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Chapter XXXVII
Threat Vector
The group searched the small office building and found a bed sheet, they took it back to the abandoned research camp where they wrapped Gary's corpse with it. As they hauled him off to the technical, Ash searched one last time for any clues where Tracey went. There wasn't much to go on, Tracey probably dropped everything and ran off to who know's where. Faraday City, perhaps? Or the country-side?
Nonetheless, Ash was in no mood to comb the forest, it was dangerous enough with the Undead Pokémon on the prowl. Since Tracey had been missing for a month now, he could be anywhere on the island. He could be alive, or dead, or Undead. Ash had to accept the fact that Tracey's gone, though there was a slim chance he might turn up. But where, was anyone's guess.
"Time to go, Ash," said Misty, "We gathered as much as we could, no clues on where Tracey went. I'm sorry, Ash. I wish we could pin down where he went."
Ash snorted, "Then why am I wasting my time here? We found Gary, that's good enough. I'm not expecting to find the two alive and sound anyway."
Misty's eyebrows shot up, "Are you okay, Ash?"
Ash got up and walked passed her, "Are we all okay?" he asked.
Misty didn't answer right away, "I don't know."
Ash kept right on walking, his eyes locked towards the far end of the trail, "The dead are coming back to life," he continued, "even if we live till we're old and pass away with natural causes we still turn into one of them. Everywhere we go, it isn't safe. The threat is still there, it will always be there. And on top of that, there may be other people trying to hurt us. So tell me, is asking me if I'm okay is even a question?"
Misty didn't respond, Ash just rolled his eyes and sighed, "I just feel like my days are numbered. After all the situations we've been on throughout our journey, how are we not prepared for something like this?"
"Mark's prepared," said Misty, "And so is Tesla. They seem to take the end of the world quite well."
"I haven't even seen them get all emotional, nor lose their temper over the most minor things. They must have accepted the fact of Undeath, I don't know if I had accepted it yet."
"Me neither."
When they reached the technical, Mark was helping his Pokémon into the front seat as the rest of the group called into the back. Looks like he's going to sit in the back again, this time with a dead body. More specifically, a horribly rotten one. Ash suppressed the squeamish feeling as he and Misty climbed into the back. Gary's body was laid parallel up against the trunk door, all the Pokémon and trainers were squished towards the front, away from the body as possible. Even though it was well covered, it still smelled like-
"Oh that smell," Iris groaned as she pinched her nose, "Why does it smell so bad?"
"That's the smell of bacteria farting," said Tesla, "Some of that bacteria originated in the digestive tract. When you die, they get loose in the body and devour anything they could find. Mix that with the bacteria in the natural world and you got a massive stink on your hands."
"Axew." Axew yucked.
Pikachu huddled up against Ash and hugged him, "Pikachu, Pika P." he muttered.
"Pikachu says thank you." Tesla translated.
"For what?" Ash asked.
"You protected him from the Undead Mouse Pokémon. I must be honest on this, that was the most fun I ever had in a long while."
"How is it fun?" Brock asked, "We nearly got eaten."
"An experience like that helps you appreciate life more," Tesla explained, "And just the way they explode . . . Yeah, that was amazing by itself. It kinda reminded me of my childhood. Damn those days were messed up."
A thunderbolt struck the ground close to the technical, blinding and deafening everyone temporary. It was followed up with a few more thunder strikes in the nearby area, it sounded like someone was dropping mortars on the group. Ash shook away the deafness and looked over his shoulder, electric sparks spewed out of the craters where the lighting bolts struck. The earth shifted and an Undead Pikachu popped out. Its cheeks sparked with electricity, licking the air for anything to ground into.
"Mark," Ash called out, "Time to go!"
"Pika Pika!" Pikachu cried.
"Yeah," he said nonchalantly, "I'm on it."
