Without You

by Dustchu

13 - Escape To Kendo's

I shoved Rainbow forward and forced her to run.

We had to run, it was all we could do.

I could hear the screams of the U.S.S. thug as he was torn apart, ripped limb from limb by the Lickers.

If we didn't get out of here, we'd end up suffering the same fate!

"I hate this city! I hate these monsters!" Rainbow yelled to me as I could hear the thumps of the Lickers behind us. They jumped and leaped across the walls and flooring, hissing and screeching as they gave chase.

I didn't know there were this many!

"I know I know! Just keep running!" I wish I had a gun, any kind of gun, just something that had some fucking kick to it that I could use to help us out!

I rushed down the halls of the building alongside Rainbow, who was galloping hard to keep up alongside me. She may have had four incredible legs, but I had plenty of fear fueling my own.

"We have to do something!" Rainbow all but screeched towards me, and I knew.

"If you got any bright ideas, feel free to share!" I retaliated back as we turned a corner.

And around the corner were some stairs leading up, probably to some offices or something.

"Shit, head up and let's hide!" I told her and urged her on up the stairs. I dared to look behind me, and luckily for both of us I didn't see any of the Lickers immediately, but with how fast they moved it wouldn't be too much longer until they caught up.

"Where?!"

Once we reached the second level of the building, I spotted several doors, but only one was open. "There!"

We ran towards it, moving past knocked over plants and the remains of a body before bursting into the room. I slammed the door open and Rainbow slid inside behind me, and I shut the door behind us, quickly locking it before checking the room. Aside from some blood on the walls and floor, and some askew desks.

The smell... that damned smell.

"We should be safe for the moment." I breathed out and quickly started looking around for something, anything that I could use to fight with. Damn that thug for stopping me, I could have gotten that MP5 and used it! But he had to pull me away at the last second. Give me a zombie and I could probably win, but a Licker? No way in hell am I going to win against that thing with just my fists. "Damn it."

Rainbow sounded exhausted, and I shared it with my own heavy breathes. "B-buck, Dee... w-what are those things?"

Honestly, I probably could give her the abridged version. "Okay, those things, they're fucking... they're mutant zombies called Lickers." I told her and rooted through the desks, the chairs, everything trying to find something I could use to fight. Fuck, gimme a letter opener, something! "They're fast, deadly, and their tongues are incredibly long, they use them like whips to attack and grab their prey."

"S-seriously?! Jeez, your world is messed up." Rainbow muttered as she clip clopped around.

I couldn't really argue with that, it was messed up, both this world and my own.

"Yeah, heh... welcome to my world, sweetheart." I told her before glancing over to her, and I saw her look away.

Then we both spotted something on the far wall. A surge of hope went through my being when I spotted the body of a police officer laying up against the wall, torn into and left to bleed out.

"D-Dee?" Rainbow murmured as I stood up and slowly made my way over to the body. "I-is it... one of those things?"

I approached cautiously, a dumb move but if he had anything on him, I could use it. I knelt down by the body and I saw he had a hole in the side of his head, and his eyes were a bloodied dark brown. I brought up my hand... and closed his eyes, he killed himself before he turned, smart. "No, he's dead dead." I examined his body; he was wearing the typical outfit of a RPD Officer, torn to pieces from the undead attacking him.

The most important thing I noticed... the handgun he clutched in his cold dead hands.

I reached down towards his hand and plucked one by one of the fingers off of the grip, and pulled it free from him. I looked down at the handgun, and saw it was a Browning High Power, specifically the Mark III version. I pulled back the slide, saw a chambered round before ejecting the magazine and finding it to be shy three rounds of thirteen. After putting the magazine back inside, I put it down on the floor before undoing the man's belt.

"What are you doing?" Rainbow asked me, her voice curious.

"I'm taking his duty belt." I told her, managing to get it off him without much trouble. Once it was off, I readjusted some parts of it and put it on myself, complete with the handcuff pouch, magazine pouches, holster, it even had a flashlight on it. I checked the three ammo pouches and saw they were full, which gave me roughly thirty-nine reserve rounds to work with, on top of the ten I had in the gun already. "I'll need it more than he does..."

