Author's note: I'm… gonna have to stray away from the initial shipping plan. I don't think I'm ever going to make promises for pairings again, because one thing to make a story more interesting is to let it change with the tides. Don't try to adhere to anything too much. If you feel better having it go in a different way, let it take you.

"Pull over," said Knuckles, just a few miles down the road.

At the request, Rachel's heart and stomach did a near-absolute double-take. Oh, God… Emetophobia and a sudden request for you to pull over were NEVER a great combination.

Trying to swallow back something of her own, she looked back at the echidna, as did everyone else.

As it would turn out, he wasn't sick. Just sick of this bullcrap. Sick of the awful decision he'd made. He had to cure Angel Island's fate, and that was not going to get done here.

"I'm leaving," he stated.

The entire car reacted in some way, shape, or form, Rachel with "Wait, what?!", Sonic with "Huh?!", Amy with "No!", and Shadow with a stare.

"Knuckles, you can't go out there!" Amy feared. "You'll be-"

"Eaten alive?" Knuckles replied, in a bit of a snarl. "Don't make me laugh. Even if I was, it'd be worth it."

"Geez, Knux," Sonic chuckled a bit.

"Don't call me that, bluey," Knuckles snapped. "…To be fair, it's not you all. I left Angel Island behind and need to return."

"But…" Amy tried to retaliate.

"Just THINK about what those things could be if they got ahold of the Master Emerald," Knuckles shook, a bit with rage, mostly with fear.

And for everyone, the reality finally set in.

"…I wish you all the best," Knuckles sighed. "Make it, okay?"

At that, Knuckles opened the door, closed it, and flew off somewhere. All in one fluid motion.

In one fell swoop, he was gone. For a split second, there was a gaping hole in everyone's hearts. Sure, Shadow and Amy had a bit more space now… but it was an empty fortune.

…What if this misguided snap decision was going to have him be torn to shreds and not be able to reverse it?

That's how it worked, Rachel supposed. Make a decision, face the consequences.

But these types of consequences? Did it really have to be this way?

It was like a mind-control chip on Rachel's mind for a minute. She'd get the mind off it and start brooding over it all over again, in one fluid pattern. It bore into her, like a worm.

That is, until more thoughts of crap hitting the fan occupied her mind when Sonic went to fill the gas tank and realized that half a can had leaked into nowhere.

"What if the dick that gave them to us cheated us?" asked Shadow, simply closing his eyes and pushing on the bridge of his nose with two of his fingers.

"Nope, there's a hole here," said Sonic. "Either way… man…"

And a few miles after that, a MONSOON of ash suddenly covered the car. All there was to be seen was a dance of black particles that came from some disaster in God-knows-what direction.

As it hit, Rachel nearly panicked in a fashion that would have driven the car off the road, but she quickly caught herself, took a deep breath, and stopped the car on what she had to infer was the side of the road.

She went to grab the handle to her door to perhaps clear this ash off the windshield, but was quickly stopped by a sharp "Don't go out there!" from Shadow. At first, she was irritated and had the urge to go out anyway.

But zombies. Darkness, and zombies.

"That ash could kill us," Shadow huffed.

And death.

So they waited. Waited with only each other and the SUV existing in the world. After about 10 minutes or so, the ash finally came away from the windshield. The light of the outside world started by shining in little strips, which eventually became most of the windshield.

"Should I turn the wipers on now?" asked Rachel at this point.

"That is best," Shadow nodded.

"Alright!" Sonic cheered, hurting Shadow's ears a bit and putting a cringe upon his face.

"Let's be on our way!" Amy cheered.

And so they were. Covering the 4,000 or so miles to Safe Haven, they could continue doing.

…But as if visibility was something only rich people could buy, they soon found themselves driving into curtains of fog. This wasn't impossible territory, though (it certainly wasn't black ash), and as such, nobody really had any feedback to give. Shadow grumbled a bit to himself and kept one eye on Rachel's driving, but that was about it.

And wouldn't you know it… they made it through the fog and were approaching a huge building. Amy was the first to recognize it at first sight; this was a mall.

As such, will there be more to buy and trade here, Rachel wondered?

Are any of the stores still open, Amy wondered?

What sort of mess could this lead to, both Sonic and Shadow wondered?