//------------------------------// // Around Every Corner: The Boy In The Attic // Story: The Mane 6 And Lee Everett // by Can-dees_Murder_Weapon //------------------------------// The house was empty. It had a vintage wallpaper pasted with flowers and most of the windows were boarded up; all except the ones on the second floor and the one in the living room. Fluttershy escorted Applejack to a forest green sofa in the living room whilst Christa helped Omid to a couch. Lee, Kenny and Twilight were left in the kitchen. The rest of the group wondered around the first floor, mainly in the living room. "What is that device you have?" Twilight asked, looking at the walkie-talkie attached to Lee's pocket. "Oh this?" Lee grabbed the radio from his pocket. "It's a walkie-talkie, you can use it to communicate with someone." Someone? "Was that where the voice came from?" She demanded. She couldn't believe she forgotten about what happened on the street. A voice suddenly springs out of nowhere, warning them and telling them to get out of the street. As soon as she saw the walkers; she completely ignored it and started looking for ways to escape. "Yeah..." Lee hesitated which the unicorn noticed. His hesitation only sparked suspicion in her. "How long has this been going on?" "Who gives a shit about the damn radio?! A'hm more worried about whoever's ringin' those goddamn bells!" Kenny was quick to interrupt. Twilight was slightly startled by the man's sudden outburst but she agreed with his statement. "What we need to do is get to the docks, get a boat and bam! We're set. We don't have to deal with this bullshit!" "Well the others need some rest. Especially, Applejack and, Omid," Lee said. "We also need supplies and m-medicine. What if they get worse?" Twilight pointed out and Lee nodded in agreement. "Then we leave 'em." Lee and Twilight went wide eyed at Kenny's suggestion. "We. Are not doing that." Twilight glared at the man who merely shrugged it off. "Why the hell can't we just rest for a few minutes anyway?" Lee folded his arms, waiting for an answer. "Why the hell do I gotta explain?! This city is filled with walkers, got some creepy backseat motherfucker toyin' with us on the radio! And to top it off; we got a sociopath ringin' bells all over the goddamn city and tryna' get us all killed!" "Even so, we are not leaving anyone behind!" Twilight rebutted. Rarity walked over to the trio. She had been listening in on their debate from the dining room. The trio didn't notice her coming into the kitchen, they were too busy arguing with each other; mainly Lee and Twilight against Kenny. "Everyone please! Can we just... simmer down a bit?" She looked at Kenny with the most gentle eyes she could muster, she didn't want to make the man any more angrier. Or angry at her for that matter. "Kenny, surely we could just... rest... rest for thirty minutes? Just thirty minutes. Once that's up, we'll leave, go to the docks and get a boat." The man still had that frustrated look on his face but he wasn't saying anything. It almost looked like he was considering the idea. Rarity saw him take a quick glance at Lee and Twilight before he shook his head in defeat. "Fuckin-fine! Thirty minutes, that's all! Then we're leavin' no exceptions, 's that clear?" He still had that look on his face, Rarity just hoped that the other two wouldn't start up another argument. Lee offered a "sure" and Twilight merely nodded. "Good!" Kenny turned and walked off into the living room. Lee and Rarity both sighed at the same time, relieved. "We should search the house for supplies. See what we can find that would help, Omid and Applejack." "We need to make sure it's empty too," Twilight added. "Right, I'll check the second floor." Rarity made her way to the stairs. She spotted Lilly in the living room, she was seated and leaned up against the window looking out of place. Like she wasn't a part of the group. Rarity couldn't help but feel sorry for her, she would never tell her that though. Judging by her personality, the woman wouldn't want anyone pitying her. A few of the others were talking amongst each other. Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy and Kenny just sat quietly. From the way Kenny was tapping his finger on the armrest of the couch, he was obviously just waiting for the thirty minutes to be over. After checking the study room on the second floor, Rarity made her way to the entrance of a hallway where a cord hanged from the ceiling. At the end of the hallway was a window, a ray of sunshine coming through, barely lighting up the hallway. The attic. The unicorn walked over and stood in front of the hanging cord. She used her magic to pull the attic down, gently laying it onto the floor not wanting to create a loud bang. She looked up into the attic, wood being the first thing she saw. Judging by how lit the room was, she presumed that there must've been a window up there. Before opening the attic, she assumed that she would have to go trotting around in the darkness using nothing but the aura of her horn to generate some kind of light source. Even though her aura would've been perfectly fine to use in the dark, she still preferred the sunlight. I'm sure there's nothing up there. The unicorn walked up the stairs, wary at the thought that there could've been walkers up there. She never heard anything going up the attic so the thought only became a possibility. Besides, how does a walker get up an attic? Once she climbed up the ladder, the first thing she noticed was the putrid odor. Like something was rotting, gathering up all types of bacteria and fusing them all together. Then she heard the soft growls of a walker. Her guard was up ready, for it. But when she saw the walker, she gasped in a mix of horror and sadness. There it was, the husk of what was once a child boy. Nothing but a walking corpse of decaying meat and flesh. It's skin hanged from it's bones, legs and arms. The only clothing the walker had was a pair of crusty socks and a pair of white underwear. Rarity spotted