Lateral Movement

by Alzrius


186 - Undeath Trap

“Be careful. There’s an intersection up ahead.”

Cloudbank whispered the words even though she knew there was no point in keeping her voice down. Even if they hadn’t made an incredible racket fighting to get down here, the slosh of water that sounded every time C. Shells or Sandbar took a step seemed deafeningly loud. And, of course, the light shining from Severance’s blade made them impossible to miss. If Turbo was right and there were more ghouls waiting to ambush them down here, there’d be no way to avoid them.

“I think we’re supposed to go straight,” murmured Drafty, squinting her eyes as she peered ahead. “Piggy said the vault was all the way in the back, so we should be getting close.” Although she didn’t say it, the words “I hope” were understood by everyone. Although they couldn’t have been down there for more than a minute or two, their nerves were all on edge, watching the water closely for any sign of an impending attack. The apprehension was oppressive enough that no one felt the urge to banter anymore, remaining silent unless there was some salient information that needed to be communicated.

The five of them had arranged themselves in the most defensive formation that they could. Cloudbank and Drafty had taken the lead, their wings flapping as they floated above the filthy water that covered the floor. The hallway was just barely wide enough that the two of them could stay abreast of each other even with their wings spread, their hooves dangling just a few inches above the brackish liquid below them. Behind the pair, C. Shells and Sandbar were less fortunate, having to trudge through the mess. With the water reaching up to their knees the two were forced to adopt a slower pace, awkwardly lumbering forward as quickly as they could while still trying to reduce the noise they were making. Even so, every step seemed to echo loudly in the narrow corridors, and each motion that the earth ponies made sent ripples radiating out from them. Further behind them, Turbo hovered over the water, wings beating as he clenched his teeth around his knife, watching their back to make sure nothing crept up on them from behind.

The arrangement had been Cloudbank’s idea, knowing that there was no way that she and her fellow pegasi would be able to carry the earth ponies over the water while still maintaining any sort of readiness for an ambush. Given how certain Turbo had been that there were more ghouls down there, and how there was no way for the living ponies to get through undetected, Cloudbank had decided that for this part of the mission, defense was more important than speed. I just hope I was right.

“Okay,” she whispered as they got to within ten feet of the intersection. “I’ll cover the left passage. Drafty, you take the right. We’ll keep watch while everypony heads straight through. Once you three are clear, we’ll move back out in front again. Everyone got it?” A soft chorus of affirmative grunts rang out, and Cloudbank nodded, more to herself than her companions. “Alright. Here we go.”

Moving up until she was right in front of the intersection, Cloudbank glanced at Drafty, who nodded back at her. Pausing just long enough to return the gesture, Cloudbank held her breath as she made herself turn down the left passage, holding Severance at the ready as she beheld…

Nothing. Just another silent, empty corridor stretching back into darkness.

Despite the absence of any immediate threat, Cloudbank couldn’t help but feel her tension rising. No, she silently corrected herself. Not despite there being no immediate threats. Because of that. Where were the ghouls Turbo had been sure were down here? Could he have been wrong? He might have had the most experience with the creatures, but that didn’t necessarily make him an expert on their behavior. Maybe, just maybe, they’d be able to make it to the vault – perhaps even back out again – without getting into another fight.

“Clear,” came Drafty’s voice from behind her.

Knowing that she needed to give the same signal or the others would think something was wrong, Cloudbank swung Severance low, so that its glowing blade passed within inches of the surface of the water. Despite its proximity, however, almost nothing of the submerged area was made visible; between the grime and filth that it had picked up, the wind from her wings was causing the surface to churn just enough to make any attempt to see through it futile. Still, it was only a foot deep… “Clear,” she called.

Immediately, she heard the sound of splashing as C. Shells and Sandbar started forward. Although she kept her eyes forward, watching the dark hallways ahead of her for even the slightest sign of movement, she tracked the duo with her ears, listening as their splashes moved forward until they were directly behind her, and then started to move past her. Thank the Night Mare, she thought, unable to stop a shudder of relief from moving down her spine. Now we should be abl-

Sandbar’s voice rang out in an agonized scream, and Cloudbank heard a large splash that sounded like somepony had collapsed.

Even as she jerked her head around, Cloudbank felt like she was moving in slow motion. As she looked behind her, the details of the scene slid through her mind one after the other, leaving her struggling to process what was going on: Sandbar lying in the water, his face a mask of pain. C. Shells with a look of fright and confusion on her face as she looked at her crewmember. Turbo saying something as he rushed toward Sandbar. Drafty looking back at the intersection to see what had happened.

…and a bloated, snarling corpse rising from the water directly ahead of Drafty, who now wasn’t watching the hallways in front of her.

Even as Cloudbank’s eyes widened, the ghoul opened its mouth as it leapt, colliding with Drafty in mid-air and sinking its teeth into her left wing viciously. The pegasus mare didn’t have time to scream before she hit the water, the undead pony coming down on top of her. A second later a gurgling wail of pain could be heard coming from under the water.

