Angelwhiskers awoke the next morning to see Sapphire already awake and sitting on the edge of her cot, swinging her legs and humming a song Angel couldn't recognize.
"Hey lovely, sleep alright?" The chocolate mare asked when she saw her friend stir.
"Fine. So what crazy idea do you think Golden has in store for us today?" Angel said with a yawn.
"Ah dunno, ah needa get mah hat though." Sapphire grumbled. She didn't feel right without it, she felt exposed or naked without her head wear.
Angelwhiskers chuckled and sarcastically said "It's just a hat, maybe a bandanna or a nice feather would look fabulous."
"No! It has to be mah hat, mah grandma gave me that when ah was just a filly. Ah can't believe ah left it." Sapphire retaliated defensively.
"Oh Celestia, didn't mean to offend you. We can go back for it while were out in the city today." The pale pony reassured her.
Golden sentry welcomed the girls to breakfast and briefed them while they ate. "Ok girls, Charcoal had informed me of something late last night that baffled me. When that mare passed by you on Pegusi road, the one that was distracted by the rock? Nice idea by the way Angel." He said with a wink in her direction.
"That zombie payed no attention to you, it was as if its intent was primary on the rock. Charcoal and I have come to the conclusion that if you two were to blend in, you'd be sort of invisible."
"Whaddya mean sorta?" Sapphire asked with a confused frown.
"Well.. If you were to act out, they could become suspicious and hostile." Golden replied.
"So wait, why are they peaceful now and won't attack on sight?" Angel quipped into the conversation.
Golden and Charcoal exchanged glances, followed by an approving nod from the ashy colt.
"Well you see.. We're going to disguise you as a zombie." Golden said nervously, afraid of an outburst from either of the two.
"And how do you plan on doin' that?" Sapphire said quite confused.
"We're going to cover you in entrails and rancid blood." Golden bit his lip.
"What! This can't be serious. Ya'll think that'll work?" Sapphire stammered, utterly baffled at the cream colored stallion. Angel had a similar reaction although she spilt her oatmeal onto the red tablecloth.
"With the research we have, yes. Atleast, we're nearly certain." Golden replied, not helping the mares anxiety.
"And if this doesn't work? What the hell are we supposed to do?" Angelwhiskers said with a hopeless face.
"Improvise." Golden deadpanned.
Angel knew there was no way to change the stallion's mind so she gradually accepted her fate.
"Can we at least travel to the Super-whateva market fer mah hat?" Sapphire asked.
"As long as it's quick, after that you two are going to the North Manehattan Elementary School. We need to scavenge anything in there, anything medicine based. Oh and keep a look out for survivors." Golden wrapped things up and cleared his spot while the two mares set up for a disgusting morning.
Angel and Sapphire sat alone near the basement door awaiting for Charcoal to return. Sapphire exhaled deeply and gazed over her surrondings not really focusing on anything in particular.
"Something wrong?" The white pony asked, kicking her gently to get her attention.
"Wa-was it really that obvious?" Sapphire asked feeling a little embarrassed about how easily somepony read her expression.
"Yeah, spill, what's wrong?" Angel said again with a slight grin.
"It's just.. Being at school fer the first time was just so durn difficult. Ah never imagined ah'd have to go back fer any reason." Sapphire explained without looking at her friend directly. She waved her hooves in displeasure and rubbed her eyes.
"Relax, it's just an ordinary building and all we're going to do is walk around in it." Angel said thinking to herself. Sapphire never really was exposed to society, she'd grown up on her cherry ranch down in Dodge Junction with who knows how few ponies. She didn't like to be high-class or always trying to impress anypony. She was just Sapphire Stone, country mare who decided to take a wild turn in scenery and ended up being a struggling survivor of an apocalypse a few short weeks later.
Angel had to feel slightly bad for her, she does however have a good heart, saving her life twice in all.
Charcoal walked down the concrete steps to be greeted by the two mares. He carried something in his mouth which reveled to be a small cross-bow.
"You really do have everything." Angel whispered and watched the mute stallion walk past her and unlock the bolts on the door.
Charcoal stepped out into the morning air and glanced around the alley. He then retrieved a small arrow and set it into place upon his weapon. He whistled into the alleyway quietly enough to beguile a single short zombified mare to walk around the corner of the apartment complex. He watched the mare rush after him at a jogging pace, he lifted his tool, clicked off the safety with his hoof, and squeezed onto the trigger. The bands released its tension and the arrow was propelled out of the weapon, it whistled through the air until it came into contact with the mare. The arrow shattered her nose and lodged itself halfway into her cerebellum.She dropped to the cold ground instantly. Satisfied, Charcoal set down his weapon and pulled out a beach towel from his backpack. Using the towel as a barrier, he dragged the mare by her hind legs until he returned into the basement, completely unbothered by his actions.
"Sweet Celestia, I wish it smelled better." Angel complained wincing at the putrid smell of decaying flesh.
"I don't, the plan wouldn't work at all if it smelled like pineapple and strawberries." Golden chuckled at his own joke.
"Yeah, too bad." Angel grumbled to herself, obviously she didn't enjoy his humor.