Once that was done, I picked up the handgun again and the flashlight, and flicked it on with a switch of the button. I looked around the room, but there was nothing else of interest.

I got lucky, it seems, the both of us did.

"We're gonna have to fight our way out, aren't we?" Rainbow spoke up after a moment, and asked the obvious question.

"Probably." I nodded slowly as the sound of hissing grew louder. I then gave her a look, a cautious one after adjusting my jacket. "You sure you're up for this?"

She looked down at the floor, as if searching for an answer to our problems there. Unless it was covered in blood, she wasn't going to find much in the way of a solution.

After a few moments of silence from her, she looked up and then to me, and she gave me a tiny nod. "Yeah... just... tell me where to go."

I gave her a smile and nodded to her. "That's the spirit." Holding up my handgun and the flashlight together, I started for the door. "Okay... the plan here is to get out, and we have to get out through either the front door or one of the emergency exits. I don't know where either one is, but it shouldn't be too difficult to find either of them if we're quick about it." The front entrance couldn't be too far, we just had to run straight for it... if I had to guess, it was back downstairs and on the opposite side of that room we both ran out of.

Swell.

A gulp and Rainbow took a deep breath. "Do these things have any kind of weakness?"

"Nope," I regretfully had to inform her. They didn't have one as far as I knew, not these types of Lickers. Maybe if we had an Acid Launcher or some kind of fire based weapon, maybe we could burn them, but alas, the nine-mil will have to do. "Alright, enough talk... we gotta run and run now... you with me?"

"Yeah... I'm n-not scared!" She declared, puffing out her chest and standing up a bit taller.

I couldn't help the smile that appeared on my face. Maybe she was finally starting to get used to the horrors of Raccoon City, It was a horrible place when in this state, filled with bioweapons that could rip your face off, but I was used to it for the time being. Then again, the only things we faced here were undead, Leech Man, and now Lickers, we hadn't faced any of the big tough bosses yet. Like Mr. X, tyrants like Nemesis or the others.

I shuddered at the thought of Nemesis, the chain gun and rocket launcher totin' monster sent after S.T.A.R.S. personnel.

Luckily I wasn't one of them, so he had little reason to come after us.

After a few seconds of preparing ourselves, we approached the door.

"Alright... let's do this." Rainbow muttered, swallowing hard.

I kept my gun handy, and safety off.

I bid one last look at the officer, and I gave him a two fingered salute.

You may have just given us a fighting chance... thank you.

I kicked the door open without a second thought and rushed outside into the hall, handgun raised and flashlight shining the way for us. Rainbow was behind me, quickly keeping up as I led the way down the other end of the hall.

The first screeches filled the air followed by a deep growling. The Lickers were agitated now, but I wasn't scared of them, no. I was armed now, it wasn't much against those things, but it would give the two of us a fighting chance to survive and get outside, hopefully to see the rest of the day in one piece.

I whirled around, shining my light as I backpedaled down the hall. The first one leaped into view, sinking its claws into the ceiling above and roaring at the two of us.

I turned my Browning on the first one and fired twice. Both rounds hit the flying mass of flesh flying towards me, causing it to screech and slam into a nearby painting, making it fall.

"Holy crap! that thing is fast!" Rainbow shouted as we ran, turning another corner.

I had to jump over a body as we ran, and I yelled, "That's how they are, they're fast and agile so keep an eye out! They might be anywhere!"

"These things are crazy!" She argued.

I didn't deny it.

We kept running until we reached some stairs heading down to the ground floor. We practically flew down the stairs, listening to the screeches behind us, which only fueled our fear and made us run faster.

At the bottom of the stairs we found a hall leading further into the building. Dozens of doors sat on either side, ajar with blood trails leading in and out of them, bodies lay on the floor, and the massacred bodies only grew the more we ran.

I nearly slipped and fell once we finally reached a door that had a giant 'EXIT' sign over it.

Wasting no time we burst through and back out into the light of Raccoon City burning sun, leaving behind the build we were in and escaping through narrow alleyways. The lickers would no doubt give chase, but for the time being, we could probably lose them in the alleys.

Or so I thought, until I ended up being shoved forward by something and thrown to the ground, hard, nearly smashing my face into the concrete of the ground.

