Hi! Everyone! AHeartForStories here! I just love zombie apocalypse stories, games movies. I just had to write something of my own! I just had to! The idea was irresistable!

So here you have it! Knowing my love for Zombie apocalypses, writer blocks should be very minimal with this one.

Hope you enjoy and please do leave a review or two behind to tell me if you liked it or if you have constructive criticism. Being made aware of grammatical errors is always appreciated. :)

Once again, I'd like to point out that none of the characters have their powers. So no super speed or anything for Shadow or anyone. Let's be honest, their powers would've made this story alot less suspenseful.


Still Fighting: Chapter 6 - Trouble Ahead

-Year 2038, Spring-

One thing did worry the ebony hedgehog.

Did they know of him and Silver?

Thinking that this town was devoid of living inhabitents, the hedgehog had made a fire to try and heat their dinner up the night before. These people could've easily spotted the smoke and send these two out to investigate.

Silently Shadow cursed his foolish mistake. If those two really were trying to find the origin of the smoke from the yesterday evening, they could very well start searching houses too.

And than there was still the issue if these two humans were the only ones investigating the area. This town was pretty large in size from what he had been able to tell from their trip to the supermarket. You can't leave the searching of such a considerably sized area to just two people.

After one last look at the duo of humans, Shadow walked to the back of the house and checked to see if there was any sign of human or mobian activity at the back before he dared to set a foot outside.

He didn't want to test his luck any longer. Yesterday night he had chosen to stay in the first house they came across out of convenience for both him and Silver. If you were to search a place for anything suspicious, what better location to start in than the houses that quite literally stood on the border?

The backyard had the typical wooden fence that surrounded the grass and Shadow had to jump and grab hold of the edge to hoist himself up in order to see what was beyond the fence at the very back, a foot trying to seek solace on the flat surface. All he could see was the back of another house. These houses were situated all around this town to, quite literally, act like some sort of border.

He let himself drop back down and checked the sides next. One side lead to the clearing they came from the day before and the other side lead to a small clearing between this house and the next. Obviously Shadow wasn't planning on backtracking, so only two of these choices was the right one.

He choose to go with the side.

"Silver," Shadow addressed the boy as he picked him up and approached the fence on the side. Getting him over would require alot less time than trying to pry any of those boards loose at the bottom with a tool he did not possess. Not to mention it could give the possible threats a clue as to where they escaped to.

"I'm going to put you on my shoulders so you can reach the fence, okay? I want you to climb over it, lower yourself and drop down. It won't hurt a bit." Shadow told his son and followed up on his words by making the boy stand on his shoulders. The fence came up to the boy's pelvis now.

Silver looked down at his father in concern as he tried to keep his balance, Shadow still holding onto him, but said not a word as he reluctantly followed the order and climbed over the fence, but he didn't lower himself.

As a five year old, the way down was a long one. To Silver even his father was a tall man, though he was actually quite a bit on the short side compared to the average mobian hedgehog. The boy had second thoughts about getting back down.

"Dad?"

"Lower yourself and drop down, Silver. It won't hurt a bit." Shadow repeated as he looked the boy in the eye. His voice and expression were calm, but in truth his heart was beating up a storm in his chest. If he was right about the pair soon resorting to searching the houses, then it would only be a matter of time before they got here.

But, of course, he couldn't let Silver know of the nerve-wracking feeling of being caught anytime now. The boy depended on him to be the one to stay calm and know what was supposed to happen next.

The young hedgehog took his father up on his words and lowered himself down, small hands holding onto the top of the fence.

It was then that Shadow's ears picked up on a door opening to his left and he knew his prediction had come true.

"Hey, who the hell are you?!" A voice shouted and the hedgehog's head snapped around to look at the human that came walking out of the house, his partner following right behind him.

Startled at the humans' sudden arrival, Silver's grip slipped and he fell down to the grassy ground with a yelp.

Shadow wasted no time in pulling his backpack off and throwing it over, knowing that the weight would only slow him down. Once more he jumped up to grab hold of the top of the wooden boards and pull himself up just as he heard the sound of either one of those two pulling a weapon out of its holster.

"Don't let him escape!" The first human spoke again as he ran forward to grab hold of the dark hedgehog, but it was too late as Shadow let himself fall on the other side in his hurry to get over, nearly hitting Silver in the process if he hadn't moved out of the way.

"We have two intruders, two mobians. We should warn the others." Much to Shadow's dismay he heard that they had noticed his son too as he grabbed his bag from the ground and threw it on his back again before making a run for it, though at a pace that allowed Silver to keep up as they held hands.

The silvery boy wanted to ask what they were going to do now, but he knew better than to speak in situations such as this. His father had often lectured him about keeping quiet in dangerous situations and he could easily see that this was one of them.

