if the cave had a way out and she didn’t want to waste time looking around with pursuers behind her.

The terminal wasn’t locked so she opened the door. She gawked when she looked inside. She saw a large round gear like door that was wide open. It had the words Stable 12 written on it.

Break had heard about this Stable. It was the sister to Stable 11 the Stable Break was born in. Break was hesitant to go inside. Stables were said to be very dangerous. They’re odd things and even survivors that used them doubted their safety and security. Her father, who used to be the main engineer of their Stable, often told her he suspected that the Stables were designed on purpose to eventually fail.

There were also rumors that the Stables were also designed as sick experiments for its occupants. For some reason, every Stable differed from each other in the way it operated. Some had a different social structure, others had different technology, and it was all done with no rhyme or reason. It was rumored that the Vice-President of Stable-Tec Corporation, whose name escaped Break at the moment, had gone completely bonkers by the end of the war. Nopony knew for sure why they were designed that way.

Break knew Stable 12 was vacant now with all the inhabitants moving into the wastelands a long time ago, but who knew what moved in. Break had a bad feeling about the place. She grunted in annoyance. Oh, how bad could it be? She thought and entered the Stable door.

Break found herself in the Overpony’s office. She saw that it was well furnished. It had a beautiful C-shaped deck made of the finest wood. There were colorful pictures covering the walls with a couch and a few other pieces of furniture. Break eyes lit up when she saw the terminal on the desk. She wondered if she had enough time to look through it. It might have a map of the Stable. She tapped a hoof in thought. Tortured over her decision and decided to go for it starting up the machine. Break felt the urge to hit her head on the desk when she saw that it refused to start up. She shook her head and got going. There was no time to waste.

It was eerie being in this place. There was something familiar about it, but it wasn’t the Stable she was born in. She had vague memories of living in Stable 11, but she was only four or five when her parents and the rest of the Stable left for the wastelands. Being here was so odd. It was like being in a dream, perhaps. It was familiar, but foreign at the same time.

Break wondered if she could find anything of use like maybe a weapon. She found a sign that led to living quarters and followed it.

Break was unnerved when she looked through the various rooms. It was a mess. It looked like whoever lived here was in a hurry to take anything essential and leave. Break realized that she never learned why the inhabitants of Stable 12 left in the first place. Something bad must have happened, and they needed to evacuate quickly.

A chill went down Break’s spine. Maybe whatever made them leave is gone now? She gulped and hoped that was true. She needed to get to the bottom of this.

In one room was a terminal, and she started it up. She tapped her hoof with impatience as it started up. Robin was right behind her. She had little time. Thank Celestia that it was not password protected and Break looked for some journal entries. She opened the last one and skimmed it.

August 16,

Overstallion Racket says we need to evacuate now. Soon Stable 12 will be completely unlivable. The flooding is getting worse. The first floor is already completely flooded. We still have the backup generator, but the main one is ruined. All our crops are underwater. This is a disaster. There is no way we can live here now. Floor 2 already has shin deep water. The Overstallion says it will only take about a day for that to be completely flooded as well.

Everypony is taking what they can and going to the surface. The Overstallion opened up the secret exit in his office to make the evacuation that much easier. I never believed we would venture the wasteland so soon… But, it must be. It is said that there are true horrors out there, but we will make it. We must. Ponykind must rebuild and begin again. I write this hoping we will build a better and brighter future for our foals. Look at me go on, I’m usually not this sentimental. I will miss this place. Thank you Vault 12. You were a true salvation for ponies.

-Living Tree

So, that’s it. I wonder what caused the Stable to flood? Break’s eyes widen in horror. She realized that if the second floor is flooded, then that means that the way to the entrance is blocked with water. There’s no way for her to get out of the Stable except the same way she came in. If any of the Cosas came into the Stable, then she was in trouble. She shook her head. No, she was fine. The Cosas would spread out to cover more ground. Some would search the cave and the others would search the Stable. It might be tricky, but she could handle that.

