Astral froze. His mind screamed for his body to move, but his limbs were welded to the floor.
The creature then let out a hiss of pain, a shot from Sassi’s guns blowing its hand away, a second severing its spine at the base of the skull.
“Astral!” Sassi called, the stallion scrambling backward she was forced down the hallway, a literal horde of creatures stampeding after the retreating mare.
That was when Astral realized the creatures didn’t even see him. So focused on Sassi, all they saw was the dead Skitter off to their left, Astral partially hidden by the corpse filling the hallway.
“…ust….ide. Find you.” the scratchy radio relayed in Astral’s earbuds.
Scrambling across the tile, Astral ran.
A few twists and turns later, and the stallion picked a room to try-
Locked.
Another door proved more a better choice, easily opened as the stallion slid inside. Surveying the mass of electronics and small workstations, it was clear this was a server room that doubled as a cubical of sorts.
The lightweight metal door had a single twist-lock; not the best material and method for holding back all those things.
He took a few moments to try and control his breathing, the stallion on the verge of hyperventilating. On the plus side, he couldn’t hear anything outside of the door. On the downside, he was clearly trapped.
I hope you made it out Sassi.
He knew such a worrying thought was rather moot. It was obvious that the mare could have likely flattened half of that horde.
She’ll be fine. Sassi survived this long by skill. I survived this long by luck and her help.
Now, what in the world do I do?!
There were no security cameras in the room, only large server banks. The electronic hum would help muffle some of his noise, but eventually, he would have to go out.
Hearing some heavy breathing immediately outside the door, however, killed any such thoughts. Astral checked his guns, noting how he only had about five shots total left before reloading. But that action made noise…
So, there he sat, barrels pointed at the door as a shadow passed slowly by the light under the frame.
I’m trapped.
Sassi let out a groan as she wiped off a pile of gore from her armor, the security door frying whatever parts of the horde had been stupid enough to try and get through. Anger tore at her heart, the mare making a quick beeline to the security station.
All of SL-Thirty was swarming. What in the world prompted that?
There were quite a few answers to that question. The Queen spreading out her minions, the Skitters getting smarter, or plain old bad luck. This was nothing like simulations though. The past few days had been so much worse than even full-breach containment scenarios.
Once she had made it to the elevator, Sassi had quickly discovered that true to her hypothesis, the creatures had burrowed into an elevator shaft. They had followed but quickly realized that Sassi had made it there first. It had been a shooting gallery, Sassi lobbing a few grenades at them before she shut the security door.
Now at her station, she shed the gore-covered armor and quickly began tapping the keys, eyes tracking over the monitors.
Come on, Astral. Where are you?
He had frozen; oddly. He had been fine the first time. It was saddening to realize he wasn’t an asset, but in many cases a hindrance, but that was just how it was. In all likelihood he was probably dead, or about to-
Sassi abruptly found her hooves shaking, the mare looking down at them as a bit of something tore at her heart, her ears flattening.
Did I really just write off Astral that easily?
The coldness which she stated Astral’s unlikely chances made her chest ache. To the military-minded mare, it was a fairly alien sensation. There were a few reasons she hadn’t made many friends here, largely because the creatures who worked here weren’t good ones. That made having some distance even easier. But also, attachment when dealing with deadly threats usually ended badly. She was sent to put down the nasty stuff. If she got attached to co-workers, when they made a fatal error, it just led to more baggage.
It usually helped that most creatures who worked at the company weren’t good individuals. It made distance easier.
But now Sassi could place the emotion properly that made her so unsettled; fear. Fear that she’d be stuck trying to escape alone. But what she found odd was that the fear encompassed abruptly being without a friend.
Perhaps I was starting to enjoy his company a bit more than I thought.
The clashing of Sassi’s cold training with her more relaxed self was making the Thestral’s head ache. It was so easy to view creatures she had little connection to as a statistic, simple matter-of-fact-statements. But when it was someone she knew even as a simple friend…
She hugged her forelimbs and wings around herself, eyes scanning the monitors continuously. The thought of Astral being dead and torn to shreds disturbed her on a level the mare wasn’t entirely capable of processing. The cold, fearful ache ate at her chest, Sassi shaking her head. Attachment wasn’t something she was intimately familiar with on some levels. Of course, there was Flask as her dad, a few brief and superficial relationships with some of the rare, slightly more-decent creatures who worked here. But that never went beyond a first or second date, which usually was just a lunch.