They traversed the small clearing with the humans taking the longer, and far easier, route by leaving through the front of the house, but by the time the two reached the back, Shadow had already pulled Silver along to hide behind the side of the next house.

The hedgehog sneaked a peek around the corner to see the two humans still near the house, except they were being approached by a different pair, a man and a woman this time.

Just like he had thought, those two men hadn't come alone.

Shadow checked if the road was clear at the front before braving his way on the sidewalk and heading off into the direction of the center of town. He had no intention of even as much as catch a glimpse of their camp, but he couldn't just leave this place just yet.

There was stuff he needed that were essential to their journey and he might just find it around here.


Shadow had to admit that they had been lucky. Whoever the leader of their camp was, they hadn't send out more of their members yet. Either it was because they weren't with many to begin with or news of actual intruders in their territory hadn't reached them yet.

Either way, there weren't any people around for now and Shadow wanted to make use of that.

It has already been quite a while since their run in with the two humans. The duo of hedgehogs were approaching the center of town again. They had taken the same route as before, except Shadow kept his eyes and ears extra peeled as they walked, ears twitching and his gaze moving from place to place as he tried to pick up on any sign of recent human activity. Silver felt more comfortable now, but he had yet to say a word.

Shadow didn't like not knowing where the camp was situated. Cutting straight through town to find a few more necessary items and to save up on time they'd waste if they went the long way around was fine and dandy, but how was he supposed to avoid something he didn't know the location of?

It did little to help the sense of paranoia he was experiencing.

And than there was still the matter of how little sign of humans they came across. It was too quiet and too empty to Shadow's liking. He also couldn't help but notice that they'd hadn't come across a single Runner or Wanderer, something he foolishly hadn't paid all that much attention to before. They must've really been keeping the place clean. That further made the older hedgehog wonder just why he hadn't suspected this town to be inhabited yet.

Neither one of these things helped his current state of mind in the slightest.

He was almost reliefed when he heard a pair of unfamiliar voices conversing in the distance.

The two hedgehogs hid behind a dumpster as they watched a pair of humans come into view. There weren't only two of them this time as another three of them joined.

News of the two trespassers must've reached their camp after all.

If Shadow wasn't careful, this could very well turn into a manhunt. That was something both of them could miss.

Looking up to his father, Silver hoped his old man knew what to do, but the darker hedgehog was already ahead of him, gently pushing the boy along to get him to move, they sneaked to the back of the building they were besides. The alley was a dead-end, but there was a door Shadow managed to open with only a slight creak so the two could make their way inside.

It was only now that Silver dared to speak.

"What're we gonna do?" He whispered as he followed after his father through what seemed to be a kitchen before finding himself in a room with several tables and chairs, who had quite the grip on his tiny hand.

Shadow only responded by holding a finger up to his lips as he looked at him with a stern look and Silver knew to be quiet.

Noticing that the only way out was through the front door, Shadow looked at the windows next.

This was a restaurant and they had entered the place through the back door in the kitchen. The windows in this joint looked out at the front where the group of survivors were as a view of the alleyway and its dumpster wouldn't exactly be a nice sight to look at while one was eating.

Not only could they not provide him with an escape, but they were also quite big. In an attempt to stay hidden, Shadow had to crouch past as he made his way to the staircase. Thankfully, this was a restaurant with two floors.

"We're going to make our way through town to see if we can get our hands on something like clothes for Spring or a map." Shadow decided to reply to his son's question in a whisper, feeling a bit more comfortable doing so now that they were a floor higher.

Silver replied with a soft 'Oh!' as he began to look around, expecting to see either one of those items right here in this very room.

Shadow made his way over to the window and watched the human group from above as they passed by with their guns casually in hand. It didn't look like they were actually expecting to encounter the intruders.

The hedgehog watched them walk by for a little while before he resumed his search of an escape and that brought his attention to the fire escape he noticed on the side of the building, tucked away into a corner.

But as he pushed the heavy door open and looked outside, it looked like a part of the stairs were missing, gone from either being used for parts or by negligence.

Shadow carefully made his way down the steps, testing each to make sure they wouldn't give in beneath his weight and make him meet with a pretty painful landing, while Silver waited at the very top and watched.

Unfortunatly enough, Shadow only got five steps far before number six moved out of place when he attempted to put his weight on it and made this awful screeching noise that made both father and son cover their ears.

It was loud and obnoxious. Surely those humans had heard it too.

With a new sense of hurry, Shadow grabbed SIlver and made his way for step number nine, this time avoiding the sixth one.

There was still a three meter drop as the staircase ended there, but it would be nothing Shadow couldn't survive.

