*Vector's POV*

Silver had so gallantly offered to do the trading at this stop, so I was left to figure my occupation out for myself.

Buildings chipped, and crashing was a popular tune.

Not really much to say…

I caught sight of a broken car door in a random pile of rubble. It was so rusted that I knew it had seen better days even before the year all of this zombie bullcrap went down.

But you know what? Blaze opened the door and walked into the room of my mind. Scrap metal to make the car into a sort of tank, she had said…

I almost took a step forward… but then, in one fell swoop, another fragment of some corporate building fell right on top of it. Even if there wasn't a giant storm of dust that just about suffocated me as a result… Blaze's idea was once again a no-go.

*Rachel's POV*

Hmm… It was oddly intriguing to stare over in the distance and watch as piece by piece made its final goodbye and plummeted to the ground. This was an apocalypse where a parasite made people into zombies, not a nuclear battle. Well, I heard some regions had gone that far…

But still… what could have caused all this damage? Let's think here… Would that many bullets have been fired for absolutely no corpses to be left hanging off of what was left by their skeletons? If a bomb had gone off here, the buildings wouldn't still be here, right? If an even further distance was acknowledged, one would see even more crippling damage.

Something didn't feel right…

I got up from my rightful spot in the back seat of the car and headed out. Something still wasn't quite right…

Then, definition. Something definitely wasn't right, and I had caught it.

A frozenly familiar voice gave a cry of pain so loud that it spiraled through the air for miles.

My feet felt to be set ablaze. I found myself close to running face-first into old streetlamps as I tried to make my way toward where I heard the cry.

"Oh, God…" I wheezed. "…Silver?! Silver, where are you? Are you alright?!"

Then, just to send relief to my frail little heart, his voice replied "I'm… right here…"

And he was. All I had to do was turn around and see as he sat on a pile of rubble, holding his left arm with his right and staring in disgust at the supplies scattered about. Quickly, I knelt beside him.

Before I could open my mouth, he explained "No, I was not bitten. Thank God… I just pulled a muscle trying to carry that crate."

"…Pulled a muscle?" I inquired, tilting my head to the side skeptically. "I could hear you from a mile away!"

"Well… I-It really hurt for that first second!" Silver insisted. "Look."

I watched, slack-jawed, as he let go of his left arm and moved it freely.

"Still hurts a bit, though. I thought I'd broken it!"

"Well, I'm glad you're okay," I smiled.

"…I'm glad that you're okay!" he responded. "The place is falling apart!"

Picking up a few of the bags of food that had fallen from the now-shattered crate he had, I said "So… that means we should go now?"

"Makes sense," he nodded, picking up what was left of the supplies. "I'm a bit worried about fallout, too…"

It felt as if something sharp struck my gut, and a thought from before had been close to confirmed.

With not much more than a bit of difficulty, we found our way back to the car, where Silver and I found the open trunk and set everything down in there without a moment's hesitation.

As I turned on my foot to head to my side of the car, something pulled me back. Probably was the despair in Silver's expression. He was holding his arm again.

And I don't know what told me that doing this next thing was risk-free. But it happened. And I thank whoever that subconscious wizard was that told me to do it.

My concern pushed me to put my hands on Silver's injured arm, and one hand was dangerously close to his own.

"Are you sure you're okay?" I asked, staring him straight in the face.

Not a moment's hesitation yet. Said face was beginning to redden again. I wondered…

"I know it's not broken," he sighed. "…But something's off. I'll take it easy, alright?"

"…A-Alright," I murmured.

However, before I could move away out of concern… I suddenly found that hand that was closest to his being enveloped.

He moved his other hand (the one that had been holding his injured arm) and placed it delicately atop mine.

Then, he looked at me with that one smile that made everything in me melt.

"Thank you," he said. "I'm… not sure if I would have made it out of there… w-without you…"

"Oh, sure, you could have!" I replied. "After all, it is just a pulled muscle… right?"

Silence ensued for what felt to be a great amount of time. That silence locked our heads in place, and our sights just so happened to be in each other's eyes.

I swear, my heart swung a bit, as if a couple of my arteries had molded into a swing set.

For a mere millisecond, I could have sworn that two separate gravities were working on us…

Then, "Alright, lovebirds, honeymoon's over," came crashing toward us, in the form of Vector's voice.

So I let go of his arm, he let go of my hand, and we got into the car. Just like that.

My heart felt a bit jetlagged… and I could have sworn I heard a few low chuckles come from Espio's throat.

*Vector's POV*

As I turned the key to start the car, Espio managed to lean over and whisper something to me.

That something was "Only a matter of time when it comes to those two..."

With a grin of humor, I nodded in agreement.

And we were off.

Question for the reader: Great news! I've got possible plans for my next Sonic fanfic! It'll be a series of oneshots featuring something I discovered that's called a Crack Pairing Generator! This will result in a series of oneshots centered around a random topic and two main characters! I'll be adding my OC into the mix; Would you like to see yours in there as well? If so, please tell me the name, gender, and love interest, along with anything else I should know! Detail not included? A detail that will be improvised by me!