The Mare who Holds Man's Chaos

by uz_mike222

Chapter 5

Chapter 5

As Gruff slowly walked out of Roxy's tent with Vic under one of his arms, he quickly swept Vic's weak feet out from under him, taking Vic into his overly sized arms. As Gruff did that, though, Vic's eye's closed, constantly fluttering. It would have been easy to just snap his neck as he was in his state, since he had killed an entire squad of The Alpha's own personal guard. They were all Hounds he knew personally and would trust them with his own life. Gruff, however, would never kill anyone or any thing that was under Sub Alpha Roxy's protection or without proper and extensive proof. Gruff will admit, this human did the job he was charged with and found the proper perpetrator.

He took off at the fastest speed he could manage, shouting, "make a hole" as he passed the throngs of his fellow miners and guardsmen going between . They parted away from Gruff as he continued on, pushing his way towards a tent that was as the clouds him in the morning sky.

"Doctor Kale! Doctor Kale!" He shouted as the pony threw the flaps open with her wings. "Get your sticking rump out here this instant!"

"Alright, alright. What is it this time, Gruff?" A female's voice asked as the bitch, the female version of his own race, came from a conjoined tent in the back of the one they were standing in.

"This creature needs medical attention. He's bleeding and he's already unconscious." Gruff told the doctor but something affixed her stare. Her ears sat up and were pointed in one direction. He looked behind him and saw the little pony walk up next to him, her eyes staring back at Kale.

"Kale, if you so much as blink at this pony, I will rip out your throat and feast on your entrails as if you were of her own species." Gruff growled in a low voice, watching Kale turn her attention back to Gruff, his growl growing louder and becoming more intimidating.

After a half minute of staring back, curiosity in her eyes. She backed down quietly, baring her throat as she arched her back.

"Good. You will relinquish your quarters and start treating this creature. Immediately" Gruff ordered and she bared her throat again.

He was led towards the conjoined tent, moving straight over to the cot and gently set Vic down on the bed, his head resting on the pillow. Gruff, with the help of Kale, who was watching that pony, whenever she could, but Gruff had to keep growling to keep the bitch's eyes on her work instead of watching and Gruff thought he had to growl one more time to keep Kale on her job, he would snap her neck after that. Luckily for the human, they stripped him down to only his shorts.

"What's that?" The pony asked as she looked at something on his arm. Her wings beating a small breeze as she hovered over Vic. The bitch ran outside of the tent, leaving Gruff and the pony alone.

"It looks like some drawings on his skin, but..." Gruff trailed off rubbing a gentle paw onto one of the drawings.

"It seems, Guards Dog Gruff, that said drawings are fully set into this creatures skin and these drawings are precise and whoever did this used a thin needle, plus this creature willingly sat down to have these drawings put into his skin, especially the one on his back. Anyway, I want you both out of here so I can work on this creatures wounds

"I'm not going anywhere," the pony told Kale in a cold but authority like tone. She slightly flinched, huffed then started spreading a salve onto the many small cuts on his upper right arm.

She continued down onto his left leg, where two cuts conjoined each other as they made their way down his lower leg. Kale wrapped up both arm and leg, as Gruff sat down in the chair that was in the corner. She then moved over to the gash that opened up part of his side on his right. Unlike the wounds on his leg and arm, the gash was treated with a bit of alcohol, the salve and then Kale sewn it shut, wrapping a long bandage around his waist.

-

As Vic woke up, he saw the folded top of a tent. The moon had apparently left the sky as it transformed into the Sun, bathing the top of his tent with a brilliant light, showing him that the tent was white. Too brilliant, he thought, as he sat up with a hand over his eyes. He brought his other hand up and began to rub his face with both of them. He felt for the scar that would have been surely on the left side of his forehead. It, however, was gone, to his surprise.

His body tensed as his gut began to scream at him that something was wrong because he knew a wound couldn't have healed itself in a single night. Or had it been a single night? Vic figured he went into a coma on his way out of that Diamond Dog’s tent. He relaxed at the easiest and most logical answer that his mind gave him, but he stayed on cautious, just to be safe.

