ooo000---000ooo
I don’t know what hurt worse...
BOOM
The gunshot or the sound of my heart shattering into a million pieces.
Everything in that moment drew to a halt, and I wasn’t sure if my mind just... stopped, or if my perception of time just decided to skyrocket and slow things down.
Up above Rainbow’s body jerked as a spray of crimson exploded from her side, her face was wrenched in a painful mixture confusion and shock. She looked down at me, slowly, her face betrayed a dozen things in those first few moments.
Then she fell.
“Shit!” My voice sounded so wrong, my movement sluggish.
My mind shot into overdrive, what the fuck do I do?! Seven stories, maybe eight, and she weighs somewhere in the triple-fucking-digits! She’d probably die from that height! I don’t know!
Shit shit shit shit!
My fear was skyrocketing as her body plummeted from the sky, falling like a bag of rocks. I was petrified, unable to get my body moving.
She fell hard, nearly missing the side of the rooftop and slamming into an old air conditioning unit, crashing past it and causing it to break loose and plummet down. The cord got caught and it swung into a window, shattering it to pieces, glass rained down onto the ground. My heart sank when Rainbow hit an awning, breaking through it like it was made of nothing but paper.
The sickening thud that sounded once her body made contact with the pavement...
I think my heart stopped.
She lay on the ground unmoving, blood pouring out from the holes in her sides. My ears were ringing from the distant crack of a sniper rifle, and everything in my body was screaming.
GO! MOVE!
I finally broke free of whatever was holding me back and rushed over to Rainbow, gun being tucked into the back of my pants as I fell onto my knees next to her. On her side, her eyes were closed, wings spread out, and blood...
God, there was so much of it.
“H-hey, Rainbow?!” I shook her, but she didn’t move, didn’t make any sort of noise. I attempted to feel for any sort of pulse, but I didn’t have any fucking idea where the arteries in her body were! I ducked my head down and placed my ear against her body, the softness of her fur was mildly distracting as I listened.
...
...
Thump... thump...
Hearing that gave me no end of relief, but that was just one tiny drop of good in an ocean of bad. Rainbow took a heavy fall, suffered some bad injuries, I can't tell what though. I wasn't a damn veterinarian!
The blood oozing out of her gunshot wound was enough to make me grow terrified for her. I ripped off my jacket and folded it up tightly to use as some kind of deterrent against the injury; more of a temporary fix than anything else. I knew a little about first aid, but I didn't know if that would translate over to a magical pegasus pony.
Shit, I need to get her help, now! Moving her body around, I tried to tie the jacket around the bullet holes as best as I could. From what I could see from the quick glance I got, it seemed it had punched clean through her. But whether or not it actually hit any major organs, I didn't know.
Looking back towards the news van, an idea formed in my head. Pulling out my hand gun I rushed over to it. I could use it to carry Rainbow, where to? I had no clue, but maybe to the hospital if the roads were cleared up enough. Closing in on it, I saw the cab itself was empty, and opening it up proved the same thing, untainted by blood or any signs of a struggle. I quickly moved around to the side and gripped the handle, poised to rip it open.
I took a few quick breaths and pulled on it, opening it up and yanking it to the side and quickly jumping back, aiming my gun forward...
Nothing.
The inside was filled with stray wires, camera equipment, and some boxes, but no body or anything.
A sigh of relief, I relaxed and turned arou-
"RAH!"
I was slammed into the van and landed on the floor, my gun went somewhere as a body straddled me.
It was an undead, a tattered news uniform barely hanging on to the rotted body alongside wires.
It growled and tried to pin my arms down and get at my neck, but I struggled like any good survivor. I punched him in the jaw, once, twice, thrice, it just snarled and moaned.
"Fuck! Get off me you nasty cunt!" This was starting to get very old very fast!
I managed to keep his arms from grabbing my own to pin them down, and kept his jaws from getting close to my skin. My head whipped around from side to side, rapidly scanning the interior for anything I could use. My gun was missing in action, having been ripped away.
I needed something else! Something heavy and blunt! Or sharp and stabby!
"Rawr!"
I growled and yelled back-"Fuck off!"-and tried pulling my leg up, to get it under his chest and kick him off. He was being awful persistent!
The entire van shook during our tussle, causing equipment to fall down onto the floor. Wires, videos, cameras, spare parts, all kinds of crap that I spotted.
Closer and closer he got, inch by inch...
THUNK
Something heavy fell and caught my attention, it was a camera!
A nice hefty looking one too!
I moved my arms around, pulling my leg up further to hold him back. A swipe of his hand grazed the tip of my nose, nearly cutting into it with jagged fingernails.
My heartbeat was moving faster and faster, fear running up and down my body like sickly tingles. I was able to keep him held back as my hand blindly reached for the camera. And lemme tell ya; trying to hold off a nearly two-hundred pound adult man turned scum-sucking zombie ain't easy!
