Without You

by Dustchu

11 - The Sun Rises

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I could barely register what was happening to me.

Pain filled my body like sands through an hourglass, every tiny grain was a pinprick against my nerves. Painful memories of what happened flickered through my mind, little hazy images of the leech monster, shards of glass, the falling moon, and... Rainbow Dash.

I heard her scream.

When I opened my eyes I was met with the smell of acrid smoke filling my lungs, causing me to cough from both that and my injuries flaring up in pain. The sky above was growing brighter and brighter as the sun rose. I could hear the birds cawing overhead as they flew about, looking for a meal.

My whole body ached and tried to prevent me from sitting up. Every movement I made stung fiercely, especially around my chest and back. I didn't let it stop me from my attempts to get up, though.

Pain shot through me as I sat up and I got dizzy, but I kept my balance. I had to sit there and hold my head, but it was better than nothing.

I took a look around where I was, to try and get a better idea as to what in the fuck happened.

I watched as the sun rose over the hills in the distance, the bright light shone down with brilliant beams of orange and yellow that bathed the streets of Raccoon in its rays. The sky was clear of most clouds, save a few stray ones that floated lazily about. The streets of Raccoon were devoid of anyone, except for the undead and the crashed vehicles.

I was outside?

Okay? I shook my head, that isn't right... I should be in the hospital, how did I end up outside?

A flash of images passed me by and I remember Leech Man charging me, I was hit and tackled. I smashed into the window that was to my rear, Rainbow cried out my name, the last thing I saw was the moonlit sky above before I was out like a light. I trembled as that realization came over me, and I started to look all around me.

Then I saw the massive crowd of undead that surrounded the top of the platform I was on top of, which from what I could see was an older model ambulance belonging to the hospital. The crowd of undead was denser than I would have liked it to be, each and every one of the mutated bastards that surrounded me were trying to get up at me, but their lack of intelligence and basic motor skills for climbing prevented them from it.

I let myself relax a tiny bit from that, as long as they couldn't climb up I was safe, for the time being.

Off to the side of the ambulance I saw a small burning police car with a smashed in roof, and on top of it I saw a burning body. The smell was horrendous, and on the ground next to it I saw the wriggling masses of leeches.

Was that all that was left of him?

I guess he got knocked onto the car and burned up. If that was the case, then I was safe from him, for now, anyway. Another glance around and I saw the handguns I had were between my legs, not the most optimal place for them, but at least they didn't fall onto the ground. With Leech Man gone and burned up, there's not much else threatening the hospital... but if Leech Man had anything important on him, it's long gone now. I rubbed my back and looked up at the hospital, specifically the window where I had been launched out of.

It was high up, higher than I would have liked. Hell, it was on the third floor from the look of it, and I was knocked down from there to on top of this ambulance.

How in the hell did I survive that fall?

"No point thinking about it now, I gotta..." My chest stung and kept me from finishing. I gripped my shirt and grunted, and took several deep breaths. Even with the pain, I knew I had to find a way back inside the hospital.

Rainbow wasn't outside and she still couldn't fly, which meant she had to still be inside.

I picked up both handguns and shakily climbed to my feet. I fought the pain in my limbs and bones until I was standing up completely. "Rrrrg!" My legs tried to betray me, my lungs burned like there was a fire inside of them, and my heart was pounding in my ribcage. I had to get back inside the hospital and get Dash, we had to get out of this damn place and somewhere else that's safer.

I wasn't sure if getting to Hursh and them was even a feasible option anymore.

The second I said that, I saw the window on the far south side suddenly explode as someone flew out of it, a loud scream left them as they sailed towards the ground and smashed into the hood of a car, which drew the attention of several undead. The hospital wing to the far south was filled with flashes of light, the windows shattered and I could hear the distant screams of those inside.

From what I could remember, that had to be the east wing of the hospital where Hursh and the rest of the hospital staff and patients were holding out.

"Damn it." I didn't know what was going on, but it wasn't good. I had to get Dash and get out of that hell hole. Coming here was a mistake, and it was one I was going to regret for a while. "Bah, first things first," I glanced down and saw the hoard of undead surrounding the ambulance hadn't diminished at all, they had grown in such number that they were able to gently jostle the vehicle back and forth. "I need to find a way off of this thing and back into the hospital... that won't be easy."

