The Trotting Dead

by Harmonic Scrible

The First Time for Everything

Author's Note:

I'm back, yay! I'm sorry it took so long for me to come out with this next chapter. I took some time to deal with a whole bunch of life issues, my computer dying a couple of times, and losing my physical copies of this story. But I'm back on track and I'm going to be writing again. Anyways enough of me, on to the new chapter! More to come soon.

The First Time For Everything

Soaked had found himself getting better at dodging the crazed cannibals, using a mixture of weaving around them and pushing them away with his bat. He started using debris and powered carts as a form of cover. The sickness seemed to have dulled their senses, and Soaked was going to use that to his advantage. Before too long he had reached Cynfilliana's local police station.

Sand bags formed a barricade around the front entrance while blood and shell casings littered the ground. Of the two large double doors, one bore wooden planks and nails while the other had a shattered safety glass window and was hanging slightly ajar. Soaked realized there must have been some kind of fight, which included something large and heavy enough to damage the door. Avoiding the blood stains, bits of gore and glass Soaked entered the building with his bat at the ready.

The foyer was deserted of any life with papers spilled across the floor and chairs tipped over. There was three doors leading out of the room other than the entrance. Soaked went to the nearest door and tried it with a hoof, to find it was locked. He turned to the recieveing desk and took a quick look around for any movement. When he could detect none he placed his bat on the counter and began climbing over. He got his first hind leg over when he acidentally kicked his bat to the ground.

Soaked stumbled over the counter too quickly now and fell, landing on his rear. He reached out for his bat when he heard a *Click* Soaked froze in place "If you can hear me, don't move."

Soaked sat on his rump and attempted to stay completely still. "I'm going to ask you to turn around and put your hooves up, and when I do you're going to comply or have a brand new hole in your head that wasn't there before." Terrified, Soaked nodded slowly. "Good, now turn around." Soaked shuffled his waist and turned around while raising his fore hooves up and into sight. A fairly large dark grey pegasus stallion with a short rust coloured mane stared back at him wearing a basic gun saddle with a firing bit for his mouth. Evidently the click Soaked had heard was the revolver connected to said saddle being primed. The stallion looked over him with great intensity, "Were you bit?"

The question had caught Soaked off guard,
"W-what?"
The stallion's glare hardened,
"Were you bit, by one of those... things, out there?"
The stallion gestured behind Soaked.

"N-No I wasn't. I've been avoiding them as much as possible."
The stallion unprimed his gun and took a step closer to Soaked, still keeping a weary eye on him.
"Good then come over here, maybe we can keep you that way."
Soaked nodded slowly and grabbed his bat off the floor before following the strange stallion into one of the doors.

The stallion had procured a hammer from behind the door and started speaking in a low tone. "So, why are you here? Thought this town was abandoned when I showed up." The stallion spoke through the handle of the hammer and glanced around the hall way he was leading Soaked down as he did so. Soaked considered his answer before finally saying something.

"Well I thought I'd come try to get any leads on where my family is. Or at least a way to get to Marelanta." The stallion raised a brow, "Marelanta? Came in from that way, city was overrun last I saw." Soaked's countenance fell upon hearing those words and he immediately began to fear for the safety of his family. "Also heard that there was a few groups of ponies still holding out in there. Doing damn well, what I heard." The stallion hadn't looked back at him but if he had he would have seen the relief plaster itself along his face.

"Anyways, what you want to go out there for?" This time the stallion looked over at Soaked, his face had returned to being somewhat neutral, "My nan lives is the suburbs there of Marelanta. I thought maybe if I couldn't find my family has here, that I might find them with her."

The stallion stopped and turned around to look Soaked fully, "Why aren't you with them now then?"
"I had an accident while I was working in the hospital, got knocked down a flight of stairs and-"

A cracking sound came from behind a door beside the stallion which immediately dropped into a defensive stance facing the door. Soaked looked at the door and the stallion. He held his hammer tightly in his mouth and slowly reached for the door handle, stopping just short of it. The stallion motioned for Soaked to come over to the door, who nodded and moved in front of the door. "I'm going to count to 3 using my hoof, when I'm done I want you to open the door and back away, got it?" Nervously Soaked nodded and put his hoof forward. The stallion slowly counted
Tap
Tap
Tap

Soaked swung the door open and something, or rather somepony fell face first on the ground and immediately began growling at the pair. Without any hesitation the stallion brought the hammer down on the pony's head with a sickening crunch. Soaked watch in shock as the stallion pulled back the hammer revealing a now split skull and a twitching growling pony. Apparently not satisfied with mutilating the pony, he brought the hammer back down this time going through the pony's skull and rendering it still. A tiny speck of blood rested upon the stallions grey coat and nearly covered the head of the hammer. The stallion looked up at Soaked and looked as if to ask a question, before Soaked's vision died out and he feinted.

***

Soaked began stirring and opened his eyes to blurriness, soon shapes took form and objects rendered before him. Bookshelves lined the walls of the room and Soaked himself was leaning up against a desk. In front of him the stallion sat with a azure coated filly laying her head on his hind leg and sleeping, the stallion was leaning against a door with an opaque glass window. The last thing Soaked recalled was walking through the hall with the stallion... And him killing that other pony from the doorway. Nausea built its way up inside of Soaked as he felt that same horror and anxiety from when he first saw Crimson eating another pony. The stallion was gently running his hoof through the filly's mane when he has noticed Soaked had moved. He continued to watch the filly as he spoke.

"I had to do it, you know that right?" Soaked kept his face as neutral as he possibly could, resolving that this was a dangerous pony. He did however raise an eyebrow at the comment, "No I don't. What do you mean?"

