FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

The sound of gravel crunching and the wind through surrounding trees were the only audible things for miles. Pokemon had long since abandoned these routes so things were quiet, always quiet. The distant city stood shrouded in the morning mist, an ominous sentinel. The road they walked on was similarly desolate, a few empty cars lined the side lanes and even a few littered the tree line. Malcolm let out a sigh as he looked down the boulevard towards their destination. "We'll rest here before we go on any further."

Sari nodded before following his lead and walking into the forest, her blue fur stood out even in the trees but it provided vastly superior cover and it would take only one of the infected to spot them and bring a horde down on top of them. Once they found a spot in the soft grass of a clearing Malcolm pulled a half full bottle of water from his pack before taking a small sip and tossing it to her. "You can have the rest."

Sari's ears laid flat against her head as she frowned at him. "I thought you said that was the last of it."

"It is, that's why I want you to have it." He said simply. It wasn't that water was hard to find, far from it in fact. Between the various lakes, rivers, and streams there was an abundance. But when the outbreak first started no one knew how the virus was being transmitted other than through direct contact with the infected. The virus obviously didn't go airborne but it could still have contaminated water supplies and was able to infect across species so there was no taking chances.

Because the infection spread so fast almost nothing was known about the infected other than their extreme aggression and how contagious they were. The only way to play it safe was through bottled water. Its not that bottled water was hard to find either, it was risky trying to obtain it. Naturally they were right where people left them: on store shelves, located in the stores in the middle of towns and cities which is where the infected were found in larger numbers.

Small numbers of the infected have traveled into the less populated countryside but a vast majority stayed within the confines of cities, Malcolm attributed this to their strangely innate skill with ambushes. Most times it was to late to realize you walked into a trap until you were in the middle of a swarm and cities provided plenty of hiding places to keep them out of sight until that last moment.

Sari wasn't comfortable with having the last of it, if they weren't able to get what they needed here it would be all they had until they tried again. Finally she shook her head and handed it back. "No, we should save it."

Malcolm sighed a little bit through a nod. "Alright but at least have some."

This time she sighed and relented, taking a small sip herself leaving about a third of the bottle full. When she handed it back a second time she heard a slight rumble but took little notice as Malcolm twisted the cap back on. It wasn't the sound of footsteps and that's all that really mattered. "So should we have lunch now or wait until we're done to eat?"

"I guess we could eat now, we might not get a chance later. What all do we have?" Sari asked. She knew exactly what Malcolm had but decided to humor him anyway.

"Oh, well lets see. We have," He pulled his backpack back open and started rifling through it. He pulled out a bag of trail mix, a few cans of food and another bag of pokemon food. Sari almost couldn't stop herself from giggling when he pulled out the pokemon food, it was alright as far as she cared but the two of them had hit a longer period of time between being able to find fresh food so it was all they had to eat for a few days. Of course Malcolm was a rather more daring individual than most people found himself taking a liking to the stuff as strange as it sounded. "and a couple power bars." He finished holding the items in the air to show her.

Sari deftly took the pokemon food and helped herself while Malcolm shrugged and settled for one of the cans of fruit. They ate in silence for a few minutes, neither of them eating much. Malcolm ended up splitting the fruit with Sari so it wouldn't go to waste. Before getting completely packed up Malcolm pulled out a PokeGear and a PokeNav to see the layout of the city.

Because most satellite networks were inoperable now Malcolm was forced to use older maps, most of which updated regularly automatically through the network to find the locations of upcoming contests or tournaments. The latest updates he'd received came a couple years ago and as Malcolm looked at the city a large blue line spanned the perimeter and a shield icon lit the center on the screen of the PokeGear while the PokeNav had a red one with a similarly red '!' at the center.

Malcolm tapped both of the icons and read the notices that appeared on both screens. Sari watched him for a few minutes before he got up and replaced the PokeGear in his pack. "Well one says this is a military safe zone while the other lists this place as having been overrun."

Sari scoffed as he finished. "Well we could have guessed that."

Malcolm had gotten back to his feet shouldering his pack once again, Sari followed suit. He chuckled at her comment as he turned back to the road, "Yeah, well we better get going before it starts getting dark."

Sari nodded when he started walking alongside him. Getting back onto the road the two began their approach of the city. Sari stayed out with him the whole time, he'd long since abandoned her pokeball because of everything that was happening. Malcolm didn't like the idea of him getting infected while she was stuck in her ball and dangling from his belt the whole time so he'd released her in the hopes that if anything happened to him she could still get herself to safety.