Okay, think. How was i going to do this without getting myself killed?

I looked for any sort of path across the sea of undead that might have led to the hospital, but even through the dense mob, I saw little that would help me out. I didn't see any other cars I could jump on, no clear paths to use and speed towards the building. It looked like I was out of luck until I came up wit-

I heard automatic gunfire coming from inside the hospital on the third floor, it was muffled but I could hear the noise clearly enough. Some of the windows flashed with a bright light from the muzzle flashes, even a couple shattered from gunfire.

Regular civilians didn't have automatics, which meant... either they were military, or Umbrella.

"Shit, I gotta move." I had to find a way across this fucking moshpit!

An idea came to mind, and I cursed the thought.

I had my guns, I had a goal, I just had to make that first leap into the fray if I wanted to survive...

"Ahh, only one way out of this..." I looked down at the dense mob and swallowed my nerves, then with the possibility of me dying stupidly in mind.

I jumped off.

Memories flew by a million miles a second, the stupidity of the situation only grew like a lead weight in my stomach, and any regrets I had were thrown out the window.

Then my foot landed on top of one of the undead's heads and nearly toppled him over and threw me into the crowd. I didn't stop, I kicked off of its head with a yell and jumped forward, and landed atop another head.

My frantic heartbeat was fueling me to keep going, my fears of being eaten gave me the reflexes to keep moving.

This whole thing was stupid but it was working!

I was using the heads of the undead mob to get across to the hospital. I jumped from head to head in a panicked pace, kicking off of every head I landed on.

One wrong move and I was done for!

Keep going! Keep going!

Another head, another random snap, the sound of the moans only increased and I could feel every hand grasping at my pants legs in an attempt to pull me down.

But I wasn't going to give them the satisfaction of eating me!

"Shit, oh crap, oh crap! LET GO!" I yelled frantically and continued to move across the sea of undead until the building closed in, and I could see the second floor and some of the windows.

The ledge was just barely in reach if I jumped, but I would have to gun it up that wall!

The mob thinned out the further I got. Soon enough, the crowd thinned out enough that I could jump down onto the ground!

"Rah!" I leaped off of the last undead and landed on the ground and swiftly fell into a roll.

No time had to be wasted, every second counted.

Once I recovered I pushed everything I had into my feet and sped off! What I lacked in physical strength I made up with speed, and I used every ounce of it to make it to the wall.

Gotta climb! No time to find a door, I have to get up top!

Even if I ran to either side to find a way inside, the doors were locked down from the security bars. My only hope was to climb up to one of those windows and bust my way inside.

"Just a little further!" I kept running and running until I made it to the wall. I tucked my guns away and jumped at the wall. I put everything I had left through my legs and feet after I made contact with the concrete and kicked up.

One step.

Two steps.

Three steps.

My legs were giving out just I reached out to grab the ledge, I just barely managed to grab onto it with my hand, but once I was sure it was on I grabbed on with my other hand and scrambled up the wall.

I felt something try and grab my shoe, but I was too fast for them to get a good grip, and I managed to climb up after several heart-pounding moments.

With my nerves on edge and my heart trying to escape my chest, I hugged the wall and the ledge I was on before I peered down behind me at the ground below.

The mob had moved and followed me, like expected, and were now trying to scale the wall to try and get up at me. Of course, given how they are, they weren't able to get at me.

I was safe, until I got into the hospital, which I needed to do asap.

"Just got to smash open one of the windows, climb inside and find Dash." I carefully moved towards one of the windows with a plan brewing in mind. "Shit, we have to get out of this hospital and find another way out. Even if we took the route that was in the games, we'd end up in a place that's a lot worse than the hospital."

The Hive underneath the city came to mind, a place owned by Umbrella that was used for creating the damn T-Virus and experimenting on dozens of different bioweapons, dozens of which were unleashed in the city. If I remembered right, the city was being used as a sort of testing grounds.

We were all just guinea pigs to be used by Umbrella.

I reached one of the windows and brought my leg around before I kicked it, and smashed some of the glass in. It took several good kicks to knock it out, it was hard glass to break. I wasn't one to give up so easily, so I kept on and on until the glass finally gave way. I used my shoe to clear the glass around the edges of the window sill and carefully crouched so I could climb back in.