He stretched out his arms with a yawn and ran a hand through his longer than normal hair. Vic then grabbed a his own hair and pulled on it, grimacing at the fact that it was long, not to mention it hurting him as he pulled it very graciously. It was long enough for someone to grab it, which was not good for a close quarters fight since it would be a huge disadvantage.

He looked down and saw that he was completely stripped of his clothes save for his underwear. But what got him annoyed was that he sitting down in the dirt instead of a cot that would normally would be used for healing medical patients. He stood up, dusting off the dirt from his butt and hands. Vic looked over to his left and saw his clothes neatly folded on top of a chair.

He picked up the his black shirt, however, his eyes went wide as he let it unfold itself, revealing cuts that were long and wide while randomly crossing each other on both the front and the back. He threw the shirt away from him in horror and confusion and quickly picked up the white shirt, which revealed the same exact cuts.

Vic threw that shirt also, before picking up his pants. As he did, he closed his eyes and gave a quick prayer that the pants were at least alright. He opened his eyes to dismay, showing him the pants were completely shredded from the waist down to the bottom with small cuts that compounded into each other. He tossed them away, also, landing atop the thrown away shirts. Vic then wrapped himself in a bearhug as a cold wind blew in from the opening of the tent, its flaps moving in and out.

He moved cautiously towards the front of the tent, holding the flaps closed in place as his teeth audibly clicked against each other rapidly. He closed his eyes against the bright light the Sun beat against his eyelids as he slowly opened the tent flaps.

Vic took in a deep breath, but he didn't like the smell that forced itself into his nose as it smelt of something metallic and something both burnt or still burning. He opened his eyes, feeling them going extremely wide and his mouth slowly opening in disgust.

The next thing he knew, he was on the ground, throwing up bile near his head while in the fetal position. He lifted his head and looked again at the bodies that lay strewn about everywhere. They were cut to pieces and/or held severe burns on their skin.

Dried blood covered the ground of what looked like a burnt down campsite. The tents were in shambles; some even held small fires on their canvas. Among the tents and bodies, clothes, suitcases, bags, food, toys, and many other things were scattered around randomly. But what for what reason? Vic asked himself as he started focusing more on the objects than the bodies

He stumbled his way through the camp looking at a few faces to see who it was and they all turned out to be the same face: his own. Even the cuts on the bodies were the same as the ones he saw on his clothes, which scarred him deeply as he crawled away from the last body he turned.

Vic let out frantic gasps of breath as he stood up shakily and ran in a random from any of the bodies. He was hoping to find a way out of the nightmarish campsite he found himself in. However, his route literally stretched out in front of him. He sped by the same tent, over and over again, but he did it in the slowest manner possible. He also noticed that, though he was sprinting at his best pace, he was only running in the same spot. Vic stopped running, knowing he wasn't leaving the site, as he stooped over himself, using his knees to hold him as sweat dripped from his brow, sucking in more blood and burnt meat scented air as he tried to regain the air his lungs expelled trying to get out.

He closed his eyes for just a split second, but it felt like hours to him, and found himself in another medical tent, fully dressed in his normal attire, save for his poncho, brown "scarf" and pack. His newly acquired bow shaft was tied along its quiver, with its own string, which held fifty steel tipped arrows in its wide mouth. It sat snugly across his lower back, pointing slightly up to keep the arrows inside, though he didn't know why the tips were facing outside instead of the fletching. However, he didn't want to take the chance of seeing something he wouldn't like.

He was looked around the tent for a bit, but it was all black, save for the two walls that he was able to see, and a bed. He looked down at the bed and he saw the bright cyan colored pony with her rainbow colored mane. Her forehead and right eye was bandaged while her front right hoof was in a sling. Both wings were held out from the bed, completely wrapped in bandages. She was a prettier sight to see compared to campsite he was just at, but he knew something happened to her.

The pony slowly opened her eye, focusing it onto Vic. He looked into the one eye and saw it was completely devoid of life, which made him subtly step back from the pony in reflex.

