In the center of the group was what looked like a normal looking woman eating away at another young-aged woman. It looked like someone else had already tried to break them apart; the interloper’s torn and bloody remains were now on the floor next to the gruesome scene. The woman gripped the other woman’s shoulders as she could do little than squirm. Her jagged teeth easily found their way into the woman’s Jugular. The woman could only now choke out small yelps as I instantly recognized as pleas for help to the onlookers. The woman then extended her hand towards my direction. The woman’s face was contorted in anguish as the life was slowly draining out of her. Her arm slowly began to lower as the last tethers of life vanished from her. The woman considered biting off bit by bit of the woman’s neck even after the body stopped. I shook off the shock long enough to pull out my iPhone and dial 911, but no success. There was still no signal. I couldn’t even think of a way to help.

This attack now officially confirmed everything I feared. We were definitely not crazy anymore. There were now real Xenomorphs attacking right in front of us. I looked around at the crowd to see why nobody had bothered to help. The only people that sprang to life were the ones that ran away as quickly as they could. The rest of the crowd was frozen in sheer horror. My friends couldn’t pretend that I was going crazy anymore. They damn well knew what they were watching. It was a twisted horror show coming to life. The sounds of sirens pulled my attention away from the Xenomorph. They didn’t sound very far, but I didn’t think there was anything the cops or paramedics could do or the poor woman now. She was good as gone.

After a few more bites, the xeno-lady finally let the woman go and started looking through the crowd. The crowd immediately scattered. She then began to start jogging towards me. She was just as fast as the other Xenomorphs I had seen before, but she looked more normal. In fact, if wasn’t for the blood on her mouth and her clothes, along with the xenomorphic skin and sunken red eyes with the slit pupil of a cat, she would have been down right attractive. She wore an orange blood stained shirt with a yellow blouse. She had long rose colored hair with sunken red eyes with cat-like pupils that kept looking at me with hunger.

Two police officers had arrived and rushed out of their car. They pulled out their guns and aimed for the alien lady. “Freeze!” yelled out one young looking rookie cop. The rookie cop was tall and wiry. She had dark brown hair and a pale face which only became paler once she saw the bodies the lady had left behind. “What the fuck?” The Xenomorph lady looked at her quickly changed her direction. “Stop!” she warned again nervously. She began slowly walking to catch the cops off guard to then pick up speed.

“That’s far enough!” yelled out the second cop. She was a bit older than the rookie cop and strangely enough, way more calmer. She looked muscular and very thick dark blonde hair. Sunset wasn’t really sure what either of them were gonna do. The Xenomorph lady was now almost in arms reach of the rookie. She nervously shook a little as she approached. The rookie suddenly burst to life and aimed for the alien lady’s chest. Bang-bang! She shot her twice, and she stumbled to the floor right at the rookie’s feet. “Stop!” yelled the veteran cop to the rookie. “What the hell do you think you’re—“

The xeno lady sprang back to life. She aimed at her head, but she latched herself towards the rookie’s torso quicker than she could react. She wasn’t able to aim or fight back anymore. She sank her teeth into her chest. Bang! the veteran cop, whom I could confirm is Ms. Harshwhinney, aimed and shot her in the head. She slowly walked to her partner with her gun still raised to the alien lady.

Twilight grabbed my arm. “We need to get out of here, now!” she said with authority in her voice.

“Shouldn’t we try to help the cops?” I asked feebly.

“What can we do? Besides what if more of those things are running around, what if we get caught? We’re no good to anyone dead.” Twilight did have a point. I didn’t feel good about it, but it was the smart thing to do. The image of my friends being attacked by Xenomorphs crept into my mind. “Fine, but we need to go visit someone I know.” We walked to my car as we conversed.

“Who?” Twilight asked.

Images of my friend Octavia appeared in my head. “Tavi.”

Twilight looked pensively at me for a moment. “Alright then, but we need to make it fast.”

“Still, do you think there’s something we should do for her?” I pointed to the cops. The rookie cop looked like she was losing a lot of blood. Ms. Harshwhinny crouched by her side trying help her. I just didn’t feel right about leaving them like that.

“No, we have other things to take care of anyway. Besides, she must have called an ambulance or something. Where’s AJ?” Twilight quickly added trying to change the subject.

