all alone
waiting for you…
cough.
open my eyes.
A flash of light through the window.
Lightning strikes. Thunder catches up in one, two, three, four, five, six, seve-
The loud noise causes me to jump slightly, even though I knew it was coming. They say that the time it takes for the thunder to sound after the lightning strikes can be used as a tool, to measure how far away it is. They say a second represents a mile, give or take. That would make the lightning roughly seven miles away.
The constant pelting of droplets against the tin shack. The hollow sound of rain pattering against the roof to this metal box that I find myself prisoner to.
Draped over my limp, unmoving form is a ratty sheet, riddled with holes. It's more like a rag than a sheet.
Fetal position.
Hugging knees to my chest.
No pillow. My head rests on the metal bar that holds this cot together. My nose practically wedged between my knees. My breath is hot and stale. Stagnant. Breathing in and out, the same recycled air over and over again. Starting to feel light headed.
Starting to feel dizzy.
Deep breath.
Hold.
My head's encased in a dark fog, so to speak.
Everything's… fuzzy.
It's hard to think properly under these conditions.
Hard to focus.
I'm starting to get claustrophobic. The metal walls are closing in.
I feel trapped. I feel useless.
I am.
What good it a hero with no one left to save?
They've long since gone. Nothing could be done to prevent it.
Shells remain. Only shells. Shells that clutter the air and make it hard to breathe. Starting to feel worse, just thinking about it. Had to leave. Had to get out.
It started, oh goodness, when did it start, it started a while ago, back before I was so hungry, it started when we were happy, it started when we were confident, it started when we thought we fucking had him. We were so fucking sure of it. We had him for sure. I guess this all really started on an expedition to the big city. We were going to cripple him permanently, by taking out all four of his factories.
We were going to do a lot of things.
Crickets chirping.
Owls hooting.
Feet pounding against the forest floor.
Twigs snapping.
The sound of my breath.
A symphony that might as well be silence.
My head hurts.
Grinding my teeth.
Tired.
His limp, unconscious form draped across my arms. His lead lolling back and forth with every step I take.
Running. Trying to. Out of breath. Tired. Worn out. Weighed down by deadweight.
Starting to feel sick to my stomach. My mouth watering, like I'm about to throw up.
Sweating.
Head swimming.
Staggering through the shadows of the trees. Off course, stepping diagonally. It's hard to keep straight.
There it is. Just ahead of me.
Just need to push my self.
Legs pumping, pounding onto the ground. Muscles burning as they work to push me forward.
So close.
Legs giving out.
He's too heavy.
Falling to my knees, he limply rolls out of my arms and onto the dirt below.
My throat is harsh. When I call out, it causes me to cough.
I'm sorry, Antoine.
"Now, what in tarnation happened to him?"
"We split up."
"Duh. What's going on? Where's Sally?"
"That's my way of telling you that I don't know. We split up. I wasn't there. Found him like that."
"And Sally?"
"I don't fucking know, okay?"
She sighs and crosses her normal arm over her metal one. Leaning her butt against the hospital bed. Tail just peaking over the edge. Twitching impatiently. Her gaze is cast downwards before her eyes close.
"Why don't you start by telling me what you do know."
"Alright, fine. As planned, we split up four ways. As planned, I snuck into the city, and made my way into the factory. Retreating into alleyways as soon as I heard the whirring of a search 'bot. As planned, I wasn't seen. As planned, I placed the bomb."
"I get it, alright? Get to the damn point."
"No, you don't. Do you want to hear what happened?"
"Yes, already."
"As planned, the bomb went off. But so did the alarms. After my placing the bomb, I made my way to the forest line, to watch the explosion. Three explosions. The alarm sounded, and I started to run. The fourth explosion was delayed, but it didn't register then. I was too busy running. Made my way to the ring pool to wait. Waited for forty-five fucking minutes, and you know how much I hate waiting. Made my way back through the woods when I hear
a rustling in the distance.
"Hello?"
My ears perk up, neck straightened to full extent. Scanning the darkness for the source of the sound.
SNAP
That was far too loud for an animal.
"Hello?"
Silence.
A few seconds go by. The rustling continues as the advancing figure stumbles out into a small clearing, appearing as but a silhouette under the starlight. Filtered by trees.
"Hey!"
The mobian shadow folds its arms over its chest, and clutches its sides, bending slightly forward. The moon beams down on his blonde hair.
A sparkle catches my eye. His revolver clutched tightly in his left hand, the barrel poking out from underneath his right elbow. His walk is very stiff. Loosely clutching his gun, he makes his way over to me. Coughing and babbling.
"There was nothing I could do.."
"Antoine?"
The coughing gets louder. He falls to his knees, coughing and retching.
"What happened?"
