Fallout Equestria
Broken Steel

Chapter 9: False Hope

“Welcome to the New Hope Research Facility”

The pony on the screen said calmly in a soft, electronic male voice. All three of use exchanged glances, some of confusion and some of surprise.

“I’m sorry, you don’t have proper identification, please return when you have proper identification”

“Proper Identification?” I asked somewhat confused.

The pony on the screens didn’t reply nor acknowledge my question.

Zyon approached the terminal mounted on the wall beside the huge stable like door and prodded a key.

“Well, it seems there is a card reader. I guess an ID Card is one form of identification and…” He pressed a couple more keys. I didn’t know what he was doing but whatever he did caused a laser beam to shoot into his eyes from the terminal screen.

“I’m sorry, your retinal data isn’t of any authorised personnel, please report to Head Office to have your retinal data added to the database, thank you”

“And a retinal scan” He said stepping back away from the door blinking his eyes a few times.

“So, what now?” Sky Fire asked hovering in place beside me.

“Well, what do you think Zyon?” Since he is the techno pony around here.

“We could take our chances back in the tunnel…” he was cut off by Sky Fire.

“Oh fuck no; we barely survived against those ghouls before, not to mention a fucking Reaver attacked us. If we run into another Revear we’re fucked”

“Well, we could go back the way we came but that would give Motor Runner more time to get that machine working plus we might run into more ghouls” I said sitting down.

“Agreed, and we don’t have the supplies for a fight as we are out of healing potions and you two are basically out of ammo for your weapons”

Zyon was right, I was out of shotgun shells and Sky was out of small spark cells for her beam pistols. I did have ammo for ‘This Machine’ and for my .357 Magnum weapons but those aren’t useful when in a battle with fast moving ghouls and at close range.

“So, we get inside for supplies?”

“Yeah, we need them”

”Agreed”

I nodded to my two friends as I agreed with them. Now, the big the question. “How do we get in?”

“I could rig up a bomb to blow that door in” Zyon said as he rubbed his chin. “I think… three barrels would work”

“What barrels?”

“Huh, oh, the flammable barrels from the storeroom to our left as we entered the corridor”

Huh, I’m surprised I missed them.

One by one I started levitating the barrels with my magic. They were heavy huge things with a flammable warning label slapped on the side. I have no idea what’s in these things but whatever they were, it was making my pipbuck click like crazy with five rads a second. Thank Celestia and Luna that we did have some Radaways left. I managed to levitate two barrels ok but the third, I got it halfway up the corridor before my magic imploded and I flopped onto my back panting heavily from the magic exertion.

“Hey, take a rest, we’ll handle it from here” Sky said softly as she patted me on the forehead as I panted.

As I lay there getting my breath back I could hear both Zyon and Sky Fire grunting as they pushed the heavy barrel up against the others in front of the large door.

After getting my breath back I joined my friends at the barrels as Zyon began to fiddle with some wires he had pulled out of his satchel.

“I want you and Sky to go back out into the tunnel and take cover behind the station platform wall”

“Why?” Asked Sky Fire.

“Well, we’ll need to run like hell to avoid getting blown to hell and with Appletart being pregnant she won’t be able to run at her fastest, best you get out of here now while I set this up” Zyon replied sounding slightly irritated.

“C’mon Sky, let’s bugger off and let him work” I said as I started to trot back towards the station while Zyon fished out a grenade from his satchel.

“Let’s what?” Sky asked as she flapped her wings and flew up beside me.

“Equestrians” I mumbled quietly.

We jumped down behind the platform. We both pressed up against the wall while we both kept an eye up or down the tunnels for any ghouls as we waited for Zyon. I was looking up the tunnel in the direction we need to go after we find some supplies. It seemed the tunnel branches to the left further up but it appears a train had crashed and from here it looked like most of the tunnel has been blocked by the jack knifed train. I dread to think of what happened the day the bombs fell with all these ponies travelling by subway.

I heard Sky let out a soft growl. When I turned back to her I saw her looking towards the dead Reaver. Its body still shimmering with its radiation. I assumed she was looking at it, those goggles on her Shadowbolt suit made it impossible for me to see her eyes. “You ok?”

“Fucking hate Revears” she growled softly.

“Ran into them before, when you were Enclave?”

“Yeah”

“Care to talk about?” I asked trying to be helpful, or nosey, take your pick.

“Sure, but after we make it out of the god damn tunnels”

“Ok” and at that moment Zyon lands on the tracks beside us and quickly shoves himself against the wall with us.

“Brace yourselves” he yelled.

All three of us dropped down and put our hooves over our heads as we waited for the explosion of Zyon’s bomb.

For a few seconds I wondered if the bomb was going to go off but my thoughts were answered as the whole tunnel seemed to shake as there was a tremendous explosion from the corridor. I felt a rush of heat as a jet of flame shot out from the doorway and washed over us. Thankfully we were under it all and managed to escape a nasty burn. The powerful explosion was so loud I was surprised it didn’t burst my ear drums but damn my ears were ringing. It kinda felt like the after effect of going to a loud concert when the next day your ears were constantly ringing.

After the initial explosion we soon heard over the ringing in our ears the same electronic male voice say “Thank you, Access Granted”.

Sky Fire burst, clutching her chest and falling over backwards as she started to laugh uncontrollably. She was acting like the Rainbow Dash I’ve read about more and more each day. I had to admit, it was kinda funny to hear that after Zyon blew down the door. I assumed it worked if it said access granted.

“I think two barrels would have been enough” Zyon said as he picked himself up and hopped back up onto the platform.

“Well it sounds like the door is open, lets go” Sky said as she floated up over onto the platform.

“Hang on, lets each have a Radaway, those barrels were leaking rads like no tomorrow” I said while struggling up onto the platform. My friends gently gripped my barding and helped to haul me up. When I was up on the platform I levitated a glowing orange Radaway packet out to each of them and then drunk down the orangey liquid. I caught the faces of my friends as they made a face which told me they didn’t like it. I on the other hoof loved it, it was delicious. Oh goddesses don’t tell me I’ll be craving the bitter orangie taste of Radaway later.

XXXXX

Standing atop one of the many towers of the Hoof, the large and smartly dressed Motor Runner waited. He was stood at the edge of an old rusting pegasus landing pad. He slowly scanned the streets far below, hearing the many sounds of violence, rape and murder among the many tribes that live within the goddess forsaken hellhole that is Hoofington.

“He’s late” He murmured to himself as he watched a pony blow another pony’s head off with a combat shotgun at point blank.