But there had certainly been nothing serious. It was rather odd she was feeling this way about just a simple friend.
But you’ve never had a friend who saw just a Thestral.
Such a simple thing of having another creature being kind, of being able to joke without the constant pressure and background of the Company hanging over their heads was freeing in a way Sassi was only now starting to realize. And the thought of losing that connection was downright terrifying, even if it was a simple as a friendly conversation as a certain pony made her a smoothie with a cheerful grin.
The mare realized that losing such a thing frightened her on a level that was so far removed from other emotions, she just had to ignore it for now. Threats to life and limb could be dealt with, combat situations cataloged and executed with training.
But this? Losing a pony that made things feel just a bit normal? That was too much for her right now she couldn’t process it, destructive thoughts starting to spiral into what if that is what happened.
Stewing wouldn’t help Astral, but plans and actions would. If she was so worried about him, sitting here wasn’t the way to show it.
Reload. Rearm, and get back out there.
She only could hope that he heard her message that she’d be back for him. Making her way down to the apartment level, Sassi took a brief moment to wash the lingering gore and grim from her fur, then toweling off and looking at the array of options within her bedroom armory.
Her hoof reached out to brush some large, egg-shaped projectiles begging to be used as they hung from a belt feeding into a rather large gun breach.
This time, I’m not bringing the shotguns.
Astral knew he had to move.
Sitting in this specific spot, on a floor where radios and electronics were scrambled was an easy way to make sure Sassi never could help him. Also, the sounds outside his door had slowly started to increase. The Thestral was fairly certain he had heard a few doors being torn open.
The plan was stupid and simple. Be quiet, find the elevators, and get back to at least a floor with security cameras.
After not hearing anything outside for a good, long while, Astral slowly opened the door. The hallway was clear for now, and he hoped it stayed that way.
Making as little noise as possible, Astral crept along the halls, looking for any emergency lights.
Bingo. Vertical scratch. That means turn left.
To whoever did that, thank you.
Astral was about to take the recommended turn, but the pony froze on seeing a Skitter creep across the hallway directly in front of him. The creature moved almost silently, a soft *tick…tick….tick* of claws on the tiles.
He wanted to scream, but aside from his heart thudding in the Thestral’s ears, Astral was silent.
I have to go where that thing just came from.
A quick check indicated that particular direction was clear, the Skitter vanishing down another intersection.
Come on, emergency light.
Astral almost thought he missed a turn, but an emergency light happily greeted the Thestral within moments.
Now a right.
He froze, hearing a *tick…tick…tick…* in the distance, but then he slowly crept along. The sooner he got out of here, the better.
Another left, and then a final right, and the Thestral was greeted by a beautiful sight; a spotless elevator lobby.
The ticking sounds seemed to be speeding up, and Astral wasted no time in diving in the nearest elevator and punching the first floor he saw that was up.
Safe.
Just as the doors began to close, a grey, barcode-engraved arm reached over them, a familiar head following as it turned to look at him.
Astral immediately bit down on the firing mechanism; a large bullet taking out the creature’s lower jaw as it recoiled.
And then the doors shut, the elevator zipping upwards away from the nightmare. Astral glanced at the buttons. He had pressed a higher-up floor, a familiar one at that; SL-8.
Unfortunately, Astral abruptly found out a feature of the ‘Sequential Locking’ of the elevator.
“Failure of Sequential Locking Authentication on SL-Twelve. Service will be resumed after manual systems reset is performed at SL-Twelve.”
He let out a sigh at that. The stallion had no idea how to reset things, so this was his stop.
Well, never been to this floor. First thing is to find a security camera.
Considering how many creatures had followed Sassi, Astral did not want to immediately return to the security tram or station to encounter a horde. This would have to do.
“Welcome, to SL-Twelve.”