As the bleak shapes of skyscrapers became more clear with every step the traffic also started to get thicker until the roads we totally congested with bumper-to-bumper wrecks. Once they could see the first smaller buildings they started ducking low to try and stay out of sight, gods only knew who could be watching or who might catch a glimpse of them approaching. A lot of the doors on the various cars and SUV's were left ajar from people trying to escape as fast as possible. Being exposed to the elements for a couple years easily made the fabric seats mildew and rot while leather seats only faded and wore out with time.

It wasn't until they got to the first building did they see the military barricade. A pair of tanks were parked on either side of the rode, the top hatches left open and the insides undoubtedly devoid of life or use. There wasn't a single body to be seen, mostly because the infected took them or fed on them but also because after so long the corpses had rotted leaving nothing but rusted weapons, ragged uniforms and weather-worn bones. Aside for the prominent human debris there were also several shattered shells from the Porygon the military employed, as they got a little farther past the first part of the barricade the even found a dented and broken Metang. Its eye slots were blank and empty and its armor had significant amounts of rust making its normal blue shell appear a dusky orange.

Malcolm looked a the PokeNav again before whispering to Sari. "There's a PokeMart six blocks in, we're stopping there first." The PokeMart was the best place to start, they sold food made for traveling pokemon trainers so it was likelier than not to still be edible. After that Marcus planned to head on a few blocks farther in to the pokemon center to scrounge up whatever medical supplies they could find.

Sari and Malcolm paused as a strong breeze blew at them from inside the city, both of them taking a long sniff. You didn't need a pokemons more sensitive sense of smell to pick up the smell of necrosis the infected gave off, thankfully the air was clean which for them was like rolling out the red carpet though they still advanced cautiously.

A large street sign marked their target a few meters down the road, a large blue sign centered with a pokeball. The few open spaces between where they were and the front door would be easy to avoid so the two slowly started to get closer being sure to keep an eye on their surroundings. It wouldn't do to have come this far just to be seen now so the going was slow. When they got to the front door of the building Malcolm was the first to get to the door, pressing his back to the wall he gently pushed the door open to let the air circulate for a moment. Satisfied, he pushed the door open further and took the first step in, Sari watching behind them the whole time.

The whole place was coated in a thick layer of dust, Malcolm's first step caused a small cloud to rise off the tile flooring as he entered. Still not smelling anything he dug in his pack for his flashlight before going any further. Sari carefully closed the door behind them still watching for any followers, she had a clear view of both directions up and down the main road as well as the alley directly across from the PokeMart. She heard the click of Mal's flashlight and was about to turn away when she saw a shadow shift, barely visible and was enough to make her gasp. "Is everything alright?"

"I think I saw something." Sari answered, still watching the alley intently now. Nothing else moved but she was on alert now and if it did she'd notice.

"Alright, keep an eye on it while I grab the stuff we need." Sari nodded and kept watch, she was sure it didn't know they were there whatever it was she saw. The infected weren't very subtle, if they caught a scent or saw something worth going after they always signaled others before attacking and so far the city was silent as a graveyard.

After a while Malcolm called Sari to the back of the store. "How long do you think its been since we had some of these?" He asked holding up a bottle of soda. It was in one of the older glass bottles with the small pop-off cap. Sari only shook her head when he showed her.

"You are such a simple person." He only shrugged in response.

"Hey there's nothing wrong with being simple, especially nowadays what with the end of the world and all." He said trying to open one. He strained for a moment as the cap relented but after a few seconds and a jerking twist of Mal's hand he let out a pained gasp and dropped the bottle. He cursed under his breathe and the two of them cringed as the glass shattered. "Damn."

He immediately pulled off his bag and began searching for the first-aid kit. Just as the first drops of blood hit the tile he opened a small packet that smell of alcohol and tried wiping the wound clean. Sari saw the cut spanned his entire palm and was bleeding steadily. "Come on."

While wrapping his hand in a bandage he started for the front door again, Sari understood his hurry but in that hurry they forgot to close the door behind them. Whether pokemon or human the infected had a strong sense of smell and if they caught the scent of blood it would be just as bad as being seen. What surprised her though was that instead of heading back out of the city he chose the way further in. "What are you doing?"

"There's a pokemon center a few blocks down, I might be able to get this taken care of before anyone notices." Sari could understand the logic, where better to get medical supplies than a pokemon center right? She kept quiet as they ran down the road between the cars that littered their path, thankfully they would have provided a bit of cover as they moved. Suddenly a smell caught their attention, Sari almost gagged as she brought her paws up to cover her nose. The smell of dead flesh was almost overwhelming, Malcolm almost hit the ground headlong as he dove for cover behind an SUV flipped on its side. Sari was a bit more graceful and knelt by him, the sound of something heavy rushed by them apparently taking no notice of them.