"They aren't ponies anymore, those creatures out there. They turn cold and lose everything they once were. Once they've been bitten they catch a terrifyingly bad fever. It's like no amount of medicine or curing magic can slow it down..." A sorrow crept into the corners of his eyes. Soaked was getting more confused by the second, "B-But they are still moving, how can they be dead?" The stallion looked up at Soaked and shook his head while slightly shrugging his shoulders. "Beats me, but they do die. Then they come back as those monsters... And all those monsters think about is eating the rest of us."

The filly still slept on his lap, as he stroked her mane. That same sorrow tugged at the corners of his eyes,
"Juniper Sky, her mama-" the Stallion gestured to the sleeping filly, "got bitten a couple weeks ago. Came down with a fever and passed on the next night. Thought that was the end of it, but an hour later she started to move around again."
A smile crept onto the stallions face as a tear dripped from his eye, "We were so happy at first, then she tried to bite little Cobalt Sky here. The crazed dead look in her eyes told me that she was no longer there. She was no longer my Juniper Sky."

The melancholic look on the stallion's face hardened quickly as he wiped the stray tears away with his free hoof. Soaked let his countenance fall to a sad frown and studying the stallion as he recounted what happened to his wife. He reached a hoof over gently placing it on the stallion's shoulder, "I-I'm sorry to hear that. I can only imagine what that must feel like."

The stallion brushed off the the hoof while nodding his thanks to Soaked. And then put on a forced smile and chuckled lightly, as if trying to force away the depressed air around them.

"Feels good to at least get that out there. Haven't talked to anyone but Cobalt here since Juniper." The stallion held up his hoof facing Soaked, "Name's Copper Gale."

Copper's smile turned more genuine as he continued to hold up his hoof for Soaked, who bummed his hoof with Copper. Soaked half-heartedly returned the smile.

"Soaked Bandage." Copper turned to look at his filly still holding his smile in place, "It's good to know we aren't the only two ponies in this madness still alive around here."

Soaked nodded and took a better look around the room now that he wasn't quite so worried that he'd be the next of Cynfilliana's ever growing list of ponicide victims. The room appeared to be the office of one of the higher ranked constabularies. A couple of framed pictures were on the desk and shelves above the place where a chair should be. Alove the hanging shelves a few diplomas stood proudly. The name Short Stacks hung bared itself proudly for anyone to see who entered the room.

'Police Chief Short Stacks office,' Soaked thought to himself, 'sure hope he got out alright.'
He continued looking about the room noticing how clean it was compared to every where else he saw. Though it had a lived in appearance thanks to Copper and Cobalt staying there. A pair of adult saddle bags and a filly sized one lay off in the corner closest to the window and beside them and under the window Soaked's saddle bags rested.

A well used pair of sleeping bags were rolled up and hitched to the Copper's bags. Soaked's eyes drifted over to the Pegasus stallion. A faux leather harness clung to his frame retaining a small mouth held revolver, Soaked had seen one like it before on Short Stacks holster.

Soaked changed his attention to the sleeping filly, the little pegasus had a light grey coat with a cobalt coloured mane. She was devoid of a cutie mark. His smile became a little less half hearted at the sight of the sleeping filly. Soaked's eyes drifted to Copper's partially covered cutie mark, it looked like a pair of gears made from clouds connecting together. 'Must be some kind of weather engineer or something' Soaked thought to himself.

Soaked finally took a good look out the window he noticed the light had been fading to night. "Might as well get some rest, I've got a plan but it will have to wait for the morning." Copper said as Soaked dropped down from the window ledge. "In the meantime, you know a bit about me and Cobalt, what about you?" Copper patted a spot on the ground opposite of himself. Soaked took the meaning and trotted up and sat down, back against the desk.
And began explaining what had happened to him since this whole thing started.

***

"Seriously, you've been unconscious since this whole curse started?" The look of bewilderment was plastered on Cobalt's face. At some point the filly had awoken to the sounds of talking and now was hanging off of Soaked's words. "Yeah I guess, I mean the last thing I remember before waking up in the patient ward was getting pushed down some stairs. then when I woke up it felt like the place had been abandoned, there wasn't a sign of life anywhere in the hospital." Soaked scratched the back of his head with a hoof. The little gray filly had bright green eyes that looked up at him sad and affectionate. "Ohh I'm so sorry to hear that mister, that must have been terribly confusing for you."

Soaked shrugged his shoulders and shook his head, "It was confusing, but It feels like if I hadn't been there I'd probably be with the monsters right now. Somepony blocked the door off for me before they left." Soaked had a good idea of who, and began feeling uneasy about it. His face dropped a little but quickly recovered. "Don't matter now, I'm still here and I have an idea of where my family headed. They aren't here so they must have gone out towards Marelanta."

Copper's face grew grim, "Like I said, came in from that way, It's overrun with those monsters, you sure you want to go out that way?" Soaked shrugged and steeled his resolve, "Don't matter, my family is out that way and I'm going to find them" Copper smiled at Soaked, patting his shoulder with a hoof, "I can see I'm not going to stop you so I'll at least I try and set you up for successfully going there."

"Remember that plan I mentioned earlier? Well now that there's two of us we might have a chance of pulling it off, assuming you don't feint like last time." Copper smirked at Soaked who blushed and grimaced at him. "It wasn't like I meant to faint I've just never seen somepony do that to another pony..." Copper looked at Soaked sadly.

