It was bloody hot. I’m pretty sure the temperature outside the suit was pleasant, but I felt like I was in an oven. After I ran from the orchard, I was into the forest I first saw when I appeared, the place looking creepy as shit even though it was barely noon. Figuring that I was close enough to the farm, I could just come back for the suit later, and I took it off as quickly as I could.

“Finally…” I muttered, taking a long drink from a bottle of water. I left my bulletproof vest on, put my belt with pistol holster around my chest, stuffed my MRE into a side pocket in my pants, water bottle in one pocket, and iPod with headphones in the other. Memorizing the exact location, I walked away very quickly, not wanting to stay in one spot for long.

“Hey!” A feminine voice called out, before an M4 with several magazines fell from the sky and landed in front of me. “Thank Prince Timeithian for that!” I looked up and saw a Death Guard Pegasus mare hovering above me.

“Thanks!” I called out, waving.

“No idea what that thing does, but Timeithian brought it here for you. He says it’s for protection against the creatures in here!” She called back, before flying off. I grinned to myself and picked it up, loading the rifle and chambering a round.

“If I make it out of here, I’ll bloody kiss whatever he has for a foot…” I muttered.

“I’ll hold you to that.” Timeithian’s voice suddenly said, scaring the shit out of me.

“The fuck?!” I shouted, but got no answer. I stood there for several moments, before sighing and running in a general direction of where I was wanting to go; away from civilization. I ran for a while, pausing only to catch my breath and to take a sip of water, before my foot decided to become a troll and trip up, sending me face first into a patch of blue flowers.

‘Well, that’s enough of running for a while, must’ve gone several miles in…’ I thought, getting out of the patch of flowers and into the shade of a tree. I pulled my MRE out and opened it, before frowning.

“Of all the bloody…” I muttered as I threw away the one MRE I would never eat; meatloaf. I sighed and looked around for a bird or something to kill for dinner. Seeing nothing nearby, I settled for a stick of gum, softly chewing on it to keep the flavor as long as possible. Time flew by rather quickly, and before I knew it, it was nighttime.

‘Time to keep moving, I guess. Night is one of the best silencers, after all.’ I thought, getting to my feet with a quiet groan and started walking again. I kept the safety flicked off and the M4 in my hands at all times, not wanting to be in a crappy situation and it not be anywhere near me. As I wander around aimlessly, I swear that I see a few sets of red eyes staring at me just out of range of my rifle.

“Bloody eyes…” I muttered, stopping and looking around again. “Don’t know if dangerous, so I’ll just wait…” I then sat down, taking a long gulp of water from my bottle, drinking the rest of it.

‘Figures.’ I thought, shaking the bottle a little before throwing it.

“You wouldn’t happen to know where a river is, do you?” I called out, testing the owners of the glowing red eyes. I got no response, so I shrugged and pulled out my iPod, picking a random song. I sat there listening to the song, when I barely heard shuffling of hooves against the ground. A sudden glare of light showed that there was what looked like a zombie pony on one side of me, where the red lights were, and a Day Guard on the other side of me. Both were roughly twenty feet away.

“Found you!” The Day Guard shouted, aiming a spear at me, while seemingly not noticing the zombie pony. I scrambled to my feet, struggling to figure out which would be a bigger threat to me. Suddenly, more red lights appeared around the two of us, while ghastly voices moaned stuff about friendship and all that crap.

“Well. Seems like we have a common enemy right now…” I muttered just loud enough for the Day Guard to hear as he backed up to me, while I aimed my M4 at a zombie pony.

“Yea… You wouldn’t want to call a temporary truce, would you?” He nervously asked, glancing back at me.

“Might as well. Would hate to be bitten from behind.” I replied, aiming in between a pair of lights.

“So, you know what these things are? Definitely not Changelings.” The Guard asked.

“Zombies. Aim for their ugly as shit faces.” I replied, switching the M4 to semi-automatic and squeezing the trigger, the bullet slamming into decaying flesh and emitting a spray of grey matter and blood from the back of a zombie pony’s head. The Guard winced at the crack of the rifle but nodded, watching my back for me as I picked off the zombies one at a time.

“I think that’s all of them…” He muttered, after stabbing one through an eye socket.

“Yea… I’m not gonna sleep tonight…” I muttered, popping my back, before looking at him.

“So… I guess you’ll get going?” He asked after a brief awkward silence.

“Too dangerous for either of us right now. You’re stuck with me until we can see the bloody sun.” I replied, looking around. That seemed to piss him off a little, but I ignored it.

“Alright…” He groaned.

“If there is more zombies, we really shouldn’t be anywhere near here when they come. Keep moving.” I said, nudging him with the butt of my rifle. He nodded and we walked onward, parallel to where both him and the zombies appeared from. We walked like this for a few hours, when the light above the trees started getting lighter.

“Well, Human. I guess this is goodbye.” The Guard said, looking at me when we stopped.

“Alright. I trust you to not say exactly where I am?” I hopefully asked.

“I am sorry, but it’s my job to. I hope you don’t take offence.” He apologized.

“It’s alright, I know the duties a soldier has, even if the job title is something different. I won’t hold it against you, so get moving already.” I replied, waving him off with my hand. He nodded and walked away, watching me carefully, as if I was going to shoot him as soon as he turned around. I waved to him and walked off, wondering just how far in the bloody forest I was.

“That was very honorable. But stupid.” Timeithian commented.

“Eh, I wouldn’t kill someone who helped me in a tight situation. And he did apologize.” I replied, coughing a little.

“Were you bitten by them?” He asked, sounding a little worried.

“No, came close though…” I coughed harder, sinking to my knees as I couldn’t stand anymore.

“Bloody- Stay there!” He ordered, as I slipped into unconsciousness.

Next Chapter: These Bloody Ponies are Gunning for me! Estimated time remaining: 14 Hours, 11 Minutes