Chapter Sixty Seven: We don’t go to Silo Three
The mare carefully slid out the door. Snagging some pieces of thin metal rebar from some of the debris on the ground, the mare bent them through the double-door handles.
That would hold for a few minutes; she wasn’t going far. Sassi was abruptly aware of how loud the noise of the creaking metal was.
She watched the motion tracker on the helmet, but it was mostly fuzzed out. Some odd electrical field was making the device jump this way and that. Her head on a swivel, the mare stopped halfway down the hallway. The lights weren’t broken, the night vision confirmed that much.
The power was either out or rerouted from this point onwards. Silo Three had its own reactor, a smaller, more inefficient design. But apparently, it was still chugging along.
Infrared night sensors now activating, Sassi carefully walked down the hallway and into the darkness. The area was quiet. There was no humming of electrics, no soft rattle of air conditioning. Particles in the air hung in front of the mare, the infrared beams reflecting off of them.
A cold shiver ran down Sassi’s spine. The mare wasn’t used to feeling fear like this, not anymore. While being close to Astral had ignited a different deep-seated fear, odd situations and experiments simply had stopped frightening the mare.
Yet something made every sense scream to be on an alert. Her enhanced hearing and sight were useless. There was nothing here.
It was like a tomb.
The hallway continued straight, then opened into a room on her left and right. The first was a simple break room connecting to some offices; the medical bay being significantly separate from the other rooms. That was a good realization; the medical area was surrounded by massive deposits of rock on all sides in that case. Only the vents and doors would be the entrance.
The break room was abandoned. There were blood stains here and there, papers strewn over the floor. But no bodies.
A quick sweep and Sassi turned back, starting to exit the room.
As the beams from the infrared swept over the wall near the door, the mare had to clamp her mouth shut from uttering a mortified gasp in shock.
Sassi found herself face to face with a bloody, skeletal skull grinning back at her.
Any semblance of form outside of a skeletal system had been lost. It was as if something had vacuumed all of the soft tissue out of and out of a pony, and then vomited it back at the skeleton and plastered the entire mass to the wall. The organic matter had started to grow across the floor. What color it was, Sassi didn’t know due to the black and white of infrared.
Now the fear began to eat at Sassi’s heart, the mare quickly making her exit. In all her times of dealing with experiments, prisoners, and the worse the Silos had to offer, she had never seen anything that could do that.
On exiting the hallway, Sassi’s heart began to thud in her chest. Directly across from the hall, was another set of offices.
The Thestral could count at least a dozen flesh-plastered skeletons on the walls, ceiling, and floor before she began to backtrack.
What is all of this?!
The minigun hummed, constantly spinning in case the mare had to fire. And yet the hallway was silent. The infrared indicated the hallway curved left past those rooms, but Sassi had seen enough.
The sensation of being watched abruptly hit her. Yet there were no vents, no eyes in the darkness. Only the sensation that the particles in the air could see her, that her movements that sent the dust flying alerted something to their presence. It was like she had stepped on a single thread within a spider’s web.
The mare got back to the hospital doors, quickly ducking inside after removing the metal pieces. Her heart still thudding in her chest, Sassi double-checked the room. The barricades were carefully dismantled and rebuilt more securely, ensuring that nothing could get in the other door or the two air vents on the walls. The main door was also reinforced, the mare scavenging some of the unused beds, cabinets, and other items for the metal.
A crowbar had been lodged in one of the doors to wedge them shut. The mare carefully retrieved the tool and latched it onto her armor.
She then sat next to Astral, struggling to catch her breath. Her training had abruptly failed outside of screaming at her to leave, a primal sense of wrong radiating from the area down the hallway.
The Thestral’s ears twitched. She was aware more of the movement on her head than the sound, initially. In the silence, there had been something.
It was distant, but it moved quietly. A soft shift of some broken glass, the crunch of office papers.
The mare stayed still; guns trained on the main doorway. The other being paused, and a low, ominous clicking echoed down the hallway. The motion tracker was a blur of static, some interference whiting out the display as Sassi yanked the helmet off.
To Sassi’s horror, dozens of smaller clicks replied. The soft skittering of claws ran up and down the hall. The footfalls of the larger individual went past them, a large shadow passing in front of the covered porthole windows. It then turned around at the locked security doors at the end of the hall.
It let out a huff, then retreated down the hall, the smaller ones following. What sounded suspiciously like a warped, deep chuckle echoed down the hall, and then the silence returned. Sassi put the helmet back on, the motion tracker now clear.
Do not go to Silo Three.
Joro’s warning had been correct.
Sassi stared at the door for a while after that. Once no sounds had been heard for some time, the mare let herself relax a bit.
Oddly, knowing there was something here made the Thestral feel a bit more at ease. There was still the unknown of what it was, but that could be solved in time.
Turning her attention to the other minigun, Sassi opened up a back slot on the weapon. Scraping together some solid metal debris, the mare dropped them into a small funnel-like aperture, a soft orange glow igniting within it before guttering out. A message then popped up on her HUD.
‘Minigun Two: Ammunition status, 34%. Inputted matter conversion sequence initiated. Estimated levels after process: 63%. Correction. Battery power is insufficient to initiate the conversion. Please attach to armor to utilize reactor and restart sequence.’