“Once the Krogoth is online, this city will be the first to be cleansed”

There was the sound of hooves hitting metal and Motor Runner turns around to see his transport.

“Sorry I’m late sir, strong head winds slowed me down” Apologised a slate grey Pegasus stallion wearing worn and incomplete Enclave power armour.

The Pegasus is strapped into a harness and he is connected a shiny black painted personal chariot with a three diamond insignia which represented the ministry mare of the Ministry of Image, Rarity.

“It’s ok Wirbelwind” Motor Runner said as he approached his chariot.

The pegasus, Wirbelwind, bows his head as his boss walks past and climbs into the comfy confines of the personal sky chariot.

“Where to sir?”

“Back to the Hanger. I need to check on the progress”

“Right away sir” And with that the pegasus beat his strong wings, lifting the chariot with ease into the air and then with another strong beat of his wings they began to fly. Their destination, the secret location of the Hanger and its secret project.

XXXXX

“Two barrels, yea, definitely two barrels” Zyon gawked as the force of the explosion had not only opened the stable like door but it also blew it off its hinges and embedded it in the door frame way down the corridor behind it.

Walking up the corridor now riddled with gouge marks in the floor and walls we came to the mostly blocked door. The huge heavy steel door had wedged itself in the door frame at an angle but luckily there was a big enough gap for us to squeeze through. Yeah, squeeze for me for being huge and wide.

“Good thing we’re doing this now instead of a couple months down the line, bloody hell” I moaned as I squeezed through the gap. It was a little struggle since my saddlebags were against the sides of my belly making me seem much wider.

Sky Fire had her fore hooves to her face as she quietly snickered to herself while she hovered in place.

Zyon was too busy checking out the door to notice. So, while mister techno is busy with the door and Sky Fire having a giggle fit I started to look around the room we had entered. To my surprise it turned out to be a similar lobby like the one we passed to get to the stable like door.

The room had a long desk close to the far wall with several over turned chairs either on the desk or on the floor in front of it. As I looked around the room from in front of the desk I noticed that there were windows on the back wall behind the desk which to my surprise were completely intact. I would have thought they would have blown out from the blast. To my left was half a door leading into two sets of restrooms. Next to the door we came in through is another door to a small security station which had a shattered window spanning the length of the wall of the security station. To my right on the wall beside the security station is a closed steel door with am illuminated sign which read “Labs & Offices”

The security station’s door was locked and the window was too small height wise to squeeze through so I attempted to pick the lock. I rotated the bobby pin until I felt something move inside the lock and then started to twist the screwdriver. It turned about a quarter of the way before it stuck so I twisted it back while I moved the pin a bit more down. Trying again I was able to turn the lock all the way with a satisfying click as the door opened.

Inside it was a mess with papers and other things all over the floor. It had a small gun cabinet against the back wall and a large number of monitors on the wall in front of me. The screens were mostly still on with many of them showing a picture which seemed to keep moving back and forth. I realised these were security monitors from surveillance cameras.

“This doesn’t look like a medical facility” Sky Fire said as she landed beside me, making me jump.

“God damn it, don’t sneak up on me like that” I whined as I felt my heart doing a mile a minute.

“Sorry”

I heard a clunk as Zyon bucked the steel gun cabinet which caused its doors to swing open. He picked up a rather rusty looking lever-action shotgun and a couple of boxes of ammo.

”Here” He said as he hoofed me the weapon and ammo. Taking the items I put them in my saddlebags. My E.F.S told me I acquired the weapon and eight rounds of twelve gauge rounds. The lever-action turned out to be a twenty gauge so I could use it to repair my own but…

“Twelve gauge? Aww bollocks, I can’t use these” I whined again.

“WHAT WAS THAT?” Sky shrieked.

“What was what?” I asked turning to her.

“I saw something in that monitor” She said pointing to the very centre screen which looked to be over looking over the dinning hall.

“I don’t see anything” Zyon said as he stood beside us.

“THERE” She shrieked again.

I didn’t see anything again and I don’t think Zyon saw anything either.

“I think those goggles are screwing up your vision” Zyon said as he leaves the room.

“I swear, I saw something”

“Like what?” I asked as I turned to leave.

“It looked like some sort of monkey dog thing”

I laughed softly thinking she was pulling my leg. “Hah, nice one Sky” I said as I left.

“I’m serious” she moaned after me as she followed.

We walked through the door to the labs and offices. We found ourselves in a long corridor which seemed to end with a set of double doors on the other side of another long window in the wall half way up the corridor.

“That’s a lot of red bars” I moaned as I was seeing lots of red markers on my E.F.S. “It looks like they are all inside that room up ahead”

We all cautiously trotted up the corridor until we could see through the large window and inside the room on the other side we saw dozens of small creatures all milling about.

“What the fuck are those?” I asked seeing all the claws and teeth on their hands and in their mouths.

“See, monkey dog things” Sky says looking around the room at all the little monsters.

“Well, at least they are small”

“Yea but look at how fucking many there are”

I was about to say something when all of a sudden the whole place began to shake. It felt like an earthquake hit as everything was shaking and rattling everything around. We could hear things falling over and moving across the floor as the facility shook like crazy.

When the shaking stopped it was shortly followed by the sound of an explosion. It started out as a small muffled bang but then it was followed by several much louder bangs.

“What the bloody hell was that?”

“That was…” Zyon began but he got interrupted as a ceiling tile fell from the ceiling and smashed over his head sending him to the floor with a thud.

“Are you alright?” I asked as I helped him back up.

“Aww, yea” He moaned as he rubbed his head. “As I was saying, that was a damn balefire bomb going off”

“You’re kidding right?” Sky asked.

The zony shakes his head solemnly. “I wish I was, but I witnessed some assholes detonate one shortly after I left my stable. That noise never leaves you no matter how much you try to forget it” He took a breath while he looked around. “From the sound of it and the strength of those vibrations, that blast wasn’t far from here, hmm, shit, being underground makes it impossible to tell where it came from”

“Goddesses help whoever was near that thing” I said softly.

The monsters in the room began to jump about and start growling as the explosion disturbed them. They were fast little things too. I then saw one jump and cling to the ceiling like a god damn spider.

“Just what the fuck are those things?” I asked as I watched the one on the ceiling scurry about on all fours across the ceiling.

“Security system enabled” Came the same electronic voice from the door and to our surprise a large looking sentry gun popped out of the floor in a corner of the room with all the little monsters.

No, the sentry wasn’t large, it was fucking huge, a smegging minigun is what it was.

All three of us dived down below the wall as there was a low tone beep from the sentry and then it opened up, spraying its hot lead death all over the room. We could hear the rounds tearing the small monsters apart as it seemed to be targeting them.

