Grief
"I really should have seen this coming." Dave sighed while keeping vigil outside a cavernous janitorial supply closet. Inside said closet, there was a hoard of junk for me to rummage through.
Only the tools that would be hilariously ineffective in combat were left, but I wasn't searching for a simple weapon. No, I was searching for something much more effective. "Yeah, you really should have. I could not have been any more clear of my intentions."
"How about 'gee, Dave, I'm going to scrounge up the stuff to make enough explosives to level the building?' That sounds much better to me." His terrible mimicry of my voice grated on my ears. "This is such a terrible idea."
"I feel I must agree with David. This course of action seems most unwise." Luna returned from the vending machines, floating several packs of trail mix and a handgun she had yet to fire… at a zombie. "Will this be enough for what you intend? Also, I—” she shuddered, her items shaking with her “—would not recommend ingesting any food found in these nightmares."
Dave held out his hand. "Pass me one. They can't be that bad."
Hesitantly, the alicorn princess relinquished one to him. "I fear they may be tainted. I strongly recommend not eating anything." She scoffed at the skeptical glance she received. "You cannot say you were not warned."
Dust covered my entire front half as I dug through the mess on the lowest shelf of a tall shelving unit. Once again, my goggles proved to be an excellent purchase as that much dust would otherwise inevitably find its way into my eyes. A pained shout sent my head into the shelf above. The impact knocked a few containers and cans off their perch, and a rain of metal and plastic crashed around me. Groaning, I kicked the debris aside and pulled myself away from the search.
"What is this?" Dave cried as he tossed the bag aside, clawing at his tongue. "It tastes like moldy cereal covered with spoiled milk and served in an ashtray. Sterling, hand me some bleach."
Luna tittered while I vindictively laughed and rubbed the forming bump atop my skull. "She told you not to."
Returning to my task, I noticed the avalanche left the reason for my search lying atop a can so encrusted with pale blue paint it would be more difficult to open than the average jar of mayonnaise. The smallest text was blurry and illegible, just like everything else, making it look like a newspaper left out in the rain. The effect was disconcerting, but Luna had dismissed it as a common occurrence in the dreamscape for miscellaneous items to lose detail. Fortunately, the letters that remained legible included the contents, and I proudly exited the closet with the can in my mouth.
"Car… wax?" Luna read aloud as she gave her two companions a perplexed look.
"The metal vehicles on wheels outside. Waxing a car is—" Dave snapped his fingers while he sought an analogy Luna would understand, the look of mild annoyance on his face providing her and I with minor amusement. "—kind of like using furniture polish, I guess."
"How would such an item be used to create a 'volatile distraction' as you called it?" Luna asked with the glint of curiosity in her eyes. Her hooves ever so slightly twitched with anticipation, and while she wouldn't throw herself into it as extensively as Princess Twilight Sparkle would, she was still excited.
"Alright, Luna, let's do some science." I went to dramatically pull my goggles down and quickly turned the motion into running my hoof through my mane as I realized I was already looking through the eyewear. I chuckled sheepishly, their grins making it crystal clear I hadn't fooled them. "I'm going to need you to help me prep these. My dexterity ain't what it used to be."
In front of me, I laid the materials: trail mix, car wax, and paint remover. I rubbed my hooves together eagerly while I sat, and the steps ahead pleasingly rushed to the front of my memory. "Alright, first thing we need to do is—"
[INFORMATION CLASSIFIED BY ROYAL ORDER #800-M]
The princess warily eyed the small pile of goop in front of us. Small bits of dried apricot stuck out of the otherwise-consistent substance. I’d insisted the apricots added a cohesive structure necessary for optimal performance, but I really just hated apricots. Especially apricots in a nightmare where everything tended to taste like ass, judging by Dave's response to the trail mix. I carefully scraped all of the goop back into the car wax container and stuck in a long strip of cloth to act as a fuse.
"I fail to see how this could cause as much destruction as you insist it will." Luna frowned as she looked over the slight mess we had left.
All I could do was grin. "You'll see." Then I balanced it on my back—a task that proved much easier than expected—and trotted happily out the door.
Only one zed had stood in our path, and Dave efficiently dispatched him with a precise swing of the axe. For somebody who had never wielded anything before an hour or two ago, he was proving surprisingly proficient.
In the hotel’s lobby, it was hard to ignore the rank layer of gore haphazardly spread over the furniture, but even blood and guts made for better upholstery than the ugly paisley previously covering them. Through an open arch we could see where continental breakfast had once been served, and at just a glance we could see how thoroughly ransacked it was. A spotless, silver tap bell sat patiently on the counter, and behind it was an office turned disaster zone, complete with upturned desks and toppled filing cabinets. We crept along the front wall and slowly peeked outside. Suddenly, zombies...thousands of them.
