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Solanum

by Brony19

Chapter 4: Act 1, Part 1- Octavia: Humanity

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Act 1, Part 1- Octavia: Humanity

Octavia dropped the bat, followed by a few *Clang*s as it bounced from one end to the other before rolling to the dead couple and resting at their feet. Bright red mixed with pale wood and a small trail went in a weak semi-circle from the droplets that marked its landing. Octavia's hands shook, then her arms, then all of her body shook. She hardly registered that Vinyl was breathing heavily and holding herself up with her hands on her knees from her brush with death. Octavia stumbled back a step, then another, and finally fell on her rear, her eyes locked on the two corpses. Only one thought echoed in her mind:

I killed her...

Tears began flowing down her cheeks at the thought. Octavia almost couldn't process what she had done; it was just so surreal that she, Octavia, even had the strength to do such a thing. Octavia had never intentionally hurt anyone or anything, but she killed this woman. A small voice in her head told her that it was needed, that if Octavia hadn't acted like she did, Vinyl could have died. She also hesitated, almost for too long, and put Vinyl in serious danger because of her inability to act, because she was paralyzed with fear. Because of her hesitation to kill her, that made it okay, right? She wasn't a killer, right?

... Right?

Vinyl lifted her head after gaining her breath, only to see Octavia staring at the two dead bodies through teary eyes. "Hey, hey, Tavi... you did what you had to," Vinyl said in as calm a voice as she could. All this sound was going to get someone- or somethings -attention, and they couldn't stay long.

"I killed her..." Octavia said below even a whisper, her eyes remaining on the bodies.

"Uh... what was that, Tavi?" Vinyl asked, packing up the canned food and their meager amount possessions.

"I... killed her..." Octavia wasn't going to be able to hold back sobs for much longer.

"Octavia, you have to speak up. And get up, we don't have much-"

"I killed her..." Octavia said with a strange calm. Her eyes were still crying, her body still shaking, but her voice was perfectly level.

This sentence caught Vinyl's full, undivided attention. She shouldered the backpack containing their food and knelt down next to her friend. "Octavia Philharmonica, you did not kill her. She was already dead-"

"I killed her, Vinyl," Octavia interrupted. Her voice was still strangely calm.

"No, you didn't. Something else killed her, and she isn't the person she once was. Now, she's just another mindless monster. She's not the person that she looks like anymore," Vinyl kept her voice calm, but they were quickly running out of time. She had to get Octavia on her feet and fast.

"But she was still a person once-" Vinyl had enough.

"Look, Tavi, we don't have time for this. You need to get up and we need to get the fuck outta here. That much noise is going to make something curious, and we need to be anywhere but here when it-"

The window in the living room smashed inward, followed by the ghastly moan of one of them.

"Fuck!" Vinyl spat as she grabbed the bat, ran forward, and smashed whatever was crawling through the window with enough force to knock it back out. It, along with several others, moaned and the shuffling of several pairs of feet could be heard outside. "Tavi, get up!" Vinyl said sternly, another window smashing somewhere in the house. When she didn't, Vinyl grabbed her by the wrist and pulled her up. Once she was on her feet, Octavia snapped out of whatever trance came over her only for it to be replaced with fear.

"Vinyl... I-I'm sorry, I don't-" Octavia couldn't believe how stupid she had been acting.

"Tavi, we can talk about this later. Right now, we need to get the hell outta Dodge!" Vinyl cut her off, bashing another zombie as it tried to make its way through the living room window. With this one, the blinds fell with it, revealing a crowded street full of them making their way to the house slowly.

"O-okay," Octavia said, feeling like she was moving underwater. She gathered her small backpack, pocketed the cellphone, and placed the book she had been reading in her bag before shouldering it, *Crack!*s sounding all the while as Vinyl beat back the undead set on devouring them. "I'm ready!" She said to Vinyl.

"Good! Let's go!" Vinyl said, beating one last zombie back through the window, their face almost caving in from the sheer force of the impact. They dropped with one last weak hiss of breath before another one tripped over their body.

Vinyl turned from the window and jogged across the living room, smashing the last window with her bat to give them an escape from the near-surrounded house. "Over here, through the window!" Vinyl ordered, clearing the final shards with her bat.

As Octavia went to move for the window, she was pulled back suddenly. She was able to turn around just before the snapping teeth could bite into her, but just barely. She put one hand to the undead attacker's face and another to their chest. "Vinyllll!" Octavia shrieked, the yellowed teeth still snapping at her while it's infernal moan drilled into her ears.