pieces of miniature clothing over by a mattress, it was obvious that that was where the child slept. The walker had taken notice of the unicorn. It attempted turn but the legs were too weak to hold the upper frame of the body and it fell to the floor, pitifully. As much of a threat walkers usually were, this one posed no threat. It barely turned before it fell to the ground. The scene was heartbreaking to the unicorn. She thought of how terrified the child must've been, how hopeless it must've felt to be so alone in a world like this, to be a child and to try and survive on your own with no one looking out for you. What would Sweetie Belle do? She found herself tearing up at the thought of her little sister, wondering what she would have done if she was in this little boy's position. Would she wait for her big sister? Would someone else come along and take care of her like Lee did with Clementine or would she simply just... starve? The image of seeing her little sister in this world, all frightened and alone. Hiding up in an attic, waiting for someone - somepony to come along and rescue her. Her heart was lodged into her throat as a few tears streaked her furry white face. She swallowed, taking a deep breath. "...Okay." She started walking toward the downed walker. She didn't know what she was doing, what she was going to do. She tried to shake off the thought of it suffering. Trying to look at it as if it was nothing but a walker because it was. If it was given the chance, it would bite into her. She stepped in front of the walker who was now desperately trying to reach up to her. She made sure she was a few inches away from it. She glanced at her hooves, debating whether or not she should use one of them to put the walker down. I could just use my... "Okay... okay..." A slab of transparent light blue aura was suddenly on one side of the walker's temple pushing it down onto the wooden floor but not killing it. "I-I'm... sorry." More pressure was applied to the slab of aura before it immediately squished the walker's head in, killing it. Rarity walked down the stairs, slightly red eyed. She overheard Lee speaking to Clementine about the man on the radio. He was in the kitchen, away from everyone else who were still in the living room. Probably didn't want to make her feel uncomfortable around the others - she presumed. She didn't want to intrude on their conversation so she waited until she could no longer hear their voices. Few moments later, she heard footsteps coming closer to her, growing louder and louder. She stepped into the kitchen, nearly bumping into Clementine who was just in front of the door way, arms-length apart. They both exchanged polite smiles, Rarity quickly followed up with a "sorry" before walking over to Lee who was leaning his elbows on the counter in the middle of the kitchen. As she walked over to the counter, he frowned at her - almost concerned. "Are you okay? What's the matter?" "Hmm?" He must've noticed her slightly bloodshot eyes. She wasn't going to leave the corspe of a child in the house to decay - rotting away even more. "Oh uh... no. Not really." Lee brung his arms away from the counter and he knelt down to her level. "What's the matter?" "I... there's something you need to see." Rarity entered the attic once again but this time with Lee. She saw his shock - which turned into sadness upon seeing the body of the dead child. "Oh god..." he muttered. "I... I put him down," She sadly admitted. Lee's eyes went wide for a moment before they morphed into sympathy, sorrow. He gently placed a hand on her shoulder. "You okay?" She stared at the body for mere seconds. "I-it just reminded me of my sister." She paused. "I don't know how old he is, he seemed so... young." She turned, looked up at the man. A new wave of tears was beginning to brim on the edge of her eyelids. "I don't know what my sister would do in this situation." Lee stayed silent, listening to her talk. "I want to bury it. It's not right leaving him up here." The man finally nodded, eyebrows furrowed. "Don't worry about it, we'll take care of it." He walked over to the deceased child and picked him up. Everything was misty outside and the streets were once again peaceful - maybe not peaceful, just suspenseful. Like the wind being the city's friend. The two thought it'd be best if the boy was buried near the burial beside the dog house. Lee dug up a grave, picked up the boy and lowered him into the burial. He started burying him and Rarity watched, completely silent and saddened by the whole scene. She thought about everypony back at home, if anypony was looking for them. She couldn't help but ask herself. Was anypony looking for them? A next thought occured to her. Was this a dream? She knew it wasn't but she still found herself hoping that it was. Maybe she got hit back in the forest, causing her to slip into a coma and she's in the hospital resting with all her friends - maybe at least one or two was standing around her; wishing that she would wake up. But that wasn't the case, no matter how badly she wanted it to be. She was here, this was happening and she had to accept that and hold out as long as she can... or at least until somepony or something happens that would get them all home. Suddenly, out of the corner of her eye, a silhouette of what appeared to be a man was standing outside the gate. She slowly turned, as the fear of being watched and observed started to come true. And there he was, ever so silently standing there, motionless was a man staring at her. Eyes piercing into her soul. His face portrayed no emotion. He just stood there looking at her, not doing anything. It was terrifying. All Rarity could do was stare back, she couldn't do anything. The fashionista found herself unable to move, frightened and paralyzed. She didn't know how long they were staring for, it felt like forever to her. She failed to register the man taking off into a full sprint and Lee running to the gate. "You come back here and I'll kill you! You understand?! I will kill you!"