Mal cursed again as they heard its raspy breathing. It moved with unreal speed back they way they had came stopping just outside of the PokeMart. Before going any further it raised its head high and let out a loud throaty roar, the sound was met by other cries at varying distances and from several directions as the sound of breaking glass filled the air.

Before the beast disappeared inside the PokeMart Sari was able to make out the creatures clawed hands. They were about to move again when they heard another one of the infected approach, Sari tried to cover her mouth to muffle the surprised gasp when the thing hit the side of the vehicle pushing it a few inches to the side. It was about to pass them but it stopped mid lope a few feet away, its head snapped back at where they were hiding. At this angle there was no staying out of sight as they were kneeling by the SUV's flat underbelly which offered little cover. The first one that passed was so intent on getting to the PokeMart it passed them without bothering to look but this one was now staring the two dead in the face.

The creature had two bladed arms and each blade was broken into uneven thirds, the infection had caused new joints to grow in these spaces making them more articulate. Its wings were also bowed and twisted unnaturally leaving them unusable. Accentuated with a few more alterations the scyther looked like a paper doll that had been cut to pieces and then glued back together.

It sniffed once before it charged. POP-POP! It barely moved a step before its bulk hit the ground, two spurts of black blood shot from its leg as the bone was shattered by a pair of bullets. Still driven towards its prey the scyther tried using its scythes to crawl toward them, by now the blue aura sphere around Sari's paw faded from her shock. Another POP-POP! resulted in the same damage being done to one of the creatures arms leaving the limb similarly useless.

The scyther was about to scream like the others did but one last POP! completely removed the things bottom jaw reducing the shriek to a gurgle as it continued to flop trying to get Sari and Malcolm. The noise had attracted the attention of another one of the infected which came bounding at an inhuman speed, something met it halfway causing to come to a sliding halt. Its obstacle struck with similarly incredible speed, a series of slashes and nothing, it hit the ground as nothing but a bloody torso, its attacker leaving it completely dismembered. Wasting no time it rushed to the scyther and proceeded to decapitate it causing it to twitch for a second. Their rescuer was about to turn away when the scyther lashed out with its last good arm, the pokemon hissed in disgust as it settled for a well placed kick that shattered the bone in the scythers tricep. With each limb damaged beyond use the scyther could do little more than flop around hopelessly.

Now that it was closer Sari and Malcolm saw that the pokemon that intervened had reddish brown armor, four blade-like ribs, and a crest on the top of its head that also resembled a blade. Both if its hands were protected by steel gauntlets that would have gleamed silver if not for the black blood that ran off the surface in thick globs.

Sari felt Malcolm tug on her arm. "Come on while its distracted." He whispered.

"Sharp bisharp!"

Sari paused and looked back, the Bisharp was standing by an alleyway gesturing inside. Malcolm was looking at her for translation. "He said to follow him."

After seeing it stop the two infected with relative ease he was willing to trust it, obviously it wasn't one of them. It gestured again and repeated itself. For a moment he hesitated not sure he actually did trust it, he looked at his hand and was reminded of the infected close-by by the sound of them tearing the PokeMart apart looking for the source of the noise that attracted them. It was only a matter of time before they found the blood he had left on the floor there and followed the smell right to him, and by extent to Sari. "Alright."

Bisharp immediately disappeared into the narrow alley followed close by Sari and with Malcolm bringing up the rear. Having lost sight of Bisharp Malcolm only had Sari to guide him and her being faster than him was only visible as a tail tip at every turn. A few minutes of running passed before they left the labyrinthine alleys. When he got out he was met by the two pokemon, he was only a little tired since this wasn't his first time running for his life.

"Sharp bish bisharp." Bisharp stated. Malcolm was left clueless until Sari translated again.

"He said lose the pants." She said panting lightly.

Malcolm looked at his pants confused. "Why?"

"Bisharp bisharp!"

"You smell sweet." Sari stated simply, translated again. Then Mal caught on, the soda he dropped had splashed onto him when the bottle broke and the infected would be able to follow that if they didn't catch the scent of his wound. Gingerly Malcolm complied and removed his pants before digging in his pack for another pair. When he finished he looked back at Sari to find her looking at him appraisingly. "Don't get used to it." He told her.

