//------------------------------//
// Chapter 3: Discovery 
// Story: Protocol Zena 
// by RJ17Boy 
//------------------------------//

	The landscape mercifully flattened out a bit as we continued into the woods. Like Mac said, we were moving at a faster pace which I was able to keep at first. However, when dusk came, I was becoming sore and tired and was falling noticeably behind. Still, I made myself move on. I wasn’t going to be the one who got someone killed simply because I prevented everyone from making it to the shelter.
Mac was becoming concern at my condition. “Hey Richard.”
“Yea?”
“Wanna take a break? We only have a mile left to go and you don’t look so good.”
I shook my head. “Only the more reason to finish this thing now.”
“Well at least get a drink of water. In fact, all of you get a drink.”
The group then sat down and took a drink out of their packs. I took my canteen out from my backpack that Joe secured with some rope and took some sips from it. Raspberry lemonade, my favorite flavored drink mix. I could still feel some of the pieces that haven’t dissolved, but it was still nice and sweet.
“You think Henry and Brittani are alright?” Shela asked us.
“I’m sure they’re alright” Jeremy said. “Henry’s got a lot of experience out in the woods. If he can’t survive with her out there, none of us can.”
“Jeremy’s right” Mac said. “I wouldn’t allow Henry to do such a thing if I didn’t think he could do it.”
“I’d be more concern of his mental health rather than his physical health” Joe commented. “Did you see how pissed off she was when she found out where she was?”
“It’s for the best that she didn’t know” Mac replied. “I’m sure Brittani would’ve tried to do something stupid if she knew she was going to the shelter.”
“You have a point. Besides, maybe they can settle their differences now so we don’t have to hear any of the arguing.”
All of us could agree with that. I was now starting to feel a bit better about leaving them behind, but it still felt so wrong at the same time. After we caught our breath, the sun was about to go under. Fortunately, we all had flashlights that strapped around our foreheads so we put those on and started walking again. 
I must admit, I was glad we took the break. While I was still sore, I could keep pace with the others without having to gasp for air. I might have been in better shape than most Americans, but the others had trained for this situation so they were better off than I was.
In no time, we reached a small wooden building that had windows on all sides except for the one facing us which had a door instead. The building looked like it was made in the 1950s though I had no idea why someone would make one in the middle of nowhere. Ironically enough, each side of the building was facing in one of the four cardinal directions (the door facing south, right side facing east etc.) so whoever built this had his compass in mind, or something to that extent.
Mac unlocked the door. When we entered, Jeff turned on a lantern illuminating the 15 foot by 15 foot building. Sleeping bags and foam padding were rolled up across both sides of the room; Good. I won't have to sleep on the floor now.   In the back, there was a shelf filled with canned goods and MREs (Meal Ready to Eat) and two gun cabinets that looked like they could hold four guns each. In front of them, there was a three foot by four foot table that stood about waste high with a small wooden chair on the right side.
“Well, here we are” Mac announced. “Our new home till things settle down.”
I took off my bag and lied against the wall allowing my sore muscles to relax for a while. Everyone else did the same except for Mac who took out the box Henry gave him and set it on the table. He opened it revealing a radio that picked up emergency frequencies and turned it on. The radio lighted up like a Christmas tree and picked up a bunch of static. Apparently, all of the local radio stations were down but that wasn’t what Mac was looking for. He started adjusting it but I could tell he had no idea what he was doing. I sure didn’t know how to operate that thing nor did it look like anyone else knew how to mess with it.
“I know we all want to rest” Jeremy said, “but I think we need to check our perimeter real quick. I don’t wanna get settled in only to realize there’s an enemy camp right next to us.”
“Good thinking” Mac said. “You and Jeff perform a basic perimeter search.”
“I’ll go with you” I said almost reflexively catching myself by surprise.
Mac stopped messing with the radio and looked at me. “No Richard. We only need two people to perform this task.”
“But I need to do this” I retorted.
“Why?” Joe asked. “You’re in no condition to perform this after that hike.”
