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Chapter IXXX

Beat Them, or Eat Them

"You find anything on the radio, Henry?" Carley asked.

"So far nothing," said Henry, "All the FM stations are dead, but I think I got some potential around the AM bands."

The antenna Henry had erected was 7 meters tall, made out of aluminum pipes welded together and braced with strips of steel. There were concerns that it might tip over, but with it bracing the side of the Pokémon Center's roof access hut that shouldn't be much of a problem. Henry had attached wires with alligator clips to the oversized antenna and the small portable radio's antenna, after an hour of searching he was getting something but it was too far out to hear clearly.

"Mark and his friends were gone for over a few hours already," said Carley, "The sun had set and I'm getting worried."

"I'm getting concerned to," said Henry, "I'm not risking my ass to go out in the middle of the night to search for them, the night seemed to get the Undead riled up for some reason."

An Undead howled in the distance, it sounded like a frustrated growl or a loud yawn. It was so distorted that it was hard to tell which was what. Henry looked up out over the roof of the Pokémon Center to take a look, he saw no Walkers or any other survivors. The ground below was dead, no lights or activity. Just an empty stretch of darkness.

"You need any more help, Henry?" Carley asked.

"Nope," said Henry, "I can handle it, you best get some rest cause there's some big plans tomorrow."

"What kind of plans?"

"A neighboring town near Carson fell to ruin. It was far smaller than Carson, which made it easy for survivors to build a wall around it. The wall kept out the Undead, but it also kept them in. Someone lost their sanity and shot up the place before turning the gun on himself, I don't know how many he killed directly but I do know that they all reanimated and finished off the rest of the survivors. Nobody was sure if anyone made it out alive, or unhurt."

"Oh gosh," Carley walked towards the stairwell, she stopped at the door and turned, "What kind of world are we living in now, Henry?"

"A world where the line between the land of the living and the dead had faded, becoming one and nothing more."

"Goodnight, Henry."

"Night, Car."

When Carley headed back downstairs, Henry took a look at his radio again. It seemed to be in working order, so if it wasn't picking up anything wasn't the radio's fault. There had to be someone out there, broadcasting something. Other than the police frequencies they kept getting. Sooner or later, the radios would go silent as the apocalypse runs its course to its inevitable conclusion.

Henry detached the alligator clips and took the portable radio back downstairs, he headed for the living quarters and sat the radio on the small table. He glanced at Mark's cot in the back, the covers were neatly draped. A couple of clips of 9mm handgun ammo and a box of .22 short ammo sat underneath the cot, probably they were spare ammo for an emergency.

"An old friend whom I'd been with for so long," Henry thought out loud, "Takes the most selfless action in helping another, who's old enough to be a family heirloom."

"Hey," said a voice, "Hey, you!"

Henry turned around and saw another survivor near the doorway. He had a bright green golf shirt, a pair of blue jeans, and brown shoes. The man's face showed he was somewhere in his late thirties or early forties, to Henry the man was quite familiar, "You're the one who built the radio antenna on the roof, right?" the man asked.

"Yes," said Henry, "It took me a while to put it together, it worked as it should but now the problem is on the other end."

"Are you an expert on radios?"

"No, I'm an expert on welding. I just built it because Mark needed something to increase the range of our CB radios."

The man held up a small hand-held CB radio, "This CB radio has the best technology put into it, if you can attach that antenna to this radio then we might be in business."

"Well, I'm open for ideas. Let's give it a shot."

The man tossed the radio to Henry, he managed to catch it with one hand, "Name's Crawford," said the man, "We haven't met in person but I'm a friend of your boss, at that mechanic's shop you work at. Well, used to work at."

Henry thought for a moment, "I do believe I saw a picture of you in his office, and heard your name on a couple of occasions. You know what happened to him?"

Crawford shook his head, "I think he barricaded himself in the mechanic's shop, not sure what happened to him since."

"You have the cable to make the connection?" Henry asked.

"The what?"

"This CB radio requires a cable of some sort, similar to the one that goes to the TV and the satellite box."