He falls to his side.
Rush over to him.
He rolls over to his back. Face hidden by the shadows of the cluttered leaves, only cracks of light shining on his right, watering eye. The moonlight illuminates the dark blue jacket from the right shoulder, and on passed the elbow. The gun still sparkling, his arms still crossed.
"Stay back" he says weakly.
"What? Why?"
His thumb fumbles with the hammer over the handle of the pistol. I can feel my eyes widening.
It clicks into place. His arms move, as the gun is shakily raised. The trembling barrel pointed right at my face.
"Hold on there, Ant. Easy, now"
"Go" he says. "Go home, Sonic. Leave me here. Go home and don't come back for me, you understand?"
"What?!"
"Get the fuck out of here, Sonic. Go warn the others, before it's too late."
"Come on, Antoine. I need you to put down that gun, okay? I need you to put it down, so I can help you, okay?"
"I didn't want to have to do this in front of you…"
"Give me the gun, Antoine."
His wrist falls to his chest, the sparkling barrel lowered, and resting against his blue jacket.
His other hand weakly reaches for my own. I take grasp, and help him as he's trying to get up. Using my weight to help him stand, his face is revealed by what little light glows in the sky up there.
He looks… dead.
Falling back to his knees, his head drops as he vomits into his lap. Retching followed by a splatter. He tries to scramble to his feet once again, but falls back on his ass., his grip breaking free of mine.
He looks up at me, face partially hidden in the darkness.
Half of it.
He's sitting up, his wide blue eyes shimmering at me. His face tilted up at me. Moonlight reflecting on his irises.
His hair; kinky.
His breathing; rapid and hoarse.
His eyes watering. Hopeless and dead.
The outline of the gun can be seen as he lifts it up. Bringing it to his chin.
"NO!"
Click.
Click.
Click.
Click.
Click.
Click.
...
Thud.
The pistol falls to the ground beneath, lost in the somewhat tall grass. Antoine doesn't try to retrieve it, he just buries his hands in his face, and for the first time ever before me, Antoine started to cry.
Standing here, speechless, no idea what to say, no idea what needs to be done.
I pick him up, against his will, and begin to carry him. He fights me for a second, but he's too weak. He gives in. He goes on to start begging me to not only leave him there, but to put him out of his misery. To kill him.
The sweet release of death.
Babbling nonsense.
Crying.
Begging.
Just ignore it.
Ignore all of it.
Nothing else I
could do."
Her head turns sideways to look at me. I'm standing at the foot of the bed, Antoine passed out in it. Bunnie leaning against its side. She stares at me questionably.
"What?"
Bunnie is acting strange. It's almost like she blames me.
She and Antoine had something going on, I think. They never flaunted it, so I couldn't be sure. If they did, they kept it pretty much under wraps. But you can tell by the way she's acting that even if they had nothing going on between them, she wanted there to be. She was worried, to say the least.
The door opens and Rotor steps in.
"What the fuck happened?"
"Where the fuck have you been?"
"I was wandering circles in that fucking forest, man. Was chased off in the wrong direction by SWATbots. Ran out of ammo. After spending about an hour and a half in hiding, I wandered around the forest for god knows how long. Where's Sally?"
"I don't know. I was hoping you did."
"What the fuck happened to Antoine?"
"We don't know. Found him in a bad way. Did you see Sally any after we split up?"
"No. Not at all."
"Shit. We have to go back and get her."
"Tonight?"
"Of course! Do you mean to tell me you would sleep while that psychotic human does god knows what to our le-"
"Excuse me," Bunnie interrupts "but Antoine is trying to sleep. Think you could take it outside?"
"What's the plan?"
Holster my sidearm, and pick the assault rifle off the table in front of me. Rotor's loading his shotgun. He cocks it to fit another shell, and he hit's the safety button. He looks at me, waiting for an answer.
Look down at the assault rifle cradled in my arms. The stock resting my bicep. Cock it, and sling the strap over my shoulder.
"This is my plan"
Grab another clip with my left hand and fish out a handful of bullets from the box on the table in front of me. My fingers start forcing them into the clip one by one.
"Not much of a plan"
The clip's full, and I stuff it in my vest pocket.
"What's your plan?"
"What?"
"Exactly."
"I don't know, man. I just think this could get us killed and all. Just rushing in there with guns and a limited ammunition supply?"
"Here's how the plan goes, Rotor. We get over to that city as fast as possible and find Sally. After that, we get back to Knothole. You understand, now?"
"What if we don't find Sally?"
"Not an option. You ready?"
"Ready as I'll ever be."
Reach into my vest pocket and pull out a thin metal box, and open it.
Two cigarettes roll back and forth with my steps, bouncing off one another. Grab the one on the left, and bring it to my mouth. Close the box and light it.
