//------------------------------// // 14 - No More // Story: Without You // by Dustchu //------------------------------// ooo000---000ooo I didn't know what had gotten into Dee when he said we had to follow those police carriages, but I didn't get much of a chance to really voice an argument before we were sprinting down the sidewalk and following them. The streets were clogged up with other cars and even a few small roadblocks. Thankfully, nothing was too bad that it blocked our way out, we managed to keep moving non-stop. We got lucky too, because we didn't run into too many of those monsters, what few we did we just ran past or around. They were too slow for us, especially me. I may have been groundbound, but I was still the fastest pony in Equestria! However, I didn't go too fast, and stayed by Dee's side the whole run. My eyes watched Dee as he moved during the run, and I noticed he was pretty agile despite being on two legs and not four. He jumped over obstacles in his way, slid over and dodged a lot of grabbing arms with agility I didn't know he had. A few times he ended up getting grabbed, but he managed to slip from their grasp, moving with a sort of frantic speed only an animal caught in a trap would have. "Why are we following them?!" I yelled to him once we turned down an alleyway, taking a different route to get to wherever it was we were headed too. I jumped over a body in my way as Dee caught up, knocking over a bunch of garbage behind us to slow down anyone chasing us. "Because! Safety in numbers!" He kicked a monster out of the way and kept running, still following the sirens and the carriages... er, the cars, I mean that drove down the road and made sharp turns up ahead, turning down a larger road. "Those are all cops and swat members, we'll be safe with them!" We had police ponies back in Equestria, with carriages and sirens. He might be right, and we could get help if we followed them! "Alright!" The road eventually ended with a giant roadblock cutting off any routes to the south, and to the north we saw the cars continuing on, not stopping for anything, not even debris in the road. The fronts of those bigger ones had big plows on the front, so maybe they were built for that? My nerves started to get the better of me, and as much as I hated to admit it, I started to feel scared the closer we got to wherever it was we were headed to. I could sense those monsters nearby, smell them in the air... worst of all, I could hear them, those creepy moans of theirs carrying down the alleyways. It didn't bother me as much as it did way earlier, I was starting to get used to it... the blood, the bodies. I was still scared out of my mind but I didn't feel like it was going to cripple me. I... I didn't know how to feel about that, was this normal? We stopped running when the road ahead was blocked off by a dozen of those human cars, most of them police cars. The bigger ones were sitting in the middle, doors on the back opening up and letting a bunch of guys in armor file out. I heard something in the air from not too far away in the air, something that sounded like blades cutting through the air really fast. I quickly scanned the night sky and saw a bunch of giant airships flying over the city tops. They hovered above the crowd of humans gathered in the middle of the street, and I saw a dozen of them drop ropes and rappel down, armed and ready to fight. Then out of the alleyways, I saw the zombies stumble out into the open, and begin to zero in on the crowd of police officers. "Shit," Dee cursed and pulled out his handgun. "They're starting to come out of the woodwork." I didn't know about this, there were a whole bunch of those zombies now, not just a few! I could hear the loud pops and cracks of gunfire, and the zombies moaning filled the air. And it got louder and louder with each second that passed. It only made me even more nervous about this whole thing. "Dee, what exactly is the plan here?" I didn't know what he had in mind for this, but I hoped it was a good plan. He held up his gun and said, "We're gonna help them out." I took a look at the growing number of zombies filling the streets and felt my heartrate spike as more and more poured out. So many gunshots and so few of these things were being taken down! "How are we gonna do that? There're so many of them!" We couldn't fight them all, could we? Dee didn't look like he was scared... he just stared ahead with this look in his eyes. My heart calmed down, but it started making me feel funny when I saw him stare ahead, face set in a determined gaze like a hardened pegasi knight. "I know how to kill those things." Was all he said before rushing into the fray, and leaving me to stare at him. What got into him? I turned around and saw a bunch of zombies closing in, and beginning to close up the street, cutting off any route back the way we came. The only way was forward, where Dee ran off too. I could still see him charging into the fray, handgun pulled and ready for a fight. I still felt my bones ache, my wings were sore, and I was exhausted. Was I even ready for a fight? I guess I'd find out. Dee rushed on ahead and I kicked off the ground, galloping after him. These things might be all around us, but I had speed on my side to help me win. Plus I took martial arts back in Cloudsdale, so I was able to hold my own, I should be able to help out... somehow. It's time I stopped being so scared. I had to fight if I wanted to get out of this. I just gotta be like Commander Hurricane, I gotta fight to make it back home. I galloped after the human, eventually catching up to him as he ducked into a nearby alleyway away from the gunfire. He crouched and held up his gun, checking behind him and out into the street. "Okay." "So what, we're just gonna