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Chapter XXI

One month later...

It was barely a sunny morning, the sky was an eerie tan with some blotches of gray clouds, covering the sun on a random pattern. At noon, there was a tiny hint of blue. For most folks in Faraday Island – and possibly around the world – not a single soul had seen blue sky since the first few days of the Undead outbreak. The town of Carson seemed abandoned, with no power running or water flowing it was dead. The occasional body lay where they dropped, rotting for weeks on end and giving out the unmistakable putrid smell. Most of the blood spilled and splattered on the streets were washed away by countless rainstorms, then sterilized by the sun's UV rays until they turn to dust and blow away. It did little to candy coat the apocalypse.

The Undead limped around, wandering aimlessly, searching for a dinner that may or may not come. Their faces locked in a grin that never changes, almost sneering – or rather looking confused, like drunks after a hitting the bar rather too hard. It was like they were searching for something, or maybe, somewhere deep down, they were hoping for relief for their endless torment.

One straggler, a fifty-something year old wearing a tattered and bloodied gray golf shirt and blue jeans, approached what was left of a dead Pokémon. It glared at it, as if it was curious. The Pokémon corpse was torn up and partially eaten recently, so horribly mutilated that it bare no resemblance to what it once was. Clearly it was a quadruped Pokémon, with some signs that it may be a grass-type. But it wasn't a Pokémon anymore, just a dead thing who's suffering was finally over. The Undead moaned, it bent down, struggling against the rigor mortis as its joints popped and cracked. It got down to its knees, picking up the Pokémon corpse with its gray decomposing hands and began to feast.

Ash watched 50 meters away behind some abandoned cars, he kept a tight grip on the binoculars as he focused in on the Undead. The other zombies didn't notice that one of their comrades had stumbled into a feast. A few glanced over at it, but they showed no interest. They just turned their stiff heads away and went back walking, wherever direction they were headed.

"What do you see?" Mark asked, clutching his crossbow with a tight grip.

"Emolga?" his Emolga whispered as she gripped her suppressed .22 Ruger pistol in her tiny hands.

"4 Undead humans," said Ash, "One of them is eating some Pokémon remains."

Mark peeked over the car and saw it for himself, he snorted, "At least he's getting something to eat, hate to interrupt his meal."

"Take the shot if you want." Ash encouraged.

"Sure, why not."

Mark aimed his crossbow while using the car to support the weight, he dialed in the range between him and the Undead in his scope and took aim, "Going hot."

The crossbow bolt soared through the air in less than a second and stabbed the Undead square in the eye, burrowing in deep. The Undead snapped its head back as the momentum of the bolt knocked him on his back, his lunch broke free from his hands and plopped on the asphalt. Several Undead looked on but didn't care, they showed no emotion from seeing one of their own fall. They have no soul, no moral compass, nothing to make them feel. They just continued walking around lopsided, unaware that they weren't far from finding living meat.

They learned too late.

Mark reloaded the crossbow and took aim again, he let another bolt fly and it dropped another Undead. He reloaded and fired, striking another Undead in the temple. Gravity pulled the corpse back to earth as the legs relaxed. The final bolt struck the last Undead in the back of the neck, it fell flat on its face. Its muscles twitched, but it didn't get back up.

"Clear." Mark announced.

"Nice marksmanship." Ash complimented.

"Pikachu." Pikachu muttered in approval.

Mark grinned, "I guess my Dad naming me Mark had paid off. Come on, let's see what's on the corpses before more Walkers show up."

Mark and Ash stepped out of hiding and loot the bodies. All they had on them were wallets, Mark managed to get a combined total of $55 pokédollars. Ash wondered what money was good for these days, since the value to the pokédollar had soared from hyperinflation. He wasn't sure if any store still open in the apocalypse, still taking in banknotes. Either way, money isn't food. Money can't feed Ash's Pokémon.

"I was hoping for some ammunition," said Mark, "But money would have to do."

"Good luck with that." Ash said sarcastically.