Vinyl turned around and sprinted at the two. "Get-" Vinyl cocked her arm back, "-the fuck-" She punched the zombie with enough force to make its head snap back and for it to release its grip, "-off of her!"

Once Octavia's attacker fell, writhing and moaning on the ground, Vinyl grabbed Octavia's hand and pulled her to the window, three other undead having entered the room and shuffling after them. "Come on, go!" Vinyl said, ushering Octavia to the window. Octavia carefully stepped through, looking left then right for any undead before turning around.

"It's clear!" Octavia reported, Vinyl delivering another *Crack!* at a zombie, making its head snap back, then stumble, and fall onto another zombie, dropping both of them.

"Comin' through!" Vinyl said, jumping through the window.

Octavia looked around again, wondering where they would go from here. It looked like they were in the back yard of the house, a neat fence lining the edge of the property. In the farthest corner was a small patio with a table and chairs that, perhaps one day some time ago, hosted a small gathering of friends in summer. Vinyl moved forward to the table, pushing it until it hit the fence and climbed on top of it. "We're going over, Tavi," Vinyl said, easily mounting the fence and disappearing over the edge.

Turning back, Octavia could see the living room was now full of infected, but there was something odd about it. Well, aside from all the corpses walking in it. It seemed too bright, like there was a light or a-

A fire.

The house was on fire.

In their haste, they didn't put out the fire they were going to use for breakfast.

"Tavi! You okay?!" Vinyl called from over the fence.

"Y-yes! I'm coming!" Octavia called back. She climbed onto the table, mounted the top of the fence, and dropped to the ground on the other side with a small, "Oof!" They were now in the back yard of the house next door to the one they were sleeping in previously. "Vinyl?" Octavia asked, deciding that the inflamed house was rather important.

"What is it?" Vinyl asked, already moving another patio chair to the far fence so they could continue their escape.

"The house is on fire."

Vinyl set the chair down at the base of the fence before turning to look at Octavia. "Seriously?"

Octavia nodded.

Vinyl shrugged before climbing onto the chair, "It'll burn all the ones in it then," Her voice was very cold, enough to chill Octavia.


\_/ /-\ \_/


They continued hopping over fences for three more properties before they reasoned that they were far away enough from the burning house to be 'safe'. In that time, they had a surprisingly normal trip; they didn't encounter any undead, didn't find anything of use, and, most thankfully, didn't stumble across any bodies. But one thing Octavia saw plenty of were memories.

They weren't hers, per say, but images of what life had been once in these yards. While all was quiet aside from the cracks and crumbles of the burning house, in Octavia's mind's eye, she saw families enjoying the late Fall weather. She could see husbands and fathers racking leaves, wife's and mothers playing with sons and daughters with the leaves. She could see and hear the family dog bark happily as one of them threw a toy for it to fetch, It was a nice scene of normality, one Octavia almost could believe was true. But with the cold gust of wind that brought the scent of burning flesh, it took with it the scene Octavia could see.

Even if the world went back to normal, it never truly would be again.

At least, not for a long while.

"Hey, Tavi. Look at that house," Vinyl said, bringing Octavia's attention back to what was 'normal' for her.

Octavia walked over to the fence line that Vinyl was standing at, looking over it by standing on a plastic chair. Octavia looked around for one, and upon finding it, carried it over to the fence before setting it down and stepping up to see over the wood fence. What she saw looked like any other house they had found; most likely abandoned, colorful paint job, a strange mix of panicked disarray and calm nothingness surrounding it and the few possessions scattered around it. "What's so special about it, Vinyl? It looks like a normal house..." Octavia said, wondering what had Vinyl so transfixed on it.

"Look over there, at that window," Vinyl said, pointing to one of the first-story windows.

When Octavia did, she couldn't see inside. There was a steel covering over the window, almost like a shutter from the inside of the house. "They have metal shutters. What about it?" Octavia asked, not following what Vinyl was getting at.

"Back before... all this happened, there was talk around town about special houses meant to survive natural disasters. Guess this town could get pretty hectic even before dead people were walking around it. Remember?" Vinyl explained, her eyes meeting Octavia's when she asked if she remembered.

Octavia's eyes widened slowly, for she did. "Yes, I do! They had just finished testing a preposel to improve houses in town to aid people in natural disasters by making houses self-sufficient!"

"So, if this one has steel shutters..." Vinyl prompted Octavia to finish her thought.

"... Then it should be one of the projects!" Octavia said.

"Then that means it has food," Vinyl said.

"Water,"

"Electricity,"

"And protection!" Octavia finished.

"Let's see if anyone's home," Vinyl said, vaulting over the fence.