I looked around for a moment. I spotted her near my car. “There.” I pointed. Twilight and I ran towards her and the car. “Let’s get out of here,” I said as we reached Applejack and made for the car.

“Wait a minute, where will we go?” she asked. “Ah mean, is there a safe place to go?”

“We’ll figure out the details later. For now, I need to go check up on someone.” We go into the car without protest and I began driving away.

We sped away from the gory scene as quickly as we could. I was determined to make sure Octavia was safe. She was yet another one of my best friends throughout my reformed life and would have done the same for me. “So what are we going to do after this?” Twilight asked for our opinion, but judging by her tone, it sounded like Twilight already had a plan. We stayed silent. “Where do you want us to go?”

“How many more of those things do ya think there are?” AJ asked Twilight.

“I’ve only watched the first two Alien movies, so I know about these guys.” Twilight answered. “I’ve read these few comic books where they can infect people through a bite or a scratch. I’m not exactly sure how long it takes for someone to turn though. So there might be a few now, but thousands more in a few days or even minutes.” Twilight and Applejack continued talking about the Xenomorph attack, while I stayed silent.

We arrived at Octavia’s house after a few minutes. I jumped out of the car and ran for the front door. Twilight and Applejack quickly followed. I rang the doorbell and waited. There was no response. I turned the doorknob and, to my surprise, it was unlocked. I ran in while Applejack and Twilight cautiously walked in. “I’m going to Tavi”s room. You two stay here.” Twilight and Applejack nodded. I ran through the hallway and entered the second room to my left. I remembered that that was Octavia’s room from all the times I visited her. I stopped at the sight of Octavia already up with her back turned to me. She had been wearing that same gray blouse with her dark gray skirt and shoes, along with her little pink bow tie. “Tavi we have to get out of here and get somewhere safe. There are demons running around Canterlot,” I blurted out not even caring if I sounded crazy, but she didn’t move. “Tavi we have to go.” I walked forward to see if she had been hurt.

Twilight and Applejack waited in the living room for Sunset to return. The room was dark and completely still. Twilight couldn’t even make out any of the furniture or objects in front of her. She also noticed that Octavia’s house was way too quiet for her taste. She recalled seeing a car parked in the driveway, so someone had to have been home. “Why is it so quiet?” Twilight asked.

“Maybe They’re not here,” Applejack replied.

“Maybe they don’t know what’s going on outside.” Twilight fumbled around for the light switch. After a few seconds of patting the wall, she was rewarded with the light switch. She quickly turned on the room’s light and turned around to inspect the room. She froze in pure horror.

“Twilight you alright in there sugarcube?” Applejack turned around towards to what Twilight seeing.

“Oh my God!” Applejack and Twilight both edge away from the three partially eaten corpses that were spread out on the floor of the living room. The corpses were that of an older man and woman with a younger woman as well. Twilight was almost sure that they were Octavia’s parents and her girlfriend Vinyl Scratch.

“Sunset,” Twilight quickly reminded Applejack. She narrowed her eyes. They now bolted into the hallway. Twilight ran to the only open door she found with Applejack close behind. They saw Sunset getting close to another woman with her back turned turned to her. “Sunset, no!” AJ screamed. Sunset turned around in surprise. The woman soon turned slowly after. Her face was terrifying. It was Octavia, but she was missing slight patches of her skin below her eyes and around most of her mouth making her look like she was smiling. Sunset turned back to Octavia. She stopped and slowly walked backwards.

“Oh my God, Tavi...” Sunset said with a mixture of sadness and shock. Octavia began to walk forward. Sunset backed away slowly.

“Get back,” Twilight shouted. She pulled Sunset out of the room and quickly grabbed Octavia’s cello that was resting on a stand. Twilight charged forward to Octavia determined to end her suffering.

Applejack pulled me out of the hallway after Twilight went into Octavia’s room. I couldn’t believe it. Octavia and I were best friends. I couldn’t believe I would never see her again. I didn’t want to accept it, but I knew denying it wouldn’t help. Octavia was gone. She was dead. No she isn’t dead. I thought to myself. She’s worse than dead. I couldn’t begin to understand what Tavi was now. She wasn’t the old friend I knew anymore.