Break searched the room for anything useful. Unfortunately, it seemed like anything of use was already taken. She scanned the other rooms through their windows and found similar success. She sighed. It was too much to hope for and continued through the Stable.

Break activated her Eyes Forward Sparkle. She froze when she saw five red blips coming her way. Wasn’t that all her pursuers? Why did they all go into the Stable? That made no sense at all. She scowled. They were also blocking her only way to escape. Now they were fanning out and exploring the corridors. She was completely blocked. Her only hope was to either hide and hope they overlooked her or go further and hope she finds a way around them. This place was huge, but Robin was ruthless when on a hunt so that idea didn’t seem like it would work.

Break trotted forward. She went down a right corridor then a left. Break had some idea where she was going, but she hated using vague childhood memories as a guide. She was wondering if she could get around them somehow in the twisting corridors. She activated her EFS and her eyes widened when she saw that all her pursuers were coming this way. They were trying to box her in. They were already covering the only passageways she could escape from.

Break saw a door nearby and opened it and closed it behind her. It led down another endless corridor. She ran down it and started to panic when she saw the pony with the cowboy hat enter the door behind her. Break saw he was raising a rifle towards her. Luckily, she reached a right turn and made it in time before he could fire. She stopped and her tracks when she saw what was in front of her. She just found the stairway that led to the second floor and it was covered to the top step with water. Her PipBuck made a creaking sound showing that the water was very radioactive. To make matters worse, it was also a sickly brown color.

This was bad. Very very bad. Break could also hear more ponies entering the corridor behind her. She looked at the water and back at the corridor of approaching hoof steps. She winced and dove in the water. It was freezing cold and tasted horrible, but she ignored it and swam down. She hoped beyond hope that she might find a pocket of air somewhere. She winced in pain as she felt something hit her left hoof. Break realized that she was just shot. The pain was unbearable and did her best to continue forward despite the agony. She saw that she was getting near the bottom of the stairs. She swam through a new corridor trying to ignore the horrible pain and finding anything that could help her. It was hard to move her left hoof now, but that just made her kick harder.

The murky water was hard to see through. Break could already feel her lungs burning. She was in a corridor filled with rooms. She looked around for anything could help her.

No, this is crazy. Break thought. I’m dead. Unless there is some way to… Break was stunned to find in the corridor to her right was a staircase and it went up. She swam towards it with all her might. Her lungs and leg burned so much she felt like passing out. Somehow, she made it and breathed in the precious air. Air had never tasted so sweet at this moment. She coughed and gagged relieved to finally being able to breathe in air again. Break shook herself and shivered from the cold. She looked around and found she was in another corridor on the third floor. It seemed that the second floor had multiple entrances.

Break’s leg hurt so much. She wasn’t sure she could handle the pain. Being in that dirty water wasn’t so great either. She looked to her left and found a room labeled storage. She limped towards it. Water dripped from her body to the floor. The room was guarded by a terminal. She hooked up her PipBuck to hack it. It was a very simple password of ‘Finish’ and Break entered the door and locked it behind her.

Break collapsed on the ground as she entered and fought back tears feeling the urge to retch all over the floor. It took all her willpower not to do that. She pushed back her pain determined to find something to help her. She searched inside all the boxes and found nothing but junk and old parts. Her eyes widened when she saw that there was a first aid kit by the door. She couldn’t believe she missed it and threw the door open. It contained little. No healing potions, but it had painkillers, some antibiotic, and bandages.

Break downed at least six pills of pain killer. She was in too much pain to care about the health hazards at the moment. Break found a chair nearby and sat in it examining her bullet wound. She winced at the sight of it. It was an ugly thing and it looked like the flesh of her hoof had been torn off. It was horrifying to look at. It looked like the bullet was still in her hoof and she wondered if it was smart to remove it. Break gave it some thought but decided against it.

Break put generous proportions of antibiotic on her wound and did her best to clean and dry it with the extra bandages before wrapping it with the clean ones. She tried to put some weight on it, but it hurt too much so she decided to just awkwardly walk with three legs for now.