Well, maybe it was closer to a few hundred, but there was still no chance to escape in that direction. That was perfectly fine, since this was where we were going to set up them the bomb.
"Remind me why we're doing this again?" Dave sighed as he pulled away from the doors and lightly punched my shoulder.
"For great justice." Readying the bomb was as simple as setting it down and laying out the fuse. Pointing at its end, I asked, "Can you light this end with magic?"
Before I could explain further, a small flame sparked to life and slowly worked its way up the cloth. "Now what?"
A wide-eyed Dave gasped. "Fleeing!" And he bolted back into the hotel’s depths.
Luna turned back to me as I hammered my hooves on the door, hopefully creating a pony cacophony loud enough to lure them toward us. They wouldn't be able to break through the glass in time, ensuring they got a faceful of fiery awesomeness. The horde turned to us, every zombie snapping to attention like they’d spotted a going-out-of-business sale, and I chuckled as they shambled.
"Sterling, should we be following David?"
"Hmm? Oh, right, probably."
It wasn't difficult to locate Dave. All we had to do was follow a string of expletives to a frantic man hacking at a board-covered door. He spared the quickest glance to see who his visitors. He grunted a couple words with each swing. "Shouldn't we… have cleared… a path first?"
Magic glowed around the nails securing the boards, and one by one they dropped to the ground with a muffled “plink.” Dave snorted as the last board fell away, and pulled the door open. "Magic is so overpowered."
He shoulder-checked a zombie, knocking it to the ground, but kept running. Four pairs of hooves finished the job well enough. Dave only led the way because any attempts to pass would have probably ended in a tangled pile of limbs. It felt like ages before we burst into a stairwell, where Dave stopped suddenly, resulting in a pileup that would have been comedic if it weren't for the ticking clock.
"Let me take a peek quick. Don't want to be grabbed or blown up." Dave opened the door just a crack and peered out, closing it after just a moment. "We still have a bunch out there. Looks like you might get to use that gun, Luna. Let's go."
Dave sprinted out the door first, followed by Luna, and then me. I had been hoping for a slew of royal bullets to strike down a few of the closest enemies, but all I got was one frustrated alicorn.
"It won't work!" she growled as she knocked a zombie away with it. We couldn't move as fast as Dave because our larger bodies meant we needed larger openings.
Up ahead, Dave weaved around zombies as he ran towards an alley which would hopefully allow a bowling alley and a generic warehouse to shield us from the blast. "Safety's on!" He called back as he ducked between two tourists. "Button by the trigger!"
A faint click served as a prelude to a nearby zed dropping with a neat hole in his forehead. Luna looked at the gun in surprise and then shot another zombie almost casually. If zombie's could feel terror, all of them would have been trembling as Luna smirked and searched for targets with an unnervingly amused gaze. She was a damn good shot! Hopefully she wouldn't run out of— the pistol clicked after it ran dry—ammo too quickly.
Thankfully, she didn't hesitate before bashing skulls with the pistol and a bent tire iron scooped from the ground, but no bullets meant we were back to our old speed. Dave disappeared into the designated alleyway half a building ahead of us. A few moments later he was sprinting across the street as a quartet of zombies staggered behind him.
"You dare assault me from behind?" Luna snarled as her hoof snapped out and sent a zombie rolling.
I jumped over the rolling zombie and frowned at the crowd slowly closing in on Luna. "Luna! Get to Dave!"
The group was still distracted as I plowed through them, trying to ignore the feel of my hooves trampling a few zeds that had been knocked prone. Compared to other ponies, I wasn't very large at all. If anything, I was a smidgen smaller than most mares my age, but I was still much heavier than your average human, and the momentum I could direct into the undead's terrible balance was incredible.
Just as I reached her, Luna broke through the crowd with a mighty shout and a wheeled dumpster borrowed from the side of the road. As frightening as the Royal Canterlot Voice was, a speeding chunk of metal wiping a group of zombies out like an eraser wiping off chalk on a chalkboard was far more effective. Despite our surroundings, I had to stifle a laugh as it slammed into the warehouse, cracking the weakened bricks and utterly flattening the zeds.
The few stragglers were easy to evade, and we ducked into the alley Dave had entered. At a dead end, Dave panted heavily as he stood over nearly a dozen mangled corpses, wiping off as much gore as he could. The sigh of relief he let out when he spotted us quickly turned into an exasperated groan as the first zombies stumbled into the alley.