“Ya doin’ alright sugarcube?” Applejack asked with concern in her voice. I turned to her and looked into her eyes. I wasn’t sure wha to say.

”I-I’ll be alright AJ.” I replied slowly. “Let’s just get out of here.”

Twilight walked out of the room with a damaged and bloody cello. I closed my eyes for a moment and turned away.

“It’s done,” Twilight said almost proud. The three of us walked back outside to the car.

“So now what?” Applejack asked.

“I don’t know,” Twilight said. “What do you think Sunset?”

“Let’s start by getting into the car, no point in being out in the open.” I replied sorrowfully.

“Alright then, let’s go.” Twilight said. Twilight and Applejack both got into the car and waited for me to do the same. I turned to Octavia’s house and took a deep breath. I took a moment to remember all the concerts I watched Octavia in every time I got a chance to. I remembered all the times Octavia was able to smooth-talk us out of trouble. I remember how Octavia’s family treated me like a third sister. And finally, I remembered the look of hunger on Octavia’s Xenomorphic face. But all of that was gone now. I couldn’t even tell how long she had been like that. I didn’t even want to think about what happened to her parents and Vinyl.

I turned away from the house, knowing that I would never see it again. As I opened my car door and slipped inside, I couldn’t help but wonder what would happen to the rest of the people I knew and loved. I came to this world alone and my parents died while I was just a filly in Equestria, but I still had many friends to look after, especially the one moment Princess Twilight reformed me to good. I turned on the car and began to drive. For the moment, all I could do was watch after the two other people in my car.

Twilight, Applejack, and I decided to drive around town for a little while this morning. There weren’t many Xenomorphs roaming around. Unfortunately, we didn’t know where to go next. We spent the last few days back in our, now empty, hotel after visiting Octavia’s house. Twilight thought it was a stupid idea, but we had no other choice at the time. I parked my car in a deserted parking lot in front of a local supermarket. We decided it was time to start to look for another place.

“We should focus on getting weapons before getting food,” Twilight suggested.

“Do ya know where the gun shop is?” Applejack asked.

Twilight paused for a moment. “No,” she replied wearily.

“Wait, what about the police station?” I asked.

“That ain’t a bad idea,” Applejack said.

“Well there might be more people there. Plus it’ll definitely have guns and ammo,” Twilight said. “Let’s go.” I was proud of how quickly we had come to an understanding. I had worried that we might argue about what to do, but that was clearly not the case.

“Alright then,” I said. I turned on the car and drove out of the parking lot. The police station was only four blocks away, so it wouldn’t take long to reach it. The thought of joining other armed survivors in a place like a police station comforted me greatly. For the past week Twilight, Applejack, and I huddled together at the hotel waiting for the Xenomorphs, luckily they never came. We couldn’t stay though. The hotel was in the middle of Canterlot and more likely to way more Xenomorphs around. Every night we could see a few Xenomorphs casually walking in the streets. We left around the time we stopped seeing them. We partially hoped to see more of our friends go to the hotel, but they never came back. I tried not to assume the worst, but it was hard to imagine them coming back after so long.

We drove for a few minutes before we reached our destination. We exited my car and began heading towards the police station. I was actually bigger than I remembered. The building looked like that mansion from the game Resident Evil. It had grey stone walls with large windows protected by iron bars. Two tall light posts stood on either side of the entrance. The path that led to the entrance was also made of stone with two powerful looking manticore statues staring forward on both sides of it. There were two small but beautiful courtyards full of plants on both sides of the path. To the right of the entrance was one large fountain with a Pegasus standing strong on a platform with water pouring out far below it. The police station didn’t look this great the last time I had visited. It must have been renovated. I preferred it this way. The most appealing characteristic it had now was the stone walls and iron bars that constituted the police station’s gate and fence. “This is perfect,” Applejack said.

“What if we need to escape it?” Twilight asked. “If there are Xenomorphs in there and around the gate, then we’re fucked.”

“It should be big enough to find a safe place,” I answered. “And besides, it’s a temporary solution. We need to contact someone outside Canterlot for help.”

“Yeah,” Twilight said. “That sounds smart. It’s going to be hard to find someone who believes us, but I guess it’s the only plan we got.”

