DISCLAIMER: Pokémon is owned by Nintendo, this story was made for non-profit use only.

INFO: Go to my Pokémon forum or my FanFiction profile for updates on my Pokémon stories.

I

She ran as fast as she could, but her legs weren't made for running. The Audino didn't dare slow down. Those things were right behind her, growling and moaning foul death. The world around her bombarded her ears, every scream, every moan, every explosion signaled another death. People and Pokémon everywhere were fighting those things head on. But it was futile. All of Unova was under siege. Nowhere to go, but lots of places to hide. All she had to do was find one.

Hipp took a moment to catch her breath, her legs burning with fatigue. Her own heartbeat pounded relentlessly against her ears. Never before where she had heard her own pulse with such ferocity. She hoped it won't be the last thing she would hear. Hipp gulped and looked back down the alley. She'd lost them, but they would be back. The Walkers won't give up, never give up. Hunger was all they knew. They won't stop till they eat her alive kicking and screaming. Worst of all, they had no feelings. No pulse or heartbeat, nothing functional except a faulty nervous system, and the bacteria that was eating them from the inside out.

Gotta keep moving, Hipp thought, can't stop now.

The Audino emerged from the alley and looked down the street, fresh blood covered the pavement like spilled paint. Store windows smashed, stripped clean by looters. Blood prints coated their frame from something climbing through. A dead body laid flat on the road, looked kinda like a young male with dark hair wearing a red sweater and blue jeans. It looked like it hadn't been there for 5 minutes. Hipp felt her instincts and training take over, she rushed up to the body and pressed her curled ear lobe against its back.

Nothing. No vital signs, no breathing. Simply nothing. Hipp turned the body on its back, she found two thin holes in his chest. Right over the heart. Cleanly done with a hunting knife or something. Hipp's hands shook as she tried to do chest compressions, knowing it was futile.

No, she thought, he's dead. Someone killed him. Why would they kill him?

That was when she felt something.

The body twitched. Hipp jumped back and watched as the corpse sat up, and opened its eyes. They were red, bright florescent red. Filled with nothing but hunger and death. It turned to Hipp and snarled, its breath smelled rotten with decay and bad dental hygiene. The Audino screamed and ran as the corpse shot a clumsy arm at her.

Walker, she thought, Another Walker!

The Walker moaned as it got to its feet to give chase. Hipp panicked, taking off down the street without further caution. She didn't know what to do. No idea where to go. The Pokémon Center was overrunned and Nurse Joy and the other Audinos were-

I shouldn't have left them, Hipp thought, I shouldn't have left them behind, what have I done!?

All around her the Undead closed in. They came out of the broken buildings, dripping drool and blood from their mouths. Some looked like they just finished off a kill, their craving for living flesh still unsatisfied. Hipp watched as the former humans stretched out their arms and moaned. She spun around, they had her surrounded. Nowhere left to run. Hipp pant hard, her heart running into the red zone. Wondering if this was it. No, it shouldn't. It shouldn't!

There!

The door to an apartment building was wide open, the building was 15 stories tall and stretching for what seemed like the entire block. The Audino had been in the apartment complex before, while doing checkups on sick Pokémon. She knew several Pokémon trainers who lived there, and they know her. Well, barely know her. Pokémon trainers never really pay attention to the personalities of individual Audinos.

Hopefully there were still someone home.

Hipp ran for the door, barely dodging a Walker making a mad grab for her. The horde squeezed together, unintentionally blocking all other exits. With no time to lose, Hipp ran into the apartment building and slammed the door shut. She locked the door and pushed a heavy trash can behind it. The Undead pound hard against the door, trying to break through. It wasn't going to hold, Hipp had to get out of there and find a place to rest.

The apartment complex's main hallway had wooden and plaster walls, with thin red carpet. The air still had that hotel smell, the ventilation system was still going. Hipp made it to the main lobby, a wide open space with a marble reception desk, leather chairs, and imitation artwork. An HDTV mounted on a wall was on, it beeped and squealed the Emergency Broadcast System. Was it tuned to a news network? Hipp didn't care at the moment, she needed to get off the first floor. Going up was the way to go.

She head towards three elevators at the edge of the lobby. They were all at floor level with the doors open. Hipp ran in and pressed the button to go up. Nothing. Someone must had shut it down. No matter, the emergency stairwell would do. Hipp head over to the stairs and shut the fireproof door behind her. Since the Walkers knew she was here, she wanted to cover her tracks as best as possible. No way of telling how long that side door was open, any Walker might had wandered inside, hiding out somewhere. Waiting to strike anything coming its way. Hipp kept her ears perked, so far no signs of life. She crept up the stairs, trying to keep pace. Hipp commanded her already strained legs to give it all they got into each step, she got as far as the 5th floor when the lights started flickering.

Oh no.

Hipp pushed her way into the 5th floor hallway. Several lights remained fixed, though the flickering wasn't a good sign. The power grid was failing, were those things attacking the station? Probably anything with life was under attack. Hipp ran down the hall and checked the apartment numbers, she wondered if anyone was home. Had to be, there was no sign of a mass panic downstairs. So they probably hadn't left. Just hunkering down, waiting it out. But the front door being wide open was not a good sign, it gnawed on her hope that she would find someone who could help her.

A jet wailed overhead, Hipp wondered if the military was coming in to safe the day maybe-

BOOM!
A blast of hot air knock Hipp off-balance from behind, as she fell to the floor she felt the floor give way. Hipp screamed as the floor cave in, she tumbled in circles down to the 4th floor till she hit her head into something hard. Her vision blackened, and the world receded into a fading echo.

TO BE CONTINUED...