Snow Flurry - 9 - I'm The Doctor

Part IX – Wow?  This story was actually going somewhere?  I completely forgot.

 

You fold back your ears, clutching your hooves over them tightly to cover your eyes as another quick gunshot shatters what could have been described as a very tranquil silence if you didn't know what was happening somewhere on the property.  You peek out from under your hoof in time to see Dan dragging another limp body out of sight.  That makes three.

 

You tug lightly at the leash with your neck, checking to make sure some miracle hadn't snapped it in the fighting to allow you to escape from this place.  You know that Master and Dan know what they're doing.  It's obvious from the way they've moved around the area, slowly closing in on the farmhouse and the nearby barn, both of which look perfectly ordinary from the outside.  Even so, you don't want to be here in the middle of it.  Especially not on a leash where you've got nowhere to escape if the need were to arise.  What exactly is Master expecting you to do here?  Nuzzle them into submission?

 

You shake your head a bit, lost in thought until a tug on the leash gets you moving alongside Master as he follows Dan up towards the back of the house.  Whatever is being kept inside isn't something the mob wanted getting out.  The men you've found standing guard here bear more resemblance to a paramilitary squad than smooth-taking men in suits.

 

You look up at Dan as he leans against the back door of the house, giving a quick signal to Master before he kicks it, sending it flying off its hinges into the interior of the house.  You cower on the ground, covering your ears again, expecting another hail of bullets to emerge from the open doorway, but it fails to come as predicted.  Dan checks around the corner and advances slowly into the building.  You follow alongside Master behind him.

 

Your eyes scan the room you've entered carefully.  Strangely, just as with the exterior, nothing looks particularly out of place.  The house isn't in the best of repair, and there are perhaps a few too many empty beer bottles laying about for the average farmer's family, but there aren't any immediate red flags like you were expecting.  Dan lowers his pistol and holsters it in his belt.

 

“Looks clear.  The rest of 'em must be out there lookin' for us after they heard the shots.  No way in hell there's just three people watchin' this whole goddamn place.”

 

Master nods in agreement, letting his finger wander off the trigger of his gun but keeping it in his hand as Dan heads further into the house, peering into each of the adjacent rooms.

 

“Nothin' here by the looks of it.  Looks like we just got ourselves a safe house here.  Plenty of signs of life but no trace of horses.  Certainly nothin' that could make 'em.”

 

Master saunters up to the doorway into the rest of the house, leaning around the corner to hunt for the source of the voice.  “Well, shit.  Bad info maybe?”

 

You look up at Dan towering over you as he walks out, stroking his straggly beard.  “Guess we still got that barn out back to check.  Might not be a lost cause just yet.”

 

Master nods in agreement.  “Not much to lose by checking it out.”

 

Dan pulls his pistol from his belt, clicking off the safety and holding it out with his arms extended as he exits.  “Still clear.”

 

Master follows out with you at his heels, the leash keeping you close beside him.  You advance cautiously up to the barn door as Dan leans down, seemingly investigating the door itself.  The building itself looks, much like the house, to be in considerable disrepair with nearly all the paint chipped off and a few sizable holes dotting the roof.  In other words, it looks perfectly normal next to the decrepit farmhouse next to it and definitely wouldn't arouse any suspicions for an uninformed observer.

 

Dan crouches down further to peer inside a crack in the frame.  “Can't really see shit in there.  Doesn't look like anybody's home at least.”  He laughs heartily.  “Way I see it, I should be missin' an eye right now if there was.  Either it ain't guarded or there's one dumb son of a bitch in there waitin' for us, but I don't see a problem either way.”

 

You look up at Master, expecting a response from him but instead are greeted by a monstrous crash as Dan kicks in one side of the wide, wooden door, sending splinters flying in all directions as the rotting wood gives way without almost no resistance to brute force, sending Dan stumbling inside and onto his face.  He gets up unsteadily and dusts himself off.

 

“Well, least we're sure ain't nobody in here now.”

 

Master sighs and follows him in, his eyes darting rapidly around the interior.  After recovering from your momentary panic you follow his gaze.  Everything seems fine, minus the lack of farm animals.  Bales of hay are stacked somewhat haphazardly against the side walls; the loft seems to mostly have collapsed and left its remains occupying the opposite half of the interior.

 

“Well, fuck me, that was hardly worth makin' a dramatic entry for.”  Dan shakes a few remaining bits of hay and wood chips off his jacket as he turns towards the exit.

 

Master holds his hand up, signaling Dan to stop.  “Wait a second.  Why exactly are a bunch of professional criminals actually tending to the farm?”

 

Dan looks back at Master, clearly not understanding his point.  You suspect you're making a fairly similar expression but are too transfixed on Master to care.

 

“The hay.  It's pretty fresh looking.  I doubt those guards were out here sleeping on it.  So, why's it here?”