“Hey Sunset,” Applejack said.

“Yeah AJ?” I asked.

“Don’t ya have that journal you could use to talk to Princess Twilight in Equestria?”

“No I don’t, it’s back in my summer house in Manehattan so I’m afraid that’s out of the question.” I replied sadly.

“I can’t believe this is happening.” Applejack said in a soft voice. “Ah mean, demons like them shouldn’t be real.”

“Relax girls,” Twilight said confidently. “I’ve kinda been preparing for something like this in my entire life—“

“That’s kinda sad,” AJ interrupted. Twilight glared at AJ until she broke eye contact. I chuckled a little.

“Anyway,” Twilight emphasized. “I know a thing or two about them so you should be safe with me.”

“Yeah guys,” I interrupted, “this is fascinating in all but don’t you think it’s time to go the police station?”

“Oh yeah, let’s go go go.” Twilight said, sounding like Pinkie Pie for some reason.

The three of us walked cautiously forward. Twilight opened the gate and quickly looked around the courtyard for any signs of movement. Twilight and Applejack proceeded forward while I stayed behind to close the gate. They checked the front door of the police station. “It’s locked.”

Applejack began to pound her fists on the door. “Hello!” she yelled out loud.

“Stop AJ, don’t yell.” Twilight commanded as quietly as she could. “Sunset, go check outside to see if anything heard her.”

I looked around from behind the iron bars. There wasn’t anything around. “It’s clear Twi.” I said. “It’s completely clear.”

“We can’t open the door,” Applejack said grimly.

I looked outside the gate again. “We might have to just drive somewhere else.” Just then, the door of the police station opened up. Two police officers walked out, each carrying automatic shotguns. They were both women, or should I say two anthropomorphic mares. One of the them had electric blue hair and red eyes but no cat pupils, while the other one had ebony colored hair and purple eyes. They both looked like they were in their late twenties, but they looked very familiar.

“Take off your clothes,” The blue haired one ordered.

“Oh shit,” Twilight said frustrated. “The first survivors we meet are those kinds of survivors.”

The black haired pony officer shook her head. “She just wants to see if you’ve been bitten, moron,” she said. She turned to the blue haired pony officer. “Although I can see how holding a shotgun and yelling ‘take off your clothes’ can make you think that.” They lowered their SPAS shotguns.

“Yeah, real nice way of asking,” I said sarcastically.

“We just need to make sure your not infected,” the blue haired pony officer said. “Normally we wouldn’t ask, but we’ve had liars before. Even in our time in Equestria.” Those last few words sounded bitter. “Just strip down to your underwear and we’ll be done.” We stripped as best as we could. The blue haired pony officer blushed a little as Twilight took off most of her clothes. The black haired pony officer stopped me from taking off my panties emphasizing that she had seen enough. After a seemingly endless infection check, the black haired pony officer let us put our clothes back on.

“Sorry about that dears,” the black haired pony officer said. “My name is Octavia Melody.” She pointed to her marefriend. “This is Vinyl.”

Twilight stepped forward. “My name is Twilight Sparkle. These are my friends Sunset Shimmer and Applejack,” she said.

“Is there anyone else here?”

“We have a few people,” Octavia said. “But Vinyl and I are the only cops.”

“They’re no other cops around?”

“Nope, the rest left to answer a bunch of emergency calls.”

“So have you managed to send a message outside of Canterlot?”

“We’ve tried, but nothing can seem to go through. No internet or phone signals. The only thing that works at all is the short range radio.”

“What’s yer plan then?” AJ asked.

“There are other survivor outposts set up around Canterlot.” Octavia said. “Most of them have other cops taking care of people they’re in. We have to send weapons to the other outposts.”

And at the same time gather and exchange supplies?” I asked.

“Exactly.”

“How in the hell did this happen so fast?” Applejack asked. “I mean nine days ago everything was fine, and now people are setting up outposts?”

“To be honest with you, things have been bad for a long time before then,” Octavia answered. “It was just too well hidden.” I wasn’t sure what to make of Octavia’s last few words. She said them too matter-of-factly.

“It’s like they just came out of nowhere,” Twilight said.

