//------------------------------// // Chapter 4 -- I'm Walking Behind You // Story: My Little Fallout: New York // by MrDenim //------------------------------// Chapter 4 – I’m Walking Behind You The entire room was silent, except for the whimpers of a distressed mare. Fluttershy quickly enveloped Twilight in a hug. A hug that was quickly returned with more sobbing. Rainbow Dash and Applejack ran towards the two mares and gave their sympathetic hugs, soon followed by Rarity and everypony else. They stayed like that until Twilight calmed down. When she finally did, and they had released her, she sniffled and said, “Thanks… all of you.” “Do you want to continue?” Fluttershy asked softly. The lavender mare nodded and cleared her throat… =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= The two bipeds, one of them carrying Twilight, were sprinting through the streets, alleys, and buildings, trying to get back home. They skidded along the snow to lose momentum and ran down a shadier looking, and less destroyed, alley. As Drew rounded the corner at full speed, a fist flew out of nowhere and decked him across the cheek, making him do an involuntary back flip before he crashed to the ground in a daze. Twilight, in a slighter saner state, looked up and saw a biped blocking the exit. His skin was heavily cracked and a lack of eyelids gave him a constant maniac appearance. He was wearing a badly damaged denim jacket, jeans, and a not-so-white pair of sneakers. “Finally!” He exclaimed, his voice sounding strained. “I’ve been chasing you two all day! And now that I’ve got you right where I want you!” Twilight tensed up. “Would you guys like some exclusive deals on some porn?” Drew groaned from his position on the floor, and mumbled, “We don’t want that shit Ghoul porn! Get outta here!” The “Ghoul’s” face fell as he accepted defeat with a resigned sigh and left them to do whatever. They stayed there in silence before Drew picked himself up from the ground, dusted himself off, and said, “Let’s hope that doesn’t happen agai-” There was a strained yell and the ghoul from earlier ran past the alleyway entrance. A feral roar nearly busted their eardrums. The two humans tensed up as an overly large and pale white figure with two foot long claws ran after the ghoul. “What was that thing…” Twilight asked breathlessly. “A Deathclaw. One of few things in the wasteland that can take on a full battalion and make it out virtually unscathed.” Drew answered. “One of the few?” Twilight muttered, a shocked look on her face. He nodded. “There are very few things in this wasteland that even Satan himself would have every right to fear. A Deathclaw is one of the seven.” Satan? Twilight thought. A questioning look appeared on her face as she asked, “What are the other six?” Drew looked around the wall of the alley slowly as he answered, “The seven are Deathclaws, Shred Serpents, Tundra Wolves, Sloths, Cryo, Wraiths, and Night Crawlers.” Just the mentioning of the names of these creatures seemed to make the two humans nervous. “Are they really that bad?” Twilight asked innocently. “No.” He stated, “They’re worse. They always hunt in groups. All of them have immunity to cold. And they all have no sense of compassion or mercy.” “Let’s hope that we don’t run into any.” Stephanie said softly, “We’re nowhere near equipped enough to even consider taking one down. There are only four people in post-war history that could, and two of them are dead, one is busy keeping order in the Capital Wasteland, and one is busy running an independent New Vegas clear on the other side of the country.” “How do you know all this?” Drew asked, confusion evident on his face. “Unlike you, I actually paid attention in class.” Twilight asked hopefully, “Can we just get to safety and talk later?” The two humans nodded. Stephanie put her down, and the three of them took off running down the street. =-=-= They were at another dead end, which made it the eighth one within an hour. Drew and Stephanie started looking nervous, while Twilight looked peeved. “I thought you said that you knew this area like the back of your hand.” She said in a deadpan voice. Drew’s face fell. He looked toward her and was about to retort when he saw an entrance to an office complex. They ran into the lobby, where was a strange logo on the floor. He sighed and muttered, “Who was dumb enough to make a window a company’s logo?” “A bunch of morons.” Stephanie replied after a chuckle. “Come on.” Drew made a follow motion with his pistol. “Let’s see what’s around here. Keep an eye out for any robots or raiders.” Drew and Stephanie walked down the hall, with Twilight slowly following. Steph slowed down until she was walking side by side with Twilight. “Hey Twilight, you okay?” She asked, concern etched on her face. The only response she got was a brief shake of the head and a sigh. “I know that you’re still in shock and probably aren’t really listening to what I’m saying. But, if we run into any trouble going through this place, we’ll really need any help you can provide. Especially with that weird levitation thing you did back there.” Again, very little response. Steph sighed. “At least take this.” She unsheathed her knife, grabbed the blade, and pointed the hilt towards Twilight, who flinched. “If we come across any robots, I’ll distract them so that you can take out their power source.” Twilight reluctantly took the knife by the hilt. She moved it side to side and looked it all over. “What’s the power source?” “The thing on the back of their chassis.” The only form of acceptance from the mare was a small