Mark looked around and centered in the Pokémon corpse the Undead were eating earlier, he approached it and gave it a kick with his foot, "Well," he sighed, "that's another meal lost. They're eating anything they could get a hold of."

"It smells bad," said Ash, "There goes my appetite."

"Pikachu." his Pikachu added.

Mark and Ash walked off and head down the street, they checked all the ruined stores as they passed by. They were cleaned out, no food, tools, or ammo anywhere. Every one of them was stripped to their frames by other survivors, some of them by other foraging parties from the Pokémon Center. Ash heard Pikachu's stomach growl, he turned and saw him rubbed his belly. The Mouse Pokémon whimpered under his breath as the pain continue to gnaw out his gut.

"I can't believe we went through all that commissary food in 5 weeks," said Mark, "There seemed so much at the time."

"I just knew it was going to run out sooner or later when we started letting more people in," said Ash, "Wally isn't too happy because of it, I heard him muttered to himself about the problem more than once."

"I don't blame him. I'm scared, Ash. My Pokémon are going hungry and I'm having trouble feeding them."

"We're all hungry, Mark."

"I overheard Tesla talking in his sleep, he was thinking about eating the other Pikachus. Damn, I thought he was joking when he told us he's a cannibal. I guess he wasn't."

Ash peered through a car's windows and saw nothing of interest, he shook his head, "Like he ever lied to us."

"If I had a secret like that," said Mark, "I would keep it to myself. That isn't something you should share with others, ain't no one going to figure it out if he just kept his mouth shut."

"He has no problem seeing the Undead Pikachus eating their own, that would hint his unusual trait."

"I honestly think it isn't unusual, he was born in the wild. Any wild Pikachu might had picked up the habit, my own Pikachu could be a cannibal herself. She is Tesla's descendent after all."

"Pika." Pikachu muttered under his breath.

"Is everything okay, Pikachu?" Ash asked.

Pikachu gave a sheepish nod, but Ash can tell he wasn't okay. His fur still shiver and his face lacked a smile, had been for a long time. Ash missed seeing him happy, his little buddy always brightened everybody's day. Ever since that fateful day, he hadn't shown much of a smile. Ash wanted to help Pikachu, but he can't. He didn't know how to help him manage something like this.

"How's your Pikachu?" said Mark, "He wasn't the same since he lost his head that day."

"He hadn't improved much," said Ash, "But he's recovering."

Ash reached up and scratched one of Pikachu's ears, he cooed from the pleasure, showing a fake smile.

"How's your other Pokémon doing?" Mark asked.

Ash shrugged, "Not much better than yours I'm afraid."

"Your Snivy seemed she's fairing better than the others."

"She was the first of my Pokémon who accepted reality, I wondered how she did it."

"Eh, she's one of those Pokémon who had seen the dark side of humanity. I'm sure she got advice from Tesla, he was quite supportive of her when she broke down in tears from Iris' Emolga's demise."

Ash peered inside another store and saw an Undead eating a corpse. It looked up at Ash with red glowing eyes, bleeding from the gums. It opened its jaw and moaned, dropping a chunk of flesh from its mouth. Ash held up Mark's silenced .22 varmint rifle and shot the Undead between the eyes, it dropped face first and flopped to the floor. He fired another round into the head of its dinner, just to be sure it wouldn't come back.

"Try not to use too much ammunition," said Mark, "They worth their weight in-"

"Gold?" Ash finished.

"Uh, yes – gold."

Ash pulled the bolt back and reloaded the rifle, then cocked it, "I wonder how that trader is doing."

Last week, a trader pulled up to the Pokémon Center on a flat bed truck. The flatbed truck was armored with sheets of metal and wooden boards. His bodyguard was armed the .50 caliber machine gun mounted on a custom-made turret in the back of the truck. With coal-colored blood splattered all over the bumper of the flatbed truck, the trader clearly meant business.

