Chapter 9: Separated
Hudd nudged one of the Hydra's heads with the barrel of his rifle. It turned on its side and blood and other fluid flowed from its mouth.
"Hey, I think it went in this one." He called. A few people who were examining the other heads came over to him.
"What makes you think so?" Rebbeca asked.
Hudd pointed to one of the fangs that was chipped."You see this? Im pretty sure I hit its tooth when I threw it. "
"Well, I wasn't close enough to see it." Rebbeca shrugged. " By the way, I don't think I said before, but that was one amazing throw." She added. Lots of other people chimed in agreeing with her. They were talking about a grenade Hudd had thrown while the hydra had one of its six mouths open.
"Let's just hope it stays this way." Hudd said as he stood up. "We should head back to that drop. See if they lived through it." Hudd said.
"I'm sure they're fine " Rebbeca said trying to comfort him. Both of them had watched from behind the hydra as their friends jumped over the side of the cliff to escape it.
"We should go anyway." Hudd said before pointing to the dead hydra. "Before the smell of this thing attracts something else."
Rebbeca nodded and she and the remainder of their group followed Hudd as he backtracked his way to the cliff.
Minutes later...
"I'm not jumping down there." Someone said as they put their hands up and backed away from cliff.
Everyone else peered down into chasm where a wide stream flowed slowly.
Rebecca knelt to her knees very close to the edge and and touched the side of the wall. Her hand slid off quickly.
"It wet." She informed. "Too slick to climb down."
"Well..." Hudd thought quickly. He was frustrated and desperately wanted to see if his friends had made it. "What about reppelling? Do we have the ropes?"
Someone unzipped their bookbag and pulled out the ropes. "We do, but what do we secure them too?"
Hudd looked around. He found that there was nothing but swamp behind him. Nothing stable enough.
"Shit!" He exclaimed sharply. It was quiet for a while after that until he asked, "What now?"
"We have to do what we came here for." Rebbeca answered, putting a hand on his shoulder. "We regroup and continue to Ponyville."
__________________________________________________________________________________________
********************
Matt coughed suddenly, spitting dirt and water from his mouth. He struggled, but finally managed to rolled over onto his stomach and opened his eyes. For a long time he stared unmoving up at sky.
"Fuuuucccccck." He sighed to himself as he coughed some more. He tried to move again, but his entire body was painfully numb. Matt didn't even worry, he had no energy left. He tilted his back, resting it into the soft mud and passed out.
It was the intense heat on Matt's face that woke him. He opened his eyes and looked directly into the sun. Without out thinking, his hands moved to cover his face. He slammed them shut again and turned his head to the side into the now sun baked mud. When he opened his eyes again, he looked at his fingers and made a fist, confirming he could still move them.
With all his might he rolled back over and sat up. A river rushed in front of him and carried its contents quickly through the skinny canyon. He walked to it and dunked his face in a few times which helped his pain.
Further behind it was the opposite canyon wall. Now that he was on the ground he could that there was no way he could have made it to the other side. For now he was just happy he had lived through his fall. But he remembered that he wasn't the only one to have jumped. He needed to find any other survivors.
As soon as Matt turned he jumped back at the sight of a sizable pool of blood. "I really hope that's not mine" He said as he checked himself over.
The blood trailed for only a few feet so Matt instead followed the river. But he didn't have to go far. Not far from the riverbank he could see a pair of legs sticking out from behind a tree trunk. He ran over to it, hoping for the best.
"You made it." Jacob said weakly. His clothes were soaking wet and he was slumped against the tree with cuts all over him. However there was one that stood out from the rest. It was a long gash that ran from his left wrist to just below his elbow. Dried blood covered his entire arm and the grass where it had been laying.
"Shit man." Matt said rushing over.
Jacob looked down at it like he'd just remembered it was there. " Yeah its pretty fucked." He reached into his pocket with his right hand and pulled out a small switch blade. He cut small sections of his his lower pants off and then tossed them to Matt. "I don't usually like to ask for favors but..."
"I got you." Matt said as he took the scraps and turned to the river. After he wet one of them, he returned and washed out Jacob's wound as best he could. He then wrapped it tightly with the other piece.
"That'll have to do for now." He said as Matt helped pull him to his feet. As they walked back to where they'd jumped from, Matt told him about the blood.
"I heard about it. I thought it was you for a while." Jacob said.
"Wait." Matt frowned. "How'd you know about it?"
"There were two other guys who made it too. They were too scared to stick around to wait for us so they split together. "
"Damn." Matt said surprised.
"Well they did manage to pull me up from the water. But dragging me to the tree got me this" Jacob said pointing to his arm.