Well, it had been a nice thought. At least the minigun on her saddle had 45% ammunition remaining.
The mare shoved in some more metal, the levels then projecting 100% after the matter conversion. She then stowed the gun, doing the same with the one she still put back onto her side-saddle. If they could spare the power, they could get more ammo. But Sassi didn’t want to draw a single volt from the reactor that was keeping Astral alive, let alone the who-knows-how-damaged electrical grid.
She nearly jumped out of her skin as a crackly voice echoed over the helmet’s speakers, a grainy picture appearing in the HUD.
“Sassi, this is Vial. I hope you get this, and you’re ok,” the stallion said, looking into the camera.
The mare nearly replied, the stallion’s next words nixing that idea, however.
“I’m making these recordings to go off at intervals. Astral is acclimating to the armor now. There’re nine syringes in the back-left saddlebag of the armor; each one has two doses. Astral needs an injection twice per day for a week. I put in two spare syringes; four doses. In an emergency, there might be more syringes in Silo Three, along with the armor’s refill packs. I only heard rumors, nothing concrete. But this is the first reminder to inject a dose into any of the medical ports built into the system. More on that in a moment.”
The stallion sighed, shaking his head.
“I hope to see you two again soon. For what it’s worth, I’m sorry. I’m sorry for working for this foul company, this place…I’m so sorry for everything,” he said softly. “I wish I could offer advice. Silo Three is a black hole; I don’t know what’s there. It’s been cut off since the first day, and it was heavily compartmentalized before that, as you know. So just be careful. I’ll program reminders to go off every twelve hours to give Astral the injection. If you’re a bit late on the first injection, that’s acceptable. You just need to be on time for all of the others, within the hour.” The unicorn’s lip trembled, the scientist taking a shaky breath.
“I always saw myself as that weird uncle to you. I know you certainly deserved better than Flask or I, but know that we did our best, or at least tried. Well, as good as very flawed ponies could try. I hope to see you again soon. Take care, Sassi. This message will repeat until silenced.”
Acknowledging the recording, Sassi then moved over to Astral, her heart having been pricked by Vial’s words. He had always been nice to her, and she had indeed seen him more as an uncle than anything.
Flawed ponies trying their best.
That sentence put into words quite a few feelings Sassi had about both her father and Vial. But even ponies trying to be good was a rarity in the Silos. She had gotten lucky with two that actually cared.
And now, three.
To that end, Sassi located the syringes, withdrew one, and injected it. It emptied with a pressurized hiss, automatically stopping at the halfway mark, awaiting another application.
Carefully stowing it, Sassi then set a timer for twelve hours, just in case. She frowned, carefully picking out a syringe that had shattered in the pack despite the protective padding. That left only one vial left as a spare.
The mare then busied herself with organizing their shelter, finally pulling over two other medical beds next to Astral. It beat lying on the floor, and she could easily stand up and blast anything that came through.
There was, of course, another reason for wanting to lie down. The mare gently reached over and held Astral’s hoof, a few tears welling up in her eyes.
Hang in there, Astral.
Stats
Page generated in 0.035 seconds
Total duration
595 users online
921,150 hits today, 2,591,549 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
oh shit. wonder what she'll find down there. extra-mutated critters?
Cuddle that bat. Cuddle the hell out of him.
Well, silo three is probably preparing a welcome committee as they wait
Could Sassi and Astral recover from acute radiation syndrome even with the augmentations? I would imagine finding an Elephant's Foot equivalent is pretty much a confirmed death to all organics; no one been able to counter the rapid cell death of their organs.
Couldn't the unknown creature hear the revving of the minigun?
Dead skeletons stuck to walls. Lovely. Then again, I guess it could be worse... They could be alive skeletons stuck to the wall.
I guess once Astral gets healed, if he gets healed, Sassi and him are going to have to make a run as it's unlikely they can kill whatever is in silo 3 with the little bit of ammo remaining.
Do not go to Silo Three.
Well great now they are going to be fighting ghosts or somthing
or like monsters that just vape everything but bones
fun times in Silo 3 for sure
and Astral is out for the week
~Reggie
11275396
Monsters that vape everything but bones. Oh my gosh that description
11275353
We don't go there anymore...
11275352
I mean, at least the miniguns can generate ammo..eventually?
11275287
*shudder*
11275200
Well, it'd make them more resilient to the effects of radiation poisoning. But we don't know if they were hit with radiation- only that it royally screwed up the electronics...
11275186
WELCOME NEW GUEST! ENJOY YOUR ETERNAL STAY!
11275079
Cuddle subroutine initiated!
11275025
11275186
Think they'll have cupcakes and balloons?
A crowbar had been lodged in one of the doors to wedge them shut. The mare carefully retrieved the tool and latched it onto her armor.
*falls over laughing* Hello, Free Mare! Now nothing can stop you except Crash To Desktop!
Imagining Astral finally wakes up. Sees Sassi, gives a small smile.
“Heyyy…”
11275801
11275866
11275687
of questionable substance, yes
And all caught up. Story is looking good.
11277808
It is a little known fact that shortly after this incident, the Maresechussets Institute of Technology began to issue crowbars to their post-graduate alumni around which their PhD diplomas were wrapped. When questioned about the change, Professor Freemare, Dean Emeritus responded, "Just in case."
11541575
What ...