Chapter 2 – Snared

Night was advancing on the four now, and the futility of their situation kept them put in the little clearing they had collapsed in just a few hours earlier. The heat of the jungle began to die with the day but there was no comfort in it. The enemy would be upon them soon, and they had taken this precious time to rest their bodies the best they could.

Distantly in the brush, a scuffle could be heard, and the boys could easily identify it as something feral. There was the scurrying of feet, the shuffling of grasses and branches, and finally a shrill cry from some small animal. The obnoxious buzz of the jungle became diluted and calmed, and they could hear the tearing of meat and crunch of bones. Something had been tracked, chased, and killed.

"Why is this happening?" Tails' voice rose almost to a shriek. Tears washed down his face, leaving the fur beneath his eyes and cheeks cleaner. "W-what did we do?" He continued on, desperate to get some sort of answer from his elder friends, desperate to understand what their struggle was for. "The humans… They've never done anything like this to us before. Why now?"

His questions were met merely with silence, and the fox babbled to himself about the possibilities of the situation. Shadow, finding his panicking hard to ignore, trembled with anger as he pawed at the dirt around him. His hand fell over a flat stone about the size of his fist and he scooped in out of the earth before rearing back his arm. He thrust his forearm forward and released the stone, pegging the whimpering fox in the side of the ribs. "Will you shut the hell up!"

This only intensified Tails' cries as he fell to his side and clutched at where the rock had made impact. His sobs were breathless gasps now between strained, dragging yelps. No sooner had Shadow pelted the stone was Sonic on him, pressing his face down into the dirt. Shadow grunted nauseously as he felt his blue counterpart's knee dig into his stomach, and he struggled from under him until he managed to kick the other hedgehog off and throw him back against one of the surrounding trees. Sonic seemed one step ahead of him, however, and used the tree to propel himself back at his doppelganger, who was scurrying hurriedly to his feet. Just as quickly as he managed to do so, he was thrown back down by the force of Sonic's rebound.

Knuckles, who had been snoring soundly through the beginning of their struggle, was eventually roused by Tails' cries. "Hey.." the echidna grumbled, watching the unfolding scene through blurry vision. As his brain began to grasp the situation, he tore groggily to his feet after Sonic before he could jump Shadow again. "Hey! HEY!"

"What do you think you're doing!" Sonic demanded, struggling against the hold the echidna had him in.

"I'm tired of listening to that little shit!" Shadow snapped, kicking dirt up at the two as he climbed to his feet. "All he does is bitch!"

"He's eight years old!"

"If you would've had the guts or the brains to ditch him when this mess started, we might've had a chance!"

"You selfish-!" Sonic stopped himself as he felt Knuckles' body suddenly tense up against his own, and he managed to slip out of his grasp as the echidna slapped his hand over something that had become embedded in his shoulder blade and tore it loose from his skin. Slowly, he opened his huge glove to reveal some sort of dart in the middle of his palm. The two hedgehogs leapt back as if Knuckles had suddenly contracted some horrible disease – it was a tranquilizer.

The three stared for what must have been only five seconds, but felt like an eternity to them. Finally, Knuckles clenched his fingers into a fist once more and his lips curled into a toothy grin. "Damn." He breathed, defeat as thick in his voice as the sedatives were becoming in his blood. Certainly he, as enervated and spent as he was, was still the picture of power. To be brought down by these cowardly humans so effortlessly was … "Pathetic."

"Tails! Get up buddy, we -" Knuckles' collapse caught the corner of Sonic's eye, who then promptly peeled the fox kid from the ground instead of waiting for some response. Shadow had disappeared by now, and whether he had fled from the scene or gone to confront their hidden assailants Sonic wasn't sure of. He awkwardly juggled Tails in his arms for a moment, finding the fox surprisingly cumbersome when he could barely support his own weight.

But adrenaline was pumping fiercely through the hedgehog now, allowing him to ignore the sting of his muscles, and the world around him seemed to become slower and clearer through his emerald green eyes. His body was giving him the opportunity to escape, and he wasn't going to abuse it.

Without considering direction, Sonic bolted into the refuge of the trees, which lurched after him from the force of his sudden acceleration. Branches and vines slapped at his face, scraping and hindering him – even nature seemed against him now. This, he knew, was entirely his fault anyway. But he had never imagined it would get so out of hand, that it would drag all of his companions down with him. His arms pressed his little brother's body closer to his, and in return he could feel the kit's fingers press his back.

He had to protect Tails.

The others could handle themselves, he told himself, lying of course. But Tails, how could he possibly manage in his state? No, he wouldn't even ponder the thought.

He had to protect Tails.

If not for the current preoccupation of Sonic's brain, he might have grasped a vital clue: the further his feet carried them, the quieter the jungle became. But it was too late now, their fate was set, and suddenly Sonic found himself tumbling to the ground. He wriggled violently and tried to lift his head to distinguish which way was up, but found moving was utterly impossible. It was not his own physical ability that prevented him from doing so, but instead something that had entangled his body.

He could feel a sharp stinging as something pierced shallowly into this back- and another, and another. Gradually, his own body seemed to become too heavy for himself. There was a sinking feeling about him now, and he found he could only lie there, drowning in his own inhibitions and cowardice. One of his hands brushed lethargically over Tails' head who was screaming now from under him, but the noise seemed distant to him.

They had been tracked, chased, and now…

Okay, chapter two! Hope you're enjoying it so far, and that I'm not getting too out of character here or inconsistent in style. (Gah, why I am so nervous?) I have several ideas for an ending in my head, though I'm starting to lean toward one in particular that's pretty gruesome. I'm not sure how much longer the story will go on, maybe a few more chapters. I don't want to run the risk of dragging it out too long and end up killing it, especially on my first try. ㅋㅋㅋ

I think I'm going to draw a little before continuing to update, so in you in a day or two!

Thanks for the reviews you guys! I'll try not to let you down! 감사 합니다 그리고 안녕히 가세요!

파바-앚우카