Well, I'm back from my holiday! I hope the wait for this chapter hasn't been so bad. So, I got six reviews and, as promised, here's chapter four. Thanks so much for the reviews. It was lovely coming back and reading them all. I'm so glad people like this story!

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"Look! There it is." I whispered, peeking from around the corner of a building.

"Stay hidden, Rose." Shadow replied before slightly pulling me back. Sure enough, the superstore car park was swarmed with those things. Chaos knows how many were inside!

"The car park is too crowded for us go through the front doors. From what I can see, those doors are still perfectly intact. We'll go around the back way." He said. I felt my knees trembling.

"B-b-but what about inside! We don't know how many of them are in there!" I hissed.

"I know, but it's a risk we must take. We are not safe out here."

I wasn't sure if we'd be safe in there either, but I didn't have a better plan and there was no way I was going to go against Shadow. I shivered slightly at what he would do.

"Right, We'll sneak around these cars, past the bushes, around the wall and into the building. Got it?" His red eyes bore into mine.

"Yeah. I guess so."

"Follow me and do not make any sound. If I hear so much as a squeak from you, I will abandon you so fast you won't know what happened!"

My eyes widened and I gulped. What would I do without Shadow?

"I warned you, Rose!" Shadow left a golden streak behind as he skated at light speed into the building. "SHADOW!" I yelled. The zombies were surrounding me. I had no-where to run. One of them came up to me and grabbed my shoulders...

"Rose!" Shadow hissed, shaking my shoulders.

"Ahhh! No! Get off!" I flailed my arms in an attempt to free myself from the grip.

"Rose! Shut up!" I blinked, realising where I was. I was safe! Well, safe with Shadow anyway. He placed his hand on my mouth and peaked around the corner. Soon after, he retracted his hand and looked into my eyes.

"What did I just tell you? Huh? You're lucky that none of them heard your stupid outburst."

I silently cursed. "S-sorry."

"Hmph, Idiot." I heard him mutter. "Come on!" He whispered harshly and dragged me to behind one of the cars. I felt a blush creep its way onto my face. Shadow the hedgehog was holding my hand!

'Oh relax, Amy. He's doing it so you don't get left behind.'

'If he doesn't want me to get left behind, then he must care!'

'Pfftt! That's what you want to think.'

I groaned inwardly. I was having a conversation with my sub-conscious! Shadow was right. I was an idiot...

I was pulled from my thoughts by Shadow roughly dragging me behind the bush and crouching down. I looked at our surroundings and saw that we had made it past the cars and the few zombies that were around there. Maybe we had a chance of surviving after all!

I gasped at a growling noise...coming from right in front of me! My jaw dropped in horror as I saw a face through the gap in the bush. It was staring right at me! I squeezed my eyes shut, desperately trying not to make any noise. I think I was more scared of what Shadow would do rather than of those things.

After a few minutes, which felt like hours to me, the zombie had passed and Shadow and I silently made our way to the back of the building where surprisingly, there was only one zombie.

"What do we do now?" I whispered, still holding Shadow's hand.

He furrowed his eyebrow, deep in thought. "I'm gonna have to kill it with my bare hands."

I grimaced at the thought. "Why not just shoot it." I replied, pointing to the two pistols that Shadow had in his holster.

"Ugh. Are you that much of an idiot, Rose? If I shoot it, then the shot will alert all the others nearby, not good! I could only shoot it if I had a silencer, which I don't!" He hissed.

I liked the sound of this silencer. It meant Shadow could shoot the zombies without others hearing. It definitely sounded better than killing it with bare hands. Unfortunately, that is just what Shadow was preparing to do. Which meant I would be left alone...

"Sh-Shadow. How are you going to kill it with your hands? I thought you said that only weapons could kill them?"

"In your case, yes. But not in mine."

"Huh? What do you mean in my case?"

Shadow rolled his eyes. "Well, I highly doubt you would know how to snap someone's neck, Rose."

I nearly puked at that thought, which made Shadow smirk. "Thought not." He replied and took the rifle from around his back. "Take this." He thrust it into my hands and pressed a small button. I was surprised at how heavy it was.

"Why?"

"Because I cannot kill this thing with a heavy rifle swinging from my back can I?"

"Guess not." I shrugged.

"I've enabled the safety lock. If you pull the trigger, it won't fire. Just keep a tight grip on it, don't drop it, and keep quiet."

And with that said, Shadow moved towards the stagnant being in front of us. He carefully made his way around discarded shopping trolleys, baskets and random bodies. I cringed as Shadow slipped in some blood. He quickly put his hand on the wall to steady himself before he fell and alerted the zombie. After he regained his composure, Shadow crept behind the being. Placing one arm around its neck, and the other on its forehead, Shadow twisted the head and a sickening crack echoed through the night. I grimaced as the zombie's head rolled off its shoulder and onto the floor. Shadow threw the body down and came back to me.

"That was utterly disgusting."

Shadow smirked. "Well, you didn't have to watch."

I rolled my eyes. "Ugh, let's just get inside please."

Shadow took the gun from me and walked to the door, motioning for me to follow. He twisted the doorknob and it clicked open. We stepped inside and closed the door behind us. We were in the stock room. Shadow walked over to the wall, where various garden equipment was stacked. He picked up a shovel, examined it, and gave it to me. I raised my eyebrow in question. Shadow rolled his eyes.

"It's for your defence, Rose."

"Why don't you just give me one of your guns?"

