ooo000---000ooo
I was surrounded on all sides.
No escape.
A single brass casing, some gun powder, a primer, a rounded piece of metal.
One trigger.
I can hear them now, all around me.
Groaning, screaming, trying to climb up to get me.
I hear the others, the mutant ones, they're moving now...
I can feel them looking for me, hunting me.
I was no survivor...
I was only pretending to be one...
ooo000---000ooo
I awoke to the sounds of muffled thumps and buzzing radios frequencies. I think I heard a couple of gunshots, muffled voices, maybe something else, I wasn't sure.
My head was aching and my body felt way too sluggish for my liking.
What happened?
My eyes opened and it was like looking through a blurred fog, but my hearing was just fine after a few moments.
"Goblin Seven-Seven inbound from the south, be there in twenty." I heard from a radio near me.
"Roger that, packages are secured and waiting." I noticed Lupo's distinct voice off of the bat.
Wolfpack, right... that's what happened.
We got captured by them, Rainbow and I...
Rainbow!
I shook my head to clear my vision and heard Bertha speak up. "Look who's awake."
When I was able to look around properly, I saw we were outside and on a rooftop. The sun had risen completely and I saw we were still at the General Hospital, guess they took us to the roof. All of Wolfpack stood around me, armed to the teeth in high tech gear and packing serious firepower.
To my right, sitting down, cuffed and tied down... was Rainbow Dash.
My heart skipped a beat when I saw the mare. She had a bruise on her face, below her eye and cheek and barely hidden behind her bangs, blood caked part of her muzzle below her nostrils, I realized she had been hit. Her eyes were hard and staring down at the ground, her face a mask... I knew that look she had in her eyes.
"What did you do to her?" I snapped my head to Wolfpack and glared at them. It was obvious, but my anger was about to get a hold of me.
It was seeping through, I could feel it.
None of Wolfpack answered me, three of them kept an eye out while the other three watched us, Beltway, Spectre and Lupo, with Vector, Four-Eyes and Bertha respectively.
"Answer me!" I belted out and Vector walked over.
It was then my face was on the receiving end of his rifle butt.
I went down like a sack of bricks as pain shot through my face, more specifically my nose. My cuffed hands shot up to hold it, and I barked out, "You fuck!"
I only heard a grunt from the man, along with, "Keep quiet." He backed off after that and went back to the others.
I just held my nose and groaned. Fuck, I could feel the blood pouring from it, the taste of iron hit my tongue immediately, fuck!
"D-Dee, you okay?"
I opened an eye and looked towards Rainbow, and her eyes had regained a bit of light in them once she looked at me. Her ears were folded back, her lip had a cut on it, she looked worse off than I was.
My own pain dulled to a numbing sting like sensation, but it was still a painful fucking hit.
I gave her a weak smile and nodded. "Just f-fine, he hits like a bitch." I whispered to her and slowly got back up onto my knees.
I got the faintest rise out of the corners of her lips, but no more.
My hands moved of their own accord and I found myself just barely brushing against her cheek and pushing her bangs away... revealing more of the bruise she had been given. She barely flinched when my finger made contact with her, I didn't blame her. "What about you?"
The sunlight showed more of her injuries. Her wing was slowly healing, and her side was caked in dried blood and pus, a sign of infection which wasn't good. She was already pale looking to begin with, and on top of that, we were thrown into some heavily stressful situations. Her bruise wasn't too bad, but it was bad enough that I could visibly see it with the naked eye. The blood and bruise around her muzzle told me she had been hit as well, she must have gotten too rowdy and tried something while I was out.
Goddamn it.
"I'm f-fine." She murmured. I could tell she was trying to hide it, but the subtle shakes of her body and the way her eyes looked told me everything.
She was scared. Rainbow was always trying to hide that one simple fact, trying to deny it...
"Goblin Seven-Seven inbound, pop smoke."
A helicopter had to be coming to pick us up and evacuate us somewhere. Or at least, evacuate Rainbow Dash before disposing of me. I wasn't sure why they were keeping me alive, maybe it had to do with the two of us being together constantly? No other human has had any contact with her aside from me and it's been us since it began.
That was probably the only thing that was keeping me alive.