 

Dan raises his eyebrow, kicking idly at some stray bits of straw underneath his feet.  “Maybe you got a point.”

 

Master heads over to the wall nearest him and begins tearing apart the bales with his hands as you watch.  You trot up to his side, wishing you could be of some help but figure that you'd just get in the way if you tried.  It was his idea to keep you here on a leash after all.  It's not like its your responsibility to find out what to do while you're here.  You poke at the straw beneath you, arranging it into a tiny clump and lying down on it.

 

Master grunts, wiping swear off his forehead as he continues tearing through the stack at an impressive pace.  He finally hits the bottom, pulling his hand back and shaking it after it impacts the floor.  He leans down, searching underneath the remnants of the pile with an outstretched arm.  His brow furrows as he taps at the floor in one area.  He crawls over to it, brushing the hay away from a small region underneath him.  You lazily stand up and inch up behind him, trying to get a look at whatever has captured his attention.

 

“Got something!”

 

You feel your mane blow in the breeze and Dan sprints past you and kneels down next to Master.  As you arrive between the two of them you notice a padlocked metal door built into the floor.  Dan wastes no time in pulling his pistol and firing a round into the lock at point-blank range, sending it flying off the latch and earning him a sardonic glance from Master.

 

Master moves to a kneeling position and gingerly pulls upwards on the metal plate, dislodging it and revealing a small underground passageway.  Dan promptly jumps down into the hole, barely gripping the ladder on the way down to slow his fall.  Master looks down into the pit incredulously and taps his back.

 

“Hold on tight Snowy, we're going down.”

 

You move up and wrap yourself around his torso, hanging on tightly as you bounce against his back with each rung of the ladder until you reach the bottom.  He kneels down, allowing you to climb off, and looks around the room with Dan.  The walls as adorned by a number of complex-looking machines.  Wiring leading between them crosses the floor, wrapping itself up into a tangled mess in several locations.

 

You jump up and hide behind Master's legs as the sound of metal hitting metal rings out through the tiny subterranean bunker.  You look around frantically, trying to pinpoint the origin of the noise as it echoes off every wall of the room.

 

“I thought I told you lot not to come busting in here while I'm working!”

 

You look up to Master and follow his gaze across the room, your eyes meeting those of a scrawny man dressed in a collared shirt and khaki pants.  His thin white hair is pulled back into a messy ponytail that reaches his shoulders and a sparse beard that seems to exist in a questionable limbo between fashion statement and result of poor grooming habits covers his face.

 

In an instant you feel your neck yanked forward, sending you stumbling towards the stranger.  You look up to see Master strike him quickly with a fist to the jaw, sending him reeling back against the wall.  You cower on the ground next to him, completely powerless to stop the violence and try to force it out of your mind to little avail.  You continue quivering on the ground, expecting to hear a second punch connect with the strange old man but none seems to come.  As your curiosity slowly overwhelms your fear you look up to see Dan restraining Master, his fists only meeting the air in front of the other man who seems to have slumped to the ground, unconscious.

 

“Calm the fuck down, Ryan!  He's out cold!”  You can see Master straining against Dan in every possible way, and perhaps some that aren't for a normal man, but thankfully making little headway.  You look up at him, working up the courage to speak as the leash flails about between the two you.

 

“Please … Master … calm down.  Look at him.  He's not going to hurt anyone like that.  Why are you so angry?”

 

“Not hurt anyone?!”  Master finally breaks free of Dan, hurling himself out of his grip and up against the wall, breathing heavily.  You stumble forward at the tug of the leash and fall onto your face.  “Are you fucking kidding me?  What about you?  You look pretty goddamn hurt.”

 

“I'm alright, Master.  What are you talking about?”  You slowly make your way back to your hooves and look up at him.

 

“Oh, really, so I guess you've always looked like a blue pony then?”  He glares back at you with hostile, burning eyes which quickly shift down to the other man as he speaks.  You stare back at him, unsure how to respond or even what to think.  “He did that to you.  That's him.”

 

You look between the two of them, Master's eyes still fiery with rage.  A part of your mind can't comprehend how someone so, for lack of a better word, harmless looking could inspire that degree of hatred.  Even knowing what he did for you, the man in front of you now, crumpled against the wall with a bleeding lip, breathing weakly, doesn't seem the sinister villain you'd imagined.  You almost feel sorry for him, even knowing what he did to you, but you do your best to remind yourself of how dangerous he must really be underneath that meek appearance.

 

You trot past him over towards Master, looking into his closed eyes as his unconscious body fights for breath as you pass.  You nuzzle Master's feet gently, shaking slightly as you do, before looking up at him.  “W-What do we do now?  Now that w-we found your da-.”

 

“Don't ever call him that!”  Master interrupts you suddenly and violently.

 

“I-I'm sorry, Master.”  You pause, looking up into his eyes.  “What do we do … now that we found Dr. Collins?”