"Because I'm assuming that you have no experience in firearms. These bullets must last and I don't want you shooting everything but zombies if we get in any danger." Shadow replied, loading his rifle. I guess he had a point. Besides, I had already killed one of those things with a knife, I'd probably be better with a shovel anyway. Shadow finished counting his bullets and looked at me.

"Let's go. Stay close to me and be quiet."

"What makes you think that I'll walk off? I'm not exactly gonna go exploring in a zombie-ridden superstore, am I?"

Shadow smirked. Ugh…does he have to be so sarcastic about everything? He reminds me of Sonic…

"I'm not sure you want me to answer that. But I'm serious. Do not wander off."

"Yeah yeah. Let's just go."

Shadow glared at me before walking to the doors that lead into the superstore. I gulped and gripped my 'weapon' tightly, ready for action.

Shadow gently pried the door open and went through, with me following. I gulped, looking around me. The smell of blood hit my nostrils and immediately made me feel sick. I didn't want to think about what the hell was going on in here, even though I already knew the answer. Shadow walked left, down the huge isle. He pointed his gun down the smaller isles, ready to open fire when needed.

I was scanning our surroundings, looking for danger, when I suddenly slipped. I collided with Shadow, pushing him to the ground. To our discomfort, I fell on top of him. My head rested on his chest as I blushed at our current position. I looked at Shadow, who glared at me intensely. Shadow pushed me off him and stood up.

"What the hell were you playing at?" He whispered harshly.

I stood up from my position on the floor and came face to face with him. He was a good head taller than me, which made me all the more aware of how easily he could hurt me.

"I-I'm sorry. I slipped on something."

I assumed it was some kind of drink, as we were in the drinks aisle. I squinted my eyes to get a better look at what it was. It looked…red? Cherry juice maybe? I crouched down and frowned. No…not cherry juice. Blood. I quickly stood up and covered my mouth. I felt the back of my dress. To my relief, it was dry. I looked back at the floor and noticed there was a trail of blood leading down the aisle…to where Shadow and I were headed! Shadow cleared his throat and caught my attention. I turned to face him.

"Are you done yet, Rose?"

I blushed with embarrassment. "Erm, yeah. Sorry."

"Hmph."

Shadow continued walking down the aisle, with me still following. I was dreading what I would see when the trail of blood stopped. My gruesome thoughts were interrupted by a low growl coming from around the corner of the next isle. Shadow turned to look at me. He put his finger up to his lips and silently peeked around the corner. I noticed that the blood trail lead down there. I gulped and tapped on Shadow's arm. He looked at me and I pointed to the floor. His eyes followed my fingers and he nodded. I wanted to see what was around the corner, but something told me not to.

Nonetheless, I decided to look anyway. Very discreetly, I peeked out from the corner. In the middle of the aisle, was one of those things, feasting on some random body. It was disgusting, yet I still kept my eyes on the scene in front of me. A wave of nausea swept over me as the scene with Sonic came back to me. I couldn't help thinking if he had become one of those things…or if he ended up like the poor, defenceless person in front of me.

The body was that mutilated that I couldn't tell if it was a man or a woman. What was left of the insides was strewn across the floor as a pool of blood surrounded the body. The zombie was clearly enjoying its meal. It bit into the body's leg and ripped off a chunk of flesh, causing blood to spurt out. I put my hand over my mouth as I whimpered. But, it wasn't enough to conceal the sound, as the zombie's head slowly looked up…right at me.

That was most definitely the worst mistake I had made in my entire life.

"Sh-Shadow." I whispered, my body trembling in fear. I took my eyes off the zombie and looked at my companion, albeit I wish I hadn't. Shadow's ruby red eyes were piercing through mine. If looks could kill, I was pretty sure I'd be beyond dead by now. His glare was intense and I backed away from him in fear. I had really messed up now. He was probably going to kill me or leave me to die at the hands of these monsters.

"I-I'm s-sorry, Sh-Shadow." I stuttered stupidly.

Just as Shadow opened his mouth to answer, he looked past me, which made me frown. He then pointed his rifle and my eyes widened. I covered my ears and accidentally let out a scream as he fired. He pulled the trigger three times and after the third shot, he kept his gun aimed. After a few seconds, he stopped aiming and turned to look at me. I knew he was going to yell at me, so I tried to keep my eyes on the floor to avoid his gaze.

"Rose. Look at me." His voice broke the silence between us. It was surprisingly gentle. But still, I never looked at him.

"Rose. Look at me." His voice was harsher now. I decided not to prolong my death. It would be for the best if we just got it over and done with. I slowly raised my head and looked at him.

"I told you not to make a sound, didn't I?"

I gulped and nodded, suddenly not wanting to speak.

He sighed, looking around.

"You do realize what we are going to have to do now, don't you?"

I took a moment to think. Oh god…he was planning on killing me. I knew it. My life as Amy Rose ends here. I never got to fulfil my dream of marrying Sonic after all. Well, I guess I'd see him in heaven…unless he had turned into a walking corpse…

"You're right, Shadow. I'm sorry for making a noise. I guess you have no choice, you did say you would do it, after all."

I saw Shadow's brow arch a little. Was it confusion? "Yes. I'm afraid we have no choice. Brace yourself, Rose. You might get hurt. Well, chances are, you probably will…"

Shadow reloaded his gun and I gulped and closed my eyes. This was truly the end…


Ooh...a cliffhanger! What will happen to Amy? Why did Shadow seem confused? All will be revealed in the next chapter...

Please review. You can suggest what you will think will happen.