• Published 14th Feb 2012
  • 15,737 Views, 703 Comments

Left 4 Derpy - Edmar Fecler



Derpy finds herself in the zombie apocalypse with four humans.

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chapter 4: The hunt begins

Left 4 Derpy

Chapter 4: The Hunt begins

Ditzy slung the sheathed sword across her back as she wrapped the strap under her left foreleg and across her chest. The sheath laid on her back at an angle, with its middle resting in-between her wings. The sword’s handle stuck out past her left shoulder so she could crane her neck and grip it with her jaw, whereas the opposite end rested to the right side of her tail. The pointed end of the sheath flailed loosely, seeing that the second strap had not been secured.

Ditzy looked up to Zoey, who nodded as she understood where the pony needed help. She kneeled down beside Ditzy and pulled the strap under her belly, tightening it enough to where the sheath wouldn't swing around, but not so tight that it would cause a rash. Zoey stood back up and took a step back as Ditzy moved around a bit to see if the sheath fit comfortably. Satisfied with the strap, she looked up and gave Zoey a big, cheerful grin.

“Are you sissies coming or not?” Francis asked bluntly as he sat cross-legged on the edge of the apartment building with his trusty shotgun lying in his lap. He was seated in front of the fire escape, which the group had unanimously decided to take instead of braving the apartments again. Francis stood up and slung the shotgun over his shoulder with an irritable scowl. “I’m tired of waiting around here. Let’s go!”

Louis slid a fresh magazine into his Uzi and clicked the safety off. “Come of Francis, lighten up. Besides, it’s not like the zombies are going any place soon.”

“Well they might be going to their graves if you freaking pony-loving pansies would move your asses!”

“Jeeze Francis, calm down. Besides, what’s wrong with Ditzy? She’s like an adorable little cartoon character! And even YOU had to have watched cartoons when you were little.”

“Of course I did. I used to love Tom and Jerry.”

“There, you se-”

“Where else do you thing I learned how to be so violent? Hell, I learned hundreds of ways to kill someone just from watching one episode. Heh, I always liked the ironing board the best. So subtle, yet so unexpected.” Francis looked up into the cloudy night sky as he reminisced about his youth. “Gotta’ love those classic cartoons. Only they had the BALLS to be so violent.”

Bill chuckled quietly as he lit a cigarette. “Yea, your parents must be so proud. Now if you’re done day-dreaming, we’ve got some zombies to maim.”

“Hey! I’ve been waiting on you for who knows how long!”

A grin spread across Bill's face as he ignored any of the biker’s further comments. He looked over to the table where Ditzy and Zoey were watching the conversation at hand. “Hey kid, you bout’ ready to head on out?”

Though she was dreadfully nervous, Ditzy was trying not to show it as she replied in a chipper tone. “I sure am! …I think. Um, h-how many zombies did you say there would be?”

“Around a hundred I’d say. That is, assuming nobody shoots any more boomers at point-blank range.” Bill shot Francis a smirk. “So there won’t be that many for now, though we are heading deeper into the city. I think it’s safe to assume that the number of zombies will increase as we make our way to the hospital.”

The nervousness was beginning to make Ditzy a bit uneasy, despite her attempts to look alright. Almost a hundred zombies?! That’s more people than there are ponies in all of Ponyville! Her stomach knotted up at the mere thought of ending a single life, not to mention hundreds of lives. And yet she would have to wade her way through all of these carnivorous monsters, killing as many as she could as she went? She said she was ready, but in truth she wasn’t anyplace near being ready.

Ditzy looked to each of the four humans standing around her, each of them giving her a reassuring smile. All except Francis, of course, who sneered at her again and hopped onto the fire escape. Trying to escape the thought of killing, she tried thinking of a way to help ease the gruff biker, and maybe even get him to like her. And idea hit her. She would make him her special muffins! All she had to do was find a bakery…

Even thinking of the mare’s favorite treat seemed to perk her up and make the whole situation a bit less dreary. She trotted over to the edge of the building and looked down into the alley below as Francis made it to the second level of the fire escape. He caught her eye as he looked up to her.