"Are you sure you prepared your device correctly?" Luna asked as we joined him.
"Any second now. I don't make duds."
On cue, a tremendous rumbling shook the ground, shattering what little glass remained in the vehicles and buildings. Although muffled, the sound of the blast was still as loud as an air horn. A dark cloud of dust and debris flowed through the streets to swallow anything unlucky enough to get caught in its path. The telltale creak of a strained building forced us to the other side of the alley in fear.
The air slowly cleared, revealing a sizable pile of rubble that conveniently sealed the entrance. The occasional hand that stuck out of the debris still twitched and grasped blindly, but the moans had more or less been silenced.
"Astounding," Luna breathed, her eyes wide with awe.
"I think I'm leading in kills now." I grinned, admiring my handiwork. It shouldn’t have been anywhere close to that big. I was glad we hadn’t settled for a closer hiding spot. Maybe the apricots had done something to the mixture after all. "There's no way they'll be finding us for a while."
"I doubt there was anything that didn't hear it, and now they're all headed towards that motel. I think your plan worked a little too well, but nice work, kid." He smiled and patted my back.
"How could such a simple mixture produce such carnage?"
It was a little embarrassing to not have an answer that was little more than shrug. "All I know is that it works very well. Had a hunch to put it together one day, and let's just say I was lucky I didn't have the supplies to make very much."
There was no chance there'd be more than a little of that hotel left standing, and the pleasure such a thought brought me was immense. There had been an ulterior motive to my plan, one I didn't share with Luna or Dave.
The longer we’d spent in that building, the more I recognized it and recalled my previous visit. I hadn't been alone—not until I left anyway. There had been five or six of us taking refuge during the first year. We'd barricaded everything we could think of, and had planned on turning it into a base of operations after two months on the move had run us ragged.
There wasn't much of a chance we would have given each other a second glance, but banding together for survival sparks friendships—and rivalries—in the least likely of places. I still couldn't remember what we’d been in the area for in the first place, but I knew it was my idea at least. My terrible idea.
Mimi, a shoe salespo—salesperson had hidden a bite wound. All of us had known the rules and trusted each other to follow them to the letter, but she was too scared to put a bullet through her head or ask one of us to do it. It hadn't been a large wound, so it took a fair amount of time for her to show any symptoms, and she was masterful at keeping all of them hidden except the cough. As each day had passed, her condition slowly deteriorated, but the rest of us didn't look very healthy either.
She’d died in her sleep, and when she awakened once more, she tore out Finnigan’s throat, who had been unlucky enough to be resting next to her. I missed Finn's jokes and stories. Quiet guy, but he could have spun a story from nothing. His flailing and gurgles had woken Judith, whose screams roused the rest of us as she fled the room. The mousy girl had always said the worst thing about the apocalypse was the death of all the flowers. A fitting thought for a florist, I guessed.
Edwin and I had always slept with weapons nearby in case of a break-in, but they worked just as well for ending a lying snake and a bleeding chef. Ha, Edwin was such a stubborn old codger. I wished he'd told us the story behind his shotgun.
There hadn't even been time for the casings to hit the ground before we heard a crash as Judith screamed. She’d had a great singing voice. We’d ran after her, even as the sound of splintering wood and moaning overtook her screeches of pain. A vehicle from a wayward survivor had opened a gaping hole, and the horde eagerly streamed through to claim the driver and a panicked Judith.
The two of us had retreated to one of the fallback points: a pile of furniture and pilfered sandbags. Ammunition waited for us, and we had been ready to clean up what we thought was only a small group of zeds.
We were horribly wrong—just as we’d turned to abandon the building altogether, age sucker-punched Edwin's hip and he crumpled. I still remembered the last words I ever heard him speak as he held out his hand to stop me from aiding him. "Three shells for them and one for me. Matilda and I aren't going out alone." When I’d tried to pick him up in spite of his instructions, he butted me in the gut with his gun and gave me the determined glare of a man at peace.
The first shot rang out before I even turned the corner. The second shortly after that, and then a short pause before the third. There wasn’t a fourth.
A calm seeped through my thoughts, and for a moment, I wasn’t blaming myself for the troubles my nightmares had caused. I’d finally destroyed the hell that had taken them. Goodbye, my friends.
Dave's voice shook me from my grim reverie. "Kid, you're bleeding. Did you get bit?"
Sure enough, rich red blood leaked from beneath my bandages and stained my coat. "All the running must have agitated the wound." Whatever spell Luna had used was still in effect, and there was little chance I would have made it otherwise.
