//------------------------------// // Chapter 2 // Story: The Walking Dead // by Mochas Dungeon //------------------------------//         With a quickness that defined his race, Dusk galloped back to the car in a few short seconds to see another human nearing the wagon.  He looked at Amber’s reaction and hesitated for a second before making the choice to barrel into the human walking toward her now closed door from the front.         “Back!” Dusk shouted as he leapt and slammed his shoulder into him.  With a squishy crunch the body bifurcated from the waist and landed on the hood of the wagon.  “Celestia rut me with her horn!” Dusk shouted as he took a staggering pace back, his shoulder aching slightly and gore lightly coating his body.  “I’m so sorry!  I-I didn’t mean it!  I just meant-”         He fell silent as the half human, organs spilling to the ground where the lower half of his body lay  still attached via organs that were uncurled and stretched, was now scratching at the front window and moaning gutturally.  “My, you humans are hearty,” he mumbled as he stumbled back, tripping over an exposed tree root.         Alex ran past and, using the bat with an overhead swing, smashed the head of the beastly human, crushing it and sending the contents across the window.  The car door opened and Amber began to vomit onto the ground.         Dusk sat in shock, mind blank at the violence of these creatures, humans.  It far exceeded legend and he’d never seen death; much less outright murder.  He knew, worst of all, he was an accessory now.  He’d broken the stallion-- man in half with his attack.  He’d be sentenced to years of hard labor and have to tour Equestria and share why harming other ponies is bad.         He’d be caged with other criminals; real killers.  His wings would be plucked and shaved until they were as bony as an elder on their deathbed.  He wouldn’t have a mare for the rest of his life and… Oh, Luna… he’d be somepony’s mare!         Dusk began to weep, quickly letting it turn to a sob as he scrambled back into something soft.  A pair of forelegs wrapped around him and a filly’s voice whispered. “It’s okay, Dusk, I was scared the first time I saw it happen, too.”         ‘‘Happen too’?  Are these a family of traveling murderers?’he asked himself.         Lilli squeezed him tighter. “I hate zombies,” she whined quietly as she hugged Dusk’s neck tightly, choking him slightly.         He ignored the feeling of air being squeezed from him at the word ‘zombie’.           “W-whoa, wait,” Dusk stammered as Alex pulled the zombie from the hood of the car and quickly removed something from it’s clothes, “what… What?!”  Zombies aren’t real, you’re just murderers!”  Alex turned back to Dusk, clotted blood splattered across the front of his upper body.         Dusk turned, pulling free of Lilli and blindly ran head first into a tree sending him into a dizzy fall.  “P-please, d-don’t k-kill m-me,” he whispered as he heard yelling around him.  A scream.         His head hurt, so much.  Shouting continued and another scream as he lifted his head.  He looked to his left and made out the faded silhouette of a person attacking others.  He assumed Alex was killing his family now.  ‘Dear Celestia, not like this.’         A moment later he felt himself being picked up.  He hurt too much to fight back, and knew he was too easy a target with his head injury and damaged wing.  A swing from the bat and he’d have a broken leg or be dead before he could flee.  He sighed between throbs in his head.         “You’ll be fine, just don’t go to sleep,” a mare’s voice said.  He, was being carried?  By Amber?  The sounds of muffled hoofsteps and panting.  She was running.  ‘She’s a human, she doesn’t have hooves.  Bah, technicalities be damned; as long as she saves me from his wrath.’         “Please, save me,” Dusk whined pathetically.         “Alex!  He’s fine, hurry and leave the rotters!”         “Stop screaming and letting them know where we are, babe.”         She grumbled and began to slow. “Damn, you’re as heavy as a horse,” she paused for a second before snickering, “it’s a phrase I never thought I’d use literally.  Can you walk?  Or fly?”         “I-I,” he hesitated, “I can walk, I think.  What’s happening?  Are you going to-”         “No, we’re not gonna kill and eat you,” Amber reassured him as she lowered him, “I can’t carry you anymore,” she huffed as he stood on his four hooves and stumbled.  “We have to treat your wounds… and of course all our supplies are in the car that’s being swarmed by zombies.”         Lilli panted from beside Dusk. “I hope you’re okay, I wanna pony ride,” she said with a weak smile.  Dusk looked back bemused. “I’m not a riding pony!” he retorted         Alex ran up and scooped Dusk up and continued running. “C’mon, we’ll circle back after we lose them!”         Lilli groaned as she took into a run after Alex, Amber closely behind.  Dusk shook his head, a feeling of something wet entered his left eye.  