My eyes slowly opened to darkness, small beams of light bled through the small openings of the containers. I had a throbbing pain in my head, reminding me of the party. Shuffling myself towards the light switch, I tripped on something laying on the floor and slammed both my face and knee on what ever cluttered the floor. What ever I landed on, I broke it, it had some shattered glass jabbing into my legged. Grinding my teeth in pain, I limped my way to the light switch. Feeling the wall, I felt the tape that was holding both the wiring and the light-switch. Using my thumb to flick on the light, the blinding light beamed in to my retinas. When my eyes adjusted, I took a quick glance of the cluttered state that my humble abode was in.

Ignoring the fact that there was sand scattered on the floor and the solar panels that belonged on my roof were on the floor. Forgetting the disarray, I made my way to the medical kit next to my twisted hammock. After removing the shards of glass and cleaning the small gashes in my leg, I gently wrapped the gauze around my leg. Tightening my grip on a pole, I rose my self onto my shaky legs.

"Wow, what a great way to start the day." I mused to myself.

Dragging my bandaged leg behind me, I made my way to the solar panels. There on the floor, I could see the broken glass of the solar panel on the floor. Leaning down to pick up the shattered glass, a piece off paper landed next to me. Grabbing it, I read to myself.

Widening my eyes at the action of my friends (especially Brooklyn's), I remembered how much they ment to me. All the time I've spent with them, all of our misadventures as kids, and all of the support we gave each other. After taking a moment to gather my thoughts, I had forgotten about the sand scattered around and decided to clean it up. Grasping the handle of a broom, I amassed a small pile of the sand and glass next to the door of the container. Opening the doors, rays of sunlight momentarily blinded me. Adjusting my eyes, I discovered the unimaginable. My sad excuse of a home was surrounded by dense vegetation. Trees, bushes, vines, and lush green grass was all around me and my slice of heaven. Stepping out, I looked around the area. There appeared to be a small dead piece of land with no vegetation, I slowly inspected the metal walls of the cargo containers. I observed the small patches of paint that was sanded away because the harsh winds.

I limped back to the only thing that I had left and sat on the hammock.

"No... this can't be real. I'm still drunk, or this is some type of dream of some sort. Someone could of drugged my drink for all I know."

If you are still asleep, then how did you feel pain when you fell and cut your self?

"Whats going on?" I groaned to myself. "How could something like this happen to me. What did I do to diserve this? This is impossible!"

Limping outside once more, I looked around for an elevated spot to get a better view of my surroundings. Observing the area, a cliff face could be seen about half a mile from my location. Setting my self down, I started to think of what to do.

Ok, obviously I need a plan. First off, I have no food or water so I will need to find something. Second, fire. That won't be a problem, I'm surrounded by fuel. Third and final, find a populated area. Hopefully friendly.

Simple right? I hope...

After my little freakout, I went back inside and got the pellet gun that I'd used to hunt squirrels, rabbits, and doves with. Using a tree as a marker, I set out for some food.

<><><><><><>

Edge of Everfree Forest

6:24 Am

Princess Luna and her personal guards landed the exquisite chariot down onto an open field next to the tree line of the Everfree forest. The princess who symbolized the moon stepped off the golden chariot and onto the grass covered in morning dew. She glided her eyes on the edge of the forest; almost expecting to be attacked right away. The co-ruler of Equestria glanced at her six guards who were accompanying with her. Just like her sister, her personal guards consist of two of each pony race; Earth, Pegasi, and Unicorn. While Luna scanned over the notes about the beasts, her guards were busying them selfs by checking the enchantments of both their armor and weapons.

"Guards, form on me." Hollered the Alicorn. Doing as told, the six armored ponies stood and saluted in front of their princess.

"As you all know, there has been numerous reports of mysterious animals of canine origin lurking in the Everfree forest. They have been know to stalk the ponies of the near by town of Ponyville. We will not allow these such vile beasts so close to our homes and loved ones. Our reason for us to be here is to 'remove' them from the edges of the forest." Briefed Luna.

"Any questions?"

They stood silent.

"Good. Once we set up camp, we leave." Announced Princess Luna.

<><><><><><>

Somewhere

Sweat trickled down my forehead as I made my way to the shelter. The forest had some wildlife scattered throughout the dark forest, so it was safe to say that food wouldn't become a problem. Three squirrels hanged limply from a string tied to my belt. I felt a little bit of pride in myself for having something to eat. It's nice to know that you're going to have food on the table after a hard days work.

Pushing some branches away, I caught a glimpse of a large moving creature near my shelter. For what I saw... I nearly pissed my pants.

Less than fifteen feet ahead of me was a massive hulking beast. It owned a pair of bat-like wings, a scorpion tail, and the body of a male lion. When it stood on all fours, the... thing seamed to be ten-feet tall and twenty-feet from head to tail.

To frankly put it; it looked like something from a Dr. Seuss picture book.

