"Every dead body that is not exterminated becomes one of them. It gets up and kills. The people it kills get up and kill."
- Doctor on newscast, Dawn of the Dead (1978)
A UH-60 Huey helicopter flew at a breakneck speed over Electrozadvosk, a full squad of Equestrian 3rd Ranger Division rifleponies sitting in the back. One of them was a purple unicorn with a darker purple mane and tail, both accentuated by a single magenta streak. He was Command Sergeant Major Dusk Shine, and he was currently polishing the Colt .45 M1911 in his hand. The Colt .45 ACP MEU was standard issue, courtesy of the Colt brothers, and had a faster rate of fire along with a larger magazine, but Dusk preferred the older 1911's higher accuracy. Lifting his gaze up to the gunner position, he saw his friend Corporal Rainbow Blitz, a sky-blue pegasus with a rainbow-colored mane and tail, manning the M60E4 machine gun. Blitz was Dusk's pointpony, arming himself with a Trotington R870 pump-action shotgun. Casting his eyes about the rest of the vehicle, he saw the rest of his squad mates and close friends engaged in various activities; wielding the opposite side's M60 was Applejack, a rather large, orange-coated earth stallion with short blonde hair. Butterscotch, their corpsman, was a small, timid-looking pegasus, and had a yellow coat with a pink mane and tail. He sat further in the back of the chopper, bandaging the arm of Elusive, a pure white unicorn whose deep violet hair was in a rather frilly set of curls for a stallion. He had taken an SVD bullet during an engagement in Novy Sobor. Their team's explosives expert, Bubble Berry, was an earth pony, and pink all over. His chaotic mane and tail were so messy they resembled cotton candy, and his personality matched perfectly. He was watching his fragmentation grenades intently… Dusk worried about Bubble sometimes.
Returning his attention to his sidearm, Dusk jumped when a muted crack rang out and the helicopter suddenly lurched. Walking briskly into the cockpit, Dusk yelled over the thunderous din of the helicopter, "What just hit us!"
The pilot, Thunderlane, was wrestling with the controls. "I don't know! It sounded like some kind of sniper-!" There was another crack and his head turned into red mist. Dusk ducked out of reflex.
"…Oh BUCK! EVERYONE, WE NEED TO BAIL NOW!" he called back. Too late, as the helicopter spun out of control and quickly met the ground, too quickly for even the supersonic Rainbow Blitz to react. The centripetal force threw Dusk from the chopper just before the crash, sending him sliding along the ground. He groaned and passed out as a shadow passed over his vision.
PonyZ: Radio Zed
Chapter 1: Day Z
Dusk Shine jolted awake, coming up to a sitting position with his pistol at the ready, franticly scanning the area; he was lying near a small campfire, in an open area. He also saw that the rest of his squad were present and miraculously unharmed, though unconscious.
"Calm down, Sergeant Major." a male voice said, causing Dusk to immediately aim in the direction of its origin. A ghillied-up pony sat nearby, stoking the fire. "No one's going to shoot you." the stranger assured. Aware that he wouldn't still be alive if the pony had meant any harm, but still weary of his intentions, Dusk slowly holstered his pistol.
"Where are we?" he asked the stranger.
"We're about… twelve kilometers northeast of Electro." came the response, after a quick glance at a map.
Dusk simply nodded and nudged Blitz. "So who are you?" he asked as he tried to rouse the pegasus. Stupid Blitz wouldn't wake up. Likely dreaming about that fighter ace, Spitfire. Idiot was really reaching out of his league on that one.
"The name's Hawkeye Archer, Gunnery Sergeant in B Company. I was the sniper in a sniper-spotter team."
Dusk nodded again, repeatedly slapping the corporal's face. "I'm Dusk Shine. My squad was the attaché from the 3rd Rangers. Come on, get up you lazy sack of feathers." he ordered at the inert Rainbow Blitz, who seemed adamant in staying in heaven with Spitfire.
"Nice to meet you sir." Hawk got up and walked over to Blitz, taking out his M24 sniper rifle, and promptly whacked him in the head with the stock.
Blitz leapt up to his feet and put his hands to his head in pain. "Ow, Ow, OW, WHAT THE-" Dusk cut him off with a hand over his mouth.