Octavia followed suit, landing with a huff. She never was one for physical activity, but in this world, no one had much a choice but to be so. Vinyl tightened her grip on her bat and slowly, quietly approached the house. Octavia followed a few paces behind her, not close enough to be of help- or a liability -in a fight, but not far enough so that it would only take a few seconds to help Vinyl if, Goddesses forbid, she needed it. They got up to the window that had the steel shutter covering it, the glass smashed out of it and ragged, sharp pieces spotted with blood on the shards that were left. When she was close enough, Vinyl knocked on the steel shutter a few times with her bat.

*Tunk, tunk, tunk.*

They waited a few moments to see if someone, or something, reacted to the noise. After a few tense moments of silence, Vinyl began moving stealthily for the side door to the house, one that was slightly ajar with old bloodstains on the lower corner as well as a hand print in crimson. "Guess it wasn't too safe for them," Vinyl whispered. Octavia was sure she didn't intend for Octavia to hear her. Vinyl used the end of her bat to make the door swing inward the rest of the way, a slight creak slowly echoing in the supposedly empty house. Vinyl poked her head around the frame of the door and looked around a bit before the rest of her body slowly followed her head in.

Octavia followed shortly after, closing the door behind her, but not all the way, on the off chance that they needed a quick escape. All a closed door would do is take valuable seconds to open and endanger them further. This house would become their tomb.

Turning around, Octavia could see that it already had.

Lieing spread-eagle on the floor was a corpse with wide eyes, slack jaw, and a small, neat circle in the middle of their forehead. Flies buzzed excitedly around them, landing here and their across the cold skin. A hand shot to Octavia's mouth to stifle the gasp she released. It was a terrible sight, to be sure, but the smell... Octavia gagged slightly at the horrid stench that filled her nose and quickly covered her nose with the collar of her shirt, the dirty fabric being only just a step above the smell. "Tavi, over here," Vinyl whispered.

Octavia took one last glance at the dead person before carefully stepping over to where Vinyl stood, at the base of a staircase that rose to the second story of the house. "What... what is it, Vinyl?" She found it hard to talk with the suffocating stench.

"I'm going upstairs. If you hear anything, run up here unless I tell you not to. Until then, try and get him out of here," Vinyl paused for a moment. "... Please."

Octavia cast a sidelong glance at the dead man. She wasn't looking forward to moving him, but Vinyl was right, it needed to be done. "A... alright, Vinyl. Be careful," Octavia placed a hand on her shoulder and looked at her.

Vinyl looked back and nodded, "Sure thing," And with that, she tip-toed her way upstairs.

Once she was out of sight, Octavia turned back to the body. Letting out a small sigh, she looked around for something to cover her skin and face with; the last thing she needed was to get sick moving a corpse. Spying what looked like a kitchen, Octavia creept over to it and took a look around. Cabinet doors were open, dishes split and broken, drawers opened... it was a mess. Whoever's house this was, they packed in a hurry. But, why would they want to leave if it was one of the houses meant to protect people? She pushed the question aside and located the sink, opening the cabinet below it. If these people were like her, then that meant they would keep a pair here...

"Ah ha!" Octavia whispered triumphantly, grabbing a pair of rubber gloves from the space under the sink. Putting on one, then the other, she looked around for a face mask that would cover her mouth and nose. Spying a box, she quickly grabbed it and looked at the cover. It was none other than a box full of face masks. "Yes!" She whispered excitedly, opening the top only to reveal that it was empty. She sighed and dropped the box. "Right. That would have been too easy..." She whispered in disappointment. Maybe they have some upstairs... Octavia thought to herself. Standing up, she slowly made her way for the stairs, leaning slightly to see up them. In the dim light of the house, that was easier said then done.

"Vinyl?" Octavia called up softly.

No response.

"Vinyl? Can you hear me?" Octavia called a little louder.

There was a sound, a light groan if she heard right.

"Vinyl? Is everything al-"

At the top of the stairs, a door burst open revealing Vinyl grappling with a zombie. They snapped at her while Vinyl pushed away at their face with her hand and shoved the end of the bat into their stomach, keeping them at bay, if only just. It moaned at her, their hands grasping her shoulders firmly and teeth snapping. Before Octavia had time to react to the situation, Vinyl gave a heavy grunt and shoved her undead attacker off of her, readied her bat, and swung.

*Crack!*

The zombie's head snapped to the side viciously, the clinking sound of teeth sounding at Octavia's feet. They stumbled for a few steps before their footing went over the stairs. Quickly losing its balance, they fell down the stairs, heavy *Thump*s and loud *Crack*s sounding as they tumbled. They came to a rest at Octavia's, feet, breathing weakly. Seeing her, they raised their arms slightly and gave a weak hiss of breath being forced through a broken neck. Their head was at an odd angle and one leg was bent the opposite direction that it should have. Vinyl quickly descended the staircase, lifted her bat, and swung it down.

