CHAPTER 36

TOO FAR GONE

Rouge weakly ran through the deserted streets of the city. She was exhausted and out of breath and her being low on energy wasn't a great help to her either. She began to become lightheaded once again. She leaned her body against a dim radiant lamppost to catch her breath. As she took deep breaths, she knew she couldn't rest. She knew Shadow was close by and would catch up to her in no time during this rate. She mustered up more of her remaining energy and kept running through the dark and lonely streets of the city.

Back at the library, Espio fell to the dusty floor as his body was finally taking a toll to the injuries Shadow had done to him. "Rouge!"

The group of detectives surrounded the weak chameleon and came to his aid. "Espio!" When they got Espio to his feet, they heard a familiar voice at the doorway.

"My God! What happened?"

The group of detectives spun around only to find a red male echidna rushing into the basement. Judging by the way he looked, it seemed that Shadow had roughed him up as well.

Charmy watched the red echidna run over to the group of detectives. "Knuckles! What are you doing here?"

"I was on my way to the Chaotix until I heard a commotion going on in here. What the hell happened?"

"Rouge!" Before anyone could explain, Espio tried to make his way to the door to follow Rouge and Shadow but he fell to his knees once again. "We…we have to go after them!" He panted weakly.

Vector kneeled down towards the chameleon. "Espio, you gotta remember Rouge is strong. It'll take a lot before Shadow actually…"

"You don't understand!" He spat. "She doesn't have a lot of energy left. She…she's fallen low on blood because Shadow's been hurting her every time they had sex."

Knuckles eyes widened towards the purple chameleon. "What?" He murmured. He grabbed the chameleon by his coat in uprising anger, "Are you trying to say you knew? You knew what Shadow was doing to her?"

The chameleon lowered his head and remained silent.

"You knew what was going on and you didn't stop them! You stupid bastard! Because of you, Rouge is going to die!" He was forcefully pulled away from him by Vector.

"Stop it!" Vector spat. "That doesn't matter now! What does matter is that we have to follow them and stop Shadow!"

Later, Rouge had flung open a door that led to the rooftop of a tall building. She slammed the door shut and wandered around the rooftop to see if she caught any sight of the dark hedgehog. She didn't see any sight of him anywhere so she had assumed she had lost him. While she caught her breath, she clenched the talisman closely to her chest and slowly looked up at the bright white full moon in the dark sky. She shivered slightly because of the cold wind filling the night air. She was startled when she felt her arm being grabbed from behind. She spun around only to find the demonic hedgehog standing behind her. "Shadow!" A powerful punch had struck her in the face knocking her down to the ground and making her drop the talisman.

The dark hedgehog slowly began to approach her. "I'm quite impressed to see that you've made it this far without dying."

She tried to crawl away from him when she saw him walking towards her. "Shadow…don't do this…I know you're still in there somewhere…"

"Shadow can't hear you, you dumb bitch", he spoke as he violently kicked her in the side of her stomach.

The bat curled up on the ground while she coughed up some blood.

The hedgehog watched as she winced and groaned in pain. He kneeled down to her body and held her close to his body. "It just warms me to see you suffering emotionally and physically."

"You evil fuck…", she coughed. Her eyes widened as he held her hand and whispered softly in her ear.

"I have always loved you, Rouge The Bat…"

She shut her eyes tightly and tried not to listen to his words. "No…"

"You're the only girl I want to be with…"

"Stop it…", she murmured. "Stop it! Stop using his voice!" Tears streamed down her face as he continued talking.

"This is what you wanted right? This is what we both want…"

She began to sob softly when she felt his lips press against her bloody forehead. "Please God…stop…" She begged softly. She knew that there wasn't anything she could do to protect herself from him in the condition she was in. Her body was suddenly shoved onto the ground. She opened her eyes slightly and saw the hedgehog setting his body on top of hers. She was so weak, she knew she didn't have a chance against him. She wanted to give up. Either way she had looked at it, it seemed that she would've died regardless.

"That's it", he spoke deeply. "Give in to me. You know it's useless…"

She flinched when she heard her skirt ripping and her jacket being ripped open. When she felt his tongue traveling all over her bare breasts and neck, she soon felt the searing pain of his member being shoved inside of her. More tears ran down her face as he forced himself deeper and deeper inside of her. As soon as she felt him biting into her neck, she began to scream out in agony.

Suddenly, Knuckles and the rest of the Chaotix had heard Rouge's cries of suffering and flung the door open to the rooftop of the building. Everyone froze in their tracks when they saw a white bat woman practically naked and covered in blood being held close by a black hedgehog.

Tears swelled in Knuckles' eyes as he stared at the injured bat woman, "…Rouge…"

Tears dripped from the terrified bat's face as she saw Knuckles' stunned expression. "…Knuckles…"

"Better late than ever, detectives", the dark hedgehog spoke as he wrapped his arms around the bat woman.

"Shadow…", Knuckles had growled angrily. "What the hell did you do to her?"

"I just gave her what she wanted", the hedgehog replied before slowly licking some of the blood away from her lips. "What a desperate little whore…"

"You bastard!" Before Knuckles could approach him, he froze when he spotted him holding the blade of a combat knife near Rouge's neck.

"Hold it! Take one more step and she dies!"

Espio attempted to talk some sense into the hedgehog. He wanted to think that his best friend was still inside somewhere and he figured he could get through to him. "Shadow…"

The hedgehog focused his attention on the chameleon but never loosened his grip on the knife.

"I know the real you is still in there somewhere and I know you would never dream of harming Rouge or any of us. You're still here with us and I know you are. Please, Shadow. I know it may seem like it's too late but it's not. I know that you're not…too far gone."

Shadow looked into Espio's yellow eyes and sighed heavily. "…Espio…"

The chameleon saw him slowly taking the knife away from Rouge's neck. He formed a small smile of relief.

"…You're a fool…"

Everyone watched in horror as Shadow took the blade of the knife and quickly slashed it through Rouge's throat.

Tears streamed down Tonya'a face as she saw blood spewing from Rouge's neck. "Rouge!"

"No!" Knuckles fell to his knees after witnessing the horrific sight.

Tears fell from Espio's face as he watched Shadow toss Rouge's lifeless body to the ground. Anger filled his heart as he looked up at the evil hedgehog and raised his handgun. "Damn you!"

In The Next Chapter...

Shadow: With this body, no one can stop me!

Knuckles: Rouge...I'm so sorry...

Charmy: I can't believe it...he got her...

Espio: I'll make you pay, you bastard!

Tonya: It can't be...

Shadow:...You...I thought I killed you!