//------------------------------// // Chapter 4 // Story: Fog // by MetricOnion //------------------------------// The morning was unwelcome. Unconsciously conscious, I rolled my head side to side groaning as it tried to overcome the pure exhaustion that I was feeling. A yawn escaped my mouth and I ran my hoof up my side towards my ear where I stroked my hair. Reluctantly I pried my eyes open, letting my pupils adjust to the sudden change in light. My red iris flitted about as the events of the day before returned to me. As they did I was reminded of my rather unfortunate predicament. I groaned as the pain resumed. My heart began racing again as the sudden jolt had caused my brain to think that I was being attacked. I concentrated on the calming of my nerves. I knew that I wasn’t being attacked but as I focused my mind on fixing one problem, another emerged. My throat tightened and I felt something rushing from my stomach. “Oh shit!” I thought as I began to panic. Rolling over seemed impossible as the searing agony was a constant pressure that I couldn’t escape. As I felt my gullet becoming overcome with nausea, I tried my best to move my body even slightly to the side. My attempts weren’t rewarded. I couldn’t breathe as each time I coughed only miniscule droplets of vomit escaped my mouth. I could feel my lungs begin to complain as every second they were closer to being filled with the vile substance. I could see my eyesight blurring and my head body becoming numb starting from my limbs. Something light was placed beneath my arm before anything made its way to far down my windpipe. A sudden light change allowed me to see a small box at the right side of my vision. A trickle made its way down onto my cheek, eventually dripping onto the concrete floor. Even so my eyes began blurring further, darkness beginning to envelope me. My eyes opened and I was jolted to my senses my throat burning as bile and vomit was shot its way out of my body, some ricocheting into my face, splattering my fur with sickly pieces of green and yellow. I heard myself screaming but wasn’t controlling the outburst and my back shook uncontrollably with a dull ache centred on my lungs. A lone tear descended into what was now a puddle in which I lay. Moving my arms I used as much of my strength to anchor myself on my elbows. Remnants dribbled from my bottom lip as my grasp on reality finally normalised. My breathing returned to its normal state as I lay balanced precariously on my elbows staring face-first into my own sick. Needless to say, it wasn’t a pretty sight. My body had become outlandishly cold. I nearly shrieked as I felt a hoof touch my bruised spine. I was halted when I felt it stroke the tufts of fur gathered around my vertebrae. It was warm to the touch and I soon felt another on my shoulder. Clutching my side, the anonymous hooves rolled me away from the repulsive substance. I fell haplessly into the arms of the one I knew so well. He had a half frightened half relieved grin, subtle but there, that bore his unpleasantly amber rack of teeth. “Stop dying please,” he said through a sigh. “I’ve got enough on my plate without having to save your life every other day.” I stared deep into his eyes, examining the glint of reflection before smiling myself. “You’re such a faf you know that,” said the blue stallion. “Yeah I know,” I tried to say but coughed and spluttered in no fit state after a rather disturbing and scary experience. Some might call it convenient that I survived and it does sound rather cliché when I think about it I know. I felt myself being dragged over to a corner and I was placed in a sitting position where I was able to regulate my breathing and do my best to control the constant urge to unleash my entire insides over my hooves. “Why can’t you just keep your body under control because it’s not like you’re that clumsy or are you?” Through silent splutters and coughs I spoke as best as I could, “I probably am that clumsy, do you even know me?” “Well it seems that we spend so much time separated from each other that it’s hard to understand what you’re actually doing with your life,” complained Osiridium. “What are you saying?” “I’m saying you’re constantly getting caught by the demonic arseholes,” “I can hardly get a break with you.” I could hear the irritation creeping into his voice. I knew what he meant because I knew myself that I was clumsy. I couldn’t help it. I’d had to mature so much so quickly that I was a bit too big to suit my body. I tried my best to diffuse the situation. “Osiridium look, no matter what you say it’s not going to change the price of fish or whatever the saying is. I’m sorry I’m not perfect and that I don’t strive to be. We’re both orphans and the only pony we’ve got is each other. You’ve got to learn to deal with the situation at hand because worrying will only send you backwards.” A silence ensued as