The technical instantly drove off as the first Electro climbed out of its hole, by the time a number of them began chase the technical was already down the road. Ash watched as the Electros struggle to pursue them, they all jerked and limp on their hind legs with their rotting front paws sticking straight towards the group. Within seconds, the Electros were out of sight.
"Looks like we lost them." said Brock.
"Good," said Tesla, "I'm too tired for another fight."
Ash relaxed for a moment, he stroke the back of his Pikachu's ears to keep himself occupied. The Mouse Pokémon closed his eyes and tilted his head back, homing in for Ash to scratch the sweet spots.
"Saah..." Pikachu softly cooed.
Ash looked off up in the sky, the white clouds were starting to get a bit dark. There were patches of gray clouds forming here and there, and there wasn't much light shining. Odd, it's only 2PM. For as long as Ash could remember, he hadn't seen a pure blue sky since Day one of the outbreak. Even with the clouds gone, the sky gave off a sinister tan color. During sunrise and sunset, the sky take on a bright reddish color as the sun moves across the horizon.
"Hey, Tesla," said Ash, "Do you know why the sky's all weird?"
"What do you mean by weird?" Tesla asked.
"On a clear day, the sky is tan. But when there's overcast skies, its . . . like it is now."
Tesla looked up at the sky and nod, "It looks like there could be a thunderstorm on its way, a normal occurrence in Faraday Island. But that's during the spring and summer. Speaking of the cold, it isn't doing much in slowing the Undead down. Temperature always hover around 10 to 15 degrees Centigrade. It's only around night where the bitter cold sets in."
"But do you know anything about the weird weather?"
Tesla frowned, "I'm not a meteorologist, Ash. I don't think anyone knows the answer. But what we do know is that every time we look up at it, the sky reminds us what world we're living in now. That's how I view it."
"That's how we all view it." Cilan added.
"Pan Pan." Pansage muttered.
Ash stopped scratching Pikachu's head and rested his hand, the Mouse Pokémon looked up at him with a confused look, "Pikachu?" he asked.
"He's asking why'd you stop." Tesla translated.
"Maybe if I get a comb or something," said Ash, "I could scratch your back better."
"I think Mark might have the appropriate comb, I often see him use a thin comb to groom his Pokémon."
"I haven't even seen him alone with his Pokémon." said Misty.
"I did," said Cilan, "He treats his Pokémon like-"
"Children?" Mark called out through the back window, keeping his eyes on the road.
"Yeah."
"If you really want to develop such a close bond with a Pokémon, you treat them like they're your sons and daughters. Once you show them such love, they'll stay with you for the rest of their lives. They won't leave your side for anything, unless they need to use the bathroom."
His Pokémon giggled in the front seat, Ash could see the top of their heads bobbed up and down as they bounce in the passenger seat, "Calm down you guys," said Mark, "Nothing to get hyperactive about."
"Emolga!" cried Emolga, her tone serious.
"What the," Mark began to say, soon it became serious, "Holy sh*t, what is this!?"
Ash gently pushed Pikachu off his lap and got on his knees, he looked past the technical's cab and saw the obstacle before them. It was a major wreck, 4 cars blocked the road. A couple of fresh bodies lay in the center, they had bloody noses and apparent broken arms and legs.
But something wasn't right, the way the cars were positioned. They didn't look like they skidded to a stop, there were no tire tracks. Not to mention the damage to the cars wasn't that bad, it looked like someone took a sledgehammer or something and smashed in the front and sides of the cars. And the bodies, they didn't look like they dragged themselves there. No bloodstains said otherwise. Looking closely, Ash could see they were laying on top of something...
Just as Mark slowed the technical down, Ash panicked, "Mark, drive!"
"What!?"
"DRIVE!"
Mark floored the accelerator and everyone lurched towards the back, he quickly drove around the wreck and sped off down the road. Ash looked back and saw several people came running out of the bushes, there were a dozen of them, all armed with hi-powered assault rifles. They all aimed their weapons towards the technical and open fire.
"Get down!" Ash cried.
