Contagion Zone Equestria

by Gearaxis

breaking and entering

Gear landed on the other roof with a thud, Dew Drop bounced around on his back before regaining a good hold on his bandoleer. Gear continued running forward, attempting to distance himself from the now swarmed building. Behind him several of the infected attempted to jump after him but fell short, landing in the street with a crunch that they heard clearly. "Slow down!" Dew exclaimed in fear. Gear ignored her for the moment and continued galloping toward the next roof. He sprang forward, landing on the opposite roof easily. Unfortunately the buildings surrounding the third were all too tall to jump to. Gear ran forward at full speed anyway. "What are you doing!" Dew yelled in a panic, she began struggling to get loose of the bandoleer. Gear sprang forward toward the next building and, mid flight, grabbed hold of Dew Drop holding her tightly to his chest as he turned to strike a window with his back.

They smashed through the window with little difficulty and rolled across the floor. The sound of shattering glass was just soft enough that few of the infected, making quite a racket, heard them. Gear set Dew Drop on the ground and lay on his back, resting. She punched him softly in anger. "Don't do that!" She exclaimed.

"Sorry." He said simply. He rubbed his forehead and glanced around the room. It appeared to be an office of some kind with papers and computers scattered around, likely from panicking ponies attempting to flee the building. He finally stood from his spot on the ground and looked around more carefully. Several filing cabinets were propped against a door as a crude barricade, the desks appeared to be arranged in a secondary barricade around the door while a nearby door to a stair well was left mostly unblocked. There were three corpses in the room, one in full SWAT uniform, one in a suit covered in dry blood and entrails, the third was recognizable only from the shape of the skeleton as it had been mostly eaten.

A combat knife in the head of the business suit pony implied the SWAT pony had managed to off it before dying of what appeared to be blood loss as a large pool of dried blood surrounded it. "Stay here." He instructed Dew Drop as he cautiously made his way over to the corpses. He nudged the hind leg of the SWAT pony but it stayed motionless. Feeling slightly safer now that he knew nothing was going to jump back to life and try eating him, he yanked the combat knife out of the infected corpse's skull and cleaned it off on a clean portion of its suit. Flipping over the SWAT pony, he found two flash grenades, a key card, and a huge chunk of missing flesh in the throat of the poor SWAT pony that would explain the massive amount of blood.

"Are they dead?" Dew drop asked nervously. Gear nodded and slid the combat knife, grenades, and key card into his bandoleer while discarding his kitchen knife. He looked around the room again before proceeding to the barricaded door. In the hallway, nearly twenty corpses were in sight. All were riddled with bullet holes as were large portions of the walls. On of the corpses twitched indicating the infected pony was still somewhat alive. At least he hoped they had been infected before being mowed down. Shifting his view he saw the corpses of two more SWAT members, one blocking the door of an elevator so that it kept trying to close but opened when it hit the corpse. He could see an MP5 in the elevator behind the corpse.

Gear turned to Dew Drop. "Come on, we need to get into that hallway." He said. He led her to the stair well and began removing the desk and chairs piled up next to it. A groan outside made him stop. He looked out of the window on the door cautiously and saw two infected limping around aimlessly. The door must have muffled their crashing in through the window. He ducked down when one of them looked in his direction. "That's not good..." He muttered. He thought for a moment then noticed the SWAT pony. "Dew Drop, I need you to be very quiet no matter what, ok? Just follow my lead and make as little noise as possible." She nodded and frowned as he dragged the corpse to the other end of the room.

He motioned for her to stand behind him and opened the door to the stairwell. They heard the infected snarl and a moment later they rushed into the room. The corpse was the first thing they saw so they ran over to it, forgetting to look in Gear and Dew's direction. Gear silently led Dew into the stairwell and softly closed the door behind them. "Wow! It worked!" Dew whispered excitedly. A slight echo went up and down the stairwell. Something above them groaned. Gear silenced her and led her over to the other office's door quietly. Gear examined the inside carefully before pushing open the door and entering. Inside, the desks were in neat rows with computers and papers in their correct spots on the tables. The floor was clear of any blood or debris other than a plant that had fallen over.

Gear opened the door to the hallway and drew his combat knife, ready for one of the corpses to attack him. None did. Instead, he made his way over to the elevator and moved the SWAT pony stuck in the doors out of the way. He picked up the MP5 and examined it carefully, taking out the clip he discovered it was empty. He put it in his bandoleer anyway. A quick search of the dead SWAT ponies revealed an M67 fragmentation grenade and large first aid kit with everything still inside. The pony blocking the elevator door groaned and began standing up. Gear tore off its helmet and stabbed it in the head before it got any further.

He noticed the door to the stair well at the end of the hall was open, a trail of blood leading up the stairs. He set Dew Drop on his back and began stepping over the bullet riddled corpses. None of the corpses moved other than an occasional twitch and both made it to the other side without incident. So far, they hadn't had to fight any infected other than the SWAT pony, but that wasn't really a fight.

Gear glanced up the stair well before making his way up quietly. The trail of blood led to the very top floor and up on to the roof where seven ponies in full SWAT armor, armed to the teeth, lay dead in an enormous pool of blood. Corpses of the infected lay in a pile on both sides of the what appeared to be the SWAT team's last stand. Shell casings, blast marks, and bullet holes were everywhere. Three of the infected were rummaging through one of the large piles of corpses, eating anything their mouths touched. Gear hid Dew Drop behind the pile of corpses and went to search the SWAT ponies as quietly as he could. He managed to find a full clip of MP5 ammo before the infected noticed him. He slammed the clip into the gun and sent a hail of bullets into the three advancing ponies. Two fell but the third managed to keep dragging itself forward. Gear dispatched it with a strike from his combat knife. The MP5 clip was now half empty. A quick search of the remaining SWAT members yielded two more clips, two walkie talkies, a breaching charge, and a pair of infrared goggles. He took them all.