jump in and hope for the best?" I looked up at him and saw him adjust that dirty orange hat of his, turning it backwards. "I'm going to take out as many as I can, and try to get them to retreat back to the police station." Dee zipped up his hoodie and took a couple of deep breathes. "Because what they're doing right now is only going to end horribly." I looked back at the chaos unfolding in the street, at all of the armed police officers and their swelling ranks. "How? They look like they got this in the bag." Why would they need help? They had so many of those guns, some that fired faster than others! Dee shattered that thought of mine pretty quickly, saying, "They don't know how to fight off the zombies. They're just shooting at them and hoping for the best, but the undead need more than just a storm of bullets thrown at them to take them down." He looked out into the street and stared for the longest time. "They're going to lose, and we gotta help them out." "How do you know that?" I felt confusion beginning to creep up my spine as I saw his eyes dart from the street behind us to me. "Err... t-the numbers don't look good," He wiped his forehead. "More monsters than there are cops right now..." I turned and scanned the street for myself. I saw dozens of those police officers, frantically fighting against the monsters that continued to swell with each passing minute, pouring out of the buildings and the alleyways, and tanking every hit they were given like it was nothing. Fireballs exploded from their guns, blood covered the cars and ground, and they were being forced back. He was right, there were so many of them, all of them hungering and ready to hurt anyone in their path. Dee wanted us to help them, and he probably could, he knew how to fight them, but myself? I could fight, but... I wasn't sure if I could actually kill. "I... Dee, I don't know if I can do this." I admitted and felt the fear and shame well up in my stomach, bubbling up like a dormant volcano. I felt a hand on my shoulder, and heard Dee speak up. "I'm not sure if I can either, but we got to do what we can." My body was shaking at the thought of actually fighting, I hadn't fought anything since the Pegasi Self Defense School back in Cloudsdale, when I was a filly. It had been a long time, and I only ever did it to protect myself, never actually hurt anyone. "Dash, lemme put it this way." He turned me around to face him, and I was forced to look up into his eyes. "What if it was someone you cared about?" I froze, wings locking up at my sides. "What if it was your best friend or even family?" "Rainbow, you're silly sometimes, you know that?" I heard Fluttershy's voice whisper into my ear... and that nightmare I had came flooding back to me, of her turned into one of those monsters. "I..." My family crossed my vision and I felt panic begin to well up in my chest, my mom, my dad... turned into those things. "I know we don't owe those guys over there anything, we could just run right now and never turn back." He continued, and I only began to feel more and more scared. "I won't blame you if you decide not to... but I can't just sit by if I know I can help somehow." I focused again on his face; the determined fire burning in his eyes, the steely face of his, he was serious about doing this. "You're really gonna f-fight?" "I gotta, I know the risks and I'm not dumb enough to think I'm not gonna get hurt... but I have to try, somehow." He let me go and stood up, and pulled back the slide on his handgun before stepping out, raising it. I watched him walk out of the alleyway and heard the gunfire coming from him, as he joined the impossible looking fight taking place in the street. Heh. I had read stories with my mom once, about how pegasi fought battles for the nearby cloud villages before the Great Tribal Unification. Sometimes they fought against impossible odds just to protect their families, their friends, even ponies they didn't know or liked. They just... Fought for what they believed in. I thought back to my home, where Fluttershy was, my parents. I couldn't stop the shaky breath that escaped me, and I couldn't keep myself from trembling either. I was terrified right now and I hated it! I didn't want to feel scared! And here Dee was, going out even though he was scared! I stared up into the sky and narrowed my eyes as a storm rolled in from the north, and I heard the distant clap of thunder... Maybe it was time I stopped being scared. I steeled myself and walked to the edge of the alleyway, and I saw Dee firing his gun, fighting against monsters for people he didn't even know. Then behind him, I saw one of those monsters shamble up behind him, slowly closing in and he didn't notice him, too busy fighting off others to keep an eye on his back! My legs moved on their own and I rushed into the hailstorm of bullets and chaos, and closed in on Dee. Just as he looked back towards me, and in time to see the zombie. I had jumped up into the air and tackled the monster, and I hit him as hard as I could to send him stumbling back away from both of us. He was sent flying farther than I thought. He smashed into the side of a SWAT vehicle as I landed on all four of my hooves, and I whirled around to see Dee stare at me. I saw a smile on his face, and he gave me a nod. I returned it, and I joined him in the fight. It was time I stopped letting my fear control me. It was time I started fighting back. ooo000---000ooo As the battle in main street raged on, with bullets flying to and fro, the undead fell one by one thanks in part to the combined efforts of Dee and Dash, R.P.D., Swat, and the UBCS who repelled in. Throughout the city, the gunfight could be heard from blocks around by survivors and mutants alike, the latter of which swarmed to swell