"W-what are they gonna do with us?" Rainbow's voice was quiet, nervous... her body was shaking even more.
The fear was starting to get the better of her, why wouldn't it? I looked at the situation we were in and I worried if we were going to make it out alive or not. Wolfpack didn't play around, nor did Umbrella, and right now I was defenseless. They had taken my guns, but I could feel that my knife was still in my pocket. Fat lot of good that did me in this situation, there was no way I would be able to get it out in time, let alone actually utilize it in a way to defend the both of us against highly trained soldiers.
"I don't know."
"Shut it." Bertha told the two of us as the sound of helicopter blades closed in from the distance.
We both remained silent from there on out.
My nose had kept bleeding for a bit, running down to my mouth and chin. I could taste it, smell it, feel it. I felt disgusting and I wasn't looking to have one of them hit me again.
The helicopter approached from nearby and both Dash and I cast our gaze towards the east, and saw the black aircraft close in. I immediately recognized what kind of chopper it was, a Sikorsky Black Hawk, UH-60. It was black in color and bore only the emblem of Umbrella on the side of it. This must have been what was going to transport us to wherever they planned on taking us both.
But it was still early in the outbreak, and Wolfpack wasn't going to leave the city right now. From what I could tell at a first glance, it was still fairly early in to the outbreak, they still had several missions to do.
As the helicopter closed in on the landing pad and kicked up dust and gravel, I was struck with the beginnings of an idea.
We weren't done just yet.
The Black Hawk landed on the helicopter pad nearby, and Lupo along with Spectre and Beltway went over to the chopper leaving the two of us behind with the other three members. While they discussed whatever it was they wanted with the soldiers, I kept my head low and swam through my thoughts. I planned as fast as I could.
The Black Hawk didn't have much room in the compartment, maybe a full fireteam at most. But if they were going to be carrying us to wherever they were taking us, then they'd need the room for not only me, but Rainbow as well. The mare was as big, a lithe and toned pegasus, yes, but she was still a pony and so she had a large body compared to some animals.
"Load them up." Lupo said and before I knew it, I was wrenched to my feet by Beltway and forced to walk towards the chopper. I had little choice in the matter, as did Rainbow Dash.
We were ''persuaded' to move to the aircraft with the barrels of several guns and not so subtle threats of being killed if we didn't.
We were shoved towards the aircraft under the rapidly moving blades and to the compartment, where we both climbed inside. Rainbow was forced into the seat opposite of me after I was forced down. My hands were still bound by zip-ties, and with me being forced down at gunpoint into my seat, I didn't have many options left. Two USS thugs entered the chopper with us, armed with MP5s and sitting down next to us. The doors slid shut and locked us inside.
The helicopter spun up its blades and I kept my head low as the radio chatter filled the cabin, nearly drowned out by the blades above. They were wearing headsets, so naturally I couldn't hear much of anything, not that it would matter.
I glanced over to Rainbow. She was sitting down on the floor, barely able to hold onto the seat as we took off, the whole craft shook and jostled once we were in the air.
She must have noticed I was looking at her, because she turned and locked eyes with me.
In her eyes, I saw something. Fear.
What were they going to do with us?
I could only imagine with Rainbow Dash. She was a colorful rainbow horse that could fly, and there was no telling what kind of properties her innate pegasus magic had. Umbrella was a mega-corporation with nearly limitless money and power, and employed some of the best the scientific world had to offer. If they wanted to find something to use from her, they would and there would be nothing either I or Rainbow could do to stop them.
I looked outside of the window and saw the city of Raccoon in greater detail, I could see smoke rising from a few buildings in the distance, see the firefighter trucks moving to put them out, I even saw a couple of police cars moving to and fro to deal with the continuing outbreak. How many people had died already? How many police officers were killed? How much longer was it until the city was destroyed?
I eyed the man in front of me, the USS thug and his armor, his helmet and mask. And the one next to me, who was armed and looked exactly the same as the one in front of me. They were both carrying MP5 submachine guns and Beretta handguns, maybe there were some combat knives on them somewhere. Aside from that, they were just regular men decked out in standard military gear.