"I know what that's like, it really takes the pony out of you to do it. But seems like these days we got to lose some inner pony to let the outer pony stay true." Copper's sad look hardened into resolve, "Either way, we need every advantage we can get right now. And there's a big advantage held in the lock up. There's a couple of guns and vests in there, problem is there's no way to open it, from up here." Soaked raised his brow at that "What do you mean, 'up here'?" Copper smiled at Soaked, "What I mean is that we can reset the Arcano Generator in the basement. It'll force the enchantment to fade temporarily and while it's resetting we'll pry open the lockup before it re-locks and re-enchants."

Soaked looked blankly at Copper, "Uhhh what?" Copper smirked and rolled his eyes. He pointed downwards to the floor, "Arcano Generator, there's one in every major facility on the ground and even In the clouds. I'm an Arcano engineer, trained in Canterlot when I was younger. Built a few public responder buildings in my time. All modern police stations have a backup if the key is lost for the lockup, reset the Arcano Generator, which takes about sixty seconds, during that time you are able to open the cage. It requires two or more ponies if you aren't a unicorn. Which clearly I'm not." Copper deadpanned as he gestured to his wings.

Soaked blinked in response as his jaw dropped open, 'Not only is this pony dangerous, but he's a genius too!' Soaked shook his head to re focus his thoughts, "But wait there are two of yo-"

Copper's face turned a little red as he stomped a hoof, "Are you suggesting I let my sweet Cobalt to go somewhere dangerous and full of monsters to open a gate that's much heavier than she is?" Soaked shook his head from side to side rapidly waving his hooves in front of him wildly, "N-no of course not! I didn't- I wasn't-"

"Yeah you weren't thinking. The whole time we've been here we we're thinking about how to do this, the door to lockup is too heavy for a foal to move by themselves, for their own safety. There's even a magical barrier so that unicorns can't just teleport in or out, or use their levitation magic. Brute Force could open them but they blare alarms if you manage to get them open like that." Copper's anger dissipated as he continued to explain. He sighed before looking back at Soaked, "If I could have cleared the building out myself without endangering my filly, I'd be able to get it open, but that's a long shot." Copper shook is head, "Nahh it's better if you and I clear out a path to the lockup and then head down to the basement. Once the basement is clear You'll go back up to the lockup, I'll wait a few minutes to make sure you get there, then I reset it and you open the door."

Copper's eyes softened after explaining the plan, "But first we should get some rest, It'll be better do do this in the morning when there's some decent light." With that, the three of them settled in, Copper saying he'd stay awake to make sure nothing sneaks up on them.

***

A couple of hours after Soaked had fallen asleep he was awoken by Copper, and told to watch and listen for trouble. and to wake Copper up when the sun rises. Soaked still half asleep agreed but woke up fairly easily, having worked as a nurse for so long, he was used to sleepless nights and waking up when he needed to. A few more hours passed with Soaked keeping himself occupied by reading one of the books he took with him from home, and keeping an ear perked up to listen for danger, when he realized that sunlight was starting to enter the room. Soaked put the book back in his saddle bags and crept over to Copper, nudging him gently the older stallion woke up with ease. About an hour later and all three of them had woken up and had a small bite to eat.

"Alright, you remember the plan Soaked?" Copper was holstering his gun and his hammer, which he had apparently cleaned the night before. "Yeah I remember, what are we going to do about Cobalt?" Soaked pointed towards the filly who was reading a book of her own. Copper looked to his daughter, "Well, what's the plan for when I go out?" The filly didn't look up or hesitate, "You want me to stay hidden and quiet and wait until you get back." Soaked looked at the filly, her expression was a little hard to read but he could see that she was a little anxious about what she was supposed to do, 'Probably doesn't want to sit around waiting, and doesn't want to lose her father like she lost her mother. I would be too." He turned back to Copper, "Alright, lets go, we better not waste daylight" Copper said as he opened the door to the office and cautiously walked out. Soaked looked back to the filly, who was now looking sadly at the door. Soaked shrugged on his saddle bags and trotted towards the door, 'I'll do my best to keep him safe. I promise.' and closed it behind behind him.

Copper waited at the end of the hall motioning for Soaked to come closer. Once Soaked got close he turned his head towards the door he was bracing against, "Lockup is through this office and down the hall on the left. there's a couple of them monsters in the office and I'm going to need your help putting them down." Soaked gulped to relive some of his anxiety, but firmly nodded at Copper.

The pair sat crouched at the doorway, Copper reached for the door handle and slowly pressed down on it. With a silent Click Copper pushed the door open slowly. Immediately Soaked heard the tell tail sounds of growling and shuffling. Soaked tried straining his ears to count the amount of monsters I the room, but it was far to irregular to place any number on them. Copper slipped into the room flicking Soaked with his tail to indicate him to follow. Soaked took a deep breath and followed behind Copper.

The office looked rather normal except for the 4 monster ponies shuffling around. The closet one turned and it's cold dead eyes locked on to Soaked. The zompony let out a groan and began shuffling towards the pair of ponies entering the room. Soaked heard Copper mutter something under his breath as the rest of them turned and slowly began trotting towards the pair.

Copper reacted as soon as the first one got close enough, bringing his hammer down on the head of the monster's head. Redish pink pulp spread from the impact and Soaked had to look away lest he vomit or pass out again. The next two zomponies were shuffling around a desk towards them and they both were going towards Copper. As soon as they got close enough Copper swiped his hammer up in the jaw of the first, the second zompony started lunging towards Copper. Without thinking Soaked rushed forwards bringing his bat down on the back of the zompony. And audible crack split through Soaked's ears as the zompony fell to the ground but still tried pulling itself towards Copper. A wet sound came from Copper as he pulled his hammer back from the one zompony and smashed into the second ones head.

