They were barely on the road before they were off it again. The nerve of some people! Isn't our common goal survival here or what?!
Similar thoughts of a much more violent caliber were running through everyone's heads when a state officer decided to pull the car over and question them for what seemed like a full hour.
At first were the questions of what sort of supplies they had stockpiled in the car. Everyone recoiled just a bit and wondered if this wasn't a bandit in disguise. Trying to steal our stuff, huh?
At second were the questions of how everyone was doing. Rachel, Sonic, and Amy found themselves calming down, but Shadow gave the guy an even eviler eye. Trying to figure out how weak we are, huh?
At third… casual chat. At this point, the officer had evil eyes of blue, green, and crimson shooting his way.
At the end of what felt to be the longest hour ever, the conversation finally concluded, and the officer drove off. As soon as the car was out of sight, everyone groaned in relief simultaneously. There was a real… sync here.
Soon, they were on the road for another hour.
It's really sort of hard to give one definitive description of the scenery.
In Rachel's eyes, the world had fallen to utter hell. It almost seemed as if there was an invisible and heatless fire engulfing the entire world, for everything just seemed to be withering away and falling apart. Fitting.
In Sonic's eyes… which he was struggling to keep relatively dry… this was no longer a universe to run free along. It would just feel wrong anymore. It struck him like an arrow, how much he missed the vibrant grass, and the Chaos waving to him, and his friends running alongside him (or way behind and screaming at him, which was more often the case). The dirt, and the… nothingness… It was foul wind. Wind he did not want flying through his quills.
In Amy's eyes… the world was falling apart around her and Sonic. She even asked the question herself, of how she wasn't more torn apart by this… but every time she looked at her beautiful blue furball, it all made sense. And I said more torn apart. Meaning close to as ripped to shreds as one can get.
In Shadow's eyes… and he knew it… he probably wouldn't have given a faker's arse because it was merely destiny taking place, had he not had a best friend in the past. A soulmate, of sorts. He still held a part of her within him, and that included the devastation of seeing the beautiful world of her greatest wishes falling apart at something that nobody… nearly nobody… could seem to fight.
They all had one thing in common. They wished they were not there. Not in this world. They'd been thrown into this mess, and they knew it.
As well… they were soon standing in it, as they stopped for a bathroom break. Sonic and Shadow had ventured into the nearby forest (Shadow was a bit irritated in having to use his Chaos Control due to his broken leg), and Rachel and Amy waited by the car for them.
Rachel was the one to notice the dirt moving around a quarter of a mile away. Wait… moving? Was that really not just her hungry mind beating her up? She figured she'd keep her eye on it, not having much else to do while waiting for nature to call.
She had her eyes right on it, but was still thrown completely off guard somehow. Something green and rotten poked through the surface.
This is when Amy grasped the situation and took in a fearful breath. That couldn't have been a zombie! That was a zombie! It was rising from the ground!
And it didn't take very long, either. It only took a few seconds for its decrepit, puppet-like form to fully emerge from such pure-looking soil. Someone was lost and buried here. And now, they were back.
And it had its eyes locked on the two ladies the entire time.
Fortunately, Rachel was quick on the draw and had opened the car door nearest to where the guns were stored. Really, Amy's subsequent scream shocked her more than anything.
…Please let this gun have ammo in it. Otherwise, they were going to have to run.
And luck smiled down on them. The zombie had already trudged a few steps closer (too many for comfort, really), but Rachel aimed the gun and pulled the trigger once before the zombie found itself giving a gurgled cry and stumbling backward, into the hole it had emerged from.
And in three nanoseconds flat, Sonic and Shadow were there with wide eyes and racing hearts. Sonic had dashed here nearly faster than his feet could take, and Shadow had "Chaos Control" out of his mouth at the first sound wave of Amy's scream. Rachel nearly wanted to shout at them for showing up like that. They could have blindly showed up right in the crossfire!
"Are you guys okay?!" Sonic fretted.
"What happened here?!" asked Shadow, trying to shift most of his balance on his good leg.
"THAT happened!" Amy replied, pointing at the hole where the dead zombie was. It hadn't completely fallen in, for its leg had gotten caught on the edge.
"Did that come out of the ground?" asked Sonic. "…Wait, how is that POSSIBLE?!"
"This is a big subject with a lot of survivors," said Shadow, closing his eyes and crossing his arms. "A lot of people have seen this happen."
They made it a quick endeavor to hop in the car and get the hell out of there before something else hit the fan.
About an hour or so later, Shadow pointed out the upcoming city and that it would be a good idea for them to camp there.
"Hey, look at that!" said Sonic, pointing out his window.
Well, what do you know? A fully lit and fully functional vending machine.
"Who's got the cash?" he then asked. "I think we can afford everything in it!"
To which Shadow responded "We break the glass and loot it all, you idiot."
Author's note: I may make it so that only one thing happens per chapter. Putting several things together feels strange, and I'm afraid that I would start becoming a talking list.