Fallout Equestria: S.T.A.L.K.E.R

by aegishailstorm

Chapter 11: Get Out Of Dodge

Chapter 11: Get Out Of Dodge

"Oww, Oh blin!" Nikolai fumbled around in the darkness with only his flashlight to guide him. He could hear Flashpoint grumbling to himself.

"This is your fault." The Zebra muttered. Nikolai's Geiger counter began to tick away, quickly, he fumbled around in his rucksack, and then tossed the equine gas mask to Flashpoint.

"Put this on, unless you like glowing, bone aches, or cancer." He swiftly did as told. Nikolai turned and shinned his light down the tunnel. It was just barely tall enough for him to stand up in. The tunnel led down to a fork after about 30 meters in either direction. And the ground underneath felt mushy. Nikolai tried not to think about what he might be stepping in.

"Should we wait for them to go away up above, or find a different way out?" Flashpoint asked him. Nikolai shook his head.

"I have been in situation like this before. We pop up, and they'll be waiting with their guns. We go around." He gestured back into the tunnel.

"Don't worry, I've got plenty of charge left in the rifle light. And even then, I brought a spare penlight, and some chemlights." Nikolai had heard the term before, but he wasn't about to call them glow sticks in front of Flashpoint.

"That is... ok by me." He responded, sounding dubious. Nikolai ignored him this time and pressed forward.

The sewers were dark, aside from Nikolai's gun light and the faint glow of balefire radiation by their feet. The properties of the stuff still bewildered him. It wasn't like regular radiation at all. More like a cartoonish version of the stuff. Barrels with warning labels oozing green sludge and what not. He laughed at the though.

"If only." Flashpoint heard him, and turned his head.

"What?"

"Nevermind."

"Ok..." All of a sudden, Flashpoint buckled up into the air, rearing like a frightened horse.

"What is it!?" Nikolai chided quietly.

"There is something in these tunnels." He responded. Nikolai quickly shinned his light behind them, and found nothing out of the ordinary.

"Da, I understand." He shifted his up from semi to fully automatic.

"Take some steps forward." Nikolai slowly moved forward. And then off to the side, onto a little concrete platform. All of a sudden, a huge green and black form burst up from the mud. Apparently mad that Nikolai had stepped on what looked like a tail.

"Ah blyat, die монстр!" He screamed, firing wildly at the thing whilst backing up, forcing Flashpoint back down the tunnel. The thing let out a deflated hiss, and collapsed, dead at his feet. He chuckled with uncertainty.

"That was a radagator." Flashpoint murmured. " Just a youngling."

"Where are the adults?" He was interrupted by an impeccably timed roar. He could've laughed, had it not been terrifying. The roar echoed down the tunnel. And another one echoed back in response.

"Train your gun behind us, I'll go ahead!" Nikolai broke into a sprint though the muck and Balefire residue. Almost slipping and falling in the process. But, he stayed up. After a few moments of moving forward, they came to an intersection. On the ground lay the decaying corpses of 2 armed ponies. Likely those who had previously been sent down into the Sewers to investigate. The bite marks and broken bones made it well apparent as to what had happened. A pair of radigators stormed down the corridor to his front. Teeth bared and oozing with greed sludge. Nikolai raised his gun and pulled the trigger 2 times in quick succession, then turned his gun to the other and sent it's head flying.

"Run!" He heard more gunfire behind him. Flashpoint had engaged another radiator. They moved forward at a brisk pace, almost back to back. Nikolai swapped magazines and brought his rifle back up. Hastily stuffing the half empty one into a leather drop pouch. After about a hundred yards they came to an maintenance shaft opening alongside what appeared to be support pillars squaring a central open space. Pilled in the corner's were set's of glowing green eggs.

"It's a nest." Nikolai murmured. Followed up by Flashpoint's cry of, " Why yes! It most certainty is!" From the roof sat about a dozen bat-like creatures.

"Bloodwings." Flashpoint informed the Stalker.

"Flying mutant-" He raised is gun and raked the ceiling, the sonic crack of full powder FMJ 5.56 by 45 ammunition echoed off the walls. The suppressor was effective in wide open spaces. But, in the confined space of a sewer, it only served to blanket the flash and the initial 'bang' of the gunpowder sending the action back and the bullet down the barrel. The creatures fell to the ground in one big bloody pile. Off to his left side, Nikolai noticed a door. Then, off to his right, another radigator.

"Blyat cyka!"Nikolai shouted obscenities' at the creature, pulling out his Makarov and emptying and entire magazine into the it's body. He stuffed it back into it's holster and backed up against the left wall.

"Do you have anything that can get that door open? its look's rusted shut!" Flashpoint gave the handle a tug, and it creaked open.