Soaked failed to see the final zompony get behind him as it growled and but into Soaked's tail hairs. Soaked instinctively neighed and bucked behind him as hard as he could to hear another wet sound as his rear hooves came in contact with something squishy and furry. Soaked panicked as the growling intensified and bucked again and again and again. He bucked a few more times until Copper put a hoof on his shoulder. Soaked's eyes snapped to the stallion, Copper had a calm but worried expression on his face. "Woah there. It's okay you got him. No need to cry you're fine." Copper kept eye contact as soaked felt the wetness on his face with a hoof.

Soaked's panicked expression softened a bit as he dropped to his knees letting out a hiccup and a sob. He looked back at the monster that had tried to eat him, a still body with a puppy skull lay behind him. Soaked's eyes shrunk to pin pricks as bile crawled it's way up his esophagus and deposited itself in a pool at Soaked's hooves. Soaked felt a gentle and soothing rubbing motion on his withers.

Everything had just sunk in for Soaked. He had just killed somepony, and this was a very real life or death situation. If he had been bitten by that monster, he would be as good as dead. Soaked shuffled backwards with waning energy away from the puddle and the fresh corpse. "I'm sorry you had to do that, but it was either you or them. I know killing them isn't easy at first but they're just monsters now, mindless cannibals. And if you don't defend yourself, you'll be one too." While talking, Copper walked to Soaked and put a hoof on his withers in a comforting gesture. Soaked nodded, mostly to himself and wiped his face with a foreleg.

Soaked slowly rose to his hooves and grabbed his discarded bat, avoiding looking directly at the fresh corpses. He tried keeping his puffy eyed face as neutral as he could before indicating to Copper to start moving again. Copper looked a little worried but nodded and continued to the far door of the office. Once there he listened intently with an ear pressed against the door. Copper motioned for Soaked to come forward, "Sounds like there's only one in the hallway," Copper looked at Soaked as he pulled his ear away from the door, "think you're able to take this one out?"

Soaked's features hardened as he bit deeper into his bat. 'I have to be able to do this, in order to find and protect mom and Vanilla.' Soaked nodded and forced himself to look determined despite his reddened eyes and stained cheeks. Copper's worried face changed to a sad smirk, "Good, get ready I'm going to open the door in three, two, one!"

Copper turned the handle and pulled the office door open. Soaked saw the earth zompony hunched over a body in police officers clothing. The zompony turned its head towards the opening door, viscera lacing its jaw and teeth its cold dead eyes looked right at Soaked. 'It's now or never, I have to do this!' Soaked charged into the room raising his bat with his raised head, the zompony began rising to meet its new meal. It was too slow as Soaked swung his bat directly into the side of its face, making its neck snap at an awkward angle. It fell to the floor a growl escaping from its mangled head, its body twitching and trying to get back up. Soaked repeated his swing aiming for the downed head. A sickening crunch sounded through the room as the growling stopped suddenly.

Soaked spared a glance at the now twice dead pony, its skull was caved in from the blow. Bile rose in Soaked's throat and was immediately forced back down. Now he looked to the other dead occupant of the hallway he was in. To his displeasure, he recognized the corpse other corpse. It was one of the unicorn deputies, officer Upbeat. a look of despair was still present on his decaying face. A hole in the side of his head had dried blood around it, his gun lay beside him. His rear left leg was mangled and hoof missing. His entrails, or what was left of them, were splayed across the floor where he lay and his stomach torn wide open. Soaked nearly vomited again but barely held it in.

Copper trotted up beside him covering his snout with a hoof, "Damn, you look like you knew him. I'm sorry." his voice muffled around his hoof and fetlock. Soaked nodded absentmindedly trotting over to one of the few ponies he could call friends, and using his hoof to close Upbeat's eyes. Soaked had gone to the only college in town with Upbeat as a roommate, they got along great together. Upbeat counteracted Soaked's shyness and timid nature with his own upbeat and outgoing personality.

Soaked felt something odd on his face, reaching up he felt more wetness coming from his eyes. He wasn't completely shocked to find he had been crying. Upbeat was his best friend growing up, through college and even after both had started their respective professions.

What he was surprised about was that Copper was checking his pockets and had picked up his gun with his mouth. Opening his mouth, the bat dropped to the floor as he spoke, "H-hey! What are you doing? Stop that!" Copper did stop but only to look questioningly at Soaked. "What do you mean, 'What am I doing'? I'm looking for anything useful."

Soaked was aghast at his blatant disregard for the dead, his features changed from shock to anger. "That's my friend you're taking from!" Copper shrugged in response speaking around the gun in his mouth, "That may be, but as much as I hate to do this, if he has anything useful for us on him, it's going to do us more good than it will him. We need guns and ammo in order to survive, and unfortunately sometimes that means taking from those who have already passed on." Copper took grabbed the gun in his mouth with his hoof, passing it over to Soaked. "If he really was your friend, he'd want you to live on and take care of this for him."

Soaked's anger dissipated a little bit, 'Copper is right, Upbeat would want me to try and save more peoples lives in a situation like this, and would even probably give me his gun if he was already dying and I was here...' Soaked sighed and took the gun with his own hoof, almost dropping it at the sudden weight. It was barely bigger than a his hoof, but it was heavy for its size. Copper snickered at seeing that, "Is this your first time holding a gun, Soaked?" Soaked blushed in response and turned his head away from Copper. "So what if it is?" Frustration marred his features as his brows furrowed.

Copper chuckled to Soaked's irritation, "It's a Taur type revolver, made by Minotaurs adjusted for ponies. It's really simple to use, buts got a hell of a kick back. Loud as Tartarus too. Here let me show you how to use it, but we aren't going to fire it in here. It'd bring every monster in the building and a few outside down on us."