“Hey, you got wings, right? Why don’t you do something other than look stupid, and scout out the alley to make sure there aren’t any zombies, eh?”

Ditzy was glazed by the insult, but she was getting used to them now. She was about to open her wings and dive off the roof to oblige the less-than-subtle biker, but Zoey stepped up beside her and looked down at Francis. “Would you shut up already? She isn’t going to put her own life at risk for such a trivial thing! Besides, I thought you liked killing zombies.”

“Hey, I ask her to scout the alley for zombies, not kill them. And she can fly for shit’s sake! If she does find any she could just flap those miscalculations of nature and get out of there if she doesn’t have the guts to do anything else. Ain’t that right?”

Ditzy looked over to Zoey, and nodded. Francis did have a point. Besides, she really wanted to try to get on Francis’s good side, assuming there was one. “He’s right Zoey.”

Both Zoey and Francis shared a rather surprised “Huh?” as the grey pony hopped off the roof. She free-fell for a moment before steadying herself with a few well-timed flaps from her wings, resulting in a perfect landing. Not many ponies would believe it, but she actually was a rather good flyer. She glanced back up at the two slightly slack-jawed humans and gave another big grin. “I’ll be right back.”

Zoey watched as Ditzy trotted merrily down the alley. “She really can fly.”

Francis shook the surprised look off his face and replaced it with his traditional smirk. “That wasn’t flying. That was just… falling with style.”

“Must you always be so trifling?”

“Aside from killing zombies, it’s what I do best,” Francis responded as he began down the fire escape’s next flight of stairs.


The hunter sat atop the building adjacent to the apartment building, which stood a few stories higher than the apartments. From where he sat he could see the entire alley; from the mangled pile of his fallen brethren, to the ninety degree turn below him, to the long stretch that led back out to the streets.

He watched as the four legged creature made its way past the alley’s sharp turn and down the stretch towards the streets. The hunter knew that while it was in this part of the alley, the rest of the survivors would not be able to help it until they had finished descending the metal structure attached to the apartment building. It was the opportune time to set his plan into action.

The hunter turned to another special infected that was about his size, but was hunched over. He described his plan to the hunch-back zombie through a series of growls and gurgles that only other zombies could decipher. Once finished describing his plan, the hunter waved at the hunched infected to do its part. It attempted a nod and hopped off across the roof to inform its counterpart of the plan.

The hunter turned his attention back to the four legged creature as it neared the alley’s end. He growled quietly to himself as he awaited his trap to be sprung upon the unsuspecting prey.


Ditzy continued down the alley, looking around at her surroundings. What she had seen thus far reminded her of the city Fillydelphia. The alley had been littered with various scraps of this and that, mostly empty bottles and torn papers. Now Ditzy found herself in the light of an overhanging lamp post as she stood on the edge of what appeared to be some kind of street. She noticed that there were several abandoned vehicles spread around the street. Most of them reminded her of the horse-drawn carriages in Equestria.

As Ditzy continued admiring the large city around her, a thought suddenly jerked at the back of her mind. Wasn’t this supposed to be a zombie apocalypse? Where were all the zombies? She couldn’t remember seeing any since she came face to face with the one Bill called the hunter, but after that she hadn’t seen any. Yet here she was standing out in the open, and not a single zombie was in sight.

Though it made her scouting mission easier than expected, the dead silence was becoming very unsettling. Just as she turned back down the alley to rejoin the group, a loud squeal cut through the silence as something landed on her back. The creature immediately locked its legs around her mid-section, pinning down her wings, and began scratching and clawing at her head.

