//------------------------------// // Waves Five and Six- Big City Nights // Story: Spiel der Untoten // by Final Draft //------------------------------// “What’s going on?” Gemini asked, looking around nervously. Though the round had clearly begun, no zombies had appeared. An eerie silence had replaced the usual moans and groans of the undead and even Tank seemed to be on edge. “One of you, just open the door!” the alicorn shouted as he made his way to the ladder. A ball of electricity formed where the mystery box had formerly stood and it crackled and popped; arching to the surrounding metal objects—the ladder included. As soon as Tank touched the first rung he reeled back in pain. “Come on! Do what he said!” Ruble shouted, shaking Crescendo. The pegasus was the only member of the group with enough points to the open the door but he was fixated on the electrical phenomenon. A large flaming figure appeared within the electricity and Tank took aim at it. “Lignicanis lupus,” Gemini whispered. “Come again?” Ruble asked. “Timberwolf.” The electricity disappeared and a timberwolf engulfed in fire charged at Tank. He fired several bullets into its head and it fell to the ground, releasing a blood curdling howl before collapsing into a pile of ash. He climbed the ladder as fast as he could and joined the other three. In the alley below, several more timberwolves began spawning in from electrical anomalies. Tank pushed Crescendo forcefully into the door and it made a *cha-ching* noise as it flew open. The building was dark but Tank lead the group past unseen obstacles to a corner. “Ruble, watch the doorway, Gemini—the windows, Crescendo—everywhere else,” Tank barked out. For a moment, they sat in silence, the distant growl of the timberwolves growing closer. “Can they actually climb up here?” Ruble whispered. “No, but sure as Hell they can jump up,” Tank said through gritted teeth. An orange glow appeared in the doorway and the first timberwolf began making its way in. Ruble fired a high powered round into the beast and it burst into ashes. “See that? One bullet,” Ruble said proudly. The others didn’t respond; too busy watching and waiting for incoming threats. Undeterred, Ruble aimed down his scope and waited for his next target. A burst of electricity inside the room startled the earth pony and he looked up to see a fiery timberwolf preying down on them. He and the other three all fired their weapons at the approaching creature. It turned to ashes inches from them before another teleported in to take its place. “The door, Ruble!” Tank shouted. Two wolves had run into the room and were inches from the survivors. Ruble hip fired and managed to kill the first one, but it was using his last bullet. “Reloading! Help! I’m reloading!” Ruble shouted as he fumbled blindly for his spare magazines. The other three were too busy taking out the wolves teleporting directly into the room to help. The timberwolf clawed at Ruble with its thorny paws and he screamed out in pain. Green rings of energy splashed against the timberwolf and it crumbled to the floor. Ruble was covered in deep lacerations but somehow managed to stay on his hooves. He finished reloading his rifle and gave a quick glance over at Gemini. She paid him little mind as she loaded a new energy core into her ray gun. “Alright, the last one is going to drop a max ammo, so make sure we’re all reloaded before grabbing it,” Tank instructed. Everyone turned to look at Ruble with their “that means you” look. “Yeah, yeah, I got it,” Ruble grumbled. “Think I’m stupid or something?” he muttered under his breath. He shifted his vision back to the door and listened as the growling of the timberwolf grew louder. “Throw grenades, we’ll get more,” Tank said, pulling the pin and tossing a grenade out the open door. Crescendo and Gemini lobbed their explosives as well while Ruble watched. “You’re going to take the whole building down! What are you thinking?” Ruble protested. He flinched as the explosives detonated one by one and the room filled with dust. When the dust cleared the building was scorched but fully intact. The timbewolf had escaped the majority of the blast and slowly wandered into the room. When it spotted the survivors it bolted towards them, only to be struck down by a flurry of lead. The glowing ammo box rose from the wolf’s ashes and illuminated the room. Calm swept across the city and the fog dissipated. All was silent with the exception of the ponies reloading their weapons. “So can I grab it now?” Ruble asked impatiently. “Wait till it flashes,” Tank said, "For now, look around.” The alicorn stepped around the power up and out onto the balcony. “I believe I have-a found something,” Crescendo said through the darkness. Something was protruding from the wall that certainly didn’t feel like it belonged there. He pushed down on it and the whirring of turbines filled the room. One by one the lights clicked on revealing a previously shadowed horror. In the center of the room was a long table covered with maggot ridden confections. Corpses with party hats sat slouched over in their chairs, balloons tied around their hooves. At the head of the table was a life size pink pony doll with a gold necklace and a frown embroidered upon its face. “Smile Smile Smile” was written in blood all across the walls and windows of the room. In one corner of the room sat a red and white soda machine; its compressor humming to life to keep the drinks cool. “Mr. Tank! Come look at this!” Gemini shouted. The alicorn ran back into the room and immediately his eyes went for the soda machine. “Power switch and Juggernog? How convenient.” He stepped over to the soda machine and it began playing a jingle through a built in speaker. “When you need to feel big and strong, reach for Juggernog tonight!” “Catchy,” Ruble