“From what Vinyl and I heard, there have been a bunch of these outbreaks, all in crowded places like in buses or subways. It wasn’t bad before, but now…” she trailed off. I could see that the worry, stress, and fear were already getting to her. Octavia, the pony-version of Octavia hadn’t slept in days.

“Hey Octy, when was the last time you slept,” I asked. “You look like a zombie.”

“I don’t really ever have the time to sleep much lately. Let’s get you all inside.” Octavia guided the way into the police station.

The inside was much larger than I expected, not to mention that it looks exactly like the police station from the game Resident Evil 2. There was a large water fountain with a statue of what I could assume to be an alicorn on top. There was also a medium sized waiting room with a lot of blue chairs leaning against the walls. There was an elegant looking desk behind the statue with a few pictures and mementos from the secretary that worked there. There two doors on either side of the statue. The double doors to the left were brown and the door on the right was red. All of these features were enclosed in white colored walls.

“This place is a lot nicer than I remember.” I said.

“Yeah well, renovations do that.” Octavia said. “Okay, so before we go any further I have a question for you three. Are any of you willing to go with me through the city to make deliveries and rescue civilians?”

“What?” Twilight asked half mockingly. “You can’t be serious. I mean, you’re cops, as well as ponies. Isn’t it you job to out there?”

“We can’t both go,” Octavia replied. “Somepony needs to make sure these people are safe. None of us can go alone either, that would just be suicidal.”

“I’ll go.” The words came out of my mouth naturally. I didn’t hesitate because I knew going and helping people was the right thing to do.

“Ah’m goin’ too,” Applejack said. She turned to Twilight. “We’ll be okay sugarcube.”

“We’ll be armed,” Octavia reassured Twilight.

“Fine,” Twilight said frustrated. “I wasn’t going to stop you.” She paused for a moment. “I guess I should help out around here then.”

“Very well dear, Vinyl darling, take Twilight to the other survivors,” Octavia commanded. She then turned to AJ and me. “You two, follow me.”

Twilight followed Vinyl through the double doors without a word. Applejack, Octavia, and I slowly walked to the red door. I shot a glance at Applejack. She looked rather nervous. She had every right to be. The three of us were going back into a new world full of what I call Black Demons. We had been lucky not to run into many Xenomorphs thus far, but this time I knew we would run into something. At least now we would be somewhat prepared.

The three of us went through the red door and into another waiting area with an opening to another hallway. The room lined with red sofas and had a vending machine near the entrance. It looked like it was more for the police rather than anyone else. Octavia lied down one of the red sofas. “I’m gonna take a quick nap. Get something to eat and go through the hallway to the fourth door to your right and take all the weapons you can. They’re in some bags. There’s a map of Canterlot that we need too. Look for it.” Octavia yawned. “Don’t wake me up for a little while. I need some sleep.”

“Okay,” Applejack said. “Let’s go Sunny.”

Applejack and I walked through the hall and into the fourth door to the right. The door was the exact same shade of red the other one. The room had seven desks; each desk looked like it was full of personal items belonging to the owners. I spotted three bags on the desk closest to us. I grabbed all the bags, while Applejack looked around the desks for the map. “Should we take anything else?” I asked.

“No I think we should take a nap with Octavia instead of looking for anythin’ else. Ah didn’t sleep well last night and I know for a fact that you didn’t either.” She did have a point, it had been hard to sleep the past week at the hotel, the constant fear that a Xenomorph could attack us while we were asleep made it impossible to sleep right.

“First things first,” I said. “Where’s the map?”

“Somewhere in these here desks. Help me look.” I walked to the desk farthest away from the door. I set the bags on the floor and began searching for the map. I went through many files and forms before I came across a picture of some of the police officers that I had seen around in the city. Octavia wasn’t on it, but Vinyl was. I also saw the rookie cop and Harshwhinny standing near each other. I slowly put the picture down and continued looking.

“Ha I got it!” AJ exclaimed.

“Great now we can sleep.” I said.

Applejack and I walked back to Octavia’s sofa. She was still asleep. AJ lied down on another sofa and quickly closed her eyes. I sat down on the same sofa and began to think. I wasn’t sure what I had just gotten myself into. I knew too well that Canterlot would this time I would see more demons than I had seen before. The Xenomorphs were even more dangerous now, and they could easily pick up speed if they needed to. The thought that was scaring more was that if a wolf could be infected and turn into a super demon wolf, then what other things could be infected? What other demons were roaming around the streets of our Canterlot? These thoughts were lost as I closed my eyes and drifted off to sleep.