"You think I could have one of those?"
Remove the one from my lips and hand it over. Reopen the box and snatch the remaining one up.
Like Rotor needs one. We would have been there in half the time if it weren't for his extremely slow speed.
I decide I'll save it for later, and put it back in the box.
Place the box back into my pocket.
"Who rolled this?"
"Did it myself."
"You suck at rolling, Sonic. You're fucking terrible at it."
"Fuck you, Rotor"
"What is that?"
"Fog. It's fog."
The city lights illuminate the cloud that it's engulfed in. The once bright lights are now a dim white glow. The top of the cloud drifting away in a stream, and being replaced somehow.
"What do you make of it?"
"I make that it's fog."
Pause.
Remove the assault rifle from my shoulder and ready it in my arms.
"Something doesn't feel right."
"Think about all of our previous missions. Does it ever feel right?"
"You have a point."
"Let's move"
We step passed the tree line, and make our way across the field, and into the fog.
It smells funny.
We continue advancing.
Finger the safety button, until I hear it click. My grip around the handle tightens, finger around the guard, rather than nestled on the trigger.
Don't want to get jumpy and shoot this thing at the wrong time.
Drifting in the fog.
We stay pretty much shoulder to shoulder, in order to keep track of one another. Just a foot or so of distance between us would make it impossible for us to see one another.
We blindly float until-
"You hear that?"
"Hear what?"
"Shhh……"
Silence. Nothing.
Ears straining to listen.
Suddenly a thud. A click. Some whirring.
"SONIC!"
It's Sally's voice!
"SALLY!"
"Sonic I don't think-"
Start to run off, but he grabs me by the vest, his shotgun barrel dragging against the cement behind him as he tries to keep up with me.
"SONIC! HELP!"
It's coming from ahead, in what seems like the center of the city.
Shoes beating against the cement. Rotor's shotgun barrel carelessly dragging. The force pulling me back.
"SONIC!"
"SONIC!"
Two voices screaming at me from two different directions, and they both want the same thing. They both need the same thing.
They both need me.
Pushing forward, being pulled back, I stumble forward, landing hard on my right knee. Call out to her, but she doesn't respond.
She's lost in this fog, just as I. Floating out there somewhere.
I have to find her.
Force myself back up and step forward once again.
"SONIC!"
"You can't leave me out here, man!"
"SONIC!"
"WAIT!"
I break free of Rotor's grip, and race forward through the mist.
"SONIC!"
"SONIC!"
"SONIC"
My brain feels like it's splitting in half, but there's a glow off in the distance, a bright glow and if I can make it over there maybe I can find my way, maybe I'll be able to see and my head hurts, oh god it hurts I don't want to carry on but I have to, I have to I'm so fucking nervous and scared but I push forward towards the light until the fog finally starts clearing up, and I can see her figure.
"SONIC"
But she isn't moving. And neither is her mouth.
"SONIC!"
Her voice calling out to me, but her mouth doesn't move a muscle.
Her face doesn't move a muscle.
Her face isn't her face anymore. It doesn't move a muscle, because it doesn't have muscle. Just bloody, scraped bone.
Her eyes pushed in by blunt force.
Her voice calls out to me from a tape that was placed beneath her, a couple of feet away.
Her body was tied and nailed to a stake. Her organs lay in a pile next to the tape player.
Lump caught in my throat. Heart pounding. Head splitting.
This isn't real. This can't be.
Start backing away.
Around her neck is a sign. Written in blood across the white surface. He's laughing at me.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHH
I can hear him, that sick fuck. His voice echoing over some loud speaker. Laughing.
"AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH! AHA! AHA! AHA!"
Gun's raised, at the ready. Backing up, and scanning the smoke for Robotnik when suddenly I back into something. Immediately turn around to see-
Rotor.
"Soni-"
Spotlights suddenly shine down upon us.
Dodge roll to my right, landing on my face, and scraping it against the pavement. I can feel the torn skin without even having to touch it.
Roll over, and take aim at the spotlights.
Pull the trigger and hold it down. Sparks emit from the lights as they are blown out, the loud shattering of glass barely sounding over the gunfire.
Shield my face while backpedaling against the cement until I come in contact with a wall. Using it to help me get up, I search my surroundings.
It takes a moment for my eyes to adjust. My back to a building,
Gunfire.
The shotgun.
He fires and pumps. I can hear it from my left.
Make my way around the corner of the building behind me. The shotgun goes off again in just enough time for me to catch the spray of mechanical parts and sparks flying in my general direction.
Rotor's gun pointed at me, flashlight shining on me. The flashlight is poorly taped to the end of the gun.
"You okay, man? You don't look too hot."