***

Ten minutes later and an abridged lesson on how to use, reload and maintain the gun. Soaked said his belated goodbyes to his best friend after continuously apologizing to his deceased friend and taking what ammo he had on him. Soaked had found three Taur speed-loaders and a small box of .357 rounds totaling 38 rounds in addition the 3 remaining rounds in the gun itself. He also took his friend's holster and saddle firing bit for the gun. It took another 5 minutes of putting it on with the help of Copper.

"I am sorry about your friend. If you'd like, after we finish with the Arcano generator, I'll help you put him to rest properly." Soaked looked at the ground following behind Copper, his mouth forming a grim line around his bat. "Thanks, I'd appreciate that." Copper shrugged as he continued walking down the corridor, the basement doorway coming into view. Along with the evidence and armory lockup rooms on the opposite side of the corridor. "Sure thing, let's just get this done first."

Copper stopped at the armory gate. A feint shimmer of magic could be seen between the bars and in the room beyond. Copper pointed towards it, "That's the enchantment used on every armory in every police station in Equestria, only a handful of unicorns from Canterlot know the enchantment and how disable it. Takes either a skilled magic user, or a knowledgeable pony like myself to get in to them." Soaked inspected the cage and items behind its field held in lockers.
"Once I reset the generator, I need you to brute force the cage door. It's still going to magnetically sealed and will take some effort to open properly." Soaked looked back to Copper nodding.

Copper turned and began trotting back to the open basement door across the hall. Soaked followed behind him and positioned his bat in a slot on his saddlebags and pulling out his torch, turning it on as they began descending underneath the police station. The beam from the torch lit up the dark basement just enough to see a couple of pony lengths ahead of the pair. Copper held his hammer in his mouth at the ready, indicating with a tilt of his head towards the cables lining the ceiling, "Follow the cables and we'll find the generator." Copper said, speaking around the hammer. Soaked tilted his head upwards to look at the quad of cables lining the ceiling and leading down the hallway.

The pair moved slowly down the corridor wary of every shadow and every corner that might hide a zompony. it took them only a few minutes to reach the large magical generator locked behind a fence and gate. Copper sped up upon seeing it, "Here we are. Stand back for a second." Soaked slowed to a stop and kept the torch on Copper and the gate, staying about a pony length away from him. Copper hooked his hammer on the lock of the gate and began straining to pry it open. Soaked's ear twitched behind him as he thought he heard something. His head swiveled around bringing the beam of light with it. Waiting behind him, was nothing but the empty corridor that he and Copper had just come through. "Where'd my light go, Soaked?" Copper stage whispered from behind him. Soaked jumped a little bit upon hearing his question.

"S-sorry! thought I heard something from behind us. But it was nothing." Copper just raised an eyebrow in response continuing to pry the lock open. After a couple more tries, a metallic groaning and a snap came as Copper lost his balance and fell on his rump. The now busted lock clattered to the floor beside Copper. Copper grunted in satisfaction and got back up opening the cage. Walking up the the dark generator and the panel beside it, Copper motioned for Soaked to get closer. Soaked obliged and trotted up behind him pointing the torch up to the panel door which Copper opened. The contents of the panel were a series of switches all flipped to the right.

Copper pointed with a hoof at the switches, "Alright, in case you ever hafta' do this. What we have here is a breaker box, when the breakers are flipped to the right they are supposed to be delivering Arcano to wherever they are connected to. Sometimes the breaker malfunctions. All you gotta do to fix it is flip all them back to the left, count to ten, then flip them back to the right. Once you've done that flip the main breaker here up until it's all the way charged, and then press that button."

Soaked payed attention to every move the older pegasus made and followed along as he finished showing him everything. "Once I've gotten all of that done and you press the reset button, the generator will begin powering up again. The noise aint gonna be that bad at first, but it will get louder very quickly. Now listen carefully. In a minute you're going to go back up the corridor and up to the armory. As soon as you start leaving I'm going to start resetting the generator. It'll take me about a minute and a half to two minutes to complete that, then you'll only have about a minute window to force that gate open."

Soaked nodded, this was the plan they had discussed earlier. Once he got back to the gate, and the magical field dropped, he had to open the door. Soaked was confident he could do this. Copper hovered his hoof over the first switch, and looked to Soaked, "Ready?" Soaked looked at Copper hesitantly, "Are you going to be able to see when I go?" Copper smirked and pointed to the wall beside Soaked. A lightly glowing crystal hung in place giving off a bit of illumination. Just enough to see around the corridor but not nearly as bright as Soaked's torch. "I'll be able to see just fine, I'm used to having to see in near dark places, since this whole mess started." Reluctantly Soaked nodded, "O-okay. I'm ready."

Copper nodded and looked back to the breaker box, "Okay, go now!" Copper flipped the first breaker, and Soaked about faced and trotted at a quick pace back down the corridor looking at the few doors they had originally passed coming down here and the few branching halls. His ear twitched behind him again and he slowed down to take a look. Still nothing greeted him as he looked back towards Copper. Soaked shook his head to clear his thoughts, 'It was nothing, I don't have the time to waste standing here.'. He resumed his pace and after about a minute he was back at the staircase leading back up to the main floor. The fur on the back of his neck started standing up as he felt a tingle run through his body and a low droning sound started emanating from where he left Copper.

