Chapter 5: Scouring the Wreckage
It had been nearly two hours since Noir’s impromptu therapy session, and honestly, Grey was feeling much better thanks to it. He no longer felt like the walls were looming over him, ready to crash down at the smallest inclination, and his breathing had become deeper and more normal.
He still felt some unease as the memories of his parents being brutally beaten played over and over in his head though now that he remembered, he was more concerned with revenge than his fears about being small and powerless. Sometime soon, I think I’ll pay 'His Majesty' an unexpected visit, he thought. The thought of slowly dragging a knife across Blueblood’s pompous little throat seemed more satisfying than it should.
“Grey? Is something wrong? You’ve got a really unsettling grin on your face,” said Noir.
“Huh? What was that?” said Grey, shaken from his dark reverie.
“You looked like you were about to rut some pretty mare,” said Noir. “It was really creepy.”
“Oh…sorry. I was just thinking about what I’m going to do after all this “magical bit” insanity is over. I’ll be able to go back to relaxing all day without a care in the world, ah…” said Grey.
“Whatever. Nothing’s gonna change if we don’t find it though, so keep moving or I’ll leave you behind,” said Noir. “I think we should split up to cover more ground. Call me if you find anything, all right?”
Grey nodded in agreement as he began exploring the area. He couldn’t see much in this area of the hospital. The myriad doors along the walls of the dusty hallway suggested this was probably one of the wings for residents. This hallway was just as somber and decrepit as the rest of the hospital, and a thick layer of grime and dust covered the walls. Underneath the filth Grey could see evidence of what had transpired here when the Blight hit. Most of the windows on the walls and doorways had been shattered and some with stained with what seemed like blood. The chairs were overturned and there were a number of medical supplies strewn carelessly across the floor. When the first wave of the Blight came, the medical ponies here were still probably in business, probably treating those who had gotten injured in the hysteria that followed the announcement that the Blight was coming.
Examining the rooms did not yield much either, other than a coat of dust on his hooves and feathers. The final room in the hallway was different however. Inside the room was, or at least had been, lavishly decorated. Grey saw several destroyed vases that may have been flower pots as well as what looked like long popped balloons. The sheets on the bed had mostly disintegrated over time, yet what remained were the softest sheets Grey had ever felt. He saw some broken bones and dust on the bed that mud have been the skeleton of a filly. Grey figured she must have been from an affluent family given all the decorations he had seen as well as the myriad of machines that encircled the bed. In the middle of all the decorations he had seen, there was something else, something simpler. Sitting next to the filly’s bed, he found a small picture frame. Other than the glass, the picture was in marvelous condition. Whoever this filly was she certainly seemed to care about this picture far more than any of the other decorations in the room. Underneath the layer of dust and grime on the shattered glass, it showed a young pink filly with a tiara who had her arm slung around a gray filly who was wearing a pair of red glasses.
Poor kid… thought Grey. She was probably injured during the first wave of the Blight and came here for help. Her parents probably spent everything they had on all those machines, trying to find anything that would fix her. Grey noticed that there were small drops of blood spattered on the picture. This might have been the last thing she saw as she was dying. And with how many machines she was hooked up to, she probably didn’t have much chance to escape. She probably died here choking up blood as she held this. Grey noticed tears forming in the corners of his eyes. Another foalhood ruined by the Blight…
“Hey Grey, I think I found something!”Noir’s shout woke him from his gloom and he wiped the tears from his eyes. Grey was about to leave when he paused for a moment. It felt wrong to just leave this picture here. This poor filly had her foalhood taken away from her and died here, scared and alone. The least she deserved was a proper burial. Her skeleton was in no condition to be moved, though he grabbed what bones he could and stored them in a small pouch inside his bag. He placed the picture frame alongside it and after a small prayer for the young filly, he made his way towards the sound of Noir’s voice.
“What is it Noir? Did you find that bit yet?” said Grey.
“No, not yet. Though I may have found the most likely place for it.” Noir said as she pointed to a sign on the wall above them. “Director’s Office,” she said, “If that bit is anywhere in this place, it would probably be in there. There’s one small problem, though.”
Grey saw that the pathway had collapsed in on itself, the beams no longer able to support anything after years of wear and decay. “That seems bigger than a small problem Noir. The whole hallway has collapsed in on itself,” said Grey.