Everybody got as low as they can to the floor of the trunk as bullets peppered the back of the technical and whistle over head, the world zipped past in lightning speed as Mark struggled to push the technical to its limits. Ash poked his head over the edge and saw the armed assailants retreating to their vehicles. They all got in and began to pull out, catching up to the group.
"They're following us!" cried Iris.
"Axew!"
"Take up arms," cried Mark, "Ash, man the M60 and shoot the drivers of those vehicles. Do whatever you can to disable them, we're no match for a force that vast!"
Ash quickly scrambled to his feet and grab a hold of the M60's turret, he squeezed underneath it and got behind the controls. Instantly he had no idea how to fire the gun, Ash looked up ahead and saw the vehicles coming closer.
Before Ash could panic, he found the safety of the M60. He flicked it to the off position and cocked the bolt back, Ash then aimed the M60 and held his breath.
Why me? He thought as he pulled the trigger.
The machine gun spat out powerful rounds, shell casings eject out of the gun and clattered into the trunk as Ash held down the trigger. The rounds turned the windshield of the pursuing lead car into Swiss cheese, bright red blood splattered everywhere as the car veered off the road. It rolled into the ditch and flipped before landing on its roof.
The three other cars quickly filled in the vacuum, several windows rolled down and the barrels of guns stuck out. Ash saw the look on the gunmen's faces. He saw hardened crinimals, complete terror. There's no way to reason with these kind of people. They want whatever Ash and his friends have. All they had were guns, which was more valuable than gold.
The gunmen fired back, but they were a terrible shot. The rounds came nowhere close in hitting Ash, Mark was moving the technical too quickly for the bandits to get a bead on them. Ash's friends were also having trouble returning fire as well. Inexperienced with their shotguns, and unable to kill other human beings, they focused their shots on the pursuers' tires and engine compartments. They too were unable to focus in on their targets.
But Ash had the advance, the M60 as clipped well into its stand, making the gun more accurate. Ash squeezed the gun handle tight in his hand as he focused at the 2nd driver. He fired a concentrated burst, the windshield got a blast of bullets and blood splattered all over the interior. The car slowed down then veer off the road, crashing head on into an old growth tree. The gunmen hanging out the window flied out upon impact and tumbled to the grown, he let out a loud scream as the chase moved on.
More rounds were fired back at the group, one round zipped past Ash and smashed into the back windshield. It shattered into a thousand shards, dumping glass fragments all over the trunk and cab of the technical. The Pokémon managed to shield their eyes in time and moved away from the broken glass and huddled into each other, screaming at the top of their lungs.
Ash fired a few more rounds, trying his best not to waste a lot this time. The rounds drilled into another windshield and took out a gunmen. He flopped out of the window and hit the pavement hard, straight into the path of the pursuing vehicle behind him. That driver couldn't stop in time, he wound up running over his comrade. Ash saw the wheel of the car caught the gunmen's head and squashed it into a vat of red jello, like it was a watermelon. Blood and brain matter splattered all over the car's body and undercarriage from the spinning wheels, the body was chucked aside like a rag doll and flopped into the curb. At least this guy wouldn't be coming back.
More gunfire zipped past the technical, peppering the back of the technical's trunk door. Brock popped up and tried to return the fire with his shotgun, he managed to let loose a round before being shot. The bullet went through his shoulder, going clean through. It narrowly missed Ash's leg as it lodged itself in the back of the cab.
"Ah!" cried Brock as he clamped a hand over the wound, blood oozed into his shirt as he dropped to the floor of the trunk.
"Brock!" cried Misty.
"Pika ka P!" Pikachu cried.
The technical jerked side to side, bumping Ash against the turret's rail ring. He struggled to get a bead on the last two vehicles but he couldn't get a shot.
"Mark," Ash cried, "Keep it steady!"
"I'm trying," Mark cried, "This truck is losing power!"
"What!?"