“Because I’m playing catch up.” There was a pause. “You guys have practiced this emergency situation drill before or at the very least discussed what to do with one another. I may have knowledge on how to camp and stuff, but I don’t know how you prefer to do things around here and the only way I’m going to learn those things is if I do them.”
“But you can do those things-” Shela began to say when Mac interrupted, “He’s right. He’s gonna have to learn our ways somehow.”
“But he’s not ready to do these tasks in the state he’s in!” Shela protested.
“Good point.” Mac went to the shelf and grabbed an MRE. “Catch” he said to me as he threw it at me. “At least get some food in your system before you do your patrols… all of you.” He grabbed two more MREs and tossed them at Jeff and Jeremy.
I put some water into the bag and began eating. Spaghetti with sauce; not as good as the stuff back home but it was still tasty for a meal out here. I wish I had utensils but I guess we’d have to live without them for a while out here. As the three of us ate, the others went over and grabbed a can of food and ate with us.
“What do we do with the trash?” I asked as I finished my food.
“Put it in the bag” Mac said.
I looked around but couldn’t find one. “What bag?”
“This one” Jeremy said as he pulled a trash bag out from his gear. “Put all the trash in here. Don’t want critters coming on over smelling the leftover food you threw away outside.” He opened the bag and placed it near the table. I put my trash in it and Jeff did the same.
“Can I get a better gun?” Jeremy asked Mac. “I don’t like bolt action rifles if I can use something better.”
“Give your rifle to Richard. I’ll get you and Jeff something better.” Jeremy gave me his rifle as Mac opened one of the gun cabinets. “What do you want?”
“What do you have?” Mac moved away revealing an AR 15, an M1 grand, an M14 and some other rifle I didn’t recognize. “I’ll take the AR” Jeremy said enthusiastically.
“And you Jeff?” Mac asked.
“I’ll take the grand.” Mac then tossed the rifle to him.
“Can I get a better gun?” I asked.
“No” Mac said, “Not yet. You still need to prove yourself worthy of getting a better rifle. Until then, you get that.”
“Ok then. Can I at least get more ammo for it?”
“You got five shots in there. If you need more, we’re fucked.”
“What about my pistol?”
Mac though about it. “What kind of ammo does it take?”
“9 mil.”
“We got that. How much do you have?” 
“A partial mag. That’s it.”
Mac opened the other cabinet revealing boxes of various caliber bullets, magazines filled with ammo for the various guns, several pistols, and two more hunting rifles. He tossed me a mag for my pistol.
“Give me your partial.” I first checked to be sure the new mag would fit in the gun. When I saw that it did, I gave him the partial. He filled it with bullets then tossed it back to me.
“Now that that’s all taken care of” Jeff said, “can we go now?”
“Ready when you are” I said as I put away my pistol and carried my new rifle.
“Then let’s go. Don’t want to be out there all night.” 


It was quite dark outside despite it only being six o’clock in the evening. Since it was autumn, it meant that it became darker early so I wasn’t surprised by this. I could barely see the stars and moon since the trees blocked the sky. As much as I hated not seeing the night sky, I could live with it since this meant those Pegasi couldn’t see us from the air. Jeff and Jeremy went east and I followed them closely.
“Now listen up” Jeremy said in an authoritative tone, “you maybe one of us, but that doesn’t mean I trust you more than if a random stranger showed up and asked me to do something. You’re new to this group and while you have shown part of your abilities, you have a long way to go before I’ll even consider letting you do tasks on your own. Right now, you do what we say, when we say it. Anything done without our consent will be regarded as disobedience and will be punished as such.”
“Now now Jeremy” Jeff interrupted, “we don’t want to go so far as to prevent him from doing anything without asking.” He looked at me. “He’s right about our orders though. You do what we say until you prove yourself worthy to us. Understand?”
“Yes sir” I replied.
“Good.” We stopped at the top of a small hill. “Now, there’s not much to this patrol thing. All you have to do is be sure everything is in order. If something looks off, report it to Mac. He knows the area better than any of us and he’ll know how to respond to it.”