"So are you ready to cut her open?!" Golden said with a large smile on his face.
"Forgive me if ah hold mah enthusiasm, ah also didn't like that body search you made us go through." Sapphire answered.
"We had to make sure you didn't obtain any open wounds, you don't want to know what would happen if we lathered you with this and it got into your body." Golden chuckled, he was obviously excited to see his two favorite mares walking around covered in zombie guts.
"Lets just get this over with, ok?" Angel frowned. She stared at the mare's broken face, she used to have a pristine tangerine mane and her coat used to be a yellowish color. Upon further inspection her cutiemark were three orange slices.
She seemed familiar somewhere, somewhere high-society but she couldn't put her hoof on it.
Golden Sentry handed Angel a set of goggles and he put his own on quickly. Then he took a knife in his mouth and delicately set it onto her abdomen. He pierced through her coat and skin and led the serrated blade travel through her belly.
Angel winced at the sounds of tearing but watched Golden proceed.
Sapphire was no where to be found in the room, the poor mare must have exited previously to avoid the gruesome scene. The orange maned zombie was finally ripped down to her waist and Golden Sentry nearly threw up at the sight of intestines and other unfamiliar organs slide out from her belly.
"Sapphire! We're ready for you." Golden called out.
"Sweet Celestia, save me." Sapphire mumbled and she slowly walked to her fate, she put on the goggles Golden had provided earlier and squeezed her eyes closed.
Angel and Golden scooped up whatever they touched first and set it onto Sapphire's flank. She yelped and immediately subconsciously drop-kicked herself. "Ah've been through worse..." She said trying to maintain the shatters of dignity she still maintained.
"This is beyond disgusting." Angel complained as she lathered her friend in guts and entrails.
The desperate mare sat petrified as she was practically dripping with blood. She lifted an eyelid and glanced at Golden, giving him a mute question to as if it was over. Golden then beckoned to Angelwhiskers. She sighed and let the two ponies lather her with the zombie's insides.
Her beautiful white coat might as well be pink and stained at this point and she wore an intestine around her neck, courtesy of Golden Sentry. Her golden mane was now brown and smothered with blood.
"Remember girls, you only look and smell like the undead outside. Try not to make too much noise or quick motions. The school is a few blocks further north than the market, so grab your hat and proceed to the school. We'll be keeping an eye on the security cameras along the road and school." Golden said as he retrieved the two saddlebags and helped throw them onto their flanks.
"Oh I hope this works." Angel tensed up and stepped out into the back alley.
Sapphire and Angel, completely covered in the putrid internals of a zombie, shuffled down into the street. The two mares watched a small dormant aqua blue zombie stare at the two disguised ponies walk by.
"Dear Luna, thank you so much." Angel whispered to no one in particular. As long as the ponies remained "undead", they shouldn't have a problem until they arrived at the market.
Angel leading, she shuffled past an obese purple mare, her zombified muzzle was ripped and torn to shreds.
When the two mares reached Pegusi road, they noticed the group of zombies were still at the door. Angel laughed at the thought they couldn't open a door. She received an immediate kick from Sapphire to stay focused, their "performance" was starting to cause a scene so they ceased the noise and continued to the back door. They pushed the big green door open with a small clank of metals, they let themselves in and shut the door behind them. Sapphire immediately took off sprinting, she hurdled an empty display and rushed to the corner of the market in which she had her wrestling match with the zombified colt. She reached the corner and looked around, she stepped over the dead colt, which somehow smelt worse than a living zombie. Sapphire found her aqua hat lying underneath a pile of newspaper. She lifted it up with her mouth and threw it onto her head, shampoo seeped into her mane and she swore to herself. She quickly got over it and galloped back over to Angel, nearly tumbling over the small filly they saw yesterday. She reached Angel in a few moments, trying to regain her composure and trying to look as little winded as possible when Sapphire approached the other mare.
"Ah got it." She said with a smile.
"Yeah, but why the hell did you run off? We're a team remember?" Angel sat displeased.
"Oh, Ah just thought it was no big deal. We already been through the market." Sapphire said, her ears flattened in guilt.
"Just don't run off again." Angel retorted and turned around to open the exit to the backstreet.
"Ah'm sorry. Ah didn't know you'd be upset." The not-so-brown mare said.
"Come on, lets just hurry up." Angel said looking over her map. "We should be able to walk down the street and enter the school's front doors. It's about two more blocks north."
"Alright, lead the way sunshine." Sapphire said, Angel had glared at her friend for that nickname. She just straight out didn't like it.
The duo then walked back into the streets only to be greeted by the turn of heads. They both in unison let out a sigh when the zombies didn't rush after them. Angel shuffled down the street and occasionally took a rough step for good measures. She felt like an idiot walking like this, however it was pretty comical to Golden laughing his tail off sitting safely in the camera room.
One block away from the school and Sapphire grew nervous. There was an unreasonable amount of zombies around the area. She swallowed her fear and continued to shuffle past the herd of drooling monstrosities.
They made it to the school's front doors but they were still in a large amount of zombies. Angel casually pushed on the doors and swore, they wouldn't budge. It was locked from the inside and they had to find a new way into the school.
