First pokémon bioweapon. I think I did it some justice.

Rebecca slammed herself against the wall and managed to dodge the attack. When the luxray landed beside her, she kicked it away and fired a shot at it. The round hit the luxray in the chest, blowing back out of its neck and into the wall behind it. It didn't even flinch, just bounded back around the corner out of her line of fire.

Behind her, Fox fired off another burst of flame at his luxray, singeing what remained of its fur and skin. Lightning jumped around its body for a brief moment, and it leapt forward and slammed itself into Fox. Electricity coursed through Fox's small body, briefly paralyzing him. The electric tackle knocked him back against Rebecca, who quickly turned around. She pointed her pistol straight at the luxray's head and fired off two shots. The pokémon's head exploded, and its decapitated body dropped to the floor.

A loud snarl made her turn back around. The last luxray bounded back around the corner and bared its teeth. "Lux…" Rebecca leveled her weapon calmly and fired. To her surprise, the luxray ducked under the bullet by dropping to the floor. A small bolt of lightning flew from the tip of its tail and into her chest, sending her stumbling back over Fox and onto her back. Fox tried to rise and defend her but his body refused to respond. Rachel felt her muscles twitching. Like Fox, she could barely move.

Rebecca heard a snarl, and then a loud thunderous gun shot. The snarl changed into a yelp, and was followed by a soft, crunching sound. Rebecca struggled for what seemed like hours, until finally she was in a sitting position, leaning heavily on the wall. She saw Billy standing over her, offering his hand. "Need some help?" he said.

Rebecca grunted and pulled herself up the wall, using a nearby door handle to hoist herself up. She tried to find something to focus on to help her keep her balance. The door had CONDUCTER'S OFFICE written across it, so she chose that. Eventually, her legs were able to hold her weight again.

Rebecca stared Billy in the eye and shoved her M9 in his face. Again, he was unfazed. "Are all S.T.A.R.S. as stupid as you?" he asked.

"You…are a wanted criminal." Rebecca said. "You murdered your captors…men with families. And now, I'm taking you away."

Billy laughed. "Where to? In case you didn't notice, those things came from outside. From the forest. Just like your late friend here told you."

"Shut up," Rebecca grunted. "Hands behind your head. Now."

"Oh, another thing. You're welcome. For saving your fucking life." Billy stepped aside to show her the dead luxray. A gaping hole had been blown in its side, and the left side of its face was caved in. Billy held up his magnum. ".357. And those people you said I killed?" He pointed to the dead pokémon. "They did it. Not me."

Billy reached down towards Edward's body. Fox puffed some burning sparks at him, making him yank his hand back. Rebecca's weapon never stopped following him. "Stay away from him," she growled.

Billy shrugged, then suddenly grabbed her pistol and shoved it against the wall. Before Rebecca could react he slapped her in the face and pushed her to the ground. Fox jumped at him, but he bent down and tossed him down the hallway. By the time Rebecca was back on her feet, weapon leveled, Edward's M4 was pointed straight at her face.

Billy suddenly pointed his weapon at the floor. "Let's talk for a bit. Like reasonable adults."

Rebecca started to move forward, but the M4 came back up. "There's nothing to say. Now drop the weapon!"

"Or what? You'll shoot me?" Billy dropped his weapon again. "You have had at least three chances to do so, and two damn good reasons, too." Billy turned and walked back down the hallway, towards the back of the train. "If you want to shoot me, go ahead. Otherwise, I'm looking for a way out of this mess."

Fox started after him, but Rebecca held him back. "Those people will get him if we don't," she told him. Rebecca kneeled in front of Edward and closed his eyes, doing her best not to look into them. She took all the ammunition from his vest and added it to her own. When she got Billy's weapon from him, she would need rounds for it. Rebecca got back up and both her and Fox went after Billy.

Billy was standing inside the connection tube, pressed up next to the door. Through the glass Rebecca could see all the "dead" people were up and moving, walking awkwardly around the train car. "I don't understand," Rebecca said. As she watched, one woman walked straight into a wall and just stopped, staring at it. Two men stood in front of each other, but apparently didn't notice, because they kept bumping off of the other. "I thought they were dead."

"So did I," Billy replied. "They act like zombies or something."