my speech was digested. Osiridium looked into my eyes; the slightly dazed look that was always present had become a little more obvious. I heard him swallow before staring at the ground. I felt awkward waiting for his response. “That’s the most homosexual thing I’ve ever heard.” Osiridium said in a freakishly calm voice. I felt the laugh escape my mouth and the smile seep through. “What?” I said through laughter. “How did your brain come up with that? Surely it didn’t sound that weird!” “It was pretty weird but I must hasten to say that it’s true,” he said in between deep chuckles. “I’m sorry for being such a dick sometimes. You get a hard enough time as it is!” “Yeah, I should know!” “Anyway, how are you feeling now?” inquired Osiridium. “All the better for seeing you!” “Flattering. But seriously, how are you?” “I’m better to say the least,” “Well for one you’re not lying down in your own vomit because that wasn’t doing you any favours at all.” I looked down at my nose and see a small speck of yellow/brown liquid and flicked it off with my hoof. The wind buffeted rocks across the wind-cracked concrete road, particles floated around and pinged off the ground like bullets. It wasn’t long before I was twitching uncontrollably, my mind spinning as images flickered in the foreground of my vision. I flicked my head and the figures went away. I could still see silhouettes though, black shards sticking up from the ground like demonic monsters. They were like outlines burnt to my retinae. A blur flashed across my eyes, lime green in colour with hints of red and black around the top of the vision. I yelped and it disappeared into the fog. I could her Osiridium calling to me through the racket of the storm. I could make out: “you alright‽” I called back as loud as possible but even I struggled to understand what I was actually saying. I struggled to keep up with my partner due to the pain in my leg which had the adverse effect of us not being able to communicate effectively over even short distances especially in such weather. The wind was a rather unpleasant surprise as it seriously hindered progress and made speech inaudible. It also meant that it had become increasingly tense because neither of us could hear anything should anything dangerous happen. My leg stung as tiny particles became lodged in my flesh making me quite amazed that it hadn’t been infected ages ago. I was 99% sure that that green furred pony must have had some queer disease that I’d never heard of. Even so this did have the unfortunate impact of me being slowed significantly and having my energy drained twice as fast as normal. I was a fit pony but not fit enough to carry on for days on end in such constant agony. I tried as best I could to get the attention of my comrade who was rocketing off into the distance leaving me in a trail of smoke metaphorically. He seemed to be running off pure will to get to his destination and had simply forgotten that he had a casualty with him. I began rasping after not too long from shouting indefinitely. I was getting so fed up of him not turning around that I used what strength I had left to lift a rock in my hoof and attempt to hit him with it. It ended pathetically with the stone only reaching a few feet in front of me as a result of the inconceivable forces of nature. “Oh for fuck’s sake” I thought aloud. I had no idea what was happening because he wouldn’t normally have done this. His train of thought eluded me and I could only think what was happening inside his skull. I was beginning to buckle under my own weight at this point and I only had one other option in mind. I let my legs give way so that I was lying upon the dirty ground a few hundred metres outside of a toll booth on a cracked road in the middle of fucking nowhere. Putting all of my effort into my actions I pulled my rifle off my back and placed on the ground in front of me aimed slightly off to the side of Osiridium’s now silhouetted figure. My hoof wrapped around the trigger and with my final drop of energy I pulled it back. An almighty crack ripped through the wind and I saw the shadow wheel around through the tears collecting in my eyes. My ears rang, drowning out the sound of the gale making me feel as if I was in a silent room. I noticed the pony returning to me now. I could see his face, his teeth bore in a grimace at what lay (literally) before him. I let him come to me, kicking away my rifle and instantly kneeling next to me. I rag-dolled into his arms as he cried onto me, his face becoming that of a hapless pony. I saw his mouth moving and I tried to communicate, blinking every now and then to show I was still alive. I reached up slowly with my hoof because that is all that I was capable to do at that point. I held his neck softly and he closed his eyes letting my fur touch his. He seemed to be ready for my death, trying not to think about it. But I