Come on! Come on! So close! My hand desperately reached for it, to grab the end, the strap, some part of it!
Just a few more inches and I'd have it!
One fuck up and I was dead!
"Come on!" I pulled back my arm, coiling it up against my side and shot it out forward, jerking my body further and further until finally...
SMASH
I grabbed onto it and with a roar, slammed it into the zombie's head as hard as I physically could, smashing off plastic and glass with each impact.
My eyes were wide and staring straight into the bloodied face of the enemy; someone who was once a man, probably in his mid-thirties at the most who was out in the thick of Raccoon City itself gathering a news story, perhaps on the mysterious disappearances of people near the Arklay Mountains and just in the city in general.
Now he was a wicked perversion of what he once was.
"Get! Off! Me! Bitch!" I chanted with each hit, the side his skull deforming and blood flying. An opportunity rose and I quickly pulled my legs up, feet near his chest, and mustered all I had into a charged kick, "Rah!"
He flew off of me and away from the van, rag-dolling into some trashcans in the alleyway he no doubt came out of.
I was quick to drop the camera and scramble out to try and find my gun, to find that familiar shade of black that I spent nearly six hundred bucks on.
On the ground next to the tire, I was swift and snatched it up.
Gotta keep a tighter grip on you. I told myself with a sharp growl.
The undead was slowly standing up, body trembling from the virus rampaging through his system and a hiss like moan escaping his blood covered lips. I turned my handgun's sights to him, but my aim was shaky despite using both hands. My chest tightened, heartbeat slowing down...
BOOM
Blood and gore spewed from the back of his head, showering the alleyway in virus-addled bits of brain and ooze. His body fell like a sack of bricks, collapsing with a heavy thud and allowing me some reprieve from what just happened.
The sun was rising higher and higher into the air, shining brightly down upon the city and what I just did.
Rainbow Dash filled my mind once more.
I tucked my gun away and rushed over to her as another faint moan reached my ears and a random gunshot off in the distance. I picked her up as best as I could, watching her wings and my jacket. I dragged her over to the van, arms burning and sweat pouring down every available part of me.
Christ, she's a heavy girl. Not a particularly gentlemanly thought to have about a lady, and I don't think Rainbow would appreciate being called such.
I was able to lug her heavy as fuck flank into the van, laying her on the floor and sliding the door shut. Satisfied with how she was placed, my eyes glanced around the area as I made my way around to the driver's seat.
Scores of undead pouring out of the woodwork and filling the street did little to bolster my confidence for future survival.
That is my cue to fuck on out of here! I rushed over to the van and climbed in, slamming the door shut and looking around for the key. It wasn't in the ignition, I just looked, so it had to be somewhere in the van, hopefully. If it wasn't, I'd have to book it on foot with a very heavy pony on my back.
I frantically searched around the inside of the van for the key, flipping over notebooks and junk, a jacket, shirt, some random junk someone left on the seat.
Something slammed against the window and I didn't need to look up to know what it was, the wicked moan was answer enough.
I need the key! Was the one thought running through my head as I flipped over another notebook, searching the floor, that spot in between the seat and control panel compartment thingie.
The zombie slammed against the window again and the sounds of limbs hitting the side of the van and rocking it hit my ears, forcing me to move faster.
I flipped the zombies my middle finger and yelled-"I get it!"-and kept looking.
Where the hell was the damn ke-
...
I slowly sat up in the seat, my eyes flicking up to the sun visor. I reached up to move it down, and the keys plopped into my lap with a jingle noise.
"...Fuck you." I grabbed them and proceeded to start up the van.
Within seconds the vehicle roared to life! I put it into drive and slammed on the pedal, speeding forward and running over a zombie, causing the entire van to shake.
I didn't let up either, I kept the pedal slammed down to the floor, smashing through the zombies and driving down the road as fast as I could go.
Rainbow's pained gasp sounded behind me, "B-buck, w-what?"
"If you're awake, I suggest-" One zombie slammed against the windshield, cracking it and splattering brackish ooze across the glass. "-holding on!"
The van, under my guidance, sped down the road and past the growing horde of undead monsters climbing out of the woodwork. The entire area was suddenly filled with them, and I just now noticed how the alleyways were blocked off, more broken down and beat up cars made driving at full speed a difficult task.
I chanced a look back at Rainbow, seeing her struggling to stand, "Rainbow, just hold onto something!" I yelled at her, whipping my head back around.
Right at the end of the street where it turned onto what I saw was Mission Street, I saw a giant blockade cutting off access. Buses and cars, police barricades, dumpsters filled with junk, and most of it was on fire as well.
And I was plowing a path straight for it!
"Fuck me in the ass!" I yanked the steering wheel hard to the left, slamming on the breaks. That proved to be a bad idea, cause it only took a split second for me to realize Rainbow was still a passenger and not buckled in.