I didn't hear any of the radio chatter coming from the cockpit, I only saw the pilot and co-pilot working on flying this thing.
Rainbow and I shared another look as we flew over the city.
I wasn't sure what really happened in those first few moments. Rainbow just looked like she was scared out of her mind, I had to have looked the same. But there was a flicker of something in those eyes of hers, maybe it was how the light bounced off of them from the sun, or the way she just looked at me.
Something resonated within my chest.
It wasn't long before I threw the first punch, sparking a fight inside the cramped quarters of the cabin, and Rainbow...
She wasn't hesitant to cause some mayhem.
Everything went by so fast, a chaotic blur of movement, screaming, gunfire. I threw punches and received my fair share.
The USS thug to my side tackled me against the cabin door and threw his knee into my stomach, forcing me back. I returned his hit with a double-handed smash into the side of his head and quickly pulled my leg up to my chest, and shoved him backwards. He tripped over the form of Rainbow, tipping over as Rainbow shot out both of her powerful legs into the other thug, causing him to fall into the cockpit.
The helicopter suddenly tipped forward and flung us forward. Rainbow roughly landed next to me, and at the angle we traveled she hit me and I had little choice but to grab onto and hold onto her as the aircraft did its acrobatics.
I swear Rainbow was holding onto me. We were beginning to spin out and something must have hit the side of the chopper, because I heard metal screeching and heard alarms blaring throughout the cabin.
We spun out faster and faster, i got dizzy and it was getting hard to properly focus.
We smashed into something and went flying around the cabin, glass shattered and gunfire sounded, something wet and warm hit my face and Rainbow was ripped from my grasp.
Everything was a blur of movement after that. I was flung around the cabin and into most of the passengers, hitting steel, the seats, maybe someone's firearm. The chopper had to have hit something during the flight, because the tough glass was smashed completely and the smell of smoke filled the aircraft.
We were spinning faster and faster, I heard the screeching of metal and during the chaos, the door to the cabin was ripped open.
It didn't take much more until I was thrown out without much warning.
I guess luck was on my side however. I ended up getting sucked out through the cabin and flung around, and I thought I was going to fall and hit something hard, then die right there from the impact.
Instead I hit the gravel of what I could only guess was a rooftop.
"Fuck!" I managed to land and skid across the rooftop before smashing into something metal, sending a shock through my system from the sudden stop.
I collapsed onto the roof and started coughing up what felt like a lung, but I recovered quick enough to follow the chopper as it made its way down. It smashed into a pillar of stone atop whatever building I crashed on, sending rubble flying before spiraling down towards the rooftop to my left, and then it hit yet another pillar before crashing down into the building.
The blades snapped off like twigs and went flying, two of them went off and pierced other parts of the roof, one went flying off of the roof itself into the street below.
The final one broke into pieces and flew right by me. One piece grazed my side by a inch, cutting into my shirt and flesh as the bigger pieces spun by me and cutting the air.
The roof gave out underneath me after a couple of moments and it was only seconds before I tumbled forward, falling along with the rubble and the chopper.
Rocks and debris hit me on the way down, somehow through this, I remained conscious as the breath was sucked out of me. I fell inside the building and directly into something that gave out under my weight, causing both to smash into the hard flooring below.
I was flat on the ground as whatever I hit fell on top of me. I could barely register every hit I took, but I took it and curled up as everything around me exploded, crashed, and was destroyed by the helicopter.
Fuck, my body...
Once the barrage of debris ended I struggled to stand up, which took plenty out of me.
I assessed the situation as best as I could once I could focus properly. My legs shook when I stood up, I coughed and immediately tasted blood. My hands were still bound by the zip ties behind my back, which meant I was fucked and unable to move them unless I got them off somehow. My knife was still in my pocket, so maybe if I could get to it...
I was in some kind of room filled with a ton of chairs, pews, all lined up in neat little rows. The stench of politics stained with an undertone of iron hit my nose. I could hear the whirring of the helicopter, along with the crumbling of stone and concrete from above.
I tried to see if there any undead around me, but luckily I didn't any inside of the immediate area. I was safe for the time being, but right now...
Dash.