I landed inside a room that had a smashed open door, bloodied beds and the smell of death, and a couple of bodies were laying around. I froze and pulled out my handgun that had the most ammunition in it and moved forward. It probably wouldn't do much against whoever it was with the automatics, but it gave me something to rely on in a pinch.

And with a little over forty-five rounds on me, I was good for a bit.

I paused at the door that led outside into the hall and took a deep breath. When I listened in, I could hear the gunfire down the hall to the east wing, automatic rifles, shotguns, maybe an sub-machine gun thrown into the mix. I could only wonder what that meant, who were the shooters in the hospital and what happened to the east wing?

I wouldn't find anything out just standing here talking to myself, would I?

I steeled myself for the journey ahead and made sure my guns were loaded up, I switched out the magazines for full ones and divided up the four round mag I had left and put two rounds into the other, leaving me with two full pistols, one full magazine tucked away in my pocket, and two extra bullets left in the final magazine.

Whatever was ahead, I had to be ready for it.

I took a few deep breathes and peeked out into the hall, and saw the cost was clear. "Okay, time to roll."

With my nerves steeled and exited the room. I swiftly moved down the hall leading to the east wing of the hospital, closing in on the gunfire with every step I took.

It could be the Army or National Guard, now that I think about it. I continued to move as I recalled what I knew from the lore. They sent in two teams to Raccoon City, one of them came to the hospital... it could be a Delta Force, in which case, we may not be as screwed as I thought.

But whether or not it was the military or Umbrella remained to be seen, I was going to find out soon enough.

I eventually made it to a door that had been blown open and led into a large room, which I found was to be a large lobby that opened up to the third floor above and ground floor below. The gunfire was louder in here, more concentrated and echoing all throughout the atrium and no doubt drawing in the infected. I could see a dozen or so undead down below, snarling and growling... or it was a dozen until more poured in from the other rooms, tearing down doors and flooding the ground floor.

It didn't take much longer until it was packed full of undead trying to get upstairs, and see how the only way up was blocked off by a little metal shutter, it wouldn't take long!

"Shit, too many to take on by myself, and I don't have any other weapons on me." I looked around the atrium, and kept hearing that gunfire... it was above me. "Gotta fi-"

"Buck off you weirdos!" I heard a very familiar voice from the third floor, followed by a spray of gunfire and a yell.

I immediately kicked into gear and started running, my head whipped to and fro looking for both a way up and for any sign of that rainbow haired pegasus. "Rainbow!"

The gunfire grew louder and louder the closer I got to the stairs nearby, which was guarded by a couple of stray undead doctors. I didn't let them stop me, I aimed my handgun and fired off two rounds at the one closest to me, landing a hit in his neck and the other his head, knocking him down.

The other groaned and tried to stumble towards me, but I was too fast for him; I ducked beneath his outstretched arms and with my arm coiled back, I jumped up and shot my arm and fist out. My fist struck him in the jaw hard, and something cracked from the force and sent him stumbling back until he fell and hit the ground.

"Gah, that hurt." I shook my now aching fist and ran up the stairs, handgun at the ready.

Rainbow didn't answer my call and that only worried me. Was she hurt? Or worse, dead?

I climbed the stairs and arrived on the third floor with my handgun raised, and I swiftly checked my surroundings to see if anyone was around.

All it took was something crashing into me and knocking me back down the stairs. I barely had time to grab or retaliate whatever it was that hit me, but it was heavy and my vision flashed white and black once I hit the stairs themselves and tumbled down, with whatever it was that hit me getting tangled up with me.

We both hit the ground hard, a yelp sounded but I was too dazed to really figure out who or what it was exactly. I came to a stop soon enough and my head was a haze, my vision blurred and pain filled my body, pain I didn't want to meet again.

Knowing my fate in this world however, told me pain and I were going to become aggressive lovers into a non-consensual hate sex relationship.

And I was the bottom bitch.

I managed to recover after a few pain staking moments. Fuck, what the hell hit me? A shake of my head and I sat up, handgun still in hand and my eyes zeroing on whatever hit me.

