Rail's Journey no. 3

by Gcdemon


3. Incident and investigation

We're all human, aren't we? Every human life is worth the same, and worth saving.”
J.K. Rowling

After working hard until late, I finally came home and found some time for a rest. I was sitting quietly in front of my little bonfire. I took from my bag some food that I bought today.A few iguanas, which I wanted to roast, and one big fruit, Diana gave me. She said it’s quite expensive, but gave it to me anyways…

I found some soft trash (papers etc.) and made a place to sit comfortably. I leaned against the wall and put hooves on my belly. Deep breath was what I needed, it was nice to just sit and relax for a moment. I looked out the window, at the starry sky. There was no single cloud, I haven’t seen a view like this ever since I came here.

A slight smile pooped on my face. It was a good day, quite tiring, but good. I started thinking about everything that happened recently and that made me even more happy. Who would have thought, that live on the wastes can be pleasing sometimes… -Sometimes- is an important word.

I kept adding small slats to the fire. I took them from the remains of a destroyed caravan, not so far away from my house. I was a little surprise when I found it – all supplies, food, ammo, some clothing… it was still here, even if the caravan itself looked like a total disaster. At first I thought it was a trap, but no one was to seen nearby… I took all I could handle and run away quickly. I was thinking about coming back here, but that time I had other, more important things to do.

It was really quiet, which was… disturbing. I’m not saying it was bad, but just weird. Usually there was lots of various sounds to be heard, like for example ponies talking really loud on a road or some wild dogs howling, but now – nothing. Just as everything had died nearby or decided to hide from the world. I thought to myself: “As long as it doesn’t have anything to do with me – I’m not worried”. If I only knew how wrong I was.

I moved an iguana, to make it roast on the other side. The nice smell was already in the air. Maybe one day I invite Diana over, we should eat together… We were helping each other very often lately, but I didn’t want to burden my problems on her too much. I knew she had to earn money and bear with her own problems. I couldn’t depend on her all the time.

I reached for the material bag, that served me as a place for keeping food. I was hiding it behind a big, wooden box, there was a nice shadow and good temperature to keep it ‘fresh’. I had several cans here, which I found in the refrigerator nearby the destroyed gas station, two bottles of dirty water and few other things. Just enough to survive next four days, at least I hoped so.

All of sudden I heard a strange noise. I raised my head and looked through a window, that was the closest to me. The perfect silence was interrupted by some sort of metallic sound. I started looking around, trying to figure out what’s going on. For a moment I noticed a little red light, I had no idea what it was.
"What the…" I said to myself, putting both my hooves on the windowsill. With my eyesight focused, I started to look out for some movements. It wasn’t easy in the dark, but still, I tried. Even if I didn’t see anything, I managed to hear some quiet noises. They were quite unusual, something like… A robot? I tried not to lean out so much, if it was some kind of machine with autoaim, I would be dead in a seconds.

Such silence seemed louder than the loudest noise.

I waited a little longer, until all noises disappeared. Everything seemed so… calm. I was already used to loud traders on the road, wild animals attacking each other or gunshots from afar. I sighed and kept looking, smiling a little. Maybe there’s not so many interesting things to do for fun, but a nice view is always enjoyable. I almost could hear the stars telling me “everything will be fine, now just relax”.

When I turned around, I noticed something really shiny just in front of me. At first I didn’t understand what it was. I only saw scratched metal and few darker parts, made of an weird, hard material. I heard that strange, robotic noise again, that was the moment when I understood everything.

I swallowed my saliva, looking at him terrified. It was much worse than I imagined, he wore a very strong armor, I noticed lots of deep scratches on it (just like Diana said), but they didn’t seem to affect its condition. For sure he was killing all nearby animals, that’s why it was so quiet for a while. His helmet covered the entire head, instead of eyes, black glasses glanced at me, reflecting the faint glow from a fire. I thought it was amazing, that he managed to get so close to me without any noticing. Well, maybe I was a little busy watching the view, but…

First I thought I would faint in fear. After looking at his armor, I realized that he really had three different types of weapon. Now it was obvious that it was the guy Diana mentioned. He also had two bags with him, probably with food and ammo… and I guessed he came to take mine away. I moved quickly closer to my hiding place, not only my bag with food was there. I grabbed the knife in my muzzle, at least I had a chance to defend myself. However, it didn’t gave me that much – he could still kill me with just one shot. One of his weapons was glowing red, I’ve never seen something like this before, so it sure was powerful. I felt that my armor made out of various metal plates wouldn’t help me that much.

My heart was beating so loud… I was scared that these were the final moments of my life. My breath was the loudest sound in this room and I tried not to lose my balance. I don’t remember being that terrified since… ever. I’ve never been a type of person that wants to solve problems with a fight. I always thought that a nice conversation could make things right. I was wrong this whole time…?
"Pww.. pwease…" I tried to talk, but it wasn’t easy with a knife in my muzzle.