"I think there's some in a room up in the 5th floor, in some boxes."

"Okay then, let's see if there is any."

Henry walked passed Crawford and headed for the stairs, by the time he got to the 5th floor he noticed one of the doors was slightly ajar. Odd, normally doors remained closed in the Pokémon Center, especially in rooms that weren't being used.

"The cables should be in there." said Crawford.

Henry pushed the door open and looked inside, his eyes shot wide open from the horror before him, "What the fu-"

THUNK!

A solid metal end of a blunt object smashed into the back of Henry's head, he dropped the CB radio and collapsed on the floor. His vision blurred, the last thing Henry saw was Crawford dropping a hammer and picking up a fire ax leaning against the wall. Just as Crawford held up the fire ax, the world blacked out on Henry.

. . .

The trip back to the Pokémon Center felt like an eternity, Ash never felt so tired before in his life. He clutched the hunting knife's holster in his hand as he held Pikachu in the other, Ash jarred him every 5 minutes, just to make sure he doesn't fall asleep. Every time he woke Pikachu, the Mouse Pokémon jumped on his lap and shot his eyes open. He didn't say anything, his eyes fluttered till they're almost closed before slipping back into a trace-like state.

Ash held up the hunting knife and stared at it, so this was one of Irvin's most valuable tool. He slipped it slightly out of its holster and examined the edge, the sharpened edge glistened under the glow of the moon's light. Ash slid the knife back in the holster and undid his belt, then strapped the holster to where his left hand could reach it and buckled it in place. Even though Ash was getting used to carrying weapons, something just doesn't feel right.

"How's your Pikachu?" Mark asked.

"Emolga?" Emolga murmured under her breath, probably sleepy too.

"He's doing fine," said Ash, "Though I worry that the bump to his head is more serious, I just don't wanna think about it right now."

"If it was that serious, Ash, Pikachu would had been dead by now. Bleeding in the brain kills you faster than you think. Your Pikachu may be fine but have Nurse Joy look at him, just to be on the safe side. I'm not taking any more chances in the end of the world."

Ash scratched Pikachu's ear, he snuggled on his lap and smiled, "Pika." he cooed.

"Just relax buddy," said Ash, "We're almost there."

The group drove out of the forest and back into Carson. They drove through an abandoned neighborhood, the yards were littered with debris and dead bodies. Some doorways were splattered with blood, others were kicked in to reveal a demolished living room or kitchen. No lights were on, nobody lives here anymore.

Ash got a glimpse of an Undead walking about, it was heading into one of the houses. It didn't even turn to look at the group, its red eyes were locked on that doorway for whatever interests it had inside. In its previous life, did the zombie used to live around here? How fast was it when he turn? How did he turn? Did he died or was he bit? Amazing that the Undead plague can spread this fast, because everyone was infected.

Damn.

But at least it wasn't that contagious, biting was a horrible way to spread a disease. Maybe there were other ways the disease can spread, if it was a disease.

A blast of bright white blinded Ash and Mark quickly slowed the technical, when his eyes readjusted he saw the glow of what looked like . . . a gas station? Ash looked closely at it. No, this wasn't a gas station. The large sign post at the driveway had the words, FUEL on it. Underneath that signs were three types of fuel: H, E-100, and B-100. All the numbers read in three zeros, which was quite strange.

The station's store was also glowing with light, though its windows were intact the interior was stripped clean of any food and supplies. Blood was splattered on the tile floor, indicating there might be some sort of fight that occurred there. Ash looked for any signs of survivors, he saw none.

"These fuel stations make their own power," Mark explained, "Solar panels on the roof of the store and forecourt's canopy, there's also a vertical axis wind turbine on the roof but its out of sight. The ethanol and bio-diesel are probably gone, but the Hydrogen is produced on sight. There might be some remaining, since my Hydrogen tank is completely empty."

Ash turned to Mark, "How did you managed to keep this truck running?"

"It's a hybrid, it runs on either Hydrogen or straight electricity. I'd been running this pickup on electricity for the entire time, I don't have much power left."

