A bald older man lay on his stomach atop a skyscraper's rooftop in Celestic later that night, looking through binoculars at the base. "I wonder how long this took to construct. It's a massive and adequately secure setup. Amazing..."
"Should I radio the others and notify them of the find, boss?" a young man asked, who sat beside him with a bottle of water. He was currently on a break from keeping eyes on the base himself. Both were in smooth gray suits to blend in with the night. He ruffled his short red hair, itching from sweating up here for hours.
It didn't help that he had to wear a thick metal helmet to shield from bullets and attackers during the entire ride here. It was attached to his hip, and he wasn't looking forward to putting it back on and feeling stuffy, although it would help since it was dark. The helmet's visor had a built-in night vision feature.
"Negative. Not yet, Peter. This won't at all be simple to approach." He shifted his view from inside the base and down to one of its entrances. "You saw... They've armed guards and reinforced walls shielding every perimeter. We also are unaware of how large the population is and just how many soldiers they have. I'd assume hundreds looking at the size of this place."
"We've got thirty, including me. It may work if we invade with a solid strategy, sir." Peter had been recruited last month after losing his close friend to the virus and stumbling upon Sunyshore during the day. This group had little to no morals but knew how to survive when it mattered most. Peter surely would have died multiple times over without their help.
"Correct. I'm glad that girl led us to the jackpot." He sat up and smirked. "A flaw is that they don't have protection from the skies and seemingly no night shifts outside their safety net. We'll scout behavior, guard shifts, where they store supplies, keep weapons… Everything. It should take a week or less if we perform well." Being led to this base was meant to be. "We're running low on necessities and will last another two weeks at most, realistically."
"We could plan an ambush, but who are we killing?" Prior to joining this group, Peter had never taken a life and wasn't fond of it. He still wasn't, but he learned to accept it if he wanted to live, which was priority. He tried not to think about the innocents he'd shot for a backpack holding clothing and a few days' worth of food and water.
"Guards— on sight. We cannot trust them. Citizens? Kill if they don't comply. We'll need to recruit more bodies. Our main focus will be weapons and any supplies we find to take back to Sunyshore." He grabbed his rifle and backpack, then stood. "We get one shot. Let's head back for now. I'll set up a meeting for tomorrow, and we'll get started shortly after if all goes well." He was eager to do so. This was a game-changer.
They took the many flights of stairs down to the lobby and stepped outside into the black town. They'd found this building— the perfect vantage point, and set up camp on it miles from the Celestic Base, scouting for hours with nothing but some snacks and water from a backpack the boss wore, and it was getting later by the minute. They'd left their bikes locked up by Celestic's east entrance and had to get to them quickly.
"How much longer do you think we have, sir?" Peter asked while they walked toward the town's exit.
"Elaborate."
"You know, with how many hordes we've had to clear from Sunyshore recently off and on. We could be overrun soon." Peter felt safe with his group for the most part, but more and more bodies attacked them almost daily and forced them to use ammo they'd eventually run out of.
Peter stopped in his tracks upon seeing a figure standing less than a mile ahead. "Uh, sir…" It was eerily still. He took a flashlight from his pocket and shined its powerful beam ahead to see a white-furred pokémon staring at them, its eyes gleaming against the light.
"Absol…" the boss said while lifting his rifle, but as he did, he heard a pained yelp, followed by Peter falling next to him. The flashlight dinked against the pavement and rolled, stopping at an angle that shined on Peter's face. The boss rolled away and stood to create space and heard Peter shout while attempting to overpower a monferno atop his chest biting aggressively at his arms.
"Help! Guhm, get this thing o-off-f!" Peter struggled to no avail as the monferno had pinned him well. Its stench made him gag, and its grip was powerful. Peter knew only the worst would result if he wasn't saved in moments because he couldn't match its strength.
"They're working in groups too…" He looked to where the absol was standing and saw it had disappeared. "Hm." Meanwhile, the monferno had dominated Peter completely and sunk its teeth into his throat.
The man raised his rifle, aimed it at the pokémon, cocked it, and pulled the trigger. The corresponding gunshot crackled across the sky and throughout the town. It knocked the monferno over, rendering it dead.
He approached Peter, watching as blood gushed uncontrollably from holes in his throat the monferno had created. He was still alive, holding his neck with trembling hands and torn arms. He pointed the rifle at Peter's head and stepped back before pulling the trigger once more.
"Twenty-nine..." He set his backpack down and opened it, sifting through its pouch and grabbing a gasoline container. He unscrewed the top, poured it over Peter's body, and then grabbed a lighter from his pocket while looking around for a potential ambush. He had no clue where that absol went. He put on his helmet and flicked the lighter's switch, throwing it on Peter's body.
He watched the carcass burn, his hands in his pockets. All his men were expendable, including himself, and he ensured never to attach himself to any of them. The group existed due to there being strength in numbers, but at the end of it all, everyone was for themselves.
He soon put the container back and picked up his bag, pressing a button on his helmet to activate its night vision and walking east at a faster pace. He couldn't afford to be caught. Plus, those gunshots would likely attract enough infected to overpower him.