"Will you shut up, Blitz?!" Dusk hissed. "The dragonbait that shot us down could still be around." Blitz nodded, still with a furious headache, and Dusk tossed him his Trotington. "Now wake up the others. I need to figure out what we're going to do next."
Blitz saluted him and started nudging Butterscotch gently. "Pst… Butterscotch… Wake up man…"
Dusk walked a ways, grabbing the map Hawkeye had used, searching for ideal places to go to. Their position was marked with a red X, near the towns of Electro and, further to the east, Cherno. Hawk walked over to Dusk's side and peered at the map.
"Any ideas of where to go, sir?"
"I think so… Priority one is getting some supplies… And then we need a reliable shelter…" Of course, they had very few options, but he took the time to study his mysterious companion out of the corner of his eye. It didn't take long; even looking this closely at Hawkeye, the leafy suit he wore covered everything; even his eyes were covered by a hood he wore. Dusk could only tell he was male from his voice, and had no idea what species he was. Deciding that now wasn't the best time to wonder about Hawkeye's appearance, he quickly plotted the course in his mind and, satisfied, rolled up the map. He started back towards the group with the camouflaged sniper in tow.
"Guys," Dusk began, "this is Gunnery Sergeant Archer. He's a sniper for B-Coy."
Applejack shook his hand. "Nice ta meet ya sir. Didja happen ta see the dragonbait that shot down our helo?"
Hawk shook his head. "Sorry corporal, no such luck. I just heard the gunshots and saw you guys crash. It sounded like an AS50."
"What's the plan, Dusk?" Blitz asked, eager to move out. Dusk gathered everypony and spread the map in the air, now enveloped with a purple aura.
"The closest town to our position is Electro. We'll be heading there first to get guns, ammo, food, etcetera." He pointed with a finger to trace their path. "Then we'll move down to Cherno and find some shelter. Assess the situation, see what we can see. There's a military base at Stary, not too far from there. That's our final destination. Currently, we're twelve klicks northeast of Electro, so we'll start in the morning." He folded up the map and placed it in his bag. "Right now, everypony get some sleep. We'll set up watch in standard order, rotate every hour. Blitz, that means you're up first." Rainbow nodded solemnly and flicked his shotgun off safety.
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The next day, the seven soldiers started their hike through the forest towards Electro, Hawkeye in the back with his sniper rifle, and Blitz in the lead with his shotgun. As they came out of the treeline and reached the main road, something in the blue pegasus's peripheral vision caught his eye. He held up a clenched hand as he crouched down and his head swiveled left, away from Electro. It was smooth land, and though the object that caught his attention was a mile away, he could easily discern the sight of a vehicle coming.
"Truck coming," he alerted, "get down." The group quickly dropped down and laid prone in the trees, the sound of the truck soon reaching their pricked ears. The Ural truck rumbled by, and the ponies saw that it was being driven by two griffons.
'Great. Looks like the griffons might already be onto us.' Dusk thought. He and his team had hoped they wouldn't be seeing any enemy contact this early in their trek. Their position was bad enough without those beakheads knowing where they were. "Nice catch, Blitz." he congratulated, still on the ground. "Another few seconds and they might have seen us."
"So what?" Blitz countered, ever the tough guy. "It was just two of 'em. I could take two griffons in my sleep, even if you guys aren't backing me up. We should've just shot them."
"Don't you think the situation is precarious enough as it is without unnecessary firefights?" Elusive interjected.
"T'ain't smart to go pickin' fights like this. We don't know much, an' we have even less." Applejack added.
"Applejack's right. We have no idea what we're up against, or who would hear us if we made a commotion. And we are not equipped to find out." Dusk said.
"Oh, come on you pansies!" Blitz said exasperatedly. "It's just two griffons! There are seven of us, we wouldn't make any noise. And, even if we did, we'd have two captives and that shiny new truck to drive around in. What could go wrong?"
Suddenly, there was a sound like thunder that was becoming all too familiar and the truck's engine block exploded, destroying it and cooking the griffons inside with the resulting explosion. The noise caused everyone to cringe and flatten their ears against their skulls. When the echo faded, they raised their heads once more, gazing at the wreckage.
"What in Tartarus was that?" a dumbfounded Hawkeye asked.