*Crack!*

With one final hiss, it ceased to move.

Vinyl was panting from the effort of surviving the close encounter, for the second time today.

Octavia was merely frozen, caught completely off-guard at what had happened.

After a moment, Vinyl turned to look at Octavia, "Here's another to throw out."

Octavia simply looked at her, unsure how to react.

Vinyl looked down at her gloved hands before looking back up. "Is there another pair of those?"

Octavia was finally catching back up with reality. "Uh, y-yes. Below the... k-kitchen sink..." Octavia's gaze slowly made its way to the newly dead body at the foot of the stairs, still staring up at her with lifeless eyes.

Vinyl gently grabbed Octavia's chin with her hand and turned her head to face her. "Hey... it's okay. We're okay."

Octavia only looked at her for a moment before wrapping her in a hug. There wasn't anything that she wanted to say; she just needed a moment of peace in all of this madness. Vinyl set her bat down and wrapped her arms around Octavia, gently stroking her charcoal hair. Octavia's cheeks were wet with tears before she even realized she was crying. She held Vinyl tighter, "I want everything to go back to normal, Vinyl," She said in a horse whisper.

"Me too, Tavi. Me too."


\_/ /-\ \_/


"Alright, one more heave..." Vinyl said, somewhat strained. Octavia couldn't blame her; dead bodies were deceptively heavy. Vinyl grabbed the zombie's wrists while Octavia grabbed their ankles. "Ready?" Vinyl asked. Octavia nodded. "Alright... lift," Vinyl grunted. Octavia did too; she thought climbing fences was hard... "One..." Vinyl said. They began swinging back and forth. "Two..." Their swings were getting close to ready. "Three!" Vinyl said through her face mask. On the final swing, they let go of the body at the height of the swing and it tumbled over the fence top, almost not making it over. With a heavy *Thump*, they knew the body hit the other one they tossed over. Octavia thought it wasn't right to just throw two dead men over a fence, but they had no other choice. They couldn't risk getting sick, and two dead bodies aren't exactly sanitary.

Vinyl panted a bit before looking at Octavia. "Glad that's over... let's see if this house is everything we think it is."

"I really hope it is..." Octavia said, walking behind Vinyl. Vinyl looked much more intimidating with her face mask on. She knew she would never hurt her, but still... it was unnerving.

Opening the side door, Vinyl was the first in, with Octavia closing the door behind them. Vinyl walked over to the nearest light switch on the wall. "Moment of truth... you ready, Tavi?" Vinyl asked, looking at her.

"Yes..." Octavia said. Goddesses, please, let this work...

Vinyl flipped the switch.

Light illuminated the room immediately.

Vinyl and Octavia almost couldn't believe it. The light was on. The light actually turned on! Octavia quickly pulled her mask down, being careful not to touch her skin. "Vinyl! The lights are on!" She said excitedly, a happy smile plastered to her face.

Vinyl pulled her mask down as well. "Holy fucking shit, they are!" Vinyl said.

Octavia ran forward with a cry of joy and threw her arms around Vinyl, "The lights are on!" Octavia said, her voice muffled by Vinyl's shirt.

Vinyl hugged her back, lightly bouncing up and down in place, "I know they are! This fucking ROCKS!" After a few moments, Vinyl suddenly released Octavia, "The sink! Turn on the sink!" Vinyl said, pointing at the kitchen sink.

Octavia quickly made her way to the sink on the kitchen counter and pulled one of the handles for the faucet. As soon as she did, water, clear as glass, poured out of the head of the faucet. "Yes!" Octavia said before lowing her head and drinking greedily from the water source. It was only tap water, but after a month of stale bottled water that the Goddesses only know was how old, it was the best-tasting water that Octavia ever drank.

"Wait down here! I'm gonna check something!" Vinyl said, quickly making her way upstairs. Octavia took several more drinks before she pulled away from the faucet, drops of water still running down her chin. She gasped slightly before laughing a bit. They were safe. They were finally safe.

Nothing was going to hurt them.

Vinyl nearly ran down half the stairs, pausing at the halfway point. "The shower works! Hot water and everything!" Vinyl said, a huge grin on her face.

"You're kidding! You had best not be kidding, Vinyl!" Octavia said happily.

"I'm not! I'm totally serious! Dibs on first shower!" Vinyl said, racing back up the stairs and not bothering to wait until she got in the bathroom to strip off her shirt.