"What was that?" He replied with a cough. Nikolai shuffled into the corridor, Flashpoint jumped in behind him, another radigator lunging at him as the door slammed shut. As soon as the door was closed, the beeping of his Geiger counter lessened greatly. After a little ways of walking, they came to another door, this one led back up to the surface.

"Ah!!" Flashpoint gasped in relief as he tore off his mask and stuffed it into a pouch. He winced slightly on the radiation sores on his hooves, but said nothing. Nikolai on the other hand, moved calmly, he set he mask in a pouch by his side and downed a 1/3 pack of Rad-away. He paused and looked at Flashpoint, who looked back up at Nikolai in bewilderment.

"What is it. Would you perhaps like some as well?" Flashpoint shook his head. " No, It's just that I still have not gotten past the sight of your strange face." Nikolai laughed.

"Is not first time I have heard that little дурачок." He laughed again, then redonned his mask.

"Why do you insist on wearing that thing everywhere?"

"My GP 5? Force of habit, perhaps." He shrugged as he checked his rifle's magazine. Flashpoint watched in mild amazement as Nikolai looked into the magazine, gazing down at the rounds within, then shook it and responded with.

"About half. I am going to half to repack my magazines soon." He stuffed the magazine into one of his pouches and pulled another one from a pouch on his rucksack. He let his rifle fall on it's sling. Pulling out his pistol, he flipped the magazine release on the bottom of the grip and extracted the spent magazine. He reached for his last spare magazine on his belt, and loaded into the gun before dropping the slide release with his thumb and sliding it back into it's holster.

"Do you by any chance have any military-"

"Nyet, I do not. Action movies and YouTube. That is all. Guns are a rare commodity where I come from. Shooting ranges even rarer. Though there was hunting in abundance." He opened the door and came up with his gun raised. Fresh dry air blew into the tunnel, confirming that they were indeed back on the surface. The pair now found themselves in the hall of an ornate government building.

"Dodge City Town Hall." They made their way out the front doors, and found themselves confronted by half a dozen White Apple mercenaries. Who were slow to react, Nikolai took up a position behind a column. Flashpoint hid inside.

"Calm down, we just want to talk." He hear a voice call out from the park in front of the building.

"Fetch the sheriff! We shall speak then!" Flashpoint called out.

"Save your barkin' sonny, I'm already here!" The voice of Brick Brandy responded. "Bounty huntin' is just part of life in the Wasteland. I don't have any quarrel you or the White Apples. Just surrender and come on out and I give you ma word they won't start shootin'." Nikolai shook his head and groaned. Why did things like this always happen to him on the final stretch of the a journey? He was hungry, filthy, and needed some place to get back in fighting shape. Plus, some alcohol couldn't hurt.

"My apologies, but that is not good enough! I have information about this town. It is life or death. Tell the mercenaries to leave, and I will give it to you and help solve the problem."

"What is it?" The sheriff responded auspiciously. Nikolai could hear scattered hoofsteps ahead of him. They were repositioning. He looked back through the stained windows of the courthouse, and silently motioned for Flashpoint to push up to the pillar just parallel of him. So that an infill from the front side of the building would be completely impossible. Unless you had a tank, or one of those fancy Ballistic Shields.

"Listen, I'll put my gun down, and ya can tell me."

"No need, I will tell you it from here."

"Alright then, what is it?"

"I know where all your hired guns went, and I know what's iradiating the groundwater. You have a mutant infestation under the town. Some grenades and thermite should fix it. Now, let us go!" Nikolai waited anxiously.

"Alright, fine by me. You can go. Lower your guns!" The sheriff let off another round from his .44 Magnum. Nikolai took this to mean that he had something to say.

"I said, lower your guns- whoop!" Nikolai whipped out from behind the pillar and caught one of the White Apple's in the act of tackling the Sheriff.

"Get off of him durak!" Nikolai pointed his gun at the mercenaries, who, having just lowered their weapons, hastily obliged.

"Now listen here." By now a crowd had begun to gather around them. Some of the residents totting firearms of their own. Unsure of what to make of the unfolding situation.

"Don't just stand there, help me out!" A half dozen ponies pushed their way through the crowd, wearing badges on leather vests and dusters.

"Now mare's and Gentlecolts." The sheriff exclaimed, getting back onto his hooves. "I say we have ourselves a good old fashioned public forum and figure out just what we ought to do with these ruffians." Nikolai raised an eyebrow.

"Who do you imply?"

"You, your Zebra companion, and them." The sheriff pointed over at the mercenaries.

"Us? We, are innocent. We have done nothing wrong. I personally freed Flashpoint and some other's from the grasp of a group of Slavers. Should that alone not be a testament to my good character?"