The creature was smelling the area around the container house, then he looked in my direction. I nestled down behind a bush, trying to hide my large frame behind it. If the creature decided to attack, I would be truly fucked, even if I tried to fight or run. The large claws it sported could rip me to shreds in one swipe. If that didn't kill me, the jaws that housed it's teeth could crush my bones like toothpicks, and I really didn't want to think about the scorpion tail.

When I slowly put my arms down, I realized the dead squirrels on my hip. With common sense kicking in, I removed one of the rodents from the string and with my knife I slowly cut it open. My idea was that the creature would be attracted to the bloody vermin and want a cheap dinner, and if it came closer; I would throw the squirrels away from the camp. Using the string that held my soon-to-be dinner, I attached the bait to a rock. Taking a deep breath, I threw the bait to the opposite edge of the clearing. The fucked up overgrown kitty-cat watched the squirrel land in a bush. Striding off towards the bait in the bush, the beast searched around for the cheap dinner. Seeing my window of opportunity, I quietly made my way to the house. After silently closing the door, I began to barricade the door with random supply crates that were close to me. Limping my way to the small personal armory in the back of my house. (Majority of the weapons I owned were stolen from Dustin's armory). I uncovered two boxes with the universal explosive hazard sign on them. The first box has two-dozen M67 fragmentation grenade, the other box had a dozen rust mines. The rust mines were homemade version of the M18 Claymore, but the ball bearings were rusted; who ever was unfortunate enough to get a rusted ball bearing imbedded into them could get an infection from the rust.

Taking the detonator and the electrical wire, I gradually opened the door. Checking the area for the animal, I made baby steps out from safety. I then placed four mines at the front of my home, then connecting the electrical wire from them to the detonator. After checking for the final time for the giant, I slipped back into the metal shelter. Carefully setting the detonator onto a nearby crate, I picked up my dinner and began field dressing them.

When I finished cooking and eating the rodents, I took a long swig of water from my canteen. I still felt paranoid about the hybrid lurking in the shadows of the forest. Kicking out the fire, I ventured back in to the shelter. Feeling the effects of exhaustion, I laid down on the hammock and feel asleep.

<><><><><><>

Everfree Forest

12:17 AM

The sounds of animals from the Everfree surrounded the Princess and her guards. Everpony was on edge, they had passed multiple footprints and remains of animals; even a manticore fell prey to the mysterious beasts. A snapped of a twig could be heard from behind a bush. Before the Earth pony stallion could turn around, were claws embedded into his flesh.

The rest of the guards turned around to see their squad mate thrashing about on the forest floor with a dark-grey creature on his back. A unicorn mare charged up her horn and fired a bolt of magic at the brute, when the bolt connected with the animal, it flew backwards and into a tree. The once strong stallion that laid on the floor was motionless. Blood was seeping out from the gashes on his back.

Multiple barks and howls pierced the humid air, as five more of the hounds jumped at the unicorn who fired the bolt of magic. The mare side-stepped to the right and fired another round of magic at the attacker. A light-grey canine swiped at a pegasus guard, tearing her left wing off with it's claws. Luna picked up the attacker of the wounded pegasus and gripped it's throat with her magic; crushing it's windpipe. Launching the now-dead beast at a fourth demon, missing it by inches. The last able-bodied pegasus mare dive bombed a white beast, and with her hind hooves slammed into it's head. The last of the dog like creatures sprinted into the darkness of the forest.

Picking up the dead stallion in her telekinesis, she commanded her guards. "Return to the camp!"

Five hours later...

The once small camp buzzed with activity. The camp now held a small platoon of thirty-five Royal Guards. Luna sat inside of her personal tent; resting. The images of the encounter flashed before her eyes. She couldn't help but feel a pang of guilt in her heart. The body of the stallion who died was being sent back to his hometown of Dodge Junction. The pegasus mare who's wing got ripped off was currently in the hospital in Ponyville. She sighed in remorse for her idea to search for the animals. She should of listened to her older sister.

After sending Celestia a report of what happened in the Everfree, Celestia saw to it and sent a platoon of Royal Guards to aid her in the mission. The goddess of the moon felt ashamed for the need of more ponies. Thoughts loomed in her head of the abnormal creatures. Chatterer could be heard from outside of her personal tent. The guards have given the beasts the name 'Brutes'; the name was quite accurate.

Deciding to stretch her wings, she dragged herself out and into the open. Guards could be seen moving about doing their respected jobs inside the camp. Everypony looked like they were either stressed or scared... they haven't even seen the Brutes.

How could this happen? Two of my best guards were easily ripped to shreds in a matter of seconds! She thought.

Taking flight, she made her way to the small town of Ponyville to see what Twilight was up to.

<><><><><><>

Third person view

Isaiah's dream

The sound of gunshots filled a large ghost town. Thirteen men had barricaded them selfs into a building complex. The building was surrounded by infected. The sounds of blood curdling screams filled the complex as hundreds of the once humans were banging away on the building. They were picking up rocks and other small objects and were throwing them at the men who were now trapped on the top story of the building. Clayton looked over the edge to see the mass of their potential death.