'That must be the generator starting up, better hurry.' Soaked thought to himself as he climbed up the flight of stairs, emerging on the main floor. He dropped his torch and ran for the Armory. Arriving just in time to see the enchantment on the armory door fizzling out in a hiss of sparks, Soaked grabbed onto the handle of the gate and began pulling with all his might. It took him bracing himself against the armory cell bars and pulling the hardest he'd ever pulled anything, but the groan of the magnet separating the gate from the wall finally gave way. Soaked fell on his rump and the gate swung open hitting his shin and causing him to curse under his breath for a second, before realizing that he had done it. The armory was open and he let out a low volume whoop of excitement.

All that was left to do was-
*BANG*
*BANG*
*BANG*
Soaked's eyes grew wide as he heard the gunshots, which seemed to have come from the basement. 'Copper, no!' Soaked rushed back down to the basement grabbing his torch in his mouth on the way by, only being careful not to fall down the stairs before galloping down the underground corridor. At full speed it took him less than a minute to arrive back at the Arcano Generator and Copper.

The scene had completely changed, from being sterile concrete to bodies littering the floor and a bleeding Copper leaning against the generator. Five bodies lay between Copper and the broken gate. Gingerly Soaked stepped around the bodies noticing that one still had a hammer stuck in its head. A haggard groan came from the other stallion. "Shit, didn't even see them till they were entering the room." Copper hissed between clenched teeth. His one hoof wrapping a strip of cloth around his other leg, some blood already splotching the off white makeshift bandage.

Soaked rushed to his side, dropping the torch and prying open his saddle bags to find some antiseptic to treat Coppers wound. As Soaked found it and pulled it out into Copper's sight. Copper's eyes widened and he immediately reached up to put his hoof on Soaked's shoulder, "Don't bother." Soaked looked at Copper incredulously, "No I can save you, I'll clean the wound an-"
"Soaked! I said stop!"

Soaked looked at Copper shocked at his outburst, but before he could say anything he saw Copper's teary face, "I already told you; once you get bit, that's it. It's already in your system by then and there aint a thing you can do about it." Copper looked down at the ground tears dripping down his face, "I wasn't paying attention, I didn't do good enough. Now I'm paying for it. It'll take a few hours before the fever sets in, but I aint gonna survive the night..." Copper looked up into Soaked's eyes, and his expression became steel. "What I'm about to ask you aint up for debate." Soaked's eyes began tearing up as he nodded for Copper to continue.

***

With Soaked's help, Copper was able to get back upstairs and to the armory door. A pained smile crossed Copper's face seeing that at least they got the armory open. Soaked followed the hobbling Copper into the armory. Copper immediately began rummaging around the armory for anything useful. A few minutes later and they had outfitted an Arcanum vest and a battle-saddle on Soaked's barrel and they fit a rifle and a firing bit onto the battle saddle. In addition, they had filled a duffel bag with some spare ammunition for Upbeat's revolver, some small arms ammunition, a box of rifle rounds and three pistols. Two more Arcanum vests were put into the bag as well. Being a normally peaceful town, they had very few munitions and firearms available to them. Only the guard and police had access to munitions and firearms and usually had them on them or at home when off duty.

Collecting everything that wasn't locked down as tightly as the armory usually was, Soaked helped Copper back through the station to Short Stacks office. They had to be the bearers of bad news to a certain filly which was waiting for them. Luckily having gone through the entirety of the police station, minus miscellaneous offices and the holding cells, they had cleared out the entire path between them and the chief's office. Taking a deep shuddering breath Copper braced himself for the inevitable.

***

Cobalt Sky paced from one side of the small room to the other, worry all over her face. 'Those loud bangs... they sounded like daddies gun. Please be okay daddy.' The corners of her eyes teared up just thinking about what could have happened. Though her father and that colt, Soaked, had only been gone for an hour and a little bit, Cobalt started to worry when she heard the distant sound of her fathers gun ringing off. But she promised her daddy she would behave and wait for him in the office. A couple more minutes passed before her ears twitched towards the door, she could hear hoof steps from the hall way. Daddy told her that if she heard anypony coming she should hide under the desk and wait for them to leave.

So as the hoof steps got closer, Cobalt ducked and hid underneath the desk keeping her wide eyes on the door though a small crack underneath the desk. The hoof steps came to a stop in front of the door. The door handle clicked and the door was pushed open. She could see the familiar reddish colour of the hooves and brightened immediately. A somber sounding daddy called out to her, "Cobalt? Come on out, we need to talk baby." Though she heard the tone of his voice, it didn't immediately register as her daddy sounding sad. Cobalt raced out from under the desk and ran to her daddy all her own worry forgotten as she slammed herself into his chest wrapping her hooves around him as much as he could. "Daddy, your back!"

A trembling hoof wrapped itself around Cobalt pressing gently into her. She embraced her daddy before realizing something was wrong. She felt the trembling and when she finally opened her eyes a deep red splotch on white wrapped around the leg he was holding her with. Her pupils shrunk down to the size of pinpricks as she reluctantly released her embrace and backed up to get an actual look at her daddy. His face was slightly scrunched up like he was in pain and tears gathered at the corners of his eyes. Cobalt's eyes wandered to the bloody bandage, which she now realized she could slightly smell the coppery liquid. She began shrinking back and shaking her head from side to side as her mouth started gaping open.

"Cobalt. I-" her daddy choked on his words as tears started falling down his cheeks, "I'm sorry... I-" again he choked on his words. This time however he closed his eyes and inhaled deeply, exhaling just as deeply as if to calm himself. When his eyes opened again a sad, yet serious determination was filling them. "I aint going to lie to you baby, I got bit. We got what we came for but I was taken by surprise and one of those monsters got to me before I could stop him." Tears welled up into Cobalt's eyes spilling over and running down her face freely. Cobalt found she wasn't able to do anything but fall on her plot and stare speechless at her daddy. Her daddy continued, a grim look covering his features, "You know what happens when you get bit. I'm going to get sick, and die." Copper choked on the end of that sentence feeling mortified that he had to tell his own daughter what horrible fate he would have befallen on him. "Now you aint gonna argue with what I'm about to tell you. When I... when I die, you're going to go with Soaked." a sad smile crept onto his face, "You're going to have to take care of him, like you take care of me."