“I say this is a small problem because I already have a plan to get past it,” Noir said confidently, “From what I can see, the other side of the passage is still perfectly functional, meaning that this collapsed segment is the only problem. If I use my magic, I can create a small hole in this pile of rubble and we can sneak through it to the other side.”
“That doesn’t really seem safe…” said Grey. “This whole place feels like it could collapse at the slightest provocation.”
“Grey, I know you have trust issues, but you need to trust me on this. I looked around and this is the only way to get into the director’s office. Last time you trusted me nothing went wrong, did it? This time will be the same, I promise,” said Noir.
“I still don’t like it, Noir. This structure could collapse at any second and then both of us would get killed!” said Grey. “It wouldn’t be another trip back to Zed’s to get fixed up like last time! I don’t know about you but there’s still stuff I want to do in life!”
“Grey, it’ll be fine. Nothing is going to happen,” said Noir, “I just need you to trust me.”
“You’re going to do this regardless of what I say, aren’t you…” Grey sighed.
“It’s the only way,” said Noir.
“Fine, but I’m going through first to make sure it’s safe, and that’s final,” said Grey.
“All right, fine with me,” said Noir. “Give me a second to get the magic stable so you can crawl through.”
Grey watched as a yellowish aura spread across the pile of cement and rebar, pieces creaking as they moved for the first time in what was probably decades. It took a few minutes for Noir to get everything set up, though when she was finished there was a hole leading through the rubble. It looked just large enough for a pony to crawl through.
“All right, it’s stable. You can start making your way through now,” said Noir.
Grey got down on to his stomach and began slowly crawling through the tangled mess of rubble. He had to tuck in his wings as close as possible to avoid cutting himself. He was about half way through the wreck when he heard Noir call from behind him.
“Grey, are you almost at the other side?” she said.
“Almost, I have to be careful to avoid cutting myself on all this rebar,” said Grey.
“Well, hurry it up!” said Noir. “I’m not going to be able to hold this up much longer, so I’m going to follow behind you.”
“What? No, Noir that’s too dangerous!” said Grey.
“Well, it’s either that, or I find another way through because I won’t be able to hold it up long enough for you to make sure everything’s safe,” said Noir.
Grey turned his head and saw her hunching down at the entrance to the makeshift tunnel, as she slowly inched herself forwards. Somehow she still had the concentration to keep the spell going, though Grey worried about how long that would last. He continued crawling forward, Noir inching closer to him with each second. He had almost reached the exit when he heard Noir behind him.
“Grey, hurry it up! I don’t want to be stuck in here any longer than I h—" Noir began, but was cut off by her scream.
“What!? What happened?” said Grey.
“I felt something slimy graze the back of my hoof. I’m not sure what it was but it certainly was alive,” said Noir.
“Are you sure you didn’t imagine it?” said Grey.
“Yes, I’m sure! I can still feel the slime on my back hoof and…” she was cut off by a loud creaking.
“Noir what was that?” said Grey. He looked at her and noticed the yellow aura had disappeared from Noir’s horn, and he knew enough about unicorns to know what that meant. They needed to get out of here…now.
He reached his back left hoof towards Noir. “Noir, grab onto to my hoof as hard as you can and don’t let go.”
From the dust falling onto his back and his outstretched wings he could tell they needed to move soon or they would be buried. Once Grey felt her get a good grip on his hoof, he spread out his wings as far as he could in the confined tunnel. He felt a spasm of pain as the collapsing rebar cut his wings, though he managed to keep them extended. I’ve got one shot at making this work he thought as he prepared himself. With one mighty flap of his now injured wings he propelled himself and Noir as far as he could.
Luckily Grey managed to clear the tunnel. He looked at the wreck behind him and saw that Noir had barely made it as well. He heaved a sigh of relief as he pulled some gauze out of his pack and began tending to his injured wings. After he had finished bandaging them he moved to check if Noir was okay.
Other than a few minor scrapes here and there, she seemed uninjured. Most of the rips and tears were in her clothes instead and those could be repaired later.
“Noir? You okay?" he asked.
“Yeah…I think I’ll be fine.” She groaned as she stood up, checking each of her limbs for any injuries.