Her instincts kicked in as she began jumping around and bucking the air wildly in an attempt to get the unwelcome visitor off her. The creature, however, grabbed a handful of her bright-yellow hair and held on tightly to avoid being thrown off. Suddenly Ditzy felt what it was like to be on the receiving side of the last rodeo’s champion, a position that her friend Applejack had come close to winning, but was bested by competition.

About the time she expected the bell to ring, an ear-shattering blast sounded off. The creature on her back suddenly jerked to the side in an explosion of gore, pulling her with it as its legs seemed to tighten around her. After the two collapsed, Ditzy squirmed free of the creature’s legs as quickly as possible. She turned to the origins of the blast, which she discovered was the smoking barrel of Francis’s trusty shotgun.

She trotted up to the biker, relieved to see her fellow survivor. “Thanks a million Francis; that was some impressive shooting! Good thing you hit that thing and not me, eh?”

“Actually, I missed what I was aiming for,” Francis began as he inspected his weapon’s sights. “You really need to hold still next time. This thing’s sights aren’t what they used to be, you know.”

“But you killed the zombie. What else could you have been aiming for?” A very unsettling thought hit her as she reviewed the biker’s words. No, he wouldn’t do such a horrible thing. …right?

“In any case, I guess I missed my chance. Oh well, I suppose they’ll be plenty of other opportunities,” Francis concluded as a twisted grin spread across his face. Ditzy stared at Francis in shock at his less-than-subtle hint as he turned to head back down the alley.

Suddenly a zombie with a massive right arm jumped off the roof above Francis and landed in the alley a few dozen feet from him. The beast locked eyes with the biker. The two had a brief stare-off before the thing roared and charged at Francis with incredible speed. He was barely able to get a shell fired before the thing grasped the biker in its massive hand.

The beast continued its charge as it ran past ditzy and out into the street, coming to a stop when it slammed against a car. With Francis tight in the thing’s grasp, it began pounding the survivor into the ground. Francis gritted his teeth as pain surged through his very being by the massive arm. He tried desperately not to show signs of any pain, as do all badasses, but he was quickly overwhelmed and hollered in agony.

As the beast raised its inhuman arm into the air again, a grey blur sliced cleanly through it. The arm, with Francis in tow, fell limply to the ground as the monster stumbled back. The beast looked to the survivor as he writhed around in an attempt to escape the severed limb’s grip. The grey blur whooshed past it again; this time cutting through the beast’s left ribs.

The blur circled around and landed on the car behind Francis and the arm. Ditzy glared at the beast with a vengeful anger in her eyes as she gritted her teeth into the katana’s padded handle. The two looked into each other’s eye for a split second before Francis broke the silence. “What the hell are you waiting for?! KILL IT!”

The biker’s abrupt outburst distracted Ditzy, giving the beast an opportune time to escape. It turned and charged down the sidewalk away from the two survivors. With a vigorous pumping of her wings, Ditzy dashed off after it. The chase was short lived as she quickly caught up with the beast and sliced its head clean off. The body tumbled and rolled down the sidewalk as its momentum died down.

Ditzy slid the sword into the sheath and looked down at the body as she hovered in the air. Suddenly she remembered that Francis was still trapped, and she sped back to the car as fast as she could. She pulled the sword back out and concentrated on the trapped biker as her speed increased.

Francis barely had a chance to look up before he saw the grey blur speeding towards him wielding the katana. He frantically writhed around trying to escape, but to no avail. He wished he hadn’t threatened Ditzy as he closed his eyes and became still, awaiting the katana’s slice.

Francis felt a sudden gust of wind and heard the blade slice through flesh. He remained still as he felt a sudden release of pressure from around his body. Was he dead? He opened his eyes uneasily, but his vision was obscured by a massive pair of eyes. Yellow eyes, to be exact. “What the…”

“Don’t worry Francis, I cut you free! …I didn’t hurt you, did I?”

Francis blinked. He shoved Ditzy away from him as he stood up and looked himself over. “I’ve been worse, but I guess I’m fine.” He looked down at his leather vest to find it completely intact.