"Zombies?" If the situation weren't so dire, Rebecca would have laughed. "How old are you? Zombies aren't real, you know. Like the Tooth Fairy."

"Dead people that suddenly get back up and maul you. Sounds like zombies to me." Billy peeked around the door through the window. "I count eight. So what we'll do is –"

"We will do nothing. You will give the rifle and let me handle this." Rebecca brought her pistol up again. "Will you cooperate?"

"Uh, no." Billy looked annoyed now. "Listen…what did you say your name was?"

"That's none of your – "

"Okay, dollface, listen. Have you ever used an M4 assault rifle before?"

"Get down on –"

"Yeah, didn't think so. Well I have. So I'm keeping it, because I'm low on ammunition for my magnum." Billy stood up and faced the door, not looking at Rebecca. "I'm not giving this to you until I get out of here. And you're going to help me."

Rebecca gritted her teeth. "Like hell I am."

"I do believe it would be in your best interest," said Billy. "Especially after I do this."

He aimed the weapon through the window and fired. The closest zombie's head exploded and it dropped to the floor. The rest turned around and moaned as Billy kicked down the door and stepped into the car, shooting as he went. Two more zombies collapsed with missing heads. Rebecca followed him inside, aiming for the legs of the remaining zombies, taking down three. Billy stomped their heads in as he moved forward. Soon they were both at the other side of the car. Rebecca knelt and reloaded her pistol as Fox came trotting up beside her.

Billy checked his rifle's magazine. "I have nine rounds left," he said. He looked behind him at Rebecca. "Did your friend have any magazines on him?"

Rebecca didn't look up. "No. I didn't see any."

"Balls," Billy muttered. He moved into the next connection tube and turned to look at her. "Okay, now we'll – "

A zombie burst through the window and fell down on top of Billy. But before it could bite him, Billy rolled forward and back onto his feet, making the zombie let go. Fox covered the zombie in flames and burned it to a crisp. Rebecca aimed through the window at the zombies in the next car and fired two shots, killing another zombie. The remaining zombies shuffled towards them, but they were moving slowly, making them easy targets for Rebecca and Billy.

Once again, Rebecca found herself inside the same connection tube with Fox. This time, though, Billy was with them. Billy tried the door in front of them. When it didn't open, he kicked it. But the door remained shut. "Locked," he said. Billy cocked his leg back to kick it again, but Rebecca held him back.

"Let's try this," she said. Rebecca brought out the key she took from the dead train employee and tried it on the door. The lock clicked and unlocked. She opened the door and smirked at Billy as she stepped through.

To their left were a desk and a staircase. To their right was another door, but this one didn't have a handle or knob. Rebecca stood in front of it, frowning. "It looks like an automatic door," she said. She stepped up to it, but the door refused to open.

"Something must have happened to the power," Billy said. He leaned back against the wall, next to the desk. There were papers on the desk, so he picked them up and started flipping through them. Something caught his eye, and he read it out loud. "'Notice to Supervisors: When closing the dining car, supervisors are asked to switch off the automatic doors after ensuring all staff have vacated the car. The main automatic doors power switch is located on the roof of the fifth car. Inspections will take place when the train is garaged. After inspections are complete, use the ladder at the rear of the second floor of the dining car.'" He handed Rebecca the papers. "See? The universe provides." Rebecca took the papers and started sifting through them. Fox yawned and sat on the floor, looking at her expectantly.

"'PikaPower Train Company?'" she read. "What kind of name is that?"

"A dumb one, that's what," Billy said. He looked up the stairs. "So I guess the ladder from the document is up there then."

"Seems like it," Rebecca said. "But do we really need to get into the kitchen? I mean, the train is stopped, so why don't we just get off?"

The floor shuddered underneath their feet. There was a loud screeching noise, followed by a dull rumble. Fox whined a little and sniffed at the ground. Billy glared at Rebecca. "You just had to say something, didn't you?" Rebecca went back into the dining car and looked out one of the windows. Sure enough, the train was moving. But who started it? she thought. Billy ran up behind her, followed by Fox.

"You did something," Rebecca said to Billy.

"Me?"

"Yes, you! We're the only two people on this train, and I didn't start it. So that leaves you."