And I saw the sky blue mare I had been looking for laying near me. She was covered in blood, her eyes wide and hysterical, and her bandages were torn and exposing her wounds.

"S-shit, Rainbow!" I scrambled over to the mare and checked her over, what the hell was going on?

She glanced up at me with wide eyes. Slowly, the magenta orbs became less and less dilated the more she stared, until she murmured, "D-Dee?"

From a quick look over her, I didn't see much that needed urgent medical attention; she had some scraps and scratches, and her gunshot was looking... better, in a sense, but I knew it needed something put onto it and soon.

We had to get to the east wing.

"Yeah, it's me, don't worry." I told her and ripped the bandages off, they had been torn and rendered completely fucking useless, so why bother keeping them on? I didn't have any new ones either, which meant we had to be careful until I could get some actual medical help, or at the least, some supplies to help her with. "Dash, what the hell is going on?"

I swear I saw a frantic look of realization flash through her eyes and she tried to stand up, her legs trembled and her wings twitched. "B-buck, we gotta run! They're go-going to kill us!"

"What? Who?" That got me to stand up and get my gun out again.

Then I heard the heavy bootfalls, the reloading of firearms that far outmatched my own, and the muffled breathing through gas masks.

Then they arrived and I knew we were both eternally fucked. Three men and three women, clad in black clothing and armor that I couldn't possibly hope to penetrate with my measly nine millimeter rounds, or the pocket knife I had on me. The most distinct feature of all of them was the bright blue lights that encompassed their gear, their helmets and masks specifically. They spread out, completely blocking the way up to the third floor.

It was Wolfpack, Delta Team of the U.S.S., hardened operatives who took no prisoners and operated with cruel and deadly efficiency that put anything I had to shame.

I recognized their gear and their masks from the moment they stepped down.

"Well well, what do we have here?" I heard the team medic, Bertha, mutter as she kept her gun trained on me. They all did. "A survivor?"

"Another unfortunate victim?" Spectre suggested as he zeroed in his sights on me.

I was outnumbered and outgunned here, even if I pulled out my other one I wouldn't have any time to fire them. Hell, I wouldn't even have time to blink before they emptied their guns into me.

I was fucked, and so was Rainbow.

"D-Dee, w-what do we do?" Rainbow murmured from behind me, and I saw she had moved to hide.

I didn't blame her one damn bit... she put on that show of being brave and courageous, but when you're faced against odds like these? How could you not be scared?

I was shaking, even if I did my best to keep a straight face while staring down six gun barrels.

"I don't know..." I couldn't lie to her, my mind was blanking and I had no idea how we were going to get out of this situation in one piece.

Or alive.

"Ahh, you know each other?" Foureyes spoke up next, her eyes narrowing behind her mask. "That changes things,"

Lupo put a hand to the side of her helmet and spoke, "Command, this is Wolfpack, we've encountered a survivor who has connections with the target, advise."

"The target?" I muttered and found Beltway's shotgun leveled at me. My hands were already up, and I did my best to not show any sudden moves.

Damn it, think! We need a way out of this, and fast. While that was the main goal, the other thing that came to mind was that they referred to Rainbow as a target, did they know about her beforehand? Considering their power, it's not too much to think they've been keeping tabs on the city through security cameras, hell, an Umbrella sniper might have been the one who shot her down in the first place!

"Capture both of them and bring them to the rendezvous point." I heard 'Command's' voice come through, cold and harsh.

Bertha pulled out some weird little gun and aimed it at me, and I barely had time to react before she fired it.

Something shot out with a thwip noise and hit me in the chest before that noise sounded again and Rainbow was hit.

My vision blurred once more and my body decided now was the time to slowly lose control and fall to the floor. My body felt sluggish, my mind was... it was going dark, I think I heard Rainbow struggling but she soon fell as well.

Before I hit the ground and darkness overwhelmed me, the last thing I heard was Bertha's sadistic voice as the rising sun poured in through the windows above.

"Nighty night."

Comments

[Bronycommander]

Well, if it looks stupid, but it works, it isn't stupid, Dee. HECU manual

[redsopine]

Damn lol Dude you beat me to it I was gonna have wolfpack in a cross over lol

[Silentwoodfire]

Dead Rising reference there.