“WHAT SORT OF A RESEARCH CENTRE HAS A FUCKING CRAZY ASS SECURITY SYSTEM LIKE THAT?” Screamed Sky Fire over the roar of the minigun fire.

I would like to know that too. What the fuck were they thinking of putting guns like those in for security? What the hell are they hiding in this place?

After a few minutes the sentry stopped firing and we slowly rose to look into the room through the window and holy goddesses. The room was painted in blood and gore. The sentry had literally torn the monsters to shreds and plastered them all over the place.

I quickly ran to the bathroom and barfed into a toilet. I’ve seen shit like that before but that was just fucking gross and knocked me sick.

When I returned I saw Zyon keenly eying the sentry as it moved back and forth as if it was surveying the room.

“Feeling better?” Sky asked as I rejoined my friends.

I nodded softly in reply.

“Looks like the sentry uses a field of view system, see that blue light above the barrel?” He asked as he pointed his hoof at the sentry turret.

Me and Sky nodded as we could see the blue light, like a flash light, above its gun barrel.

“Whatever it sees it shoots at. If we can avoid that then we’ll be fine”

“There has to be another way” I said as I started to approach the double doors. In the hallway near the doors there were several wooden crates. The crates were stacked up on the floor by the wall in front of the doors.

“Hey what’s this?” I heard Sky Fire ask and then we heard that electronic voice again.

“Security system disabled”

Inside the room with the sentry we saw it retract back into the floor. I was just about to thank her when we heard the voice yet again.

“Security system enabled”

Instead of the sentry popping back up again in the room like we expected. A new sentry popped at the end of the hallway past the doors in front of us.

“Oh shit, behind the crates” Zyon shouted and he grabbed my tail in his mouth and yanked me back behind the crates before the sentry saw us.

“Who the fuck designed this crazy ass security” I screamed as Zyon let go of my tail.

”Sorry” Sky apologised since it was her who pressed the fucking button. Yeah, on the wall beside her on the same side as the crates is a glowing red button. Who could resist pressing the glowing red button? Why are all the interesting buttons big,red and glowing?

“This is too weird, why have security you can enable or disable from a touch of a button?” I asked. Ponies two hundred years ago were nutters.

“That room is safe now since the sentry has gone, when I say now, dive through the doors” Zyon said as he watched the moving beam of light.

“Are you crazy?” I almost screamed.

“The crates are hiding us; it won’t see us with its field of view when its on this side of the hall. If you move fast enough it’ll miss you”

I nodded; he was the techno pony after all. I focused on the doors and used my magic to open them and then opened them fully.

“Alright, get ready” Zyon said as he watched the moving beam of light.

I got to all fours and tensed my leg muscles, ready to leap when he gave me the command.

I saw the beam suddenly disappear and then he screamed “NOW” and I jumped across from the crates and through the doors and into the now stinking blood bath and slid on my ass across the floor for a few feet. That would have been fun if it wasn’t blood and guts I slid on. Oh god damn this stinks.

Sky Fire soon joined me and then Zyon. Well, at least we could avoid some of these sentries if they all used the same field of view system and with this button to disable one and enable another we could use that to our advantage if we find more of these monkey dog things.

“Oh my god, what were these things made of? Shit?” Zyon moaned from the stench filling his nostrils.

Me and Sky started laughing from his comment. A laugh is good after something like this.

After recovering we began to move again. We need to find some supplies in here, otherwise we’re sunk.

XXXXX

“Motor Runner, welcome back, um, can I talk to you in private for a minute please?”

Motor Runner was greeted by his recruited technical expert into computer systems and robotics. The pony wasn’t a Raider and nor was he a bad pony like most of the work force. In fact he was a scientist from Friendship City who was approached by Motor Runner. The pale blue unicorn pony with a white mane and tail wearing a lab coat looked a little distressed as he approached his boss.

Seeing the concern on his face the larger pony nodded and followed the scientist into a small storeroom away from the workers.

“What’s the matter Dr Gizmo?”

“There has been another death”

“Another?”

The unicorn nods.

“That makes ten in the last three months”

“Yes and I’ve looked into the construction history like you asked me too”

“What did you find?”

The pale unicorn looked around to be sure they were alone.

“Two hundred years ago, thirteen ponies died while working on the Krogoth. All the deaths were within the machine”

Motor Runner listened intently to the news.

”What is strange is that I’ve checked the health and safety reports and found that all the health and safety checks were acceptable”

“Interesting”

“I then looked at the victims. All but one were crushed to death, burned, electrocuted, etc”

“One survived?”

“Not exactly, the pony was a young computer technician and was one of the best of her time. She was going to test the Crusader Mainframe's mind transfer system. The test was just to see if it was working but when she wore the headset and began the test she was electrocuted”

Motor Runner sat down as he listened. He never figured it was such a death trap.

“When they got her to hospital, what they found was a pony that was brain dead. She had lost all sense and was just a mindless shell. It was after this that these accidents started to occur that lead to fatalities”

The scientist fished out a clipboard from one of his deep lab coat pockets and held it up for Motor Runner to see. The papers on the board showed a picture of the ponies that had lost their lives. As he looked at each one he saw something common about them. Each one was a convicted criminal and that they had been charged with rape, drug dealing, pony trafficking and murder.

“Why was Applejack employing convicts to work on this?”

“I was surprised at that too so I did more checking. She went to a nearby prison and convinced the head of the prison to give her some of the convicts to be used to help with the war effort, that being, building the Krogoth.

Applejack convinced the convicts to work for her by promising them that after the Krogoth is completed they would be freed if they had a minor charge like theft or have their sentence reduced if on a major charge”

Motor Runner looked in the direction in which the Krogoth was standing while his Fiends and Raiders continued to work on it.

“It was like the machine was choosing ponies to die. Ponies who had done really bad things and making it look like an accident”

”That just sounds too outlandish. The Krogoth had never been activated”

“It’s Crusader was active, but not completely. It was only active to offer minimal support like lighting and other small things but yet the leg motors and some other higher functions were triggered in some of these accidents”

“Hmm, well thank you for voicing your concern Doctor. Its good to know you care for some of those working on the machine”

“I think there is more too it than that Motor Runner, all these accidents can’t all be coincidence”

“Are you saying the Krogoth is choosing bad ponies to kill?”

“I don’t know, I just don’t think it’s a random occurrence”

Motor Runner smiles. “Well, saves me having to kill these ponies when the time comes”

Dr Gizmo looked a little afraid.