“Hey Francis,” Ditzy began, getting the biker’s attention.

“Yea, what is it?”

“You owe me one.”

“HA! And just how do you figure that?”

“Simple. I saved you from that zombie.”

“…After I saved you. The way I see it, we’re even.”

“Nuh uh. You said you were trying to kill me. That doesn’t count as a save.” Ditzy’s expression suddenly became a lot more concentrated and stern. “Besides, I could have easily killed you just now, but I didn’t. So the way I see it, you owe me.” As soon as she finished, her face snapped back to a wide, perky grin. Francis blinked at the pony’s brief and rather creepy change of heart. Maybe this pony really was crazy.

He huffed and mumbled under his breath as he picked his shotgun up off the ground. “Gah, whatever. It’s not like it matters,” he continued, trying to avoid another emotional shift from Ditzy. “Just don’t tell anyone what happened here, got it?”

“Why not Francis,” Bill began as he and the others stepped out of the alley into the light of the lap post. “You’re not hiding something from us, are you?”

“Err…”

Before Francis could make up an excuse, Zoey rushed over and knelt beside the blood-splattered pony. “Ditzy! Are you alright,” she began as she scanned Ditzy for any signs of injury. She stopped at the multiple scratches across Ditzy’s head and face, examining them more closely to determine how serious they were. “Some of these cuts might be serious. What happened?”

“I’m fine, thanks for asking,” Francis stated sarcastically as he crossed his arms.

Ditzy looked up to the biker and gave him a grin. “I was scouting out the alley like Francis asked, when that hunched over gremlin over there jumped me.” She pointed over to the pile of gore that had taken a ride on her back. “Luckily Francis showed up and blew it to bits before it could do any real damage. Then a big zombie with a massive arm dropped into the alley. It grabbed Francis and slammed him into the ground. Then I rescued Francis and killed the monster.”

“I thought I said don’t tell anyone! Besides, I could have saved myself if you had given me the chance,” Francis retorted as he kicked the severed arm that had gripped him.

Louis burst into laughter at the biker’s come back. “HA! Are you serious?! Dude, we could hear you screaming all the way back at the apartments!”

“Yea, we thought Ditzy might need our help.” Bill turned to Francis, who had a very un-amused look on his face. “Oh right, and you might have possibly needed help too.”

“Yea well, try to get here faster next time, alright? I don’t exactly like getting the shit beat out of me.”

“Stick with the group then. That goes for you too, Ditzy,” Bill concluded with a nod towards the pony. He knelt down over the remains of the hunch-backed zombie as he examined it. “They’re changing again. You said this thing jumped you?”

“Yea, but it didn’t pounce me like you said hunters do. It hopped on my back and tried to ride me around, almost like in a rodeo.”

Louis snapped his fingers as a though hit him. “Or one of those guys who rides race horses. What are they called again?”

“I’m pretty sure they’re called jockeys,” Francis replied. Everyone looked at him in surprise. “What? I used to know a guy who rigged races in a get-rich-quick scheme; although he got busted after a while.”

“Sounds like a good enough nick-name for this thing,” Bill continued, getting back to the subject. “But what about that other one?”

Ditzy put a hoof to her chin as she thought. “Hmm… I remember it charging forward when it attacked and when it tried to get away.”

“’Charger’ sounds like a good name then. Short, sweet, and to the point,” Louis stated.

Bill stood back up and looked down the street. “Alright then, now that that’s covered we should really get moving. Who knows how long our luck will last with these empty streets.”

The others agreed and quickly looked over their weapons one last time. When everyone was ready, Bill took point as the group made their way down the street. Everyone was keeping a sharp eye out for any signs of zombie activity except Ditzy, who was content with observing the city and all its technologically advanced glory. Technologically advanced compared to anything she had ever seen in Equestria, that is.

