Chapter Six
Melissa
We set up camp in the hills and started sorting ourselves into shifts so that there would always be someone on guard while the rest of us slept. "OK," said Leon. "Stan and I will take the first watch, then Ben and Melissa, then Kohaku and Marle and that leaves Drake, Grey and Monica for the dawn watch.
While the rest of us bedded down inside the bus, Leon and Stan took up position outside. I lay awake, thinking about the strange path my life had taken since I received that letter. I thought about the world as it once was, of shopping and music and everything that most teenaged girls take for granted or, rather, used to take for granted. Pidgeotto and Sunflora's Poke Balls were in my pockets as usual and touching them gave me a sense of connection to the world that had been destroyed.
When I finally fell asleep, I dreamed that I was in a Pokemon League battle, with Pidgeotto pitted against my opponent's Vaporeon.
"Pidgeotto! Tackle!" I ordered, watching as she prepared to launch into the Attack.
"Vaporeon! Water Gun!" my opponent countered.
It was really exciting to be battling at this level and, as I glanced towards the crowd, I saw my mum watching me with an expression of pride on her face. I was winning - one advantage of using a Flying Type is that it can keep out of range of most Attacks - and felt myself swelling with pride, metaphorically speaking, of course.
"Pidgeotto! Gust Attack!" I called. In response, Pidgeotto flapped her wings and whipped up a tornado to blow the Vaporeon off his feet. But, before the Gust could hit home, I was woken by someone shaking my shoulder. I opened a bleary eye. "What is it?" I asked, quite prepared to roll over and go straight back to sleep.
"Melissa, it's your turn on watch," said Leon once I had woken up properly. "Ben's already out there."
It was unreal, sitting out there in the middle of nowhere, knowing that there was no settlement for miles around except the Location In my imagination, every shadow seemed to be Tyler Banks and his cronies ready to jump on us and drag us back to the Location, where we would surely be in serious trouble for disobeying the order that everyone was to stay on site until the people running Project Alpha were satisfied the Plague no longer presented any danger. Thinking I might feel better with a little company, I let Pidgeotto out of her Poke Ball and she gave me an affectionate nibble with her beak.
We were a small group of teenagers facing an uncertain future, but I knew that, no matter what happened, we would stick together.
Kohaku
I was woken from a dreamless sleep with an eerie feeling of foreboding. Marle yawned and got up as well.
Marle sat on a flat rock and drank either coffee or green tea; I couldn't tell which because my nose was stuffed like it always was when it was cold. I shivered and pulled the blanket closer around me. Vulpix jumped into my lap and whined. I didn't feel very good about this and kept my eyes open as I looked around. Suddenly, I heard a rustle in the bushes.
I sighed with relief as I realised it was only a Pokemon, a Mareep. But my relief vanished as I noticed the look of panic on its face as it quickly spoke to me, telling me they had found out we were gone and were tracking us right now.
"What?! How?!" I cried, more to myself than anything else. I quickly jumped up, startling Marle from the other side of the grove.
Melissa
There was this kid called Grey who we'd taken along for the ride. He was in Beta Division like Drake, but I didn't know too much about him. However, I thought he looked rather shifty; he had this way of looking at people like he was studying them closely. "I think we'd better keep an eye on him," I whispered to the others one day, while Grey was out of earshot.
Marle agreed; she'd been sensing that something wasn't right about Grey, but she wasn't sure what. All we knew was that we had to keep him from escaping and turning us in to Alpha Division. If that happened . . . Well, I didn't have to be a Timeseer to know what they would do to us.
I wondered how things were at the Location. Had Alpha Division already staged their little coup? Or was there still time to get back there and get everyone out. I put that idea to Stan, but he shook his head. "I don't see how it'll work," he told me. "We've already left the Location when we weren't supposed to; if we go back, they'll think we're carrying the Plague and send us away. We've got to look out for ourselves."
"I guess you're right," I said, looking down at the ground.
After we had been on the road for a few days, we reached the outskirts of a town. We approached with some trepidation, none of us sure what to expect.
The place was a mess. All the shops had evidently been looted as survivors of the Plague, finding themselves in a world with no laws and no law enforcement, helped themselves to what they needed as and when they needed it. But we all hoped that there would be some things worth scavenging. We divided into teams and set off to see what we could find. I was with Marle and Kohaku and the three of us decided to check out an abandoned cafe.
"Get me a portion of fries!" joked Kohaku as we searched the stockroom.