I wanted to tell him something more, like Don’t hurt me or Let me live, but there was a chance that it would piss him off even more.

But… he was just standing here. Without a single word or a move, just watching me. I felt that my chest was moving up and down so fast, in my head I had the worst thoughts. There were two options: he just kills me, or hurts me and makes me bleed out slowly, when he collects all my supplies.

I was sure it was my end. At least I’ve been a good person all my life… Finally the stallion made his first move. He leaned his head to the right, moved his hoof, like taking a step forward… but he turned around and slowly walked out of the house.

I stayed in the same spot, releasing the knife out of my mouth. It fell on the ground with a quiet clatter. I just couldn’t believe it. He left? And I’m alive? With my supplies?

There sure was a reason… I decided to not leave the building for a while, but I really wanted to follow him. Who knows, maybe if I left immediately after him he would change his mind and shoot a few bullets… My hooves were a bit shaking, but I slowly became more calm. Well, you’re not in such danger every day. I was avoiding it for so long that I almost forgot how the fear feels. It’s time to go back to reality I guess.

Finally I decided to go out. Probably you’re wondering why would I do that? I barely survived and now I’m going to test my luck again? I knew it was weird, but I just felt something inside me that told me to go. There sure was a reason why he left without doing any harm, especially when it was so easy for him to defeat me.

From then on I had to stay focused all the time. I kept repeating in my head he can’t notice me over and over again, making sure not to forget it. I lowered my head and found footsteps on the ground! Completely sure it was him, I followed them and soon was able to hear quiet gun noises. I hid behind an old, ruined wall and noticed the red light, I needed to keep my distance, so I tried to watch him from there. He was standing nearby the road and dealing with creatures that attacked him. There was so many of them, for a second I thought I should help him, but immediately shook my head. It was a really stupid idea. First, I’m not good at fighting and second, I can’t make him notice me. Even if I kept repeating that, the brave thoughts still kept appearing in my head.

I was just so… curious. There was something strange about him, something that intrigued me that much, that I was able to risk my life for it.
He defeated them so fast… I was watching this performance, trying to get to know his movements. It looked like he was used to fighting creatures like these, great at shooting ,and his dodging - just perfect. He sure was trained. I had no idea who he was, what was he doing or looking for, but I wanted to know.

The stallion checked if the creatures had something valuable in their nest and then moved on, without looking back. It was my chance to move forward, I waited a little and sneaked to my next observation point.

Soon I was able to predetermine where he was heading. He was walking toward the old gas station. I knew the way, that’s where I found some… supplies… A little lightbulb appeared above my head. Maybe they belonged to him and he just came to take them back? He had to see me from afar and remember the way I walked home… I didn’t know for sure if that was his reason to come here…But still, he didn’t take them away. Why? The next question I need to answer.

I couldn’t say it was a short trip, but totally worth the effort. It was an amazing experience – watching the stallion killing everything that stood in his way, clearing the path for himself and me. Even a death claw was no problem for him! I’ve never seen anyone defeating a monster like that…

For a second I thought he saw me. My heart stopped beating, we were almost at the gas station, maybe that’s why he was more focused. At one point he turned back suddenly, rising his weapon, ready to shot. I hid behind half-destroyed wall and leaned my back against it, as if I wanted to blend into it. It took so long to get here, I hoped it wouldn’t end just now! A really loud gunshot and a red light. I closed my eyes and already said goodbye, because I didn’t had any chance, even running wouldn’t help me. As it turned out – a wild dog was running towards him on the road. The animal fell down after just one shot. I decided to wait a little more until I continued following the stranger.

To my surprise… the stallion disappeared. I couldn’t see him anywhere. I leaned out a little and looked around. Sure, it was a really dark night, but it’s not that easy to miss a big stallion in metal armor with a glowing gun! I blinked, trying to understand what actually happened. He was nearby just a moment ago and poof. It was possible though that he already reached the gas station and hid somewhere here. Maybe I waited a little too long, but it felt just… weird. I immediately rejected the possibility that something killed him " I would see his body on the ground for sure. His armor would shine because on the gas station there was a working neon. Besides during the journey I saw how strong he is." I shook my head and began to walk slowly to the little building nearby the station. I remember hiding here once! There was so little space, but just enough to hide from the bandits.

There was some mud just in front of the door – it was easy to notice big, characteristic hoofprints in it. I was just standing and looking at them for a while – what now? Just I enter the building and meet him? Or maybe look through the window, see what I need and run away?
Something interrupted my thoughts. It was a noise of the hoofs from behind! I turned around a little scared, "what the…"