“Hey Vic, I didn’t expect to see you here.” She said, resting her head against the pillow while staring up at his face until a coughing fit came up. Once it was over, she focused upon his face again. “Then again, I never expected you of all the creatures I knew to do this to me. I was lucky to get out alive myself, however, I don't know about the others. I should have done what you told me to do. We all should have listened to you. However, I didn't expect for you to do this at all. Not at all.” She said, her voicing almost coming out as a whisper at the end, closing her eye before it did.

“Wait, Rainbow Dash!” Vic shouted at her as he grabbed her shoulders. “What did I tell you to do that you never followed?”

“You said to-” she began another coughing fit, but this one had blood spraying all over an olive drab colored blanket that looked like it was made of wool, the white sheets showing under them.

The fit lasted a rough minute until she finally whispered to Vic with her last breath, “Nighty night, Vic.” After uttering those words, her lips still held a small smile that was warm.

Vic, on the other hand, kneeled down next to the now lifeless body that was his former friend. He grabbed her left leg and cried silently into it.

-

Rainbow Dash was happily asleep on the floor of the medical tent they took Vic to once they had left Roxy’s own command tent. She was using Vic’s rabbit fur poncho as a blanket, until she heard Vic start whispering something which made her take off the poncho itself.

In her annoyance, she drowsily picked her head up, rubbed her eyes with her legs and used her wings picked up her body as she flapped over to Vic, hovering in place over him. She sleepily looked at him, noticing his head was shaking back and forth rapidly while sweat slowly beaded down his face.

Rainbow grabbed his face with both of her hooves, then slapped both of his cheeks, shouting at him to wake up. He didn’t even move an inch and said nothing.

In her sleepy mind, Rainbow thought that something shocking should wake him up. She thought about it for a minute and decided that licking him in the face like Winona would probably help wake him up quickly. He giggled happily, which completely surprised Rainbow, but he ended it quickly with a sigh, “Stop it Michelangelo. It’s only four in the morning. Two more hours please.” He turned onto his left side and fell back to sleep, his breathes even and peaceful.

Rainbow Dash just sighed in annoyance while shrugging and flew back to her spot under Vic’s poncho, falling quickly to sleep.

-

When morning came, Vic’s eyes opened up and he was again greeted to the folded top of a white tent, like the one in his dream. However, he could hear voices shouting outside as bodies moved about while talking and laughing happily. He sat up and uncontrollably yawned while stretching, wincing as the cut on his right arm flashed with a sudden pain. He knew then that everything was real since he could feel pain.

Vic slowly took in the entirety of the tent like a panoramic view: on his right was a small end table with what looked like a kerosene or gasoline lamp that must have been put out during the night. The table also held his dog tags, his two pictures, both his K-Bar, which was in its sheath, and his pocket knife. along with his wallet. He scanned the room some more, moving away from the end table. Vic saw a chair in the corner on the left of the tents entrance. He continued to scan until he saw the sleeping form of Rainbow Dash. Her belly was facing up while all four legs were splayed to the side in random positions, her mouth wide open as she snored softly; his poncho was off to the side of her, crumpled up next his bed, until she grabbed it began using it as a blanket as she rolled onto her right side.

Vic saw a third chair in the corner on the left side of his cot. It looked like it held his clothes his machete and his newly acquired bow and quiver, but he noticed that his quiver held the bristling fletchings of many arrows. The feathers looked freshly plucked, unlike the ones he grabbed from the old tower which were grimy and probably wouldn't have been able to fly farther than twenty yards.

He swung his legs out from the covers, sighing in relief that his boxers were still around his waist. He stood up like he normally would, but the pain that was brought to him by the action made him sit back down on the small, wooden cot. Vic looked down at it and found his left calf and shin was completely wrapped in bandages, from the bottom part of his knee to an inch above his ankle.