“Don’t worry doctor, you’re a good pony, you have a right to live in this world. Most of them out there don’t, they have already forfeited that right when they took the lives of others for their amusement”

The doctor looked relieved.

Motor Runner nods as he stood up and then left the small storeroom. He walked back out into the hanger and looked up at the giant pony robot. He smiled as he watched as his Raiders and Fiends were busy applying its armour platting to its legs and head. The materials salvaged from Stable 88 and 108 have helped bring the Krogoth closer to completion but there was still much to be done.

XXXXX

“Just what the fuck was going on in this place?” Sky Fire asked as she looked at the terminal on the physician’s desk in the onsite clinic.

We had moved through some of the facility, avoiding the sentries as we did. We had found the dinning hall and had to battle some of those little monsters but luckily not many. A pleasant surprise was how weak the monsters were. Zyon bucked one square in the face and it died. It was like a strong enough hit could kill them. We had luckily found a clinic which has given us a fair few supplies.

“What’s wrong Sky?” I asked as I joined her.

“Severe lacerations, deep puncture wound, it sounds like most of the patients were being shredded”

I would like to know what’s been going on here too. It’s just so weird for a medical facility to be so heavily defended.

“Oh, I think I’ve found audio log” Sky Fire says as she accessed the file.

“Let’s hear it” I said as I sat down in front of a locked medical box and began to pick its lock.

“I’ve just patched up the fifth feeder today. I don’t know why Niles insists on keeping the Wretches alive. All they seem to do is breed and butcher whoever comes to feed them. We’ve had three deaths so far and in the last week twenty ponies being slashed.

I’ve had enough of this shit, I didn’t sign up to be the doctor of a slaughter house. Once I get my next pay check I’m going to resign and retire. There is not a chance in Nightmare Moon’s nether region that I’m going to stay here much longer. I just can’t take anymore of this shit with the Wretches”

“What the hell is a Wretch?” Zyon asked as he fiddled with the locked medical box I was trying to unlock.

“I don’t know but I’d assume it’s those little monsters” Sky Fire said as she turned off the terminal.

“I’m going to agree with you there Sky, it’s the only bit of info we’ve found regarding what’s being going on in this place”

There was a soft click as the med box opened. “Oh good, I think this might cover our medical supplies until we can make it out of the tunnels” Zyon said as he pulled out five more healing potions from the box. That brings our healing potion count to nine so that’s an even three each. That would do us for a little while but we are still lacking in ammo.

“I’d like to get out of here as soon as” I said as I used my magic to put my healing potions into my saddlebags. “But we still need to find some ammunition”

“Yeah, there must be an armoury or something that’s supplying these sentries with their ammo” Sky Fire agreed. She was still without any ammo for her beam pistols.

“Let’s keep moving then, there has to be one somewhere for these sentries”

Once we were all packed up with our meds we continued on. We walked at a cautious pace with Zyon up front, me in the middle and Sky Fire bringing up the rear. As we continued on we saw that the building appeared to be deteriorating the deeper we seemed to go. As we passed one room we saw a hole in the ceiling with a torrent of water pouring down from the hole.

“Is it me or can I hear rain?” I asked as we approached a set of double doors.

“How can it be rain, we’re underground?”

Zyon used his forelegs to push on the bar on the doors to release them and they swung open to reveal a small courtyard which was pouring with rain.

“Ok, I didn’t expect that”

“It is raining under damn ground” Zyon said as he stepped out into the cold shower.

Looking up I could see a mist obscuring my view of the ceiling but the mist was too low to be clouds as it was only a few metres above the roofs of the building. Walking down the flowing path into the courtyard we stopped at a circular fountain which was overflowing with the rain water. In front of us is a path leading to another part of the facility and to our right. To our left the path just seemed to disappear behind the building.

“Which way?” I asked Zyon as he was looking up at the doors at the end of each path leading back to the building.

“We can only go right, the one up ahead has been barricaded” He said pointing to the barricaded door. The ponies who sealed that door certainly didn’t want anypony opening it again as it had almost anything you could think of to block it.

“Right it is then” I said as all three of us began for the door, that was until. “Hang on, I see four red bars behind that door”

“More monkey dogs, great” Sky Fire sighed.

Zyon drew his sword and slowly began to advance on the door. Me and sky hung back so we didn’t get in his way. Just as he was about to reach the door it burst open as two of the Wretches jumped out. Zyon was knocked onto his back from the opening door and he dropped his sword. He quickly recovered and rolled onto his hooves in time to catch a Wretch as it jumped for him.

“Your one ugly piece of shit you know that” He said as he then quickly pushed it away. As he did that the other jumped for him to which he met with a buck to its chest. There was the sound of breaking bones and the small monster died before it even hit the floor. This didn’t stop the other as it jumped for him again to which Zyon just swatted out of the air with his fore hooves. The Wretch didn’t die but collapse from the hit. He quickly made sure it stayed down as he quickly stamped on its head.

“They like to ambush you don’t they” Zyon said as he retrieved his sword from a puddle.

“Watch out” I cried as two more jumped out from the door at him.

Armed with his sword our zony friend quickly gripped the sword tightly and slashed at the two monsters as they jumped for him. Me and Sky cringed as we saw the monsters turn into flying body parts as they soared over him.

“At least these bitches are easy to kill”

That I agreed with. They seemed weak on their own or in small groups but then again, if we were attacked by a swarm of these things like back in that first room where we saw dozens of them. We’d be torn to shreds.

Zyon decided to keep his sword out now in case more of these things jumped us. We entered the building again and followed the hallway as it lead us to series of locked or barricaded doors. As we moved through the corridor we were beginning to get a sense of something bad happening here with all the doors that were barricaded. I pulled out my family’s repeater as I started looking from door to door expecting something to happen.

We came to a T junction in the hall. To our left the corridor had collapsed in on itself blocking it off so we had no choice but to go right which took us down a flight of stairs to a steel blue door with “Authorised Personnel Only” stencilled below a small square window.

As we made it to the bottom of the stairs we found a dead pony crumpled up against the door. It wore the remains of what a Raider usually wears but we couldn’t be sure as the pony has been torn to shreds. It looked like it has been skinned alive.

“Ok, I don’t like this; this body is no more than a day old” Zyon said as he examined the body.

“No more than a day old? How the fuck did he manage to get past that damn door?” I asked in surprise.

“I have no idea” He said as he pulled the door handle down and had to push hard. Something was on the other side of this door as he pushed it open just enough for us to get through.

“Oh Goddesses” Sky Fire shrieked as we entered a utility like corridor, littered with bodies of Raiders.

“Ok, somepony looks to have been able to open the door if all these got through”

”Yeah, but who?”