Mark pointed to the digital fuel meter, they Hydrogen read zero percent in red numbers and the electricity meter read 15 percent – also in red numbers, "We need to stop and fill this thing up, or else we lose an advantage."

He pulled the car up beside one of the pumps, Ash noticed Mark driving over a blue ring painted on the concrete. Whatever it was, it somehow affected the car because all the lights on the dashboard glowed brighter, "Those rings have conductors underneath," said Mark, "They fire microwaves in a receiver mounted on the bottom of the truck, which would charge the battery. As that charge, I'll see if I can get some Hydrogen in the tank."

"Just be careful." said Ash.

"I will if you cover my back."

"Okay then."

Ash turned towards Pikachu, "Stay here Pikachu, this will be quick."

"Pika." Pikachu nodded.

Mark and Ash got out of the technical and pulled out their weapons, "Why did you stop?" Wally asked.

"Taking advantage of this fuel station," said Mark, "The pickup's almost dead on energy and I'm not walking in the dark. Keep your eyes open, we might have some Walkers following us for all I know."

Mark pressed a button on the pump's touch screen, a small message came up. It read, "TEOTWAWKI, ALL FUEL IS FREE!"

"That sums about my luck," Mark laughed, "Let's get this over with."

Mark pressed the Hydrogen button and grabbed its designated nozzle, he opened up the small door and inserted the nozzle into the Hydrogen tank, "Okay, she's filling. Hold off the Undead, this is going to be a while."

Ash flipped the safety off of his AR-15 and peered out into the darkness. Though his night vision was ruined by the brightness of the outdoor lights, Ash could clearly see the pairs of glowing red eyes coming out from the darkness. He held up his gun and took aim with the red dot sight, then fired a few rounds. He managed to take out one Undead, but missed a few shots. Ash tried crouching and holding his breath when aiming the gun, his accuracy increased and he managed to take out the Undead with ease.

"There's more of them coming!" Cilan cried.

"Keep your voice down," Wally hissed in a whisper, "There's going to be even more coming if we make more noise!"

Brock and Cilan used the edge of the technical's trunk, it increased their accuracy and enabled them to make more kills. Wally refrained from using the M60, instead he used his suppressed 9mm pistol and fired away. More Undead drop, but even more were arriving.

Several Undead started jogging towards Ash, screaming and hollering like crazies. Ash almost panicked, he quickly aimed and fired several rounds in their heads. They tripped and fell, and more Undead arrived to take their place. Ash licked his lips and gulped, he felt a cold sweat trickle down his neck as he tried to hold them back. But every time he killed a zombie, there was always another around the corner. To the looks of it, they seemed to be spawning out of thin air. What was attracting them, besides the living?

"Half-full," said Mark, "Keep holding them off!"

Suddenly an idea hatched in Ash's head, "Hey, Mark! You have any flares?"

"Yeah," said Mark, "Why?"

"I got an idea."

"They're in a box, under the passenger seat!"

After Ash took down a few more zombies, he opened up the passenger door startling Pikachu and Emolga in the seat. He looked underneath and found a small cardboard box, Ash reached in and grabbed the box. He opened it up and found several sticks of flares. Ash grabbed one of them and twisted its top, it glowed bright red. He stepped away from the technical and threw it out into the darkness.

The flare turned into a ball of light as it leaves the glow of the fuel station's outdoor lighting, it landed in the street outside and continued to hiss fire. Several Undead took notice of the flare and started for it, within moments a small group of Undead surrounded the flare.

"Can't believe that worked." said Ash nonchalantly.

"It must be the sound the flare makes," said Mark, "The Undead don't seem to be attracted to light, or else Faraday City would've been surrounded by hordes upon hordes of Undead from all over the island."

"That I can believe." said Cilan.

An Undead howled in the distance, more of the things were coming. Any second now, the massive hordes Mark and Ash barely escaped that day would be on them. And this time there won't be any rooftops to make an escape. Ash reloaded the AR-15 and tossed the used magazine into the technical's cab, he turned and saw several more stragglers marching towards him. Arms stretched out, eyes glowed, they moan and snarl as if they were excited in finding food.

