Industrial Perils: Suicide thread: Explorer Anon. CH 2

>The lead minotaur begins to approach you, revolving rifle still raised.
>You slowly put Flutters down and raise your hands, 8 targets all with sights on you.
>There’s no way you can fight your way out of this. The minotaur gets about three paces
>and swings his rifle
*Crack*
>It catches you on the chin, whipping your head around. You fall to the floor, before you can
>bring your arms in front of you, the rifle butt comes down again, sending the world into
>a spinning haze, but not darkness. Focus becomes hard, the voices around you,
>incomprehensible. On the edge of your senses you can feel yourself being bound and
>carried.

>”What in the name of the republic are you?”
>”He’s a human, and you better get your claws off of him if you know what’s good fer ya.”
>Everything hurts. You try to open your eyes, but the left one remains shut.
>”Oh, he’s awake.”
>Your right eye opens, to the visage of a tan colored griffon. Skinny and emaciated but still a
>griffon. You just sit there and blink, still trying to piece together the shattered elements of
>your focus and concentration. It’s not very pleasant; everything is still swimming around in
>your mind’s eye. Eventually you get enough of your mind back together to start observing
>your surroundings.  Grey cement walls, iron bars, plank beds, and a shit bucket.
>Well, looks like you’re a prisoner of war, question is, what war?

>You bring yourself upright. A little fast, black tendrils at the corner of your vision.
>”Easy there big guy, ya took quite the beating.”
>You look over, AJ is in the cell across from you, she’s got a few bruises on her body.
“Wh- *groan*- Fuck. Where’s Rarity and Shy?”
>”They got put in a cell a little further down.”
>She points down to her right. As if on cue you hear Shy speak up.
>”It’s alright… we’re okay.”
>Well at least everyone’s accounted for.
>You look over at the griffon you share the cell with, you put out a hand.
“Anonymous, you are?”
>The griffon looks down at your hand before realizing what to do.
>”Gerard, commandant for the 37th Republican guard.”
“Republic? I thought it was a Kingdom.”
>Gerard shakes his head, and ruffles his wings.
>”What you been under a rock? The kingdom fell about a year ago.”
>Your surprise must show, despite your facial swelling.
>”Well, ever since the water riots and revolution the cro-“
“Water riots?”
>”Geez, you guys are really out of the loop. What they don’t have newspapers in Equestria?”
“Wouldn’t know, haven’t picked one up in about two years.”
>Gerard lets out a squawking laugh. Before pulling himself back together.
>”So I guess the stereotype of the ignorant Equestrian is true… Here let me get you up to
>speed friend.”

>You settle yourself in on your bed of plank, ready for a history lesson. AJ sits herself down
>on her haunches to listen in as well.
>”So after our agricultural boom, our population began to sky rocket. It became
>normal for families to have five or six chicks. I myself come from a family of eight…however
>the vast majority of this continent is desert. With only two oasis located between our land,
>and the minotaur tribes… Now the minotaur coalition. Water shortages became riots, riots
>became revolution… now obviously the revolution didn’t make more water, so the
>problem remained. The minotaur’s also had a population explosion during our revolution.
>Well, thetwin oasis became more and more cluttered, and things began to fall apart. The
>minotaurs started stationing guards around the oasis, protection from banditry they said.
>So we started putting some of our guys around there.”
>At this point Gerard sighs and looks down for a second. You vaguely remember hearing
>something about new rotation patterns when you first arrived in Equestria.
>”We don’t know who fired first, but before we knew it border troops were reporting
>skirmishes everywhere. That was almost a year ago, the lines have since been static.
>The minotaurs control the western oasis, and we the east. Neither of us has enough
>water to support our populations.”
>You sit for a moment digesting this new information.
“When we came in we hit a barricade of sea mines, also ho-“
>”Yeah, we set those up. We heard that the minos were going to try to petition Canterlot
>for martial aid, so we set them up to stop them. That didn’t work… obviously.”
>Fantastic, you hit mines meant for an entirely different species.

“Well what about these weapons, I’ve never seen anything like these.”
>You were lying, but best to feign ignorance.
>”The guns? Oh those were made around the start of the revolution. Once food was no
>longer an issue the sciences really took off.”
>Well that does sound like what happened back on earth. You look up a Gerard with a thin
>smile as he begins to start preening himself.
“So do you know the guard patrols of this here establishment?”
>Gerard looks back up at you, his tan feathered face contorting into a rough smile.

>It only took an hour to finalize the plan, since Gerard had been planning a breakout
>since he got here, but was waiting for someone he could do it with. When the guards came
>by to give you dinner, whatever stale bread was left over, you were going to have AJ get
>their attention, while you and Gerard lift the keys and take care of the guards. According
>to Gerard the prison was short staffed due to demands on the front, so this should be
>relatively straight forward. You hear the gate at the end of the hall open, it’s go time.
>The minotaurs may have taken your guns and knife, but you still had your belt, you wrap
>it up in your hands, and wait. The guards come down the hall, lackadaisically tossing
>random bits of bread into the cells. They come to AJ’s and she slams herself against the
>bars she does it again while yelling.
>”Ah got rights ya know! Ah’m I citizen of Equestria, you-“
>Both the guards look over, turning their big bull heads with them. Now’s your chance!
>You press yourself against the bars, and quickly wrap your belt around the minotaurs neck.
>He’s big and muscled, but also terribly off balance.

>You pull back with as much force as you can muster, placing your legs on the bars and
>pressure as hard as you can, the strong leather of your belt serves as an acceptable garrote.
>The minotaur flails about for a brief moment, before his hands immediately go to the belt
>around his neck. It’s a losing battle, you spare a quick glance to Gerard, holy shit.
>He whips out his retractable talons and grabs the minotaur by the back of the neck and
>and pulls him against the bars as well, he immediately takes his right talon and goes for the
>minotaurs neck. A trickle quickly turns to a flood, as Gerard tears into the minos throat.
>Severing flesh, ligament, and eventually the larynx, he immediately releases letting the
>soon to be corpse convulse on the floor. Gerard immediately turns to you and your quarry,
>his eyes go wide. The minotaur seemed to wise up, his hand went for his submachine gun.
>Gerard is already on it, running his claw up the minotaurs arm, rendering it inoperable. The
>Guard slowly stops struggling, becoming more and more of a dead weight to you.
>The guard is quite obviously dead, but you keep pulling, intent on even strangling it’s soul
>before it can escape the body. Gerard on the other hand, calmly begins to take everything
>of value off of the guards, including the keys.

>He even strips the guard that you are still strangling.
>”Anon… Anon!”
>Your head snaps up looking square at AJ, she seems to shrink back a little at your gaze.
>”H-he’s dead, you ca-can stop.”
>You look down, only now becoming aware of how you’re acting. You slowly bring the body
>down and lace your belt back through its loops, but not before attaching a pouch of
>magazines that Gerard hands you. He looks up at you after checking his weapon.
>”Now for the fun part.”
>Christ this griffon seems to have a few loose ones in his head.