[Fluttercheer]

If I remembered right, the city was being used as a sort of testing grounds. We were all just guinea pigs to be used by Umbrella.

Something is subtle here..... We? But Dustin doesn't even come from Raccoon City..... Not even from the same universe. Feels like you're hinting at something there, I'll keep my eyes on that.

And who are the ones who searched for Rainbow Dash? Are these the same ones who shot her out of the sky and they want to make sure she is dead now? But that wouldn't explain why they didn't shoot her already. Hmm.....

Also, to finally return to my concern with Rainbow Dash's characterization..... I probably failed to communicate that properly, but what I meant was that Rainbow Dash acts so overly pacifist. She doesn't even appear so much like she is hesitant to kill to protect herself or someone she cares about, but rather like she wants to save those she could kill. Because that's how she talked about the leech man.
She specifically asked for another way than killing him, which sounded like she wanted to save his life. That sounded odd, because he's already dead, which is something that Rainbow Dash knows already, so there's nothing to save anymore. It's just a dead body moved by a virus. So it was odd for Rainbow Dash to assume he could be saved and I think that is what irks me the most here.

[Dustchu]

9419103
I can't remember exactly, but I think funnily enough the undead aren't really as dead as one might think. I would have to scour the wiki again, but IIRC they are still alive in some twisted sense, the virus has just changed them to a point where pain is non-existent and they hunger for flesh.

As for Rainbow's acting, again, she's from Equestria, which from the show, shows they're pretty pacifist. They use friendship to solve virtually every one of their issues, from simple little squabbles to potential world ending scenarios. They fight to protect their loved ones, yeah, but in the end they haven't killed anyone or shown anything that would indicate murderous intent... least from what I can remember, and again, this is a kid's show so... showing killing and murder is kind of a no-no, at least directly, they probably do it subtly.

Rainbow is young in this, and as much as I hate telling my plans, this is taking place well before the first season premieres, so Rainbow hasn't gotten her Element of Harmony yet, nor has she been in any major fights. Maybe a couple of squabbles with some beasties when she goes to hang out with Fluttershy, but anything other than that? She's a newbie when it comes to fighting big baddies. On top of that, she's not used to death yet, nor has the reality that walking corpses are a thing set into her mind yet. I mean, if you didn't know anything about the walking dead, would you accept that corpses could so easily rise up and kill indiscriminately? She doesn't want to kill because there's no guarantee she can kill. Everyone can kill, but it's a matter of getting past your morals, she'll fight... but killing is another matter entirely.

[Fluttercheer]

9419955

Rainbow is young in this, and as much as I hate telling my plans, this is taking place well before the first season premieres, so Rainbow hasn't gotten her Element of Harmony yet, nor has she been in any major fights. Maybe a couple of squabbles with some beasties when she goes to hang out with Fluttershy, but anything other than that? She's a newbie when it comes to fighting big baddies.

Ah. I'm glad you revealed that, actually, that saves me from a lot of discussion I'm not really in the mood for right now. That explains a lot. The Rainbow Dash we know is definitely not above killing enemies and neither are the others (well, except for Fluttershy, maybe), but since she is younger here this explains her characterization.
Before she became a hero destined to save Equestria and when she was just a (more or less) ordinary mare with a big dream, I can see her reacting like this. Problem solved.

I would have to scour the wiki again, but IIRC they are still alive in some twisted sense, the virus has just changed them to a point where pain is non-existent and they hunger for flesh.

That's not how I recall it, as far as I know, they where always depicted to be actually dead (some games have shown zombies coming out of graves). But I'm far from being an expert in RE and it was a very long time ago since I played these games, so I'll trust you about that.

[Pika53]

Dude, as a fellow “Dashie” lover, I’m definatly enjoying this and looking forward to more. That being said, this story has given me terrible ideas for terrible fanfics regarding how a certain whiskey loving unicorn mare might react if placed in Dash’s situation. Particularly, if said unicorn’s “favorite” therapist is also involved somehow. Of course given how events in this chapter unfolded it would make a person wonder just what would happen if my hypothetical scenario were to occur.

At any rate, looking forward to the next chapter.

[FridayPie]

9421957
Fluttershy's center was inspired by Resident Evil and FNAF, what other example do you need?