The walker was pinned under Rarity's hoof, stuck, unable to move. It's arms flailed about in futility as the seamstress launched the bowie knife into the back of it's temple, putting an end to it's pointless existence.
"I-is this where we're going to stay?" Clementine inquired, carrying her signature backpack.
"Yes." The unicorn simply answered. She pulled her knife from the walker's head, giving it a few flicks to get (most of) the gunk and blood off of it and sliding it back into her chestnut-colored holster that was attached to her forearm. She found the belt from a gun store in a small rundown town, a week and a half ago. There weren't too many walkers, so it was all the same.
Over the past few months, Rarity had begun to be more inclined to start taking more risks even trusting Clementine to handle herself during times of need. It was a slow process. Initially, the mare was going to stick to her original plan; let her bear all the risks to keep Clementine out of harm's way.
That was until a realization came into her head. She couldn't protect the child forever. What if she were to get bit? What if she got injured, her limbs broken or if she fell prey to an illness or worse... die? The child needed to learn to survive on her own.
If the mare were to... die, at least the child would know what to do then rather than having to depend on someone else to survive.
They found a small gas station, the parking lot was infested with walkers but the mare had taken care of most of them. Clementine stood back with a pistol that had a magazine loaded into it to take care of any stragglers.
In their travels, the mare was able to establish where they were, the directions they were taking. "Welcome to South Carolina! Smiling faces, beautiful places!"
Doubt it.
Back then, probably but definitely not now. The mare would've loved to see how everything was. Before everything was destroyed by this... plague. How the locals operated, communicated. Especially how they made clothes. Something the seamstress would've been delighted as well as eager to find out.
She was mainly following the road, having no need to stray from it. After all, she wasn't from this world, she knew only a few things about it and that they left a city called "Savannah". The road was the best route to take really, it would lead her everywhere.
Rarity walked inside the gas station with Clementine following behind her. It didn't take long to secure it, there were a few walkers left in the restroom. One was behind the counter which Clementine took care of.
After they were done, Rarity barricaded the door with a shelf that had been pushed over and they stayed there for the rest of the day.
They got up early, as the sun was coming up, hoping they could catch more ground before evening again. A week after leaving that small run down town, Clementine had suggested to Rarity that they find a group, a community of people that were settled at one location.
Initially, Rarity didn't like the idea, memories of the motor-inn rushing back to her. The bandits attacking their walls, destroying everything they've built. Walkers flooding in to take care of the leftovers. If they did happen to find a stable community, it would only crumble just like everything else. Just like the motor-inn.
She'd wondered what would've happened if they never came across those bandits if they'd still be at the motor-inn... with her friends.
Speaking of which, it's been a while since she'd thought about them. She distracted herself by moving, surviving, focusing on anything other than her friends. She'd done it too often that eventually, surviving the day was all she thought about. Getting to the next location.
She didn't want to forget about them, she had to. If she had continuously thought about what she should've or shouldn't have done, her will to continue fighting, surviving would've been finite. Surviving and taking care of Clementine was significantly more important than worrying about where her friends could be.
After giving it some thought, the mare reluctantly agreed to look for a settlement, some type of community where they could settle down. For a while at least so they could take a break from wandering around the world, moving from place to place and hunkering down at some worthless gas station.
"Hey, Rarity?" Clementine called as they continued down the road.
"Yes, dear?" The mare replied with a small smile.
"When we find a settlement... will they have any beds?"
"Well, first we'd have to see if they're good people or not. We don't wanna have another St. John situation on our hooves now, do we?"
The child shook her head before sighing. "Hands... and it's been a while since we last saw your friends."
Rarity's smile dropped. "Yes... yes, it has..." The mare trailed off.
"Do you think you'll ever see them again?"
The mare looked off to the side. "I hope so." She didn't know how big this country was, let alone how big the world was. The chance of her finding her friends again was close to none.
"Me too, 'cause I miss them."
Rarity sighed, feeling a pang in her chest. "Me too."
It was nearing sundown and the two drifters had entered a city called "Manning". So far everything was fine, walkers were easy to deal with, ducking herds wasn't difficult; she just needed to pay extra attention to Clementine. The last time she entered a city, was the time she lost her friends.
If she hadn't gone on that supply run, she'd most likely still be with them. Of course, the reason why she did though was because of Applejack. Her shattered ribs. The pain was irking her, hindering her breathing. The unicorn had volunteered to look for medicine, to search for painkillers along with Lilly, David and Carley; who sadly didn't survive.
Well, Lilly may have survived. There were too many walkers to even pay attention to where she was or what was happening to her.
Carley and David on the other hoof...
It was distressing to even picture what they looked like after the walkers managed to get their hands on them let alone recalling the whole ordeal. The thought of what their bodies looked like, how they screamed... it was almost enough to make her puke. She forgot it all entirely. Shut it out as if it never happened. She wasn't going to remember what happened. She didn't want to. She didn't need to. It was nothing but a distant memory. Not important.
The survivors came across a graveyard of an intersection filled with dead walkers. Their blood was painted all over the concrete ground, and if Rarity wasn't mistaken; shell casings were riddled everywhere. The blood appeared to be fresh...
this happened recently then.
"Someone was here." Rarity simply stated, still staring at the blood.
"Who do you think did this?" Clementine inquired.
"I don't know but hopefully we don't run into them." Rarity continued, walking across the intersection onto the main road.
