Chapter 9 The fight for life
Chapter 9: The fight for life
Flute's condition wasn’t getting any better as she was on the ship en route to the USA. James stayed by her side, watched her condition, praying that she would make it,
He stroked her mane. “Flute, I know we knew each other not for long, but since the day on Iwo Jima where I took care of you, I closed you in my heart. Ever since, I swore to myself I would sacrifice myself to make sure you would get off this rock safe and sound.
And, I will never leave your side, whatever happens. Promise.”
He let out a sigh. Oh Lord, why she? Why has she to suffer so much?
A warning tone tore the man out, the fillies heart gave out. “NO! NURSE!” he yelled as he did CPR to get her breathing again.
At once, a nurse and a doctor came in. While being a doctor himself, James had to stay out, so the medical personnel could work without being disturbed.
He buried his head into his hands. “Please Flute…Hold on…Don’t die…”
Flute remained in a void of Darkness. She awoke with a gasp at the sound of a drilling sound and screamed.
Looking around panting heavily, she was restrained on a dentist chair, blood on the ground and walls, she was in a room which looked like a Physician's office. The windows were barricaded.
“All clear, sir.” She heard a voice.
“Roger. Move in!” It was James’s voice.
He moved with two other Marines in. “Flute ... You're okay. Thank God!” The young soldier freed her.
She hugged him tightly. “W-what’s going on?” She asked, her voice shaken.
“I don’t know. We were sent to rescue you out of this Asylum. Whatever happened here, it can’t be good.”
Tootsie stared out into the billowing mist outside
There was something not quite right about that mist.
Looking at it long, she felt...colder...weaker. It was so frightening, so daunting...and yet somehow...
Why did it feel so inviting?
Why did she feel the wish to open the doors, step outside and walk into the mist.
There were shadows in the eerie vapour. Faces. Lights.
Bright yellow, almost gold.
Just like Lyra's magic.
“Lyra?” she whispered “Is that you? Have you come to bring me home?”
Her shaking hoof was inches from the doorknob.
“Uh, guys, we have a problem.” One of the Marines pointed out of the window.
The little unicorn filly was jerked out of her stupor by a nearby yell.
Something was coming indeed.
She peered out of the barricades.
People were walking out of the mist. She saw their eyes long before she saw their full forms.
She'd never seen such bright, glowing, yellow eyes.
A hoarse, gravelly screech outside pierced the silence.
One of the men in the mist had scrambled off the ground, lifting its head to the sky and howling like a wolf. He started to a walk towards the barricades in a slow, stumbling motion but in a Goose Step march. Then it charged, running in a manner unlike anything Tootsie had ever seen.
The man ran as if his legs were moving without the rest of him. His head stayed fixed on the ground and his shoulders swung wildly, his arms outstretched but his legs ran on and on in this sick, jolting fashion.
As he drew closer, Tootsie saw he was not in good condition. His uniform was filthy, matted with soil and blood, rubbery and raw.
So, it seemed, was his body. He was letting loose another howl when the first shot rang out.
She didn't see who shot him but the man went down, his kneecap shattered, sending him crashing to the ground, flat on his face, groaning morbidly. One of his hands raised as he forced himself to crawl.
Tootsie gave a gasp. The man was in such pain.
"Don't worry!" she called out "I'll help you."
She called back to the wounded man, who was nearing the house, pulling himself forward along the soil.
"Don't worry. Help's coming!" she found an opening in the barricade and reached through "Grab my hoof!"
He made an attempt to do so, his head slowly rising as he gave forth another groan.
Tootsie's eyes and mouth opened wide at the horror.
"Tootsie! Get away from there!"
With a scream, the filly was hauled away, scraping her foreleg painfully on the splintery barricade.
She barely noticed. Her eyes were transfixed at the face outside.
The man resembled a corpse. A hungry one. His skin had turned grey in decomposition and, like his hands and uniform, was matted with blood. The most could be found around his mouth. His pale-yellow teeth had sharpened and gnashed and grinded before her as his flailing hand wrestling with the barricade.
As he howled again, he jerked backwards, flesh and bone fragments flying from his head in horrid wet clumps as the Shotgunner fired three shots into his skull. The thing from the mist fell back onto the ground and lay still.
Taking a breath, he held the filly close, his commanding voice struggling not to crack.
"Tootsie," he ordered "Don't touch them! Don't even get near them! If they grab you, you're finished!"
But why?" the filly sobbed, clutching the solder’s chest tight as she fought the visions of the walking corpse out of her mind "What are they?!"
The Marine paused and looked out. More of them were coming, swaying ungainly as they trudged in unison toward their perimeter.
"Soldiers...They were...once." he answered, his voice devoid of emotion, staring blankly at the shuffling horde.
"Wh-what are they now?" Tootsie asked, looking up at him, dreading the answer.
The Marine did not look at her but answered without hesitation.
"Death."
“Uh-oh. Not good.” James realized how bad this was.
“They’re everywhere!” The other Marine shouted.
“Shit!” the first Marine checked his BAR.
“I don’t wanna die!” Flute yelled scared.
James looked around. He spotted closed doors. “We need to get those doors open!”
“Don’t hate me!” The BAR gunner replied.
Flute looked in panic around until she saw a message written on the wall. Power will reunite you.
“We need to get the power on!” she exclaimed.
“Okay, you two, hold them off, we get the power on!” James prepared his Carbine.
“Just hurry up, okay!?” The Shotgunner asked in stress as the Zombies stormed towards them.
James kicked the doors open, the filly followed him while his comrades held the Zombies off. The unicorn wondered what happened here as she heard quiet sobbing from a boy and frequent screams of women, men and babies. The Asylum itself looked like it was heavily damaged by something.