"Dee!" Rainbow screamed, skidding to a halt.

I felt something heavy on my back, I panicked - naturally, "Fuck fuck fuck!" It had to have been a Licker! I could feel those claws, my sides and back tingled from where they were mere seconds away from ripping into me!

I nearly shit myself.

Had Dash not came to my rescue, and kicked the damned thing off of my back with a powerful buck.

I scrambled away with several noises I didn't even know I could make, and turned around, holding my handgun high and firing. I pulled the trigger as fast as I could while keeping my aim steady, aiming at the Licker who had hit the trash cans. Blood splattered onto the ground and walls, I hit its limbs, its head, face, one of its teeth, even its body until it finally stopped moving, and I had run dry.

Something tugged on my jacket sleeve and I was pulled along by Rainbow Dash, who didn't hesitate to yank me away and keep us running until we were in the safety of the confusing alleyways of Raccoon City.

We were safe... for now.

I hoped.

---

ooo000---000ooo

---

The two of us had run until we our legs gave out, I don't know how far we had run or where the hell we were. My body was about to overdose on fear fueled adrenaline, and I knew Rainbow had to have been the same, probably. She was heaving and huffing when we made it to the end of one alley, and we turned out into the street and ran for the first building we could find before heading inside.

I locked the door without a second thought once Dash had made it inside after me

"F-fuckin' hell." I muttered and gripped my shirt, which was stained from what I felt - blood and sweat, god... I felt disgusting. "I... holy shit." My eyes flicked up to Rainbow. The young mare fell down onto her rump a foot away from me and pulled her tail close to her, for a split second I thought I saw tears in her eyes. "D-Dash..." She glanced over to me...

I saw the tears in her eyes.

That unique headstrong confidence I had associated her with, that stubborn attitude that made her Rainbow, everything that made her what she was crumbled before me, like witnessing a steadfast tower being brought down by an ungodly horrific force. They spilled down her rosy red cheeks, her lips trembled as she tried desperately to hold them back.

But she broke down in front of me, her shield cracked and fell apart like glass.

Something in my heart tore in two at seeing her like that. Her shoulders trembled and shook, her head hung low and her tears fell to the ground as she hugged herself.

Before I knew what I was doing, I had reached out and pulled her to my chest, and wrapped my arms around her trembling form. Every choked sob that left her caused my heart to ache and my chest tighten. She didn't fight me when I hugged her. Rainbow buried her face in my chest and hugged me back, desperately clinging onto me like a vice.

I didn't say anything to her.

I didn't want to lie and say we'd make it out of here alive and in one piece.

Yet, maybe I had to say something, if only to give her just a little bit of hope in such a shitty situation.

Slowly, I rocked back and forth, keeping her close and rubbing her back. I could feel her fur through my fingers, every movement of my hand trailing up and down from her neck down to the middle of her wings, and just a bit lower before coming back up. My other hand rested in her mane, slowly rubbing it.

I did everything I could to try and ease her along, and made not a single noise. I knew what kind of girl she was, at least from what I could understand. She hated being seen as weak, and I could sympathize with that, I used to be like that...

Then she said something I didn't expect her to say.

"I-I'm s-scared..." She whimpered to me, muffled by my shirt.

I let out the smallest of sighs, and took off my hat before sitting it aside. I kept my hand on her head and pulled away slightly, and looked down into her teary eyes. "So am I... no point in denying it." I gave a curious look around, and it was only then I noticed the familiar setting of the building we were in.

It gave me a bit of hope.

"But..." I turned back to her, and I brought a finger up to her cheek, and gently wiped her tears away before leaning down, and I said, "We can't let that fear stop us..." Her eyes stared right into mine, ears perked up... I tasted her breath on mine just about, and I had to really try and focus myself to keep talking to her, to try and calm her the best I could. "As long as we got each other, we'll make it out of this alive, I promise you that. We just have to stick together, watch each other's backs, and we'll make it out of this together, and make it back to our friends, our families."

We had to make it out of this crap alive, together.

I wasn't going to let anything stop us, if I could help it.

I just sat there and held her against me, and let her slowly calm herself down. I didn't know if my words had any effect on her state, I could only hope what I said soothed her somehow.