Dusk Shine shrugged. "I don't know, and I don't plan on bucking finding out. Not even an AS50 can destroy a Ural in one shot."
"It wasn't even explosive ammo." Bubble Berry chimed in. Everyone immediately gave him blank stares. "Believe me, I know explosive ammo, and that wasn't it. See, it makes this weird kind of double boom, like b-boom! And this boom was just a regular boom kind of boom." Hawkeye continued to stare, whilst everyone else turned to Dusk, having already known Bubble for many years.
"Either way," Dusk said, changing the subject, "I think it's clear we should stay off the main road and sneak into town at night." Everyone hastily nodded their agreement, and they began marching, staying well inside the treelike.
"'And we'd have a shiny new truck to drive around in.' Got any more bright ideas, featherbrain?" Applejack asked. Rainbow Blitz chuckled weakly.
"Maybe we should just avoid any commotion until we know what we're up against."
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As it got dark, the squad snuck quietly out of the thinning forest and into the town, each of them thanking Luna that there was no moon to reveal them. The town was abandoned; unsurprising, seeing as how a war was being waged in the region. The first building they came across was a hospital, from which they thankfully managed to find some basic medical supplies and food items. They were about to enter a gunshop when a groan from behind caught their attention. They turned around, weapons at the ready, and saw… a pony. What caught them off guard though, was how he moved. He walked toward them at a medium pace, apparently oblivious to everything around him. His brown coat was plastered with dirt and grime, and his yellow mane and tail were an absolute mess. They all lowered their weapons and looked at each other, confused expressions plastered on their faces. All but Hawkeye, who warily kept a tight grip on his M24.
'What in Equestria is that pony doing here?' Dusk asked himself. 'He isn't armed or in uniform, so it must be a civilian. They should all be cleared out.'
"Any thoughts, sir?" Applejack asked his CO.
"It's a civie, no doubt about it."
"Someone too stubborn to leave their home?" Elusive suggested.
"Let's find out. Hey! You there! What are you doing here?" Dusk shouted at the pony. It didn't respond. "All civilians are supposed to be evacuated." Again, it gave no response, save for letting out another groan. 'Something doesn't feel right.' He slowly brought his pistol up and pulled down the hammer. The pony continued coming closer. "Alright, that's far enough." The mystery pony was now close enough for Dusk to smell the bloodstains that covered him. "I said stop! Stop, or I will fire on you!" He gave no heed to the warning. Dusk tilted his pistol downward and fired, hitting the pony's leg. For an instant, time almost seemed to stand still as the pony, instead of falling over or clutching it's leg, stood ramrod straight. Baffled by the odd behavior, Dusk hesitated when the pony suddenly began charging him.
Rainbow Blitz saw all of this almost in slow motion, brought his Trotington up to its firing position, and pulled the trigger. The countless tiny pellets released from the shell tore through the pony's head, stopping it in his tracks and dropping it flat on it's stomach.
"Dear Celestia!"
"Oh my…"
"Woah, the buck was that, Blitz!?"
"He was going for Dusk, I…"
Dusk Shine himself was stunned into silence, trying to process what just happened.
Hawkeye walked over and examined the body, using his boots to flip it on it's back, revealing a bloody torso and, more importantly, bite marks all over the body. "That's what I thought." he mumbled to himself. He looked up at the rest of the squabbling group. "Blitz did fine, everyone." They stopped and looked at him. "Nice draw too. Fastest I've ever seen."
"What do you mean by that, Hawkeye?" Dusk asked.
"Sir, these things aren't ponies anymore."
"Anymore?" he asked incredulously. "As in they've become something else?" He looked at the corpse, then back to Hawk. "He looks like a pony to me."
"He was already dead, Blitz just killed him a second time." The sniper lowered his head at the memory that was surfacing. 'It seems like just yesterday…' "About a day after we took Chenarus, dead ponies and griffons started to show up. At first, we thought it was a good thing, but… then when Private Skies tried to talk to a couple up close… She… She…" Hawk shook his head and pulled back his hood, showing the others his face for the first time: his grey fur, his black mane, and especially his steely grey eyes. "They tore her apart sir. Those things are monsters, not griffons and definitely not ponies."