“How should I know?”

We were interrupted by the same electronic voice.

“I’m sorry but you don’t have clearance to be in this section of the facility”

“Are you sure you want to go through that again?” Zyon asked the voice as we continued on.

Luckily as we moved along the corridor we didn’t run into any sentries or those little monsters. At the end of the corridor we came to an open door that opened out onto a catwalk spanning the width of a massive chamber. The catwalk lead to another open door on the other side.

“What the hell is this?” I asked as I looked down at all the glass cylinders all capped with a metal dome with lots of wires and cables coming out of them and all folding over to run down a metal back on the cylinder and into the floor. If I had to count I would say there were at least fifty of these cylinders in this chamber below the catwalk.

“You are in one of three stasis chambers for the Sires” The voice spoke as if it heard my question.

“Stasis chambers?”

“Sires?”

We were all a bit confused and surprised at this. We waited for a moment for the voice to answer us but it didn’t answer and so we continued on. The room on the other side of the catwalk turned out to be a monitoring station for the three stasis chambers. The room was a mess. More Raiders but instead being ripped to shreds these looked to have been sliced and diced by something.

Luckily for use these Raiders appeared to be armed with an assortment of projectile weapons ranging from pistols to shotguns which me and Zyon pocketed for repairs or to sell and we took all the ammo they were carrying and thankfully I got a decent amount of twenty gauge shells for my shotgun. But unfortunately Sky Fire was still without any small spark cells.

As we searched the bodies I found one of the Raiders holding a piece of stained paper. As I levitated it in my magic and held it so I could check it out I noticed it had something written on it in…the ponies own blood. Eww. The note only had one word and it read.

“Betrayed”

“Looks like these poor bastards got stabbed in the back” I said as I dropped the note.

“We got enough supplies to last us through the tunnels, lets just get the hell out of here” Zyon said as he looked at a bank of terminals which seemed to have had something sliced right through them.

“Hey, what about me?” Sky asked as she was still without any ammo.

“Here, you can use my revolver, I got plenty of ammo for it” I said with a smile as I levitated the revolver out of its holster on my foreleg along with at least half the .357 magnum ammo I was carrying over and into Sky’s saddlebags.

“Thanks” She said with a smile.

“Ok, let’s get the hell out of…” Zyon was cut off as a heavy security door slammed down and sealed itself in the doorway we just came from. “…here” He finished as we watched the locks on the door engage.

As we looked around we saw that the door leading into the other stasis chambers was still open.

“Looks like we have only one way to go” I said as I moved over to the open door and looked out into the stasis chamber. From here we would have to walk down some stairs just outside the door and down onto the chamber floor and walk along the path between the stasis pods.

“I got a bad feeling about this” Zyon said as he took point in front of me and drew his sword. I levitated out my repeater again since I had more ammo for that than my shotgun and Sky held the revolver in her mouth as we began to descend into the stasis chamber.

As we walked long the path between the many stasis pods we were seeing that some of them were holding something. Something that looked like the Wretches but bigger…Hellhound bigger.

“What the fuck are these?” Sky Fire shrieked over the revolvers mouth grip.

“Sires, of course” Replied the electronic voice.

“Of course” Zyon said sarcastically.

“What’s a Sire?” I asked, hoping for an answer.

“They are my children and our best hope for a brighter future”

WHAT?

“They have unfortunately been rudely awakened by the last visitors who have killed some of the children. These are priceless specimens and can not be replaced”

“O.K. lets go” Zyon said as he began to move quicker with us at his heels.

“The Sires needed more time to rest as they are not currently ready but the last visitors didn’t heed to my warnings” The voice continued to speak.

As we turned a corner we came to a slightly more open area which gave us some space but as soon as we entered this area we began to hear the sound of something beating on glass. We all turned to the sound and saw one of these things banging on the glass tube.

“Oh shit”

There was a mighty crash as the glass tube exploded and the monster inside leaped out and let out a horrible high pitched scream. The monster was horrible, short lets but with a huge muscular torso, it seemed to have one arm longer than the other, its hands were basically just long razor claws and its head, I couldn’t tell where its neck began and where its mouth began as its head seemed to be just poking out of its neck and back muscle and its mouth seemed to be stretching halfway up one side of its face with loads of sharp teeth. It seemed to also have a series of cables and wires sticking out of its back from when it jumped out of the chamber, like it was connected to it or something.

These things, for me, are the scariest creatures I’ve ever seen in the wasteland.

“WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT?” Sky Fire screamed. But I guess it’s safe to say that, THAT is a Sire.

“Its official that is one ugly mother fucker” Zyon snorts in disgust.

The creature lets out another high pitched scream and it charges at us. Zyon reared up and gave it a double hoof buck which forced the creature to stop and then he swung his head with his sword and sliced off one of its arms from above the elbow.

The creature staggered back a little, looking at its stump of an arm which surprisingly wasn’t dripping or spewing blood.

”What the fuck?!” Zyon cried as he watch the creature just stand there looking at its missing arm.

“These are irreplaceable specimens you are harming” Said the voice.

“Like I give a shit” Zyon said as the one armed creature charged at us again.

Me and Sky started to fire our weapons at the thing. It stopped as it took the hits, bloody holes exploded into its upper body and its other arm was severed but still the creature stood and wasn’t bleeding.

“Goddesses that thing is still standing” I shrieked as the creature just took a full load of bullets from both of our weapons.

We all blinked in surprise as the strange creature was still alive.

”The Sires were meant to be the perfect soldier, a soldier that knows no pain and can keep going after having a limb severed”

“How are we supposed to kill this thing?” I asked as the creature started to advance on us again.

“Shit, erm…” Zyon said as he thought.

I started to reload my repeater and Sky started to reload the revolver but was having difficulty. “Its getting closer” I moaned as I pushed in my last round to fully reload the weapon and brought it up and took a shot at its head.

The creature staggered back from the impact to its head but still it didn’t die. “Oh come on”

Zyon stepped forward and threw his head in the creature’s direction and let go of his sword. It sailed through the air like an arrow and embedded itself in the creature’s forehead and it toppled over.

Sky Fire almost cheered but then the creature screamed as it squirmed about on the floor. “Oh for fuck sake, die already” she then screamed and taking flight in her frustration.

Zyon ran over to the creature and gripped his sword with his mouth and then put both of his fore hooves onto the handle and then twisted the sword. I cringed as I heard the sound of breaking bone as Zyon turned whatever the creature had for a brain into mush.

Finally the creature spasmed and died as it let out one last screech as Zyon twisted his sword in its head.