was determined that I wouldn’t leave him alone in this wasteland. I felt my adrenaline begin to pump as the thought of Osiridium alone became too much to bear. I dried my eyes as best I could albeit sluggishly and tried to wriggle out of my friend’s grip. In a rasp, I did my best to reassure him. “Don’t leave me again. I’ll be fine with you.” Osiridium, sat next to me, hesitated but eventually said, “I won’t leave you.” He now seemed like he didn’t know what to do, but he soon hit an epiphany. He reached down and kissed me softly for a few seconds. My heart jumped slightly and my cheeks flushed red. I didn’t try to argue, after all, I did rather enjoy, even if momentary, this connection between us. I wanted it to last longer but he broke away in embarrassment. In my ear he said, “I’m sorry.” I smiled and shut me eyes soon feeling Osiridium’s hoof reach over my sternum, most likely to make sure that I was still alive. I woke to the unfamiliar sound of birdsong and a rather bright shining light. I felt rejuvenated after having slept through the windstorm but was still quite surprised that I had managed to do so. The bird’s music was close to my ear so I turned to face and was met with a horrifying sight. The thing that I had called a bird was completely deformed with a large, most likely cancerous, growth protruding from its neck. It had only one eye and was drenched in its own blood. Its song wasn’t actually that comforting either and was a mixture of rasps and high pitched squeals. The nuisance was suddenly and unexpectedly silenced by a teal hoof swiping across my eyes. My eyes shot up and I saw a more consoling sight. ‘He had stuck with me’ I thought with a sigh of relief. “Wake up again sleepy head; we made it a grand total of two-hundred metres yesterday!” jeered Osiridium. “No thanks to you, *cough*” I replied sarcastically. “Yeah alright, I get it; I was an arsehole yesterday,” “Well, I did almost die,” “Stop rubbing it in. I found some food that wasn’t contaminated at the bottom of my saddlebag so we can have that,” “Alright, sounds *cough* good,” “Yeah.” I could see his face turn slightly red as he turned away. I recalled what had happened the previous day and laughed at how he was trying to hide his awkwardness. “Oh, and that reminds me” he said, “I cleaned up your wound as best I could.” We ate in silence. I had managed to sit up and was enjoying some unperishable tinned goodness alongside my long standing ally. I broke the silence after a few more awkward seconds. I grunted and proceeded to inquire about his reasons for zooming away from me the day before. “Hey, I was wondering why you walked so fast yesterday. It’s not like you to do something like that,” “I guess I forgot how bad your injury actually was because when I heard you squeal for some reason I thought you weren’t far behind me. Why did you squeal yesterday by the way?” “I dunno, I think it might have been a hallucination or something, it was very blurred and only lasted for a second but it was definitely there.” Osiridium nodded in acknowledgement and resumed his consumption of food. Before long we were on the road again with spirits as high as they could get in the situation. At least there was no wind anymore. I could feel a significant difference in my leg pain from when Osiridium had apparently removed most of the grit from the incision. Over a small hillock a wide panoramic view of the wasteland lay before us in a strange and unnerving beauty. Tiny speckles of sunlight dappled the ground here and there where the UV had managed to break through the green/grey cloud layer off in the distance. We took one final look behind us and saw off in the backdrop the corrupted black pillars peeking over the horizon of a city we had once explored. When I thought about the fact that we hadn’t met a single sane pony for days made my stomach drop. A wave of loneliness washed over me as I assessed my situation. It had been five years with no luck. Our destination still eluded us as we wandered miles off course into the unchartered territory of unrecognisable scenery that appeared the same no matter where one looked. Darmstadt was out there, it was just a matter of finding it. We set off feeling a little depressed after that moment of reconciliation and remembrance. My sniper rifle jolted on my back with every step I took, each time causing the air to be jolted out of my lungs rather forcefully. I stuck with the handicap though and made sure that I only inhaled short, sharp breaths because that was really all I was capable of doing. Osiridium made damn sure that he didn’t wander, afraid that if he left me then I would feel unable to deal with the fatigue. I reassured myself though that even if he did move a little further away I would most likely be able to rein him back because we at least had the ability to hear unlike some of our past experiences. Conversation