Chapter 2:

Nightfall

"Welcome to Hell" the note read that the dead body of the young Pokemon trainer was holding. Izzac, the Colonel, and I had found a place to stay in the ghost town known as Chicago. It was in the burnt-out bloody remains of Rock 'n Roll McDonald's. It stunk the the high-heavens in here from wasted food and the body of the young trainer. The trainer was sitting in a booth, in his hand was a power drill and judging by the hole in his temple I would say he used that power drill to take his life. Blood stained the side of the boy's face, his eyes were not closed but left open, he had the most horrified look I had ever seen. On the ground I was guessing were the bodies of his once faithful Pokemon. There was a Weavile along with the body of a Marowak, I did not see any other bodies.

"Nightmare, stop crying over the kid and help us build a damn fire." Izzac said as he took the model of a guitar from the wall to use for firewood.

"Sorry sir Izzac." I said went to help him find things to burn. The Colonel was sitting by the front door, looking for Blazers. He was also worried that it was turning dark-out.

"Corporal, you might wanna hurry up. Night is coming..."

"Sir, what is so bad about Night? Won't it help us?" I asked the Colonel.

"Are you shittin' me son? Night is worse then day. Night brings out the Reapers."

"And what may I ask is a Reaper?"

"Ah hell. A Reaper is a 40 foot high scavenger or skimmer. It finds any humans left outside after dark, eats them, and converts them to energy for the Blazers to use later. A Reaper also is the carrier of the Reaper Sickness. Any Pokemon within 50 feet of a Reaper catches the disease."

"I have been wondering, why can't humans catch Reaper Sickness?"

"We can. Humans can only catch the damn disease through physical contact though. The airborne strain has no effect on humans. It does however have a deadly effect on Pokemon."

"Yea, I can see that."

"You getting smart with me?" the Colonel glared.

"No sir." I said backing down from the human immediatley.

"Izzac, remember to lock the doors. I don't feel like dealing with those damned Koras tonight." The Colonel said, then stood and walked up the stairs to the second story of the McDonald's. Izzac had since got the fire going. That was the only good news we would get that night.

"Izzac I have been wondering. What is Reaper Disease, what does it do?" I asked watching out the glass windows, the sun was falling behind the lowest building on the horizon.

"Ever heard of a disease called MS?"

"No."

"Alright." Izzac began, "MS is a neurological disease, think of it this way. The brain is like a huge jumble of wires, MS strips the wires of the protective coating and eats away at the wire. MS however takes years to do this, Reaper Sickness does the same thing, but in mere seconds."

"So there is no cure."

"Figure that out on your own Sherlock?" he asked, then the sun fell behind the building. The once great restuarant was now coated in black except for the red glow of the fire.

Outside the first of the Reapers began to emerge from the darkness, it was tall and ugly as far as I could tell. Stick like legs with a spider-like head on top. It had a strange green glow emanating from its body. I would guess that that was the Reaper Disease. There was a scream, the sound of glass breaking. Out the glass wall in front of us we saw the Colonel fall, he body was already stained crimson from the glass. Around him stood 4 5 foot tall spider-like animals, one of which seemed to be playing tug of war with the Colonel. The object was not rope though, it was the colonels small intestine. Out of shire disgust I looked away as did Izzac, the Colonels screams could be heard over the crackle of the fire. Then the Reaper we had saw earlier came into few, it grabbed the colonel with a long 3 fingered hand and the next thing we heard was the crunch of bones, blood splattered on the glass wall of the building.

Izzac then grabbed his Silenced P90 and brought it close to him, cradling it like a small child. Maybe he thought it would protect him, maybe he thought it would provide him some closure. Who knew...

-- -- -- -- -- --

Izzac and I awoke the next morning, the blood was still stained on the glass of the building, the cracked pavement outside caked with dried gore. Izzac gathered his things and left the fire burning, we then walked out of the McDonald's.

"Izzac, is it possible that I could cure the other Pokemon?"

"I don't know, I'm not a scientist. I am a soldier who just lost his entire squad."

"Maybe Izzac, maybe I hold the key to this cure inside my memories."

"Well until we find a doctor or scientist we won't know. Shit!" Izzac yelled as his boot slid in the Colonels blood. I could now understand why the Colonel and Izzac said that Nightfall was indeed the worst time of day, it was more like a version of hell then anything. We walked for hours, until we finally left Chicago and sat on a hill overlooking the city, from there we something historical. The once amazing Sears Tower buckled under its own wait and collapsed throwing dust up in every direction. The sound sounded much like a distant bomb went off. Other buildings then followed in sink with the tower. A once great city now lies in ruins because of this war, because of the Blazers. Then when we though our last hope was shredded we heard a shout from our left. Could it be a survivor?

-- -- -- --

A/N: Still open to those who wish to have a character in the story.