said. “Hey, this thing is flashing, can I grab it now?” His hoof hovered near enough to touch the max ammo as he waited on the alicorn’s command. “Max Ammo!” “Sorry! Sorry!” Ruble shouted after his hoof bumped the power up before Tank could reply. “It’s fine…” Tank said, walking up to the pink pony doll. He squinted at the necklace and it glinted against the light. “It is night time already?” Crescendo asked, looking out over the balcony. The groans of the infected sounded loudly from below and blue embers shone through the darkness. “Why would Luna raise the moon?” Gemini questioned. “Surely she and Celestia know of the situation, right?” “We’ve got incoming!” Tank shouted as several zombies leapt from the alley straight up to the balcony. Their eyes were now glowing blue and they seemed more ferocious. Tank took the head off the first to enter the room with a well placed head shot. It trotted up to him and swung its hooves before dropping to the floor. An orb of blue light escaped its corpse and was absorbed by the pink pony doll which let out a giddy laugh. “That thing just laughed, that thing just laughed!” Ruble shouted, pointing his rifle at the pony doll. “Focus!” Tank shouted. The room began filling with the undead and the four survivors stood pinned in a corner. A hole in the ceiling that had gone relatively unnoticed became another entry point for the infected. They dropped down and advanced with amazing agility. Crescendo sprayed madly with his LMG in an attempt to repel the hoard. The digital counter on the side of his weapon hit zero and he began the lengthy reload process. One of the zombies he had completely filled with lead quickly approached and swung at him. Miraculously, it fell to the ground when he bucked it back; a glowing power up appeared then disappeared in a flash of light. “THE POINTS HAVE BEEN DOUBLED!” “Wait, who was that? Was that the same voice as before?” Ruble asked, looking around for the source of the new mare’s voice. His question went unanswered so he resumed picking off the zombies one at a time. Every time he or Tank got a kill the zombie’s spirit would get absorbed into the strange doll and it would release a laugh. “I don’t understand? What are you doing differently than me?” Gemini asked as she shot down another zombie with her ray gun. “I think it has something to do with headshots,” Tank said, replacing his empty magazine with a full one. “Explains why Crescendo’s zombies don’t do anything,” Ruble snickered. “I would like-a to see you try firing this thing!” Crescendo shot back, fighting recoil as he pulled the trigger of his weapon. “But look! I am getting headshots!” Gemini argued as she fired a ring of energy that vaporized the skull of the nearest zombie. It dropped unceremoniously to the floor and the doll remained quiet. “I don’t know, that looked like you hit its neck,” Ruble teased. “See, this—” Ruble pulled the trigger of his rifle and his bullet went through the skulls of three zombies, “—is a headshot.” The corpses collapsed and the doll absorbed their souls before releasing a truly obnoxious laugh. Tank continued fighting off the undead, though their souls now simply extinguished from their eyes. “Whatever all that was, we’re done now,” Ruble said, looking at the doll. Its frown had been replaced by a cheerful smile and the necklace around its neck was glowing; the balloon-shaped gem radiating blue light. “REUGH! REUGH! REUGH!” The zombie’s eyes shone through the dark as it approached the survivor’s location. “Alright, last zombie, every-pony, grab Jugg and let’s get out of here,” Tank commanded. He deposited his coin into the soda machine and a glass bottle of red liquid fell into the open compartment. He grabbed it up, drank the contents in three gulps then smashed the bottle on the floor. His coin fell into the till and 2500 points had been subtracted from his total. Ruble approached the machine and looked at it skeptically. “Yeah, how’s a soda going to help us?” He saw the 10 bit price sticker on the machine and put his coin in without hesitation. The bottle dropped down and Ruble twisted off the cap. The red liquid smelled of spiced berries and the earth pony wrinkled his nose. “It makes you stronger, trust me,” Tank said, leading the zombie around the table, allowing it to strike him occasionally. As severe as his wounds were, they healed up almost instantly. Ruble pinched his nose and downed the beverage as quickly as he could. He let out a long belch and smashed the bottle on the floor. “Whatever, for ten points, I’ll try it,” he said, taking his coin out of the till. Gemini walked up to the machine and deposited her coin only to have it drop directly into the till. The machine made a clunk noise and refused to dispense her beverage. “What? My coin says it's twenty-five-hundred,” the unicorn said, perplexed. “It is,” Tank said, bracing for an outburst from Ruble. The red earth pony looked at his coin and saw his total was 2490 points LESS than he was expecting. “WhaaaaAAAAAT?! No! It says clearly, ten bits! Right there! Here!” Ruble got right up to the machine and pounded his hoof against the price sticker. “That is false advertisement!” On Tank’s tenth lap around the table, for some reason, the zombie decided Gemini was a much more appealing meal. Before Tank realized he no longer had the zombie’s attention, it descended on the pink unicorn and brought her down with two rapid swings of its hooves. “No!” Crescendo shouted dramatically. The zombie turned its attention to him but was vaporized by Gemini before it could take a step. The pegasus searched through his bag for the syringe while Tank and Ruble stood watch. “As soon as she’s up, you two need Jugg,” Tank said as the first zombies of wave seven began clawing their way out of the ground. “And then we gotta go.”