He sucked in a giant breath as he braced himself and pushed himself off the bed, throwing himself onto his feet. He thrusted his arms out. Vic quickly regained his balance and brought his wounded leg up so he could use his toes to keep his balance, trying not to put any pressure on it. Vic then hobbled over to his clothes, using the chair’s arms to brace himself as he set down his machete next to his bow and quiver, which was set against the side of the chair. He quickly picked his clothes up and set them down on his lap while sitting down, exhaling happily.

Vic unwrapped his leg to assess the damage, laying the bandage across the top of his clothes. The cut ran from the bottom side of his knee down to the almost middle of his calf. Another cut continued, at another angle, from the first cut down to the top of his Achilles Heel. It came close to touching both bones in his leg, but he figured he was lucky that it never did even come close to touching the bone. Vic sighed unhappily at the thought of cutting his traveling time short, but he’s going to have to stop to rest his wounded leg, working it back up to the point it was at before the cut. At least I'll be able to walk, He thought to himself as he wrapped the bandage around his leg again, picking up a pair of long black socks that was left on top of the pile.

Vic slipped the socks on, happy that they were long enough to cover the bandage. He slipped the pants on over his legs, pulling them up to his knees, standing up slowly as he pulled his pants on. He sighed as he sat back down in annoyance that he realized that his stuff was on the other side of the cot. But he didn’t dwell on it for long as he put his boots on, wrapping the laces around the bottom part of his pants then tied them off. He pulled the excess of his pants around the boots themselves and grabbed his undershirt. Vic grunted as he stood back, picking up his left leg again.

He waited to put his shirt until his leg stopped hurting. He slowly pulled it on and stuffed the hem into his pants, which he buttoned up, grunting at his right side, since he forgot the cut there, but he’ll look at the later. He was surprised that the shirt, even his pants bore no cuts on them. Vic took off the bandage that was wrapped around his bicep and saw that the entirety of it was covered in cuts that ran in every angle. He was surprised that there was even more than one cut on his arm. I underestimated the little Dog, Vic thought to himself as he wrapped the bandage around his arm again. He slowly pulled his arm through the sleeve, then pulled his other through its respective sleeve. He slipped through the neckline and pulled the shirt down, letting it hang loose.

He grabbed his machete in light hands, which was in its sheath, throwing it around his chest so that the top of the strap rested on his left shoulder, the handle poking out from a bit above his waist. Vic picked up and slipped through the quiver's strap. Vic let it hang around his waist as he unstrung the bow, grabbing the strap and pulling it tight. He wrapped the string quickly around the strap and the quiver as much as he can until he tied it off. He let the string go and saw the belt didn't slack. He grabbed the bow handle and shoved it between his machete's sheath and his back.

He pulled on the straps again, making sure everything was tight until he was satisfied with the way everything was setup. Vic sat down on the cot slowly, swung his legs to the other side and grabbed his personal effects that sat upon the table: his old dogtags, his wallet, the two pictures, his K-Bar, which was in its boot sheath and his pocket knife. He stuffed the wallet and pocket knife into his back right pocket, while gently sliding the pictures into his right cargo pocket. He slid his dogtags over his neck, stuffing the chain into both of his shirts, letting it drape over his chest and grabbed his boot sheath. Thankfully it had adjustable clasps which he brought his right leg up and clasped the sheath on the outside of his boot, making sure it was nice and tight against it.

Vic slid his left arm sleeve up until it was past his elbow. He rested the arm on his leg, with his palm facing up, watching as a chip that was one inch in length on everyside slowly rise from its hiding spot under the synthetic skin that made up the bottom part of his arm and the entirety of his hand. The chip stopped, its place directly under his wrist, and a hologram of a name appeared, along with a birth date, a serial number, gender and religious preference.

More of the chips popped up until half of the synthetic arm was covered with them, while each individual chip's hologram came up, showing the same information the first one did. Vic slid his right index finger down the length of the chips until he got to the last row. He touched two of the three there and all the holograms disappeared, save for the first chip that came up. He touched the name, the voice of the person reading it aloud: "Jenichi Hashiro. Born on July 20th, 2015 at 1847 hours. Serial number: 571C58Q. Sex: Male. Religious Preference: Budhism. Death: January 11th, 2038."