I struggled to get my hands into my pocket and retrieve my knife, I had to cut these damn binds off if I was going to get into any kind of major fight. I couldn't do much in this state, and I sure as hell wasn't planning on fighting like this.
The chopper was laying nearby in a pile of rubble, stone and knocked over chairs surrounded it. Fire was beginning to spread and burn most of the chairs, filling the air with acrid smoke.
The knife came free from my pocket and I flicked it open, and turned it upside down to cut at the binds. It was tough to try and get a good angle, and during the time I was trying to cut myself free, I could hear the sound of the undead hoard outside the building. Even with the roaring flames and everything else, I could hear them surrounding the building.
After a few moments. a snip sounded and the binds came free. They fell to the ground and I turned to face the blackhawk laying nearby.
"Gotta find R-Rainbow." I had to find her and get out of here. We escaped the hospital, now we just had to keep fucking moving!
The chopper was completely and utterly fucked, it was laying on its side and in the midst of a pile of burning rubble. Smoke was quickly filling the rooms and the flames were spreading, the smell of jet fuel leaking also hit my nose, and I knew it wouldn't be long until the fire ignited it!
"Rainbow!" Immediately I rushed over to the chopper, to try and find Rainbow and get her away in one piece.
The cabin door was ripped completely open and the hull was badly damaged, the cockpit was filled with blood and small fires. I could see the bodies of one of the umbrella thugs who was with us, but the other one was gone...
And so was Rainbow Dash.
"Rainbow! Call out to me!" I began looking around for her as the fire spread further, catching most of the junk in here on fire. I backed up from the fire and made my way around the crash, knife held tight in hand and eyes searching for that cyan mare.
When I moved past the chopper, I saw what looked like a stage and a couple of doors leading somewhere. And behind me, rafters and a bunch of construction equipment lay in shambles, covered in blood and torn apart bodies. Guess this was the site of a grizzly attack.
"Rainb-aggh!"
I was pushed up against the wall and held in place, when I got a good look I saw it was one of the Umbrella thugs! His mask was gone ,revealing a bloodied and angered face. He pulled back and shoved me back into the wall and I dropped my knife.
He didn't say anything before pulling me away from the wall and throwing me aside effortlessly.
I slid across the floor and hit one of the columns inside the room, but I was able to recover quick enough to get back on my feet and face him.
I threw out my arm out to the side and yelled, "I ain't got time for this!"
He said nothing and pulled out a small stick, but with a single flick of his arm... it extended into a baton.
I eyed it and that's when my nerves got the better of me. I lost my knife and I was up against a USS thug.
"Guess we're gonna make time, then." I muttered and loosened up my joints, before raising my fists and bouncing slightly from heel to heel. My body ached, my bones shook, my skin crawled and I was bleeding somewhere, but I wasn't about to stop here. "You wanna fight, then bring it!"
He met my challenge with force, he charged towards me and swung high, aiming for my head. I backstepped and dodged the hit, but he snuck in a kick to my stomach and knocked me off of my feet.
Scrambling for safety, I avoided another hit and rolled before getting back onto my feet, where I jumped straight at him. I pulled my fist back and threw it at him, and my fist struck him, sending him sprawling back before I landed.
Following up with a kick of my own, I aimed at his shin and got him to go to the side before turning and rushing away, and vaulting over one of the pews.
There were a lot of fights I could win, but this was one I was going to try and avoid as much as I could! At least until I could find a gun or something.
I heard thumps up above me through the crackling fire, but I didn't pay it much attention as I made a beeline towards the other side of the downed chopper.
I slid to a stop near the busted open cabin door and peered inside, and discovered Rainbow wasn't inside.
I did find the body of the thug though, and he was gripping an MP5.
I reached for it, needing a firearm seeing how mine were taken from me. But I ended up getting pulled away from my prize and thrown aside with a yell.
No gun for me I guess.
I landed off to the side and rolled hard. A quick move on my part and I rolled back up onto my feet and balled up my fists, and slid back a few feet to face off against the thug.
"What?!" I glared at the man as he twirled his baton and stomping towards me. "Still wanna fight then? Fuckin' fine!" I jumped back a few steps and kept my fists up. The guy had a baton and probably years of combat training under his belt, meanwhile all I knew was from watching action movies and video games... which amounted to practically nothing.