He looked back with his right eye to see, in the far distance, shambling zombies following.         “Pony pokey, they’re behind us!”         “Where?!”         “About twenty lengths,” Dusk said.  Alex looked at him indignantly. “I don’t know your human measurements!”  Dusk twisted and nearly made Alex trip. “Put me down, I can run now.”  He was tossed to the left and landed on his hooves again, entering a fast trot. “You didn’t have to throw me,” Dusk frowned as he kept pace with the running humans.  “Is that the fastest you can run?”         “I’m sorry, we aren’t, horses, but we, have technology… normally.”         “Yeah, that’s workin’, real, good, Alex,” Amber said with a snide tone.         “Mommy, it hurts to run!  I can’t go anymore.”         Lilli stumbled and fell to her knees, gasping and sniffling.  Dusk turned and galloped back to her. “Keep going, I’ll carry her.”  He lay next to her and smiled at Lilli. “Time for me to learn to be a riding pony”         Lilli grinned between grit teeth and climbed, awkwardly, onto his back.  She grasped his mane as she stood; they both yelped.  Her from being startled and him from having his mane pulled roughly.  “He didn’t say anything as he began to gallop to catch up to her parents.         Lilli didn’t laugh, giggle, or do anything besides smile awkwardly.  “This is way not what I thought a pony ride would be like.”         “You mean I feel funny?”         “I mean running from zombies,” Lilli joked tiredly as she held tightly to his mane and they caught up to the adults.         “God dang it, she’s getting your, sense of humor, Alex.”         “Hey,” he shrugged and slowed to a fast walk, “now you get me in stereo.”  He winced as Amber slapped his shoulder and they both stopped to catch their breath while leaning against trees.  “How far, are they, behind?”         Dusk looked back and narrowed his eyes. “Far enough to have started to scatter.”         “How can you see so good?  It’s pitch black out here, we’re lucky, we didn’t fall,” Amber panted.         “Pegasi have the best vision of the tree tribes.  I can see a flower from a mile in a rainstorm,” he puffed his chest as Lilli climbed off.  He yelped, again. “Please, be careful of my right wing, and what’d you spill on me?”         “Spill… oh,” Alex said looking at the pony, “you, cut your head, on the tree,” he said.  He took in a deep breath and held it before exhaling slowly.         “Cut?  As in, blood?  Oh, mommy!  Oh please, help!  I’m gonna bleed out!  It’ll get infected and I’ll have to get shots,” he whimpered after his panic attack. The humans looked at him, staring. “What?”         They burst into quiet laughter at the pegasus’ reaction.  After about a minute Amber composed herself. “You’re such a wimp… I never thought I’d… what a night,” she laughed into her hand.         “Yeah,” Dusk said as his ears twitched, “I like life and hate needles.  The area’s clear, where’s the nearest Royal Guard depot?”         “Okay, look,” Alex started, “first we need to get safe, then find out what the f- heck you are.”         “Fine, we find shelter then, rest.  Where’s a safe place to rest?”           “I don’t have a clue,” Alex muttered, “we were headed to her mom’s house a couple states over.  We’re in Huntersville State Forest, right now.  I don’t know anything about this place except it’s supposed to be mostly deserted.  I’m thinking we met most of the campers a few minutes ago.”         Dusk swallowed loudly as he kept a vigilant ear open.  His eyes darted around and he hated the fact that he was grounded at the moment.  “Area’s clear, I suggest we go back to your wagon, take all we can, and hump it to the nearest guard post.”         “Look, there isn’t a guard post!” Alex growled loudly before he was slapped by Amber.         “Look, let’s get back to the car; get our stuff since we know the car’s dead, and find somewhere to sleep.  I’m not going to hike through a forest when I’m sleepy… besides, my wrist still hurts.”         Alex sighed and took a steady breath in. “You carried that thing and your wrist was fine.”         “Well, that was adrenaline.  Now it’s gone, so I need rest,” Amber countered as she held her injured wrist, letting it dangle limply.         “Drama queen,” Alex huffed as he stood and bent backwards, a crack sounding from his back.         “Ouch,” Dusk whispered, “didn’t that hurt?”         “What,” Alex smirked as he stood and began bending his knees, twisting his arms, and moving his neck, in that order.  A series of pops and cracks came from across his body; Dusk’s feathers bristled. “Oh, this?  This old body of mine’s been through the wringer.”         “That’s awful!  Please, stop,” Dusk asked with a frown and a firmness in his voice.         “Ugh, fine.  I was outta places to pop anyway.”         “This’ a fine distraction from the horrors of the night,” Dusk said softly, “but let’s just get to the wagon, car-thing and hide until the military arrives.”         The humans looked at him, solemnly this time. “Yeah, let’s just do that.”