In those eyes, Dusk saw several things: anger and hatred for the monstrous corpses that had been reanimated. The cold and calculating gaze of a trained marine sniper, so detached from his enemies that he could drop them without remorse from a mile away. Finally, Dusk saw a great juxtaposition with the shell of coldness that the marine had erected: despair, as if he had lost someone, and the death had hit very close to home.
"Hawkeye, who was Private Skies?"
He reached into the suit and produced a pair of dog tags from one of his shirt pockets and handed them to Dusk, who took them gingerly. "Pvt. Cloudy Skies," he read aloud for the group to hear, "Equestrian Marines; B-Company, Scout-Sniper…" he trailed off. His eyes shot up to Hawk, who silently nodded. "Sweet Celestia, gunnery sergeant…" he managed to croak out.
"Had to shoot her too." he responded somberly. "If you get bit, you get turned into one unless you get antibiotics on it. Has to be strong stuff too, the kind you get from hospitals. We were out in the wilderness; we had none of that."
"I'm so sorry." Elusive offered.
"That sounds awful." Butterscotch agreed, forgetting his shyness for the moment.
"Why didn't you tell us about these… things?" Rainbow Blitz asked.
Hawkeye chuckled grimly as he replaced his hood. "Would you have believed me?"
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The seven continued into the gunshop and began grabbing rounds from the counter.
"Nothing military-grade, unfortunately." Elusive reported, searching through the supply with his telekinesis. "This is all civilian ammo."
"Still better'n nothin'." Applejack said. "We get those things' attention, ah'd rather be fightin' at a distance."
Hawk was looking for a suitable knife, caught between a machete and an old SEAL knife.
Dusk saw him in his predicament. "Go for the machete." Dusk advised. "It's longer, less chance of them… reaching you." Dusk thought Hawk was a strong guy, but he wanted to avoid the word "bite" until he was sure Hawk was over Skies's death. Hawk nodded, giving the blade a few practice swings. "Hey, Bubble, you done taking inventory yet?"
"Just about," he responded, leaning out of a back room, "but they have, like, zero explosives here! Can you belive that? Not one stinking grenade! All I managed to save from the crash was half a pound of C4 and a glowstick!"
Hawk raised an eyebrow behind his hood. "Trust me, you're gonna be glad he has that later on." Rainbow Blitz said.
"Hey Hawkeye, what does your rifle take?" Bubble Berry asked, browsing a hunting rifle ammo case in the storage room.
Normally, Hawkeye would reprimand him for not using "sir", but he decided to let the kid off the hook. ".338 Lapua magnum bullets. See any back there?"
Bubble Berry shook his head. "Nope, sorry. No Lapuas."
"Alright then." he said back. 'Good thing I brought a few spare clips, I should be fine for now."
"Aha! Perfect." Elusive thought aloud, as he used his magic to levitate a pistol and ammo to his hands. "There you are, Butterscotch." he said, holding the weapon out to his companion. "Ruger P99. Just the thing for you." Butterscotch was immediately reluctant, and Elusive sighed. "Oh Butterscotch, you need it for personal defense."
Butterscotch didn't take them. "Elusive, I don't want to take a gun. I wasn't trained for combat." he meekly argued.
"You still have to defend yourself." Elusive countered.
"But I don't want to kill anything Elusive, I'm a medic."
Seeing that his friend needed help, Dusk stepped in. "They're already dead, Butterscotch. Just think of it as… putting them to sleep. They woke up and need to be put back to sleep."
Butterscotch looked at the pistol, then sighed. "Okay Dusk, if you say so." Elusive breathed a quiet sigh of relief and gave Dusk a thankful glance. Dusk smiled back.
"Hey guys, ah think ah found sumthin'." The others gathered around Applejack, who pulled a box of what looked like part of a trigger group out from behind the counter. "The owner of this place was packin' some full-auto civilian fire selectors."
"I thought those were outlawed?" Blitz asked.
"Eeyup." Applejack confirmed. "The manifest doesn't say anythin' about 'em." He took out a worn piece of paper. "It does say they have some semi-autos in storage in the range room, an' we can probably put the fire selectors in 'em. Use 'em as assault rifles."
"What kind of rifles?" Dusk asked.
"Let's see… mostly civie stuff… a shipment of police M16's, and a couple of L85's." Applejack read. "And it looks like there're even sights for 'em. One's Thermal and the other's got a SUSAT."