Vic tapped the hologram again and the voice stopped before it could repeat itself. He touched the chip itself and the hologram disappeared. He touched the next one in line, along with its hologram: "Kailey Sheffer. Born August 1st, 2012 at 0410 hours. Serial number: 147A24H. Sex: Female. Religious Preference: Roman Catholic. Death: January 11th, 2038." He sent the hologram away before touching the next one, but he stopped himself. He almost pressed his finger against the chip, but instead of touching it, he wrapped his entire hand around all of them then pressed down with a slight pressure. Vic pulled his hand back and watched with a subtle pain as the chips sunk back under the synthetic skin, waiting to be called again.

He stood up again as he slid the sleeve down his arm, grunting with pain as he stepped onto his leg again and frowned that he didn’t see his pack and his "scarf" everywhere as he looked around the tent one last time, until the tent flaps opened.

“Leaving somewhere?” asked the Diamond Dog camp leader as she walked into the tent, his pack's top handle wrapped tightly around in a paw. He noticed she was trying to hide another pack behind her slim form.

“Maybe,” he replied in a neutral tone, trying to not put a lot of his weight on his left leg. "What about you?"

She strode forward as she kept her eyes on him, moving towards Rainbow Dash, whose form was back to the position he first saw her in.

"Maybe," The Doberman made a small noise that probably was a small chuckle, “But you look like you’re ready to go out and kill someone. Tell me, Victor, how are your wounds healing up?”

“Better than normal, but then again, I’ve had worse wounds this.” He told her, his tone still neutral, as he clasped his hands behind his back. “Now, let me ask you a question: are you sure you want to leave this camp with me? I’ve seen animals like you, moving and hunting in packs of around ten to fourteen bodies. I’ve even stayed with a pack for the better part of a year, and yet I’ve never once seen the Alpha leader voluntarily leave her pack just to travel with a creature she barely just met. However, you, on the other hand, want to. Why?”

“Because I’m the best tracker in this entire camp and I can lead you to something similar to your target.” she replied haughtily as she looked towards him. “I’ve left Gruff and Jackal in charge. They’re part of our leader’s own personal troop. Besides, they’ve been together since they were both pups. They can handle running the camp together.”

“Point taken. And I can already see it in your eyes that you are not going to back down and take “no” for an answer. With that said, are you ready to travel long distances in a random direction while taking orders from me?”

“Ready and willing to,” She answered with a low growl at the last part of his sentence.

Vic figured she didn’t like the thought of someone else in charge. She’d probably snap his neck than take an order, but he’s going to have to remain strong as they traveled, trying to show no hint of anything that would give her cause to kill him. Gotta love predatory animals.

“Excellent. I also assume Miss Rainbow Dash’s saddle bags hold food in it for herself?” He asked as he deftly hobbled over to Roxy, grabbing his pack from her hands and wrapped his brown cloth around his neck, sticking it into his shirts.

“It will be filled with much oats, hay or grain, depending on what the pony wants.” Roxy said in a flat tone of her own as she looked at the sleeping form of the Pegasus.

Vic nodded at that and slipped on his pack on after adjusting it so the pack fit comfortably. He then moved over to Rainbow Dash and stooped down without trying to show Roxy any weakness at all. Vic shook the sleeping form of the pony, softly calling out her name.

Her eyes fluttered open, fixing themselves onto him. A smile slowly formed on her lips. “I didn't know you were up. How’s your wounds?” She asked groggily while moving around to stand on all four hooves.

“They healed quickly, but the damage to the nerves is still there so we’re going to take it easy on the travel for a week at least. Anyway, I’m guessing your saddlebags are outside and they're waiting for you?” he looked at Roxy, who gave him a curt nod. “So hurry up and let’s go.” He stood up.

“What about your poncho?” She asked after a yawn and rubbed her eyes then picked it up with her mouth, throwing it over herself.

“I actually don't need it anymore, so if you want, I can give it to you?” He answered her with a small smile.