Cobalt stared at her daddy, "Bu- But daddy I don't wanna le-" she begins sobbing, "leave you I wanna be with you daddy!" She finds strength enough to pounce into a hug with her daddy. Copper just holds his daughter tightly against himself. embracing her as much as he can before its too late. "I know you do... But you know what happens. As much as I wish it, there aint gonna be a difference between me and everypony else."

Copper reaches behind himself and brings his holster and gun in front of him as he pushes Cobalt back to see. "I know you're a good shot, your mother taught you good. I want you to have this, you know the rules for it; Keep the safety on. And remember, this aint a toy. You could really hurt somepony or worse. Don't ever point at somepony unless you absolutely necessary." Copper began fitting it to Cobalt's small frame, tightening all the straps and catching it around her barrel. The gun itself was almost half her size. "Daddy..." Cobalt's grey sodden face fell to the ground as the holster was finished being fitted.

Soaked lay on the ground outside the office listening to the conversation with a somber expression. 'I'm so sorry Cobalt, I've failed you...' Soaked let out a sigh and shook his head again to clear his thoughts. "What I'm about to ask you aint up for debate. Copper's words ran though Soaked's mind. "I need you to look after my daughter. She doesn't have anypony else to look after her anymore. You're going to look for your family, right? Please take her with you and keep her safe. Please I'm begging you."

Soaked remembered his request clearly. And honestly, Soaked couldn't turn him down. Soaked couldn't just leave a child by herself. He did have to find his family and he didn't want to leave her behind after her father got bit and was going to die. Soaked clenched his eyes shut and put both front hooves over his face dragging them downward until his focus cleared again.

He tuned his attention back towards the office, Copper was whispering reassurances to Cobalt while the filly was sobbing uncontrollably. Sighing he got up and entered the room, seeing the father and daughter hugging as both were crying. "It's okay baby, Soaked's gonna take care of you and make sure your safe. We may have only known him for a couple of days but he's the trustworthy type of pony. He'll watch out for you." Cobalt's sobbing hitched her voice, "But- but I don't want Soaked to take care of me, I want you to." Her voice was barely above a whisper. Soaked felt guilt well up inside his chest. Even though he knew that Cobalt didn't mean to offend him because she just wanted her father, her words still stung his heart and made the guilty feeling worse. Unfortunately for Soaked, even though her words stung him he still needed to to buck up and take care of things.

His thoughts along those lines, he cleared his throat to catch their attention. He was unsure if he should be speaking at the time but felt like he needed to be heard. "Cobalt, if I may; I know what it's like tohave lost somepony close to you. And despite only knowing the two of you for these last couple of days, your father has saved my life multiple times. I don't know why this... Infection is spreading, but your father tells me what happens to those who get it." Soaked shook his head looking down at no particular spot on the floor, a look of confusion was plastered on the filly's face stared at him through tears, "I'm very sorry for what's going to happen to your father. I can't stop it. But I will do everything I am able to keep that from happening to you." The filly's brow furrowed, "You're some kinda doctor ain't you? Why can't you make him better?" Cobalt's tone took an accusatory turn as Copper turned her head back to him and Soaked's ears flattened themselves against his head. "Now Cobalt, that ain't fair. When your momma got ill, we had medicine and magic and none of it helped. And right now all we have is a bit of medicine."

Copper kept his tone level even as his eyes formed tears, "You're a smart filly, you know what happens when somepony gets bit. You know there's nothing that Soaked can do about this. You've seen it Cobalt." The filly kept crying in his hooves, her face downtrodden. Copper pulled Cobalt into a tight embrace giving her the most comforting hug he could given the circumstances. The two were holding onto each other while crying their eyes out.

***

Copper and Cobalt spent the next hour together crying and talking about Cobalts future. Meanwhile, Soaked was making sure everything he had collected with Copper was secured to his saddle bags and that the duffle bag that contained the guns and Arcanum vests was closed and ready.

Copper entered the room with a light knock. Looking over to Copper, Soaked could see the dried tears on his face and the dark circles forming underneath his eyes. "Soaked, we need to talk." Copper walked at a sedate pace towards Soaked, a noticeable limp in his gait.

Turning towards Copper, Soaked smiled weakly and met him half way to the door, dropping what he was doing. "I ain't got much time left, Cobalt knows to stick by you after I'm gone." Copper spoke in a low gravely tone, the infection already starting to take root. "I'm really sorry to leave you with Cobalt like this but once you get bitten that's it... She knows what she need to, to survive. Just keep her alive, please."

The pleading look on Copper's face stopped any immediate response Soaked could think of. Soaked looked into Copper's eyes while putting on a stern face. "Cobalt's going to be okay, I'll make sure of it." Copper looked into Soaked's face for a few seconds as if looking for something. Finally Copper nodded and turned towards the door, "Come on, I said I'd help you with your friend and I meant it."

***

The two stallions cleared the rest of the police station out of zomponies within the next hour and collected anything else they could find. They also retrieved what remained of Upbeat and wrapped him in a spare sheet meant for the overnight holding cells. Bringing him out to the carriage parking lot hey quickly erected a pyre and sent Upbeat off to the eternal herd.

Following the funeral pyre for Upbeat, the pair decided on a plan of action for what to do about Copper's worsening health. Already an infection was spreading around the bandaged foreleg. Copper refused to let Soaked looked at the infection, citing that it was already too late and there was nothing either one of them could do about it.