"Truck's filled," Mark cried, "Time to go!"

Mark removed the hose and put it back on the rack, he sealed up the tank's lid and quickly fired more rounds at the Undead. Ash took down several Undead from the front, he grabbed another flare, twisted it, and tossed it away from the technical. It landed in an area lit up by the fuel station's lighting, it attracted some zombies but the majority of the herd were locked on. With the dead barely 7 meters away, Ash quickly jumped into the technical and shut the door behind him.

"Oh sh*t!" Mark cried as he came in, more terrified beyond appearance.

He shut his door and locked it, Mark quickly shifted gears and pressed the accelerator. The technical lurched forward, sending Ash pressing into his seat. Pikachu hanged on to his arm as Mark drove back on the road and sped away, leaving the Undead in their dust. Ash looked back and saw them wondering around underneath the canopy's lighting, where the technical had been.

"That was stupid," said Mark, "But it was worth it, look."

Mark pointed to the dashboard, Ash saw that the Hydrogen and Electricity meters both read 100 percent in green LED numbers. He unconsciously puts on his seatbelt and relaxed, then pressed down on the passenger side door's lock. A tap comes to the back window, Ash reached up and opened the small door.

"Let's not mention this to the others at the Pokémon Center," said Wally, "They don't need to know this."

"Agreed," said Mark, "They must be worried sick already."

Ash heard a loud yawn in the back, he looked over and saw Tesla laying face down in the trunk. He sat up with sleepy eyes and asked, "What happened, did I miss anything?"

"We managed to bypass a zombie horde," Mark called out to him sarcastically, "Nothing serious."

"How come anyone of you didn't wake me?"

"We were too occupied to pay attention to you, Tesla. It was my idea to take a quick pit stop, just relax and go back to sleep."

Tesla groaned, "How can I sleep exposed to negative 10 degrees Centigrade of air?"

Mark didn't answer, he shut the window and chuckled, "Can't blame him for being old, he had been through a lot over his years."

"Would we ever live to see eighty?" Ash asked.

"I doubt it, and I'm not complaining. I'm just making sure I make the best of my days. Besides, this was the best fun I ever had in a long time."

Ash laughed, "Getting chased by the Undead is what you consider fun?"

"Nope, seeing the expression on everybody's faces as they get chased is satisfying enough."

. . .

Natas watched Carley pace back and forth in the room. She had been doing that for the past 40 minutes, still she hadn't said why. He sit back and ate an MRE as Misty came walking into the room, "What's wrong, Carley?"

She stopped and turned towards Misty with worried eyes, "Henry's gone, last I saw him was on the roof but now I couldn't find him anywhere."

"Did you check the bathroom, or the makeshift rooms?"

"I'd asked around to see if anyone had noticed him going anywhere, they all said they hadn't seen him."

Misty raised an eyebrow, "First a couple of more Pikachus went missing, then Ritchie, then Henry. What's going on here?"

"Who's Ritchie?"

Ever since Ritchie lost Sparky, he wasn't himself. He already exclude himself from everyone else. They didn't notice him when he show up for the daily rations, nor did he spoke to anyone. Overtime, not to many people know his name. But they still remembered his face. Those who knew him personally, wondered what he was doing all this time. But with so much to do to keep the outpost functional, they didn't give much thought about him.

"One of our friends at Kanto, he lost his Pikachu hours before you guys arrived."

Carley gasped, "Did he heard about what happened to Raichu."

"He did, and he didn't took it well."

The walkie-talkie crackled to life, "Mark's back, open the gate."

Natas picked it up and answered, "Roger."

He got up from the chair and pressed the button, the metal shutters opened up and the group walked in. Natas took a careful glance at Ash, he was covered in sores and his Pikachu wasn't fairing well either. His friends were tired, and somewhat in shock. Mark was also beat up, also bruised. Emolga slept as her trainer carried her, the Sky Squirrel Pokémon must had been through a lot.

