Roseluck struggled against the force of the ponies pushing up against the metal hospital doors. She had seen them break through wood before, but not iron, so she figured she would be safe, however, she did not expect them to come in such large numbers. At least thirty ponies groaned and moaned outside, and although she had set up a barricade of medical equipment and spare beds, they still persisted and fought at such a rate that she had had to put her own body weight on top of it all. She looked around nervously, the hospital was dark and colourless, blood stains decorated the floor. Surprisingly enough, the hospital was empty and silent, she had expected that of all the places she would find zombies, a hospital would be first on the list.
She had been closing up her flower store when she first found them. It was a misty night, she believed that she had seen a pony collapsed on the floor, it came as a shock to her when she realised that the pony had an open chest, it was even more of a shock when it came to life. The zombies, at least that is what she assumed they were, had followed her to the hospital: it was the only place with an open door.
The barricade rumbled and fell slightly apart, the door bulged inwards slightly and Roseluck tumbled to the floor. She backed away from the door, the barricade continued to shake as the zombies attempted to force the door open. Roseluck whimpered, he eyes began watering.
"I'm going to die here." She cried.
She backed into a corner and sat down, she wiped the tears off of her eyes. More of her barricade crumbled and the door pushed forward even more, allowing one pony to stick his pale hoof through the open gap, Roseluck gulped and closed her eyes.
"Why me?" She whimpered.
Hoofsteps came towards her, she tensed and gritted her teeth. She kept her eyes shut tight. Suddenly, the hoofsteps stopped.
"Just get it over with..." She muttered, her voice trembling.
The Doctor galloped through the darkness, he leaped from rooftop to rooftop, clasping his screwdriver in his mouth. The zombies sluggishly chased him in the street below. He squinted in an attempt to see more clearly, he had to find a way out of the town. He spotted an odd pink blob in the distance, his vision was obscured, but he was almost certain he could make out a basket underneath it. His gut instinct told him he should keep moving, find another way out, but his curiosity took over and he skipped across the buildings until he came close enough to realize that the blob was actually a balloon. Perfect, he thought, curiosity always beats instincts, occasionally. The zombies scraped against the walls below him, they propelled themselves up against the bricks in an attempt to reach him. He was about to launch himself to the next rooftop, but a hoof clutched his leg, a zombie mare hissed at him, snarling with red teeth. He kicked the mare back and knocked a pile of zombies over. He leaped onto the house in front of him, but he slipped as he went, leaving him dangling off of the edge. He pulled himself up quickly; zombie teeth just missed his hoof, and ended up sinking into solid brick. The balloon came closer, and the Doctor realized it was tethered by a single rope, the balloon struggled and twisted, trying to escape in the wind. Luckily, the basket was at the same level as the Doctor, and with one final jump, he was safe under the balloon. He released the rope and the wind carried him away. Beneath him, hundreds of pale figures stumbled in circles, looking up at the Doctor. He sat back in the basket to recover his breath, when he stood up, he spotted a large building with a red cross on the front. For some reason, he felt like he needed to go in, not out of instinct, but curiosity. The balloon passed over the roof and he leaped out, he grabbed the rope and tethered it onto a handrail near a hatch leading into the main building.
"What am I doing here?" He asked himself. "There are no survivors left!"
The Doctor looked over the edge of the roof, outside the main entrance, hundreds of zombies had piled up against the door. That's odd, he thought, those weren't the ones that were following me, how did they know I was here? Unless, it isn't me they are after...
Roseluck heard the hoofsteps approach, she winced. A hoof touched her shoulder and shook it. "Excuse me? Are you alright?"
Roseluck opened one eye, above her stood a colt with a light brown coat and dark brown spiked hair. He wore a bow tie around his neck. He was most definitely not a zombie. Roseluck lunged on him.
She began crying even more. "You have no idea... how happy I am to see you... I thought... I thought I was the last..."
"Well, I haven't really gotten us out of here yet, but I'll accept the hug as a 'thank you' for later." The colt said awkwardly.
Roseluck still held on to him tightly, the colt eventually pried her off, he readjusted his bow tie. "I am the Doctor." He said proudly.
"The Doctor? So you worked here?" Roseluck asked, wiping her face again.
"Well, I'm not that kind of Doctor. You can call me Whooves. That's W H O O V E S."
The zombies, which both ponies had forgotten about, finally broke through the barrier completely. They slowly wandered in, their blank eyes set on Roseluck and Doctor Whooves.
"Ah, of course." Whooves continued. "It appears this is the wrong time for idle chat."
Roseluck jumped behind him and backed away from the zombies. "There's no way out of here!" She cried. "I checked everywhere!"
"Way ahead of you, follow me." He grabbed her by her hoof and led her up the central stairs to the next floor, he walked through the corridor checking all the windows. He narrowly dodged trolleys, bookshelves and beds as he ran. He stopped at one window that overlooked the main entrance. Dozens of zombies stormed into the hospital, the first were already on the second floor. Whooves continued moving and Roseluck followed him anxiously, the zombies were trailing them slowly, she could see them at the end of the corridor. Whooves turned a corner and immediately turned back.
