Hello again!

Here's chapter 2! I hope you all enjoyed the first chapter! Be sure to keep reading and reviewing! Enjoy!

Ciao! x

They didn't have much time, but enough to split up into teams and allow everyone to collect what they needed from their homes and get back to the garage, ready to run away… to return? They planned, they hoped. Sonic took Amy, Cream and Cosmo to their homes, allowing them only a few minutes each to get any and all important supplies plus maybe something of value into a bag each and get back to the garage where Tails was waiting for them.

Knuckles and Rouge went to their homes together, doing much the same, as well as Shadow and Tikal, and Silver and Blaze. Manic went with his sister and Sally, meeting everyone back again with Tails in record time. The twin-tailed kitsune had stored as many first-aid supplies as well as any weapons they might need and readied himself to leave. Once they were all back, they found themselves standing silent for a few seconds, exchanging knowing glances with one another.

This was it. The day they never thought they'd see. Being forced to flee after being unable to save next to anyone. They looked around the room, wondering how they were going to do this. Tails stroked the X-Tornado tentatively, knowing this could very well be the last time he'd ever see her. He took in a deep breath before Cosmo took his hand and led him away, knowing it was now or never.

'We'll have to take the back track into the forest and then go off road from there. We'll need to keep running until we can see the moon through the smoke again.' Silver informed the team, throwing a backpack over one shoulder.

'Agreed. We'll never all be able to sleep at once, either. When we set up camp, we'll have to take turns keeping guard.' Blaze added.

'Alright, let's get out of here.' Sonic nodded, ushering a shaky Amy along by the small of her back.

As they all walked towards the garage door, stopping briefly to look around and check the coast was clear, Sonic and Amy exchanged a brief glance. She tried to hide the fear, the grief and the pain from her eyes but Sonic saw right through it. He gave her a half-hearted smile, squeezing her hip a little and giving her a nod before the two walked forward, everyone else following behind. Amy looked over her shoulder at Cream, who had brought some clean clothes and gloves but didn't have the chance to change yet. She was looking down at her figure, her mother's blood still soaking the fabric that enclosed her.

They all made it around the back of the house, constantly checking over their shoulders and holding onto one another before they met the beginning of a back road that led to the forest. They began to walk faster, faster, faster until they began jogging, running, sprinting. The three hedgehogs pulled everyone along until they reached the tree line of the forest. Shadow and Tikal stopped at the first line of bushes, waiting for everyone else to run through until they followed behind. Shadow ran through, Tikal staying back a few seconds to look behind her and see the last little bit of destruction happen throughout the city in the distance.

'Tikal?' Shadow's husky voice whispered as he came back for her, pulling her along before they ran to catch up to the others.

They had all stopped for a second for Tails pull out a few matching gadgets and pass them around to a few members of the gang. Those members took them without question, examining them silently and anxiously, wanting to keep moving. The young kitsune zipped up his bag before switching on his own device, allowing the others to light up on their own.

'I've been working on these for a while. They still have a few glitches, but they'll help us out with leaps and bounds.' Tails shrugged.

'What do they do?' Sonia questioned as she held the one he handed her.

'Everyone needs to scan their finger prints into any of the machines so it registers that we're friend rather than foe, anything else that isn't in that machine, will register as an enemy.' Tails explained, 'Of course, you'll need to be careful. It could end up just being a bird or mouse – even a citizen that escaped the chaos in the city earlier. However, if it is one of the Anti-Mobians or even Eggman, we'll be ready.'

'And if we do run into one of them? We don't all exactly have the same combat skills as Alicia or Fiona?' Cosmo questioned, only for Tails to throw another large bag he was carrying onto the ground.

It clanked as it hit the ground, the metallic sound ringing a familiar tone in the ears of those such as Shadow and Rouge. However, Cosmo gave Tails a suspicious look, fearing the worst as she cautiously approached the bag and unzipped it slowly, revealing the one thing she feared it would be. She opened it so everyone could see, some turning away in fear, the others knowing this was for the best… hand guns, rifles, knives and weapons of all kinds that could fit in there.

'No. No, this is insane. There's no way I'm letting you put a weapon in the hands of Cosmo or Cream or-'

'You don't think I could do it?' Cream cut Knuckles off, that low, mature voice still present.

Everyone's eyes fell on her again as she walked over the bag, firm and strong, before pulling out a hand gun and loading it smoothly. She twirled it around a few times before examining it again. Even Shadow was a little edgy, watching the young rabbit handle a gun with such ease. Evil glares were shot his way, assumptions being made that he was the master behind this lesson, but no. It was as though something had been unleashed inside her, and she was ready to take action.

'Cream?' Sally walked up to the young bunny cautiously, 'How did you learn to do that?'