Wally approached Natas, he held up a bruised arm and shook his hand, "How are things over here, Natas?" he asked.

"Things are doing fine, what about you, Wally?"

"I'm dinged up a little but I'll live, where's Nurse Joy?"

"Sleeping," said Natas, "Why?"

Wally pointed to Pikachu, "The Mouse Pokémon hit his head."

Natas approached Ash and placed a hand on his shoulder, "You okay, kid?"

"I'm fine," said Ash, "I just want to call it a night, where's Nurse Joy?"

"Upstairs, sleeping," Natas glanced at Pikachu, the Mouse Pokémon fluttered his eyes as he snuggled in his trainer's arms, "You wanna wake her for your Pikachu?"

"I'll take a look at him," said Brock, "I have Pokémon medical training."

Just when Brock was about to take Pikachu out of Ash's arms, the Mouse Pokémon grabbed on his trainer in silent defiance. Pikachu buried his head into Ash's shoulder as he tried to comfort him, "Let's take him upstairs."

"Mark." Carley cried.

She rushed up to Mark and gave him a bit hug, "We got a problem!"

"What's going on?" Mark asked.

"Several people and Pokémon had gone missing, including Henry," Carley gazed at Mark and Emolga's condition for a moment, her level of anxiety instantly increased, "Oh my gosh, what happened!?"

"Irvin taught me how to fly," Mark said, "Enough said. I just don't feel like explaining right now, I just want to go to bed."

"You wanna eat first? Dinner's almost ready."

Ash and Brock stopped at the stairwell, then turned, "What's for dinner?" Ash asked.

Pikachu lit up, almost seemingly better, "Pika Pika?"

"Crawford brought in some food from a recent foraging spree," Carley explained, "He found a lot of beef jerky and flour, we're going to have some real food tonight!"

"Who's Crawford?" Ash asked.

"A guy who keeps to himself," Natas explained, "He's alright in all, but something just doesn't seem right about him."

Tesla strolled up and collapsed on the floor, he was more tired than the others. Well, he's also the oldest. He wasn't as springy as he once was, "The deed is done," he groaned, "It's done, he's finally-"

"Save the story, Tesla," said Mark, he reached down and picked up Tesla, "We're going to have dinner before we go to bed."

"Emolga!" Emolga chirped.

The old Pikachu shrugged, "How can I refuse? Since you're holding me, how about you sit me at the dinner table? My legs are just too tired right now and I'm far too old to complain about being held."

. . .

"Are you feeling better now, Pikachu?" Ash asked.

"Pika." Pikachu smiled.

Brock taped the head bandages in place and observed his work, "That should do it, there was a small cut on his head but it wasn't that bad. A healing herb would do the job, but we don't have much of it as we used to."

Pikachu tried to scratch the head bandages, but Ash pulled his hand down. He picked up the Mouse Pokémon and carried him off to the makeshift dining room where his friends were sitting at. Several folding tables and chairs were set up, some MREs had been placed on the tables along with bottles of water. Professor Oak sat at the back end of the table, so did Delia. May and Max took over the other end, they had already got settled in and were chatting to each other. Iris got a seat, with Axew sitting next to her waiting patiently for the food.

Ash sat down and placed Pikachu in the chair next to him, he got settled in and took of his hat. He pulled a strand of hair off his head and held it up to see, I'm going to need a haircut. Ash thought.

"Ash," said Oak, "You're back, how did the trip to Faraday City go?"

"There's still some form of society there," said Ash, "The streets were patrolled by police pickup trucks with machine guns mounted in the backs, their eyes rolled over us as we passed through. Mark's dad and grandfather is doing okay, Tesla managed to persuade them to help out with dealing with Irvin. The poor fellow broke down in tears to do it."

"So Irvin Westinghouse had been dealt with."

"We put him down, and that's that. He was still recognizable from two decades of decay, he even still had some habits. But he was long gone, he tried to attack the person closest to him and tried to take a bite out of them. Tesla was the one who put him down."