When they arrived at where Matt had woken up, it apparent that he had been carried a few dozen yards before being deposited on the river bank.
After a couple more yards they could recognize the triangular point from which they'd jumped. Matt squinted his eyes then looked up. The sun was still nearly right above them. "I'd say its about noon, maybe one o' clock. That means its been what, two three hours?"
"Yeah, sounds right. They couldn't have gotten too far in three hours right?" Jacob asked.
"I don't think so." Matt said. "Most likely there already in Ponyville fucking stuff up without us."
Jacob shook his head. "I refuse to miss that." He went over to the base of the cliff and put his hand on the rock wall. "I don't think climbing back up is an option." He informed after a moment. "Its basically 90 degrees straight up and the rocks are wet too."
"We could just keep going north for a few miles then head a few west." Matt suggested. " I think we'd end up at least somewhere near Ponyville."
"Yeah I think we have to do that." Jacob said as he checked his compass. " Because I'm not about to try climbing this to end up falling off it a second time. Here take this."
Jacob slid a hand gun Matt's way along with a few mags. " I couldn't find my rifle, but I've still got two of these, a few mags and luckily my backpack is still good. Are you ready?"
"Yeah." Matt said. "Lets get out of here."
__________________________________________________________________________________________
********************
"How're we doing?" Hudd asked.
"Still going north." Someone answered annoyed after checking the compass for the ninth time.
Hudd had asked continuously since they left the cliff. Once they were able to regroup with the others in what was more or less a clearing, a count was taken. 388 was the final number. Twelve people gone with only one, Josh, being the confirmed as actually dead. Eleven were missing, four from Hudd's group.
But with no way to locate them and the huge risk of staying in the forest, they had to continue.
At the moment they were in the darkest area yet. People stuck extra close to those that carried flashlights. Fortunately they encountered no more creatures which everyone was grateful for.
As Rebbeca followed a few steps behind Hudd, a very distinct smell rolled across her nose. "How much further?" She asked in response.
"Can't be far now." Hudd said before he suddenly sniffed the air. "You smell that?"
"Yeah." Rebbeca nodded. "Smoke."
The undoubted smell of burning wood rolled over the humans. A few pockets of nervous chatter broke out all throughout the groups.
"What do you think it is?" Rebbeca asked. "Could it be Jacob? Matt?"
"I don't think so." He said through grit teeth. He was looking straight ahead at the traces of daylight that could be seen a few dozen yards away.
"Listen up everyone!" He shouted now. "Let's keep it together. Were almost out of this."
Hudd picked up his pace and those behind him did the same. All were anxious to get out of the forest. As more daylight became visible, they moved faster.
By the time they reached the exit, Hudd was just shy of sprinting. But he stopped in his tracks at what was before him.
"Woah." was all he could say. The look on his face was that of awe and confusion. Nearly everyone who emerged from the forest had the same expression.
"What happened here?!" Rebbeca exclaimed.
Less than a tenth of a mile in front of them was Ponyville, but it was not what anyone had expected.
No resistance, no provisions, no defenses, no ponies.
Ponyville's structures were charred with most having collapsed walls or roofs. Black smoke rose from fires deeper in the town that had not yet gone out. With little to no wind it ascended nearly straight up, making it visible for miles. No one knew how extensive the damage was inside, but now, the thought running through everyone's mind was that Ponyville was destroyed.
************************
__________________________________________________________________________________
Matt and Jacob a been following along side the river a few miles. It had gradually slowed and widened and the canyon walls on both sides had sloped down so that they were now on the same level.
For at least the last ten minutes it had been this way and now Matt thought now was a good time.
"Should we start heading west now?" He asked.
Jacob thought it over before saying, "Yeah." Though when he turned towards the forest he had second thoughts.
"Damn." he said. The forest floor was black. The trees were so close together they blocked out nearly all sunlight.
Matt stood just behind the tree line. He looked behind him to what was a pretty sunny and warm day, however in the forest it was a complete opposite.
"How can it be so dark?" Matt wondered.
"I don't know but the sooner we get through it the better." Jacob brought out his flash light and headed into the forest.
For a few minutes things went relatively smoothly. Each of them had a few stumbles and stubbed toes from roots, but other than that they were fine. But Matt still had a pistol in his hand.
"This place..." Jacob muttered. "I got to say its creeping me out."
"Try thinking about something else."
"Like what?"
"Think of Ponyville." Matt answered, it was what he was on his mind.
"I don't know if I'll be-" He stopped mid sentence. He focused in on something in front of him. Suddenly he got low and covered his flash light with his hands. Matt crouched too.
"Did you hear that?" Jacob asked. Matt listened. He too could hear something...it crunched around in the leaves and twigs a maybe two dozen yards in front of them.