"Excellent. Elusive, get the door." The white unicorn nodded and opened the door to the range with his magic, his MEU at the ready. He entered and motioned with his hand for the others to follow. The range was clear, and the storage room was just across the room, a steel door with a window and a crowbar locking it in place. The crowbar gave them all a bad feeling, but Elusive started forward, about to unblock it.
"Stop!" Bubble Berry yelled as softly as he could. The others looked at him and he pointed down. "Pinchy knees." he explained. His five friends immediately adopted a scared expression, their eyes bugging out.
"And what in the name of Celestia does that mean?" Hawkeye asked.
"Whenever my knees get pinchy, it means that something scary is close. It must be behind the door." he reasoned, and began walking over.
"That's ridiculous-" Hawkeye began, but Bubble knocked on the door. A slam came from the other side, startling the seven ponies, and a dead pony came into view in the glass portal. "Okay, the crowbar was a dead giveaway." Hawkeye argued.
"Let's try to keep this quiet." Dusk instructed. "Hawkeye, how good are you with that machete?"
Hawk pulled the machete from it's sheath on his belt. "I'm good enough." He removed the crowbar from the door and brandished both weapons at the walking corpse as it burst from the storage room, shuffling slowly towards Hawkeye. The sniper threw his crowbar as hard as he could, breaking the dead pony's nose and staggering it for a second, before rushing forward and cleaving it's head in two with the machete. The blade broke off at the handle and the re-killed corpse fell, dead once more. Hawkeye looked at the useless handle in his grip, surprised by how easily it broke. "Huh. Piece of crap." He tossed it away, replaced it with the crowbar, and walked into the armory with the others right behind him. Inside were several semi-automatic rifles, including civilian Car-15s and the two L85A2s, but the M16s were gone.
"Looks like somepony else got here first and took them." Hawkeye reported. "I bet they locked the zombie in here to keep anyone else away."
"So zombies is what we're calling them now?" Elusive asked Hawkeye incredulously.
Hawk simply shrugged. "Why not? They're dead and still walking, sounds like a zombie to me." Elusive rolled his eyes and tossed Dusk a Car-15. He had trouble enough accepting the situation without having to think about them fighting something as ridiculous as zombies.
"Hey Dusk," Blitz asked, "why don't we grab a bunch of these and use the radio tower to store them until we get a vehicle? I bet we could find a bus or a civilian truck around town."
"I don't know," Dusk began, "that gun took out a Ural in one shot. A vehicle isn't going to be safe. At least, not around here. Just grab a couple guns, load up on ammo, and let's head out."
"Great." Blitz complained. "More walking."
"Better'n bein' dead." Applejack countered. "Or do you end up as baked chicken like our two friends back on the road?" Blitz just sighed in resignation. Soon, each soldier was equipped with a sidearm, their normal weapon, two extra guns, and ammo for all. They ended up almost clearing out the room; needless to say that if whoever took the M16s came back, they'd be pretty pissed off.
"Let's get out of here." Dusk Shine told everyone. "There's nothing else we need from here, and we should get to Cherno ASAP." The rangers and the sniper snuck back out of town, not noticing the group of dead griffons wearing balaclavas and holding M16s. All of them had rifle wounds.
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By midnight, the group was halfway to Cherno, thanks to a quick pace and the relatively small distance between the two towns. The strange rifle was heard again before they went to bed, setting them all on edge. Despite their best efforts, Blitz was not the only one up, and neither was AJ when his turn as sentry came. The night wore on slowly as each soldier tried to sleep, but their brains stayed stubbornly on alert. After what seemed to be an eternity of trepidation and silence, the ponies eventually succumbed to an uneasy slumber, the mix of drowsiness and adrenaline-fueled nerves not doing them any favors. The next day they crept even more carefully towards Cherno, but stopped when the sound of rotor blades reached their ears, perking them into alertness.
"You hear that?" Dusk asked the group as they looked up for the source, ears swiveling.