"Not that way." He said bluntly. More zombies appeared and Roseluck ran backwards.
"They're surrounding us!" She screamed. Whooves was too busy checking the door numbers, the zombies were less than five meters away on either side when he shouted: "Aha!"
He pushed through the door and Roseluck jumped into the room with him. She slammed the door behind her and laid against it, she was breathing heavily. The zombies banged their hooves on the walls, Whooves moved a set of drawers in front of the door .
"That's thirty more seconds." He said calmly.
Whooves examined the room, he had a small glowing blue object in his hoof, it looked like a large pen or a screwdriver, he shone it around the room.
"What are you doing?" Roseluck asked desperately.
"No, no, no. This is the wrong floor. We need to go up."
"And how do you suggest we do that?"
Whooves walked to the window, he shone the blue light on the hinges and the glass fell to the floor.
"How did you..." Roseluck began saying. She was distracted by the increasing amount of thumping up against the door from the zombies. "Um... Doctor?"
Whooves climbed out of the window, he stood on a slim balcony just outside. His back was pressed up against the wall.
"Come on." He casually called in.
Roseluck obliged and jumped out into the night. "Where now?"
Whooves pointed at up at the window above with his nose. "I'm going to give you a boost, you need to take this," he handed her the blue screwdriver, "and unlock that window. Then give me a lift up there."
Roseluck nodded. Whooves stuck out his hooves to make a cup shape, Roseluck stepped onto them and Whooves pushed her up to the next floor, she leaped onto the next balcony and stuck her hoof back down, she managed to pull the Doctor up as the zombies approached the open window.
"Shine the sonic screwdriver on the windows hinges." He yelled over the sound of the moaning from below.
"The what?"
"The blue lighty pen thing!"
"Oh, okay." She called back.
She pushed a button on top of the screwdriver and it burst into life, she directed the shine onto the hinges and, like before, it collapsed inwards. Roseluck hopped through the open gap and Whooves followed after. He took the screwdriver back.
"How did it do that?" Roseluck inquired.
"Artificial Magic. Works just like a horn, but in your hoof. I'd love to explain more but we must be moving. I imagine they've already heard us." The moaning from below seemed to grow further away: they were heading for the stairs.
Whooves walked back into the corridor, he shone the screwdriver on a hatch in the ceiling and a ladder fell down from the roof.
"Ladies first." Whooves bowed.
Roseluck ignored him, she was too busy escalating the ladder. She stepped onto the slanted brick roof, Whooves appeared next to her. It began raining, dark grey clouds appeared above them. Whooves walked around the edges of the building, he stopped next to a large burned tree.
"Something is wrong here." He said quietly.
"Did you not see the zombies? Of course something is wrong here!" Roseluck exclaimed.
"No," he held up his hoof, "this tree was burned by lightning."
"What's so 'wrong' about that?"
"Storms don't occur naturally around here, the Pegasi make them, and if there are no ponies controlling the weather, then how did the clouds get here?"
"I think we have bigger problems!" Roseluck yelled. "They're trying to get up here!"
The zombies stumbled over each other at the base of the ladder, they groaned and reached upwards, attempting to grasp Roseluck.
"I'm sorry." Whooves apologised. "I didn't expect this. It appears my plan has failed."
"W-What?" Roseluck cried.
"I had a balloon, I tethered it here. I didn't expect the wind to blow it away. Which brings us back to the question: where did the storm come from?"
"Who cares?" Roseluck yelled. "We are going to die up here!"
Whooves turned to her. "Listen to me. I am not going to let you die, I promise. Do you understand?"
Roseluck nodded, something about the Doctor made her feel calmer, she decided that she trusted him. "Well, um, what do we do?" She whispered.
Whooves looked over the main entrance, the zombies were no longer outside the hospital, they seemed to have all moved in. The Doctor gazed at his screwdriver, then back at Roseluck. He lifted his hoof and activated the artificial magic, he directed a beam straight at Roseluck. A glow appeared around her and two butterfly wings sprouted from her sides.
She gasped. "What did you do?"
"It's a spell, don't worry, it isn't permanent, but it will last you long enough to get out of here." He spoke calmly, he did not look at her.
"This is brilliant!" Roseluck laughed nervously. "We can get out of here!"
The Doctor still did not look at her. "You... you can get out of here. I'm afraid that's all the power I have left, spells like that use up a lot of energy."
"W-What? But, what will you do?" Roseluck stood beside him, she could hear the zombies struggling to climb the ladder behind them. Whooves looked directly into her eyes, his expression was grim. "No... no, I'm not leaving you. Can't I carry you or something?"
"Those wings will just about be able to support you, they'll never keep us both afloat."
There was a long pause. "Why did you do this?" Roseluck mumbled.
"I promised I wouldn't let you die. Now go, they'll be here soon, and once they're done with me, they'll come straight after you."
"But... I don't want to go. I don't want to leave you on your own."
"I'm sorry, but there's nothing you can do, except live, for me."
"Ahem," said a voice from above, "did somepony lose a balloon?"