Golden was flipping through the cameras and found another set of double doors on the east side of the school but he didn't dare try to communicate with Angel just yet, that would guarantee suicide.
Angel and Sapphire climbed over a six foot fence and landed on their hooves. Now that caused a lot of attention because a zombified mare had lumbered over to the other side of the fence and glared at them through the fence holes, she was groaning and summoning her friends to join her.
Angel looked back at the group and gave a rough thought about how they would return to the apartment. After circling nearly half of the school, they came to a single door. It was brown and the metal hinges were orange. Sapphire yanked the door knob to hear several cracks and the door to swing open.
Angel smiled and gave her friend a bro-hoof, delighted she strolled in and walked around the area, they were in an auditorium. The stage lights were still gleaming onto the sage as if somepony didn't turn them off one night, the room was devoid of zombies fortunately. They climbed the steps to the back row of seats and exited the auditorium, making a mental note where to come to upon leaving.
"Where do you suppose searching first, Saph? Angel asked turning her head to meet her friend.
"Ah guess the clinic would be smart fer medicines." She answered.
Angel reached into her saddle-bag and retrieved her walki-talki, but before she could speak into it, Golden was already watching them through the cameras and spoke first. "Yeah? What's up Angel?"
Startled, she nearly dropped it but held onto it tightly with her teeth. It tasted metallic and she spat out the taste. "Oh uhm, do you know where the clinic is?" Angel asked.
"No, but I see a map along the hallway to your right." Golden said and hung up.
"Great, we have to do everything ourselves." She whispered to herself and walked up to the map. She studied the map trying to grasp every detail. The auditorium was in hallway 04 and the clinic was in hallway 01. It didn't seem to complicated to get there and back and she began to walk into the direction of hallway 01 with Sapphire following close behind.
She trotted down the hallway, not a zombie in sight. It was kind of creepy though, with all of the lights turned off, she was walking into very dim lighting. Sapphire hated this place, she looked into one of the classrooms and saw perfectly neat desks all in order. It give her chills down her spin but hurried to catch up to Angelwhiskers.
"Are we going in the right direction?" Sapphire asked the pinkish mare, her entrail necklace twisted as she turned her head.
"Yes I believe so." She answered her friend, Sapphire looked hideous, her coat was rough with blood, her mane was ragged and her hat was drenched in smelly shampoo.
It smelled like pineapples and strawberries, she laughed at her discovery and quickly shut up when Sapphire gave her a confused look.
"What's so funny?" Sapphire asked.
"Just have to taunt Golden later when we get back to the apartment." The pinkish earth pony replied.
They turned the corner into hallway 01, the clinic was just up ahead. Sapphire opened the door and stepped inside only to be greeted by a broom swung at her face. She was knocked off her feet and slammed into the ground. A small stallion in a janitors outfit clenched a broom in his mouth and prepared for Angel.
"Oh dear Luna! You smacked her!"
Angel cried out.
"What-wait did you just speak?" A raspy voice yelled, quite confused.
"We're not zombies dude." Angel said as she bent over to Sapphire and helped her up.
"Well pardon me but what in Equestria happened to you two?" The janitor asked eyeing the intestine necklace Angel wore.
"It's just a disguise, we used to get passed the zombies." Angel said, her focus on Sapphire's face.
"Ouch, that kindah hurt ya know." Sapphire mumbled loud enough for the stranger to understand.
"Well when I see zombies, I come out swinging. I promised this little filly I'd guard her while this whole panic blew over. He scratched the back of his head with a hoof. He was an olive green stallion with brown eyes. His short ruffled mane was a darker shade of blue. "Name's Washboard. And yourselves?"
"I'm Angelwhiskers and that's Sapphire Stone." Angel replied "We came to scavenge any medical supplies and we're supposed to offer a safe house down the street if you want to join us."
"Well i'd be delighted, I have to go get the little filly though." Washboard said with a grin.
"The more the merrier." Angel replied and followed the olive stallion down the hallway. He was really short, maybe an inch taller than Sapphire, who was a reasonable size for a young mare.
"So if you don't mind me askin', what were you doin' separated from your lil filly?" Sapphire asked.
"Oh she's not my filly, and she hit her head on the corner of a desk, I went to go get any pain killers I could find. And the school is quite safe, all the entrances are closed up and I killed every zombie in here previously-wait.." He stopped dead in his tracks. "How'd you two get in here?"
"The back door wasn't exactly as sturdy as an oak tree." Sapphire answered the disgruntled stallion.
"After we get the girl can we hurry and leave?" He asked nervously.
"Yeah sure, there wasn't anypony out back there when we were outside, if that's why you're so nervous." Angel said trying to reassure the stallion it was safe.
They approached another set of double doors and Washboard opened them.
Sitting along one of the tables was an orangish-brown filly with ruby red bangs. She had a bruise over her right eye and looked up at the janitor.
Washboard hollered over to her that they were going to someplace safe and that these mares were going to lead them to it.
As they neared her she eyed the two mares intently.
Sapphire sat across from her and politely asked "What's your name lil filly?"
She blew her bangs out of her face and spoke in a heavy bronx accent "Babs. Babs Seed."