Simulation

by PhoelynFabulous

Through the City

Author's Note:

Chapter 2! Woohoo!

I stopped at the city's entrance, which was crumbled and broken like it's buildings. It was hard to read because it was crumbling, but I made out the words on the sign: 'Welcome to Manehatten.'

Suddenly, I heard laughter and shouts. They hadn't been there before. I knew what the sounds were, however. The Stricken.

I entered the city. Skyscrapers crumbled, having destroyed walls and broken windows. I realized all the glass on the ground from those windows, and sighed. Shards of glass, a Stricken's best friend. There were tons of vines along the buildings. It hadn't been a very long time since the bombs struck, but the Strike had a side effect. Hurt ponies, help plants. Plants grew where there shouldn't be any because of that. Long vines grew on buildings, and tall, brownish-green grass poked out of the ground. The vines were the same color.

The laughter got closer. I froze. There was a group of Stricken running down the road on the right.

They were chatting and laughing. Listening closer, they were just saying gibberish. Not real words. Apparently, that is hilarious to a Stricken.

These five Stricken slowed to a trot when they got to my street. The one in front looked at me. They all started looking at me. Two of them were missing an eye, one was missing both of it's eyes. They all had fresh-bleeding scars covering their bodies. The one in front - I'm going to assume he was their leader - tilted his head at me as I stepped back a bit.

"Hello there, Shielded!" He said cheerfully.

I was a bit surprised they didn't run at me and try to kill me. I didn't complain. I should be surprised at everything a Stricken does. Insanity is random. "Hello?" I said back after a while.

"I hope you are having a good day!" said the Stricken. He and his pals nodded. "Would you like a toy?"

Knowing what a toy was to a Stricken was like trying to figure out what a dog was thinking. Usually something sharp, or just dangerous in any way. Who knows, he could've been offering me a teddy bear he found somewhere.

"Sure!" I said, hoping that if he had a shard of glass as a toy he wouldn't throw it at me in a harmful way.

I cringed as he pulled a combat knife out of his back and threw it to me. Not at me, as if he were trying to hurt me, but he was trying to give it to me. Luckily, he succeeded, the knife landing near my hooves. "Have a nice day, Shielded!" he said and he and his pals walked off.

I placed the knife in my saddlebag, and pulled something else out. A bottle of water. Not glass this time, no, this was plastic. I had decided to never use glass water bottles again after what happened with my mother. I unscrewed the cap and began to drink, when terror filled my eardrums.

"WATER?!" Screamed five Stricken, the same ones that had seemed friendly and given me the knife. They all stared at me in rage and greed.

"We... we haven't drank anything for days..." said the leader. "GIVE ME THAT WATER AND ANY OTHER BOTTLES YOU HAVE OR DEATH TO YOUR PUNY SHIELDED SOUL!" He screamed as loud as his lungs would let him as they ran at me.

I put away the water and drew the still-bloody knife he had given me. I wasn't going to give them water. I was low on supplies. It was why I had come to this city in the first place. I was almost out of food. A quarter of a soup-can left, that is. I was not going to give them anything, and so, I was prepared to fight for my life.

The leader came at me first. He didn't look like he was the thirstiest of the group, but he was likely the greediest. I swung the knife, missing on purpose, and swung at his neck. Hit. He collapsed, sitting on top of a rock that was sure to make him uncomfortable. One hoof was holding his slashed neck, the other pointing at me as he died. They couldn't feel pain. Otherwise, a knife wouldn't be considered a toy to stab yourself with. However, they could tell when their life was fading through their painlessness, and so he reacted that way. He died on the ground, one hoof still on his neck.

Another came towards me. I jumped up and kicked him in the face with my back legs, causing him to stagger back. Once again, no pain, but he must have been surprised. He attacked again, this time hesitant, as if he didn't want to end up like his leader. I kicked again, as hard as I could with my strong back legs - strengthened from running and kicking so much - and hit him right in the chest. I heard a cracking sound as ribs broke, and he fell to the ground. He would die eventually, and he felt it.

I realized quickly that all the ponies in the Stricken's little group were stallions, as another attacked. This time, he hit me. He struck me hard with his front hooves. But it didn't mess up my next attack. It helped it a little, with my response to the kick. I put my face low to the ground, the knife still held tight in my mouth, and stabbed him in the chest. Right at his heart. He collapsed, dead immediately after the stab.

The other two were going to approach, but hesitated. They turned and ran, screaming all the way. They were probably not willing to risk their lives.

I didn't have a problem with that. I caught my breath, and took a drink of water. Then, I approached a broken skyscraper. There was a crater in the side of the building, near the top. There was another, smaller one closer to the bottom. I decided I would climb the vines to get to that building. I was starting to get hungry, and I barely had food.