All this excitement got Octavia lightheaded and she wobbled over to the couch where she nearly collapsed and laughed a few more times. She was about to get her book out when a thought occurred to her. If there is electricity and running water, then there must be... She stood up and made her way for the kitchen. When she did, she opened the one door she hadn't dare open before making sure that anything else worked: the pantry door. She grabbed the handle with a shaky hand and took a deep breath. Here goes... Octavia thought to herself. She opened the door.

The sight of cans upon cans of food was almost enough to make Octavia cry.

She looked around for a bowl in one of them many cabinets, and upon finding one, grabbed the first can that caught her eye, chicken noodle soup. She opened a drawer to find a can opener and quickly opened the can, dumping the contents into the bowl. She found the microwave, opened the door to the small device and put the bowl of cold soup it. Five minutes almost seemed cruel, but if it meant hot food, Octavia would be more than willing to wait. She tapped her foot impatiently while the small appliance whirred and the bowl spun around in a small circle. A thought occurred to her: Spoon! I need a spoon. After digging through a few drawers, she found one, the microwave beeping to signal the soup's completion.

Octavia quickly opened the microwave and was delighted to see steam rising in small wisps from the surface of the bowl. She hardly waited before plunging her spoon into the bowl and blowing softly onto the spoon a few times before eating. The burn from the soup didn't matter too much; it was the best food Octavia had ever had in her life. Speaking of good food...

Octavia walked briskly over to where Vinyl had placed their food bag and opened the top, the little pink box sitting atop the food to greet her. She picked it up gently, as though being too rough would cause the box to shatter. Opening the lid, it was a little disappointing to see that during their escape the cake had suffered minor smears, but it was still beautiful in Octavia's eyes.

"Done with the shower!" Vinyl called down from the upper floor.

After what was sure to be the greatest shower she's ever had, Octavia would enjoy her cake.


\_/ /-\ \_/


Drying off, Octavia was beyond refreshed. That was, indeed, the single greatest shower she had ever had. It's funny; you never truly appriciate something until you don't have it anymore. Like warm water. And electricity. And food. There are so many things that Octavia has come to realize just how much she missed when the world went insane. And the best was waiting for her downstairs.

Wrapping the towel around her chest so it covered down to partway past her hips, she turned to admire her figure free of dirt, cuts, blood and so many other things she didn't bother to even think about. She smiled a true, genuine smile, the first she's smiled like in a while. It was nice to see her smile again. It was nice to be able to smile again. Even with the world outside the walls, she still had this moment, this safehaven, to smile in as she pleased.

A knock on the doorframe made her turn to see Vinyl, clothed once again. She was wearing a dark black tanktop and faded jeans that had a hole on the right knee. "It's nice, huh?" Vinyl asked, a slight smile on her face. It was nice seeing Vinyl's face free of dirt and blood.

Octavia's mind was elsewhere. "Y-yeah... it is," She said, almost to herself. Her eyes had gone from Vinyl's feet and back to her head.

When they did, Vinyl's smile had grown into a smirk. "Y'know, I was talking about the shower."

Octavia felt a blush heat her cheeks. "Oh, uh, y-yes. It was very relaxing," Octavia stammered out.

Vinyl chuckled. "Come on, Tavi. What's up with you? You've been acting weird for the past couple of months," Vinyl said, her smile still there.

Well, Octavia. She's literally asked you. Now is as good a time as ever... Her thoughts weren't convincing her mouth. She opened her mouth to say the words that she wanted to say, but they refused to leave. She closed her mouth and looked to the floor abashed.

Vinyl had a look of slight worry. "What is it, Tavi? You can tell me anything," She said softly.

Octavia bolstered what little courage she had and looked up. Her eyes found crimson ones, and they became lost. In Vinyl's eyes she found the support and stregnth she needed to tell her what had been bothering her for so long. She took a deep breath and a step forward, only to slip in a slight puddle. Octavia released her breath in the form of a yelp of surprise and threw her arms forward to catch herself, with Vinyl moving forward to catch her and losing her footing. Their momentum carried them to the floor, both landing with an "Oof". When Octavia opened her eyes, she found they were very close to Vinyl's.

Realizing she fell on top of Vinyl, her blush returned and her heart hammered away in her chest. For a moment, Octavia and Vinyl looked at one another with blank expressions. Octavia felt like the best, most natural thing to do was just lean in and kiss her. She moved her head slowly towards Vinyl's, and much to her delight, Vinyl moved her head slowly up to hers. Right before their lips brushed, a loud *Click* made both girls freeze.

"Up." A gruff voice demanded.

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