“THEY’RE ALL OVER THE PLACE!” One of the two Marines shouted.
Zombie screams ringed through the foal’s ears after getting a couple of stairs up. Seeing a horde of Zombies after them, James threw a grenade down.
“Watch out, behind you!” She warned as Zombies broke through a barrier to the right of him.
“Damn! He fired at them, aimed for the head. The child saw the door to the Power Room.
She used all her strength to open it. A cut off hand was holding the power switch. “Hit!” James switched it.
A large horde of Zombies approached but they got all zapped by bolts of lightning.
Flute let out a sigh. “It’s over.”
“No. It ain’t over. This is just the beginning.”
“What do you mean, it’s just the beginning?” She was confused, then suddenly, she coughed up blood and her vision flashed red.
“W-what’s happening to me?” She collapsed in pain, her body cramping.
“Y-you’re turning into one of them!” James sounded shocked. “Don’t worry, I make it quick and painless.” He drew his M1911 and aimed at her head. “I’m sorry.” Before she returned into the void of Darkness, she heard a gunshot.
After a while, the doctor came out to speak with James. “We could reanimate her. The Tuberculosis is what troubles her the most. It’s very hard to say if she can make it.”
After that, James was even more worried about her condition. Time passed. Her heart gave out several times more. But she could be reanimated every time. Every doctor and Nurse had sympathy for the young filly and prayed she would make it.
James didn’t care how much time passed. But with everyday seeing her, talking to her, he realized something. Something that he kept secret for years.
“Flute…”He tried to find a way to explain it, “I don’t know if you can hear me, but I have something to tell you.” He took a deep breath.
I know your mother never told you much about your father, but I knew him, as stupid as it sounds. While he disappeared in Equestria, he appeared in another world and started a new life, after he realized he couldn’t go back. I’m your father. Even if you’re still not born after that incident, I never stopped loving you. Even after I landed on Earth.”
After White Heart got hit by the spell, he blacked out. After some time, he awoke with a groan. Where am I? He looked around.
Instead of the streets of Ponyville, he was on a couch in a nice house, a warm blanked covered him. Also, he wasn’t a pony anymore, but a human with black hair and blue eyes. The clothes he wore had the color of his coat.
I’m a human? But how? His mind couldn’t look for answers, as a young woman with brown hair and green eyes walked in.
“Ah, you’re awake. My name is Harper. Harper Elliot. I found you passed out on the street. How are you?”
“A headache but otherwise fine. Your name fits you.”
She blushed. “Thanks. What’s your name?”
Heart was unprepared for this. “My name? I…can’t remember.” He lied.
Harper giggled. “Actually, I know already you’re not from here. You’re appeared in a white light in front of me.”
Heart raised an eyebrow. “This is not confusing to you?”
“It was at first, yes, but I’m interested in supernatural things. And you were a unicorn before transforming into a human before my eyes.” She explained.
“Uh-huh. How can I trust you?” He was suspicious.
“If I meant harm, I had given you to the authorities. But I’m interested in your backstory.” She set down next to him.
“It’s kind of a long story.” He told him about his life in Equestria. She had sympathy for him.
“Poor you. You can stay here.”
“Thanks for the offer.” In return, Harper told him that he was in Cottonwood, a city in the Federal State Arizona in the United States of America, USA for short. The year was 1940. She also thought him about the culture of it and enlisted him for citizenship.
While they were only friends at the beginning, they fell in love with each other and married. They also had a daughter named Victoria. She had brown hair with matching eyes.
They lived on a ranch and Heart named himself James. He became a doctor like he was back in Equestria. He still loved Lyra with all his heart but as there was no point of return, he got used to the human world.
As the USA had compulsory service, he joined the US-Marines as Corpsman. He was deployed at Wheeler Army Airfield when the attack on Pearl Harbor began in 1941. Back then, he went to cover and took care of the wounded.
After the USA entered the war, Harper cried. “Please don’t die. For my and our daughter’s sake.”
He kissed her. “I won’t. Besides, how hard could be the fight against Japan?”
This was a mistake he soon realized when he took part in the landings.
“…And that’s how I became a Marine. Despite all this, I never forgot Lyra or you. But after all what happened, I don’t think that I deserved it to be your father. You deserved better than someone like me. Sato would make a good father for you.” He stroked her mane and started to sing.
When the boys have all come home to stay
And a million bands begin to play
And when we've lit the torch of liberty
In each blacked out land across the sea
And we will give a mighty cheer
When this lovely dream has all come true
He took a deep breath.
Life is still spinning,
And everything I hoped for has been strangely set aside.
Reason for living,
My mind is forgiving.
And destiny is proving to be absent from my life.
I know it, I feel it,
Conscious fulfilling,
The darkness revealing all,
Thoughts and insecurities are shining like the sun...
Your end is my end,
My life is gone.
He suppressed tears at the thought that his daughter would die.
“Please, Flute, don’t die. I don’t want to lose another one I love.”
As he let his tears flow, a tear flow Flute’s cheek down. She sniffed and whispered softly, “Daddy…”
A feeling of Joy overtook the former Stallion. “Doc, I think she’s waking up!”
A doctor came in and checked the filly. “Yes, she’s waking up.
The little foal slowly opened her eyes and hugged her father with sobs. He stroked her hair while hugging her back.
The doctors and Nurses cried also tears of joy.
The waiting game came to an end. A happy end.
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I like this scene the feels are Real
8302398
My goal exactly. I Doubt you would have expected about James Secret didn't you?
Woah! I didn't even suspect in the slightest that James was actually White Heart!
But I am glad that Flute is okay!
8980044
Glad to hear it.