Billy held his hands up. "Whoa, easy there, cop. What makes you think we're the only ones here?" He looked around the car. "Chances are if we, two living breathing people, are able to function in here, other people are, too." Rebecca's mind flashed back to the papers she found in the typewriter room. The files talked about some sort of investigation team. Maybe Billy was right.

That didn't mean she was going to trust him, though. She smiled at Billy sweetly. "Okay, how about this. You stay here with Fox and try to get that door open. I'll go up to the front of the train and see what's going on."

Billy nodded, and knelt in front of Fox. "Come on, buddy, let's go check out the door." Billy went back towards the kitchen, with Fox close behind him. Rebecca watched them go. If Billy tried to do anything else with this train, Fox would stop him. And since the train was moving, he couldn't very well leave. Rebecca went to the opposite door and stepped through it, eventually reaching her destination.

Edward was still slumped up against the wall. It hurt Rebecca to look at him. If only she had gone with him…but there wasn't time to dwell on that. She went to the door leading to the front of the train and pulled at the handle, only to find it locked. "Shit," she muttered. Rebecca looked around for a moment, and saw a funny looking box hanging on the wall next to the door.

Closer inspection revealed it to be a card reader, like the kind you would find on hotel room doors. Apparently, Rebecca would need a card key to get past this door. She searched the train employee's body again, but found nothing. She tried the door to the conductor's office, but that was locked too. And there were no windows to break. Groaning in frustration, she went back to Billy and Fox.

Billy was standing against the wall in front of the stairs. Fox was sitting on top of the desk next to him, wagging his six tails as Billy scratched his head. Rebecca saw the door was still closed. "Did you turn the power back on?"

"Nope," Billy said. "I talked it over with your little friend here. We both decided, due to the messed up things on this train, that we would wait for you." Fox nodded and barked.

"Uh huh." Rebecca crossed her arms. "Well, sorry to burst your bubble, but I don't trust you. I still think you did something to this train."

Billy stood up straight and looked at her. "And why is that?"

"You had to have found this train before my partner and I did," said Rebecca. "My unit found the MP van, and it wasn't far from the train. Whatever happened to those soldiers in the van, you took one of their weapons and ran. After a while, you found the train. So you got on here, figuring the train had to go somewhere, and got it running again."

Billy grinned. "Honestly, that's some nice deducting. Guess you have a brain after all." He was holding his rifle at his side, with the magnum in a holster clipped onto his belt. "But there's a hole in your theory."

Rebecca's pistol hand twitched. "What is it?"

"I did take one of my guards' weapons. And I did find the train. And I did plan on trying to get it started, because train tracks always go somewhere with people." Bill leaned back against the wall. "But the door to the train engine was locked. I was going to go back outside and try to bust through one of the windshields when I heard gunshots. So I ducked out through an open window and then you showed up.

"Also, when the train started, I was right next to you. True, some trains take a while to get moving again, but the whole time they make all sorts of noise. All of which you would have heard while on the train." Billy grinned at her again and went back to petting Fox. "Long story short: I didn't mess with the train."

"Fine. I'll accept that." Rebecca pulled a pair of handcuffs from her waist and held them up. "Now, be nice and put these on. You're still under arrest."

Billy's grin disappeared. "Are you serious?" When Rebecca didn't move his eyes narrowed in anger. "Listen, cop. In case you haven't noticed, we just shot almost twenty different zombies on this train. Some freaky looking pokémon that were smart enough to figure out how guns work just tried to kill you, and now the train just started up on its own and is taking us God knows where. Common sense should tell you how much of a fan-fucking-tastic idea it would be for us to team up."

"No."

"Unbelievable…" Billy glanced at Fox. "Is she always like this?"

Rebecca was glaring at him. "I can take care of myself just fine. And if I can't, I already have a partner. So, put these on, now."

Billy's unspoken answer was obvious. Rebecca brought up her gun. "I was told if you didn't cooperate to shoot you."

"Okay. Go ahead." Billy walked forward and pressed himself up against the barrel. He stuck the M4 in Rebecca's face. "There. For a third time, I am now threatening your life."

Rebecca looked over his shoulder. "Fox, flamethrower."

A small puff of fire hit Billy's shirt, setting it aflame. Billy jumped as he felt the heat, letting Rebecca pistol whip him across the face. Billy was knocked to the floor. Rebecca quickly jumped on top of him and pulled his arms behind his back, handcuffing them together. She patted the fire out and pulled him up to a sitting position against the staircase. Then she smiled at him. "Comfy?"