There wasn't much I could do except dodge and hope for an opening.
He attacked first, closing the distance and swinging his baton towards me and forcing me further back as the fire from the chopper wreckage spread, filling the room in smoke. I had to keep my footing and stay away from his hits unless I wanted to get decked. I dodged one of his swings, one that nearly clipped me in the cheek.
He moved faster then I thought he could, or I was moving too slow and he spun.
Before I knew what hit me, I was sent falling backwards into one of the pillars of the building, knocking the wind out of me. I growled and kept my eyes on him as he ran towards me. I tried moving but I wasn't fast enough to dodge him, and he tackled me, picking me up and carrying me back as I smashed my fists into his back to no avail.
I was pinned against a wall shortly after, the air rushing out of me as his fist slammed into my lower rib which was followed by a sharp pain.
I screamed and brought up my elbow, and slammed it hard into his back, his shoulder, trying to get free from him.
Then something smashed into his side and he was sent fumbling to the side with a cry of pain, crashing over a couple of chairs as I fell roughly to the floor.
I turned to face the attacker after I got my breath back, and I saw a bloodstained pegasus standing where he was, and an odd feeling shot through my being for a few seconds; that look in her eyes, the flared out wings as the fire from the chopper danced in her eyes like fireflies.
I struggled to stand up. "Heh, w-was wondering where you were." She didn't look too bad from the crash, filling me with relief. Aside from the blood covering her, and her battered wing being unwrapped, she looked alright for the time being.
She was breathing heavily, blood stained her lips and she had some cuts on her legs and neck. "I g-got thrown out," She coughed and wiped her mouth.
"You doing alright?" I watched the USS thug nearby and kept my guard up as he struggled to get back up.
Rainbow gave me something of a nod and wiped her mouth again. "Y-yeah... I'm fine."
I held my side and watched as the man stood up, having lost his baton. Both Dash and I kept our ground, and I asked her, "Think you can fight?"
I knew she didn't want to fight or even kill, it wasn't in her blood to do the latter. But in rough situations like these, you had to make that split second decision that either kept you alive or got you killed. She had to, hell...
I needed her help.
She just stared long and hard at the other man and tensed up, wings folded neatly at her sides after taking a huge breath. And surprisingly, I heard her say, "I... I think so."
I didn't question it, I just faced the thug in front. I yelled and charged forward, fist pulled back before jumping over a couple of chairs. He threw up his arms to block my strike, and I reacted to that quickly and crossed my arms before landing against him, and struck him with my elbows. I forced him further back.
After landing on the ground, I spotted Rainbow out of the corner of my eye; she rushed the thug had on, and before he had a chance to react, Rainbow spun on her forelegs and kicked out her hind ones.
I could practically hear the bones crack once she made contact with his armored chest, the thump of hard hooves striking Kevlar armor and sending him flying backwards with a yell. He slammed into one of the pillars hard, and I ran over just as he managed to recover and get back up. I jumped up, and with both legs stuck out, slammed both of them into him in a dropkick, sending him back into the pillar hard.
My hip stung when I landed on the ground. I heard Rainbow gallop over to me, and she was quick to help me get up onto my feet.
The fire from the chopper continued, and the soldier was struggling now...
Then he pulled out a knife from behind, a large knife with a sharp looking edge that glinted in the light.
"O-oh crap." Rainbow gulped and stepped back, I did as well.
Fighting with my fists and her hooves is one thing, against a knife is another thing!
That was the moment when I heard something, through all of the flaming wreckage and the panicked breathing of Rainbow, I could hear something that sounded unmistakably like hissing. That noise drew all of our attention, giving us pause for a brief couple of moments and ending the fight.
I shouldn't have looked up, but when I did... I saw them.
They crawled out from the vents on the ceiling and near the walls, snaking their way through with growls and hisses, leaving their deep claw indentations in the wood. I froze.
"D-Dee... what the heck are t-those?" She whispered, and I felt her press up against my leg.
"Nothing good." Was all I could say as the beasts began to land on the floor, slowly closing in on us.
Goddamn...
Lickers!