---

I was the first of the group to wake up. Octavia and Applejack were still fast asleep. I decided that it would be a good time to see where we needed to go. I opened the map and looked for the destinations. It looked like there at least ten different places we needed to deliver goods to. The path also had paths and zones marked on it. Every now and again I began to wonder what Twilight and the other survivors were doing, but I had a good feeling that Twilight would be safe here. For a while at least. As soon as I saw Octavia sleeping, I began to now start getting confused. How can there be more than one Octavia and Vinyl Scratch? The only Octavia and Vinyl I knew, were my best friends before I left Canterlot, and I saw her xenomorphic face and Vinyl dead. But here she was right as rain, albeit for the muzzle, cutie mark, pony ears, and tail. I now begun to assume that maybe they’re the Equestrian version of my friends from the past. I would ask her why they came here but, I felt that now wasn’t the best time for it.

I used the vending machine to get a few snacks for the trip. I put a few candy bars and potato chips bags in my leather jacket’s pockets. I wasn’t sure how much food was left for the others in the station, so I decided not to take much.

I turned back to the sofa to see Octavia rubbing her eyes and yawning. “Hey Sunset,” she said. “Did you get all the bags and the map ready?”

“Yeah, AJ and I found everything already.” I replied. “I got some snacks out of the vending machine too. You know, for the trip.”

Octavia looked at the vending machine then back to me. “Did you use money?”

I winced at the question. “Yeah?” I replied questioningly.

“Oh alright,” Octavia said casually. “I mean, I would’ve just smashed the bastard open, but whatever works.”

“Well I was going to, but I figured that would’ve woken you two up.”

“Ah, very nice of you, but now we need to be awake.”

“Gotcha,” I said. I sat next to Applejack and gently shook her. It hardly took a second to wake her up. She opened her eyes after two seconds.

She yawned. “Time to go already?”

“Yeah,” Octavia answered. “The map has a lot of directions we need to take to get to the outposts. We’re going to a high school called Canterlot High, the hospital, and the supermarket today.”

“Where to first?” I asked.

“The hospital is closest, but the high school goes through a safer path.”

“So CHS then?” Applejack asked?

Octavia nodded. “We might see other survivors through our route, so keep your eyes open. Okay my police car is outside waiting for us.”

AJ sighed. “Here we go,” she said quietly.

We made our way back to the police station’s main lobby. It was empty. We continued through the main entrance, through the courtyard, passed the main gate, and back into the streets. “There.” Octavia pointed at a political car just outside of the entrance. We all quickly made our way inside the car. I sat in the back, while Applejack rode shotgun, and Octavia waited in the driver’s seat. She started the car and began to drive us to Canterlot High. “We might get some radio signals every now and again when we’re in range of an outpost.

“That’ll be useful,” Applejack said. “They can tell us if there’s Xenomorphs nearby.”

“Don’t worry about that,” Octavia said. “Most of the Xenomorphs are in the middle and northwestern sides of town.”

“Oh that makes sense,” I said. I had been wondering about why we hadn’t seen any Xenomorphs lately. I looked around the city.

The road we took looked like it hadn’t been touched too badly by the infection. There were some abandoned cars and the occasional pile of trash, but other than that no one would suspect Xenomorphs had infested it. I turned my attention back to the map. The route we were taking looked like it was longer than it needed to be, but I knew why. All the routes marked on the map were advoiding with Octavia’s cutie mark. I could easily and safely assume that the purple treble clef cutie marks were full of Xenomorphs and other demons.

“So your name’s Octavia Melody?” Applejack asked to break the silence. Apparently she wasn’t comfortable with silences.

“Well my real name’s Octavia Philharmonica but I changed my last name to Melody to fit my personality more.” she replied.

“So I’m guessing the areas with your cutie mark have a ton of Xenos right?”

“Yeah that’s right.” Octavia replied. “But they tend to move a lot, so try not to rely on the map too much. It doesn’t really matter though, but they can be fast at their own pace.”