"Was it hard on him?" Delia asked.

"He almost lost it, but he wasn't all that emotional. He claimed the bond was broken a long time ago, and Irvin was long gone. So yes, it was hard on him."

Oak noticed the bandages on Pikachu's head, "What happened to Pikachu?"

Ash thought for a moment, should he tell him that he and Pikachu were both nearly eaten by a zombie?

"He hit his head on a rock, Brock took care of him and I kept him close. It was quite a scare, but at least he wasn't knocked out."

"You got some bruises on you," said Delia, "What happened?"

Think of something, Ash. "It was a bit rough, there were more Undead than we expected. One of them managed to get a hold of me, pin me down. Tesla quickly came by and saved my skin, he made sure he didn't miss."

Crap.

"Ash," Delia cried, "You must-"

"Save the lectures for later," Mark interrupted when he came walking in, his Emolga sat perched on his shoulder as he pulled up a chair, "You should had seen it when Irvin came out of the ground. He charged at with an iron fist, hit me with it so hard that it send me flying across the graveyard. You know what it feels like to be terrified and filled with joy at the same time? It doesn't seem to mix very well, but you end up getting screwed either way."

"What?" May asked.

Mark laughed, "Faraday Island thing, get Tesla drunk and you'll understand."

"Where's your mother?" Delia asked.

Mark's expression changed in an instant, "She left my dad a few years after I was born. It was a long story, but in the end she left Faraday Island and headed for Unova. We never heard from her since. So I grew up without a mother, and I didn't complain. Even after the world ended, I never gave much thought about her. As far as I'm concerned, everything we know is gone."

He sat a hand on Emolga's head and rubbed it, she smiled brightly and snuggled into his side, "I got some people I need to take care of, my mom's long gone and so will my dad. Someday."

Cilan came into the room holding tray full of plates, he passed them around the table as Crawford started passing out the food, "Got some jerky here," he said, "It wasn't easy getting these, so enjoy it while it lasts."

Ash watched as Crawford past out the jerky, everyone's mouth was watering as he passed out freshly cooked meat. Everyone got two handfuls of it, strange that there was a lot during these times. When he put some on his plate, Ash examined it. He can already tell it came from something that he wasn't familiar with. The texture was different, and the smell was familiar. Like someone was burned.

Everyone was soon given a small roll of bread, nothing about it was suspicious. When Ash got his, he looked at it. No alarm bells were ringing, nothing wrong with the bread. But what's wrong with the meat? Why does it seem so, odd?

"It looks good!" Max exclaimed, staring at the beef jerky on his plate.

"How much trouble did you got yourself into to get this?" Professor Oak asked.

"A lot." Crawford simply said.

A chair pulled back on its own, Ash quickly shot his attention to it. At first he thought his mind was playing tricks, he was relieved when Tesla poked his head over the table and sat up, "Oh, protein," he said sluggishly, "I needed some. So where did it come from?"

"Someone foraged it a while we're gone," said Mark, "Probably nearly got mauled by Walkers in the process. Why not you be the first to taste it, since you've got experience in this area?"

"Mark!" Ash scolded.

"Well, since I don't have much to live for. Why not?"

Tesla picked up a pair of chopsticks and used it to examine the jerky, "Looks like there's a few different types of meat here, probably came from different sources. And they looked familiar, I hadn't seen these kind in a long time."

He stabbed one of the jerky and placed it into his mouth. As he chewed it, his face showed concern and recognition. Tesla looked like he was on to something, "Hmm, I know this flavor well. I hadn't had it in a long time."

"What is it?" Professor Oak asked.

"It taste like it came from a leg of some creature, I have a few ideas where it came from."

Tesla gave Ash a look, his eyes said it all. Something was wrong. Ash looked around and saw Crawford staring out the window, probably observing the Undead outside. Whatever move Ash had to make, he best make it now.

"Oh," he said, "I almost forgot, I need to wash my hands."

