//------------------------------// // Day 3:The Arrival // Story: Day P // by scootsisbest //------------------------------// I woke up laying in a cot with a bandage on my forehead. I touched my head. Fuck that hurts. I feel like I was hit in the head with the but of an m16, oh wait thats right. My head was throbbing, I tried to get up but didn't have the energy. A red unicorn mare wearing a doctors coat walked into the room. “Good to see you're alright, sorry about the head, the boys never like to take chances.” “Where am I?” “You're in the med bay of our camp.” “How did I get here?” “When our scouts saw you at Solnichiny they followed you to see if you would be a threat. you seem to handle yourself pretty well out there.” “Why did your scouts bring me here then.” “They thought you were getting to close to Balota airstrip.” “Whats wrong with Balota.” “It’s what we refer to as, ground zero.” “what do you mean ground zero?” “Balota was one of the original places where the infection broke out. The military went in and tried to contain the area but that just made things worse. Now if you don’t mind I need to take some tests to see if your alright. First what's your name?” “Lieutenant Storm L. Chaser of the Equestrian air force.” “So you're in the military then, how did you not know about the outbreak” “To be honest I can't really remember how I got here other than waking up on a beach two days ago.” “Strange, you must have some sort of amnesia. Well other than that you should be good, feel free to look around outside.” “Alright, oh wait I didn't get your name.” “It's Star Mist, but most ponies call me Stary for short.” “Well I’ll see you later then Stary.” I opened the door of the small medical bay to be greeted with a rush of fresh air. I walked outside and saw what seemed like a safe haven from the shit storm around me. This place is amazing. There were plants growing in rusted out car wheels and tires and there were large containers filled with water. There were walls surrounding the area with small huts along them. There was a shed with a sign labeled “ammo cache”. There was a clear area with a large white H. There's no way they have a helicopter. Over near the clearing was a large building with a sign labeled “garage”. While I was gawking at the camp before me, a black pegasus stallion walked out of the shack behind me. “You must be the colt our boys knocked over the head down near ground zero.” “Yeah thats me, it hurts like hell too.” “Sorry about that we didn't want to take any risks, the names Thunderlane, sergeant first class of the Equestrian armed forces.” “No shit, Lieutenant Storm chaser of the Equestrian air force. Nice to meet you” “As to you, I’m the guy that makes things tick around here.” “It’s a pretty nice setup you have here.” “So then storm, what do you specialize in.” “Air reconnaissance, and I could fly a helo blindfolded.” “Well I’m glad to hear that, our pilot should be here shortly.” I could hear a distant buzzing of a motor. I saw a black dot that began to get bigger. Soon it was close enough to be recognized as an AH-6 littlebird. The helicopter began to decrease speed and altitude. Eventually it began to hover and lower into the camp. When it touched ground I heard the sound of the engine die and a yellow pegasus mare with an orange mane stepped out. Thunderlane stepped forward. “Hey S.F. we got a co-pilot for you.” The mare started talking to Thunderlane. I didn't hear much of what they said, I was too busy admiring the look of the angle that was in front of me.I have died and gone to heaven. My wings shot straight up. The helicopter looked perfect from top to bottom. The mare walked up to me. “Shes a beauty ain't she.” “Yes she is.” “Just remember though shes my baby so if you touch her I’ll have to kill you.” “Yes mam.” The mare walked away and Thunderlane walked over. “Thats Spitfire, most of us just call her S.F. Don’t let her get to you, she may be a hard case but shes not a bad mare. She said shes gonna show you the ropes when shes done debriefing.” “The ropes of what may I ask.” “The ropes to flying that thing.” “I think if I can emergency land a ch-47 without a scratch I can handle a littlebird” “Yeah but if you want to live I wouldn't argue with her, trust me.” There was a loud rumbling noise. “You must be hungry, you've been out for almost fourteen hours, here.” He tossed me a square brown bag labeled MRE and a green canteen. “Thanks man.” “Don’t mention it.” I opened the bag and began to follow the instructions. The main course was dandelion hot dish. I opened the heating pouch, put in some water and placed in the bag to cook. While I was waiting I opened up a small bag labeled biscuit, but it looked like an oversized saltine cracker. There was a pouch of brown powder labeled “Raspberry Tea” which I poured into the remainder of water in my canteen. I checked my watch and saw that my meal was done. I took it out, opened it, and took a bite. Ah, same shit look, same great taste. After I finished my food it dawned upon me that I was missing my gear and my vehicle. I went to find Thunderlane. After a few minutes of searching I found him out near the garage. “Hey thunder, I got a question for you.” “Alright shoot.” “What did you do with my bus and my stuff.” “We have your bus in the garage along with anything you had in it. you're free to go in and get your stuff at any time.” “Ok then, if you’ll excuse me for just one moment.” I walked into the garage and found my bus. There was an amazing collection of vehicles. There were a few normal cars, a uaz, and even a HMMWV GPK along with a few other vehicles. I went to the storage of my bus and found my gear. I took my revolver, some food, a map, and left the rest to get later. Once I was satisfied with what I had I walked out of the garage. “Alright, where's Spitfire, I’m ready to get flying.” “She’s almost done talking to our quote on quote “leader”.” “I thought you said you made things tick things around here.” “I do but i'm not exactly in charge, I just handle the grunt work. I’m more so second in command.” “So when do I get to meet this leader?” “I don’t know, I’ll see what I can arrange while you're in the air.” Spitfire came out of the large building in front of us holding a pilot's helmet and flight suit. she tossed them to me. “Suit up, its time to