The city still reminded her of places like Fillydelphia and New Mare City, but the buildings and vehicles were still noticeably different from those in the cities back home. A larger vehicle that seemed to be attached to a massive tank of some kind caught her eye. The tank must have contained something extremely flammable, because it seemed to have exploded. The massive fire from the tank’s contents engulfed the vehicle and half the street, and Ditzy could even feel its heat long after they had passed.


Nobody had noticed it, but Francis had gradually fallen behind the rest of the group. He found himself alone when the others turned at a traffic light, and sprinted to catch up with the others. But before he reached the traffic light, he suddenly felt like he was being watched. Forgetting the group, he stopped where he was and turned slowly around. There was a hunter sitting atop a white SUV staring at him coldly with undead eyes.

It uttered a deep growl as its eyes met with the biker’s. As Francis looked closer, he noticed something disturbingly familiar about the special infected. There was a large spot on its forehead that was black and slightly scabbed over, as if it had been hit by a blunt object. All of a sudden Francis recollected the hunter he had encountered in the apartments, and how it had escaped his royal ass-kicking. While he remembered the beat-down fondly, he also realized that this hunter must have been the same one.

Still, even if it was the same hunter he didn’t have to worry much. It’s not like zombies think, right? Francis smirked as he slowly began to reach back for his bloody bat. The hunter’s growl grew louder however, freezing the biker’s arm in mid-air. Ok, maybe it did remember their little skirmish. Francis remembered the group, and decided to just end the standoff the best way he knew how to; with a well-placed blast from his shotgun.

Moving swiftly, he returned his hand to the shotgun and fired. The hunter moved a lot quicker, and leapt away just before the spread reached him. He grabbed onto the side of a nearby building as the shotgun’s blast sprayed the van, shattering its side windows. A shrill siren blared from the vehicle as the built-in burglary system activated the alarm. The siren echoed loudly through the city’s dead silence, reaching every crevice within the surrounding area.

Francis ignored the alarm as he watched the hunter scale the wall. It gave a quick look back at him before it climbed onto the roof and out of sight. Francis could have sworn he saw it grin at him, but he couldn’t tell from his distance. Now he turned his attention to the car as its alarm continued wailing. “I fucking HATE vans.”


The group was within sight of the entrance into the subways when Bill stopped to take a head count. “-Three, four, and… Wait, where the hell did Francis go?” Suddenly they heard a car alarm go off down the road from where they had just come from.

Zoey cocked back her pistols in preparation for the imminent horde. “Take a wild guess.”

“I’ll be DAMNED if that asshole will be able to keep us out of trouble! Is he intentionally trying to get us killed?!”

“Dunno’, but as much as I hate saying it we gotta’ go back and get him.”

“You sure we can’t just make a break for the subways and leave him?”

“Come on Bill, we don’t leave anyone behind. No matter how much of a pain in the ass they are, right?”

Bill checked his rifle as he began to hear the multitude of infected swarm towards them. “Fine, but if we survive this and he gets us into trouble AGAIN, I’m putting a bullet through his head.”

“No objection here, but we gotta’ save him first,” Zoey concluded as the group burst into a run; except for Ditzy, who opted to fly. As they neared the intersection from before Francis rounded the corner, running with all his might. The group slowed as the biker sped towards them.

The four of them stopped as Bill stepped forward. “What the hell did you do this time Francis?!”

“Can’t stop to chat at the moment,” Francis replied as he ran past the others without even slowing down. “And I would really consider running if I were you guys!”

“We should stand and fight as a group damnit!”

“Why don’t you take a gander behind you and THEN say that!”

“Francis, what are you…” As Bill turned back to where Francis had just come from, a tsunami of infected rounded the intersection. Half the city must have been on the biker’s tail! “…This is bad.”

“YA THINK?! Now where did you say that subway was, because it is sounding REALLY welcoming about now!”

Bill and the others sprinted after the biker with the massive horde hot on their heels. “It’s just up ahead, the stairs with the big red sign above them that says ‘Red Line North’!”