Her eyes went wide at that but he guessed she saw the seriousness twinkle in his eyes, making her look down at it. “I’ll gladly take it.” A small smile shone on her lips for the brief part of a second before disappearing. “How am a I going to walk with it on?”

“I have an idea,” He told her as he plucked it off of her back. Vic dusted the dirt off the rabbit skin and grabbed his pocket knife, stabbing into a quarter way down from the neckline. He quickly cut his way down the poncho, until the knife left it. “Try it on,”

She quickly shoved her head into the opening, but it almost became stuck in the neckline. She her wings gave her the extra force to push past it. The poncho hung around her body, the opening he made hung around legs, almost touching the floor. The Pegasus slowly brought her wings up so they spread outwards, then upwards.

“This thing fits comfortably and I can spread out my wings too,” She said with a smile as she took to the air, the poncho flapping as she flew around the small tent.

“Poncho’s were made for the wearer to be able to fully use their arms while keeping them warm. However, the ones that were normally made were made from a blanket, but I made mine out of tent canvas and of course, rabbit fur. Anyway, are you ready to leave?” Vic asked as she landed in front of him again.

“Of course, sir!” She barked at him, while snapping a crisp salute. Rainbow then cantered out of the tent, followed behind Roxy and Vic, who made sure he left nothing there.

They left the medical tent and traveled through the camp until they reached an old but sturdy gate. Vic saw warriors standing watch atop the gate.

As they moved through the gate, the guards brought up their spears in front of them and howled mournfully in a low tone. Roxy replied back the same way, nodding as the warriors arched backwards and bared their throats. Roxy turned away from the gate and all three walked into the forest that laid beyond the simple wooden gate.

The three kept moving through the forest, stopping only at times for Vic to rest. They stopped twice before only for a scant two minutes before moving on. But on the third stop, as Vic began to make a fire, Rainbow Dash dropped something in front of him. Vic looked down at that something and saw it was a long stick. He picked it up and used it to pull himself out of his seat on a log. He looked at the stick and saw that it was a quarter of hand taller than himself.

He sat down as he pulled out his pocket knife, then he looked over at Rainbow as she moved over to her saddlebags.

“I still can’t believe you brought her along,” Rainbow scolded as she sat down across the fire from Vic, who began stripping the bark off the stick that was as tall as him.

“I didn't have much of a choice in the matter.” He replied back under his breath, striking the stick with his pocket knife.

“What were your choices?”

“Simple choices really," he said, stopping his whittling to look at Rainbow Dash, who moved closer to him. "A: I let her come with us and live. B: She rips my throat out and you’ll be forced to head back home or C: We both die. So I opted for the one where we all win.” Vic replied as Roxy placed a paw on his right shoulder as she walked by him.

“And it was a wise choice indeed,” She said with a smile that unhinged Vic about as she passed the both of them.

“Yeah. Wise choice indeed,” He repeated under his breath with a quirky smile as he returned to whittling the bark off. "If only I had some varnish."

"What's that?" Rainbow Dash asked as she watched the knife.

"A type of coating for wood that seals it so it becomes waterproof and it doesn't become tarnished." Vic answered, stopping the whittle and pulled up his right sleeve, making sure the cuts on his arms started bleeding again. It was still white.

"I have another question for you, Vic." Rainbow dash asked as she moved closer to him, dragging the poncho along.

"Shoot," he said making sure the serrated part of his pocket knife was still sharp.

"Well, as the doctor looked at you to asses your damage, I happened to see that you a whole bunch of cutie marks on your left arm and one giant one on your back. I was wondering what they mean." She asked.

"Cutie what?" Vic asked, eyes showing confusion as he set his pocket knife on the ground. Rainbow Dash explained to him what a cutie mark was and she told him what her's meant. "Oh. Okay. Now I understand. But that's not what those are, really. The ones on my left arm are small little reminders of what military units I have been in and how many friends I have made within those units. The one on my back, however, is a mythological animal that was the protector of an ancient land. Those people revered these animals like they were gods, or feared them, depending on where you were at. The dragon on my back however, is my guardian and she gets to choose the person that I will spend with for the rest of my life. If that person can achieve balance within themselves, then they'll be able to grab the key and use it to unlock the heart. I digress, however. Anything else?" he asked, looking at Rainbow expectantly.