So he dropped down with his son in his arm, landing on his feet only for his knees to buckle and nearly landing on his front. A hand that shot forward to prevent that from happening out of reflex allowed some support as the hedgehog couldn't help but cringe. The drop hadn't exactly felt good for his ankles.

Hearing the humans approach, Shadow put Silver down on his feet and ignored the stabbing pain that would surely fade away with time as he approached the next door and walked inside.

The door clicked back in place just as the group rounded the corner to see where the noise had come from.

Now the two hedgehogs found themselves in a short hallway. Following it to the end soon proved to them that they were now in an apartment as they found mailboxes littering one side of the small hall while there was a counter of sorts on the other side.

The darker one of the two paid little attention to that as he sneaked a peek at the front to see that the humans had dissapeared into the alleyway to investigate the loud sound they heard.

Figuring that they'd try to continue their search by entering the only way their targets could've escaped through, Shadow believed it to be safer to leave the building through the front and walked down the sidewalk with Silver right on his heels.

Crimson eyes scanned the area for their next escape as they couldn't stay in the open like this for long while ears tried to pick up on sounds that weren't made by them or animals.

When his eyes caught something on his right was when he stopped and turned.

Looking up in another alleyway, Shadow noticed that two apartment buildings were connected by a wide wooden plank that went from one window to the next.

Believing he may have found an easy way out of this block, he and Silver entered the apartment building and ascended the stairs until they reached the third floor. After a quick search of the rooms, they found the window with the plank.

The plank seemed to be hammered in place as several screws kept it stuck to window sill. The older hedgehog tested it for movement and had to conclude that it must be safe, though his younger companion wasn't so sure of that.

"Dad?" Silver asked when his father placed him on the board.

"Walk across and don't look down. I'll be right behind you." Shadow reassured him. The boy was a bit reluctant, but he did inch forward a little. It wasn't until Shadow climbed up on the board himself that he dared to walk.

Strict orders not to look down barely helped as Silver's gaze couldn't help but fall on the ground way down below. The boy held his breath as he froze up, eyes squeezing closed, as if not being able to see it would suddenly make it go away.

"Silver." Shadow called his son's name as he placed a hand on his upper back, startling him. Silver looked up to his father and noticed the young man lending him a hand. Silver quickly took it and felt a little more confident about crossing to the other side.

They got only halfway when trouble found them again.

"Up there!"

Shadow looked down and could only duck just in time to avoid getting shot as he saw a gun pointed directly at him. Silver cried out in shock at the noise.

Not wasting any time, the hedgehog grabbed the younger one and ran for the window, swiftly making his way into the next apartment building. Faintly he could hear one of the men ordering the others to follow the two as he left the bedroom they had entered.

Now they needed to find a new way out, but running down the stairs proved to be fruitless as they had been blocked up by furniture, the lifeless and rotten bodies of the Dead lying behind it told a tale of why the barricades and the plank from one building to the next came to be.

Shadow searched the rooms of the only floor available to them. It wasn't until they came upon one with a giant hole in the wall that they found the route again.

"Dad!" Silver called for his father to alert him of the voices and footsteps he heard approaching. Shadow acted quick by shutting the door and pushing a dresser against it to keep it shut, but it was a feeble-looking thing and obviously wouldn't put up much of a fight. All it could do was provide them with some time.

The two looked towards the hole next and saw another plank leading to a corner of the next apartment where also a large hole resided, the corner in that room completely gone with another plank leading to a rooftop.

Shadow figured that this path probably lead straight to the human camp he wanted to avoid, but it was also their only way out. So with Silver on his tail, he walked down the wooden boards, one more sturdier than the other, with a comforting hold on his son's hand. They made it to the rooftop just as they faintly heard the dresser give in to the force their hunters used to break through.

In a hurry the two ran to the other side of the rooftop, knowing they'd be spotted soon. The glimpse of a ladder placed there gave them a new way down. Shadow was the first to start climbing and urged Silver to follow, making sure he was right below him in case the boy's grip were to slip. But Silver needed no encouragement as he quickly followed just as they were being shouted at and ordered to stop. Warning shots were fired, but the two hedgehogs were already down.

Just to make sure they wouldn't be followed, Shadow pushed the ladder out of the way, severing the only path their chasers could follow before grabbing Silver's hand again and escaping into a nearby alley to dissapear out of sight.

Once more they had escaped.


Yes, Shadow is a shorty in this fic! Just like canon Shadz was a bit on the short side (how can those hovershoes have such thick soles and still make him as tall as Sonic?), so is Apocalypse Shadz!

Also I would really appreciate it if you guys made me aware of any mistakes I might've made both grammar wise and story wise.

So anyway, I hope you enjoyed the chapter! And please do leave a review and tell me what you think! :3