"I'm fine. We have to get out of here."
"Did you find Sal-"
Rotor's cut off by a gurgling noise, his silhouette clutching his neck.
He falls to his knees.
He's hit by another bullet, and his head caves in.
Skull matter and brain splattering on the cold concrete below.
The alarm sounds, and more lights shine down upon me. The laughter ringing once again over the PA system, Robotnik's reinforcements marching towards me form the distance.
Before I know what's hit me, I've thrown the assault rifle over my shoulder, and started to run. Snatching the shotgun out of Rotor's arms, it snags and slows me down. A bullet tears through my vest and grazes my side.
Dash into the mouth of a nearby alleyway. Turn off the flashlight. Press my side against the brick wall, and drop to my knees.
Footsteps approaching.
Pump the shotgun.
The first one's silhouette steps into view, carefully scanning the perimeter. But not low enough.
Fire.
His right kneecap is blown through the back of his leg as the shin and thigh disconnect.
Cock.
He falls.
Aim.
He lands.
Fire.
His head caves in on itself, and I throw the shotgun to my feet, and remove the rifle from my shoulder. Aim at the lip of the alleyway. Getting off my knees to a crouching position, I dash to the other side of the alley, leaning my back against the adjacent wall.
The group of four is slowly approaching the corner, watching that side for me.
Scoot closer.
Take aim.
The automatic weapon empties in their general direction as the bodies fall. Drop the clip and reload.
Race over to the shotgun. Remove the taped on light forcefully, and flip a bitch. Make my way down the alley, and take a right.
The alarm still sounding across the city,. Turn the flashlight on. There's one around here somewhere…
Aha! A manhole.
Set the gun down. I can hear shouts in the distance. Fingers worm through the holes in the metal cover, and pry it open.
Pick the gun up, and throw the strap over my shoulder once again. Flashlight in hand, I descend into the darkness.
After replacing the manhole cover, there is an absence of light.
Blindly and slowly make my way down the ladder. Before I know it, I'm ankle deep in what I'm guessing is the waste of Robotnik and his goons.
Scouring the metal flashlight for the switch with my fingers.
There it is.
Flip the switch. It clicks into place, and the light barely makes a difference. Batteries are dying, and it shows. The light, instead of shining a bright white, it glows a dim yellow. Its radius has shrunk significantly.
Sigh and shine it in front of me. Insects scurry up the grungy walls, and away from the light as if it were an enemy.
Spiders and roaches the size of your fist.
A chill runs down my spine.
Back into the ladder. My ass catches on a rung.
I have to sit down for a minute.
Breathing hard. Can't help it. So tired.
Close my eyes.
Her face comes to mind.
Eyes pop open.
Heart racing.
Sally…
It can't be real. Couldn't have.
It's hard to believe any of this is real.
But it all hurts too much to be a dream.
Had to get moving. Been wandering forever through these dark sewers.
Looking for a way out.
Find myself in a branched off underground tunnel before I even remember the existence of Lower Mobius.
A sanctuary right here in the belly of the beast, and I've accidentally come across one of the many tunnels that lead in.
Keep the light pointed at the ground in front of me, as not to trip. Random scraps of metal clutter the walkway. Discarded machines and their rusting parts. Shoes squishing with each step I take.
Rats the size of digs scurrying across the light and off into the darkness.
Fallow the curved tunnel around to the right to see a straight away with a flickering light at the very end of the tunnel. Off in the distance.
My gaze alternates back and forth from the ground before me, and the almost rapidly flickering light.
As I get closer, the mouth of the tunnel gets bigger. The light gets brighter. Always off longer than on. Occasionally flickering on and letting me catch a brief glimpse, but I can't make anything out.
Suddenly the smell of decay hits me in the face. Something is rotting down here, and the odor gets stronger as I approach. I remove a handkerchief from my vest pocket, and put it over my nose and mouth in attempt to filter the air.
Sweating.
Light headed.
My throat itches and my mouth is dry.
Before I know it, the light cuts back on and I'm at the mouth of the cave staring at Lower Mobius for half a second before it goes pitch black again. The flashlight finally dies and I toss it to the side.
"Hello?"
Silence. Blindly step forward, and the light flickers on again for another fraction of a second. I catch a glimpse of a figure leaning against a wall in the distance. Stepping slowly in that general direction passed the seemingly abandoned underground homes.
"Hey!"
The light flickers back on and I see why he didn't answer me.
He's covered in blood.
The light flashes again to expose the bloody, blister covered corpse that was once Griff.
The sight of it makes me gag and cough into the handkerchief. Stumble around in the darkness, using the brief instances of light to search for the ladder that leads to Robotnik's fortress.
I'd rather face my own death than suffocate on that of others.