The horde began gaining on the survivors, despite how fast they were running. Thinking quick, Ditzy whipped out her katana and began making passes at the closer zombies. Still a good ways in front of the others, Francis ran down the stairs and out of sight. Less than a second passed before he came back up to the street where the others were still running. “The damn thing is caved in!”

“What do you mean it’s caved in?!”

“I mean there’s no way I hell we can get down there with a ton of cement blocking the stairs!”

Bill and the others made it to where Francis was as Ditzy continued slowing the horde down. The four walked down the stars to where the roof had collapsed. Bill knew that they didn’t have much time before the horde got to them, even if Ditzy was doing a damn fine job at keeping them at bay. “We need to find a way down there, and fast.”

Francis leaned against the wall and hunched over to catch his breath. Without warning, the biker fell through the wall as it collapsed into a storage room. Louis let out a laugh, despite being out of breath, as Bill looked down to the pile of rubble. Francis had been completely buried except for one of his hands, which twitched from the pain of a wall falling on him.

Bill stepped forward and firmly grasp the biker’s hand and pulled him out from under the pile. “Karma’s a bitch, aint it?”

“Not, exactly…” Zoey trailed off as she looked across the room. There, in the adjacent wall, was an open safe-house door. “I think our luck just took a turn for the better. You all get in, I’ll go get Ditzy!” She ran back up the stairs as Bill and Louis helped Francis limp over to the safe house.

When she got back to the streets, she was confronted with a much unexpected sight. Ditzy, speeding to and fro, was slicing mercilessly away at the horde. A pile of bodies had begun to form where the Pegasus had halted the zombie’s attack as she killed any and every one of them that got any closer. Zoey had to admit one thing about the little pony; she certainly did NOT expect it to be able to handle itself so well under these conditions!

The though passed as she shouted out to the pony. “Come on, we found a safe house!”

Ditzy spoke through the sword’s handle as best she could without slowing down. “Bu if ah stoph, theh zombehs whill geh yu!”

“I’ve got it covered,” Zoey replied as she lit a Molotov that had been strapped to her belt. “Just get in here!”

Ditzy obeyed and sped down the stairs as Zoey slammed the cocktail of death into the street at the subway’s entrance. Flames engulfed the top of the stairs as the two survivors dashed down to the safe-house. Several zombies attempted to give chase, but were ignited by the spreading flames and tumbled down the stairs as they burnt to death.

Zoey and Ditzy made it to the safe house, and Bill slammed the door shut behind them, giving them a ‘nice job’ as they passed. Ditzy looked around the small room and breathed a sigh of relief as she slid her katana into its sheath. Bill gave her a firm pat on the back as he stepped beside her. “You did pretty damn good for your first time, kid. Keep that up and you might just outlive us.”

“T-thanks Bill, though I wouldn’t have been able to do it without your encouragement.”

“My pleasure.”

Zoey noticed a small room to the side all of a sudden, and interrupted the conversation. “Wait, is that a bathroom?!”

“I think so, yea.”

“Oh thank HEAVENS,” she responded as she rushed in and slammed the door behind her.

Bill looked back down to Ditzy, and then to the table where Louis was patching up Francis. “Good work everyone. We’ll wait here a bit before continuing into the subway,” he spoke as he noted a second armored door across the small room. “But until then, get some rest. The worst should be behind us.” …assuming the subways aren’t crawling with more infected.


The hunter watched the fire burn where the survivors had escaped. The place they had escaped to seemed slightly familiar, but memories of himself before he was infected were blurred and barely recognizable. However, he did manage to remember that the place that they ran was called a subway. In any case, his plan to eradicate the group had failed this time, and he would have to find a way underground and follow them if he was ever going to have another chance at revenge.

After thinking so hard his head hurt, the hunter recalled another entrance into the ‘subways’ that wasn’t too far from his location. He eagerly began leaping from rooftop to rooftop as he made his way to the new destination, formulating a new plan as he went.