Billy smiled back. "Yes ma'am, thank you. Now where's the happy ending?" Disgusted, Rebecca slapped him again and stood up.

"Fox, watch him. I'll be right back." Fox jumped off the desk and stood in front of Billy. Rebecca took his magnum and put it on the desk. She also took the M4 and holstered her pistol. Satisfied that Billy wasn't a threat anymore, she went up the stairs to the second floor of the car.

The first thing Rebecca noticed was that the far corner of the room was on fire. The second thing she noticed was that it wasn't the floor burning. Three bodies lay against each other in the corner, and all of them were burning brightly. In fact, most of the light in the room came from the flames. Tables and serving carts were strewn everywhere, and broken glass littered the floor. She also saw a door to her right in the corner and a ladder tucked in a cubby far across the room. Bingo. But as she made her way towards the ladder, something caught her eye.

Next to the wall, to her right, was a round table. Still neatly set. It had a white table cloth and a small vase of flowers on it. Two chairs were set on opposite ends of the table. And in one of those chairs sat an old man, staring at the flowers.

Rebecca had learned by now that the people on this train were crazy, so she kept her rifle aimed at his head as she spoke to him. "Sir! Are you alright?"

The man didn't respond, or even give any sign that he had heard her. Rebecca cautiously moved forward, keeping the M4 up and ready. Her finger slowly wrapped around the trigger as she made her way towards the man. She called out again, and again the man didn't move. Soon she was standing right next to him. The old man had stared straight ahead the whole time, never blinking. Rebecca stepped closer to him. Against her better judgment, she lightly poked him in them head. "Hello?"

The man's head rolled off of his shoulders and hit the floor. Rebecca jumped back and pointed her rifle at it. She watched in amazement as the head turned blue and melted into a puddle. The puddle then formed into two different, cylindrical shapes. Spikes sprung out of both ends of the cylinders, two on one end, and one on the other. Rebecca could see what looked like eyes forming, and five stubby legs popped out of each side of the cylinders. The cylinders turned lumpy and hard, and a shocked Rebecca was staring at two of the strangest wurmple she had ever seen.

The wurmple both looked up at her and cooed softly. They looked like regular wurmple, only blue. Rebecca backed away, keeping her rifle trained on them. "I hate bugs," she muttered. She soon found a whole new reason to hate them. One of the wurmple reared up on its back three legs, and Rebecca had to force herself from vomiting.

The wurmple did not have a normal wurmple mouth. A narrow slit went down the front of its face and onto its chest, widening into a larger slit. The larger slit looked almost like a sideways mouth. The mouth opened, revealing several rows of serrated suckers, as well as a long, sharp, barbed needle. The two wurmple ran towards Rebecca faster than she expected, and were almost halfway up her legs before she could react. Rebecca swatted them off of her and quickly stomped on them. They popped like water balloons, and blue-green liquid was splattered all over the floor, closely followed by the contents of Rebecca's stomach.

A loud bang made her look up. The old man's headless body had risen from his chair, knocking it over. Blue liquid sprouted from his neck, growing and shaping into another head. The old man grinned at her. His arms and legs elongated into flailing tentacles. He advanced towards her, making squishing, sucking sounds with each step.

Rebecca aimed and fired. The round hit the wurmple man's left shoulder, blowing a large hole in it and leaving his left arm dangling by a thread. The man swung his other arm at her, but she jumped back and fired again, completely snapping off his other arm. A sharp click followed the gun shot. The magazine had run out. Rebecca backed away from the wurmple man, tossing the spent clip to the ground and fumbling with her vest for another one. She had just pulled a magazine out before the wurmple man's body split down the middle, dissolving into a swarm of wurmple.

Lots and lots of wurmple.

They all swarmed over each other trying to reach her. Rebecca dropped both her weapon and the magazine and drew her pistol, but before she could fire off a shot, the wurmple all swarmed over her legs. She pointed the pistol down at them, but one of the wurmple just jumped on her arm and crawled toward her face. Rebecca could feel them others sucking at her clothes and armor, trying to break through them to the warm flesh underneath.