"Right now, I could murder a cheese and tomato sandwich," said Marle.
I thought for a moment, thinking how strange it was that we had changed so much in so short a time. Before all this happened, we would have thought twice about raiding a cafe to get food, but we now had no choice. It was a changed world and we had to adapt or die.
Ben
"There are some things I'd gladly do to stay alive, but stealing's not one of them," I told Stan and Drake as they continued to load the contents of a small butcher's meat counter into their sacks.
"Look around you, Ben," Drake said. "There's no-one left to own this food, so how can it be stealing?"
"We have to keep to our principles," I argued. "Otherwise, we might as well be back at the Location for all the good it'd do us."
"Then you can stick to your principles," Stan told me. "And we'll stick to staying alive."
"Well, can't we pay for the food we take?"
Stan snorted indignantly. "Pay who exactly? And with what?"
"We could leave an IOU or something," I suggested. "I mean, it's so fundamentally wrong."
"OK, enough of the chat. We're shipping out," Drake cut in. "Let's get this haul back to the others and cook us a meal."
"But - but . . ." I protested.
"Look, Ben, you haven't really helped at all, have you?" Stan said reasonably. "So, you're not really a criminal." He and Drake walked off with their full sacks, as I stared at the smashed-up butcher's.
"We can't let reason go to pot just because the world has," I thought sadly.
Melissa
As I crept down a dark alleyway with Marle and Kohaku, I thought about what we had done in the cafe. We had managed to find a catering-size can of rice pudding, three bottles of mineral water, a few packets of pasta and that was about it. Everything else must have been looted long ago.
Suddenly, four figures out at us. They were men, but they had become ruthless in their desire to survive and no-one else mattered to them. When they saw us, all they saw was the chance of a free meal. "Oi!" one of them shouted. "Got any grub?"
"Yes!" Kohaku shot back. "But you're not getting it!"
"In that case," said another of the men, "we'll have to find a way to force you." With that, he threw a Poke Ball and released a Tyranitar. The fierce creature promptly sprung at Kohaku and sent her flying into a nearby wall, putting her temporarily out of action. The men closed in around Marle and me.
"See what happens when you oppose us?" one of them said. "Now, hand over any food you've got - or you'll end up like your friend there!" He nodded towards Kohaku, who lay face-down against the wall.
"Not so fast!" Marle retorted, pulling out a Poke Ball. "Umbreon, go!"
"Pidgeotto! Get them!" I called seconds later. "You fools!" I yelled in between directing Pidgeotto to ambush the thugs from the air, while Umbreon launched an assault from the ground. "Can't you see you've descended to the level of beasts?!"
"It's every man for himself these days, missie," the man who'd set his Tyranitar on Kohaku retorted. We need food so we get it any way we can! And who's gonna stop us? Officer Jenny?"
"Just because there's no law any more doesn't mean you can do as you please!" retorted Marle. But the man clearly thought he could because he grabbed hold of her before she had chance to react and pinned her to the ground. I instinctively knew what he meant to do and that I had to stop him. So, without really thinking about it, I put my years of athletics training into practice, vaulting over the heads of our tormentors as they looked on in amazement. Then, I grabbed the man who had Marle pinned to the ground from behind and elbowed him in the stomach.
Winded, he staggered upright and stared at us. I could see from the look on his face that he hadn't expected any of us to fight back. I called to Pidgeotto and looked at the men sternly. "Listen," I said. "You'd better get out of here fast - or I'll set my Pidgeotto on you! I'll give you until the count of ten . . . one . . . two . . . three . . ."
As if to emphasise my words, Pidgeotto stretched her talons out and made as if to claw the nearest man's face. It was enough to make them realise that we meant business and they quickly left, muttering about finding "easier pickings somewhere else".
I checked on Marle and was relieved to find she seemed to be unhurt apart from a slight cut on her forehead. Kohaku, on the other hand, needed help fast and there was no way she would get it here. But, if we took her back to the bus, we would be able to use the first aid kit and patch her up a little.
"Quick!" I told Marle as I lifted Kohaku under her shoulders. "Get hold of her legs and help me get her out of here!"
Drake
"The fridge in the bus won't take all this. Unless we eat it tonight, this meat will rot fast," Stan observed.
"Yeah, but we still got tones of beef jerky. That'll last a while," I replied.