His name was Ralph Beretta, Beretta was eager to show his goods to the others. After earning his trust with Wally and the other police officers, several survivors pitched in to see what he had. Beretta preferred silver and gold coins for his goods, but he still takes pokédollars. However, due to inflation, a small box of apples cost at least $800 pokédollars.

Beretta would barter however, he needed medical supplies. He explained that he had a daughter who was sick from Cholera, and requests some antibiotics. Nurse Joy lend him a box of high-grade antibiotics in exchanged for several ammo boxes of .22s, .357s, .44s, and 9mms. Ralph could never be happier.

Mark looked around and spotted a .22 Ruger pistol in the supplies, and so held up 2 silver coins, and $500 pokédollars in exchanged for the pistol. When he got it, Mark handed it to his Emolga who gladly took it. He then bought a suppressor for the Ruger in exchanged for a liter of powdered milk. Mark then handed the suppressor to Emolga, she managed to attach it to the barrel of her new pistol with ease. To Mark, it was a fair deal.

Once everyone was done shopping, Ralph said he'll be back next week for a new deal. Ash watched him drive off down the road, as several Undead lumbered behind.

Now he wished Ralph would be back, cause he had a lot of food in his truck.

"Thinking about something, Ash?" Mark asked.

Ash snapped out of his delirium, "Uh, nothing. Let's move on."

Ash and Mark head down the street and spotted two more Undead, "4 Walkers, all human." said Mark.

Emolga tapped her trainer's shoulder, "Emolga!"

"What, Emolga?" Mark asked.

She held up her pistol and aimed at the Undead, the Sky Squirrel Pokémon bounced her knees on his shoulder as she showed a silly smile, a rare expression these days. Mark can already tell what she wanted, he didn't oppose, "Go right ahead, Emolga."

"Emo." Emolga viciously nodded.

Ash stepped back and watched Emolga took aim, she fired 4 shots in rapid-fire succession. The Undead took a bullet to the head one at a time in less than two seconds, all with barely an audible put sound. The 4 zombies slumped over and dropped to the asphalt, barely bleeding black blood from their head wounds. Emolga smiled as she flips the safety back on her pistol and cheered, "Emolga!" she sang.

"Dead Eye," said Mark, "Get's them every time."

Ash raised an eyebrow, "Dead Eye?"

"Pikachu?" Pikachu asked.

"You simply pick your targets, then shoot." Mark explained, "But you have milliseconds to do it, so you have to be fast. Only few humans and Pokémon can do it properly, me, my dad, my Emolga, and Tesla."

"That's a skill I would like to teach my Pokémon."

"Well, Ash, it takes serious concentration. Sometimes you have to do it a while being shot at."

"Um..."

Mark grinned, "Talk to Tesla about it, he'll know more. I'm sure your experience with the PRA gave you clues on how its done."

Ash gulped, "I don't wish to think about it."

"Pikachu." Pikachu shook his head.

Mark and Ash approached the bodies and searched them, they went through the pockets and checked their belts to see if they had anything. Ash reached into one pocket and pulled out two shotgun shells. One was buckshot, the other appeared to be a slug. He examined them for a while for any defects, he found none.

"Found a couple of shotgun shells." he announced.

"There's a start." Mark simply says.

Ash pocketed the shells before checking the other pockets of the corpse. His hand felt a familiar round object. Ash felt a chill down his spine he hoped it wasn't what he thought it was. When he pulled it out, it was what he feared. It was a Poké ball. Pikachu jumped at the sight of the Poké ball and gasped, nearly losing his breath. Ash stared at it for a moment in petrifying fear, not wanting to know what it contains, "Oh geez..."

"What," Mark asked, "What did you find?"

"Emolga?" Emolga asked.

"A Poké ball," said Ash, he handed it to Mark for him to see, "It's pocket-sized, there might be a Pokémon in it."

"Hm," he said as he examined the Poké ball. Mark glanced at the corpse it came from for a moment before turning his attention back, "The corpse is deteriorated, so whatever Pokémon is inside this Poké ball it must be a prison for him or her."