"Fucking pice of shit!" Yelled a man holding a radio.

"Let me guess, radio ain't working?" Mumbled Clayton.

"Yeah. I can't get ahold of James's group."

"Looks like we got a break in!" Screamed another of man group.

"Shit! Isaiah, can you please go down and help the others reinforces the barricade." Doing as told the young man made his way down to the first floor.

Isaiah rushed down to help the other four men. Sounds of screams and grunting filled his ears as the survivors were piling bookshelf's in front of the barricade that kept out the infected. Four other men were jabbing the infected in the eyes through openings in the wall with wooden pikes.

Running over to a crate, Isaiah grabbed a arm full of plastic explosives and looked for strategic areas for placement. Support columns held up half of the second floor, with a idea in mind he began to mold the explosives in a ring around each column. He then placed the electrical wires into each ring of explosives. Once they were imbedded with the charge, he ran the wires to the second floor on the opposite side of the building.

The infected were hitting the barricade in synchronized waves, the wall of bookshelves were falling apart.

"Get to the top floor!" Bellowed Clayton.

With one last push, the waves of infected slammed through the barricade and filled the room. The stampede crushed through the random things that strewn though out the first floor. Two men who were armed with the pikes were overrun by the infected; slowly being ripped apart. The rest of the men sprinted to the top floor, not looking back at the mass chasing them.

The man who had the radio was speaking to another scavenger group, trying to give them directions to their hold-out. Clayton had a road flare ready to be activated when the pick-up truck was close by. The fire escape would be a risky getaway because of the amount of rust that covered it, the fire escape probably only hold two men before it would collaps. The door to the roof was being slammed on by the infected. With patience low, Clayton activated the road flare. The radio crackled to life.

"Sam! I can see the building! But theres a fuck load of infected, I can't get close without being overrun!" Reported James.

"Yeah. We have a plan for that. We have explosives on some support columns on the first floor. Give us the go ahead and we'll detonate them." Said the radio operator.

"Ok. Just let me turn this corner...ok. In three...two...one"

<><><><><><>

I woke up in a cold sweat, sighing when I realized that it was just a dream. It was a dream that had plagued me forever sense. It happened two years ago in the remains of a city called Southlake. It was a scavenging mission that went to hell. The twenty five men party dwindled down to five men. When I activated the detonator, the explosives destroyed the support columns and killed most of the infected. What happened next is that the building started to lean and then collapse on itself. From what I could remember, the man who had the radio was removing rubble that caved me in. When I got out, I could see two dozen men searching the debris for the others. Turns out, the only survivors were Clayton, the man with the radio, me, and two other men. Two men of the same group were killed be debris.

I had never felt so guilty in my life. The men in the group began to fight, some said that I was a traitor for killing the two men. Some argued that I was innocent and I had no intention of killing them, and it was an accident; which was true. After a thirty minute long discussion, I was deemed innocent and let go.

With a grunt I got up from the hammock and took a drink from my almost-empty canteen. Annoyed, I grabbed my 91/30 and left the safety of the shelter for the search of water and food.

The sun was setting to the west, the time that I would guess was around six-thirty. The Forest was quiet, the only sound was coming from the wind that blew through the trees that surrounded me. I gripped my rifle tightly, my thoughts lingered around the cat thing that I saw awhile ago. The sound of rushing water could be heard in front of me, with renewed vigor I jogged to the sound. The stream was flowing through forest. Bending down I filled my canteen with the refreshing liquid.

Standing back to my full height I spotted another fucked up animal of the forest. The creature was about thirty-five feet ahead of me sitting next to the stream. It's coat was a dark-grey, it had a short tail that looked like it lost it in a fight of some sort. But what made it unique were these spikes running along it's spine. The thing was chewing on a white wing that was covered in blood. I couldn't see any thing else from the distance apart.

It stopped chewing on the wing and sniffed the air. Just like the cat-hybrid it looked like it could really fuck me up if it wanted to. I froze in place when we locked eyes with each other. It stood up and stared at me. The beast first started to walk, then to a run, and finally into a full blown sprint. Seeing how fast it was, running wasn't an option.

Rising the Mosin-Nagant into firing stance, and aiming through the sights; I pulled the trigger. The 7.62x54R penetrated its skull and embedded itself in the brain of the creature. Pulling the bolt back and loading a new round, I calmly walked to the corpse. Setting down on one knee I looked the thing once over. The teeth were sharp and jagged with remnants of the wing stuck between some of the teeth. What struck me odd was that it look very similar to the mythical creature that was talked a lot by that hispanic inhabitants of Dustin; the chupacabra.

What the hell is going on...

Author's Notes:

As always, constructive criticism would be appreciated.
Oh, and sorry if it's quality wasn't as good as the first one. Sleep deprivation tends to stress the brain.