“Easy enough.”
“Yes, it is. But first, you have to get yourself familiar with the area. You’ll get a basic overlook tonight, but we’ll expect you to know the area quite well the next time you do this.”
“Also” Jeremy said, “there are three types of patrols we perform: basic, intermediate and extensive. The only difference between them is the area you’ll be searching: 100 foot, 300 foot, and 500 foot radiuses respectfully. While it may not seem necessary to look beyond a hundred feet,”
“The terrain makes it necessary to do so” I interrupted. “The numerous hill and trees make it difficult to see things from certain points so we have to go past those objects to get a better view.”
“You catch on quickly. Maybe you will be useful after all. See where we’re standing?” I nodded. “This is about a hundred feet from our house.”
You're actually going to refer to the shelter as a house?
“Yes I am.” Damn it I did again! “Anyway, see that tree over there?” He pointed to a tree that split into three pieces and looked more like a tall bush. “That’s about 300 feet out. You can’t see the 500 foot mark because of that hill” I didn’t need guidance to see that, “but there’s a stump just beyond that marks the point.”
“That’s quite a distance when you see it in person.”
“Agreed” Jeff said. “That’s why we have these markers so we know how far we need to go.”
“Usually, we just walk the outer perimeter” Jeremy said. “We don’t see everything but it’s the most effective way to do a patrol. Mac knows about this and actually likes it.”
I wasn’t so sure about this method despite Mac’s ‘approval’ of it, but we’ll see how good it is.
“Anyway” Jeff said, “let’s get this over with. I don’t want to stay out here too long.”
“Agreed” I said. “Let’s go.”
“Pop quiz!” Jeremy said. “What kind of perimeter search did Joe ask for?”
“He didn’t” I answered. “Mac asked us to do a basic perimeter search.”
Jeremy had a grin on his face. “So you were paying attention, good. Let’s start by heading south. You saw most of the area so it should be easy to see if any changes happened.”
As we walked, I kept a sharp eye for anything that stood out as odd or unusual. The light admitted from our foreheads was quite helpful though it was causing my forehead to itch. To my surprise, this circling the perimeter technique was indeed effective at analyzing the area. Very rarely could I not see the shelter or see the area beyond it. 
The only problem I had was identifying threats. Because we were in the woods, most of what I saw was very similar to the next except for the shape of the ground. The longer we were out, the darker it became. Soon, we were only able to see the area that our lights shined on making the analyzing process longer as we passed. 
We were half way done when the terrain became less flat and more of rolling hills. We had to go out a bit farther so we could get to the top of the higher hills. This expanded our view tremendously but was rather pointless since our lights didn’t have the power to illuminate the new area. Still, we didn’t find anything that required our attention.
We were nearly done when I saw the outline of a hill that was no more than fifty feet ahead.  There was nothing different about this hill from the other ones I’ve saw but for some reason, my curiosity was getting the better of me.
“I’m gonna check what’s beyond that hill” I told them.
“Why?” Jeremy asked in a slightly annoyed tone. I could tell his suspicions of danger were quenched and he wanted to end this patrol as soon as possible.
“I don’t know; want to mix things up a bit. Also have a feeling something’s beyond it.”
Jeremy sighed. “Be quick about it.”
“I will.” 
I jogged to the top of the hill. At first, it looked like all of the other areas we’ve analyzed. However, as I looked closer, I saw something at the edge of my light. I looked at it and saw something purple laying there. I aimed my rifle at the object but this just messed with my light. I put the rifle down and took out my pistol.
“What do you see?” Jeff asked as he noticed me changing weapons. I continued to analyze the object from a far only to realize the object lying there… was a unicorn?
My eyes must be playing tricks on me.
I signaled for Jeff and Jeremy to come over. “You wanna take a look at this.”