Since we had appropriated this meat, Ben had remained fairly silent after an initially vocal outburst. I admired the fact he was a man of principle, but principles change according to the situation. "Cheer up, Ben," I said. "If we survive, I swear we'll go back there and . . ."
Up ahead, Marle and Melissa were carrying Kohaku to the bus. Stan threw his sack of meat onto me as he ran on ahead. I swore and tossed the meat to Ben, who was caught off-guard and fell over backwards.
When I got there, Marle and Melissa had placed Kohaku in the bus and Stan was opening the first aid kit and . "Is she conscious?" I asked.
"No," replied Stan. "But pulse is OK and there doesn't seem to be anything really life-threatening."
I took a peek at her neck. "Already checked," said Marle. "You don't really think we'd carry her this far without . . ."
Ben then arrived on the scene with Leon, Grey and Monica in tow. "What happened?" he asked.
As Melissa told the story, Ben and I rolled Kohaku over into the recovery position. Then, we noticed a spreading blotch of red over a rip in her clothes. Ben pulled them back to reveal a laceration. "That could be problem," I mused.
"Not really," said Grey. "But do you want to take care of this one or should I?"
"Be my guest," I replied.
"Wrong answer, bud," he said after checking the first aid kit. "We're out of butterfly bandages."
"What?!" I demanded.
"Looks like we gotta get medieval," he said, tossing me the needle and line. "I'll apply the pressure bandage the moment you're done stitching."
Melissa
I sat by Kohaku as she regained consciousness. Moaning faintly, she opened her eyes and looked around. "W - what happened?" she asked, struggling to sit up. "How in the world did I get here?"
I reached out to restrain her. "Don't try to move," I warned her. "We got in a fight and you were injured; Marle and I brought you back here."
"O - OK."
We were up against it and no mistake, a group of teenagers living in a lawless anarchy of a world. The only things we had to protect ourselves were the special talents each of us had, our Pokemon and each other. The events of the last few months had changed all of us; we were much tougher than we had been when we received those letters telling us we had been chosen for Project Alpha. I looked round at everyone and, at that moment, I knew we were going to come through this together, all of us . . .
My thoughts were cut off abruptly as the heavens opened and rain started pelting down. I watched as the the water pelted down on the windows of the bus like a series of rivers.
Ben
I hand't done any complaining for a while so the rain cheered me up somewhat in that it gave me something to moan about. Moaning was what normal kids did. They moaned about things like clothes, music, school and the fact they had obviously been adopted. But, since no other alternative was going to present itself, I had to make do with grumbling about the weather. "Great, this is just what we need! A little light rain to make the day complete!"
"So, who attacked you guys?" Grey asked nervously.
"Well . . . there's good news and bad news to that story," Marle said.
"Oh, please, let's hear the bad news first!" I said sarcastically. "I could do with some cheering up!" As usual, everyone ignored me.
"Well, the good news is that we found some other humans," Melissa said, picking up the story. There was a chorus of cheers from the others at the mention of other humans.
"Hey! Hold up!" Marle said. "They were bunch of total savages and they attacked us for food."
"You mean they came after you for the stuff you were carrying?" I asked. "Or did they attack you for, well . . . you?"
"Hey! Humans aren't cannibals, Ben!" Stan said.
"But, under conditions like these, who knows?" added Drake.
"Oh, thank you, Mr Sunshine! That really makes me feel a lot safer!" I said, giving voice to my opinions.
"Whatever they eat, we need to take shelter before we all die of pneumonia," said Marle. She glanced worriedly at Kohaku.
Sheesh! And they called me a pessimist.
Stan
Gradually, as the hours passed, Kohaku looked happier and happier. I thought she was getting better, but she was actually getting worse.
Then, the unthinkable happened; Kohaku went postal. The last thing we saw before she left was her face, grinning from ear to ear with a crazy maniacal smile.
Grey wasn't here when it happened; he was out finding water and seemed to be taking a very long time about it. He never came back. We thought a street gang had killed him, but we were wrong.
Marle
Some of us were still in shock several hours later. Kohaku had cussed several of us up and down before she finally disappeared. I had never seen anyone so mad in my life - and that was saying something.
"Well, shouldn't we go look for her or something?" I finally asked.
"Didn't you hear her?" Ben demanded. "Sheesh! I thought she cussed you out the worst of all! She obviously doesn't wanted to hang round with us any more."
"Don't be so oblivious, Ben!" I commented, smacking him upside the head. "She's obviously sick - she could have any number of head injuries! We've got to find her - and fast!"