I guess I'd see in a little bit.

After some time passed, Rainbow pulled away and wiped her eyes. She didn't dare look up at me for whatever reason, only murmuring, "S-so not cool..."

I couldn't stop the scoff. "What?"

Finally, her eyes went up to mine and immediately, she looked off to the side and puffed out a cheek. "..."

I put my hand atop her head and gave it a gentle ruffle, and her cheeks lit up. "Rainbow, it's okay to cry." I whispered to her. "it's not uncool or anything."

"I-it makes me look weak..." She argued, giving me this look. "P-proud pegasi don't c-cry..."

I shook my head... and after a second thought, thwacked her nose.

"Ow!" She recoiled, and held her nose. It was barely a 'hit', just a tiny flick of my finger against her snoot. "What'd you do th-"

"Rainbow," I shushed her up and made her look up at me. "Pride is a dumb thing sometimes, especially when it comes to your own emotions and how you really feel... trust me, I know how that feels, being prideful." I thought back to all of the times in my life, where I had those moments where I was just too damn prideful. "Bottling up shit doesn't ever end well... especially if you bottle it up for years."

I suddenly felt like I was looking at myself in the mirror.

I kept up the straight face as one of my hand rose up to gently cup her slightly fluffed up cheek. "It's okay to let it out sometimes... so don't feel ashamed about crying if you feel like you need to, there's nothing wrong with it."

If only I followed that same advice.

I left Rainbow to think about what I said and stood up, and my knees protested the movement with a loud crack noise in the joints. They felt stiff. Despite all of the walking I did back home, my legs were constantly stiffening up and I couldn't really do anything about it, least not in the current situation. I just had to bare with it until we got out of this damn place.

When I looked up and around the shop, the surge of hope that I had earlier dissipated the more my eyes scanned the shelves and walls, only to find squat on them.

We were in Kendo's Gunshop, and it seems like the lore held true. The stock was completely gone, there was no ammunition to be found, no firearms in sight. Kendo really did toss out all of his inventory to the citizens of Raccoon City, to help fend off the undead. Shame he couldn't have left a few guns, or some ammo.

But maybe I could find a few stray bullets or something?

Or so I thought until I heard a gun cock nearby, and I froze.

"Hold it right there."

I couldn't stop myself from shivering as my eyes flicked to the right, where across the smashed in counterspace I saw a slightly pudgy man in a yellow shirt aiming a triple barreled shotgun at me. He was staring at me with a look that suggested I had entered the wrong building, and he would be right. I may have made a mistake.

Thankfully, he lowered his gun and grumbled something, then said, "If you're looking for a gun, you came to the wrong place." He told me, and kept his eyes on me the whole time. "Everything's gone cept what I got on me... and you ain't getting that."

I just held up my hands. Hopefully he didn't see Rainbow, and if he didn't, I don't know how he missed her. She's probably the brightest thing in this whole city. "I'm already packing, and I ain't looking to start nothing, just needed to get inside somewhere safe for a few before moving on." I explained to him.

Then I heard Rainbow's hooves behind me and he raised his shotgun again.

"What in the hel-?"

I stepped in front of her, keeping her from moving any further as I locked eyes with the man. "She's not one of those things outside, I'll tell you that now..."

He didn't look as shocked as most people did when they saw Rainbow, if anything he just looked tired. After a bit, I began to recognize who he looked like, and it finally clicked.

"Kendo?" I murmured, and he turned to look at me, seemingly forgetting about Rainbow.

"You know me?" His hand tightened around the shotgun, but he didn't raise it.

"Aye, I heard about ya," I began, swallowing as my arms lowered, slowly. "Your brother does a lot of custom gun work, right? You supply the RPD with firearms and other stuff." If I was right, this wasn't the brother who made the custom firearms, like the Samurai Edge I was so fond of. This was the other brother, the one who was killed shortly after Leon and Claire made it into the city.

His shotgun stayed lowered, and he just eyeballed Rainbow and I, but didn't appear to be too antagonistic towards us.

We had this stare off for a good while before the silence was broken.

"What the hell is she?"

This was going to be a long day.