Then again, neither was I!
I found myself flying to the right harder then I would have liked, the van slid hard to the right and smashed into the side of the burning wreckage and I went along with it.
My spine and the back of my head both cried out in pain, nerves firing off like rockets. My body was being flooded with pain; a ringing filled my ears, I blacked out for a split second, and every seemed to slow down.
T-that was my fuck up. I thought and shook my head, it felt like tossing around a one hundred pound weight!
Move! A voice cried out somewhere. Everything felt less sluggish, things cleared up, Quickly!
Gah! Another shake of my head and I saw horde of zombies outside the driver's side window, slowly lumbering towards the van. I hurried back into the seat amidst Rainbow's moan of pain.
"W-what the b-buck happened?!" She wheezed out.
"Just hang on to something!" I put the van into reverse and slammed down on the pedal, forcing it back and smashing into something immediately, causing it to go up under the van and jostle the entire thing.
Another smash and Rainbow yelped, falling down and sliding back towards the door. I don't know what I hit, whether it was a light post or something else, I didn't care. Putting the van into drive, I turned the wheel to the left and sped forward, turning back onto the road.
Okay, okay, gotta get out onto the main road, I drove forward past the approaching undead, knocking one aside and getting blood on the hood and windshield. Spotting another street north, I turned down it, only finding a small police barricade blocking it.
It didn't stand a chance at stopping me.
"W-where..." Rainbow's voice coughed out, and I heard her crawling up to the front. "W-why a-am I b-bleeding?"
A crash and the van went right through the barricade, splintering wood and sending it flying. I kept the van steady, driving down the end of the road while juggling my attempt at keeping my heart from exploding out from the inside of my chest. A few undead lumbered at the end of the street, and smoke from a burning car shrouded the path through, but I pushed on!
"You got shot," I told her, speeding up and slamming into the zombies. The van shook from them hitting the hood, and one of them went up under, I felt sick. I chanced a look at her, and she was sweating, pale, eyes full of confusion, "I'll explain when I get us to safety, just... just hold on."
I immediately yanked the wheel to the right, pulling out onto the main road.
The daylight was very helpful, because it gave me a nice view of the carnage the city was going through. Fires raged in the distance, I could hear gunshots going off in different directions, and I even saw some fire trucks blazing a path southward. In the air, helicopters were flying in and around the city I had no idea if they were Umbrella, Army, or some other force, however.
I drove as fast as I could, following the tram line leading south. Rainbow said the highway was south, so that was our goal right now, to blaze a path south and hopefully get out through the tunnel... assuming the passageways up here aren't blocked off that is.
I needed to get Rainbow some help, pronto!
But where?
My eyes drifted to the left, and I saw an old familiar sight; Raccoon City Hospital.
I remembered it very well, it was a location I had come to know and despise during my time playing the games and in fanfiction writing. It was a place that I struggled to deal with whenever I played Resident Evil: Outbreak, and to this day it's a place that just... brings back bad memories, because of the enemies within. Looking at the building, something deep in my stomach urged me to keep driving past it and to not turn onto the street that led into the Ambulance bay.
But where else was I supposed to take Rainbow? I didn't have any medical knowledge, and I doubt any of the vet clinics around here were even open let alone still in operation...
"Shit." I turned left once I was near the hospital, pulling up to the emergency door.
I let the van idle for a moment, eyes scanning the area.
The emergency entrance of the hospital was abandoned, with only a few ambulances sitting around with their lights still flashing on and off; a faint echo of what they once were filling the area with squawks and blips. Gurneys filled with blood were turned over onto the ground, and a couple were nearby with zipped up bodies laying on top.
I pulled out my gun and exited, heading out of the van.
I gave the area a quick check for any zombies or any other threat, but so far I didn't see anything except the bodies of those who didn't make it.
Satisfied that the area was safe enough, I rushed back over to the van and yanked open the door. "Come on," I told Rainbow once I spotted her, the mare laying on her side and breathing heavily. Blood covered the floor, the walls where she slid into... jeez. "Ahh fuck."
Rainbow gave me a pitiful look, huffing and her eyes filled with about as much energy as I had, "W-wh-" She coughed, struggling to stand up, but ultimately she failed and collapsed.
Cursing, I backed up and started looking around for an empty gurney, preferably a clean one. I was gonna have to use one of them to get her inside, no way could I carry her in that condition, not without causing her pain.
I managed to find one, relatively clean save for a few spots of blood. I wheeled it over to the van and lowered it down, quickly moving Rainbow onto it as gently as I could. She was barely moving and I knew the blood loss was starting to affect her badly, I needed to get her patched up.
So with my gun in one hand, and my other on the gurney, I wheeled Rainbow up to the entrance and moved into the Hospital...