As they listened more, they could tell that it wasn't getting any closer.
Jacob moved first, taking a slow crouched step.
"Wait!" Matt whispered. Do we really want to go towards that?"
"It could be the other two guys." Jacob said taking another step.
"Matt put a hand on his shoulder to stop him." Yeah, or it could be something else waiting to take our heads off."
"We'll just have a quick look then; see what it is and then get out."
Matt nodded reluctantly to this plan and stepped forward with Jacob. As they approached Matt almost screamed. A dark figure had darted across their path a few yards ahead. But neither of them could tell if it was human or not. A few moments later the crunching sounds were joined by wet noises and the sound of something being ripped. Matt's had gripped tightly around the gun. He ad never been more scared in Equestria, not even with the Hydra. At least he had been able to see it. Now, with Jacobs hand firmly covering the flash lights beam, a faint red light was all they had.
After a few more steps, Matt was able to see what was making the noise. Fear took hold of his entire body and he brought his arm up to stop Jacob who was scanning the ground for things he could trip on.
"Oh my god." Jacob said in the quietest voice he could manage. The other two humans were indeed in front of them, but their torsos had been ripped open by two creatures which currently had their faces buried in them. At the moment Matt couldn't make out what they looked like exactly, but it was apparent that they resembled felines and were easily as big as a pick-up truck.
"We have to back up." Matt said. "No way we're getting past them."
"Right." Jacob agreed. "We go back, follow the river for a bit more, then try again."
They both were in agreement and started to walk backwards very slowly. But the combination of darkness, fear and walking backwards didn't work out too well for them.
Jacob had the flashlight and could guess pretty well what was behind him if he stuck to the same path. Matt did not have this luxury. So when he tripped on a root, all hell broke loose.
Oddly enough, it was not the sound of his fall that alerted the creatures in front of them to their presence. Matt fell into Jacob, who was able to catch him. He grunted at the pain caused by the pressure on his injury, but was able to keep most of it on the inside.
In unexpectedly catching Matt, Jacob had dropped his flashlight. It bounced around after hitting the root below it and when it finally settled, its beam was pointed directly ahead.
The two creatures that were now illuminated slowly lifted their heads and turned to face Matt and Jacob. Both had bodies of a lion, but with some extra features. Red wings rose on their backs and were complimented by an equally red tail which ended in a point resembling a scorpion.
One roared and leaped at Matt. He screamed and fired his pistol. He fired four shots and each one connected in the beast's belly. It slid to a stop just a inches away from Matt's feet.
"Run!" Jacob shouted. He snatched up his flashlight and took off, yelling various profanities throughout the forest.
Matt scrambled to his his feet and followed the light of the flashlight. Behind him he could hear the roar of the creature. It was soon followed by subsequent noises farther to his left and right.
"I think there's more!" Matt shouted ahead.
"Just keep going!" Jacob shouted.
Moments later he exploded from the treeline. Matt followed seconds after him. Behind him the forest was alive with roars and noises from animals he couldn't even recognize.
The two began wading through the water, with Jacob making sure to hold his bag over his head as they sunk to their waists.
Halfway across the river, the creatures began to show themselves. One by one, they ran to the onto the river bank. They slid to a stop just before the water and jumped and paced around in frustration.
Matt reached the other side of the bank and joined Jacob who stood still watching the creature on the opposite side. Eight of them in all. Some roared at them from across the river. Others took a quick step into the water to then quickly jump away.
Matt raised his pistol, but Jacob shook his head.
"Don't. I doubt they can use those wings and we wouldn't want to attract anything on this side either." Her said.
"So what do we do?" Matt asked.
"We have to keep moving." Jacob said tiredly.
20 minutes later...
As the two trudged on, the creatures opposite the river followed for a few minutes before snarling and slinking back into the forest.
As time went on, the two were drained, mentally and physically. Matt had to dip his face in the river a few times to keep from sitting down to rest for a moment.
Sooner or later they would have undoubtedly stopped had they not discovered something.
The river widened more and eventually opened into a small bay. When Matt and Jacob saw them, their jaws dropped in surprise. One was floating in the water and the other was beached in the sand. Two ships, obviously military, were in the bay. The ship in the sand had three enormous turbines on its stern and a deflated air cushion underneath it. A loading door in the front was opened and two unmistakable tracks of tank treads as well as boot prints were in the sand. The tracks lead off down the beach- not where Matt and Jacob wanted to go.
At top of the craft, a flag seemed to wave in the wind down to them. Jacob recognized it- the Russian Navy. A smile crept across his face.
They weren't the only humans in Equestria.