He wiped the sweat from his brow and stopped holding his breath. "Right, right. That makes sense. Let's take a breather, and I'll see if I can find a way to patch you up." He produced the medical kit from somewhere inside his jacket and set to changing the bandages.
Luna stood silently and glared at the rubble. Something was troubling her. "You alright, Princess?"
"Hmm? Yes, I'm fine. I was contemplating our recent skirmishes. I shouldn't feel like it, but dispatching those foes was almost… exhilarating." She shuddered. "There were so many around us. Legions of them crawled from every crevasse, yet I found a small satisfaction in each one I put down."
I smiled lightly and asked, "Satisfaction in the killing or satisfaction in bringing them peace and stopping their ceaseless attacks?" I'd had experience with that dilemma.
She closed her eyes to search for the answer. "The latter."
"Then don't worry. There is no good these beasts can do. They stalk, they eat, they kill, and there is no cure. All you can do is put them down.
"And to think you'd be the one to show wisdom." Luna chuckled. "Thank you, Sterling Gears."
"Don't mention it. Been there, done that."
"Was that door always there?" Dave asked as he pointed at a door that belonged on a home in the suburbs instead of a brick wall in an alley. It was a plain, off-white chunk of shaped plastic and wood with a small semicircle of glass near the top. On the side of the door frame stood the address number, the wrought iron numbers worn with age. I froze. I recognized those four numbers.
"No, not again." The calm from my vengeance had left, and I sniffled at the dread replacing it.
"You know this place?" Dave pointed his thumb at the numbers and arched an eyebrow. "I don't remember it at all."
The reason we’d been at the hotel in the first place dawned on me. We were there only because I was supposed to walk through this exact door. I knew where the door belonged. I knew what waited.
"Sterling?"
"Give me the axe, Dave." There was a patch of clean fur large enough for me to wipe my eyes.
"What?"
"Give me the axe. This is something I need to do myself."
The man looked up to the alicorn, silently asking for support, but all he received was a solemn nod. He hesitated before ultimately giving it to me. "We'll be right behind you."
It tasted like fibreglass and sweat. I gave it a few practice swings and tried to find a comfortable spot on the handle.
The door was unlocked. Just like before. The living room I stepped into was a chaotic wreck. Just like before. The zombie moaned as she lunged at me. Just like before.
Unlike before, I was prepared for the attack. Ribs gave way as I bucked it in the chest, sending it reeling into an end table. My swing with the axe was clumsy, burying the weapon in the floor. A blue glow appeared around the axe.
"No!" I screamed. "I got this." Surprisingly, Luna relinquished her hold.
"This is stupid, we need to help her!" He started forward only to be stopped by Luna's outstretched wing.
She didn't turn to look at him, her eyes still locked onto me. "If she doesn't want our interference, it is not our place to give it. Rest assured, I will not let her perish if it comes to it, but this is her fight."
The zombie had just begun to rise to its feet once more when I kicked again. I steadied my hoof over its gnashing head and sobbed. "Sorry, Anne." I barely felt the crunch.
They approached me and the now-still body, where Dave pulled my crying form against him and gently stroked the side of my neck. "It’s alright, you did good."
I couldn't answer right away. I was too busy looking at the corpse, still seeing who she once was. Before me was the infallible smile and chocolate ponytail I'd never forget. We'd spent so much time playing and laughing together over the years, but now she would remain asleep and silent forevermore. We had been best friends once, but now nothing remained of our bond but ashes.
A few minutes passed before Luna calmly asked, "Who was she?"
Another minute passed before my voice returned. "Anne. My sister." I shakily motioned towards two piles of mangled gore near the toppled entertainment center. "And that was her husband and daughter."
My sobbing resumed, and it was the only sound that could be heard throughout the house as I cried into a thankfully clean spot on Dave's jacket. "I never even got to say goodbye. Look at me, I sound like a cheesy drama." My chuckle was pathetic. "I'd been hoping they were still alive and holding out. At the very least, I wanted to know if they had left for greener pastures, but this was all that waited. This was the only hope I'd had left, and it was gone in an instant. All I could do was scavenge what little food remained and flee."
Luna lowered her head to my level and smiled comfortingly. "Now is your chance to say those goodbyes. Take as long as you need. David and I will make sure you remain undisturbed." Dave reacted to a signal I couldn't see and removed himself, leaving me alone with my sister.
Tears splashed against the hardwood floor, creating little puddles of misery. I didn't know where to start. I couldn't start, not like this.