"We gotta let it out then!" Ash blurted

"Okay, Ash, stand back. Be ready to shoot when I call this Pokémon out. We don't know how long it had been in here, so if it goes on a killing frenzy we have to put it down. I'm sorry, Ash, we can't help everyone."

Ash didn't like that plan, but he was in no mood to argue, "Okay." he said as he held up the rifle

He got into a position readied himself, "Get ready." said Mark.

Mark pressed the white button to enlarged it, he sat his crossbow on the roof of an abandoned car and pulled out his 9mm pistol. He then tossed the Poké ball and quickly got into the Weaver stance, Emolga took aim with her pistol and prepared herself as well.

The Poké ball burst open and the Pokémon it contained materialized. The glow of light ceased, revealing a horrid sight.

It was a Shinx, the Flash Pokémon's eyes were glowing bright florescent red. Ash's heart sank, it had died in its Poké ball. Maybe it had starved to death, or dehydrated. Whatever the reason, it appeared frail and could barely moved. But Ash knew that was hindsight.

"Holy crap!" Mark said as he fired his pistol at the Shinx.

With his pistol not equipped with a silencer, the round let out a loud crack when it struck the Undead Shinx in the side. It wasn't fazed, it charged a while letting out a loud monstrous growl. Ash fired the varmint rifle, striking the Undead Shinx in the jaw but missed its forehead. It jumped and tackled Mark, slamming him into the side of an abandoned car and shattered one of its windows. It gnashed away with its broken draw, trying to gouge him with its teeth.

Emolga quickly jumped out to safety as Mark repeatedly slammed the butt of his pistol on the Shinx's face, it became a bloody mess from the abuse until its eyes were barely visible. Mark kept it at bay by hanging on to its neck with his free hand as he struggled to kill the Undead Flash Pokémon, "Get this thing off of me!" Mark cried.

"Pikachu!" cried Pikachu.

"Emolga!" Emolga cried.

The shiny sprite Sky Pokémon aimed her pistol at the Shinx. But her fright had locked her hands in place, she struggled to pull the trigger but couldn't do it. She couldn't handle pointing a gun this close to the trainer she loved.

Ash wasted no time, he chambered a new round, took aim, and fired. The .22 round went straight through the Shinx's head, barely clearing Mark's shoulder, before striking the wall of the nearby building. The Undead Flash Pokémon let out a dying moan as Mark slammed the deceased Pokémon to the pavement and stomped on its head, splattering its brains under the force of his boot.

"Nice shot," said Mark, "But that was a bit too close for comfort."

He leaned against the car and rested his hands on his knees as Emolga hopped back on his shoulder, Mark glanced at the blood on his sweater and shook his head, "A bit too close."

"Sorry." said Ash.

"Pikachu." Pikachu apologized with grief.

"Emolga!" the Sky Squirrel Pokémon burst into tears.

Mark got down to his knees and picked her up, "I'm fine, Emolga." he reassured her.

Emolga cuddled in his arms and sobbed, keeping the barrel of her gun pointed towards the air just in case it accidentally goes off, "Girl," Mark said, "I won't hold you accountable if you accidentally shot me. I'm wearing body armor, remember."

"Emo." she sobbed with a nod.

Mark holstered his pistol and Emolga climbed back on his shoulder, he then re-equipped his crossbow and pulled the string back, loading in a fresh bolt, "Seems okay," he said, "This crossbow was built quite strong."

Ash heard a moan from the distance, he looked down the road and saw a horde of Undead approaching. Their arms were outstretched with jaws lazily dropped open. They came after the group like blind lazy drunks, some stumbled on their feet and fell but quickly got back up. The others quickly picked up the pace with a few started jogging, flailing their arms and wailing like a banshee.

"Mark," said Ash, his eyes wide open from terror, "It's time to go."

"Damn," Mark grumped, "Gunshot must had attracted the Walkers. Screw them, let's go!"