"Behind us." Applejack pointed, and the others turned and followed his finger to find a Huey helicopter flying towards Cherno. As it passed overhead however, an ominous rumbling sounded from within the machine, and it began rapidly losing altitude as the rotors slowed to a stop. It groaned and span, grazing the treetops before crashing to the ground with a tumultuous cacophony of grinding metal. The soldiers nodded to each other and took off in the direction of the smoking helicopter. When they got to the clearing it had crashed in, the survivors were pulling themselves from the wreckage, mostly unharmed. Dusk's eyes grew wide as he heard familiar voices.
"D*** it Rainbow, what happened?" came the inquiry of who could only be described as the female version of Applejack, complete with the southern drawl and trademark stetson.
"I think we ran out of gas AJ," went the reply of her cerulean blue sister-in-arms. "It just stopped spinning all of a sudden."
"What do ya mean ya (italics)think(/italics) we ran outta gas? You were pilotin' the thing, weren't ya?"
Watching this from their point of concealment, Hawkeye turned to Dusk and noticed his reaction. "Friends of yours sir?" he asked.
"Yeah." came the simple reply. "It's the friggin' Elements of Harmony. Attachés from the 82nd airborne."
"No kidding?"
"Trust me, its them. We know each other from… a bit of an incident way back. Who knew they'd be all the way out here?"
"Well, I'll introduce myself. You guys stay here for now. We might not be the only ones who heard that crash, and it won't do for us all to be out in the open if that's the case." Dusk nodded and brought up his rifle as Hawkeye walked over to the feuding ponies.
"Look, I'm not confirming or denying anything here AJ. But I maaaay or may not have been entirely conscious while we were flying."
"Oh for Celestia's sake!" the orange mare exclaimed with a facehoof. "You were nappin' in the cockpit again, weren't ya?" she angrily accused.
"Hey, we've been fine every other time I've done it! And it was, like, practically full when I turned on the autopilot. Not my fault that thing chugs gas like Pinkie Pie in cider season!"
"Hello there," Hawk called out, "are you okay?" The two mares ceased their bickering and looked at him perplexedly, surprised to see another pony. He came to a stop in front of them. "Equestrian Marine Corps, we saw your helo crash."
"Wow, that was fast." Rainbow Dash said. "Hey Twilight, get out here!" she called. "We've got a friendly!"
Out of the helicopter stepped a purple unicorn, almost identical to Dusk Shine save that she was a mare as well. "Captain Twilight Sparkle," she introduced, offering a handshake.
"Hello ma'am," he replied, taking the offer. "I'm Gunnery Seargent Hawkeye Archer, B coy." Rarity and Fluttershy came out carrying an injured Pinkie Pie, right arm and leg broken, to see what was going on.
"Sorry ta cut the formalities short," AJ cut in, "but you said sumthin' about we. Is someone else with ya?" Hawk gestured for the others to come out and six jaws dropped, their owners all in shock.
"Well well well." Blitz began. "If it isn't the famous Elements themselves." All six mares shook their heads and cleared themselves of their stupor as their male counterparts came to greet them.
"Fancy meetin' you here, AJ." Applejack said, rubbing the back of his neck with a nervous smile.
"We got shot down near Electro." Dusk bluntly stated, suppressing all of the questions he knew Twilight had as he tossed her the Thermal L85. "Everyone, give those who need it a rifle and ammunition. As heartwarming as this reunion is, we need to be on the move ASAP." He then turned back to Twilight. "Long story short, we're caught in a zombie infestation."
Twilight could only stare at him in an absolute deadpan. "You're kidding, right?"
Dusk shook his head. "I wish I was kidding. You'll just have to trust me until you see them yourself. We're heading through Cherno, then up to the base in Stary."
"Sounds like a plan. Pinkie says she'll be able to shoot with her left hand, so long as we get her in a sling and splint that leg. We should be fine, so long as we stay together and stay quiet. No doubt you heard that rifle go off?"
"We saw it firsthand. That's what downed us, and later it took out one of those Griffon Ural trucks in one shot."
"It's been on the move." Hawkeye added. "We're at least twenty klicks out from where Shine's men crashed, but we still hear that thing at night, and it isn't getting any quieter."
"Alright Twi!" Rainbow Dash called with a salute. "We're all ready to go. Pinkie's set with some morphine and bandaging. We even found a good walking stick in the trees."
"Good," she called back, "then let's head out. We have to make it to Cherno before nightfall." With that declaration, they all set out for what promised to be shelter, supplies, and hopefully safety, however temporary.