Eventually the words showed themselves out between sniffles. "Hey, sis. Long time no see." She remained silent.
"I'm sorry I couldn't be there to help. I'm sorry I couldn't protect you, Clay, and Sidney. I'm sorry… that last time we saw each other we fought over something as meaningless as where to bury Mom and Dad.
"It just seems so pathetic, looking back on it. We'd spent all that time together as kids, and it makes me regret not visiting more when we moved out. We were so close one moment, and separated by the entire country the next. Not a day has gone by where I don't remember those moments, where I regret my mistakes and celebrate the few triumphs.
"I made it out, and I still wish I could have brought you with me. You would have loved Equestria. Not as much as Sidney, of course, but you would have been happy there. You would have been safe from this mess. You didn't deserve this death. You had a family, whereas I had nothing but myself to keep me company. I'm sorry. So very sorry. If I could trade my life for your family's I wouldn't hesitate for even a second.
"Remember when we used to visit the park down the road?" I was still crying, but there were some tears of happy remembrance mixed in. "The one with Mr. Johnson's gas station across the street. I cherished each time we'd gone and I'd bought my little sister one of those ice cream bars. So many options, but that was all you ever wanted. When I asked you why, you said it was because the fancy stuff never tastes as good as it looks, but the simple stuff tastes better than it looks.
"In a way, I'm glad you went out when you did." I cradled a hand adorned by a simple wedding band. "I would have hoped for much better circumstances, but at least you didn't have to suffer through the end of the world any longer. You didn't have to see people tearing each other apart until none remained, and you didn't have to see the monsters continue their reign. You didn't have to spend two years without human contact. I'm glad I got to see those horrors instead. They'll haunt me, but I'll protect you from them, just like I've tried to always protect you. I may be your big sister now, but that won't change the fact I need to guard my little sister. Even when she's gone. I won't let them touch you, or even my memories of you.
Everything faded away until it was just us. "Goodbye, Anne. I'll always love you." And then I was alone.
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The feels....
This is probably one of my favorite chapters so far. I'm eagerly looking forward to more!
feels......
I hope that when you resolve the rest of Sterling's psychological problems and save Equestria that you still have more story's with her, because I really want to see more of her and her Magi-Mechanical Engineering.
Interesting...
Found a few typos and inconsistencies...
You never closed the Brackets on the Information ban...
And you might want to double check the whole survivors get FUBARed part.
You have Mimi, the shoelady become a Zombie and get capped, then replaced Judith's name with Mimi when she gets munched after the car crash...
It led to a odd mental picture of Mimi being a L4D Witch rushing out to carve up the nameless driver.
3009900
Well, that's embarrassing. Fixed both of them right up though. I assume I missed the second bracket due to the tags for it being bold text.
Thank you for catching them.
LIES LIES LIES
apricot have no explosive properties. Not sure about paint remover, different products may have different chemicals. (Dichloromethane, Sodium hydroxide, and many other chemicals.The percentage and list of all chemicals are trade secrets)
Aw, you redacted the best part. I was so hoping to Try This At Home.
Ha! Your princess enjoys this "fun"! In what other ways may we experience it?
(Also, feels.
)
3010740
I didn't redact anything :P it says right in the text who was responsible.
3020856
That is a good point. I thought I had put something like that in there, but after rereading it again I think I just imagined it. I'll fix it up in a little while.
3021014
I will admit one of my trouble spots is writing combat. I just can't find the sweet spot between too detailed and glossing over. Also, you should be glad to know I fixed up chapter 25 to resolve the argument. I still can't believe I actually forgot to write that in.
CURSE YOU FEELS-Y THE FEEL-A-PUS!!!
Also, MOAR please.
Damn feels...
Feelings, why you so saddening.
The feels are real...
I knew I would be one to die in the apocalypse, now you do to!
I've been surprised at how hard the feels hit in your story. For all the silliness and lighthearted banter the emotions, both happy and painful, feel very real. Bravo.
i1.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/facebook/000/557/213/f7f.jpeg
Damn, second fic that's ever made me cry... I'm not sure if that's good or bad.
*sniffles...*
Darn.
7485990
Gaddamn onion ninjas at it again. I cannay see nuthin.
9967911
It really seems like 7 Days to Die, to me. Out of all the zombie games I know, it's the only one where you can blow shit up (though with how nerfed C4 is in that game, it brings no joy). I suspected OC's world was at least somewhat related to 7D2D from the start, to be honest. Still do.
This chapter felt a little weak, mostly due to how quickly certain parts progressed.
We can understand not wishing to write much about this, but still.