Zyon pulled out his sword from its head and looked back to us.

“C’mon, let’s just get the fuck out of here”

Not wanting to spend another minute in this place we all broke into a gallop and ran through the maze of paths between the stasis pods. We could see many more of these things in the pods as we passed and some of them were beating on the glass as we passed. We rounded a corner and came to a door that was shut.

“Ah, shit” I said as we skidded to a stop.

Beside the door was a large red wheel with a sign above it which said “Turn wheel to open”. There was another crash of glass as another one of those things broke out of its pod.

“Shit, Appletart, Sky Fire, turn that while I hold it off” Zyon said as he gripped his sword and stepped forward to meet the monster as it charged for us.

I used my magic to grip the large wheel while Sky gripped it with her hooves and we started to turn it. The large wheel was heavy and hard to move but it was slowly turning and as it turned the large door began to rise up.

We could hear the battle behind us as Zyon battled the monster. There was plenty of slashes and the sound of flesh hitting the floor as he cut away its arms while dodging it and keeping it away from us.

“Please reframe from harming the Sires; they are necessary for our future”

“Oh shut up” I moaned as I closed my eyes and concentrated harder on the wheel. My horn igniting brighter as I poured more magic into turning the heavy wheel.

Behind us we heard the familiar sound of the sword striking the creatures head and then the thud as it toppled over. Just as Zyon began mashing up its brain we all heard three move stasis pods explode as their glass cylinders were shattered. Zyon quickly ran and grabbed the wheel.

“Quick, get through now” He shouted.

I ran under the raised door and Sky Fire followed quickly after me. “C’mon Zyon” I screamed.

We watched in horror as three more of the monsters rounded the corner and started to charge for us. “Now you asshole” Sky Fire shouted at him and just as the creatures were a hoof away from him he let go of the wheel which started to spin like mad and dived through the door as it rapidly started to fall.

There was an almighty metallic bang as the door slammed down which was followed by three meaty pops as the massive door crushed the three monsters that followed Zyon as he dove through it.

“Don’t you ever do that again” I screamed feeling all emotional all of a sudden. I was honestly scared to death that those monsters were gonna get him then. Oh I need to sit down.

“Oh, shit…” Zyon moaned as he looked around where we were sat after our escape from that stasis chamber.

“What?” Sky Fire asked as she hovered in place looking at him with her back to the room.

“It’s not over yet” He moaned which caused us to turn around and then I remembered what the voice said as we entered the first chamber.

“You are in one of three stasis chambers for the Sires”

“This is the last chamber” I said with some relief entering my voice but what relief I got was dashed as we heard another smash.

“Oh give me a break” Zyon moaned as he got up and readied his sword again.

The creature rounded a corner in front of us and started to charge, it was weird how these things were running on their smaller legs but damn they were still fast.

Sky Fire started to fire the revolver which peppered the monster with small holes. I reached out with my magic and tried to hold the monster still. I moaned with the strain as it didn’t stop but at least I slowed it down. Zyon threw his head again and sent his sword straight into the head of the monster. With it in my magic it didn’t fall but it still didn’t stop Zyon jumping at it. He grabbed one side of the handle and swung himself on it which twisted the sword around, carving out a huge hole in its head and the creature let out a high pitched squeal as it died in my magic which I quickly discarded to the floor.

“How many more of these fucking things are there?” I screamed.

“I don’t give a shit, lets just go” Zyon said as he retrieved his sword and we all bolted. We ran through the maze again until we came to another sealed door but this time the door had two large wheels we needed to turn.

“Oh for fuck sake” I groaned as I took one wheel while Sky took the other and we both began to turn them slowly as we started hearing more smashes as more of those monsters broke out.

“Screw this” Zyon moans as he sheathed his sword and pulled out a grenade from his satchel and pulled out its pin. He held the apple shaped explosive for a few seconds as he listened to the creatures running towards us.

“Throw it already” Sky Fire screamed as she pulled on her wheel.

Zyon waited until he saw the first creature round the corner behind us and then he flung the grenade and he dived behind a steel pipe. The grenade exploded just before it could hit the Sire and the blast of shrapnel and heat tore three of the monsters apart as they ran into the blast. Me and Sky Fire were pelted with tiny bits of shrapnel but luckily our barding protected us from any injury.

“Oh yeah, eat that bitch” Zyon yelled as he came out of cover from behind the pipe.

Zyon joined me and helped me pull the wheel as I was feeling exhausted from the magical strain.

After a good minute we finally heard a click as the door locked in place above use. “Let’s get out of here” I moaned as I trotted through the open door. Sky and Zyon nodded as they followed me. The large door had opened up into a hallway leading to another door but thankfully it was a normal hatch like door.

As we reached the door we heard more breaking glass as more of the monsters broke out of their stasis pods and that was soon followed by the sound of their feet as they started running for us.

Not looking back we quickly opened the hatch and ran through it and then slammed it shut and spun its wheel to lock the door behind us. Just as we sealed the hatch we heard a heavy thud from behind it and then a high pitched squeal as one of the monsters crashed into the door.

“Thank the goddesses” I moaned for now we were safe from those things.

“Zyon, how many barrels are left in that store room by the entrance?” Sky Fire asked as she sat down panting.

“About eight or nine. Why?” He asked.

I caught on to what Sky Fire was getting at. “We need to collapse the entrance; we can’t let these things loose in the wasteland. If we just left they’d be able to leave since you blew the door off its hinges”

“Shit your right, hmm, I think the number of barrels left might be enough to do that” He said as he rubbed his chin in thought.

“Let’s take a minute to rest, I’m knackered” I moaned softly.

XXXXX

We entered a large room that looked like a mad scientist’s lab. There were computer screens everywhere and large banks of computers against the walls. Cables littered the floor in all directions, crisscrossing and dangling from the ceiling. It strangely reminded me of a photo of a party that a pony by the name of Pinkie Pie had thrown before the bombs fell.

As we looked around we saw several tables which had an array of mechanical arms all folded up against a console beside the table. All the tables were thickly encrusted with dried blood that gave us all a bad feeling. I felt my stomach start to do flips again as I looked from one table to another. My stupid imagination started making pictures of ponies or other creatures being dissected alive on the tables by those mechanical arms.

“I’m sorry but you don’t have access to this part of the facility” The electronic voice said again.

I’m getting sick of hearing that voice.

“If you do not vacate the area within five minutes you will be considered as spies and will be shot on sight”

“Fuck, where’s the door?” I asked as about five sentry turrets dropped down from the ceiling and began to target us.

“I dunno, but there is not a chance in hell I’m going back the way we came” Zyon yelled as he started looking around the room.