was sparsely placed and usually ended in a few sentences, neither of us had much to talk about at the moment apart from the state of the other’s mane or some random crap like that. To be honest I didn’t really want to talk for the most part because I was contented to stay within the realms of unreality inside my mind where anything was possible. Sometimes I would fantasize about living in the shoes of someone not affected by the nuclear war, but mostly I would think about writing books. Libraries full of books. Hundreds of millions of pages of text with all of my life experiences decorating them in pitch black ink. I rarely thought of my parents, or my family. But when I did I tried to stop myself as best I could. Not because I didn’t love them. Oh no, I loved them alright. It’s just think that it would make me sad and even lonelier than normal (if that’s possible). I seldom talked about them either. Like Osiridium, we were realists and ponies who live in the present and don’t dwell on the past with frequent thoughts of the future (Wow I have a very round-about way of saying stuff). We take things as they come mostly because the past cannot be changed but the future is influenced on your decisions in the present. If one pony dwells on the past too much it gets them killed because they can’t focus on what’s in front of them. We had walked for what seemed like an age when we finally dropped off the road and onto the needle-like ‘grass’. It was in fact just some parasitic reed that had seemed to spread rather far and rather quickly across most of the land, all of the grass was destroyed. (Just as a side note, the Hoofsians really went all out, they left nearly no land untouched. I’m still unsure of their motives but they did seem to really hate Germany) It felt strangely comforting to be off the rugged tarmac and onto the uneven undulations of the natural landscape, even if some areas may still be a bit irradiated. (Another side note, most that survived built up a quick resistance to the radiation because they were exposed to mostly small amounts [The bombs weren’t that radioactive]. That or they died) Our first steps back onto the land that we trudged our bodies through for many years felt almost heavenly in comparison to what we’d be going on for days on end now. “So how was it?” I asked ambiguously as we walked. “How was what?” “The kiss, I could see you were embarrassed,” I said on purpose just to see his cheeks go red again. “Oh yeah, that. Look it was a spur of the moment thing,” “I’ve never been kissed before,” I said to make him feel even more awkward (It was true) “Oh, well, erm. You probably wanted your first kiss with someone other than me,” “What other choice did I have?” I joked. “Hey, why are we talking about this?” “I’m just saying that, that I enjoyed it. It was what I needed in that situation,” “Oh, you’re welcome?” “I should be saying thank you first, but seeing as you’ve already ‘welcomed’ me…” I leaned in and pecked him on the cheek, “…I may as well not bother.” Osiridium smiled out of what I took to be embarrassment. Oh how happy I felt at that moment. It didn’t feel like an open confession of love which was relaxing but it came out as confirmation of friendship which was what really mattered to me. The fluctuating landscape was beginning to take its toll on our endurance. Our speed had halved and we were both getting very tired. I was rather surprised that I’d managed to make it so far with a limp. The sun was just beginning to slide down beneath the horizon by that point identified by the failing of the light and the coming of darkness. My heart and spirits sunk alongside the illuminating star as the unwelcome night eventually covered our tracks. I had mixed feelings about the dark. It was on one hand a fairly useful asset because it made you harder to find but there was the problem of it having the same effect on everything else. It was a safe yet unsafe environment if you understand. The night could hold anything, and so I found out when I almost crashed into a small house, only visible via its outline. I stopped as I noticed it but Osiridium was not so lucky and I heard a rather satisfying *thunk* as his face collided with the surface. I facehoofed in disbelief and wandered over to where he had fallen. He groaned as his nose probably hurt due to his unfortunate meeting with a solid object. It was only after Osiridium’s short recovery where I stopped to question the existence of such a thing in the middle of the wastes. I’d seen walls build in the middle of the wasteland but those were usually not as tall as a pony and were outside bandit emplacements. No, this had to be some sort of residence. Feeling with my hoof I made my way around the side of the house and allowed Osiridium to shine a bright light. What confronted us was rather horrific. It was a derelict village, decorated solely with corpses.