While Mal was changing Bisharp had taken the other pair of jeans and dragged it along the ground and threw it into another alley a block down opposite the way they went. Again taking to a sprint they ran a few blocks to what used to be a pharmacy. "Bisharp."

"He wants you to change the bandage." Mal didn't need to guess what he meant this time, the one he had was already stained through with crimson red though it had stopped bleeding. The buildings front door was shattered and knocked from its hinges, magazines and newspapers littered the floor inside along with several of the stores products. Malcolm found the aisle with the wrappings he needed for his hand and proceed to apply a flesh dressing, Bisharp in turn took his hastily applied old one to make another false trail for the infected to follow.

When Bisharp returned Mal and Sari were waiting for him and he led them further into the city. As they went the surrounding buildings grew larger and larger in size and height, most of them were starting to turn out to be hotels and corporate buildings. Bisharp stopped at one and rushed through the smashed door, when they were all in Bisharp went to a stairwell located in the center of the building a little past the lobby. The floor was covered in similar debris along with bellhop racks, overturned desks and furniture and the occasional shredded suitcase. Bisharp clanged a hand against the railing three times and waited while looking up the spiral well. The answer was instant, two similar taps from several floors up. Bisharp in turn tapped one more time before ushering the other two up the stairs.

Sari and Mal started their ascent following Bisharp who crossed the steps in pairs, Malcolm marveled the Bisharp's endurance; it wasn't even starting to look tired while he was starting to get an ache in his ribs from running so much. Several floors passed faster than either of them expected but they were stopped suddenly as they reached what could have easily been the tenth floor. A man stood on the landing of the tenth floor with a rifle slung over his shoulder, his attention was focused primarily on Malcolm, as he noticed Malcolm's hand he instinctively brought the weapon to bare leveling it at Mal's head. "Stop right there pally."

Mal complied putting his hand's in the air as the man did so. "Whoa, take it easy. You have no idea what we've just been through."

"Oh yeah I do, cost me five bullets to save your ass." The man replied.

"That was you shooting?" Mal asked recalling their near death experience.

"Yeah, now how'd you come by that?" the man asked nodding his head at Malcolm's hand.

"Funny story." Malcolm began but was cut off as the man flipped the safety off his rifle with a click.

"You better get explaining."

"He cut it trying to open a bottle." Sari intervened seeing the stranger getting jumpy. He looked at her out of the corner of his eye before looking back at Malcolm. He then thumbed the safety back on before lowering the weapon.

"Why didn't you just say so." He said as he returned the gun to his shoulder. With his hands free he extended one to Malcolm. "Sorry about that, name's Leon by the way."

A little thrown off by his straightforwardness Malcolm was unsure how to react before he took Leon'ss hand. "Malcolm and this is Sari." He said gesturing to his lucario.

"Great to meet ya, its nice to see we're not the last friendly faces on earth. I guess you've already met Bisharp." Leon said as he gave a look at their guide.

"Yeah." Mal said as he looked Leon over. He wore camouflage pants and a light brown shirt, his rifle was also adorned with a long scope centered over the chamber and magazine. He also had a black belt with a handful of spare bullets and a satchel strapped to his leg with a few additional magazines and a combat knife. "So you're military?"

Leon looked him over appraisingly before answering, he nodded his head. "No, in case you hadn't noticed there really isn't a military anymore.Nowadays I like to consider myself freelance."

"I see." Mal nodded, he had to agree; it was nice to see someone hell-bent on having them dead. Not only that but he was one hell of a good shot. "That was good shooting back there."

"Years of practice." He said grinning. "You can imagine-"

He was cut off by a shriek in the distance, Leon then looked at a watch on his wrist. "Alright, I guess we'll have to save the chit-chat for later. The sun should be going down in about... Thirty minutes so we should probably get locked up before the hunters come out. "

The infected were more active at night, while the bunch they saw earlier could have numbered at at least half-a-dozen but when the sun went down that number was likely to double, even triple considering they were near the heart of the city now. Leon motioned for them to follow him as he headed back into a hallway just off the landing.

Malcolm and Sari both nodded at his proposal before he started walking. "Good, you stay right up my ass alright. You fall behind I might not come back for you." He told them before he and Bisharp started running.

Turning down a few corridors they came to a large hole that had been blow into the wall. A makeshift scaffolding had been jerry-rigged to crossed over to the adjacent building. The process began again except this time when they got to the stairs they climbed up a few more floors before coming to another hole. By the time Leon and Bisharp stopped they had easily passed through the entire block, now they were on the top floor of one of the larger skyscrapers and had a decent view of the surrounding city.