'I've seen Shadow fiddle with his hand guns loads of times, loading and unloading subconsciously while I was sitting next to him.' Cream shrugged as she unloaded and reloaded her weapon again, eyes falling back on the ebony hedgehog.

'That's not my fault, and you all know it!' He jumped in, firmly.

'Everyone take something.' Rouge stated firmly as she pulled out her choice weapon, a shot gun small enough to attach to her side.

'W-What?' Tikal questioned, uneasily.

'Just in case,' Amy stepped in and took out a knife for herself before her eyes caught Sonic's. 'You never know.'

Everyone looked around for a second, some uneasy and some waiting with a surprising amount of patience for the others. Sonic gave her a nod through a sigh, knowing her hammer may not be enough if push came to shove, before pulling out a weapon for himself, one he wasn't familiar with and wasn't confident using. They quickly handed out a knife or a gun so everyone had something to protect themselves with.

'Why do you even have all these, Tails?' Manic questioned as he zipped up the bag, still half full with extra weapons and gave it back to the kitsune.

'For emergencies such as these.'

'Gee, you really are the over-prepared type, man.' Silver sighed, wondering how long Tails had ever thought of the possibility of an occurrence like this.

'We need to move, we've already wasted too much time here.' Sonia spoke up, anxious to get moving.

'She's right, the city will be a ghost town by now. We should head in-'

Rouge was cut off by an explosion, one that was far closer to them than the city. It shook the ground violently, catching them all off guard, some falling to the ground as others let out screeches. As they all composed themselves, they looked around for any sign of where it came from, to see new flames peering over a distant tree line, yet one not so far away. Sporadic pieces of metal started to drop down around them, knowing something was hit and destroyed, including the bomb itself.

'Oh my, Chaos.' Amy choked as she picked up a piece of metal that fell in front of her, one with Eggman's logo.

'They're his bombs? They're so advanced, though? How did he come up with something like this?' Blaze questioned.

'Prower? Maybe Fiona. My questioned is, how did they trick him into doing this? He never would have agreed willingly?' Knuckles insisted.

'That's true. Even he never-'

Tikal's words were cut off by another bomb, one no more than a mile away and enough to make all of them fall back a few feet. In a panic, they all scurried to their feet and collected their bags before looking around to see where the bomb had hit, only to wish they had continued running so Sonic and Tails didn't have to see this… their home up in flames, soon to be nothing but a pile of rubble smoke. Sonic didn't have many personal belongings, so he was able to take them with him, but Tails was watching all his inventions, his work, the X-Tornado… be reduced to ash.

Before the first tear threatened to fall, another bomb exploded, this time even closer. They knew where they were, and they were watching. The gang was looking around, their panic stricken state freezing them in place for a few seconds, trying to look for cameras or even hover crafts with their enemies in them. Shadow, Rouge and Sonic came to a second before some of the others before beginning to push everyone forward, further and further into the depths of the forest and off the track.

'Run! Run as fast as you can!' Sonic screamed over the noise, his ears ringing and everything else becoming a blur.

.

For the hedgehog trio, to run at top speed non-stop for a lengthy period of time is regular, but even they are used to taking short breaks to take in the scenery. Which makes it that much more unimaginable to think what it was like for the rest of the gang who didn't have speed as a strong suit. It's amazing what adrenaline can do though, keep pushing and pushing until the body doesn't feel anything but the fear. An hour and a half. Ninety minutes of non-stop running at full speed. It seemed impossible, but they did it. They couldn't hear the bombs anymore, and the smoke was gone, at least from here.

Even Sonic and the others who were used to running were exhausted now that the adrenaline rush had surpassed. Everyone's legs were shaking aggressively until they caved beneath the rest of their bodies into the cold, dark grass. They were all panting heavily, trying to catch their breaths as they soaked up the soothing feeling of the grass beneath them. Manic and Sonic were lying by their sister who pulled them into her sides, holding her brothers briefly before releasing them.

Amy and Tikal were by Cosmo and Cream's sides, trying to keep them from falling unconscious. Silver and Tails were by Blaze's side, trying to wake her up, knowing she was exhausted from using all her powers trying to manipulate the fire that continually fell around them for a while. Knuckles, Shadow, Sally and Rouge were spread out around the others, coughing and spluttering as they tried to compose themselves before Shadow was able to sit himself up.

'We'll set up camp here tonight. There's no way any of us can keep going.'

'How do we know it's safe?' Cosmo questioned, turning her head in the streaked hedgehog's direction.

'Let's be real, Cosmo,' Cream scoffed in Amy's arms, startling the pink heroine slightly, 'nowhere is safe.'

'She's right, we can't second guess what's safe and what's not when we know anything could happen.' Sonic spoke up, firmly.

'Sonic…'Amy trailed off, already seeing his cocky and upbeat attitude disappear from his personality by the second.

'He's right. Let's just all try and get some sleep.' Sally sighed, before turning over and getting comfortable.