Sky Fire begins to flutter in place as she looked around at all the sentries and then she saw something. “Look, there, a button” She shouted as she pointed to a red glowing button on a pillar in the middle of the room.

What the hell? Might as well push it, it worked for the other sentries.

I reached out with my magic and pressed the button. There was a loud siren as the button was pressed. The voice than spoke again but this time it sounded lower in tone.

“Warning, system shut down initiated. All security doors released. All specimens released. Good bye…” The voice said as it finally died.

A door at the back of the room dropped down as its locks was disengaged, revealing our way out. Just as we left the room all its monitors and lights went out to show that the shut down complete.

We exited the room into a stair well going up. Up is good. As we climbed the stairs I started to see a few red bars in my E.F.S moving slowly as we approached the door at the top of the stairs.

“Hostiles” I said quietly as Zyon reached the door.

“Sires? Wretches?” Zyon asked.

“Moving too slowly to be either”

“Maybe Raiders, we did find some down there”

I nodded with agreement “Maybe Raiders yeah”

“That’s good then, I can deal with Raiders, at least they die when stabbed or shot in the head” He said quietly as he gently began to nudge open the door. The door opened up into another office. I turned my head in the direction of the red bars and saw that they were behind the far wall which seemed to have a huge hole in it leading into another set of offices.

The offices were divided up into several partitions made up of half walls to divide them out. We crouched low behind these half walls as we edged our way towards the hole in the wall. As we neared the hole we began to hear two ponies talking. Thankfully that told us we were dealing we Raiders now, thank you Celestia for an enemy we know.

“Found the way out yet?” A mare spoke sounding annoyed, very annoyed.

“Ugh, no, it’s like a frigging maze down here” Replied another.

“I can’t believe that asshole left us here”

“Yeah, I can’t believe we were stupid enough to believe him”

“Maybe it was the suit or that he’s a cyberpony”

Oh great. I guess we know how they got through the door now then. I began to levitate ‘Overmare’s Fury’ from its holster as we got ready to fight the Raiders. Zyon began to quietly edge around the wall to the hole and I chambered a round ready as did Sky Fire with the revolver.

“When I get my hooves on that tall purple bastard I’m gonna tear him a new one”

I rose up slowly so I could see over the wall and the two Raiders were stood with their backs to us as they bickered.

“I’d pay to see that” The other chuckled.

I rested the repeater on the top of the wall and aimed for the head of the mare who chuckled and then I pulled the trigger. I scored a critical hit as her head exploded in a gory mess.

“What the fuck?” Screamed the other mare who was now wearing her dead friend’s blood as a face mask.

Taking advantage of the mare’s confusion I aimed at her and then pulled the trigger for my second shot and she fell to the floor with a thud with a big hole in the back of her head.

All three of us quickly hurried into the next room through the hole in the wall and hide behind a half wall. I checked my E.F.S and found that three more hostiles were somewhere to our left. I quietly rose up and looked in the direction of the red bars and saw that the red markers were somewhere down a corridor leading away from this office.

We edged our way to the far wall that lead to the corridor our enemies were in. There was an open door to our left which opened up into a narrow L shaped room which ran parallel with the corridor ahead.

“Maybe we can surprise them from in here” I said as I pointed a hoof into the room.

Zyon and Sky Fire nodded their agreement and so we entered the room. As we approached the wall facing the corridor we noticed it turned into a half wall so we could see into the corridor. As we edged our way closer we noticed they the Raiders were in fact inside a small narrow room.

“This might be difficult” Zyon said as he looked over the wall to see the Raiders were taking cover behind their own hall wall.

“Why don’t you chuck a grenade in there?” I asked.

“I’m gonna need these three for the bomb to collapse the tunnel” He replied.

“Hey, the security system is still working, look” Sky said as she pointed to a sentry turret that was looking up the corridor.

“Then where is the button?” I asked as I looked around trying to find the button.

Zyon crouched down and began to edge is way down the wall towards and open door at the end of the room.

“Here” He said quietly so he didn’t alert the Raiders.

“Push it” I said softly while I kept an eye on the Raiders.

There was a loud metallic clunk as the sentry in the hallway retracted back into the floor.

“Security system disabled” Came that same voice. I guess its programmed to say it regardless.

I watched as the Raiders began looking around in panic.

“Security system enabled” The voice said again and to the horror of the Raiders a sentry came up in the room with them.

“Oh fuck no” They seemed to scream all at once. The low beep sounded as the sentry found its targets but instead of a minigun, we got a flamethrower. It bathed the room in flames and I cringed as I heard the sound of sizzling flesh and the terrible screams as the Raiders burned alive.

We jumped over the wall and continued down the corridor which lead us to another door. There was a sign beside the door which said. “Staff Room and Sleeping Quarters”

XXXXX

Motor Runner sat in what used to be Applejack’s office in the Hanger as he looked over some notes on the Krogoth’s systems.

He was looking over the Crusader Mainframe as he was intrigued but what the good doctor had said regarding the deaths that had occurred during the construction. Despite being a smart and well educated pony, advanced electronics and computer systems still went over his head.

He could gather that the Crusader when active would allow the Krogoth to learn and have a slight ability to think for itself to perform basic tasks. However what he didn’t know was that when coupled with a mind the Crusader could become something much more.

There was a sound of grinding metal and then a scream from outside his office window as his Raiders and Fiends watched in horror as the Krogoth slowly rose its foreleg and the body of a pony was seen twitching violently as it dangled out of the access hatch in its ball joint.

Motor Runner shook his head. “Stupid asshole must of triggered something” He said to himself as he went back to the notes while the Raiders and Fiends pulled the dead pony from the giant machine’s knee ball joint as it lowered its leg back down and then threw the dead pony to the infected.

XXXXX

How can it be raining when we are under ground, it makes no sense. We had found a way out thanks to the security doors being disengaged after we had shut down the computer that seemed to still run the place after we left the last stasis chamber. I just hope those Sires haven’t figured out how to open doors.

“I’m wet, cold and miserable” Zyon moaned as he trotted ahead of us as we followed the path which was leading us around the outside of the facility.

It was strange out here, it looked as if we were truly outside but we weren’t. I used my magic to throw a stone out into wilderness we could see outside the facility but instead of the stone just flying into the trees, it instead bounced back from a magical barrier and the whole wilderness surrounding the facility flickered. It was a god damn hologram.

I still however don’t know how it’s still raining.

“Hey, there’s that courtyard” Zyon yelled as he started to run for it.

“Hey, wait up” I moaned as I tried to keep up.