fly.” “Finally.” I went into the shack next to me and started to change. I slipped my legs into the suit and pulled up the rest. There were two holes in the back which I slid my wings through. I pulled up the sleeves and put my arms through. The suit fit perfectly. It was warm, most likely for temperature control in an open cockpit. I slid on the pilot's helmet and put up the visor. I opened the door and walked out of the shack. “It suits you.” said Spitfire. “Thanks, its a great fit.” “Alright lets get flying.” We walked over to the helicopter and Spitfire got into the pilots seat. I got into the co-pilots seat. “Alright from what I heard you’re an experienced pilot, so show me what you've got.” I looked around for a minute familiarizing myself with the controls. I looked down and held the starter, there was a constant clicking sound which was normal for most helos. The rotors began to spin and I released the starter. I did some system checks while I waited for the rotors to reach full speed. As the noise of the chopper grew louder Spitfire motioned for me to pull down the microphone of the helmet. I pulled it down and heard a click through the speakers in the helmet. Spitfire’s voice came through the speaker. “Alright successful startup, now give her some lift.” I pulled up on the collective and the helicopter began to rise. As we raised higher and higher out of the camp I began to see more of what was around. There was a lake near the entrance and there was a forest to the north of the camp. “Where to miss Spitfire.” “Head towards the east to balota. Believe it or not we were trying to help you, trust me.” I pushed on the foot pedals and rotated the chopper to the east then tilted the chopper forward and flew in that direction. We flew for about an hour until I could see the end of the airfield. We flew over and I saw nothing. “Ground zero huh.” I said in a mocking voice. “Make another pass.” I turned the heli and went to make another pass. This time when I flew over there were hundreds of infected. they were all trying to follow the helicopter. They were emerging from buildings at a rapid rate. “Well then, I’ll just shut up now.” We flew in silence back in the direction of the base. We had been flying for about an hour when something happened. Spitfire was the first to notice. “Whats that sound.” She asked. I looked to my left and saw the projectile coming towards us. It was a yellow ball of light with a white smoke trail following it. Before Spitfire could say anything I pushed forward on the stick and put the heli in a half nose dive. The rocket missed the tail by inches as I tried to fly away. Soon after the rocket missed, gunfire erupted from the treeline. I heard metal meet metal as shots pinged off the chopper. I heard another round of shots ricochet off the hull. The sound of the engine began to die and the chopper started losing altitude. “We just lost all power, one of those fuckers must have hit the engine. I’m gonna have to autorotate.” I pulled the helicopter up and began to decrease altitude. I held the chopper level until I was close enough to the ground to put it down. The helicopter bounced on the ground and skidded to a halt. “You alright” I said. “I'll manage. The better question is how the hell are we gonna get back to camp now?” “We hoof it the old fashion way.” “Tell that to them.” There were silhouettes rising from the hill. I pulled out my revolver and took aim. “You’re gonna need more than that.” She opened a hatch on the helicopter and pulled out an m16 and tossed it to me along with a few mags. She pulled out another for herself. “Where did you get those?” “I always come prepared.” I took aim at the group approaching us and fired. I hit my target and one dropped. Spitfire did the same and soon we were in a firefight using the disabled helicopter as cover. More targets approached and we were running low on ammo. I opened fire on another group of targets until I heard a depressing click. “I’m out, how many rounds you got left.” “I’d say about half a mag.” “I’m gonna run to that rock behind us, you cover me then I’ll cover you with my revolver and we can escape in the woods.” “Alright, run on three. one…….two……..THREE!” As soon as she said three I bolted out from behind the helicopter and ran for the large rock. About halfway to the rock I stumbled on an upturned root and dropped the gun. I had no time to stop and kept running till I was behind the rock. “I dropped the gun.” “What are we gonna do now?” Before I could answer a large explosion erupted from the other side of the clearing. “Go!” Spitfire ran from behind the helicopter and towards the rock. While she was running she picked up the revolver and tossed it to me. When she got to the rock we kept running into the woods. The sound of gunfire began to grow faint. “Who did that?” Spitfire asked. “I haven't the slightest clue, but whoever it was, they saved our asses.” “Guess you’re right there. But who was that shooting at us?” “Again I haven't the slightest but they almost had us.” We walked for an hour before we found a town. We stopped at the edge before continuing. I heard a rumbling sound from behind me. “You hungry?” “Starving, don’t suppose you brought anything other than that revolver?” “Think fast.” I tossed a can of beans to Spitfire. “Thanks, uh you got a can opener.” I tossed her the can opener. “I thought you said you always come prepared.” She said nothing. I pulled out a can of r4z0r and muffins for myself. Once we were done we moved into the town. We searched the town until we found enough supplies to survive the trip back to the camp. The sun was starting to go down. We found a tent in the store. “It’s getting dark.” I said. “Flip down your visor and press the button on the side.” I flipped down my visor and felt for a button. After a few seconds of searching I found the button and pressed it. My visor flashed to life as a night vision hud came up. “Nice, but were gonna have to stop somewhere for the night, the infected are in higher numbers at night.” “Fine, we’ll stop somewhere.” The last sliver of light disappeared over the horizon when we found a flat patch of land to make camp. I started to pitch the tent as spitfire watched around for anything suspicious. “Done.” We crawled into the tent and lay down. I fell asleep before my head hit the ground.