"It's true!" A voice from the back of the crowd called. Flashpoint silently nodded his head.

"It is true. Although, I cannot attest to what Nikolai was up to before I met him." Nikolai growled.

"Listen here, your boss was trying to get his hand-hooves on plans for one of those Balefire bombs. Plus, I really, really did not like him." The mercenaries shrugged. "Don't care, we still have to bring you in."

"Well, ya ain't gonna be doin' it here. I reckon we ought to make an exception for these to? Does anyone object?" The White Apple's looked more confused then angry. But Nikolai was ok with it.

"Alright then, that'll be all folks. " He turned and looked up at Nikolai, " You're free to either enjoy what our town has to offer, or leave."

"Do you have any taverns in town?"

"Pick one. Drink's are on me. That's a one time offer."

A good few hours later, Nikolai stumbled out the front door of a saloon on main street, he had downed a glass and a half of whiskey... Which, whilst not enough to cause total impairment. Still made his brain just a little bit fuzzy. On top of that, he had also gorged himself on all manner of preserved food from the bar. And restocked all of his ammunition, it was fairly easy to con some houghty merchant out of a few boxes of the stuff. Subpar, but still better than nothing, and in good shape too. He groaned as he slumped back on a rocking chair on the front porch.

"Ah, I think I should stay here for a while. I am tired of running for my life." He looked over and spotted some figures moving towards him down the road. It was the White Apple's from before. And, judging by their muddled shouting, they wanted something to do with him.

What he wanted to say was: "Wha- what is it?" It came out as; "Ва-что это!?" With an added drunken slur. The mercenaries didn't seem amused at all.

"Oh, fuck it." He heard one of the mercenaries say with a grunt. " The sheriff isn't looking, let's get him!"

"Blyat! Flashpoint, we are doing the leavings!" The Zebra hastily lumbered out of the saloon, tugging his belongings behind him. Usually, Nikolai would describe the Zebra's movements as 'graceful'.

This was definitely not the case here. He looked like he could barely stand on all fours.

"Eh, hehe!" Nikolai exclaimed. "How about some cheery music for the occasion, eh?" He fumbled with his radio, intending to put on Zone FM. What he got instead was another Equestrian broadcast.

"Hello there folks, this is DJ Pon3, your voice in the Wasteland, bringing you the truth no matter-" He twisted the knop, and the airwaves were filled with the sound of a twangy Ukranian folk song.

"What the hell, why'd you switch it!?" Nikolai dove over the fence and ran into an alleyway, a White Apple appeared in front of him. So close he nearly ran into the suppressor on the end of the Stalker's rifle. Nikolai sent him sprawling to the ground with the butt end of his gun. And then rounded another corner and ran down a side street, joined by Flashpoint. Being that both weren't exactly at their best. Neither noticed that they were being fired upon by the mercenaries until a bullet clipped Flashpoint's mane.

"Blyat ty трус!"

Nikolai cursed at the top of his lungs. He whipped his gun around and began letting off errant rounds in the 'general' direction of his pursuers. Flashpoint did the same. Though, his sub-gun ran dry after a few bursts. And he didn't bother to reload. Bystander's either fled in terror or dove for cover, a few drew their own guns. But by the time they could get any information as to the developing situation, Nikolai had already sprinted into a tavern and scrunched up in the corner behind hard cover.

"Where should we go?" His zebra companion asked him. Flashpoint's face was full of both terror and confusion. Nikolai realized that he was counting on him to get him out of Dodge City.

"Take the side exit, over there." Nikolai whispered, pointing to a door in the wall just past the bar. They discretely made their way through the crowd, but as they stepped into the street, they caught the eye of one of the mecranaries. Who raised his gun to fire on them, but what happened next was something that would stay with Nikolai for the rest of his life.

The Mercenary looked fairly average, a unicorn stallion clad in body armor and wearing a bandana. As he floated up his gun, a rifle caliber carbine, by the look of things. It was Nikolai's body and gun just compulsively snapped to his location. He swore he could see a laser pointing just under his opponent's horn. His scopes crosshairs went right where he needed them to. The next thing he knew, the Mercenary was dead on the ground a good 25 meters away. And Nikolai had safely made his way into and out of the town's gun shop, back onto main street. And was now though the front gates of Dodge City and back out into the Wasteland. He was, and his vision had blurred again from exhaustion. He could taste stomach acid, and his head was pounding.

"Are you alright?" Flashpoint asked as he watched with intent.

"Da." Nikolai muttered as he hastily unpacked an IFAK and jammed a stimpack in his arm. " Is fine. Is all fine." As the pain subsided, he checked his compass. "Very well then, north it is."

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[Shadow-Dancer]

Poor man can't catch a break