"Hand sanitizer's in the living quarters," said Delia, "Make sure you get between the fingers."

"Yes, mom." Ash said nonchalantly.

He got up and discreetly left the room, once he made sure nobody was looking he took a deep breath and squeezed his eyes. Ash held it there for a moment, trying to clear his mind from the thought of the suspicious meat.

Something squealed in the floors above, then it became a mournful groan. That didn't sound like the occasional survivor in distress. Ash wondered what it was. His hand brushed the butt of his suppressed 9mm pistol just to make sure it was still there, then started for the stairs. He climbed up to the 4th floor and heard the groan again, this time it was getting louder. Ash got up to the 5th floor and noticed blood pooling at one of the doors, he drew his gun and held it up. He twisted the doorknob, locked. No matter, he flipped the safety off the pistol and gave the door a swift kick. The door popped open and swung wide open.

"What the!?" Ash gasped in shock.

The whole room was a blood bath, the walls, floor, and ceiling were sprayed with blood. Fresh blood. A bloody fire ax leaned against the wall, several IVs and Morphine shots lay near it, already used. Ash felt sick from the smell of blood, he stepped back and took a deep breath. Then noticed something that he had to wrap a rope around his sanity's neck to keep it in place.

Two Pikachus lay on their backs around the far corner of the room, their legs and tails were hacked off. Their yellow fur completely soaked in their own blood, their eyes stared out at Ash for mercy.

"Ash..." said Henry's voice, sounding quite weak.

Ash looked down and saw Henry on the floor, he too was soaked in his own blood. His legs were hacked off above the knees, blood pooled around him from the bloody stubs. Henry tried to crawl over to Ash, but his strength wasn't there. Ash crouched down and tried his best not to touch him, "What happened!?"

"Crawford," Henry muttered, "Hacked off my legs, left me here to turn. Whatever you do . . . don't eat dinner . . . without Tabasco sauce."

Henry tried to crack a smile, but a cough interrupted him. He spat out blood, dead blood. It became clear to Ash that there was nothing more he could do."

"Ash," Delia called from below, "Where are you? Your food's getting cold!"

"You know where Ritchie is?" Ash asked.

"No clue," Henry said weakly, "F*ck, Ash. Get him, quick! Just stall them until I get down there!"

Ash stepped back and watched Henry started crawling out into the hall, he left a large stain of blood behind him. Ash jumped over him and ran down the stairs, barely holding onto his gun as he descended. He got back on the 2nd floor and quickly ran back into the room, everyone was just about to eat. Crawford was gone, but Pikachu was about to take a bite out of the meat-

"STOP!" Ash screamed.

Pikachu dropped the chopsticks and the piece of "meat", everyone else froze almost instantly, "Ash," cried Delia, "What are you doing!?"

"Something's afoot, Ash?" Mark asked calmly.

"Hen-"

Tesla slapped his chopsticks on the table, "Wait! Let me guess . . . we're eating both human and Pikachu meat."

Ash raised an eyebrow, "Their legs to be more specific."

Max was about to take a bite out of the "jerky", May quickly slapped it out of his hands and took his plate away, "May," he cried, "I was eating that!"

Axew fell to the floor and fainted, Iris tried to push her plate away but fell out of her chair in the process. She picked up Axew and held him tightly as she laid on the floor in the fetal position.

Delia became nauseous and fell to the floor, "Oh my . . ."

She vomited at Professor Oak's feet, who was too shocked to even notice, "How did you know, Tesla?"

Tesla shrugged, "Irvin's fault, I'd been through such desperation before. The taste of human and Pikachu flesh was unmistakable."

The old Pikachu winked at him, Ash resisted rolling his eyes at him, "We gotta get out of here!" Iris cried.

"We've," Cilan stammered, "W-We've served the same dinner to the others!"

Ash's face went white, "Oh no."

Mark's eyes went big and he held up a hand, "Ash, look out!"

A sharp blow smashed into the back of Ash's skull. He dropped the gun and yelped, blacking out before he hit the floor.

TO BE CONTINUED...