In this building part of the wall and roof had been removed by a wrecked helicopter that had crashed, the heights were dizzying but Malcolm was surprised to see they were directly over the building main entrance some thirty stories below. "Good for making sure nobody comes sneaking around. The infected never come off the ground floor unless they have a reason to so we're pretty safe up here."

"Did you crash this here?" Malcolm asked, it was rather convenient placement to have just happened by chance.

"Kind of, I was on it when one of the fliers tried to make a meal out of me and my team." Leon explained. "Needless to say, the thing got pancaked and the chopper got stuck here."

"So where's the rest of your team?" Sari asked.

Leon's expression darkened as he looked out over the city. "Well we've been here for a long time, since this whole thing started in fact and as the years went by they kind of got picked off. Now me and Bisharp are all that's left. Now don't let me darken the mood, that's my problem. Your welcome to stay with us though, feel free to pick a room though I recommend you stay up here on the top floor."

"Alright." Malcolm said turning with Sari beside.

"Oh hey, sorry about the whole 'You better explain' bit, you can't be too careful." He said mocking earlier when he was pointing the gun at Mal.

"Its alright but thanks anyway." Malcolm said walking down the hallway. He wasn't very surprised to find each of the doors were unlocked, not very picky the two went into the first room to find everything in almost perfect condition save for a fine layer of dust over everything. The walls were stacked with a few boxes of supplies, food for the most part, along with several cases of water and a pair of rifles leaning against the door frame.

These were a different make, instead of the long and narrow shape of Leon's rifle these were shorter and bit more stocky. The magazine was also longer and curved instead of small and square. They also each had a scope but they were fairly smaller, they were cylindrical and had red lenses instead of the larger funnel shape Leon used.

Upon closer inspection Mal also found a small camping stove which used gas instead of wood like a campfire. Malcolm saw this and smiled to himself, not only were safer here than they had been anywhere else but it looked like they were in for a properly cooked, hot dinner. Most of the things he carried could be eaten cold since it was a bit trickier cooking over a fire. "In the mood for a normal meal?"

Sari's ears perked up at the idea. "Am I?" She said cheerfully. She had been watching him the whole time but didn't know what half of the items against the wall were and was willing to let him sort through. She had taken a seat on the bed and relished the comfort it provided over the ground they'd been sleeping on for the past several weeks.

"'Kay, I'll be right back." Mal said going back to the door, he peaked out to see Leon was already cooking on a similar stove by the helicopter remains. "Hey you mind if I use a few of the things you've got in here?"

"Not at all, help yourself." He said looking up from a pot he was stirring. With that Mal nodded and closed the door again behind him. After sorting through the various cans and packages of food he picked out a few things and pulled out his own cookware from his pack.

Since he had more to use their dinner was far more enjoyable than their usual quick bites here and there. In all honesty it was the first time they had eaten a full meal since this whole mess started, they'd always been careful not to attract attention from firelight or the smell of cooking food plus they tried to conserve every bite they had for as long as possible for the longer stretches of time before coming across a town or city to re-supply.

Though the lack of spices left the meal a little bland it was nice to have something warm fill their bellies. From the time he had started cooking to the time they finished the sun had begun its descent and just before it was totally dark Leon knocked on the door handing Malcolm a box of candles and a lighter when he opened it. Malcolm took the box thanking Leon again. Sari and Malcolm didn't intend to stay awake long though, they had had a long day and now were planning to enjoy the comfort Leon had provided for them.

Sari woke up first, the sounds of the infected echoed over the city like a haunting melody growing louder as more added to the din. Malcolm also rose with a start jumping into a sitting position, he had taken to sleeping on the couch while Sari took the bed so he was halfway across the room. Thinking that the infected had found them he ran for the door to find Leon and Bisharp, they were right where he last saw them by the helicopter hull.

Staying low out of habit Mal found that the two were actually sleeping through the noise. Putting a hand on Leon's shoulder and giving him a light shake. He also woke with a start and immediately wrapped a hand around his rifle. "Whats up?"

"Don't you hear that?" Mal asked, he couldn't believe Leon wasn't even slightly disconcerted by it.

"Yeah, they do that when the sun goes down." Leon rather uncaringly said moving to where he was able to look down at the ground. Malcolm looked with him and swayed uncomfortably from the height. This high up it was hard to make out specific shapes but the darkness seemed to churn from the various forms of the infected moving on the shaded streets below. Another series of shrieks split the night and almost did the same with their ears as they watched, at that moment Sari made herself known by grabbing hold of Malcolm's arm. It looked like it was going to be a long night.