"I got one," Roxy chimed as she strode over, a rabbit in her paw. "What happened to your left arm? I saw you touch it with your fingers and it spoke in many different voices."

Vic sighed heavily, placing both hands on the back of his head. he brought them down and clasped them together, his eyes going red for a split second. "I will show you this only once. I will tell you what you saw, only once. After that, no questions them or my arm. Never ask or I will kill you, both. Do you two understand?" He asked as his voice became hard and his eyes grew distant and cold while grabbing the pocket knife, the blade pointing to the ground. Rainbow audible heard Roxy swallow as they both nodded. "Good,"

He pulled up his left sleeve past his elbow, pressing slightly against his the back of his forearm, exhaling in slight pain as the chips on his arm rose again, the holograms popping up. He pressed his index finger against the bottom row and slide it down, turning off the holograms.

"These are the serial chips every member of my country's military had implanted into them when they joined. The orders I have been given was to retrieve every chip from the corpse under my command. We platoon leaders are given this type of synthetic arm to house the chips in until the arm's storage is full or when we retire, at which point, we are to return the chips so they can used again. It's the basic duty of any Lieutenant when a soldier under his or her command dies." His grew distance.

He touched one of the chips in the middle and hit the hologram, letting the voice tell his two companions about the owner. "Hussam Ali' Shihaf. Born on December 5th, 2016. Serial number: 571L26R. Sex: Male. Religious Preference: Islam. Death: January 16th, 2038." Vic touched the hologram and touched the chip. He then pressed another chip's hologram, the one he didn't want. "Kelly Hanlan. Born on October 18th, 2012. Serial number: 684K15C. Sex: Female. Religious Preference: None. Illegal Chip Removal: September 8th, 2040." Vic muttered something in a language that made no sense to Rainbow or the Diamond Dog under his breath and made the chip's contents go away.

"Okay. Now since I've shown you this, never speak of this to anyone, and never ask about those two names. Especially the last one. If you have thoughts, keep them to yourselves." He seethed as he pushed the chips away, moving away from the camp fire in a predatory fashion.

They sat quietly, eating their respective dinners, in silence, later that night without even uttering a word.

It wasn't until the next morning that Vic, Roxy and Rainbow Dash continued on through the forest, stopping once during midday. He aired at all three areas that were wounded, especially his side, for a couple of minutes. Vic wrapped up the wounds and so they continued on out of the forest and to the base of a mountain range a few days later.

They made their way through the lowest part of the mountain range, taking them another week, all the while following Roxy as she led them through.

After safely traversing the mountain range and reaching the base, they saw a sparse forest and in the distance they saw smoke rising up from some miles away. As Vic and Rainbow Dash made their way through the tall grass that grew upon the base, however, Roxy hadn't moved from the spot.

"I must return to my pack for they will grow restless if I am gone any longer." Roxy explained as soon as Vic stopped and turned towards her.

Vic nodded in understanding, and watched as Roxy bounded back toward the path they came from. He turned away watching as Rainbow continued on down, her entire body covered with the poncho save for her head and her hooves.

It took sometime for the two of them to reach the edge of the forest but they made before twilight and began to prepare a small camp for themselves. They got a fire going by the time the sun had set.

Rainbow Dash had fallen asleep an hour after she had eaten, but Vic couldn't as he pulled the chips back out. He went down the list, listening the many names of the voices who owned those names, save for the one he didn't want to touch. The one that belonged to his wife.

Something snapped loudly, making him press the chips down and quickly grabbing his K-Bar.

By the time he had his knife out, a rope had snagged his neck. Luckily he had his left hand up, struggling to keep the rope, and whoever owned it from choking him. Vic slowly brought his head forward, then swung it backwards, throwing himself onto his attacker while knocking the wind out of him. He quickly stood up, throwing the rope away and picked up the man by his throat, shoving the man against the dirt near fire.

"Cap?"

"Mel?"