---

ooo000---000ooo

---

Kendo, Rainbow and I sat down in the back of his shop for some rest and to my immense relief, water that he had stored somewhere. Bottled water, alongside some rations, seems the guy had a prepper mindset and I couldn't help but appreciate the setup he had. A tiny pang went through my heart when I realized the amount of supplies here could feed three, it was even divided up evenly among us, no way would a guy need this many supplies... not by himself.

"A magical horse..."

"Pony," Rainbow corrected, sipping from a water bottle.

"...I must've fallen on my head or something," Kendo rubbed his head and sighed. "First zombies and now magical horses?"

I couldn't help but shrug as I drank from my own water bottle. I neglected to mention several details, mostly the things I knew about literally both of them. I could mention it, but then I'd have to explain a lot more to the two and... I don't know how I would do that without fucking it up, it was one of those kind of rules I guess. I could have abused it when we were still captured by Wolfpack, but what would they have done if they knew what I knew?

I knew too much about a lot of things.

I only told him what I 'knew' about Rainbow, that is select information of when the two of us first met and I let her fill in the details, as well as what happened to us over the course of our... what.

"God, how long has it been? Two... three days?" I asked myself in a quiet murmur.

"This outbreak's been going on a lot longer than that, kid." Kendo told us both. "Five days since everything went to shit."

"I uh... I wasn't in the city for that long," I told him with a gulp, "Came here to visit some family of mine and got caught up in some shit, bumped into Rainbow here and we've been together ever since, trying to get out."

"Yeah." Rainbow set down her bottle and rubbed the back of her neck as the light from above shone down on us.

I was still struck dumb by how different she looked compared to how I originally saw her in the show. The bigger wings, the tail feathers, the fluffy hooves, the markings and two tone coat color. It was so strange, but... I couldn't really bring myself to hate it, she was color looking, like a bird, but a pretty bird.

I shook my head and looked back towards the duo. "So yeah, we're still trying to make it out of this hellhole alive and I got a few ideas." I looked towards the wall, thinking. "There're a few roads leading out we could use, steal a truck and plow through anything in our way. If not that we could try the river... find a boat for it. If that fails, well, there's the mountains and forest, but that's a last resort. I'm hoping there're some evacuation choppers somewhere in the city."

The forest would be a nightmare to get through, I had no idea how to traverse the mountains and no idea where any of the roads there led. If we ended up going through there, we'd be chased down by whatever BOW's escaped the city and still lurked into the mountains. The forests were old and dense, there was no telling what dwelled in them.

"Evacuating? Heh, good luck with that." Kendo muttered to us, and I only stared as he gestured to radio equipment he had setting on a desk. "I got a radio tuned in to military channels, and the city's been quarantined. Roadblocks have been set up all around the city."

"I figured they'd do that." I leaned back in the chair.

Rainbow looked over towards us. "They blocked the roads?"

"Yeah," I nodded. "The reason for that is to keep the infection from spreading to other neighboring towns and cities, if this got out, it could become global. If we want to get out of here, we gotta a way to one of the city exits, or get evac'd from somewhere." And it sort of worked, up until the city got nuked out of existence.

She looked down at the table in front of her, eyes narrowed and her wings fluttering.

"We're gonna get out of here, one way or another." I looked down at my handgun and focused on the plan in my head before pulling it out, and checking it once more. "We just have to keep going."

Then Kendo said something that gave me a bit of hope, and caused Rainbow's ears to perk up. "I heard there was an evacuation going on at the college on the east side of the city." He stood up from the chair and turned his back to us. "My... wife, daughter and I were going to head there, but..."

I didn't see anyone else inside, and from how he was speaking...

I was going to speak, only for Rainbow to beat me to it.

"Where are they?"

I really wish she didn't ask that, because I could feel the air just seize up and grow chillier. Kendo sighed heavily and looked to the right, towards the wall and we both followed his gaze, where there was some dried blood staining the wood. "They were bitten and turned..." He told Rainbow. "...I had to put them down."

I couldn't imagine how hard that had to have been. A wife and child, and having to put them both down?

I knew Rainbow didn't understand that just yet. How could she? Her world was perfect and flawless, it seemed like, there wasn't shit like this going on there. I looked at her, and watched as a bunch of different emotions ran across her face, too many for me to keep track of. "I... I didn't..."