the numbers of their infected allies. The entirety of Raccoon was engulfed in chaos, firefights, and battles for survival, but none as vicious as the one taking place right now. Raccoon City Overhead, a helicopter flew into the city, a Chinook owned by none other than Umbrella Corporation. It carried a massive cylindrical pod underneath, held on by thick steel cables. It dangled and swayed from the intense winds as a storm brewed in the north, heading further south and sending thick clouds that rumbled with power. It didn't stop the Chinook by any means, as it flew ever onward. As it reached a central point in the city, it descended for a bit before leveling out above a random street. Inside, the pilot hit the controls to release the pod, which snapped free from the cables and sailed downward towards the ground, before smashing into the street and creating a spiderweb effect in the concrete. Hermetically sealed bolts blasted off and pierced whatever was nearby, breaking windows, denting the side panels of cars, before the front of it fell forward and a veil of white mist descended onto the road. The Chinook flew off, leaving behind the pod as the creature inside opened it's solitary eye and stepped out. Heavy boot-falls sounded as it stepped out into the streets of Raccoon for the first time, and it immediately scanned the surrounding area. Once it deemed it was where it was supposed to be, it hefted up a massive weapon, a large rocket launcher far too big for human hands to wield effectively. He started walking down the street, launcher loaded up and ready to fight. And in a guttural and inhuman voice... he uttered one thing. "S.T.A.R.S..." ooo000---000ooo Main Street was afire with the sounds of gunfire and fighting. Fires broke out from grenades exploding and gas canisters going up from stray bullets as bodies fell left and right, both human and infected. But the more everyone fought the more the fight seemed to grow more desperate. I knew that much. Come on Dee, keep going! I told myself and open fired on the next zombie I saw, putting him down with a couple of well placed shots to the cranium. For every one of those damn things I killed, another four took its place and swelled their numbers, and my hopes of saving the group of officers began to falter. Thankfully the UBCS showed up, but even they were having trouble despite being armed to the teeth with military grade hardware. "Get out of here!" I heard one of the officers yell at me, waving me off. i had been yelled at to run constantly, but I didn't listen, I just kept fighting alongside them. "No can do buddy! I'm here to help!" "You're gonna get yourself killed!" The same one yelled back at me. "You guys are going to die if you don't get out of here, this is a losing battle!" I whirled around and shouted back at him as I saw Rainbow run behind the officer, slipping past him and dashing towards another one of the zombies. "You all need to get out of here and back to the station!" He stormed towards me, but I didn't falter. "You are a civilian, you're interfering with a police operation!" "Look around you, you idiot!" I gestured wildly to the desperate situation, the indefensible location, "You're out in the open and surrounded on all sides! You are all going to die here!" I yelled as loud as I could over the deafening gunfire, hoping that some of them would see that I was right. The street was open, their only defenses being the vehicles that made up a shoddy fortification and surrounded them all and blocked off a few parts to hold back the seemingly never ending tide of undead. They were managing to adapt and kill the zombies, but there were more coming from all around, slipping in through the alleyways, down the road in thick droves. None of them would last long here, as per Chief Irons plan to wipe out most of the force for Umbrella. I didn't have to change anything, I would gain nothing from this, but... something was telling me I could change this, that I had to try even if it meant I would fail. "You have no defenses and these things are coming from all around the city! You have to retreat!" I all but screamed at him. He glared at me, shotgun trembling in his hands as a few others took notice of our screaming match, those that could before having to turn back to the fighting. I could see it in the eyes of the men and women around, the nervousness in their eyes at the situation, this was beyond anything they were trained and prepared to do and Irons sent them to their deaths. "Captain! We're running out of ammo and these things aren't stopping!" Someone shouted out, and it just dawned on me that I too, was running low on ammunition. I had a couple of magazines left for my handgun, and the two left for a gun I didn't even have. I was about to say something, only to see the Captain's eyes go wide as something grabbed onto my shoulder. They say time slows down when you're hopped up on adrenaline, that you see everything moving slower and your reaction time kind skyrockets. When I felt something sharp sink into my neck, and felt the cold burn of blood rushing to escape, and heard the snarl of a zombie behind me... Well, you can't believe everything you hear, right? Panic set in and my handgun flew up, and I jammed it into the eye socket of the zombie behind me and pulled the trigger several times, blasting off messy chunks of brain and skull from the zombie as I fell back with it. I think I screamed, I didn't know. Everything moved too fast for me to comprehend, the fiery lance of pain stabbed my neck and shoulder as my head began feeling light, and dizzy. I fell to my knees hard, clutching my neck in an attempt to stop the bleeding. I heard a ringing in my ears, felt bile bubble up in my throat as the realization sunk in. I was infected.