“Oh,” I said. I wondered if Octavia knew that there were more than just Xenomorphs running around. I so far had only seen Xenomorphs and blood beasts, but there must have been different types of Black Demons out there too.

The sound of garbled static grabbed our attention. “Hurry———need help.” It was a radio transmission . There was too much static to hear the voice. The message became clearer the further we drove forward. “Please, can anyone hear me?” It was a woman’s voice

Octavia picked up the radio. “We can hear you. Hello? Are you still there?”

“Yes. We need help,” she said.

“Where are you?” Octavia asked.

“I’m at Canterlot Mercy Hospital. Aliens broke in, and we can’t fight them back.”

Octavia looked at Applejack for a moment and then to me. She turned her attention back to the radio. “We’ll try to get there as we can.”

“Thank you thank you so much.” The line went dead.

Octavia was now driving a lot faster. “What do you girls think? Should we go through the treble clef zone and help the hospital first or should we get to the high school and bring more people?”

“Do ya think they can hold off the Xenomorphs until then?” Applejack asked.

“I don’t know,” Octavia said. “But we might be too late if we go to the high school first.”

I didn’t think going to the hospital was the best idea. All the weapons we had would be lost if we died, then all the other outposts would be vulnerable, but the hospital would be doomed if we did nothing. The smart action would be to continue on.

“We’ll be careful and see what we can do.” Applejack said. “We’ll get help if we can’t do anything else.” Octavia nodded. From what I remember Applejack always preferred to do the right thing instead of the smart thing. It was a noble trait, but it could cost us more than just our lives if we failed.

I wasn’t going to object to going. I wouldn’t feel good knowing that we had a chance to save someone and didn’t do it. I couldn’t shake off the feeling that something didn’t seem right about the call though. What really bothered me was how calm the woman seemed. She sounded almost apathetic.

Octavia continued to speed through the streets. She didn’t ask me for directions around the treble clef zone. She already seemed to know where to go. I was getting a bit tense as she sped ever so fast. We passed a few more streets before she finally began to slow down. I looked at the map and saw that we were getting to the treble clef zone.

Octavia suddenly stopped the car.

I looked out of the car to see what stopped us from continuing. There were cars, metal trash cans and other piles of junk driven into each other to close off the street. Applejack and I got out of the car and we examined the barricade. Octavia walked to us and handed us weapons. She gave me two berettas with a few clips of ammo. Applejack grabbed a shotgun and a few rounds before Octavia could object. Octavia was carriyng one of the bags with her. It seemed emptier than before. She had probably stored some of the bag’s contents inside the car.

Octavia saw Applejack’s confused expression. “Some of the police decided to close off streets leading into the treble clef zone,” she said. “It was to make sure that everything stayed inside.”

“How did we not see them before?” I asked softly.

“So we just climb?” AJ asked. My question completely ignored. I figured the reason we hadn’t seen the barricade before was because we had never been this close to the treble clef zones until now.

“Yeah, be careful and stay together.” Octavia said regaining my focus.

“Sounds good,” I said. Octavia began climbing the barricade with Applejack following after. I began climbing the barricade after Applejack reached the top. The barricade was surprisingly stable despite being made of junk.

Once I reached the top I gazed into the treble clef zone. So many thoughts came rushing into my head at the site. The treble clef zone looked like what I expected to be a Xenomorph infested city to look like. The streets were full of broken objects and burning debris. The asphalt had splotches of blood on it. There were bodies on the streets that either never became Xenomorphs or were put down before they could become too great a threat.

“So, where are all the Xenos?” Applejack asked.

“Oh don’t worry dear we’ll see them soon,” Octavia replied. We ran through the streets as quickly and quietly as we could. Octavia was leading the way.

“So ya know where ta go?” Applejack asked.

“Yep,” Octavia replied. “It’s less than four blocks west from here.” Applejack and I followed Octavia as she turned a street to go west. The first block had about nineteen Xenomorphs roaming aimlessly around. I tried not to look at them as we ran through. They jogged a bit too slowly to reach us. The fact that we were sprinting didn’t help their chances since their speed is limited.

The second block had only about eight Xenomorphs in It. While the street itself looked like it was thrashed by a tornado, the actual danger seemed to be low. The three of us passed through it without too much trouble.