Just as we made it to our zony friend we found him wrestling with another one of those little Wretches.

“God damn it you little piece of shit, get the fuck off me” He yelled as he bucked and bounced. It was kinda funny to watch as it looked the Wretch was at a rodeo.

“Five bits on the Wretch” I giggled to Sky Fire who landed and sat beside me watching as Zyon bucked, trying to force the little monster off his back.

“You’re on” She giggles as we watched the show.

The little monster had a clawed hand on one of Zyon’s satchels as he bucked and kicked. It growled and whined as it was shaken about the place on his backside. Oh this was good entertainment.

“Get the fuck of me” Zyon yelled and he jumped forward with a lot of force and kicked his rear up high. Finally the monster let go and was thrown over into the overflowing fountain.

The little creature splashed about and gurgled as it struggled to the edge of the fountain and pulled itself out.

“Oh I’m so going to kick your ass” Zyon growled as he approached the struggling Wretch.

“Think we should help?” Sky Fire asked with a grin.

“Which one?” I asked with a giggle as we started to watch Zyon beat the crap out of the Wretch.

“Grab my ass will you?” He asked as he slapped it across the face and kicked it back into the water.

This had me and Sky Fire in stitches.

“Goddesses I hate these fucking things” Zyon cried as he delivered the final blow to the already beat up Wretch.

“C’mon Zyon, its dead, lets just get the fuck out of hear”

“Yeah, yeah” he said as we found the door we first exited into the courtyard from the first time and began to make our way back through the offices and labs. Again having to dodge the freaky security.

“I swear, whoever invented this security system needs to be dragged out onto the street and shot” I complained as he took cover by the double doors leading back into the corridor where we first witnessed the security.

“Why don’t you just use your magic to hit the button on the wall and then as the sentry starts coming out in here we just walk through the door” Sky Fire said as she pointed a hoof at the glowing red button on the wall outside in the corridor.

“Yeah, saves trying to dodge its sensor”

“Alright, get ready then” I said as I stood by the open door and focused my magic on the button and then pressed it. The voice spoke again about the sentries being disabled and enabled. As the sentry in the room started coming out we quickly stepped out into the hallway, just in time for Sky Fire to miss being shot up the ass as we heard the deep beep sound as the sentry caught Sky Fire in its sensor just as she left, firing off a single bullet that hit the door.

“Fuck” Sky shrieked from the bullet impact on the door.

“I’ll be glad to put this place behind me” I said as we trotted back into the lobby of the facility.

“Yeah, I’d rather take my chances in the tunnels full of ghouls; at least you know they die if they loose an arm or a leg”

I shivered as I remember the first Sire we encountered that lost all its limbs and yet still tried to kill us.

“What I don’t understand is why Motor Runner was here?” I asked as we sat down in the lobby.

“That’s a good question, it doesn’t look like anything has been taken, unlike your Stable” Zyon said as he unfastened his satchel that the Wretch had grabbed earlier. “Fucking Wretch tore my satchel…” He then went on the mumble something that was inaudible to us.

“He comes here with Raiders, some how opens that door…” Sky began as she then pointed at the huge steel door lodged in the lobby door frame. “…traps the Raiders in the stasis chambers in the offices block on the other side then leaves. I thought he lead those guys”

“This has just thrown my impression of him out the window; I don’t know what to make of him right now”

“Well, at least we found some supplies that should last us until we get out of the tunnels…if we don’t run into anymore Revears”

“Yeah, too bad we didn’t find any small spark cells for you Sky”

“Meh, this revolver will do until we get out of here”

“Alright you two, lets get out of here” Zyon said as he got up and then squeezes is way through the gap in the door.

Sky Fire slipped through the gap easily but I again began to struggle with the tightness of the small gap against my wide belly.

“Need a hoof?” Sky chuckled.

“No, I’m fine” I grumbled as I tried to wiggle myself through.

Behind us we suddenly heard the high pitched scream of something we hoped was still locked away in the stasis chambers, the Sires.

“Oh fuck” I said as I started to push with everything I had. Sky Fire grabbed my barding and pulled. I popped out of the gap, nearly tearing the buckle off one of my saddlebags at the same time and we started to run towards Zyon who was already pushing a barrel up the corridor to where the huge steel door once sat.

“Forget putting them near the door, the Sires are loose and are close” I screamed as I passed him. He left the barrel where he managed to push it, about half way up the corridor and ran back to the room to push another one out.

I sat by the exit and used my magic to levitate a barrel and Sky Fire used her fast flying speed to move them into position. I was able to keep my magical grip on them all as I wasn’t trying to move them as well. I moaned from the strain as Sky positioned the last of the eight barrels with Zyon now fiddling about to set up his bomb.

“Zyon hurry up” I screamed as I saw a Sire trying to push itself through the gap in the door frame back up in the facility.

Zyon pulled the pins on the three grenades he put on top and we all started to gallop as fast was we could out of the corridor and back into the station.

“Get down” Zyon shouted as we dove down behind the station platform wall.

We ducked down as low as we could behind the wall and covered our heads with our hooves again as the whole tunnel shuck violently as the eight barrels exploded with great force. We all cried out softly from the explosion and the heat of the gasses as they rushed out over us. The explosion almost sounded and felt like the balefire bomb explosion from earlier as it rocked the tunnel but soon we were rewarded with the sound of crumbling concrete and groaning steel as the corridor began to collapse into itself and sealing off the New Hope Research Facility, trapping the Sires and the Wretches within.

After a few minutes as we waited for the collapse to settle down we rose up onto the platform and we all breathed a sigh of relief as we saw a mountain of debris filling the corridor, completely blocking it.

“Thank the goddesses” I said with a smile as I sat down.

“Yeah, that’s one problem the wasteland won’t have to deal with” Sky Fire said as she sat beside me.

”Well, lets get some rest before we head off to Manehattan” Zyon said as he sat down looking rather tired.

I nodded as we could now afford the time to take a moment to relax.

XXXXX

It was raining like always out in the wasteland. A travelling merchant curses to himself for deciding to try to make it to the next town in the middle of a downpour when all of a sudden the ground behind him shoots up like a geyser which was swiftly followed by a jet of flame.

“What the fuck was that?” He screamed as muddy rain starts to land all over the area.

Soon small and large creatures start to pour out of the hole. Hundreds of creatures start to run out in all direction like an alien invasion from monsters that lived underground.

The merchant screams in terror as two of the large monsters scream their high pitched roar and attacked the poor merchant who was swiftly torn apart by the brute force of the grotesque monsters.

(Author notes: Re-read and corrected mistakes i came across. Thank you for reading)