Mark ran off as his Emolga barely hanged on, Ash quickly caught up to him as the Undead began to cover ground. They made a turn and found more ghoulish monsters blocking their way, this horde had a lot more dead than the last, "Crap," cried Mark, "Wrong way!"

The group spun around and ran down another street, only to find that path crowded with the Living Dead. Zombies packed shoulder to shoulder, slouching onward with arms stretched towards their food. Ash looked back the way they came and found the Undead had closed it off. The moans and groans of maybe a thousand Undead filled the air like the sound of rain. 3 groups of hordes were about to merge into a massive one, if that happened they would be rewarded dinner.

Ash held up the varmint rifle and shot at the Undead, scoring several headshots. But it did nothing to thin out the hordes, when Ash fired his last bullet the distance between the group and the Undead were quickly becoming shorter every second, "Pikachu!" screamed Pikachu in fright.

"Emolga!" cried Emolga as she fired her Ruger at the Undead, she killed a few of them before her gun starting clicking.

"We need to get to the high ground!" cried Mark as he fired his crossbow at a zombie, the bolt went straight between the eyes and killed it instantly.

Ash thought fast, he dart his eyes around and found a store not to far away. Two of its big windows had their glass busted out, replaced by several wooden boards that were nailed in from the inside out. A single public bench sat near the door, apparently untouched from the destruction.

Whoever had taken shelter there weren't present, as the front door was wide open. Almost like it was open for the group.

"Through the store!" cried Ash.

Mark turned to where he was looking, "Better than nothing."

Ash strapped the varmint rifle to his back, he rushed up to a bench just outside the store and grabbed one of its armrests, "Help me with this, Mark!"

Mark strapped his crossbow back on his back and quickly grabbed the other armrest, "Lift!" he ordered.

The duo lifted the bench and positioned it in front of the door. The Undead made it to the intersection and was now a stone's throw away, Ash hopped over the bench and jumped through the door as Mark joined him.

"You think that bench will hold them?" Ash asked.

"No," said Mark, "We need more crap in the way."

Ash did a quick scan across the entire store, all of the shelves were pressed up against the front. There was a small barricade of crates and more shelving blocking the exit in the back, no way through there. A body lay on the ground, appearing to be a man in his twenties. The skin had already rotted away, revealing putrid greenish skeletal muscles and bone underneath. One of its legs was violently amputated, possibly hacked off by an ax. From the way Ash could tell, this store won't provide a proper dramatic final stand. The front door itself sat on the other side of the store, nothing but a metal frame of its former self.

"Here!" said Mark.

Mark rushed up to one of the shelvings and pressed against it, Ash quickly gave him a helping hand. Their Pokémon held tightly to their shoulders as the duo used their combined strength to move the shelf, it slid across the tile floor as it scooted in front of the main entrance. They got back in time as the Undead began their siege, hammering away at the store's pre-built barricade with their bloody hands. Some zombies whacked at the barricade with bloody baseball bats and nail boards, Ash was too shocked to care about it at this point.

The shelf Ash and Mark pushed in place held up, the Undead tried to climb over it but they got stuck at the door frame. It would hold, but not forever.

"Ash," said Mark, "We need to make it up to the roof!"

He pointed to a nearby flight of stairs that was marked, EMPLOYEES ONLY, "These buildings are packed tightly together, we can use the roof tops and free run our way out of here!"

"Free run!?" Ash asked.

"Don't argue, just get your ass up to the roof!"

Mark ran up the stairs a second later, Ash looked back at the barricade and saw it was beginning to fail. Several boards had cracked and popped loose, the bench and shelves creaked and shift as the Undead pulled them apart. They would be in the store within moments. Ash turned towards the stairs and ran towards them-

Only to be caught by the ankle from something. He fell to the floor and Pikachu flopped in front of him, Ash turned to see what caught him and saw a bloody skeletal head, staring at him with red eyes. The zombie had a death grip on his leg. Just as the zombie was dragging Ash towards its skeletal mouth, he quickly pulled out his 9mm pistol and fired a single round into its skull. The round blew through the zombie's head, embedding itself into the far wall as the corpse released its grip.