Before Mark could answer, Ash saw one of the bandit's vehicles drove right across his iron sights. He fired away, raking bullet holes across its windshield. The driver slumped over and the vehicle veered off the road, it drove into the ditch and tumbled. The motion ejected one of the passengers before the car rolled onto its side, out of commission.
"One more!" Ash cried.
Ash aimed the M60 at the final pursuing car, he got ready to pull the trigger.
CLANK!
"What the!?" Ash puzzled, he held down the trigger but no more rounds came out.
Ash checked the bolt and saw it was opened half-way, with part of the casing sticking out. The gun had jammed. He grabbed the bolt and tried frantically to unjam it. No use, the bolt wouldn't budge. The machine gun was useless.
The bandits fired off a new wave of rounds, this time Ash dove for cover. Pikachu was right there, huddled tightly in the corner. Ash wrapped his arms around him, using his own body to protect his Pokémon. He clutched Pikachu hard as more rounds flied over head, Ash's heart raced so fast that it felt like its going to burst out of his chest. He couldn't look up to see if his other friends and Pokémon were alright, nor pull out his pistol and fire back. He squeezed his eyes shut and hanged on to his Pikachu, hoping that he wouldn't die out here.
"F*ck," Mark swore, "I'm losing battery power, I can't take her any farther!"
"I wanna go home," cried Iris, "I wanna go home! I wanna go home! I wanna go HOME!"
"AXEW!" her Tusk Pokémon cried.
"We're out of shotgun ammo," Misty cried, "We don't have much rounds left in the pistols!"
"Well they can't shoot at us forever," Mark barked, "I'm sure they wasted a lot of their ammo!"
"What do we do!?" Cilan cried.
"Pansage!?" Pansage cried.
"I'm tell you what I'm doing," said Mark, "I'm stopping this thing!"
The technical jerked one final time, throwing Ash into the other side of the trunk. He smashed into Snivy and Scraggy, they yelped as the inertia squished their bodies. Next everyone was thrown forward as the technical screeched to a halt.
Ash poked his head up and noticed they were in a clearing, just between the forest and the town of Carson. There were a couple of Undead straggling from afar, and they were taking notice of the battle. They turned their heads towards the group and started limping towards their direction, taking their sweet time.
Mark got out of the technical and shut the driver door, he raised his pistol and unloaded his clip on the remaining bandits' car as it pulled up. The car slowed and stopped. One bandit in the front passenger seat slumped over, two more escaped out the driver side, and one raised his shotgun through the back passenger-side window. Mark fired a few rounds, shattering the windows and scoring a bead on the bandit's head. He dropped his shotgun, it fell out the window and clattered to the ground as the bandit slumped over in his seat.
The remaining bandits fired wild sporadic shots, Ash let go of Pikachu and pulled out his pistol. His Mouse Pokémon cried for him as he jumped out of the technical, farthest away from the bandits as possible. Ash kept his head low as he opened the passenger-side door, Mark's Pokémon huddled on the cab's floor, shivering wildly as they held onto each other for dear comfort. Ash reached underneath the seat and grabbed his AR-15, he pulled it out, setting the safety to off and pulling back its bolt.
"Mark," Ash called out as he holstered his pistol, "How many are there!?"
"Two left!" Mark cried.
Ash crouched and maneuvered around the front of the technical, he peered over and raised his assault rifle. He peered underneath the bandits' car and saw a foot sticking out, Ash aimed the red dot sight's reticle over the guy's ankle and fired a single shot.
It hit where he aimed it, the bandit screamed and dropped to the ground. The remaining bandit saw his buddy's plight, and so took off, "One's getting away!" Ash cried.
The bandit ran across the field as fast as his legs can take him, his remaining buddy continued to scream in pain. His voice shrieked louder than gunfire. Ash held up his AR-15 and aimed for the escaping bandit, he held his breath and placed his finger over the trigger.