Break looked again for anything that could help her. Something, anything would be helpful right now. Her gun was waterlogged, and she wondered if it would even function now. She decided to at least drain it of water and spend the next few minutes making sure it had no more water in it. Break hoped beyond hoped that it would work right when she needed it.

With some searching, Break found something of use. It was an old jumpsuit for the Vault. She thought it might be useful was a sling for her injured leg. It was a bit awkward to set up, but it defiantly helped. The pain was still pretty horrible, but the painkillers made it at least manageable.

Break activated her EFS and surveyed the areas. She could see red dots walking around. Break growled in frustration. Why didn’t they think she was dead? This whole scenario seemed strange. She still did not understand how they found her in the first place.

Break decided that she would try to sneak around them. They were spread apart, and this place was huge. It might be a long shot, but she might be able to get around them somehow.

Break’s EFS saw none of her enemies nearby, so she opened the door and looked around. Nopony was in sight, so she snuck outside. She continued forward and used her EFS to watch for anypony. She saw that one was coming her way, so she hide behind the wall and stood as still as she could.

The Cosas member sighed as he walked by. “Still alive? How the hay does that filly keep doing it?” The stallion mumbled to himself. “Somewhere around here? How can his power be so useful and useless at the same time!” He continued to mumble to himself and moved on.

Power? What the hay is he talking about? Break thought confused. Was that how they found her? She shook her head and stored that information for later and moved on.

Break crept through the corridor ears perked for any danger gun at the ready. She knew she didn’t really have much ability to run and getting into a gunfight with trained killers didn’t seem like such a good idea. Her only hope was to be careful and quiet.

Break saw on her EFS that a red dot was coming her way. She saw a door to a living quarter open and leaped inside. She ducked under the glass window. Her heart raced as the figure approached.

Break with care peeked over the window and saw a gray-maned unicorn with a gun in his aura coming this way. He seemed to scrutinize every little corner. Break ducked out of the way before she could be seen.

Break panicked as she heard him approach the door to the room she was hiding in. She saw nowhere that would be a suitable hiding place. With a steady quiet hoof, she pulled her gun from its holster and got it in position ready for anything. She did her best to suppress her rising panic and dread.

The stallion entered the room. He made sure to have his gun ready and seemed prepared for anything. He was about to enter when a voice made him stop.

“Y-ou guys better stop or else!” Scavenger shakily said. “I-I have a g-gun!” The stallion turned and started at a sprint towards where Scavenger’s voice came from.

Oh ponyfeathers! Break cursed and followed the best she could without making much noise. It was awkward with only three legs, but she did it without making too much racket. Her eyes widened when she saw the scene. Scavenger had a gun in his aura pointed directly at Robin. Robin, for his part, stared at his assailant calm and collected not showing a single sign of fear. Several other Cosas members watched. Some were outraged, others were just as calm as Robin was.

“What do you hope to achieve Scavenger?” Robin asked in an even voice. “You know she has no chance to survive. If you shot me, you will die and so will she. You do good work. It would be a shame if you died as well.”

“You’re willing to forgive this?” One of the Cosas, the youngest one, asked in disbelief.

“He’s acting out of dedication for his friend," Robin explained, "I can admire that. Besides, his death would be pointless."

Robin stared in Scavenger’s eyes. “I will give you the count of five to put that gun down and leave this place. I promise nothing will happen to you and we can all forget this ever happened.”

Scavenger’s hold on his weapon shook even more in his aura. He was terrified. Two other ponies had guns trained on him. The pony in the hat just watched from the sidelines not particularly interested in the predicament.

Break considered her options. Should she attack? She had the drop on them, but could she protect Scavenger during the firefight? Attacking might just get Scavenger killed. Running was… no, she couldn’t abandon him no matter what. She would find a way to save both their lives somehow.

Break readied her gun. Nopony seemed to notice and for that she was grateful. Break winced. So much could go wrong. What if her gun misfired from the earlier water damage? What if she couldn't shoot two of the Cosas in time? She wasn't that great of a shot. What if she missed? So many variables that could doom both of them in an instant.