Cobalt spent most of the time sulking and crying, telling Copper she didn't want him to go and leave her. "I'm sorry Cobalt... Theres nothing Soaked can do to fix me. You know what happened to your mama. And I don't want to wake up only to hurt you." Soaked was walking down the hall way towards Chief Stacks office and started hearing the voices of the rooms occupants.

"I don't care daddy, I don't wanna lose you too..." The young filly's voice was wracked with grief and pain. Having known what it was like to lose a father Soaked could understand some of what Cobalt was going through. "And I don't want to lose you to this madness either. I want my little Cobalt sky to grow up safe and soundly, I'm just sorry I didn't I can be a part of that."

Soaked stopped a door down from the two ponies, not wanting to interrupt them. With some shuffling and sobbing later, "I don't have much time left. And I know we don't know Soaked that well but I trust him to do what has to be done,"

Soaked had already been told about what Copper was going to do after he and Cobalt left. Now that the station had been cleared out of zomponies Copper had the chance to go back into the basement and rig the Arcano Generator to overload at the push of a button. It would magically incinerate any biological material in a 10 meter radius.

A loud coughing from the chief's office brought soaked back to the present. As he snapped out of his little trance, Soaked made a rush for the door opening it without hesitation. Inside he saw Copper coughing into he's blood speckled hoof and a wide eyed frantic filly looking around for something to help her father. When she locked on to Soaked she gave a pleading look and cried out for his help. Soaked was already moving towards the older stallion pulling out a clean strip of cloth from his saddle bags and bringing it to Copper's mouth.

Soaked gently rubbed the withers of the older stallion and made sure he held the cloth in front of the stallions mouth. After about a minute more of coughing, Copper was able to breathe without hacking his lung out and looked up apologetically yet thankful to Soaked. Cobalt had some blood marring her coat which she didn't take notice to. Soaked quickly took another cloth from his bag and brought it towards Cobalt. The filly squeeked a fillyish sound and tried to back away from the approaching stallion but found herself against police chief Stacks' desk. It took all of a second for Soaked to clean the filly up of the blood.

Soaked had gone into nurse mode and cleaned up the pair of them before realizing that he had done it. Copper was leaning back against a book shelf currently, attempting to regulate his breaths to a more normal condition. Looking over his shoulder at Copper, Soaked saw the pain etched on his face.

"I think... It's time..." Copper barely got out in between coarse breaths. Cobalt looked over to her father and and her tears began anew. Copper took a deep steadying breath before continuing, "Soaked, I need your help getting downstairs. Come on baby, you too." Copper began forcing himself up before both Soaked and Cobalt rushed to either side of him and helped him get up and move.

***

Before going down to the basement of the station, Copper had Cobalt pack her things and gear up. Alternatively, Soaked carrying both his own new gear and the excess of Copper's gear. They filly and stallion helped Copper down the stairs and into the generator room. With everything set up already, all they had to do was let Copper push the button.

Lots of I love yous and hugs and kisses on the cheeks, a trembling Copper motioned for Soaked to take Cobalt and start on their way. After some more crying and begging for Copper to leave with them, Cobalt was dragged away by the scruff of her nape by Soaked. The last thing they heard from Copper respectively was, "I love you." and, "Take care of Cobalt, or else..." as Soaked used his Earth Pony strength to carry Cobalt up the stairs to the station proper. Upon reaching the top of the stairs, the filly had finally given up on trying to break free and remained hanging and crying in Soaked's grasp.

Soaked had promised to take Cobalt with him to Marelanta and take care of her as if she was his own. He was told roughly where Copper had seen the camp of ponies and was told to make his way towards there before trying to head into the metropolis. Soaked and Cobalt had reached the entrance without an issue and while Soaked surveyed the street he found no immediate threats. Just to be safe, Copper had told him he would wait a half hour before starting the jerry-rigged generator.

Makeing his way down the suspiciously empty street with filly in mouth, Soaked managed to get close to the border of Cynfilliana before meeting a zompony. Deftly he dodged it without it noticing the pair ponies. Making it just outside of the border a loud noise caught the ponies attention. Soaked turned his head to look back while Cobalt's eyes went wide and she cried out in grief.

***

Copper layed on his side facing the Arcano Generator. He knew that if he waited much longer he was going to die and turn into one of those things. He had had a good run at life; a loving wife and daughter, a successful career, survived the beginning of the apocalypse. However he was ready to enter the eternal herd.

He had been waiting now for almost a half hour and his energy had been drained remarkably in that time. 'At least Cobalt is safe.' was the last thing he thought as he pushed the button on the Arcano Generator that was supposed to overload it.

Some seconds passed and Copper noticed nothing happening, "What? That should have worked." Copper said to himself as he looked at the opened circuit board on the generator. Everything was where it should be to overload the system. Copper dragged himself to the circuit board and tried to focus his eyes on what he did wrong.

When he looked closer he noticed a connection in the circuit board that limited the energy usage. Shaking he reached towards it and pulled the limiter out before looking back over to the control panel. He reached out again and pressed the button to overload the generator. All at once the generator died as all the lights but the emergency wall crystals died.

As the seconds passed, the generator began humming to life and then the entire building began to shake as the humming sound became louder and turned into a whined high pitch screech. The sound became too painful to handle and Copper slammed his hooves over his ears. The last thing Copper thought about before the generator exploded was the safety of his daughter and how this wasn't supposed to happen.

And then the entire building collapsed in on itself and a cloud of magical fire and radiation quickly expanded outwards consuming the police station and half the block with it.