"Maybe they're... friendly?"
"Maybe they are, maybe they're not but either way we can't take any chances when it comes to strangers."
"But why not?" The mare threw a frown at the child walking next to her. "You act like everyone is bad and that we should stay away from them."
"Because most people are bad, Clementine. Unfortunately, that's just how the world is."
"Then what about those people we met at the rest stop a few months ago?"
"What about them?" Rarity simply retorted, not knowing why the child was bringing up that group.
"They didn't seem like bad people..." The child paused for a moment. "You were the only one who did anything bad."
The mare stopped before turning to glare at the child next to her. Locking her in place with her gaze. "What do you mean by that? What did I do that was considered 'bad'?"
"W-well... they didn't do anything wrong, they were only looking for a place to stay."
"And you know that for certain? What if they hurt other people before us?" Rarity inquired only for it to go unanswered.
"You stole their weapons."
"And?"
"You robbed them!"
"Well, maybe they should have just minded their own businesses. I asked them to leave and they didn't!" Rarity justified, her voice rising slightly.
"So you decided to be bad yourself? Why did you want them gone anyway?"
"Again, they couldn't be trusted and I wasn't going to give them the chance to do anything!" The mare sighed inwardly, shaking her head. "It doesn't matter." She muttered, mainly to herself. She turned around and continued walking. "You're still a child, you wouldn't understand."
The child glared at the mare but didn't respond and the two of them strolled through the streets in silence.
Gunshots rang out through the city, startling the two survivors out of their thoughts. A few more came after, rattling, throwing worry into the pits of their stomachs.
It sounded close by as if it were around the corner. Rarity began walking in the other direction, crossing the street and onto the sidewalk. Whoever was firing those weapons, obviously there was some sort of battle going between who knew how many people. Whatever it was, the mare wasn't going to have any part in it. She already experienced one firefight back at the motor-inn, she wasn't going to go diving headfirst into another.
"What do you think's going on over there?" Clementine asked as they speed-walked away from the gunfire.
"I dunno, nor do I care. Come on, we better hurry unless you wanna end up in the middle of it." The mare began to jog along the sidewalk, sticking to the buildings. Dead walkers littered with shell casings were scattered throughout the city. A good but also bad situation, a double-edged sword.
They needn't trouble themselves with walkers but whoever killed them was, unfortunately still around and the mare wasn't planning on sticking around to find out.
As they were nearing the corner, their hearts dropped. A man dressed in terrible attire, a dirty checkered shirt and worn jeans came around the corner. He was geared with a rifle and strapped with holsters to which Rarity didn't want to know what they held.
He stopped immediately when he saw them, he wore a stunned look on his face as if a million thoughts were racing through his mind. The two survivors stared at him, hoping he wouldn't raise his weapon to fire at them. He appeared muscular, looked to be in his mid-thirties with short black hair and beard.
"What the hell?" He muttered breathlessly.
Rarity inhaled deeply before replying. "Look, we don't any trouble."
The man's eyes widened at the revelation. "You can... talk?"
Rarity slowly nodded, watching his arms and fingers. If he were thinking about killing them, Rarity would be the one to make the first move... not him.
"I've gotta be hallucinating, this shit ain't real." The man said, more likely to convince himself. A palm grasped at his head.
"It is, in fact, real you can choose to believe that... or not but we have to get going." Rarity replied, however, she stayed still observing the man's every move.
He didn't reply for a few moments. There was still gunfire in the distance, the only sound that could be heard. After a few more moments, the man finally said something, a question. "What the hell are you?"
"A pony." Rarity gave a simple answer.
The man's expression never faltered, he held his stunned look but he seemed to be fidgety. He looked off to the side, his foot tapping quickly. "What are y'all doin' here anyway?"
Rarity gave a simple answer to a simple question. "We're just looking for a camp, a community somewhere where we can rest." Gunfire was still heard in the distance, the only thing that could be heard in this city. It was almost like the walkers had been cleared out.
The man looked off to the side, letting a sigh fall out of his mouth. He chewed on the inside of his lip before looking back at the mare. "There's a community, somewhere far up north in Ohio."
Rarity perked up at the sound of that, her heart beginning to fill with excitement and stress. She let him continue.
"A place called Wellington, fully fortified; it's a pretty large community... got a lotta people though." He finished.
"Have... you been there before? I-is it safe?" The mare asked, she had to be certain or at least sure that it was safe. After what happened with St. John's, feeding the group human flesh; she needed to make sure it wasn't going to happen again. That this community wasn't completely insane like they were.
"Last time ah checked yeah. Left like a... month ago though, ah'm sure it's still standing but... ya never know."
The mare looked down at the child, next to her who had a look to be just as excited as her. She then looked back up at the man. "Well... thank you."
The man stared at her for a moment before nodding. He then walked past them, in direction of the gunfire. He stopped and turned back at them. "Good luck." He then took off to a full sprint.
Rarity sighed before chuckling at the good news they have received. She turned toward the child with a smile on her face. "Well, looks like it's off to Wellington then."
The child nodded with a smile of her own and the two continued their travel with a sense of hope. Something the mare hadn't felt in a long time.
The child looked at the mare beside her with a cheeky smile. "He seemed nice." She said, hinting at the heated conversation they had before meeting the man.
The unicorn merely scoffed before starting their journey toward Wellington. Hopefully, she'd find a map soon. She'll need it to figure out where this "Ohio" was.