nod. “I suppose. If we come across any of those others humans, I’m running.” “After your experience, I wouldn’t be surprised.” “Hey! You two following or what?” Drew yelled from far ahead, before taking a left at an intersection. Several beams of red light shot passed from the intersection Drew had walked down. He ran back toward them and ran past yelling, “Don’t follow me! Don’t follow me! Don’t follow me!” Steph and Twilight looked at each other, then at the intersection. What came out from the hallway confused Twilight greatly. It was bipedal, that much was certain. It seemed to be made out of metal. At the top, where the head was, was a mirror-like surface. Steph groaned and yelled out to Drew, who was currently cowering in the lobby, “It’s just a Protectron!” “It’s what’s behind it!” Was his reply. Steph’s expression turned to one of confusion. She turned back to the Protectron, who was looking around aimlessly. The ground suddenly rumbled in time with a loud growl, almost making Steph and Twilight fall down. The same couldn’t be said about the robot. It fell over and smashed against the wall while saying, “Error. Error. Error…” Back at the intersection, frost started coating the walls. A lower growl mixed with a hiss resonated through the air, chilling Twilight to the bone. A snow white, snake-like figure slithered into their part of the intersection. At least thirty feet of the thing was coiled up. It had four pure black, slit eyes. Its head seemed to be filed down to a point. Whenever it opened its mouth razor sharp teeth were revealed, along with a literal spike of a tongue, which flicked up and down rapidly before receding back into its mouth. Steph whispered out of the side of her mouth, “Do not move a single muscle. Its eyes are its primary sense for tracking its food.” Twilight did the same, “What is it?” “A shred serpent.” The shred serpent slithered itself right up to Twilight. Its nostrils flared and blew hot and putrid air right into her face, blowing her mane back. It opened its maw, and licked her face. Twilight thought, That tongue is as hard as a rock! The shred serpent, after nearly five minutes of staying perfectly still, turned around and slithered back down the hallway it had come out of. Steph and Twilight stood there, still as a statue for a few minutes longer, in case it came back. When it didn’t, the two of them sighed, and snuck back to Drew, who was still hiding in the lobby. “So, that was a shred serpent?” Twilight asked quietly. The two humans nodded, which made Twilight sigh. A stiff wind blew into the lobby, causing her slightly dried over ear wound to sting, which made her cringe in pain. “I knew we were forgetting something.” Steph facepalmed. She reached into her backpack and pulled out a syringe and a dark red bottle with the words “Disinfectant” printed on the front in black. “This may sting.” “What ma- gah!” Twilight yelped in pain. She held in her whimpers as best she could while Steph rubbed on the disinfectant against her wound with a cotton ball. When the wound was fully covered, Steph put the bottle away and grabbed the syringe. With no form of a warning, she jabbed the needle into Twilight’s ear wound and injected the medicine. When every last drop was injected, Steph removed and pocketed the syringe. “Are you done?” Twilight asked with her eyes still shut tight. Steph chuckled and said, “Yep, I’m all done.” Twilight opened her eyes warily, before sighing and muttering, “It wasn’t that bad.” She looked at the two of them and asked, “So, what do we do now?” Drew, who was leaning against the lobby desk, hoped to his feet and said, “Back to North 16th and Madison!” Both females of the group groaned and followed the jogging man. It didn’t take long as he was only a few meters away from the building. “Why’d you stop?” Steph asked. Drew did nothing but point off in the distance. Steph looked in that direction and muttered, “Oh…” Twilight could have sworn that she heard some weird noise in the background, but was too entranced by what she saw. It was ghouls. A lot of ghouls. There was one in particular that had on a red leather jacket, black slacks, and a single glove. The ghoul was in the front, with at least twenty other ghouls behind him in a box formation. Then, they did something that Twilight would have never expected. They started dancing. The front ghoul spun in place rapidly before he suddenly stopped, grabbed his… groin area, and pelvic thrusted three times. He spun again, stopped, then walked backwards in a way that made him look as though he was gliding on air. He did same thing again in the opposite direction. He stopped when he was at the center-front of the group, who was providing background dancing. Another rapid spin, stop, then he started doing something that resembled jogging in place as he sang, “Cause this is Thriller! Thriller night! And no one’s gonna save ya from the beast about ta strike! You know it’s Thriller! Thriller night! Fighting for ya life to get her. Thriller! Get her! Thriller! Tonight!” The ghouls ran at them and stopped with a small jazz hand. The ghoul with the red jacket looked at the small group and asked, “Well?” Drew said, “I’ll give it an eight.” Steph clicked her tongue and said, “Nine.” Twilight muttered, “Eight point five.” The ghoul shrugged and said, “Fair enough.” He made a motion with his arm as he said, “Come on guys. To Broadway!” When the ghouls left, Twilight blinked and asked, “What just happened?” Drew shook his head and said, “I have no idea.” “Me neither.” Steph replied, “Just another day in the wild wasteland I suppose.”