“NO!” Cloudbank turned in mid-air, angling her body to dart forward even as she started to bring Severance into a ready position, all thoughts of tactics gone. But even as she prepared to rocket to Drafty’s aid she realized that Turbo’s path toward Sandbar had put him directly between her and Drafty and that the ghoul was holding her beneath the water as it kept gnawing on her wing and the thing smelled so nauseatingly horrific that she thought she was going to be sick and Severance was screaming a warning at her about something but there was no time to pay attention to whatev-

A sound of splashing came from behind her and Cloudbank felt Severance yank itself around, and her body involuntarily spun to follow it. Barely comprehending what was going on, it took Cloudbank a moment to process the sight of the scythe’s blade decapitated the ghoul that had leapt at her, dimly realizing that it had saved her from being jumped the way Drafty had. Drafty! Knowing that she only had seconds to save the mare she loved, Cloudbank threw herself across the intersection…

Just in time to see Turbo tackle the ghoul that had pinned Drafty underwater.

The stallion snarled as he collided with the monster, hitting it with enough force to lift it up and knock it back before the two of them collapsed into the filthy water, both cursing and flailing their legs. Not wasting the opportunity, Cloudbank rushed over to where Drafty had fallen, grabbing her and heaving her up out of the water. “Get up!” she screamed, her worry exploding as she felt that the other mare wasn’t moving. “Drafty, you have to get up!”

“She’s paralyzed!” came C. Shells voice. A moment later, the earth mare was there, helping Cloudbank to lift Drafty out of the water. A quick glance backward showed that Sandbar was back on his hooves, cradling his left foreleg as he fumbled for his knife. “I’ve got her,” continued C. Shells. “You go help Turbo!”

But Cloudbank was still reacting on instinct, and rather than thinking things through looked at Severance. “Help him!” she screamed at the weapon, only for her blood to run cold an instant later. I asked it for help! Now it’ll refuse to do anyth- But before she could complete the thought, the weapon floated over to where Turbo was struggling, waiting for an instant before it suddenly swung downward and came back up in a single motion.

A moment later Turbo sat up, panting as he backed away from the slain ghoul. One of his eyes was swollen shut, and he staggered for a moment before he placed one hoof on the wall, steadying himself. “Th-, thanks,” he panted, his uninjured eye looking at Cloudbank. “That w-was-,” But he couldn’t say anymore before turning his head and doubling over as he suddenly threw up, violently ejecting the contents of his stomach until it was empty, leaving him gasping and groaning.

“Here. Take her,” muttered Cloudbank as she passed Drafty to C. Shells. As soon as the earth mare had a firm grip, Cloudbank went over to Turbo, moving one of his forelegs onto her shoulders so he was leaning on her. “Are you okay?”

“Even for a ghoul, that thing was disgusting,” he panted, his voice strained. “Thanks for the help.”

“Uh, sure,” she muttered, unable to help but be surprised by his gratitude. But that isn’t the biggest surprise, she thought to herself as she glanced at Severance. The weapon had responded when she’d told it to help Turbo, even though it had refused to help her when she’d been turned into that kraken’s puppet before. Cloudbank knew that the scythe wouldn’t help a wielder that was dependent on it…apparently this situation was different from back then? That was the only explanation, but Cloudbank couldn’t see exactly how that was.

“Do you hear that?” interjected C. Shells suddenly, still holding Drafty upright.

Everypony stopped, and a moment later they heard what she meant. From the hallway they’d previously come down, the sounds of loud splashing could be heard…as though someone was rushing forward as quickly as they could. Several someones, realized Cloudbank with a chill. The sound of the hurried movement was already growing louder, and she realized that the ghouls – and she had no doubt the noises were being made by more ghouls – would be on them in less than a minute. Already the sounds of their approach were echoing in the corridors.

The next moment she realized that it wasn’t an echo…there were more splashes coming from the left and right branches of the intersection as well. Only the passage ahead, the one Drafty said led to the vault, sounded clear. “We gotta go!” she hissed, dragging Turbo with her as she moved back toward the center of the junction, Severance floating beside her. “C. Shells, can you carry Drafty?”

“I can, but that’s not our biggest-”

Her words were cut off as Drafty suddenly shuddered, a pained whimper escaping her throat. “My wing…”

“Drafty!” Cloudbank almost dropped Turbo right there. “Oh thank Cel-, the Night Mare! Can you fly?”

“I…” Getting back to her hooves, Drafty tried to extend her wing, but barely got it halfway before she grimaced in pain. “No.”

“Then we have to run,” said Turbo grimly as he slipped off of Cloudbank’s shoulder. “If we get to the vault, we can maybe seal ourselves inside. Buy time to think of a plan to-”

“We can’t!” shouted Sandbar, his face drawn tight with fear. “When I tried to move ahead just now, right before those things attacked us, I stepped on some sort of spike!” He indicated his injured foreleg. “I think the whole passage is lined with them! If we tried to cross them on hoof, we’ll be hobbled!”

“No…” Cloudbank’s look of horrified realization – of knowing that they were trapped with no way out – was mirrored on her friends’ faces, even as the approaching splashes grew louder…