A huge tower of light came crashing down on the bandit, letting out a massive boom. The ground shook as the powerful blast of lightning almost blinded Ash, the air quickly became thick of Ozone as electricity danced across the sky. Within a second, it was gone as fast as it came. Ash saw what was left of the bandit, several body parts and organs flied everywhere in a bloody soup, scattering everywhere and coating the green grass red. His gun was the last to fall from the sky, it had melted, looking like a burned up plastic toy.
Ash turned towards his friends in horror. Tesla stood on the edge of the technical's trunk, his red cheeks sparkled with emanating energy. His eyes showed determination, and anger. His fearsome pose was almost enough for Ash to be afraid of Tesla, but his heart had seen enough fear from the Undead.
"Damn, Tesla," said Mark, he crawled out from underneath his truck and brushed himself off, "You vaporized him!"
Tesla's cheeks ceased sparkling, "You're just lucky I hadn't done that to you when we first met," he said, showing a grin, "None of us would even be here."
"Did you turn him into dust!?" Iris asked, her face also showed horror.
"Axew!?" Axew chirped in fear.
"Can we talk about this later?"
Mark drew his gun and trained it on the surviving bandit, the guy moaned in pain as he tried to drag himself. Just as he came out from around the car, Ash got a look at his face. The bandit had red hair and a face full of freckles, he looked like he was around his late twenties or early thirties. Hard to tell since he had a bit of a beard forming on his face.
"Now what to do with you." says Mark as he aimed the gun at the man's face.
"Ugh..." the man moaned, he squirmed on the ground as he clutched his ankle. It bled bad, but it didn't appear to have a major blood vessel badly damaged.
"What's your name, Red?" Mark asked.
"Randal." the man muttered under his breath, he looked off at the distance as if he wasn't interested in Mark.
"Where's your base?"
"Faraday Incarceration Center."
"Were you a prisoner there?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
"Shoplifting."
"Hmm, I don't think the police won't mind you looting the nearby stores during these times. Who was the guy who took off?"
"Gerald, he done hard time. Y'all seen his cowardice."
As Ash approached, Mark flipped his pistol's safety to off, "Ash," he said, keeping his eyes trained at Randal, "I got some duct tape in the glove compartment, go get it and bound his hands. We're going to take him with us, we'll interrogate him properly once we get back to the safehouse."
Tesla crawled up and got a look at Randal himself, "Hey there, Red."
Randal looked up at Tesla, his eyes shot wide open, "Tesla Westinghouse! Holy crap, I used to watch your Pokémon battles on TV when I was 8 years old! I didn't expect you to still be alive!"
"And I can't believe I still have fans around," said Tesla, "Especially those who are still trying to kill me."
"We didn't see you."
"Doesn't make a difference, everybody wants my hide."
As Tesla chatted away, Ash searched the technical's glove compartment and pulled out some duct tape. He returned to Mark and handed the roll to him. Mark tore out a long strip and grabbed Randal's wrist, then bound them together.
"There we go," said Mark, he then tore out another strip of duct tape, "And just to be sure..."
Mark wrapped it around Randal's eyes, completely obstructing his sight, "Oh, come on!" Randal cried.
"Shut it," said Mark, "Save it for later. Tesla, don't talk to him during the rest of the trip, we'll need to handle this with Wally."
"Fine." Tesla grumped.
Mark and Ash picked up Randal and carried him to the technical, then dumped him in the back. He let out a yelp as his broken ankle hits the bed-liner trunk floor, "You think you can get the technical back to the safehouse?" Ash asked.
"A stray bullet struck the electric engine," said Mark, "I can run the truck on the Hydrogen fuel cell, but by the time we get back I don't think we'll be able to take this truck out again. Unless we replace the electric engine."
Ash looked off into the distance, the Undead who witnessed the shootout were now closer but were still far away to raise concern, "Ash," said Mark, "Search the bandit's car for anything useful. I'll see if I can get the truck started again."
"Got it." said Ash.
TO BE CONTINUED...