As I heard them come over, I went down the hill to further analyze this creature, pistol in hand. When I got there, I noticed that both the tale and mane of this creature was a dark purple with a streak of pink running down the middle of it. (From this, I assumed it was female.) As I run my hand through her mane analyzing each hair, I was surprise to figure out it was natural and not dyed. On her rear, there was a large pink star surrounded with five small white ones which also appeared to be natural as well.
I smelled the air around me and could clearly smell the scent of blood. When I analyzed her lower body, I noticed a massive gash that went down her body becoming wider as it got closer to her… front hooves? (Whatever they were, they sure weren’t feet.) This puzzled me as I had no idea as to how such a wound was even possible. There was also a pool of blood at her feet that took up the area of a paper plate. To my surprise, she wasn’t bleeding further.
“Why’d you leave your rifle up here?” Jeff said from the top of the hill.
I turned my head and said, “Can’t aim down its sights without my light shifting on me.” Jeremy then came into view. “You both wanna take a look at this.”
As they went down the hill, I noticed some bags a few feet in front of me with the same pink star as on the ponies’ rear. I got up and tried to open them only to realize that the straps keeping the bags closed were locked. Since I didn’t have a knife to rip open the bags, I left them alone and went back to the body. 
“Oh my god” Jeremy and Jeff both said as they realized what they were looking at.
“Yea” I said. “Who would’ve thought this would be here beyond that hill?”
Jeff analyzed the creature checking for vitals and other things. I then realized that there was no golden armor nearby only increasing my interest in this unicorn even more.
I was about to point this out when Jeff exclaimed “No way!”
“What is it?” I asked. Jeff had a shocked expression on his face.
“Jeff, what did you find?” Jeremy asked.
Jeff looked at us both. “This creature’s alive!”
“What!?”
“Impossible” I retorted. “If the gash didn’t kill her, she bled out. Look.” I pointed to the gash. “She’s not bleeding.”
“I know, but that only raises more questions. Touch her neck as if looking for a pulse.”
I did so and was astonished. Not only was her body warm, she had pulse… barely. I then noticed her chest expand and contrast meaning she was breathing… but just barely.
“I don’t know how” Jeff said, “but she’s managed to keep herself alive.”
“I say we end it now” Jeremy said as he pulled up his AR 15.
“No!” I exclaimed putting my arms between her and the gun.
Jeremy looked at me with surprise. “Why not? These damn things have attacked our homeland. They’ve done so much damage.”
“That was the work of soldiers” I retorted. “Do you see anything indicating she’s one?” Jeremy looked for her armor, but couldn’t find any. “Besides, even if she was a soldier, they get their orders from their commanders who get their orders from their superiors until we get the leaders of this faction. Killing a soldier won’t end this war.”
Jeremy looked bewildered at my response. “Whether or not she is indeed a solider, she still poses a threat to our safety. If she is allowed to live, she could betray us and take us to the enemy. Who knows what they’ll do to us if we are a prisoner.”
I couldn’t think of a counter argument for this. “Look, let’s get Mac over here and discuss the situation with him. After all, he is the leader of the group and he needs to know what’s going on before we do something we’ll regret.”
“I agree” Jeff said. “There are many reasons to both spare and kill this… unicorn. We need to get the big picture before taking action.”
Jeremy looked impatient. He lowered his weapon. “Fine, but I’m staying here to make sure nothing is done to her in the meantime.”
“As will I” I said.
Jeff looked startled. “Guess that means I’m going.” He got up and looked at both of us. “Give me your rifles.”
“What?” Jeremy and I said in astonishment.
“Give me your rifles. I don’t want either of you to go shoot each other while I’m gone.”
“What if others show up?” Jeremy asked.
“Then we’re fucked. Plain and simple.” Jeff then handed Jeremy is pistol. “You can have this if you feel like you need protection.”
Jeremy looked annoyed, but he took the pistol. “Fine. We’ll both have pistols.” He then gave up his AR 15.
“Fair enough” I said as I gave Jeff my rifle. He slung his rifle over his shoulder and carried our weapons in each hand.
“I’ll be right back.” He then hustled over the hill and left the two of us alone.