Another board from the barricade cracked and clattered to the floor, the Undead's moans grew louder in response to the unsuppressed gunshot. Ash quickly got back up to his feet and scooped Pikachu in his arms, then ran up the stairs as another board fell.

When he got up to the roof, Mark was there waiting for him. He gazed out towards a sea of Undead, Ash couldn't believe his eyes. Why were there so many? How were there so many?

"Come on, Ash," said Mark, "Before they build an Undead ladder to get to us."

The duo approached the side of the building, there was a 2 meter gap to the next. He looked down below and saw a stretch of an alley, completely barren. It was a 3 meter fall, not to far down to break anything but . . .

Mark zipped past Ash and jumped, he cleared the gap and landed on his feet onto the roof of the other building. He turned towards Ash and gestured to follow him, "Come on, Ash!"

With the Undead upon them, Ash didn't feel like arguing. If Mark can clear the jump, so can he, right? Only one way to find out.

Ash took a step back and gave himself some distance, then charged. He jumped over the gap and cleared it. But his feet weren't ready, he stumbled and lost his balance. When he fell on his rear, Pikachu slipped from his shoulders and fell over the edge.

"Pikachu!" cried Ash.

Pikachu screamed at the top of his lungs, Ash peered over the edge in time to see Pikachu plop on the pavement below. The Mouse Pokémon quickly got up and shook it off, he didn't appear hurt, "Are you okay, buddy!" cried Ash.

Pikachu stood on his hind legs and looked straight up at him, his eyes were flooded to the brim with tears, "Pika!" he sobbed.

"Sh*t!" barked Mark.

The Undead quickly took notice and began to walk into the alley, their eyes locked onto Pikachu as they surrounded him from both sides. Pikachu stepped back and sparked his cheeks, "Pikachu!" he grunted.

Nothing, his electricity was still stunned from Tesla's knockout maneuver. With no electric-type moves to defend himself, all Pikachu can do was scream. Which attracted more of the Undead, his trainer felt helpless as he watched the hordes close in on his poor Pokémon.

"No!" cried Ash as he got on his feet.

He fired a few rounds down at the Undead as they walked passed him, scoring easy headshots. Ash killed a few Undead, buying Pikachu some time, but they kept coming. Mark pulled out his pistol and helped Ash out, he made several successful headshots but it helped little, other than making a small barricade of dead bodies, which the Undead had some difficulty getting over.

"What do we do!?" cried Ash.

"Emolga!" Emolga lit up.

The Sky Squirrel Pokémon jumped off Mark's shoulders and stood on the very edge of the building, he tossed his gun to Mark's feet then summoned up a special ability, "EMOLGA!"

A green ball of light appeared over Emolga's chest, it shotgun blast outward into 3 green plasma balls. These balls struck the brick wall of the previous store and blown it open, creating a cavity big enough for a car. Pikachu saw his chance and ran through it, the Undead were over his last position within the next second.

"Nice job using Hidden Power to carve a path for Pikachu!" cheered Mark.

Emolga blushed as she picked her gun back up, "Emolga." she cooed.

Pikachu came back up the stairs, cleared the gap, and made it back to the group. The Mouse Pokémon gave Emolga a hug and kissed her on the cheek, "Pikachu!" the Mouse Pokémon said in tears of joy.

"Come on," said Mark, "We gotta go!"

Several Undead strolled up the stairwell and turned towards the group, one of them stepped over the edge and fell down the alley below. Several more followed suit, lacking the mental capacity to even try to jump as they sank back to ground level. Ash didn't wanna stick around for them to build a body bridge, he scooped Pikachu up with his arms and ran off with Mark and his Emolga. Leaving behind an Undead horde, who weren't even disappointed that they lost their latest meal.

TO BE CONTINUED...