“Good, now I won’t feel at all bad about doing this,” said Grey. He then sent his left hoof flying as hard as he could straight into Noir’s jaw. The impact knocked her off of her hooves and onto her back.
“What the hay was that for!?” Noir said as she got up.
“I thought you said you had it stable! You could have gotten us both killed!” said Grey.
“I did have it stable!” she said. “But something weird and slimy brushed across my back hoof and I lost my concentration!”
“I don’t care what it was,” said Grey, his voice rising the more he talked, “you need to be more careful, if I hadn’t had enough space for that flap we would both be dead right now!”
“We got out didn’t we?” said Noir still maintaining her air of calm. “Plus I probably could have just thrown up a shield or something. I’m sure we would’ve been fine.”
“I can’t believe how calm you are! This attitude you’ve got is probably the reason you got yourself so badly injured last time,” said Grey. “I don’t know what’s wrong with you that makes you think like this, but I’m not having any of it! Once we’re done here, we’re going our separate ways. I don’t want to be anywhere near you when something does happen.”
“Oh, come on! I thought we were finally starting to get along. I would have almost gone as far as calling you a close acquaintance,” Noir said.
“No,” said Grey sternly, “I refuse to wait here for your recklessness to kill you.”It’s a real shame, we really were getting almost friendly Grey thought. It had been a long time since Grey had had anyone he could truly call a friend. And that’s why I refuse to stay and let you kill yourself.
Grey turned and walked away resolving to search for the bit and hopefully get out of here and away from her as soon as possible. The sign on the wall said the director’s office was straight ahead. It was still his best guess as to where the bit could be hidden.
As he made his way down the hall, he saw a small door with some words above it. As Grey wiped away the thick layer of grime and dirt the words “Supply Closet”became visible. A smile crept across Grey’s face as he thought of what the town could do with any medical supplies inside. The smile vanished shortly after as he recalled how the day had gone so far. With my luck today, it’s probably been raided already… he sighed. He was proven wrong, however, when he looked down at the handle and saw that a lock sitting above it. He crouched down to check the lock and was elated when he noticed it was still functional. Seems nopony’s been in here since the Blight. Maybe there’s still some supplies after all.
Grey still needed a way to get past the lock first though. Looking it over he saw that it had not been completely immune to time’s march and had rusted. While still strong enough to keep anypony out, it could be weakened enough to break through it. Unfortunately, Grey didn’t have anything that could melt through metal, until he thought of a more unconventional method. It’s not gonna be pleasant, but it’s the only chance I got he thought. He carefully pulled out his medical tools from his saddlebag and opened it on the ground in front of him. Using his wing, as it was more dexterous than his hooves, he grabbed the scalpel and a tourniquet. Securing the tourniquet around his leg, he carefully drew the scalpel across the bare flesh of his left fore hoof, biting down on his lip to fight the pain. Several beads of toxic green sludge began ooze from the wound as Grey finished with the scalpel, lifting his right fore hoof to wipe the bloody-ooze from his mouth. Positioning his wound over the face of the lock, he began to squeeze the cut, eliciting another pain groan and new streaks of bloody ooze dripped own his chin. The squeezing ceased when he saw a few beads of the sludge drip onto the rusted lock.
Taking a moment to clean his chin and arm, he quickly dressed the wound with some simple bandages and took to rubbing the ooze into the lock. At first he did not see any kind of reaction, though soon the rusted metal began to fizz and bubble, the ooze corroding the rusted metal. Chunks of semi-liquid metal began to slough off the lock as it melted from the corrosive nature of the Blight-infused blood. Once the process was complete, the lock was a half-formed mess of dripping steel. Seeing the blood had done it’s job, he turned around and used his hind hooves to give the weakened door a swift buck, breaking the lock and blowing the door wide open.
Looking inside Grey could see several supplies that could be useful to Zed. There were spools of clean, white bandages, as well as packages of syringes containing what appeared to be morphine. Grey stored the supplies in his saddlebags along with his medical kit, pleased he had accomplished at least one of his objectives. Now all I need is to search this entire hospital for a tiny coin that may or may not exist…great. He wondered if Noir had made any progress in her search for the bit. He hadn’t seen her since he told her off and truth be told, he was getting a little bit worried. With how reckless she is, she’s probably gotten herself into another mess. I better go find her to make sure she is okay.