We easily reached the third block. It was now completely clear of Xenomorphs, but looked just as bad as the second block. I turned back to the first two blocks only to see that the Xenomorphs were still kind of giving chase, but nowhere near close enough to pose a threat, unless they started to pick up speed which was a very great possibility. Although, I was glad that I didn’t have to waste any bullets.

Bang! Just as we entered the the third block, someone seemed to shoot at us. Applejack, Octavia, and I all took cover as quickly as possible. The shooter stopped for a moment. “Get the fuck away from me you dirty cock-headed bastards!” he yelled.

I poked my head out to see who the shooter was. In the corner of the street taking cover behind a car was an odd looking man. He looked like he was in his late seventies. He wore a red sweater with black dress pants. He also had a beard with that of a goat’s. He also wore sunglasses, sandals, and a hat with a pair of cow horns. ”What the hell? Tirek, is that you?” I thought. I wasn’t sure what the hell Tirek was doing, but it looked like he was just some guy who went bat-shit crazy given the circumstances.

He turned his attention to the Xenomorphs we passed earlier, which consisted of only males due to the elongated heads and began shooting at them. We took this time to dash forward to the hospital. Luckily, Tirek didn’t seem to notice us. I looked back and saw that some of the Xenomorphs were closing in on him. He ran to the nearest building and closed the door behind him.

The three of us stopped at the entrance of the final block to catch our breath. “Great,” Octavia said. “Now we have to deal with lunatics too.”

Our moment of rest was cut short by an all too familiar and terrifying sound. The not too distant sound of howling filled the afternoon air. Applejack and I looked at each other with horror on our faces “fuckin’. Run.” she stammered. Her voice was radiating fear. “We have ta get out of here.” The three of us ran faster than before.

“I don’t understand,” Octavia said between breaths. “Why are we running so fast? We’re clear of the Xenomorphs. Even if they could move faster, we’re faster than them.” Octavia turned back and saw the reason why me and Applejack were so scared. The four wolves we had seen about a week ago were now back. They looked just as ruthless as ever, but seemed bigger.

Applejack, Octavia, and I ran as fast as we could. The wolves could easily catch up to us if we slowed down even for a moment. They ran for us with the same god-like speed AJ and I witnessed before. We were almost at the end of the block now, but I didn’t see how we would survive. I doubted that the hospital could hold the wolves off for even a second. I gave a quick glance and noticed that only three of the wolves were following us. The leader and one of the slightly smaller wolves. ”Where the hell is the fourth wolf,” I wondered. The three of us made it across the final block and hurried for the hospital door. It was locked. I took out my berettas as Applejack and Octavia began working on the door. I wasn’t sure what to do now.

“Hurry up guys,” I urged.

“Give us a cot-pickin’ minute!” Applejack shouted.

I continued aiming at the three wolves in a seemingly vain attempt to be prepared for the attack. I watched as they closed the space between us, I listened carefully for the sound of the door unlocking, but could only hear Applejack and Octavia fumbling with it. I could also hear the distant sound of something cracking.

Suddenly the wolves broke off their attack. They stopped near the end of the fourth block. They looked around as their faced contorted with expressions of disgust. They walked away slowly. “They’re gone?” I said not sure of what I had just witnessed. I continued to hear the sound of something cracking. The three wolves raised their heads in the air as if they caught a pleasant scent and began dashing away.

“What?” Octavia asked in confusion.

“I don’t get it,” I said. “What the hell are they doing?”

“Guys,” Applejack said. “We still need ta git in the hospital.”

I turned back to the wolves and noticed that they were still joining the fourth wolf who was currently slamming his head into a door. It only took me a second to realize that it was the door Tirek had gone in. ”Poor guy,” I thought, but there was nothing we could do to help him.

Applejack and Octavia continued to work on the door until it finally opened. I sighed heavily and prepared myself for whatever was to come. I closed my eyes and followed Applejack and Octavia into the hospital. The sound of wood breaking followed by s bloodcurdling scream piercing the air was the final sound I heard, as I entered the unknown before me.

Next Chapter: Chapter 5: Serumus Estimated time remaining: 6 Hours, 57 Minutes