Fire, hot angry fire, formed a ring around her feet. The wurmple all jumped off as the ones below her knees were consumed by the flames. Fox barked loudly and continued blowing hot flames on them, driving them back to the other side of the car. Rebecca dropped to her knees as Fox bounded over and pawed her, trying to get her to move. She looked up and watched as the remaining wurmple formed themselves back into the old man, complete with new arms. He sneered at her and charged forward, straight through Fox's retaliating fire. Another loud bang went off above her, and the wurmple man's head exploded. When he kept coming forward, Billy raised his magnum again and blew off one of his legs. The wurmple man melted back into the swarm of wurmple, and retreated towards the back of the car.

All but one. The last wurmple suddenly turned around and launched itself through the air, straight at Billy's face. Billy quickly ducked aside and it slammed into the wall behind him. Stunned, it offered no resistance as Billy pulled it off the wall by its head and held it out at arm's length. Rebecca stayed on the floor, crying softly.

The wurmple open its mouth and thrust the needle out at Billy. "Fascinating," he muttered. "Gross and incredibly creepy. But fascinating."

Rebecca hugged Fox close to her, trying to compose herself. Billy looked around for more wurmple, but they were all gone. He turned back to his prize, and held up his gun, flipping the handle close to the mutated bug. The wurmple wrapped the lower half of its body around the gun handle and pulled it into its mouth. Suckers covered the grip, while the needle repeatedly bounced harmlessly off it.

"So it uses those suckers to hold its prey." Billy said to himself. "The needle is probably some sort of tongue, and used to pierce the victim's skin and draw out blood." He turned to look at Rebecca, who was just now getting up. "But wurmple aren't bloodsuckers. They eat leaves. This thing is messed up." Seeing enough, Billy flung the pokémon into the burning bodies and went to check on Rebecca.

"So how did you guess all that?" she asked him.

"I originally joined the Marines to pay for college. I was a biology major." Billy pulled Rebecca up to her feet. She was covered in a sticky blue film from the shoulders down. "You okay?" he asked.

Rebecca nodded. She looked over where the man had been sitting. "Did you see that man?"

"Yeah." Billy walked over to the fallen chair and knelt next to it. Like Rebecca, it had blue slime all over it. "I don't have a theory for that. Maybe camouflage?"

Rebecca clearly remembered the sneering face. "He seemed almost…sadistic."

"I saw that, too." Billy stood and faced her. "I don't care what's in the woods. I vote we get the hell off this train."

Rebecca pointed at the ladder. "That's the way to the top of the cars."

Billy stepped past her and picked up the M4. Along with the magazine full of ammunition. "I knew you were lying, by the way." Rebecca looked at him stoically as he turned to face her. "Still want to go alone?"

"How did you get out of the handcuffs?" she said.

"Same way I got out of the ones the MPs put on me." Billy tossed the cuffs at her feet. The locks were broken. "And I took the liberty of breaking them so you wouldn't be stupid anymore."

Rebecca looked down at them and back at him. "Fine. I'll work with you. But after we're done…"

"I'll go quietly," Billy said. "Scout's honor."

He reached down behind him. "Oh, almost forgot." He pulled a radio out from behind his back and showed it to her. "In case we have to split up, let's keep in contact with these."

"Where'd you get a radio?"

"From the cop." Billy's expression softened a little. "I picked it up while I was grabbing the M4. You can have both of them back when we're done."

Rebecca's face was emotionless for a while. Finally, she reached into her vest and pulled out two rifle magazines, which she handed to Billy. "I have three more if you need them," she told him. Billy nodded and stuck them both in his rear pockets.

"Rebecca, Enrico."

Rebecca and Billy's radios both said the same thing. Billy pointed at her. "I think it's for you."

Rebecca pulled her radio from her belt. "Enrico, Rebecca. Over."

"Rebecca, Enrico. I have information on the suspect that you need to here. Over."

"Enrico, Rebecca. I'm listening. Over."

"Rebecca, Enrico. As you already know, Coehn was dishonorably discharged from the United States Marine Corp and sentenced to execution. But, he was convicted of murdering twenty-three civilians and his commanding officer. That is all. Over and out."

Rebecca stared at her radio in shock. When she turned to look at Billy, Billy just shrugged. "Remember, you promised."