"I ain't got nothing." I admitted and shook my head, as a sickly feeling began to fill my chest and stomach. "I can't even begin to imagine how that had to have felt..."

We were all silent for a time, up until Kendo turned to face the back window, into the alleyway behind his shop. Both Dash and I looked as well, and we could see the shadows of the undead lurking down them. "Best you two get moving while you still can."

We didn't argue.

By the time we left the backroom and reached the front door, we were stopped by Kendo who said, "Hey, kid."

I turned in time to see him throw something towards me, which I barely caught. When I got a good look at what he threw, I saw it was a couple of handgun magazines, they were for a Beretta however, which I had lost thanks to Wolfpack. "W-what are these-?"

"I don't have the gun for them, and you might find a better use for them." He waved us off and turned around. "Good luck... I hope you two make it out of here in one piece." He then left us alone.

I gave a look at the thirty or so rounds he threw at me and sighed, before I pocketed them in my duty belt.

"So... what now?" Rainbow asked and glanced up at me.

"Well," I turned and opened the door, heading back out into the city of Raccoon. "We gotta keep moving, but where? I don't know..."

As we both stood there trying to figure it out, we both figured out our answer when a loud siren that we had been hearing suddenly grew closer and closer, until a pair of SWAT Vans and police cruisers turned and sped around a corner, blazing a path down the narrow streets past abandoned cars and heading to our right, down the road towards Main Street.

RPD was mobilizing their forces, and headed that way?

It was then I realized what today must have been...

I knew it to be a lost cause, and yet, I couldn't stop myself from grabbing Rainbow's attention and heading towards the sirens, following the officers headed for Main Street.

September 26th, when Irons made the decision to have the majority of the RPD killed by having them face the horde of undead, head on at Main Street, with little to no backup.

Which meant...

We had five days before Raccoon City was destroyed.

Author's Note:

Big thanks to P-Berry for looking this over like the true bro he is.

Also, for a reference as to what Dash looks like, well, you can blame Hioshiru for this.

Ever since they made up these new designs, I've fallen in love with them, especially Rainbow Dash's.

That's what she looks like in this.

Comments

[Bronycommander]

Looks very nice! And I remember the intro only too well. Question is, which of the two mutants they will encounter

[Fluttercheer]

A new chapter! And I can't read it because I still got own stories to finish before Season 9 starts. Life, why are you cruel?

[Tempest_Flare]

9419955
if you want to do it this way have Dash knock the shambers down ugly though they are you said yourself they are still alive plus gameplay-wise this makes sense because i'f you don't stock up on ammo from multiple playthroughs or get a powerful infinite weapon then you just waste time and effort killing the shamblers (i call them shamblers because till re6 we never saw anything past recently dead rise from a grave)

[redsopine]

Damm man one dashies cute 2 u beat me to this I was gonna make a re2 cross fic

[Fluttercheer]

And I'm finally back to reading this. Only three or four weeks later than planned..... A rather uneventful chapter, this one, but I guess after all the recent action, it's okay to have a breather.
The scenes with the lickers confused me. I'm by far no RE expert anymore, but I remember that they can't see, only hear. So, why did they run away from them? It would have been safer to just be quiet and sneak past them. Dustin and Rainbow Dash made a lot of unnecessary noise there.
I'm wondering where they'll be going next. I hope I can read the latest three chapters next week.

[Wolfblood2203]

9853335
Fear can cause people to do things that could have been done in a way better way

[Fox Jones]

That is one of my fave Dashie looks! You have good taste my guy! Also superb story so far! Really enjoying some of the exchanges between you 'n Dashie!

[Comet_Chaser]

Oh my word, that pic of RD....... utterly gorgeous, that's all I can say.....

[Mean Sunnavagun]

That version of Rainbow Dash honestly doesn't look too bad, though the fact that she actually has tail feathers is just a bit odd.

I think my all time favorite version of Rainbow Dash, is the one where the colors on her wing's flight feathers literally matches the rainbow colors of both her mane and tail.

That version of her is quite striking visually, and her Rainbow colored feathers honestly makes her more or less look like an absolutely gorgeous tropical bird of some sort.